The cabinet is considering construction of six expressways on arterial routes Delhi-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Vadodara, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Meerut, Chennai-Bangalore and Kolkata-Dhanbad to make fantastically fast road travel a possibility.

Most, if not all, of these routes overlap with the Rs 58,000-crore National Highways Development Project (NHDP) to construct the golden quadrilateral and north-south-east-west corridors.

The proposal, which derives inspiration from the Mumbai-Pune expressway, urges people to hurtle along at an average speed of 90 km/hr, for a payment of more than Re 1 per kilometre as toll tax. The Mumbai-Pune expressway is in the red because travellers would rather use the old, toll-free road.

Feasibility studies, proposed to be carried out over the next eight or nine months, should be properly conducted on the new routes, to ensure there is no unnecessary duplication of existing road infrastructure, which would make the new state-of-the-art roads financially unviable.

One of the oldest trophies to be played in the country, the 106th Indian Open Polo Championship begins on Tuesday, with the finals on Sunday, November 12 at the Jaipur Polo Ground in New Delhi.

Reid and Taylor return as title sponsors for the fourth consecutive year, with matches of this 20-goal championship commencing everyday at 2.30 pm.

The participating teams this year are Kingfisher First, Jindal Steel & Power, Johor and Majara, last years Indian Open Champions.

For the first time, a team from outside India (Johor Team) shall be participating in the India Open Championship.

Some of the big names expected to play include Sunjay Kapur, Adhiraj Singh, Vishal Singh, Samir Suhag, Basheer Ali, James Harper and Angad Kalaan.

After being
launched as a stand-alone newspaper in Indore and Ahmedabad, DNA Money will now be launched in Mumbai, again as a stand-alone newspaper, starting today, November 6. The newspaper will be priced at Re 1.

However, DNA Money will also continue to be available as a supplement along with the main paper, DNA, in Mumbai.

The stand-alone DNA Money will contain 12 pages of business news, while the complimentary copy will have only eight pages.

Gautam Adhikari, editor-in-chief, DNA, says, We had been contemplating rolling out the Mumbai edition of DNA Money right from the beginning. Now, when our Ahmedabad edition has been quite a hit, its the right time for a Mumbai launch.

Adhikari says that the circulation in Mumbai is huge and the readership base gives them yet another reason to offer something more to the readers here. After the Mumbai edition, the next destination for DNA Money will be Jaipur.

The saffron govt in Rajasthan headed by Vasundhara Raje is in the middle of a land scam. The matter relates to allotment of more than seven thousand sq meters of land to the Deen Dayal Trust at throwaway price in Jaipur.

Interestingly, the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje is the Chairman of this trust who now shows her ignorance on this issue. On the other hand, Congress is demanding a CBI enquiry.

Prime property

The large patch of land is prime property in the heart of Jaipur city just about a kilometer away from the Chief Ministers bungalow. The land was allotted at a throwaway price of just Rs 44 lakh.

But when asked pointedly about the land deal, Vasundhara Raje avoided questions claiming to be ignorant of the allotment. I am not aware of it. I will only answer once I get to know about it, said Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

While the government is trying to hush up the matter, the opposition parties now want a CBI enquiry into the land deal.

We demand a CBI enquiry in this land scam. More than seven thousand sq meters land has been allotted to Deen Dayal Trust whose head is CM herself. The land was allotted in month of July this year and the trust was constituted in August this year, said Dr. Param Navdeep, spokesperson Congress.

As Graeme Smith and Brian Lara size up each others team, knowing that one will exit stage left come Thursday night, the form book suggests West Indies are a safe bet. Barring their collapse for 80 against Sri Lanka and then a loss to England in a match of little consequence, West Indies have been the team to watch. They dont have a single player out of form, and the only concern for the defending champions is over Brian Laras back - which, though making endless headlines is yet to cause him to miss a match.

But the South Africans are not in Jaipur merely to take in the sights of the Pink City. They can rightly claim to being the second best one-day side in the world and the only one, barring Australia, to show some degree of consistency. And this could be the single most important thing in their favour in the semi-final. There are no second chances, and the 50-over format gives you little time to claw your way back if you lose early ground.

South Africa, some might say, did themselves a disservice by winning the last match against Pakistan and qualifying at the top of their group. Had they come second, they would have been at Mohali, potentially playing on a rock-hard surface that had enough grass on it to sustain a grazing cow for a day or two. The pitch at Jaipur looks surprisingly white, and quite dry, and it remains to be seen how much bounce it offers.

South Africa have come far on the back of their two tireless fast bowlers, Makhaya Ntini and Andre Nel. Their styles are different: One wide of the crease and slanting the ball in, the other dead straight and moving it out, one aggressive in the way the ball jags up towards the rib cage, the other confrontational in the manner in which he psychologically and verbally roughs up batsmen. Yet both are focussed, both are capable of winning a game single-handed.

And then theres Shaun Pollock to maintain order, getting slower by the day, but more miserly with runs as well. The weak link, if such a thing comes into the picture, is spin. For all Smith might say about backing a young spinner, Robin Peterson, the slow left-armer, will not cause any batsmen to lose sleep.

