Saturday, July 21, 2012

Two Indian in NASA on waste management conference

NASA, the US space agency has included two Indian innovators for its conference on waste management.

Nitin Gupta from Attero Recycling and Anshu Goonj from Goonj are among nine innovators from across the globe that made it to the NASA conference on waste management, which started on Friday.

Supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department and Nike; the fourth installment of the event being held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is called LAUNCH: Beyond Waste.

It aims to identify and accelerate solutions in waste management, an immediate issue for astronauts aboard the International Space Station, as well as people around the world.

The forum runs through July 22.

Gupta from Attero Recycling is India's leading provider of end-to-end electronic and electrical goods e-Waste management services; while Goonj is a grassroots NGO focused on transforming and revaluing clothing and textiles waste by working on these issues directly at the community level.

NASA said these innovators were chosen for this forum because of their groundbreaking technologies and programmes that address a broad range of waste issues, including waste-to-energy; eWaste, which includes discarded electrical or electronic devices; upcycling, the process of using waste to create new materials; recycling; agricultural waste and conservation; medical waste; sustainable chemicals and materials; and improved sanitation.

During the three-day forum, LAUNCH innovators will discuss their most pressing business and programme issues with LAUNCH Council members, who represent the business, waste management, investment, international development, policy, engineering, science, communications and sustainability sectors.
Spanish bonds yields jump to a record high.
The yield on Spain’s benchmark government bonds has reached a record high due to growing investor worry over the country’s fiscal problems.Ten year bond yields briefly hit 7.3 percent on Friday. This is the highest level since Spain joined the eurozone. The yield above 7 percent would make it difficult for the government to rebuild its finances on its own.
A heavily indebted region in Spain, Valencia, said it would seek central government help to repay debt. The announcement drove market speculation over Spain’s economic fragility.A heavily indebted region in Spain, Valencia, said it would seek central government help to repay debt. The announcement drove market speculation over Spain’s economic fragility.

