The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 02/08/2014

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PUNE, AUGUST 2, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com

START-UP CITY

EDIT PAGE

We are here for the masses, classes and health conscious P9

What is missing in India’s disaster management?

P 12

a dedicated

air arm

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

NDRF needs

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) needs to reach disaster spots at the earliest. How can it do so without its own dedicated air wing? See special report, P13

Landslide victims being cremated at Malin village in Pune district

Natwar Singh’s error: Rahul or not, Sonia was right not to seek PM post

BY R JAGANNATHAN Human beings are suckers for the single cause that explains all. We hate the idea that an event can have several proximate and remote causes because it makes the whole thing difficult to comprehend and neatly tell a story.

So, when Natwar Singh, a former cabinet minister in Manmohan Singh’s UPA-I government, tells us in his book, One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography, that the reason why Sonia Gandhi did not accept the top job in 2004 was Rahul, we are all ready to say “aha”.

Aha, it was not her ‘inner voice’ that did the trick.

Aha, it was not fear of being bullied by multiple allies that forced her to hand over the job to Manmohan Singh.

Aha, it was not Sushma Swaraj’s threat to tonsure her head that tilted the balance.

Aha, it was not President APJ Abdul Kalam who advised her against it.

The chances are many factors may have forced her hand, and it wasn’t just Rahul Gandhi’s fears - that she might be the next one in the family being set up for assassination after his grandmother and his father – and made him ask her to reject the job.

Let’s go back to the events of May 2004 and reconstruct what really happened.

When she declined the post in May 2004 after the Congress party emerged as the single largest party with sufficient allies to form a government, she said: “Throughout these past six years that I have been in politics, one thing has been clear to me. And that is, as I have often stated, that the post of prime minister is not my aim. I was always certain that if ever I found myself in the position that I am in today, I would follow my own inner voice. Today, that voice tells me I must humbly decline this post….Power in itself has never attracted me, nor has position been my goal.”

This makes it sound that her decision was her own, nothing to do with Rahul.

But let us hear Abdul Kalam, then President, who met her on 18 May before her inner voice allegedly struck.

In the past, there have been murmurs that Kalam may have advised her not to stake a claim, but this has not been corroborated by anybody so far.

Contd on p 10

Maharashtra gets its 36th district THANE

PALGHAR (MAHARASHTRA): Maharashtra’s 36th district Palghar was carved out of India’s most populous district Thane on Friday.

A formal function heralding the

ed by Central Railway and Eastern Express Highway, the semi-industrialised Palghar has good connectivity from Western Railway and Western Express Highway, around 90 km north of Mumbai.

It is also a popular weekend getaway destination for Mumbaikars with its sprawling chikoo and coconut farms, the famous Kelva Beach, Vaghoba Waterfalls, Goddess Shitladevi Temple and Shirgaon Fort.

This is the first major bifurcation of a district since 1999, when Gondiya and Gadchiroli were created in the eastern Vidarbha region of the state, taking the total count to 35 districts in Maharashtra.

IANS 100 km 60 mi

© d-maps.com

PALGHAR

new district will be attended by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan later in the day even as scores of hoardings announcing the creation of Palghar were set up at various locations.

The proposal for a new, smaller and manageable Palghar district was hanging fire for over two decades.

It was finally cleared on June 13 by the state government and despite some political opposition, the new district came into being on Friday.

With a population of over 12 million, till Thursday, Thane held the distinction of being the most populated district in the country, spread across 9,600 sq km of hills, forests and coastal areas.

Just as Thane is well-connect-

SPORTS

A strong mind is the key to success P 16

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

Community leaders promote culture of integrity & ethics P4

PCMC show the way with SARATHI P5

PUNE

“The happiness of one’s own heart alone cannot satisfy the soul; one must try to include, as necessary to one’s own happiness, the happiness of others.”

– Paramahansa Yogananda

Empowering underprivileged youth

A small beginning to a bright future Corporates have joined hands with NGOs and the civic body to train youngsters from economically poor backgrounds and secure for them a decent livelihood

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL `12,000 per month. @ArchanaDahiwal Thermax Ltd director Anu Bhaskar Chikate, 22, from Krishnanagar Aga said that the centre is an effort (Hadapsar) area, is a confident man to contribute to the national skill today. His dream to complete high development mission. The firm’s aim school degree has been realised by is to provide a ground for industry Unnati’s Skill Development Centre. requirements and fulfil the aspirations Family’s poor financial condition had of unemployed youths. Zensar CEO forced Chikate to drop out of school 11 and vice chairman Ganesh Natarajan years ago and take up odd jobs. said, “We are proud of this initiative.

After completing the 70-day India needs a skilled workforce of over vocational training at the Pune Municipal 500 million by 2022 and this initiative Corporation (PMC) Urban Community is a small step towards it.”

The centre plans to provide training Development Department at PMT with assured employment to 200-300 building in Swargate, he is now working candidates in the 18-35 years age group in with Trent Hypermarket, the retail arm a year. Unnati Foundation has designed the of the Tata group, in Camp and earns programme and manages `8,000 per month. the selection, training During the training, and final placement of he used to cycle 24km candidates. The curriculum every day from his home includes Spoken English, to the centre and work time management, at nights to support his team work, personality family. Belonging to development, value the first batch, Chikate systems, basic computer attended the training skills, basic accounting from 8.11 am to 6 pm and customer care. Unnati (classes begin exactly 11 Skill Development minutes after eight to Centre’s manager Milind underline the importance Nagare said, “We teach of punctuality) and them the confidence to worked as a plumber - Ganesh Natarajan communicate in English from 8 pm to 3 am at and are surprised by their a residential complex keenness to learn and succeed.” under construction.

Explaining about the schedule, He has appeared for the higher Nagare said, “The daily classes are of secondary school exam and wants to one and a half hours duration. It is complete his graduation. The training compulsory for every student to reach centre has changed the lives of many the centre by 8.11 am.” The training youths by giving them an opportunity programme is open for those above 18 to learn and earn. A joint initiative of years and belonging to the middle and Thermax Social Initiative Foundation lower middle class family.

(TSIF), the social arm of Thermax Ltd; TSIF chief MN Sanyal said, “The Zensar Technology’s Zensar Foundation first two batches have completed the and PMC, the centre plans to increase training and the third has 38 students. its student strength to 200-300 by end The response was slow with the first of 2014. The vocational centre was batch having eight and second 30 youths. launched with assistance from NGO All the youths who have completed Unnati Foundation in the city on January the training have secured jobs.” The 2014. The free training aims to impart to Thermax officials said that the course participants professional skills. timings is one of the main reasons for The first batch of eight candidates youths to not take up the course. completed their 70-day training recently. The candidates are offered archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com salaries ranging between `8,000 and

“India needs a skilled workforce of over 500 million by 2022.”

(Standing second from left) Zensar CFO S Balasubramaniam, Thermax director Anu Aga, PMC UCD Asankhaya Patil, Zenzar vice chairman and CEO Ganesh Natarajan, Thermax chairperson Meher Pudumjee and Unnati Foundation co-founder and trustee Ramesh Swamy along with the first batch of successful candidates

The participants Zensar Foundation: An independent trust of Zensar Technologies, the NGO leads the company’s philanthropic outreach initiatives. It facilitates programmes pertaining to education, health, livelihood creation as well as womenchildren welfare. One of the Foundation’s key focus areas is creating sustainable development and livelihood for local communities. For the past eight years, the social body has been working with a small community of about 3,000 people in Ambedkarnagar near the Zensar campus in Pune and the Anjaiahnagar community in Hyderabad.

Unnati is a flagship initiative of Zensar Foundation under its employability and environment sustenance programmes.

Thermax Social Initiative Foundation (TSIF):

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) wing of Thermax Ltd was formed in March 2007 as a not-for-profit body. Along with NGO partner Akanksha Foundation, it is managing six municipal schools in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad and covering around 1,800 children. TSIF has also initiated a teacher training programme covering 31 English medium municipal schools and three low-income private schools. TSIF is also involved in skill development initiatives and supports projects undertaken by CII and the ongoing Unnati initiatives.

Sree Guruvayurappan Bhajan Samaj Trust (SGBS) Unnati Foundation, Bangalore: SGBS Unnati Foundation is a Bangalore based not-forprofit organisation working with an objective

to train and employ one million youths in India through the ‘Unnati Model’ by 2020.

WHOM TO CONTACT Applications for the programme at the Unnati Skill Development Centre can be sent to Milind Nagare (e-mail: milindnagare60@gmail.com) or candidates can visit the centre for information/ registration or contact the centre on 02065000611 between 9 am and 5 pm.

Unnati is a 70-day vocational training programme offered for free to the less educated, unemployed and economically backward youth with an assured job at the end of the training period. Visit http://www.unnatiblr.org/ for more information.

A novel step in generating skilled workmanship Pune safest for those from the Northeast Recognising the need for a skilled workforce in the growing construction sector in India, social enterprise Kushal formed in 2011 is working towards improving and upgrading the skills of workers

To address the shortage of labour in the construction industry with Pune alone facing a shortage of around 30-40 per cent, a few city builders approached National Skill Development Corporation(NSDC) — the national body of construction industry — in 2011, and Kushal took its fi rst step.

Th is learn and earn training module is a partnership programme between the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) and NSDC aimed at improving the skill sets of construction workforce in India.

THE BEGINNING Kushal works towards providing economic support to construction labourers working on six major trades — plumbing, masonry, tiling, shuttering, bar bending and painting.

“The training follows the concept of ‘earn while you learn’, thereby assuring no pay loss for the worker and ensures maximum participation.

Our main focus is to ensure that every worker is technically sound, thereby improving and upgrading the quality of this industry,” said Kushal chairman JP Shroff. He said that the certificate from Builders Association of India (BAI) presented to those who complete the training adds value and credibility to the initiative.

Kushal’s mission is to cover

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose

The financial aspect Kushal is one of the 85 partners of NSDC. The social enterprise has been allotted approximately Rs20 crore from NSDC, while the developers of CREDAI cover 60 per cent cost of the training by providing construction material/ space and their sites.

lack of requisite documents. Kushal has helped them to open a bank account with a nationalised bank and encourage the habit of saving,” Shroff said.

Construction workers at 24K Glamore, Kolte Patil Project in Undri, receive training as part of the Kushal initiative

1,00,000 workers in the next 10 years in Pune alone. It’s present record of enrolling over 25,000 workers and presenting certificates to about 15,000 who completed the training underlines the initiative’s success. Launched with a clear focus and roadmap in 2011, Kushal’s achievements could be a panIndia role model.

“The objective is to increase the quality of work, improve productivity, reduce material wastage and, importantly, to define a career path for construction workers in India,” said Shroff.

SOCIAL FACE The organisers hold programmes like ‘bonfi re of tobacco’ to curb the vices that are highly prevalent among labourers, Pathnatya and cricket matches between developers, the Kushal committee and labourers.

Kushal celebrates ‘Kushalta Diwas’ to acknowledge and appreciate the achievements of workers on July 4 every year.

“Usually, daily wagers does not save money and the bank does not permit them to open an account for

THE JOURNEY Starting with Paranjape Builders’ Blue Ridge site in Hinjewadi, Kushal has covered over 130 sites of 75 developers and 1,500 contractors in the Pune market itself. The enterprise has also set its footprints in Goa and Chennai.

“Aiming to have a national presence, we have already started initiatives in Chennai, Goa and Sholapur and proposed to the Maharashtra government to tie-up with Kushal for skill development.

With the ‘Smart Cities’ proposal in the existing budget, the need for skilled labour has come into greater focus. Kushal aims to contribute to the construction industry at the macro level,” Shroff said. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

A central panel’s observation that people from the Northeast are most comfortable in Pune than in any other Indian city comes as a pat on the back for the citizens of Pune

BY RUPESH DUTTA

The Bezbaruah Committee that recently submitted its report to the central government, has noted that Pune was the safest for those from the northeast, while in the last six months the national capital has witnessed “some of the most brutal crimes against people from the Northeast”.

The 15-member committee was formed after the murder of Arunachal Pradesh youth Nido Tania in February, to suggest remedial measures following a rise in the number of crimes against people from the northeastern states across the country.

The committee has proposed that an IPS officer belonging to the northeast be stationed in every city with a sizable population from the region, a one-stop office for redressing complaints and setting up forums and special squads to investigate hate crimes. These are among the 60 recommendations made by the Bezbaruah Committee.

The report recommends that a “Northeast Trade Union” be formed in every city with a sizable population

from the region to focus on various issues relating to employees from the northeast, including non-payment of wages, and also assist them in pursuing alternate career options apart from those in the hospitality sector.

The report also suggested that the central government set up a “oneway one-stop office” in major cities to “help” people from the northeast “with information about the city or getting rented accommodation and the like or even political help from the MPs of their respective states”.

Incidentally, wellknown NGO Sarhad, which has been focusing on students from Kashmir has taken a special interest in strengthening ties between Pune and the Northeast. The NGO has 15 students from the northeast at its school at Katraj.

According to Sarhad founder Sanjay Nahar, “This school and college were established with the purpose of providing education to these students.”

Sarhad has been organising cultural and social activities for them in the city.

IANS

Sarhad has taken a special interest in strengthening ties between Pune and the Northeast

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

The first car arrived in Pune in 1918 and the first bus service in 1934. In 1941, the city’s bus service had a fleet of 20 buses.

- Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation

Blogging has a global outreach P6

‘Skills are needed for employment’ P7

WILL POTHOLES BE THE POLL PLANK AGAIN! RAHUL RAUT

Water storage rises substantially in dams TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

The state of the heavily potholed road at Swargate, as in many other parts of the city. The 2007 municipal election had seen potholes becoming an election issue. Will that happen once again as the state assembly elections approach in the next few months?

City awaits solution as vehicle population soars More than 390 two-wheelers and 100 four-wheelers were registered in the city every day last year, states Environment Status Report

On an average, more than 390 two-wheelers and 100 plus fourwheelers were registered in the city every day during 2013-14, taking the vehicular population in Pune to 26 lakh, according to the latest Environment Status Report (ESR) released by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

This has not only added to the traffic congestion and related problems in the city but also put a strain on parking facilities.

According to ESR, at the end of

RAHUL RAUT

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat

March 2014, Pune city has a total vehicular population of 26,66,488.

Of this, 19,96,435 twowheelers and 4,21,065 cars were

TGS Quiz Contest

A

No. 7

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

running in the city.

Compared to the vehicle population, parking capacity is negligible, as there are only 16

parking lots in and around the city, including one truck terminal at Dhankawdi for 300 trucks.

The PMC and the PimpriChinchwad municipal corporations have been unable to keep pace with the galloping demand for parking facilities. The 1987 City Development Plan had a few reservations for public parking but of these, just four reservations have been developed in congested areas like Phule Mandai and Laxmi Road.

PMC’s traffic planner Shriniwas Bonala said that even in the congested areas of the city, most

Now the world can learn Hindi online iEARN-India has launched a facility to teach Hindi to foreigners and students in the Indian diaspora

1. What is the name of the book written by blogger Sameer Khan?

2. Who are the founders of the mobile application, Gradestack?

3. What is the price of Pune Queen of Deccan published by INTACH? 4. What was author Randy Pausch suffering from?

5. What is the name of entrepreneur Rohan Ratnapal’s adventure sports and wilderness tours company?

6. Which restaurant in Pune does director Kunal Deshmukh own?

7. Which actor gave music composer Manjeet Ral a break in Bollywood?

8. What is fashion designer Raaihul Bhuyarkar’s secret weapon while cooking?

9. Who is the founder of Pune’s Foodies Group?

10. What is actor Pushkar Jog’s perfect start to the day?

Contest # 6 winners 1. Sunil M Pansari 2. Vasant Palkar 3 Sanjeev Gupta

American students who completed the short-term course in Hindi at the Gurukul High School in the city as part of iEARN India project

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal In an effort to showcase to the world the rich culture and languages of India, International E ducat ion and Research Ne t w ork-I nd i a Sunita Bhagwat (iEA R N-India) has launched an online course in Hindi for foreigners living in India.

The international NGO’s country co-ordinator Sunita Bhagwat said, “We offer courses starting from 20 hours in 10 days to 140 hours in two days. The main focus is functional language learning, interaction and communication skills.”

Over 60 foreign students have learned the language from the facility provided by the NGO in the past five years. iEARN) is working with 30,000 schools and youth organisations. It has pioneered the online school linkages to enable students to engage in meaningful educational projects with peers around the world. Spread over 18 Indian states, the NGO is also working with the department of education and research

and Indian Institute of Education.

The iEARN-India team is taking its various programmes to schools all over India, especially in cities and small towns in and around Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune.

It encourages and supports schools to participate in online collaborative projects. It enables the effective use of information technology (IT) in classrooms. It promotes the use of technology to improve communication and interaction between Indian and foreign educational institutions.

“The online Hindi teaching is a part of these programmes,” Bhagwat said.

The National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) offers more than 600 scholarships to US high school students to study Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Hindi, Korean, Russian, and Turkish. Under this programme, US students visit Pune to learn Hindi.

This year, 14 US students participated in the two-month coaching organised at Gurukul High School situated on University Road in Pune.

“Four faculty are working at the Pune centre. Most of the teachers are co-ordinators. Any school interested in joining us can log on www.iearn-india. org,” she said. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

families had upgraded to motorised two-wheelers from bicycles and were now moving on cars.

PMC has been trying to develop new parking lots, by using plots reserved for the erstwhile PMT and by acquiring land for public parking. However, most of the reservations are under litigation, he said.

Although the decentralisation of Pune has been taking place due to the city’s expansion and emergence of new suburbs, the central part of the city continued to house the main business establishments. enews.mediasurvices@gmail.com

Incessant rains in the last two weeks in the Khadakwasla region and catchment area of Pawana dam has increased the water to an optimum level, wchich will go a long way in alleviating water scarcity problem in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Citizens will now be ensured at least once a day supply for the entire year. At the end of July, Pawana dam registered a storage of 6,000 million cubic feet (TMC) water, while the Khadakwasla system was above the halfway mark at 18.5 TMC. The total water storage capacity of Khadakwasla system is 29.96 TMC. While Pimpri-Chinchwad gets its water from Pawana dam, heavy rainfall in the Lonavala – Khandala ghat section and the interior catchment of Pawana dam resulted in water storage of 6 TMC, 67 per cent of the dam’s total capacity. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

Give your child the best gift of all: your time!

P8

Signposts Medical camp for pregnant women Lavangare Super Speciality Hospital organised a special camp for pregnant women from rural area of Kedgaon of Pune – Solapur Road.

Over 50 women from nearby villages attended the camp. Rotarian and the hospital’s managing director Dr Swati Lavangare spoke about women’s healthcare at the camp. Rotary Club Lokmanya Nagar Ravi Vipra, Rajendra Bonde, Mahesh Ghorpade were also present.

Seminar on antenatal yoga exercises Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital will be holding a two-day seminar for pregnant women on ‘Antenatal Yoga-based exercises and informative lectures’ from 4 pm to 7 pm on Saturday (August 2) and from 8 am to 11 am on Sunday. Contact the obstetrics and gynaecology OPD, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital (between 9:30 am and 5 pm) on 40151055 for registration for the limited seats.

Request for financial aid to patient The wife of Bikchand Chhagan Sasane, a domestic help, suffered an eye injury in an accident. She is admitted to the Inlaks & Budhrani Hospital ICU. As her husband is a sweeper and they have three children, the family is unable to bear the medical treatment cost of `3 lakh. Those willing to provide financial help can contact Sasane on 9764908323 or the hospital.

