Tony Jaa Joins 'Fast and Furious 7'

Jaa, the Thai action star best known for his Ong Bak movies, is joining the heavy-duty cast of Fast and Furious 7, Universal’s newest installment of the hit franchise series.

Fast 7 already has Jason Statham as the villain, one of several new additions to a series that stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. Ronda Rousey also is in talks to come in for a cameo.
The script is still being being written by longtime franchise player Chris Morgan, so details are sketchy and Jaa’s part in the international action pic remains unknown.

Jaa is a stuntman-turned-actor who spent his youth as an elephant herder. He watched martial arts movies and decided to follow in the footsteps of heroes Jackie Chan and Jet Li. He made three Ong Bak films, which were global hits, and is considered a symbol of national pride in his home country.

Fast 7 will be his English-language debut as well as his first studio picture."I have been a big fan of the Fast and Furious franchise," said Jaa via e-mail from Thailand. "The films are fast-paced, fun and keep the audience involved. There is a great mix of humor and action, something I really appreciate. There is no better film to be involved in for a first U.S. studio production."

When asked if he was looking forward to going mano-a-mano with Diesel or Dwayne Johnson and, more importantly, who would win in a fight, Jaa responded, "Having a chance to work with Vin Diesel and The Rock already makes me a winner."James Wan, off the success of The Conjuring, is directing the movie, which will start shooting in September on an accelerated schedule to meet a July 11, 2014, release date.
Jaa is repped by Gersh, manager Mike Selby and attorney George Hayum.

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Why the Govt failed to stem the rupee fall

The government has taken many steps to contain the freefall of rupee in the past few days but has failed to check the slide. Slumping further, the rupee tested new record low of 64 versus the US dollar.

Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) recent intervention did precious little to save rupee from depreciating further.

What are the reasons that have impeded the efforts of the government in tackling rupee fall? Why can’t the government check the depreciation of rupee? Why have even RBI measures aimed at tightening liquidity failed to give a boost to the staggering rupee? These are a few questions that continue to crop up every time rupee crashes to newer lows.


Worsening current account deficit

High Current Account Deficit (CAD) is the main reason that has continuously impeded all efforts of government in arrest the fall of rupee. India posted a record current account deficit of 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the year ending March. Government’s failure to explore new destinations has led to poor growth of exports. In the absence of a single window clearance system and process delays, exports have failed to register good growth. Even traditional export areas have failed to show resilience making Indian produce globally less competitive.

Insufficient FDI inflows

Despite all the decisions to allow major reforms in India, the government has failed to tap major FDI inflow in the country. Instead, India has witnessed withdrawal of major projects by global giants like ArcelorMittal and Posco. Posco pulled out of its Rs 30,000 crore steel plant project in Karnataka followed by ArcelorMittal that scrapped its $12 billion (Rs 50,000 crore) steel plant project which it was planning to set up in Odisha. Inordinate delays, land acquisition problems, government clearance delays, lack of promptness have all contributed to the withdrawal of major companies. Last year Indian companies spent more overseas than Foreign Investors in India.

FII outflows

Overseas investors have pulled out nearly Rs 18,500 crore (about USD 3 billion) from the Indian capital markets in July. In their highest monthly outflow, overseas investors pulled out a record Rs 44,162 crore (over USD 7.5 billion) in the month of June. Outflows of FIIs have put a continuous pressure on rupee not allowing it to come out of the slump. Meanwhile, leading global bank Goldman Sachs has downgraded Indian stocks to underweight and recommended investors to stay selective on concerns of economic growth recovery.

Rising Import bill

Rising import bill (arising out of gold) is also a major factor that has curtailed government’s effort to tackle the fall of rupee. Gold contributes to over 10 percent of the total import bill.

Overall economic contraction

Poor economic growth in the manufacturing, agricultural and mining sector has dented investor sentiment and they have become wary of investing in India. Reflecting a persistent slowdown, industrial production in May contracted by 1.6 percent, lowest in the past 11 months. Last week RBI cut its growth forecast to 5.5 percent for the fiscal year, from 5.7 percent. Unless a better sentiment prevails, confidence in the rupee will stay shattered.


Strengthening of dollar overseas

In the last six months US dollar index strengthened by 3.52 percent. The strengthening of dollar is beyond government’s control which is ultimately hammering the Indian currency. Gradual recovery in US economy coupled with rising expectations that Federal Reserve will withdraw its stimulus package soon is underpinning the US dollar index.

However one must not be completely cynical about bouncing back of rupee. A medium to short-term approach towards growth has to be adopted by the government. 

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67th Independence Day celebrations rehearsal at the Red Fort in New Delhi

Schoolchildren wave during the full dress rehearsal for the 67th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort in New Delhi.

Security has been increased in the Indian capital following inputs from Central Security agencies that allege that the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba terror group is planning to attack markets and government offices of strategic importance during the country's Independence Day on August 15.

