Higher education sans over 170 mn Indian students

New Delhi: Over 170 million students eligible to pursue higher education in India are out of its ambit, according to a joint report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and research firm Ernst & Young (E&Y).

"With a total eligible population for education at 460 million, only about 63 per cent are studying in India," the report released on Wednesday said.

This percentage is very low when compared to other nations like Brazil and Russia where 88 per cent and 89 per cent of the eligible education population are studying, it added.

Though the report did not mention in detail the reasons behind such a scenario, it certainly has pointed fingers at inadequate and uneven infrastructure across the country, reports IANS.

The report highlights India's low gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 11 per cent in higher education as compared to about 60 per cent in the US and Canada.

It underlines that while public expenditure on education has increased, the percentage share of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on higher education has come down from 0.77 per cent in 1991 to an estimated 0.7 per cent in 2008.

The share of expenditure spent on higher education as a percentage of total education expense has remained stagnant at around 13 per cent for the past three years, the report said.

"Further, the Indian higher education system suffers from imbalanced reach of education institutions across the country which in turn impacts the GER. For instance, the rural areas of the country, which represent about 65 per cent of the total population, have just 20 per cent of the total professional colleges," it said.

The report further states that around 58 per cent of all higher education institutions are located in six states—Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

However, GER across states and union territories range from four per cent in Arunachal Pradesh to about 26 per cent in Chandigarh.

It notes that Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the preferred states to establish private institutions, with approximately 60 per cent of the private medical colleges located in these states.

Maharashtra and Karnataka account for almost half of the all the hotel management institutes, while Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have about 50 per cent of the country's nursing colleges.

Haryana to purchase 1,000 new buses

Chandigarh: To augment and modernise its existing fleet of buses and infrastructure, Haryana Roadways has decided to purchase 1,000 new buses by the end of 2012.

These buses will include top-of-the-line Volvo luxury coaches, air-conditioned buses, compressed natural gas (CNG)-run buses, semi-deluxe buses and semi-low floor buses, Haryana's Transport Minister Mange Ram Gupta said here on Thursday.

Gupta said during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), special emphasis was being given to introduction of city bus services in major cities like Gurgaon, Faridabad and in district headquarters across the state, reports IANS.

"To strengthen the urban bus services in the national capital region (NCR) and other big cities, CNG and semi-low floor buses are being inducted," Gupta said.

He said about 200 CNG buses had already been inducted into the fleet of Haryana Roadways and these were likely to be increased to around 1,100 by the end of the plan period.

A high-fat diet could promote the development of Alzheimer's

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/099200810291631.htm

Quebec City: A team of Université Laval researchers has shown that the main neurological markers for Alzheimer's disease are exacerbated in the brains of mice fed a diet rich in animal fat and poor in omega-3s. Details of the study—which suggests that diets typical of most industrialized countries promote the development of Alzheimer's—are outlined in the latest online edition of Neurobiology of Aging, says a EurekAlert release.

To demonstrate this, the team led by Frédéric Calon used a type of transgenic mice that produce two proteins found in the brains of Alzheimer patients—tau proteins, which prevent proper neuron functioning, and amyloid-beta, associated with the formation of senile plaques within the brains of afflicted patients.

The researchers fed transgenic and regular mice different diets for nine months, after which they compared the effects on the animals' brains.

The mice whose diet was poor in omega-3s and rich in fat (60% of consumed calories) showed amyloid-beta and tau protein concentrations respectively 8.7 and 1.5 times higher than the control group mice, whose food contained 7 times less fat. The high-fat diet also reduced drebrin protein levels in the brain, another characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

"Metabolic changes induced by such a diet could affect the inflammatory response in the brain," suggests study co-author Carl Julien to explain the link between fat consumption and Alzheimer's.

In most Western countries, diets rich in saturated fats and poor in omega-3s are the norm. "Our findings lead us to believe that a diet containing more omega-3s and less saturated fat could prevent the development of Alzheimer's, at the very least among people genetically predisposed to the disease," comments Dr. Calon. "We cannot state with any certainty that what we have observed among transgenic mice also occurs in humans, but there is no harm in eating less fat and more omega-3s," concludes the researcher.

Bihar local bodies to have cadre-based officers

Patna: The Bihar Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Bihar Municipal (recruitment and service conditions) rules, 2008 thus paving the way for the cadre-based appointment of executive officers in all the 122 local bodies of the state.

At present, there is no separate cadre of officials for these Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Most of them are being manned by state civil servants, engineers and even doctors.

In absence of full time officer, the developmental and administrative functions of these local bodies were being hampered.

In the first phase 27 such officers would be appointed. The government would incur about Rs 50 lakh annually on their salaries. These officers would be given two promotions in their career.

Initially they would be posted in Nagar Panchayats and after first promotion they would man Nagar Parishad. After attaining senior scale grade they will be eligible for posting in the Municipal Corporations.

At present there are six Municipal corporations namely Patna, Gaya, Darbhanga, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and newly created Bihar sharif in the state. Arrah is awaiting a Corporation status.

Conferment of status of Maha Nagar Palika on Patna is also on cards. The regular appointments in these local bodies would certainly help improve the functioning of these civic bodies, a government official said.

The state government today also launched 'Nagar sevika' scheme for imparting education to children living in urban slums. These Nagar Sevikas would be appointed on contract basis and would teach children of slum dwellers who are not able to go to schools for formal education.

This scheme is first of its kind in the country and has been launched initially in Patna on pilot basis.

Now, a test that 'predicts' menopause!

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/099200810291531.htm
London (PTI): Thanks to a new test, women will soon get to know how many years they are away from menopause.

An international team, led by scientists from Michigan University, has developed the unique test that it claims could tell women when their reproductive life is likely to be over, by measuring hormone levels in the blood.

According to the scientists, the test will help women to better plan pregnancies in later life.

"The information provides a 'roadmap' as to how fast women are progressing through the different elements of their reproductive life. People really want information about 'how long do I have and when'll I have my final menstrual period'.

"Now we are beginning to say, 'if you have a specific FSH level combined with your age, this is the likelihood that you are in this reproductive stage'.

"We finally have numbers from enough women evaluated over a long time period to describe the reproductive ageing process," lead researcher Professor Maryfran Sowers was quoted by the 'Daily Mail' as saying.

The researchers came to the conclusion after studying the reproductive life of more than 600 women.

In fact, they found in their study that changes in anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and inhibin B concentrations were predictive of the time to menopause.

AMH fell to a very low or non-measurable level five years prior to the final menstrual period. And, at this stage, a woman probably has so few eggs that her fertility becomes increasingly questionable, the study found.

Sadly Away

Jesus looked at the man. Jesus felt love for him. Jesus said,
"There is still one more thing you need to do. Go and sell
everything you have. Give the money to the poor people. You
will have a reward in heaven. Then come and follow me." The
man was very sorry to hear Jesus say this, and he left. The
man was sad because he was very rich {and wanted to keep his
money}.

-- Mark 10:21-22 (ERV)

KEY THOUGHT:
The Bible has heart-wrenching stories of men and women who came to know
the will of the Lord and yet were not willing to respond because
something was holding them back. I'm sure you know someone -- that
someone may even be you -- who has something holding him or her back
from totally surrendering to the will and grace of God. Please pray for
them today. While we cannot ensure these people will ever respond to
God's offer of grace, at least we can pray that they will be lovingly
confronted with the decision to accept or reject the will of the Lord.


TODAY'S PRAYER:
O LORD God Almighty, I confess that there are times when I want you to
more forcefully reveal yourself to friends of mine who will not
surrender to your grace. I know that you will not overpower their
wills. I know that you want our hearts and not a forced, coerced, or
manipulated and shallow response to your offer of salvation in Jesus.
So please use me and my influence to be a helpful, tender, and clear
example to my friends who have not decided to follow your Son. In
Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Prioritise sanitation in development process: PM

New Delhi: Sanitation needs to be given priority in development policy approaches, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Tuesday, and suggested a four-point roadmap to make this universally available to all citizens, reports IANS.

"Good sanitation should be a birthright of every citizen of South Asia," he said while inaugurating the Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation here.

For this to happen, firstly, sanitation issues need to be given priority in our development policy approaches, he stressed.

"Its cross-cutting implications need deep study and greater understanding. The role of community leadership in changing old habits and ways of thinking will be crucial as our own experience has shown," the Prime Minister said.

"The capacities of our rural and urban local bodies to address these issues from both social and economic angles will need to be enhanced," he noted.

Secondly, he said, sanitation has to be located in an integrated framework of public health policy to ensure that sanitation activities are indeed adequately funded.

"We know, for example, that something as simple as washing hands properly can check 50 per cent of the diarrhoea cases in our country. Provision of safe drinking water can also greatly help to contain the incidence of many water-borne diseases. Similarly, provision of toilets near the habitat can protect our women against many stomach related diseases," Singh said.

The Prime Minister said, "Conscious efforts have to be made to invest in hygiene consciousness and sanitation as part of a holistic public health policy."

