5ஜி செல்போனை அறிமுகம் செய்த மோட்டோ!

மோட்டோ நிறுவனம் 5ஜி நெட்வொர்க் சப்போர்ட் செய்யக்கூடிய மோட்டோ இஸட் 3 என்னும் புதிய மாடல் செல்போனை சிகாகோவில் அறிமுகப்படுத்தியுள்ளது.

செல்போன் வர்த்தகத்தில் குறிப்பிடத்தகுந்த இடத்திலிருக்கும் மோட்டோ நிறுவனம் மற்ற நிறுவனங்களிலிருந்து மாறுபட்ட புதிய அம்சங்களைத் தனது தயாரிப்புகளில் கொண்டுவர முயற்சி செய்கிறது. அந்தவகையில் தற்போது மோட்டோ இஸட் 3 என்னும் செல்போனை அறிமுகப்படுத்தியுள்ளது. அடுத்த தலைமுறை நெட்வொர்க்கான 5ஜி, இதில் சப்போர்ட் ஆகும் வண்ணம் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டிருப்பது முக்கியமான இதன் சிறப்பம்சமாகப் பார்க்கப்படுகிறது. அதேநேரம் தற்போதைய நிலவரங்களின்படி,வெரிஸான் என்னும் நிறுவனத்தின் 5ஜி நெட்வொர்க் மட்டுமே இந்த போனில் சப்போர்ட் செய்யும் எனவும் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது. மற்ற நிறுவன 5ஜி சேவை பற்றி தெரிவிக்கப்படவில்லை.

சிறப்புகள்

6 இன்ச் திரை, 8.1 ஆண்ட்ராய்டு ஓரியோ இயங்குதளம்,835 SoC, 8 மெகா பிக்ஸல் முன்பக்க கேமரா, 12 மெகா பிக்ஸல் பின்பக்க கேமரா, 4GB RAM, 64 GB ROM ஆகிய வசதிகள் உள்ளன. இதன் விலை சுமார் ரூ.33,000. வெரிஸானில் பிரத்யேகமாக ஆகஸ்ட் 16 முதல் விற்பனைக்கு வருகிறது.

Posted by SSTA

Can’t take 5 days off before Test series, says Gavaskar

New Delhi: 06.08.2018

Critical of the way India prepared for the Test series against England, Sunil Gavaskar says lack of serious practice ahead of the Birmingham game hurt India dearly as batsmen’s poor technique against moving deliveries was thoroughly exposed.

After the ODI series defeat, Indian team was given a five-day break and the players spent time in Europe.

“It was no preparation at all,” Gavaskar said, referring to the three-day warm-up game. “I can understand that you need to switch off after a series but that can’t be five days at a stretch. It can be three plus three day breaks between matches but not five days,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar was also critical of Indian team for changing an official first-class game into a glorified practice session in the name of warm-up game with all18 players taking part.

“They should have played at least two three-day games and proper first-class games. Not 18 players but 11 players. They should have prepared in such a manner to give themselves a chance in the Test match,” he said.

“You can have as many match simulations, take throw-downs but in match situations, it is different. While taking throw-downs, you can get out or in nets you can bowl no balls,” said the legend.

Gavaskar also doesn’t like the common notion that Indian team being in England for more than a month was a recipe for success. “They deluded themselves that they are in England for one month. They played white ball cricket where the bat speed is different from red ball cricket. So there was no preparation at all,” he reasoned.

He also feels that Virat Kohli’s method of preparation can’t be emulated by one and all in the Indian team.

"Kohli can take 50 days off and then come back and score a hundred next day. He is an exceptional talent and if he takes time off, no issues. But the team management need to understand that others need practice. Like he wanted to play county cricket and skipped the Afghanistan Test. I don't believe it was a correct decision," he said. PTI



HIS MASTER’S VOICE: Sunil Gavaskar comes down heavily on India’s preparations

MONEY MYSTERIES

Managing retirement savings.. times of india 06.08.2018

Retired life may last for decades. It is crucial to not let inflation destroy the value of your savings, says Dhirendra Kumar

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how conventional wisdom on retirement savings is condemning Indian savers to old-age poverty. During decades of retired life, inflation destroys the value of your savings relentlessly. And many people find that their savings are just not enough.

How can you prevent this from happening to you? The first half, which I have written about in detail earlier, is about saving enough during one’s working life and investing this money in equity-backed mutual funds. The second part, is to derive income from these savings once retired life begins.

If you have appreciated what I’ve been saying about inflation, then this should be self-evident: you must spend, at most, only that part of your investment returns which exceed inflation rate. You must preserve the real, inflation-adjusted value of your money, not just the nominal face value.

Please read the preceding paragraph again, carefully. It’s possibly the single most important input to having a financially comfortable old age. So how do you do this?

