The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 01/10/2016

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TGS LIFE

City trekker faces fine for violating sanctity of Rajgad fort

It is common for society to ridicule people with a height disability. But, as all of us know or should know, these people are no different from us. They have dreams and ambitions just like we do, and possess all the intellectual abilities to function as productive members of society

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The Archaeological dept has fined a trekker for the first time ever See p06

MUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“In the wake of deaths of children due to malnutrition, Maharashtra government has roped in private hospitals to check such instances, specially in Palghar district.’’

- Deepak Sawant, State Health Minister

Thanks, say Jews for getting minority status P 12

Railway gangman’s family awaiting compensation

Railway gangman dies while on duty after being knocked down by Express train; family left in the dark about compensation

BY SANTOSHEE MISHRA @TGS WEEKLY Railways gangman named and identified as Amit Kumar Gaurav, 24, died in an accident between Bhandup and Nahur railway stations of the Central Railways, on September 26.

Amit hailed from a small town Munger.

His elder brother Ravi, a television Amit Kumar Gaurav mechanic said, “My brother Amit joined the Railways on March 10, and was deputed as gangman in Mumbai. He was promoted as a ‘keyman’ on the same salary by the authorities though he had failed in training along with his entire batch. When he met with the accident, he was doing his duty as keyman. My brother was also shocked at being promoted as keyman despite failing in training, but he accepted the job. A keyman’s duty is to check and tighten the loops on tracks while the co-workers keep tabs on passing trains.

Amit’s co-workers had given different statements, saying that his co-workers had gone to drink water, he was alone and so he could not see the mail train coming on the track.”

Ravi also claimed that the senior officials had admitted negligence but did not confirm any compensation amount.

The Railways is known for its apathy in regard with compensation over accidents involving both commuters as well as its staff

“They said that he would be granted Rs 25 lakh and a job to the family member. Later on they said that the amount would Rs ten lakh, and no job. But nothing was given to us in writing,” said Ravi.

The apathy of Central Railway is well-known in the case of accidents with commuters and even its own staff.

In response to activist Anil Galgali’s Right To Information (RTI) query to the railway authorities, it was revealed that in about six years, total 131 persons had died in the line of duty in the Mumbai Suburban Railway. On an average, 22 Railway staffers die in

accidents in a year, including section engineers, khalashi, contract workers, trackmen, workers, pointsmen and gangmen.

Galgali said,” The railway shrugs off its responsibility of commuters’ death compensation by saying it was commuters’ negligence. Here, the Railways’ own ground foot soldier has died and the railway is not giving any safety and precautionary measures to them. Compensation should be given immediately to the victim’s family but it is usually delayed.”

Ghatkopar Railway Police Force (RPF) officials said that the incident

Was the armed men story just a hoax?

Navi Mumbai Police come to the conclusion that the Uran school kids played a prank

TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly Nearly a week after the incident, the Navi Mumbai police have come to the conclusion that the students of the Uran Education Society school had played a prank, that they had imagined seeing a group of suspicious, armed men in Pathan suits. The police want the students to meet psychologists, before ruling out the possibility of the men being terrorists. If the police conclude that the students had played a prank, the police will advise their families to provide them psychological guidance.

The incident of September 22, where these children claimed to have spotted a group of suspicious, armed men in Pathan suits, had created a stir across the state.

A massive search operation was carried out by several agencies including Navy, Coast Guard, National Security Guard (NSG) and Maharashtra AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS), with the support of the Navi

Mumbai Police. The operation was called off after four days. Talking to TGS, the senior IPS officer remarked that it seemed that the school children had played a prank and fabricated the story for some thrills.

“We are forced to conclude that it was pure imagination by the children. The families of the children and teachers have repeatedly enquired with the children but the concept remained the same. We will seek help of psychologists as it is clear that kids had fabricated the story. The possibility of the presence of terrorists had to be probed and it was ruled out after the massive search by all the involved agencies,” the Navi Mumbai police officer said.

“The kids, in their narration, used few words, like ‘school and ONGC’ by the men dressed in black Pathan suits and conversing in a language which the children could not understand. We cannot initiate action against the children but they certainly need help,” he said. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

took place when a group of gangmen were on their routine duty of checking and inspecting tracks between Bhandup and Nahur railway stations.

“Around 12.15 pm, a long distance train Netravati Express knocked Amit Kumar while he was on duty but the other gangmen escaped. The eye witnesses said that Amit died on the spot. He was later taken to Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar,” said an official from RPF. “The railway authorities are responsible for the death of the gangman indirectly. In the recent past, the gangmen had approached the senior authorities and asked them to look into their issues of safety. However it was ignored by the authorities,” said a gangman.

“The compensation has not been given to me so far from the past six months,” said a family member requesting anonymity.

The Central Railway Public Relation Officer said, “The due compensation will be given to the family of the victim through the legal process of the department.”

On February 19, four gangmen were killed when they were run over by a local train between suburban Kurla and Vidyavihar stations. The mishap occurred between 6.15 am and 6.30 am, when the four labourers, all railway contractual employees, came under the wheels of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)-bound suburban train. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly Mumbai city alone has seen almost 160 cases of dengue in September so far. The alleged laxity in handling the menace by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has added to 12 fresh cases of the virus affecting cops and their families.

There are around 25 buildings in Ghatkopar (East) occupied by the Government Railway Police (GRP) that guard the security of 85 lakh passengers travelling in the city’s lifeline local trains. However, these security personnel are residing in the colony that has not seen any fogging drive for the past many months.

“We have been forced to live in such unhygienic and dirty surroundings. Three of my family members are dengue positive. Our

KPMG has been entrusted with the task of suggesting ways to increase the state’s non-tax revenue

Governor of Maharashtra C Vidhyasagar Rao, Rear Admiral and CMD of Mazgaon Dock Shrawat (2nd L), Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis (R) and MP Tarun Vijay (3rd R) during the presentation of the portrait of great naval emperor Rajendra Chola to Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders

assessed.

“The trend world over is that the non-tax revenue is a part of the GDP (gross domestic product). Countries like Singapore, UAE and some Indian states too have adopted this method,”

IT dept to unearth unaccounted cash

Stash of cash at roadside stall leads IT department sleuths to undertake inspections at all Ghatkopar hotels TGS NEWS SERVICES @TGSWeekly

The Income Tax (IT) department has started the inspection of all hotels across Ghatkopar, after its raid of a streetside food stall last week.

Incognito IT officials visited Sai Swad food stall at MG Road, Vallabh Baug lane, Ghatkopar (East), known for its dosa varieties. The stall that has been in business for several years, is owned

by Vijay Reddy.

An IT official said that they found Rs 60,000 in cash at Sai Swad food stall.

“We had kept a tight vigil on Reddy’s food corner as we were sure that the owner was evading paying taxes to the department. After seven days, the stall was searched and a large amount of cash was found,” he said.

Reddy claimed that the cash was not income from the stall, but that it was money loaned to him by his friends.

The department is verifying the facts.

Reddy serves around 45 dosa

varieties. He is well known to his customers, and is fond of wearing gold ornaments.

“After the search, we realised that the hotelier may not have been showing unaccountable cash while filing income tax returns to the department.

Now a team is visiting all the hotels in Ghatkopar, and is checking the kitchen table orders (KTOs),” the official said.

A hotelier from Ghatkopar (West), on condition of anonymity said, “We pay our income tax returns regularly.

They barged into our hotel and inspected all the bills as well as KTOs. Usually we tally everything at night, so it is very in unethical for them to check this way. We are in a state of fear but cannot help it as the IT officials claim that they can inspect our bills and other accounts documents.”

AHAR (Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association) President Adarsh Shetty said, “We have received information that IT officials have been checking documents at various hotels, but it is part of their job.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Dengue spreads in Police Colony repeated complaints to BMC have fallen on deaf ears. My husband, who is attached with the GRP head office, and our two children are diagnosed with dengue and are undergoing medication,” said Shubhangi Shinde, who is residing at 15-A building in the police quarters.

“The former municipal commissioner used to ensure that these localities are covered under the fogging exercise but his transfer has left our areas discarded,” she said.

Suvarna Gohil, a homemaker said, “I had to spend Rs 30,000 for my son’s dengue treatment at a private hospital and now my motherin-law is affected with the virus. As my husband’s duty does not give him time to take us to the hospital, I have to manage these emergencies.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

State mulls raising non-tax revenue The cash-strapped Maharashtra government is mulling increasing the share of non-tax revenue as against the tax revenue by adopting methods like land monetisation and transitoriented development (TOD).

State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that tax and advisory services provider KPMG has been entrusted with the task of suggesting ways to increase the state’s non-tax revenue.

“Talks are in the initial stages and we have only finished our first round of meeting with the consultants.

There are many aspects that need to be considered so that the needs of common man are taken care of,” Mungantiwar told PTI here.

The expected revenue by exploiting the non-tax options at the government’s disposal is yet to be

States on board for scrapping plan/non-plan budgeting: Fin Secy P 14

he said.

Mungantiwar said KPMG has proposed ways like sale of unused land, saltpans, increase in rent for properties leased by state government and giving advertisement rights on physical assets

to private players.

He added that it has also been suggested to lease out land under flyovers to auto companies for display of cars and facilities.

Under the transit-oriented development (TOD), it has been proposed that land surrounding highways, Metro corridors be leased to private companies for commercial development, such as IT/ITES office spaces, retail outlets, healthcare, hospitality, hotel and service apartments.

“Developing convention centers, theme parks, warehousing, solar parks are also some of the proposals under TOD,” the minister said.

Meanwhile, according to figures provided by the state finance department, share of the existing non-tax revenue of Maharashtra is at a dismal 19 per cent, compared to Telangana (37 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (35 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (35 per cent), Rajasthan (32 per cent), Gujarat (29 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (26 per cent).

PTI

Hygiene and cleanliness are ignored in the Government Railway Police residential area

Couple get custody of boy they ‘bought’ The Bombay High Court has granted temporary custody of a one-and-ahalf-year-old child to a couple booked for allegedly purchasing the boy from a children’s home in Nanded after paying Rs 1.90 lakh.

A division bench of Justices A S Oka and AA Sayed was hearing a petition filed by the couple seeking quashing of an offence registered against them by the Tardeo police under section 370 (1) of the Indian Penal Code.

The couple in their petition stated that they were childless since their marriage a decade back and were looking to adopt a child when they were told by a friend that they could adopt a child from Nanded and gave them the name of a woman working at a children’s home there.

In June 2014, the couple went there and upon inquiry were asked to pay Rs 1.90 lakh. When they paid the amount, the woman working there gave them a

10-day-old boy.

In December 2015, the Tardeo police registered an offence against the couple after they received information that the couple purchased a child without the requisite adoption formalities.

The child was taken from the couple and kept at an orphanage.

The high court after perusing the facts of the case directed that the child to be handed over to the couple on a temporary basis for a period of nine months during which the couple will have to initiate proceedings to either appoint themselves as an official guardians of the boy or adopt him.

“The police have been able to establish the identity of the child’s biological mother. But she is not willing to come forward and take custody of the child for various reasons. We are only concerned about the welfare of the child,” the court said.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“The Union government will felicitate PMC for building as many as 20,000 toilets, which is the highest number for any civic body in India, under the Swachh Bharat Mission.”

- Prashant Jagtap, Pune Mayor

Russia says Syria bombing continues amid US threats P13

MHADA no refuge for the common man?

MHADA accused of charging rates higher than private builders, and the flats they constructed in 2001 at Pimpri have leaking floors and toilets

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar Owning a home in a cosmopolitan city like Pune is the dream of the common man, who invests his life savings on buying his home.

Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), with its affordable pricing and reliable reputation is the organisation the common man prefers to deal with in his quest for a home. MHADA recently placed an advertisement for residential flat schemes in Pune city.

Online registration for lottery opened on September 6 and will remain open till October 5. But there has been a lukewarm response for MHADA flats in the city, due its high rates compared to private builders, and inferior construction quality.

MHADA constructed the buildings in Pimpri in 2001, but now the flats and buildings are in a bad state, what with leaking floors and toilets. The flats are on the verge of collapsing just 15 years after they were purchased.

MHADA recently placed advertisement for its schemes at Morwadi, Pimpri, Mhalunge, Wanowrie, Dive (Purandar) and Saswad. Registration for the lottery started on September 6 and will remain open till October 5. But the MHADA

flats rates are higher than those of private builders, people complain. The price of an 1 BHK flat in Morwadi, Pimpri is Rs 34 lakh, Rs 53 lakh for 2 BHK flats, which is way beyond the common man’s budget. MHADA is considered to be one of the most affordable housing platforms for the common man. MHADA’s Pimpri schemes are now under construction.

People living near the MHADA flats construction site complain that their floors and toilets are leaking.

Pimpri MHADA flat resident Gorakh Navghare said, “I am the chairman of this MHADA society.

We purchased these MHADA scheme flats in the year 2001. Now the situation is that if water gets spilled on the floor it leaks through to the flat underneath.

Floors are leaking because the builder used precast floor slab and just installed cement columns, and the gaps between the floor and column were fi lled with poor quality cement, which is why the floors are leaking. The builder told us that they used precast cement floor and column for speedy construction work of buildings. B G Shirke constructed our MHADA buildings and the same builder has now got the contract of our adjacent MHADA buildings construction. In the same way they are now using precast cement floors and columns for speedy construction work.

They bring precast cement floors and columns from their factory and just assemble them here at the construction site. Latter they fi ll the gaps between floor and column with cement but it leaks. Our buildings are four-storey and toilets on all floors are leaking. We complained many times to MHADA regarding the leakage but they are neglecting it. It is economically

possible for us to repair leaking floors and toilets. MHADA, after giving possession of flats to us, is not giving any post repair service.”

Local Pimpri corporator Seema Savale said, “MHADA’s motto is to provide affordable housing to the common people. But in the recent MHADA advertisement for flats in Pimpri, their rate is Rs 4,600 per square foot, which is higher than that of private builders, which is Rs 4,000 per square foot. How can common people purchase MHADA flats at such high rates? MHADA seems to have forgotten its motto of affordable housing and house for all policy. If MHADA officialls decide

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rates after their market survey, how can they charge such high rates which are beyond the reach of the common people? I personally wrote a letter to the chief minister to bring down the rates of MHADA homes, which are now higher than those of private builders. MHADA has not followed the standard procedure of giving tender of construction for the Pimpri site. Builder B G Shirke only approached to MHADA and got the contract. The Shirke builders’ track record is bad. MHADA flats which Shirke constructed in Pimpri are now leaking, as they used precast cement floors and columns for construction, and fi lled the gaps with cement.”

B G Shirke Construction Pvt Ltd Managing Director Pratap Shirke said, “We use precast cement floors and columns for the construction at MHADA. But Seema Savale we maintain the quality of cement at our factory in Mundhwa. We keep regular checks of strength of cement in our factory. After assembling the floor we give a layer of 40 mm so that it has more strength. Our rates are lower than the market rates, which is why MHADA has given us the tender of construction of MHADA schemes in Pimpri and Morwadi.”

MHADA Pune division CEO Ashok Kakade said, “Builders everywhere are now using precast cement floors and columns for speedy construction work. This time MHADA is constructing 2500 flats in Pune, so it is necessary to use modern construction techniques like precast cement floors and columns for speedy construction work. We will inspect the MHADA flats built in 2001 for leaking floors and toilets and then take further steps.

We have given tender of constructing MHADA sites in Pimpri to B G Shirke Construction Company as their rates are lower than other builders as our market survey revealed. Shirke has huge experience of MHADA scheme constructions in Mumbai, and therefore we have given them a contract once again. We did our best to keep rates of MHADA flats in Pimpri lower compared to private builders.” tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“The flight operations have gone up at the Lohegaon airport. Daily footfall has been up which has led to an increased in vehicular traffic. The approach roads to the airport are narrow which is leading to frequent traffic jams. ” - Girish Bapat, District Guardian Minister

Fire Brigade demands land for sub stations

Foxconn shuns Pune for a coastal location P10

Instead of the required 30, Pune city has only 12 fire brigade stations; PMC urged to allot land for new stations

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Fire Brigade department has tabled a proposal for possession of four plots reserved for fire brigade sub stations. Once they get the lands, the number of fire brigade stations in the city will rise to 16 from the current 12, by the end of this year.

Pune city has a population of 31.32 lakh as per the 2011 census, and an area of 243.84 square kilometres. The city has only 12 fire stations, which is a very low number considering the population and the area. Pune city needs 30 fire brigade sub stations, in view of its development and the growing population. As it stands, with its inadequate number of stations and personnel, the fire brigade is forced to deal with all the emergencies in the city. This results in delays in reaching the accident spots and is often the cause for the loss of human lives and property. It is mandatory to have a fire station within a 10 km radius.

Fire brigade department chief Prashant Ranpise said, “Considering the population and area, Pune city needs 30 fire stations but actually we have only 12. There is an urgent need to set up new fire sub stations to reach the required number. The fire brigade department has submitted an application for eight plots to set up fire sub stations, which are reserved in the

development plan of the city. These reserved lands are at Dhayari, Baner, Dhanori Road, Mohammadwadi, Vishrantwadi, Warje and Nana Peth.

Currently the Pune city fire brigade receives ten calls per day on average, of which five are regarding fire incidents. The other five are related to falling trees, building collapses, or people stuck in borewells etc.

Catering to a city like Pune with its huge population and extensive area with just 12 fire stations is difficult.

Initially PMC agreed to give us four plots of land at Katraj, Kharadi, Balewadi and Chandni Chowk. These are entry points of the city so it will be easy to reach accident spots in minimum time. Construction of fire

sub stations is underway at Ganga Dham Chowk, Khadak centre and Janata Vasahat, and these fire sub stations will be functioning by the end of this year. To set up fire stations at the abovementioned eight places, we need connectivity to main roads for smooth service. It is mandatory to have fire station within a ten km radius, but we have areas like Hadapsar where we do not have a fire station. In case of accidents there, we have to send fire tenders from Swargate, which takes a long time, and then there is a risk of loss of property and human life. We have urged PMC to give us land at Shevalwadi octroi station or Bhekrainagar octroi station to set up fire stations there. But the PMC has PIC: RAHUL RAUT

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not yet decided about the issue.”

Mayor Prashant Jagtap said, “We have received the application from the fire brigade for the eight plots which are reserved for fire stations.

PMC has already given four plots at Kharadi, Katraj, Balewadi and Chandni Chowk, which are entry points of the city, to set up fire sub stations. The remaining plots will be given very soon. Considering the inadequate number of fire sub stations in the city, the PMC will co-operate with the fire brigade department and get them available land. It is necessary to build more fire sub stations for the city to have an adequate number of fire stations.” tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com

P12

Citizens will no longer face delays TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The stamp duty and registration department has always been set back by corruption. That is why citizens find it an ordeal to get routine tasks done like registering property or recovering original documents. But authorities say that the problem has been resolved with the Maharashtra state government including 14 services from the Department of Registration of Stamps under the Maharashtra right to Public Services, and that citizens will no longer face delays.

This will begin on Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, 2016. Services include registration of documents, search, valuation report for assessment of stamp duty, certified copy of documents, refund of registration fee, and solemnisation of marriage. The services will have a stipulated time limit from one day to thirty days. The sub-registrar will be the concerned officer to monitor the work, whereas concerned joint district registrar and deputy Inspector General of Registration will be the first and second appellate authorities respectively.

State Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps (IGRS), Dr N Ramaswami said, “The service will be started on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The development of one’s service request will be notified through short message service (SMS) at every stage. The work of all the sub-

register offices will be monitored by the IGRS office. Citizens who have complaint about the work not been completed in stipulated time can appeal directly from the system or can call our helpline number. Officials failing to provide the service in stipulated time will face action as per the norms. Citizens have to be aware about the facilities available for them at the department and be determined not to pay any bribe.

IGRS has a complaint mechanism and even a helpline number (Sarthi 8888-00-7777) where they can register their complaint about the malpractices in the department. There is big rush for registration and paying stamp duty, and people have to face long delays, leading to many pending cases and corruption. The department is planning to add more service under the Public Services purview. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Pune first to get green buses

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar

Amidst the hustle-bustle at the Swargate bridge, these street performers are busy getting ready to put up a show

Come this week, the Pune Municipal Corporation will be the first in the country to operate its buses on CNG produced from food waste. The local body generates close to 1600 tonnes of garbage every day out of which 350 tonnes is food that has been collected from hotels, houses and marriage halls.

Currently all of this is being converted into CNG at the PMC owned plant in Talegaon. This plant alone generates 45 tonnes of the gas from all the collected food.

Till now PMC had been handing over the CNG to Mahanagar Natural Gas Limited (MGNL). However from sometime next week they have decided to use it to run the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) buses on this CNG. “PMC’s solid waste management department’s truck collects close to

PMC owned bio-gas plant at Talegaon

350 tonnes of food daily from within the city limits. Until last years all of this is was taken to the plant at Talegoan where it would get processed to generate CNG. Now it is first taken to the processing unit in Aundh where it is turned into slurry and then to Talegoan with the help of specially designed trucks,” said Kunal Kumar, PMC Commissioner. With the help of advanced technology we will be converting this CNG into bio-CNG

KCB slaps Rs 1.69L Dam-affected people fine on ex-contractors insist on rehabilitation first

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2 The Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) has taken possession of the parking lot at Mahatma Gandhi Road near Khadki railway station, and is operating the pay & park on its own. This comes after suffering after an extended seven-year period of rampant monetary losses for failing to renew the contract.

The KCB has also slapped a fine of Rs 1.69 lakh on the contractors who enjoyed the privileges earlier, said officials.

KCB had given the contract of the cycle and scooter/bike parking to Tarlochan S Ahluwalia, Sayyad Altaf and Shaikh Bashir Kadar. KCB had given 100×8 square feet of space to the three. The last time the contract was

renewed was in 2009. According to the contract, each one had to pay Rs 1,200 per month to the KCB. Despite the rules that state that the contract for parking had to be renewed every three years, the same people were running the parking for over seven years.

KCB Chief Executive Officer Amol Jagtap said, “We have started the pay and park on our own for the time being.”

KCB revenue department head Bhagirat Sakale said, “A fine of Rs 1.69 lakh was taken from the contractors towards damages for using the plots.

Currently KCB officials are authorised to collect the parking charges from the citizens towards the facility. Soon tenders will be floated for issuing the parking lot on contract basis.” vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste The residents of Pimpri Chinchwad and Maval have been forced into a hazardous situation, as the Pavana dam affected people are obstructing the strengthening of the dam, and insisting that their rehabilitation be the first priority.

The Pavana dam strengthening work has been pending for 10 years, while the rehabilitation of the dam affected people has been pending for 41 years.

The government acquired 6197 acres of land for Pavana dam, which affected 1,203 land holders. Of them, 340 people got four acres of land each, while the remaining 863 are awaiting rehabilitation. The Pavana dam construction started in 1963 and was completed in 1972. Pavana dam is 5577 feet wide and 119 feet in height, with a storage capacity of 1,07,430 million cubic feet. The dam strengthening work was done from 2004 to 2006, for which the government provided Rs 22 crore. But the dam affected people

forced the stoppage of the work.

Pavana Dharangrast Kriti Samiti President Mukundraj Kawoor told TGS that the strengthening work is very important for the dam’s safety.

But the dam affected people have not got justice for 41 years. Of the 1,203 people affected, only 340 people got land and 863 people are still awaiting rehabilitation. “In April 2016 we

launched a hunger strike and that time the government promised to resolve the rehabilitation in three months, but nothing has happened.

If the government does not resolve the rehabilitation issue, we will not allow release of water from the dam after January 1, 2017. Only 50 per cent of the work was done from 2004 to 2006. Pavana dam strengthening

and use it to run the buses rather than sell it to MGNL, he added.

Just last week PMC conducted a trial run which was successful.

Following this success, they will begin by operating the buses from the Pimpri depot from next week. As many as 40 buses will be operated on bio CNG. The future plans include collaborating with MGNL to set up a gas station at the Pimpri PMPML depot itself. tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com

Those impacted by the Pavana dam hold up strengthening work, which could have serious consequences work must be done in time. We are trying to discuss this topic but people are demanding rehabilitation first,” he said.

Divisional Engineer MN Mathkari said that Pavana dam strengthening work is very important for safety. “When it was constructed, the conditions were different. If there is an earthquake, it could have serious consequences for the residents of Maval and Pimpri Chinchwad. At the time of the Panshet dam disaster, Pune district was not so developed, so fewer people were affected. The government is ready to provide one acre of land to the dam affected people but they are demanding more,” he said.

Collector Saurabh Rao said, “The dam strengthening is a major issue that political leaders are also discussing.

The High Court will give its final judgment regarding the rehabilitation issue on October 18. We are awaiting the judgment.”

