Absurd

Not poor if you earn Rs.32 a day: Planning Commission

Planning Commission told the Supreme Court that 40.74 crore people lived below poverty line.

RELATEDS

• High prices nibble into food budget
• Inflation soars to 9.78% in August

The Planning Commission on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the below poverty line (BPL)population in the country is 40.74 crore and the poverty line for the urban and rural areas could be provisionally placed at Rs.965 per capita per month (aroundRs.32 per day) andRs.781 per capita per month (around Rs.26 per day), respectively.

The Planning Commission in an affidavit said that the BPL population at present touched by the public distribution services (PDS) was 35.98 crore.

"If the Tendulkar (committee) poverty ratio for 2004/05 is applied to the projected population of the Registrar General of India as on March 1, 2005, the total BPL population would be 40.74 crore," the affidavit said.

The poverty estimates for year 2009-10 were being worked out and the "provisional estimates suggest that the total BPL population as per 2009-10 estimation may be lower than that which would have emerged (on the basis) of Tendulkar ratio on 2004-05 projection", it said.

The Planning Commission filed the affidavit in pursuance of the May 14 order of the apex court bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma, which said that according to the expert group headed by Suresh Tendulkar at the price level of 2011, it was impossible for an individual in urban and rural area to consume 2,100 calories in Rs.20 andRs.15, respectively.

The bench's order asked the Planning Commission to "revise norms of per capita amount looking at the price index of May 2011 or any subsequent dates".

The affidavit said that on applying price increase using the consumer price index for industrial workers in urban areas and the consumer price index for agricultural labourers for rural areas, "the poverty line at June 2011 price level can be placed provisionally atRs.965 per capita per month in urban areas and Rs.781 per capita per month in rural areas."

"At June 2011 price level, for a family of five, this provisional poverty line would amount to Rs.4,824 per month in urban areas and Rs.3,905 per month in rural areas," the affidavit said.

The affidavit said that the final poverty line following the Tendulkar Committee ratio would only be available after completion of the 2011-12 National Sample Survey (NSS) and this would vary from state to state because of price differential.

courtesy: India today.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/planning-commission-bpl-earn-rs-25-a-day-india/1/152084.html

Controversially Yours - by Shoaib Akthar

Shoaib Akthar takes a dig at Sachin

Akhtar: Controversial yet not clean.

Shoaib Akhtar is not finished yet. Cricket's perennial problem child, the Rawalpindi Express has launched his autobiography today. Titled Controversially Yours, he takes digs at Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, and also brazenly admits to ball-tampering.

The erstwhile fastest bowler in the world can lay claim to be the only one to dismiss Dravid and Tendulkar with consecutive deliveries — both blazing yorkers — at Eden Gardens in 1999. But despite the two Indians winning several personal contests against him since then, Shoaib still chose to berate them in his book.

He's not the first cricketer to do so. Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist recently had been critical of Tendulkar in their books — a technique which instantly stirs up emotions and pumps up sales.

Akhtar claims Dravid and Tendulkar were not match-winners:

"....Vivian Richards, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and the likes of them are great batsmen who dominated with the bat and were truly match-winners. Initially, when I bowled against Sachin, I found these qualities missing. He might have had more runs and records, he lacked the ability to finish the game. I think players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid weren't exactly match winners to start with, nor did they know the art of finishing the game."

Shoaib also claims the master blaster was scared of him during the Faisalabad Test.

"We would have faced a humbling defeat in the series but for the fact that we reined in Sachin Tendulkar. What went in our favour was that Sachin was suffering from tennis elbow! This severely handicapped the great batsman. We managed to psychologically browbeat him. We bounced the ball at him and were able to unnerve him. I returned to the dressing room that first day with the knowledge that Sachin was not comfortable facing fast and rising ball. He was distinctly uncomfortable against me. That was enough to build on. I bowled (Sachin) a particularly fast ball which he, to my amazement didn't even touch. He walked away! That was the first time, I saw him walk away from me — that, too, on the slow track at Faisalabad. It got my hunting instincts up and in the next match I hit him on the head and he couldn't score after that."

