The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 17/09/2016

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TGS LIFE

Matka den flourishes at Gadi Adda, Khadki

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Khadki police unaware of gambling den operating right under their noses, a kilometer away from the chowky

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MUMBAI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

‘‘I was meeting students who had failed in SSC and most said that English and Mathematics were killer subjects. So I suggested to educationists that they can send a proposal to the government. I never said that we were dropping these two subjects.’’

-Vinod Tawde, State Education Minister

Option of simultaneous polls P 12

Mumbai-Nagpur expressway DPR to be out by month-end The Rs 46,000-crore project will be a ‘game-changer’ and lead to a turnaround in the farm sector

the project on the occasion.

The expressway will start from Nagpur and pass through 30 talukas of Wardha, Amravati, Washim, Buldana, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Nashik and Thane districts.

It will have 22 nodes or prosperity hubs where truck terminus, commercial facilities, knowledge city, IT industries, and manufacturing units will come up, Fadnavis said.

Making a departure from conventional approach to acquire land from farmers, the BJP-led Government, for this project, has adopted a participative approach. It has opted for land pooling method by offering cash and developed land annuity- based returns to farmers, thus making them

Rock bands to get a new platform soon

In a bid to encourage rock band culture among the youth, amusement park EsselWorld announced its collaboration with ‘Independence Rock’, the country’s oldest rock music festival held every year in the city.

As part of its association, a rock band competition - ‘EsselWorld Rock’ will be held at the EsselWorld premises on September 24, where spectators will be treated with original music being played by some of the fresh talents from different parts of the nation.

Calling for entries from rock bands across the country to register with their original song by September 12, EsselWorld said four bands will be short listed, who will perform their gigs at ‘EsselWorld Rock’.

An Independence Rock committee, consisting of renowned musicians of the industry, will judge the contestants.

“The winner of the concert will also get an opportunity which every rock band in the country dreams for, a wild card entry to perform at the

Independence Rock grand finale to be held on October 1.

“As an additional token of appreciation, EsselWorld will allow the winning band to perform the opening act at India’s largest open-air bash at EsselWorld - The BigNite on December 31,” Shirish Deshpande, CEO, Essel World and Water Kingdom said in a statement here today.

“Through EsselWorld Rock we aim to promote rock band music and present music lovers with fresh talent and original music. With the esteem judging panel, we are hopeful to bring out the best talent which will take Indian music the longest distance,” he added.

Independence Rock is credited with setting the platforms for many younger bands which have gone ahead to become big names such as Parikrama, Zero, Pentagram, Motherjane. This year’s finale will be judged by celebrated musicians Farhad Wadia and Shridhar.

PTI

true partners in prosperity, he said.

The six-lane highway would require 9,000 hectares of land. “So far, the response from farmers, particularly those from dry-land areas, has been excellent,” Fadnavis stated.

The land pooling model is being implemented by the Government in Andhra Pradesh for building a new riverfront capital city of Amaravati.

“The Maharashtra Government, in its GR issued on July 5, 2016, has spelt out the details (on land acquisition).

There will be no project affected person,” he said. “We will pay farmers, who voluntarily give land for the project, an amount of Rs 20,00040,000 per acre for a period of 10 years with assured increase on annuity basis.

PTI

The proposed expressway between Nagpur and Mumbai will be a “gamechanger” for Maharashtra and its Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be finalised by the month-end after which tenders will be floated in October, said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The 710km high-speed road corridor, connecting two key cities of the State and costing Rs 46,000 crore, will pass through nearly a dozen districts, most of them spread over backward Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. The Maharashtra Government will finalise its DPR by the end of this month and float tenders in October, he said.

“The project will usher in prosperity, boost agro- based industries, attract globally competitive manufacturing units in Vidarbha and Marathwada, create thousands of job opportunities directly and indirectly for youth and put Maharashtra ahead of other States by at least 20 years in terms of infrastructure and economic growth,” he said.

This Rs 46,000-crore project will be a “game-changer” and also lead to a turnaround in the farm sector and make the dream of sustainable agriculture a reality, he said.

Fadnavis was talking to a group of regional editors at State Guest House ‘Sahaydri’ in Mumbai on Monday. He also made a power point presentation on

“Moreover, farmers will get back around one-fourth of the area or a developed plot ad-measuring 10,800 sq ft. This is the first time Maharashtra Government will be pooling land for a project of this gigantic scale.” .

Later, interacting with a select group of senior journalists, Fadnavis said the expressway would connect hinterland in Maharashtra with ports like JNPT. “At present, 70 per cent freight movement and 85 per cent passenger traffic is through surface transport. As against international average of 600-800km/ day, freight moves at leisurely pace of 250-300km per day in Maharashtra, making it costlier and economically unsustainable.

“But this access-controlled super expressway will bring freight movement in Maharashtra at par with developed world and reduce cost to one third or one fourth.” Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has been appointed the implementing agency.

Making a separate presentation, MSRDC Vice-Chairman and MD Radheshyam Mopalwar said “consent of farmers (for parting with land) from most places is coming in a big way and after tenders the actual work will start in January 2017 and civil work completed before October 2019”.

PTI

from MNCs express far more positive perceptions about the workplace, compared to those from non-MNCs. Unique benefits, work-life balance, and fair share of profits were the top three areas where MNCs fared better over Indian companies, the report said.

Meanwhile, the startups (less than 5 years of operation) offered a far superior experience in all areas covered in the survey compared to more established organisations, with the top three areas being celebrations at work,

122 dengue cases reported this monsoon A woman has succumbed to dengue in the city this monsoon even as 122 cases of the vector disease have been reported here during this rainy season, officials said.

Besides, over 1,500 people have been admitted to various hospitals in the city for suspected dengue this month alone, according to figures of the Mumbai civic body.

“A woman, who came from outside and was staying in Vikhroli, was infected by dengue and she lost her life in the civic hospital on September 8,” an official said today.

“The death of a suburban Borivali resident has also been reported at a private hospital on September 13 this month, that we need to cross-check and confirm whether it is due to dengue only,” she said.

The civic administration has taken cognisance of Dengue and the insecticide department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was doing every bit to prevent it, the official further said.

BMC’s executive health officer Dr Padmaja Keskar appealed to the citizens to identify and destroy the mosquitobreeding spots to prevent the disease.

“We appeal to the people of the city and request them to exercise utmost caution and destroy mosquito breeding spots in and around their houses or housing societies,” she said.

Meanwhile, around 4-6 cops from suburban Jogeshwari police station are also reported to be suffering from dengue, a policeman said.

When asked about the policemen’s

(From Lto R) Tijanbai, Dr Aruna Sairam, Padma Vibhushan vocalist from Banaras Girija Devi, Gan Saraswati, Legendary singer Kishori Amonkar and Kathak dancer Padma Vibhushan Yamini Krishnamurthy, Vaijayantimala and Visaka Hari after being honoured with the Bharat Ratna Dr MS Subbulakshmi Centenary Award at Shanmukhanand hall in Mumbai

tolerance to mistakes, and accessibility of managers.

Even though more than 80 per cent of the companies had more than 5 years of operations under their belt, these findings are compelling considering the significant number of jobs created by startups being around 80,000 in 201415, according to a NASSCOM study.

“In our survey this year, the IT & ITeS sector accounted for nearly onethird of the companies we studied across the Indian industries. The

industry s clear focus on creating a great employee experience is therefore striking,” Prasenjit Bhattacharya, CEO, Great Place To Work Institute India said.

Dubbed as India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru was unsurprisingly the most popular location for IT companies assessed. The city also accounts for the headquarters of nearly one-quarter (24 per cent) of the best workplaces this year, including Happiest Minds, Intuit, Cisco, Salesforce and EMC India in the study.

Bengaluru, Noida, Chennai, Mumbai, and Gurgaon together account for 64 per cent of the total study population, and more than three-fourths (76 per cent) of the best companies in IT & ITeS. Top 50 companies were identified based on comprehensive country-wide engagement survey of over 36,500 employees from 145 IT & ITeS companies and employee engagement in the study is measured through the Trust Index and Culture Audit.

PTI

dengue case, Keskar said, “We too have got the same report. Our team visited and found breeding spots for the Aedes mosquito, which is the carrier of the dengue virus.”

“But the policemen are down with dengue can be said only after proper test is conducted on them,” she said.

Currently, 122 cases of dengue have been reported and patients are being treated in various government and private hospitals across the city, she said. According the civic statistics, over 1,500 people have been admitted to various hospitals in the city due to suspected dengue since the beginning of this month.

With city and other parts of the state receiving intermittent rainfall over the past few months, there has been a rise in mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria.

Mosquito-breeding proliferations are most common during the months of August and September due to many spots of stagnant rain water.

PTI

BSE brokers ties up with Arab finance bodies

DOYENS

MNCs dominate, start-ups shine Adobe Systems India, Google India, and Microsoft India are among the 50 Best IT & ITeS workplaces in the country, according to a survey.