This dam is the main source of water for Pimpri Chinchwad and Maval. gunwanti.paraste@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

“70 to 80% of the developmental projects in the municipal corporation are dependent on engineers. Garbage is a major problem in the city and engineers must work on generating power from garbage.”

- Dinesh Waghmare, Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner

As we know, the police personnel often rely on their informers to provide the clues and evidence in solving the cases they are assigned to. But these informers for the most part live in a twilight zone, as most of them have criminal records, and PR Patil they are likely to belong to the lower strata of society.

Seema (name changed) has been providing information to the police for some time. “I can’t reveal my profession or my identity. My secret life as a police informer began when I was an inmate at Yerwada jail. After I was released from jail, I have been providing clues to the police in cases they are working on. It is difficult for a person like me with a criminal record to get a job, unless I keep it a secret and work as a labourer. The money I earn is not sufficient, so being an informer provides me another source of income.

I help and inform the police when I am able to and have clues about robberies or housebreaking cases. Whatever I earn goes towards the upkeep of my children, their school fees etc. The police help me to buy groceries for my home. No one in my family knows about my life as a police informer. If people came to know, my life will be

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as risk, as well as my family,” she said.

Suresh (name changed) said, “I was not able to get much of an education. I dropped out of school and got involved in petty crime at a young age. That was also the time I came into contact with the police. I wanted to become a policeman, but I have instead become an informer, who helps out the police in their investigation. I informed the police about a murder suspect, and also about the suspect in a kidnapping case. I have never told my family that I am a police informer, and never will.”

Sunder (name changed) said, “Two generation of my family have been working as police informers.

Even my mother works as informer. I have learnt a lot from her. My mother informed the police when she came to know of a gang who had planned

a robbery. I’m a lower middle class person. I live in a slum. I inform the police when I come to know of some crime. The police give me money for providing information. I don’t depend on this work, but it is to maintain good relations with the police.”

Shanti (name changed) said, “I belong to the red light area. I inform police about illegal sex rackets. When minor girls are brought here and forced into prostitution, I tip off the police.

The police give me money in return for the information. I maintain good relations with the police, and they in return, help me and my family. Once some police officers helped me with money to pay my son’s school fees.”

The police pay informers from their own pockets most of the time.

It also depends on the case, and how

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The lives of police informers are perilous; they dare not reveal their clandestine activity, even to their families

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste

I won’t say ‘Islamic terrorism’

A glass of beer makes people more sociable

They live in a shadow world much we can pay informers.

M o s t l y in for mers genuinely want to help the police.

Even respectable people help and inform the Bhanupratap Barge police. They of course are not doing it for the money. It’s mostly lower strata of society people who become police informers.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime, P R Patil said, “We have a secret fund only meant for police informers. I know of some respectable and educated people who help and give information to the police. At time we pay informers from our own pocket.”

Pune ATS ACP Bhanupratap Barge said, “Not all informers are criminals, but some are involved in minor infringements of the law.

Women informers are of great use in PETA cases. Women informers give us clues about sex rackets, and minor girls forced into prostitution. The government gives us a fund to pay informers. If for some reason money is not available, senior officers pay from their pockets. In today’s hi-tech age, informers play a very important role. Today’s criminals are aware and switch off their mobile phones at a crime scene. Th is is when informers are of great help in nabbing the culprits.” gunwanti.paraste@goldensparrow.com

PUNE

In death, he gives new life to others

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste After the death of a 25-year-old youth of Sion, Mumbai, his family decided to donate his organs, whereby other patients in need would benefit. He was the youngest in the family, and had been an Arts student of DY Patil College, Akurdi. He had been living at Walekarwadi Road, Gurudwara Chowk, Chinchwad.

He was planning to visit Mumbai to meet his parents and friends, when he suddenly took ill, with headache and vomiting. He was admitted by his friends to Sterling Hospital.

Ruby Hall Clinic Transplant coordinator Surekha Joshi told TGS that he lost consciousness after a second spell of vomiting. “This happens when a diseased blood vessel within the brain bursts, and blood leaks into the brain, and the patient is then regarded as brain dead. Thereafter we counselled and advised his family to donate his organs.

The family is well-educated, were aware of organ donation, and they approved the donation of his heart, kidney, liver and cornea.”

Sterling Hospital’s Dr Darmesh Gandhi said, “He underwent surgery in which a bone flap is

removed temporarily from the skull to treat the brain. But his condition did not improve and he was declared brain dead.

Our hospital and Ruby Hall Clinic, under the organ donation initiative, advised his parents to donate his organs.”

His elder brother Vinayak said, “He was very good in studies, and very friendly by nature. Our family makes Ganpati and gods and goddesses idols, and are also involved in social work.

We were aware about organ donation, so when doctors advised us to donate his organs, we readily agreed. This way my brother will live on in others’ bodies.

His organs will give a new lease of life to someone else. We are proud that even after death he will be of help to some person who needs organs.”

His friend Viraj Kamble said, “I’m really proud of my friend. He was hard working and friendly. He was feeling happy that he was going home to meet his parents, but then he suddenly took ill.

We immediately admitted him to Sterling Hospital and informed his parents. We are really proud that his parents have decided to donate his organs, which is a very difficult decision.” gunwanti.paraste@ goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“My government is honestly committed to providing reservation to Marathas.

We are (also) solving problems faced by the community by (promoting) financial empowerment, employment and entrepreneurship.”

- Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister

Corporator’s kin allege medical negligence

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR AND DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @TGSWeekly

The death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Corporator Rajashree Andekar of Nana Peth (Panel number 48 A) at KEM Hospital on September 6 has raised many questions with the kin accusing the medical authorities of negligence and filing complaint with Samarth police station against Samarth Hospital and KEM Hospital both located at Rasta Peth.

The deceased corporator’s husband Suryakant Andekar alleged that his wife died of wrong injection given by the compounder of Samarth Hospital after which she went into a coma. He also alleged that KEM Hospital did not reveal the treatment and medicines administered to the patient. Samarth Police are inquiring the case and will take action after receiving the report prepared by the panel of Medical Board of Sassoon General Hospital.

The NCP corporator, who was elected during the Pune municipal polls in 2012, was admitted to Samarth Hospital by her husband Suryakant.

Her husband said that Rajashree’s blood report was shown to Dr Suhas Kalashetti, who said that the patient was diagnosed with chikungunya and needs immediate medical attention.

Suryakant admitted his wife at Samarth Hospital in Rasta Peth on February 5.

“After admitting her in the

Rajashree Andekar

hospital, Dr Kalashetti was absent and her medical treatment was carried out

by Shankar Mali who is a compounder.

Mali called Dr Kalashetti on phone and the latter advised him to give some injection to the patient. Mali gave the injection to Rajashree after which within 15 minutes she went into comatose state and even urinated on the bed,” said Suryakant.

Seeing Rajashree’s condition deteriorating, the Andekar family shifted her to nearby KEM Hospital on February 5. Suryakant said that the doctors admitted her in ICU and started treatment. “She did not recover from the coma state and succumbed on September 6 in the hospital. During the treatment she was also taken to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital on April 5 and the doctors said that her brain is damaged. We later re-admitted

her in KEM hospital,” said Suryakant, adding that the medication bill at the hospital during the seven months touched Rs 1.5 crore which was borne by the Pune Municipal Corporation.

“The wrong medication done by Samarth Hospital and concealing the fact by KEM Hospital took my wife’s life and the people responsible for this negligence should be punished,” he said.

Andekar has written an application through Advocate Bilal Shaikh to Samarth Police demanding medical negligence offence under the law against the doctors of both hospitals on August 28. Advocate Shaikh said that it is a clear case of medical negligence.

“Samarth Hospital administered wrong injection to the patient. When she was admitted in ICU of KEM hospital’s urology department for further treatment, the KEM doctors despite knowing she was given wrong medication by previous hospital (Samarth Hospital), did not disclose the fact. If we were told about the fact, then we would have admitted her to super specialty hospital. KEM Hospital doctors tried to protect their counterparts at Samarth Hospital,” Shaikh said, adding “We have written the application to Samarth Police that offence should be registered against doctors of both hospitals as per Sections 338 (medical negligence), 304, II (culpable homicide) and 467 (forgery of valuable security) of the Indian Penal Code.”

City-based techie develops app to track premature baby’s health

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 City-based techie Gautam Rege, 37, has developed ‘We3health’ app that tracks, monitors and connects a parent, a newborn premature baby and a nurse in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The app helps parents to involve in advanced treatment care of their beloved baby. Used in San Francisco’s top child care hospital as a clinical study basis, the developer hopes to launch the app in city hospitals also.

The application creates an efficient communication channel between the parents and the medical team, and educate and enable parents to give their baby the required care. The parents also get health condition updates of their child on their mobile. It builds a connection between parents, child

and nurse by providing data through messaging and videos. “The app will guide the elders on how much and what the baby should eat and how much the child should take rest,” said Rege, who developed the app in October last year.

Rege is the co–founder and managing director of Josh Software, a web solution company based in Pune.

“We are in talks with a few hospitals in Pune and Mumbai to launch the app.

We have received positive response from KEM Hospital in Pune,” he said.

US-based couple Scott Bolick and Brittany Lothe’s son Will was born premature and kept in Intensive Care Nursery (ICN), also known as NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). They saw their infant fighting for his life and the thought of such requirement of any health app came in their mind.

Will’s Way Foundation President

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After corporator Rajashree Andekar’s death, her family approach police seeking justice

Samarth Police Station Senior Inspector Rajendra Mohite confirmed that they have received the application from Andekar. “We have recorded the statements of both parties. We are forwarding the case to Sassoon General Hospital Medical Board and will take action after receiving their report.”

When TGS visited Samarth Hospital, cardiologist Dr Kalashetti said that the patient was suffering from chikungunya hyperthyroid and other complications and there is no staffer by the name Shankar Mali working at the hospital. “When the patient came to our hospital I was busy treating another patient so my sister Pooja called me and asked for the injection. I suggested monosafe antibiotic to reduce fever.

After the injection was administered to the patient, she went to washroom and fell unconscious. Then we shifted her to KEM. We have given right medical treatment and gave our statement to the police,” he said.

KEM Hospital Medical Administrator Dr VL Yemul told TGS,” We have given her proper treatment. The patient was admitted in the hospital in an unconscious state.

We administered her standard line of treatment for seven months. The cause of death was known and as it was not a medico legal case we didn’t advise her post mortem after death. Police have recorded our doctors’ statement and we are cooperating in the investigation.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

US hospitals extensively uses ‘We3health’, founders hope to launch the facility in city hospitals soon

Gautam Rege

Bolick sought an open source solution provider to develop a platform to track, monitor and connect a parent, a baby and a nurse in an ICN. The founders approached the team at Pune’s Josh Software to develop a mobile-based solution through the reference given by doctors based in the US. “The Foundation approached us and we developed this app,” said Rege.

The development for We3Health

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solution started in May 2015 and was launched in October 2015.

“We got this project after the Will’s Way Foundation came to know that we are pioneering in child health care solutions,” said Rege. A computer graduate from the Pune Institute of Computer Technology (PICT) in 2000 he worked for seven years with leading companies in Pune. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

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PMC blamed for spread of diseases PMC’s delay in setting up Mosquito Abatement Committee has led to the spike in dengue and chikungunya cases in the city

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 The three-year delay in setting up the Mosquito Abatement Committee (MAC) by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department has led to the increase in vector related diseases like dengue and chikungunya, as well as mosquito breeding spots.

The state health department had set an April 2015 deadline for the PMC health department. But the MAC was eventually formed in the month of June 2016 when dengue cases showed an alarming rise.

Directorate of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and directorate of state health department had asked all corporations and districts to set up MACs in 2013. Only the Mumbai corporation was quick to set up the MAC which is still working systematically. It has taken Pune’s PMC almost three years to set up its MAC, which includes representatives of private institutes where breeding spots were found. The committee is presided over by the deputy director of the respective district or region, and initiates measures to curb mosquito breeding spots and monitor dengue cases.

The 79 teams comprising 300 workers, formed by PMC health department, are part of MAC. They reported 1900 suspected and 390 confirmed cases, and one fatal dengue case this year. Three more suspected deaths by viral fever and a whopping 8475 breeding spots found after surveys of 13 lakh households and commercial establishments in city limits, from August 26 till date. There spurt in suspected dengue patients resulted in city hospitals being overcrowded.

There were 673 chikungunya cases in Pune.

Casting blame on the PMC health department, a senior health officer from the state directorate of vector borne control program, said, “We have been urging the PMC health officers to set up the MAC for the last three years, but they failed to take us seriously. We sent several reminders since 2013 that were ignored. We arranged several meeting at the state level and ministry to curb the mosquito menace, but PMC health officials failed to take it seriously.”

A meeting was held in April 2016 by the state health officials of the directorate of vector borne control program. Strict instructions were issued to the PMC health department to set up the MAC, but PMC continued to ignore it. Even officials from the Union health ministry’s National Vector

Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP) visited the PMC to inspect the situation regarding the mosquito menace in the city, and recommended setting up of MAC, but PMC health officials failed to comply.

The committee was formed in the first week of the June this year, after dengue cases rose alarmingly. Then on August 16 the PMC formed 79 teams and undertook house-to-house indoor survey, during which thousands of mosquito breeding spots were found.

This should have started early June.

Dr Kalpana Balivant, chief of vector borne control department by PMC, said that the committee (MAC) comprises 18 representatives from various establishments from the city.

“MAC constitutes representatives from railway, state transport, scrap godown dealers, airport, corporate offices, building associations etc.

They have been asked to keep their respective areas clean and ensure there was no dengue mosquito breeding,” said Balivant.

“These big private establishments have been asked to hire private insecticide services and prevent breeding spots, because PMC does not have sufficient manpower to look for such big establishments. This is compulsory for these establishments as per MAC rules,” said Dr Balkrishna Kamble, assistant director of vector borne disease control (state) program.

Dr Kanchan Jagtap, joint director state vector control program said that they had asked PMC health officials to set up the committee several times but they didn’t pay heed, which has led to an increase in the dengue cases. Another official from the same department said that Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) swung into action in April and formed the MAC two months before the PMC, which has resulted far fewer dengue cases are in their limits.

PCMC chief health officer Dr Anil Roy said that they have found only 79 positive dengue cases this year till date. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

City trekker faces fine for violating sanctity of Rajgad fort

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish

Rahul Bulbule removed the Facebook post after receiving severe criticism

City-based trekker Rahul Bulbule of Sahyavede trekking group, decided to take a dip in the pond on Rajgad fort, during his visit to the fort on September 26. On returning home, he posted his semi-clad picture on the social media.

Little had he imagined the consequences, as this picture triggered great anger among trekking community and the Shivbhakts (devotees). Bulbule was trolled on the social media, he received threats and came under heavy criticism.

Even after removing the picture from his Facebook wall and posting an unconditional apology, the issue wasn’t resolved. Agitated trekkers took this matter to the Maharashtra State Archaeological and Museum department. The department took swift action and issued a warning notice and levied a fine of Rs 500 on Bulbule.

“This is for the first time that we have slapped a fine on any trekker. We had earlier warned local villagers about violating the protected property. However, this incident also violated the sanctity of the fort, which was the first capital of the Maratha Empire,” said VP Vahane, assistant director of the

Archaeological department.

T h e Archaeological Act 1960, section 12, subsection 33 (1) states that whoever— (i) destroys, removes, injures, alters, defaces, Rahul Bulbule imperils or misuses a protected monument, is liable to a three-month imprisonment or a fine of Rs 5000 or both. However, as per the Archaeological Act 1962, section 2, subsection 8, the department issued a notice and a fine of Rs 500.

“This issue was brought to us by Zunjar Seva Samiti and Bhatkanti Katta and as this incident has spoiled the image of the protected property, we decided to take action. As per the rules, even camping or staying, cooking, swimming in ponds or selling food products is prohibited on protected forts. However due to a shortage of staff, we are unable to keep a check on such activities, which have been observed regularly,” said Vahane.

Rajgad, Sinhagad, Torna, Chakan and Koraigad along with Rangna, Bhudargad and Vishalgad forts in Kolhapur district are listed as state protected monuments.

This is not the end Though, Bulbule paid the fine and submitted an apology, the Zunjar Samiti members are not satisfied. Rahul Paple, who registered a complaint against Bulbule with the Archaeological department, said that they aren’t done with him.

“He has done such things in the past too.

We need to teach him a severe lesson and we are going to lodge a complaint against him.

He must understand that the forts are not picnic spots or resorts. His example can lead to others doing the same and it would be an insult to the brave soldiers to laid down their lives while protecting these forts,” said Paple.

Incidentally, Bulbule filed a complaint against Paple in Vishrambaug Wada police station, after Paple threatened him on social media. The officers warned both parties and pacified the situation.

“This incident is unfortunate, but it will give a strong message to other trekkers, who visit the forts just for enjoyment. I think the government might take strict action but in the long run it will benefit the forts for sure,” said Virag Rokade, a city-based trekker.

Even after trying several times, the TGS correspondent was unable to reach or contact Bulbule. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Copy of the notice given by Archaeological Department of Maharashtra to Rahul Bulbule

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

“I have always been fascinated by the Chinese and Indian cultures which are so philosophical and rich in tradition and morality.”

— Stan Lee, Comic Book Legend

“Today the Indian community here is a major factor in India-UK relations.The Indian community has also made its presence in politics with his representation in the House of Commons and House Lords.”

— Navtej Singh Sarna, Indias High Commissioner to the UK

Techies vie for this workplace

Showcase of social ventures

Rapid Circle India is an example of what an office must be to allow growth for the individual as well as the community

BY SALONEE MISTRY @SaloneeMistry There is a sense of freedom and equality when you walk into the Rapid Circle India office on Baner-Pashan link road. Long wooden benches with chairs on either side, a huge wall that jumps out at you with vibrancy and happiness on the faces of those working there is something that does not go unnoticed.

Started in 2010 by Suyog Patki who is now the Managing Director and Daniel McPherson who is the Chief Technology Officer, it was formerly called Zevenseas and is a Microsoft Cloud Avan Pa k Company.

A unique work culture, free meals, no hierarchy, and a game room are things that this venture boasts of. Empowering people to take initiative, being people driven, and ensuring that work becomes an enjoyable experience are beliefs that they strongly abide by. It is the work culture here that boosts the happiness index of all, and is something that must be replicated if we are to grow as a community.

Development for all Working in the IT sector for over 12 years, Suyog was inspired to start a venture like this because of what he hoped to see in the place that he was working. When Rapid Circle India started off in 2010 it was a small place under a metal sheet roof and this was a risk that he was willing to take.

Born an brought up in Sholapur, in a family that wasn’t too well-off, he had never

TGS NEWS SERV CE @TGSWeek y

through and so every little help counts,” he said. In addition to all of this, reviews every six months by reviewers that the workers themselves select and not having the regular corporate divisions like a human resource Suyog Pa k department etc, are also things that they follow. Suyog’s wife Avani Patki looks after the responsibilities of an HR department but her designation is culture consultant at this venture. Rapid Circle India was voted number one partner by Microsoft in the Healthcare domain in 2015 and is also one of their gold partners for Cloud. They also have teams working in Amsterdam and Europe. even known what a computer was till he went to an engineering college. Soon he fell in love with programming and has never wanted to do anything since.

“My vision with this place is to make people better human beings and love what they do rather than those who run behind their monthly pay cheque. The idea is to love what we do and do what we love,” he said. Building a workplace culture that is beneficial for all and maintaining transparency is key to making the company and the employees self-sufficient, he added.

When there is not much to bother about internally, the people working with the venture can focus on giving the customer whatever it is that they want and the way they want it. Another thing that Rapid Circle India does to ensure that the

happiness quotient of the people there is high is to allow for flexible working hours and the guideline that one doesn’t have to be present in office to fi nish their work. They could sit in their home or in a cafe and work Dan e McPhe son as long as the Internet connection is good, Patki said. The office space is also used by a few other start-ups to operate from and that too for free.

“We encourage anything that is innovative and needs the push to excel.

Being a start-up ourselves we are aware of the kind of struggles that they might be going

CARS, BIKES, TRIPS, GEAR HONEST, FUN REVIEWS TECHSPEC TANK PADS

TGS LIFE

Regardless of what bike you ride, your knees and thighs are typically going to come into contact with the fuel tank/airbox cover, which is usually made of painted metal or plastic. The problem is that metal and plastic don’t stick very well to textile, nylon or any material that you’d typically wear as pants on a motorcycle ride. Anchoring to your bike with your knees and thighs is critical for safety and confidence.

Most sport riders are familiar with grippy stickers that you can put in place on the sides of your tank to alleviate this.

Techspec is one such brand, which makes a unique ‘snakeskin’ pattern rubber material that can be applied to your tank with adhesive.

Unlike some other brands of grip pads that look like organic globs or some sort of acupressure surface, the Techspec item is a fairly basic,

AUGUST 6, 2016 PUNE

THRILL OF DRIVING

TGS LIFE JULY 9, 2016 PUNE

THRILL OF DRIVING

By Tushar Burman

Road-tripping in Thailand

till buzzing from what must have been thousands of curves across just over a hundred kilometres of road, it occurred to us that perhaps we should take a break and refuel our bodies, since the Honda CB500X we were riding showed no signs of using any significant quantity of gasoline. We were at Pai canyon, a small lookout point for tourists along the highway with four food and one coffee stall.

My spouse enjoys the occasional coffee, so she requested one. The beans were promptly ground in front of us, mixed with condensed milk, ice and water, and served in a convenient plastic container. All this while, I bit down on a prepackaged Tuna sandwich knowing full well that the nearest fresh tuna was at least 1200km away.

Both the sandwich and coffee were fresh and delicious. If this was roughing it on a road trip, it’s exactly my style.

TGS LIFE JULY 16, 2016 PUNE

THRILL OF DRIVING

T

here are many legends surrounding the birth of the Ford Mustang, one of America’s most well-known performance cars. I will avoid the word “iconic” because it’s so overused in this context that I challenge you to find a launch or drive report without it. One such legend has its name inspired by the legendary P51 Mustang fighter aircraft used by the USAF, which makes sense seeing its “aviation inspired” interior on this 2015 model we drove. Other stories tell of how the entire allocation of the original run of the Ford Mustang sold out in just a few months. It has been an immensely popular vehicle since its birth in 1964-65, and this is its 52nd year in continuous production, despite the challenges of the ‘70s oil crisis, various downturns and such. Other muscle cars have come, gone and been resurrected, but the Mustang has been a constant.

The model Ford has launched in India is the Mustang GT and it wears all-new bodywork compared to the outgoing model. The previous generation started the “retro-futuristic” craze back in 2005 and has served the company well, spawning innumerable special editions and variations on performance and body style. This new model bears the same basic shape, but has a much more stylish, swoopy visage. The front is more aggressive with a wider grille and three slashes in each headlamp, while the rear looks more old-school with the same three-segment design following through.

The classic long bonnet and short boot with a fastback roofline remains, covering a 2+2 cabin and a surprisingly roomy boot! It’s all very well executed, betraying no irony or cheesy nostalgia. This truly does look like many decades of progress have been made to get to this handsome shape.

The Mustang is only available in the V8 engine option for India, which makes

Perfect roads as far as the eye can see

TGS LIFE

are present and are best used in sport mode or one of the sharper driving modes. There are four of those, including a “Track” mode that turns off the traction control, unleashing all 515Nm upon the rear wheels. Some of our colleagues were caught unawares as their cars did unintended 180-degree turns.

The Mustang isn’t for the hardcore trackjunkie, despite what the driving modes may say. The tendency is to safely understeer as opposed to snap-oversteer. Of course, you can get it to do the latter but it’s a deliberate effort. The upside is that it’s very easy to get used to and just, well, drive. Suspension is pliant and comfortable, ground clearance is generous, which should make it good to use in our road and traffic conditions. The interior is a bit bland — all black and grey surfaces, but with a surfeit of buttons. The steering wheel has no less than four separate clusters of buttons for various controls. Everything is generally where you expect it, save for the bonnet release, which is inexplicably in the passenger footwell. We had to get off the car for motorcycle to open the hood! Comfort is good, however, with supportive leather seats, usable rear seats (but not for adults), cup holders, armrest with storage, two west of Chiang Mai which is considered oneUSB of slots, an SD card reader and an 8” information/navigation screen. the best riding roads in Asia. Among the first All this at Rs 65 lac, ex-showroom Delhi, stopovers on this route is a popular, butshould still tiny which translate to about Rs 77 lac onroad.If Maharashtra town called Pai, which we visited.

