• If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?
• When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
• If the "black box" flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn't the whole airplane made out of that stuff?
• Can you cry under water?
• Why do people say, "you've been working like a dog" when dogs just sit around all day?
• Do fish ever get thirsty?
• Can you get cornered in a round room?
• What came first, the fruit or the color orange?
• If a person suffered from amnesia and then was cured would they remember that they forgot?
• Can you blow a balloon up under water?
• Why is it called a "building" when it is already built?
• If a person owns a piece of land do they own it all the way down to the core of the earth?
• If drink & drive is not allowed why the hell they have parking in Bars
29 August 2007
25 August 2007
Site map generator
Generate sitemaps for your website, be that HTML, Google XML or ASP.Net sitemaps. Rich template support for generating sitemaps and near-endless scanning options. The scanning engine stores vast amounts of data so that you can, among other things, view full report on broken and redirected links (wherefrom and whereto). This data is e.g. used when generating Google XML sitmaps (e.g. when defining priority).Sitemaps help search engines discover all pages. With sitemaps you can help search engines such as Google and Yahoo to:* Index your entire website including blogs and forums.* Speed up finding and showing changed content.* Ease the bandwidth load on your webserver.* Decide pages shown in search engine result pages.Download
Code:
http://rapidshare.com/files/34353715/A1.Sitemap.Generator.v1.4.8.rar
Code:
http://rapidshare.com/files/34353715/A1.Sitemap.Generator.v1.4.8.rar
Hidden comands in XP.....
1- Private Character Editor This program is for designing icons and Characters(Alphapet) Click :start Then :run type :EUDCEDIT .................................................. ..................................................
2- iExpress This Program is for conerting your files to EXCUTABLE files
Click : start Then : run type : iexpress .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
3-Disk Cleanup This program used for cleaning harddisk to offer space
Click : start Then : run type : cleanmgr
.................................................. .................................................. .............................................
4-Dr Watson This program Is for repairing problems in Windows
Click : start Then : run type : drwtsn32 .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
5-Windows Media Player 5.1 Opens the old media player Click : start Then : run type : mplay32 .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
Program ............. CODE __________ __________
Character Map = charmap
DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag
Object Packager = packager
System Monitor = perfmon
Program Manager = progman
Remote Access phone book = rasphone
Registry Editor = regedt32
File siganture verification tool = sigverif
Volume Contro = sndvol32
System Configuration Editor = sysedit
Syskey = syskey
Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet
2- iExpress This Program is for conerting your files to EXCUTABLE files
Click : start Then : run type : iexpress .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
3-Disk Cleanup This program used for cleaning harddisk to offer space
Click : start Then : run type : cleanmgr
.................................................. .................................................. .............................................
4-Dr Watson This program Is for repairing problems in Windows
Click : start Then : run type : drwtsn32 .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
5-Windows Media Player 5.1 Opens the old media player Click : start Then : run type : mplay32 .................................................. .................................................. .............................................
Program ............. CODE __________ __________
Character Map = charmap
DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag
Object Packager = packager
System Monitor = perfmon
Program Manager = progman
Remote Access phone book = rasphone
Registry Editor = regedt32
File siganture verification tool = sigverif
Volume Contro = sndvol32
System Configuration Editor = sysedit
Syskey = syskey
Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet
Top 10 tips and tricks for Windows Vista
1.Explore the new Windows Vista start menu.
Looking for specific applications, Web sites, and e-mails is faster than ever with the streamlined Windows Vista start menu. To find a specific application or file, click the Windows key on the keyboard (or open the start menu) and enter the file name in the Instant Search field. As you type, Windows Vista dynamically searches filenames, metadata, and the full text of all files and displays the choices by file type. For example, type “out” to find Microsoft® Outlook®.
2. Discover the new search explorer.
Try filtering by type using the search pane and selecting Documents. Next choose to see your files in another way, via the new stack view. Select the author column header control drop down menu, and choose the option to Stack by author. Explore all the documents by a particular author by double clicking on an author’s stack. Now, save that search as a new search folder. Choose the option Save Search found on the top command bar and name and save your search folder. In the future, to re-run it, simply select the Searches folder link on the left side navigation pane, and double click on your search folder.
3. Experience the enhanced user interface.
If your PC supports the Windows® Aero™ user experience, open multiple files and see how easy it is to locate the right open window using the breakthrough Windows Flip (simply ALT+TAB) or Flip 3D (Windows key+TAB).
4. Browse multiple Web sites.
Tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer® 7 enables a single Internet Explorer window to run with the convenience of multiple pages. Open a new page by clicking the empty tab on the toolbar or by right-clicking any hyperlink and choosing New Tab. Tabs can also be right-clicked to refresh individual pages or refresh pages as a group. You can close either individual tabs or an entire group, and you can save tabs as one favorite group. With the Quick Tabs feature, the icon just to the right of the Favorites icon, thumbnail images of all open tabs can be seen in a single view helping you manage multiple open tabs.
5.Print picture perfect Web content.
Most Web sites are simply not formatted to fit cleanly on a standard piece of paper. With the new shrink to fit printing feature found in Internet Explorer 7 Web sites will no longer get cut off when sent to the printer.
6. Collaborate with a co-worker.
Want an easy way to share files and applications with a colleague or customer—even when you may not be part of the same network? Windows Meeting Space is a new experience in Windows Vista that enables you to start an impromptu collaboration session with other Windows Vista users. Simply open Windows Meeting Space and start a session. Windows Vista will automatically detect other Windows Vista users that are on the same sub-net infrastructure or close enough for you to create an ad hoc (direct PC-to-PC connection) wireless connection. Once you have invited them and they have accepted, you can share documents by simply dragging a document to the Handouts area on the bottom right which instantly replicates that file across the other meeting participants’ machines. Dragging the file to the presentation area on the left side starts application sharing, enabling the other participants to watch as you present that file. If someone has a good edit for your file, you can make that edit in real time, or pass control of the application directly to that participant for them to make that edit for you.
7. Share a folder or file directly from your PC.
Windows Vista improves on the Windows network folder sharing experience first introduced with Windows XP by giving you more flexibility in what you can share with other people and improving the setup process. With Windows Vista you can now share folders and individual files with any other user on the same corporate network. From any explorer, select a file or folder and on the command bar choose the option to Share. Enter the name of another user on the same network, and give them appropriate rights of access—reader, co-owner, etc. To help close the loop, Windows Vista can even automatically compose an e-mail to the individuals with which you have shared the content. The auto-generated e-mail contains a hyperlink to the shared content, enabling the recipient to instantly be taken to the shared content
8. Create an XPS Document.
XPS documents are a new archiving format perfect for preserving content and for securely sharing information in an application independent way. To create an XPS document, open any document in virtually any application, and select the print option. In the printer selection menu, choose Microsoft XPS Document Writer, and save the file. Double click on the file, which should open it in the XPS Viewer, which is hosted by Internet Explorer 7. The XPS document is a pixel-perfect rendition of the original source material.
9. Speed up your PC’s performance.
Windows Vista introduces a new concept for adding additional performance to a running system. Windows ReadyBoost™ lets people use flash memory on a USB 2.0 drive, SD Card, Compact Flash, or other memory form factor to provide additional memory cache—memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive. Insert a USB 2.0 memory drive with at least 512 MB capacity. When prompted, click use this device to speed up my computer.
10. Recover a previous version of a document.
Windows Vista introduces a new feature: Previous Versions. This allows you to “roll back” the clock to an earlier version of a file that you may have accidentally saved over or edited. In the Documents Explorer, open a document, edit it, save it, and then close it. While selecting the document, choose the Previous Versions option on the command bar, which will bring up a list of previously saved versions of the individual file. Choose a previous version and Windows Vista will restore your file to that version. Careful: all edits since that version will be lost.
Looking for specific applications, Web sites, and e-mails is faster than ever with the streamlined Windows Vista start menu. To find a specific application or file, click the Windows key on the keyboard (or open the start menu) and enter the file name in the Instant Search field. As you type, Windows Vista dynamically searches filenames, metadata, and the full text of all files and displays the choices by file type. For example, type “out” to find Microsoft® Outlook®.
2. Discover the new search explorer.
Try filtering by type using the search pane and selecting Documents. Next choose to see your files in another way, via the new stack view. Select the author column header control drop down menu, and choose the option to Stack by author. Explore all the documents by a particular author by double clicking on an author’s stack. Now, save that search as a new search folder. Choose the option Save Search found on the top command bar and name and save your search folder. In the future, to re-run it, simply select the Searches folder link on the left side navigation pane, and double click on your search folder.
3. Experience the enhanced user interface.
If your PC supports the Windows® Aero™ user experience, open multiple files and see how easy it is to locate the right open window using the breakthrough Windows Flip (simply ALT+TAB) or Flip 3D (Windows key+TAB).
4. Browse multiple Web sites.
Tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer® 7 enables a single Internet Explorer window to run with the convenience of multiple pages. Open a new page by clicking the empty tab on the toolbar or by right-clicking any hyperlink and choosing New Tab. Tabs can also be right-clicked to refresh individual pages or refresh pages as a group. You can close either individual tabs or an entire group, and you can save tabs as one favorite group. With the Quick Tabs feature, the icon just to the right of the Favorites icon, thumbnail images of all open tabs can be seen in a single view helping you manage multiple open tabs.
5.Print picture perfect Web content.
Most Web sites are simply not formatted to fit cleanly on a standard piece of paper. With the new shrink to fit printing feature found in Internet Explorer 7 Web sites will no longer get cut off when sent to the printer.
6. Collaborate with a co-worker.
Want an easy way to share files and applications with a colleague or customer—even when you may not be part of the same network? Windows Meeting Space is a new experience in Windows Vista that enables you to start an impromptu collaboration session with other Windows Vista users. Simply open Windows Meeting Space and start a session. Windows Vista will automatically detect other Windows Vista users that are on the same sub-net infrastructure or close enough for you to create an ad hoc (direct PC-to-PC connection) wireless connection. Once you have invited them and they have accepted, you can share documents by simply dragging a document to the Handouts area on the bottom right which instantly replicates that file across the other meeting participants’ machines. Dragging the file to the presentation area on the left side starts application sharing, enabling the other participants to watch as you present that file. If someone has a good edit for your file, you can make that edit in real time, or pass control of the application directly to that participant for them to make that edit for you.
7. Share a folder or file directly from your PC.
Windows Vista improves on the Windows network folder sharing experience first introduced with Windows XP by giving you more flexibility in what you can share with other people and improving the setup process. With Windows Vista you can now share folders and individual files with any other user on the same corporate network. From any explorer, select a file or folder and on the command bar choose the option to Share. Enter the name of another user on the same network, and give them appropriate rights of access—reader, co-owner, etc. To help close the loop, Windows Vista can even automatically compose an e-mail to the individuals with which you have shared the content. The auto-generated e-mail contains a hyperlink to the shared content, enabling the recipient to instantly be taken to the shared content
8. Create an XPS Document.
XPS documents are a new archiving format perfect for preserving content and for securely sharing information in an application independent way. To create an XPS document, open any document in virtually any application, and select the print option. In the printer selection menu, choose Microsoft XPS Document Writer, and save the file. Double click on the file, which should open it in the XPS Viewer, which is hosted by Internet Explorer 7. The XPS document is a pixel-perfect rendition of the original source material.
9. Speed up your PC’s performance.
Windows Vista introduces a new concept for adding additional performance to a running system. Windows ReadyBoost™ lets people use flash memory on a USB 2.0 drive, SD Card, Compact Flash, or other memory form factor to provide additional memory cache—memory that the computer can access much more quickly than it can access data on the hard drive. Insert a USB 2.0 memory drive with at least 512 MB capacity. When prompted, click use this device to speed up my computer.
10. Recover a previous version of a document.
Windows Vista introduces a new feature: Previous Versions. This allows you to “roll back” the clock to an earlier version of a file that you may have accidentally saved over or edited. In the Documents Explorer, open a document, edit it, save it, and then close it. While selecting the document, choose the Previous Versions option on the command bar, which will bring up a list of previously saved versions of the individual file. Choose a previous version and Windows Vista will restore your file to that version. Careful: all edits since that version will be lost.
20 secrets of Windows XP
1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Whereas previous versions of Windows were coy about how long they went between boots, XP is positively proud of its stamina. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type 'systeminfo'. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type 'systeminfo > info.txt'. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type ' gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to
Code: http://www.whatismyip.com/-- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20.U can lock any folder without any softwares. Using the codes given below u can redirect the folder to control panel, internet explorer etc., by renaming the files by pasting the code for example if u have a folder in d: which is named as "HELL" then rename it to
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}. thats all ur folder will redirect to control panel.
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Internet Explorer.{FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}
Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
My Documents.{ECF03A32-103D-11d2-854D-006008059367}
Fonts.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
to unlock the folder Go to Start>RUN>CMD If the folder is in d: then go to that drive then type dir/x then the folder is shown as for example with control panel it shows as contro~1.{21 rename this folder to any name using command "ren control~1.{21 myfolder" without quote ok that it all over..... U can lock and unlock the folder
2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run... and type ' gpedit.msc'; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care -- some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).
3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter 'rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation' in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That's it -- just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that's not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.
4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can tickle it and make it disgorge everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word 'hide' and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be your prey, exposed and vulnerable.
5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include 'eventcreate' and 'eventtriggers' for creating and watching system events, 'typeperf' for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and 'schtasks' for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options -- they're all far too baroque to go into here.
6. XP has IP version 6 support -- the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type 'ipv6 install' into Run... (it's OK, it won't ruin your existing network setup) and then 'ipv6 /?' at the command line to find out more. If you don't know what IPv6 is, don't worry and don't bother.
7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using 'taskkill /pid' and the task number, or just 'tskill' and the process number. Find that out by typing 'tasklist', which will also tell you a lot about what's going on in your system.
8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you've got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files well alone by typing 'regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll' at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can put things back as they were by typing 'regsvr32 zipfldr.dll'.
9. XP has ClearType -- Microsoft's anti-aliasing font display technology -- but doesn't have it enabled by default. It's well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.
10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who's using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your chum's real IP address -- they can find this out by going to
Code: http://www.whatismyip.com/-- and get them to make sure that they've got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.
11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As... and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.
12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might slip the bonds of sanity before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.
13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run... from the start menu and type 'control userpasswords2', which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.
14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options... and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.
15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can't see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You'll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.
16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.
17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By... Show In Groups.
18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks -- if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn't, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.
19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.
20.U can lock any folder without any softwares. Using the codes given below u can redirect the folder to control panel, internet explorer etc., by renaming the files by pasting the code for example if u have a folder in d: which is named as "HELL" then rename it to
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}. thats all ur folder will redirect to control panel.
Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}
Internet Explorer.{FBF23B42-E3F0-101B-8488-00AA003E56F8}
Recycle Bin.{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}
My Computer.{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}
My Documents.{ECF03A32-103D-11d2-854D-006008059367}
Fonts.{BD84B380-8CA2-1069-AB1D-08000948F534}
to unlock the folder Go to Start>RUN>CMD If the folder is in d: then go to that drive then type dir/x then the folder is shown as for example with control panel it shows as contro~1.{21 rename this folder to any name using command "ren control~1.{21 myfolder" without quote ok that it all over..... U can lock and unlock the folder
24 August 2007
To realize the value of...
