Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - March 2009 - Index

desiSPORA
THE SUBCONTINENT
NEWS ABOUT THE DIASPORA FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE DESI UNIVERSE
Is Fatima Bhutto writing her own love story?
Fatima Bhutto, the fiery poet-journalist niece of slain former
Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, may be dating Hollywood
heartthrob George Clooney, according to that reputable source
of all gossip, the National Enquirer. Clooney and Fatima, who lives
with her stepmother and half brother in a plush suburb of Karachi,
met at an international conference last year, said the report. Fatima
is widely expected to contest from her late aunt’s seat in the next
general elections. Sindh National Front chief Mumtaz Ali Bhutto,
who is the cousin of late president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, has been
quoted as saying Fatima would run from the Larkana constituency.
The seat was won by Benazir Bhutto in all elections between 1988
and 1997 and is now held by president Asif Ali Zardari’s sister
Faryal Talpur. Fatima, who has two books to her credit, is now
working on a book on the Bhutto clan. She also writes occasional
columns criticizing the functioning of the government.
In 2006-07, over 105,000
people were killed in traffic
accidents in India – that’s
nearly 300 a day, every day.
Another 600,000 were seriously
injured, while 160,000
were disabled.
With just one per cent of
the world’s vehicles, India
already accounts for about 10
per cent of the total 1.2
million fatal accidents in the
world, and tops the list for
road deaths across the world.
Until two years ago, these
figures, released by the International
Road Federation
(IRF), placed India second,
behind China. But while China
has managed to reduce the
22 Desi News March 2009
300 die in road accidents in India every day
number of road deaths from
over 100,000 to around
90,000, the situation has worsened
in India. The UK and
Germany, with a higher number
of road accidents, have
relatively lower fatalities,
largely due to good medical
emergency response units.
Steps recommended by
experts at the Geneva-based
IRF to minimize the number
of deaths include training
drivers, making it easy for those
who witness accidents to report
them without getting entangled
in further court or hospital
procedures if the victim dies,
and stopping the overloading
of trucks (see picture, right).
Double-double
Scientists at India’s National
Dairy Reserach Institute (NDRI)
have cloned the world’s first
buffalo calf using a new technique
believed to be superior to
the one used in cloning Dolly
the sheep. It is also said to be
less demanding in terms of
equipment, time and skill, with
the added advantage that a calf
of the desired sex can be
obtained. According to media
reports, scientists are hopeful
that this will facilitate faster multiplication
of superior germ plasm,
and help India face the increased
demand for milk.
It’s rocket science!
Dr Srikanta Pal, an associate
professor in the Department of
Electronics and Communication
Engineering at the Birla
Institute of Technology, Mesra,
India, has rectified the problems
that plagued the world’s
largest telescope. The Robert C
Byrd Green Bank telescope at
the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory in Pocahontas
County, West Virginia, US, had
exhibited problems ever since
it was set up in 2000. Pal
developed the electronics
components needed to rectify
the problem during his postdoctoral
research in the University
of Birmingham in the
UK, saying he took up the
challenge out of sheer interest.
Hospital fails to dispense knowledge
In the last 14 years, not one of the 204 students enrolled in the
dispensers’ diploma course at the DHQ Hospital in Pakistan has
qualified in the exams due to a lack of teaching staff and
infrastructure. According to reports, there is no full-fledged
dispensers’ training school to cater to the needs of the newlyestablished
district. The only person in-charge of what is called
‘a teaching faculty’ says no syllabus was ever desgined for the
diploma course. A hospital spokesperson said the administration
had recently purchased computers and projectors to improve the
teaching facilities.
Pigeons return
Those watching television
coverage of the terrorist attack
on the Taj Mahal Hotel in
Mumbai saw the hundreds of
pigeons who had made the hotel
their residence trying to escape.
Bird lovers say that when the
pigeons were tempted back with
grain on the sidewalk outside the
hotel, an estimated 15,000
pigeons returned.
Jains believe that the pigeon
is the vahan (carrier) of Jain
Guru Shantinath Bhagvan and
offer grain to the birds at the
kabutar khanas that dot India’s
cities. In Mumbai, there are
many Jain trusts devoted solely
to feeding the birds. The biggest
of these is in Dadar. Built in 1933
by Valamji Ratnshi Vora, it is now