The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 16/05/2015

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

PUNE, MAY 16, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

TGS LIFE

When work brings the odd ones together

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

CITY

Limousines are passé, choppers are in, boast Pune villagers P4

These trees are too old to produce oxygen: TMC CO P 10 ANNIRUDHA RAJENDEKAR

Waiting to be wiped out

National Film Award winning producers in financial trouble Bindiya and Sachin Khanolkar, who produced ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’ and are currently struggling to release ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’, have defaulted on a bank loan; their house has been put up on auction

BY YOGESH SADHWANI @yogeshsadhwani

Last monsoon 151 lives were lost in the Malin tragedy. An otherwise sleepy administration swung into action to identify villages facing similar threat from landslides. Ten months and two surveys later, 23 villages have been shortlisted for rehabilitation. With at least one more survey to go, the entire exercise merely remains on paper. Meanwhile, the villagers are living on the edge See Spotlight, p8-9

National Film Award winning producers Sachin Khanolkar and his wife Bindiya Khanolkar are in trouble. Makers of ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’, a fi lm inspired by a Pune-based social worker, have defaulted on their loans to the tune of Rs 2.8 crore. As a result of the default NKGSB Cooperative Bank has sealed their residence in Prabhadevi, Mumbai.

Contd on p3

‘After 20 years of hockey I am left empty-handed’

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Khadki is known as the nursery of Indian hockey. Right from Olympian Babu Nimal to Dhanraj Pillay and Vikas Pillay, several talented players have emerged from this region.

Those who got lucky, got richers, but there are a few like Sanjay Polliaya, who are left with a bitter taste.

Pint-sized Polliaya devoted 20 years of his life to hockey. He represented Maharashtra in 10 nationals, and was a key player for teams like Western Railway, Rajesh Pillay Academy and Priyadarshni. He earned a reputation for being the most ferocious striker. However, his charisma on the field and the glory he attained haven’t been enough for him to get a decent job or a permanent source of income.

Life has been a constant struggle for Polliaya. Born in a financially backward family,

career is over. My answer is, I just can’t stay away from the sport. It’s in my blood and it will remain forever,” he says.

Polliaya was forced to earn his living doing odd jobs like welding and painting. His only hope was that one day, his performances on the field would help him get a decent job.

The 39-year-old now has realised that the sport has nothing to offer as such. “I wasn’t hankering after fame or big money. What I wanted was a decent job, so that I could feed my family and concentrate on the game. But after spending so many years and playing so many nationals, I am left empty handed,” said Polliaya, who now works as a housekeeper in the Jehangir Hospital’s kitchen.

Polliaya’s day starts early. He wakes up at 5 am in his tiny house in Pathar Chawl, Khadki Bazaar. He has to report to work by 6 am. After a hard day’s work, he returns home and then leaves for a practice session at the Polygras stadium in PCMC. “My family members ask me why I spend so much time on the ground when my playing RAHUL RAUT

PLAYING CAREER Like any regular kid in Khadki area, Polliaya also picked up the stick at an early age. Though he was more interested in football initially, he decided to stay loyal to hockey.

Priyadarshini Club was the fi rst team he represented and within a short span, Polliaya was selected to represent Maharashtra at the junior nationals in Mumbai, in 1990. With his splendid performance in the juniors, it was a smooth entry for him in the senior Maharashtra squad.

Then there was no turning back for Polliaya. He was the backbone of the state team for the next eight years. “My performance was at the peak. I was confident and thankfully the selectors picked me,” said Polliaya, who also represented Western Railways in 1992-93.

His sparkling performance earned him a place in the India selection camp held at Bangalore in 1997. It would have been a turning point for Polliaya, had he been selected. He was turned down and Polliaya never got another chance to show his skills in the international arena.

“I was sincere, hard-working and passionate about the game. I had several match-winning performances in my kitty. But what I lacked was a godfather. Nobody entertained me at the India camp and totally ignored my skills.

My life would have been much better if they would have given me at least a single chance,” says Polliaya.

JOB STRUGGLE To pursue a career in hockey, Polliaya had taken the drastic step of leaving school in the eighth standard. He regrets this decision even today, as the lack of education has turned out to be a major obstacle for him in his job hunt.

“I was so passionate about hockey at that time, and would spend hours practicing. I wasn’t a bright student and I was also helping my father in his welding and painting jobs. So I decided to quit school when I was 12 or 13,” he said.

However, his passion for the sport was ignored and he was asked to clear at least the SSC exam when he applied for job in the

RAHUL RAUT

Once basking in the spotlight as a national player, Sanjay Polliaya has since fallen on hard times and is now forced to earn a living as a housekeeper

Sanjay Polliaya still practices on the Cantonment sports complex from where he has been playing since his childhood. (Left) Sitting at his home with the awards that he won

Western Railway. He had a similar experience with the Ordnance Factory, Khadki.

“I had another chance in 2002, when the Tata Group hockey team coach Nasir Khan called me for selection trials. Unfortunately, I had some family emergency and reported for trials two days late. Naturally my name was not on the list. I literally cried and begged them to give me a chance, but they flatly refused. I still feel that it was mistake on my part. I should have left everything to attend the trials,” says Polliaya.

Talking about another disappointing experience, he said, “During the Mayor’s Cup Hockey Tournament in Khadki in 1997, I played well and my goal in a minute, helped Priyadarshini enter the finals. Then Mayor Bharat Sawant was impressed with my game, and in front of a large crowd announced that he would arrange a job for me within 15 days.

Fifteen years later, I am still waiting for a job.”

UNDYING PASSION Despite all his bitterness, Polliaya is not able to keep away from the sport. In fact he regularly visits the ground and voluntarily coaches youngsters.

“My only dream was to play for India. I couldn’t fulfi l it. Now my playing days are over, but the passion for hockey within me is still alive. I am coaching a few students in Khadki. I want my students to don the Indian colours. The world should notice their performance and they should proudly say that they are Sanjay Polliaya’s student. That’s my ultimate aim now and will do anything for it,” he says.

“Even my 10-year-old son Prathamesh is started taking an interest in hockey. It would have been natural if I discouraged him from taking up hockey. But the truth is that I would be happy to watch him play,” he added. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

mUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“The previous government had initiated a drive to recruit 60,000 police personnel, after which 24,000 posts have been filled up. The next phase of recruitment would begin in October.”

- Ram Shinde, Minister of State for Home

Eight-fold increase in demand for special numbers P4

An Uber for doctor house calls P6

Yohan Poonawalla’s Porsche catches fire Business baron says manufacturer sold him a defective car

By Bapu Deedwania Yohan Poonawalla is an angry man these days. He is furious with Porsche for selling him a defective vehicle. His Porsche Cayenne Turbo

Yohan Poonawalla

suddenly caught fire a few days ago.

His driver, who saw smoke billowing from under the hood of the car, had a miraculous escape and jumped out of the vehicle just in time. Yohan, of the Poonawalla Group, is known for his love of cars. He owns several high-

end and vintage cars.

The incident took place at around 5.40 am on April 26, when Poonawalla’s driver was returning home after dropping his guests off at Taj Lands End, Bandra. When the vehicle was on Hill Road in Bandra, the driver noticed smoke under the hood. Without wasting another second, he jumped out of the vehicle.

In no time the vehicle was engulfed in flames. By the time fire brigade could arrive, there was very little left of the car worth Rs 2 crore.

Poonawalla has written a stern letter to Porsche. The vehicle (MH 06 BB 10) was registered in the name of his company EL-O-MATIC India Pvt Ltd. “Porsche makes tall claims published widely on its website as ‘The Porsche Principle’, where the company claims that Porsche cars are the safest.

The company claims to make vehicles with ‘Intelligent Performance’. The decision to own a Porsche car was influenced by relying on the brand image and positive publicity, which turned out to be fraudulent publicity,” states the three page letter.

Left: The scene at Hill Road in Bandra, where the Porsche Cayenne Turbo caught fire. Right: The completely charred front end of the car

The letter written to Anil Reddi, director of Porsche India, states that the vehicle was well-maintained and used with the utmost care. “It was painful to know that Porsche has sold the car which was a danger to life when put to actual use… Being a manufacturer of repute, you are aware that a defective car can cause accidents and injury to purchasers who are unaware of the defects,” states the letter signed by Poonawalla, whose family owns Poonawalla Stud Farms, Serum Institute of India, and several

other companies.

His letter details how the driver had a miraculous escape and that minutes before the vehicle caught fire, it had Poonawalla’s guests inside, who were dropped off at Taj Lands End. “It came as a shock and surprise to me being a car enthusiast and owning a fleet of cars including various high profile and luxury cars. I am equally concerned about the safety and well being of other persons who have been victims of Porsche and will be future victims and have been using Porsche

cars without being aware of the fact that they are travelling in a car which is a great risk to their life and safety… The said incident has caused tremendous mental agony, pain and suffering to me and my family,” states the letter. He has asked the company to take immediate remedial measures not just for his car but for all those sold across the country failing which he would initiate legal action.

Poonawalla owns a fleet of cars, which includes a Bentley Mark VI (1949), Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow

Jatin-Lalit’s ‘killer’ nephew granted bail

Jayprakash, in those days was posted in Indore, while daughter Rajeshwari was studying in Manipal.

The sleuths left no stone unturned to conjure up a juicy story in their chargesheet. They attached statements of maids in the Singh household who gave out details of how Raghuveer would often beat his mother, throw shoes at her, stuff her mouth with socks and physically abuse her.

After the chargesheet was filed in Thane Sessions Court, trial has been progressing gradually.

Raghuveer Singh was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch for allegedly murdering his mother Sandhya Singh, cutting her body into pieces, dissolving her flesh and disposing of her bones in the marshes; HC says evidence gathered by cops is purely circumstantial

BY Yogesh Sadhwani @yogeshsadhwani After spending 17 months behind bars, Raghuveer Singh has finally been granted bail. The Bombay High Court recently ordered that Raghuveer be released on bail on the grounds that cops did not have any clinching evidence of his involvement in the

Raghuveer Singh

murder. His mother Sandhya Singh went missing from the house in NRI Seawoods Complex, Navi Mumbai in December 2012. In January 2013, human remains were found in the marshes barely 200 metres away from the Singh household. DNA tests proved that it was Sandhya Singh’s remains. A good year later, in December 2013, Raghuveer was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch for murder, destruction of evidence and theft. Raghuveer’s father Jayprakash Singh is a commissioner in Central Excise Department.

“The prosecution case rests entirely on the circumstantial evidence, and the circumstances as they stand, are neither clinching nor sufficient, prima facie, to show the complicity of the applicant (Raghuveer). There is no material brought on record by the prosecution, to show that the deceased (Sandhya Singh) was last seen in the company of the applicant,” states Justice Revati Mohite Dere’s order. At the time of going to press, Raghuveer’s father was trying to complete the paperwork to get his son out of jail.

Dramatic discovery of Sandhya’s body The incident dates back to December 13, 2012 when Sandhya went missing from her house in the plush NRI Seawoods Complex. Back then, her family claimed that Sandhya had left

the house and taken jewellery worth Rs two crore along with her. For weeks, local police kept investigating the missing complaint. Sandhya was sister of actresses Sulakshana Pandit and Vijeta Pandit and of music composer duo Jatin-Lalit.

It was only in January 2013, a British national, who was participating in a bird race, spotted a human skull in the marshes next to Delhi Public School, Seawoods. Initially too stunned to react, Michael John Oates, a 61-year-old geologist employed with British Gas, merely took photographs of the human skull and bones lying around it. A day later he led the cops to the body.

To begin with, cops dismissed it as yet another case of a body from outside their jurisdiction being dumped in the marshes and were in a hurry to close it. However, a black thread and bundle of fake hair found from the spot, made the cops sit up. It was similar to what 50-year-old Sandhya used all the time.

The bones, which included a skull and some parts of the limbs, were sent for DNA tests. In February 2103, reports came back stating that the bones were Sandhya’s remains.

Investigation Now that it was amply clear that Sandhya had been murdered, her body cut into pieces, flesh dissolved, and bones strewn in several places, cops made Raghuveer their prime suspect.

Navi Mumbai police interrogated

Raghuveer on several occasions but failed to get any confession or clues.

Eventually, the case was handed over to the Mumbai crime branch. Within weeks of taking over, they named Raghuveer as an accused.

Back then, the 23-year-old college drop-out went into hiding and applied for bail. He went right up to the Supreme Court but his plea was rejected. Finally, on December 16, 2013, Raghuveer surrendered. He has been behind bars ever since. He has been locked up in Anda cell of Taloja jail with likes of Abu Salem.

Chargesheet The Mumbai crime branch filed the chargesheet in the case in May 2014.

The 1,300-page document was nothing short of a raunchy novel. It branded Raghuveer as a pathological liar, drug addict and a violent man. Sandhya was portrayed as having an affair with a local cop. While it gave out personal details of all those somehow connected to the case, the chargesheet did not answer why and how Sandhya was murdered.

The chargesheet mostly revolved around statements of 71 witnesses and forensic reports. The documents which were supposed to unravel the murder mystery and decisively point fingers at Sandhya’ son, failed to answer even basic questions.

Investigators from the Mumbai crime branch largely relied on statements of various witnesses, who

Sandhya Singh’s remains were discovered at a marsh in the vicinity of her home

I (1967 and 1976), Rolls-Royce Phantom, Mercedes 190 SL (1956), Mercedes S600 L, BMW 760 Li, Lamborghini Gallardo, among others. He is known for preserving and cherishing his huge collection.

Speaking to The Golden Sparrow, Poonawalla said that he had reported the incident immediately to Porsche and he was assured that within 48 hours they will revert to him. “It is rather sad that it’s been over two weeks and despite constant follow-up there has been nothing concrete from the company’s side. After the incident we were terribly shaken. My driver was inconsolable. I would never be able to forgive myself had something happened to him,” he said.

When The Golden Sparrow team contacted Porsche India, their director Anil Reddi responded via email, “Porsche India is aware of the incident involving a 2011 Cayenne Turbo on fire in Mumbai.

Fortunately, there were no personal injuries to any parties at the scene of the incident. We are in direct contact with the owner of the vehicle and are taking immediate action to ascertain the cause of the fire.” bapudeedwania@gmail.com

Left to right: Raghuveer, sister Rajeshwari, father Jayprakash and Sandhya Singh in happier times

said that Raghuveer was jobless, a college drop-out, junkie and that he did not get along with his mother.

Through the statements of maids employed in the Singh household, and Sandhya’s friends, the police tried

Sandhya Singh

establishing that Raghuveer regularly beat his mother and even stole from her to pay for his drugs.

The sleuths pointed out that Raghuveer had lied about everything from the day his mother went missing.

In the chargesheet, the cops stated that Raghuveer kept maintaining that his mother had gone to the bank on December 13, the day she went missing, and withdrew Rs 80,000.

Later, it was found that she did not go to the bank and money was never withdrawn from her account.

To corroborate their point, police relied on statements of Sandhya’s brothers and sisters. The Pandits stated that Raghuveer told them that his mother had gone to the bank to deposit jewellery worth Rs 2 crore into a bank locker. The cops pointed out that this was nothing but an attempt to buy time to dispose of Sandhya’s body and may be to suggest that Sandhya could be murdered for money by someone else. The Pandits in their statements told the cops that all the jewellery that Raghuveer claimed was missing along with Sandhya was found in the bank locker, when it was opened in March 2013.

The chargesheet also had a lot of steamy scenes, straight from a B-grade movie. Through statements of various witnesses, cops put together how a

female friend of Raghuveer was in a relationship with at least four men, including her professor, who was 17 years her senior. The woman in question was Raghuveer’s girlfriend and live-in partner when his mother went missing.

The cops went to the extent of stating that a day after Sandhya went missing, Raghuveer hosted a surprise party for one of his friends, where almost everybody was high on drugs. Some of those present at the party told the cops that Raghuveer and his live-in partner went into his bedroom and had sex. The Mumbai crime branch did not think twice before using the statement in the chargesheet. One wonders if that was even required to prove a murder charge.

The police did not even stop short of assassinating Sandhya’s character.

Through statements of Anil Behrani, a cop posted at a police station near Singh household, the crime branch tried establishing that she was having an affair.

Behrani’s version in the chargesheet was that Sandhya would talk to him for hours and even went out with him on numerous occasions. Behrani gave details about one such outing wherein Sandhya apparently threw herself at him, but he ‘never let his guard down’ and only played the ‘role of a patient listener’.

Another factor that the cops relied on while accusing Raghuveer of the murder was that he was a drug addict. In the chargesheet, cops pointed out how almost all of Raghuveer’s friends were drug addicts. Statements pointed out how he and his friends would spend a whole lot of time scoring and doing drugs. The only person, who was made to look like a saint, not surprisingly though, was the then Navi Mumbai police commissioner Ashok Sharma’s son Ajit. Ajit was one of the many friends Raghuveer had, who attended a party organised at the Singh household on December 14, a day after Sandhya went missing. Sandhya’s husband,

Bail order Raghuveer’s father has been trying to get his son freed on bail for a while now. After the chargesheet was filed by the cops last year, Jayprakash applied for his son’s bail in the Sessions court but it was rejected. In March this year, he filed an application before the Bombay High Court.

Justice Revati Mohite Dere heard both sides – the cops kept insisting that Raghuveer would tamper with witnesses, while Raghuveer’s lawyers pointed out that the entire case was based on circumstantial evidence. The cops, who were represented by public prosecutor Aruna Pai, argued that the maids in the Singh household had made it amply clear Raghuveer and his mother did not have a cordial relationship. Pai also pointed out how the son had pawned a Rado watch that was supposedly worn by Sandhya on the day she went missing. Cops suggested that Raghuveer killed her and took off the watch from his mother’s hand before disposing of the body. The cops recovered the watch from a pawnshop.

“The applicant (Raghuveer) had given his mother’s Rado watch, which was allegedly worn by the deceased (Sandhya) when she left the house, to his friend Varun for mortgaging the same.

