The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 21/05/2016

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

PUNE, MAY 21, 2016 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

They have the power to RAHUL RAUT

CHANGE THE WORLD

Married daughter is a visitor to her parents’ house!

This is what office bearers of a housing society in Kalyani Nagar believe. They shot a notice to Dogras after their daughter got into a tiff with security over parking

BY SALONEE MISTRY @SaloneeMistry

Female infanticide, child marriages, menstrual hygiene, open defecation, toilets for slum-dwellers and technology for the visually impaired are the kind of issues we would rather shy away from, than get to grips with. But there are some who dare to be the catalysts of change See p08-09

A notice shot by office bearers of a housing society in Pune’s upmarket Kalyani Nagar has led to outrage. The society believes that a married daughter is a guest in her maternal home. The office bearers of profile Harmony Co-operative Housing Society were reacting to a tussle that Manasee Dogra Thakur, whose parents live in one of the row houses, had with a security guard of the complex over parking.

Instead of restricting to the altercation, the overzealous office bearers went overboard and said that since she was a “visitor to her parents’ house”, “she cannot interfere in the working of society’s personnel”.

The notice signed by chairman and secretary of the housing societies, which has 12 row houses and 45 flats in three buildings, stated, “Please note that a married daughter is herself a visitor to her parents’ house and she cannot interfere in the working of society’s personnel. Please note that this behaviour will not be tolerated by the Managing committee and stern action will be taken if this behaviour is repeated.” The notice was shot to Dogras on May 13, a few hours after their daughter Manasee had an altercation with a security guard over parking for one of their visitors.

Dogras own a row house and also run a salon within the housing society. The society has a rule that customers to commercial units in the complex (including the salon run by Dogras) have to park outside. Guests to the houses are allowed to park in the designated car parks allotted to the families living in the complex. Dogras have three such parking slots.

In the afternoon on May 13, the Dogras had invited a few guests over to their house. The guests requested the security to allow their car inside the housing complex. The guard on duty, however, refused to let the car in. He argued that the guests were not going to the Dogras household

Geetanjali Dogra with daughter Manasee

but were headed to the salon. “One of the occupants of the vehicle had injured her foot and could not walk. She told the guard that she was a guest to our house and was not headed to the salon. She made it clear that she would park in one of the garages allotted to us. However, the guard was very adamant and I had to go to the gate to sort things out,” said Manasee, 32, who got married three years ago and stays not so far away from her maternal home.

Situation did not change even after Manasee intervened.

“The watchman was very rude and even slammed the gate hard to show that he would not allow the car inside.

Continued on p5

MUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

“One of the reasons given by SC to implement NEET is to reduce profitability of private colleges, which due to our law already has been reduced to a great extent.

Taking NEET with just 2 months of notice will be unfair to the students.”

— Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister

‘US trying to sour Sino-India relations’ P 13

Mere one per cent pay tax in India P 14

Faulty GRP helpline fails to alarm authorities Officials claim facility started for one lakh train commuters just needs Rs 50,000 for repairs

BY SANTOSHEE MISHRA @santosheemishra The Government Railway Police (GRP) 24x7 helpline 9833331111 started for commuter grievances across the state and especially for passengers of Mumbai’s suburban railway needs immediate repairs.

While the GRP department claims that the number is functional, some officials admit that the facility is not working to its optimum use for the past four months.

A department official claimed that the helpline repair will cost just Rs 50,000 but the state authorities are yet to sanction the amount. In November 2015, GRP helpline returned valuables worth Rs 6.68 lakh that commuters had accidentally left behind in various trains.

The helpline also received 38 calls about missing persons, including 12 children, and managed to get 18 of them traced through their counterparts in GRP outposts.

“The helpline receives passenger calls, especially from women for assistance. However, the auto call recorder is not working for the past four months and we are unable to record the calls,” said a source from the department.

GRP authorities said that

calls are generally made by same commuters or persons making false complaints and the machine’s dysfunction has left the team with no method to check the call details.

GRP team working in Control Room was earlier able to nab false callers, find genuine complainants and collect evidence that could be used in courts before the helpline became dysfunctional.

“Although it is not severely affecting our work and we are able to send help to commuters, we are handicapped to receive and record details of only one caller at a time,” a GRP official said.

Additional Director-General of Police (Railways) D Kanakaratnam said, “The machine needs repair and a proposal has already been forwarded to the home department.”

The helpline was launched by the then home minister RR Patil at Wadi Bunder on November 8, 2008 and the control room was later shifted to Churchgate in 2014.

The helpline daily receives approximately 1,000 phone calls from commuters.

With over 81 lakhs commuters in the city using the local, GRP recently re-introduced the helpline for women commuters of Mumbai locals. “Posters were put up for women commuters to call the helpline if the compartment is unmanned by GRP at night and we got good response from passengers after putting up these posters,” a GRP official said. santoshee.mishra@goldensparrow.com

RPF uses WhatsApp to check train rooftop travellers

Railway Protection Force (RPF) has turned to popular online messenger service WhatsApp to check the problem of rooftop travelling on local trains. The force has formed a WhatsApp group to find and apprehend such travellers. Recent incident of two minor commuters getting electrocuted after coming in contact with high-voltage overhead equipment on the harbour line forced the urgency to start a special drive.

The RPF personnel part of the WhatsApp group are not only tracking down passengers travelling on train rooftops but are also counselling the offenders and their families.

The officials claim that many offenders deny their act when confronted before their photographs taken on WhatsApp exposes their lie. “We have identified five stations — Govandi, Mankhurd, Tilak Nagar, Kurla and Dockyard — on the harbour line that has maximum rooftop and footboard travellers, including children and adults. Our teams take photographs of people travelling on the roof and apprehend offenders at stations,” said Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (SDSC), RPF (CR) Sachin Bhalode.

The RPF special drive has caught 182 passengers, including 50 per cent juveniles, in a month.

RPF officials sensitise adult offenders and counsel teenagers along with their families on the dangers of using train rooftops and foot boards.

Those caught are penalised under Section 154 of Railway Act. While the act has a provision of a jail term, even repeat offenders are not sent behind bars by the railway court, officials said.

Housebreaker turned out 90-year-old woman found naked in to be ‘rich chappal chor’ a flat filled with tonnes of garbage Suspect claimed to make Rs 40 lakh in four years by selling stolen footwear TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Matunga Police Station officials were surprised when a housebreak accused said that he had stolen footwear worth Rs 40 lakh in the past four years. Ibrahim Shaikh, 27, an accused in three housebreaking thefts (HBTs), told the investigation team that he used to target luxury, highend and upper mid housing societies. The police claim that this is one-of-its-kind case where the arrested accused admitted to his crime but Ibrahim Shaikh there is no complaint or FIR to initiate any action. The confession of Shaikh should also be a lesson for those who find their footwear stolen to register a police complaint.

Speaking to TGS, Matunga Police Station Senior Inspector BM Kakad said Shaikh was an accused in one of the HBT that took place in 2013.

“CCTV footage collected from the crime spot showed Shaikh and his accomplice Sidhu Bhaiyalal Rajput (27) moving around in suspicious at the time of theft. We nabbed Shaikh after a tip-off and he admitted to ‘earning’ around Rs 40 lakh by selling stolen chappals, sandals and shoes,” Kakad said.

According to the police, Shaikh, a small-time seller of black market cinema tickets, took to ‘safe’ footwear theft in 2003 after the police launched raids and arrests against black marketeers.

“Shaikh used to visit high-profile areas and steal footwear kept by visitors and residents at the entrance stands of housing societies. He always looked for costly women footwear and stole 15-20 pairs of chappals, sandals and shoes every day. The stolen branded footwear were sold at the ‘chor bazaar’ in Null Bazar area of South Mumbai. He used to dump stolen footwear in a gunny bag and take it to the ‘chor bazaar and made Rs 1,500-2,000 daily. He claimed to work round-the-clock for four years and never took a holiday,” Kakad said.

Shaikh preferred the localities of Worli, Prabhadevi, Upper Worli, Tardeo, Kemps Corner, Malabar Hill, Walkeshwar and Colaba to steal footwear.

“Shaikh said that he was famous in ‘chor bazaar’ for his branded booty and demanded more price for his stolen footwear. He later used to make Rs 4,0005,000 daily and spent on lavish lifestyle and drugs.

He has three wives and four children,” the police officer said, adding that later Shaikh ganged up with Sidhu to commit housebreaking. Police have 15 cases against Shaikh and his accomplices lodged in Matunga, Thane and Pune. Shaikh was arrested on May 4 and sent to judicial custody on May 17. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

Residents of Guide Co-operative Housing Society on Zaver Road, Mulund (West), on Monday, complained to the Mulund police and public health department of Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, that the Savla family residing on the ground floor had dumped tonnes of garbage which was posing a health hazard.

Mulund Police visited the flat worth a crore and fifty lakh rupees, and found a naked female senior citizen amidst the garbage near the toilet and bathroom passage. The police rescued the physically disabled senior citizen but have not registered any complaint.

Mulund police station police sub-inspector

Ankush Waghmode said, “The 90-yearold Maniben Savla was lying near the toilet and bathroom passage of the flat amidst human excreta and garbage. She was immediately admitted to a government hospital in Mulund.“ Neighbour Ridhi Shah said, “We have been living here for over ten years but were not aware that in flat number 3 a blind senior citizen was living in such a horrible condition.”

Guide CHS chairperson Chirag Gandhi said that the ground plus two storey building was meant for employees of State Bank of India. The Savla flat is owned by Chunnilal Savla, 65, son of Maniben. The Savlas are paying their maintenance bills regularly.

“The police said that it is a civil case and should be heard by the BMC. But BMC authorities said that they cannot enter the house

Maniben Savla being evacuated by the police from the flat she was dumped along with garbage

as it is private property. Only after repeated requests, they came and found Maniben,” said Viral Shah.

“Chunnilal, his brother Haribhai, 60, and sisters Jayshree, 45, and Hemlata, 55, bring in garbage. The brothers come late at night and sleep outside the flat in the passage,” said Gandhi.

Shashibhai Shah, 60, neighbour of Maniben said, “Whenever we asked Chunnilal to clear the garbage, he asked for time. We did not know their mother was here.”

Mulund police station senior police inspector Rajaram Vhamane said, “It is a civil issue, and the senior citizen is still in hospital.

Garbage from one room has been cleared but there is still tonnes of garbage. We are not initiating any action against Chunnilal, Harbhai, Jayshree and Hemlata. It is their personal matter to keep their mother in this condition.”

Waghmode said, “The children of Maniben are definitely suffering from some mental disorder as they kept their mother in such a horrid condition and they also stay in garbage.

Maniben’s brother told the police that the family has a history of mental disorder. He said that the Savlas have three residential properties including this in Mulund and they have licence of trading in APMC market at Vashi. We are not filing any case against them as they are mentally disturbed. We have not done any medical tests so far and also not accessed any past records.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Rising sea levels pose a threat to Mumbaites: UN report Global body says nearly 40 million Indians will be at risk from flooding by 2050

BY YOSHITA SINGH Nearly 40 million Indians will be at risk from rising sea levels by 2050, with people in Mumbai and Kolkata having the maximum exposure to coastal flooding in future due to rapid urbanisation and economic growth, according to a UN environment report.

The Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-6): Regional Assessments said that the worst impacts of climate change are projected to occur in the Pacific and South and Southeast Asia.

It said focusing on the population at risk from sea level rise by 2050, seven

of the 10 most vulnerable countries worldwide are in the Asia Pacific region.

India tops the chart with nearly 40 million people in the country projected to be at risk from rising sea levels, followed by more than 25 million in Bangladesh, over 20 million in China and nearly 15 million in the Philippines.

The report said that in many coastal areas, growing urban settlements have also affected the ability of natural coastal systems to respond effectively to extreme climate events, rendering them more vulnerable.

“Some countries, such as China, India and Thailand, are projected to face

increased future exposure to extremes, especially in highly urbanised areas, as a result of rapid urbanisation and economic growth,” it said.

It listed Mumbai and Kolkata in India, Guangzhou and Shanghai in

China, Dhaka in Bangladesh, Yangon in Myanmar, Bangkok in Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong in Vietnam as projected to have the largest population exposure to coastal flooding in 2070.

“Many of these cities are already exposed to coastal flooding, but have limited capacity to adapt due to their fixed location,” it said.

The report, published ahead of the UN Environment Assembly taking place in Nairobi next week, said the worst impacts of climate change are projected to occur in the Pacific and South and Southeast Asia.

In 2011, six of the ten countries most vulnerable to climate change worldwide were in Asia and the Pacific.

On coastal areas highly exposed to cyclones and typhoons the poor tend to be more exposed to natural disasters because they live on hazardous land.

By 2050, areas of storm surge zones are expected for Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines,

with a combined total of over 58 million people at risk.

The UN report further said global urban populations are projected to increase by 2.5 billion by 2050, with nearly 90 per cent of the increase in Asia and Africa.

Asia, despite its current lower level of urbanisation, hosts 53 per cent of the world’s urban population.

The report added that Asia-Pacific continued to be the world’s most disaster prone region in 2015.

About 41 per cent of all natural disasters reported over the last two decades occurred in the Asia-Pacific region, which also accounted for 91 per cent of the world’s deaths attributable to natural disasters in the last century.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

“There are serious deficiencies in the BRTS infrastructure. Untrained drivers are being deployed for BRTS operations endangering the lives of commuters and other road users.Public safety is being totally compromised with and there is very high probability of more accidents.”

— Prashant Inamdar, Convener of Pedestrians First

NTCA red-flags ‘Mowgli land’ safari P12

Drought hit villagers gang up with Bachchu Yadav

Residents of four villages in Maan tehsil, with support from actor Sayaji Shinde, take the initiative to tackle drought situation by digging deep trenches on hill slopes for water storage PICS BY RAHUL RAUT

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar Till a few years ago, most villages in Maan Tehsil, Satara had only elders living there.

The younger lot had moved to cities in search of jobs. With severe water crisis and failing crops, due to poor monsoons, the villages wore a desolate look. But now that’s the thing of past, at least in Pandharwadi, Kolewadi, Godasewadi and Divadi villages.

The villagers have teamed up with actor Sayaji Shinde, who played Bachchu Yadav in Shool, to turn things around.

It all started last year with residents of Pandharwadi and Godasewadi urging every household to contribute Rs 3,000 for their drought shed management plan.

The locals responded well and contributed Rs 20 lakh. With this money, four villages started digging deep Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) on the hills surrounding their villages, with the help of bulldozers, and also desilted small seepage ponds.

The results were fabulous. In 2015, during monsoons, it rained only once on May 29, and that too for mere four hours. But the rainfall combined with the CCTs was enough for the farmers to last the entire year.

The rainwater was collected in pits, seeped into land, groundwater levels increased, and wells were filled. Godasewadi farmers earned Rs 75 lakh through their pea and onion crops. In the past few years, the locals largely depended on water tankers deployed by the state machinery after December.

But in 2015, despite scanty rainfall, not a single tanker was called for by the district administration.

To make things better, now the villagers now have actor Sayaji Shinde on their side as well. Shinde who started off with

Agriculture supervisor Vikas Mohite (centre) finalising the CCT plan with villagers

The newly dug seepage pond has helped a lot in improving ground water situation

Marathi one-act plays, had a hit with a 1987 Marathi play titled ‘Hijada’. He hails from a small village named Vele-Kamthi near Satara district. His first Marathi film was ‘Aai’ in 1995. He has also featured in Tamil blockbusters.

“I was sitting with a few friends and one of them is worth Rs 400 crores. I told him that he should give back to the society, plant trees, contribute for development of villages. It was then that I realised that I could also do my bit. Since, Satara is my

hometown, I decided to do something for my people. I met the Satara district collector Ashwin Mudgal last year and told him that I wanted to support public interest schemes. He suggested that I chip in for watershed management work going on in Pandharwadi, Godasewadi, Kolewadi and Divadi villages. I visited these villages and was inspired by the work by villagers on their own without any help from the government.

This is long-term and sustainable work. I began with giving four excavators for the digging of CCTs. Now I have decided to plant 50,000 trees on the hills with the help of the villagers. I believe that these villages will become role models for others and in future, watershed management will become a movement, and our state will be drought free,” Shinde told TGS. Godasewadi village sarpanch Janardhan Tawre said, “Till last year our village needed water tankers in December every year.

Youths of our villages had no option but to left migrate for work as there was no water for farming. But last year people of our village and Pandharwadi decided to work on watershed management to recharge and revive our natural water resource. With the help of agriculture supervisor in our Taluka, Vikas Mohite, we made a scientific plan of deep CCT work from Ground Water Survey & Development Agency (GSDA). Thanks to the CCTs which revived our groundwater, our farmers made Rs 75 lakh from pea and onion farming.”

Resident of Godasewadi, Namdev Taware said, “Th is year, due to this deep CCT, we did not need single water tanker. Some people who had migrated, decided to come back.

The support of Sayaji Shinde, agriculture supervisor Vikas Mohite was invaluable.”

Mohite said, “I gave them a scientific plan, to dig deep CCTs scientifically. The advantage of this deep CCT is that water will not evaporate.”

Another Pandharwadi resident, who is working in Mumbai, but played an important role in the CCT project, Tushar Kharat said, “If we have good rainfall this year, we can sustain ourselves for 2-3 years because we have created great capacity of water seepage through this deep CCT, and water could be stored in our ponds as well as we have desilted them. From this year we are going to change crop pattern in our villages.

We are shifting to crops like moong, mataki and rajma which require less water.” tushar.rupanavar@ goldensparrow.com

Actor Sayaji Shinde strikes a pose during a meeting with villagers

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

“The civic body is trying to provide good roads and footpaths to citizens but some people are digging them, thus causing hardships to citizens. Police complaints must be lodged against the guilty , no matter who they are.”

— Ajit Pawar, NCP Leader

Personal plane that can take off from garden

UPA concluded Netaji died in plane crash

P10

P12

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1

Bhausaheb Rasankar, 40, is wondering how he is going to pay back the Rs 53,000 he has taken from a private money lender at a whopping 36 per cent interest, to cultivate onions on his one-acre farm. He lives in Golegaon, a village in Shevgaon tehsil in Ahmednagar district. His yield has been just 1.5 tonnes against an average of five tonnes. He spent all of the loan on planting, watering, pesticides/fertilisers, sprinklers, sacks and transportation to the district market, excluding labour costs. What he earned from the sale at Rs 10 per kg two months ago (back then retail price was Rs 40) brought in just Rs 15,000, amounting to a Rs 36,000 loss.

