Archive for April 9, 2007
April 9, 2007 at 7:57 am
· City
indianexpress: When an 81-strong German delegation from the state of North Rhein Westphalia, led by economy and power minister Christa Thoben, visited Pune to scout for business opportunities last fortnight, it evoked interest but not surprise.
German autobahn is revving up in Pune. But not all of them are in the big league — medium and small sizes are getting big — nor are all of them in the automobile sector. The fact remains though that as many as 250 companies have set shop in the city, certified by the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. Examples include the Euro 40-mn MoU between Pune-based engineering services and solutions provider Neilsoft and Germany’s Triplan AG last month to focus on the plant design solutions space; and the partnership between Man Nutzfahrzeuge and Force Motors to manufacture trucks and buses in the Indian market.
Apart from automobiles, automation technology and ancillary industries, there have been collaborations in food technology, pollution control and architectural alliances too.
“Germany has always had a presence in Pune, but lately the investment had gone up multi-fold. In fact, our own association with Germany goes back a long way too — DaimlerChrysler used to have stake in our company,” says Sudhir Mehta, Force Motors’ managing director, who feels that Pune’s emergence as an engineering and automotive hub has attracted German companies, starting from DaimlerChrysler to Volkswagon. “The pool of educated and skilled manpower and its proximity to Mumbai has also titled the scale in Pune’s favour.”
According to Madhur Bajaj, president of Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, there may be a slew of foreign collaborations from business houses in the US, Sweden and Belgium, but an upswing in investments from Germany cannot go unnoticed. “One reason could be that many Indians — and Puneites in particular — know German. It is a compulsory subject in many of the city’s schools. This is a huge advantage over rivals like China. People feel more confident doing business here. Besides, there are commonalities between the Indian and German psyche — like the spirit of competitiveness and the determination to succeed. Indians, like Germans, are survivors,” says Bajaj.
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April 9, 2007 at 7:56 am
· City
indianexpress: Congress party’s Member of Parliament Suresh Kalmadi on Sunday made light of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) claims of capturing the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) by declaring that his party had got the largest share of votes at the February 1 civic polls.
“Puneites did not vote overwhelmingly in favour of the NCP. It had to capture power with the support of communal parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena,” Kalmadi said after inaugurating the office of the newly appointed National Students Union of India (NSUI) city chief Yasin Sheikh at the Congress House here.
Referring to the NCP chief Sharad Pawar as ‘Senior Baramatikar’, Kalmadi said there was no truth in Pawar’s claim that the pre-poll alliance between the NCP and the Congress fell away because of his (Kalmadi’s) insistence on going alone. “The Baramatikars (Pawar and his nephew Ajit) never spoke to us before the civic elections so there was no question of forming an alliance with them,” he said.
Kalmadi said, with a touch of irony, the ‘Pune pattern’ (NCP-BJP-Sena alliance) had raised Pune’s status in the country. “The pattern is being discussed across the length and breadth of the country,” he added.
He reiterated the charge that the Pune pattern was worked out during the PMC standing committee elections a couple of years before the civic polls, when the NCP — despite an alliance with the Congress — worked against its candidate in alliance with the saffron forces.
He also referred to the NCP’s support for the Sena in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and said the saffron parties had merely reciprocated in Pune. “All of them (NCP-BJP-Sena) now promise to work together for Pune’s development. Puneites will not be taken in by such theaterics,” he said.
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April 9, 2007 at 7:55 am
· City
indianexpress: An elephant, a rose-ringed parakeet, 38 doves and pigeons were rescued from the premises of Chokhi Daani, a resort run by the Goel Ganga group of builders on Pune-Ahmednagar road in a raid by forest officials and activists of People for Animals on Saturday night.
The operation was co-ordinated by animal rights activist and former union minister Maneka Gandhi.
“One elephant was found to be used for illegal performance and rides. The resort owners did not possess the mandatory transit permit and could produce a custody certificate valid only for Rajasthan,” said district forest officer Ashok Khadse.
Khadse added that the elephant is a Scheduled I animal and has the highest level of protection in this country.
“The government is working on Project Elephant on the lines of Project Tiger. So it is crucial that the elephants are not allowed to be used in such a manner,” he added.
The rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula Crameri), the doves and pigeons (Columbai Livia) other than rock blue pigeons are all Schedule IV birds, Khadse said adding that keeping them in illegal captivity is a punishable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
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April 9, 2007 at 7:54 am
· City
indianexpress: A 26-year-old student from Jharkhand suspected to be an agent of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) has been arrested by the city police and is being in interrogated by the Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) for his alleged links.
Vishal Kumar Upadhyaya, a second year student of Annasaheb Magar College of Engineering in Pimpri-Chinchwad was picked up from his rented room in Ganga lodge in Deccan on Friday by a team of AEC officials led by police inspector Bhanupratap Barge.
However, senior police officials remained tight lipped and refused to divulge any further details. Additional Commissioner of Police Rajendra Singh said : “I don’t know anything about the case.The media will be informed at the right time.”
Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Upadhyaya at the Deccan Police Station under the Official Secrets’ Act.
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April 9, 2007 at 7:53 am
· City
indianexpress: Volunteers of city-based socio-cultural organisation Swaroopvardhini and villagers of the Donje village jointly carried out a “purification programme” of the now infamous rave venue on Sunday morning. The objective was to “purge the picnic spot” of any “evil influence” due to the mass drug abuse that took place early last month.
