India wins the second One Dayer against England!

India have won the second One Day International against England at Faridabad. England batting first were bundled out for a paltry total of 226 runs. Ramesh Powar, the portly off-spinner and Sreesanth taking 3 wickets each.

In reply India started off well but lost steam in the middle. At one time they had already lost 5 wickets for a score of 90 odd runs. It was left to Dhoni (38) and Suresh Raina (81*) to steady the Indian innings. Dhoni was deceived by a slower ball from the medium pacer Andrew Flintoff. Later Irfan Pathan and Suresh Raina guided India to victory. The man of the match was Suresh Raina.

India are now 2 - 0 up in the seven match series.

Sonia says she is targetted like Indira

Sonia - the greatest blunder of Rajiv Gandhi, compared herself to Indira Gandhi when she made the following statement at a public meeting at Rae Bareli - "It has become a family tradition of sorts that the people in our family are always targeted by our rivals. Right from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Indiraji and Rajivji, we have been facing this" .

Does she really consider herself to be on par with people of immense character like Nehru and Indira or even Rajiv for that matter?

What has she done for the people to justify such a comparision?

She rejected the P. M.'s office only to become more powerful than the Prime Minister himself and that too without any obligations that go with the P. M.'s post. Unbridled power is what she enjoys now.

She resigned from the Lok Sabha merely to forestall her disqualification by the President on the same grounds that were used by her stooges to disqualify Mrs. Jaya Bachchan.

Is this sacrifice? Are the people of my country so blind or naive as to be misled by such political grand-standing?

India-England First One-Day Match!

India beat England in the first one-day match played at Firoz Shah Kotla grounds Delhi by 39 runs. In what turned out to be a low-scoring game, India made 203 in their innings. Debutante Kabir Ali took 4 Indian wickets for 45 runs. In reply, the Indians bundled England out for a paltry 164 runs, Harbhajan taking career best 5-31. He had made the highest number of runs in the Indian innings - 37. Hence he was adjudged the 'Man of the Match'.

Sonia Gandhi resigns!

Sonia Gandhi has resigned from Lok Sabha and as the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council. This comes after BJP petition to the President asking her disqualification on the grounds of her holding 'office of profit'.

The UPA urchins had used the same grounds to get Mrs. Jaya Bachchan disqualified by the President a few days back.

Sonia Gandhi's resignation doesn't come as a surprise as the President was bound to have her disqualified on the said grounds sooner than later. So she has resigned to save face. The UPA have found their own necks in the noose they had prepared for Jaya Bachchan and Amar Singh.

The saddest part of the story is that the UPA had caused both Houses of the Parliament to be adjourned sine die so that an ordinance could be passed to exempt Mrs. G. from the purview of the 'office of profit' rule. So much sycophancy!

Hyderabad water contaminated with Uranium.

This news item appeared in some of the leading news papers in Hyderabad like Deccan Chronicle and Hindi Milap.

Mines minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy said the uranium content in Himayatsagar is 7.8 micrograms per litre (mgpl) and 5.8 mgpl in Osmansagar.

The permissible limit is 2 mgpl of uranium in drinking water sources. Nagarjunasagar has 2 mgpl of uranium. Hussainsagar, which no longer supplies drinking water, contains 20 mgpl.

The average daily intake of uranium from food or water ranges from 0.07 to 1.1 micrograms per day. But Hyderabadis who drink water from Himayatsagar take uranium 700 per cent in excess, and about 500 per cent excess in case of Osmansagar.

Medical experts said that about 99 per cent of the uranium ingested in food or water is flushed out by the body in the faeces. One per cent enters the blood but even this is removed by kidneys and excreted through the urine within a few days. A small amount of uranium will be deposited in the bones where it will remain for years. The high uranium content comes from agricultural fields where farmers use phosphate fertilisers. This category of fertilisers often contains high amounts of natural uranium.

India - England II Test Match

The second Test match between India and England began today at Mohali. The first test match ended in a draw. On the rain-interrupted first day, England elected to bat and could make just 163-4 before bad light ended the day's proceedings. Piyush Chawla, a 17 year old leg-spinner and Munaf Patel, the fastest Indian bowler make their debut.

U. S. President George Walker Bush visits Hyderabad.

President George Bush is visiting India. He arrived on the 1st of March. Today , i.e., 3rd March, 2006, he arrived at Hyderabad at 9:50 AM by Air Force One. He will stay for about 5 hours and will visit Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University and the I. S. B. before leaving back for Delhi at around 2 PM. This must be the first visit of an American President to Hyderabad, the most happening city in India.

The Left Parties, a part of the ruling coalition and Muslims are violently protesting against the American President's visit. An important agreement has be reached between India and US of A regarding separation of nuclear facilities. The ramifications of this deal are still not clear. Whether it will be beneficial to Indian interests or will cause them irreparable harm is still not clear.

During his visit, he has announced the opening of US consulate at Hyderabad. This will be only the fourth US consulate in India after Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

First India - England Test Match

The first test match of the India - England series 2006 began yesterday - 1st March, 2006 at Nagpur. India begin the series on a confident note, having thrashed Pakistan 4-1 in the 1-day international series, though having lost the three match test series by 1-0.

England were 246/7 in their first innings on the first day. Irfan Pathan took 3 wickets and Srisunth, the debutante, who performed brilliantly in the 1-day series in Pakistan, was able to take 2 wickets. Kumble and Harbhajan have taken a wicket a piece.

Today promises to be an interesting day as far as the test match is concerned.