The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 12/07/2014

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PUNE, JULY 12, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com

SPOTLIGHT

NAMO-NOMICS

EDIT PAGE

Now, the city bats for football P 13

Experts demystify budget 2014 P4&5

Dabholkar murder: Crime & punishment P 12

University of Pune’s vice chancellor Wasudeo Gade’s goal is to secure a place among top 200 universities of the world See full report on p7

MISSION

Indian Navy LCA to begin test flights soon LCA has already done more than 25 test flights NEW DELHI: The naval variant of India’s indegenous light combat aircraft (LCA) is due to begin ramp trials soon.

Avinash Chander, scientific adviser to the defence minister and director general Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), told India Strategic magazine (www.indi-

craft carriers are also located.

The station has a 14-degree ramp along with necessary testing sensors and paraphernalia to monitor the fl ights and was specifically built as part of the indigenous LCA-Navy development programme. But as it is a national naval asset, it is shared by the

astrategic.in) that the LCA-Navy had already done more than 25 test fl ights from a runway. As these were successful and met the designated parameters, the aircraft will now be deployed at a naval base in Goa to commence ramp fl ights, probably after the monsoon.

Goa, on the Arabian seafront, has a major naval air station, INS Hansa, where the MiG-29Ks for Indian air-

MiG-29Ks for training pilots and fl ight tests. Both the aircraft need the same degree in the ramp, matching the one on INS Vikramaditya, acquired from Russia, and INS Vikrant, now being built at the Kochi shipyard.

Chander said that the fl ight tests are being conducted with LCA MarkI to prove certain technologies and to Contd on p 10

PARAKRAM

Common man satisfied with budget 2014

Signpost Infosys net profit up in first quarter

NEW DELHI: Income tax exemptions and the focus on women’s safety and senior citizens has put a smile on the common man’s face.

The maiden budget of finance minister Arun Jaitley saw the IT exemption limit for those below 60 raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh and from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh for senior citizens. It also proposed to use the huge amount of money lying “unclaimed” in saving schemes for the welfare of senior citizens.

“For a change the government has given us importance. I welcome the announcements and hope that the government will take proper care of us,” said Kailash Nihalani, a 72-year-old retired teacher living in west Delhi.

However, some complained that Jaitley failed to give them any relief from the inconvenience they face at government hospitals and dispensaries.

“At times, it’s difficult for the elderly to get proper access to medicines or treatment at the government-run hospitals and dispensaries. There is

Indian IT bellwether Infosys posted a net profit of Rs 2,866 crore for the first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal (2014-15), registering 21.6 percent yearon-year (YoY) and 3.5 per cent sequential growth.

In a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Friday, the global software major said its consolidated income for the quarter under review (Q1) increased 13.3 per cent YoY and 0.8 per cent sequentially to Rs 12,770 crore.

Under the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), net income rose 15.3 per cent YoY and one percent sequentially to $482 million and gross revenue 7.1 per cent YoY and two percent sequentially to $2.13 billion.

The company’s huge cash reserves, however, declined to Rs 29,748 crore sequentially from Rs 30,251 crore.

Though the company and its subsidiaries added 11,506 people during the quarter under review.

no provision for getting proper access to medical facilities for us,” rued Dev Singh Bajaj, a 65-year-old writer based in Mumbai.

The allocation of Rs 150 crore to improve safety for women in larger cities was applauded by all especially the women in the wake of the horrific December 16, 2012 gang rape in the national capital.

Jaitley announced Rs 50 crore for the surface transport ministry to make road transport safer for women in addition to setting up of a crisis management centre for women in Delhi, the money for which will be provided from the Nirbhaya fund.

“I hope this money is spent properly on protecting our mothers, daughters and sisters and making our cities safer for them,” said Rajan Singh, a 32-yearold businessman from Chandigarh.

While the allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for implementing one rank, one pension scheme was welcomed by those in the armed forces.

Contd on p 10

Indian mathematician wins Polya Prize for solving knotty riddle Nikhil Srivastava of Microsoft Research India and his two colleagues have cracked the puzzle that was perplexing mathematicians for more than half a century WASHINGTON: A young Indian mathematician, Nikhil Srivastava, has been named a joint winner of the prestigious George Polya Prize for finding proof of a riddle that had eluded mathematicians for more than half a century.

Srivastava of Microsoft Research India and Adam W Marcus and Daniel A Spielman from Yale University will be presented the 2014 George Pólya Prize at the July 7-11 annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), in Chicago.

The trio had announced the proof of what is known as the Kadison-Singer conjecture, first proposed by Richard Kadison and Isadore Singer in 1959,

HTTP://BLOGS.TECHNET.COM/

BY ARUN KUMAR

Nikhil Srivastava (left) with his colleagues Adam W Marcus and Daniel A Spielman

pertaining to the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics about a year ago.

The Pólya Prize named after a Hungarian mathematician credited with fundamental advances in combinatorics, numerical analysis, number

theory, and probability theory, is presented by SIAM every two years.

Citing an email received by Srivastava, Inside Microsoft Research blog said the selection committee wanted to recognize him and his colleagues “for the solution to the Kadison-Singer problem.”

“Not only have Marcus, Spielman, and Srivastava proved an important conjecture, which has consequences in various areas of mathematics, but their elegant methods promise to be applicable to a broad range of other problems, as well,” the citation continued.

He wrote a post on the Windows on Theory blog shortly after the conjecture was proved.

Contd on p 10

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

Amidst nature lies his passion P6

Infidelity is a double-edged sword P8

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, honourable, compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Touching lives of needy, the Baba Amte way Following in the footsteps of the great social activist, the young and old of Anandvan Mitra Mandal are giving stationery, grain, money and other essentials to NGOs after collecting it from city donors for the past two years

Anandvan Mitra Mandal has been able to send about 250 trucks filled with goods to over 60 NGOs across the state, from Gadchiroli to Mumbai, in the past two years; (left, bottom) Baba Amte

collecting books, stationery, grain, money and other essentials. They give these items to NGOs across Maharashtra, and it reaches the needy of society.

“People tend to waste so many things. We believe that instead of throwing things

For Donors

away, give it to us so that we can give it to those who need it badly,” said Bagal, a BA political science student from Fergusson College.

Within two years, the response from donors has increased manifold. “We have received an overwhelming response from people so far and have been able to

Contributors can contact 09767588687 or send email to ammpune@india.com

Motivational Devotion Jayanth Kulkarni came to know that he was suffering from cancer after he returned from the camp held at Anandwan and Somnath. The ailment has not deterred him from spending three-four hours at the office daily.

“Working in this organisation is therapeutic and helps me forget that I am suffering from a serious disease,” Kulkarni said.

send about 250 trucks filled with such goods to over 60 NGOs across the state, right from Gadchiroli to Mumbai, in the past two years,” he said.

Senior citizens like Jayant Kulkarni, Suresh Paranjape and Satish Soman are also lending a helping hand by managing the mandal’s office and accounts. Students handle the collection, bifurcation, packaging and loading of products.

Celebrating the birth centenary of Baba, the organisation has set a goal of collecting 100 bags of grain by December this year. They have already crossed the halfway mark for collecting funds. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com and enews.mediasurvices@gmail.com

A guiding light for visually impaired

Vikram Dubal has made life easier for the visually impaired, with his 100-year Braille Calendar

BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi When 25-year-old visually impaired Swapnil Padyal was filling the admission form for his music class he found it difficult to tell the day he was born. A 100-year Braille calendar designed and developed by a Bal Kalyan Sanstha teacher has solved his problem.

Vikram Dubal, who teaches physics and mathematics, said, “The calendar helps the visually impaired to know the date and day covering 100 years. In fact, they can also plan their future with the help of this calendar.”

“A one-year calendar was only available to the visually impaired.

They can now plan their holidays or vacations with ease with my calendar.

The technique is very simple. With a little training, they will learn that the 1st, 8th, 15th and 29th of any month fall on the same day,” he said.

Dubal, who has been creating applications for the visually challenged for over a decade now, said, “While working with them, I came to know that they face new challenges and difficulties every day. And I always try to create something innovative for them.”

Dubal has made Braille visiting cards, roller dice, a goggle that beeps when faced with any obstruction and a white cane that warns against any electrical signal. “Bal Kalyan Sanstha manager Minetta Patil has always supported me in my mission,” he said, adding that corporates and NGOs should also do their bit.

The calendar is just two plastic sheets with 40 pockets on one side and a reference page carrying the year and its reference on the other. The calendar also helps students about the leap year, days in a month — 30/31 days. manasisaraf@gmail.com

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

The life of late social worker Dr Baba Amte has inspired the youth from various parts of the country to gather at Somnath in Chandrapur district and take part in the ‘Shramsanskar Chavni Shibira’ (annual youth camp) started by the famous activist.

They set aside the period between May 15 and May 22 every year to learn to lead a life dedicated to social work before returning to their respective places to do their bit for the society.

In 2012, college students Sandeep Barve, Avdhoot Bagal, Ghansham Yenage, Neha Gadgil, Anuradha Bhuskute, Parshant Borude and Sagar Dumal returned to Pune from the camp to start the Anandvan Mitra Mandal, an organisation committed to social work.

These students approached corporator, Mukta Tilak, who helped them by allotting two rooms in Tilak Wada, Narayan Peth, to set up their office. The organisation has been undertaking social initiatives like ‘Snehabhet Prakalp programme’ and

SWAPNIL SONAWANE

ASHOK BHATT AND ISHANI BOSE @ashok_bhatt | @ishani_bose

PUNE

The calendar made by Vikram Dubal (centre) is just two plastic sheets with 40 pockets on one side and a reference page carrying the year and its reference on the other

A friend for life Swapnil, who wants to make a career in music, lost his eyesight due to measles when he was just a year old. But his dedication and determination helped him get a visharad in tabla. “The calendar will help me reserve dates for my music performance so that it does not clash with exam dates,” said Swapni, who is pursuing a degree in Arts.

For Varsha Gayakar, who was born blind, the calendar will help her plan holidays with her family in Shahapur in Thane district. “I am a second year BA student at Mhalsakant College and also learning vocals at Pimpale Gurav.

It will now be easier to plan vacations with my family,” she said.

Pimpri Chinchwad Citizen Forum

Taking small steps towards a big leap to better living Youths of Pimpri Chinchwad have united to serve society and help the administration improve life in the city by holding meetings and making their presence felt on the online social media

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal The huge voter turnout at the recent Lok Sabha polls in Pimpri Chinchwad could partly be attributed to the mass public awareness campaigns carried out by the Pimpri Chinchwad Citizen Forum (PCCF).

Riding on the success of social body Nigdi Pradhikaran Citizen Forum (NPCF) set up to improve the way of life in neighbourhood, around 18 such citizen groups have formed the PCCF. These citizens, mostly youngsters working in the IT, media, engineering, government sectors and Right to Information Act (RTI) activists, during their spare time, take part in activities to bring about positive changes in society and city development in the twin town. As in Pune, citizen activism is catching up in the rapidly growing Pimpri Chinchwad, with a population touching 20 lakh as per the municipal corporation figures.

NPCF was formed in 2013 with the aim of improving the political and social structure of society. Th is group is now merged with PCCF under the new name of ‘Nigdi Pradhikaran Chapter’.

NPCF staffers are working as core team members of PCMC SARATHI (System of Assisting Residents and Tourists Th rough Helpline Information) project. These youths have contributed to the launch of PCMC’s Facebook page, probably the

Body of work

1

NPCF group organised RTI Katta, to spread awareness about the Act, at Nigdi recently

fi rst municipal corporation in the state to have a social media presence.

PCCF’s core values are nonpolitical, non-biased, zero tolerance to corruption, accountability, discipline, courage to raise voice and empower citizens. Its main objectives are to form an unbiased platform for citizens to highlight their issues/concerns. The members come from different walks of life who want to work for society in cooperation with the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and other government agencies.

PCCF member Bilwa Deo said, “Th rough PCCF we wish to support good governance in PCMC and other government offices. We will involve all who want to do their bit for community welfare.”

PCMC commissioner Rajeev

Objectives • • • • • •

Objecting and opposing improper policies with well-reasoned arguments.

Making the government bodies answerable and liable for their actions.

Making the dormant citizens aware of the political scenario.

To form a pressure group for prevailing good things around us Using social media to spread awareness and share thoughts Link between citizens, politicians and bureaucrats

Focus Areas 1. City Structure 4. Heritage

2. Environment 3. Right to Good Governance 5. Traffic and Transportation 6. Citizens Awareness

Jadhav inaugurated the PCCF on Gudi Padwa (March 31) at the Auto Cluster Auditorium in Chinchwad. Social activists Vishwambhar Chaudhari, Vivek Velankar, Vijay Kumbhar and Vinita Deshmukh were present.

Amol Deshpande of PCCF said, “Our 10-point manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls includes better traffic and transportation, industry specific requirements and basic infrastructure for the middle-class and restoration of

Multi-modal transport at Nigdi: The NPCF has suggested that a multi-modal transport hub should be developed at Bhakti Shakti Chowk in Nigdi as it will benefit road users, including passengers arriving or leaving for Mumbai. The proposed structure, the forum suggested, could cater to transport modes like Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML), Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses, autorickshaws and provide parking space for private tourist bus operators. The basic facilities such as waiting rooms, refreshments could be provided at the hub. Although Nigdi is an important junction point, there are no facilities at present for either city bus commuters or passengers who wish to travel by state transport buses leaving for Mumbai.

2

Green Pradhikaran concept introduced: NPCF identified Sector 24 to 28 as pilot area and prepared a blue print of Green Pradhikaran. The area is based on

tourist destinations in Maval.”

They have praised the citizenfriendly initiatives carried out by former municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi and give him credit for the social body’s formation. PCCF

density control rule. There is a lot of scope to develop a green city.

The group suggested that mini biogas plant at various gardens and open spaces will help to dump wet garbage and output of biogas like created slurries will help to maintain gardens and gas for lit garden lights in the evening time.

3

Working core team of PCMC SARATHI project.

4

PCMC approved the group suggestion to create separate official ID for every corporator so that the citizens can raise their concern, suggestion easily and effectively.

5

Its youth team contributed to the launch of the PCMC facebook page, probably the first municipal corporation in state having its official FB page.

6

Organised seminars on Participatory Budget for citizens

is also seeking guidance from Punebased activists. Sajag Nagrik Manch, Jugal Rathi, PMP Pravasi Manch have extended their assistance. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

Dastur Meher Road, named after a distinguished Parsi member of the Poona Cantonment Board, offers a glimpse into old Pune.

- Samita Gupta’s Glimpses of Pune’s Heritage - A Mosaic

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke The crude bomb which went off in front of the crowded parking lot of the Faraskhana police station, adjacent to the famous Shrimant Dagdusheth Halwai Ganapati temple, has striking similarities with the five bombs planted on Jungli Maharaj Road (JM Road) on August 1, 2012.

The make of the bombs, planted on JM Road, is similar to the Faraskhana police station’s bomb. They too had failed to cause serious damage.

The bombs used on JM Road had circuits and ammonium nitrate.

The same circuit has been found in the recent bomb too. It reveals that the bombs used on JM Road and Faraskhana were made locally. The deployment of the bombs was also similar. The bombs were planted in the baskets of a bicycle at JM Road, while Faraskhana parking bomb was planted in a motorcycle compartment.

Police sources said that Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in August last year, had maintained that he was assisted by one ‘Ibrahim’ of Pune. Based on the description provided by the Yasin, the staff of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) prepared a description report of Ibrahim in this February.

The description matched a youth based at Ghorpade Peth but whose identity (name) was different. The youth had fled the city before the police could interrogate him. He has not even contacted his wife. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Vehicle-lifters turn chain-snatchers Snatching chains has become extremely lucrative and this crime rose by nearly 100 per cent during 2011-13

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke The rising number of chain-snatching incidents and falling figures of vehicles reported stolen have left the police wondering whether thieves are getting smart and taking the easy way to make quick money. The crime department statistics point to an increase in chain-snatching incidents in the city and Pimpri–Chinchwad areas, and a surprising dip in number of vehicle thefts in these localities.

Let us crunch the numbers. In 2011, 2,522 two-wheelers, 81 three-wheelers, 212 four-wheelers (cars/jeeps/SUVs) and 58 heavy vehicles were stolen. The number reduced to 2,184 two-wheelers, 70 three-wheelers, 294 four-wheelers (cars/jeeps/SUVs) and 52 heavy vehicles in the subsequent year and further dipped to 2,068 two-wheelers, 69 threewheelers, 213 four-wheelers (cars/jeeps/

SUVs) and 67 heavy vehicles in 2013.

And the cases of chain-snatching have risen from 301 in 2011 to 479 in 2012, and 566 in 2013.

Assistant commissioner of police

They are now targeting men...

The city police have registered about 20 such cases in the past six months.

Before committing the crime, the bikeborne culprits create a scene as if it is a road rage.

The police have managed to crack 80 of the 160 cases of chain theft lodged at police stations across the city in one year. These cases of robbery have been registered under the different sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.

Probe by the investigating agency has revealed that, in many cases, the victims fi le ‘false’ complaints of gold chain robbery against others to settle personal scores.

Assistant commissioner of police

Eminent docu film-maker Prem Vaidya no more Eminent documentary fi lm-maker Prem Vaidya (87) died on the morning of July 10 at his residence in Pune due to cardiac arrest.

An accomplished figure in the field of short fi lms, he was the recipient of a number of national and international awards for fi lms such as Man in Search of Man on the Andaman & Nicobar aborigines, a biographical documenPrem Vaidya tary on Swatantrayeer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, an Indo-New Zealand production on the Ganga, Against the Current and fi lms on Baba Amte and Vinoba.

The documentary fi lm on Savarkar was released in 1983, the birth centenary year of Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

Vaidya joined the Government of India’s Films Division as assistant cinematographer in 1954 and rose to the position of newsreel cameraman, director and producer by the dint of sheer merit. Among his memorable assignments was fi lming the 1965 war with Pakistan in the Western Sector and the 1971 Indo-Pak war in the Eastern Sector which led to the birth of Bangladesh.

Vaidya wrote articles in popular newspapers and magazines in English, Hindi and Marathi. His memoir was published by the National Film Archive of India. He also had another book to his credit, Memorable Documentary on Revolutionary Freedom Fighter - Veer Savarkar.

(crime) Prasad Hasabnis said, “The modus operandi is more or less similar to what the suspects use to snatch chains of women victims.”

The spots that have mostly seen the 20 incidents of gold chain robbery are Pimpri–Chinchwad, Chatuhshrungi, Sangvi and adjoining areas. The police have verified the suspects but deny the involvement of a specific gang.

According to the police, the motorcycle-borne suspects target youths, labourers and other pedestrians at night on deserted roads and isolated spots. Cases of suspects using four wheelers have also been reported. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

TGS Quiz Contest

dumpers and trucks sold in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. The heavy vehicles were lifted from different construction sites in Yerawada and Vimannagar areas,” Hasabnis said.

Inspector Sunil Pawar of the crime branch had busted a gang of fourwheeler thieves hailing from Uttar Pradesh two years ago. The police officer said that chain-snatchers are regularly targeting victims in Kothrud, Swargate, Market Yard, Sahakarnagar, Yerawada, Vishrantwadi and Peth areas. As the crime is easier compared to vehicle theft, the robbers are even targeting men.

