The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 04/04/2015

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PUNE, APRIL 04, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

It’s not just a man’s world

MUMBAI

Borivali Biryani Centre sues JW Marriott P2

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

This cemetery cries for moral visitors P 10

Don’t you ever dare to expose the

Pune cops...

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

TGS LIFE

They will do everything in their power to stop you. Early this week Bund Garden cops ruthlessly beat up a mentally deficient eunuch who had approached them for help. Two students who dared to capture the torture on their cellphones were also traced and thrashed mercilessly Pg 4

They are dying in our backyard

Barely 30 kms from Pune, over 150 kids residing in remote areas are battling for life. While their parents are trying hard to keep the malnourished children alive, government has turned a blind eye to the problem Spotlight Pg 8 and 9

MUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“We will write to MERC to allow only Rs 200-250 crore hike every year. We will ensure that Mahavitaran hike is minimal or nothing at all this year.

- Chandrashekhar Bawankule, State Power Mininster.

Log on to your classroom P6

Don’t you ever dare to expose the Pune cops...

P4

Borivali Biryani Centre sues JW Marriott BBC v/s BBC: A suburban biryani centre has sued JW Marriott in Juhu for copying their trademark

Borivali Biryani Centre owners’ have contended that the use of BBC

by Marriott is an infringement of the trademark which they have registered and it can be misleading to their patrons. They they have sought that the court should direct the five-star to discontinue the use of BBC in relation to the baking outlet opened by them.

‘The defendants (Marriott) have knowingly, deliberately and dishonestly adopted the said trade mark as its business name, trade name, trademark with a view to trade upon the wide and immense reputation and goodwill of the plaintiff which the plaintiff has acquired after years of hard work,’ the suit states.

The Borivali Biryani Centre has also stated that after the use of BBC

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly A Biryani centre at Borivali has dragged Mariott Hotels to the Bombay High Court. BBC, as Borivali Biryani centre is better known as, has fi led a suit against the suburban five star hotel saying that they have misused their trademark BBC with the opening of a new baking outlet in the hotel.

Marriott Juhu has started an outlet by the name Bombay Baking Co and the acronym has been prominently displayed all around the restaurant.

The Centre claims that they have registered BBC as their trademark way back in 2002 and since then they have been ‘continuously, extensively and uninterruptedly’ using this trademark.

Their suit is against the Marriott Juhu and also Marriott International.

In the case, they have mentioned that they are running their business as a partnership fi rm and cater biryani to food lovers. ‘The partners of Borivali Biryani Centre or BBC, honestly conceived of and adopted the trade name, trading style and trade mark BBC and are using the same in respect of all their business activities,’ the case mentions.

It is further states that the Borivali Biryani Centre applied for registration of the said trade mark - BBC - under

as a trade mark by Marriott they have incurred losses. ‘The defendants have caused losses for the last 18 months to the plaintiff, which is to the tune of Rs 54 lakhs,’ the suit states. They have sought that the court should direct the hotel to pay them for the said loss.

In the case which is being heard by the Bombay High Court, the management of Juhu hotel has refused to withdraw the name BBC. Meanwhile, Marriott International has stated that they should not be dragged into the controversy. The parent organisation of the hotel chain has told the court that they have nothing to do with the outlet BBC at Marriott Juhu and hence the case against them does not hold water. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

JW Marriott Hotel at Juhu, Mumbai is being sued by Borivali Biryani Centre for trademark infringement; Bombay Baking Co in Marriott hotel (inset)

the relevant provisions of the Trade Marks Act, 1999. ‘The plaintiff (BBC) was granted registration certificates for the said Trade Mark by the appropriate authority,’ the suit states.

Owners of Borivali Biryani Centre have claimed in the suit that under the trade mark - BBC - they have been selling their goods extensively since 2002. ‘On account of the high, stringent and uncompromising standards of quality as applied by the plaintiff (BBC) in relation to the said

goods bearing the said trade mark, they are known for their superior quality, efficacy and are extremely popular and in demand,’ the suit states.

The biryani centre’s argument is that the trade mark has acquired tremendous goodwill and has become distinctive to their business. They have mentioned that their annual sales run into crores and in the financial year 2013 their profits alone were close to a crore.

It is their case that in 2013 they

came know of the fact that the trade mark BBC which is registered by them is being used Marriott in relation to a ‘business which is similar and confusing to the business they run.’

Simply put, they have told the court that they are into the business of supplying food and run an eatery and like their business Marriott has opened a cafe called Bombay Baking Company within the premises of its Juhu five star hotel. They are also using the trademark BBC.

Mumbai artist’s ‘fake proof’ Singhania Jr gifted `1.74cr, paintings on display in NYU retained `1.72cr The late architect-artist Jehangir Vazifdar’s works are being exhibited at the famed Grey Art Gallery until the first week of April BAPU DEEDWANIA At New York’s Grey Art Gallery, among works of India’s modern artists, stands a painting by the late architect Jehangir P Vazifdar. What chance would an architect’s canvas stand when held alongside paintings by FN Souza, MF Husain, Krishen Khanna, Somnath Hore, Mohan Samant and Krishna Reddy, one might ask. But the question lingers only until you see his work. He might have made architecture his bread and butter, but Vazifdar’s passion was always art.

Vazifdar is the man who gave Mumbai, then still Bombay, landmark structures such as the Breach Candy Apartments, Sorrento, Eden Hall, Amalfi and Washington House.

Evidently, he is considered to be one among Mumbai’s best architects. A JJ School of Architecture graduate, Vazifdar also set up the architecture college, Vazifdar College of Building Industries (VCBI) in the city apart from the art gallery Studio Windsor.

He might have been a popular architect, but his work as an artist was rather personal. In fact, he even had a term for his paintings – Vazifdart. His sense of humour and art helped him cope with a paralytic stroke. Until he breathed his last, in 2011, Vazifdar had created over 10,000 works, although he seldom

exhibited, and never sold, his works.

The late Abby Grey, founder of NYU’s fine arts museum, considered Vazifdar “by far the most astonishing artist” she had met during her trips to India. Vazifdar met Grey in 1965 and reportedly told her, “Others paint to make a living, I don’t have any such requirement. I refuse to sell my art at a cheap rate. It is not for sale!” The haughty artist developed a unique style to express himself. For the exhibition, art historian Susan Hapgood and art critic Ranjit Hoskote have chosen a self-portrait by Vazifdar, created in his inimitable ‘fake proof’ style. In the portrait, Vazifdar depicts his face through alternating curvilinear bands

Above: Jehangir Vazifdar’s son Phiroze with the colour dictionary his father came up with so that people could understand his work; Jehangir Vazifdar

of colour. “Lines of green, pink and black animate the red field, highlighting aspects of the abstracted visage,” mentions the exhibition’s catalogue. It further adds that although Vazidar’s painting recalls western psychedelic posters of the 1960’s, the self-portrait also demonstrates his interest in creating patently unreproducible art.

Phiroze Vazifdar, the artist’s son, recalls how the portrait reached Grey’s collection, “She has written about how repeatedly implored my father to be able to buy one of his works. But he said, ‘No one can pay for my art. Art is priceless!’

Eventually, my father ended up gifting her one of his paintings. It was a canvas painted in a completely self-invented style based on a personal theory of colour.”

Although he never sold his works, Vazifdar did share them with people as gifts. Phiroze recalls that one of the paintings was given to former prime minister Indira Gandhi. Vazifdar also shared one of his works with Pope Paul VI. The painting reached the pope with the following note written by the artist, “I hope you will like it. Please do not frame the painting as it will spoil the effect of freedom and movement. To appreciate it, please see it from a distance of 15-20ft.” Perhaps that’s a note to be remembered, if one ever comes across Vazifdar’s works in India. bapudeedwania@gmail.com

Dr Vijaypat Singhania’s grandchildren from estranged son claim their parents got pittance while being thrown out. TGS found out what Madhupati gifted to senior Singhania and what he got to keep in return BAPU DEEDWANIA AND YOGESH SADHWANI

A week after The Golden Sparrow broke the story on rift within The Singhania family, we accessed the ‘Family Arrangement’ signed in December 1998 between the two sides.

Madhupati Singhania and his wife Anuradha gave away a chunk of their share in family wealth to Dr Vijaypat Singhania, and in return were allowed to retain few assets, bank balances and shares in group companies. Purely going by papers, Madhupati and family ‘gifted’ their share valued at Rs 1,74,55,297 and got to keep assets worth Rs 1,72,61,565.

The rift is all about ancestral wealth of the Singhania family. In 1998, Dr Singhania and his elder son Madhupati decided to part ways. Back then, the 40-year-old moved out of their family home in Mumbai and settled down in Singapore with his wife Anuradha and four children – Ananya, Rasaalika, Tarini and Raivathari. While parting ways, the couple signed an agreement with Singhania senior giving up their share in family wealth. Not stopping at that, the couple also gave up the share of their minor children.

Seventeen years later, now that the children have grown up, they have fi led a suit in Bombay High Court challenging the Family Arrangement (FA) signed on December 30, 1998. Ananya (29), Rasaalika (26), Tarini (20) and Raivathari (18) have made their grandfather Dr Vijaypat Singhania, father Madhupati, mother Anuradha and Raymond Ltd party in the case.

According to the suit, the FA was signed on account of discord between Madhupati and Dr Singhania for over three years before 1998. The reason for this was the difference in management styles of the son and father. The main objective of the FA was to ‘avoid adverse effect on family peace, harmony and prestige.’ Back then, it was decided that Madhupati and his family would emigrate and lead an independent life after transferring everything, including the minor plaintiffs’ (all four

Madhupati Singhania (57) and his wife Anuradha (54) with their children Ananya (29), Rasaalika (26), Tarini (20) and Raivathari (18)

Dr Vijaypat Singhania

children) properties to Dr Singhania.

The only consideration, in favour of Madhupati, was that Dr Singhania assured reasonable help and support ‘without any economic interest.’

A closer look at the FA however reveals that Madhupati and family got to keep several assets, shares in group companies, a 2,800 square feet fl at in Mumbai, a portion of a farmhouse in Alibaug, bank balances, among others. These alone have been valued at Rs 1.56 crores (1998 valuation). Moreover, assets worth Rs 15.65 lakhs in the name of four siblings were also to be surrendered to Dr Singhania. The children, as per the FA were to get market value of the assets. All in all, the estranged son

and his family got to keep property worth Rs 1.72 crores.

In contrast, Madhupati and family ‘gifted’ their share valued at Rs 1.74 crores (1998 valuation) to Dr Singhania. Th is included one-eighth share in the ancestral properties.

The siblings have alleged in the suit that the properties were under-valued at the time of FA. For example, the suit states that ancestral jewellery was of considerable value, however, it was grossly undervalued at Rs 34.17 lakhs in the FA. They have asked that Dr Singhania be directed to furnish a list of ancestral jewellery so that its true value can be ascertained. They further allege that Dr Singhania acted in an ‘arbitrary manner’. The suit says that the shares and properties belonging to them were forcibly purchased at book value and a 20-acre property in Madhya Pradesh was valued at just Rs 1.31 lakhs. ‘Th is very clearly shows the arbitrariness of Dr Singhania in deciding everything in the manner and at price he chose.’

The case fi led in January this year will come up for hearing before Justice Gautam S Patel on April 6.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

Crime also sells on e-commerce sites P5

“The only solution to end open defecation and clean Pune is to build about 60,000 household toilets, in slums. Shelter has shared critical data with PMC and laid down a map for the future.”

- Pratima Joshi, Executive Director, Shelter Association

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Practice before you preach!

What a waste!

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Wakad cops launched a week-long manhunt for a convict who was sitting inside Yerawada prison

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke

MP Supriya Sule urged twitteratti to have faith in police force and refrain from keeping guns. But within her own party there are several leaders who couldn’t care less…

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal

resist from using guns. Little did she realise that within her party, there are several leaders who have gun licenses and openly carry their weapons.

“Why do we need guns? Let’s have more faith in our Police force. Plz All should avoid guns,” Sule tweeted from her handle @supriya_sule on March 30. While she did make sense, but shouldn’t the cleansing begin from within her party? archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

After Maharashtra’s Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan was spotted with a gun at a school function last week, several politicians launched a tirade against him. Almost everybody wanted him to resign. Joining the wagon was Supriya Sule, Member of Parliament from Baramati. On March 30, she put up a tweet stating that people should

The Golden Sparrow team caught up with several Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders from twin cities, all of whom had ‘legitimate’ reasons for owning guns. Maybe Sule ought to start with leaders in her own party before urging others to give up their guns.

“I had obtained the gun license in 2004 for self-defense. After my brother (Rajesh Behl) was murdered there was a threat perception and I got the license for my personal safety. Even though I have a weapon, I must say that it is easy keeping one. Handling a gun is not easy. But I really don’t have much of a choice but to continue keeping it.”

“I have had a gun license since 2002. I started keeping the weapon with me only after 2007, when I received threats from Chota Rajan gang. Way back then I got police protection. But I realised that there are limitations to police cover.

For example when I am at home or with my family, I cannot depend on cops to protect me. I have full faith in the police force and their ability to protect our lives.”

Datta Sane, NCP Corporator

“I had obtained a gun license in 2007 for my personal safety. I have faith in the police department but a gun gives me added security cover. As a lay person I would have never needed a gun for my protection. But my work involves going out late in the night and reaching out to all kinds of people. With a gun on me, I feel much safer.”

Dr Vaishali Ghodekar, Former Mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad

Yogesh Behl, NCP PimpriChinchwad city unit president

Digitisation of records shocks Pune police

7,000 people have not renewed or surrendered their firearm licence

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke The city police have issued show-cause notices to about 7,000 people who have neither renewed nor surrendered their firearm licence since past eight to 10 years.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Makrand Ranade said that the city police have issued 7,000 notices since February 2015.

“We found the alarming figure

after the police records were digitised,” Ranade said.

The City Police Commissionerate that covers Pune and PimpriChinchwad have updated and digitised records made since 1932. “The practice of issuing fi rearm licences was started by the British administration. After Independence, the city police have issued 24,000 licences till date,” he said.

The police officer said that the licencees may have either migrated

outside city police limits or passed away and their successors have not renewed the licence. Before leaving the jurisdiction of city police, licence holders must obtain a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the police.

The record digitisation has also thrown out an interesting fact that the Imperial Police had issued over 4,000 licences to army personnel and banks between 1932 and 1947. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Cops now target road contractors

Contractors allege that they are forced to grease palms if they want their work to continue

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat The public image of city police has dipped a notch lower. The custodians of law and order and traffic managers are seen failing to maintain professionalism. Their latest trick is to target road contractors.

PUNE

Cops are now interfering in the projects carried out by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Many contractors find their road related works abruptly stopped by police personnel for no fl imsy reasons, ending in the them greasing the palm of cops to get the project restarted.

The pipeline laying work on DP Road near Mhatre Bridge was the latest incident where a cop slapped a labourer who was digging the road. Even as the 1.5 ft deep digging work was not acutely affecting the traffic, the cop abused the labourer, ceased the equipment and asked him to bring the contractor to the police chowky to get the tool released.

The contractor complained to civic officials and a senior PMC officer talked to police higher-ups. Within an hour the seized equipment was returned but soon the cop revisited the spot only to shout at the poor labourer for complaining to higher authority.

Accusing the cops of becoming troubleshooters, many contractors allege that their projects are getting delayed and overhead costs are on a constant rising because of their unprofessional conduct. ashok.bhat21@gmail.com

“I have complete faith in police but there the fact remains that they face manpower shortage.

Hence in order to protect my life I got a gun license in 2010.

Around that time I had to make regular trips to my farm on the outskirts of the city. I used to travel at unearthly hours. I started keeping the gun for my personal safety.”

Mahesh Landge, NCP corporator, former PCMC standing committee chairman and Bhosari MLA (contested as an independent)

Inspector NJ Shaikh of Wakad police station told The Golden Sparrow that in the past one week they have checked For a week now Wakad cops have been all the possible places Nanak could busy looking for a murder convict, who have been hiding but haven’t been able came out on parole and never returned. to trace him. “His family members Their week long efforts are yet to yield said that he has gone back to jail but any results. Th is is all we did not trust them,” thanks to overzealous Shaikh said. prison officials at All the cops had Yerawada jail, who went to do was check his all out to lodge an FIR prison cell. A day after but forgot to check their the Fir was registered, own cells.

Nanak was back in the The case pertains to prison and locked up one Udal Harishchandra inside his cell. The jail Nanak, who was arrested authorities, however, in connection with a forgot to tell the cops to murder by Vishrantwadi stop the manhunt. police station in When informed December 2010. Ever that Nanak has returned since he has been lodged the prison, Shaikh said - INSPECTOR NJ SHAIKH in jail. Subsequently he that he was not aware was convicted. and prison authorities Nanak, a resident of Kalewadi, have not communicated the same. “I got out on parole on February 28. His will cross check the facts,” he said. week-long parole was to expire on Yogesh Desai, Yerwada Prison March 7. However, days after the term Superintendent, said that jail authoriexpired, Nanak did not make it back ties waited for Nanak’s return after his to prison. parole was over. “He had jumped the On March 25, authorities at parole and all the documents were preYerawada Central Prison approached pared for registration of FIR against Wakad police station and registered his name,” he said. He added that a day an FIR against Nanak. Local police later, Nanak returned and his office station and crime branch went all out forgot to alert the cops. to look for the convict. Senior Police gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

“Prison authorities did not tell us about Nanak’s return to jail”

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“More than 600 two-wheeler riders have died in last four years, which implies 600 families have been impacted by not wearing helmets” - Sarang Awad, Deputy Commissioner of Police

Assam to host Rongali festival to shine on tourism map

Empowering women, reviving craftsmanship in South Asia

P10

Don’t you ever dare

P12 1

to expose the

Pune cops...