To realize the value of...
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask an Editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the couple who is waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
To realize the value of FRIENDS, ask a person WHO cannot name one.
Treasure every moment that you have! Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask an Editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the couple who is waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
To realize the value of FRIENDS, ask a person WHO cannot name one.
Treasure every moment that you have! Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift
Some of the Best Moments in Life
Some of the Best Moments in Life
- To fall in love.
- To laugh until it hurts your stomach.
- To find mails by the thousands when you return from a vacation.
- To go for a vacation to some pretty place.
- To listen to your favorite song in the radio.
- To go to bed and to listen while it rains outside.
- To leave the shower and find that the towel is warm.
- To clear your last exam.
- To receive a call from someone, you donýt see a lot, but you want to.
- To find money in a pant that you haven't used since last year .
- To laugh at yourself looking at mirror, making faces.:)))
- Calls at midnight that last for hours.:))
- To laugh without a reason.
- To accidentally hear somebody say something good about you.
- To wake up and realize it is still possible to sleep for a couple of hours.
- To hear a song that makes you remember a special person.
- To be part of a team.
- To watch the sunset from the hill top.
- To make new friends.
- To feel butterflies! in the stomach every time that you see that person.
- To pass time with your best friends.
- To see people that you like, feeling happy.
- To use a sweater of the person that you like and find that it still smells of their perfume.
- See an old friend again and to feel that the things have not changed.
- To take an evening walk along the beach.
- To have somebody tell you that he/she loves you.
- To laugh .......laugh........and laugh ...... remembering stupid things done with stupid friends.
- To fall in love.
- To laugh until it hurts your stomach.
- To find mails by the thousands when you return from a vacation.
- To go for a vacation to some pretty place.
- To listen to your favorite song in the radio.
- To go to bed and to listen while it rains outside.
- To leave the shower and find that the towel is warm.
- To clear your last exam.
- To receive a call from someone, you donýt see a lot, but you want to.
- To find money in a pant that you haven't used since last year .
- To laugh at yourself looking at mirror, making faces.:)))
- Calls at midnight that last for hours.:))
- To laugh without a reason.
- To accidentally hear somebody say something good about you.
- To wake up and realize it is still possible to sleep for a couple of hours.
- To hear a song that makes you remember a special person.
- To be part of a team.
- To watch the sunset from the hill top.
- To make new friends.
- To feel butterflies! in the stomach every time that you see that person.
- To pass time with your best friends.
- To see people that you like, feeling happy.
- To use a sweater of the person that you like and find that it still smells of their perfume.
- See an old friend again and to feel that the things have not changed.
- To take an evening walk along the beach.
- To have somebody tell you that he/she loves you.
- To laugh .......laugh........and laugh ...... remembering stupid things done with stupid friends.
22 August 2007
How to become a successful businessman
Believe in yourself
Being an entrepreneur is a lot more risky than the conventional job routine. There is no regular salary; you have to find customers on your own. Marketing your product/service and financing the project are also of concern. I noticed that most entrepreneurs use a combination of due diligence and gut instincts while evaluating their product/service. They are good at spotting a need in the market and then backing themselves up to believe that their idea can fill that void.
Lesson one -- Believe in your idea. Never underestimate what you can do. You may surprise yourself.
Hire the right people
Most entrepreneurs highlighted this as the toughest aspect of building a business. Sanjay Bhargava, who co-founded Paypal, recommended entrepreneurs to bring in people who are really good at what they do and also to focus on ensuring the team members get along with each other.
Some entrepreneurs confessed they made the initial mistake of hiring friends and people they liked, but soon realised that friends were not always the best employees.
Lesson two -- Build your team with people possessing complementary skills, not 'yes men' who are always showering praise. You need employees, partners and mentors you trust, who will give you honest feedback and take your company to the next level.
Be money wise
While some entrepreneurs went in for conventional sources of funding from a venture capitalist or banks, etc, quite a few started out with their savings or by borrowing money from friends and family. Most entrepreneurs said they focused on increasing efficiency and optimising costs and overheads. One entrepreneur shared that he consciously stayed away from non-essentials like an extravagant office, equipments, etc. The focus was on superior execution and high quality service.
Lesson three -- It's tempting to dream of a corner office, a pool table and expensive chairs, but give it some time. Start small and start efficient. Being better is more important than being bigger.
Concentrate on the message
"As a small business, most of our marketing is word-of-mouth. Our clients appreciate the kind of work we do and our reputation for delivering results," said Vidhanshu Bansal, founder of an information-technology company called Pixel Webtech.
Most entrepreneurs said that in the early days, their tendency was to focus on sales activities and as they grew, they started looking at various marketing initiatives, as that is the cement that gels customers, vendors and employees together. Their strategy kept changing, depending on what worked -- direct mailers, e-mail marketing, presentations at seminars, etc.
Lesson four -- Marketing a start-up business is a 24/7 activity and you need to pay attention to the message you're sending out to existing and prospective clients. Your message has to be tailored to meet the customer's expectations.
Keep the team motivated
Do not indulge in fault-finding or blame games. That was a clear message from most entrepreneurs. Pigeonholing a particular member of the team may spread negative vibes within the team and cost you time and quality. Celebrating every small success and appreciating team members will build a sense of camaraderie.
Lesson five -- Be a coach, rather than the star player. Appreciate and acknowledge the positive behaviours of team members so that the behaviours turn into consistent practices.
Make mistakes
"If you ain't a little bit scared, you ain't driving fast enough," said Deepak Wadhwa, another entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs agreed. Give your people the license to fail. It's ok to make a mistake as long as they are succeeding 9 out of 10 times, and making sure that they don't repeat those mistakes in the future.
Lesson six -- The worst mistake is the one that gets repeated. Create a culture of learning and experimentation right at the start of the business. This will become a powerful value with the growth of the business.
Be passionate
Most entrepreneurs accepted that the rewards of being an entrepreneur can be terrific but they were also of the opinion that there is no 'secret sauce.' There are a lot of magazines, self-help books and biographies of successful entrepreneurs that one can read, but at the end of the day, it's about execution. What you really need is to be passionate about your work.
Lesson seven -- If you are doing something and the day flies by, if you are surrounded with people you like to work with, then you have most of the ingredients for entrepreneurial success.
Being an entrepreneur is a lot more risky than the conventional job routine. There is no regular salary; you have to find customers on your own. Marketing your product/service and financing the project are also of concern. I noticed that most entrepreneurs use a combination of due diligence and gut instincts while evaluating their product/service. They are good at spotting a need in the market and then backing themselves up to believe that their idea can fill that void.
Lesson one -- Believe in your idea. Never underestimate what you can do. You may surprise yourself.
Hire the right people
Most entrepreneurs highlighted this as the toughest aspect of building a business. Sanjay Bhargava, who co-founded Paypal, recommended entrepreneurs to bring in people who are really good at what they do and also to focus on ensuring the team members get along with each other.
Some entrepreneurs confessed they made the initial mistake of hiring friends and people they liked, but soon realised that friends were not always the best employees.
Lesson two -- Build your team with people possessing complementary skills, not 'yes men' who are always showering praise. You need employees, partners and mentors you trust, who will give you honest feedback and take your company to the next level.
Be money wise
While some entrepreneurs went in for conventional sources of funding from a venture capitalist or banks, etc, quite a few started out with their savings or by borrowing money from friends and family. Most entrepreneurs said they focused on increasing efficiency and optimising costs and overheads. One entrepreneur shared that he consciously stayed away from non-essentials like an extravagant office, equipments, etc. The focus was on superior execution and high quality service.
Lesson three -- It's tempting to dream of a corner office, a pool table and expensive chairs, but give it some time. Start small and start efficient. Being better is more important than being bigger.
Concentrate on the message
"As a small business, most of our marketing is word-of-mouth. Our clients appreciate the kind of work we do and our reputation for delivering results," said Vidhanshu Bansal, founder of an information-technology company called Pixel Webtech.
Most entrepreneurs said that in the early days, their tendency was to focus on sales activities and as they grew, they started looking at various marketing initiatives, as that is the cement that gels customers, vendors and employees together. Their strategy kept changing, depending on what worked -- direct mailers, e-mail marketing, presentations at seminars, etc.
Lesson four -- Marketing a start-up business is a 24/7 activity and you need to pay attention to the message you're sending out to existing and prospective clients. Your message has to be tailored to meet the customer's expectations.
Keep the team motivated
Do not indulge in fault-finding or blame games. That was a clear message from most entrepreneurs. Pigeonholing a particular member of the team may spread negative vibes within the team and cost you time and quality. Celebrating every small success and appreciating team members will build a sense of camaraderie.
Lesson five -- Be a coach, rather than the star player. Appreciate and acknowledge the positive behaviours of team members so that the behaviours turn into consistent practices.
Make mistakes
"If you ain't a little bit scared, you ain't driving fast enough," said Deepak Wadhwa, another entrepreneur. Most entrepreneurs agreed. Give your people the license to fail. It's ok to make a mistake as long as they are succeeding 9 out of 10 times, and making sure that they don't repeat those mistakes in the future.
Lesson six -- The worst mistake is the one that gets repeated. Create a culture of learning and experimentation right at the start of the business. This will become a powerful value with the growth of the business.
Be passionate
Most entrepreneurs accepted that the rewards of being an entrepreneur can be terrific but they were also of the opinion that there is no 'secret sauce.' There are a lot of magazines, self-help books and biographies of successful entrepreneurs that one can read, but at the end of the day, it's about execution. What you really need is to be passionate about your work.
Lesson seven -- If you are doing something and the day flies by, if you are surrounded with people you like to work with, then you have most of the ingredients for entrepreneurial success.
Watz Sensex...? Here v go....
Everyone has heard of the Sensex. Most of us know it is the index of the Bombay Stock Exchange. But there are lots of facts you are probably unware of. Here are six interesting facts about the Sensex.
1. The Sensex is an abbreviated version of The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index. It is the benchmark index for the Indian stock market, closely followed by Nifty, which is the index of the National Stock Exchange. Officially called S&P CNX Nifty, this name is credited to the 50 stocks that comprise its index.
2. The Sensex is made up of only 30 stocks. These stocks represent around a dozen sectors. They are leaders in their respective industries.
3. The stocks are picked by the stock selection committee (known as the Index Committee). There are certain basic parameters fixed when picking these 30 stocks. They are:
~ The stock should have been traded on each and every trading day (the days on which the stock market works) for the past one year.
~ It should be among the top 150 companies listed by average number of trades (buying or selling of shares) and the average value of the trades (in actual rupee terms) per day over the past one year.
~ The stock should have been listed on the BSE for at least one year.
4. The job of the Sensex is to capture the price movement of the equity market. The Sensex reflects the price movements of shares. If the Sensex rises, it indicates the market is doing well.
The price of every stock price rises or falls for two possible reasons:
News about the company Great earnings, great annual or quarterly results, product launch, closure of a factory, the government providing tax or duty exemptions to the sector so more profits expected, a feud among the company's top bosses, etc. This will be stock specific news.
News about the country Testing a nuclear bomb, a terrorist attack, the Budget announcement, new tax regime, declaration of war, change of government, good monsoons and hence a good agricultural crop, etc. This will be called index news.
The job of an index is mainly to capture the news about the country. This will reflect the movement of the stock market as a whole. It could also reflect the sentiment of the market as a whole. If corporate India is largely doing well, then it will get reflected here.
A good index will only capture news that is common to all stocks in India. This is what the Sensex does. In order to present a broad picture, the stocks selected are from different sectors.
5. The value of each of the stocks in the Sensex is not equal.
The market cap method Each of the 30 stocks in the Sensex has a weight attached to it. This weight depends on the market capitalisation of the stock.
Market capitalisation refers to the number of shares of a company multiplied by its market value (the price of each share). For instance, if a company has 10 million shares whose value is Rs 30 per share on July 1, 2006, it will have a market cap of Rs 300 million on July 1, 2004.
Let's assume the market cap of the 30 Sensex stocks is Rs 3,00,000 crore. Let us also assume the market cap of ITC (which is one of the 30 shares that make up the Sensex) is Rs 20,000 crore, then ITC's weight in the Sensex is 6.66%.
The rise or fall in the price of ITC's shares will impact the Sensex to that extent.
This is referred to as the full market capitalisation methodology.
Free-float weightage Here, a company's entire lot of shares are not taken into account (which means we are not looking at the entire market capitalisation). Only the shares readily available for trading are considered.
In every company, a certain amount of shares are not available for trading on the stock exchange. These shares could be held by the government or the promoters of the company. Under the free-float weightage method, they are not taken into account.
How does the stock exchange arrive at this weightage? In this case, the market cap is multiplied by the free float factor (which is the proportion of a company's shares that can be readily bought and sold).
The Sensex uses the free-float weightage method.
The Sensex's free-float market cap at close of business on December 3, 2005, was Rs 3,66,124 crore.
Unlike the Sensex, the 50 stocks in Nifty -- the index of the National Stock Exchange -- is based on the market cap method and not the free-float method.
You can read about the free-float method in detail on the BSE web site.
6. The clincher
Even though the BSE came into existence in 1875, the Sensex was formulated and came into existence only in 1986.
1. The Sensex is an abbreviated version of The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index. It is the benchmark index for the Indian stock market, closely followed by Nifty, which is the index of the National Stock Exchange. Officially called S&P CNX Nifty, this name is credited to the 50 stocks that comprise its index.
2. The Sensex is made up of only 30 stocks. These stocks represent around a dozen sectors. They are leaders in their respective industries.
3. The stocks are picked by the stock selection committee (known as the Index Committee). There are certain basic parameters fixed when picking these 30 stocks. They are:
~ The stock should have been traded on each and every trading day (the days on which the stock market works) for the past one year.
~ It should be among the top 150 companies listed by average number of trades (buying or selling of shares) and the average value of the trades (in actual rupee terms) per day over the past one year.
~ The stock should have been listed on the BSE for at least one year.
4. The job of the Sensex is to capture the price movement of the equity market. The Sensex reflects the price movements of shares. If the Sensex rises, it indicates the market is doing well.
The price of every stock price rises or falls for two possible reasons:
News about the company Great earnings, great annual or quarterly results, product launch, closure of a factory, the government providing tax or duty exemptions to the sector so more profits expected, a feud among the company's top bosses, etc. This will be stock specific news.
News about the country Testing a nuclear bomb, a terrorist attack, the Budget announcement, new tax regime, declaration of war, change of government, good monsoons and hence a good agricultural crop, etc. This will be called index news.
The job of an index is mainly to capture the news about the country. This will reflect the movement of the stock market as a whole. It could also reflect the sentiment of the market as a whole. If corporate India is largely doing well, then it will get reflected here.
A good index will only capture news that is common to all stocks in India. This is what the Sensex does. In order to present a broad picture, the stocks selected are from different sectors.