Akhtar, who played for Kolkata Knight Riders briefly, has also accused Shah Rukh Khan and former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi of cheating.

"Shah Rukh and I talked about my not being happy with the money settled on me. Shah Rukh and Modi got me to agree. I should have never listened to Modi and Shah Rukh."

Then there's the bit where he admits Pakistan bowlers tamper with the ball.

Almost all Pakistani fast bowlers have tampered with the ball. I may be the first one to openly admit to it but everybody is doing it. To be honest, every team in the world tampers with the ball. We probably started it but today koi team doodh ki dhooli nahin hain. No team is innocent and virtually every fast bowler does it. That is the only way to survive because the wickets are so slow.

Akhtar, who took 178 wickets in 46 Tests and 247 wickets in 163 ODIs, has been in the eye of several controversies. Doping scandals, fitness problems, chucking problems, genital warts, hitting Mohammad Asif with a bat, allegedly slapping their coach Bob Woolmer, fines, fall-out with team, fall-out with the management, bans, recalls, more bans.

Things came to a head in the 2011 World Cup, where he allegedly had a confrontation with Kamran Akmal. He announced his retirement mid-way, but was immediately dropped from the team. Which is not to say he has been dropped from the headlines.

As for the ball-tampering bits, thanks Shoaib, for telling us what we've suspected throughout.


courtesy: www.yahoo.com

Manoshanth new.mp4

E-Library

Hello Friends,
The Office bearers & Members of the Pondicherry Bar Association have intended to set-up an "e-library" for the welfare of the Advocates of the Pondicherry Bar Association.  "e-library" constitutes Desktop computers installed with Apex court Judgments vide Compact Discs, necessary Bare Acts, Civil Procedure Code, Criminal Major Acts {i.e, Indian Penal Code, Cr.P.C, Indian Evidence Act}, Company Law, Model forms for conveyancing & drafting with a Xerox machine for taking photocopies of Precedents/Judgments on payment of minimal cost.  The setting-up of the "e-library is under process.  The funds for setting-up of "e-library" is being collected from the volunteering members of Pondicherry Bar Association itself.

RICKY PONTING - THE PUNTER

Ricky Ponting's 100th Test win

The proudest century

Success to Ricky Ponting is not about trophies, nor about his place in the pantheon - it is about winning Test matches

Daniel Brettig

September 3, 2011

Comments: 71 | Login via  | Text size: A | A

	Of all Ponting's achievements, his century of Test wins will sit near the top as a source of satisfaction whenever he ends his career © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Features : The winning machine Players/Officials: Ricky Ponting Matches: Sri Lanka v Australia at Galle Series/Tournaments: Australia tour of Sri Lanka Teams: Australia

Until Colin Cowdrey reached the mark in 1968, no cricketer had played 100 Test matches. It is both a measure of Australia's success and the vast expansion of the game's scheduling ever since thatRicky Ponting now stands above all others, the first man to have played in 100 Test victories.

Of all Ponting's achievements, this will sit near the top as a source of satisfaction whenever he ends his career. Personal statistics and their associated glory have never held his attention, but for 16 years, Test match wins have been his fundamental goal. For him to know he has participated in 100 of them will cause the familiar grin to emerge on Ponting's face, the grin that has remained boyish through all the series, tours and fluctuations of his time on the big stage.

Ponting was a boy wonder when he enjoyed his first Test win, on his debut in December 1995. Also against Sri Lanka, it took place on a Perth pitch as far removed from the dustbowl of Galle as it is possible to be. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 251 on the first day, then Muttiah Muralitharan returned figures of 2 for 224 as Mark Taylor's Australia ran up 617 for 5 declared. A little more than a week short of his 21st birthday, Ponting stroked his way to 96 before the umpire, Khizer Hayat, gave him out lbw to a ball that would have passed wide and high of the stumps. Ponting's memory is famously sharp: he would have Hayat's cruelly raised finger to help motivate him for the next decade and a half. When Australia returned to the field that day, Shane Warne placed a consoling hand on Ponting's shoulder.