“The modus operandi of vehicle theft includes keeping an eye on the vehicle, making a duplicate key or breaking open the door locks, driving the vehicle on roads monitored by the police, preparing fake number plates and changing the chassis numbers before looking out for a buyer,” Hasabnis said, adding that chainsnatching involves no such high risk.

Senior crime branch officials state that the cost of a second-hand twowheeler is equal to one or two tolas of gold, thus it is equal in terms of money. There are also cases of youths stealing two-wheelers for joy rides and abandoning the vehicle later. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY

Faraskhana bomb plot similar to JM Road blasts

Graduate of the year P 11

Is Modi courting a dream or nightmare?

P 10

(crime) Prasad Hasabnis said, “We suspect that the culprits involved in vehicle thefts have taken to chainsnatching as the crime is less risky and gives easy money.”

According to the police, the target areas for two-wheelers are Deccan, Kothrud, Chatuhshrungi, Bund Garden, Cantonment, Wanowrie and Yerawada; and Bund Garden, Chatuhshrungi, Kothrud, Wanowrie and Hadapsar for cars, jeeps and SUVs. The crimes take place during the nights and unattended vehicles on roads and in front of theatres are also lifted.

Hasabnis said that the lifters change the number plates and chassis numbers before selling the stolen vehicles in rural areas and other states.

Heavy vehicles are sold in Marathwada, Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh, while two-wheelers find buyers in Satara, Solapur and Latur. Cases of SUVs being sold in Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have also been reported.

“A few years ago, the Yerawada police station had recovered nine stolen

BY BARNALEE HANDIQUE @barnalee Senior scientist and researcher Dr Vinaya Ghate has been conferred with the Dr Janaki Ammal International Award by the International society of Ethno-Botany.

A pioneer in ethno-botanical studies in Maharashtra and the former head of Botany Department of Agharkar Research Dr Vinaya Ghate Institute (ARI), Dr Ghate has been associated with this field for 35 years. She has specialised in taxonomy, ethno-botany and bio-diversity conservation and has also worked in distribution, diversity and germ plasm studies in endemic and medicinal plants.

A recipient of the Dr Ekbote Prize and Dr VD Vartak Vanamitra award among others, Dr. Ghate has many firsts to her

credit and her research work has been lauded nationally and internationally.

She has written over 70 research papers and authored a number of books in Marathi regarding popularisation of science.

Among the research conducted by Ghate, the classification of flora into its genetic and chemical compositions, found in rural Maharashtra has been recognised.

“My botany teachers in high school and college always encouraged and inspired me to take up this particular subject seriously. That’s how my interest for Botany developed. After completing my graduation from SP College, I got an opportunity to assist Dr. VD Vartak in various projects at the Agharkar Research Institute as a lab assistant in 1975,” she said.

It was under Dr Vartak that Dr. Ghate began to explore the subject and began visiting places. Later, in 1980, the EthnoBotany Society of India was founded, that carried out dedicated studies in understanding the relation between tribals and the surrounding flora in rural areas.

nswers to the following 10 A 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 three lucky winners to receive gift coupons.

1. What is the name of the

blog that photographer and trekking enthusiast Pankaj Zarekar writes?

2. What is the name of the group that collects stationery, grain, money and other essentials from donors in the city to

provide them to NGOs across the country?

3. Name the enterprising trio who started the online reservation portal, Hungrytable.in

4. Where did Akash Shetty

pursue his acting course ?

5. Who has designed and

developed the 100-year Braille calender, which has made

Keeping it secure • Park vehicle at a secure place, preferably under electronic surveillance (CCTVs) • Prepare additional locks (petrol lock or wheel lock), ignition lock, accelerator or clutch lock • Install an anti-theft alarm

life easier for the visually impaired?

6. Who recently joined the

Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Trustees?

7. What will you find in Alia

Bhatt’s dabba during a fi lm

City scientist wins prestigious award Dr Vinaya Ghate has been conferred with the Dr Janaki Ammal International Award by the International society of Ethno-Botany

No. 4

shoot?

8. Which flavours in beer did

Independence Brewing Co. experiment with?

While she was working there, she completed her MSC in Botany from Pune University.

Over the years, she became totally immersed in her projects and Dr Ghate decided to pursue her post-doctoral degree in floristic. Her doctoral thesis was based on, ‘The flora of north-western ghats in relation to social forestry’.

After retiring from Agharkar Research Institute in 2011, Dr Ghate joined Nisargsevak, an NGO that works for the conservation of nature. She and her team have been trying to protect the sacred groves in the state from destruction. “Our efforts at Nisargasevak are to create awareness among general public regarding the conservation of forests. We are also focusing on the Western Ghats and hold open workshops for students, teachers of Botany and others,” she said. barnalee.handique@goldensparrow.com

9. Who are Amir Khan’s favourite authors?

10. Which was the fi rst Marathi fi lm produced by Riteish Deshmukh?

Contest # 3 winners 1. Rakesh Kumar Jain 2. Shrikant Paranjape

With this issue

The winners of the super mom competition organised by Swamini at Tilak Smarak Mandir on July 9

D

GE PA

Fiesta de résistance

S PAGE EW I V

In the issue ON TH EI N

They were trained by Sandhya Dance Studio for the ramp walk and groomed by Asha Rath.

The judges included Vaishali Billimoria, Charu Mathur, Bhavisha Bhutty and Sapana Fatak. The super mom winner in Group A was Purvi Shah, Priti Mehta (1st runner-up) and Sonali Agarwal (2nd runner-up); Group B were Dipti Garg, Namita Agarwal (1st runner-up), and Rekha Shah (2nd runner-up).

There were various dance performances in the form of Remix Kawali, Bollywood Punjabi tadka, comedy concept and Gujarati folk Ramleela.

The programme was sponsored

by Kritikas Sarees, Indian Aroma and Maharashtra Electronics.

Over 950 women attended the event. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

ON TH ER E

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeky Women’s organisation Swamini celebrated its seventh anniversary by holding a super mom competition followed by a dance performances at Tilak Smarak Mandir on July 9. Neeta Mehta Saraswati Mehta and Kalpana Maroti conceptualised the super mom contest. The 60 participants of the show were aged between 30 and 55 years.

Mayor Chanchala Kodre, corporator Usha Jagtap, Latikaji Sankla, Harsha Khivsara and Seema Jain were present. The mayor praised the group for celebrating motherhood.

The participants went through various selection processes to reach the Top 10, before they performed on stage and answered questions asked by the panel.

ON TH ET O

Celebrating super mom with a message

Reliving DDLJ

PAGE GE UL D

What’s Brewing?

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

Total expenditure in 2014-15 estimated at Rs 17,97,892 crore; plan expenditure estimated at Rs12,19,892 crore

Excise duty on footwear halved

Quote Unquote The budget has definitely provided a direction for the economic growth for the next 5 years.

The emphasis on certain urban infrastructure development projects such as smart cities, metros, housing for the weaker section is definitely a welcome move.

—SK Jain, president, MCCIA The budget has covered several policy directions.

The government has recognised the need for development and infrastructure, industry, urban and rural development. Facing a fund crunch, the government has thought of creating funds like infrastructure, real estate, investment.

— Anant Sardeshmukh, director general, MCCIA Budgetary allocation towards education, in both direct and indirect ways, is quite encouraging. Introducing new medical colleges, including four new AIIMS, seems like a step. Setting aside Rs 500 crore individually for broadband and power supply and lower excise duty on computers will uplift education sector indirectly. Our disappointment is the government’s insistence on adhering to populist ideas of ushering new IITs and IIMs. — Maneesh Upadhyaya, business head, Shiksha.com The announcement of the launch of Kisan TV in the Union Budget is a welcome step that will help farmers adopt new technology and get information on real time basis. Allocation of Rs 8 lakh crore for agriculture credit and strengthening of the supply chain would help reduce the farmers’ stress. The industry requests the minister to reduce excise duty on plant protection agrochemicals.

— MK Dhanuka, managing director Dhanuka Agritech Limited

T

he first budget of the Modi government is strong on intent to control inflation, fiscal deficit and bring about long-term stable economic growth. The government expects the economy to grow at 5.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent in this fiscal and at levels of 7 per cent to 8 per cent in the coming years.

Inflation target of 8 per cent and 6 per cent for CPI (Consumer Price Index) as adopted by the RBI will be maintained while fiscal deficit is expected to come down from 4.1 per cent of GDP for this fiscal year to 3.6 per cent and 3 per cent of GDP over the next two fiscal years.

The budget for fiscal 2014-15 did not deviate from the interim budget presented by the then FM, P Chidambaram in February 2014.

F i s c a l deficit is maintained at 4.1 per cent of GDP. The fiscal deficit of Rs 5,31,100 crore is funded by market borrowings of Rs 4,61,000 crore or 86.7 per cent of fiscal deficit. Gross borrowings, including buyback of Rs 50,000 crore is projected at Rs 6,00,000 crore. Gross and net borrowings are higher by just around 0.5 per cent from interim budget levels.

There were expectations that the subsidy bill would be brought down, as there was a strong note on wasteful expenditure in the economic survey for 2013-14 that was released on July 9. However, the subsidy bill was actually higher by Rs 5,000 crore from

Allocation of Rs 2.037 crore for creating integrated Ganga conservation mission

Hastkala Academy to be set up with allocation of Rs 30 crore

Thirteen more airports to get 24x7 customs facilities

Jaitley gets Modi govt ready for long innings

Budget 2014 is a lot about the big picture and consolidation, laying down a broad policy indicator, even as it is conscious about the enormity of the task at hand

BY SOURAV MAJUMDAR

broadly maintain status quo on tax rates while giving some relief to the ordinary taxpayer and encouraging savings.

L

ike a batsman settling down for a long innings, finance minister Arun Jaitley, who presented the maiden budget of the Narendra Modi government on 10 July, chose to first get used to the playing conditions before coming up with the scoring shots. So it was a context-setting introduction to the Budget, and a few statements of intent here and there, before Jaitley really got down to demonstrating what he had in the bag.

Clearly, Modi’s Budget 2014 is a lot about the big picture and consolidation, even as it is conscious about the enormity of the task at hand. Consider Jaitley’s clear statement to that effect: “In the first Budget of this NDA government that I am presenting before the august House, my aim is to lay down a broad policy indicator of the direction in which we wish to take this country. The steps that I will announce in this Budget are only the beginning of a journey towards a sustained growth of 7-8 per cent or above within the next 3-4 years along with macro-economic stabilisation that includes lower levels of inflation, lesser fiscal deficit and a manageable current account deficit. Therefore, it would not be wise to expect everything that can be done or must be done to be in the first Budget presented within forty five days of the formation of this Government.”

An impatient market, straining at the bit for some big bang announcements from the finance minister, initially showed extreme disappointment and fell a steep 300 plus points at one stage.

But by the time the minister was done with his speech which lasted well over two hours (with a five-minute break in between), the 30-share S&P BSE Sensex was up 450 points: A rebound of 750 points. The Sensex finally closed just 72 points - or 0.3 per cent - lower indicating that the markets did not have any big problems about what they heard from the new FM. The broad themes, if you will, of Jaitley’s Budget were inclusive growth, facilitating investment and entrepreneurship and sending a signal to the global investing community that India will work towards a stable policy environment. Whether one looks at

Do not expect quick returns from market

BY ARJUN PARTHASARTHY

FDI in defence sector raised to 49 per cent from 26 per cent

PUNE

Rs 2,55,500 crore budgeted in the interim budget to Rs 2,60,500 crore.

The bond market has reacted positively to the FM’s commitment to keep borrowings in check and ten year bond yield is down 5bps from pre budget levels of 8.73 per cent. Outlook for bonds is positive over the longer term given the FM’s commitment to keep down deficit and inflation. However in the short term, bond yields will react to levels of liquidity in the system and movements in global commodity prices. RBI will maintain policy rates at 8 per cent for this year unless there is a sharp fall in CPI inflation, which is around 8.3 per cent levels as of May 2014.

The rupee will benefit from an improved BOP (Balance of Payment) position with CAD (Current Account Deficit) down from $88.7 billion to $32.4 billion in fiscal 2013-14.

The budget 2014 addresses the need for FII and FDI flows and has calmed FIIs on tax issues and has increased FDI in defence and insurance sectors from 26 per cent to 49 per cent. Higher portfolio flows is positive for the Rupee.

The FM had just over a month to prepare the budget and given the time constraints, there has not been any major announcements except for intent on a strong macro economic framework. The markets will have to be patient for the economy to stabilise and grow and not expect quick returns.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

AGENDA FOR INVESTMENT AND REFORM Jaitley’s Budget keeps infrastructure creation as a central pillar, even as it seeks to reach out to rural India and aim for inclusive growth. The creation of roads, waterways, new airports get enough prominence in the Budget speech and is expected to act as a multiplier, benefiting cement, steel, engineering and construction sectors, Dash adds.

Representatives of industry at the budget special meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in the city on Thursday

the several proposals on education, healthcare, rural India, the farm sector or the underprivileged, or the broad tax proposals or those related to infrastructure creation and the capital market, it is these three broad themes which dominate Budget 2014.

MARKET FRIENDLY What has gone down well with the corporate sector (which was unabashedly rooting for a Narendra Modi government in the run-up to the elections) and the markets is that Jaitley decided to take on the challenge of restricting the fiscal deficit to 4.1 per cent of GDP for FY15, which he admitted was a tough task set out by his predecessor Palaniappan Chidambaram. For FY16 and FY17 the fiscal deficit target has been set at 3.6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

Additionally, the disinvestment target has been hiked to Rs 58,425 crore. The FM has clearly decided to focus on fiscal consolidation despite keeping the growth and structural objectives in mind.

This has pleased Corporate India.

Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej, who has been vocal about the need for more reform and making doing business easier in India, told the media after the budget that Jaitley had addressed some of the key concerns around growth and

investment. Ashish Chauhan, MD & CEO of BSE, says: “In view of the difficult background, the efforts he has made in a short six weeks or less is commendable.”

However, industrialist Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico, isn’t too impressed. He says: “I had very high expectations of some path-breaking reform measures. What has come has disappointed me. It seems more like a continuation of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) budgets, not the kind I expected.”

There’s some good news for the capital markets, though. Chauhan feels his proposal of selling bank shares to retail investors will go a long way in improving market infrastructure and sentiment. He has also given a big boost to entrepreneurial activity by seeking to ease funding for startups. “BSE had requested for an SME fund of Rs 6,000 crore ($1 billion). The FM has not only accepted our request but enhanced it to Rs 10,000 crore,” Chauhan points out. The proposals for deepening of the currency derivatives and corporate bond market, extending the 5 per cent withholding tax to all corporate bonds, the revamping of Indian Depository Receipts into more exhaustive Bharat Depository Receipts are other proposals which the capital market has welcomed.

The move towards a uniform Know Your Customer (KYC) set-up across the financial sector and a single demat account for holding all asset classes are being seen as investor friendly measures which would simplify the process of investing. “Directionally this is a good budget, where the FM has tried to address a whole range of issues that impact our everyday life as well as the ones that could make long term impact and create sustainable economic as well as spiritual growth,” says Sudhir Dash, managing director of Investec Capital Services India.

STABILITY OF POLICIES While the Budget does not do away with the retrospective tax provision altogether, the FM’s intent was clear: The government would not “ordinarily” bring about any change retrospectively which brings about a fresh liability.

Besides, all fresh cases arising out of the 2012 retrospective amendments would be scrutinised by a high level committee of the CBDT before any action is initiated.

This move should go a long way in assuaging fears of foreign investors that India’s policy regime would not see sudden jolts in the future. Towards that end, the Budget also chose to

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SKILLING With job creation as a prime challenge before the new government, one proposal which has gone down well is that of creating the Rs 10,000 crore fund which would provide equity, soft loans or other funding options for start-ups. Another vexed issue, the lower capital ceiling for the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will also be sought to be raised, according to the Budget. Viewed together, these two steps should be cause for enough cheer for entrepreneurs and small businesses which are starved of organised funding and often see great ideas fall by the wayside. The Budget also proposes to launch Skill India, to skill the youth and focus on employability and entrepreneurship.

Analysts, however, have also begun examining the Budget figures carefully with some wondering whether the revenue projections were realistic. The biggest relief for the corporate sector and the markets is that Jaitley has kept fiscal consolidation as a key pillar of this Budget and promised that his proposals would be met without compromising fiscal discipline. How the FM manages to do that will hold the key. The market, which has lauded Modi’s maiden Budget, is fickle and can change its mind pretty quickly. How Arun Jaitley executes his Budget over the next several months will be closely watched by domestic and foreign investors alike.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

How Jaitley beat Pranab, Chiddu with sheer word power

BY R JAGANNATHAN

T

he unique feature of Arun Jaitley’s maiden NDA budget was not its content, but its sheer length. It beat by a mile any budget speech by P Chidambararm or Pranab Mukherjee under UPA-2, and left the even longer speeches of two of his NDA predecessors in North Block – Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh, finance ministers in the Vajpayee government of 1998 - 2004 - as also-rans.

Jaitley’s speech went on and on, punctuated with one just break of five minutes prompted by the minister’s own exhaustion. His speech was 16,536 words long – beating Yashwant Sinha’s best effort, the 200203 budget with 15,882 words, and Jaswant Singh’s 15,081 hollow.

The best effort by the UPA came in 2012-13 – Pranab Mukherjee’s swansong budget - where he struggled to cross 14,000 words (he managed 14,157).

Sixteen thousand plus will surely rank among India’s longest budget speeches. People heard Jaitley out patiently for the simple reason that this was his fi rst budget, and everyone wanted to hear it till the end in the hope that something big will emerge.

It didn’t. But nothing bad emerged either.

The question is: why did Jaitley need to make such a long speech?

One clue could be his boss: this budget had to reflect Narendra Modi’s pet themes. There were so many of them that there was no way to avoid a boring speech alleviated only by a

health break. Jaitley delivered the rest of his speech sitting down.

Consider the sheer number of things that had to be put in on behalf of his boss, his themes, and elements of the Gujarat model.

For example, the term neo middle class. It was dished out in the BJP Gujarat manifesto issued before the 2012 assembly polls.

Neo made its

appearance in the very fi rst para of Jaitley’s speech. Then, the BJP campaign theme, Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, surfaced in para five.

Granted, budget speeches have to reflect the political priorities of the party in power, especially if the party has just come to power and wants to let the world know it has arrived. Add a superboss with his own ideas and Jaitley had no option but to soldier on with the yak-yak.

Next on the list of major themes was the idea of smart cities (which received Rs 7,000-and-odd crore in its very fi rst airing) and urban investments and industrial corridors.

Then we had the secular and

cultural messaging – the Ganga cleanup, inter-linking of rivers, religious tourism circuits, et al. All came with their inevitable acronyms. Thus there was Hriday - the National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana - with Rs 200 crore to spend on “conserving and preserving the heritage characters” of five religious places - Mathura,

Amritsar, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Vellankani and Ajmer. The choice is secular - two Hindu places, one Sikh, one Christian and one Muslim. The Buddhist circuit around Gaya got its own scheme.

Apart from the Ganga, Jaitley had more clean-up acts to announce: the Swatch Bharat Abhiyan – a plan to “cover every household with total sanitation by the year 2019, the 150th year of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi…”.

