India tests Agni-V missile: capable of reaching China

India has successfully test-fired Agni-V, its first Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). Agni-V is capable of reaching deep into Asia and Europe, a move that would bring the emerging power into a small club of nations with intercontinental defense capabilities. India has a no-first-use policy and says its nuclear weapons and missiles are for defensive purposes only. Here are 15 things to know about the missile:

1. With the launch of Agni-V, India will enter the exclusive Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile club of only the permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, Russia, France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

2. The nuclear warhead-enabled Agni-V, with a range of more than 5,000 kilometers, will be India's longest-range missile.

3.The surface-to-surface missile Agni-V that can carry a pay-load of 1 tonne is 17 m long, 2 m wide and weighs 50 tonnes.

4.The Agni V is designed to be the most advanced version of the indigenously built Agni series. Its 3 stages are powered by solid rocket propellants and can be transported by road. The first rocket engine of Agni-V lifts it a height of about 40 km; the second stage take it up to about 150 km, while the third stage propels it about 300 km above the planet. The missile can finally achieve a height of 800 km.

5. With a development cost of over Rs 2,500 crore, the Agni-V is will have ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance.

6.The nuclear warhead-enabled Agni-V extends India's reach to the whole of Asia and Europe.

7.The test will take place from the launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range. The three stage solid fuelled missile would be put into test for the first time with some advance and indigenous technology with the support of a canisterised mobile launcher.

8.On the event of Agni-V test fire, countries like Indonesia, Australia, international air and maritime traffic in the test zone will be alerted well before the test as the missile will travel halfway across the Indian Ocean.

9.The maiden test of India's indigenously developed nuclear capable 'Agni-V' ballistic missile will be held on Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast.

10.The accuracy levels of Agni-V with better guidance and navigation systems, is far higher than Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni-III.

11. The Agni-V missile has a 1,500-km longer range, as compared to the Agni-III which has a range of 3,500 km. Agni-V can blast enemy satellites in orbit and can also launch small satellites.

12.The payload capacity of Agni-V has been reduced leading to an increase in its range.

13. Agni-V will be ready for induction in the Indian armed forces in 2014-15.

14. Agni-V can travel faster than a bullet, carrying a nuclear weapon of about 1,000 kg. It can be fired from a mobile platform, which could be anywhere in India.

15.However, it can be launched only on the direct order of the prime minister of India.

For our Politician..

President Obama is helped by then Vermont Governor Jim Douglas to move a couch in the Oval Office, February 2, 2009.

Can out politician learn anything from this picture?

The Man who dominated the Govt.

As Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement gains critical momentum, we take you back to some basic information you might have missed in all the action.

Anna who?
Most middle-class Indians hadn't heard of Anna Hazare till he became the face of the anti-corruption movement. Anna's real name is Kisan Baburao Hazare, and he hails from Maharashtra. He is now 74. He worked for a while as a driver in the army. He was on the verge of suicide when he happened to pick up a book by Swami Vivekananda. It inspired him to take up social service. He returned to his impoverished, drought-prone village. His water conservation efforts won him praise and support. The Guardian gives a quick overview of his life, tracing his rise from despondent driver to popular anti-corruption campaigner.

What has he done so far?
His philosophy is shaped by Gandhian ideals of truth, non-violence, and village empowerment. Wikipedia gives us an idea of the projects he took up in his village. They cover prohibition, education, sanitation, grain and milk production, water conservation, removal of untouchability, and collective marriages. He has campaigned against corruption earlier. In 1995-96, an agitation led by him resulted in two Maharashtra ministers losing their jobs.

Why is he in the news?
He is spearheading a movement to demand stricter laws against corruption. His core team in this campaign comprises Arvind Kejriwal, former income tax commissioner, Kiran Bedi, former police commissioner, and Santosh Hegde, former Lokayukta. For several decades, the government had kept the idea of a Lokpal in cold storage. Pressure from Team Anna forced the UPA government, headed by Manmohan Singh, to draft and pass the bill in July this year. Anna and his team find the new law too weak to deal with the problem of corruption, and are demanding that the prime minister and the judiciary also be included under its purview. His current movement has won support from people across India. His fast yielded results on the 11th day, with parliament agreeing to discuss his version of the Lokpal Bill.

