The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 04/07/2015

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

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TGS LIFE

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Rati Agnihotri back with her husband P2

DDHA ANIRU

RAJA

AR NDEK

Did you know

Akurdi zoo to host anacondas soon P3

Pune police completed 50 years on July 1?

The top brass in Pune police just forgot about the day Pics by Aniruddha Rajandekar

Torn by war back home, they seek solace here As Iraqi lives and communities continue to be war-devastated, many youngsters apply for refugee status and move to Pune leaving behind bloody battles at home See Spotlight, p9

See Spotlight, p8

Pune’s Batman mystery solved

Images of a Batmobile being driven around on the streets of Pune went viral on social media

BY Bapu Deedwania For all of you, who have been wondering if Batman has migrated to Pune after seeing the Batmobile patrol the streets of Pune, we at The Golden Sparrow have been at it to bring to you the owner of the Batmobile!

The machine is a gift from a father to his son! Yes, you heard right. Adar Poonawalla, 34-year-old CEO and Executive Director of Serum Institute of India Ltd, has been the man behind the Batmobile. He and his five-year-old son Cyrus dressed in Batman costume took the vehicle for a spin last Sunday. The Batmobile was a surprise gift for Cyrus from Adar. Traffic came to a standstill as everybody got busy, clicking pictures and admiring the car.

It was some time back that Cyrus asked his father if Batman was for real and if he

truly existed. He also asked if the Batmobile was for real. Being a man who loves his cars, Adar decided to make the Batmobile come true for his dreamy-eyed son. Insiders reveal that the billionaire discussed the idea with a Mumbai-based vehicle customisation expert, who was more than happy to oblige.

“Adar had spotted a similar looking car in Dubai at an auto show. However, the car was exorbitantly priced which only encouraged him and the customisation expert to create the machine themselves,” said a source close to the Poonawallas.

Work on the Poonawalla Batmobile began eight months ago. An S-Class Mercedes was used to create the vehicle.

“This car has been conceptualised to look exactly like the Batmobile and that itself is an onerous task. The base machine was completely stripped to make way for the one with wings and style exactly like the Batmobile. All we know that it got created in phases and its parts manufactured with precision by Adar’s trusted person and finally assembled in Mumbai. The rest, Adar says, is a gift for his son and the secrets are not to be revealed,” said another friend close to this family.

The vehicle was transported to Pune two weeks ago, just in time for Cyrus’ birthday.

Even on its way to the city, mounted atop a truck, via Mumbai-Pune highway, it managed to attract the attention of a whole lot of motorists.

When TGS contacted Adar, he said that the vehicle was a result of his son’s imagination. “It is made on an S-Class chassis, longer than a Rolls-Royce Phantom two-seater, and has been created as a result of my son’s imagination. I think it is an example to everyone, including myself, that we are limited only by our imagination. Anything is possible if you put your mind to it and have the will to see it through.”

Sure Adar, inspiration indeed, it is.

About Adar Poonawalla Adar, 34, is CEO and Executive Director of Serum Institute of India Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers of vaccine in the world. His father Dr Cyrus S Poonawalla, Chairman and Managing Director of the company has managed to create a Rs 4,000 crore empire over the years.

Adar went to St Edmund’s School, Canterbury, from the age of 10 and later went on to do his bachelors from the University of Westminster. He returned to Pune at the age of 21 and ever since has been helping his father with the company. bapudeedwania@gmail.com

mUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“Our government is committed to providing a boost to both ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make in Maharashtra’ campaigns, provide business to both medium and small enterprises and create much-needed jobs.” - Devendra Fadnavis, CM

Fun way to keep techies on their front foot P4

Rati Agnihotri back with her husband Months after she filed a domestic violence case against her husband and moved out of matrimonial home, the actor is back with Anil Virwani

BY Bapu Deedwania Four months after veteran actor Rati Agnihotri filed a case of domestic violence against her husband, she is back at her matrimonial home at Worli.

She is said to be getting along with Anil Virwani, whom she accused of assaulting and intimidating.

The 54-year-old actor, who starred in ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’, ‘Shaukeen’ and ‘Hum Tum’, is said to have had a change of heart after she was hospitalised recently. Sources reveal, her husband was by her side through it all. After her discharge, the actor went with her son Tanuj and husband to the Worli penthouse overlooking the Arabian Sea. Friends close to the family have confirmed that the actor has moved back with her husband after she was admitted to Jaslok Hospital last week when she complained of chest pain.

Rati Agnihotri with husband Anil Virwani; (right) their actor-son Tanuj

“She was visibly in pain. Tanuj, her actor-son was by her side. It was at this point that she inquired if Anil was there.

He was informed about her health and he immediately rushed to the hospital.

He was seen inquiring about her well

Madrasas ignoring formal subjects to be de-recognised

The registered Madrasas not teaching primary subjects will be classified by the state government as “non-schools” In a controversial move, the BJP government in Maharashtra today decided to de-recognise Madrasas which give students education only on religion without imparting formal education like teaching English, Maths and Science subjects. The registered Madrasas not teaching primary subjects will be classified by the state government as “non-schools” and children studying in them will be considered “out of school” students.

The move has raised the hackles of Muslim leaders as well as the opposition parties in the state. “Madrasas are giving students education on religion and not giving them formal education.

Our Constitution says every child has the right to take formal education, which madrasas do not provide,” State Minorities Affairs Minister Eknath Khadse told PTI. “If a Hindu or Christian child wants to study in a Madrasa, they will not be allowed to study there. Thus, Madrasa is not a school but a source of religious education. Thus we have asked them to teach students other subjects as well.

Otherwise these Madrasas will be considered as non-schools,” Khadse said.

He said the Principal Secretary of Minority Affairs department Jayshree Mukherjee has written a letter to Principal Secretary of School Education and Sports Nand Kumar in this regard.

Khadse said the School Education department has planned a survey of

students that are not taking formal education on July 4.

“Students who are studying in Madrasas that do not provide formal education will be treated as out of school students. Our only aim behind doing this is to ensure that every child of the minority community gets a chance to learn and come into the mainstream, get good paying jobs and have a prosperous future,” Khadse said.

The minister said that out of a total 1,890 registered Madrasas in the state, 550 have agreed to teach the four subjects to students. “We are even ready to pay Madrasas for giving students formal education and are ready to provide them teaching staff as well,” Khadse said.

Asaduddin Owaisi, who is the President of AIMIM, questioned the rationale behind the government decision, and asked whether students being imparted Vedic studies will also be considered out-of-school children.

“There are many Madrasas that are teaching Maths, English and Science. Many Madarasa students have gone ahead and cracked civil service exam”, he said. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Madani said that whatever happened is “unacceptable”.

Calling the move unconstitutional, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam said, “No child should be discriminated along religious lines. We are going to take the issue in the state Assembly.” PTI

MLA bats for naming road after Balasaheb A Shiv Sena leader has written a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis demanding that the 35 km long coastal road, that will connect the island city with Kandivali in North Mumbai be named after late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

“Balasaheb Thackeray had a stature that has got Maharashtra not only national but international repute. Thus, I have demanded that this coastal road, which will be a one of kind project, be named after Balasaheb,” Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu told PTI. Prabhu, in his letter, has stated that by naming the coastal road after Thackeray, people coming to Mumbai from across the world would become

aware of his contribution to the city.

“Balasaheb Thackeray has immensely contributed to the development of this city and has ensured that the city gets a distinct identity of its own. Thus, I demand that the coastal road be named after him (Thackeray), who is respected by all those living in Mumbai,” the letter stated.

“The legacy of Balasaheb is not only limited to the city but he is revered by people across the globe.

Everybody coming to Mumbai, not only from the across the city, but also from across the world should know about his contributions,” the letter PTI further stated.

being, talking to doctors about what was wrong and making sure she got the best treatment,” said a friend who did not want to be named.

From the hospital, Rati straight went to her matrimonial home at Worli

and since then the two, sources reveal, have been spending time together and talking to each other. “We have always known them to be a happy couple and we are glad that Rati is back home.

Tanuj has been instrumental in getting his parents together and being sensitive enough to not take sides and let his parents be,” said another friend of the family on condition of anonymity.

When The Golden Sparrow contacted him, Anil Virwani responded, “All three of us are happy and content.

We as a family would like all well wishers to respect our privacy.”

Tanuj, when asked about the development, said he was happy that his mother is back home and that his parents are together. “These things take time to sink in. I am very happy but at the same time I am not privy to any of their conversations. I made it very clear that I will not take sides. They are spending a lot of time together. I am glad about that. Beyond that, I would really request media to respect our privacy and give us our time and space with each other and wish the very best for them.” Despite repeated attempts Rati Agnihotri could not be contacted.

Actor’s complaint Rati Agnihotri, who married Anil

Virwani, architect-businessman in 1985, filed a complaint with Worli police in March this year, alleging harassment and torture. Virwani was booked under sections 498A (harassment), 350 (criminal force), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (assult), 504 (Insult) and 506 (intimidation). After filing the case, Rati did not go back to her matrimonial house. In her interviews to media houses, she said that she had moved to Lonavla.

Meanwhile, her businessman husband was granted interim relief by a court. At a recent court hearing, Rati agreed to opt for mediation to sort out issues between her and Anil. bapudeedwania@gmail.com

ED arrests Mumbai trader on money laundering charges The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested a Mumbai-based trader for allegedly laundering over Rs 19 crore funds sourced by him and others after defrauding a national bank in 2013.

Officials said the zonal office of the agency here arrested Ajit Jain under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as he was “instrumental in laundering the proceeds of crime of over 19 crore.”

“Investigations in the case are on,” ED Joint Director KSVV Prasad said while confirming the development.

The case dates back to 2013 when Canara Bank registered a criminal case with Chennai Police for cheating and duping of Rs 19.21 crore funds against a few of its officials, private entities and National Award winning Bollywood actress Leena Maria Paul.

ED sources said Jain was allegedly involved in routing and laundering of the funds from the accused to the mastermind of the financial fraud after receiving the amount in “several dummy companies” by way of RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement). The CBI is also probing this case.

PTI

My daughter is off limits: Abhishek Actor Abhishek Bachchan, who was recently trolled on Twitter by a user, says that being a public figure he is open to “bouquets and brickbats” but daughter Aaradhya is off limits.

Recently, a Twitter user commented that Abhishek’s daughter Aaradhya would not like his movies like ‘Drona’ and ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ when she grows up.

Abhishek retorted sharply and slammed the user for bringing his daughter into the picture, following which the tweet was deleted.

“I do understand that both me and my wife and my parents (Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan) are public figures but my daughter is off limits.

I am not here to talk about her. I said what I had to,” the actor said when asked about the incident at an event here.

The ‘All Is Well’ star is active on social networking sites and has learnt to take things in his stride.

“I wasn’t deeply hurt. This is

something I am used to.

“I always have this attitude that if you can’t stand the heat then get out of the location. If you are on public

Eight-year-old kidnapped and murdered by her uncle TGS News Network @TGSWeekly An eight-year-old resident of Navi Mumbai was kidnapped and murdered by her own uncle. This came to light in the wee hours of Friday, four days after Franshela Vaz went missing from her housing society compound in Airoli.

The case came to light on Monday when Franshela did not get home from school. A student of New Horizon Public School in Navi Mumbai, she got of her school bus but never went up to her house.

Several other kids studying in the same school and residing in the same housing society as Franshela, had no clue where the kid had gone. Only one of the children had Clarence Fonseca seen her getting in a red van and leaving the society compound.

The same day, Sophia Vaz, Franshela’s mother, who has been unwell for a while now, lodged a complaint with Rabale police station in Navi Mumbai.

Francisco Vaz, Franshela’s father works with an IT company and recently left for Netherlands, where he was sent for assignment by his firm. On the same day cops registered a case of kidnapping and started investigating the case.

Sources in the police revealed that initially they had no clues as such. Except

Cops had formed 11 teams to look for the missing girl

for the 12-year-old who had seen the girl leave in a red van, the cops had nothing to go by. “The only thing we were certain of was that she had gone with somebody known to her. She wouldn’t go out of her society with a stranger without a struggle. Moreover, only somebody who knew her would know that her mother was bedridden and father out of country, hence she was an easy target,” said one of the officers investigating the case. The cops had formed 11 teams to look for the missing kid.

Insiders reveal that Franshela’s parents suspected one of their maids, who had committed a theft not so long ago. “The couple recovered the stolen goods but did not register a formal

case against her. We suspected her involvement,” said another investigator.

In all this, her father, returned from Netherlands. Franshela’s relatives and family friends also gathered at her house. The police made a breakthrough in the case on Thursday evening when they found something amiss with one of the relatives.

“After the girl went missing, Clarence Fonseca and his wife were around all the time. Clarence is married to the victim’s maternal aunt. The couple would sit by the side of victim’s parents at all times. But as we started making headway into investigation, and activity picked up, the couple were nowhere to be seen. By Thursday there was no sight of them,” said an investigator.

On Friday, cops picked up Clarence, a resident of Mira Road near Mumbai and questioned him. During the course of investigation, cops say, he broke down and confessed to the crime. He kidnapped Franshela and later murdered her. He allegedly killed her within hours of picking her up.

Several relatives and family friends, who met Clarence while the victim was reportedly missing, are in a state of shock. “He didn’t seem like someone who would do something like this.

He and his wife were there by side of victim’s family at all times. He behaved absolutely normal and in fact would go out of his way to help,” said one of the family friends.

Cops are yet to get to the bottom of motive behind the crime. “We have arrested him and will find out in due course,” said an investigator. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

platform you have to be ready for brickbats and the bouquets ... and I am fine with that. I have always taken things in my stride.”

Abhishek also said that he appreciates the fact that the tweet was deleted as the guy probably realised that he had gone a bit too far in what he had to say.

“He apologised and removed the tweet... I appreciate that. I think when you are in public domain it is important to allow freedom of speech... it is a constitutional right. But it is also important to take objection... it is my platform and he tweeted something to me, I replied. If you are on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram this is going to happen... it’s healthy, fine and fun most of the times,” he added.

PTI

Ratan Tata to join Jungle Ventures as Special Advisor The Singapore-based Jungle Ventures has announced that Ratan Tata, C h a i r m a n Emeritus of Tata Sons, will come on board as a Special Advisor.

Founded by Anurag Srivastava and Amit Anand, Jungle Ventures is an early stage Ratan Tata venture capital fund focussed on helping build innovative technologyled companies in Asia-Pacific.

The venture fund said it has already made investments in 30 leading Asian start-ups, including Zipdial (recently acquired by Twitter), LiveSpace, Tradegecko, CrayonData, Fastacash and travelmob (acquired by Nasdaq listed HomeAway).

In his role as Special Advisor, Tata has formally committed to spending time with Jungle’s portfolio of companies to help them build category leadership while being ethically impregnable and culturally strong in Asian and global markets, the venture fund said in a statement.

Jungle Ventures, launched with a USD 10 million seed-to-early stage fund in 2012, is currently raising a second fund with a much bigger corpus, it said. “For Jungle Ventures, Tata believing in our vision also comes as a validation of our purpose to spawn and nurture entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific,” said Srivastava, founding and managing partner.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“I reiterate, the reports of me delaying flight are misleading. In fact when I’d already boarded how can I say I won’t travel without delegation?.. Enough is enough. Once I’m back to India I will initiate proceedings of criminal defamation.”

— Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister

50 nations sign pact on China-led AIIB P14

They have found self-esteem and new way of life, beyond brothels

…as lawyers continue their indefinite protest over demand for a High Court bench in Pune

BY PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka Turning over a new leaf, a trio of former sex workers who inhabited the sleazy lanes of Pune’s infamous red light area of Budhwar Peth, has managed to embark on a new and respectable course in life, beating all the proverbial odds. Pratibha, Anita and Salma (names changed) were all forced into the flesh trade given their dire poverty-stricken states. After years of being shackled to the sordid sex worker life, they have ventured into respectable professions in mainstream society. Pratibha is now working as a nurse, Anita has taken to the catering trade, while Salma has found a job as housekeeper in a mall.

Pratibha hails from the Beed district of Marathwada. Recalling her initiation into the flesh trade when she was just 15, she said, “My family and I literally had no food to eat at times.

Th is kind of poverty left me no choice but to earn money any way that I could. Being a sex worker was the price I had to pay to keep my five younger siblings and parents from starvation and misery,” said Pratibha, who is now 50 plus. Pratibha was married off at the age of 12 by her parents, but her husband deserted her. “I did not want to be a burden to my parents and so I came to Pune 30 years ago, and fell into the sex trade,” she said.

After years of being shackled to the sex worker life, many women have ventured into respectable professions in mainstream society

In the early days, Pratibha earned Rs 200 per month, most of which she sent to her family. “Even after years of being in it, I was guilt-ridden and ashamed of my disreputable profession.

But I did not have any other option to earn the money for me and my family,” said Pratibha.

Though she did try to find some other means of earning a livelihood earlier, she finally managed to find a way to leave it, 15 years ago.

After looking around for a job for a while, Pratibha was taken on as caretaker at a city hospital. “I joined a nursing bureau later, and now I work as a private nurse looking after aged patients, from where I earn Rs 8,000 per month,” said

They have managed to give their children a decent quality of life

Pratibha, who is overjoyed at being able to lead a respectable life.

Anita too was lured to the murky Budhwar Peth lanes at the age of 13, owing to desperate poverty. Now 49, her eyes sparkle as she mentions her two daughters who have got married recently. “I left the profession nine years back as my children were growing up, and I did not want them to face the consequences of my profession which is looked down upon by society,” said Anita, who was born in Pune.

Th ree years ago, Anita started her own ‘poli-bhaji’ centre and provides food to the sex workers in Budhwar Peth. “Although I earn less than what I was earning as a sex worker, I am happy that my children do not have to face the shame and trauma of their mother being a sex worker,” added Anita.

Salma fell into the flesh trade web when she was just 12. After 15 years of pandering to the desires of men, she

quit the profession at the age of 27.

The mother of two now is employed as housekeeper at a city mall. A native of Lakshameshwara town in Karnataka, Salma was lured into the sex trade by a relative, under the premise of getting her a job. “My parents are still not aware about my sex trade past. I was just a child when a relative brought me to Pune and sold me to a brothelkeeper,” Salma said.

She tried to quit a number of times.

“Around eight years ago, people from an NGO offered me help to quit the sex trade and I have done a number of jobs like sweeper and housekeeper since then,” said Salma.

“I am thankful that I was able to leave the sordid sex worker life behind, which I was thrown into as an innocent child. Now my priority is my children’s education and to see them live happy and respectable lives,” Salma said. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

BY GARGI VERMA @writomaniac It’s the Chief Judicial Magistrate court, and Judge PT Gotey is presiding.

However, instead of advocates, two civilians are arguing the case, since the advocates themselves are sitting under a tent outside gate 4, still continuing their indefinite strike, over the issue of a High Court bench in Pune.

However, work has been going on at the court during the past 13 days of the strike. “We are trying to clear pending cases and the paperwork, so that the court is ready to resume work with double the vigour when the strike ends,” said legal aid MK Jadhav. The e-records show that judges are clearing pending cases, from 1988, 1989 and the early 2000s.