Parliamentary Committee Takes Cognisance of Dumping of Toxic Ships

New Delhi July 20, 2012: Parliamentary Committee Takes Cognisance of Dumping of Toxic Ships, Supreme Court to hear ex US ship case on July 23,Ex US ship Exxon Valdez violates July 6 judgment, several such US ships waiting to be dumped>Supreme CourtⳠbench of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J. Chelameswar will hear the matter of violation of UNⳠBasel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and courtⳠMay 3, 2012 order and July 6, 2012 judgment by ex US Ship Exxon Valdez (currently named MV Oriental N) on July 23, 2012. Sanjay Parikh, advocate appearing for I.A No. 62 argued that CourtⳠjudgment of July 6, 2012 has been violated by the ship in question. The judgment reads:ㅴhe question of ship breaking and distribution of hazardous wastes are being considered separately in the contempt proceedings, in these proceedings we expect and eiterate that the directions contained in the BASEL Convention have to be strictly followed by all the concerned players, before a vessel is allowed to enter Indian territorial waters and beach at any of the beaching facilities in any part of the Indian coast-line. In case of breach of the conditions, the authorities shall impose the penalties contemplated under the municipal laws of India.䠠 >Parliamentary Committee on Transport headed by Sitaram Yechury is seized with the matter of shipbreaking. It will meet on July 26, 2012. It examined the matter in its earlier sitting. Parliamentary Committee on Coal & Steel headed by Kalyan Banerjee which examines Functioning of Metal Scrap Trading in India is also scheduled to hear the ship breaking matter on August 6, 2012. Ministry of Steel which is the focal point of Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking is preparing to make its submissions amidst wide spread security concerns emerging from end-of-life vessels entering Indian waters on fake flags. More than 150 hazardous dead ships have entered Indian waters this year.In such a backdrop, the reply and submissions filed by the applicant on July 17, 2012 assumes significance. The submission is attached.Key submissions in the application are as follows:As per the order dated 03.05.2012 and the judgment dated 06.07.2012 Basel Convention applies. In the first order dated 14.01.2003, which was coated with approval and the subsequent order dated 06.09.2007, prior decontamination by the Country of export is required before Ship can be allowed entry in the territorial waters. The prior inform consent procedure is required to be followed. Trans-boundary movement of any hazardous waste from developed country to developing country must be with all transparency and previous consent.Non-compliance with the recommendations of the Hon'ble Court constituted Inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on ship-breaking under Union Steel Ministry constitutes violation of CourtⳠorder by concerned agencies.The exporting country must send the documents to the country of import for examination and verification of the inventory. The procedure which is followed today is that the Ship Owner produces the inventory after arrival in the territorial waters. It has become virtually a trade in dumping without any reciprocal obligation of the country involved in such trans- boundary movement. This is against all environmental law and principles.It is noteworthy that the end-of life vessel is a hazardous waste. The end-of-life ships are laden with asbestos, PCBs and heavy metals. These ᦬oating wastes⠡re being dumped in India.It is for US Maritime Administration (US MARAD), US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the ship owner in question to disclose the original inventory of hazardous and radioactive materials on board the vessel, ex Exxon Valdez. The MoEF is the nodal Ministry to verify this inventory in advance and grant prior inform consent. The said inventory has to be rechecked by the Central Pollution Control Board, GPCB, Customs and Gujarat Maritime Board. In the absence of required laboratory facility how can visual inspection alone verify presence or absence of PCBs and other hazardous substances. The entry permission, anchoring permission and inspection has been granted in violation of Supreme Court order of May 3, 2012, which stands confirmed in the final order dated July 6, 2012.The permission for anchoring has been granted even without looking at inventory submitted by the Ship for the purpose of verification. The documents show the casual manner in which every ship is allowed to enter territorial waters and beached and that none of the Authorities are concerned about the environment and human health. There is a need to pierce the corporate veil by examining the current and past ownership documents of this end-of-life vessel to ascertain its past and future liabilities. Industrialized countries like USA should not be allowed to dump their junk into the developing countries like India on the account of easy availability of vulnerable and disposable workforce and alien coastal ecosystem. The eagerness to profit from one of the world's dirtiest industries, the dismantling of toxic ships by migrant and casual workers from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha at Alang beach is fraught with disastrous environmental and occupational health consequences.In such a situation, there is a compelling reason for this ex- US ship to be sent away from the Indian waters. It is trying to repeat the story of another dubious dead US ship Platinum II (ex SS Independence, MV Oceanic) to set a bad a precedent to ensure that it paves the way for hundreds of dead toxic US ships waiting to be dumped in Indian waters. For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 9818089660,


