Archive for April 6, 2007
April 6, 2007 at 7:32 am
· City
indianexpress: If there’s anything that makes the April heat bearable, it’s the advent of the much awaited mango season in the State.
However this year mango lovers are in for a bit of a disappointment as the production of king of mangoes, alphonso, is expected to be the lowest in the last five years in the Konkan belt this year. With a slump in mango production on the cards in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well, there will be additional pressure on the price line. What this will translate to is considerably less fruit in the market and at much higher rates this summer.
“We expect the prices of mangoes to be about 25 percent higher this year as the crop is much less this time,’’ said Sunil Pawar, general manager Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board (MSAMB). According to him mango growers in Ratnagiri and Devgarh have reported low yields of hapus due to a combination of factors like heavy and unseasonal rain in the belt last year and frequent temperature fluctuations leading to a delayed season.
The other culprit, is the excessive use of a certain fertiliser called Kaltar, used to obviate the alternate crop bearing cycle and push ahead with consistent production every year has resulted in the weakening of trees over the years, said YD Khavle, managing director MSAMB. With over two lakh hectares under hapus cultivation, the Konkan region yields around five lakh tonnes of the fruit every season.
“Usually by this time we get a truckload of mango boxes every day. Against this, this year we are getting one truck in four days. This itself is indicative of the season ahead,” pointed out Vasant Desai, proprietor, Desai Bandhu Ambewale that have been in the business for the past 50 years and are currently selling Alphonso mangoes at Rs 600-1200 per dozen.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:31 am
· City
indianexpress: THE Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Thursday demolished an under-construction building at Bund Garden for violating Floor Space Index (FSI) norms. Action was taken against Omkar Heights, plot number 279, 280 which is a part of the Sangamwadi Town Planning Scheme. PMC demolished 5,000 sq feet of the building’s ‘A’ wing.
The construction was already a matter of dispute between the owner of the land — Satish Tilekar and Omkar Developers and Builders over power of attorney.
The civil court had even issued a stay order in the matter. Moreover, the PMC’s building control department had earlier issued show cause notices, stop work notice, a warning and final order to stop work of the building. “The developer had permission of construction upto 1 FSI. However, he had used additional 0.4 FSI, although he hadn’t acquired the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for the same,” said development engineer S K Thorat.
Civic officials said despite regular notices and warnings, the developers paid no heed to get the FSI regularised. “The developer did not even apply for TDR to regularise the use of additional FSI,” the official said.
Construction of ‘B’ and ‘C’ wings of Omkar Heights is already completed and occupied by residents although the developer is yet to acquire a completion certificate. Both these wings consist of 5 floors. However, the part of A wing that was on the front side of the road was of 6 floors and was therefore demolished. The other part of the A wing on the back side is of 5 floors.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:30 am
· City
indianexpress: THE city survey of the 23 villages merged with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in 1997 is set to begin in the last week of May rekindling hopes of planned development along the city fringes.
The office of settlement commissioner and directorate of land records here will conduct the exercise through private agencies that will have to qualify on manpower and equipment criterion. The challenge ahead is mammoth.
“A total area of 6,700 hectares comprising 2,40,540 properties will be surveyed at an estimated cost of Rs 6.23 crore,” said settlement commissioner and director of land records T C Benjamin. The cost will come to Rs 2.59 paise per property or Rs 6,362 per hectare.
Benjamin said he is looking to hire four agencies with the approval of the PMC’s standing committee. This was after the state revenue department got approval for hiring private agencies through a notification dated March 17.
The PMC had on July 3, 2006, requested the office of settlement commissioner and directorate of land records to prepare a proposal, which was readied and sent to the State government for approval on September 14, 2006.
Earlier, bowing to demand from citizens groups and recommendations of the Centre for Advance Development Computing (C-DAC), the PMC’s planning committee, set up for finalisation of draft development plan (DP) for the merged villages, had banned constructions on the hills and along the banks of the rivers
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April 6, 2007 at 7:29 am
· City
indianexpress: THE octroi department of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has created a new record in its revenue collection. For a target of Rs 600 crore set for 2006-2007, the department has collected Rs 672 crore for the financial year ending March 31.
In 2005-2006, it had collected Rs 525 crore which was said to be the highest revenue collection in the history of the civic body. But for 2006-2007, the collection of Rs 672 octroi revenue is Rs 147 crore more compared to the figures of 2005-2006.
