Souring EMIs

SOARING EMI HAUNTS MIDDLE CLASS HOMES
The Latest Hike In Home Loan Rates Combined With Inflation Is A Double Whammy For Investors In Real Estate
Karthika Gopalakrishnan & M Ramya | TNN

Chennai: Janakiraman (29), currently employed at a PR agency, used to contribute Rs 15,000 towards the household expenses 18 months ago. However, this has dipped to Rs 5,000 now because the monthly EMI on his home loan of Rs 18.5 lakh has risen from Rs 16,500 to Rs 19,000. His repayment tenure has also risen to 25 years.
“Now, 65% of my salary goes towards the loan and I have been forced to cut back on my investments. I got good returns earlier by investing one-fifth of my salary in mutual funds. But now I invest only on the incentives that I get for my performance. In fact, even my allotment for recreation has gone from onethird of my salary to onesixth,” he said.
When the RBI announced the rise in repo and cash reserve rates in banks, the middle class held its breath. On Thursday, when home loan companies raised their housing finance rates by 75 basis points or 0.75%, there was a collective gasp.
With real estate remaining a popular mode of investment among the conservative middle class, home loans ought to follow suit. However, the rapidly rising interest rates and inflation are only serving as a deterrent in the process.
Poornima Ramanan, a quality assurance manager at Renault – Nissan, is worried about how the rising cost of living combined with the hike in EMIs will affect her daily life. Though the family income of her household would come up to Rs 1.5 lakh a month, she said the monthly budget would definitely be affected if interest rates continued to climb the way they did.
“Our pay will also not rise that much, maybe a maximum of 5 to 10%. I am planning to take a housing loan because I stay in a rented house on Santhome High Road right now. My rent is currently Rs 25,000 but once I take a home loan, my EMI will probably be double that amount. At this rate, we will definitely have to cut down on all our luxuries,” she said.
Poornima also cites the example of her friend, who had been paying Rs 18,100 on a loan of Rs 20 lakh for 20 years. “Now, it has gone up to Rs 20,120 and the tenure increased to 26 years. In fact, she expects it to rise by another Rs 1,000, as if the current situation is not bad enough,” she said.
Vijayan, a media professional, says that Standard Chartered Bank informed them about the first hike, which will come into effect from August 1, only on Thursday.
When they calculated the toll that the EMI rise would take on the family budget they found that they would have no savings at the end of the day. This was the situation before the Thursday hike. “If the bank decides to hike rates again we will find it difficult to make ends meet,” Shoba says.
The housing EMI is only a part of today’s problem for the middle class. “Take our case, what was Rs 100 a week for vegetables is now double that. Rice and provision prices have gone over the roof. Salaries don’t go up that way,” she chuckles.
During these trying times, not only do you have to shell out an exorbitant amount to ensure a roof over your head, you have to carry the burden over many years as well
Source : The Times of india dt 2 8 2008

Tech behind job losses: Obama

WASHINGTON: The Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has held revolution in technology and communication in last few decades responsible for outsourcing of jobs to India and China.

"Over the last few decades, revolutions in technology and communication have made it so that corporations can send good jobs wherever there's an Internet connection. Children here in Missouri aren't just growing up competing for good jobs with children in California or Indiana, but with children in China and India as well," Senator Obama said at a campaign rally in Springfield, Missouri.

In a veiled attack on previous government for its decision on economic reforms, he said "it was irresponsible decisions that were made on Wall Street and in Washington. In the past few years, we have relearned the essential truth that in the long run, we cannot have a thriving Wall Street and a struggling Main Street."

When wages are flat, prices are rising and more and more Americans are mired in debt, the economy as a whole suffers.

When a reckless few game the system, as we've seen in this housing crisis, millions suffer and we're all impacted, he said, adding when government fails to meet its obligation -- to provide sensible oversight and stand on the side of working people and invest in their future -- America pays a heavy price.

"So, we have a choice to make in this election. We can either choose a new direction for our economy, or we can keep doing what we've been doing," he said.

Emphasising on a need to develop job prospects at home instead of outsourcing it to other nations Obama said, "We can choose to do nothing about disappearing jobs and shuttered factories for another four years, or we can encourage job creation in the United States of America."
Source : infotech.indiatimes.com

How to boos your PC Speed

Frustrated with slow computer speed? Hate it when your computer slows down while you access the Internet.

And you simply bang your head when your computer takes ages to search your files. You desperately wish that your PC could gain some speed.

Don't worry. You can easily overcome this.

Here are some easy-to-do tips which can boost up your PC speed.
Clean up disk errors

Whenever a programme crashes or you experience some power outage, your PC may create some errors on hard disk. This slows down computer speed.

For this, check and clean any errors on the computer hard disk.

To run Disk Check go to My Computer. Now, right-click on the drive you want to check for errors and click Properties.

In Properties dialogue box, click on the Tools tab. In the Error-Checking section, press the Check Now button. Access Check Disk to check for errors on your computer.

