Onion prices to add flare to inflation fire

Onion prices, muted through the agri commodities rally in the first half of 2008, have doubled in July and is set to flare in the second half on an expected drop in output, traders and officials said.Wholesale average price in the country’s largest onion trading hub in Lasalgaon, Maharashtra, was 880 rupees per 100 kg on Tuesday, from 431 rupees on June 30.

Onion, a major ingredient in Indian food, and a politically sensitive commodity, is typically cultivated thrice a year -- in monsoon, winter and summer.

"Lower rainfall has delayed cultivation and it will also cut acreage in the current kharif (summer-sown) crop," Satish Bhonde, additional director, National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), told Reuters.

The kharif output in 2008/09 may fall by 41 percent to 1 million tonnes from 1.7 million tonnes a year ago, Bhonde said.

Onion output in the year to March 2008 was likely to rise 11.9 percent to a record 7.45 million tonnes, according to NHRDF estimates, which kept a lid on prices till now.

The kharif crop arrivals usually start from mid-August but cultivation has delayed by nearly two months due to scanty rains, Bhonde added.

Rise in onion prices usually gives opposition parties an opportunity to put the ruling front on the mat and gather votes in India.

In 1998, the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party suffered heavy losses in a key state poll, widely blamed on high onion prices. Onion prices, a staple for most Indians, brought inflation undisguised to the poorest homes.

India’s annual inflation rose to a 13 year high of 11.91 percent in early July, helped by higher food prices. Onion might now contribute, more dangerously.

"Prices are unlikely to cool in next few months. In crisis, people cut consumption of water, electricity. Now they should do the same with onion," Bhonde said.

"Farmers are slowly releasing stored crop and arrivals have dwindled. Wholesale price may rise to 1,700 rupees in next two months," said Vilas Bhujbal, a Pune-based trader.

Rajasthan in the west, and Haryana and Punjab in north India may see a rise in acreage under the bulb in current season, but major producers- western Maharashtra and Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in the south - may see a sharp drop in acreage, Bhonde said.

India is the second biggest producer of onion in the world and major exporter in south Asia.

"Lower rains have been diverting farmers towards other crops, which requires less water," said D. Y. Bholkar, a trader from Nashik, a major producing region in Maharashtra.

In 2007 the government had restricted exports to rein in prices, but revoked it when prices slumped in early 2008.

Do you fight fair?

Women may soon give birth at 100

Scientists predict that advances in test-tube fertilisation procedures may soon make it possible for women to give birth even at the age of 100.

A research team, led by Davor Solter of the Institute of Medical Biology in Singapore, believes that there will be an end to infertility in a span of 30 years, with every woman being able to conceive. Using sophisticated techniques not yet available, sperm and eggs will be created from skin cells and combined to make embryos.

The claims were made by leading scientists asked to predict advances in reproduction by 2038. "It means every person regardless of age will be able to have children. Newborn children could have children and 100-year-olds could have children. It could easily happen in the next 30 years,” the Mirror quoted Solter, as saying.

The researchers say that future techniques would allow scientists to create thousands of embryos to experiment on. Solter said, "I have no idea what kind of moral value or rights we’d give to those embryos. It could be terrible to start, and then become a fact of life. Maybe 30 years from now we’ll read someone made 20,000 embryos and studied their development and we’ll decide it’s OK."

The risks of a late pregnancy

These days majority of the women tend to work to lead a comfortable life. Amidst coping with a career and personal life, there are an increasing number of women who prefer to wait to get pregnant.

But they are unaware of the biological complications that they may have to face for this ignorance. Women have a peak reproductive potential while they are in their twenties and it declines drastically after the age of 38. What causes the decline in egg quality is often due to a decrease in the energy supplied by the mitochondria. This means that eggs which were healthy at a younger age can not support fertilization and growth once they grow older.

Why should you plan early?
There is a decline in the production of eggs as one gets older Uterine IVF is less. More fibroid endometriosis. By 40 years, average women in India experience menopause. This is a specific milestone in every woman, when, she abruptly ceases to produce reproductive eggs. Most women have hyper tension and diabetes by 35 years. There could be other hormonal complications which may hinder pregnancy

What are the adverse affects of a late pregnancy?
Increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities in the child like Down’s Syndrome. More possibility of still birth. Increased risk of maternal mortality. Risk of miscarriage is high.