Suppose you retire today with a ₹1 crore corpus. If you put the money in a bank fixed deposit, a year later, it will be worth ₹1.07 crore. So you would have earned ₹7 lakh, which you can spend, right? Not really. Assuming a realistic inflation rate of 5%, if you want to preserve the real value of your principal, you must leave ₹1.05 crore in the bank. That leaves you with ₹2 lakh to withdraw and spend over a year, which is ₹16,666 a month. Is that enough? For a middle class person, surely not. It could be a little worse with some banks, and it could be a little better with, say, the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme, but this is roughly the calculation.

It’s important to understand that with fixed deposits (and similar investments), this calculation does not change even when interest rates rise because inflation and interest track each other closely. The real (inflation-adjusted) interest rate is not going to be more than 1.5-2% at best. If you need ₹50,000 a month, you need about ₹3 crore. Of course, at that level of income, tax also has to be paid. So, about ₹30,000 a year will go as tax. This is the best case scenario. In practice, it’s often worse, as there have been times in the past when the interest rate has been below the real inflation rate. Moreover, income tax on deposits has to be paid whether you realise the returns or not.

The situation is very different in equity-backed mutual funds. As these are high-earning, but volatile. In any given year, the returns could be high or low, but over five to to seven years, or more, these comfortably exceed inflation by 6-7%, even more. For example, over the past five years, a majority of equity funds have given returns exceeding 17%, with about a fourth crossing 20%. The returns may fluctuate, but it helps the saver in getting rid of fear of old-age poverty.

In such funds, one can happily withdraw 4% a year. Besides, there is no income tax and the capital gains tax is 10% on actual withdrawals. Effectively, for a given monthly expenditure through equity funds, you need just half the investment that you would in deposits. So, for a monthly income of ₹50,000 a month, ₹1.5 crore will suffice.

A small (but growing) number of people have begun to understand and appreciate this idea, and started implementing it. They tend to be those who have used equity funds as their savings vehicle anyway and are used to ignoring short-term volatility in the interest of long-term gains. Unfortunately, most retired people are still looking for the non-existent safety that fixed deposits provide and end up facing hardships as they grow older.

The author is the Founder and CEO of Value Research

Weekend travel by SETC buses to be costlier by 10% to 15%

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

Just like in private omni buses, people traveling to their native places during weekends or festive seasons by government State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) buses will have to shell out 10%-15% more compared to other days.

The state home department has recently issued an order introducing a flexi fare system in long-route buses operated from Chennai.

Two different fare tables have been framed for different categories of SETC buses, according to the order issued by additional chief secretary Niranjan Mardi.

For instance, SETC would collect ₹1.80 for every kilometre a passenger travels in an air-conditioned sleeper bus during weekdays. During weekends and festive seasons, when the demand for public transport goes up, it would cost ₹2 more for every kilometre.

For example, a passenger intending to travel to Madurai from Chennai would pay ₹970-₹1,000 during the peak days and ₹830-₹850 for the rest of the year.

The move comes days after the state transport minister M R Vijayabaskar admitted that there was a dip in the number of passengers travelling by government buses after the fare was hiked in January.

At one point, travelling by SETC buses became more expensive than private buses. Subsequently, the corporation had sent a proposal to introduce a flexi-fare system in order to bring back the passengers who started using other modes of transport, particularly trains and private omni buses, said a senior SETC official.

"Under this model, fares during regular working days have come down, thereby benefiting thousands of people including those who travel for work or business purposes," the official added.

This has evoked a mixed response from the public. While a section said they were okay paying more if the government can provide a quality travel experience consistently, others said that this would deter them from opting for government buses.

"The SETC should first stick to the schedule announced. Buses booked through the online ticket portal are cancelled at the last minute leaving passengers in the lurch,” said D Suresh, a passenger at Koyambedu.

With QR code, encumbrance certificate a click away

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.08.2018

People requiring encumbrance certificates will in future not have to make the trip to a sub-registrar’s office. The property certificate will soon feature a QR code that will make it available at the click of a button.

The manual seal and signature of the sub-registrar authorising the encumbrance certificate would be replaced by the QR code containing the name of the sub registrar office, registration officer, date and time, which can be read through electronic devices.

After the facility is launched, Encumbrance Certificate would be issued within minutes through online in contrast to the manual process that consumes about a week’s time.

Registration department sources said that introduction of the online facility needs an amendment to the rules of the Registration Act, 1908.

“The existing rules mandate the signature and seal of the sub registrar, wherein general public should file an application for the purpose. An amendment is being made to this rule to allow usage of QR code instead of signature and seal in the encumbrance certificate,” a top registration official said.

The government order facilitating changes to the rules of the Act is in the advanced stage and excepted in a couple of weeks, sources added.

“We are likely to launch the facility by the first week of September, after executing a test run of the QR enabled Encumbrance certificate,” the official added.

Though encumbrance details are available online, the authorised copies of encumbrance certificates can be obtained only from the sub registrar offices.

Sources said that the encumbrance certificates is demanded by those purchasing a new property and land mortgaging.

An encumbrance certificate contains all the registered transactions of a particular property for the period required by the applicant. It provides all the information pertaining to the previous transactions relating to the property, which will help an applicant to know the current owner of the property. “Generally, people get the encumbrance details for the past 30 years, ahead of investing in a property. It takes a week for issuing the encumbrance certificate for a plot,” another registration official added.