The third area, according to the Prime Minister, was technology. He said, "We need to develop sanitation technologies for diverse eco-systems."

"Advances in science and technology make it possible as never before in human history that chronic poverty and ill health do not have to be the inevitable lot of a majority of human race," the Prime Minister said.

Noting that the new technologies have to be affordable and sustainable, Manmohan Singh said, "This is a technology challenge we must work on, using both modern science and traditional wisdom and knowledge."

"We know that advanced technologies exist for toilets used in space programmes. We also know that traditional water systems were engineered in our villages to optimise scarce resources, including the use of water," he said.

"We should, therefore, use scientific ingenuity to take us to the next generation of sanitation technologies," Manmohan Singh said.

Fourthly, he maintained, the issue of sustainability needed to be addressed.

"I am told that 20 per cent of the toilets built in our country are not functional because of a variety of factors, from poor construction to the lack of adequate maintenance. We need, therefore, to build local capacity in construction and maintenance of sanitation facilities," the Prime Minister contended.

In this context, he pointed out that India had, for some time, been advocating a barefoot engineers programme where rural youth are trained in multiple engineering skills to repair agricultural pump sets, hand pumps, rural household power connections, agricultural implements and sanitation facilities.

"In our country we have conceived of a major national initiative for skill development. I hope that we will be able to integrate training of barefoot engineers into this national plan," the Prime Minister stated.

This apart, he said India will be very happy to share our experience with other countries of South Asia and also to learn and gain from their experience in tackling problems of rural sanitation.

"In recent years, all the countries in South Asia are working on making sanitation a priority development investment. It is our solemn obligation duty to ensure that every citizen South Asia has access to a functioning toilet," Singh said.

Free air ride to check school dropouts in J'khand

Ranchi: In an effort to check school dropouts in the state, Jharkhand will now provide a chance of a free ride on a helicopter or a glider to those who attend classes regularly. This is part of its ongoing series of innovative programmes.

State Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Bandhu Tirkey said that the students who have a minimum attendance of 70 per cent and an outstanding performance will be given a chance to enjoy the ride, reports IANS.

He said the programme would be kicked off by Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren on November 10.

"We want to inculcate competitive attitude in the students so that they attend classes. The move is aimed to check dropouts in schools," Tirkey said.

From each district, around 200 students will be selected every year for the free ride. The HR Department will bear the expenses incurred on the rides.

Earlier, initiatives like birthday celebrations and hair cut for students in the school campus were announced by the HRD Department.

In Jharkhand, the literacy rate is 54 per cent against the national average of 65 per cent.

Dhanbad district to launch job portal soon

Ranchi: Looking for government jobs in Dhanbad? Wait for a few days, and you would find a dedicated website hosted by the district administration to serve your purpose.

Prompted by the success of its e-samvadh software, an e-Governance initiative for speedy disposal of public grievances, the Dhanbad district administration is now planning to launch a portal 'e-swarojgar' to help unemployed youths in their online job search.

The website, likely to be launched in a day or two will be hosted in the National Informatics Centre (NIC) website.

A brainchild of Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh, the job portal will advertise vacancies in different categories under different schemes.

"This will not only help the state government speed up execution of different schemes, but also would allow the job aspirants to see status of their application online," said Singh, also an Indian Institute of Technology graduate.

The district administration has roped in two software experts from the Birsa Institute of Technology (Sindri), Praveen Singh and Ritesh Kumar, to prepare the job website for it.

"The software has been designed in such a way that it allows the job seekers to view the categories and apply for the same as per their qualification," the DC said.

Registered youths can update their profile on the website just by logging in to it. District Informatics Officer (DIO) Mahendra Narain Singh said that address of the job portal will be announced soon.

"We have set the entire software packaged with all database to the NIC for its hosting. It could be accessed by logging on linked page attached with the Jharkhand NIC website," the DIO told the iGovernment.

It may be recalled that the e-samvadh portal has been a great success with the DC personally monitoring each and every complaints lodged on it and enquire about the concerned officials about the steps taken by the officials to resolve them.

At present, 11 e-sampark centres in eight blocks are working in the district. So far over 2,000 complaints have poured in and 1,700 resolved within a week of their arrival.

Grace

The angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people; for today a Savior has been born to you in David"s city, who is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign to you: ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.( Luke 2: 10 - 13 )

Never before, and never afterward, could there have been such a marvelous announcement. For this was the most amazing event in history, the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, yet with no public display or recognition by governmental authorities. But though the world did not celebrat this wondrous occasion, heaven was vocal with multitudes of angels praising God. This Babe, Chirst the Lord, was laid in the obscurity and poverty of a manger. When King Herod heard of His birth, he was determined to get rid of Him! Such is the cold, heartless character of the world in its ungodliness.

Christ's incarnation was the beginning of many important events. His life of lowly grace to mankind and faithfulness to God shines beautifully for us who have been born again, filling our hearts with adoration. His sacrifice of Calvary shines brightly above the cruel wickedness of men who plotted His murder and carried it out in bitterest enmity. Their hateful persecution only served to emphasize the wonder of His love in giving Himself for us.

But God raised Him from the dead, another wonder that fills every believing heart with deepest adoration. More than this, He has returned to His Father's right hand in glory, the Object now of continual adoration and worship. Nor is this all. He has declared He will come again, to receive all believers to His own presence, to share His joy in the Father's house. Well may we join with angels in praising God!.

Himachal to connect agriculture department

Shimla: The Government of Himachal Pradesh has signed an agreement with information technology (IT) major Samtech InfoNet for executing two projects in the state.

While one project is related to linking of agriculture-related departments, the other is for monitoring court cases, reports IANS.

"Under the 'Agrisnet' project, a video-conferencing facility would be provided to the farmers to interact with experts in the field of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and fisheries," an official statement said.

Regarding the court case monitoring software, it said, "The system would provide online information about current status of cases and to help the departments to take remedial action to reduce delays and to avoid further litigations."

Tripura plans to set up State Data Centre

Agartala: The Government of Tripura is planning to set up a State Data Centre (SDC) envisaging a robust infrastructure to enable the state government deliver the services quickly and effectively to its stakeholders.

The proposed SDC will be a key supporting element of e-Government initiatives and businesses for delivering services to the citizens with greater reliability, availability and serviceability.

It will be a shared, reliable and secure infrastructure services centre for hosting and managing the e-Governance applications of the state and its constituent departments.

The SDC will be integrated to the State Wide Area Network (Swan) to provide e-Governance applications and services to government employees through Intranet and to the citizens through the Internet and Commons Citizen Centres (CSCs).

Through such a shared service centre, the individual departments of the state will be able to focus more on the service delivery rather than on the issues surrounding the infrastructure.

Besides facilitating consolidation of services, applications and infrastructure, the SDC would provide a central data repository, secure data storage, online delivery of services, citizen information and services portal, state intranet portal, disaster recovery and remote management and service integration.

SDC will provide better operations and management control, while minimising overall cost of data management, IT management and deployment and other costs of the state government.

The Tripura SDC will host various applications related to land record, hospital management system, transport, electricity billing, Tripura portal, CIC portal, telemedicine, budget and accounting management system and land registration software.

Besides it will also host that state taxes system, police network (Cipa), food civil supplies and consumer affairs information system (Confonet) and GIS application (state digital data warehouse).

The scalable SDC will handle increasing numbers of requests without adversely affecting the response time and throughput of the system.

The SDC will use firewalls and intrusion detection systems to provide an end-to-end security blanket to protect applications, services, data and the infrastructure from malicious attacks or theft from external (through Internet) and internal (through Intranet) hackers.

SDC will also endeavour to make use of the secure sockets layer (SSL) and virtual private network (VPN) technologies to provide secured communication between applications and its end users.

Assam to raise special anti-terrorist force

Guwahati: The Government of Assam on Sunday decided to raise a special anti-terrorist force and form a security advisory council to deal with terrorist and fundamentalist activities in the state following the October 30 serial bombings in the state that killed 79 people and wounded 300.

"We will raise a battalion named Assam Task Force (ATF) for exclusively combating terrorist and fundamentalist activities in an effective manner," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.

"Apart from the ATF, we will also form an elite wing for dealing with explosions."

The announcements follows a wave of bombings in the state, investigations into which are currently on to pinpoint those involved in the terror strikes, reports IANS.

"Investigations are progressing well and moving on in the right direction with lots of clues available with us," the Chief Minister said. "It is still premature to divulge anything at this point," he added.

Gogoi said that terrorism would continue to flourish as long as anti-national forces from the northeast and Assam get shelter in the neighbouring country, hinting at Bangladesh.

"Maybe the forces that are sheltered in the neighbouring country carried out the blasts at the diktats of somebody else," the Chief Minister said without taking any names.

Meanwhile, people across Assam are lighting candles and offering prayers on Sunday as a mark of respect to those who were killed in the wave of bombings.

Govt okays JNNURM projects for Andhra, TN

New Delhi: The Government of India has approved two projects to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission for storm water drainage and efficient sewage disposal.