The ‘Great Place To Work Institute’ today released the second annual list of India’s Best Companies to work for in IT & ITeS segment.

The list was based on an assessment of employee perceptions gauged using the engagement survey and an audit of company practices.

Some of the other companies on the list include, Aegis, Global Analytics India, Happiest Minds Technologies, Hitachi Data Systems India, Kronos Incorporated, NetApp India, Pitney Bowes Software India and Shriram Value Services.

Multi National Companies (MNCs) dominated the list. Around 47 per cent of MNCs featured among the Best in IT & ITeS companies compared to just 20 per cent of nonMNCs making to the list.

Other key companies to be featured in the list include SAP India, Intel India and PayPal. Employees

Indirect tax collection up 27% in Apr-Aug P 14

The BSE Brokers Forum has inked a pact with Indo Arab Chamber of Commerce and Industries and Indo Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industries to facilitate cross-border access for its member brokers who seek business opportunities in Arab and African nations.

Besides, the memorandum of understanding will help Gulf companies and African companies to do business in Indian markets.

The BSE brokers forum members would have access to all Arab countries and the whole of African continent.

“The MoU with Indo Arab and Indo Africa is a landmark achievement since it opens new gateway of business opportunities for our members and also for companies in Arab region and Africa region to enter Indian markets,” BSE Brokers Forum chairman Siddharth Shah said in a statement.

“In light of International Financial Centre and International Stock Exchange coming up, this is the most apt time for the MOU,” he added.

PTI

Woman vents anger at state minister Maharashtra minister Vishnu Sawra faced the anger of a tribal woman whose two-year-old son died last month apparently due to severe malnutrition in Palghar district, the video of which has gone viral on social media.

The Tribal Development Minister went to meet the distraught family members, residing in a thatched house at Khoch village in Mokhada taluka, and comfort them. However, the woman, overcome by grief, vented her anger at Sawra, who is also Guardian Minister of Palghar.

“Where were you when my son died.

You are coming after 15 days. We do not want to meet you,” the woman was heard telling Sawra in the video.

Other villagers also expressed their anger at the administration’s “failure” to address the problem of malnutrition in the tribal-dominated taluka, which is not very far from Mumbai.

Asking the minister what had he done for malnourished children, the villagers alleged that they did not get any help from the government and had to “beg” for money to treat the child, who was taken to a health camp in Jawhar taluka earlier this year and then sent home.

Later the toddler’s condition worsened and he was rushed to Nashik Civil Hospital last month where he died reportedly due to severe malnutrition. Sawra said government is taking steps to tackle the problem of malnutrition.

PTI

Tribal woman’s two-year-old son died due to severe malnutrition

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

Tourist guides will play an important role in providing a boost to tourism in the city. The project has hit a roadblock just because of lack of sponsors. Pune Municipal Corporation must allocate money to start this project.

- Aba Bagul, Former Deputy Mayor

Most Chinese don’t regret racism gaffe P13

Matka den flourishes at Gadi Adda, Khadki Khadki police unaware of gambling den operating right under their noses, a kilometer away from the chowky

PICS BY VICKY PATHARE

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2 An illegal matka den has been operating at Gadi Adda, Khadki, behind the Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) workers’ quarters on Datta Ghat. The gambling den has been running openly for a couple of months from a tin structure built illegally on KCB land, just a kilometre away from the Khadki police chowky. It is alleged that the Khadki police ‘have lost control’ over such matka dens and are unable to prevent them from operating openly in the board jurisdiction.

Locals say that such activities cannot be carried out without the covert support of the police, politicians and Cantonment officials. “The gambling joint functions from 9.00 am to 12.00 pm, from a 10x20 foot tin shed. The structure has been illegally constructed on the Board land and is rented illegally to the matka den kingpin by a local person. A local goon and the kingpin have been running the den in partnership for a couple of months,” said a source in the KCB. “Many people including those with

No citizen charter at Pune RTO

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste There is no proper citizen charter at the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO). As per the law, it is compulsory for the office to have a citizen charter on the premises.

A citizen charter provides proper information. But the Pune RTO office does not seem to take the citizen charter seriously. There is a proper citizen charter on the RTO website, but not too many people access the website.

Bibwewadi resident Sunil Kumar said, “I came to the RTO for vehicle passing. But I didn’t get proper information. We face lots of problems because no proper information available here.”

Aundh Road resident Rama Kamble said, “I came to Pune RTO office for licence renewal. But I didn’t get proper information when I got my license. Citizen charter is very useful for us.”

Deepstambh social organisation has filed a complaint with Lokayukta Maharashtra about there being no proper citizen charter in Pune RTO. They are demanding a proper citizen charter on RTO premises.

Social worker Suraj Pol told TGS that they have filed a complaint as there is no proper citizen charter in Pune RTO. “Most people are not familiar with the website,” he said.

Maharashtra State Driving School Association President Raju Ghatole told TGS that there was no proper citizen charter available in Pune RTO. “For the benefit of citizen, it is a must,” he said. gunwanti.paraste@ goldenspaarow.com

criminal backgrounds, liquor addicts and nuisance-makers visit the matka den daily, making the area unsafe for others. They park their vehicles on the main road, causing problems for visitors to the Mahadev temple, and are found sitting there in groups consuming liquor. There could be

couple of such illegal matka dens in the KCB limits, attracting youths and others to take part in illegal activities,” said a resident.

Confirming the news, KCB Chief Executive officer (CEO) Amol Jagtap said, “There are illegal activities carried out in the illegal structures behind the KCB workers’ quarters.

There are more than thirty illegal structures built on KCB land, which will be uprooted soon. We have asked for police protection to demolish the structures, but the Khadki police station officials told that it would not possible at this time due to the Ganpati festival. Actions against these structures will be taken under police protection after the Ganpati festival.”

Khadki police station Police Inspector Suhas Bhosale said, “I am unaware about any illegal activity going in Gadi Adda, and about any request by the KCB officials seeking police protection to demolish the illegal structure. I don’t know about

WCD officials to curb child marriages

the matka den and will look into the matter after visiting the spot. Show me the place where the gambling den is.

Even if there is any gambling den functioning, no action can be taken now due to the Ganpati festival. Probe will be conducted after two days.” vicky.pathare@ goldensparrow. com

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TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The Women and Child Development (WCD) commissioner has appointed 140 child development protection officers (CDPOs) in the state, as per the directions of the Women and Child development ministry, to make the state completely free of child marriages,. This comes in the wake of the general resolution issued by the WCD ministry, considering the rampant child marriages taking place in cities like Pune, Nashik and Ahmednagar.

Child marriage is regarded as a human rights violation. Despite prohibitory laws, the practice remains widespread, not only in rural parts of the state, but also in cities. Childline, an NGO that works for the rights and welfare of needy children, recorded the maximum number of child marriages, 42 in Ahmednagar, 17 in Pune, 26 in Beed, and 16 in Nashik, in 2015-16.

“140 CDPOs for the state were appointed on Monday, of which ten CDPOs will be for Pune region. These CDPOs will undergo special training to deal with the situations,” said Ravindra Patil, Maharashtra Women and Child Deputy Commissioner.

In cities like Pune, Nashik etc, these CDPOs will take action against and prevent child marriages.

“To rein in the widespread illegal practice in rural parts of the state there are gram sevaks working at village levels and CDPOs in cities. CDPOs in the city are legally authorised to take action against child marriages,”

said Patil.

Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe, of Childline, Pune said, “Child marriages in cities are seen in class of a specific caste having Jaat Panchayats, and it’s common among nomadic tribes in rural areas. We receive tip offs about child marriage from the police. Then we stop the child marriages, and explain to them the ill effects of the practice.

Sometimes we face opposition from the Jaat Panchayats. Cases are also filed against people if they don’t agree to stop child marriage. Nowadays, more and more people are becoming aware of the issue.”

“Most of the child marriages in cities are done by uneducated people or those living in slums. If we come across cases of child marriage, we explain to them about the ill effects, and suggest that the couple stay separate, till the girl is physically fit to give birth to a child. People who do not wish to cooperate with us, evade us and migrate to other places after marriage.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

No matter who was in power, people belonging to the Maratha community never benefitted. This has been happening for many years and it has led to the unrest now. Reservation for the community is essential and the government cannot ignore this demand.

- Vinayak Mete, Maratha Community Leader

Ichalkaranji youth cracks 150-yr-old telecom problem

Mother’s body kept in house for 9 mnths

P10

P12

City hospitals overcharge for dengue tests

Charge Rs 1,470 for the dengue test, despite central directives to charge only Rs 600

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1 The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department, the monitoring body, has failed to take any action against errant hospitals that are charging more than Rs 600 to check blood samples for dengue.

