BRT corridor: The great Delhi divide

It’s one of the most controversial infrastructure projects in the country but for all those who said that the Delhi Bus Corridor system was an out and out failure, here is a reality check.

A poll conducted by NDTV shows that there is a sharp divide in opinion on the success of the project between those who use buses on the corridor and those who drive cars on the same stretch.

Perhaps the big message here is that public transport must be considered a practical option for everyone, including people who cannot think about life beyond their luxury cars.

There have been many days of chaos, some days better than others but the debate has divided the city down the middle.

In an exclusive opinion poll, NDTV has asked car and bus drivers as also bus passengers whether this will work?

Car vs. bus drivers

65 per cent of car drivers feel the Bus Rapid Transit System(BRT) has made traffic congestion worse in the areas where the BRT runs.

A whopping 75 per cent of bus drivers say the BRT is a huge improvement for buses.

More than 50 per cent of car drivers say that the new bus stops in the middle of the road do not make driving more difficult.

Bus drivers say it’s easier to pick up passengers from the new bus stops and 72 per cent of them say the middle-of-the-road stops are working better than the earlier system.

Most car drivers, 76 per cent, however, say that they are worried about hitting pedestrians crossing the road.

61 per cent of car drivers say driving is easier now that buses have their own lane bus drivers.

82 per cent of them say the new bus lanes for them make driving easier.

Bus passengers

88 per cent of bus commuters feel the new BRT and its buses are an improvement on Delhi’s public transport system

71 per cent believe it will help in reducing travel time - most bus users say their commute time has already been slashed by 50 per cent after the BRT was introduced.

60 per cent of bus commuters say there are enough Marshals and traffic policemen to help guide them to their buses.

Mumbai: Orkut in net again for cyber crime

In another case of cyber crime that brings Orkut into focus, an engineer was arrested for posting on the website the name and telephone number of his neighbour.

A housewife from Bandra in Mumbai’s western suburb is the latest victim to what she calls cyber evil.

Lisa Ferrera was shocked to see her phone number on Orkut, describing her as a commercial sex worker and the person who posted this profile was her neighbour Mohammed Ali.

”We had a dispute about a plot and this is what he did. I am mentally harassed,” said Lisa.

After Lisa and her husband filed a complaint, Ali was arrested and is currently under police custody.

However, this is only the latest in a series of cyber crimes - small and major - that has kept the newly formed cyber cell of Mumbai police busy.

Just last month, a man in Mahim was arrested for posting his neighbour’s profile on Orkut.

And in August 2007, young Adan Patrawala was kidnapped and killed by a man he befriended online. It was a high profile case that led the Mumbai police to speak with Google tighten their act.

But police say this form of new age crime, committed by white collared professionals, is not only steadily on the rise but also difficult to detect and stop.

Keyboards ‘dirtier than a toilet’

Many people eat their lunch at their computers, leaving crumbs

 

Some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested.

 

Consumer group Which? said tests at its London offices found equipment carrying bugs that could cause food poisoning.

Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office’s toilet seats.

Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often “a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut”.

During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office’s keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned.

It had 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria - five times as filthy as a lavatory seat tested at the same time, the research found.

Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you’re very likely to pick it up from a keyboard Dr Peter Wilson Consultant microbiologist

The equipment was swabbed for bugs, such as those that can cause food poisoning like E.coli and staphylococcus aureus.

Dr Wilson, a consultant microbiologist at University College London Hospital, told BBC Radio 5 Live sharing a keyboard could be passing on illnesses among office workers.

“If you look at what grows on computer keyboards, and hospitals are worse, believe it or not, it’s more or less a reflection of what’s in your nose and in your gut,” he said.

“Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you’re very likely to pick it up from a keyboard.”

Which? said one of the causes of dirty keyboards was users eating lunch at their desk, with crumbs encouraging the growth of bacteria.

Poor personal hygiene, such as not washing hands after going to the toilet, could also be to blame, it said.

Cleaning techniques

Which? computing editor Sarah Kidner advised users to give their computer “a spring clean”.

“It’s quite simple to do and could prevent your computer from becoming a health hazard,” she said.