The said the Rado watch was mortgaged to Vinod Jain for Rs 16,000. It is pertinent to note that all other articles, i.e. jewellery worn by the deceased were found on her body. As far as the CDR (phone) records are concerned, when questioned, the APP (public prosecutor) is unable to show the location of the applicant at the spot, at the relevant time. She states that the CDR shows that the applicant was 15 minutes away from the spot. In fact, the prosecution is unable to give the exact time of the assault on the deceased or the manner in which the deceased was murdered or how the body was disposed of,” the HC order states.

Pointing out how the evidence was purely circumstantial, Justice Revati Mohite Dere granted Raghuveer bail. He will have to appear before the Mumbai crime branch once a month and cannot leave Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai without court’s permission. yogesh.sadhwani@goldensparrow.com

Raghuveer regularly beat his mother and even stole from her to pay for his drugs: Cops

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PMC’s ambitious pipeline plan held up by irate farmers P5

PUNE

“The authority has decided that no illegal construction under its jurisdiction will be provided with power and water connections.”

- Girish Bapat, PMRDA president

National Film award winning A chip to locate your pet producers in financial trouble

PCMC has come up with the idea of implanting a microchip in animals

Bindiya and Sachin Khanolkar, who produced ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’ and are currently struggling to release ‘Gour Hari Dastaan’, have defaulted on a bank loan; their house has been put up on auction

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal PRASHANT ANKUSHRAO

Contd from p 1

Sachin and Bindiya Khanolkar are directors in Siddhivinayak Cinevision Pvt Ltd. Their company borrowed Rs 2.7 crore from NKGSB Cooperative Bank way back in 2008. Over the years they have not been able to repay the loan completely. Recently, the bank took possession of their flat on the 10th floor of plush Siddhivinayak Horizon in Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Spread over 1,135 square feet, the flat, insiders reveal, was where the Khanolkars lived. Sources say that Khanolkars’ construction company developed the building and the family retained two flats in it. While one of the flats has been put up for auction, another flat, also on the 10th floor, is still with the Khanolkars. They are currently using the other flat as their home.

The notice issued by NKGSB Cooperative Bank on May 11, stated that the total outstanding on their company and the two directors was to the tune of Rs 2.8 crore. The flat has been attached by the bank and will be auctioned on June 17. The minimum reserve price for the house has been set

at Rs 4.55 crore.

Sachin Khanolkar is originally an architect who took to construction. His construction company Siddhivinayak Construction Pvt Ltd is also in troubled waters. Phoenix ARC, one of the lending companies, has fi led a winding up petition in Bombay High Court against the construction company of which Sachin Khanolkar is a director. Sachin and his wife have been in production since 2001, when Siddhivinayak Cinevision was floated.

The couple runs their production company together. In 2010 they produced the Marathi fi lm ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’, which became a hit overnight. The fi lm won in four categories in the 58th National Film Awards – best male playback singer, best adapted screenplay, for dialogues and a Special Jury Award.

Buoyed by the success of the fi lm, the couple produced ‘Gour Hari Dastaan – The Freedom File’ with acclaimed director Ananth Mahadevan. The fi lm, though has been showcased at several fi lm festivals, is yet to be released

THE PRODUCT The tiny chip, made of biocompatible material, is embedded between the animal’s shoulder blades on the dorsal midline and, when scanned, can be used to identify the pet and its owner.

The chip, about the size of a large grain of rice, uses passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology.

It can be read with a scanner used with implanted chips.

RAHUL RAUT

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke “A car is parked on the footpath in front of my gate. Please pick it up and punish the driver appropriately,” reads an email to the Traffic Control branch of the city police.

“The traffic signal near my home on Tilak Road is not functioning properly and this is causing traffic congestion. The noise from the vehicles caught in the traffic jam disrupts our afternoon siesta,” states another email.

“Every day someone parks a

motorcycle in front of my gate despite the fact that it is a no parking zone. Please help,” reads another email from Kothrud.

The city traffic police receive such emails everyday and each one of them is addressed. Since January 1, 2015, the city traffic police have received 43,000 emails containing complaints, suggestions and information about traffic conditions.

“It is a huge number. And each email is checked and verified by a concerned officer of the rank of police inspector. Prompt action is taken and a reply in form of email

THE BASIC PURPOSE Civic officials said that the microchip will be used only to locate the lost pet. After a pet is found and handed to an animal shelter, the animal will be scanned for the microchip that will give its identification number and owner details.

THE IMPLEMENTATION Gore said that a few pet owners in Pimpri-Chinchwad have microchipped their pets, as losing the animal is a major economical and emotional loss for them. PCMC proposes to implant the microchip in pets at the time of issuing licences for pets. The present population of pet animals in Pimpri-Chinchwad area is over 6,000 dogs and 9,000 other animals, including cattle, horses, camels and elephants. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

The Siddhivinayak Horizon in Prabhadevi, Mumbai, where the Khanolkars own an apartment

commercially for want of funds. The couple has been struggling for a while now to raise money to release the

fi lm based on struggles of a freedom fighter from Odisha. yogesh.sadhwani@goldensparrow.com

‘Vehicles caught in a jam are disturbing my siesta’

Pune traffic cops’ inbox is flooded with trivial complaints. Patiently they go through each and every one of them and address the genuine ones

MOVE THAT CAR: Many of the online complaints received by the traffic police are regarding vehicles parked in front of their houses

The civic administration of PimpriChinchwad plans to implant identifying microchip in pets. The implementation of this proposal will help locate a lost pet and save money spent on the missing animals’ housing, food and medical care at the municipal animal shelter.

The microchip, which is ready, will be provided by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) at minimal price.

Speaking to The Golden Sparrow, PCMC veterinary chief Dr Satish Gore said, “The proposal is in its initial stage. The price of a microchip for pet owners is yet to be finalised but it may cost around Rs 300.”

Using a large syringe, a veterinarian implants it and the procedure usually does not need an anaesthetic. The placement is permanent. Each microchip has a unique number and one implantation is enough for the pet’s lifetime.

The chip will carry details, including owner’s name, address, contact number, breed and pet’s vaccination report.

is sent back to the email sender,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sarang Awad.

Awad said that some emails are regarding individual complaints, while others suggest developments in infrastructure, or pertain to traffic rule violations.

Categorising the emails according to the nature of the complaint or suggestion, the traffic police said that a majority of the complaints are about signal timings during peak hours. The second highest number of emails is regarding the parking of two- or three-wheelers on footpaths, while the third largest number of emails are about vehicles parked in front of bungalows are societies.

Residents from old parts of the city, Karve Road and Kothrud mostly write about vehicles randomly parked in front of their bungalows or societies. Meanwhile, road users from Kharadi, Magarpatta, Wakad and Hinjewadi areas write about the irregular timings of the traffic signals.

Some emails contain complaints about non-functioning signals, regular traffic rule violations, and the alleged misbehaviour of the traffic police constables posted at the chowks, etc.

Also citizens keep sending in photographs of policemen violating traffic rules along with their emails, asking senior police officials, if such errant law enforcers will be brought to book.

Some of the photographs involve cops from Pune, while most of the pictures are from Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Jalgaon.

Some people have also written in about being wrongly punished by traffic cops.

Police Inspector (Traffi c Planning) Rajkumar Shere said that printouts of the emails are regularly taken out and the problem or issue is communicated to the local traffic division through wireless.

“Once action is taken, response is sent back to the sender, explaining what kind of action was initiated,” Shere added.

Shere said that the traffic police ignore emails which are individual in nature. “Such complaints are trivial in nature, like honking near the house or disputes with neighbours,” Shere said. However, he said that complaints about breaking of footpaths, rotation of signals help the police in rectifying the situation. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Lost pets at the municipal animal shelter in Pimpri-Chinchwad

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“The State Government is unclear about payment of penalities that are included in property bills. Hence many property owners refrained from paying taxes.”

— Bhanudas Gaikwad, Head, PCMC tax department

These trees are too old to produce oxygen: TMC CO

GM foods: India should face up to dissent

P10

P12

Limousines are passé, choppers are in, boast Pune villagers High-flying rural folk splurging big on wedding dos with helicopter joyrides for the newly-weds and kin

The bride and groom, with their relatives in tow, arrive at the helipad.

Almost 15 cameras are lined up to capture the precise and precious moment, as the just-married couple board the helicopter, for a fl ight costing them Rs 65,000 an hour.

That’s not all, because even the relatives take their turns to enjoy the thrill of a chopper sortie. There’s more. Next comes a flower-showering ceremony. As the marriage ceremony begins on the lush lawns, the chopper gets airborne, and the relatives in the helicopter shower flowers on the couple.

Such an extravaganza may be a common sight in the metro cities. But now even in rural areas it is no longer enough for wedding couples and their entourage to arrive at wedding venues in swanky limousines. High profi le villagers such as wealthy landlords, politicians and industrialists are all resorting to the jaw-dropping, moviestyle private chopper scenarios to give their wedding dos the stamp of ultra exclusivity. So what if they have to toss around a few lakh rupees on hitech glamorous chopper rides for the newly marrieds and their kin!

Aviation companies in the city are being bombarded with calls for enquiries and bookings of helicopters for wedding ceremonies, particularly from the well-heeled people in the rural areas. According to the authorities in the aviation companies;

ANNIRUDHA RAJENDAKAR

PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka

politicians, we wanted to make my wedding a grand affair,” said Sagar Sakhare, who booked a chopper for his wedding on May 9 at Vadgaon Maval. A helipad was set up at survey number 194 in Maval for the helicopter landing and take-off.

The private company’s chopper arrived at 6 pm. All the relatives gathered around the chopper, but only a lucky few were able to get a joyride, and for them it was an unforgettable experience. After that it was the time to drop flowers on the couple. The entire event took an hour, for

chopper is a status symbol and the demand for hiring a chopper increasing by the day. “Sometimes, we even get surprised to see that people who come to us dressed in very typical village style, but want to hire a chopper for wedding events by paying many lakh of rupees,” said the General Manager of Sales and Business Development of Deccan Charter Limited, Jigar Th aleshwar. He added that their (villagers’) only intention in hiring a chopper is to give an opportunity to other villagers to get a close glimpse of a helicopter. Deccan Charter charges Rs 60,000 per hour for a premium model of chopper.

Pune based Silver Jubilee Aviation, which provided their chopper for Sakhare’s wedding ceremony, charges Rs 60,000 per hour. “The demand increases in the wedding season. However, the people who want to use our helicopter service for private purpose are mostly from the political background,” said Shailesh Devkule, Marketing and Sales Manager of Silver Jubilee.

He added that before giving a helicopter on rent, the company fi rst checks whether all the necessary permissions have been acquired by the customers. “We also survey the helipad before giving it on a rent to the people,” said Devkule.

Rs 65,000 an hour for a premium model chopper is no deterrent

The chopper makes for a carnival atmosphere at a wedding reception, with the wedding entourage and curious onlookers caught up in the hi-tech glamour of the happening

these rural Richie Riches don’t give a second thought to doling out lofty sums for such chopper extravaganzas.

Th is year the Home Branch of the District Collectorate has so far received 53 applications, seeking the permission for the fl ying of choppers in the district. According to the Home Branch authority, of these 53 applications, 28 were for private purposes, including chopper fl ying permissions for wedding as well as flower dropping ceremony at religious places.

“Being from a family of

construction business. A few years back, his father told him that he would book a chopper for his son’s wedding, so that he could ferry all the baraatis in it,” said Swapnil. He added that Laxman fulfi lled his father’s dream and all his close relatives came to the wedding venue by chopper. “He spent around Rs 3 lakh to make it a big fat wedding,” said Swapnil.

Apart from weddings, to shower flowers on processions or on religious places is also in fashion these days. Small mandals in the villages are also not hesitating to spend huge amounts of money on using choppers. “Since the last 15 years, we have been doing something different in the Gudi Padwa procession of our taluka to attract huge numbers of villagers.

Th is time we hired a chopper for the flower dropping event. Although we had to shell out more money from the mandal’s fund, I am happy that the neighboring villages also enjoyed the procession,” said Suhas Bankhile, President of Bajrang Dal Mandal in Manchar.

which the aviation company charged Sakhare Rs 65,000.

At another similar wedding at Daund on May 11, the bridegroom Laxman Mohite paid around Rs 3 lakh to hire a helicopter for three hours. Mohite’s friend, Swapnil Chavan, who went to the office of the Home Branch to seek permission for flying a helicopter at his friend’s wedding, told The Golden Sparrow that it was Laxman’s father’s wish to hire a chopper for his son’s wedding.

“My friend Laxman is in the

WHAT AVIATION COMPANIES SAY Talking to TSG, the authorities of aviation companies said that using a

Eight-fold increase in demand for special numbers

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal The craze for special or lucky vehicle registration numbers keeps increasing in Pimpri-Chinchwad twin town. The rapidly growing number of vehicles with fancy number plates is said to be due to the dominance of landlords, industrialists, and the political influence of nearby villages in the twin town area. In the year, 201415, the Deputy Regional Transport Office of Pimpri-Chinchwad earned Rs 10.43 crore

from vehicle owners paying extra for their numbers of their choice.

The data received from PimpriChinchwad Deputy RTO’s office indicates that there has been a 15 to 20 per cent increase in the number of applications for obtaining special registration numbers for both four-wheelers and two-wheelers.

The special number ‘0001’ costs Rs 4 lakh for a four-wheeler, while it costs Rs 50,000 for a twowheeler. Meanwhile, the series of numbers 0009, 0099, 0999, 9999 and 0786, cost Rs 1.50 lakh for four-wheelers, and Rs 20,000 for two-wheelers.

Over the last few years, along with numbers like 999, 99, 9, 77, 44 and 11, there is also a growing obsession with fancy names like ‘Dada’, ‘Mama’ and ‘Nana’. During the past seven years, the most wanted numbers have been 9 and 7. Numbers

RAHUL RAUT

Pimpri-Chinchwad RTO has earned Rs 10.43 crore this year alone from vehicle owners opting for special or lucky numbers

such as 4141, 1414 and 9999 have also been in great demand. These special vehicle registration numbers have proved to be a major source of revenue for the RTO authority. Such exclusive numbers are perceived as status symbols by residents of the twin township There has been a seven- to eight-fold increase in the demand for special numbers over the past seven years.

To avail of the series of numbers 0111, 0222, 0333, 0444, 0555, 0666, 0777, 0888, 2222, 3333, 4444, 5555, 6666, 7777 and 8888, it costs Rs 70,000 for four-wheelers, and Rs 15,000 for two-wheelers. RTO officials say that this difference in cost exists for the other golden number series as well. The allocation of fancy numbers is done via a lottery and on a fi rst-come-fi rst-serve basis.

So overwhelming is the demand for these numbers that often a

FOR CHOICE NUMBERS Vehicle Year RTO Collection Owners 2008-09 Rs 1,97,05,000 2,793 2009-10 Rs 2,65,36,500

3,883

2010-11

Rs 5,65,25,000

8,285

2011-12

Rs 7,81,07,000

12,387

2012-13

Rs 9,00,56,500

15,156

2013-14

Rs 9,66,09,450

1,11,76

2014-15 Rs 10,43,05,928

12,548

number series is sold out within a few hours after the auction begins.

Th is craze has even spread to the Pimpri-Chinchwad periphery and rural areas of the township.

The villages areas of Maval and Ambegaon and towns like Alandi, Khed, Chakan and Rajgurunagar are seeing a growing fascination with fancy number plates for two-wheelers and four-wheelers. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

“The PMC has been successful in speeding up the process of sanctioning building plans, which is now possible within 15 minutes as against the two to three days in the previous system.”

—Kunal Kumar, Municipal Commissioner

Creating a tiny living world P11

PMC’s ambitious pipeline plan held up by irate farmers Farmers go to court to hold up pipeline project which will considerably reduce pollution in Mutha river

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke Work on Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) ambitious pipeline project has been stalled, as a group of farmers have sought a court injunction, even as the PMC authorities are vehemently pursuing its completion.

A group of 12 farmers from the Manjari Budruk area, in the vicinity of the Mutha Right Bank Canal, approached the court three months ago, in a bid to stall the project, stating that the pipeline project will disrupt their lives in a big way.

However, PMC’s counsel S K Jain said that land has been already acquired and that the project will serve the interests of the community at large. “It should not be stalled as the PMC and Khadakwasla irrigation department have already cleared all the aspects of the project,” he said.

The project was supposed to start functioning in November 2014. Under the project, the PMC has constructed a huge jackwell at Mundhwa, on the banks of the MulaMutha river. The waste water which directly goes to Ujani Dam from Pune, will be treated and then will be sent to the Mutha Right Bank Canal through a pipeline. The purified water will be used for agricultural purposes by the farmers.

There are many sewage treatment

The pipeline project was supposed to start functioning in November 2014

plants (STPs) in the city and since they are not used optimally, partially treated water is left in the river. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has also written to the PMC to reduce pollution in the river. The pipeline project will enable reduction of pollution of the river water.

The distance between the canal and the river is about 3.5 km. The jackwell is ready but laying of the pipeline on the sugarcane and vegetable farms has been stalled by the villagerss.

Sandip Tulshiram Tupe and 12 other famers approached the court.

One of the complainants, Subhash Mahadev Tupe, told The Golden Sparrow that the PMC is laying huge pipes on the farms. “The diameter of the pipeline is 10 feet and they will dig up our farms to lay it,” he said.

“A section of the road, which is on our farms, has been dug up and the pipeline has been laid underground.

However, we have stalled the process through judicial course,” he said.

Asked why the farmers opposed the PMC plan, Subhash said that the PMC has not acquired the land, and yet the authorities are laying the pipes on their farms. “Also, it is waste water and it will create many problems to the local citizens and to the farms. It will be a great loss. At the same, it will spread a foul smell in the area,” he said.

The farmers claimed that the land has recently acquired prime value owing to its proximity to housing projects coming up in Hadapsar and Mundhwa.

It has connectivity to Koregaon Park, Kharadi and Hadapsar. The farmers have also put forth this issue

SARATHI is their true Saathi Residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad no longer have to rely on their elected representatives to get their problems resolved

PCMC is the first municipal corporation in the country to have launched a citizen-friendly initiative like SARATHI

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) unique e-governance system called SARATHI (System of Assisting Residents and Tourist through Helpline Information) has proved to be boon since it was launched 20 months ago. The residents of the twin townships now do not have to rely on their local representatives to resolve civic issues.