Cycle rally for pollution-free Pune The Pune C y c l e Pratishthan will be organising a cycle rally on Sunday. The rally will flag off from Ramoshi Gate and pass through Bhavani Mata Temple, Quarter Gate, Rasta Peth, Apollo Theater, Ganesh Peth, Laxmi Road, Phadake Haud and end at Kasba Ganpati Temple.

The aim of the rally is to spread the message of using cycles and save fuel and avoid pollution. The pratisthan has appealed to citizens to participate in the rally. For information contact Pune Cycle Pratisthan secretary Nandkumar Bhatewara on 9823041777.

Turning adventure into a way of life P9

By contributing to the community, we add people to our circle of influence and gain opportunities to build relationships with our neighbours. We also demonstrate what it means to be a good citizen to our children.

—Powertochange.com

Community leaders endorse culture of integrity & ethics

Symbiosis, IBM and CIB join hands for an industry-academia discussion on the subject TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSNewsWeekly Integrity and ethics have been the foundation of civilisation and the key to evolution of mankind since ages. However, due to the corroding influence of greed and lust, man seems to have given a backdoor entry to unethical practices in his stride and seems to rationalise the same.

Companies resort to this practise and pass it off as a norm but does all this really undermine the shine of these golden values which were exhorted by great men of all times?

The auditorium of the Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology (SCIT), Hinjewadi witnessed a rare conglomeration of people from the industry, academia and students this week to discuss and debate the role of ethics and integrity in the present times and its relevance.

Jointly organised by the SCIT, IBM and Caux Initiatives for Business (CIB), the event sought to provide a platform for academicians, students and business organisations to work together to spread awareness for creating a culture of integrity and ethics.

Symbiosis International University chancellor SB Mujumdar underlined the importance of ethics in education and spoke of how the Symbiosis Society was committed to these values. He stressed that although not many would believe it, Symbiosis did not take capitation fees.

He spoke about the challenges of being

an ethical organisation and stressed the need for a ‘Spiritual Evolution’ in the society.

Kishore Chaukar, Chairman, Tata Business Support Services Ltd, in his key note address spoke about some practical examples of his professional life of coming to terms with ethics and stiking to it, come what may. “Ethics is an all-pervading concept, it touches every aspect of human life,” he said, while citing the example

of the late JRD Tata who took to high ethical stance, making it the culture and value of Tata group.

Deepak Phatak, Professor at IIT Mumbai, in his key note address, spoke about walking the talk when it came to practicing ethics in daily lives.

To be ethical, sometimes you need to be different even to the extent of being branded as mad, he said.

Desiree GilerMann Trust and

Compliance Counsel for India /South Asia at IBM spoke about best practices in her organisation and how the IBM fraternity keeps integrity at the core of their values when conducting business.

Dr Rajani Gupte, the Vice Chancellor of Symbiosis International University, spoke at length about the collaboration between industry and education to come together and talk about ethics.

In the post-lunch session, Anil Chopra, VP Siemens Ltd narrated the story of how Siemens turned around when it decided to practice “absolute ethics” across the board. He also spoke of how some unethical decisions had cost Siemens nearly Rs 1,700 crores in a particular year.

He spoke of the challenges at professional and personal levels and the importance of following the righteous path.

A short movie the ‘Story of Polyhydron’ depicting that “doing business ethically is possible and profitable too” was screened with introductory remarks by TP Mukherjee, a senior management professional and the convener of CIB. A skit on how the “Character Bank of India” is going bankrupt due to unethical withdrawals was presented by the students of SCIT. The conference provided a unique opportunity for the participants to network with each other and share thoughts and ideas on crucial problem.

Editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

FOLLOWING THE TRADITION

Members of Manaswini Group 2014 performed ‘Mangala Gaur’ in the city recently. The festival is celebrated in Maharashtra where newly married women perform pujas on every Tuesday of the Shravan month for the well-being of their husband and the family of her in-laws.

Even Sachin needed a coach at the peak of his career Availing of professional advice is not a sign of weakness

BY NARAYAN MENON AND NITIN VAIDYA ‘We all know what means coaching!’

Coaching classes started in the 1970’s as an education aid for weak students.

What happened over the next three decades is all too evident.

Talking specifically of ‘executive coaching’, even professionals look at it as an aid like coaching classes in the 70s for the weak or non-performing executives. It is yet to be accepted as something needed by the Sachin Tendulkars of corporate life.

We all go through major milestones like schooling, college, a job and marriage. Of course this journey continues with family, career choices and aging. We handle these stages in different ways and some of us use professional services like ‘coaching classes’, ‘head hunters’ or ‘match making sites’.

Ironically, in today’s world of information overload and choices galore, there is a lot of confusion and indecision. Somehow we decide that a child of 10, adolescent of 15 needs coaching, but an adult in his 20s and early 30s does not need any help.

He can take ‘advice’ but not any help. If a mentor, counsellor or a coach is suggested, there would be an adverse reaction from the family and others.

The fi rst comment “He does not need any help”, “He is very independent”; “Let him learn on his own, he is an adult after all”, they will say. Even the person concerned thinks that to take professional advice is a sign of immaturity or weakness.

If that were the case, we wonder why the Sachin Tendulkars, Roger Federers and Vishwanathan Anands had coaches at the peak of their careers. We may think that they had coaches because they could afford them. However, the fact is that these are coaches who provide perspectives on things and situations from a different point of view. Th is is what helps these greats evolve with changing times, trends and competition. Even the doyens among artistes (singers, dancers) have a guru who is a part of their career. The guru now dons the cap of a coach.

After all, in the first decade of adulthood, we aspire to come to terms with major life-events like career success and married life. Today this is done by trial and error with the advice of

Our newspaper is interactive and you are welcome to write in to our various segments: • Letters to the Editor, email: editor_tgs@ goldensparrow.com; editor_tgs@gmail.com by post: The Editor, The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 16411 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030, (Best letter gets a weekly prize) • Articles for the Relationships page relationships@ goldensparrow.com, relationships.tgs@gmail.com • The Way Forward with compassion & hope wayforward@ goldensparrow.com • Want to become an entrepreneur? For mentoring advice, write to our associates: mentoring@pune.tie.org • Get weekly events listed: listings.tgslife@gmail.com

colleagues, seniors and family members.

Imagine, if this adult gets inputs from a professional who has gone through these stages and has experienced trials and tribulations and is aware of the implications. Th is professional, who is formally trained in the art of mentoring and reframing perspectives, can work wonders. He can help in doing some inward looking and lateral thinking. Th is enables the concerned person to come up with alternate scenarios and perspectives for the existing situation. The coach does not impair the decision-making or the freedom of the person he is helping. Th is is precisely how coaching differs from counselling or consulting.

Executive coaching means enabling decisionmaking by helping the person to become aware of all perspectives, scenarios and options available to handle a particular situation. Th is is also known as life coaching or wellness coaching, depending on the specific areas of life you are trying to address. The biggest challenge today is that the alter ego prevents people from translating this perceived need into a stated and verbalised need.

The increasing trend in corporates of coaching; of managers being trained to be coaches is encouraging.

In conclusion, one should be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it.

The coach does not impair the decision making of the person he is coaching

Letters to the Editor

TGS is interactive

PUNE

(Narayan Menon is an IIT alumnus with vast experience in the automobile industry and now a certified ICF coach. Nitin Vaidya is a Symbiosis alumnus and certified NLP practitioner with experience in training industry.)

editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

Dr Ganesh Rakh is doing a wonderful job It was heart-warming to read “Every girl born in this hospital gets a celebration” by Quaid Najmi (TGS July 26). Dr Ganesh Rakh at his Medicare Hospital at Hadapsar is doing a wonderful job of performing free delivery if a girl child is born and celebrating the birth by distributing sweets.

Outside a labour room in another hospital, I had witnessed the reaction of two families, one blessed with a baby boy... joy and jubilation, another with a baby girl... gloom and fallen faces. I wonder when the discrimination against the girl child end. When will a daughter be welcomed with love and affection and a bright smile?

Girish Lad is also doing a remarkable service in this field and has developed active tracker, silent observer to prevent female foeticide.

Well, “agar betiyan nahi bachaoge to bahu kahan se laoge”.

I wish to share a poem I wrote some time back. It is a plea of yet to be born daughter…

Dearest Mom I can’t see you but I feel you all around me You can’t see me but feel me ..love me.

And now what do I hear?

Did I hear right?

You are being asked not to bring me in your world. Why? Why??

Because I can’t be a SON? Loving mother.. please ma Give me life, let me live Let me come in your world...

Let me play, jump, dance I promise I won’t ask you for Barbie dolls or colourful games on comp.

Jewelry, dowry nothing ..

All I ask is to be a part of your world. Our world.

I promise I will jump dance study, work hard and reach for the sky.

I will make you feel proud In our beautiful world.

Your loving yet to be born daughter -Urmilla Ramrakhiani (Ramrakhiani gets the prize for best letter of the week)

Apex court disappoints

The Supreme Court (SC) which is supposed to dispense justice in a fair and equitable manner hardly lives up to this lofty tenet in some of its recent judgments. In the Mumbai’s Campa Cola case, it is the victims of the fraud who have been penalised. The builder in cahoots with the BMC and politicians are the real culprits. The BMC did nothing to stop the construction.

Instead of taking the guilty to task the flat holders are made to suffer.

The apex court termed the tenure of BCCI president N Srinivasan as nauseating due to match-fi xing cases.

He was made to quit the post which was termed as stepping aside or stepping down as if he was doing a ball room dance! But the court had no objection to Srinivasan becoming the chairman of ICC. In the heinous Nirbhaya case, the convicted rapists have got a stay on some loophole as an excuse for their benefit.

At this rate no rapists will ever be hanged. As for politicians, there is a completely different yardstick. How are the scamsters in cases like fodder scam, 2G and CWG still roaming free on indefinite bail? The hit-and-run case of a celebrity fi lmstar still drags on even after 12 years. The SC needs to give fair and equitable justice to all victims.

- Shanmugam Mudaliar

Please retain ‘Children’s Art Gallery’

I’ve been an avid reader of your weekly newspaper. Th is, I believe gives me the right to make some suggestions. While reading the last two editions, I’ve found a change in your tabloid ‘LIFE’. I think the ‘Children’s Art Gallery’ on page

13 was much more interesting than the current section ‘Stranger than fiction’.

Sometimes I say, “Jeez!, I’ve read one of these small stories somewhere on the Internet on Tuesday, and they published it on Saturday with some editing.”

C’mon, as an honest reader, I would like the ‘Children’s Art Gallery’ back.

-Vishal Anand

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.

CITY

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

How much antibiotics do Indians consume with 240 cr chicken a year?

The city’s first rail link was established in 1856 when the first train ran between Bombay and the Pune Railway Station.

The mysterious tree of a newborn’s life

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PCMC show the way with SARATHI

Signposts Public reading of Dhasal’s poems

The civic body’s novel e-governance programme will be emulated by 11 states in the country as well as Tanzania

Workshop for painting contractors To develop professional skills for painting contractors, MITCON will be holding a free workshop on ‘Modern Painting Technology and Painting Texture’ between 5 and 7 pm on August 21. For details contact workshop co-ordinator Revankumar Gade at MITCON Udyog Prabodhini, Agricultural College campus or call 66289510/ 9922343783.

Session on disease prevention Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College’s department of community medicine has taken an initiative to educate professionals regarding vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya. The department is also set to define the role of health providers in the management and control of diseases, train professionals in the application of Geographical Information System (GIS), remote sensing and integrated vector management. Speakers from public health department, medical institutions and Vector Control Research Centre (Puducherry) will be present a session on the college campus on Sunday.

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal Besides lending a helping hand to citizens, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) e-governence programe, SARATHI, has also earn accolades from across the state. The PCMC’s System of Assisting Residents and Tourists through Helpline Information (SARATHI) is a major hit not only in Maharashtra but in the entire country. This is evident from the fact that 11 states of the country will be adopting the model for effective e-governance.

Even political parties are studying the model for effective communication.

Representatives of the Shiv Sena and the Aam Aadami Party (AAP) have visited the PCMC to learn more about SARATHI. Its popularity is not just restricted to India, as officials from foreign nations like Tanzania, also visited the PCMC to study its distinctive model of e-governance.

HOW IT ALL STARTED PCMC former commissioner Dr Shrikar Pardeshi launched SARATHI initiative one and half years ago, with the objective to overcome communication barriers and expeditiously provide complete and standardised information to citizens. It aims to help citizens find access to services of the municipal corporation using modern tools of information technology and providing easy to use platform for redressing the public grievances. The project has been selected as one of the best practices under the Right to Information Act by of the Government of India.

In 320 days, there have been 15,175 calls related to civic complaint and 32,650 calls for seeking information on SARATHI from citizens. Almost 2,35,719 citizens have been benefited

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Renowned Hindi poets Vishnu Khare, Pragya Pawar, Satish Kalsekar and Sambhaji Bhagat will be reciting poems written by Padma Shri awardee Late Namdev Dhasal at an event organised by Miloon Saryajani at Balgandharva Rangamandir on Saturday from 5:30 pm onwards.

Kiosks under CSR Pimpri-Chinchwad residents, who do not have access to computers or telephones, will now be able to get information and submit complaints about civic amenities through SARATHI. PCMC plans to put up SARATHI kiosks at eight spots in the city with the help of private banks in the municipal limits to reach out to the rural areas and slums. The HDFC Bank has shown a willingness to set up kiosks on a pilot basis.

These kiosks will be located all six zonal offices including the main office building in Pimpri and the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital. Kiosks are like an ATM machine with touch-screen where citizens can see all the departments. The kiosk will also have a landline telephone and lifting the phone’s receiver will directly connect the user to the helpline. The service will be free of cost. The initiative will be a part of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility activities (CSR).

On a daily basis, the SARATHI call centre receives 149 calls from the citizens

from the system. Every day it receives 149 calls and 2,313 hits, an e-governance department spokesperson informed.

The complaints are related to almost all the departments including water bills, water meter theft, impure and irregular water supply, requirement of additional water connection for housing societies, illegal parking, street lights, drainage, stray dogs and stray cattle menace and few complaints regarding the garden and road conditions, property tax, queries regarding the illegal constructions, building permission norms for small plots, voters ID, cast verification, government schemes etc.

The civic officials said that the issues that can be solved immediately are registered and forwarded to the concerned departments. Those plaints

that can’t be solved immediately are also attended to, and relevant information is provided to the caller.

Because of the involvement of civil society, IT professionals and NGOs, the project has become a major hit is such a short period. The initiative was given the name ‘SARATHI’ which means, ‘one who guides towards the right path or the one who drives you through adversities to find the destination’.

SARATHI FOLLOWERS Pune Municipal Corporation, Aurangabad Municipal Corporation, Sangli Municipal Corporation, Khadki Cantonment Board, Sales Tax Department, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Inspector General

of Registration and Controller of Stamps (IGR), Maharashtra State Electricity Development Corporation Ltd (MSEDCL), chief minister of Punjab and officials from 11 states on e-governance visited PCMC to adopt SARATHI system, informed, the assistant commissioner Dr Uday Tekale.

HOW TO ACCESS SARATHI One can visit the PCMC website: www.pcmcindia.org to know about the SARATHI. There are several other ways including eBook, special web link, call centre (helpline), App for mobile/ tablet/Ipad, PDF books, and so on.

The SARATHI helpline number is: 8888006666

SARATHI makes PCMC a smart city PCMC has been selected for national-level award in the ‘Smart Municipal Corporation’ initiative category recently. The Noidabased Eletes Technomedia has selected the civic body for its innovative ‘Sarathi’ system. It is the first corporation to bag such award. The award committee assessed the system independently by calling on the helpline as well as by logging in on the website without informing the civic body.

archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

To suffer & endure... a haemophiliac’s life Haemophilia Society of Maharashtra (HSI) provides succour to those affected by this painful ailment

Genetic disorder • There are two types of haemophilia, A and B. Low levels or complete absence of blood protein essential for clotting causes both. Patients with haemophilia A lack the blood clotting protein, factor VIII and those with haemophilia B lack factor IX. • The severity of haemophilia is related to the amount of clotting factor in the blood. Around 70 per cent of haemophilic patients have less than 1 per cent of the normal amount and, thus, have severe haemophilia.

barnalee.handique@goldensparrow.com PLEASE CONTACT Haemophilia Society of Maharashtra, Pune chapter Shop No 6 MB Classic Building Telco Road, Chinchwad, Pune Call : 020 27462221, 9371008718 www.hemophiliapune.org

GE PA US

Mountains Calling

S PAGE EW VI

In the issue ON TH EI N

Chapter president Rashid Lilani said, “The primary symptom of an internal bleed is uncontrolled, spontaneous bleeding in different parts of the body. The bleeding happens at the spaces between joints resulting in pain and swelling.” Fresh frozen plasma has to be injected to check the internal bleed in PWH that may give rise to severe complications.

This plasma is the liquid part of the blood (plasma) taken from a donor and frozen for later use.

“The treatment is less expensive than donated and recombinant factor concentrates. As very large volume of fresh plasma is required to provide enough clotting factor to prevent bleeding and this amount of plasma is not easily kept at home, Cryoprecipitate (concentrated frozen plasma) can be used as it contains all clotting factors and

With this issue

ON TH ER E

HSI Pune Chapter president Rashid Lilani (Below) Dr Shashikant Apte of Sahyadri Hospital

Saket Communications Pvt Ltd and Regional Advertising Marketing Agency (RAMA) organised a seminar on ‘Success Story of The World’s Youngest CEO-Suhas Gopinath’ on July 30. (From Left) Shailesh Bhandari, director, BU Bhandari Automotive Pvt Ltd; Sanjay Satalkar, president, RAMA and Vineet Kuber, chairman, Saket Communications Pvt Ltd felicitated Suhas Gopinath, CEO, Globals Inc.

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Each time Siddhesh Sutar has a bleed, he has to travel six hours from his village to be in time in Pune for his life-sustaining shot — a vial of antihaemophilic factor (AHF). Sarvesh Gaikwad, the 11-year-old son of a peanut seller, can only crawl. Dr Sunil Lohade, his physician, suggested corrective surgery following which he can straighten his right leg. The operation was risky and was costly as the boy required more than 10,000 units of AHF. This is the common story of adversity and pain for most of the people with haemophilia (PWH) in interior villages as they are still unaware of the disease and have no access to proper treatment.

Haemophilia Society of Maharashtra (HSI), Pune Chapter, has been helping people with a genetic bleeding disorder for 22 years. The society locates undiagnosed persons with haemophilia, provides anti-haemophilic factor (AHF) besides educating and counselling PWHs and their families. It provides AHF at Rs 7.25 per unit against the market rate of Rs 25. Every week around 3,000 units of AHF are procured from Hemophilia Federation India (HFI), Delhi for the city centres.

Following the society’s sustained efforts and a PIL filed against the Government of Maharashtra, free AHFs are being provided by the government since last month. Their widespread public awareness has led to over 450 registered PWHs at its various centres, around 25 walk-ins every year plus a couple of outstation patients.

HSI Pune

fibrinogen used to treat clotting problems,” Lilani said.

The society’s five chapters (Mumbai, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Pune) are spread across Maharashtra with the city having three haemophilic treatment centres at Lohade Hospital in Chinchwad, Noble Hospital in Hadapsar and the Sahyadri Hospital in Kothrud.

Dr Sunil Lohade said, “When a patient walks in to one of these centres for the first time, we take routine tests and provide the initial treatment.

Major cases like fracture or surgery are referred to Noble Hospital or Sahyadri Hospital.” But these treatments are costly. A fracture requires 10,000 units of AHF, while a brain bleed may require around 20,000 units. If the PWH has to undergo surgery, he will require the prescribed units of AHF plus pay the hospital dues and physician’s fees.

Sahyadri Hospital’s Dr Shashi Apte said, “The treatment is expensive but the factor level in the blood has to be maintained throughout. Postsurgery when the bone is set, there can be swelling.