The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) had issued a letter in this regard to all private health institutions in all states and cities on July 5, 2016. But the Pune-xbased hospitals seem to be unaware of it. And why has the PMC waited so long before issuing the directions to cap the dengue test charges?

City hospitals this year are overcrowded with the surge in the number of dengue and chikungunya patients. But this surge has resulted in a boom in business for city based laboratories and hospital attached laboratories. They are charging anything between Rs 900 and Rs 1,500 for the two dengue diagnostic tests, Immunoglobulin G (IgG) and Immunoglobulin M (IgM).

In view of this surge across the

country, NVBDCP director Dr A C Dhariwal had issued a circular of instructions on July 5, 2016 to 29 states including Maharashtra, two capital territories and fi ve Union territories of the country. The circular is applicable to all public health department and private health institutes of specified states and municipal corporations. The circular states that the health minister held a review meeting under his chairmanship on July 1, 2016. The circular further states that during the monsoons and pre monsoon period, the number of dengue cases are on rise. “Sometimes the community is in panic due to lack of information about the government facility for free diagnosis of pressure on the resources due to sudden increase in cases.

In shortage of facility/ space, community moves to private health facilities where many a times they end up with high out of pocket expenditure for diagnosis and treatment,” the circular reads.

“Th rough this communication I would like to issue instructions to put cap on charges not more than Rs 600 per test as Delhi government had done last year in the private sector. Th is will lead to minimise the panic and economic burden on community. It will be appreciated

None of five prominent hospitals in the city follow the rule

if action is taken in this regard on private institutions.”

The letter was issued on July 5, but the Pune health department has taken cognizance of it after two months, and appealed to the city private hospitals and laboratories to adhere the rule of not charging more than Rs 600 for the dengue test.

Some of the city hospitals verbally assured the PMC health department that they would follow the decision, but have not implemented it.

None of five prominent hospitals in

the city TGS visited are following the rule. Some hospitals don’t know about the directions, while others know and are ‘thinking’ about following the rule.

At the Ruby Hall Clinic Out Patient Laboratory (OPD), on Thursday morning, the two staff women ladies said that they charged Rs 1,470 for the IgG and IgM dengue test. At Jehangir Hospital, a man at the reception counter said that they charge Rs 1,050 for the test. Asked if they knew that the PMC had asked them not to charge

more than Rs 600 for the test, he told us to visit the research department.

But the two officers of the medical research department were not in their cabin. Sancheti Hospital in Shivajinagar area lab staff said that they charged Rs 850 for the test. At Sahyadri Hospital on Karve Road, a receptionist said they charged Rs 1,300 for the test. Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Erandwane charges Rs 1,150 for the test.

Ruby Hall Clinic medical director Dr Sanjay Pathare said that they are

charging Rs 600 as per government instructions. “We have accepted the government norms regarding the capping of the test and we are charging the patients accordingly. Let me know who told you they are charging Rs 1,470,” said Dr Pathare. Sancheti Hospital medical director Madhav Borate said that they are basically offering orthopaedic services to the patients and do not admit patients with fever. “We just conduct the dengue tests. I don’t know whether PMC has set a cap on charges,” said Dr Borate.

Sahyadri Hospital Public Relation Offi cer (PRO) Balaji Sahane said that he was not aware of whether PMC has issued such directions to the hospitals. A woman working in the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital lab, said on condition of anonymity said that they had received instructions from the government to cap the dengue test. “We are seriously thinking of implementing the decision in our hospital, and we will apply it and adhere to government instructions very soon,” she said.

We asked PMC health chief ST Pardeshi whether they had taken any action as per the NVBDCP director’s instructions. He replied, “The decision can’t be made compulsory on the hospitals. However, we have requested all hospitals about capping, but only ten hospitals, Jehangir, Surya, Inlaks and Budhrani, Krishna, Sanjeevani, Shashwat, Prayag, Ruby Hall, Poona and three laboratories, Religare, Golwilkar and Lal Path Lab are ready to follow the rule. The rest will be ready in future.” dnyaneshwar.bhonde@goldensparrow.com

Garbage continues to raise a stink for PMC Nursing students extend a help hand Respond to PMC appeal, help in treatment of dengue, chikungunya patients at Naidu, Rajiv Gandhi hospitals

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TSGWeekly There has been a surge in the number of dengue and chikungunya patients in Pune city over the last couple of weeks.

Dengue and chikungunya patients are treated at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) run Naidu Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Hospital.

PMC’s health department been facing a shortage of nurses at Naidu as well as Rajiv Gandhi hospitals, due to the sudden increase in number of dengue and chikungunya patients in the last 2-3 weeks. The health department had appealed to nursing colleges in the city to send their nursing students to help at PMC hospitals. Five nursing colleges have responded and they have sent 124 nursing students to help at Naidu and Rajiv Gandhi hospitals to treat dengue and chikungunya patients for 15 days.

PMC health department head Dr S T Pardeshi said, “In the month of August, as many as 119 chikungunya patients were found in the city, and the figure is increasing. Dengue patients too have been increasing since the last three weeks in the city.

We have adequate stocks of medicines for both dengue and chikungunya.

We are treating dengue patients at Naidu Hospital, but since last week we are treating dengue patients at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital as well. But we are facing a shortage of nurses to take care of dengue and chikungunya patients. So we wrote to Bharati

Vidyapeeth Nursing College, Dhareshwar Nursing College, Poona Hospital Nursing College, Sadhu Vaswani Nursing College, Deccan Education Society College and Tilak Maharashtra Nursing College, to send their students for 15 days to help to treat dengue and chikungunya patients at Naidu and Rajiv Gandhi hospitals.

Five out of the six nursing colleges responded to our appeal and have sent their students to our hospitals. Bharati Nursing College sent 30 students, Dhareshwar sent 25 students, Deccan Education sent 15 students, Sadhu Vaswani sent 24 students, and Poona Hospital Nursing College sent 20 students to help at Naidu and Rajiv Gandhi hospitals, in treating dengue and chikungunya patients. We are extremely grateful to managements of these nursing colleges for sending their students to help in treating patients. All these 124 nursing college students are well trained so we assigned them at Naidu as well as Rajiv Gandhi hospitals. These nursing students will work under doctors and ensure that patients take medicines on time, saline and other duties. They are working voluntarily, and will serve patients for the next 15 days. All of them work from 9 am to 6 pm. We have decided to give the students certificate of appreciation from the PMC health department, in return for their service and assisting doctors in communicable disease treatment.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Corporation’s plan to set up garbage processing plants in every ward, opposed by citizens, societies

BY TUSHAR RUPANAVAR @tusharrupanavar

Garbage is a major concern for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

The city produces 1700 tonnes of garbage everyday, out of which only 900 tonnes is treated at processing plants. So PMC has no option but to dump the remaining garbage at the depot at Uruli village. Uruli villagers been agitating for the last few years to shift the garbage depot from their village.

The Supreme Court (SC) has made it mandatory to segregate garbage at source, and the civic body has to process garbage by setting up garbage processing plants. Taking cognizance of SC’s directive, PMC has decided to set up garbage processing plants in every ward office, but citizens are opposing the construction of garbage processing plants. PMC has now decided to fi le police complaints against people opposing the setting up of garbage processing plants.

The SC has directed local bodies to set up their own garbage processing plants, and also appealed to societies to set up mini garbage processing plants.

Very few societies have set up garbage processing plants. Some societies are opposing the setting up of garbage processing plants in the wards citing reasons like foul odour. PMC is finding

it difficult to set up garbage processing plants in wards.

Mayor Jagtap said, “PMC decided to set up garbage processing plants on its own lands at 15 ward offices.

But some societies are opposing the setting up of garbage processing plants in the wards by giving reasons like foul odour. If everybody gives such reasons of foul odour and opposes garbage processing plants in their society, how can PMC set up garbage processing plants in every ward? So PMC will fi le police complaints against these societies. We know this is a harsh step but we do not have any option. There are very few people who are opposing the setting up of garbage processing plants in the wards. We will take stronger steps against such persons like fi ling police

complaints. PMC is also working on sensitising people about the garbage problem. We cannot keep dumping garbage at Uruli village depot. It’s our responsibility to process and treat all the garbage we produce. So there is no better option than setting up processing plants at ward level. It will save garbage transport expenditure and by setting up small scale garbage processing plants, we can easily process the garbage and make bio fertiliser, sericulture out of it.”

PMC Commissioner Kunal Kumar said, “According to orders of the Supreme Court, it is mandatory to segregate garbage at source. But to achieve 100 per cent segregation of garbage at source, we need people’s participation. PMC is giving concession in property tax to societies

who set up garbage processing plants, but we got very low response from the societies. But these societies are opposing the setting up of garbage processing plants at wards by giving very fl imsy reasons. There are few areas like Aundh, Ghole Road, Warje and Yerwada, where societies set up their own garbage processing plants.