Chiang buyers will be disappointed however, as the recent revision in RTO taxes Mai were Pune, think of Pai asmeans Wai,thatexcept the imported Mustang GT will 140km away. probably cost north of Rs 80 lac. Still, in this price waterfalls segment, one’s options are cars like the Nestled in a valley replete with Audi TT and the Mercedes CLA 45 AMG. and lush greenery, Pai is a small with all-wheel drive and much Bothtown are smaller, a growing tourist population, sharper pioneered aroundby a track, but also less practical in terms of ground clearance, comfort and backpackers. It’s close enough to the border space. With the Mustang, you have the with Myanmar to have cultural heritage, influences of and enough space in the machismo for a verybut grand tour, as long as you leave the hill tribes in terms of food andboot clothing, Our Honda CB500X proved an able, fun and comfortable ride for our trip that giant spare tyre at home. significant enough to have all the infrastructural tushar@goldensparrow.com

TANKED-UP TGS LIFE

JUNE 25, 2016 PUNE

JUNE 11, 2016

By Tushar Burman @tburman

W

that Himachal Pradesh is likely to make more of a dent in your bank balance. Food, boarding and infrastructure are organised and consistent, typical of a nation that takes tourism seriously, and with pride. You never pass a street stall without a sing-song “Sawatdi-khaaaa” (Thai for namaste, quite literally), friendly smiles and a disarming lack of guile. Thailand also has strong cultural connects to India, having a Hindu and Buddhist history. It occasionally surprises the uninformed when encountering names and iconography from the Ramayan and other Hindu mythology. There is, in fact, a Thai version of the Ramayan on TV, with Ram played

perfect sense. There’s an intimate connect Mustang, but the saving grace was that those in most minds between muscle cars and big, were around the lauded Buddh International brawny engines. That’s not to say that the Circuit, India’s only F1 track. As you’d Mustang has always had a V8. There have expect, the Mustang is pretty fast in a straight been many inline-four options over the years line. This time round, it isn’t too bad around as well, but we suspect the international the corners either, having an independent EcoBoost version would not be accepted in rear suspension instead of an ancient liveour market. The motor makes 395bhp and axle type found in most generations of the 515Nm of torque, which is down somewhat car. This is clearly a grand-tourer sort of car. from the international model. This is The suspension feels quite plush, there’s to accommodate the varying fuel perceptible body roll when you’re quality avail hustling around the corners and Verdict things are generally smooth at + Comfort, speed. I suppose we should be price, heritage pleased as consumers that we’ve - Middling auto come to a point where we can gearbox actually buy much harder-core performance cars in this price TGS rating bracket. ;;;;2 The V8 sounds nice inside the cabin, but isn’t particularly evocative insideChiang or out. It’s butjump-off muted burble Maia isdeep your point that comes to the ear; no snap crackle and adventures pop drama of European tyre-burners. The India edition only comes with the 6-speed

THRILL OF DRIVING

The TUV300 urban SUV gets more punch with a 100hp motor

MOTO GEAR

MOTORS IN THAILAND Riding or driving in the country is bound to feel familiar to an Indian tourist. For one thing, they drive on the left side of the road — a colonial vestige similar to ours. They accept International Driving Permits issued in India.

Being part of the ASEAN region with a large contract manufacturing industry also means Shima a recently-released Polish brand of that vehicles tend to be similaris to what you’ll see on Indian roads. Toyota Innovas and Corollas,far less known than the typical motorcycle apparel, Suzuki Swifts, Nissans and familiar European gear you’ll see on your mates on a Sunday ride. luxury cars in urban areas. What you’re likely to they aren’t be unprepared for However, is the automotive culture of scrimping on their debut. customisation that If seems the is country. theto pervade catalog anything to go by, the lineup is It’s ridiculous! On my first day in Bangkok, I was thorough and top-notch betraying no cost-cutting. passed by a courier delivery truck with massive tested the D-Tour WP (waterproof) gloves oversize rims and We’ve tyres. Even cabs — whether licensed or Uber —and are seldom seen without an have come away impressed. To begin with, obligatory level of customisation. the price isis right: Rs 4800 for a pair of this kind Automotive enthusiasm even more is a good the dealThai indeed. evident in the two-wheelers ride. There are several things to Unlike in India, where culturally, we’re about Key is the fused liner, which like about the gloves. “bigger is better”, the Thai have a different take Shima calls NextFit/NextDry. What this means on their commuter vehicles.

Step-thrus and

SHIMA D-TOUR WP GLOVES

THOROUGHBRED @tburman

MONSOON

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hen we last drove the TUV300 shortly after its launch, it was a pleasant surprise in its package, refinement and general ability around the city. At the time, we didn’t really take it on an extended highway jaunt and probably just as well; you see, in it’s previous guise, the TUV300 came with a modest 75hp output motor, which was fine in urban environs, but didn’t really have punch anywhere in the rev range.

That has now changed with Mahindra calling this iteration the mHawk100 motor -- essentially the same thing but now putting out considerably more power and torque, up to 100hp and 240Nm. If you’ve read our previous assessment of the TUV300, not much has changed, save for our experience with other, more recent SUVs in and around the same segment. The TUV300 crossover/hatchback which was globally unveiled in is surprising in its nice interior accoutrements. A great AC, Out back are the jump seats that make this he SUV,urban technically, a very decent infotainment system with Bluetooth and iPod a 7-seater. It’s doable, but not comfortable for long journeys.

Then April, Datsun’s Redi-GO finally makes its way to Indian roads. connectivity that works flawlessly, a nice two-tone Dash that again, have you seen how many passengers tourist cabs can pack The Redi-GO runs on a three-cylinder i-SAT engine mated looks contemporary and a quiet cabin that belies the intrinsic into a Scorpio these days? The jump seats fold 799 up andccrear seats nature of a three-cylinder Diesel engine. It should sound and feel fold down to liberate a lot of extra cargo room, you need it.manual transmission. It produces 53 hp, 72Nm of to ashould five-speed rough, but it doesn’t. Nothing in the SUV does.

Call us picky but this author is not a fan of the TUV’s torque and delivers a fuel efficiency of 25.17 kmpl. The top speed Of particular interest to us in this new 100hp guise of the aesthetic. I’d prefer the front of the NuvoSport with a squat stance is 140 Kmph and the ground clearance is 185mm. The vehicle on TUV, was the suspension. You see, the Mahindra NuvoSport, instead of sharp corners and the face of Bane, Batman’s formidable which we also recently tested, uses the same engine, but has a foe. That said, with a top-end model, you do get at a nice display thefinish, press launch looked solid, with most details standing up problem with considerable body roll. Not so much with the TUV, decent looking alloys and wheels that fill their wells properly. to scrutiny. While it may be built to a cost, it looks good in the flesh which is controlled and feels more secure at highway speeds. It There are even some nice extras like a start-stop system (well, not andextends doesn’t also feels a bit firmer, but that’s a trade-off we’re willing to make: really nice in our traffic), an eco mode that rangebetray while it’s budget category. some more jerks to the spine in exchange of careening off a cliff sacrificing power, and static cornering lamps, Safety which are aisboon courtesy “Datsun PRO-SAFE7” which includes on a sharp bend. Engine performance is also on par with the when turning the wide vehicle in darkness. In fact, we’re confused braking NuvoSport, but after using the TUV’s manual transmission, we about why these features don’t make it toshortest the NuvoSport, whichdistance, high strength body shell to absorb impacts, ended up missing the AMT of the NuvoSport, which somehow gets cruise control as consolation. But thegood TUV doesn’t.

Strange. visibility and wider view of the road, high bolster support while managed to keep things feeling sprightly.

Still, it’s evident from the quality of thecornering, interior that the TUV absorbing steering and a driver airbag. energy With the benefit of hindsight and experience, we can also is meant to be a bit more upmarket. But it costs between 10 and Five personalized kit options are available: Urban, Style, Kool, say that the current TUV300 feels a bit heavy to steer compared 16,000 rupees LESS than the NuvoSport. Confused?

So are we. to peers like the Vitara Brezza and NuvoSport, but retains the On our extended time with the TUV300, urban and Easy Kit - Premium. Colour options available Easywe’ve Kit done - Sporty surprisingly, far better than the NuvoSport practical turning radius we enjoyed previously. It’s squared-off commuting, Mumbai-Pune highway runs, multi-passenger are: White, Silver, Interior Grey,is,Ruby and Lime. The Datsun Redi-GO design (tank-like, according to Mahindra) has the benefit of outings and cargo runs, and we were unable to run the comes with warranty of 2 years/unlimited km andandthe car allowing excellent visibility while squeezing into tight tank dry, so anecdotally, the mHawk100 engine ais also with follow-me-home lamps, parking sensor other bellscan and be spaces, which the TUV can do despite its width. The quite efficient. Highway runs were usually whistles one expects in a India modern App’. vehicle. Mahindra is churning Verdict booked via cruising mobile app called ‘Datsun breadth manifests in internal space as well, with the between 100 and 120, which is where the vehicle out vehicles rapidly based on what are fast turning out to be + Refinement, front passenger having plenty of shoulder space. feels most comfortable. We’re sure the 240Nm is proven platforms. Perhaps at some point they will also consolidate performance, The rear seat is wide enough for three passengers capable of more sprightly performance, but the vehicles to be less confusing. As a parting googly: you can still buy price as well, though we did hear the odd complaint TUV300 weights 2.2 tonnes, so there’s only so the old, less powerful engine with the TUV300, but the new one - Heavy steering much it can do. The rest of it is up-to-date. Dual costs just Rs 8,000 more, so why would you? about jerks being transmitted up into the spine from rear passengers. airbags and ABS are present, as are keyless entry tushar@goldensparrow.com TGS rating ;;;`2

Datsun Redi-GO launched, starting at Rs 2.38 lac

VW launches Ameo compact sedan Sub-4m three-box starts at Rs 5.14 lac

the palm area and a reinforced, soft pad on the knuckle. There’s a rubber screen wiper on each thumb, which worked very well on our rainy rides.

Waterproofing is good, with light showers being repelled entirely. The D Tour WP do seem to run a bit large, so you might need to order one size smaller than your typical glove. Recommended.

Shima D-Tour WP gloves PRICE: Rs 4800 BUY AT: Kombustion Imports & Exports Pvt Ltd (+91 87938 84215)

is that there’s no inner lining flapping about behind the exterior shell. Those can be infuriating to put on and take off.

Shima’s solution is to fuse the waterproof liner with the exterior shell. This makes for a slightly stiff feel, but far more comfortable in the long run.

Fasteners are good, with a velcro cinch at the wrist and a larger velcro pad to secure the cuff, which is extra roomy to accommodate your sleeve, should you choose to wear the gloves over them. The velcro Hondapads themselves are CB500X not the typical sort, with the + Refinement, base (hooked) part being Fueling, practicality a - much Bland flatter, smoother material that catches less on TGS rating dri-fit material. Protection ;;;;2 is adequate for this sort of glove, with some leather in

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MIDDLE CHILD Hardcore performance is great for track days. Audi has a more everyday option @tburman

Minimal badging on the sides and at either end

W has finally put a price tag on its sub-4m sedan — the Ameo, and it’s very competitive. Evidently, the company has taken steps to address its reputation in making cars that are costlier to own than the competition.

In this case, the Ameo ends up being cheaper than their own Polo hatchback, Currently, the Ameo is availabel only with a petrol engine — the same 1.2l MPI three-cylinder motor we’ve seen before in the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo.

A diesel is promised soon. Volkswagen is touting several segment-firsts: rain-sensing wipers, static cornering lamps, cruise control and a centre armrest up front, but the kicker for us is that two airbags and ABS are standard on all variants, which is a big step forward at this price point.

Visually, the Ameo looks very similar to its Polo and Vento cousins, with a slightly stubby-looking front and

back. The rear boot is expectedly short, but allows a bit more cargo volume than the Polo hatchback. It’s not the Large plenty prettiest integration of a boot thatboot we’vestores seen, but VW and is easy to access have been understated in their styling of the rear. In a front three-quarter view, the boot does not draw attention to itself, which is probably a good thing.

Watch for a detailed review of the made-in-India Ameo next week. Prices:

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udi’s S line of cars don’t get the recognition they deserve. Sitting in between the standard models and the totally performance-oriented RS cars, they sit as the middle child, often overlooked. We have, on occasion, driven the RS5, RS7, even the R8 and come away impressed by the raw power they pack into seemingly standard body styles. But let’s face it: a wolf in sheep’s clothing isn’t likely to make you a nice wool coat. It’d rather eat the coat with you in it. Not so much the car on this page: the S5, which is what Audi calls a “sportback”, basically a sedan with a hatchback rear and more rakish roofline. In terms of size, it sits somewhere between an A4 and an A6 but ends up feeling surprisingly compact.

Even in terms of performance potential, you could consider the S5 the middle child. There are sportscars in the lineup that make less power.

Why then did Audi feel the need to paint the media car in this lurid yellow, we have no idea. It’s a unique shade for sure, akin to pure printer’s ink

R is equipped with Brembo monobloc callipers, Showa big piston forks, Öhlins rear suspension and Pirelli Diablo Rosso Corsa Tyres.

The Thruxton R is priced at Rs 10.90 lac ex-showroom, Delhi. That’s a lot of bike for the money, and should appeal to a wide swath of motorcyclists with it’s “modern classic” vibe. This rounds out the new Bonneville platform with the Speed Twin, Bonneville T120 and Thruxton R coming in at attractive prices and all immediately available. Triumph continues to push aggressively forward in terms of models and marketing.

There are more than a few lessons for some other manufacturers to learn.

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MERCEDES-BENZ GLC LAUNCHED AT RS 50.7 LAC JUNE 18, 2016 PUNE

JUNE 4, 2016 PUNE

expanse of nice, flat luggage area and very easy to access thanks to the hatch opening. It’s a bit like THRILL the Skoda Octavias of old -- looking like sedansOF DRIVING with hatches hiding huge boots.

On the go, the S5 is a refined experience. The 7-speed dual-clutch transmission is quick and smooth, and shifts gears with digital efficiency.

Press the throttle with aggression and the gearbox quickly shifts down, releasing a nice V6 roar from the quad pipes out back. It’s a chatty car in that it likes to make nice growly noises when provoked, but never overpowers. The sound is enough for feedback and kicks, but does not cause discomfort.

High-rev gearshifts release a nice crackle from the exhaust. Paddle shifters are present for those times when you think you know better than the car’s electronics. Driving modes can be chosen Dash is usual Audi fare. Dark two-tone upholstery between comfort, dynamic, efficiency or tailored and carbon trim look sporty to your individual tastes. Ride quality is where the generally luxurious experience breaks, with than anything else and it drew attention wherever the large wheels and relatively low profile tyres it went. Though, we suspect, it would pass under transmitting road imperfections to the passenger. the radar in a more sedate paint job. Few, if any Setting the car in ‘Comfort’ mode didn’t do much external features stand out. You have a typical in this regard.

Audi front grille, headlamps and design language On our favourite, winding hill road, the S5 tweaked slightly to accommodate the curvaceous shone with its Quattro permanent all-wheel rear hatch. The red ‘S’ badges are also discreet on drive system. There’s always more grip than you the front and the back. need, and it works well with the performance of Step inside and the treatment is typical Audi. the motor. The specifications will surprise you if “Butat mom! my friends have SUVs with lower and the GL-class). Mercedes provides two If you’ve been in a recent A-type sedan, everything you drive the car before looking theAllbrochure: coefficients!”. IsV6! this a common refrain in engine options: the diesel GLC 220 d outputs is familiar. There’s the MMI screen, central console 329hp and 440Nm from thedrag supercharged your household? Tired of doing the school run 170hp and 400Nm of torque while the petrol and ergonomics as expected, but with a small, We’ve driven much angrier-feeling carsright angles? Mercedes GLC 300 outputs 245hp and 370Nm of torque. in an SUV that has only beendelivers listening tothis you and your burgeoning Officially, Mercedes has launched the fiddly jog dial. The steering wheel also with less power. Thhas e S5 ilk and is readyDespite to address this sticky problem.

GLC ‘Edition 1’, which is their traditional was doesn’t have explicitly labelled phone capability with little drama.

Verdict One is no longer stuck with the BMW X6 as of saying ‘first batch’. As they’ve done before, controls, which is something that being 4.7 metresthelong, the that S5 slices feelsthrough the air rather the Edition 1 cars come into the country as only SUV + Refinement, bashes itfootprint into submission.

CBUs (fully imported). This is Mercedes’ sixth will confuse those coming from a small compact with than performance, The Mercedes-Benz other car brands. Upholstery is in is good andGLC class of vehicles luxury SUV in the country, making their lineup width-wise. Visibility was launched on 2 June, conveniently slotting the most comprehensive among the luxury car unique black and dark brown and there the flat-bottomed feels into thesteering sliver of space left between the GLEpurveyors.

- It’s just “nice” class and GLS-class (previously, the ML-class Expectedly, equipment levels are high. is much leather on display. There nice to till around good surfaces. are some lacquered carbon fibre The ORVMs could have done a TGS rating trim pieces along the door and other better job showing the sides and rear ;;;`2 surfaces as well, though we’re not sure if of the vehicle, but that could be down it’s the real thing. The seats are comfortable to personal preference. and supportive one-piece units for the front, lending The Audi S5 has plenty ofIn performance a surprise move, Mahindra launched vehicle from 0-80% charge in 1 hour and an all-electric feeling version of its Verito sedan, 45 minutes, is reserved only for the top (D6) a sporty look without being uncompromisingly potential, but keeps everything the eVerito, on 2 June. Mahindra variant. Fast charging needs to be done an odd, middle hardcore like the near-race seats you’d find in a comfortable and luxurious. It isdubbed claims that the sedan can go 110km on a at one of Mahindra’s designated charging sports car. child and we imagine it will have takers than fullless charge.

The manufacturer is claiming stations, while a standard full charge takes costsbecause as low as Rs 1.15/km.

8 hours and 45 minutes using a 15-amp Rear legroom is good for a person of my size more overt sportscars or luxuryrunning sedans e eVerito also phones home home plug. Other features include opportunity (5’9”) but then, few grown men are actually my of the niche it occupies. That’sThan with a variety of information regenerative braking and a Claims a diff erent. size, so we’d suggest a seating capacity of four for for the buyer who wants something (Telematics).

Fleet sales seem feature called REVIVE, which range of to becomes a likely target, especially is basically an 8km power maximum comfort. At least one passenger we rode Certainly no other car we’ve seen in this considering the aging Verito/ reserve for emergencies. You 110km on a ex-showroom, with commented on how his i20 felt more spacious shade. At just north of Rs 69 lac Logan platform. The eVerito don’t get airbags in any variant. full charge can buy more in key in the back. Again, apart from the “sport” theatre, the price will give you pause. You is available immediately Performance is about New Delhi, adequate for city use, which is more overt sports Mumbai, there is little else to talk about. Open the hatch spacious luxury cars for less, or cities: Bangalore, Kolkata, where Mahindra is pitching the again. Pune, and it’s another world. Literally! Audi claims 480 cars for as much. Stuck in the middle Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and eVerito. Top speed is claimed at 86kmph tushar@goldensparrow.com litres of cargo space, and we believe them. It’s a vast Nagpur. and the 110km range is dependent on load.

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Marks the sixth luxury SUV that Mercedes sells in India

AMEO=POLO PLUS

By Tushar Burman

bottomed steering wheel which feels nice to manipulate.

If we were to nitpick, we’d say that the touchack in 2009, when Volkswagen introduced screen infotainment system is a bit smaller than the Polo in India, it was a breath of fresh on the hatch, but it serves the purpose perfectly air. At the time, the go-to car for the well and doesn’t end-up looking aftermarket like segment was the Maruti-Suzuki Swift, and some recent cars we’ve driven. You get steeringwhile the Fabia did exist to represent a European mounted controls, cruise control and a cooled contender, it was deemed too odd and expensive glove box for beverages on hot days. A centre for what it offered. Volkswagen was reeling from armrest is available for the driver which is a slim problems with the Skoda brand’s service and unit much like in the Vento. You don’t get rear cost complaints and didn’t want to repeat the AC vents behind it, however. same mistakes with VW. Fast-forward to 2016 Rear seat accommodations are quite and anecdotally, VW cars are still considered comfortable, and the extra knee room over the expensive to run (they’re not; this author owns a Polo hatch is apparent. Headroom at the rear is petrol Polo). VW has taken specific note of this at a premium, much like the Polo hatch, so those sentiment with the Ameo compact sedan, and with long torsos (or generous behinds) may hit has launched it for a very competitive price, even their heads on the roof. slightly undercutting the Polo hatchback!

If you’ve read so far and are wondering where How they’ve achieved this was not the masala begins, well, it doesn’t. The Ameo immediately apparent to us on our long-ish test is striking in its anonymity. Even viewed from drive. The car is fundamentally the same inside the front 3/4 angle, one can barely discern the and out, save for the added boot. We drove the boot sticking slightly out of the rear. It’s a tiny Eighteen-inch alloys areHighline standard.

Mercedes sunroof, lighting switchable petrol variant (the diesel motor will ambient extension of the body, to bewith sure, since the idea during Diwali) and fit, finish and quality and is to fit a sedan within fourbehind metres tothe qualify will provide an optionalcome off-road engineering colours levels, cargo bars rear to be on par with the hatch. Plastics for lower taxes. We’ve always liked the practical package that raises the appeared ride height by 20mm seat that liberate another 30 litres of luggage are just as pleasing to the touch, with no hollow, depth of the Polo boot, and this remains useful in and offers three additional ride modes: - find.space what an up EASYplasticky-feeling spots we off could The two-and the Ameo. Mercedes Only now, the calls volume goes from dashdrive and beige interior remain,PACK and make tailgate.

294 litres inDO the hatch to 330 in the sedan.

It’s a road, incline and slippery.tone Five modes are WE HAVE YOUR the cabin feel airy. Bonus points for the flatminor bump, but it’s there. @tburman

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standard in the GLC: Comfort, Eco, Sport, ATTENTION YET? Sport+ and Individual. Hill descent control Safety is typical Mercedes fare: ABS, ESP, is standard as well. We also see the use of Crosswind-assist, PRE-SAFE, Attention Verdict Mercedes’ new 9G-TRONIC nine-speed + Safety,auto price Assist, Active Parking Assist, 7 airbags, LED transmission. headlamps and adaptive tail lamps.

- Marginal enginethe Slotting in below their range-topper, All this could be yours at Rs 50.7 lac for the rating diesel GLC 220 d, and Rs 50.9 lac for the GLC GLC understandably gets plentyTGS of comfort ;;;22 and convenience features. There’s a panoramic 300 petrol, ex-showroom, Pune.

It’s finally here: the Polo with a boot

The exterior of the boot itself is reasonably well integrated, and not as much of a tack-on like you’d find on the Swift Dzire. Not as good as the Ford Figo Aspire, but not bad. The tail lamps are simple and don’t draw attention to themselves.

Styling seems to be borrowed from the Skoda design language, with a crease running across the otherwise slab-like boot lid. Everything seems to be designed to be anonymous. VW have had to adjust the front and rear overhangs accordingly, and the car ends up looking a bit stubbier than the hatch.

The Ameo at present is only available in a petrol variant, utilising the venerable 1.2l MPI three-cylinder motor that does duty in the hatch.

It generates 75PS and 110Nm of torque, which felt inadequate six years ago, and continues to be. It’s a flexible engine, to be sure, with useful low-end grunt that allows you to have a load of passengers and navigate inclines with grace rather than amateurish slipping of the clutch. However, there’s no getting around the rough sound of the three-cylinder and this author continues to field the same questions he’s had to with his own car: “is this a diesel?”. Once at highway speeds, it’s okay, but overtakes take effort. You do get cruise control, however, so that sort of balances things out a bit. The stiff suspension makes the car fun

Engine and interior mimic the Polo hatch

to drive, but is hard on all passengers. We really wish VW would do something about this.

Perhaps the most important thing about the VW Ameo is the fact that it comes in at such a competitive price, and that it does so with two airbags and ABS as standard across variants.

There are some segment-firsts such as rainsensing wipers, cruise control and auto up/down power windows with anti-pinch all-round, but that’s about it. The Ameo is a competent car at a competitive price about in the middle of the pack. You can get more features for more money with a Hyundai, but you get the secure, Teutonic feel of a well-built car with the VW. The petrol engine is a mixed bag, and we suspect many will wait for the diesel this Diwali. tushar@goldensparrow.com Watch a video overview here:

Mahindra launches all-electric eVerito

Triumph Bonneville Thruxton R launched for Rs 10.90 lac

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while remaining lightweight.

Features are basic but thoughtful.

There’s a water-resistant pocket within the shell at chest level for your phone, and a felt pocket above the waist for your glasses.

Unfortunately, this pocket is unusable when the rain liner is in place. Zippers are of high quality as is the neck fastener, which uses velcro and has a soft pad where your neck meets the textile.