5. The value of each of the stocks in the Sensex is not equal.
The market cap method Each of the 30 stocks in the Sensex has a weight attached to it. This weight depends on the market capitalisation of the stock.
Market capitalisation refers to the number of shares of a company multiplied by its market value (the price of each share). For instance, if a company has 10 million shares whose value is Rs 30 per share on July 1, 2006, it will have a market cap of Rs 300 million on July 1, 2004.
Let's assume the market cap of the 30 Sensex stocks is Rs 3,00,000 crore. Let us also assume the market cap of ITC (which is one of the 30 shares that make up the Sensex) is Rs 20,000 crore, then ITC's weight in the Sensex is 6.66%.
The rise or fall in the price of ITC's shares will impact the Sensex to that extent.
This is referred to as the full market capitalisation methodology.
Free-float weightage Here, a company's entire lot of shares are not taken into account (which means we are not looking at the entire market capitalisation). Only the shares readily available for trading are considered.
In every company, a certain amount of shares are not available for trading on the stock exchange. These shares could be held by the government or the promoters of the company. Under the free-float weightage method, they are not taken into account.
How does the stock exchange arrive at this weightage? In this case, the market cap is multiplied by the free float factor (which is the proportion of a company's shares that can be readily bought and sold).
The Sensex uses the free-float weightage method.
The Sensex's free-float market cap at close of business on December 3, 2005, was Rs 3,66,124 crore.
Unlike the Sensex, the 50 stocks in Nifty -- the index of the National Stock Exchange -- is based on the market cap method and not the free-float method.
You can read about the free-float method in detail on the BSE web site.
6. The clincher
Even though the BSE came into existence in 1875, the Sensex was formulated and came into existence only in 1986.
CAN YOU GUESS WHAT IS IT
CAN YOU GUESS, WHAT IS THIS?
SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWER . . . .
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Its a hard disk in 1956....
The Volume and Size of 5MB memory storage in 1956. In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD). The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data. Let us start appreciating your 100 GB jump drive!
about death...
Top 10 things you didn't know about death
1. When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go -- the first is usually sight, followed by taste, smell and touch
2. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it has been decapitated
3. 100 people choke to death on pens each year. One is more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a spider
4. Alexander's funeral would have cost $600 million today. A road from Egypt to Babylon was built to carry his body
5. When inventor Thomas Edison died in 1931, his friend Henry Ford captured his last dying breath in a bottle
6. Over 2500 left-handed people are killed each year from using products made for right-handed people
7. It takes longer than ever before a body to decompose due to preservatives in the food that we eat these days
8. An eternal flame lamp at the tomb of a Buddhist priest in Nara, Japan has kept burning for 1,130 years
9. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is the first person to have his ashes put aboard a rocket and 'buried' in space
10. Japanese factory worker Kenji Urada became the first know fatality caused by a robot in July, 1981, in a car plant.
1. When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go -- the first is usually sight, followed by taste, smell and touch
2. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it has been decapitated
3. 100 people choke to death on pens each year. One is more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a spider
4. Alexander's funeral would have cost $600 million today. A road from Egypt to Babylon was built to carry his body
5. When inventor Thomas Edison died in 1931, his friend Henry Ford captured his last dying breath in a bottle
6. Over 2500 left-handed people are killed each year from using products made for right-handed people
7. It takes longer than ever before a body to decompose due to preservatives in the food that we eat these days
8. An eternal flame lamp at the tomb of a Buddhist priest in Nara, Japan has kept burning for 1,130 years
9. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is the first person to have his ashes put aboard a rocket and 'buried' in space
10. Japanese factory worker Kenji Urada became the first know fatality caused by a robot in July, 1981, in a car plant.
All these incomes r tax free
Here are some of the important items of income, which are fully exempt from income tax and which can be utilised by a resident individual Indian assessee for the purpose of tax planning.
1. Agricultural income
Under the provisions of Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act, agricultural income is fully exempt from income tax. However, for individuals or HUFs when agricultural income is in excess of Rs 5,000, it is aggregated with the total income for the purposes of computing tax on the total income in a manner which results into "no" tax on agricultural income but an increased income tax on the other income.
Agricultural income which fulfils the above conditions is completely exempt from tax. The manner of calculating tax on total income and agricultural income, is explained in Illustration.
Illustration
For the assessment year 2008-09 an individual has a total income from trading in cloth amounting to Rs 111,000 besides, he has earned Rs 40,000 as income from agriculture.
The income tax payable by him will be computed as under:
* On the first Rs 110,000 of taxable non-agricultural income: Nil * On the next Rs 40,000 of agricultural income (falling under 10% slab): Nil * On the next Rs 1,000 of taxable non-agricultural income @ 20%: Rs 200 * IT on aggregated income of Rs 111,000 + Rs 40,000 = Rs 151,000: Rs 200
2. Receipts from HUF
Any sum received by an individual as a member of a Hindu Undivided Family, where the said sum has been paid out of the income of the family, or, in the case of an impartible estate, where such sum has been paid out of the income of the estate belonging to the family, is completely exempt from income tax in the hands of an individual member of the family under Section 10(2).
3. Share from a partnership firm
Under the provisions of Section 10(2A), in the case of a person being a partner of a firm which is separately assessed as such, his share in the total income of the firm is completely exempt from income tax since AY 1993-94.
For this purpose, the share of a partner in the total income of a firm separately assessed as such would be an amount which bears to the total income of the firm the same share as the amount of the share in the profits of the firm in accordance with the partnership deed bears to such profits.
4. Allowance for foreign service
Any allowances or perquisites paid or allowed as such outside India by the government to a citizen of India, rendering service outside India, are completely exempt from tax under Section 10(7). This provision can be taken advantage of by the citizens of India who are in government service so that they can accumulate tax-free perquisites and allowances received outside India.
5. Gratuities
Under the provisions of Section 10(10) of the IT Act, any death-cum-retirement gratuity of a government servant is completely exempt from income tax. However, in respect of private sector employees gratuity received on retirement or on becoming incapacitated or on termination or any gratuity received by his widow, children or dependants on his death is exempt subject to certain conditions.
The maximum amount of exemption is Rs 350,000. Of course, this is further subject to certain other limits like the one half-month's salary for each year of completed service, calculated on the basis of average salary for the 10 months immediately preceding the year in which the gratuity is paid or 20 months' salary as calculated. Thus, the least of these items is exempt from income tax under Section 10(10).
6. Commutation of pension
The entire amount of any payment in commutation of pension by a government servant or any payment in commutation of pension from LIC pension fund is exempt from income tax under Section 10(10A) of IT Act.
However, in respect of private sector employees, only the following amount of commuted pension is exempt, namely: (a) Where the employee received any gratuity, the commuted value of one-third of the pension which he is normally entitled to receive; and (b) In any other case, the commuted value of half of such pension.
It may be noted here that the monthly pension receivable by a pensioner is liable to full income tax like any other item of salary or income and no standard deduction is now available in respect of pension received by a tax payer.
7. Leave salary of central government employees
Under Section 10(10AA) the maximum amount receivable by the employees of central government as cash equivalent to the leave salary in respect of earned leave at their credit up to 10 months' leave at the time of their retirement, whether on superannuation or otherwise, would be Rs 300,000.
8. Voluntary retirement or separation payment
Under the provisions of Section 10(10C), any amount received by an employee of a public sector company or of any other company or of a local authority or a statutory authority or a cooperative society or university or IIT or IIM at the time of his voluntary retirement (VR) or voluntary separation in accordance with any scheme or schemes of VR as per Rule 2BA, is completely exempt from tax. The maximum amount of money received at such VR which is so exempt is Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000).
9. Life insurance receipts
Under Section 10(10D), any sum received under a Life Insurance Policy (LIP), including the sum allocated by way of bonus on such policy, other than u/s 80DDA or under a Keyman Insurance Policy, or under an insurance policy issued on or after 1.4.2003 (April 1, 2003) in respect of which the premium payable for any of the years during the term of the policy exceeds 20% of the actual capital sum assured, is fully exempt from tax.
However, all moneys received on death of the insured are fully exempt from tax. Thus, generally moneys received from life insurance policies whether from the Life Insurance Corporation or any other private insurance company would be exempt from income tax.
10. Payment received from provident funds
Under the provisions of Sections 10(11), (12) and (13) any payment from a government or recognised provident fund (PF) or approved superannuation fund, or PPF is exempt from income tax.
11. Certain types of interest payment
There are certain types of interest payments which are fully exempt from income tax u/s 10(15). These are described below:
(i) Income by way of interest, premium on redemption or other payment on such securities, bonds, annuity certificates, savings certificates, other certificates issued by the Central Government and deposits as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
(iia) In the case of an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family, interest on such capital investment bonds as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf (i.e. 7% Capital Investment Bonds);
(iib) In the case of an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family, interest on such Relief Bonds as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf (i.e., 9% or 8.5% or 8% or 7% Relief Bonds); (iid) Interest on NRI bonds;
(iiia) Interest on securities held by the issue department of the Central Bank of Ceylon constituted under the Ceylon Monetary Law Act, 1949;
(iiib) Interest payable to any bank incorporated in a country outside India and authorised to perform central banking functions in that country on any deposits made by it, with the approval of the Reserve Bank of India or with any scheduled bank;
(iv) Certain interest payable by Government or a local authority on moneys borrowed by it, including hedging charges on currency fluctuation (from the AY 2000-2001), etc.
(v) Interest on Gold Deposit Bonds;
(vi) Interest on certain deposits are: Bhopal Gas victims;
(vii) Interest on bonds of local authorities as notified, and
(viii) Interest on 6.5% Savings Bonds [Exempt] issued by RBI.
12. Scholarship and awards, etc.
Any kind of scholarship granted to meet the cost of education is exempt from tax under Section 10(16). Similarly, certain awards and rewards, etc. are completely exempt from tax under Section 10(17A), for example, Lakhotia Puraskar of Rs 31,000 awarded to the best Rajasthani author, every year under Notification No. 199/28/95-IT (A-I) dated 22-4-1996. Any daily allowance received by a Member of Parliament or by an MLA or any member of any Committee of Parliament or State legislature is also exempt from tax under Section 10(17).
13. Gallantry awards, etc. Section 10(1Cool
The Finance Act, 1999 has, with effect from AY 2000-2001, provided for complete exemption for the pension and family pension of Gallantry Award Winners like Paramvir Chakra, Mahavir Chakra, and Vir Chakra and also other Gallantry Award winners notified by the Central Government.
14. Dividends on shares and units - Section 10(34) & (35)
With effect from the Assessment Year 2004-05, the dividend income and income of units of mutual funds received by the assessee completely exempt from income tax.
15. Long-term capital gains of transfer of securities - Section 10(3Cool
With effect from FY 2004-05, any income arising to a taxpayer on account of sale of long-term capital asset being securities is completely outside the purview of tax liability especially when the transaction has been subjected to Securities Transaction Tax (STT).
Thus, if the shares of any company listed in the stock exchange are sold after holding it for a minimum period of one year then there will be no liability to payment of capital gains. This provision would even apply for the old shares which are held by an assesse and are sold after the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004 came into force.
16. Amount received by way of gift, etc - Section 10(39)
As per the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004, gift, etc. received after 1-9-2004 by individual or HUF in cash or by way of credit, etc. is being subjected to tax if the same is not received from a relative, etc. However, Section 10(39) provides that the amount received to the extent of Rs 50,000 will, however, be exempt from the purview of tax payment.
Similarly, amount received on the occasion of marriage from non-relative, etc. would also be exempted. It may be noted that the gift from relatives, etc. as mentioned in the section can be received without any upper limit.
Excerpt from the book:
How to Save Income Tax through Tax Planning (FY 2007-0Cool
By R N Lakhotia & Subhash Lakhotia
Publisher: Vision Books
Price: Rs 190
R N Lakhotia and Subhash Lakhotia are among India's top authorities on taxation. Together, they have written over 100 books on tax planning and are regular columnists for several newspapers.
1. Agricultural income
Under the provisions of Section 10(1) of the Income Tax Act, agricultural income is fully exempt from income tax. However, for individuals or HUFs when agricultural income is in excess of Rs 5,000, it is aggregated with the total income for the purposes of computing tax on the total income in a manner which results into "no" tax on agricultural income but an increased income tax on the other income.
Agricultural income which fulfils the above conditions is completely exempt from tax. The manner of calculating tax on total income and agricultural income, is explained in Illustration.
Illustration
For the assessment year 2008-09 an individual has a total income from trading in cloth amounting to Rs 111,000 besides, he has earned Rs 40,000 as income from agriculture.
The income tax payable by him will be computed as under:
* On the first Rs 110,000 of taxable non-agricultural income: Nil * On the next Rs 40,000 of agricultural income (falling under 10% slab): Nil * On the next Rs 1,000 of taxable non-agricultural income @ 20%: Rs 200 * IT on aggregated income of Rs 111,000 + Rs 40,000 = Rs 151,000: Rs 200
2. Receipts from HUF
Any sum received by an individual as a member of a Hindu Undivided Family, where the said sum has been paid out of the income of the family, or, in the case of an impartible estate, where such sum has been paid out of the income of the estate belonging to the family, is completely exempt from income tax in the hands of an individual member of the family under Section 10(2).
3. Share from a partnership firm
Under the provisions of Section 10(2A), in the case of a person being a partner of a firm which is separately assessed as such, his share in the total income of the firm is completely exempt from income tax since AY 1993-94.
For this purpose, the share of a partner in the total income of a firm separately assessed as such would be an amount which bears to the total income of the firm the same share as the amount of the share in the profits of the firm in accordance with the partnership deed bears to such profits.
4. Allowance for foreign service
Any allowances or perquisites paid or allowed as such outside India by the government to a citizen of India, rendering service outside India, are completely exempt from tax under Section 10(7). This provision can be taken advantage of by the citizens of India who are in government service so that they can accumulate tax-free perquisites and allowances received outside India.
5. Gratuities
Under the provisions of Section 10(10) of the IT Act, any death-cum-retirement gratuity of a government servant is completely exempt from income tax. However, in respect of private sector employees gratuity received on retirement or on becoming incapacitated or on termination or any gratuity received by his widow, children or dependants on his death is exempt subject to certain conditions.
The maximum amount of exemption is Rs 350,000. Of course, this is further subject to certain other limits like the one half-month's salary for each year of completed service, calculated on the basis of average salary for the 10 months immediately preceding the year in which the gratuity is paid or 20 months' salary as calculated. Thus, the least of these items is exempt from income tax under Section 10(10).
6. Commutation of pension
The entire amount of any payment in commutation of pension by a government servant or any payment in commutation of pension from LIC pension fund is exempt from income tax under Section 10(10A) of IT Act.
However, in respect of private sector employees, only the following amount of commuted pension is exempt, namely: (a) Where the employee received any gratuity, the commuted value of one-third of the pension which he is normally entitled to receive; and (b) In any other case, the commuted value of half of such pension.