Why are some people opposing him?
Politicians feel he is undermining the authority of parliament, whose members are elected by citizens. They allege he places 'civil society' at an unfair elevation in the new ombudsman. Others feel his demands, if conceded, will create more chaos and confusion in a country already burdened with too many procedures and too much paper work. They believe institutions already exist to deal with corrupt politicians and government officials, and a new one won't serve any purpose. Anna's argument is that institutions like the CBI are controlled by politicians, and therefore can't discharge their duties impartially. The Congress has tried hard to discredit him, calling him an army deserter, and even a mad man. Such statements have only angered citizens, and fuelled Anna's campaign further. Two weeks after maligning Anna, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari returned to tender a public apology.

What are his critics saying?
Manu Joseph, editor of Open magazine, writes in The New York Times that the Indian middle class is hypocritical, constantly pointing fingers at politicians without looking inwards to deal with its own venality. He finds Anna a comical, obsolete leader. Bijoy Venugopal compiles opinions that call for more nuanced debate on the anti-corruption law. Mukul Sharma, in a post titled The Making of Anna, criticises Anna's worldview, saying it is "often blind to many basic and universal issues of rights, democracy and justice." Sharma concedes Anna's personal moral authority has contributed to some good in his village, but it also "simultaneously... raises significant questions about its relationship to the making of a democratic, critical community, free from burdens of force, punishment, coercion, obligation, patronage, charity and piety."

85% people support Jan Lokpal Bill And You?

Announcing the results of the "referendum" on Lokpal Bill conducted in capital's Chandni Chowk, the Lok Sabha constituency from where HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was elected, Team Anna said that 85% of those who cast their vote have supported the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Addressing a press conference here, Monday, Arvind Kejriwal said, “85% people supported the Jan Lokpal Bill. 88% want the Lokpal to have powers to investigate conduct of MPs inside Parliament. 82% and 86% people want the Prime Minister and judiciary to be under the ambit of the Lokpal. Only 6% were against the inclusion of PM under the Lokpal.”

Kejriwal said that the referendum was only meant to prove a point and if Kapil Sibal has any doubts about the veracity of the poll, then he should convene a public meeting in his constituency and know firsthand what the people want.

He also pointed out that, as per the survey, 86% people in Sibal’s constituency want their MP to go by their wish on the issue and not by the orders of the party High Command.

Volunteers of the India Against Corruption initiative opened a centre each in all wards of the constituency, then forms were dropped in each home, the filled up form was collected later. The survey was conducted using optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets which were tabulated using computers

Besides Chandini Chowk, the referendum is being sought in nine other constituencies across the country.

While results from Amravati, Nagpur, Wardha and Mumbai are out, the process is currently on in two constituencies in Bangalore and will begin in Chennai from tomorrow.

Declaring the results, Kejriwal said of those who took part in the exercise in Amravati, 98% have supported the Jan Lokpal Bill. The figure was 81% in Nagpur and 95% in Wardha.

In Mumbai, of the sample size of around 1.5 lakhs, 95.04% people supported the civil society’s view on the Lokpal Bill.

Anna Hazare, who was also present during the press meet, said that the government should not shy away from social audit like the referendum.

On the issues of the government not willing to allow him to sit on fast at Jantar Mantar from August 16, Anna Hazare said that sitting in Jantar Mantar is not important, what is important in Lokpal.

However, he stressed that the government cannot deny him the democratic right to protest peacefully and if at all the government moves against him then he is ready to go to jail

India's another communications satellite

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists on Friday successfully launched the GSAT-12 communications satellite which will help meet India’s increasing demand for services like tele-education, telemedicine and e-governance.

The 1410 kg satellite, which costs Rs 80 crores, was launched on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

The PSLV-C17 rocket launched the GSAT-12 satellite into a
sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit of 284 km perigee and an apogee of 21,000 km. The satellite with Extended C-band transponders will augment communication services in the country, the ISRO said.