Advocate Jyoti Lakka is not among the on-strike lawyers. “I am a government employee, and so I am not on strike,” she said. She explains how the court is functioning without the advocates. “The strike mostly involves private advocates. It is not mandatory that every case should have a private advocate. The work can be done by government employed public prosecutors. There are also cases where the petitioners or respondents argue their own cases. These are the types we are dealing with now,” she said.

Very few of the around 50 courts on the District Court premises are vacant. The Criminal courts have judges deciding on remands based on police reports, and civilians are playing advocates in the civil courts.

Some advocates believe that the steps taken by the Pune Bar Association are unfair. Senior advocate ML More has voiced his concerns in letters addressed to judges and the Pune Bar Association. “The lawyers are taking the law into their own hands by prohibiting other lawyers from working. They have forced a shutdown of canteens. They are trying to intimidate us to join their strike,” he said, adding, “It has been tried in the past but it hasn’t worked because of technical glitches. Stopping all the work when we are behind schedule doesn’t make sense,” he said.

The protestors think otherwise and are insistent over their demand. One of them under condition of anonymity, said, “We can bring about change but we need to be united. It is not for our benefit but for the people of Pune.”

But the strike is nowhere close to ending. The lawyers on strike want to meet the Chief Justice of Mumbai High Court when he visits Pune on July 9. For the foreseeable future, citizens arguing their own cases in court is set to continue. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

RAHUL RAUT

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Cast into the sleazy bounds of Budhwar Peth brothels, these three women have managed to shrug off the stigma and trauma to turn over a new leaf

Citizens argue their own cases…

The protesting lawyers will continue their strike till they meet Chief Justice of Bombay High Court who will visit Pune on July 9

Akurdi zoo to host anacondas soon Central Zoo Authority of India approves PCMC’s revised mini zoo action plan, sanctions Rs 10 crore RAHUL RAUT

Even animals were relocated to Katraj zoo and other places having adequate arrangements. The zoo will have sections for pheasants, aviary of aquatic birds and reptiles, interpretation block and veterinary centre for medical facilities for animals. Other facilities include information resource centre, books, CDs, journals and Internet.

The plan includes 20 species of snakes, three to four species of frogs and 10-12 species of aquatic birds.

The zoo is part of a conservation and breeding programme on local, national and international levels.

The mini zoo Nisargakavi Bahinabai Choudhary at Shahunagar, Chinchwad, will house 20 species of snakes

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal Soon the tourist map of PimpriChinchwad will also feature the mini zoo Nisargakavi Bahinabai Choudhary at Shahunagar, Akurdi in Chinchwad. Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) has given its go-ahead to the revised action plan of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to develop the park. The proposed zoo will house anacondas, large nonvenomous snakes found in tropical South America; and king cobras, besides other reptiles and birds.

THE PLAN In 2010, PCMC sent a draft plan of its ‘mini-zoo’ at Bahinabai Chaudhary Snake Park to CZAI with an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore. The civic body had proposed to develop the zoo in three phases. CZAI okayed the plan to redevelop the zoo based on reptileamphibian and butterfly theme.

The authority approved the smallzoo status and directed PCMC to prepare a master plan. The then PCMC additional commissioner Subhash Dumbre headed the 12-member committee, including retired scientist of Zoological

Survey of India (ZSI), formed to prepare the master plan.

THE ATTRACTIONS The layout plan will include housing of rare species, including, varieties of snakes, turtles, tortoises and crocodiles besides exotic colorful birds. Civic officials said that focus will be on flora and fauna of Western Ghats, along with amphibians, reptiles and birds.. At present, anacondas are found at Mysore and Th iruvananthapuram zoos. CZAI has directed PCMC to carry out suggested changes in engineering department works.

THE FUND The Centre approved PCMC’s seven-acre mini zoo proposal of Rs 10 crore. PCMC veterinary officer Dr Satish Gore said funds will be provided by the government. In September 1992, the Union government formed CZAI. There were 500 zoos of various types in the country at that time. The Authority reviewed conditions of these zoos, some of which were just menageries, and lacked planning, breeding facilities as well as trained staff. The Centre ordered closure of most of them after reviewing the facilities, allowing only 169 zoos to function across the country. One of the few zoos to be recognised by CZAI is the Bahinabai Chaudhary zoo.

Besides the mini zoo, other tourist attractions in PimpriChinchwad include Durga Devi hills, Appu Ghar, water sports centre, Bird valley, Science Park and Boat Club. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“I recently visited London and decided to start two-wheeler ambulance in Maharashtra based on London Two-wheeler ambulance pattern to help paramedics reach patients faster for the area where four wheelers cannot reach.”

— Dr Deepak R Sawant, Minister, Public Health and Family Welfare

Finding paradise in Turkey’s Munzur valley

Daring escape from Tihar jail

P10

P12

Fun way to keep techies on their front foot Volano Entertainment hunts for India’s fittest corporate team

Rahul raut

Over 100 corporates from all across India took part in the Devil Circuit Swift Challenge 2015 held at Pune

BY SALONEE MISTRY @sal0412 IT professionals and physical activity has never been a cut and paste phenomenon. Their lifestyles generally tend to be hectic, challenging, full of stress, at times fun... and almost always sedentary.

The enthusiasm shown by the participants of 45 teams representing 20 corporate companies in the Devil Circuit Swift Challenge 2015 held at Pune on June 27 was a welcome exception.

Organised by event management firm Volano Entertainment Private Limited (VEPL) for the first time in Pune, each three-member team had to overcome nine hurdles to win the title.

Two winning teams from Pune round hurdles, six physical and three mental. will compete at the all-India level to Physical obstacles include jumping clinch ‘fittest corporate team in India’ across barricades, climbing ladders and title. After winning finding way through a the Pune round, rope maze. Mental Pr icewaterhouse “The first step in getting tests consist of Coopers Private puzzles and mental fit is to be active and Limited (PwC) math problems. A that is what Volano and Cybage corporate firm could will now head send a maximum of aims at doing through for Delhi where five three-member amateur sports”, they will face the teams and each winners from New team should have Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. a female member. The minimum Over 100 corporates from India are combined age of each team should be taking part in the contest.

100 and total weight 210 kg and above.

Two of the teams taking least combined RULES time to complete the race qualifies for Each team has to complete a 200-metre the final to be held in Delhi on July 19. indoor running track consisting of nine Top two teams from Pune, Hyderabad,

Shiny mall with messy underside The parking area in the basement of Phoenix Marketcity mall in Viman Nagar has sewage seeping out through broken drainage pipes

BY RAJIL MENON @RajilMenon Phoenix Marketcity mall in Viman Nagar is a very popular destination.

Spread over 17 acres, it houses over 300 retail outlets featuring the best global brands, and expectedly, draws throngs of shoppers and visitors.

However, the popular mall has a dirty underside, specifically the section of the basement marked out for the parking of vehicles. It is a veritable eyesore, as there is sewage spewing out from broken pipes from the food court on the second floor.

These open sewage pipes are next to the pillars A8 and A12 in the lowest parking level. Apart from the overpowering stench, the waste also attracts hordes of flies and insects that pose a potential health hazard to visitors as well as the mall staff.

This negligence is surprising given the otherwise streamlined operations of the mall, that includes a stringent cleaning schedule.

Not surprisingly, regular visitors

problem has existed on and off for a year.

“The problem is that the management does not care. It may seem trivial compared to the huge operation of the mall, but cleanliness and hygiene are important aspects. It poses a hazard to both the people who park their vehicles here as well as to the security guards,” said Kaustubh Mokashi, 22, of Viman Nagar.

On Sundays, close to 4000 vehicles pass through the parking lot.

are appalled by the messy state of the parking lot. “It is extremely thoughtless for a mall of the Phoenix stature to not care about sewage draining into the basement. They should have rectified a problem like this immediately,” said Vipina Mudada, 38, of Viman Nagar, who mentioned that the sewage

Management speak “When one deals with such a big mall, small problems like this are bound to happen. Some customers leave behind beer bottles and other garbage in the parking space,” said Phoenix mall Assistant Manager Sachin Choudhary. Despite repeated references to the sewage issue in the basement, he refused to address our query, and continued to blame visitors rather than accept any blame for the problem. rajil.menon@goldensparrow.com

OUTCRY FOR A CAUSE Shailesh joshi

Members of Maharashtra Veej Kantrati Kamgar Sangh (State electricity contract workers’ union) stage protest in front of Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) Chaturshrungi office on Senapati Bapat Road. Their demands include implementation of MSEB circular regarding minimum wages of employees and timely salary disbursement.

Protestors alleged that withholding their benefits for past three years is helping contractors

Bengaluru and Delhi will compete along with two wild card entries for the title of ‘India’s Fittest Corporate Team’ and win a Maruti Swift car.

MOTIVE The rules of the contest aims to instil team building culture and break down office hierarchy and overcome gender bias. “I used to work in an IT firm and am aware of the unspoken rules of hierarchy. The competition helps in breaking these unwanted invisible boundaries,” said Adnan Adeeb, cofounder and MD of Volano.

The game promotes an employee engagement culture where an employee at the lowest level needs to only approach his/her CEO to qualify for the game, he added.

HEALTHY TAKE The initiative is an effort to raise awareness about fitness.

Physical fitness is a pertinent issue among techies as most of the work hours are spent sitting in a chair, hunched in front of computers. It’s a fact that techies do face certain physical health issues because of their sedentary jobs.

“We generally do not get fun time, let alone opportunity to know our colleagues,” said Dipankar Pant (33), a participant from Concentrix.

The game tests the participants’ speed, balance, agility, strength and analytical skills under pressure.

The skills needed in a workplace environment are also similar and these competitions help in moulding those.

“The first step in getting fit is to be active and that is what Volano aims at doing through amateur sports”, said Zeba Zaidi, co-founder of Volano. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

QUALIFIERS Those who secured place in the finals to be held in Delhi are (below, from left) Anurag Vishwakarma (24), Jaikrishan K (50) and Mahima Gupta (24) from CYBAGE. The second winning team is (bottom, from left) Nicholas Rammed (31), Nikita Aggarwal (32) and Amber Rana (27) from PwC.

Each team has to complete a 200-metre indoor running track consisting of nine hurdles, six physical and three mental. Physical obstacles include jumping across barricades, climbing ladders and mental tests consist of puzzles and mental math problems

ORGANISERS VEPL was started by Adnan (left) and Zeba in 2011. Former techies, both understood the value of fitness in corporate culture. VEPL organises amateur sports contests in India and raises awareness related to fitness and active life. They aim to revolutionise the way sports is played in India and the obstacle race concept is their latest initiative.

Two convicted for circulating fake currency in city

Two waiters from Pune were arrested for possessing and using fake notes of Rs 20,000 couple of years ago; Sessions court has found them guilty and sentenced them to 10 years rigorous imprisonment TGS News Network @TGSWeekly At a time when the National Investigating Agency has found out about Rs 1,500 crore counterfeit notes making its way into the country through Malda border in West Bengal, here in Pune, two waters have been convicted by Sessions Court for 10 years for possessing and circulating fake notes. The court has taken a tough stand keeping in mind the impact fake currency has on the economy.

On June 23, Additional Sessions Judge RH Mohammad convicted Kartik Sunder Mandal, 28 and Kishor Lankeshwar Mandal, 38.

Both are residents of Shivaji Nagar and originally hail from West Bengal.

The duo was arrested on December 4, 2013 by Swargate police while they were eating vada pav at a local stall.

They were trying to hand out a fake Rs 500 note to the vendor when they were arrested.

The cops found total of 26 fake notes – 14 notes of Rs 1000 and 12 Rs 500. The duo was booked under sections 489(B) and (C) of Indian Penal Code for possessing and using fake notes. The notes were sent to Nashik Printing Press to ascertain the genuineness of the notes.

Counterfeit notes report The Nashik Printing Press examined the notes and concluded that all the notes were counterfeit.

The main water mark and the security thread on the notes were an imitation. The ink shades were not matching and the colour registration was not correct. The Press also pointed out that ‘intaglio printing for the text matter was absent, OVI effect for figure 500 and 1000 in the centre was absent’. Moreover, RBI seals, sharpness and fine details of

Ashoka Pillar were missing.

On the other side of the notes, the tint design was found lacking.

This was clinching evidence for the cops to make out a watertight case against the duo.

Duo denied the charges Both Kartik and Kishor vehemently denied the charges against them in court. They told the court that they had been falsely implicated. They claimed that the cops had raided a gambling den and recovered the notes from there.

They added that when the cops raided the gambling den, Kishor was there. “Instead of lodging a case of gambling, police booked them in

this false case,” the accused told the court.

The court, however, did not find any merit in their claims. Next the duo sought leniency from court on the grounds that they were sole bread winners of their families. The court considering the ‘seriousness of the offence, it’s affect on the economy of India’ did not go soft on the accused while sentencing. The duo was found guilty on all counts.

They were sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for using fake notes and five years for possessing them. The two sentences are to run concurrently. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

for representational purpose only

Most fake notes come via Malda border Cases of counterfeit notes are no longer restricted to local police days.

They are mostly investigated by the premier National Investigating Agency (NIA). Circulation of counterfeit notes is considered a serious offence considering the impact it has on the economy.

Recently NIA found out that large quantities of fake notes make their way into India through the Malda border. They are mostly printed in Pakistan and routed into India through Bangaldesh. NIA was interrogating two accused who had been

nabbed by the Border Security Force.

During the interrogation, the two accused revealed that approximately Rs 1500 crore of counterfeit notes have crossed the border through Malda.

Post that NIA arrested several others - Sajib-ul-Haq (20), Anwar (21), Jamal Sheik (24) and Akram (19), Habibul Rahaman (26), Abdul Mutalik (25) and Prashant Mondal (23) from Chenai and Hyderabad. The sleuths have found that 90 per cent of fake currency making its way into the country are routed in through Malda border.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

— Dattatraya Dhankawade, Mayor

Is the day getting longer?

P11

Puneite among 1.45 lakh international artists

Parmanand Jhamtani, who believes in keeping in touch, sends over 10,000 birthday cakes, gifts and greetings in a calendar year

BY RAJIL MENON @RajilMenon

BY PRIYANKKA DESHPANDE @journopriyankka

40-year-old stained glass artist Rahul Lohkare shares a 10x12 room with his mother in Vitthalwadi

votes from the public, stands to win $500.

Lohkare’s life has been a saga of constant struggle and strife, since the death of his father when he was just two years old. “I have worked as carpenter besides working on glass windows,” he said, mentioning that all his work fetches him no more than Rs 8000 a month.

“While I was working on windows, I thought about stained glass painting, and I chose Hindu gods and goddesses as my subjects.” But stained glass is an expensive enterprise and a two feet painting incurs a cost of around Rs 25,000. “That is why I

P14

Birthday greetings by the thousands every year

California-based platform has offered city’s stained glass artist to showcase his work

Rahul Lohkare feels like his head is in the clouds right now. From a more-or-less anonymous existence, the 40-year-old stained glass artist who lives in Vitthalwadi, has almost overnight, shot into global limelight.

‘Tallenge’, a California-based online talent platform has invited Lohkare to participate in the stained glass painting category of the online California Art Competition. He happens to be the lone Indian participant in this category.

Lohkare told TGS, “I have been involved with stained glass painting for ten years, but I have never had the opportunity to showcase my art on such a global canvas.” Part of the reason for his anonymity is Lohkare’s inability to take to and display his art at a higher level, owing to his rather hand-tomouth existence. He shares a 10x12 room with his mother in Jagtap chawl, which also serves as his art studio. However, it was a posting of his stained glass painting on Facebook that caught the eye of a Tallenge representative, who contacted him with the invite to participate in the art contest.

“I ignored the message, thinking that it was spam. But the Tallenge member sent me a second message, so I knew it was genuine, and sent my entry for the competition,” Lohkare said, adding, “It is an honour to be a participant among 1.45 lakh artists from 153 countries. I have uploaded photographs of 27 of my best stained glass paintings.”

The winner, to be decided on the basis of

Fun way to keep techies on their front foot

undertake work only after I receive an order from a customer,” he said. There are not too many takers for Lohkare’s stained glass art if the statistics are any indication. Over a decade since he started off with stained glass, Lohkare has received just 85 orders.

But now that he stands to be recognized on a global canvas, Lohkare is visibly buoyant.

“Forget the prize money. I think the Tallenge competition has the potential to take my art to a wider international audience, and that is a reward that will be invaluable,” he said. priyankka.deshpande@goldensparrow.com

Anil Bafna turned 73 on Thursday. Amidst the countless greetings and gifts, there was a special cake and birthday card from his friend Parmanand Jhamtani.

Parmanand, 59, who owns the Jhamtani Group of industries, has been sending birthday gifts to Bafna for the last 20 years. Th is time around he went over to Bafna’s house for the fi rst time. But Bafna is not the only one whose birthday is marked on Jhamtani’s calendar. For the record, he sends birthday wishes and greetings to an average of 30 people every day, which works out to a staggering 10,950 birthday greetings a year!

In essence, Parmanand Jhamtani wishes everyone he has ever met on their birthdays.

What started as a Diwali custom, has now grown into a full blown occupation.

Jhamtani’s diary that dates back to 1987, has over 10,000 names, birthdates, phone numbers and addresses. “It’s a custom to meet friends and relatives during Diwali. Since that one vacation window was too small for me to keep in touch with my ever growing contact base, I have

Anil Bafna (left) is greeted on his 73rd birthday by Premanand Jhamtani, a personal visit to grace their 20-year friendship

somehow managed to make it an all-year-round thing. So instead of trying to meet them and re-link with them over Diwali, I wish them on their birthdays,” Jhamtani said.

Jhamtani’s birthday wishes are accompanied by a special cake and a personalised greeting card, that are his way of showing people that he cares.

“In today’s world, when we are clearly losing touch with each other, there’s not much that can be done. However, this is an effective medium of staying in touch, or sharing dil se dil ki baat,” he said.

Jhamtani started off on this ritual when he was a student

Law enforcers turn outlaws Two Shivajinagar Police HQ constables suspended over allegations of rape

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke Two police constables posted with the Shivajinagar police headquarters, have been suspended, for allegedly raping a woman last week at a lodge in the Shivajinagar area.

The victim was taken to the lodge by the duo under the pretext of having dinner. After committing the crime, they had threatened the victim not to tell anyone about it. However, one of the constables’ wives happened to see a video clip of the incident, and immediately reported it to the headquarter authorities and the Shivajinagar police station.

Even before the police investigation

got underway, the clip was posted on whatsapp and seen by many police constables living on the police headquarter premises in Shivajinagar.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Headquarters) Aravind Chavriya said that the two constables, Khemchand Bhakare and Sachin Pasalkar, have been suspended. “An enquiry is pending against them. As of now, we have not registered an FIR against them, but an

enquiry will be conducted,” he said.

The victim is a government employee and also lives on the headquarter premises. Bhakare is a duty officer at the headquarters.

