Chandigarh, August 28
The failure of Congress councillor and chairman of the sanitation committee of the municipal corporation Chander Mukhi Sharma to show up for the special meeting created ruckus in the House today, with Mayor Kamlesh adjourning the meeting.

During the meeting convened to discuss functioning of the garbage processing plant, BJP and nominated councillors accused Chander Mukhi Sharma and Mayor Kamlesh of politicising the issue and propagating the same as personal agenda

Sources said Chander Mukhi Sharma had circulated a letter late last night, demanding the postponement of the special House meeting. He said the House should discuss his report on the plant before the executive body of the MC takes action against the show-cause notice issued to the Jaypee Group.

The opposition councillors flayed this move and said he was trying to run the House as per his wishes. Incidentally, the House was to discuss the report of the UT Pollution Control Board, which had castigated the functioning of the MC on the issue.

Dubbing the ongoing garbage plant controversy as “personal agenda” of Chander Mukhi Sharma, councillor MPS Chawla wondered what axe did the councillor had to grind with the promoters of the plant. He said it looked like a one-man show, as other members of the committee were present in the House, but the Mayor adjourned the meeting.

He said when the Chandigarh administration had constituted a technical committee to study the functioning of the plant, the House should scrap its committee constituted for the purpose.

Having similar views, Dr AP Sanwaria said the entire controversy was nothing but petty politics being played by Chander Mukhi Sharma and Mayor Kamlesh. He also quoted the report published in Chandigarh Tribune today “Garbage plant stinks of politics”.

A number of councillors objected to the letter written by Chander Mukhi Sharma, stating that it was an insult of the House and he should resign from the chairmanship of the sanitation committee.

However, other members of the inquiry committee showed ignorance about the report prepared by Chander Mukhi Sharma as he never discussed it with them.

BSP councillor Jatinder Bhatia said last night he received a call that the special meeting was again being postponed as the Mayor was not well. This morning, he was informed that the meeting will be held on time. He said that this shows how serious the ruling Congress was on the garbage plant issue.

He said it was strange that the Congress councillors, who were making hue and cry over the issue for the last one-week, were missing from the special meeting.

MC Commissioner Dr Roshan Sunkaria strongly condemned the point raised by Chander Mukhi Sharma that it was a “piecemeal” discussion, which would not yield any result, as the executive would take the excuse of all misdeeds under the grab of this report.

Meanwhile, councillors welcomed Congress councillor Bhupinder Singh Bhanderi, who came for the first time in the House after winning elections from ward No. 10. 

Chandigarh, August 28
The ambitious mega projects of the Chandigarh administration seem to be jinxed. While the important mega projects, including the Medicity, the Film City and the Theme-cum-Amusement Park, are under the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) scanner, the lone “non-controversial” Education City project is also facing teething troubles.

Even as the administration had claimed that the Education City was on track, dispute over the revised lease agreement threatens to derail the project, which along with the other projects was the brainchild of UT Administrator SF Rodrigues. The project is set for further trouble with one of the institutions —Thapar University — reportedly having second thoughts on setting up its campus in the Education City.

The project was envisioned by the Chandigarh administration with a view to establish world-class educational institutions in Sarangpur village.

After eating a humble pie on the CVC probe into the mega project, the UT administration had touted the Education City as one of its success stories. In his message on the the Independence Day eve this year, Rodrigues said: “Special measures have been taken for upgrading education, health and social infrastructure in the city by introducing innovative programmes and conceiving projects like the Education City and the Medicity.”

However, the developments on the Education City front bode ill for showcasing the city as the major education hub of North India.

Sources said certain selected parties were reportedly up in arms against the “revised” terms and conditions for the allotment of land. Earlier, the parties were promised the land on leasehold basis, but now it was being offered on licence basis.

A functionary of one of the selected parties said if the terms and conditions of allotment were not revised, they would have difficulty in obtaining affiliation from the regulating bodies such as the AICTE, the UGC and the PU.

Chandigarh, August 28
Ranjit Bajaj, son of former IAS officer Rupan Deol Bajaj, along with his three friends allegedly attacked a police team outside a discotheque in Sector 26 in the wee hours of today.

The police arrested Bajaj’s accomplices in the case, while the latter was at large.