It may be noted here that the monthly pension receivable by a pensioner is liable to full income tax like any other item of salary or income and no standard deduction is now available in respect of pension received by a tax payer.
7. Leave salary of central government employees
Under Section 10(10AA) the maximum amount receivable by the employees of central government as cash equivalent to the leave salary in respect of earned leave at their credit up to 10 months' leave at the time of their retirement, whether on superannuation or otherwise, would be Rs 300,000.
8. Voluntary retirement or separation payment
Under the provisions of Section 10(10C), any amount received by an employee of a public sector company or of any other company or of a local authority or a statutory authority or a cooperative society or university or IIT or IIM at the time of his voluntary retirement (VR) or voluntary separation in accordance with any scheme or schemes of VR as per Rule 2BA, is completely exempt from tax. The maximum amount of money received at such VR which is so exempt is Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000).
9. Life insurance receipts
Under Section 10(10D), any sum received under a Life Insurance Policy (LIP), including the sum allocated by way of bonus on such policy, other than u/s 80DDA or under a Keyman Insurance Policy, or under an insurance policy issued on or after 1.4.2003 (April 1, 2003) in respect of which the premium payable for any of the years during the term of the policy exceeds 20% of the actual capital sum assured, is fully exempt from tax.
However, all moneys received on death of the insured are fully exempt from tax. Thus, generally moneys received from life insurance policies whether from the Life Insurance Corporation or any other private insurance company would be exempt from income tax.
10. Payment received from provident funds
Under the provisions of Sections 10(11), (12) and (13) any payment from a government or recognised provident fund (PF) or approved superannuation fund, or PPF is exempt from income tax.
11. Certain types of interest payment
There are certain types of interest payments which are fully exempt from income tax u/s 10(15). These are described below:
(i) Income by way of interest, premium on redemption or other payment on such securities, bonds, annuity certificates, savings certificates, other certificates issued by the Central Government and deposits as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.
(iia) In the case of an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family, interest on such capital investment bonds as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf (i.e. 7% Capital Investment Bonds);
(iib) In the case of an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family, interest on such Relief Bonds as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf (i.e., 9% or 8.5% or 8% or 7% Relief Bonds); (iid) Interest on NRI bonds;
(iiia) Interest on securities held by the issue department of the Central Bank of Ceylon constituted under the Ceylon Monetary Law Act, 1949;
(iiib) Interest payable to any bank incorporated in a country outside India and authorised to perform central banking functions in that country on any deposits made by it, with the approval of the Reserve Bank of India or with any scheduled bank;
(iv) Certain interest payable by Government or a local authority on moneys borrowed by it, including hedging charges on currency fluctuation (from the AY 2000-2001), etc.
(v) Interest on Gold Deposit Bonds;
(vi) Interest on certain deposits are: Bhopal Gas victims;
(vii) Interest on bonds of local authorities as notified, and
(viii) Interest on 6.5% Savings Bonds [Exempt] issued by RBI.
12. Scholarship and awards, etc.
Any kind of scholarship granted to meet the cost of education is exempt from tax under Section 10(16). Similarly, certain awards and rewards, etc. are completely exempt from tax under Section 10(17A), for example, Lakhotia Puraskar of Rs 31,000 awarded to the best Rajasthani author, every year under Notification No. 199/28/95-IT (A-I) dated 22-4-1996. Any daily allowance received by a Member of Parliament or by an MLA or any member of any Committee of Parliament or State legislature is also exempt from tax under Section 10(17).
13. Gallantry awards, etc. Section 10(1Cool
The Finance Act, 1999 has, with effect from AY 2000-2001, provided for complete exemption for the pension and family pension of Gallantry Award Winners like Paramvir Chakra, Mahavir Chakra, and Vir Chakra and also other Gallantry Award winners notified by the Central Government.
14. Dividends on shares and units - Section 10(34) & (35)
With effect from the Assessment Year 2004-05, the dividend income and income of units of mutual funds received by the assessee completely exempt from income tax.
15. Long-term capital gains of transfer of securities - Section 10(3Cool
With effect from FY 2004-05, any income arising to a taxpayer on account of sale of long-term capital asset being securities is completely outside the purview of tax liability especially when the transaction has been subjected to Securities Transaction Tax (STT).
Thus, if the shares of any company listed in the stock exchange are sold after holding it for a minimum period of one year then there will be no liability to payment of capital gains. This provision would even apply for the old shares which are held by an assesse and are sold after the Finance (No.2) Act, 2004 came into force.
16. Amount received by way of gift, etc - Section 10(39)
As per the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2004, gift, etc. received after 1-9-2004 by individual or HUF in cash or by way of credit, etc. is being subjected to tax if the same is not received from a relative, etc. However, Section 10(39) provides that the amount received to the extent of Rs 50,000 will, however, be exempt from the purview of tax payment.
Similarly, amount received on the occasion of marriage from non-relative, etc. would also be exempted. It may be noted that the gift from relatives, etc. as mentioned in the section can be received without any upper limit.
Excerpt from the book:
How to Save Income Tax through Tax Planning (FY 2007-0Cool
By R N Lakhotia & Subhash Lakhotia
Publisher: Vision Books
Price: Rs 190
R N Lakhotia and Subhash Lakhotia are among India's top authorities on taxation. Together, they have written over 100 books on tax planning and are regular columnists for several newspapers.
How Smart is Your Right Foot?
How Smart is Your Right Foot?
This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.
1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.
Your foot will change direction. I told you so .....And there's nothing you can do about it
Make sure you pass this on to your friends...they won't be able to believe it either!!
This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.
1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.
Your foot will change direction. I told you so .....And there's nothing you can do about it
Make sure you pass this on to your friends...they won't be able to believe it either!!
15 Science Fiction Books You Must Read
15 Science Fiction Books You Must Read
It's been a while we have been geeking so it's no wonder then that we often get asked, which are our favorite geeky books, movies and stuff like that that we would recommend.
So, that's what we will be doing off and on for the next few weeks to come. We are starting the series with the list of top 15 Science Fiction books that are our favorites and we recommend you read:
1. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
3. Dune by Frank Herbert
4. Neuromancer by William Gibson
5. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
6. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
7. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlien
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip Dick
10. Contact by Carl Sagan
11. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Contact
12. Time Machine by HG Wells
13. The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
14. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
15. Starship Troopers by Rober A Heinlein
The list is not in any particular order, just the way they are in our bookstack, so don't kick me for that
It's been a while we have been geeking so it's no wonder then that we often get asked, which are our favorite geeky books, movies and stuff like that that we would recommend.
So, that's what we will be doing off and on for the next few weeks to come. We are starting the series with the list of top 15 Science Fiction books that are our favorites and we recommend you read:
1. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy by Douglas Adams
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
3. Dune by Frank Herbert
4. Neuromancer by William Gibson
5. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
6. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
7. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlien
8. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
9. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip Dick
10. Contact by Carl Sagan
11. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Contact
12. Time Machine by HG Wells
13. The War of the Worlds by HG Wells
14. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
15. Starship Troopers by Rober A Heinlein
The list is not in any particular order, just the way they are in our bookstack, so don't kick me for that
10 Rules of Indian Cinema
1) Two brothers separated in childhood will always grow up on different sides of the law. The law-breaker, however, will suddenly turn over a new leaf before the end, bash up the villain (who is the *real* bad guy), and be pardoned for all his sins before the last-scene family reunion. (This is possible only if he has a heroine - see rule 2 below).
2) if the number of heroes is not equal to the number of heroines, the excess heroes/heroines will a) die b) join the Red Cross and take off to Switzerland before the end of the movie.
3) If there are 2 heroes in a movie, they will fight each other savagely for at least 5 minutes (10 if they are brothers).
4) Any court scene will have the dialogue "Objection milord". If it is said by the hero, or his lawyer, it will be overruled. Else, it will be sustained.
5) The hero's sister will usually marry the hero's best friend (i.e. the second hero). Else, she will be raped by the villain within the 1st 30 minutes, and commit suicide.
6) In a chase, the hero will always overtake the villain, even on a bullock-cart, or on foot.
7) When the hero fires at the villain(s), he will never a) miss b) run out of bullets. When the villain fires at the hero, he will always miss (unless the hero is required to die, as in rule 2).
8 ) Any fight sequence shall take place in the vicinity of a stack of a) pots b) barrels c) glass bottles, which will be smashed to pieces.
9) Any movie involving lost and found brothers will have a song sung by a) the brothers b) their blind mother (but of course, she has to be blind in order to regain her sight in the climax) c) the family dog/cat.
10) 10. Police inspectors (when not played by the hero) come in two categories: a) Scrupulously honest, probably the hero's father - killedby the villain before the titles. b) Honest, but always chasing the anti-hero (as in Rule 1), saying "Tum kanoon se bach nahin sakte", only to pat him in the back in reel 23. Usually, this inspector's daughter is in love with the anti-hero. c) The corrupt inspector, (usually the real villain's sidekick) unceremoniously knocked about by the hero(s) in the climax.
2) if the number of heroes is not equal to the number of heroines, the excess heroes/heroines will a) die b) join the Red Cross and take off to Switzerland before the end of the movie.
3) If there are 2 heroes in a movie, they will fight each other savagely for at least 5 minutes (10 if they are brothers).
4) Any court scene will have the dialogue "Objection milord". If it is said by the hero, or his lawyer, it will be overruled. Else, it will be sustained.
5) The hero's sister will usually marry the hero's best friend (i.e. the second hero). Else, she will be raped by the villain within the 1st 30 minutes, and commit suicide.
6) In a chase, the hero will always overtake the villain, even on a bullock-cart, or on foot.
7) When the hero fires at the villain(s), he will never a) miss b) run out of bullets. When the villain fires at the hero, he will always miss (unless the hero is required to die, as in rule 2).
8 ) Any fight sequence shall take place in the vicinity of a stack of a) pots b) barrels c) glass bottles, which will be smashed to pieces.
9) Any movie involving lost and found brothers will have a song sung by a) the brothers b) their blind mother (but of course, she has to be blind in order to regain her sight in the climax) c) the family dog/cat.
10) 10. Police inspectors (when not played by the hero) come in two categories: a) Scrupulously honest, probably the hero's father - killedby the villain before the titles. b) Honest, but always chasing the anti-hero (as in Rule 1), saying "Tum kanoon se bach nahin sakte", only to pat him in the back in reel 23. Usually, this inspector's daughter is in love with the anti-hero. c) The corrupt inspector, (usually the real villain's sidekick) unceremoniously knocked about by the hero(s) in the climax.
Is computer male or Female : Information Technology
A French teacher was explaining to her college class that in French, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. House is feminine "la maison." Pencil is masculine "le crayon."
A student asked, "What gender is computer ?" Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups male and female - and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender (la computer) because: 1.. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2.. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3.. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later review; and
4.. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay cheque on accessories for it.
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine le computer) because: 1.. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2.. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3.. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4.. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model
A student asked, "What gender is computer ?" Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups male and female - and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.
The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender (la computer) because: 1.. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2.. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3.. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later review; and
4.. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your pay cheque on accessories for it.
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine le computer) because: 1.. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2.. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3.. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4.. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model
Twelve books that changed the world
1.The Origin of Species
When Charles Darwin's book went on sale to the trade on November 22, 1859 the stock of 1,250 copies was oversubscribed. His theory: Evolution was by natural selection, not a divine process. The most enthusiastic response came from radical atheists, who hailed Darwin as "the greatest revolutionist in natural history of this century" but clerics were pained at his theory which entirely ruled out divine intervention and destroyed the idea that all creatures were immutably made during the seven-day Creation.
2.The FA Rule Book
In 1863, the Football Association's First Rule Book set out a list which regulated the game in and around London, though for quite some time the provinces clubs continued to follow their local rules. The FA Rule Book forms the basis for the modern rules of the game. 1st game played under the rules: January 9, 1863 at Battersea Park in south-west London.
3.Shakespeare's 1st Folio
The first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays was published in 1623. Collection: 36 plays, 18 of which were published for the first time, thus saving such works as The Tempest and Macbeth from probable extinction. Collected by: Actor editors John Heminge and Henry Condell. These plays were not attributed to Shakespeare until the date of publication, seven years after his death.
4.Principia Mathematica
Isaac Newton in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published on July 5, 1687 describes the universal gravitation and, via his laws of motion, laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. Generally regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science, it also contains the Hypotheses non fingo ("I do not assert that any hypotheses are true").
5.The Wealth of Nations
The Scottish economist Adam Smith's groundbreaking book, published in 1776, is the first complete system of political economy by the articulator of laissez-faire capitalism. It set the foundation for modern economics. He supports the theory that the less government interferes with business, the more prosperous
6.Wilberforce's speech
On May 12, 1789, the Tory MP William Wilberforce made his first speech against the slave trade. It was a speech that changed history. Wilberforce said: "...having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know." Until then it was possible for people in Britain to say that they did not know the truth about slavery..
7.The King James Bible
The 1611 bible was controversial because it was a translation into the English spoken by the common people. It had a profound influence on ensuing translations and on English literature as a whole. It is considered one of the masterpieces of early modern English literature, Works by John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, John Dryden and William Wordsworth were inspired by it.
8. Arkwright's Patent
The patent (no 931) was granted to Richard Arkwright for his spinning maching on July 3, 1769. The machine used the drawing roller method invented by Lewis Paul in 1738. The invention of this machine revolutionised the production of yarn and led to rapid mechanisation throughout Britain
9.Rights of a Woman
At the heart of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women, are the twin virtues of freedom of thought and devotion to family. Called the "mother for feminism" she strove to trade "soft" descriptions of women that denoted weakness, such as " susceptibility of heart" and "delicacy of sentiment" for strength.
10.Faraday's research
Michael Faraday's 1855 Experimental Research in Electricity made him the leading experimental scientist of his time. He was the first to invent the dynamo, which made the generation of electricity possible, thereby paving the way for modern technology. He introduced several words that we still use today to discuss electricity: ion, electrode, cathode, and anode.
11.Married Love
In her book Married Life, Marie Stopes argued that marriage should be an equal relationship between husband and wife. The first book to suggest that women should enjoy sex as much as men. Thought fiercely opposed by doctors, the press and the Church, the book met with immediate success, selling 2,000 copies within a fortnight. Married Love was also published in America but the courts declared the book was obscene and it was promptly banned.
12.Magna Carta
Rebellious British noblemen forced King John to sign a document which contained 63 clauses defining his feudal rights. From that moment, the king was no longer permitted to change anything without the barons' permission. The meaning of certain clauses is still a cause for dispute.
When Charles Darwin's book went on sale to the trade on November 22, 1859 the stock of 1,250 copies was oversubscribed. His theory: Evolution was by natural selection, not a divine process. The most enthusiastic response came from radical atheists, who hailed Darwin as "the greatest revolutionist in natural history of this century" but clerics were pained at his theory which entirely ruled out divine intervention and destroyed the idea that all creatures were immutably made during the seven-day Creation.
2.The FA Rule Book
In 1863, the Football Association's First Rule Book set out a list which regulated the game in and around London, though for quite some time the provinces clubs continued to follow their local rules. The FA Rule Book forms the basis for the modern rules of the game. 1st game played under the rules: January 9, 1863 at Battersea Park in south-west London.
