MUMBAI: India is exuberant about the Twenty20 World Cup victory. The two men vital to this win, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (newly appointed captain of the Indian cricket team) and Yuvraj Singh speak about their victory, the new team, the game, their friendship and what keeps them going in an exclusive interview to Dr Prannoy Roy.

Watch the exclusive interview on NDTV 24x7?s India Questions on Saturday, 6 October 2007 at 10:00 am and Sunday October 7, 2007 at 10:00 pm.

MUMBAI: Living upto its Suno Sunao Life Banao brand line, BIG 92.7 FM Rajkot is celebrating the Powerful Patels Week to honor the members of the community who have made a remarkable difference to the society.

As part of the celebrations, BIG 92.7 FM, Rajkot, is honoring the leading politicians, industrialists, entrepreneurs, doctors, advocates, writers and career experts who belong to the Patel community. A function was held at Hotel Imperial Palace on September 29 to felicitate Patels who have made a huge difference to the development of society. The on-air celebrations of the Powerful Patel Week that began on October 1 shall continue till October 6.

Lauding the good work done by the community, Mr. Nishant Thadani, Station Head, BIG 92.7 FM, Rajkot "The contribution of Patel Community towards the development of Saurashtra has been noteworthy. Besides establishing numerous hospitals, health centers, co-operative dairies, marketing yards and check dams, they have also established educational institutes and hostels for girl students, thus stressing on education for the girl child. We at BIG 92.7 FM thought of celebrating the success of the Patel Community and honoring their achievements at a get together and highlighting their contributions on-air for one-week."

As part of this, the most popular morning radio show in Rajkot, the BIG Chai, featured one leading industrialist/businessman everyday. The RJs interviewed them on their years of struggle, their first taste of success, their future plans and also involved their family members. The other shows on BIG 92.7 FM also featured discussion with expert doctors, advocates, educationists and writers from the community to name a few. In addition to this, special feature on the traditions and rituals followed by Patels and an on-air contests on the Patel community was also held and exciting prizes were given away to the winners. Throughout the week, various on-ground activities were also conducted at Patel Kanya Chhatralaya, Kansagara Chhatralaya and other boarding schools run by Patel community. The RJs played entertaining games with these students and gave away goodies to the winners. The on-air have been receiving an overwhelming response from the listeners in Rajkot.

MUMBAI: He dazzled the silver screen with his splendor and now he electrifies the radio waves on Radio One FM 94.3‘s BBC Ek Mulakat.Shatrughna Sinha, considered one of the most successful actor-politician of India, made history by being the first member of the film fraternity to become a cabinet minister with the Government of India. In a heart warming t?te-?-t?te with Sanjeev Srivastava on BBC Ek Mulakat aired every Sunday at 12 noon on Radio One FM 94.3, the top Bollywood film star of the 1970s and 1980s and popular politician, Shatrughna Sinha declares on-air, "Films are my first love. I entered politics due to my responsibilities towards society."

For the first time he shares the secret of his success on Ek Mulakat for his audiences, saying "Mahatma Gandhi had said that to succeed in any movement or campaign you have to encounter and go past four things. Firstly - ridicule, secondly - contempt, thirdly - censure, and fourthly - oppression. If you are able to face these four difficulties then success and honour will be yours." The Shotgun Sinha further adds, "If you want to be successful in life, prove yourself and if you are not able to do so for any reason, then show how distinct you are from others. Now you see people imitating/mimicking me. But you would have never seen me imitating others. That‘s because of this mantra."

A quite person by nature, yet famous for his style of dialogue delivery of, "Khamosh?" Shatrughna Sinha converses on friends, foes, fans and his past too. He reveals that his father wanted him to become a scientist or doctor, but he didn‘t fit in either, he says, "Now it‘s a different thing that I became India‘s health minister one day." As of May 2006, he has been appointed as the head of the BJP Culture and Arts Department.

