• Fiscal management enabled states consolidate debt to the tune of Rs 1,10,268 cr and 20 states availed of debt waiver to the tune of Rs 8575 cr
• The share of states from the revenue expected to touch Rs 1,42,450 cr during 2007-08 as against Rs.1,20,377 cr during 2006-07
• Total expenditure estimated at Rs 6,81,521 cr
• VAT revenues increased by 24.3 % in the first nine months of 2006-07
• Fiscal deficit to be 3.7 % in the current year and revenue deficit 2%
• A national level goods and services tax to be introduced from next fiscal
• Rs 100 cr for recognising excellence in the field of agricultural research
• Rs 50 crore to be provided for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune
• Rs 150 cr to be given to Ministry of Youth and Sports for Commonwealth Games and Rs 350 cr to the Delhi Government for the purpose
• An Expert Committee to be set up to study the impact of climate change in India
• Government will reimburse the EPF contributions of employers in the case of physically challenged people taken on rolls of the company and included in the PF scheme
• A fund of Rs 150 crore to be started which will go up to Rs 450 crore for the physically challenged
• Government to create one lakh jobs for physically challenged
• Rs 50 crore provided to begin work on vocational education mission for which Task Force in Planning Commission is chalking out a strategy
• 1,396 Indian Technical Institutes to be upgraded to achieve technical excellence
• An autonomous Debt Management Office in government to be set up
• A high-powered committee report aimed at making Mumbai a world class financial centre submitted. Public suggestions will be invited
• 30% cut in duties on pet food
• Backward Regions Grant Fund to be raised to Rs 5,800 cr
• E-governance allocation to be increased from Rs 395 to Rs.719 cr
• Mutual funds to set up Infrastructure Fund schemes
• Indian investors to be allowed investment in overseas capital markets through mutual funds
• 1% cut in Central Sales Tax
• Regional Rural Banks to undertake aggressive branch expansion programme
• One RRB branch for each of 80 districts so far uncovered
• RRBs to accept NRE and FCNR deposits
• Insurance companies to launch a senior citizens scheme in 2007-08
• Impetus to rural credit will benefit fertiliser sector
• The ceiling of loans for weaker sections under differential rate of interest scheme will be raised from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 and in housing loan from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000
• Regulations would be put in place for mortgage guarantee company for housing loans
• Suggestion to use Foreign Exchange for infrastructural projects, to be inspected by the Govt and the RBI
• 31% increase in Bharat Nirman to boost infrastructure companies
• Agricultural investment to go up by 2% of the GDP
• Rural landless families to get death/disability insurance cover
• Tourism infrastructure to get an allocation of Rs 520 cr as against Rs 423 cr last year
• Rs 96,000 cr allocated for Defence. This includes capital expenditure of Rs 41,922 cr. Any requirement for security of the nation to be provided
• A scheme for modernisation and technologiucal upgradation of choir industry for which Rs 23.55 cr has been earmarked
• PAN will be sole ID number for all market participants
• Health insurance cover for weavers to be enlarged to ancillary industries. Allocation increased from Rs 241 cr to Rs 321 cr
• Textile Upgradation Fund raised to Rs 911 cr as against Rs 535 cr during 2006-07
• Work on Golden Quadrilateral road project nearly complete
• Northeastern region will get Rs 405 crore for highway development Road-cum-rail project over Brahmaputra in Bogibil, Assam
• Allocation for National Highway Development programme to be stepped up from Rs 9,955 cr to Rs 12,600 cr
• FDI inflows between April and January this fiscal touched $12.5 billion while portfolio investment reached $6.8 billion
• Special housing project from National Hosuing Board for senior citizens
• Govt to acquire RBI holding in SBI. Govt must run Rs 40,000 cr provision for SBI buyout
• 70 lakh households to be covered under a social welfare scheme with LIC and with support from state governments
• Central public sector enterprises will be given Rs 16,261 cr as equity support and loans of over Rs 2,600 cr
• SME sector lending growing fast. Banks must look into credit rating before fixing rate
• National Agricultural Insurance Scheme to be continued for Kharif and Rabi this year
• Bonds worth Rs 5,000 cr to augment NABARD to be issued
• Death and disability cover for rural landless families to be introduced, known as 'Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana'
• Public-private model for infrastructure successful, but needs to be more agrressive