3.Shakespeare's 1st Folio
The first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays was published in 1623. Collection: 36 plays, 18 of which were published for the first time, thus saving such works as The Tempest and Macbeth from probable extinction. Collected by: Actor editors John Heminge and Henry Condell. These plays were not attributed to Shakespeare until the date of publication, seven years after his death.
4.Principia Mathematica
Isaac Newton in his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published on July 5, 1687 describes the universal gravitation and, via his laws of motion, laid the groundwork for classical mechanics. Generally regarded as one of the most important works in the history of science, it also contains the Hypotheses non fingo ("I do not assert that any hypotheses are true").
5.The Wealth of Nations
The Scottish economist Adam Smith's groundbreaking book, published in 1776, is the first complete system of political economy by the articulator of laissez-faire capitalism. It set the foundation for modern economics. He supports the theory that the less government interferes with business, the more prosperous
6.Wilberforce's speech
On May 12, 1789, the Tory MP William Wilberforce made his first speech against the slave trade. It was a speech that changed history. Wilberforce said: "...having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know." Until then it was possible for people in Britain to say that they did not know the truth about slavery..
7.The King James Bible
The 1611 bible was controversial because it was a translation into the English spoken by the common people. It had a profound influence on ensuing translations and on English literature as a whole. It is considered one of the masterpieces of early modern English literature, Works by John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, John Dryden and William Wordsworth were inspired by it.
8. Arkwright's Patent
The patent (no 931) was granted to Richard Arkwright for his spinning maching on July 3, 1769. The machine used the drawing roller method invented by Lewis Paul in 1738. The invention of this machine revolutionised the production of yarn and led to rapid mechanisation throughout Britain
9.Rights of a Woman
At the heart of Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women, are the twin virtues of freedom of thought and devotion to family. Called the "mother for feminism" she strove to trade "soft" descriptions of women that denoted weakness, such as " susceptibility of heart" and "delicacy of sentiment" for strength.
10.Faraday's research
Michael Faraday's 1855 Experimental Research in Electricity made him the leading experimental scientist of his time. He was the first to invent the dynamo, which made the generation of electricity possible, thereby paving the way for modern technology. He introduced several words that we still use today to discuss electricity: ion, electrode, cathode, and anode.
11.Married Love
In her book Married Life, Marie Stopes argued that marriage should be an equal relationship between husband and wife. The first book to suggest that women should enjoy sex as much as men. Thought fiercely opposed by doctors, the press and the Church, the book met with immediate success, selling 2,000 copies within a fortnight. Married Love was also published in America but the courts declared the book was obscene and it was promptly banned.
12.Magna Carta
Rebellious British noblemen forced King John to sign a document which contained 63 clauses defining his feudal rights. From that moment, the king was no longer permitted to change anything without the barons' permission. The meaning of certain clauses is still a cause for dispute.
Budget: How to save income tax!
Tax reforms have conventionally been considered to be a rather contentious area that was left untouched by most in the past. However, the finance minister ventured into this contentious territory and has emerged standing tall!
As a part of the process, benefits under Section 88 have been scrapped and Section 80L has been omitted. Instead the finance minister has proposed a new regime wherein each taxpayer will be allowed a consolidated limit of Rs 1 lakh for savings.
Simply put, investors can now make investments up to Rs 1 lakh, from their income chargeable to tax; the same will be treated as a deduction from the income.
More importantly all prevailing sectoral caps have been removed i.e. within the abovementioned Rs 1 lakh investors will have a free hand to make investments as per their own choice.
This is contrary to the earlier regime wherein Section 88 benefits could be claimed by investors subject to stated upper limits e.g. investments in equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS) had a cap of Rs 10,000 for the purpose of claiming tax benefits.
Also deductions in certain areas like interest payments towards home loans, contributions towards medical insurance premium, interest on loan taken for higher education etc. have been left unchanged. Investors are free to claim benefits from the same over and above the stipulated Rs 1 lakh investments.
A new tax structure has been introduced as well,
New tax brackets and rates Taxable income Rate of tax Upto Rs 100,000 Nil Rs 100,000 to 150,000 10% Rs 150,000 to 250,000 20% Above Rs 250,000 30%
The income level for applying the 10% surcharge has been hiked from the erstwhile Rs 8.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh at present.
What does the budget hold for retail investors? Retail investors have every reason to rejoice. While Section 88 benefits and Section 80L have ceased to exist, investors continue to have the opportunity to reduce their tax liabilities by investing the earmarked sum of Rs 1 lakh.
Investments in small savings schemes, ELSS, contributions to insurance policies and pension plans etc have all been made a part of the eligible Rs 1 lakh. On a positive note, tax benefits will no longer dictate investors' investment decisions.
Now investors have the opportunity to create a portfolio based on their individual preferences and needs rather than from the tax-saving perspective.
Hence if you are an investor with a high-risk appetite, invest a significant portion of your portfolio to ELSS, on the contrary retirees and conservative investors can opt for the small savings segment.
In the erstwhile tax regime, investors with a gross total income of more than Rs 5 lakh could not claim any benefits under Section 88; this disparity has been done away with since investors across tax brackets can utilise the Rs 1 lakh deduction.
The new tax regime permits investors to plan their finances as per their individual needs, which is a basic tenet of financial planning; the finance minister undeniably deserves a round of applause for his efforts.
As a part of the process, benefits under Section 88 have been scrapped and Section 80L has been omitted. Instead the finance minister has proposed a new regime wherein each taxpayer will be allowed a consolidated limit of Rs 1 lakh for savings.
Simply put, investors can now make investments up to Rs 1 lakh, from their income chargeable to tax; the same will be treated as a deduction from the income.
More importantly all prevailing sectoral caps have been removed i.e. within the abovementioned Rs 1 lakh investors will have a free hand to make investments as per their own choice.
This is contrary to the earlier regime wherein Section 88 benefits could be claimed by investors subject to stated upper limits e.g. investments in equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS) had a cap of Rs 10,000 for the purpose of claiming tax benefits.
Also deductions in certain areas like interest payments towards home loans, contributions towards medical insurance premium, interest on loan taken for higher education etc. have been left unchanged. Investors are free to claim benefits from the same over and above the stipulated Rs 1 lakh investments.
A new tax structure has been introduced as well,
New tax brackets and rates Taxable income Rate of tax Upto Rs 100,000 Nil Rs 100,000 to 150,000 10% Rs 150,000 to 250,000 20% Above Rs 250,000 30%
The income level for applying the 10% surcharge has been hiked from the erstwhile Rs 8.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh at present.
What does the budget hold for retail investors? Retail investors have every reason to rejoice. While Section 88 benefits and Section 80L have ceased to exist, investors continue to have the opportunity to reduce their tax liabilities by investing the earmarked sum of Rs 1 lakh.
Investments in small savings schemes, ELSS, contributions to insurance policies and pension plans etc have all been made a part of the eligible Rs 1 lakh. On a positive note, tax benefits will no longer dictate investors' investment decisions.
Now investors have the opportunity to create a portfolio based on their individual preferences and needs rather than from the tax-saving perspective.
Hence if you are an investor with a high-risk appetite, invest a significant portion of your portfolio to ELSS, on the contrary retirees and conservative investors can opt for the small savings segment.
In the erstwhile tax regime, investors with a gross total income of more than Rs 5 lakh could not claim any benefits under Section 88; this disparity has been done away with since investors across tax brackets can utilise the Rs 1 lakh deduction.
The new tax regime permits investors to plan their finances as per their individual needs, which is a basic tenet of financial planning; the finance minister undeniably deserves a round of applause for his efforts.
TOLL FREE NUMBERS IN INDIA
TOLL FREE NUMBERS IN INDIA
Airways
Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407 Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522 Specked - 1600 180 3333
Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006 Maruti - 1600 111 515 Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552 Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636
Banks
ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224 Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000 Citibank - 1600 44 2265 Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555 Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769 HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227 ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499 ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848 IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999 Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400 ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900 Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022 Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300 Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222 State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955 Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655
Cell Phones
BenQ - 1600 22 08 08 Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700 Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211 Nokia - 3030 3838 Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111
Computers/IT
Adrenalin - 1600 444 445 AMD - 1600 425 6664 Apple Computers - 1600 444 683 Canon - 1600 333 366 Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777 Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999 Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600 Dell - 1600 444 026 Epson - 1600 44 0011 eSys - 3970 0011 Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888 HCL - 1600 180 8080 IBM - 1600 443 333 Lexmark - 1600 22 4477 Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488 Microsoft - 1600 111 100 Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334 Seagate - 1600 180 1104 Symantec - 1600 44 5533 TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566 WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446 Wipro - 1600 333 312 xerox - 1600 180 1225 Zenith - 1600 222 004
Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585 AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696 Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321 Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560 DHL - 1600 111 345 FedEx - 1600 22 6161 Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 113456 UPS - 1600 22 7171
Education
Edu Plus - 1600 444 000 Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438 NCERT - 1600 11 1265 Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555
Healthcare
Best on Health - 1600 11 8899 Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767 GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797 Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111 Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292 LifeCell - 1600 44 5323 Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420 Pfizer - 1600 442 442 Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46 Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708 Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383 VLCC - 1600 33 1262
Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188 Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979 Blue Star - 1600 22 2200 Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673 Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171 Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222 DishTV - 1600 12 3474 Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595 Godrej - 1600 22 5511 Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555 LG - 1901 180 9999 Philips - 1600 22 4422 Samsung - 1600 113 444 Sanyo - 1600 11 0101 Voltas - 1600 33 4546 WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 160044 5432
Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500 InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000 Marriott - 1600 22 0044 Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222 Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825
Insurance
AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200 Aviva - 1600 33 2244 Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858 Chola MS General Insurance - 160044 5544 HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227 LIC - 1600 33 4433 Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577 Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899 SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090
Mattresses
Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404 Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266
Investments/ Finance
CAMS - 1600 44 2267 Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300 Easy IPO's - 3030 5757 Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000 Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255 J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004 Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626 LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005 SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040 Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500 Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101
Paints
Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678 Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800
Teleshoppin
Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600 Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225 Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000 VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777 WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777
Travel
ClubMahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539 Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235 God TV Tours - 1600 442 777 Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747 Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030 Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900 Sita Tours - 1600 111 911 SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344
UPS
APC - 1600 44 4272 Numeric - 1600 44 3266
Others
ConsumerHelpline - 1600 11 4000 L'Oreal, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000 KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666 Indane - 1600 44 51 15 Aavin - 1600 44 3300 Pedigree - 1600 11 2121 Kodak India - 1600 22 8877 Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123 World Vision India - 1600 444 550 Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420
Arif A.Shaikh Sales Executive ICS Electronics Deira Dubai +971-50-8483435 +971-4-2225592
Airways
Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407 Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522 Specked - 1600 180 3333
Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006 Maruti - 1600 111 515 Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552 Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636
Banks
ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224 Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000 Citibank - 1600 44 2265 Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555 Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769 HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227 ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499 ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848 IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999 Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400 ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900 Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022 Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300 Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222 State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955 Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655
Cell Phones
BenQ - 1600 22 08 08 Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700 Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211 Nokia - 3030 3838 Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111
Computers/IT
Adrenalin - 1600 444 445 AMD - 1600 425 6664 Apple Computers - 1600 444 683 Canon - 1600 333 366 Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777 Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999 Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600 Dell - 1600 444 026 Epson - 1600 44 0011 eSys - 3970 0011 Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888 HCL - 1600 180 8080 IBM - 1600 443 333 Lexmark - 1600 22 4477 Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488 Microsoft - 1600 111 100 Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334 Seagate - 1600 180 1104 Symantec - 1600 44 5533 TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566 WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446 Wipro - 1600 333 312 xerox - 1600 180 1225 Zenith - 1600 222 004
Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585 AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696 Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321 Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560 DHL - 1600 111 345 FedEx - 1600 22 6161 Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 113456 UPS - 1600 22 7171
Education
Edu Plus - 1600 444 000 Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438 NCERT - 1600 11 1265 Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555
Healthcare
Best on Health - 1600 11 8899 Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767 GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797 Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111 Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292 LifeCell - 1600 44 5323 Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420 Pfizer - 1600 442 442 Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46 Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708 Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383 VLCC - 1600 33 1262
Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188 Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979 Blue Star - 1600 22 2200 Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673 Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171 Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222 DishTV - 1600 12 3474 Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595 Godrej - 1600 22 5511 Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555 LG - 1901 180 9999 Philips - 1600 22 4422 Samsung - 1600 113 444 Sanyo - 1600 11 0101 Voltas - 1600 33 4546 WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 160044 5432
Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500 InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000 Marriott - 1600 22 0044 Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222 Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825
Insurance
AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200 Aviva - 1600 33 2244 Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858 Chola MS General Insurance - 160044 5544 HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227 LIC - 1600 33 4433 Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577 Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899 SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090
Mattresses
Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404 Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266
Investments/ Finance
CAMS - 1600 44 2267 Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300 Easy IPO's - 3030 5757 Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000 Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255 J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004 Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626 LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005 SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040 Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500 Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101
Paints
Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678 Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800
Teleshoppin
Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600 Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225 Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000 VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777 WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777
Travel
ClubMahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539 Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235 God TV Tours - 1600 442 777 Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747 Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030 Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900 Sita Tours - 1600 111 911 SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344
UPS
APC - 1600 44 4272 Numeric - 1600 44 3266
Others
ConsumerHelpline - 1600 11 4000 L'Oreal, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000 KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666 Indane - 1600 44 51 15 Aavin - 1600 44 3300 Pedigree - 1600 11 2121 Kodak India - 1600 22 8877 Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123 World Vision India - 1600 444 550 Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420
Arif A.Shaikh Sales Executive ICS Electronics Deira Dubai +971-50-8483435 +971-4-2225592
Did u know........(II)
• The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people.
• The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher, and the grebe are all birds that cannot walk.
• The poisonous copperhead snake smells like fresh cut cucumbers.
• A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.
• Worker ants may live seven years and the queen may live as long as 15 years.
• The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.
• Cheetahs make a chirping sound that is much like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp. The sound is so an intense, it can be heard a mile away.
• The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
• The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court. 98% of brown bears in the United States are in Alaska.
• Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.
• The Barbie doll has more than 80 careers.
• To make one pound of whole milk cheese, 10 pounds of whole milk is needed.
• 99% of pumpkins that are sold for decoration.
• Every 30 seconds a house fire doubles in size.
• The month of December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines.
• A one ounce milk chocolate bar has 6 mg of caffeine.
• Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes.
• The largest ever hailstone weighed over 1kg and fell in Bangladesh in 1986.
• Ants can live up to 16 years.
• In Belgium, there is a museum that is just for strawberries.
• The sense of smell of an ant is just as good as a dog's.
• Popped popcorn should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator as this way it can stay crunchy for up to three weeks.
• Coca-Cola was originally green.
• The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
• The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
• The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row ! of the keyboard.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!
• You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
• It is impossible to lick your elbow.
• People say "Bless you " when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
• The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest
• tongue twister in the English language.
• If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.
Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great,
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
• If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
• What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? Ans. - All invented by women.
• The only food that doesn't spoil is HoneY.
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• All polar bears are left handed.
• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
• In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
• Most lipstick contains fish scales.
• Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.
• A baby bat is called a pup.