The patient has to be injected with daily dosage of AHF to reduce swelling and avoid further bleeding and infection. A PWH who undergoes surgery, needs 2,500 units of AHF, another 2,500 units within 12 hours and again at intervals till the bleeding stops completely.”

Most of these cases at Sahyadri Hospital are partly funded by Samavedana, a social organisation based at the hospital itself.

To encourage young PWHs, the HFI Pune Chapter has come up with an educational grant for students willing to pursue higher studies or opt for professional courses. “Once a month, parents of PWHs gather to discuss problems and a counsellor guides them on how to bring up their child. Youth camps are organised where PWH between 16-25 years of age are given the task of handling and teaching young children. The chapter also organises various events with the help from corporates and foundations.

ON THE IN

BY BARNALEE HANDIQUE @barnalee

Hollywood’s Singham

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Wooing Women

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

Seven reasons why TDS provisions are draconian P 14

For lasting love, give space in relationships P8

In April 2012,Instagram was acquired by Facebook for about $ 1 billion in cash and stock.

City Blogger Of The Week

Blogging has a global outreach

Playwright and founder of Motley Monks, Sameer Khan started blogging primarily to tell his stories. He has recently published his first collection of short stories called Spinning Top and Other Stories

by Anjali Shetty @shetty_anjali

W

hen playwright and founder of theatre group, Motley Monks, Sameer Khan started blogging, most bloggers were celebrities who blogged and not blogger celebrities.

He started blogging primarily to post his stories on the Internet. His first blog was on history and culture. “I was always a history buff and heard some years ago about the legendary Sufi poet “Zauq’s” grave, that was under a public lavatory and had been restored. I was on a visit to Delhi and when I tried to find out more about the story, there was almost zero information on the Internet or elsewhere.

I finally found the grave in the most crowded, poorest and most inaccessible part of Old Delhi.

I decided to share my experience on my blog and give details about the poet and his memorial.

My efforts were appreciated and my journey as a blogger took off,” says Sameer.

Since then he has written about diverse subjects like politics and

travel for some websites that paid him some remuneration for his blogs. He wanted to share stories that were not available on the Internet, stories that needed to be told.

Initially, he started sharing his blogs with friends on Facebook. They encouraged his writings and soon he joined Twitter which allowed him to share his blogs with strangers.

The feedback was interesting. “I was once invited for a bloggers meet held in Pune, on the subject of Middle East politics by a Middle East expert. It felt very special to be invited to such a forum and to interact with the chief guest and fellow bloggers from Pune,” Sameer said.

For him, the best part about blogging is reaching readers across the globe, getting reviews and interacting with people around the world.

Sameer focuses mostly on history and historical monuments that are not well known. “For example, very few people are aware that there is also a palace called Taj Mahal in Bhopal. I wrote about that in my blog.”

His pieces on some very unknown cemeteries and forgotten historical places also brought in amazing feedback.

For example, Sameer received an email from a person in England who, after reading his blog on an

“Unknown French Soldiers Cemetery in Pune” wrote to him asking for help to trace his great grandmother who was buried in a Pune cemetery in 1922.

“The Jewish community leaders in Pune got in touch with me after I discovered the forgotten Jewish Cemetery in Pune.” A lady in Pune who read his blog on Parsi Heritage ,asked for his help in her research on Parsi bakeries.

His advice to aspiring bloggers is to write about whatever they wish to share. “Internet has opened the gates for you. So the world is your oyster, whether it’s a young person who wishes to write about movies, a housewife who wants to write about cookery, or an elderly person wanting to share his life experience or a war veteran who wishes to share his adventure.

But one should keep in mind that you may not see instant results.

The bottom line is just keep writing and sharing your stories and eventually you will find your readers and your mettle.” anjali.shetty@ goldensparrow.com

Even a flat can now be bought online

by Prachi Bari @prachibari

It is now possible to see and book your dream flat online. Net savvy developers and builders are using this new medium of selling a property online and are feeling quite encouraged with the response.

Not wanting to be left out of the e-commerce space, the Pune builders’ association, CREDAI (The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India) tried it first with an online exhibition in 20102011. This idea to put up a virtual property exhibition came from Sanjay Deshpande, CMD Sanjeevani Developers Ltd. The then chairman of CREDAI’s Environment

committee, Green Buildings, Deshpande felt that just having an exhibition would not get the kind of reach that an online medium would. The then exhibition chairman and now secretary of the city builders’ association, Anuj Bhandari thought of conceptualising and creating a software for showcasing the stalls, flats and also a tour, all virtually.

“This was indeed one of the most cost effective and cost saving media plans which got us a lot of hits from the younger generation who I feel are the actual buyers,” said Bhandari. If one were to compare the costs, any single lead/enquiry which was done on the ground would cost approximately Rs 2000, whereas the cost of per lead/enquiry online was just about Rs 200.

The two-day exhibition resulted in about 15,000 online visitors at the exhibition. This concept ran for two years and now Bhandari says that plans are afoot to offer an upgraded version during 2014-15.

The online platform is especially useful for NRIs. Gokhale Constructions recently launched their new project, Mist, online as well as on ground. The bookings started simultaneously and towards the end of five days, online brought in lot of enquiries and conversations with as many as 100 odd bookings online.

“The online facility works on real time and allows a prospective buyer to check the availability of the flat, help make a choice of the floor, building as well as open the floor

plan , almost like walking through it to help make up his/ her mind and then take them to a payment page afte the selection of the flat,” explained Vishal Gohkale, CMD, Gokhale Constructions.

“The online medium is one of the biggest advertising medium in today’s world,” feels Rohit Gera, of Gera Developments.

“Astronomical amounts of advertising are put forth online, to attract buyers across the world. Even if a real estate product may not be purchased off the shelf online, it is most definitely being advertised extensively. It is more economical to advertise online than other traditional media and also casts a much larger net across geographies,” says Gera. prachibari@gmail.com

Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University gave an unusual “last lecture” that made the world stop and pay attention. Ishani Bose presents a synopsis

Not everyone has the ability to summarise their entire life in a few hours and make a lasting impression. Late professor Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University, who despite being diagnosed with a terminal case of pancreatic cancer, addressed an audience of students and colleagues in his last lecture, called ‘Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams’, in 2007. Pausch captivated the audience, with his lively, boisterous and impeccable delivery, so much so that the video instantly went viral on the Internet, garnering over 6 million views over the years. http://www.ted.com/talks/ randy_pausch_really_achieving_your_childhood_dreams At Carnegie Mellon University, Pausch taught computer science, human-computer interaction and design for two decades, during which he also co-founded its Entertainment Technology Centre.

He founded a free, educational programming language, called the Alice software project — and pursued internships at Walt Disney Imagineering and Electronic Arts respectively. Apart from this, he consulted with Google and Xerox PARC as an expert in user interface design.

Pausch began his lecture thus. “When there is an elephant in the room, introduce them”, referring to his CAT scans that showed his tumours. It is remarkable how ef-

“The brick walls are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out. They are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people,” he said.

He went on to share some of his childhood memories, his time with his wife, kids, nieces and nephews and the lessons of humility that he learnt from his parents. His lecture teaches everyone to strive for his or her dreams, never give up, and reflect and correct oneself when he/she makes a mistake. He said that the speech was not for the people who were watching the lecture, but for his three kids, who would grow up to see this lecture. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com fortlessly he presented the lecture, not once making the audience feel that he was suffering from a fatal disease.

The lecture was not about cancer but more about telling people to achieve their childhood dreams. Some of his childhood dreams were being in zero gravity, playing in the National Football League, authoring an article in the World Book of Encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk and an imagineer with Disney and winning a stuffed animal from the amusement park. No, they did not all come true, in the way he wanted but he considered

that to be okay.

What mattered to him the most was that he was happy, enjoying life, with no regrets, for in reality he had accomplished most of his childhood dreams if not all. “It’s not about how to achieve your dreams. It’s about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you,” he said.

He further stressed that just because his dreams had come true, it did not mean that he didn’t have problems. He explained how there are brick walls in life, but people look at them the wrong way.

TGS Tech Guru This is an interactive column. Like today, every week, we will be replying to technology and internet related queries sent in by readers. You may email your questions with the subject line ‘Tech Guru query’ to tgstechguru@ gmail.com

Go the nanotech way to water-proof your phone

By Sorab Ghaswalla There are about 6 billion smartphone owners around the world, and nearly half of them have had their devices dunked in water. What to do if your portable computing device meets water? Here are the preventive steps (including a revolutionary spray-on) you may deploy to water-proof them.

If your phone/Tablet has gone under: Do not: • Turn it on. That’s a given (and a pretty idiotic thing to do, if you were to ask me), but then, curiosity has often killed the cat in the past. If you power Sorab Ghaswalla your instrument, might as well kiss it goodbye.

• Do not shake or bang the phone. Frustration can be vented differently.

• If your instrument is under warranty, do not take it apart. Best left to the company tech guy.

• Even if it’s not, do not run a blow dryer over the device.

Water may flow into parts where there was none. Helpful souls may advise you to stick it into the deep freezer or even a microwave. The first is an urban cellphone legend, the latter is positively dangerous.

Here’s what to do: • Turn off the instrument (if it`s not gone belly-up already).

• Keep the phone/Tablet in an upright position.

• Take out the battery and the microSD, SIM cards and battery and dry them.

• Use a vacuum cleaner or a manual suction cup to suck up water.

• Bury phone in a ziplock bag with uncooked rice. The latter absorbs moisture.

• After that, insert the battery, pray to your god, and turn on your gadget.

• If your phone doesn’t come on, try charging it. Nada?

Maybe the battery is damaged, too. Rush to the nearest smartphone repair shop.

Preventive steps: Buy an expensive, waterproof phone. If not, the cheapest way out is to buy a bulky water proof pouch/ case. There’s the DiCAPac universal waterproof case available for about Rs 1537/ (http://in.mobilefun. com/45615-dicapac-universal-waterproof-casefor-smartphones-up-to48-blue.htm).

For Tablets, there are dust covers/ scratchguards but a water-proof case is slightly dif- f i cult to find. Here’s one case for Samsung, Blackberry, PlayBook, Dell, etc, available on Flipkart for approx. Rs 2990/. http://www.flipkart. com/dicapac-case-samsunggalaxy-tab-3-t211-blackberry-playbook-dell-streak7a s u s - fo n e p a d -7- t a b l e t 2013-google-nexus-2012-venue-7-2-p3100/p/itmdsycghy6 hpkem?pid=ACCDSYCFA62N VZGT&otracker=from-search& srno=t_1&query=waterproof+c ase+for+tablets&ref=ca26fafc238-4f52-9853-6f359907b3da

NANOSTATE

‘The dreams will come to you” TGS News Service @ishani_bose

PUNE

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 nonprofit 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.

Nanotech coating: Bulk is out, nano is in. Here’s what I feel is the best tech available – nanotechnology coating. This involves the coating/lamination of all electrical parts in your computing device with water-proof gel/covering. This coat prevents water from getting on to the electrical components.

There’s a Do-It-Yourself lamination product by NANOSTATE India, which is part of a global outfit. Its product, Flash Flood, is a nanotechnology coating for mobile phonesand Tablets. Invisible to the human eye, the coat is 40,000 times thinner than a human hair. Flash Flood is applied by hand with no special equipment needed, and you can do it at home. Each application lasts about 6months. Here’s the link http://www.nanostate.in/ (Sorab Ghaswalla is a former old-world journalist who now wears many hats, entrepreneur, Internet consultant, Online Marketer, new media and technology journalist, and the Editor/publisher of four sites of his own, all related to the Internet, smartphones, Startups and the Internet of Things.

You may find him at www.newagecontentservices.com) (Disclaimer:The Tech Guru column is more in the nature of a reader-initiated, advisory feature. Readers are urged to check or confirm for themselves the features of all hardware/software mentioned here before making a purchase. Prices quoted are indicative and not final, and subject to availability of product/ service. This newspaper nor this column shall, in any way, be liable for any physical, personal or monetary damage/losses arising out of advice given herein).

ED UCATION

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

“However heart-breaking it may be to ourselves, we must make way for the new generations even when we feel we are still in our prime.”

— JRD Tata, speech on ‘Completion of 25 years as chairman’

Signposts Book release at Balgandharva

Open essay competition Garima Manch of Indian Medical Association, Pune Branch, is organising an open essay competition on ‘Shall self-defense study be included in curriculum for girls’. Participants can send their entries in English or Marathi in 1,500 to 2,000 words before August 10.

The prize distribution will be held at IMA House, Tilak Road on August 31 at 5 pm. Mail essays to pranita76@gmail.com; aarti.nimkar@gmail.com; anand3662@yahoo.com. Contact: Nitu Mandke, IMA House, Tilak Road, Pune 411002 for details.

Exhibition of books from August 3 Gyanganga is holding a book exhibition ‘a knowledge festival’ from August three. IT expert and Padmashri Dr Vijay Bhatkar will inaugurate the exhibition.

He will also take part in an open interview on spirituality, science and book culture. Senior journalist Sunil Mali will be the chief guest at the event to be held at Atre Hall, Bajirao Road at 6 pm.

“Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow. Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human.”

— Malala Yousafzai

‘Skills varsity’ to start in Bhopal, 2016

Young in mind and spirit and dedicated to the cause of education, Symbiosis Society’s founder SB Mujumdar’s latest initiative is to establish a vocational university, that will teach employability skills, in Bhopal in 2016. He spoke to Manasi Saraf Joshi recently on the occasion of his 80th birthday TGS NEWS SERVICE @GargiManasi Starting as a professor of botany, Prof SB Mujumdar has made a landmark contribution in the field of education in India through the Symbiosis Society of which he is the founder and president.

Having turned 80 recently, Prof Mujumdar attributes his youthful spirit, zeal and enthusiasm to the youngsters of his university; his abiding faith in simplicity, integrity and spirituality.

His latest initiative is to establish a vocational university in Bhopal on a 35-acre campus, focused on imparting education in technology-related skills and soft skills.

Prof Mujumdar has a clear vision of the path that education in India needs to take, if the country is to meet its development goals and achieve progress in various fields. Excerpts from an interview with Manasi Saraf Joshi:

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan and Amey Publication has organised a function where scientist Dr Raghunath Mashelkar will launch a book, ‘Dusari Haritkranti’ penned by Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, at Bal Gandharva Rangmandir at 4 pm. CD Mayee will deliver a keynote address on the occasion.

CARE ER

What according to you, is urgently needed to improve employability in the country?

By 2020, India will be the youngest nation in the world with over 60 per cent of its population below 25. I think this is a great opportunity to reap the demographic dividend. By this I mean that we need to focus on skills development to improve employability in the country. I firmly believe that the conventional graduate courses are of absolutely no use. Instead, we should focus on skill development and soft skill development of this young generation.

I have seen many doctors, engineers and other professional course graduates who lack soft skills. By soft skills I mean the ability to communicate clearly,

How can we make education affordable, especially higher education?

I think the key words today are online and distance education. It not only saves money and makes it affordable even to a homemaker; it also helps in the skill development of a person. When a person makes progress, it is the nation that progresses.

But unfortunately we have a mindset wherein online and distance education are considered inferior. We need to change this mindset. In Germany and other countries, even medical and engineering education is given online and through distance learning.

Professionals, homemakers and many such people for whom it is impossible to go to college, but who have the craving for education can fulfill their dream. Again, the policy of the government wherein it is mandatory for a university to have 25 acres of land to start online and distance courses is discouraging. The very meaning of this type of education is it has to be accessible from any corner of the world.

“Govt must allow pvt players who are in the field of education for years to establish universities.”

Eighty-year-old Prof Mujumdar attributes his youthful spirit, zeal and enthusiasm to the youngsters of his university

establishing inter-personal relations, presentation skills and other such. Prime minister Narendra Modi’s three ‘S’ principle should be followed to achieve the desired target: Skill, Speed and Scope. Instead of opening new IITs, we should have skill universities. China has over 100 such universities while Germany’s count is 162 universities of applied sciences. If we fail to reap this demographic dividend, then this young force would be heading for a disaster.

To establish such skill universities, what steps should the government take?

In numbers 18 is total number of campuses 13 in Pune and one each at Kolhapur, Bangalore, Harali, Noida and Hyderabad.

30,000 total number of students

I believe that the government must allow private players who are in the field of education for years to establish such universities in the country. There are a few private universities in Rajasthan,

Karnataka and other states; Maharashtra lags far behind. The state government’s policy regarding opening up of private universities is not encouraging. There are no decisions; only proposals are taken for consideration. This has affected the educational scenario in the state and Maharashtra is fast losing its tag as a progressive state. We have received permission to open a skill university in Madhya Pradesh as the MP CM took personal interest in establishing it.

I always wanted to have such a university in Pune, but unfortunately my dream couldn’t be realised here.

Which were the most challenging and fulfilling moments of your life?

I think my dream to have “a home away from home”, for foreign students was realised and that was fulfilling moment for me. The most challenging was when I was vehemently criticized, especially by media, for a piece of land I bought to construct the Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar museum.

If not the founder of Symbiosis, what would you have been?

A professor of botany and life sciences. manasisaraf@gmail.com

This app is apt for those preparing for exams ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali Those preparing for school, college and competitive exams will now have answers to their queries at their fingertips. Mobile based educational platform Gradestack has all the answers. Instead of undertaking a research before launching their application, Sanjeev Kumar, Shobhut Bhatnagar and Vibhu Bhushan built a couple of apps with free learning material and put it on Android Store.

A positive response from students within a few weeks and feedback on

email prompted the trio to launch GradeStack.

Bhatnagar said, “The idea is to give students a way to test and revise what they are studying in a matter of 10 minutes. With increasing smartphone adoption among the youth, the app fits perfectly in their tight schedule during exam preparation.”

The application has 4,000-5,000 new users studying for 50 available courses every day.

“More than 80,000 students from Pune use GradeStack every month,” he said.

On the usefulness of the application

Pursuing My Career

for a student in Pune, Bhushan said, “Pune is a major education centre of India. The number of students and variety of courses in the city is immense. We provide courses for school, test preparation and learning technical skills, besides adding more courses every day. From a social angle, it also provides students a chance to connect with their peers from across the country and discuss doubts.”

Kumar said, “We are adding 10-12 courses every month on our platform.

The goal is to cover 5,000 different courses over the next few years. We believe that learning and upgrading

‘I really want to be a pastry chef’ Hospitality student Danesh Irani’s love of cookery has made him opt for higher education

BY DANESH IRANI Cooking is my passion. To me, cooking or baking means making something different from the original. I try new recipes every weekend. I scour the local markets and grocery stores to find exotic ingredients to add to my recipes. I jot down recipes from international cookery shows, though some of the ingredients are not available in the local market. So, I replace them with my own spices and vegetables.

As I have always been fascinated with food, I decided to join All India Shri Shivaji Memorial Society’s College of Hotel Management and Catering Technology (AISSMS) after standard XII. The first three terms gave me a general overview of the hospitality trade, how to dice vegetables and presentation skills among other things.

From the fourth semester onwards we were taught food production, hotel accommodation, food and beverage service, marketing, law, accounts and computers.

After completing my fourth term, I

applied for an internship programme at Singapore Marriott Hotel and worked there for three months. During the first week, I had to observe and assist. Then, I was assigned to the food and beverage service at the hotel. I got the opportunity to make oriental dishes using different sauces, spices and herbs, and beverages.

One of the highlights of the internship was assisting the chef in baking cakes, pastries and cookies. The milk, flour and cream are different there.

During the bakery sessions, I learned to use the entire vanilla pod instead of the seeds.

The internship taught me different aspects of cooking and baking. It made me realise what I really want to become is a pastry chef. After completing my graduation this year, I am planning to go abroad for my masters’ degree and pursue a special course in baking.

