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LOCAL FLAVOUR: Veenod Aggarwal runs a colony tabloid in Noida

Want to know what's cooking in your neighbour's house or what transpired in the RWA meeting that you missed last Sunday? Colony news, spicy gossips about your neighbours and RWA activities are all being served up in newspapers and magazines across residential societies. Run by tiny teams of residents retired professionals, publishers, marketers, former homemakers these hyperlocal rags are designed, proofread and published like any mainstream journal, only they are distributed free.

The launch of a coin-vending machine in Pocket III is front-page news in Mayur Vihar's Mayur Infomail; Community Samvada (Noida Sector 15A) has the RWA elections on its front page and woes of the Thursday Ladies Club inside. Samvada's Gulmohar Park edition discusses the issue of serving alcohol at club events and requests residents not to walk off with newspapers from the club. From hard news colony events, club politics, RWA elections to harmless gossip and a cartload of ads, "micro-media" has it all.

Dwarka residents are particularly enterprising in this respect. The sub-city has over a dozen registered newspapers. ``It's exclusively for Dwarka. Not even Palam," says Mukesh Sinha of Dwarka City, a fourpage English glossy issued thrice a month with a circulation of 35,000. Sinha and his wife started it in 2003.

The older journal, Mayur Infomail, was started by Ashok Kumar Gupta, a former engineer with the department of telecommunication, in 1997. Mayur Infomail launched as a tabloid, evolved into a black-andwhite broadsheet and five-six years ago took its current form a six-page, colour fortnightly with a circulation of 12,000. ``It's a household name now," says Gupta. During the Kargil war, a report on a local kid who had raised funds for war heroes had initiated a competition among residents, who tried to outmatch each other by donating money. ``We started a social movement," says Gupta. They also covered the Akshardham Temple construction. "Now you know how big it is. It was very important for us. We covered every aspect of the construction."

Community Samvada, a bilingual monthly, is a slightly different story. It'll soon touch 50 editions one for each colony and sector of Noida and have websites for them too. This mother of colony tabloids grew from a single one 16 years ago. It was started by Veenod Aggarwal for Noida Sector 15 A. "We scaled up our operations seven-eight years ago," he says. It's distributed free and 90% ads are local.
(with inputs from Kim Arora)

Source: Times Of India By Shreya Roy Chowdhury Colony magazines serve up neighbourhood gossip

Effective Friday midnight, the price of petrol will go up by Rs 3.50 per litre, while that of diesel will rise by Rs 2 per litre.

The government has finally bitten the bullet in implement- ing the long-awaited deregula- tion of state-controlled prices of petrol. It has removed gov- ernment control and will allow oil companies to fix petrol prices on the basis of market forces.

Diesel prices will also get deregulated, but this will be implemented in phases.

Kerosene and LPG prices, however, will continue to remain government-determined.But there could be more.

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Source: ibnlive

That means price hikes could come in frequent little doses -- fortnightly or monthly -- rather than rare one-shot increases.

"The Centre was left with no choice but to take a decision to free petrol and diesel prices in the larger interest of the nation," petroleum minister Murli Deora said. He added that kerosene and LPG subsidies would cost the government Rs 53,000 crore in 2010-11.

High fuel costs are expected to fan the prices of most goods, which in turn could push the inflation rate -- currently at 10.2 per cent -- higher

India is among thirteen countries that have been declared to have a high level of corruption and abysmal government performance.

According to the report prepared by the Washington based Results for Development Institute (R4D), Guatemala, Paraguay, Ghana, Kenya, Peru, Argentina, Russia, Romania, Albania, Moldova, Poland, and Indonesia are the other countries that were listed for review and assessment on these two counts.

As far as India was concerned, the report based its assessment on two districts in the state of Karnataka, which has a population of 53 million.

It quoted the Indo-Dutch project management society (IDPMS) as saying that it found that 24% of all positions were vacant at public health centres, including half of the pharmacy jobs.

They also found that common drugs were not available in health clinics for six to eight months at a time, and doctors were not available for 37% of the time during clinic hours.

In some cases, the investigators said, unqualified people were disbursing drugs because no pharmacist was available.

The report, From the Ground Up, which was published by the Brookings institution press, documents a growing phenomenon of watchdog groups in developing countries examining key issues in government performance, seizing a role that has long been delegated to Western institutions and a cadre of outside consultants.

Experts say the indigenous groups have the potential to do a better job than the outsiders--and cost far less.

"What these organisations are showing is that there are people on the ground in these countries who know the context better, know the schools, know the health system, and with a little outside help, they can go in and make changes happen,'' said Courtney Tolmie, a co-author of the report.

Source: dnaindia.com Bad governance: India is among 13 corrupt nations

Trai, which also regulates the broadcast sector, will issue a tariff order early next week, the persons said. Barring certain areas in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata where conditional access system (CAS) or digital cable signals are available, all other cable operators will have to follow the new tariff order.