Depending on the errors, it may take up to an hour to check and clean. This must be followed at least once a week.

Remove temporary files
Your PC stores temporary files whenever you browse through the Web. Also, your PC stores temporary files when you work on programmes like Microsoft Word or Excel.

This ends up slowing down your PC speed. To overcome it you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your PC of these dead files.

To run Disk Cleanup go to My Computer. Right click on the drive you wish to check for errors and click Properties. In the Properties dialogue box, click Disk Cleanup. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear unused files from your PC.

After scanning, the Disk Cleanup dialogue box lists the files you can remove from your computer.

Your PC stores temporary files whenever you browse through the Web. Also, your PC stores temporary files when you work on programmes like Microsoft Word or Excel.

This ends up slowing down your PC speed. To overcome it you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your PC of these dead files.

To run Disk Cleanup go to My Computer. Right click on the drive you wish to check for errors and click Properties. In the Properties dialogue box, click Disk Cleanup. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear unused files from your PC.

After scanning, the Disk Cleanup dialogue box lists the files you can remove from your computer.

Organise your data
Often when you search files your PC takes a lot of time to track them. This is because computer breaks files into pieces to increase the speed of access and retrieval.

However, once updated, computer saves these files on the space available on the hard drive, which results in fragmented files. This makes your PC go slow because it then searches for all of the file's parts.

You need a Disk Defragmenter programme to needle all your files back together.

For this, go to My Computer and right click on the drive you want to check for error and click Properties.

In the Properties dialogue box, click the Tools tab, and then in the Defragmentation section, click Defragment. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, select the disk and then click Analyse.

After analysing your PC, the Disk Defragmenter pops up a message asking whether you need to defragment your computer or not. Once you defragement your PC, it will reorganise files by programme and size.

Install anti-virus
Biggest culprits behind slow PC performance are viruses and spyware. Both end up reducing your PC speed. Not only this they can also destroy your data and tamper files.

Also, with the 24X7 online environment, it is important to have anti-virus and anti-spyware programmes installed for secure online experience.

These programmes need to be frequently updated to avoid any attack on your computer.

You can do a recee of the Net for popular anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions. There are also several paid options like McAfee, Norton Anti-virus and Trend Micro.

Reduce page history
Is your PC giving you trouble while accessing the Internet? Don't worry. For Internet Explorer users, Microsoft has some rescue options for faster Web browsing.

To improve your PC speed, first reduce the size of your Web page history. For this go to Internet Explorer, and on the Tools menu click on Internet Options. Then go to the History section and type in the number of days you want to keep pages in history.

Preferably reduce the number of days as this will reduce the size of your Web page history.

Automate Microsoft updates

For Windows users, Microsoft frequently release updates which may help boost up your PC speed. For this activate automate Microsoft Update so that your computer downloads and installs all the latest updates without giving you any trouble of finding any new releases.

Go to Start menu and click Control Panel. In the Automatic Updates dialog box, check the Automatic check box. If your PC finds any new updates, it will automatically download and install them. This will help you keep your computer up to date.

*Source : Indiatimes News Network

18 bombs defused in Surat

AHMEDABAD: In a day of “battle with bombs,” the Surat police on Tuesday unearthed 18 live bombs and its bomb squad succeeded in defusing all of them, averting a major tragedy in the second largest commercial centre of Gujarat.

It was the third consecutive day live bombs and explosives were found in Surat. As panic spread in the diamond and art silk city, all schools and colleges were closed and children sent back home. Shutters of cinema halls and shopping malls were also downed. These places will remain closed on Wednesday too.

Whether the terrorists were playing a hide-and-seek game with the police or all the bombs were planted simultaneously was not clear. But the bombs were found almost one after another from day-break till evening.

Of the18 bombs, as many as 10 were found in the labour-dominated Varacha Road and Katargam areas alone, striking a similarity with Saturday’s bomb blasts here, where the labour-dominated old city areas were targeted. The bombs and the explosive-laden cars recovered in the city in the last two days were also on the Varacha Road or nearby areas.

As if throwing a direct challenge to the police, two of the bombs were found right in front of the Labheswar police chowky and Sardarpura police stations. Two bombs were planted in the diamond market adjacent to the Varacha Road, one in the Radhakrishna textile market and two on a fly-over.
Not totally concealed

Surprisingly, unlike in Ahmedabad and most other places, the bombs were not totally concealed. Most of the bombs were in “boat-shape” and wrapped in coloured papers. They were kept at strategic points, including behind street hoardings or near garbage dumps.

The entire day the police and civic authorities repeatedly urged people to maintain peace and patience and cooperatewith them.

Minister of State for Home Amit Shah also appealed to people not to panic or spread rumours. He said the police were on maximum alert to protect the lives and property of people.

