Dominique Strauss-Kahn

10th Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
In office: 1 November 2007 – 19 May 2011
Deputy: John Lipsky
Preceded by: Rodrigo Rato
Succeeded by: John Lipsky
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Finance and Economy Minister of France
In office: 4 June 1997 – 2 November 1999
Preceded by: Jean Arthuis
Succeeded by: Christian Sautter
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Born: 25 April 1949 (1949-04-25) (age 62), Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Political party: Socialist Party
Spouse(s): Anne SinclairIMF chief and possible French presidential contender
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested and charged with an alleged sexual assault, including an attempted rape, on a hotel maid in New York City. 

Philip Roth

Philip Roth, one of America's most prolific and controversial novelists, was named winner of the £60,000 Man Booker International Prize awarded every two years for a body of work published either originally in English or widely available in English translation.

He beat a formidable line-up of 12 contenders that included Rohinton Mistry and John Le Carre.

Roth (78) is best-known for his 1969 novel “Portnoy's Complaint,” and for his late-1990s trilogy comprising “American Pastoral” which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998; “I Married a Communist;” and “The Human Stain.”

Judges praised him for his “imagination” and, especially, the way he had dealt with the notion of Jewish identity in his novels.

Anna Hazare

The spate of exposures on corruption in the high offices of the Indian government last year was extraordinary even by Indian standards. Even Supreme Court -- the country’s apex court -- demanded to know what was going on and resorted to not-so-judicial a language in exasperation. Anna’s fast-unto-death that began on April 5 came at an opportune moment for the masses who were feeling stifled and helpless amid the waves of scandals that were rocking the country.

National Brand Fabindia

About the company Fabindia is India's largest private platform for products that are made from traditional techniques, skills and hand-based processes.

Fabindia links over 40,000 craft based rural producers to modern urban markets, thereby creating a base for skilled, sustainable rural employment, and preserving India's traditional handicrafts in the process.

Fabindia promotes inclusive capitalism, through its unique COC (community owned companies) model.

 The COC model consists of companies, which act as value adding intermediaries, between rural producers and Fabindia.

Indian American physician Siddhartha Mukherjee

Indian-American physician Siddhartha Mukherjee's acclaimed book on cancer, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, has won the prestigious 2011 Pulitzer Prize in the general non-fiction category.

According to the Pulitzer citation, the book by the New York-based cancer physician and researcher is “an elegant inquiry, at once clinical and personal, into the long history of an insidious disease that, despite treatment breakthroughs, still bedevils medical science.”

The Pulitzer for general non-fiction is awarded to a “distinguished and appropriately documented book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category.” It carries a $10,000 award.

International Brand Reebok

About us
Reebok is an American-inspired, global brand that creates and markets sports and lifestyle products built upon a strong heritage and authenticity in sports, fitness and women’s categories.

The brand is committed to designing products and marketing programs that reflect creativity and the desire to constantly challenge the status quo.

REETONE

Reebok has recently launched a new collection of colourful trainers for women, labelled Reetone.

The idea behind the new footwear is that it will help tone women’s bums and legs with every step they take.

Rafael Nadal

Unstoppable Rafael Nadal won his 34th match in a row on clay, defeating good friend David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4 to win another Barcelona Open, his 31st clay title from 46 overall career trophies.

Nadal beat fourth seed Ferrer, who played with a troublesome calf injury and with a taped calf, in a final for the second straight week after winning Monte Carlo at his fellow Spaniard's expense in another rout seven days ago.

He could not prevent Nadal taking a sixth title in seven years at the Real Club de Tenis.

"It's unbelievable," said the winner. "I'm very happy to come back and win here after not playing last year. It was a difficult decision; it's a special dream to play in this tournament."

Nadal has not been beaten on his surface of choice since going down in an upset at the French Open two years ago to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.

Ottavio Quattrocchi

Quattrocchi, born in Mascali, province of Catania, Sicily, arrived in India in the mid 60's as the representative of Italian oil and gas firm Eni and its engineering arm Snamprogetti. His family became close to the Gandhi family based on their connection with Rajiv Gandhi's Italian wife Sonia Gandhi.

The day Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, chargesheeted in the Bofors case for allegedly receiving kickbacks, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur, the Central Bureau of Investigation preened and patted itself for notching a significant success in the infamous gun deal that has dragged on for a decade. But the way the case was handled in the Malaysian court and the ease with which Quattrocchi was granted bail has raised doubts about the CBI's Claims.

PROFESSOR JOHN KOTTER

For leaders of organizations, managing change is an important strategic task. In the last  ten years, there have been numerous studies which all confirmed that between 60-80% of  all change projects fail fully or partly: either the objectives of the project are not achieved  or the projects cannot be completed in time or on budget. Usually, a lot is at stake: money,  personal reputation, and the health of the organization. John Kotter, one of the leading  management thinkers and writes has given his answer to this question by providing an  eighth step model for leading change.

WHO IS JOHN KOTTER?

