@TGSWeekly | PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5
PUNE, FEBRUARY 07, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com
TGS LIFE
Keeping the crowd on their feet all night long
CITY
Eminent Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade has been selected for the prestigious Jnanpith Award which is India’s highest recognition for outstanding contribution in literature.
TGS Round Table with DCP Sarang Awad P5
Your city is best for healthcare in the country: Survey
Walking Plaza
Pune’s 550 hospitals offer ‘good tertiary care’, says Best Cities Report, 2014 TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly
Pune has emerged as the best city in the country for healthcare according to a latest national survey of 30 capital and metro cities and 20 emerging cities on 11 parameters. These parameters in the India Today Best Cities study were economy, housing, transport, public services, healthcare, education, crime and safety, entertainment, environment and investment. “Cleanliness” was an additional parameter in the study which has ranked Pune as the best city for healthcare in the country. While Chennai continued to be rated as the top capital city in the country, Coimbatore displaced Vadodara over the previous survey as the “best emerging city” in the overall category. Hyderabad and Chandigarh figured as the two capital cities which appeared repeatedly in the top five ranks in six categories, followed by Mumbai and Chennai in five categories each. The parameters for the healthcare category in which Pune topped the nation were: number of cashless hospitals per 1,000 people; percentage of children in the 12-35 months age-group who received full immunisation; antenatal check-up for pregnant women; number of hospitals and clinics per 1,000 people and number of gymnasiums per 1,000 people. Chennai topped the national survey in transport and education parameters while Hyderabad scored highest in housing and economy. Kolkata topped the ranking on
proposals invited by Pune Police
Chennai topped the national survey in transport & education parameters
Citizens enjoying their Sunday morning last week on Aundh’s ITI Road
BY ABHAY VAIDYA @vaidya_abhay Following the spectacular success of a Walking Plaza initiative in Aundh, the Pune Police have invited proposals from various organisations to hold walking plaza events in various parts of the city. Speaking extensively with journalists at the The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’s second Round Table on Wednesday, DCP (Traffic) Sarang Awad said he was happy with the success of the Walking Plaza event held over the last few Sundays on Aundh Road and ITI Road. Under this initiative, residents of the area poured on the roads and took ownership of the streets. Children were seen enjoying various funfilled activities while adults and senior citizens enjoyed a pleasant morning walk in a carnivallike ambience. Organised by a newspaper group and sponsored by city builder Vilas Javdekar
Developers, the event was supported by the Pune Municipal Corporation, Pune Police, Pune Traffic Police and Embargo India. The walking plaza on Aundh-DP and ITI roads was held on Sunday mornings during 7-10 am over the last few weeks when one side of the road would be closed for traffic and made available to area residents for a variety of funfilled activities. The success of the Walking Plaza at Aundh is a clear reflection of the thirst of Puneites for safe, open spaces in the city. Such events can easily be held in various other pockets such as Kalyani Nagar, Model Colony, Viman Nagar, Bhau Patil Road, parts of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nigdi. The Pune Police have invited proposals from various organisations towards this end. abhay.vaidya@goldensparrow.com See Edit: Let’s have more Walking Plazas in Pune, P12
15 chowks identified to ease traffic After the two-way plan on Jungli Maharaj Road, more initiatives by the traffic police are on the anvil TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The introduction of a two-way on Jungli Maharaj (JM) Road to ease traffic congestion is just one of the initiatives planned by the Pune Traffic Police in the coming weeks. Speaking at a TGS Round Table discussion, DCP (Traffic) Sarang Awad said that the traffic police is extending all support for the launch of BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) pilot at Vishrantwadi.
Besides, modifications are underway at 15 chowks in the city to address traffic issues. This initiative kick-started with the installation of a signal at the Magarpatta township chowk recently. Awad said an aggressive drive would be launched from Sunday to check violation of various rules and regulations by autorickshaws plying in the city. He said about 16 chowks have been identified in the city where the department wants to undertake improvements. These include the Deccan bus stop, Vidyapeeth chowk, Ganeshkhind Road,
children
Magarpatta, Chandni Chowk, Shimla Office Chowk, Navale Bridge, Vishrantwadi, Tilak Road and Hinjewadi Road among others. The traffic police have also decided to post constables at the Sahitya Parishad alleys on Tilak Road to improve flow of traffic. He said the helmet drive initiated by his department has not waned and would be made more aggressive in the coming weeks. Awad said he was optimistic that the BRTS project and the city bus service would see improvements and help provide better services for commuting in the city. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Handle with care On January 18, a 15-year-old Bengaluru student jumped to her death from her 10th floor apartment after being chastised by her school principal for being ‘friends’ with a boy. Amongst the toppers in her class and an only child, the loss of her life proves that when it comes to our teenagers,schools and parents are bungling up. The Golden Sparrow on Saturday explores...
See Spotlight on p 8 & 9
crime and safety, Mumbai (public services), Gurgaon (entertainment), Shimla (investment), Chandigarh (cleanliness) and Thane (environment). Coimbatore topped the ranking on emerging cities and ranked first in categories such as transport, healthcare, public services and healthcare. The other top emerging cities were: Ludhiana (housing), Nagpur (education), Surat (crime and safety), Mysuru (entertainment, cleanliness and environment) and Surat (economy). The survey noted that with 550 hospitals ‘that offer good tertiary care’, Pune is fast emerging as a leading centre for quality healthcare in the country. The survey quoted Jehangir Hospital’s medical director Manisha Bobade who said, “Our key focus is on offering preventive healthcare to the community besides offering excellent, multi-disciplinary super-speciality cure.” According to the survey, the quality of emergency services was good in Pune which offered a range of super-speciality healthcare facilities and a focus by city hospitals on preventive health check-ups. The survey cited the example of city entrepreneur Kanchan Naikawadi’s Indus Health Plus ‘which facilitates high-end preventive health check-ups at affordable prices’. The survey also noted that the district hospital at Aundh had launched the state’s first initiative offering high-end radiology and imaging diagnostic services round-the-clock. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
“RTI is an important part of trying to legally extract truth that has been lying dormant beneath many layers of redtapism and bureaucratic hurdles.” —Qaneez Sukhrani, social activist
Reviving the magic of storytelling with Godfrey Duncan P4
Milan Pal is helping Germans relocate to Pune P7 RAHUL RAUT
Defeating disablity
Visually impaired, Satish Navale wants people like him to use technology effectively BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi
Founder of Annapurna Pariwar Medha Purao Samant addressing a massive gathering of women at a programme organised at Sakhar Sankul in the city on January 24
Women empowerment, the Annapurna way
Annapurna Pariwar has given loans to thousands of women to pay their debts and start their businesses BY YASH DAIV @yash009
With an aim to help debt-ridden slum dwellers, Medha Purao Samant set up the Annapurna Pariwar, an NGO, in 1993, for the welfare of women from Medha Purao Samant slums. Till date, the NGO has helped thousands of women get rid of their financial crises and pay their debts. Recently, Annapurna celebrated its success in a programme held at Sakhar Sankul, which was attended by over 20,000 women. Addressing the gathering, Samant informed these women about the revised Artha Udyam Purna Scheme, under which, a microloan is given to the needy.
“Our mission is to make our members sustainable and happy by giving them small loans along with business guidance and skill trainings to improve their business,” said Samant. The loans are also disbursed with an objective of insuring them against unforeseen emergencies.
CHALLENGES The NGO, however, has faced its share of challenges. Today, the identification of the right target client, household and individual income is a challenge. It depends on selfdeclaration instead of housing indices. Another challenge that Samant faced initially was that of finding an office. The NGO’s first office came seven years later in Warje. Currently, they have seven branches in Pune, spread over different parts of the city.
ANNAPURNA’S HISTORY After observing the pathetic condition of poor people and their exploitation by money lenders, Samant started Annapurna in Pune in 1993. The basic SWEET SUCCESS The micro-finance idea was to give a loan scheme has flourished to the needy women sans over the years. Last year interest. She gave `1,000 the NGO disbursed as a loan amount to the loans amounting to first group of women. `76 crore and collected The scheme attracted savings of `15 crore. more slum dwellers. Around a crore of rupees Samant then initiated was distributed in the the joint liability model micro-insurance wing where the loan amount for sickness and health came from the savings of - MEDHA PURAO SAMANT claims. Scholarships these women who work worth `35 lakh were as vegetable vendors, given for 1,400 children, waste pickers, fish sellers, and 20 day-care centres were started in fruit sellers, garland makers, tailors and slum areas. cobblers. Some are working as domestic Year 2014 was indeed a pinnacle servants, construction workers, and year for Annapurna however the quest farm and nursery labourers.
“Our mission is to make our members sustainable and happy.”
Annapurna’s declarations for 2015 • Health insurance to the weakest section will have benefits up to `10,000 per year • The recurring deposit scheme introduced last year was a great success • The limit of taking loans was extended up to `1.5 lakh
doesn’t stop here. “Women from slums have benefited from our schemes. Yet there are poorer women who have no means to reach us. It is disheartening to see women and children at the banks of Mula-Mutha, struggling like nomads to live a day,” said Samant. Her future plans include making these women selfreliant. yashdaiv@gmail.com GET IN TOUCH Annapurna Pariwar ‘C’ Wing, Shubham Heights, Next to Runwal Panorama, Off Mumbai-Bangalore Highway, Service Road, Warje, Pune 411058 Tel :- 08888863458, Cell :- 09552555209 Email : financemgr@annapurnapariwar.org
Disability was never a hurdle for him. It was the people’s attitude towards the visually impaired, which discouraged him at many occasions. But, 32-yearold Satish Navale never lost hope and continued doing the good work. Born into a family of farmers, Navale hosts radio programmes, that have transformed the lives of the visually impaired. He is a radio p r o g r a m m e r and records the programme and sends it to Yervala Project Society from where programmes are relayed on Yeralawani radio channel on 91.2 FM mega hertz. It is heard in Jat and Vijapur taluka of Sangli district. The programmes are designed for visually impaired and has educational concepts. It all began five years ago with a radio programme at the then Pune University radio station, which proved to be very popular, followed by another one at Kolhapur. Now Navale coordinates and plans radio programmes, besides hosting them. “I am thankful to God for giving me this life,” he said. Navale completed his graduation from Garware College, and also has a Master’s degree in Education from the Savitribai Phule Pune University. While seeking employment, Navale was struck by the adversities the visually impaired face in day-to-day life. Thus the idea of a communit y radio channel took shape and Navale was helped in this enterprise by Professor P a n d i t
Vidyasagar,who is now the vicechancellor at Nanded University, in 2009. While elaborating how he uses the technology, he said, “I fi rst thank Louie Braille for creating the Braille script for people like me. While operating the radio, the jaws application for computer and talks for the mobile are extremely useful. Both the applications convert the text to voice and thus, it becomes easy for us to read and articulate,” he informed. Last week, Navale along with Prof Vidyasagar inaugurated Prerna Association of Blind website, created by the students of Gaganbawda (Sangli) based in DY Patil College of Engineering. The organisation has been working in the field of the visually impaired and conducts various social and educational activities. Navale’s wife Seema is a probationary officer in the Union Bank of India. They were classmates, and so it was easy for her to adjust to Navale’s lifestyle. Navale has been visiting the IndoPak Wagha Border for ten years. “I celebrated Diwali 2014 with the soldiers at Aknoor, which is 10 km from the border. Despite the tension, our soldiers show high morale,” he said. Navale wants to start an independent radio channel in the future. With the only regret that his parents failed to understand him, Satish wants to make the lives of visually impaired more beautiful by spreading awareness about their rights and the apt use of technology. manasisaraf@ gmail.com
Navale co-ordinates and plans radio programmes, besides hosting them
Inculcating positivity among young students
Vidyarthi Sahayak Samiti provides accommodation and a personality make-over to students who come for better education to Pune BY YASH DAIV @yash009 Late Achyutrao Apte was studying Physics in France when World War II broke out. Being a foreign student, Apte was well provided for in war-torn France. After completing his education in France, Apte returned to India, and owing to his experience there, set up Vidyarthi Sahayak Samiti also known as Students’ Welfare Association
(SWA) in Pune, in 1955, an institution for out-station students. “Today, SWA is a well known transformation and personality development centre for the youth in the city,” said Prabhakar Patil, who is the chairman of SWA. When Patil joined SWA as a student, in 1985, he came to know of Apte’s struggle and endeavour in ensuring that outstation students had a place of shelter and food.
“Earlier there were no buildings. The 70-80 students were stationed at the Gokhale Bungalow in Shivajinagar,” he said. They were provided food by philanthropic citizens. Such charitable mentors and donors have financed and supported the SWA since its foundation. “The construction and upkeep of the SWA buildings involved large sums of money. The fi rst building, the Lajpatrai Bhavan in Model Colony,
was built in 1968, and Sumitra Sadan, the hostel for girls, was built in 1969,” said Patil. Gokhale Bungalow was acquired in 1979, and it became the headquarters of SWA. Today it houses 750 students. The SWA is an institution that is run and maintained completely by the inmates, and owing to this system, the students imbibe the virtues of hard work and discipline. The SWA has an ‘earn and learn’ scheme that is a boon
for needy students. The SWA campus is always spic and span. The students dispose off the garbage and ensure that the premises and residential areas are clean and tidy. They also employ an efficient water conservation scheme. “Once I had given an activity to the students here. They had to measure how much water they use throughout the day. The results were as expected. Students from dry regions
“Students from dry regions have better water management skills.” -PRABHAKAR PATIL
Vidyarthi Sahayak Samiti hostel inmates during one of their educational tours. Such tours and field trips are the part of their personality development programme
have better water management skills than those from the western belts. Water conservation has thus been an important part of SWA,” said Patil. The SWA has instituted schemes to sponsor students’ education. The ‘Palya-Palak Yojana’ promotes mentorstudent relationships. The mentors also sponsor part of the students’ education. SWA has over 3,000 mentors. The SWA also focuses on personality development. “We conduct soft skill sessions, cultural and hobby classes, elocution and debates to enable our students to communicate effectively,” said Patil. SWA also organises tours for the students to different regions of Maharashtra such as Mumbai and Vidarbha. SWA that currently is home to students from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa and Chhattisgarh, aims to open its doors to students from all over the country, and its infrastructure is being upgraded to cater to a larger number of student inmates. yashdaiv@gmail.com MAKE A DONATION Vidyarthi Sahayyak Samiti 1182/1/4, Shivajinagar, Fergusson College Road, Pune : 411005 Email : samitipune@gmail.com Phone : 91-20-25533631 91-20-25533778
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
Let smart gadgets make kids smart P 12
Celebrating ‘Indianness’ by framing daily observations P6
PUNE
“1.72 lakh people visited the website www.igrmahhelpline.gov.in and 37,000 people were benefitted by department of registration and stamps helpline between August 15, 2014 and February 1, 2015.” — Dr Shrikar Pardeshi, Inspector General, registration & controller of stamps
Something for everyone at Pune Design Festival The two-day festival that concludes today, began in 2006 as an idea to celebrate design and designers RAHUL RAUT
Surya Vanka, director of User Experience at Microsoft (USA), speaking at the inaugural function of Pune Design Festival (PDF) at Le Meridien on Friday
BY PRACHI BARI @prachibari The theme of the ninth two-day Pune Design Festival (PDF) that began on Friday is ‘Connections’. The festival began amidst lot of excitement among the many design students queuing up early to get the best seats for the event at Le Meridien. The backdrop that welcomed the 200 students and 200 professionals was colourful
IN THE NEWS
and created by the team members of the PDF over three months. Origami is the theme for this year’s PDF logo. “It is not just about network of people, but about deeper linkages of mind and soul. It is about creativity and passion. Th rough PDF, we are connecting the dots and bringing together past, present and the future,” said Darpana Athale, vice president, Pune Chapter, PDF, in an interview to the ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’. The festival is content driven; it’s not just
design for designers or designers speaking only to designers, but more to do with what’s happening in the industry or other fields of design. “Everybody who comes can take something back. And the other thing is that sometimes we have workshops for industries. We also have site visits. Sometimes we also open out offices for people to come and take a look, to see how a designer works. It’s an open house. People can just walk into a design studio on designated days. A lot of parents and media come in,” she said. Highlights of the festival include talks by Surya Vanka, director of User Experience at Microsoft (USA); Sunand Bhattacharya, Chief Learning Strategist at Autodesk (USA); designers Staples and Charles; and angel investor Mahesh Murthy, Seed Fund, Shiva. The festival will also feature workshops by Ankon Mitra on origami and storytelling by Ameen Haque The Pune Design Festival (PDF) began in 2006 as a concept idea for the fi rst time just to celebrate design and create a platform for designers. It was also to create awareness in the public domain. The concept of the fi rst PDF was based on an idea by Manoj Kothari, partner, Onio Design, to create a space where there would be exchange of ideas and promotion of Pune designers by networking. “We wanted to make Pune a design destination. Th is city boasts of five design institutes, many manufacturing institutes and well-known design fi rms,” said Balkrishna Mahajan, President, PDF. prachibari@gmail.com
Catch up with developments in Pune as the week comes to a close
Heritage festival kicks off in city
India, US working on strategic partnership The United States and India are working t o w a r d s establishing an enduring s t r a t e g i c partnership, said Consulate General of the Thomas L Vazda United States of America, Thomas L Vazda, who recently addressed the students of Savitribai Phule Pune University and MIT School of Government (MIT-SOG). “India imports a significant amount of weapons from the US every year. But India has a desire to build its own indigenous capacity, part of the Make in India campaign. So the two countries have agreed to pursue co-development and co-production of defence projects,” he said. Thus, a 10-year framework for defence ties and deals on cooperation has emerged between the two countries, that includes the joint production of drone aircraft and equipment for Lockheed Martin Corp’s C-130 military transport plane, the senior diplomat said.
RAHUL RAUT
The fourth annual Virasat Pune Heritage Festival organised by Janwani is an eclectic mix of 48 events for all age groups. The main attractions of the February 6-15 festival include exhibitions, fi lm screenings, heritage walks, cultural programmes, campus tours, workshops, cycle ride, bus tours and lecture series. The Pune Municipal Corporation and Forbes Marshal have supported the festival. The natural heritage is also a major focus and unique activities such as bat spotting and nature trails for visually impaired people are organised. Most of the activities are free. Heritage tour of College of Agriculture and National Film Archive of India, and wildlife fi lm screening and interaction at The LOFT in Camp were organised on Friday.
Organic farming trainer Sanjivani Joglekar (left) showing visitors the logo of Mahatma Phule Agriculture College in Shivajinagar as part of the Pune Heritage Festival
Reservations on ‘social backwardness’: Owaisi All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said that the Muslim community should be given reser vations not on religious but on the basis of ‘social backwardness’. The Hyderabad MP was speaking at the ground of Asaduddin Owaisi Kausarbaug in Kondhwa on Wednesday amidst tight security and nakabandi operations. Former senior reporter and Aurangabad MLA Imtiaz Jaleel, Mumbai MLA Waris Yusuf Pathan and justice (retd) BG Kolse-Patil were present. The city police had detained and later released the Shiv Sainiks who were protesting against the event. Earlier, reacting on a police notice, Owaisi said, “I am here to speak with the people who are alive and I am not a dump and deaf. I will speak,” he said.
Autism Centre founder Godbole passes away Noted social worker Padmaja Godbole, founder chairperson of Prasanna Autism Centre and Prism Foundation, passed away on Monday. She was 81. She is
survived by two daughters, a son and grandchildren. Godbole was working for the self-reliance of special children for 25 years. Padmaja Godbole Over the years, Prasanna has produced budding musicians, artists and dancers. Godbole was a member of the National Autistic Institution in England and was bestowed with awards for spreading awareness about autism.
Pune swimmer wins team gold Pune swimmer Arati Ghorpade was part of the Maharashtra team that won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay event in the ongoing 35th National Games in Kerala. Aditi Dhumatk a r, M o n i q u e Gandhi and A k a n s h a Vora (all from M u m b a i ) were the other members of the team. The team also set up a Arati Ghorpade new national record clocking 3:04.57s in this event. They were followed by Karnataka and Kerala who finished second and third respectively.
The Centre received about 9,000 designs for the Swachh Bharat postal stamps competition
Swachh Bharat stamps expected on Monday The postal stamps on prime minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious initiative were released in New Delhi on January 30 BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke Three commemorative postal stamps on the Swachh Bharat theme are expected to arrive in the city on Monday after a week-long delay. The office of General Post Office (GPO) has received brochures from the postal printing facility located at Hyderabad but stamps are awaited. Speaking to the ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’ on Thursday, the officer at the philately department said that all the three stamps shown in the brochure will be made available in post offices in the city in the next two to three days. “The stamps are awaited,” the officer said. Normally, postal stamps that are released anywhere in India are available in all post offices the very next day. Out of the three stamps, one is dedicated to the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Abhiyan while others are based on Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan. All stamps are priced at `5. The Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by prime minister Narendra Modi on October 2, 2014, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Communication and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu and rural development minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had launched the postal stamps for Swachh Bharat mission at New Delhi on January 30. “The stamps have been designed through the participation from the people and what makes them more special is that they have been designed by children,” Prasad said. Meanwhile, well-known RTI activist Madhu Agrawal has expressed disappointment that these commemorative stamps have been printed in a limited number and won’t be available to the public at large. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
Helping people boost themselves out of poverty is the best way to make a lasting positive difference in a person’s life. —Naveen Jain, founder and CEO, inome
Signposts Residential camp from Feb 16
School students assist Janaseva Students of class IX and X at St Joseph Convent School, Wagholi visited Janaseva Foundation’s old-age home at Ambegaon, on January 31. They donated food items and planted 1,000 brinjal saplings in the oldage home’s compound. Dr Vinod Shah, founder, Janaseva Foundation was instrumental in engaging the students into an interaction with the residents of the old-age home.