The citizens can seek the civic authority’s help for solving civic issues or accessing information from all the civic departments, from the comfort of their homes or anywhere else, with just a click.

PCMC introduced the SARATHI system to speed up development through administrative work. It is the first municipal corporation in the country to have launched such a citizen-friendly initiative, that has been recognised at the national level.

Other state municipal corporations

and even those from other states have visited the PCMC to learn about SARATHI. What’s surprising is that the neighboring Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has not shown any interest in introducing its own SARATHI system for Pune city.

Former PCMC commissioner Dr Shrikar Pardeshi introduced SARATHI on August 15, 2013. Along with a helpline and website, the system also includes mobile application and ebook facilities. PCMC had developed the mobile application software to enable residents to access information about frequently asked questions (FAQ ) regarding civic amenities.

Android, Blackberry or Apple cellphone users can avail of this facility.

A SARATHI spokesperson informed that over the last 20 months, from August 15, 2013 to April 30, 2015, a total of 4,18,991 citizens have taken advantage of the system and accessed it in various modes. The website and web link was accessed

Along with a helpline and website, the system also has mobile app and ebook

by 1,82,905 citizens, while 89,695 citizens called the call centre or helpline, 86,277 citizens used the PDF book facility,, 44,376 citizens availed of the e-book facility, 8,113 citizens benefited through the mobile apps, while 7,625 used the e-book.

A total of 62,863 complaint calls were received from citizens, and every single one was addressed. SARATHI receives 144 calls and 293 hits per day. According to statistics from the Grievance Redressal call centre, the break-up of complaints was as follows: 4736 water supply complaints, 4034 electricity department complaints, 3376 health department complaints, 3196 civil works complaints, 3384 drainage (sewerage) complaints, 2051 veterinary complaints, 1528 garden complaints, 1021 encroachment complaints, 498 traffic complaints, 897 zonal offices and 1611 complaints were received from other department complaints. PCMC has addressed 97 per cent of the complaints promptly.

Apart from direct complaints from citizens, there were complaints raised by corporators in the standing committee or general body meetings, as part of the complaints tracking system the civic body has developed for redressal of complaints, after the public representative accused the civic body of neglecting their complaints after the introduction of SARATHI. Complaints raised in the PCMC general body and standing committee were uploaded on the computerised tracking system. As there is a negative grade point system for evaluating pending complaints, officials gave priority to these complaints. The complaints generated by the general body are uploaded under code GB on the system, and the standing committee complaints are listed under code ST. These complaints were monitored in the weekly meetings, just like other complaints.

The PCMC commissioner personally monitors all the complaints uploaded on the tracking system, while the concerned officials attend to the complaints. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

in the court, stating that the land has prime value for commercial as well as residential prospects. Subhash says that the road is not a service road as claimed by the PMC and irrigation authorities.

“The road passes from our farm lands and we have enough documents to prove it,” he added.

Jain, on behalf of the Irrigation and PMC authorities, said that the road was acquired long ago and the project is in the larger interests of society. Also, many lands have already been acquired by the irrigation department. “The court will soon pass a judgment in the case,” Jain said.

The Joint Civil Judge A M Bhandarwar had also appointed two court commissioners for inspection of the concerned areas.

The PMC aims to lift 6,500 million cubic (TMC) feet annually of treated water from various STPs and discharge it into the canal. It will then be used for agriculture purposes.

As per the contract between the State irrigation department and the PMC, it will be mandatory for the civic body to return 6.5 TMC feet of water per year to the irrigation department, which the civic body takes from Khadakwasla reservoir to provide potable water to the citizens. This treated water will be lifted from the Mundhwa river and released into the canal at Sade Satra Nali in Hadapsar. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

PUNE

Do large advertisers want govt regulation?

P14

24x7 water supply dream stalled

With citizens not installing water meters, the project has suffered in the last six years

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation’s (PCMC) pilot project of supplying 24x7 water supply to entire city has been delayed because the civic body has been unable to install meters for every water connection in the city, over the last six years. There are over 4000 water connections functioning without meters in the city.

The PCMC is sustaining sizeable losses in water collection revenue owing to the unmetered water connections, and has fallen way short of its revenue targets. The PCMC had set a target of Rs 59 crore for 2014-15, of which it has been able to collect just Rs 14.34 crore as water tax. Despite repeated appeals, the concerned residents have not installed water meters, and the civic body also failed to initiate strict action against these defaulters.

There are 3412 domestic and around 90 commercial water connections functioning without water meters.

The PCMC started the water meter system in the city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) from April 1, 2009. It had invested more than Rs 70 crore for purchasing the water meters. With the population crossing the 17 lakh mark according to the 2011 census, there were 1.50 lakh water meters installed in the city.

The PCMC introduced 24x7 water

supply in Yamunangar and Nigdi two years back. But its proposed plan to introduce round the clock water supply in other areas has been held up due to the non-installation of water meters.

As per the PCMC water supply department records, water meters have not been installed at Zone A-189, Zone B-285, Zone C- 611, Zone D-1189, Zone E-772 and Zone F-363.

The PCMC water supply department officials were unavailable for comment regarding the failure of the 100 percent water meter system for the city, despite repeated calls. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

TECH

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

Chinese villagers pursue their lost icon

A twillionaire is a twitterer with a million or more followers — http://didyouknow.org

Commuters upset about breakdown of buses

P 13

P 15

Apps can deliver docs to your house Many healthcare smartphone apps like Heal make wellness more convenient with doctors arriving at homes and giving medical services

New smartphone apps can deliver doctors to your doorstep.

Heal is a smartphone app similar to the on-demand car service Uber, but instead of a car, a doctor shows up at your door.

Users download the app and then type in a few details such as address and the reason for the visit.

After adding a credit card and a request for a family doctor or a pediatrician, the physician arrives in 20 to 60 minutes for a flat fee of $99. Heal began in Los Angeles in February, recently expanded to San Francisco and is set to roll out in another 15 major cities this year. Heal doctors are on call from 8 am to 8 pm, seven days a week, said Dr Renee Dua, a founder and the chief medical officer of Heal.

Heal doctors arrive with a medical assistant and a kit stocked with the latest high-tech health gadgets, including tools needed to take your vitals or shoot highdefinition video of your eardrum.

Heal has a roster of doctors who have affi liations with respected hospitals and programs such as the University of California, Los Angeles; Columbia; and Stanford.

“We’re bringing back oldschool techniques with new-school technology,” Dua said.

Obviously, Heal doctors can offer only limited services on a house call. Among other things, they can diagnose and treat moderate ailments like bronchitis, give flu shots, stitch up a nasty cut or write a prescription (they will even pick up the prescription for an extra $19). But you will have to fi le the insurance paperwork.

“Health really starts in the home,” Dr Janani Krishnaswami said as we sat at my dining room table in Oakland, California, after I had summoned her using the Heal app on my iPhone. “By seeing someone where they live, I can look at what their life is like, what they’re eating, how they’re living, what’s stressing them out. I can

JOYCE HESSELBERTH/THE NEW YORK TIMES

BY JENNIFER JOLLY

A number of new smartphone apps can create a virtual house call or bring health care professionals to you

take however much time I need with them, which is increasingly difficult to do in our current system of medicine.”

A similar service called Pager is available in New York City.

(Notably, the Pager co-founder Oscar Salazar was also part of the team that created Uber.) A firsttime home visit costs $50. Regular visits are $200, and a physical is $100. Go2Nurse brings a nurse to homes in Chicago and Milwaukee, and includes at-home pregnancy care, help with newborns, elder care and specialized care for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients, among other services. Curbside Care offers

Unlock the smartphone with your iris TOKYO: The number-pattern code to unlock your smartphone is long passe. The new device on the block would scan your iris before it provides you access.

One of the latest smartphones slated to hit the market in Japan this summer allows users to unlock, sign in to apps, and go shopping using only their eyes.

Japanese mobile provider, NTT Docomo, is releasing a new phone this summer, with a built-in iris scanner.

The Fujitsu Arrows NX F-04G uses iris recognition to replace phone passwords, and can even be used to send payments when shopping from your smartphone, slashgear.com reported.

The smartphone uses a front-facing infrared camera and an infrared LED light to illuminate the user’s eyes, verifying their unique iris pattern. Besides biometrics, the Android device runs Lollipop 5.0, has 32 GB of storage, 3 GB RAM, and a 5.2-inch QHD display, according to reports.

For the time being, however, the Arrows NX F-04G would be available only in Japan. Big players like Samsung are also working on iris-detecting smartphones, but it will take some time before a device is launched in the market.

IANS

App to help you learn foreign languages ‘fast’ NEW YORK: Here is an app that would teach you a foreign language without eating up your precious time!

The researchers have developed the app to fi ll the time gap we spend waiting for a friend or co-worker to respond while we are chatting on GChat.

WaitChatter, a Chrome extension for GChat, generates interactive foreign language vocabulary exercises, so you can make the most of your time as a conversation partner is typing out a response.

Carrie Cai, a PhD student at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab, discovered that the average person spends up to 15 minutes a day waiting for replies, in other words about an hour and a half a week.

“But what if you could do something constructive with those moments like, say, learn a language? That’s precisely what the new app provides,” Cai said in MIT Technology Review.

IANS

house calls in the Philadelphia area from nurse practitioners and physicians.

For those who want a medical consultation but do not need a doctor or nurse in their house, a number of new apps create a virtual house call.

The American Te l e m e d i c i n e Association estimates that nearly 1 million people will see a physician via webcam in 2015, and the nation’s largest insurer, United HealthCare, recently announced plans to cover video-based doctor visits.

One of the most popular apps is Chicago-based Doctor on Demand, which is backed

Critics of telemedicine apps warn of losing the human touch with webcam-only visits

by Google and the television personality Phil McGraw. The app, which offers access to 1,400 board-certified physicians, has been downloaded a few million times since it was introduced in late 2013. For $40, a physician or pediatrician will consult with you via video. The company recently added psychology webcam visits ($50 for 25 minutes; $95 for 50 minutes) and lactation consulting ($40 to $70) to its list of services.

“There’s a huge access problem to primary care in the US,” said Adam Jackson, a founder and chief executive of Doctor on Demand.

“The average wait time to see a doctor is 20 days. People really want and need something faster, and now we have the technology on both sides to get it.”

Jackson says Doctor on Demand consultations diagnose and treat 95 per cent of the people who call; the other 5 per cent are referred to specialists.

The typical patient is a working mother with children seeking quick help for common ailments.

I decided to use the service a few months ago after my daughter had been treated in the emergency room for a broken nose (a spooked horse smacked her in the face). Once we got home, I needed more advice, so I arranged a 15-minute video consultation with a pediatrician, who answered all my questions and saved me from another trip to the ER. Other telemedicine services include Teladoc, an early pioneer in the field, and MDLIve, which teamed with Walgreens for video or phone consultations. American Well offers online doctor visits for $49. The Spruce app is notable in that it offers video consultations for dermatologic conditions like bug bites and rashes. HealthTap lets users ask medical questions on its website, or video chat with doctors for $99 a month.

Some medical consultation services aren’t offered where state regulators impose restrictions on telemedicine services.

Critics of telemedicine apps warn of losing the human touch with webcam-only visits and say that people also need to make sure the doctor they are dealing with is board-certified and licensed.

For services like Heal, critics say that the masses are much better served having these highly skilled and trained physicians using their expertise to treat as many people as they possibly can in one day, not spending precious time traveling to a patient’s home.

It is important to remember that these apps are not replacements for traditional doctor appointments, particularly with a physician who has known you for years. But for ailments and symptoms that aren’t life-threatening, this next generation of health apps can save time and energy - which is a pretty big deal when you are not feeling up to waiting in a doctor’s office. © 2015 New York Times News Service

Students invited to design NASA’s 3D space containers WASHINGTON: NASA is calling students in the age group from fi ve to 19 to help the space agency design 3D containers that could be used in space.

NASA, along with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Foundation, has launched a series of “Future Engineers” 3D Space Challenges for students focused on solving real-world space exploration problems.

The 3D Space Container Challenge is the second in the series

where students will create and submit a digital 3D model of a container that they think astronauts could use.

Containers are vital to plant growth in space. Plant containers have to help roots get water and leaves get CO — even in zero gravity.

Astronauts use containers to study fruit fl ies too. The disease genes in those little bugs closely match humans.

“Since they only live about 50 days, we can study them to predict the effects of spacefl ight on us over

a lifespan or even over multiple generations,” the US space agency posted on its website.

On the International Space Station (ISS), everything needs to be neatly stored or tied down, otherwise it will float away. That’s why astronauts have containers for everything — spare parts, trash, food.

In the future, astronauts will need to collect all sorts of stuff on missions to an asteroid, Mars or other deep space destinations.

IANS

Selfie fans get their own drone

Self-flying Lily Camera is photography drone specifically for capturing aerial selfies NEW YORK: You can now click your selfies with the help of a drone. The self-f lying Lily Camera is a new consumer photography drone specifically for capturing aerial selfies.

It knows exactly where its subject is at all times, automatically tracking their location through a small remote with GPS that users keep in their hand or pocket,

CNN Money reported.

Flying anywhere between two and 50 feet off the ground, the drone doesn’t require any real-time piloting or a hand-held controller.

You just throw it in the air, and when you’re done, press a button on the remote and it lands back in your hand.

“It’s all about getting the shot. Lily takes care of all the f light,” co-founder Henry Bradlow was quoted as saying.

Before takeoff, choose from a list of pre-set movements or programme custom shots on the companion mobile app.

Lily can follow a subject around for

cinematic tracking shots, slowly zoom in or out, make a lazy circle around them, or just hover at a set spot in the air.

The disk-shaped black quadcopter is a little over 10 inches wide and 3 inches tall. It weighs 2.8 pounds, and can stay in the air for 20 minutes before needing a charge.

Inside, a built in camera shoots 1080p video and captures 12 megapixel still photos. The founders hope Lily will appeal to the selfie stick and extreme sports crowds more than drone hobbyists. A surfer might f ling the waterproof drone into the air for a shot that follows her along a wave.

Tennis players might use the footage to improve their game.

IANS

APP WORLD

Manage your finance effectively My Budget Book

Android: Rs 199 My Budget Book helps you to keep track of your expenses and income and manage your money more effectively. Use the individual transactions and recurring transactions feature to get an idea of your expenses over the next couple of months and see how much money you have available to spend. The app also gives you a graphical overview of the information, making it easier to plan (larger) purchases over the upcoming months. The budget mode allows you to set goals for various criteria and periods. For example, create a monthly limit for refueling or a weekly limit for food. You can also define limits for accounts such as credit cards or payment types.

Furthermore, it can be determined whether recurring budgets should be transferred to the next periods.

Wallet: Send & Get Money IOS/Android: Free The brand new Paytm Wallet is here for Android and it’s filled with awesomeness!

Our mobile wallet is trusted by over 50 million users for their mobile payments, and now upping that even further is Paytm Wallet App lets you do fast money transfer, request money, securely store your money online and do your shopping and payments on the go.

You can ‘Slide to Pay’ to transfer money to your friends wallets; you can even transfer money to your taxi drivers Paytm wallet when he doesn’t have change.

Money View: Financial Planning Android: Free With the Free Money View app, you get a real-time visibility into your entire Personal Finances. It works by itself without any manual data entry - our daily expense manager app organizes your financial summary by analyzing SMS sent by your bank and billers to your phone. The app auto-tracks your expense, bills and account balances across all your financial accounts to help you stay on top of your money. The app is highly secure as it never reads any sensitive data - no full bank account numbers, no OTP, and no Netbanking login/password.

Home Budget with Sync

iPhone/Android: Rs 365 Now available in mobile and desktop versions [Windows, Mac OS], including instant data sync between mobile/desktop versions.

HomeBudget is an integrated expense tracker designed to help you track your expenses, income, billsdue and account balances. It offers support for budgeting and allows analysis of your expenses and income, including charts and graphs.

The features within HomeBudget are well integrated such that a bill can become an expense (when you pay for it) and also adjust the account balance at the same time. Family sync. HomeBudget includes Family Sync, an advanced feature that allows a group of devices within the household to exchange expense and income information, and work together within a single budget.

Pockey Money

Android: Free Having trouble saving money or to pay off your debts?

Download Pocket Money is an application that will help you manage your accounts, save your money and pay off your debts so that you never be late on your payments and you achieve your savings goal. Pocket Money can further add to your account notifications so you never forget to make your payments and finally you can see your income, debts and savings through graphs that will help you balance your pocket. Pocket Money additionally comes with a nice widget that you can install on your Smartphone screen, with which you view your income, savings and debts in general, in addition to pay from the Widget.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

“We want to be the dominant player in the Indian Ocean Rim, supplying batteries for all the countries across the Indian Ocean.”

— Ramachandra Naidu Galla, chairman, Amara Raja Group

“While we are facing pressures on top-line growth, our thrust on tightening operational control is being reflected in improvement in material cost, fixed cost and working capital.”

— Sunil Pahilajani, CEO, Greaves Cotton

Film-maker turns teacher for students Sixteen By Nine Media Productions founder Gourav Ghosh starts media centre to provide contemporary video editing training

ACHIEVEMENTS

Ghosh’s fi lm ‘Jokkad’ was selected in Short Film Corner category in International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa in 2011.

His ‘Garbage Island’ won Best Film award in Student category in Vatavaran International Film Festival, New Delhi, in 2009.

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly A genuine desire to educate students on the latest in fi lm-making made 29-year-old fi lm-maker Gourav Ghosh to launch media centre Sixteen By Nine Media Productions. The centre will provide contemporary training in video editing based on student’s need, skill set and industry demand.

B e f o r e opening the centre, Ghosh founded a production house by the same name to sought clients in specific sectors, Gourav Ghosh so that he could direct and produce his fi lms.

