pore's People's Association, a statutory board under Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, to provide annual Application Management Services for two years.
Under the agreement, TCS would develop and maintain People's Association's business and citizen centric applications including mission critical applications. It involves consolidating its multiple vendor environment allowing for reduced maintenance costs and simplified system administration, said a press release.
This system would enable higher process efficiency and staff productivity across the organization. All these would contribute towards lower costs spent on application maintenance, while improving end user satisfaction and enhancing citizen experience with the agency.
Girija Pande, EVP and head, TCS Asia Pacific, said, "Our expertise in AMS, combined with our ability to deliver certainty of results would provide sustained value to People's Association."
He added that they installed strict quality control procedures and continued to drive more value for their Singaporean clients through increased service quality provided by their team of highly qualified people with local knowledge of culture and processes.
TCS bags multi-million dollar deal
Bharti Airtel gains over 1 per cent in afternoon trade
MUMBAI: Telecom major Bharti Airtel rose 1.22 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange amid looming uncertainty over its proposed deal with the
South African entity MTN, for which the exclusive discussions period is ending today.
Shares of Airtel climbed 1.22 per cent to Rs 424 on BSE and on the National Stock Exchange the scrip made a decent gain of 1.10 per cent to touch a high of Rs 423.75.
On the volume front, over 17.95 lakh shares of Airtel changed their hands on the two bourses.
Even though the exclusive talks period between the two companies ends today, a clear picture is yet to emerge on the proposed deal, which would create a combined entity having over 200 million subscribers.
Meanwhile, the government yesterday said it has a positive approach toward the proposed USD 23-billion deal between Bharti and South African MTN, even as the time for exclusive talks between the two companies ends on September 30.
Join duty now or face action: Air India tells pilots
NEW DELHI: Air India on Wednesday said a section of pilots had not reported for work even after their strike was called off and threatened
"severe action" against them.
A section of the pilots continue to be rigid over pay cuts and are not willing to join duty, an airline official said.
"Severe action would be taken against the pilots who refuse to join their duty by evening. The strike has been called off," the official said.
"We would even recommend the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to cancel their pilot licenses or dismiss them from service."
Earlier Wednesday, the pilots ended their five-day strike following assurances from the civil aviation ministry that there would be no salary cuts.
The strike began Saturday with 180 Air India pilots going on sick leave to protest the cut in their productivity linked incentives.
Till Tuesday, day four of the strike, 100 flights had been cancelled. On Wednesday, 28 flights were chopped.
IIT students design helmet that alerts kin, hosp about mishaps
CHENNAI: The Techmet, a helmet that will inform the wearer's family as well as the emergency services in case the former is involved in an accident and also give the location of the mishap site, is one of the products made by the students of Indian Instiute of Technology-Madras to be showcased at Shaastra. The 11th edition of the institute's technical festival, to be flagged off on Wednesday, will focus on sustainable development.
Shaastra 2009 aims at showcasing the sustainability of the projects. Participants in the SOS Cycle project can use the cycle as a means of transport rather than the bus inside the institute. SOS Energy will see the various hostels vying with one another for a month to save as much energy as possible to offset the extra use of electricity during the event, while SOS Recycle will attempt to make Shaastra a zero-waste festival. There will be an energy audit done during the four-day event.
A symposium has also been planned to formulate practical and feasible solutions to tackle sustainability, energy, urbalisation and financial issues. Speakers include urban strategy magaer of World Bank Abha Joshi Ghani, chairman of the Centre for Policy Research K C Sivaramakrishnan and associate director of Teri Akansha Chaurey.
Is the Mysterious Facebook Bug a Virus?
A bug that seems to change some information in your Facebook account has been making rounds since yesterday. The "Vidyartha" bug, as it is known, seems pretty harmless. But, is this bug really a virus? That's still being researched.
In the meantime, we did our own little research and found out that while the name "Vidyartha" may sound Indian, the Vidyartha College is actually an institution down south in Sri Lanka and apparently, if some reports are to be believed, some users have seen their school name being changed to that of this institution - automatically. And so far, that is precisely what this virus has been doing.
