Victim went to clinic with cold, may have got virus there: Government

Fourteen-year-old Reeda Shaikh, who on Monday became the country’s first H1N1 casualty, is suspected to have contracted swine flu at a clinic in Pune when she went to a general practitioner (GP) with a usual cough-and-cold complaint in the third week of July.

Before examining Reeda, this GP had attended to a patient who later tested positive for the H1N1 virus, according to a Union Health Ministry team in Pune.

Since Reeda had no history of travel to any flu-affected country nor any known contact diagnosed with the virus, the Ministry team, comprising an epidemiologist and a paediatrician, whittled down the possibilities to zero-in on the clinic visit.

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5 Cities, 1 day: campus citizens sign up as first-time voters

My vote counts: this was the clear message going out from college campuses in five major Indian cities on Wednesday. In a unique initiative demonstrating responsibility and empowerment, over 2,000 young men and women committed themselves to the world’s largest democratic exercise — registering online for inclusion in the voters’ list for the Lok Sabha polls beginning next month.

Most said they believed in the idea of elections, but would possibly not have voted if it hadn’t been for I-Count, a joint initiative by The Indian Express and NGO Janaagraha to encourage 18 year-olds and above to sign up as first-time voters.

On an unusually hot day in Pune, as many as 855 students — the most among all cities — registered at camps set up by I-Count at the Symbiosis International University, Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Modern College and College of Engineering, Pune.

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In Pune, a Defence institute gets a civilian makeover

Winds of change are blowing at the premier DRDO establishment, Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), as it opens its doors wide open to civilians and turns into a full-fledged university.

And among the first things on the cards at the Pune-based institute is nomenclature. The masters degree in Mechanical Engineering in Combat Vehicles has been renamed as Automobile Engineering, while another ME Mechanical degree course in Guided Missiles is now called Aerospace Engineering.

“We are trying to change the nomenclature of certain courses that are not linked exclusively with defence and broad base their curriculum so that eventually civilians can avail of admission into these courses,” says DIAT’s Vice-Chancellor Prof L M Patnaik, who assumed charge in March this year. Civilians can gain admission beginning sometime in 2009.

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Not allowed to sell her flat to a Muslim, Pune woman takes on entire ‘society'

When Madhavi Kapoor decided to sell her 1500 sq ft apartment in Pune's upmarket Boat Club Road area and move to a new house in Koregaon Park, she thought it would be a breeze because in an emerging metropolis, an apartment such as hers is sold in no time. But Kapoor, a former principal of the Rewachand Bhojwani Academy, was in for a shock when others in the building told her she had no right selling her apartment to a Muslim family.

And because she had her way, Kapoor says she has been made to run around for the requisite paper work. Till date, the building society - Cozy Corner has 16 apartments, 14 occupied by Sindhis - hasn't handed her a No Objection Certificate.

"It all started when I took the prospective buyers to the society meeting last month to introduce them to the other residents as has been the practice.Because the buyers' surname was Hirani, members assumed they were Sindhis, like 80 per cent of others in the society building. But when the buyers introduced themselves and residents

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