Meizu M3 Note

Meizu M3 Note Will Come In 3 Colors In India.

Gold,Silver & Grey.

Features:-

• 5.5-inch Full HD Display[1920 x 1080]
• Helio P10 processor
• 2GB/3GB LPDDR3 memory
• 16/32GB Internal Memory
• 13 megapixel Rear Camera
•  5 megapixel  Front Camera
• 4100mAh High-capacity Battery
• Hall magnetic sensor, Gravity sensor
• IR proximity sensor, Gyroscope, Ambient light sensor
• Touch sensor, Digital compass
• FingerPrint Sensor
• 4G Dual Sim
• Flyme OS

Meizu M3 Note Come With 2 Different Models.

2GB+16 GB For ₹ 7999

3GB+32 GB For ₹ 9999

Meizu M3 Note Available From 31 May On Amazon.in

Xiaomi Mi 5 launched in India

Specifications:-

• 5.15" Full-HD Display[1080p]
• Snapdragon 820 Processer
• Android 6.0 With Latest MIUI 7
• 3 GB RAM[DDR4]
• 32 GB Internal Memory
• 3000 mah Battery With QuickCharge
• 16 MP Rear Camera
• 4MP UltraPixel Front Facing Camera
• May Be Available At ₹24,999
• 4G
• NFC
  
  Sale Start From The 6th April On Mi Store.
  Amazon/Flipkart Start Sale Later.

Stay connected with EasyCabs in Delhi and NCR through free wi-fi service during your ride home or to office

Well, travelling in the EasyCabs has become that much more fun in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).  The company in collaboration with Airtel and Huwai, will be providing free internet access through wi-fi for the period you travel home or to your office. 

The Wi-fi data card E355 device made by Huwai is placed in Easy Cab's cigarette lighter slot which is powered using an adapter. The 3G services can be accessible from a laptop, iPad, or phone using a password which will be provided by the driver of the EasyCabs. 

And thanks to the advertising space Airtel and Huwai get on the outer side of the EasyCabs, this service will be provided free to the clients.  So next time you take a ride in EasyCabs be sure to ask the driver for the password and start surfing as much as you want through all the traffic and mess and you will find that your ride is not so bumpy after all.

EasyCabs also has an service in Mumbai and in all probability the service shall soon be started in Mumbai also. 

Stay connected for 24 hours with free incoming for Rs.5.00 pre-paid roaming plans from Vodafone

While mobile service operators like Vodafone, Airtel and Idea are busy slashing 2G rates for internet connectivity across India, the Vodafone has announced a Special Tariff Voucher (STV) of Rs.5.00 for its pre-paid customers.  

This STV once activated will give you 24 hours of free incoming calls throughout India.  Mind you only receiving calls are free, if you make a call you will be charged at 1.5 paisa per second.  To activate this plan, you have to dial *444*500# and follow the instructions.

This is especially useful for pre-paid Vodafone subscribers who plan to visit some remote place for a few days.  If you are planning on a bigger stay or extending your stay, you should try out the Vodafone's Rs.71.00 STV which will give you unlimited incoming calls while roaming for entire month.  This plan is available for  Post-paid Vodafone users too but the charges are Rs.75.00.  Post Paid users can call the Vodafone customer care to activate this service.

With the 2G rates going down, the 4G coming to Mumbai and Delhi and the roaming rates going down we are going to witness connectivety 2.0 in India

Buy a new SIM for your phone now, Government to make fingerprinting a mandatory requirement soon

If the Home Ministry and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) have it their ways, you will soon need to go to your service providers premises and get your finger prints scanned to receive a new SIM for your mobile.  The issue of verification has again reared its head with the address verification system failing to keep the check on dud SIMs.

If you remember, last November, the Government had made it mandatory for verification of the address of new applicants for SIM.  The move has failed to stop the flow of fake SIMs being used by unscrupulous elements and in a bid to prevent further endemic rise in fake SIM, the Home Ministry has instructed DoT to evolve a fool proof finger printing process for new SIM applicants.  It has advised DoT to maintain a central database comprising biometric features of all subscribers and link t with the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) for further surveillance if necessary.

The issue came to head when a retailer was arrested for issuing 400 SIMs using fake and forged documents.  The retailer in nexus with the service provider by passed the regulatory requirement of address verification.  The order in November proposed a penalty of Rs.50000.00 per subscriber in case of issue of pre-activated SIMs without address verification.

However the Home Ministry feels that the penalty has failed to deter potential forgers and criminals from using the pre-activated SIM for their malicious intent.

What is in it for us, well the red tape get tighter with the finger prints.  If you apply for a new SIM after the notification is issued, you may have to wait till the DoT gives a go ahead to your service provider.