And what he earned was spent on the upkeep of his 11-member joint family.

“My well has run dry. I paid Rs 15,000 on 14 tankerloads of water.

The crop production dropped by 80 per cent. Now I have no option but to commit suicide,” Rasankar said.He is not the only one in such distress.

Farmers barely get Rs 3 to 5 per kg for their produce of onions, while in the city we end up buying them for Rs 10. Falling prices of onions are good news for consumers, but it has left the growers in dire straits, with neither bumper production nor fair prices.

Even in the regions not facing water shortages, farmers were unable to recover 25 per cent of their investment.

Arjun Lendal, 43, lives in Karhetakali village in Paithan taluka in Aurangabad district. He cultivated 42 tonnes of surplus onion on his fouracre farm, investing Rs three lakh,

RAHUL RAUT

Low onion prices bring tears to growers’ eyes

The wholesale onion prices are so low that farmers like Arjun Nanavare from Satara have decided not to sell. Instead they have stored their produce

Arjun Lendal from Paithan Taluka in Aurangabad district sold 36 tonnes of his produce. He has held back quite a bit of his stock due to falling prices

Bhausaheb Rasankar from Shevagaon in Nagar district suffered a huge loss

which yielded less than 30 per cent of his investment. He sold 31 tonnes of onions for Rs 3 per kg. He has kept 11 tonnes of onions in a temporary shed, waiting for the prices to rise. “I have to repay the Rs five lakh loan which I had to take for farming expenses,” he said.

Lendal owns a seven-acre plot of land where water is available for farming in summer. There is water pipeline from Jaikwadi dam to the farm but he is not getting enough water owing to the ongoing scarcity.

His family includes wife Mukta, son Deepak and daughter Komal. They

once the rainy season starts, as onions rot quickly,” he said. There are as much as 25,000 tonnes of unsold onions in the village, waiting for prices to rise.

Nanavare is Sarpanch of Dhuldev village and has a 12-acre farm where he cultivates sugarcane, onion, grapes.

Onion cultivation is not profitable this year and he has to repay the Rs ten lakh to a private bank. His well is the source of water for his farm.

Bhausaheb Rasankar owns a sixacre farm in Golegaon of Shevgaon tehsil in Ahmednagar district. His well has run dry in December, so he

farmers,” he said. The Pune market gets 100 to 150 trucks of onions every day.

Traders blame surplus production and government export policies. “The regulatory body increases duties when onions sell for high prices in the local market, leading to falling prices.

The export policies keep changing, hampering exports, and leading to losses. There is a 50 per cent drop in exports due to government indifference towards farmers,” said Shivlal Bhosale, president of Adat association. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

cultivate sugarcane and onion. He also has a two-acre pomegranate farm.

He owes Rs 7.5 lakh to private money lenders as well as banks. The water pipeline cost Rs six lakh. Now the family has to repay the loan, but the onion prices have let them down.

It is the same in the western belt. Arjun Ramchandra Nanavare, 41, from Dhuldev village in Satara district, produced 10-12 tonnes, which he has kept in a shed, waiting for the prices to go up. “We should get Rs 15 per kg, not Rs six. I spent Rs 60,000 per acre. We may be forced to sell it

has to buy water. Besides onion, he also cultivates jowar, bajra and cotton. His family includes mother Sakharabai, wife Mira, brother Ajinath and his wife Manisha. Bhausaheb and Ajinath work as sugarcane cutters. Ajinath and his wife went to Daund sugar factory to cut sugarcane in September last year.

Nilesh Thorat from Market Yard is a middleman between the farmers and the buyers. “Last year was a good one for onion farmers. This led to surplus production and prices started falling from January. The current Rs 2-7 per kg price is causing huge losses for onion

State to notify locals about RTE kids expected to travel foodgrains supply via SMS 55 kms for their school

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma

BY VICKY PATHARE @vickypathare2

In a bit to end hardships of the beneficiaries of the Food Security Act, the state government, in a first of its kind initiative, will soon send automated messages informing them about the availability of foodgrains at fair price shops (FPS). The district supply office (DSO) will be the apex body at the district level to monitor the system, But the non-availability of funds could prove to be a hurdle for the smooth functioning of the plan.

The automated message system on pilot basis is currently functional in 100 fair price shops at Sangli, which will be followed by Nashik, and by August 1, will be in place in all of Pune district, as per the state government order, said a senior official from Baidabai Shivtare the DSO on condition of anonymity.

There are 45.64 lakh beneficiaries in Pune district under the Food Security Act, to whom foodgrains are supplied through FPS under the Public Distribution System (PDS). “We have decided to ensure that even the last person in the distribution Waman Lande system, for whom the foodgrains are lifted knows when the foodgrains will be available in the shops,” said Jyoti Kadam, district supply officer.

However, shopkeepers pick up their quotas at random times of the month, as a result of which the beneficiaries have no idea when stocks arrive. Beneficiaries complain about their random visits to the shop to avail of foodgrains.

The automated message system was launched in Shirur on a trial basis, and was found to be very beneficial but was stopped due to the lack of funds. “The final decision about the amount of allocation of funds is pending. As soon as funds are allotted by the state government, the automated message system will be implemented in Pune district in a phased manner,” said Kadam.

There are 1,821 fair price shops in the rural parts of the district (excluding municipal limits) like Haveli, Junnar, Maval, Velhe etc. In the 13 districts of Pune alone, there are 28.15 lakh beneficiaries under the Food Security Act and 56,249 beneficiaries (card holders) under

the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) In the municipal limits (Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri Chinchwad Corporation), under the Food Security Act and AAY, 5,420 metric tonnes of wheat and 3,615 metric tonnes of rice is distributed at a fair price of Rs two per kg and Rs three per kg.

“In Pune city alone, there are 17.49 lakh beneficiaries under the Food Security Act and 11,636 beneficiaries (card holders) under the AAY. Under AAY, 21 kg wheat and 14 kg rice is distributed per card, and under Food Security Act, three kg wheat and two kg rice per beneficiary is distributed,” said Ranjeet Bhosale, Tehsildar and Assistant Food Supply Officer.

Resident of Dandekar Pul, Pune, Baidabai Shivtare, said, “The owners of the fair price shops most of the time don’t tell us the exact date when we should come to collect the foodgrains.

At times it is before the 25th of the month, and other times it is after 25th of the month. We can’t get the foodgrains in single visit. Every month we have to make at least three visits to get the foodgrains,” he said.

The administration is gearing up to compile data of every beneficiary, including the phone number, and feed the same to the system by linking it to the ration card, which is further linked to a particular FPS in a particular village.

Resident of Wadgaon Dhayri, Waman Lande, said, “Most of the people return from the shop empty-handed. Lame excuses are given by the shop owner. We have to visit the shop again and again due to non-availability of foodgrains.

In the past, people have also complained to the Food Supply Officer about the shop owners but in vain. If we get a notification that the foodgrains have been picked up by shopkeeper, we can go the shop next day and fetch it.” vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

Parents seeking admission for their children under the Right to Education (RTE) Act are befuddled again. Children living in Pashan and Baner have been given admission in schools in Alandi and Lonavala respectively.

“We had applied for admission and in the first round, our child was given the Sanskar Gurukul School in Alandi, good 26 kms from our home in Pashan,” said father of a child seeking admission under RTE. He added, “We can’t send our child to Alandi daily.

What is the point of seeking admission if going to school is not possible?” he said.

Another couple, residents of Baner, faced a similar issue. “Our son has been given admission in Bapusaheb Dhonde School, Lonavala, through the RTE online process.

The school is 55 kms away from our home,” said the father who works as a clerk in a private firm.

When both the set of parents approached the education department, the officials realised something was wrong. “First we were told that it is not possible to allot a second school. But after we refused to leave until someone heard us out, the officials promised us that our child would be considered for second round of admissions,” said the Pashan resident.

According to the RTE, there should be a distance of only three km between the home and the school.

The education department blamed the schools for the gaffe. They said that the schools had given their incorrect locations on the online maps prepared by the department. “If the locations given by both the schools were wrong, it is safe to assume that these two are not the only ones who have been allotted these schools. There are probably many more parents who have unknowingly either cancelled their ward’s admission or would have gone ahead with the process and are now stuck,” said activist Vaijayanti Aphale.

While it is understandable that the schools are at fault, it is not clear why the officials did not check the details when the schools had registered. The schools had to give their addresses and then out blurbs on an e-map to denote their locations. With the schools that are getting involved with RTE for the first time, why the education department did not do a cross check is anyone’s guess. Even the special RTE cell did not take cognizance of the same and even after the two cases coming to the fore; no step has been taken to disseminate information regarding the same.

What is RTE The Right to Education Act, or The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, was enacted by the Indian Parliament on August 4, 2009. It has been in force since April 1, 2010. The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the age of six and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It prohibits any unrecognised schools from functioning, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent as admission test. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass any board examination until the completion of basic elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.

Under the act, children from socially disadvantaged groups and/or weaker sections of the society get free of cost RTE IN PUNE It is the second year for Pune schools to follow RTE. While the first year had had a different timeline with a lot of hitches, the second year, authorities believe is smoother. “The numbers have gone up tremendously. We had around 2700 admissions last year in total. This year, nearly 2000 admissions are already done by the first round itself. It means more and more people are coming forward and even the schools are getting more welcoming,” said Geeta Zoshi, senior officer at the Pune Municipal Education Department.

However, there have been a spate complaints from parents. This year, instead of getting third party verification done, the education department asked the schools to do the verification of

admission in private, semi-private and government schools. According to the Indian Government, any child belonging to socially disadvantaged group means and includes a child belonging to the schedule caste, schedule tribe, orphans, Migrant and Street children, Children With Special Needs and HIV affected/infected children.

A child belonging to Weaker Section means a child belonging to Backward Classes, Minorities and includes Other Castes whose parents’ income does not exceed Rs 60,000 per annum.

In all schools, 25 per cent of the total seats are reserved for these children who are given admission under Right to Education. The act, unlike other countries that treat education as a fundamental right, puts the onus of a child’s education on the government and the schools instead of the parents. This leads to a government led process of admission. documents and give admission to the children.

However, this led to a very strict scrutiny on the schools’ part. “The parents are generally illiterate.

So, spelling errors are a common mistake.

Secondly, schools seem to be asking for way more documents than are mandated under RTE. In fact, some documents are not even needed at the time of verification, they are to be submitted when final admission happens,” said Vaijayanti Aphale.

Taking cognisance of the same, the education department released a circular on May 16 stating 13 errors to which the schools will have to turn a blind eye. That includes spelling errors, errors in the name of the caste and unnecessary need by the schools for forms. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

Another housing scam comes to light, involving the duping of 5,000 buyers to the tune of Rs 700 crore

Yogesh Vasant Shelar

Jayant Chandrakant Waydande

houses and 93 shops in Srushti Regency itself. Srushti Orbit was supposed to have 20+ buildings with 11 floors each too. Interestingly, they had none of the land they were projecting as their own on paper. “They purchased the 24 acres of land for Srushti Regency and started construction without getting environmental clearance, blueprint approval or any other kind of approval needed. Meanwhile, they kept selling other flats to people and close to 20,000 flats in Srushti Orbit were sold out,” said Ubale, who lodged an FIR at the Lonikand Police station on May 7.

The modus operandi of the WS developers was the same as the other scamsters. The flats were advertised to be for the low income group with easy payment options over a period of 6-8 years after the down payment. Once the initial agreement was done, the monthly instalment kept deducting from the buyers’ accounts even though the construction work had not begun. “I bought a two bhk plot in Srushti Orbit.

When I saw that even after two years the construction had not begun, I stopped paying the EMI, but I had already paid nearly 50 per cent,” said Sanjay Mane, 43. However, the developers did not have

the land, except for one project and had clearances for none of the projects that they were selling.

WS developers opened an investment scheme as well. “If people could pay them a big lump-sum at once, they were promised discounts. Even otherwise, people were encouraged to put money in their scheme to get huge benefits,” said Neha Raut (name changed at request), 32. “I know of someone who was promised that her amount would double in two years and then she would get a discount of the principal sum from her cost. So she deposited close to Rs 10,00,000. There are others who put in similar amounts amongst us.”

The WS developers branched into other businesses in 2013-2014. They started a branch named WS foods under the brand name of WS Bakers, and allegedly dabbled in the entertainment industry as well. “They were reportedly producers of a few Marathi movies,” said Avinash Kanade, 34, a Research and Development employee at a private firm.

While the buyers of Srushti Orbit have lodged a complaint in the Swargate police station, the buyers of Srushti Regency have filed an FIR in Lonikand.

“The developers had their office at the

P13

P11

Now, Rs 700 cr housing scam

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma There has been a spate of housing scams recently. Another major scam has come to light which involved the WaydandeShelar (WS) developers, who are alleged to have cheated close to 5,000 buyers in and around Pune, to the tune of nearly Rs 700 crore. The developers, Jayant Chandrakant Waydande and Yogesh Vasant Shelar, who had gone underground since April, have been arrested on May 9, and remanded to police custody till May 21.

The WS Developers had launched a four-project plan in 2012, spread over around 100 acres, at Kesnand in Wadegaon. These projects named Srushti Regency, Srushti Orbit, Srushti Sparsh and Srushti Heights were widely advertised, as being available at zero per cent interest rate and affordable prices.

The possession of the flats was to be given by the end of March 2015. However, till today, the buildings were not even close to completion.

Ajay Ubale, 30, a businessman from Pune said, “I am a family man, I dabble in small businesses, I can’t shell out close to one crore rupees that reputed builders charge. So I grabbed the opportunity to buy a house at zero per cent interest rate at the Srushti Regency,” he said. Since he was unaware of how things in real estate work, he was content to get 563 square feet on the agreement, even though he was paying for a 578 square feet house.

“The developers told us that they did not have the Non-Agricultural land permit needed for construction, in 2012. But in 2013, we were told that everything was smooth. I paid nearly Rs six lakh over the course of three years which is 60 per cent of the total amount,” he said.

The developers had planned to put up 19 buildings with 11 floors and nine flats on each floor, along with 36 row

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site and at Market Yard. Once we started questioning them, they shut shop in Market Yard and shifted to a brand new property in posh Jangali Maharaj Road,” Kanade said. “The last meeting with us was held in April, 2016. He promised that our flats would be ready soon. How can that be when only the structure of one out of the 11 buildings is ready?” he said. The developers had also given the buyers a promissory note, but it was not actualised.

When the developers realised that the buyers will not be placated, they started distributing cheques to those who wished to withdraw. There were nearly 700 cheques distributed, all of which bounced. According to prosecution lawyer Nilesh Bhandari, “It is a case of cheating people. The developers had also made the agreement on notarised paper.

Legal agreements should always be made by registration. They also made false claims that they have the land and other clearances.”

The matter is currently sub-judice at both the sessions court and the consumer court. However the buyers spearheading the legal practices are getting threat calls already. “Once it was a series of calls past midnight. I am scared,” said Neha, a 32 year old IT employee.

The developers proposed prices in the brochure of 1 BHK (580 sqft) at Rs 14,03,375 per unit but sold at Rs 21,56,000, 2 BHK (780 sqft) of Rs 18,64,125 per unit at Rs 27,96,000 and row houses of Rs 36,74,500 at unspecified prices. The Developers claimed that they were waiting for the environment clearance. They charged an additional amount close to Rs 1,00,000 for MSEB charges, parking, development and society charges in lieu of all the amenities they were providing. However nothing on ground has happened. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

PMPML pays PMC Rs 44 crore interest for Rs 37 crore loan

BY SUSHANT RANJAN @sushantranjan The cash-strapped Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) has a loan of Rs 37.36 crore. In the past 16 years all it has paid is just the interest on the loan, which has now risen to Rs 43.95 crore.

This came to light after Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) submitted its audit report recently.

According to officials, PMPML had asked PMC for a loan of Rs 34 crore on fixed deposit in 2000, for development of PMPML. The loan sanctioned was of Rs 37.36 crore on overdraft. Till 2016, the PMPML has paid Rs 41.95 crore, which is more than principal amount.

PMPML was also shocked by the report submitted to the authorities.

A senior officer said that they were unaware that they had paid more than principal amount. PMPML has sent letters to PMC to waive the loan.

PMPML sources said that the PMPML had written 14 letters to PMC for waiver of the loan. The first letter was sent to PMC on July 22, 2005.

PMPML Head Account officer Pankaj Giri said that they were asking PMC to waive the loan amount, and fixed deposit amount of Rs 34 crore to be adjusted and paid to the bank.

In its audit report for financial year 2014-15 submitted to the standing committee of PMC, the PMPML shows an operational loss of Rs 318 crore. The PMPML has a revenue of Rs 558 crore and expenditure of Rs 876 crore. “The financial crisis that PMPML is facing is not new. Even though we are paying only the interest, it is a huge sum. If PMC waives the loan

VISHAL KALE

“The proposal for a new international airport is a long-term issue and it will take time. Till then, the city needs a fully functional airport. The additionally allocated land will be utilised exclusively for parking aircraft.”

— Anil Shirole, MP and head of local Airports Advisory Committee

PUNE

and interest amount, we will be able to boost the infrastructure of PMPML rapidly,” a senior official said.

PMPML buses operate on 369 routes, 11 of which are loss-making owing to the scanty numbers of passengers. Service on these routes were started under the urging of politicians. In 2007, the PMPML fleet had 950 buses.

Since then the populations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad have crossed the 35 lakh mark, but the number of buses has risen to only 1400, an increase of 450. But breakdowns are frequent, and PMPML need 1200 more buses.

Giri said, “We are fully dependent on PMC. If PMC does not listen to us, where do we go? The buses are not in good condition. Every day on an average, 60-70 buses break down, resulting in losses of Rs 8,000 per vehicle to the PMPML. PMPML runs a total of 2053 buses, including BRTs, in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.” sushant.ranjan@goldensparrow.com

Married daughter is a visitor to her parents’ house!

