Monday, January 31, 2011

General Motors




General Motors Company is an American multinational automaker based in Detroit, Michigan. It is world's second largest automaker. GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in 157 countries. General Motors produces cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sells and services these vehicles through the following divisions: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Opel, Vauxhall, and Holden. GM's OnStar subsidiary provides vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Corporation was founded in 1908. It entered the Indian market in partnership with Birla Group in 1994. But later became a fully owned subsidiary of its parent company. The company has invested aggressively in high technology and e-business, using these for marketing and servicing of its products.


Company’s plant near Vadodara in Gujarat was originally built by Hindustan Motors (HM). Making a Joint Venture with HM, General Motors modernized the 45,000-square-meter plant. Opel Corsa, Corsa Sail, Chevrolet Optra, and Chevrolet Tavera are produced here. Chevrolet Forester and Opel Vectra are imported from Japan and Germany and sold as Completely Built in Units.
GM has participated over the years in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), Le Mans, Nascar, SCCA, and many other world venues.


Some General Motors available in India,
·        SPARK
·        BEAT
·        AVEO U-VA
·        AVEO
·        OPTRA MAGNUM
·        TAVERA Neo 2
·        CAPTIVA
·        CRUZE
·        Opel
















Funny Animals

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Visapur Fort ....... Part 1



The forts of Lohgad and Visapur have played an important role in guarding the ancient trade routes and being the savior of Bhaje and Bedse caves. Among them, Lohgad is related to many significant historical events. Much of it is known. Unlike that, much less is known about Visapur. In spite of being a very big fort, protected by a highly impregnable fortification and presence of a large plateau, less is written about it, or much less records could have added to information about it.


Location: Lonavala
Distance from major cities:
Mumbai - 120 km
Pune - 90 km
Lonavala - 10 km
Villages at Foothills: Patan, Bhaje, Lohagadwadi

Lohgad and Visapur lay in Nane Maval. This region came under Nizamshahi after dissolution of Bahmani rule. It went into the hands of Mughals in the treaty of Mahuli, between Shahajiraje and Mughals. Seeing that the Mughals were not able to keep a control over the region, Shivaji Maharaj captured almost all the forts here till 1660. However, he lost the fort again to Mughals in the treaty of Purandar in 1665. However Aurangzeb broke the treaty. In 1682, Shahbuddin, a Mughal Sardar invaded the region, and killed 60 Marathas in an anguish. However Marathas escaped to Visapur. They were chased, but moved in time to the village of Kusapur. On March 4, 1818 Colonel Prother captured Visapur, and the next day Lohgad fell into his hands. The mountain of Visapur is significant, as Bhaje caves have been carved out in the same mountain. The destruction caused by Mughals and English is clearly evident from the injuries on the Bhaje caves. These beautiful caves could have been bombarded by cannon balls, because much of their part has been broken.

















Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ranthambhore National Park ............ Part 2

 
In 2003 and 2004, disaster struck Ranthambhore's tigers once again. A census conducted by the Rajasthan State Empowered committee showed that there were only 26 tigers in entire reserve and all of them were within the national park. The other areas of the reserve were totally devoid of tigers. In 2005, the Rajasthan and the Indian central government set up high powered committees to look into the state of Ranthambhore and to suggest measures to improve the situation.There have been no reports of tiger poaching from around Ranthambore from the beginning of 2005 and a large number of tiger cubs were born between the summer of 2005 and the summer of 2006. A very detailed census that was carried out by the Wildlife Institute of India using camera traps between 2006 and 2007 showed that there were 31 tigers in Ranthambhore national park.
The areas surrounding the Tiger reserve have been totally deforested and as a result, the Ranthambore tiger reserve is now an "ecological island surrounded by farmlands and overgrazed pastures." It is is home to over 40 species of mammals, 320 species of birds, over 40 species of reptiles and over 300 species of plants. the Indian or the Bengal Tiger is the flagship species of Rantambhore and right now it is the only place in Rajasthan where tigers exist.


The terrain of Ranthambhore tiger reserve is mostly rugged and hilly and is intimately related to the Great boundary fault. The hills to the northwest of fault-line are the Aravalis and typically have ridges on one side and gentle slope on the other. The hills south west of Great boundary fault are the Vindhyas. The sand stone beds of these hills are flat-topped and form extensive table lands known as "Dangs". These dangs rise abruptly from flat ground and have sandstone ridges running continuously along their edges.


The Ranthambhore tiger reserve, with its sub-tropical dry climate, has three very well defined seasons - summers, winters and monsoons. October and March are the time when the weather changes from monsoons to winters and from winters to summers, respectively. Summers start during the end of March and last through the months of April, May and June. During this season the days are very hot and dry. During May and June the maximum day temperature crosses 40 degrees Centigrade and the minimum night temperature still hovers around 30 degrees Centigrade. The monsoons or the rainy season lasts from July to September. The winter season lasts from November to February.


Besides tigers, the other wild cats found in Ranthambhore tiger reserve are Leopards, Caracals, Jungle cats, Rusty Spotted cats. Fishing Cats and Leopard cats have also been reported but their sightings are yet to be verified. The ungulates include Sambhar, Spotted deer (Chital), Blue bull (Nilgai), Chinkara (Indian gazelle) and Wild boar. The other large mammals that can be seen in Ranthambore tiger reserve are the Sloth bear, Indian fox, Jackal, the extremely occasional Wolf, very few Indian wild dogs (Dhole), Small Indian Civet, Palm civet, Common Indian and Ruddy mongoose and Striped Hyena.