What to do?
One should ‘plan’ a pregnancy . Attend pre-pregnancy counselling which helps in removing a lot of your doubts. Go for regular general health check-ups. Plan pregnancy before 30 years of age, to prevent complications

Increased risk of miscarriage:
20 – 35 years 15%
35 – 40 years 18 – 20%
40 and above 25%

Daily power

If we know our everyday foods, their quantum, and frequency of consumption they become medicines, and tilt the internal balance of the body in favour of the synthesis of protective substances and in essence put away the risk of degenerative diseases.

What are these ‘protective substances’?

Protective and destructive regulators produced in the body are essentially hormone-like substances which are technically called prostaglandins.Those prostaglandins, which are protective, are anti-inflammatory and anti thrombotic; where as the harmful ones are inflammatory and proaggregratory.

What difference does it make to our body?

If your body is producing more inflammatory substances, it is exposing the inner linings of your blood vessels to undesired changes, including oxidising your bad cholesterol. Additionally it also may elevate your blood pressure, increase the viscosity of your blood and make you more prone to clot formation.Thus, despite maintaining the correct weight, if you do not pay attention to the quality of your daily food intake, you are at a higher risk to diseases including heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and bone changes, due to the increased production of these harmful substances.
What are these everyday ‘super’ foods?

Get good quality fats in your diet as it is the right balance of fatty acids like Omega 3 and MUFA in your diet which favour the synthesis of protective prostaglandins.
Super foods —

Nuts, fatty fishes, soya, pulses emphasise good quality carbohydrates, which include carbohydrates loaded with dietary fibre and having a low glycemic response.This again not only ensures a stable supply of energy and stabilises blood sugars but also provides a base for the desirable microbial flora in the gastrointestinal tract to flourish, there by adding on to an improved internal milieu.
Super foods —

Whole wheat, bajra , oats, ragi , sprouts, banana , guava have a high intake of a variety of vegetables. All seasonal leafy vegetables, and other vegetables especially cruciferous, coloured vegetables, beans, etc are the right choices. Make salads an inherent part of your meals
Super foods —

Cabbage, spinach, cauliflower and cauliflower greens, pumpkin, beans, capsicum, tomatoes, onions, garlic, corriander

Are you saving enough money?

Women may not earn as much as men or fly up the corporate ladder as quickly, but they get the last laugh since they live longer. As it turns out, American women probably aren’t saving enough to bankroll those extra years in style. They invest more conservatively, start saving later and are more likely to be in and out of the work force, according to a study released by Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm.

Suddenly, retirement isn’t looking so rosy. Women live an average of 22 years after retirement versus 19 years for men and medical costs are rising, so women will need to save 2 per cent more than men every year over 30 years to maintain their standard of living after retirement, the study found.

The importance of saving didn’t dawn on Jerre Laughlin until she was in her 40s and started working in human resources. "I was looking at pensions all day and was seeing what happens to employees who don’t save. That’s when reality set in," said Jerre, now 63. She’s been playing catch-up since and doesn’t plan to retire until she’s 67.

Jerre isn’t the only one who’s learning her lesson the hard way. The Hewitt study found women today still do worse by every measure. They start saving later (by two to four years), invest less (7.3 per cent versus 8.1 per cent) and are in and out of the work force more often for family reasons.

The study looked at the projected retirement levels of nearly 2 million current workers of varying ages at 72 large US companies and used actual employee balances. "Women tend to be a little more risk averse, more fearful of losing money," said Alison Borland, an author of the study. Women’s saving habits haven’t improved significantly over the past several years, either, Borland said.

The study also found that a quarter of women didn’t contribute enough to take advantage of the company match, which is typically 50 cents for every dollar up to 6 per cent of pay. On average, women earned $57,000 versus $84,000 for men. Yet women will have longer retirements than men by an average of three years. Socking away more now can improve the quality of those extra years.

If a woman who earns $57,000 a year boosts her contribution from 2 per cent to 4 per cent, an extra $95 a month, she can save an extra $81,000 by the time she retires, according to the study. That doesn’t include her employer’s matching contribution. Delaying retirement can have a big impact too; every additional year is more time earning and less time sapping savings.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is cashing out plans when switching jobs; that wipes out 30 per cent or more of the account’s value in taxes and penalties.

