City college sets an example by recycling 100 kg waste daily

Compost pits at Vivekanand Education Society campus. (Prashant Wayande)

Six kilometers away from Deonar dumping ground, an educational institution has set an example for residents in the vicinity by sending zero waste to the landfill.

The civic body has recognised two campuses of the Vivekanand Education Society (VES), Chembur, as the first educational institutions in the city to recycle wet, dry and electronic waste, which is part of its solid waste disposal programme under the guidance of United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The campuses, spread across four acres each, produce 100 kg wet and dry waste every day. Nearly 70 kg of biodegradable waste is segregated for composting, while the remaining 30 kg of dry waste is collected by NGO Shri Mukhti Sanghatna for recycling.

“The dry waste from the VES campus is collected by a vehicle (not dumper trucks) provided by the municipal corporation, while the wet waste is degraded at the campus itself. The combination of both makes the institution a zero waste campus,” Harshad Kale, assistant municipal commissioner, M ward, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

“We have been inviting residents of M ward to see the project and replicate it in smaller ways at their households,” he said.

In addition to horticultural waste such as garden clippings and dried leaves, a large amount of biodegradable waste comes from the canteens. The dry waste is collected from nine higher education institutes spread across the two campuses, schools, a junior college and their sports academy.

Dr Jayashree Phadnis, principal, VES, said, “The fire at Deonar dumping ground made it difficult for students and teachers to attend college. Awareness about treating our own waste is key to solving the solid waste management problems. Inspired by the project, staff members have begun composting wet waste.”

The institute has spent Rs18,000 for the project that was started under the guidance of NGO Stree Mukhti Sanghatna in 2014. Three tons of organic manure has been generated so far. “The waste fed into each of the two compost pits (6ftx4ft) in a month is 1,800 kg. The quantity of compost produced every month is close to 130 kg that is used at football fields, gardens and potted plants,” said Sunita Patil, coordinator, Stree Mukhti Sanghatna.

Electronic waste such as battery cells and other devices are collected and sold to scrap dealers every six months and the money is used to maintain the compost pits and provide water to the open grounds.

Patil added that the dry waste collected from the institute includes paper, plastic, fiber and glass. “The BMC van drops the dry waste at our Chembur office where it is segregated into eight categories and returned to industries or sent for recycling,” she said.

“The daily news on Deonar dumping ground and hazardous chemical in the air around Chembur is a big concern. The best way to make the city care about the environment is through students and projects like these that will ensure a safer future for them,” said Mahesh Tejwani, president, VES.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 14 March 2016

Neighbourhood apps: The ‘Quora’ for local queries

Neighbourhood apps: The ‘Quora’ for local queries

PRASHANT PITTI, founder, NearGroup

Most of us are unaware of who lives in our neighbourhood and in times of need, we travel long distances without asking our neighbours ... We think these (neighbourhood apps) could be mother of all apps in the future

NEW DELHI: Eight years in Indirapuram has made Rajiv Kaura, 47, an expert on the area. He can tell you who is a good doctor, where to get a new maid and which shops are better.

And for the past few months he has been giving such advice to hundreds of people in his neighbourhood, not directly, but on his smartphone, through a neighbourhood network app. NearGroup, Omni, NearCircles are some options.

“Most of the questions come from people who are new to the place”, Kaura says, “The issues range from advice on higher education to civic amenities.”

Shilpa Abhilash, a ward councillor of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) gets more complaints through the smartphone than manually. “It is easy because we don’t have to rely on officials,” she says.

“Most of us are unaware of who lives in our neighbourhood and in times of need, we travel distances,” says Prashant Pitti, founder of NearGroup, which has about 20,000 users in the NCR region.

Pitti ,who is a marathon runner, got the idea of the app from his troubles in finding a running mate. The former HSBC executive in the US had Nextdoor, a US-based app launched in 2011 and now a unicorn, to model his idea upon.

Jackson Fernadez, co-founder of Omni, says, “Lot of valuable information lies in the localities. It has now become more like a local Quora.” Launched in November 2015, the application has about 10,000 downloads, mainly from Bangalore. “Indians generally value a neighbour’s recommendations a lot. There is a very high trust factor.”

Some of these apps work similar to dating app Tinder to find people in the user’s locality. Others use the user’s choice of locality and puts her/him in a group registered from the same place.

For Suresh Mylavarapu, the difficulty to connect with the new neighbourhoods overseas, made him develop Nearcircles. Launched in August 2015 the app has more than 10,000 users globally. “It is mostly for discussion on local issues,” he says.

Mylavarapu says the objective is to see these platforms help build offline communities.

However, Ashish Jindal of CodeYeti solutions, which developed such an application in 2014 thinks they are extremely difficult to manage. “Most users stalk people, mainly women. Many female users started complaining,” he says. Unable to raise funding and solve these complaints, he stopped further development.

Fernadez of Omni agrees that when more people join it is a challenge to manage the discussions. The app has a report-abuse option.

NearGroup does multiple verifications including that of the Facebook account to eliminate fake profiles, allows anybody to block anybody, and doesn’t allow people to change their locality for at least for three months. Nearcircles also allows community managers in each area to watch over the activities on the group.

Source: Hindustan Times dated 15 March, 2016 Page 18

Celebration of Marathi Bhasha Diwas and National Science Day

Our Learning and Information Resource Centre celebrated the Marathi Bhasha Diwas (February 27) and National Science Day (February 28) by displaying posters and books.

Certificates Lost? DeitY to save You from Hardships

CHENNAI: Digital depository for school and college certificates, announced in the Union Budget, would act as a one-stop shop for storing, retrieving and verifying all educational certificates whenever necessary.

