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indianexpress: At least 50 people from Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) stormed into three classrooms in Rasta Peth Education Society’s Abasaheb Atre Day High School and Junior College in Rasta Peth and beat up some students from northern India appearing for the Railway Recruitment Board examination for the posts of assistant electric motormen, signal and telecommunications departments on Sunday morning.

Nearly 300 students, appearing for the one-and a half hour paper which began at 10.30 am, were put in 12 classrooms. Those seated in three classrooms on the ground and first floor were targeted. There were at least 10 policemen present at the centre when the attack took place. Invigilators too stood rooted to the spot when candidates, especially those from Rajasthan, were singled out.
 
The Samartha police have arrested eight MNS workers, including their city public relations officer Prakash Dhamdhere, and booked them on charges of assault and fomenting trouble. Police inspector Shivaji Jagdale said, “We have arrested eight people and lodged a criminal complaint.”

An unapologetic Dhamdhere has warned of more attacks. “Only two candidates in the examination centre appearing for RRB exams were Maharashtrians and rest northern Indians. The Railway Board released advertisements only in North Indian newspapers without publishing them in any of the widely circulated vernacular dailies. When we found that the students from the state were being sidelined, we took the law into our hands and decided to teach the others a lesson,” Dhamdhere said. At least 12 candidates were beaten up.

“In all, 149 answer sheets were torn up,” said DCP Zone I C H Wakade.

MNS city unit president Vikram Bokey said, “The discrimination towards people from the state is evident. Not even a single Maharashtrian student was given the hall ticket to appear for the exam. North Indians want to control every power centre in Maharashtra and we will not tolerate such an attitude.”

According to Samartha police, the MNS workers barged into the classrooms and asked Maharashtrian students to stand so that they could be identified and then attacked non-Maharashtrians.

indianexpress:  At Go-Sammelan, a fair held at Shimoga in Karnataka last month, among the hundreds of cattle, Puneite Chandrakant Pathak’s bullock cart, complete with two gleaming headlamps, an amplifier and a battery charger, stood out.

This latest version from Pathak’s Modern Technical Centre, known for its innovations that run on human and animal power rather than conventional energy sources, was put together by the mechanical engineer four months ago and exhibited for the first time at Shimoga.

“I did design a bullock cart with headlamps, tail lights and brakes earlier after seeing the accidents involving the carts at night. It worked with a simple bicycle dynamo fit to the wheel. This one is done with a jeep’s differential gear box,” said Pathak.

He is now getting ready half dozen such bullock carts, having received orders from the Ramchandrapura Math in Shimoga, the National Engineering Institute Mysore and the Karnataka Renewable Agency Development Ltd, Bangalore.

The cart also has an automatic battery charger, an amplifier and is capable of multi-dimensional functions. It is based on simple improvisations like installing a jeep’s differential gear box with tyres and axle to replace the original wooden axle. Pathak has thus managed to convert the 38-40 RMP of the bullock cart to about 200 RMP.

By adding another pulley this was further increased to 2,000 RMP, with which he was able to run the alternator that generated 4-6 ampere of electricity, enough to charge the battery. “With this battery, it is possible to run a loudspeaker and an amplifier for rural propaganda, a fridge that can hold medicines and injections that can reach remote areas and even a television, an oven or a computer,” says Pathak. He adds that it takes about Rs 36,000 for him to put together this modified bullock cart.

indianexpress:  Even as farmers in the city are conducting agitations against the proposed Special Economic Zones (SEZs), state Congress leaders on Sunday urged them to resort to the Gandhian way of Satyagraha while seeking solution to their problems.

The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) commenced the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s first Satyagraha at Congress Bhavan felicitating freedom fighters from across the state.
 
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Digvijay Singh said Gandhi should serve as a guiding light for farmers facing various problems and urged the state government to organise seminars on Gandhian philosophy for the benefit of farmers.

“On the backdrop of violent agitations in the country, the only ray of hope is the Gandhian way of Satyagraha. Farmers and workers in country who are facing the brunt of such issues should resort to Gandhi’s way of resistance,” he said.

AICC treasurer Motilal Vohra said, “Gandhi has established through his philosophy that nothing could be achieved resorting to violence. Non-violence is the only way to get things done.”

Minister of State for Home Manikrao Gavit mentioned that the central government is mulling over the proposal to extend the hospitalisation facility to freedom fighters at district and division levels.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee Prabha Rau said that the MPCC has plans on cards for many more such programs in the state to introduce the Gandhian philosophy to youths. Ministers from the state cabinet including Narayan Rane, Patangrao Kadam, Harshawardhan Patil and other Congress leaders addressed the meeting.

MP Suresh Kalmadi, Rajanitai Patil and other Congress leaders were also present on the occasion.

indianexpress: Nearly 400 km from Pune, in Sakhari village of Dhule district, a young tribal girl dared to dream of breaking with her village tradition, by pursuing higher education instead of marrying early like others her age.

Today, 22-year-old Rita Shantaram Malache has finally achieved her dream, having appeared for her MA examination at the Pune University, and becoming the only girl from the Bhil community to clear the State Eligibility Test (SET) in the first attempt.

