Sir, Post. when the words were music

When did you write your last letter to your loved ones? Can you remember? Oh! Most of you don't know how to write a letter?! Sorry. Go and look up your cupboard for that pretty old letters written by your loved ones. How beautiful it is to read! Rewind you to the past.

Those written on the letter are not just words but spontaneous emotions — feelings as ink and soul as pen, together designed as words. You remember the heartfelt moments forever. It's not like a message displayed on the mobile screen to be deleted. The words make a feathery touch on you when you read them.

How many varieties of letters have been written so far? Letters to the father, mother, brother, sister, friend, husband and wife. How many stories those letters have carried? They contain a welter of emotions — happiness, sadness, love, anger, frustrations and nobility and so on and so forth.

A decade ago, postmen were the heroes of every family. People were waiting for the letter or money order. “Sir, post” — the words made people react enthusiastically. While they read the letter, they felt the nearby presence of the writer. It makes them feel the same whenever they read it. Now, what's the condition of post offices in India? Most of them are ready to call it quits. Mobile phone communication, mailing through internet and the private courier services have contributed to their decline.

More than 40,000 post offices are now in the danger zone. Another information that jolts you is the announcement demanding tax for the savings in the post office. The post office must update its status to compete with the private courier services. In rural areas, even now people trust only the postal service. This is the right time for the government to introduce attractive schemes and facilities to woo back the people. If not, thousands of postal employees and the rural people will be affected.

Rural or urban, parents must encourage children to write letters because most graduates these days do not know how to write an official or formal letter. Hostellers can write letters to their parents or vice versa. Yes, you can talk whenever you want over the phone. But “the words from the heart are more powerful than the words from the mouth, ” as the saying goes.

Letters are meant not just for applications and requisitions; they are a symbol of aesthetic values. Take a paper and try to write a letter by exploring words from your deep heart and send them to your loved ones. See the beautiful response from them, cherish the moment. “Sir, post,” the call of postman will be honey to your ears.

(The writer is a lecturer in physics, PSN College of Engineering and Technology, Melathediyoor, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. His email is: nichelson.a@gmail.com)

A. NICHELSON, THE HINDU

Courtesy : http://aipeukoraputdivision.blogspot.com

India's first Floating Post Office, now open in Srinagar

Srinagar/New Delhi: Tourists to Jammu and Kashmir now have another attraction - a floating post office on the Dal Lake in Srinagar, the first in the country.

Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology(IT), and Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, inaugurated the floating post office on Monday.

"This innovation by India Post will be a boon for the tourists visiting the lake," Pilot said in a statement.

Besides offering normal services, the place will also have a philately museum and a shop that will sell postage stamps and other products.

"This is the first such post office in India. It has been made as a tourist focus post office on a huge house boat and will provide a unique and tourist-friendly service to the people of Kashmir and to tourists from across the world," John Samuel, the state's chief post master, told.

Samuel also said that the special feature of this post office is that letters posted from here will carry a special design which will have the picturesque sceneries of Dal Lake and Srinagar city.

"These pictures will reach wherever these letters will be posted and will promote Kashmir as a tourist destination across the world," he said.

Pilot also launched two special postal covers on the Dal Lake.

"It is a befitting tribute to the lake, which is one of the most famous and often quoted symbols of Kashmir, and often referred to as the crown of Kashmir," he said.

Pilot later launched a special mail van service from Srinagar to Shopian district.

The postal department currently has 1,693 post offices in Jammu and Kashmir.

How to calculate GPF Interest?

How to Calculate General Provident Fund Interest:

This question may look simple but in reality a small calculation error in GPF interest calculation may cost you more. This is because compound interest in the long run may fetch you lot of money and if you are on the loosing side of the calculation error you will ever regret as once you have certified the correctness of the GPF statement given to you every year without properly verifying the same it will be a herculean task to set right it later on if you GPF account has any calculation mistake.

So be sure that the GPF interest calculation are correct and deposits made are properly accounted for before you certify the correctness of the GPF Statement. Normally, the correctness of the GPF statement has to be questioned by you within 3 months of the receipt of the same. Otherwise the same will be deemed to be certified by you as correct.

This GConnect GPF interest calculation tool will calculate the GPF interest taking in to account the monthly deposits made, advance or withdrawal made etc.