All this seems to be just sketchy information as of now. Having checked a few Facebook accounts, we did not find anything amiss. However, if you have been affected by this issue, all you can do for now is to wait and look for an official statement from Facebook regarding this. As of now, we are unsure if this is an attack or a simple bug. This "issue" as mentioned earlier was first yesterday and has since then spread its wings quite fast.
Thankfully, not all Facebook accounts have been affected and since we are unsure how widespread this issue is, all we can say to wait and watch how this one actually ends up. Watch this space for more!
IE8 is 10 times faster with Google plug-in
Computerworld conducted the tests, which showed that Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) with the plug-in is 9.6 times faster than IE8 on its own. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark suite was run three times each for IE8 with Chrome Frame, and IE8 without the plug-in, then averaged the scores.
Released on Tuesday, Chrome Frame lets IE utilize the Chrome browser's WebKit rendering engine, as well as its high-performance V8 JavaScript engine. Google pitched the plug-in as a way to instantly improve the performance of the notoriously slow IE, and as a way for Web developers to support standards IE can't handle, such as HTML 5.
The extra speed and HTML 5 support are necessary if IE users are to run advanced Web applications such as Google Wave, a collaboration and communications tool.
IE8's SunSpider scores with Chrome Frame running equaled Google's Chrome browser, a solid indication that the plug-in effectively turns any version of IE into the speed equivalent of Chrome itself. The Chrome Frame plug-in works with IE6, IE7 or IE8 on Windows XP or Windows Vista. It's available for download from Google's site.
Toll rises to 41 in Bihar boat tragedies
PATNA: The death toll in Bihar's twin tragedies, when two boats carrying Durga Puja revellers capsized in the Kosi and Bagmati rivers, has gone up to 41 with 11 more bodies being recovered, officials said on Wednesday.
"Eleven more bodies have been recovered," Khagaria District Superintendent of Police Indranand Mishra said. Till Tuesday evening, 21 bodies were recovered from the Bagmati river in Khagaria, about 200 km from here.
Thirty-two bodies have been recovered from the Bagmati, but over two dozen are still missing. "The search is on to recover the missing people," Mishra told IANS.
The incident had taken place on Monday evening, about the same time when another overloaded boat capsized in the Kosi river in Darbhanga district, about 150 km from here, killing nine people.
In Khagaria, over 80 villagers returning from a fair to mark the end of Durga Puja, packed into a boat that had a capacity of 30.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a compensation of Rs.150,000 for the families of victims.
Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan expressed shock over the incidents. Both Lalu Prasad and Paswan are expected to visit Khagaria on Wednesday.
'Chandrayaan Mission a Complete Success'
He was addressing media persons who were quizzing him regarding the "historic" discovery of water on the moon by NASAs (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Moon Mineralogy Mapper, a small instrument aboard the Chandrayaan. Apart from calling the discovery of water historic, he added that his earlier statement of the Chandrayaan completing 95 percent of its objectives can now be enhanced to 110 percent because the detection of water on the lunar surface was one of the primary objectives of the mission.
Madhavan said he was very proud of the fact that India was able to make such a significant contribution to science. "All over the world people are applauding the Chandrayaan's achievement. The discovery of water on the moon has been acknowledged as a significant discovery. The main aim of the Chandrayaan1 mission has been achieved," he added. During Chandrayaan's almost year-long rendezvous with the moon, it has been able to collect lots of data, which run into a few thousand Gigabytes, all of which are still in the process of being decoded. In fact, the data is so huge that scientists expect six months to three years before all of them are decoded.
To make things clearer for the layman, Madhavan said that the finding of water on the moon doesn't imply that the moon is filled with lakes and ponds or there is water in the form of a drop. The detection of water is in fact in the form of embedded molecules on the surface and in the lunar rocks. While there are positive signs about the presence of water on the moon, scientists are still perplexed as to how it got there in the first place. A plausible explanation is the effect of asteroids and meteors that might have crashed onto the moon - all of which had some water content in them
Railways steps in to help stranded air passengers
NEW DELHI: The railways has stepped in to assist air travellers hit by the Air India strike by setting up reservation and help counters at important airports across the country.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed all zonal headquarters to inform air travellers about the availability of vacant berths and seats in important trains.