TGS Quiz Contest
A
No. 34
nswers to the following 10 questions are embedded in the stories featured in this edition. Send us the correct answers at contest. tgs@gmail.com and be one of the two lucky winners to receive gift coupons. 1. In what year did India have the highest rate of suicides? 2. Where did Milan Pal, founder of Prelocate, study? 3. Which city does Godfrey “TUUP” Duncan belong to? 4. How many challans, according to DCP Traffic Sarang Awad, were done in November 2014? 5. When was Annapurna Pariwar NGO started? 6. Who will be performing at Balewadi on February 13? 7. What prompted Nicolai to take up magic? 8. In which year did Dj Sukhi get his fi rst residency? 9. Where did Dj Sonu study in Pune? 10. What is the name of the recent book by artist Sujata Dharap?
Contest # 33
winners
Bharati Awaghade Sharvari Marathe
TGS is interactive
P11
P13
Reviving the magic of storytelling Storytellers have always been teachers, believes Godfrey Duncan, a professional storyteller from London
queens instead of tyrants. It can affect the subconscious of a young mind,” he said. In Pune, he spent time with the young minds of Vikhe Patil School and St Joseph’s School. They joined him as he told stories to the music that he played. “Love, kindness along with guidance will help these young minds mature into the most radiant ones, believes TUUP. They will become compassionate if they keep on discovering themselves through reading, writing and listening,” he said. Besides spending time with school children, he went around the city. And like each of his travels he is taking away images of the city that would help him set up a familiar ground for his future narrations. He also purchased a Tanpura, an addition to his essential music inventory. Tunes strummed from the different instruments that he plays have acted as a catalyst to his imagination. “They ignite my imagination; take it through voyages of creation. It gives me the satisfaction of having created Godfrey Duncan, a professional storyteller from London, conducting a storytelling session at the British Council Library, FC Road something and disbursed it. And yet I have all those stories intact in my BY YASH DAIV geographical borders and touches memories and understands cultures. mind,” TUPP said. Music has helped @yash009 upon several cultures. “We grow “Stories are some him build a rapport with Storytelling, as an art, has travelled upon these cultural differences. Th is accounts which are his audience. In every across worldly boundaries, time and growth resonates through stories and factual, fanciful, country, it has bound generations. One such storyteller, responses,” said TUUP. educational and of the audience differently. Godfrey ‘TUUP’ Duncan is a He has travelled across various travels,” said TUUP. On asking if his traditional storyteller from London, cultures. His recent visit to Pune was The experience of discourse has the who was in the city last week, visiting not his fi rst tryst with India. He had recapitulating a power to change schools and conducting sessions at the joined a theatre group in Rajasthan tradition is exhilarating people, he said that it British Council Library, FC Road. two decades ago and observed the for the storyteller works differently for The Unprecedented Unorthodox prominence of storytelling in certain within him. Moreover, everybody. No mind Preacher, known as ‘TUUP’ has communities. “It was an art of the he believes that thinks alike and a story travelled the world recounting the fertile mind. Storytelling allows you storytellers have has the power to run Celtic and aboriginal stories to the to break rules of the real milieu and always been teachers. through an individual’s world. “Traditional storytelling is make something new,” he said. Its “We all are princes circumstance making about readapting and dramatising educational and psychological impact and princesses guided it very relevant. People - Godfrey Duncan these accounts in a larger sense,” said makes this art an essential tool to by the storyteller to tend to take away TUUP. It is an art which transcends active listening, recollects phenomenal become kings and different things from
“Stories are some accounts which are factual, fanciful, educational.”
THE CULTURAL BRIDGE
For Sharon Memis, Director West India, British Council Mumbai, India is a country with absolute aspiration and belief in the future. She recounted that the Council was set up to combat the misunderstandings between the countries. Ever since then arts and literature have been integral to this place. She described the British Council Library of Pune as a convergence point of knowledge and cultures where storytellers like TUUP can bring together all the geographical parallels into a definite centre.
a story, maybe not a fundamental alteration but something to reflect upon. It has been seven years that TUUP has taken to full time storytelling and has showered the world with articulate wisdom. yashdaiv@gmail.com
Storytelling builds up a community consciousness Storytelling is a much needed activity today when man is constantly glued to computer screens, says storyteller Dola Dasgupta
day society. Dasgupta has held storytelling sessions at schools in the city, and at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and The Loft. “We are in a constant state of flux. People move into big cities to achieve what they want but they end up being lonely at the end of BY YASH DAIV the day. There is a constant uprooting,” Dasgupta says. “Storytelling gets @yash009 such people together and brings “I am a storyteller by profession,” about bonding. It is the oldest form of said Dola Dasgupta, after narrating a entertainment and, more importantly, number of stories to her a medium of passing on enthusiastic listeners wisdom. When a written at Pagdandi Cafe. form of communication Dasgupta’s storytelling was yet to be discovered, sessions include the oral tradition had everything, from fables much importance. to original stories, She Within tribes, the leader, believes the oral art of known as the Shaman, storytelling can provide would narrate stories, an alternative to the that usually contained internet and create a a message at the end. It - Dola Dasgupta cocoon of peace and was for the well being of serenity amid the urban the individual as well as bustle. Storytelling can create human of the community,” Dasgupta said. bonds and be an antidote to the the It’s more relevant than ever today, urban loneliness that pervades modern she says. “Man has disappeared behind
“Man has disappeared behind the computer screens.”
Dola Dasgupta
the computer screen. He or she needs to rejuvenate and take some joy home,” she said. Dasgupta believes that the stories she tells, form a real part of people’s lives. They have the power to bring about a change. “Whenever a story is told, everyone from the audience has a different interpretation of it. People come up with fantastic interpretations,”
she said. Narrated stories are grasped easily. Storytelling switches on the ability of active listening within the individual, which helps them become conscious of their surroundings. A balanced life or internal satisfaction is what it kindles within the listener. According to a survey by Psychology Today magazine,
What is happening in the name of religion?
Our newspaper is interactive and you are welcome to write in to our various segments: • Letters to the Editor email: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com; editor_tgs@gmail.com By post: The Editor, The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030, (Best letter gets a weekly prize) • For feedback: tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com • To get solution to your problems, mail your question at: wayforward@goldensparrow.com • Want to become an entrepreneur? For mentoring advice, write to our associates: mentoring@pune.tie.org • Get weekly events listed: listings.tgslife@gmail.com
Sonia Gandhi and her ‘dramatised biography’
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
City-based Happy Seniors’ Group has organised a residential camp at Wai, from February 16 to 20. The camp is open for people above 45 years of age. Participants will be given tips on ‘how to remain happy’. For registrations, interested persons can contact Madhav Damle at 8007193397, 8237021154 or email at happyseniorsgroup@gmail.com.
Eat healthy, exercise regularly
The latest blood-curdling news of a captured Jordanian pilot’s execution by burning him alive in a cage by the deranged criminals of ISIS is the nadir of brutality. These scoundrels have been beheading Kurdish hostages, journalists, soldiers and all those who dare to defy them. They’re raping women, publicly pushing gays from towers and stoning the fractured and mutilated bodies. They’re circulating gory videos of decapitations and torture to intimidate the rest of the world. What’s this? This is unthinkable savagery. The whole world is condemning, including Muslim countries. But the
condemnation that must come from Muslim countries is still not that strong and severe. All man-made religions are at the crossroads of an impending change and also annihilation. If religions start annihilation, the day’s not far when mankind will obliterate them. Remember the prophetic words of Edward W Said in Orientalism (page 23), “What’s made by man is eventually destroyed by him.” All religions were once upon a time made by men and will one day be destroyed by them. Just because the mankind is terribly devolved and extremely frightened, we still cleave to all oppressive religions. — Sumit Paul (Gets prize for best letter)
Encourage handloom The Union government has been taking
several steps to encourage handloomsector in the country for which the government also imposes handloomcess on excise-duty chargeable from mill-made cloth. But the real encouragement to the handloomsector can be best given by making it compulsory for every licensed textilemill to set up a handloom-unit in the mill-compound by making it compulsory to bring some minimum percentage of cloth woven on handloom as outcome of total production of the textile-mill. System will give automatic employment to handloom-weavers in the recognised corporate-sector. Cloth woven on handloom has some natural beauty which cannot be created by millproduced cloth. With Indian garmentexport facing stiff competition from countries like China and Pakistan, encouraging handloom-sector in this manner can bring back glory to
garment-export industry in India. —Madhu Agrawal
Carl Djerassi remembered The news of the sad demise of Dr Carl Djerassi on January 30 brings to mind his enormous contribution to humanity. A resident of San Francisco , California, he was recipient of the AIC Gold medal 2014. He was a Bulgarian, Austrian and American, chemist, novelist and playwright, best known for his contribution to the development of oral contraceptive pills for birth control, elucidating the structure of steroids, and published over 1000 papers in this field. His work on the science of birth control helped engender enormous controversies and social changes, family economics and working lives of millions of women
storytelling helps expand the attention span within school children. “We need to rethink education to a certain extent. A lot of rote learning happens at schools. We should give this fact a thought as to whether the child’s actual talent is being pressed under debris of text books. They deserve a fair chance to test what they are good at,” said Dasgupta. Storytelling, she thinks, could be a part of the education system as it uplifts conscience levels and accelerates thinking capacity. Besides the academic consideration, the community circles have been successful in getting the otherwise technologically digressed young generation together on Sundays to listen to people. They have also shown an interest to narrate stories themselves which Dasgupta plans to facilitate through independent workshops in the future. “We all have a storyteller within us. Our lost condition has made us forget this inner persona. If we are able to touch this skill within us again, we might be able to regain the lost community consciousness,” she said. yashdaiv@gmail.com
in the world. In fact his method of using contraceptive pills by women has checked the explosion of mass population in the world. —Vijay Dattatray Patil
Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow. com or mailed to Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030. The Best Letter of the Week will receive a special gift from Venus Traders, Pune’s finest stationery departmental.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
Pune needs a
TRAFFIC CULTURE
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sarang Awad discusses a range of traffic and transportation issues in a Round Table discussion with TGS journalists Abhay Vaidya: The ‘helmet drive’ undertaken by your department met with considerable success. We saw a high number of scooter and motorcycle riders wearing helmets when your drive was at its peak. Why did you discontinue the drive? Sarang Awad: It is compulsory that both the two-wheeler rider and the pillion rider wear helmets. Th is was met with resistance in the city. What we did on our part is that, we asserted our right to fine a person if he was not wearing a helmet instead of clubbing it with other offences. It was our fi rst distinguishing achievement. Secondly, as far as the drive is concerned on Wednesday, we fined 1,500 people for not wearing helmets. So far we have fined 2.5 lakh people since November 2014. It is not going wane. We are going to continue and we are going to step up further. My goal is not to see a helmet on each and every motorcycle rider’s head but to reduce the deaths which are caused by not wearing helmets. James Mathew: Are you continuing to face opposition from the public? Sarang Awad: I used to earlier, but now it has more or less disappeared. There are some people who use RTI and ask for Supreme Court guidelines, rules and directives about helmet compulsion. That goes on but, by and large the government is clear that two wheeler riders have to wear helmets.
of 27 lakhs, it becomes difficult to manage. There may be some issues and nowhere in the world will you find an ideal situation. The basic thing is that people must at least follow the traffic rules. I am not saying that everything is hunky-dory or in place, absolutely not. A signal may be shut down, a zebra crossing might be fading, so on and so forth. JM: How satisfied are you with your initiatives after taking this offi ce in August 2014? What improvements have you seen? Sarang Awad: It is not about my satisfaction but yes, we are happy about the helmet compulsion drives, which have now gathered momentum and we hope it lasts for long. JM: What is the next step? Sarang Awad: There are many issues and I cannot hold on to just the helmet issue for three months at a stretch. I have proved my point and have established that people have to follow this rule. We were doing 1,500 challans a day earlier. Now we have increased it to 7,000. We eventually issued two lakh challans a month in November, 2014. In December it was around 1.9 lakh and this month it’s around 1.89 lakh. I find this immaterial; I’m not here to make records. In
potential. So that means that adequate number of buses should come on the road, which should be reserved for BRT buses. I am quite optimistic. It is a very good initiative and has been very effective worldwide. And lack of public transport is one of the major reasons why Pune is facing such a traffic situation. A certain frequency of buses should be maintained- say after every three minutes. Only then a person will use public transport and not bring his two wheeler or four wheeler on the road. The efficient usage of PMPML will happen only when many buses run on BRT tracks. AV: Do you expect to see a change within the next six months? Sarang Awad: A pilot project is underway in the Sangamwadi to Vishrantwadi corridor. We have put barricades in the chowk and we are coordinating with PMPML on the pilot. They intend to start it in April. We have asked for 20 wardens in the Vishrantwadi corridor and PMC has sanctioned it. Without wardens it will be a failure. Ashok Bhat: There was a PMC Mobility Committee which normally meets every two months. Is it not functioning now?
AV: I wish to draw your attention to the elevated pedestrian crossings with signals in specific areas such as University Road (opposite Central Mall), JM Road and FC Road. Nobody respects the pedestrian signals. The PMC has spent public money in constructing these pedestrian crossings in consultation with the Traffic Police. Isn’t this a wasteful expenditure if it is serving no purpose? Why don’t the Traffic Wardens force motorists to obey the signals at least during peak hours? Sarang Awad: We will try and do that. There are so many raised pedestrians’ crossings throughout the city. The pedestrian crossing at the Central Mall was raised because many people from the nearby residential areas met with accidents. It is the duty of the motorist to respect the signal. Megha Choudhary: Same is the case on PuneSolapur highway, at the Ram Tekdi signal. Nobody follows the pedestrian signal. Sarang Awad: We have to see it in both ways. Pedestrians in our city revel in jay walking. I was at Appa Balwant Chowk the other day and people were having a merry time running around the place. There are so many pedestrian underpasses, but people jump over the railings and cross the roads. The traffic policeman is there to enforce the law. He cannot instil a sense of traffic consciousness in the public. People tend to disobey traffic rules or, for that matter, any rule. We tend to be very alert when we are on a bike but unmindful when we are walking on the roads. Ashok Bhat: Can’t this enforcement be channelled through a traffi c warden? Sarang Awad: Traffic Wardens don’t have the right to enforce the rules. People tend to ignore Traffic Wardens. Puneites get into lengthy arguments after breaking rules. We revel in finding excuses. They argue a lot on the road. Ashok Bhat: What exactly is the duty of a traffi c warden? Sarang Awad: He has to help the traffic police in regulating traffic. In isolation, he can be ignored. Anjali Shetty: That is the problem. In Wanowrie, at Jagtap Chowk and Jambhulkar Chowk, we have a warden, Tirtharaj Bhatia; he tries his best but nobody listens to him. Sarang Awad: Bhatia helps us a lot. We also have a separate initiative like the SPTM - Save Pune Traffic Movement to enforce rules. But in the case of wardens, people look at them with disdain. With a vehicular population
city cannot be changed. AV: What is the status of staff augmentation in the Pune Police Department? Sarang Awad: We have a sanctioned staff strength of 1,600 and our actual manpower currently is about 1,100. I agree it is less. New police stations are coming up everywhere and the police stations are the priority. If I could get more, well and good. JM: Is traffi c management going on smoothly with the existing strength? Sarang Awad: The strength is inadequate for 298 signals. There are 2,000 chowks in all and 300 chowks with signals. At Swargate, I have to send four to five traffic constables at every chowk to take control of the traffic since there is construction work going on. But that is not a handicap. AS: On the issue of auto-rickshaws, how does a passenger report if the auto driver is not plying by the metre? Sarang Awad: People can post their complaints on our website http://pune.trafficpolice.co.in/ and then we can pass on the complaints to the RTO. There are duplicate rickshaws, rickshaws plying illegally – we are planning a drive this Sunday with the RTO to identify rickshaws that are scrapped yet running. Aniruddha Rajandekar: There is a major problem at Sangamwadi where outstation buses halt. People coming from Nagpur are made to pay unacceptable amounts by rickshaw driverssomething like `90 for 2kms. Sarang Awad: The problem persists everywhere. But this issue is not on my priority list.
Speedy and effective implementation of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will help reduce traffic congestion in the city
the past six months I have tried to enforce all the laws in public interest. My predecessors have worked very hard on this. Th is is the only way to ensure traffic discipline. We have met with a lot of criticism saying that the police are constantly waiting in the chowks with a stick, waiting to issue challans. That is the only thing he has in his hand. What is he supposed to do? Is the traffic policeman expected to conduct a class on how to follow traffic guidelines? Thus, fining is the only way of enforcing this law. The helmet issues specifically require fining. That’s how the traffic discipline will improve and accidents will decrease which is happening now.
Sarang Awad: I am in touch with Omprakash Bakoria, additional commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Kharvadkar, city engineer (Roads) and Srinivas Bonala, additional city engineer, (Project), on a day-today basis.
Archana Dahiwal: The fining for not using helmets is very low in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area. Sarang Awad: Yes it is not happening there as it should. The problem there is the long highway stretch and we can’t stop people and fine them. Since last week, we have targeted Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nigdi for tinted glasses and helmets.
Yash Daiv: As far as traffi c congestion is concerned, the stretch from Bremen Chowk to University Gate is heavily clogged during peak hours, especially mornings. Have you thought of a solution for this? Sarang Awad: The reason for that is huge traffic from Aundh, Wakad, Pimple-Saudagar, Pashan, and Baner. Traffic flow has increased immensely from what it was 10 years ago. The only road connecting these areas to the city is this University Road. It has three arms but the road bears the load. The flyover that has been built there has been washed out - some planning error, maybe. We have introduced little changes; we cannot call them cosmetic, but they will at least ease the problem. We have changed signal timings. If you see in the evenings it is easier now. Lanes have been increased- oneand-half lane has been increased by reducing the footpaths. The traffic flow slows down at Vaikunth Mehta Institute and causes a jam. Restructuring of the flyover is the only solution to curb these jams. At E-Square Chowk, congestion has been eliminated.
AV: You are already in a diffi cult situation in a city like Pune, where vehicle population is increasing, and there is no mass transport. In such a situation, with all these constraints, do you feel that early implementation of BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) will make a difference? Sarang Awad: Yes, early and effective implementation of BRTS will make a difference. BRTS will itself not make a difference until it is utilised to its fullest
Children enjoying the Walking Plaza spirit on ITI Road. It was held over the last few weeks when one side of the road would be closed for traffic and made available to residents for funfilled activities
AS: How effective is your social media initiative? Sarang Awad: That helps a lot. We have an application (Pune Traffic App) in place, which is fantastic. It has a rating of 4.5 on the Google playstore and around 50,000 downloads. And we have our Facebook page, which is updated by me personally.
Gitesh Shelke: What about the acute parking problems on Lakshmi Road? Sarang Awad: Roads are meant for vehicles and not for parking. We do not have parking spaces and therefore, we have to park on the roads. GS: There are new flyovers coming up on different city roads. Do you think they are the solution to manage traffi c? Sarang Awad: I don’t think that is the only solution. In Pune, public transport, will resolve half the issues. The roads in the old parts of the
process of deciding whether this should be on weekends; before 7:00 am or after 10:00 pm. Th is would be applicable from the Rani Lakshmibai Chowk to the R-Deccan area. We may run a trial by this weekend. The Sahitya Parishad alleys from Tilak Road will be manned by the traffic police. We undertook modifications at the Agriculture College Chowk where we faced considerable criticism.
AV: What are your initiatives for the near future? Sarang Awad: We have identified 15-16 chowks in the city where we want to undertake improvements. These include the Deccan bus stop, Vidyapeeth Chowk, Ganeshkhind Road, Magarpatta, Chandani Chowk, Shimla Office Chowk, Navale Bridge, Vishrantwadi, Tilak Road and Hinjewadi Road among others. We have started with the Magarpatta Chowk where we have put a new signal. We are planning to introduce two-way traffic on Jangli Maharaj Road and are in the
A new signal has been put up at Magarpatta Square to ensure smooth vehicular movement AV: The Walking Plaza introduced in Aundh on Sunday mornings has received a good response. Are you planning more of such initiatives? Sarang Awad: We are open to the idea if a proposal comes. Megha Choudhary: Do you think there is a need for more stringent laws to get people to obey traffi c rules? Sarang Awad: The laws are in place but the fine amount needs to be increased, which the government is planning to do. It will help a lot. The parking fees need to be increased too. We need to have a traffic culture in the city. AV: How do you think will this culture come to the city? Sarang Awad: By strict enforcement of the law and by increasing the fine amount. And of course, through education. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
The first computer was located in a research lab at UCLA and the second was at Stanford; each one was the size of a small house.—http://www.history.com
Can Amit Shah pull off a last minute surprise?
Borrowers, the bank is always right!
