Saturday 19 July 2014

WILL OR NOMINEE? WHO INHERITS YOUR PROPERTY AFTER YOUR DEMISE?

WRITING A WILL
 
 Very Important - Please Read, Understand & Action

 Will your Nominee get the money on your death ?
 Did you think that your nominee is the person, who will get all the money legally from your Life Insurance Policy and Mutual funds investments? Ha! That is exactly what you think if you are not aware of the legal aspects. We assume a lot of things which sounds like they are obvious, but are not true from the legal point of view. Today, we all concentrate on nominations in financial products.
 
For whom are we earning? For whom are we investing? Who, do we want to leave all our wealth to, in case something happens to us? It might be your children, your spouse, parents, siblings etc., or just a subset of these. You also might want to exclude some people from your list of beneficiaries!. So you think you will nominate person X in your Insurance policy, and when you are dead and gone, all the money goes to person X and he/she becomes the sole owner? You are wrong, dude ! It does not work that way. Let us see how it actually does!
 
What is a nominee ?
 
According to law, a nominee is a trustee not the owner of the assets. In other words, he is only a caretaker of your assets. The nominee will only hold your money/asset as a trustee and will be legally bound to transfer it to the legal heirs. For most investments, a legal heir is entitled to the deceased’s assets. For instance, Section 39 of the Insurance Act says the appointed nominee will be paid, though he may not be the legal heir. The nominee, in turn, is supposed to hold the proceeds in trust and the legal heir can claim the money.
 
A legal heir will be the one whose is mentioned in the will. However, if a will is not made, then the legal heirs of the assets are decided according to the succession laws, where the structure is predefined on who gets how much. For example, if a man during his lifetime executes a will. In the will, he mentions his wife and children as legal heirs, then after his death, his wife and children are the legal owners of his assets. It is essential that one needs to execute a will. It is the ultimate source of truth and replaces the succession law. Nominee can also be one of the legal heirs.
 
Important
·         Mention the Full Name, Address, age, relationship to yourself of the nominee.
·         Do not write the nomination in favour of wife and children as a class. Give their specific names and particulars existing at that moment.
·         If the nominee is a minor, appoint a person who is a major as an appointee giving his full name, age, address and relationship to the nominee.
 
Why is the concept of nominee ?
 
So you might be wondering, if the nominee does not become the sole owner, why does such a concept of a nominee exist at all? It  is pretty simple. When you die, you want to make sure that the Insurance company, Mutual fund or your shares should at least get out of the companies and go to someone you trust, and who can further help, in process of passing it to your legal heirs.
Otherwise, if a person dies and has not nominated anyone, your legal heirs will have to go through the process of producing all kind of certificates like death certificates, proof of relation etc., not to mention that the whole process is really cumbersome! (For each legal entity! The insurance company, the mutual funds, for the shares, for the real estate..) . So, to simplify, if a nominee exists, these hassles do not happen, since the company is bound to transfer all your money or assets to the nominee. The company the goes out of scene & then, it is between nominee and legal heirs.
 
Example of Nomination
 
Ajay was 58 years old who died recently in an accident. As his children were settled, he wanted to make sure that his wife is the sole owner of all the monetary assets. This includes his insurance policy and mutual funds. So during his lifetime, he nominated his wife as a nominee in his term insurance policy and mutual funds investments. However, after Ajay’s death things did not turn up the way he wanted. The reason being Ajay did not leave a will. Though his wife was the nominee in all his movable assets, as per the law, his wife, along with children, were the legal heirs and all of them had equal right to Ajay’s assets.
One simple step which could have saved the situation was that Ajay should have made a will which clearly stated that only his wife was entitled to get all the money and not his children.
 
Nomination in Life Insurance
 
A policyholder can appoint multiple nominees and can also specify their shares in the policy proceeds. Nomination in life insurance has one limitation, as insurance policies are bought to secure your financial dependents, your first choice of nominee has to be your family members. In case you want to nominate a non-family member like a friend or third party, you will have to show/PROVE the insurance company that there is some insurable interest for the person. This happens because of a Clause called PRINCIPAL OF INSURABLE INTEREST in insurance. Note that provision of nomination in life insurance is related to Section 39 of the Insurance Act.
 