Railway zones have also been directed to coordinate with airline officials to facilitate the movement of stranded passengers by trains.
Kasab's confession: 'Voluntary, without remorse'
A magistrate who recorded the confession of Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured alive during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has said the confession was voluntary, genuine and not made under duress. The magistrate, Rama Sawant Waghule, said Kasab showed no remorse for his offence and said he wanted to confess so that others might derive inspiration from him. Waghule said this on Wednesday while being examined by the prosecution in the 26/11 terror attack case. The magistrate had recorded Kasab's confession on February 20 and 21, this year. Kasab later retracted this confession in the trial court saying his statement was recorded under duress and that he had not given it voluntarily. The magistrate is being examined to prove that Kasab had given a voluntary statement. Waghule said that she followed legal process to ensure Kasab was confessing voluntarily and that he was asked whether he was confessing under police pressure. Kasab said no, Waghule said. The magistrate said she informed Kasab of the consequences of a confession before a magistrate and gave him 24 hours to reflect on his decision.
Gujarat govt slams fresh affidavit in Ishrat case
Ahmedabad, Sep 30 (PTI) Slamming the Centre for filing an additional affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan case, the Gujarat Government called the move as double speak aimed at policy of appeasement and vote bank politics.
"On several occasions, the UPA government had said that the job of the Central intelligence was to provide inputs while providing security at the ground level was the job of the respective state governments," state government spokesperson Jaynarayan Vyas told PTI.
By filing the affidavit, the UPA government has taken an exactly opposite stand, he alleged.
Pointing out that the arrest of four would have given the state an opportunity to question them and get to the mastermind behind the conspiracy to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "But unfortunately, when the police challenged them they opened fire and were killed in the encounter".
WB: East Asia-Pacific region's adaptation to climate change pricy
BANGKOK, Sep. 30 (Xinhua) -- A new global study report on adaptation cost for climate change, released Wednesday by World Bank, says that East Asia and Pacific region will need more fund than any other regions in the world to adapt to climate change. According to the finding of the study, The Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC), the adaptation cost of East Asia and Pacific region equals to 25 percent or 19.6 percent, in "Wet" or "Dry" scenarios separately, of the total amount for all the developing countries in the world. The study sees that a total of 75 billion to 100 billion U.S. dollars will be necessary to cover the cost for developing countries to adapt to climate change per year for the period 2010 to 2050. There are two key reasons why the adaptation cost by East Asia and Pacific region is the highest, said J. Warren Evans, Director Environment Department of the World Bangk, who host a press conference at the sidelines of the ongoing UN Climate Change Talkshere. One reason is that the infrastructure, say drainage system, in this region need more investment to improve so as to resist the impact of climate change, said Evans, citing Manila, which has been suffering the 40-year-record flood due to the tropical storm Ketsana. The storm dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours in the Philipines' capital and many other provinces, and the flood took a death toll 246, leaving nearly 2 million people homeless across the country. The other reason, he said, is this region has a large coastal zone with high population, which requires particularly more fund. Among the cost of adaptation by sectors, costal zones consume the largest part, 29.6 percent or 30.1 percent, in "Wet" or "Dry" scenarios separately, the report estimates. The report roused more voices that urge the earlier set-up of a sound financing mechanism to deal with climate change issue, as this year's fourth round of UN Climate Change Talks goes on here.
