Campaign against manual scavenging deserves national outcry

MUMBAI: The students of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) and IIT Madras have come together today to brainstorm and campaign on the crucial issue of manual scavenging in India.

Often swept away from the glare and nearly two decades after a law banned the practice, an estimated 1.3 million people across the country, particularly belonging to lower castes, are still forced into manual scavenging-- to clean human excrement with their bare hands.

There are many shortfalls evident in the implementation of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (prohibition) Act, 1993 and designing of government schemes which have allowed this practice to flourish over time. Many of the schemes for instance, target men, completely ignoring the fact that many women are employed as scavengers.

"No national or state-level body exists that will monitor the implementation of the act," points out a report released by the Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan (National Campaign for Dignity and Eradication of Manual Scavenging) in January 2011. Shamefully, government agencies themselves, particularly the railways have often been criticised for employing manual scavengers to clean sewer lines.

One of the biggest pitfalls in the fight against scavenging has been a government scholarship scheme offered to children of the victims, which requires that the family seeking the scholarship be manual scavengers for 100 days of the year. Such ill-conceived schemes only perpetuate the bias and force vulnerable groups to remain in such inhuman occupations.

The Centre is in the midst of proposing a stricter law to end the practice - Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012. An online petition has already garnered 40,000 signatures. But it is perhaps time for the common man on the street to raise his voice for abolition of this practice.

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Youth arrested for abducting boy in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old youth and his girl friend were today arrested for allegedly kidnapping a seven-year-old boy and demanding a ransom of Rs five lakh for the release, police said.

The child was rescued within 24 hours of the abduction in suburban Kandivali.

According to police, Saeed Ali Choudhary was today picked up on suspicion and during interrogation, he confessed to have kidnapped his neighbour's child.

Choudhary wanted money for his girlfriend, who has a daughter and has left her husband, police said.

According to police, Choudhary, who is also married, made a phone call to Ramsagar Prajapathi, a resident of Gandhi Nagar area in Kandivali, at 9.30 PM yesterday and told him that his child Ajaykumar was kidnapped.

"Choudhary demanded Rs five lakh for the release of the child. Initially, Prajapathi did not take it seriously but when his child did not return home, he started searching for his son in the area but in vain. At about 3.30 AM today, Prajapathi complained to police," said N Pimple, senior inspector at Kandivali police station.

The investigators traced the owner of the SIM card by which the accused made the phone call. On enquiry, police learnt that the SIM card was taken from the owner by his friend Saeed.

Subsequently Saeed was nabbed, who admitted that he kidnapped the child and hid him at his girlfriend's house in Dahisar.

The boy was rescued from there safely and handed over to the parents, police said adding that, "Saeed wanted money to take care of Nafeesa and her five-year-daughter, as Nafeesa's husband left her husband."

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Minority status for Jain educational institutes

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will grant minority status to Jain educational institutes if they apply for it, said state minorities minister Naseem Khan.

Khan was addressing a camp organised by the Jain community on minority status at the Mahapragya Public School, Kalbadevi. He said the Maharashtra government was the first to grant the community the minority status and would lobby with the Centre to give a similar status to the Jains at the national level.

He said the community must encourage its youth to take up jobs with the government so that it gets integrated into the main stream, adding that the government was already conducting preparatory exams for the IAS, IPS and the MPSC of which the community must take advantage. He added that several students in the community were already taking benefit of the scholarship programme while schools had applied for funds to improve basic infrastructure.

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MTNL introduces new plans for Mumbai consumers

MUMBAI: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Mumbai has introduced new Broadband and landline Plans in different combo and non-combo versions.

Unlimited combo plan with a monthly rental of Rs 550 and another unlimited monthly rental plan at Rs 450 offered unlimited download from evening 6p.m. to 8a.m.with a speed of 1Mbps. The speed offered during day time under these plans will be 512 Kbps.

Similarly, under another Xpress Unlimited 650 plan monthly charges recovered are Rs 650 but customers will get super speed of 2 Mbps till 12 GB and unlimited download after 12GB with speed of 752 kbps. For combo plan the speed will be 512Kbps after 12 GB .

In another Xpress Unlimited 800 plan at monthly charges Rs. 800 customers will get super speed of 2 Mbps till 18 GB and unlimited download after 18GB with speed of 752 kbps (under combo plan speed will be 512Kbps after 18GB .)