The police following a complaint of a quarrel, said a police team headed by sub-inspector Nirmal Singh reached the scene.

The team found some youngsters engaged in a quarrel and when the policemen tried to intervene, some of them assaulted the police team.

One of the assailants, wearing a black T-shirt and a cap, slapped constable Gurwinder Singh and tore his uniform.

According to eyewitnesses, Nirmal Singh, who identified one of the assailants as Ranjit Bajaj, tried to hush up the matter.

During the melee, Ranjit managed to flee. The police arrested two of his accomplices from the scene.

On the role of Nirmal Singh, the police said he only initiated action under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC to “play down” the incident.

Taking note of dereliction of duty on his part, he was placed under suspension and a regular departmental inquiry had been initiated against him.

The police has registered a case of assaulting public servant on duty and causing obstruction and intervention in government duty against Ranjit Bajaj, Mohinder Singh, Pardeep Kumar and Narinder Malik. The police said efforts were on to trace Ranjit Bajaj and a raid had been conducted on his residence.

Chandigarh, August 28
In the absence of adequate back-up for supplying LPG and legal hurdles, the Chandigarh Administration is compelled to defer its deadline of August 31 against plying of diesel and petrol-driven auto-rickshaws in the city.

The administration had earlier declared that after August 31, only LPG-driven auto-rickshaws would be allowed on city roads. But against this decision, auto operators knocked at the doors of the High Court and the matter is still pending.

Nevertheless, to meet the requirement of LPG, the administration’s proposal to introduce two new LPG filling stations in collaboration with CITCO at Sectors 38 West and another one at Sector 22 got delayed. This is being done to provide adequate fuel supply to around 1,500 LPG vehicles.

Confirming this, Home Secretary Ram Niwas said the administration was firm on phasing out the petrol and diesel autos but some relaxation has been extended as the new LPG stations demanded some more time. “The meeting to discuss the issue will be held on Tuesday. Till then, some leniency has been granted”, he said.

Assuring that with the coming up of two more LPG stations, supply would not pose a problem, Dr Vandana Disodia, Secretary, STA, said at present, LPG was available at two filling stations in Sectors 34 and 22, which, is adequate to meet the requirement of the number of autos to be sanctioned for the city.

“But we are bit lenient till we make sufficient arrangement for gas supply as we do not want to take any chance in case of crisis”, she said.

Chandigarh, August 28
Seizure of counterfeit notes of Rs 1,000 denomination by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Mumbai has set the alarm bells ringing for most banks in the country. In a fresh appeal to all public sector, private and foreign banks, the RBI has warned of large-scale counterfeit currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination (of 2 AQ and 8 AC series) being in circulation.

Though no official details of the number of these fake notes in circulation are available, intelligence sources claim that over two lakh pieces of these notes have already been pushed in the country. Though the RBI sources have refused to comment on the number of pieces in circulation, it has warned the in-charges of fake note vigilance cells of all banks about the threat.

Banks have been asked to ensure that the cash handling staff at all bank branches are alerted about these series of notes and ensure the usage of note sorting machines for Rs 1,000 notes.

It is learnt that the Mumbai ATS had recently seized 345 fake currency notes in the above mentioned series. These were seized from four persons belonging to West Bengal and Jharkhand. These notes also bore the signatures of Dr Y V Reddy, former Governor of the RBI.

Interestingly, all these notes (pertaining to the 2005-06 series) had all new and strengthened security features like optically variable ink, colour, shift security threat etc. Sources said the counterfeiting has been by printing of the notes and first visual impact is similar to the genuine notes. It was only when the notes were got checked by note sorting machines (NSMs) that they were treated as suspect.

Meanwhile, the annual report of the RBI released yesterday also mentions that the detection of counterfeit banknotes has showed a rising trend. As many as 3,98,111 counterfeit banknotes were detected at the Reserve Bank’s offices and bank branches during 2008-09 as compared to 1,95,811 in the previous year. 

Chandigarh, August 28
Following medical check-ups in various alternative innovative education (AIE) centres, changes have been recommended in the menu of midday meal to the UT Education Department by the NGOs which have shouldered the task of improving these centres.

