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indianexpress:  Wagholi, nearly 20 km from Pune, continued to be tense on Sunday, after Friday’s incident when local farmers stoned the official vehicle of Haveli tehsildar Sanjiv Deshmukh. He had gone there accompanied by two surveyors from a city-based management institute for a socio-economic survey ahead of the proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) by Videocon.

Pune had witnessed a violent revolt by farmers from Maan village in Mulshi taluka against acquisition of their land for the expansion of Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Hinjewadi in March 2006.

On Sunday, Shetkari Sanghtana, a farmers’ organisation, decided to mobilise locals against what it termed “state dictatorship against farmers”. “Farmers do not want to give an inch of their land either to the government or Videocon,” said Sanghatana convenor Rahul Mhaske.

When contacted, Videocon chairman and CEO Venugopal Dhoot played down the incident. “I do not think it happened at our site. What I heard was a few people gathered and shouted at some officials. That does not mean anything,” he said.

Though no official complaint has been lodged, Loni Kalbhor police said they were not taking any chances and were on alert.

“We are holding a series of meetings to organise the farmers from Wagholi and adjoining villages earmarked for the SEZ along Pune-Ahmednagar highway,” Mhaske said, adding that a farmers’ meet will be held at Bakuri Phata at 1 pm on May 15 that will be attended by Sanghatana president Raghunath Patil.

Shetkari Sanghatana wants to know why the SEZ was planned near Pune. “There are vast tracts of land elsewhere in the district. It’s a clever ploy to capture prime urban property at a throwaway price,” said Mhaske.

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the state’s nodal agency for industrial development, was involved in the acquisition process and a preliminary notification for acquisition of the land was issued six months ago

indianexpress:  Right to Information Act crusader and noted social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday threatened to launch a nationwide stir if the government enacted amendment to the Right to Information (RTI ) Act. Censuring the move, Hazare stressed that the agitation will go down in the annals of the country’s history as the Second War of Independence. He was addressing mediapersons after the valedictory session of the two-day National convention for RTI crusaders at Firodiya Hall on Sunday evening.

Hazare further stressed the need to create awareness about RTI at all levels in the society with a view to empower common masses. Reiterating that the Centre was trying to bring a bill seeking amendment to the RTI Act, he said: “Introduction of the bill will amount to jeopardising the rights of people and will not be tolerated at any cost. The government cannot be allowed to escape from its responsibilities.”
 
Earlier in the day, noted social activist and Magsaysay awardee Aruna Roy said that both the state and union government will have to obey the orders of the information commission which they have been deliberately neglecting all these months. “Law does not work on intent and the government will have to toe the line of information commission,” she said.

The national RTI meet saw a series of resolutions passed by the activists prominent among them are those seeking implementation of section 4 of the act which says that the government should take frequent audit of every public authority and that public authorities are bound to follow the rules framed by competent authorities and they should not prescribe their own rules. Besides resolutions included no fee for appeal, demand for making it mandatory for the first appellate authority to record independent findings and reasons and providing spoken orders while disposing the appeals, inclusion of RTI act in the school and college-level curriculum by all state governments and release of a special stamp for giving fee under RTI act to be made available at all post offices.

The two day meet included over 200 RTI activist from 23 states participating in the conference.

indianexpress:  The country’s first ‘Growth Lab’ based on the French model — which will promote innovation, research and support business enterprises in the IT and industrial hub — will take off in Bhosari on Tuesday.

The lab will house business incubators to promote ventures in clean technology and IT open source. Set up by Science and Technology Park (STP) of the UoP with the help of the Department of Science and Technology, the lab is based on the successful French model of ‘Competitive Cluster Development Policy.’ STP Director General Dr Rajendra Jagdale revealed that the idea of Growth Lab had emerged from the Indo-French bilateral co-operation policy which envisioned five test clusters across the country.

The policy helps in re-inventing the education programme to develop clusters as per needs of industries. Jagdale said the stake-holders — education institutes, chambers of commerce, citizens, industries and government — work together for research and development in a specific area. The policy, initiated in 2005, led to formation of 67 clusters across France in areas including pharma, perfumes, agriculture and automation.

“The Growth Lab in Pune will be on the lines of this French model which will provide a common platform for all stakeholders for creating automation, agriculture and IT open source clusters,” said Jagdale. It will be inaugurated by Pierre Lafitte of Foundation Sophia Antipolis, France. The STP has signed an agreement with the institute for knowledge assistance.

The Growth Lab covers 21,000 sq feet and will have access to database of high-end technologies and will provide legal support for facilitating technology management and protection of intellectual property through a board of mentors. It will act as a networking office for industries, education institutes, R&D laboratories for promotion and development of competitive clusters.

Jagdale said there are many first-time entrepreneurs who developed a product but could not market it or had low production value. “The Growth Lab will promote such entrepreneurs and nurture their innovation,” he said. After its launch, the Growth Lab will work on incubation of three projects: Solar water heaters, automobile components and food processing.

indianexpress: Slamming the State government for its inefficiency in addressing the issue of farmers’ suicides in the state, journalist and agriculture researcher Jaydeep Haradikar said it was not the mindless ‘packages’ but loan waivers, long term credit and collective farming which will help in easing farm crisis.

