Asian Games Ready to Rock

If the CWG 2010 was all about last minute scampering to the finish line, the Asian Games 2010 is a great example of how one should conduct such high profile events.

China is expecting to replicate the Beijing success at Guangzhou and when you have even test events done and dusted with over a month to go, it speaks volumes of their excellence in planning and execution.

Here is a sneak-peek into what’s in store at Guangzhou next month..

Guangzhou ready for a 'record'

The final countdown begins for the 2010 Asian Games as Guangzhou gets ready with all its urban bustle and charming alleyways, bringing together more than 11,500 athletes competing in record 42 sports. A total of 476 events will be contested by athletes, making it the largest event in history of Asian Games

The organisers limited the Asiad torch relay to within China after what had happened during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay, which was marred by protests

Mascots are the pride of Guangzhou

A father and son play next to the mascots for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. For the residents of Guagnzhou, the rams are becoming an integral part of their daily life.

Test events, a huge success

The test events, conducted at the comprehensive stadium and featuring mock competitions such as qualifications, all-around, floor, etc were a huge success. The comprehensive stadium will play host to sports events as gymnastics, squash and billiard

China set for tourism boom

The Asian Games 2010 is set to herald a tourism boom in China. More than 5 lakh Chinese tourists and nearly 2 lakh overseas tourists are expected at Guangzhou. The city is expecting more than $ 200 million in tourism revenue during the extravaganza.

You are welcome to see anything

Unlike the closely-guarded CWG 2010, the Asiad 2010 has been very open so far. The media was taken on a Games tour last week and one of the highlights was the media centre itself. The big structure comprises Main Press Centre (MPC) and the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC). Trial operation began yesterday and the venue is already the talk of the town.

World-class squash facility

This transparent squash coat is another masterpiece in the upcoming games. It became ready to use more with than 3 months left on the countdown.

Truly a vigorous Guangzhou

The organising committee of Asiad 2010 titled the test campaign as 'Vigorous Guangzhou' and reports suggest these test events started as early as May and concluded last month itself. 'Vigorous Guangzhou' essentially revolved around provincial sporting events and a few national competitions as well.

Rehearsal for the big opening ceremony underway

Participants hold signboards showing national flags of Lebanon, China, Thailand and Vietnam during a rehearsal of the opening ceremony. The organisers have hinted that the Opening Ceremony venue will be converted to Asian Games Theme Park after the games.

Over 10000 journalists to cover

Over ten thousand journalists have got accreditations done to cover the Asiad 2010. Organisers are saying that a large number are expected from Europe as well despite this being the Asian Games event.

Boost for tier-II cities

The Asian Games is seen as a big boost for second-tier cities in China like Guangzhou and co-hosts Foshan and Dongguan. The event is seen as adding to an already powerful sports infrastructure in the country, which was bolstered by the Beijing Olympics in 2008

The idea behind the mascots

An Asian Games decoration with its mascot is displayed in front of the media village in the Asian Games Town. Five sporty rams, titled 'Le Yangyang' serve as the official mascots of the Games. These five rams namely A Xiang, A He, A Ru, A Yi, and Le Yangyang essentially represent Guangzhou's nickname, 'City of Goats.'

Message of peace and harmony

Chinese paramilitary police will be one of the star attractions in the opening ceremony. They will be instrumental in sending across the message of 'harmony, blessings, success and happiness.'

Torch relay event was a grand affair

The torch relay may have been a subdued affair but the torch relay ceremony was certainly a mega affair. It had the Chinese Premier Hu Jintao greeting the Olympic Council of Asia President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.

Torch relay event was a grand affair

The torch relay may have been a subdued affair but the torch relay ceremony was certainly a mega affair. It had the Chinese Premier Hu Jintao greeting the Olympic Council of Asia President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah.

Temple of heaven

Chinese paramilitary police rehearse a flag ceremony before the start of the torch relay for the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games held at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing

Get ready for mind-blowing opening ceremony

Boats featuring Macau, front, and Mongolia, back, participate in the Asian Games opening rehearsal. The Guangzhou Asian Games' Chief Director, Chen Weiya, has said that the opening ceremony will surprise the world. "You cannot imagine what it will be like," The China Daily quoted Chen, as saying.

Asian Games town ready and roaring

This is the overview of the comprehensive stadium, also known as the Asian Games Town. Just a few days ago, a test event, the 2010 Guangdong Gymnastics Invitation Tournament was held at this venue. Coaches, athletes and spectators were mighty impressed with the venue's top-class facilities and perfect flow of processes

Beijing team at work again

The opening ceremony venue is built near the Central Business District in Guangzhou. The opening ceremony will be handled by the same team, which worked wonders during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. So, one can certainly expect a feast.