Continued from p1 I tried telling him that we have three reserved parking slots for cars so that our guests can park inside.

He began arguing with me that she was a client and not our guest,” said Manasee. The argument went on for a while and did not yield any results.

A day later, Manasee’s parents were in for a rude shock. They received a letter signed by the society Chairman Harish Khubchandani and Secretary Appti Suratkal. The letter stated that the managing committee had received complaints from security guards about Manasee’s behaviour and that she was obstructing them from performing their duties. The letter dated May 13 reminded the Dogras that customers to the salon were not allowed to park inside the society compound. While trying to warn Dogras of action in future, the office bearers crossed the line.

When TGS contacted Suratkal, his wife Aruna spoke to us on his behalf, “While I agree that it is not worded correctly, what we meant to imply was that now that she (Manasee)

lives elsewhere, she should not be interfering in the way our society functions.”

Manasee’s parents Geetanjali (55) and Balkrishna Dogra (62) have not taken the letter too well. Theyh are upset with the society for terming their daughter as an outsider. Her father, who is a businessman, believes that the statement in the letter issued to them about the rude behaviour of their

What people have to say on social media Esha Alvi: What the hell! Please note that you need to learn that we live in the 21st century!

Get out of the stone age! Getting married doesn’t miraculously alter your DNA! Ridiculous person! If this person has children I would like to go tell them to never get married because their parents will treat them like guest and have them take appointments to come meet them! They are never going to understand your point of view.

Dr. Samira Shafi: This is nothing but cheap male dominated mentality! You make sure this person sends you a written apology for his unaccepted behaviour and words. This really can’t be taken and should be condemned.

In fact such a person should be made to resign from his position of chairperson for humiliating a woman member from his society.

Preeti Shinde Singh: They need to apologise.

Ask them to in writing. How dare they state such stuff. If the moot point is rude behaviour ask them to stick to that and not comment unnecessarily. It’s ridiculous to see that such educated illiterates are

VISHAL KALE

daughter could have been handled in several other ways. Being a member of the managing committee for the past 13 years and having resigned only last year, he felt there was no need for such a letter. “We share good relations with both the Suratkals and the Khubchandanis. They could have simply knocked on our doors and resolved the matter immediately. The letter was uncalled for. They have not only hurt my sentiments since they said this about my daughter but also in the bargain have made a statement that would be insulting to all married women,” said the disappointed father.

The Dogras for now have filed a complaint against Usman Shaikh, the security guard with whom Manasee had an altercation, with Shastri Nagar Police Station. They have decided to take on the managing committee legally as well.

Meanwhile, the letter issued by the society made its way to social media and let to an uproar. On several groups, people criticised the managing committee of the society for being insensitive. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

being appointed as the chair person of a society.

Vidya Bajaj: Utterly shameful. ...Firstly, if we go by law purely and forget emotions..A married daughter has equal claim legally to every materialistic wealth her parents own as per the Sc ruling. Secondly, I wonder what the society would do if you belong to a matriarchal family like women in Kerala do where there is no vidai and kids take the surname from mother’s side...All in all..I wonder who asked them to decide whether one’s daughter is a guest or not....I hope your family and you give them a earful.

Amrita Lobo: This is absolutely ridiculous. I am sure someone writing the letter has to be illliterate... had he been educated, he would not have mentioned what he did on you being a visitor. Hope he gets some medical help.

On parking, every society has its own rules.

Cornelia Vaz: This is rubbish.....today gurls look after her parents just like or may be more than a son would look after. Its sad to say that some people have brains the size of a pea so think in this way.

Zain Hasham: First of all your chairman sucks

big time ....Maybe the chairman is retard or maybe he want to show off his position or maybe he might have some personal grudge... If society chairman is trying to claim his position by this letter he must know that he is the worlds biggest noob, at least notice must be sensible.... whom so ever ur chairman is, its time to retire rather than coming up with something stupid and being gender racist... I feel you must sue him for this... He should practice the law of society.. Rather coming up with blunders... I can’t stop laughing at this character of ur society.

Nasreen Moheed Wagu: I would say shame on such people who don’t value their kids equally and keep such type of mentality. You should update them in which century are they staying.

Nirali Shah Parmar: what a shame! pity to the people who think like this about married daughters, few people need reality check!!

Ashok Yadav: Sanity gone out of the window.

By writing the last paragraph they have given you a blank cheque. Encash that. Anything less than a public and written apology should be unacceptable.

What the law says Speaking to TGS, Supreme Court Advocate Charu Mathur said that times have changed and even the courts have recognised giving daughters equal rights along with their brothers. “Under the Shastric/ Customary Law, daughters did not have a right in the property and it went only to male members of the Hindu Joint Family (HJF) by way of survivorship. But now the thinking has changed and this has slowly shaped society to accept equality of the genders. Thankfully this thinking has found its way into the laws of intestate succession resulting in an amendment in the laws,” said Mathur.

Mathur elaborated that a case concerning the rights of a daughter in her father’s property came up before the Bombay High Court and went right up to the Supreme Court.

Mathur said that under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, originally daughters didn’t have equal rights to ancestral property. “After the Amendment Act, 2005 this disparity was removed. This amendment came into force on September 9, 2005,” she said.

As for the Kalyani Nagar society’s case, Mathur said, “In the present case, one sees no reason why would a society thus discriminate between daughters (whether married or unmarried) and sons, when the law no longer does. It’s a manifested error on part of apartment/society management committee to devoid her of her legal rights. The notice terming that as she is a married daughter and hence a mere ‘visitor’ and calling it a law is a glaring error to say the least,” said Mathur.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

One in 3 female doctors in US face sexual harassment

“I am very concerned at total lack of action at Pune and Maharashtra FDA level when I have taken the trouble to repeatedly point out that Maharashtra has ventured into contempt of court by allowing food vendors to cook on streets without permission.”

— Qaneez Sukhrani, Activist

P 13

Sugarcane deal turns sour for farmers Former minister Pachpute has not paid sugarcane famers their dues after buying their crops in 2015

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar Babanrao Pachpute, former minister and BJP leader, owns Shri Saikrupa sugar mill at Hiradgaon in Srigonda tehsil, Ahmednagar district. The mill has not paid sugarcane farmers who sold their crops to the mill in March/ April 2015. More than a year, the farmers have not been paid their dues.

Some of them went to meet Pachpute at his house in Kashti, but were threatened by Pachpute’s goons. These farmers had taken loans from credit societies, money lenders and banks.

Some of them have had to call off their children’s marriages, some others have been unable to pay their children’s fees.

The Golden Sparrow is throwing light for the first time on the troubles of these farmers, and how politicians like Pachpute are exploiting them. The farmers have issued an ultimatum to Pachpute and the state government regarding their dues, or they would commit suicide, for which Pachpute and the state government would be responsible.

PICS BY RAHUL RAUT

Former tribal affairs minister in the Congress-NCP government, Babanrao Pachpute founded Shri Saikrupa & Allied Industries Limited on December 16, 1998. The company has nine directors, including Pachpute and his son Vikram. The other directors are Sadashiv Bhikaji Pachpute, Rajkumar Dhamdere, Sahadu Satav, Nitin Munot, Kranti Dhamdhere, Shivaji Anbhule and Prashant Bahironde.

Babanrao left the NCP and joined BJP at the time of assembly elections 2014.

It was rumoured that Pachpute joined BJP to save his debt- ridden sugar mill.

Sugar Commissioner Vipin Sharma said, “We have suspended crushing permit of Shri Saikrupa sugar mill for not paying cane farmers. I have the right to even seal the sugar factory, and sell its property. The case is pending with the court and further action will be taken according to the court guidelines.”

Babanrao Pachpute said, “Directors of Shri Saikrupa Sugar mill have given in written in court on May 6, that we will pay the cane farmers’ dues before May 30. We are making arrangements for money now. The farmers gave sugarcane because they trust me, and I would not break the trust at any cost, and will give them their money. We will sell the sugar factory if we have to, to pay the farmers’ dues.” tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com

Virsen Kadam Virsen Kadam, 51, from Dhuldev village gave 344 tonnes of cane to Shri Saikrupa sugar mill, but is waiting for his money.

Kadam said, “I am farmer and advocate and practice at Phaltan court. After a month Pachpute’s sugar mill did not pay me. So we farmers met Pachpute at his office, and the mills clerk gave me a cheque for Rs 3,64,253 of Ahmednagar district cooperative bank. But the cheque bounced. He has cheated us farmers. We have decided to file complaint against the sugar mill for giving us cheques when there was no money in the mill account.”

Hanumant Narayan Abhang

Mahadev Laxman Bhivarkar

Pradip Savata Abhang

Hanumant Abhang, 62, owns a three-acre plot in Dhuldev village. He gave sugarcane to Pachpute’s Shri Saikrupa sugar mill on Arpil 8, 2015. More than a year later, Hanumant has not been paid by the mill. He has a receipt for 105 tonnes of sugarcane. Pachpute had assured payment within a month.

Hanumant said, “We tried to contact Pachpute, but he and his son Vikram who is also director and chairman of the mill, do not answer our calls. We tried to meet Pachpute but his bouncers did not allow us.

Pachpute has muscle power, money power, and we poor farmers cannot fight such a person. Now I do not have money to sow a new crop this year. I will have to take a loan from a private money lender, at high interest.

So there is no option for me but to commit suicide. Government must make Pachpute clear farmers’ dues, but the Devendra Fadanavis government, instead of taking action, is protecting Pachpute. Pachpute and state government will be responsible for farmers’ suicides.”

Mahadev Bhivarkar, 51, from Dhuldev village of Phaltan tehsil, Satara district, gave sugarcane to Pachpute’s Shri Saikrupa Sugar mill on March 26, 2015. The mill gave Mahadev receipt of 175 tonnes of sugarcane but he did not get a single rupee.

Mahadev said, “Last year we had a bumper cane crop. I have taken a loan from the district cooperative bank. Pachpute’s Shri Saikrupa sugar mill did not pay me even after a month had passed. We farmers visited Pachpute’s sugar mill but the security guards did not allow us to enter the premises. When we went to meet Babanrao Pachpute, his personal bouncer threatened us. The interest on the loan is increasing as I am unable to repay it. My family is under deep economic crisis.”

Pradip Abhang, 38, said, “Last year Pachpute and his son Vikram came to our village and appealed to us to give sugarcane to their sugar mill, assuring us Rs 1800 per tonne for our cane. The rate was higher than other sugar mills, so farmers of our village gave sugarcane to Pachpute’s sugar mill.

But Pachpute has cheated us and broken his promise. I planned to dig a well on my land from the money I expected from Pachpute’s sugar mill. I could not do so. I could not water crops which I planned to sow this year. I have 2.5 acres of land, on which my family depends. We farmers wrote a letter to the sugar commissioner regarding our dues and they said they would take action against the sugar mill. Pachpute has cheated hundreds of farmers from Dhuldev, Vidani, Giravi, Nirmudi, Chaudharwadi, Jinti, Fadatarwadi and Farandwadi. I have no option but to commit suicide.”

Work without pay if you want your certificates, doctors told Resident doctors wanting completion certificates being held to ransom and asked to work without pay for three months

Occupants told to vacate old and hazardous buildings TEJAS GAIKWAD

BY VICKY PATHARE @vickypathare2

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 Resident doctors pursuing final year post graduate and post graduate diploma courses at 16 government run medical colleges and three municipal corporation run medical colleges in the state are facing hard times.

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) issued a circular, telling them practice for the extra period from July to September without pay, with written consent on the Rs 100 bond. This controversial circular has been criticised by the resident doctors from government medical colleges.

The 36 months curriculum for post graduate courses like Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Surgery (MS) and 26 months Diploma in July 2013 commenced in September 2013 owing to delay in implementing the first ever National Eligibility and entrance Test (NEET).

While the circular specifically doesn’t mention the actual time period, doctors say that they need three more months to complete the span.

The NEET was announced by the Government of India and was held for the first time on May 5, 2013 across India for students seeking admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

The admission procedure had taken three months extra and the curriculum started in September instead of July.

“Why should we suffer for no fault of ours?” said Dr Dnyaneshwar Halnor, secretary of MARD (BJMC) Pune. “How can we manage the expenses without pay for

PMC pre-monsoon survey identifies 120 dilapidated buildings that need urgent demolition

three months,” he said.

The circular dated April 26 by DMER to deans of the government medical colleges at Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Nanded, Yavatmal, Dhule, Gondia, Chandrapur, Ambejogai, Latur, Solapur, Akola, Miraj, Kolhapur and Nagpur, is also addressed to municipal commissioners. As per the suggestion in the circular, all students seeking certificates need to apply to the deans of their respective college. Once the period is completed, the contract will be terminated after doctors who applied for the additional period would be given junior resident post.

BJ Medical College Dean Dr Ajay Chandanwale said if there are vacancies for senior residents (SR) or junior residents (JR) posts in college those would get payment.

“After JR and SR posts are filled other students have to continue without pay,” said Chandanwale.

Central MARD president Dr Sagar Mundada approached court against the decision to make resident doctors work without stipend. “We all are at a stage where we need to support our families economically.

MARD will challenge this decision and will take it up with the medical education minister if DMER does not change its decision. Getting stipend for our work is our right and we will get it,” he said.

Dr Pravin Shringare, director of DMER, when contacted by TGS said, “We have mentioned in the circular that if funds are availble, stipend woulod be given.” dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) recently conducted a pre-monsoon survey of old and dilapidated buildings and has identified 120 structures for urgent demolition. Notices have been issued to 73 persons to vacate the buildings immediately.

Taking a serious view of dilapidated buildings across the state, the state government had issued a General Resolution on November 5, 2015, instructing all municipal corporations to conduct surveys of old and dilapidated buildings in AprilMarch. In case of inhabitants refused to vacate such buildings, the corporations could even disconnect the electricity and water supply.

Corporations across the state should follow the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations (BMC) guidelines regarding old and dilapidated buildings, the state Urban Development department GR stated.

PMC City Engineer Prashant Waghmare said, “We have found more than 368 structures in three different categories. Priority is given to C-1 category structures that are in a most dilapidated state and

need to be vacated, with potential hazard of thee loss of lives or property.” But citizens occupying these structures have ignored the PMC warning regarding the seriousness of the problem. There are 120 structures in the C-1 or most dilapidated state, 248 structures in the C-2 (A) & C-2 (B) states, which need to be vacated or be made structural repairs to without vacating them, and 100 structures in the C-3 state, that need minor repairs, as identified in the PMC survey.

“Seventy-three notices under BMC act 354 for demolition have been issued to the occupants of the C-1 category buildings, asking them to vacate immediately. Letter has been sent to the police officials asking them to help vacating the buildings,” he said.

“In view of the fact that in many of such buildings, the tenants and occupants are unwilling to vacate the premises in spite of the fact that the buildings are in dilapidated and dangerous condition and are likely to collapse, which would cause loss of human life including persons who are refusing to vacate,” said Bipin Shinde, deputy engineer, PMC. “PMC has also issued a notice in public interest creating awareness about such structures,” he said.

The state has also instructed that if there is problem in vacating the building, the water supply and electricity should be disconnected. But no such action has been taken by the PMC. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

“Public toilets for all women in this country is a big problem and if you’re a transgender, it just makes it all the more difficult.”

— Anjali Gopalan, Founder, Naz Foundation

“There is still a lot of stigma and misconception about the LGBT community. For instance, generalisation of behaviours as ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ is totally uncalled for.”

— Tinesh Chopade, Advocacy Officer, Humsafar

Sound of music messengers A couple initiates effort to take classical music to masses in a meaningful way

BY SALONEE MISTRY @SaloneeMistry Husband and wife, Mandar Karanjkar (25) and Dakshayani Athalye (25), always wondered why young menwomen and children were excited and inclined to Bollywood numbers and western music while only a few appreciated Indian Classical music.

They realised that only a certain section of society had exposure and access to this traditional art form and no matter how much advancement made in technology, the cultural barrier between various sections of society remains. The couple found it ironic that music which can bond the greatest divide and connect numerous beings has itself stayed above a glass ceiling. Th is is when they decided to take a step forward and did a pilot study in government-run schools in the city to see where the problem lies.

Dakshayani Athalye and Mandar Karanjkar (above); a music lesson at a government school during their pilot study (below)

The study taught them that engaging students in music once a week was not enough. In order to work systematically and professionally in the field of classical music, they are registering their trust under the name, Baithak Foundation. The couple

expects to get the certificate by the end of May. Mandar and Dakshayani have been married for a year and a half.

While she is a community outreach leader at Bansuri Foundation, he is an engineer and founded the Philosophy Club in COEP and the author of two books. Dakshayani has been trained in the traditional storytelling art ‘Kirtan’ and has given 500 plus performances in villages across Maharashtra.

Mandar started learning music when he was in third grade and there was no turning back. “Our inspiration for this initiative has come from the great people we have met in our lives.

It need not be someone famous but even the ones we meet every day have a story to tell,” she said.

The duo started teaching music in two locations last year. One was an after school centre and other was a regular school. Their experience with students was immensely gratifying and

This residents’ group does more than keeping their area clean As Kalyani Nagar Residents’ Association member, Daljeet Kaur Raizada has become an inspiration for others to come forward and do their bit for society

BY RASHMEET TALUJA @rashmeet_taluja She could empathise with the plight of poor and needy as a teenager and understand their feeling of deprivation.

Unlike her school friends, she started working with the underprivileged when she was 13.

She used to teach slum dwellers near her Delhi home to read and write. After entering college, she learnt sign language to work Daljeet Raizada with the deaf and initiate a thread of conversation with the speech impaired.

After moving to Pune 33 years ago, Daljeet Kaur Raizada (54) of Kalyani Nagar devotes her time helping the underprivileged in the city and hopes to instil in city dwellers habits that help in maintaining cleanliness in neighbourhood that will eventually transform the city to a clean place to dwell. And the sole reason for her to do this is because such acts give her infinite joy and she believes ‘service to

mankind is service to God’. “One just has to look around to see people who are in desperate need of help. A woman, who looks much older than her age due to poverty, begging for food for her children; a family with no safe home or means to earn sustainable income; and a child in need of education. We have the power to transform their lives. All we need to do is to reach out to them as even a single act will help them change their future,” Daljeet said.