This is the formula to calculate GPF Interest:

(Total of monthly interest bearing GPF balance/12)*(interest rate*100)

Note this formula for academic interest but never do your GPF interest calculation manually any more as we have provided this easy to use online GPF interest calculation tool.

How to use this Tool?

Just fill up four fields. 1. Opening Balance of GPF at the beginning of the year, 2. Monthly subscription amount, 3. monthly advance recovery if any and 4. rate of interest and click "Calculate GPF Interest" Button. That's it!

Your GPF work sheet is ready. You can change each editable field of the work sheet for modifying GPF subscription, monthly advance recovery etc for each month. This will be useful if you have variable monthly subscription amount or variable advance recovery amount to be entered.

If you have withdrawn or obtained GPF advance enter the same in the relevant month in the work sheet. When come out of the field after you make any modification in the GPF work sheet the tool will automatically re-calculate the results.

Keep in mind that when you click "Calculate GPF Interest" button the work sheet will be filled up with the calculations based on the values you have given in the entry sheet. So do not useCalculate GPF Interest button unless it is necessary if you have modified the GPF sheet.

Click here to Go to GConnect GPF Interest Calculator

Courtesy : http://www.gconnect.in/

How to Remotely Shutdown Windows 7 Computer

This article will tell you how to remotely shutdown or restart a Windows 7 PC using the Remote Shutdown Dialog box or command line.

Using the Remote Shutdown Dialog box, you can remote shutdown, restart or log off local or networked computers, quite easily.

To open the Remote Shutdown Dialog box, open a command prompt, type shutdown -i and hit Enter.

The Remote Shutdown Dialog window will open.

In the window which opens, click Add. This will let you add the name of the copmuter that you want to remote-shutdown. You can find the name of the PC by right-clicking Computer and selecting properties. As an example, I have used his-pc and her-pc. Alternatively, you can also use the browse button to look for other PC’s on your network.

Next select the command. I have selected Shutdown and allowed for a 60 seconds time span before shutdown commences. You can also give a message, which will be displayed before shutdown commences.

Once done, click OK.

You can also document the reason for an unexpected restart or shutdown of a remote computer without logging on locally to that computer.


Do note that:
· To send commands to other PC’s you will have to have administrative privileges on those computers as well
· For Shutdown Event Tracker to be able to record information, the Remote Registry service must be enabled on the remote computer
· The Remote Administration and Windows Management Instrumentation firewall exceptions must be enabled on the remote computer.

CHECK YOUR PENSION ENTITLEMENT-IAF

CHECK YOUR PENSION ENTITLEMENT

(updated as on 16 August 2011)

Introduction

1. We all believe in the system and expect that justice will be done to us. However your presumption that your bank is paying you correct pension, may not be in your best financial interests. Experience indicates that Banks are frequently doing the mistake of paying lower rates of pension vis a vis authorisation to many pensioners due to poor understanding of defence pension provisions by their staff. Therefore it is a must for every pensioner to know his/her correct entitlement of pension.

2. The pensioners, who have retired on or after 01-01-06, generally do not have any problem in getting their correct pension. The CDAs in their case have issued Pension Payment Order (PPO) as per the new provisions of VI CPC. For these pensioners the banks have no option, but to pay the pension as specified by the CDA in the PPO. However, the story is different for pre 01-01-06 retirees.

3. Considering the large volume of pre-2006 pensioners (25 lacs Appx), the CDAs have expressed their inability to issue a revised PPO as per VI CPC entitlement. The Govt has therefore issued orders to Pension Disbursing Agencies (Banks, Treasury Offices etc) to calculate the revised pension as per VI CPC) and pay the same to the pre-2006 pensioners directly. Govt has issued instructions to banks (with necessary reference tables) for calculating and releasing the revised pension. Efforts are on at the highest level to ensure that revised PPOs are issued for pre-2006 pensioners also, by he CDAs in near future. However it is linked to digitalisation of past records and data capture of pre-2006 pensioners on a large scale by CGDA and could take some time. Therefore as on date, it is only banks who will decide the post VI CPC revision of pension, for pre-2006 pensioners

Read more details

Courtesy : http://www.govtempdiary.com/

LGO examination : Model Questions

Download More Questions

Model Question Paper -Optical Mark Reader

Last Grade Official [LGO] Examination for the promotion of

Postal Assistants/Sorting Assistants

Write with Ball Point pen in boxes and HB pencils for darkening the responses for MCQs [Multiple Choice Questions] Max Marks 100

PAPER – II Time 60 Minutes

1. The reply post card system service from India is available for the following foreign countries.

[a] France [b] Bhutan [c] Myanmar [d] Srilanka

2. Unpaid articles addressed by the public to officials of the Department of Post should

be taxed with postage, treated as refused and forward to _________ for returning to

sender

[a] Sender [b] Head of Department of Posts [c] RLO [d] office of posting

3. Registered Bundles are prepared whenever there are more than ______ uninsured

Registered articles of the letter mail for any Post Office for which any direct mail bag

is not closed.