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) has approved storm water drain project for Mangalagiri town in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs 30.16 crore which will include central assistance of Rs 15.08 crore. It is expected to be completed in 24 months.

The approved comprehensive drainage system covering 11.55 km of outfall drains, 14.58 km of major drains and 78.90 km of internal drains will help the city to deal with the problem of drainage that leads to inundation for over 10 days in a year causing damages to property.

The Committee under the Chairmanship of the Ministry of Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran has also approved a sewage project for Chennai Maduravoyal Municipality in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 57.45 crore of which central share will be Rs 20.11 crore.

The project will have a pumping station and collecting system for each of the city's zone covering a network of 94.64 km of collecting systems, five pumping stations, 9.95 km of pumping mains and 165.53 km house service sewers.

For the Urban Local Body (ULB) contribution, an area based one time connection charge varying from Rs 3,000 to Rs 25,000 would be levied with an exemption for the urban poor residing in less than 300 square feet areas and would be mandatory for all residences and commercial establishments.

The National Institute of Urban Affairs, national coordinator for these projects, would enable knowledge sharing amongst JNNURM cities in various areas of urban reforms and city governance.

Husband & Wife - Problem Father

"You looked troubled," I told my friend, "what's your problem?" He
replied,

"I'm going to be a father." "But that's wonderful," I said. "What's
wonderful? My wife doesn't know about it yet

Professor Rajan named PM's Economic Advisor

New Delhi: Raghuram Rajan, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, was on Monday named honorary Economic Advisor to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Rajan, a former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will hold the rank of Secretary, Government of India, reports IANS.

He was earlier the Chairman of a High-Powered Committee the Prime Minister set up on financial reforms, that was tasked to frame a series of recommendations to make India a financial powerhouse over the next five years.

Rajan secured a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 after a master's in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad and a bachellor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

He was also a visiting professor of finance at the Kellogg School, Northwestern University, and Fischer Black visiting professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

'Health check up in government schools receiveing good response'

Bangalore (PTI): Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, Visweswara Hegde Kageri, said that the health-check up programme launched in government schools had been receiving a good response and children diagnosed with ailments like heart and kidney illness would be treated free of cost.

Speaking to reporters he said that the ministry had tied up with health department to implement medical health check ups in government run schools. The programme had been producing good results and the government was keen on continuing with the programme, he said.

The other programme that had been very well received was the Chinnara Karnataka Darshan, a tour of state, where nearly 21,500 children many of whom came from economically weak backgrounds had been taken to various tourist spots in the state. He described the programme as a highly successful one. Under another initiative, 30 lakh students had particpated in cultural competitions, providing them an opportunity to learn and display their talent.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/099200811140311.htm

BSNL losing Rs 400 cr a year for telegraph services

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/006200812211832.htm

New Delhi (PTI): State-run BSNL is losing about Rs 400 crore a year for fulfilling yet another social obligation -- telegram service.

The PSU, which delivers the telegram messages to people, carries crores of messages a year and since the service is offered much below cost, the losses mount as the volume goes up, sources in the PSU said.

As per an estimate, the losses could be around Rs 400 crore a year from such heavily subsidise service, sources said.

When contacted, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Kuldeep Goyal told PTI, "Telegram service of BSNL is a loss making proposition. We would like to have USO subsidy from the Government to cover this service".

Even in an age of internet, SMS and instant messaging, the importance of telegram has not diminished as the message sent through it is admissible in court as proof making it a sound mechanism for Government offices to use this process.

Sources said even if tariffs could be revised in anytime, it would not match the huge gap between the cost of sending a telegram for BSNL and the consumer tariffs.

Unlisted BSNL, which has seen its marketshare eroding in mobile services due to heavy competition, also suffers huge losses due to its legacy operations of giving telecom facilities to rural and remote parts of the country. Though it gets most of the USO Fund at a later stage through bidding, it does have to pay for USO Fund like private players first.

With more and more private players going for rural areas, its share on the USO kitty has also gone down over the last one year. 

West Bengal to witness 4% growth in agriculture

Kolkata: Agricultural growth in West Bengal will increase to four per cent during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, the state government said here on Monday.

"Due to increasing population and subsequent pressure on agriculture, growth in this sector has declined to 2.25 per cent. But we hope to touch four per cent in the Eleventh Plan period," Agriculture Marketing Minister Naren De said.

At the national level, agriculture grew at the rate of 4.5 per cent in 2007-08, and in the current fiscal, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has projected it to dip to two per cent, reports IANS.

The state government along with the Indian Chamber of Commerce is organising a three-day agriculture summit to address issues of marginal and small farmers and steps to improve the agricultural productivity.

Nine states are participating in this summit. Along with national and state level ministers, farmers will also participate in the meeting.

Husband & Wife - Come Home Late

A woman was complaining to the neighbour that her husband always came
home late, no matter how she tried to stop him.


"Take my advice," said the neighbour, "and do what I did. Once my
husband came home at three o'clock in the morning, and from my bed I
called out: "Is that you, Jim?" And that cured him.


"Cured him !" asked the woman, "but how?" The neighbour said, "You
see, his name is Bill."

Prostitute Parrots

A lady approaches her priest and tells him, "Father, I have a problem. I have two female talking parrots, but they only know how to say one thing."

"What do they say?" the priest inquired.

"They only know how to say, 'Hi, we're prostitutes. Want to have some fun?"'

"That's terrible!" the priest exclaimed, "but I have a solution to your problem. Bring your two female parrots over to my house and I will put them with my two male talking parrots. I have taught them to pray and read the bible. My parrots will teach your parrots to stop saying that terrible phrase and your female parrots will also learn to praise and worship."

"Thank you!" the woman responded.

The next day the woman brings her female parrots to the priest's house. His two male parrots are holding rosary beads and praying in their cage. The lady puts her two female parrots in with the male parrots. Immediately, the female parrots say, "Hi, we're prostitutes, want to have some fun?"

One male parrot looks over at the other male parrot and exclaims, "Put the beads away, Jack. Our prayers have been answered!"

BASTARD

GIRL: I have sinned. I called my boyfriend a BASTARD.
PSYCHIATRIST: Well now, that's not a nice thing to call anyone, so what did he do to deserve that?
GIRL: Well, he kissed me.

PSYCHIATRIST:You mean like this?
( The psychiatrist kissed the girl )
GIRL: ......Yes!

PSYCHIATRIST:Well that's no reason to call him a BASTARD.
GIRL: But, he put his hand in my top.
PSYCHIATRIST:You mean like this?
( The psychiatrist put his hand in the girl's top )
GIRL: Yes!

PSYCHIATRIST:Well that's no reason to call him a BASTARD.
GIRL: But, he took my clothes off.
PSYCHIATRIST:You mean like this?
( The psychiatrist took off the girl's clothes )
GIRL: Yes!

PSYCHIATRIST:Well that's no reason to call him a BASTARD.
GIRL: But, he had sex with me!
PSYCHIATRIST:You mean like this?
( The psychiatrist had sex with the girl )
GIRL: .Yes!

PSYCHIATRIST:Well that's no reason to call him a BASTARD.
GIRL: But, then he told me he has AIDS.
PSYCHIATRIST: BASTARD!!!!!

HOW OLD AM I?

A guy walks into a bar and says to the bartender, "I want you to give me 12-year scotch, and don`t try to fool me because I can tell the difference."


The bartender is skeptical and decides to try to trick the man with 5-year scotch. The man takes a sip, scowls and says, "Bartender, this crap is 5-year scotch. I told you I want 12-year scotch."


The bartender tries once more with 8-year scotch. The man takes a sip, grimaces and says, "Bartender, I don`t want 8-year scotch like this filth. Give me 12-year scotch!"


Impressed, the bartender gets the 12-year scotch, the man takes a sip and sighs, "Ah, now that`s the real thing."


A disgusting, grimy, stinking drunk has been watching all this with great interest. He stumbles over and sets a glass down in front of the man and says, "Hey, I think that`s really far out what you can do. Try this one."


The man takes a sip and immediately spits out the liquid and cries, "Yechhh! This stuff tastes like piss!"


The drunk`s eyes light up and he says, "Yeah, now how old am I?"

Umbrella Thief

A man gave all of his seven umbrellas for repair at one time and told the shopkeeper he would pick it up in the evening while back from work.

On the way to work in Bus, out of habit he grabbed the umbrella of the woman sitting next to him, got up and started walking.

The woman started yelled, "Umbrella thief, Umbrella thief."


The embarrassed guy returned the umbrella and apologized, before getting abused and beaten up by other woman loving passengers.

In the evening he picked up all his umbrellas repaired, put them under his arms and started walking towards home. Unfortunately the morning lady returning from work bumped into him.

The lady commented, "Seems, you had a profitable day at work today."

Beggars of today

A man walks past a beggar every day and gives him Rs.10 and that Continues for a year. Then suddenly the daily donation changes to Rs. 7.50

"Well," the beggar thinks, "it's still better than nothing."

A year passes in this way until the man's daily donation suddenly becomes Rs. 5.

"What's going on now?" the beggar asks his donor.

