Andhra Pradesh CM dead in chopper crash

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter accident.
It may be recalled the helicopter in which YSR along with security personally, special secretary and 3 others are travelling went missing since yesterday noon. YSR is on his way to attend the Rachabanda program in Chittoor district. The last communication from the twin-engine Bell 430 helicopter last communicated from the thick Nallamalla forests range in Kurnool district. Both the State Government and the Union Governments confirmed the accident and the death of the Chief Minister.

An Indian Airforce helicopter has confirmed about the crash site early in the morning. Army commandos have recovered the body of YSR and 4 others. Dr. Reddy is accompanied by Principal Secretary S Subramanyam, Chief Security Officer ASC Wesley and two captains Group Captain SK Bhatia and Captain MS Reddy.

Sri Rosiah is proposed as the interm Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. A communique from Congress Party says it will pick a permanent candidate for the post of Chief Minister in 2-3 days.

Friends, Political party representatives, supporters and people in large numbers have arrived at the CM Residence in Hyderabad and at the Secretariat.

Bhuvan : 3D satellite imagery of India

Bhuvan, which literally means 'earth', is a web-based tool like Google Earth, but it promises better 3-D satellite imagery of India than what is currently being offered by other Virtual Globe software.

It brings you a host of India-specific features such as weather information and even administrative boundaries of all states and districts.

Bhuvan is equally capable of offering images of the globe, but the best resolution area is India, at least for the time being. "Bhuvan will be able to give you an image from only 10 meters away", an ISRO spokesman said; which means in the Indian subcontinent even a commuter moving on the road can be easily spotted. Bhuvan uses images taken at least a year ago by ISRO's seven remote-sensing satellites in orbit including Cartosat-1 and Cartosat-2.

Unique features

1. Bhuvan allows users to access, explore and visualize 2D and 3D image data along with rich thematic information on soil, wasteland, water resources etc in the Indian subcontinent.

2. It displays multi-resolution, multi-sensor, multi-temporal image data.

3. Users can superpose administrative boundaries of choice on images as required.

4. It allows visualization of AWS (Automatic Weather Stations) data in a graphic view and use tabular weather data of user choice.

5. Fly to locations (Enables users to fly from the current location directly to the selected location)

6. It features a Heads-Up Display (HUD) navigation controls (Tilt slider, north indicator, opacity, compass ring, zoom slider)

7. Allows navigation using the 3D view Pop-up menu (Fly-in, Fly out, jump in, jump around, view point)

8. 3D Fly through (3D view to fly to locations, objects in the terrain, and navigate freely using the mouse or keyboard)

9. Drawing 2D objects (Text labels, polylines, polygons, rectangles, 2D arrows, circles, ellipse)

10. Drawing 3D Objects (placing of expressive 3D models, 3D polygons, boxes)

11. Snapshot creation (copies the 3D view to a floating window and allows saving to an external file)

12. Measurement tools (Horizontal distance, aerial distance, vertical distance, measure area)

13. Shadow Analysis (it sets the sun position based on the given time creating shadows and effects of the lighting on the terrain)

14. The Bhuvan portal is designed to run on slow Internet connections.

Thus, Bhuvan represents, in essence, the whole India on your computer. The next version of Bhuvan is expected to be called Bhuvan ChandraBhumi, which will feature both earth and moon in resolution up to 347 m maximum in near side and 432 m far side which is taken by Chandrayaan. The Bhuvan project demonstrates the country's expertise in both information and space technology.


The Bhuvan can be downloaded from http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in/.

Info from Yahoo India News

63rd Indian Independence Day - 15th August 2009

15th August Independence Day 2009, Independence Day - August 15, 1947, the most important day in the history of India, the day when the long suppressed nation found utterance, it was the day when India got independence from the British rule. The stroke of the midnight brought with it a ray of new hope for India, as our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru said, the world was asleep but India awoke to life and freedom. A new nation was born! Since then August 15 is celebrated as the independence day in India every year.