Those who want to make a career in this industry must love food. It is a liking for good taste and one must also acquire the skills to cook up dishes that can pamper the palates of other people, that will ensure your success.

skills is an ongoing activity, and GradeStack wants to be a companion in doing that.”

Dheeraj Gupta, a city student, said, “Through this app, I can read and solve questions even while travelling. I can have discussions with different users.

The bank course also sends me daily GK updates.”

Shubham Shinde said that the courses on GradeStack are short and easy to learn. “I like to take tests on the app that compare my score with others.” anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com

(From left) Sanjeev Kumar, Shobhut Bhatnagar and Vibhu Bhushan say that 80,000 students from Pune use their app GradeStack every month

Life’s Lessons

Focus on your strengths For the college student or the young professional the real world can be less than sympathetic, very demanding and full of challenges. It’s best to equip yourself with the right attitude to help you make the most of your talent, resources and station in life. Here are some attitudes that can help you cope better with the challenges of the professional world.

Goals help us make the best use of our time and achieve results. Thus, it’s important for us to first identify our goals and then work out a plan to achieve those goals. There can be short-term goals, mid-term and long-term goals. Goals can be categorised appropriately and then achieved systematically.

on your strengths: We work best when Money management is important: As one 1choseFocus 4 we are passionate about something. Often, we expert put it, “manage your money well a career depending on the perceptions of before it starts to manage you”. The importance society on what is a good career, expectations of our parents. What is most important, however, is to identify your likes and dislikes and chose a career that is in tune with what you would like to do most. It’s not easy to arrive at such a decision but the principle should always be kept in mind: Focus on your strengths.

Being busy is not the same as being productive: 2 It’s good to recognise early that being busy is different from being productive. How do you

use your time productively? How does one make the most of the given time? The way to being productive is by identifying priorities, breaking down large tasks into manageable portions and then going after them. What would give you the greatest satisfaction on completion?

your goals: Goals give us direction.

3Identify They help us eliminate what is unimportant.

of money management cannot be underestimated.

As young people, there’s always the financial cushion provided by our parents. But as one begins to get independent, there’s the danger of living beyond one’s means and falling into a debt trap by overspending on the credit card. It’s best to learn to manage your money early, with an emphasis on saving and investment and saving money for purchases rather than using the credit card to pay

Anger management is important: It’s not 5 wrong to be angry over things but how you handle your anger and what you do with it is what is important. People tend to act hastily and react instantly when angry only to regret or repent later. It’s important to learn how to manage anger.

Going out of control can make the environment toxic and spoil the work environment. It can also reflect poorly on the person who is unable to control anger. So keep your anger in check.

RE LATIONSHIPS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

“True love is sacrifice. It is in giving, not in getting; in losing, not in gaining; in realising, not in possessing, that we love!”

—Dada JP Vaswani

“Any relationship should have love, and if there is no love, it is better to call off a relationship. ...seek love in another relationship.

Who knows; you might find love in the second relationship.”

—Bipasha Basu

Give your child the best Life is full of good things; feel it, do it... gift of all: your time!

The Way Forward

Children are your biggest assets and deserve to spend quality time with you. Don’t overindulge your kids; just make them feel your presence

BY SUBROTO SINHA Families living in metropolitan cities are encouraged to have working spouses in order to make both ends meet. The monthly requirements on household expenses are so high that it is beyond the earning capacity of a single member of the family. In addition, there are unforeseen medical expenses and family commitments along with the rising costs on children’s education which add to the economic burden.

Even in cases where one member of the family has sufficient income to fulfi l all the requirements, the spouse also joins the work force to maintain the high standards of living of the family.

The ultimate sufferers

in such cases are the children who do not get all the attention they require from the parents. In most cases, they barely have the opportunity to meet the parents during weekdays as they are always in a hurry to reach their office. On these days, the onus of looking after their daily needs rests either on a senior member of the family, like the grandparents, or the servants. They are deprived of a vital source of love and inspiration during their formative years.

I go back to my childhood days in a small town where my father was the only working member of the family.

My mother had all the time to cater to my requirements. I developed a very strong bond of friendship with her and felt secure in the belief that she would be present whenever I needed her.

During the evening,

after office hours, and on holidays my father was present to spend quality time with me.

It is these interactions during the formative years in a child’s development that shape his/her character, which forms the foundation of future development. It cannot be replaced with the education received in even the best schools.

Parents living in a metropolitan city today, attempt to fulfi l all the fi lial duties in the limited time available at their disposal.

They tend to shower costly gifts and install gadgets for improving the comfort level, but, these can never equal the effect of sharing quality time in their company.

Th is deficiency is stored in a remote corner of the child’s memory and keeps reminding him from time to time as he grows up. In some cases, the child inter prets t h e s e deficiencies as a lack of interest of the parents in his activities which makes him feel despondent.

In reality, the parents always strive to ensure that their children receive the best that they can offer within their economic constrains.

Another serious problem is

the strife ridden life in a metropolitan city, which also affect some families. The children in these families get alienated from the love and guidance of the parents, which leave them insecure and rudderless.

They tend to overcome these tribulations by indulging in activities that push them further into the road of destruction. What is the solution to these problems? Should we leave cities, which provide us the muchneeded jobs, and lead a sedate life in a small city or village?

No! We can get the benefits of the big city by changing our beliefs and redefi ning the methods of upbringing of the children.

The working parents should never try to over indulge the children and make them believe that they are as rich as the Jones by buying them costly gifts. In this way the focus of attention of the children would be the gifts and not the ideals that every responsible parent would like them to imbibe.

They should also be frank about their economic conditions and tell their children that this is what they can afford and anything more, should be got by their own efforts. They should regale them with stories of people who were born in a poor family, but became famous through their own efforts and tenacity.

The children must be made to believe that they have to grow up on their own, no matter how tall their father is! The parents must also ensure that there are no major rifts among them, which will adversely affect the children.

“Parents always strive to ensure that their children receive the best that they can offer within their economic constrains.”

Is a problem bothering you and you are unable to decide what to do? Write in to us at wayforward@goldensparrow. com for advice and suggestions from C Ravindranath Ever heard of EDAPS or their fi rst cousins AGAD and THAW? Well, they are acronyms for ambitious social projects mooted by my friends that somehow never got off the ground – at least till now.

Everyone Deserves a Pleasant Surprise (EDAPS) was a one-man movement. Bhaskar was passionate about it. He lived his dream, coming up with pleasant surprises for one and all, be they known or unknown. The only unpleasant surprise he gave us was his sudden and untimely death.

Bhaskar would think of the most outlandish ideas – from getting a cake for someone when it was not his birthday to sponsoring free vadapav for everyone who came to a particular stall on a day. He would suddenly ring me up after months of silence, saying, “Nothing, my friend – I just wanted to hear your voice.”

Humans and relationships were almost everything to Bhaskar but he would not stand for cruelty to animals either. I have seen him following a schoolboy to his home after the latter threw stones at a stray dog, speak to his parents to advise their son against such senseless acts of cruelty and soundly abused by them for his ‘interference.’ Many felt he was more than a bit eccentric but he had a fan following too. EDAPS however, disappeared after his death.

Nobody took it up after him.

A Good a Day (AGAD) was the brainchild of another friend who still lives by his idea and does at least one good thing a day – feeding a beggar, helping an old man push his handcart or anything else he would consider a good deed. He keeps preaching what

he practises but his words mostly fall on deaf ears. He says it’s easy but in these days of fast-paced life and the mad rush for lucre, who has the time for a good deed? Very few.

Two Hours a Week (THAW) is the calculated proposal of another friend who tries to convince people that the world would be a vastly different place if each one of us only devoted two hours a week to some social cause – volunteer with an NGO or even gather a group of like-minded and clean up a section of a street in two hours.

He feels if everyone were to devote two hours in the week to some social cause, we would see the difference – not only in our surroundings but also within ourselves. He even offers to ‘place’ volunteers with NGOs working in the field of their choice.

Alas, who has two hours to spare out of 168 hours, and why bother when one is able to manage without having to spare two hours every week? In short, who cares?

EDAPS, AGAD and THAW are all good ideas promoted and espoused by good men. They are ideas that may have struck us or still strike a chord of harmony within us.

If so, let’s make a start. Can we give someone a pleasant surprise? Can we do one good deed a day? Can we spare two hours a week for some deserving cause? EDAPS, AGAD and THAW are all acronyms.

Expanded, they all mean the same – compassion.

“EDAPS, AGAD and THAW are all good ideas promoted and espoused by good men.”

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

Thank you, Daadi For lasting love, give space in relationships

BY MEGHA V CHOUDHARY I still remember my childhood.

Childhood is surely the best phase of anybody’s life especially when you are living with your grandparents. I learnt a lot from my grandmother— my faith in God, respect for every religion and every creature, all because of her.

She was religious and spiritual.

Her day would start with puja, which she used to perform for 4 to 5 hours.

Afternoons and evenings were usually story time, when she used to tell me mythological and spiritual stories.

Those stories had a great impact on my life and taught me two important lessons — a person with a true heart always triumphs and everyone understands the language of love.

She was very charming, a strong persona with steely determination. In her 80s also she was as fit as anyone half of her age. I still remember the days of my HSC exams. During my Botany exam, I was solving the paper, the examiner came to me and asked about the piece of paper lying near my desk. I was shocked and got worried, but I insisted that the piece of paper was not mine. The student sitting next to me and I were taken to a special room.

And after a 30-minute inquiry, I was proved innocent and was given extra 30 minutes to complete the paper.

Upon reaching home, I narrated

the entire incident to my granny and she proudly said, “Beta, if you know you are true, stick to it and never succumb under pressure. Because God is testing your will, He only then proves your innocence.” I looked at her and said, “Daadi, you are an angel.” My granny had a special affection for animals. I remember a black cow coming to our door daily for a chapati.

It was very calm and quiet. In fact, my nephew would enjoy a ride on her back!

The language of love is universal even a dumb creature understands this and reciprocates accordingly.

Another thing I learnt from her is ‘giving and sharing’. She always used to say…“Whatever you earn, always donate a part of it to the needy.” It is because of her I understood and experienced the pleasure of giving. She would say…“Your small donation won’t affect your treasury but it can bring a smile to someone else’s face. God is watching us all. Your small charity will help you in a big way during adversity.

You won’t even realise how easily you sailed through to the safer side.” And she was right. Whatever hardships I faced, I have never found them too big to tackle.

My granny is no more but her teachings and memories will remain in my heart forever. megha.choudhary@goldensparrow.com

It will not only help you understand your partner better but will also allow love to blossom

BY SUMIT PAUL An Arabian princess had set her heart on marrying one of her slaves. Nothing the king said or did succeed in moving the girl from her resolve. And none of the king’s advisers could tell him what to do. Finally a wise old hakim appeared at court and, on hearing of the king’s predicament, said, “Your Majesty is ill advised, for if you forbid the girl to marry she’ll only resent you and be more attracted to the slave.” “Then tell me what to do,” cried the king.

The hakim suggested a plan of action. The king was sceptical but decided to give it a try. He sent for the young woman and said, “I’m going to put your love for this man to the test: you’ll be locked up in a tiny cell with your lover for thirty days and nights.

If at the end of that period, you still wish to marry him, you shall have my consent.” The princess, beside herself with joy, hugged her father and delightedly agreed to the test.

All went well for a couple of days but boredom soon set in. Within a week she was pining for other company and exasperated at her lover’s every word and action.

After two weeks, she was so sick of the man, she took to screaming and pounding on the door of the cell. When she was finally let out, she flung her arms round her father in gratitude for having saved her from the man she’d now come to abhor.

IANS (PIC FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE)

Grandparents are an inseparable part of our lives. Their wisdom helps us in many ways to excel in life

Living apart makes living together easier. Without distance, one cannot relate. There must always be some space, between two persons, not necessarily a man and a woman or a husband and a wife? Tie two dogs together and see what happens but so long they live untied, they live peacefully.

Distance is a must for the survival of a relationship. It also lends an intriguing charm, a desirable illusion to the association. Bartan khanakte hain jab saath hote hain (victuals make noise when put together).

Distance helps retain individuality

which’s lost in the quagmire of cloyed closeness. When individuals live together, they start taking each other for granted and the cracks begin to develop. Familiarity breeds contempt, opined the Bard of Avon. It does.

Adler, the coeval of psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung, observed that a relatively developed species of South American baboons have an advanced trait.

They’ve a sense of deep belonging like that of homo-sapiens and are also monogamous in nature! The male baboon often leaves the female baboon alone and after a certain period, comes

back to her. What we call ‘introspective solitude’ in the parlance of behavioural psychology, is possible when there’ll be some distance between two (human) beings. If baboons can understand this, can’t we?

Aren’t we more evolved than them or our evolution is a misnomer?

Always remember the adage, though a chestnut, “Distance and absence make the heart grow fonder.” Never pile on anyone, however close he/she may appear to be. Give each other sufficient breathing space to maintain life’s steady pace.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

“Flipkart is much bigger today than we or our investors had ever imagined.”

— Sachin Bansal, co-founder, Flipkart

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

— Walt Disney

Turning adventure into a way of life

Signposts TiE Pune workshop on statutory compliance

What am I good at? What can I do best to earn a living? were questions that Rohan Ratnapal asked himself when he decided to turn his passion for adventure and wilderness into a business opportunity. And his firm Rivers and Ridges reflects his love for nature

TiE Pune is organising a workshop on ‘secret of setting up statutory compliance’ on August 9, from 9 am to 1 pm at MCCIA Conference Room 6, 5th floor, ICC Trade Towers, SB Road. The workshop will provide an understanding of how to follow statutory compliance while setting up the structure of your new business. The workshop will help unearth the secrets behind forming a company and how to sustain it successfully. Facilitators are chartered accountants Rishabh Parakh and Bhupendra Bhandari. For more details, visit events section at: https:// www.facebook.com/tiepune.

BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose

MCCIA workshop on working across cultures

“I have no formal training in adventure tours and wildlife.”

Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) is organising a one-day workshop on ‘Working across cultures’ on August 5 between 10 am and 5 pm at Navalmal Firodia Hall, MCCIA, MCCIA Trade Tower, 5th Floor, ICC Complex, Senapati Bapat Road. The key speaker is executive trainer and coach Jugal Choudhary. The workshop aims to equip participants with an understanding of cultural differences and provide them with a reference framework to apply to real life situations. pleasure.

MCCIA meet on leveraging Cloud by SMEs to power IT MCCIA and BlazeClan Technologies & Amazon Web Services is organising a meet on leveraging Cloud by SMEs to power their IT on August 6 from 8.30 am onwards at the office on SB Road.

The key speakers will be Varoon Rajani, CEO, BlazeClan Technologies and Chandra Sankholkar, head, business development, West India, Amazon Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. (AWS).

Rohan Ratnapal manages the business all by himself but has volunteers to assist him on the tours

‘We are here for the masses, classes and health conscious’

People’s appreciation is more important for Vrinda Navare than just making money

For her life has not been a bed of roses. Vrinda Makarand Navare’s life came to a standstill when she lost her husband at the age of 27. But her ‘never say die’ attitude kept her going during the testing times. And today, at the age of 47, she has no regrets.

Her life’s journey from a homemaker to a successful entrepreneur was not an easy one, but her determination paid dividends in the form of Vrinda Snacks, Vrinda’s Family Foods and Bakerrina.

Her eyes look into the distance the moment she starts to share her story. “I lost my husband to a brain tumour in 1992, and had to bring up my five-year-old son (who is now a successful dentist in Mumbai). I was then bogged down with suggestions to remarry and move away. But I decided to stand on my own feet instead of running away from the situation or depending on anyone else,” said Vrinda, who received unfailing support from her in-laws and parents for her new beginning.

She did a bakery course from Food Craft Institute, Shivajinagar during her college days and this came in handy. Her father rented out his outhouse to her to start a production unit. “I was upset that my father was making me pay the bills and bear my own expenses. But today, I understand the reason why he did so.

He wanted me to learn the ropes of business and the calculations that go

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, there is a rapture on the lonely shore, there is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more.”

These words of Byron best describes 32-year-old, Pune-based entrepreneur, Rohan Ratnapal’s love for nature.

Not surprisingly, his adventure and wilderness tours company, Rivers and Ridges reflects his love for nature.

This company seeks to promote the outdoors in its most raw form, train people in survival skills and educate them about wildlife and its importance in the ecosystem.

Rivers and Ridges has been striving to give its customers an experience of a lifetime.

“I have no formal training in adventure tours and wildlife. It is something I have been doing all my life for the sheer love of nature and everything outdoorsy.

It was my father who had introduced me to nature and wilderness as a child and since then there has been no looking back,” said Rohan, the business head, lead policy maker and enforcer for the firm.

With masters in Marketing and Communication and Digital Imaging Technology from Pittsburgh State University, Rohan returned to India in 2012, to start Rivers and Ridges.

He wanted to do something on his own. He began by thinking what he was good at and what he could do best to earn a living while touching the lives of others as well. That’s how Rivers and Ridges was born, says Rohan, who has worked with MTV and Discovery in the past.

Rivers and Ridges focuses on seven areas: adventure tours, outdoor

entertainment, wildlife excursions, recreational sports, off beat travel, youth empowerment and outbound training camps. The company also holds a lot of awareness camps for kids, adults and corporates.

A typical outdoors activity for a corporate group forces them to break the ice and helps them connect with each other on a personal level, which eventually helps the company. They also help in developing skills such as leadership, mentoring and team building.

“After the camps, company managers call me up and ask, ‘Rohan what have you done with my team? They are brilliant and support each other.’”

Rivers and Ridges also strives to provide employment to rural folks and local artistic musical and theatrical talents.

“When we go out to the wilderness, we come across villagers whose livelihood depends solely on agriculture, which is dependent on the rains. When we go outdoors, I don’t get my customers to live in hotels or resorts. Instead I get them to camp out in tents around a piece of land which is owned by these villagers. They also help us cook food. In return I pay them,” said Rohan.

He also encourages young talents from the city by providing them a platform to perform on these tours. Rohan manages the business all by himself but has volunteers, like college students, to assist him on the tours.

Among his plans for the future is to start a broadcasting company, which will be entirely focused on the wilderness to get people closer to nature. The goal is to encourage them to lead a good healthy lifestyle.

into it,” added the owner of Vrinda Snacks, Vrinda’s Family Foods and Bakerrina.

Vrinda started by marketing her products shop to shop. She would carry a cyclostyled leaflet mentioning her bakery items to shopkeepers.

“It was a harrowing but learning experience. Eventually, I decided to move to Pune and opened a shop at Grahak Peth (after many sleepless nights). My idea was to make fancy items at reasonable prices.

Pensioners and college students are our target group.”

Her stores sell products priced between `5 and `35. With the inflation, she does find it difficult to cope with the expenses but for Vrinda, people’s appreciation and joy is of prime importance. “The look on their faces when they see that they can afford a meal at just `10 is what encourages me to keep up with

Start-up Mentor

Where should I sell my payroll product?

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 The need for my future payroll product is very generic and almost any organization can use it. How do I choose where do I start to sell.

– Vinod Verma

Vrinda’s parents and in-laws have supported her business

my work. I don’t socialise much, as I make my friends right here at the store. Recently, a group of old couples came up to me and thanked me for making food available at such reasonable prices. This is what I am working for,” added Vrinda.

“My products are for the masses, classes and health conscious. I keep innovating and experimenting with products and the latest had been baked ‘palak puri’ and ‘brown cookies’,” said Vrinda, who still travels by an autorickshaw and does not own a car.

