New programmes at AIIMS proposed

NEW DELHI, India: The recently-constituted Research Advisory Council at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here has recommended establishment of joint M.D.-Ph.D and M.Sc.-Ph.D. programmes to strengthen human resources in biomedical research in the country.

The Council met over the weekend under the chairmanship of the Director of the Institute, Prof. R. C. Deka.

“At the meeting the need for a monitoring system and rewarding the researchers with adequate incentives was emphasised,” said a note issued by the Institute on Saturday.

The Council was created as a follow-up action on recommendations made by the Prof. M. S. Valliathan Committee for improving the functioning of the Institute.

Innovation centre

The Council members emphasised the need for creation of an innovation centre, central bio-medical instrumentation facility, central bio-repository facility, co-ordination centre for collaboration with industry and facilitation centre for intellectual property rights to strengthen the research infrastructure.

The Council has also recommended that the Institute identify four or five areas of national importance which require urgent attention for research while not discouraging focused research by individual researchers in the area of their interest.

Accepting the important research contributions of the Institute, the members of the Council expressed their opinion on steps to strengthen biomedical research activity at the Institute to ensure that it emerges as one of the leading global biomedical research organisations, noted the release.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042558700300.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

State bags award for panchayat empowerment award

Jagadish Shettar receives the award from Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presenting the first prize in the Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Incentive Scheme in New Delhi on Saturday to Jagadish Shettar, Karnataka Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.

Bangalore, India: Karnataka along with Kerala has bagged the first prize in Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) of the Centre for 2009-10.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the award to Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar in New Delhi on Saturday.

The award comprises a cash prize of Rs. 2.5 crore and a citation. Presidents and vice-presidents of several zilla panchayats of the State were present.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa expressed happiness over the selection of the State for the award constituted by the Centre and said the Government would delegate more power to local bodies to empower them and make them financially strong.

Work stopped

He said work on the proposed Dandavati irrigation project in Shimoga district would be temporarily halted following objections from the tribunal appointed to adjudicate surplus Krishna waters. “I am confident that after the tribunal pronounces its verdict, we can continue it,” he said. The tribunal headed by Brajesh Kumar at its sitting in New Delhi on Friday had expressed displeasure over Karnataka taking up the project without bringing it to its notice and for not securing its permission.

The State accorded approval about three months ago for the project to provide irrigation in parts of Shimoga district by utilising 1.8 tmcft of water.

Mr. Yeddyurappa alleged that the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa had influenced the tribunal by opposing the project and said their action would only help Andhra Pradesh.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042553680400.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Unsung heroes honoured

‘Aam Aadmi Awards’ held by Jana Mitra, Sukuki Exnora PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

Proud moment: Health Minister Danam Nagender with Animal Rights activist Amala Akkineni presenting the first ‘Aam Admi Award-2010′ to

HYDERABAD, India: They are soldiers armed with inner strength to wage battles against the government, social evils and apathy, all for the common good. Their motivation comes from within and is hardly dependent on recognition.

Nevertheless, awarded they were, at the ‘Aam Aadmi Awards 2010′, the first-ever awarding ceremony for unsung heroes organised by Jana Mitra and Sukuki Exnora here on Saturday.

Tagged ‘Extraordinarily Ordinary’, the awards, with the logo modelled after the Common Man of eminent cartoonist R.K. Laxman, were given to six persons on four different fronts — Civic Consciousness, Social Work, Education and Environment.

P. Ramakrishna, retired Railway driver, got the award for Civic Consciousness for his relentless efforts to draw attention of the authorities towards reducing train accidents. On Saturday too, he came equipped with two petitions, one suggesting satellite monitoring of the level crossings and the other for curbing illegal transportation of cheap liquor.

Mohd. Ashfaq, social worker from CHATRI, got the award for his contribution to slum development and empowerment of the deprived communities. Ravinder Kaur, home-maker promoting free education to children, and Margaret Francis, who has been working in 28 slums in Hyderabad, shared the award for education. Ch. Ramesh, saviour of dogs in Malkajgiri and Thrimurthy Pillay, the automobile mechanic who regularly feeds pariah kites got the awards in the ‘Environment’ category.

