French auto major Renault on November 10 said it has finalised plans for ultra-low cost car in India with its partner Bajaj Auto and the vehicle will hit the market by 2012. “As per the agreement, the design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing will be handled by Bajaj Auto while marketing and selling will be by Renault-Nissan Alliance,” Chairman and CEO of Renault Carlos Ghosn at the India Economic Summit. The brand under which the car will be sold will be selected by the Ranualt-Nissan Alliance, he added.

Earlier in 2008, Renault-Nissan alliance and Bajaj had announced the low-cost small car project, code named ULC, the price of which would start from USD 2,500 (about Rs 1 lakh). However, differences erupted between the partners on a host of issues, including branding, styling and price point. While Renault was keen on having a low-cost car closer to the Tata Group’s Nano, Bajaj was more interested in producing a car with better mileage than the existing cars in the market.

Ghosn had declined to commit whether the car would stick to initial price point of $2,500. “Branding will be the responsibility of the Renault Nissan alliance. Bajaj has shown no interest in having the ‘Bajaj’ name on the car,” Ghosn added. On the investments required for the project, he declined to comment saying it would be done by its Indian partner. When contacted, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj declined to comment on the investment plans for the project.

Ghosn said while the car is primarily meant for India, it will be also exported to emerging markets. “We think because of the low cost of this product, it will be very useful and economical to ship to countries which have free trade agreements with India,” he said. It can be exported to countries where “Rajiv Bajaj is exporting his three-wheeler”, he added. Ghosn said a contract has been signed between the partners on who does what for the project and “if there was a need for the formation of a joint venture then we will have in future”.

As per a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2008, Bajaj was supposed to hold 50 per cent in the joint venture for developing the car, while Renault and Nissan would own 25 per cent each. The companies had announced that the ULC would be rolled from an all-new plant to be constructed in Chakan, Maharashtra with an initial capacity of 4 lakh units a year. India’s Tata Motors had earlier this year introduced Nano, considered to be the world’s cheapest car, with a price tag of just over Rs one lakh.

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Katabatic Winds Rake Antarctica’s Terra Nova Bay

Just days away from the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, Antarctica’s Inexpressible Island and the Northern Foothills Mountains were illuminated by a glimmer of sunlight from a low angle when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this image on September 16, 2009. The seaward slopes of the mountains are gleaming white, and they cast long shadows inland over the Nansen Ice Sheet. Terra Nova Bay appears in shadow.

The scene provides at least two indications of the bay’s persistent and fierce katabatic winds—downslope winds that blow from the interior of the ice sheet toward the coast. One is the windswept ground in the mountainous terrain. In many places, there is a pattern of bare rock and snow drifts that suggests the winds have scoured snow from upwind (inland-facing) slopes and deposited it on the lee sides.

The second sign of the strong winds appears in the open waters of Terra Nova Bay. Parallel white streamers are composed of newly formed sea ice, probably frazil—crystals just millimeters wide—and congealed frazil, called “grease ice” because it resembles an oil slick on the water. The ice is continually pushed out to sea by the strong offshore winds, leaving a pocket of open water, a polynya.

The winds are responsible for making this location an ideal spot for Adélie penguins, which have a colony on Inexpressible Island and at other sites around Terra Nova Bay. Unlike Emperor penguins, which breed on sea ice, Adélie penguins nest on ice-free land, which must be accessible to them via open water and close to their marine food supply. The Adélie penguin’s habitat requirements are so specific that scientists have used fossils from ancient Adélie penguin colonies to re-create the climate and ice conditions in the Ross Sea stretching back 45,000 years.

Dust over the Arabian Sea

The shift from summer heat to winter’s chill in the mountains of southwest Asia leads to regular dust storms over the Arabian Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this photo-like image on November 9, 2009. It is remarkably similar to images captured in late October and November in 2008, 2007, 2006, and previous years. In 2009, as in other years, distinct plumes of dust blow from the desert between the Makran Mountains and the Arabian Sea.

Wind and weather patterns in southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran are largely driven by the summer and winter monsoons. In the winter, the cloudless, dry air over southwest Asia cools. The cool, dense air sinks. Air over the Arabian Sea, meanwhile, is warm. The warm air rises, and the cool air from the continent rushes in to take its place. The movement of air from the land to the Arabian Sea creates strong winds that generate the dust storms seen every year.

Manu Sharma, convicted of Jessica Lall’s murder has voluntarily surrendered to Tihar jail authorities on Tuesday (November 10) following intense public and media scrutiny on his activities since he was granted parole by the Delhi government..

The DG, Tihar Jail confirmed today that Sharma had indeed surrendered in Jail No 2 of Tihar at about 11:30 am. “I have been told that half an hour back that Manu Sharma voluntarily surrendered prior to the expiry of his parole. He surrendered at Jail No 2 where he was lodged.” Sharma who had received an extension of parole, is back in solitary confinement.

Manu Sharma appears to have misused his parole since he was seen at a night club recently while he had stated the reason for parole as being to attend to his business and to take care of his sick mother. Not only was his mother later found to be in good health, but Sharma while partying at a nightclub also picked up a fight.

Senior counselor Majid Memon said: “He (Manu Sharma) has been advised by his lawyers to surrender, in a decision probably to silence those making a big hue and cry. If a person has taken some facility for attending his relative’s illness – he is not expected to be sitting with him for all 30 days – there is no prohibition on his going to a restaurant. However he is certainly not expected to behave in a disorderly manner and for that he is liable and his parole could be cancelled. He however may use his surrender to his own advantage showing the Supreme Court that he chose to waive his parole which is a good thing.”

Delhi police now say that they were never consulted before parole was granted to Sharma – and that they would never have allowed it since he is a public nuisance and has a history of disorderly conduct while released on bail. He was released on bail in 2002 and subsequently got into a brawl in his own bar in Chandigarh. There has been speculation whether there was political might working behind him to allow him parole.

The issue generated a lot of negative reactions among the public and intense mass media scrutiny. A private news channel even spoke to actor Arjun Rampal who confirmed that Sharma had been seen at a bar owned by him. Police also confirmed that Sharma got into a tiff with a senior police officer’s son in another bar – ‘F Bar’ in the capital on the same night.

Delhi police has now reportedly obtained CCTV footage of Sharma in the bar which could go against him in future if he tries to apply for bail again. The Apex court has already rejected one bail application in May last year.

Reacting to Sharma’s surrender, Jessica’s sister Sabrina Lall said public scrutiny had led to the move, adding if the reports had not been carried by the media Sharma’s parole would probably have been further extended. She said there had to be stringent rules governing granting of parole. She said Sharma seemed to have used his money and muscle power to get special treatment.

“I hope there have been some lessons learnt from this. For people like him there should be a lot more investigations done before granting parole. It is disappointing that time and again history repeats itself and we have to constantly fight to keep him behind bars. It seems like this will happen again as the boy will try every trick in the book to get out whenever he can.”

“The Media and public has had its say and I am happy. Criminal justice laws need to be change and this is a slow process that may get us to that,” said Bina Ramani, owner of Tamarind Bar where Jessica Lall was shot in cold blood by Sharma.