Mumbai Weekly

Run by the students of Udaan

MumbaiWeekly Volume 01 Issue 14

MONDAY, 7 May 2012

people

arts

business

sports

UN Secretary General Baan Ki-Moon visits Mumbai United Nations secretary general Baan Ki-Moon on his four day visit to India, flew into Mumbai.

Speaking to reporters, he praised India praised India for achieving many of its Millennium Development Goals (MDG) ahead of schedule even as he sought to rope in the Indian private sector towards achieving the social goals that were set in 2000 and have to be achieved by 2015. During his meeting with Chief Minister Pritviraj Chavan, health minister Suresh Shetty and other health officials he lauded India for reducing the maternal and infant mortality rate, mentioning that the target set for 2015 was already met. Kimoon also praised India for raising its budgetary allocation for health, which now stood at 2.5% of the GDP, and Maharashtra, which had allocated 3.8% of the GSDP for health.“The visit is to recognise the progress that India‟s society, government, and private sector have made together in improving maternal and children healthcare,” said Eri Kaneko, associate spokesperson for the secretary general.

Ki-Moon visited two hospitals in the city and attended a dinner hosted by Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani during his visit to Mumbai were he met various businessmen.

United Nations Secretary General visits Mumbai during his four day trip to India. Gitartha Goswami / Mumbai Weekly

Anna is back Veteran freedom fighter and self appointed crusader against corruption Anna Hazare was back in the limelight this week.

In a visit to Mumbai, Anna Hazare called on the chief minister and all other influential political leaders in the city asking them to support his cause

148 hospitalised due to food poisoning

for a stronger legislation against corruption in the form of lokayuktas and a stronger lokpal bill. Anna Hazare will carry his campaign from here into smaller towns with a tour in the State of Maharashtra ending with a rally at Mumbai on 16May 2012.

A child lies in a hospital bed in Mumbai 29 April 2012 . 148 people were hospitalized after consuming food at a wedding reception.

Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

Gandhian and vetran freedom fighter Anna Hazare talks to media at a conference in Mumbai 26 April 2012. Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

A marriage party turned into disaster when 148 people of a wedding party, including the groom, took ill due to suspected food poisoning on Sunday morning,after having dinner at the wedding ceremony in Bandra.

Forty-eight of them,

including 13 children, were treated at Bhabha Hospital. FDA officials in a statement to the press said the place where the food was prepared was not hygienic and that might have caused the food poisoning also the food contractor didn‟t

have licence and the place where the food was prepared and kept near the toilet.

Hospital authorities said people started trickling in from Sunday morning. “About 148 people were rushed to hospital with complaints of vomiting and diar-

rhoea. Of these, we have admitted 45,” said Dr Shashikant Wadekar, medical superintendent, Bhabha Hospital. “The patients were treated with antibiotics and intravenous fluids.

The blood, stools and vomit samples were sent to laboratory for

analysis,” he said, adding that they are all stable.

About 1,000 people attended the wedding.

The food consisted of chicken saag, chicken curry, naan, pav and white gourd sweet (dudhi halwa).

FDA officials are hopeful that this incident would be an eye opener encouraging people to use caterers with licenses and at the same time encourage caterers to cook and store food in an hygienic environment.

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MONDAY, 7 May 2012

PEOPLE

Mumbai Weekly

Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly

Chirag Suttar / Mumbai Weekly

Nikhil Sangle / Mumbai Weekly

Chirag Sutar / Mumbai Weekly

A community labours on Mumbai, the city of dreams, bright lights and films, attracts a lot of migrants everyday in the promise of a better life. A lot of these people end up working in manual jobs which often involve long hours, hard working conditions and less pay.

1st May is observed in India as labour day, a tribute to workers.

On an average workers are paid Rs 180 for unskilled jobs and Rs. 240 for skilled jobs as per the Narional Infomatic Centre (NIC) minimum wage list for an 8 hour shift. In Mumbai a lot of workers do not receive benefits, such as insurance, gratuity, medical and pension and survive on a daily wage.

