Parkinsons Disease Helpline Launched

Medanta Institute of Neurosciences in Gurgaon has launched the Parkinsons disease (PD) support group Swavalamban On World Parkinsons Day on Monday to help the  patients and their families to tide over the ordeal. Medanta Institute of Neurosciences has launched a helpline number which aims at providing emergency services to patients.

A public awareness seminar was also organized which was attended by 10 Parkinsons disease patients along with their families. The hospital has also announced a week of free OPD at Medanta the Medicity and Mediclinic.

The Medanta Hospital authorities aim to break the false beliefs about PD that has spread among others. Most of the common people think that getting infected by Parkinsons is like the end of the road for the patient and that they will have a poor quality of life. The true stories narrated by the patients themselves who are living a healthy life after the Parkinsons treatment is the biggest evidence to prove that medicine has changed significantly. Particularly the amazing results achieved by Deep Brain Stimulation surgery in very severe PD case gives new hope for the patients.

The helpline number for Parkinsons patient is 0124-4855055  and will also provide vital information and education regarding the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options for the PD, apart from other emergency services.

Winter Death Toll in Uttar Pradesh Rises to 104

Two more persons died due to extreme cold conditions in Uttar Pradesh, taking the death toll in Uttar Pradesh this winter to 104. While one person died due to cold in Bahraich district, one more death was reported from Sitapur, officials said in Lucknow. The state capital, which was the coldest place, recorded a minimum of 0.8 degrees Celsius this morning, which was six notches below normal,

Varanasi recorded a low of 2.2 degrees C, seven notches below normal.

Kanpur shivered at 1.9 degrees C, which was six notches below normal, while minimum temperature in Allahabad settled at 3.6, five degrees below normal.

Sultanpur recorded a minimum of 1.5 degrees C, which was eight degrees below normal, followed by Gorakhpur at 2.3 degrees C, seven notches below normal.

Source - http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/uttarpradesh/Two-more-die-due-to-cold-toll-at-104/Article1-649410.aspx

IndiGo Airline in a $16 Billion Deal with Airbus

Indian budget airline IndiGo has recently signed an agreement to buy 180 Airbus A320 aircraft, in a record sale worth $16.4 billion (12.6 billion euros). As per the Airbus officials it is one of the largest single firm order number for large jets in commercial aviation history.

The low-cost  airline from India has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 150 single-aisle A320neo jets. The neo versions - "new engine option" -- are equipped with more efficient engines and fuel-saving wing tips.

IndiGo is the first client for this new version of the aircraft, which Airbus only unveiled last month and plans to start delivering in early 2016. The other 30 planes are to be standard versions of the A320. The value of the deal was not announced, but according to Airbus' catalogue price the sale is worth $16.4 billion.

The aircraft are expected to deliver fuel savings of up to 15 percent, with corresponding cuts in overall pollution. "Ordering more A320s was the natural choice to meet India's growing flying needs. "The opportunity to reduce costs and to further improve our environmental performance through the A320 were key to our decision," they said in a statement.

Airbus said it has delivered some 4,500 of the aircraft to 310 airlines, with another 1,300 on the order books, making it the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft family.

The A320neo is Airbus' bid to counter rival aircraft such as Canada's Bombadier CSeries and China's C919, as well as heading off Boeing, which has not yet decided on the future of its medium-haul 737.

Airbus will offer airlines a choice of motors on its A320neo.

They will be able to choose between the latest model from CFM International, a joint venture between France's Safran and General Electric in the United States, and a US Pratt & Whitney engine.

IndiGo had not yet decided what engine it wanted for its models and would make an announcement at a later date, Airbus said.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Indian-budget-airline-IndiGo-in-16bn-deal-with-Airbus-/articleshow/7264811.cms

CAT 2010 - 8 Engineers Score 100

The 100 percentile scorers in the Common Admission Test (CAT) held in 2010 will be an eight-engineer all-male club. They have topped the second edition of the online CAT exam which decides admission to 11 Indian Institutes of Management and over 150 B-schools this year. The test scores will be released today.

Maharashtra has three toppers — two from Mumbai and one from Pune — and Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Indore have one each. Breaking the myth that women rarely top CAT, two women from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have scored 99.9 percentile. In all, 19 candidates have scored 99.99 percentile, with three candidates each from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat getting the second-best score. There are two candidates from Karnataka with 99.9 percentile. The identity of all toppers has been kept confidential.

