Archive for April 25, 2007
April 25, 2007 at 8:04 am
· City
indianexpress: THE chaotic traffic conditions near the University of Pune have had the most unusual effect. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) — a central government organisation with its headquarters in Delhi has changed its official working hours from 10 am — 5.45 pm to 9 am— 4.45 pm.
The new timings, which came into force a few days ago, will help the 100-odd employees beat the snarls that were triggered by closure of roads from University of Pune to Aundh and Baner to facilitate the uninterrupted construction of the flyover scheduled for completion by June 15.
Ever since the restrictions were imposed last Tuesday, thousands of employees whose offices are located on Ganeshkhind Road have been in a tizzy. They have been forced to leave homes early and reach back late all the while battling the rush hour.
“We have changed our official timings very recently to avoid the rush hour and the congestion that is so bad,” NIC deputy director general Pratibha Joag said. The organisation will review the situation once the flyover is complete.
However, other organisations have opted to play the waiting game as the traffic snarls continue to rise both in intensity and numbers. With almost another two months to go for the official deadline set by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) that is constructing the flyover, most other organisations with offices near the University were reduced to criticising the civic administration, with the traffic police being the target of much ire.
People like principal of College of Agriculture Banking H R Khan have written a letter to police commissioner Jayant Umranikar asking him to place a traffic signal near their office. “Apart from our 179 employees, we have around 100 visitors every week.” Khan is yet to send the letter though. The college employees feel aggrieved as it had donated almost 37, 000 sq ft to the civic authorities for road expansion.
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April 25, 2007 at 8:03 am
· City
indianexpress: AT about 6 am on Tuesday, the area around Poona College in Camp witnessed a flurry of activity. Two Army trucks with jawans in combat uniform, policemen from the Cantonment police station, bulldozers and pick-up vans, trucks and some 200 people of the demolition squad of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) halted in front of the college.
In no time, the squad supported by bulldozers brought down an illegal hotel — Hotel Nisha — and over 20 kiosks that had cropped up opposite the college. The hotel had been constructed illegally on defence estate land. The demolition continued till the afternoon.
The action by the PCB was the first in the last two decades in this area.
The PCB got cracking after they received orders to demolish all illegal and unauthorised structures from the Pune Sub Area commander and PCB president Brigadier RJ Sharma recently. Brig Sharma has promised more such action and issued a stern warning to errant hoteliers and kiosk owners to bring down their illegal structures.
Heavy bandobast, including two police vans and a posse of policemen from Cantonment police station were stationed on the stretch from Poona College to Shankarsheth Road.
The demolition came as a surprise to cantonment residents and a huge crowd gathered to look at thehappenings.
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April 25, 2007 at 8:00 am
· City
indianexpress: THE PMC’s General Body took the civic administration to task for delaying the distribution of property tax bills to 5,17,744 property owners in the city.
Tax bills that are normally distributed by April 1, this time will not be sent even till next month thanks to the civic administration’s fault in forwarding the proposal.
While the civic body is yet to decide on the tax structure, the civic administration has prepared the bills as per the 2006-07 tax structure rates.
Property tax rates are likely to be increased this year by the PMC due to the commitment of tax reforms to the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The tax reforms were to be in place last year, however, because of the elections, the GB members had postponed the hike to 2007-08 and continued the tax structure of 2004-05.
Municipal Commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi admitted that the civic administration was bound to submit a proposal deciding the tax rates with the standing committee before February 20. However, officials reasoned there was a delay because of the code of conduct for elections. Nonetheless, even after the code of conduct ceased, the administration failed to moot a proposal of tax rates and the then municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer himself decided to continue the rates of 2006-07.
The issue was raised by corporator Ashok Yenpure in Tuesday’s general body meeting. Members were agitated over the fact that the approval of the GB was not taken while preparing the tax bills. “It is the GB’s right and not the municipal commissioner’s to take a decision on the tax rates. Under what right has he taken the decision,” corporator Ujjwal Keskar demanded to know.