P 10
P 14
Celebrating ‘Indianness’ by framing daily observations THESE INDIANS, a project started by Reed Harrison and Arjun Raj Nirula celebrates the love for India and its cultural fabric. We give you a glimpse of the project TGS NEWSSERVICE @TGSWeekly Born out of a love of and a desire for a better understanding of India and its rich cultural essence, ‘THESE INDIANS’ is a project started by a married couple, Reed Harrison and Arjun Raj Nirula, with a sole purpose of celebrating ‘Indianness’ and familiarising friends and family living abroad with images and scenes that best define India. “THESE INDIANS is a curated, visual celebration of all things Indian. It is a window for the world to explore and to learn about life on the sub-continent,” its Facebook Page’s information section reads. Whether it’s a street hawker at the Gateway of India, hot imurtis being prepared for the festival season, the narrow congested lanes of Old Delhi during winters, or Mumbai local trains, THESE INDIANS is a beautiful amalgamation of daily observations in the form of photographs, that makes an old and famous saying, like “A picture
is worth a thousand words,” even more true and agreeable. In an interview with the Sunday Guardian, the duo said that they would witness something every day in India that would be comforting and familiar or something they had never seen before. That is when they decided to amalgamate a small narrative with photography to provide a chance for a dialogue through a dual medium. They brought together their observations— both in daily life as well as the ones they collected over a period of time through their travels across India, and started the project—THESE INDIANS. The Golden Sparrow NewsService has selected some photographs that make this project so very endearing.
Microsoft to invest in Android-based OS creator, Cyanogen Microsoft, a company known for its multi-platform Windows operating system is investing in Cyanogen, a company that makes a specialised, highperformance version of the popular Android OS, which is that of Google’s. Cyanogen is a company that uses the official Android source code as a stepping stone to create a feature and performance-enhanced version of the operating system called Cyanogenmod. This can be manually installed on numerous popular Android phones to deliver added functionality. In recent months they have even tied up directly with phone manufacturers to have their version of Android factory installed on specific models phones: most famously, the OnePlus One and Micromax’s Yu Yureka phone.
‘Facebook Lite’ launched for low-end Android phones The social networking site has reportedly launched a simplified version called Facebook Lite for low-end Android devices used by customers in emerging markets. It is just 252 KB in size and can be used by those on 2G Internet connections. The app is based on Snaptu, Facebook’s feature phone client. It includes some native Android features such as push notifications and camera integration to make the experience a more sophisticated one.The app has been launched in a few countries in Asia and Africa, where it is being testing with a view to further expanding its features. Nearly 10,000 people have downloaded the app so far, with a 4.6 rating from an initial 693 reviewers.
Those who wish to visit their facebook, twitter and instagram pages, following are the links: www.facebook.com/theseindians https://twitter.com/theseindians http://instagram.com/theseindians
Wipro to co-develop software for smart devices (clockwise from above) A street addict living in the red light area of Mumbai; A street hawker spotted near Gateway of India, ‘Puli Kali’ dance performed by trained folk artistes dressed as tigers, a glimpse of old Delhi, and hot imartis being cooked
Google gets competition in new search engine Finnish researchers have developed a new search engine that outperforms current ones and helps people search more efficiently. Developed at the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, the SciNet search engine is different because it changes internet searches into recognition tasks by showing
keywords related to the user’s search in topic radar. People using SciNet can get relevant and diverse search results faster, especially when they do not know exactly what they are looking for or how to formulate a query to find it. It is often hard for people to put what they are looking for into words. Their search needs often do not become more focused
until they begin the actual search. “The SciNet search engine solves these problems. It is easier for people to recognise what information they want from the options offered by the SciNet search engine than it is to type it themselves,” explained project’s coordinator Tuukka Ruotsalo. Once initially queried, SciNet displays a range of keywords and
topics in a topic radar. With the help of the directions on the radar, the engine displays how these topics are related to each other. The relevance of each keyword is displayed as its distance from the centre point of the radar - those more closely related are nearer to the centre, and those less relevant are farther away. The search
engine also offers alternatives that are connected with the topic, but which the user might not have thought of querying. By moving words around the topic radar, users specify what information is most useful for them. The paper was published in the journal Communications of the ACM. (IANS)
TED is a global platform where people from different fields come together and speak for 18 minutes or less about their respective disciplines. It was started in 1984 by a non-profit organisation called Sapling Foundation, under the slogan — Ideas worth sharing. Initially it organised conferences where matters related to technology, design and entertainment merged, but today it includes varied topics such as business, photography, art, science and the like.
Can India become a global hub for innovation? Nirmalya Kumar, professor of marketing, London Business School, describes four types of “invisible innovations” coming out of India TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly “Innovations that lead to new products and services for end users easily get noticed — but this is only a small fraction — only the tip of the iceberg. There is a large population of innovations that enable bigger innovations in turn— but they remain invisible. We need to have a broader definition of Innovation,” said Nirmalaya Kumar, a professor of Marketing at the London Business School and a passionate voice for new entrepreneurs in India, at TEDx London Business School in 2012. Kumar has taught at Harvard Business School, IMD-International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He is currently a Professor of marketing and co-director of Aditya Birla India Centre at London Business School. Kumar has served as a consultant to over 50 Fortune 500 Companies, worked on the board of five Indian fi rms, and has published six books —including, India Inside: The emerging innovation challenge to the West.
According to Kumar, India is already a global innovation hub. “If we ask ‘Why we don’t see innovations like Google, iPod or Viagra coming from India ?’ —it may not be the right question because new product innovation is only a small fraction of the entire gamut of innovations. After all, Schumpeter had once said ‘Innovation is novelty in which value is created and distributed’. Innovations beyond new products, process innovations, business model innovations and novel ways of organising fi rms and industries, are all available in India itself,” he said. Kumar describes four classes of invisible innovations—Innovation for business customers, which is made in India and branded elsewhere. Within the last two decades, there have been 750 R&D centres set up in India by multinational companies employing more than 4,00,000 professionals. “To have that many centres of MNCs in India is truly a remarkable figure,” Kumar said.
The second kind of invisible innovation coming out of India, he said, is what is called as outsourcing innovation to Indian companies, where many companies today are contracting Indian companies to do a major part of their product development work for their global products which are going to be sold to the world. “For example, XCL Technologies, developed two of the mission critical systems for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, one to avoid collisions in the sky and another to allow landing in zero visibility. But of course, when you climb onto the Boeing 787, you are not going to know that this is invisible innovation out of India,” he explained. The third kind of invisible innovation coming out of India, is what people refer to as process innovations, because of an injection of intelligence by Indian fi rms. “Process innovation is different from product innovation. It’s more about how to create a
new product or develop a new product or manufacture a new product,” he said. And finally, the last kind of invisible innovation in India, is management innovation, where it’s not a new product or a new process but a new way to organise work. “The most significant management innovation to come out of India, invented by the Indian off-shoring industry is what we call the global delivery model. What the global delivery model allows is to take previously geographically core-located tasks, break them up into parts, send them around the world where the expertise and the cost structure exists, and then specify the means for reintegrating them, ” said Kumar. Kumar concluded by making an observation of India being the youngest growing population in the world. “Th is demographic dividend is incredible, but paradoxically, there’s also the mirage of mighty labour pools. Indian institutes and educational system, with a few exceptions, are incapable of producing students in the quantity and quality needed to keep this innovation engine going, so companies are finding innovative ways to overcome this. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd will jointly develop software for smart and connected devices with German firm Software AG. The joint platform will also provide real-time actionable intelligence for the Internet of Things (IoT) market. The platform can also be scaled in high speed and big data environments, in diverse industries, including financial services, manufacturing, supply chain and telecom. The framework allows for flexible and rapid development of customer specific solutions at a lower cost and reduced risk. With Cloud hosted analytics and algorithms that are accessible by digital sensors and devices, actions like process updates, event responses and machine behaviour can be implemented.
Google manufactures a wristband for cancer detection Google is working on a wristband that could detect cancer cells the moment they appear in a person’s bloodstream. The wristband will work along with a pill that will send nanoparticles through the body to identify signs of different conditions and diseases. Andrew Conrad, head of Google Life Sciences said that the pill has small things called nanoparticles, in it, which fit inside blood cells but are not decorated with markers, which enable them to not get attached to cancer cells. It then lets them circulate the whole body and collects them in the concerned person’s arm with a magnet and find out what the nanoparticles saw.
Micromax overthrows Samsung as top smartphone vendor in India According to international research firm Canalys, Micromax is now the largest smartphone vendor in India. The report gave the Indian smartphone manufacturer a 22 per cent market share, ahead of Samsung, which has a 20 per cent share. Canalys said that the “incredible performance is partly due to Micromax’s continuing appeal to mobile phone users upgrading to smartphones. However, Samsung countered the findings by releasing figures from research firm Gfk which it claimed was ‘based on actual sales’. According to its reports, Samsung’s volume market share in the smartphone market in the year was 35.7 per cent, which is more than double than that of the next player, while its value share was 40.2 per cent, which is more than four times the next player.The GfK data is based on retail sales in 50,000plus population cities.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
“Stokes acquisition demonstrates our commitment to build a world-class business that serves global customers and enhances value for stakeholders.” —Anand Mahindra, Chairman and MD of Mahindra Group
Trade fair in Hyderabad from February 13
GTU sets start-up policy for students
START-UP MENTOR
Gujarat Technical University (GTU) which has affiliated hundreds of engineering, management and medical colleges across Gujarat, has come up with a student start-up policy to generate a support system for student entrepreneurs, providing incubation services and working space in campuses. Prof Akshai Aggarwal, vicechancellor at the Gujarat Technical University said that national innovation and incubation policies only suit residential universities like IITs, NITs and IIMs, which cater to 5% of higher education students in India.Nearly 200,000 students gave their inputs on the startup policy.
Vishwas Mahajan
Helping Germans relocate to Pune
Milan Pal, director Prelocate aims to take his company pan India in the future ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali Milan Pal, 34, was born and raised in Germany. He came down to India six years ago and brought to Pune — Prelocate, a centre that provides intercultural training, real estate, immigration and a range of other services for expats to feel comfortable in an unknown place. An economics student, Pal did not come to India with a motive of starting a business. He was here regarding his PHD and during this time he realised expats face intercultural issues. And not much was being done to cater to them. “During a conversation with the Consul General in Kolkata I was made aware that expats face intercultural issues. I did a research and decided to start with Pune. The German clientele was my target group and Pune fit the bracket. I did not decide or contemplate much. I just took the plunge,”said Milan, director, Prelocate. Milan did not pursue his PHD and took the plunge to start this centre. “I understood that an academic career is not something I should pursue. So I took the business path. The good thing was there was not much of an investment required in terms of equipment or machinery. It was only human capital. I started with Rs5 lakhs. We kept the costs low in the beginning and it helped,” he added. There were a few obstacles in the initial stage but nothing that could held him back. “Fortunately, everything fell well in place. My mother is a German and that helped me fit into the community immediately. Pune is a fairly small city and being a German helped,”he said. They always faced competition but
RAHUL RAUT
Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao will be inaugurating the fourth national trade fair of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI) to be held at Hyderabad, Milind Kamble from February 13, said Pune-based, founder chairman Milind Kamble. The founder-chairman of Fortune Construction Company said that DICCI is the only apex industry chamber of SC/ST entrepreneurs in the country and the trade fair is a platform to promote the products manufactured by Dalit entrepreneurs.
“When you innovate, you have got to be prepared for people telling you that you are nuts.” —Larry Ellison, co-founder, Oracle
it has been healthy and good. “When I entered the market I had no idea there were other players. So it worked for me as I was not looked at a ready made model nor was I following anyone,” said Mila, who supervises pretty much everything at the centre but primarily looks into client relations, business strategy and operations. The six-year-old company now caters to a wide range of services from explaining to their clients business culture and everyday life in India to
How to raise funds for marketing Learning Management Systems?
This feature is a collaboration between The Golden Sparrow on Saturday and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the world’s largest non-profit network of entrepreneurs. For additional questions about your entrepreneurial challenges, write to mentoring@pune.tie.org
WE have developed a ‘Learning Management System’ platform that can be used for any type of vertical market. We are wanting to prove it and raise funding. How should we go about this? - Ashish and Chetan Based on our conversation with you, I have gathered that you have developed an e-learning platform that allows trainers and content creators to publish their content and for those users to pay for the same. It is your assertion that this is a horizontal platform for a variety of learning verticals. You have expended serious money in developing this and are now looking for funding for marketing the same. Is this understanding correct? Let me comment based on the following points. • Product Positioning Strategy • Business Plan • Seeking Investment Product Positioning Strategy : One key decision you will need to make is to identify the positioning of your product. You could position this as a horizontal platform and try and gain traction in terms of user base. If you are attempting to do this in different verticals, you may spread thin. The costs of acquiring customers becomes very high if the target market is wide. Typically, you want to take on one vertical and deliver the complete end to end product and/ or service. If you remember, Amazon began by selling books online. With that one group of products, Amazon learnt and perfected their entire mechanism for sourcing and selling and delivering. Once that was done, they expanded to other verticals. Today, Amazon not only sells millions of products but has become a ma rket place for people to buy and sell. The pl at for m they created and proved with a single product type (books), then scaled and became Amazon as we know today. You will notice that
My appearance gets many to start a conversation in Hindi with me. I have still to learn the language. GERMAN CONNECT
this positioning strategy is repeated over and over by many companies. How does that relate to your product? Consider choosing one or two verticals from the multiple verticals and proving that you can get the customers that will pay. You can pick the ‘lowest hanging fruits’ that are relatively easier to pick. Have you prepared your business plan yet? Importance for preparing a business plan : Many entrepreneurs think that business plan is only for the purpose of raising money. While this is the most prevalent reason why entrepreneurs make business plans, there are several benefits that are possibly more important. A business plan will allow you to think through all the assumptions you are making about how your business will pan. By collecting all these in one place, you can see how the dependencies amongst these, impact one another. Multiple iterations will make your plan better and more defensible. Trust me, investors see lots of plans and can quickly see through the weaknesses. That done, you are ready to pitch to potential investors. Who is your possible investor : You have indicated that both your co-founders have bootstrapped the company from your own resources and have invested in the product development. My sense is that this may be a bit early to go to large venture capital firms for funding. The reason for this is that the large venture capitalist firms expect to see some customer traction before they write cheques. They need to see that the market is large and you have the ability to address it. Also the quantum of money you are looking to raise (four to five crores) may be lesser than the threshold size where top tier VCs invest.It will be advisable to raise an angel round. As you know angel investors are willing to look at you and your team. Keep me updated on how your venture progresses. Good luck. (Vishwas Mahajan is president and lead volunteer, TiE Pune Chapter)
paperwork and entertainment. Their latest addition is The Cultural Centre, a house for learning and certified education, art and creativity. His Indian origin comes from his father’s lineage and his German roots are from his mother. “My appearance gets many to start a conversation in Hindi with me. I have still to learn the language. I am taking classes for the same at The Cultural Centre but timings are a problem as I tend to miss most of the classes,”smiles Milan.
According to Milan, people envy his job for it is interesting. “People have been good to me and the feedback has been great. As an expat I never faced any issues with the locals nor have I ever felt fleeced or duped.” Milan is currently in the process of starting a new restaurant in Koregaon Park. “It will be a German food joint called Mahl Zait (means meal time). The place will be in Lane6 and should be ready by March,” said he. anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com
• There are 1200 Germans living in the city • Close to 300 companies • Direct flights from Pune to Frankfurt • The Cultural Centre for Germans is a community space devoted to the people living in Pune for their enjoyment, entertainment, and enrichment. • Pune holds Oktoberfest every year. The sixth edition of Pune Oktoberfest took place at Pune Race Course. Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, every year, organises Pune edition of the world famous Bavarian funfair Oktoberfest.
FOR DETAILS CONTACT: Prelocate House, Plot no 20, Koregaon Park Annexe www.prelocate.com
Tapping into the organic foods market Transcool Agro Mall in Chinchwad sells organic fruits and vegetables at current market prices ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal Pavan Gurav of Chinchwad has set up the first Transcool agro mall in the state. He has also started a cool chain for organic farm products, based on the Walmart business model, for the benefit of farmers and consumers. The 26-year-old mechanical engineering graduate of MIT, Pune, Gurav’s Transcool Agro Mall, on Telco Road, sells a wide variety of organic vegetables and fruits, including foreign produce, at the current market rates. A gold and silver card facility enables customers to avail a five to six per cent discount. The mall gives the customers the right of returning the fruits if he/ she finds them in a bad condition. Launched on August 28, 2014, the state government has designated the mall as a PPP model that would see private parties operating ‘agro malls’ on government land given on lease, to provide impetus ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Signposts
PUNE
to the direct marketing of fruits and vegetables. To enable customers to avail the organic farm-product, the Transcool van was stationed in sector 27A near Sant Tukaram Garden during the first week of January this year and many such transcool vans are proposed to be positioned in various corners of the twin town and Pune in the coming months. Gurav did his scooling at Jnana Prabodhini High School, Nigdi. Almost 40 per cent of farm-produce goes to waste, owing to improper handling and storage and the presence of middlemen also raises the prices of sub-standard farm produce. Gurav was aware of the demand for organic farm products and that it was not easily available, or that it was sold at exorbitant prices. Gurav said, “People purchase vegetable and fruits from roadside vendors because there are no alternatives. Such goods are not hygienically kept. And not everyone can go to malls to purchase vegetables and fruits.” This motivated Gurav to study the Walmart business model. In the third year of engineering, Gurav made a mobile refrigerated van, that he presented at an exhibition in Delhi, in 2011. Transcool Agro Mall and the Transcool van has received a positive response from the residents of Pimpri-
Chinchwad. Gurav’s clients also include multinational hospitals, corporates and automotive firms, who are getting their organic fruits and vegetables from Tanscool. Gurav has taken land on a 10-year lease from the Warehouse Corporation for the afro mall. Transcool will be used as a PPP-based model to start such malls in other cities. With this model, farmers do not have to pay transportation, handling and other charges for their products. All they have to do is to maintain the quality and follow organic farming norms. Gurav said, “There is hardly any wastage because transportation of the fruits and vegetables is done in refrigerated vehicles. We also have solid waste composting plants, and the fertiliers we make are distributed to farmers free of cost.” The vehicles are GPS tagged. Transcool has tied up with more than 3,500 farmers’ groups in Satara, Ahmednagar, Sangli and Karad for their fruits and vegetables. They have also tied up with the National Institute of Post Harvest Technology in Talegaon to train farmers in handling and sorting of their wares. Tanscool also plans to start online purchase of organic farmproducts soon. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
PUNE
FEBRUARY 07, 2015
children
Handle with care On January 18, a 15-year-old Bengaluru student jumped to her death from her 10th floor apartment after being chastised by her school principal for being ‘friends’ with a boy. Amongst the toppers in her class and an only child, the loss of her life suggests that when it comes to our teenagers, schools and parents are bungling up. ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’ explores...
Schools need to help parents raise a teen
a ‘new age’ parent, her tribe has seen a rapid rise in the urban milieu. Unfortunately, schools, where teens spend a major part of their day and confront most of their issues, haven’t kept pace with the changing times. The reality is that those students who explore their individuality are termed ‘notorious’ by heads of schools, even those that feel that reprimanding a teen for misconduct is not a solution. Also, nearly all of Pune’s schools do not have a written code of conduct that specify ‘acceptable and appropriate’ behaviour inside their premises by teens. All the existing rules relate to academic issues and other misdemeanours. The grey areas of ‘acceptable behaviour’ coming from the two significant influences in their lives, their parents and the school, puts all teens in a precarious position. Academician at Symbiosis School of Liberal Arts Shyama Dutta also feels that ‘Parents are not equipping their children to listen to a contrary opinion’. Th is leads to teens reacting adversely to situations and taking hasty lethal steps that can cause irrevocable damage. A generation hooked to 9GaG and Facebook wants it all – freedom, appreciation, love and adulation and most of all, respect. Parents have the toughest task, of ensuring that in these formative years, as teenagers struggle to create a sense of identity and an ‘Understanding of their place in the world’ (as stated in UNICEF), they get a supportive and loving environment in which they can thrive without being judged. Parents cannot do it unless schools walk the extra mile and meet them halfway – only for the sake of the children. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
Being a teenager in this day and age is perhaps even tougher than being an adult
BY YASH DAIV @yash009
manage peer pressure, understand and clarify doubts about sexuality.
Counsellors play a vital part in today’s education system, helping to make the school a warm, responsive and more tolerant space for students. It is necessary for the institution to understand the transitional mindset and thus evidently, should be equipped with counsellors to deal with the emotional chaos.
What should a counsellor emphasise on while talking a kid out of his or her situation? School adolescent counsellors have an important role in providing spaces where dialogues about these issues can take place and design and implement various programmes related to these concerns for students and their parents. The more our adolescents talk, understand and even question, the better chance we have of a generation that takes better, well thought out decisions about themselves.
What is the role of an adolescent counsellor at school? Working with adults (school management and parents), sensitisation and awareness about mental health. Adolescent counsellors play a key role in sensitising adults about teenagers – their development, needs and concerns. They act as a link and as catalysts for better communication between the adolescent, parents and teachers in terms of understanding and responding to the student’s learning, emotional and developmental needs through workshops and one-to-one guidance. Helping the family or the school system to deal with teenage years in a supportive manner is a much-needed role indeed.
What do these young minds need when they come looking for support? The major role of a school adolescent
Is ‘holding hands’ acceptable to you as a parent?
