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indianexpress: In a determined bid to curb the exploitation of children, the government of India prohibited their employment as servants at home or in businesses with the ban coming into effect from October 10, 2006. The Union Labour ministry has warned that anyone employing children below 14 years of age would be liable for prosecution and penal action under the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986.

The Pune Municipal Corporation standing committee, in compliance with the national policy on child labour, has specifically issued orders prohibiting children from cleaning storm water drains, but contractors assigned the task continue to deploy children for the hazardous job.
 
The city has 120 km of storm water drains of which nearly 75 km has been cleaned and it is in the cleaning of the remaining 45 km that some contractors have engaged children to complete the task fast. The municipal commissioner and mayor had ordered cleaning of storm water drains before the onset of monsoon.

Contractors say that since manholes are too small for fully-grown men to enter, children are asked to clean the drains. “It is not as if we are forcing these children; their parents are pushing them to work,” say the contractors.

Mayor Rajlaxmi Bhosale admitted that the PMC wanted to complete the drain cleaning at the earliest but that did not mean contractors could engage children in the work. “We have issued orders against use of child labour in any work related to the PMC. It is a cause for concern if contractors are making children clean storm water drains despite our orders against it. We will issue notices to such contractors and seek explanation and initiate action against them,” Bhosale said.

PMC standing committee chairman Bapu Pathare said he has demanded that the municipal administration take immediate steps to curb child labour. “Considering last year’s experience where city roads were inundated as a result of water logging, about seven contractors were appointed to clean storm water drains. When it was noticed that some contractors were engaging child laborers in the work, we had strictly issued orders against it,” Pathare said.

indianexpress: Not far from the city, pamphlets, notebook covers and notices are being distributed warning people about the prevalence of spurious products across the villages of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In an awareness drive, Rural Relations — a consumer relation organisation — is attempting to caution villagers regarding counterfeit products available in the market.

Pradeep Lokhande, the brain behind the drive, says more people are falling prey to counterfeit products in the rural markets every day. “These products don’t have a valid address or an ingredients’ list and are not even registered,” he says. “There are over 120 duplicate products of Parle-G biscuits, for instance. Toothpastes, tea, hair oil and face-creams have their counterfeits too.”
 
According to Lokhande, people opt for ‘fakes’ as they come cheap. “We are trying to inform people about the hazards of these products. We want them to spend more and purchase better products. This drive is not to endorse any brand,” he says.

Lokhande’s peers who go around introducing themselves as ‘village developers’ are targetting their segments armed with pamphlets in local languages which have logos cautioning people regarding counterfeit products. One way they have devised of getting through to the people is their children. “People listen to what children say in small villages. We will educate secondary school students by distributing among them notebook covers with information on them,” Lokhande says. Targetting shopkeepers is also on the cards.

indianexpress: The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) may be looking for an infusion of ‘King Long’ luxury buses from China to its existing fleet of around 20 Volvos.

“The cost of a Volvo is around Rs 85 lakh per bus while the Chinese buses that have similar features are cheaper by around Rs. 15 lakh,” Sudhakar Paricharak, chairman, MSRTC, said here on Friday.
 
“The corporation is awaiting a final report on the Chinese buses. It’s expected to be submitted by the Mumbai and Pune depots next week. If the report is positive, we will consider purchasing more buses. MSRTC is currently running two Chinese buses on trial basis for the last couple of months between Mumbai and Pune,” Paricharak said.

Paricharak, who was here to participate in the 60th anniversary celebrations of MSRTC, said he was not in a position to give further details. At present, the corporation has a fleet of around 16,500 buses that covers 80,000 routes across Maharashtra.

Paricharak said MSRTC, which has been making losses for the past decade was back in the black. “MSRTC reports transactions worth Rs 3,400 crore annually and still has a shortfall of 40 lakh commuters on daily basis,” he said. He said the corporation would make a net profit of Rs 10 crore in 2006-07. In 2005-06, it made losses of Rs 36 crore.

“Before the opening of Walking Plaza, our weekend sales used to be around Rs one lakh. This has dropped to Rs 50,000- 60,000 now,” said Sagar Ahiwali, manager at Woodlands. “Now, our customers go to other shopping areas, like in the Deccan, as they do not get parking space here.”

indianexpress: With the Pune Cantonment Board deciding to give Walking Plaza a monsoon break, Sunday will be the last day for Puneites to walk with gay abandon on the MG Road for two long months. While the people are generally unhappy with the decision, saying it worked fine without any such break last year, most shopkeepers on the road are jubilant as they feel the weekend ban on vehicle traffic was not doing their business any good.