Assistant municipal commissioner Vijaysinh Deshmukh, who heads the octroi department, attributed the high revenue collection primarily to tightening of system at octroi posts and meticulous checking of current accounts of industrial units.
Last year, at its 22 octroi posts, the department had collected Rs 157 crore revenue which has jumped to Rs 257 crore this fiscal. Similarly, company accounts had earned PCMC a revenue of Rs 364 crore last year.
This year, the collection from companies has soared to Rs 448 crore. “The flying squad has also improved its performance while the collection of octroi on liquor too has done better than the past,” Deshmukh said.
He said the department has pursued court cases against defaulting companies vigorously, which has led to the rise in revenue collection. “But we laid more stress on ensuring smooth functioning of the octroi posts. Past mistakes were rectified and deficiencies of checking system removed,” he said.
Deshmukh also said that from the next fiscal, the PCMC has decided to outsource some of its work.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:28 am
· City
indianexpress: IRKED by claims that political leaders marred action on hawkers — due to a large political votebank — 12 corporators from the Karvenagar area have taken the initiative to encourage civic authorities to make the area encroachment free.
Now turning the tables at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the corporators have said, “If no action is taken on hawkers, then we will hold the civic authorities accountable.”
The corporators from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena unanimously took this decision on Thursday. “There will be no political pressure on the civic officials when they initiate action against the hawkers,” said Shiv Sena leader Shyam Deshpande.
The drive of evacuating the hawkers from Karve road, Kothrud, Warje, Paud road all the way up to Chandni Chowk will begin from Monday.
These corporators met in the wake of the ‘no-hawkers zone’ move initiated by the PMC on 30 major roads in the city.
BJP’s Ujjwal Keskar said walking on footpaths is the right of pedestrians. However, due to the presence of stalls and hawkers, this right is being taken away. “Since the PMC has already begun taking the action on hawkers, we want our area to be the first to be encroachment free,” he said.
To ensure that the hawkers do not return to their respective businesses, the civic squad will take daily action for eight days. “We will give the permanent staff in the area the go-ahead to take regular action. Moreover the seized goods and handcarts will not be released,” said deputy municipal commissioner (special) Dnyandeo Thube.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:27 am
· City
indianexpress: GIVING a major fillip to students aiming at higher education in France, the French Embassy has announced 300 scholarships in higher education in various areas including journalism and design.
“Based on a decision taken by the French Government in December 2006, more money will be spent improving cultural relations with India. Thus we have introduced 50 per cent more scholarships. There will be 300 scholarships this year, as against 200 last year,” said the Co-operation and Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy Philippe Martinet, in the city to visit the various educational institutes.
Journalism and design (from fashion to industrial design) will be priority areas for these scholarships, with 12 scholarships in each area. Apart from this, efforts will be made to boost relations between the Indian and French film industry by increasing the number of Indian students going to film schools in France.
There will also be an increase in engineering scholarships at the IITs, where there has been a threefold rise in scholarship applications.
Apart from this, ties with the University of Pune will be strengthened. “The university already is in the process of signing an MoU with three French universities specialising in various fields,” said Martinet.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:23 am
· Technology
techtree: Apple Computer has reportedly unveiled two new Mac Pro desktops equipped with the world’s first 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon processors.
The 8-core Mac Pro offers the power of two Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 series processors with 3.0GHz, and runs up to 2x faster than the Power Mac G5 Quad.
According to the company spokesperson, the 8-core Mac Pro gives Pro software developers a platform to prepare new versions of their applications for the future, when 8-core technology is expected to be more prevalent on the desktop.
The 8-core Mac Pro configuration includes: two 3.0GHz quad-core Intel Xeon 5300 series processors, 8MB of L2 cache per processor (16MB), 667MHz DDR2 ECC fully buffered DIMM (FB-DIMM) memory, eight FB-DIMM slots on two memory riser cards (four slots per card) supporting up to 16GB of RAM, 256-bit-wide memory architecture, and 1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses.
In addition, the 8-core Mac Pros include 16-lane PCI Express graphics slot with the option to install an Nvidia GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB of GDDR2 SDRAM, one single-link DVI port, and one dual-link DVI port; an ATI Radeon X1900 XT with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM and two dual-link DVI ports; or an Nvidia Quadro FX 4500 with 512MB of GDDR3 SDRAM, two dual-link DVI ports, and one stereo 3D port.