Mumbai Weekly sent a team of photographers into the city to document the lives, work and difficult conditions posed to these workers whose contributions many times go unnoticed and unrecognized. .

Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly

Saarthak Aurora / Mumbai Weekly

Chirag Sutar / Mumbai Weekly

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metro

MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Mumbai Weekly

Dabbawalas to hike delivery rates

Dabbawala’s, people who work as Mumbai‟s tiffin courier service, segregate lunch boxes for delivery in Mumbai 30 April 2012 Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly Rising costs and inflation have forced Mumbai‟s famous „ dabbawalas‟ who ferry lunch boxes to and fro

the city to hike their delivery charges by at least Rs 50 per customer. This rise would mean a 8 to 10% rise

on the current rates paid by customers depending on the distance. Over 200,000 tiffin boxes are delivered

daily to office goers at their work places from homes and back home again by a dedicated group of 5,000 in

an all-weather operation spanning Mumbai and Thane districts according to Suresh one of the

„dabbawalas‟. The service is now 121 years old and started with 35 people working for 10 to 15 paise

per month. The rates are currently inr 550 to inr 750 depending on distance travelled.

Government falls short of slum rehab target: CAG

A man sits outside his partly demolished home in Mumbai. Many development schemes have stopped due to legal battles between occupants and developers.

Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

Protest rally against Nuclear reactors

After the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme (SRS) came into effect in 1995, the government had targeted to rehabilitate 8.05 lakh slum dwellings within five years. However, according to a CAG report, even after 15 years, the government has been able to rehabilitate only 1.27 lakh slum dwellings, which constitutes a mere 15 per cent of total slum dwellings that existed in 1995. The slum population has doubled since then and certain politicians had demanded that the cut-off date for slums be extended to year 2000.The CAG report also says, “There‟s no evaluation of the developers and the quality of the construction is left to their discretion.

The SRA doesn‟t have a database of slums to decide whether government intervention was required for redevelopment of non-viable slums.” In one of their findings, CAG also pointed out that the Slum Act did not have any provision regarding the quality of work rendered in SRS. The report further states that in the exit conference, the principal secretary accepted the fact that there were many buildings with problems of bad construction.

Railway platform tickets to cost more

A man sleeps outside an inter city railway platform in Mumbai. Platform tickets will cost more as decided in the railway budget passed in April. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

Members of the Konkan Bachao Samiti, a regional non profit organization shout slogans in Mumbai against the proposed Nuclear plant in Jaitapur in Ratnagiri, a coastal district in Maharashtra.

This rally started from Dharavi, Mumbai‟s slum district and was organized to mark the worlds worst Nuclear disaster that occurred in Chernobyl, Ukraine 26years ago. Arkadripta / Mumbai Weekly

From 1May 2012 simply visiting a railway station may become costlier than boarding a local train.

The ministry of railways issued a circular stating that, the cost of a platform ticket will increase from Rs3 to Rs5, while the mini-

mum fare for a train journey on the Mumbai local railway remains Rs.4. A platform ticket's validity period will continue to be two hours.

A proposal was made by the then railway minister Dinesh Trivedi to increase train fares as

well. But minister Mamata Banerjee sacked Trivedi for proposing the hike. Newly appointed railway minister Mukul Roy scrapped the proposal of train fare hike, but decided that the hike in platform ticket prices is here to stay.

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EDITORIAL

MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Mumbai Weekly

OPINION: Non existent child rights

Pawan Kumar Yadav breaks down before he is taken back to his home in Jaunpur (UP) from Mumbai. Chirag Sutar / Mumbai Weekly

Chirag Sutar As usual, a lot of discussions followed after the Right to Education Act was announced a few weeks ago. The act

requires 25 per cent ofseats to be reserved for underprivileged in all schools.