"There is no final conclusion and we will come out with a tariff order in some time," said Trai chairman JS Sarma, adding that various suggestions were discussed in the meeting,

The new price ceiling was proposed after a survey of 22 non-CAS cities commissioned by Trai revealed that consumers are against paying more for better services through digitisation. "As against 90% (of the sample surveyed) in 2007, only one-fourth in this round expressed willingness to pay more," said the Trai survey report that was released last month. The survey said subscribers know from experience that paying more does not necessarily guarantee improved services. Instead, they prefer direct-to-home connections. Cable operators in many parts of the country charge more than Rs 300 a month. Shillong topped the list with consumers paying Rs 319 a month, said the survey.

Source: Economic Times by Meenakshi Verma Ambwani Trai caps cable tariff at Rs 250 for all channels

The apex BPO body -- Business Processing Industry Association of India (BPIAI) -- is going to meet the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in July to urge it to run the serv- ice between Gurgaon and Delhi in graveyard shifts (beyond 11 pm) also. Most BPO employees work the late night-early morn- ing shift.

Gurgaon has about 200 call centers and BPOs with corpo- rate majors such as Bank of America, Microsoft, Sapient, Genpact, Cognigent, IBM, American Express, covergys and others.

DLF Cybercity in DLF City (Phase III) alone has about 65,000 employees who use their private cars and company cabs to travel between Gurgaon and Delhi.

Deepak Ohliyan, BPIAI pres- ident, said the Metro service in the given perspective was going to benefit a smaller portion of BPO employees. "Since Metro is going to terminate and start from Qutub Minar station, it will benefit only a small segment of our employee base," he said.

However many BPO staffers were happy the Metro had final- ly trucked in town. "Metro will be very convenient for me when I have to go to Saket from Gurgaon for office work," said Piyush Sharma, who daily drives his two-wheeler to work.

htreporters@hindustantimes.com

A high-tension power trans- mission tower still has to be shifted to make place for a sub- way for Metro users, a crucial underground gas pipeline area running along the Qutub- Gurgaon line has to be fenced from commuters and hawkers alike, and DMRC is yet to get land to construct a parking lot at the Sikandarpur Metro Station.

Officials of DMRC, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), Haryana Urban development Authority (HUDA), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon recent- ly held a meeting recently to address these pending issues.

In a startling revelation at the meeting, BP Singh, official, Northern Region Pipeline of IOC said that a conduit named Mathura-Jalandhar pipeline (MJPL) ran parallel to the Gurgaon Metro line for a stretch of about three kms.

He said the pipeline -- cru- cial to Northern India's need for petroleum products -- passed dangerously close to the Metro stretch between Iffco Chowk and Sikandarpur.

"The space between the Metro line and the pipeline is about 5 to 6 meters only and there are chances that the green belt over the pipeline will be used by commuters and ven- dors," Singh had said. He feared that it could invite a disaster like the Jaipur oil fire of October 2009, in which an IOC fuel depot was engulfed in flames. Singh urged authorities to provide fencing as well as install warn- ing signages over the pipeline.

MCG commissioner Rajesh Khullar promised to get the work done. But the promise was yet to materialise till Sunday.

sanjeev.ahuja@hindustantimes.com

The State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) for environment has cleared proposals for three luxury hotels, creating nearly 1,500 rooms, at the airport's aerocity and hospitality district.

While the setting up of fivestar hotels, or hotels of any kind, within the airport is a new phenomena, these projects have been approved with new conditions.

The project proponents have been instructed to create a green belt, and in the absence of adequate land for the same, to create hanging gardens and rooftop plantations like ones at the Singapore airport.

In another first, the developers have also been recommended to create a common
biogas facility to reach zero sewage discharge.

Nod has been given to JW Marriot, which will have 520 guest rooms and 12 suites built over seven floors; Caddie Hotels and creation of Pullman, a five-hotel with 270 rooms, two restaurants and a bar. The other, Novotel, will be a four-star hotel with 400 rooms, a restaurant and a bar.

"We are coming up with strategies so these huge structures do not harm the environment. They will have to have their own sewage treatment plants, and recycling of used water. They will also be asked to make a green belt. In the same vein, a hanging garden and rooftop plantations will also be made so that there can be more greenery," said a senior member of the SEAC.

The developers will also be responsible for dealing with their own e-waste.

Source: The Indian Express By NEHA SINHA Rub of green for hotels within airport

The creation and maintenance of a business register and directory are expected to be an economic data framework for various needed statistical surveys, including the Annual Survey of Industries and others of the National Sample Survey Organisation.

