Tata Nano – A run for money for Maruti 800

Ratan Tata announced in 2003 that he is planning to launch the cheapest car in the world soon. In 2008, Tata Nano was displayed in an Auto Expo in New Delhi. It was welcomed by car lovers as the baby car. Considering the developing Indian economy, Tata Nano was launched by the Tata Group with a price tag of Rs.1 Lac 15 thousand as the price of the base model. It was supposed to be launched at a price of Rs. 1 lac (approx US$2000) when it was planned. However, the rising prices in the raw materials made it costlier during its launch in 2009. The first car will be delivered in July 2009. Nano has been also designed for the European market with European Standards. Maruti 800, which is currently the poor man’s car in India, has been around for more than 2 decades. The base model of the Maruti 800 is priced close to Rs. 2 lac (approx US$3,900). Does this mean that Maruti is getting a run for its money, enter Nano? The sales of Maruti 800 and Suzuki Alto have already dipped by around 20% after the launch of the Nano. People in India who used to buy second hand small cars are waiting for the Nano to be readily available rather than buying a second hand car for the same price or more. This has resulted in the price dip of Second hand Maruti 800s and Altos.

The Nano Europa will be exported to UK and other European countries and this model will have better standards and improvements over its basic Nano brother. This version was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2009.

The Nano is a hatchback Sedan which is extremely fuel efficient as recorded after test drives by authorized testers. The Nano is bringing a revolution in the new generation of cars. Auto Giants across the globe are waiting to see the performance of the Nano and its demand. They would then gear up to launch similar cars. It is a car for people who have been on bikes to reach work. It is a car for people who do not like to take their cars to crowded places. It is a common man’s car and considering the high booking numbers pre-launch, it can be very well stated that Maruti Suzuki will have to re-strategize their car production to face the new challenge called the “Nano”.

There is more to the Nano. Tata is planning to launch the Electric Version of the Nano soon. It will be empanelled with Solar cells too. This car will be called the E-Nano. This could be the world’s cheapest electric car and can start a revolution within the Auto industry world wide.
Critics and motor experts are waiting for the launch of this revolutionary car to find out how much does it help the economy and the ecology. Would the Nano really be able to provide a car to the regular biker? Let’s wait and watch.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

IPL Season II – Deccan Chargers, the Winners

Indian Premier League Season II 2009, saw a lot of unexpected results and surprises. Rajasthan Royals, who were the Season I Champions could not reach the Semi Finals this time. Major strategic changes brought about the win of the Deccan Chargers Hyderabad. They were considered just another team after they finished at the bottom of the points’ table last year. The performance of a team depends a lot on the Captain and the spirit of the players. VVS Laxman was the captain of Deccan Chargers in Season I and he failed miserably. In Season II he played a couple of matches under the Captaincy of Adam Gilchrist but failed to perform even with the bat. Gilchrist lead his team to a comfortable position right from the start. Deccan Chargers won some crucial matches right in the beginning and took the top spot of the table. They however performed average in the rest of the tournament but made it to the Semi Finals. On the way to the finals, they beat biggies and captured the trophy by defeating another unexpected finalist The Royal Challengers Bangalore.

One thing though to be noted here is that both the IPL tournaments held till now have been won by teams who have had Australian Captains. IPL Season I was won by Rajasthan Royals headed by Shane Warne, a cricketing legend. Season II was won by Deccan Chargers lead by Adam Gilchrist, another cricketing star. Both of them have retired from International cricket but have still proven that they are second to none. This brings forth the reason of Australia’s dominance of the game when these players were playing. Considering these facts, Delhi Daredevils would regret not making use of Glenn McGrath during the Season II. However, its festive time for the Deccan Chargers and the time to reinstate the fact that 20 Twenty form of cricket is really sensational and a game of surprises.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

Common Sense

Common sense is a sense of the level of intellect. It is a basic knowledge of most basic things without research available to human senses. A perception of existence of pre- determined beliefs is common sense. Common sense is the meeting point of all senses and hence it is said to be common. For example, “the sky is dark at night” is a common sense. It is the basic intelligence benchmark of a person. But common sense may vary from person to person depending upon the level of intelligence of people. The understanding of certain things might differ from person to person. For someone who is high on intellect might find certain knowledge to be common sense which might not be common to others. For example, “the computer runs on the CPU” can be common sense to those who operate computers but might not be common knowledge for one who does not operate a computer. Similarly common sense of people might differ from region to region. For example, “knowing Walmart” may be common sense in the US but not common sense in China. Though WalMart is a fortune 500 company, the Chinese might not know about it.