Note that as per LIC website –
 
Nomination is a right conferred on the holder of a Policy of Life Assurance on his own life to appoint a person/s to receive policy moneys in the event of the policy becoming a claim by the assured’s death. The Nominee does not get any other benefit except to receive the policy moneys on the death of the Life Assured. A nomination may be changed or cancelled by the life assured whenever he likes without the consent of the Nominee.
Make sure, you have a nominee for your policy for easy settlement of the claim, if you do not have any nominee mentioned in the policy, it can turn out to be a disaster for your dependents to get a claim.
 
Nomination in Mutual funds
 
In case of mutual funds, you can nominate up to three people, who can be registered at the time of purchasing the units. While filling in the application form, there is a provision to fill in the nomination details. Even a minor can be a nominee, provided the guardian is specified in the nomination form. You can also change nomination later by filling up a form which is available on the mutual fund company website. Nomination in mutual funds is at folio level and all units in the folio will be transferred to the nominee(s). If an investor makes a further investment in the same folio, the nomination is applicable to the new units also. A non-resident Indian can be a nominee, subject to the exchange control regulations in force from time to time.
 
Nomination in Shares
 
Quiz for you . Now you know what a nominee means and who actually gets the money. So if there is a husband H, with wife W and nephew N, and he has nominated his nephew N to be the nominee of his shares in demat account, who will have the legal right to own the shares after husband’s death? If you answer is wife, you are wrong in this case! In case of stocks, it does not work the usual way, if a will does not exist.
 
In the verdict, Justice Roshan Dalvi struck down a petition filed by Harsha Nitin Kokate, who was seeking permission to sell some shares held by her late husband. The Court noted that as she was not the nominee, she had no ownership rights over the shares. Ms Kokate’s lawyer had argued that as she was the heir of her husband who had died intestate (without a will), she should have ownership rights of the shares, and be able to do anything with them as she wished. In this case, Ms Kokate’s husband had nominated his nephew in favour of the shares. Justice Dalvi however noted that under the provisions of the Companies Act and the Depositories Act, Acts which govern the transfer of shares, the role of a nominee was different.
 
A reading of Section 109(A) of the Companies Act and 9.11 of the Depositories Act makes it abundantly clear that the intent of the nomination is to vest the property in the shares which includes the ownership rights there under in the nominee upon nomination validly made as per the procedure prescribed, as has been done in this case.
It means that if you have not written a will, anyone who has been nominated by you for your shares will be the ultimate owner of those stocks, The succession laws on inheritance will not be applicable but in case, you have made a will, that will be the source of truth.
 
Nomination in PPF
 
Let me give you some shock first. If you have Rs 10 lakh in your public provident fund (PPF) account and you have not nominated anyone for your PPF account, your legal heirs will get maximum of Rs1 lakh only! Yes, it is so important to have a nominee, now you get it . You can nominate one or more persons as nominee in PPF. Form F can be used to change or cancel a nomination for PPF. Also note that you cannot nominate anyone if you open an account for a minor.
 
Nomination in Saving/Current/FD/RD Account in Banks
 
FD’s also come with nomination facility. While opening a new account, there is a column for nomination in the same form and you should fill it. You can nominate two persons with first and second option. Note that in case you have not done any nomination till now, you should request Form No DA-1 from your Bank which is used to assign a nominee in future. (Examples of ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank , Canara Bank) . In the same way to change/cancel the nomination you need to fill up Form no DA-2. Read about Corporate Fixed Deposits
As per a famous case, A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha in an order said that the money lying deposited in the account of the original depositor should be distributed among the claimants in accordance with the Succession Act of the respective community and the nominee cannot claim any absolute right over it.
Section 45ZA(2)(Banking Regulation Act) merely put the nominee in the shoes of the depositor after his death and clothes him with the exclusive right to receive the money lying in the account. It gives him all the rights of the depositors so far as the depositors account is concerned. But it by no stretch of imagination make the nominee the owner of the money lying in the account, the Bench observed.
 
Conclusion
 
Now you know! Taking Personal finance for granted can be fatal Just investing knowledge, is not enough to have a great financial life. You also need to be well versed with basic legal aspects and make sure you carry out all due arrangement . Nomination is one important aspect you should seriously consider, when checking for the financial products you have bought or plan to buy in future.
 