With this launch, the PSLV, referred to as the Indian space agency’s trusted workhorse, completed its eighteenth successful mission in a row. Two more launches of the rocket are expected later this year.

India among top ten ‘efficient innovators’

Switzerland tops the list of the world's most innovative countries but surprisingly India figures among the top ten countries that are most 'efficient innovators' globally.

Titled the 'Global Innovation Index' 2011 rankings, Switzerland ranks first in the GII index followed by Sweden and Singapore, however, it is the India story with affordable innovations such as Tata's Nano car that has put India among the top ten efficient innovators in the world.
India is ranked ninth in the 'Innovation Efficiency Index.' However in terms of global innovation index India is ranked 62nd in the 125 country listing.

The report published by the French business school INSEAD, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), was first published in 2007. This is the fourth annual report.

The study helps as a 'policy tool', enabling policy makers and industry to evaluate themselves.

The GII analyses how countries leverage their enabling environments to stimulate innovation results. Also figuring in the top GII rankings are European countries, such as Finland, Denmark as well as USA and China.

The report computes innovation on the basis of innovation input and output. In terms of input it looks at, 'institution', 'human capital and research', 'infrastructure', 'market sophistication' and 'business sophistication'. Innovation output is assessed in terms of 'scientific outputs' and 'creative outputs.' It is a the ratio of the output score over the input score.

According to Soumitra Dutta, professor of business and technology at INSEAD, the report measures two things — the capacity of a country to innovate, looking at things like education and infrastructure as inputs and the outputs of the economy in terms of scientific and creative output.

What has pushed India to among the top ten efficient innovators is the fact that it has achieved more from lesser conditions. Developing economies like India, despite having environments where investment is not high and the political stability isn't ideal or market and business sophistication and infrastructure is far from satisfactory — are still generating a substantial amount of scientific and creative output.

India is able to maintain that degree of productivity in such an environment, obviously its efficiency in comparison to countries with high GII such as the top ranker Switzerland itself is high.

While India is ranked 9th, Switzerland is ranked 12th.

The Richest Temple in the world..

A vast treasure trove of gold coins, jewels and precious stones unearthed at a lightly guarded Hindu temple in India was expected to grow further in value Monday as the last two secret vaults sealed for nearly 150 years are opened.
The government has increased security since the treasure's discovery in recent days, which has instantly turned the 16th-century Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple into one of the wealthiest religious institutions in the country.

Four vaults recently opened at the temple in Trivandrum, the capital of the southern state of Kerala, held a vast bounty that unofficial estimates peg at $22 billion.
The treasures unearthed so far include statues of gods and goddesses made of solid gold and studded with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other precious stones, crowns and necklaces, all given as gifts to the temple over the centuries.
The volume of gold and silver coins was so enormous that the investigators weighed the coins by the sackful, rather than counting them, officials said.
The temple, built by the maharajas who ruled the then-kingdom of Travancore, remained under the control of the erstwhile royal family after India's independence in 1947.
India's Supreme Court ordered the inspection of the vaults after a lawyer petitioned a local court asking the state government to take over the temple, citing inadequate security. The current Maharaja of Travancore had appealed to the Supreme Court against the petition.
The inventory began last week and the final vaults were to be unlocked Monday afternoon. The public knew the temple had treasures but not the quantum.

Before the trove was uncovered, there was almost no visible security at the temple, save for a few local security guards patrolling the complex with batons, mainly for crowd control.
Kerala's police chief, Jacob Punnoose, said he sent extra police officers to guard the temple and is planning a high-tech security system to protect the treasure.

"We plan to enhance security in a manner which will not interfere with the activities of the temple or devotees," Punnoose said.
The security plans include the installation of digital electronic networks, closed circuit cameras and metal detectors at the entrance and exits of the temple.
Manoj Abraham, city police commissioner, said two battalions of special armed police would provide security outside the temple complex.