Assam Gets Tougher Anti Poaching Laws

By Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, Oct 21 : Struggling to tackle the increasing incidence of poaching of wildlife, the Assam government has finally got the President's assent to amend certain provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act exclusively for the state.

Disclosing this, Assam Forest and Environment Minister Rockybul Hussain said with the President's assent on the proposed amendments, persons found guilty of offences like poaching would henceforth not only become non-bailable, but could also attract life imprisonment and heavy fines.

"The existing provision of sentencing a person to anywhere between three to seven years of imprisonment on being found guilty of poaching has now become seven to ten years. Similarly, a person convicted for a second time would have to undergo a 10-year imprisonment and in certain cases upto life imprisonment," Hussain said.

Hussain also said that the rates of fines have been also raised following the amendments that have received Presidential assent. "A person proven guilty of poaching or violating provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, who had to earlier pay a fine of Rs 10,000 will now have to pay Rs 25,000. Another provision of the amendment has increased the fine for second-time convicts from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000," the minister said.

Yet another significant amendment brought about in the Wildlife Protection Act exclusively for Assam is that wildlife cases would henceforth not be entertained by the lower court, and instead go directly to the District and Sessions Judge's Courts, Hussain said.

With five national parks, 17 wildlife sanctuaries and five elephant reserves, Assam has been facing a huge challenge of protecting its wildlife, more particularly tigers and one-horned rhinos, from organised gangs of poachers which have alleged links to international networks.

Massive encroachment and human interference in the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved forests on the other hand have led to habitat shrinkage, forcing wildlife to stray out to inhabited areas in search of food.

Source : IndianExpress

Indian Corporates Snooping on Staff

Bangalore, Oct 21 : With a view to ensure a perfect match between the job and the candidate, more and more employers were now going beyond a basic reference check and deploying a variety of tools including Key Result Areas (KRA) to verify the antecedents of candidates.

"A decade ago, reference check of candidates used to be quite basic but from last five to six years, this has been observed that most of the global and large organisations are very conscious on checking candidate's antecedents, which is deeper than a reference check", Sunil Goel, Director, GlobalHunt, a leading executive search firm, said.

"These reference checks are very popular in big MNCs but even large Indian conglomerate and mid-size organisations are also opting to this as they wish their businesses to be managed by reliable people", he said.

Apart from education, duration of employment, KRAs, team size, achievements and compensation are very important factors to be checked, he said. The need for deeper checks has assumed importance as it had become quite common for candidates to give references of friends by claiming them as their bosses, he said.

Candidates sometime "claim their colleague's achievements as their own and overall they try to give a rosy picture which misleads future employers", he said.

It was found that professionals from small and mid-size organisations generally claim that their responsibilities included managing operations of India and all other SAARC countries. Whereas on verification, one gets to know that the company's business in other SAARC countries is either negligible or it has presence in one or two countries only, opines an executive of a leading hiring firm.

Most of the time,people at leadership level claim that they launched a particular product/service or they came up with a great idea. On assessment, one finds that they were just a part of the process for launching product/service.

In 30 to 60 minutes interview, a recruiter gets only a basic view. Well spoken people usually crack interviews and most of the time, evaluation process revolves around CVs. On job performance is not assessed and truth identification is left. So to counter this problem, companies are now verifying basic facts, doing an in-depth assessment of KRAs and are also going for discreet reference checks from industry people for present job profile of a prospective candidate.

Earlier reference checks were confined to education, employment duration, compensation and general feedback, but now it was much more than that, the executive said. Firms are now focussing on KRAs which details the exact responsibilities that a candidate handled in previous jobs.

"Often a candidate may have just peripheral knowledge of the job but might lack in-depth knowledge. The KRAs help to define what was exactly the candidate's key areas of responsibilities in previous jobs and thereby help assess whether he could handle the scope of the new job", Sunil said.

The focus is on ensuring there was a match between the candidate's skills and the responsibilities of the new job. KRAs being more a skill metric helps in being more accurate in terms of the candidate's potential.

The need for matching of a candidates skill metrics and job assumes a greater significance in jobs (especially in the technology domain) that required a very highly specialised skill sets. These kind of jobs demand a more accurate mapping of candidate skill set to ensure that there was a perfect match between the job and the candidate, says Sunil.

If the expectation and performance do not match, it could all be a case of failure in the hiring process, he says.