They will do everything in their power to stop you. Early this week Bund Garden cops ruthlessly beat up a mentally deficient eunuch who had approached them for help. Two students who dared to capture the torture on their cellphones were also traced and thrashed mercilessly

BY Rajil Menon It’s 1.45 pm on Wednesday. The bus stop near Pune station is as always busy with buses getting in and out, hawkers inside the compound shouting to attract the attention of passengers, and commuters making a run for their rides. Just then, a eunuch in his early 20s runs out of the stand. He is being chased by half a dozen men, most of them wielding sticks and bamboos. He keeps begging for mercy but none of his attackers seem to care.

The ruffians, who pretend to be messiahs, have already brutally beaten the eunuch and even torn his clothes.

He is bleeding. There is not a single piece of clothing on the eunuch, who is trying to escape from the attackers.

But they catch up with him and assault him yet again. He somehow manages to escape from their clutches, and realising that the attackers won’t give up, the eunuch makes a run for a police chowkie in the neighbourhood.

EUNUCH Approaches police for help Once inside Bund Garden police chowkie, the eunuch thought that he would be safe. But instead of helping him and arresting his attackers, who were barely 20 metres away, a cop sitting inside the chowkie yells, “Chal bhaag re (Get lost).” When the eunuch refuses to budge and instead sits down on the floor outside the chowkie, a cop comes out and hurls abuses at him. He then looks at the attackers and tells them to take the fight elsewhere.

“Don’t do anything here. Take him elsewhere and do what you feel like.

This is a police chowkie, you can’t be seen taking law in your hands here,” said the cop, who seemed familiar with the attackers. Within minutes everything falls in place. The attackers are autorickshaw and taxi drivers who park in the vicinity of the bus stand. They claim that the eunuch is a nuisance and keeps harassing women.

The eunuch on the other hand, seems mentally deficient, and is in no position to say anything in his defence. He just picks a paver block and threatens to hurl it at his attackers if they come close.

Torture begins With the eunuch not budging from his spot inside the chowkie compound, and his attackers also trying to get him out, the cop decides to take matters in his hand. He starts kicking the eunuch.

‘Kapde ghal ani nig ithun (wear your clothes and get out of here),” says the cop, who by now is joined by several other men donning the khakhi. Just then one of the attackers throws a torn pair of shorts at the eunuch. Cops screams and tell the eunuch to not get up and wear his shorts sitting down. Each time he tries to get up, the cops kick him on his ribs. At least six cops had surrounded the eunuch, who was crouching on the floor outside the chowkie.

On seeing the cops hitting the eunuch, the men who were earlier chasing him, join in too. They urge the cops to get their favourite torture tool, a leather strap with a wooden handle, often used by police to extract confessions from criminals during interrogation. One of the cop goes inside the chowkie and returns with the homemade device, better known as the patta. Fresh round of assault on the eunuch begins. The attackers and cops pin the helpless eunuch down, while one of the men in khakhi repeatedly whips him. In between, they bring buckets of water and pour it on the eunuch, who by now has started bleeding from more places on his body

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1) Eunuch outside Bund Garden police chowkie. A cop asks him to leave 2) Eunuch gets up, but sits down again as he realises that the men baying for his blood are not too far 3 & 4) Men with bamboo sticks and lathis waiting not too far for the eunuch to get out of police chowkie compound 5) Cops nab one of the two students who captured a clip of them beating the eunuch 6) Akshay Sonone being thrashed by the cops 7) Sonone being escorted to police chowkie, where he was thrashed yet again 8) Eunuch running for cover from the ruffians after leaving the police chowkie 9) Goons catch up with him 10) Several men came together and ruthlessly beat up the eunuch

than he was earlier.

In all this, a crowd has gathered outside the chowkie to witness the melee. Most people are simply standing, enjoying the show. The cops keep checking on the audience intermittently between the blows and whips. Good ten minutes of bashing and cops manage to get the eunuch do what they wanted, wear his shorts without getting up. The cops were happy that his command had been obeyed. But they had stomach for few more lashes, and started using the patta on the eunuch once again.

Caught on camera Just then one of the cops spots something fishy in the crowd. A youngster was shooting the episode on his cellphone. “What are you doing?

You think this is a joke?” one of the cops screams. Another one tells the crowd to nab the youngster wearing blue shirt. Just then, the youngster, who was evidently with another, scoots. The companion too follows.

Fresh chase Yet another chase begins. A cop gets on his bike and heads in the direction where the youngsters had gone. Some of the autorickshaw drivers, who were initially beating up the eunuch, too join the chase. They set out on foot behind the youngsters.

Good ten minutes later, they return pleased. They had managed to nab two of the three youngsters.

“Sir please let go of us. We haven’t recorded anything. We are students,” pleaded the two youngsters, while being dragged and repeatedly slapped by auto drivers and a cop. Now it’s turn for the two boys. They are brought to the chowkie and thrashed. They are spared the patta though. Cops make do with punches, slaps and kicks.

Focus back on the eunuch While the cops get busy with the youngsters, auto drivers focus their attention back to the eunuch who is still writhing in pain in the chowkie’s

compound. They start bashing him.

This time, the eunuch gets up and starts running towards Pune station, good 500 metres away. The drivers chase him – as and when they are able to get near him they beat him with sticks. The eunuch somehow manages to make to the safety of the railway station and drivers give up on him.

Youngsters not spared either Back at the chowkie, cops take the two youngsters inside. All one could hear outside were frantic cries of the two. They were obviously being beaten.

The cops were proud that they had nabbed the two criminals, who were trying to expose them. Their torture lasted a good half an hour.

It was only around 3 pm, when their maternal uncle, came to the chowkie that they were released. But not before they signed a maafinama (apology letter). The two students finally managed to get out of the chowkie by 3.41 pm.

“They found some clips on our phone and deleted them. We have given them an apology letter and promised that we will not repeat any such thing again. I feel so pathetic for even bothering to record the incident.

We are students who are here for our exams,” said Akshay Sonone, one of the students, while the other one was too rattled to even utter a word.

“The cops have told us that if we say anything they will ruin us. They have our full names and addresses and also know that we are here to appear for competitive exams,” said Akshay.

Rajesh Titade, Sonone’s maternal uncle, too seemed rattled. “For now I have got them out. But I don’t want them to get into any trouble,” he said and whisked the two youngsters away from the chowkie immediately.

The cops, who had spotted TGS Team talking to the two youngsters and their maternal uncle, said, “Why would you want to side up with that eunuch. He is nothing but a menace.

He harasses women here. So what if

we slapped him a few times. These boys should have known better than to try and do a sting on us,” said one of the constables to the TGS Team.

Other constables too asked us to leave and not make a big deal about the incident.

Little did the cops know that we had captured most of the incident on our cellphone.

Authority Speak When TGS contacted Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cantonment Division) Atmacharan Shinde, he said, “If the college students, who were beaten up by the police, lodge a complaint, I will conduct an inquiry.

If they do not lodge a complaint, I will order a suo-moto inquiry against the cops provided we get footage of the incident.” He added, “If the victim (eunuch) of brutalities by the autorickshaw drivers and other local residents lodge a complaint, the incident will be registered as FIR for further investigations.”

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

“Today, everybody knows the laws are being blatantly violated for development. There is a need to put pressure on the government to make sure the laws are abided by. A planned movement will surely make a difference” —Dr Madhav Gadgil, environmentalist

Secret of winning cases in consumer courts

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SOLEMN SACRIFICE RAHUL RAUT

Crime also sells on e-commerce sites

Go plastic-free, help environment

PUNE

City cyber crime branch has received complaints of harassment and cheating

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TGS Quiz Contest

2. Name the Indian who has won the prestigious Peltier Award?

3. Who is the tallest female basketball player in India?

4. Where are Qutb Shahi Tombs located?

5. Where is the annual Lotus Bazaar held?

6. Name the first solo film of Ali Fazal?

7. Shardul Akolkar gave music for which documentary?

8. Name the latest album of Blackstratblues?

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PUNE, MARCH 28, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

TGS LIFE

Run for... yourself

NATION

CITY

Get your voice heard on NetaG P6

No damaged goods please P3

GRANDCHILDREN SUE THE COMPLETE MAN

PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5

PUNE, MARCH 21, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

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PUNE, MARCH 14, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

Dr Vijaypat Singhania’s grandchildren from his estranged son Madhupati have moved Bombay High Court seeking their share in ancestral property. They have filed a suit against their grandfather, father, mother and Raymond Limited. Detailed story on p7 TGS LIFE

When hunger strikes past midnight

NATION

CITY

Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings P 12

Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days?

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DITCH THE

AUTO,

HAIL A

CAB

GAUTAM SINGHANIA

Truly, a tree lady P4

or long distances (depending on their mood), overcharge or ask for obnoxious fares, often refuse to ply by meter – the list is endless.

TGS Team members decided to give the ‘victimised’ autorickshaw drivers a chance.

Five members of the team tried hiring rickshaws for distances ranging between 1.5 and 20 kms. All the members came back irked and disgruntled. The autorickshaw community let us down badly, as they do with citizens across the twin cities.

Then we tried our luck with private cab operators, who were more than were willing to oblige

Intentions of Dr Singhania were ‘malafide and illegal’ with a motive to grab the share of Madhupati and Anuradha as well as grandchildren and to achieve the same he directed that his son and daughter-inlaw move to another country ‘instead of Collectively Pune Municipal continuing to stay in India with the family.

DEHU

6

Corporation, PimpriChinchwad Municipal Corporation and Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited have spent `1,816 crores on constructing dedicated corridors and flyovers along major routes, erecting bus shelters, and buying buses.

Despite this not a single route is operational or has succeeded in years. Citizens residing in twin cities continue to cry foul over pathetic public transport system. And from the looks of it nothing is going to change in near future.

See Spotlight on p8&9

RITU GOYAL HARISH

Department (PWD). A senior CID official told TGS that PWD have been told to fi x the problem but nobody has turned up for inspection yet.

“We are waiting for them. It seems PWD had asked the building contractor to repair it but the latter refused stating that the structure has already been handed over to PWD. So, maintenance has to be done by PWD,” the officer said.

Additional Director General of Police (CID) SP Yadav said, “I have asked PWD officers to fi x it but for some strange reasons it has been delayed. It is a small problem and will be fi xed soon.” gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

ALANDI

AKURDI

CHINCHWAD

RAVET

BHOSARI

4 THERGAON HINJEWADI VILLAGE

KALEWADI FATA

WAKAD

DIGHI

NASHIK PHATA

5

LOHEGAON

DAPODI 50

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3 4 BANER

VISHRANT VIMAN WADI NAGAR YERWADA

AUNDH

2

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AH47

WADGAON SHERI

MUNDHWA

SHIVAJI NAGAR

GHORPADI

9

BAVDHAN

CAMP

HADAPSAR

KOTHRUD

SWARGATE PARVATI

WANOWRIE

1

NANDED AMBEGAON BUDRUK

KONDHWA

UNDRI

KATRAJ

4

Sab golmal hai...

Had it not been for a Pune-based activist everybody had forgotten about a film on Lokmanya Tilak commissioned in 2001 by Central Government at the cost of 2.5 crores. Three years after Vishnu Kamalapurkar raised questions about the film,

said director of the school, who

fi led the FIR and kept in touch with “We are feeling the investigating officer and public prosecutor The director is let down by the PUNE, MARCH 14, 2015throughout. | www.thegoldensparrow.com yet to get a copy of the order. prosecution The case dates back to February 2013 when some of the students and the system. studying in class five walked up to their class teacher and alleged that It is upsetting their creative writing sir had touched because we do them inappropriately. The class teacher in turn informed the principal and not how to face management.

School authorities spoke to several other students and the parents and found that 22 girls in all had levelled similar allegations. Director of the students who school approached Chaturshrungi came forward police station and lodged an FIR under the Protection of Children from to give their Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA).

The investigation was carried out by statements.”

DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL

CHIKHALI

KIWALENIGDI

~ Suit filed by the siblings

The creative writing teacher from a reputed school in Baner was booked and arrested in February 2013. A special court acquitted him on the grounds that police bungled up in collecting evidence

The case created ripples across the city. A teacher was accused of sexually abusing 22 students all from fi fth standard of a reputed school in Baner.

In February 2013, Chaturshrungi police registered a case of sexual abuse against the creative writing teacher and arrested him immediately. Two years after the cops went all out to claim that they had a watertight case, the teacher has been acquitted by a Special Court. The court ruled that the prosecution made out a weak case. The management of the school and parents of students are not only disappointed but also irked with the outcome.

“We are feeling let down by the prosecution and the system. It is upsetting because we do not how to face the parents and students who came forward to give their statements.

We believe we were on the right,”

Parents teach them more than exams do P 10

`1,816 1,816 crores spent on BRTS,

~ Suit filed by the siblings

What a mess!

Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

CITY

TGS LIFE

Hum Saath Saath Hain

And yet no respite for commuters

DR VIJAYPAT SINGHANIA

Madhupati Singhania (57) and his wife Anuradha (54) with their children Ananya (29), Rasaalika (26), Tarini (20) and Raivathari (18)

Rickshaw unions across the city want us to believe that private cab service providers or radio cab operators, as they are popularly known as, are villains.

Around 12,000 radio cabs have made their lives miserable for 50,000-odd autorickshaw drivers in twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The auto drivers want us to believe that corporate houses with deep pockets behind the cab services are eating into their share. Essentially poor rickshaw drivers are getting poorer because of stiff competition from private cab operators.

All that the auto drivers are

While Gautam Singhania ‘in a span of 14 years as CMD of Raymond Limited has built a personal net worth of `1.4 billion, Madhupati belonging to the same family was struggling to settle down in a new country, educate his children and make a new life.’ Gautam and his family led a luxurious life ‘with fancy cars, private jets, yachts and expensive holidays.’

Precious man hours are lost every day at Hinjewadi just because planners forgot to make more entry and exit points. Over a decade after Hinjewadi was planned to house country’s best IT firms and talent, planners have finally woken up to the plight of citizens.

They have now planned five alternative roads. But the authorities are in no hurry to complete them. See spotlight on p8 & 9

Supriya Bhoite from Chaturshrungi police station.

Contd on p4

PUNE, MARCH 28, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

Hum

advance, and second instalment was to be released after completion of certain formalities. The very next year second instalment was also disbursed.

Cut to October 2012 – Kamalapurkar fi led an RTI with chief public information officer (CPIO) of Ministry of Culture seeking information about the fi lm on Tilak.

The CPIO was clueless about the project and sought information from his colleagues in other department in the same ministry. But none of them knew about the existence of fi lm. In January 2013, the Culture Ministry forwarded his application to Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) as well hoping that they would have commissioned the fi lm. I&B in turn contacted National

Vishnu Kamalapurkar, Pune-based activist, sought details of the project in 2012 from the Central Government only to be told that they had no records left

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat The fi lm was jinxed from the start. It was commissioned to celebrate 50th Anniversary of Indian Republic.

While 2000 was the celebratory year, the project was assigned to fi lm-maker Vinay Dhumale only by the end of 2001. Money was doled out and it was expected to get over in a year’s time.

Fourteen years later, there is no sign of the fi lm. Vishnu Kamalapurkar, Pune-based activist, sought details of the project in 2012 from the Central Government only to be told that they had no records left, the concerned ministry had been wound up, and that fi lm-maker could not be traced.

Essentially, the government acceded that it had been duped of `2.5 crores, the sum that was transferred to the fi lm-maker.

It has taken Kamalapurkar three years since he sought details about the fi lm under Right to Information Act to get the government to launch a fullfledged investigation. Dhumale has

Ministry of Culture wrote to Kamalapurkar admitting that PUNE, MARCH 21, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com the issue came to light only after receiving his RTI finally been traced by the government with the help of police and claims that the fi lm will be released in “next two to four months”. He still hasn’t answered several questions raised by the government about the script and the star cast.

It all started in December 2001, when Commemoration Bureau under the Ministry of Tourism and Culture commissioned a fi lm on Lokmanya Tilak. A sum of Rs 1.25 crores was paid to Dhumale immediately as an

Saath Saath

When

HUNGER STRIKES past midnight

A family that prays together stays together. Pune’s joint families on why they agree to disagree

TGS takes a night trail around the city to look for places that will silence a grumbling tummy in the dark of night

The Kamdars

Run for…

yourself

Puneites are running to fight depression, lethargy, even physical disadvantage. Marathoners are taking over the street and making the city fitter than it has ever been

PUNE’S FIRST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY Invitation Price

`5

9. Name Shama Patel’s first book?

10. Name the artist who creates artwork out of dead cassette

hands-on experience, theory-based understanding and an enhanced global perspective to her marketing students.

