The Daily Indian

ISRO today placed in orbit seven satellites including Oceansat-2 within a span of 20 minutes, its first successful mission after the abrupt end of the ambitious Chandrayaan-I project.

At the end of the 51-hour countdown, the 44.4 meter tall four-stage PSLV-C14 blasted off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here with ignition of the core first stage and put the satellites in orbit one after another.

Scientists cheered as ISRO’s workhorse, PSLV soared majestically into clear skies at 11.51 AM from the spaceport in the East Coast in Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km north of Chennai,with the launch watched by Vice President Hamid Ansari

Oceansat-2, the country’s 16th remote sensing satellite, will identify potential fishing zones, sea state forecasting and coastal zone studies, besides providing inputs on weather forecasting and climate studies.

India’s maiden Rs 400 crore moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was today terminated, about one year before the odyssey’s expected end, after ISRO failed to restore the snapped communication link with the unmanned spacecraft.

The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) while announcing that the planned two-year lunar mission, launched amid a national euphoria on October 22 last year, has been formally called off said it would set up a high level committee to probe the abrupt end.

“We don’t have contact with the spacecraft and we had to terminate the mission,” a visibly disappointed ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair told reporters here.

The mission was abandoned early yesterday shortly after radio contact with the craft was abruptly lost at 0130 HRS.

ISRO tried to send the commands but the space vehicle was not able to respond. “The power signals which go to the computer systems failed.

Even as five animals are felled by poachers in a span of a few weeks, forest officials in Assam are positive that the Rhinoceros Unicornis population can be saved!

Pranab Bora

I f there can be anything that can, even momentarily, diminish the anguish that can be caused by an image of a dying rhino, its horn hacked off, it is perhaps the reassuring words of a man called MC Malakar, the chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Assam. Hounded by the public and Press alike, he has decided to go on the offensive.

“What makes you even think that the gene pool of rhinos in Assam may be unsafe?” he shoots back, even before one can finish a question on whether the rhino is safe, given the department’s efforts to take it to the 3,000 mark by the year 2020, as stated in the Indian Rhino Vision 2020 plan. The tirade continues: “At a meeting recently, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) demanded that I agree that we had failed in protecting the rhino. Why should I? Hasn’t the population of rhinos gone to over 2,000 at Kaziranga from a few dozens at the turn of the 19th century?”

According to an analogy that Malakar provides, “It is like trying to keep out all the mosquitoes using a mosquito net. No matter how hard you try, one or two will get in. It is simply not possible for us to put one guard behind every rhino there is in the state”. In terms of the threat to the Rhinoceros Unicornis, the “one or two”, incidentally, translates to a swarm of well-armed, well trained poachers who have brought down over 26 of these pachyderms over the past 17 months alone in Assam.

And that, as expected, has people worried. “There are no rhinos in the Manas and Laokhowa sanctuaries,” says Saumyadeep Dutta, who heads Nature’s Beacon, which first sounded the alarm regarding the killing of rhinos in Kaziranga in 2007. “Then, of course, there are some NGOs,” says Dutta “that have interests with the forest department and thus keep supporting them.”

Malakar, though, refutes such allegations. “We are reintroducing rhinos in Manas after making sure there is adequate public involvement so that there are no security issues,” says Malakar. “As you know, the entire rhino population there was wiped out during the Bodo agitation of the ’80s and ’90s.” As for the Indian Rhino Vision (IRV), things are so far going as planned, he says: four female rhinos from Kaziranga and two males from the Pobitora sanctuary near Guwahati (both of which are now overpopulated with rhinos) have been released at Manas over the past few months.

“I don’t think there is a problem of inbreeding among rhinos; however, this should help save the gene pool at the two sanctuaries,” says Malakar. Once Manas gets back its population of rhinos (the target for the relocation exercise is 30 to 40 animals), the plan would be to target the Laokhowa sanctuary near Nagaon which too is considered an original rhino habitat which was emptied of its animals. And the officials are banking on the fact that they have a surplus in both Kaziranga and Pobitora: apart from the 2,000 at the world heritage site, Pobitora has more than 90 individuals in a space of 16 sq km.
As for the principle, it’s simple: spread them out to their original habitats and make it more difficult for poachers to get to them. Despite the poaching, the officials insist, poachers haven’t been able to keep pace. One only hopes the vision is a success. For the rhino, and us.

