Fundamentals of IT industry are still strong, feels Som Mittal

With the world economy still “uncertain”, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), on Tuesday, said that the fundamentals of the industry remained strong, although there was a need to monitor its performance over the next two quarters.“We will watch the next two quarters before revising any forecast as the global economic environment is uncertain. The fundamentals of our industry, however, are very strong,” said Som Mittal, President of Nasscom.

Facebook’s e-mail switch draws flak

Social networking website Facebook yet again succeeded in angering a large section of its 900 million privacy-conscious users over the weekend when it surreptitiously switched many of their profile e-mail addresses with a @facebook.com domain address.Many users who had e-mail addresses from Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail, would have discovered on Monday that their profile now showed a @facebook.com address instead. While the option to revert to the external e-mail address exists, it requires tweaking of their profile information display settings. Users also have the option to hide the @facebook.com address.

Monsoon keeps Centre on tenterhooks

Delayed and low intensity rain in parts of the northwest, central and southern regions has got the Agriculture Ministry worried and it is ready with a contingency plan. Minister Sharad Pawar has asked Maharashtra and Karnataka — parts of which are the worst-hit so far — to be prepared for any eventuality. The other affected States include Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

E-voting must for listed firms

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on Tuesday, made electronic voting mandatory for all listed companies — in respect of those businesses to be transacted through postal ballot — which would help shareholders participate in decision-making without being physically present in the meetings.

Infrastructure Debt Fund

India has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies during the past decade. However, infrastructure development has not kept pace with the growth in the rest of the economy. Realizing this, India initiated an ambitious reform programme in all infrastructure sectors. The Government has taken several initiatives to promote private sector participation in the infrastructure sector as a result of which the share of GDP going into infrastructure investment has increased from 5% in 2007 to 7% during 2009-10 and has increased to more than 8% in 2011-12. For the XII Five Year Plan (2012-2017), the target of infrastructure investment has again been doubled to US $ 1 trillion 50% of which is envisaged from the private sector.

Hacking into Hawking’s brain

Scientists are working with Stephen Hawking to test a groundbreaking device to allow them to ’hack’ into the brain of the world-famous British physicist, who has been unable to speak for the last 30 years.Seventy-year-old Hawking has been working with scientists at Standford University of the US who are developing iBrain — a tool which picks up brain waves and communicates them via a computer, the Daily Mail reported.

Finding NEEMO: US aquanauts train for asteroid mission

The name of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) project has a rich history in underwater exploration, from the fictitious submarine commander Captain Nemo to his talking clownfish namesake in the 2003 animation. But the NEEMO project is looking to the future, training astronauts of the US space agency for a possible mission to an asteroid.

BIS Finalizes Standards for Street Food Vendors

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has finalized an Indian Standard on basic requirements for street food vendors as food safety is a major concern with street foods. This was disclosed by Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Prof Thomas at Mumbai yesterday .He said that street food sector has shown phenomenal growth recently. Readily accessible and affordable to urban populations, street food provides the energy and nutrient needs to large segments of workers and their families in the cities. This sector is also a source of livelihood for a large number of people. Hence the standard developed by BIS has immense potential to safeguard public health and also promote the confidence of the consumer over the entire spectrum of food industry.

Rio’s unfinished agenda

At a time when the headline issues are economic growth and financial crises, few countries would willingly commit themselves to new treaties and conventions. Unsurprisingly, therefore, a significant occasion such as the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development produced no new binding agreements that could ensure the future well-being of the world’s natural capital and its people. Rio’s unfinished agenda is to measure human well-being and sustainability using a good set of tools, rather than a narrow metric such as GDP, and reach a consensus on development. Obviously, any measure that does not fully calculate the cost of present development to future generations is flawed. The Rio+20 conference in Brazil failed to measure up to this task. It was bigger than its predecessor summit, but achieved less. Twenty years ago, the Rio Summit produced Agenda 21 and its major principle of common but differentiated responsibilities for the rich and poor countries in dealing with environmental and development imperatives. That this foundational principle is retained in the Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want” provides some hope that equitable approaches will continue to guide global efforts.

Opinion - Expanding strategic partnership - India-US relations

The June 13 U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue left some commentators in both countries complaining that there was less to it than met the eye. We disagree: it seems to us to have finally — almost by stealth — begun shifting the U.S.-India conversation toward something that deserves the name “strategic,” centred on policy consultations on the world beyond South Asia.

India-Pak Foreign Secretaries to meet on July 4

Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold talks in New Delhi on July 4-5 to discuss peace and security, including Confidence Building Measures and Kashmir.As part of the second round of resumed dialogue process between India and Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani.

