Cops in the city are shaping up with police commissioner D Shivanandan’s obesity management initiative, gyms at the police station and, the latest, a low-cal and low-fat food canteen at the police headquarters.

State home minister RR Patil inaugurated the canteen last week (see box for menu). Designer uniforms are also on the agenda. Sources in the police department told Sunday MiD-DAY that fashion designer Manish Malhotra has been approached to replace the old khaki uniform with a blue one, similar to what American cops wear.

“Malhotra gave a presentation at the office of the director-general of police in Colaba,” said an IPS officer who attended. Said Subash Awte, additional director-general of police, planning and co-ordination, “The smartest-looking design will be selected depending on practicality and convenience.”

On the menu

Breakfast: Poha, idli and medu vada

Lunch: Dal, rice, chapatis and sabzi (mostly greens cooked in less oil)

Dinner: Same as lunch, with pickles and papad.

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Microsoft may not have much brand recognition in Khagaria in Bihar, but villagers here knew the man approaching them by boat was a gazillionaire.

Fresh off two boats, arrived Bill Gates to research the need and viability of a large-scale immunization programme in parts of rural Bihar just like this one.

“The idea that we can provide thousands of vaccines in these remote areas, and that they can save the lives of hundreds of children, is very exciting to us,” said Gates.

In Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, it was Rahul Gandhi who served as Gates’ official tour guide. (Read: Bill Gates visits Amethi with Rahul I Watch) In Bihar, government officials and members of his Foundation accompanied Gates on his journey. Upon his return to Patna, he met with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who said, “He made the effort to visit such remote areas…it is a good thing.”

Gates says that over the next few months, he will work with Kumar on deciding how much to spend on his health initiative for Bihar. Gates’ philanthropy will fund the exercise. Kumar’s team will have to provide the political commitment for implementing it.

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In a nation of a billion plus population, just 71 million people have ever used the internet. Only 20 million Indians use it everyday, according to a survey by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The survey shows that 36 per cent of all web users are from small towns like Kolhapur, Thrissur and Panipat. The figure is comparatively more than metros.

“We did the survey across 31 cities in the country, among 19,000 households, 68,000 individuals,” said President, Internet and Mobile Association of India Dr Subho Ray.

However school and college students are the largest group of web users, young males too have a sizable chunk. Whereas women have a tiny presence. Cyber cafes are the favorite place to log in from, with free office internet coming a close second. While a quarter of all users log in from home, about 2 million Indians surf the web on their phones.

“Factors like an increased popularity of smart phones and the imminent arrival of 3G networks means more people will access the web on their mobiles. By next year we expect the figures to double, ” said Ray.

Checking E-mail is India’s favourite web activity. Downloading and social networking comes a close second. Finally, just 16 per cent of users get the news updates from the web.

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New York, Apr 6: Chinese hackers have reportedly accessed into top secret files of the Indian defence ministry and embassies around the world, a report on spy operation said.

The new report ‘Shadow in the Clouds’ by Canadian and American researchers found that countries around the world have been affected.

According to the report, the researchers were able to verify and recover over 700 documents that were stolen from the Indian government, including documents that were listed as restricted, classified and secret.

Among the systems leaked out could be ‘Shakti’, the just introduced advanced artillery combat and control system of the Indian Army and the country’s new mobile missile defence system called the ‘Iron Dome’.

Researchers recovered documents on Canadian visa applications that were made to the Indian consulate in Kabul.

The espionage gang even stole documents related to the travel of NATO forces in Afghanistan

However, the researchers note that there is no direct evidence that these were stolen from Indian government computers.

The report also said that 1,500 letters sent from the Dalai Lama’s office between Jan and Nov 2009, were also leaked out.

The researchers noted that while there was no clear insight into the motives of the spies, “the theme appears to involve topics that would likely be of interest to the Indian and Tibetan communities.”

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