Australia extends help to check pollution in Ganga river

KOLKATA: To save the Ganga from industrial pollution, the Victorian government in Australia is preparing an eco-friendly business model for tanneries, which discharge effluents into the river.

Experts from 'Sustainability Victoria', an Australian agency working on environmental issues in the state of Victoria, would visit India next month to kick-start the Tannery Waste Management Programme from Kanpur.

"The idea was given to us by IIT-Kanpur which will act as our local partners in the project. We will lend our expertise in finding a sustainable and viable solution to safe disposal of waste discharged by tanneries," CEO of Sustainability Victoria, Stan Krpan told during a visit to the city.

Funded through the Australian development 'AusAID', the project aims to clean the river that is one of the five most polluted rivers in the world today.

Krpan said that experts from the agency would explore social, environmental and technical solutions for Kanpur's tannery industry to provide it a sustainable basis.

"We will prepare a road map for the tannery industry by looking at all angles including finding a technical solution for waste management, community engagement for saving the river and regulatory issues as well," the official said.

It is envisaged that successful outcomes of this work in Kanpur will be replicated in other parts of the Ganga basin.

Under extreme pollution pressure, the Ganga river faces significant threats to its biodiversity, environmental sustainability, and both the quantity and quality of its flow.

Saina Nehwal jumps to third spot in badminton rankings

New Delhi: A quarterfinal finish at the Singapore Super Series helped ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal climb a place to the third position at the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) women's singles ranking released today.

The London bronze medallist had dropped to the fourth place after failing to defend her title at the Indonesian Super Series Premier but a last eight finish at Singapore last week enabled her to achieve 73510 points and reach the third spot.

The 23-year-old Indian had been enjoying her career-best ranking of world number two since March this year but her failure to defend her titles in Thailand and Indonesia saw her slip to the fourth place.

Malaysia Open winner P V Sindhu, who missed three back-to-back tournaments in June because of an knee injury, was steady at the 12th position, while rising shuttler Arundhati Pantawane gained 10 places to reach the 49th spot.

Chinese duo of Li Xuerui (87713.42) and Yihan Wang (74655.77) holds the first and second position in the ranking.

In men's singles, a dip in performance reflected in Parupalli Kashyap's ranking as he slipped two places to the 13th spot. The Indian lost in the first round in Indonesia and Singapore.

RMV Gurusaidutt and Ajay Jayaram improved one place each to reach the 22nd and 24th positions in the men's singles ranking. B Sai Praneeth gained five places to reach a career-best ranking of 40, while Thailand Grand Prix Gold champion K Srikanth also jumped a place to the 41st spot. Sourabh Verma was static at 37th place.

Women's doubles pair of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa jumped four places to reach the 28th spot.

Varanasi police to act as guardians for mentally challenged kids

VARANASI: The Varanasi police will soon be in an Avatar of guardians for the mentally challenged children of the district.

It sounds surprising but the Varanasi police are all set to take this responsibility as a part of community policing. It will be formally launched by the ADG (law and order) Arun Kumar on Saturday.

This initiative is a brainchild of a deputy SP and circle officer Sadar, Rahul Kumar, who got this idea during his past posting in Noida where several parents of mentally challenged children met him with the worries about future of their wards.

After it he studied the problem and also worked with some NGOs on this issue. But when he got posting in rural belt here he noticed that many of those children are ill-treated or even killed to end their claim on property. The trafficking of these children and killing for other reasons also takes place for monetary reasons but most of these cases remain unreported.

After it he conducted survey in Rohania, Jansa and Lohta police station area of his circle that resulted in detection of 300 mentally disabled children. However, the records of social welfare department shows only 200 such children in the entire district.

Not only this but before meeting the SSP AK Mishra to give a proposal for launching this programme as a part of community policing he also sought help of Dr Tulsi of Deva International Society for Child Care, who is also one of the directors Association for Rehabilitation under National Trust Initiative of Marketing (ARUNIM national trust) of ministry of disability affairs of government of India.

When Rahul and Dr Tulsi met the SSP with this proposal he also agreed for this initiative. They said that this programme is aimed at searching each and every mentally disabled child, ensuring availability of certificates of ailment for each mentally retarded child from CMO, benefits of the schemes of ministry of disability affairs, ARUNIM national trust, their training and counseling with the help of NGOs.