Nearly one-third of these “out of school” children in the AIE centres have been found to be anaemic by the doctors, who conducted camps in different centres. Supplementing “dal rice” and “rajma rice”, which is served almost everyday, with food of higher and better nutritious value has been suggested for these children, who are primarily from the slum areas.

Consequently, the need to introduce “dalia”, “panjeeri”, fruits and fibrous meal to add to the nutritive value of the food has been felt by the NGOs monitoring the centres.

“In the medical camps conducted at the AIE centres of the GMSSS-Sector 33 and GMSSS-47, it was found that most of these children are anaemic. Hence, we suggested the department to experiment with additional food material that has better nutritional value,” said Dr Deepti of the Sai Tara Foundation.

“The department has suggested us to go ahead and provide supplements with the diet on our own and if it proves successful in improving the health of children, the same menu would be implemented for all the centres,” she added.

Echoes Meena Singh, who is running the AIE centres in GMSSS-Sector 10. “Dal chawal or rajma chawal can only fill up the stomach, but these children eat rice even at home since that is what their poor parents can afford. So a healthy mix of a fibrous diet with fruits could prove useful,” she said.

The Education Department had earlier conducted a meeting to introduce soya and “pulao”, among other things, in the meals but the modalities are yet to be worked out. “The cost factor is a major challenge before us since the meal is served in massive quantities,” said DPI (S) Samwartak Singh.

Meanwhile, talks have been initiated with the CIHM and IHM to introduce “pulao” and “paranthas” in the mid-day meal by the department.

“The NGOs are free to introduce certain food items of better nutritive value if they wish to, but the quality of food must be kept in mind,” said the DPI.

Chandigarh, August 28
With the results of the Panjab University Teachers Association declared today, Manjit Singh of the sociology department was elected PUTA president. Manjit, who got 294 votes, defeated his rival Rajan Gaur of anthropology department, who got 250 votes.

“While pay scales will be my top priority, I will also get the promotion policy regularised at the earliest. I will try my level best to benefit teachers,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jaspal Kaur Kaang of University School of Open Learning (USOL) became the vice-president by defeating GS Gill of the geology department by 17 votes.

For the post of general secretary, Akshay Kumar of English department has won over Jatinder Grover of USOL by securing 281 votes as compared to 255 of the latter. MC Sidhu is the new joint secretary and Khalid Mohammad the new treasurer.

Chandigarh, August 28
A two-day educational programme “Update on PET-CT-Applications in Current Medical Diagnosis” will be organised by the department of nuclear medicine, PGIMER, tomorrow.

The programme will educate clinical faculty , doctors and cancer specialists from various hospitals in the tricity on the uses and applications of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) technology.

According to experts, the PET is based on the fact that cancer cells are metabolically more active and therefore use more glucose than normal tissues. These areas are identified as “hot spots” on the body during the PET scanning. Patient is given an intravenous injection of glucose labeled with radioactive Fluorine F-18 (FDG).

This isotope has a very short life of less than two hours and is produced in a medical cyclotron. To increase the accuracy of the investigation, a CT scan is also performed, along with the PET scan on the same machine, thus providing a hybrid “PET-CT” scan, which shows both structural and functional images fused together. 

However, sophisticated instruments like the PET-CT scanner and cyclotron require skilled technical staff and experienced physicians to operate them upon and are available at only a few centres in the country at present.

Prof BR Mittal, head of the nuclear medicine department, said the department at PGIMER, Chandigarh, was the first to provide the facility to patients from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan.

The PET-CT scan is used mainly for the early detection of cancer and for evaluating the effect of radiation and chemotherapy in lymphomas, breast, lung and colorectal cancers, head and neck tumors, gynaecological malignancies like cancer of the cervix and ovary, and neuroendocrine tumors.

Dr Anish Bhattacharya said the scan would bring together nuclear medicine experts from reputed institutes like AIIMS, New Delhi, Tata Memorial Hospital, Jaslok and Hinduja Hospitals in Mumbai and Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad. They would answer queries of clinicians and cancer specialists of the region regarding the use of this technology.

Technical experts and senior officials from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, have also been invited to clarify the latest regulations governing the planning, licensing and setting up of new PET centres.

Senior scientists of the radiopharmacy division of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), under the DRDO, New Delhi will be speaking on the development of new compounds used for research in the field of the PET imaging. 

