Science & Technology
SPACE TAXIS: BOLD NEW ERA OR DEATH OF MANNED EXPLORATION?
The shift comes as part of President Barack Obama's plans to overhaul the US space programme, scrubbing existing plans to develop a new spacecraft to return humans to the moon.
The move amounts to a privatisation of spaceflight, moving away from contractors who simply build spacecraft for the government to contractors that both build and operate them, notes Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington
University.
But Obama's new space policy, unveiled last month in his 2011 budget proposal, has proven hugely unpopular in Congress, creating a showdown between lawmakers, NASA administrators and the commercial aerospace industry waiting in the wings.
"I believe this budget and the vision it represents would end our human spaceflight programme as we know it and would surrender at least for our lifetime our leadership in the air," said Senator David Vitter, a Republican who is joined by many members of both parties, particularly those with NASA centres in their districts.
Critics in Congress decry a loss of US prestige, declining technological progress, the lack of a distinct inspirational goal and a fear that emerging powers like China and India will outpace the US. They also worry about loss of jobs in their districts, with an estimated 7,000 shuttle-related jobs to be lost in and near Kennedy Space Centre alone.
-by Anne K. Walters
Economy
RAILWAY BUDGET 2010-11: TRAINS FOR BENGAL ASSEMBLY POLLS
She is also banking heavily on private sector investments to make her Vision 2020 a success. Developing a business model is also promised. Strikingly, the budget has overlooked the Planning Commission’s advice on fare hikes and the fact that many promises of last budget are still unfulfilled. In all, the railway budget lacks direction and foresight to take both the railways and the economy places.
Setting her sights on assembly polls in West Bengal next year, Mamata Banerjee did not shy from being termed a ‘parochial’ for devoting a largesse of sops for her home state. From new train services to multi-speciality hospitals for railway employees, from new wagons manufacturing units to a sports academy, Banerjee has dedicated many projects to West Bengal, making a blatantly politically biased budget.
Besides announcing the launch of 35 new train services from different stations in the state, the Minister proposed to set up two wagon manufacturing factories in West Bengal, a drinking water processing unit and two facilities to manufacture rail axles and refrigerated containers, and expand the production capacity of Chittaranjan locomotive Works.
-by SUNIL BATRA
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 Forest & Environment
CAMERA-TRAPPING OF TIGER STARTS, PARTIAL CENSUS RESULTS BY DECEMBER
"We would know the tiger numbers in three major landscapes by December - Terrai, Central India and the Western Ghats. Although the estimation process for the entire country would be over only by March next year," professor Y.V. Jhala of Wildlife Institute of India (WII), told IANS.
He said: "not only tiger reserves, but all forest areas in the country will be covered."
The last census in 2005-06 showed a sharp fall in tiger numbers. The census then conducted with an improved method revealed India had just 1,411 tigers left in the wild, raising serious concern about their survival.
Jhala said a new phase involving camera-trapping of tigers has begun. "Researchers have started this exercise, as the ground work involving the forest staff is almost completed."
Each camera costs about Rs. 10,000 and is especially designed for deployment in forests. It has censors that trigger the camera to take pictures automatically whenever animals come within range in front of its lens. They are usually attached to a tree. Batteries and the film of the camera are replaced manually when they run out.
-by Sanjeeb Baruah
| Business/Trade
FIRST GENERATION WOMAN ENTREPRENEUR OF IPL MERCHANDISE
"I am an ardent fan of CSK and I am happy to be the official merchandiser for the team for five years," Venugopalan, CEO of Oceanbed Gifts and Merchandise, told IANS in an interview.
The CSK merchandise are available in the price range of Rs.60-Rs.600.
A commerce graduate from Madras University and an MBA degree holder, Venugopalan decided to start her own business and floated Oceanbed in 2005, after a brief stint with TVS Motor Company and ICICI Bank.
Oceanbed is largely into corporate gifting space. The five-year-old company decided to get into merchandising and the CSK deal is the company's first contract, which was inked after a year of negotiations.
"With 27 items, we have the broadest range of merchandise, including novel items, compressed T-shirts that expand to original sizes when immersed in water for five minutes. The initial reaction (of buyers) is good," she said.
It was in the last IPL series in South Africa that people realised the true potential of merchandise as most of the spectators were having one item or another.
-by Venkatachari Jagannathan
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Sports
JACKSON HOPES SOCCER-MAD ENGLAND WAKES UP TO HOCKEY
"Back home, nobody knew that we were European Champions and that too, after we had beaten the top teams of the world. It is difficult when you do not get recognition after performing so well. But we understand that hockey can no way match the popularity of football," Jackson told IANS.
"We hope that after making to the World Cup semi-final, which is a big event, our performance will not go unnoticed. Our performance here should get the game more publicity," he added.
The 22-year-old, who scored eight goals to become the player of the tournament in the European Championship, has struck four times here in five matches. Two of the goals came in the crucial match against India. But Jackson says he is far from his best.