“I believe that today’s education system does not focus on student’s needs and skills. I shall conduct workshops on video editing and its techniques, starting with the one today (May 16). Short-term courses on different topics by me will follow soon,” said Ghosh, whose primary work is making documentaries on environment, tribal art and culture and political campaigns.

With vast experience in media education sector and five-year core

LEARN TO EDIT VIDEO FOOTAGE

Gourav Ghosh’s centre will provide training in video editing based on students’ needs, skills set and industry demand

background in fi lmit or not. I am designing making, his mission is courses and workshops to bring fi lm-making that will target a enthusiasts into the particular segment of 21st century education skill and teach students and transform media in-depth video editing education sector by and fi lm-making in utilising different a larger sense, which kinds of models of will not include any fi lm-making and irrelevant topics,” he storytelling. said.

“Today’s education Ghosh started his system does not focus career as director’s - GOURAV GHOSH on students’ needs and assistant in 2007 with industry demand. The Kimedia Productions, curriculum is same for all students Pune, where he was the in charge of whether or not they are interested in technical aspects of pre-production,

“Today’s education system does not focus on students’ needs.”

PUNE

production and post-production.

After passing out of from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 2009, he moved on to launch Sixteen

By Nine Media Productions.

After four years of grassroots fi lmmaking in Bastar and other remote parts of central India, Ghosh joined joined ISB&M, Pune as Academic Chairperson (Media) in 2014. He was responsible for complete operations of the media department, including faculty scheduling and arrangement, overall training, evaluation of students and conducting lectures on fi lmmaking.

Ghosh has shot, edited and wrote

The workshop will give participants skills to edit any kind of video editing software and knowledge of the editing craft from an artistic point of view. Basic concepts and techniques of video editing, interface of digital editing softwares and practical editing of a video will be also be taught. Free Open Source Software for video editing coupled with free video tutorials in order to practice the skills they learnt at the workshop will also be given to participants.

Where: Bungalow No 36, Mangalwadi Co-operative Society, SB Road, Pune When: May 16-17 Price: Rs 2,200 per person Contact: 9960818558 various documentaries and promotional fi lms for NDTV, Doordarshan, Government of India, corporates and NGOs, besides instructing technicians in use of camera, lighting and editing software for creation of fi lms with superior quality with minimum resources and crew. feedback.tgs@goldensparrow.com

Startup Village wins technology business incubator award NEW DELHI: On the occasion of National Technology Day, Kochibased business incubator Startup Village was bestowed the national award for technology business incubator recently.

“Startup Village’s role is to play a foundation layer in the creation a culture of entrepreneurship among youth, particularly in engineering colleges by converting final-year academic projects into start-ups,” said Pranav Kumar, chief executive of Startup Village.

The business incubator received the award from Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan at a function here. The business incubator has supported 530-plus nascent fi rms in three years.

Startup Village was incepted in April 2012 as the country’s fi rst publicprivate-partnership (PPP) model technology business incubator.

Startup Village is directly promoted by the government of India’s department of science and technology (DST), along with Technopark in Th iruvananthapuram and Kochi-based MobME Wireless Solutions.

They bagged Rs3 lakh and a trophy for their not-for-profit fi rm that is planning to now expand as an electronics incubator.

Sanjay said the Startup Village model is proving to be a forcemultiplier for youth in tier-2 and 3 cities.

A key achievement of Startup Village has been its student entrepreneurship policy, which gives 20 per cent attendance and 4 per cent grace marks to student entrepreneurs.

Agencies

Golf website raises Rs 4.8 crore from start-up investor

NEW DELHI: A Delhi-based golf website has been able to raise around $750,000 from an angel fund.

Th is is the fi rst of its kind of investment in India.

YourNest Angel Fund has put in around $750,000 (Rs 4.8 crore) in Golflan Technologies Pvt Ltd, which seeks to bring golf to beginners. The money is for expanding the game in India.

Th rough its website, GolfLan will allow golfers, even non-members, to book tee-times and join learning classes at various clubs.

According to Dhruv Verma, who founded the company, the initial

funding will be spent on technology and marketing besides expansion.

The company offers subscription services for playing golf sport in several golf courses throughout the world without the need to take a membership in the club.

“There are enough number of people with disposable income who are willing to acquire skills like golf, which also leads to quality networking,” said Verma.

The website also offers a marketplace for golf equipment, through third-party vendors, which currently contributes to over 18 per cent of the company’s business.

Verma said the company buys teetime slots of golf courses in bulk and then sells them in individual packages to its website members. The current number of golf courses available is close to 400 and more would be added, he said.

Apart from India, members can play golf in the Middle East, the UK, Thailand, China and Turkey at present.

“Golflan is an attempt to democratise golf which has been a game for a few,” said Sunil Goyal, founder and CEO of YourNest.

Gurgaon-based YourNest invests in start-ups.

IANS

THE FASTEST READS ON THE WEB

EDI invests in its students’ ventures In a first, Ahmedabad-based institute Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) of India has invested in two start-up ventures started by its own students. It invested Rs 2.5 lakh in Returntruck.com launched by Nitin Gupta and Rs 3.5 lakh in RestornWheel Food Truck launched by EDI student Utkarsh Gulati. Returntruck. com is an online aggregator site which helps companies in booking an empty truck returning to its original location.

Restorn-Wheel Truck is a food truck restaurant. Both the startups are in their early-stage and not been launched yet. According to Satya Acharya of EDI, the fund is for immediately starting the ventures and interested investors can join later. Gupta got the idea for Returntruck.com by realising that usually the trucks have return empty from a work destination to their original location. Gulati, Co-founder of Restron-Wheel Food Truck, who is a chef by profession, plans to start his first food truck in Gurgaon. EDI has developed over 20,000 entrepreneurs and has 3,000 trainers in its institutional network.

Facebook sets wages for contract workers ZapStitch raises $2 million from VC fund Bengaluru-based integrator of cloud platforms Zapstitch has received a pre-series-A round of $2 million (about Rs 12.4 crore) led by venture capital fi rm Helion Venture Partners, followed by its existing investor Orios Venture Partners. The oneyear-old company helps small-andmedium-sized businesses integrate data between different Cloud-based services such as accounting software Quickbooks with an ecommerce tech platform such as Shopify. The company will utilise the funds for product development, strengthening of its team and marketing initiatives.

Alok Goyal, partner, Helion and Rehan Yar Khan, general partner, Orios Venture Partners, will join the board.

In a significant measure that would benefit a large workforce, especially women, the social networking site Facebook is extending minimum wages and other benefits to its contract workers. Facebook is ensuring that its contractors receive important benefits, including a $15 minimum wage, 15 days’ paid leave, and fi nancial support for the birth of a new child. The conditions apply to people who do “substantial work” for Facebook but are employed by another company, so long as that company is based in the US and has at least 25 employees working with Facebook, The Verge tech site reported. The contract workers had been pushing for these changes for a while now and the trend is starting to spread across Silicon Valley.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

PUNE

MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

pics by annirudha rajendakar

Waiting to be wiped out

Last monsoon 151 lives were lost in the Malin tragedy. An otherwise sleepy administration swung into action to identify villages facing similar threat from landslides. Ten months and two surveys later, 23 villages have been shortlisted for rehabilitation. With at least one more survey to go, the entire exercise merely remains on paper. Meanwhile, the villagers are living on the edge PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka

Taje Village

Bhushi and Panchshil Nagar

T

he two neighbouring villages are on the way to Bhushi dam, a favourite picnic spot. They face a huge threat from the abutting hill. The hill has developed several cracks. Other than getting assurances from authorities, the population of 700-odd people hasn’t had much to depend on.

Interestingly, the two villages fall under Lonavala Municipal Council. Long before the Malin tragedy, residents of Bhushi and Panchshil Nagar took up the issue of rock falling and landslides with the authorities.

But none of the agencies cared to respond.

After the Malin incident, however, officials came rushing to the two villages.

“Last year, when the Malin landslide happened, the administration woke up.

District collector Saurabh Rao himself visited our village,” said Gulabrao Marathe, local NCP leader, whose house is also at the foot of the hill.

The villagers explain that it was a mere visit by officials and no survey was as such carried out. In case of any untoward incident, the damage will not be restricted to the two villages. Tourists, who come in large numbers over the weekends, will also be victims. Till date, there has been no untoward incident, but the villagers fear that with the cracks widening in the hill, it is only a matter of time.

Almost a year after 151 people lost their lives in the landslide at Malin village, almost nothing has changed. The district administration in Pune was supposed to identify villages which were in as precarious a situation as Malin, and relocate the residents. Ten months later, the exercise remains on paper only. So far, 23 villages in the district have been identified.

Even with the rainy season almost upon us, the administration seems to be in no hurry to get the job done. From the looks of it, it will take another couple of years and may be more tragedies and losses of lives before our babus get their act together.

Malin village in Ambegaon taluka, at a distance 110 miles from Pune, was wiped out of existence, on July 30 last year. A landslide flattened 44 houses in the village, burying them under a flood of mud and slush. The calamity occurred in the wee hours, when the villagers were fast asleep. A State Transport bus driver, who operated on the route regularly, raised an alarm the following morning, when he was dumbstruck by the vanished village. In the subsequent rescue efforts 151 bodies were dug out from under the sea of mud. And the lucky residents who survived the landslide, were rendered homeless.

Immediately after the tragedy, several committees were appointed to determine the cause of the landslide at Malin. After multiple surveys and reports from environmental experts, the state government announced a rehabilitation plan for the survivors. However, the process of relocating them is still in progress.

But there is more to be learnt from the disaster. The tragedy that sent shock waves not just in India but across the world, ought to have catalysed the concerned authorities into action. It did – the authorities quickly decided to identify other such villages in the district, and rehabilitate the residents to avoid a repeat of the Malin disaster. Now, ten months later, the entire exercise is only on paper.

The villages have been identified and shortlisted. As of this month, the final tally stands at 23 in Ambegaon, Bhor, Junnar, Khed, Maval, Mulshi and Velha talukas of Pune district.

“After the Malin incident, the state government issued orders to survey the villages located on the edge or at the foothills.

We thus surveyed 1,405 villages in the district and found 93 villages which fell in the danger zone. In case of heavy rainfall, these villages could be in danger,” said district disaster

U

nlike other villages on the hazardous list, people in Tung show a happy-go-lucky attitude. The isolated village has just 15 houses. Residents here are completely clueless about the survey.

Working on their fields through the day and returning to their kuchcha houses, the residents of Tung live in oblivion about the threat the abutting hill poses.

The residents of Tung believe their village deity would protect them from natural calamities. “Our goddess, who lives in the temple inside the fort (on the hill), will protect us, and we do not need any survey in our village,” said one of residents. Meanwhile the hill has developed cracks.

Lohagad

T

he village is extremely popular among trekkers who go up to Lohagad Fort, stop by at the village for their meals and other supplies. The locals survive largely on income from the tourists who frequent the fort on top of the hill.

For years now the visitors to the fort has been their steady source of income. However, now it’s a cause for concern as rocks and parts of the fort keep tumbling down. Making matters worse is

the village location – it’s at the other end of the ghat from Pawna dam, the nearest village being at least 15 km away. If something does go wrong, it will be a while before somebody notices or turns up to help.

Lohagad village is home to 700-odd people and 60 households. Water logging is common during the monsoons.

“A week back, a huge rock rolled down the steep slope of the fort and dashed against my house.

Since it was pretty late in the night, it took us a while to figure what had happened. Fortunately, no one in the house was injured,” said Rekha Sable, a resident of Lohagad village. She explained that there was a similar incident last year when a portion of the fort came loose and rolled down.

“This place attracts a large number of trekkers from across the state. We earn our livelihood by serving the tourists. If such rock falling incidents become a regular

feature, no one will turn up here, which would affect our livelihood,” said Nagesh Margale, a member of Lohgad Grampanchayat.

Former sarpanch of the village Sindhutai Rasal explained that a few years ago officers from district administration had approached them with help to relocate the entire village. “They offered us land and Rs 10,000 to build a house. How is it possible to build a house for just Rs 10,000?” asked Rasal.

Mormachi Wadi

management officer, Vitthal Banawate.

Representatives of the Directorate of Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (DGSDA), a state agency, then visited the 93 villages and whittled down the list to 23. “We looked at factors like past history of landslides in the village, steep slope from the mountains which could bring in sudden rush of rainwater, among others, while surveying the 93 villages,” said Vilas Shedge, senior geologist of DGSDA. The list of 23 villages, which the officials believe could suffer a fate similar to Malin, has been sent to the Geological Survey of India (GSI) so that it can finally prepare a final list of villages and their residents who need to be relocated. The paperwork to rehabilitate the locals will begin once they give the green signal. Mind you, just the paperwork and not the actual relocation. A complete rehabilitation would involve identification of alternate parcels, allocation of funds, a whole

lot of ground work to convince the locals and, most importantly, administrative and political will.

“We had given a detailed questionnaire to the district administrations in Maharashtra, to provide us with information of incidents like falling of rocks indicating possible landslides, tilting of trees, seepage of water, etc in their jurisdiction. However, the district administration has provided us only the list of villages, which they believe fall in the danger zone,” said MM Powar, deputy director general of GSI, Pune. He added that once they receive the information in prescribed format, their scientists would prioritise and visit only those villages which are in need of urgent help.

He explained that with little time on hand, and the monsoons nearly at hand, the exercise needs to be completed soon.

Till such time that district administration, DGSDA and GIS sort out their differences and work out formats of reports, some of these

villages may not be there for the babus to ‘pay a visit’. Interestingly, barring a few, residents of most villages are more than willing to relocate.

The Golden Sparrow team visited some of the villages on the list (shortlisted by DGSDA) and we were left aghast to see the people living literally on the edge. The villages are located within 100 metres of the foothills, and the locals are accustomed to rocks and boulders from the hills rolling into their villages.

Every now and then, residents of Mormachi Wadi go to the hill abutting their village, to stop loose rocks from cascading into their village. Sometimes they succeed, but then there are times when the rocks roll down and damage their houses. Fortunately, no human life has been lost yet. Similarly, residents of Taje village seem resigned to their fate. They have stopped carrying out repairs to their houses, resigned to the fact that someday a landslide will shatter them anyhow. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

Taje

O

Tung

n the way to Mumbai via the old MumbaiPune highway, turn in from Malavli village and five kilometres after, you come upon Taje village. The village has 145 pucca houses and a population of 1,000-odd people. Of the 145 houses, 30 are close to the base of Bhaja hill.

Mangala Sutar, who lives in one of these houses, explains that during the monsoons, at least one member of the family stays

Mormachi Wadi

up through the night, in case rocks come loose and start rolling towards their house. “Last year, rocks fell from the hill. We were lucky as they were blocked by the trees. But that might not be the case all the time,” said Sutar, who lives there with her husband and three children. The Malin tragedy last year spread panic through every household in the village. The villagers believe that they are doomed and will meet a similar fate like Malin.

The village was deemed precarious way back in 1989.

Back then, a landslide in the neighbouring Bhaja village killed 39 people. “The officials came back then and assured us that they would take corrective measures.

Nothing concrete happened after their tall claims. A couple of months back, a few officers visited us yet again,” said Shankar Kedari, sarpanch of Taje village.

He pointed out several cracks that the hill has developed. “Our

region receives heavy rainfall, and although there has been no major landslide in our village yet, you just cannot predict nature,” said Kedari.

The villagers were promised by the team that visited them recently that they would soon be relocated. “Nothing has been done so far. Cracks in Bhaja hill are getting bigger by the day,” said Balu Gurav, whose house is at the foot of the hill.

T

he wadi located in Mau village has 32 houses.

Located at the base of a hill, the houses face a threat from loose soil and rocks that keep rolling down every now and then.

Life at Mormachi Wadi is tough through the year. During summers and winters, residents here have to struggle for water. During the monsoons they have to watch out for boulders and rocks rolling down from the abutting hill.

“It is not new for us. We have learnt to live in these hardships,” said Sunil Mormare. The villagers have come up with innovative ways to tackle rock falls. They place smaller boulders or rocks under bigger ones that have come loose, just to prevent them from sliding down to their village. But not every experiment is successful. There are times when rocks do roll down. So far there has been no loss of life.

Sunil takes us to his farm where rocks are strewn all over. They have rolled down from the hill.

“Earlier, there were quite a few trees on the slope leading to the hill. But they were cut down. Now the soil has come loose and rocks have developed cracks,” said Pandurang Mormare, another resident of the wadi.

The residents of wadi are well aware that it is only a matter of time that they will lose the battle to the hill. “The soil has eroded, rocks keep falling, and during the monsoons water gushes down the steep slope almost as if it is waging a war against us. We have learnt to take care of ourselves. We don’t really know how long we will be able to defend ourselves from nature’s fury. What we do know is that nobody is coming to help us,” concluded Khandu Mormare, a resident of Mormachi Wadi.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“The whole world knows that all awards from Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan or Padma Vibhushan and even Nobel prize are given to good people for their achievements but people do lobbying to get these awards.”

— Baba Ramdev, Yoga guru

These trees are too old to produce oxygen: TMC CO The Talegaon Municipal Council has decided to chop down 97 trees, to widen the 2 km stretch; residents up in arms

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL & RAJIL MENON @ArchanaDahiwal & @RajilMenon A plan to cut down 97 trees, some of them 150 years old, along a Talegaon Dabhade street, has got this sleepy town’s residents up in arms against it.

Thousands of environmental activists, home-makers and school children put on bat masks as they staged a mass protest last week. The tree-felling is part of Talegaon Municipal Council’s (TMC) Rs 6 crore road-widening on the stretch between Jijamata Chowk and Talegaon Station Road. A total of 398 trees line the sides of the 1.8 km stretch.

A ROOTLESS REASON TMC Chief Executive Officer Kailash Gawade said, “Many trees that line the street are 150 years old and their capacity to produce oxygen has died out. It is better to fell these trees and plant saplings. The treechopping is just a part of our 25-year plan towards the city’s development.

The road widening from 40 to 50 feet will help citizens, as four schools are located on this stretch and footpaths are necessary for school children.”

