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indianexpress:  Carrying forward the association built between the Vaishnavi Self Help Group (SHG) from Daund and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in late October, the Counsul General from Mumbai, Walter Stechel, presented the SHG on Saturday with a token gift of 3,000 Euros (Rs 1,70,500) at their village in Nanveez, 70 km from here.
“The Chancellor was very impressed with the SHG when they met in Mumbai, and she wanted to support this group in some way,” said Stechel.

The group has been in existence since 2003 and was picked by NABARD because of their neat book-keeping to meet Merkel during her visit and represent the SHG movement. Vaishnavi SHG has recorded 100 per cent loan repayment while the members have used previous loans for consumption and business purposes. The group has come together to start a diary business and established a milk chilling plant in the village.

“How can I help?” Merkel is said to have asked the women, following which they spoke about their need for a local Primary Health Centre (PHC) as the nearest one was in Daund, which is nine km away. However, on Saturday, while speaking to the media, the 16-member group said they had not yet decided on how they would be spending the money.

“We would probably use it to expand our diary business or invest in some infrastructure for the village,” said Seema Suryakant Patole, president of Vaishnavi SHG.

While the SHG movement here has brought about financial mobility for the women, it has more significantly given them a voice within the village. One desi alcohol hub was shut down by the SHG group but “we have not been able to completely wipe it out,” the women said. The SHG group has also been trying to build toilets for every home. “We may try to use this money for that purpose,” Pathole said.

indianexpress: The longest ever intergalactic beam, stretching more than a million light years and ejected by a super massive black hole has been discovered by a team of astronomers in Pune. The observation was recorded by Joydeep Bagchi of the University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) and Professor Gopal Krishna of the National Centre of Radio Astrophysics ( NCRA) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Narayangaon and the recently commissioned Giravali Optical Telescope located 80 km from Pune.

The findings, reported in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal this month, has far-reaching significance. Other than the unprecedented size of the beam which is twice the previously recorded length, it could help reveal how jets of matter bind themselves together. Also the jet, emitted from a large active galaxy called CGCG 049-033, strongly supports the black-hole ejection theory held by scientists, said Bagchi.

“There are two types of galaxies — ordinary, like our Milky way, and unusual active galaxies. In the nucleus of the active galaxies, also called radio galaxies, high energy processes go on. These are still beyond our complete comprehension. One such process is the high energy intergalactic particle beams that come out in the form of radio jets. The massive size of the radio jet indicates that it must have been ejected from an ultra-massive black hole, a billion times the size of the sun, located at the centre of the galaxy. With this discovery we hope to know how a black hole ejects the jets and what keeps them intact up to millions of light years,” said Bagchi who chanced on this beam while scanning other objects in 2004. Since then the scientists had been working on the findings that were finally revealed earlier this month.

indianexpress: If you have a habit of sending obscene SMSes and emails to your girlfriend, please stop. For some reasons if your relationship with the girl breaks and she files a complaint on the basis this obscene stuff, it can land you in jail for five years as per the law.

The warning was issued by the panel of experts at Clubhack 2007, India’s first International convention of hackers, which held today at the ICC Trade Tower located along the Senapati Bapat Road.

The convention included a panel discussion where legal experts, lawyers and hackers came together for answering the questions about computer security.

The panel included Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Jadhav of State Intelligence Department (SID), legal expert Rohas Nagpal, president of Asian School of Cyber Laws, hacker Rohit Srivastwa, who was also the convener of the event and Bikash Barai, CEO of iViZ technology, Kolkatta.

Answering a question about circulation of obscene SMSes and emails, the panel made it clear that the owner of a mobilephone or computer from which the obscene material was sent was liable for punishment.

The panel stated that sending an obscene SMS is a crime. Suppose if someone sends an obscene SMS from your mobile phone without letting you know about it, then as per the law you would be responsible for the crime, which is punishable upto five years of imprisonment. The intention of sending the obscene stuff is not considered in these cases. So be very careful before giving your mobile phone to anybody, the panel warned.

indianexpress: NEI Dental Hospitals of Korea has signed a memorandum of understanding with city-based Maharashtra Medical Foundation’s Ratna Memorial hospital’s Centre of Implant Dentistry to promote exchange of knowledge and skills to Indian dentists. NEI Dental Hospitals will provide specialised courses for the dentists from MMF at their hospitals in Seoul and Daegu, Korea.