Another Modi slogan that got more than a look-in from Jaitley was the welfare of the girl child. Modi’s Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana got Rs 100 crore. Not enough to bachao or padhao all betis of India, but no harm in making a start.

And who could forget Modi’s gigantic plan for a statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat – set to be the world’s tallest.

During the campaign, Modi had called for the collection of waste iron pieces from all over the country, to be melted and used to build this Statue of Unity.

But a little cash from the central budget can obviously help build unity. Jaitley slipped in Rs 200 crore for the Iron Man of India’s steel frame.

A national war memorial and a national police memorial got Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore. The BJP always has a special relationship with men in arms, and Modi made it a point to allocate money for memorials for the valorous dead.

But it was not Modi alone who had to be pleased. The BJPSangh Parivar icons who needed to be extolled and placed on the same pedestal as the NehruGandhi ones could not be left out.

Thus we had the Syama Prasad Mookerji Rurban Mission. The folks at North Block apparently had not heard much about this BJP icon, for they managed to misspell his name in the budget papers as Shyama Prasad Mukherji.

Mixing the Sangh icon and Gujarat model together, Jaitley also announced the Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana to offer 24x7 power to rural areas by bifurcating the subsidised feeder lines from commercial lines.

The Sangh, obsessed about the conversion of tribals by missionaries, got a tithe from Jaitley with Rs 100 crore being earmarked for the Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana.

Jaitley clearly had a lot to put into his speech. But if brevity is the soul of wit, verbosity is the bane of budget documents. He should try a shorter speech on 28 February 2015.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

Excise duty on cigarettes raised from 11 per cent to 72 per cent

Allocation of Rs 150 crore to improve safety of women in larger cities

Allocation of Rs 100 crore for “Beti bachao, beti padhao” (Protect the girl child, educate the girl child) programme

Allocation of Rs 500 to support Kashmiri Immigrants for rebuilding their lives

Total sanitation in every household by 2019

Free baggage allowance raised from Rs 35,000 to Rs 45,000

CRACKING THE FINANCIAL NUMBERS Well-known financial experts from the city analyse the Narendra Modi Government’s first-ever national budget

Industrialists and experts at the live telecast of the Union Budget 2014-2015 organised by the Mahratta Chamber Of Commerce Industries & Agriculture in the city on Thursday

A step towards fulfilling common man’s expectations

BY PRAMOD SHINGTE & MILIND GRAMOPADDHYE Since the next budget is going to presented within a year, in just seven months, this budget is a step towards promises made by the NDA government.

Here are some key points:

MAJOR CHANGES FOR INDIVIDUAL TAXPAYERS The income chargeable minimum slab is increased from `2 lakhs to `2.50 lakh For senior citizen the slab has been raised from `2.50 lakhs to `3.00 Lakhs, however there is no change for Super senior citizen tax bracket.

The deduction available under section 80C in respect of investment in Life Insurance Premium, PPF etc. is raised from `1.00 lakh to `1.50 lakhs. Consequential amendment is also made in maximum amount of contribution in PPF amount from `1.00 lakh to `1.50 lakhs.

Missing the woods and the trees No major cuts in personal and corporate tax, no reduction in prices of consumer and industrial goods – and yet the business leaders bankers and investors community are calling it a step in the right direction! Somethings don’t look right or do they?

The fact that income levels of the people as well as the prices of the commodities mostly stay where they are has prompted some to label this as a status-quo-ist budget; but then one needs to only look at the title of this piece to get a sense of what would happen if we just skim through this budget instead of soaking into it.

To begin with, this budget has virtually no surprises. If there’s thing that financial markets hate, it is the feeling of something dark lurking in the corner.

Over the last few years, India’s financial credibility was under a dark cloud due to one economic misstep after the other: taxing multinationals retrospectively, changing taxation treatment of Special Economic Zones midway after Developers had invested thousands of crore in the land acquisition, not accounting for full extent of subsidies and presenting doubtful unachievable budget targets etc had resulted in we being labeled as a

country practicing “tax terrorism”.

The biggest achievement of this budget is that it’s taken the fi rst baby steps in the direction of restoring the confidence of the business and investor community across the world.

Considering the fact that the previous finance minister had left a legacy of a huge fiscal deficit due to populist programmes, loan waivers and subsidies, the present FM had very little leg room to cut the tax rates as the fi rst priority was to achieve the budgeted level of tax revenues and spend on social programmes judiciously so as to maintain the level of fiscal deficit target set by the previous government.

At the same time he had to find the money to restart the investment cycle to pull the Indian economy out of its slumber of 5 per cent growth and make it run its full potential of a 9-10 per cent.

Foreign investors and rating agencies were - and still are – keeping a close watch whether this finance minister and India manage this tightrope walk without a stumble.

So the million dollar question: What is that this budget truly holds that has made the world react with enthusiasm; albeit a cautious one. I

believe that the tone of the budget has made the world come to the quick conclusion that this is a government that holds promise rather than promises. Instead of being a ‘caretaker’ by announcing grandiose populist welfare schemes which fail to reach the targeted populace, this government has chosen to play the role of a ‘catalyst’ by promoting infrastructure projects.

This infrastructure theme is predominant in the budget that it spans the length and breadth of the country, encompassing everything from International Convention Centre in Goa to Sports University in North East; from special funds for Kashmir to focus on development of Telangana.

It also runs across industries from the core ones like infrastructure and realty for whom access to funding has been made convenient, and simpler tax, labour and industrial laws for manufacturing companies on one hand to steps to boost services and tourism on the other.

So this is a budget in which one will need to watch out carefully for both the woods and the trees to be able to really enjoy the shade and fruits which will come from them.

(The author is CMD, Posiview Consulting Partners)

The interest paid on housing loan on self occupied property is deductible up to Rs. 1.50 lakhs is now raised to Rs. 2.00 lakhs.

To illustrate the savings in total tax due to above changes is shown below.

VINIT VYANKATESH DEO

“The biggest achievement of this budget is that it’s taken the first baby steps in the direction of restoring the confidence of the business and investor community across the world.”

Jaitley sporting enough to think of Indian sport

BY VETURI SRIVATSA Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is, perhaps, the first finance minister who paused during his “Super” budget speech to talk of the needs of Indian sport and also doled out fat sums to the youth affairs and sports ministry in his budget allocation.

For the 2014-15 fiscal, Jaitley has proposed Rs 1,769 crore for Youth Affairs & Sports as against the previous year’s alocation of Rs 1,207.76 crore. The allocation works out to an increase of 46 per cent and it should be wholeheartedly welcomed by sportspersons in the country, even if it is a small beginning keeping in mind the overall context of Indian sport.

Ironically, Jaitley is associated with a sport which is seen as elitist by sportspersons of other disciplines only because of the status the cricketers enjoy and the money they command for their performance. Till recently, he was the vice-president of the Indian Cricket Board and president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

One of Jaitley’s predecessors and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) colleague Yashwant Sinha was also closely connected with sport, as president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), but not even he thought of Indian sport as much as he has done. Another finance minister, C. Subramaniam was also a president of the AITA when it had Lawn included

in it (AILTA) facilities for and was a training of keen sports accomplished follower but athletes and during his for nurturing time the best talent g ov e r n me nt in shooting, could not archery, boxing, YOUTH AFFAIRS think of sport wrestling, & SPORTS in a big way. w e i g ht l i f t i n g BUDGET 2014 Most finance and various track ministers had and field events. a perfunctory interest Jaitley is right, and one in sports and at least one of them need not go into the reasons, that J&K Chaudhury Charan Singh tried his has a lot of sporting talent which is not best to cut down on the budgetary “finding expression due to inadequate allocation for the 1982 Asian Games, sports facilities”. Cricket all-rounder saying money need not be wasted Pervez Rasool forced his way into the raising flyovers all over Delhi for the India team by the sheer weight of his Games! performance and so has footballer Like in most decisions by this Mehrajuddin Wadoo. government, surely this spurt in the Modi’s stamp could also be seen budgetary allocation will also be in the allocation of Rs 100 crore for credited to Prime Minister Narendra setting up India’s first sports university Modi, more so the Rs 200 crore in Manipur. Like in the case of J&K, allocated for refurbishing the stadiums Modi promised to carry forward Atal in the Kashmir valley. Last week, Bihari Vajpayee’s vision for north-east.

Modi was in the valley and talked of If India has to encourage winter every Indian’s desire to see that the sports in a big way, J&K has to be the state made progress and the youth got nodal state along with its neighbour employment.

Himachal Pradesh, and if archers, Carrying forward Modi’s boxers, footballers and even hockey sentiments, Jaitley unveiled some sort players have to be promoted, northof a vision document of the government east is the place to concentrate on. for sport. Detailing, he said national He has gone a step further and level sports academies will be set up talked of unique sports traditions for major games in different parts of in the countries and states around the country with international level the Himalayan region by holding an

annual event inviting sportspersons from Nepal and Bhutan.

Jaitley has also not forgotten to help the sportspersons preparing for the Commonwealth Games in a fortnight in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in September-October. The national sports federations will be a relieved lot as the sports ministry expressed its inability to fund the trip to the two major sporting events and asked the federations to pay for their passage. Now the Rs.100 crore will come in handy to bale them out.

On paper, most of the decisions announced by the finance minister sound appealing, but it has to be seen when it comes to the implementation and the time-frame to complete the projects.

Jaitley deserves to be complimented for sparing so much time in his budgetary speech for sports and the good money he has allotted. A good beginning by the government and at least one veteran sports administrator, also from Jaitley’s party, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, would be happy. He is one sports administrator who has over the years held forth soon after the budget presentation to slam the government for not spending enough on sports.

(Veturi Srivatsa is the sports editor of IANS and the views expressed are personal. He can be reached at v.srivatsa@ians.in)

Particulars

F.Y. 2013-14 Amount (Rs.)

F.Y. 2014-15 Amount (Rs.)

Salary

15,00,000

15,00,000

Less:Interest on Housing Loan

1,50,000

2,00,000

Less: Deduction u/s 80C

1,00,000

1,50,000

Total Taxable Income

12,50,000

11,50,000

Minimum Slab

2,00,000

2,50,000

Tax Liability

2,05,000

1,70,000 35,000

Total Savings in Tax

OTHER MAJOR CHANGES In order to ensure that tax is levied Under the sale of property deal if any 1distributable 8 on proper base the amount of advance is received and such agreement income and the dividends is cancelled and amount is forfeited in that which are actually received by the unit holder of mutual fund or shareholder of the domestic company will be grossed up of the computation of additional tax.

In effect, all the companies and mutual funds will have to bear additional burden of tax. For investors receiving dividends there will not be any impact.

2

For unlisted securities and debt based funds of mutual funds for calculation of long term capital gain the period of holding has been increased from 12 months to 36 months. However this provision will not apply to listed securities.

Concept of Real Estate Investment 3 Trust [REIT] and Infrastructure Investment Trust [INVIT] is further

supported by making amendment in taxation laws and if units of such trust are traded at recognised stock exchange then the tax benefit in respect of taxability of capital gain is extended to these units i.e. Long Term Capital Gain will be completely exempt and Short Term Capital Gain will be charged at 15 per cent.

case as per new provision u/s 56 entire such advance will be treated as income from other sources. And in that case provisions of section 51 will not be applicable.

Those amounts which are received 9 back from life insurance for which exemption u/s 10(10D) is not available; the provision has been made for deduction of TDS @2 per cent.

As per the current provision of 10 section 40a(ia), if TDS is not deducted or deducted but not paid then 100 per cent of expense is disallowed.

Relief has been extended in the proposed amendment and henceforth only 30 per cent of such expenses will be disallowed.

As per the old provision of 11 presumptive taxes u/s 44AE applicable to transport operator

presumptive tax was required to be paid by assuming the income of Rs 5,000 per month per vehicle for heavy goods vehicle and Rs 4,500/- for others. However, as per the new proposal, it will be Rs 7,500 per month per vehicle.

In case of External Commercial As per the provision of section 4 borrowings by the said [REIT] or, 12 54EC Rs 50 lakh was allowed to [INVIT] the rate of withholding tax is be invested for claiming exemption from reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

Similarly, the dividend received by the trust will be exempt in the hands of said trust.

Benefit of investment allowance 5 u/s 32AC has been extended to small and medium industries whose

investment in machinery is more than Rs 25 crore, they will be allowed to claim investment allowance of 15 per cent of total investment.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) 6 having given relief by amending section 2(14) of the Act, whereby a Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) makes the investments within the norms fixed

by SEBI then such investment will be treated as capital asset.

In an attempt to widening of the tax 7 base and anti-tax avoidance measures amendment is provided in section 115JC

i.e. Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT) and accordingly in adjusted total income the investment linked deduction claimed u/s 35AD will be added back. Similarly the benefit of taking tax credit paid under 115JC is allowed.

long-term capital gain and as per the decision of certain courts if such capital gain is accrued in second half of financial year then this investment can be made up to Rs 1 crore. Henceforth it is proposed that no such benefits can be taken by the assessee and deduction will be available only up to Rs 50 lakh.

By selling one house or any other 13 property assessee can invest in another house u/s 54/54F and claim

exemption from long term capital gain.

Certain courts have taken view that such benefit can also be extended for house purchased outside India but as per the new amendment it is proposed that such new house has to be necessarily purchased in India.

The finance minister has promised that henceforth no retrospective amendments will be made in the Income Tax Act, and also made a statement that past retrospective amendments will be scrutinised by high level committee, this will boost the confidence of foreign investors.

(The writers are well-known chartered accountants from the city)

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

Amit Shah appointed BJP chief: Is Modi sidestepping RSS? P 12

Why this needless controversy over Sai Baba?

P 14

PUNE

In 1972, the Electronic mail was introduced by Ray Tomlinson, a US computer programmer.

City Blogger of the Week

Amidst nature lies his passion

Top 5

Edu Websites Pagalguy.com has been providing necessary resources for MBA applicants since 2002, in order to make their efforts and hard work fruit-

Bhatkanti Unlimited is a very popular blog born out of photographer and trekking enthusiast Pankaj Zarekar’s love for nature

If you are a regular trekker and are also interested in photography, you must have heard about Bhatkanti Unlimited.

This blog is very popular with trekking communities for the stunning photographs and travelogues. The blog has so far received more than 1,50,000 hits and a couple of awards too.

However, Pankaj Zarekar, the man behind the blog, feels that it has much more to offer than just photographs.

“I know the photographs play a major role in popularising the blog, but it’s not just about photography or trekking. I have taken the liberty to express my thoughts on current affairs and on some historical events too,” says Zarekar.

A resident of Kharadi, Zarekar was introduced to the Sahyadri mountains by his father when he was barely nine. It was much later that he became passionate about this mountain range. “During my college days, I couldn’t afford any long treks and my expeditions were limited to the nearby forts like Lohagad or Visapur.

The serious trekking, photography and blogging started simultaneously around 2006, and now it has become a habit for me. I have completed more than 60 treks and bike journeys covering almost 1,00,000 km on the untrodden paths in the Sahyadri and the Konkan region,” he says.

ABOUT THE BLOG Zarekar’s initial blog posts were just informative, he says, which he would upload typically with a few photographs.

“I just had a point-and-shoot camera that time, so the photo quality was not satisfactory. However, gradually, I started getting inquires about different places, on ways to get there, what to see, food arrangements to be made etc. With time, I realised that posting raw information is a very common phenomenon and so

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish

ful. It consists of MBA forums that so far have over 3.5 million discussion posts on MBA preparation and admissions.

Making right education related decisions is not always easy. A wrong decision can ruin one’s entire future.

However owing to the absence of a standard forum such important education related and career-driven information cannot reach out to the masses. Shiksha.com acts as the perfect platform to get these queries replied.

Educationobserver.com is one of the pioneering Indian portals on education serving students all over India with timely educational news from various universities and colleges, scholarship news, discussions on various subjects and more.

Prakash Zarekar, an avid photographer and trekker, narrates his trekking experiences through his blog posts. Apart from travelogues, his blog also guides new trekkers.

gradually started posting my first-hand experiences and thoughts about the nature on the blog,” he says, adding that this change received a huge response and since then he has been trying to give a human angle to his posts. Simultaneously, he also invested a large sum of money in a professional camera kit. “The readers welcomed the improved version of my blog and kept motivating me to update it further,” says Zarekar. His work was acknowledged in 2012, when the blog received the first prize in the trekking blogs’ competition, conducted by Girimitra, a Mumbai-based trekking

e-ticketing to revamp railways reservation Railways will improve reservation capabilities Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda Tuesday said the current railway reservation system will be revamped through the use of next generation e-ticketing system.

The minister, presenting his maiden budget in the Lok Sabha, said instruments like ticket booking through mobile phones and post offices will be promoted.

The minister said the railways will improve the reservation capabilities through e-ticketing to support 7,200 ticket bookings per minute from 2,000 tickets per minute and allow 120,000 simultaneous users to use the system at

any point.

The minister said the facility of coin-operated automatic ticket vending machines will be introduced on an experimental basis and efforts will be made to provide the facility of buying platform tickets and unreserved tickets over the internet.

Combo-t ick ing like parking-cumplatform tickets will be launched to facilitate the passengers.

He added that online booking facility of railway retiring room will be extended to all the stations during the course of the year.

IANS

“Comboticking will be launched to facilitate passengers.”

Five dangerous apps teenagers should avoid using TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSweekly Parents are always vary about their children’s online activities. Quick heal lists five dangerous applications to parents from which your teenagers should stay Sanjay Katkar away. Kiki Messenger, Voxer, Yik Yak Snapchat, Poke Tumblr and Whisper.

Sanjay Katkar, chief technology

officer, Quick Heal Technologies, said, “Kids want an environment that is not monitored and unregulated.

While there is nothing wrong with that, and both sides are justified in their actions, we have identified certain apps that take things a little too far, in our opinion. These dangerous apps for teens are not risky by nature, but it is important to monitor your child’s activities on them as the potential for danger over these apps is higher than others”. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

organisation.

The blog won a prize last year too.

Zarekar’s imaginary piece on how Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj would have celebrated Diwali received an overwhelming response with more than 13,000 hits in a single day.

SOCIAL ASPECT Zarekar’s passion for travelling is not just limited to adventure. For the last couple of years, he and his group of friends have been distributing books, stationery, clothes and Diwali sweets in the villages situated at the base of various forts.

“When we visit forts in remote areas, we experience warm and unconditional hospitality from these villagers. So as a part of our gratitude towards them, we started distributing things in the villages,” he said.

FUTURE PLANS Apart from the Sahyadris, Zarekar loves the snowy mountains of the Himalayas. His Leh-Ladakh trip last year was memorable and he now plans to trek in that region. “I have Chadar and Zanskar valley treks on my list.

Hopefully I will complete at least one before next season. I am also working on a documentation project of medieval temples in Maharashtra along with my friend Dhruv Mule,” he says, stating that a photo exhibition and documentation of forts are among his big plans ahead. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Indiastudychannel.com offers reliable and all-inclusive information

about schools, colleges, institutes and universities all across India.It also gives students a chance to earn proceeds for providing content.

Indiabix.com provides an opportunity to learn and practice aptitude questions, (data interpretation, arithmetic and verbal ability questions) prepare for interviews, competitive examination and entrance tests.

‘Your body language shapes who you are’ Our body language affects not just how others perceive us but also how we perceive ourselves, said social psychologist, researcher and Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy at a Ted Global Conference. Ishani Bose presents a synopsis @ishani_bose

“We are really fascinated with body language. And we are particularly interested in other people’s body language. We are interested in an awkward interaction, or a smile or a contemptuous glance or even at an awkward wink or a handshake.