Despite the global recession, Karnataka continue to lead in software exports which touched a margin of Rs 71,000 crore in 2008-09.

“Exports in the IT sector registered a growth of 35 per cent in 2008-09 when it touched Rs 71,000 crore compared to Rs 58,000 crore in 2007-08. We are still number one”, Minister for IT-BT and Information Katta Subramanya Naidu told reporters here today.

The third edition of “Bangalore IT.Biz” would be held here from November 11, 2009 for which the government has planned to approach at least 800 firms to participate in the event, he said. It would be a forerunner to the Global Investors Meet planned by the state to attract investors in January, he added.

The Mexican government, which partnered the second edition of IT.Biz, has agreed to associate itself with the coming edition too, Naidu said.

The world’s top cellphone maker Nokia said on Monday it would start to make laptops, entering a fiercely competitive, but fast-growing market.

Nokia has seen its profit margins drop over the last quarters as handset demand has slumped, and analysts have worried that entering the PC industry, where margins are traditionally razor-thin, could hurt Nokia’s profits further.

After long-drawn speculations, Yahoo! and Microsoft have come together to forge a formidable alliance in Internet search and advertising space that will challenge the dominance of market leader Google.

The ten-year agreement would see both the companies coming together in the search arena and sales activities related to search advertising.

“In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers,” the two firms said in a statement today.

As part of the deal, Microsoft would acquire an exclusive ten-year licence to Yahoo!’s core search technologies. This would also allow the software giant to integrate Yahoo!’s search technologies into its existing platforms including Bing, Microsoft’s newly launched search engine.

Yahoo! would be compensated by Microsoft through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated and affiliate sites.

“Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88 percent of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first five years of the agreement,” the statement noted.

Google has more than 60 per cent share in the search market.

Since early 2008, Microsoft had been pursuing an alliance with Yahoo! and even came up with over USD 44 billion takeover plan, which did not materialise.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry, and I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of internet innovation and development.

“… this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities and mobile experiences,” Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz said.

Moreover, the partnership would boost the prospects of Bing.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said the agreement would provide Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, the scale necessary to more effectively compete, attracting more users and advertisers.

Asserting that the partnership would provide a “viable alternative to advertisers,” the statement said they would no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 per cent of all search.

“With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers,” it added.

Once the agreement is fully implemented, Yahoo! expects that it would provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of about USD 500 million and capital expenditure savings of about USD 200 million.

Yahoo! anticipates that the pact would also result in a benefit to annual operating cash flow of nearly USD 275 million.

“This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo! to remain the world’s leading online media company and Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo! Board behind this deal,” said Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock said.

Till a few months ago, IT professional TV George was earning Rs70,000 per month, plus perks. But after losing his high-paying job, and being unemployed for three months, George, 31, has started giving tuitions in mathematics and physics to aspiring engineering students in his neighbourhood.

“Now, I am earning Rs15,000 per month. It’s been hard. I got married only a few months before losing my job. So, when I lost my job, I was in a difficult position. Thankfully, I had some savings. With the savings, I am paying my rent and for a few other necessities,” George, who was employed with a top US IT company, said.

“After losing my job, I tried my best to get a new job. But I remained unlucky. So to help run my home, I decided to give coaching classes to aspiring engineering students.”
George is not alone. Recession has hit the IT sector in Bangalore, with scores of techies losing their jobs. Some have been forced to take up low-paying jobs as they wait to bounce back when the recession ends.

Dipankar Dutta, 27, working with an Indian IT company as software engineer, lost his job almost eight months ago.

Today he has a job, but as a content writer in a tech firm.

“Thankfully, writing has been my forte. So, I landed this job of a content writer. Otherwise I would have been in a soup. Since I cannot afford to stay in Bangalore without a job, I compromised and settled for the new job with a much lower pay package,” said Dutta.

Scores of IT and ITES professionals in Bangalore have lost their jobs in recent times, an effect of the global economic meltdown. But there is no precise count of the numbers.

According to the latest employment and business outlook report by Bangalore-based staffing firm Teamlease, at 23%, the attrition rate in this city is higher than in any other city in India. The report was based on interviews with HR heads, CEOs and senior executives of 495 companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
“The city accounted for the highest attrition rate. IT accounts for over 80% of the city’s total labour pool. The attrition rate was 23% in the last quarter, against the previous quarter’s 16%. Much of the attrition could be involuntary attrition (or layoffs),” Teamlease general manager Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi said.