“I don’t believe in unnecessary expenditure. My needs and expenses haven’t changed so I don’t see the need to change my lifestyle. My gym and exercise is the only thing I do outside my stores,” added Vrinda, a simple lady with a big heart. anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com

ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

Your problem is a classic ‘customer’ or ‘market’ segmentation issue. We have briefly discussed the concepts of TAM (Total Available Market) and SAM (Segmented Addressable Market) in our earlier column.

Let us now look at the product you are about to develop – a payroll software from these perspectives and begin to Vishwas Mahajan build strategy.

What is a market segment Business dictionary has an apt definition of market segment.

It is the subset or a clearly identifiable segments of a large homogenous market having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. The other part of this is that these segments behave in a similar pattern while making purchase decisions.

Why segment your market Although it is possible to address the TAM in theory, no organisation has unlimited resources to spend. The objective of creating the segment is to design a marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment

your customer afford or willing to pay • Customers in, say, Middle East and SE Asia versus local customers Consider need for multi-lingual version, compliance to local regulatory requirements, ability to provide support • Hosted versus Premise Installed Ease of deployment and support, Security features, Pricing, Demonstration Ability

How to segment There are different criteria one can use while segmenting the market. For your payroll product, let us identify a few sample criteria on which you can conduct this exercise of segmentation.

• Size and type of customers you wish to sell to • The geography that your customers are located • Whether you will provide this as hosted service or install at customer location Decision on product mix based on market segmentation How market segmentation using the above sample criteria helps decide your product, pricing and sales strategies. Now evaluate how your marketing mix will be in the following situations • Selling to large multinationals having ERP backbone implemented versus local businesses. Consider the integration features/customisation and support needs; kind of price points can

Competitive segmentation strategy As you decide your target market segment for your product, it will also be useful to check on what your competitors are doing and what segments they are serving. If you can locate an ‘underserved’ but a promising niche, you can use that segment for entering the market.

Proper market segmentation for risk and cost management Identifying and studying the market segmentation does not require you to actually create the product. Much of the exercise can be done by conducting market research and validating with the experts and customers.

An exercise for you Here is an exercise for you based on the discussion above. Please identify the customer or market segments for your product and identify the features / pricing /sales channel mix for that segment.

Vishwas Mahajan, president of TiE Pune Chapter, answers real life questions of entrepreneurs

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

India continue medal hunt in CWG P 15

The Maharashtra government’s Mehmood-ur-Rehman Committee set up to study the socio-economic condition of Muslims in the state has recommended 8 per cent reservations in education and government jobs. It has recommended that of this, 33 per cent should be reserved for women.

How much antibiotics Indians ‘eat up’ with 240cr chicken a yr?

The birds are recklessly fed the same antibiotics that we use to fight common infections, says CSE

Kerry visit: Indo-US ties need a therapist, not a salesman

BY SANDIP ROY

BY G PRAMOD KUMAR The revelation of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in Delhi on Wednesday that we unknowingly ingest a lot of antibiotics along with sumptuous chicken meals is unnerving, but what we don’t realise is that this practice has been going on for years.

The problem is that chicken are recklessly fed the same antibiotics that we use to fight common infections. By consuming these antibiotics through the chicken meat we eat, we naturally develop resistance to the bacteria that they can otherwise fight. But additionally, thanks to indiscriminate use, the bacteria in the chicken that have developed resistance to these antibiotics, can be transferred to us if the meat is not properly cooked. It’s a double whammy.

If we are chicken lovers, perhaps we are already resistant to some or all of the antibiotics that the CSE has found in 70 meat samples from different parts of Delhi and Gurgaon, and chicken meat could have been why we didn’t respond to some medicines we took earlier.

Globally, the practice has been on for several decades. The US alone, where it’s widespread, 15-17 million pounds of antibiotics are reportedly used in poultry farms every year. However, in Europe and Canada, it’s banned.

Poultry are indiscriminately fed with antibiotics to avoid infections as well as to boost growth by harnessing probiotic action (suppressing bad bacteria and protecting good bacteria in the gut),from the time they come out of the hatchery to the time they are converted into meat.

Apparently, small doses of antibiotics make the birds grow three percent more than they would otherwise do. And controversies have also been common.

In a notable study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (6 February 2002), it was found that

“The bigger picture has to guide us and the end game has to guide us,” expounded US Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry was speaking about USIndia relations to the Center for American Progress (CAP). Fine words indeed but are they words America’s secretary of state can really live up to?

His CAP talk was heralded as a “major foreign policy speech” by the Indian press. It’s all part of the hoopla to the big build-up to Kerry’s visit to chart what CAO called “a new and ambitious course” for US relations with an “emerging powerhouse regionally”. Then Kerry and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker cowrote an op-ed in the Economic Times about India and US relations being on the “cusp of an historic transformation.”

It’s all a pink pages prelude to a red carpet welcome and meant to be music to Indian ears except of course for decades Indo-US relations always seem to be on the cusp of historic transformation. But there appears to be many a slip between cusp and lip. Somehow even a nuclear deal for India and Alphonso mangos for America have not been able to push us over the finish line.

Something always gets in the way.

Devyani Khobragade.

Spying. Snooping.

And this time there might be one other obstacle to circumvent – Kerry himself.

John Kerry has not been exactly the most polished diplomat America has had to offer. His tenure has been filled more with gaffes than achievements.

Let us just hope that his big India trip does not turn into what the Washington Post calls the Kerry modus operandi – “Secretary of State John Kerry is in the wrong place, talking to the wrong people about the wrong thing.”

Kerry, if his recent speech and op-ed are any indication, seems to think of his role as that of America’s chief traveling salesman rather than chief diplomat.

The visit of an American secretary of state is usually presented as a favour to the country in question. That will certainly not be the case here. The Modi government, confident in its mandate will be determined to spin the trip as the courtship of Modi - part of America’s wooing of the politician it shunned till now. Kerry will surely face an aggressive press in India. And just parroting Modi’s slogan sab ka saath sab ka vikaas in an American accent will not be gesture enough to take that “historic transformation” he is daydreaming about from cusp to reality.

(Copyright: Firstpost.com)

His CAP talk was heralded as a “major foreign policy speech” by the Indian press

Poultry are indiscriminately fed with antibiotics to avoid infections as well as to boost growth by harnessing probiotic action, from the time they come out of the hatchery to the time they are converted into meat

people who harboured ciprofloxacinresistant bacteria (one of the drugs that the CSE has found in their study) had acquired them by eating pork that was contaminated with salmonella.

The report also said that salmonella resistant to the antibiotic flouroquine could be spread from swine to humans, and therefore, the use of flouroquinolones (the group of drugs that the CSE found in its study) in food animals needed to be prohibited. An earlier New England Journal of Medicine study had found that 20 percent of ground meat obtained in supermarkets contained salmonella, out of which, 84 percent was resistant to at least one form of antibiotic.

What the CSE had done by disclosing an untold truth with evidence, should be a wake up call for India because

of burgeoning chicken consumption.

According to an Economic Times report, India’s poultry industry is worth Rs 40,000 crore and it produces 240 crore birds every year. Reportedly, to meet the demand, the industry needs to expand at an annual rate of 12-15 percent. The consumption of chicken is expected to double in the next five years. Even big industrial houses are now engaged in poultry industry.

Think about all the antibiotics that these 240 crore plus birds consume and pass on to us!

The growth of the poultry industry and increasing consumption of chicken also means possible ingestion of more and more antibiotics and drugresistant bacteria. It is a scary prospect that the government needs to respond at once. The only way to address it is by making testing and supervision

Think about all the antibiotics that these birds consume and pass on to us!

Natwar Singh’s error: Rahul or not, Sonia...

Contd from p 1 In his book, Turning Points: A Journey Through Challenges, Kalam had this to say about that day, when she turned up not alone, but with Manmohan Singh in tow. This was before she disclosed matters about her inner voice. Kalam writes: “I was told that Sonia Gandhi was meeting me at 12.15 in the afternoon of 18 May. She came in time but instead of coming alone she came with Dr Manmohan Singh and had a discussion with me. She said that she had the requisite numbers but she did not bring the letter of support signed by party functionaries. She would come with the letters of support on the 19th, she said. I asked her why do you postpone? We can even finish it this afternoon. She went away. Later I received a message that she would meet me in the evening, at 8.15 pm.”

Why didn’t she tell him then that she may decline the job? She said she had the numbers.

But Sonia’s meeting appears to have set the dovecotes aflutter. This is what Kalam writes about them: “While this communication was in progress, I had a number of emails and letters coming from individuals, organisations and parties that I should not allow Mrs Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister of our country. I had passed on these mails and letters to various agencies in the government for their information without making any remarks.

During this time there were many political leaders who came to meet me to request me not to succumb to any pressure and appoint Mrs Gandhi as the Prime Minister, a

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request that would not have been constitutionally tenable. If she had made any claim for herself I would have had no option but to appoint her.”

Clearly, there was a lobby working against her, and another for her. And the first lobby was sending emails and letters telling Kalam why she didn’t qualify. The odd line in Kalam’s statement is when he says “if she had made any claim for herself, I would have had no option but to appoint her.”

Was he not happy to appoint her otherwise? Why did he say he had “no option” as though he would have been happy to have had another option? And did he share any of the communications that urged him to prevent her from swearing her in? Instead, he says “passed on these mails and letters to various agencies in the government.”

If these letters had allegations against her, and Kalam told her about them, it would an entirely new construction on the words “no option but to appoint her.”

What transpired between Kalam and her (and Manmohan) will stay in the realm of speculation, but clearly she could not have been unaware of the issues that might come up if she became PM. As an Italianborn PM, her vulnerability would have been greater than Manmohan Singh’s.

Then there are the real eye-openers in Natwar Singh’s book describing her. Among the words he uses to describe her are “authoritarian”, “capricious” “Machiavellian” and “secretive.” The Indian Express’ paraphrasing says that Sonia Gandhi “evolved over the years from being a diffident, nervous, shy woman to being ambitious,

authoritarian, capricious, and obsessively secretive.”

This is in sharp contrast to what Rahul Gandhi himself had to say about his mother’s attitude to power in 2013, when he was anointed Vice-President of the Congress party. This leaves us with this question: did Sonia Gandhi want power or not? Both she and her son would like us to believe she didn’t, but the preponderance of evidence – Sanjaya Baru’s book, The Accidental Prime Minister, and now Natwar Singh’s – suggest that she did wield enormous power, but she chose not to seek it directly.

Baru makes it absolutely clear that Sonia was the only power centre, and Natwar Singh even tells us she was “authoritarian.”

Not exactly words that describe people who didn’t want power.

There is also another piece of evidence that Sonia Gandhi did consider becoming prime minister. In 1999, when the Vajpayee government lost a vote of confidence, she went to the President (then KR Narayanan) and claimed she had the support of 272 MPs. She said: ‘’We have 272 and we hope to get more. ‘We are confident we will get more.’’ This does not suggest that there was any inner voice at work in 1999.

As opposed to that, she said in 2004 that “the post of prime minister is not my aim.”

Did she give up the aim sometime between claiming 272 in 1999 and 2004?

Maybe Rahul’s pleading was the tipping point in 2004, but the inner voice may not have been anything more than common sense.

(Copyright: Firstpost.com)

stringent because unlike in America, where two antibiotics that were found to be resistant in poultry in 2000 could be pulled out, in India such drugs are freely produced and sold without prescription under various names.

In India, neither the monitoring service nor the control of the indiscriminate sale of antibiotics seem to work, if at all they are existent. If we are serious about the huge healthbills because of drug resistance, similar programmes have to be introduced soon.

Both the organised and unorganised parts of the poultry industry have to be brought under strict safety norms.

Acknowledging the gravity of the phenomenon, the WHO recommends that prescriptions are required for all antibiotics used to treat sick food animals, and antimicrobials for growth promotion are either phased out or terminated if they are used for human treatment.

Is India listening?

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

Bugging Gadkari’s home: Is political espionage an epidemic in India?

BY FP POLITICS Bowing to intense pressure from the Opposition benches, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made a statement in Parliament on Wednesday denying that any surveillance equipment was discovered at the residence of Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. The statement assumes significance as it was a straight denial -- Gadkari’s comment on the media reports had been that it was “highly speculative”. Yet, despite the statement by the Union home minister, the matter is far from over.

“Why is the Congress running after non-issues? There was no bugging. Two categorical statements were made

by Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh to this effect. This should be enough to exonerate the government and the BJP. The home minister won’t make a false statement and risk being indicted in the House. The Congress should worry about its own problems

that it is facing in Assam, Maharashtra and Haryana,” BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal told CNN-IBN during a panel discussion.

The report of the alleged discovery of bugging equipment appeared first in The Sunday Guardian, founded by veteran journalist and now BJP national spokesperson MJ Akbar.

The Congress seemed to be satisfied only partially with the Union Home minister’s statement.

“Gadkari first calls the news item speculative then denies it much later.

The issue has institutional importance as there has been an attempt to try and put things under the carpet. The issue is not about Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari. We accept we lost the elections but does it does it mean that what is going on should be allowed to continue?” asked Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Congress spokesperson. “We are partially satisfied with the home minister’s statement because

it was missing out on details. But for now, we have to believe someone, and Singh is the home minister. The matter is also significant because Gadkari took 36 hours to respond. If we come out with new information we will put out in public and there may be a breach of privelege of Parliament by the home minister then. For us there is clear indication that this might be an internal handiwork of someone in the BJP,” Singhvi added.

The BJP leader participating in the debate immediately rejected Singhvi’s claims. “There is no snooping... What details do they want? The Congress wants details about an event that has not taken place. When Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister devices were found in his office but it is not so in Gadkari’s case. No devices were found,” Mittal said.

Despite all the talks on the RAMPART-A espionage programme of the US that the National Security Agency used to spy on the BJP, there is also speculation that this might well turn out to be a case of internal political espionage. Former deputy chief of the Intelligence Bureau Ashok Karnik felt that the onus lies on the newspaper to prove the veracity of the story.

(Copyright: Firstpost.com)

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

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“The new Indian government’s plan ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ — together with all, development for all — that’s a concept, a vision we want to support. We believe it’s a great vision and our private sector is eager to be a catalyst in India’s economic revitalisation.” — John Kerry, US Secrtary of State

DEVIN YALKIN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The mysterious tree of a newborn’s life

Promoters as royalties P 13

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has started a project to understand the placenta JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Dr Mirhan Kapidzic, with a placenta tissue sample, and Susan Fisher at a University of California, San Francisco, research centre.

(Right) Placenta samples from a freezer at the University of California, San Francisco. “Compared to what we should know about the placenta,” Dr Fisher said, “we know almost nothing.”

SAN FRANCISCO: Minutes after a baby girl was born on a recent morning at the University of California hospital here, her placenta - a pulpy blob of an organ that is usually thrown away - was packed up and carried off like treasure through a maze of corridors to the laboratory of Susan Fisher, a professor of obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences.

There, scientists set upon the tissue with scalpels, forceps and an array of chemicals to extract its weirdly powerful cells, which storm the uterus like an invading army and commandeer a woman’s body for nine months to keep her fetus alive. The placenta is the life support system for the foetus. A disk of tissue attached to the uterine lining on one side and to the umbilical cord on the other, it grows from the embryo’s cells, not the mother’s. It is sometimes called the afterbirth: It comes out after the baby is born, usually weighing nearly a half-

kilogram, or a sixth of the baby’s weight.

It provides oxygen, nourishment and waste disposal, doing the job of the lungs, liver, kidneys and other organs until the foetal ones kick in.

If something goes wrong with the placenta, devastating problems can result, including miscarriage, stillbirth, prematurity, low birth weight and preeclampsia, a condition that drives up the mother’s blood pressure and can kill her and the fetus. A placenta much smaller or larger than average is often a sign of trouble. Increasingly, researchers think placental disorders can permanently alter the health of mother and child.

Given its vital role, shockingly little is known about the placenta. Only recently, for instance, did scientists start to suspect that the placenta may not be sterile, as once thought, but may have a microbiome of its own - a population of microorganisms - that may help shape the immune system of the foetus and affect its health much later in life.

The National Institute of Child

Health and Human Development calls the placenta “the least understood human organ and arguably one of the more important, not only for the health of a woman and her fetus during pregnancy but also for the lifelong health of both.”

In May, the institute gathered about 70 scientists at its first conference devoted to the placenta, in hopes of starting a Human Placenta Project, with the ultimate goal of finding ways to detect abnormalities in the organ earlier, and treat or prevent them.

AN INVADER’S INTRICACY The placenta establishes a blood supply at 10 to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Ultimately, it invades 80 to 100 uterine vessels called spiral arteries and grows 51 kilometers of capillaries. The placental cells form minute fingerlike projections called villi, which contain foetal capillaries and come in contact with maternal blood, to pick up oxygen and nutrients and get rid of wastes.

JIM WILSON

BY DENISE GRADY

The front line of the invasion is a cell called a trophoblast, from the outer layer of the embryo. Early in pregnancy, these cells multiply explosively and stream out like a column of soldiers.

“The trophoblast cells are so invasive from the get-go,” Fisher said. “They just blast through the uterine lining to get themselves buried in there.”

Michael McMaster, a professor of cell and tissue biology at the University of California, San Francisco, said that failures of this early process probably happened fairly often. People often assume that miscarriages and other problems arise from the foetus itself, but he said, “it’s probably true that at this early stage, a lot of trophoblast malfunction can underlie pregnancy loss or future disease.”

Occasionally, pregnancies begin outside the uterus, in fallopian tubes or elsewhere in the abdomen, and the rapid, penetrating growth of the placenta can rupture organs. Placentas that form over a scar on the uterus can invade so deeply that they cannot be safely removed at birth, and the only way to prevent the mother from bleeding to death is to take out the uterus.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG Invasion and remodeling are essential: If they do not occur, the placenta cannot acquire enough of a blood supply to develop normally, and the results can be disastrous. One consequence can be pre-eclampsia, which affects 2-5 per cent of pregnant women in the United States. Rates are higher in poor countries, particularly those in Africa. The condition brings high blood pressure and other abnormalities in the mother, and can be fatal.

“The placenta gives the answer in many term stillbirths,” Roberts said. © 2014 New York Times News Service

Drawing lessons from Buddha & baseball Tibetan prime minister Lobsang Sangay emphasises the importance of the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle Way’

BY ELLEN BARRY DHARAMSALA, India: From his office in the hill station of Dharamsala, where Tibetan exiles have spent the past half-century waiting for the seismic changes that could restore Tibet’s independence, prime minister Lobsang Sangay was reminiscing, a bit wistfully, about a world he had left behind.

Specifically, he was reminiscing about the Boston Red Sox. These were not the vague remarks of someone faking expertise for diplomatic purposes.

Rather, he was recalling the seventh game of the 2003 American League Championship Series, when the Red Sox manager took a disastrous gamble by allowing the team’s star pitcher, Pedro Martinez, to remain on the mound late in a deciding game against the New York Yankees.

Sangay, 46, recalled the agitation as he watched Boston’s lead slip away, perhaps the most calamitous in a history of heartbreaks for those who persisted in believing in the Red Sox. The suffering would all be washed away by the next season, but in 2003 no one knew that. “Normally, I am quite a patient guy,” Sangay said. “But he brought him back after 118 pitches.”

Sangay likes sports. He can explain why: You win, or you lose. Then you close the book on that episode and start

over. This could not be more different from the mission that he took on in 2011, when he left a comfortable life at Harvard to begin a five-year term as sikyong, the leader of the Tibetans’ exile administration. This coincided with a momentous decision by the Dalai Lama, the exiles’ head of state since 1959, to devolve his political power to the new prime minister.

Since Sangay took over, it has been difficult to close the book on anything. China, which once gave lip service to negotiations on Tibet’s status, has refused to meet with him or his representatives. Sangay is surprisingly even-keeled.Asked why, he says he falls back on the Buddhist notion of impermanence. He also uses what he learned as a fan of the Red Sox, during the long years before the team’s luck turned.