Physical proximity of any kind with the opposite sex, once considered a taboo, is now accepted as a part of ‘growing up’ by many Pune parents. Schools, they feel, need to walk the mile to bridge the gap between archaic rules of ‘morality’ and the needs of a generation far more mature than given credit for
Source: The Wall Street Journal India
SUICIDE HELPLINE CONNECTING NGO Helpline no: 99 22 00 11 22 Toll Free: 18002094353 Website: www.connectingindia.org
Reprimanding adolescents is not the solution
Pune schools acknowledge the volatile adolescent mindset. Keeping in mind the tendency for effeminate behaviour, schools have corrective mechanisms in place to ensure that harmless handholding does not proceed further
Adolescent counsellor Gauri Kulkarni talks about the need for counsellors in schools and how they can prevent students from indulging into wrong activities
Aniruddha Rajandekar
“It takes a village to raise a child” – African Proverb. An old adage that has lost its relevance in the modern world, but if one were to examine closely it has become the need of the hour. It goes without saying that adolescence or teenage is one of the most tumultuous, though defining periods of a child’s life. When it comes to exploring their sexuality and handling issues like attraction, desires and the like, their conundrum is intensified by the mixed signals they get; media portrays a free world where they have the liberty to love, and to express it. But these signals are in stark contrast with the rules enforced upon them by the adult world, dictated more by ideals of culture, morality and value systems. Given the volatility of these years, teens tend to buckle under the pressure. Some turn to drugs for solace; many of them fight the system and some who find no hope, commit suicide. Connecting NGO’s (which runs a helpline for those feeling suicidal) helpline project co-ordinator Tushar Patil says they receive nearly 35 calls every month from teens below the age of 18. Being a teenager in this day and age is perhaps even tougher than being an adult. Parents in Pune who heard of the Bengaluru incident spoke of giving their children certain ‘necessary’ freedoms – a night over, movie outings, dates and other enjoyable activities – as long as parents know what is happening. *Mary D’Cruz’s 16-year-old knows that if he has a girlfriend she would be welcome at home. “I would object to his doing anything on the sly,” she says. Once considered
In 2004, India had the highest rate of teen suicides in the world. Although this figure dropped in 2012, it continues to be a cause of major concern. According to a study in The Lancet, India’s suicide rate is about 16 per 1,00,000 people a year, the second highest cause of death of individuals in the country. Of the 1,14,800 males who took their own lives in India in 2010, 40 per cent were aged 15 to 29, while 56 per cent of the 72,100 women were in that age bracket, the study said.
Adolescent counselling: Helping teenagers, parents deal with tricky issues
It has been observed that educational institutions, where teens spend a major part of their day and confront most of their issues, haven’t kept pace with the changing times
BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh
TEEN SUICIDES HIGH IN INDIA
PUNE
counsellor is that of being an empathetic, responsible (and trained) adult to listen to, guide and provide a safe space for adolescents to have an opportunity to really talk – about their concerns, their life, their friends, parents and themselves. We need to remember that adolescence can be a journey full of ups and downs and can be lonely as well. At such times, having an adult who is non judgmental and takes them seriously, can make a huge difference. And if all those arguments fail to convince our school system about the need for an adolescent counsellor, do also know that research indicates that happy students make for better grades. So a person whose role is to provide a safe and secure environment for the students is an essential part of the school team! yashdaiv@gmail.com
“Adolescent counsellors play a key role in sensitising adults about teenagers.”
What are the aspects that you look into when it comes to counselling teenagers? E m p o w e r i n g adolescents with relevant knowledge and tools to deal with life’s challenges. One of the major tasks of teenagers is of creating an identity for oneself. Th is journey has many twists and turns and it becomes a bit easier to navigate if we can provide teenagers with tools to understand themselves, their emotions better,
BY YASH DAIV @yash009 Adolescent boys and girls have different emotional quotients. Boys generally throw a laid-back attitude but girls have a delicate mindset. Moreover, it is at this age where public display of affection assumes an important stature. Young minds are naive and growing, they need to be tended with utmost attention. Both English and Marathi medium schools acknowledge the ephemeral adolescent mindset and have prescribed corrective measures to curb inappropriate behaviour. Sumathi Srinivasan, principal of Karnataka High School and Junior College, feels that appropriate and inappropriate behaviour is a matter of individual concern. However, the school must maintain some
students can only be controlled inside the campus. Whatever goes outside the school gates is out of school authority’s hands. “We have received complaints from surrounding buildings about girls and boys whiling away at the parking lot. They claim that it’s affecting the neighbourhood. Frankly, it is out of our hands and it is harmless as we have not recorded any severe incident,” she adds. Love affairs can sometimes turn tumultuous. The dejected lover may resort to vengeance by asking someone to follow the girl. “Besides this, some students show attention-seeking traits. For them we have counsellors and mentor-teachers who guide them,” she said. A corrective mechanism in place at schools,
“Any action taken in public can provoke these young minds into taking drastic steps.” — Sumathi Srinivasan, principal, Karnataka High School and Junior College decorum as far as conduct towards the students who display affectionate behaviour in the school goes. “It is natural for adolescent girls and boys to sit together or dress-up for each other. That does not mean we reprimand them in public,” she says. Any action taken in public can provoke these young minds into taking drastic steps. She believes that the current generation is progressive and thus more volatile. If a school takes notice of inappropriate behaviour, the parents can be informed later or the students, particularly girls, can be called into the office to tell them of the severity of the situation. While boys are given lectures through social-awareness meetings about the conduct in public transport and vans,
according to her, is essential to keep a check on notorious behaviour at school. According to New English Medium School’s (Marathi wing) principal Nagesh Mane, the notorious behaviour of students is sometimes kept under wraps to protect the organisation’s credibility. Even before an incident reaches such a point, corrective measures and a bit of sensitisation can prevent the students and the school from getting into wrong circumstances. “Not all sorts of relationships should be seen in a sexual way. There should be some room for children to interact. We cannot create rifts (sic) between boys and girls,” he said. yashdaiv@gmail.com
“My classmates have relationships. They meet during lunch break and after school. Most of them are our seniors and they pass letters through notes. They meet on Sundays on the pretext of extra class. Our school is not very strict with boys and girls mixing so most of them take undue advantage. They hold hands and hug too. I am not against affection but there needs to be some decorum. We are in school to study, not to have relationships. I will not mind such behaviour in college and office premises. One of my friends even went on a night out with her boyfriend. She lied at home saying she was staying at my place. She never got caught but this is very common nowadays.”
“My classmates are very inclusive and open, be it with a boy or a girl. The boys in my class while joking about girls and boys, make sure they never cross the limit. I personally came across an incident when a boy on realising that his joke had gone too far, stopped it right away. This is the case when the particular girl is just a friend, but when she becomes your friend’s girlfriend, it is totally a different story. It is not only about what type of jokes you share, but your behaviour and how you give the ‘couple’ their privacy. It happened to me once when I was talking to a friend and his girlfriend came and sat next to him. I tend to get out of these awkward situations because when the two are talking, I just end up being the third wheel. When it isn’t about giving them their space, I tend to come up with conversations that includes the girl too, so that she doesn’t feel the odd one out. We really have no qualms or hesitation with people of two genders being together.”
Pooja Kumari, standard IX, from a Marathi medium school in Pune
Siddharth Shamsher, standard X, The Orchid School
FREEDOM IN SCHOOL: WHAT IT MEANS TO TEENS
Nandita Paul with her husband and two sons
BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh Sixteen-year-old Sanika Apte* is in love with her classmate. They ‘announced’ their relationship as soon as the academic session started last year and have continued to be in the relationship through routine ‘break ups’ and ‘make ups’. The upmarket city school she goes to doesn’t have a written set of regulations for teens but Apte has been warned by her class teacher about holding hands with her boyfriend inside the school. Apte’s parents are aware of the relationship. “It is normal to have crushes and feelings for others at this age and we don’t see anything wrong,” says her father Hridesh Apte*. To him, display of physical affection is a natural outcome of proximity between two individuals, and says, “Her mother and I have spoken to her and have told her that she must respect the school’s stand, although we may not agree with it entirely.” Priya Sharma is a standard XI student in a Central school in Pune, and discusses her crushes with her mother freely. While her parents hail from a remote Bihar town, living in the city has changed their perspective. “Times have changed and so should we,” points out her mother Madhu. Nandita Paul, a special needs educator and remedial teacher, raised two boys (now in their 20s) in an era when mingling between the sexes was considered too ‘forward’. But that didn’t deter her. “The children grew up knowing that hanging out with girls is normal. They never saw anything wrong in it,” she says, pointing out that her older son has the liberty to bring home his girlfriend to meet his parents, a sign of a mature, healthy young man. Many teens growing up in Pune households have the ‘freedom’ to explore themselves and do what they want, as long as they understand the ramifications of their actions. They are being taught to respect boundaries, even while they are allowed to question them. Prachla Malhotra, learning consultant and a mother of two, says “Being friends with the opposite sex and having crushes are healthy signs of being
a teenager.” She feels that a school system that enforces rules of ‘morality’ and ‘value systems’ is trapped in a time warp and needs to wake up. “Enforcing rules on this generation won’t work and everyone needs to realise it, including parents and the academic system. Having rules like ‘don’t be friends’, ‘don’t hold hands’ are archaic,” she says. She also emphasises that when children are given freedom, they end up making the right choices. “Our children need to fail intelligently. They must make mistakes and live by them,” she says. What is important according to her
is that ‘parents must support children in helping them learn from their mistakes rather than reprimanding them for making them. The personal lessons learnt are far more powerful than any advice given’. Paul echoes her thoughts. “It is so important for parents to reassure their children. As a society we need to get together and tell our schools that our children are of a different generation and mindset and they need to move with the times. We must drop our double standards,” she says. *Names changed on request
ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
“Parents must support children in helping them learn from their mistakes rather than reprimanding them for making them. The personal lessons learnt are far more powerful than any advice given.” — Prachla Malhotra, learning consultant & mother of two
Prachla Malhotra (left) with her husband and two daughters
WHAT ABOUT THE BOYS? Often during discussions on the freedom to go on dates, Mary D’Cruz* is censured by friends who say that it is okay for her to think ‘this’ way, because she has a son. “I tell them that I wouldn’t have a problem with my child dating even if I had a girl,” she remarks. But the fact that she has a boy makes her ‘think differently’, according to them. D’Cruz is caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. In a cultural system that promulgates different sets of rules for boys and girls, the onus of upholding of moral values often falls on the girl and the boys get away with a reprimand, if given, that makes them look like the ‘naughty’ ones. Media professional *Prerna Khanna’s 15-year-old daughter has a boyfriend, a boy she has known since they were eight years old. At every parent-teacher meeting at the school,
Khanna is made to feel humiliated “because of my daughter’s loose morals in having a boyfriend. I am told that there are only three ‘such girls’ in the class, as if it is some kind of disease that must be controlled before it spreads”. Her daughter is one of the top students in her class and, despite the fact that the boy is at the bottom of the class in terms of academics, his mother is not given any such lecture. “The question of morality only applies to the girls,”she says. Schools across the spectrum seem to support this miscarriage of authority and reprimand the girls before the boys are even questioned. In many cases, the boys are not pulled up at all. “Schools must not discriminate in any way because it sends a wrong message to all the students,” says D’Cruz.
*Names changed on request
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
The ministry of home affairs’ mandate is essentially to ensure effective maintenance of internal security in the country. To achieve this, necessary mechanisms, policies, and measures are in place.” —L C Goyal, Home Secretary of India IANS
Delhi polls: Will Amit Shah’s magic work?
Learning from animal friendships P 13
What almost all pollsters show is a slippage for BJP between December and end-January IANS
BJP chief Amit Shah (centre) along with (from L) Delhi in-charge of BJP Prabhat Jha and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay during a party rally in New Delhi recently
by R Jagannathan Will Delhi be a win for AAP or BJP? Or will it be a tie, with no clear win for either party? Even though the various polls show a definite momentum building towards the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in recent weeks, the pollsters themselves are hopelessly divided about their final seat projections. This suggests that the BJP can still hope for a miracle in the last hour. Polling is on 7 February, and campaigning ends on 5 February. Results are due on 10 February, but exit polls will tell us which way the wind is blowing on 7 February itself. The only thing pollsters agree on is that the Congress is a goner. The highest number it is given by any of the polls is eight seats – the same as in December 2013 - while the lowest is a range of 0-3 (by ET-TNS). But when it comes to the title bout, between the BJP and AAP, the results swing from a sweep for AAP to a BJP win. In short, the pollsters themselves are
tied into a draw on their verdict. Amit Shah can still hope he can pull off a last-minute surprise. Firstpost looked at the seat projections and vote shares projected by six major pollsters, and two by relatively new poll data miners, and the result we get is three projected wins for AAP, four for BJP, and one tie (HTCfore, which gives both 31-36 seats).
Exit polls AAP ET-TNS ABP-Nielsen
BJP
36-40 28-32
Cong 0-3
35
29
31-36
31-36
2-7
India-TodayCicero 38-46
19-25
3-7
29
36
4
5Forty3
21
40
8
Data Mineria
26
36
8
Cvoter
28
37
5
HT-Cfore TheWeek-IMRB
6
Of the eight pollsters, six are fairly well known, while two others are relatively unknown. They are Nielsen (which did a survey for ABP News), IMRB (The Week), Cfore (Hindustan Times), TNS (Economic Times), Cicero (India Today), CVoter, 5Forty3, and an relatively unknown data analytics firm called Data Mineria. The outlier poll, which gave AAP a huge win in the range of 38-46 seats, is Cicero, followed by TNS (36-40), and Nielsen (35). HT-Cfore, as we noted before, gave both parties seats in the range of 31-36 seats. In other words, either of them could win or ensure a draw. The pollsters who give the BJP a win are 5Forty3, which gives the BJP a clean 40 seats (but nowhere near Amit Shah’s targeted two-thirds majority) and is clearly the outlier, followed by CVoter (37), and IMRB and Data Mineria (both 36). Thirty-five is the half-way mark, and 36 is the number needed by a party to be in a majority in the 70-member Delhi assembly. What almost all pollsters show is a slippage for BJP between December and end-January. This is why one can say that the momentum is slipping away from BJP, from which AAP could be benefiting. What cannot be said for sure is whether Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, with their high-pressure campaigning over the last one week, and the last-minute efforts of the Sangh Parivar activists, have managed to arrest the AAP’s acceleration to enable the BJP to remain at least as the largest single party, if not the winner. This, unfortunately, we may not know till 7 February, when the exit polls may give us a better picture. So, for both AAP and BJP, it has to be fingers-crossed. But even exit polls can sometimes get it wrong. At the end of the day, it would appear that the Delhi assembly election remains a cliff-hanger. And we don’t know how voters will react to so many last-minute news developments, ranging from the AAP funding scam to the booth-level push organised by Amit Shah. When she reaches the EVM machine, will Delhi’s voter have changed her mind? By special arrangement with Firstpost.com
Solar Plant-Tripura
Northeast India gets its first solar power plant By Sujit Chakraborty
commercial generation (101 MW) of power would start from August. He said non-supply of gas by Monarchak (Tripura): North Eastern ONGC resulted in loss of `5 crore a month. Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) has The foundation stone of the Monarchak power commissioned a five-MW solar power plant at project was laid during the previous National Monarchak in Tripura, which will be the biggest and Democratic Alliance government in March 2002 and the first of its kind in northeast India. “We started the Tripura government allotted the required land to generation of power from the solar power plant NEEPCO in 2003. By using the latest technology, from Wednesday. The full (5-MW) the generation capacity of three commercial generation would start existing power plants in Tripura will be within a month after completing some augmented by around 70 MW without technicalities,” NEEPCO general increasing fuel consumption. manager S.R. Biswas told IANS. To enhance the production capacity The solar power plant was of two gas-based power plants and one commissioned at a cost of `40 crore. hydel power project, NEEPCO in The entire power from the plant would association with the Tripura government be transmitted to the Tripura power would invest Rs.500 crore. The Rokhia grid. Biswas said NEEPCO will set and Baramura gas-based power plants in up a 50-MW solar power plant in Tripura are at present in the open cycle - SR Biswas Madhya Pradesh and a two-MW system. Both the power plants would be plant in Lanka in Nagaon district of converted into the combined cycle mode Assam. “As per the government policy, NEEPCO to generate additional power without using extra fuel, has initiated the process to set up more and more Biswas said. “Currently, both plants are generating solar, non-conventional and renewable power plants 103 MW and after conversion into the combined in various parts of the country,” he said. cycle mode, their capacity would be 163 MW,” he Meanwhile, after a huge delay, the ONGC said. An open cycle system has a combustion turbine Sunday night started supplying gas to NEEPCO’s plant fired by liquid fuel that runs a generator which 101-MW capacity power plant in Monarchak, 70 km produces electricity. south of Tripura capital Agartala and just eight km A combined cycle system also uses gas turbines from the Bangladesh border. NEEPCO, a mini-ratna to produce electricity, but the waste heat from the company under the union power ministry, has set up turbines is captured in heat recovery steam generators the `9.5 billion (nearly $150 million) gas-based power where it produces steam to power steam turbines and plant in Monarchak. generate more power without using additional fuel. Biswas said if the supply of gas from ONGC NEEPCO would also increase the capacity of the remains uninterrupted, the power project would start Dambur hydel power plant, commissioned in 1974, generation of electricity from March and the full from 8 MW to 15 MW. IANS
“Currently, both plants are generating 103 MW.”
Maha’s sea world Dear Indians, here’s how not to react to plan in jeopardy Obama’s religious intolerance comment by Vishwas Waghmode Mumbai: Even as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis led BJP government has scaled down the quantum of land to be acquired for the country’s first sea world project in the Sindhudurg district of coastal Maharashtra to less than a fourth of its original size of 1390 acres, the locals have made a decision they they will not give any land towards the project. Last week, Fadnavis convened a meeting of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and directed them to begin acquiring around 300 acres of land for the project, which seeks to create a water-themed amusement park, oceanarium, underwater film studio, fisheries research institute, convention centre, crafts and arts centre, skill development centre and few tourist resorts. However, locals from Tondavali village held a meeting on Tuesday and decided that the land would not be given to the state government for the project. “We don’t know how the new government is planning the project on 300 acres when the previous CongressNCP led government had announced the acquisition of 1400 acres. People fear that their rehabilitation issues won’t
be addressed well by the government. It should listen to our views on the project and also apprise us about its plan,” said Ashish Patil, a local from Tondivli village in Malvan tehsil. “We are curious to see how this government is planning the project only on 300 acres. We feel that the project will not only benefit the Sindhudurg district but also the state as whole. But, it shouldn’t be a namesake project and major components shouldn’t be excluded from it,” said Nitesh Rane, an MLA from Kankavli and son of senior congress leader Narayan Rane, who attempted to push for the project. The project, which is modeled on watertheme amusement parks in the US, was first approved in 2009 by the previous CongressNCP government. Subsequently, it had announced the acquisition of 1,390 acres land for the project but could not begin work on it due to vehement opposition by villagers. Officials said that the project, at Tondavali-Vayangani at Malvan, about 550 kms from Mumbai, is ideal for a Sea World type project, as it has 13 km of virgin beaches. The Science and Technology Park has been asked to submit a report on techno economic feasibility in two months. Firstpost.com
The project is modeled on watertheme amusement parks in the US
Are we so over-excited that an American President should mention India that we can’t help but over-read his every word? by Lakshmi Chaudhry Oh my god! Obama talked about religious intolerance! And he name checked India. Whaaaat? Bring on the totally cooked up media-fueled controversy. “Religious intolerance in India would have shocked Gandhi: Obama,” blares the Indian Express on its front page. The Express frames the remarks in “context”, noting, “The comments came a day after the White House refuted suggestions that the US president’s public speech in New Delhi, in which he touched on religious tolerance, was a ‘parting shot’ aimed at the ruling BJP.” Times of India and Hindustan Times have almost the exact same headline. NDTV, however, one ups them all by tweeting out its story with the plug, “Barack Obama invokes India’s example to condemn religious intolerance.” And that’s all we need these days for a Twitter storm. In this corner are the offended, like Bharti Jain at the TOI who complains, “How about Obama teaching a thing or two to Pak and Taliban about religious tolerance?” A sentiment affirmed and retweeted by Headlines Today anchor Rahul Kanwal. Even Sri Sri waded into the fray with: “Isolated incidents doesn’t mean India is intolerant. Obama should have met religious leaders while in India for better understanding.” In the other corner are the celebrants who can’t help but relish the prospect of
IANS
Locals refuse to give up land for the ambitious project
US President Barack Obama
a Modi dissed. Joy Das titters, “Broke Protocol to receive him, Broke Protocol at R-Day Parade to sit next to him, wore 10 Lakh Suit to impress him. Why u no care, Barack?” Everyone is having such a good time seeing exactly what they want, be it hypocritical United States or a weak Modi, that no one seems to care what Obama actually said, and in what context. I do hate to rain on the parade, but let’s take a look at exactly when India is named and blamed. Obama talks about the great value of religion and then notes its downside: “But we also see faith being twisted and distorted, used as a wedge -- or, worse, sometimes used as a weapon. From a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris, we have seen violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to stand up for faith, their faith, professed to stand up for Islam, but, in fact, are
betraying it.” Cue references to ISIL and then “sectarian war in Syria, the murder of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, religious war in the Central African Republic, a rising tide of antiSemitism and hate crimes in Europe.” Obama then notes that people of faith continually grapple with the good and the bad of religion, which is where India enters the picture… right after America herself. Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history. And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ. Michelle and I returned from India -- an incredible, beautiful
country, full of magnificent diversity -but a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs -- acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation. So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith. That’s it. The two lines that have stirred the pot of vitriol, outrage and malice. Here’s what puzzles me. Are we so entitled that we think in a speech that calls out pretty much every nation in the world, we deserve a special exemption. Hey, you can talk about Holocaust, but don’t you dare mention a single riot in our backyard. Or do we, like spoilt sixteen year olds, make everything about us? Or worse, are we so over-excited that an American President should mention India that we can’t help but over-read his every word? Sure, the remarks he made about religious intolerance in India, on a state visit, deserve great scrutiny and analysis. But let’s not get all worked up about a passing reference in a by-the-numbers speech about religious tolerance that is at best amusing for its studiously liberal effort to dutifully point its finger at every body. The only religion that gets a pass is Buddhism, but I guess no one told Barack about Sri Lanka. How come no one is complaining about that? Firstpost.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
“Tobacco use - smoking and chewing - is the single most important factor for cancer in men. Nearly 60-70 per cent of all cancer cases in men are due to tobacco.” — Vinit Talwar, sr consultant, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute
“So far, we have successfully reduced the child mortality rate from 87 to 64 per 1000 births this year and we plan to improve this figure further.” —Sujata Saunik, principal health secretary, Maharashtra Health Ministry
Eat healthy, exercise regularly Some of the city’s top oncologists addressed queries from people on the occassion of World Cancer Day RAHUL RAUT
Students of Karve Institute of Social Sciences performing a stage play on cancer awareness at Ruby Hall Cancer Centre on February 4
BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose Ruby Hall Cancer Centre, organised a panel discussion of city’s top oncologists on World Cancer Day on February 4. It was aimed to educate people about early detection of cancer, healthy life choices and treatment for all. Here are some of the questions put to the panelists by members of the audience and the expert replies: What kind of food will cause and prevent cancer? Dr Anupama Mane: Certain dietary food may help in reducing the risk of cancer and certain dietary foods increase the risk of cancer. Foods like high fatty diet, high oil content food, lot of western diet such as burgers and cheese, French fries, soft Dr Anupama Mane drinks, a lot of caffeine content in your diet, meat products, especially, red meat can increase the risk of colon cancer, breast cancer and many other cancers. Dr SM Karandikar: Any food in its natural form is good such as fruits, vegetables and the like. One should avoid tinned, processed or preserved food as it has more carcinogenic elements.