"First you give me Rs. 10 every day, then Rs. 7,50 and now only Rs. 5. What's the problem?"

"Well," the man says, "last year my eldest son went to university. It's very expensive, so I had to cut costs. This year my eldest daughter also went to university, so I had to cut my expenses even further."

"And how many children do you have?" the beggar asks.

"Four," the man replies.

"Well," says the beggar, "I hope you don't plan to educate them all at my expense."

Madhya Pradesh Police need to be revamped

Ahmadabad: Elections in Madhya Pradesh are just around the corner. Manifestos are being readied. Promises are being made. People will vote. But there is little belief that whoever wins will drastically improve things.

But they can—if basic issues of governance are honestly dealt with.

Most important amongst these is improving the police and assuring everyone—high and low, rich and poor, man and woman—of safety and security. Today, the people of Madhya Pradesh can't say they have it.

A fool's look at the crime statistics makes the whole story clear. Its two premier cities—Indore and Bhopal—record the highest crime rates amongst all of India's mega cities.

The last two years post a sharp increase, with crime going up by 10 per cent in 2007 alone. Madhya Pradesh's 2,900 rapes in 2006-07 are the highest of any state and accounted for 15 per cent of the total rapes in the country.

More shameful than all this is the crime record of the police themselves. In a country notorious for non-registration of complaints, the state managed to clock up nearly 23,000 complaints against the police themselves.

Loosely translated this means that three out of every 10 policemen have a complaint against him. At the same time Madhya Pradesh has the third largest contingent of armed police in the country.

Last year's budget increased by 24 per cent; less than three per cent was spent on training. This makes it clear that merely increasing numbers and handing them weapons will not change a thing about policing—except perhaps make them more dangerous for ordinary folk.

Two years ago the Supreme Court identified the major causes of bad policing—too much illegitimate political interference with every day functioning and too little accountability for police non-performance and wrongdoing.

It directed all states to create 'buffer' bodies between the police and politicians, and also to create police complaints authorities that could independently look into people's complaints about them. Madhya Pradesh has done neither. In company of other states it has been dragging its feet.

Even without any Supreme Court orders, policing can be vastly improved by any chief minister who is willing to go about it side by side with his people and their police.

Making police more effective means judging police performance against annual police plans drawn up only after local consultations show up what people at ground level need; giving police adequate finance, personnel and equipment to do their job well; recruiting on the basis of bringing in men and women fit for the job; and not because money and influence peddling got them in.

There have to be more policewomen in the force who are given better respect and facilities; training methods and curriculum must reflect not only modern scientific policing methods but secular attitudes based on obeying the law and nothing and no one else.

The main objective of policing must be changed from merely maintaining law and order on behalf of the ruling regime to protecting life and property, but above all liberty and people's rights and freedoms.

Most of all, any new chief minister must ensure that the police are unbiased and accountable only to the law and must promise that no police person will ever be able to get away with being disobedient to the law.

In other words, future chief minister promises to change the police from the present fearsome coercive force it is, to an essential service that the people of MP richly deserve.

This is the least any new chief minister can do. If he can't promise that, then he must not become chief minister. Police reform is too important to be neglected and too urgent to be delayed.

The authors are Coordinator and Director, respectively, of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi.

Sardar and Train Accident

"BBC" gets news that 100 sardars are killed in a train accident at
Amritsar station. Only one Sardar left alive. The correspondent goes to the
Sardarji and the conversation between them goes as follows:

Correspondent: How did this happen?

Sardarji: Well, all the 200 people were waiting for the train. They
were standing on the platform. Then there was this announcement that the
train is arriving on platform number 2. They got scared to know that the
train is arriving on the platform and hence they jumped onto the tracks to
save themselves. The announcement was misleading. The train arrived on the
track and you can see the result.

Correspondent: Well, I guess, you must be the intelligent Sardarji.
why did you not jump onto the tracks?

Sardarji: I was actually trying to commit suicide. I was waiting for
the train on the tracks. When I heard that the train is arriving on the
platform, I climbed up...




Have a greatttttttttttt day

Husband & Wife - Love To Do

A wife, one evening, drew her husband's attention to the couple next
door and said,


"Do you see that couple? How devoted they are? He kisses her every
time they meet. Why don't you do that?"


"I would love to." Replied the husband. "But I don't know her well
enough."

Single vaccine to protect children from 5 diseases

Washington: Pakistan is introducing a vaccine that will protect children against the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae type b or Hib and four other common childhood diseases, reports IANS.

Hib, that can cause deadly meningitis and pneumonia, is one of the top killers of young children in the developing world. Globally, over 1,000 children under five die from Hib-related diseases daily.

Survivors are often permanently disabled—paralysed, deafened or brain damaged—according to a statement of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which is associated with the Pakistani project.

Besides, two million children die from pneumonia every year, making it the top child killer worldwide. In Pakistan alone, about 92,000 children die of the infection, according to United Nations Children's Education Fund (Unicef) and World Health Organisation (WHO).

Hib vaccine will be administered through a single-shot called the pentavalent vaccine that protects against four other deadly diseases—diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and hepatitis B.

"The decision to introduce Hib-containing pentavalent vaccine will protect millions of infants against some of the most dangerous childhood infections, including one of the major causes of pneumonia and meningitis," Hib Initiative Director Rana Hajjeh said.

The Hib Initiative unites experts from Johns Hopkins, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WHO and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Panic prevails at some city hospitals

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122259200400.htm


Thoraipakkam police arrested Selvam on charges of spreading panic in the area.

Police said that the accused called the police control room and said that four children in the area had died after being administered polio vaccine in the morning.

The police traced the call and arrested Selvam in Kalkuttai, Thoraipakkam. On questioning, he accepted calling the control room under the influence of alcohol.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122259781000.htm

According to reports sent to districts by government, about 100-120 children below one year of age die in Tamil Nadu per day.

“The infant mortality rate in the State is minimum of 100 per day. They die due to various health reasons and it is only coincidental that today is immunisation day,” a former Director of Public Health told The Hindu.

According to him, oral polio drops will not cause death and fears are understandable if the vaccination was done as an injection.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122259761000.htm

CHENNAI/COIMBATORE: The death of two four-month-old boys in Sathyamangalam and Perambalur on the day that polio drops were administered, led to parents thronging hospitals across the State in panic, sporadic incidents of stone-throwing and road blockades across the State.

At many hospitals in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Theni, Tirunelveli and elsewhere doctors checked the children who were given polio drops for any sign of illness. At some places, people threatened to block traffic if they did not get a convincing explanation.

Later in the day, the State government issued a release condemning a TV channel for spreading the rumour. A few affected people in Chennai and suburbs blamed the Health Department of not learning from the Tiruvallur experience and creating awareness of the possible problems during the polio drive.

Deputy Director of Health Services in Erode G. Raghunathan said the child at Sathyamangalam died around 10 a.m. after being given polio drops at the D.G. Pudur Primary Health Centre. He said the child died of hydrocephalus (abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain). The child underwent a surgery at a private hospital in Coimbatore two months ago.

To assert that the child had not died because of polio drops, Dr. Raghunathan pointed out that 188 other children who were given the drops at the same centre had no problem at all. But, the fear among the people and their flocking to the hospital led to the immunisation being halted for some time at some of the centres.

Irate public broke tables and chairs, tore up patient slips and registers and even damaged few equipment at the Government Hospital in Salem. Doctors fled the scene and heavy police strength was rushed to the hospital to bring things under control.

Dean of the hospital P. Shanmugham told The Hindu that every child was screened thoroughly and were found to be normal. Not wanting to take any chances, a special team of child specialists was asked to remain in the hospital till Monday morning. Salem Collector J. Chandrakumar asked people not to believe rumours. Anxious public made a beeline to hospitals in Namakkal and Pallipalayam.

Many places in Tirupur district and Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district also witnessed worried parents first appealing and then demanding that doctors check their children for any problems that the polio drops might have caused. Some of the window panes at the District Headquarters Hospital in Tirupur were smashed.

As the crowd began to get unmanageable in Mettupalayam, police and doctors used the public address system to convince people that the polio drops were safe.

In Udhagamandalam, hundreds of panic-stricken people came to hospitals in all available modes of transport. Doctors found it difficult to explain that the polio drops would not cause any problem.

In Perambalur, four-month-old R. Ezhumalai, died after being vaccinated at a centre in the village. Health Department officials however said the death was not related to the administration of the vaccine and the child had been ailing over the past few days.

The drops had been administered to three more children of the same family, they said. District Collector Anil Meshram visited the village along with health officials and conducted enquiries.

As the news spread, a large number of villagers and parents across the district thronged the vaccination centres and the Government Headquarters Hospital at Perambalur. A section of the public resorted to a ‘road roko’ at Vijayagopalapuram on the Chennai-Tiruchi National Highway, protesting incident and demanding action against those responsible for the incident.

The news of the deaths created panic among residents across the delta districts, including Thanjavur, Tiruchi and Pudukottai. Several parents thronged the Raja Mirasudhar Government Hospital in Thanjavur, the government hospital in Pudukottai and other vaccination centres in the districts.