When we think of non-verbal communication, we think of language.

When we think of language, we think of communication. When we think of communication, we think of interaction. And it is not just others who are judging us or are influenced by our non verbal communication, but it is we who are deeply influenced by it---our thoughts, our feelings and our physiology.”

With that information, social psychologist, researcher and professor at Harvard Business School, Amy Cuddy, began her talk at the TED Global Conference in 2012--- ‘Your body language shapes who you are’, which is perhaps one of the most viewed TedTalks till date. (http:// www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_ body_language_shapes_who_you_ are#t-825960) At the conference, Cuddy threw some light on how our body language not only affects how others perceive us but also how we perceive ourselves. Non-verbal expressions of power and dominance in her MBA classrooms at Harvard is what got her interested in the subject and further led her to study the impact of power poses in how people are perceived.

A power pose, Cuddy says, is when an individual makes his/her posture expansive and stretches out his/her arms. One of the examples that she uses is that of the “Wonder

woman” pose with one’s hands on ones hips and the other of the victory position. On researching it further, Cuddy learnt that power posing can increase one’s testosterone (the dominance hormone) and decrease the cortisol level (the stress hormone) in the brain, and impact one’s chance to succeed. The opposite happens when one is in a low power or a weak position.

“The idea is that our bodies change our minds and even tiny tweaks in our posture can lead to big changes,” Cuddy says.

So what happens when one takes a role change--- a tiny manipulation in the way one behaves? Cuddy asks a very pertinent question to the

audience: “Can you fake it till you make it? Can you fake it just for or a little while so that you can experience an outcome which is more powerful?

Can power posing just for a few minutes really change your life in meaningful ways?”

Th is point she elucidates with her own life’s experience. Cuddy who had met with an accident at an early age,

suffered a head injury because of which her IQ had dropped by almost two standard deviations. “ It was a very traumatic experience.

I had always been smart and was always referred to as a gifted child but the accident changed everything forever.

When your identity has been taken away from you, you know it’s a struggle of a different kind. After the accident, I was left feeling more powerless than ever. I had to work really hard to get this far,” she says.

All through the way, from college to Princeton to Northwestern to Harvard, Cuddy said, she had to fake it and try to be someone she wasn’t. “I wanted to quit but my angel adviser, Susan Fiske, kept me going. Every time I felt like giving up she would say, ‘You are not quitting, because I took a gamble on you, and you’re staying. You are going to do what it takes to be here, until you have this moment where you say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m doing it. Like, I have become this.

I am actually doing this’.” she says.

She ends the conference with a statement, that truly gets one thinking. “Don’t fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become it. Do it enough until you actually become it and internalise it.” ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

WHAT ARE TED TALKS? TED is a global platform where people from different fields come together and speak for 18 minutes or less about their respective disciplines. It was started in 1984 by a non-profit organisation called Sapling Foundation, under the slogan — Ideas worth sharing. Initially it organised conferences where matters related to technology, design and entertainment merged, but today it includes varied topics such as business, photography, art, science and the like.

ED UCATION

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

CARE ER

“Education for him means that process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one’s own feet.”

- Swami Vivekananda

“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”

- John F Kennedy

University of Pune: Mission Parakram

VC Wasudeo Gade’s goal is to secure a place among top 200 universities of the world The University of Pune has embarked on an aggressive push to raise standards by entering into strategic tie-ups with leading universities in the USA and Canada. At the same time, improving campus placements and generating employment are top priorities, says vice-chancellor Professor Wasudeo Gade in this exclusive interview with Manasi Saraf Joshi TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

MoUs with American universities

In a major effort to enhance standards at the University of Pune (UoP) internationally, vice-chancellor Professor Wasudeo Gade has chalked out a multi-pronged strategy that focuses on curriculum upgradation at the international level, tie-ups with leading western universities, tieups with industry for training and research, employment generation and improvement in the quality of teaching at the UoP. All these steps are being taken to find a place for the UoP within the top 200 universities of the world.

“Designing online courses and tieups with foreign universities are the need of the hour, if we want to achieve the set target of finding place in the top

University of Massachusetts: Social sciences, teachers training University of California: Science and Research University of Illinois: Science and Research Cartel University, Canada: Modeling and Stimulation

New identity for UoP Professor Gade expressed satisfaction over the widespread support to the renaming of the UoP as Savitribai Phule Pune University in honour of the great reformer. The senate members in October 2013 had passed the resolution which was pending for a decade now. Later, it was also passed by the Management Council.

UoP Vice Chancellor Professor Wasudeo Gade

Biology of CSIR in Delhi between 1983 and 2003.

Prof. WN Gade took over as ViceChancellor on May 2012.

“After taking charge, I was the fi rst VC to increase the number of tie-ups with foreign universities. I am now taking this to the next level and have signed various MoUs with universities

in USA and Canada,” he said. Having recently returned from a foreign tour, Gade said MoUs have been signed between UoP and the top universities in California and Illinois for research in science and a few courses.

An MoU has been signed with the University of Massachusetts for collaboration in Social Sciences,

with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) for Science and Management faculty enhancement.

“In the Science stream, we have focused on Physics, Chemistry, Computer Stimulation, Lab Sciences

3,000 appear for Japanese proficiency test Job opportunities on the rise in MNC sector, interpretation & translation services

BY PRACHI BARI @prachibari More than 3,000 students from the city took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at the Sinhagad College of Engineering recently.

Conducted by the Japan Foundation, the three-hour test on vocabulary, grammar and listening was organised by the Japanese Language Teachers Association of Pune (JALTAP). This examination has five levels with the fourth level being the lowest and the first level being the most difficult.

The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) has been offered by the Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (formerly Association of International Education, Japan) since 1984 as a reliable means of evaluating and certifying the

Japanese proficiency of non-native speakers.

“As JLPT is a Proficiency Test for Japanese Language, it acts as a certificate for the applicants undertaking the test, confirming their excellence in this foreign language.

This further acts as a strong base for the job prospects for these applicants,” explains Shailey Goyal, assistant programme officer, The Japan Foundation.

In view of the rising numbers of students from Mumbai and Pune, the foundation decided to look at Pune as a centre. The Sinhagad Institute is among those institutes taking in a higher number of examinees for the JLPT since 2002. Students come from Nagpur, Satara, Mumbai, Nashik, Kolhapur and Aurangabad for the test centre in Pune,” said Vinay Sathe, Japanese language teacher and Head of Department, (Japanese) Tilak

prachibari@gmail.com

Considering the increasing demand for the Japanese language in MNCs, more than 3000 students took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) at the Sinhagad College of Engineering, recently

Life’s Lesson

As a choreographer

Kaizen

A career in the entertainment industry calls for hard work

After my Class XII exams, my parents enrolled me in a dance camp. At first I was furious as I wanted to play basketball and not dance. But after completing the camp, I realised that dancing was something I was good at.

My instructor Terence Joseph also encouraged me to take it up professionally and like they say the rest is history. I have been dancing for over a decade now and can’t think of a better career option to be in.

I went on to complete an acting course from Institute of Creative

Excellence (ICE), an acting institute run by Balaji Telefi lms which helped me bag a character role in ‘Aasman Se Aage’, a daily soap on Life OK! My first project as a choreographer was as an assistant on the sets of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ from the Emraan Hashmi starrer ‘Shanghai’. From there to now I have definitely come a long way in terms of projects but I still have a lot to learn.

This industry teaches you to be humble and patient. If you are creative and are ready to work hard, only then can you survive here.

For the past one and a half years, I have been assisting Ranju Verghese, Bollywood choreographer, who earlier

“This field has changed my perception about life and how to deal with situations.”

manasisaraf@gmail.com

Maharashtra Vidyapeeth.

After gaining proficiency in the language, job opportunities can be tapped in areas such as translation and interpretation. Also, a vast amount of literature is being translated into Indian languages on popular demand. “The applicants are increasingly looking for a career in MNCs in India and even in Japan, especially in the fields of automobiles, mechanical, IT etc,” said Goyal. Demand in the R&D sector in Japan has also risen tremendously in the last few years.

Tejashree Kirpekar, who is pursuing her second year Bachelors in Japanese, felt that Japan is opening up many avenues for language lovers. “One could look at a lucrative career as a teacher and even the idea of visiting Japan and working as a translator is a great opportunity.”

Pursuing My Career

BY AKASH SHETTY

the main building will be completed,” he said about this work which has been much-criticised as it has been pending for nearly five years now.

A completely modernised canteen, a world class international hostel for research scholars, a fully equipped hostel with modern amenities for PhD students, a good auditorium, a social science complex and Science Park are on the cards. “There is a long way to go and the need of the hour is to improve the academic credibility of the varsity,” he stressed.

“A number of steps have already been taken towards this end, which has led to the significant rise of ‘H’ index (the index which shows the graph of academic excellence of the varsity), rise in the number of academic grants from Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and similar grants for colleges and departments,” he said.

Decisive steps have also been taken to deal with the scams in the exam department. “Automation in the examination department has been successful and has helped remove the tainted image of the varsity,” he said.

“As a part of recent initiatives, question papers are being sent online to colleges and from the coming semester computerised answer-sheets checking will be introduced for the Pharmacy faculty, he said. Under this, the answer-sheets would be scanned and sent to the teachers for checking online”, he added.

SWAPNIL SONAWANE

200 universities in the world,” Professor Gade said in an exclusive interview to this newspaper on Wednesday.

Gade did his graduation from Nagpur University and post graduation and doctorate from Jahawarlal Nehru University, New Delhi in Life Sciences. He was a post-doctoral fellow in France and Sweden between 1988 and 1990. He is a recipient of Lupin Endowment Award instituted

by UICT, and served as scientist in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative

Penn State University: Online curriculum, joint research projects

and Bio Active Molecules”, he said.

These tie-ups will include online courses ranging in duration from six months to two years. We are planning to start this by January 2015,” he added.

“These MoUs will cover faculty and students exchange, joint research projects and faculty enhancement,” Professor Gade said. Besides, students who opt for the Aviation course which was started in the last academic year will have the option to do it either from Germany or USA at Dean International Miami,” he said.

The vice chancellor, who is passionate about his mission, said in many university departments, a strong tie-up with the industry has been introduced for training and research.

“I want to step this up and bring in many more industries to the campus,” he said.

Keeping pace with new trends in education is an important focus area for the UoP. One important focus area is enhancing the quality of teaching.

“When we talk about taking the varsity to new heights we also need to make our teachers equipped with the latest knowledge and training,” he said.

Gade said that he has discussed with foreign varsities various opportunities for students and faculty members to raise their capabilities for the global competition. He said that the UoP is not focusing on academic growth alone but also better infrastructure at the campus. “I am confident that within the next seven to eight months, the restoration work of

worked with Bosco-Ceaser. With him my choreography projects were Shilpa Shetty’s ‘Dishkayoon’ and ‘Karle Pyaar Karle’ by Suneel Darshan.

As an actor I featured in Airtel regional and Idea advertisements. The most memorable moment of my journey till now has been with Bollywood actor Sridevi. She showed me that no matter what you achieve one should never forget where they started from and who they learnt from.

This field has changed my perception about life and how to deal with situations too. I am too young to give advice but if you want to make a career in the entertainment field then you have to move base to Mumbai.

Because that is where everything from shootings to auditions take place. Also, hard work is a must and you must not expect an overnight miracle. Unlike the way it is portrayed, this is a career where you get to learn a lot and have scope to achieve your dreams as well.

Implement and practise Kaizen in your life to experience positive change Kaizen is the Japanese philosophy of ‘continuous improvement’ and was fi rst applied in the process of manufacturing, engineering and business management. It can however be applied to any area of our personal and professional life and can bring about dramatic results while helping us realise our goals and become efficient.

Kaizen was first implemented in Japanese firms after the crushing defeat in the second World War. It was influenced partly by the lessons drawn from American business management scholars and professionals. Kaizen has many followers in Pune.

The Leading Edge Group lists the top 10 principles of Kaizen as follows:  Th row out all your old fi xed ideas on how to do things  No blame - treat others as you

want to be treated  Th ink positive – don’t say can’t  Do not wait for perfection, 50 per cent improvement now is fine  Correct mistakes as soon as they are found  Don’t substitute money for thinking, Creativity before Capital  Keep asking “why” until you get to the root cause  Better the wisdom of five people than the expertise of one  Base decisions on data not opinions  Improvement is not made from a conference room!

RE LATIONSHIPS “Action has meaning only in relationship, and without understanding relationship, action on any level will only breed conflict.”

—Jiddu Krishnamurti

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

“Human relations are built on feeling, not on reason or knowledge. And feeling is not an exact science; like all spiritual qualities, it has the vagueness of greatness about it.”

—Amelia E Barr

Infidelity is a double-edged sword Many individuals who cheat on their spouses or loved ones also feel severe self-reproach and guilt

A one-night stand, a fling, or even a long-standing affair becomes a bitter pill to swallow, especially if they never ‘intended’ to hurt their spouse

BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh Sometimes love is all it takes for two individuals to bond. Sometimes it only takes love to drive them apart.

When a man or woman cheats on their loved one, by being physically intimate with someone else or by being involved in an emotional entanglement, they irrevocably harm a relationship that had been precious to them when they started on the journey of life together.

To the partner who was cheated on, the discovery of a love affair and their partner’s indiscretion is earthshattering. From losing sleep to losing faith, it’s a journey that takes them spiralling down an abyss of complicated emotions. Heartache and heartbreak become more than just two words.

A cheated spouse questions every thing; the very foundation of their relationship, what went wrong and why, blaming the other ‘woman’ or ‘man’, looking for the reasons that led their partner to look beyond the confines of their wedlock. Was it complacency?

Was I too trusting? Am I a bad partner, a bad spouse, a bad parent?

There is an immense sense of loss.

The fear of financial crisis, the shock, the hurt, the anger and the obsession “Is he/she with her/him right now?” can be all-consuming.

Values are questioned and allegiances tested. Families are compelled to take sides and when children are involved, there is a huge price to pay.

On the other hand, many individuals who cheat on their spouses or loved

When someone cheats on his or her loved one, they irrevocably harm a relationship that had been precious to them

ones, also feel severe self-reproach and guilt. A one-night stand, a fling, or even a long-standing affair becomes a bitter pill to swallow, especially if they never ‘intended’ to hurt their spouse or partner by their actions.

Marriage counsellors and psychologists say that humans react in a textbook style to the shock of being cheated on. First there is anger, then there are emotional outbursts, followed by grief and sadness, and lastly, there

is the inherent need to take action – either the partner chooses to reconcile or seek separation/divorce.

After the confrontation, the cheating partner may be forced to take a stand – to choose, to act upon their

choice and to let go. But many can’t let go of their life ‘as they know it’ - their children, their home, the comfort of their surroundings and even the spouse they cheated on.

Whether they cheat out of

disinterest in their marriage, or merely for fun (they wanted romance and excitement), the deep repercussions of seemingly innocuous liaisons disrupts their lives completely.

They live in their own private hell suffering the pain of knowing that they have betrayed their partners, broken the hearts and dreams of their loved ones and perhaps even lost their own souls along the way.

Infidelity is a double-edged sword and neither person can survive it unscathed.

Overcoming infidelity is not impossible but it is a slow and intense process that requires both partners to show commitment to their relationship. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

When saying ‘no’ It’s better to make a commitment empowered women and do it than saying “I’ll try” The Way Forward with compassion and hope

BY SHILPA RAINA

Are you unable to solve a problem that is bothering you? Write in to us at wayforward@goldensparrow.com

BY C. RAVINDRANATH Last week, we dealt with “What can I do?” This week, let’s take up another common expression all of us use frequently: “I’ll try.” The best examples can probably be found in the dusty corridors and dingy offices of government establishments where people don’t do their jobs – they do favours for people. “I’ll try” is often an indication that the job will not be done. It could also be a hint for other considerations.

Forget the government clerks.

What do we mean when we say, “I’ll try my best?” We only promise efforts – not results. We open up an escape route. It becomes easy for us to say later, “What did I say? I said I’d try my best. I tried. If it didn’t happen, what can I do?”

This is justification. This is excuse. The fact is, we neither made a commitment nor did we stick to a promise. We indicated either lack of confidence or willingness. We said we would try.

We perhaps did.

Trying is not doing, for as long as we try, the task is not over. The process is incomplete as long as the effort goes on. My friend has been ‘trying’ to quit smoking for the past two decades.

He is still ‘trying’.

Can we therefore go beyond just trying? On a training programme, one of the participants said he would try to do something. The trainer threw his pen down

joined hands with an NGO to prevent prostitution grow in their area. “When you As a child-bride, activist Sampat Pal’s sell a girl, you sell her dream. I might not mother-in-law sternly instructed her to have have faced any discrimination, but these dinner only after everyone in the family had girls were too scared to have said ‘no’. They eaten. She agreed, but a part of her rebelled needed a voice, and I became their voice,” against this gender discrimination. And a Fatima told IANS. day came when she could take it no more These three women activists were in the and ate before everyone else did. That very capital recently for a gender conference where moment forever changed the course of her they all stressed on the fact that a moment life. comes in everyone’s life when they decide to “My mother-in-law was furious. She take reins of life in their own hands and say scolded me, but I asked her to give me one ‘no’ to the discriminators and abusers. good reason why I should eat in the end?

“It is that very moment when the mind Where is the rule written?” becomes free of any fear Pal told IANS. or outcome, and a person This one step led to the transforms,” said Tripathi, making of 200,000 grassrootswho has participated in the women activists “Gulabi TV reality show ‘Bigg Boss 5’.

Gang” that fights against These women have become oppression. It is originally icons in their respective from the Bundelkhand region social-gender based work. of Uttar Pradesh, and is active The 55-year-old Pal who since 2010. comes from a small village in Things were slightly Uttar Pradesh, first was in the different for 35-year-old news when a documentary transgender Lakshmi fi lm-maker Nishtha Jain - Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi Narayan Tripathi, who was made a fi lm ‘Gulabi Gang’ sexually abused by a close (2012) on the ‘pink-sari gang’ family member, and was being - as Pal chose this colour to mocked for her feminine features. But the make the gang identifiable and leave its own unconditional support of her family had kept mark. her going all through, till she had the guts to But, the gang made more news and a few say ‘no’ to her abuser. controversies with Madhuri Dixit and Juhi “I was sexually abused by somebody who Chawla starrer ‘Gulaab Gang’ (2014) which was a part of our family. It was difficult for was based on the workings of the gang. me to even go to school and college. People “To protect ourselves, women have to stay used to call me ‘chhakka’, ‘gur’ and what together in a group and stand up for their not,” recollected Tripathi who champions rights. If she is empowered, only then she rights for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual can make a difference in her life,” Pal said. and transgender) community.

Tripathi, however, strongly feels a woman “Whichever man came to my life, abused has to first love herself before she thinks of me. At that time, I was a very different others. “In life, what we require the most is person from what I am today. I could hardly love, unconditional love. But the problem is, speak then. I was not confident. One fine as women, we don’t love ourselves enough. day, I got the guts to say ‘no’. After that no, Women love their children, their husbands, my whole life changed,” Tripathi told IANS. their homes, their money, their makeup, but The story of Fatima Khatoon is also how much do they love themselves?” she somewhat the same. She was married to a asked. “Women need to love themselves in trafficker and her house was a brothel. Rising order to feel loved,” she concluded. in protest, she helped a few girls to flee and IANS

“Women need to love themselves in order to feel loved.”

