Monthly Archives: July 2017

Shatamanam Bhavati? Human Lifespan Increasing, No Cap on Age Possible, Canadian Study

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Shatamanam Bhavati, says Sanskrit Hindu blessing hymn. It may come true going by the trend, say Canadian scientists. Humans, who live longer than any other species, barring trees and elephants, have many super centenarians who are crossing the 100-year-old threshold, pushing the lifespan further up.

Jeanne Calment of France who lived till she was 122 years old seeing both World Wars, Mussolini and democratic reforms later, buyoant economic growth of Italy and its underworld remains a mystery to scientists and medical community. Many Japanese women have reached nearly the same age and the clock kept on chaning faces in the last one decade.

When Canadaian Emma Morano lived up to 117 years, the researchers began to ponder if there is any end to it. Researchers from the McGill University in Canada have taken up a study of the increasing lifespan of the longest-living individuals from Japan, Italy, US, UK and France since 1968 and realised that there is no cap on how long one can live literally. Nor can there be a cap on maximum age one can live with modern medical amenities within the reach and the way Japan’s robust care for the elderly works.

“We just don’t know what the age limit might be. In fact, by extending trend lines, we can show that maximum and average lifespans, could continue to increase far into the foreseeable future,” said Siegfried Hekimi, from McGill University of Canada and the team lead.

A century ago, the average lifespan was around 60 years in developed countries while it was far below at 50 years in countries like India, bar those who practised yoga and lied on good  food.

Moving forward, as of 1980, the average lifespan increased to 76 years while it is hovering around 70 years elsewhere, especially in developing countries like India. Now that the world has been shrunk to a global village, thanks to Internet, awareness is increasing, hospital care is at throwaway distance and many people have grown to be rich and educated. The lifespan average is now 82 years in Canada and around 76 years in India or other emerging economies.

However, Hekmi and his team found out that it is impossible to predict future lifespan of humans, which can move further up to a few hundred years, bringing the ancient Sanskrit blessing – Shatamanam Bhavati (Live for 1000 years) – come true. While nobody knows why the Hindu blessing of Shatamanam Bhavati was spelt out at every auspicious occasion when it was evrybody’s knowledge that one cannot live beyond 60 to 100 in ancient times too. But certainly there is an inherent meaning to its scope.

“Three hundred years ago, many people lived only short lives. If we would have told them that one day most humans might live up to 100, they would have said we were crazy,” said Hekimi. Now it is possible with the modern medical care, old age pension and other technology is there to help push the maximum lifespan of people beyond the 100 years to reach one day even 1000 years to make the Sanskrit wording “Shatamanam Bhavati” come true.

The research of Hekmi was published in the journal Nature.

GST Highest in World, Arbitrary and Bizarre, Says Cong Leader Surjewala

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Unlike what Congress proposed as a simple three-tier GST capping at 18%, the BJP-led NDA government has made it 4-slab and added 28% slab imposing one of the worst taxation system in the world, said Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Besides the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the cess included, some products will be as costlier as 43% more than the existing prices, he said. The cascading effect will be another standstill in economic growth as it would affect the common man and daily purchasing power of many people, he said.

While the livelihood of shopkeepers, traders, micro and small businesses is at stake, the new tax regime defeats the very purpose of simplifying the tax structure.  Addressing a Traders Sammelan of ‘Vyapar Bachao-Dukandar Bachao’ protest in Haryana, he said, “The GST in its current form will be a blow to the farmers, textile sector, small and medium businesses. It will lead to run away inflation for all goods of mass consumption.”

He revealed that the original proposal made by the UPA government was simple, transparent and not at all complicated. But the new BJP framed GST requires 37 returns to be filed by every taxpayer per year. “In case, a taxpayer is doing business in all 36 states/UTs, it will be 1,332 returns, which is shocking,” he revealed.

The GST is against the basic needs of common man — roti, kapda aur makaan — as all these sectors are set for shocking rise in costs, he said. Giving examples, he said, “daily use items” like shampoos, deodrant attract 28 per cent, ACs/TVs/washing machines too attract 28%, furniture 28 %, computers/printers 28% and even small cars attract 28% and questioned the rationale in attacking the middle class which consumes most of these items.