Health Department officials launched a publicity campaign through local cable channels and made public announcements through autorickshaws in the evening asking people not to panic. Officials had a tough time convincing the parents.

Five arrested
Police arrested three persons in Coimbatore and two persons in Erode on charges of spreading rumours. The police said they spread rumours that children administered polio drops had died. A case has been registered.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122257450100.htm

Following the death of two infants in Tamil Nadu, who got sick after having reportedly taken polio vaccine, there was panic among parents in the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. M.R. Mohan Raj, Project Director, Pulse Polio Programme, sent out a message of reassurance saying it was uncalled for, and that no child was confirmed sick after being administered polio drops.

B.T. Shivaram, District Health Officer (Urban), told The Hindu that there were only rumours doing the rounds and that no child had taken ill after the vaccination.

The repeated telecast of a news clip by a Kannada TV channel about the death of the infants created panic in different parts of the city.

Mysore Bureau reports:

There were similar reports in Mysore too. A large number of parents who had got their children vaccinated in the morning brought their wards to the Cheluvamba Hospital for a check-up.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122253020300.htm

NRI doctor makes breakthrough in ovarian cancer research

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/008200812211660.htm

Houston (PTI): In a major breakthrough, which can dramatically increase survival chances of ovarian cancer patients, an Indian-American scientist has identified two proteins whose presence increases the median survival rate by 11 years in patients with the disease.

A study of nearly 250 ovarian cancer patients by Dr Anil Sood, MD, professor in the departments of Gynecologic Oncology and Cancer Biology at MD Anderson, along with other researchers, found that woman with high levels of two proteins named dicer and drosha in their tumor cells had a median survival rate of 11 years.

While, in patients with low levels of one or both proteins about 40 percent of those studied had a median survival of less than three years. Sood's discovery marks a significant advance for an emerging area of basic science called RNA interference, which one day may transform medicine.

"What's important is that dicer and drosha are critical to the process of RNA interference," Anil Sood said. "RNA interference has only been known for about a decade. The components of the machinery, what it does in cancer, and how it affects outcomes and therapy are not fully known," Sood said.

Potential clinical applications include using levels of the proteins as prognostic indicators to guide treatment decisions and eventually to exploit RNA interference to attack tumors, Sood said. 

Husband & Wife - No Answer Back

A man was telling his friends, "When my wife is infuriated, she starts
shouting at me, my children and even at our dogs and nobody dares
answer her."


One of his friends asked."And when you are angry, what do you do?" The
man replied, "I also shout angrily at the windows and doors of the
house and none of them dares to answer back.

India to buy 1,000 MW power from Bangladesh

Dhaka: India has offered to buy 1,000 MW of power from Bangladesh as part of its mega-plan to produce and procure 30,000 MW in next 10 years from its South Asian neighbours including Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh said the power sector cooperation could take place through a South Asian power grid, but the real issue would be how that grid could be reached. A bilateral approach could take place faster.

"It'll be a competitive price. No profiteering," he said.

He made the offer for the power sector cooperation during separate meetings with Bangladesh's Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman and the Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Energy and Power M Tamim.

He also visited a power plant in Siddhirganj of Narayanganj, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) news agency reported.

Ramesh said that besides an under-construction project in the north-eastern Indian state of Tripura to generate 750 MW electricity, Indian companies had got permission to install power plants in Nepal to generate 1,400 MW power to import back to India.

The Indian Minister listed the accomplishments in Bangladesh-India relations, particularly in economic cooperation, during the last one year including the notification of duty-free export of eight million pieces of apparel items from Bangladesh to India.

Bangladesh has so far exported three million pieces and the rest would be exported by next year to add US $60-70 million to Bangladesh's export earnings from India.

India offered to import apparels in large quantities in April last year as a gesture on becoming the new chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

Ramesh said that India reduced its negative list of products for Bangladesh and other LDCs under SAFTA from 744 items to 480 items effective from January this year.

India allowed 50 out of the 101 items Bangladesh requested for special consideration from India to offer duty-free market access, he added.

Ramesh said that Indian exports to Bangladesh increased three times during the last seven years to US $3.3 billion while Bangladesh's exports to India increased seven times to US $350 million, though the figures reflect huge surplus in favour of India.

The Indian Minister also pushed for a corridor through Bangladesh, an issue that Dhaka is sensitive about.

Referring to an Indian study, he said that Bangladesh could earn as high as US $1.2 billion annually by allowing transhipment only through two routes—Kolkata-Dhaka-Guwahati and Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala.

"People who are worried about trade deficit could consider the corridors," the Minister was quoted as saying by New Age newspaper.

HC axe forces PU to re-employ retired teachers

Chandigarh: Hit by an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court resulting in retirement of 58 faculty members at one go, the Punjab University (PU) has decided to re-employ retired teachers on contract to meet the crisis.

Fifty eight faculty members, including professors and readers of the varsity, retired after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday dismissed their petition to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.

"PU is already short of teachers and various departments here are immensely dependent on the guest lecturers for the completion of their syllabus in time. With this decision of High Court, over 120 faculty members of the PU have been affected," Punjab University Teachers' Association (Puta) President Ronki Ram said.

There are over 60 teaching departments in PU and around 10,000 students from various states study in its Chandigarh campus.

"It has been decided in the Syndicate meeting that PU will reinstate the retired teachers on one year contract till the age of 63. However, there are teachers who have crossed the age of 63 and they can be re-employed as guest lecturers," Ronki Ram said.

The issue of increasing the retirement age was in focus for the last three to four years and over 70 petitions were before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The most affected departments with the decision of High Court are Department of Correspondence studies from where 13 teachers retired, Department of Chemistry from where seven teachers retired and the Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, which is already short of 16 teachers and four more retired on Saturday.

"If a teacher goes for this contractual re-employment then he has to submit a written affidavit that he will not appeal against this High Court decision in the Supreme Court of India. That is again an infringement of civil rights of an individual," a Puta member said.

One of the oldest universities of the country, PU was initiated in 1882 at Lahore and was shifted to Chandigarh in 1956.

West Bengal blood banks facing severe shortage

Kolkata: Over 100 blood banks in West Bengal are facing an acute supply shortage as social organisations and clubs were too busy with Durga Puja to organise their regular blood donation camps.

Most of the blood banks, 58 of which are state-run and the rest are private, have failed to meet the average requirement of blood units, particularly causing problems for thalassemia and blood cancer patients.

"All the major festivals, including the mega event of Durga Puja, were celebrated in October. Naturally, the social organisations and clubs were busy making arrangements for the puja. Very few blood donation camps were organised during festival time in the state this year," West Bengal Voluntary Blood Donors' Forum General Secretary Apurva Ghosh said.

Ghosh said, "West Bengal has a requirement of 7.5 lakh units of blood per annum, of which 6.2 lakh units have been achieved so far."

The average requirement of blood units in the state varied from 50,000 to 60,000 per month.

This shortfall has caused problems for thalassemia patients and those who are suffering from blood cancer and are in need of regular blood transfusion, he said.

According to a source at the SSKM Hospital, a state-run premier healthcare unit in Kolkata, blood banks are finding it hard to meet the demand.

"The demand was much higher than the normal figure in October and there aren't sufficient stocks preserved with the blood banks," the source said.

Some are even rationing the supply.

SK Sen Barat, who works with a city-based private blood bank, said, "Almost every month we give about 500 units, but so far we have given 350."

Ghosh said that various political parties in the state play a very important role in blood donation activities round the year.

"But this time they were also busy with burning issues like the Singur land acquisition and the (coming) Lok Sabha poll. So they took no initiative to arrange blood donation programmes," the General Secretary said.

"We've given several proposals to the state government to make adequate arrangements for the festive season, as we all are aware of the crisis here. There should be proper planning on the part of the government and voluntary organisations in tackling such a critical challenge," Ghosh said.

State Director for Health Services Sanchita Bakshi admitted, "It's true that there was a serious crisis, but gradually we're trying to get over that since the festive occasions are now over. We've decided to hold at least 14 blood donation camps in November all over the state."

West Bengal apparently tops the league of blood donation camps, with Maharastra and Tripura coming second and third, respectively.

Children below 16 to be barred from reality shows

New Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on Wednesday recommended that children below 16 years of age be barred from participating in reality TV shows.

"Children on reality shows are often faced with harsh working conditions that may have an adverse impact on their health. We are not lobbying that such shows be banned but regulations are necessary and broadcasters should voluntarily endorse them," NCPCR Member Sandhya Bajaj.

"On one such show, seven or eight-year-old participants are being exposed to harsh lights, and singing or dancing continuously for long hours. Besides, they are subjected to harsh and unnecessary jibes from judges which can be demoralising," Bajaj said.

The commission said it would prescribe the minimum age limit for participants to be over 16 years, but added that it could be brought down to 12 years—in case of group competitive shows.

"We are in the process of giving these recommendations to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry within one month," she said.