“This is an eye-opening experience for a lot of students,” wrote Chanchai Tangpong, professor of management.

Ganesh-Pillai earned a bachelor’s degree and Master of Business Administration from the University of Pune.

She also earned a Master of Business Administration from Emporia State University, Kansas, and a doctorate from the University of Central Florida.

IANS

THANK GOD IT’S S AT U R D AY

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke The office that holds the think tank that cracks sensitive crimes across the state is falling apart. The floor tiles are broken, its sharp edges have popped up and sand grains are coming loose from the floor. Even electrical cables are open posing a threat to staff and visitors.

The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department’s headquarters located in Chavannagar on Pashan Road is in a sorry state. The floor tiles in front of the offices of the Inspector General (IG) of Police and Deputy Inspectors General of Police have broken apart and sand has come loose. Visitors to these top ranking officers are found slipping, tripping and even falling before entering or meeting the latter.

The construction of the new building began in 2005 and was completed in 2009. The CID office moved from its British-era Sangamwadi building to its new building in the same year.

The maintenance of state government buildings is the responsibility of State Public Works

Pune University graduate Rajani Ganesh-Pillai, assistant professor of marketing at the North Dakota State University (NDSU), will be recognised during the annual Celebration of Faculty Excellence scheduled for May 6 with three other faculty members.

“NDSU has many amazing and dedicated faculty members,” said Provost Beth Ingram. The Peltier Award was established by Joseph and Norma Peltier to honour innovation in teaching. Ganesh-Pillai will be recognised for her efforts to bring

PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Resources Minister?

WASHINGTON: An IndianAmerican professor who uses a game called “Baffa Baffa” to teach culture’s role in business and how it can affect transactions and relationships has won the prestigious Peltier Award Rajani Ganesh-Pillai for innovation in teaching.

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

1. Who is Maharashtra’s Water

PWD is yet to fix loose flooring in front of senior officers’ rooms

Teaching award for Pune educated Indian-American

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

nswers to the following 10 questions are embedded in the stories featured in this edition. Send us the correct answers at contest. tgs@gmail.com and be one of the two lucky winners to receive gift coupons.

Tiles of state CID HQ tell sorry tale

Christians participate in a procession to commemorate Good Friday at Don Bosco Church in Yerawada on April 3

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

A

No. 42

his car two months ago. He lodged a complaint with the city police’s cyber cell stating that unidentified persons had taken photograph of his car and uploaded it on OLX claiming that the car was on sale. * A person wanted to buy a premium brand costly cellphone and placed an advertisement. A few responded to his advertisement and one person asked him to deposit Rs 18,000. Both met and the ‘phone’ was handed over to the victim, who later found that it was a toy.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber, Economics) Gopinath Patil said that these complaints were registered in the past eight months.

“We are investigating four complaint applications and three fi rst information report (FIR). Complaints involving trivial sums are also registered every week. The online platform of buying and selling is misused by people with criminal intentions,” he said.

Patil said that the elderly man could not sleep as he used to receive inquiry calls throughout the night.

It is suspected that his neighbours, who were annoyed with him over the parking issue, had taken photographs of his car and uploaded the advertisement giving the victim’s cellphone number.

Police Inspector Sushma Chavan said that in the Sahakarnagar case, one of the victim’s friends was jealous and uploaded her cellphone photograph on e-commerce website with contact details. “The aim of her friend was to harass the victim. We have warned her friend,” Chavan said.

Chavan said that the intention of these crimes ranges from harassments to cheating. “The Harley-Davidson case was of cheating and the suspects were from Mumbai,” she said. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

onwards, she started receiving calls asking her to quote price for selling her handset. The girl has lodged a complaint with Sahakarnagar police station. Apparently, one of her friends had taken photograph of the victim’s cellphone and uploaded it on OLX as a sale advertisement. * An iPhone 5 was on sale on Quikr.com and a city-based software engineer contacted the ‘seller’, who quoted a price of Rs 19,300. The techie paid the money but the owner of the cellphone is missing. * An elderly man, who used to park his car on the road in Deccan area, was perturbed after he received inquiry calls till 2 am regarding the sale of

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke A Warje-based businessman saw an advertisement on OLX website about a year-old Harley Davidson Street Glide SP on sale for Rs 5 lakh. The advertisement carried cellphone details of the seller. The businessman contacted the number and the person asked the caller to deposit Rs 50,000 in a bank account. For the last four months, the businessman is pursuing the advertiser but his cellphone is switched off. The businessman has now fi led a police complaint. * A girl student of a college located in Dhankavdi bought a new cellphone and showed it to her friends. Next day

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TECH

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

The majority of computer users blink 7 times per minute at most, compared to the normal blink rate of 20 blinks per minute.

— http://geekofreak.com/

Egyptian lady reveals 42-year secret of survival

Our voices needs to be heard

P 13

P 15

Log on to your classroom Edusync is a cloud-enabled service meant to boost learning and teaching experience for students and teachers TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

with students”, says Kushal. Students on the other hand can view their coursework and discuss problems with their teachers.

How does one get access to Edusync?

Edusync is a simple sign-up portal. It is as easy as creating an email account with the simple registration process. Only thing required is the institute’s consent and willingness to use Edusync as a platform for better student-teacher interaction. The portal is free of cost for the fi rst year and will be chargeable at minimal Rs 10 for

How does Edusync benefit in the larger picture?

Edusync is an apt solution to help students who have to carry heavy weight to their study place everyday. It cuts down on many unnecessary elements like having to carry extra books and eliminates the costs of photocopying. It creates a social networking platform for a better understandable relationship between students and their teachers. It opens a new avenue where a student can connect with the teacher anywhere and anytime. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

QUICK FACTS

VOICES

• One can share any file on Edusync.

• The platform is divided into four simple divisions – class schedules, assignments, library and chat.

• It allows parents to sign up to keep a better track of their child’s academic performance.

• Students will never miss a deadline, given the calendar system.

• Teachers get better understanding of student’s behavioral patterns, timelines of completing tasks, punctuality etc.

As a teacher, it’s my duty to promote and rationalize technology to the students and EduSync is a perfect way of doing so. Edusync enables us save time due to its instant distribution and organization of study materials. Apart from that it also helps us share notifications with students instantly, for instance, if a class is postponed or has been cancelled at last minute.

Pallavi Rajput, teacher

Students design ‘smart trolley’ that tracks LPG usage

Access to free and open Internet

Surfers can view any content they like, content providers can publish whatever they want, but thanks to net neutrality, Internet Service Providers or ISPs cannot use any discretion RAVI KIRAN

After smartphones, gear up for the ‘smart trolley’, a unique device designed by two Kolkata students that signals excessive liquid petroleum gas (LPG) usage and also helps track it’s consumption.

Designed by the ‘Smart-intech’ team comprising Arghya Bhattacharya and Dwaipayan Chowdhury, the smart trolley was the winning innovation in the city’s maiden technological hackathon, the ‘Nasscom 10,000 Start-ups presents SparHACK’.

Held during March 26-28 at the Jadavpur University as part of its tech fest ‘Convolution 2015’, the event saw around 100 participants - students and young entrepreneurs pitch pressing problems in India and then brainstorm and devise innovative solutions over a span of three days.

Teams were asked to come up with ideas on the IoT or ‘Internet of Th ings’, a very relevant computing concept that describes a future where everyday devices and gadgets will be connected to network and be able to identify themselves to other devices.

The winning team designed a smart trolley that functions as an LPG usage optimiser.

“The trolley notifies when gas usage becomes excessive and also doubles as a usage-tracker feeding data to an online server. Th is will directly address issues of gas crises and delayed delivery of cylinders especially in rural India,” Bhattacharya said.

The team won a cash prize of Rs.20,000 and a F6S Gold Card Membership, a start-up kit having online resources valued at two million dollars.

IANS

What is Net-Neutrality?

Before answering the question, let us understand how the internet functions.

Internet makes it possible to connect to any computer on the network to request/ send data immediately. What makes this internet communication robust and different from telephone communication is that the latter needs a dedicated link between source and destination for the data exchange to happen.

On the internet, data can traverse through different available routes, like shown in the figure below. One of the possible routes is highlighted in red.

Th is breakthrough in data communication was what made the internet a reality.

How does this all work?

Each connected computer has an internet protocol (IP) address, which is its unique identification on the internet. The data to

iOS/android: Free Zomato has been around long enough to become the default choice for research on places to eat.

While competitor and incumbent Burrp fell by the wayside, Zomato has made strides internationally as well as on their website and app. The iOS app we tested is polished and works well. If you choose to connect to Facebook, there’s a social element to Zomato, allowing you to “follow” your friends and their experiences at various eateries. The location-based search in the app is useful for quickly drilling down to restaurants in the vicinity, perfect for those “where should we eat?” situations. Getting directions is as easy as tapping on the map in a listing, allowing you to open directions in either apple or google maps on iOS. A nice touch for nonUS residents, for whom Apple maps is entirely useless.

Zomato is almost always on top of the page when you search for a restaurant on Google, so it stands to reason that this should be your standard database of eateries on your phone.

Quinto

EduSync is a platform which enables us to keep track of our child’s day to day learning without the fear of misplacing their study materials. Its user friendly and helps in reducing excess book load for our kids.

Sushmita Ghosh, Parent

A couple of month back, Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator, excluded Voice over Internet Protocol -VoIP services like Skype and Viber from their 2G/3G internet plans. Th is meant that the data usage for skype or viber calls will be charged outside the plan, costing subscribers more. Airtel later announced separate VoIP packages at a slightly higher cost than the normal data packages for using such services. Th is move to segregate internet services by Airtel came under a lot of criticism. People argued that, Airtel, with this discriminative pricing move, had violated “Net-Neutrality”. The outrage was so big that Airtel had to retract the move.

I will come back to the idea of NetNeutrality in a bit. But it is interesting that the critics bring in this argument only now when the customer is asked to pay a bit more.

In this case, how do you explain a low cost plan that the operator offers for accessing Whatsapp service, which directly dents the SMS service that it provides? Th is is plain scaremongering to get people on to their side in the net-neutrality argument without making any effort to objectively debate it.

Though the word “net-neutrality” was coined back in 2003, we in India have come to know about it very recently. A few months back, former Minister of State for Information Technology, Milind Deora, opened up the debate by penning a contradictory piece favouring net-neutrality.

He titled it “The customer is kingkong”, and went on to contradict it by arguing that customer should be protected by regulatory bodies. There is another piece by Pranesh Prakash favouring net-neutrality, who asks “Whose internet is it anyway?” but fails to answer it in his article.

Apps for foodies Zomato

the successive year.

Having trouble maintaining the study material or finding it difficult to circulate important notes in class? Edusync, a cloud-enabled service is the key to everything that relate to study materials for students, teachers and parents.

Spearheaded by Kushal Chudiwala and Nikhil Tibrewala, Edusync aims at enhancing the learning and teaching experience for students and teachers. “With a simple interface, Edusync provides a platform for teachers to manage their classrooms with a click of a mouse, and makes it easier for students to access their study material. Teachers can supervise multiple classrooms, distribute and receive class assignments, make schedules, put out announcements and can have personal interaction

APP WORLD

iOS/Android: Free Quinto takes a different approach to a food craving, attempting to answer “what” as opposed to “where” you should eat. Opening the app throws you straight into a list of highly rated food items available in a 2km radius around you.

Clicking through to takes you to an eatery’s listing, an option to rate the item and to dive in further and see other rated items. Strangely, while the app does use your location to recommend items, you can’t actually see eateries on a map or get directions. Still, it’s a fast, no-nonsense app that will prove useful, but you’ll have to find your way with another app.

Foodpanda

be sent is divided into small data packets; along with the data, each packet carries the information of the IP addresses of sender and receiver. Finally, for data transmission to happen, i.e. for computers to understand each other, there are some rules/ protocols that they should follow. The transmission control protocol/IP or TCP/IP is one such popular protocol to send data.

When I request a picture from Facebook, its server divides the picture into small data packets, includes my IP in each packet as the destination address, and transmits it using the TCP/IP protocol. These packets travel over the network, take available routes to reach the destination IP. Not all these packets need take the same route nor they need to be received in a particular order. Once all the packets are received, my computer assembles

NET NEUTRALITY

DEBATE

them based on the sequence number they carry and displays the picture. Yes, all this in a matter of seconds, if not milliseconds.

But who is helping me connect with these content providers like Facebook, Google and YouTube? The Internet Service Providers (ISPs). While the content providers build big web-servers to make their content available, it is ISPs with their routers, computers, cabling network, wireless transmitters, and other equipment, which carry the data packets to our home machines as and when requested.

Therefore, broadly, there are three players in the internet business: web content providers, ISPs and web surfers. ISPs charge both the content providers and web surfers for using their channels.

The principle of net neutrality is that, ISPs, which facilitate content providers and surfers, should treat all data packets equally without any discrimination. Th is in effect means:

• •

ISPs cannot block any content.

They cannot have different data charges for different content.

• They cannot prioritise content by using fast/ slow lanes.

• They cannot have any understanding with content providers to make latter’s content available faster or at cheaper rates.

The issue of net neutrality came into the limelight in 2008 when Comcast, one of the leading ISPs in the US, was accused of blocking peer-to-peer (BitTorrent) data transfer. People generally use this service to download heavy fi les like movies. As this high bandwidth transfer was causing congestion in the network, thereby inconveniencing majority of its users, Comcast decided to block it. Th is was judged illegal and they were forced to unblock it.

It is estimated that almost three billion people across the world are connected to the internet today. However, it did not happen overnight nor it was something planned.

Private individuals and companies, in their own self-interest, went out there and built these vast networks. No one told them to be content providers or ISPs, they chose what they could do best and spontaneously aligned to produce this wonderful thing called the internet. The whole thing rests on only one principle: voluntary association, made possible by clearly defined property rights.

Net neutrality’s cruelty is indiscriminating ISPs. Surfers can view any content they like, content providers can publish whatever they want, but ISPs cannot use any discretion.

Th is is both immoral and foolish. ISPs, with the vast amount of infrastructure they have invested in, accommodate millions of new users every day and manage an unimaginable amount of content that is generated at an every click.

They also compete with each other in delivering better services to their customers.

From dial up internet days to what we are experiencing today, the improvement is unbelievable.

iOS/android: Free Foodpanda now owns Tasty Khana, another popular online food ordering service. Their apps are near identical, and we assume their databases will be as well. We’ll look at the parent app then. Diving straight in, Foodpanda shows you a list of restaurants in your area that you can order from.

Clicking through takes you to a heirarchial menu of items that you can add to an order before checking out.

You can filter the list of restaurants to show you just the ones that do online payments - useful if you forgot to make a trip to the ATM before getting home. Special deals and discounts are also available inapp, which is nice, since a lot of apps tend to run promotions with restaurants often. Foodpanda is a go-to app for those late nights at the office.

Epicurious iOS/android/WP: Free If you’re feeling industrious, or just don’t want to eat out, Epicurous is a long-standing favourite of home cooks. Perhaps that’s stretching it.

You’re not going to find much Indian cooking in Epicurious, which tends to be more US-centric. Still, there’s salads, pastas and even plenty of vegetarian dishes on offer in Epicurious’ recipes. It also helps out in shopping for ingredients - you can simply add all the stuff you’ll need for a particular dish into a shopping list and be on your way. There are curated sections as well, such as “Easter mains”, “Passover desserts” and the like, but again US-centric. It’s a nicely designed app and quick to use, just falling short of local content.

Faasos iOS/android: Free If your focus is to get the fastest grub possible, look no further than Faasos, a popular rolls chain that originated in Pune. There’s a huge network of stores and chances are there’s one near you, wherever you are. The app is focused on their menu, is quick and easy to operate and deliveries are lightning quick. The established international chains can certainly learn a thing or two from Faasos; we’ve seen some downright awful apps from our burger and pizza overlords. The Faasos app has no fancy bits. Select your items, check out, you’re done.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

““If someone says he’s doing 20 hours of non-value added work in a week, he needs a job change. He’s stagnating there. I give such people new work to do” —Amit Kalyani, executive director, Kalyani Group

“The idea behind WISH emerged out of my passion for innovation and affordable health care. I wanted to find a way to channel these two passions to help the poor in India” —Sunil Wadhwani, founder, Wish Foundation India

These greenthumbs want to take over your garden Two young ecoentrepreneurs are changing the face of domestic gardens across the city, turning Pune greener with every success story

Online hiring firm Talview wins British contest

The start-up also bagged an opportunity to interact with local entrepreneurs of London and Manchester and tech firms

BY ZAINAB KANTAWALA @Kantawalzainab Their penchant for growing food has taken Nikhil More (29), and Sharan Shirur (30), far and wide, looking for innovative hydroponic systems, world class soluble nutrients, and other agricultural tools. Somewhere along the line, their little hobby turned into a business with the website, growhouse.in.

For the uninitiated, hydroponics is essentially a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water, without soil. Instead, non-soil material, like gravel, or nutrient soil, is used to grow the plants. The founders, Sharan and Nikhil wanted to give gardening enthusiasts access to the best in their hobby.