Talking on his days of playing villainous roles, to being the favorite of many first time directors, to his highest regards for veterans like Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar, who he terms as "Institutes in themselves", also appreciating modern day cinema with Shah Rukh Khan for movies like ‘Chak De India‘, Shatrughna Sinha makes your Sunday afternoon worth a while.

Tune in to BBC Ek Mulakat on Radio One FM 94.3 on Sunday, 7th October 2007 at 12 noon to listen to the legendary Shatrughna Sinha

MUMBAI: The Indian automotive industry has seen an exponential growth, with increasing number of cars sold and new models launched every month. However, there is no platform mapping this incredible augmentation and charting a blueprint for its future.To bridge this chasm, CNBC AWAAZ India‘s first dedicated Business and Consumer Channel & ICICI Bank Car Loans had initiated a series that serves as a comprehensive and reliable guide to the Indian Auto Sector- The Auto Evolution Series in Delhi.

As part of the series, Ms. Shereen Bhan, leading anchor from Network 18, hosted an exclusive panel discussion on the future of the auto industry in our country. The topic of discussion for the televised forum was "Is the auto industry in need of re-invention?"
The panelists for the discussion were Mr. Sanjay Labroo, President ACMA & CEO, Asahi Glass, Dr. Pawan Goenka, President - Automotive Sector- M&M, Mr. S Sandilya, Chairman, Eicher Motors, Mr. Surajit Mitra, Jt Secy, Ministry Of Heavy Industries and Mr. Rajiv Sabherwal, ICICI Bank.

The discussion revolved around the Indian Automobile sector, and its importance in the global scenario. The Indian Auto sector is high on growth trajectory and is expected to touch great heights. To cope with this transformation, auto manufacturers need to scale up in every aspect- be it marketing, sales and distribution or even production. Speaking on the event, Shereen Bhan commented "The auto Industry globally has become a wealth destroyer as opposed to a wealth creater, the challenge for manufacturers is to produce economical, reliable, high quality vehicles and yet maintain profitability"

The Panel discussion was followed by a informative presentation on an Index by Jairaj Jatar, Head of Motoresearch, Synovate as part of the Auto Evolution series. The automotive research arm of the global market research company Synovate. The Auto Satisfaction Index, now in its inaugural year, measures car owner satisfaction from the perspective of ‘what excites and delights Indian car owners about their vehicle‘s performance and design‘ The study measures overall satisfaction of vehicle owners within 6-24 months of ownership. The first leg of the CNBC Auto Satisfaction Index (CSI) study is based on responses from more than 900 owners with a focus on 18 ‘high volume sellers‘ in India. Drawn from three distinct segments - Small, Medium & Large. The study was fielded from August to September 2007

Overall satisfaction index is based on the consumers perceptions on 3 main factors experienced during his ownership period viz. vehicle performance, cost of ownership and value for money. These conclusions manifest themselves based on seven aspects Viz. Actual purchase experience, interactions with dealer salesman, vehicle appeal, vehicle performance, driving pleasure, cost of ownership (maintenance & running expenses) and after sales service experience.

Key Findings of the study are

In the small car segment, Maruti Alto has emerged the winner. What has worked for Alto? The consumers have rated Alto high on the attributes- convenience of location of its dealer network and the entire purchase experience.

The second category evaluated was the midsize segment. Hyundai Accent/ Viva and Ford Fiesta were tied at the number one position. Customers rated the winners high on vehicle performance which primarily includes ‘engine performance‘ and ‘acceleration‘.

Finally, in the large size segment, Skoda Octavia bagged the top spot. Fuel Economy and Fit and Finish were the two major drivers ruling in their favor.

More details on the index can be found at ibnlive.com/auto

Key Pointers of the study are

The large segment car owners (cost of vehicle in double digits) report a 5% higher satisfaction on all touch points. Perhaps this is a result of preferential treatment given to them.