The NCPCR suggested that no cash awards be given in such shows and if at all educational bonds or fixed deposits be handed out to participants, reports IANS.

It recommended that a counsellor be present at reality shows and punitive action be taken against broadcasters and show producers if a child is subjected to mental harassment through unusually harsh comments.

"The Shinjini case, where the director and producers of the Bengali reality show claimed that her parents had hidden facts about her asthmatic condition, is just an example of how not having vital information about the child can result in the child's health being compromised so the commission has also suggested that interviewing parents of interested participants of reality shows be made mandatory," Bajaj said.

Shinjini, a participant on a Bengali music reality show, suffered a breakdown and had to be hospitalised in June after she was severely rebuked by the judges for her performance.

Bajaj said, "The final call on the guidelines is to be taken a month from now. These guidelines will be prepared after consulting media representatives, child experts, and after taking viewpoints from children who have participated on reality shows and then be submitted to the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting to act on."

Tushar Majmudar, father of 14-year-old Aishwarya Majmudar who won the Star Voice of India Chhote Ustad title this year, however, opposed the move.

"This is just not fair on the children and is a totally insensitive proposal. It is the misfortune of the public that only a few people have the power to decide these things," Majmudar said.

"Just because so many accidents take place on the road, they don't ban people from driving vehicles. Giving a national platform to children to showcase their talent does not mentally pressurise them. I think we should have more such shows," he added.

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY (IEA) RELEASES WORLD ENERGY OUTLOOK 2008

http://www.iea.org/weo/docs/weo2008/fact_sheets_08.pdf
http://seekingalpha.com/article/105842-the-iea-annual-report-a-dire-picture-of-energy-supply-and-demand?source=feed
http://www.iea.org/weo/docs/weo2008/fact_sheets_08.pdf

The annual World Energy Outlook (WEO) report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) is said to be “the world’s most authoritative source of global energy trends.” The 2008 edition provides a full update of energy projections to 2030, as well as a comprehensive analysis on climate change scenarios after 2012, oil/gas supply prospects and “energy poverty in resource rich Sub-Saharan African countries. Among the highlights in global trends (as mentioned in the WEO 2008 Fact Sheet) (URL above) are: (1) There will be a slow growth in energy use till 2030, with a “persistent dominance of fossil fuels”, and continued rise in carbon dioxide emissions. (2) World energy demand expansion between 2006 to 2030 is about 45% with an average rate of growth of 1.6% per year, under a “Reference Scenario” of no new government policies beyond those already adopted by mid-2008. (3) More than 50% of incremental global energy demand to 2030 will be from China and India; the Middle East will become an emerging energy demand center, comprising about 11% of incremental global energy demand. (4) Energy related emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases “will inexorably rise, pushing up the average global temperature by 6oC in the long term” and, 5) Modern renewable energy technologies will be the second major source of electricity, next to coal after 2010. More information about the WEO 2008 can be obtained at the IEA website (URL above).

UNFCCC REPORT: 2.3% INCREASE IN GHG EMISSIONS IN INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Executive Secretary, Yvo de Boer, recently gave a press briefing on the highlights of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Data for 2008. The emissions data are from 41 industrialized countries that have GHG reporting obligations. Given the recent trends in GHG emissions, Mr. Boer also mentioned about the tasks that need to be addressed in the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland (1-12 December 2008). The 2008 emissions data report shows that the GHG emissions (from the 41 industrialized countries) in 2006, was 5% below the 1990 levels. However, between the year 2000 and 2006, a disturbing rise in emissions (by 2.3%) was observed. For countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the 2006 GHG emissions were 17% below the “Kyoto baseline”. Canada was reported to have one of the highest increases in GHG emissions in 2006 (21.3%). According to Executive Secretary Boer, the rising emissions “underscore urgent need for political action on climate change. This is an important issue which needs to be discussed at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Poznan."

Simple blood test could detect hypertension risk

London: A simple blood test could help detect the risk of preclampsia, or hypertension, during the first three months of pregnancy, a recent study has said.

Women with low levels of a protein called VEGF165b present a higher tendency to suffer from high blood pressure compared to others whose concentrations are high, according to the experts in the University of Bristol who conducted the study, reports Prensa Latina.

Measurement of concentrations of this protein during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy could help obstetricians to assess the possibility of their patient suffering from that problem.

This would allow timely treatment to prevent complications which could possibly threaten the lives of both mother and the baby.

Preclampsia is a condition in which blood pressure spikes during pregnancy and has features similar to heart disease.

An earlier study has suggested that women who eat chocolates during pregnancy have a decreased risk of life-threatening preclampsia that affects about 10 per cent of pregnancies.

'Despite high security, malware threats rise 43%'

San Francisco: Worldwide threats from malicious software that cripple computers with spy programmes, viruses and worms have increased 43 per cent over the past year, Microsoft said on Monday in its Security Intelligence Report.

The software giant said that the rise occurred despite a significant improvement in the security of its operating systems, as hackers targeted individual programmes and naive users, reports IANS.

Microsoft said that 90 per cent of new vulnerabilities over the past year targeted programmes, while only 10 per cent honed in on operating systems.

The report indicated that malware infection rates are generally higher in developing countries than in developed ones. Infection rates range from 1.8 for every 1,000 computers in Japan to above 76.4 for every 1,000 in Afghanistan.

The US had an infection rate of 11.2 infected computers for every 1,000 scanned—an increase of 25.5 per cent in the last six months.

Microsoft recommended a number of protective steps that computer users should take—checking for security updates from Microsoft and third-party software providers, installing up-to-date firewalls and antivirus and anti-spyware programmes, and exercising extreme caution in opening links and attachments embedded in emails, even if the email is from a trusted source.

These links can direct users to phony websites in a technique called phishing, which then combs users' computers for sensitive information.

China has the highest rate for these so-called browser-based exploits which comprised 46.6 per cent of all security incidents there, compared to 23.3 per cent in the US, Microsoft said.

Everything Is Possible

The followers were more amazed and said to each other, "Then
who can be saved?" Jesus looked at the followers and said,
"This is something that people cannot do themselves. It must
come from God. God can do all things."

-- Mark 10:26-27 (ERV)

KEY THOUGHT:
This is true or our faith is really in vain. We have strength beyond
human will power, knowledge, or ability. Even more importantly, God
through Jesus has covered all of the shortcomings and sins that we
have. God is ... and was ... and will be ... God. Nothing is impossible
with him!


TODAY'S PRAYER:
O Father, please make this truth self-evident to those who lead in your
churches. I trust that everything is possible with you! In Jesus' name.
Amen.

US court reinstates Bhopal gas victims' case

New York: A New York court has reinstated a case filed against Union Carbide by residents of India's Bhopal town who claim to have suffered serious health problems due to a gas leak from the company's plant in 1984, rated the world's worst industrial disaster.

On the night of December 2-3, 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the central Indian town of Bhopal spewed tonnes of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas, killing some 3,000 people instantly and many more later.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by a group of people who live in the vicinity of the pesticide plant in Bhopal. They claim they suffered serious health problems due to soil and water contamination in the area by the leakage of toxic gas from the plant run by Union Carbide, reports IANS.

The case was previously dismissed by a trial court in 2006 and 2007. Reinstating the case, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan) on Monday said the lower courts did not give the plaintiff enough notice to respond to Union Carbide's bid to dismiss the case.

"We view this as a close case," US Circuit Judge Robert D Sack said. "But we think there is a reasonable likelihood that, in light of the peculiarly difficult procedural history of this and related litigation, the plaintiffs were not aware that they were in danger of an adverse grant of summary judgment based on the submissions prior to the district court's order converting the motion and then deciding it," he added.

Welcoming the court's decision, H Rajan Sharma, the attorney representing the Bhopal gas victims, said that the judgment would enable them to conduct a detailed study on the role of the Union Carbide in the contamination of groundwater in Bhopal.

Sharma said the lawsuit is seeking cleanup, monitoring and damages for personal injury caused to about 20,000 individuals along with property damages. The company, now owned by Dow Chemicals, had paid a compensation of US $470 million in 1989.

In a statement, Union Carbide claimed Monday's judgment should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits of the case and said the claims would be ultimately dismissed.

"The Second Circuit did not discuss the merits of the case or the merits of the trial judge's ruling of dismissal and its decision should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits," the statement said.

Pachauri committee to oversee Games Village

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday made it clear that any construction near the Yamuna river for the Commonwealth Games 2010 would not be allowed and gave directions for a committee, headed by noted environmentalist RK Pachauri, to oversee all construction activities.

A division bench headed by Justices AK Sikri and Rekha Sharma made it clear that till further orders of the court all construction would be the responsibility of the government and the construction company, reports IANS.

A five-member committee will oversee the ecological impact of the construction of the Commonwealth Games Village near the Yamuna river in the capital.

The court said the committee should submit its report within three months of its formation. Only Pachauri's name has been fixed. The name of other members of the committee will be finalised by the court on December 5.

"We amply make it clear to the respondents (government and others) that if they carry out any construction, they will be doing so at their own peril," the bench said.