Speaking at a function organised by city-based Sewawardhini on ‘Crisis in agriculture and situation in Vidarbha,’ at Dnyanprabodhini on Saturday Hardikar said farmers are not in so much in need of the government packages as compared to systematic solutions which will bring them back to the basics of stable agriculture. He said that although the government is of the opinion that loan waiver is impractical, it is the only viable option to make farmers feel safe.

According Hardikar, farmers’ crisis is only one of the symptoms of the crisis that the agriculture sector is facing. “Migration, malnutrition, health problems, suicides are all symptoms of the agrarian distress,” he said.

Stressing that agrarian distress was never this worse and it is only the present political decisions, and policy changes that have resulted in the situation. “In the last 100 years, the condition of agriculture in Vidarbha has remained unchanged including the monsoon. The only change was the use of hybrid seeds resulting in the import of textile technology from the West in 1991 which worsened the situation,” he said.

Although the state government had set up 17 committees to study the issue of farmer’ suicides in Vidarbha, Hardikar said that the committees did not see the actual crisis.

“Subsidies and alternate occupations to farming like bidi making, fishing, pulses farming, vegetable growing are on a decline. Efforts should be made to diversify the activities of farmers and not allow him to depend on farming alone,” he said adding that today the Vidarbha crisis prevails across the country even in Uttarakhand and Punjab which had earlier given success stories in agriculture.

indianexpress: The group of 30 farmers from Malegaon near Baramati who pooled some 110 acres of their land to form the Agricultural Development Trust in 1968 would never have thought their initiative would be a trend-setter in 2007.

From a blank slate in October 2005 to a Rs 20-crore industry today and from just one destination to 40 places, agro-tourism has arrived in the State. Started with the purpose of introducing rural India to its urban face, the pilot project at Malegaon has now become an example for other farmers to follow in Maharashtra.
 
The idea is also being picked up by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh with Sri Lanka opening two destinations after studying the pilot.

Buoyed, the Pune-based Agri Tourism Development Corporation ( ATDC) has planned a four-day training programme at Baramati for the 40 farmers it handpicked. These farmers were selected from 200 others and their farms will be promoted by the ATDC as tourist destinations. Some of the new spots are at Junnar, Nagaon near Alibaug, Neral, Rajgurunagar and Satara.

“There will be at least 70 people at the workshop. These include the chosen ones and others who are interested in starting agri-tourism. Once our common directory is ready, we will start showing the new places to tourists from June,” said ATDC director (sales and marketing) Pandurang Taware.

Participants will be told about the government schemes, bank loans, management of natural resources and architectural planning for agri-tourism. Finer aspects like hospitality, needs of foreign and Indian tourists, hygiene, electricity generation from bio gas and sale of products will also be part of the workshop.

“The concept is new for the State government and as such it does not have support. We want agro-tourism to grow in the State because it is the best supplementary income for farmers. He works in his field from Monday to Thursday and caters to tourists on the weekend,” said Taware.

Plans are to ask the State government to set up an Indian Agri-Tourism Society with experts from tourism, agriculture and banking to guide the industry. “The pilot project has been a huge success. Over 13,000 tourists, including foreigners have been to Malegaon so far. The rural economy has changed since locals have found employment without disturbing their basic activity. The future is bright since India gets almost 4 million tourists every year. Even if agri-tourism attracts 5 per cent, it can change farmers lives,” he said.

indianexpress: The city’s potholes that grow in shape and size overnight in the monsoon have, among other factors, the lack of stormwater drains to blame.

After a public outcry over the condition of roads, the Pune Municipal Corporation acknowledged the need for stormwater drains, and began their construction. However, of the 1,800 km length of roads, the civic body has so far laid only 210 km with new stormwater drains— 130 km last year and 70 km this year.

The civic administration maintains that the city needs such drains on 700 km, but admits it will take years to complete the project. But development engineer (roads) Madhav Latkar said the 210 km of stormwater drains is sufficient. “There would be no water accumulation on roads this monsoon,” he said, adding the new drains have been laid at spots where water logging is rampant.

Constructed at the cost of Rs 5 crore, the drains have been inspected by a third party —Engineers India Limited. “EIL and the civic administration are satisfied with the quality of work which will ensure there will be no flooding at these spots,” Latkar said.

However, flooding has happened at many places where the drains existed because the chambers were not desilted before the monsoon. This year, the civic administration has cleared just 25 km of the 130 km drains.

“The remaining 115 km will be cleaned by May 22 and by May-end all pre-monsoon preparations will be complete,” said Latkar.

The civic administration’s plan to put Mastik asphalt at 30 main chowks to prevent water logging is not complete either. Till now, Lakdi pul, Rajaram bridge, Puram chowk, Khandojibaba chowk , Shimla office chowk, S G Barve chowk, Modern Café chowk have been coated with mastik asphalt.

msnbc: Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience Tuesday, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today’s standard cable modems.