“There is this unfulfilled desire, unfulfilled aspiration,” he said. “That keeps you going.”

Tall and imposing like many men from eastern Tibet, Sangay grew up in a refugee camp near Darjeeling. He came from a long line of fighters.

His father was in charge of arms and ammunition for the Chushi Gangdruk militia, formed in the late 1950s to

defend Tibet.

In Dharamsala, the Dalai Lama’s word remains sacrosanct, and Sangay seems untroubled by the criticism. In a recent interview, he was cheerful for another reason: His wife and 7-year-old daughter, who remained behind in Medford, Massachusetts, when he began his term, were finally preparing to move to Dharamsala.

As the leader of an unrecognised government, he earns 26,000 rupees a month. In the presence of the Dalai Lama, his status seems to melt away. Addressing a crowd last year, the Dalai Lama affectionately mocked Sangay’s spoken Tibetan, saying it is “like a schoolboy talking,” and then laughing heartily.

The prime minister, in the background, bowed his head. Asked about it, he smiled a little ruefully.

“It was a privilege. It means he really knows me well,” he said.

Asked where he falls in the hierarchy of leaders, he described himself as “a secondary voice,” but added a postscript.

“I am a secondary voice,” he said, “who will someday be a primary voice.”

With Dalai Lama’s support, Sangay seems untroubled by the criticism.

© 2014 New York Times News Service

Gabrielle Holder practices the violin with other children at the United Palace of Cultural Arts in New York

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Talent

BY BENEDICT CAREY

said Zach Hambrick, a psychologist at Michigan State University and a The 8-year-old juggling a soccer ball and co-author of the paper, with Brooke the 48-year-old jogging by, with Japanese Macnamara, now at Case Western lessons ringing from her earbuds, have Reserve University, and Frederick something fundamental in common: At Oswald of Rice University. “But it’s not some level, both are wondering whether as important as many people have been their investment of time and effort is saying” compared to inborn gifts. worth it.

One of those people, Ericsson, has How good can I get? How much written his critique of the new review. time will it take? Is it possible I’m a He points out that the paper uses a natural at this (for once)? What’s the definition of practice that includes a percentage in this, exactly? variety of related activities, including Scientists have long argued over playing music or sports for fun or playing the relative contributions of practice in a group. and native talent to Hambrick said the development of that using Ericsson’s elite performance. This definition of practice debate swings back and would not change the forth every century, it results much, if at all, and seems, but a paper in partisans on both sides a recent issue of the have staked out positions. journal Psychological Yet the range of Science illustrates where findings and level the discussion now of disagreement are stands and hints - more themselves hints that tantalisingly, for people there are likely to be who just want to do factors involved in their best - at where the building expertise that - ZACH HAMBRICKT research will go next. are neither genetic nor The value-of-practice related to the amount of debate has reached a stalemate. In a practice time. landmark 1993 study of musicians, a One is the age at which a person research team led by K Anders Ericsson, picks up a violin, or a basketball, or a psychologist now at Florida State a language. People who grow up in University, found that practice time bilingual households fully integrate explained almost all the difference both languages at the same time that (about 80 per cent) between elite language-specialised areas in their performers and committed amateurs. brains are developing.

The finding rippled quickly through the “The question is: What is the popular culture, perhaps most visibly as optimal kind of practice in the area you the apparent inspiration for the “10,000wish to achieve expertise?” Ericsson said. hour rule” in Malcolm Gladwell’s best“These are things we are now beginning selling “Outliers” - a rough average of to study, in areas like medical training.” the amount of practice time required for Practice time is critical indeed, and expert performance. its contribution to accumulated expertise is likely to vary from one field to the The new next as the new paper, the most comprehensive paper found, experts said. review of Personality r e le v a nt is an research to enormous date, comes variable, to a different t o o , conclusion. (a l t h o u g h Compiling results from 88 p a r t l y studies across genetic). a wide range of “Things skills, it estimates like grit, that practice time motivation, explains about 20 and inspiration to 25 per cent of - that ability to the difference in imagine achieving performance in this high level, to music, sports and fantasise about games like chess. it,” Kaufman said.

In academics, “These are things we don’t know the number is much about yet, much lower and need to study 4 per cent - in more directly.” part because it’s hard to assess the But in the end, effect of previous the most important knowledge, the factor over which authors wrote. people have control “We found may be not how much that, yes, practice is they practice, but how important, and of effectively they use that course it’s absolutely time. necessary to © 2014 New York achieve Times News e x p er t ise ,” Service

“We found that practice is important and necessary to achieve expertise.”

TH E EDIT PAGE

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

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Editor’s pick

“The world over it has been experienced that a prompt, well-coordinated and effective response mounted in the aftermath of disasters not only minimizes loss of life and property but also facilitates early recovery.”

- Government of India SOP for responding to natural disasters, 2010

What is missing in India’s disaster management?

Aniruddha Rajandekar

By Vaijnath Dulange

On an ancient route to modern greatness

By Tarun Basu

When a bomb blast occurs, we normally don’t lose time in responding.

We know that the enemy has struck and our immediate response is to help the injured.

Passers-by and others in the neighbourhood rush the victims to the nearest hospitals, ambulances arrive almost on their own and the police too are there, cordoning the blast area and embarking on investigations without loss of any time.

What happens in the case of other disasters, small and big?

If it’s a road accident, often the victim is left bleeding at the accident spot, as it happened recently in Pune.

Passers-by generally don’t want to get involved out of fear of harassment by the police or repeated summons by the courts. If someone does want to help, an insensitive policeman creates hurdles, a story that we are only too familiar with. What is lost in all of this is the Golden Hour, that precious moment which could make the difference between life and death for the victims.

On the roads across the nation, our ambulances with blaring sirens are often stuck in traffic because a) the other road users won’t make way, b) there’s “VIP movement” and c) because there’s a traffic jam and nothing can be done about it. Once again, it’s the Golden Hour that’s gone rotten.

Is the situation any different when it comes to the biggest of disasters? The answer, sadly, is ‘no’.

Today, India has a fairly good disaster response force in the form of the NDRF, the National Disaster Response Force, that falls under the National Disaster Management Authority, a committee headed by the prime minister which sets the policy in the home ministry.

Headquartered in Delhi, NDRF battalions are present across the nation. The staff is well-trained and well-equipped with paramedics, water rescue boats, a canine squad and diving

equipment. But what’s missing is a critical component: this force cannot reach disaster spots quickly enough.

That amounts to a joke which ought to make us cry.

In the words of Krishna Chaudhary, NDRF’s then director general, India has the world’s largest disaster response force with state-of-the-art equipment; what it needs desperately is a dedicated air arm of its own.

This deficiency was felt most painfully in the devastating Uttarakhand landslides and flash floods of 2013 which killed an estimated 7,000 people. In Pune, the NDRF reached the landslide-submerged Malin village more than four hours after the disaster strucka distance of less than 100 km from its regional base at Talegaon.

According to the battalion’s commander, Alok Awasthi, the NDRF personnel were forced to walk almost seven kilometres with their equipment because of a traffic jam on the route caused by vehicles rushing to the disaster spot to provide assistance.

In sharp contrast, the first NDRF contingent could have easily reached the disaster spot in less than 30 minutes had it been provided with the all-weather, advanced light helicopter, Dhruv, which delivered magnificently in the Uttarakhand tragedy.

It is not unusual that the world’s second most populous nation, spread out over a sub-continent with diverse climatic conditions should have disasters of varying proportions from time to time. Floods in the Gangetic basin and the Brahmaputra are an annual feature. Nations like Japan which, while suffering frequent earthquakes, have fine-tuned their disaster management strategies to ensure minimum loss of life. Why then have we not perfected the art of disaster management?

What this requires first and foremost is speedy response. For this, a dedicated air wing for the NDRF is the need of the moment.

What is lost in all of this is the Golden Hour, that precious moment of time which could make the difference between life and death for the victims

Vol-1* lssue No.: 7 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)

People’s Daily, China’s iconic newspaper known to the world as the voice of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), is constructing in the heart of Beijing a 32-storey office tower that will have 1,40,000 square metres of working space with new media ventures alone occupying seven of its floors. Its concave glass facade sits somewhat oddly in its steel and terra cotta-girded frame that its Chinese architects proudly proclaim will give the traditional touch to a very modern edifice.

It is one of the latest architectural monuments to China’s mad race to modernisation to keep pace with its ambitions to be a recognised global power in every development metric that counts - from economy, to infrastructure, to information, to militarisation, from culture to sports.

Pointing to an older side of Beijing that has serried rows of multi-storeyed apartment buildings from an earlier era, the architect tells proudly how “all that” will be pulled down in the next 10 years to make way for gleaming office and apartment towers that dot Beijing’s skyline as far as the eye can see on any side.

China is on a building spree, with dozens of new cities and towns springing up across the country, in each of its 41 provinces and autonomous regions with one provincial (state) and municipal authority competing against the other to urbanise as 60 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion population is expected to live in cities by 2030.

In the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that has seen unrest in recent years and where the ethnic Uyghurs, who are largely Muslim, have come under security after a spate of terror attacks in the province and elsewhere, the “ambitous urbanisation goal”, according to the Global Times, the English edition of the People’s Daily, is to ensure that each of its 14 divisions build a city and each of

its 175 regiments builds a township.

The CPC considers the building of cities and towns as the “lifeblood functions” of the Chinese economy that has lately come under strain and has created an element of restiveness in the ranks of civil society manifest in growing expressions of disenchantment aired through mushrooming social media that authorities are finding it difficult to control or regulate.

It is in this spirit of providing the building stimulus to the economy, which at 7.5 per cent faced its worst slowdown in 24 years, that Chinese President and party supremo Xi Jingping came up with what is being described as the twin “strategic initiatives” of Economic Belt along the Silk Road and the “Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century”. The “Belt” and “Road” seek to revive the ancient trade route to Central Asia and Europe as a modern business and commercial corridor in an interlocking chain of “friendly” countries cutting across the entire swathe of Eurasia.

Officials, diplomats and media representatives from nearly a dozen countries, including Turkey, Russia, India, Pakistan and five Central Asian nations, were invited to a conference in Beijing this month to discuss how media cooperation among these countries can further the goal of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Besides, having it at the Great Hall of the People, the impressive edifice that houses the National People’s Congress, the country’s highest legislative body, and where the Chinese government usually hosts heads of state and government and has highest-level meetings and conferences, the leadership wished to convey to delegates that this was going to be a major policy thrust in the coming years.

Speaker after speaker lauded the “initiative” as “visionary” and “potentially transformational” and sought the co-operation of the foreign delegates to lend their support. What was interesting to an outsider was the level of provincial

participation at the conference and the efforts of Beijing to co-opt its provinces in its foreign policy and strategic initiatives.

This was perhaps an authoritarian state’s way to bring about a national consensus on an issue in which it was investing so much of political and diplomatic stake.

Although the exact motivations of reviving a 2,000-year-old trade route is unclear even to diplomats stationed in Beijing, one can make some assumptions on the basis of what one would call circumstantial evidence. Primarily, the strategy is devised to counter the current economic slowdown that has hit some of its less developed states, particularly in the western belt, for instance multiethnic Xinjiang, more than their counterparts in the booming east.

By seeking to economically integrate this province through the “Belt” with Central Asia, which shares a 2,800 km border with Xinjiang, China hopes to use development to trump social and economic disenchantment which many here fear could seriously undermine social equilibrium and thwart the country’s “peaceful rise”.

On Xi’s trip to Central Asia last year, during which he called for joint development of the Economic Belt, Chinese state media reported that trade volumes with the region topped $46 billion, up 100fold since the countries’ independence from the Soviet Union two decades ago.

China’s growing presence clearly comes at Russia’s expense.

Also, China is facing problems with its neighbours regarding maritime sovereignty in the strategic South China Sea - with the potential to erupt into a major dispute with global ramifications - with most of whom it has had an intense investment and trade relationship. In fact, China used to preach to both India and Pakistan to enhance their economic engagement while keeping their political problems on the backburner because in their reckoning business would trump politics and make conflict resolution

The nature of soothsayers

By Anil K Rajvanshi

knowledge gain or desire to achieve something for the benefit of mankind.

There is a story of Gandhiji I was told Thus very ambitious people are by one of his close disciples. A palmist also insecure people and as they rise went to Gandhiji to see his palm and higher in their profession the stakes predict his future. He was informed become higher. The higher the stakes, that he would have to wait since higher is the insecurity and hence the Gandhiji was spinning his charkha. brain seeks a pillar of support about After a couple of hours of waiting the the future. Soothsayers provide such a palmist enquired as to how long he support by stressing on fate. would have to wait further. Gandhiji In our ancient scriptures like the informed him, “Till I get Sampoorn Vedas, Patanjali Yoga Darshan, Gita Swarajya (complete freedom)”! etc. there is hardly any discussion on Gandhiji never believed in fate. It is mostly focused on any palmist, soothsayer etc. He Karma Yoga. In Patanjali Yoga it was a great karma yogi who beis clearly written that progress lieved in the power of action and in yoga is only dependent on work. Yet most of our politithe hard work of the Sadhak cal leaders who have Gandhiji’s or practioner. The only time photo in their offices, believe in Patanjali talks about future astrologers, palmists, etc. in his Yoga darshan is when Why is there so much he describes the powers of an proliferation of soothsayers, THINK advanced yogi who may know astrologers, palmists, etc. who the time of his death by doing are very eager to foretell the future?

Sanyam on his own thoughts and Internet is full of sites for such sanskars. services. The main reason is that all I think the concept of astrology, these soothsayers prey upon fear and palmistry, fate, etc. came as the science insecurities of these ambitious people. of yoga declined. In order to suppress Ambition together with insecurity the inquiry and question the sequence is a very potent combination for the of events the concept of fate was brought soothsayers to prey on. in. Since then there has been a continuAmbition is an emotion which ous debate about fate and free will. comes basically from insecurity. It is an I believe that what we are and what outcome of emotional state in which a we will become is only controlled by person wants to achieve something in our actions. If it is not so then the whole order to show off to his/her family, peers notion of evolution will be negated. or to the world. This is different from Hence we are all endowed with free

will and have the power to change our destiny. Recently scientists have shown that by our actions we can change our genes and hence our future. The science of epigenetics, as it is called, shows that genes are not only inherited but can also be altered by our actions and the environment. This genetic change is more pronounced during our early years and hence the environment of childhood and formative years plays an important role in what type of human being we will become. It is not only the memories but the genetic changes in our childhood that decide our future.

Also these altered genes can be transferred to our progeny. This is the basis of evolution and it is dependent on our actions. Maybe our ancient rishis knew about this process and hence stressed early education through Gurukul schools. Similarly the genetic alterations could also be the basis of Sanskars that Patanjali talks about.

Thus individually we have the free will and can change the course of our life but collectively, as mankind living on this planet earth, our evolution is guided by the cosmic forces of sun, moon and the resulting forces of environment. These forces guide the destiny of mankind and not the sayings of soothsayers. © Anil K Rajvanshi The writer is Director, Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Phaltan, Maharashtra. He may be reached at anilrajvanshi@gmail.com

easier. But the friction over the sea with Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan has made Beijing revise its doctrine and seek fresher avenues of cooperation.

“China’s opening up in the past 30odd years has been more targetted to the east and the developed world. Today, as we turn around and set our eyes in the west direction, we see a big market on the Eurasian continent. This is a vast region calling for our vigorous efforts to explore, develop and manage,” said Zhong Sheng, a Chinese commentator in Foreign Affairs Journal.

India has not officially responded to the Silk Road initiative as Chinese officials have not spelt out what it expects of each of these countries in this somewhat utopian trans-continental cooperative undertaking. But what is clear is that even though India was a bit of detour on the orignal Silk Road trade route, China sees India (and by default Pakistan) as integral to its global partnership plans and is trying to draw in New Delhi in many of its regional economic associations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (with Central Asia) and the Asia Pacific Economic Community (that has the US, Australia and Japan), not to forget the new economic integration of BRICS nations at the Brazil summit.

India would naturally be wary of any unctuous Chinese bearhug, but given the imperatives of doing business with China, its largest trade partner, it would require some deft diplomacy on the part of the Modi government to be friendly to China and yet not become blindsided to moves on another track to encroach on its sovereignty or erode its pre-eminence in the region. One should not overlook not so subtle moves by China to gain ascendancy in South Asia by wooing India’s neighbours with infrastructure and economic goodies they can’t resist.

(Tarun Basu is the chief editor of IANS who was recently in Beijing. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at tarun.basu@ians.in)

Limericks of the week

BY C Ravindranath

Order on the border

Wish I had a cam corder For Belgaum’s law and order Based on our pride We can take a side But only as long as there’s a border

Blame game

Nothing ever remains the same It’s no longer a gentleman’s game Pushing and edging Shoving and sledging The game’s new name - is blame!

Slick Kick?

To make a movie slick And of the week the pick One must know Who watches the show And give the others a Kick!

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

‘NDRF needs a dedicated air arm’ Whenever a disaster strikes, such as the landslide at Ambegaon or the one previously in Uttarakhand, the first thing that the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) needs to do is reach the spot immediately. How can it do so without its own dedicated air wing?

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Rescue operation in progress

More than 44 Houses buried Under 15 feet of slush

BY ABHAY VAIDYA AND GITESH SHELKE @vaidya_abhay, @gitesh_shelke The sequence of the rescue operations that were launched soon after the Pune District administration learnt of Tuesday’s massive landslide in Ambegaon taluka, once again points to a grim reality: the highly-trained National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) could not reach the spot soon enough after the disaster.

How ironic it is that the nation’s premier disaster response force does not have a single helicopter of its own across this subcontinent where disasters erupt from time to time! This, when even in a city like Pune a number of wealthy businessmen have helicopters of their own which they use for pleasure rides!

Whenever a major disaster strikes-

Surviving area

as happened in village Malin in Pune district- it is obvious that the highest priority for the NDRF is to reach the spot immediately. How can it do so without, at least, its own all-weather helicopters? As of Friday morning, more than 50 people had died and an estimated 130 continued to be trapped under the debris of a landslide.

Barely a month ago, the then NDRF Director General, Krishna Chaudhary, spoke to the Defence and Security Alert journal about the NDRF’s need for a “dedicated air evacuation system” for faster relief and rescue operations. This was among the most important lessons drawn from the Uttarakhand tragedy in which nearly 7,000 people were killed in the landslides, as per one estimate.

As Chaudhary noted, the NDRF is the single largest force of its kind in the world which has responded in several

disasters such as the Kosi floods, Leh cloudburst, floods in north-eastern states, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and the Uttarakhand disaster.

While its personnel are equipped with modern equipment what the force needs is a “dedicated air evacuation system and better field communication equipment”.

This same point has been repeatedly made by experts and NDRF jawans alike. The urgency of this just cannot be swept aside as this need was felt most not just during the Uttarakhand landslide but also in the unfolding tragedy in Pune district.

It was indeed a blessing that in the Ambegaon disaster, an NDRF regional base was located less than 100 km away at Talegaon. However, it was almost four to five hours after the disaster that the first NDRF contingent reached the spot.

The real reason:

BY VISHWAS WAGHMODE

PADDY FIELDS LANDSLIDE SURVIVING AREA

SURVIVING AREA

DESTROYED AREA RESCUE OP. IN PROGRESS ACCESS RD. PADDY FIELDS

BUBRA RIVER

were given stone bunds along the periphery, to prevent outflow of collected rain water. “Anybody can tell that these stones and the loosened soil can come down on the houses at any time given that the area falls under the heavy rainfall category,” said Kokane.