Mac Pro accommodates up to four drives and 3TB of storage, and provides up to two SuperDrives. It also gives four PCI Express slots, lots of I/O options for ultimate flexibility, and direct-attach hard drive bays. The new Mac Pros also feature AirPort Extreme wireless ready and optional Bluetooth 2.0 support.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:22 am
· Technology
techtree: APC has announced the launch of its family of adapters recommended for staying connected while traveling. The ‘International Notebook Plug Adapter’ (INPA) and the ‘TravelPower Adapter with International Plug Kit’ (TPA90DCI).
The International Notebook Plug Adapter (INPA), is a compact plug adapter that fits virtually into any socket.
The product is compatible with any laptop, and sports a height of 1.02 inches, width 4.21 inches, and weight 0.09 kg. It comes with a standard one year warranty.
Pankaj Sharma, Country Manager, APC India, said, “These adapters are certainly very useful to all those who are on the move, and travel across the world on work or otherwise. These adaptors make connectivity possible across the world, at any plug in points. They can be used with all mobile devices. Besides, they are compact and can fit into notebook cases easily.”
Whereas, TravelPower Adapter with International Plug Kit (TPA90DCI) is a versatile laptop power adapter that can simultaneously charge a mobile phone handheld PDA and a laptop anytime, from anywhere.
The TPA90DCI comes with a 2 prong attachment, 4 international Plug Adapters, Adapter Tips, Airline Adapter, Automotive Adapter, Single Power Source, Universal Notebook Power Adapter, and USB charging ports.
APC adapters come in five models. The TPA90DCI is available for a MRP of Rs 6,779, and comes with a 2 year warranty.
INPA is available for Rs 883 with 1 year warranty; UPB60I is shipping for Rs 13,559 with 1 year warranty; UPB10i for Rs 3,898 with 1 year warranty; and PNOTEBXI for Rs 235, along with a 2 year warranty.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:19 am
· Technology
techtree: Epson has announced developing a thin-film Piezo element with what it claims is the world’s highest degree of distortion through film thickness reduction and materials development.
Epson’s original Micro Piezo technology uses electrical signals to change the shape of Piezo elements, and then fires ink droplets according to the physical force generated by shape changing.
Compared to other inkjet systems, Micro Piezo technology offers superior ink ejection performance, compatibility with a wide variety of inks, and durability. As a result, this technology is already being utilized effectively in various fields such as photo lab printing, digital printing, textile printing, and color filter manufacturing.
Epson says it is currently focusing on creating a next-generation Micro Piezo print head to support expansion of the inkjet field beyond consumer printers, and to strengthen its applications for business and industry.
The company has already been successful in raising density levels by developing and utilizing innovative thin-film processing techniques. They have also designed a high-density ink reservoir through independent MEMS technology development.
As a result, Epson has managed to develop a nozzle with a density of 360 dpi, the world’s highest for an Inkjet print head using Piezoelectric technology, while maintaining the advantages of conventional Micro Piezo print heads.
The company believes installation of these next-generation Micro Piezo print heads in printers and other devices will make it possible to design speedier and more compact inkjet equipment than ever before.
The mass production of next-generation Micro Piezo print heads featuring these elements as actuators will begin this month.
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April 6, 2007 at 7:17 am
· Technology
cnet: IBM, Cisco Systems and other powerful computing companies have allied to create a version of the Fibre Channel storage networking technology that runs over more ordinary Ethernet networks.
Fibre Channel is common among high-end customers as a way to connect servers to storage devices, a technology called a storage area network (SAN). But doing so requires separate Fibre Channel cables, network switches and server adapter cards–and administrators who understand it.
By employing Fibre Channel to the ubiquitous Ethernet technology, the allies hope to expand its use, said Mike Smith, executive vice president of worldwide marketing at Emulex, one of the companies behind the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCOE) effort.
“There are a lot of users who like Fibre Channel but want to find a different way to expand use of SAN-attached storage,” Smith said. One such attempt has come through technology called iSCSI, but Fibre Channel over Ethernet will offer faster performance and reliability, Smith argued.
Several influential companies established a working group in the Fibre Channel standards group to create the technology. “Cisco and IBM are two preeminent drivers for this,” Smith said. Other backers are Emulex, Intel, Sun Microsystems, Brocade, QLogic, EMC and a Cisco-funded start-up, Nuova Systems.
A first draft of the standard could appear in six months, with a final version in 18, Smith said. “We expect products in the 2009 timeframe,” he added. It’s timed around the mainstream server arrival of 10-gigabit-per-second Ethernet, which FCOE will use.
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