The jacket comes with CEapproved armour in the shoulders, elbows, and along the back. Fit appears to be European, which will work well for slimmer riders.

There are button fasteners on the sleeves to get a more snug fit, and velcro on the cuffs and waist. The RST mesh jacket will be available in this black/red combo, or the inverse: red/black.

RST mesh jacket Price: Rs 9500 Buy at: Bay City Speed Shop (baycityspeedshop@gmail.com)

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JULY 30, 2016

By Tushar Burman

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RST MESH JACKET

RST is a British manufacturer of motorcycle apparel that has recently become available in India. The distributor pegs them as a mid-tier brand, but we were impressed with the thought behind this jacket and its features.

This is a basic textile/mesh jacket with a supplied, removable rain liner. Some background: it’s very hard to stay entirely dry in motorcycle gear unless you use an impermeable rain jacket over your kit or invest in much more expensive stuff. Rain liners are nice to have, but rarely foolproof.

Thankfully, this RST jacket comes with a liner that zips into the shell using a long U-shaped zipper. Sleeves are held in place with small elasticated loops holding onto buttons on the liner.

It’s a snug fit and doesn’t move around much. This design allows the jacket to be quite resistant to rain in light to medium rain,

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wo months after the release of the Bonneville T120, Triumph has rolled out Thruxton R in the Indian market.

The 1200cc Thrurxton R runs on a high power, 8-valve, parallel twin engine generating just over 95hp and 112Nm of torque. This is a higher output version of the mill that powers the T120.

The Thruxton R carries feature like ABS, ride-by-wire, traction control, torque assist clutch, LED DRL, LED rear light, an engine immobilizer and a USB charging socket. The bike also has riding modes to choose from: road, rain and sport.

The equipment list continues; the Thruxton

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Riding your motorcycle in the monsoon is a necessity for many, but it also brings out the adventurers. You’ve almost certainly got that Facebook friend who takes his bike to impossibly wet and dirty locations just because she can. If you’d like to follow suit but prefer to stay a bit drier, we have some kit you might want to consider

MOTORCYCLING THROUGH THAILAND niceties of the rest of Thailand. Think perfect 4G If you’re a motorcycling enthusiast, or have connectivity, AirBNB and the most incredible become one in the recent past, you’ve probably gourmet burger I’ve ever eaten on the street. The known or heard of someone who’s ridden a bike Pai river itself is popular for white water rafting around our ASEAN neighbour. In fact, there at various skill levels, and you can even take a is now a land route from North-East India slow boat to Laos, which takes two days and through Myanmar into Thailand. Heck, you costs just 1750 baht, or about 3500 rupees. In can go all the way to Singapore before you hit fact, our overnight stay and jaunt in the night the inevitable shore. There are many reasons to market ended up costing less than Rs 2000 for this, not least of which is the incredible road the two ofconverter us. Try getting that deal in Panchgani automatic. It’s a traditional torque you won’t be banging and down network. You’re very unlikely toso see a badly anyupnight of thetheyear. gearbox like a dual-clutch unit, but it’s okay. In potholed section of tar. In termsterms of distances, And that, in essence, is a microcosm of the of speed, it’s somewhere in the middle the country is about 1600km longofand 1000km experience you’re likely to have on any a economy automatictype and aofperformancedual-clutch. It can be sluggish, we across, so there’s plenty to explore.tuned Of particular road trip in but Thailand — it’s cheap to the point think it matches the character of the engine. note car” is the Mae Hong a long circuit sure, we’ve driven slower. Paddle shifters What else do you call a vehicle that the term “pony was coined for?Son loop --For

By Tushar Burman

black rubber piece. We think it goes rather well on our “modern classic” Ducati Scrambler. Grip is excellent, whether seated or standing, and it doesn’t rip up your pants or cause discomfort. Also useful is the fact that the adhesive allows you to remove and reposition the pads a number of times before losing efficacy. It also comes off without leaving residue.

Grippy tank pads are one of the cheapest mods you can do to you bike to allow you to ride safer and more confidently. It certainly helps in the rains to make sure you stay on the bike. The Techspec pads are available for most popular bikes, or you can buy them in self-adhesive panels and cut them to suit your vehicle.

Techspec ‘snakeskin’ tank pads PRICE: Rs 4000 - Rs 7500 depending on application BUY AT: Bay City Speed Shop (baycityspeedshop@gmail.com)

So close yet so far. Perfect reasons to take off for a motorcycle trip

by a Gujarati. He has a huge fan following!

Having been (and motorcycled across) the country twice, I almost tend to take it personally when people refer to the country and its sex trade, as if the nation is one giant red light district. It isn’t, and you should definitely avoid visiting it with someone who holds that belief.

This author travelled the length of the country with his spouse, feeling perfectly secure despite being a nervous traveller. It truly is a place where you can hit the road without any specific plan and come off the bike feeling like you’ve explored and seen something new.

@tburman

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VISHAL KALE

“Even if the needy are alcoholics, we are ready to provide them food”

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VISHAL KALE

background o he needy Even he needy are a coho cs we are ready o prov de hem ood ” Exp a n ng he n a ve ano her ounder F roz A ar sa d “To open an accoun a he Ro Bank he donor has o fi up a orm and ob a n a code number The manda ory reg s ra on orma es are or sa e y purposes I

BY VICKY PATHARE here s a case o ood po son ng we can rack he donor eas y hrough h s @V kypa hare code number As per he demand o Noor Ro Bank s he firs -o - s-k nd he needy we g ve hem ro r ce and n a ve aunched n Bopod where cooked vege ab es We chose Bopod c zens can dona e resh y cooked as s a cen re po n or P mpr ood wh ch w hen be Ch nchwad and Pune d s r bu ed o he poor As he pro ec grows The Ro Bank and as he peop e rom was firs aunched araway p aces show n Aurangabad The n eres n con r bu ng Bopod bank was we m gh appo n a aunched n Apr I has person o co ec ood 55 donors and around rom hem on regu ar 80 poor peop e are bas s Curren y he ava ng o he ac y max mum number o da y donors and rece vers are N sar A ar one o rom nearby areas ke he ounders o he Ro Khadk Bopod and Bank sa d “Anyone Dapod ” N SAR ATTAR who wan s ood and Ano her ounder anyone who w shes o Zuber P rzade sa d dona e ood s we come “We accep vege ar an here We are no d scr m na ng on ood on y so ha peop e rom a he any grounds We do no nves ga e he re g ons can ava o he ac y I s

Dene Sama ache I owe soc e y be eves n ak ng effor s o evo ve he coun ry as an ega ar an soc e y To he p promo e he ac v es carr ed ou by soc a serv ce organ sa on ac v es Ar s ry has been ho d ng he un que soc a even or he pas e even years “A our c a ms o hav ng ach eved success n he fie ds o econom cs sc ence and n orma on echno ogy w be mean ng ess we a o evo ve as an ega ar an soc e y Dene Sama ache s a nonprofi ab e ac v y managed by even managemen organ sa on Ar s ry Veena Gokha e or promo on o soc a serv ce organ sa on ac v es s nce s ncep on 2005 ” sa d Veena Gokha e ounder-propr e or o Ar s ry The ma n purpose o he annua exh b on organ sed recen y was o make common peop e aware o he unusua se fless work Over 4 000 peop e v s ed and saw he ac v es done by 27 soc a organ sa ons or ree “Around 27 NGOs and char ab e organ sa ons rom across he s a e were seen under one roo The ac v es showcased covered env ronmen hea h HIV educa on no se po u on and o her areas ” she sa d Ar s ry adv sor Chandrasen Sh ro e sa d “The response was overwhe m ng ke n he pas years These par c pa ng organ sa ons need financ a ass s ance o carry on he r respec ve ac v es and Dene Sama ache prov des hem w h he oppor un y ” Some o he par c pan s h s year nc uded Bhavan Pra sh han Beed Gharku Par war Nash k Shabar Seva Sam Kar a Prayas Amrava Deendaya Dahuuddesh ya Sans ha Yava ma Prashnach nha Amrava and Sar hak Seva Sangh Purandar “As we wan o g ve exposure o as many soc a bod es as poss b e we g ve oppor un y o par c pan s o pu up s a s a our annua exh b on on y w ce ” Gokha e sa d g eedba k@go den parrow om

It was not a smooth ride Apart from people not trusting that the venture would do well since it started off under a metal sheet roof, the biggest challenge is to ensure that the ‘values’ that Patki and the other founders are trying to stay away from does not creep in from some way. “Since we are a people-driven place, we train everyone here to take interviews so that they can choose their own co-workers. By picking people who share the same passion as ours we know for a fact that the leniency that we offer won’t be taken advantage of,” Patki said.

When they started off there were a lot of technicalities that they weren’t aware of and so mistakes were a given. Even so it is important to learn from them and grow, the team believes. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

Roti Bank, a lifeline and a novel way to feed the hungry The Roti Bank concept at Bopodi involves citizens who donate freshly-cooked food for the hungry and needy every day

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

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PICS: RAHUL RAUT

Walking

‘Going t

A

jinkya Vasude Health and F Shukrawar Pe in the power weightli at the 2006 Asian Ga medal at the 2007 As His childhood wa the barbs and taunts remembers it as a hum learn how to cope wit tall and it is his small calling in life. “I join Road 15 years ago. W going to the gym was have happened, but g find just what it was t over the years, my lik and now I find being am able to teach othe

TALL

It is common for society to regard people with height disabilities as objects of ridicule. But, as all of us know or should, these people are no different from us. They have dreams and ambitions just like we do, and possess all the intellectual abilities to function as productive members of society

W

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE & SHAILESH JOSHI

e, as a society, are monumentally insensitive towards people with physical disabilities or handicaps. Our first reaction is to make fun of them, and call them all kinds of rude, crude and cruel names. Do we realise that a person with a handicap or disability is just as prone to feeling hurt and offended by such behaviour, just like any of us ‘normal’ people? This kind of hurt and humiliation are almost an everyday experience for the disabled or handicapped people.

The causes for their handicap or deformity may be a genetic disorder, malnutrition or any other reason. But they have to learn to cope with ostracisation and ridicule from a very young age.

Schools can be very cruel places, and children with physical handicaps have a rough time indeed.

This carries on into adult life as well, but by then these disadvantaged people have learned how to cope with the stigma, and to ignore the rude behaviour of society at large.

This insensitivity of society is a fact of life for the handicapped and there is not much they can do to change it. What they

can do, is to not let their handicap get in the way of making progress, and getting to where they find their niche in society, and settle into a productive way of life. It may take more of an effort than what a normal person puts in. And if they are fortunate, they will have the support of the people who are close to them, like family, friends or teachers.

Life is difficult even for people who are free from any handicaps. It is likely then to be even more difficult when you have to face everyday challenges, while coping with a lifelong handicap. It may take a little time and effort for normal people to gauge the nature and dimension of the difficulties that handicapped people face in day-to-day life.

But, rest assured, there are people, who with fortitude and strength have come to terms with their physical handicap, and are now able to face life with optimism, and the willingness to overcome what challenges may come their way.

TGS has come face-to-face with a handful of people with physical handicaps, who have emerged through their initial trauma and heartbreak, to make their way forward, get an education, find an occupation, and settle into a way of life that offers them the possibility of leading a constructive life in society, and also to attain their dreams and goals, which once may have seemed impossible.

‘I want to be a businessman, make lots of money and become very rich’

K

umar Laxman Rathod, 17, is a standard XII student of Marathwada Mitra Mandal College (MMMC), Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce Road, Deccan Gymkhana. He is just 3.2 feet tall.

Life is hard for Kumar, who lives in Kasarwadi, with his parents Laxman and Sushila, who work as construction site labourers, brother Prakash, 15, and sister Sharda, 14. His day begins at 6 am, and after the morning ablutions, he does his studies. Then he commutes to college by PMPML bus. College lectures last from 11:30 am to 5 pm, when he returns home.

Kumar has been fortunate as he has not faced too much ridicule or harassment owing to his stature, in everyday life or at college. “I am fortunate that I have parents, friends and teachers at my college, who are always there to give me support if I need it. Even Principal M B Lawrence has always been supportive,” he said.

Kumar is determined to put in all the hard work needed to make something of his life. He is seeking medical help to overcome his disability but the doctors can’t guarantee success. But he has learned to come to terms with his physical handicap, and will not let it come in the way of achieving his goals.

“I want to be a businessman, make lots of money and become very rich. I have had enough of being poor and helpless,” he said.

Kumar Rathod at the gate of his college

Ajinkya Joshi (right) with one of his proteges at the fitness and health club

‘If you give us the opportunity, we can prove that we are just as capable as others’

Maya Anvekar (right) dispenses the prescribed medication to a patient

M

aya Uttamrao Anvekar, 47, resident of feet in height. She has been working as physician Dr Parag Rasane’s clinic at S Budhwar Peth, for 14 years. Everyone knows her expertise in giving injections, saline, medication appreciated.

Her parents were aware of Maya’s deficiency i they could to deal with the problem. They consul injections and prescribed physical workouts, but n Moreover, there was the added trauma of facing s of due to her diminutive stature. All through sch cope with her handicap and put on a brave face. “ any sign of being scared or angry, the people wou and make my life a living hell. So I learned to ign fun of me, and concentrated on my studies. Now anymore,” said Maya.

Maya’s father Uttamrao, a goldsmith, passed school. She was forced to leave school after stand brother and sister to look after. She did a typing c finding a job. But her brother Suresh stepped in a after the younger siblings. Their mother passed aw physical disability, Maya was unable to get any m proposals I got turned out to be frauds as the suit getting dowry,” said Maya. She started looking fo but it proved to be difficult with her handicap. Bu for a compounder’s post at Dr Prakash Rasane’s c would be able to fulfil my duties. I asked them to two days. They did and then I was selected. Now his sister, and trusts me,” said Maya. Maya had so through looking after her ailing mother.

Maya has always had a positive approach tow hobbies and interests such as weaving, reading, an “Don’t just see the physical side but try to see people like me. If you give us the opportunity, we as capable of others of doing our duty,” is Maya’s others like herself, Maya believes that they shoul themselves, and to ignore the people who just wa She lives with her brother Suresh and his wife

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

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to the gym enabled me to find what I wanted to do with my life’

ev Joshi, 30, is a trainer at the Soman Fitness Club, at Khajina Vihir, eth. He has made a name for himself ifting arena, having won a gold medal ames in South Korea, and a silver sian Games in Taiwan. as a traumatic time as Ajinkya faced from people owing to his size. He miliating experience, but he had to th it, the hard way. Ajinkya is 4.6 feet l stature that has led him to find his ned a gym in Vitthalwadi on Sinhagad What I really wanted to gain from s to increase my height. That may not going to the gym has enabled me to that I wanted to do with my life. And king for keeping fit has kept growing, a trainer a rewarding occupation, as I ers what I have learnt. The gym is also

the place where I became interested in the sport of power lifting,” he said.

It was when he was 15 that his parents realised that Ajinkya’s physical growth had stalled. They consulted a number of doctors to seek a remedy, but the efforts proved to be in vain. Then a chance suggestion by a friend led him to the Soman Health and Fitness Club.

“I have been inspired by my parents, and also my teacher, the late Swapnil Soman sir. He guided me and taught me everything I know about power lifting. He motivated me to improve my skills and excel at the sport.

I participated in power lifting competitions in school, and then progressed to the national and international levels,” he said. Ajinkya has won 40 district level, 16 state level, 11 national and two international championships. He would have continued his career, but a ligament injury he suffered in 2008 has forced him out of the competitive arena.

With all the experience in the gym, it seemed logical

Abbas Inamdar going about his newspaper rounds

‘Why should people make fun of my disability which is not my fault at all?’

Ravivar Peth, is just 4.4 s a compounder at general Sonya Maruti Chowk, r at the clinic, and her and first aid, is well

in growth and did all lted doctors who gave her nothing seemed to help. society and being made fun hool, Maya learned how to “I knew that if I showed uld trouble me even more, nore the people who made of course, no one teases me

away when she was in dard X, as she had a younger course in the hope of and lent a hand, in looking way 15 years ago. With her marriage proposals. “The tors were only interested in or a job when she was 17, ut then came the interview clinic. “I was asked if I o observe my work for Dr Parag treats me like ome nursing experience

wards life. She has many nd music. e what’s in the minds of e can prove that we are just advice to society. And for ld not lose confidence in ant to make fun of them. e.

for Ajikya to settle into a career as trainer. He worked with Persistent Company, Nal Stop, Karve Road for four years before joining Soman Health and Fitness Club, where he has been working for four years. Fondly known as Appa, the club has a clientele of 125 male and female fitness enthusiasts. Ajinkya aka Appa guides them in losing or gaining weight, weight lifting, power lifting, and other assorted physical fitness regimen. He is the only trainer and also manages the club, for his remuneration of Rs 4.5 lakh annually.

Ajinkya, who has a Commerce degree, was refused jobs by Emcure, MSEB and other companies, but it has all been for the best. He now wants to set up a power lifting academy. He also has other interests such as playing the dhol in a drum troupe during Ganeshotsav.

Ajinkya is unable to drive a car or ride a bike owing to his disability. He lives with his parents and brother.

‘I decided a long time ago not to bow before anyone and to prove my worth’

P

rofessor Dhiraj Damodarrao Nage, 40, of Bhosari, is a shining example of a human being who has not let being undersized come in the way of what he was wanted to achieve and attain in life. The four feet two inches tall Dhiraj has been working as an assistant professor at the computer science department of Fergusson College for eight years. Inspired and motivated by his father, his unwavering determination and strength have enabled him to acquire a BSc and MSc in agriculture, as well as Master in Computer Application (MCA).

Born in a farming family at Daryapur village in Amaravati district, Dhiraj’s physical handicap proved to be a burden since childhood. When he was in standard VII, his parents sought medical help, and also other means to bring about a regular physical development. The doctors however, told them that it was the genes they had inherited that were responsible for Dhiraj and his brother Prashant being undersized.

Dhiraj underwent much trauma in his growing years, and at times he would curse his fate that had led to him being small-sized, and an object of fun for insensitive people. But over time, he learned to accept his situation, and knew that lamenting his state would not bring about any positive change. He instead, as urged by his father, decided to get as much education as he could, to be able to function in and contribute to society.

“I learned how not to pay heed to the people who made fun of me. I had taken up a marketing job during my college days, which entailed a lot of travel. It was always an experience to be able to face people in different towns and villages, who were attracted more by my diminutive size rather than what I was selling. Some of them were just plain curious, while others would make fun of me, but I never retaliated. I think that 90 per cent of people are not friendly or

helpful, and only ten per cent treat us with some consideration and kindness,” said Dhiraj.

Dhiraj wanted to join the civil services and even passed the Mahararashtra Public State Commission (MPSC) exam, but he failed to be selected in the interview. He gave farming a shot, but the drought foiled his plans. He then decided to come to Pune. That was 15 years ago.

He applied for a technical post with Larsen and Toubro, but was rejected because of his size, despite all his assurances. This incident has made Dhiraj even more fearless and determined. “I decided then not to bow before anyone and to prove my worth,” he said.

He first worked as a software developer for an IT company for two years. Then he applied for a lecturer’s post in the computer science department of Fergusson College in 2008, and was selected.

As assistant professor he earns Rs 2.70 lakh annually. He is single and wants to get married. His brother Prashant is studying networking and lives with Dhiraj.

He commutes from Bhosari to Pune by PMPML buses, facing the usual hassles while boarding a bus. But he does not take injustice lying down. “If I see wrongdoing, I will oppose it and even argue.

People try to dominate me because of my stature, but I make it a point to let them know that I am a college professor. Then they view me differently, even respectfully. I like my job and try to give my 100 per cent. My students know and appreciate this,” said Dhiraj.

He loves the cordial atmosphere at Fergusson College. “I have the full support of my head of department and principal. I like working here,” he says.

Dhiraj is the kind of person who is always eager to learn something new. He is polishing up his English, and his hobbies include karate, action movies and chess.

Professor Dhiraj Nage engrossed in guiding his students at Fergusson College

A

bbas Nabilal Inamdar, 51, resident of Rasta Peth, is heightchallenged and as a consequence, he has been used to being called names and treated with ridicule by society. Everyone in his locality knows him and with his elderly status he is not the object of fun anymore, but he cannot forget his past. “As a child I felt humiliated when people called me names like ‘butkya’ (dwarf in Marathi), and made fun of me. Initially, I would retaliate but this only made matters worse and they would tease me even more. So, I learned to ignore such people, which was the right thing to do. Why should people make fun of me for my physical disability which is not my fault at all?” he says.

Abbas works as an office assistant at B J Medical College. He also runs a newspaper stall in the Poolgate area. Abbas’s day begins at 4:30 am, when he leaves home on his bicycle, to go to Poolgate. There he collects the bundles of newspapers from the depot, and goes around on his cycles distributing the papers to around 300 households. He has a boy for company on these rounds. His wife Shahnaz, meanwhile, looks after the newspaper stall at Poolgate.

“I have been in this newspaper business since 1980, and I barely earn Rs 7,000 a month from this,” said Abbas.

At 10:30 am, he goes home for breakfast, after which it is time to report to B J Medical College, where he has been working since 1995. Abbas’s duties include making photocopies of documents, filing documents and other assorted office chores. His working day ends at around 8 pm.

Abbas’s family includes his mother Jainabi, 95, wife Shahnaz and only son Ali Jabber, 17, who is a standard XI student. Abbas was unable to pursue his education owing to the impecunious family conditions.

He has studied up to standard X. Then he was forced to earn a living by doing the newspaper rounds, in 1980. He got the job at B J Medical College in 1995, but was relieved of his job after a year. He got the job back after a court order. He earns Rs 12,000 a month as an office assistant. He likes to read, and finds some book, periodical, or newspaper to browse through in his spare time.

Abbas has had some difficult times to deal with. In 1995, he was addicted to the lottery, and found himself in debts amounting to Rs 50,000. It was a desperate situation and he ran away from home to Mumbai. His parents filed a missing person complaint with the police station, which was published in the local Marathi daily ‘Sandhyanand’.

After about a week Abbas returned to Pune. The police caught him and handed him over to his parents. He had to work twice as hard to pay off his debts.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

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Foxconn shuns Pune for a coastal location

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APP WORLD After its Navi Mumbai phone plant, it looked at Pune for its ‘Maha’ investment, but seems to have settled on the Konkan

BY ANAND PARTHASARATHY

The world’s largest contract manufacturer of electronic products—best known as the company that manufactures the iPhone handsets for Apple—almost plumped for Pune to make its largest investment in India.

Now, Taiwan-based Foxconn seems to be looking elsewhere in Maharashtra, possibly at a coastal location closer and logistically convenient for its planned 15,000 sq metre phone making line in Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

The Maharashtra government was cock-a-hoop last year when its combo of incentives persuaded Foxconn to select the state for its biggest India investment to date -- valued at $ 5 billion. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, clinched the MOU when he visited Foxconn units in China and met with the company’s Chairman Terry Gou, just over a year ago.

Foxconn is no stranger in India, having set up an ancillary unit in Sriperambudur near Chennai to support the mobile phone ecosystem centred around what was then the Nokia handset plant. But when Microsoft acquired Nokia in 2014, it was a wrong buy for the software giant: earlier this year it wrote off nearly $ 8 billion as its loss by way of the acquisition.

One Indian casualty of the buy was Nokia’s Sriperambudur phone plant.

Ill advised tax claims by some Indian authorities ended up embroiled in legalese

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (right) with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou during the former’s visit to China in 2015. Foxconn signed an MOU to set up a plant in Maharashtra

and Microsoft could not include the plant in its take over of Nokia India assets. I have seen some 5000 skilled workers assemble phones to world class standards in a stateof-the-art plant. Today it is almost derelict, with no buyers. With the main customer gone, OEMs like Foxconn shut shop too.

There was a revival of sorts, when the new state of (coastal ) Andhra Pradesh was born. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, an old hand at wooing high tech majors, persuaded Foxconn in March 2015, to set up a phone assembly in Sri City the new high

BY VISHNU ANAND As our cities get more polluted day after day, we are increasingly becoming prone to respiratory disorders and illnesses.

While concepts like climate change and ecological balance need to be thought out and implemented at a massive scale, we can secure our own homes against air pollution.

The proliferation of air purifiers as a consumer commodity has been around since a year or so, but the devices were extremely pricey and unaffordable by people living in polluted cities. Not anymore.

Xiaomi, the global smart phone manufacturer made its foray into the Indian consumer products market with the launch of the Mi Air Purifier 2 recently. We tried out the device for around 20 days, and at a price of Rs. 9,999, we believe it’s a good investment for a clean home.