Common species of Ranthambhore and their preferred habitat
1. Tiger - Dense cover in the valleys and riverside areas
2. Leopard - Dense cover in the higher slopes and forest edge
3. Jungle Cat - Scrub and grasslands and undergrowth in valleys
4. Caracal - Streams, Open scrub and grasslands
5. Rusty Spotted cat - Thorny trees, scrubland and cultivated areas
6. Sambar deer - Thick cover in valleys, gentle slopes and dangs
7. Chital or Spotted deer - Open spaces and riverine areas in forests
8. Nilgai or Antelope - Open dry scrub land, grasslands and forest edge
9. Chinkara or gazelle - Open scrub and grasslands in hilly areas
10. Wild Boar - Open spaces and riverine areas in forests
11. Sloth Bear - Dense riverine areas, khos and rocky areas
12. Jackal - Open scrub and forest edges
13. Hyena - Dense cover along streams, khos & riverine areas
14. Indian Palm Civet - Large trees and undergrowth in moist areas
15. Common Mongoose - Dense cover in moist areas and forest edges
16. Ruddy Mongoose - Dense cover in moist areas and forest edges
17. Indian Porcupine - Dense cover in riverine areas and rocky hillsides
18. Indian Hare - Open scrub and grasslands
19. Indian Flying Fox - Large trees in moist, low lying areas
20. Marsh Crocodile - Wetlands
21. Bengal Monitor Lizard - Dense undergrowth, large trees and rocky areas
22. Indian Rock Python - Dense undergrowth in valleys and rocky areas
23. Saw-scaled Viper - Open scrub and sandy soil
24. Indian Rat Snake - Dense undergrowth and cultivated areas
25. Indian Bull Frog - Wetlands
26. Skittering Frog - Wetlands
27. Common Indian Toad - Cool, moist and dark areas. 













Punjabi Kudi in Bollywood .... Part 1


1. Celina Jaitley


2. Achala Sachdev


3. Amrita Arora


4. Amrita Singh


5. Anushka Sharma


6. Bhumika Chawala


7. Bina Rai

































Friday, January 28, 2011

Mutual Funds in INDIA

A mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment scheme that pools money from many investors and invests typically in investment securities like stocks, bonds, other mutual funds, other securities, and/or commodities. The mutual fund will have a fund manager that trades (i.e. buys and sells) the fund's investments in accordance with the fund's investment objective. Mutual funds can be defined as the money-managing systems that are introduced to professionally invest money collected from the public. The Asset Management Companies (AMCs) manage different types of mutual fund schemes. The AMCs are supported by various financial institutions or companies.
The origin of the Indian mutual funds industry dates back to 1963 when the Unit Trust of India (UTI) came into existence at the initiative of the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India. Since then the mutual funds sector remained the sole fiefdom of UTI till 1987 when a slew of non-UTI, public sector mutual funds were set up by nationalized banks and life insurance companies. The year 1993 saw sweeping changes being introduced in the mutual fund industry with private sector fund houses making their debut and the laying down of comprehensive mutual fund regulations. Over the years, the Indian mutual funds industry has witnessed an exponential growth riding piggyback on a booming economy and the arrival of a horde of international fund houses.In India, Fund Managers manage the mutual funds. They are also referred to as portfolio managers. The mutual funds in India are regulated by the Securities Exchange Board of India.
Types of Mutual Funds
Mutual funds have different structure and aims, which in turn enable us to classify them into various major categories. These categories are:
  • Closed-end mutual funds
  • Open end funds
  • Equity mutual funds
  • Mid cap funds
  • Large cap funds
  • Growth funds
  • Balanced funds
  • Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
  • Load mutual funds and No-Load mutual funds
  • Value funds
  • International mutual funds
  • Money market funds
  • Sector mutual funds
  • Fund of funds (FoF)
  • Index funds
  • Regional mutual funds
Benefits of Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are preferred for their cost-effectiveness and easy investment process. By investing all the money in a mutual fund, investors can buy stocks or bonds at lower trading charges. This is indeed one of the main benefits, which is not available otherwise. You don't need to see which stock or bond would be better to buy. Another advantage is diversification. Diversification stands for diffusing money across various different categories of investments. There is every possibility that when one investment is down, the other can be up. In simple terms, this is helpful in reducing risks. Transparency, flexibility, professional investment management, variety and liquidity are some of the other benefits of the mutual funds, which are not found in case of other investments to such an extent.

Some of the popular firms that deal in mutual funds in India are:
  • Reliance Mutual Funds
  • HDFC
  • ABN Amro
  • AIG
  • Bank of Baroda
  • Canara Bank
  • Birla Sun Life
  • DSP Merrill Lynch
  • DBS Chola Mandalam AMC
  • Escorts Mutual
  • Deutsche Bank
  • ING
  • HSBC
  • ICICI Prudential
  • LIC
  • JP Morgan
  • Kotak Mahindra
  • Lotus India
  • JM Financial
  • Morgan Stanley
  • State Bank of India (SBI)
  • Sahara Mutual Funds
  • Sundaram BNP Paribas
  • Taurus Mutual Funds
  • Tata
  • UTI
  • Standard Chartered  






















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