“We were always interested in hydroponics, but as a hobby. That was when we came across the difficulties in getting these products in India. We realised that there was a void in the Indian hydroponics scene and created the website to fulfil it,” says Nikhil.

The city based eco-preneurs, as they like to call themselves, believes that hydroponics is the future in foods. “As we run out of farmable area, it seems

PUNE

(From left) Sharan Shirur and Nikhil More with plants grown in hydrophonic technology

GROWING MEDIUM IN HYDROPNICS • The material, in which the roots of the plants are growing, covers a vast variety of substances, including Rockwool, perlite, vermiculite, coconut fibre, gravel, sand and more.

• The growing medium is an inert substance that doesn’t supply any nutrition to the plants. The nutrition comes from nutrient solution (water and fertiliser

unfair that forests are being cleared out to create farms that can provide food for the millions living in cities.

With hydroponics you can grow a lot more produce than you can with traditional farming, using much lesser space,” says Nikhil.

combined). You can therefore, easily control everything the plants receive.

• The strength and pH balance of the nutrient solution is easy to adjust so that the plants receive just the right amount of food.

The watering/feeding cycles can be controlled by an inexpensive timer so that the plants get watered on schedule, as needed.

Moreover, when you grow your own vegetables, you are saving precious fuel that is otherwise used to transport the food to your doorstep. “These plants consume much lesser water too, since it is being re-circulated constantly,” explains Nikhil, adding, “Our systems

are small and will fit perfectly on your window sill or kitchen counter.”

The venture’s online portal is far from a regular hydroponic web-shop, but a thriving community of green-thumbedgurus and agricultural enthusiasts. At GrowHouse they believe in their passion for growing at home, “Maintaining home gardens is our passion – we understand the need for using world class products and the immense happiness that eating what you’ve grown yourself brings,” says Nikhil.

The green entrepreneur believes that GrowHouse has a bright future. “Right now, we are concentrating on building awareness of the ease and possibility of growing at home, while providing access to products via our web shop. We look at it growing into a thriving community of urban home growers soon.”

BENGALURU: Online hiring startup Talview has won the Great Tech Rocketships contest in Britain to explore business landscape of Europe.

“We were one of the five startups to win the contest organised recently by the UK Trade & Investment in partnership with TechHub and iSpirit,” Talview said here in a statement here on Tuesday.

The event also gave the two-yearold start-up an opportunity to interact with local entrepreneurs of London and Manchester and tech fi rms for collaborations and joint ventures. The US-based start-up, promoted and run

by NRIs, is an automated interview platform to assist organisations screen and hire techies faster.

The four other winning startups in the contest are Congruent Solutions, FRILP.com, Tone Tag and Agrima Infotech. “The event also helped us to understand the business landscape to tap right opportunities,” Talview chief executive Sanjoe Jose said in a statement. The British government also offered Talview free work space in the start-up facility (The Landing), which is a part of the media city in Manchester.

“The one week spent in Britain gave us lot of exposure about the way of doing business, the market potential and opportunities,” Jose recalled. Talview plans to make

Sanjoe Jose

Britain headquarters of planned European operations.

Talview also bagged a one-year membership in TechHub, providing it access to its co-working centres in Boston, London and Bengaluru.

Set up in May 2012 as Interview Master, the company’s innovative video platform is based on the concept of asynchronous video interviews.

Recruiters the world over use Talview’s tool to hire talent for Fortune 500 in IT, engineering, pharma and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance).

Cognizant, ABB, Wockhardt, Teamlease, Cipla, ABC Consultants, and JSW are some of Talview’s clients among other global fi rms.

Talview is funded by Mayfield, a leading Silicon Valley Venture Capital fund.

IANS

Mobile chat application creator to host ‘Hikeathon’ BENGALURU: Home-grown chat application creator Hike Messenger is hosting ‘Hikeathon’, a two-day offline hack fest for engineers and mobile developers here from Saturday.

“The event will give a unique opportunity for hackers to think innovatively and find solutions on how to make the So-Lo-Mo (social-localmobile) revolution a reality, especially in the context of messaging,” Hike chief technology officer Rajat Bansal

said in a statement here on Friday. The 24-hour event is being organised on Saturday and Sunday in partnership with Venturesity, a peer learning and competition platform, which conducted hackathons for start-ups, e-commerce firms and large enterprises in the past.

About 1,000 engineers have registered for the event so far. Three winning teams, to be selected on Sunday evening, will be awarded prizes of up to Rs.500,000 each and selected

participants will be offered jobs at the Hike start-up. “We are on a mission to bring India online, which will materialize we when hit 100 million users. All smart developers should build applications to connect the country,” Bansal said. The start-up is aiming at getting a billion people on the internet using a mobile device. The participants will be given a unique problem set related to So-Lo-Mo and build their products in teams of two-four members.

THE FASTEST READS ON THE WEB

Flipkart training centres to cover 40 cities India’s largest e-commerce company Flipkart plans to create over 2 million jobs in 2015. The fi rm had signed a MoU with FISME (Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises) and NCDPD (National Center for Design and Product Development) in June 2014 to boost manufacturing and entrepreneurship in the country. Training sessions have been conducted across 20 cities. “Over 300 sessions have been scheduled for April and May and we plan to cover 40 cities soon,” said senior vice-president marketplace Ankit Nagori. Flipkart has over 30,000 active sellers on the platform. The focus is to empower sellers, ancillary service providers and other partners to generate employment. The Flipkart SME training programme aims to contribute towards generating welltrained employees for this industry.

Snapdeal acquires majority stake in RupeePower

Alibaba to set up incubator in Bengaluru China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba is planning to set up a mobile and eCommerce driven incubator in Bengaluru. It is tying up with Bengaluru-based mobile and analytics solutions company Globals for the project. The venture will pick up five start-ups for year long programme. Incubators help start-ups raise fi rst round of funding. Industry sources expect the incubator to start its operations sometime in MayJune 2015 and will be focussing on one industry – the mobile industry.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma had met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss on how they can leverage the platform for an effective B2B-commerce.

E-commerce Snapdeal announced acquisition of a majority stake in RupeePower, a leading digital fi nancial products distribution platform. The domestic e-tailer will now offer consumers a fi nancial services marketplace. RupeePower is a digital distribution platform for loans, credit cards and other personal fi nance products. Snapdeal cofounder and CEO Kunal Bahl said, “Our aim is to create life changing experiences for our buyers and sellers and all our efforts at Snapdeal are in line with meeting this objective.

Bringing RupeePower into our family will make the process more inclusive.”

We have more hooning and sliding action on our YouTube channel. Subscribe and comment.

Four cylinders, four doors, all-wheel drive. The CLA 45 AMG and Evo X misbehaving around the hills.

Wet conditions and the Jaguar V8 R Coupe addup to an impossibly fun afternoon spent mostly sideways.

We went to the top of the world in an insane rally Thar and a Suzuki V-Strom 1000. We came back too.

Look our for the alive logo in the magazine to watch the action unfold

Going back to when Toyota’s were cool, we drive a custom Supra with a big turbo and come away scared, and maybe a bit wistful.

w w w. a l iv e a r. c o m

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

They are

dying

Paud

The Good Samaritans

in our backyard

Barely 30 kms from Pune, over 150 kids residing in remote areas are battling for life.

While their parents are trying hard to keep the malnourished children alive, government has turned a blind eye to the problem Pics by Aniruddha Rajandekar

The gram panchayat office is a proper brick and mortar structure. Other houses in the village too are pucca, some even lavishly done up. Dish antennae and four wheelers are a common sight in the village. Barely 500 metres from the Paud Panchayat Samiti’s office, situation drastically changes.

Kuchcha structures with roofs made of bamboo and hay greet us. Only a handful of houses have brick walls, while most others have those made of mud.

Welcome to Indira Nagar, home to 16 families.

Shivaji Waghmare and his family are worst among the entire lot here. His year-old-daughter Sangita is a case of acute malnutrition. He knows that she might not survive for too long.

Other children in the pada are not too well off either. Most inhabitants of the pada do not bathe for

It all started with a casual visit to Paud village a year and half ago. The group of professionals chanced upon Indira Nagar pada. What they saw disturbed them a lot. Severely malnourished kids suffering from skin infections, moved the group of 13 professionals from Pune. They decided to do something.

These days they chip in funds and make regular trips to Indira Nagar. “We could not decide where to start work. We were shocked to see a 13-year-old starving girl who was also pregnant,” said Nitin Ghodake, one of the team members. Over a period of time the group was able to figure that most girls in the community marry at an early age and by the time they are 13, they conceive.

The weak mothers gave birth to weaker babies and were never able to get out of the vicious cycle.

days. Getting just about enough water to drink every day itself is a struggle – taking a bath is the last thing they worry about. A lone tap in their pada is their only source of water supply. If they are lucky, once in three days, they manage to get water for half an hour.

Most of the kids here do not know what a school really means. Except for 27-year-old Balu Katkar’s daughters Manisha and Janabai, none of the other kids here go to school. Katkar too is unsure if he would be able to send his two other kids to school when they grow up. Fetching water, providing for food, and tending to other household chores - the children at Indira Nagar basti have enough on their plate.

Most of the men here work as casual farm labourers or are employed by the small scale local illicit liquor manufacturer. They earn mere `100-150 a day.

Subsidised foodgrains from ration shops is unheard of here.

“Many of them suffer from skin diseases. They lead a very unhygienic lifestyle. However, they cannot be blamed as these bastis are reeling under acute water scarcity, impelling them to stay without taking a bath for days,” said Ganpat Shedge, a member of Paud Panchayat Samiti. He explains that the only tap gets water for just about half an hour once in four days, barely enough for all the families to get their fill of drinking water supply.

“The area receives heavy rainfall but in the absence of any water harvesting technique, it all goes waste,” added Shedge.

Another panchayat samiti member Anita Kadu said she has been doing her bit and it is pointless to expect help from district administration. “I feel really bad to see these kids starving. I do whatever I can. Right from providing food to the kids, to helping their mothers by saving money through self-help groups, I try and do my bit,” added Kadu.

However, working with the katkaris wasn’t easy. Set in their ways and with a rigid mindset, the locals refused to accept any changes in their lifestyles.

“Often, we found that even after we had provided for education and other expenses so that children could learn, their parents were not willing to send them to school,” said Ghodake.

The team has now decided to take another approach to solve the problem. They would make visits every weekend and also set up a day care centre. Here the kids would be looked after, taught and also fed well. “Apart from our own contributions, we have started reaching out to multinational companies. They have funds allocated for corporate social responsibility and we would be able to do a lot with funds,” Ghodake said.

Babus offer lame excuses

Other villages Like Paud, situation is equally grim in katkari padas in other villages in Mulshi Taluka. Take the case of Andshe, Kalambshet, Male and Disli padas – they too lack basic amenities. Clean drinking water is a luxury and medical facilities are unheard of. Locals can’t recollect the last time they saw a doctor around them. Almost every pada has at least one case of severe malnourishment. Here too elders work in farms as

labourers or busy themselves with the hooch industry.

In Kolvan village, district health administration has identified six cases of malnutrition. Although, the administration is yet to reach to them, few private organisations have been sending their volunteers to work with the locals since 2009. However, that doesn’t seem to have worked wonders as is obvious from the number of malnourished children.

BY Priyankka Deshpande @journopriyankka A group of youngsters zoom past by us on their fancy bikes, as we frantically try and locate Katkari bastis where several cases of malnutrition have been reported in the recent past. Minutes later, we find ourselves on the edge of Indira Nagar hamlet, a home to 16 families constantly battling with hunger and poverty. Their basti is not too far from Mulshi dam, a favourite picnic spot for Puneites.

As we make our way to the basti, we spot an international school in the vicinity. Also we came across a few plush private farms in the neighbourhood. In stark contrast, inside the basti, Sangita has been crying for milk for hours. Her parents tell us that she is a year old. Barely weighing 8 kgs, the child does not look older than three months. She is one of the many cases of malnutrition in Mulshi Taluka, located just about 30 kms from Hinjewadi.

Sangita and several others like her are mere numbers for the government. It’s been a while since any of the government agencies took a trip down to the Katkari Padas where most of these cases have been reported.

Shivaji Waghmare, Sangita’s father, tells us that his basti like many others in the vicinity has not seen basic amenities like clean drinking water, electricity, toilets, among others. For the government they are just a set of villagers who are caught in a vicious cycle and do not

want to do much to get out of it.

The ground reality is that children here are on the verge of dying. Lying in her grandmother’s arms, Sangita Waghmare represents 150-odd others from Mulshi Taluka who are severely malnourished. The oneyear-old, her grandmother tells us, will stop crying on her own soon as she will figure that her quota of the milk for the day is over. After a while the child does stop, left with no energy even to cry.

Such grim stories are common in Melghat, Vidarbha, where government has launched several schemes for mothers and children to ensure that there are no cases of malnourishment. But when it comes to several Katkari padas in Mulshi Taluka, the government couldn’t care less.

On paper, there are 18 cases of severe acute malnourishment and another 143 of moderate acute malnourished kids. The district health officials are quick to rattle these numbers in a bid to prove that they are well aware of the problem. Ask them what they have done to control the situation and their lips are sealed.

The officials fumble for answers and eventually pick the phone on their subordinates. “Go to the Katkari padas and report back with the situation on ground. We must do something there urgently,” bark the seniors at their juniors. “We will look into the matter and initiate action,” is what we hear next from superiors in district administration. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

On paper, there are 15,374 children between the age group of 0-6 years in Mulshi Taluka. Of these, 18 have severe acute malnutrition and 143 are in the category of moderate acute malnutrition.

When The Golden Sparrow on Saturday team contacted district health officer Dr DN Deshmukh and asked him about steps taken to tackle the situation, his only response was that the total number of kids has been identified. He could not go beyond the numbers.

Dr Deshmukh called up the health officer of Mulshi

Taluka Dr Ajit Karanjkar to find out steps that had been taken so far to fight malnutrition. After a brief chat with his subordinate, Dr Deshmukh instructed that the issue must be looked into at the earliest.

When we contacted Dr Karanjkar, he said that the 18 cases of severe acute malnutrition were his priority.

“Those kids would be admitted in an anganwadi and kept under observation. They would be kept under a special food protocol which involves giving healthy food eight times a day,” said Dr Karanjkar.

WHO guidelines on malnutrition According to World Health Organization, severe acute malnutrition is a life threatening condition requiring urgent treatment. Until recently, the recommendation was to refer these children to hospital to receive therapeutic diets along with medical care. The situation changed recently with the advent of ready to use therapeutic foods (RUTF) which allows the management in the community of large numbers of children who are severely malnourished above the age of six months without medical complications. Recent studies suggest that severe acute malnutrition in children above six months of age who have no medical complications can be managed at the community level using specially formulated ready-touse therapeutic foods.

WHO states that children with moderate malnutrition have an increased risk of mortality and moderate acute malnutrition is associated with a high number of nutrition-related deaths. If some of these moderately malnourished children do not receive adequate support, they may progress towards severe acute malnutrition.

The dietary management of children with moderate acute malnutrition is based on the optimal use of locally available foods to improve nutritional status and prevent severe acute malnutrition.

In situations of food shortage, or where some nutrients are not sufficiently available through local foods, supplementary foods have been used to treat children with moderate acute malnutrition.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

Modi stresses on financial and geographical inclusion P14

“The novelty of religion lies in its inspiration to accept suffering from others and for others.

A true follower of Jesus Christ cannot close his eyes to the sad and harsh facts of life or be a passive spectator. ” — Rt Rev Thomas Dabre, Bishop of Poona

St Sepulchre Cemetery is a hot spot for tipplers and young couples these days

PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka The five men were planning a booze party. They were in search of a place to relax and chit-chat over a glass of alcohol. Soon they found their ‘ideal’ place where no one could disturb them. They had just finished a bottle when Team TGS reached the spot. And the place was none other than the city’s oldest and Peter D’Cruz biggest cemetery — St Sepulchre Cemetery on Pune-Solapur road.

Two of the men, with one carrying the empty bottle, scooted off from the cemetery after seeing our photographer, while others fled and disappeared in the thick foliage spread across 32 hectares of the graveyard.

“One of the broken walls of the cemetery has not been repaired since last three years and goons use this entry to desecrate the place.

I have been personally corresponding with Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) authorities since last three years, requesting them to release fund to get the wall repaired,” BJP vice-president of Pune city Peter D’Cruz said.

The over hundred years old cemetery is also home to many species of birds, local and migrant, and peafowls. According to Nana Peth resident Vincent D’Souza, who daily visits the cemetery to feed peacocks and peahens, not only tipplers but students also litter the place.

“Couples from nearby educational institutes come here particularly in the morning and were caught by us getting cosy. We appointed a security guard three years ago but he quit after the hooligans threatened him to leave the place,” said D’Souza.

He said that such anti-social elements are not only hurting their religious sentiments but also spoiling the venue which should be considered

Aniruddha Rajandekar

This cemetery cries for moral visitors

The serene beauty of the more than 100-year-old St Sepulchre Cemetery on Pune-Solapur road is marred by sights of scattered empty liquor bottles and people using the sacred place for wrong deeds

for beautification by the municipal administration.