PCB chief, S K Sardana said the suspension of the Walking Plaza, by now a signature event of the city during weekends, was only a temporary phenomenon.
 
He denied that there was any pressure from the merchant’s lobby to discontinue the Walking Plaza.

“Last year the private event management company that was running the plaza had said rains create problems for those who enjoy the walk thereby decreasing their number. So we have decided to discontinue it this year,” Sardana said.

Though last year PCB had made a profit of Rs six lakh, Sardana said the board was willing to work on a no-loss no-profit basis provided the event management company provides entertainment and chairs on the sideways for senior citizens and trolleys to carry shopping goods to cars parked some distance away.

Meanwhile, the decision to discontinue the walking plaza has gone down well with most of the traders. “We do not get serious shoppers as the people have to park almost I km away. We lose about 30-40 per cent business each weekend,” Sheikh Abdullah, store manager at Raymond’s outlet, said. “Initially it was a novelty and it attracted people. Now, the Walking Plaza serves little purpose as it heightens traffic jams and pollution on the roads leading to M.G Road,” he added.

indianexpress: Dacoits struck at a bungalow in Wanavdi, attacking its eighty-four-year-old owner in the wee hours of Saturday. This is the second such attack on a senior citizen, coming just a week after a gang robbed Harish Maru (65), a resident of Baner-Mhalunge Road on May 24.

The crime questions the claims of the city police concerning safety measures for senior citizens.

Masked robbers, armed with knives and sticks, entered Daddy Karset Daddy’s bungalow on Prince of Wales Drive. They thrashed the two watchmen, Ramkaran Mata Prasad and Pratap Singh Mayurprasad Singh, and locked them up in the bathroom along with Daddy. Prasad sustained serious injuries and has been admitted to a private hospital.

Daddy, narrating his ordeal to Pune Newsline, said that he was hit on the head with a stick and also was injured on the thigh. “The dacoits threatened me with a sharp weapon and decamped with Rs 20,000 cash. It was a horrible incident which sent shivers down my spine,” he said.

Daddy runs a treatment centre for stray dogs and other animals at his bungalow. PSI Subhash Jagtap of Wanavdi Bazaar police station said that efforts were on to nab the culprits. “The dacoits were professionals and escaped within 15 minutes,” he said.

indianexpress:  A Two-day workshop on sexual harassment has been organised by the Indo Global Social Service Society (IGSSS) in the city on June 6-7 at Nav Sadhana. The workshop, being interactive, will see the participation of 22 women from all over the state. From understanding gender and its role in creating perception and defining roles, societal expectations to understanding sexual harassment and impact, will be addressed in this workshop.

According to Dorothy Dsouza of IGSSS, the workshop will look at addressing the various issues as well as the preventive measures. “From understanding the Vishaka guidelines and the policy of the sexual harassment complaint committee will be dealt with in the workshop to orient them. We will also look at ways they can combat it in their workplace as well as spread awareness about in the community,” she said.
 
Sakshi, an organisation from New Delhi will be the resource team for the programme which will be conducted in Hindi. The workshop will also address sexual harassment at school, within families as well as communities. The major focus will be on how to work with adolescent girls and women groups on the issue at community level, apart from guidelines for policy making at workplace.

techtree: APC India has announced two new product families; namely, Desktop Ergonomic Notebook Stands (ECPN) and Mobile Notebook Stands.

Pankaj Sharma, Country Manager of APC India, said, “APC’S Desktop Notebook Stands help you position your laptop computer on your desk ergonomically. They maximize comfort, and reduce wrist, back, and neck strain. In addition, each stand allows cooling air to circulate around your latop, optimizing performance.”

According to company sources, Desktop Ergonomic Notebook Stands come with features such as 360-degree swivel capability for allowing users share their display with someone next to them or accessing connections on their laptop rears; 5-degree tilt capability; and special design allowing cooling of users notebooks.

Weighing in at about 0.23kg, the desktop notebook stands sport a maximum height of 1.25-inches and a maximum width of 10.75-inches. They carry a MRP of Rs 1,177, and come along with a one-year repair or replacement standard warranty.