The cost of modems that would support the technology, called “channel bonding,” is “not that dissimilar to modems today,” he told The Associated Press after a demonstration at The Cable Show. It could be available “within less than a couple years,” he said.

The new cable technology is crucial because the industry is competing with a speedy new offering called FiOS, a TV and Internet service that Verizon Communications Inc. is selling over a new fiber-optic network. The top speed currently available through FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network is already capable of providing 100 Mbps and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.

The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was developed by the cable industry’s research arm, Cable Television Laboratories. It bonds together four cable lines but is capable of allowing much more capacity. The laboratory said last month it expected manufacturers to begin submitting modems for certification under the standard by the end of the year.

In the presentation, ARRIS Group Inc. chief executive Robert Stanzione downloaded a 30-second, 300-megabyte television commercial in a few seconds and watched it long before a standard modem worked through an estimated download time of 16 minutes.

Stanzione also downloaded the 32-volume Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 and Merriam-Webster’s visual dictionary in under four minutes, when it would have taken a standard modem three hours and 12 minutes.

“If you look at what just happened, 55 million words, 100,000 articles, more than 22,000 pictures, maps and more than 400 video clips,” Roberts said. “The same download on dial-up would have taken two weeks.”

Other cable industry executives, including Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Richard Parsons, News Corp. President Peter Chernin and Viacom Inc. Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, cheered the demonstration during a panel afterward.

msnbc: Motorola Inc. is set to unveil a mobile phone with full-motion video display and the means to play feature films on small removable storage cards, Chief Executive Ed Zander said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Software 2007 conference in Silicon Valley, Zander briefly described one of the several devices the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker has said it plans to announce at an event next Tuesday.

“We are going to show a device next week,” Zander told several hundred attendees of the business software conference, saying it would show 30 frames-a-second, full-motion video. “It is a media monster.”

The new device would initially be targeted at the European market, where faster, so-called “third generation” (3G) networks are more widely available than in Motorola’s home U.S. market.

Zander also said Motorola has partnered with another company that can fit feature-length movies on so-called Secure Digital (SD) cards capable of storing several gigabytes, or billions of bytes, of data.

If widely adopted, such cards could provide a new form of mass distribution for movies, just as video cassettes or DVDs have done previously.

“We are working with another company to deliver movies on SD cards. You can start watching unbelievable quality movies,” Zander enthused.

msnbc: We endurance athletes tend to be an obsessive lot. We like training regimens and schedules. We go nuts for calorie counters. We can’t live without mileage trackers. People like us can’t just enjoy the ride — we need to get the data.

Enter the Garmin Forerunner 305, a GPS-enabled trainer for runners, cyclists, hikers, walkers, inline skaters — if you plan to cover any ground outside, the Forerunner can track your route.

Garmin says this $350 whopper-of-a-watch wraps the GPS antenna around part of the wrist for a better view of the sky, and that its high-sensitivity receiver makes for improved tracking under trees and near tall buildings. The Forerunner automatically saves all training data, and can hold up to two years of it in its memory. The unit comes with a USB cable and training software so you can download and analyze your data on your PC or Mac — handy if you’re training for something specific and like to pore over your stats.

Out of the box, the Forerunner 305 takes very little setup to be operational. Before you do anything, you’ll need to charge it for three hours using the supplied USB port (the device has a 10-hour battery life). Each time you go outside, your Forerunner will need to sync up with orbiting satellites, which can takes anywhere from 30 second to a minute or so. From there, just hit start, and you’re off and running.

The Forerunner has a dizzying amount of features, but the device itself has only seven buttons: The on/off switch, a mode button, a lap button, a start/stop button, two arrow keys and an enter button. It’s not the tiniest thing you’ve ever seen — my friend said “Whoa! That’s a computer!” when I strapped this sucker on before our walk. It weighs in at just under 3 ounces and measures 2.1 inches x 2.7 inches. You get used to it.

Garmin ships the device with a highly usable quick-start pamphlet and a more detailed owner’s manual that can help you delve into the Forerunner’s many available options. And for $350, you’re going to want to plumb this gadget for everything it’s got.

msnbc: A mysterious metallic object that crashed through the roof of a New Jersey home earlier this year was not a meteorite after all, but probably a piece of space junk, scientists said Friday.

The silvery object was made of a stainless-steel alloy that does not occur in nature and is most likely “orbital debris” — part of a satellite, rocket or some other spacecraft, said Rutgers University geologist Jeremy Delaney.

“There’s huge amounts of material that have been left by the various space programs of the world,” he said.

Srinivasan Nageswaran, whose family discovered the object after it crashed through the roof and dented the tile bathroom floor at his home in Freehold Township in January, was disappointed by the news.

“That’s the nature of science,” said the 46-year-old information technology consultant “If the conclusion from the test says it’s not a meteorite, then it’s not a meteorite. We have to move forward.”

The object is slightly bigger than a golf ball and about as heavy as a can of soup.

Delaney examined it at the police station and initially pronounced it an iron meteorite based on its shape and density. So did other Rutgers geologists and an independent metals expert.

But in April, it was taken to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where a new variable-pressure scanning electron microscope was used to establish its composition.