Global swine flu cases leap past 70,000: WHO

The number of recorded swine flu cases has reached 70,893 worldwide, with 311 deaths, since the virus was first discovered in late March, data released by the World Health Organisation on Monday showed.

The data indicated 11,079 new influenza A(H1N1) infections, including 48 deaths, since the last bulletin on Friday.The largest increase in caseload was reported by the United States, which added 6,268 cases including 40 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to 27,717 including 127 deaths.

Canada posted a jump of 1,043 new cases, with its total infections now reaching 7,775 including 21 deaths.Australia showed an increase of 758 new cases including four deaths, bringing its total to 4,038 infections and seven deaths.

US health authorities said Friday that at least one million people in the United States have had swine flu, or around 50 times more than the number of cases officially reported.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) arrived at its figure based on computer models and surveys of communities known to have been hard hit by the new flu strain.
 
Some affected countries no longer keep track of all cases according to the UN health agency, while others do not report for each of the thrice-weekly bulletins.

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By :  News Team

UAV developed by DCE wins prize in US

A high-tech Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by a team of ten undergraduates from Delhi College of Engineering in New Delhi has won the prestigious Unmanned Aircraft System International Competition held recently in the US.

The DCE team surpassed 26 teams from top ranking American Institutes like MIT, Cornell University to notch the widely-acclaimed Directors Award organized by Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in association with US Navy.

"The team was awarded a cash prize of USD 1,500 for successfully flying at the competition as well as for the best team efforts," R K Sinha, Dean Industrial Research and Innovations in DCE told a news agency.


Talking about the special features of the gadget, Sinha said, UAV, a fixed-wing aircraft powered by a 2-stroke engine, is capable of lifting weights up to 7 kgs, equipped with wireless cameras, sensors, GPS and onboard computers capable of long range wireless communications of more than 10 km.

"The entire autopilot and navigation system of the UAV was designed and developed by the team headed by Rochak Chadha, a second year student of Electronics and Communication Engineering supervised by the seniors in the college," Sinha added.

The competition was held at a US Navy base in Maryland from June 17 to June 22. In 2006, a DCE team had won the similar award under best innovation category.

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By :  News Team

Mayawati's statues come under SC radar; explanation sought

29 June : Uttar Pradesh govt's controversial project of installing statues of CM Mayawati came under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court which sought an explanation from it for allegedly spending crores of rupees from the state exchequer.

The apex court issued show cause notice to the state government on Monday and Chief Minister after noting several allegations in a public interest litiattion (PIL) including that 90 per cent of the budget of the Uttar Pradesh Cultural department was used for installation of the statues of Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram and party symbol elephant.

"Notice to show-cause why the petition should not be admitted," a vacation bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A K Ganguly said and sought reply within four weeks from the Uttar Pradesh Government, Mayawati, BSP and Election Commission which are named as respondents in the PIL filed by Supreme Court advocate Ravi Kant.

Kant alleged that the total money used by Mayawati from the state budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10 for such projects was to the tune of Rs.2,000 crore to "falsely glorify" the Chief Minister.

No sooner the order was issued, Mayawati's close aide and senior advocate Satish Chandra Mishra voiced his protest but the Bench said whatever he has to say he can to do it by way of reply to the notice.

Mishra, who resisted the issuance of notice, alleged that "it is a politically interest litigation filed at the behest of others (political rivals)" noting that even before the petition came up for hearing, the petitioners had gone before the media.He said notice at this stage would open a larger issue relating to the use of public land and made a selective reference to Teen Murti Bhavan in the capital saying the land itself cost over Rs 500 crore.However, the Bench was unmoved and said "whatever you have to say you can say it in the reply".

It reminded Mishra that it has only noted the allegations in the PIL which said "hundreds of crores of rupees" meant for developmental work were being used by the UP Government for personal glorification of leaders and installing their statues.

Before Mishra, senior advocate U U Lalit, appearing for the state goverment, contended that it was not the case for issuance of notice as the apex court in the past had passed orders in favour of the state government on the same issue which the petitioners are not aware.

Lalit was responding to the Bench which wanted to know from him whether he would like to file a reply to the PIL.He said the issue has been going on for the past two years and "every single expenditure has been approved by the House (State Assembly).

Lalit and Mishra said that unveiling of 15 statues by Mayawati on 25th June has nothing to do with the PIL and it would be wrong to draw an inference that it was done in a bid to pre-empt the apex court from putting on hold all such projects.

The Bench took note of the contention of the petitioners that the activity of installing statues of Chief Minister and party symbol carried out as state policy was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Ravi Kant told the bench that the information gathered through RTI disclosed that 60 statues of elephant were installed at a cost of Rs 52.20 crore at public places by utilising state funds.

The petition said that such expenditure on installation of statues of leaders violates the various circulars of the Election Commission.

It referred to the April one circular which clearly stated that images of the political functionaries, who have deep influence on the minds of electors and many of whom are still active in public life should not be displayed in the government buildings and premises as that would have the effect of disturbing the level playing field.

The PIL said spending crores of rupees to "falsely glorify" leaders in a state like UP which is part of the so called BIMARU States and having Human Development Index among the lowest in the country is a complete misuse of Public Money.

The PIL has sought a direction to restrain Mayawati from installing her statues and party symbol at public places at the cost of public fund and demanded a CBI probe into the misuse of state exchequer.

The petitioner, who has made Mayawati along with her party and Chief Secretary of the state as respondents, said the state government should be directed to remove the statues of Chief Minister and her party symbol 'elephant' from public land.

"Every action taken by the government must be in public interest. The government cannot act arbitrarily and without reason and if it does, its action would be liable to be invalidated," the petitioner said.

Giving details of the ongoing projects of installing the statutes in the state, the petitioner contended that "the expenditure of several crores of public money to fulfil the whims and fancies of an individual is against the principles of natural justice and fails the test of reasonableness."

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By :  News Team

Haj passports will be issued without police verification: Govt

29 June : To ease issuance of temporary passports to Haj pilgrims, the Centre has decided to do away with police verification of those planning to go to the holy city of Mecca to perform Haj.

The Haj Committee of India on Monday said the decision to this effect came after two meetings in Delhi and Bangalore on 8th and 10th June, chaired by N Ravi, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs.

The issue of Haj passport for Saudi Arabia will be valid for eight months only and this will not be renewed.

"The police verification for Haj pilgrims has been waived off. The decision was taken keeping in mind the difficulties in issuance of passports to pilgrims in a short span of two months," Mohd Owais, the Chief Executive Officer of Haj Committee of India, told reporters at New Delhi on Monday.

However, he said those pilgrims who would like to make their Haj passports a permanent one later will have to go through police verification.

Owais also said that pilgrims, who have already submitted their application forms for passport and their police verification pending till 20th June, will be issued passports.

"If there is no adverse reports, pilgrims will get their passports," Owais said, adding the Haj Committee has received around 3.57 lakh applications this year from devotees who want to perform Haj this year.

"The Haj Committee has a quota of 1.04 lakh while the private sector has a quota of 45,000. The rest is that of government quota," Owais said.

The decision to issue passports came in the backdrop of Saudi Arabia insisting that the pilgrims should carry international passports.

"We had meetings with them. But they said they wanted a uniform pattern and said they cannot change the deadline in this regard for India alone," Owais said.

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By :  News Team