Things are now changing in India, Pay per seconds for voice calls and now pay per character for SMS and its from TATA DOCOMO. TATA DOCOMO has launched services in eight telecom Circles in just two months, and the countrywide rollout of its GSM services is expected to be completed by this year.

Diet-sms service is for message upto 15 characters. Competition is always better for consumers. I am sure, other operators will come up with similar packages soon, so don’t worry, continue with your existing operator.
Find out more on Diet SMS

There are about 80,000 foreign workers in Maldives and about 20,000 are illegal. The government of Maldives has issued a notification to surrender themselves to Department of Immigration and Emigration, so that they may be deported back to their country of origin free of charge. If somebody is caught after April 1st 2009, then they will be prosecuted according to the laws of Maldives. So its the best chance for such illegal workers to surrender at the earliest and get back to their home country at the earliest.

The cheapest car in the World, Nano by Tata Motors will be launched on March 23rd 2009. The peoples car which will be priced around INR 1,00,000(US$2500) will be having an annual production of about 1,50,000 cars. There will be two other mid and top-end versions are expected to be closer to the Rs 1.6-lakh mark and could account for over 70 per cent of sales. The car was initially planned to be manufactured at the West Bengal, Singur Unit, but due to the problems occurred, it has been shifted to Gujarat.

A temporary arrangement could be to sort out the problem raised due the recent problem at IGMH (Doctors Strike at IGMH).

Speaking at the news conference held at President Office to brief the media on the highlights of his call on President Nasheed on Wednesday morning, Admiral Mehta said the President’s request can be accommodated by the Indian Navy and that efforts will be made to fulfill the request in the coming days. He said top priority will be given to the matter as it was of humanitarian nature and that further details will be provided once all arrangements are in place. Read More..

A large number of Maldivians are expressing their frustrations and anger over the uncompromising attitude of IGMH doctors in the delay in ending their unofficial ‘protests’ and reporting back to work. Although the majority of the people blamed and criticized the government on Tuesday, the public opinion on Wednesday was critical of the doctors and nurses who stayed at home. Read More..

Hope this strike problem is sorted out soon as IGMH is the most used Health facility in Maldives.

New Maldives Monetary Authority Building in Male’, the capital of Maldives. This building is near the President’s Jetty. The building looks excellent and is one of the best building in Male’.

Good news for Maldives, Azneem Adam from Maldives has been shortlisted in the Conceptual and Constructed category.

Azneem Adam, 38, who has studied photography in both the Maldives and in Ireland, is among ten photographers in the amateur category, “Conceptual and Constructed”. The winning amateur photographer will receive a US$5,000 cash prize and Sony camera equipment.

Maldivian Photographer shortlisted in Sony Awards

Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’ Maldives is almost stand still today with more than 25 doctors on sick leave. Many nurses are also on sick leave. This could be a protest or strike, but nothing is announced officially.

IGMH Deputy Director Abdul Sattar, speaking to Miadhu Daily, informed that as nearly all the doctors on today’s duty roster are on sick leave, the services of some the departments are at a complete halt. He said foreign doctors on the hospital’s pay role are being called in, in an effort to solve the crisis. He noted that some of doctors have even reported sick for tomorrow as well.

IGMH on halt, Doctors on sick leave

The value of Indian Rupees in falling down, today it has reached. Today the Indian Rupee has fallen to 49.89. This is after the sharp falls in the global stock markets. Dow Jones fell to 12-year lows. On Tuesday morning, the Hang Seng was down 3.8 percent and the Nikkei was down 2.3 percent. Foreign investors have sold Indian shares worth a net $1.35 billion this year after withdrawing more than $13 billion in 2008. The outflows have piled pressure on the Indian rupee, which has dropped 2.4 percent this year after falling 19.1 percent in 2008.[Source]

This is good for NRE who send money to India. They will get a better exchange. If this trend continues, the rate will go more than INR 50 / US Dollar.

The moment of anxiety came to an end. The tricolour Indian flag is flying high in Kodak Theatre. A.R. Rahman won 2 Oscars for the Best Music and Best Song – Jai ho (Gulzaar – Rahman) and Rasul Pookutty won the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, Slumdog Millionaire.

Recently we came to hear about the youngest parents, Alfie Patten, 13 years old British school boy and his girl friend, 15 years old, Chantelle Steadman. This time its a 15 year old school girl named Samantha Humphries, and her boy friend Daniel Sargent, both aged 15years got twin babies. Both of them are from  Meols Cop High School, in the Victorian seaside town of Southport, Merseyside, and they know each other for the past 2 years.

The babies (Liam and Ryan) were born pre-mature and they are still hospitalized.