Chandigarh, August 28
The cast and crew of the upcoming Bollywood movie, “Kisaan”, today landed in Big Cinemas, Zirakpur, for a special premiere organised for farmers. Many of these farmers have worked in the movie with the Khan brothers.

“Kisaan”, which is a joint effort by UTV Spotboy and Sohail Khan, hits cinema halls all over the county today.

Khan brothers Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan along with Jackie Shroff, actress Diya Mirza and film’s music director Dabbu Malik reached the city to commence the special premiere. As many as 150 to 200 kisans from Ropar and Mullapur region were invited at the premiere.

In the movie, Sohail and Arbaaz Khan play the role of hardcore farmers; so much so, they can even be seen in dhotis in the film. Jackie Shroff plays the role of Sohail’s and Arbaaz’s father.

“Kisaan”, which deals with successive generations of the farmers and their conflicts, has been shot in Chandigarh for more than 40 days. Interestingly, Sohail Khan has contributed to the film’s screenplay as well.

The movie promises absolute treat for music lovers as well, as one would get to hear the all time patriotic song from Manoj Kumar’s Upkaar, “Mere desh ki dharti”, with new mixed beats and different packaging in the movie.

Even though the actors were in the Mall for a few minutes, hundreds of fans flocked the Mall to catch a glimpse of the actors.

Chandigarh, August 28
A large part of Sector 40 has been experiencing unscheduled power cuts for the last over 15 days. According to a representation by the Residents Welfare Association, eight unscheduled power cuts were reported last night causing a lot of inconvenience to the residents.

In fact, the position of power supply has deteriorated since the installation of a new transformer in the area, resulting in damage to the electrical appliances like refrigerators and televisions.

The sector parks have become a den of various crimes like chain snatching and thefts, which have become a routine affair.

In the absence of plugging or coverage of these naked wires, children playing in these parks are exposed to serious danger.

Despite several complaints regarding the electricity failure in the area, no action has been taken till now and the department gives acute shortage of staff a reason for the same.

The wiring in the MIG houses in the sector was reportedly done in 1979-80 when the Chandigarh Housing Board built up these houses.

Chandigarh, August 28
While the UT Education Department is all set to announce this year’s state award winners, the discontinuance of service extension to national award winners has come as a disappointment for these awardees.

In an order passed by the administration early this year, it was observed that the national awardees at selected posts like principals, headmasters, assistant director, deputy director, deputy DEO and DEO would not be considered for national awards.

Consequently, even those officials, who are currently serving on these posts, and received national awards during their tenure as teachers, will not be considered for extension as per the new policy decision.

This has raised concern in certain quarters in the education department now. “Policies in the UT are same as those being followed in Punjab. But in this case, the administration here has designed an unusual policy of its own,” said an official.

The issue had raised concerns in past as well when the headmistress of GGHS-25, a national awardee, was declined an extension in September, 2008, by the administration.

Ironically, the orders passed by the UT Education Secretary, had stated that the decision would be effective from February 22, 2008, the date when the proposal was sent to the Administrator. Hence, she was not entitled for extension as per the policy.

Reportedly, She had later appealed against the decision in CAT and the next hearing is due on September 11.

Meanwhile, claiming that officials on equal ranks in Punjab and Haryana are enjoying the extension and increments, the new policy in the UT seems to have sealed the fate of the four national awardees currently serving in the UT education department.

“We have spent out entire careers working hard with full devotion. The prestigious President’s award was an overwhelming honour,” said one of the National award winners.

As per the orders, teachers of the primary and secondary level continue to enjoy extension or increments, depending on their choice after receiving such award.

The DPI (S) could not be contacted for his comments on the issue. 

Chandigarh, August 28
History of horse-trading has repeated itself in the election to the post of chairman of the cash-rich Market Committee with a turncoat, Darshan Singh, winning the elections, dealing a severe blow to majority Congress.

In a dramatic turn of events, Darshan Singh and another Congress director Subhash Chand switched over to the BJP just before the elections, exposing the murky politics of the committee.

With the election to the post of chairman, the BJP bagged both top posts in the committee with party leader Ramvir Bhatti also being the vice-chairman.