• German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
• A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.
• It takes 35 to 65 minks to produce the average mink coat. The numbers for other types of fur coats are: beaver - 15; fox - 15 to 25; ermine - 150; chinchilla - 60 to 100 .
• The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher, and the grebe are all birds that cannot walk.
• The poisonous copperhead snake smells like fresh cut cucumbers.
• A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.
• Worker ants may live seven years and the queen may live as long as 15 years.
• The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.
• Cheetahs make a chirping sound that is much like a bird's chirp or a dog's yelp. The sound is so an intense, it can be heard a mile away.
• The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
• The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court. 98% of brown bears in the United States are in Alaska.
• Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.
• The Barbie doll has more than 80 careers.
• To make one pound of whole milk cheese, 10 pounds of whole milk is needed.
• 99% of pumpkins that are sold for decoration.
• Every 30 seconds a house fire doubles in size.
• The month of December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines.
• A one ounce milk chocolate bar has 6 mg of caffeine.
• Carbon monoxide can kill a person in less than 15 minutes.
• The largest ever hailstone weighed over 1kg and fell in Bangladesh in 1986.
• Ants can live up to 16 years.
• In Belgium, there is a museum that is just for strawberries.
• The sense of smell of an ant is just as good as a dog's.
• Popped popcorn should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator as this way it can stay crunchy for up to three weeks.
• Coca-Cola was originally green.
• The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
• The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
• The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row ! of the keyboard.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!
• You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
• It is impossible to lick your elbow.
• People say "Bless you " when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
• The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest
• tongue twister in the English language.
• If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.
Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great,
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
• If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
• What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? Ans. - All invented by women.
• The only food that doesn't spoil is HoneY.
• A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• All polar bears are left handed.
• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
• In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
• Most lipstick contains fish scales.
• Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different. Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.
• A baby bat is called a pup.
• German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
• A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.
• It takes 35 to 65 minks to produce the average mink coat. The numbers for other types of fur coats are: beaver - 15; fox - 15 to 25; ermine - 150; chinchilla - 60 to 100 .
Did u know........(I)
• Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
• Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
• The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to Squirt blood 30 feet.
• Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear By 700 times.
• Ants don't sleep .
• Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.
• A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat.
• The mouse is the most common mammal in the US.
• A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch in length.
• A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
• The Canary Islands were not named for a bird called a canary. They were named after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name was Canariae insulae - "Island of Dogs."
• There are 701 types of pure breed dogs.
• A polecat is not a cat. It is a nocturnal European weasel.
• The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.
• The biggest pig in recorded history was Big Boy of Black Mountain, North Carolina, who was weighed at 1,904 pounds in 1939.
• Cats respond most readily to names that end in an "ee" sound.
• A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.
• Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.
* Snakes are immune to their own poison.
• An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
• Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
• The biggest member of the cat family is the male lion, which weighs 528 pounds (240 kilograms).
• Most lipstick contains fish scales.
• Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
• Each day in the US, animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.
• A shrimp's heart is in their head.
• A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
• A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.
• The cat lover is an ailurophile, while a cat hater is an ailurophobe.
• A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.
• It may take longer than two days for a chick to break out of its shell.
• Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.
• Despite man's fear and hatred of the wolf, it has not ever been proved that a non-rabid wolf ever attacked a human.
• There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States.
• Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
• Cat's urine glows under a black light .
• The largest cockroach on record is one measured at 3.81 inches in length.
• It is estimated that a single toad may catch and eat as many as 10,000 insects in the course of a summer.
• Amphibians eyes come in a variety shapes and sizes. Some even have square or heart-shaped pupils.
• It would require an average of 18 hummingbirds to weigh in at 1 ounce.
• Dogs that do not tolerate small children well are the St. Bernard, the Old English sheep dog, the Alaskan malamute, the bull terrier, and the toy poodle.
• Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of earth in a day.
• Howler monkeys are the noisiest land animals. Their calls can be heard over 2 miles away.
• A quarter of the horses in the US died of a vast virus epidemic in 1872.
• The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.
• There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, but it is also used to refer to the puma and the jaguar. A black panther is really a black leopard. A capon is a castrated rooster.
• The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.
• Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
• The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to Squirt blood 30 feet.
• Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear By 700 times.
• Ants don't sleep .
• Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.
• A bird requires more food in proportion to its size than a baby or a cat.
• The mouse is the most common mammal in the US.
• A newborn kangaroo is about 1 inch in length.
• A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
• The Canary Islands were not named for a bird called a canary. They were named after a breed of large dogs. The Latin name was Canariae insulae - "Island of Dogs."
• There are 701 types of pure breed dogs.
• A polecat is not a cat. It is a nocturnal European weasel.
• The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.
• The biggest pig in recorded history was Big Boy of Black Mountain, North Carolina, who was weighed at 1,904 pounds in 1939.
• Cats respond most readily to names that end in an "ee" sound.
• A cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why the cat cannot seem to find tidbits on the floor.
• Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.
* Snakes are immune to their own poison.
• An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
• Cats have more than one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
• The biggest member of the cat family is the male lion, which weighs 528 pounds (240 kilograms).
• Most lipstick contains fish scales.
• Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
• Each day in the US, animal shelters are forced to destroy 30,000 dogs and cats.
• A shrimp's heart is in their head.
• A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
• A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.
• The cat lover is an ailurophile, while a cat hater is an ailurophobe.
• A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second.
• It may take longer than two days for a chick to break out of its shell.
• Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.
• Despite man's fear and hatred of the wolf, it has not ever been proved that a non-rabid wolf ever attacked a human.
• There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States.
• Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
• Cat's urine glows under a black light .
• The largest cockroach on record is one measured at 3.81 inches in length.
• It is estimated that a single toad may catch and eat as many as 10,000 insects in the course of a summer.
• Amphibians eyes come in a variety shapes and sizes. Some even have square or heart-shaped pupils.
• It would require an average of 18 hummingbirds to weigh in at 1 ounce.
• Dogs that do not tolerate small children well are the St. Bernard, the Old English sheep dog, the Alaskan malamute, the bull terrier, and the toy poodle.
• Moles are able to tunnel through 300 feet of earth in a day.
• Howler monkeys are the noisiest land animals. Their calls can be heard over 2 miles away.
• A quarter of the horses in the US died of a vast virus epidemic in 1872.
• The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.
• There is no single cat called the panther. The name is commonly applied to the leopard, but it is also used to refer to the puma and the jaguar. A black panther is really a black leopard. A capon is a castrated rooster.
• The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.
The First... ( INDIAN )
Actress of the Talkies ----------------- Zubeida, Alam Ara(1931)
Actress to win Padma Shri Award ----------------- Nargis Dutt(1958)
Architect ------------------ Maha Govinda(5th C.BC)
Aryabhatta Medal Winner ------------------ K.R. Ramanathan(1977)
Bharat Ratna Award Winner ------------------- C.Rajgopalachari( 1954)
British Governor General of Indian Union ------------ Lord Louis Mountbatten( Aug. 15, 1947-June 20, 1948)
Captain of Test Cricket -------------------- C.K.Nayudu(1932)
Century in Test Cricket -------------------- Lala Amarnath(1933- 1934)
Chairman of Rajaya Sabha -------------------- S.V.Krishnamoorthy( 1952)
Chevalier Award Winner -------------------- Sivaji Ganesan
Chief Election Commissioner -------------------- Sukumar Sen(1950-1958)
Chief Justice of India -------------------- Hiralal J.Kania(1950- 1951)
Chief of Air Staff -------------------- Sir Thomas Elmhirst(1947- 1950)
Chief of Army Staff to die in harness ---------------- B.C.Joshi(1994)
Chief of Coast Guard -------------------- V.A.Kamath(1978- 1980)
Chief of Naval Staff -------------------- R.D.Katari(1958- 1962)
Commander-in- Chief -------------------- K.M.Cariappa( 1949-1953)
Cosmonaut --------------------- Rakesh Sharma(1984)
Dada Saheb Phalke Award Winner -------------------- Devika Rani Roerich(1969)
Dancer to perform abroad ---------------------- Uday Shankar
Deputy Prime Minister ---------------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1947-1950)
Deputy Prime Minister to die in harness ------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1950)
Elected President ---------------------- S.Radhakrishnan( 1962-1967)
Emperor of Mughal Dynasty ---------------------- Babar(1526-1530)
Field Marshal ---------------------- S.H.F.J.Manekshaw( 1973)
Film Star Chief Minister ---------------------- M.G.Ramachandran( Tamil Nadu, 1977)
Financial Minister to present the ----------------------- Manmohan Singh (1933, 1994, 1995) Budget three times in a row
Finix Award Winner ----------------------- Sr.P.C.Sorcar
Geometer ---------------------- Baudhayana, Sulva Sutras(800 BC)
Governor General of British India --------------------- Warren Hastings(1774- 1785)
Grammarian ---------------------- Panini, Ashtadhyaayi( 6th C. BC)
Helms Award Winner ---------------------- Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu(1952)
Home Minister ---------------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1946)
ICS Officer ---------------------- Satyendranath Tagore
Indian Chief of Air Staff ---------------------- S.Mukherjee( 1954-1960)
Indian Governor General of Indian Union ------------ M.Rajendra Singh(April 1, 1955-May 14, 1955)
Indian Woman President of I N C -------------------- Sarojini Naidu(1925)
J.C.Bose Medal Winner --------------------- V.Ramalingaswami( 1977)
Jain Tithankara --------------------- Rishabha Dev
Jananpith Award Winner ---------------------- G.Sankara Kurup, Odakuzhal(1965)
Lady of the Indian Film ---------------------- Devika Rani Roerich
Lata Mangeshkar Award Winner ---------------------- Naushad(1984)
Lawgiver ----------------------- Manu, Manu Smirti(3100 BC)
Man to climb Mount Everest without oxygen ----------- Phu Dorjee(1984)
Man to climb Mount Everest ---------------------- Tanzing Norgay(with Edumund Hillary, 1953)
Man to make solo Flight(from US to India) ------------ Satish Soman(1994)
Man to swim across English Channel ------------------- Mihir Sen(1966)
Man to swim several Straits in one calender year ----- Mihir Sen(1966)
Managing Director of World Bank -------------------- Gautam Kaji(1995)
Member of British Parliament -------------------- Dadabhai Naoroji(1862)
Member of Viceroy's Executive Council --------------- Sir S.P.Sinha(1909)
Miss Universe -------------------- Sushmita Sen(1994)
Miss World --------------------- Reita Faria(1966)
Musician to get Padma Bhushan ---------------------- M.S.Subbulakshmi( 1954,1975) and Padma Vibhushana
Musician to get Ramon Magsaysay Award -------------- M.S.Subbulakshami( 1974)
Naval Pilot ---------------------- Y.N.Singh(1941)
Nishan-Eey-Pakistan Award Winner --------------------- Morarji Desai(1991)
Nobel Prize Winner ---------------------- Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali(1913)
Olympic Medal Winner ------------------------ Norman Pritchard, Silver(1900)
Oscar Winner ------------------------- Bhanu Athaiya
Patricide ------------------------- Ajatshatru's killing of Bimbisara(494 BC)
Physically handicapped mountaineer ---------------------- Baba Manindra Pal
Pilot ----------------------- J.R.D.Tata, Tata Airlines(1929)
Presentation of Budget ------------------------ R.K.Shanmugham Chetty, Finance Minister(1947)
Presentation of General Budget ------------------------ C.D.Deshmukh, Finance Minister(1952)
President ------------------------ Rajendra Prasad(1950- 1962)
President of Indian National Congress -------------------- W.C.Bannerjee( 1885)
President of International Court of Justice ---------------- Nagendra Singh(1970)
President to die in harness ----------------------- Zakir Hussain(1967- 1969)
Prime Minister ------------------------ Jawaharlal Nehru(1947-1964)
Prime Minister to be assassinated ------------------------ Indira Gandhi(1984)
Prime Minister to die in harness ------------------------- Jawaharlal Nerhru(1964)
Prime Minister to head a minority government ------------ Choudhary Charan Singh(July 28, 1979-Jan,14, 1980)
Prime Minister to resign from office ---------------------- Morarji Desai(1979)
Prime Minister who did not face Parliament -------------- Chaudhary Charan Singh(July 28, 1979-Jan 14, 1980)
Raman Medal Winner ---------------------- Salim Moinuddin Ahmed Ali(1979)
Raman Magsaysay Award Winner ----------------------- Vinoba Bhave(1958)
Recipient of Stalin Peace Prize ----------------------- Saifuddin Kitchlew(1954)
Recipient of World Food Prize ----------------------- M.S.Swaminathan( 1987)
S.Ramanujan Medal Winner ----------------------- S.Chandrashekhar( 1962)
S.S.Bhatnagar Medal Winner ----------------------- Atma Ram(1959)
Scientist ----------------------- Uddalaka Aruni(560 BC)
Slave Ruler of India ----------------------- Qutb-ud-din Aibak(1206-1210)
Speaker in Hindi at the UN ----------------------- Atal Bihari Vajpayee(1977)
Speaker of Lok Sabha ------------------------ Ganesh Vasudeo Mavalankar(1952- 1957)
Test-tube baby ------------------------- Baby Harsha or Indira(1986)
Vice-President ------------------------- S.Radhakrishnan( 1952-1962)
Viceroy of India ------------------------- Lord Canning (1858-1862)
Woman (Muslim) Ruler of India ------------------------- Razia Sultana(1236- 1240)
Woman Advocate -------------------------- Cornelia Sorabji(1894)
Woman Ambassador -------------------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(U.S.S. R., 1947-1949)
Woman at Antarctica --------------------------- Meher Moos(1976)
Woman Central Minister -------------------------- Rajkumari Amrit Kaur(Health)
Woman Chief Justice(of High Court) ------------------------- Leila Seth(Himachal Pradesh, 1991)
Woman Chief Minister ------------------------- Sucheta Kriplani(Uttar Pradesh, 1963-1967)
Woman Foreign Minister -------------------------- Lakshmi N. Menon(1957-1966)
Woman Secretary General of Rajya Sabha ---------------- V.S.Rama Devi(1993)
Woman Governor ------------------------- Sarojini Naidu(Uttar Pradesh, 1963-1967)
Woman IAS Officer --------------------------- Anna Rajam George(1950)
Woman IPS Officer ---------------------------- Kiran Bedi(1974)
Woman Jet Commander -------------------------- Saudamini Deshmukh
