Month: July 2010

India unveils $30 laptop

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New Delhi, July 22: India Thursday unveiled a Rs.1,500 (around $30) laptop designed specifically for students.

‘If more companies decide to manufacture a similar device, prices will come down automatically,’ Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after unveiling the low cost-access-cum computing device here.

The device would be made available to students in 2011.

When the ministry floated the concept of a low cost laptop some years ago, officials said it would cost Rs.500 ($10). It will now cost about three times the initial projections.

From Facebook with love: Status updates from behind prison bars

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Panaji, July 22: Prison bars brook no stopping for suspected Israeli drug dealer David Driham alias Dudu as far as updating his latest developments on social networking portal Facebook is concerned.

Arrested for possessing a narcotics cocktail of ecstacy, cocaine, heroine, LSD and charas of Rs.3.81 lakh (about 8,000 USD) Feb 21, Dudu has been updating his friends using Facebook mobile from behind prison bars.

His first entry begins with a statement of love for his fiance Zarine Driham, a Kazakhstan national, uploaded on his wall April 15, 2010 at 11.33 a.m.

I-Dosing: ‘digitally high’ from downloaded music

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London, July 22: They put on their headphones, drape a hood over their head and drift off into the world of ‘digital highs’.

Videos posted on YouTube show a young girl freaking out and leaping up in fear, a teenager shaking violently and a young boy in extreme distress.

This is the world of ‘I-Dosing’, the new craze sweeping the Internet in which teenagers use so-called ‘digital drugs’ to change their brains in the same way as real-life narcotics, reports the Daily Mail.

Indian remote sensing satellite beams high quality images

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Bangalore, July 22: India’s latest remote sensing satellite Cartosat-2B has started beaming high quality images of the country’s landscape from the earth’s lower orbit, India’s space agency said Wednesday.

‘The camera of Cartosat-2B has been switched on and images of high quality are being received,’ the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

The first two images vividly show Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh with the Sangam and Madurai city in Tamil Nadu.

India draws roadmap for new domain name protocol

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New Delhi, July 22: With the domain name bandwidth for web addresses expected to get exhausted by March 2012, the government has drawn up a roadmap for the transition into a newer version of Internet protocol that will enable unlimited options for users.

‘Over 18.4 million registered addresses in India have overburdened the initial version of address platforms, which is expected to exhaust the available space globally by March 2012,’ a statement issued by the ministry of communications and information technology said Wednesday.

Single portal for e-governance services in Gujarat

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Gandhinagar, July 22: Gujarat Wednesday unveiled a single stop portal –www.portal.gujarat.gov.in — for all its e-governance services.

State minister Jaynarayan Vyas said: ‘More than 50 G2C services will be made available to the people of the state through this portal.’

The minister said government service applications like VAT (Value Added Tax), HMIS (hospital management), e-dhara (revenue records), e-procurement, swagat (public grievance portal), jan suvidha kendra at district collectorates and city civic centres in municipal corporations can be accessed through this portal.

Chemical water purifiers unsafe, says study

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New Delhi, July 22: If you think the water purifier in your house is providing clean drinking water, then think again. A study released here Wednesday found that all chemical water purifiers in the Indian market fall short of required safety standards.

The study by Healthy You Foundation covered all major brands of water purifiers available in the Indian market and found that they do not disclose adequate information to enable consumers to make an informed choice.

Woman delivers stillborn baby in hospital lab

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Chandigarh, July 22: Amid high drama, a woman gave birth to a stillborn baby in a government hospital’s laboratory here Wednesday and her husband said the doctors failed to attend to her due to non-completion of formalities for a medical card.

Bulbul and her husband Chottu Ram came to the government multi-specialty hospital in Sector 16 here from Punjab’s Patiala town, some 70 km from here.

‘I have lost my child due to the negligence of hospital staff,’ Chottu Ram said.

Seven more swine flu cases in West Bengal

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Kolkata, July 22: Seven people were admitted to hospital after they tested positive for swine flu, taking the number of confirmed cases in West Bengal to 27 this year, the state health department said Wednesday.

‘Seven confirmed cases of swine flu were reported today (Wednesday). The cumulative confirmed cases of re-assorted Influenza A (H1N1) are 27 persons during 2010. The death toll is one so far during the same period,’ said the statement.

A 58-year-old man has died due to swine flu, becoming the first victim to be claimed by the deadly flu in West Bengal this year.

Dikshit opens campaign against heart disease

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New Delhi, July 22: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Wednesday inaugurated an awareness campaign on heart diseases.

‘Billion Hearts Beating’ is a national campaign initiated by Apollo Hospitals that seeks to raise awareness, drive positive action and to curb the increasing rate of heart diseases among the Indian population.

Inaugurating the campaign, Dikshit said: ‘As many suffer from heart disease in India even at a young age, awareness on heart ailments is necessary. Delhi government will be part of this campaign by publishing the details of the campaign in our health website.’

Scrap Vitamin A programme for kids, say leading nutritionists

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Bangalore, July 22:Top Indian nutritionists have urged the Indian government to scrap the ongoing programme of ‘massive-dose’ Vitamin A administration to children.

‘Vitamin A deficiency is no longer a public health problem in India and massive doses can actually be toxic,’ warns C. Gopalan, former chief of the Indian Council of Medical Research and a leading nutritionist.

‘It is distressing that in India, this approach has been permitted as a ‘universalised’ public health policy,’ he adds.

BJP demands ban on contraceptive ads

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Panaji, July 22: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday sought a ban on contraceptive pill advertisements on television, saying it encouraged unprotected sex and increased the possibility of AIDS.

Speaking during Question Hour in the Goa assembly, BJP’s Damodar Naik said the state health department should urge the central government to ban ‘I-Pill ads’.