A fee of ₹. 30 for the first year and ₹10 for every subsequent year, besides computer fee of Rs. 100 is collected from those applying for signed Encumbrance Certificates.

As per government data for the financial year 2017-2018, about 30.78 lakh encumbrance certificates were issued, generating revenue to the tune of ₹141.80 crore. Official sources said, the QR Code would also continue to be a paid service.

NEWS DIGEST

Law univ to hold 9th annual convocation in September

TIMES OF INDIA 06.08.2018
Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University said the ninth annual convocation will be held in September. Eligible candidates are requested to apply on or before August 20 to receive their degrees or diplomas from colleges affiliated to the varsity, said a press release. Applications are available at the respective colleges.

300 students attend architecture seminar: Nearly 300 students and aspiring architects attended ‘Architecture 4.0’, a seminar on the future of architecture technology organised by MARG Institute of Design and Architecture on Saturday at Music Academy. The seminar was hosted by Canada Research Centre president and chairman Anuj Sharma. Young architects need to educate themselves on emerging technologies and incorporate them in their designs in a creative manner, Sharma said.

Special low-fare tickets on Go Air: GoAir has announced special low-fare tickets across all sectors with fares starting at ₹1,099 (all-inclusive) for travel from August 4 to December 31. The tickets will be available for purchase till August 9. Customers can also avail exclusive deals of up to ₹3,000 if they book tickets on GoAir website or mobile app.

How Anna univ gave ₹62-crore contract to 15-day-old startup
DVAC Probe Based On Higher Edu Secy’s Plaint

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.08.2018

An Anna University committee that met in January to discuss what it called ‘confidential printing’ accounts found ₹84.71 crore was spent between October 2016 and December 2017.

Digging deeper, the panel found the university had given a ₹62.34-crore contract in October 2016 for printing marksheets with ‘added security features’ to a Chennai-based startup without calling for open tenders. The company, incidentally called Incognito Forensic Foundation, was found to have been incorporated only 15 days before the controller of examinations called for quotations.

The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC), which is probing the cash-for-marks scam, suspects that the company might not have applied for the contract by the due date. DVAC is inquiring on a complaint filed by then chairman of the university’s convenor committee and higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal on February 28. A case would be filed soon, said sources.

On August 19, 2016, then controller of examinations (CoE) G V Uma sent letters to nine firms asking them to give quotations for supplying marksheets and various certificates. These were to reach her office on or before September 12, 2016.

“No particular time on the last day was indicated. The required security features (on the certificates) were not indicated in the letter. Hence the firms offered their rates based on different security features. Some did not indicate any feature,” the complaint said. Quotations from four firms had proper dates, but IFF’s quotation did not bear any date. This raises suspicion that the rates quoted by others were informed to the winner and they quoted accordingly, Paliwal’s complaint said.

When questioned by the convenor committee, Uma sent a note on September 15, 2016, giving a list of three firms which had responded. However, IFF was not part of this list. Anna University had not even sent a letter to one of these three firms, the complaint said. “IFF’s name was separately mentioned in the note. It was scribbled with a pen,” a source said.

Then convenor of the committee and higher education secretary A Karthik raised a query on September 20 as to how IFF was selected. Two days later, Uma said letters were sent to nine companies, but only five responded. But, the name of one of the three firms that she listed in her initial note a week ago did not make it to this list of five, the complaint said.

However, IFF made it to this list. Uma told the committee that of the five that sent the quotations, two refused to share the source code of QR application. “But the letters from these two companies did not indicate any such condition,” the complaint said.

When the files were checked, it was found that a comparative statement of rates of these five firms had been prepared only on October 6, 2016. Officials said she should have given the comparative rates in her earlier notes to the committee, dated September 15 and

22. October 6, incidentally, was the date on which the orders were given to the selected firm.

The orders were placed for 20 lakh certificates which includes grade sheets, provisional certificates and degree certificates, while the university needed only 2 lakh per year. “The then convenor did not stop the process and the payment was made,” said a senior university official. Neither Karthik nor Uma could be reached; they did not respond to text messages from TOI.

IFF director K Ganesan told TOI that they had sent the quotation in time. He said he would share more details, but declined to take further calls.



DMK wants senior IPS officer to investigate scam

Chennai:

The DMK has demanded that the state government appoint a senior IPS officer to probe the ‘cash for marks’ scam that has come to light in the ‘re-evaluation’ of answer sheets of students of Anna University The party also wants a committee comprising vice-chancellors to recommend a foolproof method to check such malpractices. “The ‘cash for marks’ scam has brought to light the extent of deterioration of higher education and to what level the system has become rotten,” said DMK working president M K Stalin in a statement on Sunday. While re-evaluation has been a normal practice in all universities, the scam has placed the attempts of even genuine students for re-evaluation under a cloud. “Hence, this calls for a thorough probe and the state government should appoint a senior IPS official as the investigation officer to look into the scam,” Stalin said. TNN