Under the combo version of Broadband Plans customers will get rent Free Landline. For Combo Unlimited 650 and 800 Plans the outgoing call charges are Re.1 per pulse. And for Combo Unlimited 550 Plan customer will get 25 free calls and calls after free calls will be charged @ Re1/pulse. Upload speed for all these plans is 512Kbps.

Customers under the old plans can enjoy these benefits after migration to the new plans. Similarly, MTNL Mumbai has introduced two new plans for Landline customers. The first plan 550 offers unlimited Free calls on MTNL Mumbai network. And 100 calls Free to other network. Call charges beyond free calls to other network are charged Rs 1.10 per pulse. The plan 179 will have only incoming calls facility, where the monthly rental for the customers will be Rs 179 per month.

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Traffic alerts for cellphone users in Mumbai

To facilitate a better traffic experience in Mumbai, a unique Traffic SMS alert service will be available for cell phone users in Mumbai.

MUMBAI: To facilitate a better traffic experience in Mumbai, a unique Traffic SMS alert service will be available for cellphone users in Mumbai.

Loop Mobile, one of the service providers in the city, has launched this alert system to which can subscribe to by sending a simple message SUB TRAFF to 53535 (tollfree) or dialling the USSD code *888*8#.

Loop Mobile is one of the pioneering operators in India to have launched this service in Mumbai. This service allows Loop Mobile subscribers to choose start and end location while selecting the time to receive real time traffic information throughout the day as per own route of travel.

Surya Mahadevan, Chief Operating Officer, Loop Mobile (India) Limited said, "As a Mumbai operator, we cater to specific needs of our subscriber that enhance the mobility experience. We are pleased to offer this solution which will add value to subscribers and be alert and aware of congestion on the roads. This refreshingly different service is another addition to our wide array of VAS services."

Live traffic information directly sourced from the Traffic Police control room will be pushed to the subscribers at peak Traffic Time periods in the day. In future, subscribers will also get travel time estimates and alternate route suggestions as part of the SMS.

The service is charged @ Re 1/day (Prepaid) and Rs 30/month for Postpaid. After subscription users can set the route preference by SMS TRAFF Areaname to Areaname (eg: Andheri West to Mahim) to receive daily alerts along that route. Users can also get on demand alerts by sending GET Areaname to Areaname to 53535. This makes the service user friendly and allows subscribers to receive alerts. Loop Mobile has partnered with Birds Eye Systems to provide the service that will help one to enjoy a better, safe and convenient travel.

Brijraj Vaghani, co-founder of Birds Eye said "This innovative product is designed to make a Mumbai commuter's life easier. It sources data from public transport vehicles moving across city streets. The information is then overlaid on a digital map or provided in text format to users.The SMS alerts will include speeds at which traffic is moving along different stretches of the road. The services will also keep customers alert of road accident and event information. The traffic alerts will be integrated with the Mumbai Traffic Police website."

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Private security agencies request police to set up a data centre for security guards

MUMBAI: The private security agencies have requested the state police to help set up a data centre for police verification of aspiring security guards prior to their appointment by the agencies.

The Security Association of India, an all India association of private security agencies established in 1977 by senior retired armed force and police officials has formally requested the state home minister R R Patil to set up advanced data centre to help agencies recruit better people.

"Police verification of security guards is very important as no agency wants to enrol criminals in the organisation. However, the agencies are facing difficulties in getting verifications done. The issue can be resolved if the state police sets up data centre based on details of guards such as photos, address, bio-metric finger prints and etc," stated a letter written by Gurucharan Singh Chauhan, president of Security Association of India to state home minister.

The system will not only be useful in future for the security agencies but also for the state's investigating agencies and in the interest of national security. The letter has come in the background of recent reports in the media about involvement of security guards and domestic helps in the crimes.

"Our association can sponsor the software and hardware for the data centre on approval by your office. It wil also be helpful for maintaining data of house keeping such a domestic helps, drivers and delivery boys," the letter of the association written to Patil has stated.

According to the association data centre information will put some pressure on the criminal elements among the aspiring guards and even the domestic helps. "This will also help eliminate bogus security agencies operating in the state," the association has stated pointing out that the job of maintaining data centre could be outsourced to ex-police or army officials.

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Rooms in Kerala the best, says online study

MUMBAI: Of the 28 Indian States, accommodations in Kerala, it seems, are the best, according to the findings of a study carried out by an online travel portal. "Kerala lead in guest satisfaction, as travellers gave this state's properties the highest average review rating of 4.27 out of possible 5. followed by Rajasthan (4.25) and Haryana (4.18),'' said a release issued by TripAdvisor. The fourth and the fifth slots were occupied by Sikkim (4.14) and Uttarakhand (4.07) respectively.