He pointed out that even sanitary napkins, which are usually kept outside the tax regimes in many advanced and even poorer countries have been put under 12% tax regime on par with shoes and footwear. Even dialysis/blood test/X-ray/ultrasound etc. come under the same category, smacking the irrational treatment of medical services in the country, which may increase the medical bills for the common man.

Daily food items like tea/coffee/butter/biscuit/ curd/sweets/juices attract 12 pc to 28 pc, revealing the mindless aggressive attitude of the policy makers and tax administrators.

“Does it make sense to tax mineral water at 18 per cent even when caviar and prawns are taxed at 12 per cent or even when exotic imported fruits and vegetables are taxed at 0 per cent,” he asked.

Giving an example of taxing almonds and dry fruits at 12 per cent and cashew nuts at 5 per cent, he questioned the rationale behind such decision-making. It is everybody’s knowledge that almonds and dry fruits are good for health while cashew is fatty food and not advised for good health.

He questioned tax on man-made fiber and yarn, dyeing and printing and embroidery at 18% while the end product fabric is only 5 per cent, which means the service sector in textile would be hit badly and many may loose jobs.

While Indian farmer can’t compete with global farmer as there is a massive shortage of cold storage units in the country coupled with high indebtedness and suicides among the farmers, the government has imposed 18% tax on construction of cold storage units, which is more harmful to India and may increase imports.

This is what “Modi government’s method of governance: long on talks and short on delivery,” he told the protesters.

Why is GST Anti-Middle Class but Pro-Rich, Pro-Farmer?

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When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House, the pat came from the President for undertaking the daunting taks of bringing the entire 1.3 billion consumers of the country under one tax regime, making it easy for market access by sellers.

The huge transition to GST-managed tax regime may benefit those who buy white goods as discounts are visibly pushing the demand but not for the middle class, which is still reeling under demonetisation effect of last year.

Many working and salaried class families have woken up on Saturday to a high taxation as they started buying daily consumables. With one stroke, the entire unholy ‘service tax’ has gone up from 15% to 18% and immediately all banks and service providers have sent urgent SMS messages passing on the burden to consumers.

Ironic but all luxury items have seen dramatic reduction in tax structure as cars are on huge discount sale from Maruti Suzuki to Tata Motors, while mobile makers are advertising equally effective price reductions over night. Not far behind, homes will be cheaper now though an elusive dream for many.

Those in rural areas are still not affected by the GST regime. Moreover, fertilizers getting GST discount from 12% to 5%, the direct beneficiaries will feel lesser impact from the concurrent hike in prices of daily consumable items until GST spreads over the remote areas too.

But those who entered restaurants on their way to office on Saturday had to pay extra in the name of central GST tax and State GST tax. It is still not clear for them why there should be two GST taxes in the bill when the GST is being rolled out as one unified structure.

Essentially, the salaried middle class will begin to feel the impact. Since elections are far away, the government is not in a mood to revise these tax slabs on daily consumables for some time.

To offset the hike in consumable goods, commodities such as packaged cement, medicaments, smart phones, and medical devices have been showcased as products where the tax is reduced.

For instance, packaged cement worked out to more than 31% earlier but now it is 28% and if the government is expecting the builders to pass on benefits to buyers, then it’s a dream for many.

In case of medicaments, including Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathic or Bio-chemic systemsalso and other medicaments in general, the rate was down from 13% to 12% now and the impact will be hardly noticeable.

Smart phones attracted a tax of 13.5% earlier and now it is 12%. Similarly, medical devices, including surgical instruments, were under 13% tax will be under 12% GST, which is not a great reduction.

Only benefit for religious-minded people is that Puja Samagri has been placed under Nil category, to woo the women who would feel the impact of GST immediately.

Otherwise, India is no longer a poor country but a rich country for the rich and for those who marvel in rich lifestyle while those who believe in Mahatma Gandhi’s simplicity would be extinct soon.

GST Regime Offers Huge Discounts on Mobile Phones, Cars, Gadgets, Not on Food

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GST roll out has turned a retail sales extravaganza across the country with car makers and retailers turning it into a sales pitch with huge discounts on goods based on GST rate slabs and large queues were seen from Mumbai to Bhubaneshwar and New Delhi to Bangalore on Friday night.