Trying is not doing, for as long as we try, the task is not over

“When we can do something, why don’t we say “I will?”

and asked the participant if he would follow his instructions.

On receiving an affirmative nod, he asked him, “Please try to pick up the pen.”

When the young man picked up the pen easily, the trainer asked others what he had asked him to do.

“Try to pick up the

pen,” they chorused. “What did he do?” “He picked up the pen.” “What did I ask him to do?” “To try to pick up the pen, not pick it up.” Getting the point, the lad bent down, put his hand on the pen but did not pick it up.

After the laughter had subsided, the trainer explained, “He now followed my instructions. He ‘tried’ to pick up the pen. The pen will be picked up only when he goes beyond just trying and actually does the task.

Can we therefore stop saying ‘I’ll try to do it’ and start saying ‘I will do it?’

Can we make a commitment – give

our word?”

This is not to say we can promise anything. However, when we say “I’ll try,” when we know we can do it or have a fair chance of doing it, then can it be just a ploy to avoid doing it and creating an ‘honourable’ escape route? When we can do something, why don’t we say “I will?”

How long are we going to keep trying?

(The writer is a multi-faceted personality who believes in responding with compassion and hope to the difficult situations in life.)

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

“If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there.

Then never, never, never give up.”

— Norman Vincent Peale, author

Conference on building famous brands A workshop on building successful brands that assume high value and significance in any business has been organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce of India (FICCI) from 10 am to 6pm, on July 18.The conference will be held at Hotel Hyatt Regency and for the first time in Pune, some eminent brand experts and industry leaders will address the audience.

The conference will delve into brand strategies, the challenges, case studies and the role of advertising and media in building successful brands.

The event will also deliberate on the growing importance of the digital medium and the innovations happening in this area to augment reach and consumerism.

The event will be useful for CMDs, CEOs and CMOs, professionals in the field of marketing and branding, advertising, media, public relations, digital and direct marketing agencies, media houses and market research organisations, brand and marketing consultants, SMEs and startups and budding entrepreneurs.

For details contact Varsha Mahajan (MCCIA) on 020 - 25709223 / 25709000 or email varsham@mcciapune.com.

Free event to popularise govt’s scheme MCCIA’s SME committee will be holding a free workshop between 3 pm and 5 pm on July 16, to generate awareness about the state’s Package Scheme of Incentives (PSI). Participants may attend the event at Pune or at Bhosari after confirming participation by email with Sandhya Acharya at sandhyaa@mcciapune.com.

The Maharashtra government is providing incentives to the industry through PSI introduced in April 2013 but the response is pretty low.

The benefits available for applicable MSMEs are in the form of electricity duty exemption, power subsidies and industrial promotion subsidies, VAT subsidies and are in the range of 30 per cent to almost 80 per cent of the capital invested depending on the zone of investment.

The discussion will be led by Bhavesh Thakkar, partner in MZSK & Associates and chartered accountants. The firm is a part of BDO International Network, which is the fifth largest accounting network in the world.

Workshop on share market tomorrow Pune Nagar Wachan Mandir will be holding a workshop on ‘Share Market’ at 10 am on Sunday.

Chandrashekhar Thakur, an economist and professor of investors’ education at the Central Depository Services (India) Ltd (CDSL), will be the key speaker.

With over 46 years of experience in Bombay Stock Exchange, Thakur will elaborate on the style of functioning of market, selection of broker, D Mat, IPO, Pay In – Pay out, T + 2, online trading, protection to investors of share market and Rajiv Gandhi Equity saving scheme in a common man’s language. The workshop will be held at Pune Nagar Wachan Mandir, 181 Budhawarpeth, near Citypost.

Share Market

– Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook co-founder

It’s sweet success for this enterprising trio Rishab Oswal, Aditya Ghanekar and Akshay Kothawale’s one-yearold online restaurant reservation portal Hungrytable.in is serving profits now

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Signposts

“If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.”

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose They are young, talented and filled with zest for doing something new. Perhaps, it is their enthusiasm that led media management post graduate Rishab Oswal (23); MBA graduate Aditya Ghanekar (25) and computer engineer Akshay Kothawale (25) to start Hungrytable.in, an online restaurant reservation portal, on July 1, 2013.

The portal has already tied up with 100 restaurants and processed over 3,000 reservations in one year.

Rishab and Aditya handle the operations and Akshay provides technical assistance. “Aditya and I are friends since college and are alumni of the University of Sterling, Scotland. I met Akshay through Aditya, and we decided to to start this online venture,” said Rishab.

It was in November 2012 that Rishab approached Aditya with a business idea. “Initially, we had thought of coming up with loyalty cards for restaurants, wherein every time one visits a restaurant and uses the card, he or she would get discounts and rewarded points,” said Rishab, adding that the restaurants did not show much interest.

“We were disappointed but their disinterest pushed us to do something completely different. We wanted to stick to the food and beverage industry but were undecided about the venture,” said Rishab.

After visiting a few more restaurants, the trio realised that these eating places lacked a proper and efficient reservation system. “Most of them are done over

The trio (from left) Akshay Kothawale, Aditya Ghanekar and Rishab Oswal have already tied up with 100 restaurants and processed over 3,000 reservations in one year

the phone by taking down numbers from Just Dial. The restaurant owners admitted that they needed someone to give them more reservations and maintain a database. And Hungrytable. in was born,” he said.

Developed on the model of bookmyshow.com, the online portal offers discount every time someone reserves a table. “We thought of integrating the loyalty card facility, something that we had earlier set out to

do. In fact, today, we maintain discount as the main criterion along with reservation in our portal,” said Rishab.

The trio started making money in March. “We went without salary for eight months but now earn just about

enough to meet our operational costs,” said Rishab. The team plans to cover Bangalore and Hyderabad by 2014-end and are looking out for investment. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

Start-up Mentor Decode the art of import substitution Entrepreneurs need to choose MCCIA to hold meet for engineering, technical institutes on July 16

BY TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) has organised a workshop for engineering and technical institutes to evolve a high quality import substitution syllabus as a part of the curriculum for import substitution engineering.

The workshop has been organised on July 16 from 2 pm to 6 pm and participation in this workshop is through registration on the MCCIA website.

According to the MCCIA, technical institutions can play a vital role in enabling and empowering young engineers to exploit the opportunity of import substitution. India has imported various goods worth more than Rs 14.4 trillion in the last five years in the engineering industry from mechanical, electrical and instrumentation field. These are mostly outside patent purview.

These can be effectively manufactured and sold to the Indian markets as import substitutes. These high quality import substitute products can be sold at competitive price and lucrative profit.

They can build “Import Substitution Product Bank” of various imported products, defective or otherwise.

This will inspire students about concentrating their efforts in this direction. The bank may have imported samples which are of no commercial

value but have great educational value.

The idea is borrowed from medical education with attached hospital where students learn from bodies first and then work on live human beings!

Engineering professors can use the information received at the workshop to help students identify import substitute products through the Internet and product bank. The detailed information about the import substitute products with the product codes, measurements and price can be downloaded from the Internet by students. One must use one’s contacts to locate a sample for manufacture and sale.

Initially one can work on repairing the existing imported product and gain knowledge and confidence.

The workshop will also discuss issues relating to the manufacture and sale of such products.

The event will be conducted by Shekhar Kulkarni, an IIT alumnus of 1976 batch, who has been practicing the concept of Superior Import Substitution for 30 years.

He manufactures over 100 import substitute products himself and has developed a scientific method for imparting this knowledge to entrepreneurs. He has given many presentations through Sakal and other platforms for guiding students and entrepreneurs. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

Professors can use the information received at the workshop to help students identify import substitute

appropriate legal structure

This feature is a collaboration between The Golden Sparrow on Saturday and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the world’s largest non-profit network of entrepreneurs. For additional questions about your entrepreneurial challenges, write to mentoring@pune.tie.org

I have decided to start my venture and would like to incorporate a company. What is the most appropriate legal structure for my company?

—Ashish Kothari First of all, congratulations on your decision to start your company. Most people approach a practicing CA or CS to help in corporate. However, it is important to understand this a bit. In India, you can start your business by choosing any of the available legal structure in the form of Sole Proprietorship, Partnership Firm, Limited Liability Partnership or a Company (Private Limited or Public Limited).

Let’s understand better:SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP This is the easiest form of business entity to establish in India because there is no requirement of its registration and the business is in the name of the individual who is called sole proprietor. The business and the ownership is not separate from each other and the owner commands the complete control over all the aspects of the business. Registrations with various government departments are required only on a need basis; for example service tax, VAT or excise. Proprietors have unlimited business liability and their personal assets can be attached to meet their business liability.

PARTNERSHIP FIRM When two or more people come

together to share the profits and losses of a business without any formal entity, they are said to be running a general partnership firm, it can have a maximum of 20 partners. A partnership firm may or may not be registered but unless it is registered, it cannot command a legal status. However, it does not prevent its partners from suing each other in a court of law. A partnership deed contains clauses like capital contribution, profit and loss, sharing ratio or salary to partners.

LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP LLP It is a new form of business entity recognised by an Act of the Parliament and is similar to partnership with a difference of protection of limited liability of its partners. The liability of each partner is limited to the extent of their investment in the firm andit commands alegal status.

PRIVATE LIMITED COMPANY It is a form of company registered under the Companies Act with limited members between 2 and 200 and starts with a minimum capital of Rs 1,00,000.

It is also a separate legal entity and liability of the shareholders is limited to their share capital or agreed amount.

For carrying out the business, directors are appointed by the shareholders and legal compliances in case of a private limited company are much more as compared to a partnership firm or an LLP.

PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY It is similar to a private limited company with a benefit of having an unlimited number of shareholders with a minimum of seven members to start with. Establishing a public limited company is advised only after achieving a scale in a business as it has a lot more compliance to be fulfi lled than the other entities. A public limited company can also sell its shares to public and be listed on a stock exchange.

CONCLUSION If you are a budding entrepreneur, you should choose the appropriate legal structure so as to know what you are getting into. Choosing the type of entity can have far more implications when scaling up, seeking investors or funding, exit option, introduction of new co-founders or your personal liability. This choice also depends on various other factors like taxation, owner’s personal liability, legal compliances, funding and exit strategy.

If you are alone and in the very initial stage of your business, start with a sole proprietorship to keep your time and monetary cost at a very low level.

As you progress gradually, then think of getting more people in the form of partners/founders or investors and form a partnership or a private limited company suiting to your long term goals with respect to your company, select wisely. (with inputs from Rishabh Parakh of Moneyplant Consulting )

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

Doing biz in India will equip you to succeed anywhere P 14

PUNE

“This kind of political witch-hunt (National Herald newspaper case) will only help us come back faster.”

- Congress president Sonia Gandhi

Bullet Trains

Is Modi courting a dream or nightmare?

A Rs 60,000 crore project to connect just two cities — which are anyway just a hour’s flying time away — may make no sense economically, and the plan should not become another Concorde

BY R JAGANNATHAN

The one thing that gave me considerable cause for pause in Sadananda Gowda’s Railway Budget was his proposal for a bullet train between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Gowda said: “It is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible.... Indian Railways is on its way to fulfi l that long cherished dream. We propose bullet trains by starting off with an already identified Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector, where a number of studies have been done.”

Quite apart from the fact that Gowda is stretching the truth in claiming that “it is the wish and dream of every Indian” to ride a bullet train, I am not sure India needs bullet trains. Fast trains, yes, high-speed rail corridors, sure. But bullet trains between two cities at Rs 60,000 crore a pop? Hmmm.

There’s a saying, be careful what you wish for, for you may get it. A bullet train may be something to impress the natives with and take “phoren” visitors on a show tour, but I doubt the idea has sound economics on its side.

Consider the cons.

First, a Rs 60,000-crore project to connect just two cities — which are anyway just a hour’s flying time away — may make no sense economically. The

project will have to earn a minimum surplus of Rs 5,000-6,000 crore annually to service debts and capital.

Gowda said the railways carried 23 million passengers daily on 12,617 trains. This works out to an average of less than one million passengers per train annually. Will the bullet train have enough traffic to justify the costs?

To generate a profit of Rs 6,000 crore annually, and assuming the bullet train traffic is a high one million passengers a year, the annual servicing cost of the investment would have to be Rs 60,000 per journey. Of course, there can be other streams of revenue, but just look at the impossibility of the basic math. And why build a project by creating commercial space or food courts to make it somewhat viable?

Second, a bullet train — largely meant for people who value time over money, which means the rich and better off only — should always pay for itself. It cannot be just a super-subsidised showpiece.

When the railways are moving away from reducing passenger subsidies even to the poor, it would be criminal to set up a bullet train where fares have to be subsidised.

Third, since a

bullet train needs all-new infrastructure, it means a huge amount of land acquisition. After the UPA-legislated Land Acquisition Act, the money and effort involved in acquiring land for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train would not only be mind-boggling but mind-numbing. It could take all of five years. By which time, the cost of the project would have escalated.

Remember, the route connects some of the most populated cities along the way and land won’t be cheap.

Fourth, the distance between the two cities is around 550 km. A high-speed train

that, for full weaponised operations aboard carriers, will come the LCA Mark-II powered by GE 414 engines, according to India Strategic.

The naval variant, being tested from

the HAL airport in Bangalore, has a bigger undercarriage that Hindustan Aeronautics has built to facilitate deck landings. The development programme is coordinated by a one-star naval pilot.

‘Obama wants stronger economic ties’

Common man satisfied with the budget 2014

US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who called on prime minister Narendra Modi Friday, conveyed to him US President Barack Obama’s desire to strengthen economic relations with India, and handed him Obama’s letter inviting him to visit Washington in September.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Obama reiterated his invitation to Modi to visit Washington in September and to work closely to make India-US relations a defining partnership for the 21st century. Burns conveyed Obama’s desire to boost economic ties with India, with a focus on next-generation technologies and manufacturing sector.

Burns said US sought India’s cooperation in enhancing energy security; deepening security cooperation, including in maritime security, counterterrorism and intelligence exchange.

Modi thanked Obama for the invitation and looked forward to a ‘result-oriented’ visit with concrete outcomes that impart new momentum and energy to India-US strategic partnership, the PMO said.

“Modi was of the view that reenergising the partnership between India and the United States would send an important message to the region and beyond. Articulating his vision for India-US relations, Modi stated that the relationship between the world’s oldest and largest democracies should not only be for the benefit of the two countries, but should emerge as a powerful force of good for peace, stability and prosperity in the world,” PMO added.

IANS

Contd from p 1 The raising of the FDI cap in the defence sector from 26 percent to 49 percent evoked mixed reactions.

“I am not sure if increasing FDI is such a good step. I think we should promote our indigenous private and public defence industries. The focus should not be on importing equipment and weapons but exporting them,” said V. Kurien, a retired Navy officer from Kerala.

Meanwhile, the decision to increase excise duty on cigarettes and tobacco products as well as aerated drinks is a step in the right direction, felt many.

“Who needs these colas and cigarettes? They are poison for our health.

I know it’s tough to ban them but the next best thing to do is to make them

expensive,” said Vivek Sethi, a 30-yearold dietician based in south Delhi.

The news obviously upset smokers, many of whom said that they had no option but to curtail the number of sticks they smoke or kick the butt altogether.

“I guess I will have to cut down on the number of cigarettes I smoke daily as there are other important expenses in life,” said Zahid Jibran, a 40-year-old ad fi lm maker from Mumbai who smokes around a dozen cigarettes a day.

Other announcements like allocation of Rs.500 crore for the rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Pandits, total sanitation in every household by 2019, e-visas at nine airports, cheaper cars and televisions too were appreciated.

Indian mathematician wins Polya Prize for solving knotty riddle Contd from p 1 He emphasised the discrepancy-theoretic nature of the new result and explained its application for partitioning graphs into expanders. “It is definitely inspiring and motivating to be put on a list with so many great mathematicians,” Srivastava was quoted as saying.

Winning awards is rewarding, but for Srivastava, the true reward for his research is in extending its relevance, “My focus is mainly to better understand the techniques that went into

The Anglo-French Concorde supersonic aircraft project was one of the biggest white elephants created by politicians keen on trophy projects. Driven by hubris rather than economics, it was perpetually lossmaking. It was finally put out of misery when British Airways and Air France both decided that they had bled enough and allowed common sense to overide vanity. The Concorde service, which brought down the New York-London fly time from eight hours to around three-and-a-half hours, ended in 2003.

India’s bullet

train should not become another Concorde. This is not to say its viability should not be checked by experts, but commercial profitability should be the only guiding principle before a final gono-go decision is taken.

As things stand, my own suspicion is that it won’t withstand the profitability test. A potential tiger economy does not need white elephants to feed endlessly.

Some dreams are best left as dreams. Trying to realise them can turn into a nightmare.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

The plan will have to earn a minimum surplus of Rs 5,000-6,000 cr annually to service debts and capital

Indian Navy LCA to soon begin test flights Contd from p 1 familiarise the naval pilots with them.

One aircraft is operational, another is on the anvil and a third will son be available to complete the trials. After

— which travels at 160-200 kmph (which is the proposed speed indicated for high-speed rail corridors) — would take all of three-and-a-half hours. This is not exactly a waste of time even for the truly busy. And with all the jingbang of wi-fi and other services, anyone who travels on a high-speed train will not waste even this three-and-a-half hours in travel. Why would anybody use a bullet train at a much higher cost just to save an hour or two?

this proof,” he said. “I suspect it is an instance of much more general phenomena, rather than a one-off.”

The Kadison-Singer problem asks, at its core, if unique information can be extrapolated from a scenario in which not all features can be observed or measured, according to Yale News.

The idea is particularly relevant to abstract fields, including quantum physics, operator theory, complex analysis, graph theory, signal processing, and finite-dimensional geometry, it said.

Bank to women recruits: When was your last period?

BY FP STAFF “When was the date of your last period?”

It’s a question usually reserved for the privacy of a doctor’s office, but Canara Bank is apparently no less interested in intimate workings of a woman’s body.

Its women applicants were asked to give an account of their menstrual history, date of their last period and whether they were suffering from any breasts - or uterus - related ailments. According to a TOI report, candidates were also asked if they were pregnant, as pregnancy would be grounds for immediate disqualification.

The bank applications were used as a recruitment drive to hire over 1,000 clerical employees across the country, including 300 for Kerala, according to Canara Bank Staff Union Central Committee member and BEFI state secretary SS Anil Kumar.

The 150 new clerical staff who joined duty on July 7 were asked to produce their medical reports. The questions about menstruation and pregnancy were part of a longer questionnaire that asked if the new recruits suffered from a variety of ailments including hypertension, diabetes, TB, cancer, HIV positive, hepatitis or any other chronic or contagious diseases. Instructions had been given stating that if the candidates were found to be suffering from any of the chronic ailments, they would not be recruited, Kumar said.

“The candidates were being recruited for clerical work in the bank and not for the Army,” Kumar said, adding “that stipulations were against constitutional provisions on right to live and right to work.”

He said this was the first time a public sector bank had bought in such terms and conditions while recruiting

employees. The bank has withdrawn their “new form” after protests by its employees in various parts of Kerala, including Kozhikode and Kochi.

