Nano launch: History set to be created!

	March 23, 2009 History will be created in Mumbai today evening when Tata Motors [Get Quote] launches the world's least expensive car, Nano -- a car that can redefine personal transportation in modern India. Described as 'People's Car' by Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, Nano's commercial launch will mark a milestone in a journey, which was replete with controversies, hurdles and criticism from competitors. As far as customers are concerned, they can expect to own a car coming at a price between Rs 1.20 lakh (Rs 120,000) and Rs 1.30 lakh (Rs 130,000), depending on the version of Nano, although bookings will start only in April second week. According to dealer sources, if the company keeps the ex-factory price at Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000), as promised by Tata, then the base model could easily have an on-road price of Rs 1.20 lakh after adding taxes such as excise duty, education cess and road tax, along with transportation cost, local taxes, insurance and registration fees and a lifetime parking fees (wherever applicable). Last month, Tata Motors had appointed public sector lender State Bank of India [Get Quote] as the sole booking agent for the world's least expensive car from the stable of Tatas. The booking amount is reportedly fixed at Rs 70,000. Ever since the idea of making a car costing only Rs 1 lakh for Indian passengers was conceived way back in 2003 by Ratan Tata, his dream had to face challenges -- both technical and political. At a time when input costs were soaring, keeping cost of production of a comfortable mini car powered by a 623cc engine giving a competitive mileage, was a challenge big enough. While Tatas were able to overcome it, the group was unable to beat political challenge from Trinamool Congress and had to shift manufacturing base from the original location at Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat. It delayed not only the original plans for the commercial launch of Nano by about five months, but also affected its availability. Till the time the Sanand facility is ready by 2010, Nano will be produced from Tata Motors' factories at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand and Pune in Maharashtra in limited numbers. After the launch in Mumbai, Nano would be displayed at the company's dealerships from the first week of April, while the bookings would start from the following week. The booking process and other details of the Rs 1 lakh car would be announced on the day of launch. While critics had been sceptical about the car meeting safety and emission norms, Tata had said during the unveiling of Nano on January 10, 2008, in Auto Expo in Delhi that the car would meet Bharat Stage-III emission norms and could also meet the stringent Euro 4 norms. The car has also gone through a full frontal crash test as per standard norms, he said. Besides, the European version of the car was unveiled in the first week of this month at the Geneva Motor Show. The company plans to roll out the car by 2011, complying with Euro V emission norms and some added features. The Nano is 8 per cent shorter than Maruti 800, the cheapest car on offer currently in India, on bumper to bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious, Tata had claimed in Auto Expo. The 623cc Nano comes with a 33 HP petrol engine, but a diesel variant would also be launched soon. The Nano would come in three variants -- standard and two deluxe models with air conditioning. -- PTI

http://thepinkchaddicampaign.blogspot.com/

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

The Sri Ram Sene might be in for some tough love this Valentine’s Day if plans of a new internetbased group materialize.
The group, which describes itself as The Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose and Forward Women, has launched the Pink Chaddi Campaign to send a stack of flouncy, lacy pink underwear to Sene chief Pramod Muthalik and his ‘‘bully boys’’ who stormed a pub in Mangalore and roughed up women whom they accused of being ‘‘loose’’ and ‘‘unIndian’’.
More than 3,000 women and men — from housewives to journalists to corporate executives — have signed up and promised to send an item or in some cases, a boxful of underwear.
On Valentine’s eve, the organizers will hold a press meet in Bangalore before mailing their gift to Muthalik.
Nisha Susan, a Delhi-based media professional from Bangalore, who initiated the movement, told TOI that it was a deep sense of frustration that triggered the idea. ‘‘After the pub attack in Mangalore, I felt I could either accept everything quietly or take these people head-on. So I started this group on Facebook last Thursday,’’ she said. ‘‘The chaddi (as in khaki chaddi) is slang for right-wing hardliners and the saffron agenda, while pink stands for things that are frivolous. The combination is offensive.’’
The Sene said the group was free to register its protest. ‘‘It’s a free country. However, we would like to know the background of these people since nobody from good families would resort to such cheap steps,’’ its Bangalore unit chief Vasanth Kumar Bhavani said.

I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Amazon’s Kindle electronic book reading device. I just think it won’t have a lifespan of more than a couple years as digital readers merge into smartphones with large screens like the iPhone. That said, the newest leaked pictures of the Kindle 2 look pretty sexy.

The device is expected to be unveiled at a press conference on Monday. The other hot rumor is that it will be $359 (the same price as the current generation Kindle) and will be available to buy on February 24, according to a post on the MobileRead Forums.

As I said, it looks really sexy, but will Amazon really stick with the $359 price? That’s disappointing. This thing better have some pretty great capabilities beyond reading books and RSS feeds (which you pay for), or I think I’ll still stick with my iPhone to read eBooks (or at least, to theoretically read eBooks).

[via Engadget]

NEW DELHI: A $10 laptop (Rs 500) prototype, with 2 GB RAM capacity, would be on display in Tirupati on February 3 when the National Mission on
Education through Information and Communication Techology is launched. The $10 laptop project, first reported in TOI three years ago, has come as an answer to the $100 laptop of MIT's Nicholas Negroponte that he was trying to hardsell to India. The $10 laptop has come out of the drawing board stage due to work put in by students of Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras and involvement of PSUs like Semiconductor Complex. “At this stage, the price is working out to be $20 but with mass production it is bound to come down,” R P Agarwal, secretary, higher education said. Apart from questioning the technology of $100 laptops, the main reason for HRD ministry's resistance to Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was the high and the hidden cost that worked out to be $200. The mission launch would also see demonstration of e-classroom, virtual laboratory and a better 'Sakshat' portal that was launched more than two years ago. Sources also said that the ministry has entered into an agreement with four publishers — Macmillan, Tata McGraw Hill, Prentice-Hall and Vikas Publishing — to upload their textbooks on 'Sakshat'. Five per cent of these books can be accessed free. The mission, with an 11th plan outlay of Rs 4,612 crore, is aimed at making a serious intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education. The mission has two major components. One, content generation through its portal 'Sakshat', and two, building connectivity along with providing access devices for institutions and learners. In this context, government would give Rs 2.5 lakh per institution for 10 Kbps connection and subsidise 25% of costs for private and state government colleges. The mission would seek to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 18,000 colleges in the country, including each department of nearly 400 universities and institutions of national importance. The mission would focus on appropriate e-learning procedures, providing facility of performing experiments through virtual laboratories, online testing and certification, online availability of teachers to guide and mentor learners, and utilization of EduSat and DTH.