Ninety bulbs of two kilowatts each mounted on four high towers will light the Sawai Man Singh Stadium when the West Indies play South Africa in the second Champions Trophy semi-final here Thursday.

The stadium, which used to hold only day matches till recently, got floodlights just before the ongoing Champions Trophy started. The towers were installed in 60 days, almost half of the time usually taken for such a job, according to GE Consumer and Industrial that has done the lighting.

A combination of spot and medium beam width varieties of sports bulbs has been used to ensure adequate lighting on the ground and vertically. This is important in sighting the ball when it is hit high in the air.

Unlike conventional designs that use external reflectors, the design of the bulbs used by GE for the stadium has internal reflectors, which minimises spillage and avoids glare. The head frames of all the poles are curved at an angle of 15 degrees to ensure fewer glares.

The lighting was so designed as to minimise spill light, thus reducing light pollution. It requires less fixtures to achieve the required illuminance level, said Samir Inamdar, president and chief executive officer of GE, Indian region.

GE has also provided lighting solutions to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the Saifi Stadium at Itawah in Uttar Pradesh. It had also installed floodlights at the football stadium in Daejeon City in Seoul before the 2002 football World Cup there.

Jaipur Devotees have raised a strong objection over Katrina Kaif wearing a skirt (which did not cover her legs completely) to Khwaja Moinudeen Chishti’s shrine at Ajmer. She was in the shrine with her co-star Rishi Kapoor to shoot for Vipul Shah’s ‘Namaste London’. According to tradition, women offering prayers in the shrine must have their head, hands and legs covered. It is alleged the film was being shot in Sufi saint’s presence and he did not object. “Due to the presence of large number of people, I could not see the dress worn by Katrina, I was at a distance and it looked to me as if she was wearing a full dress,” said secretary Chisti.

A family in Rajasthan, suffering from an undiagnosed disease, has sought the presidents permission for mercy killing.

Six members of the family, including two women, are on an indefinite hunger strike in Sheopur area of Jaipur district to highlight their plight. The family is reportedly suffering from an undiagnosed disease that has disabled them.

Vaishani Devi, 65, has had the disease since she was 10. The disease was passed on to her four sons and one daughter. One of her sons died.

The family wrote to the president on October 2, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, seeking his permission for euthanasia.

Living below the poverty line has compounded their problems. Vaishanis sons are registered with the employment exchange, but theres no work for them.

One of her sons, Bhagwandas, 38, and his wife Rakhi tried to set up a shop, but the goods were seized by the municipal corporation in an anti-encroachment drive.

India cancer patient said fasted to death

A 61-year-old cancer patient died after fasting for two weeks in an ancient rite that a human rights activist went to court to stop, news reports said.

Villa Devi stopped eating on Sept. 14 as part of a Jain salvation ritual, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, and she died Thursday in the western city of Jaipur as the state high court was considering the petition.

Nikhil Soni, who filed the suit, said the ritual was simply a form of suicide, and in no case can anybody be allowed to take ones life, The Indian Express newspaper reported. Suicide is illegal in India.

The court had been waiting for replies from the federal government and Jain organizations before issuing a ruling.

Devis husband, Sohan Lal Bhansali, defended his wifes decision, saying she was seeking salvation.
She suffered from a brain tumor and blood cancer and doctors had given up hope, The Indian Express quoted him as saying.

Though initially we tried to convince her, she informed us that she was no more interested in worldly matters and wanted salvation. We only respected her decision, he said.

Jainism, which originated in India, has nearly 4 million followers in the country.

Like Hindus, Jains believe in reincarnation. But while Hindus believe all souls are part of a universal spirit, Jains believe in an independent soul reincarnated in pursuit of an ultimate state of happiness. Salvation is obtained by the personal effort to lead an austere, nonviolent life.

Jetfleet, Europcar pact for mobility solutions

Jetfleet Private Ltd, a Jetair promoted entity, on Wednesday signed an agreement with car rental company, Europcar, to provide mobility solution for the Indian market.

Jetfleet plans to start operations from the National Capital on October 3 and would expand its operations to Mumbai and Bangalore this year itself. The future plans include having operations in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Agra, Jaipur, Goa and Ahmedabad by 2008.

We plan to have a fleet of 800-900 cars within the next three years. We will start operations with a fleet of at least 30 cars, said the Chief Executive Officer, Jetair and Director Jetfleet, Mr Mahiyar M. Sadri.

The company plans to equip every vehicle in the fleet with an advanced GPS system apart from providing a mini-fridge, laptop and mobile chargers, wet tissues, newspapers and magazines.

Besides, it would employ women drivers and also look to provide self-drive vehicles in the near future, Mr Sadri added. The company, however, refused to divulge what amount of monies was being pumped into the new project.

The India master franchise agreement with Europcar is initially for five years. We hope to corner 25 per cent of the domestic corporate mobility solutions market during the first three years of operations, Mr Sadri said.