"Later, we will discuss with temple authorities and members of the former royal family what kind of permanent security system should be put in place," Abraham said.

Every year, devout Hindus donate millions of rupees worth of cash, gold and silver to temples. Some temples in India are so wealthy, they have formed trusts which run schools, colleges and hospitals that offer free treatment to the poor.
The discovery has sparked a debate over the future of the treasure trove.

Vellappally Nateshan, a Hindu leader, said the wealth should remain with the temple authorities.
Some social activists in Kerala have demanded the treasure be handed to a national trust to help the poor.
Kerala's top elected official, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, however, assured the people that the wealth would remain with the temple.
"It is the property of the temple. The government will protect the wealth at the temple."

Chandy said the government would bear the cost of stepping up security at the temple and ensure that worshippers were not inconvenienced.

Tejas fighter jet : India's first Light Combat Aircraft

India's own first supersonic multi-role combat aircraft Tejas, meant to replace MiG 21s and MiG 23s, will join the Air Force on Monday for initial operational clearance.

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), considered to be the world's smallest military aircraft with a single seat, will be among top eight aircraft in the world in technological design and performance terms.

Tejas was under devlopment for nearly 28 years and beat sanctions.

TThe LCA has been developed by the state-run Aeronautical Defence Agency (ADA) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) in Bangalore. The project was started in 1983 with a budget of Rs. 560 crore and was named 'Tejas' in 2004.

The F404-GE-IN20 engine from the US-based General Electric powers the fighter, as the indigenously developed Kaveri engine is still undergoing advance trials.

ADA director PS Subramanyam said that they are developing a new variant of the present LCA by 2014-15 and the fighter jet will be fully indigenous in five years time.

The HAL is manufacturing eight aircraft for clearance flights and will take up the IAF's initial order to deliver 20 jets to form the first Tejas squadron, which will be based at the Sulur air base near Coimbatore.

The Air Force has also placed an additional order of 20 more Tejas for the second squadron in 2010. It will be raised at Kayathir near Tuticorin. The IAF may finally have around 200 LCAs (10 squadrons) in its fleet

Specifications (HAL Tejas)

General characteristics

§                     Crew: 1

§                     Length: 13.20 m (43 ft 4 in)

§                     Wingspan: 8.20 m (26 ft 11 in)

§                     Height: 4.40 m (14 ft 9 in)

§                     Wing area: 38.4 m² (413 ft²)

§                     Empty weight: 5,680kg (12,522 lb)

§                     Loaded weight: 9,500 kg (20,945 lb)

§                     Max takeoff weight: 13,500 kg (31,967 lb)

§                     Powerplant: 1× General Electric F404-GE-IN20 turbofan

§                                 Dry thrust: 53.9 kN (11,250 lbf)

§                                 Thrust with afterburner: 85 kN (19,000 lbf)

§                     Internal fuel capacity: 3000 liters

§                     External fuel capacity: 5×800 liter tanks or 3×1,200 liter tanks, totaling 4,000/3,600 liters

Performance

§                     Maximum speed: Mach 1.8 (2,376+ km/h at high altitude) at 15,000 m

§                     Range: 3000 km (1,840 mi (without refueling))

§                     Service ceiling: 16,500 m (54,000 ft (engine re-igniter safely capable))

§                     Wing loading: 221.4 kg/m² (45.35 lb/ft²)

§                     Thrust/weight: .91

Armament

§                     Guns: 1× mounted 23 mm twin-barrel GSh-23 cannon with 220 rounds of ammunition.

§                     Hardpoints: 8 total: 1× beneath the port-side intake trunk, 6× under-wing, and 1× under-fuselage with a capacity of >4000 kg external fuel and ordnance

§                     Missiles:

Air-to-air missiles:

§                                 Python 5

§                                 Derby

§                                 Astra BVRAAM

§                                 Vympel R-77 (NATO reporting name: AA-12 Adder)

§                                 Vympel R-73 (NATO reporting name: AA-11 Archer)

§                     Air-to-surface missiles:

§                                 Kh-59ME TV guided standoff Missile

§                                 Kh-59MK Laser guided standoff Missile

§                                 Anti-ship missile

§                                 Kh-35

§                                 Kh-31

§                     Bombs:

§                     KAB-1500L laser guided bombs

§                     FAB-500T dumb bombs

§                     OFAB-250-270 dumb bombs

§                     OFAB-100-120 dumb bombs

§                     RBK-500 cluster bombs

§                     Others:

§                     Drop tanks for ferry flight/extended range/loitering time.