The twin aspects of ‘Maintenance & running cost‘ and ‘After sales service‘ are the ‘great levelers‘ with all segments scoring low on these. These therefore continue to remain a challenge for the Indian automobile industry

‘Maintenance & Running Costs‘ has the strongest impact on satisfaction and thus is the No.1 key driver for car owner satisfaction. Within that, across segments, ‘fuel economy‘ is closely followed by ‘cost of spares‘ as a differentiator.

Vehicle Performance is the second strongest key driver for car owner satisfaction. For the layman/ average consumer, the two most important factors are ‘engine performance‘ and ‘pick up/ acceleration on city roads‘ A healthy proportion of as man as 90% of new car owners opt for ‘authorised service centres‘ in their early ownership stage.

Vehicle Appeal is the third strongest key driver for car owner satisfaction. Surprisingly, looks and aesthetics is still not a key driver for the Indian car owner ( as compared to maybe car owners in developed markets).What matters most is ‘product design and functioning‘ with features ( both exterior and interior) being key differentiators. Hence the Indian car owner comes across as being ‘value conscious‘. For the small car segment owner, ‘durability‘ is an additional driver.

Although ‘convenience of dealer location‘ contributes positively to the purchase experience, for the small car owner relatively speaking ‘ease of accessing finance‘ is more important.

The study also examines environmental and infrastructural issues related to car ownership. Key Findings of these aspects of the study are as follows -

Indian customers seem to be somewhat less demanding in terms of quality and tend to attribute their driving experience and vehicle performance to infrastructural weaknesses ( viz. quality of roads, traffic discipline, etc. ) rather than their vehicle‘s quality

Except for locations like Surat, Nagpur, Jaipur, at all other locations‘ claim for choosing vehicles based on safety features is high. Also, an increasing proportion of car owners claim that ‘safety‘ will be a key criteria for next vehicle purchase- indicating an increasing awareness for safety regulations and willingness to spend more for a safer car.

Opinion on road conditions is varied with Mumbai and Delhi having a balanced opinion. Kolkata is the worst off on ‘road conditions‘.

Overall ratings on levels of pollution are understandably high. and so we see a keen preference for cars that offer non-polluting options.

MUMBAI: Radio Cityzens in Mumbai, Delhi , Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat will be in for a musical surprise on October 5-6, 2007 as celebrated singer Shaan joins Mumbai Radio City 91.1FM‘s RJ Archana as a celebrity RJ on the Radio City Breakfast Show. Listeners can tune into the Radio City Breakfast Show for the ‘Amul Star Voice of India‘ Special where celebrity RJ Shaan will give listeners the inside scoop on Amul Star Voice of India; including exclusive chats with the finalists and music directors Jatin-Lalit.

Radio City is the exclusive radio partner for ‘Amul Star Voice of India‘. As part of the association, the FM station‘s ‘Amul Star Voice of India‘ special on October 5-6, 2007 will highlight the essence of one of India‘s most popular reality talent show capturing the lesser-known facets of the contestants. The show will feature contestants sharing their experience so far with the talent show.

Listeners can also tune into Star Plus at 7.30PM on Friday, October 5, 2007 to see their favorite RJ Archana along with celebrity RJ Shaan interacting with the contestants in a half hour reality Radio City ? Amul Star Voice of India special.

So to catch all the excitement on Amul Star Voice of India. Tune into the Radio City Breakfast Show on October 5-6. Only on Radio City 91.1FM!

MUMBAI: It gives us great pleasure in inviting you for the launch and discussion of the book ‘Close Every Door‘ by author & poet Shomshuklla Das. The book is a collection of poems born as a result of the poet‘s travels, musings and personal experiences.

Noted Lyricist Prasoon Joshi will launch the book while Peter Griffin - Caferati, amongst other noted poets CP Surendran, Menka Shivdasani, Arundhati Subramanium, & Anju Makhija will read excerpts from the book and discuss on the subject of the book along with the author.