The most impressive thing about the purifier is the easy-to-use Mi Home mobile app that lets you control the air flow, speed and various modes of the device, even while you are away from your home. The app also

IT is like that...

provides real-time data on how pure the air is in the room, based on number of micro particles of dust present in the vicinity. The device itself sits snuggly in the corner of your room, with multiple modes of operation

tech manufacturing hub cleverly positioned just 55 kms from Chennai across the state border. Today Chinese brands like Gionee and Xiaomi as well as Indian brands like Lava and Micromax, entrust the manufacture of phones for the Indian market to the Foxconn lines in Sri City. The facility now dwarfs the Nokia plant in Sriperambudur -- with some 10,000 skilled workers.

What Foxconn plans in Maharashtra is at least an order of magnitude bigger-- 5 billion dollars are not peanuts.

But there was little action on ground at

Chakan ( Talegaon) near Pune -- the place where the Maharashtra government said it was readying some 300 hectares for Foxconn.

The Indian Express and its business paper Financial Express reported last week that in reply to an RTI query, the state government admitted that Pune was no longer an option and the Taiwanese company was looking for a site on the Konkan coast. Meanwhile the Navi Mumbai plant when ready, will serve as a manufacturing place for other contract customers including the new handsets being launched by Reliance Jio. The million dollar question is whether the proposed jumbo Maharashtra plan to come will eventually serve Apple as the place to make its iPhones for the Indian and regional market here. Tim Cook was coy when he came to India last. Foxconn is tightlipped by its DNA and says nothing.

Maybe they have nothing to say till they have turned the earth, at the location where they finally decide to set up their new manufacturing lines.

Who knows, while Foxconn appears to have said ‘nako’ to Pune for now, that decision may not be written in stone. An entire auto industry has found value and sound business sense in clustering around Pune. Foxconn and others may yet decide that what works for putting together four wheels and an engine, will do nicely for a few million smart and pocketable devices.

IndiaTechOnline

BY V SUDHAKSHINA

Let Your Selfies Speak

Folks at Bobble have managed to target the two things that our generation can’t live without, taking selfies and texting. The Bobble app is a Selfie-personalization app that comes with its own keyboard for Android and iOS. It lets you be creative and emote your selfies while chatting with your friends. The app converts your pictures into a bobble head sketch, which can be used as various stickers. For example if you are feeling happy you can your sketch can be converted into a funny happy-faced sticker. According to its makers Bobble’s technology adjusts the expression on every face to match the emotion of the sticker. Also, the face tone of each head is adjusted to match with sticker body and theme. While there are apps available that let you buy stickers, Bobble stands a little different by letting you create your own, personalized ones. It is an interesting app to try if you are someone who prefers expressing with emojis rather than words. The app works on all messenger platforms like Whatsapp, Hangouts, Facebook, WeChat. It recently announced its integration with iMessage for iPhone and iPad. It is available for free download in GooglePlay and Apple Store.

Xiaomi has launched an affordable indoor air purifier including a sleep mode, where it operates with minimal noise.

The air purifier comes in-built with a blue cylindrical fi lter that sucks bad air, and sends fresh air upwards through the fan.

The fi lter should ideally be replaced every 6 months or so and a new one is priced at Rs. 2499. The app will send you a warning every time the fi lter needs to be replaced. The WiFi capabilities of the device lets you connect to your home network. The air purifier comes with three modes of operation, auto, sleep and favorite.

Like most Xiaomi products, the Mi Air Purifier 2 follows the consistent white design and is lightweight (4.8 kg), just 52 cms high, making it easy to move it from one room to another.

The Mi Air Purifier 2 delivers fresh air at 310 cubic metres per hour CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate). It is ideal for a room sized between 21 to 37 square meter. The purifier cleans air in less than 20 minutes for a 21 square metre area, which would typically be a 1 BHK apartment.

IndiaTechOnline

Now an online jewel souk!

Would you buy jewellery online?

A leading Indian brand for gold & diamond Orsuq.com, thinks you might! It has launched a web portal to sell readymade BIS hallmarked (916) gold pieces, diamonds verified

by Solitaire gemological laboratories as well as custom made jewellery, with prices ranging from Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 3 Lacs.

You can buy gold and diamond jewellery by ordering a specific design or by booking an appointment with a jewellery designer and getting access to expert advice. In their made-to-order feature, you can upload your budget and choice and Orsuq will have the jewellery manufactured for the consumer. You can also go through the profiles of the empanelled jewellery designers on the Orsuq website, select a designer of their choice and meet him/her in person

to narrow down on the design.

Orsuq’s Expert Advice feature is called ‘Image Building’. Image experts interact with customers and help them identify the jewellery design that will best complement their facial features, body type, personality and the occasion for which they are buying.

Established in January 2016, Orsuq is the brain child of Minesh Shah & Mahendra N Raju. Headquartered in Mumbai, Orsuq has on board manufacturers from Surat, Jaipur, Rajkot, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The web operation targets potential customers from the metros and mini-metros.

Later it will be extended to rural areas. Orsuq will very soon launch an Android and iOS app for mobile devices.

IndiaTechOnline

IndiaTechOnline ADVERTORIAL

Air, there everywhere!

For any requirement of Graphic Designs please get in touch with

As the highly clichéd phrase goes, India is still a developing country. With the recent rise in the migration from rural to urban areas, there has been an unforeseen strain on the resources in cities. At a time like this, it is the need of the hour to distribute and utilize the available resources in the city in the most efficient way possible.

City planning will lead to development and development will lead to progress. One of Paranjpethe people involved actively in the planning Anagha Purohit of several cities including Pune, is Anagha Paranjpe-Purohit.

An architect by profession, Anagha is an environmental planner with more than 12 years of professional experience in the field of Sustainable Design and Design and Urban Environmental Planning. A Graduate of Pune University and Arizona State University, she has multinational experience in countries like USA, India and Sweden. Anagha is also an academician and teaches post graduate programs in Energy and Environment spanning a wide range of topics such as Green Construction and Urban Air Quality Management.

After her vast research and with a treasure-trove of experience, she has come to the conclusion that the planning of a city can be achieved with maximum efficacy by following a simple six-point plan, which she aims to apply for the 2007-2027 developmental plan for Pune city. Anagha believes that town planning is not the cause of progress, but a consequence of progress in the right direction.

Anagha will be speaking at TEDxPICT’s event The Mirror of Erised on Saturday, 1st October at Jawaharlal Nehru Auditorium (FC Road). She will be delivering a talk which details her experience regarding city planning, and how it can be a key factor in development of the nation as a whole. Her talk is sure to introduce citizens to a new perspective of town planning, the intricacies involved, the basic principles for an effective planning strategy and her ideas for development of villages.

The knowledge that she is sharing is something that every vigilant individual ought to know. Who knows, city planning may even be the key to realizing our dream of a brighter tomorrow!

- Team TEDxPICT

ENVIRONMENT “The best way to curb vehicular pollution is to take steps to stop personal vehicles coming on road. Public transport services must be improved so that people stop using their own vehicles.”

-Sujit Patwardhan, Founder, Parisar

A glass of beer makes people more sociable

Feeling left out at a party? Grab a glass of beer as scientists have confirmed that drinking alcohol can make people more sociable.

The team from University Hospital Basel in Switzerland tested 60 healthy people drinking alcoholic and nonalcoholic beer. Participants took part in tasks, including a face recognition test, empathy test and sexual arousal test.

“Although many people drink beer and know its effects through personal experience there is surprisingly little scientific data on its effects on the processing of emotional social information,” said lead author Matthias Liechti, from the University Hospital Basel. The desire to be with others, in a happy, talkative and open environment increased in the group which drank the alcoholic beer and was more marked in women and those with higher initial inhibitions, ‘BBC News’ reported.

Beer also enhanced participants’ emotional empathy, particularly in those with lower levels of initial empathy.

Participants who drank alcoholic beer also rated explicit sexual content as more pleasant. This was most marked in the women participants, but researches found it did not actually enhance sexual arousal. The study appears in the journal Psychopharmacology.

PTI

H EALTH

Evidence suggests links between heritable loneliness and schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder

and adults. From these, researchers estimated that 37 to 55 per cent of loneliness is determined by genetics.

Previous studies also to pinpoint genes that contribute to loneliness, focusing on genes related to neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, or other cellular systems associated with human attachment, such as oxytocin.

However, these studies mostly relied on small sample sizes, Palmer said. Researchers examined genetic and health information from 10,760 people aged 50 years and older that was collected by the Health and Retirement Study.

As part of this study, participants answered three questions that measure loneliness. The study accounted for

gender, age and marital status, as married people tend to be less lonely than unmarried people. Researchers found that loneliness - the tendency to feel lonely over a lifetime, rather than just occasionally due to circumstance is a modestly heritable trait. It is 14 to 27 per cent genetic, as compared to the previous estimates of 37 to 55 per cent.

Th is new estimate of the genetic contribution to loneliness could be lower than previous estimates because the team relied on chip heritability, a method that only captures common genetic variations and not rare genetic variation.

The study was published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

PTI

Why Tibetan people live longer

BY KJM VARMA Low-oxygen environments in Tibet may be promoting longevity among the local people, according to a study

by Chinese researchers.

According to research by Zhang Yaping and Wu Dongdong at Kunming College of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, elderly people from the Tibetan Plateau have a longer lifespan than their counterparts in others parts of China.

By examining 2010 census data, researchers found that the proportion

of the Tibetan population over 60 years of age was significantly lower than that for the Han population.

However, among Tibetans there is dramatic rise in the ratio of proportion of people older than 91 years old.

The proportion of individuals older than 100 years of age was also higher for male (but not female) Tibetans than for Han Chinese, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the findings, published in Cell Research on September 9, elderly people living on the Tibetan Plateau tend to have

a longer lifespan than elderly people living at lower altitudes, suggesting an association between hypoxia and longevity.

There have also been reports of a link between longer life expectancy and living in the high altitude Andean region in America, the report said.

Genetic studies showed that lowoxygen environments can accelerate the evolution of aging-associated genes, which might offset the effect of aging and extend lifespan, the researchers said.

PTI

Sleep habits in childhood linked to alcohol use later

Researchers advise improving sleep time to check use of substance intoxication in adolescence Parents, take note! Every reduced hour of sleep at the age of 11 accelerates the fi rst use of alcohol or cannabis in adolescence by 20 per cent, a new study warns.

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in the US suggest a link between the sleep duration and quality, both during the late childhood with the alcohol and cannabis use later in adolescence.

“Treating problems with drugs and alcohol once they exist and preventing them can be challenging, and we are always looking for modifiable risk factors,” said Brant P

OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“A patient coming to a doctor is not only physically ill, but is under a lot of mental stress too. Doctors need to be holistic in their approach and treat not only the disease but also fix a possible cause like a faulty lifestyle.”

-Pratibha Patil, former President of India

Loneliness may be in your genes: Study Feeling lonely? Blame it on your genes, say scientists who have found that loneliness - a trait linked to poor health and early death - is partially heritable.

Loneliness is linked to poor physical and mental health, and is an even more accurate predictor of early death than obesity, researchers said.

To better understand who is at risk, researchers at University of California San Diego conducted the fi rst genomewide association study for loneliness - as a life-long trait, not a temporary state.

They discovered that risk for feeling lonely is partially due to genetics, but environment plays a bigger role.

The study of more than 10,000 people also found that genetic risk for loneliness is associated with neuroticism and depressive symptoms.

Evidence suggested links between heritable loneliness and schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. “For two people with the same number of close friends and family, one might see their social structure as adequate while the other doesn’t,” said Abraham Palmer, professor at UC San Diego, who led the study.

“And that’s what we mean by ‘genetic predisposition to loneliness’ - we want to know why, genetically speaking, one person is more likely than another to feel lonely, even in the same situation,” he said.

The heritability of loneliness has been examined before, in twins and other studies of both children

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

Hasler, assistant professor at UPMC. “Doing what we can to ensure sufficient sleep duration and improve sleep quality during late childhood may have benefits in terms of reducing the use of these substances later in life,” said Hasler.

Researchers analysed 186 boys, whose mothers completed the Child Sleep Questionnaire as part of a larger longitudinal study of low-income boys examining factors associated with vulnerability and resilience.

Based on questionnaire results from when the boys were 11 years old, their sleep time and sleep quality were calculated.

At ages 20 and 22, the young men were interviewed about lifetime cannabis and alcohol use.

After accounting for race, socioeconomic problems, neighborhood danger, self-regulation, and internalising and externalising problems, both sleep duration and sleep quality at age 11 were associated with early substance use throughout adolescence. The study participants who slept the least, compared to the participants who slept the most, were more likely to report earlier use, intoxication and repeated use of both alcohol and cannabis.

Every hour less of sleep at age 11 was associated with 20 per cent acceleration to the fi rst use of alcohol and/or cannabis, Hasler added.

Worse sleep quality was associated with earlier alcohol use, intoxication and repeated use. It was also associated with earlier cannabis intoxication and repeated use, but not fi rst use. “After considering other possible influences, we were able to determine that sleep problems are preceding the substance use problems. Addressing sleep may now be something we can add into the package of our substance abuse prevention and treatment efforts,” Hasler added.

The study appears in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

PTI

How brain filters out irrelevant info Ever wondered how people are able to read in a noisy cafe, ignoring the ambient chatter and clattering of cups?

Scientists have discovered how the brain filters out irrelevant information in such circumstances.

To explain how we are able to focus on a particular sound or information ignoring others, New York University (NYU) researchers offer a new theory, based on a computational model.

“It is critical to our everyday life that our brain processes the most important information out of everything presented to us,” said Xiao-Jing Wang, professor at NYU and NYU Shanghai.

“Within an extremely complicated neural circuit in the brain, there must be a gating mechanism to route relevant information to the right place at the right time,” said Wang. The analysis focuses on inhibitory neurons - the brain’s traffic cops that help ensure proper neurological responses to incoming stimuli by suppressing other neurons and working to balance excitatory neurons,

which aim to stimulate neuronal activity.

“Our model uses a fundamental element of the brain circuit, involving multiple types of inhibitory neurons, to achieve this goal,” Wang said.

“Our computational model shows that inhibitory neurons can enable a neural circuit to gate in specific pathways of information while filtering out the rest,” he said. In their analysis, led

by Guangyu Robert Yang, a doctoral candidate in Wang’s lab, researchers devised a model that maps out a more complicated role for inhibitory neurons than had previously been suggested.

Of particular interest to the team was a specific subtype of inhibitory neurons that targets the excitatory neuron’s dendrites - components of a neuron where inputs from other neurons are located. These dendrite-targeting inhibitory neurons are labelled by a biological marker called somatostatin and can be studied selectively by experimentalists.

The researchers proposed that they not only control the overall inputs to a neuron, but also the inputs from individual pathways-for example, the visual or auditory pathways converging onto a neuron.

“This was thought to be difficult because the connections from inhibitory neurons to excitatory neurons appeared dense and unstructured,” said Yang.

“Thus a surprising finding from our study is that the precision required for pathway-specific gating can be realised by inhibitory neurons,” added Yang.

The study appears in the journal Nature Communications.

PTI

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“Modi poisons the society and makes Indians fight each other. It is unfortunate that the pain and problems of the farmers are not reaching the Prime Minister. Their (SP, BSP and BJP) governments have only looted the people and given nothing to them.”

-Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President

Low inflation raises hope for rate cut P 14

Centre-mediated Cauvery talks make no headway

Tamil Nadu blames Karnataka for not following SC order, latter says TN is in a ‘more comfortable’ position NEW DELHI: A meeting convened by the Centre to iron out differences between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka on the impasse over Cauvery river water sharing failed to achieve any breakthrough. At the meeting, Tamil Nadu accused upper riparian Karnataka of treating with “utter contempt” Supreme Court’s orders on river water sharing and defying them “deliberately and systematically”.

It alleged that Karnataka has not released the stipulated annual water quantum of 192 TMC ft, as ordered by Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal in its final order in 2007, in any of the years, “except when the reservoirs in Karnataka could not hold the surplus flows”.

In her written speech for the meeting, read out by state chief secretary Rama Mohana Rao, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa also voiced concern over “spate of arson and violence unleashed on Tamils living in Karnataka”.

Jayalalithaa could not attend the meeting as she is unwell.

“The deliberate defiance goes against the spirit of the Constitution itself and amounts to contempt of the apex court.

Karnataka has not followed the orders

BY ADITI KHANNA

LONDON: Some British Indian men are among a broader South Asian group in the UK who are guilty of mistreating and abandoning their wives in their countries of origin, a new report by a UK University has found.

Lincoln University’s ‘Disposable Women: Abuse, Violence and Abandonment in Transnational Marriages’ described the practice as an emerging form of violence against women, “especially in the context spanning the UK and the Indian subcontinent”. “Abandonment of wives by non-resident Indian (NRI) men in transnational marriages has become a widespread phenomenon.

Although the focus of this report is on the specific experience of abandoned women in India experience shows that their appalling accounts of abuse and abandonment are also echoed by women from Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere,” the report said.

“Ongoing demands for dowry, and escalating violence where such demands could not be met, were significant contexts for abuse for the majority of the women. Inability to meet dowry demands eventually triggered abandonment for most of the women left with their inlaws,” it added. The academics behind the report are now calling on the UK government to recognise the abuse of these so-called “disposable women” to be treated as domestic violence.

The report concluded: “Women who once resided in the UK (no matter how briefly) should be treated in all

‘Sharing water detrimental to our needs’

School girls write letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to intervene in Cauvery issue in Bengaluru

of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and has on the other hand permitted unruly elements,” Palaniswamy quoted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa as stating in her written speech.

She termed as “orchestrated” the alleged targeting of Tamils in Karnataka following SC’s interim order on September 5 which asked the upper riparian state to release 15,000 cusecs of water per day for 10 days to her state.

“Tamils had been persecuted and attacked with impunity by frenzied mobs with little or no effective restraint or action by the Karnataka authorities.

“In contrast, despite the dire provocation, Tamil Nadu government had taken every effort to ensure that law and order is maintained perfectly,” she said.

The family feud War has broken out in the Samajwadi party at the most inopportune time. Six months before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the family of Mulayam Singh Yadav is torn asunder with quarrels galore. His Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav is on one side and younger brother and party strongman Shivapal Yadav on the other.

Mulayam Singh may be projecting himself as a disciple of veteran socialist leaders Ram Manohar Lohia and Madhu Limaye, but his party is one in which his family takes a predominant position.

Dynastic politics or politics promoting the family has taken a new high under Mulayam whose 23 family members are either MLAs, Ministers, MPs, MLCs or in influential positions like Chairpersons of banks as also zilla parishads. The adage ‘more is merrier’ applies here in a different way.

The fact is that while Mulayam played national politics or was the Chief Minister, Shivpal Yadav has built the organisation since its inception way back in 1992. He was content in playing the second fiddle till his brother was the Chief Minister or party chief.

Problem has started nearly five years back when Mulayam suddenly made his son Akhilesh the Chief Minister antagonising the veterans in the party including Shivpal for whom it was virtually a bolt from the blue. Akhilesh deserved it as he was the face of the SP campaign as he bicycled his way to power. Bicycle is the symbol of the party.

Since then, it was an uneasy truce in the party.

Akhilesh, being the young man, was projecting the idea of development while Shivpal insisting that the politics

Some NRIs abandon wives in India

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and party’s UP president Shivpal Yadav during oath ceremony for new ministers at Governor house in Lucknow

of caste and creed could alone retain the relevance of Samajwadi Party.

As one commentator aptly put it, Mulayam Singh is now like the Bhishmacharya lying on a bed of arrows in the final days of the Mahabharat war.

This is because no one is listening to Mulayam and everyone is hailing him as the supreme leader of the party.

The crisis is in fact triggered by the fact that there is growing impression among political circles that aging Mulayam would not be active politically for long and therefore time is of the essence to make the right moves to inherit the organisation.

Mulayam has played politics of convenience at the national level. He dumped the Left by coming out of the People’s Front formed by them some two decades back. He also turned back against Congress around that time when attempts were made to make Sonia Gandhi Prime Minister after the Vajpayee Government lost the trust vote by one. The Uttar Pradesh election would decide how deep is the problem for Mulayam and his party.

PTI Feature

Vol-III* lssue No.: 16 Editor: Tushar Burman (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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Noting Tamil Nadu is in “dire need” of water, she urged the Centre to ensure Karnataka obeys the Supreme Court order and releases water as directed by the apex court besides clearing the backlog of 76.042 TMC ft as on September 26.

Jayalalithaa insisted that the Centre constitute the Cauvery Water Management Board as ordered by the Supreme Court. However, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Tamil Nadu is in a “more comfortable” position than his state.

He said the ground reality is such that “no further releases from Karnataka can be directed without destroying the standing crops and causing shortages in the drinking water supplies”.

PTI

CBI arrests senior judge in bribery case NEW DELHI: CBI has arrested a senior judge of Tis Hazari court and her husband here while allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 4 lakhs from a lawyer, who was appointed as local commissioner in a case adjudicated by her.

Rachna Tiwari Lakhanpal, Senior Civil Judge, Tis Hazari court was arrested while allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 4 lakhs from an advocate at her residence in Gulabi Bagh. The advocate Vishal Mehan was also arrested by the agency, sources said. Alok Lakhanpal, husband of the judge, has also been arrested in the case, they said. During searches at the judge’s residence, cash amounting to Rs 94 lakhs was seized by the agency along with two locker keys and other material, CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said.

During initial questioning, the advocate told the sleuths that the money was allegedly meant for the judge, Gaur said. The team then took the accused advocate to the residence of the judge where he allegedly handed over Rs 5 lakhs to Lakhanpal while she gave Rs one lakh to the lawyer as his cut, he said.

PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister K Siddaramaiah said the state cannot spare any quantum of water for Tamil Nadu as it will be detrimental to drinking water requirements of its people.

Speaking to the media after a meeting on the issue between the two states convened by Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati, he noted the state’s demand to send a central expert team to assess the ground reality has been turned down by Tamil Nadu.

“We explained the ground situation at the meeting. We need water for drinking, while Tamil Nadu wants it for Samba crop,” Siddaramaiah said.

On “defiance” of the SC order, he said, “It is not defying the order.

The National Water Policy says the first priority should be given to drinking water and then to irrigation and other purpose. This is what we are demanding,” he said.

He said, “We have complied with earlier SC order and released 12,000 cusecs of water. Now, we don’t have water.”

respects as domestic violence victims Transnationally abandoned women should be issued with temporary visas to avail the UK’s Domestic Violence Rule.

“At the point of their visa application, British embassies abroad should give women a leaflet setting out their rights and entitlements under the UK immigration and family law.”

As most women tend to hide the fact that they have been abandoned by NRI husbands based in the UK, the academics spent more than a year finding 57 women in India who had experienced the phenomenon and were willing to share their stories. Sundari Anitha, from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln, spoke to women personally affected on a number of trips to Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat.

“The stigma is massive and it even has an impact on other people in the family.

So a woman’s sister will find it harder to get married. She will find it harder to get a job, she faces financial insecurity and she’s seen as damaged goods - primarily because the assumption that she had sex,” she said.

PTI PTI

TROUBLED JOURNEY

Border villagers migrating after government asked people to vacate their villages falling in 10 km range of international border with Pakistan as a precautionary measure following India’s surgical strikes in PoK, near Attari

Thanks, say Jews for getting minority status The Jewish community in the Pune city is thankful for the minority status granted to it after the Government of Maharashtra approved the proposal in the month of June 2016. Senior members of the community said that this would not only give the community not only the recognition, it deserved, but also spread awareness about them and help them to contribute towards the welfare of the community.

In the words of Mr. Daniel Penkar, president of the Succath Shelomo Synagogue, “This is a welcome move and there is a general feeling of gratitude and happiness among the members of the community. The government has done the right thing and it is commendable.”

“Jews will now be able to avail all government schemes and subsidies and scholarships for the. “He further added.

A Synagogue is a Jewish house of worship. It is the Jewish equivalent of a church, mosque or temple.

Jews are now India’s seventh minority group, along with Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis. India is one of the few countries in the world where Jews have never faced

any harassment or persecution. The Jews of India are not one singular community.

Among themselves they are divided into different communities. Each community has its own culture, background and origin. Each community claims its arrival in India in different ways and times and it is not always clear how they really came to India. The oldest Indian Jewish community is in Kerala, based in the port city of Cochin. They have been in India for at least 1,000 years if not more.

At the time of independence, there were seven active synagogues in Kerala.

The world-renowned Paradesi

Synagogue was first built in 1568, reconstructed in part and enlarged over the years. Today the Paradesi Synagogue is said to be the oldest functioning Jewish house of prayer not only in South India, but in the whole country, and even the entire British Commonwealth. The Baghdadi Jews consists of Jews from West Asia, mainly from Baghdad and Syria who came in the 19th century as traders and refugees.