Malache, who was raised by her widowed mother, a farm labourer attended New English School in Sakhari. While studying in standard XII, Malache decided she wanted more from life. “I heard friends talk about their brothers, who were earning well from their jobs. I realised I could change my situation for the better,” said Malache.

Malache cleared her Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination with distinction, and went on graduate in sociology from SG Patil College, Sakhari on a special scholarship. She was the first in her family to do so, with both sisters married off after they completed HSC.

Recognising her potential, her professor DL Torawane encouraged her to enrol at the Pune University for an MA degree. “I had a tough time coaxing my mother, who was convinced education put unnecessary strain on girls’ minds and changed their outlook for the worse,” said Malache.

Finally, her mother agreed, after prolonged persuasion by family members, including Malache’s brother-in-law, who understood the value of an education, having completed his HSC in Mumbai.

Away from home for the first time, Pune overawed her. “For a long time, I rarely stepped out of the hostel, at the most going out to the sociology department,” said Malache. With help from her classmates and head of department Sharmila Rege, she took special classes to cope with lectures in English.
 

indianexpress: Over 50 residents of Fortaleza Apartments in Kalyani Nagar staged angry protests against the builder, Raviraj-Kothari group, for not providing them the promised amenities including drinking water supply, car parking, children’s park and 70 per cent open space.

Sony Mankidy, a resident of the society, who has spearheaded the campaign, pointed out that a children’s park had been promised in the brochure, but not developed. “Besides, the 70 per cent open space reserved is being exploited for commercial gain. Even the club house has been outsourced to third party vendors,” he alleged.

The residents have come together under the banner of Fortaleza Residents Association. They have written to the Pune municipal commissioner. The association has stressed that the legal possession letter has not been issued despite 90 per cent of the flats being occupied in the completed phase. The association has also lodged a complaint with Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP).

Raviraj Kothari and Associates director Rohit Kothari, while denying the allegations, said: “We are going ahead according to the agreement of sale and this has been endorsed by the Pune Municipal Corporation. Sony Mankidy is not allowing others to come to me for talks. I am always open for discussion and am working as per the law. We will soon reply to the legal notice served to us by the association. I have all the documents stating the exact position on the baseless allegations being levelled against me. I have done nothing wrong.”

indianexpress:  The walking plaza on MG Road resonated with voices of Puneites who pledged to make the city free of the stigma of HIV/AIDS. Vijay Nair, president, NGO Udaan and Founder Member of Maharashtra Network of Positive People (NMP+) was the chief guest at the candle light vigil function held on Sunday. He said that in spite of substantial awareness about HIV/AIDS, there is a lot of discrimination experienced by those affected by it. Nair also called for a concentrated effort at every level of the society to catalyse a shift in this attitude.

Several citizens lit candles and observed a minute’s silence in the memory of those who died of AIDS. The event, Light Up Pune, was part of the HIV/AIDS International Candlelight Memorial designed to honour the memory of the departed souls, demonstrate support to those living with the virus and raise awareness while mobilising community involvement in the fight against the epidemic.

The day-long event included poster exhibition and quiz competition on HIV/AIDS at a multiplex in the city. Various events like street plays and so on were also held across the city as the Disha Mobile AIDS Awareness Van made rounds spreading messages on safe sex and use of condoms. Nair called upon the gathering to ‘practise safe sex and be healthy’ while urging members of the HIV+ Network, to take life positively, and inspire others to do so. Indian Idol Sandeep Acharya also performed during the programme.

The event was arranged by Wake Up Pune, a coalition of 32 city-based NGOs, youth groups and concerned citizens.

indianexpress: Krishna Indrekar, assistant director of revenue department from Konkan divisional commissionerate, recently, helped save Suresh Indrekar (22) from undergoing a fire test to prove his father, Rajesh’s innocence. Rajesh was implicated by the village panchayat on charges of rape 25 years ago in Nashik.

Krishna said he had come to Pune to visit his mother when he received news of the test. “We belong to the Kanjarbhat denotified nomadic tribe where such tests are a common practice. However, being an educated person, I could not witness such an event,” he said.
 
Indrekar informed the Yerawada police about the happening on May 16 who managed to stop the event. According to the police, Suresh was asked to hold an iron ball that had been heated the entire night. If Suresh could hold it, his father would be proved innocent. Sub inspector R G Shitole said the father and son were brought to the police station.

“They were adamant and did not pay attention to what we said. The son kept repeating the ritual was a custom. We have reprimanded them,” he said.

Senior police inspector of Yerawada police station Prasad Hasabnis said the duo belonged to Nashik. “As they were not interested to register any case, we have not filed any complaint,” he said.

cnet: If there’s one person who perfectly personifies Maker Faire, it could well be Steve Wozniak.

That’s why a standing-room only crowd had gathered to see him speak at the event Saturday afternoon, and so when he still hadn’t shown up five minutes after he was scheduled on the main stage here, there was some concern.

Not to worry. There was a sudden murmur of excitement as the Apple co-founder and all-around computing hero appeared from the right side of the stage, pulling up on his Segway, rolled to a stop and jumped up on stage.

