Paul Joseph

Stay In The Conversation

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

It’s now much easier for you and your commenters to keep track of the conversations you’re involved in across WordPress.com. Some recent tests have shown that by subscribing commenters to new comments by default, they are more likely to stay engaged and come back and comment more on your blog. With that knowledge, we’ve changed the default comment following behavior to help you get more conversations going on your blog. We made the initial changes last week and after great feedback from you we just launched an update. Here’s how it works: By default, posting a comment will now subscribe you to receive follow-up comments via email for that specific post, keeping you updated on the conversation. This is indicated by the checked box in the comment form. If you have a WordPress.com account, you now have a global setting to change this so that by default you will not be subscribed. If you don’t have an account, then you can create one over here . If you don’t want email notifications for a thread, just uncheck the box when you post your comment. If you’ve disabled the feature, you can also subscribe to a specific thread by checking the box in the comment form. There is also a link at the bottom of every notification email that will allow you to change your subscription options. If you’d like to find out all of the details about how this works, we’ve also updated our support documentation about  following comments .

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Delhi Metro plan to set up ‘shopping corridor’

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s Phase III expansions plans are sure to please many more residents of the city. First it was the ‘heritage corridor’ for heritage enthusiasts, now plans to connect four of South Delhi’s prominent markets will surely prove a boon for shopaholics. By 2016, four major markets — Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar — will have dedicated underground metro stations connecting them. This chain of four consecutive metro stations will come up on the arterial Ring Road and it is estimated that two lakh more passengers will use these stations primarily to reach these markets that specialise in selling clothes, shoes and other accessories.

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Private equity investors in a fix as returns sag

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

Indranil Gupta, 34, working with a multinational electronics firm and a US resident who had invested in an Indian private equity (PE) fund five years ago, has seen his returns fall by 30%. “When this fund approached me they made a pitch around the India growth story and promised annual returns of at least 20%. Baring the first year, the returns were never up to the mark, and in the first quarter it has dipped by 30% compared to last year,” said Gupta. Industry experts say PE funds in India have witnessed a fall in the cash they return to investors, specifically in the past one year. While many PE

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Coming soon: Affordable housing policy for all

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

In two months, India could have a brand new affordable housing policy, an effort to give some boost to a weakening real estate sector. The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Mhupa) is in the process of finalising such a policy in two months, reports Business Standard. The government had already allowed external commercial borrowing (ECB) for low cost houses in India in the annual Budget. But the real estate companies are not too keen on this segment because of the low margins.Hence the government is now trying to make affordable housing attractive for the developers as well. The policy will raise the floor space index to compensate

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‘Indians wary of investing in property’

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

Mumbai: Uncertainty in the real estate sector is keeping the Indian home buyers away, according to a survey. “While property still remains the preferred choice of investment of nearly all the Indians, as high as 92 per cent, they are pretty scared of trading in the property market now,” real estate market tracking news portal Track2Realty’s survey titled `Home Buyer’s Satisfaction Index’ said. The survey further said that buyers are looking at other options including infra bonds for investment. “Nearly 70 per cent of Indians who are looking to invest again after occupying a house assert they prefer relatively safer bets like infra bonds than be sorry after the new

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Look at These Gorgeous Blogs

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

We’ve added a user showcase where you can view stunning customizations made by people just like you. From complete redesigns with CSS to adding pizzazz with Custom Fonts to clever use of options like background and header, this showcase will spark your imagination and inspire creativity. Discover details about what each showcase blog is doing with WordPress.com themes and customizations by clicking a thumbnail to see a colophon-style list of credits on the left. We’ve also updated footer links so blog owners can show off the types of customizations they’ve made and visitors can learn more by clicking the “Customized” link in WordPress.com footers. A “Customized” link will appear next to the theme name for blogs that are using Custom Design tools like fonts or CSS. Things we like to see when looking for showcase-worthy customizations are blogs with good traffic, beautiful design, well-written articles or stunning images, recent content updates, and involvement helping out in our CSS Customization forum . Be inspired, customize your blog and make it that perfect place for your creations.