Chavriya said that the whatsapp text messages are obscene and the clip is demeaning to the victim. “We have decided to use this whatsapp data as additional evidence against the two during the enquiry,” he said.

Sources reveal that the video clip was shot at the lodge where the alleged incident took place. “After the wife of one of the constables reported the incident, we ordered an enquiry. As of now, these are only allegations and they all will be probed,” Chavriya said.

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FEATU RE

In the issue FEATU RE

Are you a commerce graduate who thinks Botany is something you might have found a calling in? If you are, then there’s good news for you; you can now select Botany as an elective. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently started a new scheme called the Choice Based Credit System, where you can study whatever subject you like while doing their graduation of choice.

Amazing? Not really.

The All India Students’ Association (AISA) has waged an all-India protest against what seems like a revolutionary decision. The President of AISA, Sucheta De said, “The government is trying to push through this idea, saying that it helps students by giving them a choice. But what they don’t understand is that the country is simply not ready for this. We don’t have enough infrastructure, enough teachers. The government simply gives out letters, they don’t care how the colleges cope.”

“This is just a method of dictating what we want to study. We all have chosen our subjects, then why this additional choice? That too is governed by grades and merit. If it indeed is a choice, then there should be a choice to not opt for these subjects.” She said that the Pune University is not fit to handle the choice based credit system. “We already face a shortage of faculty. If this mixing of subjects and picking electives happens, we shall never be able to cope up. There is no set guidelines, so how does the government expect an implementation?”

Students of various colleges across India and the members of AISA have launched a nationwide protest, the Pune chapter of which happened a few days back. “We are trying to mobilise maximum pressure in the areas where the plan has already been put into action, while also trying to keep the other colleges at bay from what can seriously damage college academics,” said De. Mixing subjects doesn’t seem like a good idea any longer, does it? gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

EKAR RAJAND

Students oppose UGC’s system that offers graduates the option of picking a subject Clearly, problems have already arisen from the scheme’s implementation at Delhi University and a few other universities. While the scheme makes a student pick two electives, it leaves the curriculum and the types of tests in a rather grey area.

There are no set rules or qualification for students or teachers which has left everyone in a dilemma. “How do you expect a student who has studied Science and another who has studied Commerce for the past two years, to understand the same thing in the same way? The government does talk about Foundation Course, but the universities and the faculty all are confused as there have been no clear demarcations in this context,” said De. Maharashtra universities have not yet announced that the system will be put in place, but Pune University has gone a different road by implementing vocational and soft skill courses that the students have to pay for as well.

According to Abhilasha, an environment science student at Pune University,

m rrow.co

With this issue

2015 JULY 4,

Indian varsities not geared for choice based system

BY GARGI VERMA @writomaniac

of Fergusson College, in 1973.

There was no email or mobile phone then, so he had his workers deliver birthday gifts to his friends. Today, he has technology to help him out.

Online delivery along with social media messages have made this feat of wishing over 10,000 people yearly easier.

The recipients of Jhmatani’s birthday greetings include his school and college mates.

For more intimate people like family, Jhamtani has gifts to go along with the cake. His birthday greetings and gifts are cherished by every one of his over 10,000 friends, we are sure. rajil.menon@goldensparrow.com

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Turning junk into art

FEATU RE

“The city needs financial help from the Centre. The government stopped octroi and now it has announced to abolish local body tax (LBT).In such as scenario, the city will have to depend on the state for revenue.”

PUNE

S

Watch out for this young artist

TECH

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

The average computer user blinks seven times a minute, the normal rate is twenty times per minute.

- http://www.thefactsite.com/

P 13

Fingerprints stay stable over time

Fingerprints have been used by forensics experts to identify people for more than 100 yrs WASHINGTON: Fingerprint pattern remains stable over time, scientists, including one of Indian origin, have found, a discovery that could put an end to the debate surrounding admissibility of fingerprint evidence in courts.

Fingerprints have been used by law enforcement and forensics experts to successfully identify people for more than 100 years.

T h o u g h fingerprints are assumed to be infallible personal identifiers, there has been little Anil Jain scientific research to prove this claim to be true.

As such, there have been repeated challenges to the admissibility of fingerprint evidence in courts of law.

“We wanted to answer the question that has plagued law enforcement and forensic science for decades: Is fingerprint pattern persistent over time?” said Anil Jain, University Distinguished Professor, computer science and engineering, at Michigan State University.

“We have now determined, with multilevel statistical modelling, that fingerprint recognition accuracy remains stable over time,” said Jain.

Jain, along with his former PhD student Soweon Yoon, who is now with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, used fingerprint records of 15,597 subjects apprehended multiple times by the Michigan State Police over a time span varying from five to 12 years.

Smartphone application to revolutionise VoIP launched KOCHI: A Kochi-based IT start-up has launched Ringr, a smartphone application that promises to revolutionise current Voice over Internet (VoIP) communications by its innovative data transfer technologies which can give clear audio quality even at low bandwidths.

The app is available for download for Android users and will be launched for iOS soon, according to a release here by start-up Quiq Infotech.

Keeping in mind the bandwidth constraints in India, where promised speeds are seldom available, Ringr focuses on giving high quality audio at lesser bandwidth costs, it said.

Launching the product, Ashok Mani, CEO of Quiq Infotech said: “Call clarity is low in India and that’s one reason why the shift from telephone to VoIP is slow. We seek to have a paradigm shift in communications where regular phone calls are replaced with Ringr.”

“It is a compression algorithm we developed that allows us to send data as very small packets thus bypassing the bandwidth issue,” he said.

PTI

The results show that fingerprint recognition accuracy doesn’t change even as the time between two fingerprints being compared increases.

Everyday traffic nightmare at Magarpatta

‘Take our homes.

Please...’

The research by Yoon and Jain is the largest and most thorough study of the persistence of Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems, or AFIS, accuracy.

“Th is study is one of the fundamental pieces of research on a topic that has always been taken for granted,” said Professor Christophe Champod, from the Universite de Lausanne, Switzerland.

“Although operational practice has shown that the papillary patterns on our hands and feet are extremely stable and subject to limited changes (apart from scars), the study provides empirical and statistical evidence,” said Champod. “Th is study is a monumental achievement and one that will benefit forensic science teams worldwide,” Greg Michaud, director of the Forensic Science Division, Michigan State Police, said. It was published in the journal PNAS. PTI

Low-cost 3D fingerprint scanner for smartphones WASHINGTON: Scientists have developed a new ultrasonic 3D fingerprint scanner that could be used in smartphones and other devices to improve security. The sensor measures 3D image of your finger’s surface and the tissue beneath it - enhancing biometrics and information security for smartphones and other devices.

Fingerprint sensor technology currently used in smartphones produces a two-dimensional image of a finger’s surface, which can be spoofed fairly easily with a printed image of the fingerprint. The newly developed ultrasonic sensor eliminates that risk by imaging the ridges and valleys of the fingerprint’s surface, and the tissue beneath, in three dimensions.

“Using passwords for smartphones was a big security problem, so we anticipated that a biometric solution was ahead,” said David A Horsley, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of California, Davis.

The research appears in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

P 15

Twitter’s Indian origin executive leaves company Stocks of major online social networking service dip as three senior staffers put in their papers

BY YOSHITA SINGH NEW YORK: A top Indian-origin executive at microblogging site Twitter has resigned, the latest in a recent string of departures from the company including that of CEO Dick Costolo.

Rishi Garg, the Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategy at Twitter, a role that put him in charge of the Mergers & Acquisition strategy, has announced his departure after a tenure of 13 months.

“After an amazing ride as Twitter’s VP Corporate Development and Strategy, I’m saying farewell today,” he tweeted on June 26.

“Our team has built a stronger Twitter with a dozen acquisitions Rishi Garg in the last year. Hats off to @dickc for admirable leadership, humour, energy, and trust,” Garg said, using Costolo’s Twitter handle to thank him.

“I can’t wait to witness the company’s next chapter.

I’m off to pursue some exciting new projects; more soon! #staytuned,” the tweets read.

Twitter did not immediately announce a replacement for Garg, whose departure comes just two week after Costolo announced he was stepping down as the company’s CEO. Costolo has been replaced by co-founder Jack Dorsey on an interim basis.

Other high-level departures over the last 18 months include product chief Daniel Graf, COO Ali Rowghani, and CFO Mike Gupta.

Before joining Twitter, Garg was the M&A chief for fellow Jack Dorsey company Square.

According to his online profi le, Garg received a BA in Economics and MS in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

PTI

Facebook can be an important learning tool: study Informal learning could supplement the content knowledge students acquire in class WASHINGTON: Social networking sites such as Facebook can help students learn scientific literacy and other complex subjects that often receive short shrift in today’s timestrapped classrooms, a fi rst-of-its-kind study has found.

Researchers found that high school and college students engaged in vigorous, intelligent debate about scientific issues in a voluntary Facebook forum.

Such informal learning not only could supplement the content knowledge students acquire in class, but also connect them with professionals and experts in the field, spur interest in careers and inspire civic engagement.

“One of the things we struggle with as educators is how to take students’ spark of interest in something and develop it in ways that can serve them,” said Christine Greenhow, assistant professor of educational psychology and educational technology at the Michigan State University.

“If students had these kinds of niche communities to be part of, in addition to

their formal curriculum, that could really provide a rich environment for them,” said Greenhow.

For the study students aged 16 to 25 voluntarily joined a Facebook app that dealt with climate-related science news such as coal-burning regulations and environmentally friendly housing.

Greenhow analysed the students’ activity on the Facebook app and found their discussion on various science issues to be largely on-topic, civil and sophisticated.

Past research has looked at online

forums run by the teacher or professor and found mixed results when it came to student engagement and the quality of debate.

Greenhow said students likely feel comfortable participating in the informal forum because it’s already part of their everyday lives and can be less hierarchal and forced than a forum mandated by an instructor.

The findings make a case for popular online sites such as Facebook as possible learning tools. Facebook has more than a billion users, but critics say excessive use can distract kids from academics, spur loneliness and depression, and facilitate cyberbullying.

Greenhow’s previous research suggests another popular site, Twitter, has become a new literary format that is improving learning for students.

While there’s a huge push to integrate new technology into classrooms, she said, more consideration should be given to this informal online learning.

The research appears in the journal Computers in Human Behaviour.

PTI

Solar power, biomass energy and hydrogen...

To provide 24x7 uninterrupted power from renewable energy sources, experts from the UK and IITs are now working together to create a new model which combines the best of solar power, biomass energy and hydrogen.

The fi rst-of-its-kind UK-India experimental BioCPV project on development and integration of biomass and concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system will soon light up a remote tribal hamlet in Shantiniketan, 180 km from Kolkata.

“The problem with dependence on solar power is that sunlight is not available 24x7 and 365 days a year. Therefore we are integrating it with biomass so that the power supply remains continuously available,” project leader Prof Shibani Chaudhuri told PTI. She said that this was the fi rst time that the three sources of green energy would be integrated together in India. The installation work is expected to begin in October, this year and the entire model would be ready by 2016.

Chaudhuri, who teaches environment at Visva- Bharati University in Shantiniketan,

said the idea was to use solar power during the day and match it with biomass generation from local sources of organic material during the night.

Hydrogen would also be used for emergency use. The UK-India research project is jointly funded by Research Councils UK (RCUK) and India’s Department of Science and Technology.

From the UK, experts from the University of Leeds, University of Exeter, and University of Nottingham are sharing their inputs with scientists from Visva-Bharati, IIT Madras and IIT Bombay.

PTI

APP WORLD

Take your dream click for memory Facetune

Android: Rs 200 Every photo could use a touch up. That’s why magazines use expensive, complicated tools like Photoshop to make people look their best. But now, there’s Facetune! Facetune provides easy-to-use, powerful tools (previously reserved only for the pros) to retouch and perfect every photo or selfie, making each one look like it came straight out of a high-fashion magazine. Now you can be sure that all your portraits show only the best version of you - whether you’ll be using them for your professional profile or simply sharing online with friends. In a world constantly becoming more visual, putting your best face forward has never been more important!

Camera FV-5

Android: Rs 199 Camera FV-5 is a professional camera application for mobile devices, that puts DSLR-like manual controls in your fingertips. Tailored to enthusiast and professional photographers, with this camera application you can capture the best raw photographs so that you can post-process them later and get stunning results. The only limit is your imagination and creativity!

Retrica

Android: Free Want to take amazing photos?

Stand out from the crowd - make your photos POP! Retrica will transform your photo experience into something truly memorable. Choose how you want to remember that great view from your trip, or that delicious meal you shared with a friend.

With Retrica’s live filters, you can preview how your photos will look, before you even take the photo! Retrica also comes with trendy logos to make your photos more noticeable. And with over 100 filters, you’ll never run out of options.

YouCam Makeup -Makeover Studio

Android: Free YouCam Makeup is the smart cosmetic kit in your purse, ready with lipstick, eye makeup, blush and more for your digital makeover! Designed for the modern woman, YouCam Makeup lets you create makeup looks and hairstyles to match your unique lifestyle, on your own or with makeup tips and tutorials, making it the ultimate mobile fashion guide. Try makeup in realtime with the new Makeup Cam. Get an instant makeover as you experiment with hundreds of makeup and beauty looks that you can apply in real life! This instant makeover is just like having a magic mirror in your pocket! Whether you want a summer makeover, a wedding makeover or just want to try a new look, YouCam Makeup’s hundreds of makeup and makeover combinations will help you find the perfect look.

Mirror Image - Photo Editor

Android: Free Do you love mirror effect in photos? If yes, then Mirror Image Photo Editor is for you to start running a photo editor for photo mirror and reflection. Mirror Image Photo Editor allows you to create mirror effect with your photos. You can create left -right, up - down, reflection, repeating reflection style photos with Mirror Image photo editor. Apply several photo effects and photo frames to these mirror photos.

You can create photo grids and photo collages, Mirror Image Photo Editor provides you a great collage maker tool, which will let you to create beautiful photo collages and photo grids. Just select photos and app will give you hundreds of different collage layout and grid options. Create desired collages and grids. Now your photo collage is ready to share.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

“Our turnover was Rs 4,500 crore last year. This year, we hope to end at around Rs 5,500 crore. We are expecting around 20-30 per cent growth in our edible oil brands.”

— Manish Goenka, Director, Emami Group

Signpost Infibeam files IPO papers with Sebi; to raise Rs 450 cr

Start-up BPO Antworks to acquire two firms in US NEW DELHI: Former Infosys BPO head Asheesh Mehra’s entrepreneurial venture ‘Antworks’ is closing in on acquiring two firms in the US to expand its healthcare platform. The newly formed Singapore-based company, which provides technical and business process solutions to clients in the healthcare and financial services verticals, will pay about USD 8-10 million for the two acquisitions.

“We are working aggressively on expanding our healthcare portfolio. We will announce two acquisitions in the next 90 days. Both of these (firms) are based out of the US,” Mehra said, adding that the move will provide Antworks technology, clients and capabilities to tap into the multi-billion dollar healthcare space.

PTI

Kerala engg students can take year’s break T H I RU VA N A N T H A P U R A M : In a bid to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among engineering students in Kerala, the state government has said pupils, who have completed two years of their course, can take a break for a year to pursue their ent repreneu r ia l dreams.

The students can take a break PK Abdu Rabb of a maximum period of one year for entrepreneurial activities or for research activities, Education Minister PK Abdu Rabb said at a seminar on ‘Startup policy and Development’.

After the break, the students can return to continue with their engineering course, he said.

‘Residential Student Entrepreneur programme’ has been drawn up as in western countries where students can earn while they learn, he said.

The data of FDI investment (see table) shows maximum financial inflow in IT sector.

Meanwhile, the entrepreneurial ambitions of engineering graduates in Kerala will now get a cutting edge with the Start-up Village rolling out its ‘FINTECH Studio’ scheme, which provides devices and tools for transforming their innovative ideas into reality.

In the fi rst phase of the scheme

Start-ups will get full incubation support from Startup Village and financial expertise from Federal Bank

in partnership with the Kerala-based Federal Bank, a total of 40 teams comprising five students each will be selected from colleges across the state, a release said.

The fi rst batch of the selected teams will have to work on the theme ‘FinTech’, which will focus on developing real-time technology solutions for banking and financial industries.

Each team is expected to develop a prototype of their idea/application on the given theme within a time span of six months, starting from July.

The teams will receive a ‘Startup Box’, each of which contains an

Navigating the Los Angeles traffic snarls while commuting to and from work and ferrying children to school and various activities can be a major hurdle for some people AMY DICKERSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Joanna McFarland, Janelle McGlothlin and Carolyn Yashari Becher, the founders of HopSkipDrive, in downtown Los Angeles, June 11, 2015. HopSkipDrive assists single mothers, divorced parents, and others by taxiing their kids to where they need to be

Recounting one’s driving route in painstaking detail is a well-known and beloved pastime among Los Angeles residents. But for parents who navigate the city’s traffic snarls multiple times a day, commuting to and from work and ferrying their children to school and various activities, the talk can take on a desperate tone.

Such was the case for Joanna McFarland, Carolyn Yashari Becher and Janelle McGlothlin, three working mothers with a total of eight children, who attend seven schools and are involved in karate, soccer, tennis, horseback riding, baseball, music, dance, gymnastics and skateboarding.

“You’re stressed,” McGlothlin said of her driving schedule. “You’re in traffic. You’re snapping at them because you’re worried.”

Punjab seeks bids for power projects

State govt is aiming to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among engineering students

A ride start-up in LA for the after-school set

BY CLAIRE MARTIN

“Micro attention is being paid to stalled projects and a pick-up in that area would be helping demand for industrial products.”

— Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister

ITMISSION.KERALA.GOV.IN

NEW DELHI: Online shopping portal Infibeam has approached capital markets regulator Sebi to mop up an estimated Rs 450 crore through an initial public offer, becoming the first e-commerce firm to tap the IPO route. Gujarat-based Infibeam Incorporation Ltd said it has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with Sebi for a public issue of its equity shares through which it aims to raise up to Rs 450 crore. Infibeam competes with Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and others in the e-commerce space. The capital markets watchdog had announced a new set of easier norms for listing of startup firms on separate stock exchanges.

PTI

Their solution was to start a ride service called HopSkipDrive. It’s one of two such California companies catering to busy families. The other one, Shuddle, serves the San Francisco Bay Area.

HopSkipDrive’s passengers are children ages 7 to 17 whose parents request and pay for rides at least 24 hours in advance using a smartphone app or the company’s website. A ride costs $20; a package of 50 is $600.

Trips longer than 8 kilometres or 30 minutes cost extra.

Nearly 2,000 people have signed up for the service, according to the company.

The service is especially useful for families without full-time nannies, stay-at-home parents caring for more than one child, and divorced parents, said McFarland, a former general manager for the consumer website Oversee.net.

Gathered in a conference room

in the Los Angeles co-working space that houses their business, the women chatted like old friends - and two of them are. McFarland and McGlothlin met seven years ago through their children. At a party in late 2013, they were complaining about their transportation challenges with a group of other mothers.

“I jokingly said, ‘We need to buy a van and hire the moms and the babysitters in the neighbourhood to drive our kids around,’” McFarland said.

