News

indianexpress: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) “is exploring all legal options” in connection with the bail granted to city-based builder Avinash Bhosale, whom they had arrested under the Customs Act at Chhatrapati Shivaji airport in Mumbai on Sunday for not declaring dutiable items and foreign currencies.

On Monday morning, DRI officials said Bhosale’s lawyers had “moved the court of the night magistrate.” They said the Azad Maidan police told them at 10 am on Monday that Bhosale (46) had been released from the lock-up at 11.30 pm on Sunday after he was granted bail by night magistrate additional chief metropolitan magistrate S Y Shisode, who had heard the bail plea at his Kurla residence
 
Bhosale’s counsel Abad Ponda said, “We sent a notice to the DRI that we were going to move the night magistrate’s court. The court allowed bail for Rs 50,000 and payment of Customs duty of Rs 15 lakh. We have deposited both amounts at Azad Maidan Police Station.”

The magistrate in his remarks has said “they tried to serve notice to the DRI” before granting bail.

The bail order says Bhosale should attend the DRI office every day. His passport has been submitted to investigators. Bhosale’s son Amit confirmed that his father had been released on bail on Sunday night. “He is currently at our Mumbai residence,” said Amit.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Brijesh Singh, under whose jurisdiction Azad Maidan Police station falls: “Bhosale was brought to the lock-up around 7.30 pm by DRI officials. His lawyers approached us with the court’s order around 11.30 pm. He received bail without being present in front of the magistrate as the police did not produce him. We released him after the order was shown to us.”

indianexpress: Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) - BEG student Naveli Arvind Kumar is the topper among 14 city schools in the standard X examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board. The results were announced on Monday for the Ajmer and Chennai region. Kashyap has an overall score of 98.2 per cent, with full marks on 100 in Mathematics and Sanskrit.

Fond of art and a fan of Harry Potter and Agatha Christie novels, Naveli looks up to her father Arvind Kumar, Commander (Works) Engineer with the Military Engineering Services (MES). “My father was my personal tutor all throughout my school years, and I have been very influenced by him. I want to become an engineer like him, and get my degree from IIT,” said Naveli.
 
A hard worker by nature, Naveli managed to excel despite frequent transfers and change of school. “I just shifted to Pune for my boards, and I had to work a little harder to adjust,” said Naveli. Needless to say, her parents are a proud lot. “She is a meticulous learner, and never lets go of any detail while studying. This achievement is well deserved,” her father said.

Coming second in the city is KV (CME) student Rinita Dutta with a score of 97.8 per cent. A multi-talented student with an avid interest in music and dance, Dutta wants to study in the IIT and then enter the corporate world, but not to earn money, but to “give jobs to others”. Like Naveli, Dutta has also scored a 100 in Mathematics and Sanskrit.

Dutta’s parents, who are both lecturers at the College of Military Engineering (CME), say that they expected this result, as she has been consistently excelling since her childhood.

“She has always taken an interest not just in studies but also in many extra-curricular activities,” said her mother Reeta.

indianexpress:  City schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have improved their performance, going by the standard X results declared on Monday. Of the 14 CBSE schools contacted by Pune Newsline including 11 Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV), six secured a cent per cent result, compared to the two or three last year.

The impressive six are Gurukul, Army Public School (APS), Jnana Prabodhini and among the KVs the Air Force Akash Nagar, IAT Girinagar and Air Force Lohegaon.

Schools like KV Range Hills, Southern Command and BEG secured passing percentages of above 99 per cent, whereas other schools had results between 95 and 98 per cent.

“This is the first time in three-four years that we are getting a cent per cent passing rate, compared to previous years when it was above 90. There is a definite improvement this year,” said KV Akash Nagar principal Usha Iyer.

Gurukul principal Mrinmayee Bhave felt additional project work also made a difference. “The improved performance shows that these techniques are working,” Bhave said.

KV Range Hills principal SP Patil felt the KV technique of regular testing, whereby weak students are identified and special coaching given played its role in the improved performance. “Since the CBSE schools do not have the system of coaching classes, students depend on the teachers. At our school, the teachers actually go to the homes of the students to coach them,” said Patil

indianexpress: Although property rates in the city have sky-rocketed, the PMC has been leasing out prime civic property at throw away prices. Violating an SC judgement in the regard and provisions of the BPMC act, the civic body instead of leasing out property on market rate has calculated the rent on ready reckoner rate which is expected to cause the PMC a loss Rs 15 crore in the next 30 years.