Wozniak is in fact a veteran of Maker Faire, the bacchanalia of do-it-yourself technology, hacking, fire arts, robots, mad scientists and mad crafters that is taking place in this small town south of San Francisco all weekend.
 
But while Woz last year spent most of the event riding around, playing Segway Polo, he had come this time to fire up those in the audience with romantic and impassioned stories of the power and excitement of mathematics and engineering.

That concept might draw a groan at a lot of gatherings, but at Maker Faire, it was just the right message for a crowd thick with accomplished engineers and hackers, as well as countless budding would-be Wozes.

“This whole fair represents something that was so prominent when I was young,” Wozniak began. “Sit down and make something fun.”

At a frenetic pace that seemed to be geared toward making up for the lost minutes caused by his late arrival, Woz charged into his speech, fired up about the pure energy that can come–and that he clearly got–from understanding the glory of manipulating machines.

“Those inspirations, when you get a goal,” he said, “it’s going to carry with you for the rest of your life.”

For him, Woz said, the epiphany of electronics and computers came in fifth grade when he discovered a magazine that spelled out a binary world vision in which everything is made out of ones and zeroes.

“In fifth grade, there was this specialness (that came from science). I just loved learning how to add zeros and ones,” Wozniak said. “As a fifth grader, you didn’t need higher levels of mathematics.”

Wozniak has always been known as a bit of a prankster. And he related what might have been the beginning of that lifestyle.

cnet: Rodney Monroe, the police chief in Richmond, Va., describes himself as a lifelong cop whose expertise is in fighting street crime, not in software. His own Web browsing, he says, mostly involves checking golf scores.

But shortly after he became chief in 2005, a crime analyst who had retired from the force convinced him to try some clever software. The programs cull through information that the department already collects, like “911″and police reports, but add new streams of data–about neighborhood demographics and payday schedules, for example, or about weather, traffic patterns and sports events–to try to predict where crimes might occur.

“It sounded nutty at first,” Monroe recalled, “but the more and more you get into it, the more sense it makes.”

The technology, for example, pointed to a high rate of robberies on paydays in Hispanic neighborhoods, where fewer people use banks and where customers leaving check-cashing stores were easy targets for robbers. Elsewhere, there were clusters of random-gunfire incidents at certain times of night. So extra police were deployed in those areas when crimes were predicted.

The crime rate in Richmond declined about 20 percent last year, and it is down again this year.

The Richmond experience is part of a wave of sophisticated computing and mathematical analytics that is moving into the mainstream. Fueling the trend are the digitization of information, ever faster and cheaper computing, and the explosion of online networks and data collection.

The results, says Jon M. Kleinberg, a computer scientist at Cornell University, are a “revolution in measurement” and the “introduction of computing and algorithmic processes into the social sciences in a big way.”The phenomenon is strikingly evident in economics, business and crime prevention.

Productivity research has traditionally focused on manufacturing, because the output of widgets and the headcount of factory workers were easy to measure, notes Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The productivity of information workers–much of the nation’s work force–was shunted into a category that economists labeled “difficult to measure” and given short shrift.

But the digital age, he says, has opened the door to detailed measurement of the labor of professionals and office workers who handle ideas and information from customers, suppliers, colleagues and marketers.

cnet: Robert A. Lutz, vice chairman at General Motors, has long been considered one of Detroit’s ultimate “car guys,” for whom no vehicle could be big enough, powerful enough or fast enough.

He is the father of the V-10 Dodge Viper and has championed automobiles like the 1,000-horsepower Cadillac Sixteen, a V-16 concept coupe that Lutz said would have fulfilled his longstanding goal of designing a high-powered car to match the finest European models.

Now Lutz, known by his “Maximum Bob” nickname around Detroit, says he has a new dream car.

Speaking at a taping of “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” the quiz program on National Public Radio, Lutz declared Thursday night that the Chevrolet Volt, the hybrid-electric concept car that GM unveiled at this year’s Detroit auto show, may be among the most important vehicles that GM has ever developed.

“This is now what I’m more excited about than I was about the Dodge Viper,” Lutz said. “I think this can bring about the revolution and really make us independent of foreign oil and solve all the other problems.”

The show airs Saturday nationwide.

With the same enthusiasm that he has long used to describe high torque ratings and engine displacements, Lutz touted the Volt’s mileage, which he estimated would reach 151 miles per gallon, fueled by a combination of electricity and gasoline.

His comments drew a huge round of applause from the NPR audience at the Michigan Theater here.

The prospect of Lutz going green represents a sharp reversal. After all, he has often mocked environmental advocates, saying that except for “a few nuts in California,” no one cared about the impact of cars on the environment.

In 2003, he described Toyota’s hybrid-electric Prius as a public relations stunt–although he admitted he wished General Motors had a similar model–and declared GM’s most important car to be the Chevrolet Corvette.

That same year, GM showed off the Cadillac Sixteen, a four-door concept sports car commissioned by Lutz. It sported a 32-valve, 13.6-liter V-16 engine and a steering wheel logo carved out of crystal.