In Ahmedabad, life, by and large, was normal. However, in one incident, panic-stricken parents rushed to a school in Chandlodiya locality to get their wards following rumour of a bomb in a near-by area.
Source : the Hindu dt 29 7 2008

DA correction to add to pay panel’s goodies

NEW DELHI: The Sixth Pay Commission award for government officials is likely to be sweetened with an upward revision in the dearness allowance (DA) entitlement. The committee of secretaries (CoS) looking into the recommendations made by the Sixth Pay Commission has suggested a change in the DA calculations. This could result in additional benefit of Rs 300-3,000 a month to a government employee, depending on her level.

The CoS, headed by Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, is giving finishing touches to the report that is expected to be submitted soon. The report would then go to the Cabinet for approval. Government sources said the change has been suggested in the wake of an across-the-board protest by government employees against the way DA allowance was fixed.

The Fifth Pay Commission had recommended that the 50% DA payable in April 2004 be merged with basic pay. The dearness pay was to be counted as basic pay for all practical purposes, including for retirement benefit. Thus, logically, as on January 1, 2006, the recommended date of Sixth Pay Commission award, the 24% DA payable should have been on a salary that included the 50% DA that was merged with basic pay from April 2004.

In its calculation, however, instead of compounding the two DA components — 50% as on April 1, 2004 and 24% as on January 1, 2006 — the commission added them, yielding a figure of 74% composite DA. Consequently, while shifting to the concept of grade pay, the pay commission fixed the base salary as on January 1, 2006, at the basic pay drawn along with dearness allowance at the rate of 74%, and rounded it off to next multiple of 10. The anomaly resulted in a loss of roughly 7% to government employees.

To put it simply, if an employee had a basic salary of Rs 100 on April 1, 2004, according to the Fifth Pay Commission calculation, he would have a total salary of Rs 150 (including 50% DA). A 24% DA on that would increase his salary to Rs 186 — and not Rs 174 on January 1, 2006, used as the base for calculating Sixth Pay Commission award. The committee of secretaries is understood to have proposed that the anomaly be corrected and the DA be fixed at 86% and not 74%.

So, in case of a government employee in the Rs 2,550 pre-revised payscale, the revised pay in running pay band would become Rs 4,743 (increase of 86%) against Rs 4,440 (74% increase), a gain of over Rs 300. At the director level, in the payscale of Rs 18,300, the difference because of the change would be over Rs 2,000 a month
Source : The economic times dt. 27 7 2008

Soon, your TV may go green

WASHINGTON: Engineers in the US have developed TV displays based on a telescope design invented by Isaac Newton to reduce the display's electricity consumption.

The rear layer of a conventional liquid crystal display (LCD) used in televisions produces light (backlight), whose brightness is controlled by small liquid crystals that swing round like tiny shutters.

However, most of this backlight is wasted and never reaches the viewer.

Swapping the liquid crystals with microscopic mechanical mirrors arranged in a similar way to a telescope design invented by Isaac Newton can make much more efficient use of the backlight.
Source : infotech.indiatimes.com dt. 26 7 2008

Serial blasts rattle Bangalore; woman killed

BANGALORE: A series of low intensity blasts on Friday rocked the southern and central parts of Bangalore, a city that has of late been on the radar of terror groups. One person was killed and seven were injured in the eight explosions that created panic among residents and threw traffic out of gear on a rainy working day.

The explosions were reported within 45 minutes from 1.15 p.m. Though the police have not ruled out the involvement of terrorist groups, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told journalists that “miscreants” had triggered the blasts to “disrupt the peace” in the city. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, after an emergency Cabinet meeting, announced that no “hard core terrorist group” was involved in the blasts which, he claimed, were carried out to “malign” the government.

“I heard a deafening explosion as I was starting my bike,” Vinay, an employee of a car showroom on Mysore Road, told The Hindu. “I thought a bus tyre had burst until I saw smoke billowing from behind a bush. I ran back into the office,” he said.

According to police sources, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) fitted to timer devices were used in all the explosions. Preliminary investigations revealed that ammonium nitrate, bolts and nuts and cement chips were packed into the devices.

Sources in the National Bomb Data Centre told The Hindu that the IEDs were almost identical to the ones used in the explosions at the Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chats and the Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, and in the court blasts in Lucknow and Hubli.

The first explosion occurred at a bus stop near the Madivala checkpost, off the busy Hosur Road, around 1.15 p.m. Sudha Ravi, who was waiting for a bus with her husband, was killed on the spot, and two were injured. Two more explosives went off in the adjoining Audugodi area, injuring three persons.

Similar low-intensity explosions took place at three places on Mysore Road and at two spots in the heart of the city — near the Mallya Hospital and near the Rashtriya Military School on Langford Road.

At Audugodi, the explosives were planted behind a telephone junction box near a commercial complex under construction and another near a stormwater drain.

On Mysore Road, the explosives were placed under a power supply transformer near a mall; one near a stormwater drain; and the third near a car showroom next to the Regional Transport Office.

A high alert has been sounded across the State.
Source : The Hindu dt. 26 7 2008