Dalmia Bharat posts marginal Q3 profits

Mumbai, Jan 30 (IANS) Cement-maker Dalmia Bharat Friday said its net income for the quarter ended Dec 31 stood at Rs.125 crore with an operating income of Rs.794 crore. For the same timeperiod last fiscal, it was Rs.707 crore.


 The profit after tax (PAT) rose marginally by Rs.10 lakhs.

 "Power and fuel cost on per tonne basis was lower by 16 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis but the same has been offset by higher freight cost and slight increase in raw material cost for North East Operations. PAT for the quarter was positive at Rs.10 lakhs as against loss of Rs.12 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year," the company said in a filing with the National Stock Exchange.

 For its southern operations, variable costs on per tonne basis was lower by 4 percent on YoY basis for the third quarter.

 "Our power consumption per tonne of cement produced has improved to 69.5 kwh as against 71.3 kwh and fuel cost on calorific value basis has witnessed a reduction of 16 percent", the company said.

 Its business volume in north-east India, however, grew by 22 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Woman dies while celebrating marriage proposal

London, Jan 30 (IANS) A woman fell off a cliff and died after jumping up in excitement as her boyfriend proposed to her on top of a cliff in the Spanish island of Ibiza, media reported Friday.


 Police said she lost her balance as she jumped up and down in excitement  after her partner asked for her hand.

 Dimitrina Dimitrova, 29, of Bulgaria, was visiting her boyfriend in the resort of Cala Tarida, the Daily Mail  reported.

 She suffered a heart attack after she lost balance and fell 65 feet down from the cliff. She died few minutes later after paramedics arrived at the scene.

 The incident happened took place Tuesday.

 "Everything is pointing towards the death being the result of a tragic freak accident," a local Civil Guard spokesman was quoted as saying.

 "Her boyfriend lived and worked in Ibiza. She had arrived two days earlier to visit him and look for work," source said.

Kolkata Police's short film for helping accident victims

Kolkata, Jan 30 (IANS) Kolkata police officers are working on a short film featuring survivors of road accidents in the city to encourage pedestrians to come to the timely rescue of accident victims.


 The short, a little over two minutes, will be screened in theatres across the eastern metropolis and suburbs.

 Directed by Indranil Choudhary, it involves five survivors who lost their limbs in accidents while bystanders remained indifferent to their plight.

 "We are working on the short film. It is in the production phase. The aim is to encourage people to get rid of their hesitation and come forward and help those who are injured in road accidents," a senior traffic police officer told IANS Friday.

 The clip is expected to release in February.

Farmers' suicide: Shiv Sena criticises Maharashtra government

Mumbai, Jan 30 (IANS) The Shiv Sena Friday came out in support of the state's farming community amid the shocking report of eight famers committing suicide in Vidarbha, including four a couple of days ago.


 It said that the government in the state has changed, but the plight of the farmers continues, and despite a son of the soil Devendra Fadnavis becoming the chief minister, farmers' suicides are unabated.

 "He was laying the red carpet in Davos (Switzerland) for foreign investors to Maharashtra, while farmers were busy killing themselves here... Any hopes of relief by the new government to the farmers have been belied," said Shiv Sena, in a strong editorial in the party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

 It pointed out that the victims had consumed poison to escape the burden of farm debts - "they did not own mobiles, so nobody can accuse them of having money to pay phone bills and not farm debts."

 During elections, the farmers were showered with a flood of promises of good times, but nothing happened thereafter.

 "Whose responsibility it is to ensure a dignified life to the farmers of the state? If anybody claims that by separating Vidarbha from Maharashtra, all its problems would be solved, they are misguiding the people," the edit said, hinting at its known stand of a united Maharashtra.

 The Sena reminded that the previous (Congress-NCP) regime did not give justice to the farmers who voted en masse for the BJP, but the situation has not changed for the better.

 It said NGOs like Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari are agitating against the state government - "What will it achieve? The government proceeds slower than a tortoise when farmers' issues are involved."

 "Recently, Maharashtra announced total prohibition in Chandrapur (third district after Wardha and Gadchiroli), banning liquor... It would help the people more if a similar 'ban on suicides' is declared in Vidarbha," the editorial urged.

Intimate scenes weren't difficult: 'Khamoshiyan' actress

New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS) Actress Sapna Pabbi, who is making her Bollywood debut with Vishesh Filmsí ìKhamoshiyanî, says intimate scenes in the film were not difficult for her to pull off, and instead, it was the emotional scenes which were challenging.


 The supernatural erotica, which has abundant steamy and bold scenes, features Sapna in a lead role as a conniving seductress Meera, and Ali Fazal as Kabir, a writer in search of a story. Gurmeet Choudhary plays Meera's husband Jaidev in the film.

 ìIntimate scenes were not difficult. The difficult scenes for me in the film were the heavy emotional ones,î Sapna told IANS in an interview.