She said dust and food crumbs should be shaken out of keyboards and they should be wiped with a soft, lightly dampened, lint-free cloth. They should also be disinfected with alcohol wipes.

Research by the University of Arizona last year found the average office desktop harboured 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat.

They also found that, compared to men, on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area.

Air raid kills Somali militants

The leader of the military wing of an Islamist insurgent organisation in Somalia has been killed in an overnight air strike.

Aden Hashi Ayro, al-Shabab’s military commander, died when his home in the central town of Dusamareb was bombed.

Ten other people, including a senior militant, are also reported dead.

A US military spokesman told the BBC that it had attacked what he called a known al-Qaeda target in Somalia, but refused to give further details.

Al-Shabab, considered a terrorist group by the US, is the military wing of the Somali Sharia courts movement, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), until Ethiopian troops ousted them in 2006.

The group has since regrouped and is in effect in control of large parts of central and southern Somalia.

‘Scorched earth’

An al-Shabab spokesman, Mukhtar Robow Adumansur, told the BBC that Ayro was killed along with another militant commander in the attack.

Locals said it happened at about 0300 (0000 GMT).

Profile: Somalia’s Islamic ‘lads’ Q&A: Somali conflict

“We heard a huge explosion and when we ran out of our house we saw balls of smoke and flames coming out of house,” Dusamareb resident Nur Geele told the BBC.

“The house was totally destroyed to the ground, also other houses nearby,” local elder Ahmed Mumin Jama said.

Dr Ahmed Mahdi at Dusamareb Hospital told the BBC’s Somali Service that he was treating eight civilians, including women and children, for burns and shrapnel wounds.

One of the women has since died, bringing the death toll so far to 11.

He said identifying the dead would prove difficult as the al-Shabab villa and surrounding mud houses and trees were now scorched earth.

Ayro received training in Afghanistan in the 1990s and was an instrumental military figure as the UIC took control of Mogadishu in the second half of 2006, says the head of the BBC’s Somali Service Yusuf Garaad.

The US says al-Shabab is part of the al-Qaeda network, although correspondents say it is impossible to accurately establish those links.

Al-Shabab leaders say it is a purely Somali movement and they deny any involvement with al-Qaeda.

‘No longer safe’

Mr Robow warned that there would now be revenge attacks by the al-Shabab.

“This incident will cause a lot problems to US interests in the region and the governments who support the US, by that I mean its allies who are puppets,” he said, referring to Ethiopia which backs Somalia’s interim government.

“I am letting the citizens of the US and the allies know they are not going to be safe in this area.”

In its annual report on terrorism published on Wednesday, the US said al-Shabab militants in Somalia, along with al-Qaeda militants in east Africa, posed “the most serious threat to American and allied interests in the region”.

Al-Shabab has been at the forefront of a guerrilla insurgency against the government and its Ethiopian allies since early 2007.

In recent weeks, they have briefly captured several towns in central and southern Somalia before withdrawing.

The US has launched several air strikes against suspected extremist targets in Somalia in recent months.

It has an anti-terror task force based in neighbouring Djibouti, and has accused Somali Islamists of harbouring those responsible for the 1998 attacks on its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The Islamists denied this.

Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991.

Indian doctors win work right in UK

It’s a big victory for Indian doctors in Britain as the House of Lords allowed them to work and train under the same conditions given to applicants from Britain and the European Union.

This will affect between 8000 and 10,000 Indians currently in the UK on HSMP visas given before April 2006.

This decision came after two long years of hectic lobbying and long courtroom hours.

In a 4-1 judgement, Britain highest judiciary dismissed the government’s appeal against an earlier court decision in favour of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which had challenged an April 2006 order to hospital trusts to employ non-EU medicos only if no candidate from EU is available.

Dr Ramesh Mehta, President, BAPIO said, ”We think this is a landmark victory for doctors from the Indian sub-continent especially from India. We are absolutely delighted and we believe justice has been done.”

In April 2006, the Department of Health issued guidelines to hospitals not to employ anyone from outside the European Union unless there was no candidate from within the EU.

This affected thousands of Indian doctors who were in the UK on a Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP).

