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How Pune’s puncture repair shops fleece customers Over-inflation, soap water and Eno are the tricks of the trade puncture repair shop owners employ to dupe gullible vehicle owners
Bull’s EYE Though archery is among the six sports identified for promotion by the government, archers in the city have no facilities to speak of, despite which they are rising to the top at the national level, and are aiming to hit the mark See p08-09 at the international level as well
Tanishka abandoned at Sassoon Hospital
CCTV footage shows two men abandoning the two-year-old outside a ward at Sassoon Hospital
BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1
On Thursday morning, a two-year-old girl was found outside ward number three at Sassoon General Hospital. Security supervisor Chandrakant Gaikwad who was on duty at that time, heard her crying outside the ward. “I asked everyone around if they knew her, thinking that she was lost. When no one recognised her, I decided to take her to the Bund Garden police station, and handed her over to the police. She told me that her name was Tanishka,” he said. The child however could not tell him her full name or address. The police took little Tanishka to the women and child welfare committee, and the members suggested that she be sent to Society of Friends of Sassoon Hospitals (SOFOSH). But Sassoon Hospital administration supervisor Dr Ajay Tavde happened to browse through the CCTV footage. The footage showed two men leaving the girl outside the ward at around 6 am, and then walk away. The CCTV footage has been handed over to the police who are investigating the case. Bund Garden police station senior police inspector Dilip Kulkarni, who is investigating the case, said, “We are looking into the matter. If our investigation reveals that it was the girl’s relatives or parents who left her at the hospital, we will fi le an FIR against them under section 270 of the Indian Penal Code.” Social worker of SOFOSH, Dipali Kalapurkar said that the girl will stay with SOFOSH till the matter is resolved. Once the court passes judgment, she will be rehabilitated accordingly.
TGS exposé leads to probe into DEIC working Aundh Hospital civil surgeon ordered to conduct an inquiry into the functioning of the DEIC, after TGS broke the story about mistreatment of a malnourished boy BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1
TGS report on the lethargic attitude of doctors at the Aundh based District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) towards child patients, has resulted in the Additional Director of Health Services Dr Archana Patil instituting an inquiry against the doctors, on July 19. Dr Patil has issued a letter to the Aundh Civil Hospital civil surgeon Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, asking him to conduct a thorough inquiry into the incident, and submit a report immediately. Continued on p5
See p06
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
MUMBAI
‘‘The PUC centres across the city lack proper mechanism to test pollution levels. There is an urgent need for Legal Metrology Department to inspect these centres and issue punitive actions against them.’’ - A V Shenoy, Transport Expert
India dragged in Nepal politics P 13
Excise dept discontinues training from Mallya’s UB BY SANTOSHEE MISHRA @santosheemishra
The Excise department is discontinuing its ties with Vijay Mallya, businessman and founder of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya’s company was providing quarterly training and conducting workshops for the department’s senior officials, including vigilance personnel. The decision was taken by the department in view of the ongoing investigation against Mallya by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The United Breweries Group chairman, is being sought by the ED
in connection with an alleged debt of around $1.4 billion linked to the defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya has been living in the UK since March this year. Sources from the department revealed that an internal circular has been issued, stating that they would stop the workshop cum training in association with Mallya’s company. “Although the workshop cum training has helped the department, the department has decided to discontinue with Mallya,” said a source from the department. Mallya’s company co-sponsored the workshop along with International Federation of Spirits Producers (IFSP).
The workshop cum training sponsored and co-ordinated by Mallya’s company imparted knowledge on identifying seized counterfeit products of liquor, recognition of counterfeit, track and trace dry goods, especially directing and
assisting the prosecution in cases made by the Excise department. “Mallya’s group UB conducted the workshop cum training with IFSP. The programme is especially designed for the state excise department. Around 50 senior officials, including vigilance personnel, are involved in the training. It is purely to guide and inform the department on the duplicate liquor. The programme is designed in such a way that everyone from the top brass to the vigilance officer of the department are updated on minute details of duplicate liquor,” said Vishwanth Indise, joint commissioner of state excise. santoshee.mishra@goldensparrow.com
Two held for trying to extort Rs 50 lakh Two persons have been arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 50 lakh from a Kandivli-based builder here by threatening to kill him, police said on July 21 One of the accused, identified as Harshal Ambre (26), is a former employee of the builder and allegedly roped in his friend Sumit Palanpula (20) to execute the plan, police said. The duo, both residents of suburban Santacruz, were arrested from Vile Parle area when they were accepting Rs 25 lakh from the complainant. A police official said Ambre used to work in the builder’s office and was well aware about his business dealings. The complainant, whose name has been withheld, started receiving calls on his mobile number as well as on landline phone from first week of May. According to the official, the caller who identified himself as “Chote” used to threaten the builder with dire consequences if he failed to cough up Rs 50 lakh. The investigation was taken up by the anti-extortion cell after the builder approached crime branch. The official said that Ambre, who had worked with the builder for two years till 2014, was in financial crunch and hatched the plan to earn quick buck. Ambre, working with a courier
Wife’s pregnancy drives man to extortion
The duo was arrested by the anti-extortion cell after the builder approached the crime branch. (Below) Two cellphones, two bikes and Rs 25 lakh was recovered from accused
company in suburban Bandra, also got Palanpula involved in the conspiracy, the official added. Kandivli police have booked the
White paper on revenue defaulters Maharashtra government will table a white paper on revenue defaulters during the winter session of state legislature, Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar told the Legislative Assembly. He was replying a query on the status of recovery of tax and non-tax revenue outstanding amount, in the state. “To recover the outstanding amount, the government will appoint a top lawyer so that we can present ourselves before the court effectively,” the minister said. Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil
said the burden on state is rising due to acute drought, growing debt and accumulated interest. “We have to collect Rs 62,907.91 crore from the defaulters. There are 82,799 matters, which are sub-judice. The big defaulters have hired leading counsel for their cases,” Mungantiwar said. “This is people’s money. We are making all the efforts to recover the outstanding dues from the defaulters,” the minister added. PTI
duo under section 387 (putting person in fear of death or grievous hurt in order to commit extortion) of IPC. PTI
Under interrogation, it was revealed that Angre, who had been working for the builder three years before, was in need of money as his wife was pregnant, and he wanted to provide for her and his family. Angre worked at the builder’s office in Kandivali and had detailed information about the builder’s personal and professional life. According to police officials, Angre shifted to Versova from Santa Cruz after marriage. “He knew that his former employer, the builder was very wealthy. He needed money as his wife was pregnant and he was unable to provide her even the basic necessities. His wife kept nagging him, so he hatched the conspiracy with his friend Sumit, to extort money from the builder.” “We have seized two mobile phones, two motor bikes and Rs 25 lakh in cash of from the arrested accused,” said another officer.
Cos raise over Rs 8,000 cr via bond issues on e-book platforms P 14
Email hacked, firm duped of Rs 37 lakh
Hacker creates hidden inbox and changes firm’s banking branch TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly
The Malabar Hill Police Station and Mumbai Cyber Crime Cell have received a case of company’s business email been hacked and loss of Rs 37 lakh. The complainant resides in Malabar Hill with her children and manages the export business Nikhil Gems Private Limited after her husband’s death. The firm deals in crystal exports to companies based in America and Japan. Sangita Bhatt (name changed) states in her complaint that Nikhil Gems has its clientele based in foreign countries and their mode of communication is email. “We accept orders only via email. The firm mails photographs of crystal articles along with quotation to customers based in the US and Japan. After getting the approval from our client in Los Angeles, we air cargo the articles but there was no communication from the other end till May,” the complaint reads. Bhatt admitted that the crime was detected when she sought help from advocate Pankaj Bafna, who said that her company email account was hacked. “The investigation revealed that the company’s communication email ID was hacked and it had generated some ‘hidden inbox’ within the email account. The client in Los Angeles was ‘communicated’ to send Rs 3 lakh to
another bank account,” said Bafna. Bhatt’s complaint states that Nikhil Gems had sought advance payments from clients and shared details of ICICI Bank account based in Malabar Hill. But the scrutiny of hidden inbox revealed that around 20 mails were sent to her clients requesting them to ‘update’ new bank account details based in Haryana for future payments. “A case of cheating is registered with Cyber Crime Cell Mumbai and Malabar Hill Police Station for cheating of Rs 37 lakh. The case is registered under Section 419 (impersonating) and 420 (cheating) of IPC,” Bafna said. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Overseas travellers vulnerable to online frauds Most travellers, including holiday makers and business travellers, are soft targets for online financial crime when abroad, says a report. About 45 per cent of the travellers believe that losing money is one of the top three threats they may face abroad, and credit card compromise is considered to be among top three threats faced by 35 per cent of the users, a research by Kaspersky Lab revealed. It also found that there is a real danger when it comes to losing money when travelling, as 22 per cent of respondents have experienced such a loss and 8 per cent have had a
card compromised while in a foreign country. “In today’s connected world, we are able to travel easily, for work or pleasure, and stay connected while we do. This ability brings with it amazing and exciting opportunities, but also exposes us to dangers if we are not careful. It’s all too easy to connect via potentially insecure Wi-Fi abroad then continue our normal habits of banking and shopping online, without stopping to think about the consequences of what we are doing,” Kaspersky Lab Head of Consumer Product Management, Elena Kharchenko said.
The research said fewer respondents named device infection (11 per cent) or online fraud (20 per cent) as one of their top-three worries whilst travelling. That’s despite the fact that 18 per cent have been a victim of cybercrime when abroad. Among these, 6 per cent have been hit when banking online and 9 per cent when shopping online. It’s not surprising that travellers are becoming victims of cybercrime as 82 per cent connect to public WiFi anywhere when abroad and, using this potentially risky connection, which can be intercepted and used
by cybercriminals, 61 per cent of consumers bank online and 55 per cent shop online, the report pointed out. In addition, it said, 42 per cent of users admitted that they shop online with their credit card either the same amount, or more than what they do at home. Without appropriate protection in place, this behaviour is exposing users and their money to unnecessary danger, but only 34 per cent of the users apply a secure connection (VPN) when connecting to public Wi-Fi, while 18 per cent do nothing at all to stay protected. PTI
Youth associated with Zakir Naik’s foundation arrested
Cops do not rule out his links with JuD chief Hafiz Saeed TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly
A joint team of Maharashtra AntiTerrorism Squad and Kerala Police arrested a youth allegedly associated with controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik’s foundation in connection with a case registered in Kochi. A senior police official said Arshid Qureshi, who was associated with Naik’s Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), was nabbed from Navi Mumbai. A case under IPC Sections
120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 153 A (promoting enmity between groups) as well as under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was registered in Kochi. He was produced before the Belapur court in Navi Mumbai which granted Kerala Police his transit remand till July 25. Kerala Police will now produce him in a court in Kochi. Meanwhile, the agency has found Naik’s links with Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Pakistan’s banned militant outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD). IRF is listed as a resource for religious learning on the JuD, says a report. Naik’s Mumbai-based organisation is the only South Asian centre listed on
the site, thus showing a link between the preacher and the 26/11 terror mastermind Saeed. The JuD website was banned in India after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. JuD is believed to be the front of banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.It was floated by Saeed after LeT was banned by United Nations. On July 7, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a highlevel probe against Naik, whose speeches apparently inspired two of the terrorists who killed 20 persons in Bangladesh recently. Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar is heading the inquiry. “Some crucial links have been
found between IRF and JuD. We cannot share the details now,” said State Intelligence Department (SID) Commissioner Sanjay Barve. The Twitter account of Saeed was suspended last week following complaints by Indian security agencies that it was being used to incite violence following the death of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani in an encounter. “We are digging for more facts to nail the JuD, Saeed and Naik association,” he said Naik’s ‘Peace’ channel does not have a licence to broadcast in India, but it is available in many parts of the country. With agency inputs tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Shiv Sena activists protest against Lashkar-eTaiba chief, Hafiz Saeed, in Thane
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
‘‘Pune citizens have become used to potholed roads in rainy seasons. However this year it is shocking to see that roads constructed / renovated only 2 to 3 months back have developed potholes. The recently inaugurated Swargate flyover, road below the flyover, road stretch from Sarasbag to Puram chowk are a few examples.” — Prashant Inamdar, Convener, Pedestrians First NGO
Babus to participate on Facebook, Twitter P12
Stay in mental hospital turns juvenile more anti-social GARGI VERMA @missgverma
Correctional homes for juvenile convicts are supposed to rehabilitate misguided children and turn them away from evil ways. However, a teen has returned from a juvenile home, even more traumatised and disturbed than before. A juvenile convict from Bhiwandi, living at the Pune Special Home, was sent to the Yerwada Mental Hospital, without even a medical consultation. Three months later, after his mother’s multiple attempts, he was finally sent back to her. The Bhiwandi Juvenile Justice had sent a show cause notice to the superintendent of the juvenile home in Pune in this matter. A 17-year-old boy was sentenced to two years of remand home custody by the Bhiwandi Juvenile Justice Board in late 2015. He was then sent to the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Udyog Kendra, a juvenile observational home in Yerwada, Pune. “The counsellor was unkind from day 1 and my son just kept crying and begging me to get him back on phone calls,” his mother reported. However, he was reportedly creating a lot of nuisance at the home. He was also addicted to tobacco, and was generally a troublemonger. So, the superintendent of the juvenile home, A C Kurhade, approached the Principal Magistrate to send him to a ‘de-addiction centre’. His letter dated January 30, to the Juvenile Justice Board reads, “The boy is disturbed, disturbs others and in general seems unwell. Many people have tried to counsel him. According to one counsellor, his behaviour seems to stem from his
addiction and lack of substance. So, it is advisable to send him to a de-addiction centre for the tenure of a month.” The Principal Magistrate accepted this and granted his permission to send the boy to the regional mental hospital, on the suggestion of the superintendent for de-addiction. The regional mental hospital, in Yerwada, however, doesn’t have a de-addiction centre. “We have a de-addiction ward and we take in patients who show addictions along with abnormal behaviour,” said Dr Madhumita Bahale, superintendent of the Yerwada Mental Hospital. However, when the juvenile showed up on their doorstep with a letter and a guard on February 2, for treatment of addiction, the mental hospital admitted him. “We were ordained by the court. Moreover, we don’t get to meet the patient or examine them. So, we admitted him for a month as ‘under observation’. Since it was the court’s order, we couldn’t refuse. There was no way we could have explained the nitty-gritty as the boy just turned up and we do not refuse anyone without medical check-up, which takes a month,” she said.
Since there is no pediatric or juvenile ward in the mental hospital, he was kept in the male ward. However, he was not even kept in the de-addiction ward, for which he was sent. “We did not keep him in the de-addiction ward as he is after all a convict. So, he was kept in the prisoners’ ward with other convicts,” Dr Bahale said. After a month, on March 3, the boy was sent back, with a clear mental health report. His report from hospital reads, “Counselling done for total abstinence of substances. No abnormal behaviour reported by ward psychiatrist and nursing staff.” However, a fortnight later, the superintendent and the counsellor again recommended that the boy be sent back to the mental hospital. According to the counsellor’s report, “It seems that he is enjoying troubling others and is getting sadistic pleasure out of hurting others.” The superintendent again sent a letter to the juvenile justice board, asking them to send the boy back. His letter reads, “He seems to be suffering from withdrawal simtoms (sic). He even bullies and troubles other children. His condition seems to have worsened since he is back. So, for the other children living in the home, it is best that he be sent to the mental hospital until he gets better.” He was sent back and kept at the prisoners’ ward with inmates for nearly four months. “He even ran away and came home in May. But I sent him back since he was still under punishment,” his mother said. “He was even given medications and injections that are given to the mental patients, all in the name of keeping him ‘fine’ without anyone once
Should foolhardy trekkers be made to pay for their mistakes?
Some rescue teams blame novice trekkers and say that they should be made to pay for their rescue, while others think of the act of rescue as a noble deed BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Sandip Gotad, 36, died after falling into a 400-foot deep valley at Shooting Point, in the hill station of Khandala on Tuesday. Just last week a Pune trekker was injured in a fall at Rajmachi fort,but he was fortunate to be rescued and was rushed to hospital. There has been a spate of incidents in recent times, of trekkers getting lost, being swept away by rushing waters, or falling into gorges. On an average, 30 to 50 tourists die in such trekking mishaps every year. Local trekking groups have always been willing to lend a helping hand and rescue trekkers in danger or distress. They even pay for the transport and equipment expenses from their own pockets just to help fellow humans in dire need. But these rescuers are now considering imposing financial penalties on tourists and trekkers who land in trouble in the mountains or at dams and lakes. Citing the reason behind this decision, Rohit Vartak of Shivdurga Mitra said, “We have been doing this job for decades. We totally understand a genuine case of tragedy, but most of the recent cases are of careless, ignorant trekkers, drunken tourists and the selfie
PUNE
obsessed. The rescue activities involve expenses for transport, man hours and material costs, and the rescuers themselves should not be the ones to pay the foolish antics of the foolhardy.” The trekking groups feel that this would be lesson to commercial groups, who don’t even bother about the risk factor, and plan activities without much knowledge, don’t follow safety precautions, or even the basic rules of trekking, and needlessly land themselves into trouble. “There are a few groups who have done such things repeatedly. There is no harm in imposing financial penalties on such groups. However it depends on the policy of a particular rescue group, whether to charge the victim a minimal amount or not. Prima facie, it’s totally voluntary work, but if the club has provisions to charge at least transportation costs, then such changes are welcome,” says Onkar Oak, a Pune-based trekker, who has been involved in several rescue operations. These groups are expecting the government to take the initiative and issue a circular, giving the authority to charge for rescue operations. Last year, several trekking groups in Maharashtra had come forward to form an apex
body for rescue operations. However, it didn’t work out as it involved a lengthy procedure of documentation and registrations. But there are trekkers who feel that such charges should not be applied as theywill obscure the nobility of the deed. “I strongly oppose charging those who are helpless and trapped in life-threatening situations. They have already learnt a lesson for their lives, and it would be inhuman to slap them with a fine. If the rescue team is falling short of funds, they should get sponsorship for the cause, but shouldn’t extract money from trekkers. It’s not ethical and doesn’t fit into our trekking culture,” said Rajesh Gadgil of Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh, Mumbai. “In fact if rescue teams start charging money, they would lose their value and they won’t be any different from commercial groups. The trekkers would behave the way they want and you don’t have a say, as they have bought your services. Instead they should try to create awareness and prevent such cases from happening. Involve local villagers, police and government,that’s the solution.” ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
checking if he needed them or showed any betterment after taking them,” she added. Incidentally, all of this happened without any intimation to the Bhiwandi Juvenile Justice Board which actually sentenced the boy. “I decided, in June, that enough is enough. I along with few activists went the Bhiwandi courts and reported everything to them,” his mother said. On June 24, they sent a letter to the superintendent asking about the boy’s whereabouts. The letter reads, “Was this boy sent to the regional mental hospital? If yes, how and why? Did you seek permission from this juvenile justice board, if yes, how?” It also orders the boy be sent back to his mother along with seeking a response within seven days. The boy, a normal teenager with a lot of friends before all of this, has turned into a recluse. “He doesn’t talk much. His substance abuse hasn’t stopped, even after their ‘treatment’,” his widowed mother said. Not at all expressive or talkative, he talks in measured words and seems a little wary of everything. “I used to be scared of the other people in the ward. I couldn’t sleep properly and for days. I felt as an outcast at the home and an outsider at the hospital. I never want to go back,” he said. While the doctors at the mental hospital deem him to have personality disorders, no one stopped to see if it was actually withdrawal symptoms or a teenage boy venting his aggression, away from his comfort zone. The superintendent was unavailable for comment even after multiple visits and calls. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com
His fi xing potholes is a lesson for all BY RAHUL RAUT @TGSWeekly
For Sunil Chandankar, every pothole on the city roads is a mission to be achieved. With rains exposing the claims of civic administration as water logging, overflowing drainage and damaged roads become common sights across the city, leaving residents at the receiving end, the 50-year-old Rupee Co-operative Bank employee takes his car out every weekend and fills the rough patch, without waiting for municipal action. Generally senior citizens are considered the best city watchers, as they promptly point out any inconvenience, bad patches on the road or any hazardous issues to the civic administration. But Chandankar travels with gravel, paver blocks and a trowel to different areas and fills potholes by himself. Whether it is filling the pit or cleaning oil spills on roads, Chandankar does the job without any expectation of praise or acknowledgment. And he has been doing it for years. The only change is that his mode of transport has changed
from a two-wheeler to a car. His collegegoing daughter Shriya and wife Anita also join him on such excursions, carrying a gunny sack, shovel and other equipment. It all started in 2003, when he noticed citizens suffering from back pain, cervical spine pain and whiplash injury due to potholes. Instead of waiting for the administration to wake up and take adequate measures, Chandankar started working all alone. “Due to my duty hours and to avoid traffic, I start from home at around 9 pm and return at around 11 pm. If I come across any pothole, I try to fill it up,” he said. His family feared something would happen to him while working alone at night. He decided to shift the hours on weekends and government holidays. For each trip, he spends around Rs 5001,000 for transport and other expenses. Former MLA Bapusaheb Pathare helps Chandankar in his mission. rahul.raut@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
“Just because Khadakwasla is full does not mean there will be no water cuts. The demand to do away with water cuts is nothing but a way to appease people against the backdrop of civic elections. But we have to think of the larger perspective.” —Girish Bapat, Guardian Minister
Few takers for slum free Pune
With 40 per cent of the populations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad living in slums, and the reduction in FSI and TDR, there are few takers for slum rehabilitation projects BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar The Central government has selected Pune city for its Smart City project which aims to make 100 smart cities in the country. On June 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated one year of the smart city mission in Pune by inaugurating 14 different projects of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The event was organised by the union urban development ministry at Balewadi. But the ground reality is that 28 per cent of the citizens in PMC limits, and 14.78 per cent citizens of PimpriChinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) live in slums. Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad together have nearly 40 per cent people living in slums, and there are 557 registered slums with the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) till date. The SRA office looks after RATES OF TDR TOO REDUCED BY GOVERNMENT ZONE
BEFORE
AFTER
A
4,500
3,800
B
3,800
3,000
C
3,000
2,000
slum rehabilitation in Pune and PimpriChinchwad. In the six months from April 2015 to September 2015, there were 18 proposals from developers to the SRA, from October 2015 to March 2016 the proposals came down to 11, and since January 2016 to June 2016, there were only five proposals. The main reason for the fewer proposals and developers not taking up slum rehabilitation projects, is the state government’s policy of reducing floor spade index (FSI) and Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) rates of SRA. If this situation continues, Pune will not become slum-free in the near future. The central government had passed the Slum Rehabilitation Act in 2005 to give pucca homes to slum dwellers. Under this act, the state government in coordination with the PMC and PCMC had formed the Slum Rehabilitation Authority in 2005, which looks after slum rehabilitation works in the limits of both municipal corporations. As of the 2011 census, PMC has a population of 31.15 lakh, out of which 8.72 lakh (28 per cent) people are living in slums. PCMC has a population of 17.27 lakh, out of which 2.55 lakh (14.78 per cent) people are living in slums. Collectively, both cities’ slum population
has crossed 40 per cent. Since 2005, after establishing SRA for both PMC and PCMC, it has undertaken only 44 projects of slum rehabilitation. The state government has reduced the Floor Space Index (FSI) of slum rehabilitation for A zone from 2 to 1.5, for B zone from 2.5 to 1.75, and for C zone from 3 to 2 usable FSI. The government had also reduced the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) rates of slum rehabilitation. For A zone, the TDR has been reduced from 4,500 to 3,800, for B zone from 3,800 to 3,000, and for C zone from 3,000 to 2,000. So slum rehabilitation projects which fully operate on TDR rates are now almost non-existent. No developer is coming forward now for slum rehabilitation on TDR basis. Developer Dilip Nikam of Kedar Associates, who had developed some SRA projects, said, “To take and execute the slum rehabilitation projects has now become a challenging task for developers because developers have to purchase this land on their own, take its rights, then get the assent of slum dwellers, sanction from slum rehabilitation authority, and then find customers to sell TDR. This lengthy process is really a headache for developers. This process of purchasing
Are the QRT teams wasted on mundane assignments?