Significant contribution

There were also Green Leaf Awards 2010 sponsored by Ramky group for significant contribution to solid waste management. While Tanuku Municipality was given the ‘Best Municipality’ award, municipalities of Adilabad, Palamaneru, Pulivendula, Sadashivpet and Suryapet got awards for Best Door-to-Door Collection, Best Collection and Processing, Best Garbage-bin-free town, Best Transportation System, and Best Sustainability Practices respectively.

Minister for Health Danam Nagender and social activist Amala Akkineni gave away the awards.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042560410200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

‘Aam Aadmi Awards’ held by Jana Mitra, Sukuki Exnora PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

Proud moment: Health Minister Danam Nagender with Animal Rights activist Amala Akkineni presenting the first ‘Aam Admi Award-2010′ to HYDERABAD: They are soldiers armed with inner strength to wage battles against the government, social evils and apathy, all for the common good. Their motivation comes from within and is hardly dependent on recognition.

Nevertheless, awarded they were, at the ‘Aam Aadmi Awards 2010′, the first-ever awarding ceremony for unsung heroes organised by Jana Mitra and Sukuki Exnora here on Saturday.

Tagged ‘Extraordinarily Ordinary’, the awards, with the logo modelled after the Common Man of eminent cartoonist R.K. Laxman, were given to six persons on four different fronts — Civic Consciousness, Social Work, Education and Environment.

P. Ramakrishna, retired Railway driver, got the award for Civic Consciousness for his relentless efforts to draw attention of the authorities towards reducing train accidents. On Saturday too, he came equipped with two petitions, one suggesting satellite monitoring of the level crossings and the other for curbing illegal transportation of cheap liquor.

Mohd. Ashfaq, social worker from CHATRI, got the award for his contribution to slum development and empowerment of the deprived communities. Ravinder Kaur, home-maker promoting free education to children, and Margaret Francis, who has been working in 28 slums in Hyderabad, shared the award for education. Ch. Ramesh, saviour of dogs in Malkajgiri and Thrimurthy Pillay, the automobile mechanic who regularly feeds pariah kites got the awards in the ‘Environment’ category.

Significant contribution

There were also Green Leaf Awards 2010 sponsored by Ramky group for significant contribution to solid waste management. While Tanuku Municipality was given the ‘Best Municipality’ award, municipalities of Adilabad, Palamaneru, Pulivendula, Sadashivpet and Suryapet got awards for Best Door-to-Door Collection, Best Collection and Processing, Best Garbage-bin-free town, Best Transportation System, and Best Sustainability Practices respectively.

Minister for Health Danam Nagender and social activist Amala Akkineni gave away the awards.

Handicrafts exports post positive growth

NEW DELHI, India: All seems to be finally getting to be well for the handicrafts sector. After registering massive slips of 19 per cent in 2007-08 and 41.6 per cent in 2008-09, the export of handicrafts from India has registered an increase of 6.55 per cent during the just ended 2009-10 fiscal year.

According to the provisional data released by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), the exports have gone up to Rs. 8,718.94 crore as against Rs. 8,183 crore during 2008-09.

In a press release here on Saturday, EPCH Chairman Raj Kumar Malhotra noted that the increase in the export had been across nearly all product categories.

The highest increase was recorded in imitation jewellery exports, where there was a growth of 18.03 per cent. It was followed by woodwares (15.17 per cent), shawls as artware (10.64 per cent), embroidery and crocheted goods (6.12 per cent), zari and zari goods (5.61 per cent), hand printed textiles and scarves (5.6 per cent), and art metalware (4.88 per cent).

Country-wise, the U.S. was the single largest market for the Indian handicrafts during the year, accounting for 29 per cent of the exports. But, as a region, the European Union topped the list, accounting for 40.33 per cent of the exports.

Within the European Union, the U.K. took the lead, buying handicrafts worth Rs. 928 crore from India. It was closely followed by Germany (Rs. 783 crore).

Mr. Malhotra conceded that much more, however, needed to be done to catch up with the momentum achieved by handicrafts exports before the global economic meltdown hit the markets for non-essential items like handicrafts.

For several years, Indian handicraft exports had been consistently clocking a growth of 10 per cent per year until 2006-07, when it reached a peak of Rs. 17,288 crore only to fall to Rs. 14,012 crore in 2008-09 and subsequently to Rs. 8,183 crore in 2009-10 as a result of the global economic problems.