As event coordinator for Kalyani Nagar Residents’ Association (KNRA), Daljeet actively participates with other women members of the association and even women from neighbourhood to provide midday meals to the children of St. John’s School, Camp. In 2012, she started the Pune chapter of international voluntary women’s service organisation Innerwheel Club, where several women come together and raise funds or make donations to blind schools, remand homes for girls, old age homes and underprivileged children.

A counsellor by profession, Daljeet travels across the state talking to children about sensitive and often taboo issues which need to be talked about in the open. She sensitises kids about good touch and bad touch, sex education,

Lack of funds does not stop KNRA members from working for social causes

inner demons and fears that paralyze the young minds due to social conditioning.

She has been recognised for her tireless work on cleanliness, waste management and helping the underprivileged in Innerwheel District 313.

“Since the past ten years, KNRA has played a major role in making Kalyani Nagar a clean, green and organised neighbourhood. We have no water supply shortage and frequent power cuts. All active participants of KNRA have been made in charge of districts and their responsibility includes looking after the underprivileged too,” Daljeet said, adding, “KNRA is just a group of residents at the end of the day. We do not have a lot of funds but we try to use maximum utilisation of our limited resources like funds, our time and energy to raise social awareness. We host creative events so that people come together and bond over activities, thereby it gives us a platform to create dialogue about pressing issues and how we all can contribute to change the status quo.”

Daljeet points out that for a common man doing something charitable seems like a daunting task as money is precious to every household, but the satisfaction of being selfless and kind can add gaiety to life. “Often the quintessential Indian ‘chalta-hain’ attitude of bureaucrats can be frustrating but we can all handle it tactfully by creating pressure on them as a united force. We all have our own professional lives, family lives and other commitments but we must do our bit for society consistently. It makes us all feel satisfied that we are not just sitting and sulking over issues facing the world but are making the lives of others’ better,” she said.

With their two children married and settled, Daljeet’s husband supports, understands and often participates in her social undertakings which she says makes him a ‘perfect partner’. She encourages everyone to step out of their mundane routine and discover how beautiful life can be when one human being offers a helping hand to another. rashmeet.taluja@goldensparrow.com

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encouraging. Students who had never heard about classical music would sit in one place watching a live concert recording or a documentary and then practice the basic swar sadhana.

“These children did not know what a music festival was. They had no clue who Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was or who was Pandit Kumar Gandharva. Th is reality actually knocked us down. We were (and actually are) terribly upset about how these festivals, concerts and gatherings are an affair for only a few in our society. We were actually unhappy about the status and I think that made us move forward,” Dakshayani said.

While trying to do something as unique as this, the challenges to are immense. Being able to reach the right people to mentor the school children is not an easy task. Managing work and this initiative consume a lot of time and energy. Their biggest problem is obviously the funding and to figure out a sustainable model to get donations.

For the next year, they plan to start a regular music class at Babu Jagjeevanram School, Yerawada.

Every division of 30 students each will have two classes of music per week. There will be two tutors in one school - one who can teach percussion and the other will teach vocals. Their plan is to help children appreciate Indian Classical music, know the basics and explore it via a medium.

They have also been able to connect with the Pune Blind Girls School in Kothrud where they will be teaching 20 students. These students will be taught by only one mentor who will teach them vocals on a regular basis.

The idea is to help these girls excel and become professional artists. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

They give free chaas through summers

A family in Shukrawar Peth has been distributing free buttermilk to passers-by for 20 years

BY SHAILESH JOSHI @TGSWeekly As Indians, the act of hospitality is central to our social code. Urbanisation led to social, economic and environmental changes with selfless relationships and communal behaviour symbolic of village culture giving way to urban life synonymous with unfamiliar relations and competitiveness. The noble act of providing buttermilk for free to passersby every day by a family from Shukrawar Peth for the past 20 years reinforces our faith in humanity in the present fastpaced and machine-based lives. Late Laxmidas Jadhavji Thakkar, famously known as Bacchubhai Bhayani, and his wife Asha started the good work in 1996.

Nitin Purohit, who manages the initiative said, “One day a stranger stood at the doorstep of Late Laxmidas’ house when he was having food with his wife Asha, asking for water to drink. The couple gave the man a glass of water but this incident sowed in them the bud of charity and the two began providing

free buttermilk to people passing by their locality at Shukrawar Peth near Badami Houd Chowk area during summers.”

After Bacchubhai’s death in 2013, his wife Asha, married daughters Sonal Govindji and Rupal Bhayani, and married son Tushar are handling the free buttermilk distribution through their staff with Purohit managing the initiative.

The three-month free buttermilk distribution begins after Rangpanchami that usually falls in March and ends at the beginning of rainy season. The staff provides 10 litres of buttermilk to people from 10.30 am to 1 pm every day benefitting around 150-200 people. The staff includes Purohit, Laxmi Shelar, Ravi Chandane, Alaka Tapkir, Padamavti Kurmakar, Namdev Mate, Sunil Ugale and Vandana Hunde. Speaking to TGS, a passer-by Anil Chavan praised the initiative. “By providing free buttermilk to us, the Bhayani family is doing the noble work of quenching the thirst of strangers,” he said. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PICS BY RAHUL RAUT AND TEJAS GAIKWAD

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They have t

CHANGE Female infanticide, child marriages, menstrual hygiene, open defecation, toilets for slum-dwellers and technology for the visually impaired are the kind of issues we would rather shy away from, than get to grips with. But there are some who dare to be the catalysts of change

BY ZA AND S @TGS

B an age

They have made Sangli an open defecation free city He has made the world a better place for the visually challenged

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hananjay Bhole, 35, is the co-ordinator of the Advanced Technology Blind Students’ Learning Centre (ATBSLC) set up at the University of Pune in 2008. The centre runs commerce, management, science, technology and medicine courses, and has also developed software to make Indian websites accessible to the disabled.

The son of ordnance factory technician in a small village in Jalgaon district, Dhananjay, was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes. As a child he was given treatment, undergoing more than ten surgeries, but then one of the surgeries

went all wrong, leaving him completely blind.

There were no books in Braille, or audio facilities and Dhananjay was unable to see what the teachers had written on the blackboard. His sisters and classmates helped him out. He joined a school for the blind at Jalgaon, where he had to repeat three classes. It was an uphill struggle all the way but he passed the SSC and HSC Board examinations with first class marks.

“Besides overcoming all my fears on my own, I had to cope with people who advised me against enrolling in the science stream after SSC,” he said.

He completed BSc with another first class,

Dhananjay Bhole has launched many initiatives for visually impaired in the city

but then he was refused admission to the MSc biotechnology course because of his visual disability. He did an MBA and then was able to clear the entrance exam for MSc in bioinformatics at the University of Pune.

“It was a challenge to learn 39 subjects without access to any special study material or technology. It was difficult to visualise complex biological systems like conformations of DNA and proteins. But I managed to devise a way to draw chemical structures and mathematical expressions in Braille, using Braille slates and stylus” he said.

Dhananjay’s personal struggles spurred him take up the cause of visually impaired students, to give them access to technology to overcome their handicap, and use computers to understand concepts biology.

“It is my dream is to open the fields of science and technology to the visually challenged, and create for them a base of assistive technology in India. I want to create job opportunities for them on an equal footing with normal students,” he said.

He reviewed government schemes for persons with disabilities and persuaded representatives at the University of Pune to start a resource centre for the visually challenged. Thus was the Advanced Technology Blind Students’ Learning Centre established, as an extension of the Department of Education. A digital library and special computer lab with advanced assistive technologies were set up.

For his contribution to the betterment of the visually challenged, Dhananjay was conferred the National Role Model award by the Government of India.

Pratima Joshi talking to women in slum areas and understanding the problems they face

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Girls should get an education and attain maturity before they are married off

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“Overnight, from being a carefree schoolgirl, I became a housewife, chained in wedlock to a man I did not know.”

- ROHINI PAWAR

ohini Pawar and her husband run a juice centre that pays for their living expenses. She does not have much of a view from her home in a narrow lane where the houses are stacked together in crowded proximity to one another. It is where she lives with her husband, in a village called Walhe in Jejuri. But she does have a vision, and a real, tall, lofty, sky-rise kind of vision it is too. She wants to abolish the custom of child marriage, where children are married off at the ages of six and seven or younger.

And she has been brave enough to follow it through, though it meant going against the grain, in India’s conservative society with its age-old traditions and unchangeable mindsets.

Rohini herself was married off by her parents when she was just 16, a standard X schoolgirl. “I was naïve, innocent, and my joy knew no bounds when I got married.

I thought it was the best thing to have happened to me. Overnight, from being a carefree schoolgirl, I became a housewife, chained in wedlock to a man I did not know,” she says.

“Most of the people of the village that I live in are extremely conservative.

They would be shocked if they thought that I was trying to defy and abolish their ancient and revered traditions. They are so set in their ways that they are incapable of understanding why it is important for their children to get a proper education rather than get married when they are immature and not equipped to bear the burdens of married life. They would ostracise me and my family or even cause us bodily harm, if they knew that I have played a key role in preventing 17 child marriages,” said Rohini.

Rohini is a member of Video Volunteers,

an organisation that works towards resolving social issues and eradicating evils. Her association with the unit has been a liberating experience too, as her assignments have involved travelling to different places. She knows a social worker in Pune, and together they work for the welfare of women in distress. To provide them a source of livelihood, she teaches them basic computer skills in her home.

Along with the rehabilitation of devdasis, they also provide succour to women who are victims of domestic violence and abuse.

“It is an immense challenge to try and convince staid, custom-bound people to let their daughters get an education and attain maturity, before tying them down in the yoke of marriage. I have been able to get some of them to talk to a counsellor, or I have talked to some of such parents myself.

It feels almost like a miracle when we are able to see the parents see the light. But the efforts we put in are worthwhile, as young girls are saved from a life where there are no horizons beyond breeding children, and slaving at household chores till your dying day. We are also paying for the education of the girls who we have saved from being child brides,” she said.

Rohini was elected Block President of the Bharatiya Gyan Vigyan Samiti.

She has launched a club in her village to discuss burning social issues, and provide guidance for the needy, which has become a role model for residents of neighbouring villages.

It doesn’t take a millionaire to have million-dollar ideas that have a profound, life-changing impact on people, and society at large, and Rohini Pawar is a shining example.

Pratima and her team have helped over 60,000 people by constructing community and individual toilets

ratima Joshi is a renowned Pun launched her Shelter Associate provide housing with all the ba sanitation, electricity and water supply She also is lending women from slums a providing them with the means to earn Pratima has worked on the relocatio the rehabilitation of the inhabitants in The statistics are impressive, as 60,0 5000 families have been helped by th community and individual toilets.

“Indian people who can afford th architect are not even ten per cent o so architects are only for the elite. Th connection with architects, forget the architect friends and I founded Shelter the specific aim of providing our serv cannot afford architects. But consider areas we had to work in, we had to ad were not a part of our training as archit They had to work on procurin ground data, and map the existing infra as get detailed economical data on ev in the slums. They used Google Maps Information Systems (GIS), a techniqu data connected to a specific location, t data on urban slums, which included ce infrastructure and access to facilities s water. They spent years acquiring the dat with the communities as well as local,

Female infanticide is an e

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Dr Ganesh Rakh has been featured by Star Plus on ‘Aaj Ki Raat Hai Zindagi’ programme

r Ganesh Rakh, 40, runs a hospital in Hadapsar, and also fronts the ‘Mulgi Vachva Abhiyan’, a campaign he launched five years ago. The son of a labourer, Ganesh defied seemingly insurmountable odds to become a medical practitioner, a profession that brought him face to face with an issue that troubled him greatly, the prevalence of female infanticide in India. And the fast falling ratio of girl children compared to boys is an ominous outcome. There are 946 girls born for every 1,000 boys, as per the Government of India Census of 2015.

“I have people come to my clinic almost every day, and want me to deliver for them a boy. I have a daughter who means the world to me, and I knew that I was going to do what I could to change people’s attitudes. So at my clinic we do not charge for deliveries of a girl child.

It may not be the wisest of decisions when it comes to the economics of running a clinic, as it is a modest one, which means that we are forfeiting some of our much-needed

income. Bu an evil that India,” he message, th calls for dec at the clinic.

“The attitudes in and awfully Most peopl continue th a city like P number of li our efforts city to broa child messa positive resp deliveries of free of cost, shaking, bu my share fo believe in,” all the requ girls upto fiv Dr Gan an episode Aaj Ki Raa on Star Plu his praisewo long-standin

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

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the power to

E THE WORLD

AINAB KANTAWALA SALONEE MISTRY SWeekly

B

e it the 41 degree infernal summer temperature, water shortage, famine, traffic congestion, inflation, pollution, or any of another zillion aggravations, we do live in of discontent, where every person has the right

to rant and rave and rage against whatever it is that is bothering us. It is so very comforting to complain about a world that is running down at a breakneck pace. But the exceptions among us are those who may or may not complain, but who, more importantly, will try and do whatever they can to change things for the better, make the little corner of the world they live in better, even if it is by a small and inconspicuous

degree. With the frantic pace of urban life, most of us have little time to even think of ways to make the world a better place, let alone actually getting down to really doing something about it.

This then is the story of a handful of Puneites who are concerned enough, and motivated enough to do their bit in creating the possibility of a more harmonious, less superstitious, a cleaner and better tomorrow.

n

Pravin is the youngest and only person from Maharashtra to be conferred the National Youth Award by the Indian Government in January 2016

Change can and will come about if you want it to

P

ne architect, who es organisation to asic amenities like y to slum dwellers. a helping hand, by n a living. on of 31 slums and Pune and Sangli.

000 people from he construction of

he services of an of the population, The rest have no poor. Two of my r Associates, with vices to those who ring the deprived dopt methods that tects,” she said. ng comprehensive astructure, as well very family living s and Geographic ue used to analyse to generate critical ensus information, such as toilets and ta and collaborated state, and central

governments to launch small rehabilitation projects.

“We have constructed community toilets in Sangli and Miraj, which include a biogas system that converts human waste into energy, which benefits the community. Shivrai Nagar slum did not have toilets, waste management or water supply facilities, and the community toilet was a kilometre away. So more than 2,000 people were defecating in the open. We constructed over 105 toilets on a cost-sharing basis which has made a world of a difference,” she said.

After toilets are constructed, awareness programmes are held, and the cleanliness and maintenance of the toilets is ensured. Urban slums are way more congested than rural ones, where there are lots of open spaces for defecation. Toilets have to be constructed in houses which are less than 100 sq ft in size. Shelter Associates’ Cloth Bag project in the Sangli slums, trains women to make environment-friendly, reusable shopping bags, which are sold both locally and internationally.

Shelter Associates has won the Google Impact Challenge award for making Sangli an open defecation free city, by constructing 500 toilets.

“Shivrai Nagar slum did not have toilets, and the community toilet was a kilometre away. So more than 2,000 people were defecating in the open.”

- PRATIMA JOSHI

evil that has no place in modern India

ut female infanticide is has no place in modern said. To underline the he birth of a girl child corations, cakes and such . change in people’s India is painfully slow y hard to bring about. le want a boy who will he family name, even in Pune. I have roped in a ike-minded doctors, and include marches in the adcast our save the girl age, which has evoked a ponse. We have had 540 girl children at my clinic which may not be earthut I am just happy to do or a cause I completely he said. They also give uired vaccines free to all ve years of age. nesh Rakh featured on of Amitabh Bachchan’s at Hai Zindagi telecast us, an endorsement for orthy efforts to banish a ng evil.

ravin Nikam is just 24, an age when he should be living it up. But here is a young man who is devoted to more than just having fun. He found his mission in life, when he met a little Assamese girl called Roshni. She was not allowed to go to school like other children her age, because of her premature onset of menstruation, and in her community this condition was like she was cursed by God. Pravin suddenly was aware of the great need for dispelling the ignorance in society, and doing away with myths and superstition about the onset of menstruation in pubertal girls.

“I was in the third year of my engineering course but I gave it all up to do what I knew I had to. I have set up a non governmental organisation (NGO) and named it after little Roshni, though it has not been registered as yet. I do not want to hurt anyone’s religious sentiments and beliefs. I just want to make people realise that the onset of menstruation in girls at the age of 11, 12 or 13 is perfectly natural, and not a curse of God, or something unholy. It is just a biological function. Just because she is getting her period does not mean that a girl should be prevented from going to school,” he says.

Pravin realised that female menstruation is a rather taboo subject in India and thus there is abysmal ignorance and misconceptions about it. He has managed to enlist a substantial crew of nearly 200 volunteers, who travel to the villages of India, where superstition and mumbo jumbo are rife, where the women themselves are ignorant about menstruation, and how essential it is for them to ensure hygiene during their cycle of monthly discharge.

“It is shocking and even tragic that there are women who need to be told to use a sanitary napkin or pad, home-made though it may be. It is astounding that teenage girls or even mature women must be told about changing the napkins or pads frequently. How could one be so ignorant and unhygienic to make do with a soiled pad? But the tragedy is that lots of Indian girls and women still do. It is our job and mission to get every women and girl to be scrupulously hygienic when they are menstruating,” he says.

Of course, people find it hard to understand why he, at his age, wants to tackle an issue like women’s periods. But they do not know that he is well qualified to do what he is doing. He availed of training in gender equality at Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute, which involved all aspects of menstrual hygiene. Post that he went on to study Law at Fergusson College, and is also getting his Masters in Social Work from Pune University. “I realise how important it is that we deal with such a sensitive issue in the right manner. People are embarrassed and ever so reluctant to bring an issue like menstruation and menstrual hygiene into the light, and talk about it freely and openly, without awkwardness or reservations. It is also crucial not to offend people’s age-old beliefs, and superstitions that still exist in 21st century India. The key is to win over the people we talk to, and convince them in a calm and logical manner, rather than antagonise them by trampling over their beliefs. All it takes is patience to persuade people and make them see the truth,” he said.

His efforts have not gone un-noticed and he is youngest and only person from Maharashtra to be conferred the National Youth Award, in January 2016. In 2013, he was nominated as the Global Youth Ambassador by the United Nations, was the only Asian to receive the Champion of Youth award in 2012, which he received at the Buckingham Palace, and represented Asia at the Commonwealth Youth Council in 2015.