Under a compromise formula worked out last year, Devinder Singh Babla, general secretary of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC), was unanim
ously elected chairman with Darshan Singh, who was in the BJP then, slated to be next chairman.

However, Darshan Singh switched loyalties to the Congress in the run-up to the May 13 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said while Babla wanted to stick to last year’s compromise formula and support Darshan Singh’s candidature this time, the CTCC thought otherwise and fielded its own candidate, Anand Singh, for the post.

Seeing his possible defeat, Darshan Singh along with Subhash Chander, considered to be a close confidant of Babla, switched over to the BJP. The result was expected with the Darshan Singh defeating his nearest Congress rival Anand Singh 5-4.

Considered to be a powerful post in the rural politics, the post of chairman has a history of horse trading.

In fact, with budget running into several crores, the committee has its own charm for rural politicians of various parties, given its political patronage. 

Mohali, August 28
Even 18 years after of its inception, the Rajiv Gandhi Modern Sports Complex (RGMSC) here, the only sports complex of its kind in Punjab, has failed to take off.

In 1991, a chunk of 23.11 acre in Sector 63, was allotted on lease to the state government to promote sports in the state. The government was supposed to build a sports complex of international standard there.

However, heaps of garbage now lies scattered within the sports complex, with plans to raise sports infrastructure remaining on paper alone.

In 1994, the sports department had constructed the boundary wall and gates of the complex, which was now being used by the PCA as a parking lot during international matches.

Shopkeepers around the complex said the place was a safe haven for boozers and other illegal activities.

A senior official of the sports department said: “The complex is facing dearth of funds and this is the major reason behind the delay in construction work.”

He added that the government had finalised public-private-partnership (PPP) model with an estimated investment of Rs 100 crore for the development of modern infrastructure there.

Even, sites for 30 showrooms and a shopping mall, just opposite the PCA stadium, were to be sold by the Punjab Urban Development Authorities (PUDA) to raise money for the sports complex, but to no avail.

The sports complex proposed to include an athletics and football stadium, international standard swimming pool, indoor sports stadium, open hockey stadium, outdoor activity area, sports hostel and well-equipped library with the facility of museum at an estimated cost of Rs 399 crore.

Director, sports department Punjab, Pargat Singh said: “The proposed model has been sent to the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB), but lack of funds are hindering the project.”

He added that there was some hope of getting additional funds, as the department would request the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) to extend 15 per cent land for commercial purposes against the existing 5 per cent land.

Eminent citizens sport badges after being appointed traffic marshals by the police in Mohali on Friday. Tribune photo: Vicky Gharu

Mohali, August 28
The local police is contemplating declaring certain road as “no tolerance zones” to curb traffic violations and running trafficlights on uninterrupted power supply or on solar panels. This was stated by SSP JS Aulakh while launching traffic marshal scheme here today.

The town is among Patiala, Amritsar and Ludhiana where the scheme is being launched as part of community policing.

After distributing traffic marshal badges, the SSP said 19 eminent persons had been appointed to assist the traffic police during challan drives and keep a watch on traffic violations. The suggestions and issues raised by the marshals would be taken up during meetings with senior police officials. The town had been divided into three zones.

It could, however, not be ascertained whether the marshals would keep a watch on traffic policemen taking bribe from traffic violators or not. The powers to be entrusted to the marshals were also yet to be identified.

Those appointed traffic marshals include Teg Bahadhur Singh, Hardev Singh Jatana, Amrik Singh Gill, Swaran Choudhary, Mohinder Tamber, Albel Singh Siyan, Bhajan Singh, Kulbir Singh, Ajit Singh, Joginder Singh, Guriqbal Singh, PS Virdi, Harbhajan Singh, Manjit Singh Khalsa, Swarn Singh Sidhu, Dr BS Chandok, Suhinder Singh, Rishi Kumar and Khushjiv Singh.

Panchkula, August 28
While on an inauguration spree before the code of conduct is invoked for the forthcoming Assembly elections, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurated the office building of the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation and Department of Women and Child Development here today.

The Haryana Agro Industries Corporation has constructed a new six-bay building of its office in Sector 4 at the cost of Rs 3.85 crore. Out of it, two bays have been allotted to the Women and Child Development.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated a modern apple market in Sector 20 constructed at the cost of Rs 3.72 crore.