THE IDEA STUCK. The two joined forces with Becher, a former real estate lawyer who at the time was founder and executive director of the Neuromuscular Disease Foundation and had separately started working on a similar concept several years earlier. When she met McFarland and McGlothlin, they decided to start HopSkipDrive together, tapping their friends and families, in addition to angel investors and venture capitalists, for fi nancing.

They declined to say how much they raised.

Instead of buying a van, they hired drivers who had their own cars, following the model used by the ridehailing businesses Lyft and Uber.

The service also requires drivers to have at least fi ve years of child care experience, and it conducts rigorous background checks, including fi ngerprinting prospective drivers and vetting them for driving under the influence of alcohol and being convicted sex offenders. And it performs monthly checks to ensure that all drivers maintain clean driving records.

Many of the company’s 100 drivers are mothers themselves, and they are permitted to bring their own children along on rides. © 2015 New York Times News Service

PUNE

iPhone 6, iPad mini, Macbook Air, Nexus 5, Kindle, 1 TB Hard disk and Arduino Starter Kit, besides a company registration deed, a bank account opening form and an application form for the state’s Student Entrepreneurship Policy.

‘Kerala Startup Mission’, also known as the Technopark-TBI, will be the nodal agency for the programme while the Startup Village, a public-private initiative, will be the implementing agency.

The startups will get full incubation support from Startup Village and financial expertise from Federal Bank.

PTI

Government has identified 6,000 acres of land for setting up solar power projects CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has invited investors to set up solar power projects in the state, saying it has identified 6,000 acres of land for setting up such projects.

State owned Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) has invited bids for setting up 500 MW of solar power projects wherein developers can bid from minimum 50 MW to maximum 150 MW with power purchase agreement for 25 years with the State power utility.

Disclosing this, Bikram Singh Majithia, New & Renewable Energy Minister, Punjab said the developers will have an option to put up the allocated capacity at single location or maximum 10 locations with minimum capacity of 5 MW. He said to facilitate the developers, PEDA has identified 6,000 acres of land belonging to village Panchayats and private land owners, who are willing to give their land on lease for these projects.

The successful developers will have an option to tie up with these land owners at terms and conditions to be decided by them with the land owners, he said.

Majithia said it becomes imperative to set up Solar PV power

projects to harness the abundant solar potential in the state where sunshine is available more than 300 days in a year.

He said the state has taken major strides in the solar power generation capacity, from 9 MW in 2012 to 206 MW in 2015, and it could become possible with active participation of the private solar power developers.

In addition to it, in phase-II, 282 MW capacity solar power projects have been allocated and power purchase agreements signed, which comprises of 229MW ground mount and 53MW Rooftop projects.

These projects are scheduled for commissioning by March 2016, he added.

Majithia stated that the higher capacity addition in the Solar Power Generation sector has been possible only due to lot of facilitation and single point clearance being provided

by PEDA and Punjab Bureau of Investment & Promotion.

PSPCL provides a 25 years bankable power purchase agreement.

Due to concerted efforts, major companies like Punj Lloyd, Wellspun, Azure Power, Essel, Acme, Lanco, Luminous, and investors from USA, Frnce Israel, have invested more than Rs 1,400 crore and set up solar power projects in the state, he said.

PTI

The state has taken major strides in solar power generation capacity

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

SPOTLIGHT Pics by Aniruddha Rajandekar

The office of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) which used to be office of Superintendent of Police before rural and city police were divided

Did you know Pune police completed 50 years on July 1?

The top brass in Pune police just forgot about the day

BY Gitesh Shelke @gitesh.shelke Typically, a day marking Golden Jubilee of any prominent institution would involve celebrating the legacy.

But here in Pune, our very own cops forgot that July 1 marked their 50 years of existence. The Pune police commissionerate was set up on July 1, 1965. Let alone commemorating the day, or decorating the heritage buildings they occupy, the top brass in police did not even announce any welfare schemes for their own men.

Prior to the setting up of commissionerate, the city was policed

by Superintendent of Police, Pune unit. On July 1, 1965, a decision was

constructed around the bungalow of police superintendent. The bungalow is now Crime Branch office.

History of Pune police dates back to 1843 when the British government set it up after passing the Police Act, 1861. Prior to that, the Peshwas were in charge of policing the city, headed by a Kotwal, one of whom was the infamous Ghashiram Kotwal.

Over the years, while the staff strength and number of police stations have gone up, top brass have forgotten about the legacy and heritage structures. Currently, the city police jurisdiction stretches across 790 km, covering 39 police stations and a 10,000-strong force.

Former police commissioner Satish

The first police commissioner E S Modak and his successors

taken to divide into city and rural police units.

The city police was formed after estimating the requirements of policing in the city. The need for the commissionerate was felt after demographic features of the city started changing in the early 1960s. There was a mushrooming of industries and colleges which also brought in migrants from all across the state and country. After the 1962 floods, the move to divide the office of Superintendent of Police into two, with the city having the commissionerate, gained momentum.

After the divide, the office of Superintendent of Pune rural police was shifted to Pashan at Chavan Nagar.

While the first police commissioner, E S Modak, an Imperial Police (IP) officer, took over the charge of the city police commissionerate. The new commissionerate building was

Mathur had planned to re-develop and upgrade the 100 years old police colony at Shivajinagar to mark the occasion.

He had also announced a coffee table book, containing the history of policing in Pune, but none of these materialised.

The Shivajinagar police colony constructed by the British in 1904/05, is now in a dilapidated condition, there is a lack of toilets and problems with the water supply.

The police colonies at Khadak and Bhavani Peth too date back to the British era, and guns and cannon balls from that time have been found in these colonies during digging work for pipelines.

The city police have Eastern and Western Bungalows at Shivajinagar police headquarters, and it is not clear in which of the two the Maharashtra Police Academy was launched over a 100 years ago.

Faraskhana and Vishrambaug Police Station

Interestingly, the history segment on the Pune police’s website, www. punepolice.gov.in, also does not mention a word about the legacy of the institution. It talks about staff and police stations. Now wonder, nobody in Pune police remembered July 1.

Khadak police station Khadak police station on Shivaji Road is among the oldest in the city dating back over a 100 years. Built of stone with Mangalore tiles on the roof, the police station has been witness to numerous historic incidents during the Indian freedom struggle. Freedom fighter Adhya Krantiveer Umaji Naik Khomane was hanged in public view from a tree on the station premises. It

Council Hall Police Chowky

Eastern and Western Bungalows The sprawling Eastern and Western Bungalows on the premises of

Office of Police Commissioner, Pune

Peru Gate Police Chowky

is the only police station in the state to operate on solar power.

Traffic office in the Commissionerate

Khadak Police Station

Council Hall Police Chowky Council Hall is one of the most remarkable strictures occupied by police in Maharashtra. The British constructed this chowky with a specific purpose. Constables at the chowky were assigned to put out the flames of the lanterns on bullock carts going from Blue Nile chowk to Wadia College, to avert any fire hazard at Pune Archives building and Council Hall. Of course it was a dirt road back then.

The British era building currently housing Deputy Commissioner of Police of Traffic was constructed over 100 years ago. It used to house the office of Superintendent of Police, Pune before the unit’s division into city and rural police. The building has eight rooms and the construction features stone and teak wood, with Mangalore tiles on the roof.

Back in the old days, the Superintendent of Police, Pune district, used to live in a bungalow which is now the Crime Branch office. The first commissioner of the city police also operated from this office for a few months, until the new building came up in the campus.

Shivajinagar police headquarters, on Modern College Road, is where the premier Maharashtra Police Academy was started. The Academy was later shifted to Nashik. During World War II, these two bungalows served as British war offices.

Oops, we forgot!

Police Commissioner KK Pathak admitted that they forgot about July 1.

“No, we did not hold any ceremony or celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of the city police unit on July 1. It was a busy day and our constables and officials were caught up with numerous incidents in the city, tackling law and order issues. Somehow, the day just skipped our minds. But we still have the entire year to make up for it.

However, we are planning to celebrate the 50th anniversary over the course of the year. We want to refurbish

Police Commissioner KK Pathak

and renovate the old police colony at Shivajinagar and we will also compile a coffee table book featuring the history and other relevant aspects of the city police. Besides this, a lecture series, blood donation camp and health drive for our personnel are on the cards.

The website has become obsolete so we plan to upgrade it, and its history page as well with the help of a retired police inspector who had documented the history of the Pune city police. Officers will deal with staff welfare issues, especially regarding our constables.” gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Police Headquarter Shivajinagar, Pune

SPOTLIGHT

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

PICS BY ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

As Iraqi lives and communities continue to be war-devastated, many youngsters apply for refugee status and move to Pune leaving behind bloody battles at home

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh.shelke

F

irst it was the Iran-Iraq war.

Then it was Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War. The latest is the ISIS crisis in the region. Over three decades of war and strife in Iraq has displaced millions of people, many of whom have migrated to European and neighbouring Islamic countries. India is one of the preferred countries for refugees or those wanting to flee from Iraq. Pune in particular has been popular among the younger refugees, many of whom come here to study and eventually settle down.

In the last two years, the number of students coming to Pune from Iraq has increased substantially. With the situation deteriorating across many cities in their country, some of them prefer to move with their families.

What’s more, three of these Iraqis now living in Pune have availed of a refugee status, even as many others have applied for the same.

In 2014, a total of 949 persons from Iraq arrived in Pune city. Out of these, 532 were on student visas, while 377 had arrived in Pune on entry visas, for their kin’s education in Pune. There were others who had long-term and medical visas.

In the last six months, 580 Iraqis have travelled to Pune. The number of students arriving in Pune from Iraq has gone up to 431 in six months, while 132 persons arrived on entry visas.

Deputy Commissioner of Police of Foreigners’ Registration Office (FRO) Sanjay Patil said that there are 43 refugees from different countries around the globe registered with the Pune city police. “The three Iraqi nationals living in Pune, have got refugee status in the last 12 months,” he said.

The United Nations (UN)

authorities in Pune said that many Iraqis have applied for refugee status with the UN office in New Delhi. Their applications are being processed, they said.

FRO officials, who keep a tab on foreign nationals in the city, explained that apart from Iraqis approaching their office for registration, there are many who directly apply to the UN. “If the process is routed through UN officials, police are not concerned with it,” DCP Patil said.

There has also been a jump in the number of Iraqis coming to Pune on entry visas. They are those who are neither working nor studying here.

“They are either parents or spouses of the persons who have secured admissions in different educational institutes in the city,” DCP Patil said.

Cops say the rise in number of people coming to Pune from Iraq on entry visas has gone up due after ISIS started targeting Iraqi cities.

While several thousand families from Iraq have migrated to European countries in the last few years, Pune is fast gaining popularity among the younger lot. Th is is mainly due to affordable lifestyle, cheap

Torn by war back home, they seek solace here accommodation and the vast number of educational institutes they can choose from. DCP Patil explained that the number will go up in the next two months. “The number of students and other persons visiting Pune on entry visas will go up in the next two months, as many students have already secured admissions to city colleges. Many of them will arrive in the city after Ramzan,” he said.

The city too has welcomed the population from the war-stricken country with open arms. A majority of Iraqis in the city prefer to live in upper middle class localities of Bavdhan and Kondhwa. To cater to the rising population, Al Iraqi restaurant has opened up at Kausar Baug in Kondhwa, which claims to offer authentic Iraqi cuisine.

WARSTRICKEN COUNTRY

Mohammed Jawad M

ohammed who lives in Bavdhan studies at a pharmacy college on Sinhagad Road. He came to Pune in August 2013 and has been here ever since.

“My sister has migrated to Australia with her husband and kids. She and husband work at a hospital,” he said.

Mohammad hails from Al Muthana, a small town in Iraq, which has suffered due to war and bombings.

“My parents, younger brother and older sister still live there. My father who was in the Iraqi army was injured in a war,” he said. The condition in his country is worsening by the day. “I care for my family but it is not feasible for me to visit them. It is too dangerous. I am planning to apply for refugee status after I complete my education,” he said.

Recalling the past, Mohammed said

that his family lived in a small apartment and as children they were not allowed to wander far from home. “We used to see US and NATO forces patrolling the roads,” he said.

“I came to Pune for a good education.

Back home, there are no good educational institutes and Europe is costly, so I came to Pune,” he said adding that in Iraq there is electric supply for four hours a day, which makes it difficult to study. Mohammad dreams of starting his own pharmacy business someday. “There is no scope for me in Iraq. No one knows what will happen or when a blast will end one’s life.

It is living in constant peril,” he said.

Mohammed explains that his fi rst choice is India. “I would like to stay here in India, or if not, move to Australia or Europe,” he said.

Over three decades Iraq has seen nonstop war. It started in 1980 with the Iran-Iraq war. Since then several million people have left the country.

In 2007, an estimated four million Iraqis had been displaced from their homes. Of these, two million had taken refuge in neighbouring Middle Eastern countries. In recent times, European countries like Greece and Italy have seen over a million people from Mediterranean countries seeking refuge.

A recent United Nation’s report

Bahaa Abdul Kareem Alfarttossi Bahaa, 22, who lives in Bavdhan, studies at a pharmacy college on Paud Road. “I want to become an educationist and teach in a pharmacy college or medical university,” he said. He came to Pune in 2013, and has not visited his home country ever since. “It is not possible to visit my country regularly. The airport has been destroyed and there is no security for anyone,” he said.

Bahaa’s younger brother, two sisters and parents still live in Baghdad.

“I miss my family but I dare not visit them,” he said adding, “I am on a student visa, but I want to apply for refugee status, or get Indian citizenship.”

He explains that his was a joint family. Due to constant strife in the region, his uncle migrated to Canada and aunt has settled down in Sweden. “Some of my relatives have migrated to the US and even obtained citizenship there,” he said.

Bahaa’s father used to be a government servant.

His mother was a professor at an engineering college but quit her job owing to the trouble there. “I was born in 1993 and I have witnessed war all my life. At fi rst, it was the Kuwait invasion, then there was the dethroning and capture of Saddam Hussein by the US, followed by tribal strife, and now ISIS has taken over the battlefield,” he said.

“My father was injured in a bomb explosion in Baghdad. It is scary,” said Bahaa. He added that he grew up in the city where an egg was available for a dollar. “We constantly lived in fear and uncertainty, not knowing when a bomb would blow us up or there was all-out war,” he said.

The 22-year-old explained that children in his family spent their days indoors, never outside.

“There is nothing left in Iraq. There are very few companies or industries. To earn a livelihood, one must work for the government. Roads are damaged, and the electric supply is sporadic,” he said.

“I do not want to go back. Pune is good city and I want to live here. If not, I want to settle down in an European city,” he concluded. states that over three million people have been displaced in the last few years due to Islamic State group violence. A statement issued by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that at least 3.09 million people have been displaced between January

2014 and June this year. Most of these were from Anbar province, which has witnessed a lot of violence in April and June this year. Anbar’s provincial capital, Ramadi, has been taken over

by ISIS from the Iraqi government. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“All religions were sources of forgiveness and tolerance. Now that it is a factor for division and killing, we have a responsibility to promote religious harmony...killing in the name of religion is totally wrong.”

— Dalai Lama

Music unites Israelis and Palestinians P13

DLRC aims to make learning fun for kids Struck by the lacunae in the current education system, the DriveChange Learning and Resource Centre is breathing fresh air into the education arena

Acknowledging the benefits

“Our education system today showcases a problem of being shallow. In-depth knowledge about a subject is lacking almost all the time. What is good about DLRC is that the education is not only in-depth, but it is also un-conditional. My son does not have to study a subject that he does not want to, simply because it goes hand in hand with another subject of his choice. He has the freedom of choice.”

—Amrita Nagadia (Engineer turned fashion designer)

by Salonee Mistry @sal0412

How it all began Both teachers by profession, Baner residents Mona and her husband Ajay Dalmia were more than a little dismayed by the standard and scope of education their children were getting, and decided to do something about it themselves. They roped in Pavan Iyengar, a like-minded soul who himself is a product of the Pune education system, and set up DLRC, with a prime focus on the aspect of hands-on learning.

“Education should be such that it helps create responsible, informed and independent thinkers. This is only possible if the kind of education that is provided covers all aspects of the topics studied,” said Mona.

“My daughter was so excited about what she had learned at the DLRC water workshop. At the end of the day, that is what is important. It is not about the concept or what is being taught, but very often the manner in which it is being taught. The learning journey makes all the difference.”

—Rohit Toshniwal (Vice-President Engineering, Arkinnnet) Children getting a comprehensive understanding of water at the workshop organised by DLRC co-founder Mona Dalmia (left) at Baner on June 27

Every parent wants their child to get an education that not only brought about their strong points but also serves to develop the more subtle aspects of their personality. But the hectic school schedules focused on academics left little time or scope for students to explore and discover anything else.

The three of them put together a team of researchers and drew up a rigorous curriculum that required the students to apply what they had learned in creative ways.

Making learning fun The DLRC emphasis is on making learning fun. The experience during the time invested in acquiring knowledge is what enables students to retain it longer, they believe. “A programme of this nature helps bring in an aspect of community, accepts the children for who they are, and works

with them to realise their truest and highest potential. This in fact is what kids want nowadays,” said Ajay.

Applying what one has learnt in practical terms makes learning fun, and it sets students on a journey of constant discovery and learning.

“Students between the ages of 11 and 18 are not only keen to learn and understand how things around them function, but they also want to apply what they have learnt. This is what makes the programme constructive,” said Pavan. We give the students what they want, follow a structure that will allow them to clear an NIOS, NCERT or Cambridge exam, in a manner that makes the process and the learning journey a fun experience,” Pavan said.

DLRC structure Apart from having a resource library where age is no bar, DLRC has two

other programmes that help make learning a fun experience, that is also relevant and useful in day-to-day life.

The full-time learning programme is a substitute to actually having to go to school. Following a customised curriculum that draws on the best aspects of the NCERT, NIOS and Cambridge syllabi, the programme enhances a ‘peer2peer’ learning experience. Daily schedules start with a fun workout and end with community work, devised to give back to society.

Field trips even include visits to a corner roadside tea tapri, to understand the chai business first-hand, besides more exalted scientific subjects such as energy and thermodynamics.

The DLRC after school experiential workshops employ a crossdisciplinary approach to understand every day things and how they function. They aim at providing life

“DLRC’s philosophy incorporates aspects of thinking laterally and out of the box. My daughter was very excited about what she learnt at a water workshop and was so happy about having understood different perspectives about a basic element like water from her peers. This is how I would love my daughter’s education to be.”

—Gangotri Korke (Accounts and Finance, Doorstep School) skills such as lateral thinking, effective communication and collaboration.

Workshops on nature related aspects such as biogas and water are dealt with from all perspectives. One of the workshops involved assembling and repairing a bicycle.

“There has been a good response to the workshops, which shows that parents understand the need for what we are teaching our students. Many parents are actively involved in planning the workshops and source ideas to make the learning experience more enriching for the children,” said Pavan.