41% drop in FDI inflows in April

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has slumped by 41 per cent to $1.85 billion in April this year as compared to $3.12 billion in April, 2011.Officials in the Commerce and Industry Ministry attributed the decline in FDI inflows to the overall poor global economic scenario but said there was a crying need to initiate big-ticket reforms in various sectors to send across a positive signal to investors that Indian economy was a safe and attractive destination for investments. Reforms such as allowing 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 49 per cent in domestic air carriers; and opening up pension and insurance sectors have been hanging fire for long.India’s growth has already slipped to a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent, and is likely to go down further in the absence of any substantial reforms. The growth in the January-March quarter was merely 5.3 per cent.

Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies Gilani as PM

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday disqualified Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as Prime Minister with retrospective effect from April 26 when it held him in contempt of court. The verdict was announced by the three-member bench hearing multiple petitions against the National Assembly Speaker's decision not to disqualify Mr. Gilani after the Court convicted him for contempt of court.

A disappointed lot - People who are trying hard to have a home and car of their own too sounded disappointed that the short-term bank rates did not come down.

Expectations of industrial fraternity and retail loan borrowers in Tirupur district for a cut in short-term bank rates have fallen like a symbolic pack of cards as RBI kept Repo rate (rate at which banks borrow from RBI) unchanged in the mid-quarter monetary police review unveiled on Monday.

CAPA, Vittal Innovation City to promote Aerospace City in Bangalore

Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) India and Vittal Innovation City (VIC) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to co-promote CAPA-VIC Aerospace City, a high-technology aviation manufacturing, research and knowledge park in Bangalore.

PM sets tone for G-20 meet: World economy is in deep trouble

Setting the tone for the crucial G-20 Summit, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said the world economy is in "deep trouble" and hoped the grouping of developed and developing countries will come up with constructive proposals to pull the world out of this crisis. With anxiety over the global economic woes being reflected at the seventh summit of the four-year-old grouping, Singh's suggestion that the G-20 should focus on the need on investment in infrastructure as a means of stimulating global growth was significantly well received at the deliberations. "The world is in deep trouble, I hope the G-20 will come up with constructive proposals to get the world out of this crisis," Singh told newsmen ahead of the summit at this Mexican coastal resort town, meeting against the backdrop of a faltering global economy and the burgeoning Eurozone crisis.

Law and the age of innocence

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2012, currently awaiting Presidential assent is a welcome step for many reasons.The penal code does not take into account the reality of many different acts of sexual violence committed on children and the range of sexual contexts according to the extent of coercion, injury, age and incapacitation of the child. The concept of relationship with the child, crucial in such cases, is completely absent in the existing law; there are no separate provisions to address sexual violence committed by family members, friends or those in positions of authority. The Indian Penal Code also does not specifically address sexual violence against the boy child except under Section 377 that criminalises homosexual behaviour. The new Bill addresses these concerns and defines various categories of sexual acts that are offences when perpetuated against children. It is gender neutral, which is progressive. But in its definition of a child as below 18 years of age, it gives cause for concern.

World powers begin talks with Iran over Teheran’s nuclear program

Six major world powers- USA, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany began the crucial third round of talks with Iran in Moscow over Teheran’s controversial nuclear program. Iran's 20 percent uranium enrichment is the priority issue in the Moscow round of talks. Ahead of the talks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said that Teheran is ready to suspend its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent if Europe guarantees delivery of nuclear fuel for its reactors. The statement was posted on his official website.

‘Desertification is nearly as critical as climate change’ - Interview with Dr. Mansour N'Diaye, Chef De Cabinet of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification secretariat

The sands across the world are crawling, turning vast stretches of land into desert each year. Their relentless march, invading villages, farmlands and water bodies, has made millions of people ecological refugees across the world. Desertification is not just an ecological issue but also one of shrinking food and water supplies, a loss of jobs and mass migration. June 17 is annually observed as World Day to Combat Desertification. Dr. Mansour N'Diaye, Chef De Cabinet of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) secretariat, spoke to K.P.M. Basheer onthe need for setting a sustainable development goal of “zero net land degradation by 2030” at the Rio+20 meet. The interview took place during a visit organised by the UNCCD to Chifeng, a city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. A large part of Inner Mongolia's territory is desert. The desert storms emerging from there reach up to Beijing. Excerpts:

The quest for ingenious ideas

Engineering is meant to be a field that offers unlimited scope for innovation and creativity. But to what extent this is true in our engineering colleges is debatable.When aspiring engineers watched the movie ‘3 Idiots’, they fully identified themselves with the clash of intentions — the faculty members emphasising on examination scores while the students would rather apply skills they picked up during the course to create fascinating possibilities to aid the future generations. 

India is committed to increasing share of renewable enrgy, says Dr. Farooq Abdullah at IIEA, Dublin

Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah has said that India is committed to increasing the share of renewable power in the electricity mix to 15 per cent by the year 2020. He said an action plan has already been developed that aims at accelerating the deployment of renewable energy with a target of around 30 GW of renewable power by 2017. Dr. Abdullah was addressing a distinguished gathering at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin in Ireland yesterday.