Easy step by step guide to e-Filing of Income Tax Returns for the AY 2013-14

Breaking News : The last date of filing Income Tax extended upto 5.8.2013, e-file your return now

The month of July will start in few days and all salaried class employees and self employed individuals have to fill their Income Tax Returns for the Financial Year 2012-13, Assessment Year 2013-14 by 31st July, 2013.

Normally this would not have been a problem, you could have filled the Saral for AY 2013-14 and sent it to the local ITO for submission.  However this year onwards the Income Tax Department has made e-Filing compulsory for individuals whose Gross Taxable Amount is about 5,00,000.00.  

For those whose Income is below 5,00,000.00, there is no need to file the returns as be current Income Tax laws.  But if you still want to file your returns, you can use the Saral Forms and send them to local ITO as you did last year.  

I am writing this easy step by step article for those who want to e-File a return using Income Tax login.

First and foremost go to here Income Tax e-Filing Website and create a login id and password.   There is a green button saying Register Yourself on the Right hand side of the Website, click on it and get yourself registered.  Give your current active email id for registration details and the password should be one capital, one alpha numeric and 8 characters or more.  Optimal password would be Aaaa@12345 (replace with the words of your choice).  Another thing to remember is the 'Secret Answer', this one will help you recreate your password if you have forgotten it (it really helps because most of us tend including me forget the password as Income Tax filing comes once a year).  

Now if you have done the above correctly proceed.  Before proceeding, another word of caution, use a PC with genuine Winsows OS on it.  Pirated version is known to give problems while validating the xml file.  You will need to keep your PAN number and Form 16 at hand while e-Filing the return so be sure they are nearby.

Now open the Income Tax e-Filing Website and download ITR1 and save it to a location preferably on your C drive. The downloads are below the Register yourself button on the right hand side.  The file is zip one which you can extract there itself.  

Now you have download it and extracted it, dont open the file as you have to enable Macros and ActiveX components to run and validate the file.  To enable them,  Go to Microsoft Excel, open it and then go to Office button with a MS Office picture on the top left hand.  Click the Office button and you will be present with New, Open, Save and Save as Menu.  At the bottom of the Menu there is a button called Excel Options as per image below :

Click on the Excel Options button and go to the 8th button saying Trust Centre and open it.  Once you open Trust Centre, go to Trust Centre Setting at the right hand down corner.  Open the settings and go to 4th button called ActiveX settings and enable all the ActiveX controls (4th button).  Go back to Trust Centre Setting and click on Macro Settings (5th button), here too, enable all Macros (4th button). Say ok and close the Excel Window.

Now go the file which you had extracted earlier (named 2013_ITR1_PR6.xls), double click on it and the Excel Workbook will open with 4 sheets in it namely Income Details, TDS, Taxes Paid and Verification and 80G.  

Go to the Sheets one by one and fill the details.  In the Income Details sheet, enter all relevant data correctly like PAN No, your Mobile No. (do not give the STD code, the sheet then gives error),  Date of birth in DD/MM/YYYY format, Employee Category, Income Tax Ward/Circle (Mumbai is 11(1)), say no to are you governed by Portuguese Civil law (I dont know what that means),  Residential Status etc. 

Once you have filled in all the details press Validate at the top right, if you have correctly filled in correctly the file will validate.  If not it will give a error message.  Read the error message, its in some kind of foreign language but you can understand the gist of it.  Go to the column it wants correction and correct it. 

Once validated you can print the xls file to be on safer side and for help next year and press Generate Xml button.  A xml file will be saved to the same location where you had save the zip file.  

Now go back to Income Tax e-Filing website and log in. Go to upload xml button and upload the file.  You will receive a message saying that your file has been uploaded and download the ITRV file(you will receive the same in your mail also).  You have to download this file, take a printout and send it to the following address. The ITRV is password protected. 

Your ITR-V/ Acknowledgment is protected by a password for your security. Please enter your PAN (in small letters) and Date of Birth or Incorporation (in ddmmyyyy format), in combination, to view your ITR-V/Acknowledgment. If your pan is AAAPA0000A and the date of birth is 10-Jan-2008, then the password will be aaapa0000a10012008.

Remember to send it by Speed Post/Ordinary Post only Courier is not allowed.

Address :

Income Tax Department - Centralized Processing Centre,Post Bag No - 1,Electronic City Post Office,Bangalore - 560100,Karnataka - India.

If you have any problems with the above kindly comment on it and I will try to solve your problem.  If you have successfully filed your e-Return with my tutorial, kindly post in your comments also.