Independence from the British rule was the sole aim of their lives. This dream of millions of Indians was realized when finally India got freedom on August 15, 1947. The joy of independence brought along with it the grief of partition! The country was divided into two parts - India and Pakistan. Pakistan assumed August 14 as its independence day whereas August 15 was declared the independence day for India.

keep swine flu away: Ayurvedic experts

Lucknow, May 27: Wonder herb Tulsi can not only keep the dreaded swine flu at bay but also help in fast recovery of an afflicted person, Ayurvedic practitioners claim.

"The anti-flu property of Tulsi has been discovered by medical experts across the world quite recently. Tulsi improves the body's overall defence mechanism including its ability to fight viral diseases. It was successfully used in combating Japanese Encephalitis and the same theory applies to swine flu," Dr U K Tiwari, a herbal medicine practitioner says.

Apart from acting as a preventive medicine in case of swine flu, Tulsi can help the patient recover faster.

"Even when a person has already contracted swine flu, Tulsi can help in speeding up the recovery process and also help in strengthening the immune system of the body," he claims.

Dr Bhupesh Patel, a lecturer at Gujarat Ayurvedic University , Jamnagar is also of the view that Tulsi can play an important role in controlling swine flu.

"Tulsi can control swine flu and it should be taken in fresh form. Juice or paste of at least 20-25 medium sized leaves should be consumed twice a day on an empty stomach."

This increases the resistance of the body and, thereby, reduces the chances of inviting swine flu," believes Patel.


Bureau Report

Swine Flu Testing Centers in India

Delhi Swine Flu Testing Center

Isolation/Critical Care Facility for Delhi
Yellow Fever Quarantine Centre,
Near AAI Residential Colony,
New Delhi
Contact: APHO- 25652129
Dr. S.K Singh: 09868252314

Influenza Ward,
Ward no 5, Second Floor,
New Building, RML Hospital,
Delhi-1
RML- 24525211,23404328,23365525- Ext 4328

Control Room
DHS Office
Tel: (011) 22307145
Contact Time: 24x7

Nodal Officer:
Dr. R. P. Vashist
Ph: 09212222456, 22305657 (O), 23646049(O)
Fax: 23646173

Kolkata Swine Flu Testing Center

Isolation/Critical Care Facility for Kolkata, West Bengal
Beliaghata Infectious Diseases Hospital,
57, Beliaghata, Main Road,
Kolkata
This is an Isolation and Critical Care Centre
Contact:
Dr. Vishwanath, Ph: 09433392182
Dr. Vishwas, Ph: 09434009077

Control Room
Chamber of Joint Director (Health Services),
Swasthaya Bhawan,
Sector-5, GN Block,
Kolkata - 91
Ph: (033) 23571192
Contact Time: 10 AM to 7 PM on working days and 11 AM to 4:30 PM on Saturday and Holidays

Nodal Officer:
Dr. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Jt.DHS
Ph: 033-23330180
Mobile: 09831187818

Swine Flu Testing Center for Mumbai, Maharashtra

Isolation/Critical Care Facility for Mumbai, Maharashtra
Kasturba Hospital,
Sane Guruji Marg,
Mumbai - 11,
Maharastara (Isolation and critical care)
Ph: 022-23083901, 02,03,04
Contact Person: Dr. Umesh Aigal, Ph: 09820935680

Control Room
Room no.137,
First Floor, Swasthaya Bhawan,
Mumbai.
022-22029070
022-22025830
Contact Time: 24x7

Nodal Officer:
Dr. Gawande Ph: 09420711426
Dr. Awate, Ph: 09423337556

Chennai Swine Flu Testing Center
Isolation/Critical Care Facility for Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Communicable Disease Hospital,
87, T.H. Road,
Tondiarpet,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
This is also an Isolation Facility
Contact: Dr. Lakshmi, Ph: 044-25912688, Mobile: 09841250567

Control Room
Office of the Director (Public Health &Preventive Medicine),
Central Malaria Laboratory,
359, Annasalai,
Chennai - 6
Ph: 044-24321569
Contact Time: 24x7

Nodal Officer:
DR. Elango, DHS, Ph: 09940610123

Bangalore Swine Flu Testing Center
Isolation/Critical Care Facility for Bangalore, Karnataka
Dr. Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases and SDS TB Hospital
Hosur Road,
Near NIMHANS,
Bangalore 560029,
Karnataka (Isolation and critical care)
Dr. S. Buggi, Ph: 09448042579
Dr. Nagraj, Ph: 09448057093