Ignoring citizens and tree experts’ view that there is a technology to uproot a grown tree and plant it at a desired place, Gawade cited the age of the trees as a reason.

“We have already removed shops.

Felling these trees is the only solution to address safety and traffic issues,” Gawade said, attributing many accidents on this stretch to the road’s inadequate width.

Referring to the felling of many banyan trees for road-widening of the

These sprawling, shady, ancient trees are in real danger of being felled by the axe, owing to the Talegaon Municipal Council plan to widen the 2 km stretch of road

stretch between Rajgurunagar and Alephata, Gawade said, “Citizens should understand that we have no other alternative. Some are objecting just for the sake of it.”

FLOUTING LAW Gawade said that notices regarding the felling of trees were put up on the trees as per the law. But when TGS team showed that notices were nailed to the trees in violation of NGT orders, he appeared surprised and blamed the staff for not following his orders.

Green activists said that the 15day period regarding felling of trees mentioned on notices placed on the trees is against the Law of Notices and Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

“The council has given a timeframe of 15 days from April 24, 2015, for accepting suggestions and objections.

Every notice issued by municipal

authorities should at least state a 30day period. The notice itself is invalid as per the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975,” said advocate Nitesh Nevshe of Talegaon.

RECORD SUPPORT Sandeep Sanghvi, the activist who filed the first petition, said, “The citizens of Talegaon created history in state municipal council after an overwhelming response to a signature campaign and mass protests. The council approved 4,500 of the 12,000 suggestions and objections submitted by citizens.”

Sanghvi had resigned as member of the tree committee to file a case, along with tree activist Somnath Shinde, with NGT, and managed to get a stay order on the tree felling.

Shinde said, “On April 30, I was carrying objection forms while travelling on the Talegaon-Pune 4.30

pm local. Curious travellers asked me about the form and after knowing the cause around 80 people filled it during the journey.”

Nevshe said that huge public outcry against the tree felling is because the 100-150-year-old trees, including banyan, laburnum (Cassia fistula), peepal and raintrees are home to many birds and endangered bats, and they also have a religious significance.

Advocate Ganesh Jagtap said that the widening of the road by 10 feet by chopping 97 trees is a heavy price to pay, as it will destroy the green cover.

HISTORY Last year, TMC had tabled a proposal to chop 289 trees for road-widening but the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) western zone bench, Pune, stayed the council’s decision after many nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) filed an application with the tribunal,

As the euro slides, a coin meets its Waterloo P14 CITIZENSPEAK “I have a clinic on this road. The civic authorities felled trees in Chakan for road widening and the area looks barren now. Widening only this stretch will not serve the purpose as the roads connecting this part is narrow.”

Dr BD Kulkarni, veterinarian

Dr BD Kulkarni

“Born and brought up at the lake town Talegaon, I always enjoy walks under the green canopy of two-kilometre stretch from Jijamata Chowk to Talegaon Station Road. Urban development has already affected the town’s greenery and chopping down these trees will further damage green cover. Authorities should seek some other solution to address traffic concerns in this area.

Development and protection of environment Dr Anil Ganpule must go hand in hand.”

Dr Anil Ramchandra Ganpule, 63, charges only Rs 20 for medical treatment, including injections and medicine. He attends to nearly 200 patients every day.

“Tree felling will only increase the road width by 10 feet and 6 feet will be used for footpaths on both sides of the road and divider. Will it really address the traffic concerns? TMC should develop existing parallel roads of this stretch. There are six such parallel roads in the development plan of TMC. Instead of developing the other parallel DP roads, Rajesh Shinde the council wants to widen this stretch? No one in Talegaon will say that these trees are cause for traffic snarls. If Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) can develop busy road like Jangli Maharaj Road and conserve trees, why cannot TMC?” Rajesh Shinde, 40, architect

“The pleasant climate in this area is because of these trees. I decided to settle in this town because of its greenery. TMC should find another solution instead of cutting these trees.”

Vinayak Nadgil, 65, retired employee of state transport “It was an emotional moment when citizens hit the road to protest against tree felling. Media also supported the cause.”

Amin Shaikh, activist and senior journalist.

challenging the TMC decision. The petition had said that the tree-cutting was illegal and against the provisions of the Maharashtra (Urban Areas) Protection and Preservation of Trees Act, 1975.

The TMC had published a notice in a local newspaper on February 7, 2014, about felling of trees on the stretch, under Section 8 (3) of the Trees Act, 1975.

In April 2015, the municipal council put up notices on the trunks of trees between Jijamata Chowk and Talegaon station, stating that they proposed to cut down 97 trees

for the road-widening project.

The proposal evoked widespread opposition from several NGOs and nature activists. Greenies, including NGOs Nisargraja, Friends of Nature, Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, Maitri and Giribhraman, Devrai, Sir Senapati Umabai Dabhade Girls Organisation, Shree Krishna Goseva Kendra, Yuva Sanskritik Manch and Community Aids launched a ‘Save Tree’ movement. Pune-based activists Vinod Jain and Budhajirao Mulik also extended support. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com rajil.menon@goldensparrow.com

Pune pedal pushers seek foreign horizons ‘Indians should move beyond culture’ Cycling enthusiasts from Pune who have explored the European countryside have rich experiences and the desire to reach new horizons

By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis_ashish Going on a cycling holiday is popular nowadays. And some Punekars have explored picturesque foreign countries by going pedal-pushing on their bicycles.

A group of city businessmen, including big names like City Corporation Ltd managing director Aniruddha Deshpande, Darode Jog Properties chairman Sudhir Darode, A& A Associates’ partner Avinash Jadhav and Bhupal Patwardhan, has been organising such annual cycling trips since 2012.

“We visit foreign countries as a tourist, but cycling is the best way to explore a place. One can be adventurous and enjoy the beauty of a region while being healthy. I have seen many unknown parts of European countries by pedalling,” said Darode.

The group’s first tour was in Switzerland, where they covered 550 km from Geneva to Zurich on bicycle. Cycle touring is actually a thrilling expedition.

“When you visit any country as a tourist, your focus is limited to big cities and popular places. But when you arrange a cycling trip, you can explore that country better. You can witness the rural part of the place, meet local people and enjoy their different cuisine. Our memorable

Aniruddha Deshpande (second from left) and his cycling enthusiast friends take in the sights in Switzerland

first riding experience cemented our resolve to cover different foreign destinations every year,” said Patwardhan.

Comparing the cycling experience in India and abroad, Darode said, “It’s a different and wonderful experience all together when it comes to foreign cycle tours.

A lot of respect is given to cyclists.

Most of the Europeans commute by cycle every day. There is no age group as such, all family members, including kids, teenagers, middleaged, aged group proudly use bicycle as a commuting vehicle. They have a separate cycle track on all roads and helmets are compulsory. They have bicycle traffic signals.”

Echoing him, Patwardhan said,

“We have some good roads here in India, but the mentality of common people makes the difference. SUVs and Volvos just don’t care about cyclists. In fact, I believe they enjoy harassing those who pedal. I have had several bad experiences while cycling in India.”

The group had to face language barriers and climate changes during their foreign cycling trips.

“We used to know about the country’s climate and local holidays in advance before planning a tour.

Language is one of the barriers as even English is not a common language in Europe,” said Darode.

The group didn’t arrange any backup vehicle but instead approached a few companies who

arrange stay and transportation.

“There are various cycle bike tours in foreign countries every year.

Even if you plan your own ride, the organisers deliver your luggage to the next village or your desired place. You just need to carry tool kit and other essential items,” said Patwardhan.

For those who want a hasslefree ride and didn’t want to engage in logistics, Pune’s Lifecycle Mall offers a solution. Every year they conduct such cycling trips to different countries.

“We started taking cycling trips abroad from 2008. We first visited Sri Lanka. Then we covered European countries. Switzerland and England are our favourite places for cycle ride,” said Nachiket Joshi of Lifecycle Mall.

“We normally avoid highways and big cities. The pleasure of riding countryside and small towns is unbeatable. We also don’t didn’t stretch daily routine and engage in 50-60km leisure rides. So, anyone from expert cyclists to beginners can join our rides. We prefer homestays than costly hotels and cycling in rural England is a totally different experience,” he said.

Talking about challenges, Joshi said, “Changing the mindset of people is the biggest challenge.

Many assume that cycling in a different country would be difficult.

But, if the logistic part is been handled well then it’s easier and comfortable than riding on Indian roads. Even in rural area you can witness quality roads. The pleasant weather keeps you refreshed and this is the best way to enjoy cycling.”

Joshi is planning the unusual destination of Angkor Wat in Cambodia next year. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

University of the West Indies says Indian diaspora must move beyond culture, heritage and traditions into present day areas of sustainable development

By Paras Ramoutar Port-of-Spain: The Indian diaspora must move beyond culture, heritage and traditions into present day areas of sustainable development, according to a well-known academic here.

Clement Sankat, principal of the St Augustine Campus, University of the West Indies, said at the opening ceremony of the International Indian Diaspora Conference at the university on Tuesday evening that there must also be co-operation in such areas in science, technology, innovation, medicine, entrepreneurship and agriculture. The conference ends Friday.

Trinidad and Tobago celebrates 170th anniversary of the arrival of East Indians from India, principally from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on May 30, a public holiday here since 1992. The first batch of East Indians numbering 238 came on the steam ship, “Fatal Razack” in 1845 and several ships came until 1917, bringing the stock of East Indians to approximately 148,000.

They were brought here by the then colonial government to enhance the decaying agricultural capacity in cocoa, coffee and sugar cane.

“We must build a new impetus towards a direction for sustainable development that is mutually beneficial to India and its global diaspora,” Sankat said.

East Indian culture is now interwoven into Trinidad and Tobago

society easily identifiable in its food, language, music, dress, names, art and other forms of cultural assets.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Dookeran said that there was a need for a Caribbean identity which could become the basis for the development of a Caribbean civilization. “Through scholarship and conferences, the Caribbean could develop a Caribbean civilization, and this must enrichen a global civilization.”

Dookeran recalled that approach was started in the 1975 conference to search the pathway for the Indian diaspora here.

Indian High Commissioner Gauri Shankar Gupta hailed the Indian diaspora for their strength and resilience in the global community, adding that the names of people of this extraction are found at all levels of society politics, culture, religion, academic and sports.

The four-day conference has assembled delegates from several countries with strong diaspora populations such as Fiji, Suriname, USA, UK, the Netherlands and, of course, India.

Areas of focus include: Indians in athe Caribbean, literary representations of the Indian diaspora, religion and spirituality in the Indian diaspora, historiography of the Indian diaspora, cross cultural exchanges and art, music and aesthetics.

(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at paras_ramoutar@yahoo.com)

ENVIRONMENT “While we have science and technology for external comfort, we should learn to use the tool and technology of yoga for internal well-being.”

— Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, an Indian mystic

H EALTH

The secret to making a beautiful garden is simple: Think small. Ameeta Sharma Menon’s ‘Life on your table’ is a venture that involves growing plants in a glass enclosure RAHUL RAUT

BY ZAINAB KANTAWALA @kantawalazainab

Ameeta Sharma Menon with her collection of terrariums that can beautify and add an element of living nature to your home

infestation of any kind. Thus, the ecosystem is completely organic and sustainable. These green plants add to the indoor air quality and purify your surroundings,” adds Ameeta.

They add natural life and serve as a visual extravagance. Even if you don’t have a lot of space, a miniature garden can be grown in empty jars, milk jugs, and other things destined for the trash can. About maintaining them, Ameeta says, “These plants are low maintenance and can survive under artificial lighting.

The glass planters are designed to let in natural light while maintaining the temperature at an optimum level in most kinds of weather. You don’t need

Strengthening India’s healthcare system

The healthcare issue is certain to assume an overwhelming significance for India in the coming decades

BY AMIT KAPOOR One of the biggest challenges India faces and will continue to face in the forthcoming decades is in the context of healthcare. It would include issues like health accessibility, infant mortality rates, the stunted growth of children because of ill health, maternal health, disease patterns among its adult population as well as the challenges pertaining to its ageing population, among others. It is bound to be accentuated by urbanisation and ever-growing pollution levels.

The fi rst and foremost challenge on the healthcare front will be addressing and tackling the diseases and understanding the disease patterns. Another related challenge is also to make health care affordable and accessible and to ensure that there is trust and synergy between the public and private health sector service providers and the common people. The challenge of access is also more pronounced because of the shortage of finance that results in a lack of infrastructure and manpower.

Healthcare spending is a dismal one per cent of GDP in India. The private sector contributes 80 percent in healthcare, and ideally this indicates that the government should increase spending to a target of three per cent

of the GDP in the near future.

The three-tiered system works poorly at the third level the primary healthcare centres. It is both because of the quality and quantity of manpower in the healthcare domain at this level.

There is thus an urgent need to improve the quality and functionality of the primary healthcare centres within the country that at present is severely compromised. It has to be done while keeping healthcare sustainable and affordable to the general population.

The pharmaceutical industry’s capacity utilisation in India is 45 per cent. It can be increased to 55 per cent with a strategic vision for accessibility and access to medicines at affordable prices. There are a few things that the government can do for boosting growth within the healthcare space.

It includes doing away with inefficient spending, looking at outputs rather than constraints in healthcare expenditure as well as doing away with the regulation of prices of drugs barring the necessary medicines, etc.

However, infrastructure and expertise is critical for improved access. IANS (Amit Kapoor is president and CEO of India Council on Competitiveness and honorary chairman of Institute for Competitiveness, India.

He can be contacted at amit.kapoor@ competitiveness.in)

MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“We are serious about saving the state bird ‘Great Indian Bustard’ from extinction and all out efforts at both national and international level will be made to save the bird.”

— Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister, Rajasthan

Creating a tiny living world Big things come in small packages. Th is adage is true, especially when it comes to miniature gardening. It’s just like lifesized gardening - but shrunken down to a tiny scale. Whether you’re planting indoors or in a balcony – or even in a garden with minimal flowerbed space, Ameeta Sharma Menon is brimming with novel ideas for weeny things that she turns into quirky planters.

“Miniature gardening was a part of my research project while I was studying architecture. But I got hooked on to it instantly as I enjoyed making something beautiful and sustainable. Th is led me to exploring a lot of things and read many books on the subject. I finally came across the art and science of making terrariums (a mini indoor garden in a glass container). Unfortunately, there are very few people in India who know about this science. From there on, I started experimenting with various methods/ingredients/types of plants etc.” says Ameeta.

With a deep understanding of this art, Ameeta started her venture ‘Life on your table’, where she helps people set up their mini garden. She creates house plants in a glass enclosure, which becomes a self-sustainable biosphere. The really cool thing about growing miniature gardens is that you can pretty much grow them anywhere. “None of the material used is unnatural. Only organic manures and herbicides are used to prevent

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

to water them at all.”

These are priced in the range of Rs 3000 to 30,000, depending on the size and the plant types that go in. “A green, live miniature garden that grows right on your table - who wouldn’t want to have that! It is a reminder in your day-to-day mundane life of the beauty that nature holds in itself,” she says. zainab.kantawala@goldensparrow.com GET IN TOUCH http://www.lifeonyourtable.com/ Call us on: +91-9421572882 sales@lifeonyourtable.com

Laparoscopic surgery helps doctor cure colon cancer NEW DELHI: A 27-year-old medical student, diagnosed with colon cancer, successfully underwent a laparoscopic surgery at a hospital here.

Love Bhushan initially witnessed blood in his stool which compelled him to undergo some blood tests. An endoscopic examination revealed that he had a tumour in his rectum. It was later confi rmed to be a cancerous tumour, also known as colon cancer.

“I ignored it initially. But later when the bleeding persisted I told a colleague who insisted I undergo some tests for the same,” said Bhushan, who comes from a family of doctors.

Bhushan got admitted to the B L Kapoor Memorial Hospital here and underwent laparoscopic surgery.

A team of doctors led by V.P. Bhalla, senior consultant, GI Cancer Surgeon and Director, BL Kapoor Centre of Digestive and Liver diseases, operated upon Bhushan and removed the cancerous rectum.

“During the surgery the big painful incisions on abdomen were totally avoided and subsequently had chemotherapy to consolidate the gains of the surgery,” said Bhalla.

However, complications recurred when he again developed cancerous tumours in the remaining part of his colon or the large bowel. He again underwent the laprascopic surgery.

Bhalla said: “Even after the removal of the entire colon, he is leading a near normal life now.”

Though Bhushan’s health complication was cured but, Bhalla said, with extensive surveillance, early detection and prompt treatment colon and rectum cancer could be treated effectively. “It is believed that a healthy lifestyle, maintaining ideal body weight and a high fibre content of the diet can prevent colon cancer,” Bhalla said.

“The good news is that once detected, a proper treatment planning by a team specialising in the management of colon and rectum cancer can give positive and hopeful results.” He noted that colon cancer, which mostly used to be a disease ocurring in 50s or 60s in one’s life, is affecting younger people in their 20s and 30s.

IANS

Maintaining your miniature garden • Light and water are two essential elements in the success of your terrarium. These little gardens are often seen in offices or given as gifts, because they can grow and survive well in indirect sunlight and little watering. Within your home, place the terrarium in a bright area with lots of indirect lighting. If you see your plants start to brown, they could be getting too much light and should be moved.

• Besides proper lighting, terrariums need a proper amount of moisture as well. Since they are essentially self-contained ecosystems, thus recycling their own water, you should not have to water very frequently. Sometimes you can go without watering them for months at a time. However, when it is time to add extra moisture, use a spoon, eyedropper or a water sprayer to help against over watering. If you see excess water on the sides or bottom of your terrarium, open the container and allow some time for it to dry.

• Finally, remember to trim your plants to keep them at your desired size. You also will want to remove any dead plants, algae or fungus that might gather in your terrarium.

As global CO breaks records, India faces dilemma April 2014 was the first time in human history that CO2 levels soared beyond 400 ppm NEW DELHI: During the week of April 6 to 12, average carbon dioxide (CO2) levels touched 404.02 parts per million (ppm), the highest-ever in recent human history - and 15 percdent above the levels of 350 ppm scientists say is ideal for Earth.