IIMs, which jointly conduct the CAT, will announce the results on Wednesday. Candidates can download their score cards from the CAT website, www.catiim.in Over 1.86 lakh candidates appeared for CAT 2010, held between October 27 and November 24, across 20 test days. The CAT score is one of the inputs used by IIMs in admitting students to its flagship two-year Post-Graduate Programme. Weightage is given to work experience, personal interview and group discussion and academic performance in Class 12 and degree exams. Individual IIMs have uploaded their admission criteria for the 2011-13 batch on their websites.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/8-engineers-score-100-in-CAT-2010/articleshow/7264304.cms

Supreme Court Issues Notice to Government on Cancellation of 2G Spectrum

The Supreme Court of India today issued notice to the Central Government on the plea seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum licenses allocated during the tenure of former Telecom Minister A Raja. The court also issued notices to a11 the companies which allegedly did not fulfill the roll out obligations as per the terms and conditions of allocation of the spectrum.

The apex court also impleaded TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India) as a respondent in the petition. A bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly sought the response from the Department of Telecom and the companies within three weeks and posted the matter for hearing on February 1.

"After considering submission of the petitioner's counsel that since TRAI has sent a letter dated November 15, 2010 to Secretary, DoT, which indicated that many companies have not complied with the roll out obligation and not started the services, we deem it fit to entertain the petition," the bench said.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) seeking cancellation of the licenses alleging that all norms were violated. The companies to which notices weree issued includes Etisalat, Uninor, Loop Telecom, Videocon, S-Tel, Allianz Infra, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, Dishnet wireless and Vodafone-Essar.

The bench was also hearing the petition filed by Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy who has also sought identical directions.

However, the bench asked Swamy to make the companies, who have not fulfiled the roll out obligations, as parties, and then it will hear the matter along with the CPIL petition. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the CPIL, elaborated the grounds for the cancellation of the 2G licenses.

The bench also questioned the silence of TRAI, which is the highest regulatory authority in the telecom sector, on the issue of alleged delay in fulfilling roll-out obligations of the companies which were issued 2G spectrum licenses.

While one petition was filed jointly on 14th of December by various civil societies such as Centre for Public Interest Litigation, Telecom Watchdog and Common Cause another was filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on January 4.

Several eminent persons like former chief election commissioners J M Lyngdoh, T S Krishnamurthy and N Gopalaswami and former Central Vigilance Commissioner P Shankar are also petitioners in the petition filed by civil societies.

The second petition was filed after the apex court on an earlier plea by Swamy decided to monitor the ongoing probe into the scam by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
Citing two judgements by the Delhi High Court and the CAG's report on the issue of spectrum allocation, the two petitions have alleged that the process of the spectrum allocation was marred by "multiple illegalities, corruption and favouritism."

Citing the CAG report, they said 85 of the 122 licences were given to companies which were not even eligible and as many as 343 applications were not even considered by the DoT.

The petitions have also pointed out that even the sectoral regulator has recommended cancellation of 69 out of the 122 licences as the licencees have failed to roll out their services as stipulated by the condition on which they were given the licences.

The petitions said internationally, in most legal systems, transactions tainted by bribery or corruption or made in violation of established norms and procedures are considered illegal and unenforceable.

Source - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/127880/sc-issues-notice-govt-cancellation.html

Quitting bananas Helps to Conceive Baby Girl

As per the Scientist, if you want to have a daughter, then you should quit bananas and go on a diet of beans and hard cheese. Researchers from Maastricht University in Holland have discovered that a combination of the right food and the timing of sex are the key to the nursery being painted pink rather than blue.

They say that the trick is to refrain from eating sodium and potassium-rich foods, such as anchovies, olives, bacon, salami, smoked salmon, prawns, savoury rice, blue cheese, potatoes, processed meats, bread, pastries etc. Instead they should concentrate more on foods rich in calcium and magnesium.

Foods containing high amounts of calcium include yoghurt, hard cheese, canned salmon, rhubarb, spinach, tofu, almonds, oatmeal, broccoli and oranges. Brazil and cashew nuts, whole-wheat cereals, figs and beans are rich in magnesium.

The researchers also claim that the father's diet has no effect on what sex the baby will be. If prospective mothers want a daughter, the scientists recommend having regular sex - but not on days immediately prior or after ovulation. Their conclusions follow a five-year study involving 172 Western European women who were aged from 23 to 42. The women had all previously given birth to boys - in one case, four of them - and wanted girls.

They were told to cut out salt and eat at least a pound of dairy products a day. Their diet also included bread, vegetables, fruit, meat, rice and pasta. Although a large number of the women dropped out of the survey because they failed to adhere to the strict dietary requirements or rules on when to have sex, 21 women stuck it out to the end.

Of the 21, 16 gave birth to daughters - an astonishing success rate of almost 80 per cent.