The way ahead The DLRC goal is

It is considered to be heartland of Alevi religion, a gnostic amalgam of Islam, Zoroastrianism, shamanism and other influences

by Michael Benanav Deep in the rugged heart of eastern Anatolia, the Munzur River flows from the base of a skyscraping limestone massif, wending its way into the world across a grassy valley cradled between dog-toothed peaks and forested hills. The water is impossibly clear and numbingly cold and, to most of those who visit its source, sacred. “It’s easy to feel close to God here,” I was told by one follower of the mystical Alevi religion, who, like hundreds of other women, men and children, had come to the springs - called Munzur Gozeleri - on a scorching July afternoon.

They had come to pray and light candles in the nooks of boulders, and to immerse themselves in the bracing waters. They had come to sacrifice sheep and goats on a hill above the river, blessing new marriages, honoring dead relatives, hoping to help heal sick children. And they had come to eat: Each family that brought an animal to slaughter took its freshly butchered meat down to the riverside, where it was roasted or stewed over an open fire, served under shade trees with flatbreads, cheeses, olives and tea and shared with friends and strangers alike.

The scene was informal and festive, like a community picnic, striking an easy balance between the spiritual and the recreational.

I had gone to the river’s source in July 2014, to meet with a local Alevi leader, called a dede, to learn about the religion: a gnostic amalgam of Islam, Zoroastrianism, shamanism and other influences, which

Michael Benanav/The New York Times

Finding paradise in Turkey’s Munzur valley

Fadime Kayir, left, wearing the traditional dress of the Munzur Valley, holds her granddaughter, Roseanna, with Bahar Yerlikaya, right, in the Munzur Valley in Turkey, July 10, 2014

emphasises inner spiritual growth over outward displays of faith and regards nature as holy. The majority of people in the region of Dersim, through which the Munzur River flows, are adherents of Alevism and are also ethnic Kurds (although many Alevis in other parts of Turkey are ethnic Turks).

Hasan Hayri Sanli, known as the Hayri Dede, whom I met at the springs, has written five books about Alevism and was happy to talk with a rare foreign visitor. He was nearly bald; his mustache was a thick brush of white and silver bristles; his hearing aid worked intermittently.

His voice was rich and emotive, so I grasped the feeling behind his words even before they were translated for me by a young woman from the nearby town of Ovacik, who was studying to be an English teacher.

He said, “We don’t believe there’s a paradise waiting for us after we die. For us, heaven and hell are here on earth.”

Although he meant it as an explanation of an essential Alevi belief, it was also an apt description of the Munzur Valley itself - where the landscape is awe-inspiring,

people are phenomenally friendly, and great suffering and injustice have been endured. At the time of my conversation with the Hayri Dede, the threat of a major hydroelectric project, which would dam the Munzur River in several places and destroy much of the valley, loomed over the area.

I first visited Munzur in 2005. I was traveling through eastern Turkey, planning my route with topographical maps, and one land form leapt off the paper and into my imagination: an ovalshaped basin sitting about 1,500 metres above sea level, ringed by mountains. It was far from major cities and tourist destinations - exactly the kind of place I wanted to go.

I aimed for Ovacik, the largest town in the upper Munzur Valley, now with a population of 3,700, and spent a few days wandering

out to the small villages beneath the soaring Munzur Mountains.

Wherever I went, I was welcomed into stone-and-mud homes to share tea and food with the Kurdish shepherds who lived there.

I felt as if I had stumbled into an Anatolian Shangri-La, which was tarnished only by the imposing presence of Turkish military and police. Since before the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the Dersim region, most of which is officially part of Tunceli province, has been known for its independent streak. In the mid-1930s, when the Turkish state began efforts to dilute the region’s Kurdish identity, tribes in Dersim resisted. Government forces responded with the Dersim Massacre of 1937-38, killing between 14,000 and 80,000 people.

Thousands more were forcibly displaced to western Turkey.

Decades later, in the early ‘90s, the hills, mountains and canyons of Dersim were infiltrated by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), an armed rebel group fighting for greater autonomy for Turkey’s Kurds.

Despite local ambivalence toward the the PKK, Turkish military began a scorchedearth campaign against the guerrillas in and around the Munzur Valley in 1994.

During what’s known as “the Evacuation,” more than 100 rural villages in Tunceli province, where Kurdish Alevi families had lived for hundreds of years, were destroyed; the fields, orchards and forests around them were burned; many men were jailed on suspicion of aiding the insurgents.

Last July, I planned to go back to document the daily life and Alevi

Alevi emphasises inner spiritual growth over outward displays of faith

traditions of the valley, so I asked a friend and film-maker, Cat Cannon, to join me. We headed for Ovacik, which is far more scenic, slowerpaced and closer to the river’s source than the valley’s largest city, Tunceli.

We arrived by minibus and met Serde Yerlikaya, who was home on summer break from university in Ankara and was fluent in English.

She agreed on the spot to help translate for us during our stay (for which we insisted on paying her) and we became fast friends. Most days, Cat, Serde and I ventured away from Ovacik, walking, hitchhiking or taking taxis to villages around the valley, where beautiful old stone houses sat beside new ones built of concrete.

We also visited sacred Alevi sites, called ziyarets. Some are seemingly random boulders topped with piles of pebbles, or trees to which strips of cloth had been tied each pebble, each piece of cloth, is a prayer left behind by an Alevi.

Many times I was struck by moments of pure bliss. Just walking between villages at dusk - with the high peaks shrouded in smoky violet, shepherds ambling through the fields with their flocks, bells a-jingle, and the first stars sparkling in the sky over a dark and ragged horizon - was as extraordinary as it was mundane. It was obvious that the essence of this generous and open-minded culture was somehow infused with, and perfectly attuned to, the essence of the place. They seemed inseparable.

The day I spoke with the Hayri Dede at the source of the Munzur, he ended our conversation by reciting a poem he had written.

Near the end, his eyes filled with tears. Serde translated the last two lines: “When I die, burn my body and scatter me over Munzur.” It was a love poem to the valley.

His heaven, clearly, is here on earth. © 2015 New York Times News Service

to

have

neighbourhood learning centres throughout the city to ensure that this kind of education is accessible to all. Awareness for the need of an application-based learning environment is also a by-product of this initiative and an important one at that.

“It would have been great if we had something like this when I was in school. Workshops like the ones conducted by DLRC could have filled the gap I felt at the end of my education,” says Ankit Gothi, 23, who interned with DLRC and is currently pursuing mechanical engineering at a university in Delhi. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

Kumbh Mela: Community radios installed in buses for devotees Nashik: In view of the heavy rush of pilgrims expected during the upcoming Kumbh Mela, the Nashik district administration has arranged for ‘community radios’ in 3,000 MSRTC buses.

“We have installed radio sets in 3,000 buses through which devotees will be given information regarding Nashik and Trimbakeshwar, the ancient temples located there, arrangements of holy dip at both the places and also alerting them in case of any untoward incident,” Nashik District Collector Dipendrasinh Kushwaha said.

With the community radio system, the administration aims to establish contact with the devotees travelling in the buses to avoid inconvenience to them, have better crowd control and also to provide them guidelines, he said.

The administration has made arrangements of outer and inner parking at different places for all private vehicles and the pilgrims. After keeping their vehicles at the outer parking, they will have to travel by MSRTC buses which will be stationed at the inner parking.

“After reaching the inner parking, the devotees will have to continue their journey on foot for which police machinery will be operating a public address system. We have installed 1,700 loudspeakers at various places to guide the people,” Kushwaha further said.

The Collector office, city and rural police and Nashik Municipal Corporation will coordinate on the said system, he said, adding, that a CCTv control room has been set up at the Police Commissionerate office to supervise the situation.

Lakhs of devotees are expected to take part in the royal procession and holy baths at Nashik and Trimbakeshwar, particularly on ‘Parvani’ days (a special occasion) - in Nashik on August 29, September 13 and 18 and in Trimbakeshwar on August 29, September 13 and 25, he added.

PTI

Gone are the days when school was the only place to learn things. Today the internet, and more recently, learning and resource centres are promoting learning of a different kind. Learning centres that provide a forum for alternate schooling, are also giving the concept of education a radically different spin compared to what it has been through the ages.

The ‘DriveChange Learning and Resource Centre (DLRC)’ at Baner, accommodates students between 11 and 18 years of age. It aims to give students a well-rounded and application-based learning experience. Though just a month old, the DLRC initiative envisions grand scenarios for the future.

“Something like DLRC is a beautiful idea. It is definitely something that our education system needs and could actually become the need of the hour. It remains to be seen how well it gets accepted.”

—Rajni Paranjpe (Founder, Doorstep School)

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis check arrangements for Kumbh Mela in Nashik

ENVIRONMENT

H EALTH

defecation in India alone represents 394 million people and significantly influences regional and global estimates,” it said.

The report, however, noted that in India, there has been very little change over the last 20 years in reducing open defecation among the poor.

The report further said that India has “met its target” of increasing use of drinking water resources to its population.

India was among the nine countries that succeeded in halving the proportion of the population without improved drinking water in both rural and urban areas.

The other countries are Belize, Egypt, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Tunisia and Uganda.

From 71 per cent in 1990, India now has 94 per cent of its population with access to drinking water sources, the report said.

The report, however, warned that the lack of progress on sanitation globally threatens to undermine the

child survival and health benefits from gains in access to safe drinking water.

“Until everyone has access to adequate sanitation facilities, the quality of water supplies will be undermined and too many people will continue to die from waterborne and water-related diseases,” said Maria Neira, Director of the WHO Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. .

Access to adequate water, sanitation and hygiene is critical in the prevention and care of 16 of the 17 ‘neglected tropical diseases’ (NTDs), including trachoma, soil- transmitted helminths (intestinal worms) and schistosomiasis.

NTDs affect more than 1.5 billion people in 149 countries, causing blindness, disfigurement, permanent disability and death.

The practice of open defecation is linked to a higher risk of stunting - or chronic malnutrition - which affects 161 million children worldwide,

leaving them with irreversible physical and cognitive damage, according to WHO. Plans for the proposed new sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be set by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 include a target to eliminate open defecation by 2030.

Th is would require a doubling of current rates of reduction, especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, WHO and UNICEF say.

Sanjay Wijesekera, head of UNICEF’s global water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, said what the data really show is the need to focus on inequalities as the only way to achieve sustainable progress.

“The global model so far has been that the wealthiest move ahead fi rst, and only when they have access do the poorest start catching up. If we are to reach universal access to sanitation by 2030, we need to ensure the poorest start making progress right away,” Wijesekera said.

Access to improved drinking water sources has been a major achievement for countries and the international community.

With some 2.6 billion people having gained access since 1990, 91 per cent of the global population now have improved drinking water - and the number is still growing.

Although some 2.1 billion people have gained access to improved sanitation since 1990, the world has missed the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target by nearly 700 million people.

Today, only 68 per cent of the world’s population uses an improved sanitation facility - 9 percentage points below the MDG target of 77 per cent.

PTI

President’s Estate gets first STP

An artificial intelligence (AI) system

Get your voice heard on NetaG P6

GRANDCHILDREN SUE THE COMPLETE MAN

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

When hunger strikes past midnight

NATION

CITY

Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings P 12

Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days?

P3

DITCH THE

AUTO,

HAIL A

CAB

GAUTAM SINGHANIA

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

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

Five members of the team tried hiring rickshaws for distances

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

DEHU

6

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

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

See Spotlight on p8&9

RITU GOYAL HARISH

ALANDI

AKURDI

CHINCHWAD

RAVET

BHOSARI

4 THERGAON HINJEWADI VILLAGE

KALEWADI FATA

WAKAD

DIGHI

NASHIK PHATA

5

LOHEGAON

DAPODI 50

PIMPLE GURAV

WAGHOLI

3 4 BANER

VISHRANT VIMAN WADI NAGAR YERWADA

AUNDH

2

SANGAMWADI PASHAN

AH47

WADGAON SHERI

MUNDHWA

SHIVAJI NAGAR

GHORPADI

9

BAVDHAN

CAMP

HADAPSAR

KOTHRUD

SWARGATE PARVATI

WANOWRIE

1

NANDED AMBEGAON BUDRUK

KONDHWA

UNDRI

KATRAJ

4

Sab golmal hai...

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

said director of the school, who

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

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

The investigation was carried out by statements.”

DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL

CHIKHALI

KIWALENIGDI

~ Suit filed by the siblings

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

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

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

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

We believe we were on the right,”

Parents teach them more than exams do P 10

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

~ Suit filed by the siblings

What a mess!

Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

CITY

Truly, a tree lady P4

And yet no respite for commuters

DR VIJAYPAT SINGHANIA

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

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

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

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

Precious man hours are lost every day at Hinjewadi just because planners forgot to make more entry and exit points. Over a decade after Hinjewadi was planned to house country’s best IT firms and saying is true. But what they are not telling us or willing to talent, planners have finally woken up to the plight of citizens. concede is that their enemy lies within. Their enemy number one They have now planned five alternative roads. But the authorities is not private cabs but members of their own ilk – many of whom are in no hurry to complete them. See spotlight on p8 & 9 are rude, refuse to ply short

Supriya Bhoite from Chaturshrungi police station.

Contd on p4

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

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

The CPIO was clueless about the project and sought information from

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

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

Hum

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

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

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

receiving his RTI finally been traced by the government with the help of police and claims that the fi lm will be released in “next two to four months”. He still hasn’t answered several questions raised by the government about the script and the star cast.

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

Saath Saath

When

HUNGER STRIKES past midnight

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

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

The Kamdars

Run for…

yourself

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

PLASTIC CAN AFFECT PARENTING BEHAVIOUR Parents, take note! Exposure to a chemical found in plastic bottles and cash register receipts may negatively affect parenting behaviour, a new study has claimed. Researchers at the University of Missouri have used the monogamous, biparental California mouse species to prove that offspring born to parents who are exposed to widely prevalent endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as Bisphenol-A receive decreased parental care by both the mother and father. Scientists believe results could have relevance to human parenting as well. The California mouse is used as a model for examining parental behaviours because they are monogamous and, much like humans, both male and female partners contribute to child-rearing.

NATION

CITY

No damaged goods please P3

PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

AI SOLVES 100 YEARS OLD BIOLOGY PROBLEM

TGS LIFE

Run for... yourself

RAHUL RAUT

In a move to resolve increasing mananimal conflict especially those causing damages to crops, Environment ministry said that it has sought report from the states to declare certain overpopulated animals as vermin for a limited period of time. Once declared vermin, that particular species can be hunted without restriction. “We had issued a circular in this regard earlier also. In areas where farmers are facing huge problems due to animals, there is a procedure to declare them as ‘vermin’ like blue bull and wild boar for a particular period of time,” said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. “As soon as we get states’ response on this, we will give them permission to declare such animals as ‘vermin’ for a limited period of time,” he said. If implemented, it will apply to wild animals listed in various Schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) 1972. The provisions to declare wild animals as problem animals are already there in the WPA, the minister said.

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has solved a 100-year-old mystery of how a flatworm regenerates its body parts, an advance which suggests that computers may one day independently invent scientific ideas. The system was developed by researchers from Tufts University, in Massachusetts, who put it to work on data from experiments on planaria - tiny worms with an uncanny ability to regrow complex body parts.

Scientists have not been able to come up with a model that explains the worm’s extraordinary ability. “The invention of models to explain what nature is doing is the most creative thing scientists do - it’s not just statistics or number crunching, this is the heart and soul of the scientific enterprise,” said Michael Levin, one of the authors of the study told ‘LiveScience’. The system was programmed by Daniel Lobo, a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts and coauthor of the study.

and a more immunogenic vaccine, Gill said adding this will make Hib vaccine accessible and affordable.

“We have already completed the pre-clinical immunogenicity trial phase which has shown predictive results. Our next step now would be to look at collaboration with like-minded stakeholders who can work together towards cost effective solutions with the aim of bridging existing gaps in a significant way,” said Dr Gill.

“It was also found that the new formulation was four to 10 times more potent when compared to the existing licensed vaccines,” Dr Manoj Kumar Chhikara, Head of the Conjugate Vaccines Research and Development program at HL, claimed.

The unique cost-effective formulation developed by the company will significantly reduce the cost of Hib vaccine, which in turn, will help in reducing the market price of the pentavalent vaccine, thus making it accessible to a larger number of people, the release said.

HL, which operates on a not-forprofit principle, is a fi rst-of-its-kind joint-venture partnership formed between Merck & Co and Wellcome Trust, a global foundation dedicated to human and animal health.

PTI

Pneumonia, meningits are the key causes of child deaths in India

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Despite various efforts of the government to depollute rivers across the country, water was found unsafe for drinking without treatment, according to a survey conducted by a green advocacy body.

A survey by TERI of seven major river cities revealed that 86 per cent of the respondents affirmed that it was not safe to drink river water without treatment.

46 per cent believed that the overall

OVERPOPULATED ANIMALS TO BE MARKED AS VERMIN

GUWAHATI: Global vaccine research and development organisation Hilleman Laboratories (HL) has claimed to have made a breakthrough research on an affordable vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), offering hope to millions of children and needy people.

Hilleman Laboratories announced the publication of an original scientific report in the journal ‘Vaccine’ based on the success of a preclinical trial conducted for the vaccine.

Hib is a bacterium that causes diseases like pneumonia and meningitis, which are the leading causes of child deaths in India, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of the global death figures, the company said in a statement.

“The unique formulation derived from the ongoing research will not only bring down the cost of the vaccine, but will also provide a scalable platform for commercial manufacturing,” it said.

HL CEO Dr Davinder Gill said, “Capsular polysaccharide conjugates of Hib are important components of several mono-or multivalent vaccines for children. However, the access to needy people is limited due to the relative high cost of the Hib vaccine.”

Th is new formulation will be a step towards developing a cost-effective

THANK GOD IT’S S AT U R D AY

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

RIVER WATER UNSAFE FOR DRINKING: SURVEY

quality of the river water in their city was poor, followed by 35 per cent and 18 per cent who identified it as fair and good respectively. “The odour in the surrounding areas of river was perceived to have worsened by 56 per cent of the respondents. 24 per cent said there was no change, and 17 per cent said it had become better,” the survey said.

The survey covered seven river cities namely Delhi on Yamuna, Cuttack on Mahanadi, Dibrugarh (Assam) on Brahmaputra, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) on Narmada, Surat (Gujarat) on Tapti, Varanasi on Ganga,and Vijayawada on Krishna.

Affordable vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), offers hope to millions of children and needy people

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the first Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in the President’s Estate which will nurture a wetland for flora and fauna by recycling nearly 12 lakh litre of sewage generated daily in the historic mansion. The plant has been built in a record time of nearly one year and three months, Press Secretary to the President Venu Rajamony said.

“The President’s Estate has over 190.5 acres of greenery, including the famous Mughal Gardens. There is, however, an acute shortage of water for horticulture purposes especially during the summer season which has led to degradation of the green cover and also resulted in the permanent loss of some variety of flora,” Rajamony said. Rajamony said the plant has a capacity of 20 lakh litres per day adding that the total water supply to the President’s Estate from NDMC and other sources is in the range of 16-18 lakh litres per day out of which 80 per cent becomes sewage. “This sewage and additional quantity tapped from North Avenue and South Avenue Network System will be treated and utilised for horticulture purposes in the Estate. The project includes a wetland which has been innovatively designed and planted with various species of trees, shrubs etc,” he said. He said 18,000 fingerlings have also been added to the Dalikhana Lake. “IIT-Delhi was the technical consultant for the plant,” he said.