India’s Silicon Valley has seen thousands of people getting pink slips in recent months. And many more are under the threat of losing their jobs.

“It’s painful to lose your job, in today’s expensive world. Those who have lost their jobs are desperate now, thus they are settling for low paying jobs,” Karthik Shekhar, general secretary of UNITES-Professionals, an unrecognised union of IT/Call Centre/BPO employees, said.

“Every day we meet young men and women who have lost their IT jobs recently. All they want is a job. But getting a job in the IT sector is very difficult. So, they have no option but to settle for jobs outside their fields and that too with low paying packages,” Shekhar added.

Canadian researchers have developed the world’s first flying micro-robot that can manipulate objects, particularly during surgeries, for micro-scale applications. The invention provides researchers with more control over micro-scale manipulation, allowing them to move and place tiny objects with far greater precision, said Waterloo University – where an engineering research team developed the device.

In a statement Wednesday, it said the tiny new gravity-defying device can manipulate tiny objects at levels that are too small to be manipulated by humans.

Called the flying MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) robot, the device defies the force of gravity by flying or levitating, powered by a magnetic field.

It moves around and manipulates objects with magnets attached to micro-grippers, remotely controlled by a laser-focusing beam, the university statement said.

The tiny device’s micro-manipulation will be useful in micro-assembly of mechanical components, handling of biological samples and even micro-surgery, it added.

“We have developed a magnetically levitated micro-robot, which is a new technology for manipulation using flying micro-robots,” said Behrad Khamesee, research leader and professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, who is skilled in developing micro-scale devices using magnetic levitation.

“We are the first in the world to make such a floating robot equipped with micro-grippers. It can enter virtually any space and can be operated in a sealed enclosure by a person outside, which makes it useful for handling bio-hazardous materials or working in vacuum chambers and clean rooms,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.

Explaining the new invention, the university statement said that magnetic levitation is used to position the micro-robot in a three-dimensional space, employing an external magnetic drive mechanism.

The mechanism controls that magnetic field by using feedback from position sensors in order to position the micro-robot. Since the power is supplied externally, the micro-robot can be manoeuvred.

How SCM, TMS, WMS, Freight Exchanges etc. are changing the face of Logistics and Transportation industry in India. By – Leella Rani

Rising investments in infrastructure and the Central Government’s decision to cut excise duty rates for manufacturing goods is creating the demand for Warehousing business. With phasing out of CST from next year, development of SEZs and FTWZs (Free Trade Warehousing Zones), growth in manufacturing and modernization of retailing, warehousing will play significant role in the Indian Supply Chain Industry. Did you know at this point in time there is Warehousing Revolution on in the country? This is evident as the word ‘change’ is perceived all around and drums beat deafening. Huge tracts of lands, both barren and the farming fast go down into the basket of the government to enable an SEZ, should I say more SEZ’s. Interestingly, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are one of the major driving forces for warehousing business in India. A large number of upcoming SEZs have necessitated the development of Logistics Parks for the domestic market as well as for global trade. In a proffer to redefine the way Supply Chain functions in our country today, many million square feet of additional warehousing spaces are coming up in the next couple of years… Read the rest of this entry »

Two spacewalking astronauts returned to the Hubble Space Telescope on Saturday for one of their toughest repair tasks so far to fix a broken camera and to install a spectrograph that reveals cosmic chemistry.

Astronauts John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel left shuttle Atlantis’ airlock shortly before 10 a.m. EDT for the third of five spacewalks to upgrade the world-famous space observatory for another five to 10 years of work.

NASA expected Saturday’s spacewalk to be the most challenging of the tasks planned during Atlantis’ ongoing mission, the fifth and final servicing call to Hubble before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.

Hubble’s observations have reshaped scientists’ understanding of how galaxies form and change over time, of planet origins and of the mysterious “dark energy” force that is inflating the universe at a faster and faster rate.

To keep Hubble on the cutting edge of scientific discovery, it is being outfitted with two new instruments. One is a panchromatic, wide-field camera which was installed by Grunsfeld and Feustel during an initial spacewalk on Thursday.

The other, to be installed on Saturday, is an instrument known as the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which can break down light into its component wavelengths and reveal what chemicals and conditions the photons have passed through.