The court's order came on a bunch of petitions seeking its direction to restrain the government from carrying out any constructions on the riverbed for the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The petitioners contend that the construction would disturb the ecological balance and hinder ground water recharge and environmental regeneration.

Admitting their plea, the court, however, refused to stay the construction work, saying that all construction would be subject to the final outcome of the hearing on the matter based on the committee's report.

"If the report finds that construction would affect environment, then we will pass proper directions," the court said.

India to declare Ganga as national river

New Delhi: The Government of India decided to declare Ganga as a 'national river' and also set up a separate River Basin Authority to monitor its cleanliness in the states through which it flows.

The proposed authority would be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and will have as its members chief ministers of the states through which the 2,510 km Ganga flows, reports IANS.

In his meeting with officials of the Ministry of Water Resources and Environment and Forests, the Prime Minister referred to the special place Ganga has in the hearts and minds of all Indians and stated that this emotional link needs to be recognised.

"The country should set up a model for river cleaning through the new institutional mechanism," a Prime Minister's Office (PMO) statement said.

"It was decided that there is a need to replace the current piecemeal efforts taken up in a fragmented manner in select cities with an integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological entity and addresses issues of quantity in terms of water flows along with issues of quality," it said.

The details of the authority to be vested with appropriate powers would be worked out in consultation with state governments and central ministries.

The unit of planning, it was felt, should be the river basin and action related to pollution abatement, sustainable use of water and flood management should be integrated.

The proposed authority will promote intersectoral coordination for comprehensive planning for the river. Various agencies working on different aspects of river conservation and pollution management would be brought together under this proposed Authority.
Of the major rivers in India, Ganga, the most revered, has the longest stretch and is also the most polluted in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) load.

The river begins at the Gangotri glacier in Uttarakhand, in the central Himalayas, and drains into the Bay of Bengal through its vast delta in the Sunderbans.

It has enjoyed a position of reverence for millennia among India's Hindus, by whom it is worshipped in its personified form as the goddess Ganga.

Singh also directed that detailed final proposals would be prepared within two months after necessary consultations.

It was also recognised that the spirit of the Ganga Action Plan as conceived in 1985 by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of making the cleaning of the Ganga a people's movement should be restored.

Last month, the Prime Minister had met a delegation led by Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati and Magsaysay awardee Rajendra Singh who pressed for making the Ganga a national river as it continued to be polluted despite the government having spent a huge amount on pollution control projects.

Himachal to be linked with national gas grid

Shimla: Gas Authority of India (Gail) on Tuesday signed an agreement with the Government of Himachal Pradesh to set up the 610-km long Dadri-Bawana-Nangal pipeline linking the hill state with the national gas grid.

This would go a long way in meeting the demands of industrial, agricultural, transport and domestic sectors in the state, reports IANS.

Gail Chairman and Managing Director UD Choubey said that the company was setting up gas pipeline networks from Uttar Pradesh to Haryana to Punjab and finally to Himachal Pradesh at an estimated investment of Rs 2,500 crore.

"The 65-km long pipeline from Rajpura town in Punjab to Baddi in Himachal Pradesh will be completed by 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs 300 crore," Choubey said.

This will benefit gas-based industries located in the industrial belt of the hill state comprising Baddi, Barotiwala, Nalagarh and Parwanoo in Solan district, he added.

This year alone, the state government gave clearance to 64 medium and large-scale units with an investment of Rs 7,100 crore in this industrial belt, with a power requirement of 350 MW daily.

Choubey said the pipeline up to Nangal town in Punjab would be completed in another two years.

The state government will jointly explore with Gail the areas of cooperation for mutual benefit and assess the demand potential to develop the network for supply and distribution of natural gas.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said the state had also requested the central government to extend the pipeline to districts that are located near Punjab and Haryana.

Telcos to pay addl charges on extra 2G spectrum

New Delhi: India's Information Technology and Communications Minister A Raja on Tuesday said telecom operators willing to use 2G spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz will have to pay additional charges.

"The government will fix additional charges for those telecom operators who are willing to subscribe to 2G spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz," Raja told reporters on the sidelines of a conference organised by India Post.

He added that these charges will have to be paid on a regular basis and according to the guidelines that will be in place by October end.

Asked about the Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) initial public offer (IPO), Raja said the government was discussing the issue with trade unions.

"Though there is a lot of misunderstanding about the IPO, there are many employees in the trade union who have favoured it. We are trying to reach a consensus with them," said the minister.

Medical Books in India - Listings, Review and Online Purchase: Target PG Series TNPSC 2nd Edition (16 Papers from 1995 to 2007)

Medical Books in India - Listings, Review and Online Purchase: Target PG Series TNPSC 2nd Edition (16 Papers from 1995 to 2007)

So Hard

Then Jesus looked at his followers and said to them, "It will
be very hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God!"
The followers were amazed at what Jesus said. But Jesus said
again, "My children, it is very hard to enter the kingdom of
God! And it will be very hard for rich people to enter the
kingdom of God! It would be easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle!"

-- Mark 10:23-25 (ERV)

KEY THOUGHT:
As the disciples processed the information they had seen and heard in
Jesus' interchange with the young man who went away sorrowfully (see
the previous verses), they were shocked. Being on the poorer end of the
economic scale, they assumed that the richer folks would have a better
chance of making it into heaven. Jesus told them the exact opposite was
true -- it would be harder for those who were rich to enter the Kingdom
of God. This must be a sober warning to us. Most of us with access to a
computer are so much better off financially than the majority of the
world's population. Yet we often focus on what we lack rather than what
God has given us to use to bless others and honor him. We must not let
ourselves become possessed by our possessions and our desire for them.
They turn our hearts away from God and become idols which replace God
in our lives.


TODAY'S PRAYER:
O Father, bless me with wisdom, generosity, and a passion for your work
as I seek to use "my" financial and material blessings to honor you and
bring others closer to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Even Piglets Get Less Stressed After Listening to Classical Music

Classical music has the reputation of calming many people's mind, but they're not the only one deriving its benefit, for even piglets get less stressed after listening to these soothing melodies, says a new study.

According to a group of researchers, if classical music is played during piglets' growing up, their meat can contain fewer antibiotics.

Francien de Jonge at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and her colleagues are trying to find a way of reducing the amount of stress piglets endure on pig farms. They have found that encouraging the piglets to play appears to relax them.

As a result, they inflict fewer injuries on their pen mates, which reduces the amount of drugs they need to be treated with.

"Life is harsh on an intensive pig farms, and play can make a huge difference to the animals' longer-term welfare," New Scientist quoted de Jonge, as saying.

To maximize the benefit piglets got from daily play sessions lasting 15 minutes, she and her colleagues taught them to associate play with a soundtrack by Elgar and Bach.

"I specifically chose this music because its timbre is similar to the comfortable grunts pigs make during foraging," de Jonge said.

Six groups of 23 piglets, which were still housed with their mothers, heard music and at the same time were given access to a playroom. Another six groups also heard the music, but could not go into the playroom.


At four weeks old, the piglets were suddenly separated from their mothers and housed together - standard farming practice in the Netherlands. The post-weaning period is a stressful time for the piglets and fighting and injuries are frequent.


During the days after weaning, the researchers played the same soundtrack back to the piglets. Even though they no longer had a dedicated playroom, the music encouraged them to play and subdued their aggressive behaviour when meeting their new pen mates.

As a result, the piglets that had been trained to recognise the music as a signal for playtime sustained around 10percent fewer injuries than those that had not been allowed a playroom.

De Jonge says there is no reason to think that pigs are naturally musical. But she hopes to turn music into an independent tool to calm and relax the animals even after they grow up, by teaching the piglets to develop a taste for music through association with the pleasurable experience of playtime.

The study is published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

Source-ANI
SPH

US poll campaign riding new technology, media tool

New Delhi: From advertising in video games and specialised iPhone applets to extensive online supporter networks and Youtube videos, the unprecedented use of new media and technology in the 2008 US presidential race has implications for political campaigns worldwide and may well be a precursor to future campaigns.

The use of Internet and communication tools such as mobile text messaging has enabled the candidates to bypass traditional media and connect with the voters directly.

When Obama announced John Biden was his Vice Presidential running mate, supporters who had previously registered their phone numbers received the news via text message and email ahead of the news media.

Though both the McCain and Obama campaigns have heavily used the Internet and other technologies, Obama is by far the leader in the use of these tools.

Obama is also the only presidential candidate to buy ad space in video games. Eighteen games, including popular 'Guitar Hero' and 'Madden 09', feature in-game ads from the Obama campaign that appear on billboards and other signage in the game.

Within days of the launch of the iPhone 3G the Obama camp released a special iPhone applet that allowed his supporters to canvass and receive up-to-date campaign news on their iPhone.

In the four years since the last US presidential election, there has been an explosion in what is called the 'social media'. The media, which primarily includes online social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, has redefined social interaction for the 18-29-year-old generation.

Online social networking sites provide an alternative and easy way for like-minded people to connect with one another, share ideas and form communities. This enables socially diverse and geographically dispersed groups to come together on a common platform.