The six Quick Response Team (QRT) teams are posted at four sensitive locations in the city, but this duty schedule is keeping them from their fitness regimen crucial for quick responses BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 The Quick Response Team (QRT) police force which is deployed during emergencies, such as a terror strike, has been deployed at four strategic duty points in the city since the last one year. Due to this assignment, the QRT personnel are unable to maintain their exercise regimen, and as a result their physical fitness levels have declined. There are six QRT teams, with six to eight jawans and a sub Inspector officer in each team. Four teams have been assigned to four sensitive locations, such as Dagdusheth Halwai temple in Mandai area, Chabad House in Koregaon Park, the Police Commissionerate office in Camp, and Pune Airport at Lohegaon. One reserve team is stationed at Shivajinagar headquarters for emergencies, and another one undergoes exercise and training. All the teams have a duty schedule of 12 hours for bandobast at the four points in the city these days. But they are unable to do their regular exercise, which is crucial for their quick responses in case of an untoward incident like a terror attack. The 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai was what prompted the creation of the quick response force in the state. In 2009, Pune police got 100 jawans for QRT. The QRT operates under the aegis of Joint Commissioner of Police and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Head Quarter 2 (HQ 2). These teams’ main objective is to combat terrorists with advanced guns, bulletproof jackets and vehicles. From 2009 to 2015, the teams were stationed at Shivajinagar headquarters, and maintained a daily exercise schedule. Three teams remain engaged in exercise, and two remain ready for action in any emergency. One team was stationed at Dagdusheth Halwai temple which is a sensitive spot. That was the main duty for the team. But for the last one year, three additional points were identified and they were assigned to the same. A QRT team was assigned for the bandobast at Balgandharva
Rangmandir during the visit of Kanhaiya Kumar, President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union in April this year. “If a strike happens at another point during this bandobast, it is hard to combat the situation,” said a jawan. He said that the duty does not leave them any stamina needed in an emergency. Just one team stationed at Shivajinagar headquarters is not enough, but all the teams should be in headquarters to deal with an emergency. These teams do not have bulletproof helmets. The bulletproof jackets are not tested, to ensure protection for the body. The purpose of establishing the QRT was that the QRT team should reach the spot within 7-8 minutes in an emergency like a terror strike. They are responsible to rescue people held hostage by attackers, and to kill the attackers. Jawans undergo a physical proficiency test and constables below the age of 30 are selected for five years. They are trained to handle modern weapons such as Glock pistols, MP5 and AK-47 rifles at high and low
frequency firing. The Pune teams have been equipped with sophisticated bullet-proof vehicles including six Scorpios, two bullet-proof vans and bullet-proof jackets. The QRT has received training from the elite National Security Guard and Force One. A senior police official said that these teams are decentralised just to ensure easy access if anything happens in the city. “These teams are not used for bandobast purpose. They are stationed at four important points, just to give them access if anything happens in the adjacent areas,” said the official. However sources say that there is no need to assign them for duty at the airport. “The airport has its own Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). They do not allow any unauthorised person in their area. So the QRT team is not necessary there.” said a jawan. “The same applies to Chabad House and Police Commissionerate office, excluding Dagdusheth Halwai temple,” he said. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@ goldensparrow.com
‘Where am I and what is the time?’
14K NGOs barred from foreign funding
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land, taking assent of slum dwellers, take all permissions of SRA, and then the actual construction, takes almost 3 to 4 years for a single SRA project. It’s a very time-consuming process, so rather than SRA projects, developing private projects is easier for builders. The government has also lowered the rate of TDR, and one more problem we developers face now is that we do not get TDR buyers. The government has also reduced the floor space index (FSI). The lowering rates of TDR and reducing FSI of slum rehabilitation by the government are the main reasons why developers are now not interested in doing SRA projects. Rather than take up SRA projects, it is easier for builders to purchase a new plot, develop it and sell it, which needs less documentation, which automatically means less headache and more profit, so developers are keeping their distance from SRA projects.” Another developer of Sahyadri Properties, which also does SRA projects and is working on ten SRA sites now, Rahul Malavadkar said, “Developers are not filing proposals for SRA projects. The major reason behind this is that government had lowered the usable FSI of SRA, and also lowered the rates of TDR. For rehabilitation projects, government gives 0.60 TDR for 1 FSI, out of which 0.20 TDR (almost 33 per cent) has to be
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TOTAL REGISTERED SLUMS IN PUNE AND PIMPRI-CHINCHWAD- 557 PUNE POPULATION
PIMPRI-CHINCHWAD
31.15 LAKH
17.27 LAKH
SLUM POPULATION
8.72 LAKH
2.55 LAKH
SLUM PERCENTAGE
28 PER CENT
14.78 PER CENT
kept for slum rehabilitation. This rule of keeping 0.20 (33 per cent) TDR for slum rehabilitation is mandatory for developers. The government has not changed this rule for years. This is also one more reason why developers are not opting for SRA projects. SRA is actually a good scheme, but the government has to increase FSI and TDR rates. The government wants to make smart cities, but in many cities we are now facing the problem of slums. There is also a huge demand for affordable houses from the common people. Our Marathi Bandhkam Vyavsayik Sanghatana (Marathi builders organisation) has written many letters to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to increase FSI and TDR rates of slum rehabilitation, but nothing has happened yet. We also had interaction with Fadnavis at J W Marriot Hotel, Pune, where our builders’ organisation members voiced concerns over SRA, and urged the CM to give more FSI for SRA and increase TDR rates. CM agreed to
USABLE FSI WAS REDUCED BY GOVERNMENT AS FOLLOWS ZONE
BEFORE
AFTER
A
2
1.5
B
2.5
1.75
C
3
2
increase TDR rates of SRA, but nothing has happened yet.” One more reason behind fewer SRA proposals is that the construction business is now facing recession. Many builders had invested money in various construction schemes but as there is recession in the market, their flats are not selling, and the builders’ capital is stuck. So they are not in a position to invest in SRA projects. But one thing is certain, that Pune city not going to become slum-free in the near future if this situation remains unchanged. tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com
Cop leaves no stone unturned for wife’s treatment
QRT constable is running from pillar to post to heal his wife diagnosed with brain tuberculosis TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly She opened her eyes in February after spending one and half months in coma at a city hospital. The 23-year-old wife of a police constable is suffering from meningeal tuberculosis, commonly known as brain tuberculosis. But Poonam cannot recognise anyone including her husband Bapu Shankar Waghmode, even after four months of slow recovery from ailment. Poonam was diagnosed with brain fever in December 2015, and her husband who is constable at city police department has spent over Rs 14 lakhs for her treatment. Despite mounting debt and no sign of his wife’s immediate recovery, Waghmode is not ready to lose hope. Many of his friends have advised him to stop the treatment as the monthly medical expense touch around Rs 1.5 lakh. Yet, he wants to give the best treatment available to his wife. The 30-year-old constable working with Pune Police Quick Response Team married Poonam in 2012 and the couple has a twoyear-old son Shreyash. Their happy married life was shattered when Poonam complained of vomiting and severe headache in mid-December 2015. The couple visited many hospitals and super specialty medical centres, including those in their native village in Indapur, for one month but Poonam didn’t get any respite. It was the report of a brain scan carried out at KEM Hospital in January that detected that she was suffering from brain tuberculosis, also known as meningitis. Poonam went into a coma in January 2016 and could open her eyes at Pune’s KEM hospital only after one and a half months. She was on ventilator support all this while, and now she is unable to recognise anyone as she has no control over her brain. There is physical movement but her eyes show no emotion. Doctors said that she may take years to become normal. The hospitalisation and medication expense has left Waghmode with Rs eight lakh debt. He took Rs five lakh loan from police
credit society and his loan repayment liability has left him with only Rs 8,000 in hand from his monthly salary of Rs 26,000. “I have also taken an additional loan of Rs three lakh from relatives and am yet to clear the pending Rs five lakh hospital bill of past three months. I cannot avail of any government medical facility as meningitis is not included in the list of Maharashtra Police Family Health Scheme,” said Waghmode. Despite the turbulence in his personal life, Waghmode attends duty whenever he gets time and requests his colleagues for financial help. He has also circulated a message with wife’s photograph and bank details on WhatsApp to his friends. “I receive many calls for confirmation and financial help. A Police Sub Inspector from Nagpur transferred Rs 25,000 to my bank account. He had raised the fund from his own police station after seeing my WhatsApp message. I don’t know this saviour by name. My colleagues and friends have collected Rs 1.35 lakh for my wife’s treatment,” he said. “We collected Rs 55,000 from all 96 colleagues of QRT with some
contributing Rs 500,” said Vinod Gophane, his colleague. “There are more than 10,000 police personnel in the city. If all of them raise just Rs 50 from their salary only for a month, around Rs 5 lakh can be collected for my wife’s treatment. Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla has assured to provide Rs three lakh loan from police welfare fund,” Waghmode said. The couple’s son Shreyash is living with his parent at Shelgaon in Indapur tehsil of Pune district. Waghmode’s family include his parent and two brothers and they own a one-acre farm in the village. The constable’s in-laws have supported him Rs 3 lakh for treatment. Neurologist Ananad Alurkar, who is treating Poonam for the past six months, said, “Poonam is suffering from brain TB and her condition is serious. She may take months to recover and we are trying our best,” Alurkar said. Waghmode’s bank details. Bapu Waghmode, Bank of Maharashtra, Modern College Road, Shivajinagar, Account no 68011790614 tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
“The BJP-led state government is acting in an undemocratic way. They want to ruin the system of decentralization of power and concentrate it in the hands of government babus.” — Vandana Chavan, Rajya Sabha MP and city NCP President
The future seems uncertain for more than 70,000 children lodged in children’s homes all over Maharashtra. The Women and Child Commissionerate has issued a circular instructing the children’s homes to admit only children who are orphans, destitute, or genuinely in need of care. Post the circular, the children have been sent back to their homes, and are now being refused admissions by schools. The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) is equally clueless. The circular has drawn the ire of the employees of children’s homes and activists, who launched a protest at the Women and Child Commissionerate office in Pune since Saturday, July 16. Maharashtra Women and Child Deputy Commissioner Ravindra Patil said, “As per the circular, the Child Welfare Committee has to follow strict guidelines while admitting a child to a children’s home. The children’s home has to follow the 12 clauses of the Juvenile Justice Actbefore admitting a child. Any child, who as per the JJ Act is not eligible for admission, should not be brought before the CWC for consideration. Strict action will be taken against the children’s home that fail to follow the JJ Act.” According to the Juvenile Justice Act, “Only when a child is an orphan or his/her emotional
state is seriously impaired, or has There were only 2,614 orphans in the been a victim of crimes committed by children’s homes, 11,609 children had parents, or when parents are unable to single parents,while 36,417 children take care of the child, can a child be had both parents. Fifty-two children’s admitted to the children’s home.” homes were found to be closed. The Women and Child Patil accused the authorities of the Commissionerate conducted a survey homes for keeping children to procure of children’s homes in May 2016 in more funds from the government. “Not 23 districts of the state including a single child in the children’s homes is Pune, Konkan, Nashik, Aurangabad, legally eligible to stay,” he said. Amravati and Nagpur. The officials The Ministry of Women and Child made surprise visitsto 823 children’s Development has not given a single homes in the state, which house 60,674 penny to the 750 children’s home in the children. They found only 2,977 last three years. The WCD department children present at the homes, while owes more than Rs 200 crore to the the remaining 49,196 were on vacation. children’s homes. These 2,977 children were those Balvikas Sansthachalak genuinely in need of16+16 children’s homes. Karmachari Sanghatan Secretary PAGES: (TGS LIFE) | PRICE: `5
TGS exposé leads to probe into DEIC working
et saga of the d labourers
Continued from p1 the centre. About why he Health officials in Pune were was not given any treatment, on their toes after Delhi and making his father make based Rashtriya Bal Swasthya repeated rounds of the hospital, Karyakram officers sent the she said that they were mail, asking for an inquiry following up and would treat into the matter, though the Prasad. “Our DEIC centre news was published in Pune. does not have enough doctors To recap the story, The but we treat children from Golden Sparrow (TGS) had Aundh Hospital,” she said. DEIC centre doctors give poor man’s malnourished son ers of Western Maharashtra See published a report titled ‘Th is The state health department the runaround, saying they have no internet connection p06doctors & 07 for registering his name is howSpotlight, Aundh Hospital has not given attention to the (mis)treat poor, sick’, on development of the DEIC, December 18, 2015. The story an ambitious project, aimed was about how seven-yearat providing treatment for all old malnourished boy Prasad children’s diseases. A state Kolambekar, and his father health department letter Namdev, residents of Kalewadi issued in January 2015 says in Pimpri, were made to run that the DEIC centre would around by doctors at DEIC, have all facilities such as saying that they did not have pediatric, dental, psychology, an internet connection to ophthalmology, cleft surgery, register Prasad’s name in the surgery and a nutrition system. centre. The centre would have The report also highlighted general physicians along with the fact that Prasad, suffering specialists. But there were no from acute malnutrition, such facilities at the DEIC dental caries and vitamin centre. deficiencies, was made to visit Maharashtra state RBSK Aundh hospital three to four doctors and workers union times. But instead of treating chairman Pranali Vetal had said him, the doctors just made that the health department had one excuse after another, issued a memo stating that they P4 claiming that they didSeenot were not referring children to have an internet connection, or the centre. “We have referred Seven-year-old Prasad (right) is smaller in size than his four-year-old brother electricity supply, or no doctors. patients to the centre and still Durvesh. In the centre is their father Namdev Kolambekar Th is situation had prompted the National Rural Health Prasad’s father Namdev, who is Mission (NRHM) department BY DNYANEHSWAR BHONDE Hospital’s District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) for treatment. But to @dnyanesh1 a casual worker in a transport issued a memo to us. When we his dismay, the doctors are passing company, to write a letter to refer children to the centre, Seven-year-old Prasad Kolambekar of the buck and making all kinds of Kalewadi in Pimpri is suffering from excuses for not being able to treat the civil surgeon, asking for they do nothing and instead acute malnutrition, stunted growth, Prasad, such as the case not being an inquiry into the matter, but send them to other hospitals for dental caries and multivitamin under their purview, or not having an deficiency. His worried father internet connection. nothing had happened. treatment. That is why people Namdev had brought him to Aundh Contd on p 2 Prasad was fi rst referred are losing trust in us. The same to DEIC by Rashtriya Bal has happened with Prasad, Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and the health department is doctor Umesh Jaiswal. His teeth were hoodwinking us. They do not care about damaged due to a lack of calcium and he the welfare of the patients and issuing a was taken to Mumbai and later to the memo to us is not justified,” she said. DEIC centre. “I fi rst went to the National After the news was published, Premjith Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), and they P, Information, Education and Commureferred me to the DEIC centre. There nication Officer of RBSK (national unit) the doctors sent us to the dentist, then a psychologist three from New Delhi, took a serious view of the matter, and sent times. The chief of DEIC centre Amruta Wagh, sent us a mail to Dr Ashish Bharati, the Assistant Director of State back, saying they had no computer. The next time she said Family Planning Department, Pune, on June 17, with a refthat they did not have an internet connection to register erence to the published report. Consequently, Dr Patil issued a letter to the civil Prasad’s name,” Namdev said. Wagh said that Prasad may have been sent back because surgeon, demanding an inquiry and the report immediately. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com of there was no power supply and internet connection at
This is how Aundh Hospital doctors (mis) treat poor, sick
P13
P11
Survey revealed that not many children were elgible to stay in children’s homes, as per the guidelines of Juvenile Justice Act BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2
Clerics renew fatwa against ‘Pokemon Go’
Home food not always better for babies
Future of 70k inmates lodged in shelter homes at stake
Haribhau Gaikwad said, “These children have been living at our homes for years, and the circular has overnight deprived them of food, clothing, education and shelter. The circular is unethical as even the JJ Act does not mention that only an orphan child can be admitted to homes. There are provisions in the JJ Act itself that allow admission of a child even if he/she has a single parent or guardian. Th is circular has put a question mark on the future and education of the rejected children. “We are not here to fight to keep our children’s homes going, but for the future of all these 70,000 children. If the CWC is ready to rehabilitate these children and take care of them, we will be happy to stop the agitation. Most of the parents are unable to take care of the children due to their financial problems. Considering their economic backgrounds, the children were admitted to the children’s homes to ensure thema secure future,” he said. He added that WCD had conducted inspection drives more than 21 times in a year to assess the facilities provided to the children at the homes. The CWC has recently categorised the children’s homes in A, B, C and D categories, but more than 90 per cent of the children’s homes fall in the A category. Children’s homes run by the WCD fall in the D category. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com
PUNE
Don’t get fooled by cameras in Shivneris BY SUSHANT RANJAN @sushantranjan In a bid to curb and catch the perpetrators of such crimes, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’s (MSRTC) drew up a plan to install Close Circuit TVs in all the Shivneri buses in 2013. But three years later, owing to an ineffective implementation of the plan, of the fleet of 65 Shivneri buses, only 20 buses have had CCTV camerasinstalled, but these units have no recording facility, so they are of no constructive use in catching criminals in the act. But the everyday commuter is sure to feel reassured by the sight of the CCTV that greets him when he boards the bus, knowing that the MSRTC has put in efforts to ensure the commuters’ safety. Little does he know that the CCTV is useless without the recording facility, and the security he feels is just an illusion. The
remaining 45 buses, of course, are yet to get the CCTV cameras installed. The MSRTC operates 65 airconditioned buses from Pune to Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad and Nashik, includingthe newly introduced 25 Scania buses between Pune, Mumbai and Aurangabad. Asked about the CCTV setup, a driver said, “The cameras were installed two months ago but they do not have a recording facility. When commuters ask us about the recording facility, we tell them that everything is operatedby the Mumbai office.” Sources said that the CCTV camera plan has remained on paper. MSRTC Pune division controller Nitin Maind said that all buses will have functional CCTV cameras soon. “We have installed cameras in some buses. The process is still on. Very son all the buses will have functional CCTV systems,” he said. sushant.ranjan@goldensparrow.com
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
“Pune was a cycle city once. Cycling as a mode should not be looked at as outdated as it is a good door-to-door transport and provides ample exercise. Connectivity in the city through petrol-diesel based vehicles increases pollution and stress on roads and parking spaces.” — Sujit Patwardhan, Founder, Parisar NGO
Need to secure Pak’s nuke arsenal P 13
How Pune’s puncture repair shops fleece customers YOGESH WAGH AND ROMIL KOTHARI @TGSWeekly
A resident of Bavdhan has exposed how puncture repair shops in Pune are looting unsuspecting people. They dupe vehicle owners by showing multiple punctures in the same tyre and make anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000 per vehicle. The ruse is simple – over-inflate a tyre, spray some soap water or Eno on it and then claim that tyre has multiple punctures. For every hole they make Rs 100120. While most owners walk away feeling pathetic about how badly they have been maintaining their vehicles, Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Bavdhan felt something was amiss when not one but two puncture shops duped him in a similar fashion in a span of two days. His friends got together and approached same puncture guys next day only to expose the scam. They recorded the entire scam on their cell phones. Kumar, a banker by profession, had stepped out of his house in his Maruti Ciaz last week. While he was on Pashan Road, a biker told him about his front tyre being flat. Not wanting to take any chances he stopped at the nearest puncture shop. The mechanic told him that he would have to check the tyre for punctures. Meanwhile, the biker who had alerted Kumar too arrived at the shop and started talking to him. While the mechanic checked the tyre for punctures, the biker kept Kumar engaged in conversation.