Apart from KRAs,firms were also checking out other factors. While interviewing candidates, content in their resume plays 40-50 per cent of their role in overall decision making about a particular candidate. "Any false representation of job profile achievements, academic qualifications can lead a to a complete wrong hiring", he opines.

"Firms ask for all copies of academic certificates along with originals, Form 16, bank statements, copies of previous pay slips, previous offer letters, photo ID card and credit cards and these all get verified through issuing authority, by sending them scanned copies of documents", he said while talking about the the in depth reference check.

The oral claims of candidates are not taken just at face value, he says. "All the oral claims can be countered orally and cross questioning them from 360 degree perspective will help to understand the truth. For example, if someone claims of achieving a big sales deal, then the complete truth could be found out by dragging the discussion to micro level"

Peers and previous colleagues are strong stakeholders in whole background process check, he said. With news reports of employees in reputed firms being involved in cases of murder of spouses, child abuse, frauds, companies were also getting a verification check about a candidate's antecedents.

"Permanent and temporary address checks and police verification from those locations are also part of background reference check exercise, which helps in getting all the records about an individual (if he/ she is ever involved in criminal offence)", he said.

"There are full fledged background reference checking agencies and agents, who verify education, job duration, compensations and KRAs. Some of the areas can also be identified through discreet reference check from ex-colleagues, managers and subordinates", he said Most of these reference check services were now available through third party and costs around 100 to 200 dollar per case and check, he said.

Source: Agencies

Now, a Crappy Idea That Works!

The UK's first poo-powered VW Beetle has taken to the streets. It's a breakthrough that makes you go from 'Yuck!' to 'Wow!'. Go on, step on the gas!

The Bio-Bug runs on methane gas generated during the sewage treatment process.

Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles.

With support from the South West Regional Development Agency, GENeco, a Wessex Water-owned company, imported specialist equipment to treat gas generated at Bristol sewage treatment works in Avonmouth to power the VW Beetle in a way that doesn't affect its performance.

Mohammed Saddiq, GENeco's general manager, said he was confident that methane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative energy source and was an innovative way of powering company vehicles.

He said: "Our site at Avonmouth has been producing biogas for many years which we use to generate electricity to power the site and export to the National Grid.

'Poo' to the rescue!

"With the surplus gas we had available we wanted to put it to good use in a sustainable and efficient way.

"We decided to power a vehicle on the gas offering a sustainable alternative to using fossil fuels which we so heavily rely on in the UK.

"If you were to drive the car you wouldn't know it was powered by biogas as it performs just like any conventional car. It is probably the most sustainable car around."

Following India's cues

Countries including India and China use compressed natural gas (CNG) to power vehicles and a number of companies in the UK are now using CNG mainly to fuel buses and commercial vehicles. In Sweden, more than 11,500 vehicles already run on biomethane produced from sewage plants.

But using biogas from sewage sludge is yet to take off in the UK despite a significant amount being produced everyday at sewage plants around the country.

More 'gas', no CO2

To use biogas as vehicle fuel without affecting vehicle performance or reliability the gas needs to be treated - a process called biogas upgrading. It involves carbon dioxide being separated from the biogas using specialist equipment.

If all the biogas produced at Avonmouth was converted to run cars it would avoid around 19,000 tonnes of CO2.

Bio-Bug on the road

GENeco believes that more gas will be produced at its Avonmouth site when the company embarks on its latest green venture to recycle food waste.

Mr Saddiq said: "Waste flushed down the toilets in homes in the city provides power for the Bio-Bug, but it won't be long before further energy is produced when food waste is recycled at our sewage works.

"It will mean that both human waste and food waste will be put to good use in a sustainable way that diverts waste from going to landfill."

From the flush to the Bug!

Around 18 million cubic metres of biogas is produced at Bristol sewage treatment works a year.

It is generated through anaerobic digestion - a process in which bugs in the absence of oxygen break down biodegradable material to produce methane.

Bath-based Greenfuel Company converted the Beetle so it could run on biogas while bosses from GENeco ran a workshop at a University of Bath event for teenagers from schools in Bath and North East Somerset to come up with ideas for the car's design.

Mr Saddiq added: "The choice of car was inspired by students who took part in a workshop. They thought it would be appropriate that the poo-powered car should be the classic VW Beetle Bug because bugs naturally breakdown waste at sewage works to start the treatment process which goes on to produce the energy."

Bio-Bug in treatment process

The Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association (ADBA) said the launch of the Bio-Bug proved that biomethane from sewage sludge could be used as an alternative fuel for vehicles.