Not in our territory The assistant commissioners of

three ward offices Sanjay Gawade (Hadapsar), Alice Pore (WanowrieKondhwa) and Sandip Dhole (DholePatil Road) were busy in shifting their responsibility.

Speaking to TGS, Gawade said that the civic body would be unable to help as the cemetery does not belong to it (PMC). Citing the example of the beautification of a cemetery in

Quarter Gate by PMC, D’Cruz said that the municipal corporation has discretion to provide funds to religious institutions.

Pore and Dhole claimed that the

cemetery does not fall under their ward. “This particular cemetery does not come under my ward,” said Dhole.

Pore promised to look into the matter. priyanka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

Six zonal officers appointed Assam to host Rongali festival to check illegal buildings to shine on tourism map PCNTDA divides 42 sectors for effective implementation

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal For the first time, Pimpri-Chinchwad New Town Development Authority (PCNTDA) has created six separate zones to check rampant unauthorised construction in Pradhikaran area. Zonal officers have been told to closely monitor the 42 sectors coming under the industrial area.

The authority has created six zones to cover 42 sectors and appointed one officer for each zone.

The contact details of these officers have also been published for citizens’ benefit.

PCNTDA is one of the development authorities of Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) responsible for the development of urban areas. The authority was formed in March 1972 to provide affordable housing to the industrial workers

of Pimpri-Chinchwad city. Bhosari, Moshi, Chikhli, Nigdi, Chinchwad, Wakad, Akurdi and other villages also fall under the PCNTDA’s 42 sectors limits.

As per the official records of PCNTDA, of its total land for acquisition of 2,600 hectares, the authority has been able to acquire and develop 1,850 hectares since 1972. It lost 265 hectares due to illegal encroachments and 200 hectares could not be included for various reasons. PCNTDA has demolished over 2,200 unauthorised structures since 2011.

According to the authority, over 16,600 unauthorised constructions have cropped up within PCNTDA limits and nearly 4,000 illegal buildings on the PCNTDA reservations. Zonal officers have been told to raze these structures. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

Pradhikaran houses become dearer Your dream house has become costlier from April 1. Pimpri-Chinchwad New Town Development Authority (PCNTDA) has increased transfer fees charges by 17-22 per cent and selling plot rates by five per cent.

The authority approved the hike at the monthly meet held at its head office in Akurdi recently. Transfer fee rate will be Rs 11,660 per square metre for residential plots below 50 square metre plot area and Rs 23,320 for tracts of land above this area.

The transfer fee rate for commercial properties has been doubled — Rs 23,320 for below 50 per square metre area and Rs 46,640 for areas above 50 square metre.

PCNTDA official spokesperson said that they are following the guideline of state government ready reckoner rates. The government updates the rate every year.

Developers cite that as they are already hit by economic slowdown, they will be left with no alternative but to pass on the hike to customers. Homebuyers will have to pay Rs 10,00030,000 more for Rs 30-lakh flat. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

State’s image is often marred by reports of violence between tribal communities, terrorist groups or poaching

By Sugandha Rawal

Guwahati: Food, music, dance, lifestyle, sports, fashion, literature and scenic beauty — Assam’s rich culture, beauty and lifestyle were flaunted with aplomb at Rongali, a three-day festival that began from Friday, to give an impetus to the state’s tourism as well as to change people’s perception towards the Northeast.

The fest, which will be held at Veterinary Ground, Khanapara, in Guwahati, will focus on Assam’s rich history, icons, music, dance, magic, handloom, handicrafts and age-old harmony between various tribes and communities.

The first edition of the festival is expected to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi. Shyamkanu Mahanta, the chief organiser of Rongali, noted that it is an “attempt to showcase the state as a tourism destination”.

“We did Northeast Festival in Delhi recently, which was a big occasion with a lot of people coming in. So we thought that we must do something to attract tourists to Assam, which is a gateway of Northeast. Rongali is an attempt to showcase the state as tourism destination. We believe that Assam was not marketed well; so we aim at doing that,” Mahanta told IANS. Assam’s image is often marred by reports of violence between tribal communities, terrorist groups or poaching, but Mahanta says the fest is “an attempt to change it”.

“There are reports about ULFA, violence

The extravaganza is timed around spring (Bihu), when Assam’s flora and fauna is in full bloom

and tribal conflicts. But change is under way and the situation is improving a lot. People have also realised that tourism is quite critical.

With its heritage, landscape and wildlife, Assam can be the best tourist destination in India,” he added. Visitors will get a glimpse of different aspect of life in the state with exhibitions on lifestyle, food habits of various tribes, traditional handloom and handicrafts, and delicious Assamese cuisine along with other northeastern fare.

The extravaganza is aptly timed around spring (Bihu), during which Assam is painted by myriad hues with the blooming flora and fauna.

Visitors will get a chance to watch maskmaking by Sibsagar artisans. Tea exhibition,

magic shows from Mayong and a display of traditional jewellery from Nagaon will add a mystical touch to the fest; while dancers from across the state will present over 50 dance forms. Literature will be of focus with display of Assamese literature by legendary writers; and Assam’s traditional sport has also found a spot in the cultural gala.

Assam’s top singers like Zubeen Garg, Papon and Simanta Sekhar will also attempt to strike a chord with their musical notes. Rock band Indian Ocean and heavy metal band Girish and The Chronicles will also perform.

A roundtable discussion in association with Guwahati University will also be held on the theme ‘Development Agenda of Assam’.

Without leaving its booming fashion industry aside, the state will lay out a style statement with two fashion shows presenting creations of Assam designers, putting the state’s fabric and handloom in spotlight. They have also called buyers to inject enthusiasm in the budding designers.

Keeping business side in mind, several reputed tour operators across India and tourists are expected to visit during Rongali, which is being organised by a socio-cultural trust of Assam Trend MMS in association with Hotel & Restaurants Association of Assam, Assam Tourism, department of cultural affairs, government of Assam, and Ministry of Youth Affairs, government of India.

(The writer’s visit has been sponsored by the festival’s organisers. Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

ENVIRONMENT “Yoga can help in managing the stress which is very much prevalent in present day working of general public and government servants” —Jitendra Singh, Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Pedal power

Many citizens have adopted a biking lifestyle and joined clubs for the sake of their health and environment TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

It seems some Puneites have taken to pedalling to revive the ‘cycle city’ charm, albeit for a healthy reason. They are forming groups and organising regular trips and weekend rides as an effective workout option. And the number of riders are increasing, a laudable attempt to reduce city’s pollution level. They have realised that the benefits of cycling didn’t just positively affect them, but the Earth as well.

Cycling is a healthy, low-impact exercise that can be enjoyed by people

of all ages. Riding to work or shop is one of the most time-efficient ways to combine exercise with everyday routine.

One of Pune’s largest cycling groups, Track and Trail, meets every Sunday morning and take long rides along the hills on the outskirts of the city. “Our group come together to make the mornings fun!” said twentyseven-year-old Ishkaran Singh, the group’s co-founder, a techie and cycling enthusiast.

“My intention was to bring people together for a fun activity that could be as simple as walking or jogging, but these activities generally get a little monotonous and boring after a while.

When people of a slightly younger age started joining us, I though why not cycle instead and make it more interesting. We have been regulars since our group formed in 2011,”said Singh, whose father runs a chain of

Go plastic-free, help environment

Eco-friendly paper bags made by Pune’s EcoAd is worth half the price of plastic variant TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

With plastic being the common factor in our diverse lives and its harmful effects on the environment, Pune-based startup EcoAd has chosen advertisement via eco-friendly paper bags to spread the green message.

EcoAd co-founder Rohit Nayak hit upon this idea after seeing a plastic waste pile up at a railway station. The common sight triggered him to start the firm.

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating island of plastic and garbage in the Pacific Ocean is estimated to be five times the total geographical area of India,” he said.

Started in 2009, EcoAd enables kiranawalas to reach out to their customers in a cost-effective and unique way, besides helping the firm’s mission of making cities free from polythene carry bags. The company provides recycled paper bags as an alternative to plastic bags at half the price of the latter. Their green in it iat ive has also provided employment to over 200 women

EcoAd founders Rohit Nayak (left) and Sudhir Deshpande

who make these paper bags at home.

“I have found that women are better than men in handwork. But women from lower sections of society are restricted to household chores. We conduct training programme in paper bag making in villages for women, and later employ them,” Nayak said.

Advertisements are printed on paper bags, made by women, and distributed to retailers.

Started by VIT, Pune alumni Rohit Nayak and Sudhir Deshpande, EcoAd has covered over six businesses in Pune and distributed over 4 lakh bags.

The start-up plans to expand to other cities and have more variants of bags. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

COUNTRIES PHASING OUT PLASTIC A number of countries like China, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Bangladesh have banned very thin plastic bags. The Bangladesh administration found that the bags had clogged up the drainage system, exacerbating deadly floods. United Arab Emirates has banned all plastic bags except oxo-biodegradables for the sake of animals, including camels.

GREENER TOMORROW IS POSSIBLE BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag): Carry your own bags along with you while shopping. Keep a couple of them permanently with you at all times Reuse your old plastic bags, don’t throw them away unless they are torn or broken Ask your retailer to not give you plastic bags and give you paper bags instead Don’t accept a polythene bag from shopkeepers

Track and Trail group meets every Sunday morning and take long rides along the hills on the outskirts of the city

cycle stores in the city.

Apart from enthusiasts, the city has a lot of young crowd that hesitate to get on to their bicycles, unhappy about the way they get treated by motorists.

“The city’s exponential urban development has squeezed out cycle tracks and most of the planned stretches do not pass the quality test.

And Pune isn’t the only city facing it.

It is difficult to make cycling a daily mode of travel. My suggestion is to have a workout ride in the wee hours of the day and not as a mode of travel to workplace,” he said.

Former national champion Pramod Singh (42) has been a cyclist for over 20 years now. After hanging up his boots, Singh started a cycling club ‘Giant Cycles’. The group has over 600 members and around 40 of them meet four times a week.

“Some of the members of my group are diabetic, and cycling has

Night owls at greater diabetes risk SEOUL: Love to watch late-night TV or chat with your girlfriend till the wee hours? You may run a greater risk of developing diabetes than early risers despite getting equal amount of sleep, a new study warns.

The study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism examined the difference between night and morning chronotypes, or a person’s natural sleep-wake cycle.

Besides diabetes, night owls, people who stay up late and get up late in the morning, are also more likely to develop metabolic syndrome and sarcopenia gradual loss of muscle mass - than early risers, the findings showed.

Staying awake till late night is likely to cause sleep loss, poor sleep quality, and eating at inappropriate times, which might eventually lead to metabolic change, the researchers noted.

“Regardless of lifestyle, people who stayed up late faced a higher risk of developing health problems like diabetes or reduced muscle mass than those who were early risers,” said one of the study’s authors Nan Hee Kim from the Korea University College of Medicine in Ansan, South Korea.

“This could be caused by night owls’ tendency to have poorer sleep quality and to engage in unhealthy behaviours like smoking, late-night eating and a sedentary lifestyle,” Kim said.

The study examined sleeping habits and metabolism in 1,620 participants in the population-based cohort Korean Genome Epidemiology Study (KoGES). The study participants were between the ages of 47 and 59.

Even though the evening chronotypes tended to be younger, they had higher levels of body fat and triglycerides, or fats in the blood, than morning chronotypes.

Night owls also were more likely to have sarcopenia, a condition where the body gradually loses muscle mass.

Men who were evening chronotypes were more likely have diabetes or sarcopenia than early risers.

Among women, night owls tended to have more belly fat and a great risk of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk facts that raise the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

IANS

H EALTH

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“Unlike humans, dogs can sweat only through their foot pads, and they cool themselves by panting. Soaring temperatures can cause heat stress and physical injuries” —Manilal Valliyate, PETA’s Director of Veterinary Affairs helped them reduce their medicine challenging and picturesque routes.

Savitribai Phule Pune University intake. With hectic lifestyle affecting These rides qualify for Paris Brest Paris junction to Chandni Chowk, our health, cycling has become that (PBP), the oldest and hardest cycling descending towards Kothrud and important workout that our body events held in France every four years. ending at the varsity chowk via Law needs. We cover small distances on The cross section of club members is College Road is a popular trail for weekdays because of quite diverse, with cyclists to explore in the wee hours of work commitments but riders from 18 years the day. have longer rides on to 60 years.

“It is a bit of a challenge to climb weekends. Our shortest “I started Pashan Road but the ride gives you ride is 40km and the cycling from 1993, an opportunity to meet other cyclists. longest stretch is about exploring and Trips to Hinjewadi, Mulshi, Lonavla, 130 km,” Singh said. enjoying the clean Khadakwasla, Sinhagad, Pirangute, With members air of countryside.

Mutha and even Lavasa are for longfalling in the 12-54 year Later, it was for other distance runners,” she said. age bracket, the group reasons, to commute, There is no doubt about the benefits is accommodating. “The for environmental of cycling. It is a no impact activity that group shares a special reasons, to stay fit, as any person of moderate fitness can take bond and welcomes new a sport, and of course up for leisure. It is also a very liberating entrants. Sometimes we to tour. In the absence activity. A lot of cyclists have found have only one woman of sophisticated scope in cycling through groups in the rider who never feels left cycles or company city which give you the chance to kick out when she is cycling to ride with, for the boredom and hit the streets with your - Ishkaran Singh with 10 men in one of fi rst 15 years I rode cycles for a better living and a healthy our group rides. We heavy iron clunkers, start. also celebrate birthdays and marriage touring by myself and fell in love with The city’s growing cycling clubs anniversaries,” he said. our countryside. It was only from 2010, with increasing members promises “I consider Pune as one of the when I took part in India’s fi rst 200 km a welcome track that may see many best cities for cyclists and mountain ride that I became serious about long cycling enthusiasts hitting the pedals bikers. The outskirts of the city have distance endurance cycling,” she said. in the future. amazing views and the cycling culture Tate said that the loop from tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com is picking up gradually,” said 20-yearold commerce student Vivek Shingada, who is a regular biker of Track and Trail.

“I’ve been bicycling for eight years and my loyalty towards mountain biking is irreplaceable. It is impossible to cycle on city streets as the tracks are pathetic, with some stretches encroached upon by vehicles,” he said.

Shingada said that many members have quit smoking and drinking after joining the group. “Taking up biking has inspired many to adopt healthy eating habits. From curing backaches to breathing disabilities, cycling works wonders.”

Divya Tate’s Pune Randonneurs Club is organising rides since August Pune Randonneurs Club of Divya Tate (kneeling, second from left) is organising rides 2010. The city’s location has given its in the city and outskirts since August 2010 members the opportunity of covering

“The city’s exponential urban development has squeezed out cycle tracks”

Toxic oceans behind mass extinction?

Study finds oxygen-depleted waters caused half of plants, animals and marine lives to perish 200 million years ago

LONDON: Oxygen-depleted toxic “The rapid rise in CO would have oceans had key role in mass extinction triggered changes in ocean circulation, over 200 million years ago when half acidification and deoxygenation,” said of the plants, animals and marine lives professor and co-author Jessica Whiteon the Earth perished, finds a new side. These changes have the potential research. to disrupt nutrient cycles and alter food The team from Unichains essential for the versity of Southampton survival of marine ecofound that a condition systems. called “marine photic “Our data now 2 zone euxinia” took place provides direct evidence in the Panathalassic that anoxic, and Ocean - the larger of the ultimately euxinic, two oceans surrounding conditions severely the supercontinent of affected food chains,” Pangaea.

Whiteside commented.

The Pangaea The same CO supercontinent existed rise that led to during the late Paleozoic oxygen depleted oceans and early Mesozoic eras. also led to a mass It formed approximately extinction on land, - CO-AUTHOR WHITESIDE 300 million years ago and ultimately to the and then began to break ecological take-over by apart after about 100 million years. dinosaurs, the authors noted.

Photic zone euxinia occurs when Although the Earth was very the sun-lit surface waters of the ocean different during the Triassic period become devoid of oxygen and are compared to today, the rate of carbon poisoned by hydrogen sulphide - a by dioxide release from volcanic rifts product of micro-organisms that live are similar to those that we are without oxygen that is extremely toxic experiencing now through the burning to most other life forms, said the paper of fossil fuels. that appeared in the journal Geology.

“The consequences of rapidly As tectonic plates shifted to rising CO in ancient times inform break up Pangaea, huge volcanic rifts us of the possible consequences of our would have spewed carbon dioxide own carbon dioxide crisis,” Whiteside into the atmosphere, leading to rising concluded. temperatures from the greenhouse effect.

IANS

“CO rise also led to mass extinction on land, and take-over by dinosaurs”

The change in oxygen levels of oceans have the potential to disrupt nutrient cycles and alter food chains essential for the survival of marine ecosystems, the study says

Scientists develop device that improves human walk WASHINGTON: In a world’s first, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and North Carolina State University have developed an unpowered ankle exoskeleton that reduces the metabolic cost of walking by approximately seven percent - thus helping individuals walk using less energy.

The results are roughly the equivalent of taking off a 10-pound backpack and are equivalent to savings from exoskeletons that use electricallypowered devices.