Pravin launched the Right to Pee campaign, demanding adequate washrooms in public places and institutions, and is also involved with the transcription of books in Braille for visually impaired students, along with his group of 200 volunteers.

He is basically a middle class young man from Pimpri, who has had the will and the determination to do something about an issue that needed a radical and rapid changing of age-old views. Change can and will come about if you really want it to, and Pravin Nikam’s story is valid proof.

“It is our job and mission to get every women and girl to be scrupulously hygienic when they are menstruating” - PRAVIN NIKAM

Dr Ganesh Rakh through his clinic has delivered about 540 girl children free of cost till date and even provides them with free vaccinations

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

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TECH/START-UP

“75 per cent of Japanese homes have a hi-tech toilet and the latest models eliminate the need for TP, keep you warm, check your blood pressure, play running-water sounds to increase privacy and open and close automatically so you don’t have to touch anything.”

— http://crazyfacts.com/

Indians most confident in world in Q1 2016: Nielsen P 12

To curb coaching menace, HRD to bring IIT preparation app

App and portal will contain free lectures from IIT faculty on various subjects and previous years’ question papers of entrance tests Aiming to combat the “menace” of coaching, the HRD ministry is coming up a mobile app and portal containing free lectures from IIT faculty on various subjects and previous years’ question papers of entrance tests to these prestigious engineering institutions.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani said it has also been decided that the questions in the IIT-JEE entrance test would conform to class XII syllabus.

Speaking at an event organised by Education Private Society for India (EPSFI), a body comprising private deemed universities, Irani said her ministry aims to resolve the various regulatory issues faced by these bodies while expressing concern over commercialisation of education.

Referring to the “menace of the coaching industry”, Irani said one of the biggest pressures on students preparing for IIT entrance exam is to seek outside help in preparation.

“That is why the government has decided to dedicate in the forthcoming two months, an IIT-Pal portal and mobile app on which 50 years of IIT (entrance) examination papers will be available free of cost. “In all segments of knowledge on the basis of which students take the IIT entrance exam, some of the IIT academicians and faculty members will give lectures available on this app, so that students can have that additional learning,” she added.

Students appearing for the Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) at Osmania University centre in Hyderabad

Keeping in mind the requirements of students who have studied in regional languages, this content will be available in 13 languages. She said in conjunction with IIT council, it has been now ensured that the question papers conform to the Class XII syllabus. Irani said another “reality” which needs to be confronted is about commercialisation of education.

“We all know that capitation fee is not allowed. We all know that students cannot be

harassed in the middle of the academic year to cough up money for which no disclosure was made,” she said, suggesting that not all institutions in the private sector were following the norms.

She asked the EPSFI to engage with administrators and weed out “wrongdoers who bring a bad name to the sector” like fake universities and added that states have already been asked to take action against such universities. Stressing that the biggest

stakeholder in education sector is students, Irani said many times they are “stifled” by institutions that promise the world in propectuses and websites.

Irani also said the concerns with regard to UGC’s regulations related to deemed universities will be addressed in the coming next month.

She said it had already been decided that colleges which consistently do well in NAAC ratings get autonomy so they don’t have to run to the regulator for every new course they want to start.

On the New Education Policy (NEP), Irani said the committee headed by former Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian will present a draft which in conjunction with states will be discussed publicly. After assimilation of all points of view a national policy will be presented to the country.

On creating 20 world class institutions ten in public and private sector, Irani said the guidelines for these bodies will see the light of the day in three months.

She also said a ‘Bharatvani’ portal, with education material in 22 languages, will be launched soon. The head of committee that is preparing the draft of the new education policy, Subraminian, in his speech, said the report is under preparation and will be submitted soon.

PTI

Personal plane that can Tweets may give away your home, workplace take off from garden A German start-up company is developing the world’s first ultralight personal electric plane that can be powered from a wall socket, takeoff and land vertically even from back gardens and is eco-friendly.

The two-seater entirely electric plane use ducted fan which makes it much simpler, quieter and safer than conventional helicopters. “Our goal is to develop an aircraft for use in everyday life. We are going for a plane that does not need the complex and expensive infrastructure of an airport,” said Daniel Wiegand, CEO of Lilum, the company hosted in a European Space Agency (ESA) business incubator.

“To reduce noise and pollution, we are using electric engines so it can also be used close to urban areas,” said Daniel, one of

Entrepreneurs ideal role models for J&K’s youth Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said young entrepreneurs are the ideal role models for the state’s Generation Next and lauded their achievement of translating imaginative ideas into real success stories against all odds, especially during the years of turbulence.

These self-empowered young men and women are trendsetters whose success needs to be celebrated, she said while interacting with a group of young entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.

These ranged from fields like industry, food processing, handicrafts, agriculture and allied sectors, an official spokesman said.

“My government will work on creating a real business- friendly environment which will give a further fillip to entrepreneurship in the state,” the chief minister said.

Mufti said she was pleasantly surprised to know that most of the youngsters have become symbols of the state’s resilience and enormous talent.

“We will also organise entrepreneurship and student exchange programmes,” she said. Mufti said the brilliance of Athar Aamir-ul-Shafi Khan, who stood second in the IAS examination, and Ayesha Aziz, who became the country’s youngest pilot, is scripting a new chapter in the annals of Kashmir’s history.

PTI

the four Munich University graduates who founded the company. Highly efficient in its cruising mode, the plane will have a range of 500 kilometres and will be on sale by 2018.

“With the concept of taking off and landing almost everywhere, we could see that one day our plane will be used almost like a car,” Daniel added.

PTI

Twitterati, take note! Just a handful of your tweets over the course of a single day may be enough to disclose the location of your home and workplace even to a relatively low-tech snooper, scientists have found.

Twitter’s location-reporting service is off by default, but many Twitter users choose to activate it.

The study by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and Oxford University in the UK may help raise awareness about just how much privacy people may be giving up when they use social media.

“Many people have this idea that only machine-learning techniques can discover interesting patterns in location data,” said Ilaria Liccardi, a research scientist at MIT. “With this study, what we wanted to

show is that when you send location data as a secondary piece of information, it is extremely simple for people with very little technical knowledge to find out where you work or live,” said Liccardi.

Researchers used real tweets from Twitter users in the Boston area in the US. The users consented to the use of their data, and they also confirmed their home and work addresses, their commuting routes, and the locations of various leisure destinations from which they had tweeted. The time and location data associated with the tweets were then presented to a group of 45 study participants. Tabular representation was informative, however, with accuracy rates of just under 50 per cent for homes and a surprisingly high 70 per cent for workplaces.

PTI

Now a new way to make your body burn fat instead of storing it ‘Browning’ is knocking out gene that produces folliculin in fat cells, triggering biomolecular signals that switch cells from storing fat to burning it

Scientists have found a new way for stimulating the body to burn fat instead of storing it, a breakthrough that may help fight obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In the study, researchers from the McGill University in Canada focus on a protein known as folliculin and its role in regulating the activity of fat cells.

By knocking out the gene that produces folliculin in fat cells in mice, researchers triggered biomolecular signals that switched the cells from storing fat to burning it.

This process is known as the ‘browning’ of fat cells. Brown fat gets its colour from ironrich mitochondria, an abundance of which is a sign that a cell is in metabolic overdrive.

The principal role of brown fat is to burn energy to produce heat, which helps keep our body temperature constant.

White fat serves as an energy-storage tissue.

Scientists recently discovered a new type of fat tissue with characteristics somewhere between healthy brown fat and the not-sohealthy white kind.

So-called beige fat is capable of behaving

like brown fat in response to certain stimuli such as exposure to cold. The more active these cells are, the less likely we are to accumulate unhealthy fat deposits that lead to obesity.

Since the discovery of beige fat, the challenge has been to find ways to convert white fat cells into energyburning beige ones.

“Conversion from white fat cells to beige or brown fat cells is a very desirable effect in the obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome indications, since excess energy in the body is not stored in fat tissue but is burned in brown or beige fat tissue,” said Arnim Pause, professor at McGill University.

The team bred mice to have fat cells that did not produce folliculin. They then fed normal mice and folliculin-deficient mice with a high-fat, junk food-like diet over 14 weeks.

Normal mice gained weight rapidly, whereas folliculin-deficient mice remained slim and did not suffer the same elevated insulin and triglyceride levels.

By measuring rates of oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, the researchers found the folliculin-deficient mice were burning more fat.

At the end of the trial, these mice had smaller white fat cells and less white fat tissue overall. The extra energy they were producing made them better at tolerating

APP WORLD

For the long drive Waze IOS/Android: Free Waze calculates the quickest path to your destination by gathering speed information from all other Waze users in your area and those at your destination. With your smartphone paired to a Bluetooth communicator in your helmet, Waze’s helpful robotic spokesperson will speak to you, giving turnby-turn directions. The app is constantly searching for the optimum route, too, so a beneficial change of course is entirely possible. You can also program it to search for the nearest or cheapest gas station. If you’re caravanning somewhere, all members in the group can connect with each other and see their progress, which is especially useful if you get separated from the group. The app also sends your route and arrival time to someone electronically so they can track your progress via the internet.

Throttle IOS/Android: Free Throttle is the culmination of the motorcycling community, the spirit of oneness that unites them with other motorcyclists around the globe. It brings together passion and experience, providing motorcyclists with a social platform like never before.

With the individual rider at the centre of attention, Throttle focuses on bringing together every aspect that a rider would pursue towards this passion, at his fingertips. This effort brings together motorcycle enthusiasts across brands and regional boundaries, motorcycling clubs, motorcycle tour companies, motorcycle event companies, accessory players together on a common state of the art platform.

BikeBrain IOS/Android: Free Possibly the most all-encompassing biking app out there, BikeBrain is a big win for habitual bikers looking for anything from GPS mapping and in-app picture uploads to sport cyclers looking for heart rate monitoring and training mode features.

Plus, the app doesn’t need a reminder that you’ll want to keep your previous biking routes on hand: it automatically archives details of your rides and optimizes battery life so pulling up those routes won’t deplete your battery. This free app, is best for its consistency, credibility and the fact that it thinks of everything before you do.

MapMyRide IOS/Android: Free MapMyRide has every feature you could really need when mapping out your bike route.

You can choose from more than 120 million bike routes all over the globe, or you can create a route of your own. In addition to mapping tools, the site also provides online training tools for competitive bikers, nutrition tracking calculators and the ability to share your routes with friends. The app has a clean and easy-to-use design, and you can even add your own personal motivation statement and goals to keep track of your progress easily.

My Tracks cold temperatures, too. The breakthrough builds on existing knowledge about two key proteins - PGC-1a and ERRa - and their involvement in regulating mitochondria in fat cells. The researchers found that removing folliculin gives the enzyme known as AMPK free rein to activate these proteins, boosting the number and work rate of the mitochondria in the fat cell.

The result is a metabolic reprogramming of fat tissue, turning cells from fat storage units into fat burning engines.

The study was published in the journal Genes and Development.

PTI

IOS/Android: Free For an interactive and fun way of monitoring your cycling and biking activities, try the My Tracks app. You can share your online GPS tracks online via Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, and many more. Speed? Path? Distance?

Elevation? The app records these accurately for whatever activity you engage in. Use of My Tracks is not limited to cyclists and bikers; it can also be used by folks who want their activity statistics carefully recorded. The app works efficiently, even when you’re running or when you’re simply taking a walk outside. Whatever outdoor activity you do, My Tracks will be a great help. Since the app shows live statistics of your activity progress through GPS, you’ll need one of the GPSenabled Android phones before you can install and use it.

ENVIRONMENT

A common and effective painkiller, acetaminophen, may impede the brain’s ability to detect errors, scientist have found for the first time.

The research from the University of Toronto and University of British Columbia in Canada is the first neurological study to look at how acetaminophen could be inhibiting the brain response associated with making errors. “Past research tells us physical pain and social rejection share a neural process that we experience as distress, and both have been traced to same part of the brain,” said Dan Randles, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto.

Recent research has begun to show how acetaminophen inhibits pain, while behavioural studies suggest it may also inhibit evaluative responses more generally. Previous research has also found that people are less reactive to uncertain situations when under the effect of acetaminophen.

For the study, two groups of 30 participants were given a targetdetection task called the Go or No Go. Participants were asked to hit a Go button every time the letter F flashed on a screen but refrain from hitting the button if an E flashed on the screen.

“The trick is you’re supposed to move very quickly capturing all the GOs, but hold back when you see a No Go,” said Randles. Electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to measure electrical activity in the brain of the participants.

The researchers were looking for a particular wave called Error Related

Recent research has begun to show how acetaminophen inhibits pain, while behavioural studies suggest it may also inhibit evaluative responses more generally

Negativity (ERN) and Error Related Positivity (Pe). Essentially what happens is that when people are hooked up to an EEG and make an error in the task there is a robust increase in ERN and Pe. One group, which was given 1,000 milligrammes of acetaminophen - the equivalent of a normal maximum dose - showed a smaller Pe when making mistakes than those who did not receive a dose, suggesting that acetaminophen inhibits our conscious awareness of the error. “It looks like acetaminophen makes it harder to recognise an error, which may have implications for cognitive control in daily life,” said Randles.

Cognitive control is an important neurological function because people are constantly doing cognitive tasks that flow automatically like reading, walking

Blame the genes for your depression

Eight major earthquakes, which hit various countries in less than a fortnight, all measuring over 6 on the Richter scale, had no co-relation among them, say experts.

On April 6 and 7, two earthquakes measuring 6.6 and 6.7 hit Vanatu Islands in the Pacific ocean. On April 10, another quake measuring 6.8 hit Hindukush mountain range in Afghanistan, tremors of which were felt up to Delhi. Then on April 13, a 6.8 magnitude quake hit Indo-Myanmar border on the Myanmarese side, shaking Northeast India.

On April 14, an earthquake measuring 6.1 hit Kyusu in Japan, followed by another one measuring 7 on the Richter scale, the next day. On April 15, Vanatu was again hit by an earthquake measuring 6.5. Two days later, severe 7.4 magnitude tremor hit the Ecuador coast on April 17, killing hundreds.

“It appears that there is no connection among all the cases. The earthquakes that have taken place are all very far from each other and also on different plates,” said CP Rajendran, scientist with Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.

For instance, “Ecuador is on South American plate while the epicenters in Myanmar and Afghanistan where the earthquakes took place are on the edge of the Eurasian plate. Similarly, Japan and Vanatu are on Pacific plate.

All these are on different plates.” An

earthquake takes place when there is collision between the plates grind and scrape against each other.

Kusala Rajendran, Professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences (CEaS), Indian Institute of Science also said there was no co-relation among the earthquakes that have been taking place, but added that this requires an indepth study to find out if there is any kind of link between the recent events.

“I cannot deny the fact there are pulses of seismic activity, but there is no binding relationship or an acceptable relationship. In the past, there have been studies that were done, but when it came to peer-reviewing, the logic could not hold,” Kusala added.

“I would have said had there been similar earthquakes in the Andaman and Northeast adjoining fault because the fault lines are the same. However, in this case the fault lines are also different,” she added.

Kusala, however, emphasised on a detailed study to understand the earthquake pattern.

PTI

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Get your voice heard on NetaG P6

No damaged goods please P3

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

When hunger strikes past midnight

NATION

CITY

Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings P 12

Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days?

P3

AUTO,

HAIL A

CAB

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

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

Five members of the team tried hiring rickshaws for distances

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

DEHU

6

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

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

See Spotlight on p8&9

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

RITU GOYAL HARISH

CHINCHWAD BHOSARI

4 THERGAON HINJEWADI VILLAGE

KALEWADI FATA

WAKAD

DIGHI

NASHIK PHATA

5

LOHEGAON

DAPODI 50

PIMPLE GURAV

WAGHOLI

3 4 BANER

VISHRANT VIMAN WADI NAGAR YERWADA

AUNDH

2

SANGAMWADI PASHAN

AH47

WADGAON SHERI

MUNDHWA

SHIVAJI NAGAR

GHORPADI

9

BAVDHAN

CAMP

HADAPSAR

KOTHRUD

SWARGATE PARVATI

WANOWRIE

1

NANDED AMBEGAON BUDRUK

KONDHWA

UNDRI

KATRAJ

4

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

said director of the school, who

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

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

The investigation was carried out by statements.”

DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL

ALANDI

AKURDI

RAVET

Sab golmal hai...

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

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

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

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

We believe we were on the right,”

CHIKHALI

KIWALENIGDI

~ Suit filed by the siblings

What a mess!

Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted

Parents teach them more than exams do P 10

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

~ Suit filed by the siblings

And yet no respite for commuters

DR VIJAYPAT SINGHANIA

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

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

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

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

CITY

Truly, a tree lady P4

PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

DITCH THE

GAUTAM SINGHANIA

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

RAHUL RAUT

reflecting alternating periods of active and silent states of cortical neurons during deep sleep. Traces of episodic memory acquired during wakefulness and initially stored in the hippocampus are progressively transferred to the cortex as long-term memory during sleep. Using a computational model, the researchers provide a link between electrical activity in the brain during deep sleep and synaptic connections between neurons.

They show that patterns of slow oscillations in the cortex, which their model spontaneously generates, are influenced by the hippocampal sharpwave ripples and that these patterns of

slow oscillations determine synaptic changes in the cortex.

The model shows that the synaptic changes, in turn, affect the patterns of slow oscillations, promoting a kind of reinforcement and replay of specific firing sequences of the cortical neurons representing a replay of specific memory.

“These patterns of slow oscillations remain even without further input from the hippocampus,” said Yina Wei, a postdoctoral researcher.

“We interpret these results as a mechanistic explanation for the consolidation of specific memories during deep sleep, whereby the memory traces are formed in the cortex and become independent of the hippocampus,” said Wei. Wei explained that according to the biologically realistic network model the researchers used, input from the hippocampus reaches the cortex during deep sleep and influences how the slow oscillations are initiated and propagated in the cortical network.

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

PTI

Expert emphasise detailed study to understand the earthquake pattern and pulses of seismic activity

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

How brain consolidates memory during sleep decoded Scientists have for the first time decoded how deep sleep - also called slowwave sleep - may be promoting the consolidation of recent memories in our brain.