Under the auspices of Maharashtra Medical Research Society, Dr Sang-Kohn Chang, director of NEI Dental Hospitals, Seoul and Daegu conducted a two-day special course at Maharashtra Medical Foundation Hospitals on December 3 and 4. Around 40 dentists from Pune and Mumbai attended the course and were credited with 15 hours of the continuing education programme of NEI Dental Hospitals.

Dr Chang also awarded plaques of appointment as faculty to the NEI Sensible Implant Group, Seoul, to Dr Abhijit Kale and Dr Milind Kulkarni, principal implantogists of MMF Centre of Implant Dentistry.

Dr Chang practising dentist at Seoul and Daegu, South Korea who is the inventor of Alloden implant system and professor at Seoul and Hainan University, China also gave day-long lectures at Joshi Hospital where a variety of cases were presented and videos shown explaining the procedure of implant placement in the Alloden system.

indianexpress: With a view to making use of their technical knowledge and experience in the field of power and energy, the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) has planned to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in a couple of months.

Chairman of the MERC, Dr Pramod Deo, who was in the city on Saturday as chief guest at a workshop on Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) awareness, told this to The Indian Express.

Giving out details Dr Deo said, “We are planning to sign an MoU with the CEC, CPUC and LBNL soon. While the CEC deals with power-related issues only, the CPUC regulates privately-owned telecommunications, electric, natural gas, water, and transportation companies. The Berkeley Lab conducts unclassified research across a wide range of scientific disciplines.”

“During my visit to the United States last summer one of my friends, who resides in California, told me about the CEC and the Berkeley Laboratory. After my visit to these bodies we mutually embarked upon the idea of collaboration,” said Deo

With the help of these three American bodies, the MERC will hold various training programmes and workshops for the staff of the electricity companies like the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. The focus of these workshops would be energy conservation, demand side management, load research, energy planning techniques, among other things.

indianexpress: When 54-year-old Kishore Chandak was in school, stamp collection was the ‘in’ thing for the boys. Not any more, he said — as jury head of the ‘Stampex’ Exhibition — which concluded on Sunday. With the proliferation of the internet and with better telecommunication, stamp collectors in the city are bracing themselves for a future when stamps could become a rarity. However, they are doing their bit by promoting it as a hobby and as a topic of study — called ‘philately’ — besides providing advice to the postal department.

“While there are around 500 coin dealers in the country, there are not more than 80 stamp dealers today,” said S R Bhat, president of the International Collector’s Society of Rare Items. “These dealers too will reduce with time as well as the postal department reduces the number of stamps it prints each year.”

Not to be outdone by new technology, however, the society has targeted schools and students to rekindle the art of stamp collection. Of the 1,200 visitors at the exhibition on the first and second days, around 700 were students. This is the third time the society has organised a stamp exhibition since 1995, when it was kicked off. But this is the first time members went to schools to ask students to come by. It is also the first time the organisers held a competition for amateur collectors, by barring the seasoned ones from participating. “Most encouraging was the turnout among students was good. It is the hope for the future,” said Pratisad Neurgaonkar, member. Neurgaonkar is part of another society — Deccan Philatelic Society — that conducts weekly workshops on the study of stamps in schools like Delhi Public School, while also promoting awareness at the Air Force School in Lohegaon and the Nagarwala High School in Yerawada.

indianexpress: Cummins India Limited – power generation business unit was conferred the Corporate Brand & Reputation award and other awards in the Frost & Sullivan’s Industry Excellence Awards Nite for the Genset Industry held in Bangalore on December 5.

Apart from receiving the award in the corporate image/reputation leadership category for the year 2007, Cummins India was also declared a winner in four other categories — customer service leadership, most preferred brand in the manufacturing/process industry segment, most preferred brand in the IT/realty /hospitality industry segment and most preferred brand in the construction and infrastructure segment.

Frost & Sullivan is an influential growth consulting firm that provides Global 1000 companies and the investment community with comprehensive analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. The Voice of Customer (VOC) awards are presented to companies for their outstanding contribution to the industry or for achieving a competitive or customer-based leading position.

Winners were selected on the basis of independent customer assessment reflected in a country-wide survey conducted by the firm. End user segments like manufacturing (automotive, pharma, food, textile), commercial /SMB, construction & infrastructure, telecom, IT, realty and hospitality in 15 urban centers were polled to arrive at the frontrunners in each award category, stated a press release.

Amol Kotwal, industry manager, Energy and Power Systems Practice at Frost & Sullivan said, “Cummins’ global presence, strong brand equity, product line capability and market penetration has worked well for it establishing a leading position in the Indian market.