The device is the result of eight years of patient and incremental work, mapped out on a whiteboard by Steve Collins and Greg Sawicki when they were graduate students together at the University of Michigan in 2007.

“Walking is more complicated than you might think. Everyone knows how to walk but you do not actually know how you walk,” said Collins, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon in a paper that appeared in the journal Nature.

For the innovation, the team performed careful analyses of the biomechanics of human walking and then designing a simple, ultra-lightweight device that relieved the calf muscle of its efforts when it was not doing any productive work.

A mechanical clutch engages when the foot is on the ground and disengages when the foot is in the air, to avoid interfering with toe clearance.

This clutch takes over the effort of the calf, producing force without using consuming any energy and thereby reducing the overall metabolic rate.

According to experts, the device is a triumph of elegance, simplicity and bio-specific interventions over complex, over-engineered designs.

“It is a real exciting milestone for the field of assistive devices. They have taken an assistive device and lowered the cost of human walking,” reacted Thomas Roberts, expert in the biomechanics of locomotion from Brown University. One of the long-term goals of Collins and Sawicki’s project is to use lightweight, energy-efficient exoskeletons to assist individuals with mobility issues.

IANS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“There are many with cunning mindsets who are trying to mislead the society by distorting history. Is calling Bhagat Singh a revolutionary instead of a terrorist, saffronisation? If stating what is fact is saffronisation, then so be it” —RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat

Empowering women, reviving craftsmanship in South Asia

The annual Lotus Bazaar in New Delhi promotes handicrafts and objects from South Asian countries and highlights the work of NGOs and cultural institutions that work closely with the artisans

BY SHILPA RAINA NEW DELHI: Women are generally not allowed to venture too far from their homes in Pakistan’s Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, leave alone even distantly thinking of employment. But Khalida Bibi’s quest for empowerment has made her an exception and a shining example for other women in her village in Haripur district.

It wasn’t easy for the 52-year-old to face harsh innuendos from her relatives and communities for working with Sabah, an organisation that empowers and enables home-based women across the eight South Asian countries to earn sustainable livelihoods through crafts and enterprise, but she dismissed their comments and focussed on honing her skills. “A woman should never accept defeat. She should fight against the circumstances and petty mindsets to empower herself. My husband and my children stood by me throughout and that is why I have been able to reach so far,” Khalida Bibi told IANS during a visit to India.

“Earlier my relatives said that I have defamed the family by stepping out from the house. But today those same people are sending their girls with me for participating in different cities in Pakistan,” she added.

Things have become easy for women like Khalida Bibi because of Sabah that offers young girls skill development programmes at their doorstep. As girls are not allowed to step out for work, the organisation ensures they are skilled enough to work from home.

Kurtas, suits and shawls with hand embroidery are what Khalida Bibi brought to the Indian capital to present at the annual Lotus Bazaar that promotes handicrafts and objects from South Asian countries and highlights the work of NGOs and cultural institutions that work closely with the artisans.

Founder of the Asian Heritage Foundation, Rajeev Sethi (centre) during the annual Lotus Bazaar held in New Delhi

Hafiza, a member of Sabah Afghanistan, perceives this opportunity of working from home as god-sent because of the perennial conflict her country is embroiled in.

“Additional income is always a boon, especially if you are from a conflict zone where one lives on the edge of unpredictability. The organisation provides the facility of working from home and gives us training and material,” Hafiza told IANS. “In a way this opportunity has also revived the craft because the traditional art is able to reach the market, which sees a surge in demand,” Hafiza said.

The Lotus Bazaar is a flagship market development event of the Asian Heritage Foundation, a cultural organisation that aims to promote the diversity of Asian heritage and

culture through the arts, traditions and cuisines. The four-day bazar, which began Saturday on the lawns of the state-run Ashok Hotel, offers space for direct retail to those selected from the South Asian countries and attempts to connect them with the global market.

For tourism-driven Maldives, the market is a profitable venture to reach out to a larger audience and sell their woodwork. “Being an island nation we have to export the raw material. So what we are selling here are woodwork and shell jewellery. The innovative designs are appealing and affordable,” said a representative from the Maldives stall.

For Savita Patel, CEO of Sewa Trade Facilitation Centre, a part of the Ahmedabad-based Self Employed Women’s Association and which

facilitates market access and alternative employment for rural artisans and women, platforms like the Lotus Bazar have revived craft and brought additional income to the family.

“In districts like Kutch there is scarcity of water and rainfall. This usually leads to migration but we offer to teach these women in group, train them and introduce them to the designers who tell them about colour combinations,” Patel told IANS. “So women are empowered as they are earning and at the same time you are reviving the craft by creating opportunities for future generations,” she added.

Initiatives like this are making skill development a lucrative job opportunity and making handicrafts fashionable.

IANS

Pune: Best place to live in P 15

Qutb Shahi tombs to regain lost grandeur

The Telangana government is also planning to tap `85 crore announced in the union budget for restoration of the tombs

BY MOHAMMED SHAFEEQ HYDERABAD: If Charminar is the symbol of Hyderabad, the Qutb Shahi Tombs along with Golconda Fort are an integral part of the city’s rich history and culture. A unique royal necropolis, Qutb Shahi Tombs are a must on the itinerary of visitors to the city.

The Qutb Shahi Heritage Park, as the entire complex is called, has 72 monuments including mausoleums of rulers of the Qutub Shahi dynasty (1518-1687) spread over 108 acres at the foot of the Golconda Fort. The 16th-17th century necropolis is now getting a new lease of life thanks to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which began the conservation work in November 2013.

For AKTC, a not-for-profit organisation engaged in conservation of monuments in various countries, this is the second conservation project in India after Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi.

“The scale of the Qutb Shahi Tombs project is enormous. Perhaps nowhere in the world such a large-scale project was undertaken,” Ratish Nanda, project director of AKTC, told IANS. The complex has 40 mausoleums, 23 mosques, six ‘baolis’ (step-wells), a ‘hamam’ (mortuary bath), pavilions and garden structures, each with its striking grandeur and a unique synthesis of architectural styles. The monuments in the complex are a blend of Persian, Pathan and Hindu architectural styles and built with local granite and traditional mater ia ls.

‘Drunken driver akin Haryana gymnast undergoes to suicide bomber’ surgery, overcomes paralysis

NEW DELHI: A drunken driver is like a suicide bomber, a court here said, and proposed strict punishment to the guilty on the roads.

“A drunken driver is like a suicide bomber who has set out to kill himself as well as other road users and thus deserves a very stern sentence which should have a deterrent effect and discourage everyone from driving after alcohol intake,” Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said on Monday.

“A stern sentence to these offenders would go a long way in making the roads safer, thereby saving precious human lives.

“The menace of drunken driving has assumed alarming proportions, and one of the ways to curb it is by imposing severe sentence on such offenders,” the judge said, while

sentencing autorickshaw driver Pawan Kumar to 20 days in jail. The judge dismissed the convict’s appeal against a trial court order awarding him the jail term.The court observed that Kumar was driving a commercial vehicle in a heavily drunken state.

“It is not possible for a person to drive his vehicle properly and show quick responses when required after intake of such a huge amount of alcohol.” The court said a drunken driver cannot take rational and spontaneous decisions.

“Excessive consumption of alcohol blurs one’s vision and intensely impairs the ability to judge things on the road,” the judge said. “A drunken driver risks not only his own life but also that of other motorists as well as the pedestrians.”

IANS

Vol-1* lssue No.: 42 Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867) Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed at PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

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National level gymnast, Sachin sustaied spine injury, which is one of the most critical injuries since it impacts the entire central nervous system

Gurgaon, April 1 (IANS) A 18-year old gymnast, who sustained a severe cervical spine injury causing paralysis, successfully underwent a surgery here, doctors said on Wednesday.

Sachin, a national-level gymnast from Haryana, suffered a fall while performing a complex gymnastics maneuver during a practice session and broke his neck bone which left him paralysed.

After he was taken to the hospital, it was found that he had sustained a serious cervical spine injury with quadriplegia -- paralysis of arms and legs.

Realising the seriousness of the injury, Sachin was referred to the spine department of the city-based Paras hospital. A team of doctors led by Arun Bhanot, chief of spine services, was formed to look into the case.

They decided that a complex set of surgeries on his neck was the only option to provide a realistic chance of survival and recovery from paralysis.

“After stabilising the patient’s condition with medicines, we assessed it to be a dislocation of AC4-5 vertebra in the neck causing damage to the spinal cord that led to paralysis. We decided to immediately conduct a

surgery as we did not want to lose any more time,” Bhanot said during a post surgery conference held in the hospital.

According to the doctors, Sachin underwent two spine surgeries at the same time -- one from the front of the neck and the second from the back of the neck.

“After the spine surgeries, the patient showed a remarkable improvement within the next 24 hours, and has continued to improve ever since. All his four limbs have started moving,” said Bhanot.

“Within 3 days of the operation, Sachin regained enough strength in his legs, so much that the doctors were able to make him stand on his own. With both age and will power on his side and accurate medical help, Sachin managed to achieve a feat that

surprised even his doctors,” added Bhanot. Talking about the spinal and brain injury, health experts said it is one of the most critical injuries since it impacts the entire central nervous system. They said unlike an injured hand whose impact would be limited to just itself, an injured spine has implications for the entire body. It may leave a person paralysed for life.

Bhanot said the incidence of recovery in such injuries is abysmally low even at the best of centres in the world.

“Getting prompt medical treatment within a couple of hours of his injury, followed by correct set of surgeries under expert hands within the fi rst 24 hours of injury provided stability to his unstable spine,” said Bhanot.

IANS

Gymnast Sachin with Dr Arun Bhanot (second from right) of Paras Hospital, Haryana

AKTC had initially earmarked `100 crore for the project. But Ratish said the cost may exceed if there are more discoveries like a 16th century wall enclosure they found during excavation at one of the tombs.

“The trust is committed to spending any amount of money by raising the same from its donors or its own money,” said Ratish. Given the magnitude of the project, he believes it may take 10 years to complete it. Before launching the project, the multi-disciplinary team of experts in 2012 carried out exhaustive recording, documentation, surveys and research exercise to understand how the entire complex would have originally looked.

The project officials found that the task to restore and retain the authenticity of the monuments is gigantic as plaster work of the wall and dome surfaces had deteriorated due to dampness and water seepage. “We are using only lime mortar mix, stone, wood and other traditional materials originally used in the construction,” said Rajpal Singh, chief engineer, AKTC. The Telangana government is also planning to tap `85 crore announced in the union budget for restoration of the tombs.

The government proposes to use it for building site museum, landscape garden and more.

“Our aim is to propose the tombs along with Golconda Fort for UNESCO world heritage site,” said BP Acharya, principal secretary in the department of tourism and culture in Telangana.

IANS

Cable operator drinks pesticide before judges, dies in hospital AMRITSAR: A local cable operator, who had attempted to commit suicide in the presence of judges of the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court here, has died, police said.

Cable operator Jaswinder Singh was admitted to a private hospital here on Saturday in a serious condition after he attempted suicide in the presence of judges by consuming pesticide at an event here. The judges were attending an event organised by the Telecom and Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) in this Sikh holy city, 250 km from Chandigarh, on Saturday.

Before consuming the pesticide, Jaswinder Singh alleged that he was being harassed by some people who controlled the cable business in Punjab. He was taken to a private hospital but could not be saved.

Haryana police have registered a case against officials of Fastway Cable and a ruling Akali Dal leader.

In his suicide note, Jassi had alleged that he was forced to take the extreme step as no one was willing to hear his grievances. In the note, he claimed that his cable business collapsed after a local Akali leader backed by a powerful lobby of cable operators took over the cable network business in the area. Th is resulted in his business collapsing, causing his losses.

He also alleged that he was victimised as he was a witness in the Amritsar’s Siti Cable sex scandal case. The case was being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

IANS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“The methodological bases were discussed for eventual future rounds of talks on the issue of human rights between the US and Cuba, and substantive issues that would be of interest to both parties... were brought up,” —Havana’s ambassador to Geneva, Anayansi Rodriguez Camejo

Tallest female basketball player fights tumour P 16

Sisa Abu Daooh pretended to be a man to earn enough to support her daughter

By JARED MALSIN

AL AQALTAH, Egypt: She has worked for more than 30 years among the shoeshine men of Luxor. She sits with men in coffee shops, prays with them in the local mosque and dresses just as they do in pants or a traditional floor-length tunic known as a galabeya.

Many people believed Sisa Abu Daooh was a man until several weeks ago, when she publicly revealed her 42-year-old secret.

Perhaps surprisingly in a society where many hold conservative notions of gender roles, Daooh’s announcement was greeted not with condemnation but with curiosity and a flurry of mostly positive reactions from local news media and officials.

On March 22, Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, personally gave her an award for being an extraordinary mother. In a recent interview, Daooh, 64, said she began dressing as a man as a practical matter, to escape restrictions on women’s employment in a patriarchal culture and earn enough to support her daughter, Hoda.

But now, whether she still needs to pose as a man or not, she said she had no intention of changing. What began as a way to survive rural poverty has evolved into her preferred way of life and a means of navigating a world dominated by men.

“I’m thankful to God,” she said in a raspy voice that is at least an octave

Bryan Denton/The New York Times

Egyptian lady reveals 42-year secret of survival

Sisa Abu Daooh, a woman who passed for a man for decades while working as a shoeshine, in Luxor, Egypt. At a time when the state has been clamping down on unconventional expressions of gender and sexuality, Daooh’s revelation of her impersonation has mostly been greeted with curiosity and positive reactions, not condemnation

lower than the average man’s. Wearing a dark gray galabeya with a green scarf over her shoulders, she sat smoking cigarettes in a relative’s home on a dirt lane in the small farming village of Al Aqaltah, on the west bank of the Nile near Luxor.

Expressing comfort with her life in the role of a man, she kisses her fingertips like an Italian chef satisfied with a soup. “She even dresses this way

at home,” said her daughter, Hoda.

Daooh, the daughter of an impoverished agricultural day labourer, found herself penniless after her husband died in the early 1970s.

With few options, she made the bold decision to seek work as a man.

“I worked in Aswan wearing pants and a galabeya,” she said. “If I hadn’t, no one would have let me work.”

The early years were hard. She

faced verbal and physical abuse from anyone who discovered her secret.

“Like this,” she said, smacking her fist into her hand. “I used to carry a wooden club with me.”

She spent seven years working in construction and other manual labour, earning the equivalent of less than a dollar a day. Most of the time, the men she worked with either had no idea or did not care that she was a woman.

“They’d say, ‘He’s good at his work,’” she said. “They’d offer me cigarettes.”

Eventually, the other workers began calling her Abu Hoda, the father of Hoda.

Daooh’s decision to disclose her long-running male impersonation came at a time when the state has been clamping down on unconventional expressions of gender and sexuality.

Police have accelerated arrests of those accused of being gay or otherwise not conforming to gender norms since the military deposed the country’s elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in July 2013.

A large part of the reason her story has been so widely accepted by Egyptians is that there is no suggestion that her choice of clothing had anything to do with sexuality issues.

Nevertheless, her story has demonstrated how many in Egypt are “pushing at the limits of traditional gender roles,” said Scott Long, a human rights activist living in Cairo who works extensively on gay rights.

“While the state appropriately honours her for her courage, it imprisons others who call themselves transgender,” he said. “If the government cared about principles, not exploiting prejudices, it would respect people for being true to themselves and for doing what it takes to keep themselves and their families alive.”

Inequality between men and women in the workplace is a reality most everywhere, but the gender gap in Egypt is among the worst in the world.

According to a study by the World Economic Forum, only 26 per cent of women in Egypt participate in the labour force, compared with 76 per cent of men. In the study, the country ranked 129th out of 142 countries for workplace inequality.

As the years went by, Daooh switched to the less physically demanding trade of shining shoes on the street in Luxor, work she continues to this day, taking home an average of 15 to 20 Egyptian pounds ($1.97 to $2.62) a day.

She said that until recently, only her family and neighbours in her village knew that a woman was lurking beneath the galabeya.

She said she had no plans to dress as a woman again. She lifted the white scarf wrapped around her head to reveal a closecropped mat of silver hair. “See? There’s nothing else.”

March 21 was Mother’s Day in Egypt. To celebrate the holiday, Hoda bought men’s shorts and a new galabeya for her mother.

“She’s not just my mother,” Hoda said, smiling. “She’s my mother, my father, everything in my life.” © 2015 New York Times News Service

Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, personally gave her an award for being an extraordinary mother

Hallucinogenic tea Cutting in on China’s ‘Dancing Grannies’ therapy for inmates The provision of a hallucinogen to inmates on short furloughs in the middle of the rain forest aims to ease pressure on Brazil’s prison system

By SIMON ROMERO JI-PARANÁ, Brazil: As the night sky enveloped this outpost in Brazil’s Amazon basin, the ceremony at the open-air temple began simply enough.

Dozens of adults and children, all clad in white, stood in a line. A holy man handed each a cup of ayahuasca, a muddy-looking hallucinogenic brew.

They gulped it down; some vomited.

Hymns were sung. More ayahuasca was consumed. By midnight, the congregants seemed strangely energized. Then the dancing began. Such rituals are a fixture across the Amazon, where ayahuasca has been consumed for centuries. But the ceremony one night in March was different: Among those imbibing from the holy man’s decanter were prison inmates, convicted of crimes such as murder, kidnapping and rape.