Cheap vaccine for Hib on the cards

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

UNITED NATIONS: India has made “moderate” progress in reducing open defecation rates among its population and has succeeded in providing access to improved drinking water to more people in urban and rural areas, according to a UN report.

The Joint Monitoring Programme report titled ‘Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2015 Update and MDG Assessment’, released by the UN Children’s Fund and the World Health Organisation said one in every three or 2.4 billion people on the planet are still without sanitation facilities, including 946 million people who defecate in the open.

It said India is among the 16 countries that have reduced open defecation rates by at least 25 percentage points.

In India’s case, there has been a reduction by 31 per cent in open defecation, a progress termed as “moderate” by the report.

“The Southern Asia region, where the number of open defecators is highest, has also made significant improvements.

Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan have all achieved reductions of more than 30 percentage points since 1990,” the report said.

“The 31 per cent reduction in open

IMAGE SOURCE: WATER-SPOUTS.BLOGSPOT.COM

BY YOSHITA SINGH

PUNE

“In the next three years, Ganga will be cleaned in 11 important cities. We directed CWC not to give permission for construction of dams, which do not ensure environmental flow of rivers.”

— Uma Bharti, Union Water Resources Minister

India curbs open defecation One in every three or 2.4 billion people on the planet are still without sanitation facilities, including 946 million people who defecate in the open

JULY 04, 2015

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

“I am totally hopeful that CAMPA bill will be passed in the Parliament. It will pave way for the country to get Rs 35,000 crore for development of forest and ‘Harit’ (Green) India”.

— Prakash Javadekar ,Union Minister of State

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PUNE

“It is in the interest of the prime minister that he takes immediate action against those who are involved in corruption. What actions have been taken against the foreign minister or the Rajasthan chief minister. Every hour, there is new evidence against the Rajasthan CM.” — Ghulam Nabi Azad, Senior Congress leader

Daring escape from Tihar jail The fugitive burglars scaled three 13-foot high walls and drilled a hole in the fourth wall which was two feet wide

129 people fined for urinating publicly in Agra AGRA: In a first amidst the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, 129 people have been fined in the last three days for allegedly urinating in public in the city of Taj. The Government Railway Police (GRP) officers caught 129 people for publicly urinating and slapped them with fines ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 500, officials said.

GRP officers targeted regions like the Agra Cantt railway station, Agra Fort, Raja ki Mandi, Mathura, Idgah, Tundla and 12 other stations in the division.

The campaign will continue as part of the ‘Swachch Bharat Mission’, Gopoesh Nath Khanna, SP railways, said.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) fined 31 people in June for dirtying or spitting on railway platforms at the Agra Cantt railway station, he said.

The DRM office in Agra has been busy sprucing up railway stations and rounding up people for defacing and dirtying platforms for the past one month, he said.

Seeking to provide legal backing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet initiative, the government is drafting a law under which municipalities can punish those found spitting, urinating and throwing garbage in public places.

PTI

New Delhi: Two days after escaping from the high-security Tihar prisons, the second undertrial was Tuesday arrested from Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh by Delhi Police.

Jawed, who had escaped from Tihar prisons along with another prisoner, Faizan, on Saturday was arrested by a joint team of Delhi Police and jail authorities this evening.

“Jawed was arrested by a joint team of Delhi Police and prisons,” said DIG prisons and Tihar spokesperosn Mulseh Pratap.

happened between Saturday morning’s roll call and the one that took place in the night.

There were a total of 21 inmates who were kept in the ‘Roza’ ward to facilitate their fasting. On Saturday morning, all of them were there during the morning roll call. But the two were not found during the roll call which took place in the night.

Prison authorities pressed the panic button and a hunt was launched in around the prison during which Faizan was caught from a drain which flows near the peripheral walls.

“To escape the prison, the duo first scaled two walls which are around 13 feet high each. The third wall was 16

feet high, when they cannot scale it, they drilled a hole in it and then again scaled the fourth wall which was 13 feet high to land in the drain where Faizan developed cold feet while Javed fled,” said a senior prison official on condition of anonymity.

The third wall was two feet wide, but both of them used their burglary skills to drill a hole in the already brittle wall.

They used stones to dig it out and then sneaked past it, he added.

Interestingly, prison authorities informed police only after more than 24 hours of the incident. A case under

Central Home Ministry later sought a report from Tihar authorities while Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had ordered a magisterial inquiry into the case.

Jawed had three cases of burglary and attempt to burglary pending against him. He was brought to Tihar on June 2 while Faizan came to the jail on June 24.

Both of them met in the prison and became friends. While Jawed is a resident of Devli, Faizan’s family lived in Madanpur Khadar. relevant sections of law was registered at West Delhi’s Hari Nagar Police Station only around 11 in the night.

Although no senior official from Tihar came on record to explain the delay, sources said that prison authorities thought that without money and food, Javed too won’t be able to go far and they can nab him. But when all efforts failed, they informed police.

Tihar Jail currently houses 14,366 inmates which is more than double of its sanctioned capacity of 6,250. Jail number 7 alone has 837 inmates while its actual capacity is just 350.

PTI

MHA to DG Tihar: probe jail break, fix responsibility New Delhi: The Home Ministry on Wednesday directed Director General of Tihar Prison Alok Verma to conduct an inquiry into the recent jail break incident in the high-security prison from where two undertrials managed to escape.

Verma has been asked to carry out a detailed inquiry into the jail break incident and fix responsibility, a Home Ministry official said.

Two undertrials scaled the wall of the ward they were lodged in and then dug a tunnel through the boundary

wall to escape from the jail which is considered to be the most high- security prison compound in the country.

While Faizan was soon nabbed, Javed managed to give jail authorities a slip. He was arrested after a massive hunt in Uttar Pradesh.

On her feet for the first time at 52!

A woman walked straight for the first time at the age of 52 following a total hip replacement (THR) NEW DELHI: Having fallen off her bed at the age of six months, a woman walked straight for the first time at the age of 52 following a total hip replacement (THR).

Ever since Sita Sood accidentally fell off her bed she had been suffering from the limp.

The fall was so bad that she fractured neck of right femur (thigh bone which joins hip), which left her right lower limb shortened by 8 cm.

“The patient was given no surgical treatment at the young age, which proved disastrous. The injury caused severe dislocation in her right thigh bone and resulted in the shortening of her limb by 8 centimetres. This caused acute discomfort to the patient and left her limping the entire life,” said Dr Rakesh Mahajan, Sr Consultant, Orthopaedics, Joint Reconstruction and Spine Surgery at BLK Super Speciality Hospital.

According to doctors, it was a complicated case as the initial diagnosis and X-ray done on her showed a shallow acetabulum with dislocated hip and more than 5 cm cranial migration of head.

“This means that her hip was completely dislocated as the cup and ball socket was raised to 5 cm above resulting in shortening of the

leg muscle. It was very difficult to bring femoral head (highest part of the thigh bone) into its socket as the acetabulam (which joins head of femur with pelvis) was shallow.

“So, we planned to reconstruct the acetabulam and do a Femoral Osteotomy (surgical cutting of bone to allow realignment).

We reconstructed the acetabulam with Femoral Head graft and did Femoral Osteotomy to reduce the head and finally cemented components were used to perform total hip replacement, added Dr Mahajan.

Muscle was opened layer-by-layer from all sides around the hip and released till the limb became of equal length, he said.

“The most challenging part of the surgery was to provide a stable hip with equal limb length. For this the cup and ball was cut and fixed to enlarge the hip at the socket,” said Ishwar Bohra, Orthopaedic consultant at BLK Hospital.

The patient was discharged within a few days after the 3-hour long surgery that took place recently and is now slowly and surely gaining strength.

“My painful limp is now a distant memory,” said Sood.

PTI

The patient was not given surgical treatment at the young age

Fallout from the ban on beef in Maharashtra The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act bans the slaughter of cow progeny and makes the sale of beef punishable

by MAX BEARAK A grim video has been circulating among farmers across the sunbaked plains of Maharashtra, a vast Indian state, travelling from one cellphone to the next via WhatsApp. In the video, a man stands with his two trusty bulls at a cattle market. A crowd surrounds him, transfixed by his emphatic lamentations.

He cries out that his beasts of burden are old and unable to work and that his meagre savings are nearly gone. He needs to sell the animals, but none of the usual buyers - the Hindu middlemen who sell the bulls to Muslims for slaughter - are buying.

Without the money from the old bulls, he says, he will never be able to afford new ones.

“How am I supposed to keep farming?” he shouts. “Should I just hang myself here in this market?”

The threat does not feel empty.

This particular expanse of central Indian hinterland has achieved international notoriety for suicide since 2011, about four farmers a day, on average, have taken their own lives.

Tom Jamieson/The New York Times

NEW DELHI: Two small-time burglars pulled off a near-impossible jailbreak from the high-security Tihar prisons during which they scaled three 13-foot high walls and drilled a hole in the fourth one which was two feet wide.

The incident put a question mark over security measures at the prison which houses more than the double prisoners than its sanctioned capacity prompting Central Home Ministry to seek a report from Tihar authorities while Lt Governor Najeeb Jung ordered a magisterial inquiry into the case.

The two inmates who managed the daring escape were identified as Faizan and Javed both of whom were lodged in a special ‘Roza’ ward in Jail number 7. Jail authorities had created this ward for inmates observing fast during the Islamic Holy month of Ramadan.

Faizan and Javed, both of whom were undertrials were accused in burglary cases and had become friends during their stay at Tihar. However, soon after coming out of the prison complex, Faizan developed cold feet and did not go with Javed who managed to flee.

“It seems that Javed who is a seasoned criminal used Faizan to escape from the prison. He needed somebody to scale high walls and had assured Faizan of taking care of his expenses and other logistics once they escape. However, as soon as they were out, Javed ditched Faizan. He then developed cold feet and was caught from the drain,” said an official who interrogated Faizan.

According to sources in Tihar, it all

Second Tihar escapee nabbed in UP

A happening city with many facets P 15

United Nations, India has the lowest meat consumption rate in the world.

But India also has the world’s largest “bovine inventory” - as it is called by industry analysts - with just over 300 million cattle and water buffalo.

Buffalo meat, known as “carabeef,” is India’s most valuable agricultural export, recently beating out basmati rice by a slim margin.

A buffalo for sale at the Deonar slaughterhouse in Mumbai, May 1, 2015. Many Muslims working in India’s beef trade — a vital source of income for countless farmers — have struggled to enter the buffalo business following a law passed by Hindu nationalists

Onion and cotton fields wilt under the scorching sun, helped little by barely functioning irrigation infrastructure and unpredictable weather. Crop failures are frequent. Farmers often take out annual loans, and many pay them back in part by selling bulls that have outlived their working years.

Although most of these farmers are Hindus, who venerate the cow as a selfless, gentle and sacred mother, they care little what happens to the bulls, seeing them in more practical terms, as an insurance policy.

That insurance, however, ran out last October when the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, which had already swept into power across much of the country, also won elections in Maharashtra, a state that includes the cosmopolitan

city of Mumbai. By March, the party had revived and passed a long-stuck piece of legislation - the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act - that bans the slaughter of “cow progeny” and makes the sale and even possession of beef punishable with prison sentences of up to five years.

The law has closed off the cattle supply chain, a source of livelihood for more than one million Maharashtrians of every religion, according to labour union representatives.

To non-Indians, it may come as a surprise that there is much of a beef industry in India at all. Roughly 80 per cent of its 1.25 billion people call themselves Hindus, a third practice some degree of vegetarianism, and according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the

A Community Threatened The ban on beef was upheld in April by the Bombay High Court, which still uses Mumbai’s old name. The petitioners argued that India’s constitution guarantees a right to eat what one pleases, but the judges agreed with the state of Maharashtra’s lawyer, who made the case that there is a general right to food but not a right to specific foods.

While those who ate beef could adjust their diets, the legal defeat was particularly deflating for the hundreds of thousands of members of the Qureshi community in Maharashtra.

In India’s complex system of castes, many of which are linked to specific jobs, the Qureshis, who are Muslim, are the piece responsible for cattle slaughter. Almost all members of the community use Qureshi as a last name, so many go by a single first name.

Badshah, a 50-year-old father of two who used to sell offal to local restaurants, hasn’t made money since the ban took effect.

When there’s a beef ban, it’s like saying there is a Qureshi ban.”

Badshah and hundreds of other Qureshis work in the Deonar slaughterhouse in Mumbai and live in the slum across the road.

Qadar, whose job was to slit the animals’ throats, took a loan that had predatory interest rates. With nothing else to his name, he gave the papers of his home as collateral. Sharif, who is 29 and has worked at Deonar since he was 12, now drives an autorickshaw without a license; he has been able to make only enough to send two of his four children to school since work at the slaughterhouse slowed. Ramzan, a butcher, still works at a small shop, but he is the only employee left. “We were selling 250 kilos of meat a day,” said Ramzan, who predicts the shop will have to close by year’s end.

Mohammed Ali Qureshi, the head of the Bombay Suburban Beef Dealers Association, said, “This is work we have done for centuries,” he said. “We are experts in this. We don’t know how to do anything else.”

Vyankatesh Abdeo is the central secretary of the World Hindu Council.

It has a grandiose mission statement and immense leverage on Indian politics.

“This is a Hindu nation. In Hindu society, we see the cow as our mother.

Its killing or the killing of its progeny is intolerable,” Abdeo said. “This ban is one of our biggest wishes fulfilled. © 2015 New York Times News Service

Student fakes her abduction to ‘test’ cops Vol-II* lssue No.: 03 Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867) Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed at PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

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

Faridkot: A nursing student kept the district police on their toes by concocting her own abduction just to “check their functioning”.

However, the 20-yearold girl was recovered and handed over to her parents without any action initiated against her, a senior police official said recently.

The girl, a student at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and

“She said she wanted to see whether the police can recover her.”

- Vishaljit Singh, Faridkot DSP

Hospital, here called up her friends and told them that she was kidnapped by two persons on Friday. After her friends informed the local police, they swung into action to trace her.

The girl again called up her friends and informed them that the kidnappers had left her at

Jalandhar bus stand. Police moved to Jalandhar and picked her up from the bus stand and brought her to Faridkot late Friday night, police said.

When police asked her about kidnappers yesterday, the girl spilled the beans, saying she had concocted the story of her kidnapping.

“She said she wanted to see whether the police can recover her,” Faridkot deputy Superintendent of

Police (DSP) Vishaljit Singh said.

No action was taken against the girl, he said.

“We did not find any mala fide intention behind this incident and that is why we did not take any action against her,” he further said.

The parents of the girl were called from Hoshiarpur to Faridkot and girl was handed over to them yesterday, he said.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

“We do not and cannot have any aggressive plans. We are not threatening anyone and we seek to resolve any disputes exclusively by political methods under international laws and considering the interests of other countries.”

— Vladimir Putin, President, Russia

Pune needs upgrade in infrastructure P 15

GANGI, Sicily: Looking for a home?

One Sicilian town is making an offer that is hard to refuse: It is giving away houses.

There is a catch, naturally. The properties in Gangi, a picturesque central town that straddles the Madonie Mountains, are generally dilapidated, some abandoned generations ago.

The structures give new meaning to the term “fixer-upper,” and anyone who acquires one of the properties has just four years to restore it and make it livable.

But the offer has already lured dozens of holiday home hunters from around the world, and Gangi’s novel approach to revival has brought fresh opportunities to local builders and tradesmen while energizing tourism.

“For our Sicilian mentality, Gangi was considered to be too far from the sea” to be attractive for tourism, said Giuseppe Ferrarello, the mayor of the town, which lies on a windy, stomachrattling road between Palermo and Catania.

The housing initiative, he said, instead “set in motion a mechanism that was previously unthinkable for a city in the center of Sicily,” where towns have

A man walks through the historic centre of Gangi, Italy. To reverse their loss of population, residents of Gangi are offering houses for free or for nominal prices, provided that the new owners fix them

shrunk in tandem with the region’s dwindling economic prospects.

Gangi had a population of about 16,000 in the 1950s, the mayor said. Today it is home to about 7,000.

Periodic waves of emigration from Gangi began at the end of the 19th century, driven less by economic hardship, which “was endemic to the Madonie Mountains,” than by agents for transAtlantic ocean liners selling the prospects of a better life in the United States, said Marcello Saija, the director of a network of emigration museums in Sicily.

Gangi’s novel approach to revival has given a boost to the tourism industry

Pak rakes up row over BBC report ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said the BBC report that alleged the MQM received funds and training from India confirmed its “suspicions” about an Indian hand in creating instability in the country.

This was stated by Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan while talking to the media after meeting with British High Commissioner Philip Barton here after a scathing BBC report alleging that India provided funds and training to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The minister said that the intelligence agencies had in the past reported India’s interference and the BBC report confirmed suspicions about Indian involvement in unrest in Pakistan.

India has dismissed the BBC report as “completely baseless”.

Khan alleged that recent statements by the top Indian leadership were also an admission of their role.

He said that Pakistan sought British assistance to get the details

Established in 2012, the chorus is one of the few co-existence initiatives to weather the hatred and violence on both sides

of the BBC report in the meeting with the British High Commissioner, who asked the government to write “an official letter” to the British government for details.

“I will formally write to the UK government tomorrow (Friday), requesting access to information linked to the serious allegations against MQM,” he said.

The minister said the purpose was not to malign MQM as there is no dearth of respectable senior politicians and patriotic individuals in MQM. MQM has also denied the contents of the report but pressure is mounting on the party to take the BBC to court in Britain which so far the party has refused to commit to.

The party enjoys huge support among Pakistan’s Mohajir community - Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India during Partition in 1947 and are mostly based in Karachi. Its leader Altaf Hussain fled to the UK in 1992 after a military operation was launched against the party and was given British citizenship in 2002.

PTI PTI

People cool themselves off with water in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, June 29, 2015, during the fasting month of Ramadan. More than 1,200 people lost their lives due to a weeklong heat wave in the southern port city of Karachi

In the 1890s, a town near Gangi had no fewer than three agents representing various shipping companies “pushing for emigration,” Saija said. “Not that the economic situation was florid, on the contrary.

But what determined their departure was the lure of the American dream.”

Ellis Island records show that about 1,700 Gangi residents landed in New York between 1892 and 1924, he said. Starting in the 1930s and 1940s, Argentina became the preferred destination.

Many family homes left behind were the so-called pagglialore typical of this town. The squat, tower-like structures housed donkeys on the ground floor with the paglia, or straw.

Chickens and goats were kept on the middle floor.

These structures are now among those that the city has made available,

BRUSSELS: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed to press ahead with a controversial bailout referendum as European leaders ruled out any fresh debt offer before Sunday’s vote.