Mistakes in Personal Finance
It’s important to make sure that your loved ones do not face legal issues and only say and think lovely thoughts about you when you are not around, rather than crib & grumble.
------------
A SUGGESTED DRAFT WILL
 
JOINT WILL OF ABC AND DEF
We, ABC and DEF, husband and wife, resident of..... . hereby declare this as our last WILL and testament.
We got married on..... according to ...... rites. We have.... children. Particulars of our children are as under:-
1.     GHI (son), Date of Birth.... He is currently residing at....
2.    JKL (son), Date of Birth.... He is currently residing at....
We, ABC and DEF, declare that in the eventuality of anyone of us predeceasing the other, we bequeath our property, both moveable and immoveable and of any nature whatsoever, to the survivor. He or she will have the sole ownership and rights and power of disposal.
We hereby appoint the survivor as EXECUTOR of this will.
Further, in the eventuality of us both dying within short span of each other or without the survivor making a WILL, we bequeath all our property, both moveable and immoveable and of any nature whatsoever, to be equally shared between our sons. For this purpose we appoint our son, GHI, as the EXECUTOR of this WILL.
In witness whereof, we ABC and DEF, have signed at ....... (place), on this ......... (date in words)   day of ....... (month in words), year 2014.
 
 
 
(ABC)                                                              (DEF)
Signed by the said ABC and DEF in the presence of us, present at the same time, who in their presence and presence of each other, sign as witnesses hereto.
 
 
(MNO)                                                                        (PQR)

Sunday 8 June 2014

Humility Makes the Man


 A Short Story About Abe Lincoln

This incident happened in USA around 1861 & changed USA forever making it "THE USA" -


Abraham Lincoln who was the son of a shoemaker and had became the President of America. Naturally all the aristocrats were tremendously disturbed, annoyed & irritated.


On the first day, when he was going to give his inaugural address to the Senate, just as he was going to stand up, one aristocrat stood up and he said "Mr. Lincoln although by some accident you have become the president of country, don't forget that you used to come with your father to my house to prepare shoes for our family. And there are many senators who are wearing the shoes made by your father"

He thought he could humiliate old Abe and put him in his proper place.


Abraham Lincoln said something which should be remembered by everyone.

He said "I am very grateful to you for reminding me of my father just before I give my address to the Senate. My father was a hard worker and a creative artist-there was no other man who could make such beautiful shoes. I know perfectly well that whatever I do, I will never be such a great president as he was a great creator. I can not surpass him.


By the way, I want to remind all you aristocrats that if the shoes made by my father are pinching you, I have also learned the art with him. I am not great shoemaker, but at least I can correct your shoes. You just inform me, I will come to your house".


There was a great silence in the Senate, senator understood that it was impossible to humiliate this person. Only small people, suffering from inferiority, can be humiliated; the greatest of human beings are beyond humiliation.


Similar rising/awakening is taking place in India where son of a tea seller is taking reins of India from one family who robbed & brought the country to this shameful state.


Lets join hands with this son of tea seller to make "THE INDIA", the Next Super Power within 60 months only.

This is a copy and not my English!


 

Friday 9 May 2014

SKIN PROBLEMS AND CREAMS THAT HELP


Top 10 Pigmentation Creams That Can Make Your Skin Flawless (via Style Craze)

Uneven skin tone and ugly patches are signs of pigmentation but don’t worry, you’re not the only one suffering from such skin nightmares. Skin pigmentation is a very common problem nowadays; but that doesn’t mean you can’t get rid of it. There…