Update : Government has made filing returns compulsory for even those who earn less then Rs.5.00 lakhs.  I have posted a easier online tutorial for e-Filing which you can get here

Remembering our founding fathers and national hero's; the Government way of wasting money

143 Crores  that was the amount spent by the UPA-II Government on the advertisements on  birth and death anniversaries of our Founding Fathers and National Heros!!!  

This money which has 7 zeros added to 143 amounts to $ 26 million and belongs to the honest and responsible taxpayers of India.  The money is used to take out full page ads in the national newspapers and regional ones (which of course are pro UPA).  

And the ads displayed often also show a pro-Congress bias with the exception of Bapu, our Father of the Nation.   But that is not the reason why I am writing this article.    Today when I opened the morning newspapers, there was an ad from Government of Maharashtra for inauguration of 1423 cement check dams titled "Turning Crisis into Opportunity..."  The total cost of the completed phase one incidentally equalled to 143 crores.  Same as the amount of ad spend by the Central Government!!!

Whole of India and Maharashtrians know of the terrible drought that has engulfed Maharashtra.  The experts believe this is the worst drought to have hit Maharashtra in decades. Building the dams would assure that this kind of tragedy is not repeated.  You may have already read about the mass suicides from the region of Vidarbha due to poverty.  The main reason for poverty is scant rainfall and inadequate irrigation facilities.  

My reasoning is simple, if the money spent on advertisements on our Founding Fathers and National Heros was spent on these kind of projects, the people of India would be far more happier and the tax payers, whose money is spent on the ads, wouldn't have a thing to complain.  

The second thing I want to point out that the literacy rate of India is around 74 percent.  Which means the 94 billion out of 125 billion Indians are literate. If they are literate then what is the need of informing them about any birthdays or anniversaries.  And for the   31 billion illiterates, the advertisements are of no use as they can neither read nor understand the advertisements.  

I know there are purists out there who argue that we should remember our National Heros but I would argue that spending the above money in some social cause with the name of the national hero would be a rather better way of creating a memorial for times eternal.  This money can be used to develop the naxal prone area(which we all know is naxal prone due to lack of basic infrastructure and rights), or for educating the Indians under Right to Education Act, or for food security under the Food Security Act.  

If nothing else can be done with the money, why not open a fund for the dead soldiers fighting for us on the borders or internally against terrorism or the CPRF Jawans who are killed by naxals.  I am sure the 143 crores will be sufficient for supporting the families of all the valiant martyrs killed in the past few years, protecting our country.

And this is just the national ad spend incurred by the Central Government, the state governments have their own agenda on ad spend.  Mayawati Behen used to come up with two page ads in Mumbai leading newspapers advertising her proud achievements.  I often wondered how advertising in Mumbai about the progress (or elephants statues) in Uttar Pradesh would benefit her or her Government.  Akhilesh seems to have followed her footsteps by giving out ads of his laptops to UP students scheme, printed in Mumbai.  Again the gist of the advertisement is not understood, if he is giving out laptops to the students, its a welcome  and a progressive move, but advertising the same in Mumbai, is a Mumbaikar eligible for the laptops?  No! So, why place these ads in  Mumbai newspapers.  I am at loss to understand the logic!!!

Maybe the Governments have their own logic but I am sure Bapu must be crawling in his grave on such wasteful expenditure.

As explained above, these are my opinions, you may differ but do post in your comments on the infructuous expenditure by our beloved and elected Governments.

Vijay Prabhu

LPG subsidy directly to bank account will start from 1st June, 18 districts to start with, whole country to follow soon!

Remember my tutorial for downloading Aadhaar Card.  In the post I had reported at that time,  that the authorities will soon be moving towards a structure where all the LPG subsidies you are entitled to, will be directly paid into your Aadhaar Card linked bank account.  Now the Government is planning to implement the same in a rightful earnest.  

The authorities are going to start the scheme from June 1, 2013 with 18 districts namely Anantpur, Chittoor, East Godavari, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy in Andhra Pradesh; Diu in Daman and Diu; North Goa; Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una in Himachal Pradesh; Tumkur in Karnataka; Pathanamthitta and Wayand in Kerala; Wardha in Maharasthra; Pondicherry; SBS Nagar/Nawanshahar in Punjab and East Nimar (Khandwa) and Harda in Madhya Pradesh.

And from 1st July, 2013, it will be implemented in Mandi and Mysore districts of Karnataka.  The rest of the country is to follow soon in a phased manner.

So if you have not yet heard about this, or linked you Aadhar Card to your bank account you can head over to your branch and do it now.  State Bank of India had advertised a few days back about the fact and invited its customers to link the Aadhar Card to their bank accounts.  