Ahead of Independence Day and in the wake of an intelligence alert, Delhi has been put on high alert with heavy security arrangements and police barriers across the city.

"There shall be special checking of all vehicles, both private and commercial, entering the city from neighbouring states through border entry points," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Anil Shukla.

Besides Delhi Police personnel and commandos, security officials in plain clothes and snipers will also be deployed around the Red Fort. At least 80 companies of security forces (around 6,000 personnel) will be deployed at the Red Fort and the surrounding areas, said the official.

"A team of snipers, National Security Guard (NSG) commandos along with Delhi Police will man the fort in a multi-tier security arrangement," he added.

Delhi Police and traffic police personnel will be spread out across the city to secure important places as well as entry and exit points at "vulnerable locations". All high-rise buildings, hotels, guest houses, markets and restaurants in Paharganj, Jama Masjid and areas near the Red Fort will be under the police scanner.

Even rickshaw-pullers and vendors in the area have been asked to keep a lookout for suspicious objects and people, police said.

"Intensive checking drives have been started at the airport, railway stations, Metro stations, bus stops, markets, malls and the border areas," said the officer.

Intensive drives have also been conducted for verification of tenants, servants, occupants of guest houses, dealers of used scooters and cars, cyber cafe users and cycle sellers across the city, he said.

"We have received a letter from IB (Intelligence Bureau) about a threat from a terrorist outfit ahead of Aug 15," a police source said.

"All the neighbouring states have also been alerted and security has been beefed up at border check posts, railway stations, metro and all interstate bus terminus," said a senior Delhi Police officer.

Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi held a meeting of senior police officers from neighbouring states on Aug 7 to discuss security-related issues.

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Indians are playing a Top Roles in Top Multinational Companies

Shantanu Narayen is the current CEO of Adobe

Sounak Mitra from ‘Business Standard’ reports that Nitin Paranjpe,Sameer Suneja and Atul Singh are some of the well known leaders of multinational consumer products in India. These leaders have represented India globally for their leadership qualities and guidence.

Nitin Paranjpe  global head of Unilever

Nitin Paranjpe who was previously the MD and CEO HUL was recently appointed as the global head of Unilever Plc's home care business.

Sameer Suneja took the responsibility of Perfetti Van Melle's India operations, an Italian sugar confectionery maker recently. He is all set to become the global CEO, infact he will be the third Indian to be elevated from a global consumer company, after Indra Nooyi from PepsiCo and Rakesh Kapoor from Reckitt Benckiser.

Even world’s most successful company Coca-Cola elevated Atul Singh as the deputy president of Coca-Cola's Pacific Group. After taking over the responsibility he has an important role to perform in company’s key business units in China and India.

Ajay Banga has replaced Vikram Pandit as the CEO of Citigroup. In 2012, Anshu Jain became the co-CEO of Deutsche Bank.

However it has been observed that Indians are not on the back seat when it comes to dominating technology. For instance, Hyderabad-born Shantanu Narayen is the current CEO of Adobe and Sanjay Jha had served as the chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, until google completed Motorola Mobility acquisition last year.

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Now this is the time to access social networking site for children

Kolkata: Parents of seven-year-old Mehul Chowdhury were a worried lot after they found out that a paedophile stalker, who had befriended him on Facebook, was abusing their only child.

Like what many other parents would do, they banned Mehul from accessing the internet resulting in angry outbursts from the Class three student, up until his chartered accountant father found a new fun, educative social networking website, which promised online safety and privacy for children.

Ever since Worldoo.com was launched in April, more than 20,000 children have already signed in for the first of its kind online ecosystem designed specifically for Indian children, in the age group of 6-12.

Harsh Wardhan Dave, head (experience and brand) of Worldoo.com, says with an increase in the number of cases of child stalking and abuse they have put in multi-level security checks on their website.

Besides having moderators who monitor chats and children's activities round the clock, the website prevents uploading of pictures and personal information on their profiles or via any other activity.

"This is to prevent any form of personal information like telephone numbers and addresses to be shared and to ensure that the child's privacy is protected," Dave explains.

Children often fake their age in order to access sites like Facebook or Google's Orkut. The two companies have already been asked by the Delhi High Court to spell out their mechanism to deal with complaints including misuse of social networking sites by children below 13 years of age.

The website also has made it mandatory to obtain parental consent via email for all children desiring to use the site.

According to estimates, about 27% of urban children in India currently use Internet, through various mediums including computers and mobile devices.

A recent study by Boston Consulting Group has said over 4 million children in the country may potentially be exposed to harmful online content and as many as 35 million children may have experienced some form of cyber bullying.

An official of Worldoo says the website has specially designed characters (Doo Crew via actual moderators) to ensure that no one uses bad words. Those trying to use unconstitutional language are banned from accessing the site after being warned for one or two times.

The web company has also tied up with leading brands which lets children play games from Miniclip, the Gamebox and Zapak while cartoons are from Cartoon Network and Chota Bheem.

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