State Bank of India

State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest state-owned banking and financial services company in India, by almost every parameter - revenues, profits, assets, market capitalization, etc. The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to

the founding in 1806 of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks, Bank of Calcutta and Bank of Bombay to form Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became State Bank of India. The Government of India nationalized the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the Government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India.

Dmitry Medvedev

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is the third and current President of the Russian Federation, inaugurated on 7 May 2008. He won the presidential election held on 2 March 2008 with 71.25% of the popular vote. He recently visited India and gave a new beginning to already good relations between the two countries.

 Medvedev was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government on 14 November 2005. Formerly Vladimir Putin's Chief of Presidential Staff, he was also the Chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, a post he had held for the second time since the year 2000. Medvedev's candidacy was backed by then President Vladimir Putin.

Sony BRAVIA

BRAVIA is a Sony brand used to market its high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors and for the PlayStation 3 (principal bravia intend), along with its home cinema range under the sub-brand BRAVIA Theatre.

The BRAVIA name is an acronym of "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture".

All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the BRAVIA logo since 2005. The name BRAVIA replaces the "LCD WEGA" brand name which Sony used for their LCD TVs until Summer 2005 (early promotional photos exist of the first BRAVIA TVs still bearing the WEGA moniker). The BRAVIA brand is also used on mobile phones in the Japanese market.

Ad Campaign

The BRAVIA brand uses the slogan "Color like.no.other."

Julian Assange

Julian Paul Assange (born 3 July 1971) is an Australian publisher, journalist, software developer and Internet activist. He is the spokesperson and editor in chief for WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for news leaks.

Assange has worked as a computer programmer and was a hacker during his youth. He has lived in several countries, and has made public appearances in many parts of the world to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism.

Assange founded the WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. He has published material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste duming in Africa, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer. In 2010, he published classified details about American involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing secret US diplomatic cables.

Asian Paints

Asian Paints is India's largest paint company and ranked among the top ten Decorative coatings companies in the world with a turnover of INR 66.80 billion. Asian Paints along with its subsidiaries have operations in 17 countries across the world with 23 paint manufacturing facilities, servicing consumers in 65 countries through Berger International, SCIB Paints – Egypt, Asian Paints, Apco Coatings and Taubmans.



History
Today

·            Asian Paints becomes the 10th largest decorative paint company in the world

·            Asian Paints is more than twice the size of its nearest competitor

·            It is one of the most admired companies in India

·            Present in 22 countries with 27 manufacturing locations, over 2500 SKU's, Integrated SAP - ERP & i2 - SCM solution

Mahyco

Introduction

Infrastructure

1.          A strong R & D infrastructure developed near Jalna (Maharashtra) .

2.          An ISO 9001-2000 company with largest multi-locational ISO certification.

3.          Network of more than 100000 farmers in 30 production centres of India.

4.          State-of-art Processing units with in-house Quality Assurance facilities.

5.          All India marketing network – more than 5000 sales outlets

Commitment to Research and Development

Mahyco Research Centre (MRC), at Dawalwadi near Jalna is one of Asia’s most advanced seed industry Research and Development establishment and is well equipped with state of art labs for seed health, molecular biology, cytogenetics, pathology, entomology, molecular virology and plant transformation. Best multi- disciplinary talent, trained nationally and internationally work in the centre. Substantial investment in R & D have been made by Mahyco to be able to produce superior products to meet the customer needs.

2G Spectrum Allotment: A ‘Raja’ of scandal

The CAG report on the allocation of 2G spectrum licences indicts the Department of Telecommunications and former Minister A Raja for gross violations.

The disruption of parliamentary proceedings in November over the 2G spectrum allocation was further proof that the allegations of corruption plaguing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's second term were far from over.

The Union government had to force the resignation of Telecom Minister A. Raja for his alleged involvement in the scam although senior Congress leaders kept saying that the final report of the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate into the improper licensing of 2G spectrum might not come before early next year.

The distribution of 2G licences to telecom companies by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been in question since 2008, but what triggered the recent pandemonium in political circles was an audit report on the allocation of 2G spectrum submitted to the government by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). This was subsequently tabled in Parliament.

What the report says?