Fair enough. The topic was debated on TVchannels and long editorials were written by education experts in nationalnewspapers.

Fair enough. But allow me to recall an incident, and a very recent one at

that, which proves that all is not fair, and if it is, it's only in books.

Take the example of Pawan Kumar Yadav, a 15-year-old student from Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) who ran away from his home a month ago. He spent few weeks in trains, slept on stations until he was found by a NGO who

helped him reunite with his parents. And the reason for his running away? His father, a farmer, had no money to pay his fees – frustrated; he walked out of home hoping for a better future.

Pawan appeared to be a very bright boy. He said he had scored 89 per cent in ninth standard,

and aspired to study in IIT one day. While he may have all the capabilities, he does not have the resources. It was painful to know that even after he was re -united with his father, he insisted on being admitted into the street children school in Nagpur meant of orphans – he was sure his circum-

stances will not allow him to study.

There are hundreds of thousands of able students like Pawan who have to sacrifice their aspirations each day due to circumstances.

What we need today is not a 25 per cent quota, but a100 per cent commitment in going to the root of issues that are

faced by Pawan‟sacross India. Who knows? He could be the next inventor who contributes to the world of engineering or be a renowned physicist. But as long as his basic aspiration of studying remains unfulfilled, nothing can be expected.

It is a shame that India, after so many years

since independence, is not able to address the issue of education and economic divides in the right manner. And it is rather ironic that parliamentarians, some of whom are known to be alumni‟s of international universities, are busy playing vote bank politics over these issues.

nologically advanced solutions, and better food management systems accessible to all.

After all the strength of a nation is

not in what it can destroy but in what it can build to better humanity and the world we live in.

POINT OF VIEW: A tale of two India’s Shailesh Andrade

An

excited television

reporter announced the successful launch of the Agni V, an intercontinental ballistic missile with nuclear capability, having a range of over 5000kms developed and designed in India for a cost of Rs. 2,500 crore (USD499 million). In a country where almost half the population lives in poverty, how can we justify such an expense. Development of such missiles, its delivery system and stock piling of arms is a costly affair. India already has a huge financial burden in being defense ready which has resulted in

slowing down its economic development.

With meager financial resources why has the government chosen to spend on research for defence. Money aside India's image in the world is as a strong advocate of peace, has suffered a setback.

While one school of thought feels the money spent in defence research could have been spent better another school of thought advocates this expenditure. India is in the middle of two military powers in Pakistan and China who have already obtained nuclear weapons and are a threat to India‟s territorial integrity.

Defence preparedness is not necessarily for waging a war, but a means to scare away warmongers so that enemies may not dare a war in future. In that

A child walks on a cricket ground in Mumbai. Shankar Narayan / Mumbai Weekly

train of thought although India need not pile up huge stocks of weapons, she still needs to develop her capabilities to let the

world know that if forced, India is ready to defend herself.

Both are strong arguments in favour and against India devel-

oping its military strength, however in my opinion India‟s true defence to face the world lies in the development of its

children. In improving education, reducing mortality rate, building infrastructure, developing agriculture, creating tech-

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economy

MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Mumbai Weekly

City has over 35,000 unsold flats

With the realty rates at exorbitant levels and buyers postponing their plans, the number of unsold flats in the city stands at a staggering 35,000 units. There were about 33,600 units unsold four months ago.

These are the findings of Liases Foras, the real estate research firm, which indicated that buyers were highly reluctant to make purchases. Market sentiments have been on a low for a long time now, builders have tried various incentive based schemes but have not managed to woo the buyers. Another major finding is there are approximately 1.13 lakh unsold apartments in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which apart from Mumbai includes Thane, Navi Mumbai and Raigad. In January, the number of unsold apartments in MMR totalled 95,000 units. These include both ready-made flats as well as buildings that are being constructed. Liases Foras says that 150 projects were launched recently in the MMR of which 50 were in Mumbai. Twisha / Mumbai Weekly

Mumbai gets itâ€&#x;s first Lamborghini showroom

Pedestrians look at vehicles in the newly opened Lamborghini showroom in Mumbai on 26 April 2012. Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly.