APC’s Mobile Notebook Stands, according to Sharma, are also designed for better/ergonomic positioning of users’ notebook computers while on the road or on the couch. These stands create a stable platform for easier typing, and offer a layer of protection from uncomfortable heat. Each stand allows cooling air circulate around the notebook computer, thus optimizing performance and longevity.

The stands, as per company sources, are made compact and lightweight for maximum portability, and come with a fold-out mouse pad, non-slip surface, and retractable legs for added convenience.

The mobile notebook stands weigh around 0.59kg, and go up to a height of 0.50-inches and a width of 11-inches. APC Mobile Notebook Stands are priced at about Rs 1,883, and they too come along with a one-year repair or replacement standard warranty.

bbc: Google has launched a tool designed to make it easier for computer users to use online applications offline.
One of the key limitations of web services such as e-mail, word processing and calendars, is that they require a net connection to function.

Gears allows access to online data and applications inside the web browser when offline.

The tool was launched at Google’s global developer day, with 5,000 coders attending seminars worldwide.

Google Gears is an open source plug-in for browsers, which the firm hopes will lead to the creation of new web standards.

The firm wants many of the people attending its developers conference to use the Gears tools, which are free to use, to adapt their own applications for offline usage.

Using Gears, online data that is usually held on web servers can be stored offline on an individual’s computer, and then synchronised when the user logs back on to the web.

‘Fills gap’

Chris Prince, the engineer leading the Gears project, told the conference in London: “We want a seamless experience between offline and online.”

“This fills a gap for us,” said Jeff Huber, a vice president of engineering at Google. “The internet is great, but you can’t always be plugged in to it.”

Initially, Google’s RSS feed reader application - for reading news and blogs - will work offline, but the company plans to add other programmes, Mr Huber said

cnn: Wondering how much of a diet-buster that banana cream pie on your plate is? Some Japanese have a novel way to find out: Photograph it with your cell phone and send the image to an expert.

With cell phones ubiquitous in Japan and rising concern over expanding waistlines, health care providers have put two and two together to allow the calorie-conscious to send photos of their meals to nutritionists for analysis and recommendations.

Public health insurance offices in Osaka prefecture in western Japan have launched the service on a trial basis. About 100 cardiac patients signed up in the first year, followed by diabetes and obesity patients in the second.

“Japanese have been getting fatter, especially men in their 20s and 30s, and there is concern over what they learned about nutrition when they were younger,” Osaka official Satomi Onishi said. “We’re hoping that this program can help us to get a handle on the problem.”

Osaka is using a system developed by Asahi Kasei Corp., a Tokyo-based chemical and medical equipment manufacturer. The system is operating at about 150 health care providers and local governments around the country, company official Naoki Yoshimura said.

Nutritionists can work with photos from one day’s meals to several weeks’ worth, he said. Results come back in three days. Participants also can log onto a Web site to get further dietary information and upload photos from digital cameras.

Dr. Yutaka Kimura developed a similar system at Kansai Medical University’s Hirakata Hospital, also in Osaka prefecture. Five patients participate in the program, which costs $37 (4,500 yen) to join and $21 (2,500 yen) per month thereafter. Patients photograph meals over the course of three to seven days, and a nutritionist e-mails back analysis and advice.

cnn:   A closely held tech firm with some impressive financial backing is hoping to piggyback on the success of YouTube and other online video sites with a new, inexpensive camcorder geared to older consumers who may not be as tech-savvy as their kids.

Pure Digital, which makes disposable cameras sold in drugstores, is launching a new pocket-sized camcorder called Flip Video on Tuesday. The product, which will be available at Target, Costco, Best Buy and on Amazon.com, comes with a USB arm to connect to a personal computer or Mac.

Pure Digital’s Flip Video is a camcorder that fits in a pocket…
 
…and can easily upload files to sites like YouTube thanks to a built in USB arm.
Jonathan Kaplan, CEO of San Francisco-based Pure Digital, said the company hopes to make it easier for people to record and share video online. To that end, the camcorder comes with built-in software that makes it easy for people to upload their videos onto Google (Charts, Fortune 500)-owned YouTube or Grouper, an online video site owned by Sony (Charts).

“There is so much pent-up demand for capturing and sharing video. But the challenge is that there is no great, easy way to get video up on YouTube,” Kaplan said. “The user-generated content mainly comes from Webcams, cell phones and digital still cameras. There is no simple, affordable device to capture video so we decided to address that.”