Research strongly suggests that sleep, which constitutes about a third of our lives, is crucial for learning and forming long-term memories.

But exactly how such memory is formed is not well understood and remains, despite considerable research, a central question of enquiry in neuroscience. The study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside provides for the first time a mechanistic explanation for how deep sleep, also called slow-wave sleep, may be promoting the consolidation of recent memories. During sleep, human and animal brains are primarily decoupled from sensory input.

The brain remains highly active, showing electrical activity in the form of sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus (a small region of the brain that forms part of the limbic system) and largeamplitude slow oscillations in the cortex (the outer layer of the cerebrum),

In a breakthrough in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Chinese scientists have modified a gene in embryos in an attempt to make humans immune to the HIV virus.

Researchers from the Guangzhou Medical University used a gene editing technique named CRISPR/ Cas to replace the CCR5 gene in 26 human embryos with an HIV-resistant mutation. Only four embryos were successfully edited, while the other 22 cases failed to produce the desired results.

The research was published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics.

“In this study, we demonstrated that the HIVresistant mutation could be introduced into early human embryos through the CRISPR system,” said Fan Yong, a researcher of the Guangzhou Medical University and an author of the paper was quoted as saying by state-run China Daily.

The CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technique, better known as the molecular Swiss army knife, is a technology developed

by US scientist Jennifer Doudna and French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier in 2012.

Since then, scientists from across the globe have been using the technology to edit animals’ gene in the laboratory.

Huang Junjiu, a biologist at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, was the first to apply the technique to humans. He reported his experiment on 71 human embryos in Nature magazine in April 2015.

PTI

Women living near natural vegetation live longer: Study Women live longer in areas with more green vegetation, according to a new study which found that females with the highest levels of greenness near their homes had a 12 per cent lower death rate compared to ones with the lowest levels of vegetation near their homes.

Researchers found the biggest differences in death rates were from kidney disease, respiratory disease, and cancer. They also explored how an environment with trees, shrubs, and plants might lower mortality rates.

They showed that improved mental health and social engagement are the strongest factors. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

PTI

‘No co-relation among recent quakes’

Chinese scientists modify gene to make humans immune to HIV

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

as it is the personality trait most closely associated with mental illness and physical health problems. People who have high levels of neuroticism tend toward depression and anxiety. They also tend to have worse physical health, with links to conditions such as obesity and heart disease.

The research represents the largest genetic study of a personality trait ever undertaken, and improves the understanding of people’s personality differences.

The study tested more than 100,000 individuals from the UK Biobank cohort, the Generation Scotland sample and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research sample.

PTI

PUNE

“Through our ad ‘Haath Mooh aur Bum, Bimari Hogi Kum’, we wanted to bring alive the message of hygiene in a fun manner.

Clean surroundings and hygiene are two prerequisites to stay fit.”

— Kajol Devgan, Actor

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Tend to be more anxious, angry or envious than others?

You might want to blame your genes! According to an international research led by the University of Glasgow, Neuroticism — a personality trait related to depression, anxiety and even heart disease — can be linked to nine new distinct gene-associations.

The study, published in journal Molecular Psychiatry, included researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Queensland, Australia and was co-led by Professor Daniel Smith from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing. The existence of these genetic associations could indicate a person’s predisposition to neuroticism.

The authors focused on neuroticism

or talking. These tasks require very little cognitive control because they are well mapped out neurological processes, said Randles. “Sometimes you need to interrupt your normal processes or they’ll lead to a mistake, like when you’re talking to a friend while crossing the street, you should still be ready to react to an erratic driver,” said Randles.

“The task we designed is meant to capture that since most of the stimuli were Go, so you end up getting into a routine of automatically hitting the Go button,” he said. “When you see a No Go, that requires cognitive control because you need to interrupt the process,” he said.

The research was published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

PTI

MAY 21, 2016

Supriya Bhoite from Chaturshrungi police station.

Contd on p4

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

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

The CPIO was clueless about the project and sought information from

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Painkiller may hamper ability to notice errors

H EALTH

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

‘‘There is ozone pollution, benzene pollution, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide pollution among eight major pollutants.

All have adverse impact on health.”

— Prakash Javadekar, Environment Minister

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Hum

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

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

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

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

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

Saath Saath

When

HUNGER STRIKES past midnight

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

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

The Kamdars

Run for…

yourself

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

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Govt swallows EPFO bitter pill, takes back three decisions in row P 14

“Modi should not be arrogant about power because BJP has only won in Assam, in other four states, they don’t even have six seats in total.”

— Randeep Surjewala, Spokesperson, Congress

Indians most confident in world in Q1 2016: Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index score for India increased three index points in the first quarter to a score of 134 NEW DELHI: Indian consumers were the most confident in the world in terms of job prospects, personal finances and concerns in the first quarter of 2016 with their confidence index touching a nine-year high during the period, according to a study by global performance management company, Nielsen.

The Consumer Confidence Index score for India increased three index points in the first quarter to a score of 134, the highest for the country since 2007 and comes after three consecutive quarters at 131, Nielsen said in a statement.

However, despite the improvement in overall consumer sentiment, more than half of urban India (53 per cent) still feel that the country is in an economic recession at the moment, Nielsen said adding “this is 3 per cent more than what it was in the previous quarter”.

As per the study, India was followed by the Philippines with a score of 119 and Indonesia with 117 points although i t was a mixed bag among the

world’s largest economies.

While the score jumped 10 points to 110 in the US, China (105), Germany and UK (97) and Japan (73) showed quarter-on-quarter decline.

“Overall, global consumer confidence remained stable in the first quarter and below the optimism baseline score of 100, edging up one index point to 98. The score reflected mixed confidence levels in every region,” Nielsen said.

All three confidence indicators — job prospects, personal finances and concerns — increased from the previous quarter in India with job sentiment, personal finances and immediate spending intentions at consistently high levels.

In the latest online survey, fielded March 1 23, 2016, 83 per cent of urban Indian respondents indicated the highest level of optimism globally on job prospects up by three index points since fourth quarter of 2015.

Similarly, there was optimism abound when it came to the state of p e r s o n a l finances with 85 per

cent respondents stating the situation to be good or excellent (82 per cent in October-December of 2015), the study said.

Nielsen India Region Managing Director Roosevelt D’Souza said in the days following the Budget announcements about the government’s commitment to fiscal consolidation, sustained and inclusive growth, an improvement in various macroeconomic indicators was evident.

“The government seems to be on its way to achieving its objectives of low inflation, low interest rates and high GDP growth a scenario optimal for improved consumer spending,” he added.

The Nielsen Global Survey polled more than 30,000 online consumers in 63 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa and North America.

Nielsen further said 66 per cent of respondents felt that the country would be out of an “economic recession” in the

next twelve months. “The recessionary sentiment is evident from the fact that ‘job security’ and ‘economy’ continue to be the top two concerns for Indians.

While ‘global warming’ comes in at number three, ‘health’ has crept up one spot to number four,” the study said.

When it came to discretionary spending and savings, the study found that with 66 per cent, India continued to lead the charts when it comes to perceptions of whether it is a good or bad time to buy the things they want and need over the next 12 months.

“Saving for a rainy day continues to be the top choice when it comes to utilising spare cash after covering essential living expenses, with no change in the number of respondents who said they will put spare cash into savings (63 per cent),” Nielsen said.

This is followed by holidays/ vacations (47 per cent) and buying new clothes (46 per cent) more or less similar to the previous quarter, it added.

PTI

NTCA red-flags ‘Mowgli land’ safari NEW DELHI: The apex body for tiger conservation, NTCA, has found alleged violation of laws in construction of tiger safari in Madhya Pradesh’s Pench national park and expressed fears that it would expose the animal to poaching.

The National Park is famous as home to ‘Mowgli’ — the protagonist in English writer Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Jungle Book’.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority, a statutory body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, has written to the state government saying the ongoing construction of tiger safari inside the national park “is detrimental to tiger dispersal” and “exposes them to poaching”.

The Madhya Pradesh forest department has failed to take “prior approval” from the Central Zoo Authority before construction of tiger safari in Pench and Bandhavgarh, it said.

The move assumes significance as many wildlife activists have been objecting to the creation of tiger safari in Pench and in Bandhavgarh national parks claiming it harmful for the big cats.

The state government’s plan to cut over 550 trees in Pench to make way for the tiger safari was also criticised by them. Existing guidelines allow establishment of tiger safari in buffer area of a national park or a reserve, in order to reduce pressure from core or critical habitat of the wild cats.

“The ongoing construction of the tiger safari in Pench, in violation of various rules and regulation, is detrimental to tiger dispersal which has altered their land tenure dynamics,

resulting in tiger dispersal in human dominated landscapes which exposes them to poaching events.

“A similar case may arise with the proposed safari at Bandhavgarh tiger reserve,” the NTCA said in a letter to Chief Wildlife Warden of Madhya Pradesh. .

Eight tigers have been reportedly killed in and around Pench in last eight months.

It said that any tiger safari has to be in accordance with guidelines formulated by the NTCA, in the line of Central Zoo Authority guidelines. The state government has been asked to take necessary action in this regard.

PTI

MPs unavailable in Melody of ancient Irish musical their constituencies history is still heard in modern India

Musical traditions of south India, with horns such as kompu, are a great insight into musical cultures in Europe’s prehistory

NEW DELHI: Over 40 per cent of people feel that their MPs are not available in their constituencies while only one-third of them acknowledge their availability, a study by a wellknown media research organisation has found.

However, the report ‘Citizen’s Perception of their MPs’ claimed that 44 per cent of respondents in areas represented by BJP believe that their MPs are doing “good work”.

The corresponding figure for areas represented by non-BJP parties is only 20 per cent, the study done by private body, CMS, found, according to a statement.

Only a little more than one-third of the stakeholders said their MPs are doing good work for the constituencies.

“The study probed how active MPs are in the last two years, specially because Prime Minister Modi has called upon MPs of ruling party more

than twice in the last two years with specific suggestion that they devote more time for the constituency, promote and take forward government schemes,” it said.

To a question whether their MPs are available in Delhi, nearly 40 per cent of respondents said they had no idea while out of remaining stakeholders, who hold an opinion, 62 per cent said their MPs are not accessible even in Delhi.

The study in 70 clusters of 15 states was conducted in March-April, with a stakeholder reflective sample of 4000.

Relatively more respondents in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra have acknowledged that their MPs are doing “good” for their constituencies while more people in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, think their MPs rarely visit constituencies or are not available locally.

PTI

Vol-II* lssue No.: 49 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.

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MELBOURNE: Ancient Irish musical traditions, thought to be long dead, are alive and well in south India, according to a new study of musical horns from iron-age Ireland.

The realisation that modern Indian horns are almost identical to many iron-age European artifacts shows a rich cultural link between the two regions 2,000 years ago, said PhD student Billy O Foghlu, from The Australian National University (ANU).

“I was astonished to fi nd what I thought to be dead soundscapes alive and living in Kerala today,” said O Foghlu.

“The musical traditions of south India, with horns such as the kompu, are a great insight into musical cultures in Europe’s prehistory,” he said.

“And, because Indian instruments are usually recycled and not laid down as offerings, the artifacts in Europe are also an important insight

Billy O Foghlu. Image by Stuart Hay

into the soundscapes of India’s past,” he said.

The fi ndings help show that Europe and India had a lively cultural exchange with musicians from the different cultures sharing

independently developed technology and musical styles.

One example of this musical mixing is depicted in a carving of a celebration in Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh dating from 300 BC that

shows a group of musicians taking part, playing two European carnyces, a horn with an animal’s head.

The musical style of Kerala explains some of the mysteries surrounding the horns that have been unearthed in European iron-age excavations and suggest a very different musical soundscape to current western music, said O Foghlu.

“Some almost identical instruments have been unearthed together, but they are slightly out of tune with each other to western ears,” O Foghlu said.

“Th is was previously assumed to be evidence of shoddy workmanship.

But in Indian music this kind of dissonance is deliberate and beautiful,” he said.

“Horns are used more as a rhythm instrument, not for melody or harmony in a western sense,” he said.

The research was published in the Journal of Indian Ocean Archaeology.

PTI

UPA concluded Netaji died in plane crash

SCHOOL CHALE HUM

School children holding an umbrella riding a boat at Dal Lake as it rains in Srinagar

LONDON: The UPA had rubbished the findings of an inquiry commission into the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose headed by Justice Manoj Mukherjee in 2006, a UK website said.

Bosefiles.info released what it describes as a “secret” intra-government letter, which confirms rejection of the Mukherjee Commission’s findings that Netaji may not have died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945.

The website reports: “On 9 May, 2006 a Cabinet meeting of the Manmohan Singh headed government considered the Union Home Ministry’s Action Taken Report on the ‘Report of Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry on the alleged disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’. “Having done so, it observed that ‘the commission’s inquiry was inconclusive..,” it said.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

‘Quitting badminton was a painful decision’ P 16

ISIS might be happy with Brexit: Cameron LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists would be happy if Britain was to vote to leave the European Union (EU) in the crucial June 23 referendum.

Cameron, who was addressing a World Economic Forum event, highlighted on the negative impact of Brexit, which would be welcomed only

by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of ISIS. “Who would be happy if we left?

Putin might be happy. I suspect alBagdadi might be happy,” he said.

His latest comments, alluding to making the UK more vulnerable to terrorists in the event of an EU exit, will be described as scaremongering by the Leave camp, which says Brexit would give the UK greater control over its borders.

The Cameron-led Remain campaign maintains that the UK already has the power to check all passports, with a pan- European security network providing additional security.

Cameron also vowed that the referendum will be a “once in a lifetime” event, rubbishing statements by some Leave campaigners raising the prospect of another referendum in the future.

“I’m absolutely clear that the referendum is the referendum. It is a once in a generation, once in a lifetime opportunity. The result determines the outcome if we vote to stay, we stay, and that’s it. If we vote to leave, we leave, and that’s it. We can’t have ‘neverendums’,” he said.

PTI

China dismisses as groundless a Pentagon report that claimed the Communist giant was deploying more troops along the borders with India

In this photo released by Associated Press of Pakistan, delegates from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and United States attend a meeting in Pakistan. These countries resumed talks on bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table

BEIJING: Accusing the US of “sowing discord” between China and India, Beijing said the two neighbours are wise enough to resolve their boundary dispute peacefully through talks and asked America to respect their efforts.

Dismissing as groundless a Pentagon report that claimed the Communist giant was deploying more troops along the Sino-India borders, China said that it was a misrepresentation of its military development.

“Maintaining peace and tranquility along the China-India

Abortions low in developed countries WASHINGTON: Abortion rates have declined to a historic low over the last 25 years in developed countries but in poorer nations rates have remained unchanged, a new study has found, highlighting the urgent need for better access to modern contraception in these regions.

The new global and regional estimates of abortion incidence from the Guttmacher Institute in the US and World Health Organisation (WHO) also suggest that restrictive abortion laws do not limit the number of abortions.

“In developed countries, the continued fall in abortion rates is largely due to increased use of modern contraception that has given women greater control over the timing and number of children they want,” said Gilda Sedgh from the Guttmacher Institute.

“In developing countries, however, family planning services do not seem to be keeping up with the increasing desire for smaller families,” Sedgh said.

“More than 80 per cent of unintended pregnancies are experienced by women with an unmet need for modern methods of contraception, and many unwanted pregnancies end in abortion,” she said. The researchers used a statistical model to estimate levels and trends in abortion incidence for all major world regions and subregions from 1990 to 2014. Between 1990 and 2014, the developed world’s annual abortion rate

“Even in 10 years and with the huge budgets India plans to spend on the development of nuclear weapons and capabilities, it will not be able to defend its territory from possible strikes from Pakistan.”

— Petr Topychkanov, Senior Researcher, Carnegie Moscow Centre

‘US trying to sour Sino-India relations’

BY KJM VARMA

per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15-44 years) dropped from 46 to 27, mainly as a result of the rate in Eastern Europe more than halving (88 per 1,000 women to 42) as modern contraceptive methods became more widely available.

However, in the developing world the abortion rate has remained virtually unchanged, declining from 39 to just 37.

Worldwide, on average 56 million abortions took place each year in 20102014. Over the last 25 years, Eastern Europe has seen the biggest drop in abortion rates (88 to 42 per 1,000 women), but rates also fell in Southern Europe (38 to 26), Northern Europe (22 to 18), and North America (25 to 17).

The overall abortion rate in Africa, where the vast majority of abortions are illegal, remained virtually unchanged 33 abortions per 1,000 women in 1990-94 to 34 per 1,000 in 2014.

The estimated worldwide proportion of pregnancies that end in abortion has been fairly stable over time, with the world average in 2010-14 being one in four (25 per cent). In developed countries, abortion has declined as a proportion of all pregnancies from 39 per cent in 199094 to 28 per cent in 2010-14, whereas in developing countries it increased from 21 per cent of pregnancies in 1990-94 to 24 per cent in 2010-14.

The study was published in The Lancet journal.

PTI

Overall abortion rate in Africa remained virtually unchanged

Between 1990 and 2014, the developed world’s annual abortion record.

Courtesy: The Lancet journal

PUNE

border areas is an important consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries,” the Chinese Defence Ministry said in written response to PTI here about the US report.

“Currently, the border forces of China and India are actively carrying out exchanges, working towards establishing hotline between the two militaries, and are in close communication through the mechanism of border personnel meetings,” it said.

“The situation in the China-India border is overall peaceful and stable.

The relevant statements by US defence officials are clearly unsubstantiated

and intended to sow discord,” between India and China, the ministry said.

Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry in a written response said the US must respect India-China efforts to resolve the boundary dispute peacefully through negotiations.

India and China last month held the 19th round of talks to resolve the border dispute stretching along the 3488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC).

While China says that the boundary dispute is confined to 2,000 kms, mainly in Arunachal Pradesh in eastern sector which it claims as part of southern Tibet, India asserts that the dispute covered the whole of the LAC including the Aksai Chin.

“The Chinese side is committed to safeguarding peace and tranquility of the border areas between China and India, and resolving the boundary question through negotiation with India,” the Foreign Ministry said in written response to PTI. “China and India are wise and capable enough to deal with this issue.