The Bene Ephraim (also called “Telugu Jews”) are a small group who speak Telugu; their observance of Judaism dates to 1981.The Bnei Menashe

Jews are now India’s seventh minority group, along with Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis

are Mizo and Kuki tribesmen in Manipur and Mizoram who are recent converts to Jewish religion.

In addition there are Ashkenazi Jews, who claim Israeli origin – speculated to be one of the lost tribes - and call themselves Bnei Menashe. Some believe that when the kingdom of Judah was destroyed and Jerusalem taken by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, some of the Jews reached the West Coast of India.

Oral tradition and probably the most favored one is that they descended from the Jews who fled in 175 BCE, from the Syrian- reek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes, were ship wrecked at Navgaon near the port of chaul on the Konkan Coast.

Seven men and seven women survived and from there the Bene Israel spread to many of the surrounding villages in the Konkan. Most of the Bene Israel people have surnames ending with “kar” identifying with the villages where they resided. There are 142 such surnames. In a new study, it has been revealed that the Bene Israel community in India carries genetic proof of their Jewish roots.

PTI Feature

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

A different mind game for GM Dhopade P 16

“At moments like this, I think it’s important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. They are trying to hurt innocent people, but they also want to inspire fear in all of us.”

- Barack Obama, US President

Russia says Syria bombing continues amid US threats

Moscow-Washington ceasefire deal could have led to the two countries coordinating strikes on jihadists MOSCOW: Russia said it is pressing on with its bombing campaign in Syria despite the US warning it will end talks on the conflict if Moscow does not halt the assault on Aleppo.

A ceasefire deal hammered out between Moscow and Washington that could have led to the two countries coordinating strikes on jihadists has unravelled in acrimony, with both sides blaming each other for the failure.

Russia is backing up a ferocious assault by the forces of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to seize the rebel-held eastern half of the city of Aleppo that has sparked condemnation from the West. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted Moscow was still interested in seeing the deal with the US work out, but said Washington had failed to deliver on its side of the bargain.

“We have unfortunately taken note of the rather unconstructive character of the rhetoric from Washington over the past few days,” Peskov said.

“Moscow maintains its interest in cooperating with Washington for the realisation of the agreement.”

In the meantime, Peskov said “Moscow is continuing its air operation to support the anti-terrorist actions of the Syrian armed forces.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that possible plans to set up a

Talks ‘very difficult with bombs falling’

In this photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, Syrians inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes by government helicopters on the rebel-held Aleppo neighborhood of Mashhad, Syria

joint US-Russia military cell to target jihadist groups in Syria could also be put on hold.

Kerry and Lavrov have been leading international efforts to bring Syria’s five-year-old civil war to an end, and on September 9 agreed to demand a ceasefire. Moscow was to order its ally Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to rein in his military and end the bombardment of civilian communities, and Washington was to persuade rebel

PUNE

forces to separate themselves from the jihadist Fateh al-Sham, the former Al-Qaeda affiliate once known as AlNusra Front. But fighting continued and the truce collapsed.

In Moscow, the defense ministry said that it was “ready to continue joint work with our American partners on the Syrian issue” but gave no sign that Russia is ready to ground the Syrian air force.

PTI

PTI

NATURE’S WRATH

VATICAN CITY: The UN envoy for Syria said there was little prospect of an imminent restart of negotiations to try to end the raging conflict. “At the moment, when bombs are falling all over, it is very difficult to justify resuming talks,” Staffan de Mistura told AFP after he met Pope Francis at the Vatican.

Russia said it was ready to relaunch talks in Geneva with the United States following the collapse of a ceasefire. But Washington threatened to suspend its engagement with Russia following escalating bombardments on rebelheld parts of the city of Aleppo.

De Mistura said he welcomed Francis’s willingness to speak out over the attacks, after the pontiff warned that God would hold those responsible for the Aleppo bombing to account.

“We are in a very critical moment, that’s why it is so essentially urgent to have the voice of people with the moral authority of the pope about the fact that there is no military solution,” de Mistura said.

NIEUWEGEIN (NETHERLANDS): The missile that downed flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine was transported from Russia, a criminal inquiry revealed, as it announced that about 100 people were being investigated for playing “an active role” in the disaster.

Saying they had “irrefutable evidence” that the BUK missile system was used to blow the Malaysia Airlines plane out of the sky, investigators also for the first time pinpointed that the device was fired from a field in a part of eastern Ukraine then controlled by pro-Russia separatists.

The findings of the Dutch-led probe stopped short of directly accusing Moscow of involvement in the tragedy in July 2014, and both the rebels and Russia issued fresh statements denying any responsibility. But the new details appeared to back up accusations from Ukraine and the West that pro-Russian rebels were to blame using a missile which may have been provided by Moscow.

The Boeing 777 was ripped apart mid-air during a flight from Amsterdam

to Kuala Lumpur over Ukraine, where a war pitting separatists allegedly armed

by Russia against the Kiev government erupted in April 2014.

All 298 people on board the plane including 196 Dutch citizens were killed.

Despite two official international investigations, the burning question of who gave the orders and who pulled the trigger remain unresolved. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed the inquiry’s initial findings saying: “We have solid proof of who is to blame for this dreadful crime and who bears full responsibility for the terrorist attack.”

A “BUK missile from the 9M38series” was used that “came from the territory of the Russian Federation,” said Wilbert Paulissen, the head of the Dutch police investigation.

When it reached Ukraine it was transferred onto a white Volvo truck and escorted by armed men in uniform.

Afterwards the missile launcher system “was taken back to Russia,” Paulissen said.

PTI Wilbert Paulissen of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) speaks on the preliminary results of the investigation into the shootingdown of Malaysia Airlines jetliner flight MH17 during a press conference in Nieuwegein, Netherlands. The disaster claimed 298 lives

I won’t say ‘Islamic terrorism’

BY LALIT K JHA

Volcanic material from the eruption of Mount Barujari is seen from Bayan, Lombok Island, Indonesia. The volcano erupted without warning, delaying flights from airports on the islands of Lombok and Bali

MH17 missile ‘came from Russia’

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has defended his decision not to use the term ‘Islamic terrorism’, saying it is a “sort of manufactured” issue and there is no religious rationale to associate Islam with those who have “perverted and distorted” it as an excuse for their barbarism.

“The truth of the matter is, is that this is an issue that has been sort of manufactured, because there is no doubt that where we see terrorist organisations like Al Qaida or ISIL, they have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death,” Obama said at a military town hall in Virginia.

“These are people who kill children, kill Muslims, take sex slaves. There’s no religious rationale that would justify in any way any of the things that they do,” he said. Obama said he has been careful to make sure he does not lump these “murderers” into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who in this country are

troops and police officers and firefighters and teachers and neighbours and friends.

“What I learned from listening to some of these Muslim families both in the United States and overseas is that when you start calling these organisations ‘Islamic terrorists’, the way it’s heard, the way it’s received by our friends and allies around the world is that somehow Islam is terroristic.

“That then makes them feel as if they’re under attack. In some cases, it makes it harder for us to get their cooperation in fighting terrorism,” Obama said in response to a question.

“If somebody uses the phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ that it’s a huge deal? No There’s no doubt that these folks think that — and claim that they’re speaking for Islam.

But I don’t want to validate what they do.”

Obama said even some people “aspiring” to be president should refrain from such language. He said religious tests for immigration were a “slippery slope.”

“The dangers where we get loose in this language, particularly when a president or people aspiring to become president get loose with this language, you can see in some of the language that we use — in

talking about Muslim-Americans here, and the notion that somehow we’d start having religious tests in who can come in the country, and who’s investigated, and whether the Bill of Rights applies to them in the same way,” he said.

Describing the overriding of his veto of the 9/11 bill by Republican-controlled Congress a mistake, Obama said if the United States knew that a country was helping a terrorist, his administration would call it a state sponsor of terrorism.

“If we know that a country was helping a terrorist, then we’d call them a state sponsor of terrorism. And they don’t have immunity, and you can sue them anyway,” Obama said after both the chambers of the Congress the House of Representative and Senate voted to override the president s veto of the 9/11 bill.

“But that’s a judgment that we make based on the intelligence that we have, based on our military assessment.

And in this situation, we did not make such an assessment, that Saudi Arabia was a state sponsor of terrorism,” he said.

PTI

Slain editor’s body Many Indians to contest for Oz polls exhumed after 7 yrs

BY NATASHA CHAKU

COLOMBO: The body of a Sri Lankan newspaper editor, whose assassination under the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in 2009 remains unsolved, was exhumed to aid a new investigation into his murder.

Lasantha Wickrematunge ran the Sunday Leader, which was frequently critical of the government of former president Rajapaksa. The exhumation was conducted by Colombo magistrate Mohamed Mihan in the presence of medico-judicial officers at the Colombo General Cemetery. The suburban Mount Lavinia court had ordered the exhumation after the Crime Investigation Department (CID) asked for it. The CID had claimed that all previous forensic reports were contradictory.

“The body was moved to the Judicial Medical Officer’s office after exhumation. It will now be examined by a team of doctors,” Athula S Ranagala, the lawyer of the late editor’s family told

reporters. He said the CID had asked for an exhumation due to the contradictory results in previous forensic reports.

One of the reports had said that he died of gun shot injuries while the other cited stab wounds as the reason of his death. Wickrematunga was murdered on a motor way at Attidiya, a Colombo suburb while he was driving to work alone on January 8, 2009.

In January 2009 he had written an editorial saying he believed he would be killed by the government and that an inquiry would come to nothing. He was killed by unidentified attackers in Colombo three days later. His death came at a time of intense restrictions on the media in Sri Lanka. After his surprise win in elections in 2014, the new president, Maithripala Sirisena, vowed to reform Sri Lanka’s treatment of the media and to reopen the investigation into Wickrematunge’s murder.

PTI

MELBOURNE: A record number of Indian-origin candidates will contest local council elections next month in Victoria, home to Australia’s largest Indian population. According to official figures, Victorian Electoral Commission received total nominations from 2,135 candidates for 637 councillor posts across 78 councils in the state.

In the upcoming elections, over 50 Indian-origin candidates will contest the election, the largest representation by the community for the first time.

Whyndam city council, the western region of the state, recorded the highest number of over 14 Indian-origin candidates as compared to other councils.

Whyndam, which had elected its first two Indian origin councillors in 2012, Gautam Gupta and Intaj Khan, received the highest nominations of total 95 candidates including of Indian background. Gupta, councillor and the first Indian-origin acting mayor of Whyndam, stressed that for any community to have representation in

Australia politics was imperative in a bid to show the community integration into wider community. Though his agendas as a politician would revolve around several local issues like hospitals and infrastructure, for Indian community he said it would be working on an Indian precinct in his council.

“We started several campaigns including ‘Racism:it stops with me’, multicultural business awards, Diwali and Holi Fest in Whyndam which were well recognised by both community

and government and I will continue to work towards better infrastructure and multicultural issues if re elected,” Gupta, who is again running from Chaffey ward this year, said. For Pathankot-born Monica Raizada, it was her first time as a candidate and her work which she had been doing in domestic violence area prompted her to contest the local elections.

From Whyndam, one of the fastest emerging council in the state that holds 10 per cent of its total population from India, other nominees who will fight

(From L to R) Monica Raizada, Nildhara Gadani, Satnam Singh, Gupreet Gary Verma, Hyma Vulpala

the elections include Satnam Singh, Kamal Ahmud, JS Aashat, Nirmal Singh, Dinesh Gourisetty, Himanshu Manocha, Sahil Gupta, Jagrutiben Dave, RJ Singh, Rishi Prabhakar and a high profile entrepreneur and millionaire Intaj Khan. A candidate of Casey council in south eastern region, Sid Banerjee said Indian community was the fastest growing community across the state and thus a higher representation.

“Migration from India has grown over the years and also that Indians love politics,” Banerjee, who migrated from Kolkata 11 years ago and works as a bank manager here, said.

Gary Verma, an IT professional who is running from Melton council said his aim was to bring more schools and solve local issues like high tax rate on real estate in the council. Other Indian-origin candidates from Melton council are Deepika Singla, Dilpreet Singh and Meen Solanki. Indianborn population has trippled since 2004 in Australia with Victoria recording the largest number of over 111,000 Indians apart from New South Wales.

PTI

MONEY MATT ER S

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“At this game-changing price, Mi Air Purifier 2 is set to disrupt the air purifier category in India, enabling us to bring these technological innovations to everyone.”

—Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi

Signpost Unemployment highest in five years Unemployment rate in India has shot up to a five-year high of five per cent in 2015-16, with the figure significantly higher at 8.7 per cent for women as compared to 4.3 per cent for men, says a report by Labour Bureau. The figures could be an alarm bell for BJP-ruled government at the Centre, which has taken a series of steps such as ‘Make in India’ to create jobs for inclusive growth in the country. According to the fifth annual employment-unemployment survey at all-India level, about 77 per cent of the households were reported to be having no regular wage/salaried person.

Low inflation raises hope for rate cut Retail inflation dips to five-month low and industrial output growth slips into negative zone

BY CHANDRA SHEKHAR Declining retail inflation and shrinking factory output has set the stage for rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its October 4 policy review, which will also be the first of the new central bank Governor Urjit Patel.

The cheers following decline in retail inflation to five-month low of 5.05 per cent was dampened by the shrinkage in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which entered the negative zone. The IIP in July showed a contraction of 2.4 per cent, the worst performance in the past eight months.

These twin developments, however, revived the hope of rate cut by the RBI in its next policy review which is due on October 4. The official data released showed that the retail inflation fell below the 6 per cent level, largely on account of a slower rate of price increase in vegetables, food and beverages, from nearly a two-year high of 6.07 per cent in July. The latest reading of price rise, based on the consumer price index (CPI), is the lowest since March 2016 when it stood at 4.83 percent. In August 2015, it was 3.74 per cent.

Registering a dismal show, industrial production shrank 2.4 percent in July, the lowest level in eight months, due to a declining output in manufacturing and capital goods sectors.

On a cumulative basis, the factory

India Inc backs surgical strikes India Inc rallied behind the Army’s move to conduct surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control and said it was time to act tough while ruling out any negative impact on the country’s economy and trade.

“Our civil n (sic) decent response in the past hasn’t been met with reciprocity so it’s time to act tough,” Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted.

Recalling an earlier tweet in which he had said “I trust our army. They know how to pursue & retaliate” in the wake of the Uri attack, industrialist Anand Mahindra said: “I don’t need to add anything more today...”

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahesh Gupta said there will be no impact on India’s trade and economy, adding that the volatility in the financial markets will also be short lived. India’s exports to the neighbouring country worked out to USD 2.17 billion, or 0.83 per cent, of the total Indian outward shipments while imports were less than USD 500 million, or 0.13 per cent, of the total inward shipments.

“The Indian economy has a strong bandwidth to deal with any possible after effects of the current state of tensions

“Investment from both the public and private sector will be required for financing projects in the areas of health, education, sanitation, renewable energy, highways, ports and railways among others.”

— Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister

output in April-July dropped by 0.2 per cent compared with 3.5 per cent growth in the year-ago period.

Enthused by easing retail inflation, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das exuded confidence that RBI will take into account improvement in the price situation while deciding on a rate cut in its next policy review.

“With regard to the rate cut, there is a direct relationship between the inflation figures and policy rates of the Reserve Bank. So, inflation has moderated as expected. I would therefore expect RBI to take this into consideration and take its call... I’m sure they will consider all the aspects and take a call,” Das had said.

On the twin macroeconomic data, an industry chamber said, “We look forward to calibrated policy measures from RBI in terms of reduction in policy rates. We also look forward to increase in public investments by the government to help domestic demand revive.”

According to IIP data, the previous low was witnessed in November last year when the factory output shrank by 3.4 per cent. Factory output, measured in terms of the index of industrial production (IIP), had grown by 4.3 per cent in July last year. IIP growth for June was revised downwards to 1.95 per cent, from a provisional estimate of 2.1 per cent released last month.

Referring to IIP numbers, Das said, “It is certainly a matter of concern, but let us also remember that the IIP data is a sample of 400 companies. So, they are not truly reflective of the state of affairs... the numbers which are in the negative zone... do not reflect the full picture.”

The official IIP data released showed that the manufacturing sector, which

Registering a dismal show, industrial production shrank 2.4 per cent in July, the lowest level in eight months, due to a declining output in manufacturing and capital goods sectors

constitutes over 75 per cent of the IIP index, declined by 3.4 per cent in July compared with 4.8 per cent growth a year ago. In terms of industries, 12 out of 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showed negative growth in July.

The capital goods output registered a steep decline of 29.6 per cent in the month against a growth of 10.1 per cent last year. Power generation recorded a growth of 1.6 per cent in July as against 3.5 per cent in the same month a year ago. The mining sector grew 0.8 per cent in July against a growth of 1.3 per cent a year ago. Growth in output of consumer durables decelerated to 5.9 per cent in July, from 10.5 per cent a year ago. The consumer non-durable goods output declined by 1.7 per cent in July against 4.4 per cent contraction a year before.

Overall, consumer goods production recorded a growth 1.3 per cent in July compared with 1.1 per cent a year ago.

As per the use-based classification, the growth rates in July 2016 are 2 per cent in basic goods and 3.4 per cent in intermediate goods over July 2015. For April-July, manufacturing sector’s output showed contraction by 1.4 per cent as against a growth of 4 per cent a year ago.

Production of capital goods, which are considered as a barometer for investment, declined 21.3 per cent in the four-month period compared with a growth of 4.2 per cent in year-earlier period.

According to official data, lower inflation in vegetables in August helped as the rate of price increase stood at a mere 1.02 per cent against 14.06 per cent in July. Food and beverage prices remained sticky as these grew 5.83 per cent in August in comparison to 7.96 per cent in July. However, the overall consumer food inflation in August fell to 5.91 per cent as against 8.35 per cent in July. Pulses roiled the scene at an

inflation print of 22.01 per cent against 27.53 per cent in July.

Majority of food items covered by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) to measure retail inflation showed a firm trend during the month. Elaborating on softening of retail inflation, Das said, “Last month, when the CPI number for July was released, which was 6.1 percent, we had said the CPI inflation will moderate and come down.”

He added: “This is on expected lines. The earlier rise of inflation was on account of rise in price of pulses and vegetables. Now there has been a significant moderation in pulses and vegetables. That mainly explains the inflation coming down to 5 per cent.”

Das expects inflation level to remain in a moderate zone and may go down further, depending on pulses prices, which “we are expecting to come down even further”. As per the data, cereals and products turned costlier, with inflation at 4.11 per cent. The readings for eggs came in at 9.58 per cent, milk and products 4.36 per cent and oil and fat 4.94 per cent. Among others, the rate of price rise in fruits came in at 4.46 per cent. CPI inflation in August for the urban segment was 4.22 percent while that of rural areas read 5.87 percent.

In view of these developments, the onus of taking a call on the interest will be on Patel who has taken over from Raghuram Rajan on September 4. Although the decision on the interest rate should ideally by taken by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), it is unlikely that the panel would be in place before the next policy review.

PTI Feature

‘Tough conditions call for hard decisions’

BY AMMAR ZAIDI

with Pakistan,” Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat said. The chamber said that while reaction in the stock market to the news of India’s surgical strikes was understandable, there is no cause of concern for the country’s economy which has the capabilities to withstand any extra costs to be borne for the sake of our national security. Ficci and CII declined to comment.

Exporters’ body FIEO Director General & CEO Ajay Sahai ruled out any negative impact on India’s trade with other countries. However, asked about the implications on India-Pakistan bilateral trade, Sahai said India’s move to review the most favoured nation (MFN) status accorded to its neighbour has raised some uncertainty for exporters on whether trade will normalise in future.

Reacting to reports of strikes, Sensex plummeted 465.28 points to end at 27,827.53; whereas the Nifty nosedived 153.90 points to 8,591.25. India carried out ‘surgical strikes’ on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, inflicting “significant casualties” on terrorists and those who are trying to support them.

PTI

He rarely gives public statements, let alone media interviews. But when he does, he lets his heart out.

Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry minced no words when he gave an interview to his group’s inhouse magazine. He said “challenging situations” confronted by some of its businesses require hard and bolder decisions on pruning portfolio even as he stressed that the conglomerate is open to acquisitions within and outside India, besides organic growth.

Mistry, who took up the baton at saltto-software conglomerate in December 2012 from his predecessor Ratan Tata, said he wanted the group firms to have speed and agility to adapt to turbulent environments even as he maintained that the existing debt level is not a matter of concern.

He said ‘green shoots’ of a turnaround are visible at Tata Motors and Tata Steel has potential to grow significantly while several Tata firms are gaining traction in two new markets of Iran and Myanmar.

“It was clear to me relatively early that one needed to confront the challenging situations facing some of our businesses, and ultimately this would entail hard decisions on pruning the portfolio,” he said.

Stating that there are no shortcuts, he said there would always be external influencers and so-called experts, who motivated by immediate transactional gains, would goad to churn portfolio.

“It is important that we develop our own prognosis based on knowledge and context, keeping all stakeholders in mind. We should not be afraid of taking tough decisions for the right reasons, with compassion,” he said. He said some of the innovations are incremental and the ‘dare to try’ concept does make the Tatas bold. “We have to start taking bolder steps because true value in today’s environment will not only be created from incremental innovation, but the bolder and bigger strides that we take,” he said. Mistry said each of the group companies is charting its own strategy and growth story, with the focus on sustainable and profitable growth. On some group companies having taken on significant debt, he said: “This has to be seen in the context of business growth, increasing cash from operations and capital projects under way which will lead to future growth. As the group has been growing significantly in the past, the total capital employed has also grown.

Proportionately, there has been an increase

in debt.”

Over the last three years, Mistry said, the gross debt across the group has gone up by about 2 per cent per annum in US dollar terms while cash and equivalents have grown at over 10 per cent, leading to a decline of 3.3 per cent in net debt. As of March 2016, the group’s net debt stood at about USD 24.5 billion. Capex on an average was USD 9

billion in each of the last three years. In 2015-16, cash from operations at USD 9 billion a year exceeded the capex.

“At the group level, therefore, the aggregate debt is not something I feel concerned about... Of course, for a more meaningful discussion, these numbers would require to be viewed at each company’s level,” Mistry reasoned. The group invested Rs 4,15,000 crore (USD 79 billion) by way of capex over the last decade. Of this, Rs 1,70,000 crore (USD 28 billion) was invested in the last three years alone.

“We recognise that growth has to be a function of the operating cash flows we generate. At the group level, over the last three years, our operating cash flows have grown by over 30 per cent CAGR,” the chairman stressed.

“At the group level, we are focused on helping our companies earn this right by building strong operational cash flows and looking at their capital structures.”

He has a word of caution though: Capex should not be looked in isolation from investment in talent, brands and technology, marking them as true differentiators in future.

“We are building the Tata group of the next 150 years,” he said.

PTI

States on board for scrapping plan/non-plan budgeting: Fin Secy

BY JOYEETA DEY States are on board to switch from ‘Plan/non-Plan’ budgeting to ‘revenue/capital’ spending from April 2017 and most will align their budgets accordingly, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said.

In an interview to PTI, Lavasa said the Rs 56,000 crore payout in August for wage arrears to government employees will not upset the fiscal deficit numbers for the April-August period of the current financial year as plan expenditure will shrink during monsoon.

Excerpts of the interview: Has the ministries implemented the suggestions of the expenditure management commission for reducing non-plan expenditure?

Lavasa: We have made good progress and almost 30 per cent of the recommendations they have been reported as implemented.

So there were recommendations pertaining to DBT, then there were recommendations pertaining to domestic LPG, kerosene subsidy reduction recommendations.

Then there were recommendations pertaining to digitisation of PDS beneficiary records. So for that guidelines have been issued. There was a recommendation on launching of non-tax receipts portal that has been implemented.

How do you plan to extend the coverage of DBT? Lavasa: We plan to extend DBT to 147 schemes

by March 2017. Right now there is 74. By and large, it is the food subsidy where we have been able to rationalise bring it down, similarly in case of fertiliser subsidy, non urea subsidy there has been a reduction. Pilot is going on in fertiliser subsidy. Pilot is going on in kerosene and fertiliser.

Pilot has also started for food. With regard to kerosene, for e.g. Chandigarh has already declared it is kerosene free.

Fiscal deficit in April-July had touched 73 per cent of BE. How do we see the April-August figures coming post the outgo of pay commission arrears? Will the numbers spurt?

Lavasa: No. If you look at the other side, which is the revenue receipts they are also showing good buoyancy. So compared to last year, the Gross

revenue receipts have gone up from Rs 2.15 lakh crore to Rs 2.63 lakh crore that’s an increase of Rs 48,000 crore. On the whole, situation is better than last year. Total receipts this years are Rs 2.63 lakh.

How much amount would have gone for the August salary including arrears?