Not surprisingly, the study states 90 per cent of women were unsure about managing their finances. However, it also found that more companies are offering investment guidance.

Overall, four out of five men and women aren’t saving enough to keep up the same lifestyle after they stop working. Because of inflation and rising medical costs, Hewitt estimates workers will need to replace 126 per cent of their salary after retirement to maintain their lifestyle. Both men and women are on track to replace an average of just 67 per cent of that amount.

But with a longer retirement stretching before them, women may want to think about closing the savings gap fast.

Friends and lovers!

When two people are in a relationship, they need to share a certain level of compatibility that extends beyond the bedroom. Besides getting along as lovers, they need to be friends, in order to share each other’s joy and sorrow and be on the same wavelength, mentally and emotionally. Friends, who are close to each other, tend to have that kind of emotional and mental connection, which is why the friendship is shared in the first place. Imagine if you could find that kind of compatibility in a lover as well!

The good news is that this is possible, if you already have a friend from the opposite sex who you are very close to. All you have to do now is turn the friend into a lover, which is very easy. Read on for easy steps on how to turn a friend into a lover:

Remind them of what they like
If you have a friend from the opposite sex, and they have hinted that they like certain physical or emotional characteristics that you possess, learn to highlight those features. If they like your eyes or your smile, the next time you meet him or her, smile a little more often or do your make up so that your eyes are accentuated. If they like emotional habits of yours, like the way you understand their problems and come up with instant solutions, remind them of how well you gel with each other.

Just don’t go over board and try to do this with subtlety. Remember, that when you were friends, how you looked or felt did not really matter because he or she would love you none the less. But alas, when it comes to love, you need to present yourself in a way that will make him or her notice.

Change the talk
In order to make the transition from friend to lover, you need to make changes in the way you relate to him or her. When people are friends they tend to talk about everything under the sun, from common interests or each others’ love interests, they spill the beans and how! If you want this person to relate to you on a more intimate level, you need to start talking to him or her on a more intimate level as well.

You could try verbal flirting and making innuendos that you are interested in more than just a friendship. If you want him or her to change their perception of you, it is necessary that you start talking to him or her as a potential love interest and not like you would speak to one of your boyfriends or girlfriends.

Cars to run on fuel from waste

Vehicles will soon run on fuel made from household waste as a chemical company in Britain has found a way to make bioethanol from rubbish.

INEOS, world’s third largest chemical company, said it had patented a method of producing fuel from municipal solid waste, agricultural waste and organic commercial waste and it planned to sell the bioethanol fuel in industrial quantities by 2010. The bioethanol that INEOS produces will have to be combined with a fossil fuel as very few cars in Britain run solely on bioethanol.

Peter Williams, the chief executive of INEOS Bio, told the Times : "This should mean that, unlike with other biofuels, we won’t have to make the choice between food and fuel." Williams said the company planned to produce commercial amounts of bioethanol fuel for cars from waste within two years.

INEOS claims that it can produce about 400 litres of ethanol from one tonne of dry waste. The new process works by heating the waste to produce gases, then feeding the gases to bacteria, which produce ethanol that can be purified into a fuel. The development of fuel from waste could be a relief for motorists who have watched pump prices soar.

According to the report, INEOS is talking to authorities in the United States, Canada and Europe about selling the fuel when it is made on an industrial scale. The company began research into the biochemical process about 20 years ago in Arkansas. A pilot plant was built and researchers have been working with a variety of waste materials since 2003.

Singh is King: UPA govt wins confidence vote

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government won a vote of confidence in parliament on Tuesday, ensuring the immediate survival of the ruling coalition and a civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

Earlier the opposition demanded the resignation of the prime minister anyway after three of its lawmakers said they had been bribed to abstain. The government won 275 votes against 256 for the opposition, the parliamentary speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced.

The session was angry and chaotic. The debate was briefly adjourned when opposition lawmakers interrupted the debate to wave wads of cash they said were offered as bribes by the government to abstain.

The vote pitted the Congress-led coalition that negotiated the civilian nuclear deal against its former communist allies and opposition parties led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). With the vote very close, several MPs who are ill were flown or wheeled in from hospital, and others, in jail for crimes such as murder and extortion, were granted temporary release.