It is hoped that other country would respect efforts made by China and India for the peaceful settlement of dispute, rather than the opposite,” the Foreign Ministry said, without directly referring to United States.

PTI

One in 3 female doctors in US face sexual harassment

WASHINGTON: A third of female doctors in the US face sexual harassment on the job, a new study of high-achieving physician-scientists led by an Indianorigin researcher has found.

“This is a sobering reminder that our society has a long way to go before we achieve gender equity,” said Reshma Jagsi, from the University of Michigan Medical School.

Researchers surveyed 1,066 men and women who had received a career development award between 20062009 from the US National Institutes of Health. These awards are given to promising physician-scientists to develop their career as independent investigators. The physicians are now mid-career; average age when surveyed was 43, researchers said.

Physicians were asked a number of questions about their career experiences, including questions about gender bias, gender advantage and sexual harassment. Women were more likely than men to report both perceptions and experiences with gender bias: 70 per cent of women vs 22 per cent of men perceived gender bias, and 66 per cent of women vs 10 per cent of men said they experienced gender bias.

In addition, 30 per cent of women compared to 4 per cent of men said they had experienced sexual harassment in their professional careers.

“The perception among many of us is that this type of behaviour is a thing of the past. So it’s sobering to see quite

COLOURFUL TRADITION

Costumed dancers take part in the parade for the 21st Carnival of Cultures in Berlin, Germany. 72 groups with around 5,000 participants took to the streets with dance, music, and colorful costumes

Malaysia to bar foreign travel of citizens if they insult govt KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians who insult their government will be barred from overseas travel for three years, which authorities say is aimed at “safeguarding the country’s image.”

Authorities have begun enforcing a law that allows them to bar citizens who discredit or ridicule the government from travelling abroad.

Immigration Department Director General Sakib Kusmi, in an email to The Star newspaper, confirmed the existence of such a provision, and said the ownership of a Malaysian international passport was a privilege and not a right.

“So, the Government has the discretion to either issue, defer or revoke the travel document,” he said.

Those who disparage the government while abroad will also be barred from travelling abroad again for three years upon their return. The paper quoting an unnamed source reported that the Immigration Department had enforced this ruling several months ago “in a move to safeguard the country’s image.”

PTI

Study found women more likely than men to report both perceptions and experiences with gender bias

how many relatively young women in this sample reported experiences with harassment and discrimination,” Jagsi said. As women now make up about half of medical school students, the researchers emphasise the importance of recognising unconscious bias as well as overtly inappropriate behaviours.

“We need to recognise the degree to which sexual harassment and gender inequality continue to be an issue in academic medicine,” Jagsi said.

“Women who experience these types of harassment may be less likely to report these incidents if they feel they are unique and aberrational. Our data shows this is not an unusual situation and reflects a larger societal problem,” said Jagsi. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

PTI

Saudi woman burns home after husband goes on 2nd honeymoon DUBAI: A mother of six in Saudi Arabia has burnt her house after learning that her husband had gone abroad for a second honeymoon, a media report said.

The woman, who has been married for 10 years, was shocked to receive a text message from her husband, that he married a second wife and was travelling abroad with her for their honeymoon, Gulf News reported.

In a fit of rage, she set her home in Jazan port city on fire. However, when she saw the house being engulfed by the blaze, she raised an alarm for assistance from her neighbours, Saudi news website Al Sada reported.

The fire was doused by the fire brigade. A fire official said that one child, reportedly aged five, was harmed in the blaze.

The case was referred to the police for investigation.

PTI

BBC ‘too Christian’, need to diverse: internal review Panel has recommended that the public service broadcaster must show other religions’ programmes

LONDON: The BBC should give more airtime to Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religious programmes and diversify its programmming to balance out its “too Christian” output, an internal review by its own ethics committee has recommended.

Aaqil Ahmed, BBC head of religion and ethics, has recommended in the report that the British public service broadcaster must diversify its religious programmes.

“Christianity remains the cornerstone of our output and there are more hours dedicated to it than there are to other faiths,” Ahmed said in a statement.

“Our output in this area is not static, though. It has evolved over the years and we regularly assess it,” he added.

The report recommended upping the number of programmes for Muslim, Sikh and Hindu audiences, saying that non-Christian faiths were underrepresented in the broadcaster’s output.

BBC director-general Tony Hall is considering the review’s findings, which said the broadcaster’s current output was “too Christian” and recommend more Hindu, Sikh and Muslim religious programmes be added to the mix, The Sunday Times reported.

The debate follows a government white paper last week on the BBC,

which will require it to serve ethnic minorities better.

A BBC spokesperson said, “we are actually intending to do more programming around Christianity and more on other faiths as well, so there is absolutely no question of an ‘either or’ on our output.”

The Church of England said faith and Christianity was growing worldwide and “any comprehensive review needs to move beyond arguments of mere proportionality to embrace the need not only for greater religious literacy but also increased resources to explore religious world views.”

BBC’s religious output currently includes ‘Songs of Praise’ and ‘Sunday Morning Live’ on television, plus ‘Thought for the Day’ and ‘Act of Worship’ on radio.

The Muslim Council of Britain suggests televising Friday prayers from a mosque would be one way to better serve Muslim viewers, but not at the cost of Christian programmes.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

MONEY MATT ER S

“Now with all new Innova Crysta, we are not only confident of satisfying our customers, but we will win more customers looking for a perfect blend of sophistication and luxury.”

— Vikram S Kirloskar, Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor

Signpost Sebi tightens P-Note norms to check graft Acting upon recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team on black money, Sebi tightened the due diligence requirements for issuance and transfer of controversy-ridden P-Notes and put the onus on investors to ensure AML compliance. Issuers would have to conduct periodic review and report the complete transfer trail of Offshore Derivative Instruments to Sebi every month.

“itel seeks to drive the rural and semi-urban Indian consumers onto a digital platform and to provide affordable yet feature-driven mobile phones for the aspiring consumers across geographies.”

— Sudhir Kumar, CEO, itel India

Govt swallows EPFO bitter pill, takes back three decisions in row Employee unions, political parties opposed proposals saying Centre was taxing employee when they need the funds most

BY RISHI RANJAN KALA The Narendra Modi-led NDA government faced strong protests from the trade unions, including the RSSbacked BMS, for its interference in the working of the retirement fund body EPFO, forcing its to roll back its decisions, an unprecedented three times in two months.

Last month, bowing to employee protests for the third time in two months, the government rolled back its decision of lower interest rate on provident fund deposits to 8.7 per cent for 2015-16 and agreed to fi x it at 8.8 per cent as decided by retirement fund body EPFO. The roll back comes on the heels of government having to withdraw an order restricting withdrawals of employers share in the employee provident fund (EPF) till an employee achieves 58 years of age. In March, the government had to roll back a Budget proposal to tax EPF withdrawals.

The rollbacks on both the decisions followed protests from employees and their unions.

In March, facing of all round

Buckling under protests and street violence in Bengaluru, the government rolled back its order tightening rules for withdrawal of provident fund money

attack, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley completely rolled back the controversial proposal to tax the employees’ provident fund (EPF) at the time of withdrawal.

Taking the first opportunity available, he made a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha in which he also announced withdrawal of imposing monetary limit for contribution of employers to provident and superannuation fund of Rs 1.5 lakh or taking tax benefit.

Jaitley, however, left untouched the proposal tax exempt 40 per cent of National Pension Scheme and services

provided by EPFO to employees.

In his Budget for 2016-17, Jaitley had proposed to tax 60 per cent of the corpus of the EPF contributions created after April 1, 2016 at the time of withdrawal. He proposed to exempt these from income tax if the amount was invested in pension annuity scheme.

The proposal came under immediate fire from both employee unions and political parties who said the government was taxing employee when they need the funds most.

The government justified the move saying the attempt was to create

a pensioned society and encourage employees to invest their savings in annuities. A day after the Budget, it had indicated in a statement that it could consider imposing the tax only on the interest part of the corpus. But the roll back withdraws the proposal lock-stockand-barrel.

In his statement, Jaitley said a number of representations had been received from various sections of the society including MPs suggesting that this change would force people to invest in annuity product even if they are not willing to do so.

“The main argument is that the employee should have choice of desire where to invest. Theoretically, such freedom is desirable but it is important for the government to achieve policy objectives by the instrumentality of taxation. In the present reform the policy objective is not to get more revenue but to encourage the people to join the pension scheme.

There are various suggestions received, which can also achieve the same policy objective of encouraging people to join the pension scheme,” he said in the statement.

Jaitley said the purpose of the Budget proposal was to encourage more private sector employees to opt for pension security after retirement instead of withdrawing the entire money from the provident fund account.

Then in April, buckling under protests and street violence in

Bengaluru, the government rolled back its order tightening rules for withdrawal of provident fund money, within hours of keeping it in abeyance for three more months.

“The notification issued on February, 10, 2016 is cancelled. Now the old system will continue,” Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said.

“I will take ratification from CBT (Central Board of Trustees of EPFO),” he said after violence rocked Bengaluru for the second day when garment industry workers torched several buses and attacked a police station protesting against the tightening of rules.

Later, the Labour Ministry issued a statement to say that “the workers are now free to withdraw the entire amount from the provident fund as per existing provisions... including the employers’ share of 3.67 per cent”.

Giving reasons for the rollback, Dattatreya said, “The reason is the request of trade unions. The earlier decision (to tighten the PF withdrawal norms) was also taken by the opinion of the trade unions. Now, when the trade unions are requesting, then we have rolled back the decision.”

The roll back had come in the backdrop of a nationwide protest by 10 central trade unions opposing the Finance Ministry’s decision to lower EPF interest rate by 10 basis points.

RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh had already protested the move.

PTI Feature

India, Mauritius Sudden policy changes affect investments against treaty abuse

BY MUNISH SHEKHAVAT

India has redrawn its tax agreement with Mauritius to prevent investors using the island nation as a shelter to avoid taxes.

It will impose capital gains tax on investments routed through Mauritius from April next under a revised tax treaty inked on May 10 to curb tax evasion and round-tripping of funds — a move that may have a significant bearing on capital flows from the island nation.

A similar amendment is being negotiated to the tax treaty India has with Singapore. Mauritius and Singapore are among the top-most sources of FDI into India and together also account for a big chunk of total inflows into the country’s capital markets.

India and Mauritius have been

negotiating aspects of their threedecadeold pact treaty since 2006 to check misuse by some investors who use a double-taxation avoidance pact between the two nations to escape taxes.

Under the amended treaty with Mauritius, for two years beginning April 1, 2017, capital gains tax will be imposed at 50 per cent of the prevailing domestic rate. Full rate will apply from April 1, 2019, a finance ministry statement said.

But this concessional rate would apply to a Mauritius resident company that can prove that it has a total expenditure of at least Rs 27 lakh in the African island nation and is not a ‘shell’ company with just a post office address.

PTI

Japanese car major Honda has exhorted for a stable road map for automobile industry in India, amid uncertainty over big diesel cars and SUVs f o l l o w i n g Supreme Court’s verdict, saying sudden changes in policy affect plans involving large investments.

Jnaneswar Sen B e s i d e s the automotive industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has also said that uncertainty arising out of the ban on diesel has led to various MNCs have deciding to freeze further

investments in the country.

“As an industry we expect stability, transparency and clear road map as far as policies are concerned. It affects our confidence when suddenly the playing field changes altogether. Give us a road map and then stick to it as large investments are involved,” Honda Cars India Senior Vice-President (marketing and sales) Jnaneswar Sen told PTI Economic Service.

Honda Cars India, which was manufacturing petrol cars primarily in the country till a couple of years back, invested heavily in diesel technology when demand began to shift towards diesel cars due to wide gap in petrol and diesel prices.

In 2013, the company had announced an investment of Rs 2,500 crore. Around Rs 400 crore of that investment went into creation of diesel

engine manufacturing infrastructure.

When asked about company’s strategy if the Supreme Court levied extra cess on diesel cars, Sen said: “If that happens, everybody will have to adhere to the judgement. Even we will have to adapt according to the market conditions. We will make what market will demand.”

Telecom is transforming life of ‘unconnected’ people

BY PRASOON SRIVASTAVA Raju, a bike rental service operator in Orchha town of Tikamgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, has been getting only foreign customers only since 2009 because someone listed him on Internet.

He is one among many noticed during digital drive conducted by a start-up firm Now floats to see tryst of people in the country with technology.

Raju doesn’t own smartphone and he told the digital drive team that he is even not aware of who listed him on the Internet.

This is one example of the way telecommunication sector is transforming life of people even if they are unable to use its services.

Highlighting importance of telecom services, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of his speech said that earlier people settled around river but in coming days people will settle where broadband connectivity will reach.

INDUSTRY GROWTH The mobile phones have been driving telecom growth story in the country. At the end of February 2016, the mobile phone connections in the country reached 102.71 crore from 90.45 crore at the end of March 2014. India is only next to China in the world in terms of

Cricketers AB De Villiers, Shane Watson and Chris Gayle at a cellphone promotion event in Bengaluru. Government has set target to achieve 100 per cent tele-density by 2019

mobile subscriber base.

The Internet connections in India has crossed 40 crore mark at present from 25.1 crore in March 2014.

GROWTH DRIVERS Easing life of people by cutting down on distance and enabling them utilise their time more efficiently can be seen as main reason behind growth of Indian telecom sector. Besides this affordability and reach of telecom networks are another set of reasons that

have catalysed growth in the sector.

The e-commerce sector has further brought people closer to the internet.

The telecom sector has been pivotal role in creation of industries around it like e-commerce, BPOs and increased business opportunity across the country.

GOVERNMENTS EFFORT Government schemes for the sector have played role of demand enabler in the sector. The Digital India programme designed by the government is an

example. This programme links the telecom sector with good and effective governance for robust growth of the nation. Besides creating avenues for demand of telecom services, the Digital India program also looks at infrastructure and resource deficit in the sector.

the cost of all spectrum investment to date in India and more than 20 times the annual free cash flow of the entire mobile industry.

The panel has also suggested stringent payment conditions compared to liberal method suggested by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

ISSUES Government has set target to achieve 100 per cent tele-density by 2019. In this mobile services are expected to play crucial role in meeting this target.

Policy makers have challenge to strike balance between factors driving telecom penetrations like affordability, infrastructure and governments revenue from this sector.

The critical raw material in rapidly pushing telecom service is spectrum.

These are airwaves frequencies which are used to transmit mobile signals.

The value of spectrum depends on the availability of equipment and consumer devices that can encode and decode signals. The other factor which counts is the area or distance that transmitted signals from a mobile tower can cover.

Industry players often send out signal of being over taxed by government and sector being treated as cash cow.

As per global body industry body GSMA, the total recommended reserve price for the auction is almost double

TRANSFORMATION The rising cost of spectrum is leading to companies opting for premium services like 4G which at present rate is unaffordable for masses at lower rung. Need of hour is for government to think of a policy or scheme that can strike the balance between two main pillar of telecom services growth – affordability and infrastructure expansion Government in last two years has put in place crucial policies in place like spectrum sharing, trading, active infrastructure sharing, liberalization of spectrum, harmonization, virtual network operators and is further working on uniform rules across country for rolling out telecom infrastructure.

The sector is moving in direction where it will see huge business in communication from machines than human beings. Government has already announced roadmap for the same on May 12, 2015.

PTI Feature

SIAM said that due to uncertainty arising out of the ban on diesel cars and SUVs of 2,000 cc and above engines, many MNCs have decided to freeze further investments in India until complete clarity is achieved on key policy issues.

The auto industry with a total size of around Rs 6,00,000 crore contribute almost half of the manufacturing GDP of the country and employs more than 31 million persons directly and indirectly.

According to Government’s Automotive Mission Plan (AMP), the auto industry has the potential to employ a further 65 million persons in the next 10 years. “The task before government now is to arrive at a unified stand on major policy issues like the diesel case and clarify the policy to the Courts, as well as globally,” SIAM said.

PTI

Mere one per cent pay tax in India Taxpayers account for just about one per cent of India’s population, but tax outgo was over Rs 1 crore for as many as 5,430 individuals, as per the latest data disclosed by the government for assessment year 2012-13.

But the number of effective income tax assessees has risen to nearly 5.17 crore in 2014-15, from 4.72 crore in 2012-13, a year in which only 1 per cent of India’s population filed I-T returns, according to official data.

Income Tax department had over 4.72 crore “effective assessees”, including people who filed ITRs, and who paid TDS but did not filed returns, in 2012-13. The total number of effective assessees has risen from 4.72 crore in 2012-13 to 5.20 crore in 2013-14. In 2014-15, the provisional data stood at nearly 5.17 crore. As part of a transparency drive, the government has made public direct tax data for last 15 years. Data for individuals has been published only for 2012-13 assessment year, which shows taxes for income in financial year ended March 31, 2012.

A total of 2.87 crore individuals filed income tax returns for that year, but 1.62 crore of them did not pay any tax — leaving the number of taxpayers at just about 1.25 crore which was close to one per cent of the country’s total population of about 123 crore at that time.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

VOX POPULI MAH CRIB FEAT. MUMBAI’S FINEST, VDJ CAS AND BEASTMODE

GLOBAL VILLAGE

Global Village is a cultural extravaganza where young leaders from different parts of the world come together to celebrate ‘Global Citizenship’ by displaying their culture, traditions, cuisines and lifestyles. There are performances and country stalls set up showcasing the country’s culture. The event aims at promoting internationalism and cultural sensitivity in the youth. The event is organised by international youth organisation AIESEC in Pune.

When: May 21 Where: The High Spirits Cafe, Koregaon Park

SOULMATE LIVE

DRUNK COP CREATES RUCKUS IN DONKEY’S ARSE FOR CLOSING EARLY

EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE

The High Cookout at High Spirits is going to be a biggie with some great reggae and dancehall beats. Making sure you have a fabulous Sunday will be Delhi Sultanate and Begum X. Known as India’s foremost artists in their genre, the duo has opened for Snoop Dogg and Julian Marley in India. Delhi Sultanate’s singles NYC-2-India with Subatomic Soundsystem and Criss and Shine respectively went to Number 1

Akarsh Hooda Writer and director An Indian television show can do anything, I believe. Next, we never know a dinosaur can be the head of the family and baboons can be playing other characters. The wrong part in this is that it is attention seeking. If it had a part to play in the narrative, nobody would complain. But this being advertised as much as a celebrity appearance, it is a plain cheap tactic.