Woman Jnanpithpith Award Winner ------------------------- Ashapurna Devi, Prathama Pratishruti( 1976)
Woman Judge of Supreme Court --------------------------- Meera Sahib Fatima Beevi(1989)
Woman Minister of State -------------------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(Uttar Pradesh, 1937)
Woman Missionary --------------------------- Sanghamitra, daughter of King Ashoka (Sri Lanka, 3rd C.BC)
Woman Pilot (Commercial) -------------------------- Prem Mathur(Deccan Airways, 1951)
Woman Pilot (Indian Airlines) ------------------------- Durga Banerjee(1966- 1988)
Woman President of Indian National Congress ------------ Annie Besant(1917)
Woman President of UN General Assembly --------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(1953)
Woman Prime Minister ------------------------- Indira Gandhi(1966- 1977, 1980-1984)
Woman Sahitya Akademi Award Winner ----------------- Amrita Pritam, Sunehre(1956)
Woman to climb Mount Everest ------------------------- Bachendri Pal(1984)
Woman to perform a solo Flight ------------------------ Harita Kaur Deol(1944)
Woman to swim across English Channel --------------- Arati Saha(1959)
Woman to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar ----------- Arti Pradhan
Woman to win an Asian Gold ----------------------- Kamaljit Sandhu(1970)
Woman to go in Space ------------------------ Dr.Kalpana Chawla(November 1997)
Actress to win Padma Shri Award ----------------- Nargis Dutt(1958)
Architect ------------------ Maha Govinda(5th C.BC)
Aryabhatta Medal Winner ------------------ K.R. Ramanathan(1977)
Bharat Ratna Award Winner ------------------- C.Rajgopalachari( 1954)
British Governor General of Indian Union ------------ Lord Louis Mountbatten( Aug. 15, 1947-June 20, 1948)
Captain of Test Cricket -------------------- C.K.Nayudu(1932)
Century in Test Cricket -------------------- Lala Amarnath(1933- 1934)
Chairman of Rajaya Sabha -------------------- S.V.Krishnamoorthy( 1952)
Chevalier Award Winner -------------------- Sivaji Ganesan
Chief Election Commissioner -------------------- Sukumar Sen(1950-1958)
Chief Justice of India -------------------- Hiralal J.Kania(1950- 1951)
Chief of Air Staff -------------------- Sir Thomas Elmhirst(1947- 1950)
Chief of Army Staff to die in harness ---------------- B.C.Joshi(1994)
Chief of Coast Guard -------------------- V.A.Kamath(1978- 1980)
Chief of Naval Staff -------------------- R.D.Katari(1958- 1962)
Commander-in- Chief -------------------- K.M.Cariappa( 1949-1953)
Cosmonaut --------------------- Rakesh Sharma(1984)
Dada Saheb Phalke Award Winner -------------------- Devika Rani Roerich(1969)
Dancer to perform abroad ---------------------- Uday Shankar
Deputy Prime Minister ---------------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1947-1950)
Deputy Prime Minister to die in harness ------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1950)
Elected President ---------------------- S.Radhakrishnan( 1962-1967)
Emperor of Mughal Dynasty ---------------------- Babar(1526-1530)
Field Marshal ---------------------- S.H.F.J.Manekshaw( 1973)
Film Star Chief Minister ---------------------- M.G.Ramachandran( Tamil Nadu, 1977)
Financial Minister to present the ----------------------- Manmohan Singh (1933, 1994, 1995) Budget three times in a row
Finix Award Winner ----------------------- Sr.P.C.Sorcar
Geometer ---------------------- Baudhayana, Sulva Sutras(800 BC)
Governor General of British India --------------------- Warren Hastings(1774- 1785)
Grammarian ---------------------- Panini, Ashtadhyaayi( 6th C. BC)
Helms Award Winner ---------------------- Kunwar Digvijay Singh Babu(1952)
Home Minister ---------------------- Vallabhbhai Patel(1946)
ICS Officer ---------------------- Satyendranath Tagore
Indian Chief of Air Staff ---------------------- S.Mukherjee( 1954-1960)
Indian Governor General of Indian Union ------------ M.Rajendra Singh(April 1, 1955-May 14, 1955)
Indian Woman President of I N C -------------------- Sarojini Naidu(1925)
J.C.Bose Medal Winner --------------------- V.Ramalingaswami( 1977)
Jain Tithankara --------------------- Rishabha Dev
Jananpith Award Winner ---------------------- G.Sankara Kurup, Odakuzhal(1965)
Lady of the Indian Film ---------------------- Devika Rani Roerich
Lata Mangeshkar Award Winner ---------------------- Naushad(1984)
Lawgiver ----------------------- Manu, Manu Smirti(3100 BC)
Man to climb Mount Everest without oxygen ----------- Phu Dorjee(1984)
Man to climb Mount Everest ---------------------- Tanzing Norgay(with Edumund Hillary, 1953)
Man to make solo Flight(from US to India) ------------ Satish Soman(1994)
Man to swim across English Channel ------------------- Mihir Sen(1966)
Man to swim several Straits in one calender year ----- Mihir Sen(1966)
Managing Director of World Bank -------------------- Gautam Kaji(1995)
Member of British Parliament -------------------- Dadabhai Naoroji(1862)
Member of Viceroy's Executive Council --------------- Sir S.P.Sinha(1909)
Miss Universe -------------------- Sushmita Sen(1994)
Miss World --------------------- Reita Faria(1966)
Musician to get Padma Bhushan ---------------------- M.S.Subbulakshmi( 1954,1975) and Padma Vibhushana
Musician to get Ramon Magsaysay Award -------------- M.S.Subbulakshami( 1974)
Naval Pilot ---------------------- Y.N.Singh(1941)
Nishan-Eey-Pakistan Award Winner --------------------- Morarji Desai(1991)
Nobel Prize Winner ---------------------- Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali(1913)
Olympic Medal Winner ------------------------ Norman Pritchard, Silver(1900)
Oscar Winner ------------------------- Bhanu Athaiya
Patricide ------------------------- Ajatshatru's killing of Bimbisara(494 BC)
Physically handicapped mountaineer ---------------------- Baba Manindra Pal
Pilot ----------------------- J.R.D.Tata, Tata Airlines(1929)
Presentation of Budget ------------------------ R.K.Shanmugham Chetty, Finance Minister(1947)
Presentation of General Budget ------------------------ C.D.Deshmukh, Finance Minister(1952)
President ------------------------ Rajendra Prasad(1950- 1962)
President of Indian National Congress -------------------- W.C.Bannerjee( 1885)
President of International Court of Justice ---------------- Nagendra Singh(1970)
President to die in harness ----------------------- Zakir Hussain(1967- 1969)
Prime Minister ------------------------ Jawaharlal Nehru(1947-1964)
Prime Minister to be assassinated ------------------------ Indira Gandhi(1984)
Prime Minister to die in harness ------------------------- Jawaharlal Nerhru(1964)
Prime Minister to head a minority government ------------ Choudhary Charan Singh(July 28, 1979-Jan,14, 1980)
Prime Minister to resign from office ---------------------- Morarji Desai(1979)
Prime Minister who did not face Parliament -------------- Chaudhary Charan Singh(July 28, 1979-Jan 14, 1980)
Raman Medal Winner ---------------------- Salim Moinuddin Ahmed Ali(1979)
Raman Magsaysay Award Winner ----------------------- Vinoba Bhave(1958)
Recipient of Stalin Peace Prize ----------------------- Saifuddin Kitchlew(1954)
Recipient of World Food Prize ----------------------- M.S.Swaminathan( 1987)
S.Ramanujan Medal Winner ----------------------- S.Chandrashekhar( 1962)
S.S.Bhatnagar Medal Winner ----------------------- Atma Ram(1959)
Scientist ----------------------- Uddalaka Aruni(560 BC)
Slave Ruler of India ----------------------- Qutb-ud-din Aibak(1206-1210)
Speaker in Hindi at the UN ----------------------- Atal Bihari Vajpayee(1977)
Speaker of Lok Sabha ------------------------ Ganesh Vasudeo Mavalankar(1952- 1957)
Test-tube baby ------------------------- Baby Harsha or Indira(1986)
Vice-President ------------------------- S.Radhakrishnan( 1952-1962)
Viceroy of India ------------------------- Lord Canning (1858-1862)
Woman (Muslim) Ruler of India ------------------------- Razia Sultana(1236- 1240)
Woman Advocate -------------------------- Cornelia Sorabji(1894)
Woman Ambassador -------------------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(U.S.S. R., 1947-1949)
Woman at Antarctica --------------------------- Meher Moos(1976)
Woman Central Minister -------------------------- Rajkumari Amrit Kaur(Health)
Woman Chief Justice(of High Court) ------------------------- Leila Seth(Himachal Pradesh, 1991)
Woman Chief Minister ------------------------- Sucheta Kriplani(Uttar Pradesh, 1963-1967)
Woman Foreign Minister -------------------------- Lakshmi N. Menon(1957-1966)
Woman Secretary General of Rajya Sabha ---------------- V.S.Rama Devi(1993)
Woman Governor ------------------------- Sarojini Naidu(Uttar Pradesh, 1963-1967)
Woman IAS Officer --------------------------- Anna Rajam George(1950)
Woman IPS Officer ---------------------------- Kiran Bedi(1974)
Woman Jet Commander -------------------------- Saudamini Deshmukh
Woman Jnanpithpith Award Winner ------------------------- Ashapurna Devi, Prathama Pratishruti( 1976)
Woman Judge of Supreme Court --------------------------- Meera Sahib Fatima Beevi(1989)
Woman Minister of State -------------------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(Uttar Pradesh, 1937)
Woman Missionary --------------------------- Sanghamitra, daughter of King Ashoka (Sri Lanka, 3rd C.BC)
Woman Pilot (Commercial) -------------------------- Prem Mathur(Deccan Airways, 1951)
Woman Pilot (Indian Airlines) ------------------------- Durga Banerjee(1966- 1988)
Woman President of Indian National Congress ------------ Annie Besant(1917)
Woman President of UN General Assembly --------------- Vijayalakshmi Pandit(1953)
Woman Prime Minister ------------------------- Indira Gandhi(1966- 1977, 1980-1984)
Woman Sahitya Akademi Award Winner ----------------- Amrita Pritam, Sunehre(1956)
Woman to climb Mount Everest ------------------------- Bachendri Pal(1984)
Woman to perform a solo Flight ------------------------ Harita Kaur Deol(1944)
Woman to swim across English Channel --------------- Arati Saha(1959)
Woman to swim across the Strait of Gibraltar ----------- Arti Pradhan
Woman to win an Asian Gold ----------------------- Kamaljit Sandhu(1970)
Woman to go in Space ------------------------ Dr.Kalpana Chawla(November 1997)
Can you beat this CV????
EDUCATION /Qualification:
Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University,Chandigarh,1952;
Stood first in MA (Economics),Panjab University, Chandigarh,1954;
Wright's Prize for distinguished performance atSt John's College, Cambridge, 1955 and 1957;
Wrenbury scholar, University ofCambridge,1957;
DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness
OCCUPATION /Teaching Experience:
Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics,1959-63;
Professor, Economics,Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor,International Trade,Delhi School of Economics,University of Delhi,1969-71;
Honorary professor,Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi,1976
and Delhi School of Econom ics, University of Delhi,1996
and Civil Servant
Working Experience/ POSITIONS:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: Director, Reserve Bank ofIndia; Director, Industrial Development Bank ofIndia; Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, Asian Development Bank; Alternate governor forIndia, Board of governors, IBRD
November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs); Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission;
Member, finance, Space Commission
April 1980 -September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committeeSeptember 16,
1982 - January 14, 1985:Governor, Reserve Bank of India
1982-85: Alternate Governor forIndia, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15, 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission,Geneva
December 10, 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha fromAssam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4, 199 7: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges
2000 onwards: Member, executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, General purposes committee
May 2004 onwards: If you are a citizen ofIndia, you must know this!!
BOOKS:
India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press,Oxford University, 1964; also published a largenumber of articles in various economic journals.
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Adam Smith Prize,University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan, 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia, 1993 and 1994
INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS:
1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy forIndia in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government MeetingCyprus
1993: Human Rights World Conference,Vienna
RECREATION:
Gymkhana Club,New Delhi; Life Member, India International Centre, New Delhi
Name: Dr. Manmohan Singh DOB:September 26, 1932 Place of Birth: Gah (West Punjab) Father: S. Gurmukh Singh Mother: Mrs Amrit Kaur Married on:September 14, 1958 Wife: Mrs Gursharan Kaur
Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University,Chandigarh,1952;
Stood first in MA (Economics),Panjab University, Chandigarh,1954;
Wright's Prize for distinguished performance atSt John's College, Cambridge, 1955 and 1957;
Wrenbury scholar, University ofCambridge,1957;
DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's export competitiveness
OCCUPATION /Teaching Experience:
Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59;
Reader, Economics,1959-63;
Professor, Economics,Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65;
Professor,International Trade,Delhi School of Economics,University of Delhi,1969-71;
Honorary professor,Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi,1976
and Delhi School of Econom ics, University of Delhi,1996
and Civil Servant
Working Experience/ POSITIONS:
1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade
1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance
1976-80: Director, Reserve Bank ofIndia; Director, Industrial Development Bank ofIndia; Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, Asian Development Bank; Alternate governor forIndia, Board of governors, IBRD
November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department of economic affairs); Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission;
Member, finance, Space Commission
April 1980 -September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study committeeSeptember 16,
1982 - January 14, 1985:Governor, Reserve Bank of India
1982-85: Alternate Governor forIndia, Board of governors, International Monetary Fund
1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister
1985: President, Indian Economic Association
January 15, 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission
August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission,Geneva
December 10, 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs
March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC
June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister
October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha fromAssam on Congress ticket
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance
August 1, 1996 - December 4, 199 7: Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on commerce
March 21, 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha
June 5, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on finance
August 13, 1998 onwards: Member, committee on rules
Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges
2000 onwards: Member, executive committee, Indian parliamentary group
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha
Aug 2001 onwards: Member, General purposes committee
May 2004 onwards: If you are a citizen ofIndia, you must know this!!
BOOKS:
India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon Press,Oxford University, 1964; also published a largenumber of articles in various economic journals.
OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Adam Smith Prize,University of Cambridge, 1956
Padma Vibhushan, 1987
Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia, 1993 and 1994
INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS:
1966: Economic Affairs Officer
1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
1972-74: Deputy forIndia in IMF Committee of Twenty on International Monetary Reform
1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
1982: Indo-Soviet monitoring group meeting
1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government MeetingCyprus
1993: Human Rights World Conference,Vienna
RECREATION:
Gymkhana Club,New Delhi; Life Member, India International Centre, New Delhi
Name: Dr. Manmohan Singh DOB:September 26, 1932 Place of Birth: Gah (West Punjab) Father: S. Gurmukh Singh Mother: Mrs Amrit Kaur Married on:September 14, 1958 Wife: Mrs Gursharan Kaur
Improve ur G.K
Some GK questions 1. What programming language is GOOGLE developed in?
2. What is the expansion of YAHOO?
3. What is the expansion of ADIDAS?
4. Expansion of Star as in Star TV Network?
5. What is expansion of "ICICI?"
6. What does "baker's dozen" signify?
7. The 1984-85 season. 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot- India 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. Match abandoned. Why?
8. Who is the only man to have written the National Anthems for two different countries?
9. From what four word ex-pression does the word 'goodbye' derive?
10. How was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu better known?
11. Name the only other country to have got independence on Aug 15th?
12. Why was James Bond Associated with the Number 007?
13. Who faced the first ball in the first ever One day match?
14. Which cricketer played for South Africa before it was banned from international cricket and later represented Zimbabwe?