Beginning today, Saturday, July 1, 2017, India switched over to new tax structure called the Goods and Services Tax (GST), bringing more than one billion population under one tax regime and controlling $2billion market under one federal structure, surpassing the state-level levies and local taxes.

Car makers have been the main beneficiary of the new GST and the No.1 car maker Maruti Suzuki has dropped prices on key models by up to 3 percent, passing on the benefit to customers, though erstwhile hybrid models ceased to avail concessions and become costlier now. The next major player Tata Motos has reduced prices by up to 7 per cent.

On retail front, Big Bazaar chain of retail stores has announced discounts of 2 percent to 22 percent on groceries and household goods across the country while online fashion e-commerce retailer Myntra is providing huge discounts as taxes on garments change from July 1.

Social media and WhatsApp are abuzz with discounts and how customers have been given huge discounts. One such message read:”I bought a refrigerator worth Rs.28,000 for Rs.800 only,” bragging on the unverified discount offer.

Those who have taken coffee in Mavalli center on Saturday morning were surprised to see huge tax on coffee. The actual rate of coffee was Rs.32.20 and the central GST was Rs.2.90 and the State GST was another Rs.2.90, making it Rs.2.90, with a total bill of Rs.38 for coffee. Ironic but South India, which consumes mostly coffee was the worst hit from the GST, while tea is enjoying lesser taxation.

Mobile phones, which are not daily consumables, have been reaping with huge discounts as the GST came calling on July 1, 2017. Apple is among those which has offered Rs.900 to Rs.6,600 discount on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac laptops.

iPhones prices are down from Rs. 1,200 to Rs.6,600, while iPad models are given discounts from Rs.900 to Rs.3,900, with the 12-inch MacBook and MacBook Pro models witnessing price drop of about Rs.5,100 to Rs.11,800.

GST Roll-Out at Midnight Signifies Power Shift to Centre, Common Man at Receiving End?

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India ushered in GST amid historic midnight session of Parliament, replicating the mid-night transfer of Independence from the British Raj on August 15, 1947. However, GST inauguration speaks volumes on the tax burden than power transfer.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed the gathering, before the President and the Prime Minister pressed a button to mark the launch of GST, amid allegations that it would squarely burden the common man.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described it as “Good and Simple Tax” which would ultimately benefit the people. He even quoted a shloka from the Rig Veda to describe the spirit of common goal, common determination, leading to mutual and shared benefit for the society. He said the day marks a decisive turning point, in determining the future course of the country.

He recalled that the Central Hall had been witness to several historic occasions in the past as well, including the first session of the Constituent Assembly, India’s independence, and the adoption of the Constitution, which have set the future course of action on power shift in India. He described GST is an example of Cooperative Federalism, another power shift from the states to centre in tax revenue and share.

Recalling the famous scientist Albert Einstein who said that income tax is the most difficult thing to understand in the world, he said that GST would ensure one nation, one tax and makes it simple. He noted that it would eliminate inordinate delay in movement of goods and services across the country and makes the modern tax administration far simple and curbs corruption.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “We have made sure that small traders and businessmen are out and the compliance burden on those with annual turnover of Rs 20 to Rs 75 lakh is lower through the composition scheme,” referring to criticism that the commonman and small traders will be the worst hit under the new GST regime.

The common man faces paying higher price for every purchase he makes when he buys daily needs like jam, cornflakes and hotel food bills. He pays higher when he uses shampoo in the morning, pays higher for life insurance, mobile bills and transportation tickets of all modes. The only visible carrot in the deal is biscuits, which are not good for health as vegetable oil is mostly used in manufacturing them.

He saves if he buys annually once products like shoes, garments, hair oil, cell phones, plastic kitchenware (not steel), pressure cooker, economy class air tickets among others. Once in five-year purchase of a car may cost less now after GST but still beyond the common man’s reach.

However, the impact would be felt in a month from now, while traders will have to make adjustments meanwhile. Last year, demonetisation had affected the country and this year the GST will burden the merchant community further. But there is no choice for the middle class, which gets the impact maximum every time the government ushers in something new.

