Women grab top civil services ranks

Women on top was the verdict of the 2008 civil services examination. For the first time, the top three positions went to women.

In another first, a physically disabled candidate topped among men.Varinder Kumar Sharma is from Chandigarh.

Leading the pack was 30-year-old Shubhra Saxena from Ghaziabad. An IIT Roorkee graduate, Saxena is a teacher at an IAS coaching institute in Delhi.

“I did not always want to become a civil servant,” she said. “But four years in the IT industry were enough to make me see the futility of it all

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United States Congress okays Nuclear Deal

The India-US civil nuclear deal is finally done, with the US Senate giving a resounding 86-13 approval to the historic accord visualised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush over three years ago.

The Senate approval, allowing resumption of nuclear commerce with India, four days after an equally emphatic 298-117 endorsement from the House of Representatives, clears the way for President Bush to sign it into law, possibly later Thursday.

Mr Bush, who had hoped to seal the accord when Dr Singh visited him at the White House a week ago, had made the India deal a “very, very high priority” of his administration even in the midst of America’s great financial crisis.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who led efforts to secure passage of the deal with numerous meetings and endless phone calls to legislators, is expected to carry the deal package to New Delhi Saturday.

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Gurgaon Collapsing

It was to be the signpost of the new, globalising India.

But the unedifying, unprecedented sight of CEOs protesting the dumping of garbage of Gurgaon’s streets is an indication that a shiny Indian dream is collapsing.

“Millennium City”, as its administrators and builders often call Gurgaon, where 2 million live and work, accounts for more than 10 per cent of India’s $40 billion (about Rs 18,400 crore) in annual software exports.

It is home to offices of some 200 Fortune 500 companies, from General Electric to Coca Cola.

Gurgaon was to do to Delhi what Pudong did to Shanghai — put it on the global business map.

Pudong made that jump into the first world. Gurgaon is sliding further and faster every day into the third world.

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Bombay HC judge's 'drunk' son mows down man

The son of a Bombay High Court ran his car over a man in Mumbai's D N Nagar area on Thursday night. The police have registered an FIR against the accused who was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol. The victim has been admitted to the hospital with injuries. This is not the first time that children of high profile people have been caught on the wrong side of the law.

Last year, 21-year-old Alistair Pereira, the son of a Mumbai-based industrialist had rammed his Toyota Corolla in the pavement at Bandra killing sleeping labourers. Seven labourers had died and several others were injured. The Bombay High Court had re-opened the case after a public outcry over a sessions court judgement which let off Pereira leniently with just a six-month jail term and a fine of Rs five rupees.

Pereira has now been sentenced to three years’ Rigourous Imprisonment under Section 304, one year under Section 338 and six months for causing grevious injuries. In January 1999, Sanjeev Nanda, the son of a Navy officer, was driving his BMW in an "inebriated" state and ran over six people in New Delhi. It is alleged that Nanda and his friends, who were travelling in the car, fled the scene of the accident though the police found some bloodstains on the vehicle later.

More recently, actor Salman Khan was charged with running over pavement dwellers in Mumbai, allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.
image and article source:ibnlive.com