Hours after Greece became the first advanced economy to default on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) repayment, the leftist leader used a live TV address on Wednesday to urge Greeks to vote ‘No’ on Sunday to creditors’ current demands. Tsipras, at loggerheads with Greece’s creditors since his election in January, insisted a ‘No’ vote would “not signify a rupture with Europe” despite efforts

by EU leaders to cast it as a referendum on Greece’s place in the bloc.

“Come Monday, the Greek government will be at the negotiating table after the referendum, with better terms for the Greek people,” he added, standing between Greek and EU flags.

His comments came after Greece on Tuesday made a last-minute proposal for a third bailout worth nearly 30 billion euros (USD 33 billion) to follow the two rescue programmes worth 240 billion euros cash-strapped Athens has received since 2010.

Frustrated eurozone finance ministers agreed on Wednesday to wait until after the referendum before holding any more talks, saying there were “no grounds” for further discussions.

EU officials consider a ‘No’ vote as a risky step towards a possible exit

of Greece from the eurozone and the beginning of an unprecedented crisis for the bloc. On Greece’s streets, chaotic scenes ensued when nearly 1,000 banks reopened to allow elderly people limited access to their pensions after several days of capital controls limiting withdrawals.

“I worked for 50 years on the sea and now I am a beggar for 120 euros,” one pensioner in Athens said. “I have no money for medication for my wife, who had an operation and is ill.”

Ahead of the referendum, an opinion poll showed the ‘No’ camp in the lead with 46 per cent, against 37 per cent for ‘Yes’ and 17 per cent undecided. The ‘No’ vote share was down compared to before capital controls were introduced Sunday.

The Council of Europe, a pan-European human rights body, has criticised the vote, saying it was being organised too quickly and that the question was not clear.

Greece entered uncharted waters with its default on the 1.5-billion euro IMF loan and expiry of its current European bailout on Tuesday. It is now without external financial assistance for the first time in five years.

The developments prompted Moody’s to cut its credit rating for Greece to a deep-junk “Caa3” - the last of the three major ratings agencies to do so - warning it was now less likely that official creditors will support the country, whatever happens in Sunday’s AFP referendum.

Athens has asked for a new twoyear aid plan, the third in five years

Music unites Israelis and Palestinians

The BBC report alleged that India provided funds and training to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)

by Sajjad Hussain

with the local government acting as real estate broker of sorts, facilitating the convergence of the town’s considerable supply of abandoned dwellings and the growing demand. Some have been given away, others sold for a nominal price. The owners decide.

The community has gone one crucial step further, radically streamlining the intricate and often convoluted bureaucracy that accompanies buying and renovating a home in Italy.

“The bureaucracy is what worries people most, but we don’t sell a house and leave people alone,” said Alessandro Cilibrasi, a local real estate agent who assists the municipality in the initiative.

A website for British investors, shelteroffshore.com, advises would-be buyers to get advice from Englishspeaking or non-Italian lawyers well versed in Sicilian legislation; if property has been handed down through generations, “the path of ownership is not clear,” and there may be outstanding taxes, or debts and loans. Building and renovation costs can be high. “Sicily is not for everyone,” the website warns.

Yet so far, Gangi’s answer to depopulation has been more successful than recent plans of other places. More than 100 houses have been given away or sold for less than market prices.

About half of the new owners in Gangi are Sicilians looking for weekend homes, like Michele Di Marco, a Palermo entrepreneur attracted by the town’s relaxed rhythms. The remaining new homeowners are primarily Italian, though some are from several European countries, and one from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. © 2015 New York Times News Service

Greek PM vows to oppose bailout

by ISABEL KERSHNER JERUSALEM: Avital Maeir-Epstein and Muhammad Murtada Shweiki live about 140 meters apart in Abu Tor, a Jerusalem neighbourhood that straddles the pre-1967 armistice line, a mostly invisible but politically charged marker of this city’s Israeli-Palestinian divide.

The teenagers live on opposite sides of that divide, but for a few hours each Monday afternoon, they come together.

Avital, 16, is a soprano and Muhammad, 15, is a tenor/bass in the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, which brings together young Israelis and Palestinians for singing and dialogue sessions run by professional facilitators.

Established in 2012, the chorus is one of the few co-existence initiatives to weather the hatred and violence that have erupted on both sides over the past year.

Meeting in one of the rare places here that are considered neutral ground, the imposing Jerusalem International YMCA on King David Street in West Jerusalem, the group does not ignore the politics but creates an alternative environment where young Israelis and Palestinians can discuss their differences while producing music together.

“It was very hard last year during the war,” said Avital, who was dressed casually in shorts and a T-shirt as she sat with other singers. She was referring to Israel’s 50-day offensive against militant groups in the Gaza Strip last summer, when Gaza was under Israeli bombardment and rockets fired from the territory reached the outskirts of Jerusalem. “We were getting different news - ‘Arab’ news and ‘Israeli’ news,” she said. “It was complicated, but we went through it together.”

Muhammad, looking more formal in a white dress shirt, with his hair shaved and sculpted, immediately recalled the “shahid,” or martyr, Muhammad Abu Khdeir in a discussion of the traumatic events of the past year.

A 16-year-old Palestinian from East

Uriel Sinai/The New York Times

by ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Gianni Cipriano/The New York Times

‘Take our homes. Please...’

Properties in picturesque Gangi, that straddles the Madonie Mountains, are generally dilapidated

PUNE

Members of the Jerusalem Youth Chorus take a break from rehearsal at the Jerusalem International YMCA in Jerusalem, June 8, 2015. The chorus, which is on tour in the United States, was formed as a way to bring together young Israelis and Palestinians for singing and dialogue sessions run by professional facilitators

Jerusalem, he was kidnapped, beaten and burned to death by three Israeli Jews in early July after the bodies of three Jewish teenagers who had been kidnapped and killed by Palestinians were found in a shallow grave in the West Bank.

Avital and Muhammad, who had not met before joining the chorus, were speaking at a final rehearsal before the Jerusalem Youth Chorus left for its first tour in the United States. The group has performed over the past few weeks in the Yale International Choral Festival in New Haven and at various other stops, including New York and Washington.

The Israeli-Palestinian youth chorus was the idea of an American, Micah Hendler, who grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. Hendler, 25, attended Seeds of Peace summer camps in Maine with Israeli and Arab youths, studied Arabic and Hebrew, and majored in music and international relations at Yale. He said he came to Jerusalem three years ago to see if the sense of community that evolved in the controlled environment of a summer camp in the United States could be recreated in the gritty reality of Jerusalem.

With the bravado - some might

say naivete - of an outsider, Hendler went into schools on both sides of the city. Within weeks, 80 youths showed up for auditions, a majority from East Jerusalem, where Hendler had less competition in the realm of extracurricular activities. He picked 35 teenagers aged 14 to 18.

There has been some natural turnover over the years, but about half of the original team is still involved.

“What I saw in starting the chorus was that if you look at things only through a political lens, the situation is pretty hopeless,” Hendler said. “But if you consider it, people are not only political objects. They have lives; they want to connect.”

“There are ways,” he added, “of getting beyond the intractable structures we have set up for ourselves.”

Hendler runs rehearsals mostly in English, but also in Hebrew and Arabic. The teenagers translate for one another as necessary.

Political, religious, social and cultural issues add layers of complexity. There is only one Israeli boy in the chorus. Palestinian boys are more naturally attracted to the idea, coming from a more male tradition of mawwal, an Arabic vocal genre based on poetry. (“We have some excellent

The group has performed in the Yale Choral Festival in New Haven

female tenors,” Hendler remarked.)

Conversely, Palestinian girls from conservative Muslim families are more likely to go home after school, not get on a bus to the west side of town to sing with Israelis.

Many Palestinian political activists are also increasingly rejecting what they see as unnecessary interactions that could be construed as a normalization of relations with the Israeli occupier.

Some 300,000 Palestinians - about a third of Jerusalem’s population - are residents of East Jerusalem, territory that Israel conquered from Jordan in the 1967 war and then annexed in a move never internationally recognised.

Given the sensitivities, several Palestinian boys said they had told only their closest friends about their involvement in the chorus, and Hendler is careful about where the group performs, avoiding overtly nationalistic events on either side.

Then there are the starkly different musical backgrounds. Parts of the repertoire combine traditions of Western harmony and Arabic rhythms. The chorus performs Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” in the style of the Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum and has composed an original song that incorporates rap and mawwal.

A highlight was the recording of a special version of a Phillip Phillips song, “Home,” with Sam Tsui, a YouTube star who sang with Hendler in college.

Outside the community they have created, the teenagers keenly feel the turmoil around them. Over the past year, there have been tensions over a contested East Jerusalem holy site, a deadly terrorist attack on a West Jerusalem synagogue, a series of vehicular attacks against Israelis and violent clashes between Palestinians and the police, including in Abu Tor, which is normally peaceful.

“Every single day was different,” said Avital, who lives on a mixed street. “I didn’t know how I felt about it - safe or not safe.”

The chorus members have begun to socialise outside of rehearsals, connecting through a WhatsApp group and going to movies or to one another’s homes for birthdays. But they’ll have more divisive issues to grapple with. When the Israelis turn 18, for instance, they will be drafted for compulsory military service. © 2015 New York Times News Service

MONEY MATT ER S

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“Bharti Airtel has become the third-largest mobile operator in the world in terms of subscribers. This is a major landmark in the journey of Airtel.”

— Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel

“Smart investments moves by the Reserve Bank in buying dollar helped increase the reserves. The RBI is active in the purchase markets since the last 18-23 months.”

— Anindya Banerjee, Kotak Securities

The USD 100 billion AIIB is seen as a rival to the US and Europe-dominated banking institutions

PTI

50 nations sign pact on China-led AIIB

Signpost

BY KJM VARMA BEIJING: India was among the 50 founding countries that signed an agreement on Monday providing the legal framework for the China-led USD 100 billion multilateral Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which is being seen as a rival to the US and Europe-dominated banking institutions.

The 60-article agreement specified each member’s share as well as governance structure and policy-making mechanism of the bank, which is designed to fi nance infrastructure in Asia.

The delegates from 50 founding countries gathered at the Great Hall of the People for the signing ceremony.

Australia was the fi rst country to sign the agreement, followed by 49 other members. Seven more countries are due to sign by the end of the year after due approval from their respective national legislatures.

The AIIB will have authorised capital of USD 100 billion, and Asian countries will contribute up to 75 per cent of the total capital. Each member will be allocated a share of the quota based on their economic size.

China, India and Russia are the three largest shareholders, taking a 30.34 per cent, 8.52 per cent, 6.66 per cent stake, respectively. Their voting shares are calculated at 26.06 per cent,

Black money law in force from July 1 The black money law that provides for stringent penalties and jail term for failing to disclose overseas income has been operationalised from July 1 this year, instead of April 2016, the Indian Finance Ministry said. The Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, as passed by Parliament, was to come into effect from April 1, 2016, after providing for a short ‘compliance window’ to foreign asset holders to come clean. The changes were being made to remove the difficulties with regard to dates for implementation of the provisions of the new black money law, a Finance Ministry Order said.

Indian Ambassador Ashok K Kantha signing the Articles of Agreement for Establishment of China sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing on Monday

7.5 per cent and 5.92 per cent.

China will have 26.06 per cent of the voting rights within the multilateral institution, giving it a veto in some key decisions despite its insistence it will not have such powers.

The AIIB is designed to fi nance infrastructure construction in the continent. The AIIB, which will have billions of dollars to lend, is expected to go into operation later this year.

57 Prospective Founding Member countries including Pakistan gathered for the ceremony on Monday while 50 countries signed the Articles of Agreement. A number of Finance Ministers from different countries were present at the ceremony and later met Chinese President Xi Jinping.

India had a low-key representation at the signing ceremony contrary to

speculation that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may visit China to attend the ceremony. Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K Kantha signed the agreement.

While a number of Western and European countries, including Australia, Germany and France have joined the Bank, the US and Japan have stayed away citing reservations about its openness. The AIIB is seen as a rival to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

Terming the agreement as a historic step forward in building the China-initiated multilateral bank, Xi said, “The signing of the document reveals the commitment of the parties involved in the founding of the AIIB, as well as their solidarity, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness and quest for common development.”

PTI

IOB defrauded of Rs 102.45 crore Gurgaon-based businessman cheats Indian Overseas Bank by submitting forged bills of iron ore exports NEW DELHI: CBI has charged a Gurgaon-based businessman with cheating Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) of Rs 102.45 crore by submitting forged bills of iron ore exports.

CBI sources said a chargesheet has been filed before special CBI court in Saket here against Gagan Shukla, Managing Director, Alpine Minmetals India Pvt Ltd under IPC sections related to cheating and forgery for allegedly cheating Indian Overseas Bank to the tune of Rs 102.45 crore (approx).

“It was alleged that the directors of the said company in criminal conspiracy with other unknown persons/ public servant/bank officials defrauded the Indian Overseas Bank by way of availing export finance from the Indian Overseas Bank, Palika Bhawan, R K Puram, New Delhi on the basis of fake and fabricated documents and caused a loss of Rs 102.45 crore (approx) to the complainant bank,” CBI Press Information Officer R K Gaur said here today.

He said the CBI investigation revealed that the accused had submitted three export bills under Letter of Credit to the Indian Overseas Bank requesting therein that the export of iron ore against the said alleged

CBI probe revealed that the accused had submitted three export bills under Letter of Credit to bank

BY MAX BEARAK DELHI - When the fast-growing Malaysian carrier AirAsia wanted to expand, India looked like the ideal frontier.

The country had hundreds of millions of potential fi rst-time fl iers, many in second and third-tier cities that have just a few fl ights a day. With one-way airfares as low as $20, AirAsia aimed to capture huge chunks of tourism and holiday traffic from India’s iconic but achingly slow trains.

Then, AirAsia discovered the difficulties of doing business in India.

While it benefited from a recent loosening of restrictions on foreign investment in airlines, AirAsia India has contended with a web of excessive bureaucracy and regulations for new entrants that have added significant cost and complexity to its operations.

Competition has also proved fierce, and persistent price wars cut deeply into profits.

After its first year in operation, AirAsia India has just 1 per cent of the country’s domestic passenger market, and the carrier is retooling its strategy.

While initially focusing mainly on smaller, underserved cities in south India, the airline has now started flying routes from the country’s largest, Delhi.

“We realized that we need to be more visible, both to fliers and to policymakers,” said Mittu Chandilya, chief executive of AirAsia India. “Flying to Delhi will simply give more people a chance to experience our product.”

AirAsia India is following path set by the carrier in other countries.

Since an overhaul in 2001, AirAsia has largely focused on keeping costs low and wringing out extra revenues by selling ancillary services like in-fl ight meals and entertainment, as well as charging fees for checked bags or seats with extra legroom.

AirAsia exported the model from its home in Malaysia to the

SAMI SIVA/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Difficulties aboard AirAsia’s no-frills India model Airlines low-cost fare hoping to catch millions of first-time fliers has proven harder than expected

A flight attendant for AirAsia India serves candy to guests on a test flight that left Delhi, India, and flew to the country’s northern plains before looping back, May 20, 2015.

Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, trying to capitalizing on the fastgrowing economies in the region.

Among Southeast Asia’s budget carriers, it accounts for more than a third of all seat capacity, according to an analysis by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.

“To continue their rapid growth, they have been trying to diversify their portfolio,” said Brendan Sobie, an analyst in Singapore for Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. “These new joint ventures are in significantly more challenging markets, because AirAsia won’t have the fi rst-mover advantage it had elsewhere.”

The plan for the Indian subsidiary was hatched in 2013, when Chandilya was working as an airline consultant in Malaysia. While there, he met Tony Fernandes, the founder of AirAsia, whose father was from India.

Both have a pronounced passion for turning around failing ventures, and both came to the airline industry late in their careers; Fernandes is an accountant by training, and Chandilya

spent almost a decade with IngersollRand, working on mergers and acquisitions.

“Tony and I had what couldn’t have been more than a 20-minute meeting, but we hit it off immediately,” said Chandilya, 34. “He said, ‘Look, I think we can make the best and the biggest airline in India.

I need you to create the vision.’”

Chandilya settled on a bare-bones model, similar to that of its parent, that keeps fares as low as possible. He also decided to avoid the two biggest metro areas, Delhi and Mumbai. Both places charge high landing fees and the route between the two is heavily saturated.

But Chandilya acknowledges that he misjudged India’s regulatory environment, which is uniquely stringent for airlines.

Taxes on aviation turbines are higher than almost anywhere else in the world. Every airline, even those with just a few planes, is also required to fly regularly to remote regions, where fl ights often run half full. And new entrants like AirAsia India are prohibited from flying lucrative international routes until they are five years old and have at least 20 aircraft, the so-called 5/20 rule.

“I believe in free markets and open skies, but if you look at the policies we have in place, I don’t think we have that at all,” Chandilya said.

AirAsia has also had to go headto-head with IndiGo. One of the fi rst budget carriers to start in the country, IndiGo, with a solid reputation

After its first year in operation, AirAsia India has just 1% of the country’s domestic passenger market

export bills had already been made by the company.

“Along with the bills, the company submitted fake bills of loading, certificates of quality and certificates of weight in respect of iron ore purportedly exported by the said company.

Since the documents submitted by the accused company were found in order as per the term and conditions of the Letters of Credit, the bank negotiated all the alleged three export bills of the company to the tune of Rs 102.45 crore (approximately), the amounts of which were not realised by the foreign Letter of Credit opening banks,” Gaur said in a statement.

He alleged the company, therefore, cheated the Indian Overseas Bank by way of availing export finance under Letter of Credit from the bank on the strength of fake and fabricated documents.

PTI

for punctuality and comfort, now commands almost 40 percent of the market, according to government statistics. It’s one of the few Indian airlines that has been consistently profitable. On each new route opened

by AirAsia India, IndiGo has followed, setting off a price war.

With price wars taking their toll, Chandilya has been making the rounds in India’s government ministries, pushing for reforms that would help him cut costs, like lowering the tax on aviation turbine fuel.

Each Indian state controls its own taxes on aviation turbine fuel, and in many places it is kept as high as 30 percent.

More than half of AirAsia India’s operating costs are fuel-related.

High taxes also extend to maintenance and Indian airlines often choose to take their aircraft to nearby countries for that work. AirAsia India plans to send its planes to Malaysia or Singapore for servicing once they’ve been operational for two years.

“I talk to ministers and policymakers about how they can help the industry and promote growth, but it is very difficult to get them to understand that reducing these taxes will probably boost their states’ economies,” Chandilya said. “The ministries aren’t coordinating with each other - they only have their own interests in mind.”

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has put forward a proposal to ease the 5/20 rule. Under the proposed revision, new airlines would earn “domestic fl ight credits” by flying to underserved regions that could then be spent on rights to fly internationally, or even sold to other airlines that are hoping to make that move more quickly.

While it is a step in the right direction, Chandilya figures it would still take his airline at least three years and 15 aircraft to garner enough credits.

“It’s antiquated, oligopolistic laws like these that make India’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking a lowly 142 out of 189 countries,” said Amber Dubey, who oversees India’s airline industry for KPMG. © 2015 New York Times News Service

Govt nod for Rs 200-cr online national agri-mkt NEW DELHI: Government has allocated Rs 200 crore for three years to set up an online national agriculture market by integrating 585 wholesale mandis across India, a move aimed at providing farmers free market access to realise better price.

