News

IndianExpress:  CITY-based activists from the nationwide Campaign Against Child Labour reacted sharply to Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury’s criticism of the blanket ban on child labour.

And they plan to write to her in this regard.

Panning Chowdhury’s statement as “unfortunate and irresponsible,” activists who have been rooting for a ban on child labour in every form believe the minister’s take may render ineffective the October 10 strictures passed by the Centre, which make redundant employment traditionally considered “safe” for the children — be it washing and clearing up at restaurants or working as domestic helps.

Chowdhury said she wanted the ban on child labour eased in order to allow children to pick up traditional arts and crafts and work within the structure of the family. She also criticised international laws banning the purchase of products made by child labour as “insensitive to region-specific issues.”

IndianExpress: BLAST took place on the footpath outside the Sukhwani Palace building near Jijamata Hospital in Pimpri on Monday evening. Nobody was injured in the blast and no damage to property was reported.

Police commissioner D N Jadhav, who was among the first ones to rush to the spot after receiving the reports about the blast said, “Prima facie, it was explosion of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The residents who spotted the IED claim that a timer devise was attached to it.”

However, he refused to comment on the explosive substance used, intensity of the blast and who could be involved in planting the explosive at the four-storied residential building in middle-class dominated area in the heart of Pimpri where seven families stay. “These questions can be answered only after the explosives experts submit their report,” he said.

IndianExpress:  AFTER being in the opposition for the last 15 years, the Bhartiya Janata Party once again claimed victory in the Talegaon Municipal Council by winning 14 of the 23 seats.

The BJP had ruled Talegaon for 29 continuous years before it lost to the Shahar Vikas Aghadi comprising the Congress, NCP and Republican Party of India, 15 years ago.

In the current elections, the SVA had to be satisfied with only 9 seats. The BJP captured 8 of the 10 seats in the Talegaon station area as opposed to only 1 last year. In the village area, the BJP won six of the 13 seats while the SVA won seven seats.

Due to the introduction of electronic voting machines for the first time in TMC, counting of votes took less than two hours

IndianExpress: THEIR morchas and protests have failed. Women from Mahadevnagar, Manjri have now decided to approach district guardian minister Ajit Pawar for a solution to irregular and insufficient water supply.

Residents complained that water was being supplied to Manjri at the gap of 20 days for a short time of 10 to 15 minutes. “We pay money in groups and bring in tankers. This is going on for the past two years,” said Anjana More, a resident. Another resident Shalini Ubale added that residents have to travel up to Hadapsar to fill water from public taps.

Mahadevnagar falls in Manjri village, which is situated five km outside the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits. While the PMC supplies water to Manjri, the distribution is done by the gram panchayat.

IndianExpress: PUNE-based sociologist Sharmila Rege has been chosen by Chennai’s Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) for the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for distinguished contribution to development studies. Rege, who is head of the Department of Sociology, University of Pune, will receive the award on November 21 at a function held at MIDS, Chennai.

At the award function, Rege will receive a citation and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. As is customary for all awardees, she will deliver the Malcolm Adiseshiah Memorial Lecture on inequalities in higher education. Rege has chosen the topic ‘Dalit Studies as Pedagogical Practice’.

However, Rege sees no cause for celebration. “After the brutal Dalit killings in Khairlanji, I feel shamed to speak on the topic of Dalit Studies, and to receive this award as a representative of Maharashtra, which has always been revered for its strong Dalit movement led by stalwarts like Ambedkar and Phule,’’ she told Newsline.

TechTree: Microsoft India has unveiled its 2007 range of high-end input devices, including mice, keyboards, lifecams, and headsets.

Commenting on the launch, Mohit Anand, Country Manager of the Entertainment and Devices Division, Microsoft India, said, “Our singular aim is to provide a superlative PC experience to the performance-driven PC user who wants to derive maximum value from the input devices he or she uses at work, home, or on the go. We also take pride in sharing our entry into Integrated Communication Experience products like Webcams and Headsets, giving our users richer communication experiences.”

The input devices launched include: a ‘four-in-one’ mouse, Wireless Notebook  Presenter Mouse 8000, Microsoft Habu, ‘high quality still photography’ LifeCam NX-6000, and Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000, amongst others.

The Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000 functions as a Bluetooth laser notebook mouse, slide presenter, laser and digital pointer, and media remote.

TechTree: BenQ has launched two DVD Re-writers; the DW 1800 and the DW 1680.

The DW 1800 and the DW 1680 sport writing speeds of 18x and 16x respectively; both incorporate the BenQ SolidBurn technology as well as the QSuite application package.

BenQ’s SolidBurn technology deploys a smart self-learning writing strategy algorithm that does away with the need for frequent firmware downloads. The output of this algorithm is a writing strategy with optimal jitter value.

Meanwhile, the QSuite application package provides easy settings to activate or deactivate the SolidBurn technology and other convenient functions such as Book type Management function for better DVD compatibility, QScan function for optimized over-speed burning quality, and Test Write function for writing simulation.

TechTree: Asus India has launched the Asus Lamborghini Notebook  in the Indian market, a limited edition model based on the partnership between Asus and automobile manufacturer, Automobili Lamborghini.

The Asus-Lamborghini VX1 notebook series, according to the two companies, is the ultimate fusion of Information Technology and Automobile Technology.

Andrew Tsui, Managing Director of Asus India, said, “The Asus Lamborghini notebook captures the true spirit of automobile lovers and technology enthusiasts who are keen to own unparalleled luxury. This limited edition notebook will be a unique offering to notebook owners, who prefer to have not just a notebook but to make their style statement.”

TechNewsWorld: Webroot Software, known for its anti-spyware program Spy Sweeper, is bringing back a product to help parents limit where and how long their children go online.

Child Safe joins Web filtering programs like Net Nanny, CYBERsitter and ContentProtect in the parental-control arena.

The program is listed for US$39.95 for a one-year subscription for use on up to three computers.

One of Webroot’s early products was a similar program, but it was discontinued because demand at the time wasn’t heavy
 
Child Safe allows parents to create profiles for each computer user, and then set what sites or types of sites each profile can visit and when.