ADBA chairman Lord Rupert Redesdale said: "This is a very exciting and forward-thinking project demonstrating the myriad benefits of anaerobic digestion (AD).

The Bug against climate change...

"Biomethane cars could be just as important as electric cars, and the water regulator Ofwat should promote the generation of as much biogas as possible through sewage works in the fight against climate change."

ADBA chief executive Charlotte Morton added: "We are delighted to see such ingenuity and commitment to maximising the potential of AD from the water industry."

GENeco said if the trial involving the Bio-Bug proved successful it would look to convert some of the company's fleet of vehicles to run on biogas.

Powering tomorrow

Claire Gibson, director of sustainable resources at the South West RDA, said: "I am really pleased that we have been able to support GENeco to demonstrate this alternative transport fuel.

"We have invested in a range of emerging low carbon technologies and renewable energy fuel types such as this to ensure the South West is well positioned to take advantage of this growing market.

"It is vital that the knowledge from initiatives such as this biogas project is shared so we can move more quickly towards a low carbon, resource efficient economy. I look forward to continuing to work with GENeco to achieve this."

'Yuck' or 'Wow'?

"On first hearing of the Bio-Bug, some people will smile, and some people will go 'yuck'! Either way, what I hope they realise is that this is exactly the kind of innovation we now need for a more sustainable world - and those directly involved should be proud they're making a small but significant contribution to it everyday!" — Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director, Forum for the Future.

Now, that's one crappy idea that works!

Source: GENeco
Photos: GENeco

Building Sustainable Cities in India

India’s success in the 21st century is going to be defined by manner in which we address the revival of existing cities and the way we plan our new cities.According to the ‘United Nations World Urbanization Prospects’, the next few decades alone will see 600 million Indians moving into urban areas.

India's cities will have to deal with a massive influx of tens of millions of people at a speed unparalleled in history. This is clearly a challenge; but it can also be a huge opportunity to leapfrog into a society that is environmentally and socially sustainable; especially by learning from the successes and failures of the more urbanized / developed parts of the world.

Here we showcase some communities that have crossed over to the sustainable side of things.

A policeman walks past solar panels covering the roof of the Paul VI hall near the cupola of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

The Vatican

The world's smallest country and the home of the Pope is hoping to become the first solar powered nation in the world! The Vatican intends to spend 660 million dollars to create what will effectively be Europe's largest solar power plant.

This massive 100 megawatt photovoltaic installation will provide enough energy to power all of its 40,000 households.

People walk in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican

These aren't the only moves that the Vatican is taking to reduce its greenhouse emissions. It is contemplating using an electric popemobile, the Vatican cafeteria will soon be decked with a solar heating system to provide heating and cooling, and even the Pope's summer residence is being fitted out to get power from the methane generated by the horse stables.

Solar panels cover the roof of the Paul VI hall, as seen from the terrace of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

The solar energy installation has been sited on the roof of one its few large modern buildings -- the roof of the Paul VI hall, the vast building where popes traditionally hold weekly public audiences in winter or whenever bad weather rules out St Peter's Square.

The roof of the hall which was designed by architect Pier Luigi Nervi and opend in 1971, is now covered in photo electric cells as a replacement for its original concrete plates. The system was inaugurated in November 2008.

Pope Benedict XVI's private apartment is seen lit in the evening at the Vatican

The solar rooftop garden is not the first environmental project the Vatican has undertaken. In 1999, as part of preparations for the jubilee year, the entire lighting system of St. Peter's Basilica was upgraded to be low-impact. Strategically placed energy-saving light bulbs were installed inside and out, cutting the basilica's energy consumption by an estimated 40 percent.

A vehicle drives past solar powered houses in Ota, 80km northwest of Tokyo

Ota, Japan

Caption: A vehicle drives past solar powered houses in Ota, 80km northwest of Tokyo

Solar panels shine across Ota City's tiny Pal Town neighborhood, nestled in one of Japan's sunniest spots, a witness to the charm of renewable energy in this resource-poor country.

The town has received free solar panels in 2002 through a 9.7 billion yen state-backed study.

Ota is testimony to the allure of renewable energy to the energy conscious in resource-poor Japan, but also its high cost to the debt-saddled nation. It is considered to be one of Japan's first Solar City. Three-quarters of the town's homes are covered by solar panels distributed for free.

Japanese housewife, Mika Hiroshima, turns on the lights at her solar powered house in Ota, 80km northwest of Tokyo.

Hiroshima says her electrical appliances are mostly powered by solar energy: when they have some unused electricity left, they can sell it back to a local power company.