The win means the four-year-old, left-of-centre government will, for the moment, stay in power. It will try and move ahead with a civilian nuclear deal, seen as one of the few legacies of the prime minister. The deal would draw India closer to the West and allow the Asian giant access to foreign civilian nuclear fuel and technology, despite not signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty and conducting nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998.

t could unlock $40 billion in investment over the next 15 years, according to an Indian business lobby group, as India seeks new energy sources to tap its booming, trillion-dollar economy. But it is unclear whether the prime minister will be able to stay in power until elections scheduled by May, 2009, especially if the bribery scandal spirals and involves top government officials.

Investors had hoped the victory would give the government time to battle rising inflation, which has hit the pockets of millions of poor voters, as well as passing some economic reforms in sectors like insurance and pensions.

Investors had expected a narrow win for the government, and said the victory could boost markets. The main share index has risen by more than 12 percent in the last four sessions. The confidence vote was sparked by the withdrawal of the government’s communist allies to protest the nuclear deal, which they say will make India’s security and energy policies dependent on the United States.

Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, in a speech frequently interrupted by shouting from the opposition benches, defended the government’s record and said nuclear power was vital if the country was to emulate the economic success of China.

"This government under Dr Manmohan Singh’s leadership is charting out a new path which will end India’s nuclear isolation, which will pave the way for India becoming an economic superpower," he said. Despite the parliamentary victory, it is still unclear whether there is enough time for the deal to be passed by US.

Congress under the Bush administration. The agreement needs clearance from the governors of the UN atomic watchdog and a 45-nation group that controls sensitive nuclear trade. The government helped secure a parliamentary majority with the support of the regional Samajwadi Party (SP), which replaced the communists as its parliamentary support.

The SP will now effectively hold the balance of power in India and the party is expected to give the government more room than the communists to pass economic reforms.

Mkts upbeat, Sensex regains 14K level

Extending the gains for the fourth day in a row on Tuesday, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex closed higher by over 250 points to regain the key 14,000 level after nearly a month.

Marketmen said the trading sentiment turned stronger at mid-way after Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s comments in Parliament that the economy grew at an estimated 9.1 per cent in 2007-08.

The 30-share BSE barometer, which had gained 1275 points in the past three sessions, today added another 254.16 points at 14,104.20.

The Sensex touched the day’s high of 14,206.13 and dipped to a low of 13,798.18 points.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty jumped by 80.60 points at 4,240.10, after rising to a high of 4,262.45 and a low of 4,137.95 points during the day.

Chidambaram participating in the debate on confidence vote in Parliament highlighted the record production figures of wheat, rice, pulses, oil seeds and coarse cereals and termed the 2007-08 as a watershed year for agriculture.

Cash-on-table a first in Lok Sabha history

The debate on the trust vote took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when Ashok Argal, MP from Morena, Faggan Singh Kulaste, MP from Mandla, and Mahavir Bhagora, MP from Salumber in Rajasthan waved wads of notes bringing proceedings to a halt. ( Watch )

BJP’s deputy leader V K Malhotra began to address the chair, then occupied by deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, but was immediately drowned out by the shouts of his party MPs who rushed into the well.

For more than a few moments, no one seemed to know what was happening. The sound was deafening as Argal, Kulaste and Bhagora kept gesticulating, their words completely drowned out. Gesturing to the media gallery, some BJP MPs held up three fingers, some others shouted "crore, crore." What was it? Three crore for one MP, or one crore for three? The confusion was compounded by the milling crowd, with Congress MPs also rushing to the well to take a closer look at the wads.

"Whose is it?" they shouted. "Take it back," they added. BJP MPs seemed to say that cash came from the Congress. Up front were Pravin Rashtrapal and Lal Singh.

The cash-on-table was a first for Lok Sabha. In the current House, MPs have been disqualified for accepting bribes for favours, but a reverse sting was clearly a novelty. Usually at the receiving end, MPs have been more likely to be caught with their hands in the cookie jar. But as about 100-odd MPs pulled and pushed, Argal dipped into his bag and produced more bundles of Rs 1,000 notes, waving them around for good measure.