"The best thing is that there is no pressure on me to perform because we have got a fantastic squad. We have played together for a long time and the unity in the team has kept us going."
"We entered the tournament as rank outsiders, and that helped us, because there were less expectations. We know what we can do as a team and we feel satisfied that we have been able to repeat our success."
-by Avishek Roy
| Society
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: MADHYA PRADESH CUTS SORRY FIGURE
"Gang rape is one of the easiest means for men to attack a woman in villages," said Sachin Jain, state convenor of the Right to Food Campaign.
"Women belonging to Scheduled Castes and tribes are also coming forward through the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and the panchayats (village councils) in the state. The upper classes take revenge by committing gang rape. These people, once referred to as 'untouchables', have attained positions in local governance but they are still among the poorest and most victimised people," he said.
The state's maternal mortality ratio (MMR) - the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births - is 379, considered to be one of the worst in India. Around 27-30 women die every day in the state within 42 days of delivery, according to last year's National Family Health Survey-III data.
Pregnancy complications and unsafe abortions are cited as the main reasons for the rising MMR.
According to the survey, the state contributes 7,000 maternal mortality cases every year to the figure of 70,000 for the country as a whole. Lack of transport and access to proper medical facilities as well as the absence of planning for delivery are major impediments to safe motherhood coupled with shortage of medicines.
-by Sanjay Sharma
| Politics
WILL BJP REPEAT ITS ELECTORAL SUCCESS IN BANGALORE?
Disputes over which and how many wards should be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes further delayed the polls, now being held after the state high court and the Supreme Court rejected the government plea for more time to hold the elections.
The polls are prestigious for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it has done consistently well in all the elections held after it captured power for the first time in the state in the May 2008 assembly polls.
In the April-May Lok Sabha elections last year, the party won 19 of the 28 seats. It has also performed well in the bypolls to the assembly and the legislative council held since 2008.
Of the 27 assembly seats from Bangalore, the BJP bagged 16 in the May 2008 assembly polls, leaving the Congress a poor second with just 10 seats and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) headed by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda a distant third with only one seat.
Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has done his bit by showering goodies on Bangalore in the state budget for 2010-11 presented March 5.
-by V.S. Karnic
| Art & Culture
AGRA MUSIC LEGEND STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE
"With no other financial support I am just managing to barely survive," Khan laments. He has already been compelled to sell off five gold medals to survive in his humble Ashoor Beg Gali home. Hardly able to see, he broke his hip bone a few months ago.
He said his daughter had to go frequently to New Delhi to persuade officials to release the pension for senior artists. He had several times requested the government to increase the pension but there had been no response.
Having toured Iran, Afghanistan and other countries with his illustrious grandfather, the ustaad is currently grooming his grandson in the intricacies of the Agra Gharana, which ironically is more popular outside the Taj city than in the place of its origin.
"This is a city that honours only the dead," he says of Agra, which was home to Urdu poets Mirza Ghalib, Nazeer Akbarabadi, Mir Taqi Mir and so many others, but all of whom left and found fame elsewhere.
Akeel Khan's plight has evoked sympathy.
-by Brij Khandelwal
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Medical & Health
HERE'S A HAIR-RAISING TREND, THANKS TO CELEBS!
"The trend of hair plantation has increased enormously. It has increased up to 20-25 percent. People have become very conscious and particular about their looks. The advancement in technology has made it all the more convincing," Gupta told IANS.
Cricketer Sehwag reportedly went for a hair transplant because he feels one sells good when one looks good. But unlike Bollywood stars, he didn't fly abroad for the treatment.
"People asked whether I got it done from Dubai or the US, but when they got to know it is happening in New Delhi they were very happy," he was quoted as saying.
Manoj Khanna, who introduced hair transplants in the country in 1995, says people hesitated when he brought the treatment here, but thanks to celebrities, it has become popular.
"I was trained in 10 different cities all over the world like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Buffalo, Detroit, Miami, London, Paris, Birmingham and Singapore.
-by Manpreet Kaur
| Entertainment
'THE HURT LOCKER' SETS RECORDS AT 82ND ACADEMY AWARDS
Apart from best picture and direction, it won four more golden statuettes for sound editing, sound mixing, original screenplay as well as editing. It won an equal number of awards at the 2010 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards earlier this year.
Bigelow over the challenge posed by ex-husband James Cameron's 3D sci-fi epic "Avatar", which was the other leading contender for Oscar glory with nine nominations.
DPA reports that "Avatar", the most successful film in history with more than $2 billion in ticket sales, won just three awards for visual effects, art direction and cinematography.
According to pundits, ticket sales for "The Hurt Locker" was just $21 million, making it the lowest-grossing best-picture winner ever.
Another winner was the inspirational "Precious", which racked up three wins, including a supporting actress award for Mo'Nique.
"Sometimes you have to forego doing what's popular in order to do what's right," she said while accepting her prize.
Jeff Bridges won the best actor prize for his role as a washed up country singer in the film "Crazy Heart". He dedicated his prize to his parents.
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