Pardeshi assured that a proposal on deciding the tax rates will now be put forward to the standing committee. “Even if the civic administration is to implement last year’s tax rates the standing committee and the GB’s permission is required. So we will have to forward a proposal regarding the tax rates,” he said.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:59 am
· City
indianexpress: PAEDIATRIC camps that will be held in several districts this May won’t be run-of-the-mill kinds. A concerted effort will be launched in each district to identify children infected with HIV who have no access to care and support. The identification is part of an ongoing exercise to ensure that Children Living with HIV are now on medication and anti-retroviral treatment (ART).
A day-long meeting was held on Tuesday at the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) campus to decide on strategies to identify such children.
“The programme aims at increasing the number of HIV positive children on treatment,” said joint director of the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) Dr Madhusudan Karnhtaki. Supported by Clinton Foundation and UNICEF, a major push was given to the programme by planning these strategic paediatric camps to be held from May 16 -24 in each district.
“The vulnerability that HIV affected children face sets in long before they are orphaned. They bear the brunt of ill health which includes loss of productivity, inability to attend school and high costs of medical treatment. Such children are more than likely to be abused and exploited and also suffer from not having their psychosocial needs adequately met,” Karnhtaki said. “We want to find out the HIV status of these exposed and infected children and then provide care,” he added.
A meeting of the district level officers involved in the Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) centres discussed various strategies. Dr Bharat Purandare, medical officer at the Sassoon General hospital ART centre said in Pune a total of 671 children have been registered for HIV care at B J Medical College (BJMC). Of these, 244 children are on ART and there have been five deaths in the last two years. The smallest child on ART is just one and a half years old.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:58 am
· City · Medicine
indianexpress: AMARJEET Singh Khalsa, an economics lecturer at the Guru Nanak Junior College can consider himself to be a lucky person, to be alive and kicking even after developing gradually increasing heart failure following two earlier heart operations. Khalsa’s condition hampered his personal and professional life.
What managed to pull him out of the suffering was a a successful non-surgical procedure that was performed on him at the Jehangir Hospital Pune on April 6, the first-of-its kind procedure in the city.
The other alternative was to undergo an Open Heart Surgery, but Khalsa was skeptical after the experience of the previous surgeries that had resulted in complications and left him temporarily paralysed. Finally, the 47-year-old decided to undergo the non-surgical procedure under Dr J S Dugal, Director of Cardiology – Jehangir Hospital.
Singh developed a sudden chest pain and breathlessness. An ECHO several complications that increased the risk of heart failure. He was diagnosed with a condition called Rupture Sinus of Valsalva (RSOV) that could commonly have been corrected by surgery but in this case the patient, Khalsa prefferd to go for the non-surgical, albeit technically demanding and rarely performed option.
The procedure lasted for about 45 minutes and the patient was fit for discharge in 2 days. Rarely described even in medical literature, the option is now available in the city.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:57 am
· City
indianexpress: IF it was Gandhigiri that took Bollywood blockbuster Lage Raho Munnabhai to new heights of popularity, it is Gandhi Katha that is working on the minds of prisoners at Yerawada Central Prison. So much so that concepts like reformation, retribution and rehabilitation don’t seem so alien even to the toughest of criminals.
Two human rights groups in the city have come up with a unique way to instill Gandhian values amongst Yerawada’s prisoners. Human Rights and Law Defenders (HRLD) of the Sahyog Trust in collaboration with Association For India (AID) has conducted the first session of Gandhi Katha Kathan for over 100 prisoners at the open jail. The session was addressed by noted Gandhian Balasaheb Sarode on Monday afternoon. The objective is simple — inculcate life’s simplest virtues into prisoners and bring them back to mainstream life as reformed human beings.
An exam conducted by the Gujarat Vidyapeeth drew overwhelming response from the convicts and is said to have brought out positive insight among them. Some admitted that had they known of the Gandhian philosophy, they would have led different lives.
