On Saturday launched a mass plantation drive, under which a million saplings would be planted within the rainy season. She started the campaign by initiating the planting of saplings in an area spread over one hectare along the Ring Road bypass.
Speaking at the event in which a large number of school children also planted saplings, Ms. Dikshit said while the city has done extremely well in the field of greenery and pollution control, taking the green area up from 26 square km to over 300 square km. (over 20 per cent of total area), the effort will continue with same zeal and vigour as it has to achieve the target of 33 per cent green area.
The Chief Minister said apart from undertaking greenery projects in new areas, the Delhi Government would also be working towards protecting the sapling and trees that have been planted.
The city-wide campaign, she said, has been planned in association with all government offices, Delhi Metro, MCD, NDMC, DDA, DTC Depots, NGOs and PSUs to ensure its success. During the one-and-half-month campaign, the Delhi Government would provide assistance to these organisations to undertaking the greening exercise.
Ms. Dikshit said the Delhi Government would be providing free saplings across Delhi during the period.
The species, the officials said, have been selected considering their suitability to the site and their aesthetic value to the road which is now the lifeline connecting ITO to ISBT Kashmere Gate.
 IT Buzz: Latest happenings in the global & Indian IT sector
Leading software giant Wipro beat market expectations by posting a growth of 1.23 per cent in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, to Rs 1,334.9 crore. However, Wipro said it may take 2-3 quarters to catch up with the growth rate of rivals like TCS and HCL Technologies on the back of a strong deal pipeline and organisational restructuring that it undertook at the beginning of the year.
IT major Cognizant is all set to replace Wipro to become the country's third largest IT services provider when it announces its results on August 2. On the other hand, besides being bested on its numbers by larger rival TCS, India's No. 2 software exporter, Infosys also appears to be losing the tag it perhaps covets the most- that of being India's most admired IT brand.
Union Bank of California has cancelled the multi-million dollar deal for core banking solution Finacle with Indian IT major Infosys.
On the global front, heating up the tablet war, South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co launched an upgraded version of its Galaxy tablet in its lucrative home market, seeking to stem the runaway success of Apple Inc's iPad. Apple posted record quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion, selling every iPad it could make. The profit by the world's most valuable tech company also jumped more than 125 per cent to $7.31 billion.
Godrej Consumer Products net profit up 94%
MUMBAI: Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) has reported 94 per cent growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 239 crore for the quarter ended June 30, following a strong demand in both domestic and international markets.
Consolidated net sales of the company for Q1 went up by 40 per cent at Rs 998 crore.
The figures for the current quarter are not comparable with those of the corresponding quarter of the previous year because of the acquisitions made since then.
Enhanced penetration and improved volumes have driven our sales growth. Our international operations have also performed strongly during the period under review. We will continue to pursue a prudent but aggressive growth strategy through a blend of organic and inorganic initiatives, GCPL Chairman Adi Godrej said here.
GCPL did very well in all product categories, both in domestic as well as the international markets, especially in the household insecticide segment.
The company recently acquired 51 per cent stake in a leading pan-African haircare company - Darling Group Holdings - for over Rs 500 crore. Godrej said it is looking at similar opportunities in haircare, household insecticides and personal wash categories.
When asked if the company is mulling hiking prices, Godrej said, "The input costs have increased and it has put pressure on us. However, we have yet to take a decision on it."
Nokia ideating to take smartphones beyond communication
NEW DELHI: Having lost the leadership position in the smartphones market to Apple, Nokia is looking for ideas from people on new features that will allow these devices to be used for more activities than just communication.
"We are inviting idea from masses on what people will like to control using Nokia N8 smartphones," Ravi Kunwar, Director (Sales) for Nokia India's North Sales Unit, told PTI.
Nokia is running roadshows in the country where it is demonstrating how a toy car can be controlled using an N8 phone
Scientists step closer to creating test tube intelligence
Scientists have now taken a major step towards creating artificial intelligence, not in a robot or a silicon chip, but in a test tube.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a circuit of interacting molecules that can recall memories based on incomplete DNA patterns, just like the human brain.
Consisting of four artificial neurons made from 112 distinct DNA strands, the researchers neural network plays a mind reading game in which it tries to identify a mystery scientist, according to a Caltech statement.
The researchers trained the neural network to know four scientists, whose identities are each represented by a specific, unique set of answers to four yes or no questions, such as whether the scientist was British.
After thinking of a scientist, a human player provides an incomplete subset of answers partially identifying the scientist.
This DNA based neural network demonstrates the ability to take an incomplete pattern and figure out what it might represent one of the brains unique features.
Biochemical systems with artificial intelligence or at least some basic, decision making capabilities could have powerful applications in medicine, chemistry, and biological research, the researchers say.
In the future, such systems could operate within cells, helping to answer fundamental biological questions or diagnose a disease.
The human brain consists of 100 billion neurons, but creating a network with just 40 of these DNA based neurons 10 times larger than the demonstrated network would be a challenge, according to the researchers.
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