§                     LITENING targeting pod 

Avionics
Hybrid MMR radar (Israeli EL/M-2032 back end processor with Indian inputs)

The Greatest Sachin

Everybody likes to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat, and once he is done, people just can’t stop raving about what they have just witnessed. The soft-spoken 37-year old owns all the records a quiz master would like to use, to frame a question, and not only would the audience have the answers on their fingertips, they would if given the chance, describe his contributions to the minutest detail. Now that Sachin has scored his 50th Test hundred, the cricketing world has been spontaneous in congratulating the champion on his latest achievement. We decided to put together some quotes praising the genius. Do join us as we put our hands together to applaud the world’s greatest batsman.

"I saw him (Sachin) playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two...his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel"- Sir Don Bradman

"I have seen God, he bats at no. 4 for India"- Mathew Hayden

"There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the others."- Andy Flower

"When we used to play, we thought no one can break Sunil Gavaskar's record. No one could think about 50 Test centuries at that time. This is certainly a big knock under the circumstances, better than the 200s and 300s"- Kapil Dev


"Well, it's such a record that you can only compare it with Bob Beamon's long-jump world record set in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. At that time it seemed that it would never be broken. Tendulkar's 50 Test centuries is one such records which doesn't look like being surpassed"- Sunil Gavaskar

"I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player"- Shane Warne

"Sachin's feat is unbelievable.I was as thrilled as rest of my countrymen"-Bishan Singh Bedi

"I congratulate Sachin and his whole family. He is the greatest batsman of the game. He is only getting better with age"- Sourav Ganguly

"Every run that comes off Sachin's blade is a record. He has shown the world how to perform under pressure"- Sharad Pawar

"Tendulkar can now rightly lay claim to the title of being the greatest batsman in cricket history. And if some people argue about his greatness then there are certainly no arguments about his being the most prolific, he is a complete run machine and his 50th Test hundred is a testimony of his endurance and passion for the sport"- Rashid Latif

"It was clear to us even when he walked out to bat in that Test as a teenager that he had talent. The fact that he has been around for 21 years and done justice to that god gifted talent in both forms of the game is an achievement any cricketer would be proud off. It will be difficult for anyone to break his record"- Javed Miandad

"I think it is just the way he has changed the game overall and his own game because there are so many situations he has faced. He is now competing mostly against himself, like most great cricketers do. I think he has mastered all of them. The only challenge he has is to beat himself every time he walks out there because he has done almost everything"- Kumar Sangakkara

"On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!!"- Peter Roebuck

"Putting Sachin Tendulkar's latest feat in a strictly cricketing context would not be fair to the sportsman. His achievements in the world of cricket need to be seen on a par with efforts in any other field - science, art, literature, etc - to push the frontiers of human excellence"- Pakistan daily 'Dawn'

"If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard"- Dennis Lillee

"I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara"- Glenn McGrath

"Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal"- Brian Lara

"Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the world"- Allan Donald

"He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling"- Richie Benaud

"Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow nothing is a problem"- Geoffrey Boycott

"He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease"- Greg Chappell

"I think he is marvellous. I think he will fit in whatever category of Cricket that has been played or will be played, from the first ball that has ever been bowled to the last ball that's going to be. He can play in any era and at any level. I would say he's 99.5% perfect"- Vivian Richards

"Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don't know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their television sets and switch off their lives"- BBC Sports, on Sachin Tendulkar

"India me aap Prime Minister ko ek Baar Katghare me khada kar sakte hain.Par Sachin 
Tendulkar par Ungli nahi utha Sakte"- Navjot Singh Sidhu