As per the guidelines of ministry the district magistrate becomes the legal guardian of such child after identification but cent percent identification of those children is proving a difficult task in existing system. To make the programme effective the SSP decided that each beat constable will adopt two of the mentally disabled child. These cops will check the condition of beneficiaries and also progress in their health and behaviour on weekly basis. The men in khaki are hoping that their initiative will ensure the availability of benefits of government schemes for these children apart from their safety.

Engineering students design 8 mobile games

HUBLI: You thought students only played mobile games? Here are computer science students of BVB College of Engineering & Technology who have designed eight mobile games which can be run on four operating systems.

The games designed by these VI semester students are Back Flip, Crazy Archer, Parking 2D, Bulldozer, Lasers, Gold Diggers, Doddal Blink and Spooky Hoofs. These games can be played on various operating systems like Android, Windows phone and IOS.

Abhishek, one of the student designers, said that college has given them an opportunity to design the games and C Logic, a private company, provided specifications to design them. ''We did it and it has given me a real time experience. It was exciting to learn how to develop the games for various operating systems,'' he said.

Gopal Joshi, professor of computer science department, said that earlier they had initiated the move of designing games by students which can be accessed on the Android operating system, but this year students designed games which can be played on different operating systems.

The college authorities first put the games on trial by inviting some school students to play them. The designer team noted the difficulties the school students faced and reworked on the games. Now, the college will release them in the market.

Each game has two versions. The team was given three days training by the company. Students had designed 29 games in 2011 and 30 games in 2012. This year, again students have designed the games in two versions.

Doctor claims breakthrough in race for spinal 'cure'

HONG KONG: A leading researcher into severe spinal cord injuries today said trials for stem-cell therapy showed groundbreaking results in giving immobile patients the ability to walk again.


After progress in a second round of tests using stem cells to regrow nerve fibres, the China Spinal Cord Injury Network (ChinaSCINet) has applied for regulatory approval in China for a third and final phase, which it hopes to start in the autumn.

PM interacts with school children on board train to Kashmir

Banihal: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday undertook a train journey through the 11-km long tunnel under the Pir Panjal mountain ranges along with school children most of whom travelled by rail for the first time.

Singh interacted with students during the 18-km train journey from Banihal to Qazigund which reduces the distance between the two towns by nearly half.

The Banihal-Qazigund rail section includes an 11-km long tunnel, the country's longest, built at a cost of Rs 1,691 crore.

Singh asked one of the girl students seated next to him whether she had travelled by train earlier, to which she replied in the negative.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was seated a couple of rows behind the Prime Minister and was seen chatting with the students.

The train travel by Singh and Gandhi was being planned for almost a week and was kept under the wraps for security reasons.

Singh and Gandhi boarded the train after the flagging off ceremony at Banihal this afternoon. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge were also in the train.

The train will start regular operations from Banihal to Baramulla from tomorrow making five trips daily beginning at 7.10 AM from Banihal and 7.35 AM from Baramulla.

PTI 

Goa govt launches scheme to strengthen infra in schools

Panaji: Schools in Goa would now be able to upgrade or set up infrastructure, including for IT services, and even acquire land for the purpose, courtesy a dedicated scheme announced by the state government on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters that the scheme has been approved by the state Cabinet with the financial implication being pegged at Rs 50 crore annually.

"While primary schools will be given Rs 50 lakh each, high schools Rs one crore each and higher secondary schools Rs two crores for the purpose," Parrikar

said.

The chief minister said that 50 per cent of the total allocation would be made in the form of grants and rest as interest-free loan, which can be repaid over next 15 years.

Though nearly 276 schools are eligible for this scheme, only 30 schools would get the benefit for the current academic year, Parrikar said.


"The funds provided for the infrastructure creation can also be used to acquire land and also to install IT services like wi-fi and CCTV," he said.

State-run Education Development Corporation has been named as a nodal agency to implement the scheme, a revised version of the earlier scheme wherein schools were asked to mortgage their properties to avail the benefit.

PTI