The months of February, March and April had monthly average CO2 levels higher than 400 parts per million (ppm), the fi rst time in recorded history all three months have reached such levels, according to the keystone Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii.

These rising levels have growing relevance for India, as it struggles with a farm crisis brought on by uncertain rainfall, attributed increasingly to climate change, as IndiaSpend recently reported.

India is the world’s thirdlargest emitter of CO2, the chief greenhouse gas. A renewed push for industrialisation will have to be balanced against further climate change.

The 400 ppm mark is a milestone when it comes to CO2 levels in the atmosphere, and the fi rst day to record such levels was May 9, 2013.

“Current (atmospheric) CO2 values are more than 100 ppm higher than at any time in the last one million years (and maybe higher than any time in the last 25 million years),” said

Charles Miller, Principal investigator at NASA’s Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment after the 400 ppm threshold was passed.

Ever-upward global CO2 levels Last April was the fi rst month in human history with an average CO2 level above 400 ppm. April 2015 recorded a level of 403.26, nearly two points higher than the same month last year.

The observatory in Hawaii has been recording CO2 levels since 1958, and annual CO2 levels have risen by 82.58 ppm since then to reach 398.55 ppm in 2014, that’s an increase of 1.47 ppm per year.

Disquieting data bring domestic pragmatism The path of industrialisation and urbanisation that India adopts will have a significant impact on the world’s warming and its own health status.

Already, 13 of the world’s 20 mostpolluted cities are in India.

India may take an uncompromising position globally to protect its own interests, but it’s difficult to ignore the warning signs from Mauna Loa. IANS (In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public-interest journalism platform)

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“We started considering the land bill after 120 years of its inception and we didn’t even discuss it properly for 120 hours. Not only is the Congress responsible for it, but we are too, because we supported the bill.”

— Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

It is easy to feel at home in Pune P 15

GM foods: India should face up to dissent Resistance to GM crops is likely to continue from opponents like Greenpeace despite the European Union’s import approval for 17 more genetically modified food products

By Vivian Fernandes With the European Union expected to approve import of 17 more geneticallymodified food products by the end of May, opponents in India like Greenpeace will have a weaker case to stall permission for commercial cultivation of GM crops. But they are unlikely to give up their resistance.

Unless the courts come to its rescue, Greenpeace’s very existence in India has come under a cloud. The government has choked the flow of foreign funds to the NGO, terming it a threat to the nation’s economic security. The government has found its habit of stirring up opposition to coal mining and nuclear energy annoying.

India has only one approved BT crop, cotton, which it authorised in 2002. The EU already imports 58 GM products, including US maize, cotton, soyabean and sugarbeet. A few more on the menu are unlikely to convince Greenpeace to change its pet peeve.

With the EU import approval,Greenpeace will suffer a setback in its bid to stall permission for commercial cultivation of GM crops

Neither are NGOs associated with the ruling party’s ideological parent, like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, likely to relent on GM crops.

The EU relaxation is happening under pressure from the United States, which has raised the issue of a backlog in biotech authorisations during talks

on a free trade deal between the two called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

In January, the European Parliament allowed member countries to authorise or prevent cultivation of GM crops that have been approved by the European Food Safety Authority,

proving that opposition to GM food is political, not safety-related.

Britain and Spain are expected to rule in favour of a variety of Du Pont Pioneer’s GM maize also known as ‘Supercorn’.

But opposition to GM crops is quite entrenched in Europe and

elsewhere, showing how successful the scaremongering by environmental extremists has been.

Mark Lynas, who launched the anti-GMO movement and even vandalised a GM field trial in Britain 15 years ago, before turning its advocate in 2013, said last month in a blog in the New York Times that “we need GM technology. We must not let the Green movement stand in the way”.

He noted that Hungary has written anti-GM ideology into its constitution.

France too has a GM ban in place.

Lynas said his recent meeting with a Bt brinjal farmer about 95 km from Dhaka was rushed and the threat of violence had made his escorts from the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) quite jittery.

Bangladesh is the first country to allow cultivation of Bt brinjal, which is resistant to the fruit and shoot borer pest. This has eliminated the need for sprays to control the pest by as many as 140 times over the life of the crop, Lynas said. The technology has given the country’s 108 farmers authorised to cultivate it better incomes not only due to reduced cultivation costs but also premium pricing on being marketed as ‘insecticide-free’.

A Greenpeace-led coalition has tied up Bt brinjal trials in the Philippines in litigation for two years, Lynas said.

In India, activists got a moratorium imposed on its trials in 2010 with the help of then environment minister

Jairam Ramesh, a fellow traveller.

The crop biotech industry last week released a report by PG Economics Company, a Britain-based specialist consultancy. It says that in the 17 years to 2013, since they were first cultivated, GM crops have resulted in an extra 412 million tonnes of soyabean and corn production and output of nearly 22 million tonnes of cotton lint and eight million tonnes of canola.

The land saved because of improved yields from GM crops was 18.1 million hectares in 2013. The net economic benefit to farmers in 2013 was $20.5 billion or $122 a hectare, it said. Over a 17-year period this would amount to $133.5 billion.

But activists are likely to dismiss the report as industry-sponsored, just as they will pay scant heed to the proposed EU relaxation. But India cannot afford to give in to this anti-science, multimillion dollar dissent industry.

Four states have allowed field trials of GM crops. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar supports GM technology. The prime minister has seen its benefit as chief minister of Gujarat. They must articulate their convictions. Rationality, and not NGO hocus-pocus, must inform IANS public policy.

(Vivian Fernandes is a consulting editor to smartindianagriculture.in The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at vivianfernandesonly@ gmail.com)

Himachal, hub for Crop burning, a bane in Punjab, Haryana off-season vegetables Punjab, Haryana farmers continue environmentunfriendly practice

Annual off-season vegetable output crosses 14 lakh tonnes in Himachal SHIMLA: Production of off-season vegetables in Himachal Pradesh -whose economy is largely dependant on agriculture and horticulture -- is coming up in a big way with the annual output crossing 14 lakh tonnes, an official said on Sunday.

The production of off-season vegetables has gone up considerably, ensuring a total annual income of Rs.2,500 crore to the farmers in the sector, a government spokesperson said.

He said a provision of Rs.60 crore has been made in Himachal’s budget in this fiscal for promoting off-season crops, especially vegetables. To cash in on the high demand and remunerative prices of organic food be it fruits, vegetables or pulses, the state is laying emphasis on organic farming in the state. The official said 26,741 farmers have been registered as practitioners of organic farming till date and 15,548 hectare area has been brought under organic farming.

According to the official, the agriculture department is providing free soil-testing facility to the farmers to improve soil-fertility in the state.

The government has provided four mobile soil-testing labs besides another 11 soil-testing facilities to the farmers.

During the last two years, 202,687 soil health cards have been provided and three mobile soil-testing laboratories were established to provide services in far-flung areas. In this fiscal, the government has fixed a target to provide

By Jaideep Sarin

100,000 soil health cards.

To provide irrigation facility to the farmers, the government this year launched the Rajiv Gandhi MicroIrrigation Scheme with an outlay of Rs.154 crore. Through this project, 8,500 hectares would be brought under drip- or sprinkler-irrigation scheme benefitting 14,000 farmers in four years. Farmers would also get a subsidy of Rs.113 crore during this period.

In most parts of the hill state, due to geographical conditions, water has to be lifted to higher levels for irrigation purpose. The government has announced grant of 50 percent subsidy for construction of lift irrigation schemes and installation of borewells by individuals or groups of farmers.

Himachal Pradesh annually earns Rs.2,500 crore from the cultivation of vegetables, while horticulture generates more than Rs.3,200 crore annually.

IANS

CHANDIGARH: They have been warned, threatened with prosecution and even offered inducements. But a number of farmers in Punjab and Haryana seem disinclined to stop their environment-unfriendly bi-annual exercise of burning crop residue, cited by environmentalists as one of the prinicipal causes of dust haze and air pollution in Delhi and northern India.

With the wheat harvest in both the states nearly over, authorities are attempting in whatever they can to discourage farmers from burning the crop residue in their fields. The main concern of the authorities, especially the pollution control boards in both the states, is the harm that the crop burning - wheat stubble and paddy straw - causes to the environment.

While authorities in Haryana have warned farmers and even pointed out that proceedings will be initiated against them for violating the ban on burning stubble, the Punjab government had recently announced cash rewards to districts and villages which curb the unhealthy practice.

“Many farmers want to save time of uprooting the crop residue and resort to burning. This may give them short-term results but is harming the fertility of the soil and the environment in the long run,” Kultar Singh, a young, educated farmer and an environmentalist, told IANS. Haryana’s environment department has issued a notification under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 that bans the burning of

Burning crop residue is a time-saving alternative to uprooting stubble, but it poses a hazard to the fertility of the soil and the environment in the long run

agriculture waste in open fields.

“The Haryana government has issued an advisory to the farmers not to burn wheat stubble as it leads to manifold increase in the air pollution level during the harvesting season.

They should try to recover it with the help of machines for use as fodder or convert it into manure,” an official of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board told IANS, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

Board officials have been asked to keep a strict vigil and file cases against the defaulting farmers.

In recent years, the board has filed cases against 32 farmers in the special environment courts at Kurukshetra and Faridabad.

“The board has so far approved nine cases in 2015-16,” the official added.

The Punjab government recently announced a financial grant of Rs.1 crore ($157,000) and Rs.100,000 for

each district and village rid of the malaise.

“Resorting to punitive measures to end this menace does not yield results; hence it was decided to reward the districts and villages which curbed the practice of straw burning,” a Punjab government spokesman told IANS. Punjab contributes over 50 percent of foodgrain - wheat and paddy - to the national kitty despite having just 1.54 percent of the country’s geographical area.

Haryana’s agriculture department is promoting the use of various machines and techniques to discourage farmers from burning crop residue.

“Farmers are being given subsidy for purchase of machines like happyseeder, turbo-seeder, shredder, bailing machine and zero-seed-cum-fertilizer drill to facilitate in-situ management of crop residue,” agriculture department official Ashok Kumar told IANS. “The burning leads to manifold increase in air pollution levels during the harvesting season. The soil fertility

is also lost due to the burning of essential nutrients,” scientist Ranbir Dahiya told IANS. It is estimated that burning of one tonne of rice straw accounts for loss of 5.5 kg of nitrogen, 2.3 kg of phosphorus, 25 kg of potassium and 1.2 kg of sulphur. The heat generated elevates the soil temperature, killing fungi, pests, reptiles and the like that are otherwise beneficial for the crops.

“If the crop residue is incorporated or retained in the soil itself, it gets enriched, particularly with organic carbon and nitrogen,” Dahiya said.

Other hazards of crop burning include the fire spreading to habitatioans or forests, accidents due to poor visibility caused by the smoke and breathing problems for people. In recent years, both Green Revolution states have seen bumper crops of wheat and paddy, leading to increased burning of crop residue.

IANS (Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)

Mary, more inspiring than Indira Gandhi

Vol-1* lssue No.: 48 Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867) Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed at PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

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

Mary Kom pips Indira Gandhi in ‘most inspiring mother’ survey

NEW DELHI: Indian Olympic medallist boxer M.C. Mary Kom has pipped late prime minister Indira Gandhi as the ‘Most inspirational mother who made a difference to the world’, according to a survey released on the occasion of Mother’s Day on Sunday.

The survey by online matchmaking

platform Shaadi.com was conducted to find out about globally the most inspirational mothers in India and Britain. The results are based on an online poll, which received over 9,700 responses from Indian women.

When asked about the ‘mothers from India who made a difference to the world’, 39.1 percent of the respondents said Mary Kom, followed by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (32.4 percent) and Indira Gandhi (28.5 percent).

The top names to emerge out of Britain are the late Princess Diana of

Wales (40.2 percent), “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling (33.1 percent), and cinematic icon Audrey Hepburn (26.7 percent).

Commenting on the survey, Gourav Rakshit, COO, Shaadi.com, said: “The survey showcases some of the most successful mothers whose determination to make a difference, has inspired the world. It is very encouraging to know that people are not just looking up to them as celebrities, but also as real people with real relationships.”

IANS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

‘MKL is beneficial for rural players’ P 16

PUNE

“We have noticed the report and appreciate Prime Minister Modi’s positive remarks, which embodied the broad consensus reached by the heads of the two countries on China-India relations.”

— Hua Chunying, foreign ministry spokesperson

Chinese villagers pursue their lost icon YANGCHUN, China: One day in March, Lin Yongtuan was on his lunch break scrolling through the news on his phone when a story with an interesting photo caught his eye. Researchers in Europe had made a remarkable discovery: the nearly 1,000-year-old mummified body of a monk encased in a statue.

Lin rushed to this lush mountain village in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian, where he had grown up praying to a similar statue that was believed to hold a monk’s remains. He passed around the photo, which showed a gilded Buddhist figure sitting crosslegged, shoulders slightly hunched forward, the corners of his lips turned slightly upward in a faint smile.

The villagers all agreed: It was the same statue. They called it the Zhanggong Patriarch, and it had been stolen from Yangchun 20 years earlier. Now the statue seemed to have resurfaced halfway around the world in a museum in Budapest, Hungary.

“Everyone in the village was so excited,” said Lin, 46, who works at a financial services firm in a nearby city.

“The smile, the eyes, his posture - it was unmistakable.”

In the weeks since then, the 1,800 residents of Yangchun have been on a mission to get their mummy back.

They have welcomed journalists to the village, appealed for help on social media and lobbied government officials. A native of Yangchun working as a cook in Budapest was recruited to check out the statue in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, where it was on display as part of a mummy exhibit.

Gilles Sabrie/The New York Times

The Zhanggong Patriarch, stolen from Yangchun 20 years ago, seems to have resurfaced in Hungary

Villagers burn incense at the Puzhao Temple in Yangchun, China, where a 1,000-year-old statue containing a monk’s mummified remains was stolen two decades ago, April 9, 2015. The villagers, and the Chinese government have been pressing for its return since the statue apparently turned up in March at the Hungarian Natural History Museum

Then villagers organised simultaneous prayer readings at their temple and at the museum to celebrate the discovery and draw attention to their cause.

Hundreds turned out, and fireworks lit up the night sky at the temple.

The village’s demand has been embraced by the Chinese government, which has stepped up efforts to reclaim looted cultural relics that ended up abroad. On April 16, China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced that it had contacted the mummy’s Dutch owner, whom it did

not identify, and begun discussions about returning the mummy.

“To us, Zhanggong Patriarch is not a cultural relic,” said Lin Wenqing, 39, who returned from selling tea in the southern autonomous region of Guangxi when he heard the statue had been found. “We see him as family. He is one of us.”

Before its theft, residents prayed to the Zhanggong Patriarch at every important event in the village, including the harvest. Once a year, they took the statue down from the

altar and paraded it through the village, visiting each house.

And on the fifth day of the 10th lunar month - believed to be the mummified monk’s birthday - the village celebrated with a festival featuring performances and a bountiful vegetarian feast.

These traditions appear to go back centuries, passed down from generation to generation along with tales of the patriarch as a boy with the surname Zhang who moved to the village with his mother, worked as a

Liberia beats Ebola, faces crisis of faith

Decimating the entire social fabric of Liberia, the Ebola epidemic has torn asunder the tapestry of the Christian church Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times

MONROVIA, Liberia: It decimated hospitals, schools, families, fortunes and, for many, even their faith.

Now, it is officially over. The Ebola outbreak has ended in Liberia, the World Health Organisation announced May 9, an enormous milestone that seemed impossibly far off last year when dead bodies blocked roads and the sick prayed for ambulances that never came.

Desperately, the country is trying to rebuild just about everything, from its health and education systems to its economy and international image.

But in the dim hall of the United God Is Our Light Church, its generator turned off to save costs, the congregation has been trying to repair something more fundamental: its spirit.

“Some of you are thinking that this church will die,” the church secretary, Joseph Vayombo, recently shouted in the small Pentecostal church here, no longer able to contain his frustration at all the empty seats around him. “There are people here who want this church to die.”

The large circle of plastic chairs inevitably drew attention to the low attendance at Friday morning prayer, a monthly gathering intended to bring together a church torn asunder by Ebola. Three, four, sometimes half a dozen empty seats separated the attendees from one another.

A man started banging on a drum; a woman rattled a shaker. Two women took to the middle of the hall, dancing confidently, hands clapping in the air.

“Don’t mind if somebody’s not here,” the assistant pastor exhorted.

Everybody’s gaze seemed to settle on the empty seats surrounding him.

While Ebola still haunts Guinea and Sierra Leone, where infections have dwindled but refuse to disappear, Liberia has passed a remarkable threshold: at least 42 days since its last Ebola victim was buried, or twice the maximum incubation period of the virus, according to the WHO. Even before reaching that official marker, the nation was trying to stitch

A Sunday service at United God Is Our Light Church in Monrovia, Liberia, February 15, 2015. Last year, eight members died after congregants laid hands on a visitor with Ebola for a healing prayer. Now, with the country officially free of the virus, this Pentecostal church is one of many working to rebuild decimated congregations and fallen spirits

itself back together after more than 4,700 deaths from the disease, by far the most of any nation in the epidemic.

Liberia has reopened markets, clinics and schools, to move past an outbreak so devastating that it “has changed our way of life,” as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf put it.

Similar efforts are taking place inside churches as well, bedrock institutions in West African society that were at once a place of succour and a source of contagion during the outbreak.

Like many people here, church leaders often denied that Ebola, a disease new to West Africa, was real.

At an emergency meeting last July, the Liberian Council of Churches, the country’s main group for Christians, described Ebola as divine punishment for acts of homosexuality and government corruption.

Shocked by the skyrocketing number of deaths, religious leaders later began leading efforts to stop practices that could transmit the virus. Now that the epidemic has passed, many church leaders are trying to repair the damage

left behind.

Across Monrovia, churches have been responding by holding special prayers, revivals and workshops, all with the common purpose of refastening ties frayed by Ebola, a disease that made many fear and doubt those closest to them.

Last year, after congregants at the United God Is Our Light Church laid their hands on a visitor with Ebola during a healing prayer, eight members died within weeks.