That human intervention may have been at the root of the calamity is unnerving, said environmentalists, for it displayed a complete absence of any lessons learnt from the Uttarakhand tragedy last year when activists and locals pointed to poorly planned hydel operations, a rash of dams and uncontrolled construction by the tourism and hospitality industry along the hillslopes.

He added that the incident is no surprise for the people living in the vicinity. “It is no surprise for us. It is unfortunate that the leveling of these 25 plots was done earlier this year in Malin village,” he added, stating that action should be taken against Agriculture department officials for a faulty survey on the suitability of the selected plots of land for the Padkai scheme.

Locals and other experts pointed out that the area is not actually prone to landslides. “But cracks to the hillsides and houses have been reported earlier.

The government must carry out an extensive survey of the region and relocate the people if it shows landslideprone signs,” said a local resident, speaking to Firstpost.

Others who visited the site of the devastation were shocked at the extent of bald land on the hillslopes. NDRF officials who were at the site also told Firstpost that the difficult terrain made rescue efforts complicated. It was clear by Thursday afternoon that up to 150 people could be buried under the wet soil that was being excavated from the site with heavy earth-moving machinery. The soil was being removed slowly, to make sure possible survivors were not hurt. Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, the local elected representative, said that the district administration should have taken precautionary measures.

“Such an unfortunate incident has never happened in the area earlier. It has been heavily raining in the region since the past one week. The district administration should have visited the place and should have taken precautionary measures,” Patil said.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost.com)

How ironic that the NDRF does not have a single helicopter

of a dedicated air wing hampered the relief and rescue operations launched by the NDRF. As per procedures, the NDRF first needs to get permission from the Home Ministry to fly their teams to remote areas and then request the Defence Ministry for the supply of its transport planes and helicopters. This causes delays. “What should take half an hour takes much more time,” was how an NDRF official put it soon after the disaster. As happened at Ambegaon, reaching a disaster spot from their base in various states is often hampered because of a lack of helicopters.

What the NDRF needs is a small fleet of the all-weather Advanced light helicopter Dhruv which proved to be a workhorse during the Uttarakhand disaster. editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

9 villagers, child rescued as some structures survived landslide

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke Nine persons, including a three month old child were rescued even as the death toll in the tribal village continued to rise, touching 51 by Friday afternoon.

About 130 villagers were missing, buried under the landslide, SP (rural) Manojkumar Lohiya said while speaking to this newspaper.

The survivors were shifted to hospitals and schools in the nearby towns of Manchar and Ghodegaon.

Th ree families were feared to have been completely wiped out in the tragedy.

The incessant rains and narrow roads leading the disaster site hampered the rescue operations.

The landslide took place sometime at around 6.45 am when most of the villagers were in their homes. There was a loud sound and within minutes 44 of the 51 houses were engulfed by the debris, boulders, and mud. It was as if the mountain slope of about 400 meters along with slush, trees and boulders came rushing towards the houses submerging them beneath a 12 - 15 feet high mound of mud.

Six houses remained untouched.

Bhau Dhengle heard a loud noise when some stones and small boulders hit his house. Another villager, Harischandra Zanjare was on the roof when he saw a portion of the hill come rushing down. “I was repairing my roof as it was leaking,” he said, adding, “There was barely any time for the others to be alerted and rescued.”

Four houses, two buildings of the Zilla Parishad (ZP) School and three houses across the road were the only structures that survived.

Malin was a tribal village engaged

Family members of victims at the mass cremation

in the cultivation of paddy and nachni. out, even as six other families lost Among the villagers who survived was multiple members.

Shankar Mudgun (65), recipient of the • A group of 15 students from state government’s prestigious Adivasi Manchar and Ghodegaon were Samaj Sevak award, 2001. The village visiting the picturesque village. was famous for its Kalamjadevi temple They had just been to the nearby and its annual festival.

Bubra river to see the gushing Some poignant stories: water and were waiting for a cup • Hirabai Zanjare, who moved to the of tea near the village school when adjoining village of Asane after the landslide struck. All 15, aged marriage lost 10 relatives, including between 14 to 17 years were feared her brother, sister-in-law and their buried under the heap mud. three children. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com • Her family had gathered at Malin village following RESCUE MISSION her father’s death on July 25. “We were preparing for the 10th day ritual of my father’s demise. My husband and elder brother had gone to Manchar to make some purchases and that’s how they survived,” she said.

• The entire Zanjare CASUALTIES family of 22 persons was completely wiped INJURED ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

As the heartbreaking task of locating loved ones buried under several feet of slush continues in Pune’s Malin village where a landslide claimed at least 25 lives on Wednesday, the cause for the calamity has been stated as the torrential rains over the course of two days. From government officials to senior politicians and even National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, everybody asked to state their opinions on what may have caused the landslip has pointed to the rains.

But torrential rains are not new to the Sahyadris, and landslides are not annual occurrences in Pune district. Could it have been human intervention of some kind that led to a landslide of such magnitude? So far, at least 41 people have been killed and about 40 homes out of the 44 homes that comprise Malin village, 100 km from Pune in the Ambegaon taluka, remain buried.

Amid reports that there was massive deforestation in the region, it now appears that at the root of the allegations is a government scheme to level off land on hill slopes to create cultivable plots.

According to Nisarga Sahas Sanstha, a non-governmental organisation working on environmental issues in the region, the state government launched a scheme called ‘Padkai’ for tribals on a pilot basis in the Ambegaon Tehsil about three years ago. The Padkai scheme is similar to the MNREGA scheme. Through this scheme, there is employment generation for tribals, with assets created in the form of their own plots of land for cultivation.

“However, many flaws have been reported in the survey carried out to implement the scheme. Agriculture department officials have done the survey carelessly and they are the ones responsible for the incident. Officials have chosen around 25 plots that are located behind the houses of the tribal people. But the slope of the hill here is extreme. And in the process of levelling the land for cultivation, many trees have been uprooted. This has loosened the soil,” said Dhananjay Kokane, president of Nisarg Sahas Sanstha, speaking to Firstpost.

Also, the plots thus created

DEFORESTATION

after being hampered on the route itself due to blocked traffic, Awasthi said.

For about seven kilometres, NDRF personnel then had no choice but to carry the equipment on their shoulders and cover the distance on foot.

Would this time not have been saved if the first contingent could have been airdropped to the disaster spot within thirty minutes of being formally approached for assistance?

As happened during the Uttarakahand landslide in which thousands were missing or stranded six days after the cloudburst and flash floods, the absence

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Forest was cleared for govt. scheme

What exactly happened?

Pune district administration officials say that the landslide, which is believed to have occurred at around 7 am, was reported to them at around 8.30 am on the morning of Wednesday, July 30. As confirmed by NDRF officials, the disaster response force was formally approached for assistance by the district administration by around 9 am.

Alok Awasthi, NDRF’s Commandant at its Talegaon base told this newspaper that it took an hour to despatch two teams of about 100 personnel to the spot. Later another 200 were sent in view of the magnitude of the disaster.

It was only at around 1 pm that the NDRF team reached the disaster spot

Rescue operation in progress by NDRF team

55 18 140 FEARED TRAPPED AFFECTED 30 FAMILIES ENTIRE FAMILY 7 PERISHED 9 RESCUED HOUSES 44 SWEPT AWAY NDRF STRENGTH 380 MORE THAN

0

HELICOPTERS

MONEY MATT ER S “It is still too early to say anything but there won’t be any grand change in plans. Key transformation ideas could be brought into the company.”

- Vishal Sikka

Signposts Equities give 23% returns in 2014 outperforming gold While the S&P BSE Sensex has logged in 22.76 per cent growth for investors, gold prices have fallen by 5 per cent so far in 2014. Indian equities have overshadowed gold’s glitter by giving handsome returns of almost 23 per cent to investors during the first seven months of 2014.

While the BSE’s 30-stock benchmark index S&P BSE Sensex has logged in 22.76 per cent growth for investors so far in 2014, gold prices have fallen by 5 per cent. Silver, however, managed to generate a marginal return of 2.38 per cent. Experts said that 2014 is proving to be good for Indian equities, riding high on improved domestic investor sentiment and robust foreign fund inflows. After outperforming stock markets for more than a decade, gold has been on the back foot for more than two consecutive years now vis-a-vis equities.

Follow strict norms for inoperative accounts: EPFO As of March 31, 2014, about `26,496.61 crore are lying in inoperative PF accounts with EPFO and it has asked its field staff to take all necessary care to reduce risk of fraud and to ensure that claims are authentic and payments are made to genuine claimants Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has asked its field staff to strictly follow guidelines while settling claims out of inoperative accounts in order to reduce the risk of fraud. Provident fund accounts, which fail to make contributions for 36 continuous months to the EPFO, are classified as inoperative accounts.

“Instructions shall be followed scrupulously for settlement of claims out of inoperative accounts. All care shall be taken to reduce the risk of frauds and to ensure that claims are authentic and the payments are made to genuine claimants,” an EPFO office order to field staff said.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

“The Tata group’s Vision 2025 will be to cater to 25 per cent of the world’s population. As a result, Tata will be amongst the 25 most admired corporate and employer brands globally.”

- Cyrus Mistry

Seven reasons why TDS provisions are draconian

1

The citizens of this country are punished due to some draconian provisions in the Income Tax (I-T) Act, Rules and notifications. They could even be taken for a ride about the constitutional legality of tax deducted at source (TDS). Harassment because of TDS provisions began under the Congress-led government but nobody has bothered to listen to the woes of lakhs of taxpayers. Here are some thoughts on behalf of tortured taxpayers, for consideration by a government that has promised Achche Din for all of us.

1. TDS is not a Direct Tax mechanism: TDS is a regressive provision in the direct tax administration even though it has contributed to higher tax collection. A direct tax is one where the incidence and impact of the tax is on the same person. However, for TDS, incidence is on the payer of the amount to the assessee and the impact is on the assessee. Thus, the very fundamental premise of direct tax faills apart due to this provision.

Higher emphasis on TDS underlines lower administrative ability (or utter failure) of the revenue to collect tax using its own mechanism.

to do? Indeed with the provisions becoming more and more draconian, the deductor is taken to task rather than the assesse. Is it not against the Constitution that you are asked to do something and penalised for it, which in the fi rst place somebody else was supposed to do?

I feel that the Income Tax department should fi rst reward the deductors for complying with TDS provisions. Reward should be a combination of the number of entries and amount deducted. The contract is valid only when there is consideration. Further, in the entire process, the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) and its network makes money. Their value addition is really questionable for the reasons discussed later.

3. Draconian Provisions: The interest for delayed payment starts from the date of deduction and not from the due

date for payment of tax deducted. Even when the deductor has the intention of paying it on the due date, many a times he may miss the bus due to factors beyond his control. I appeal to the authorities that the interest should only be levied for the delay from the due date. The intention of the legislature may be what is written in the law, but technology has interpreted it another way. Before the advent of technology, the department was asking for interest from the due date.

If this TDS interest provision is not challenged now, tomorrow the department may start collecting interest from the date of capital gains, if the advance tax is delayed.

4. Redundant Provisions: There are many judgements which specify, the deductor will not be considered an assessee in default, in case the deductee has declared such income on which the TDS was to be deducted. Going

Technology and limits of technology

2 TDS deduction is a biased contract

6 Simple technology is the best technology

3 Draconian Provisions

6 Lop-sided use of technology

4 Redundant Provisions by the intention of the legislature, the TDS should be considered as a mechanism to collect the tax. And, if the tax has been paid by the assessee, then the person who was responsible for deducting should not be penalised. However, the penal provisions of `100, penalty per day and the prosecution drive initiated by the department to attract compounding, are being utilised as methods of extortion. Th is should be stopped and most of the penalty and prosecution proceedings would become redundant if a careful analysis is done as to whether the deductee has paid his taxes or not.

5. Technology and limits of technology: There are many cases of mismatch of TDS. Th is puts the genuine assesses to great hardship.

Th is only highlights the fact that the NSDL / I-T department has failed miserably, in effectively implementing technology. Technology cannot make mistakes, it is the logic with which the technology is put to use which is ridden with problems. Th is is precisely the reason for many of the catastrophes in tax cases, especially of individual assessees.

2. TDS deduction is a biased contract: The payers, who act on behalf of the Tax Department in good faith, to collect the tax and deposit the same, are put to a lot of hardship - by way of deducting the tax, depositing the tax, monitoring the payment of tax in time, fi ling of return, ensuring that the return fi led is accurately recorded on the Income Tax Department site, downloading of TDS certificates and so on. What is the reward for the deductor for doing all these jobs, which the I-T department is supposed

5

TDS is not a Direct Tax mechanism

Modi government should ensure a fair deal to taxpayers by reforming flawed practices

BY ANANTHRAM RAO

PUNE

6. Simple technology is the best technology: We have witnessed a

smooth transition of payment of taxes from the manual method to the electronic method. Even for TDS we could have had a similar system. There was no need for NSDL to come into the picture at all, except to make money at our expense. We could have had a deductor simply paying the challan 280 or a similar one with additional information of the deductee. Th is would ensure that the 26AS of the deductor and deductee would show the TDS paid/TDS credit received.

Who ensured that NSDL gets into this business and why?

7. Lop-sided use of technology: TDS return mechanism is a deductor-centric mechanism. Gullible deductees are left with no technology tools to recover the TDS deducted or even to get tax credit.

The plight of the deductees is miserable, where unscrupulous deductors have not paid /fi led the return etc. I urge the government, that the deductee should have an option/right to update the details of the transactions where their TDS has been deducted, and this should be uploaded with the PAN and TAN of the deductor. Th is will help the Assessing Officer recover the TDS and help the deductees get their due tax credit.

It is not difficult for this government to fi x these issues. But for this, it has to listen to impartial voices and be bold. Will it?

(Ananthram Rao is a partner at Borkar & Shenoy, Chartered Accountants) By special arrangement with moneylife.in

Promoters as royalties

Nifty, Sensex correction may deepen

Stay way from companies that treat themselves to royalty at your expense

While the indices may rally intermittently, they are headed lower over the next few days

BY R BALAKRISHNAN I hear that JSW Steel is proposing to charge an annual fee from the company as a ‘licence’ for using the family name (by the time you read this, perhaps, it would have been confirmed). In other words, the Jindal name demands a royalty from the shareholders of JSW and may possibly extend this to other group companies as well.

I am stunned at this. To me, this is nothing short of robbery. I recall that the Tatas charge a fee for their ‘brand’.

I really wonder if Tata Steel will sell any less steel or realise any less money if the name of the company were changed to Remington Steel.

In the first place, the company has grown with the shareholders’ money thus far. So, the brand, as the promoter claims, is something that shareholders’ money has created and, if anything, the promoter should pay a royalty to the company if he chooses to use this brand name for any other company.

In fact, the only thing that the promoter has contributed is to execute a business idea with the help of his own and others’ capital. And, surely, he has improved his personal wealth through remuneration and a lifestyle propped by the listed entity. He has taken the risk to start the company and grow it. This is fully reflected in the share price of the company, a

BY MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM

price arrived at through the collective wisdom of millions of investors. Why does he think he, or his family, deserves anything more, now?

Royalty could be legitimate if it is fi xed before commencement of operations, for something that adds value to the bottom line.

The principles are clear. If on day one of the company, there was any boost to the bottom line because of the association of the promoter, there would be a case for royalty. If Jubilant pays a ‘royalty’ for using the ‘Domino’ name, there is logic behind it.

This is because the shareholders of Jubilant are enjoying the fruits of success that Domino’s shareholders have created.

However, if Reliance were to decide to pay a royalty to the Ambani family for the

‘Reliance’ name, it would be stealing from the shareholders.

A brand like Reliance is created by the listed entity, using shareholders’ money. So, they are equal owners of the brand.

It would be nice if the investing community has the integrity, or were to develop it, to not invest a single rupee in such dishonest promotercompanies.

Unfortunately, institutional investors encourage such robbery with their silence as they are not putting his own money. Institutional investors who continue to invest in such companies are accomplices in this crime. Hopefully, the media will, one day, create enough noise to deter the crooked promoters from committing such blatant chicanery. @moneylife

We had mentioned in our past week closing report that the S&P BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty, both the Indian benchmarks, may give up more gains in the coming sessions.

On Monday, both the indices moved in a narrow range for an hour and then suddenly weakened.

After hitting the day’s low the indices tried recovering, which however could not happen.

The Sensex opened at 26,173 while Nifty opened at 7,793. After hitting the day’s high almost at the opening levels, the indices moved lower to hit the day’s low at 25,900 and 7,723, respectively. Both the Sensex and the Nifty closed at their five-day closing lows.

Sensex closed at 25,991 (down 136 points or 0.52 per cent) while Nifty closed at 7,749 (down 42 points or 0.54 per cent). The NSE recorded a low volume of 70.72 crore shares. India VIX rose 0.72 per centto close at 14.3225.

Among the other indices on the NSE, the only four gainers were IT (0.42 per cent), pharma (0.39 per cent), MNC (0.36 per cent) and FMCG (0.34 per cent).

The top five losers were realty (2.80 per cent), CPSE (1.96 per cent), metal (1.36 per cent), PSE (1.32 per cent) and media (1.30 per cent).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 16 ended in the green. The top five gainers were Hindustan Unilever (3.35 per cent), HCL Technologies (1.84 per cent), PNB (1.76 per

cent), Cairn (1.72 per cent) and Sun Pharma (1.28 per cent). The top five losers were DLF (-5.23 per cent), Coal India (-3.18 per cent), UltraTech Cement (-3.17 per cent), BPCL (-2.63 per cent) and Ambuja Cements (-2.62 per cent).

Of the 1,596 companies on the NSE, 519 companies closed in the green, 1,023 companies closed in the red while 54 companies closed flat.

India’s stock markets remained closed for Ramzan Eid on July 29, 2014.

India’s measures to raise

the investment limit for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in government bonds is a positive for the country’s credit profi le, since it will help stabilise domestic interest and currency rates, Moody’s Investors Service said on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of India last week increased the limit available for foreign institutional investors by $5 billion to $25 billion but kept the overall limit intact by lowering the limits for long-term foreign investors such as sovereign wealth funds. Moody’s rates India

with a “Baa3” rating, the lowest investment-grade rating, and a “stable” outlook.

At a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Geneva recently, India said it wouldn’t support a “trade facilitation” agreement without a parallel agreement allowing developing countries more freedom to subsidize and stockpile food.

Hindustan Unilever (3.69 per cent) was among the top two gainers in the ‘A’ group on the BSE, and was the top gainer in the Sensex 30 pack. The company posted a net profit of `1,056.85 crore for the quarter ended June 2014, as compared to `1,019.25 crore for the quarter ended June 2013. Its sales increased from `6,809.04 crore to `7,716.34 crore for the relevant period.

Coal India (-3.12 per cent) was the top loser among the Sensex 30 stocks.

The Coal Ministry recently pushed the statecontrolled company Coal India Ltd (CIL), to cut its e-auction volume to 25 MT in FY15 from 58 MT last year, and instead feed the coal-fired power projects that are reeling under severe fuel scarcity. However, the CIL Board is not in a favour of lowering the e-auction quantity. The Coal India Board will be holding a meeting on August 12 to discuss the possibility of lowering the e-auction quantity.

Central Bank of India (7.24 per cent) was the top gainer in the ‘A’

group on the BSE. The Bank posted a net profit of `191.60 crore for the quarter ended June 2014 as compared to `21.93 crore for the quarter ended June 2013. Its total income increased from `6,443.45 crore to `6,927.71 crore for the same period.

Wockhardt (7.80 per cent) was the top loser in the ‘A’ group on the BSE. The company was in the news recently because of rumours of a stake sale, which was later denied by Wockhardt. It was also reported that the company was in the final stages of receiving much-awaited regulatory approvals for its Chikalthana unit in Maharashtra.