KOTHRUD Next we stopped by at Shree Enterprises at Kothrud. Here Ravindra Ranade had come in his Hyundai i10 to get his right tyres checked for low air pressure. Both the front and rear tyres were low on air. The mechanic at the shop told him that the tyres had punctures and needed to be fi xed urgently. Like other puncture shops, this one too inflated the tyres and showed Ranade how both the wheels had multiple punctures. The front tyre had nine punctures, while the rear one had seven. Also, the valve on front wheel was replaced. Ranade ended up waiting for over an hour and shelled out Rs 1,800 for the job. He did not have a clue that he was being scammed.
Cops nab the puncture repair mechanic who duped Kumar
Minutes later, the mechanic told him that his tyre had 21 holes and that he would charge Rs 120 per puncture. Not realising that he was being scammed, Kumar readily agreed. An hour later he walked away after paying Rs 2,650 to the mechanic. The next morning both the front tyres were flat again. Th is time Kumar approached another puncture guy. Th is one showed him that the tyre had 28 punctures. Kumar once again got the tyre fi xed. But the front tyres with 49 punctures perplexed Kumar. He shared the incident with his friends who decided to carry out a sting and
get to the bottom of the scam. The next day Kumar’s friend Anugrah Bhatia went to one of the puncture guys with another vehicle. The mechanic told him that the tyre had 18 punctures. While the mechanic was busy creating holes in the tyre, Bhatia was capturing the entire episode on a camera. By now it was clear that the mechanics fi rst fi ll up the tyre with a lot more air than is usually done. Th is allows even small pores to open up and appear like punctures. They use water mixed with soap or Eno to get the foam. The water mix once sprayed on even a pore gives out bubbles, making
the car owner believe that it is indeed a puncture. The rest is easy – use the puncture repair kit and fi x each one of them, or pretend to do so. Once Bhatia was done gathering all the evidence, he alerted local cops and insisted on registering a case against the puncture shop. However, cops attached to Pashan police chowky merely registered a non-cognizable complaint and warned the mechanic. After Bhatia shared his experience on a social networking site, several Punekars narrated similar experiences. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
TGS decided to check out if the practice is rampant across the city. We came back with startling findings. Almost every puncture shop deploys the same ruse to make a fast buck. CHANDNI CHOWK We stopped at a puncture shop near Shinde Petrol Pump at Chandni Chowk. Mahesh Phugekar was getting his car fi xed. The mechanic was about to finish his job. He had found six punctures in the spare tyre. Moreover, the mechanic also told him that the valve also needed to be replaced. Not realising that he had been scammed, Phugekar paid Rs 800 and left. “I hadn’t used the spare in months. It had been lying in the car. I thought the air pressure was low. But when I came here the mechanic told me that it had multiple punctures and the valve was also in bad shape. What option did I have but do as he told me to?” said Phugekar.
16 PUNCTURES
OTHER VICTIMS OF PUNCTURE SCAM
VRUSHALI MOHITE Even we faced it, luckily I saw him puncturing it with sharp object and after hot argument we left the place. Since we were in hurry to go back to Mumbai couldn’t make a complaint. But it’s happening for many years I guess. They should be bashed nicely.
UDAY HULE Similar incident at Wakdewadi. One guy was finding the number of punchers in the tube and the other guy was pretending to search for the pointed object in the tyre which caused the puncher. And he himself made a hole in the tyre and told me that we have to fix the hole with a patch which will cost 100 bucks more. I said FO. We have to be aware of these cheats being every where even at the petrol pumps.
6 PUNCTURES 6 PUNCTURES UNIVERSITY ROAD A mobile puncture mechanic had parked his car on the side and was waiting for customers. Nitin Jain arrived on his Bajaj Pulsar. The rear wheel had low air pressure. The mechanic removed the wheel and told Jain that the tyre had punctures. Minutes later, he inflated the tyre and started spraying water on it. He showed Jain six punctures, and charged Rs 700 for the job. Like others Jain also had no clue that he was a victim of an ingenious and well planned scam.
TAZIM HASHMI Well this happened with me around 3 years back at Wakad continental, it was a 2 days old tyre with 32 punctures. It costed me Rs 3800, though tyre price was Rs
4200. I could not argue with him as it was middle of night and was with family. Got my money back next day with the help of friends. ASHUTOSH TOLA Same thing happened with me. First time in Viman Nagar the guy told me the tyre has a defect which caused the puncture so 2 patches were applied to my tyre costing around Rs 200 each plus the puncture charge. Again in Aundh Parihar chowk they applied 2-3 patches in the tyre saying due to this the tube was punctured, again it costed me 700 bucks. And again in Kharadi I was told the patch that the earlier guy had used was of poor quality so applied 2 new patches. Overall they charged around Rs 500-600 each time not much to get me suspicious but then one day I went to the tyre shop to replace the tyre frustrated by the trouble due to it. The MRF guy told its a new tyre it could not have damages. The puncture guys are fraud. New MRF tyre with tube cost was just Rs 1500.
EXPERT SPEAK JOSEPH EAPEN, OWNER DECCAN TYRES Jospeh Eapen is the owner of a reputed tyre shop in Bopodi. Often he gets a whole lot of customers who want their tyres replaced after they have multiple punctures. “When they come to me with multiple punctures, I know that they have been scammed. Local puncture shops in Pune have come with several tricks to cheat customers,” said Eapen. He explained that ideally motorists should not go to roadside shops to get their air pressure checked. They should go to a petrol pump or an authorised tyre shop. “It is during these regular refi lls that the local shops scam customers. If they see a vehicle with low air pressure, they immediately claim that it is a puncture. Once the customer agrees to get the tyre checked, he is trapped,” said Eapen. In no time the roadside mechanic tells the customer that the tyre has multiple punctures. Th is is done by over inflating the tyre, or pressing a sharp object while inflating it. “They keep the vehicle owner
engaged somehow and trick them,” added Eapen. “It takes a lot for a tubeless tyre to develop one single puncture. At best a tyre can have one or two punctures. We also repair punctures and none of the vehicles so far have had more than two punctures. The roadside guys are nothing but a sham,” said Eapen. He explained that often roadside guys claim to have found punctures in sidewalls of tyres. “Side walls of a tyre can never develop punctures. Only a Pune puncture repair guy can come up with something like that,” he said. With over 80 per cent of vehicles having moved to tubeless tyres from tubes, Eapen explained that the puncture shops are more or less are out of business. “Earlier they would throw nails on roads so that vehicles passing over them would develop punctures. Now they have come up with this trick of showing multiple punctures when there are none. The sad part is that these guys do not realise that they are playing with your lives. A tyre which has been fi xed for multiple punctures can burst at high speeds,” concluded Eapen.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
“I feel everybody in Gujarat should come together. Dalits, Patidars, businessmen, all need to come together and stand against this oppression. The entire country is with you.” — Arvind Kejriwal, AAP National Convener
“When anything derogatory is said about devis and devtas, people get hurt. The Dalits, who see me as a devi, could not control their anger when derogatoary language was being used for me.” — Mayawati, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Your chance to express what you haven’t till now
Create Super 50 in Pune
GREAT Foundation and Bakliwal Tutorials to coach 50 kids from low-income group for pre-entrance and competitive exams
Guidance platform Soul Journal addresses mass conformity by inculcating emotional intelligence and self-belief BY SALONEE MISTRY @SaloneeMistry Problem is an unwelcome companion of our life. Studies prove that art is an effective medium to release stored up stress that bad situations cause without taking any untoward steps. Not only can one tap into and release past hurts but can also let go of current stressful situations. Soul Journal lets people speak about themselves what they haven’t been able to express otherwise. They offer an open platform for individuals who want to share their deepest thoughts through spoken word without the fear of being judged. In the present society, finding the atmosphere to express yourself freely with no boundaries and inhibitions is something almost everyone seeks, and that is what they strive to provide. Learning from his past experiences, Abhinav Arora founded the initiative. A final year engineering student from Manipal University, Arora had his hits and
misses with the current start-up bubble before embarking on to solve a real problem with Soul Journal. He is passionate about travel, storytelling and soul-searching and Soul Slam allows him to bring these passions together via the ongoing all-India tour. “Unlike a poetry slam, this one is more relaxed and focuses on content and expression rather than competition. There is no time limit and people are encouraged to express themselves even by storytelling. There is no selection or elimination of poets from the line-up and it is ensured that everyone gets their fair share of being heard,” said 20-year-old Rushaki Ghosh, one of the core team members. These characteristics make Soul Journal more of a therapeutic event and as a result, there have been countless testimonials from people especially living in fast-paced cities
like Delhi and Mumbai about how much it has helped them figure a different sight to themselves, she said. Since their team is spread across the country, they generally operate from remote locations which sometimes make it challenging to get things done hands on. Apart from that, getting people to participate wholly and explicitly is a challenge too since being vulnerable and taking off the masks they wear is not something that is very comfortable for them and neither does it come easy. But this is the whole point of what they have headed out to achieve. They want people to be brave, weird and, more importantly, themselves. In doing so, the hope is that they find acceptance of their own selves. Most of the Soul Slam events are crowdfunded in a way that attendees pay an entry fee and the money collected from
Pamper yourself, help the poor The Violet provides luxury for the rich and donations to the needy during that time of the month BY ABHA PANDIT @abha_pandit Periods are something the world still hesitates to talk about, considering it a hush-hush topic only to be spoken behind closed doors. Studies suggest that women are uncomfortable discussing menstruation with their family members. Given the fact that half the population menstruates at any one time, periods are still a taboo, still so unspeakable, even in modern societies, even among females. The Violet is an effort to change this mindset. A one-of-its-kind concept, The Violet offers monthly subscriptions of luxury period boxes, sending sanitary napkins and tampons along with a bunch of goodies to the doorstep. Apart from offering the pampering every woman deserves during this period, the venture has a model that gives back in equal measure to the society. The profit generated from the initiative is used to provide period essentials to girls and women in need of them. Co-founded by Yogita Muttha (25) and Laukik Bothara (27), The Violet was launched in the early 2016 with a website
Yogita Muttha and Laukik Bothara launched The Violet in 2016
and a mobile application. Their main reason for introducing the concept was to break taboos around the subject, and give women the pampering they deserve. “Each woman spends approximately 1,500 days in her lifetime on her period. We, as a country, need to stop putting a veil over the topic of menstruation,” Muttha said. With their concept, India’s 300 million plus population of women between the ages of 15 and 45 can now try luxury products each month. Each box consists of vegan cosmetics, exquisite teas and coffees, gourmet chocolates and your choice of sanitary pads or tampons. The luxury products change each month, surprising customer a little each time. Yogita was a consultant at Ernst & Young before founding The Violet. She worked as a chartered accountant after studying at Symbiosis International University and London School of Economics. Laukik was an associate at
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McKinsey & Company. He was also a part of engineering and design of the new World Trade Center in New York after the 9/11 attacks. He has an MBA from INSEAD France and a Masters in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California. The team at The Violet feels strongly about helping the less fortunate. “Around 70 per cent women in India cannot afford sanitary napkins even today. This is something we are working towards tackling. For every box sold, The Violet donates period essentials to girls and women in need of them,” Bothara said. They have collaborated with the NGOs Swadhar and WRH who help them reach out to the girls. After taking a count of boxes sold at the end of each month, The Violet donates essentials to those many girls. “We pride ourselves on our transparency. Subscribers are encouraged to join us on our donation drives and personally see the impact they are making,” said Muttha. “If more and more women start subscribing to companies like ours, we could reach out to more girls and women who do not have access to proper sanitary products in the country.” Another unique aspect of their model is their manufacturing team. The Violet has employed people with hearing loss to make the boxes in which subscriptions are sent out each month. abha.pandit@goldensparrow.com
that goes into the organisation’s operations. Sponsors are a part of the plan in the near future. The team currently is 30 people strong, most of whom are bloggers and thought leaders. All of them hail from various backgrounds and diverse age groups; a 17-year-old girl from Egypt, an 18-year-old girl from Italy as well as a 31-year-old woman from the Netherlands. The team coordinates virtually with the help of networking platforms over the Internet. They have held events in Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Th is is all a part of the India tour they are currently undertaking. The group’s last stop was Bhubaneswar on July 17, followed by Pune on July 24. They play to cover the east and the north-east in the near future. Letting us in on what they are planning for the future Ghosh said, “We plan to continue our all-India tour and cover Kolkata and the north-east. Simultaneously on the online front, we are building a platform to accommodate our community and at a later stage, make it an aggregator for life-coaches. The travelling and interaction with new people is what every team member loves about being a part of this initiative. Every person has a story untold and we hear so many of them every time we have an active participation from the crowd in the cities. The sense of achievement when we watch people let their guard down and be themselves is something that fuels us to do more.” salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com
TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The 50 children from municipal schools who will attend the classes as part of Project Udaan have a future to look forward to with hope and enthusiasm. Launched by the GREAT Foundation in partnership with Bakliwal Tutorials, these kids will be taught subjects to prepare them for IIT exams. The first session will begin at Mahadji Shinde High School & Junior College, Next to Haribhai Balwantrao Girme School, in front of Gwalior Lines, Near Wanowrie Police Chowky, Prince of Wales Drive Road, Old Wanowrie Bazaar at 12.15 pm on July 24. GREAT Foundation Founder and Executive President Viney Kirpal said that the beneficiaries are bright, needy, less privileged students studying in government schools/low income schools in Pune. The former professor and HOD/HSS/IIT Bombay will inaugurate Project Udaan. The project aims to train fifty standard IX students rigorously in physics, chemistry, maths and logical thinking every year for four years (standard IX to XII) in partnership with Bakliwal Tutorials (set up by an IITian) and prepare them for preentrance tests to make it to the IITs/NITs/IISER/NDA etc. According to Kirpal, most of the children belong to SC/ST/ OBC/BC/EBC/Minority low income communities whose parental income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum and are first generation learners. The vision is to create a Super 50 in Pune. The Bakliwal Tutorials conducted an entrance test for nearly 200 students this year and selected around 35 for the first batch that begins their ninemonth training from July 24. Training in spoken/written English and personality development will also be given to the children to create confidence and good communication skills in them. GREAT Foundation Facilitators will provide additional support by monitoring the children’s homework while its Student Advisor will be in close touch with every student and their parents to support and mentor them on a regular basis. The training will be given for free. “The vision is to create a Super 50 in Pune and prepare these children for the IITs and other institutes of national importance to catapult deserving, less privileged students from school to high profile professional careers,” Kirpal said. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
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Archers undergoing intense training session at Shahu College ground, Parvati under the watchful eyes of coach Ranjeet Chamle
With a little help from the coach and fellow archers
PRAVIN JADHAV, 20, hails from Sarde village, in Phaltan taluka, Satara. He has made remarkable progress in archery. He recently won a bronze medal in the Asia Cup held at Bangkok. After a fabulous performance in the national selection trials held at Sonpat, Pravin justified his selection with a podium finish. However it hasn’t been an easy journey for him. Born into a humble home, Pravin has always faced
financial crises while pursuing his dreams. His father Ramesh works on daily wages and was unable to pay for Pravin’s archery expenses. With help from coach Chamle and from the other archers of the academy, he managed to get the ticket to Bangkok. He has been shooting with modern equipment for just over two years. Previously, he would use a traditional bamboo bow, but since being taken in by Shahu College, he has produced incredible results with equipment borrowed from, and gifted by, the archery community in the region. He has also represented India at the World Cup held in Colombia last year, along with the World University Games. Sport is more than a hobby for Pravin. He hopes it will become a way to provide for his parents and a younger brother. “I am now preparing for another Asian meet to be held later this year and planning to convert this bronze into gold,” he says. As per his coach, he is the one to watch in the future.
I wasn’t able to hold the bow steady due to a lack of strength SURAJ ANPAT is from Wai near Satara, and shifted to Pune for his education and archery. Th is year he switched to modern equipment from a bamboo bow and won an inter-university gold medal. He has had to work on his strength, and with the guidance from his coach, he increased his weight by 16 kg in seven months. “I wasn’t able to hold the bow steady due to a lack of strength. So Chamle sir advised me to put on weight, and follow a proper diet. I would eat 7-8 eggs, and bananas for breakfast followed by a heavy workout including running and shoulder exercises. Th is really worked for me and along with strength, I gained confidence,” he says. Unfortunately Suraj missed the world university mark by just four points. “I hadn’t expected to qualify so I took it as a learning experience. But when I realised how close I was, I repented having taken it a bit casually,” says Suraj.