If you are a HP LPG customer and want to know more about linking your Aadhaar Card to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) visit my blog here, wherein the hyperlinks about login to linking are provided.  These links were provided by HPCL itself to me.

Another question many of my friends, readers and colleagues ask? why this additional work or 'Jhanjhat'.  Did you know that around 20 % of LPG cylinders which belonged to you, genuine users, were sold in the black market by operators.  Their modus operandi was simple and straight forward.  They would study your usage pattern and develop a way to assign a cylinder in your name and sell it in black market.

If you required 1 cylinder every month, they would book 2 in your name, deliver 1 to your address and sell the second one at a neat and handsome profit of around 200%.  Even right now after the price rise and restrictions on the LPG cylinders per year,  the residential cylinders are available in black market at Rs.1200.00 and the commercial ones @ Rs.1900.00 (this is the rate in Mumbai).  

So one fine day when all the LPG connections through out the country are linked to a central data base viz UIDAI authority through Aadhaar Card, and the subsidy is directly paid to the users, the leakage and pilferage will stop because everything will be online and no paper money is exchanged.  

Join the Aadhaar revolution, support the Government in its efforts to weed out the black marketeers who themselves are reason for high prices of LPG.

If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please do so in the comment box and I will answer them promptly.

Vijay Prabhu

Appearing for CAT (Common Admission Test), check out these best online resources for your preparations

You wish to be one of them! Read on!!

Appearing for Common Admission Test or CAT, as its known and famous, is a must for getting admissions into the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM).   There are several entrance examinations taking place every year in India like MAT, XAT, MH-CET but CAT remains one bull which all students and aspirants wish to climb.  This is because a admission into any of the IIMs is a assured mode of career progression and attaining your financial and lifetime goals.  

This is a known fact and to take advantage of this, there are several coaching classes and various online sites who specialize in preparing you for the CAT.  However it is often seen and heard that many of these classes and sites are nothing but money making expeditions by operators.  So to help all students who wish to appear for CAT I have prepared a list of online coaching classes, so give them a try.

TCYOnline  : This site offers free preparation tests and study material as well as premium courses.  TYCOnline offers three courses which you may opt as per your budget.  Basic for Rs.975.00, Advantage for Rs.1450.00 and Premium for Rs.1950.00.  Basic offers you 250 chapter and section tests along with mock tests.  Advantage includes all of the above and voice based lectures with notes, which you can download.  Premium contains all of the above  and  includes mock tests for other tests. TCY Analytics lets you compare your score with other test takers and know where exactly you stand.  Visit their site here to know more.

Next one is Arun Sharma's MindWorkzz.  Arun Sharma is a alumni of IIM Bangalore and one of the best known online coaching Gurus.  MindWorkzz offers online coaching to interested students and includes webinar. In case of a query during the lecture, a student can conveniently raise his/her hand ask the question.   To check out what I am talking about, please visit his site and click on demo lectures.  This one of the best options for hardworking students.  The courses on MindWorkzz start from Rs.5500.00 onwards.   Once you are online, you can specifically opt for the section which interests you like Verbal or DI.  If you want a full comprehensive course you can opt for it.   MindWorkzz's DNA is the convenience it offer to you to attend the lectures sitting at home rather then spending 30+minutes travelling to the physical centre.  Visit here to have a look at MindWorkzz.

The next one I am presenting is BYJU’s classes.  If the MindWorkzz idea of attending a online lecture is not your cup of tea, try this one.  It has physical classes all over India.  The only problem is you have to attend the local class to watch the online lectures. The queries and questions you have will be answered by the local teacher.  One big advantage of BYJU's classes is that you get to interact with students and its lectures are known to be particularly well received by students. 

Another plus from me for BYJU's classes is that before joining it they offer you an option for free trial lecture.  And the site itself is extremely easy to navigate with Easy, Medium, Difficult level filters and within them Verbal, DI, Quantitative and mock tests.   BYJU's classes also offers you options to download the free e-booklet, a PDF file with all shortcuts.  Their online comprehensive test series package which includes 4000+ online questions, 150+ chapterwise unit tests, comprehensive online feedback, special CAT files to practise techniques and strategies, costs Rs.5000.00 Try out the  20 or so online mock tests available on the site.  Visit here to give BYJU's classes a try!

There are many more which are really good, I am publishing this three and if you respond favourably to the post, I will post some more classes in continuation to this article.  Do write in your comments on if you have any of your choice online coaching sites.