In addition, the study also looked at countries that contribute the highest number of reviews to Indian properties and found that the travellers from the UK wrote the most reviews followed by travellers from U.S, France, Australia, and Germany. Of the countries that contribute the most reviews, travellers from the UK and the US, both tend to give the highest average rating for Indian properties (3.94) followed by Australian travellers (3.89). Indians' experiences of their own accommodations are clearly falling short by comparison with an average score of 3.76, the lowest among the ratings given by the UK, US, Australia, France or Germany.

"In the last ten years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of travellers posting reviews about where they have stayed. Today's findings show the wealth of information now available hasn't just benefitted other travelers; it has benefitted the industry as well," said Christine Petersen, president, TripAdvisor for Business. "Hotel and B&B owners have, it appears, clearly been listening to the free feedback they have received, and used it to improve the service they provide."

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Boy who fled home traced after 13 days

MUMBAI: Thirteen days after a 9-year-old boy went missing from outside his Sion home, the police on Thursday tracked down in Chunbhatti. The police reunited the boy with his grandparents around 9.30pm. His father was in Ulhasnagar when he got a call from his elderly parents that the police had brought back his son.

Aditya Sathiyaraj (9), a Std IV student of Sion SIES School, reportedly ran away after he was made to stand outside their flat by his father Sathiyaraj Devraj (43) for reportedly telling a lie for coming home late after leaving his tuition class on October 6.

Police stepped up the search for Aditya after they learnt about the Borivli incident where a 15-year-old boy had kidnapped and killed his 8-year-old cousin for ransom. Acting on a tip-off, the police managed to trace the boy around 9pm. "The Borivli incident made us to put in all effort. We managed to trace the boy as he had not fallen into any wrong hands. But he was unable to give proper information as to how and with whom he travelled till Chunabhatti," said senior inspector Motiram Kasar of Sion police.

Aditya's father Sathiyaraj told TOI, "We are happy that he has returned home unhurt. He is in shock and needs some time before he can narrate what had happened." He also said he never scolded his son for his studies after his wife's death three years ago. "He is dear to all in the family. I wanted him to be a straight forward person instead of starting his life with a lie. But I'm happy that he is back. The 13 days passed like a nightmare not knowing in what condition he would be," he said.

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Expansion plans for Bhau Daji Lad museum

MUMBAI: The civic body is planning to expand the oldest museum in the city-Bhau Daji Lad musem, to international standards. The cost of the expansion plans is estimated at Rs 55 crore.

The main features of the expansion plan include heritage conservation laboratory, an interpretation exhibition gallery, souvenir shops, a centre and seminar halls. The expansion will be carried out on the 50,000 sq. ft area behind the museum.

The museum,was established in 1872 as the erstwhile Victoria and Albert Museum, receives 1.5 lakh visitors every year.

The cost of the expansion project will be shared between the central government, the BMC and the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (Intach) Trust. The Centre has agreed to give Rs 5 crore, while the civic body and Intach will contribute Rs 25 crore each.

"Since major international cities like Singapore, Shanghai and London have state-of-the-art museums, playing an important role in attracting tourists and boosting economy, we have decided to follow suit," said Rahul Shewale, chairman, civic standing committee.

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Kite flying in urban areas affecting birds

MUMBAI: Practices that were not harming the environment in the earlier rural Indian landscape, are posing threat to wildlife in some cases when followed in densely populated urban areas. The age old harvest festival of Makar Sankranti celebrated across India and the kite flying festivals in many other Asian countries have been synonymous with colourful kites dotting the sky. But an earlier harmless practice has started affecting birds in urban areas when followed in an improper fashion, especially when glass-coated or Chinese manja (string) is used.

In a recent incident seven critically endangered white-backed vultures died and eight were injured during kite flying involving glass-coated manja, according to information received from Dr Parag Deori, BNHS veterinary officer working in BNHS Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme. Commenting on the incident, BNHS Director Dr Asad Rahmani said, "BNHS is greatly concerned about the death of vultures. Often Chinese Manja and glass-coated Manja cause such casualties. Other species of birds such as pigeons, kites and storks are also affected many times." In another recent incident 20 painted storks died in Bhavnagar due to the use of Chinese manja.

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