The programme was kickstarted at the Amruteshwar Mandir in the Donje village at about 10 am in presence of senior members of the organisation including historian Ninad Bedekar and Shaheer Hemant Mavale. A special cultural programme educating the youth was organised on the occasion which also featured powada singing based on the life of Maratha warrior Tanaji Malusare by Mavale. In his address, Bedekar called upon the youngsters to inculcate the rich cultural values espoused by Tanaji Malusare and urged them to preserve the rich history and legacy of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Bedekar further stressed the need to have youth “save” parties instead of the youth rave parties, which were “corrupting the new generation”. Describing the behaviour of the rave-accused to be “highly objectionable and obscene”, he urged that there was a need to “save” Maharashtra from forces “inimical” to the state’s cultural heritage. A street play depicting the cultural and social ethos of the erstwhile Marathas was also presented on the occasion. The play ended with a strong message saying ‘Sinhagad Bachao’ to all and sundry.
Towards the end of the function, the villagers made a declaration that no such raves would be tolerated in the future. They also took a decision to make no-objection certificates (NOCs) mandatory for outsiders who wished to attend events in the village.
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April 9, 2007 at 7:52 am
· City
indianexpress: For Kunal Sharma, Asif Iqbal, Rohit Jain, Saurabh Saxena and Sandeep Sharma, all ex-IITians from Mumbai, life is more about choosing to take the path less trodden. The young men, who gave up other lucrative careers, are on a mission to usher in a new wave of academics that aims to promote the power of knowledge, especially among the younger generation.
The group will be coming to the city soon with their project Aakar Knowledge Solutions Pvt Ltd — an endeavour that tries to go beyond the textbooks with their cumbersome matter and propagate practical experience.
Aakar’s basic thrust is to introduce students to academic concepts through models and fun activities that will interest as well as inform them. Concepts from electricity to friction and velocity to speed will all be simplified for children beyond mere theories.
And to do so, all they ask for is a couple of hours after school. Says 25-year-old Kunal Sharma, Creative Content Developer, Aakar, “There are many students appearing for competitive exams but only a few make it. That certainly does not mean that the rest do not have talent. If a child is fully aware of and is interested in every subject, he or she would know which field to pursue.”
Already a hit in Mumbai schools, Aakar has also presented its idea to the Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training (MSCERT) which is yet to give a final go-ahead to the group. Says SN Pawar, joint director, MSCERT, “We had called them for one of our training sessions and quite liked their idea. We are now contemplating on how we can make the best use of it.”
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April 9, 2007 at 7:49 am
· Technology
techtree: Kaspersky Lab has reportedly discovered the first virus designed to infect Apple Computer iPods. However, the company says the virus named ‘Podloso’ is a proof of concept program that does not pose any real threat.
According to Kaspersky, ‘Podloso’ is a file that can be launched and run on an iPod. The catch is that for ‘Podloso’ to function, Linux needs to be installed on the iPod.
And, ‘Podloso’ needs to be installed on the iPod by the user himself/herself. Meaning: ‘Podloso’ cannot be automatically launched without user involvement. Interesting indeed!
Once ‘Podloso’ is launched, it scans the iPod’s hard disk, and infects all .elf format executable files. An attempt to launch these files causes ‘Podloso’ to display a message on the screen saying, ‘You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux’.
Kaspersky describes ‘Podloso’ as a typical proof of concept virus, created to demonstrate that it is possible to infect a specific platform. ‘Podloso’ does not have a malicious payload, and is unable to spread on its own, as in – a user has to save the virus to his/her iPod for the device to get infected.
All said, some months back, there were reports of Apple having shipped iPods with a Windows virus dubbed ‘RavMonE’. ‘RavMonE’ did not infect iPods, but could affect Windows PCs when connected to them…
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April 9, 2007 at 7:44 am
· Technology
dailyindia: Engineering students at California State University in Sacramento say they believe they have a shot at winning this year’s annual Concrete Canoe Competition.
They’ve made a canoe using precise proportions of cement, water, sand, drops of a chemical potion and something called K46, among other ingredients that student John Nurmi would rather not discuss, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Two dozen engineering students have spent the last few months creating their floating concrete contraption in a dusty laboratory on the grounds of California State University.
They have created a 20-foot hull — dubbed “Ride the Lightning” — that reportedly looks fairly incapable of skimming over water with lightning speed, the newspaper said.
“We’ll make it go as fast as concrete can possibly move in water,” said the team’s paddling coach, Christine Jansen, a senior set to graduate with a degree in civil engineering. “It’s simple physics: mass distribution and buoyancy.”
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April 9, 2007 at 7:42 am
· Technology
zdnet: Alcatel-Lucent has established a new facility in the island-state to help telcos and enterprises transition to a full IP-based architecture.
Housed alongside the company’s IPTV Competency Center set up last February, the US$26.6 million (20 million euros) IP Transformation Center is touted to help Asia-Pacific customers develop, integrate and test a range of networking hardware and software tools in an IP environment.
The first of its kind for Alcatel-Lucent in the Asia-Pacific region, the new facility adds to the list of similar centers already established in Antwerp, Belgium; Hilversum, Netherlands; and the U.S. states of Illinois, Texas and New Jersey.
Vince Pizzica, chief technology officer at Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific, said during a briefing Monday: “As we deliver services through broadband communications, suddenly, a lot more things can be delivered over an IP connection, and voice is one of the services that telephone companies realize they need to shift to IP to reduce cost.”
Pizzica added that embracing IP technology is necessary for telcos to differentiate themselves from competitors. The open nature of IP networks means operators can innovate at a faster pace, and reduce the cost of managing complex legacy networks while ensuring business agility, he said.
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