Ponting claimed his first three Test catches as the visitors were rounded up and an innings victory completed. Australia went on to sweep the series 3-0 with methodical displays in Melbourne and Adelaide. Beyond a pair of early spells out of the side as his game and his sense of discipline were developed, that result was representative of much that followed. Under the leadership of Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ponting himself, the wins were piled high. On no fewer than 20 occasions, Ponting took part in a series in which there were no other results but Australian victories. By comparison, Allan Border played in one.

Wins are seldom taken for granted, and there was always the presence of history to remind Ponting of their value. Over his 156 Tests, Border took part in 50 wins. But this avalanche of success brought with it a keen sense that victory was the right and proper result for Ponting and his team. Sometimes that expectation and confidence resulted in victories from nowhere, like the sweep in Sri Lanka in 2004, Ponting's first series as captain, when three Tests were won from unlikely positions. But it could also lead to anger and tension when the desired outcome seemed to be slipping away, or when the urge to force a result outstripped all other concerns. Australia wins were celebrated wildly, and the desire to reach that point was ravenous. The 2008 Sydney Test defeat of India stands as Ponting's most acrimonious, and the one that marked the unofficial end of Australia's domination.

Most Test wins 100 - Ricky Ponting (Aus) 92 - Shane Warne (Aus) 86 - Steve Waugh (Aus) 84 - Glenn McGrath (Aus) 73 - Adam Gilchrist (Aus) 72 - Mark Waugh (Aus) 71 - Matthew Hayden (Aus) 70 - Justin Langer (Aus) 70 - Mark Boucher (SA) 69 - Jacques Kallis (SA)

Up to that point, Ponting had played in 113 Tests and claimed victory in 81 of them. Since then he has played in 40 and won only 19. As captain of a team who began to struggle, his priorities were at times blurred. No one present will forget the drama in Nagpur later in 2008, when most concluded that Ponting had placed the prevention of a heavy sanction for a tardy over rate ahead of a fleeting chance at a series-levelling win. More recently, the amount of time and effort he had to spend educating, guiding and worrying over a young team seemed to sap his mental reserves for his own batting, always Ponting's most reliable contributor to victory.

Yet, over this latter period, he has derived arguably greater pleasure from the matches and series he has won, for they have been achieved with lesser resources. Those resources include his own batting, which has slipped in terms of effectiveness if not method, as an average of 39.96 since January 2008 can indicate. The losses have eroded Ponting's standing - he admits some will remember him more for three Ashes series defeats than the raft of other victories - but have also enhanced his appreciation of the wins.

This was never more evident than after a young team had completed a series victory in South Africa in early 2009, having lost the reciprocal Tests in Australia that preceded it. Ponting's reaction to that result was as boisterous as any in his career, and reached into the heart of why he has sought Test match wins more uncompromisingly and more prolifically than any other player in history.

"I'm extremely proud of the players," he said at the time. "This is as happy as I've been in my whole career as an Australian player. This is a great achievement from this team, and I'm sure there will be a lot of people back home in Australia really proud of what the team has done.

"We play to win games of cricket for Australia and to do the best that we can for each other as a group of players. Whatever happens as a result of that, happens. If silverware comes your way then great, but that's not the reason that we play the game."

Success to Ponting is not about trophies, nor about his place in the pantheon. It is about winning Test matches, and this singularity of purpose has taken him to 100 such results. He has not made a prouder century.

Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

 Feeds: Daniel Brettig

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

RICKY PONTING - THE PUNTER

Ricky Ponting's 100th Test victory

The winning machine

Only three other players have won more than 75 Tests, which puts Ricky Ponting's record into perspective

S Rajesh

September 3, 2011

Text size: A | A

	Ricky Ponting has scored almost 2000 more runs in Test wins than the next-best batsman © AFP Enlarge
Related Links Daniel Brettig : The proudest century  Players/Officials: Ricky Ponting Teams: Australia

For most players, playing 100 Test matches is a huge achievement - only 50 have achieved it in the history of Test cricket. However, with this victory against Sri Lanka in Galle, Ricky Ponting became the first player to be a part of 100 Test victories. It's a huge achievement, and a telling commentary on the quality of the player and the team he has been a part of.

