Equilibrium is...dis-Equilibrium

Delhi's 55,000 auto-rickshaw drivers plan strike on Tuesday

Delhi's 55,000 auto-rickshaw drivers plan strike on Tuesday against the government directive for re-allotment of drivers' badges to them. M S Mansoori, general secretary of the Rashtriya Rajdhani Shetra Tin-Pahiya Chalak Union, Delhi complained that around 10 years ago, they were issued temporary driver badges after they had paid Rs 400 and attended two-day class. The government had promised to replace these with permanent ones. But now the government is again asking them to pay another Rs 600 and appear in a fresh test. And, isn’t it shameful? "Why should we keep on paying money again and again? Can't the process be carried out in a more planned manner? We can't afford to waste money like this," he added.

The auto-rickshaw drivers have also accused the government of making arbitrary laws which affect them without even consulting them. "The transport department makes laws in air-conditioned rooms and we have to abide those laws," added Mansoori.

Women get equal rights in guardianship, adoption of children

Women in India will now have equal rights in guardianship and adoption of children with the President giving assent to an Act to amend laws governing marriages in the country. Parliament had recently passed the Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010 to amend the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. Read the complete article here>>

Friends (excluding all those eminently sane persons), now, please, don't blame the law; not even the course of change.

Peepli Live

"Peepli Live" is not about farmers, say documentary makers. But, "Peepli Live" has much to do with the acute problems faced by India's farming community.

• HeadlinesIndia @srdash The filmmakers opine that Peepli Live is about the insensitivity of the middle class.

via twitter

Vedanta stock tumbles 8% on mining ban!

Mining in India took a different course with the ministry of environment and forest withdrawing permission to Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) to extract bauxite ore in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of Orissa. Vedanta Aluminium will have to continue sourcing raw materials from outside the state to run its plant. 

According to the earlier plan, OMC, a government of Orissa undertaking, was to exclusively supply bauxite ore to Vedanta's alumina plant, a subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources. Now with Vedanta's Orissa plant continuing to source raw materials from outside, it will have to shell out an additional Rs 1,200-1,700 per tonne of raw material on account of logistics cost, a senior company official said. As a result of this decision by the ministry of environment and forest, Vedanta Resources stock on the London Stock Exchange tanked nearly 8% in intra-day trade and was trading at £18.83. Read the complete article here>>

Permanent traffic jam

A traffic jam in China's Heibei Province has been going on for nine days now and may last a month.

The traffic jam has sparked some entrepreneurial spirit for local residents, which has added to traffic-hostages' annoyance. One truck driver complained that vendors were selling instant noodles for "four times the original price while I wait in the congestion."

via kottke.org

Not a news of very far future for Delhi, also. But the situation will be slightly different back in our country. The on duty traffic cops will, helplessly, become the  mute spectator in a corner at every red light while gossiping with eachother and with bidi in their mouth. We've already seen the trailer. This is the year of heaviest rains in the Capital city due to which Delhi is on the verge of getting the flood alert. There were heavy rains experinced in varios parts of the city which causes the major traffic jam on the waterlogged roads.

Shoe thrown at J&K CM Omar Abdullah at Independence Day function: Breach or spontaneous protest?

• RT @BDUTT: Minor drama in srinagar as a shoe hurled at Omar narrowly misses him. Reportedly, He says in his speech "throw shoes not stones"!
• A police officer hurled a shoe at CM Omar Abdullah during the Independence Day function at Bakhshi Stadium stadium in J&K!
• Abdul Ahad Jan, now, is in hospital because of high blood pressure soon after being arrested for throwing his shoe at CM Omar Abdullah.

via Twitter 1 2 3

Abdullah, who was taking salute from contingents of marching security personnel at the Bakshi Stadium in the heart of Srinagar, did not stir when Abdul Ahad Jan threw the brown shoe from behind. It landed on the grassy ground in Abdullah's front, without hurting anyone. 

Later, in a clear reference to unending stone attacks on security forces in the Kashmir Valley, Abdullah said light-heartedly that it was better to throw shoes instead of stones as this would not hurt anybody. 

"This is a better way of showing protest," Abdullah said in Urdu. 

Abdul Ahad Jan, in civilian dress, was arrested and later branded mentally unsound. According to a police officer's statement, Abdul Ahad Jan is a suspended head constable belonging to (south Kashmir's) Kulgam district and already has a criminal case pending against him.