Programme co-ordinator Asim Sarode said the course was aimed at sensitising the criminalised mindset of prisoners by having them realise the genius of Gandhian principles such as ethics, universal brotherhood, non-violence, humility and the need to cultivate a culture of respect for every human being. “There are thousands of prisoners languishing in jails across the state. It is our endeavour to cater to all of them by well-designed training modules,” he said.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:55 am
· Technology
techtree: Taiwan-based Genius has announced unveiling of the world’s first Opto Mouse, the Traveler 355 Laser 1600 DPI Laser Mouse with TOUCH SENSOR.
Genius Traveler 355 Laser uses the latest in optical technology – OptoWheel, an optical sensor to replace the wheel, and features a comfortable touch scroll panel. This allows for multi-directional scrolling, and is easier to use than the traditional mechanical wheel. Traveler 355 Laser uses advanced laser technology that makes this mouse work reliably on most types of surfaces, and offers much higher tracking power than regular optical mice.
With the Traveler 355 Laser, one can browse the Internet or documents more efficiently by just touching the OptoWheel (the Blue eye). By moving the OptoWheel slightly, the ‘turbo-scrolling’ function starts. With this, the mouse can scroll forward or backward on Web sites or documents with rapid speed (up to one hundred pages per second). The “turbo-scrolling” stops by simply pressing the OptoWheel.
Sandeep Ramani, Country Manager of KYE Systems (India), said, “Genius Traveler 355 Laser is an innovative product, which will replace the mechanical scroll wheel by its patented OptoWheel, a Touch Scroll Panel. This is the world’s first mouse featuring this technology, only one of its kind which goes best along with a PC or notebook because of its unique, creative features and style.”
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April 25, 2007 at 7:54 am
· Technology
techtree: Hewlett-Packard (HP) today showcased a number of innovations revolving around the future of mobile communication in the country.
“HP Mobile Innovations Tour” was focused on the conceptual creations that represent a vision for the 2012 timeframe, where devices will be function-specific and will provide an ‘always connected’ experience.
With the new innovations, the company is creating and enabling experiences that allow users easy access to information and content when and where they want it, on simple devices.
According to Phil Devlin, Manager of Product Marketing, Mobile Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP Asia-Pacific and Japan, “HP’s vision of the future of mobility is a world where simple devices inter-operate to deliver a cohesive, ‘always connected’ lifestyle. Anyone can make the simple complicated – true creativity lies in making the complicated simple.”
The gadgets showcased at the “HP Mobile Innovations Tour” include a personal wireless gateway device – in a wearable watch-like form factor; a flexible, portable, personal size display mat; and a thin-client device in a tablet form factor.
The watch wireless gateway acts as the central hub containing the access technologies/radios to enable an ‘always connected’ experience. It can connect to various devices, including phones, PCs, laptops, etc.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:53 am
· Technology
bbc: Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.
The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.
Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.
They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.
“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this ’super-Earth’ lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,” explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.
‘Is there life anywhere else?’ is a fundamental question we all ask
Alison Boyle
London Science Museum
“Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth’s radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky – like our Earth – or covered with oceans.”
Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: “Liquid water is critical to life as we know it.”
He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.
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April 25, 2007 at 7:52 am
· Technology
bbc: Scientists have expressed concern about the use of autonomous decision-making robots, particularly for military use.
As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn.
The researchers were speaking ahead of a public debate at the Dana Centre, part of London’s Science Museum.
Discussions about the future use of robots in society had been largely ill-informed so far, they argued.
Autonomous robots are able to make decisions without human intervention. At a simple level, these can include robot vacuum cleaners that “decide” for themselves when to move from room to room or to head back to a base station to recharge.
Increasingly, autonomous machines are being used in military applications, too.
Samsung, for example, has developed a robotic sentry to guard the border between North and South Korea.
It is equipped with two cameras and a machine gun.
The development and eventual deployment of autonomous robots raised difficult questions, said Professor Alan Winfield of the University of West England.
“If an autonomous robot kills someone, whose fault is it?” said Professor Winfield.
“Right now, that’s not an issue because the responsibility lies with the designer or operator of that robot; but as robots become more autonomous that line or responsibility becomes blurred.”
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