Archery helps me concentrate and it has benefited me in my studies TISHA SANCHETI is a student of St Helena’s High School. She had her fi rst taste of national success last year when she won a team silver in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Th is year she is yet to win any medal, but has been trying her best to perform at par. As a child, Tisha was interested in a number of sports like skating, table tennis, tennis and swimming, and finally settled on archery, which she feels is more lively and thrilling. “What I like most about archery is that it helps you concentrate. It has even benefited me in my studies. With a focused mind, I can get around 80 per cent without much hassle,” says Tisha, who is now aiming for the Youth Commonwealth Games qualification.
He is the first a village to reach
TANMAY MALUSARE has and has bagged 93 medals, inc rural area, Parmachi Wadi in from his village to reach this l “No one at my village was fortunately my parents suppor took a loan to buy me equipme Tanmay, who was part of t World University Games in M improving his score than the m “I am working on it gradua 680. Before 2018 Asian Game way to it,” he says.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
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PICS: VISHAL KALE
Though archery is among the six sports identified for promotion by the government, archers in the city have no facilities to speak of, despite which they are rising to the top at the national level, and are aiming to hit the mark at the international level as well
Bull’s EYE
archer from his h a national level
s been a regular archer at the national level cluding 23 national medals. Hailing from a Raigad district, Tanmay is the fi rst archer level. aware about competitive archery but rted me wholeheartedly. My father even ent,” he said. the Indian team which participated in the Mongolia earlier this year, is focused on medal tally. ally and my target is going beyond a score of es, I want to reach that level and there is long
BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish
A
rchery is one of the six priority sport disciplines selected for promotion in India, according to the revised guidelines issued by the Government of India. As a result, archers like Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari, Tarundeep Rai and Jayant Talukdar have won several medals at the international level, making India one of the strong contenders at archery events. Closer to home, city archers are hoping to live up to the reputation and make Pune proud. Youngsters like Pravin Jadhav, Tanmay Malusare, Purva Palliwal and Tisha Sancheti have produced good results at the nationals, and are preparing for big events like the Asia Cup and Commonwealth Games. These archers along with 50-60 others, train with reputed coach Ranjeet Chamle at the Archers Academy at Shahu College ground, Parvati. Chamle, who has worked as coach of the Indian junior team for the World Youth Championship in USA last year, has been running this academy for several years, and has produced a crop of talented archers. When it comes to the medal tally, the academy’s archers have won over a hundred medals at the national level, while international medals adorn Purva and Pravin’s personal mantles. Currently, ten archers from the academy are part of the India camp, while six out of eight senior world cup trial qualifiers were from Pune.
THE CHANGE
Though archery is a top priority sport in India, it wasn’t the same in Maharashtra. While other states like Punjab, Jharkhand, Delhi and Rajasthan were dominating the events, the state archers were prone to fail at the final hurdles. Despite their unquestionable potential, the state failed to reach the level to be considered as a medal contender. However, thanks to Archers Academy, the scenario has been changing gradually. The state archers are doing a good job at school nationals, and last year the state archers won three medals at the senior nationals, which was not possible a few years ago. In 2015, the academy’s archers bagged over 50 medals at various state and national tournaments, including junior and senior segments. Even at the inter-university tournaments, the prodigies of the academy have fetched good results. Several archers from tribal areas like Javhar, part of Amravati and other districts come here to train. Those who can’t afford the fees, receive total support from the academy. Not just archers, but even coaches come here for training and start grooming a new generation of archers in rural areas. The selected ones are sent to Pune for advanced training. In Chamle’s words, this is a centre of excellence and a hub for archery in Maharashtra. However this is not enough for Chamle, as he says this is just the beginning. “We have a long way to go. We are in a position to dominate nationals. Although everyone wants to represent India in the Olympics, we are currently aiming at the Asian and Commonwealth Games. It’s a gradual process and will bear fruit in the next five years,” he says. “This is the right occasion to rise and shine. The sport has got top priority and the government sends fully-funded
I have to work on the mental aspect to be able to handle pressure
PURVA PALLIVAL is a fi rst year arts student of Shahu College. She recently won a team silver at the Youth Fiesta held in Korea. She was also part of the Indian team that underwent a two-month training in Korea. “It was a fascinating experience. Although they didn’t let us know all their secrets methods, we got ample knowledge and it improved our performance radically. Due to the language barrier, we couldn’t interact with the players, but their coaches fine-tuned our pulling techniques and body posture,” she said. That reflected in her performance immediately, as she finished second in the sub-junior nationals held in Goa, and also performed impressively at the Senior Nationals held in Uttar Pradesh. Purva is yet to win an individual international medal. World number 5 Deepika Kumari is her idol. “During the India camp, I met her and I was impressed with the way she handles pressure. I still need to work a lot on the mental aspect as tournament pressure affects my performance,” she said.
The beginner level archers work on strength training using the hard rubber bands.
teams to several tournaments and training camps abroad. Jobs are available in police, railways, CRPF, army and other sectors. Corporates are coming forth to fund talented archers. Our players must get the benefit of this,” he said.
WHAT ARCHERS NEED
Though these archers are doing a fine job, they are still struggling to get the basic facilities. Currently they train at Shahu College, on a piece of land mainly used for agriculture purposes. During the monsoons it gets muddy and it becomes difficult for archers to train. Sometimes they continue at the parking space of the college, or focus on strength training than skills. “This has to change. Unfortunately, there is not a single archery range in Pune, except for the military range at the Army Sports Institute. These are the future medal prospects of India and they must have the best facilities,” says Chamle. “A good range must have outdoor as well indoor facilities. It should be a residential project with a ground, multi-equipped gym along with physio and nutritionist,” he said. Secondly, Chamle wants Pune to become a feeder centre for India. With proper training and facilities, these archers will fill the gap between the second and third strings of players, he feels. “Countries like Korea send their junior teams to senior world cups, and yet they win medals. That’s the bench strength they have. Our hopes are pinned on the same athletes for more than a decade. Though they are doing well, we must have an equally strong team B,” says Chamle. For that he stresses that the efforts should be made at the grassroots level. Except for inter-school, hardly any archery tournaments are held in the city. Even the selection trials are held for documentation purposes. “The way Pune tennis has gained a huge boost, we should work in a similar way. With the cumulative efforts from coaches, players, parents, associations and corporates, we should make Pune a hub of archery. We have the potential and we need to convert it properly,” he says.
THE DAY’S WORKOUT
The archers start their day in the wee hours with physical training. After running a moderate distance of 3-5 km (sometimes 10 km), they work on heartbeat, pulse and core workout. Then they shift to archery specific training which includes training with bow, conditioning, weight training and stability workout. During the afternoon session, they focus on skill training, shooting and eventually wind up with stretching, yoga and meditation. “There is a misconception that an archer doesn’t require much fitness, but to pull a 45-pound bow, you need strength and a good build. Not just the upper body, but even the lower body muscles should be powerful, as archers spent 8-10 hours on the ground. It looks easy, but archery is a very demanding sport. It’s not a layman’s job to fire around 400 arrows in a day with that heavy bow,” says Chamle. The coach indicates that a scientific approach plays a crucial role in a player’s performance. “These archers are closely supervised. Even their daily water intake is measured. They burn around 600-800 calories a day and if not hydrated enough, it hampers their performance,” said Chamle. Archery is like a marathon. No one can just start running a marathon from day one. It’s a gradual process and needs total dedication, says the coach. The academy also does anatomy and biomechanical analysis of the players, which has come in handy for training them better. The novice undergoes various aspects such as psychological, physical, hand strength and straightness of arm. It helps the coaches understand which segment they have to work on and the exercises are given accordingly.
an archer’s mental toughness too. Chamle, who is doing a PhD in psychology knows the value of mental training. He feels that archery is beyond just skills and strengths. “Fortunately, I got a chance to assist Lorenzo Belthrame, director of Athletic Performance Coaching in the US. He was appointed by the Indian government to train Indian senior players. Belthrame has worked with dozens of ATP and WTA tour professionals, including Jim Courier and Pete Sampras. I am following the same guidelines for my players and it’s helping them,” said Chamle.
MONEY MATTERS
There is also a misconception that archery is quite expensive and that commoners can’t afford it. Chamle has ample evidence where players from rural areas have shown talent and have done a great job. “The beginners start with a wooden bow, which costs around Rs 1,500 to Rs 4,000. It can be used till national tournaments and some of the archers have won medals too with such bows,” says Chamle. The costs rise once the archer reaches the international level. A recurve bow costs around Rs 5,000 and can go up to Rs 1.5 lakh depending on the quality and manufacturer. The compound bow is costlier and requires Rs 25,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. The traditional bamboo arrows comes for Rs 50 a piece, while aluminium ones cost around Rs 300. The professionals use carbon arrows which cost Rs 30,000 per dozen, while tungsten arrows cost up to Rs 45,000 a dozen. On an average, an archer of international standard need to spend Rs 1.5 lakh a year including his diet, training and travelling expenses. “Once the archer clears the qualification hurdle, the government sends them to various tournaments including the Asia Cup, Asian grand prix, world cups, world championships, Commonwealth Youth Games and Commonwealth Games. So it’s a basically a one-time investment,” said Chamle. The academy pays for the equipment for those who can’t afford it and sometimes they share the same bow for various tournaments. To cut costs, Chamle gets secondhand bows from top Indian archers, who replace them after a few years. Such bows are used for training and help archers to try their hand on them. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
IT’S ALL IN THE MIND
Not just physical, but the academy pays equal attention to
The Coach Ranjeet Chamle is a Level II coach of World Archery Federation with Rank 1. He has won several awards as best coach. Chamle coached the Indian sub-junior team for the Youth World Cup held in 2015, and was assistant psychologist with Lorenzo Belthrame of Human Performance Institute, USA for the Indian senior team. Recently he was the coach of the Indian men’s team at the World Cup in Colombia, and then appointed chief coach of the Indian University team for the World University Championship in Mongolia in June. He joined SP College as director of Physical Education and was selected as a member of the coaches committee for Mission 2020 Olympics Scheme of the Maharashtra Government. Under his guidance, the Archers Academy in Pune has produced more than 15 international archers, and more than 100 national level archers. These archers have bagged over 800 state level and 540 national level medals.
Ranjeet Chamle
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
TECH/START-UP
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“The first “modern” computer was built in 1941 by Konrad Zuse in World War 2. He looked to funding from the Germans but was denied because they did not expect the war to last beyond Christmas.” — http://www.shoutmeloud.com/
Wireless ways ahead BY ANAND PARTHASARATHY
In 2003, Craig Mathias, a columnist in the respected journal, Electrical Engineering Times penned a savage obituary: “Bluetooth is dead. Bluetooth is toast. Finished. Over. Stick a fork in it. It’s done.” It will soon be swept away by WiFi, he suggested. Famous Last Words! Bluetooth is still alive and kicking. WiFi requires a separate router — and you have to pay a monthly broadband subscription for the basic Net connection. Bluetooth works over shorter distances — but it’s almost as fast and it selfinstalls for free between two or more devices, including every phone system — Android, iOS, Blackberry, Linux and Windows. Bluetooth continues to challenge WiFi in many use scenarios in the home and since its creation 22 years ago, it has become the most ubiquitous among technologies to wirelessly send data back and forth. In fact, over short ranges — around 10 metres or less, Bluetooth is the preferred wireless wizard. WiFi has its legitimate role — over tens of metres. And over a few centimetres rather than metres, there is another challenger: NFC or Near Field Communication (see box). Across the wireless usage spectrum, Bluetooth rules. And today it is the global wireless standard that fuels another technology of the future — the Internet of Things — by cannily reinventing itself in a new less power-hungry version called Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth LE for Low
Energy. This enables developers to create tiny sensors that can run for a year or more off one of those tiny watch or coin batteries. These days they can also recharge by solar energy — or just by the kinetic energy generated when the wearer walks. In June, an update to the standard — Bluetooth 5 — was announced, which will enable four times the range and double the data speed of the current version 4 —without demanding more power. Soon your Bluetoothenabled phone or speaker will work beyond the walls of home or office. Already you can turn lights, cookers or TV on and off, open doors, monitor your heart rate —with a simple one-press pairing of Bluetooth devices. Soon we will see such applications widen when a network of devices, called a Piconet, is connected by Bluetooth, much as WiFi works today. However, Bluetooth 5.0 will enter products only by year-end or early in 2017. Since almost all phones are Bluetoothready, makers of devices like speakers, headphones, players and other audio entertainment accessories are now able to harness Bluetooth to eliminate the pain of pairing devices with wires. Elsewhere on this page, we review the latest Bluetooth speakers and headsets that are available in India. The smartphone has emerged as the personal command centre to control a variety of devices — via Bluetooth. At 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a US-based
The Evotag, helps locate a keychain
firm launched TempTraq a tiny Bluetoothenabled patch and the first 24-hour intelligent thermometer that continuously senses, records, and sends alerts of a child’s temperature to your mobile device. In the UK, Blue Maestro has embedded a thermometer strip into a Bluetooth-enabled baby pacifier or plastic teat called Pacifi. The temperature is sent to a smartphone and parents when a limit is crossed. Expect to find these products online in India by year-end. Not all yoga innovation originates from India. A California startup has created SmartMat a sensor-laden interactive yoga mat that gives you feedback on your phone, if your asanas are not correct or if you are tiring. The $347 product allows users to practice and learn in home, without having to attend public
Hedy Lamarr as the seductress in Samson and Delilah 1949
classes or hiring a private instructor. A Gurgaon-based startup, Evoxyz Technologies has launched arguably India’s first Bluetooth tracker, Evotag. The tiny rubber encased device needs to be paired with the Evotag app on your phone. This allows you to set up one of many use scenarios: locate a key chain or similar item (to which you have attached the tag); locate a pet; locate baggage when it comes near you — on an airport conveyor belt... You can ask the lost item to announce itself — with a ring. In another useful situation, you can stick the tag on your front door and programme your phone to ring if the door is opened. It costs Rs 1,399 — a small price to pay for peace of mind. Makers have created sensible scenario: Evotag, is available in a form that can be worn by your child. EvoSchool as this use case is called, lets parents keep track of their children at all times, using a smartphone app. Parents can easily sync Evoschool’s log with their personal calendar and get timely reminders of fees and other school activities. Evotag is available from online portals like Amazon, Snapdeal etc or from the parent company for Rs 2,499. The advantages of Bluetooth in pairing audio equipment is lost to legacy systems that come with the familiar 3 mm audio jacks and sockets. The solution is a product called Plugzee which allows you to convert your wired speakers into Bluetooth ones, without compromising on its audio quality. Set-up is simple: Plugzee can be hooked up with any speaker that has a 3.5mm audio jack. It claims a range of 10 metres and pairs with up to 8 devices. Plugzee comes with a Lithium-ion battery that lets you stream music for up to 18 hours on a single charge. It has been developed by young Goans, headed by Nagarjun Kinare who is the hardware and graphics expert. It was crowdfunded at Indiegogo and the product has been launched globally from Estonia for $30. Fifty years ago, Frank Sinatra sang, “It’s a blue world without you”, sad because he could not connect with his lady love. Today, blue reflects a different mood, as wireless technology is poised to connect us to a plethora of peoplefriendly devices which will make you say: ‘Blues, what blues, when I’ve got Bluetooth?’ IndiaTechOnline
‘Where am I and what is the time?’ Casio’s G Shock Gravity Master is the ultimate in time keeping and position fixing
The analogue display on all three dials of Casio’s G Shock GravityMaster (GPW-1000) wrist watch is misleading. This is no traditional time piece, as we have known it. What lies beneath is state-of -art digital time keeping technology backed by solar cells, a GPS receiver and a radio frequency time calibration receiver. While the solar cells backs up the battery that is good for 10 years, the radio receiver gets signals from six different time-keeping stations worldwide. If this channel of information doesn’t work, the GPS receiver checks with a minimum of three satellites to determine its exact position on earth and uses this to automatically display the local time — even making allowance for regional adjustments like daylight saving time. A dial at the 8 o’clock position
also displays the time in any other part of the world, after the user selects any of the world’s 40 time zones displayed along the rim, as abbreviated city names. Another dial at 4 o’clock if pressed, interrogates the GPS satellites within 7-20 seconds, displays the exact latitude and longitude , even as it sets the local time on the main dial. For the asking price of Rs 49,995, this is a chronometer that goes as far as one can go to establish two things you would want to know if you are the rugged outdoor type exploring some remote mountain, desert or forest: Where am I? And what is the time? Which is why the GPW-1000 works up to 200 metres below water and has a diamond-hard carbon coating. The rest of us can wear it for that macho feeling.
Bluetooth speakers and headsets Zebronics UFO: Made for double duty No one likes to be away from one’s phone for too long. Even if a Bluetooth speaker is the centre piece of party fun-n-games, people want to take and make calls — so wireless speakers have generally offered phone alerts. With its latest wireless speaker, Zebronics incorporates a cordless handset atop the speaker. The 3-watt Zebronics UFO offers a USB port and a micro SD card slot, letting you stream audio or music from most devices, while a standard 3.5 mm audio port allows you to connect phones, notebooks or tablets. This is useful because the speaker can be used for more than just entertainment: The buttons on the handset effectively convert the speaker into a media control centre for a small conference. At Rs 2,999, a good deal. Creative Sound Blaster Roar 2: Bluetooth-NFC combo Creative has long been a respected name for audio accessories and Soundblaster Roar 2-. is the latest in their Bluetooth speaker range. It’s smaller and lighter than its predecessor but belts out the same sound from its 5 speakers. Creative has bundled a host of useful functions that makes this extremely versatile, among Bluetooth speakers: a built-in power source: a 6000 mAh battery; a one-touch voice recorder; NFC technology that makes Bluetooth pairing a simple tap; a speakerphone mode that will be useful if you do a teleconference and something that is always useful in a speaker—a built-in player for MP3 and WMA formats that plays directly from a microSD card. In a throwback to its PC card days, the Sound Blaster 2 also works as an external sound card to a PC or Mac, if you connect it through USB. Price: Rs 16,999
P 12
Bluetooth is the dominant personal communication technology over short ranges, with NFC a hot contender in some scenarios
Beauty (and brains) behind Bluetooth A Hollywood screen goddess of the 1940s and 50s, Hedy Lamarr, is, believe it or not, is the original source of two key technologies that fuel Bluetooth — and most other wireless ways to send and receive data today. When not busy giving Victor Mature a haircut in the 1949 biblical epic, ‘Samson and Delilah’, or playing a series of sultry roles opposite Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable and the like, Hedy dabbled in a number of science projects with a composer-friend, George Antheil. In 1942 the duo was granted the original patent for “Secret Communication System”. Today we call her inventons, “spread spectrum” and “frequency hopping”: two key telecom techniques. It was put to use secretly by the US Navy to help guide torpedoes. It took decades for the scientific establishment to acknowledge that a cinema star could have brains besides beauty. But half century on, Bluetooth is evidence that there was more to Hedy Lamarr than smoky eyes and a seductive gait.
SC strikes at Army’s powers
Le Me headphones: Luxury feel China-headquartered phone maker LeEco, has launched some accessories at its rupeepriced online shop LeMall.com — like ear phones, headphones and speakers. We tried out the LeMe Bluetooth headphones and liked the overall luxury feel and good performance. The 40mm moving coil speakers deliver good sound at the lower (bass) frequencies — something entry level products rarely achieve. The leather covered cushioned a n d adjustable headband make for a comfortable fit and at 240 grams it feels very light. The mike is hidden in the right side phone casing which also contains nicely recessed but easily accessible buttons for Volume plus and minus, Pause, Previous and Next buttons. When Bluetooth linked to an mobile phone, the calls come through very clearly — thanks to noise reduction by a digital signal processor. A full battery works for 10 hours. Price: Rs 2,499.