Currently, a fairly reasonable database exists for the agricultural sector, while much is lacking for the non-agricultural ones, particularly services. The move to create a directory will particularly benefit the latter. For, the services sector, contributing 62.5 per cent to the country's gross domestic product, does not have a comprehensive data bank. The national accounts significantly understates the sector, even as it is the major contributor.

"What we are trying to introduce this time is create a national business directory or register which will have details of all business enterprises. The sector which will benefit most from such a thing is the services sector, which does not have such a data framework," said S K Das, director-general, Central Statistical Organisation, under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation (Mospi).

Source: Business-standard By Devika Banerji After the National Population Register, India to get a National Business Register

The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon recently opened a biodiversity park on the Aravalli terrain near DLF.

Besides planting lakhs of saplings, the drive also aims at setting up rainwater harvest- ing systems and reviving water bodies on the Aravalli hills.

Deputy commissioner of Gurgaon R.K. Kataria said the barren patches on the hills that have lost green cover were being identified with the help of the satellites imageries received from Forest Survey of India (FSI) in the Manesar region.

"We have already talked to a number of social organisations that have volunteered to launch plantation drive on the Aravalli hills in Manesar. We have also asked them to set up water- recharging systems. We would offer them the logistic support in the form of saplings and other paraphernalia," Kataria said.

sanjeev.ahuja@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Sanjeev K. Ahuja A Greener Aravalli: Lakhs Of Saplings & Water Harvesting

Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati has issued a letter in this regard to all the Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Managing Directors of Corporations, Boards and Sub Divisional Officers (Civil).

These officials have been asked to put information under the sub section 4(1) (b) of the Act on the website of the state government forthwith. In addition, this information should also be available with the Heads of the Departments for being provided to the citizens as and when a request is made in this regard, the letter said.

This information should be available in the offices so that it could be furnished to the information seeker or by downloading it from the website of the government departments, it added.
The Heads of Departments had also been asked to send a compliance report to the Administrative Reforms Department by August 31.

CNG rates in Delhi will go up by Rs 5.60 per kg - from Rs 21.90 to Rs 27.50 per kg, IGL said in a statement here.

"The new consumer price of Rs 27.50 per kg in Delhi and Rs 30.60 per kg in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad would be effective from midight tonight," it said.

The hike was necessitated because of the government's decision to raise natural gas prices from Rs 3.2 per cubic meter to Rs 7.5 per cubic meter (USD 4.2 per million British thermal unit).

IGL, however, did not increase the price of gas that it pipes to households for cooking purpose.

The period for conducting the first election has now been extended to December 2, 2010.

The Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon was constituted by the state government through a notification on June 2, 2008.

Therefore, the first election of this Corporation was to be conducted before December 2, 2008 which could not be held as work regarding delimitation of wards of the Corporation was unfinished due to various reasons, an official release said.

"The GoM on Greater Noida airport will meet on June 16," said Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who was in Berlin to attend the International Air Transport Association Summit.

The UP government wants the airport, proposed to be named the Taj International Aviation Hub, to come up at Jewar near Greater Noida, about 60 km from Delhi and 120 km from Agra.

Chief Minister Mayawati's government has identified 1,500 hectares for the project, estimated to cost about Rs 5,000 crore, and submitted a techno-economic feasibility report to the Centre.

The GoM on Jewar airport is headed by Home Minister P Chidambaram and has Law Minister Veerappa Moily, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and Patel as its members.

Source: Indian Express GoM on Greater Noida airport to meet on June 16

Drafted almost fours years back by the overseas affairs ministry, the Representation of People's (Amendment) Bill was cleared by a GoM headed by defence minister Mr AK Antony and is likely to be presented soon before the Cabinet.

"The GoM headed by the defence minister cleared the bill. Now, we are all set to present it before the Cabinet and then it will be introduced in Parliament," overseas indian affairs minister Mr Vayalar Ravi told PTI.

The GoM clearance came months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas earlier this year here, had said he recognised the "legitimate desire" of Indians living abroad to exercise their franchise and to have a say in the governance of India.

The move to allow NRI participation in the democratic process will further boost the two-way engagement and help them actively participate in India's growth story, Mr Ravi said.

Source: The Statesman Voting rights for NRIs likely soon

To begin with, eSLA will cover the services provided by the transport department, the food & supplies department, trade & taxes, office of the divisional commissioner, MCD, NDMC and the office of the chief electoral officer. The penalty, which has been set between Rs 10 per day to Rs 200, will depend on the hierarchy of the official in the workflow and his responsibility. Interestingly, the penalty money will be handed over to the applicant in the case of delay.

Said Savitur Prasad, secretary (I-T), ``The eSLA will enable applicants to not only track their files but also know which official is responsible for any delay that may occur.'' The project, which will be inaugurated and made public by the chief minister Sheila Dikshit, has been implemented in only a handful of departments at present. Officials claim the scope of the project will be widened once the online version is up and running.