Wednesday 30 April 2014

AMITABH BACHHAN'S SPEECH AT THE NDA


‘It would be a travesty against your honour but to speak plainly here among you. You are the ultimate guardians of our nation, our culture, our civilisation. As guardians, you are not only trained as preservers of our peace, but also as warriors for our battle. You are not only trained to protect life, but to take life, and give your own. Your vocation is our life and our death, both collectively and individually.’
‘The hard truth of the matter is that the military is the formal institution of the state for the conduct of violence. The military in a democracy is the formal institution of the state for the conduct of legitimateviolence.’
‘We can only have good government of a nation if its individuals first govern themselves well, follow the script of citizenry. Good government is thus mirror to good self-government. This brings good citizenship for all. And to be that citizen is to understand the value of self-discipline.’
‘Since ancient times, in a Democracy, the blueprint for human flourishing has always been that of the citizen-soldier, wherein freedom and self-discipline can only exist if allied to each other in the most strenuous embrace.’
‘Forgive me if I repeat myself, but I cannot impress upon you strongly enough the importance of self-discipline to the flourishing of our country and its freedoms. I would go to the extent of wishing your training as compulsory for all of us, for civilian life.’
‘Think carefully: there is a vast gulf between those two statements, because of one word: legitimacy.
The authority of legitimacy is given by that democracy, invested in you. It is given over on behalf of its citizens to you. It is a sacred responsibility and its weight that you have vowed to carry is the heavy burden of the exalted. It is a grave and noble endeavour when directed accordingly. When not, without legitimacy, it is tyranny.’
‘You of the National Defence Academy, you are exemplary model to our whole culture. In you, the example has been set.
For this reason, I here take the opportunity to remind you that as much as you are soldiers, you too are citizens of a dream.’
‘I spoke earlier of dreams. I spoke that both you and I share a common purpose in the pursuit of dreams. That dream which you have undertaken to perform for the sake of others is the dream of a democratic republic. The dream of democracy for our nation is the dream of a benevolent justice, a fairer and more equitable life for all citizens.
We have a dream. It is a dream of India.’
‘For ultimately, one doesn’t fight best for one’s country as a sheer geographical entity. One fights best for what that country stands for, for its dream.
And I want to see a great dream, a higher one, a stronger dream among us. I want to push that founding dream of Independence and take it further: march on it, sail it, fly with it. Inheritors as we are of long and magnificent civilizations, I want us to merit their legacy, to aim to meet their distinction, even surpass them if we can. This requires the kind of vision from us that may strain the imagination. Inheritors as we are of our own great civilizations, we now have the potential to reach beyond to the wider world to find that vision.’
‘For our world is now truly a global one, and now, more than ever before, the wealth of all its civilisations is our oyster. Its rich pearls are ours to partake in as we choose: they are ours to share.’
‘Think about it: I would like to put an example to you of what I mean.
Democracy itself was indeed a kind of ‘import’ to India to begin with. We looked out, beyond our shores, and saw that it was good. We took the good in it and made it our own, and the largest democracy on earth at that. If we have the cultural confidence to do such a thing, may we reach further, and again, for more.
The dream of democracy came from the world of the Ancient Greeks into modernity. It was imported and re-vamped first to Enlightenment Europe. Then the United States of America imported it for their own use and re-shaped it to their own needs, re-exporting it again back to Europe, where again it was adapted, and from there, to the rest of the world. Quite a circuitous route. Do we, now, think of democracy in India as a foreign imposition, an alien import? If so, from where, exactly? No: we claim it as our own.
But let us return to Ancient Greece for a moment, to another speck of dust that lodged itself in the shell of a civilisation, and encrusted, turned jewel.’
‘I would like to tell you a martial story that will amaze you. It is of Pergamon, an Ancient Greek civilisation that existed on the shores of present-day Turkey. This story is known because of a war memorial they left behind. It was to celebrate a victory over invading Celts, and they erected this monument at the very centre of their great city, before the temple to their gods. It consisted of a series of figures struggling against their mortal wounds, their accoutrement of war still in hand. They were beautiful, noble and defiant until their dying end. These figures of war, these warriors, were given the ultimate prize, immortalised in sculpture for the ages, to be held up above the citizenry in remembrance of their greatness.’
‘But here is the rub; here is what startles: these great warriors are depictions of the Celts, their enemy in battle, over whom the Pergamenes were soundly victorious.’
‘Think upon it, it is extraordinary. These people of Pergamon immortalised their enemy in noble memorial. These people were strong enough, confident enough in their own culture, to remember their own victorious dead by saying, “Our enemy was great and noble and died with dignity. In our victory over them, so we are all the greater, all the nobler, all the more dignified.” ’
‘To vilify one’s foe is to fear them: it ultimately dehumanizes both parties equally. True victory over one’s enemy is to conquer such fear. Fear and wrath: they blind, they betray good judgment, they poison the noble spirit. Pergamon did not make monsters of their enemy to defeat them: these were a people strong enough to acknowledge the dignity and humanity of their sworn foe despite war and death, for they knew that to make monsters of the enemy is to become monstrous oneself. Their victory was greater.’
‘The measure of true greatness of an individual, as much as of a country, is to understand this truth. Against such greatness, no adversary can ever win out, no other civilisation can overcome such a fatal embrace.’
‘I urge you to keep this example in mind in the present climate of fear against terrorist threat from within, and threat to our borders from without. If we are afraid, feel under threat, then we are already gravely weakened, for fear is the most powerful weapon an enemy can possess. Reflect upon the Pergamenes and their cultural confidence. Their greatest valour was the overcoming of such fear. We can do the same, we must do the same, if we want to win out.’