We hear so much about the fact that free radicals and anti-oxidants help in preventing cancer. Is it a myth or a fact? Dr Vikram Maiya: Anti-oxidants are vitamins A, C and E. Antioxidants help in the removal of toxins and chemicals from our body. It helps in cleansing the body. Vitamin A or beta carotene aids in prevention of cancer to a great extent. So, it is advisable to consume Vitamin A in its natural form. For example, carrots, green leafy vegetables and the like. Vitamin C like orange, and avla (gooseberry) also aid in cleaning the body off the bad chemicals. Vitamin E like sprouts also have the same properties. That is why, it is not a myth. Dr Sujai Hegde: See the fact is that one should have a control over one’s diet, eat healthy and exercise regularly. All this will definitely help Dr Sujai Hegde in prevention of cancer. However, if you think that by popping vitamin pills, I will have no risk of cancer, that is wrong. There is no scientific evidence to prove that by having vitamin pills or supplements, one can eradicate the risks of cancer. Th is kind of thinking is not logical.
We know that by smoking or having tobacco, we run the chances of getting lung cancer. However, some times we see, that people who have no such bad habits still end up getting lung cancer? Why so? Dr Neve: The reasons why people get cancer is varied and complex. Sometimes, some patients have an abnormal growth of cells in their lungs and the body cannot recognise or adjust to this abnormality and he develops cancer. This may happen in a person who doesn’t smoke. This change in his genes or DNA happens mostly due to a change in his/her environment. It can be due to pollution or lifestyle or food intake. Passive smoking can also be one reason, for those who do not smoke, to get cancer. Is any cancer hereditary? Dr Anupama Mane: Cancers are hereditary as well as due to environmental factors. It can run in the family due to genetic mutation. Approximately five per cent of people or even less than that suffer from hereditary cancer.And more than 90-95 per cent of cancers occur due to environmental factors such as unhealthy food, pollution and other carcinogenic factors. But hereditary is definitely an important factor. For that one needs to chart out the family history. Then we calculate the risk of the cancer in the family and accordingly guide the relatives of the patient to take preventive action. One needs to visit a genetic counselling clinic or a doctor
Nature as a cure for our ills A good 95 per cent of the people, can make do with a change in the mode of living, tranquillity of mind and some holistic healing techniques BY PROF DR BM HEGDE Man has a radically different physiology compared to a machine. Nature is the healer for the human machine, which is built from a single cell, the zygote, the union of mother’s ovum and father’s sperm, into a 120-trillion-cell organism. This organism, additionally has 10 times more germ cells inside. It runs on sun’s energy, food and oxygen. It is dynamic and, like everything else in the animate world, it has a builtin healer called the immune system. Outside intervention for minor illness syndromes seems not only unscientific but also dangerous. That said, I must hasten to add that, in the unlikely event of the immune system failing, the person develops symptoms asking for some assistance from outside. Only then must outside help be used to relieve distress. It will again be foolish to claim that outside intervention will keep humans alive on this planet for a long time. The truth is that outside interventions by the medical fraternity can only “cure rarely, comfort mostly, but console always.” Nothing more and nothing less. Today’s hi-tech medical world would want us to believe that they are here to prevent diseases in the ‘early’ stages, to save us from danger and premature death. This is a false claim and the sensible thing to do would be to see doctors only when one has
some symptoms. Nature’s mechanisms are more than adept at dealing with most illnesses. If you have ever observed animals like cats or dogs, you will notice that when a dog has a stomach-ache it knows precisely where the remedy is in nature and looks for grass or leaves to eat. It is you and I who go to a hospital or a doctor when we have minor problems. In return, we get a drug (proven to be alien to the human system by sophisticated studies) or an exploratory laparotomy. There is no end to the cycle of drugs and testing as there is an ill following every pill. I am reminded of what late Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari wrote to his friend Jawaharlal Nehru, the then PM who was the last Englishman to rule India. Nehru wanted to be one up on Nasser who built the huge Aswan Dam on the Nile, and so was planning the Bakra Nangal dam. “Dear Jawahar, Please respect and treat Nature as your mother, she will then feed you for all time to come, but if you mistreat her as your mistress she will kick you in the teeth!” If we keep to a
PUNE
healthy lifestyle, with respect to food, work, sleep, thought and action, we would remain healthy till we die. However, the food we eat, the water we drink and even the air we breathe are all severely polluted and our immune system has every cause to be overwhelmed by the stresses imposed on it. To live a long and healthy life, one must follow a rigorous way of life with pranayama and yoga to assist the immune system. In the first Western textbook of medicine, published in 1773 in Vienna, the Mecca of medicine, the author, Charles Scharschmidst wrote about the present-day killer diseases like heart attacks, hypertension and diabetes. He said that these were, “Diseases with intense agitation of the mind and spastic constriction of the vascular bed.” The best treatment plan he wrote was: “Change in the mode of living, tranquillity of mind, and intervention rarely ever, if ever.” I fully endorse that even today, with factual and scientific backing. Accidents are the only exception where Western hi-tech medical and surgical help for quick fi x relief could be lifesaving. Most of the other times, a good 95 per cent of the ill segment of society, can make do with a change in the mode of living, tranquillity of mind and some holistic healing techniques. (Professor Dr BM Hegde, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2010, is an MD, PhD, FRCP (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Dublin), FACC and FAMS.) @moneylife.in
Stage plays by medical students Students from different medical colleges presented stage plays on cancer awareness at the same platform. This segment was kick started by students of BJ medical college, who did a great job in giving across information regarding breast cancer. They also made people aware about the practice of BSE (Breast Self Examination). Students of Ness Wadia College performed a play on bad habits such as smoking, alcoholism, stress, gutka, outside food and highlighted importance of exercise. Tehni Grant Medical Foundation and Karve Institute of Social Sciences through their project put across the importance of early detection, treatment, dealing with depression and the support of the family.
to find out the genetic history and the measures that need to be followed. However, leukemia cases are not known to be hereditary. What role does stress play in causing cancer? Dr Vikram Maiya: Anything that causes chronic irritation is a trigger for cancer. There is a very delicate Dr Vikram Maiya balance in the body, in which a normal cell becomes abnormal. It is because of constant irritation. So the body has a counter mechanism technique, which results in prevention of ailments. But when a cell is exposed to ‘constant’ irritation, it becomes a cancerous cell, even when the countermechanism technique is working. Stress causes irritation, which if not controlled can lead to cancer. So, it is better to have a stress free life. Meditation and exercise is advisable to keep stress under check. (With inputs from Snigdha Chaturvedi)
The Way Forward With Compassion & Hope
Patience is not simply the ability to wait BY C RAVINDRANATH
W
hat is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare,” wrote poet William Henry Davies. The way we go through our lives in a mad rush, I wonder if there is a purpose at all for whatever we do. Decades back, Alvin Toffler warned us about the increasing pace of living in his book ‘Future Shock.’ I’m a sad witness to the truth of his prediction. Our lack of patience is probably nowhere better evidenced than on the roads, with drivers whizzing past with scant respect for other users of the road. When I wait for a red signal to turn green, the driver behind me horns his irritation, reminding me of Joyce Meyer’s words: “Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it is how we behave while we’re waiting.” It is common for patients to say, “Don’t give me tablets, I’d prefer an injection,” in the belief that injections are more potent than pills and work faster. To avoid losing business, I have seen several doctors giving patients injections of distilled water, following this up with medicines they had originally wanted to prescribe. None of these patients would have read or remembered Shakespeare, who said: “How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?” Even when the required page takes a few seconds to open on our computer screens, we drum our
fingers or tap keys or chew our nails in frustration. Can we not wait? Will our gestures make the page open faster? We may not be like Michelangelo who said “Genius is eternal patience,” but can we at least display some forbearance? We are impatient everywhere – at home, on the roads, in the office and everywhere else. We jump queues, we surf channels on TV, and we yell at the waiter if there’s a delay in our order. We don’t seem to be able to wait. We want everything and we want it now. Are our lives so short that we cannot delay gratification? Is the world going to end if we wait for a while? Can we take time out to see the world around us and ourselves? At the end of the day during which we busily buzzed around doing a myriad things, what did we achieve – anger, irritation, frustration, disappointment, weariness and raised blood pressure? Maybe it is time we learned to relax, let go and be patient. As another poet (John Milton) said, “They also serve, who stand and wait.” Let us take time off to enjoy the beauty around us. Let us not push ourselves so hard that we have no time to live. Even those who make their bucket lists, know they will not die tomorrow. French philosopher Jean Jaques Rousseau said, “Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet.” Can we savour the fruits of patience? (The writer is a multi-faceted personality who believes in responding with compassion and hope to the difficult situations in life.)
Is a problem bothering you endlessly? Write in to us at wayforward@goldensparrow.com for advice and suggestions from C Ravindranath
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
TH E EDIT PAGE
Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and the city.
Editor’s pick
— Le Corbusier
Why India needs Arvind Kejriwal At this very moment, polling for the Delhi State Assembly is underway amidst much excitement not just in the national capital but across the country. After a spectacular winning streak since the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party and its mascot, prime minister Narendra Modi, stand challenged by the Aam Aadmi Party and its maverick leader Arvind Kejriwal, who has literally emerged from the ashes. Till the last minute election surveys indicated that the BJP was running neck-and-neck with the AAP in the race to form the next government in Delhi. There is every chance that Kejriwal would become the next chief minister of this tiny, special state. Even if he does not, he and the AAP would still have emerged victorious with the AAP sitting in the opposition in the Delhi Assembly. This is the finest hour for Indian democracy where it is truly the people who would have the final say in government formation. Kejriwal has fired the people’s imagination in Delhi on what is possible in a government of the people, elected by the people and one that stands for the people. The people of Delhi were angry with Kejriwal when he hastily resigned in his previous term as chief minister and rushed in to contest the national polls. He has apologised profusely for that mistake, promising never again to betray the trust of the people. Evidently, the people have forgiven him as stands reflected from the massive support he has been enjoying on the ground and there is the real possibility that he will trounce Modi at the hustings. Kejriwal’s previous government of 49 days had much to show in terms of results even in its extraordinarily short life. He personally represents Gandhian values and the true ideal of a politician who is not corrupt, who does not believe in playing the caste and communal card and who believes in transparency,
efficiency and true development for the people. Certainly, Kejriwal has his shortcomings and has often been described as “autocratic” by many of his former colleagues-in-arms and associates, the most conspicuous of who is the former IPS officer Kiran Bedi. But then, doesn’t Narendra Modi have the image of the most autocratic leader in India today? In the run-up to the Delhi Assembly elections, an already weakened AAPin the aftermath of the resignation drama last year- was weakened further by the crossing-over of many prominent AAP leaders to the BJP. There was the usual din of accusations and counteraccusations of politics and the AAP has even been accused of laundering black money in the guise of collecting election funds. None of this seemed to have mattered for a large section of Delhi voters and even the candidates put up by AAP seemed to have become immaterial. What mattered most was Kejriwal’s leadership and the promise of seeing him as the next head of the Delhi government. The AAP was born out of the Jan Lokpal movement of 2011-12 and what we are witnessing today is that same enthusiasm on the streets of the national capital. The people of India want clean and transparent politics, good governance and development. It was on this promise that Narendra Modi became the prime minister of India, but no sooner did he get comfortable in his seat, the RSS, Sangh Parivar and even ministers in his own cabinet began questioning the secular ethos of this nation for which Mahatma Gandhi strove till his last breath. Arvind Kejriwal is important for India because he represents the dawn of a new political era that is full of hope and promise as it shapes the destiny of this nation. @TGSWeekly abhay.vaidya@goldensparrow.com
Let’s have more Walking Plazas in Pune Over the last few Sundays, an almost three kilometre stretch in Aundh has been transforming magically into a carnival-like Walking Plaza as the area residents, and even those from Bhosale Nagar, Baner and Bhau Patil Road, Bopodi, have been converging on the streets. Tiny tots, small children, teenagers, adults and senior citizens have been enjoying a variety of pursuits while walking up and down on one entire side of the road that is closed to vehicular traffic by the Pune Traffic Police for three hours. Many children come with their bicycles, rollerblades, skipping ropes and hoopla rings. There’s a variety of entertainment in the form of yoga-on-the-footpaths, Zumba dancing, live music and other such attractions organised by a newspaper group in association with a construction company and civic authorities. The public response to this event has been spectacular to say the least, as the smallest of children look forward to their Sunday mornings, forcing their parents to hop out of bed at the break of dawn. All of this is not just extremely healthy but also enormously significant for us as the citizenry of Pune. The popularity of the Sunday walking plaza at Aundh is reflective of the crying need for open spaces in Pune.
Of course, this city is blessed with many gardens which are well maintained by the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations. However, what we need are Walking Plazas, and many more of them in various pockets of Pune. As reported by us in this edition, the Pune Traffic Police is fully supportive of this thought. In a recent Round Table discussion with journalists from The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, DCP (Traffic) Sarang Awad said he would welcome proposals from various organisations in the city to hold such Walking Plazas in different pockets of Pune. NGOs such as Pedestrians FIRST, Parisar, Janwani, MCCIA, Nagrik Chetna Manch and others, who are often found criticising public authorities and public officials, should now come forward and act on this invitation. Organising a Walking Plaza in association with the PMC and the Traffic Police does not cost much and corporate sponsors would only be too willing to open their purses for such initiatives. This newspaper will fully support such initiatives and offer generous media coverage too. Let us as citizens, not lose this opportunity. @TGSWeekly abhay.vaidya@goldensparrow.com
Vol-1* lssue No.: 34 Published by: Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed by 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. Editor: Abhay Vaidya (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867)
Cartoon by: Morparia; Courtesy: Moneylife
Birth of an institution
It will be very interesting to see the actual functioning and implementation of the NITI Aayog BY AMIT KAPOOR January was witness to the birth of a new institution in India. The formation of the NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has brought the focus back on the country’s reforms process. The opposition, especially the Congress, termed its formation a “dangerous” idea and “an attack on the federal structure” of India’s polity while the CPI-M said that this would spur “privatisation”. The ruling NDA responded by saying that the opposition was mere “politics” and those opposing it were “against development”. The new commission, right from its nomenclature to its stated objectives, appears to be more in tune with the times and the overall economic landscape. For understanding the present and predicting (albeit inaccurately) the future, one often has to rely on the past. The planning experience in the Soviet Union, China and India point to similarities - and differences as well - are helpful in drawing fascinating insights about the nature of the planning process and how central planning as an idea appears to be dead. In the Soviet Union, planning commenced in 1928 with Gosplan managing the five-year plans under the direction of the Communist Party’s politburo. By the 1950’s, this led the Soviet Union to become somewhat industrialised - though the period also witnessed famines (that resulted in over one crore deaths). In the 1970’s and the 1980’s, the Soviet Union saw a period of stagnation with little growth. Th is led president
Mikhail Gorbachev to formulate his famous Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (Openness). These two movements resulted in the collapse of the Soviet Union and with it the idea of a centrally-planned economy. Post 1991, President Boris Yeltsin tried to come up with radical market-oriented reforms, but it failed. In 1999, after the Russian financial crisis, the country saw rapid growth, primarily fuelled by tax reforms and high commodity prices in the international markets. Most recently, the country is again in the doldrums, with its currency tumbling more than the crude oil prices since early last year. In China, the formal system of planning began with the fi rst plan conceived along Soviet lines in 1953 under the leadership of Mao Zedong. The second plan (described as the Great leap forward) saw movement of agricultural workers to industry and infestation of crops by locusts, resulting in a famine in which some estimates suggest that three crore people died. Post that, the plans became a regular feature and in 1978, the state government allowed non-state enterprises to produce and compete
with the state-owned enterprises - a departure to a competitive economy. All this time the State Planning Commission was nodal body for planning, and this was a just like Russia’s Gosplan in Russia. In 1982, the Commission for Restructuring the Economic System (CRES) was established for directing economic reforms. In 1998, the SPC was renamed State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) which then merged with CRES and State Economic and Trade Commission. It was renamed in 2006 as National Commission on Development and Reform (NCDR). The word planning has been removed from the terminology, most probably as China no longer conceives itself to be a centrally planned economy but more of a socialist market economy. In India, the Planning Commission was established on March 15, with prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru as its chairman though its roots go back to 1938 when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had been persuaded to set up a National Planning Committee. The First Five-year Plan was launched in 1951 and focused on developing the agricultural sector. In between the Indo-Pakistan Confl ict of 1965, the planning process was disrupted but the Fourth Plan was formulated in 1969. The Eighth Plan commenced in 1992 after market reforms were initiated in 1991 by the then finance minister Manmohan Singh. Subsequent plans saw a lesser role for the public sector - and several public sector enterprises saw disinvestments. However, these were much more calibrated than the Russian
Let smart gadgets make kids smart ANIL K RAJVANSHI
behaviour for making more money like stealing cell phones and camera in There is a general refrain of parents that some places and be a prey of pedophiles their children are spending too much and prostitution gangs. time playing with their smart phones Too often parents give their by chatting, smsing or being on social children smart phones and iPads or media. Besides neglecting their studies deposit them in front of a TV when they the parents contend that the children are toddlers. Part of the reason is that are being exposed to bad influence by giving such toys parents feel that the from the webosphere. All of this child will not bother them since has happened in the last 10-15 he/she will be entertained and years and is being fuelled by the immersed in playing with the availability of communication toy. But by exposing the children technology like smart phones to such tools at a very early age and the Internet. the parents are playing with fire Communication technology since there is no mechanism to which includes smart phones, provide discipline in its use. It Internet, etc. has powerful hold does not mean that we should on children’s brains. Their brains THINK not expose children to modern at young age have the maximum technology. Technology begets power which means that they require technology. Without being exposed to tremendous amounts of inputs and technology, children’s imagination will information to wire different neural not be fired. pathways. The formation of various I became an engineer because I was neural pathways helps in satisfying exposed as a child to steam engines the desire and needs. An interactive and the power of steam instilled in technology like smart phones, ipads me the desire to be involved with the and Internet allows instant gratification technology and getting engineering and hence is very addictive. education was the first step. All great Instant gratification also fuels the feats of science and technology have greed impulse and with no discipline resulted from people who as children to control it is the genesis of greed were inspired by some aspect of gadgets. exhibited in adulthood. This greed With today’s toys like Internet and impulse has unfortunately resulted in smart phones, which provide instant young children exhibiting unsavoury information and feedback, the result
is that curiosity and the desire to think deeply on a problem is lost. This is the reason why children today do not apply themselves very much in solving problems or creating new inventions. Also with such interactive technologies children seemed to be losing an ability to daydream. Daydreaming is a very powerful mechanism for development of imagination and helps in sharpening the brain. The biggest challenge for parents and teachers is how to teach children the discipline of using communication technology. There are already some interesting experiments being done in US where as a part of maker movement children use smart phones and Internet to design projects which they can fabricate using 3-D printing technology. If hands-on projects can be planned and made using the communication technology then children can be weaned away from chatting and smsing. Similarly, another interesting project is “School in the cloud” which allows the children to use the internet to learn from experts anywhere in the world. Kamala Nimbkar Bal Bhavan a school in Phaltan is one such school which is doing this unique experiment. © Anil K Rajvanshi anilrajvanshi@gmail.com
economy that was seen as a prime reason for the 1998 crisis in the Russian economy. Subsequently, in India the role of the Planning Commission had been on the decline, amid the benefits people saw in a free market economy post the market reforms. It is in view of this historical evolution that prime minister Narendra Modi had scrapped the Planning Commission, the announcement being made during his maiden Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014. The fi rst day of 2015 witnessed the birth of the NITI Aayog. While some believe it is a cosmetic exercise, the fact that planning has been removed from the name suggests that the focus in the future will be on markets rather than governmental control. The role of a think tank also seems to be more in tune with the idea of indicative planning rather than central planning with massive governmental resource allocations. The spirit of cooperative federalism is also a good starting point for building stronger states - and in turn, a stronger India. While all the points that are mentioned in the cabinet resolution look appealing at fi rst glance, it will be very interesting to see the actual functioning and implementation of the NITI Aayog. The Aayog’s functioning could make or break the economic development of India in the future. (The article is co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of Thinkers. The views expressed are personal. Email at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and tweets @kautiliya)
Limericks of the week BY C RAVINDRANATH
AAP gives the jitters and BJP has bitters Only one boat Is going to float The rest can be quitters It is not with gladness But with great sadness I get to hear That time is near For another cricket madness. The AAP image of ‘holier than’ Is now tarnished by Malyan He may get shoes Thrown at his booze For which he may not have a plan
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
With selections from The New York Times
PUNE
“China is opposed to any nation or government using the Tibet issue to interfere in China’s domestic affairs, and opposed to any country’s leader meeting with the Dalai Lama in any manner.” — Hong Lei, spokesman, Chinese foreign ministry
Why Aussies are everyone’s favourites? P 15
Book on Congress chief by Spanish author Javier Moro, throws fresh light on the life of Sonia Gandhi
Bharatiya Janata Party. And onceubiquitous news about the Congress Party, which was in power for 10 years, has largely receded to newspaper’s insides pages, when it appears at all. With the switch in power, Pramod Kapoor, who heads Roli Books, the By NIDA NAJAR Indian publisher of “The Red Sari,” said he had felt a change in atmosphere. He NEW DELHI: Five years ago, the said the Congress Party’s foot soldiers release in India of ‘The Red Sari’, about were “quieter, and softer” than before, the president of the then-governing and friends no longer approached him Indian National Congress Party, Sonia to warn him that the party was unhappy Gandhi, was unthinkable. Gandhi about the book, as they had years before. was considered by some Kapoor called the de facto prime Moro, the author, to see minister of the country, if he might be ready to and her loyalists were have the book printed incensed by the book’s in India, and Moro contents, which they agreed. The book first said were riddled with raised hackles in part lies. They burned effigies because it belongs to of its Spanish author, an indistinct genre Javier Moro, in Delhi’s blending reporting with streets, and, according imagined conversations to the Spanish publisher, between Gandhi lawyers representing and her family and the Gandhi family advisers. Moro calls it a - Pramod Kapoor threatened a lawsuit. “dramatised biography.” Amid the uproar, But Elena Ramírez, the author decided the director of Seix against publishing in India. But in Barral, the imprint of the BarcelonaJanuary, nearly five years and one based Grupo Planeta that published political upheaval later, the 429-page the book in Spain in 2008, said the book that spans Gandhi’s life - from Congress Party’s objections went her birth in a small town near Turin, deeper, with party lawyers particularly Italy, to her marriage into an Indian objecting to portions of the book that political dynasty and her ascent as detailed Gandhi’s modest background. the Congress Party matriarch - was “She grew up in a very little town quietly released in India. Although in Italy where there were goats, and there was an initial flurry of press, the her father was working in the country, publication was met mostly with public and they were very humble,” Ramírez silence from Congress Party backers, said. “They told us that was completely the latest indicator of how much, and offensive.” Moro said that the Congress how quickly, the political climate in the Party objected to the book because, in capital has changed since the Congress a country where her foreign birth was Party took a drubbing in national a political liability, it delineated her elections last spring. Italian origins. The images of Gandhi, clad in a sari, that once dominated the capital A leader, who refused to have now been replaced by posters of be the PM prime minister Narendra Modi of the During the years when Congress
Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
Sonia Gandhi and her ‘dramatised biography’
“I would have loved to publish it when Congress was in power.”