The human senses have an ability to understand certain preloaded things in their minds. Like, a tree is a tree and it can’t be anything else. There are certain inputs of the senses which are predetermined and they form the common sense. However, as said earlier, the inability to understand common things is lack of basic intelligence. There are certain perceptions which are pre determined in a living being. The sucking of milk by a calf is a common sense. The walking on one’s feet is a common sense. The automatic logic of understanding results or consequences of daily life activities is common sense. However, Common Sense is not common these days.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

North Korean Nuclear Test – A threat of war

North Korea conducted fresh nuclear test on the 25th of May 2009. This may be seen as a threat of war. It was reported that the test was as big as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. For years, North Korea has been against the signing of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Immense international pressure has not been able to convince North Korea to stop using nuclear energy in producing war heads. In October 2006, North Korea had tested a meager nuclear war head underground near the Sea of Japan. North Korea had clearly warned some time back, that it would launch missiles carrying nuclear war heads if it was pressurized and if more sanctions are put against it. After North Korea withdrew itself from the NPT (Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty), the Six Party Talks were initiated in 2003. The Six Party Talks were initiated to find a peaceful resolution to the security threat emerging from North Korea’s withdrawal from the NPT. The members of The Six Party Talks are US of America, Russia, China, South Korea, North Korea and Japan. The talks did make some progress and North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear research centers in exchange of fuel support and cutting of sanctions by US. The talks later failed when North Korea was condemned by the UN Security Council following a failed satellite launch by it. North Korea pulled out of the Six Party Talks threatening that it will continue the development of Nuclear weapons for its own safety and for peace in the region. This was however seen as a lame excuse. This development was in April 2009. North Korea proved on the 25th of May 2009 that it was serious about the threat, and launched a nuclear test. This test was an underground test conducted 230 miles north of Pyongyang and around 130 miles from the closet Chinese town.

Repercussions of the test were heard from the international community. The whole world condemned the nuclear test and sees it as an alarm of war. Japan being the only nuclear bombed nation, is seriously taking the tests as a threat of war and have started preparing for the worst. South Korea, which has not been a friendly neighbor of North Korea, is also gearing up for worst situation. The point to think about is, how will North Korea be now treated, now that they already have a nuclear bomb? North Korea’s reason of producing and possessing a nuclear bomb is self-defense. It says that it will disarm itself of nuclear weapons only if the Big Five disarm and confirm that they will not misuse their warheads. But the concern here is whether the world can live with a nuclear threat like North Korea and just pray that they do not fire it somewhere? North Korea has been not acting responsibly as per the international community and is behaving more like a spoilt child. Is there a way to harness this alleged spoilt child in a subtle manner or is it war that we are looking at. China has to play a major role in mentoring North Korea, being closest confidant. Japan and South Korea might become impatient. US could loose its calm and react physically. So are we leading to the “God Forbid”, The Third Big one? If North Korea thinks of launching a nuclear bomb, who will be at the receiving end? North Korea says that the nuclear bomb was produced to assure its people of security and peace and to reassure them that they are in safe hands of freedom. But what will happen to the same people if things misfire?

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

Promissory Note

A promissory note is an unconditional contract between two parties where one party agrees to pay the other party a promised sum of money at a pre-specified time. The promissory note determines the amount to be paid to the payee, with the interest amount added to the capital. A promissory note is made on the demand of the payee. The payee shall not fail to pay the money by the expiry of the promissory note. The issuer of the promissory note is bound by contract and promise to pay the payee within the stipulated time on the it, failing which the lender can sue the issuer based on the dishonor of the note.