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Unhappy with the Allahabad High Court Orders, Farmers Go On Rampage

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

After the Allahabad high court rejected the review petition of villagers in Noida Extension, a small section of farmers unhappy with the order went on a rampage targeting projects of several builders. Other farmers were, however, happy that the Allahabad high court had turned down the plea made by the Greater Noida Authority in its review petition to not dole out hiked compensation and developed plots to non-ancestral lands of villagers. Soon after news of the order reached Noida Extension, some agitated farmers took to the streets and targeted under-construction properties of developers. They blocked traffic at the Gol Chakkar in Noida Extension for a few hours. The angry crowd was dispersed following police intervention. “After getting news about farmers agitating in the region, we reached the spot and our officials managed to quell the agitation,” said SP (Rural), Ashok Kumar. The police informed that no case has been filed into the incident of violence. “We are likely to register a case into the matter,” Kumar added. Farmers’ counsel, Pankaj Dubey, informed that after facing rejection from the high court, where they had sought land to be given back to farmers, they would now challenge the October 21 verdict in the Supreme Court. Other sections of farmers have expressed happiness over the fact that the plea made by Greater Noida Authority, vide its review petition, in which it had expressed its inability to pay hiked compensation and developed plots to all farmers has been turned down. The Authority had asked for relief from the high court in granting it order to pay compensation and plots only to those farmers who had ‘ancestral lands’ in the region as against ‘non-ancestral lands’ belonging to those who are not originally from the region but own land in different villages. “The Authority had been trying to make a difference between ancestral and non-ancestral land in the region in giving compensation to farmers,” said Ranveer Pradhan, president of a farmers’ organization, Grameen Panchayat Morcha. “Not only was the Authority shy of giving any developed plots in lieu of acquiring ‘non-ancestral’ lands, they had also been paying 10% less compensation to owners of such lands. It is a matter of great satisfaction that farmers across the board are eligible to get 64% hiked compensation and 10% developed plots now that the high court has upheld its original order delivered on October 21,” said Pradhan. The Grameen Panchayat Morcha said that there is a vast amount of land in the Noida Extension region which the Authority had classified as ‘non-ancestral’.  

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Allahabad High Court Says No Review of Noida Land Order

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

Home-buyers in Noida and Greater Noida will have to wait longer for their flats. The Allahabad high court on Monday dismissed the plea of the Noida and Greater Noida authorities seeking review of its earlier order requiring all projects in the area to get the NCR Planning Board’s approval. So, till these clearances are in place, buyers will not get possession. However, there was some relief for the buyers as well, with the court striking down a review petition by a group of villagers who wanted the land acquisition quashed in a village where construction work had started. The ruling led to some farmers in Noida Extension taking to the streets and attacking housing projects. They blocked traffic for a few hours. The court also stuck to its earlier ruling granting increased compensation as well as 10% of the developed land to farmers. Both the Noida and Greater Noida authorities had filed applications seeking review of the order dated October 21, 2011 which requires the NCR Board’s clearances for projects. The authorities argued before the three-judge bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, S U Khan and V K Shukla that there was no need for such approvals but the bench was not impressed. The court also dismissed applications to review the order on providing 10% developed plots to farmers. The authorities said development work in the area was almost complete and there were no leftover plots which could be given to farmers. Appearing for the farmers, Kamal Singh Yadav, opposed the review applications saying developed plots were available but were not being provided to farmers. On October 21, 2011, after hearing 491 petitions against land acquisition filed by farmers of 63 villages falling under Noida and Greater Noida, the Allahabad High Court had cancelled land acquisition in three villages where construction had not started. The acquisition was undertaken by the authorities using the urgency clause in the name of industrial development. But later the land use was changed to residential and plots sold to builders. However, in 60 villages where substantial construction work was already done, the court did not quash the acquisition. Instead, it asked the authorities to increase compensation and provide 10% to the affected farmers. Thus, while ensuring enhanced compensation to farmers, the court also took into account the interest of more than 50,000 people who had booked flats and houses in projects on the acquired land. Now, the two authorities have no other option but to take approval of NCR planning boardwhose meeting is scheduled later this month and pay enhanced compensation to farmers.

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Ansal Projects seeks denotification of its SEZ in Gurgaon

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

NEW DELHI: Ansal SEZ Projects has approached the government seeking to surrender its special economic zone in Gurgaon after the imposition of minimum alternate tax and global economic uncertainties. The request for denotification of the SEZ will be placed before the Board of Approval (BoA), which is scheduled to meet on May 22. The BoA, headed by Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, will also consider the requests of developers like Uttam Galva Steels, Mumbai SEZ Ltd and Mahindra and Mahindra which have sought more time to execute their projects. “The developer (Ansal) has requested for denotification of the (IT/ITeS) SEZ due to economic meltdown, lack of demand and imposition of minimum

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Unhappy farmers go on rampage

by Paul Joseph May 15, 2012

NOIDA: After the Allahabad high court rejected the review petition of villagers in Noida Extension, a small section of farmers unhappy with the order went on a rampage targeting projects of several builders. Other farmers were, however, happy that the Allahabad high court had turned down the plea made by the Greater Noida Authority in its review petition to not dole out hiked compensation and developed plots to non-ancestral lands of villagers. Soon after news of the order reached Noida Extension, some agitated farmers took to the streets and targeted under-construction properties of developers. They blocked traffic at the Gol Chakkar in Noida Extension for a few hours. The angry

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