Messi Joins ‘Just Married’ Club, End of Robust Career?

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Football star player Lionel Messi finally married his childhood sweetheart Antonella Roccuzzo on Friday at his Argentine hometown Rosario, amid presence of top football players and celebrities including pop singer Shakira, billed as the “wedding of the century” in local media.

After Messi said, “I do” to his bride whom he knew for two decades, they reached a hotel where the glitteratti and celebrities gathered while Shakira and her husband, Messi’s teammate Gerard Pique, joined the other 260 guests including Neymar and Luis Suarez.

The top player, who is facing a court case over tax evasion, was seen happy at last over the domestic events taking priority over game, name and fame. Messi and Roccuzzo will soon move to Barcelona in Spain where he plays for FC Barcelona.

A winner of top Ballon d’Or award five times, Messi has become iconic figure among the football fans and he was even featured in TATA car endorsement in India last year.

Some reactions on social media Twitter were hillarious to modest.

 

Salman Khan-Starrer ‘Tubelight’ Barely Crosses Rs.100-Crore Mark, Unlike his Previous Hits

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Salman Khan starrer ‘Tubelight’ for 2017 Eid release could not take off despite high expectations in Bollywood about the film that has a story line similar to many of his films earlier like “Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ or ‘Sultan’.

In seven days of its collection, the film grossed Rs.103 crore, with an estimated Rs 4.25 crore on Wednesday, according to Boxofficeindia.com figures. On its opening day Friday, the film collected Rs 20.75 crore followed by Rs 19.75 crore on Saturday and Rs 22.25 crore on Sunday, Rs.18.50 crore on Monday and Rs.11.75 crore on Tuesday, followed by a massive slide to single number at Rs.4.25 crore on Wednesday.

Despite good and bad reviews, never did Salman Khan’s film faced such low collections, hinting at revamp required for the actor’s past collection records. Based on Hollywoood flick, ‘Little Boy’ with a slight change in storyline to suit local conditions when the 1962 Sino-Indian War took place.

The film was also the last one by late Bollywood legend, Om Puri, while Chinese actress Zhu Zhu and child artist Martin Rey Tangu were roped in key roles. With director Kabir Khan, this is the second film by the duo after the massive success of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’.

Here is a short list of his popular hit films:

  • Maine Pyar Kiya (1989)
  • Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994)
  • Karan Arjun (1995)
  • Dabangg (2010)
  • Ek Tha Tiger (2012)
  • Dabangg 2 (2012)
  • Kick (2014)
  • Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)
  • Sultan (2016)
  • Tubelight (2017)

Salman Khan’s record has always been good in box office collections and he was marveled as the unique actor who could bring in moolah for the producers. His first film in 1988 ‘Biwi Ho To Aisi’ was just a passable one while his next film turned the table around as box office starrer with Sooraj R. Barjatya’s romantic family drama Maine Pyar Kiya in 1989, one of India’s highest-grossing films, besides winning several awards.

However success delued him again untill 1994 when “Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!!” with madhuri Dixit virtually thnundered the box office collections and awards for Salman Khan changing the course of his film career. Earning over Rs.135 crore, it was the biggest hit of 1994, breaking all previous records.

In 1995 his film with Shah Rukh Khan in Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Karan Arjun’ based on reincarnation theme went on to become the second biggest hit of the year. But again a spell of below average fillms followed until ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’ and ‘Biwi No.1’, both of which were the highest-grossing films of 1999.

It was almost a decade of ups and downs for his film career until ‘Dabangg’, which was released on Eid, 10 September 2010 that went on to earn Rs.215 crore becoming the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2010.

His next film two years later with Katrina Kaif ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ went on to become the second Bollywood film to gross over Rs.300 crore behind only ‘3 Idiots’ of Aamir Khan. In the same year 2012, ‘Dabangg 2’, a sequel of Dabangg, grossed Rs.250 crore.

His next film in 2014 was ‘Jai Ho’ that was just above average but followed by ‘Kick’ in the same year that entered the Rs.200 crore club.