But mid areas of city and basically peth areas have not set up garbage processing plants. So PMC decided to set up garbage processing plants but few societies are opposing it. So the administration will fi le police complains against such societies.

It is very hard to transport garbage of the entire city to one garbage processing plant. It creates traffic snarls, pollution and expenditure.

So setting up small scale garbage processing plans at ward level is a good option as it saves transport and lowers PMC expenditure. We once again appeal to people to cooperate with the PMC in setting up of garbage processing plants. It is going to benefit all of us. Garbage processing at processing plants is very scientific and safe way, and does not have any disadvantages.”

“There is one more way to sensitise people. Local corporators have to make people understand the importance of garbage processing plants, rather than fi ling police complaints against them. It is very safe and scientific way, and does not create any health related problems. If local representatives tell people about the importance of garbage processing plants, people may agree,” said some corporators. tushar.rupanavar@ goldensparrow.com

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

America first choice to study abroad

Suicide: Depression major cause, women attempt more than men

P13

P11

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

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

PUNE

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

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

We have given many posts of office-bearers like that of standing committee chairman and mayor in the civic body. Some have left NCP even after corporators getting many posts. You can ask them if I have asked for money. If they say yes, I will leave politics.

- Ajit Pawar, Former Deputy Chief Minister

Need to strengthen India’s disease surveillance network P 11

PICS BY RAHUL RAUT

Goodbye,

until next year!

Staffers under scanner in juvenile home

Activist demands that FIR be filed against WCD employees for causing delays in investigating molestation of minors

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma A week after an FIR was lodged against two minors, accusing them of sexually molesting other children, the Yerwada police has received a letter from a city based child activist, alleging that the juvenile home staff have been negligent in reporting the crime and have hidden facts from the police. The activist, Yamini Adbe, had also written a letter late last month, describing the mismanagement and heinous activities going on at the juvenile home.

In a letter addressed to the senior Police Inspector of Yerwada police station, she has demanded that an FIR be lodged against Meenakshi Birajdar, Women and Child Development officer and Gajanan Padhgam, the juvenile home probation officer, under section 21(1) and 166 (A) of POSCO Act, 2013. She has accused both of them of causing intentional delays in fi ling the FIR registered on September 9, about two minors being sexually molested inside the juvenile home.

According to her letter, dated September 10, both these staff members had information about the sexual molestation much before they

actually fi led the complaint. Her letter reads, “The WCD Officer came to know about the sexual abuse on the 7th day of September 2016, but she did not make an FIR immediately and rather preferred to go back to her office and wrote a letter to the Superintendent of the observation home. Next day the probationary officer got a letter from her at 10.30 am, but again called the child victim and inquired about the facts in the afternoon. The child gave more details which were hidden from the police and a complaint was lodged with partial truth in the night at 23.31 pm.” She has even cited the medical report of the victim, stating that he was ‘being abused sexually for the past many months and not only by these two elder kids but by many more children repeatedly’.

Her letter

also cites her earlier concerns of finding condoms on the juvenile home premises. Her letter reads, “Four months ago, some children had fi lled water in a condom and kept it on the table of the nurse. There were no investigations done for the said event.

It was obvious that such material is accessible to the children of the special home and was a certain possibility that there were cases of organised sexual abuse inside. The matter was neither investigated nor reported.”

She has also brought this forth in front of the Commissioner Women and Child Development department.

In her latest letter addressed to him on September 15, she said, “There are repeated child sexual abuse incidents taking place in special home as is mentioned in the medical report of Sassoon Hospital of the victim. Many other boys are also involved in such practices for the past few months.”

Commenting on the safety of the victim being kept in the same home, she wrote,

“The most disturbing fact is that your officers did not bother to shift the victim from the home to a safer place even after knowing that more offenders are staying inside the home.”

While her letters have been eyeopeners about the gross misconduct going on at the juvenile home, there are multiple aspects that are coming to the surface slowly. Her letter to the commissioner reads, “The staff with known criminal background is posted there who supplies the intoxicants, gutkha and other material. How do you expect the children to improve?

There are no routine or training programs run by WCD. The home seems to be a training place for various addictions, sexual offences and crimes for the children.”

The Yerwada police, however, have taken cognizance of the matter.

Mukund Mahajan, the senior PI said, “We have been taking this matter seriously. We will look into the matter of the complaint given by Adbe ma’am.”

The Women and Child Development department however, was unavailable to comment on the matter, citing the unavailability of their seniors due to festivals. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

Students’ results blocked over fee non-payment

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2 The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has held back the results of thousands of students from more than 300 educational institutes, over non-payment of registration fees by their institutes to the board.

MSBSHSE conducted supplementary exam of SSC and HSC in July. The results of these exams were declared in the last week of August.

But MSBSHSE Pune division, which comprises of Pune, Solapur and Ahmednagar, has held back the results of students, who have failed to pay the registration charges and annual subscription fees to the board.

Even though it’s a supplementary exam, the number of students is expected to be in the thousands, as on an average, there are more than ten students from a single school/college, and the number of institutes is more than 300. Officials of the board were unable to specify the

BJP corporator Vivek Yadav injured in firing Pune Cantonment Board member injured in firing in Camp area during Ganesh immersion procession

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2 Vivek Yadav, BJP corporator of ward number V of Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), was seriously injured when a criminal with a police record, opened fi re at him with a countrymade pistol during the Ganesh immersion procession.

The incident took place about 300 metres from Poolgate police chowky, at around 10:00 pm on Thursday, on Moledina Road, Pune Camp.

A bullet brushed Yadav’s chin, and he has been admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic, where his condition is said to be stable.

According to the Lashkar police, the culprit Vishnu alias Babloo Vasant Gawli, 45, a criminal with a police record, is a resident of Gawliwada, New Modikhana Camp. He opened fi re at Yadav. The bullet brushed Yadav’s chin, injuring

him badly. After the incident, members of the public and supporters of Yadav, beat up Gawli till he fell unconscious.

Yadav was admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic, where he underwent surgery. Doctors said that that his condition was stable and he is out of danger. Police said that Gawli is a history sheeter and has several serious offences registered against him. After the incident, he was handed over to the police. The police took him to Sassoon General Hospital, where he was admitted to ward IX for treatment.

Lashkar police station Police Inspector (crime) Vaishali Chandgude said, “We suspect that an old rivalry may be motive behind the attack. In the year 2014, Yadav had opened fi re on Gawli and tried to kill him. The Lashkar police had booked Yadav in an offence of attempt to murder at that time. Yadav also has offence of

attempt to murder registered against in Lashkar police station, while the accused Gawli has several serious offences registered against him.”

Laskhar police has not fi led any case regarding the recent incident as both of them were admitted to hospital. A man standing next to Yadav was also injured in the incident as the same bullet which hit Yadav hit his hand. He has been admitted to Sassoon Hospital.

There was huge police bandobast at the crime scene, Sassoon Hospital as well as Ruby Hall Clinic. Several supporters of Yadav had gathered at Ruby Hall Clinic, waiting to meet him. A supporter said, “Yadav was in the immersion procession of Utsav Samvardhak Mandal, when the incident happened. It was called off after the incident.”

Yadav’s brother refused to comment, saying that they were disturbed after the incident.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone II, Pankaj Dahane said, “There is only one accused and he has been caught by the police and taken to Sassoon Hospital. Accused Vishnu Gawli allegedly opened fi re at Vivek Yadav. Yadav was rushed to Ruby Hall Clinic for treatment and his condition is stable. We have seized the weapon used in the crime.”

Sassoon General Hospital casualty medical officer (CMO) Dr Pratyush Dwivedi confi rmed that accused was admitted to ward IX for treatment. He said that accused was unconscious and had a head injury. “Gawli was brought to the hospital at around 10:45 pm by the police. After giving some treatment and putting stitches, he was admitted to the hospital,” said Dr Dwivedi. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

number of students from the regions whose results were held back.

Pune division Secretary Pushpalata Pawar said, “Action will be taken against the institutes and not the students. The decision will not affect any admission process. Due the action, educational institutes have started paying their dues and some of them have even taken results of their students. In spite of reminders to all the institutes to pay the monthly subscription fees and registration fees the institutes fail to do so. The problem arises due to the negligence of the principals who are responsible for filing the details.”

Pawar said, “Earlier all the forms were filled manually and any incomplete details were easy to find. After the system was computerised, it has become difficult to check the details of the form and fees, and the system does not have an easy option for it. It was revealed that these institutes had not paid the fees, after the forms were scrutinised, which takes a lot of time, and action was taken against them,” said Pawar. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

“I beg you all not to support religion in governance. II’m no leader, man. II’m just a guy with opinions. Nothing vulgar about nudity.Telling nudity. Telling women how to live, what to wear, where to go, what to do. THAT is vulgar!”

— Vishal Dadlani, singer

PUNE

“More countries must recognise the benefits of migration. And everyone, everywhere, must stand up against the animosity that so many refugees, migrants and minority communities face.”

— Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

For God’s love, and his image Students haiku to

end period shaming

Vaastu consultant, others sponsor Katraj zoo elephant Meera for a year as part of Ganeshotsav

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly The word ‘periods’ always makes many males raise their eyebrows. Some faces, including women, will either scowl and turn away or just turn pale with shock.

According to the BBC, menstruation is traditionally a taboo subject in India, and in the Hindu religion, menstruating women are regarded as unclean, and are not permitted to touch any idols or enter the kitchen, until they are no longer bleeding.

A haiku campaign that started in a Kerala college gets support from citizens across the country, including Pune. Inspired by the ‘Happy To Bleed’ campaign that took the social media by a storm, the students of a Kerala college started a haiku campaign.

They put up haikus - short poems – on menstruation, all over the Calicut Medical College campus and online.

Students used moods ranging from humour and anger to express their thoughts in words. And the most inspiring part is that several male students also submitted entries. Even some professors supported their cause.

As the silent movement became a hit online, many students based in Pune also supported the cause. “I can easily relate to these words. Despite my parents coming from high quality academic educational background, they did not prepare me for this natural bodily function. I had to go through a lot of stress during the initial days,” said Sanjana Puri (name changed on request), a medical student at BJ Medical College.

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2 Some faithful take Ganeshotsav celebrations to a very personal level, literally. Meet city-based vaastu consultant Prasad Joshi, who loves to take care of zoo elephants as a mark of reverence to the elephant god. What started as a single person mission turned into a community movement and now Joshi has a lot of friends who are willing to sponsor Meera, an elephant, at the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park and Wildlife Research Centre, also known as Katraj Zoo. “I was drawn towards the display boards near animal enclosures about them having being adopted. I was told by the zoo authorities that public are welcome to a part of the conservation efforts. Soon I adopted an elephant. It is a privilege to be associated with the zoo’s conservation work. The idea is to set an example for the common public and encourage people to come forward and be a part of the scheme,” he said.

Giving details about the animal, Joshi said, “Meera celebrated her 19th birthday on September 5 this year. She is one of the fortunate zoo animals as people are waiting in queue at the zoo office to sponsor her as it symbolises the lord of good fortune. Her sponsorship for the whole month is booked. I used to sponsor another elephant Janaki since 2013. I have taken the responsibility

Prasad Joshi started taking care of zoo elephants since 2013

to find sponsors for Meera for the whole year. As the elephant is a highmaintenance animal, it is adopted only for a day.”

Joshi said that all the people who have decided to sponsor the elephant are from Pune and advance booking is till November. “The cost of parenting an elephant goes around Rs 1,500 for a day and Rs 45,000 per month. Other animals, including leopard, tigers, tortoise, snakes and peacock are also in demand,” said Rajkumar Jadhav, director of the zoo.

“The scheme is only to sponsor food for all the animals in the zoo. As per the rules and regulations of the Central Zoo Authority, a benefactor cannot carry the animal home, but sponsor food and other

maintenance. An individual or a family or a corporate company can sponsor an animal or a group of animals for one day to as per his or her wish as stated in the contract. The sponsor’s name is put up on the board placed at the enclosure.

The sponsor gets benefits like a guided tour of the zoo, special workshops and free magazines and other publications by the zoo,” Jadhav said.

The zoo animal adoption scheme is popular across the country as some states also give tax benefits. It is also an effective revenue model to help maintenance of the zoo that gets lakhs of visitors every year. All the animals are available for adoption. One can adopt a bird for Rs 1,000, but a one-day care of elephant is Rs 1,500. The fee is

based on the feeding cost of the animal.

Officials said educational institutions, companies and industries are also supporting the conservation efforts of the zoo.

Katraj Zoo had introduced the Animal Adoption Scheme six years ago and around 175 adopters have enrolled for the scheme. The sponsored fund is used for the daily upkeep, feed and medicinal requirements of the adopted animals. Katraj Zoo houses 389 animals of 67 species including mammals, birds and reptiles. Even as the zoo gets grant from the state government and entrance ticket sales, the revenue from adoption helps it maintain the facility. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

The haiku micro tales contained a myriad of emotions, ranging from happiness to anger and hope. The posters were shared on social media by students of other colleges as well.

Haiku soon became a national level competition, with many participants from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru and even France.

“An attempt like this has high potential to fi nally break the silence around menstruation,” Manjiri Desai, another medical student from Pune said.

If you’d like to share your own experiences – from dealing with everyday sexism and gender stereotyping, to period shaming, harassment and abuse, share your stories using #StandWithMe and take the movement forward. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Run marathon for many causes Third edition of Veterun will beat on healthy lifestyle and contribute to social sector

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

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

Our Honda CB500X proved an able, fun and comfortable ride for our trip

TANKED-UP TGS LIFE

JUNE 25, 2016 PUNE

JUNE 11, 2016

THRILL OF DRIVING

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

are present and are best used in sport mode or one of the sharper driving modes. There Mustang, but the saving grace was that those are four of those, including a “Track” mode were around the lauded Buddh International that turns off the traction control, unleashing Circuit, India’s only F1 track. As you’d expect, the Mustang is pretty fast in a straight line. This time round, it isn’t too bad around the corners either, having an independent rear suspension instead of an ancient liveaxle type found in most generations of the car. This is clearly a grand-tourer sort of car.

The suspension feels quite plush, there’s perceptible body roll when you’re hustling around the corners and things are generally smooth at speed. I suppose we should be pleased as consumers that we’ve come to a point where we can actually buy much harder-core performance cars in this price bracket.

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 for motorcycle 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

west of Chiang Mai which is considered one of the best riding roads in Asia. Among the first stopovers on this route is a popular, but still tiny town called Pai, which we visited. If Chiang Mai were Pune, think of Pai as Wai, except 140km away.

Nestled in a valley replete with waterfalls and lush greenery, Pai is a small town with a growing tourist population, pioneered by backpackers. It’s close enough to the border with Myanmar to have cultural influences of the hill tribes in terms of food and clothing, but significant enough to have all the infrastructural

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

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

MOTO GEAR

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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

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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)

TGS LIFE

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

MONSOON

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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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.

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)

VISHAL KALE

review and analysis. “We help smaller NGOs have the same visibility as their larger sisters. We give donors the causes, articles and guides to help them take better decisions. ‘Your money always reaches where it is meant to reach’ is our mantra,” she said.

Veterun is a unique initiative launched by Explore Adventures in sports events for veterans. The organisers claim to be a one-of-its-kind half marathon dedicated only to the veterans.

The first edition of Veterun was held on October 5, 2014 in Pune and its star participant was 82-year-old woman who completed and won 10 kms. The second race was organised on October 25, 2015 and supported by MAFI (Master Athletics Federation of India).

“The objective behind the race is to promote healthy living amongst the majority population in India. Lifestyle related ailments, diseases, and posture induced sickness are common among people once they cross 35 years of age.

Including walking, running or any form of exercise into the daily routine is the only way to overcome these threats,” said Pradeep Mahtani, the CEO of Help Your NGO. Mahtani is a Chartered Accountant with over 23 years of experience in equity research and stock analysis.

“We are a charity partner for Veterun Edition 3. We have selected five causes

CARS, BIKES, TRIPS, GEAR HONEST, FUN REVIEWS

Legroom is decent at the back. Headroom is a bit tight for taller passengers.

The eVerito will be available in three variants with marginal differences between them. Unusually, fast-charging ability, which Mahindra claims can charge the

Prices start at Rs 9.5 lac ex-showroom, Delhi, for the D2 variant after state and FAME subsidies. The D4 and D6 variants cost Rs 9.75 and 10 lac respectively.

VISHAL KALE

The city will witness one event with many benefits on October 9. Veterun, a Pune-based marathon aimed at people above 35 years of age, will be organised at Lokseva School, Pashan Sus Road between 5:30 am and 9 am. The half marathon will have participants that will send out a strong message P adeep Mah an about healthy lifestyle and the proceeds of the event will be given for social causes.

Help Your NGO, one of the organisers of the event, is an organisation that vets non-profits in India to ensure that there is transparency in the donation sector i.e. money donated is received by charity/NGO. “Help Your NGO allows donors to be more efficient in their ‘giving’ by providing information on over 630 NGOs large and small, established and growing, located in urban India and rural India. Donors can search our database of NGOs for one that meets their requirements. They can shortlist NGOs by name, cause, location, tax-benefits and check out our ‘Recommended’ NGOs as well!

This information is available on the website for everyone. We have raised 1.15 cr till now,” said Mandeep Kaur, a spokesperson for Help Your NGO. According to Kaur, the organisation shortlists five causes each fortnight for donation. And their mission is to help NGOs and charities become transparent by making their financials available for

for the event — Magic Bus (childhood to livelihood), Swades Foundation (rural empowerment), Samavedena (essential healthcare to the underprivileged), Vanarai (environmental change at grassroots levels), Swayam Shikshan Prayog (women’s empowerment). We aim to raise Rs15 lakh for the charities,” he said.

