News

indianexpress:  The University of Pune, one of the major institutions that makes Pune the ‘Oxford of the East’, seems to have a few skeletons in its cupboard when it comes to the management of its finances. The 24-paragraph CAG report on the University’s accounts — of 2002-03 and 2003-04 — has noted several irregularities in the varsity’s financial management. Although the report does not pertain to the immediate past, investigations revealed that not much has changed since the objections were presented.

The University is still to complete its ‘action taken’ report, which was to be submitted by June 2005.

The report states a ‘lacklustre approach’ in maintenance of accounts along with insufficient audit mechanism and accumulation of unspent funds and balances. While the report says that there were no major irregularities, it has brought under the scanner the University’s audit mechanism, especially the perpetual delays in conducting the statutory internal audit. Noting that the audits for 2000-01, 2002-03, and 2003-04 were yet to be completed, the report mentions section 103 (1) of the Maharashtra University Act, 1994, which stipulates that the audit report of the University should be done at least once every year, or within six months from the close of the financial year.

“It is evident that there was delay in completing statutory audit and publishing the reports. The statutory provisions of Section 103 of the Maharashtra University Act have not been adhered to,” the report states. Although statutory audits till 2003-2004 have been completed since the publication of this report, authorities at the University finance department said that the audit reports of 2004-05 and 2005-06 were still pending. The report also criticises the inadequate arrangement for conducting internal audit.

indianexpress: Here’s some good news for women commuters of Pune Municipal Transport (PMT). The PMT has launched women’s special bus services on two routes on an experimental basis for convenience of women commuters who face problems travelling in the buses specially during peak morning and evening hours.

PMT spokesperson D A Pardeshi said the women’s special bus will become operational on Katraj-Shivajinagar railway station-Katraj and Kothrud-PMC-Kothrud routes from Tuesday. All seats in the two buses on each of the routes will be reserved for women only.

The Katraj-Shivajinagar railway station bus will depart from Katraj at 9.40 am and proceed via Satara Road and Bajirao Road. It will leave Shivajinagar railway station at 5.45 pm and return to Katraj via the same route. The Kothrud-PMC bus will leave Kothrud at 9.30 am and proceed via Paud Road and Karve Road. On its return, it will depart from PMC at 5.40 pm and use the same route.

Pardeshi said decision about introducing similar services on other routes will be taken at a later stage after studying the response to the service on the two routes.

indianexpress: The traffic police will start implementing the traffic diversion plan to facilitate speedy completion of the flyover at University Chowk from Tuesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mahesh Ghurye said the roads which will be closed for vehicles will be barricaded by Monday night and the new traffic arrangement will come into force from Tuesday morning.

The decision of rerouting the traffic in the vicinity of Pune University chowk was taken by the mobility committee in March to facilitate the speedy completion of the undergoing flyover construction work.

The traffic plan was to come into effect from April 6. However, its implementation was delayed in view of the inconvenience that students may have had to suffer.

Ghurye said the decision of implementing the traffic plan from Tuesday was taken as the holidays have begun.

The mobility committee has been maintaining that the work which has been on since August 2004, should be completed before monsoon. The work is in the final stages and parts of the Ganesh Khind Road and Baner Road will be required to be closed for vehicular traffic. Entry of vehicles heading towards Baner and Aundh from Vaikunth Mehta Chowk will be banned on Baner and Ganesh Khind Road respectively. Such vehicles will be diverted via Pashan Road and Abhimanashri Society.

bbc: The internet has given the individual unprecedented power to reach out to millions but some governments are cautious, even hostile, to giving their citizens free access to ideas they deem too democratic and dangerous.
 
Bloggers can face harsh penalties from some regimes 

Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia: they are all popular with holiday makers but they also censor and even lock up journalists and bloggers.

This is why the media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, has published The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents.

“There is another side to the picture post-card,” said Robert Menard, secretary general, Reporters Without Borders. “There are around 100 people in jail in Tunisia and the entire media is controlled by the powers that be and there are bloggers who have been locked up just for criticizing the Tunisian president.”

In many countries a journalism student covering a demonstration of school children would be commended for his initiative.

bbc: A programme to kick-start the use of internet communications in space has been announced by the US government.
The Department of Defense’s Iris project will put an internet router in space by the start of 2009.

It will allow voice, video and data communications for US troops using standards developed for the internet.

Eventually Iris could extend the net into space, allowing data to flow directly between satellites, rather than sending it via ground stations.

“Iris is to the future of satellite-based communications what Arpanet was to the creation of the internet in the 1960s,” said Don Brown, of Intelsat General, one of the companies who will build the platform.

Arpanet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), the predecessor of the internet, was developed by the United States Department of Defense.

The Iris (Internet Router Protocol in Space) project has been given the go ahead after winning funding from the US Department of Defense, under its Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) programme.

The programme aims to develop advanced concepts and put “innovative concepts into the hands of war fighters in the field.”

The Iris project is one of seven that has been given funding this year. Others include development of smart sensors and counter camouflage technology.

bbc: Windows XP will stop being available on new PCs from the end of January 2008.
Microsoft is keeping to a plan to stop selling the operating system even though surveys show a lukewarm response to Windows Vista among consumers.

A poll by US market research firm Harris Interactive found that only 10% of those questioned were planning to upgrade to Vista in the near future.

All versions of XP, including those made for media centre or tablet PCs, are affected by the decision.

Microsoft has confirmed that from 31 January 2008 large PC makers, such as Dell, HP and Toshiba, will no longer be able to buy licences for the software so they can install it on new machines.

Windows XP is being retired to make way for Windows Vista, the consumer editions of which were launched in Europe on 30 January.

However, a poll released in early April suggests that Vista has yet to win over significant numbers of potential customers

tgdaily: Elderly and disabled people could soon get help from a robotic maid developed by MIT.  Researchers at the prestigious university have been working on Domo, a robot that can fetch and return items to tables and shelves by following basic verbal commands.

Domo somewhat resembles the famous “Johnny-Five” robot from the Short Circuit movie.  The robot can detect motion, distance and even human faces through two large eyes.  Data from the eyes are fed into twelve computers.

Domo’s eyes and computers is trained to recognize human faces and unexpected motion.  It also understands basic commands to fetch and place household items.  Like a child, Domo will reach out with the left hand to judge distance and then grab the item with its right hand.

Aaron Edsinger is an MIT postdoctoral associate and has been working on Domo for three years.  Edsinger promises that Domo and future robots could help the disabled in daily chores.  He adds the future of robotics lies in doing regular tasks.  “The real potential of robots in the future is going to be realized when they can do many types of manual tasks,” said Edsinger.

Typical robots, like those found on assembly lines, have limited actions and follow an unchangeable script.  Consumer robots like the vacuuming Roomba can roam the house, but don’t do much more than clean the floor.