Vijay Prabhu

Results time in India, check your results online for SSC (10th) , CBSE and HSC (12th) of various boards

The vacations are nearly drawing to close for all the students who had appeared for SSC (10th) and HSC (12th) this year.  Last year the Maharashtra board had declared SSC results in the last week of May and the results for HSC in the first week of June.  This year too, the same is expected from the MSBSHSE.  These results are put on the official websites much before they are distributed to the students, therefore all the students are curious and anxious to know their results.

And believe me, almost all the parents are more eager to know the results of their wards then the students themselves.  So to help this anxious parents and not so anxious students I am giving hyperlinks of almost all Boards who will declare the results.  

You have to keep your seat number/roll number ready to get the results online.   

1. 10th (SSC) for Maharashtra students

2. 12th (HSC) for Maharashtra students

3. 10th (CBSE) for All India students

4. Results for Goa students

5. Results for Karnataka students

6.  Results for Gujarat students 

7.  Results for Kerala students

8.  Results for Madhya Pradesh students

9.  Results for Meghalaya students

10. Results for Odisha students

11. Results for Punjab students

12. Results for Tamil Nadu students

13. Result for Rajasthan students

14. Result for Andhra Pradesh students

Please note that the sites might not work on the results day due to jamming and over load.  Further, check your local newspapers for the dates of declaration of results.

Hope you all do well and make your parents proud.  Best of luck.  And do press like on Facebook and Google + buttons1

Vijay Prabhu

A Little Something about Almost Everything

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IPL (Indian Premier League), betting, easy money, spot fixing, match throwing and youngsters playing the game.

image courtesy newsfeederr.blogspot.com

As I had already pointed out with an article at the beginning of the IPL season VI with a heading of  "Indian Premier League, the odds, the schedule and my favourite for this year".  It seems naive that the authorities don't know that IPL is a milking cow for the betting mafia,   it seems that even a kid on the block knows that the IPL is a betting machine but only the BCCI, the IPL organisers and the Police are unaware of the heavy hand of (or turn an blind eye to) betting syndicates in the IPL matches.  Now out of the blue, 3 cricketers, S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of Spot Fixing.   As usual the Indian media circus wants their heads and some even want the IPL to be banned.  How much are they responsible for the whole mess? 

It is fair to hold the young ones guilty?   As all of India knows that the IPL is a cash rich tournament with millions officially changing hands over the player fees, the TV rights, the Internet rights and other pharnaphelia that comes with it like the Cheergirls, the after IPL parties and the Fashion shows, the award nites etc.

Now, if you take out the few players who form the crux of each team, that is the established players and international players. We will work out the simple equation :  The seasoned players who have played for India and are playing for India know the trappings of the fame and the game.  If you take these chaps out you are left with pretty young cricketers playing for each of the franchise.  There are total of approximately 50 players including the playing eleven in each squad.  The IPL VI consists of 9 teams that make a total of 450 players.  In each team there are foreign players, players playing currently for India and veterans.  These players constitute up to approximately 100 players out the total 450 players.  

This leaves us 350 players, who have never played for India and will never be able to play for India for whatever reasons.  Many of these players are taken from the under 19 and under 21 sides of the particular area.  Which means that before IPL they have never faced such a gigantic arena, earned any of the filthy money nor have they seen such insane amount of money being thrown across each game.  They have never been to the parties where the high and mighty  along with the Page 3 regulars visit.  The liquor and the drugs flow throughout the night with much ease.    There is all a man wishes for in his life, money, fame, liquor, drugs, girls and much much more and these boys, remember are only in their teens

In this scenario, a teen, who is only about 19 years of age, who has never seen such extravagant amount of money or fame before and will probably never get to see it again, is most likely to fall for the trappings of the betting syndicate.  The boy who is not mature enough to understand right from wrong, will easily fall prey to easy money, when he sees that everybody is making hay when the sun is shining.  

Ditto for the older guys like Sreesanth, Chandila etc.  They are anyways too old to make a comeback and even their position in the respective teams of IPL for next year is questionable.  So, is it not wise for them to make some quick bucks while there is a chance.  They may have not get a second chance in life any time.

So if you search for truth, it is not the Sreesanths of the world who are to blame but the BCCI and the IPL management which has created a Frankenstein in our midst because of the Government policies.    It is the Government who is playing a hide and seek with the betting mafia by not legalizing the betting in India.

India along with Pakistan are known to have a huge population of betting public.  If these guys don't have any source to legally bet on the games it is but natural, that a parallel form of authority takes over to fill in the vacuum.  The authority to fill the vacuum is the betting mafia.  The mafia keeps everybody happy including the authorities, the players and who so ever questions them because they are making truckloads of money.  They don't mind throwing a few crores here and there to fix or spot fix the matches.  The returns are always 100 times their investments.  