This was revealed by the PMC after activist Vishwas Sahastrabuddhe sought information under the RTI. A few months ago, the PMC leased out office space of 42,000 sq feet at the ICC, Senapati Bapat road at a rent of Rs 50 per sq feet per month for a period of 30 years as per the ready reckoner rate.

In its reply, the administration stated that as per the ready reckoner rate it drew an estimate of Rs 27 per sq feet for the office space at ICC towers. However, after inviting tenders, the highest bidder quoted the rent price of Rs 45 per sq feet and the general body while approving the leasing of property increased the rent by another Rs 5, it has stated.

Activist Vishwas Sahastrabuddhe said that as per the SC judgement, while leasing or selling civic property market rate should be considered while the ready reckoner rate should only be used for stamp duty collections.

indianexpress: Sassoon General Hospital authorities have urged Police Commissioner Jayant Umranikar to look into the incidents of fake medical certificates issued to certify people as physically handicapped and used to obtain benefits meant for the challenged.

Over 100 such cases of certificates being forged and sold by touts have come to light. A person suffering from coronary artery disease was examined by an orthopaedician and certified as handicapped, according to a fake certificate that was exposed recently. More such cases are coming to light at the SGH, which issues certificates to the challenged in the district. The cases have been reported to the Bundgarden police station since 2006, SGH officials said.

Said SGH medical superintendent Dr PS Pawar, “Time and again we have appealed to the police officials to look into the matter and have submitted records of at least 100 cases.”

SGH senior medical officer Dr DD Shetty explained that disability certificates are issued to handicapped individuals after they are medically examined at the SGH. The certificate is then submitted to the Pune Zilla Parishad which issues an identity card that eventually helps the disabled individual to avail of benefits.

Shetty said a certificate is issued only after a medical examination is carried out. Since a majority of cases pertain to physical handicaps, the orthopaedic department is involved in the process. There, a muscle charting that measures the percentage of disability is conducted and later, records are submitted to the administrative office.

On an average 20 certificates are granted daily. “There is a huge demand and we get some 50 applications daily,” says Pawar who also rues that with the load of operations and the OPD, it is impossible for the staff to conduct so many medical examinations in a day.

indianexpress: A SUM of nearly Rs 17 crore of the Rs 70 crore funds allotted to Pune under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) on Sunday are in the form of loans.

At last week’s general body meeting, the civic administration had stated that 25 per cent of the funds received from the central and the state governments for JNNURM projects will be in the form of loan. Till date, the PMC has received funds up to Rs 85 crore of which Rs 18.47 crore is in loans.

Nationalist Congress Party leader Dilip Barate claimed that the city Congress leaders had been falsely putting the JNNURM funds as grants while in reality, part of the funds, are loans. “The Central government on Sunday approved funds of Rs 70 crore, but the Congress leaders did not even bother to take the information or verify whether the funding is entirely aided or in the form of a loan,” he said.

The civic body is to receive funds worth Rs 1,482.17 crore under JNNURM. However, the percentage of loan and aid is yet undecided. Barate said the Congress leaders instead of portraying JNNURM funds as being approved due to special efforts of MP Suresh Kalmadi, should ensure that the loans are converted to grants.

techtree: Seagate Technology today announced the availability of its FreeAgent data movers in the country.

FreeAgent data movers (that come with base-mounted cables), integrate content management software and perpendicular recording technology in a device no bigger than a stapler. They come in an Aluminium-brushed Espresso Brown color, with Molten Amber illumination that adds to the style quotient.

The first of the FreeAgent family, the FreeAgent Pro data mover, is a fully integrated solution that combines desktop and online solutions, allowing users access their content from anywhere, share it with anyone, and sync it to almost anything.

The FreeAgent Pro features a full suite of software tools, and offers access to the user’s own private Seagate Internet Drive, an online 24×7 ATM to post, access, and share files from anywhere using the Web.