Flood survivors crowd aid centres
Hundreds of thousands of exhausted survivors from the deadly floods in the Philippines have continued to cram into makeshift shelters as relief workers struggle to cope with demand. Schools, gymnasiums, churches and government buildings have all been transformed into temporary relief centres, with food, fresh water and clothing in short supply. According to the government at least 246 people are now known to have died, with dozens of others still missing from the floods triggered by torrential rains unleashed by tropical storm Ketsana at the weekend. On Wednesday officials said that latest figures showed some two million people had been affected by the floods, with hundreds of thousands of people crammed into temporary evacuation centres in Manila and the surrounding region. "More people are coming in by the hour… we don't know how long we will be able to sustain this," Joe Ferrer, a local government official at one of the shelters said. "We need clothing, food supplies, food rations and medicine." The government has declared a "state of calamity" in Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces. "We're responding to the extent we can to this once-in-a-lifetime typhoon emergency," Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the Philippine president, said in a statement. Ketsana dumped over a month of rain in just 12 hours on Saturday, leaving most parts of Manila and neighbouring areas submerged, in places under several metres of water. The flooding was worst around the Pasig River that cuts through the capital, one of the world's largest cities with a population of about 12 million. Officials estimate losses caused by the floods to total nearly $100m and economists have said the impact of the disaster will be felt for many months to come. Foreign governments and UN agencies have already pledged some $200m in aid. But authorities could face more trouble as another tropical storm, Parma, is expected to become a full-blown typhoon by Friday as it passes east of the Philippines bringing more heavy rains to the area.
On Tuesday, part of the Philippine president's official residence was opened as a relief centre for victims.
Large parts of Manila and the neighbouring areas remain submerged [Reuters]
Taliban film shows leader is dead
The Taliban in Pakistan have released a video confirming that their former leader Baitullah Mehsud is dead. A video received by the BBC shows the body of the former head of Pakistan's largest Taliban group lying in a room. It is not clear where it was taken. Mr Mehsud was killed on 6 August in the tribal region of South Waziristan in a missile attack by a suspected US drone. The video came as officials said at least six people had been killed in a fresh drone attack in North Waziristan. The strike was the third such attack in the past 24 hours against al-Qaida and Taliban targets near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. Two missile attacks on Tuesday, one in South Waziristan and one in North Waziristan, left at least nine suspected militants dead.
Israel moves closer to freeing captive soldier
JERUSALEM — Israel decided Wednesday to free 20 Palestinian women from Israeli prisons in exchange for a videotape proving that a captive Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip is still alive. The decision was the first tangible sign of movement in talks that have dragged on for more than three years over the release of the soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit. In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that it expects Schalit's Hamas captors to release a recent videotape of the soldier. The deal is to be carried out on Friday. The statement said Israel's Security Cabinet accepted the deal, put forward by Egyptian and German mediators, as a "confidence-building measure." It quoted a senior official in Netanyahu's office as saying the negotiations are still "expected to be long and difficult." The deal was carried out, the statement said, "ahead of the critical stages in the negotiations for the release of Gilad Schalit and based on Israel's commitment to work with determination to bring him home quickly." Hamas is demanding that Israel release hundreds of prisoners, many of whom are serving lengthy sentences for violent attacks on Israelis, in exchange for the soldier. Israel has balked at some of Hamas' demands. In Gaza, Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' militant wing, confirmed that 20 female prisoners were expected to be returned in the coming days. He made no mention of a videotape of Schalit, saying only that Hamas would respond by "clarifying his fate." A senior Egyptian official involved in the mediation said the move was designed to create "an atmosphere of trust." "There is no doubt that this step will support the efforts of all sides to solve the problem," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity under security guidelines. Egypt has been trying to mediate a prisoner swap since Hamas-linked militants tunneled into Israel in June 2006 and attacked an Israeli tank, killing two crewmen and capturing Schalit. The Israeli soldier has not been seen since his capture and the Red Cross has not been allowed to visit him. But several letters and an audio recording have been released by his captors. The statement from Netanyahu's office said it was important that the world know Schalit is alive and well and that his safety is Hamas' responsibility.
Online thieves step up bank raids
Cyber-criminals have developed sophisticated ways to remain undetected, a new report finds. The report, from security firm Finjan, describes how one gang, based in the Ukraine, stole 300,000 euros (£269,000) in 22 days. It used a sophisticated piece of malicious software which fooled banks' anti-fraud systems as well as forging bank statements to hide the thefts. It also recruited innocent job-seekers as so-called money mules. Such mules were needed to prevent a direct money trail being traced back to the gang. The specific attack, monitored during the month of August, was aimed at the customers of several German online banks. The German police have been informed. The server used by the gang has been frozen although it is not known whether gang members have actually been caught.