Lavasa: Rs 84,000 crore is the liability of 14 months. The bill of Pay Commission recommendations is Rs 7,000 crore per month including arrears.

There is an internal committee on doing away with Plan-Non Plan classification. What has been the response of the states?

Lavasa: States have given positive response. I had a video conference with state finance secretaries on August 30. We have explained to them the changing of the format. The states are on board.

States only wanted to understand whether they can reflect their own schemes in the manner in which they want to which we said yes, they can reflect their schemes but our part is only as part as CSS are concerned.

Will states also change over expenditure clarification?

Lavasa: States will also automatically switch over (from Plan, Non- Plan classification to Capital and Revenue). It is up to them. Because after all the states have their own budget, they have their own assemblies.

Do we need to go to Cabinet for implementing Plan, Non-Plan classification?

Lavasa: We will be going to Cabinet for the Budget thing that will contain all the other changes also.

Is the Budget being preponed to January end from February end?

Lavasa: That is under active consideration. We are looking at the possibility of getting the Budget approved before March 31. On new schemes, the expenditure cannot be incurred till the Budget has been approved by Parliament. So for 2.5-3 months, no expenditure can be incurred on new schemes.

Secondly, there is complete clarity on the part of all the departments that this is the resource that they have got. So it will enable them to do their planning better. That will be the basic advantage.

PTI Feature

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

WATCH OUT Yummylicious Mewa kheer and Fresh fruits will be served for desserts.

When: Till October 10 Where: Mosaic, Crowne Plaza Pune City, Bund Garden Road

THE BOHEMIAN CANVAS AmplifyArt has booked Papertells Art Gallery and it’s whole campus for the first all Youth based Art exhibition.

Open to entries of Photography, Installations, Paintings, Fashion Design and Digital Art. You can Register for free (from any city), sell your art and keep each penny. Chief guest is Mr. Sukant Panigrahy (Kapala Sukant); renowned art director of Bollywoodknown for films like Dev D, Chak de India, Ek Tha Tiger, The Darjeeling Limited, Fitoor and many more.

When: October 2 Where: Papertells Art Gallery, Shivaji Nagar

complete without a variety of mouth watering Sashimi like Maguro and tako amongst many. Miyuki offers a host of Sushi and Sashimi preparations which are created using their signature ingredients.

When: Ongoin Where: Miyuki, Double Tree by Hilton, Chinchwad

NAVRATRI FOOD FESTIVAL What’s Navratri without a lot of dancing and some great food to go along with it? Keeping up with the spirit of Navratri, INCOSIA, a multicuisine restaurant from Pune is organising the Navratri Food Festival.

The food fest will comprise of a diverse collection of lip-smacking vegetarian appetisers and entrees to choose from such as Stuffed Tandoor Aloo, Paneer Mussallam, Palak Kofta, Paneer Lahori Tikka, Corn Tikka, Vegetable Lazeez, Paneer Tikka Lawabadar, etc.

When: Till October 15 Where: INCOSIA, Bavdhan

NAVRATRI SPECIAL AT MOSAIC Mosaic at Crowne Plaza Pune City Centre will host a nine day Navaratra food festival wherein Navaratri special vegetarian food will be served through the nine daysfor all meals. Appetising dishes like Sabudana wada, Kacche kele ke kebab and Shakarkandi ki chaat will be served in appetizers. The main course will include healthy Cucumber salad, the all time favourite Sabudana papad, creamy Matka dahi, irresistible Moong ghee ki daal,evergreen Methi ki subzi, inimitableHing dahi ke aloo,Kuttu Paneer pakode, and Kuttu ki poori.

SILK INDIA - 2016 Silk garment lovers can check out a wide array of traditional Indian weaves at Silk India 2016 Exhibition.

The exhibition brings you specialties and Different varieties of silk that are reared based on climatic and geographic conditions of which only four namely Tassar, Eri, Mulberry and Muga are the prominent ones. The expo will showcase live demonstration of weaving.

When: Till October 9 Where: Sonal Hall, Karve Nagar

VYASHTI SE SAMASHTHI ART EXHIBITION Experience the creative expressions of some acclaimed artists hailing from the heart of the nation, Madhya Pradesh, as they exhibit some of their master pieces at Tilting Art Gallery, Ishanya. The painting and sculpture exhibition titled Vyashti se Samashthi is influenced mainly from nature and will showcase some classic and aweinspiring collection curated from the group of seven award winning artists, namely, Anand Tehanguria, Devendra Singh, Jitendra Vegad, Praveen Narad, Rekha Shrivastava, Dr. Shikha Anand and Santosh Raikwar.

When: Till October 9 Where: Tilting Art Gallery, Ishanya, Yerawada

TREAT YOURSELF AT MIYUKI Miyuki, Japanese word for ‘Royal Seating’, gives you a peep into this colorful gourmet culture of Japan.

The new menu includes traditional Japanese preparations.

Guests will be able to choose from dishes such as Edamame, Donburi, Miso ramen, Maguronatto, Suigyu no yakiniku,Wasabi flavored panna-cotta and many more. No Japanese meal is

SCRUMPTIOUS SHAKES FOR THIS FESTIVE SEASON Chef Deepu recommends some lip smacking shakes for all people who are in liquid meal rut. Café Mestizo has just what you need that is to wake up your taste buds and deliver some variety to your glass He recommends’ Mestizo Blast dedicated to chocoholics and Banana caramel shake for all the health freaks.

When: Ongoing Where: Café Mestizo, Baner TEJAS GAIKWAD

WEEK THAT WAS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

We (the state) fully support the PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) in the project.

Water meters are a must in the city considering rising water usage. Meter system will also curb wastage of water.

- Girish Bapat, Guardian Minister

Beware, Brit-built bridges of Pune are in precarious state

Residents breathe in garbage stench here

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste

Structural audit report recommends urgent repairs of ten bridges in Pune, but work is yet to begin owing to red tape

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar The bridge over the Savitri river on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed on August 2, claiming a number of lives.

This bridge constructed by the British had passed its expiry date, and was still in use.

It cast focus on the state of the old bridges in Pune built by the British. Soon after the Savitri accident, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) mayor ordered a structural audit of 18 old bridges. C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd did the structural audit of these 18 bridges and submitted its report to the mayor as well as the administration. The report shows that ten bridges out of these 18 in the city needed immediate repairs. PMC made budgetary provision for the repair work worth Rs 7,72,00,000 of these bridges in August 2015 itself. But the repair work has not started yet, due to delay by the administration in tender procedure. There is now the risk to the lives of people who use these bridges every day.

Many of the ten bridges which need immediate repair were constructed by the British, and they have outlived their validity. C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd had recommended urgent repair work of Mundhwa bridge, Old Harris bridge, Shivaji bridge, Balgandharva bridge, Bopodi, Spicer College bridge, Wellesley bridge, Rajiv Gandhi bridge, Old Sangam bridge and Sambhaji bridge. It

BRIDGE

EXPECTED REPAIR EXPENDITURE

Old Harris bridge

Rs 83.32 lakh

Bopodi bridge

Rs 39.16 lakh

Spicer College bridge

Rs 26.62 lakh

Rajiv Gandhi bridge

Rs 14.97 lakh

P13

P11

repairs and consolidation work. Soon after the submission of the report to city development committee and mayor, Mayor Prashant Jagtap ordered immediate commencement of work.

PMC chief engineer Sriniwas Bonala said, “After the Savitri bridge collapse, we did structural audit of old bridges in the city immediately. The structural audit report recommended immediate repair work of ten bridges. PMC allocated Rs 7,72,00,000 for the repair work of these bridges. Before this report, PMC’s traffic department had done the structural audit of these 18 bridges in Pune in the year 2014.

This report recommended need of repair and consolidation work of 12 bridges out of 18 old bridges in the city. We already started the repair work of Dengle bridge and Bund Garden bridge, and work is still going on. Now C V Kand Consultant Pvt Ltd has suggested repair work of ten bridges. We have the budget so we will float a tender in the coming few days and then start repair work immediately.”

Mayor Jagtap said, “We got the report of C V Kand Consultant of structural audit of 18 old bridges. This is serious concern for us I ordered administration to start repair and consolidation work of these ten brides on immediate basis. We made budget provision of Rs 7,72,00,000 for the repair work. Very soon repair and consolidation work of these bridges will start.” tushar.rupanavar@ goldensparrow.com

Even as the city looks forward to Ganesh visarjan, the residents of Shivane, Uttamnagar and Kondhwe-Dhawade have to live a life of stink and stench that comes from the river as the administration releases water from Khadakwasla dam for immersion during these days. Layers of garbage and waste line the Mutha river bank.

“Imagine the faithful immerse the deity in this polluted river during Ganeshotsav. The authorities promise to make Pune one of the cleanest cities in India and here we have one of the dirtiest rivers that has turned into a dumping ground.

The government has not paid heed to our complaints to check river pollution,” said Sunanda Shinde, a resident of Shivane.

Shinde claims to have written to gram panchayat and health department. Shivane, Uttamnagar and KondhweDhawade areas come under the Shivane Gram Panchayat.

She said that the garbage vehicle of gram panchayat dumps garbage on the banks of the river and no action has been taken despite repeated complaints by the residents.

Shivane’s Riverview Society resident Naina Hemant Patil said that many residential complexes have come up along the riverside. “The river pollution has led to outbreak of many ailments in the neighbourhood. Cases of chikungunya have been reported from Kondhwe Dhawade, Uttamnagar and Shivane. Even the number of mosquito breeding sites have increased. During immersion, water is released from Khadakwasla Dam and it mixes with the garbage. So, people end up immersing the idol in polluted waters,” she said, adding that the residents had even staged protest and rally at the gram panchayat office.

Sneha Vihar resident Ganesh Shirsagar said that the area along the river has also become an unsafe spot as a body was recovered from the bank last week.

Shivane Gram Panchayat Officer Sandeep Deshmukh said, “We do not have a proper place to dump garbage because of land shortage. We need a proper waste dumping ground or landfill in the city.”

“We are awaiting reply from the government to our proposal to provide land for dumping garbage at the cluster zone near Nanded City,” Shivane Gram Panchayat Rural Development Officer Soma Khaire said. gunwanti.paraste@goldensparrow.com

EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE

The recently-held Pune Fashion Week was a star-studded three-day affair. Present were the country’s most celebrated designer labels, top models, Bollywood celebrities and latest designer collections. This year’s list of participating designers included names like Adam Saaks, Archana Kochhar, Nandita Mahtani, Rocky S, Satya Paul and more Wellesley bridge

Rs 70.91 lakh

Old Sangam bridge

Rs 76.26 lakh

Balgandharva bridge

Rs 75.70 lakh

Sambhaji bridge

Rs 57.44 lakh

Shivaji bridge

Rs 64.63 lakh

Mundhwa bridge

Rs 2.64 crore

Total repair work expenditure Rs 7.72 crore mentioned that there were cracks in these bridges that needed immediate repair.

There was also urgent need to replace of tar layer of roads over the bridges, gap

HIV, AIDS patients reel under drug shortage

Patients forced to buy medication from private medical stores at exorbitant rates as ART centre at Sassoon is facing a shortage

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 The nodal Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre on the Sassoon General Hospital premises, providing comprehensive services to persons suffering from Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), is facing a shortage of antibiotic drugs. Patients who seek regular follow-up treatment and medication allege that they are provided just ten to 14 days of medication instead of a month’s quota, forcing them to make rounds of the centre. They are told to purchase the drug from outside medical stores, but

the drug is not sold in private medicals.

Pravin (name changed), 29, is HIV positive. He lives in Somwar Peth and visits the ART centre for antibiotic drug medicine provided free of cost.

The medication helps patients ward off bacterial disease as it prevents the growth of the virus in the body, making patient able to live with the disease.

As Pravin had run out of the tablet stock, he requested the store keeper at the ART centre, but he was referred at an outside medical store. “As I asked for the tablet, the staff told me that the tablet was not available here, and told me to purchase it from outside a medical store in front of the hospital, which shocked me,” said Pravin. At the private medical store, the tablet was available for Rs 600. “I had no money so I left without purchasing the tablets and have to adjust with two days tablets,” he said. After a week Pravin went to the ART centre and got the tablets but only for 15 days instead of a month.

There are four nodal ART centres in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. They

are in Sassoon General Hospital, Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Yashawantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCM) in Pimpri and National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) on Senapati Bapat Road.

Apart from this, there are several link centres in corporation hospitals of the city. The oldest nodal centre is in Sassoon Hospital, that is on the ground floor of Infosys building. It is visited by 200 to 300 HIV / AIDS patients every day for availing the medicine tablets. Tablets are being given to AIDS patients when their CD4 count (number of cells in a cubic millimetre of blood) reaches around 250 less than the normal range of 400 to 1600. The monthly based tablets help patients fight the infections as they are more vulnerable to other common infections such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, jaundice fever, diarrhea, allergy etc.

These are commonly found in HIV patients due to a weakening immune system.

Johnson Vasant Kolhapure, president of Bahujan Sasmaj Party, Sassoon Hospital sector decried the shortage of the drug and demanded appropriate supply of tablets. “The shortage of tablets has been here for more than four months, which is leading hundreds of patients to purchase medication from outside medical stores, spending thousands of rupees. The medicine falls under the category of ‘schedule H drug’ which is not supposed to be sold in private medical stores, Why it is being sold in private stores?” he said.

A doctor from the ART centre of Sassoon Hospital confirmed that there was a shortage of the drug, which was resolved now .

A D Sonavane, assistant director of Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS) under which the ART centre functions, refuted the charges of shortage of tablets, saying that it was seven months ago due to technical reasons. “There is no shortage of the tablets right now in Pune. There are 22 types of tablets provided to HIV patients. There is petition filed in court seven months ago when the shortage had occurred. But there is no shortage now,” he said. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

HIV/AIDS patients face grave ordeal

AIDS and HIV are the worst diseases somebody can get and it is alarming if Sassoon Hospital itself is facing shortages of these drugs. Drugs which may prevent growth of the virus in the body making the patient’s life liveable are an example of how far we’ve advanced medically. A medicine like that not available in the hospital store is scary. How much should people be made to suffer?

-Anil Jadhav

"MY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE IS PRETTY MUCH INTERTWINED"

TGS LIFE SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016 PUNE

The fact that her son understands everything that she has to say even before she has finished her sentence is the biggest boon for her, she believes.

Raajkumarri Mutha set up Tulips, which is a furnishing business in Pune, with just three other employees. Today, not only has the company expanded in the country but has also found a footing internationally.

Working with his mother since 2009, Sidarrth joined to help with the branding and marketing strategy of the venture. He came to the family business after a stint in Microsoft. Both of them have their duties and responsibilities defined, and this helps in the smooth functioning of the business.

“Of course my mother and I have had our set of disagreements when it comes to certain decisions that needed to be taken for the company. But nothing that a little discussion can’t solve. My personal and professional life is pretty much intertwined since I work with mom. It is quite difficult to switch off when we get home; we are always talking about work,” explains Sidarrth. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, being related and this is extremely helpful in the office space since we then know what the other person will be able to manage without help, he adds.

His mother absolutely loves the fact that other than being able to teach him, she too is learning so much from him.

She is thrilled at the fact that her son is passionate about the business and is not just in it out of familial obligation. The fact that the two of them work together so well is why the company has been able to progress as it has, she believes.

FEATURES

FOLLOWING IN THE PUBLISHING FOOTSTEPS OF THEIR PARENTS

TGS LIFE SEPTEMBER 17-23 , 2016 PUNE

FEATURES

THE FESTIVE SEASON IS HERE! Few young adults today actually join the family business. But those that do so willingly, bring to the table a flavour of their own

By Salonee Mistry @SaloneeMistry

H

ave you ever wondered what it would be like if your mother or father had to be your boss? If you have a family business, you likely already know, and if not then popular culture and conversationmust have given you an

idea. As with every situation, there's a good side and a bad.

On one hand there is the advantage of having shared values and knowing how to behave around your boss, since you share a lifelong history. But, there is also the burden of high expectations and the possibility of work being brought home.

TGS talks to a five families from the city to understand the dynamics of working with the family, having your children as your employees and a parent as your boss. The children share with us what they have learned while working with their parents and having them as bosses, while the parents explain the advantages of having their kin work in the same office. Read on to find out what they had to say.

"WORKING WITH MY PARENT’S HAS MADE ME TOUGH" Ira Ghosh has been working with her parents for about nine years now. While her father Robbin Ghosh is the founder of Victorious Kidss Educares in Kharadi, her mother Saarada Ghosh is the principal there, and she a teacher. What started off as an internship in-between college semesters turned out to be her true calling, and she is happy that she decided to walk down this path. Other than the constant opportunities to learn from her parents, the best part of this arrangement for her is that they all

"MY FATHER BECAME MY INSPIRATION" Born and brought up in Bahrain, Faeza Ammar helped her father, Zoheb Saheeb set up the business that both of them run today. Moving it to Pune in 2004, the business slowly started growing and went from a team comprising just the two of them to a much larger organisation. Since this was her first job, Faeza too was still learning how things worked and her father was her guru in every way.

“My father became my inspiration for whatever task it was that I had to get done with. There were days when we would walk kilometres to get to our

office and in the most horrible weather conditions, but he never complained or gave up. He showed me what determination was and that is a quality that helps me even today,” she says. A lot of what he taught me while on the job was applicable in real life, and this correlation was probably possible since I was his daughter too. They found a way to work together and manage any disagreements that came along the way.

With the two of them, their biggest challenge is finding a middle ground when it comes to things like style of working or customer service.

share the same passion. Ira has no regrets in choosing this path. Discussing how their day went when back at home is a fun exercise for her. Ask her to pick a few reasons why she loves working with her parents and she says, “Working with my parent’s has made m tough. I started at level one just like everyone else and am never treated differently. My father getsas mad at me if I am tardy as he does with his other employees, and my mother makes sure that I keep all deadlines,” she says. The one thing that she

does find difficult if anything is the extremely high level of expectations that comes with working for your parents.

This too, she feels, only helps her grow.

For Robbin, the best part about having his daughter on board is that it is easier for him to communicate to her exactly what he needs. Having the same set of values makes it easier for them to work together, and he knows that her belief in the foundation is just as deep-rooted and strong as his is.

"WE DID NOT GET ANY PRIVILEGES EVEN THOUGH WE WERE THE OWNER’S DAUGHTERS"

PRESENTING ‘BEING MY DAD’S EMPLOYEE IS BOTH FUN AND STRESSFUL’ When Aviva Pundole started helping her father Cawas in their family-run shop CT Pundole & Sons, on MG Road, it was meant to be a part-time thing. A media and communications graduate, she hoped to use her academic skills to grow her father’s business and then move on to a job of her own. Eventually, she landed up joining him and working fulltime.

While working in a family business gives her the liberty to take leave when

she wants and has even helped strengthen her bond with her father, there are a lot of challenges to deal with too, she tells us. “Being my dad’s employee can be both fun and stressful. We are invariably always working, whether we are at home or in office. We are always together and this, in many ways, is both good and bad,” Aviva says. Ask her what is the one thing that she would like to learn from her father and while the list is big, his negotiation skills are right at the top.

Cawas feels that it is a good thing to have the next generation in line and working in the family business. It is even better when your children are not just in it because they can’t do anything else, but are passionate about the work and are taking the company to greater heights. Keeping up with the kin is quite the task, he believes, but also an important one. Giving them a little freedom to bring in their own flavour while they keep the tradition going never hurt anyone, he adds.

Working with her father, MA Tejani since 2008, Samana has grown up learning about the work that goes on in his office. Before joining him full-time, she interned at the office for a while to learn how things function. There are both positives and negatives to working with a parent, she tells us. There was constant mentoring for her and her younger sister Aasiya, and their father was more than happy to hand over the reins to them giving them ample room to explore.

“Our dad is an extremely patient person and receptive, as long as you make valid points. There is so much to learn working with him. We did not get any privileges because we were the owners daughter’s, and had to start at the bottom. We have worked our way to the top and that is what has made us who we are,” says Aasiya. Samana adds, “The only flipside of having your father as your boss is that when there is any disagreement, you can’t lose your temper. There is not much room for argument and this can get challenging at times.” The fact that work goes with them wherever they go is also something that they wish they could avoid. Samana now heads the operations department at Gits Food Products Pvt. Ltd while her sister is the director of finance.

When we spoke to their father, M.A Tejani he tells us how he is always trying to keep up with his daughters. Both of them were academically trained to do what they do, and so he always knew that they would eventually step into his shoes. “Most of their thoughts are extremely similar to mine given that they are my children, and this is something that helps keep conflicts at bay.

They love taking risks, while I am the more cautious one. Being their boss and their father, it is my job to show them the right path to ensure that they don’t make the same mistakes that I made,” he explains. It is, however, a great experience for him to be working with his daughters and he wouldn’t have it any other way. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

Brit-built bridges in bad condition After reading your story on how the bridge over Savitri river collapsed taking lives, I got a lump in my throat. It was a heartbreaking incident that could have easily been avoided had our municipality been a little more concerned. I am really appalled that we have not kept such old infrastructure in check knowing well that relying on these structures is not safe. These structures built by the British are at least 70 years old and it is obvious that they will be in an unreliable A condition.

The Sanghvi bridge shakes The environment when a truck passes it. inspires herover paintings -Anupama Sadhvi TGS LIFE

Working with parents

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Your story on children walking into the footsteps of their parents reminded me of my own time as a student. I had started working under my father as an intern and it was a really tough time as, even though he was my own father, as a boss he was not easy going at all. He used to always keep a tab on my assignments through his assistant. I was a marketing student and I was helping out with his social media presence. His attitude in the office and that at house was completely different.

For him, I was a marketing professional during work hours, and he would always advise me about my mistakes and also pat my back on my successes. It was a great learning curve. Your story was a really interesting mix of perspectives from all such children.

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VOX POPULI Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Pravin Mundhe, recently demanded the scrapping of free parking policy on city roads and increasing the fine for vehicles parked in ‘no parking’ areas. He believes that implementing this measure would help address traffic problems in the city.

We caught up with a few Puneites and asked for their opinions on the issue Labanya Maitra Student I think it’s a good idea. Even parking on the side of the road needs to be looked at. It contributes to a lot of traffic jams and congestion especially when people start double parking till they’re essentially in the middle of the road.More parking lots will result in more structured road habits which is absolutely essential, especially in a city like pune where road sense is anyway on the negative side.

Kanksha Raina Researcher There is an urgent need for proper and wellorganized parking lots in Pune. I think that the idea of charging people for parking is good, but on two aspects - one, the money for the parking lot shouldn’t be used for the profit of the place that owns the lot (prices will surge, and that is unfair to the citizens. Two, the parking lots should have a decent space for cars and bikes. That being said, I think that no free parking will not only urge the PMC to construct more well-functioning parking lots, but will also encourage citizens to use public transport, or carpool. If that gets encouraged, the PMC will also be pressured, in a way, to develop a better public transport system as well.

Shreya Popli Student I believe that there should be parking charges but they shouldn’t be exorbitant and should be fixed area wise. Off course if parking is above Rs 60-70, I will want to park elsewhere.There needs to be a balance in deciding, who comes to which place and how much will they be willing to spend on good parking space. A lot of parking lots are also inconvenient to park at as one has to walk a lot from the parking space. I think more than bigger things, little human things should be kept in mind.

Ushnav Shroff Writer I’m of the opinion that the system of parking should continue as normal. What if I park my bike just for a minute to run and get something from a shop? It seems unfair that I would have to pay just for a mere minute’s stalling.

PUNE

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Suicide: Depression major cause, women attempt more than men

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SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016 PUNE

FEATURES

Belonging to an army family, painter Tenaz Rao often had to move from one country to another and this reflected in her art

By Salonee Mistry @SaloneeMistry

rt, specially painting, is something that started off simply as a hobby for Tenaz Rao. Her parents enrolled her in classes as a child and for a long time, she never even realised that she wanted to make a career of it. It was in 1978 that she began pursuing painting professionally, and has only grown as an artist since. She got a diploma in commercial art from Abhinav Kala Vidyalaya, Pune and started working as a freelance artist taking up projects that interested her. For a week starting today, she will be exhibiting a few of her paintings at the Gyaan Adab Centre in Kalyani Nagar. Living in the Cantonment area in Pune, a lot of her work reflects the lush green environment

that she is surrounded by. Just as she gets ready for her exhibition, TGS speaks to her about what inspires her work and the challenges that she faces.

The exhibition is going to

be a collection of abstract and semi-realistic work in acrylic. It explores the world of abandoned buildings and the power that nature around us emits. The use of colour throughout the series is

striking, while it reveals powerful visual narratives too. “My work has always been inspired by the area or city that I have lived in. If I am able to capture this in my work, it means I will be grab the attention of the

people living there,” she explains.