“Yes such information was sought. Many other banks follow this process and ask for such information; however, we withdrew it around last week as soon as we received some objection stating why such personal information needs to be shared,” Canara Bank general manager (HR) Shyamalendu Saha in Bangalore told

The bank form is just another reminder of the personal humiliation that women are made to face because of biology PTI. He added that the next batch of recruits have been asked not to fill the objectionable form.

Thank god for that. But it is clear from his response that the bank is still unable to see what it did wrong.

The bank official claims that “no new recruits protested against the format”, which is hardly surprising. In a country where even a clerical job that doesn’t pay much has thousands of applicants, no one is likely to object.

Putting the bank’s interest in

gathering medical history, since when do periods or pregnancy qualify as an ‘ailment’ — questions that were reserved only for women candidates, and display a complete disregard for gender equity.

As K Chandru, former judge of the Madras high court told TOI, these questions would amount to violations of Articles 14 to 16 of the Constitution.

He added that, “The Supreme Court had shot down such insensitive practices in a case related to the Life Insurance Corporation of India recruitment.”

Given that Canara Bank is a public sector bank, denying women candidates jobs simply on the basis of their gender (aka the fact that they are pregnant) is clearly a violation of the constitution’s above mentioned articles.

It also points to the way a woman’s natural body functions are used as the basis for gender discrimination.

And this phobia against periods isn’t just a new problem. In a place like the Army or Air Force, women candidates continue to face discrimination. For instance the IAF boss in March this year justified why women can’t fly fighter jets in our country. Never mind that women are already flying fighter jets in America, Russia, and even Pakistan.

The Canara Bank form is just another reminder of the personal humiliation that women are made to feel simply because of biology. It is the modern version of age-old taboos that kept women segregated and isolated in their own home during “that time” of the month because they were seen as unclean. Many of those old norms are dying out at least in the cities, but as Canara Bank reveals, they may have just been reincarnated in new forms.

With inputs from PTI © Firstpost.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

Meeting the victims and their relatives, Pope Francis said, “Before God and his people I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. And I humbly ask forgiveness.”

The game for women needs a boost P 13

Graduate of the year

She gets no respect Sexism persists, even among the enlightened

Despite facing hardships with no parental support, Tay Thi Nguyen has achieved her goal of becoming an English teacher QUINN RYAN MATTINGLY/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tay Thi Nguyen is about to become an English teacher, and the best-paid member of her extended family in a Vietnam farming village.

NICHOLAS KRISTOF LONG AN, Vietnam: Tay Thi Nguyen is one of the mightiest people I’ve met, at 43 kilograms. She has a towering presence, at a bit more than 5 feet tall.

She is so strong that she probably could bench press 11 kilograms.

Three times Tay Thi has fainted while here at college, training to become an English teacher, because she starved herself to afford tuition. But she had the strength to persist and soon will become the first person in her village to graduate from college, and she embodies such grit and selflessness that, to me, she’s the world’s college graduate of the year.

Tay Thi, 20, also underscores the principle - especially important in the aftermath of the kidnapping of the Nigerian schoolgirls - that the best leverage we have to achieve social change is to educate girls.

The eighth of nine children to an impoverished farming family in the Mekong Delta, Tay Thi shone in school, but her mother demanded - unsuccessfully - that she drop out after primary school and earn money as a live-in housemaid in

distant Ho Chi Minh City. sobbing. Still, she aced the exam.

“She got very angry with me,” With no parental subsidy, college seemed Tay Thi recalled. In eighth grade, her unaffordable, but Tay Thi saved every mom burned her schoolbooks to try penny she could. She had long worked to force her to drop out, but Tay Thi every vacation - sometimes in a factory borrowed books and continued to excel. job by day and in a duck soup restaurant Staying in school was possible because by night until 2 am. At college, Tay Thi of the help she received from Room confined herself to a food budget of to Read, an aid group that sponsored $3.50 - per week. Malnourished, she Tay Thi and covered her school fees, sometimes toppled over in the middle of uniform, books, bicycle class in a dead faint. to get to school and other Professors and expenses. students discovered that Tay Thi persevered, she was starved and even when her parents basically penniless again burned her books leaving Tay Thi feeling in 12th grade, and, as humiliated. “I was so she graduated from high upset about that,” she school, she prepared said, but, in retrospect, secretly for the college it was a turning point entrance examination. because her teachers and - Tay Thi Her mother found out classmates responded about this when Tay Thi with kindness, sympathy left to take the exam and and help. lashed out, saying “I hope you fail the Room to Read arranged a corporate exams.” scholarship. Tay Thi shares a small Other students arrived at the room with two other young women, exam location escorted by cheering, all sleeping on the floor next to each doting parents; Tay Thi arrived alone, other. She set up a small reading light

“I would like to change people’s thinking.”

that won’t keep the others awake. She studies until midnight, and then sets her alarm for 4 am to resume studying.

She is just as passionate about education for others. First, she encouraged her older brother to return to school, after years of working as a labourer, so he could become a mechanic.

Then she coaxed her younger brother to follow her to college, where he is now a freshman. Even her parents have come around, partly because they see that Tay Thi will soon be an English teacher - and the best paid member of the extended family.

Tay Thi is trying to arrange to teach in her own remote village school, where she wants to advocate for education.

“It’s a way of helping children in my community,” she said.

So let’s celebrate the mightiest college graduate of this commencement season, a young woman of incomparable strength who now is thrilled at the prospect of returning to an impoverished farming village to teach children and change the world. © 2014 New York Times News Service

NICHOLAS KRISTOF Here’s a riddle: Why would a Hurricane Alexandra be deadlier than an identical Hurricane Alexander?

Because females don’t get respect. Not even 161-kilometre-per-hour typhoons, if they’re dubbed with female names.

Researchers find that femalenamed hurricanes kill about twice as many people as similar male-named hurricanes because some people underestimate them. Americans expect male hurricanes to be violent and deadly, but they mistake female hurricanes as dainty and don’t take adequate precautions. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, underscored how unconscious biases shape our behaviour - even when we’re unaware of them.

Researchers examined the most damaging hurricanes between 1950 and 2012, excluding a couple of outliers like Katrina in 2005. They found that female-named storms killed an average of 45 people, while similar hurricanes with male names killed about half as many. The authors of the study, Kiju Jung and others at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign and Arizona State University, also conducted experiments asking people to predict the intensity and riskiness of a hurricane. When asked about a male hurricane, like Alexander, people predicted a more violent storm than when asked about a female hurricane, like Alexandra.

Likewise, research subjects were more willing to evacuate to avoid Hurricane Victor than when it was Hurricane Victoria. The more masculine the name, the more respect the hurricane drew. The researchers estimated that changing the name of a hurricane from Charley to Eloise could nearly triple the death toll. Women were as likely as men to disrespect female hurricanes.

We often assume that racism or sexism is primarily about in-your-face bigots or misogynists, but research in the last couple of decades - capped by this hurricane study - shows that the larger problem is unconscious bias even among well-meaning, enlightened people who embrace principles of equality.

This affects the candidates we

vote for, the employees we hire, the people we do business with. I suspect unconscious bias has been far more of a factor for President Barack Obama than overt racism and will also be a challenge for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president again. “It’s a mistake to assume that gender bias is only or mainly about misogynists,” said Susan Fiske, a psychology professor at Princeton University and the editor of the hurricane study.

Yale researchers contacted science professors at major research universities and asked them to evaluate an application from a (mythical) recent graduate for a laboratory position. The professors received a one-page summary of the candidate, who in some versions was John and in others Jennifer.

On a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 the highest, the professors rated John an average of 4, and Jennifer a 3.3. On average, the professors suggested a salary for Jennifer of $26,508, and $30,328 for John. Professors were more willing to mentor John than Jennifer. The professors’ assessments were unrelated to their own age or gender. Other studies have reached similar conclusions, often by sending out identical résumés for job applicants - some with a female name and some with a male name. The male versions do better.

For example, evaluators assess the CV of “Brian Miller” as stronger than that of an identical “Karen Miller.”

While virtually all voters say today that they would vote for a qualified woman for president (only 30 per cent said so in 1930), experiments by Cecilia Hyunjong Mo of Vanderbilt University suggest that in practice people favor male candidates because they associate men with leadership.

I suspect that unconscious biases shape everything from salary discrimination to the lackadaisical way many universities handle rape cases. They also help explain why only 4.8 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs and 18.5 per cent of members of Congress are women. This deep bias is as elusive as it is pernicious, but a start is to confront and discuss it.

Perhaps hurricanes, by catching us out, can help us face our own chauvinism.

This deep bias is as elusive as it is pernicious, but a start is to discuss it

© 2014 New York Times News Service

Study of LIFE: Take a daily walk to age gracefully without injuries A large study shows the benefits of walking for older people and how it reduces the chance of becoming physically disabled GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Regular exercise, including walking, significantly reduces the chance that a frail older person will become physically disabled, according to one of the largest and longest-running studies of its kind.

The results, published recently in the journal JAMA, reinforce the necessity of frequent physical activity at whatever age. While everyone knows that exercise is a good idea, the hard, scientific evidence about its benefits in the old and infirm has been surprisingly limited.

“For the first time, we have directly shown that exercise can effectively lessen or prevent the development of physical disability in a population of extremely vulnerable elderly people,” said Dr Marco Pahor, the director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Florida in Gainesville and the lead author of the study. Countless epidemiological studies have found a strong correlation between physical activity in advanced age and a longer, healthier life. But such studies cannot prove that exercise improves older people’s health, only that healthy older people exercise.

Other small-scale, randomised experiments have persuasively established a causal link between exercise and healthy aging. But the scope of these experiments has generally been narrow, showing, for instance, that older people can improve their muscle strength with weight training or their endurance capacity with walking.

So, for this latest study, the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders, or LIFE, trial, scientists at eight universities and research centers began recruiting volunteers in 2010, using an unusual set of selection criteria. Unlike many exercise studies, which tend to be filled with people in relatively robust health who can easily exercise, this trial used volunteers who were sedentary and infirm, and on the cusp of frailty.

Ultimately, they recruited 1,635 sedentary men and women ages 70 to 89 who scored lower than a nine on a 12-point scale of physical functioning often used to assess older people.

Almost half scored an eight or lower, but all were able to walk on their own for 400 meters, the researchers’ cutoff point for being physically disabled.

Then the men and women were randomly assigned to either an exercise or an education group. Those in the education group were asked to visit the research center once a month or so to learn about nutrition, health care and other topics related to aging.

The exercise group received information about aging but also started a programme of walking and light, lower-body weight training with ankle weights, going to the research centre twice a week for supervised group walks on a track, with the walks growing progressively longer. They were also asked to complete three or four more exercise sessions at home, aiming for a total of 150 minutes of walking and about three 10-minute sessions of

weight-training exercises each week. participants in the education group Every six months, researchers began to exercise, study data shows, checked the physical functioning of although they were not asked to do so. all of the volunteers, with particular “It wouldn’t have been ethical” to keep attention to whether they could still them from exercise, Lipsitz continued. walk 400 metres by themselves.

But if the scientists in the LIFE study The experiment followed people “had been able to use a control group for an average of 2.6 years, which is far of completely sedentary older people longer than most exercise studies. with poor eating habits, the differences By the end of that time, the between the groups would be much more exercising volunteers were about 18 per pronounced,” he said. Overall, Lipsitz cent less likely to have experienced any said, “It’s an important study because it episode of physical disability during focuses on an important outcome, which the experiment. They were also about is the prevention of physical disability.”

28 per cent less likely to In the coming have become persistently, months, Pahor and his possibly permanently colleagues plan to mine disabled, defined as being their database of results unable to walk those 400 for additional follow-up, metres by themselves. including a cost-benefit A subtler concern analysis. Pahor cautioned involves the surprisingly that the LIFE study was small difference, in not meant to prompt absolute terms, in the older adults to begin solo, number of people who unsupervised exercise. became disabled in the “Medical supervision two groups. About 35 is important,” he said. per cent of those in the Mildred Johnston, 82, education group had a retired office worker - Dr Lewis Lipsitz a period of physical in Gainesville who disability during the volunteered for the LIFE study. But so did 30 per cent of those in trial, has kept up weekly walks with two the exercise group. of the other volunteers she met during “At first glance, those results are the study. “Exercising has changed my underwhelming,” said Dr Lewis Lipsitz, whole aspect on what aging means,” a professor of medicine at Harvard she said. “It’s not about how much help Medical School and director of the you need from other people now. It’s Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew more about what I can do for myself.”

SeniorLife in Boston, who was not Besides, she said, gossiping during involved with the study. “But then you her group walks “really keeps you have to look at the control group, which engaged with life.” wasn’t really a control group at all.”

That is because in many cases the © 2014 New York Times News Service

“Study focuses on an important outcome — prevention of physical disability.”

The study found that about 18 per cent exercising volunteers were less likely to have experienced any episode of physical disability during the experiment

TH E EDIT PAGE

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

Editor’s picks

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

PUNE

COURTESY: SANGREA

Dabholkar murder: Crime & punishment The rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and his work relating to the antisuperstition movement never received as much local and national attention as it has done since his murder August 20, 2013.

Dabholkar crusaded against a large number of religious rituals, superstitious beliefs and practices that are inhuman, exploitative, anti-women and anti-children.

For more than a decade, during every assembly session, he crusaded for the introduction of an antisuperstition bill on the floor of the house. All political parties of the day routinely ignored him and it had become an SOP (standard operating practice) for Dabholkar to convene a press conference in Mumbai or Pune to highlight his disappointment with politicians.

His ardent desire to see an anti-superstition legislation became a reality within weeks of his death. Cornered by the public furore over his murder, the state government hastily enacted the ‘Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013’.

In the immediate years preceding his death, Dabholkar’s movement had waned somewhat and he worked somewhat silently compared to the attention-grabbing, fire-breathing demonstrations that he organised in previous years. In the latter years of his life, his work was concentrated in rural Maharashtra and the mainstream, urban media took little notice of it.

Many people heard of Dabholkar only after his death rather than when he was alive and the small flame of inspiration that he ignited became a torch much brighter than before.

Police investigations into his murder are as yet clueless as to who killed him and why. Some Hindu organisations attacked him fiercely because they wrongly perceived his work as an “attack” on their religion and pointing out to the NRI donations that his organisation received, they accused him of playing into the hands of anti-Hindu forces. There is a strong suspicion that his murder was the work of professional killers but the police have no evidence as yet as to who killed him and why.

Looking at the enormous attention that Dabholkar and his life received,

sadly after his death, the forces that conspired and got him shot to death on August 20 must be truly mourning their hate-inspired crime.

It is by their very own hands that they have contributed significantly to Dabholkar’s work and his greatness.

Ten months after his death, the Dabholkar murder investigations have made no headway and the investigations have been handed over to the CBI. The latest flashpoint in the Dabholkar saga is the revelation by a news magazine that none other than the Pune Police resorted to some mumbojumbo to “invoke his spirit” and solve the murder. According to the report, former Pune Police Commissioner Gulabrao Pol, retired ACP Ranjit Abhyankar and ex-constable Manish Thakur authorised or participated in this exercise.

Laughable as this is, it is also indicative of the enormous pressure on the Maharashtra Police to solve the crime one way or the other.

Our police officers are like the average mass of people: they are neither rationalists by faith nor crusaders of the antisuperstition movement.

Further, since they are the custodians of the law, they tend to disregard law and rationality when it suits them best.

When people face desperate situations, they act in a desperate manner and hold on to any straw of hope.

Therefore, you have the soothsayers, black magicians, clairvoyants and astrologers who try to solve your problems and give hope for a better future.

The Pune Police officers who resorted to such desperate measures have brought disrepute to themselves and to the organisation they work for.

They will certainly learn. So will the people who think that by murdering a Gandhi or a Dabholkar you can put an end to their philosophy or their life’s mission.

When a person genuinely works for the welfare of others, his work cannot be stopped just by putting an end to his life violently. As we have seen in the case of many martyrs, their work will only grow.

This is a fitting punishment for Narendra Dabholkar’s murderers, irrespective of whether or not the Maharashtra Police or the CBI succeeds in bringing them to justice.

They laws of the Universe have their own ways of delivering justice.

“When a person genuinely works for the welfare of others, his work cannot be stopped just by putting an end to his life violently.”

Vol-1* lssue No.: 4 Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. Printed at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd, Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

Published at Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411 030, Tel: 020-2432 4332/33.

Editor: Abhay Vaidya (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867)

Amit Shah appointed BJP chief: Is Modi side-stepping RSS?

BY AMULYA GANGULI

When LK Advani was dragged kicking and screaming from the post of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president in 2005 under the orders from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Delhi to Washington stated that the event “demonstrated the power of the RSS ... and will likely increase the party’s (the BJP’s) political decline”.

According to Wikileaks, the cable also noted that Advani was “shocked” by the failure of the “second tier” of the BJP leadership comprising, among others Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj, to come to his aid. While leaving the president’s post, Advani called for changing the “impression that has gained ground that no political or organisational decision can be taken (by the BJP) without the consent of the RSS functionaries”.

Nearly a decade later, Narendra Modi can be said to have changed the impression by making the party choose its own man, Amit Shah, for the president’s post without the concurrence of the RSS. The latest turn of events, which appears to have ended the “continued dominance” of the RSS over the BJP (to quote Wikileaks again), cannot but cause a flutter among the Nagpur patriarchs who had become used to selecting the BJP president in recent years.

After choosing Rajnath Singh to replace Advani, they asked Nitin Gadkari to take Rajnath Singh’s place

in 2009. But four years later, the RSS had to appoint Rajnath Singh again as president in view of the allegations of sleaze against Gadkari. Now, it is clear that the RSS had little or no say in Shah’s appointment. To stretch a point, it can also be said that neither did the BJP, notwithstanding the party’s formal association with the selection, since it has been clear ever since Shah was credited with the party’s excellent showing in Uttar Pradesh in the parliamentary elections that he would be anointed for the post with Modi’s blessings.

As Shah is known to be the prime minister’s Man Friday because of the long association between the two through the thick and thin of Gujarat’s turbulent politics, the belief had gained ground that Modi would trust no one but him in the key position of party chief.

It isn’t only the political and organisational closeness of the two which is behind Shah’s elevation. It is also undeniable that Modi’s insular nature makes him work in close concert with only a few of his hand-picked men.

At a time when a generational shift is taking place in the BJP, and Modi has emerged on top despite the reservations of several senior party members, it is obvious that Modi will be wary of having someone with whom he is not totally familiar to hold a key organisational position.

While this much is in line with Modi’s penchant for running a oneman show, whether in Gujarat earlier and now at the national level, what is of interest is how the RSS will react to its

marginalisation by a former ‘pracharak’ (preacher), who has now risen beyond all expectations not only to be the lord and master of the BJP, but is probably on his way to be the predominant figure in the Sangh Parivar, as the Hindu nationalists groups are known, as well.

Since such a possibility entails the relegation of the RSS to a secondary position, it will obviously have to take a fresh look at the changing equations.

But it has to tread carefully in view of Modi’s wide acceptability not only in the party and the saffron brotherhood, but also among the general public, which sees in him a new hope after the dismal years of the Congress’ dysfunctional governance.

This across-the-board popularity is Modi’s great asset unlike Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani, who also chafed at the control exercised by the RSS; but since they did not enjoy Modi’s general popularity, they had to abide by its dictates most of the time.

