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indianexpress:  It’s a move that would make Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve swell with pride. For, the Samstha that he started for the education of women, is opening more doors for them.

City-based Cummins College of Engineering for Women (CCEW), run by the Maharishi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha, will probably be the first women’s engineering institute to have a mechanical engineering department. CCEW — which was the first engineering college exclusively for women when established in 1991 — has introduced the stream this academic year and will admit 60 students.

“The perception of mechanical engineering involving stressful physical environment no longer holds true. Now we can run design structures on computer models without the need for physical tests,” said Anant Talaulicar chairman of Cummins India Foundation (CIF). The changing work environment has opened up avenues for women in mechanical engineering in manufacturing, assembly, automotive, chemical, aero-dynamics and software industries.

“Discussions about starting a mechanical engineering course in CCEW ran similar to those when the college was started in 1991 — about whether a course in engineering exclusively for women was viable,” said Vishwas Deval, chairman of Maharishi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha.

Today, over 1,200 girls have gone abroad to study further, he added. Now, with the traditional view of ‘heavy workload’ crumbling, chances were bright for women, he said.

Efforts to start this stream began three years ago, said Talaulicar. “There were stumbling blocks, but we got the approval from the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on our third attempt,” he said. Since Cummins was essentially based on mechanical engineering, it would eventually tap CCEW to recruit women mechanical engineers.

indianexpress: Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil called for self-help groups in the state to strive and create a market for their goods. Patil, who was in the city on Tuesday to release the first self-help group (SHG) directory of women from eight districts and 11 talukas, said the good work by the SHGs, supported by the directory will inspire others to take up entrepreneurial activities.

The directory, which has three lakh entries, has been compiled by city entrepreneur Nilima Tapasvi.
 
Maharashtra is second only to Andhra Pradesh in the number of self-help groups and the numbers are on the rise, Patil said. He also touched upon the need to define a new poverty line as the rich were getting richer and the poor were becoming poorer. “There needs to be a balance,’’ he said.

While it was good to see Indians figure among the richest in the world, it was equally heart wrenching to see the poor end their lives for lack of a decent standard of living. The setting up of SHGs was helping bridge this divide and help women become more independent, Patil said.

The directory gives contact details and information about the products manufactured by the SHGs across the state. According to Tapasvi, the directory aims to give women a platform to come into the business mainstream.

With the first phase already completed, two more covering the remaining districts in the state will follow and once compiled it will be given to all SHGs as well as state government offices, she said.

Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari (retd), who was the other guest at the function termed this the first step towards women’s economic empowerment. He asked women to shed the ‘secondary citizen’ tag and stressed that the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the legislatures should become a reality.

indianexpress: Continuing with the crackdown on power thefts for the second consecutive day, the special squad of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) on Tuesday carried out a massive anti-power theft drive in Nigdi Ota scheme area, removing 994 illegal hooks and checking 737 connections.

During the day-long drive, a total of 41 offences were registered under section 123 and nine offences under sections 135 and 138 of the Electricity Act.
 
The squad seized a sizeable amount of material used for the theft comprising wires and hooks and a spot fine of Rs 1.75 has been recovered in the process.

Superintendent of Ganeshkhind MSEDCL Division Ashok Gujar said, “There are over 4,000 houses accomodating around 10-12 lakh people in the area, spread over five acres. Our survey revealed that only 1,500 connections were legal while a majority were the result of power thefts.”

MSEDCL executive engineer Rameshsinh Gautam said the drive aimed at turning illegal connection holders into legimate subscribers, would continue in phases. Sustained campaigns will be regularly carried out to bring down the transmission and distribution losses by reducing power thefts.

indianexpress: Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Maratha warrior who fought the mighty Mughals, even humbled them on several occasions, set his eyes on forts in the district and conquered them with the help of a band of loyalists who willingly laid down their lives for Swarajya, will come alive in a four-day exhibition in the city from June 28 to July 1.

The photography exhibition — Forts of King Shivaji — will display up to 40,000 photographs on the Maratha warrior’s forts spread all over India from Saler in the Sahyadris to Thanjavur in the South.

As part of the exhibition, a spread of six inch-by-eight inch photographs will be on show to provide insight into the grandeur of Maratha history. Separate sections on each of the 250 forts will showcase their interiors and exteriors. “A team of 53 trekkers was handpicked in late 2005 and trained in photography, videography and mapping of these forts through Global Positioning System (GPS). Hence these photographs,” said Milind Verlekar, CEO, Vande Mataram Dot Com Pvt Ltd, who initiated the project.

Besides this, a pool of 1,50,000 photographs will be uploaded to kickstart www.rajashivaji.com, a site dedicated to the warrior in a few months’ time.

The organisers are also attempting to get an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records by holding the world’s largest photography exhibition on a single theme. “By breaking the record, we can ensure Chhatrapati Shivaji’s name is heard all over the world,” said Verlekar. “It will also help create awareness about the protection and conservation of forts, which are symbols of national pride.”

indianexpress: While the automotive sector may have hit the speed breaker, rest of the manufacturing and service industry is continuing with its growth story.

If the advance tax paid by the big corporates is anything to go by then companies are continuing to grow and this will boost revenues and help meet tax collection targets, Rao Ranvijay Singh, member, Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi, said.
 
Singh was in Pune for the zonal conference of chief commissioners of income tax of the Western region. He was addressing media on the performance of the income tax department in FY 2006-07 and strategies for the current year. Singh said the top 100 assesses in the Pune zone had registered a 30.33 per cent increase in the advance tax collections as on June 15, 2007. This year the top 100 corporates have paid Rs 310.96 crore compared to Rs 238.59 crore in the same time last year.

