mrityunjaybose

January 8, 2009 NEW SCIENTIFIC FRONTIERS Fourth exploration planned to Arctic SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Mumbai: A new exploration to the Arctic is being planned and the Government of India has invited scientific proposals on varied scientific topics like space weather and air quality research and aerosol studies to be conducted there. So far India has sent 28 research missions to Antarctica since 1981 – and as far as the research in Arctic is concerned this would be the fourth mission. The National Centre of Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), an autonomous R & D institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has invited proposals. "We are now planning the fourth exploration mission, and it is a continuation of the programme that commenced nearly two years ago," a researcher of Goa-based NCAOR told Sakaal Times on Thursday. The proposals have been invited from national scientific organisations/institutions, research laboratories and universities with a sustain...

Save Sparrows: They Are The Future The number of sparrows is dwindling. And that too very fast. Though the issue may not strike us in one go, the decline in the number of sparrows is really a matter of concern. But one thing that is for sure is that as fellow citizens we can do out bit to save this bird. For Mumbai, our own city, the issue is more important. "House sparrows (Passer domesticus) are the indicator of the environment and they are facing a serious threat. We need to generate funds for extensive research," says Dilawar Mohammed, adding that he would be visiting several places across the country to generate more data on sparrows and their decline. Dilawar has been associated with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and have recently launched a website – www.natureforever.org – to save sparrows. He said that the situation is "serious" as house sparrows are indicators of the environment and the decline shows that. Many reasons have been attribut...

September 3, 2008 ENCOUNTER COPS From: MRITYUNJAY BOSE Last Sunday when at the stroke of 1 am, when Pradeep Sharma heard the knock at the door of his flat, he had no idea what was coming. When he opened the door, he was shocked – he found that he has been dismissed from the Mumbai Police, which he served for more than 25 years. The reason – links with underworld. Like Sharma – several of his trigger-happy colleagues and contemporaries are booked in some or the other cases or totally sidelines within the force barring a few. During their heydays, these "encounter specialists" together killed more than 700 criminals of different gangs - now-a-days, they just kill time. They were the poster-boys of Mumbai Police and performed the role of "Dirty Harry", came to be eulogized as "encounter specialists" or "encounter cops" and earned sobriquets like "super cops" – but today if one rewinds to the period of late nineties and compare with the pr...

September 1, 2008From: Mrityunjay Bose MUMBAI POLICE Marked improvement in response timeReaches crime spot in seven minutes; inching towards the international standard Mumbai: In a major achievement for Mumbai police - which is ranked next only to Scotland Yard in crime detection, the city cops have improved the response time to nearly seven minutes - inching towards the international standard of five minutes."The response time is a major factor in policing. In Hindi films we often see the police arriving once everything is over," joint commissioner of police (law and order) K L Prasad said. "We need to reach the scene fast, though in some real cases, it may not happen," he added.Prasad said that as far as the best was concerned - in Mumbai in some cases it is two to three minutes, while the maximum was 12 to 13 minutes. "On an average, the response time that we currently have is six-and-a-half-minutes to seven minutes," he said, pointing out that internat...

September 7, 2008 From: Mrityunjay Bose Centre approves upgrading of Mumbai museum MUMBAI: The Centre has given approval to the Rs 12.43 crore financial assistance for the upgradation and modernization of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, earlier known as Prince of Wales Museum. The Ministry of Culture, Government of India will spent the amount during 2008-10. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India) situated in a heritage precinct known as the "Crescent Site" is one of the more important Museums of the country and a prime cultural institution of the city of Mumbai. The building is declared as an A grade heritage building by the Heritage Committee of Mumbai and is in itself an attraction for the visitors. The building is situated in an area of about 3 acres covering a built up area of 12,142.23 sq.m. The Museum began its modernization program seven years ago to keep pace with the changing needs a...

September 9, 2008 From: Mrityunjay Bose MOBILE TRACKER Your cell phone can be managed remotely! Mumbai: Those whose mobile phones have been lost or stolen will narrate how much data and telephone numbers they have lost. But now one can overcome this fear - Mumbai-based Micro Technologies (India) Ltd on Tuesday launched Micro Mobile Controller System (MMCS), a software that can remotely manage your cell phone. India is adding somewhere around eight to 10 million mobile connections every month and according to estimates total connections are likely to reach 600 million by 2011. The flip side of such an unprecedented growth in the number of mobile phone users is an equally unprecedented growth in instances of lost and stolen mobile phones. "MCCS above all existing features gives an extraordinary back up facility of contact details to the registered user," says Mukund Gupta, COO, Micro Technologies. The software manages the mobile handset with the help of an add on recipient mobi...