Kaur said that fundraising is a unique exercise that most non-profits need help with. If we as a society can link events that we are passionate about with fundraising, it would be a winwin situation. Through Veterun we are raising money for not just big NGOs but smaller NGOs too Giving details about the causes chosen for holding the veteran, Kaur said, “Magic Bus is driving change in 474 of India’s poorest villages and slum settlements. The programmes are primarily targeted to 8-17 year olds. They aim to give millions of children living in poverty the opportunity to control the way they view the world, the freedom to choose the role they will play in it, and the power to define their own destiny.

The Swades Foundation operates with the single-minded focus of empowering rural India. At the Swades Foundation we believe that the partnership of rural India with corporates, young urban India, the Government and other foundations is the key to create a permanent and irreversible change for good.”

Samavedana works in treatment, prevention and awareness as Samavedana’s core arms to meet needs of the deprived. Samavedana pools contributions from the society, doctors waive off their fees and hospitals offer services at discounted rates for our beneficiary patients. Vanarai is working in more than 250 villages with the objective of making them self-reliant.

The foundation insists on clean, green, self-reliant villages, afforestation, agriculture with modern methods, animal husbandry, latrine and biogas for every house, eradication of illiteracy, family planning and creating local employment opportunities.

Quarterpants, one of the organisers of the marathon, is a consulting firm based out of Mumbai that provides solutions to make social firms sustainable. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

VISHAL KALE

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

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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

PUNE

It is better to giv

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 t

They felt as if they w The SKF Sports Academy had a five-year programme of sports development for underprivileged children

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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.

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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

cience seems to be a daunting prospect of municipal schools. They find it uninteresting to make headway with scient and therefore, turn their backs on a career in science. The well-to-do can afford to send their extra tuition classes to ensure that they unde subjects. But the others find it hard to relat subjects and how they are applicable in our dai KPIT, a Pune based IT company, has concept called ‘Chhote Scientists’, which aim an interest in science among underprivileg of standards VIII and IX, and motivates th with real world issues by using practical appl experiments. Under this programme, the firm devote a specific amount of time in inculcatin science among the students, and ensure that deprived of resources and course material. It with Jnana Prabodhini to assess the needs and r of the targeted schools and students, and therea appropriate courses, and organize the necessa activities, and methodologies. The course culminate in a science exhibition, which is a the participating students to showcase wha learnt.

KPIT Chief Executive Officer Kishore “The Chhote Scientists programme, launche has benefited over 10,000 government scho

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 compl SKFs YES programme teaches automotive servicing skills to batches of uneducated youth every six months

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

You could send a gift to a child in an orphanage through this initiative

ve than to receive

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to the distant village and installed solar powered electricity units at every house to provide them with lit-up surroundings after dark

were witnessing a miracle when solar power lit up their homes

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“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,”

for students arduous or tific subjects, n the field of r children for erstand their te to science ily lives. developed a ms to spark ged students hem to deal lications and m’s employees ng the love of they are not collaborates requirements after develop ry materials, es generally platform for at they have

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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

lex theorems to the students via simple experiments

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

Students are encouraged to take up practical activities using readily available material to understand theory better

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

TECH/START-UP For 27 yrs, Sec 144 in force in Kota

Spammers get one response for every 12 million emails they send (yet it still makes them a small profit). http://didyouknow.org/

P 12

Ichalkaranji youth cracks 150-yr-old telecom problem

Marconi Society honours Dinesh Bharadia for his full duplex radio technology

An Indian student in the US is being honoured, for helping crack a problem that has stumped the telecom industry for 150 years: how to send and receive signals on the same frequency. Th is is still not a commercial reality: Whether on mobile phones or large communication transceivers, you need two separate frequencies, one to transmit, another to receive. The research of Dinesh Bharadia and the work being progressed at a Silicon Valley (US) startup, Kumu Networks, founded by Bharadia’s doctoral guide, Dr Sachin Katti of Stanford University, may change all that.

Dinesh Bharadia, winner of 2016 Marconi Society Young Scholar Award

NOTE-ABLE APPS Forget pen and paper. Take digital notes with these cool smartphone apps

BY V SUDHAKSHINA Our smart-phones can do lot more than just be used as a device for communication. There are several applications that convert your phones into productive tools for professional or personal use. One such tool is digital notes.

Gone are the days when one used to always carry a separate pen and a notepad during office meetings or have a list for shopping. With many note-taking apps available for free, one just needs to unlock the smart phone and start using it anywhere. Also, you don’t need to invest in an expensive device with stylus for this purpose, even a simple low range smart phone would be enough. Here are two of the best note taking apps:

Evernote

Bharadia’s work will effectively double the efficiency of wireless networks

Bharadia has been just named as a winner of the Marconi Society’s Young Scholar Award for 2016. He will receive the award at a ceremony at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, on November 2. Winners are selected by an international panel of engineers from leading universities and companies.

Bharadia’s research disproved a longheld assumption that it is “generally not possible for a radio to receive and transmit on the same frequency band because of the interference that results.”

He gives a simple analogy: “Let’s say you are shouting at someone and they are shouting at you. Neither of you can hear the other, because you are both shouting in the same frequency. The noise in your ears (“interference”) from your own shout prevents you from hearing the other person. That’s why radios use two different frequencies to transmit and receive simultaneously. It’s also why solving the challenge of developing ‘full duplex radios’ effectively

doubles the amount of available spectrum.”

The analog cancellation fi lter Bharadia developed, also unleashed the potential for many more applications. Says Prof. Sachin Katti, “Dinesh’s work enables a whole host of new applications, from extremely lowpower Internet of Th ings connectivity to motion tracking. It has the potential to be used for important future applications such as building novel wireless imaging that can enable driverless cars in severe weather scenarios, help blind people to navigate indoors, and much more.”

Bharadia, now 28, was born in Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, 250 kms from Pune and graduated from IIT Kanpur in Electrical Engineering. “My elder brother introduced me to an amazing teacher Vaman Gogate, more popularly known as Gogate Sir. He provided guidance and mental energy to prepare for IIT-JEE”, says Dinesh. After gaining his PhD at Stanford University he now continues his research into full duplex radios at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He took a leave of absence

from his doctorate studies at Stanford so he could commercialize the radio through the startup Kumu Networks.

In a message to Indian readers he writes: “India has much denser users when it comes to cellular data connectivity and very few cellular towers. Firstly, if one can talk and listen at the same time in the context of wireless radio, one can double the data we can service. Second, this technology can be used to build cheap-efficient full-duplex relays i.e. relays which can listen to signal from the cellular tower and at the same transmit it instantaneously, which would help us to extend the range very easily.

We have fewer cellular towers in India; by deploying these cheap-efficient full-duplex relays, we don’t need to deploy expensive cellular tower infrastructure, but gain similar benefits.”

Hopefully in a few years, Dinesh Bharadia—and Kumu Networks’—work will result in more efficient and ultimately more cost-effective wireless systems for the aam aadmi.

IndiaTechOnline

It is one of the popular notetaking apps that are available on all major platforms. This app lets you take notes in the form of text, images, voice recordings, video, web pages, document, etc. It also comes with a scanning feature that lets you scan documents, business cards, and even your handwritten messages. With sync option available for multiple devices, the app lets you save notes in your smart phone and later access it from your desktop or tablet. Evernote is available as a free download for Android, iOS, and Windows. While the basic version with 60 MB of new uploads per month and sync across two devices is free, you will have to pay an annual fee for upgraded versions.

GoogleKeep

Android-only app, GoogleKeep’s highlights are the reminders and sharing the notes feature. The app allows you set a location and time based reminder, for example whenever you enter a store it will automatically pull out your shopping list. You can share your notes with your colleagues or friends. Like other apps, GoogleKeep also stores notes in various formats like text, images, voice recordings. The app also automatically transcribes your voice memos. You can add colour and label to your notes and search them by colour and other attributes like lists with images, audio notes with reminders or just see shared notes. The sync option is only available for other Android devices. It is available for free on GooglePlay.

BY ANAND PARTHASARATHY

I must start with a confession: I hate virtual on-screen keyboards that come with tablets and mobile phones. I want the tactile feel of a real, physical keyboard for all serious writing, beyond the limited characters of an SMS message or a tweet.

Blame this on my age—which takes me back to the era of heavy manual typewriters.

I spoiled many keyboards in the early years of PCs, by bashing them as I was used to do with my Remington typewriter. I somehow learned to soften my touch for computer keyboards—but the transition to virtual keyboards on the sensitive touch screens of phones and tablets? No, I never made it with any success. On phones, I seem to always hit two keys at the same time.