Rashee Maheshari Advertising professional Creativity Can be bizarre, I haven’t seen this show so I don’t know whether it works or it doesn’t. But u assume the TRPs shoot up because fiction attracts people, sci-fi can be exciting although in the Indian saas bahu set up, bad execution can result in it seeming like a parody.

MSEDCL ENGINEER CAUGHT ACCEPTING A CEILING FAN AS BRIBE An additional engineer of Maharashtra In Maval.

State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd another case, (MSEDCL) from the Vadgaon Maval office, a complainant and a gramsevak from Varale village in Maval wanted a No tehsil were caught red-handed while taking a Objection bribe, by personnel of the Pune Anti Corruption Certif icate Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday afternoon. The from gramsevak engineer had demanded a ceiling fan in place Govind Jadhav of money. ACB Pune, Superintendent of of Varale village Police, Shirish Sardeshpande said that Rajesh Govind Jadhav and Ramesh for a new Hingankar Sambhaji Hingankar demanded a ceiling fan electricity meter from a contractor who installs new electricity connection. meters. The contractor informed the ACB Jadhav demanded Rs 50,000 from the officials who laid a trap and caught Hingankar complainant. However, ACB officials have red-handed at MSEDCL office of Vadgaon nabbed Dabhade and Jadhav.

NESS WADIA BOOKED FOR ASSAULTING HIS DRIVER Ness Wadia’s driver has alleged that he was thrashed and intimidated by the industrialist for not driving fast enough. In a complaint filed with MRA Marg police, Dhirendra Mishra alleged that on May 18, his boss wanted Ness Wadia him to cover the distance from Worli to Fort in 10 minutes. When he wasn’t able to meet the deadline, Wadia allegedly thrashed him. Cops have filed a non-cognisable compliant against Wadia and

Waste not, want not The spotlight story last week on food wastage was an eye opener. Some 194 million people in India have starved to death despite so much development in the country. This should make us feel ashamed. The corporates and NGOs are doing a really great job of minimising food wastage and feeding the needy. The same should apply to water too, in restaurants and cafeterias. There is a lot of effort that goes into the sowing and cultivation of food so every morsel of food must be valued. During transportation, a lot of food goes waste, which must be avoided.

We must know now that our planet has limited resources and every one must be treated as precious.

-Sachin Bishnoi

booked him for assaulting and intimidating the driver.

Mishra, a resident of Santacruz acted on the advice of his friend to approached the police station. However, the cops filed a non-cognisable complaint under Sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code against Wadia, actor Preity Zinta’s former boyfriend.

“The police did not file an FIR but instead just took NC as I am merely a driver with no highprofile contacts,” Mishra said.

LET THERE BE LIGHT!: Intense heat has forced bikers to halt their vehicles under tree shade far away from the zebra crossing near PMC headquarters at Shivajinagar, giving pedestrians the muchneeded freedom to use the walkway

Starry prices Ranbir Kapoor’s Rs 35 crore plush apartment at Pali Hill defines the kind of luxury Bollywood stars enjoy. The owner bought it for just Rs 3.5 crore in 2012 which shows that in a city like Mumbai properties are more precious than gold mines given how the prices are soaring. It is in stark contrast with Dharavi, where people live in confined spaces. It is in fact Mumbai’s hub of production. The labourers and small scale industries from Dharavi practically hold Mumbai together.

The ones who can afford luxury must also do social work.

-Sampada Menon

Commercialisation of hospitals The report on hospitals becoming an industry and patients the scapegoats really struck a chord.

All of us have at one point or the other become victims of these brazen malpractices. Even the instance of a small town practitioner performing an unnecessary angioplasty on a farmer just so that the doctor could pocket a lump sum amount speaks about how unsafe and unreliable our hospitals and doctors really are. The book ‘Dissenting Diagnosis’ by two doctors dares to throw light on the rampant malpractices and the murky nexus between hospitals, pharma companies and doctors. Even PMC fails to check the licenses of hospitals and nursing homes due to political pressures which just shows how deep rooted the malaise is. TGS must be lauded for daring to dig out stories dailies fail to highlight.

-Vaibhavi Khanwalkar

PIC OF

Vasant Waghmare, a constable at Koregaon Park police station picked a fight with staff at Donkey’s Arse, a bar in Koregaon Park for not saying open till late. He hurled abuses at the staff for not serving him more drinks. Two cops, who were Vasant Waghmare on patrolling duty who tried stopping Waghmare, ended up getting assaulted by the drunk constable. According to police, Waghmare threw his weight around and said that he would not let the bar operate in his jurisdiction if he was not served alcohol. Realising that situation was getting out of control, the patrolling cops alerted assistant inspector Varsha Bambe, also attached to Koregaon Park police station. The complaint states that he was brought to Koregaon Park police station and was being booked when he managed to flee. A resident of Swargate police colony, Waghmare hid on the building’s terrace.

However, cops managed to trace him from his hiding spot and arrested him last Sunday morning.

He has been booked for assaulting on duty police officials, intimidating and abusing under sections 353, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code.

DELHI SULTANATE AND BEGUM X

Aishwarya Meshram Student I think Indians have always been fascinated with fables and tales about the supernatural. Rebirth, reincarnation are concepts which people are not really taken aback by. So I can imagine why the TRPs will go up, there is an audience for it in India, especially for mid wives who thrive on their daily share of tv soaps.

TEJAS GAIKWAD

WEEK THAT WAS

TINY MONKEY STAGE

Lost The Plot, in collaboration with the Tiny Monkey Stage, presents a public speaking platform for kids between the ages of 7-14. Tiny Monkey Stage is an initiative to provide a fun and encouraging environment for children to build their confidence and communication skills. This will be followed by a screening of Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. A heartwarming true story, this is an American adaptation of a Japanese tale about a loyal dog named Hachiko.

When: May 21 Where: Lost the Plot, Seasons Hotel, Aundh

Yash Jain Fabric Artist I think it is hilarious and stooping to new levels of bizzare for even the Indian television. I wonder whether the TRPs really go up and if they do, Is there a consistency? Indian television has such a wider reach and they can do with much better content. With films upping their content it is time Indian television content goes up a notch too.

E WE K

GLIMPSES

Catch Glimpses, a retrospective exhibition of paintings and murals in acrylic, oil and mixed media on paper canvas and plywood by veteran artist Shobha Patki. Her creations follow the prominent themes of compositions, legends, afterglow, chromatic melody, Sylvan ballet, homage to nature, summer symphony, abodes and dwellings to name a few.

When: Till May 28 Where: Bliss Art Gallery, Koregaon Park

Soulful, wonderful and inspirational, Soulmate has a sound you can’t help but love. Inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-Rock, Soul, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Funk and R&B, Soulmate was formed in Shillong. In 2011, they played in the US selling out two shows at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC during the Maximum India Festival, did a successful fourcity tour of Norway, and have shared billings with Matt Schofield, Johnny Lang and Shemekia Copeland at the Mahindra Blues Fest in Mumbai 2011.

When: May 21 Where: BlueFROG, Ishanya Mall, Yerawada

PAINTING PARTY

Put an artistic spin to your next party with a painting party at Classic Rock Coffee Co. Organised by Group Art Circle, the event is for those who want to do something creative on a Saturday afternoon. You need not be a painter to take part in the activity, you can create your rendition of the theme - Strum My Guitar - while listening to music, sipping your favourite beverage and socialising with like-minded people.

When: May 21 Where: Classic Rock Coffee Co., Kalyani Nagar

Kartik Rajan Stand -up comedian You have to hand it to them for being creative and injecting the essence of genres like fantasy and sci-fi into otherwise mundane settings. In the end, whatever helps a show to take off, whatever helps it fly, whatever gives it wings, can’t be judged. It’s all good.

THE

MAULANA AZAD

Maulana Azad is a popular Urdu play with various anecdotes about Maulana Azad. Set in the backdrop where Azad dictated elaborated notes to Humayun Kabir for a book, though the subject was largely political but there were many digresses from the topic and that makes this play a wonderful experience for the audience. There are many instances when he talks of subjects like White Jasmine Tea, Tajmahal, Music, Mecca, Cigarette and even Cheeta Khan. For audience, it is an insight to the personal journey of a man.

When: May 25 Where: Mahatma Phule Sanskrutik Bhavan, Fatima Nagar

The High Spirits have planned an entire evening full of performances to bring in da hip-hopping hood vibes to you in your own city. The groups, Mumbai’s Finest, VDJ Cas and Beastmode Crew are all geared up to bring a powerhouse of energy for the audience. Mumbai’s Finest is the First Rap Crew from Mumbai that includes emcees, rappers, producers, beatboxers and bboys. VDJ Cas is best known for infusing together all pieces of music that he loves best: beautiful riffs, epic drops, brooding basslines, and insane vocal hooks.

Beastmode Crew is an amalgamation of one of India’s up and coming B-Boying Dance crew, the BBoys and D Hood, a rising hip hop DJ coming over to give you a spectacular show!

When: May 25 Where: The High Spirits, Koregaon Park

on Beatport Reggae Charts and Juno Hip Hop singles charts. Begum X is a singer, actor and highly acclaimed yoga practitioner. Her sensual vocals rip the air with a subtle concoction of jazz, blues and rocksteady rhythms.

When: May 22 Where: High Spirits, Koregaon Park

Sasural Simar Ka, a show on Colors channel, is trending after the bahu Simar turned into a fly.

With Indian television hitting a new low, we asked Puneites if elements like this actually do help in raising TRPs

Family’s wrestling legacy The selection of 18-year-old Adarsh Gund for the world school games is good news. The father Dinesh Gund’s encouragement to his daughter Ankita’s wrestling career at both the national and international level is impressive. His insistence on training only wrestlers who balance education and their wrestling career is remarkable. The centre at Alandi offering residential facilities for girls training in wrestling is a revelation. It is good to see wrestling as a sport grow and the equality it offers girls is heartening.

-Sudha Patel

A touch of romance The cover story in TGS Life about couples spending quality time before their wedding was both sweet and romantic. Opting for quirky, dreamy and cinematic shoots and videos is a new and fast growing trend Gone are the days when parents would decide and plan everything. Nowadays couples are personally customising every minute detail of their wedding, I really enjoyed reading about couples and their pre-wedding preparations.

Weddings will always remain grand affairs in India and for wedding film makers this is an excellent time to bask in the light of opportunities.

-Preeti Mody Shah

Write to Us

Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, yogesh.sadhwani@goldensparrow.com or mail it to The Editor, Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030.

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MAY 21, 2016

PUNE

“It was disappointing that people lied and tried to drag my name in the mud. We played badly and lost but it was not correct to blame one man only. It was a collective failure.”

— Shahid Afridi, Former Pakistan Captain

Signposts Babras for World Veteran TT Pune’s paddler Sunil Babras has been selected to represent India in the World Veteran Table Tennis Tournament to be held in Spain from May 22. Babras, who will feature in 50 plus age group, has won two titles in Asia Pacific Championships and 50 plus national championship twice. Over 4000 players will participate in World tournament, which will be played in group cum knock-out format.

SKP Academy wins cricket title SKP Academy defeated Dilip Vengsarkar Cricket Academy by four wickets to clinch the International School Trophy under-12 cricket tournament recently. Kishor Andhale was adjudged as the best batsman while Anurag Pandit was declared best bowler of the tournament. Ukarsha Aher of SKP received player of the tournament award.

Siddhi Hire clinches gold medal Pune’s Siddhi Hire won a gold medal in the 14th Federation Cup Junior Athletic Meet held at Bangalore recently. In the 100m event, Siddhi finished first with a time of 12.19s. With this performance, she has also qualified for the Asian Junior Athletic Meet to be held later this month.

Pune FC’s Puyya nets eight goals Lalbam Puyya’s eight goals helped Pune FC U-17 thrash AIYFA Sky Hawks 9-0 in their super division league encounter at the DSK Toyota Pune Football League at the DSK Football grounds, Loni. Puyya scored in the 15th, 28th, 31st, 42nd, 56th, 72nd, 78th and 89th minutes. Meanwhile, in another match, Bishop’s FC registered a 7-2 win over Aryans Social Foundation. Ashok Singh (20, 82 min) and Krushna Kumar (24, 59mins) were the major contributors for the winning team.

Big win for Pune girls in football Three goals each from Hiba Faquih, Murial Adam and Shristi Girish helped Pune team register 11-0 win over Satara in the Maharashtra State InterDistrict Senior Women’s Football Championship at Karnatak Sporting Association grounds, Cross Maidan.

‘Quitting badminton was a painful decision’ Talented youngster Sudhanshu Medsikar was forced to hang up his racquet at the age of 19, due to spinal injury. The P Gopichand Academy player is now training a crop of young players

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Sudhanshu Medsikar was in prime form at the age of 19.

The lanky shuttler was rated among the top players from Maharashtra, and his outings in national tournaments earned him a place in the prestigious P Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

It was like a dream-like experience for him to train alongside India’s badminton sensation Saina Nehwal, P V Sindhu and national champion Sumit Reddy. He was part of the Pune team, which won the Maharashtra Badminton League in 2015.

A south-paw with a height advantage and an attacking style, Sudhanshu had a bright future.

However, life took an unfortunate turn when he was forced to put an abrupt end to his sporting career due to a back injury. Sudhanshu has been

and you have to maintain your performance and live up to the reputation of the academy. Even Gopi sir was disappointed and advised me to undergo surgery abroad. But we didn’t have many options and after consulting suffering from back pain due to sir, I took the call. It wasn’t an a gap in his spinal cord, for the easy decision of course. It was last few years. In spite of the best the most painful decision and medical treatment, Sudhanshu I couldn’t hold back my tears,” had no option but to call it quits. said Sudhanshu.

“We left no stone unturned Though, Sudhanshu’s and even considered the option playing days are over, he is still of getting treatment abroad. But hopeful that one day, modern the outcome was not guaranteed science will find a solution to and thus I had no option but his issue. to hang up my racquet,” said “I won’t be able to reach the Sudhanshu. same level again, but at least In 2011, Sudhanshu had the I would be playing again and first indication of trouble. But that will be most desirable,” said the diagnosis wasn’t correct and Sudhanshu, who is currently after a month’s rest, he resumed doing bachelor of physiotherapy the routine. After a year, he at Fergusson College. suffered a similar pain but the He has even started a problem remained undetected. badminton academy in Pune Though he kept playing, there and has been training a batch of was no escape from the pain. young shuttlers.

“I had to take at least a “I had a dream to represent month’s rest when it became India at the Olympics. It has unbearable. And during the been shattered now, but if I train Gopichand Academy training, someone who can achieve what it was quite hard to cope with I couldn’t, I will be more than the rigorous schedule. Their happy,” he said. selection criteria is quite tough ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Pranjala on a roll TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly Pranjala Yadlapalli is not a household name yet, but those who follow junior tennis closely, are sure that she is the future of Indian tennis.

The 17-year-old Andhra Pradesh player has been dominating the national rankings for a while, with a record-breaking 117 titles to her name. And the talented player is all set to add another feather to her cap, when Pranjala Yadlapalli she reached final of the MSLTA B1 ITF Asian Junior Tennis Championships organised

by Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi.

In the semi-finals, Pranjala defeated Philippines’ Khim Iglupas 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

After losing the first set without much

of a fight, Pranjala came back strongly, and didn’t give her opponent another chance. Earlier, Pranjala registered the biggest upset of the tournament, when the fifth seed knocked out top seed and world number 29 Japanese Yuki Naito in the quarterfinals.

“I could had won the game in two sets but I lost focus and lost the second set. In the third set my opponent gave me tough fight. At 4-4 I was able to hold my service and that gave me momentum to go for the kill,” said Pranjala, a standard XII student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Hyderabad.

Not surprisingly, Pranjala has been compared to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, who in her junior stage was equally formidable. Even Sania has praised Pranjala’s game, and said that she had a bright future. The GVK Group, which had sponsored Sania Mirza at an early stage of her career, were also impressed with Pranjala’s tennis and decided to provide her financial aid. However, Pranjala feels she has a long way to go and remains focused on her game. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Prutha ready for new season

The young paddler who made a clean sweep of the titles at district and state ranking table tennis events last season, is aiming for another fruitful year TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly Prutha Vartikar was another new kid on the block when she entered table tennis arena in 2014. The pint sized girl failed to impress at that time and though she finished third in the under-10 age group, she didn’t make the headlines.

But her coach and referee Madhukar Lonare were confident that once she settled into her rhythm, she would be unstoppable. He was right, because nine-year-old Prutha made a clean sweep of the medals in district and state ranking tournaments in her age group last year.

In a season she utterly dominated, Prutha won six

“One of Tendulkar’s greatest strengths was his longevity and if Kohli can stay fit, he could be well on his way to emulate Tendulkar as a player. He has evolved into an amazing player” — Mike Hussey, Former Australian Batsman

district ranking and six state ranking (including state championship) events in the midget (under-10) age group, and added three cadet (under-12) titles in one district and two state tournaments.

Lonare even made her play national ranking tournaments to get the feel of high-level action. Performance-wise, she was nowhere near the big league, but it was a vital her learning process.

“She realised that she had a long way to go. Beating all opponents in her age group was definitely an achievement, but she needed to keep it going and that’s what she learnt during the national rankings,” said Lonare.

Now, being

promoted to the next age group (u12), Prutha is expected to repeat her marvelous performance, and she indicated it by winning a triple crown in the recently held Friendship Trophy district level table tennis tournament at Symbiosis Spa, Prabhat Road.

In the cadet girls final, Prutha defeated Mayuri Thombare 11-1, 116, 10-12, 11-2 and then in sub-junior (U-15) category, she prevailed over Sanika Dhawale 11-3, 12-14, 6-11, 11-3, 11-7. If that wasn’t enough, she went on to win the junior (U-18) title too. In a hard-fought tussle, she stunned Eesha Joshi 7-11, 11-7, 12-10, 11-2, 13-15, 14-12.

“It was a good start and it will boost her confidence ahead of the season’s fi rst district ranking tournament to be held at the same venue from May 22. I hope she maintains her fine form,” said Lonare. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com