The word spread like lightning. Mediapersons who had stepped out for a cup of tea outside the Lok Sabha gallery came running in. Within minutes, media stand was so full that the watch and ward staff had to swarn journalists away from the thin bannister that overhangs the Speaker’s chair and a part of the House. Everyone wanted to take a look at the money.

A couple of BJP MPs chucked a band which held one of the bundles of notes. It was eagerly caught and was immediately subjected to close scrutiny. Meanwhile, the packed visitors, Rajya Sabha and Speaker’s galleries were devouring the action. DMK’s Kanimozhi strained forward, as did industrialist and Rajya Sabha MP Rahul Bajaj. A couple of chief ministers, suspected to be directing "poaching" operations, were also hanging around at the back of the Speaker’s gallery.

The sudden appearance of Argal and Co. took the Congress’s front bench by surprise. Initially, there was incomprehension which then gave way to an understanding of what was being alleged. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi sat quite still expect for rapidly blinking her eyes. In the next bench, which he shares with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee stared grimly at the scene before him.

There was little that could be done except to adjourn the House. The meeting of leaders that followed saw a decision being taken to cut short the debate and proceed with the PM’s reply and the vote. In the meantime, the channel that had recorded the sting deposited the tapes with the Speaker’s office.The Speaker will take a view himself or perhaps refer the matter to the privileges panel.

Argal, MP from Morena, had been pumping himself for the moment ever since he stepped into the House with cash in his bag. His neighbour, BJP MP from Rajgarh Laxman Singh, knew what was afoot and as the minutes began to tick by, he urged Argal on by urgently whispering to him.

As soon as Argal reached the well, he was joined by Faggan Singh Kulaste, MP from Mandla, and Mahavir Bhagora, MP from Salumber in Rajasthan.

On Tuesday morning, Argal and Kulaste reached Amar Singh’s residence at 27, Lodhi Estate. BJP sources alleged Amar Singh told the BJP MPs that the UPA already had the necessary number of MPs to win the vote. So, he was not in a position to give them too much money. Still, he was prepared to give them Rs 3 crore each for abstaining from voting.

To seal the deal by building greater confidence in the BJP MPs, the BJP MPs claim Amar Singh got them to speak to someone on phone who he said was Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmad Patel. The MPs claim they played along and agreed to the deal. But they pointed out that with television crew deployed 24x7 outside Amar Singh’s residence, it was not possible to carry out wads of notes. Amar Singh is claimed to have offered to have the money delivered.

Soon, Sanjeev Saxena, Amar Singh’s personal aide, went to Argal’s residence with a bag. This visit too is said to be have been recorded on camera, which also captured Saxena taking out wads of currency notes. The BJP MPs claim Saxena gave them Rs 1 crore as "token money" and told them that the remaining Rs 8 crore would be delivered after they had abstained in the trust vote.

In the footage which is now with the Speaker, Saxena is is also shown as giving the phone to Argal to speak with somebody whom the BJP MP later identified as Amar Singh.

The three BJP MPs surprised everyone when they displayed bundles of currency notes in Parliament and accused Samajwadi Party MP, Reoti Raman Singh, and SP general secretary, Amar Singh, of striking a deal with them to abstain from voting.

Here’s what the MPs described the events: Kulaste: "We (Kulaste, Argal and Bhagora) were contacted on Monday night and told that a deal would be struck in Le Meridian hotel. But that couldn’t happen. Later, Reoti Raman Singh came to meet us at the house, 4, Ferozeshah Road, occupied by Ashok Argal, and said, ’Come with me to Amar Singh’s house where the deal would be finalized’.

"On Tuesday morning, we discussed the deal with Ahmed Patel. Thereafter, at 8am, we went with Reoti Raman Singh to Amar Singh’s house where he offered us Rs 3 crore — Rs 1 crore each as advance — there. But, we refused to take the money and said it should be delivered at 4, Ferozeshah Road.

"After some time, a person came to the residence with two bags full of cash and put it on the table. I asked him to open the bags to show us whether the cash was real or fake. Then he took out Rs 1 crore in cash."

Argal: "On Monday night, SP MP Revati Raman Singh came to my house (4, Ferozeshah Road) and offered me the money and asked me to go to Amar Singh’s house to finalize the deal for abstaining from voting. When he asked us where the money could be sent? I said 4, Ferozeshah Road."