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indianexpress:  OVER one lakh unorganised workers including housemaids, hawkers, manual, agricultural and construction labourers, in the city will observe a 24-hour strike and take out a march to the district collectorate on Wednesday as part of the nationwide protests organised by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) to demand effective legislation for the unorganised sector.

“A minimum wage structure, provision for health and pension schemes as well as laws relating to better and safe working conditions — in totality an effective social security system for these workers — is what we are demanding,” said Ajit Abhyankar, general secretary, CITU, Pune.
 
CITU has demanded that at least three per cent of the Union Budget be set aside for welfare of the unorganised workers and that special boards be formed at the Centre, State and district levels. “Labourers should be registered and hired only through these boards. This will bring down their exploitation and ensure better organisation of the unorganised sector,” said Abhyankar.

Speaking about the problems of the housemaids in the city, Abhyankar said, “Around 23,000 housemaids are registered with the Pune Zilla Ghar Kamgar Sanghatana. Earlier, small groups used to rally for their rights. On Wednesday, we are expecting them in big numbers,” said Abhyankar.

Similarly, the city has an estimated 25,000 people working as construction labourers and over 600 manual labourers. CITU is demanding that the PMC end the contract system for hiring these workers and offer benefits of minimum wages, health and other social benefits.

indianexpress: MUNICIPAL commissioner Pravinsinh Pardeshi is toying with the idea of setting up a separate company with public-private partnership to carry out infrastructure work in the city.

With Pune witnessing huge investments in the IT, BPO, automobile and other sectors — the amount runs into Rs 10,000 crore per year which will grow in the coming years — Pardeshi said the infrastructure needed to support all-round growth will be immense in the coming years.

“The PMC administration does not have the manpower and the experience to execute big infrastructure projects. It has been able to spend Rs 500 crore of the funds it got from the budget including that from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for development work last year. This spending can stretch to Rs 700 crore but the PMC cannot take up projects beyond this even if funds are made available,” said Pardeshi at a seminar on Maharashtra State Housing Policy on Tuesday. The Pune Municipal Corporation spent Rs 485 crore of the Rs 550 crore set aside for development work in the 2006-2007 budget. This year, the provision is Rs 1,100 crore.

Pitching for a separate company for big infrastructure projects in the city, Pardeshi said it would yield better results. “It will bring a professional attitude in the execution of the development projects for the city,” he said, adding, “the company will be on the lines of BEST in Mumbai and the PMC’s share in the company would be less than 50 per cent.”

indianexpress:  THE Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) is going the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation way. A pet crematorium, like the one in Nehrunagar in Pimpri, is being planned by the board at Kondhwa.

The decision to have such a facility was taken at a meeting between PCB officials led by president Brigadier R J Sharma, CEO S K Sardana and members of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), Pune Chapter on Monday.
 
The idea was the SPCA’s, whose members drew the PCB’s attention towards the accidental deaths of cows, buffaloes and dogs on the road and the lack of a dedicated area to bury pets in the Cantonment area.

The proposal will be presented in the general body meeting next week. Sardana said he will write to the Pune sub area commander Brig R J Sharma seeking permission for the allotment of a piece of land near the effluent treatment plant in Kondhwa for the pet crematorium which the PCB will develop.

The PCB’s health department, which had been working on a similar idea highlighted in a survey the difficulties it found in disposing of carcasses and animals run over by vehicles. “The PCB has already studied the pet crematoria set up by the Delhi and Chandigarh municipal corporations a few years ago and wants to model the project along the same lines,” Sardana said.

“Since there is no proper space, we find it extremely difficult to bury dead animals. The crematorium will ensure pets get a decent cremation or burial depending on the choice of pet lovers,” said Sardana.

indianexpress: STATE Inspector-General of Prisons (IGP)SC Mathur on Tuesday said he had no clue about Sanjay Dutt’s participation in the Independence Day celebrations at Yerawada Central Jail. ‘’It is unlikely that Sanjay Dutt will participate in the cultural activities,” he said on Tuesday.

Mathur, who confirmed that a job had been allotted to Dutt, refused to specify its nature.

“If you promise to publish stories of the work allotted to all 3,500 inmates, then I will tell you the type of work allotted to Sanjay Dutt. He has been given work which is suitable to him according to the rules of the jail manual,” Mathur said.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh-based Right To Information activist Hemant Goswami, has moved an appeal under Section 19 to appellate authority and also filed a complaint under Section 18 to the Maharashtra State Information Commission saying “some press reports in Pune claim that jail authorities shall be allowing Sanjay Dutt to smoke as cigarettes are freely available in the canteen.”

Goswami’s query says if narcotics are available in the canteen, will the jail authorities allow it’s consumption in negation of the law.

“The law, enacted by Parliament and fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution, has to prevail over any jail manual rules (if such a rule actually existed),’’ the appeal said.