Lamborghini launched its first exclusive showroom in Mumbai on 26 April 2012.

Mumbai based Auto Hangar has been appointed to run the Mumbai operations.

The showroom was opened by company CEO Stephan Winkelmann. The company has targeted selling 50 vehicles by 2015 and will soon be setting up a national office to oversee operations said the CEO speaking to the media at the launch. Lamborghini is associated all over the world for its stylishly built fast cars iconic with the rich and famous.

Vespa scooters to hit Indian roads The iconic Vespa scooter rose to life in Mumbai 26 April 2012 in a fancy launch held in Mumbai. Vespa has arrived in India after a gap of 13 years. The new Piaggio unit is set up at Baramati, Maharahstra from where they plan on producing three and four wheelers, bikes and scooters for the Indian markets. The company will be investing a total of â‚Ź50 million in their Indian unit of which â‚Ź30 mil-

lion has already been invested as they see great prospects in the Indian market.

The Indian version of the scooter will have a 125cc engine churning out 10ps power. The scooter will cost Rs 66000/ unit ex Maharashtra. The sate of art plant was inaugurated on 28 April 2012 and the first set of scooters rolled out. Vespa has positioned the scooter as a lifestyle vehicle.

Models pose with the newly launched Vespa scooter for Indian markets in Mumbai on 26 April 2012. Krishanu Nagar / Mumbai Weekly.

Gold prices rise sharply Gold prices rose to alltime high of Rs 29,695 per 10 grams in the bullion market this week as investors shifted funds from melting equity markets to the precious metal, considered as a safehaven investment.

Gold closed higher by Rs 35 at Rs 29,695 per 10 grams over the previous close.

Silver, however, lacked necessary follow up support and declined by Rs 400 to Rs 56,200 per kg

on reduced offtake by On the other hand, silver industrial units. ready remained selling pressure and lost Rs 400 Traders said gold raced to to Rs 56,200 per kg and record high levels as weekly-based delivery by stockists and retail cus- Rs 375 to Rs 56,710 per tomers preferred to park kg. their funds in the precious metal amid weak stocks Silver coins continued to and forex makrets. be asked at last level of Rs 66,000 for buying and Gold of 99.9 and 99.5 per Rs 67,000 for selling of cent purity rose by Rs 35 100 pieces. each to new peak level of Rs 29,695 and Rs 29,555 Gold prices are likely to per 10 grams respectively. see a fall in the coming Sovereign remained week as the high prices steady at Rs 23,750 per will see lack lusture tradpiece of eight grams. ing.

A woman tries out a gold necklace in Mumbai on 28 April 2012. Shailesh Andrade/ Mumbai Weekly.

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MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Arts and entertainment

Mumbai Weekly

World dance day observed in Mumbai

World dance day was observed in the city 29 April 2012. Mumbai Weekly Photographer Shailesh Andrade attended Ahas, Mumbaiâ€&#x;s International Dance festival organized to mark the day. All the performances held a full house spell bound in awe as the dancers moved with grace and ease. David Pozanter, one of the performer mixed a unique style of dance and circus acrobatics to light up the stage. The day ended on a high note with a performance titled Sufi Parwane, a tribute to Sufi Poets.

Painting the town with shades of happiness Around 110 kids from 7 to 14 years of age painted a 40 foot long wall of K. K. Rajpopat School at Juhu in Mumbai on 29 April 2012. The workshop named 'Mural of the story' was organised by Pomegranate, a company that teaches and promotes painting as art, with Sonie Thakkar as the mentor. The theme was 'world art', where students improvised and recreated works from different parts of the world with their own unique touch.

The paintings, created

by the children with over 2 and half hours of hard work, are planned to be preserved forever at the school premises.