“I’m finally realising I was on the wrong path in this life,” said Celmiro de Almeida, 36, who is serving a sentence for homicide at a prison four hours away on a road that winds through the jungle.

The provision of a hallucinogen to inmates on short furloughs in the middle of the rain forest reflects a continuing quest for ways to ease pressure on Brazil’s prison system. The country’s inmate population has doubled since the start

of the century to more than 550,000, straining underfunded prisons rife with human rights violations and violent uprisings complete with beheadings.

Two years ago, the volunteer therapists at Acuda had a new idea: Why not give the inmates ayahuasca, as well? The Amazonian brew, which is generally made by blending and boiling a vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) with a leaf (Psychotria viridis), is growing in popularity in Brazil, the US and other countries. Acuda had trouble finding a place where the inmates could drink ayahuasca, but they were finally accepted by an offshoot here of Santo Daime, a Brazilian religion founded in the 1930s that blends Catholicism, African traditions and the trance communications with spirits popularized in the 19th century by a Frenchman known as Allan Kardec.

“Many people in Brazil believe that inmates must suffer, enduring hunger and depravity,” said Euza Beloti, 40, a psychologist with Acuda. At Acuda, she said, “we simply see inmates as human beings with the capacity to change.”

The supervisors at Acuda, who obtain a judge’s permission to take about 15 prisoners once a month to the temple ceremony, say they are mindful of the risks of ayahuasca, commonly called Daime in Brazil or referred to as tea.

At the same time, Acuda’s therapists consume the brew with the inmates, as well as with the occasional prison guard who volunteers to accompany the group.

“This is how it should be,” said Virgílio Siqueira, a retired police officer who works as a guard at the prison. © 2015 New York Times News Service Lalo de Almeida/The New York Times

Prisoners on short furloughs dance with other congregants at a temple after consuming ayahuasca, a psychedelic drink used in various religions, in Ji-Parana, Brazil

By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING: The offenders usually emerge at dusk, occupying prime real estate in public plazas or parks as they sashay to treacly Chinese pop tunes with their synchronised dance moves.

In recent years, these cardigan-clad packs of ‘dancing grannies’, as they are known, have descended on tranquil neighbourhoods across the country, occasionally provoking virulent responses from local residents who object to their amplified music.

In 2013, a Beijing man seeking to chase off retirees dancing near his home was arrested after he fired a shotgun into the air and set three Tibetan mastiffs on the group. That same year in the city of Wuhan, angry neighbours dumped feces from the upper floors of a building onto a troupe of gray-haired women below. Last year, in Wenzhou, residents pooled $42,300 to buy a sound system to blare warnings to dancers about violating noise pollution laws.

Recently, the Chinese government stepped into the breach, issuing rules that aim to regulate the ad hoc public dancing that has become hugely popular in recent years and has pitted neighbour against neighbour. The regulations, developed after a joint study by the General Administration of Sport and the Ministry of Culture, are intended to foster “healthy, watchable, scientific and wide-ranging” dancing, according to the state news media. To that end, an expert panel has developed 12 model routines that will be taught nationwide by instructors who have received official training.

“Dancing in public squares represents the collective aspect of Chinese culture, but now it seems that the overenthusiasm of participants has dealt it a harmful blow with disputes over noise and venues,” Liu Guoyong, chief of the General Administration of Sport’s mass-fitness department, told the state-run China Daily newspaper.

“So we have to guide it with national standards and regulations.” Here in the nation’s capital, where tens of thousands of women - mainly retirees but some much younger - flock to parks and plazas after dutifully serving their families dinner, reaction to the news was met with disdain.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Xiao

Sim Chi Yin/The New York Times

In Beijing, tens of thousands of women flock to parks and plazas after dutifully serving their families dinner

Men and women of all ages take part in a mass dance in downtown Beijing. By developing 12 model routines to be taught nationwide, Chinese officials are attempting to regulate the ad hoc public dances that have become hugely popular in recent years

Kai, 50, taking a break from dancing disharmony they sometimes provoke at an office complex that drew more - the new regulations appear to have than 100 women and a smattering of hit a nerve. Recently, newspaper men. “This isn’t a business. Dancing commentaries and social media chatter is free and voluntary, so why does the responded to the news with ridicule, government need to get involved?” The with many complaining that the government’s decision to intervene in regulations had largely sidestepped the one of the nation’s few unregulated issue of noise that is at the heart of many public activities comes at a time when complaints. the Communist Party “What the grannies is seeking to impose its need are venues, not vision of popular culture, regulated routines,” intellectual discourse the online news portal and civic behaviour on RedNet wrote. “Only an this nation of 1.3 billion increase of public sports people. Censors have venues can satisfy urban increased their vigilance and rural residents’ need online, educators have for fitness routines such been warned against as football and squareteaching nefarious dancing, and lessen the “Western” ideas and phenomenon where functionaries have square-dancing disturbs declared war on what they residents and takes up see as excessive cleavage all the parks and public on television. spaces.”

Xinhua said that in A n o t h e r the future public dancing commentary posted - Xiao Kai would no longer vary by the Xinmin from place to place but Evening News said the would become “a nationally unified, government would do better to address scientifically crafted new activity that the yearning for social interaction brings positive energy to the people.” among the nation’s booming population Although the Chinese news media of retirees. “The biggest tragedy is not frequently lampoon the “dancing the square dance by grannies, but the grannies” - especially the social fact that grannies have nothing else to

“Dancing is free and voluntary, so why does the government need to get involved”

do than square-dance,” it said. Public dancing in China took root in the 1990s, its ranks fed by the growing legion of women whom the government forced into retirement in their mid-50s.

These days, there are scores of dance styles to choose from. On a recent Tuesday night, along the landscaped fringe of highway known as the Second Ring Road, there was a waltz group, a troupe whose participants dressed in green fatigues and danced to songs popularized during the Korean War, and scores of low-impact routines that detractors call the “zombie dance” because their participants tend to shuffle along with arms held in front of them.

Asked about noise complaints, one 58-year-old retired public servant threw her head back with a laugh and did a little jig. “The louder the music, the more fun it is,” she said. In interviews, many women described how their lives had been transformed after taking up dance. “I used to be quick to lose my temper, but now nothing bothers me,” said Yu Xiuhua, 64, a former paper mill worker who was prancing to a 1960s-era song about the liberation of Tibet. Wang, who wore a spangled blue spandex top, said the alternative was far less healthy. “It’s much better than sitting at home and just watching TV,” she said. © 2015 New York Times News Service

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

MONEY MATT ER S

“We want to create the largest financial services marketplace in India, where we can give quick, easy and cheap loans to consumers, through RupeePower” —Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO, Snapdeal

Signpost Mercedes-Benz’s 2014-15 sales up 17.5 per cent PUNE: Luxury automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz on Thursday reported an increase in sales of 17.5% during 2014-15 which stood at 11,213 units from 9,548 units sold during 2013-14. According to the company, its sales in the January-March quarter of 2014-15 clocked its best-ever sales of 3,566 units which is an increase of 40% over 2,554 units sold in the corresponding period in 2013-14. “The robust 40% growth along with other multiple sales records achieved in the first quarter of 2015, is a clear indication of our commitment to a strong customer focus,” said Eberhard Kern, managing director and chief executive, Mercedes-Benz India.

108 MSME clusters identified to help India boost exports NEW DELHI: Under the ambit of the new five-year foreign trade policy unveiled by the central government, 108 MSME clusters have been identified to help India meet its export target of $900 billion by 2019-20. The central government in this endeavour has revised and restructured the Niryat Bandhu Scheme (NBS) aimed at mentoring and promoting entrepreneurship for international business.

The NBS has been galvanised and repositioned to achieve the objectives of Skill India. With the objective of promoting the MSMEs in international trade, the central government will organise activities for the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) in a “structured way” at the identified clusters under partnership models involving private players and industries.

“Thereis no more a fear of instability in stock market or a ratings downgrade, which is why investors are making a come-back and buying with a longer-term view” — Dinesh Thakkar, chairman and MD, Angel Broking

Modi stresses on financial and geographical inclusion The Prime Minister also expressed concern over the suicides committed by farmers and said their pitiable plight was something that the financial sector in India must address

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday to prepare a 20-year roadmap on financial inclusion to mark its 100th anniversary in 2035, and said geographical inclusion must also be addressed to bridge the east-west divide.

“Why don’t you have a target for 100 years - to reach banking services and beyond to each and every household?” the prime minister posed at an event here to mark 80 years of India’s central bank, which was established on April 1, 1935.

“Eighty years is an important event for us in India,” he said, adding that it marks the witnessing of 1,000 full moons during that time. “I’m sure when you celebrate your 100th anniversary 20 years from now, you would not have disappointed the country.”

He said the other milestones for financial inclusion could be the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019, the 75th year of Indian Independence in 2022, and the RBI’s own 90th anniversary in 2025.

With Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajam at the dais, the prime minister also spoke about how the poor can actually give back with financial inclusion.

“Out of the 14 crore bank accounts opened under the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Scheme, 41 percent did not open it for free,” the prime minister said, adding that as much as Rs.14,000 crore was collected from such accounts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by the Governor of Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan at the Financial Inclusion Conference of RBI, in Mumbai on April 2

“Banks must have seen the poverty of the rich, but you have not seen the richness of the poor,” he said, alluding to the beeline that the corporate sector makes to banks, even as the poor, who need credit the most, are deprived.

Modi also expressed concern over

the the east-west divide and said while there was perceivable development in the western states of the country, those in the vast east were still struggling, despite being endowed with the maximum resources.

“We talk of financial inclusion.

We should also look at geographical inclusion.” The prime minister also expressed concern over the suicides committed by farmers and said their pitiable plight was something that the financial sector in India must address.

“The pain of this should not only be restricted to newspapers and TVs. When a farmer commits suicide, it should make the banking sector look up and think. By taking money from a lender, the farmer has to resort to these steps.”

In the past few weeks, there has been a debate over whether or not the government and the central bank were on the same page in addressing issues that concerned the country’s financial system and health.

But Modi sought to allay such apprehensions over lack of sync.

“I meet Raghuram (RBI governor) every two months. Each time he comes to me with just four slides. These explain very clearly what the thinking is and I am able to understand it clearly,” the prime minister.

“Would this be possible unless the government and RBI are on the same page?”

Finance Minister Jaitley said the Jan Dhan scheme was a tremendous success and that the banking sector must now gear up to its second phase - that of providing a longer and meaningful social security net.

The challenge, he said, would be or account holders to get insurance cover for accidents and death, as also an alternative pension scheme with the support from the government, banking systems and other institutions. IANS

Negotiation: How to get the best deal LONDON: You can get a better deal during negotiations if you choose your word carefully, suggests a new study.

Imagine you want to sell your old car. A visitor has just closely examined the vehicle and is quite interested.

However, one point is still open: the price.

How do you go about negotiating?

Do you just say: “I would like 9,000 euros for the car”? Or better: “I give you the car for 9,000 euros”?

These two sentences carry identical content. However, the second one is the better option, according to the study scheduled to be published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Because that is how your car could possibly make more cash. This is the conclusion that psychologists professor Roman Trotschel from Leuphana University, Laneburg and David Loschelder from Saarland University reached.

“Saying, ‘I’ll give you my car for 9,000 euros’ draws the attention of your opponent to your car, which is what they can gain.”

“If you do otherwise, you will emphasise the resource they would lose in case a deal is struck, namely the money he needs to shell out for the car,” Tratschel explained.

The researchers investigated this effect in eight studies, involving a total of 650 subjects. The result was always the same: If a negotiating party managed to use wording which brings the resource on offer to the foreground, they achieved better results.

This does not only apply to sellers.

The prospective buyer too could formulate his offer correspondingly.

For example, “I’ll give you 9,000 euros for your car”. By this choice of words, the seller would be more ready to make concessions than by “I would take the car for 9,000 euros”.

This principle applies even if what is at stake is not money.

IANS

Rajasthan to hold Secret of winning cases in consumer courts roadshows to attract investment According to Rajyalakshmi Rao, former member Judge NCDRC, a brief, clear and precise complaint supported by relevant evidence can yield desired results for consumers MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM

Chief secretary CS Rajan said the embassies and the high commissioners of different countries have been contacted and the final programme of roadshows would be prepared soon With an aim to bring investment in the state, the Rajasthan government plans to hold 11 international and nine n a t i o n a l roadshows in the coming months, officials said.

“These roadshows will be held prior Vasundhara Raje to Resurgent Rajasthan summit that is to be held in November this year,” a state government official told IANS. Nationally, the roadshows will be organised in Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Indore. The decision to conduct these shows was taken at a meeting held here on Monday to discuss preparations of the summit. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje presided over the meeting.

Raje, while addressing the meeting, said all the state government departments should prepare practical proposals which were in the interest of the state and could attract investors.

She asked her cabinet ministers to coordinate with their respective ministries in the central government

to bring in more investment. She also asked her colleagues to hold meetings and discussions with the union ministers in order to seek support for the summit.

Rajasthan chief secretary CS Rajan, during the meeting, said the embassies and the high commissioners of different countries where roadshows are proposed have been contacted and the final programme of the roadshows would be prepared soon.

He also informed about the progress of the proposed drafts of various new policies.

Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit is scheduled to be held in Jaipur on November 1920, 2015 and it will have strategic conferences, panel discussions, roundtable deliberations, presentations and one-on-one business meetings.

The summit will bring together investors from all over the world for interacting with policy makers, including the political leadership, government officials and, local business leaders on the investment environment and opportunities in Rajasthan. First of all, the roadshows will be organised in Japan and Germany in the month of April. “Besides these two countries, international level roadshows are being planned in the UK, South Korea, USA, Malaysia, Brazil, UAE, Israel, China and Netherlands as well,” an official said. @Moneylife.in

The roadshows will be organised in Japan and Germany in the month of April

Although the government advertisement says Jago Grahak Jago, when it comes to taking up the fight before a consumer court, the buyer finds it difficult to spend time and money.

However, according to Rajyalakshmi Rao, former Member Judge of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), consumer forums is the best place for consumers to approach in order to resolve their issues like deficiency in services provided, fraud or unfair trade practices.

Speaking at a Seminar on Consumer Rights Cases organised by Moneylife Foundation on 28 March 2015, she said, “Doors of consumer forums are open to all genuine consumers. An enlightened consumer is the king. When you know your rights and when you have all the evidence, you can call the shots.”

Rao is the only person who worked at all the three levels of consumer grievances redressal mechanism – on the District forum, the State Commission and the National Commission. She has spent over 17 years on the Bench since the enactment of the Consumer Rights Protection Act. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is a legislation that lays down the rights of the consumers, with the objective to promote and protect the rights of the consumers. The provisions of this Act cover both ‘goods’ and ‘services’ provided to the consumer. However, many consumers are still unaware of their rights, and that they have a platform where they can file a complaint and demand what is rightfully theirs.

It is important for the consumer to address any problem with a service provider with prompt action. This is especially important considering that the admissibility of a consumer complaint in court has a lapse period, and the consumer may be left in the cold if he enters litigation too late.

Even today, many consumers do not realise that the doors to these institutions are open to them in case

Rajyalakshmi Rao

they have been wronged in the delivery or performance of goods or services.

For instance, harassment by recovery agents or banks for repayment of loans, medical negligence by a doctor or even unavailability of water in long distance public transport can be taken up with the consumer courts. (One family did approach District Forum after they found the toilets in Rajdhani Express to be dirty and without water supply.

The court ruled in their favour and the Railways had to compensate the family) “Everyone needs to fight for justice.

We are not looking for disputing consumers, but you could write a registered letter to whoever has wronged you. Mention that you have the right to take this to court. Say, if they do not rectify the issue, you will have no option but to approach the consumer court. It’s that simple... These people cannot fight everyone,” Ms Rao said.

The speech was followed by a discussion and audience interaction

with Ms Rao, moderated by Consumer is always better to preserve all the bills, Activist Jehangir Gai, who has been payment receipts, warranty cards and involved with consumer organisations servicing records, he added. Later, Rao since 1984. Gai highlighted some of responded to some questions posed by the key issues related to consumer members of the audience. rights’ awareness and the struggles that The key function of the Consumer a consumer has to face in the process Disputes Redressal Commission is to of fighting for his rights, as some of provide quick and affordable redressal these litigations take years to come to of consumer disputes. These are quasia conclusion. “Buyers are often unaware judicial bodies that have been set up of their rights as a consumer and bad at District, State as well as National products or services are thought of as Level. Currently, there are over 600 unavoidable. Even if they decide to district fora, 35 State Commissions approach the consumer and the NCDRC in court, many of them Delhi at the apex. lose their zist to fight If a consumer is not as the case may take satisfied by the decision one to three years and of a District Forum, he sometimes they simply can appeal to the State give up midway. In Commission. In case addition, several times, even they are unable consumers are found to resolve his problem, to have no proper he can resort to the evidence or documents National Commission.