It is a well know fact that the "Matka" is alive and kicking because of help it gets from the authorities.  It is also well know fact that the dry days (days when liquor is prohibited) are actual bonus days for the policemen to make a few extra bucks. 

IF this all has to stop, the Government has to make betting legal and  enforce some kind of taxation on it so that it can contribute something to the exchequer and the development of the country.  But believe me some people want the current situation to continue so more and more hapless and naive cricketers fall prey to the trappings of the IPL.  

Every time we have a scandal we cry over split milk instead of arriving at a reasonable long term solution for the problem.

Vijay Prabhu

Grope and you will burn lingerie developed by 3 Chennai engineering students to stop sadistic gropers

Image courtesy cartoonstock.com

The amount of outrage of woman's modesty has reached unparalleled levels in India.  With rapes in the Capital taking center stage again, the other places in India are no different.   While we hope the Police would do their duty in nabbing the rapists, stalking of women and groping them by the sadistic elements in our society are common.  The common areas for groping are always the public utilities like the bus, train or the stairway in a rail station.

3 Chennai engineering students have come up with a contraption, which if worn in with the brassiere by a lady will come in handy when the would be groper makes a move.  As soon as the groper will touch the upper part of the woman's body, it will emit a shock amounting to 3800 KV surge of current.  The groper would have a shock of his life.

The three Chennai students who are behind this contraption are Rimpi Tripathi, student of Instrumentation and Control Engineering,  

Manisha Mohan, a student of automobile engineering at Chennai's SRM University and their colleauge Niladhri Basu Pal.  The three of them have developed what they call "Society Harnessing Equipment (SHE)."  It works together with a electric sensor, a GPS and a GSM module.  

» Two layers of cloth - the inside insulates the skin from shock

How the SHE will work and save a woman in distress :Sensors placed between the layer is calibrated to react to squeeze, grab and pinchWhen pressure is applied, the device triggers a 3,800 KV surge of current, up to 82 timesGPS and GSM work in tandem to send location details of the woman to a family member and the cops

The circuit is placed on the bosom and when pressure is applied the sensor-enabled device will trigger a 3,800 KV surge of current that can incapacitate the assailant long enough for the woman to escape. The innerwear would be bilayered; the layer touching the skin made of a material that would insulate her from the shock. Sensors would be placed between the two layers. The sensor is calibrated to distinguish between a normal touch, like a hug, and a violent one, like a squeeze, grab and pinch. The GPS and GSM work in tandem to send location details of the woman.

Sounds very interesting and inspiring in view of recent spate of crimes against women, but will somebody take up the challenge and invest in the startup of the 3 students is a unanswered question.

Vijay Prabhu

19 year old Ritesh Agarwal, an Indian Entrepreneur wins the $1,00,000 Thiel Fellowship

If you thought blogging or creating websites is just for advertising and affiliate marketing, think twice and read this.  19 year old entrepreneur, Ritesh Agarwal from India has won the Thiel Fellowship for USD 1,00,000 for two years.  That's around Rs.54.00 lakhs at today exchange rate.  Now back to the article.  

The Thiel Fellowship which was earlier called the 20 under 20 fellowship is given by Peter Theils Theil Foundation.  Peter Theil created this Fellowship to support the young entrepreneurs under 20 years of age and offers them $1,00,000 for a period of two years along with guidance and resources to drop out of college and pursue other cherished work including scientific research, creating startups, or working for a social movement.  

Peter Thiel is incidentally,one of the founders of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook.  So he knows a thing or two about startups.  This years 20 winners under 20 years of age include only one Indian, 19 year old Ritesh Agarwal.

Ritesh Agarwal is the founder of Oravel.com, a website which offers alternatives to hotel booking in India.  He has a team of 15 teenagers who look after the site with him.  He himself had graduated from VentureNursery Season 1 acceleration program in 2012. 

As a Thiel Fellowship winner, Ritesh will use technology to bring affordable and standardised accommodations to emerging economies across the world, starting with India.  Ritesh started Oravel.com when he was 18 years old and at 19 he become one of the youngest entrepreneurs in India to get an angel investor in form of VentureNursery to back his startup.

When asked about the teething problems his start up faced, Ritesh said, “My family initially wasn't very happy about my decision to quit studies and turn an entrepreneur. However, after the mentors explained the potential to them the amount of support I had from the family was amazing.”