(File photo) Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi with his mother and Congress Party president, Sonia Gandhi, in Sultanpur
was in power, Gandhi was a figure of reverence, respectfully referred to as simply “Madam” and shaded from public scrutiny. She spearheaded the party’s election comeback in 2004 and then declined to become the prime minister of the country, though many
believe she exercised considerable power over Manmohan Singh, who governed the country for a decade. She is also a deeply private figure, long considered off-limits by her own party. When she left the country for treatment of an ailment in 2011,
Some scientists remain skeptical that the examples of cross-species relations offer much more to science than a hefty dose of cuteness By ERICA GOODE A goat frolics with a baby rhinoceros. A pig nestles up to a house cat. A rat snake makes nice with the dwarf hamster originally intended as its lunch. Few things seem to capture the public imagination more reliably than friendly interactions between different species. Videos of unlikely animal pairs romping or snuggling have become so common that they are piquing the interest of some scientists, who say they invite more systematic study. Among other things, researchers say, the alliances could add to an understanding of how species communicate, what propels certain animals to connect across species lines and the degree to which some animals can adopt the behaviors of other species. “There’s no question that studying these relationships can give you some insight into the factors that go into normal relationships,” said Gordon Burghardt, a professor in the departments of psychology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Tennessee, who added that one video he liked to show students was of a small and persistent tortoise tussling over a ball with a Jack Russell terrier. Biologists have described relationships formed to achieve a specific goal, like the cooperative hunting between groupers and moray eels. And in the mid-1900s, Konrad Lorenz and other ethologists demonstrated that during critical periods after birth, certain birds and other animals would follow the first moving object they saw, whether animal, human or machine, a phenomenon known as imprinting. Yet until recently, any suggestion that interspecies relationships might be based simply on companionship would probably have been met with derision, dismissed as Pixar-like anthropomorphism. That has
Sandy Huffaker/The New York Times
Learning from animal friendships
Ruuxa the cheetah chases Raina, a rhodesian ridgeback dog at an enclosure at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, California
changed as research has gradually eroded some boundaries between homo sapiens and other animals. Other species, it turns out, share abilities once considered exclusive to humans, including some emotions, tool use, counting, certain aspects of language and even a moral sense. To be sure, some scientists remain skeptical that the examples of crossspecies relations offer much more to science than a hefty dose of cuteness. “There are so many questions,” said Barbara Smuts, a primate researcher at the University of Michigan who in 1985 shocked some of her colleagues by applying the word “friendship” to describe bonds between female baboons. “We know this is happening between all sorts of species. I think eventually the scientific community will catch up.” In the meantime, there is no shortage of stories about animals that have reached out across species barriers, some supplied by researchers like Smuts, who described watching her dog, Safi, an 80-pound German shepherd mix, forge a friendship with a donkey named Wister on a ranch in Wyoming in the 1990s. At first, Wister charged and kicked at the dog, recognising her as a potential threat. But gradually, Safi coaxed Wister to interact,
Even in captivity, however, sustained bonds evoke interesting observations
performing repeated play bows and running up and down along the fence of the corral where the donkey was penned. Eventually, as Smuts wrote in a 2001 essay, “Each dawn, after being released from his corral, Wister would stand outside our door and bray until I let Safi out, and then they would play and wander together for hours.” The dog taught the donkey to pick up a stick and carry it in its mouth, although, Smuts said, “he looked like he didn’t quite know why he was walking around with a stick in his mouth.” Even in captivity, however, sustained bonds evoke interesting observations. Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, said examples that involve animals raised together from a young age illustrate the openness present in many species for some time after birth. “It shows that young animals are really open doors,” said Bekoff, who has long studied animal emotions. That certainly appears to be the case at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, where since 1981 trainers have been pairing cheetahs with dogs at an early age. The dogs have a socialising effect on the skittish cats, the zoo has found, allowing trainers to take the cheetahs to public events as “ambassador animals.” Janet Rose-Hinostroza, an animal trainer in charge of cats at Safari Park, said that a particular canine personality type is needed to make such relationships work. © 2015 New York Times News Service
the circumstances were shrouded in secrecy, and even her detractors would not pry. When she declined the prime ministership in 2004, hundreds of Congress Party rank-and-file members swarmed her house, some signing pleas in blood, others threatening suicide.
the tug of war over the book In a recent interview, Abhishek Singhvi, a lawyer and Congress Party spokesman whom Moro said led the charge against the widespread release of the book, declined to say much about what he objected to although he did say that the work was largely fictional, a point he believed Moro did not make clear enough. “He diminishes Indian democracy and the world’s most vibrant court system by insinuating that the Congress blocked his book,” Singhvi said in a telephone interview. When asked if the party had threatened suit at the time, Singhvi said, “We said we reserve our rights whether we were aggrieved.” For his part, Moro acknowledged that part of the reason he waited to publish in India was because he wanted an English edition to come out in the West, which represents a bigger market than India. But he also said the party had made it too difficult for him to publish the book in India earlier, and that the tug of war over the book delayed the English language edition. “They even sent messages to my publishers in Europe, saying they were going to ask for the withdrawal of the book from bookstores,” he said. “Singhvi was very successful in the strategy of scaring away all Englishlanguage publishers.” Ramírez confirmed that Singhvi had made many demands, but the only one the publisher met was for a disclaimer in the book, noting that it was unauthorized by the Gandhi family. For Kapoor, the Indian publisher, the delayed release of the book in India had its own drawbacks. “I would have loved to publish it when Congress was in power,” he said. “More than now, because when they’re in power, more people want to read about them. We would have sold more copies.” © 2015 New York Times News Service
Taliban justice gains favour in Afghanistan
Many Afghans think that the militants’ quick and tradition-rooted rulings are their best hope for justice by AZAM AHMED KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: Matiullah Khan and Muhammad Aywaz were each dug in, their property dispute in southern Afghanistan at an impasse. Despite paying more than $1,000 apiece in lawyer fees, they found no resolution in the government’s court system. The tribal courts, informal networks of elders that most rural Afghans rely on, had also come up short. So the two men did what a growing number of Afghans do these days when there is no other recourse: They turned to the Taliban. Within a few days, their problem was resolved - no bribes or fees necessary. “He would have kept my house for himself if it wasn’t for the Taliban,” said Khan, a resident of Kandahar City who accused Aywaz of commandeering his home. “They were quick and fair.” Frustrated by Western-inspired legal codes and a government court system widely seen as corrupt, many Afghans think that the militants’ quick and tradition-rooted rulings are their best hope for justice. In the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Chaman, havens for exiled Taliban figures, local residents describe long lines of Afghans waiting to see judges. “You won’t find the same number of people in the Afghan courts as you do in the Taliban courts,” said Hajji Khudai Noor, a Kandahar resident who recently settled a land dispute through the Taliban in Quetta. “There are hundreds of people waiting for justice there.” Western officials have long considered a fair and respected justice system to be central to quelling the insurgency, in an acknowledgment that the Taliban’s appeal had long been rooted in its use of traditional rural justice codes. But after the official end of the international military mission and more than $1 billion in development aid to build up Afghanistan’s court system, it stands largely discredited and ridiculed by everyday Afghans. Countless training programmes funded by Western allies for lawyers and judges have become bywords for waste. Laws suited to Western-style
democracies have populated the books. “The problem is we spent money on what we wanted to see as opposed to thinking about what Afghans wanted to see,” said Noah Coburn, a political anthropologist at Bennington College. Recognising that informal tribal law would remain the choice for most Afghans, the United States in recent years began spending money to support those local councils and connect them more publicly with the government. But a review by an independent monitoring organisation found that instead of bolstering the government’s image, the effort mostly reinforced the primacy of the informal courts - of which Taliban justice could be considered a radical extension, wielding a mix of Pashtun tradition and extreme interpretations of Islamic law. Now, President Ashraf Ghani has made cleaning up the judiciary one of his first pledges in office, but that will be a daunting task. According to a poll released by Gallup in October, just 25 per cent of Afghans expressed confidence in the nation’s judicial system. The Taliban have seized on this discontent. In some areas, they have set up mobile courts to reach villages outside their zones of influence. They hold hearings two days a week in the southern borderlands, requiring plaintiffs to produce evidence and witnesses. In Kunar, Taliban legal experts embed with militant commanders to provide services to locals and the fighters. While few Afghans recall the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001 with any fondness, the lack of corruption in justice then was seen by some as a strong suit. Bribes were uncommon. The power of litigants and their extended clans mattered less. The implementation of Islamic law, or at least the rural Afghan version of it, was standard. But the brutality at the heart of Taliban justice has not been forgotten. Mass public executions were common. Minor offenses, like cutting beards short or listening to music, often brought fierce beatings as punishment. Yet the government system still compares unfavorably in the eyes of many Afghans.
But the brutality at the heart of Taliban justice has not been forgotten
© 2015 New York Times News Service
MONEY MATT ER S
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
“There was a problem with MDGs as they had aggregate indicators and they did not have gender and income segregation.” - Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI)
Signpost Sensex gains 72 points A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Thursday was trading 71.98 points or 0.25 per cent up as capital goods stocks surged. Good buying was observed in capital goods and IT sectors. Selling pressure was seen in oil and gas sector. The Sensex has touched a high of 28,960.37 points and a low of 28,824.88 points in the trade so far. The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also was trading 12.80 points or 0.15 per cent up at 8,736.50 points.
RBI sets up committees The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced two four-member teams as the external advisory committees (EAC) for small finance banks and payments banks. In a statement, the RBI said the EAC for the small finance banks will be headed by former RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat. The EAC for the payments banks will be headed by Nachiket M. Mor, director of the Central Board of RBI. According to RBI, 72 applications have been received for setting up small finance banks and 41 applications for payments banks.
7 per cent yearly growth for economy Given the growth-inflation conundrum with the union budget due later this month, minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha said the government wants to put the economy on sustainable non-inflationary growth trajectory of over 7 per cent. The GDP estimates under the old method was 4.7 per cent. The base year of national accounts was last revised in January 2010. As a result, the growth rate for 2012-13 has been changed to 5.1 per cent under revised norms as against 4.5 per cent estimated under the old values.
“Everey bank has to report uspicious activities to RBI. If anyone is complaining that this is all hawala money, then the bank has to tell us what has happened.” – Meera Sanyal, Aam Admi Party leader
Borrowers, the bank is always right! Banks can classify defaulters based on the RBI guidelines
obligations or else he would slip into the category of a wilful defaulter.
PRACHI NARAYAN AND ABHIRUP GHOSH The RBI guidelines on defaulters now allow banks to classify any defaulting borrower as non-cooperative and then a wilful defaulter With sweeping regulations being made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on recovery of loans and nonperforming assets (NPAs), the new mantra now seems to be “the Bank is always right”. Gone are the days of prioritising the interest of the customers. Now a borrower will have to obey to what his banker says else his fate is in the hands of the bank. The RBI and its various guidelines has compartmentalised the hall of shame for the defaulting borrowers of the banks. The compartments are – defaulting borrower, a non-cooperative borrower and lastly there is wilful defaulter. Each of these compartments have their own set of norms and own set of surprises. When an entity or an individual borrows money from the bank and defaults in repaying the borrowed money, banks classify them as defaulters and initiate actions for recovery of loans. The special enactments empowering banks and financial institutions to proceed against the Defaulters are Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions, 1990 (RDDBFI) and Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI). These were put in place to facilitate and ease recovery of loans due to banks, one with the help of adjudicating authorities and one a suo moto procedure which may later involve an adjudicating authority. These, however suffer from their own deficiencies - sometimes due to arbitrariness of the banks and at other times due to unreasonableness on part of the borrowers. Further, the remedies envisaged are co-existing remedies, meaning banks can resort to both at the same time. However, even with co-existing remedies in hand and
delayed adjudication, these systems have not been very satisfactory with its performance. NON COOPERATIVE BORROWER The rising NPA levels and the blockage of public funds have forced the regulator to come up with more stringent guidelines. RBI came up with another classification of “noncooperative borrower” vide its notification dated December 22, 2014. A non-cooperative borrower is defined in the following manner – A non-cooperative borrower is one who does not engage constructively with his lender by defaulting in timely repayment of dues while having ability to pay, thwarting lenders’ efforts for recovery of their dues by not providing necessary information sought, denying access to assets financed /
collateral securities, obstructing sale of securities, etc. In effect, a noncooperative borrower is a defaulter who deliberately stone walls legitimate efforts of the lenders to recover their dues. The definition encompasses all borrowers within its scope and leaves very little room for the borrower to raise voice or stand for his rights. Any legitimate attempt to stand up for its rights or any attempt of not to succumb to the demands of the banks, would lead to a borrower being classified as noncooperative borrower. The guidelines further provide that banks shall put in place a “transparent” system for identifying and classifying defaulting borrower as a non-cooperative. A working committee shall be set up for the said process. The executive directors and other senior members of such banks would be the members of
The RBI guidelines have defaulted the borrowers at banks
the committee. Such a committee shall issue a show cause notice calling upon the borrower to explain why he should not be declared as non cooperative. An opportunity of hearing shall be giving only if the committee deems necessary. The decision of the committee shall be reviewed by another Review Committee, which again shall consist of directors of the bank. Th is “transparent” mechanism is not quite transparent: • The bank constitutes a committee of its own members to classify a borrower as non-cooperative. Their own members would decide a wrong/ default caused to the bank. So essentially the bank becomes a judge of its own cause. • Opportunity of personal hearing is at the discretion of the bank as opposed to the natural justice principle which warrants a mandatory opportunity hearing. • There is no scope of appeal against the decision of the bank. The need to classify a borrower as non-cooperative is to pressure the borrower to meet its repayment
WILFUL DEFAULTER The RBI on 7 January 2015 further came up with revisions in its wilful defaulter guidelines. The revisions not only declare a borrower as “wilful” but also declare him a defaulter for life time. The revised guidelines prescribe for a “transparent mechanism” for declaration of a borrower as wilful defaulter. The mechanism is almost the same as prescribed for classification of non-cooperative borrowers. Sadly, this mechanism too is not transparent in essence for above mentioned reasons as they still do not warrant a mandatory personal hearing and have no scope of appeal or judicial review or appropriate checks and balances. Further, the penal measures do not provide for a reasonable restriction on the wilful defaulter. To add more to the woes, SEBI has also proposed to completely bar the wilful defaulters from any access to equity and debt markets. The scenario is such that a subordinated legislation devoid of natural justice will now be the rule of law with respect to wilful defaulters. Say for example, if the bank resorts to an action under section 13(4) of SARFAESI, appealing against it would mean that it will end up being the non – cooperative borrower. Th is, not only empowers the bank to decide upon the fate of the borrower, but also defying the borrowers right to appeal. Once classified as non-cooperative, it is just a matter of time to classify him as wilful defaulter; and once a wilful defaulter what awaits is banishment of life time - completely choking all avenues of financial assistance. So essentially, it boils down to the fact that the bank is always right and the borrowers have nothing much left in equity and justice to look upon. Time alone shall tell the fate of the future lending and borrowing in pretext of such regulations. Borrowers have to be cautious before they take any bank finance and should keep it mind that the bank shall always be right during the course of the assistance. (Prachi Narayan and Abhirup Ghosh are researchers at Vinod Kothari & Co)
Promise, performance and De-listing outpaces listings public policy MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM
Buyers should take utmost care because post-contract agonising is futile BY BAPOO MALCOLM In a perfect world, two plus two always equals four. Yet, in everyday lives, two plus two can be three plus one, or six minus two, or any of a myriad other combinations. Some judicial decisions, besides giving finality to a dispute, often, focus attention on little-known, or variedly understood, facts. Th is exercise helps in demystifying and, indeed, defogging of the law. It also adds another building block to the edifice of interpretation. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled in an interesting case that could affect any of us. It decided in the matter of the Zoroastrian Cooperative Housing Society Ltd V/s District Registrar of Cooperative Societies (Urban). Th is case involved cooperative housing societies (CHS) and their members’ rights. The ever-shifting limits of ‘public policy’ also came under scrutiny. Like the never-ending debate on what constitutes ‘offensive’ material, ‘public policy’ was again under the scanner. The concerned member had used the armour of ‘public interest’ to protect his contention. Wisely, the Court decided to be “… cautious in trying to ride the unruly horse of public policy.” The CHS was formed for ‘Parsis only’ and the managing committee had apprehensions that one member may alienate his share to a non-Parsi. The CHS had already litigated, to prevent such an occurrence, but had lost and
appealed to the Supreme Court. Its contention was that the member had voluntarily become a member of the CHS and, therefore, he was duty-bound to follow the rules governing it. The Supreme Court differed. It held that if a person enters into a contract, knowingly, willingly and of free choice, he must adhere to the rules of the CHS he has sought to join and which has accepted him. The Court “considered it a fallacy on the part of the member to challenge his voluntary surrender” at a later date. In other words, the member could not have the cake and eat it too. The lesson here is that it becomes imperative for a prospective buyer to proceed with utmost care because post-contract agonising is futile. Study of specific bye-laws is a must. When one deals with property worth a few lakh rupees, professional advice, clear thinking and lack of haste will prove immensely valuable. To buy in haste and repent at leisure is not an option. The Court has specifically held that “it is open to that community to preserve its culture and way of life” and, therefore, the issue here was neither one of Parsis nor of Bohris nor of Christians. Neither was it one of orthodoxy nor one of reformism. In the context of the judgement, the issue was simply one of the ‘law of the land’. One that would apply, notwithstanding the nature of the legal entity, be it a cooperative society or a limited company. It was purely one of a contract that had to be performed. To sum up, one must understand that similar agreements and covenants imposing restrictions will stand the test. Many communities have taken advantage of concessional rates for land, to build houses and colonies for their members. The covenants between the authorities and the community members, especially the minority communities like the Parsis, Bohris and Christians, have been challenged periodically. With this judgement from the apex Court, such covenants will hold and, therefore, purchasers need to walk in with their eyes wide open. (Bapoo Malcolm is a practising lawyer in Mumbai. Please email your comments to mail@moneylife.in)
SEBI and ministry of finance remain in their own world, as an important indicator of the spread of equity cult sputters If the disinvestment of shares in public sector undertakings (PSUs) is a part of the Modi government’s grand plan to bridge the fiscal deficit over the next few years, it needs to pay attention to markets.