Street art is slowly catching up in the city, and such events are gaining popularity.

Mumbai Weekly photographer Gitartha Goswami spent the entire day with these children as the painted the street not only with color but with smiles, laughter and an air of happiness that will linger on for some time

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SPORTS

MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Mumbai Weekly

Salman bats for charity Salman Khan along with friends Rani Mukerji, Isha KoppikarNarang, Arbaaz and Sohail Khan played a cricket match against a special team compromising of physically challenged players on 1May 2012. The event was held at the Brabourne Stadium in South Mumbai and organized by the Rotract Club of H.R. College. Playing in front of a full house the actor Salman Khan entertained the crowd with some hard hitting and wide bowling. The celebrity team piled up a score of 85 runs which was easily chased down by the other team.

Mumbai Weekly photographer Shailesh Andrade was present at this event documenting the fun, laughter and music beats in an afternoon of sports entertainment.

Images Left: Actor Salman Khan watches a physically challenged player bowl during a match in Mumbai on 1 May 2012. Below Left: Salman Khan bowls during the match in Mumbai on 1 May 2012.

Below: Players take photo‟s of actor Salman Khan during the match in Mumbai on 1 May2012.

Gayle storm sweeps Mumbai

West Indian batsman Chris Gayle plays a shot at a promotional event in Mumbai 26 April 2012. Chris Gayle is one of the leading run scorers in the on going IPL tournament playing for the Royal Challengers, Bangalore. Shailesh Andrade / Mumbai Weekly

Deccan Chargers coach budding cricketers

Cricketers Kumar Sangakkara, Dale Steyn and Cameron White all playing in the IPL for the Deccan Chargers were in Mumbai 28 April 2012 ahead of their away game against the Mumbai Indians. In a sponsored event the three cricketers showed up at the Islam Gymkhana, one of the cricket coaching hot spots in the city, for an impromptu workshop for kids. Children who were already at the camp were in for a pleasant surprise when the three cricketers showed up. Kumar Sangakkara gave budding wicket keepers tips on becoming the best

while Dale Steyn worked on the bowling action of the young lads and Cameron White showed the participants a thing or two with the bat.

“As professional cricketers, it is our responsibility to support the development of young talent,” said Sangakkara. “some day these children too could forge a career in the game,” added theDeccan Chargers captain while speaking to the media. Mumbai Weekly Photographer

Saathak Aurora attended this workshop picking up some cricketing tips.

Published by: Udaan School of Photography. Editor: Shailesh Andrade Photo editor: Krishanu Nagar Chief Photographer: Shankar Narayan Email: editor.mumbaiweekly@gmail.com

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MONDAY, 7 May 2012

Sports FEATURE

Mumbai Weekly

Gauri Desai swims during Individual Medley at Chembur TATA colony swimming pool, in Mumbai 5May 2012

Neha swims during 100m Back stroke on 4 May 2012

Sidhanth swims during 50m breast stroke on 5 May 2012

Tanishka Singhania swims during 50m Back stroke in Mumbai on 5 May 2012

Young talents compete at Aquatic Championships

Participants dive during 50m back stroke on 5May 2012

Vedanth swims during 100m freestyle on 4May 2012

The G.M.A.A Age group Aquatic Championships was held at Chembur TATA POWER COLONY on 4th of May to 6th of May.Institutes like Matunga Gym,Otters,Khar Gym,WSC,participated in this Aquatic tournament.Children were categorized by their ageand were made into groups.Children of age 9-17 took part in this competition.

The swimming competition had various events they were, 50m,100m,400m,800m,1500m freestyle,breast stroke,back stroke and butterfly stroke and Individual medeley and relay.

Medals were won amongst competitive races. Parents and spectators cheered on from the sidelines as participants gave it all they had.

Mumbai Weekly photographer Shankar Narayan spent two days in the tournament capturing the highlights.

Kayan Barucha swims during 50m back stroke on 5May 2012