Last year the High Court had ruled that the guidelines were illegal after which the government moved the House of Lords.

Anthony Robinson, Solicitor, BAPIO said, ”In the High Court we were unsuccessful so we had to go to the Court of Appeal where we were successful, the three lords were unanimous and here today the House of Lords have agreed to that by 4 to 1.”

The Indian doctors under the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) were allowed to compete for jobs after the court ruling in favour of them last year, but Wednesday’s Lords ruling puts a seal of finality on their employability status.

Indian and other non-European Union doctors had found themselves in the lurch when the Department of Health, faced with a large pool of UK and EU-trained doctors, directed hospital trusts to give preference to EU doctors.

The BAPIO pointed to a recent ruling by the House of Lords and Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights, against retrospective application of the immigration rules.

”The Committee concludes that the changes to the HSMP are clearly not compatible with the right to respect for home and family life under Article 8 ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights)and contrary to basic notions of fairness,” the committee said.

The committee recommended that the changes to immigration rules in April 2006 ‘’should be amended so that the changes apply only prospectively, that is to future applicants to the HSMP, and that those already granted leave to remain under HSMP when the relevant changes took effect should be treated according to the rules which applied before those changes”.

Delhi Temperatures soaring new heights

The temperature during the day at Delhi has showed its colors and is creating a new high. recently the temperature in Orissa had reached a new high of 45 degrees. The question that arises is that what will happen in the months to come if the condition remains the same. The shops selling AC’s, Coolers, Fans and cold drink’s etc are makin it out big this summer.

Sorry for the In-Convinence…

Sorry folks for the delay of few month’s for no news being updated. But from the 29^th April 2008 all news reports will be uploaded on time. Thank You for your Co-Operation and we apologize for the inconvinence.

Delhi Escapes Freezing Point

The national capital Friday recorded a minimum temperature of 4.1 degrees Celsius, contrary to an earlier prediction that the mercury might dip to zero degree.

According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Friday’s minimum temperature was five degrees below normal. “It is 4.1 degrees Celsius today and the weather condition is going to improve in the coming days,” an IMD official told IANS. On Thursday, a minimum temperature of 3.4 degree Celsius was recorded here. While the BBC had forecasted a minimum temperature of zero degree for Friday, IMD officials had said it would be around two degrees.

Meghalaya Governor offers talks with rebels groups

D

r. S Sidhu the Governer of Meghalaya expressed his hopes for a peaceful settlement with the rebel outfits stating that peace and stability were the pre-requisite for development for the state.

While the government was confident about a peaceful settlement with the Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC), currently under ceasefire, it was hopeful that a similar process will start soon for redressing the grievances of groups like Hynnietre National Liberation Council (HNLC), Sidhu said in course of his Republic day address here.

Advocating the need for peace and stability to achieve the level of economic growth and development the state was aspiring, Sidhu, also the Governor of Manipur, claimed that the law and order situation remained stable in Meghalaya.

On the development activities, the Governor said stregthening of infrastructure is vital for economic growth and power is a key element in this regard. Pointing out that though Meghalaya has hydroelectric potential of around 3000 mw only 185 mw has been tapped so far, he said the state has decided to accord top priority to generation of additional power and augmentation of the power transmission system. He said the state was already in the air map of country with the airport at Umroi while a proposal is in consideration for upgrading the airport for operation of Boeing class of aircraft. The Beljek airport near Tura is also being upgraded for making it operational for ATR 42-type aircraft, he said.

It’s minus 30, at world’s second coldest inhabited place

The temperature fell to an unbelievable low on the 24th of January 2007, at the Drass town in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Also known to be the second inhabited place in the world next to Siberia recorded a temperature of minus 30 degrees. The regional capital was not better off warm as it recorded a temperature of minus 20 degrees. Even in the Kashmir valley people woke up to a freezing day wich the mercury showing its reading at 5.8 degrees Celsius at the states summer capital.

TK Jotshi, assistant director of the meteorological department in Srinagar, told IANS: “The minimum temperature recorded today was minus 5.8 degrees Celsius. A cold wave is continuing to sweep across north India. But we expect the night temperatures to rise, bringing some relief to the residents.”