The pilot project was started some months ago, and erring officials were asked about the delay. Added Prasad, ``The impact is already visible, with response time going up in the concerned departments.''

Source: Times Of India By Rumu Banerjee &  Ruhi Bhasin Using Online Service, You Can Monitor Progress Of Your File, Identify Officials Sitting On It

When Santosh Kumar Kaushal came to Delhi from Allahabad 20 years ago, he found a job easily. He was a competent tailor, having worked in a small tailoring workshop back home for nearly a decade.

After a few years in similar units in the neighbourhood, he settled down in a "fabricator" workshop, a 30-person unit where tailors lived and worked, being paid according to the number of pieces they produced. Till 10 years ago, says Kaushal, he'd make Rs150 a day tailoring coats. "We worked to our own schedules," he says wistfully, "the atmosphere was friendly and newcomers learnt on the job."

But time and the garment factories of Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, where he now works, have been cruel to him. His job in the sampling department (which creates the first few samples of every new design) of a large garment manufacturer and exporter fetches him Rs5,700 per month.

"That's a Rs1,700 increase in 10 years," he says despondently, "while the price of atta has gone from Rs8 to Rs18."

Ironically, business is better than ever before in Udyog Vihar, one of the largest garment manufacturing hubs in the country. Exports of readymade garments, the mainstay of the manufacturing here, are again on the rise.

In 2009-10, India exported garments worth $10.64 billion (Rs50,008 crore today). This year the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), a trade body, expects growth of 10-15%.

Source: Live Mint By Akshai Jain These garment factories don't need tailors

The Representation of People's (Amendment) Bill was cleared by the GoM and will be taken up by the Union Cabinet soon. Speaking to TOI, overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi said the GoM had cleared the bill and it would be introduced in Rajya Sabha as early as the next session. ``This was a long-standing demand of people holding Indian passports especially in the Gulf. We hope to bring it in the Cabinet soon,'' Ravi said.

NRIs have been demanding voting rights for several years now. While many associations had been campaigning for voting through the internet, the option did not find favour with EC. According to sources, concerns were raised about the modality of the process. According to the present bill, Indians who are living abroad will be able to vote from their constituency.

The Delhi cabinet had approved the proposal allowing wine shops in malls with a specified set of norms. In continuance of that decision, the excise department had called for applications from interested parties.

According to officials, 14 applications were received. Of these, so far nine have been given licenses as they conformed to all the conditions. The remaining applications are still under scrutiny.

Earlier this year, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) had opened the first authorized government-owned wine and liquor shop at DLF Mall in Vasant Kunj area. Now, private players too will enter the market.

The malls where these shops will come up are spread in different parts of the city. Some of the areas where the applicants are going to open shop in malls include Laxmi Nagar, Janakpuri, Rohini, Pitampura and Wazirpur among others.

That it is not going to be easy to get this license is apparent from the high license fee of Rs 6 lakh for those who wish to operate from the malls.

Finance minister in charge of excise, Dr A K Walia confirmed the decision to allow liquor shops to open in malls. He pointed that the policy on the basis of which the license has been granted had been properly verified and the licenses have been allotted with due diligence.

The project was initiated in 2007 by Kapil Sibal, then Union minister for science, technology and earth sciences. Cameras with range up to 5 km were installed near Jama Masjid, Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, on the LIC building on Asaf Ali Road and on a private property. A monitoring room was set up to review footage from the cameras.

The initiative was an offshoot of Sibal's 2006 announcement to build a three- dimensional database of Delhi by 2014 for less than Rs 100 crore.

The mapping was expected to help not only in monitoring illegal construction and land encroachment but also for applications such as crowd and traffic management, property tax collection, planning and development, and utilities management.

The science and technology department recorded data for around 20 square kilometres -- from Sarai Kale Khan to Kashmere Gate ISBT -- for Rs 3 crore.

Source: Mail Today By Mausam Sharma Plan To Monitor Illegal Construction In Chandni Chowk Goes Haywire

Finance Minister Dr A K Walia had last month visited a plant in Puduchery, where they have been bottling country liquor for some months. This step is a part of the series of measures taken by the government after last year's hooch tragedy in which over a dozen people lost their lives in West Delhi.

The move will ensure that Delhi only gets wholesale supply of country liquor which then will be bottled by government and sent to the retail vends. The government will now allow the sale of country liquor only of a specific quality.

At present, country liquor is made out of rectified spirit, which is highly concentrated Ethanol purified by repeated distillation. The government will make country liquor based on extra neutral alcohol, a more purified version.

The strength of country liquor will be retained at 28.5 per cent, much lower than hard drinks like whisky which have at least a 42.8 per cent proof.

Source: The Indian Express Delhi govt to now sell country liquor