Munoth Communications launches cell phones for senior citizens of India

Senior citizens in India can breathe a sigh of relief. Munoth Communications, based out of Chennai, have come out with a line of cell phones that have various features built in especially for the senior citizens. So what are the "special" features?

• Large Keypad
• Large Screen
• Torch
• Sturdy Body
• In-built GPS
• Red SOS Button

So all the features are pretty self explanatory, but (why) a red SOS button? These cell phones will have a red SOS button at the back of the phone which in case of an emergency like sudden collapse can be used to call for help. On pressing the red SOS button, the phone simultaneously sends out 10 pre-set SMSes to family, friends, an ambulance service and to his/her insurance company. Once the messages are sent, the screen of the phone freezes, displaying only the name of the citizen, a password, and a link to the website where the concerned citizen’s medical records are stored. The in-built GPS system will help locate the citizen. Another great feature about the phone is a sensor that will beep once the person moves 10-15 feet away from the phone thus ensuring that he/she does not leave the phone behind.

So is this a breakthrough innovation? Well, not really. This is not the first of its kind phone as Emporia Life had launched a similar phone which pretty much has all the same features, with the only notable features being that the Emporia phone does not have GPS and it does not have a sensor. Of course, if you count the torch too as a feature then that too.

The idea might not be original but for India it is definitely a first. Elder citizens can now go for a walk, or go out to meet their friends, without having to worry about what to do in case of an emergency.

55 Pvt. companies to disclose staff’s caste in annual reports next year

In its first demonstration of "affirmative action", 55 of Corporate India's top 1,000 companies have decided to make "caste disclosures" of their workforce in their annual reports next financial year. Led by almost all companies of the $70.8 billion Tata Group, the select and progressive list of 55 includes Mahindra & Mahindra and Godrej Industries from the Western region.

via indianexpress.com

Swine flu hits Odisha as WHO declares the pandemic finally over

Just as the world was beginning to breathe ease with the World Health Organization declaring the swine flu pandemic officially over on  Tuesday, the deadly flu has all of a sudden choked the eastern Indian state of Odisha with 7 deaths reported in last two weeks.

In an emergency measure, the state government has urged the Center to rush in 50,000 units of vaccine and has formed a five-member committee headed by director of the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) to analyse the deaths, guide treatment and suggest vaccination of vulnerable groups.

Swine flu scare gripped the state on Wednesday with the tragic death of assistant commercial tax commissioner Harihara Sethi and his 27-year-old daughter, both succumbing to swine flu within a gap of few hours.

This was followed by the death of Supriya Mishra, wife of the Bargarh district BJD president Pravat Aditya Mishra, shooting the death toll of the H1N1 virus within 24 hours on Wednesday to three.

Meanwhile, months after many national authorities started canceling vaccine orders and shutting down telephone hot lines as the disease removed from the headlines. The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu pandemic officially over on Tuesday.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said the organization's emergency committee of top flu experts advised her that the pandemic had "largely run its course" and the world is no longer in phase six - the highest influenza alert level.

"I fully agree with the committee's advice," Chan told reporters in a telephone briefing from her native Hong Kong.

The virus has now entered the "post-pandemic" phase, meaning disease activity around the world has returned to levels usually seen for seasonal influenza, she said.

Unusually, swine flu hits young adults harder than the over-65s, who are believed to have some immunity to the (H1N1) strain.

At least 18,449 people have died worldwide since the outbreak began in April 2009. WHO, which received at least $170 million from member states to deal with the pandemic, said last week that the true death toll is likely to be higher. But the organization's flu chief, Keiji Fukuda, said a final number won't be known for some months.

Still, lab-confirmed deaths globally increased by only about 300 in the past two months and many countries have long since closed the chapter on swine flu.

Governments in Europe and North America started dumping vaccines earlier this year after finding their stocks were full of unused and expiring supplies.

"The young man with the future of India on his shoulders reportedly slipped out of the country to celebrate, perhaps with a long-rumoured Spanish girlfriend. But at home his birthday on June 19th was treated as a coming-of-age marked with fireworks, donations of blood, poems and prayers, a seven-day temple pilgrimage through insurgency-infested forest, and lots and lots of gushing editorials and articles."

via economist.com