Only three other players have won more than 75 Tests, an indication of just how difficult it is to reach the landmark. The top seven players with most winsare all Australians who were an intrinsic part of the dominant team of the 1990s and 2000s - the first non-Australian in the list is Mark Boucher, with 70 victories. He is also the first active player in the list after Ponting, with team-mate Jacques Kallis following closely on 69. With 30 wins needed to get to a century, though, it's almost certain that neither will get to that mark, which means Ponting will be the lone member of this club for a while.

Only Australians and South Africans are represented in the table below, so here's a look at the players who've been a part of the most wins for the other major countries - Viv Richards (63), Sachin Tendulkar (61), Muttiah Muralitharan (54), Inzamam-ul-Haq (49), Andrew Strauss (44), Stephen Fleming (33). It also puts Ponting's record in perspective to see that no player from three of the top teams - Pakistan, England and New Zealand - has managed to reach the 50-win landmark.

Batsmen who played in most Test wins

Batsman	Test wins	Total Tests	Percentage
Ricky Ponting	100	153	65.36
Shane Warne	92	145	63.45
Steve Waugh	86	168	51.19
Glenn McGrath	84	124	67.74
Adam Gilchrist	73	96	76.04
Mark Waugh	72	128	56.25
Matthew Hayden	71	103	68.93
Mark Boucher	70	139	50.36
Justin Langer	70	105	66.67
Jacques Kallis	69	145	47.59

Of Ponting's 100 wins, a fifth has come against England, but that's also because he has played 35 Tests against them, which works out to 23% of his total Tests. In fact, Ponting's record against England is a bit odd: his overall average against them is 44.21, and in wins it goes up slightly - but still not to his usual levels - of 48.20. In England, though, his average in wins goes down to 32.71, though that also includes two wins against Pakistan in England. His average in defeats in England is 40.85, and in draws it's 65.16.

Overall, his average in wins against most teams isn't that much higher than his overall average against them, but the one exception is his stats against India - an average of 47.88 overall, and 74.20 in wins.

Ponting in wins versus each opponent

Versus	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s	Overall ave
England	20	1446	48.20	5/ 5	44.21
West Indies	18	1546	61.84	6/ 5	59.06
South Africa	14	1353	61.50	6/ 6	56.38
Pakistan	13	1346	67.30	5/ 4	66.82
New Zealand	10	713	59.41	1/ 5	57.47
Sri Lanka	9	579	41.35	0/ 5	47.31
India	8	742	74.20	3/ 2	47.88
Bangladesh	4	260	65.00	1/ 2	65.00
Zimbabwe	3	290	96.67	1/ 1	96.67
ICC World XI	1	100	50.00	0/ 1	50.00

In the first three years of his career, Ponting wasn't such a force with the bat, averaging only 36.63 in 22 Tests during that period, and 39.00 in wins. Happily for him, his most prolific period with the bat coincided with the best period for Australia as a Test team, when they had a power-packed batting line-up, a strong pace attack, and a wizard for a spinner. With all bases covered, Australia won Tests everywhere they went, and Ponting contributed heavily in those matches. Out of 87 matches that Ponting played between 1999 and 2006, Australia won 64, which is almost 74%. His average in those wins was a staggering 71.63, and he scored 25 centuries in those 64 games - an average of a ton every 2.56 Tests.

His loss of batting form, though, has coincided with a dip in Australia's fortunes - they've lost many of their heavyweights, and consequently the results have dipped as well. In the last 44 Tests that Ponting has played, Australia have won barely over 50%, and Ponting's average in those wins has dipped to around 40.00. In these 23 wins he has scored only two hundreds, a huge drop from 25 in 64.