 ìThere were times when I cried all day on set. I couldn't stop crying, it was a very emotionally heavy scene I had done with Gurmeet one day. It was really difficult for me to snap out of Meera's character,î she added.

 Sapna, who is known for her role as Kiran Rathod in espionage drama TV series "24", finds her journey from TV to Bollywood ìunrealî.

 ìIt was because of '24' that I got 'Khamoshiyan' and a lot of other things also. It was four months after '24' that I signed my first film. It's been unreal. I've got great friends in Mumbai. I couldn't have asked for a better journey,î said the 24-year-old Bollywood debutante.

 Speaking about her attachment with the film, which released Friday, she said: ì'Khamoshiyan' is close to my heart. I'm very overwhelmed and the film has been a great gift to me.î

 Her dark and mysterious character in the film has a lot of secrets and is ìvery complexî.

 ìMeera is a very complex character. She has a lot of different layers and shades to her personality. She carries a lot of dark secrets from her past. She likes to play mind games and she is very dark and mysterious,î she said.

 Asked if she would still want to work for TV, having already made a Bollywood breakthrough, she said she wouldn't mind and would be happy to ìbreak the barrierî between Bollywood and TV.

 ìIn Hollywood, everybody acts in films and then they act for TV, so I feel somebody has to break that barrier in Bollywood.

 ìActing is acting, no matter where you do it, whatever the medium may be. I hope Bollywood and the Indian TV industry break that ice. It'd be nice to see more filmy faces on TV,î she said.

 Sapna also expressed her fascination of veteran actress Rekha and her talent.

 ìThe roles with more depth attract me. I'm in love with roles that Rekha ma'am has pulled off in the past. 'Khoon Bhari Maang' is my favourite film and Rekha ma'am is my favourite actress.

 ìThe great thing about her is that she used to stand out in the scenes all the time and she still does. I'd love to do roles that have more personality to them rather than the look on screen,î she said.

 Although she is a ìhuge fanî of superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Sapna also appreciates Manoj Bajpayee's work.

 ìI'm a huge Shah Rukh Khan fan. I've watched his films more than anybody else's. And, I'm a huge fan of Manoj Bajpayee too,î she said.

Fuel-guzzling vehicles to go off Taj Trapezium Zone

Agra, Jan 30 (IANS) Commercial vehicles running on diesel and petrol will not be permitted to run in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone from July 31.


 The Central Pollution Control Board delineated the Taj Trapezium Zone on the basis of the weighted mean wind speed in twelve directions from Agra to Mathura and Bharatpur. The boundaries of the zone were made keeping in mind the effect of any pollution source  on the critical receptor - The Taj Mahal.

 Divisional Commissioner Pradip Bhatnagar, who heads the Taj Trapezium Zone Authority, has directed the regional transport offices of Agra, Mathura and Firozabad to ensure that vehicles switch over to CNG before the July 31 deadline.
 
 Agra has around 14,000 small, commercial vehicles called loaders.

 The commissioner has already banned the burning of cow dung cakes in the city to control air pollution, which recent reports said was affecting the Taj Mahal.

 Petha (sweetmeat) units have also been asked again to shift to Petha Nagri, outside the city, as most of them are concentrated in the Noor Darwaza area, located in the heart of the city.

 On Thursday evening, district authorities along with police and a team of the municipal corporation sealed four petha units for using coal, whose use is banned in the Taj Trapezium Zone.

 A unit of the famous Panchi petha was sealed. Additional City Magistrate Shyam Lata Anand said the units utilising coal have been warned of stern action. If need be more raids would be conducted on the units violating orders, she said.

Texting better than apps to treat mental illness

New York, Jan 30 (IANS) Simple texting via smartphones can be a more suitable treatment aid for those with mental illness than mobile apps, a study has found.


 "Cellphone technology is in the hands of millions and early research indicates that this technology can be useful to help people who are suffering from some form of mental illness," said Kelly Caine, assistant professor at South Carolina-based Clemson University's School of Computing.

 For the study, Caine and her colleagues surveyed 325 patients receiving treatment at community-based outpatient clinics for mental illness to determine their cell phone ownership and usage patterns.

 "Among mental health patients, we found that texting was the most popular feature used and downloading apps was the least popular," she noted.

 The patients often shared phones, which made providing private, secure messages difficult, Caine added.

 Almost 80 percent of the patients surveyed used texting and many did not use mobile applications.

 "It means that texting may be accessible to the majority of patients and may, therefore, make a more suitable treatment aid," the authors noted.

 "By utilising a technology that is readily available and familiar to so many Americans, we see huge potential to improve treatment outcomes and provide patients who currently have only limited access to treatment additional treatment options," Caine concluded.

 The study was published in the journal Personal and Ubiquitous Computing.