Goswami said that jail authorities in their statement to the media had maintained that all prisoners are allowed to smoke.

indianexpress: PRESENTING a draft of the Maharashtra Housing Policy for debate, the State government on Tuesday said the primary objective of the proposal was to provide affordable housing to the citizens and ensure that all sections of society coexist.

“The various sections of society need each other, which is why the State is making conscious efforts to have a mixed population in any given area,” Swadhin Kshatriya, principal secretary of the State housing department said during the discussion. “It would be wrong to keep the different sections segregated, because it would lead to social problems.”

Kshatriya also made a point about how urban Maharashtra was growing faster (at 42 per cent) than urban India (at 27 per cent). “This will shoot up to 50 per cent. So there is a fear that the growth of cities in the state would be on the lines of Mumbai which has segregated the societies,” he said.

He said social housing needs to be promoted to keep together the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Lower Income Group (LIG), Middle Income Group (MIG) and Higher Income Group (HIG). “Since, owning a house is getting expensive everyday, the State is also promoting rental housing through its new policy,” he said.

There is a need to provide sufficient supply to keep the housing affordable for every citizen, he said. The concept of mass housing and special townships should be encouraged. On the builders’ demand to increase Floor Space Index (FSI) limits in the city, he said it could not be done equally everywhere, with the State providing increased FSI in the suburbs.

techtree: Logitech has announced launching it’s 2.1 Z-4 speakers with a total peak power of 80-watts, and a total RMS power of 40-watts.

The Z-4 speakers include Logitech’s pressure driver subwoofer technology that delivers distortion-free bass.

The satellites have a 2-inch dome driver and a 2-inch pressure driver. The subwoofer has an 8-inch pressure driver.

The wired remote control comes with a headphone jack, auxiliary input, subwoofer, volume, and power controls.

Moninder Jain, director (India and South East Asia), Logitech, said, “The stylish looking Z-4 speakers are the hottest little things to have on your desktop. They deliver truly impressive sound - smooth, room vibrating, bass, crisp, high, and a mid-range nearly perfect for computer games. With a little equalizer tuning, these speakers deliver exceptional music performance, and are a true pleasure to listen to soft music like rock and jazz.”

The Z-4 speakers are available through Rashi Peripherals and Savex Computers for a MRP of Rs 7,595. They come with a 2-year warranty.

bbc:  Doctors are turning to graphic artists to help patients better understand their illness and course of treatment.

The artists turn medical images from 3D anatomical scans into less formidable forms, suitable for patients.

Trials of the system have shown it can aid understanding and deepen dialogue between patients and their care givers.

The system is also being used as part of a project to raise awareness among diabetics of some of the most serious side-effects of their condition.

“Doctors talk shop, which can be difficult for patients to penetrate,” said John McGhee, a PhD student and 3D computer artist from the University of Dundee, who helped to direct the visualisation project.

The tools and methods used to pass on information about illnesses and cures were as various as the doctors themselves, Mr McGhee said.

msnbc: In the last 70 years, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have smashed molecules, analyzed cosmic rays and used supercomputers to simulate the earth’s climate.

Now, scientists there have created a device that, though it can be built out of scrap metal, has the potential to alleviate suffering for some of the 2.2 million displaced people in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.

The device is a wood-fired stove, meant to replace the traditional campfire over which the refugees — mostly women and children — typically boil water and cook powdered grain into bread.

These fires are so inefficient that for many refugees, each day has meant a new struggle to find, or buy, enough wood to survive.

That’s where Dr. Ashok Gadgil comes in.

The Indian-born physicist told Reuters that once he learned about the refugees’ plight, he was gripped by a vision of a more efficient stove that could reduce the number of exhausting wood-seeking journeys on which women are vulnerable to attack.

“How can you not work to solve a problem when you have a solution in your back pocket, and you see somebody is under abysmally harsh conditions, suffering agony?” he said.

Three years and countless prototypes later, Gadgil and a small group of volunteers have given birth to an angular, oddly shaped contraption that wouldn’t look out of place in a junkyard.

msnbc: Some Nissan cars will soon come with a gas pedal that lifts to warn of possible collisions, while the cars will automatically stop if drivers take their foot off the accelerator in response to the warning.

The technology combines radar sensors and a computer system to assess a car’s speed and the distance to a vehicle in front, Nissan Motor Co. said Monday. Cars with the new safety features will be available this year in Japan, and next year in the U.S.

The idea was to make a car that judges dangers on its own, like a friendly animal, so machine and driver can work together, said Nissan Senior Manager Yousuke Akatsu.

“It is almost like riding a horse, the way the rider can have a dialogue with the horse,” he said.

As soon as drivers lift their foot off the gas pedal, the brakes kick in automatically to bring the car to a stop, Akatsu said. The car will keep going if the driver continues to step on the gas pedal.

Nissan also showed an experimental system that measures alcohol levels in a driver’s sweat from sensors in the gearshift. The system stops short of locking the ignition but issues a warning in an electronic voice.

Nissan said drunken driving caused 611 fatal accidents in Japan last year. That’s half the number of a decade ago, but 10 percent of fatal accidents.