Control Room
Office of the Director (Health and Family Welfare),
Anand Rao Circle,
Bangalore - 560009
Phone no: 080 1056
Contact Time: 24x7

Nodal Officer:
Dr. Chelluraj, Ph: 09901060584
Dr. Vasudev Murthi, Ph: 09880024329

Slumdog Millionaire - 8 Oscar Awards

Slumdog Millionaire follows the story of an orphan named Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) who grows up in the harsh slums of Mumbai, only to be chosen as a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire where he's poised to win $20 million rupees.

Boyle's newest novel-to-silver screen adaptation has raked in over $12 million since its opening, according to BoxOffice.com and is being lauded by film critics nationwide. The director's popularity has grown since he released 1996's cult classic Trainspotting – the story of a group of heroin addicts living in Edinburgh.
Slumdog is based on a novel called Q and A by Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup. And it follows not only the boys life but India's trajectory from underdeveloped to a capitalistic, mass consumption society.

As always Boyle manages to evoke raw emotions and suspense from his use of guerilla-like camera work, stunning scenery of the Mumbai slums and Indian countryside, as well as a touching love story that carries the audience until the end.

A Touching Story With One Leg In The Past

The film follows the life of Jamal and his older, amoral brother Salim through a series of flashbacks.
When it opens Jamal has been arrested and tortured by Indian police who believe that his good fortune on the television show is attributed to cheating – when in fact each question is inexplicably tied to major events in his life.

In order to appease Sergeant Srinivas (Saurabh Shukla) he tells the story of how he knows each of the answers and how they relate to his incredibly challenging life.
The two brothers were orphans after their mother is murdered. They travel the country hustling and stealing to survive, later struggling to avoid a nefarious head of an orphanage and meet a beautiful young girl named Latika (Freida Pinto) along the way.

Like Boyle's other films, Slumdog features his characteristic style of dark humor, plus those scenes that are touching and those that are sickening and disturbing. In an ode to gross toilets - a memorable scene from Trainspotting with Ewan McGregor - Boyle has the young Jamal jump into a vat of feces to get the autograph of his favorite Bollywood actor.

Another stomach-turning scene features his twisted brother Salim forcing him out of their room to steal young Latika's virginity. Jamal doesn't see neither of them for many years after that night, but makes it his mission to find her.
While the story is told through a series of historical vignettes, the action always returns to Jamal on the set of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Slumdog More Than Money, It's a Love Story

Throughout the entire film, Jamal is only a few questions away from winning millions, but his true motivation is finding the beautiful Latika. When he does find her she is in an abusive relationship with a local gangster who happens to employ his brother Salim.

Both characters have always felt a profound connection with one another since they first met, but because of their circumstances neither had the opportunity to express it. Winning the $20 million rupees is only an ancillary to Jamal's goal, one that would allow the two to live together anywhere in the world.

A Fascination With Game Shows

Game shows are a fascination for Boyle who includes them in almost all of his movies. The director's fascination could be to point out a relation between chance, risk and the unpredictability of life. Slumdog, on the other hand, is one step closer - it is completely set within a contemporary game show.
Yet, the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is more than just simple entertainment in this film.

Instead it shows the cultural changes in India as Bombay transforms into Mumbai, considered the metropolitan center of the entire country. The old slums are torn down and replaced by high rise hotels, investment makes the cities' businesses rich, and the Americanized ideal of “anything is possible” takes hold

A.R. Rahman won 2 Oscars

Bollywood's Music Composer A.R. Rahman won Oscars for original score and original song in Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" on Sunday, becoming the first Indian composer to strike gold at the annual Hollywood awards.

"Slumdog," which tells of a young man looking for love and competing for money on the Indian version of the television game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", scooped up eight Oscars, including best motion picture.

Rahman, 43, won the Original Song Oscar for 'Jai Ho'. "Before coming, I was excited and terrified," Rahman said when accepting his Academy Award. "Last time I felt like that was during my marriage," he added.

Rahman had also been named best composer at the Golden Globes last month.