Five new solutions to help businesses enhance efficiency and securityof their information-management processes
July 20, 2012, New Delhi: Hewlett-Packard Indiatoday announced the launch of five new Imaging and Printing solutions specially designed to meet the needs of the SMB and mid-market segments. These solutions help businesses increase efficiency and control and secure their information-management processes.
The solutions launched include: HP ePrint Enterprise mobile printing, HP EcoSMART Fleet, HP Imaging and Printing Security Center, HP Access Control Professional and HP Access Control Express.
Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Hiranandani, Director, Printing Systems, PPS, India,“Mid-sized businesses in India are today demanding the same sophisticated solutions-enabled printing devicesthat have helped larger enterprises to optimize their imaging and printing infrastructure. With today’s launch, we are addressing the evolving business needs of our customers by offering them five new solutions which will improve their work-flow efficiency, enhance security and increase operational efficiencies, and lower the environmental impact.”
Gurpreet Kanwal, Country Business Manager, PMPS and Solutions, PPS, HP India said, “HP’s imaging and printing solutions are designed to offer small and medium businesses the advantages of a secure and managed print environment, reduced costs, and the ability to control their printing fleet in an optimized manner. These solutions will help businesses create intelligent and smart printing infrastructure, which in turn will help them reduce cost and increase productivity, while lowering the environmental impact at the same time.”
Print on-the-go with mobile printing solution
HP ePrint Enterprise mobile printing solutionunleashes the full potential of mobile devices. It allows you to print documents efficiently with enterprise-level security, sending print jobs from remote locations for printing on arrival.  It is a cloud-enabled web service that allows mobile users to easily print documents, presentations, reports and photos from an e-mail application to any registered network printer across the enterprise. It is a driverless printing application that can integrate with your existing IT environment. The simple email-to-print capability allows you to send a print job from a business email address to the company’s networked printers that have been assigned an email address.
Manage green quotient along with business operations
HP EcoSMART Fleetallows you to see your energy and resource use from one intuitive and easy to use interface. Gives you the information required to effectively monitor, manage, and control the environmental impact of your fleet. Businesses can reduce costs up to 30% and save up to 80% on energy usage in managed print operations through focused management of their printing and imaging environment.It works by collecting data from HP Web Jetadmin software and the HP Carbon Footprint Calculator, real-time status overviews are displayed. One can run scenarios to understand how limiting energy and carbon usage,as well as spending, might impact productivity. Easily maps consumption overtime, user defined, identifies high-consuming devices, and pinpoint opportunities for savings.
Secure your print environment
HP Imaging and Printing Security Centerisindustry’s first fleet-level policy-based security solution that helps increase security, strengthen compliance, and reduce risk across your fleet of Imaging and printing devices. Allows to securely deploy and monitor devices as soon as they are added to the network byusing HP Instant-on Security. Unique to HP IPSC, HP Instant-on Security automatically connects HP devices to the solution and immediately configures them to be compliant with the specific corporate security policy—saving time.It’s simple to enhance the policy for increased security beyond the baseline for specific departments or groups, such as your legal team.
Control and Manage your Print Environment
HP Access Control Expresscombines cost-control and security features. Offersusers to print once to the server and “pull” jobs to any pull print-enabled HP LaserJet device. Pull printing virtually eliminates unclaimed documents hence wastage, enhances security by requiring authentication before releasing. Track detailed usage information for printers and MFPs. Create and customize built-in reports to address specific questions and concerns about printer usage by user, per device and department. HP AC Mobile Release increases convenience by allowing users to easily authenticate and release print jobs using their mobile device.
HP Access Control Professional adding to thecost-control and security featuresof HPAC Express supports authentication through employee card access, allows managers to set and manage print policies. The new featuresinclude server-less pull printing, which lower costs, dual-factor authentication (pull and card) which adds an additional level to safeguard; and the ability to send jobs via email, which increases productivity. The Intelligent Print Management Module helps create custom printing rules for a smarter printing environment and help conserve energy and supplies by allocating costs by department. Hundreds of built-in, customizable reports can communicate the value and impact of printing, while the quota feature helps contain costs by allowing administrators to set print page volume limits for user groups.
HP solutions and services pricing and availability varies by number of licenses, devices, no of employees and region.
Built on HP’s Open Extensibility Platform
The solutions launched today are built on Open Extensibility Platform, HP’s device-independent technology1 that allows them to work across a fleet of both old and new devices.Businesses do not need to buy new devices in order to support the latest solutions; because all devices support one version of a solution and one solution supports multiple devices. These solutions can also reside on a FutureSmart server, which helps businesses future proof the imaging and printing fleet. It also allows one to manage solutions in the same way one monitors and controls the devices—using HP Web Jetadmin.
With HP FutureSmart firmware, the entire fleet of HP FutureSmart devices can be updated with new features and capabilities as they emerge. Enterprise users can now enjoy a consistent, up-to-date experience, no matter which device they use. From a single console, the IT staff can remotely deploy HP FutureSmart updates across the entire fleet, ensuring keeping pace with technology is quick and easy.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.
Editorial contacts
Seema Dawar,
Printing and Personal Systems Group
HP India
+91 124 2726285
Anirudh Chouhan
The PRactice for HP
+919899941249
anirudh@the-practice.net

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