The Obama and McCain campaigns have their presence on networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The Obama camp has official presence on 16 networking and information sharing websites. These range from networking sites such as LinkedIn to the photo-sharing site Flickr.

Extensive use of online video sharing through sites such as Youtube and Brightcove by both candidates and supporters is another feature of the 2008 presidential race and every speech, TV interview and gaffe is publicly available on the web.

Both the candidates have dedicated Youtube channels and thousands of supporters have also posted home-made video clips on the web. In fact, the most-viewed election-related video on Youtube is not by any of the candidates but a small clip by a McCain supporter Iraq war returnee. The clip titled 'Dear Mr Obama' attracted 11 million hits.

The official Obama campaign website provides registered volunteers a detailed script and a list of voters to call. These voters are largely from swing states and volunteers have the option of selecting the state they want to call.

Such tools have revolutionised the extent to which a campaign can take advantage of the volunteer network. Obama's official site claimed that volunteers using the 'online voter contact tool' made 431,645 calls on November 1.

Thanks to such online tools, volunteers are no longer required to deal with their local campaign offices and can canvass from their homes.

The new technology has not just lowered the barriers for entry into civic participation by reducing the cost, time and effort involved; it has also made the whole process much more interactive and placed more control in the hands of the individual volunteers.

The candidate websites have also evolved since the last elections and both Mccain and Obama have campaign websites that act as one-stop shops for supporters.

Besides giving extensive information including videos about the candidates and their views on various issues, these also provide online volunteer registration and online fund contribution.

Obama's official website Barackobama.com has sections addressing specific groups ranging from 'Mediterranean Americans' to 'People Of Faith'. It also features an 'Obama Store' selling campaign T-shirts, mugs, sticker and buttons.

The site also has an 'Obama-Biden Tax Calculator' by which one can find out how much tax cut to expect if Obama wins.

Though technology is no substitute for real-life interaction and can never completely replace the traditional baby-kissing and handshake routine of political campaigns, its use for engaging youth, bringing together people with minimum effort and cost, organising volunteer operations and providing an alternative fundraising route is bound to increase in the future.

Broadband in all Gram Panchayats by 2012

New Delhi: In its efforts to bridge the urban and rural digital divide, the Government of India has decided to provide broadband connectivity in all Gram Panchayats, Government Higher Secondary Schools and Public Health Centres by the end of 2012.

Disclosing this on Tuesday, the country's Minister of Communication and IT A Raja, however, regretted that the telecom growth in rural areas has not kept pace with that in urban areas.

"The government is working hard to correct this imbalance by shifting focus to small towns and rural areas, but it has still to go a long way in bridging the rural urban divide," he said at a function here.

Raja further stated that the government's decision to allot licences to more operators was directed at raising competition, lowering tariffs and enhancing rural tele-density.

He hoped that the current provision of over 7,000 mobile towers and future projects of over 11,000 towers with Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) support will drastically change the mobile telephony scenario in rural India.

Stating that connecting rural India is the next biggest opportunity before the telecom sector, the Minister called upon the industry to play a catalytic role in taking the telecom revolution to rural and remote areas.

He further asked for special emphasis on manufacturing and R&D and innovative business models to achieve the main objective of higher rural tele-density.

The Minister has reiterated that the process of allotment of spectrum for 3G will be completed by January 2009.

Raja said, although the global economy is currently passing through the recession phase, its impact has been comparatively less on telecom sector. "India is well poised to surpass the target of 500 million connections well before the timeline of 2010," he added.

India approves Rs 350 Cr for bio-tech innovations

New Delhi: The Government of India has approved a Rs.350 crore public-private partnership (PPP) programme to carry out bio-technology innovations in areas like agriculture, human health and animal productivity.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), at a meeting here, gave its approval for launching the Biotechnology Industry Partnership Programme for high-risk discovery and innovation.

"An amount of Rs.350 crore has been earmarked for the programme during the 11th Plan," an official statement said.

The programme aims to increase the global competitiveness of Indian industry in new and futuristic technologies and enhance ownership of patents in the areas by Indian companies and scientists.

It will cater to major national unmet technological needs in agriculture, human health, animal productivity, energy and environment where expected social and economic impact is high, reports IANS.

The government would contribute 30 to 50 per cent to the industry for innovation.

"Under this advanced technology scheme, support would be provided only for futuristic areas, transformational technology and product development for public good," the statement added.

The new scheme will be one of the enabling mechanisms to promote research and development in the biotech industry and public-private partnership programmes.

'Gems' to enlighten groundwater management in India

New Delhi: A comprehensive solution for groundwater management has been implemented in nine Indian states, helping 475 users at 191 sites across the country to effectively compile, visualise and analyse hydro geologic and allied attributes of groundwater resources.

The World Bank funded project—Ground Water Estimation and Management System (Gems)—was developed under the Hydrology Project for the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) in the Ministry of Water Resources.

Its integration with business software of multiple domains makes it a thorough and complete solution for exploration, planning, development and management of groundwater resources, the Ministry of Water Resources said in a statement.

Gems is built using MapInfo Professional (GIS), MapInfo Vertical Mapper (spatial interpolation and contouring), SPSS (statistical analysis) and R2V (raster vector data conversion).

MapInfo's solutions offer a unique combination of software allowing customers to map, visualise, profile, compare and act upon information, the Ministry said.

The new solution covers geophysical investigations, water quality studies, borehole and well logs, time series analysis of water level, rainfall and other meteorological data, as well as spatial analysis in targeting and estimating groundwater resources.

Available GIS-based spatial analysis tools, provided by MapInfo in Gems such as interpolation; contouring, predictive modelling and forecasting can be effectively used to analyse data.

With multi-fold increase in demand of water due to growth in population, urbanisation and living standards, the new system will provide an integrated approach of analysis of groundwater flow, identification of potential groundwater zones and pollution vulnerability studies.
—iGovernment Bureau

Spain launches e-Gov services for rural folk

Madrid: A new training programme aimed at promoting the use of eGovernment services by the citizens of rural areas and to break the digital divide was launched here.

The initiative is intended to bring the citizens of rural areas closer to all three levels of Government in Spain by enabling them to benefit from the approximately 900 central, regional and local public services available on the eGovernment portal '060.es'.

Named 'Telecentres training and revitalisation plan', the €2 million project relies on the network of Red.es Telecentres; those free Internet access points located across Spain's rural areas.

Over 500 Telecentres trainers will instruct the population on how to perform operations via the eGovernment portal and to obtain information by electronic means.

Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade Miguel Sebastián, said that following the successful deployment of Telecentres, his Department will concentrate its efforts on the "valorisation of the infrastructure" by adding "services associated to the Telecentres".

He informed that the launch of the 'Telecentres training and revitalisation plan' is the first measure in this direction, and that it is based on the training axis of the Avanza2 programme.

The plan has already started being implemented in 304 Telecentres in the regions of Andalusia and Asturias, with 150 dedicated trainers involved.

Over 11,000 EVMs for Delhi assembly polls

New Delhi: Over 11,000 electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be deployed to conduct the November 29 Delhi assembly elections.

"We are going to use at least 11,000 EVMs across the state and there will be a few hundred more as backup," Joint Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi Uday Baxi said.

Every single booth will have an EVM but if the number of candidates in that constituency is more than 16 then the number of EVMs will be more. One EVM can register 9,999 votes, reports IANS quoting Buxi.

Baxi said the EVMs have been procured from two government companies - Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) of Hyderabad and Bharat Electricals Limited (BEL) of Bangalore.

Our EVMs are very sturdy and can be used many times. But we are going to train thousands of people to handle them," he added.

An EVM consists of two units - a control unit and a balloting unit. The control unit is with the polling officer and the balloting unit is placed inside the voting compartment.

Instead of issuing a ballot paper, the polling officer in-charge of the Control Unit will press the ballot button. This will enable the voter to cast his vote by pressing the blue button on the balloting unit against the candidate and symbol of his choice.

Panel reports ways to pep up Haryana governance

Chandigarh: A number of ambitious and progressive recommendations aimed at increasing the efficiency and transparency in the government functioning has been made in the report of the Administrative Reforms Commission of Haryana.

Haryana's Administrative Reforms Commission, set up earlier this year, presented its report to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Wednesday, suggesting ways to "ensure more transparency and promptness" in the working of the state government, reports IANS.

"The main aim of this administrative reforms commission was to ensure more transparency and promptness in the functioning of the State government," Hooda told reporters after receiving the report.

With the implementation of the Commission's suggestions, the process of decision making would become faster. It has been observed in the past that despite announcing decisions, their implementation took a long time, the Chief Minister said.

We have defined the role of the deputy commissioner (DC) in every district. We have mentioned the various measures that will make the working of the DC more accountable and efficient. There is an immediate need to lessen his workload if we want him to work effectively, Commission's Chairman Kanwar Pal said.

Concerned about the loss of life in road accidents and the lack of preparedness to respond to disasters, the commission has suggested formation of a 'Unified Disaster Management Force'