‘On one hand you promote the use of condoms to prevent AIDS and on the other hand television channels are promoting I-Pill. The state government should talk to the central ministry and ban these advertisements,’ Naik said.

Four more confirmed swine flu cases in West Bengal

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Kolkata, July 22: Four people were admitted to a hospital Thursday after they tested positive for swine flu, taking the number of confirmed cases in West Bengal to 31 this year, the state health department said.

‘Four confirmed cases of swine flu were reported today (Thursday). The cumulative confirmed cases of re-assorted Influenza A (H1N1) are 31 during the year 2010,’ said the statement.

A 58-year-old man died last week due to swine flu, becoming the first victim to be claimed by the flu in West Bengal.

Two swine flu patients critical in Bengal

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Kolkata, July 22: Two swine flu patients are in a critical condition in West Bengal, even as four more people were admitted to hospital Thursday after they tested positive for the influenza, the state health department said.

The department said 15 people are now admitted in hospital and two of them are in a critical condition.

‘Four confirmed cases of swine flu were reported today (Thursday). The cumulative confirmed cases of re-assorted Influenza A (H1N1) are 31 during 2010,’ said the statement.

Survey points to improvement in rural health service

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New Delhi, July 22: More than 15,000 health sub-centres and 28,000 nurses and midwives have been added in the rural health sector during the last five years, a health survey report says.

According to the Rural Health Survey Report 2009, released by the Health Ministry Wednesday, a remarkable increase in human resource and infrastructure in the rural areas has been achieved since the launch of National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) in 2005.

British NGO to help reduce India’s maternal mortality

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New Delhi, July 22: A British NGO said Thursday it would help India achieve the United Nations Millennium Goal of decreasing the maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters by 2015.

According to Marie Stopes International (MSI), the main motive of launching this campaign is to strengthen public-private partnerships’ initiatives for delivering family planning services in India.

‘Our focus will be to reach out to the underserved, hard to reach rural areas where maternal mortality rates are higher,’ said Martyn Smith, programme director, MSI.

Officials confirm petrol pump fraud in city

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Hyderabad, July 22: If your bike or car is not giving proper mileage, then you should approach the Legal Metrology department officials to lodge a complaint rather than approach a mechanic.

A recent study by the department has revealed that more than 50 percent of petrol filling stations are tampering with their meters, and duping customers by short measuring.

TDP chief trying to trigger civil war: Rosaiah

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Hyderabad, July 22:Chief minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday said TDP president Chandrababu Naidu was trying to ignite passions among the people of AP and Maharashtra and trigger a civil war with his campaign on the Babli project issue.

CM condemns lathicharge on Babu

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Hyderabad, July 22: Chief minister K Rosaiah condemned the police lathicharge on TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and other legislators by the Maharashtra police.

“I strongly condemn the lathicharge on Chandrababu Naidu and others by the Maharashtra police while they were being shifted from Dharmabad this morning,’’ the chief minister said in a statement.

He also appealed the TDP cadres not to cause damage to public properties in the state in protest against the lathi-charge.

KCR replies to EC notice, denies violating code

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Hyderabad, July 22: Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has contended that he did not violate the model code of conduct in force for the byelections in Telangana districts when he said that a Dalit and a minority leader would be made chief minister and deputy chief minister of Telangana in the event of it becoming a state.

Rosaiah refutes Chavan’s claim on Babli row

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Hyderabad, July 22: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah has strongly rebutted his Maharashtra counterpart Ashok Chavan’s claim that the AP government was not so serious about resolving the row over Babli irrigation project.

“Maybe Chavan’s memory is short. It is not proper for him to say that we are not doing anything on the Babli issue.

We are doing everything in a democratic way to resolve the dispute with Maharashtra,” Rosaiah told a press conference at the Secretariat here today.

Babli agitation not aimed at by-polls: Naidu

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Hyderabad, July 22: Asserting that their fight on the Babli irrigation project issue was in no way related to the July 27 by-elections, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said they would withdraw from the contest in all the 12 seats if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gets the construction work on the illegal Babli project stopped forthwith.

“If Chief Minister K Rosaiah secures a clear assurance from the Prime Minister on protecting the state’s interests, the TDP will have no hesitation in withdrawing from the by-election contest,” Chandrababu Naidu announced here today.

Nagam objects to CM’s remark

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Hyderabad, July 22: In a quick reaction to chief minister K Rosaiah’s tongue-in-cheek humour while denouncing the TDP leaders’ `incursion’ into Maharashtra, TDP senior leader Nagam Janardhan Reddy has said the comment made him suspect whether the chief minister was enjoying “vicarious pleasure’’ that the TDP legislators had been beaten up.

It was an assault on Telugu pride: Babu

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Hyderabad, July 22: Alleging that the self-respect of the Telugus has been wounded due to the handling of the Babli row by the Congress governments, Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has demanded that the Centre protect the interests of the lower riparian state respecting the federal structure of the country.

Speaking at a dharna held near the Mahatma Gandhi statue on the premises of the Legislative Assembly here today, Naidu blamed the Centre for the insult meted out to the Andhra Pradesh people’s representatives by Maharashtra policemen.

Midnight dharna at AU ladies hostel

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Vishakapatnam, July 22: In a rare protest, around 2,000 inmates of Andhra University’s girls hostel staged a dharna in front of the hostel at 9 pm. They were protesting poor facilities including poor quality food provided at the hostel.

In a pre-planned move, as soon as it was time for dinner, the inamtes came out of their rooms, boycotted the dinner and sat on a dharna in front of the hostel. The sudden action of the girls at so late night startled the university authorities.