The result was that the RSS openly called for their removal as in 2005 when the then RSS chief, KS Sudarshan, said that both Vajpayee and Advani should make way for “new leaders”.

The RSS’s grouse against them was mainly about their moderate outlook, especially Vajpayee’s, which had become evident during the BJP’s stint in power at the Centre between 1998 and 2004.

The nature of desire

BY ANIL K RAJVANSHI Human desire manifests itself in different forms, including lust, aim, ambition, control and goal. However, the driving force is the same – power, fame and money and I think it ultimately boils down to control and hence power.

Some also call it an ego trip.

Desire is fuelled by experience. A living being wants to experience the world. This is an inherent trait of all life forms. We are wired for experience.

Urge for maximisation of experience fuels the desire. Whether the desire is for sex, money or fame, it is driven by the same need to have experience.

As our brains develop (right from our birth) the neurons need to form the memory pathways. This process is accomplished by sensory perception where the inputs from the senses form the memory. Thus memory formation forces experience gathering. Thus we are hardwired to increase our experience and memories. This is the basis of desire. Thus desire and brain are interlinked. As long as brain exists there will always be desire.

One of the outcomes of desire is possession. This possession provides an anchor for the experience and helps in maximisation it. As we absorb this “experience” through our senses, our brain processes this information. It is during this process that we “decide” whether our desires are fulfilled or not.

Fulfilment of desires therefore helps us in releasing the “possessions” and is the genesis of detachment or contentment as preached in most of the religions of the world. Thus a powerful processor or mind which can coolly and calmly evaluate

all the possibilities can sometimes get excesses. Unresolved desires produce its desires fulfilled without physically memory knots or stresses which have possessing the objects of desire. This the mechanism of always directing process gives us a tremendous sense of the brain to them and creating anger, peace, tranquility and perspective in our frustrations and hence depression. lives and it is called wisdom. Thus to live This happens because the thought a sustainable life it is necessary to have a production is chanelled or influenced powerful brain processor. by the existing memories. If the brain Desire is a useful and necessary has more memory knots of unfulfilled emotion. It allows us to be active and desires then its working memory gets helps in achieving something. Without reduced and the new thoughts get desire, we will be lifeless, dead or like centered and focused around these knots stones. However what we need leading to anger, frustration. to do is to channel our desires A stressed mind, therefore ,gets so that they get fulfilled without angry very fast. Anger is an too much taxing of resources, emotion that occurs when things materials and energy. For don’t happen the way we want. example, a desire to invent a new Thus a powerful processor or process, to create a new thought mind may have better conflict and or discovery does not require anger resolution capabilities than a much energy or resources, say as THINK shallow thinking mind. Insecurity that required for possessing too and anger may be related. many cars or luxury items like a 100The power of brain processor is foot yacht or a private jet liner! The increased by availability of its working desire for material goods which supply memory. This can happen with our needs and not our greed could be cultivation of deep thought so that good for humanity at large and will lead the dissolution of other memories and to sustainability. psychological knots takes place. As One of the possible ways to satiate the this memory increases, the absorption desire for possession of material goods is and digestion of inputs also get sublimating it via virtual reality (VR) enhanced since the mind becomes tools. These high-tech tools, basically hungry for more experiences and 3D video games, like aircraft simulation this increases our desires. This “mind systems allow the mind to have an opening” or God experience allows the enhanced experience without physically interaction of mind with external and possessing the objects of desire. higher dimensional knowledge space Satiation of most desires requires and allows us to access the existing energy and material resources and information from it - the basis of most excessive desire leads to greed and discoveries, inventions. hence to unsustainability. The wisdom The writer is Director, Nimbkar of “I” or ego can keep a check on the Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), desires. If not, the mind goes into an Phaltan, Maharashtra. He may be reached ever-expanding spiral of greed and at anilrajvanshi@gmail.com

In calling for their replacement, the RSS evidently wanted that the “new leaders” would adopt its own hawkish postures. But this isn’t what has happened where Modi is concerned. The RSS, therefore, will be doubly worried.

Not only has Modi curtailed its influence over the BJP as Shah’s selection shows, he is also not the hardliner which the RSS thought he would be at the time of the Gujarat riots. It is this belief which makes Ashok Singhal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) say that only Modi can stop the “total Islamisation” of the country.

Views of this nature are also expressed by the Hindutva netizens.

But Modi is seemingly following his own line, which is guided by his economic vision, which promises improved conditions for all Indians, Hindus and Muslims alike.

The RSS cannot be too pleased.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal.

He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail. com)

Limericks of the week

BY C RAVINDRANATH

Rain Tunes All of us, from noon to noon Now sing the same tune With anxious eyes We watch the skies And hope the rains start soon

Laws & Flaws Seems there are some serious flaws In our basic system of laws Some insist Others resist How do we get out of their claws?

Sports After reading the reports Do we need the courts Butting and biting Kicking and fighting Can this be called sports?

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Now, the city bats for

FOOTBALL

The large number of football clubs that have sprouted in the city in the past few years kicks home the fact that the sport is catching up among Punekars

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish

PUNE: The city is following the national trend of tilting their love more towards football than cricket. The clubs and grounds that have come up in the city over the past 7-8 years heads home this reality.

Over 150 city clubs dribble for the top spot during the district leagues and Pune FC and DSK Shivajians have gained a firm footing in the national contests. After holding international friendlies and organising the Indian team’s training camps, Pune is looking forward to be chosen as one of the venues for the Under-17 Football World Cup that will be held in 2017.

“The birth of Pune FC in 2007 kick-started the love for football in the city as it was the first team to be a part of I-league. Their matches at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex helped the authorities maintain the football ground. Soon under-23 India camps,

Olympics qualifiers and even Asian Football Club (AFC) matches were organised at this stadium and we also hosted the Federation Cup tournament.

Holding these contests is a dream for many cities,” said Pune District Football Association (PDFA) treasurer Mandar Tamhane.

The football body official said that many local clubs have tied up with international clubs and corporate groups are investing in the game, thereby benefitting the players. Amanora is the sponsor of DSK Shivajians and the Vincent’s Old Boys Association (VOBA) team is supported by Venky’s. Pune’s Prakash

“Local clubs have tied up with foreign clubs and corporate groups are investing in the game, thereby benefitting the players.”

PDFA official

Thorat (Pune FC) and Jeevan Nalge (Salgaoncar FC) are playing in the elite league and several others are on contract with clubs.

“This is a good sign for the development of the game,” he said.

PDFA vice president Pyarelal Choudhary said, “The sport has also reached the backyards of suburbs from the popular spots of Khadki and Ghorpadi. Even malls and academies have come up with compact sporting arenas and have started conducting five-a-side tournaments.

These welcome changes have played a major role in popularising the game.”

The city has also

Ground reality ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

PUNE: Lack of quality football grounds is a common failing in India. Pundits lament the national side’s dismissal performance at the international level but the most important aspect of providing a better platform to children who are keen to play this sport has been ignored over the years.

In the recent years, however, Pune has turned over a new leaf in the promotion of football. The Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi has seen many international and national-level contests and ground like St Vincent’s High School and Jeejeebhoy Ground of The Bishop’s School are the favourite venues for inter-school football tourneys. From Bharati Vidyapeeth’s floodlit grass ground to the compact arenas of HotFut Academy in Mundhwa, Pune has better options than any other city in Maharashtra.

The football infrastructure development and taking the sport to the grassroots level has enabled the city to provide a valid alternative to popular football hubs like Goa and West Bengal.

“The credit for well-maintained grounds and success at inter-school football level goes to schools like St Vincent’s, Bishop’s, Loyola and Kataria. The clay grounds of New English School (Tilak Road) and Ramanbaug have been producing good players like Paresh Shivalkar, Rohan Phasage and Pratik Pardeshi for the past 33 years,” said New English School coach Jayant Deshpande.

“Though some prefer grass grounds to clay, the former is difficult

Top football grounds in city

to maintain and every school can’t afford it. Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), Kataria and New English School have clay grounds and they are operational throughout the year, even during the monsoons,” he said.

Senior coach Milind Kshirsagar, who has been coaching at Loyola School for over 23 years, has a different take on the growth of this sport in the city. “Grounds in the city are vanishing and the number of tourneys is dwindling. Some 20-25 years ago, the grounds of COEP, Agriculture College, BJ Medical, Modern and Wadia College were in a good condition and I remember the tournaments held on these grounds would attract over 1,500 spectators. Now, only a few come to watch the matches that are held either at Khadki or Ghorpadi,” he said.

Corporates extending help to local clubs has popularised the sport in the city. The city still needs an international quality turf ground.

PDFA treasurer Mandar Tamhane said, “We missed a golden opportunity to have such a ground when FIFA, the apex body of football, had offered to install an astro-turf ground as part of development project. They had put a condition that the ground should be owned by a district association or at least have the ground on lease for more than 20 years. We failed to the approval from Pune Municipal Corporation and the administration was reluctant to give the Dobberwadi ground for more than five years.

Later, I came to know that FIFA has installed the turf in Kerala.”

Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi

Jeejeebhoy Ground (The Bishop’s School)

St. Vincent’s School, Camp

ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Loyola, Pashan

Kataria High School, Mukundnagar

Bharati Vidyapeeth, Katraj

GROOMING NEW TALENT City teams are performing well in under-13, under-15 and under-17 categories at the state level tournaments,

but experts feel that budding players need more attention.

“Young players get adequate exposure to quality infrastructure in foreign countries but our schools cannot afford to manage a team, and provide them kit and other facilities.

Top city clubs should come forward and support talented players,” said Jayant Deshpande of Friends XI Club.

FUTURE PLANS Tamhane said, “Our priority is to get the U-17 World Cup match

st

international training centre

Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre, India’s first international training centre for the game, was launched by deemed university Bharati Vidyapeeth in association with the famous English club Liverpool.

5

ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

The city has hosted few international football friendly matches at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi, including India vs Vietnam, India (under-23) vs Burma Myanmar & Qatar.

Pune-based Venky’s Group owns Blackburn Rovers, a renowned club in English Premier League

Deccan XI Football Club The club became the first team in the city to receive corporate sponsorship. The club has signed a one-year contract with citybased project Amanora Park Town.

DSK Shivajians The club is winner of the Abhijit Football club Kadam Memorial Football It is an Indian I-League 2nd diviShield in 2011 sion club founded in 1987. The club played their first ever national season last year. They have tied up with Liverpool for a full-time coaching academy, Pune Football Club named LFC International Football Parshuramians is one of the (PFC) Academy at DSK Supinfocom oldest football clubs of Pune. It Nicknamed Red Lizards and International, situated in Loni was established in 1984. The club owned by Ashok Piramal Group, trains at SP College ground and has PFC was founded in 2007. The club played many district, state and national-level participates in India’s I-league. The tournaments. Parshuramians have won club has its own training ground Rupmay Chatterji Trophy, Sudhir Joshi in Mamurdi on the outskirts Trophy, Guru Teg Bahadur Trophy, Chetak Football Club of Pune Vishwakarma Trophy and Dara The super division football Irani club was established in 1988. Chetak FC is training at the Fergusson College ground. The club is considered to be an academy of young soccer talent and has won many district and state level tourneys

Top

in Pune. A major infrastructural change will take place in the city to hold the event and we can upgrade the venue with the help of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) development programme.”

The sports official also pointed to the need to improve the quality of coaching and referring. “More professionalism is also needed in PDFA administration.

We are doing a good job, but we can’t just sit and enjoy,” he said.

DSK Shivajians FC has tied up with Liverpool for a full-time coaching academy, named LFC International Football Academy at DSK Supinfocom International, situated in Loni.

FOREIGN CONNECTION

Even as the city has more than 50 good grounds, experts feel success in terms of quality is still a long shot

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish

progressed in coaching with over 150 coaches getting the All India Football Federation (AIFF) certification.

“AIFF’s licence coaching programme received a huge response in the city and now we have A, B, C and D licence coaches. But we need qualified referees and more training programmes for them,” Choudhary said.

Clubs in city

ANNUAL TOURNAMENTS Abhijeet Kadam Memorial national tournament Ashok Vanjari Memorial Invitational Guru Teg Bahadur invitational Symbiosis International Students tournament KP Jadhav Memorial tournament Subroto Mukherjee inter-school The Bishop’s invitational inter-school

The game for women needs a boost

City-based football club officials and women footballers believe that the sport has been neglected in Pune and suggest ways to attain the goal

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose PUNE: In a world where women football ranking is higher than that of men, it comes as a rude shock to know that Pune has not had the comparative head start for the former compared to the latter. Many attribute this to the lack of interest shown towards training girls in the sport, right from school.

In Pune, there are a handful of clubs that have a separate women’s team, such as Pune Football Club (PFC), Deccan Rovers Football Club, Sangam Football Club, Go Sports, United Poona Sports Academy (UPSA) and Vidya Bhavan.

However, the problem that still persists is the low participation of women in the sport. “The involvement of women is low because of poor awareness at the grassroots level. Football for girls is not well promoted in schools and colleges. Due to low participation, there can’t be that many tournaments, and hence no future,” said Deccan Rovers Football Club coach Anil Deshpande, adding that those who pursue the sport in the city do so only as a hobby and not as a career.

The PFC team has about 8-10 players after it started a soccer school for girls in March 2014. The club’s senior executive (legal and marketing) Vikas Atri said, “A lot needs to be done

to popularise the sport for women in this city. We went big with our publicity initiatives on social media and personally called interested candidates encouraging them to take up the sport.

We are focusing on increasing the level of participation, as it’s a domino effect.

With an increase in women participation, there will be more teams and more tournaments.”

And it was through these initiatives that 22-year-old fi lm-maker Hrutika Patole and 19-year-old law student Bhavya Pande (both avid football players) got to know about the football classes. Both were introduced to the sport in school, but couldn’t pursue it due to the absence of training clubs in the city.

“Some schools just teach basic football. More clubs should take the initiative to start a women’s team,” said Hrutika.

“Another aspect affecting the sport is the lack of interest at the football federation and state association levels,” said Vinay Murgod, head coach, founder and director at the United Poona Sports Academy (UPSA) futsal and football school.

“We do not have a conscientious mind working towards a common goal of developing a ladder, structure, and a proper programme that can facilitate the development of women’s

“Lack of interest shown at football federation and state association levels is affecting the growth of women football” Vinay Murgod football. The right kind of people must be appointed at the right place. People who have technical knowledge, who understand the game and its issues related to women must be elected,” said Murgod. ishani.bose@ goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 12, 2014

clash of titans

A welcome breakthrough for Arya P 16

Signposts

NEW DELHI: Muslims fast in this holy month of Ramzan — from pre-dawn hours to dusk. Health experts have a word of caution for those who may be diabetic. “Prolonged fasting results in metabolic changes which necessitate adjustment in diabetes management plan, in terms of dietary intake and medication schedule. During Ramzan, most people take two large meals with a gap of 12 to 15 hours,” said Atul Luthra, senior consultant physician, Fortis C-Doc. He said carbohydrate and fat intake should be kept under control to prevent blood sugar from rising rapidly during the day, or between “sehari”, the early morning meal prior to the beginning of the fast, and the “iftaar”, the ritual breaking of the fast in the evening hours. “Diabetics should not indulge in high-calorie, high-refined food. Rather, they should take food with high fibre content,” he added.

The problems diabetics face while fasting can either cause hypoglycemia (sudden fall in blood sugar levels), which can cause seizures and unconsciousness, or hyperglycemia (increase in blood sugar).

IANS

Community policing: spl cadre in Punjab

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Why this needless controversy over Sai Baba?

The Sai Baba controversy is a perfect example of how a needless controversy has been generated out of a non-issue. Let’s recognise that TV channels are harping on this controversy - no matter if it whips passions and spreads intolerance- to increase their viewership and TRPs

by Hinduism as “avatars”- incarnations of god. Th is is how Hinduism respects the founders of other religions and life in this great country has been a harmony of faiths, punctuated by violent flashes of intolerance and hate.

Nevertheless, the intrinsic culture of inclusivity and tolerance of this land has been accepted universally and therefore India is famed as the birthplace of many world religions.

Therefore, why this needless controversy- especially on Hindi TV channels- over the faith that so many millions have in the Sai Baba of Shirdi?

These debates, with the participation of many religious heads don’t enlighten viewers on an issue that needs serious debate and discussion.

Instead, they are an instructive spectacle on how to be impolite and constantly interrupt other speakers by wanting to dominate the discussion; on how to be intolerant and hold narrow positions.

They remind you of the “nation wants to know...” journalist who revels

BY ABHAY VAIDYA @vaidya_abhay Hinduism is among those great religions in the world which is extraordinarily inclusive and tolerant.

There are a number of gods and deities in this ancient religion which is as vast as the ocean itself. Incredulously, some religious leaders try to convince their followers that this number is no less than 330 crore, making one wonder how they arrived at this figure.

Hinduism begins with the premise that there are various paths to selfrealisation. There is the path of devotion and knowledge and there is the path of work too. “Karma yoga”- devotion to god through work- is an established doctrine and the adage “Work is worship” probably owes its genesis to this religion. “To each his own” is the path of this ancient land which has survived over the centuries.

Many enlightened souls, some of who went on to establish world religions, have been promptly accepted

Sai Baba of Shirdi is loved and worshipped by millions. Even rationalists would have no serious complaint with his beatific smile on the marble statute at Shirdi

in being provocative to the extent that his show is more often than not a slanging match between agitated speakers rather than an informed debate; turning the entire exercise into hot air and a waste of time.

Sai Baba of Shirdi is loved and worshipped by millions. Even rationalists would have no serious complaint with his beatific smile on the marble statute at Shirdi. He is among the many great icons of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood- the two dominant communities of India which have suffered so much of pain and anguish in communal violence over the years.

The Sai Baba controversy is a perfect example of how a needless controversy has been generated out of a non-issue.

Let’s recognise that TV channels are harping on this controversyno matter if it whips passions and spreads intolerance- to increase their viewership and TRPs (television rating points) which bring them revenue in the form of commercials. abhay.vaidya@goldensparrow.com

Doing biz in India will equip you to succeed anywhere Former Microsoft-India and Cummins-India chairman Ravi Venkatesan’s book ‘Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere’ provides an insider’s view to winning in emerging markets and why India cannot be ignored by the world

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose Ravi Venkatesan, former chairman of Microsoft-India and Cummins-India, social entrepreneur, mentor and orator is also the author of ‘Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere’.

He talked about his book that gives an insider’s view to winning in emerging markets at the BDB Book Club in the city recently.

GENESIS OF THE BOOK Venkatesan’s book is based on his personal experiences. After a long stint in America, he returned to India in 1996 when the country was opening to business opportunities. “My family thought that I was giving up an extraordinary opportunity in the US to earn peanuts in India. Tim Solso, the then CEO of Cummins instructed me to end a joint venture with Tata Motors called Tata Cummins in India. I resolved the issue and turned things around. The firm has now opened new businesses and is worth a billion dollars,” he said.

Bill Gates appointed him Microsoft India chairman in 2004. Heading companies like Cummins India and Microsoft India equipped him to deal

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has decided on a separate cadre of officers for the community policing and investigation wings of Punjab Police. Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has directed the home department’s principal secretary to create separate cadres of dedicated police officials with a long-term perspective for community policing and investigation wings, a spokesman said. These officials will supervise ‘Sanjh Kendras’ (government service centres) and redressal of complaints on the 181 police helpline.