Some survivors blamed the church leaders; others accused the person who had invited the sick visitor. The church was placed under quarantine, closed for services during the greatest period of anguish and loss. Members scattered as Ebola raged through their city and shook their faith.

“Ebola brought problems in churches; it brought problems in relationships,” Philip Moseray, the assistant pastor, told the faithful. “But God is in control, and we’re not giving up. We are trying to rebuild. We are trying to overcome.”

The events at United God Is Our Light were repeated in countless other churches across West Africa’s Ebola belt.

The sick, unable or unwilling to seek treatment, were sometimes brought for prayers inside churches, which became sanctuaries for them. But the practice also ended up spreading the virus.

It is impossible to know how many church officials or members died of Ebola from such contact, but the numbers are high, according to the Inter-Religious Council of Liberia, the country’s main umbrella group for Christian and Muslim institutions.

In Monrovia, the Liberian capital, as many as 40 pastors died after contracting Ebola from ministering to their congregants, said St John York, the council’s secretary general. Most were Pentecostal, the fastest-growing Christian movement in Africa, he and many Pentecostal pastors said.

It was in mid-June 2014 when a sick woman was brought for a healing prayer to United God Is Our Light.

A leader in the women’s group, Tewa Fayiah, long active in recruiting new members, brought the ailing visitor to the church, where she stayed until her death. After hands were laid on her - and then on those who got infected after touching her - the disease tore through the church, killing eight members, or about a tenth of the congregation. The virus quickly widened beyond the church.

The church caretaker, a young father of four named James Fallah, was taken to a nearby clinic where he died just hours later. At the clinic, called Logan Town, he passed the virus to an employee and set off a separate chain of infections that killed at least 15 people, including one of Liberia’s top basketball players, according to dozens of interviews with church members, health workers, family members and residents.

“I was vexed with the devil,” said Esther Fallah, the widow of the caretaker. “I can’t get vexed with God.” Sitta Jusu, 39, the head of the choir, said of the church, “We are still together.” © 2015 New York Times News Service

cowherd and became a monk. “They Only a few mummies are likely always told us that he lived during to have survived the vicissitudes of the Song dynasty,” said Lin Chengfa, Chinese politics, he said, and some 44, “and that inside the statue was his may still be hidden in statues in mummified corpse.” museum collections around the world.

Lin, who was part of the police When contacted on the networking unit that responded in December site LinkedIn in April, Dutch 1995 when the statue disappeared, architect Oscar van Overeem publicly recalled that several villagers had acknowledged for the first time that he wept outside the temple that morning. owned the mummy in dispute. He has Especially upset were older residents, said he purchased the statue in 1996 some of whom had gone to great from a collector in Amsterdam who lengths to protect the statue during had acquired it in Hong Kong.

Mao’s Cultural Revolution, when Workers restoring the statue the Communist Party smashed such realized something might be inside, relics and sought to stamp out ancient and van Overeem decided to get a traditions as obstacles to socialist CT scan, which revealed the mummy. progress.

But he insists that his statue is not the “We dug holes to hide him, Zhanggong Patriarch. and sometimes we “I have convinced the would hide him in Chinese representatives people’s houses,” Lin easily with facts and Chuanlong, 73, said of research that the the mummy during an villagers’ claim is interview at his home in unjustified or unlikely,” a neighbouring village. he wrote via LinkedIn. “We were under a lot of “However, meanwhile, pressure during those my mummy has become years. Sometimes we a political issue - if I like would even move him it or not.” twice in one night.”

Van Overeem wrote Village records, that he had reached a which trace the histories tentative agreement to of families in Yangchun, donate the mummy to “a - LIN WENQING most of whom share major Buddhist temple” the surname Lin, near Yangchun, which include references he referred to as a village to the Zhanggong Patriarch from that “pretends the mummy belongs to as early as the Song dynasty, which them.” An unidentified foundation ruled China from 960 to 1279. will offer him some compensation for Mummification was a sign of what he has invested in the statue and eminence among monks of the Chan in researching its history, he said. school of Buddhism during that era, He added that he was letting go and Fujian province was a center of of the mummy because he believed Chan Buddhism, said James Robson, it deserved to return to its homeland a Harvard professor who has written “to be incorporated in truly Buddhist about the alleged theft of another surroundings” and worshipped “by Chinese mummy by a Japanese traveler those who love and appreciate him.” in the early 20th century. © 2015 New York Times News Service

“Zhanggong Patriarch is not a cultural relic.

We see him as family. He is one of us.”

Germany, the green superpower

BY THOMAS L FRIEDMAN BERLIN: A week at the American Academy in Berlin leaves me with two contradictory feelings: One is that Germany today deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, and the other is that Germany tomorrow will have to overcome its deeply ingrained post-World War II pacifism and become a more serious, activist global power. And I say both as a compliment.

On the first point, what the Germans have done in converting almost 30 per cent of their electric grid to renewable energy from near zero in about 15 years has been a great contribution to the stability of our planet and its climate. The centrepiece of the German Energiewende, or energy transformation, was an extremely generous “feed-in tariff ” that made it a no-brainer for Germans to install solar power (or wind) at home and receive a predictable high price for the energy generated off their own rooftops.

There is no denying that the early days of the feed-in tariff were expensive. The subsidies cost billions of euros, paid for through a surcharge on everyone’s electric bill. But the goal was not simply to buy more renewable energy: It was to create demand that would drive down the cost of solar and wind to make them mainstream, affordable options. And, in that, the energiewende has been an undiluted success. With price drops of more than 80 per cent for solar, and 55 per cent for wind, zero-carbon energy is now competitive with fossil fuels here.

“In my view the greatest success of the German energy transition was giving a boost to the Chinese solar panel industry,” said Ralf Fuecks, the president of the Heinrich-BoellStiftung, the German Green Party’s political foundation. “We created the mass market, and that led to the increased productivity and dramatic decrease in cost.” And all this in a country whose northern tip is the same latitude as the southern tip of Alaska!

This is a world-saving achievement.

And, happily, as the price fell, the subsidies for new installations also dropped. The Germans who installed solar ended up making money, which is why the program remains popular, except in coal-producing regions.

Today, more than 1.4 million German households and co-operatives are generating their own solar/wind electricity. “There are now a thousand energy cooperatives operated by private people,” said energy economist Claudia Kemfert.

Oliver Krischer, the vice chairman of the Green Party’s parliamentary group, told me: “I have a friend who comes home, and, if the sun is shining, he doesn’t even say hello to his wife. He first goes downstairs and looks at the meter to see what (electricity) he has produced himself. The idea now is that energy is something you can (produce) on your own. It’s a new development.”

And it has created so much pushback against the country’s four major coal/ nuclear utilities that one of them, E.On, just split into two companies - one focusing on squeezing the last profits from coal, oil, gas and nuclear, while the other focuses on renewables.

Germans jokingly call them “E.Off” and “E.On.” One problem: Germany still has plenty of cheap, dirty lignite coal that is used as backup power for wind and solar, because cleaner natural gas is more expensive and nuclear power is being phased out.

So, how about national power?

Two generations after World War II, Germany’s reticence to project any power outside its borders is deeply ingrained in the political psyche here.

A German foreign policy official put their dilemma this way: “We have to get used to assuming more leadership and be aware of how reluctant others are to have Germany lead - so we have to do it through the EU.” Here’s my prediction: Germany will be Europe’s first green, solarpowered superpower. © 2015 New York Times News Service

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

MONEY MATT ER S

“All of the staff at Harris Performance will now become employees of Royal Enfield, taking responsibility of development engineering for our new motorcycles.”

— Siddhartha Lal, chief executive, Royal Enfield

Signpost Global financial volatility pose risk to India: Moody’s The monsoon and global financial volatility will pose additional risk to India’s growth this year besides weak domestic credit conditions and tepid domestic demand, rating agency Moody’s said recently. Nonetheless, looking ahead to the next 18 to 24 months, Moody’s said India’s growth was likely to average around 7.5 per cent. The rating agency attributed the current subdued growth conditions on weak domestic credit conditions, tepid domestic demand and uncertain global growth. “Since India’s structural reform efforts will revive domestic investment and competitiveness over the medium - rather than near - term, the above factors will limit the pace of economic recovery in India over the next two quarters, while the monsoon and the potential for global financial volatility pose additional risks to growth this year,” a report by Moody’s Investor Service said.

India’s industrial output slows, but inflation eases Indications of a strong industrial recovery were belied with the growth in India’s factory output slowing to 2.1 per cent in March, even as the retail inflation eased nearly 40 basis points to 4.87 per cent in April, as per official data released recently. Analysts said this should make India Inc exert more pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease its interest rates in its monetary policy update in June, or even earlier, since the industry needs a push for sustained growth, even as easing of inflation is a comforting factor. The factory output had grown at a higher pace of 5 per cent in February, while for the fiscal year 2014-15 as a whole the expansion at 2.8 per cent was better than the contraction of 0.1 percent in the year before. In the case of retail inflation, it eased further from 5.25 per cent in March. Official data on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) released recently suggested that the main reason for the slowdown was a sharp decline in the growth of manufacturing, which has the maximum weight, from 5.2 per cent in February to 2.2 per cent in March. The India Inc welcomed the data, however it also called for immediate redressal of issues like high interest rates and infrastructure bottlenecks.

“The combination of a powerful four-litre V8 engine with intelligent lightweight design makes the Audi RS 7 Sportback an outstanding piece for our discerning customers in India.”

— Joe King, head, Audi India

Do large advertisers How not to become a victim want govt regulation? of bank frauds Several large advertisers are undermining the self-regulatory body, ASCI. Do they want a government regulator?

There are many middlemen who meticulously study bank rules, to take advantage of the ignorance of depositors.

Here is how one stays clear of them

BY SUCHETA DALAL Often, industry fails to realise that it has a good thing going with selfregulation. By its own actions, it can create a draconian alternative that neither helps the industry, its intermediaries or consumers. After all, retiring bureaucrats are ever eager to propose the setting up of ‘independent regulatory bodies’ which offer them an extension of service at better pay and perks than the best government jobs.

It has happened with the capital market where faction-ridden brokers ran stock exchanges like private clubs.

We have five financial regulators, but almost no redress for retail consumers’ grievances. A regulator for the real-esto make it mandatory for marketing tate industry is a crying need due to executives of member companies and rampant flouting of rules, harassment of creative and client-service executives of consumers and refusal to self-regulate. advertising agencies to take this course However, the advertising industry and understand what is unacceptable has to be the strangest of them all. advertising and why it is so.

It is almost as though the industry, This would probably put a stop to which is the big beneficiary of a strong, ASCI members, mainly multinational self-regulatory body, wants to work at companies (MNCs), behaving like damaging the Advertising Standards petulant children and dragging ASCI Council of India’s (ASCI’s) credibility. to court when complaints against their For at least 15 years now, I have been advertisements are upheld. Sistema part of ‘civil society’ or Shyam Teleservices filed NGO groups discussing cases against two ASCI ASCI has the need for government orders. The first was one regulation of false and where a large number of sharpened misleading advertising. consumers had found its its act The allegation was that portrayal of a woman’s ASCI was an ineffective considerably. birthing process ‘gross self-regulator. In 2011, and indecent’ and It has the then minister for ‘offensive to women’. consumer affairs, KV Yet, it obtained a stay expanded Thomas also made order from the Delhi its reach similar remarks, even High Court. The second as the government time, however, its legal by a more was notoriously lax in action over the speed systematic enforcing a clutch of claims of its Internet statues specifically to service did not work to process protect consumers. its advantage.

Since then, ASCI Amazon, Hero has sharpened its act considerably.

MotoCorp and a water purifier It has expanded its reach by a more company were others who challenged systematic process of monitoring ASCI’s orders in court. But Reckitt & advertisements, permitting the Coleman (R&C), which makes Harpic filing of online complaints and using and Dettol, has outstripped all—with social media to increase outreach four cases. Interestingly, R&C, which and awareness. It has also launched thinks ASCI’s processes are biased, an e-learning portal with an online has no problem using its fast-track training programme for advertisers mechanism to complain about its and communication professionals. The competitors. Another set of entities, next step would probably be for ASCI which has challenged ASCI in court,

BY GURPUR Last week the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slapped a penalty of Rs 1.5 crore each on Bank of Maharashtra, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce for violating know-your-customer (KYC) norms while opening bogus accounts for a private organisation and eight other public sector banks were also warned to adhere to these norms.

What is the modus operandi?

There are several middlemen who meticulously study the banks’ rules and regulations, take advantage of the ignorance of depositors by offering higher interest rates and all types of baits to the potential depositors to lure them into their trap. They, therefore, contact cash rich corporates, trusts and high net worth individuals (HNIs). and entice them with tempting offers to place their surplus funds with the banks with which they have developed a rapport. Some even tempt these ultra-rich depositors with kickbacks.

are teleshopping channels who mint money by allowing a slew of unknown companies to market magic potions and miraculous remedies through actors and television stars.

Strangely, this flurry of cases

by MNCs with mega advertising budgets comes at a time when ASCI’s credibility is actually at an all-time high. The information & broadcasting ministry has made the ASCI Code a part of the Cable Television Networks Act, thereby making it mandatory for television channels to comply with the Code.

In 2014, the ethics committee of Medical Council of India also strongly backed ASCI’s effort against fake advertisements. On 18 March 2015, the department of consumer affairs launched a web portal called ‘Grievances against Misleading Advertisements’ with a focus on agriculture and food, health, education, housing, financial services and e-commerce.

Someone has to tell these bulgebudget advertisers that if they prefer a government regulator to sit in judgement on their advertisements, it would ratchet up their costs, compliances and disclosures, not to mention delays and endless red-tape which will impact creative freedom.

Given the utter lack of accountability of almost every statutory regulator set up by the government, we know for sure that it would not help either consumers or advertisers. Maybe it is time for the industry to get together for some bluntspeak. @moneylife

How were these frauds committed?

Explaining the modus operandi of the overdraft-against-FD scam, a senior public sector bank official said some of the accused would approach cash-rich entities asking them to place FDs with bank branches. Since the

accused acted on behalf of the entities, they had access to all the KYC (KnowYour-Customer) documents, including resolutions passed by trusts for placing deposits, and signatures on application forms required for the opening of FDs. Believing the accused to be representatives of the customers, the bank officials would hand over the FD receipts to them. The accused would retain the original receipts and give the customers phoney FD receipts. The possession of the original FD receipts and access to KYC documents made it easy for the accused to perpetrate the fraud, the banker said.”

What lessons can we learn?

First and foremost, it is neither desirable nor necessary for us to entertain any middlemen or broker to handle our banking transactions.

Secondly, though banks are allowed to give differential interest rates for large value bulk deposits, RBI has totally forbidden banks from giving any commission to middlemen for securing deposits.

Lastly, we should hand over the KYC documents to our bank personally as far as possible to ensure that they are not misused by any intermediary.

(The author is a financial analyst and writes for Moneylife under a pen name ‘Gurpur’.)

As the euro slides, a coin meets its Waterloo Maroesjka Lavigne/The New York Times

Trying to run a currency union without a fiscal union and with 19 financial policy agendas has made for messy governing

BY DANNY HAKIM

BRUSSELS: Here at the Belgian Royal Mint, machines called giraffes spit out as many as 850 euros a minute.

At times during the summer of 2008, that many shiny coins would have been worth $1,360. Now it is about $950, a symptom of Europe’s inability to navigate through crisis. Even as the region’s outlook improves ever so slightly, the currency just cannot shake the spectre of moribund growth and the troubles of Greece.

But at the mint, there were more immediate concerns during a recent visit.

Like the Battle of Waterloo.

Since members of the eurozone are allowed to produce a limited number of commemorative coins, the Belgians recently minted a 2-euro coin memorialising the 200th anniversary of the battle, which ended Napoleon’s rule in France.

But then the French got wind of it.

They protested to European officials, arguing that the coin’s design, which shows a lion perched over a map, “appears prejudicial, in a context where the governments of the eurozone are trying

The Royal Belgian Mint in Brussels, March 23, 2015. The French object that the design of Belgium’s commemorative Battle of Waterloo 2-euro coin (right) “appears prejudicial, in a context where the governments of the eurozone are trying to strengthen unity and cooperation throughout the monetary union”

to strengthen unity and cooperation throughout the monetary union.”

With 19 members, the eurozone was supposed to be the leading edge of Europe’s integration efforts. But Europe has a lot of trouble grappling with its largest problems - whether to integrate more tightly or drift apart, for example, or what to do with Greece. Trying to run a currency union without a fiscal union and with 19 financial policy agendas has made for messy governing.

European policymakers do have a knack for obsessing over details.

They have regulated the curvature of cucumbers and the jugs used to serve olive oil in restaurants. Now, the pressing issue of Waterloo is being addressed.

Much has changed in the two centuries since Waterloo. One of the

main combatants, Prussia, bowed out long ago. And the site of the battle is in a country that did not exist at the time, modern-day Belgium. In the skirmish over the commemorative euros, the side of Napoleon prevailed. The Belgians were left with 180,000 new coins that had to be destroyed.

When a reporter started laughing at the idea of European nations fighting anew over Waterloo, he was lightly admonished.

“You can laugh about it,” Andre A Toujour, the royal mint’s assistant manager, said. “We don’t.”

The euro’s value is as much psychological as financial.

This year, the euro has been flirting with parity to the US dollar, underscoring the divergent fortunes of the US and

European economies. Since the euro was introduced in 1999, it has been at parity with the dollar just twice.

The euro rose as high as $1.60 in 2008. But it began to fall against the dollar as the economic performance of the United States and the eurozone diverged. The US Federal Reserve took a much more aggressive posture than the European Central Bank, essentially printing money to stem the financial crisis. And for much of the last year, the euro’s decline has accelerated.

Last year, the Belgian mint produced more than 42 million European coins from the 1-cent piece to the 2-euro coin - with a face value of 12.9 million euros.

That was worth about $15.6 million at the end of last year. Back in April 2008 it would have been worth $20.6 million.