NFC: Wave and pay THE OTHER, SHORT RANGE WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY WILL SOON BE ON EVERY SMARTPHONE Visa, the worldwide credit card company, last week took large space in Indian media to announce the new way you could use your credit or debit card: ‘Just wave and pay’. Leading Indian banks including Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI, IDBI, IndusInd, SBI as well as supermarket chains Big Bazaar and Vishal will soon upgrade their credit card machines to enable the new way to pay: just take your new Visa PayWave card very close (around 4 cms) to the machine and it will beep and flash a greenlight. That’s it!. No PIN, no signature. The technology that makes possible such a secure transfer of money — or for that matter any exchange of data — is known as NFC or Near Field Communication. It enables two electronic devices, one of which is usually a portable device like a phone, to establish communication by bringing them close to each other. Contactless payments is perhaps its largest potential application. But almost every new phone on the market except the very affordable, is NFC-ready. This means, the phone itself could do the job of the credit card. And already there are dozens of other applications, which will exploit the NFC chip in your phone. The first to reach us are NFC radio tags. They are thin, coin-sized circuits which can be fashioned like stickers. They are passive ie, they have no power source of their own and draw it wirelessly from another active NFC device — like your NFC smartphone. Tags, can typically store from 100 to 1000 bytes of information and these can be programmed to do just about anything: transferring pictures, text and video links. You can embed an NFC tag on any surface — in a brochure for example — and it will open up an entire multimedia document. Such tags are now available by the dozen, in attractive shapes for around Rs 50 each and they are reusable. Programming them on your phone using special NFC apps is quite easy — so you can tweak the tags to do a variety of things.
Driver-on-demand app now live in Pune Unlike so many taxi aggregators, Zuver is a start-up that addresses a different need: Car owners who occasionally need the service of a driver. Zuverlassig is the German word for “reliable”—and that’s what they promise you: a reliable, skilled, well-trained ‘driver on demand’ at your doorstep. After Mumbai, the service has just started in Pune. You can book a driver in advance or real time for an hour, or for a whole day. The service locates and dispatches the driver who is positioned closest to the customer, within 40 minutes. You can find a driver by using the iOS or Android app “Zuver Driver on Demand”. You can also contact the service on phone: +91 2243686868. With 100 drivers on their network in Mumbai, Zuver has so far signed up 25 drivers in Pune and has also extended its reach to Bengaluru. Started in early 2016 by Sovin Hegde, a Harvard alumnus and Sidhanth Mally, a Kings College London alumnus, Zuver says it ensures that each driver undergoes multiple rounds of interviews, tests and agency checks so that the customers can be reassured while handing over their car to Zuver’s driver. IndiaTechOnline
Plantronic BackBeat Pro: Active noise Cancelling Plantronics have been long known for their professional headset range — the choice of many call centres. So when they offer consumer wireless head phones, rhey can’t help throwing in features that a pro user will recognize: Active noise cancelling which you can turn on or off at will; dual microphones; one touch pairing with NFC; extended Bluetooth range of 100 metres; 24 hours of music between charges. The new USB 3.0 standard is met and voice alerts can be set for a choice of international languages. We can’t see Indian users gaining much from this last feature, but they might still appreciate the Plantronics quality they are getting for Rs 16,999 (Rs 13,000 on some online retail sites). IndiaTechOnline
IT is like that...
ENVIRONMENT “With increasing healthcare costs there will be continuing pressures for limiting growth. This will lead to rationing of publicly funded services and/or increased expenditure by individuals.” — Ross Clare, Research Director, ASFA
Nilgai, monkey, wild pig declared vermin The Environment Ministry had issued notifications declaring three wildlife species as vermin in five states on their request, the government said. “Section 62 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act empowers the central government to issue notifications declaring any wild animal, other than those specified in Schedule I and Part II of Schedule II, as vermin for any specified area and a specified period by including the species in Schedule V of the Act. “The Ministry has issued notifications under this provision of the Act based on the request of states,” Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. Bihar had sought a notification declaring Nilgai and wild pigs as vermin in 31 districts and 10 districts, respectively. Uttarakhand had asked for a notification for wild pigs in 13 districts, he said. Himachal Pradesh had sought a notification for Rhesus Macaque in 10 districts, Gujarat for Nilgai in 19 districts and Maharashtra for Nilgai in one district, and wild pigs in four districts. The notifications are not applicable to forest areas of the respective states and only cover selected areas outside forests. They are valid for one year from the date of their publication, he said. “The notifications do not prohibit enforcement of any law related to welfare of animals. As such, the existing animal welfare laws continue to be in force,” the minister said in reply to another question. PTI
Home food not always better for babies
Home cooked meals usually exceed energy density and dietary fat recommendations
LONDON: Parents, take note! Home cooked meals specifically designed for infants and young children, are not always better than commercially available baby foods, a new study has claimed. Often perceived as the best option, home cooked meals are cheaper but they usually exceed energy density and dietary fat recommendations, researchers said. It is recommended that the introduction of solid foods, known as weaning, begins when a child is six months old. It should include a variety of foods to provide a balanced diet rich in a broad range of nutrients. The researchers from University of Aberdeen and University of Warwick in the UK wanted to assess how well homemade and commercially available readymade meals designed for infants and young children met age specific dietary recommendations. They compared the nutrient content, price and food group variety of 278 readymade savoury meals, 174 of which were organic, and 408 home cooked meals, made using recipes from 55 bestselling cookbooks designed for the diets of infants and young children. In terms of the food group content, 16 per cent of the home cooked
be “double or triple” of the official data. “The information provided in response to the RTI query refers to information on self-reported transmission of HIV recorded by counsellors from clients attending Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTC). This is further not corroborated by any scientific means to confirm that transmission is indeed due
meals were poultry based compared with 27 per cent of the readymade meals; around one in five (19 per cent) were seafood based vs 7 per cent of the readymade meals; a similar proportion (21 per cent) were meat based compared with 35 per cent of the commercial products; and almost half (44 per cent) were vegetable based compared with around a third (31 per cent) of the readymade meals. Home cooked meals included a greater variety of vegetables than readymade meals, but commercial products contained a greater vegetable variety per meal, averaging three compared with two for home cooked recipes. Home cooked meals also provided 26 per cent more energy and 44 per cent more protein and total fat, including saturated fat, than commercial products. While almost two thirds (65 per cent) of commercial products met
to blood transfusion,” NACO said. The report indicating that contaminated blood is spreading HIV in India is “factually incorrect” since all blood banks have to mandatorily test all collected blood units for five transmission transmitted infections including HIV, HBV, HCV, Syphilis and Malaria, it said. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) said despite the best testing facilities, there still exists a window period during which an infection cannot be detected by any test, even nucleic acid test (NAT). “Blood transfusion account for less than one per cent of total HIV infection and no increasing trend in HIV transmission through blood are reflected in ICTC data,” NACO said. PTI
Pizza shops, steakhouses damaging urban environs? Pizza shops and steakhouses using charcoal or wood burners can produce significant emissions and damage the environment in major cities, according to a new study in Brazil led by an Indian-origin scientist. Researchers used the city of Sao Paolo in Brazil as a case study -– a megacity with a compulsory green policy on fuel, yet strug gling to meet pollution standards less stringent than Delhi or London. They found an emerging risk caused by wood burning stoves in pizza restaurants and charcoal in steakhouses to the environment. Crosswind caused by the impact of biomass burning of the Amazon rainforest and agricultural areas of Sao Paulo were also found to be a contributory factor on why the city’s air pollution is so toxic, despite a g reen vehicle policy. Sao Paulo is the only megacity worldwide that uses a much cleaner biofuel driven fleet.
With about 10 per cent of Brazil’s total population, Sao Paulo’s inhabitants fill their vehicles with a biofuel comprising of sugarcane ethanol, gasohol (75 per cent gasoline and 25 per cent ethanol) and soya diesel. “It became evident from our work that despite there not being the same high level of pollutants from vehicles in the city as other megacities, there had not been much consideration of some of the unaccounted sources of emissions,” said Prashant Kumar, from University of Surrey in the UK.
JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
“It is important not to interpret the cooling of the small area of Antarctica as evidence against global warming. The cooling here has little influence on global climate change. The overwhelming evidence is that global climate is warming.” — Martyn Tranter, Professor, University of Bristol, UK
2,234 people have got HIV after blood transfusion: NACO Over 2,000 people have reported to have been infected with HIV while getting blood transfusion in the past 17 months in the country, NACO said, refuting reports, based on its RTI reply, that contaminated blood is spreading the disease as “factually incorrect”. In reply to an RTI query filed by Mumbai-based activist Chetan Kothari, NACO said a total of 2,234 cases involving patients getting infected with HIV while getting blood transfusion were reported across the country within a period of 17 months. The number is highest for Uttar Pradesh where 361 such cases were reported while Gujarat came second with 292 cases, Maharashtra third with 276 and New Delhi fourth with 264 such cases, Kothari told PTI. Kothari said the actual figure might
H EALTH
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
“These include wood burning in thousands of pizza shops or domestic waste burning,” said Kumar. People of all ages line up for hours outside pizzerias every Sunday evening and the city is home to around 8,000 pizza parlours that produce close to a million pizzas a day and can seat up to around 600 people a time. In addition to the 800 pizzas a day being made using old-fashioned wood burning stoves, a further 1,000 a day are produced for home delivery, with Sunday being the busiest day of the week. “There are more than 7.5 hectares of Eucalyptus forest being burned every month by pizzerias and steakhouses. A total of over 307,000 tonnes of wood is burned each year in pizzerias,” said Kumar. This is significant enough of a threat to be of real concern to the environment negating the positive effect on the environment that compulsory green biofuel policy has on vehicles,” he said. PTI
dietary recommendations on energy density, only just over a third of home cooked meals did so, and over half (52 per cent) exceeded the maximum range. “Dietary fats contribute essential fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins together with energy and sensory qualities, thus are vital for the growing child, however excessive intakes may impact on childhood obesity and health,” researchers said. They highlight that the lower protein content of readymade meals might be due to the higher proportion of early stage meals on the market while predominantly vegetable based meals are recommended for fi rst tastes. Parents may choose to vary the content of recipes, and there are likely to be natural variations in the nutritional content of raw ingredients, thus making direct comparisons harder to make, researchers said. PTI
E-cigarettes reduce use of tobacco E-cigarettes are playing a key role in reducing the likelihood of young people smoking, in many cases acting as a ‘roadblock’ to combustible tobacco, a new study has claimed. In detailed qualitative interviews with young people aged 16 to 25 in UK, the majority of participants viewed e-cigarettes as having reduced - not increased - the possibility of both themselves and other people smoking. “There was very little indication amongst the young people interviewed that e-cigarettes were resulting in an increased likelihood of young people smoking,” said Neil McKeganey from Centre for Substance Use Research in Scotland, who led the research. “In fact the majority we interviewed, including those who were vaping, perceived smoking in very negative terms and saw vaping as being entirely different to smoking,” McKeganey said. Importantly, the overwhelming majority of participants - who collectively represented current and former smokers, non-smokers, and e-cigarette users - viewed tobacco as ’extremely harmful’ and
believed ecigarettes offered smokers an alternative. Despite the acute awareness of the harms of tobacco however, it was evident that some young people remain confused about e-cigarettes and whether or not they are similarly harmful. Some mentioned they had seen media coverage reporting thatecigarettes “are just as bad” as smoking and, as a result, they were uncertain and reluctant about using the devices. “It’s more concerning, particularly for the young people who currently smoke, that inaccurate perceptions of e-cigarettes could result in the persistent use of combustible tobacco irrespective of the fact that Public Health England has concluded vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than conventional cigarettes,” said McKeganey. “What was apparent is that this persistent view, expressed by some young people, that vaping was just as harmful as smoking, was resulting in some young people continuing to smoke when they might otherwise have quit,” he said. PTI
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
“We saw how in a never-before-act, pens in a polling booth were mysteriously replaced. On one hand, the Prime Minister claims the Constitution to be sacred for his government. But, on the other hand, he has no compunction in trampling upon it.” — Sonia Gandhi, Congress President
SC strikes at Army’s powers Verdict seeks to crush the immunity enjoyed by the forces on CBI probe demand into “extra-judicial killings” BY SUBHASHIS MITTRA The Supreme Court ruling on the draconian AFSPA has not come a day too soon. In a stern message to the Union government and the security forces operating in AFSPA - the Armed Forces Special Powers Act - the apex court has observed that the situation in Manipur has “never been one of war” and killing of citizens on suspicion that they are the “enemy” gravely endangers the democracy. While holding that use of “excessive force” by the armed forces or police was not permissible in ‘disturbed areas’ under the draconian law, the court ruled that armed forces personnel and police cannot use “excessive or retaliatory force” in disturbed areas. The verdict, which seeks to crush the immunity enjoyed by the forces, came on petitions demanding a probe by the CBI or a special investigation team into the “extra-judicial killings” in Manipur between 2000 and 2012 by the Army. The ruling comes as a relief for the conflictridden north-eastern state, where the demand to repeal AFSPA, in force since 1958, has been a long standing one. Since the late ‘70s, according to the Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) the petitioner in the current Supreme Court case, there have been 1,528 fake encounters in Manipur. Human rights activists blame
Security jawans patroling a street during curfew
AFSPA for the killings, alleging that the law gives blanket protection to the Army and the Manipuri commandos to kill with impunity. They also allege that these are just the recorded cases and that instances of people simply disappearing have gone unreported over the years. Rights activists have long been demanding the repeal of AFSPA and replacing it with a law that protects human rights and ensures accountability. It continues to be a major issue in Assam and Nagaland. In Manipur, rights activist Irom Sharmila has been on fast since 2000, seeking repeal of the law and demanding justice for alleged army excesses. There are officially 34 banned militant groups and unofficially over 60 groups which function in Manipur’s valley and mountainous areas. Of these, the tribal hill groups - the biggest of which is the NSCN (IM) - are in some form of agreement with the Indian government.
The Kuki groups, which number around 20, have signed suspension of operation agreements with the government. While most counterinsurgency work has traditionally been carried out by the Indian Army and the Assam Rifles in collaboration with the Manipur police, as is mandatory under AFSPA, over the years, it’s the Manipuri commando who has taken a more active role in these operations. AFSPA has thus become a bone of contention between human rights activists and those favouring a strong state response to terror and insurgency. In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has now rightly drawn a line under this raging dispute by ruling that indefinite deployment of armed forces in ‘disturbed areas’ under AFSPA “mocks at our democratic process” and symbolises a failure of the state. The apex court, which directed thorough probe into alleged fake
14K NGOs barred from foreign funding NEW DELHI: As many as 14,222 NGOs were barred from receiving foreign funds in the past four years for violating norms, the government said. Of these, the largest number of 10,020 Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) were barred last year. A total of 4138, 4 and 59 NGOs were restrained from receiving foreign contributions in 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Only one NGO has been barred so far this year from receiving overseas funds, he said. Rijiju said, “the Ministry of External Affairs has communicated a write up containing certain views of United Nations Human Rights experts on provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), which regulates foreign grant. “The government is also aware about the one sided and biased views expressed by certain persons or associations regarding the cancellation of FCRA registration.” Rijiju said the Home Ministry has clarified the position against these one sided views earlier. The Ministry of Home Affairs is mandated to administer the Foreign
Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, for regulating the receipt and utilisation of foreign contribution by the associations. “As and when reports are received against any association for alleged violation of the Act, action is initiated against the alleged violators after following due process as prescribed in the FCRA, 2010 and Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules (FCRR), 2011. “Reasonable oppor t unit ies like furnishing of information to a standard questionnaire, inspection of records, issuing a show-cause notice, personal appearances, if required, are given to the associations before taking a final decision regarding cancellation of FCRA registration. The cancellation order etc. are also subject to judicial scrutiny,” the Minister said. Further, for maintaining transparency, all orders, notifications etc.,are placed on website www. fcraonline.nic.in of the Ministry of Home Affairs, he said.Government has cancelled the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration of NGOs based on the violation of provisions of FCRA 2010, Rijiju added. PTI
The largest number of 10,020 NGOs were barred in 2015
Vol-III* lssue No.: 06 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: 020-41220010.
encounter killings, maintained that inquest was needed “to know the truth” in Manipur where “we need to be clear that the situation has never been one of a war or an external aggression or an armed rebellion that threatens the security of the country or a part thereof.” A bench of Justices MB Lokur and UU Lalit said “if members of our armed forces are deployed and employed to kill citizens of our country on the mere allegation or suspicion that they are ‘enemy’, not only the rule of law but our democracy would be in grave danger.” Delivering an 85-page verdict, the top court said that before branding a person as a terrorist or insurgent, “there must be the commission or some attempt or semblance of a violent overt act”. It said that the armed forces “do not supplant the civil administration but only supplement it” and added that their deployment was “intended to restore normalcy and it would be extremely odd if normalcy were not restored within some reasonable period, certainly not an indefinite period or an indeterminate period.” According to rights activists, there are 17 cases where judicial inquiries have found encounters to be fake. AFSPA was enacted in 1958 and has remained in force since then in Nagaland and Manipur (except Imphal), from 1990 in Assam and Kashmir, and from 1991 in three districts of Arunachal Pradesh. No catastrophe happened when the Tripura government lifted AFSPA in 2015. The court is right that “killing an enemy is not the only available solution” but equally, the hands of the soldiers cannot be tied making them ineffective or, worse, sitting ducks in conflict situations. PTI Feature
Narco trade via Darknet in India P 14
Babus to participate on Facebook, Twitter
NEW DELHI: Bureaucrats may soon be allowed to participate freely on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin but criticism of government will still be a no-no. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued draft rules which bar officers from making “criticism of government” on television, social media or any other communication application by any means including a “caricature”. The proposed rules allow civil servants to accept simple and inexpensive entertainment events arranged by public bodies or institutions. However, they will have to declare before the government details of household equipment, automobiles or any other means of conveyance if their value exceed two months basic pay. These rules are part of the proposed changes in All India Service (Conduct) Rules, 1968, which are applicable to three all India services — Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING
People feeding elephants (Anayoottu) at the Vadakkunnathan Temple in Thrissur of Kerala in connection with the opening of Malayalam month Karkkidakam
“Previous sanction of the government shall not be required when the member of the service, in the bonafide discharge of his duties or otherwise, publishes a book or article or contributes to or participates in any public media including social media websites,” said the new rules. In existing rules, there is no mention of social media. The member of service shall also not criticise the government — its policy or action, capable of embarrassing the Centre’s relations with state and foreign countries governments — on television, social media or any other communication application. No member of the service shall, in any radio broadcast or communication over any public media or in any document (which may include a caricature) published anonymously, pseudonymously or in any communication to the press or in any public utterance, make any statement of fact or opinion which has the effect of an adverse criticism of any policy of the central or state governments, as per the proposed rules. PTI
Religious events can’t be prohibited in name of environment The National Green Tribunal allowed some individuals to buttress their contention that holding of religious and cultural events at the Yamuna riverbed cannot be prohibited by bringing such activities under ambit of environmental laws. They have been allowed to be impleaded in the matter in which the panel is examining the issue of damage to the flood plains of the river allegedly caused due to the holding of cultural extravaganza by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) in March this year. The application came before bench headed by NGT Chairman Swatanter Kumar. The plea moved by Prajanya Chowdhry, Anil Kapoor and Anand Mathur said that the concept that festivals and other religious and cultural gatherings on the plains of the rivers were polluting the water bodies is baseless. PTI
Armoured Corps rules plains, mountains BY ANIL BHAT
The first of battle tanks were manufactured by Britain during the First World War, fought from 1914 to 1918. Begun as Small Willie, used only for designing, the final product, Big Willie were used operationally for the first on 15 September 1916 in both the battles of Flers Courcelette and Somme. If at Flers Courcelete they had little success at Somme, on the same day they had even less, with only 36 out of fifty tanks making it to launch an en masse attack. These 30 ton machines could not cope with the harsh lunar landscape of the churned up ground, where fourteen broke down or got bogged down. Regardless of these drawbacks, a new era in warfare had begun. The process of the Indian Cavalry bidding adieu to horses and getting equipped with tanks/ armoured cars began in 1939 with The Scinde Horse getting Vickers light tanks and Chevrolet Armoured Cars. Other regiments were given Sherman and Stuart tanks of American origin in 1943. Regiments so equipped like 7 th Light Cavalry, Deccan Horse, 16 th Light Cavalry formed the spearhead of the 14th Army against the Japanese in the liberation of Burma.