Which is why I am delighted that the obituaries that so-called experts have been writing for the laptop PC have all proved to be premature. Laptops, Notebooks, call them what you will. They just won’t die —even after the onslaught of tablets and phablets (When a phone is 6 inches or more in screen size, they tend to call it a phablet).

The initial euphoria about tablets seems to have sobered. Yes they are great portable devices, but you can’t do all the things you can, with a standard Windows or Apple laptop.

But a standard laptop is difficult to carry.

Have you seen those execs in airports, their shoulders bent under the weight of their company laptops? This sight is becoming rarer as laptops become thinner and lighter.

Intel introduced a form factor called Ultra book which was extremely portable. It was also extremely unaffordable by most of us.

So I was thrilled to be recently trying out an Indian laptop that was at once, light

in weight and light on my purse, while still offering me a full sized standard keyboard and a 14.1 inch 720 p HD screen.

It’s called ThinBook and comes from Hyderabad-based RDP Workstations and though it uses a big 10,000 mAh battery that works for 6-8 hours on full charge, the weight is a manageable 1.45 kg. It runs on a 1.84GHz Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of on board solid state storage. You can expand this with

128 GB of additional Flash memory by plugging in a microSD card. But even will seem small storage to traditional laptop users.

Well, get used to it! This is the era of cloud computing, so PC makers expect you to store most of your files and all of your tools on the Web, using your onboard storage for the bare essentials like Operating System—in this case, Windows 10—some antivirus tools and your choice of browsers.

If you want to use new-age laptops like the ThinBook, which have also dispensed with the DVD drive, be prepared to store your files in a free Cloud store like Google Drive or Windows OneDrive or DropBox. You may also have to subscribe to Microsoft’s online avatar of its Office Suite—Office 360, since the full version will never fit in your machine. I am a regular user of Photoshop but if I am to use the ThinBook, I have to subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud—a costly proposition—or make do with a free tool like the web-based Photoshop Express.

External connection-wise the ThinBook is OK — USB 2 and USB 3; Audio out, MicroHDMI — as well as WiFi and Bluetooth, though I thought the VGA camera was a bit underpowered for today’s taste.

For Rs 9,999 this is as good as it gets.

IndiaTechOnline

‘Persistent’ quest for quality in software A few weeks ago, the Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state assembly, became the fi rst state legislature in India, to install and deploy a Multilingual Intelligent Search and Analytics Solution for digitizing and archiving its proceedings.

Legislative information, often dating back decades, to when legislative bodies were fi rst created, includes books of proceedings, newspaper cuttings, orders, letters, as well as audio and video recordings.

The newly installed solution is an integrated system to scan, annotate and index books of proceedings, store them in a secure and tamperproof digital vault, and make them available on a Web portal that would be accessible from any device. The solution allows searches in English, Hindi and other official Indian languages, through a specialized search capability interface.

To implement this ambitious digitization project, the UP assembly

turned to the Pune headquartered Persistent Systems, a company that has created a niche for itself by building a range of enterprise software solutions for a growing global clientele. For the UP task, they partnered with the Hyderabad based SemanticsBits.

“The opportunity is in front of every state to become software-driven in its functioning. There is an urgent need in India today to make governments more accessible, transparent, and efficient—both within their own departments and when impacting the general public.” says Dr. Anand Deshpande, founder and CEO of Persistent Systems.

The company has, for a quarter century been one of the best known IT brands with its umbilical fi rmly rooted in Pune —but its reach extended worldwide. In a study last month, globalization and market advisory fi rm Zinnov positioned Persistent Systems in a leadership zone in two areas of its

work: “Software platform engineering and management” and Engineering Analytics and Decision Sciences”—a rare honour.

Since March this year Persistent is in alliance with IBM to grow its services, harnessing the Internet of Th ings platform of the latter’s Watson supercomputing cloud. With its human strength almost 10,000, with over 800 customers worldwide and a product portfolio that crossed 5500 in the last five years alone, Persistent looks set to continue its upward path in infotech products and services.

Ultimately people matter, Persistent’s strength is its Punekar powerhouse of talent.

In June this year the company came at the top of the annual TechGig Code Gladiators mega-hackathon.

Some 900 Persistent techies competed against 1.5 lakh coders from 100 companies, to seize the coding crown. Persistence, as they say, pays.

IndiaTechOnline

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IndiaTechOnline

In India, the barter system has been a significant factor contributing to the emergence and development of trade and commerce. Until the modern system of offering ‘tokens’ (or money) in exchange came into effect, the only form of transactions carried out was the traditional exchange of goods or services for other goods or services. Such a system reinforced the relationship between trader and consumer, and further strengthened the Dr Suvinay Damle society by exploiting the interdependence thus created.

Dr Suvinay Damle is an Ayurvedic doctor who is striving diligently towards the rejuvenation of the Barter spirit in India.

In a unique, one-of-its-kind clinic established in Kudal, over 370 kilometres from Pune, he treats his patients and accepts goods as his fees. His patients are mostly the villagers, who do not have money and for whom it is almost impossible to access healthcare facilities or quality medicines with their meagre earnings.

Villagers pay him with whatever is surplus in their household.

His remuneration ranges from groundnuts, coconuts, oil, ghee, gourds to gomutra (cow urine) and gobar (cow dung) in lieu of the Rs 100 fees. The barter system has helped wean villagers away from nostrums suggested by quacks and witch doctors. Furthermore, it has established a sense of self respect: the fact that they can give something in return to the doctor who treats them is an immense source of pride for them.

Dr Damle once received a big box of saff ron, whose market value would have been priceless. Money and cost, however, matters very little to him. “I cannot put a price to these gifts,” he says. “I get more than I need. I can use most of the things daily in my household. It is all about the faith and trust they have in me.”

SuvinayDamle will be speaking about his work and the barter system in general at TEDxPICT’s event, The Mirror of Erised on Saturday, 1st October 2016. He is the paragon of utopian functioning of a society; a society in which we trade what we have for what we do not. His work has the potential to lead us on to the track of an ideal, harmonious living based on co-existence and interdependence, which, in fact was the motivation behind the formation of society by mankind!

Rajvardhan Oak

ENVIRONMENT Chikungunya cases have been more in rural parts of Pune and city’s peripheral areas like those near Shivane and Warje. Areas in the city have reported more cases of dengue than those of chikungunya.

- Kalpana Baliwant, Head, Insect Control Department at PMC

H EALTH

BY KUNAL DUTT The number of women attempting suicide in the country is nearly thrice that of men, while people in the age-group of 15-30 are the most vulnerable section of the society who end their lives, experts claim.

According to the Indian Psychiatric Society, however, only 10-15 per cent of suicidal bids are “impulsive” and the rest can be prevented through timely intervention and appropriate psychosocial therapy.

The global community today joins in observing the World Suicide Prevention Day to raise awareness about its prevention, a major cause of death worldwide. According to WHO, 800,000 people lose their life to suicide each year - one person every 40 seconds, and up to 25 times as many make a suicide attempt again.

“In India, women attempt more suicide than men, on an average nearly 2.5-3 times. But nearly three times men as against women are ending their lives.

Only 10-15 per cent cases are impulsive attempts, meaning a person attempts suicide himself or herself.

“In the rest, the person shows signs that he or she may attempt it, like ‘my life is not worth living’, which is the

most common expression. And, if people around them can sense and intervene in time, then such cases can be prevented,” Indian Psychiatric Society President Dr G Prasad Rao told PTI. The Society, founded in 1947, has been creating awareness about its causes and prevention. Rao says “farmer, student and dowry-related suicides are the most common”.

“It’s a bio-psychosocial disorder and depression is the major cause that leads to death by suicide, followed by mental anxiety and personality disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” he says. Rao says though suicide is preventable through timely intervention and psychosocial therapy, many people fail to assess the situation when someone may be suicidal and how to respond to it.

According to a study carried out recently by Delhi-based Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioural

Indian, Oz scientists grow salt-tolerant rice

BY NATASHA CHAKU A team of Australian researchers has partnered with an Indian research foundation in an effort to develop a variety of salt-tolerant rice, as part of a broader project to address the issue of food security.

An agreement was signed between the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and MS Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai last week for a USD 2 million project supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund.

They will conduct research on salt-tolerant rice varieties identified from wild species using biotechnology approaches in India and in Australia.

Rice was one of the most important staple foods in the world, with 92 per cent of all rice produced in Asia, said Holger Meinke, head of the university’s School of Land and Food head.

Production in this region was increasingly impaired by seawater intrusion or saline water tables rendering vast areas of land unproductive and threatening the livelihood of many rice farmers.

“Researchers from University of Tasmania, supported by Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, will be using a variety of wild rice that is capable of growing in highly saline coastal areas to identify and transfer traits that confer its remarkable salinity-stress tolerance,” Meinke said.