When questioned about winning the Thiel Fellowship, Ritesh had this to say, “Being part of Thiel Fellowship is a humbling experience. I never thought I could make it, because of the exceptional quality of talent and passionate and driven entrepreneurs, mostly in their teens. I made it because of the sheer process and quality of execution achieved at Oravel.com,” 

Incidentally apart from Ritesh all other 19 winners are either college dropouts or have started their own startups.  You can read the full list of winners here.  

Please comment in on what you would have to say about Ritesh and his new found success.

Vijay Prabhu

Hoorah the Hand wins the race from the Lotus, Congress to form Government in Karnataka

The Congress today managed to secure a comfortable majority over the ruling BJP in the state elections held for Karnataka.  At the time of writing this article Congress had won 118 seats with leads in 3 taking the total to 121.  The BJP and the JDS are tied in the 2nd place at 40 each(lead + wins).  The question in minds of many Indians is how did Congress manage to win the state polls in Karnataka.  With all the 2G,3G, Coal Gate, etc scams how did the Congress leadership find the winning combination.  The answer is not hard to find out.

Over the years, the voting for the General Elections and the State Elections have shown a distinct difference in terms of voters preferences.  For the General Elections, the voters from the cities to the remotest places go with the national agenda like Security, Terrorism, Corruption, Economic policy, Nationalist planks, Governments stability, etc.  But for the State elections the electorate general prefer to vote in a party who they look upon will save their state and take on the path of progress.  

I had visited Karnataka in the month of Feb, 2013 and the first things I noticed that there was absolutely no work being done by the state government for any thing.  The roads were bad, there was no electricity for 2 sometimes 3 days.  The general administration looked asleep for the whole period since Yeddy was ousted from the CM's chair.  When I enquired with the local people, they only had very choice swear words for the incumbent government of led by Jagdish Shettar.  Their main grouse was the electricity, water and roads.  And all the Shettar government had failed on three counts.    Then there were lot of security issues with the bombings in Bangalore etc which led to further downfall of the Shettar government.  

When I was researching for this article I came across a statement by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.  

 "The people of the country know what is what and they will reject the BJP ideology as the result in Karnataka shows."

I am afraid the Congress election managers have got the result read into, completely wrong.  The win was not for ideology as the Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have stated in the the news.  It is a loss for bad governance by BJP.   Only the Finance Minister P.Chidambaram seems to read the situation correctly.  Finance Minister P Chidambaram promised that there will be a stable, progressive and hardworking government in the state for next five years.  And PC is right, this is what the people of Karnataka want.

A very very bad governance which the poor people the Karnataka had to suffer 5 years ultimately resulted in BJP being the door.  Ever since Yeddy was removed from the CMs chair, there has been no developmental work in Karnataka, people who require basic things like electricity, water and roads have waited and waited for 5 years so they can elect somebody who will give them just that.

One of the major mistakes from the BJP election team was not to gauge the mood of the people of Karnataka, because what I learnt from my week long visit, they could already have known.

I guess they already knew it, that is why BJP is hesitant to force the election issue in Loksabha.  It is very well known fact that the Congress is in minority and BJP alongwith the other parties can force a no confidence motion easily but, for the above reason which probably the BJP managers know, they are not sure about the general mood of the public.   

Anyways, the early general elections question has been put off  for now so the Indian public. 

Please write in your and share your views about the Congress win and BJP loss in Karnataka.

Vijay Prabhu

E-Filing of Income Tax for those earning over Rs.5.00 lakh per annum made compulsory by CBDT for the year 2012-13

Breaking News : The last date of filing Income Tax extended upto 5.8.2013, e-file your return now visit here

As I had already informed readers way back in March, 2013 through my article, the Central Board for Direct Taxes, today notified that those individuals earning Rs.5.00 lakh or more during the financial year 2012-13 (AY 2013-14) will have to file their eReturns with the Income Tax Department.    

Ever so slowly, the CDBT has brought perhaps all its tax payers under the e-filing net.  Because those salaried employees whose earnings for the year are less then Rs.5.00 lakhs and do not have interest income (Bank interest) of more than Rs.10,000.00 are any how exempted from filing returns.  This under Rs.5.00 lakhs employees include those whose Tax Deducted at Source(TDS) is being deducted by the Employer.  

Prior to this notification, e-filing had been mandatory for those whose income for the financial year exceed Rs.10.00 lakhs.  Now with the new notification the CBDT feels that it will have chunk of the tax paying citizens in the e-filing net giving both taxpayers and CBDT a greater transparency.  

GREATER TRANSPARENCY 

1.Individuals, including salaried taxpayers earning more than Rs.5 lakhs now have to mandatorily e-file their IT returns

2. Salaried tax payers with income less than Rs.5 lakhs and bank interest less than Rs.10000.00 are exempt for filing any IT return

3. Corporations in India can now e-file audit report, transfer pricing report, MAT certificate 

The Salaried taxpayers are however as of today exempted from obtaining digital signature for e-filing their returns.  So in essence it means that after you have filled your e-return, you have to just send a hard copy to the CPC, Bangalore.  