15. The faces of which four Presidents are carved at Mt.Rushmore?
16. Which is the only country that is surrounded from all sides by only one country(other than Vatican)? ........................................................................
Answers 1. Google is written in Asynchronous java-script and XML, or its acronym Ajax.
2.Yet Another Hierarchy of Officious Oracle
3. ADIDAS- All Day I Dream About Sports
4. Satellite Television Asian Region
5. Industrial credit and Investments Corporation of India
6. A baker's dozen consists of 13 items - 1 more than the items in a normal dozen
7. That match was abandoned after ppl heard the news of indira gandhi beingkilled.
8. Rabindranath Tagore who wrote national anthem for two different countries one is our 's National anthem and another one is for Bangladesh-(Amar Sonar Bangla)
9. Goodbye comes from the ex-pression: 'god be with you'
. 10. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is none other Mother Teresa.
11. South Korea.
12. Because 007 is the ISD code for Russia (or the USSR, as it was known during the cold war)
13. Geoffrey Boycott
14. John Traicos
15. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
16. Lesotho surrounded from all sides by South Africa.
2. What is the expansion of YAHOO?
3. What is the expansion of ADIDAS?
4. Expansion of Star as in Star TV Network?
5. What is expansion of "ICICI?"
6. What does "baker's dozen" signify?
7. The 1984-85 season. 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot- India 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. Match abandoned. Why?
8. Who is the only man to have written the National Anthems for two different countries?
9. From what four word ex-pression does the word 'goodbye' derive?
10. How was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu better known?
11. Name the only other country to have got independence on Aug 15th?
12. Why was James Bond Associated with the Number 007?
13. Who faced the first ball in the first ever One day match?
14. Which cricketer played for South Africa before it was banned from international cricket and later represented Zimbabwe?
15. The faces of which four Presidents are carved at Mt.Rushmore?
16. Which is the only country that is surrounded from all sides by only one country(other than Vatican)? ........................................................................
Answers 1. Google is written in Asynchronous java-script and XML, or its acronym Ajax.
2.Yet Another Hierarchy of Officious Oracle
3. ADIDAS- All Day I Dream About Sports
4. Satellite Television Asian Region
5. Industrial credit and Investments Corporation of India
6. A baker's dozen consists of 13 items - 1 more than the items in a normal dozen
7. That match was abandoned after ppl heard the news of indira gandhi beingkilled.
8. Rabindranath Tagore who wrote national anthem for two different countries one is our 's National anthem and another one is for Bangladesh-(Amar Sonar Bangla)
9. Goodbye comes from the ex-pression: 'god be with you'
. 10. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is none other Mother Teresa.
11. South Korea.
12. Because 007 is the ISD code for Russia (or the USSR, as it was known during the cold war)
13. Geoffrey Boycott
14. John Traicos
15. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln
16. Lesotho surrounded from all sides by South Africa.
How to design a tax-smart salary package
How to design a tax-smart salary package Corporate India is witnessing unprecedented growth. Consequently, the demand for savvy talent is also growing apace. In a bid to attract and retain the best people in their fold, companies are competing with one another in offering high salary with attractive perks.
Realising that the income tax takes away a good portion of the pay packet, and also that individual needs differ, companies often consult their employees in designing their own salary packages.
Here is a checklist to help you work out tax-smart salary and perk options:
Major tax-smarts
1. Interest paid on housing loan is deductible u/s 24 up to Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000) on self-occupied property, and without any limit on a rented out house.
2. The repayment of housing loan from specified sources is also deductible, irrespective of whether the house is self-occupied or given on rent within the overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) under Section 80C, taken together with contributions to other avenues under its umbrella.
3. Where the accommodation provided to the employee is taken on lease by the employer, the perk value is the actual amount of lease rental, or 20% of the salary, whichever is lower. Understandably, if the house belongs to a family member who is at a low or nil tax zone, the family benefits. Yes, the maximum benefit accrues when the rent is over 20% of the salary.
4. Chauffeur-driven motorcar provided by the employer has no perk value. True, the company would pay FBT (fringe benefit tax). It is @30% on 20% of the value, thereby bringing down the effective rate to 6%. Better still, if the employee owns the car and the employer pays the cost of petrol and maintenance.
5. Contributions up to Rs 1 lakh per annum to a Superannuation Fund (SAF) of the employee are not taxed, either as fringe benefit in the hands of the employer or as perk in the hands of the employee.
6. Contributions to certain specified schemes (Company PF, PPF, NSC, life insurance, etc.) qualify for a deduction u/s 80C from gross total income with an overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh. PPF has a ceiling of Rs 70,000 to contributions made to the accounts of self and minor children whereas the contributions to accounts of self, wife and children (major or minor) attract the deductions.
7. Employer's contribution to Company PF in excess of 12% of an employee's salary is taxable. Employee contributes an equal (or higher) amount to his PF account. Again, any excess over 27% of salary contributed by the employer to Company PF and SAF put together is to be treated as a taxable perk.
8. Any death-cum-retirement gratuity received up to Rs 3.5 lakh (Rs 350,000) -- subject to certain conditions -- is tax-exempt.
9. Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) given as reimbursement of expenses incurred by the employee and his family for travelling while on leave is exempt, once in two years.
10. Transport allowance for commuting between residence and place of duty is exempt up to Rs 800 per month.
11. Reimbursement, not exceeding Rs 15,000 in a year, for medical treatment from any doctor for himself and his family members is tax deductible.
12. Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, a deduction up to Rs 10,000 paid as medical insurance premiums on the health of an assessee, the assessee's spouse, dependent children or parents is allowed. Where an individual has insured a senior citizen (dependent parent), a higher ceiling of Rs 15,000 is available.
13. Professional tax paid by a salaried employee (around Rs 2,500 p.a.) is deductible under Section 16(iii).
14. As a tax-smart strategy, the salary (basic + DA) should be low, the rest should come by way of such allowances on which the employer pays FBT; the employee, then, does not have to pay any tax thereon.
15. ESOP has been brought under the purview of FBT by Budget-07.
Other tax-smarts
In respect of HRA, the least of the following is exempt from tax under Section 10(13A):
(a). 40% of salary (50% for Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai).
(b). HRA for the period the house is occupied by the employee.
(c). The excess of rent paid over 10% of salary.
Please note that an employee who lives in his / her own house, or where s/he does not pay any rent, is not eligible for this exemption. If you are staying in a house belonging to your family members (preferably not your wife), start paying rent to the owner and ask for HRA from your employer.
* A helper engaged at home for the performance of the duties of an office or employment of profit is not considered as a perk. * If the employer employs a gardener for the building premises belonging to the employer, it would not be treated as a perk. The possibility of it being extrapolated to other servants is logical. * Perk value of concessional loan to the employee for purchase of house or motor cars shall be the difference between the interest payable calculated at the rate of interest for similar loans charged by SBI, and the actual interest charged. * Loan for medical treatment specified in Rule-3A is exempt, provided it is not reimbursed under any medical insurance scheme. Where it is reimbursed, the perquisite value shall be charged from the date of reimbursement on the amount reimbursed but not repaid against the outstanding loan taken specifically for this purpose. * Small loans from the employer up to Rs 20,000 in the aggregate are exempt. * Expenses on meals provided to the employee during his hours of duty are not treated as perks. * Employer pays FBT on the value of any gifts to an employee. Gifts up to Rs 50,000 in a year received without consideration by an individual from any person are tax-free in the hands of the donee. However, there is a risk that the IT Department may claim that such gifts are in lieu of salary. * Employer pays FBT on the value of the facility of credit cards and expenses for the club. * Where an employer transfers a movable asset to an employee directly or indirectly, the perquisite value shall be the actual cost to the employer minus the cost of normal wear and tear @10% for each completed year during which such asset was put to use. In the case of motor cars, the normal wear and tear would be @20% whereas in the case of computers, data storage and handling devices, digital diaries, printers, etc. it would be @ 60%. These do not include household appliances (i.e., white goods) such as washing machines, microwave ovens, mixers, hot plates, ovens, etc. * Uniform allowance to meet the expenditure incurred on the purchase or maintenance of uniform for wearing during the performance of the duties of an office or employment of profit is exempt from tax. * Expenses for soft furnishings (table linen, curtains, etc.), including their maintenance at the residence in the case of employees who entertain guests at home for official purpose are also exempt. * Goods at concessional rates, membership of professional associations, subscriptions for technical and business journals and newspapers are not considered as taxable perks. * Payment or reimbursement by the employer towards bills on telephones and cellular is not a perk.
Tailpiece
It is unlikely that good employers would add the FBT payable by them as a part and parcel of the pay package. For instance, take the case of chauffeur-driven car, which has a cost to the company of Rs 120,000. FBT has to be paid on 20% of this amount. The tax payable works out at Rs 7,416 (= 30.9% of 20% of Rs 120,000) only.
Excerpt from:
Taxpayer to Taxsaver (F.Y. 2007 - 08 )
By A N Shanbhag
Publisher: Vision Books
Price: Rs 235.
A N Shanbhag is a best-selling author and a very widely syndicated columnist on personal finance and taxation.
Realising that the income tax takes away a good portion of the pay packet, and also that individual needs differ, companies often consult their employees in designing their own salary packages.
Here is a checklist to help you work out tax-smart salary and perk options:
Major tax-smarts
1. Interest paid on housing loan is deductible u/s 24 up to Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000) on self-occupied property, and without any limit on a rented out house.
2. The repayment of housing loan from specified sources is also deductible, irrespective of whether the house is self-occupied or given on rent within the overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) under Section 80C, taken together with contributions to other avenues under its umbrella.
3. Where the accommodation provided to the employee is taken on lease by the employer, the perk value is the actual amount of lease rental, or 20% of the salary, whichever is lower. Understandably, if the house belongs to a family member who is at a low or nil tax zone, the family benefits. Yes, the maximum benefit accrues when the rent is over 20% of the salary.
4. Chauffeur-driven motorcar provided by the employer has no perk value. True, the company would pay FBT (fringe benefit tax). It is @30% on 20% of the value, thereby bringing down the effective rate to 6%. Better still, if the employee owns the car and the employer pays the cost of petrol and maintenance.
5. Contributions up to Rs 1 lakh per annum to a Superannuation Fund (SAF) of the employee are not taxed, either as fringe benefit in the hands of the employer or as perk in the hands of the employee.
6. Contributions to certain specified schemes (Company PF, PPF, NSC, life insurance, etc.) qualify for a deduction u/s 80C from gross total income with an overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh. PPF has a ceiling of Rs 70,000 to contributions made to the accounts of self and minor children whereas the contributions to accounts of self, wife and children (major or minor) attract the deductions.
7. Employer's contribution to Company PF in excess of 12% of an employee's salary is taxable. Employee contributes an equal (or higher) amount to his PF account. Again, any excess over 27% of salary contributed by the employer to Company PF and SAF put together is to be treated as a taxable perk.
8. Any death-cum-retirement gratuity received up to Rs 3.5 lakh (Rs 350,000) -- subject to certain conditions -- is tax-exempt.
9. Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) given as reimbursement of expenses incurred by the employee and his family for travelling while on leave is exempt, once in two years.
10. Transport allowance for commuting between residence and place of duty is exempt up to Rs 800 per month.
11. Reimbursement, not exceeding Rs 15,000 in a year, for medical treatment from any doctor for himself and his family members is tax deductible.
12. Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, a deduction up to Rs 10,000 paid as medical insurance premiums on the health of an assessee, the assessee's spouse, dependent children or parents is allowed. Where an individual has insured a senior citizen (dependent parent), a higher ceiling of Rs 15,000 is available.
13. Professional tax paid by a salaried employee (around Rs 2,500 p.a.) is deductible under Section 16(iii).
14. As a tax-smart strategy, the salary (basic + DA) should be low, the rest should come by way of such allowances on which the employer pays FBT; the employee, then, does not have to pay any tax thereon.
15. ESOP has been brought under the purview of FBT by Budget-07.
Other tax-smarts
In respect of HRA, the least of the following is exempt from tax under Section 10(13A):
(a). 40% of salary (50% for Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai).
(b). HRA for the period the house is occupied by the employee.
(c). The excess of rent paid over 10% of salary.
Please note that an employee who lives in his / her own house, or where s/he does not pay any rent, is not eligible for this exemption. If you are staying in a house belonging to your family members (preferably not your wife), start paying rent to the owner and ask for HRA from your employer.
* A helper engaged at home for the performance of the duties of an office or employment of profit is not considered as a perk. * If the employer employs a gardener for the building premises belonging to the employer, it would not be treated as a perk. The possibility of it being extrapolated to other servants is logical. * Perk value of concessional loan to the employee for purchase of house or motor cars shall be the difference between the interest payable calculated at the rate of interest for similar loans charged by SBI, and the actual interest charged. * Loan for medical treatment specified in Rule-3A is exempt, provided it is not reimbursed under any medical insurance scheme. Where it is reimbursed, the perquisite value shall be charged from the date of reimbursement on the amount reimbursed but not repaid against the outstanding loan taken specifically for this purpose. * Small loans from the employer up to Rs 20,000 in the aggregate are exempt. * Expenses on meals provided to the employee during his hours of duty are not treated as perks. * Employer pays FBT on the value of any gifts to an employee. Gifts up to Rs 50,000 in a year received without consideration by an individual from any person are tax-free in the hands of the donee. However, there is a risk that the IT Department may claim that such gifts are in lieu of salary. * Employer pays FBT on the value of the facility of credit cards and expenses for the club. * Where an employer transfers a movable asset to an employee directly or indirectly, the perquisite value shall be the actual cost to the employer minus the cost of normal wear and tear @10% for each completed year during which such asset was put to use. In the case of motor cars, the normal wear and tear would be @20% whereas in the case of computers, data storage and handling devices, digital diaries, printers, etc. it would be @ 60%. These do not include household appliances (i.e., white goods) such as washing machines, microwave ovens, mixers, hot plates, ovens, etc. * Uniform allowance to meet the expenditure incurred on the purchase or maintenance of uniform for wearing during the performance of the duties of an office or employment of profit is exempt from tax. * Expenses for soft furnishings (table linen, curtains, etc.), including their maintenance at the residence in the case of employees who entertain guests at home for official purpose are also exempt. * Goods at concessional rates, membership of professional associations, subscriptions for technical and business journals and newspapers are not considered as taxable perks. * Payment or reimbursement by the employer towards bills on telephones and cellular is not a perk.
Tailpiece
It is unlikely that good employers would add the FBT payable by them as a part and parcel of the pay package. For instance, take the case of chauffeur-driven car, which has a cost to the company of Rs 120,000. FBT has to be paid on 20% of this amount. The tax payable works out at Rs 7,416 (= 30.9% of 20% of Rs 120,000) only.
Excerpt from:
Taxpayer to Taxsaver (F.Y. 2007 - 08 )
By A N Shanbhag
Publisher: Vision Books
Price: Rs 235.
A N Shanbhag is a best-selling author and a very widely syndicated columnist on personal finance and taxation.
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