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Nearly 40 percent of the price of petrol is made up of taxes by the centre and the states. Yet neither side one wants to change that situation fundamentally.

After the central government allowed state-run oil marketing companies to hike petrol prices by Rs 6.28 per litre, leading to an overall increase of about Rs 7.50 per litre because of a consequent increase in state taxes, there have been growing calls for states to reduce their taxes on the fuel to ease the aam aadmi’s burden.

But are states — or the centre — really in a position to cut taxes? A Business Standard report on Monday provided details on how much is actually charged as tax on petrol in various states. It pointed out that several states now charge more taxes on petrol than the centre.

According to the report, the central government levies a fixed excise duty of about Rs 14.78 per litre of petrol. In comparison, states impose an ad valorem (value-added) tax, which increases every time the price of the fuel increases. The extent of the tax (plus surcharges) varies across states. In West Bengal, for instance, the state’s tax on the fuel increased to Rs 16.08 per litre after the fuel price hike, which is higher than the central excise duty. (The state’s firebrand leader, Mamata Banerjee, while demanding a rollback of the petrol price hike, has said nothing about reducing state taxes to offer relief to the common man).

In Mumbai, the state’s tax on petrol now totals Rs 16.70 per litre, the newspaper said. In Hyderabad, it’s as high as Rs 19.83, while Delhi has the lowest state tax on petrol of Rs 12.20 per litre.

As the report notes, “state governments levy sales tax/VAT on petrol ranging from 15 per cent in Puducherry to 33 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, making it a major source of income”. No wonder they don’t want to give it up.

While the central government is leaning heavily on Congress-ruled states to cut taxes, the fact is that the precarious fiscal position of most states leaves little room for them to lower taxes.

Maharashtra’s chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan, for instance, told reporters that cutting taxes on petrol was unfeasible because that would mean lower funds for development, adding that value added tax brought in more than 70 percent of the state’s revenues, according to The Hindustan Times.

Of course, at least one state has slashed sales tax dramatically in recent months: BJP-ruled Goa. A few months ago, it cut nearly its entire tax on petrol, making the fuel cheaper by Rs 11 per litre. But no other state really followed Goa’s example.

After the recent hike, Kerala and Uttarakhand did waive off the increase in VAT, which lowered the price by about Rs 1.60-1.90 per litre in those states. It’s very possible, however, that instead of Congress-ruled states, Opposition-ruled states might be more willing to consider VAT cuts, not because they can, but to generate some political mileage.

For now though, the pressure is on to keep the focus on the central government. Some opposition political parties — and some Congress allies — are ready to go on strike to ensure the central government rolls back the petrol price hike.

As the political games continue, consumers pay the (high) price.

A little common sense goes a long way. But it seems many people need a reminder of how NOT to act on a plane. Here are a few tips.

Do NOT get drunk. This type of passenger makes the news most often, it seems, as it's the easiest way to make a fool of yourself. While having a cocktail before your flight may relax you, remember you're about board a flight and have a hundred or so other people around you. Flying should not be considered a party scene.

Global cues were hanging around Europe and its developments, markets won't be in a clear cut direction. One should be cautious to trade big positions. US markets were holding up above 1300 on S&P, but might not move up in near term as EU crisis weigh. Investors may consider allocating partial allocation of funds to equity.

Nifty Trading Tips & Outlook:


Nifty will stay rangebound with positive bias and upside capped around 5000 levels. Our last call was to buy Nifty Future around ( 4830, Spot) and those who are making gains may book profit around 4980-5000 levels. Nifty can't be shorted around at current levels. Apply buy on dips strategy. Buy it around 4880-4900 spot levels.

Check out our previous recommendations here.

This animation by Royal Observatory Greenwich explains the fundamental tools astronomers use to decode data from dots of light--principles like parallax and redshift. And don’t worry, nothing requires a science degree to understand because the video was built upon simple metaphors like light bulbs and fire engines.

But beyond the explanation itself, it’s remarkable how we’ve scaled the smallest of observations around us into an educated view of objects that are millions of lifetimes beyond our grasp. And it’s just as remarkable how astrophysicists can so concisely explain the concepts of the heavens in plain-person speak. Have you ever noticed, whether it’s a Discovery Channel special or a New York Times article, it’s rare that you’ll spot an interview with an astrophysicist that isn’t rich with these metaphors of scale?

Even for the smartest among us, our brains just aren’t quite big enough to conceptualize the true scale of forces working within the universe. So whether it’s through clever animations, scientific notation, or scrolling infographics, we all need the occasional mental crutch to grasp ideas larger than ourselves. Or, put differently, even the largest questions in our known universe asked by the greatest minds on our planet teeter on the clarity of good design. And maybe some bigger telescopes wouldn’t hurt.

Circumcision can reduce HIV risk in men by up to 70%. In 2009, there were 22.5 million cases of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are, in other words, a lot of people in Africa who could benefit from circumcision. And while the World Health Organization and UNAIDS have a goal of circumcising 20 million African men by 2015, only 5% of the target has been met thus far. It’s just not feasible to surgically circumcise 19 million adult men in three years; many African countries are short on surgeons, and the surgery isn’t all that cheap. Plus there is the added challenge of convincing men to have surgeries on their most sensitive of regions.

PrePex, a non-surgical adult male circumcision device that was invented in 2009, might be the one thing that could help Africa reach that 20 million mark. The device requires no injected anestesia, no sutures, no sterile settings, no hospitals, no physicians, and it’s completely bloodless. A well-trained nurse needs to attach it, but the whole procedure can be conducted in under five minutes. It takes a few minutes to attach, the patient leaves, returns in a week, and then it takes just another few minutes to remove (along with foreskin). The process is virtually painless, with just two to five seconds of mild discomfort when the device is detached--think about how a bandaid hurts for a few seconds when it’s ripped off.

