Mangalore, Dharwad can boast of science centres soon

Mangalore, Dharwad can boast of science centres soon

TNN, Oct 9, 2010, 05.24am IST

BANGALORE: More and more students in Karnataka are keen on pursuing a career in science. In view of this, the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) will start science centres in Dharwad and Mangalore for Rs 8.5 crore each.

NCSM director G S Rautela on Friday said the Council plans to start 13 science centres across India by 2012. Two ones will come up in Dharwad and Mangalore. "There is high interest among students towards science in Karnataka. In fact, we have the highest number of pending proposals from the state. Science centres will be set up in Mysore, Haveri, Tumkur, Gadag, Raichur and Bidar in phases," Rautela said.

Among the 26 science museums in the country, Bangalore-based Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) attracts the second highest number of visitors each year, he said. Kolkata Science City gets 1.4 million visitors while VITM attracts around 9 lakh visitors every year.

This year's edition of the national student science seminar was held in Bangalore where 35 students from all states/UTs presented views on `India and world science: Are we there?'. Participating schools will be given a Newtonian telescope developed by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore.

NOBEL PRIZES CEREMONY

To encourage schoolchildren to pursue careers in science, the council plans to send four students from different parts of the country to attend the Nobel prize ceremony every year.

Rautela said the council is in talks with the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation to allow high school kids from India to attend the ceremony. "We already have a programme to send four children every year to Korea Science Festival. We have also send bright high school students to Nasa. Now, we want to choose four students from different zones of the country and send them to the Nobel prize ceremony," he said.

Traffic police go hi-tech with e-challan

Traffic police go hi-tech with e-challan

Vincent D'Souza, TNN, Oct 6, 2010, 10.14pm IST

HUBLI: On several occasions, traffic cops have found themselves on the other side of the law, by faking the challan book. But that is just impossible now in the twin cities, as the Hubli-Dharwad police commissionerate has now gone hi-tech.

For the first time in the country, e-challan machines have been introduced to do away with all kinds of manipulations and to bring in transparency in penalizing traffic violators. A total of 10 units of e-challan or handheld machines developed by Hubli-based Trinity Technologies and Software Solutions Private Limited, is being used by the traffic cops in twin cities for the past few weeks. The process of obtaining another 12 machines is on, traffic ACP Sanjeev M Patil told `The Times of India.'

He said this advanced technology will save cops a lot of time, as it would take 3-5 minutes for cops to manually note all necessary details such as type of vehicle, registration number, name of owner, fine amount etc. The e-challan machine, which has printers attached to it will generate the receipt instantly on punching the violation code.

Also, the total number of cases booked and amount of fine collected on a particular day will be known at the end of the day with just a click of a button. Earlier, it used to take at least half an hour for the cops to add figures from the manual receipts.

Patil said at the end of the day, the cops operating e-challan machines will transfer the data into the computer at the police station, which will be then moved into the central server located at the commissioner's office. The process of the adopting GPRS technology is on and once it is done, data will be directly stored in the central server without wires.

The user-friendly device will also help police improve their image, as there is no scope for public to doubt them regarding the amount of fine. They will not have to ask a series of questions or bargain with the police before paying up for the violation. Patil said the number of cases booked has also gone up by 30% since the introduction of e-challans.

The new device also has the provision to issue court notices and has a ISD card reader to detect smart cards. The software developer, Rajneesh Ganjiyal, said there is scope for further modification of the device.

Industries to set up units at Dharwad

Industries to set up units at Dharwad

Aug 2, 2010, 09.41pm IST

DHARWAD: Mahindra and Mahindra and few other industries have expressed their willingness to establish their units at Dharwad. Minister for large and medium industries, Murugesh Nirani, said a JCB unit with an investment of Rs 500 crore will be set up at Dharwad.

Nirani told The Times of India on Monday that Baba Kalyani group will shift its proposed unit from Bangalore to Dharwad. Also, Hero Honda, which proposed to produce one lakh vehicles every year at Dharwad has now decided to manufacture two lakh vehicles per year, the minister disclosed.

Speaking on the government's future plans, the industries minister said it will introduce a new scheme __ `Udgyoga, Uddime' (employment, industry) __ to reduce unemployment among rural youths. Separate offices will be established at Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mysore and Bangalore divisions to implement the scheme effectively. The Centre will join the state government in sponsoring this scheme.

M&M may set up unit at Dharwad

M & M may set up unit at Dharwad

BS Reporter | 2010-08-03 01:50:00

Mahindra and Mahindra, and a few other industries have expressed their willingness to establish their units at Dharwad. Minister for large and medium industries Murugesh Nirani said an earth-moving equipment unit with an investment of Rs 500 crore would be set up at Dharwad.

Nirani told Business Standard here on Monday the Baba Kalyani group was planning to shift its proposed unit in Bangalore to Dharwad. Hero Honda which proposed to produce 100,000 vehicles per annum at its proposed plant at Dharwad to be set up over an area of 500 acres, had decided to produce 200,000 vehicles, Nirani said.

The government will introduce a new scheme — Udyoga, Uddime (employment, industry) to make rural youths employable. Separate offices will be established at Gulbarga, Belgaum, Mysore and Bangalore divisions to implement the scheme effectively.

The Centre will join the state in sponsoring the scheme. Stating Karnataka’s share in India’s exports was 13.3 per cent, Nirani said, efforts were being made to stabilise export ratio.

Earlier, Nirani inaugurated the computerised trade information centre of the Vishweshwaraiah Industrial Trade Centre (VITC) and National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI) at the district industries centre premises in Dharwad and participated in the founders’ day programme at the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries at Hubli.