[a] Three [b] Four [c] Two [d] Six

4 Greetings mails posted in non-seasonal period sent by earliest available

[a] Surface mode [b] Air lift mode [c] Air lift without collecting surcharge

[d] Treated as First Class mails for dispatch

5 Territorial Bundles are prepared when number of articles is ________ or more.

[a] 12 [b] 16 [c] 30 [d] 25

6 In Meghdoot Millennium Point of Sale [POS] to go to the next field press

[a] Enter/TAB key [b] Alt Key [c} Del key [d] Ctrl key

7. Crediting annual premium for a Rural Postal Life Insurance [RPLI] policy,

Grace period of ______ days will be allowed for the holder to pay the premium

without fine.

[a] 30 days [b] 45 days [c] 60 days [d] 75 days

8 Yellow strip in corner check slips are used for

a] Rajdhani mails [b] Metro mails [c] Air-Mails [d] Express Bundle

9. Rebate rate for RPLI Policy premium payment for twelve advance months is

[a] 0.5 % [b] 1% [c] 2% [c] 2 ½ %

10 For issuing duplicate RPLI/PLI policy, application in prescribed format should be

submitted in Rs ________ Stamp paper .

[a] Rs 50 [b] Rs 100 [c] Rs 250 [d] Rs 60

Download More Questions

Courtesy : http://fnpokerala.blogspot.com/

Open national pension system(NPS) to EPF members

India's pension fund regulator Yogesh Agarwal is clear that the national pension system (NPS) is a sound vehicle to build a retirement nest.

Yet, it has few volunteer individual members. The reasons are well-known. There's no incentive for anyone to market the NPS, its transaction costs are high for a small contributor and the fund management charges are waferthin, depriving fund managers of incentives to perform. Agarwal is keen on a coursecorrection, but says he needs to take the government into confidence before making any changes in the incentive structure. "After all, we can't forget that 75% of the funds are from the central government quota," he says.

The NPS, set up to manage pension funds of civil servants who joined service after January 1, 2004 and later volunteer members, has over 2.4 million subscribers. "We made a fundamental mistake while extending NPS to the so-called unorganised sector or volunteer members. We forgot that someone had to play a role in marketing the product and that necessarily involved incentivisation. We simply assumed that the NPS would sell like hot-cakes. Given the state of financial literacy in the country, it was wrong to presume that investors would opt for NPS among competing financial products. There is need for an appropriate incentive structure to market the NPS," he says.

And that's essentially what apanel, chaired by the former Sebi chairman G N Bajpai, has recommended. It has suggested better financial incentives for distributors or the so-called points of presence (PoPs) - banks and financial institutions - that open NPS accounts for subscribers. Is it a good idea to pay the distributor a 0.5% commission on the amount that subscribers regularly save? Agarwal is non-committal, saying that a view is yet to be taken on the panel's recommendations. "I can't give you a time-frame as we need to consult the government before taking a decision.

But it's not necessarily the PoPs that need to be incentivised. Incentives can be given directly to the pension fund managers (PFMs) themselves. Ultimately, they are the biggest stakeholders in the whole system. At the moment, the management fee of PFMs is close to nil and, hence, they do not want to invest in promoting the scheme. Once you improve the management fees, they will have an incentive to market the scheme."

Doesn't it make sense for the government to spend money on distribution, transaction and asset management costs instead of giving a subsidy of Rs 1,000 to every voluntary NPS account? Agarwal disagrees, saying that the poor need such an incentive. Around 7.4 lakh are enrolled under NPS (Lite), meant to accumulate a retirement corpus for low-income workers.

He, however, concedes that both the volume and scale of NPS can be increased, at one stroke, if workers are allowed to migrate from the archaic Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to the NPS.