Thereafter Indian regiments got a more extended assortment of tanks/ armoured cars of British (Centurion and Churchill tanks and Humber armoured cars), American (Sherman, Stuart and Grant tanks and Dodge weaponcarriers) French (AMX-13 tanks)and even German (Daimler) armoured cars. WW II, which began on 01 September 1939, ended on 02 September 1945. On 18 February 1946 the Brits left India with partition. This left India with twelve armoured regiments, while Pakistan got six. Independence came with a war already thrust on India by the newly sliced out Pakistan army. Over a year after that war began 7th Cavalry
was ordered to move to Zoji La. By then 7th Cavalry’s configuration had changed from all 3 squadrons of Stuart tanks to one squadron of Stuarts and one each of Humber and Daimler armoured cars as well as Dodge weapon carriers. While transporting this regiment to Zoji La was a complex feat, it shocked the daylights out of Pak troops and created a new global record of mountain warfare in military history. Because for the western world ‘mountains’ meant 8000 feet, whereas ZojiLa is at 11580 feet. India’s political leaders and bureaucrats had neither learnt any lessons from the 1947-48 Indo- Pak war, nor heeded the advice/ requests of the
military leadership before the Chinese forces on 20 October 1962 launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, and Tawang in the eastern theatre. The Corps contributes substantially to the counter insurgency/ counter terrorism operations serving with Rashtriya Rifles, Assam Rifles and has also contributed its share for world peace by deploying a contingent to the UN peace keeping mission in Lebanon, apart from individual representations. The latest of major developments are the deployment of four armoured regiments in high altitude areas of Ladakh and the North Eastern region as provisionally part of two armoured brigades. To mark 100 Years of the Tank, in August-September 2016, Indian Army’s Directorate General of Mechanised Forces will organise an exhibition on the lawns of India Gate, where all tanks used by Indian Army in all wars fought since Independence will be displayed along with photographs and accounts of various battles and other operational engagements over the past 69 years. PTI Feature
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
‘We fight our own battle here’ P 16
“India cannot suppress the voice of Kashmiris through force as they will eventually get freedom. The United Nations has declared Kashmir a disputed territory.Terming Kashmir issue internal matter of India is not justifiable.” — Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister, Pakistan
Need to secure Pak’s nuke arsenal
Republican Party manifesto terms US-Pak relationship as “historic” BY LALIT K JHA
CLEVELAND: There is a need to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, the Republican Party has said, underlining that Pakistanis, Afghans and Americans share a “common interest” in achieving the objective besides eliminating Taliban. Terming the relationship between the US and Pakistan as “historic”, the party in its election manifesto said it seeks to strengthen the bilateral ties that have frayed due to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. “Our working relationship is necessary, though sometimes difficult, benefit to both, and we look towards the strengthening of historic ties that have frayed under the weight of international conflict. “This process cannot progress as long as any citizen of Pakistan can be punished for helping the war on terror. Pakistanis, Afghans and Americans have a common interest in ridding the region of the Taliban and securing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal,” said the document. The party said international conflict had created special political and military challenges for the people of Pakistan. “A Republican president will work with all regional leaders to restore mu-
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, centre, pose for a group picture on the stage before the second day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland
tual trust while insisting upon progress against corruption and the narcotic trade that fuels insurgency,” it said. “No Pakistani citizen should be punished for helping the United States against the terrorists,” it added, apparently referring to the jailing of Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi who helped the CIA in tracking down alQaeda leader Osama bin Laden to Abbottabad. In 2012, the Republican manifesto had said that it expected the Pakistan government to sever any connection between its security and intelligence forces and the insurgents. The four-day Convention of the Republican party is going on in
Cleveland, Ohio which will culminate with formal coronation of billionaire Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate. Sleuths of security forces and secret service agents have converged on the city and huge make-shift iron walls have come up several blocks around the Quicken Loans Arena where the Convention was held from July 18 till July 21. The Convention is aimed at Americans to “get to know Donald Trump the man” rather than Trump the candidate. Trump delivered the acceptance speech on Thursday night with the theme “Make America One Again”. PTI
EU migrants may have to leave Britain LONDON: Exposing the uncertainties unleashed by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, the UK minister in charge of negotiating the divorce said that most EU citizens in Britain, when it leaves the bloc, will be able to stay but some might have to leave. Brexit Secretary David Davis dismissed suggestions that the estimated 3 million EU nationals now living in Britain might be forced to leave, telling Sky News that “I want to see a generous settlement for the people here already. They didn’t seek this circumstance, we did.” But he said if a surge of new immigrants trying to “beat the deadline” floods into Britain before it leaves the EU, the Conservative government may have to set a cutoff date. “We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date,” Davis said in a separate interview with the Mail. “You have to make those judgments on reality, not speculation.” A desire to reduce immigration from other EU nations was a key reason many Britons voted last month to leave the EU. Under the bloc’s rules, EU nationals can move feely among member states, and Britain has seen its population swelled by hundreds of thousands of new arrivals in recent years. Prime Minister Theresa May has been criticised for refusing to guarantee the right of EU citizens to remain in the UK after its EU exit, something that is more than two years away. She says she needs to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Britons living in other EU countries get the same protection. AP
India dragged in Nepal politics Prime Minister Oli said he would not please the neighbour and put the national interest at stake
BY SHIRISH B PRADHAN KATHMANDU: India has been dragged into Nepal’s new power game yet again, with a senior Maoist leader asking Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s CPN-UML not to preach nationalism to the party that had waged a “tunnel war” against foreign interference in the past. “There is no need for CPN-UML to preach lesson on nationalism to us,” Barsha Man Pun, senior leader of CPN-Maoist Centre, said. Coming down heavily on the Prime Minister, Pun said it was his party that announced a “tunnel war” against India during the armed revolution in Nepal in 2003-2004 and stepped down from the government in 2009 to protest against
Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
foreign intervention. Madhesis, ethnic communities and other backward classes of Nepal, however, could not fit in Oli’s idea of nationalism, he said. Pun, one of the main architects of the emerging new alliance between Nepali Congress and the Maoist party, made the remarks while interacting with reporters here. According to him, the CPNUML’s accusation that the Maoist party
was guided by foreign forces to topple the government was ridiculous as the former had found the Maoists ‘good’ when they supported the CPN-UMLled government earlier. Prime Minister Oli has recently said he would not put the national interest at stake to please the neighbour, without naming India. However, the local media here reported that his remarks were directed towards India. Meanwhile, Oli, who is reluctant to resign despite being reduced to minority after CPN-Maoist Centre withdrew its support to the government, today consulted legal experts after CPNMaoist Centre withdrew its support to the government. Oli held discussions with the experts at his residence in Baluwatar, local media reported, quoting Prime Minister’s Press Advisor Chetan Adhikari. The Prime Minister has been refusing to put in papers showing the transitional period, arguing that new government cannot be formed in the transitional period. PTI
UK to adopt Chinese method of teaching
BY KJM VARMA BEIJING: About 8,000 primary schools in the UK aided by USD 54.3 million funding will adopt Chinese method of teaching maths for their students, official media reported. The move comes after international tests showed that Shanghai students ranked on top for maths in the Program for International Student Assessment in 2012, and 15-year-olds in China are three years ahead of their English counterparts in their ability to solve maths problems, state-run China Daily reported. Since then, Britain, whose students ranked 26th that year, has welcomed over 120 teachers from Shanghai to share the secrets of their success in the project, which the British media have dubbed “Shanghai Maths”. Speaking at the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, Nick Gibb, the UK schools minister, said the Shanghai style of maths should become a standard fi xture in England. “We are seeing a renaissance in maths teaching in this country, with good ideas
polytheism, says the edict. Additionally, the edict states parents are using the game to punish and reward children, while warning that adults could gamble away money playing the game. The augmented reality game sees users chasing digital critters that pop up as you move about the real world. There have been reports of distracted players walking into trees, crashing their cars, and even being robbed and stabbed by crooks who lured players trying to pounce on Pikachus or chase Charmanders. A senior official at Egypt’s Al-Azhar has also spoken out against the game. Kuwait’s Interior Ministry warned users last week not to play the game at mosques, shopping centers, malls and oil installations. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates warned users to be careful playing mobile games that request a user’s geographical location because it could be used by criminals to lure them. AP
Trade of rare animals and their body parts is going on through popular websites including quikr, olx, eBay, amazon and youtube, the government said. Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave said online smuggling of rare animals and their parts are being monitored by the state and central governments as part of combating cyber crime. “Several websites are seen advertising sale of rare animals and their parts,” Dave said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. He furnished a list of 106 such websites collated by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB). The 106 websites include prominent names like quikr.com, olx.in, alibaba.
from around the world helping to enliven our classrooms” he was quoted as saying at a meeting in Glasgow by the newspaper. Lyu Jiexin from Shanghai Normal University, also a senior coordinator of China-UK math exchange programmes, believes the new policy is not a mere copying of Chinese math teaching, but is instead a part of the British government’s overhaul to improve the standards of math education. With the growing influence of the international test, more countries are learning from the top performing nations in a bid to improve the competitiveness of their education systems, Lyu said. Some critics were skeptical of the programme, worrying that the students will not be able to master fundamental ideas merely through drills and repetition, it said. Charlie Stripp, director at the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, said teaching math mastery is not about rote learning and drilling, although it certainly results in pupils knowing and being able to recall multiplication tables and other key number facts. PTI
CALAMITY
Photo released by Xinhua News Agency shows village houses and field partially submerged by flood waters in Gaoyang Town, Shayang County, central China’s Hubei Province. China says dozens of people have died or gone missing in massive floods
Clerics renew fatwa Illegal wildlife trade on Quikr, against ‘Pokemon Go’ OLX, eBay, Amazon: Govt DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s top clerics renewed a religious edict that warns against playing Pokemon this time as the wildly popular mobile phone application “Pokemon Go”. First issued in 2001 when the game was played with cards, the decree says Pokemon violates Islamic prohibitions against gambling, uses devious Masonic-like symbols and promotes “forbidden images.” The edict, or fatwa, has reappeared in a ticker on the home page of the kingdom’s portal for official religious decrees. Saudi-based Arab News reported that Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, a member of the kingdom’s ultraconservative council of senior clerics, said the current version of the game is the same as the old one. The edict notes that a six-pointed star in the game, for example, is associated with the state of Israel and that certain triangular symbols hold important meanings for the Freemasonry. Crosses in the game are a symbol of Christianity, while other symbols are associated with
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com, eBay.com, youtube.com, amazon.com, shopping.rediff.com, petsmart.com and snapdeal.com. Dave said several steps have been taken to prevent such illegal activities which include utilising services of cyber crime specialists on contractual basis to carry out regular cyber patrolling to detect posts and offers on such portals. He said if any such offer is detected, details are retrieved of the suspect and information is passed on to relevant enforcement agencies for legal action. A meeting of representatives from online trade portals was convened in May this year to discuss issues pertaining to online wildlife trade, sensitise them
about it and discuss modalities to assist WCCB in case of such detections. Dave said during training and sensitisation programmes conducted by WCCB, the issue of illegal online wildlife trade is being highlighted so that officials involved in the enforcement are abreast of such trends. A wildlife body had recently alleged that a prominent website was selling wildlife specimens, including sea horses and alligator heads, protected under the country’s laws. PTI
UK to address transgender kids as ‘zie’ LONDON: Britain’s boarding school teachers have been ordered to address transgender children as ‘zie’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘she’ to avoid offending them. The official guidance issued by the UK Boarding Schools Association calls on teachers to address transgender pupils as “zie” to avoid offence, The Sunday Telegraph reported. Staff have been told they need to learn a “new language” for a growing number of pupils who demand not to be addressed as ‘he’ or ‘she’. Zie is considered a gender-neutral pronoun which has been gaining ground in its usage across Europe and British teachers are being advised to address children by their “pronoun of choice”, including they or ‘zie’. Elly Barnes, founder of charity Educate and Celebrate and author of the new guidelines, said that as more trans pupils “come out” in boarding schools, it becomes an imperative to “break the binary”. “Schools need to make sure that all students are treated equally and fairly according to the Equality Act,” she said. PTI
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
PUNE
MONEY MATT ER S
“The empowerment of the rich is not what reforms mean. It is also the empowerment of the poor. In India in terms of financial inclusion, we have the most successful programme.” — Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister
“There is an impression that economic reform means opening up. This is one element of the financial sector reform. The real issue for us is of efficient financial intermediation in our economy.” — Yaga Venugopal Reddy, Former RBI Governor
Narco trade via Darknet in India For the first time, NCB detects drug traffickers using Darknet, Bitcoin for running the illegal racket
Drug trafficking in India is on a new ‘high’ with antinarcotics agencies having detected the crime being perpetrated through the cryptic ‘Darknet’ and the clandestine and unregulated currency Bitcoin. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), chief law enforcement and intelligence agency responsible for fighting drug trafficking and abuse of illegal substances, has interdicted two such syndicates operating in the country. “For the fi rst time, we have detected drug traffickers using the Darknet and Bitcoin for running the illegal drug racket in India. I can tell
you that our investigations have shown that some of these operatives are based in the country. We are probing them,” NCB Director General R R Bhatnagar told PTI. While ‘Darknet’ is a clandestine Internet network which can only be accessed with specific software, configurations and authorisation and is difficult to track by the usual communications protocols and ports, Bitcoin is referred to as a cryptocurrency that allows consumers to make electronic transactions by skipping the legal banking channels. The NCB boss said the two syndicates interdicted by them were prima facie seen indulging in trafficking of party drugs. The usage of such ultra-secret measures over the Internet in drug crimes is worrying but we are enhancing our capabilities to effectively and timely detect these instances, he said.
Darknet is a clandestine Internet network Bitcoin is a crypto currency
Signpost Rural population worst hit by inflation Even as the country continues to grapple with inflation, nearly 69 per cent of the total population which resides in rural areas has been largely impacted against those living in urban areas, a study says. In the last five years, folks in rural areas or 69 per cent of India’s population, have got the rough end of the stick on inflation compared with their urban counterparts, according to a study by the rating agency Crisil.
Bhatnagar, while talking about the drug trafficking scenario in the country, said the cross-border availability of heroin has decreased. “Our estimate is that due to effective clampdown by the agencies tasked to check the drugs menace, there has been a 30 per cent decline in trafficking in Punjab,” the DG said. At a review meeting of the agency recently, Bhatnagar had informed the Union Home Ministry that drug
addicts in Punjab were gradually getting attracted to medicine-based concoctions following the clampdown on peddling of traditional narcotic drugs. The official data for 2015 show that Punjab accounted for the maximum seizures of opium and heroin nationwide. The latest trends suggest that synthetic drugs are now replacing the natural and semi-synthetic products that have been abused for several decades.
A report prepared by NCB said, “Despite strict controls and monitoring put in place for certain pharmaceutical products, there is evidence indicating their diversion for abuse.” He said it was worrying the law enforcement agencies which were taking steps to check such drug abuse. Bhatnagar said the NCB, in coordination with state police and border guarding forces like BSF and SSB, has seized over 2 lakh bottles of codeine-based (a sleep-inducing and analgesic drug derived from morphine) syrup, like the popular brand Phensedyl, from the eastern parts of the country in the fi rst six months of this year. The NCB report said in 2015, 1,687 kg of opium, 1,416 kg of heroin, 94,403 kg of ganja, 3,349 kg of hashish, 113 kg of cocaine, 827 kg of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine among others were seized by various agencies across the country. “Illicit opium poppy cultivation spread over 5,000 acres was destroyed all over the country. This is about 60 per cent more than the comparative figures of the last few years,” the DG said. PTI
47% Indians not saving for retirement Even as financial security after retirement is valued more, a report revealed that 47 per cent of working people in India have not started saving for their future or have stopped or faced difficulties while saving. “A large number (47 per cent) of working people in India have either not started saving for their retirement or have stopped or faced difficulties while saving for their future. This is higher than the global average (46 per cent),” according to the report by HSBC. The survey, which was conducted online by Ipsos MORI in September and October 2015, is 13th in the series and represents the views of 18,207 people in 17 countries and territories worldwide, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States. According to the report, an alarming 44 per cent of working people in India, who had started saving for their retirement have stopped or faced difficulties. PTI
Cos raise over Rs 8,000 cr via bond issues on e-book platforms BSE-BOND and NSE-EBP (Electronic Debt Bidding Platform) were launched on July 1 to facilitate online bidding for private placement of debt securities
Listed companies have raised over Rs 8,000 crore from issuance of debt securities on the newly launched electronic book mechanism on stock exchanges in just 15 days since the launch of these platforms. The platforms BSEBOND and NSE-EBP (Electronic Debt Bidding Platform) were launched on July 1 to facilitate online bidding for private placement of debt securities. Since then, the listed entities have raised a cumulative amount of Rs 8,014 crore through 30 issuances, data compiled from the exchanges showed. Individually, the companies acquired funds to the tune of Rs 4,881 crore through 23 bond issues, on BSE-BOND.
The issue size of the debt securities was not available. RIL’s telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm raised an amount of Rs 2,000 crore - the highest among the other issuances. It was followed by an amount of Rs 700 crore raised by Shriram Transport Finance Company. On the NSE, entities raised a total of Rs 3,133 crore through 7 issuances from the e-book platform on National Stock Exchange (NSE) above the issue size of Rs 2,935 crore. Bank of India garnered the highest amount (Rs 1,500 crore) followed by Export Import Bank of India (Rs 475 crore) and LIC Housing Finance (Rs 435 crore). The funds have been raised from
various sources including banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, foreign portfolio investors and corporates, among others. The platforms allow all categories of investors to place bids. The e-book platforms are expected to bring in transparency and efficiency in price discovery for private placement of debt securities. It will be optional for issues below Rs 500 crore, but the issuers will have to disclose coupon, yield, amount raised, number of investors and category of investors to the electronic book provider or to the information repository for corporate debt market, in the format as specified by Sebi. Arrangers include merchant bankers, RBI-registered primary dealers or any other registered intermediaries as notified by Sebi from time to time. The exchanges had only recently received market regulator Sebi’s approval to act as electronic book providers (EBPs) to facilitate electronic book mechanism for issuance of debt securities on a private placement basis. EBPs are required to have all necessary infrastructure like adequate office space, equipment, risk management capabilities, manpower and other information technology infrastructure for effective functioning. PTI
Demystifying upcoming spectrum auction BY PRASOON SRIVASTAVA Government is planning to hold one of the countries largest spectrum auction in the ongoing financial year. The auction is biggest both in terms of quantum of spectrum and monetary value of the radiowaves being put for auction. About 2300 megahertz of spectrum frequencies are being planned to be put for sale. Their value as per base or floor price approved by Cabinet is estimated to be around Rs 5.66 lakh crore. Till date, the biggest spectrum auction was conducted in 2015 which fetched government bids worth Rs 1.1 lakh crore. The upcoming auction will help operators augment expansion of high-speed 4G voice and data services in the world’s second largest mobile phone market by users after China. “Th is may be the largest ever auction in history of the country. It has been approved,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the meeting of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Spectrum will be sold in the following bands: 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 2300 Mhz and 2500 Mhz. Government earlier had plans to start spectrum auction in mid- July but Cabinet decided to seek view of The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on an annual fees levied on telecom operators called spectrum usage charges (SUC).