In 2015, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’, released on Eid became the second Bollywood film after ‘PK’ to enter Rs.300 crore club. Last year’s film on Eid, “Sultan” became the second film of Salman Khan to nett over 300 crores with a gross collection amount of Rs.583.26 crore worldwide. Compared to these box office collections, “Tubelight” is not only slow but never bright either like a typical tubelight after it glows.

Cassini Takes Plunge Into Saturn, Scientists Cross-Fingered

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In its line up for final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, Cassini has once again taken a proximal plunge into the surface of Saturn on June 29, 2017. The final plunge is scheduled for mid-September.

The Cosmic Dust Analyzer’s (CDA) science team, in Germany adjusted the instrument’s settings this week based on experience in recent “proximal” passages between Saturn’s rings and atmosphere. They have created a string of 39 commands that would set the instrument to make the best possible observations during the next proximal plunge. Now the instrument’s data-collection rate has been adjusted to 4 kilobits per second, thus making sure all ring-particle impacts would be sensed.

Here is a week-long update previous to the plunge:

Wednesday, June 21 (DOY 172)

Writers, bloggers, photographers, educators, students, artists and others who use social media to engage specific audiences are encouraged to apply for special access to Cassini’s Grand Finale event in mid-September.

Thursday, June 22 (DOY 173)

The Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) turned and looked at Saturn’s large icy moon Dione for 3.5 hours today. The Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) – all the other Optical Remote-Sensing (ORS) instruments – rode along to make observations as well. CIRS’s goal was to measure Dione’s surface emissivity at thermal-infrared wavelengths, which hold clues to the composition and structure of that moon’s regolith.

Friday, June 23 (DOY 174)

Beginning late today, the spacecraft trained its High-Gain Antenna dish on the distant Earth. It then accurately tracked our planet for a total of 28 hours. Accordingly, the Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) team had Cassini power on its S-band (2 GHz) and Ka-band (32 GHz) radio transmitters, which directed their beams of energy out the HGA along with the main communications beam at X-band (8 GHz).

The result was a high-precision measurement of Saturn’s gravitation, which will be analyzed to reveal deviations from spherical symmetry.

Saturday, June 24 (DOY 175)

CIRS observed the dark side of Saturn’s A ring at far-infrared wavelengths for five hours today, with the other ORS instruments riding along. In addition to studying ring-particle compositions, the observation was part of a campaign to compare the spectral properties of ices among different regions of Saturn’s rings and icy moons.

Cassini and Titan happened to come close to one another today, to a distance about the same as that from Earth to our own Moon.

Sunday, June 25 (DOY 176)

This week’s Titan observing wrapped up with its final 4.3 hours devoted to observing clouds on the planet-like moon; VIMS rode along.

Monday, June 26 (DOY 177)

ISS turned and spent 7.7 hours observing Saturn’s irregular moon Bebhionn, an object of about six kilometers diameter, which orbits Saturn in an inclined ellipse that reaches as far as 25.1 million km from the planet. It might have a binary or contact-binary nature. Bebhionn was named after the goddess of birth in early Irish mythology.

The flight team held a Command Approval Meeting fine-tuning commands with consent from representatives from each of the affected spacecraft subsystems and instruments.

Tuesday, June 27 (DOY 178)

UVIS observed. Ten minutes after the Deep Space Network (DSN) station in Australia acquired Cassini’s downlink, its 18-kilowatt transmitter was turned on, and comands were sent. After a round-trip of 2 hours 31 minutes, telemetry confirmed that the commands had been received and were ready to take effect right before Cassini’s eleventh proximal plunge on June 29.

A total of 58 individual commands were uplinked, and about 1,625 megabytes of science and engineering telemetry data were downlinked and captured at rates as high as 142,201 bits per second.

Wrap up:

Cassini is executing its set of 22 Grand Finale Proximal orbits, which have a period of 6.5 days, in a plane inclined 61.9 degrees from the planet’s equatorial plane. Each orbit stretches out to an apoapsis altitude of about 1,272,000 km from Saturn, where the spacecraft’s planet-relative speed is around 6,000 km/hr. At periapsis, the distance shrinks to about 2,500 km above Saturn’s visible atmosphere on the planet’s total 120,660 km in diameter with a speed of 123,000 km/hr.