The numbers are worrying. Prime database has pointed out that only 15 companies have been listed on the bourses since 2012, while nearly thrice the number (42) have de-listed. Essentially, any company that can access private money does not want to go through the rigour of costly compliance. Th is is bad news for ordinary retail investors who, ever since the FERA dilution of the 1970s and the Reliance-led equity
cult of the 1980s, had gained in initial public offerings (IPOs) of blue-chip companies. The past 25 years have been spent on making impractical rules rather than making the markets free from dubious corporate behaviour and stock manipulation. Even after Narendra Modi took charge as prime minister, the primary market remains dead and the average, long-term, retail investor remains out in the cold. @moneylife.in
Mutual fund investors increase The rise in retail folios is mainly due to addition in the equity segment, which was supported by sharp rally in the stock markets MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM Driven by addition in equity fund folios, mutual fund houses have registered a surge of more than seven lakh investor accounts during the fi rst nine months of FY2014-15.The addition comes after fund houses lost about 33 lakh investor accounts in the entire last fiscal year. Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts, though one investor can have multiple folios. According to the data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on total investor accounts with 45 fund houses, the number of folios rose to 4.03 crore at the end of 31 December 2014 from 3.95 crore duing same period last year, a gain of 7.28 lakh folios.
Of the 4.03 crore folios, retail added. investors accounted for 3.86 crore The number of mutual investor folios, followed by HNI accounts accounts had been falling since March (13.22 lakh) and institutional investors 2009 at about 2per cent a year. Since (3.34 lakh).Industry officials say the March 2014, however, there is a arrest rise in retail folios is mainly due to in the rate of decline, AMFI noted. addition in the equity The equity category segment, which was saw an addition of more supported by sharp rally than 12 lakh folios to in the stock markets. 3.03 crore investors at “ I n c r e a s e d the end of 31 December participation by retail 2014.The segment saw investors in equities fi rst rise in folios in has undoubtedly led April after reporting to increase in folio a consistent decline in numbers. The industry’s investors account in last focus on investor four years. awareness seems to have The addition in contributed to further equity folios is in line growth, in terms of new with BSE’s benchmark - Puneet Chaddha investors coming in,” Sensex surging by 23 HSBC Global Asset per cent in the fi rst nine Management India months of the current CEO Puneet Chaddha said. financial year. Besides, nearly 80 per cent of the “The key contributing factors seem investor accounts are in equity oriented to be an uptick in sentiments and schemes, while 17 per cent of the expectations of an investor friendly accounts are in debt related schemes. and reform-oriented government @moneylife.in delivering on policy changes,” he
“The industry’s focus on investor awareness has attracted new ones.”
SPORTS “At such a young age Virat Kohli has twice the number of ODI centuries than in Tests and he is such a confident player in limited-overs. In my eyes he has already become a batting legend.” — West Indies legend Vivian Richards
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
“I am disappointed at not being a part of the team for this World Cup. We are the defending champions and it is a proud feeling. I definitely would have wanted to be a part of this tournament.” — Indian opener Gautam Gambhir
Why Aussies are everyone’s favourites?
Australia are used to being favourites for the World Cup. The four-time champions are the most successful side in the tournament and are the No. 1 ODI team in the world Watching Australia cruise to victory in the ODI tri-series against India and England showed why they are again the front-runners. It is no surprise every bookmarker has them has favourites. The reasons for believing they will claim victory in the final in Melbourne on 29 March are many. First, there is home advantage. Australia haven’t lost an ODI series on home soil since 2009. Th is summer they have beaten South Africa 4-1 and easily dismantled England and India. They only time they didn’t win a game in the tri-Series was when it rained all day in Adelaide. Australia will play all of their matches - barring the game against New Zealand – at home, and, depending on results, could play all their knockout matches at home too. Second, Australia’s batting line-up thrives in familiar conditions. David Warner is the best opener in the world right now, and on Australian pitches he is brutal. All three of his ODI hundreds have come at home, including one against England just three innings ago. Aaron Finch is the perfect attacking foil. While
he does not have the class of Warner, he has an excellent ODI record. Steve Smith is the form batsmen in the world right now. The only way he looks like getting out is when he gets overconfident. He might be moving around in his crease more than is recommended, but it is really, really working. After an Australian summer that saw him score 1249 international runs at an average of 104 with six centuries, he has the opportunity to stamp his authority on the World Cup. Glenn Maxwell shaved his beard and found some form in the tri-Series final. While his stroke play can be exasperating for fans and coaches alike, he is one of the most exciting players in the world. At times he has gone too hard, too early but in the final in Perth he didn’t play an extravagant shot until he was past 60. Admittedly, George Bailey has struggled for form in recent matches, but is an excellent leader and a brilliant finisher in one day cricket. If Bailey cannot find his form, Michael Clarke is
waiting in the wings. While there are whispers that his relationship with the team and Cricket Australia is strained, it seems that, in public at least, he will be in the World Cup squad as long as he is fit. Clarke returned to grade cricket this weekend and made a half century. The latest news is that he will be playing a limited role in the warm-up match agains Bangladesh and the expectation is that he will be fit by the 21st February deadline set by the selectors. The bigger worry is the injury to James Faulkner. There are few cricketers as capable of wreaking havoc with the bat in the death overs as Faulkner. His 50 off 24 balls against England is a prime example of the damage he can do. Faulkner also holds the record for the fastest ODI hundred by an Australian, so he can bat big too. Th ird, the bowling offers just as many reasons to be excited as the batting. Mitchell Johnson eviscerated England’s top-order on his return from a month off. Josh Hazlewood is averaging 22 with the ball in ODIs. Mitchell Starc’s six wickets
Australia will certainly have a home advantage as they haven’t lost an ODI series on home soil since 2009
Ticket sales heading for million mark DUBAI: Cricket fans from around the world are rushing to get their tickets and with just nine days before the start of the ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, ticket sales is heading for the million mark. The 14 ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 venues around Australia and New Zealand are fi lling up for what promises to be the most intense competition ever for the silver and gold trophy. According to the ICC, more than 750,000 tickets have been sold to date, well on the way to a predicted total attendance of more than
a million. While there are plenty of good seats left to great matches, organisers are urging fans to get their tickets now to avoid disappointment. ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: “The ICC Cricket World Cup is on track to be the most open and competitive tournament ever. I’d urge everyone who can to get out and support their team.” Australia and New Zealand last hosted the event 23 years ago and the lure of some of the world’s best cricket grounds. — IANS
PLAYER’S CORNER BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Sayuri Garud had won several local level tournaments in different age groups. However, an AITA title had eluded her till last week, when she defeated top seed Mallika Marathe 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the PMDTA Trophy under-14 AITA Talent Series Ranking Tennis tournament, at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex, in Balewadi. Sayuri defeated Tanaya Shah 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinal to reach the finals where she faced the higher ranked Mallika. “I faced tough opponents in the semi finals and final, but overall the tournament turned out to be surprisingly easy. I am happy with my performance, because I was consistent,” she said. About her preparations for the tournament, she said, “Graduating from under-12 to under-14 is a big change. The opponents are stron-
Sayuri Garud
ger and far more accurate. You need to gauge your opponents well and change and adapt your game accordingly. I worked a lot on my serve and volley, and my forehand and backhand as well. Practice can be boring, but I enjoy the hard work, which eventually paid off in this tournament. “I realise that I need to work on my mental strength. In such big tournaments, you need to stay calm and composed, while facing different kinds of opponents. Earlier it was just for fun, but now I am more focused and I have adopted a more aggressive approach,” she said. Sayuri was inspired to take up a tennis racquet when she was six, her inspiration being current Grand slam queen Serena Williams. “I was fascinated by Serena. Her powerful game, and watching her win one Grand Slam after another inspired me to take up tennis,” she said. Sayuri started her training with Ravindra Pandey at Club Solaris, Kothrud. She has also practiced at the PYC, Deccan Gymkhana and Law College, but eventually returned to Club Solaris. “For me, Pandey sir is the best. He gives equal attention to all the players, which has had a major role influence on my career. The other academies too have helped me gain experience,” said Sayuri, a standard VIII student of St Helena’s School, Pune. About her support structure, she said, “My family is very supportive. They have confidence in me. Even if I lose in the first or second round, they keep encouraging me. However, they also want me to focus on my studies and expect me to do well in both.” Sayuri’s best ever performance was in 2014, when she reached the semi-finals of the under-18 tournament at PYC Gymkhana. “It was my best performance so far. My opponents were tough and beating them boosted my confidence. I realised that there is nothing to fear. It’s all mental and you just need to keep the ball in the court and focus on accuracy,” she said. This experience has helped Sayuri win her maiden under-14 title, and she is now aiming higher. “I haven’t set any targets, but I want to raise my level and try to improve my ranking at the national level,” she said.
ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
against India in the second match of the tri-Series were an excellent example of what he can produce. There are some areas of concern, primarily in the spin bowling department. While the battery of quick men at Australia’s disposal are second to none, Xavier Doherty is the front line spinner in the squad and he isn’t getting a game. Instead, the better than part-time, but not full-time, bowling of Glenn Maxwell has been preferred. In the sub-continent that would be an issue,
but in Australia where off spinners have often struggled, Australia can get away with it. After all, Maxwell took 4 for 46 in the tri-series final. New Zealand are the other team who have the potential to topple Australa. They also have home advantage, possibly all the way to the final, and are a team on the rise. Their seam bowling is perfect for conditions in New Zealand. Brendon McCullum is an outstanding captain and a brilliant opener. Kane Williamson is on
the fast track to greatness. New Zealand also tends to exceed expectations in World Cups. Still, Australia should win this World Cup. Their batting is too good, their bowling is too explosive. They are confident and that self-belief is justified. It may not be as easy as it was 2003 and 2007, but the 2015 ICC World Cup is Australia’s to lose. (By Special arrangement with Firstpost)
Dhoni’s men can get inspired by Leander Paes
Nothing seems to be going right for the team with the World Cup less than two weeks away BY VETURI SRIVATSA Late last week, three things kept Indian sport in focus. The cricket team failed to make the tri-series final to end a dreadful tour of Australia, a Dutchman has been named the new national hockey coach and Leander Paes partnered another Martina (Hingis) to win his seventh Grand Slam title in mixed doubles to add to his eight in the men’s doubles. If nothing appears beyond Paes even at 41, nothing seems to be going right for the cricket team with the World Cup less than two weeks away. The appointment of Paul van Ass, 54, as chief coach of the hockey team is a bolt from the blue with no media leaks or speculation ahead of the appointment. Paes is so exciting to watch on a tennis court giving expression to his passion for the game. He has yet again proved that he can win a major with any partner, Hingis this time in Melbourne. Exactly ten years ago he had played with the other Martina, the legendary Navratilova, who even waited for him to return to court after a life-threatening parasitic infection. Paes played with South African Raven Klassen at the Australian Open, his 99th partner in the men’s doubles, and Hingis was the 23rd in the mixed - an amazing record for a doubles specialist, who has been around for over a quarter of a century, playing over 40 weeks each year. The beauty is in the tennis philosophy of Paes and Hingis. He was confident that he could do well with her where as the Hingis thought he would be better off playing with another circuit regular. Maybe, that made both of them to put in that extra bit of effort as there was little doubt about their exceptional skills. How true is the strengths and weaknesses theory Paes has spoken of. Only two great exponents could plan it out so well to win without losing a set. That itself a remarkable thing in modern day doubles. The Indian cricket team can get inspired by Paes’s zeal and determination. They need not worry too much about some people writing their chances of defending the World Cup off after their disastrous tour Down Under. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his players know that World Cup is a totally different format and they can bounce back with the rub of the green going their way. Though the Indians would have liked a better preparation for the big event, they should be confident enough taking heart
from their status as the No.2 team in the rankings of the One-Day Internationals. They have a problem with the top order batting and may not be sure of their bowling composition what with the injuries to some of their key bowlers. In fact, their in-form opener Rohit Sharma did not play the last three games nursing a hamstring. Likewise pacer Ishant Sharma did not bowl flat out even in the nets but stayed with the team for over a month. Now it is being said he may not be fit for the tournament itself. Ravindra Jadeja is another bowler who is an iff y, though he bowled 9.5 overs when the day’s best bowler Stuart Binny bowled only eight. Obviously Dhoni was putting Jadeja through the ringer to test his fitness than worry about winning the match which they could have with a little imagination. Let the team settle their fitness problems before discussing their chances of making the semi-finals. Coming to the hockey development, none of the coaches in recent years left with any goodwill, some of them have literally been hounded out. At least two of them, Ric Charlesworth and Terry Walsh came with huge reputations, but the authorities just could not find a way to keep them. The one man who seemed to have learnt the ropes
IANS
BY PETER MILLER
IANS
It may not be as easy as it was in 2003 and 2007, but in 2015, World Cup is Australia’s
to stay put is High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, who also doubled up as coach at the Champions Trophy in Bhubaneshwar when Hockey India (HI) decided to sack Walsh. Oltmans’ hand can clearly be seen in the appointment of compatriot Van Ass, who was in-charge of the Netherlands team for four years before being relieved at the end of his four-year term last year. Another Dutch Hans Streeder and Australian Alexander Grey were the other two to be short-listed along with Van Ass. Walsh, who guided the team to win the Asian Games gold to make India the first team to directly qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics as continental champions, fell foul with HI strongman Narinder Batra by playing his cards wrong. It is to be seen how long the two new coaches can put up with the HI bosses who may not like the stated approach of Van Ass. — IANS
SPORTS
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2015
PUNE
“ Why is the Indian team being tested so late. You are testing the fitness of the players a day before the warm-ups begin and you are leaving things too late. This should have happened very early.” — Spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi
PUNE: Over 100 players will be action during the Syska LED Poona Club Premier League starting at their premises from Monday (February 9). The 12 franchisees include Manish Jain (Typhoons) , Manish Mehta (Sailors), Umesh Pillay (Harmony) , Gaurav Gadhoke (Jaguars), Ashish Khandelwal (BDO), Nitin Lunkad (Kangaroos) , Arav Vij (Quality Group Warriors), Chetan Ghuwalewala (Gemini Pirates), Ashwin Shah (Cougars), Niranjan Kirloskar (Destroyers), Suhas Mantri (Mantri Magicians) and Anil Adwani (Aristo’s). The event will be a nine –aside, with six overs per team. HP will award man of the series and man of the match prizes. The most expensive player is Siddhanth Kudale, bought by Gemini Pirates for Rs 7550.
Describe the experience of winning the national billiards champion title. It wasn’t easy. I faced one of the toughest and most experienced state players, Meenal Thakur, in the final. Eventually, I managed to record a win with a 4-1 scoreline, but Meenal played some dazzling shots. I am happy that I kept my nerve to seal the national title. The victory was even more special because I had to cope with a vision problem. What is the problem with your
eyesight, and how long have you been suffering from it? It started around mid-2014. Snooker and billiards are sports that demand pinpoint accuracy. During practice sessions, my father noticed that I was aiming a little to the left on the cue ball. On consulting an eye specialist, we discovered to our dismay that I was suffering from Keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease that causes blurred vision. The diagnosis was a big shock as it sounded like the end of my sports career. But, with the support of my family, I underwent several treatments and also availed advice from a number of eye specialists, who reassured us that my condition could be treated and rectified through surgery.
A full recovery isn’t guaranteed, but I am willing to take the risk. Meanwhile, I have experimented with my game, and I play by assumption on where the centre of the ball is. Of course, I’m still committed to practice and compete. What’s the secret of your success, in winning the national titles in both billiards and snooker? There is no secret as such. My father, who is a retired army colonel, has instilled in me the discipline and belief, to put in my 100 per cent in whatever I do. Accordingly, I have always set aside enough time to practice my game. Even during my hectic MBA schedule, I never skipped daily practice. I have always managed
Kumble to open cricket academy The former Indian captain feels providing cricket facilities at kids’ doorsteps is the best way to encourage them TGS News Service @TGSWeekly
Annual Subscription
`199
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
HE A RD . Fighting Parkinson’s with dance P2 ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
THE SAD STATE OF PUNE’S ‘ZERO STONE’
Help restore Pune’s Zero Stone
@TGSWeekly | PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5
PUNE, NOVEMBER 8, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com
Given its significance, this valuable part of the city’s heritage ought to be restored, fenced and beautified ABHAY VAIDYA @vaidya_abhay
EDIT PAGE
Guide for Dummies: It’s easy to grab headlines in India P 12
SPORTS
START-UP CITY
City players put up a good show P 16
Born to be a fashionista P9
Pune’s water situation improves NAGPUR
BUDAPEST
ALASKA
USA
WIKI COMMONS
Pune FC players during their practice session at Balewadi
showed a lot of dedication and discipline in these games,” said Coach Karim Bencherifa on the sidelines of a training session at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. Pune FC will be confident going into the game on Saturday after a thrilling Maha-Derby win over Mumbai FC last weekend. However, the task at hand won’t be an easy one against Mohun Bagan who too are unbeaten in the I-League. Moreover, the match on Saturday will be an exciting one for coach Karim Bencherifa as he takes on his former side for the first time at the Salt Lake stadium as a Pune FC coach. Speaking about the opponents, he added, “They are a good side and I rate them very highly. We have already faced Bagan twice this season. The game on Saturday will also be a tough match given that they will be playing at their home.” Pune FC and Mohun Bagan do have a fair idea about each other. While both these games ended 1-1, Pune FC have the upper hand given the fact that they won the first game in Bhutan on a penalty shootout. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5
PUNE, JULY 26, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com
PUNE’S PEOPLE WITH A PURPOSE
China connection P 16
China Calling P8
City dams need additional 10 TMC water to tide over crisis BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat
`2,200 cr project for water augmentation
The Zero Stone monument in Nagpur and other parts of the world
Rainfall in July has brought some reThe PMC’s Water Supply lief to the citizens of Pune and the civic Department has proposed a administration. However, to be able to `2,200 crore project to replace ensure regular water supply without the network of old, leaking and cuts in the coming weeks and months, and drainage Modiwater tweets the dams supplying water to Pune willPMdamaged BY GITESH SHELKE lines. A Draft Project Report (DPR) need to build up an additional 10 TMCin Japanese @gitesh_shelke is scheduled to be placed before (thousand million cubic feet of water) the City Improvement Committee storage. Primenext minister Narendra With 28-years-old Asif Shaikh as its week, BJP’s groupModi leaderon While the Khadakwasla dam hasThursday putGanesh out a series of told tweets in head, the Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal in PMC, Bidkar TGS. reached its storage capacity of 1.98Japanese and said that be as his friends Trust on MG Road is truly an inspiring project would financed TMC, the situation in the Panshet,from The Japan had him to talk to icon of communal harmony, as it through theasked Jawaharlal Nehru Varasgaon and Temghar dams wouldthe people of Urban JapanRenewal directly, Mission. he had prepares for Ganeshotsav with a range be crucial not just for Pune city butdoneNational so. Modi is scheduled to visit Jaof charitable activities every year. The project will drastically curtail also for smaller towns downstream likepan from 30 to September 3. Describing their youth group as “a waterAugust wastage. Daund and Indapur, which depend onIn a tweet in Japanese, he said he was truly cosmopolitan mandal”, Shaikh these dams for their water supply. Tovery “excited” about the visit that will and the mandal’s secretary Sheldon fulfi l this demand, a total of 20 TMCstrengthen the relationship between Fernandes spoke of water will be required, of which storagethe ministration tookIna another review oftweet the rain-what Ganeshotsav two countries. of 10 TMC has been achieved. fall andtowater storage status at thecelebrations mean addressed his Japanese counterThis was underlined by the officialspartKhadakwasla, Panshet, Shinzo Abe, Modi said Varasgaon he deeply andto them every year. of the Irrigation Department duringrespected Temghar dams which supply water to Abe’s leadership. First and a meeting convened at the civic headthe city. foremost, the trust quarters by mayor Chanchala Kodre The Khadakwasla dam has waterinvolves everyone on Thursday. Those present at this storage to itsHerald full capacity of 1.98 TMC.from the locality in case: meeting included municipal commis-National The irrigation department thereforethe festivities. sioner Vilas Deshmukh, city engineerCourt hearing decideddefers to release some water from this The mandal Prashant Waghmare, water supply dam into the Mutha river. The PMCcollects vargani chief V. G. Kulkarni, standing comalso decided to withdraw the alternate( v o l u n t a r y on Thursday fixed December mittee chairman Bapusaheb Karne andA court day water supply plan and release water contribution) from 9 as the next date of hearing in a case top party representatives. once a day from this dam. the neighbourhood and During the meeting the civic ad-against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Contd on p 10but does not spend her son and party vice president Rahul it entirely on decorations and the Gandhi and others over acquisition of immersion procession. “Instead, we the National Herald newspaper. provide meals to the poor for 10 days Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati and also undertake other charitable Manocha deferred the hearing after it activities,” Shaikh said. was apprised that the Delhi High Court This includes the distribution
Signposts
APSHINGE:
The great village of brave soldiers Two days from today, July 28, 2014, will mark the centenary of the First World War, also known as the Great War, that ushered in a new epoch in world politics. The history of that war is intertwined with a small, remote village in Satara district. TGS Special Report p13 This medallion was presented by the Queen of England after the First World War to the next of kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed in the war. Sepoy Khashaba Powar’s medallion has been placed by his family at their place of worship
Signposts
NEW DELHI:: The government has decided to set up four new central universities in the country, parliament was told early this week. “The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has decided to set up four new central universities, viz. one Central Tribal University each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one central university in Andhra Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar,” HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. At present, there are 40 central universities under the purview of the ministry.