Courtesy:ET

CS Menu- Get Classic Start Menu in Windows 7

In Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 it is not possible easily revert to the original, Classic Start menu that was used since Windows NT 4.0 SP6a with IE 4 and the Active Desktop addition. The classic version was previously included in all MS operating systems, including Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008. While in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 we did get a new looking Start menu, it was still possible to right-click on it and in its Properties window, get it to use the Classic menu.

CSMenu is a little application which acts like the classic start menu. It's designed for Windows 7, which doesn't have a classic start menu.

For CS Menu visit: www.csmenu.com

Courtesy : http://doputtur.blogspot.com/

Please Keep Healthy Life....

't smoke, eat healthily, exercise regularly, and goDon easy on the alcohol, and you are likely not only to have fewer chronic health problems, but also to live longer, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that concludes neglecting to follow these four healthy behaviors is responsible for much of the illness and death linked to chronic diseases.

Four Ways to a Healthier Life

1. Avoid Tobacco: Keep cigarettes/ jarda, paans in a place where you have to make a real effort to get them for example, another room of the house, places where you don't go to very often, locked in a cupboard etc. Every time you have to smoke/eat jarda/paan, you should have to make a conscious effort, get up, walk and get it.

• Figure out your "triggers" to smoke, or consume paan/jarda and ways to cope with them. Is it the company of people who smoke/eat jarda/paan? Try in the initial period to be away from smokers/paan eaters/ jarda eaters or rather when they smoke or eat pan/jarda. Do you consume tobacco when you are tense, or when you are working late, to pep you up and to give that extra energy? For that try to put something in the mouth, like chewing gums, sweets, peppermints, lozenges etc. and practice deep breathing.
• Whenever you have that craving, try deep breathing when either standing or sitting. Having a glass of water and exercising also helps to decrease the craving.
• When you feel like taking tobacco, think of your children and the effect on their future if you develop any of the dangerous diseases caused by tobacco.
• Set a stop date.
• Find a support person.
• Make plans for your first day without cigarettes/ paan/jarda.
• Use the 4 Ds when the craving for smoking/tobacco hits you.

• Do something else.
1. Delay smoking/tobacco consumption the next cigarette.
2. Deep breathing.
• 
  
• Drink water.
• Use positive self-talk.
• Reward yourself.
• Practice relaxation techniques (yoga, walking, meditation, dancing, music etc.) every day.

2. Limit Alcohol: men should have no more than two drinks a day, women no more than one.Men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week (and no more than four units in any one day).

• Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week (and no more than three units in any one day).
• Pregnant women. It is known that a lot of alcohol can damage a developing baby. A small amount probably does no harm. However, the exact amount that is safe is not known. Therefore, to play safe, advice from the Department of Health is that pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant should not drink at all. If you do choose to drink when you are pregnant then limit it to one or two units, once or twice a week. And never get drunk.

The more you drink above these limits, the greater the risk of developing serious problems such as: liver disease (cirrhosis or hepatitis); stomach and pancreas disorders; depression; anxiety; sexual difficulties; muscle and heart muscle disease; high blood pressure; damage to nervous tissue; serious accidents; some cancers; obesity (alcohol has many calories). See separate leaflet called 'Alcohol and Sensible Drinking' for more details.

What is a unit of alcohol?

One unit of alcohol is 10 ml (1 cl) by volume, or 8 g by weight, of pure alcohol. For example:

• One unit of alcohol is about equal to:
• half a pint of ordinary strength beer, lager or cider (3-4% alcohol by volume), or
• a small pub measure (25 ml) of spirits (40% alcohol by volume), or
• a standard pub measure (50 ml) of fortified wine such as sherry or port (20% alcohol by volume)
• There are one and a half units of alcohol in:
• a small glass (125 ml) of ordinary strength wine (12% alcohol by volume), or
• a standard pub measure (35 ml) of spirits (40% alcohol by volume)

But remember, many wines and beers are stronger than the more traditional ordinary strengths. A more accurate way of calculating units is as follows: the percentage alcohol by volume (% abv) of a drink equals the number of units in one litre of that drink. For example:

• Strong beer at 6% abv has six units in one litre. If you drink half a litre (500 ml) - just under a pint - then you have had three units.
• Wine at 14% abv has 14 units in one litre. If you drink a quarter of a litre (250 ml) - two small glasses - then you have had three and a half units.