‘You in the Armed Forces have a more specific power, as the formal and embodied institution of the state for the conduct of legitimate violence.
The wisdom of force is that it is always more powerful as an idea, a potential, than an actuality. And force is always most powerful when it is has moral worth: legitimacy. The justice of good character as a moral entity is the greatest of disciplines in such a context. It is to marshal the mind to clarity against chaotic fear. It is to direct the heart to virtuous endeavour without wrath. It is to act with such a mind and heart. And that justice of good character then becomes an end in itself.
If we need you to protect our national character, then we need you more characterful than most.
If we need you to protect our civilisation, then we need you more civilized than most.
If we need you to protect our humanity, then we need you more humane than most.
If we need you to protect our dream of a nation, then we need you more idealistic than most.’
‘You are the elite of our military establishment. You will soon take up the grave weight of guarding its ethos. The very nature of your position as officers will require you not only to perform orders, but to make them.
As much as you have learned from your time here at the National Defence Academy, so it will be your duty to teach its lessons to those who perform your order. To command, to lead, is to educate, and through that education, bring true and enduring inspiration to those who follow you. The duty of all education is to pass it on. Pass it on, and you will bring honour with you, wherever you venture.’
‘I trust you to look to your own insignia, the symbol of the National Defence Academy, for there you will constantly re-discover your own meaning, value, inspiration. There you will find our dream, and your own as well.
The depiction of all three services – the crossed swords, the anchor and the Himalayan eagle – therein demonstrates the equality of camaraderie, fellowship, in fact, fraternity. The Ashoka capital, the symbol of ancient India and our new republic at once, remembers the persistence of our great civilisation and civilizing culture, and your vow to uphold it. ‘Sevo paramo Dharma’ is your dignity.
But the point of the symbol is in its unity. The unity of the mind, the body and the spirit; the individual and the collective; the dream and the actuality of legitimate violence; our past, our present, our future. The balance of parts that makes the whole.
Democracy itself only works to our benefit when it mirrors this unity: when we are a commonwealth of citizens and we understand the necessity of the balance of our various parts. Your unity of the Armed Forces likens the mind to the unity of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as the core of a democracy: each one can only exist and flourish in relation to the other two parts.
So symbols harness our manifold thoughts together in contemplation.
But symbols also teach. And they don’t just teach once. They teach perpetually, through the ages. Remember your symbols, hold them sacred, revere them, for their meaning endures beyond our own brief mortality. We are all humble before them and equal in humility, for meaning is what endures before us and beyond us: it is our greatest heritage and will be our greatest legacy.
Symbols teach us to be ourselves, to remain ourselves, to endure ourselves, to act ourselves, to perform ourselves, together.
Your insignia, your emblem, that of the Academy, is not finished with you yet, though many of you will soon depart to your separate futures. Keep your emblem close, and you will be taught again and again. Being taught, so you must go out and teach by word and example, for when you leave the Academy, you become part of that insignia, symbol yourselves.’
‘Your duty, your dharma, is not a given. It is not any particular order, directive, institution, structure. The military can give you your vocation in life, meaning, cause, so many other things of untold value. But as an individual, your dharma is ultimately your own duty alone and you will forever be answerable to your own conscience: it is your ultimate judge of merit as a human being.’
‘You have your duty as a military officer. More so you have your duty as a citizen of India. But ultimately, you have your duty as a human being. Your greatest duty is to live all three together with good conscience, in good character, and daily, with vigilance. It is a formidable task for any of us, but the good one, the right one, the path of dignity.
Then you will serve yourselves, your profession, and your country as one.
This is our dream. Be it, live it, do it. ‘
…. And then ending it all with the inspirational ‘AgniPath’.
I felt proud. I felt statesmanlike. I felt I missed being in such an institute !!
Major Mohan Kumar, who was put in charge of receiving and dropping me off was a qualified ex cadet of the institute, now brought down through recognized qualification to conduct activities among the cadets – a position of great envy, I am told. This is a prestige appointment and the Major felt happy and proud to be worthy to be positioned back. He had served with distinction in Kashmir fighting the insurgents and narrated many incidents of him and his team on mission. But the one that alarmed me most was the revelation, that, the army follows a given ethical code of warfare, even when they fight intruders. The insurgents do not wear uniform and therefore do not qualify as an army as such. But if they carry a weapon then the army has the right to attack them. However, the ethics in civilian war of this kind is that they are not to open fire until the enemy does so. So the forces wait in the most difficult terrain and circumstances till such act occurs. The other factor is that if the militant after opening fire were to drop his weapon, the army cannot attack him, for he, because of his disposition, then becomes a civilian and the civilian as per ethics of the armed forces cannot be attacked or fired upon. The ultimate results therefore are that the army become sitting ducks almost at the guile and mercy of the insurgent. The loss of personnel, officers and jawans of the forces then becomes an imminent factor for consideration. We lose our men in these grave circumstances, in excess of what they would, in fair and rightful warfare.
What an unfair disadvantage !!
It has been unfair too on my part to have kept you so long and in such severe circumstances.
Rest well dear ones … for me the night at 1:42 is still young and … twitterable !!
Love and much much more .. salut`e