Besides, it features an interchangeable modular interface system, or dual FireWire 400 ports for easy connection to an array of computing devices. Seagate is offering a free trial offer of 500 megabytes of online space on the Pro data mover

The second Seagate data mover, the FreeAgent Go, is targeted at college students, mobile consumers, and business professionals, and literally puts the desktop in the palm of the user’s hands, according to the company.

By plugging a FreeAgent Go into any Windows computer’s USB 2.0 port, users can get a personal computing experience wherever they may be. When done, the user’s private information and personalized settings are stored on the data mover, and not on the host computer. Besides, upon unplugging, no trace is left on the host computer at all. FreeAgent Go features file encryption for additional data security.

techtree: The EN8600GTS/HTDP/256M high-end graphics card announced by Asus makes for a totally immersive game play as well as superb graphics, the company says.

Besides, Asus is bundling with its new card the much anticipated FPS game, STALKER: Shadows of Chernobyl. Even Asus’ G1 gaming series of notebooks feature this game.

The card comes with 256MB DDR3 memory, fully supports Nvidia SLI technology and Microsoft DirectX 10 plus Shader Model 4.0, and deploys Nvidia’s unified architecture with GigaThread technology to deliver some of the finest graphics and visual effects, says the company.

The EN8600GTS/HTDP/256M is capable of exploiting Windows Vista’s graphics potential to the fullest to deliver stunning special effects.

Other key features include: true 128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting; Nvidia Quantum Effects technology; full HDCP compliancy for effective playback of HD DVD, Blu-Ray Discs, and other such content; and a host of input and output solutions to fit any situation.

The new graphics card utilizes a PCI-Express slot, and has TV-Out, HDTV-Out, Dual DVI-I (supports two 3840 x 2400 at 30Hz resolution displays), and VGA output.

Besides STALKER, the card comes bundled with Asus’ Gamer OSD, a feature delivering Overclocking and chat options during game play, thus allowing users real time performance upgrades whenever required.

And like other Asus products, the card also features Asus Splendid technology and Asus Video Security Online.

reuters: Planet-seekers who have spotted 28 new planets orbiting other stars in the past year say Earth’s solar system is far from unique and there could be billions of habitable planets.

The most recent planet discoveries bring the number of known exoplanets — planets outside our solar system — to 236, the researchers told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu on Monday.

“We are beginning to see that our home is not a rarity in the universe,” said Geoffrey Marcy, a professor of astronomy at the University of California Berkeley, who led the team.

“We are easily able to detect giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn around other stars. Most orbit far from the star like our own Jupiter and Saturn orbit from the sun,” Marcy said in a telephone interview.

“It’s a common structure among planetary systems.”

New techniques allow astronomers to detect planets that are not enormous although Earth-sized objects cannot yet be seen, said the researchers, who have posted details of their findings on the Internet at http://exoplanets.org.

Four of the systems also have multiple planets, like Earth’s own with its sun, eight planets (Pluto was demoted from planet status) and smaller orbiting objects.

“We are finding that most stars have not just one planet but when we find one there is a second or a third or a fourth,” Marcy said.

cnet: Conventional fuel strategies seem to be running out of gas.

The world’s reliance on crude oil as the fuel for transportation has to end, according to nearly a dozen speakers at the Future in Review conference this week. That’s not exactly a novel idea these days, but there’s plenty of debate surrounding the question of how people will consume energy in the future, whether it’s electric cars, hybrids, biofuels, or something else entirely.

“The world’s energy system as it is fundamentally unsustainable,” said Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global environment and energy correspondent for The Economist during one panel session. “The needlessly dirty and inefficient ways we use fuels today make it unsustainable.”

So then, what’s next? There was no consensus on a solution, but plenty of ideas about what is needed. The next source of fuel for the transportation world must be clean, efficient, dense, abundant, safe and, most importantly, cheap.

“The politics of the energy business in the U.S. has been, ‘let’s make sure it’s cheap and let’s don’t worry about having the next generation of sustainable supply,’” said Randy Foutch, president of Foutch Consulting and oil industry veteran. But at this point, both industry players and government officials have to look ahead because the means to get something done is there if the will can be summoned, he said.

Organizers of the Future in Review conference here try hard not to have a common theme, with sessions ranging from biomimicry and the future of AIDS to rocket science and global investment trends. Likewise, the participants and attendees hail from a wide range of backgrounds: information technology, finance, government, academia and venture capital.