Some other examples

Three pints of beer, three times per week, is at least 18-20 units per week. That is nearly the upper weekly safe limit for a man. However, each drinking session of three pints is at least six units, which is more than the safe limit advised for any one day. Another example: a 750 ml bottle of 12% wine contains nine units. If you drink two bottles of 12% wine over a week, that is 18 units. This is above the upper safe limit for a woman.

Isn't alcohol good for you?

For men aged over 40 and for women past the menopause, it is thought that drinking a small amount of alcohol (1-2 units per day) helps to protect against heart disease and stroke.

3.Improve Your Diet: eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, switch to fat-free and low-fat dairy and seafoods. Cut down on salt and foods high in sodium, saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, added sugar, and refined grains.

4. Exercise: on five days a week or more do at least 150 minutes total of moderate exercise such as brisk walking, or on three days a week or more, do a total of 75 minutes of vigorous exercise such as jogging or race walking (this raises heart rate more than brisk walking).

Source : http://tkbsen.blogspot.com/

SQL Server 2008 - Interview Questions and Answers

1. What are the basic functions for master, msdb, model, tempdb and resource databases?

1. The master database holds information for all databases located on the SQL Server instance and is theglue that holds the engine together. Because SQL Server cannot start without a functioning masterdatabase, you must administer this database with care.

2. The msdb database stores information regarding database backups, SQL Agent information, DTS packages, SQL Server jobs, and some replication information such as for log shipping.

3. The tempdb holds temporary objects such as global and local temporary tables and stored procedures.

4. The model is essentially a template database used in the creation of any new user database created in the instance.

5. The resoure Database is a read-only database that contains all the system objects that are included with SQL Server. SQL Server system objects, such as sys.objects, are physically persisted in the Resource database, but they logically appear in the sys schema of every database. The Resource database does not contain user data or user metadata.

2. What is Service Broker?

Service Broker is a message-queuing technology in SQL Server that allows developers to integrate SQL Server fully into distributed applications. Service Broker is feature which provides facility to SQL Server to send an asynchronous, transactional message. it allows a database to send a message to another database without waiting for the response, so the application will continue to function if the remote database is temporarily unavailable.

3. Where SQL server user names and passwords are stored in SQL server?

They get stored in System Catalog Views sys.server_principals and sys.sql_logins.

4. What is Policy Management?

Policy Management in SQL SERVER 2008 allows you to define and enforce policies for configuring and managing SQL Server across the enterprise. Policy-Based Management is configured in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). Navigate to the Object Explorer and expand the Management node and the Policy Management node; you will see the Policies, Conditions, and Facets nodes.

5. What is Replication and Database Mirroring?

Database mirroring can be used with replication to provide availability for the publication database. Database mirroring involves two copies of a single database that typically reside on different computers. At any given time, only one copy of the database is currently available to clients which are known as the principal database. Updates made by clients to the principal database are applied on the other copy of the database, known as the mirror database. Mirroring involves applying the transaction log from every insertion, update, or deletion made on the principal database onto the mirror database.

6. What are Sparse Columns?

A sparse column is another tool used to reduce the amount of physical storage used in a database. They are the ordinary columns that have an optimized storage for null values. Sparse columns reduce the space requirements for null values at the cost of more overhead to retrieve nonnull values.

7. What does TOP Operator Do?

The TOP operator is used to specify the number of rows to be returned by a query. The TOP operator has new addition in SQL SERVER 2008 that it accepts variables as well as literal values and can be used with INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETES statements.

8. What is CTE?

CTE is an abbreviation Common Table Expression. A Common Table Expression (CTE) is an expression that can be thought of as a temporary result set which is defined within the execution of a single SQL statement. A CTE is similar to a derived table in that it is not stored as an object and lasts only for the duration of the query.

9. What is MERGE Statement?

MERGE is a new feature that provides an efficient way to perform multiple DML operations. In previous versions of SQL Server, we had to write separate statements to INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE data based on certain conditions, but now, using MERGE statement we can include the logic of such data modifications in one statement that even checks when the data is matched then just update it and when unmatched then insert it. One of the most important advantages of MERGE statement is all the data is read and processed only once.

10. What is Filtered Index?

Filtered Index is used to index a portion of rows in a table that means it applies filter on INDEX which improves query performance, reduce index maintenance costs, and reduce index storage costs compared with full-table indexes. When we see an Index created with some where clause then that is actually a FILTERED INDEX.

For more : SQL Server 2008 - Interview Questions and Answers - Download