When she was in Tejpur, she did an entire series on landscapes and scenery because that is what she was surrounded by. When in Muscat, a lot of her paintings were about birds, rendered in pen and ink. The surroundings tell you a lot about the people and what they like, she feels.

When Tenaz started painting commercially, she did a lot of realistic work and started with watercolours.

She then moved to poster colours and eventually to oil paints. Because oil paints took a long time to dry, she moved to acrylic and has been using them as a medium ever since. This way, she is able to churn our paintings and work out faster, she explains.

Moving from doing realistic work to abstract was an extremely challenging task, she tells us. There is a lot that is left to the imagination of the onlooker when the work is abstract, and this is something she took time getting used to.

“Nature and the outdoors are my strength when it comes to painting. I am not very good at human forms, and so never even opted for it in college. I love using a lot of colours in my work to help highlight what I feel is important in the image,” she says. The fact that she can work at her own pace and doesn’t have to work with anyone else is a huge plus for her.

Tenaz also holds classes and in the future wants to find a way to do social work through her profession, and what she knows best: painting. salonee.mistry@goldensparrow.com

Outliving life: The story of an 81-year-old painter Positioned in a small house which was once his wada, lives Srinivas Vaidya, a painter completely unknown

By Gulal Salil @gulalsalil

L

ong before the modern-day Amar Chitra Kathas, there was the art of painting religious figures for book covers and the illustrations within. Artists painted religious figures out of devotion, or as commissions from wealthy patrons or royalty. With digital art, the profession of a painter itself has morphed into design and illustration. The skill of painting every fold and wrinkle of skin by hand on a canvas continues to become a rarity. There is one such painter who lives in the crumbling space of Shaniwarpeth, perhaps as one of the last symbols of an almost faded Indian renaissance epoch. His name is Srinivas Vaidya.

Srinivas is the oldest living member of the Vaidya lineage. At 81, this man still paints in his small workshop in his backyard. His room is mostly scattered with pencil sketches and half-done paintings of his spiritual gurus sitting cross-legged. This space is where he spends most of his time now. Finding Srinivas Vaidya was an element of fluke rather than a tip off. An electrician working outside this particular home told us about him. As we were welcomed inside his home by his wife

and grandchildren, back to his workshop, he naturally felt a little unsettled by the sudden crowd. Eventually, the man narrated his story, in an English rich with vocabulary, something rarely experienced in these days of clipped communication.

A former government servant, he painted as a hobbyist, having spent almost all his weekends with brushes. “I used to have Saturdays off, which allowed me two days of useful indulgence,” he mentions. He has painted religious figures almost all his life, but has never accepted money for any of them.

“I have 250 book covers to my name, but I

don’t take commissioned work”, he says.

He describes the reason why most of his work remains either unpublished or lost, “Most of it got destroyed in the floods of 1961.

We had a big wada and over 70 families used to live here. The house was half-submerged and everyone left except us, since we thought we would rebuild this place.” In light humour he indicates the level at which the water was, saying “I am short so don’t measure it by my height.” Srinivas seems like a man who doesn’t regret much. While the house is in the middle of a disputed plot, he only mentions it very casually, “yes, something is going on, I

Such a hidden gem!

wouldn’t worry too much about it.”

“I follow Shri Narasimha Saraswati, who is the avatar of Dattatreya, and this painting,” he points to a huge oil on canvas, “is Shri Mahadev Akkal Goswami.” Most of his personal paintings are various acrylic renditions of the two figures, but the one which he points to is an oil on canvas, his first-ever attempt at oil painting. He talks about it with pride. “I was asked by a friend to paint this on the condition that I do it using oil paint. It was a challenge”, he smiles. The portrait is overwhelming, with its multiple folds and impossibly small details. He calls it his best work. From a distance, it looks like a digitally filtered photograph.

As he gives us a tour of his workshop he tells us, “I used to work in the room on the first floor before, but now I can’t climb the stairs because of my health, so I shifted my work here.” He talks about his health and old age with practicality and a certain comfort with the idea of mortality. When asked about his family members and whether they have any interest in painting, he mentions, “ Well, none of my children paint and apart from my father who was a painter too, no one in my family does this.”

He then calls his youngest grandson, pats his back and says in a tone pregnant with significance, “he paints.” gulal.salil@goldensparrow.com

I was really surprised to read about Srinivas Vaidya, the 81-year-old painter

Yash Thakur Filmmaker I don’t think its a good idea.There is no reason to build more parking lots and shepherding people into paying for parking isn’t going to help anyone.

If anything, charge for parking on 2 wheelers.

There are tons of them, and they use up most of the spaces.

in your Life Edition. Life gives all sorts of surprises and i couldn’t fathom how such an interesting person and great painter never got any coverage before. It was nice that you did a story on him and gave him recognition for something he has been doing since so long in his long life. It means a lot to know how far someone’s humility and passion can take them. Constant hard work regardless of whether people see it or not always pays off. I teared up when i read about him.

-Krishna Jain

Great to see such corporates working for societal upliftment I am really impressed to see that there are corporates doing such important and innovative work in giving back to society. What really caught my attention was the fact that most of these have been doing CSR work regardless of the existence of the Companies Act of 2013. Even a midsize company like Giftease is seen trying to make a difference to people’s lives is impressing upon a world mostly filled with dread. And then, there is

Zensar trying to engage with ‘the last pocket’ as they call it. This article made my day as I truly believe that we all should contribute to everyone’s life by our own means possible.

- Deepraj Guliani THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016 PUNE

C

orporates are the backbone of the Indian economy. They create millions of jobs, and also boost the nation’s purchasing capacity by ensuring that the rupee retains its value. But more often than not, the corporates cater to the higher strata of society. So, it is not surprising that they also wish to give back something in return to society, and take up the cause of the strata that they have not done much for; their work force. This is what is termed as Corporate Social Responsibility.

The Tata and Birla groups invest a specific amount of their base profit to help the needy.

However, in 2013, the Government of India mandated that all companies above a certain base value, give back to society a specific amount of money. Under the Companies Act,

2013, any company having a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or more, or a net profit of Rs five crore or more, has to spend at least two per cent of its previous three years’ average net profit on CSR. This has made CSR mandatory for big companies.

But we tend not to give value to whatever has become mandatory. Instead of a genuine desire to help the needy, companies take the easy way out by collaborating with foundations and NGOs. This is why there is no connect between the companies and those they help. But there are the exceptions, companies that invest energy and effort in deciding how and whom to help.

Team TGS spoke to representatives of such companies, to gauge what they do and what motivates them. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016 PUNE

You could send a gift to a child in an orphanage through this initiative

It is better to give than to receive

W

Be it a science programme for children, providing solar power for the residents of a remote village in Maharashtra, giving gifts to poor children, training talented youngsters in sports, or developing leadership skills among people, here is an exceptional section of corporate India, that believes in and deals with the concept of social responsibility very seriously, even innovatively

BY GARGI VERMA AND GULAL SALIL @TGSWeekly

The academy has trained more than 150 children in football, cricket and hockey

Old buses have been restored to make mobile digital training centres

Their programme has helped schools in Ambedkar Vasti go digital

Z

ensar is a company that focuses on its employees volunteering for all its CSR activities so that social upliftment is not just fund-oriented, but a people-oriented effort. Their specialisation lies in essentially four tracks - Community development, Environment and Sustainability, Digital Literacy and Employability Enhancement, but without a rigid and strict formula. Their work essence lies in the fact that they can do anything and everything as long as it is innovative and has leadership at its core, as Hamsa Iyer, CSR Co-ordinator at Zensar explains. “I once got a request from an employee that his kid wanted to do terrace farming and whether that could be a CSR idea. We did it and the kid now helps with terrace farming all over the city,” she says, explaining how this would fall under the environment and sustainability track similar to the Urban Gardeners club running Udaan Biodiversity Park in Viman Nagar. The park is monitored by a few Zensar employees every weekend and mostly managed by the club which comprises of the community around it.

Like any other CSR activity by Zensar, this park is also an effort to empower and sensitise people about their own surroundings.

Zensar is involved in developing communities through education programmes like School Transformation, Gender Equity and Digital Literacy. Their major focus as far as school transformation is concerned, lies in Ambedkar Vasti in Chandan Nagar.

Zensar has tied up with the PMC (even the Udaan Biodiversity Park is a PMC property) to transform a group of schools in Chandan Nagar. The group is located in one complex and because of Zensar’s intervention, the school now is fully equipped with digital labs. “When we checked the task sheet of the teachers in the Chandan Nagar school, they

had 38 tasks listed in which none of them were related to teaching. These were all clerical and administrative tasks centred around the curriculum and so on. We intervened, introduced Chrome books in the school and made all ledgers cloud sustained with a robust database. After that we added a 39th task – teaching,” Hamsa said.

Zensar has also aligned itself with the National Digital Literacy Mission and introduced two digital literacy buses that act as mobile training centres for low and daily wage labourers. The buses train the labourers in how to do menial tasks like issuing PAN cards and booking tickets online. There are two teachers hired by Zensar for this who take classes in shifts throughout Pune.

There are various other programmes by the company which focus on making leaders out of people. The vision is to enter a community and render the existence of the intervention obsolete once the work is completed by making the community self-sustained. There is a lot of focus on what Zensar calls, ‘the last pocket’.

The policy for employee interaction in this group is very strict as to not instruct anyone from it regarding any decision, that it is their call. In an example, Hamsa explains this last pocket, “There was a kid whose father used to come back drunk every night from outside and beat him up. One of our volunteers interacted with the kid and suggested that he should talk to his father once. The kid took it and asked his father as to why he drank so much. The father didn’t stop drinking, but shifted his activity home.” She mentions how it may not be a huge step but it is at least a small milestone. Zensar has publicly released an app titled ZenCSR which is in its first phase of development. This app contains all the information of Zensar’s CSR interventions.

The Courtyard by Marriot team decided to travel to the distant village and installed solar powered electricity units at every house to provide them with lit-up surroundings after dark

They felt as if they were witnessing a miracle when solar power lit up their homes The SKF Sports Academy had a five-year programme of sports development for underprivileged children

S

KF India Ltd, a ball bearing, lubrication and seal manufacturing company founded out of Sweden, established its first Indian plant in Pune in the year 1965. SKF initiated its contribution to social upliftment in 2005, long before the Companies Act of 2013 was introduced. One focuses on India’s youth employment through the skill building ‘Youth Empowerment at SKF’ or YES programme, and the other on child mental and physical health development through the SKF Sports Academy.

“Our idea is to help underprivileged and uneducated youth get trained and employed every six months,” said Prashant Pednekar, the CSR Programme Manager at SKF Pune.

The YES programme made possible in a tieup with NGOs Don Bosco Pune and Sambhav Bengaluru, is a full-time, six-monthly skill building course to train automotive technicians.

Every six months, SKF inducts fifty students on an average and teaches them practical tools and skills to service automotives efficiently. They are creating employment amongst youth which is highly underprivileged. The criteria for selecting these young people is that they ought to fall in the age bracket of 18-25 and they only take those who have low educational qualifications. These are also selected on the aspect that they should have willingness to work, even more so, to open their own business. For any unskilled and uneducated person, working in garage is usually a long-hauled and slow progress. “When someone is hired at a service centre or garage, they are first taken in as a ‘chotu’ and it takes an average of ten

years for them to be called an ‘ustaad’,” Pednekar said. “We are trying to cut that time gap and help people get trained to become successful automotive technicians. Once a student has been trained to become a technician, we monitor him for a year on his on-job training and also provide him with starting funds if he wants to put up a business,” he said.

The YES programme was first introduced in Pune and now has been taken to Bengaluru as well, with the second plant of SKF being set up there. It was introduced in January 2015 in Pune, and 130 students have graduated already with the highest monthly salary right after the programme reaching up to Rs 12,500. This is a high jump from an average unskilled and uneducated worker’s salary of Rs 7,500.

The other flagship programme is the SKF India Sports Academy which runs a five-year holistic programme to train underprivileged children between the ages of 16 and 20. The academy has football, cricket and hockey training and it has trained more than 150 children so far.

The sports academy programme was the first CSR initiative by SKF. These trained children have gone on to become coaches or players in their chosen sport. SKF has its own dedicated football ground and has a tie-up with the Pune Football Club to enable the training.

Every year SKF India Sports Academy participates in the Gothia Club which is a youth football tournament. SKF academy’s girls football team also participated in the year 2015 and reached the quarter-finals.

C

ourtyard by Marriot is synonymous with luxury. But this deluxe brand has a strong sense of social responsibility.

With an energetic team of around 15 members, they have decided that 2016 is going to be a year of change. Since January 2016, the team congregates and develops new ideas every quarter, to give back to society. Their latest venture, undertaken in the month of September, is an upbeat and happy change from the regular food and clothes drives that most corporates come up with.

Dnyanupur is a small and remote village in the interiors of Pune district. Owing to its geographical location and other factors, the village had no electricity supply. Courtyard by Marriot’s CSR team has now installed a solar unit, capable of running two LED bulbs, a fan and two mobile charging sockets in every house in the village. Courtyard by Marriot General Manager Nasir Sheikh, 38, believes that this village electrification did benefit the villagers, and was also a big morale booster for the team.

S

“We used to be one of those companies that thought of their CSR ventures as an extension that worked in collaboration with the NGOs we were teamed with. However, we realised that the real deal is to make something happen by team effort and collaboration. There are still many villages like Dnyanupur that are deprived of electricity, with no one really caring to make a change. When I see these villages, I see a lot of children who don’t even have the opportunity for a better future. But now they can study after dark, and do not have to fetch firewood all the time,” he said.

Highlighting the reasons why they picked Dnyanupur, Sheikh said, “The closest motorable road is four km away from Dnyanupur, and from there, it is a steep trek to the village.

When it is so difficult to reach, why would anyone care for the 60 odd families living there?” For the Courtyard by Marriot team this wasn’t just a CSR venture. “It was more like a team outing for us. The residents of the village prepared food for as a mark of gratitude, which was one of the best meals of my life,”

cience seems to be a daunting prospect for students of municipal schools. They find it arduous or uninteresting to make headway with scientific subjects, and therefore, turn their backs on a career in the field of science. The well-to-do can afford to send their children for extra tuition classes to ensure that they understand their subjects. But the others find it hard to relate to science subjects and how they are applicable in our daily lives.

KPIT, a Pune based IT company, has developed a concept called ‘Chhote Scientists’, which aims to spark an interest in science among underprivileged students of standards VIII and IX, and motivates them to deal with real world issues by using practical applications and experiments. Under this programme, the firm’s employees devote a specific amount of time in inculcating the love of science among the students, and ensure that they are not deprived of resources and course material. It collaborates with Jnana Prabodhini to assess the needs and requirements of the targeted schools and students, and thereafter develop appropriate courses, and organize the necessary materials, activities, and methodologies. The courses generally culminate in a science exhibition, which is a platform for the participating students to showcase what they have learnt.

KPIT Chief Executive Officer Kishore Patil said, “The Chhote Scientists programme, launched in 2012, has benefited over 10,000 government school children

he said.

The CSR team meets every quarter and brainstorms on ideas that can have a real and immediate impact on the lives of people in need. In the past year, the team has repairs done to the existing facilities in nearby municipal schools, they have installed solar pumps in villages facing a severe drought like situation, besides generating electricity to remote Dnyanupur. “Our activities are inspired by the government’s focus on the grassroots.

When a company like ours caters to a specific section of society, it is imperative that we look beyond and give back to the other end of society’s spectrum, as they are in dire need of help. Our work is focused in that area,” he said.

The residents of Dnyanupur felt as if they were witnessing a miracle when solar power lit up their homes. It was like turning over a new leaf, and they are still in awe of the momentous changes that solar power has brought to their lives. For the youngsters, it is like a blessing now to be able to turn on a switch, and study at night, in the comfort of their homes.

After fitting the solar cell, the bulbs were lit and the villagers were overjoyed

ith the boom in online shopping, the e-commerce sectors have evolved into a valid corporate hub. Giftease. com, a Pune based online gifting portal, has now ventured into the corporate social responsibility arena. The three-year old company has started doing its bit for society this year, in the form of gifts for underprivileged children.

Ashish Mansukhani, 49, the Chief Operation Officer of the company believes in bringing experiences of happiness to people who are not expecting it. “How would you feel, if in the middle of a random day, you get a knock and a surprise parcel? We all love receiving gifts and there are those of us lucky enough to get them regularly. But there’s a section of society where children rarely or never get gifts. We want such children to experience the joy of receiving gifts,” he said.

For the giving such gifts, the company’s CSR wing decided to launch two initiatives, one that included the sellers, and the other, the buyers.

For the buyers, a special page was designed, where they could order Friendship Day gifts for children living in orphanages. “We initiated this concept during the Friendship Day event, but we plan to keep that page going through the year as it has seen a good response,” Mansukhani said.

Their other venture, aimed at the sellers and their own team was born out of a simple idea. “Since there’s not a 100 per cent surety that a gift once purchased from our website will be used and not returned, because of numerous reasons, we generally have a stockpile of goods that are perfectly fine but have minor packaging damages. Instead of returning them to the owner, we give them away to those who genuinely need it and would use it,” explained Mansukhani. So, if a gift comes back, instead of sending it back to the seller, they send it away to children’s orphanages. “We recently delivered nearly 70 tables to an NGO in Karnataka that was refurbishing a closed school,” he said.

Being a fairly new company, they have faced numerous hurdles in the process of acquiring trust while doing social work. “We have to collaborate with NGOs, even though it’s mostly our work and ideation, because we do not know the proper inlet.

Receiving gifts and a shot of joy

Moreover, where the buyers are involved, there’s always a question of credibility that comes with involvement of genuine NGOs. So, right now we are only working with the Hope Foundation in Pune, but we are looking at extending the idea of gifting for many other organisations that help the underprivileged,” he said.

Elaborating on why they provide gifts for underprivileged kids, and are not taking the easy way out of donations, Mansukhani said, “We are the only portal that deals in the online buying and sending gifts. While there are many, even amongst our customer base, that work by donation and helping to sort out the bare minimum, or the dire needs, for these children, we hope to give them the happiness that comes with getting gifts which are not necessarily something that they need.

Sometimes, even a child receiving a simple toy, which he could have done without, is the biggest happiness for him at that time. So, we decided to take the gifts route.”

Giftease believes in gifting little joys to people who have never received any gifts and have been left out

The Chhote Scientists programme has benefited over 10,000 government school children in rural Pune, Mumbai, Jalna and Bengaluru, through experiment-led sessions by KPIT employee volunteers and Jnana Prabodhini volunteers, who teach basic concepts of science using easily available material.” According to him, it is indeed interesting to see the way the young minds adapt and grow with the help of these fun-based learning sessions. They even enlist help from other academicians and institutes like the Nehru Planetarium and Science Centre in Mumbai, to encompass an all-round experience for the intellectual and practical growth of students.

KPIT launched an app in September for the students involved in the Chhote Scientists programme. The android app has been developed by KPIT and Jnana Prabodhini volunteers, and is available on the Playstore for free. The app provides reading and audio-visual material for classroom experiments to the government school teachers. It also enables individual users receive information about the planned sessions across different schools, submit volunteer feedback, rate sessions and upload pictures or videos of scientific experiments that they think the children could benefit from.

“We aim at making the schools where our volunteers

help self-reliant, so that even if our volunteers discontinue, the children don’t get left out. A smart phone in a house is not a novelty. So, instead of wasting their time at home, they can continue to browse through the app and learn trivia that makes them eager to learn more. The app also helps in standardising the quality of teaching and course delivery, align teachers, subject matter experts and students on one forum, and encourage an exchange of ideas so that it’s easy to monitor and handpick talent out of the lot,” explained a company spokesperson.

Patil, however, believes that the app is a revolutionary tool as it will help them affect more lives without investing huge resources. He said, “The use of the mobile app will create an inclusive and collaborative ecosystem of teachers and students. With the continued efforts of our employees and citizen volunteers getting inducted into the programme, we expect to increase our beneficiary base to one lakh by 2021.” According to Patil, KPIT is committed to create a ‘more intelligent world that is sustainable and efficient’ and educating children, spreading awareness and making them able to self-educate is a positive step in that direction.

The dignitaries of KPIT interact with children enrolled under Chotte Scientists during one of the science exhibitions

The academy sends a football team to participate in the Gothia Cup in Sweden every year

The students of Chandan Nagar School now get more attention from teachers as Zenzar has taken the responsibility of managing the school’s clerical work

Volunteers from the company help explain complex theorems to the students via simple experiments

Students are encouraged to take up practical activities using readily available material to understand theory better

SKFs YES programme teaches automotive servicing skills to batches of uneducated youth every six months

Write to Us

Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com, tushar@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 OCTOBER 01-07, 2016

PUNE

“For us to say that umpires made an error and it’s going against us is not logical. There’s no room for excuses. Once it’s in place and up and running then we can think of the grey areas.”

— Virat Kohli, India’s Test Captain

“I feel Virat has a long way to go in Test match cricket and he will break all records. His average will be close to where his average currently is in ODIs and T20s.”

— VVS Laxman, Former Cricketer

A different mind game for GM Dhopade Railways employee GM Swapnil Dhopade is miffed at not being paid his salary for 18 months

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish Grandmaster Swapnil Dhopade was part of the Indian Railways team that featured in the World Railways Chess Championship, at Bulgaria in 2012. Since then he has been scaling new heights and winning accolades.

Last year, he clinched his GM title and last week he won the 13th edition of Dato’ Arthur Tan International Open tournament in Malaysia. He is working with tremendous intensity to improve his game, but he is being forced to fi ght a battle other than the chessboard one.

Swapnil, who is an employee of the Railways, hasn’t received his salary for the last 18 months and is now looking for other options.

“Joining Railways was a calculated decision. It gave me some fi nancial assistance and security and I was able to concentrate more on my game. My colleagues and seniors were friendly and it helped me a lot. However, I am now a bit upset for not getting the salary for such a long period,” said Swapnil, on the sidelines of the14th edition of Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial All India Open FIDE Rating Tournament organised

by Budhhibal Kreeda Trust in Pune. Swapnil who was top seed and favourite for the title, fi nished second.

Asked about the salary issue, he said, “I have been told that there is some posting issue. I am still

become Super GM in a span of one year.

“First I need to cross 2600, to qualify to represent in the Chess Olympiad and then if I can perform as per expectations, then I will be super GM in 2017-18. Now I am taking a two months rest and then will play few tournament in European circuit.

I will be playing a tournament in Sweden, followed by Spain and UK,” he said.

representing them and I receive other allowances for the tournament but don’t get salary. Due to lack of proper fi nance and sponsor I am not being able to hire a coach. Therefore I am looking for other options like LIC. However, this is just a thought process, nothing has been fi nalised yet.”

For the record, Swapnil had represented Indian Railways in several tournaments and have won prestigious events like National U-25 Chess Championship (2012) and Glocal Square 53rd National Challengers Chess Championship (2015). He also proved his mettle in the Maharashtra Chess League, representing Pune Attackers.

BLUNDER GAME The Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial tournament holds a special place for Swapnil, as last year he had won the tournament and cleared the required Elo rating for GM title.

He had completed his three GM norms around the end of 2012 and it took almost 2.5 years to attain the required rating.

Naturally this time also Swapnil was prepared to defend this coveted title. He was top seed in the tournament and was considered as the top favourite. Till the sixth round, he maintained his lead. However, in the seventh round, he was held by IM Shyaamnikhil P and immediately in the next round he suffered a defeat from lower ranked Rakesh Kulkarni.

“I was in a clear winning position, but under time pressure I made a blunder and I saw the title slipping away from my hands,” he said.

Technically he was still in the

title race if leader P Shyaamnikhil had drawn his match. However, he won the last round and Swapnil decided to play safe and shared points with IM Ramnath Bhuvanesh

R to fi nish second.

THE FUTURE After being the fi rst GM from the Vidarbha region, Swapnil aims to

P SH YA AMNIKHIL CLAIMS TITLE International Master P Shyaamnikhil of Railways emerged champion and took the winners crown at the14th edition of Shri Maheshwaranand Saraswati Memorial All india Open FIDE Rating Tournament organised by Budhhibal Kreeda Trust. IM P Shyaamnikhil of Railways (2421 rating) was playing with white pieces and started with a Queen’s Gambit attack to stun Rakesh Kulkarni of Maharashtra in just 45 moves. Shyaamnikhil was declared winner on the basis of Buchholz Cut Method scoring eight points and received Rs one lakh for his efforts. GM Swapnil Dhopade fi nished second and received Rs 55,000.

Amongst the women, WFM Sahajasri Cholleti fi nished in the top, followed by Vrushali Deodhar and Amruta Mokal. In the veteran category, Dilip Golvankar emerged winner. In the unrated players’ category, Sameer Ghela won the award. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

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