Noting that the government had been taking several measures to promote handicrafts exports, he said the EPCH expected to regain the 10 per cent growth rate this year.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042562371000.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Harnessing the potential of mobile technology

Anand Chandrasekaran

Use of mobile phones and the applications available in it are so common now that mobile internet is emerging as a new medium for innovative business models. Anand Chandrasekaran, Director at Openwave Systems in the U.S., spoke to M. Soundariya Preetha on the business potential for mobile internet technology. Mr. Chandrasekaran holds an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and founded Aeroprise Inc. He was involved in the production of the documentary on HIV/AIDS “Tapestries of Hope” and has been recently recognised by the World Economic Forum as “Young Global Leader”.

Mr. Chandrasekaran, who specialises in mobile internet, says ways to innovate in this space “excites” him. He has built personalised mobile applications at Aeroprise. One of the largest growing industries within the mobile internet space is mobile advertising.

There is so much history about the user of a mobile application that the database can be tapped for business opportunities. For instance, when a mobile user reads a news report on his mobile, there is data on the area of interest of the reader and the subjects that he reads about. Thus, the content can be developed to give value addition to the loyal customer.

At the global-level, there is interest among several stakeholders in tapping the potential of this new medium. A number of countries have leveraged the data and voice side of mobile. Some of the applications are developed only for the mobile space now. In mobile internet space, with the new features there is unlimited data, user experience and various applications.

Mobile technology has enabled the users to share several incidents in their life with their family and friends. “Mobile has become a bridging factor,” he says. Thus, the potential for mobile technology is huge though it will have its own growth issues. Concerns such as privacy need to be addressed, he says.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042551640200.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu

Freedom training for bonded labourers

CHENNAI, India: What on earth is a freedom training programme? But, that is precisely the kind of programme that 23 families, all of them bonded labour at rice mills and brick kilns, have undergone for the last three days in Chennai.

“These people are not chained or locked inside the mill or kiln. Then what keeps them there,” asks Pranitha Timothy, Director, Aftercare, International Justice Mission (IJM). She coordinates the programme with other staff and volunteers from IJM.

Most labourers stay on from a sense of fear and gratitude to the owner who lent them money when they most needed it. “They have no conception of their rights, and keep believing that they owe money to the owner, even years after working with the entire family for rock bottom wages. In fact when they are rescued, technically the owners actually owe them money,” she adds.

It is this fear, the psychological bondage, that keeps them rooted to the mill or kiln and lingers on, even after they have been rescued. It is only when the assault (physical, verbal and sexual) gets impossible to bear that some of them run away, only to be dragged back again and beaten in front of other labourers so that the thought of freedom is erased from their minds and replaced with fear.

The camp, therefore, aims at giving the rescued labourers awareness about their rights and raising their literally non-existent self esteem. It helps them, with psychiatric counselling and role play techniques, to snap the invisible bond that continues to keep them in fear of, or loyal to their abusers. Without this, and creation of viable sources of income, it is likely that they would succumb and go back to the same mill or kiln to work in exploitative circumstances.

Beidemariam Bekele of IJM says in the two years before the aftercare programme was initiated, at least 16 per cent of the rescued bonded labourers went back to their owners. However, with the introduction of freedom training programme, only two percent went back. “Some of them will still go back. The connections and threats are that strong. Also life can be tough even outside a mill or kiln,” Ms. Timothy explains.

At the end of three days, Amulu and Govindayya, of Chittoor, who were rescued only a couple of months ago from a rice mill they were serving as indentured labour along with their two children, are still apprehensive about life outside. The owner (of the rice mill) is the ogre that threatens them in person and in nightmares. “Even if we have been told not to be scared, my parents are afraid. They think the owner will beat us up or kill us. What if that happens?” asks Amulu.

People like them are offered resettlement alternatives and strategies to mobilise community support for their cause. Providing a source of income and some financial independence could help in such a case.

That is why IJM, while working with the bonded labourers, arranges to provide them with tools, such as nets, or small farming implements, that will ensure some form of income until the amount from the government after rescue is paid up.

Durai, who has been rescued from a rice mill in the Red Hills area, says it is these tools that have managed to find him daily wage work. This amount (Rs.19,000), which is the second payment after the first instalment of Rs.1000 is paid immediately after rescue, must reach them in six months.

That, however, is often not the case. Also, the rescued labourers are entitled to three cents of land, Rs.60,000 to build a house and can get a ration card and government health schemes.

Reference Link
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/25/stories/2010042554440800.htm

Courtesy
The Hindu