"Sachin is cricket's God"- Barry Richards

"Harder he works, the luckier he gets"- Ian Chappell

"I am fortunate that I've to bowl at him only in the nets!"- Anil Kumble

"To Sachin, the man we all want to be"-    What Andrew Symonds wrote on a t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

"We did not lose to a team called India...we lost to a man called Sachin" -Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

Indiia...the hub of the talents

Wide availability of talent and cost advantage has helped India emerge as a "skill hub" not only for back-office jobs but also global functional roles, says an international recruitment firm. According to GlobalHunt, an executive search firm, In last two-three years, there was a 25- 35 per cent rise in global functional roles that came to India.

"India''s advantage is that a large number of skilled professionals are available at very competitive cost. Their skills are global in nature and they are best in technology and analytics," GlobalHunt Director Sunil Goel said.

About 20 per cent of companies have given India as ''region status'' and India is no longer a part of Asia Pacific for them. "Besides, 1520 per cent of global workforces are reporting to Indian counterparts at various functions and hierarchy levels", it said.

So, decision making abilities are moving to India based roles, the firm said. "Having large captive centres in India has helped large global organisations in maintaining their competitiveness with the cost advantage that they get from India centres," Goel said.

A large percentage of global companies have their business centres in India, though that varies in size of operations, it said. Moreover, most of the companies are focusing on Indian market and want to know what their competitors are doing.

Goel said "many big organisations have almost one third of total global strength based out of India. So, it makes lot of sense for them to put global functional roles in India.

" This trend is growing gradually. It is bound to grow as global professionals'' interests are increasing and getting more inclined to India based work.

Though recession has given an endorsement to India''s economy stability and advantage but situation (overseas) was not alarming from Indias economy perspective, GlobalHunt said.

Incredible India

Obama Speech In Indian Paliament | Obama Inspired By Gandhi

India First

India wealth to double in 5 yrs; May grow to $6.4 trillion

 India's robust economic growth is likely to drive the country's fortune to a whopping $6.4 trillion in the next five years, reflecting a nearly two-fold jump from the country's current wealth, says a report.

According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report published for the first time, the total wealth of India has trebled in a decade to $3.5 trillion. By 2015, the country's wealth could nearly double to $6.4 trillion.

Besides, the global wealth, which stood at USD 195 trillion will rise by an impressive 61 per cent to $315 trillion by 2015, primarily driven by the robust economic expansion in the emerging markets.

Interestingly, Asia Pacific boasts of more billionaires than Europe. There are over 1,000 billionaires globally, of which 500 are in North America, followed by 245 in Asia Pacific and 230 in Europe.

Besides, the report said that there were 24 million high- net-worth individuals (HNIs), whose average wealth per adult stood in the range of $1-$50 million. China has over 800,000 HNIs, India has around 170,000 while rest of the Asia Pacific as over four million HNIs.

Meanwhile, in terms of the countries generating maximum wealth, the US has emerged as the topper with the total of $54.6 trillion of household wealth followed by Japan at $21 trillion and China at $16.5 trillion.

Notably, most parts of Asia Pacific - ranging from commodities-driven economies such as New Zealand and Australia to fast-growing emerging economies such as China, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - have recorded an exorbitant growth of 100 per cent to almost 400 per cent in average wealth per adult.

This growth is much higher than the average global wealth per adult growth rate of 42 per cent. "The Report confirms that Asia Pacific countries, which now make up the bulk of the world's middle class of emerging consumers, are driving the growth of the world's wealth," Credit Suisse CEO (Asia Pacific) Osama Abbasi said.

Also, the middle segment of the wealth, which is composed of one billion individuals whose average wealth per adult falls in the range of $10,000 to USD 1 million, is located in the fastest-growing economies of the world that hold one- sixth or $32 trillion of global wealth.

In total, almost 60 per cent or 587 million individuals in the middle segment of the wealth pyramid are located in the Asia Pacific region.

Source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20101008/1416/tnl-india-wealth-to-double-in-5-yrs-may.html