The spectrum or radiowaves are public asset and government is its custodian. It is managed by Wireless Planning Commission under the Department of Telecom. Jaitley said the government has decided to refer back to the sectoral regulator TRAI the issue of spectrum usage charge (SUC) paid by operators. Trai had proposed a 3 per cent of annual revenue of operators as SUC and gradually bring it to level 1 per cent. The Telecom Commission backed Trai’s proposal of 3 per cent SUC. The SUC has been one of most contentious issues
of late. Reliance Jio has opposed levying of uniform SUC rates, as suggested by Trai, as it pays only one per cent on its spectrum in 2300 Mhz band (broadband wireless access) and the proposal to levy three per cent would put extra burden on the company. The government’s chief law officer Mukul Rohatgi opined against hiking SUC for broadband wireless access (BWA) providers such as Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm from the current 1 per cent. Before 2010, there was only 2G spectrum and hence the calculation of revenue was easy. But the process became complex after new frequencies were allocated to companies for services like 3G and 4G. TRAI had recommended a pan-India reserve price of Rs 2,873 crore for spectrum in 1,800 MHz band; Rs 3,341 crore for 900 MHz; Rs 5,819 crore for 800 MHz; Rs 3,746 crore for 2,100 MHz; Rs 11,485 crore for 700 MHz and Rs 817 crore each for 2,300 MHz and 2,500 MHz bands. A company interested in buying spectrum in 700 Mhz band will need to shell out a minimum of Rs 57,425 crore for a block of 5 Mhz on pan-India basis. Th is band alone has the potential to fetch bids worth over Rs 4 lakh crore. The total potential revenue of Rs 5.66 lakh crore from the spectrum sale is more than double of telecom services industry gross revenue of Rs 2.54 lakh crore reported in 2014-15. PTI
Auto makers expect spurt in sales BY MUNISH SHEKHAVAT
Top carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai and Honda, are expecting a spike in their sales following the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations. In a bonanza, one crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5 times hike in basic pay and pensions under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations that will cost the exchequer annually Rs 1.02 lakh crore, which the government says will have a multiplier effect on economy. Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said it is eyeing an over 25 per cent growth in sales to government employees and pensioners at 2.5 lakh units this year, riding on the hike in their salaries. With sales network of over 1,900 touch points and a slew of new models like Ciaz, Ertiga SHVS, Baleno and Vitara Brezza, the company is set to
leverage this opportunity, the MSI spokesperson said. Expressing similar sentiment, Honda Cars India Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Jnaneswar Sen told PTI: “It is positive for the auto industry. Arrears and increments will lead to more cash in hand for consumers which will lead to more discretionary spending. At least in the short-term we are looking to increase in sales of automobiles.” Hyundai Motor India, General Manager, Marketing, Puneet Anand said the decision will go a long way in fulfilling the aspiration of the one crore central government employees and pensioners. “Hyundai Motor India will further enhance the delight of these discerning customers through over Pride of India offer under which customers will get additional benefit up to Rs 7,000 over and above the prevailing offers,” he added. PTI
Global car makers compromising on safety aspects in India Global automobile manufacturers are compromising on safety aspects of cars sold in India and unless they ensured in-built safety features, crashes will continue to be fatal, according to a member of National Road Safety Council of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Council member Kamal Soi singled out German luxury car maker BMW’s 3 Series sedan and Maruti Suzuki India’s nowdiscontinued M800 for poor safety performances. “All the automobile manufacturers whether they are from Europe, Japan or the US, their countries have reached a saturation point. So they have found India as a dumping ground. They are dumping those old cars to India and they are compromising on safety aspects,” Soi said. “Until and unless the manufacturers ensured in-built safety features, crashes are going to be fatal,” he said. Citing the example of BMW 3 series, he said that when a “crash
test was done, the side safety was given an average rating. Then we further analysed similar road crashes happened and 12 BMW 3 series split into two.” On Maruti’s M800, Soi cited data on the basis of FIRs in National Crime Records Bureau and claimed that 3 lakh lives were lost in accidents involving the car model. BMW India spokesperson said, the fi rm was “unable to comment on speculations” but added its complete range of global safety systems are consistent across the entire BMW model range in India. Maruti Suzuki India declined to comment.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 23, 2016
WATCH OUT CELEBRATE 40 YEARS OF SHOLAY AND KOBE SIZZLERS
BATTLE OF THE DJ’S
Amidst the beautiful set up of Atmosphere 6 and the beautiful panoramic view of our city exprience
LET YOU KIDS HAVE SOME FUN Champ Town is the most unique Kids Fiesta organized by Aarti Bafna and Sonali Chordia by incorporating their many innovative ideas and concepts for children of all age groups. There will be more than 50 exhibitors and the venue has been divided into different streets like couture street which will showcase designer clothes for girls and boys, Foody–fix street which will house the different healthy tiffin snacks, cakes, chocolates, dryfruits and so much more. There is also a Beyond books street where there will be many unique workshops for children like puppet making and DIY kits, makeover workshops, educational workshops, etc. So make sure you head out for a fun day out with your kids this weekend. When: July 24 Where: Hyatt Regency, Nagar Road
The entertainment tax branch of the district administration of Pune, on Monday, issued a show cause notice to Westin Hotel, Koregaon Park, Pune, under section III (1) (b) of the Mumbai Entertainment Tax Act, 1923, for conducting a programme without proper permission. Westin Hotel had organised ‘Pune Market’, a programme including an exhibition, dance and D.J performances on Sunday, without availing of permission from the department, to evade entertainment tax. As per the notice, Westin Hotel is liable to pay a total sum of Rs 62,000 to the department within seven days to avoid further action.
When: Till July 31 Where: Kobe Outlets, Aundh and Law College Road
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE WITH FIDDLECRAFT After a long time, Fiddlecraft is back with their music at AFK, the newest, dandiest, happening run-of-the-mill pub in town. The fusion band from Pune is coming up with their new track and the night is sure to be full of surprises. The band is not restricted to any artist or genre of music in particular and plays everything from fusion and hard rock. However their focus now is also on Blues, Jazz, Celtic, Indian Classical, Afrikaan, and all other types of acoustic and electronic music. When: July 23, 8 pm onwards Where: AFK, Nyati Unitree, Nagar Road
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Mayor Prashant Jagtap met Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla on Monday, regarding the ever growing numbers of beggars in the city. “The PMC, in collaboration with the Pune police, charity commissioner and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), is launching a ‘Beggar-Free Pune’ campaign from July 28, 2016,” said Jagtap at a press conference. NGOs working in this sector. We have Citizens constantly complain to the decided to implement the ‘Beggar-Free PMC about the increase in the numbers Pune’ campaign in the city from July 28, of beggars in the city. Rehabilitation of 2016. Firstly we will conduct a survey “People like us need to change our perception towards transgenders. “There has to be an overall awareness against terrorism The kind ofof beautiful people have identify written on our the and we need to take everyone beggars is a major concern for us, and thecomments beggars, spots theyinto confidence. To blame YouTube below our songs shows that there has been a change.” one particular community alone is not fair.” — Shameer Tandon, Curator, 6 Pack Bandfurther — Pinarayisteps Vijayan, Kerala we have decided to take the help of the frequent in the city, and willChief Minister charity commissionerate, police and be taken to curb their numbers.”
Shreedhar Kale Student Her death is indeed a tragedy. However, we must not forget that incidents like this take place all the time in our own country as well. Women are regularly threatened with violence sexual or otherwise at the slightest show of independence. We must remember there is no honour in honour killings. Zeenat Tinwala Journalist Two different ideologies belonging to one family, says so much about how brave she was. The amount of social media outrage against her reveals the sad truth of what happens to women when they try raising their voices. This should be a waking up call for all women.
PIC
JULY 16, 2016
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
PUNE
The secret of Pune’s high success rate in MPSC
Making the best of old clothes We use far too much of environmentally polluting materials in our daily lives, the biggest one being plastic. Fifty per cent of the things around us use plastic in some form or another. It is refreshing to see someone combating the use of plastic, especially plastic bags. The initiative Empowering Women to Conserve Environment is a wonderful idea, which if followed through properly will make for some great changes. Everyone has old saris lying around at home, and this way they can be put to good use. I hope more and more people join this initiative and reduce the usage of plastic bags drastically. Plus these colourful cloth bags look great! - Suhana Sriram
Empowering women In the spirit of Ganeshotsav, it is heart-warming to read about the only all-women dhol-tashapathak in Pune. Carrying on the tradition of mirvanuks, gender shouldn’t be a criterion. Smita Indapurkar is doing
About 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste is generated daily in India, of which only 9,000 tonnes is collected. Th is means that every year, a whopping 20 lakh tonnes of plastic garbage accumulates in the country. Plastic bags discarded and strewn all over are a common sight in Pune. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has struggled to find a way to tackle the environmental hazard of the tonnes of plastic waste generated every day by citizens. But the positive news is that some conscious citizens are making the efforts to make Pune a plastic-free zone. ‘Empowering Women to conserve Environment’ is a unique idea that Dr Madhavi Sardeshpande, scientist at National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and Bharati Ranpise, a teacher, have come up with to protect the environment. The concept has provided employment to 20 needy and skilled women, who use the material from old saris to stitch shopping bags. Th is initiative has become a huge success with many people adhering to the concept. Sardeshpande, said, “As citizens of the country, we have a commitment towards our society and environment. I have always wanted to make pro-active efforts to protect the environment, and also do something for women’s empowerment. During a survey, it was found that plastic bags are used in large numbers by people from all age groups, although the bags have adverse effects on the environment. Everyone says that it’s not possible not to use plastic bags in their dayto-day life, even though they are aware of the
Priyanka Chopra’s brother booked
Police raid Mugshot Lounge in Koregaon Park owned by Siddharth Chopra and book him for illegally selling hookah
Shopping bags made from Youths distribute free paper bags with social message old saris idealINTO alternative THE MONSOON PICNIC THAT an TURNED TRAGEDY BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2
EDITOR
Farida Mukadam Housewife It’s her life, she has the right to choose her profession. She was standing up to this male dominated society in her own way. If she was bringing “shame” to the family’s honour, the most they should have done is disowned her. But killing her is just not done.
When: July 29, 8 pm Where: Nehru Memorial Hall, Camp
PMC UNVEILS ‘BEGGAR-FREE PUNE’ PLAN
An initiative of two Punekars, The monsoon season picnic tois fastKorigad the concept catching up Fort in Lonavala on July 16, planned by the group of 11 friends turned to tragedy when two of them, Bhavya Shah, 20, and Abhishek Shahi, 20, drowned while trying to save their classmate Priyanka Nair, 19. Anand Tripathi, 19, resident of Bhattipada in Bhandup (West), and a student of K J Somaiya College, said that the group included Yash Rawal, Mayur Jain, Bhavya Shah, Rounak Boradia, Chirag Gor, Abhishek Shahi,
LETTERS TO THE
Shyama Dutta Professor It is a malaise of this region. A reflection of a society that tells women to keep behaving themselves. The moment you set boundaries, you also say that you step out, you do so at your own peril. We can marry you off, beat you, disown you, or at the extreme kill you.
OF
WESTIN HOTEL SLAPPED WITH RS 62,000 FINE
Ek Mulaqaat is a play that deals with two eminent poets. It is a story of unfulfilled love, magical poetry and music. She is sitting all alone on her terrace when he arrives unannounced. She is happy to meet him and together they go about talking of a life that they did not spend together. The ‘what-if’ questions are asked and unanswered questions, answered. He has come today for a specific purpose. What is the purpose of his visit? With Shekhar Suman and Deepti Naval playing the lead roles, it will be an evening you won’t forget.
Mihir Oak Student I applaud her guts for standing up to the patriarchy. These regressive, orthodox thoughts need to be condemned on a large scale, we live in the 21st century for God’s sake. I don’t have a radically different opinion on honour killings. It’s a disgrace that it still continues to happen.
RAHUL RAUT
WEEK THAT WAS
A MAGICAL LOVE STORY
E WE K
Southindies presents Chatpata South Food Festival, which celebrates authentic South Indian delicacies with a modern twist. The festival focuses on vegetarian specialities from all the five states of South India. There will be live counters serving chaats, appam, coffee and paddu. The six starters, the lavish buffet and the dessert counter will take you through a culinary journey of South India. You must watch out for the Rasam Puri, chilled rasam served with crisp puris stuffed with poornam; Mokkajuna Keerai Masiyal, American corn and spinach dal, and a Chettinad speciality; Kai Kari Stew to name a few. When: Till July 31 Where: Southindies, Near Pune Central Mall, Shivaji Nagar
the Epic Tri-DJ Battle between DJ Kunal Pillay known for dropping the beats and taking patrons on a roller coaster ride from Commercial to High Octane EDM, DJ Akshay Yeole the favorite Soundcloud DJ to Spin you from EDM to Bollywood Dance Music and DJ Antoo who is A6 fan boy to escort you in a fun way from BDM to Deep House to end the night on a high note. As if this wasn’t enough you have a wide spread of classy cuisines and juicy cocktails to choose from too. When: July 23, 9 pm onwards Where: Atmosphere 6, Skymax, VimanNagar
The Beer Café’s Spirited Saturdays is a vibrant celebration of live music, great grub and the best beers in town. Start your weekend with an unparalleled experience of chilled beers and finger-licking good food coupled with a performance by the super talented Charmaine Lobo. An expert in Pop and World music she is singer, song writer and composer. She can effortlessly sing in multiple languages like English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi and even Farsi. A sure-shot trailblazer and a powerhouse of talent, this is one performance you shouldn’t miss. When: July 23, 9 pm onwards Where: Kapila Matrix, Koregaon Park
Qandeel Baloch, a Pakistani model, feminist and social media celebrity was murdered last week by her own brother. The murder was an honour killing, with her brother claiming she was bringing shame to her family by not following traditions. In reality, her only crime was standing up to the patriarchy. The whole world rose against the injustice, condemning the killing. We ask Puneites their take on the incident
THE
TAKE A TRIP TO THE SOUTH
VOX POPULI
MUSIC AT ITS BEST
Both are irreplaceable icons in their own field adding spice, flavour and sizzle to our lives. Like the award winning performances of Sholay, Kobe Sizzlers continues to win hearts over and over again. As they both celebrate 40 years head down to the restaurant to enjoy a whacky new menu. With dishes like the Jai Veeru Special, Basanti Special and Gabbar Special you can have some fun with your favourite characters on your sizzler plate.
PUNE
BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar
Priyanka Nair, Puja Yadav and Narendra Chaudhari. They travelled to Lonavala by a local train and decided to spend the day at Korigad Fort. All of a sudden Priyanka, Puja and Mayur fell in the pond. The three were holding hands. Yash and Rounak rushed to rescue them. However all of them were stuck in deep mud. Bhavya and Abhishek, being good swimmers, went in and managed to help all of them. They somehow got stuck themselves and drowned.
Madhavi Sardeshpande and Bharati Ranpise
damage that plastic can do.” Finding a convenient solution to prohibit the use of and replace plastic bags, they concluded that shopping bags made from cloth would be an ideal alternative to plastic bags. “We decided to recycle old saris, which also reduces the cost of the bags,” said Sardeshpande. “Women are the ideal workers for the job of making the shopping bags. Providing them a livelihood through conservation was indeed a great idea, and my desire for women’s empowerment is also fulfi lled by this,” she said. Teacher and resident of Sutarwadi, Bharati
Ranpise said, “Recycle, reduce and reuse. Reducing garbage, recycling the old saris and reusing the saris to make shopping bags are the valid points of our innovation. It is the responsibility of every citizen to pledge to avoid the use of plastic bags. It is high time citizens woke up to the problem of disposal of nonbiodegradable materials like plastics and realise the serious consequences on the environment. “Even some shopkeepers have joined with us and are discouraging the use of plastic bags and encouraging people to use cloth bags. We started with public awareness by conducting meeting at societies and schools,” said Ranpise. Th is cloth bags are circulated to local grocery shops and vegetable vendors, where plastic carry bags are used mostly. Being made aware of the benefits of cloth bags, compared to plastic bags that are harmful to the environment, many women have donated their old saris. The response from vendors and consumers has increased and they have got orders for cloth bags from organic vegetable vendors too. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com
great work by bringing these women Women take charge in together and
festive season
Pune’s only all-women dholtasha troupe is an inspiration
Manini, Pune’s only all-women (dhvaj). Since the past two years, dhol-tasha troupe. “There were many young girls are also allowed to join women who wanted to the troupe. “My girls be a part of this rich practice for a good one BY AKSHAY DIXIT heritage so I came up to two months before with the idea. Many the fi nal procession to @TGSWeekly young girls can be seen ensure that everyone Ganeshotsav in Pune is synonymous on the streets playing is in sync and back in with dhol-tasha. The sound of tasha instruments, so Manini good shape,” she said, trilling and matching with the strokes started off by being only adding that the practice of dhols reverberates every corner of for women aged 35 and sessions are held on the city during the annual festival. above,” she said, adding Sinhagad Road. One of the greatest traditions of the that this activity helped Manini is invited festival is the procession that take women de-stress from each year to play as a place on visarjan, the last day of the their hectic household part of Dagdusheth festival, when the idols are taken to responsibilities. By Ganpati’s procession, the river for immersion. Traditionally getting them to play in which is considered as called Miravnuk, the daylong the procession, she also a prestigious honour for procession sees thousands of people gave them a creative any dhol-tasha group in converging on streets and celebrating outlet. the city. the festival with music and fervour. From 35 members Apart from having Generally, men dominate the Dholin 2011, Manini has only women in the tasha pathaks or troupes, a barrier over 50 participants troupe, Manini is - SMITA INDAPURKAR that 50-year-old entrepreneur Smita now. With one or two unique in other ways Indapurkar has broken with an alldhols at the start of too. The traditional women troupe. the organisation, Manini now has costume for members of the troupe In 2011, Indapurkar founded 20 dhols, five tashas and one fl ag is a white kurta and salwar, with a saff ron or red turban or sash. The all-women troupe went a step further and began renting out nauvari (nine yard) sarees, the traditional attire for Maharashtrian women, for their members. Now, whenever they perform at Dahi Handi and Ganapati festivals, all 50 members are dressed in colourful nauvaris, with a turban tied around their head. They also sport a Maharashtrian nose pin and a pearl necklace, making a wonderfully pretty picture. “Music is a passion for us. Members of our group come from all walks of life and across age groups. When we play together, there is a certain energy created, that is beyond everything. It is the spirit of our group that inspires me the most. Everyone is supportive. It is sad that the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi has become another reason to party and drink. We want to bring the spirit of the festival back. We urge people to use eco-friendly Ganesh idols and to discontinue the DJ system during the Manini, Pune’s only all-women dhol-tasha troupe, performing during Ganpati festival time of visarjan,” Indapurkar said. akshay.dixit@goldensparrow.com
“There were many women who wanted to be a part of this rich heritage so I came up with the idea.”