Army chief pays tributes to Kargil War martyrs SRINAGAR: Indian Army chief after the wreath laying ceremony at the General Bikram Singh on Friday paid Kargil War Memorial in Drass town of tributes to the martyrs of 1999 Kargil Kargil district. War in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh The chief of the Indian Army said region on the occasion of 15th Vijay ceasefire violations by Pakistan have Diwas. been taking place regularly on the He said the army is alert and Line of Control (LoC) in the state, but has been deployed effectively on the assured that the army has been effectively borders to defend the integrity and the responding to those violations. sovereignty of the country. “They violate the ceasefire every “Let me assure you, the army is week and every month, but the army has deployed on the borders to defend the been taking effective steps to respond to PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com integrity and the sovereignty of the those,” he said. country,” General Singh told reporters Contd on p 10 I've always been a movie guy, movies have been my thing. I love movies, all kinds of movies. — Christopher Nolan
IANS
PUNE: Pune FC will aim to build on their impressive start to the 2015 I-League campaign when they face Mohun Bagan in a crucial Round-5 away encounter at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata today. The clash will be an important one for both sides for similar reasons. While a win will help top placed Pune FC (10 pts) strengthen their grip at the summit of the standings, a positive result for
hosts Mohun Bagan (6th, 4 pts) will also help them move up the table. Playing their first match in the City of Joy this season, the game will also be Pune FC’s third away fixture in the I-League and 17th overall away game since October. Moreover, having logged three consecutive wins after an opening day draw against Salgaocar FC, Pune FC will hope to extend their unbeaten run. “It was a pleasing performance from the players in the last few games. We have played some fantastic attacking football and I think the players have
SPORTS
EDUCATION & CAREER
India to have 4 new central universities
TGS News Service @TGSWeekly
@TGSWeekly | PAGES: 16+16 (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5
PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 | www.goldensparrow.com
WIKI COMMONS
A win will help top placed team strengthen their grip in the points table
`5
WIKI COMMONS
PFC take on Mohun Bagan today
for Credit Suisse in Hinjewadi and a large chunk of my salary goes into the expenses I incur while participating in the tournaments. However, Surendra Sanas, MD, Aeon Developers, happened to see me play at a tournament at Turf Club. He sponsored me for the World Championship at Egypt last year. His support and sponsorship was like a godsent for which I will be grateful forever. Such encouragement goes a long way in inspiring sportspersons to evolve further. I have proved that I have the necessary talent and dedication, and what I need most now, is appreciation, so that I can reach for my dream with even more zest and zeal. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
What are your future plans? I have several tournaments lined up, but before that, I need to undergo training with a foreign coach. However, that’s easier said than done as it involves significant financial investment. I work
WIKI COMMONS
advance levels.” The cricket academy will operate in association with the Gera housing project in Kharadi. “During our recent talent hunt in Karnataka, we observed that kids find
l Gold medallist in IBSF World women’s team snooker championship in 2013 l Won seven national titles in the juniors category while three in the senior billiards and snooker. l Represented India in the World Under-21 snooker championship at Goa in 2007, and became the youngest Indian to earn top-4 spot in the world. l Set a national record by bagging four titles (sub junior and junior billiards, sub junior and junior snooker) during national championship in 2008 l Chancellor’s gold medal during her MBA studies from Symbiosis International University. First rank in finance and best company project study award.
Invitation Price
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
PUNE: India’s former captain and legendary spinner Anil Kumble plans to set up his cricket academy in Pune, in the near future. At a press meet, Kumble said, “The basic idea is to encourage kids to go out and enjoy cricket. Once the project is complete, it will be open to all kids in the vicinity, and we will monitor their progress. Then we will categorise them into beginner, intermediate and
it difficult to manage both school and sports practice during the week. And unless you play and practice throughout the week, you don’t get better. Therefore, we decided to give the kids cricketing facilities at their doorstep, so that they can easily manage their practice and studies on weekdays,” Kumble said. About the features of the academy, he said, “This won’t be just for spinners. This will be a full-fledged cricket school. It will have experts for all disciplines, batting, bowling, wicketkeeping and fielding. There will be physios and trainers and we will also provide the kits. My team of coaches will monitor this academy. I realise that it’s not possible to have a full sixacre cricket ground in this area, but we will make the best use of space in this project.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Know about Arantxa Sanchis
to juggle between my studies and my career. There are no women players to practice with, so I had no option but to practice with men. This in turn, led to my participation in open (men’s) tournaments, and I happened to win quite a few. This boosted my confidence to no end, because in the open category the competition is cut-throat. That is where I developed an aggressive style of play that has stood me in good stead in women’s championships.
$250,000 fine. Shah was the president and CEO of SOHM and Costas, both based out of California. He was accused of paying kickbacks to an investment fund representative in exchange for buying stock in the two companies. The fund representative was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent working on an investigation into fraud in the market for penny stocks, the report said. Penny stocks are less heavily regulated than stocks that trade on major exchanges such as the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
students- to prepare for the winter. The mandal also runs a small library for the neighbourhood residents and children, says Shaikh, explaining that a lot of money can be saved if spent prudently on just decorations, sound systems and other such expenses. As a part of its activities, the mandal has rented out some space to a tea vendor and the rent is used for the Ganeshotsav celebrations. Ni ne te enyears-old Sheldon, a BBA student, helping others and doing something constructive for society brings lot of joy to everyone involved in the celebrations. Associated with this youth group since childhood, he says his fellow members hail from different castes, creed and religion. The Ashok Chakra Mitra Mandal close to Shivaji Market, Camp, is celebrating its golden jubilee this year and has a number of Muslims as its members, said Faiyaz Khan, one of Headed by Raghuvir Vanal, this
(IIM)-Shillong to emerge as creative leaders to bring about the required change in the country. “I want to see all of you as creative leaders to bring about the required change,” Kalam said, while delivering a lecture “Dimensions of National Development” at the prestigious B-school on Thursday. The “missile man”, as Kalam is also known due to his background in aerospace engineering and his role in India’s
indigenous missile development, is one of the visiting faculty members in IIMShillong. Kalam spoke about the challenges that India and the world were facing and emphasised the role of leadership to tackle these issues and develop possible solutions to ensure socio-economic development. He said the key requirement for achieving a distinctive profi le for the nation was by creating sustainable enterprise-driven models at the rural level. Kalam urged the students to emulate a development model to bring
Pune brands go pan India
PUNE’S PEOPLE PURPOSE
BY PRIYANKA NEW DELHI: India not only has the dubious distinction of having one of the worst road accident records in the world, but these are taking more and more young lives, particularly of school children. Road accidents have left nearly 70 children dead and many injured since the start of 2013, a NGO has said.
dents were killed and some 20 injured when their school bus was rammed by a speeding train at an unmanned rail-road crossing in Telangana Thursday. The dead included the school bus driver. Although the number of school children is a minuscule part of the total number of Indians dying daily on the roads, activists say most accidents are avoidable. I dislike about Will’s school? Are my and my efforts in both on an excursion in these Maharashtra on Piyush Tewari, founder and presistandards really too high or are people crafts are unfolding. December 7, 2013. dent of Save Life Foundation, said —Priyanka working in Chopra the education field really In an accident in Tamil Nadu’s holding an adult “accountable for safetyjust that ignorant.” The next morning, Pudukottai district in June 2013, a of children while on the move” andshe received a call asking her to meet mini van collided with a bus, killing having child safety laws would act as the principal when she dropped off seven school children. deterrents. her son at Sonshine Christian AcadAnother seven children died when Two accidents this year injured 12emy, a private religious school, in Flortheir bus fell into a gorge in Jammu and school students. The first took placeida. To her shock, the school decided Kashmir’s Anantnag district in April May 12 in Greater Noida in Uttarto expel her son. 2013. In July last year, 11 students were Pradesh, injuring two students. Ten killed and 20 injured when their bus hit students were injured in adjoining Noia truck in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh da April 29 when their school bus was district. hit by a state-run bus. Contd on p 10 Three children died when their
‘Chayan’ promises to offer shelter, legal support and counselling to couples in case of outburst from families BY YASH DAIV @yash009
RAHUL RAUT
&DESERTED
DEAD
“Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is one such system which I suggest will help in providing opportunities through cooperative working of resource and social entrepreneur in the rural areas,” he said. “PURA is the creation of physical, electronic, knowledge connectivities leading to electronic connectivity of rural regions. With this combined and planned intervention of infrastructure, digital technology, information and enterprise, we can select a cluster of about 20 to 50 villages, which share core
“We collect money and support poor patients in the hospitals. Our members also support orphans in different orphanages in the city,”
from 20 last year and 23 the year Central minister with regards to this before, according to the list published project soon,” Bidkar said, adding that in the web edition of Forbes Asia. an announcement on the forthcoming China’s tech companies made a state assembly polls is expected in PUNE, OCTOBER 11, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com strong showing, with Tencent the most a week or two and the BJP is keen valuable, having a market cap of $155.6 to push the Pune Metro project to a billion, nearly twice that of runner-up decisive stage before the Model Code India’s Tata Consultancy Services. of Conduct comes into force,” he said. Lenovo is the biggest in terms of annual revenue of $38.7 billion, Continued on p 10
Pune’s hottest start-up, 2014 get top prize today
Muslims and Christians and they are steadfast about the spirit of unity in diversity and respect for all religions that defines the nation, said Khan.
mouth
you take care of your supporting this event and includes the roster in 2005. family. Association of Software and Other notable National companies from —Julia Roberts Service Companies (NASSCOM), India include HCL Technologies, Indus (Tie, Pune), which makes the listTh fore the fifthEntrepreneurs time, SoftwareIndustries, Technologies Parks of and Sun Pharmaceutical (STPI), Mahratta Chamber Of which appears on theIndia list for the third consecutive time. Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA), PuneTech, iSpirit, IIM Mahindra & Mahindra also rejoins Ahmedabad’s the list after a two-year absence. Centre for Innovation Incubation IANS and Entrepreneurship, SME Joinup, Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), IACC, and Pune Open Coffee Club. The four finalists for the top prize are: Scandid- a shopping technology start-up that enables shoppers to compare prices by scanning the product barcodes with one’s mobile phones; Framebench- a cloud based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform; Ecozen Solutions, started in September 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation, and The Green Raddiwala which focuses on providing door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like. Founded by Sushil Chaudhari and Madhur Khandelwal in 2012, Scandid also helps consumers find latest online and offline deals. The company previously won the regional round of the Seedstars World- a global start-up competition.
3 ECOZEN SOLUTIONS Framebench, founded by Rohit Agarwal, is a cloud-based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform. Framebench is a central workplace where one can store and share one’s creative assets. The company can help remote teams and
THE GREEN RADDIWALA clients to review, mark changes required on the assets and even host discussions on them in real time, which automatically gets documented for viewing later. This visual communication workflow allows for crisp & quick feedback. Ecozen Solutions run by Devendra
Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pande was started in 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation. It is with this view that this designed a pioneering and innovative micro Cold Storage- a solar powered cold storage system, which was primarily designed for the rural segment to serve their needs ideally. This innovative product can be suitably adapted for local conditions Great across thethings world. can happen when have the The you fourth finalist, The Green courage to yourself. Raddiwala hasbebeen established by Michael Sam Nikhil Pagare—and Saurav Pasalkar to provide door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like. Green Raddiwala purchases the recyclable waste from households at market rates and sells it directly to recycling industries. This drastically reduces environmental pollution. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com
(Left to right) MANS state secretary Milind Deshmukh, president Deepak Girme and Dhanak secretary Asif Iqbal at SM Joshi Hall in Navi Peth on November 4
After several brainstorming sessions that probed into legal, religious and humanitarian aspects of marriage, the group devised the concept of Chayan (choice). These organisations aspire to make Chayan a national movement. The conference began with an “oath of humanity” to promote the principle of non-discrimination based on caste, religion, language or gender. Madhav Bhavge, secretary, MANS said Chayan is the need of the hour. “It could be a national level movement which would give shape to the ideas and suggestions that we have
“People blindly follow the vedic rituals. A person should be able to justify all his or her activities rather than following a tradition. If we are able to instil this attitude in the masses we will be able to eradicate class politics and in turn the problems of mixed marriages,” he said. Subhash Bhave, secretary, SM Joshi Socialist Foundation emphasised on the need for mass awareness. “People have a tendency to hide their marriages until the legal documents are ready. This attitude must be changed,” he said. It was suggested during the deliberations that there should be a group of five to ten people in every district who will promote and provide assistance if required, for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. yashdaiv@gmail.com
City takes lead over Delhi, Mumbai in the journey of product start-ups TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeeKLY Pune has emerged as the nation’s second-fastest product start-up hub in the country. A close second to Bangalore, Pune has taken a lead over mega-metros like Delhi and Mumbai. This has been stated in the latest report by iSPIRIT, (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable), a company mainly focussed towards the product industry. “Pune is significantly ahead of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad,” the report said while
noting the product start-ups activity in Bangalore at 33% of India, Pune (21 %), Delhi and Mumbai (about 1112% each) and Hyderabad at 9%. “Pune is definitely No. 2, which is excellent,” said Amit Paranjape, co-founder of Pune-Tech, an online tech portal for the tech and startup community in Pune. Addressing a recent press conference Paranjape spoke about Pune’s viable ecosystem, which has been developing tremendously to enable entrepreneurs to launch an enterprise.
Others who shared this thought were Gaurav Mehra, past president SEAP and managing director, Saba Softwares; Maneesh Bhandari, director, Pune Division, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad; Ashutosh Parasnis, president of SEAP and managing director of Qlogic; Ramaswamy Narayanan, vice president, SEAP; Vishwas Mahajan, president of TIEPune chapter and Navin Kabra, cofounder of Pune Tech. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Children, send us your paintings, poems & essays on
CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA Mention your name, age, standard, school’s name and contact number in your entry. Last Date for Receiving Entries: Saturday, 22nd November Prize Winning Entries will be announced in this newspaper Entries may be sent to: The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune - 411030. Tel: 020-24324332/33
For Details SMS/Contact: Prachi, Tel: 9822619858 or Yash: 9762884007
Vow Factor The
From the
Ever wondered where thoroughbreds go after retirement? Or why jockeys are weighed before and after a race? Barnalee Handique has the answers
the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which is complicated, different in every state and plagued with controversies. “A platform like Chayan can help modify such a law,” he said. Iqbal suggested that under the national platform one can create a secure place for couples who have mixed marriages. “We can offer them shelter, legal procedures and counselling in case there is an outburst from the families,” he said. Chayan would ensure the smooth functioning of the legal structure pertaining to marriage. Deepak Girme, president, MANS said society’s mindset have deep religious roots. Having worked with the late anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabolkar for 25 years, he said any religious text should be questioned.
Asif Shaikh (left) and Sheldon Fernandes (right) of Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal Trust preparing the decorations for Ganeshotsav
mandal runs a social organisation called Anzuman Faizane Raza and the members celebrate other prominent festivals and occasions such as Eid, Independence Day and Republic Day with equal fervor.
competencies and empower those using local enterprise. This would enable our country to grow by shared efforts and overcome the challenges faced by the society,” he said. Charting out a link between creative leadership and economic development, the former president emphasised the importance of the role that change in leadership would play for ensuring success. He also accentuated on the role of integrity among leaders for sustained success and development of the society. (IANS)
Horse,s
Prominent social workers from different parts of the country who promote intercaste and inter-religious marriages have decided to establish a national movement called Chayan (Choice). This was decided at a meeting in the city on November 4-5 during a conference on ‘Right to Choice of Partner in Inter-caste and Interreligious Marriages’. Activists from the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), SM Joshi Socialist Foundation, Rashtriya Seva Dal and Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal along with the voluntary organisation, Dhanak from Delhi, were present at this meet.
Six out of eight subways in the city are in a sad state of neglect and are closed to the public. Some are used as convenient urinating spots or as gambling dens. They are dirty, poorly lit and unsafe. Why can’t city subways be restored and made user-friendly for pedestrians? Also related is the complete avoidance of foot over-bridges by pedestrians. Why waste public exchequer and construct them if they are so very unpopular with the public? See Spotlight on p8-9
THE FINALISTS ARE...
the BJP’s newly elected city MP Anil Shirole, was to closely follow-up on the mass transportation project. Shirole focused on updating himself on the project and seeking clarifications on the project as proposed by the Congress-NCP government.
Pune FC enter Durand Cup final P 16
Nat’l movement to promote marriages of choice gets going
2FRAMEBENCH
a bid to counter the ruling CongressNCP government in the forthcoming polls, the BJP is chalking out its strategy to gain maximum advantage by announcing critical steps on the Metro project. Speaking to this newspaper, BJP’s leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Ganesh Bidkar said that one of the top priorities for
SPORTS
WITH A
Carrying the torch in the battle against cancer P2
City subways are
Emerge as creative leaders: Kalam to IIM students SHILLONG: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has urged students of the Indian Institute of Management
TGS LIFE
Telangana school bus accident resulting in the death of 19 students is part of a larger tragedy that demands immediate attention
Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh paying homage to martyrs at the Infantry War Memorial during his farewell visit to the Infantry School, Mhow in Indore recently
Boston Globe reported.
country as special markings for a survey by the British. India’s Zero Stone stands proudly in Nagpur, denoting the centre of the country. The oldest and most famous of such milestones is located in Rome, the Milliarium Aureum (“Golden Milestone”) of the Roman Empire. The maxim “all roads lead to Rome” is believed to have originated from this monument. A number of prominent cities in the world have their own “zero stones” and are proud of it, including Washington DC, Tokyo, Berlin, Buenos Aires... The citizens of Pune and publicspirited organisations such as the MCCIA’s Janwani, INTACH, Pune International Centre and the National Society for Clean Cities, to name a few, need to lobby with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Heritage Cell to do what is needed. The Golden Sparrow on Saturday pledges its fullest support to such an effort. Get in touch with us at: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com www.goldensparrow.com or Tweet us: @TGSWeekly
Generosity & communal harmony define these mandals
What is going wrong with road safety in India?
convicted in stock scheme WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, when this newspaper took a review of Pune’s Zero Stone on the footpath outside the General Post Office (GPO), the sight was pathetic to say the least. With white paint spilled over it, there was a sweeper’s broom lying next to it and rubbish all around. A tea vendor was stationed with his cart next to the stone. In 2006, when this journalist fi rst reported on this small, yet valuable piece of Pune’s heritage, there was a watermelon seller sitting on the stone, using it as a convenient stool. The Zero Stone is a very special milestone as it signifies the geographic location of a city and the point from where distances are established between towns and cities. As such, it ought to be restored, fenced and beautified so that the children of this city, other citizens and tourists can go back to the time when Pune was taking shape under the British, bit by bit. There are just 80 of such special milestones that were installed in the
ILLUSTRATION BY GAURI BARVE KALE
Poona Club Premier League from Monday
By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis_ashish PUNE: Arantxa Sanchis of Pune has made her mark in snooker and billiards circuits over the past few years. Sanchis, who is the 2015 women’s national billiards champion, was also part of the team that claimed a gold medal at the IBSF World Women’s Snooker Championship in 2013. Along with her feats in the sports arena, Arantxa has also grabbed the spotlight in the academics sphere, winning the prestigious Chancellor’s gold medal, while acquiring an MBA from Symbiosis International University. It comes as a surprise then that, despite a starry sports career graph, the 24-year-old Sanchis is still looking for a sponsor, that will enable her to train with a foreign coach and participate in tournaments aboard. Basking in the glow of the national billiards title, Sanchis touched upon a range of issues in an interview with The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, at the Turf Club, Pune.
Rahul Raut
PUNE: ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’ (TGS) featured three teams in the Pride under-13 Pune Basketball School League that began from Friday. The event is organised by realtor Pride Group and Modern Past Association at Modern High School ground at Shivajinagar. The matches are played in league-cum-knockout basis. The teams of TGS are ‘TGS Growlers’ and ‘TGS Shooting Stars’ (boys’ category) and ‘TGS Thunderbolt’ in the girls’ segment. City teams like Chintan Group, Super 6, DY Patil, Pride, Apratim Club, Elevate Sports, Aquarius Club, JK Group , Helan O Gardy, Arya One Rockers, RMK Club and D mark Club have confirmed their entries.
Pune’s Arantxa Sanchis is still in search of sponsors despite a glittering career in snooker and billiards
RAHUL RAUT
TGS teams in Pune basketball league
‘What I need is a little appreciation’ Rahul Raut
Signposts
“ You need one game in one afternoon to be a star and change the situation. Indian team under Dhoni have the ability to excel and I won’t be surprised if India reach the final.” — Former captain Sourav Ganguly
A Woman Of Substance
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
Talented, hard-working and a big league movie star, They are independent and opinionated and Deepika Padukone can also these 20-year-olds are going it solo when everyone around them is getting hitched. take a tough stand when Ishani Bose tells us more push comes to shove. Anjali Shetty gauges public opinion See P10-11
PUNE’S FIRST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
THE GOLDEN SPARROW TO SUBSCRIBE
ON SATURDAY
Contact your newspaper vendor today or The Golden Sparrow circulation executive for assistance Area TGS Executive Camp, Quarter Gate, Pune Station,Yerawada, Chandan Nagar ------------------- Ananda Hajare Kothrud, Karvenagar, Nalstop, Bhusari Colony, Warje ------------------------------ Prasad Lonkar Padmvati, Swargate, Sinhagad Road, Appa Balwant Chowk & Peth areas ------ Ananda Hajare PCMC, Kalewadi, Nigdi, Bhosari, Sangvi, Bopodi ---------------------------------- Yogesh Kolekar
Contact Number 7507169414 8421540282 7507169414 9011055077