Mullaperiyar Dam Controversy

The tussle between the Tamil Nadu and the Kerala governments on allowing the latter to construct a new dam in the place of the existing Mullaperiyar dam continued to have its repercussions. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are locked in a bitter row over the 116 year-old structure, with the latter insisting that it be replaced with a new one, citing safety concerns. Tamil Nadu is strongly opposed to the move, saying that the dam is strong. The dam issue has led to tension in the border areas of both states in recent weeks.
History of the controversy
Mullaperiyar Dam is constructed over the source of the Periyar River in Kerala, India. During the rule of the British in India a 999-year lease was made and accordingly, the Government of Tamil Nadu has been operating the dam.
The dam’s purpose was to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastwards, since it caused widespread floods in the Travancore region, by way of a tunnel across the watershed and the Western Ghats to the rain shadow region of the Theni Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu. Water is brought through a 1.6 km long tunnel till the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border and then flows through open canals to Churuliyar river which feeds the Vaigai dam in Tamil Nadu.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Nearly a decade after it was conferred, a prestigious United Nations award for promoting peace and tolerance has finally been presented to its winner, Myanmar’s democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ms. Suu Kyi was chosen for the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence in 2002, but it is only now that the Myanmar government has allowed her to accept the award carrying a prize of $1, 00,000.
Early Life
Aung San Suu Kyi was born on 19 June 1945 in Rangoon (now named Yangon). Her father, Aung San, founded the modern Burmese army and negotiated Burma’s independence from the British Empire in 1947. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence. She grew up with her mother, Khin Kyi, and two brothers, Aung San Lin and Aung San Oo, in Rangoon.
Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India, and the United Kingdom. While studying at Oxford University, she met Michael Aris, a Tibet scholar who she married in 1972.

Padmanabhan Krishnagopalan Iyengar

India lost an eminent nuclear scientist on 21 December 2011 with the death of PK Iyengar at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) hospital in Chembur, east Mumbai. He was 80.
Padmanabhan Krishnagopalan Iyengar (29 June 1931 – 21 December 2011) was a noted nuclear physicist who has known to be played a central role in India's cold fission tests. He was former head of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India. He was vocal against the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement and expressed that the deal favored the USA.
 

Career
Iyengar started his career with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1952, joined the then atomic energy establishment in Mumbai in 1955, and was soon deputed to the Chalk River Laboratories of the Canadian Atomic Energy Establishment. 
Iyengar was trained in Canada working under Nobel laureate in Physics Bertram Neville Brockhouse, contributing to path-breaking research on lattice dynamics in germanium. 
After returning from Canada, Iyengar built a number of experimental facilities around research reactors APSARA and CIRUS at the BARC. 

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world's leading research based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues (after Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer).

GSK was formed in 2000 by the merger of GlaxoWellcome plc (formed from the acquisition of Wellcome plc by Glaxo plc), and SmithKline Beecham plc (from the merger of Beecham plc, and SmithKline Beckman Corporation).

Products

GSK produce medicines that treat major disease areas such as asthma, anti-virals, infections, mental health, diabetes, cardiovascular and digestive conditions.

Lakme

Lakme is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata Group; it was named after the French opera Lakme, which itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty.

Indian cosmet Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined the company as director, and went on to become its chairman.

In 1996 Tata sold off their stakes in Lakme Lever to HLL, for Rs 200 Crore and went on to create Trent and Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakme still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women

Lakme also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India providing beauty services. Lakme' has been ranked as 47th most trusted brand in India by The Brand Trust Report.

Larry Page

There have been a lot of changes at Google since co-founder Larry Page took over the CEO reins from Eric Schmidt. By his own words, Page has focused much of his energy on increasing Google's velocity and execution since he took over in April. That has meant investing in acquisitions, including $12.5 billion for Motorola, as well as dropping more than 25 projects.

Moreover, Page has added some new members to his cabinet, such as Social Networking Head Mr. Vic Gundotra, Android Mobile Chief Mr. Andy Rubin and YouTube Head Mr. Salar Kamangar, confirmed all those familiar with internal matters of the company.

Google was ending 2011 with another $94 million investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, bringing the search giant to a total of $915 spent on clean energy initiatives. But where most of Google’s solar PV initiatives have focused on power for individual homes, it’s now taking the broader view by funding solar plant projects that provide energy to the whole grid.

Biography

Lawrence "Larry" Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American computer scientist and internet entrepreneur who, with Sergey Brin, is best known as the co-founder of Google.

Sunita Williams

Indian-American record-setting astronaut Sunita Williams along with her two colleagues took off for her second space odyssey on a Russian Soyuz rocket, which blasted off successfully from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Russian Soyuz is the only way to reach the International Space Station for American Astronauts until the commercial sector comes through with a new American made rocket.

Forty-six-year-old Nasa astronaut Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide started their two-day voyage at 8.10 a.m. for a four-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS).

Born in Euclid in Ohio and raised in Massachusetts, Williams, who had earlier lived and worked aboard the ISS for six months in 2006-07, will further extend the record for the longest stay in space for a woman astronaut.

Nescafe coffee made by Nestle

Nescafe is a brand of instant coffee made by Nestle. It comes in many different product forms. The name is a portmanteau of the words "Nestle" and "cafe". Nestle's flagship powdered coffee product was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years by Max Morgenthaler and Vernon Chapman.

Branding and marketing

Nescafe, a brand introduced by the Nestle company, can be traced back to the 1930s. In the United States, the Nescafe name was used on its products until the 1960s.

Later, Nestle introduced a new brand in the US called "Taster's Choice", which supplanted Nescafe for many years. Taster's Choice was also introduced into Canada at the same time, and continues to be sold as a separate product, branded as superior to Nescafe, and is higher priced.