Google invites users to join Wave
Google Wave, which combines email, instant messaging and wiki-style editing will go on public trial today. The search giant hopes the tool, described as "how e-mail would look if it were invented today", will transform how people communicate online. It will be open to 100,000 invitees from 1600BST, each of whom can nominate five further people to "join the Wave". The tool is also open source, meaning third party developers can build applications for it. The developer behind Wave described it as "a communication and collaboration tool". "It struck us that e-mail is still the main communication tool on the web, which seemed remarkable given that it is 20-year-old technology," said Lars Rasmussen, who, alongside his brother Jens, was the brains behind Google Maps. In designing Wave, the brothers took as a starting point the idea of "a conversation sitting in a cloud". "We found we could build a flexible tool with a surprising amount of functionality," Mr Rasmussen told BBC News.
Toyota issues US safety warning
Carmaker Toyota has warned of safety problems with floor mats on some of its US models, which may cause the accelerator pedal to stick. The problem affects seven models of Toyota and Lexus cars and trucks in the US, where owners have been told to remove floormats on the driver's side. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Toyota would be recalling affected vehicles. It has had reports of 100 incidents, involving 17 crashes and five deaths. Toyota said it would be launching a safety campaign on specific Toyota and Lexus vehicles.
Eurozone prices falling further
Prices in the eurozone fell in September at a faster rate than they had in August. The inflation rate fell to -0.3% in the year to September, from -0.2% in the year to August, according to Eurostat. It is the fourth consecutive month that the rate of inflation has been negative in the bloc of 16 European nations that use the euro as their currency. Oil prices have fallen over the past month as concerns have grown about the state of the US economy. 'Temporary relapse' Deflation is considered damaging to an economy because consumers tend to delay making major purchases until prices fall further. Without consumer spending to stimulate growth, economic output falls. The European Central Bank's target rate for inflation is just below 2%. Prices had fallen 0.7% in July and 0.1% in June in the first spell of deflation since euro notes and coins were introduced in 2002. "This is probably a temporary relapse, mainly related to food and energy price base effects," said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING.
IMF cuts crisis losses prediction
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its forecast for the amount likely to be written off globally in bad loans and investments by 15%. The total it expects banks to lose between 2007 and 2010 has been cut to $3.4tn (£2.1tn) from $4tn. The IMF said the change was made because the world economy was growing faster than had been expected. But it has warned that the improvement should not be taken as an excuse to delay necessary financial reforms. Its Global Financial Stability Report said that risks to the global financial system had subsided as a result of interventions by governments and central banks, as well as signs of a global recovery. Not strong enough "We are on the road to recovery, but this does not mean that risks have disappeared," said Jose Vinals from the IMF. Its report also warned that banks overall had recognised slightly less than half of their losses, with US banks more advanced in the process than their counterparts in the UK and the eurozone, meaning there is still a great deal of bad news to come. It said that bank balance sheets had been stabilising, but that banks were not yet in a strong enough position to support the economic recovery. It based this on the prediction that even the growing earnings expected from banks in the next 18 months would not be enough to offset the amount they would have to write off because of bad loans and investments. The report is published the day before the IMF's World Economic Outlook, which is expected to revise upwards its forecast for global economic growth in 2010 from 2.5% to 3%.
'Clown' tourist blasts into space
Space tourist and circus entrepreneur Guy Laliberte has begun his journey as the first "clown" into orbit. The Canadian billionaire was aboard the Soyuz craft which blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS). Mr Laliberte, who founded the Cirque do Soleil theatre company in the 1980s, reportedly paid $35m for his ticket. He says he will make the ISS astronauts laugh during his 12-day stay, and produce a web event that highlights the issue of clean water for all. He was accompanied in the Soyuz TM-16 spacecraft by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams. The vessel lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 0714 GMT. The three-man crew is expected to arrive at the ISS on Friday. The Canadian is the seventh private individual to make the trip. While previous tourists have emphasised science as a motivator, Mr Laliberte says his inspiration lies elsewhere. "I'm an artistic person and a creator. I'm not a scientific. I'm not an engineer," he told the BBC this month.