China launches woman into space

China on Saturday sent its first woman into space, successfully carrying out the much-anticipated launch of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft, which will perform the first manned docking mission and lay the ground work for plans to build a space station.The three astronauts on board Shenzhou-9, including 33-year-old mother of one Liu Yang, were given a grand send off by top Chinese officials that was broadcast live on national television.

Is science another of those fanatical religions?

“Intellectual integrity made it quite impossible for me to accept the myths and dogmas of even very great scientists, more particularly of the belligerent and so-called advanced nations. Indeed, those intellectuals who accepted them were abdicating their functions for the joy of feeling themselves at one with the herd.”— Bertrand Russell 1872-1969.

Is science really serious when scientists claim that only science is authentic and all else is unreal? Has science lost its heart? Is science another of those fanatical tight-knit religions? Why is science being sold as the only route to human wisdom? Eons before modern science of the West came into being humankind existed here with all the wisdom which we claim we have today.

Online property registration coming

Online application for the registration of land and property documents could soon be a reality as the Ministry of Rural Development plans amendments to update and close the loopholes in the century-old Registration Act.The proposed amendments also aim to plug revenue leakage, reduce disputes, empower registration officers, increase transparency and begin the creation of a computerised database of land records in the country, according to Ministry officials.

Triplicane co-op sells vegetables at cheaper rates

In a bid to combat the vegetable price hike and supply fresh produce at an affordable rate, the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS) has started sales at its supermarkets since Friday.The spiralling cost of vegetables for the past few months has burnt a hole in consumers’ pockets. Fewer arrivals and less crop yield are cited to be the reasons for the price hike.

National Overseas Scholarship

The National Overseas Scholarship scheme was initiated in the year 2002. Under the scheme financial assistance is provided to the selected candidates for pursuing Master level courses and PhD abroad in the specified fields of study in Engineering, Management, Pure Sciences, Agricultural Science, and Medicine. Thirty scholarships are awarded every year under the scheme. Twenty seven of them are for students belonging to scheduled castes, two for denotified, nomadic and semi nomadic tribes and one for landless agricultural labourers and traditional artisans.

China moves closer to space mission

China moved a step closer to the launch of its first manned space docking mission by moving the carrier rocket of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft into its “ready to launch” status and injecting it with propellant, State media reported on Thursday.The much anticipated launch, which could take place as early as this weekend, has been closely followed in China with one of the three crew members set to become the first Chinese woman in space.

The Right of Every Child: The Right to Education

Thirteen year old Sivakami is a pleasant, pony tailed girl whom I see every day. She is the culinary assistant and assistant waiter at the small mess where I have breakfast and meals on a regular basis. Besides being cheap, the food one gets in such messes that can be seen all over Tamilnadu is of excellent quality.However, the quality and low expense comes up with a specific price tag. The mess depends mainly upon labour of Sivakami as well as her elder brother Sivanesan, who is studying for his Plus 2. the only silver lining is that both Sivanesan as well as Sivakami have been allowed to continue with their studies.But this is not the case for many others. The Planning Commission’s report on Child labour says that according to the 2001 Census there are 1.26 crores economically active children in the age-group of 5-14 years. Among the states, Uttar Pradesh accounts for a larger share of close to one fourth of all child labour in India followed by Andhra Pradesh.

U.S. web giants lead charge for new internet names

American internet giants Amazon and Google were the top applicants on Wednesday for a broad range of new top level domain names that could dramatically change the functioning of the internet address system.ICANN, the non-profit organization that regulates the internet, announced the new name applications on Wednesday, saying the introduction of the new domains would “change the internet forever.” The new domains will mark the biggest ever expansion of internet addresses, with almost 2,000 applications posted for a total of 1,700 new top level domains that will supplement the current limited supply of suffixes such as .com, .biz, .org and other country-specific suffixes.Google appeared to be the top bidder. A registry company that applied for such names as .google, .gmail and .android made a total of 100 applications, including for such names as .lol, .baby and .blog.

India, US sign pact for installation of first American nuclear reactor in India

The US firm Westinghouse Electric and the Nuclear Power Company of India Ltd., NPCIL have signed a preliminary pact for an Early Works Agreement, EWA for the installation of the first 1,000 MW American nuclear reactor in India under the historic 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal.The signing of the MoU, coincides with the third Indo-US Strategic Dialogue headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.The MoU relates to negotiating an EWA supporting future construction of 1,000 MW nuclear power reactors at the Mithivirdi site in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat.

High-security number plates for motor vehicles soon

Transport Department is working on an initiative to bring in the much awaited high-security number plates for motor vehicles. To begin with, the same would be introduced in Chennai and Coimbatore Circles (Coimbatore, Tirupur and the Nilgiris districts) of the Transport Department in the first phase. As per the orders of the Supreme Court, the Union Surface Transport Ministry has embarked on an initiative to go in for high-security number plates. The proposed number plates would have many initiatives to maintain their exclusivity as well as security features