“This is a signal that the euroarea economy is weaker than the U.S. economy,” said Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels research organization. The US economy grew 2.4 per cent last year, compared with 0.9 per cent for the eurozone.

As their economies diverge, so have their monetary policies. The United States is exiting its aggressive practice of quantitative easing, in which it created money to buy vast amounts of bonds, and it is now poised to begin raising interest rates. Europe, in the meantime, is starting quantitative easing.

No one side has decided to stop increasing its money supply while the other is starting to do so, which is pushing the currencies in opposite direction.

The euro, in recent weeks, has stabilised somewhat, as the economic winds have shifted in Europe’s favor.

The European economy has shown some faint glimmers of growth, while recent data suggest the US recovery may be softer than thought. And Europe’s allure remains powerful for the stream of immigrants who risk death crossing the Mediterranean to reach its shores.

But the euro - a volatile reflection of the market’s mood - is hardly on firm ground. Greece is quickly running out of money, raising concerns that country may leave the currency zone.

This year, Moody’s projected that the

euro would not fall below the dollar in 2015, while others, like Deutsche Bank, have seen it more likely falling to parity by the end of 2015 and to 85 cents by 2017. One kind of euro is rising in value the now exceedingly rare Waterloo coin.

At the royal mint, the giraffes, with their spindly orange necks, sucked up unformed metal slugs from trays and deposit them into boxy gray machines where they are pounded into shape. This is the European dream of togetherness in perhaps its most tangible, if uncertain, form. “It is a foundation,” said Bernard Gillard, who runs the royal mint.

“A foundation for European countries,” echoed Toujour.

A key in his hand, Gillard went to fetch a coin from a safe. He leaves a calling card on the millions of coins that are produced here - a tiny image of a cat, because Gillard has seven of them at home. He returned with a surviving Waterloo coin, which was encased in a protective covering, and placed it on a table in his office. “It is a beautiful design,” he said.

Toujour said, “We were quite astonished, because we had a big part of the production ready, so now it’s just a waste of time and a waste of money and a waste of everything, because of the French government.”

The French government declined to comment. © 2015 New York Times News Service

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

“The LDB (Land Development Banks) properties to the tune of over Rs 500 crore will be acquired and the government will take a call on whether to dispose of or utilise them for government purpose.”

— Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister

PUNE

“We have set up a flying squad, which is taking action against illegal cab drivers in the city. We also have instructed cab service companies to display RTO badge.”

— Jitendra Patil, regional transport officer

Prachi Ranaware voices her complaints about frequent bus breakdowns, and poorly maintained PMPML buses in the city

There is a long list of complaints when it comes to the public transport facilities in the city. The public utility service provided to the city is not up to the mark. I regularly commute by PMPML buses, and so many times there have been instances of buses breaking down midway. It really is a frustrating experience. Besides it causes a great deal of inconvenience to the passengers, who have to reach work on time.

Buses plying on the long routes, from the Pune Station bus depot to PimpriChinchwad, Akurdi and Nigdi should be checked before they embark on their journeys.

Breakdowns are frequent. I have experienced at least seven breakdowns in the past two months. A lot of time

Prachi Ranaware

goes in waiting for the next bus, which is also often too crowded. This causes a delay. And all the passengers are forced to complete their journeys standing.

Also the lack of quality checks and poor maintenance are to be blamed for these snags. The buses make a lot of noise when on the move, causing inconvenience to all. The PMPML officials should test these buses before sending them out on their routes.

PMPML really needs to tackle the issue seriously. The quality of the buses is important. They may look neat from the outside, but inside they are

Citizen Journalist

dirty, sometimes even the seats are torn. I believe the negligence has only resulted in adding to the vehicular congestion on the roads.

Each time I mention my means of travel to be the infamous PMPML buses, I am received with mocking laughs, expressions of bewilderment, and at times sympathetic looks. I do not blame them, as the condition of public transport buses in Pune is pathetic and extremely commuterunfriendly.

The public transport system in the city scores low in all aspects, ranging from quality of service, to route coverage, to breakdown of buses and so on.

It is a matter of serious concern that the Pune Metropolitan area doesn’t have an adequate and effective public transport system in place. I have my experiences of agony, frustration, and risky PMPML service.

The city as a whole is so beautiful, green, clean and safe. But an efficient and effective public transport can do wonders for citizens’ daily life. A shift in the pattern of commuting from the citizens with the civic support for a greener commuter experience can make Pune a real world-class city.

RAHUl RAUT

Commuters upset about breakdown of buses

Relaxed pace and upbeat culture make Pune an amazing city

flat at Koregaon Park. And slowly but steadily, I fell in love with this place. People here are so helpful and friendly. I have made great friends in the city.

The unparalleled advantage that Pune has is its weather. It’s almost always pleasant.

Less traffic, much more polite people around and the greenery are the add-ons.

There are great eateries in Koregaon Park and MG Road. Vada-pav and misal are my favourite snacks. They are so lip-smacking and delicious that I can eat them any time..

Besides, there are some amazing places around for weekend trips. I confess that I’m a travel buff and the most important reason for me not to leave Pune is its close proximity to the beaches which are just about two hours away. There is a cluster of beaches near Pune that are perfect picnic spots and weekend getaways. I am a regular at Kashid and Dapoli.

Forts too attract me a lot. To me they appear as the proof of a rich and royal historic past centuries ago. The stories associated with

the forts and the battles fought there make them even more interesting.

There is enough wilderness to be explored in the Shivneri fort area. But above all, the best part about Pune is that it’s safe for women. I can walk out at 3 in the morning and not get molested.

I love the city for being multi-cultural.

People here celebrate all the festivals with equal enthusiasm. The lush green trees by the roadsides beautify the city. On one hand it is a hip ‘n’ happening city, and on the other hand is peaceful and calm.

This is a city where once you decide to set up home, you realise that this is where you belong - a realisation that is unique and indescribable - something very few cities in India can provide. It’s a city that I will never be able to trade places with for whatever money can buy. Irrespective of its infrastructure problems and potholes, I still believe that Pune is one of the best cities of the country.

non-native

parole

Eakta Khanna

I shifted to Pune seven years back to pursue my education. Having lived in Ajmer for so many years, it wasn’t easy for me to shift base.

Living alone itself gave me the jitters. I got admission in St Mira’s College, and rented a

Letters to the

Editor

RAHUl RAUT

It is easy to feel at home in Pune

Poor maintenance and the condition of PMPML buses lead to frequent breakdowns, causing great inconvenience to commuters

Unity in diversity

Pune is a place where the young and old, traditional and modern co-exist in harmony

I like the diversity in Pune. It is a huge city, but the different parts of the town sometimes feel and look like different worlds. Koregaon Park, for example, feels cosy, whereas MG Road is busy. You can find peace and action, and it might be this diversity that attracts me to this city the most.

The traffic is an overall problem, I’d say, just like the pollution going along with it. I am not sure whether the city is planning on any initiatives, but it would be a great improvement. I have made many friends here, who I meet every year, and I might get a chance to work here after my studies. This used to be my dream and now, it might actually come true. Pune is treating me great, personally and professionally.

The Osho Gardens and the Osho International Meditation Resort are perfect places for me to find inner peace and to stimulate my creative energy. I love to drive through the city in an autorickshaw, see the different places, some of

from foreign

which are chaotic. It will take me much longer to know all the places in the city, but I like to stroll around, even when I have no idea where I am. There are many restaurants I long for when I am out of Pune, like Raga, a little and amazing thali place in Koregaon Park, or Le Plaisir.

People from Pune are very friendly and helpful. I feel at ease and I would like to move from Luxembourg to Pune permanently, so I guess this shows a lot about how the city and the people welcome me.

shores

MLAs should surrender their LPG subsidy Careless cops

The article on Pune MLAs not giving up their LPG subsidies was an eye opener. Instead of leading by example, they themselves are failing in their duties. Clearly they don’t practice what they preach. They should ensure that subsidised fuel reaches only those who need it, and surrender their subsidised LPG connections. The Prime Minister himself had requested the rich and affluent people who can

Anne Mehlinger from Germany

afford to buy market price LPG, to voluntarily give up their subsidised connections. It is rather interesting to know that all the eight members not following his instructions are from the BJP. Money saved from giving up LPG subsidy is to be used for the benefit of the poor, so that they have access to clean energy too. MLAs should also support this cause.

—Shantanu Vaidya

The story on ’25 hours on he lived to tell a tale’ showed the irresponsible attitude of railway officials. They didn’t even find it necessary to take the injured man to the hospital; instead thy asked him for a valid ticket. It was the duty of the railway cops to take control of the situation; the man could have lost his life. Also there is an increase in number of incidents of commuters falling off trains, while travelling near the door. Cops are not to be blamed completely; the man was accountable for his actions equally.

Standing near the door in a speeding train is playing with your own life. The railway authorities should deploy a guard to avoid such accidents.

—Amrita Desai

Custody for wealth

I was almost speechless after reading the story on how the mother and aunt both are fighting to get the custody of the specially abled child, not because

to an organisation that takes care of special kids is wise. She will be raised there with more care and love than she will in her own house. It’s unbelievable that a mother too can be so merciless.

—Manisha Puri

Reshma, the superwoman

they love her, but because of all the wealth her father left for her. What amazes me is the heartless nature of the mother. She even left her daughter soon after giving her birth.

The decision taken by the welfare committee to give custody of Priya

The story on Reshma Valliapan was very inspiring. The fact is that she has not let her illness weaken her, she kept coming back strong every time. She openly talks about mental health issues and the stigma attached to it. This shows what she has been through in the initial stage. In fact, the word schizophrenia sounds familiar to many, but very few people have any idea of what it is. Her work to spread awareness through art is commendable.

She engages in so many activities, I wonder how she manages it all. She really is a superwoman. I am sure her book is going to inspiring too.

—Pranali Sathe

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, editor_tgs@gmail.com or mailed to The Editor, Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030.

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 16, 2015

PUNE

“They (ECB) have used the word ‘trust’ to justify not selecting me, well, trust is a two-way thing.

How can anybody trust them?”

— England batsman Kevin Pietersen on twitter

Signposts Double crown for Ananya Ananya Phadke claimed a double crown at the district level badminton tournament held at Laxmi Krida complex recently. In the singles under-13 category, she defeated Ritu Shah 21-18, 17-21, 24-22, and later prevailed over Satakshi Kinikar.

Meanwhile, in the under-13 boys age group, Aryan Shetty won the title by beating Vardhan Dongre 2116 21-16. He however was unable to achieve a double crown as it went down to Tejas Chitle.

PYC win inter-club tennis championship PYC Hindu Gymkhana scored a convincing 29-18 win over CCI, Mumbai to lift the second Liberty Videocon – Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) Inter-club Tennis championship title recently.

Deccan Gymkhana and Nashik Zone were placed third jointly.

District table tennis tourney from May 25 The 15th edition of Le Meridien Player’s Cup district ranking table tennis tournament will be held at Deccan Gymkhana from May 25. The tournament is sponsored by the Le Meridien Group and former table tennis players.

The first ranking tournament of theseason offers a total prize money of Rs 35,000. Madhukar Lonare will be the chief referee for the tournament.

‘MKL is beneficial for rural players’

Puneri Panther captain Viraj Landge feels that the Maharashtra Kabaddi League will provide players with an ideal platform

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish

After the introduction of the Pro Kabaddi League, the sport is fast gaining popularity all over India. But despite the tremendous potential, Maharashtra players didn’t get much of an opportunity in this national level league. But the Maharashtra Kabaddi League (MKL) will provide a good platform for players, especially from the rural areas to showcase their talent, says Pune’s international player Viraj Landge.

Viraj, who is named as captain of Pune Panthers in the Maharashtra Kabaddi League, believes that Maharashtra players can dominate the other state teams, especially Haryana, in the near future.

“Compared to Haryana, our players lag behind in terms of physique and fitness. But we can compensate for it with our skills. Moreover, the number of tournaments held in Maharashtra at the district and taluka levels is quite big. So our players get good exposure and enough match practice. But there is a lot more to be done, if we want to overpower Haryana,” he said.

“What we need is good infrastructure. We should provide mats to every district and taluka.

Most of our rural players haven’t

Pune Panthers captains Viraj Landge and Pooja Keni with the team logo as backdrop

played on mat as yet and they struggle a lot while shifting from mud to mat.

Secondly, we need fi nancial backing.

Several prize money tournaments are held at different levels, but that’s not enough. We need such leagues, which will act as a launch pad for the national and international tournaments,” added Landge.

The 21-year-old started his playing career in 2004, when he represented Bhairavnath Kabaddi Sangh in Bhosari. Then he got a chance to play for Krida Prabodhini in the under-14 school nationals in 2007, followed by under-17 nationals next year. Later, he represented

Bharat FC clinch Pune derby A 90th minute penalty gives team full tally of points against Pune FC in I-league encounter

Kris Bright (in blue) buries his penalty to give Bharat FC the lead against Pune FC in the Pune derby

TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Bharat FC claimed victory at the Pune derby in breathtaking fashion, as a 90th minute penalty gave the Lions a 1-0 victory over Pune FC, in the Hero I-League round 11 at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, Balewadi this week.

In an enthralling game, Bharat

“If the Supreme Court were to reveal the names of the players involved in fixing, they would consist of ‘at least’ four Chennai Super Kings players.”

—Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi

FC’s attacking endeavour bore fruit in the 90th minute, when Luciano Sabrosa handled the ball inside his own box as he tried to block a stinging Romuald Boco shot. New Zealand international striker, Kris Bright, stepped up to the spot and fi red an unstoppable penalty in the left corner to seal a wonderful victory for his side.

The win sees Bharat FC climb to sixth spot in the Hero I-League, with 18

points from 17 games. Pune FC remain fifth with 23 points from 17 games.

Going into the game, Pune FC Assistant Coach Gift Raikhan made one change to the starting line-up, with medio Mumtaz Akhtar replacing Dhanpal Ganesh.

After a slow start, Pune FC created the fi rst chance of the game at the quarter hour mark. Pune FC continued to push thereafter and had half chances through Arata Izumi, Ryuji Sueoka and Edgar, but couldn’t make them count.

The game settled down after the flurry of chances, as both teams tried to create breaks through the midfield.

Both sets of defenders stood resolute, hacking away at long balls played in from the midfield.

Pune FC created a couple of chances but their Montenegrin striker, Darko Nikac, seemed to have an off day as he routinely strayed off-side and was often starved for support up front.

Bharat FC head coach, Stuart Watkiss, introduced Kris Bright in the 75th minute and the lanky Kiwi had an immediate impact on the game. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Faisal qualifies for World snooker TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Railways cueist Faisal Khan topped the World Snooker Selection Camp, with a rousing 4-2 win over Petroleum Sports Promotion Board’s (PSPB) Shahbaaz Khan, in the final held at the Poona Club.

With this win, the 20-year-old Haryana cueist has qualified for the 6-Red World Snooker Championship to be held in Pakistan in August. Shahbaaz Khan, Sourav Kothari and Kamal Chawla are the other members of India’s team.

Faizal had won an India junior bronze (U-21) in 2006, and later marked his presence in the seniors too by winning the invitational snooker tournament held in Pune, in 2008. He was also part of the Indian team that won the Asian gold in Karachi last year.

Interestingly, Pune has always been happy hunting ground for Faisal, as he qualified for the Indian Open by beating India number 2 Kamal Chawla in the final qualifying leg, in September 2014.

After the gruelling league matches, the top four cueists — Faisal, Shahbaaz, Sourav Kothari and Kamal Chawla — made it to the knock-out semifinal round.

Faisal first defeated Sourav Kothari in the semifinals, and then raced past Shahbaaz in the best-of-seven-frame final 610, 49-9, 0-69, 48-0, 34-35, 45-2. In the match-up for the third place, Sourav Kothari defeated Kamal Chawla 34-2, 52-9, 4020, 22-29, 44-0, and in the play-off for fifth place, Manan Chandra beat Varun Madan 35-6, 44-9. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Rajamata College in Bhosari in the They have quite strong players and under-19 nationals. are improving His performance at the rapidly in their school nationals earned him skills,” he said. a berth in the Maharashtra L a n d g e , junior team in 2010 and who currently he was soon picked for the represents Air Indian squad that won a India, tried his gold medal at the Junior best to get a Asian Championship held chance in the Pro in Malaysia in 2011.

Kabaddi League.

“It was a great learning But he couldn’t experience for me. fi nd a berth in Though Indian players are the Puneri Paltan dominating currently, other team. teams like Iran can prove a “They were - VIRAJ LANDGE threat to our top position. picking players

“My aim is to get into the Indian squad for the Asian Games in 2018.”

according to their playing positions.

So I was told that they have already hired a good player for the cover position. But now after watching my performance in this Maharashtra league, I am sure some team in the Pro League would defi nitely give me a call,” says Landge.

“Right now I have been selected for the Maharashtra’s senior team and my aim is to get a berth in the Indian squad for the Asian Games in 2018. For that I need to maintain my performance for the next two-three years,” he added.

Talking about his team Pune Panthers, he said, “We have got a good mixture of experienced and young players. Mangesh Bhagat, Sachin Patil and Suhas Waghre are national players while Akshay Jadhav and Ganesh Lokhande are the new faces.”

The Pune Panthers team is promoted by Prakash Balwadkar, Dattatraya Balwadkar and Mangesh Murkute. Panthers girls’ team will take on Baramati Hurricanes in their fi rst match on May 15, while the men’s team will play the same opponents on May 16 in Mumbai.

Teams - (Men): Sachin Patil, Viraj Landge, Suhas Vaghare, Mangesh Bhagat, Akshay Jadhav, Paresh Chavan, Sunil Shivtarkar, Shivam Kumbhar, Ganesh Lokhande, Bhibishan Jagdale and Akshay Jadhav; coach - Hanumant Pawar (Women): Pooja Kini, Minal Jadhav, Rani Uphar, Shivneri Chinchawale, Suvarna Yenpure, Komal Gujar, Shraddha Pawar, Pooja Bhandalkar, Ankita Tikode and Sangita Yenpure; coach - Bajrang Pardeshi. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com