• Fund for preparation of the groundwork for infrastructure projects to be set up
• 100% subsidy for small farmers and 50% for other farmers for water recharging scheme
• Gender budgeting cells in 50 ministries
• World Bank agreement with Tamil Nadu for revival of 5,763 waterbodies. Similar agreement with Andhra for recharging 2,000 waterbodies.
• Special fund for rejuvenation of plantation crops
• SBI to get corpus to fund new scholarships
• Farmers' credit likely to reach Rs 1,90,000 cr as against the targeted Rs 1,75,000 cr during 2006-07
• Special Purpose Tea Fund to rejuvenate tea production
• Rs 100 cr allocated for National Rainfed Area Authority
• Women's development allocation will be Rs 22,282 cr
• Allocation for SC/ST scholarships enhanced from Rs 440 cr to Rs.611 cr
• Scholarships programme for minorities students to be of the order of Rs 72 cr for pre-metric, Rs 48 cr for graduate and postgraduate students
• Total Budget for the Northeastern region raised from Rs 12,041 cr to Rs 14,365 cr
• New Industrial Policy for the northeastern region to be in place before March 31
• Rs 7,000 cr allocation for better tax administration to be used for social schemes
• Rs 2,25,000 cr farm credit proposed in the new budget
• A target of additional 50 lakh farmers to be brought under farm credit
• Education allocation hiked by 34 %
• Scheme to be expanded to include upper primary students
• Immunisation programme to boost pharma industry
• Computerisation of PDS and integrated computerisation programme for FCI
• Allocation for schemes only for SCs and STs to be increased to Rs 3,271 cr
• Rs 63 cr for share capital for National Minorities Development Finance Corporation following Sachar Committee recommendations
• 130 more districts under NREGA
• Rs 800 crore for Sampoorna Gram Rozgar Yojana in districts not covered by NREGA
• Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojana allocation increased from Rs 250 cr to Rs 344 cr
• Allocation for ICDS programme to be increased from Rs 4087 cr to Rs 4761 cr
• Gross budgetary support in 2007-08 raised to Rs 2,05,100 cr from 1,72,728 crore in 2006-07
• Allocation for AIDS control programme to be raised to Rs 969 cr
• Rs 12,000 cr allocated to NREGA
• Housing sector to get boost
• Allocating Rs 4,000 cr for rural roads
• 10 % GDP growth target in 11th Plan
• National means-cum-merit scholarship lannched
• Education thrust to benefit paper and stationary industry
• Increased healthcare allocation will have a positive impact on healthcare sector
• Agricultural focus to benefit rural income and FMCG companies
• Allocation for National Rural Health Mission stepped up from Rs 8,207 cr to Rs 9,947 cr
• Annual target of 15 lakh houses under Bharat Nirmal Programme to be exceeded
• Government committed to fiscal reforms
• Foreign exchange reserves stand at $180 billion
• Allocation under Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Mission stepped up from Rs 4,680 cr to Rs 5,850 cr
• Secondary education allowance to be increased from Rs.1,837 cr to Rs.3,794 cr
• 15,054 villages have been covered under rural telephony
• Allocation on Healthcare to increase by 21.9 %
• Allocattion for education to be enhanced by 34.2%
• 2 lakh more teachers to be employed and 5 lakh more classrooms to be constructed
• Mid day meals for upper primary with an allocation of Rs 7,324 cr in backward blocks
• One lakh scholarships to be awarded every year
• No forward contracts in wheat and rice
• Increased allocation for Bharat Nirman Programme
• Govt confident of moderating inflation
• Momentary trends may put pressure on prices
• Panel set up to probe futures trade in food items
• Revenues bouyant for third year in a row
• Avg agricultural growth level below desired level
• Saving rate estimated at 32.4 %
• Manufacturing Growth rate is above 11%
• Service sector growth maintained
• Avg inflation is 5.2% to 5.4%
• Per Capita Income in 2006 increased by 74 per cent
• Money supply in 2006 increased by 21 %
• Growth target of 10% < is achieveable
• Growth rate improves to 9.2% for FY07
• 8% growth rate for Tenth Plan nearly achieveable
• Avg growth rate is 8.6%
• Average growth rate is 8.6 % for the last 3 years
• FM to table Budget 2007-08 in Parliament at 1100 hrs IST
• Watch live webcast of the Budget only on www.ibnlive.com
• FM’s challenge will be to announce steps to curb inflation
• Govt may ban futures trading in commodities to curb prices
• A cut in peak duties, specific sectoral packages expected
• The surcharge on corporate tax is expected to go
• FM to make tax policies more people friendly
• Inflation, SEZ policies among host of other issues
• Brokers pre-Budget reaction mixed
• FM to take steps to curb fiscal deficit and curtailing free credit