empowering them to pursue their passion in a field dominated by men. They look fabulous decked out in their Indian traditional best, and would certainly be a sight to look out for during the procession. I, for one, will surely be going this year especially to see and hear them play. - Rohan Menon
College campuses are places of new ideas and challenging views. These education centres provide an environment to test new ideas, debate theories, encounter challenging information, and figure out what one believes. Here students come together to work for causes that is an extension of the meaningful education they receive. The students of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) have launched myraddi.com, an initiative where they make eco-friendly paper bags from old newspapers collected from homes and provide it to people on the streets for free. All paper bags carry social messages printed on its sides. The members of myraddi have distributed over 10,000 papers bags in the city. One can see them at busy chowks appealing to passers-by to use paper bags instead of plastics. Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) MCom student Narayan Chapake who is a part of the initiative said, “We are a group of around 10-12 students studying at various colleges across the city. During one of our get-togethers, our friend Navnath Padalkar shared his idea of making environment-friendly paper bags by collecting old newspapers from houses. Soon, we were on the streets and doorsteps requesting house owners to donate old newspapers. We were surprised to find zero opposition or apprehension from citizens after they came to known about our mission to make paper bags and give it away to people for free. The problem that we face was lack of space to store collected old newspapers. Initially, we used to keep it in on our hostel rooms and flats where we stay. We all used to meet at a place on Sundays and holidays to make paper bags and distribute it to citizens.” For these students, District Chairman of Preserve Planet Earth Committee Rotary Club Pune Surendra Shroff became an inspiration. Student Amit Mohite said, “Once Shroff sir saw us distributing paper bags at the street and inquired about the initiative. He assured to help us in making paper bags. With increasing support from household owners regarding our door-to-door old
The public service commission is a stepping stone to a life of privilege and status. Against the backdrop of India’s huge and burgeoning population, this is an avenue that offers an instant entry to a life of respectability and success. No surprise, for the 2,000 vacancies, there are six lakh aspirants annually, of which more than a lakh are from Pune alone. With all its coaching See p08-09 classes, study rooms and libraries, Pune is a thriving hub for MPSC aspirants
Young members of myraddi (left) devote their Sundays and holidays to distribute paper bags for free and spread awareness about its benefits
newspaper collection drive, we were covering more localities. We collected old newspapers and give it to Shroff sir, who would get paper carry bags made and give it to us. We visited various chowks and busy areas, and distributed those bags to people on holidays. We also launched our website (myraddi. com) and Facebook page where citizens can drop message for old newspaper collection. The paper bags distributed by us are strong and can be used for small time shopping, carrying vegetables and fruits.” As studies and practicals keep their weekdays busy, the students use social media to share ideas and progress of their mission. “We can work only on holidays. Rotary Club has also extended support by printing environment related and healthy living messages on paper bags. We all are just doing our bit to become a change agent in society as we believe that one cannot depend on the authorities to address all issues facing society. This is our small initiative to spread awareness about cleanliness, environment, and good health.” tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com
The cop who wants Gadchiroli tribals to prosper Police Superintendent Sandip Patil has moved to Satara, but he is still doing all he can to provide for the libraries and study centres he started in the Naxal stronghold of Gadchiroli
BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR residents of Satara andall the wellUNDER THE SHADE: An elderly citizen takes on the footpath on Alandi Road after pedalling the tricycle wishers to rest give books and notebooks @tusharrupanavar
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The story about the so called doctor from Shikrapur village was a disturbing read. These quacks need to be caught and exposed, so that this practice dies out. It is absolutely shameful to make fools out of innocent and gullible people, abusing their trust. Anaesthesia is not a cure for any disease and temporarily reliving them of the pain
Sandip Patil of the Indian Police Service,who served as Superintendent of Police (SP)for two years and six months in the Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district,was transferred to Satara as Superintendent of Police, on June 18. As he took charge of his new posting as Satara SP, people from various walks of life, greeted Patil with bouquetsetc. But Patil appealed to the
instated of bouquets of flowers. Th is request resulted in people donating more than 3000 books, which Patil has decided to hand over to the libraries he started in Gadchiroli district during his tenure there as SP. A posting at Gadhchiroli is not the most welcome one for police officers,owing to the Naxal hazard. ButSandip Patil is the exception,in that he asked the home ministry to give him
a posting in Gadchiroli. He assumed charge as Gadchiroli SP on August 11, 2014,and soon after, he implemented the state government’s Naxal surrender award scheme. Continued on p2
will not‘Dr’ makehad them better. Instead, it This unique cure for will probably
all pains: Local Anaesthesia Anti-superstition brigade swoops on Shikrapur quack, who ‘cured’ his patients by administering anaesthesia and getting them to perform rituals with local baba BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma A quack had been practicing in Shikrapur village in Pune district for many years. His modus operandi included administering local anaesthetic to his patients, and then getting them to perform mumbo-jumbo rituals with a local baba, to exorcise the evil spirits causing them physical ailments. The Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti in Pune had received word about this ‘doctor’ who could cure everything. “We were told that Dr Dnyaneshwar Dere takes the Gods’ help, and thus is the best doctor in the area,” said Dr Yamini Adbe, a social worker and a practicing doctor working at Dehu Road, who was asked by the Samiti to lead the raid on July 6. They were accompanied by the police and the doctor-in-charge of the
area, Dr Kashid. When the team went there pretending to be patients and their relatives, they were told by the patients waiting that the doctor could cure any pain and that too instantly. “In villages, due to lack of awareness, only when something starts paining do the patients visit the doctor. They are happy when a doctor relieves them of the pain, and they don’t ask many questions,” explained Dr Adbe. When they enquired as to how the doctor alleviates their pain, they explained that he gives injections. The secret of quick healing was local anaesthesia that the doctor used to inject wherever there was pain. “The pain stops and regular application can also lead to nerve damage. So, most of his ‘regular’ patients would have stopped facing any pain at all, and Continued on p5
lead to nerve damage due to excessive injections. These fraudulent doctors must be supervised and punished severely. - Meera Mahajan
Bad service for PMPML users Pune is infamous for its public transport system, or a lack thereof. With unco-ordinated bus timings, vandalised bus stops and a shortage of buses altogether, it is no wonder that people prefer to use their private vehicles to commute. Adding to the already existing problems, now the window panes in the buses are broken, or even completely absent in some
cases. This is gross negligence on part of the PMPML body and is causing inconvenience to commuters especially in the monsoons. This is a serious problem and needs to be rectified immediately. Drink water to curb appetite - Radha Joshi “Most farmers in and around villages in Pimpri Chinchwad send their produce to Vashi, which is Asia’s biggest agriculture produce market committee. PCMC can help farmers by allotting them space at its markets.” — Laxman Jagtap, MLA
P11
PMPML’s broken window panes are a pain in the rains The monsoons are not a good time for PMPML commuters, who have to cope with broken window panes, ill-maintained seats and lots more BY SUSHANT RANJAN @sushantranjan Pune has had incessant rains over the past two weeks. The thousands of citizens who use Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) buses to commute every day, are suffering due to the wet weather, as rain water keeps seeping in through the PMPML bus windows that have broken panes or none at all. The PMPML has received 35 complaints regarding broken window panes in the past month. Engineering student Vikas Mohan Zende, 23, from Solapur commutes by PMPML buses daily. He was on a Pune Station to Kothrud bus packed with commuters, and every window pane on the bus was broken, and the rain was pouring in from all sides. The passengers were trying to keep from getting wet but to no avail. He told TGS, “I have been travelling by PMPML buses since 2014. The condition of the buses is yet to improve. Rain water comes through the windows and drenches the passengers.”
Chandan Dharunkar, 21, commutes regularly from Nigdi to Katraj for the past five years. He said, “PMPML buses will never improve. The buses are in really bad condition.” PMPML chief engineer Sunil Burase said, “There was a massive load on PMPML. Some of the buses may have broken down due to the continuous shift in schedule and the extra running time. To maintain the buses, PMPML needs proper infrastructure, equipment and manpower. Drivers and mechanics don’t get spare parts on time, and in the absence of spare parts, buses remain off the road for over a week.” According to the complaints department, most complaints
Principal health secretary visit leaves kids famished Authorities cite ‘miscommunication’ as children suffering from various ailments were brought in buses to Aundh Hospital-based District Early Intervention Centre to impress the official dignitary
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regarding windows, doors and seats come from the activists. “The queries we receive from commuters are forwarded to the concerned authority. When a problem is solved, we immediately call or send a message to the complainant. Most complaints are from activists. We always try to sort out their problems,” he said. The engineering department recently received 35 complaints over broken windows. There were 48 complaints it received from the complaints department. PMPML Public Relations Officer Subhash Gaikwad said, “We have had non-stop rains in Pune for the past few days. The engineering department is continuing to maintain the buses.” RTI activist and PMPML Pravasi Manch founder member Jugal Rathi said, “The authorities are not taking it seriously. The windows, doors and seats are not maintained by the department. Commuters are facing problems every day. We have had heavy rains in the past few days. We keep reminding them to maintain the buses. The only answer they have is shortage of manpower and money.” PMPML currently does not have a Chief Managing Director. There have been ten bosses in the last eight years. The constant change at the helm reflects badly on the state of the public transport utility, which caters to the needs of 60 lakh people of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, Rathi said. sushant.ranjan@goldensparrow.com
JULY 16, 2016
PUNE
Indian-origin doctor died as he fell asleep behind wheel P13
This ‘Dr’ had unique cure for all pains: Local Anaesthesia Continued from p1 would have succumbed, unknowingly, to partial paralysis,” explained Adbe. Dere was so enthusiastic about giving injections that he gave their teammate who was posing as a patient two injections before they could intervene. Moreover, this ayurvedic doctor did not just trust the injections of local anesthesia, but was also taking the help of the paranormal world. “He used to say that the patients were under the evil eye as they were gripped by a demon,” said Dr Adbe. “Apparently, a pregnant lady had died in the area and he used to say that her soul had captured them. He used to advice them that they should go to the cremation ground and do specific rituals with the help of a local baba,” she said. Dere used to work as a ward boy in the KEM Hospital, Pune. His wife was doing an auxiliary nursing midwifery
course there. The couple returned to their village after her course was complete, and set up a private clinic there. His clinic walls have three framed certificates. The certificates from ‘Natural Medical Council of Maharashtra’ proclaim that a degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medical Science (BAMS) have been awarded to Dere. However, nothing ayurvedic was found in his clinic. Cartons full of saline bottles, disposable injections and other drugs were lying all around in his clinic. “We found huge amounts of schedule H drugs which are sold on the prescription of a registered medical degree holder. The receipts were seized and handed over to the food and drugs department who will conduct further examinations,” said Adbe. An FIR was filed on the same day at the Shikrapur Police station. Dere was arrested and remanded to police custody. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com
The heap of used syringes and bottles at Dere’s clinic
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Write to Us on Thursday. Saunik’s inspection visit was due since the centre started functioning in April this year. Even as about 20 to 30 children visit the centre every day, the authorities had arranged for around 120 children who were brought in four vehicles from nearby districts through Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) teams. And all were left hungry and dejected. DEIC centre is an integral care for 0-14 years’ age group children, suffering from ailments, including deficiencies, birth defects, development delay, cerebral palsy and autism. The centre provides collective treatment like occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychological testing, counselling and special education by specialists like paediatrician, medical officer, orthopaedic, paediatric, dentist, audiologist and speech therapist. Most of the children are referred to the centre through Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) teams. Some of the parents who were picked up were not told about their destination. “I was not told that they are going to take us to Aundh Hospitalbased DEIC centre for treatment. I would have carried food if I knew about this visit,” said Santosh Takalkar, who had come from Dhore Bhamburwadi village from Rajgurunagar (Chakan) with his nine-year-old daughter
Samiksha. Samiksha is suffering from skin problem and Santosh had brought her to DEIC centre for treatment. “We both are hungry since morning and it is 3 pm now. Nobody from the hospital has even inquired about us or others like us,” Santosh said. Dnyaneshwar Kohinkar, father of six-year-old Kunal from Rajgurunagar in Chakan, searched the entire hospital campus for any snack centre in vain. “The snack centres that run at various spots around the hospital premises have ‘vanished’ because of the principal secretary visit. I was brought here along with my son at 10 am with the promise to get my son treated for his speech problem. But now Kunal is asking for food and doctors have postponed the medical check-up to next month,” said Kohinkar, who finally had to come out of the hospital to buy a Vada Pav for his child and left for home from the centre around 5 pm in the vehicle arranged by the health department. The scene at the centre was distressing with children begging for food from their parents and doctors and authorities enjoying food arranged for them for the official visit day. A similar case happened last year also when an epilepsy camp organised by the authorities left many children hungry even as visiting senior health officers were well taken care of. Speaking to TGS, a RBSK doctor said, “The situation was so bad that some children were seen eating banana skins picked from dust bins. We collected Rs 100 from every doctor present at the event and arranged food for starving children.” Refusing to comment on the event that left many children resort to begging, Saunik said that the DEIC centre is the first full function centre of Maharashtra and eight more centres will come in the state soon. DEIC manager Amruta Wagh said that food was not provided to children and parents because of miscommunication between doctors and parents. “The parents should have been told to bring their own food. We are now giving tea and biscuits to children from the nearby canteen. Parents can also bring their own food and have it at our pantry.” dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com
Letters to the Editor may be emailed to WE BREATHE editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, yogesh.sadhwani@goldensparrow.com PUNE! For the last two years, The Golden Sparrow or mail it to The Editor, has covered Pune like no one else Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, JOIN OUR 50,000 WEEKLY READERS, 1641 Madhav Heritage, AND LAKHS ONLINE! Tilak Road, Pune-411030.
BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1
The long-awaited and long-pending visit of Principal Secretary (Public Health) Dr Sujata Saunik to Aundh Hospital-based District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) on June 15 (Thursday) will be remembered by patient children and their parents for a long while. The official visit left these families who belong to economically weaker section deprived of their daily ration of food. Hundreds of children along with their parents remained hungry for the entire day as the administration was busy handling the official dignitary’s event. As per the directive, children and their parents should be provided with food and travelling allowance on the day they visit DEIC, but it was not followed
(L to R) Dnyaneshwar Kohinkar, his son Kunal, Samiksha Takalkar & Santosh Takalkar
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“ “I like Ishant Sharma. He has been a real workhorse for India. Look at the number of balls he has bowled at such young age. His ability will give Virat Kohli the edge against the West Indies.” — Craig McDermott, Former Australian Cricketer
Signposts Walawalkar to receive award Sports organiser Vikas Walawalkar of Derwan will be honoured with the Shivrampant Damle sports award by Maharashtra Mandal this year. The mandal has been giving this award to individuals for their contributions to sports promotion. Earlier, BKS Iyengar, Anna Natu and Bhishmaraj Bam have received this award.
Huge response for district kabaddi The Pune District Kabaddi Association organised District Kabaddi League, which started on Friday at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi, has received huge response. The Pune men’s team is led by Viraj Landge, while Shivneri Chinchwale is the captain of the women’s team. The final will be held on July 23.
Jitendra Patil emerges winner Jitendra Patil won the Open District Chess Tournament held in Pune. Patil along with Omkar Shelke and Lakshman Khude were tied for first place with seven points each. However, on the virtue of a better tie-breaker score, Patil emerged victorious.
‘We fight our own battle here’
Say Army sports coaches who feel proud to be able to serve nation by grooming medal- winning athletes BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish
While there are several thousand Indian soldiers who put their lives on the line while guarding our borders day and night, other army personnel also contribute their share to the nation. They may not be physically active in protecting the country, but they feel that their work gives them equal satisfaction as they make the country proud. These are the army sports coaches who have groomed generations of medal-winning athletes in various fields. Whether it is Col Paramjeet Singh Cheema, VSM, Commandant Army Sports Institute (ASI), under whose tenure, 12 athletes from the institute have qualified for Rio Olympics 2016 so far, or Subedar Major Muhammed Kunhi NA, the athletics coach of Sub Kunhu Muhammed, and Naib Sub Arokia Rajiv who have set numerous national records in 400m and 4x400m relay, and have now qualified for the Rio Olympics, their achievements are outstanding. “We are grateful that the army took us under its wing and provided us an opportunity to serve the country. Though our duty is not as vital as those who serve at the borders, here we fight our own battle. We and our wards spend hours on the ground sweating,
Takale shows class in Rally Estonia The city-base driver take runner-up position despite falling behind on Day 2 TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly
creditable. In the overall class of the threepart Rally Estonia, Takale and Young fi nished sixth in a field of 11 competitors. After ending the Day 1 at fourth position, the Day 2 was a struggle throughout. “We fi nished Day 2 at sixth overall place in the Open class. We had a puncture on the 30-km long stage. In the last six kilometres we drove on fl at tyre and lost time due to it. At the end of the stage there was no tyre left on the rim. There was just a bare rim,” Takale explained. After changing the tyre the pair continued with Young driving two stages for a good measure. “At the last stage we managed to clock second fastest time in Open class. We had to take part in Open class and there were many highlymodified and fast cars in our class. Me and Mike used all our experience to stay up with the field as the BMWs were highly-modified and faster than us,” he said. The stages in Estonia are very fast and the grip is very good as compared to the Asia-Pacific region. There are big crests here and one does not have any option but to jump them and at high speeds. “My motocross experience did help me in that as I was not afraid of jumps. We did hold our lines under pressure and put pressure on other competitors thus not giving away any time to them,” said Takale. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Subedar Ravi Shankar, Sub Narendra Rana, Col Paramjeet Singh Cheema and Subedar Surender Kumar Mavi were honored in a promotional event at Phoenix mall, Vimannagar recently.
bleeding and with just mission in mind, to win an Olympic medal. That’s the duty we are all proud of,” said archery coach Sub Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar, 46, joined the army as an archer in 1991. Though he couldn’t do much as a player, after switching to coaching, he has produced quality archers. The Jharkhand coach remembers that he was training a few top notch archers in Shillong, when the Kargil
Lakshya to support paddler Manika Batra
war broke out in 1999. “Some of my trainees were called for duty in Kargil and Drass. But they spared us to train and prepare for the upcoming tournament. It was a different war game for us and I am glad that our players did a remarkable job and won the Asian tournament,” said Ravi Shankar. The coach feels that this time Indian archers have a good chance of fetching medals in the Olympics.
“Unfortunately our men’s team didn’t qualify for the Olympics, but from London Olympics, our women’s team has improved radically. Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi have ample experience of performing in the high-intensity tournaments, while Laxmirani Majhi has shown promising results recently. My experience says they have a good chance of winning a medal in Rio,” he said. To acknowledge the efforts of
these coaches, a leading watch retail chain Just Lifestyle recently felicitated these coaches. The coaches, including Col Paramjeet Singh Cheema, Subedar Major Muhammed Kunhi NA, Subedar Surender Singh, Subedar Surender Kumar Mavi , Subedar Narendra Rana, Subedar Ravi Shankar, and Subedar Shyam Narayan Singh Yadav were felicitated. Under Surender Singh, three trainees, Havildar Nitender Singh, Havildar Gopi T and Havildar Kheta Ram have qualified for the marathon, while in athletics, Havildar Sandeep Kumar (20 & 50 km race walk), Havildar Ganapati (20 km race walk) and Havildar Devender Singh (20 km race walk) are also in the Rio-bound Indian team. They all train with Sub Surender Kumar Mavi. Sub Shyam Narayan Singh Yadav is the wrestling coach of trainee Havildar Ravinder Khatri, who not only created history in the services wrestling arena by winning gold in the nationals, but also went on to qualify for the Rio Olympics. “The Indian army provides the tools and training to allow sports persons with athletic prowess to succeed in international competition, and offers various programs through which those athletes can achieve their Olympic dreams. Th rough ASI, these players receive specialised coaching, access to state-of-theart training venues, and sports medicine, and physical therapy. Most importantly, Army athletes have the opportunity to participate in top national and international competitions,” said Col Cheema. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
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TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Pune-based Sports NGO, Lakshya along with confectionery brand Falero have announced support towards 19-year-old paddler Manika Batra for her 2016 RIO Olympics campaign. Manika, the top ranked Indian with a world ranking of 115 qualified for the women’s singles event by winning the South Asia group of the qualification tournament in April and is considered to be one of the brightest prospects in Indian table tennis. With addition of Manika and men’s table tennis player Soumyajit Ghosh Lakshya will have six players representatives at Rio Olympics, the others being Ravindra Khatri, badminton doubles stars Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Atri and tennis player Prarthana Thombare who will be partnering Sania Mirza in women’s doubles in Tennis. Manika felt she has in her to create a few ripples like what she has been doing at the junior level. “It is amazing to qualify for the fi rst time. I will give my best there. I have been training with Korean coach (Pak Myong) daily for fi ve hours. My backhand is good but I am trying to improve my forehand. My Indian coach Sandeep Gupta has also helped me,” she said. “I trained in Japan for 7-8 days last month and trained with top U-21 players there. It was totally different in terms of focus. I also watch videos to get better,” she said at the sidelines of an event. Manika represented India in table tennis at the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow in 2014 where she was a quarterfi nalist. The paddler won two silver medals in the team events and a bronze medal in the singles category at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships in December, 2015. The 5’10 tall upcoming star won three gold medals and one silver medal at the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati and Shillong this year. She clinched the gold medal in the 2nd division of the World Table Tennis Team Championships in March. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
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Sanjay Takale fi nished runners-up position after falling behind on Day 2 due to tyre puncture. Driving with Michael Young of New Zealand, the Pune rally driver logged his fi rst podium in his maiden competitive rally in Europe Driving in the 4-wheel drive class of open category, Takale and his New Zealand co-driver Michael Young completed the 3-day rally stages in 1 hour 07 minutes and 16.4 seconds fi nishing behind the Lithuanian team of Martynas Samsonas and Mindaugas Varza. “It was worth coming all the way to Estonia to experience very fast roads, where you cannot back off and you have to jump those big crests. I think these roads put pressure on you to push hard,” is how Takale described his trail in Tartu City, the rally venue. The Indo-Kiwi pair, who are teammates in Cusco Racing at the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, were up against the nature alien to them in terms of rallying. The flowing gravel roads and big crests are something that is non-existent in the Asia-Pacific region—that makes their runners-up fi nish all the more
“I am delighted to see that Messi is doing to Neymar what I did to him when he came to Barcelona. That is what senior players in the team are expected to do” — Ronaldinho , Former Brazilian great
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