Keeping in view the facilities provided by the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board, the Central Government has declared the apple market as a wholesale fruit and vegetable terminal market under the National Horticulture Mission Scheme.

He also inaugurated a Pet Animal Medical Centre in Sector 3, constructed over an area of two acre at the cost of Rs 7.8 crore.

The centre would also act as holiday home for pet dogs, enabling their owners to leave their pets under the care of the centre.

The centre would also provide the facility of breeding for sniffer dogs. He along with agriculture minister HS Chatha planted saplings in the compound of the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation.

Others present were senior officers of various departments and Agricultural Marketing Board along with chairman of board of Ayurvedic and Unani System of Medicine Dr Sanjay Atri.

Zirakpur, August 28
The SDM, Dera Bassi, and the DSP, Dera Bassi, and the NHAI Director, officials of the drainage department and MC today visited Zirkapur, Dera Bassi and Lalru to take note of the inconvenience to residents and commuters at Chandigarh-Ambala and Zirakpur-Kalka highways.

Around 20 members of various departments, including SDM Puneet Goyal, discussed various issues with the officials and asked them to work on it.

According to sources, the issues discussed included rain water drainage system at Baltana, two bus queue shelters with green belt in front of Paras Down Town Square, grills on both sides of flyover and below the flyover, widening of roads from both sides of the highway to solve traffic congestion, side roads adjoining ROB and a rotary junction near Dhakoli.

The local administration has asked the drainage department to clean the nullahs and choes immediately.

The administration also told NHAI officials to re-work on medians on the Dera Bassi-Ambala highway.

The encroachments along the Dera Bassi-Ambala highway would also be removed, the sources added.

The administration also asked the NHAI to maintain the drainage system along the highways, especially near Bhankarpur village.

Talking to TNS, Goyal said the work of widening of nullah at Baltana was in progress.

He said for the flow of traffic on the highways, the administration had asked the NHAI authorities to widen the roads from both sides of the Chandigarh-Ambala highway and also sent a proposal to construct a rotary junction near Dhakoli. “We have also planning to construct two rotaries, one in Dera Bassi and other one at Lalru near Handesra village, for that we have asked the NHAI authorities to work on it,” he said.

Chandigarh, August 28
Justice Jai Singh Sekhon has being “hoping against hope” that Haryana would provide infrastructural facilities to the jail committee constituted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

With the state literally sleeping over the matter, Justice Sekhon, heading the committee for inspection of jails in Haryana, has now shot of a communiqué to high court registrar-general Ram Chand Gupta to bring the matter to Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur’s notice.

Available information suggests the situation is hardly better in Punjab. So far the authorities concerned in the state too have done precious little to provide infrastructural facilities to the jail committee headed in Punjab by Justice Amar Dutt.

Giving details of the inaction, Justice Sekhon has asserted on getting no response from the state on the requisite facilities, the committee paid a courtesy visit to the Haryana chief minister on June 30. The chief minister assured the committee of all assistance and help. But “strangely enough” even thereafter no response was received from the state officials.

A reminder was sent to the Haryana chief secretary in July. Responding to the communiqué, the chief secretary informed the financial commissioner and the principal secretary (home) had been requested to take action in the matter expeditiously. But again, there was no response. He added in the absence of the facilities, the committee has failed to start its work of inspecting the jails.

The communiqué was this morning placed before the Bench of Chief Justice Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, which issued notice of motion on it. The high court had earlier asserted the jail manual was being violated in both the states “so far as administration, and conditions in the jails, are concerned”.

Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the Internet. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, internet shop, webshop, webstore, online store, or virtual store evokes the physical analogy of buying products or services at a bricks-and-mortar retailer or in a shopping mall.

The metaphor of an online catalogue is also used by analogy with mail order catalogues. Online shopping is a type of electronic commerce used for business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions.

Buying online introduced new ways of reducing costs by reducing the number of staff needed. It is a more effective way of getting products to people and spreading into different demographics.

Benefits of online shopping

1. Bargaining power of consumers. They enjoy a wider choice.

2. Supplier power. It is more difficult for consumers to manage a non-digital channel.

3. Internet increases commoditisation or commercialisation.

4. Threat of new entrants. Online means it is easier to introduce new services with lower over-heads.

5. Threat of substitutes.

6. Rivalry among competitors. It is easier to introduce products and services to different markets.

7. Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day.