The target for the Pune Zone for 2007-08 has been set at Rs 10,576 crore, which is a projected rise of 21 per cent over last year. Last year the income tax collections were at Rs 8,978 crore. Singh was confident of not only meeting the Rs 10,576 crore target but exceeding it. At the conference, the chief commissioners discussed on augmenting collections, improve tax payer services and also the challenge posed by RTI to the income tax department. “RTI for third party information is a problem that has cropped up,” Singh said

indianexpress: The monsoon that arrived in Mumbai on Monday, also hit Pune. However, the rainfall is likely to be scanty till a better weather system develops. “Pune, being in the rain-shadow region, will not get heavy showers till the system strengthens,” India Meteorological Department deputy director general (weather forecasting) A B Mazumdar said on Tuesday.

The IMD declared the arrival of the monsoon in Pune and Mumbai on Monday, after observing the monsoon pattern in the Dahanu-Parbhani-Brahmapuri (in theVidarbha) belt.

Mazumdar said the monsoon’s progress was very slow, and though there have been good rains on the west coast, the interiors are getting scanty showers.

The normal date for the onset of the monsoon over Mumbai is June 10. The unexpected delay in rains, due to super-cyclone Gonu over the Arabian Sea, however, will not have an impact over the monsoon current, IMD officials in Mumbai said. Meanwhile, the IMD has forecast a likely low pressure area over Bay of Bengal which would revive the monsoon.

techtree: In a bid to enable customers enjoy radio on their phones, Tata Indicom has announced ‘Mobile Internet Radio’, which is a live streaming world radio-casts in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, and other international languages.

Developed by US-based Locate It Info, the BREW-based Cell Radio Links application offers up to 41 popular local and international radio stations for Tata Indicom customers to be able to enjoy on their phones, an eclectic mix of music, news, and sports from the likes of BBC, CNN, Fox Radio, ESPN Radio, Seattle WM, and Bloomberg.

The company is making the service initially available on Motorazr V3C, Samsung Wideo, and Motorola World Phone for subscription charges of Rs 25 per 15 days across all Tata Indicom circles. This includes even those circles where FM services haven’t been yet started.

Launching the service, Pankaj Sethi, president of value added services, Tata Teleservices, said, “The launch of ‘Tata Indicom mobile Internet Radio’ marks another important milestone in our series of firsts.”

Sethi voiced the view that although listening to radio on cell phones is not at all new, Tata Indicom’s service is unique in that it makes it easy and intuitive for customers to experience a rich variety of music and news content on their handsets.
 

techtree: In what promises to be a powerful new technology for interconnecting devices, US-based chip maker, Alereon, has announced developing the first chip using ultra wideband (UWB) technology or radio frequency that meets regulatory requirements worldwide for applications based on Wireless USB (Universal Serial Bus), Bluetooth, and WiMedia.

Alereon claims the chip or RF transceiver called AL5100 is based on UWB technology, and deploys frequencies that are well over those used by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular phones, as well as other wireless devices.

The new chip is set to be integrated into external hard drives and cameras this year, the company said. These devices would connect to computers through optional dongles or wireless add-in cards going into USB ports.

Technically speaking, UWB is capable of speeds up to 480 megabits per second or the equivalent of USB 2.0 cables at distances up to 10 feet. However, according to Alereon, first generation devices based on the technology will not be as fast.

Meanwhile, some of the USB products available send and receive signals over frequencies that aren’t legal in many parts of the world because of interference with the radar.

Alereon claims this will not be a problem with UWB-based devices.

techtree: Creative Technology’s EP-630 noise isolation earphones are now officially available in the country.

The tiny earphones feature in-ear silicone ear buds for maximum isolation from surrounding noise, helping users better listen to music. Besides, users can choose from the included two extra alternate sized ear buds.

Powered by a 9mm Neodymium magnet transducer, the EP-630 earphones offer high-quality audio reproduction with superior bass, ideal for digital music playback.

The earphones make for noise isolation up to 40dB, crisp highs, and really low bass sensitivity (6Hz), the company says.

The earphones are available in Sleek Black and Pristine White, with the latter designed to match the looks of Apple’s iPod.

The EP-630 earphones are available at all leading outlets in the country, and through Digital Life Style Distributors and Cyberstar for a price of Rs 1,280.

Alternately, the ear phones can be bought online at http://creative.rediff.com/ for Rs 1,250.

The EP-630 earphones come along with a Gold-plated 1.2m Oxygen-free cable and a one-year warranty.

itwire: Although PDF is the standard in the paper-free yet easily printable delivery of information, Adobe has unveiled ‘Digital Editions 1.0’, an improved and free e-reader that lets you easily ‘acquire, manage and read’ digital books and documents on PCs and Macs.

Comaptible with PDF documents, XML documents and Adobe’s own Flash format, Digital Editions 1.0 is a new e-reader, available now as an approx 2.5Mb free download for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

It lets you acquire paid and free content in PDF or XML format, manage it and read it, with the layout and flow of the text and Flash elements automatically changing to suit whatever size window or screen you have Digital Editions running in, with Adobe saying they guarantee a ‘seamless viewing experience’.

Having Flash as part of the mix means that rich audio and video can be embedded into documents, transforming the text e-reader into a much richer multimedia experience, if publishers so desire.

Managing all the publications you’ll inevitable end up downloading (whether free or paid) is can also be viewed in a visual style, with the library view offering ‘advanced organization with multiple bookshelves’.

Adobe says that over 150,000 ‘commercially available’ publications are instantly compatible with Digital Editions 1.0, with the added ability of letting you ‘annotate content through bookmarks, highlights and text notes’.