India's team for the World Cup in the West Indies was announced on Monday. The selectors included the out-of-form Viredner Sehwag and Irfan Pathan in the team, which comprises six batsmen, five medium-pacers, two spinners and two wicketkeepers.

Here's a look at the track record of the 15-man squad.

Batting & fielding:

Bowling:

Player	Mts	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Best	Avg	Econ	5W
AB Agarkar	178	1463.4	92	7402	270	6-42	27.41	5.06	2
MS Dhoni	64	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
R Dravid	308	31	1	170	4	2-43	42.5	5.48	0
SC Ganguly	284	689.1	29	3484	93	5-16	37.46	5.05	2
Harbhajan Singh	145	1296.1	66	5349	168	5-31	31.83	4.12	2
KD Karthik	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Zaheer Khan	115	948.1	62	4640	165	4-19	28.12	4.89	0
A Kumble	270	2406.5	109	10374	334	6-12	31.05	4.31	2
MM Patel	16	125.4	12	590	21	4-49	28.09	4.69	0
IK Pathan	73	592.3	41	2980	115	5-27	25.91	5.03	1
V Sehwag	165	549.2	12	2888	71	3-25	40.67	5.25	0
S Sreesanth	26	211.3	11	1218	34	6-55	35.82	5.75	1
SR Tendulkar	380	1276.5	24	6439	147	5-32	43.8	5.04	2
AR Uthappa	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Yuvraj Singh	161	324.1	13	1590	42	4-6	37.86	4.90	0

Batting & fielding:

Bowling:

Player	Mts	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	Best	Ave	Econ	5W
AB Agarkar	3	28	0	162	3	1-35	54.00	5.79	0
R Dravid	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
SC Ganguly	18	58	1	283	9	3-22	31.44	4.88	0
Harbhajan Singh	10	85.2	5	335	11	2-28	30.45	3.93	0
Zaheer Khan	11	88.2	5	374	18	4-42	20.78	4.23	0
A Kumble	17	164	5	670	28	4-32	23.93	4.09	0
V Sehwag	11	22	2	88	2	1-3	44.00	4.00	0
SR Tendulkar	33	104	1	469	6	2-28	78.17	4.51	0
Yuvraj Singh	11	14.3	2	70	5	4-6	14.00	4.83	0

Note: Six players - Dhoni, Karthik,Patel,Pathan,Sreesanth and Uthappa- will be making their World Cup debut.

Heavy water is the key to one type of reactor in which plutonium can be bred from natural uranium. As such, the production of heavy water has always been monitored, and the material is export controlled. In addition, a source of deuterium is essential for the production of tritium and 6LiD, two ingredients of thermonuclear weapons. A nation seeking large quantities of heavy water probably wishes to use the material to moderate a reactor, and may be planning to produce plutonium. However, CANDU (CANadian Deuterium Uranium) reactors designed and built in Canada are used for commercial electric power production.

Heavy water, D2O, is water in which both hydrogen atoms have been replaced with deuterium, the isotope of hydrogen containing one proton and one neutron. It is present naturally in water, but in only small amounts, less than 1 part in 5,000. Heavy water is one of the two principal moderators which allow a nuclear reactor to operate with natural uranium as its fuel. The other moderator is reactor-grade graphite (graphite containing less than 5 ppm boron and with a density exceeding 1.50 gm/cm 3 ). The first nuclear reactor built in 1942 used graphite as the moderator; German efforts during World War II concentrated on using heavy water to moderate a reactor using natural uranium.

The importance of heavy water to a nuclear proliferator is that it provides one more route to produce plutonium for use in weapons, entirely bypassing uranium enrichment and all of the related technological infrastructure. In addition, heavy-water-moderated reactors can be used to make tritium.

Although one speaks of "making" heavy water, deuterium is not made in the process; rather, molecules of heavy water are separated from the vast quantity of water consisting of H2O or HDO (singly deuterated water), and the "dross" is discarded. Alternatively, the water may be electrolyzed to make oxygen and hydrogen containing normal gas and deuterium. The hydrogen can then be liquefied and distilled to separate the two species. Finally, the resulting deuterium is reacted with oxygen to form heavy water. No nuclear transformations occur.

