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The UPA Government appears all set to corporatise Indian Railways as the Indian Railway Corporation Limited to make it run in keeping with the free market mechanism ostensibly to make all segments of its functioning a business oriented profit centres. In this connection, there has been a flurry of activity in the Prime Minister's Office recently. Plan Panel led by Montek Singh Ahluwalia has presented a revamp Indian Railways module. The Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh has reviewed the functioning of the Railways. Accordingly, Railways are sought to be revamped in keeping with the new strategy to make it a driver of infrastructural growth.

New Delhi: The combined live storage in these 81 reservoirs at the beginning of monsoon i.e. 1st June 2009 was 11 % of their designed capacity and stood at 62% of the designed capacity as on 29 October 2009. The present storage is 87% of last year's storage and 93% of last 10 years average storage during the same period. Out of these 81 reservoirs there are presently 34 reservoirs where this year's storage is 80 % or less than the average of previous 10 years and in remaining 47 reservoirs the storage is more than 80 % of the average of previous 10 years.

Developing Asia is on a fast rebound from the global downturn, with China and India leading a world recovery, and this should get reinforced with US economy's unexpected 3.5 per cent growth in the third quarter (July-September). For the world's largest economy, the outcome breaks four successive quarters of decline but it is still early to conclude that its longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression has come to an end. 2009 is a year of contraction for the global economy as a whole with the worst slump undergone by Europe and USA. Recovery is expected to be sluggish for most of the advanced economies through 2010.

When governance takes a backseat, rulers usually find themselves in a catch-22 situation. Punjab's 32-month old Akali-BJP government finds itself in such a situation both financially and politically. Its problems on the financial front have been multiplying, pushing the fund-starved state towards bankruptcy. Implementation of most of the projects stands stalled for paucity of funds. If the government mobilises additional resources to meet the crisis, the step will prove politically counter-productive.

New York: The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) launched a new action plan on Monday to prevent up to 5.3 million children from dying of pneumonia - the biggest child killer worldwide - by 2015.

New York: A new campaign in Zambia backed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) calls for an end to gender-based violence, the second biggest scourge in the nation, following HIV and AIDS, according to the African nation's leader.

When the Harshad Mehta scandal broke out, the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh had dismissed the severest stock market upheaval as 'system failure'. What we find today is an unusual surge of scandals involving high dignitaries holding office of profit. It is not just a question of the volume of funds involved but the challenges it poses to the system. More disturbing is the casual manner in which the high and mighty defy the rule of low.

The response to climate change issues in India till recently has been largely academic. With the matter gathering momentum worldwide, India too has been dragged into tricky negotiations by G-7 led by the USA to make it fall in line with its global interests. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh leading the Indian delegation to the negotiation table abroad seems to have lost his poise as more experienced government leaders in India maintain a balanced position despite the pressures of the USA and its NATO allies.

LUCKNOW: The by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 11 assembly seats in UP on November 7 are important for AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati and BJP President Rajnath Singh.