Usually, District to support their cases,” Fora deal with disputes he said. of up to Rs20 lakh, State Gai said, a buyer Commissions with who wishes to approach disputes of between the consumer court, Rs20 lakh to Rs1 crore needs to build his (and any appeals from evidence. Like, he the District Forum), must note down the while the National complaint number - Jehangir Gai Commission deals with (docket) and time, job all disputes above Rs1 number and job cards as crore and any appeals from the State well as copies of correspondence with the Commission. One need not necessarily concerned product seller/manufacturer approach these Courts through a lawyer. or service provider. Even if you do not @Moneylife.in need to approach a consumer court, it

“Buyers are often unaware of their rights as a consumer and bad products or services are thought of as unavoidable”

Some of the important points to note while filing consumer cases • One cannot overemphasise the importance of evidence. Hence, keep all related documents, receipts, bills, correspondence, complaint reference numbers, etc. safe.

• If you decide to file a complaint, it is preferable that your complaint is brief, clear and precise.

• In your complaint, you would

also need to state how the case falls within the jurisdiction of the forum / commission - whether the opposite party resides or works within the jurisdiction of the forum or whether the cause of grievance arose within the forum’s jurisdiction.

• You also have the right to claim the cost of your complaint from

the opposite party. Hence, include that amount in your complaint.

• It is also important that you take up whatever issues you have with the service provider, and later with the court if you choose to, promptly. This is because the admissibility of a consumer complaint in court has a lapse period.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

“The law and judiciary department has suggested some amendments on illegal structures. The revenue department will submit its feedback within a week.”

— Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister, Maharashtra

PUNE

“We decided to rent out five octroi posts to PMPML for parking and bus depot. It will be an agreement of 11 months and on condition that other development works will not come up on land. ” — Dattatraya Dhankawade, Mayor

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Our voices need to be heard

Citizen journalist voices her opinion against sorry state of the development plan process

As Puneites, we have the right to have an opinion when city’s planning is concerned. The state recently took charge over the development plan (DP) for old city areas from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), after it failed to meet the plan submission deadline. The state has appointed a three-member committee to take the plan forward under the guidance of Pune’s divisional commissioner, and joint director of town planning and municipal commissioner as its members.

The DP is an important document for citizens and authorities as it will guide the city’s growth in the next two decades. City activists, however, are unsure of the fate of 87,000 suggestions and complains received from the people.

All we ask is the state government to pay heed to our demands.

At the nascent stage, the residents willingly participated in the planning process, and submitted their proposals and doubts in the draft report. The government then appointed

Ritika Roy Choudhury

a planning committee to hear them out. The committee then submitted a report to the general body (GB) of the PMC. However, due to some complications, the committee got divided and so two reports were submitted. Even as the GB was in the process of discussing the reports, the state announced to take over the plan.

CITIZEN JOURNALIST

The vibrant city of Pune scores high on education and career opportunities. Student Aishwarya Mulmule has made the city her own and shares with us the pride

Aishwarya Mulmule

It has been five years since I came to the city, to join engineering college, but it seems like only yesterday. Being a small town girl, I was thrilled to live in this beautiful city, away from my family and be independent. I hail from the small town of Ballarpur, near Chandrapur.

There you will fi nd old fashioned bungalows, beautiful temples, river flowing by and simple people with simple jobs. Pune is such a welcoming place, and people too are very helpful.

Pune being an education hub, has opened its arms of opportunities for me academically.

There are so many technical events being held in colleges that help me boost confidence. Also excellent teaching faculty assure me a promising career. Since childhood

I have found delight in my hobbies. I could join dance classes and participate in competitions with my college dance group. I also got a chance to exhibit my pencil sketches at the esteemed Balgandharva Art Gallery. I was lucky to hone my artistic skills under the guidance of the famous artist Milind Mulick in his workshops.

What I love the most about this city is that it brought me closer to my culture. Pune has preserved its Maharashtrian culture, welcoming modernisation at the same time. A Muslim, a Bengali, a Gujarati in Pune will speak Marathi fluently, which is not the case in my home town.

NON-NATIVE

PAROLE

LETTERS TO THE

EDITOR

I had travelled to the city with my parents. I had booked a cab assuming that the driver would pick me at the main entrance. But when I called, the driver asked me to come at the Raja Bahadur Mill end gate.

I had no choice but to climb the foot overbridge, cross the six platforms to reach the other end to get the cab.

Of late, train passengers who hire the services of private cabs to get to the Pune railway station are being asked to disembark at a distance, since the cab drivers fear getting into fights or sustaining damage to their vehicles.

They are not allowed to enter the station’s premises from the main gate to pick up or drop passengers by the autorickshaw drivers. Unsuspecting passengers are forced to walk quite a distance to take the cabs which halt far from the station’s premises.

This issue needs to be addressed

Culturally rich Pune has a lot for sight-seeing as well. Being a fun loving person, I cherish my road trips to Lavasa, Lonavala, treks to Sinhagad, fun times at clubs with friends.

We are all great foodies. I love different cuisines and relish food from a famous roadside dhabas to the sophisticated Westin. Besides there are plenty of malls to fulfi l my shopping needs.

Pune provides a great balance between enjoyment and a career.

My joy knew no bounds when I secured a job in Accenture. Pune has become my second home. Another year has almost passed now. I hope to make my time in Pune a memorable one. It was love at fi rst sight and it’s going to last long. In future I aspire to convince my parents to make my city theirs too.

Pune: Best place to live in Lena Vaghari says the city is an education hub and is one of fastest growing cities in India. Pune has an intrinsic connection with art and music

I have always been interested in studying Indian architecture. The art and detailling behind old palaces and forts always amazed me. I shortlisted Pune, as it is considered the Oxford of the east and the cultural capital of Maharashtra. I had heard a lot about the city from other Iranian students.

It’s been two years since then! The more I know the city, the more I am bewildered by its multi dimensional personality. In every aspect the city has so much to offer that it can stake its claim as one of the great cities of the world. Pune offers the best quality of life in India. On one hand, you have excellent career opportunities and on the other hand you have time and space to breathe the life of your choice.

No wonder, the city offers the best talent in the country, adding to its strength and appeal.

The diversity of the city’s cultural hues amazes me.

Events like Sawaii Gandharva and Ganeshotsav add a vintage touch while multiplexes, discos and lounges add to its modern appeal.

Whether you are a culture buff, an art

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

A city of opportunities

Now, questions are being raised on the legal standing of the two reports. If new tcommittee is formed again they will have to start from sqaure one.

Pune’s guardian minister Girish Bapat has promised an effective development plan. He has ensured that the people’s views will be taken into consideration and will reflect on the plan. He has assured that the State will not encroach upon their rights. The plan includes special provisions for a transport hub, expansion of main roads, schemes for housing for the needy and cluster development of dilapidated ‘wada’ structures. However no strategy has been adopted by the state to incorporate the plan yet.The hearing of the suggestions has already been completed by the planning committee and hence there is no question of repeating the exercise.

Now the question is which of the two reports will be implemented and what happens to the suggestions and objections raised by the people. I think citizens should come out in large numbers to register their queries on the Development Plan.

aficionado, a sports enthusiast or a party animal, the city has something exciting to offer everyone.

That doesn’t mean Pune is free from all problems. The rapid urbanisation is a setback to the city. The narrow roads and traffic problems are something that needs improvement. The former needs to be addressed on a war footing by the concerned authorities. But in spite of all these, the city is on the verge of great things. I am sure in years to come Pune is all set to become another metro city of India.

FROM FOREIGN

SHORES

Lena Vaghari

Battle for business near railway station

immediately as it is causing problems to commuters.

— Preeti Dave

Pune-Satara Highway As a regular user of the Pune– Solapur highway, I have the right to protest against the recent toll hike at the two toll plazas. Firstly, using the accident-prone Pune-Satara highway, which has no lane markings or signages is dangerous, particularly at night . Adding

to it, the toll fees at the two posts have been hiked marginally from next month.

Why is toll collected when the condition of the road is poor? The monthly hike is in the range of Rs 50 to Rs 300, whereas hike in the daily toll fee for single and return journeys varies from Rs 5 to about Rs 20, depending on the vehicle.

The widening work of the highway has been in the spotlight for several months due to the lack of adequate road safety measures. Several vehicle users have lodged complaints at the two toll plazas about the poor road condition.

On March 16, two students lost their lives after a speeding car hit them when they were crossing the road at Waked. A subway that is meant for safe pedestrian crossing has been water-logged for the past five years and work has started only after the accident. Before hiking the toll fees, the authorities should improve the road condition and put adequate road safety measures in place. Hope our voices are heard.

— Anshul Bhatia

Perfect babies After reading the article ‘No damaged goods please‘ in TGS, I was very disheartened. It is sad to know that when Indian couples go shopping for a baby, they do not want children with special needs. To get the perfect child, they are willing to wait for a year. Even the reasons they have cited are illogical.

They want hassle-free children who will grow up and take care of them.

At the same time, it is interesting to note that in the year 2013-14, all the special 121 special needs kids in the state were adopted by foreign nationals, while 69 kids were sent abroad for adoption by SARA. Do we know what happens to these children after they are sent abroad? Here, we have child protection officers in every district of the country to ensure that the kids are looked after well.

There should be more awareness about adopting children with special needs. Indian couples should be sensitive

about adopting such children with special needs. They deserve the love.

— Swapnil Holkar

The classy tea The article about Japanese Tea ceremony in The Golden Sparrow Life was something exceptional. I have never read of or seen something of this sort before. I have heard of how essential tea is in Japan, but the fact that they have a ceremony around tea is something that we must all be aware of, as the sole purpose of the ceremony is to purify your inner self and how you can bring peace to your mind.

Also the traditional rules like wearing socks and the posture that one has to sit was something that amazed me. But the aim of the ritual is not to bog someone down by its rules, it aims at getting people involved in the art. It provided me with knowledge about the tea rituals ‘Sadou’. It showed how the tea ceremony is meant to show respect through grace by displaying

good etiquette towards the guest.

The ceremony in itself is a very interesting concept, which I had never read before. It gave me a brief understanding of the Japanese traditions and their way of life.

– Rhea Khanna

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, editor_tgs@gmail.com or mailed to The Editor, Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030. The Best Letter of the Week will receive a special gift from Venus Traders, Pune’s finest stationery departmental.

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY APRIL 04, 2015

PUNE

“ Even though Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Sunil Narine has been cleared by the International Cricket Council (ICC), he will have to appear for the test again, does not matter once or twice.”

— BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya

“N Srinivasan is controversial even in his own country. He is entangled in various cases. You know the nature of those cases.

What will be the state of cricket if he is in charge?”.

— Former ICC president Mustafa Kamal

ASHISH PHADNIS

Tallest female basketball player fights tumour

Poonam Chaturvedi’s father won’t let her undergo surgery for her tumour, as he believes Ayurveda can cure her completely; Her coach thinks otherwise

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish At 6 feet 11’, Chhattisgarh’s Poonam Chaturvedi has been in the headlines for her extra-ordinary height. She is the tallest basketball player in India and probably amongst the very few in Asia.

These days Poonam is in Pune along with her team to participate in the senior national basketball championship.

The 20-year-old represented India in couple of youth and junior Asian tournaments and has helped Indian team (3x3) win silver medal in World Championship in 2013.

Her coach Rajesh Patel believes that she is an asset and can help India be among the top three teams across the world. The only thing stopping her right now is her brain tumour. Poonam spends hours dealing with the spells of excruciating headaches, for which she is undergoing treatment.

Specialists have advised that she undergo an operation to remove the tumour. However, Poonam’s father Ramchandra Chaturvedi, a head constable with Uttar Pradesh Police, is a firm believer in Ayurveda, and has refused his daughter to undergo any surgery.

“Her father is under influence of some traditional guru and he believes that Ayurveda can cure his daughter.

We are trying to convince him, but so far haven’t got any success,” says Patel,

“She will be in her prime form in the next 3-4 years.

If we didn’t treat her now, she will lose crucial years of her career.”

- Coach Rajesh Patel

who is a head coach with Chhattisgarh basketball team.

Patel conceded that while her treatment so far, as suggested by her father has yielded results. “The results show positive signs. In last two years, her tumour size has reduced to 2.6mm from 3.7mm. But I firmly believe that we are taking chances with her life.

Several specialists have advised her to undergo surgery for faster recovery,” adds Patel.

Poonam is unquestionably one of the best players Chhattisgarh has had in last few years. She has helped the state to win three gold medals in junior nationals, a silver in youth nationals and two gold medals in senior nationals. She

also holds the record of highest scorer in junior national. In 2013, she scored 233 points in seven matches.

“The Chhattisgarh Basketball Association is concerned about their star player’s health. They are willing to bear the expenses of her surgery. But they can’t go ahead without the consent of her father,” says Patel, adding, “She is 20 now and will be in her prime form in the next 3-4 years. If we didn’t treat her now, she will lose crucial years of her career.”

Poonam cannot speak properly due to a malformed upper lip. “I trust my father. He has assured me, that I will be fine in near future and I don’t want to do anything, he doesn’t approve,” says Poonam.

“She wasn’t good in skills initially, but she has worked hard and improved drastically. Her scoring chances are high whenever she is close to the basket, as her height allows her to stand and dunk effortlessly. The opponents needs at least 2-3 players to cover her and that plays an important role in any match,” adds Patel.

The headaches and the seriousness of her illness have not stopped Poonam from training and playing. “She can’t attend Indian camp unless I accompany her. I can sense her pain, I know exactly when to put her for practice. But, I can’t be with her always, and we need her to get over this tumour as early as possible,” signs off Patel. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

City to witness national senior hockey from Monday The 5th Hockey India Senior National Men’s Hockey Championship will be held at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi from April 6.

The 25-day long championship will be conducted in two divisions ‘A’ and ‘B’ with 20 teams in the top division ‘A’ competing for the main title. The ‘B’ division championship will be held first, from April 6 to 15, while the top rated teams will compete from April 16 to 28.

Defending champion Air India will open the ‘A’ Division campaign with a match against Odisha on April 16, while Sports Authority of India (SAI) will take on Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy in the second match of Pool ‘A’. In division B, Goa will take on Patiala in the opening match on April 6.

The 20 teams in Division ‘A’ are divided into four pools of five teams each. Maharashtra, which qualified for Division ‘A’ last year from the plate group Division ‘B’, has been clubbed in tough Pool ‘C’ that also includes Uttar Pradesh, Services Sports Control Board, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

There will be six matches played every day in the league phase with the winners of each Division ‘A’ pools making it to the semifinals.

The National ‘B’ Championship will begin first, on April 6 with Goa taking on Patiala in the opening match.

The Pools (Div A): Pool A: Air India, Odisha, SAI, MP Hockey Academy, Andhra Pradesh; Pool B: Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Indian Universities, Jharkhand, Bhopal, Gangpur; Pool C: Uttar Pradesh, SSCB, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra; Pool D: Railways, Punjab, Karnataka, FCI, Mumbai.

Know about Poonam She is a Kanpur based basketball player At 6 feet 11 inches (211cm), she is the tallest women basketball player in India She has represented India in two junior and two youth Asian Championships She was part of Indian team that won silver medal in 3x3 world championship in 2013 She helped Chhattisgarh to win two senior national gold and two junior national gold medals and one silver medal in youth national tournament

Poonam Chaturvedi (left) during the league match against Maharashtra at Balewadi

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She also holds record of highest scoring in junior national in 2013. Representing Chhattisgarh she scored 233 points in seven matches.

State basketball goes professional MSBA appoints physio, nutritionist and certified coaches to improve team’s performance TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Maharashtra cagers gave a laudable performance at the national tournament recently. But there is still long way to go for Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) to carve a niche for themselves. Therefore, to take a step forward towards improvising, the association have made radical changes in their work style.

“It all started when Poonam Mahajan took over as the president of MSBA in January. She gave us guidelines to take every effort to make Maharashtra a dominating team in basketball,” says Lalit Nahata, MSBA treasurer.

Player’s fitness “For any sporting association, the main concern is their players fitness and injury. Our women’s team had to suffer a setback when our key player Shirin Limye was left out due to sheen injury. Now fitness remains our topmost priority. Before the Federation Cup in Pune, we have appointed two physiotherapists and acupuncture therapist for our state team,” says Nahata.

“Besides, we are also appointing nutritionist, who will help the players follow a diet regime according to their requirements,” he added.

Better infrastructure “Earlier we conducted the training

Basketball courts at Deccan Gymkhana

camps on any outdoor court. But, now we have started using indoor quality stadiums in Balewadi, Nagpur and Amravati who have better facilities.

Playing on wooden court is altogether a different scenario and it gives player a morale boost. Th is step has brought fruitful results, as our under-13 and under-15 teams are doing well in various tournaments.” Nahata said.

Quality coaches MSBA also aims at improving coaching standard in Maharashtra.

“Last year we conducted a level I coaching camp in Pune. International Basketball Federation’s (FIBA) coaching instructor guided 20 coaches in Pune. On-court practical sessions along with theoretical sessions were part of this camp. Now we are taking one step ahead and will conduct level II camp this year,” said Nahata.

Rural talent To tap the hidden talent in rural area, MSBA is taking suitable steps to promote the sport in various talukas.

“Our attempt is to provide a basketball facility in each and every taluka of the state. We have also appointed coaches in rural areas to provide them level I coaching,” added Nahata.

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