I'm an artistic person and a creator. I'm not a scientific. I'm not an engineer 
Iran insists on 'nuclear rights'
Iran has said it is not willing to discuss its "nuclear rights" during an upcoming meeting with the five permanent UN Security Council members. The head of the country's atomic energy body also ruled out a suspension of Iran's nuclear enrichment programme. But Ali Akbar Salehi said he would set out when and how inspectors could view Iran's second uranium enrichment plant. The US has demanded "immediate and unfettered access" for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors. Iranian representatives will meet in Geneva on Thursday for talks with the five permanent Security Council seat holders - the UK, China, France, Russia and the US - plus Germany; the so-called P+1. Mountain site Mr Salehi said there would be no bargaining about Iran's rights to nuclear technology and said Tehran had no plans to abandon its nuclear activities, "even for a second".
srael to free 20 for Shalit film
Israel has said it will release 20 Palestinian women from detention in return for proof that captured soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive. A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it was waiting to receive video taken recently by his militant captors in Gaza. Israel currently holds about 10,000 Palestinian prisoners. Gilad Shalit has not been seen since his capture by Hamas militants in a raid on an Israeli border base in 2006. The Israeli statement said the deal had been proposed by Egyptian and German mediators as a "confidence-building measure". The Hamas group is demanding the release hundreds of prisoners, many serving lengthy sentences for carrying out militant attacks, in exchange for the soldier. Mr Shalit's captors have released several letters and an audio message, but he has been denied access from the international humanitarian officials despite repeated requests. Sources close to the negotiations said the exchange was scheduled to take place on Friday, after a list of the women had been circulated to allow any legal objections to be lodged. The BBC's Katya Adler in Jerusalem says this is the latest in a series of on-again, off-again negotiations.
RAF leaflet box kills Afghan girl
The Ministry of Defence is investigating the death of a young Afghan girl who died after being hit by a box of leaflets dropped by the RAF. The information leaflets were dropped in boxes from an RAF Hercules aircraft in Helmand province on 23 June. The box failed to break apart in mid-air and landed on top of the girl who died later in hospital. The MoD said it deeply regretted the "tragic incident", and a full investigation was under way. A spokesman said the public information leaflets were dropped by the C130 Hercules in a rural area. The boxes are supposed to open in mid-air, scattering the leaflets over a wide area. The unopened box seriously injured the girl who was treated at a local hospital in Kandahar. "Despite the best efforts of staff, she died as a result of her injuries," the spokesman said. Leaflet drops have been used extensively in Afghanistan by US and British forces in the battle to win the "hearts and minds" of the local population.
Brown defiant after Sun rejection
Gordon Brown has shrugged off the Sun's decision to back the Conservatives at the next election by insisting "it is people that decide elections". The newspaper's front page on Wednesday is headlined "Labour's Lost it". The tabloid backed Labour in the 1997, 2001 and 2005 elections but the prime minister said: "It's the British people's views I'm interested in." The Sun's declaration came hours after Mr Brown's party conference speech insisted Labour was "not done yet". The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the paper had "timed its big political switch... for maximum impact both in terms of gaining attention for the paper and taking the gloss off Mr Brown's big day". Labour had known the move was coming, he added. While the decision was unwelcome for Mr Brown, he did not expect the Sun to be as vocal in its criticism of the prime minister as it had been of Labour leader Neil Kinnock in 1992 when the paper claimed to have swayed the outcome of the election. The Sun's decision to desert Labour in this way and at this time will cause dismay in Labour ranks
New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) Seeking international cooperation in its efforts for a major expansion in the nuclear programme, India today said benefits of atomic energy should not remain confined to a "privileged few" as it was vital to meet power requirements of developing countries.
"We need the concerted and collective efforts of the international community to promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy as widely as possible," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a function where IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei was conferred the coveted Indira Gandhi Peace Prize.
He said India is now poised for a major expansion of its nuclear programme in which international cooperation will be an important component.
Noting that nuclear energy was vital to meeting the energy and development needs of developing countries like India, he said, "Its benefits should not remain confined to a privileged few.