Badal said the specially created investigation wing would be separate from the police and it would undergo extensive training so that complaints are solved within a stipulated timeframe.

IANS

“The Indian may seem poor to we rich Westerners but in matters of the spirit it is we who are the paupers and they who are millionaires.”

- Mark Twain

IANS

Diabetics must be cautious during Ramzan

P 15

PUNE

“What companies need to do is just show up whenever opportunities come their way in the country.”

with technical roadblocks and other business handicaps in running a business in India and telling the foreign heads of the organisations about our country’s working style. “After handling these issues I felt the need to write about what it takes to succeed in a country like India,” he said.

DOES INDIA REALLY MATTER? Venkatesan strongly believes India to be a litmus test for a company to grow in the emerging markets. “Companies should learn to live in chaos and not

complain. India is a lab and if one can succeed here then one can succeed anywhere in the world. India is a 2 trillion dollar economy so even if it grows just 6 per cent it is substantial. Since 1950 we have seen weak leadership with pretty bad ideas on how to run the economy.

Yet India has managed to come this far.

That means it seems unlikely that a bad government can slow down the country’s growth,” he said.

WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR MNCS TO SURVIVE IN INDIA? His opinion is that growth and

Ravi joins Rockefeller board NEW YORK: Ravi Venkatesan, founder and chairman of Social Venture Partners India, a network of philanthropists addressing social problems, has joined The Rockefeller Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

The appointment was announced by The Rockefeller Foundation, a New York-based philanthropic organisation with a mission of “advancing the well-being of humanity”.

“With our commitment to catalyse new ideas and innovations at The Rockefeller Foundation, I am delighted to welcome Ravi Venkatesan, a proven leader with strong business and technology backgrounds,” said Board Chair David Rockefeller, Jr. “I am thrilled and honoured to be joining The Rockefeller Foundation Board of Trustees,” Venkatesan said.

- IANS

development never take place in a steady environment and urges companies to never give up, no matter how difficult it gets.

“What Indian companies need to do is just show up, whenever opportunities come their way. When bad times come, do nothing but survive. Do that for 1020 years and you’ll be at the head of the pack. The retail sector went through a very bad patch because of policy issues. Walmart went back but German company Metro AG has steadily progressed and opened many stores in India,” he said.

Letters to the Editor

FIRMS NEED TO DEVELOP INDIACENTRIC MODEL Highlighting the need for MNCs to come up with business models that are India specific, he said, “McDonald’s, known for beef burgers, had a tough time when they came to India. Things only started going well when they included Aloo Tikki, Mac Veggie and other food items at a nominal price in their menu.

The ability to adapt and change their model is the key to survival. It is also necessary for MNCs to employ an Indian to head their branch in our country.” ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

Technology should help increase employment, not otherwise The ‘Golden Sparrow’ is a welcome addition to the newspapers being published from Pune. It is different from others in that it is published only once a week. It can therefore, devote itself to various issues, global, national and local, in a more detailed and comprehensive manner.

I wish to comment on Spotlight in the inaugural issue of June 21, Agenda Points for Modi Sarkar and Policy Recommendations- Road Map 2014-19.

Under the topic ‘Towards new agriculture’, it has been stated that India is number 1 in the production of certain food grains, jute, milk, etc. It has been suggested that the new agriculture policy ‘must provide greater employment opportunities and more balanced regional development’.

The need to increase per acre productivity of farm products, which has vital importance, has been lost sight of. The policy should also aim at providing fuller employment to existing farmers/ farm labourers as major portion of agriculture is dependent on the monsoon. Interlinking of rivers to solve the problem of availability of water assumes more

importance in this context.

There is no limit to the ingenuity of the human brain. New and more productive machines and methods of production are bound to be developed.

Unfortunately, advances in technology lead to saving in labour and leads to unemployment. Given the rate at which new techniques and improved machines and equipment are being developed, there is always the danger of these getting obsolete in a much shorter time than before. The concept of ‘appropriate technology’ therefore requires to be studied in depth for ensuring employment to a greater number of people and therefore, assumes more importance.

- NH Umarji (Umarji gets the prize for best letter of the week)

of the concerned individual. Sincerely, this article is an eye opener for many such vendors like ‘Pappu’ who use coal as the fuel rather than exorbitant fuels.

Once other vendors start doing the same they not only can improve their product quality but save on costs too. Word of mouth spreads better as is shown from various customers of Pappu who not only taste Pappu’s tea regularly but also make it a point to introduce their clients/friends as Pappu’s customers. I can conclude by exclaiming “Pappu Distinction Mein Pass Hogaya”! I sincerely thank you, Anjali and the entire editorial team for bringing out this article . Will definitely go to Rasta Peth to taste Pappu’s tea as and when I can.

- CV Narayanan

Pappu passes with distinction!

“Deccan Queen is nation’s best shortdistance train” by Prachi Bari (July 5) is apt and true to its potential specially when it comes to the brand called “Deccan Queen”(Dakkan Ki Rani).

The fact that this train has been on the track for the past 84 years speaks volumes. I for one used to constantly

I read the article Pappu’s five rupee fi x on “bhatti chai” by Anjali Shetty in TGS Life with interest specially because tea is my favourite. Any item made by using coal as fuel shows on the health

Reviving old memories

watch this train from 1962 when I was at Matunga, Mumbai. The article in your newspaper took me down memory lane of my stay in Matunga close to the workshop from where the coach bodies were made. My childhood friends and I used to land up at the foot over-bridge in Matunga by 5.10 pm to watch its speedy arrival from platform 3. Such was the respect for this train that the passengers in all CR stations keep at least 5-6 feet away when the train arrives. I thank Prachi Bari and the entire editorial team for printing such memorable article.

- CV Narayanan

Consumer awareness

The article ‘Citizens wake up to your consumer rights’ on June 28, is very appropriate to sensitise people on their consumer rights. I have tried to search

for the proper place for people to fi le their consumer complaints online. It is difficult as so many pages crop up in the search but one does not get the correct information. If the web addresses of the local consumer courts are given publicity, then many people could fi le their complaints in the appropriate forum online.

- RK Jain, vice chairman (retired), Settlement Commission

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow. com or mailed to 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 JULY 12, 2014

PUNE

“Nobody should feel invincible. That is perfectly clear and both Argentina and Holland have played a great World Cup so far.”

— Germany coach Joachim Loew

“Germany have always shown physical might, tactical, mental prowess, and have always had players with a certain South American touch.”

— Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella

CLASH OF TITANS Well-rested Germany will have the advantage against the weary South Americans in World Cup final, while it will be a battle between individual glory against clinical team effort on Sunday RIO DE JANEIRO: It will be a battle between individual glory and the tight discipline of a team when Germany will take on Argentina in the World Cup final at Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.

Germany with their massive 7-1 win over hosts Brazil and earlier a devastating 4-0 win over Portugal has shocked the world. Along with their ruthless and efficient performance, the Germans have found balance with smooth and simple passing. It will be a tough task for the South Americans, who so far have proved that they can play as tactically as the Germans.

Considering the history between these two teams, the Germans can be said to be as favourites in this long awaited final.

In the defence department, Manuel Neuer’s reputation as one of the best goalkeepers in the world has grown in Brazil. The Bayern Munich goalkeeper played the role of the sweeper by repeatedly rushing out to help the defense in the match against Algeria. He was also a key player against France by saving the certain equaliser from Karim Benzema.

Though, coach Joachim Loew, has shifted Philip Lahm to midfield, he showed that he is the best man in his favourite position. Mats Hummels and Mertesacker have been doing a good job in neutralising the attacks.

Midfield has always been Germany’s biggest strength.

Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira along with Toni Kroos

and Mesut Ozil directing most of the attacks. In addition, they have the highest-scoring player in World Cup history in Miroslav Klose and the possible contender of the golden boot in Thomas Muller (5 goals). Lukas Podolski’s chances in the final are very thin as the talented striker is not fully fit yet.

On the other hand, Argentina keeper Sergio Romero has came through big in the penalty shootout against the Netherlands, with two saves. So far he has kept three straight clean sheets in the knockout rounds, but will face his greatest challenge yet against the clinical Germans.

The Argentina’s defence have also delivered an impressive performance with defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano supporting Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis. In the midfield, Argentina will be hoping that Angel Di Maria could play the full 90 minutes.

Though Messi hasn’t scored in the knockout games, he has proved his talent in the group stages. With Sergio Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain in the team, Messi has always been the key to Argentina’s success and expected to repeat his performance against Germany’s well-oiled machine.

Bookies prefer Germany Germany are 11/8 to lift the trophey, according to most bookmakers, and Argentina are 5/2. Odds for a draw is 23/10, according to OddsChecker.

GERMANY

ARGENTINA

(Group stage)

(Group stages)

Bt Portugal 4-0

Bt Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1

Drew with Ghana 2-2

Bt Iran 1-0

Bt US 1-0

Bt Nigeria 3-2

(Pre-Q/F)

(Pre-Q/F) Bt Switzerland 1-0 (Q/F) Bt Belgium 1-0

Bt Algeria 2-1 (Q/F) Bt France 1-0

(S/F) Bt Netherlands 4-2

(S/F) Bt Brazil 7-1

(on penalties)

Germany score from a variety of sources and launch wave after wave of attacks with the trio of Thomas Muller, Miroslave Klose and Mesut Ozil (above)

Argentina will need not only every bit of Messi’s greatness, but also an extraordinary efforts from many others along with goalkeeper Sergio Romero (above)

LIVE ON SONY SIX: ON MONDAY, JULY 14 @ 12.30AM

Maradona’s hand of God

A

rgentina beat Germany 3-2 on June 29, 1986 in Estadio Azteca, Mexico Argentinean captain Diego Maradona was the star attraction of the tournament. He scored five goals and created another five in his team’s 14 goals en route to a final. His famous goal, termed as ‘Hand of God’, was scored against England in the quarterfinal and was followed by his magnificent dribble which left five England players, trailing in his wake before he found the net.

Naturally, the striker was marked the entire game and central defender Jose Luis Brown opened the scoring for Argentina with a 23rd minute header and it stayed at 1–0 until half-time. After the break, Jorge Valdano doubled Argentina’s lead. Germans were relying on their key player Lothar Matthaus, but it was Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who pulled a goal back in the 74th minute.

Germay enacts revenge

B

eat Argentina 1-0 in final on July 8, 1990 in Rome, Italy Germany, making their fourth consecutive appearance in the final, were all set for the perfect revenge. The two sides met in an equally tight affair at the Stadio Olympico, Rome.

Rudi Voller equalised in the 80th minute. The contest looked to be going into extra time but Maradona broke free of the shackles placed on him and produced a superb pass to Jorge Burruchaga that allowed Argentina to regain the lead at 3–2. This was how it remained and Argentina were able to celebrate their second World Cup

Argentina reached the final after beating Italy via penalty shootout in the semifinals, while West Germany also progressed in a shootout against England. It was an ill-tempered and also the lowest-scoring final.

victory in three tournaments (after winning the 1978 World Cup).

HEAD TO HEADS Argentina wins: Goals for: Germany wins: Goals for:

FIFA RANKING 9 28 6 28

Germany: Argentina:

2 5

TOP SCORERS Germany: Thomas Muller (5) Argentina: Lionel Messi (4)

Argentina’s Pedro Monzon was the first player to be sent off in the 657th minute. He was shown a straight red card for a hard leg tackle on Jurgen Klinsmann. FIFA had warned its officials to enforce the rules and Monzon had raised his foot during the tackle. Later on, Gustavo Dezotti, who had already, was booked with a yellow card, received the second when he brought down Jurgen Kohler in the 87th minute. Argentina coach Carlos Bilardo had no other option but to watch his team reduced to nine.

Mexican referee Edgardo Codesal awarded a penalty to Germany, when Voller was brought down by Roberto Sensini in the 85th minute. Brehme converted the penalty with a low right footed shot to the goalkeeper’s right. This victory gave West Germany their third World Cup success

SPORTS “It’s just a myth that the BCCI and India are opposed to DRS. They want technology to be consistent. Let the third umpire do it - give him the technology that works.”

— Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri

Signposts

Pranav to train in Japan

Arya in action during the district badminton championship at the PDMBA complex

Slideways look to retain top position

Pune-based rally team all set for the second round of IRC in Coimbatore from July 12 TGS NEWS SERVICE PUNE: Slideways Industries, Pune’s fi rst national rally team in the FMSCI Indian Rally Championship (IRC), is all set for the second round of the IRC to be held at Coimbatore on July 1213 .

The ‘Cotton City’ will host the fi rst gravel rally of the year and with 36 confi rmed entrants across the various classes, competition is expected to be intense.

The Rally of Coimbatore will feature Team Slideways Industries’ principal Rohan Pawar and Sirish Chandran competing in the 1600cc category in the Rally Polo, Byram Godrej in the 2000cc category and Aniruddha Rangnekar in the 1600 cup category.

Pune’s fi rst female rally driver and Delhi-based Garima Avtaar, who along with an all-women crew put up

PUNE

A welcome breakthrough for Arya

PUNE: Deccan Gymkhana’s Amol Abdagiri defeated Satara’s Ganesh Jadhav to storm into the third round of the Kumar Khandelwal Memorial Open Snooker tournament at Deccan Gymkhana. Abdagiri lost the first frame 41-50 in a close battle before winning the second 52-10, but the Satara cueist again got ahead by taking the third. The Deccan Gymkhana cueist, however, got his act together and took the next two frames to win 41-50, 52-10, 16-44, 69-10, 54-11. In another match, Rohan Sakalkar of Deccan Gymkhana needed five frames to get better of Nitin Jinzur of Snook Club with a 51-15, 53-26, 8-49, 30-56, 61-40 verdict.

PUNE: Pune FC has decided to send upcoming city youngster Pranav Kale for a training programme to Japan. Eleven-year-old, Pranav, who represents Pune FC Under-12s, will be on a 13-day training programme at a top J-League Division 1 club.

Pranav’s trip is being facilitated by Pune FC and the club’s long serving medio Arata Izumi. Impressed with the youngster’s footballing abilities, the Japanese-born India International arranged for a training stint after getting in touch with a few teams in Japan. Arata is also accompanying Pranav on this trip and the duo has already left for Japan.

JULY 12, 2014

“Japan has one of the finest youth development systems in the region helping them produce players who go on to make a mark in Asia and Europe.”

- Pune FC player Arata Izumi

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Abdagiri moves ahead

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

a strong display in the IRC debut at Nashik, will compete in the 1600cc category.

“With phenomenal success in the opening round we are very confident as we now moved into the gravel rallies.

Our Rally Polos keep getting faster and we sorted out the reliability last year itself so we expect to continue on our winning streak,” said Rohan Pawar.

“It is also great to see so many Polos on the rally circuit and it is a

great vindication of the faith we put in the car when we debuted the untried and untested Polo last year. Nobody expected the car to do so well and now on the back of our successes in 2013 more than half the grid in Rally Coimbatore is made up of Rally Polos,” added Pawar.

Stating that their technical team haven’t been sitting idle, Pawar said, “In Nashik the Slideways Polos were still the fastest cars on the grid – not just compared to the other Polos but even the Cedias and we will continue to set the rally circuit ablaze.”

Coimbatore has a special significance for Slideways Industries as their fi rst Rally Polo was built and tested in this city last year, while the teams service partners Chettinad Sporting are also based out of the city which is one of the biggest motorsport hubs in the country. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

After an unsuccessful year, city-based shuttler finds form and pockets a state junior selection badminton tournament title in Karad this week

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish PUNE: For Pune-based shuttler Arya Bhivpathaki, winning a state title is nothing new, but this year is special. His recent win in the under-17 category of the state badminton junior selections trials held at Karad, has come after a long wait.

“It was in 2012, that I won the state title.

2013 I consider to be a dry run for me. Though, I reached the finals I couldn’t convert them into titles. But with this win I am confident about my form,” said Bhivpathaki on the sidelines of the ongoing district badminton tournament at the PDMBA Complex in Shivajinagar.

“Temperament is crucial to the game,” states Bhivpathaki, analysing his own performance.

“I wasn’t lacking in technicalities, but temperament. I lose my temper at crucial points hence was not able to give the final push. But yoga and meditation have helped me keep my cool,” he said.

This 14-year-old has been winning the titles in different age groups since he was 10 and has recently graduated to the under-17 age group where he aims to achieve the success that he had in the under-15 segment.

“I was India ranked 5th in the under-15 category, but now in under-17 age group, I have slipped to 16th rank. However ranking is not the priority. All I have to do is to concentrate on getting in to the quarters and semis in the national tourneys,” he said.

Bhivpathaki, who trains with Hemant Hardikar at the PDMBA, was selected for the Tata Padukone Badminton Academy in 2012.

Though, the academy’s branch in Pune was shut down due to some financial constraints, Bhivpathaki was allowed to train at their main

branch in Bangalore.

“Presently, I am studying for my SSC exams and later I might shift to Bangalore for further training,” said Bhivpathaki, a student of the Hutchings School. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

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Pin drop violence

Tomorrow, footballers will play amidst deafening noise but at the Wimbledon final last Sunday, there was a luxury of silence

BY MALAY DESAI @malayD We are winding up on the noisiest week of the year in world sport, with the biggest spike waiting to happen tomorrow–in the Estãdio Maracanãas well as in millions of drawing rooms and bars. But like pauses of music and spaces between words, it is the silence amidst sporting action that’s definitive. If we rewind a few days from the semifinals which saw 60,000 Brazil fans hushed into shock, there was another set of moments when we could hear a pin drop in between heart-wrenching action at the Wimbledon Centre Court.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as a courtesy to the players, please remain seated and quiet during play,” the

chair umpire of the Federer-Djokovic final announced – not once but halfa-dozen times. Wait, what? Were the spectators witnessing a high-octane clash between two of the finest racquet wielders or were they inside the Louvre stealing a painting? And how on earth is one expected to do this silence thing especially when one is Indian?

But this is the All England Club, which likes its fans seated, hats in place and its cream positioned perfectly on its strawberries. It’s also a club which dictates to spectators the dimensions of boxes if they want to bring in food – and it cannot be pungent at that. (No really, look it up!)

When footballers and cricketers manage to play amidst deafening noise, why this prerogative for tennis players?

A clear answer is that courts being smaller than stadiums, fans truly sit close to the players, who want to hear line calls. Tennis is serious strategy – behind the flow of forehands and backhands lie dozens of calculations and years of practiced intuition. There is

brouhaha inside a tennis player’s head much as it is inside chess grandmaster’s head while plotting a checkmate, but should that mean we treat tennis like the highly unspectacular game of chess?

Basketball and rugby players regularly deal with their mothers being called names from the bleachers. Usain Bolt still darts at a lightning pace with thousands raising a din; in fact he relishes every moment of those nine point something seconds. Imagine him asking the stadium to ‘STFU’ as he runs?

Much to the chagrin of the All England Club, tennis has evolved to be a more muscle-powered, flashier,noisier business than the gentlemen’s stroll it once was.

And we’re sure the Djokers and Federers of the world have overcome bigger personal challenges than dealing with a heckling spectator while serving.

We don’t know long it would take the snooty Brits to ease up on this norm, but we’re going next year anyway, to try getting in with a pocket vuvuzela.

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