Ponting in Test wins, over the years

Period	Tes Wins	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s	Overall Tests	Overall ave
Till Dec 1998	13	703	39.05	1/ 5	22	36.63
Jan 1999 to Dec 2006	64	6161	71.63	25/ 20	87	65.43
Jan 2007 onwards	23	1511	39.76	2/ 11	44	40.63
Career	100	8375	58.97	28/ 36	153	53.26

Only six batsmen have scored more than 5000 runs in Test wins, of which four are Australians. Ponting's tally of 8375 runs is easily the highest among them, but in terms of the tally as a percentage of career runs, a couple of Australians have a slightly higher number: Matthew Hayden scored 71% of his total Test runs in wins, while for Justin Langer that percentage was almost 68. Ponting scored 67.48% of his total runs in wins, which is much higher than the percentages for non-Australian batsmen. Tendulkar has scored less than 37% of his total runs in wins, which is an indication of much tougher it's been for India to win Test matches. (Till the end of 2000, only 24% of Tendulkar's runs came in wins; since then, with India improving as a Test team, it's gone up to 46%.)

Batsmen with more than 5000 runs in Test wins

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s	Total runs	% runs in wins
Ricky Ponting	100	8375	58.97	28/ 36	12,411	67.48
Steve Waugh	86	6460	69.46	25/ 25	10,927	59.12
Matthew Hayden	71	6154	55.44	23/ 19	8625	71.35
Jacques Kallis	69	5591	65.01	19/ 26	11,947	46.80
Sachin Tendulkar	61	5473	67.56	20/ 21	14,965	36.57
Justin Langer	70	5229	48.41	15/ 19	7696	67.94

However, with Australia being such a strong side with so many match-winners, they weren't as reliant on Ponting to score runs and set up wins as some of the teams with slightly weaker batting line-ups. Ponting contributed about 15% of the total runs scored off the bat in the 100 Tests that Australia won. For Kallis and Tendulkar, the percentage is around 16.50; for Rahul Dravid, who just misses out on the 5000-run cut-off (click here for the full list of highest run-scorers in wins) the percentage is 16.99, just a tad higher than Tendulkar's; for Don Bradman, it's 28.25% (4813 runs out of 17036), which puts some of the other numbers in perspective.

Percentage of team runs in wins for batsmen with 5000+ runs in wins

Batsman	Runs in wins	Team runs in wins	Percentage
Ricky Ponting	8375	55,743	15.02
Steve Waugh	6460	45,691	14.14
Matthew Hayden	6154	39,634	15.53
Jacques Kallis	5591	33,737	16.57
Sachin Tendulkar	5473	32,908	16.63
Justin Langer	5229	38,375	13.63

And finally, a look at the players with the highest win percentages among those with at least 50 Test victories. Only 22 players make the cut, of which 12 are Australians. And when ranked by win percentages, the top eight are Australians, with Gordon Greenidge and Richards rounding off the top ten.

In this table, Ponting only comes in in sixth place - there are five Australians who have a higher win percentage. Ponting's loss percentage among these ten is second only to Mark Waugh's, no doubt because of the defeats suffered over the last couple of years. Adam Gilchrist's numbers are incredible because of the exceptionally low number of defeats and draws. In the last two rows, the number that stands out the most for Greenidge and Richards is the draw percentage - it's much higher than for all the Australians, which indicates the manner in which Australia have played Tests over the last 15 years, and the way Test cricket itself has changed in the last couple of decades.

Highest win percentage among players with at least 50 Test wins

Player	Tests	W/L/D	Win %	Loss %	Draw %
Adam Gilchrist	96	73/11/12	76.04	11.46	12.50
Brett Lee	76	54/11/11	71.05	14.47	14.47
Matthew Hayden	103	71/18/14	68.93	17.48	13.59
Glenn McGrath	124	84/20/20	67.74	16.13	16.13
Justin Langer	105	70/17/18	66.67	16.19	17.14
Ricky Ponting	153	100/28/25	65.36	18.30	16.34
Shane Warne	145	92/26/27	63.44	17.93	18.62
Mark Waugh	128	72/27/29	56.25	21.09	22.65
Gordon Greenidge	108	57/14/37	52.78	12.96	34.26
Viv Richards	121	63/19/39	52.07	15.70	32.23

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo

 Feeds: S Rajesh

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.