The promissory note concept is pretty old. It has been a legal financial document for the past three centuries. It has been the oldest form of loan document used in the world. Individual loans always used to be sealed by signing of a promissory note. Private lending even today is sealed by the promissory note and is bound by law. Sometimes, these notes are bound by the confiscation of the borrower’s assets in an event of a failure to pay as against the promissory note stipulation.
As per the simplest of definitions, a promissory note is “a document signed by a borrower promising the lender to repay a loan under mutually agreed upon terms between both parties”.
A promissory note falls under the Negotiable Instrument Act 1881. Under Section 4 of this act, a promissory note is not a bank note or currency. Stamp duty is also levied in making of a promissory note. A mutually signed document with no stamp duty cannot be called a legal promissory note.

A promissory note can also be sold to another party as per terms and conditions. Whoever is the official transferee of the note that person is bound to pay the money specified in the promissory note to the lender as per the terms and conditions specified there in.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

Ghazal

Ghazal is a form of poetry which originated in Persian. This form of poetry has rhyming words and paragraphs. It later became widely written in Urdu. Ghazal is usually a form of poetry which expresses love, beauty, grief of love and sensuality. Ghazal came into existence somewhere in the 12th century. However, there is very little historic evidence backing the claim. Ghazal was and is usually written and composed into a music form to present it. Ghazal was brought to South East Asia and in countries like India and Pakistan during the reign of the Mughal Emperors in the Medieval Era. This form of poetry gained a lot of popularity thereafter.
Ghazal is a series of couplets or “Sher” which end with rhyming words of the previous or the following couplet. A Ghazal is a set of three or four couplets usually.

Ghazal became popular with poets like Mirza Ghalib who is considered to be one of the greatest Shayars (Ghazal poet) of all time. Ghazal was one of the leading forms of music entertainment in the courts of the Sultans in the Indian subcontinent. The style of Ghazal singing or Ghazal Gayaki is also unique. It was initially sung in the classical manner. Ragas were the basis of Ghazal Gayaki or presentation of Ghazals. However, the classical style of Ghazal singing was and is very difficult. Hence there are very few known artists who could compose such difficult music for the rendition of Ghazals. Begum Akhtar, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan are some of the popular classical Ghazal singers.

Ghazal is considered to be the music or poetry of the intellectuals because of its rich writing and rendition. However, this art of Ghazal singing is popular among most Urdu and Hindi speaking regions of the world. This form of poetry consists of soft and rich words without the use of any harsh or poor language.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/

Inflation

Inflation is a term which means the increase in the price of commodity whereas falls in the value of currency. The word itself means to inflate or increase. As per economics, inflation occurs when the value of money decreases against the rise in prices of commodities. For example, when there is more demand than the supply, the price will increase. On the other hand, when there is more supply of money, the value of money decreases. Inflation means the overall and general increase in the price of goods and services over a period of time.

Inflation also means a loss in purchasing power. This means as stated earlier, that the supply of money has increased than the demand. It does not mean that only the increase in the supply of money would result in inflation. Demand of commodities during scarcity of supply of the same can also increase prices of the commodity. Fall in supply of goods can be a result of slow manufacture. When manufacturing is slow, the price of the commodity is increased to make it lesser buyable by consumers hence resulting in a loss of purchasing power. Inflation means loss of purchasing power.

The supply of money is controlled by the central monetary authorities of the country. These authorities include the central banks which manage the supply of money through rise and fall of the interest rates and through open market policies etc.

Inflation is a vast subject to discuss, but to keep it simple, a moderate level of inflation is good for any economy. Moderate inflation as per economists lies between 5 to 8%. This rate of inflation helps keep equilibrium in the economy of any state. However, the current recession across the world has shown an increase in the inflation throughout the economies of the world. This was caused because of the reduced rotation of money in the open market by the consumer caused from the financial insecurity of recession.

Linus Orakles
http://www.authorclub.info/