US indices closed Friday in the red. Except for NZSE 50 (0.14 per cent) and Taiwan Weighted (0.20 per cent) all the other Asian indices which were trading today closed in the green. Shanghai Composite (2.41 per cent) was the top gainer.

Chinese industrial-company profits jumped the most last month, since September, yesterday’s data showed. Profits at industrial companies in Asia’s largest economy increased by 17.9 per cent in June compared to a year earlier after gaining 8.9 per cent in May, data from China’s statistics bureau showed. It was the biggest gain since an 18.4 per cent climb in the September of last year and came after a private gauge of Chinese manufacturing advanced to an 18-month high, data last week showed. European indices were trading flat, as were the US premarket futures. @moneylife

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

“The atmosphere in the stadiums has been fantastic and I have no idea where these quotes have come. Journalists please don’t create lies to make headlines.”

– Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt

Signposts Liverpool beat Man City WASHINGTON: Liverpool edged Manchester City in a penalty shootout in their International Champions Cup encounter. The Reds, who lost the English Premier League title to Man City last season let in a goal in the 53rd minute Wednesday, reports Xinhua. Stevan Jovetic scored with his right foot, helping Man City to take the lead. Six minutes later, Jordan Henderson levelled the scores. Both teams had chances in the last half an hour but neither could score again, and the match went into the dreaded shoot-out. Aleksandar Kolarov, Yaya Toure and Jesus Navas all missed for the City and the Reds took the win with a 3-1 score line.

Scolari hits out at critics RIO DE JANEIRO: Football coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said he has been publicly “execrated” following Brazil’s World Cup exit last month. The 65-year-old, who quit his post as Brazil coach days after the tournament, has taken charge of local top-flight club Gremio for a third time. He admitted to ‘needing a hug’ following Brazil’s 1-7 World Cup semifinal defeat to Germany and subsequent 0-3 loss to the Netherlands in the match for third place. Scolari hit back at criticis, insisting he still had the support of most Brazilian fans.

“I had a bad match and was then execrated by people involved in football via the press. It wasn’t the public,” Scolari said during a press conference.

Jadeja appeals against fine DUBAI: India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja Wednesday appealed to the International Cricket Council (ICC) against the 50 per cent fine slapped on him by Match Referee David Boon for his altercation with England fast bowler James Anderson during the first drawn Test in Trent Bridge. The ICC in a statement said that after receiving legal submissions from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) it has accepted Jadeja’s request for an appeal against the recent decision by Boon.

“The player was found guilty of an offence under Article 2.1.8 of the Code of Conduct and fined 50 per cent of his match fee. The appeal will be heard at the same time as the disciplinary hearing taking place in respect of the charge against James Anderson on Aug 1 in Southampton.

His Honour Gordon Lewis AM, will oversee proceedings via videoconference,” the ICC said in a statement.

“I realised in Sri Lanka tour that I was done and my dream of playing in a World Cup was a bridge too far.”

– South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis

India continue medal hunt at CWG Placed sixth with the tally of 47 medals includes 13 gold, 20 silver and 14 bronze in Glasgow, but is still far short of 2010 performance

GLASGOW: The 215-strong Indian contingent participating in the Commonwealth Games is putting up a good show so far to bring cheers here and to the billion plus supporters back home.

With their kitty swelling to 13 gold medals, 20 silver pieces and 14 bronze medallions, India overtook New Zealand to take the fifth position on the leaderboard after England (42-3838), Australia (36-34-41), Canada (2613-22) and marginally behind hosts Scotland (14-12-16).

Though, it is expected that India may finish third or fourth in the final medal tally, it’s unlikely that they can better their performance in 2010.

Thanks to the home conditions, India had finished second with 101 medals in total, including 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze.

WRESTLING Indian wrestlers put on an inspiring show, winning two gold medals and a silver and bronze each on the last day of the wrestling competition. Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Kumari clinched the gold medals, while Geetika Jakhar and Pawan Kumar got a silver and a bronze medal respectively.

Indian wrestlers finished with a total of 13 medals - five gold, six silver and two bronze.

The four medals, including two gold medals, on the last day made up for Wednesday’s disappointment when India missed out on four gold medals.

ATHLETICS Discus thrower Vikas Gowda broke a 56-year jinx, as he won the country’s first medal from track and field at the

Indian Medal Winners Gold: Vikas Gowda (discus throw), Yogeshwar Dutt, Vinesh Phogat, Amit Kumar, Sushil Kumar and Babita Kumari (wrestling), Sanjita Khumukchan, Satish Sivalingam and Sukhen Dey (weightlifting), Abhinav Bindra, Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle), Rahi Sarnobat (25m pistol), Jitu Rai (50m pistol) Silver: Mirabai Chanu Saikhom, Ravi Katulu, Vikas Thakur (weightlifting), Shushila Likmabam and Navjot Chana (judo), Malaika Goel, Prakash Nanjappa (10m air pistol), Ayonika Paul (10m air rifle), Anisa Sayyed (25m pistol), Shreyasi Singh (double trap), Gurpal Singh (50m pistol), Gagan Narang (50m rifle prone), Harpreet Singh (25m rapid fire pistol), Sanjeev Rajput (50m rifle 3 positions), Rajeev Tomar, Lalita, Bajrang, Sakshi Malik, Satywart Kadian and Geetika Jakhar (all freestyle wrestling) Bronze: Ganesh Mali, Santoshi Matsa, Omkar Otari, Punam Yadav and Chandrakant Mali (weightlifting), Kalpana Thoudam, Rajwinder Kaur (judo), Mohammed Asab (double trap), Manavjit Sandhu (trap), Gagan Narang and Lajja Gauswami (50m rifle 3 positions), Navjot Kaur and Pawan Kumar (wrestling), Dipa Karmakar (vault gymnastics artistic) At the end of 8th day (Thursday)

Glasgow games. The 31-year-old Gowda upgraded the silver he had won four years ago in New Delhi with a best throw of 63.64 metres, thereby becoming India’s only second male athlete to earn the top-most medal at the Commonwealth Games, 56 years after the legendary Milkha Singh’s golden run in the 440 yards at Cardiff.

Gowda’s best throw came on his third attempt, as he bettered his throw each time from 60.63m to 62.09 to 63.64. But his fourth and sixth attempts were disqualified with the fifth reading 62.17m.

GYMNASTIC It was also a historic day for the nation in artistic gymnastics, as Dipa

Karmakar became the first Indian woman and the second athlete from the country to clinch a Commonwealth Games medal when she won the women’s vault bronze. Agartalaborn Dipa won the bronze with an average score of 14.366.

Ashish Kumar, who had won India’s maiden gymnastics medals at the CWG by claiming the men’s vault silver and men’s floor bronze fours years ago in New Delhi, ended sixth in the men’s floor final.

BADMINTON Indian shuttlers had a fantastic outing at the Commonwealth Games as most of them won their respective round of 16 matches to proceed to the quarter-finals at the Emirates Arena

Cook all praise for Moeen Ali, England’s new bowling hero SOUTHAMPTON: England capEngland tied the five-match series 1-1. tain Alastair Cook Thursday praised “The team from 1 to 11 have been Moeen Ali and said the fantastic.

Moeen’s part-time spinner had bowling has come on improved “leaps and leaps and bounds, credit bounds” -- thanks to to him. When you’re his stint with Worcesbowing behind Ajmal tershire where he bowls at Worcester and he’s with Pakistan offie been bowling a lot.

Saeed Ajmal.

Responding really well Moeen Ali produced and on a spinning wicket a match-winning spell, to get a six-for, can’t taking six wickets as really ask for more,” India were bowled out Cook said at the postfor 178 in their second match presentation.

- Alastair Cook, captain innings, handing The English opener England a 266-run win said that his team won in the third cricket Test at The Rose every single session in the match and Bowl here Thursday. deserved the win.

With the comprehensive win, “Happy is the word, not relieved.

“Moeen’s bowling has come on leaps and bounds,”

We pretty much won every single session and that credit to the guys.

It’s a great win, we wanted to get on that wicket fi rst and to get 570 is a great start and bowled well and batted quickly and knocked them over again,” said Cook.

Cook, though, said that he was frustrated at not reaching the threefigure mark after a 95 in the fi rst innings and an unbeaten 70 in the second.

“I thought my game was heading in the right direction even with 10s and 20s. Frustrating not to get the hundred, but I’d take what I got.

Getting back into the ball is vital, I’m pretty good with the short ball. I had to work incredibly hard.”

IANS

Slideways suffers troubles in South Pune drivers return empty-handed, Sirish Chandran being the only finisher for the team in Chennai Rally TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSweekly PUNE: The weekend didn’t go well for Slideways, as the AVT Premium South India Rally in Chennai saw the Punebased rally team return home emptyhanded, of due to mechanical issues with the cars. Sirish Chandran was the only member from the team, who completed the race finishing fourth.

Th is was the fi rst time in three years that Slideways Industries has returned without a single trophy. Byram Godrej, team principal Rohan Pawar and Anirudhha Rangnekar exited the rally due to technical difficulties.

The rally began on a high note for the Slideways cars though. Based at the MMRT race track in Sriperumbadur on the outskirts of Chennai and with stages all within a 20 km radius of the track, the fi rst loop of three stages saw Sirish Chandran (co-driver Nikhil Pai) lead the 1600cc class with a one-second advantage over Arjun Rao Aroor (who eventually won the rally). The class was so tightly contested that the time difference between the

Sirish Chandran cutting the edge during the South India Rally

top three drivers was just 1.5 seconds, while between the top five it was just five seconds.

The problems, however, struck on the fourth stage where the engine of Sirish’s car started losing power and then on the fi fth stage the engine

in the Slideways car overheated and the Polo just about crawled out of the stage. After cooling the engine, Sirish and Nikhil crawled through the last stage without putting any stress on the motor and dropped down to fourth, way behind the leaders and losing any

chance of a podium position.

Hrishikesh Thackersay, also driving a Slideways Polo, set the fastest time in the 1600cc class on stage one but from the second stage onwards the engine of his Polo started giving way and eventually forced him to retire.

The fi fth stage also proved to be the nemesis for Byram Godrej whose engine spluttered to a halt and put him out of the rally.

Pawar (co-driver Arjun Mehta) also experienced some mechanical issues.

The gearbox in his Polo broke down on the second stage and they crawled through the third stage to make it to the service park. However, the stress on the clutch and gearbox was too much and the duo had to retire.

“The rally itself was superb – the stages were very fast, smooth, flowing – quite possibly the best stages and the best rally Slideways have competed in.

All our drivers were on the pace before the engines started to go pop. We now need to re-group, rebuild our cars and focus on the last three rallies, which kicks off in October end in Kolkata,” said Rohan.

here. To start with, men’s singles second seed Parupalli Kashyap needed only 24 minutes to move past Australia’s Jeff Tho 21-7, 21-8, while fifth seed R.M.V. Gurusaidutt beat Andrew D’Souza 21-13, 21-9 in 27 minutes. However, fourth seeded Kidambi Srikanth had to struggle for 57 minutes before edging past Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne 20-22, 21-16, 21-12.

Later, sixth seed P.C. Thulasi defeated Canadian Rachel Honderich 21-12, 21-7 in 31 minutes to move into the women’s singles last eight, while women’s doubles defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa overcame Australian combine He Tang and Renuga Veeran 18-21, 21-10, 21-6.

HOCKEY The men’s hockey team moved into

the semifinal by winning their fourth and final Pool A game 5-2 against South Africa. They will take on New Zealand Saturday. India needed only a draw to make the cut for the last four, but did it in style by thrashing the Africans, for whom it was a must-win contest.

India thus finished second in Pool A with three wins out of four matches behind defending champions Australia.

IANS Country England Australia Canada Scotland India N Zealand

G 44 36 22 14 13 13

S 40 36 13 13 20 11

B 39 41 25 16 14 15

T 123 113 65 43 47 39

The kick from kabaddi Hanging out with the boys from U Mumba, table-toppers of the ongoing Pro-Kabaddi League

BY MALAY DESAI @malayD First up, a disclosure: Owing to a social media project, this writer got to hang out and high-five with members of Mumbai’s team for the newly launched tournament, Pro Kabaddi League.

The hanging out, which is still underway, has been nothing short of heartening, and in many manners a typical dive into the intriguing goings-on of a non-cricket sport in India. Even if kabaddi gets close to the ‘revolution’ that PKL’s promoters are promising, this column shall be the reference point for a small book!

Team ‘U Mumba’, christened after the goddess who lends her name to the city and prefi xed with the franchise owner’s favourite letter, is on the top of the league table as we go into print, but there is much more than the wins that his boys feel special about.

For the opening leg of the tournament, the team was put up at a five-star hotel in Mumbai, a fi rst for many of them. Then, after having trained under a coach’s and physio’s eyes, their proteins measured and bags carried by bell boys to waiting air-conditioned cars, they would arrive at an indoor stadium decked up with TV equipment, glitzy lights and importantly, a curious crowd. All this for a sport they took up in their childhoods, because, well, there was nothing much to play with.

Unlike racquet or goal sports, the cost of kabaddi be played in your backyard is nill. Jeeva G from Selum and Mohit Chillar from Nizampuropted played kabaddi only to

seek a stable job that would follow. Ask any hockey/football player from teams such as Railways, SBI or Services, and you’d hear a similar story.

There are the interesting ‘deviants’ too, such as one Vishal Mane who took up kabaddi only to woo his lady love’s family of kabaddi players. And a Rohit Kumar, who wanted a job in the Navy in Mumbai to achieve his dream of meeting Akshay Kumar (who, incidentally, is promoting anotherkabaddi league that’s coming soon) Rishank Devadiga, all of 22, had nearly thrice as many supporters on all four days of U Mumba’ games. On day three, in a game versus Vizag’s Telugu Titans, he bruised his eye in a rough tackle, had it bandaged, and kept playing.

The next day, as he took to the turf (not dusty any more, this is new-age kabaddi) still in a bandage, a section of the bleachers chanted his name – a dozen friends sporting white ‘bandages’ on their foreheads. The game was won, and I hope his parents too watched it, for they had never approved of Rishank’s choice of ‘sport.’

Given the various layers of agents, managers and red tape one must wade through to chat up an A-list cricketer, it almost seemed odd in the past few days to go up and meet an Indian sportsman,peep into his life. and do simple things such as take a selfie with their child. The kabaddi caravan, currently in Kolkata, is visiting seven more cities, including Pune, over the coming weeks. At the risk of sounding like a press release, I still insist you do yourself a favour and cheer the sport.

Who knows, this might just be our NBA.

SPORTS “I had to work on my strength to play in the new weight category which took a lot of time but eventually it gave me good results today.”

- Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt

Signposts Josborn, Sanal win PPFCA scholarships

Pankaj strikes brace in Cybage’s win PUNE: Pankaj Rode fired two goals, both in the first half, to help Cybage beat Tieto 4-1 in the 12th Inter IT Soccer Championship Cup 2014, at the Range Hills ground.

Rode found the target in the 5th and 29th minutes and also Sunil Bhosale had put Syntel ahead in the 23rd minute. Vineet Kodre struck the fourth goal of the match in the 41st minute to completely overwhelm Tieto.

Parekh completes grand double PUNE: Siddharth Parekh emerged victorious from a closely-contested match to clinch the title, beating clubmate Hassan Badami in the Kumar Khandelwal Memorial Open Snooker tournament at the Deccan Gymkhana recently. The 33-yearold completed a grand double after having won the billiards title last week. For the top 16 ranked cueist, the outing in Pune proved fruitful as he pocketed Rs 36,000 as prize money.

Nishit Biniwale completes Challenge Roth TGS NEWS SERIVICE @TGSWeekly PUNE: The city’s Dr Nishit Biniwale become the youngest Indian to complete the iron-distance race in the recently concluded Challenge Roth in Germany.

The annual triathlon event consists of a 3.86km swimming, 180.25km cycling and 42.2km running.

The 22-year-old Biniwale participating in his second Iron-man event, completed the distance in 14 hours 19.50 minutes.

Over 5,000 athletes from all over the world participated in the event. Biniwale trained and completed his bicycle section on Giant TCR Advanced SL one, which is considered as the one of the fastest bikes.

“It was an extremely challeging race with harsh weather, soaring temperatures and fierce head wins. It was the toughest event, I have participated in. But I was well prepared as I was practicing for this since last year, for four everyday. Now fitness has become my obsession,” said Biniwale.

He said that the triathlon event is not very popular in India.

“In Europe, the triathlon participants receive huge respect, but that’s not the case in India. Here the common man knows Iron man as the title of a Hollywood movie,” he said.

AUGUST 2, 2014

PUNE

“In India triathlon event is not very popular and when I say I participate in Iron man, people think it’s a Hollywood movie.”

- Nishit Biniwale, triathlon athlete

Key to success is a strong mind

Pune shuttler Purva Barve feels that the visualisation technique she learnt from Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar has helped her clinch second national title ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis.ashish PUNE: Mental toughness is one of the main factors behind the success of champions. The reason why mental training is crucial is because the mind controls a player’s body. When the player uses imagery - visualisation to its fullest potential, it can accelerate the progress and help him or her in mental preparation of the match. This is what Pune’s upcoming badminton player Purva Barve believes and practices.

She has benefitted from this technique and it wasn’t surprising that she won two national titles this year, and is on her way to become number 1 in her age group.

The 14-year-old won her maiden national sub-junior title at Cuddappa, Andhra Pradesh in February. After losing in final against A Akshita in Bhagalpur, Bihar, Purva clinched the national title in Udapi, Karnataka recently, beating Riya Arolkar 21-18 21-15.

Purva attributed her success to her physical fitness and mental preparation.

“My coach Nikhil Kanetkar introduced me to the visualisation technique. It really helped me in crucial matches. Earlier, I was not able to get into rhythm quickly and would lose initial points. But, now with the effective use of visualisation, I have managed to overcome that hurdle. Even in the final against Riya, this technique played a key role,” said Purva, a trainee of Nikhil Kanetkar Badminton Academy (NKBA).

Coach Kanetkar said, “Scientifically, there is ample evidence that visualisation can significantly enhance physical skill development.

Before any match you relax the body, then visualise the situation. You imagine that you are playing your strokes perfectly, winning points easily and claiming victory. Our mind is so powerful that even if you are not at your best, you can still produce good results.”

“This technique has helped me a lot and even All-England Champion P

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

PUNE: Goa-based Josborn Fernandes and Sanal Raj of Kerala became the first-ever youngsters to win scholarships at the Peninsula Pune FC Academy (PPFCA), offered as part of the partnership with the Bajaj Allianz Junior Football Camp Season 5. Josborn finished first runner-up in the West Zone Finale among 48 finalists from three cities and was joined by Sanal who finished second in the South Zone.

Both youngsters will undergo a two-month long residential scholarship at the PPFCA. Meanwhile, Joval Fernandes, adjudged as the best player in the West Zone, travels to Germany with four others from other zones for a training stint at FC Bayern Munich.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

Gopichand is also keen of using such technique,” added the Olympian.

PREVENTING INJURY Last year Purva suffered a minor accident and missed her nationals.

Kanetkar said, “I believe that was a learning experience for her. A player of such level cannot risk any injury. During my playing days, I would carry my suitcase in my right hand, just to prevent any stress on my playing left hand. Even Gopi was particular about it. He had sinus and if he sensed change in weather he would sleep with a towel on his face. You just can’t waste all your training and hard work just like that.”

FUTURE PLANS About Purva’s future plans, her coach said, “It would be too early to say if she can be next Saina or Sindhu, but

she definitely has the potential. Our focus is to do well in seniors as soon as possible. Three years down the line, she should be physically and mentally

strong to handle international level pressure. If she solidifies her base, it will help her for the next 10 years.” ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

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