"The results show that both diet and timing methods increase the probability of girl - the impact of the diet being the most pronounced," the Daily Mail quoted a spokesman for the scientists as saying.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Want-a-baby-girl-Quit-bananas/articleshow/6499567.cms

iGate Corp Acquires Patni for $1.2 Billions

In another big move, iGate Corp has acquired the country's seventh largest technology services firm, Patni Computer Systems for a deal $1.2 billion. The deal reiterates that Indian information technology, an entrepreneurial story for the last three decades, is now a play for the lion-hearted, something shown by the much smaller but far more ambitious Nasdaq-listed iGate Corp. The $300 million iGate is ringing up debt in excess of $700 million to finance the transaction. It will be assisted in the buyout by Apax Partners and will issue an open offer by April.

The buyout was closed after several weeks of negotiations and media speculation. The transaction value includes the open offer to public shareholders of Patni. The deal is expected to be closed, with regulatory nods, in the first half of this year.

The deal has been done at Rs 503.5 per share, valuing Patni at around $1.45 billion. TOI had first reported that iGate and Apax's winning bid would be priced between Rs 500-505 per share, about 10 days ago. The three Patni brothers, who jointly held a 45.6% stake, are selling their stake along with private equity investor General Atlantic who held 17.4% stake in Patni. iGate will make an open offer for a further 20.6% stake in Patni as a result of which its stake in Patni could range between 63% and 83%. It is said to be among the largest deals in the tech sector in India, the largest being Oracle Corp's acquisition of majority stake in i-flex solutions for more than $1.5 billion in 2005.

iGate is raising debt from the Royal Bank of Canada and Jeffries and Company. A further sum of $100 million will be raised from iGate's cash reserves. PE firm Apax Partners will invest anywhere between $270-$480 million through convertible equity (depending on response to open offer). Its stake could also therefore range between 20-34% in the merged entity.

With the merger of the two companies, a decision about the Patni brand name will also be taken soon and sources say the Patni name will give way to the iGate Global brand. Significantly unlike similar M&As, there is no non-compete fee agreed to in this deal.

The takeover is seen by analysts as a David and Goliath scenario. While Patni registered revenues of $518.7 million in the 9 months ended September 2010, the corresponding figure for iGate is less than half of that, at $199.5 million.

The deal values Patni at around eight times EBITDA and at around 1.8 times revenue. The valuation appears rich for any mid-tier firm but compares poorly with the big IT companies, where Infosys, Cognizant and TCS quote at over 20 times EBITDA and between 5-8 times revenue. But the public markets have valued mid-sized firms differentially for several years now. Two bankers who worked on the deal said Patni's valuation was good, factoring in its growth profile in recent years. "Patni remains a turnaround story for the acquirer," they added.

The combined revenues of the merged entity will take it into the billion-dollar league. This is expected to place iGate in a better position to compete for deals against the likes of TCS, Infosys and Wipro. Smaller sized IT companies have in recent times struggled for revenue growth and profitability, as they are unable to offer scale efficiencies or attractive pay packages to retain staff. "The huge scale will enable us to mine out more deals as we bring a better value proposition to the table," said Murthy, who had previously attempted to break into the big league by acquiring Satyam Computer, which eventually went to Tech Mahindra.

Patni will also enable iGate to widen its client base and reduce its dependence on a few clients. iGate's top 10 clients bring 84% of total revenues versus Patni's 48%. The combination will now have 2 clients that bring $100 million plus revenues, 2 clients that bring $15 million plus revenues, and 36 clients in the $5 million plus league. General Electric is one of the biggest customers for both companies and this is expected to bring synergies.


The Patni board members will remain at least until the deal is closed and in the next 3-4 weeks, 2 of iGate's senior officials will join Patni's board. Post the completion of the deal the roles of senior board members will also be defined. Murthy is expected to be the CEO of the combined entity.

The combined employee base will now be more than 24,000. Murthy said that they will look to retain as many Patni employees as possible and there would be no need for major retrenchment. Patni has good presence in the western and northern Indian region, while iGate has offices in the south, which gives employees good options to move around the country. "Though Patni currently suffers from high attrition rates, this is expected to stabilize as employees are now assured job stability," Murthy said.

The biggest concerns that iGate officials is regarding the cultural integration between the two organizations as well as the debt on its books. IGate, is currently a zero debt company, and will have debts in its books for the next few years. "The combined company will have an EBITDA of $210-220 and hence we have the debt-furnishing ability. However, we will look to wipe out this debt as quickly as we can," Murthy said.

Patni is expected to remain listed in India at least until the first half of next year. Murthy views Nasdaq, where iGate is listed, as the main listing market. "Trading at Nasdaq is strategic as far as branding is concerned," Murthy said.


Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/iGate-buys-Patni-for-12bn/articleshow/7256725.cms