8. Searching or browsing an online catalogue can be faster than browsing the aisles of a physical store.

9. One advantage of shopping online is being able to quickly seek out deals for items or services with many different vendors.

10. Shoppers find a greater selection online in certain market segments (for example, computers and consumer electronics) and in some cases lower prices. This is due to a relaxation of certain constraints, such as the size of a "brick-and-mortar" store, lower stocking costs and lower staffing overhead.

11. Shipping costs reduce the price advantage of online merchandise.

A weakness of online shopping is that even if a purchase can be made 24 hours a day, the customer must often be at home during normal business hours to accept the delivery. For many professionals this can be difficult, and absence at the time of delivery can result in delays, or in some cases, return of the item to the retailer.

In the event of a problem with the item - it is not what the consumer ordered, or it is not what they expected - consumers are concerned with the ease with which they can return an item for the correct one or for a refund. Consumers may need to contact the retailer, visit the post office and pay return shipping, and then wait for a replacement or refund. Some online companies have more generously return policies to compensate for the traditional advantage of physical stores.

Online stores must describe products for sale with text, photos, and multimedia files, whereas in a physical retail store, the actual product and the manufacturer's packaging will be available for direct inspection (which might involve a test drive, fitting, or other experimentation).

Some stores even allow customers to comment or rate their items. There are also dedicated review sites that host user reviews for different products. In a conventional retail store, clerks are generally available to answer questions. Some online stores have real-time chat features, but most rely on e-mail or phone calls to handle customer questions.

The idea of online shopping predates the World Wide Web but got impetus only in 1990 Tim Berners-Lee created the first World Wide Web server and browser. In 1992, Charles Stack created the first online book store, Book Stacks Unlimited (aka Books.com), two years before Jeff Bezos started Amazon.

In 1994 other advances took place, such as online banking and the opening of an online pizza shop by Pizza Hut. During that same year, Netscape introduced SSL encryption of data transferred online, which has become essential for secure online shopping. In 1995, Amazon expanded its online shopping, and in 1996 e-bay appeared.

In general, shopping has always catered to middle class and upper class women. In recent years, online shopping is becoming popular. In order to shop online, one must be able to have access to a computer, a bank account and a debit card or a credit card. Shopping has evolved with the growth of technology. The higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping is.

Word of mouth has become a leading way by which people find shopping websites. When an online shopper has a good first experience with a certain website, 60 per cent of the time they will return to that website to buy more.

Books are one of the things bought most online. However, clothes, shoes and accessories are also very popular things bought online. Cosmetics, nutrition products and groceries are increasingly being purchased online. About one fourth of travellers buy their plane tickets online because it is a quick and easy way to compare airline travel and make a purchase.

From a sociological perspective, online shopping is arguably the most predictable way to shop. One knows exactly what website to go to, how much the product will cost, and how long it will take for the product to reach them. Online shopping has become extremely routine and predictable, which is one of its great appeals to the consumer.

Online shoppers commonly use credit card to make payments, however, some systems enable users to create accounts and pay by alternative mean. The financial part of a transaction might be processed in real time (for example, letting the consumer know their credit card was declined before they log off), or might be done later as part of the fulfilment process. Credit cards are currently the most popular means of paying for online goods and services.

Once a payment has been accepted the goods or services can be delivered in the following ways.

l Download: This is the method often used for digital media products such as software, music, movies, or images.

l Shipping: The product is shipped to the customer's address.

l In the case of buying an admission ticket, one may get a code, or a ticket that can be printed out. At the premises, it is made sure that the same right of admission is not used twice.

It is important to take the country and customers into account. For example, in Japan, privacy is very important and emotional involvement is more important on a pension’s site than on a shopping site. Next to that, there is a difference in experience: experienced users focus more on the variables that directly influence the task, while novice users are focusing more on understanding the information.

When the customers want to the online shop, a couple of factors determine whether they will return to the site. The most important factors are the ease of use and the presence of user-friendly features.

The writer is an editor with Instablogs.com (anilm@instablogs.com)