The production of heavy water in significant amounts requires a technical infrastructure, but one which has similarities to ammonia production, alcohol distillation, and other common industrial processes. One may separate heavy water directly from natural water or first "enrich" the deuterium content in hydrogen gas. It is possible to take advantage of the different boiling points of heavy water (101.4 °C) and normal water (100 °C) or the difference in boiling points between deuterium (-249.7 °C) and hydrogen (-252.5 °C). However, because of the low abundance of deuterium, an enormous amount of water would have to be boiled to obtain useful amounts of deuterium. Because of the high heat of vaporization of water, this process would use enormous quantities of fuel or electricity. Practical facilities which exploit chemical differences use processes requiring much smaller amounts of energy. Separation methods include distillation of liquid hydrogen and various chemical exchange processes which exploit the differing affinities of deuterium and hydrogen for various compounds. These include the ammonia/hydrogen system, which uses potassium amide as the catalyst, and the hydrogen sulfide/water system (Girdler Sulfide process).

Separation factors per stage are significantly larger for deuterium enrichment than for uranium enrichment because of the larger relative mass difference. However, this is compensated for because the total enrichment needed is much greater. While 235U is 0.72 percent of natural uranium, and must be enriched to 90 percent of the product, deuterium is only .015 percent of the hydrogen in water and must be enriched to greater than 99 percent. If the input stream has at least 5 percent heavy water, vacuum distillation is a preferred way to separate heavy from normal water.

This process is virtually identical to that used to distill brandy from wine. The principal visible difference is the use of a phosphor-bronze packing that has been chemically treated to improve wettability for the distillation column rather than a copper packing. Most organic liquids are non-polar and wet virtually any metal, while water, being a highly polar molecule with a high surface tension, wets very few metals. The process works best at low temperatures where water flows are small, so wetting the packing in the column is of particular importance. Phosphor-bronze is an alloy of copper with .02-.05 percent lead, .05-.15 percent iron, .5-.11 percent tin, and .01-.35 percent phosphorus.

Heavy water is produced in Argentina, Canada, India, and Norway. Presumably, all five declared nuclear weapons states can produce the material. The first commercial heavy water plant was the Norsk Hydro facility in Norway (built 1934, capacity 12 metric metric tons per year); this is the plant which was attacked by the Allies to deny heavy water to Germany. As stated above, the largest plant, is the Bruce Plant in Canada (1979; 700 metric tons/year). India's apparent capacity is very high, but its program has been troubled. Accidents and shutdowns have led to effective limitations on production.
The Bruce Heavy Water Plant in Ontario, Canada, is the world's largest producer of D2O. It uses the Girdler Sulfide (GS) process which incorporates a double cascade in each step. In the upper ("cold," 30-40 °C) section, deuterium from hydrogen sulfide preferentially migrates into water. In the lower ("hot," 120-140 °C) section, deuterium preferentially migrates from water into hydrogen sulfide. An appropriate cas-cade arrangement actually accomplishes enrichment. In the first stage the gas is enriched from 0.015% deuterium to 0.07%. The second column enriches this to 0.35% , and the third column achieves an enrichment between 10% and 30% deuterium. This product is sent to a distillation unit for finishing to 99.75% "reactor-grade" heavy water. Only about one-fifth of the deuterium in the plant feed water becomes heavy water product. The production of a single pound of heavy water requires 340,000 pounds of feed water.

Houston: An Indian American professor of electrical and computer engineering at Louisiana State University has claimed to have solved Einstein's twin paradox, known as one of the most enduring puzzles of modern-day physics.

First suggested by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago, the paradox deals with the effects of time in the context of travel at near the speed of light.

Einstein originally used the example of two clocks, one motionless, one in transit. The paradox has been described using the analogy of twins, if one twin is placed on a spacecraft travelling near the speed of light while the other twin remains earthbound, the unmoved twin would have aged dramatically compared with his interstellar sibling.

"I solved the paradox by incorporating a new principle within the relativity framework that defines motion not in relation to individual objects, such as the two twins with respect to each other, but in relation to distant stars," said the scientist Subhask Kak.

In his work, he uses probabilistic relationships to assume that general properties of the universe do not vary by location.

His formula completes attempts by others, as well as Einstein himself.

Professor Kak, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, is currently Delaune Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor in the Asian Studies and Cognitive Science Programs at LSU, Baton Rouge.

Kak said the implications of his resolution will be widespread, generally enhancing the scientific community's comprehension of relativity and possibly impacting quantum communications.