Mika Hiroshima, dries a towel outside her solar powered house in Ota.

Bisbee, Arizona

An alternative lifestyle powered by solar panels and wind turbines has become more appealing to some. For architect Todd Bogatay, it has been reality for years. When Bogatay bought this breezy patch of scrub-covered mountaintop with views to Mexico more than two decades ago, he was one of only a few Americans with an interest in wind- and solar-powered homes.

A view of a greenhouse with a solar panel attached for heating water, which architect Todd Bogatay constructed from discarded windows found at the Phelps Dodge copper mine and rebuilt with dual pane glass.

Bogatay makes few sacrifices for his chosen lifestyle. He has a small, energy saving refrigerator, but otherwise his house is like any other, with satellite television and a computer with Internet service.

A television running on power generated from wind turbines and solar panels is seen in a home in the Binaziz community

The cost of building such a home is little different from that of building any other home, and with a range of energy sipping appliances such as refrigerators, hi-fis and even hairdryers now available, the forced austerity associated with off-grid living is also changing.

Bogatay and his neighbors at the 120-acre development are among a very small but fast-growing group of Americans opting to meet their own energy needs as power prices surge and home repossessions grow.

Once the domain of a few hardy pioneers, the dispersed movement is now attracting not just a few individuals and families, but institutions and developers building subdivisions that meet their own energy needs.

The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is seen in Wallington.

BedZed, London

Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is an environmentally-friendly Peabody housing development in Hackbridge, London, designed by the architect Bill Dunster to support a more sustainable lifestyle. Because of BedZED's low-energy-emission concept, cars are discouraged; the project encourages public transport, cycling, and walking, and has limited parking space.

The project is designed to use only energy from renewable sources generated on site. There are 777 m² of solar panels. Tree waste fuels the development's cogeneration plant (downdraft gasifier) to provide district heating and electricity. However, the gasifier is not being used, because of technical implementation problems, though the technology has been and is being used successfully at other sites.

The community is built on certian basic design principles namely: high quality - apartments are finished to a high standard to attract the urban professional; energy efficiency - the houses face south to take advantage of solar gain, are triple glazed, and have high thermal insulation; low-impact materials - building materials were selected from renewable or recycled sources within 35 miles of the site, to minimize the energy required for transportation; waste recycling; encourage eco-friendly transport.

Monitoring conducted in 2003 found that BedZED had achieved these reductions in comparison to UK averages:

* Space-heating requirements were 88% less
* Hot-water consumption was 57% less
* The electrical power used, at 3 kilowatt hours per person per day, was 25% less than the UK average
* Mains-water consumption has been reduced by at least 50%
* The residents' car mileage is 65% less

With places like this in the world encouraging a sustainable lifestyle, why should Indian cities be any different?

Source: India Syndicate

Images: Reuters

Bru Refugees Launch Agitation Against Mizoram

Agartala, Oct 21 : Reang (Bru) refugees sheltering in six camps of North Tripura today launched an agitation in Kanchanpur subdivision town along the Tripura-Mizoram border protesting against the Lal Thanhawla government in Mizoram.

Reang people from both the states raised voice against the Congress government in Mizoram accusing it of delaying the process of repatriation of 35,000 refugees, who had fled their homes in 1997.

They alleged that Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had gone back on his commitment regarding refugee repatriation, which he had given before the last assembly election in Mizoram.

''Despite several rounds of discussions and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's request, the Lal Thanhawla government did not do anything for the refugees and was instead imposing fresh conditions,'' the refugees complained.

The Reang leaders also alleged that long neglect by the Mizoram administration and isolation of the refugees for over 13 years had given birth to secessionist tendencies among the refugee youths and the issue was getting aggravated due to the insensitive attitude of Mizoram government.

151 HIV+ in 5 Months in Meghalaya

Shillong, Oct 21:  HIV/AIDS testing centres in Meghalaya have detected 151 positive cases in five months, but experts say the number is not alarming.

Between April and August this year, a total 2,616 persons were examined for HIV virus out of which 121 were found to be positive cases, a report from the Meghalaya Aids Control Society (MACs) said.

Pre-natal tests on 5,636 pregnant mothers also confirmed presence of the virus in 30 of them, the MACS said.

The testing was done in the 11 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres in the district headquarters and two private hospitals in the capital city.

In the corresponding period last year, 41 people out of 931 people were tested HIV-positive in the ICTCs.

There are 344 people living with the virus till date in Meghalaya - 170 men, 162 women and 12 children.