Friday 14 March 2014

TIME TO LEAVE NDA

THE PASSING OUT PARADE


Squadron spirit was essential. They would all go to cheer the Squadron Teams whenever a match was in progress. As a good all-round athlete, he had played Football, Hockey, Squash and Tennis for the Squadron, right from his first term. They would be cheered as a team, even with first termers playing. The Squadron fund would pay for their post match soft refreshments like Cokes and peanuts. Camaraderie was built up this way, to stand them in good stead later. The NDA stamp was all embracing, the very word establishing rapport. Yes, those were the formative years that had developed in him a sense of belonging to his unit, whichever it be. This was the most enduring of relationships, which would continue life-long. In fact, there was an occasion when the three Service Chiefs were course-mates from their salad days.

His three year stay had passed off so rapidly that many occurrences had been forgotten. Ragging and punishment was history, condemned to the remotest corner of one's brain. The change of stream was the wisest decision of his life, even though his Naval course-mates were Commissioned one full year before him while the Army cadets had gained six months over him, their Commissioning being that much earlier. One never thought about such mundane things; it was infra dig. He had been appointed the SCC of his Squadron, a matter of great pride, as he had excelled in sports and done fairly well in Academics.

But he got his greatest thrills in Gliding. They were flying the venerable British Sedbergh T-21B Glider, and were allowed a total of sixty launches before appearing for a Solo Check with the Flight Commander, where one either failed passed. The check consisted of two Sorties, the second being a test of reflexes in case of any failures, like the tow-line attached to the winch snapping during the climb out, etc. He had passed and was presented his wings by the Flight Commander. He had shown great promise and flew five dual sorties with his instructor pilot, who then cleared him for three solo sorties, all on the same T-21B, with a 60 Kilo pack as ballast in the vacant seat. He was the only cadet permitted to fly the Eon Baby, an aerobatic single-seat ultra-light glider. He recalled hitting a thermal and climbing upto 6,000 feet above ground, 5,000 feet higher than he had ever been before. NDA when seen from the air was a magnificent spectacle. Seeing the historic fort of Sinhagad below him was yet another truly awe-inspiring picture. From that day onwards, he had decided that he would become a fighter pilot. 

He remembered his Passing-out Parade with nostalgia. As the SCC, he commanded his Squadron through the parade till it was time to separate from his boys and line up in sixes to march up towards the 'Quarter Deck' as the large dais was called. There was a mast with sails, much like the ships of the past. The National Flag fluttered with glory at the peak and the NDA Flag was one level below it, followed by the Colours of each Squadron. He remembered the final salute as they reached abeam the Mast, marching past in Slow Order. The other Cadets also marched away in Slow Order and the view from Big Ben showed the symmetry of the two lots of Cadets marching away from each other. This view was truly magnificent, to say the least.