A top scientist with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) told Express that digital libraries would be set up on a pilot basis, which would be soon expanded into a national library.

Experts believed that the digital depository launched as part of the Centre’s Digital India would eliminate the necessity for physically storing education certificates and be a solution to the increasing fake educational certificate scams across various states.

“DeitY would be providing technical assistance to this initiative to be primarily taken by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD)”, the scientist working in the e-governance group of DeitY told Express.

The scientist added, “At present we are planning to set up a digital library on a pilot basis, which we had earlier developed for research purpose and this would be expanded later.

The MHRD had begun collecting necessary data and at subsequent meetings with the officials they would decide the location for the pilot scheme. “This would save a lot of time, particularly when someone lost their certificates and tried to get a duplicate copy from the authorities”, said M Saravanan, an IT employee. Saravanan had lost all his original certificates on his way to Chennai to attend an interview and was made to run from pillar to post at the TN Directorate of Government Examinations Headquarters, Chennai.

Sources from the School Education department said that this might be linked with the Digital Locker facility introduced earlier to ensure safe online storage and easy access of documents anytime. 

“But, this portable locker linked the students’ certificates with their respective personal Aadhaar card identity numbers and despite special camps, several students were left out and yet to receive their cards,” sources added.

Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Certificates-Lost-DeitY-to-save-You-from-Hardships/2016/03/01/article3303985.ece

Get passport in a week by giving four documents

PUNE: The ministry of external affairs has announced two major changes that will fast-track the process for first-time passport applicants and make it more convenient to secure an appointment at the local passport seva kendra.

Citizens will be granted a fresh passport under the normal category in a week if their applications are accompanied by three documents - copies of Aadhaar card, electoral photo identity card (EPIC) and PAN card - besides an affidavit in the format of Annexure-I (declaration of citizenship, family details and no criminal record).

Until now, the process would take a month, with the police verification eating up a lot of time.

Police verification of such applications will be conducted after the passport is issued. There will be no extra charge for the service, a statement issued by the ministry said. The process is subject to online validation of the Aadhaar number while processing and an approval from the granting officer. 



In addition, EPIC and PAN cards may also be validated, if required, through respective databases in real time, before the application is approved. Besides, passports may also be impounded and revoked later, in case of adverse police reports.

The idea of the upgrade is to liberalise the process without compromising on security, explained Anil Kumar Sobti, director of the passport division in the ministry. "There are plenty of inbuilt safeguards in our system which can instantly spot fake identities and forgeries. Most importantly, our system is linked to the Aadhaar database which helps conduct real-time verification of the applicant while s/he is still at the passport seva kendra," he said.

"We are trying to integrate EPIC and PAN cards as well. Additionally, the granting officer interviewing the applicant can use his discretion to extend or withhold the facility. Besides, the option of impounding or revoking the passport post issuance is always available and we have exercised it several times in 2015," Sobti said.

hinges on accurate and complete 

Hailing the change as an applicant-friendly initiative, Pune's regional passport officer Atul Gotsurve said, "A smooth rollout of the facility documentation furnished by the applicant.

"Adverse police reports can be avoided if applicants themselves play a pro-active role in their verification to ensure that it is completed within a month since the passport is issued. We will also institutionalise measures to prevent an increase in such cases."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Get-passport-in-a-week-by-giving-four-documents/articleshow/50749610.cms

Now, get edu documents in stipulated time

Now, get edu documents in stipulated time

 

Deadlines Fixed Under Right To Services Act

 

A year after the enactment of the landmark Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act, higher and technical education secretary Sanjay Chahande on Saturday promulgated an order to provide retotaling of marks, duplicate marksheet, duplicate degree, verification of documents and migration eligibility certificate within stipulated period.

“We have issued an order to provide basic services linked with the higher and technical education department. If the competent authority fails to provide the documents within the stipulated period, stringent action will be taken against himher as per the provisions of the act. Besides disciplinary action, the law provides for fine for erring officials,“ a senior bureaucrat told TOI.

Giving the specifics, the bureaucrat said that now it bureaucrat said that now it will be mandatory for the competent authority to complete retotaling of marks within 15 days; provide duplicate marksheet and duplicate degree within 15 days; and migrationeligibility certificate and document verification within 30 days. For the examinations conducted by the directorate of technical education, score card of common entrance test will be issued in 30 days, duplicate marksheet within 15 days and for the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Examinations, it has been mandatory to provide migration eligibility certificate within 21 days.

The bureaucrat said the order promulgated by the higher and technical education, which controls all the universities in the state, will go a long way in ending red tape and harassment of students. “In the absence of stipulated time, students seeking duplicate documents, verification of documents and migration or eligibility certificate faced a difficult time. The students were at the mercy of the clerks in universities. This are also the main areas where students face harassment and corruption at educational institutions,“ the bureaucrat said.

 

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Now-get-edu-documents-in-time-bound-period/articleshow/50701113.cms

Google Docs Now Supports Voice. Bye-bye Keyboard!

Type, edit and format with your voice in Docs—no keyboard needed!

February 24, 2016

We launched Voice typing in Docs to help you capture ideas, compose a letter, or even write the next great novel—all without touching your keyboard. Starting today, you can also edit and format your documents with your voice.

To get started, select "Voice typing" in the "Tools" menu when you’re using Docs in Chrome. Say what comes to mind—then start editing and formatting with commands like “copy,” “insert table,” and “highlight.”

Check out the full list of commands in our Help Center or simply say “Voice commands help” when you’re voice typing.
It’s a quick and easy way to get ideas out of your head, and into a doc. So try out Voice typing (and editing and formatting) today!

Source: http://googledocs.blogspot.in/2016/02/type-edit-and-format-with-your-voice-in.html