There are about 7,000 mandis in the country regulated under the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act. Even within a state, farmers are restricted to sell their produce at one particular APMC mandi paying various taxes. In a bid to reform agri-marketing system, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a Central Sector Scheme for Promotion of National Agricultural Market through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund.

“Now, there will be one licence for entire state, there will be single point levy. There will be electronic auctions for price discovery. The impact will be that the entire state will become a market and the fragmented markets within the states would be abolished,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after announcing the scheme.

He said that Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for this scheme during 201516 to 2017-18.

“Seamless transfer of agricommodities within the state can take place. The market size for farmers would increase as he won’t be limited to a captive market,” he added.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that the online platform, integrating 585 mandis, would be operational in next six months.

The Karnataka government has already set up its own online agri-market platform integrating 13 mandis, while Maharashtra is doing on a pilot basis.

“We don’t want each state to develop separate software as it would be difficult to integrate. So, we have decided to provide a single software,” Agriculture Secretary Siraj Hussain said at a conference organised by Assocham.

Industry chambers also welcomed this initiative saying that it will will give higher transparency and better market access at better prices for farmers. PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

“Very soon there will be a positive decision on Pune’s proposed international airport. We have given a proposal to handover 25 acres land for a RTO next to Dive ghat.”

— Vijay Shivtare, Minister of Irrigation

PUNE

“Autorickshaw drivers are expected to recalibrate metres as per new fares within 45 days starting July 1. The failure of drivers to do it within stipulated time period will invite a daily fine of Rs 50.”

— Jitendra Patil, RTO officer, Pune

Everyday traffic nightmare at Magarpatta The Magarpatta area has become overcrowded with shopping malls adding to the congestion

I am a resident of Wagdaonsheri and work in an IT company at Magarpatta.

The most irritating part of my day is travelling on the road that leads to Magarpatta City.

It has been months since I have taken my car to work. Constantly shifting gears and getting stuck in traffic jams to cross a 2km stretch is really a frustrating experience.

Commuting at peak hours is a nightmare. For such a short distance, I get stuck for more than 20 minutes every day. Now I am so fed up that I prefer an office cab to pick me and drop me, even if it halts at many stops. There are a few who still drive to work but they waste an hour combating traffic

Vinayak Narke

snarls.

I have to leave home an hour in advance as I know that there is no escape from the traffic menace and even while getting home I am exhausted due to traffic jams. There is no solution until they make an alternative route.

With the malls that have come up on both sides of the road, the traffic has gone from bad to worse. During office

CITIZEN JOURNALIST

hours, most IT sector employees use that road and get stranded there. In the evenings, especially after 7 pm, there is a long stream of traffic, moving slower than snail’s pace.

There are two-wheeler riders coming from the wrong side to go towards Hadapsar, which creates a bottleneck. With only a few passageways, commuters have to go longer distances and take a U-turn to reach the other side. Th is is also the reason for people riding on the wrong side, to reach their destination faster without having to take a longer route and avoiding the traffic. There has to be strict implementation of traffic rules and discipline. Unless implementation is not there we will not see any improvement. Policing is part of implementation of traffic rules, which will follow if proper infrastructure is available.

To get home, I now have to take the road on the west side of Magarpatta.

The road is in bad shape and doesn’t even have streetlights.

People who break rules are also

responsible for the traffic jams. I would suggest to improve the city’s public transport system to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

A happening city with many facets Even as it gets more crowded with each passing day, Pune has spots that offer an oasis of peace

LETTERS TO THE

EDITOR

Pune needs upgrade in infrastructure

or Bangalore.

The city offers a wide variety of shopping, to suit every budget. Koregaon Park and MG Road are upmarket, while FC Road and JM Road offer more affordable shopping, and the Peth areas offer traditional shopping.

Tulshibaug is always crowded, and it is the place you get everything, from clothes, accessories and shoes to household things like crockery, utensils and home décor. I have been there a couple of times for some junk shopping. You get things at cheaper rates there as compared to other places.

I confess, I’m a travel buff and the most important reason for me not to leave Pune is its close proximity to the

nearby beaches which are just about 2 hrs away.

The city has preserved some green areas and even though it is crowded and busy, one can find places that are peaceful.

Pune has also become a great centre for all kinds of cuisines, from the traditional local fare to exotic foreign cuisines. There are roadside stalls and restaurants around every corner and they are now drawing in customers because of their unique ambience, besides the food. I like having misal from the ‘Sai Misal’ at JM Road, also the food at Panchali restaurant is finger licking good.

There is nothing about the city that I don’t like. I feel like a true Punekar and it looks like I am here to stay.

NON-NATIVE

PAROLE

I have lived in Pune for over a decade and over this course of time, I have experienced all the good things about the city, as well as the downsides. I have come to know people who are civilised and cordial, and who have made my life here more comfortable and happy through their graciousness.

Of course, in the past decade the city has evolved and developed beyond one’s imagination, and some of the fallouts of this growth are things like congested roads, unruly road-users and pollution, which are serious concerns that are still to be addressed by the civic authorities.

The change from pensioners paradise to commercial hub has happened without a corresponding evolution in infrastructure and now everybody is paying the price, with growing traffic congestion in every part of the city during peak hours. If these issues are not addressed on a priority basis, I cannot imagine how life will be even five years down the line. It is great however, that with the influx of people from all over the world, Pune I now a very cosmopolitan city, even while it has retained its Maharashtrian essence.

The city offers many recreation options, what with the cultural festivals, theatre and music.

And I expect this to get better with each passing year. After a busy working week, it is definitely a welcome change to have an evening out and leave behind the stress and strain.

It is not too late for the authorities to wake up and bring about the necessary changes and

Imelda Bassalote, Italy

improvements, in terms of public transport, traffic control and better roads, not to mention strict implementation of traffic rules.

Also something I don’t like about the city is the reckless atitude of people towards the environment.

People litter the street and don’t really care about how our streets look or smell or how our vehicles pollute. So many men are seen spitting on the road and they dirty public transport.

Air and noise pollution in our beloved Pune is not what makes our streets smell and dirty , it is the mentality that someone else will clean up.

I like areas like Camp, Koregaon Park, Vimannagar, Kalyaninagar that are green and clean. They also have some good restaurants and shopping malls.

FROM FOREIGN

SHORES

Implementation of ban is a complete farce their college fees, when there are funds allocated to them by the government.

Such lethargy or inexcusable delays that cause the would-be beneficiaries immense hardships is a sorry state of affairs. Those responsible for the delay in forwarding the scholarship funds should be accountable to some higher authority. In such cases people should come forward and question the authority. There are countless needy students who are in need of a helping hand from the government, and they should not be made to suffer.

—Manish Kotak

force not look the other way, but crack down on the sale of banned substances, and bring the law-breakers to book.

—Ruchi Trivedi

Cops clueless on missing son

The story ‘Banned or not’ throws light on this murky issue. It’s clear that banned items have gone underground, but their supply continues. It is shocking that despite countless deaths as in the recent Mumbai tragedy, illicit liquor is freely and openly sold in certain areas. The concerned authorities must take the necessary steps to ensure that gutkha and paan masala are beyond the public reach. It puts the law

the roads, whether it is highway or internal, should be for the convenience of the public to reach their destination safely and on time.

Pune is paying the price for unruly development, with traffic congestion and poor infrastructure that has failed to keep pace

M Rebecca

I have been living in Pune since 2005, and I have come to like living here. I had heard a lot about it, and that is what brought me to the city. Staying alone in a city is a daring thing for a woman, but I have been living alone after my standard XII exams, and thankfully I have managed to live in Pune without any problems of security and safety.

Despite our busy college schedule, my friends and I manage to make the time out to travel around the city. And as we grew familiar with the city we appreciate all the benefits of living in Pune even more.

As it is an educational centre of India and a booming IT hub, the crowd here is mostly educated and well-behaved on public places. The cases of eve-teasing and other mischievous situations are lower that that of reported in other bigger cities. Pune has a very cosmopolitan, young and urbane crowd but less hip and happening like that of Bombay

In the rainy season, more people use four-wheelers, which will lead to more traffic problems. I hope the problem is addressed by the authorities. All

enforcement in poor light that these banned products are available at every nook and corner of the city, and that people buy them without any fear of the law or consequences. The tobacco vendors in the vicinity of schools is a serious matter but no one seems to care. Children are influenced easily and it is the duty of every citizen to protect them from vices. It is high time that the civic authorities and the police

The story about the missing boy and his helpless parents is heartwrenching. Are the police so heartless and uncaring that they are not able to sympathise with the parents, and do their best to bring the case to closure? They should put their machinery into action and use all their sources to determine what has happened to the boy, instead of making the grieving parents run from pillar to post. The parents have their rights and the police must investigate exactly what transpired and what is behind the boy’s disappearance. It is downright irresponsible of the police to claim that the boy is dead without recovering the body. Instead of giving meaningless excuses, they should start the investigation, and help them fi nd their son. My heart goes out to the parents and I hope

your expose catalyses the police into action.

—Ketaki Alegaonkar

Inexcusable delay in allocation of scholarship funds It is absolutely criminal that poor students have had to take loans to pay

Pet profiles on Facebook

Pet profi les on social networking sites is an interesting concept. It’s a boon for owners to see pictures of their pets on their wall. Now I intend to make a page for my bunny rabbit, in all his different aspects, whether it be eating, sleeping or playing. Pet profi les help when you want to adopt a pet, or fi nd out about a new pet friendly food joint.

Besides, I think that profi les of babies on social networking can be a little

bit annoying. Some mothers go on praising about how cute their child is, and some rant all day about how much the baby troubles.

—Bharti Sanas

Want to learn Kizomba

The article about the Kizomba dance style was indeed very interesting. We all have heard so much about salsa, zumba, and bachata, but this dance style sounds very unique, and I have been planning to join a dance class for the longest time. Now that my children have started going to school again, I definately would want to pursue this.

—Antara Padgaonkar

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

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 04, 2015

PUNE

“The prime minister and the sports ministry talk about developing sports in the country and matching China’s sports programs. But how will that be possible without support?”

— Indian badminton player Jwala Gutta

A tale of two cities and two paddlers

Signposts Arora wins Pioneer Snooker League title

India’s top table tennis players Divya Deshpande and Pooja Sahastrabuddhe have switched home towns after marriage

National-ranked Shivam Arora scored a straight frames win over Abhijit Ranade in an all-Deccan Gymkhana final to win the 5th leg of the Pioneer Snooker League Satellite Series Challenge title at the Deccan Gymkhana courts. With both opting for safety, Arora took the first frame 39-8, before going on the rampage winning the next three frames 32-13, 46-0, 27-17.

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Leaving your home town to settle down in a new city is always a big challenge for anyone, but women are expected to do this as a matter of course, when they shift to their husband’s home after marriage.

However, India’s top table tennis players, Divya Deshpande and Pooja Sahastrabuddhe do not make a big deal of shifting to a new town and settling down. The paddlers have exchanged their hometowns after marriage. Pune’s ace Divya has now shifted to Santa Cruz, Mumbai after her marriage to businessman Ankur Mahajan. Meanwhile India number 3 Pooja, who is a Mumbaikar, has shifted to Pune after tying the knot with former international table tennis player Aniket Koparkar.

Remarkably, their performances has not been affected in the slightest by the change. While Divya was part of King Pong team that won Mumbai Super League table tennis tournament, Pooja clinched the women’s title in the Pune District ranking table tennis tournament.

Dwelling on the changes marriages has brought to her life, Divya said, “I never thought I would marry a Mumbai guy and settle down here. Mumbai was never my

Satyapal Singh Rawat passes away Former national badminton player and coach Satyapal Singh Rawat (66) passed away recently. He had been battling cancer for a few years. Rawat was national junior doubles champion in 1966 and had represented India at the World Veteran Championships with Ramesh Nabar. The pair won many tournaments.

Grizzly Bears start league with a win ODMT Grizzly Bears edged out Pune Open Striking Jaguars 27-22 in the inaugural match of the Diala-Meal Junior Tennis League, at PYC Hindu Gymkhana. Ninad Muley (U-10), Sahil Tambat (U-12) gave the team a winning start, but in the under-14 segment, Mallika Marathe and Rishabh Agarwal lost their respective matches.

Divya Deshpande in action; (inset) with her husband Ankur Mahajan

favourite city as I hate the hot and off at the right stop. In Mumbai humid weather, torrential rains one spends a lot of time and energy and overcrowded trains. But, I am in travelling and it leaves me tired getting used to it and and exhausted,” said in fact I have started Divya, who is ranked enjoying it. Every city 11th in India. has its own f lavour and I P o o j a , am looking at the bright meanwhile, has had side.” an easier time in Of course being born settling down and in Pune, she does miss her major issue is the mild and pleasant navigating through environs of her home Pune’s chaotic town. traffic and she is still “Though most getting her bearing people keep talking as to around town. about the horrors of “Fortunately, not Pune’s traffic, I have much has changed - Divya Deshpande never had a problem. for me. Thane and One can reach most Pune are quite places in half an hour on a twosimilar and except for the change wheeler. But in Mumbai, you need in my postal address, everything to reach a local station and then cope has been easy to adapt to. I am still with the crowds on the local trains, struck by panic at time while riding and make sure you are ready to get on Pune roads, but I’m getting used

ASHISH PHADNIS

TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Pune’s Akanaksha Hagawane added another feather to her cap by winning a gold medal at the Commonwealth Chess Tournament (U-16) held at New Delhi this week. Akanaksha’s city mate and Women Candidate Master Saloni Sapale finished third to claim a bronze medal.

The tournament attracted 559 players from over 11 Commonwealth countries, a record number. The tournament was conducted in separate age groups for the first time, which made it extremely challenging.

Aakanksha, who is former national under-13 champion and current national sub-junior runner-up, was top seeded in this tournament. Though the tournament turned out to be relatively easy, Aakanksha confessed to be under pressure from the burden of expectations.

“I was confident about my win but I wasted opportunities on a couple of occasions, and thus forfeited a full points tally. I am disappointed with my performance against Dhanashree Rathi in the second round, when I was in a certain winning position but missed the chance and had to settle for a draw,” said Aakanksha.

The 14-year-old was in her usual ruthless form and breezed to be the sole lead after the fifth round, by defeating Aurangabad’s Women Fide Master Sakshi Chitalange. In the following rounds she

went on to consolidate her position, by scoring over Saloni and CH Meghana. She scored 6.5 points from eight games.The win against Saloni is what she cherishes.

“We were evenly poised but after a flurry of exchanges, I got into my comfort zone. Then it was just matter of time to finish the match in my favour,” said Aakanksha.

Saloni, who recently won silver in the World School Chess Championship, participated as a ‘donor’ entry and was given fourth seeding. She played well to win a bronze, scoring five wins, a draw and suffering two losses. Saloni trains with Pune-based IM Prathamesh Mokal.

PARENTS’ SUPPORT “The players get into the limelight, but the efforts of their parents must be lauded equally, as they devote loads of time and energy for their children’s careers,” said Aakanksha’s coach Jayant Gokhale.

“Aakanksha has been training with me for the last eight years, and her father Shrinath’s dedication of is remarkable.

They did not skip even a day’s training and followed my instructions religiously.

I have been training her, but her father is the pillar that Aakanksha’s career rests on,” said Gokhale.

Dad Shrinath said, “Akanksha gets disturbed if she performs badly in a tournament. She keeps to herself and doesn’t talk to us, and we have to make a big effort to help her regain her balance.

Her mother and I take her mind off the disappointment by showing her the positives of her performance, or we take her out to nice dinner to a good restaurant.

The disappointment can carry over to her next match. It is our duty as parents to do all that we can, though Aakanksha has the fortune to be trained by a top level coach like Gokhale.”

Aakanksha is a standard X student of DES School, Tilak Road, and she feels thankful to all the support she receives from her school mates, teachers and specially from Principal Sujata Naidu.

“I have never had any issues with exams or the syllabus. Our principal even goes so far as to adjust the exam dates, and requests the teachers to take an extra class if I miss any. It wouldn’t have been possible to win so many medals without their support,,” said Aakanksha, who is supported by Sujanil Chemicals and Lakshya group.

Aakanksha will be representing India in the upcoming Asian Championship to be held in South Korea and World Youth Championship in Greece later this year. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Mane, Banthia to train in Spain TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Maharashtra’s top sub junior and junior players, including ‘Road to Wimbledon’ winner Siddhant Bhantia and junior national double champion Snehal Mane, have been selected by the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association (MSLTA) for a six-week intensive training programme at the Tennis Vaal Academy at Valencia in Spain.

Shivani Ingale also of Pune, national (U-18) runners-up Aryan Gov-

eas of Mumbai, and Kaivalya Kalamse of Nanded are the other members of the team. MSLTA chief coach Manoj Vaidya will accompany them.

The players will train with the world’s top coaches Altur and Alvarino, in Spain. The Spanish tennis academy is where top tennis players like Marat Safin and David Ferrer have trained, said MSLTA secretary Sundar Iyer.

“The players were selected for the European camp on the basis of their performances over the past few years.

The camp will serve as a valuable

to it,” said Pooja.

The paddler is also discovering hangouts and Vaishali and Durga Café are her current favourites.

Divya and Pooja also happen to be great friends and have played doubles in several tournaments.

They won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Pune in 2008.

Both Pooja and Divya feel blessed to have supportive inlaws, and they have a free hand in pursuing their sports careers.

Similarity doesn’t end here, as both of them got married to former table tennis players.

Pooja’s husband Aniket is a Chhatrapati awardee (2008-09) and has played won several international tournaments, Ankur had represented India at the junior level.

“Both families know what sacrifices in terms of time and effort is takes to be in the top ranking in India.

We never had any issues with my training. Moreover, they have helped us adjust to our training routines. They are very supportive and encourage us to attain new goals. So we are able to devote ourselves to my game,” say the paddlers, who are preparing for a national ranking tournament to be held later this month.

Do they share tips about their hometowns? Divya said, “Actually we don’t. She knows a little about Santa Cruz and what can I tell her about Pune, since her husband is a born Punekar? We have played a number of tournaments in Pune, during which time she has come to know quite a few places and things.” ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

“I never thought I would marry a Mumbai guy and settle down there”

The golden girl of Pune Akanksha wins U-16 title in Commonwealth chess; Saloni settles for a bronze

“I didn’t want fielding to be a formality. If I am not able to give as much as a youngster is giving in the field, then I shouldn’t be pushing myself for a place in a side.”

—Former India player Hrishikesh Kanitkar

experience for the players in the professional tennis arena and enable them to learn the European style of tennis,” said Iyer.

They will also have the opportunity to take part in local tournaments during their stay in Spain, and watch top ranked Spanish players in action.

“We are in talks with the academy in Spain so their coaches can come to Maharashtra in November and assess the development of the players who are currently part of the team,” he said. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Pooja Sahastrabuddhe; (inset) with her husband Aniket Koparkar