"Henry Ford had a quote in the 1930s: 'If I ask my customers what they want, they would say they want faster horses.' The analogy here is that public health officials were struggling to scale up surgical procedures. They were looking for faster, easier ways to conduct surgery. No one really saw that you can create a non-surgical [circumcision] procedure," explains Tzameret Fuerst, CEO of Circ MedTech, the company behind PrePex.The key to the device, which has proven to be significantly safer than surgical circumcision, is in its simplicity. A ring compresses the foreskin, stopping the flow of blood. The foreskin dies in a matter of hours, and it can safely be removed within a week. It’s much like the way umbilical cords are removed from newborns: The cord is clamped to stop circulation, and in a few days it dries up, turns black, and falls off.

Indeed, potential competitors like the Shang Ring --a two-ring clamp--require surgery.

Fuerst declines to provide an exact price for the PrePex (it’s currently under negotiations with government officials), but she says that "the highest possible cost is still roughly half the cost of surgery."Last month, WHO gave Rwanda its approval to scale up the use of PrePex, which has already successfully circumcised 1,200 men in the country. In Zimbabwe, a large PrePex trial funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UNFPA has already seen 500 circumcisions performed. People have been literally lining up to participate in PrePex studies. At one point in the Rwanda study, organizers had to conduct a lottery to decide who could participate.

PrePex is FDA cleared and CE Mark certified--meaning Circ MedTech could market this device tomorrow in the U.S. and EU if it wanted to--but for now, the company plans to focus on developing countries. "We are laser focused on an imminent burning need," says Fuerst. “Every 16 seconds someone dies of AIDS. We have a rare opportunity to make a monumental impact in the battle against this life threatening disease."

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Bump’s New App Makes Photo Sharing Between Phones And PCs A Simple, Physical Gesture

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS HIT YOUR SPACE BAR USING YOUR PHONE! YOUR PHOTOS ARE TRANSPORTED.

It’s easy to share photos with anyone anywhere in the world, but when it comes to sharing with the one person closest by--ourselves--the task is as complicated as it is annoying.

Two days after the announcement of Qualcomm stake acquisition, Airtel announced a 4G internet services to Delhi and Mumbai, where it doesn't have its own 4G airwaves.

Airtel will roll out 4G services in Delhi and Mumbai in partnership with Qualcomm. The GSM service provider has inked a deal with the Qualcomm to roll out 4G services on its behalf.

Qualcomm had bagged BWA (Broadband Wireless Access)spectrum or 4G licenses for Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala. Now it has signed an agreement with Bharti Airtel under which it has authorised the teleco to operate its 4G services in the four circles till 2014.

Bharti already has BWA licenses in four circles - Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra - and 3G licenses in thirteen circles in India. With this agreement, Bharti has secured a nation-wide broadband leadership through a combination of 4G and 3G, with its own networks in 18 circles. Airtel has already launched its 4G services in Kolkata and Karnataka circles.

Commenting on the partnership Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel said, "We are delighted to partner with Qualcomm, who shares our commitment to the government's agenda of broadband for all. This partnership will combine the strength of Bharti's national telecom footprint and Qualcomm's technological leadership in the LTE TDD space. With a broadband ready network across India, Bharti is well positioned to lead the next phase of Indian's telecom revolution."

Qualcomm expects to provide technical assistance to Bharti in connection with network architecture and optimisation, infrastructure and device testing, as well as continuing to develop and support the underlying technology and the LTE TDD ecosystem.

It’s never been easier to contact someone. Technology hasn’t only enabled us to reach anyone on the globe instantly, but to reach them casually. A text is the ultimate in casual conversation--read it now or later, whatever. The same can be said for tweets and photos. In 2012, we don’t have flying cars just yet, but sharing media any time, any place, has been figured out.

So to bridge these words and images into a more intrinsic level of communication, Triverio built a messaging app prototype called Feel Me. The interface is simple. When a friend is typing, you can see where they’re touching on your own screen. And when your fingers match up, from halfway across the world, haptic feedback can allow you to serendipitously touch. In a text-me-later culture, Feel Me enables communication that’s transient and visceral. It’s an idea so compelling that it helped land Triverio a job at IDEO, and we’ve already seen the premise (borrowed?) in an app called Pair.

Is Feel Me a gimmick? Sure, but it’s a brilliant one. In this precise iteration, Feel Me’s interaction model is more a nice sentiment than a watershed technology that will make cross-continental romances viable, but the basic concept--one that doesn’t rely on miming emoticons to convey feeling--could always scale as technology improves.

Imagine an iPhone that you could kiss, and the screen would be warm and supple, matching the texture and temperature of a lover’s lips. On second thought, that’s gross.

Imagine putting your hand in your pocket, and the lining is flesh, a friend’s hand to hold during a crisis. On second thought, that’s necrotically creepy. (And on that note, I’m going to have to carry my wallet around from now on. I’ve grown frightened of what’s lurking inside my own pockets.)

Alright, so maybe forget the idea of scaling the concept for a moment, and just appreciate the idea for what it is: a means to communicate the tacit through current technology, to literally “reach out and touch someone.”

tPod5 ready for shipments

Available for shipment this summer, the device is called the Tellurex tPOD5™ and is packaged with a five-volt USB standard computer cable. The unit produces sufficient electricity to power a smartphone in real time during voice calls, texting, GPS mapping, email messaging or game playing. Or, it can be used to recharge a depleted battery in the smartphone, tablet or any other electronic device that accepts a USB cable.

The rugged tPOD5 can be placed directly over a standard camping stove or stove top burner and within five minutes will generate a steady five watts of charge through a USB cable that in turn plugs into a rechargeable electronic device.