Those salaried tax payers who have income of less then Rs.5.00 lakhs per year but have income from house property and other sources can file their returns in Sahaj (ITR1).  You can download Sajaj by clicking this link and there are plenty of sites which offer Sahaj in excel format, if you prefer that.

If the tax payer has to report a loss under head Income from house property or winnings from a lottery then the individual has to file a e-return.  

The free online facility is available at https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.  After the e-filing is done you have to just send the hard copy to CPC, Bangalore at following address :

Income Tax Department - Centralized Processing Centre,Post Bag No - 1,Electronic City Post Office,Bangalore - 560100,Karnataka - India.

Please bear in mind the last date of filing your return for the current financial year 2012-13 (AY 2013-14) is 31st July, 2013.  So your employer should issue you a Form 16 by 15th May, 2013.  I will post another easy way to e-file your returns soon.  Please write in your questions, queries, suggestions which I will answer with the help of a Chartered Accountant.

Vijay Prabhu 

Chinese rape, Chinese checkers or just plain vanilla imperialism from China

There is a saying in hindi "Haathi ke daat dikhane ke aur hote hai, khaane ke aur" which essentially means that a elephant shows different teeth(tusks) and eats with different teeth.  This saying is apt in respect of the Peoples Republic of China.  What they tell seems to be far different from what they do.

For years after saying that it is not interested in any hegemonistic virtues, the old civilisation is finally showing its true colours.  Earlier in 2012 it was after the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands which are actually in the no mans land in the East China Sea.  Historically these islands were uninhabitated but of late due to discovery of oil the Chinese have started their imperialist land grabbing.  The Japan which also lays claim to the island started of by sending its Navy and in the later parts of the year by cutting of diplomatic relations with China.

The imperialist powers that rule China have now turned their eyes northwards towards the gigantic Himalayan plains.  As per recent reports its troops are squatting 19 km into the Indian territory.  This is the new age hegemonistic and imperial rulers of the Peoples Republic of China which deem insurgency to be a fit weapon. 

The areas which have been encroached upon are ice and glacier laden areas with no use for human habitat but the question remains why is China interested in these land parcels even after it has said that it does not have any hegemonistic tendencies.

This is the bitter truth of today's world, become your chief economic partner and f*** your a** from behind.  This is what China did to Japan and now this is what China is doing to India and this is what it will do to the US(in respect of North Korea) when the time comes.  It is known to the world that the mad cap leader of North Korea survives because of Chinese help and aid.  Every so often whenever the North Koreans need for money or aid in form of food grains, it starts rattling the war cry with the help of its toy nukes.  As always the US, Japan and the South Korea surrender meekly to this great black mail and give aid and food grains to the North Koreans which then keeps quite for next couple of years like a faithful pup. Why does North Korea succeed in its amoral ventures.  Because of the Chinese help, China is the main trading partner of all the three nations in question and they can't seem to make enemies out of the Chinese.

The Chinese have always had an eye for the Indian territories be it the Kashmir or the Arunachal Pradesh.  They have always denied the freedom to the Tibet since they usurped it and named it Tibetan Autonomous Region(TAR) to please the people of Tibet.  In reality, they have slowly and steadily started settling the Han Chinese into the Tibet and in few years to come the Tibetans will be a minority in their own land.    

What makes it even worse, is the Indian leadership or the lack of it it.  We Indians lack a good leader, we lack a good foreign policy and we lack good decision making.  The only leader with outstanding leadership we had was Mrs.Indira Gandhi, despite her emergency decision, she was the only leader who could answer the Chinese with a tit for tat policy.

But the leadership in place today has neither the will nor the whim to stop the Chinese affront.  In fact the leadership does not have a majority in the parliament and hence it is more worried about the elections looming ahead.  But rest assured if the government doesn't take any action soon, the Indian public are known to be unforgiving when it comes to the national pride.  We Indians tend to unite when the going gets tough and when our national honour is in question.  Surely the bosses in New Delhi know of this.

Mr.Narendra Modi, the PM in waiting should come out with a draft plan to deal with the Chinese insurgency and put it in public domain.  This will not only help him win credibility but also give the Chinese a earful.  Because at least they will know that some one is capable of taking them down.

What do you readers feel, should we take the Chinese insurgency lying down or should we face it, kindly write in your comments regarding the same.  If you like my views visit this page to read more.

Vijay Prabhu