The rest of the day went in a haze, with felicitations all round. He had taken his parents to meet the Commandant of the Academy, a two-star General in those days. They also met the Home Minister who had presided over the Parade and taken the Salute. How they reached home remained a blur in the distant past, travelling with proud parents who recounted the experience of the three days that they had spent in the NDA with their son. First the round of the Campus in a coach, with a smartly dressed cadet as guide and historian, boating on Khadakwasla Lake, the three-hour Cultural Show, the Dinner Night, the Polo match and the various displays put up by the other Cadets for their benefit.  What a dream that was, all of forty-five years ago.



Thursday 13 March 2014

ANYONE CAN WRITE BLOGS


Anyone can start a blog but not everyone knows how to write a blog people actually want to read. What can bloggers do to keep visitors coming back for more again and again after their initial visit? Every effort on your blog impacts your readers from your content to your design and everything in between. Take a look below for more insight into how to write a blog people want to read.

Elements and Features of a Blog People Want to Read

The most important part of any blog is what you have to say and how you say it. People will return to your blog if they like what you write about a specific subject and they like your writing style. With that in mind, your blog should be written in a tone appropriate to your blog topic. Keep it personable so as to invite interaction through blog comments and links back to your blog from other bloggers who like what you write. Here are some more articles to help you create the elements and features of your blog that will make people more likely to return:

  • Create Your Blog's Home Page
  • Making Your "About Me" Page Shine                                             

    Writing Blog Posts

    Writing blog posts people want to read is a matter of speaking honestly and openly about a subject you're passionate about. The more you promote your blog, the more people will find it and the greater likelihood that some of those people will read what you have to say, like it, and return. Therefore, your blog posts need to be dynamic, interesting and enjoyable. Take a look at the following articles for more information and tips to help you write great blog posts:
     

    Introduction to a Blog Post:

    A blog post is the most important part of your blog. Your posts are the entries that take up at least 75% of the screen space on your blog's site. Blog posts appear in reverse chronological order, so your blog stays timely, fresh and meaningful to visitors. It's your current content (in the form of blog posts) that will keep readers coming back to your blog again and again to read what you have to say about your blog's topic. 


    The title of your post is basically a headline. It is meant to lure readers in and entice them to read more. At the same time, blog titles are a useful tool in terms of search engine optimization. Search engines value titles strongly in ranking results and using popular keywords in your blog titles can help drive traffic to your blog. Just be careful to use keywords that are relevant to your blog post's content else your title could be considered spam by search engines and negatively affect the traffic sent to your blog.

    Blog Post Publication Date:

    Since blogs are most successful when they are updated frequently and provide timely content, readers will check the publication dates of your posts to determine the value of your blog. Blog posts that are published erratically with long gaps of time between posts are typically considered to be less valuable than blogs that offer more current and consistent posts.

    Blog Post Author Byline:

    The blog post's author byline is important to identify who wrote each post and is particularly important for blogs that are written by multiple authors. Furthermore, the author byline typically provides a link to your About Me page, which provides additional promotion for you and your blog.

    Images in Blog Posts:

    Images provide more than just color and visual relief from text heavy web pages on a blog. They also act as another way you can drive traffic to your blog. Many people perform keyword searches through search engines for the purpose of finding images and pictures online. By strategically naming the images you use in your blog posts to match relevant keyword searches, you can drive some of that image search traffic to your blog. Just make sure the images you use enhance your blog rather than detract from your blog and confuse your readers.

    Links and Trackbacks in Blog Posts:

    Most blog posts include links within the content of the post. Those links are used for two purposes. First, links are used to cite an original source of information or an idea used in a blog post or to provide additional information beyond the scope of your post. Second, they provide a breadcrumb trail and a tap on the shoulder to bloggers whose posts you are linking to in the form of a trackback. A trackback generates a link on the blog you're linking to in your post, which acts as an additional source of traffic to your blog as readers on that blog are likely to click on the trackback link and find your blog.

    Blog Post Comment Section:

    Aside from your blog post content, blog comments are the most important part of your blog. Comments are where your readers have an opportunity to join the conversation. It's essential to the success of your blog that you respond to the comments left by your readers to show you value them and to further build the two-way conversation on your blog and the sense of community your blog creates.
    This post is cross-linked with genelius