“These traits will be transferred to traditional rice cultivars using a range of modern plantbreeding techniques to create a salt-tolerant rice variety which

will be suitable for growing conditions in India and other saline environments around the world,” Meinke added.

“The project will include exchange visits between India and Australia and is a great example of Tasmanian researchers forming international partnerships and sharing expertise to address issues of global significance,” he said.

The three-year project is being led by University of Tasmania Sergey Shabala who said the project is an important effort to improve global food security as well as production efficiencies for Australian farmers.

“Rice is Australia’s third largest cereal grain export, and the ninth largest agricultural export. The industry generates around USD 800 million revenue per annum, with around USD 500 million of this coming from value-added exports,” Shabala said.

“The development of a salinitytolerant rice variety will help improve outcomes for Australian farmers who are affected by transient salinity. Th is is the fi rst step towards developing agricultural systems that are highly salt-tolerant.

“The capabilities and technologies developed through this project have the potential to ultimately enhance the agricultural productivity for other major crops such as barley and wheat,” Shabala said.

University of Tasmania will also work closely with Zhonghua Chen from the University of Western Sydney.

PTI

Sciences (CIMBS), 71 per cent of people were not aware as to what to do when someone around them showed suicidal tendencies.

The study, released to mark the World Suicide Prevention Day, consisted of two parts — a public survey to gauge awareness, perception and impact of suicide in general public, and a clinical research of data to assess various psychological trends associated with suicidal behaviour.

“67 per cent of people with suicidal behaviour had an underlying major depressive disorder, 55 per cent had alcohol or other addictions, 26 per cent had personality disorders, 12 per cent had bipolar affective disorder, 7 per cent had schizophrenia while 2 per cent had eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia,” it said. .

The CIMBS study included about 500 participants, falling in the age group

Women find stubble, full grown beards most attractive

SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

Liver damage in dengue infection is not preventable, but doctors can stop paracetamol and other medicines which can cause liver toxicity.

-Mahesh Lakhe, Internal Medicine Expert

Suicide: Depression major cause, women attempt more than men Indian Psychiatric Society says 85% of suicidal bids can be prevented through timely intervention

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

of 18-62 years, in the general public category from the Delhi-NCR region. Of this, 88 per cent aged between 18 and 35.

And, men and women respondent were 52 per cent and 48 per cent, respectively.

“55 per cent people knew someone in their personal, social or professional circle who had lost their life to suicide, while 61 per cent people knew someone in their personal, social or professional circle who had attempted suicide, but managed to survive,” it says.

53 per cent of respondents felt that they were “personally impacted” by such incidents.

The study also analysed 1,000 clinical cases from January-August to analyse the psychological trends in people who showed suicidal behaviour.

In 75 per cent of suicides, the victims aged less than 35, while in case of attempted suicides, 34 per cent were young adults (19-24 years).

In those showing suicidal behaviours, young adults (24-35 years) comprised 42 per cent, followed by those in the group of 35-49 years (33 per cent). Teenagers in the bracket of 13-19 years formed 17 per cent of the clinical cases analysed, while those over 50 years composed 8 per cent.

Also, unemployed people (32 per cent) showed most suicidal tendencies, followed by students (26 per cent) and professionals (22 per cent), the study claimed. The Indian Psychiatric Society’s president says the government in its new mental healthcare bill mentions about “decriminalising” suicides, and it’s a welcome step.

PTI

Flax keeping humans healthy

BY DR SOM DUTT Flax better known as linseed (Linum usitatissimum) has been grown since the beginning of human civilisation. It is used in a greater way in serving the human being. Commonly known as alsi (Hindi), tisi (Bengali), avise jinjalu (Telugu), jawas (Marathi), ali vidai (Tamil), agasi (Kannada), psi (Oriya) and cheruchana vithu (Malayalam), its seeds, seed oil and fibres have potential medicinal value.

Linseed oil or flax seeds are very important for human nutrition because seeds and oil are rich in fibres and omega-3 fatty acids or alpha-linolenic acid. These are important essential fatty acids which maintain an appropriate balance of omega-3 fatty acid to omega-6 fatty acids. It is beneficial for heart, and also possess anti-cancer properties.

It reduces growth of specific types of tumors. Flax seed taken in the diet may benefit individuals with certain types of breast and prostate cancers.

Flax may also lessen the severity of diabetes by stabilizing blood sugar levels.

Flax seed also acts as a laxative due to its dietary fibre content though excessive consumption without liquid can result in intestinal blockage.

Flax is an important oldest fibre and as well oilseed crop in the world.

It belongs to genus Linum of family Linaceae.

In India, it occupies a greater importance

among oilseeds; owing to its various uses. In India, flax is cultivated for years exclusively for seed and vegetable oil known as flaxseed oil or linseed oil, which is one of the oldest commercial oils.

Flax seeds are useful in migraine pain, alzimers and Parkinson diseases.

Linseed oil is famous for its ability to make the skin smooth, soft and velvety.

Flax seed contain fiber and a gummy material called mucilage.

These substances expand when they come in contact with water, so they add bulk to stool and help it move more quickly through the gastrointestinal tract, thereby acting as a laxative for constipation. Early studies in humans suggest that flax seed can be effective when used as a laxative.

Take flax seeds two-three tablespoons 2-3 times daily with a glass of water and oil 1 to 2 table spoons 2-3 times daily.

It can be used in different forms like powder form, making by laddoo, used in dough of wheat for breads. Flax seed may also use in the severity of diabetes by stabilizing blood-sugar level.

Additionally, flax seed is very low in carbohydrates, making it ideal for people who limit their intake of starches and sugars. And its combination of healthy fat and high fiber content make it a great food for weight loss and maintenance.

PTI Feature

Need to strengthen India’s disease surveillance network WHO advocates Centre to engage with private healthcare sector to check outbreaks

Men, take note! Women tend to prefer those with full-grown beards - especially while looking for longterm relationships - while stubble is considered to be the most attractive overall, according to a new study.

For the study, researchers used computer graphic manipulation to morph male faces varying in facial hair from clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble and full beards, with additional differences in brow ridge, cheekbones, jawline, and other features so that the same man appeared more or less masculine.

The research from University of Queensland and University of New South Wales in Australia suggests that women tend to find beardedness attractive when judging long-term relationships, perhaps as a signal of formidability among males and the potential to provide direct benefits, such as enhanced fertility and survival, to females.

When women viewed the images, masculinised and feminised faces were less attractive than unmanipulated faces when all were clean-shaven.

Stubble was judged as most attractive overall and received higher ratings for short-term relationships than full beards, which were more attractive for long-term relationships.

Extremely masculine and extremely feminine-looking males were least attractive, irrespective of relationship context. “Sexual selection via female choice has shaped the evolution of male ornamentation in many species,” researchers said.

The research was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

PTI

The WHO called for strengthening India’s disease surveillance network by engaging private healthcare sector more for reliable counts of cases of dengue and chikungunya, which have claimed over 80 lives and affected more than 50,000 people across the country.

Terming engagement with private healthcare sector as “critical”, WHO said that even probable dengue cases during outbreaks need to be reported to get more effective estimates while noting that strong surveillance, vector control, early diagnosis and case management and public awareness are key to control these vector-borne diseases.

The World Health Organisation said that in recent years, globalisation of travel and trade, unplanned urbanisation and environmental challenges including climate change has had a “significant” impact on transmission of vector-borne diseases.

“Surveillance for dengue and chikungunya in India presently captures only those patients that are laboratory confirmed at government identified sentinel hospitals, most of these are in the public sector.

“Given that substantial population visits the private sector for seeking health care in India, it is important that information from private hospitals and facilities is captured and wellrepresented for better understanding and estimation of the national disease burden of these infections,” said Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative to India. Observing that in addition to lab verified cases, probable cases of dengue, especially during outbreaks need to be reported for a more effective estimate of the numbers, WHO also called for continued investment in enhancing surveillance and laboratory capacities.

According to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) under the Health Ministry, dengue has affected 36,110 people across the country and has claimed 70 lives, the maximum 24 in West Bengal and ten each in Odisha and Kerela.

The death toll due to dengue in the national capital today rose to 18 while the number of cases crossed 1,100.

A municipal worker inspects a water container for mosquito breeding, a procedure carried out to check the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, as he stands in smoke from fumigation at a residential colony

Similarly according to NVBDCP, 14,656 cases of chikungunya have been reported across the country with 9,427 alone in Karnataka. In the national capital, 12 people have reportedly died from Chikungunya.

WHO said that it is also encouraging countries including India to explore judiciously the use of promising new techniques for vector control including using genetically modified mosquitoes.

Bekedam said that aedes mosquitoes carrying Wolbachia bacteria (a bacterium that can stop viruses such as dengue and Zika from growing inside the mosquito) have been released as part of trial tests in several places beginning in 2011, including Australia, Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam, to help control dengue and has a potential to suppress mosquito populations.

“Using genetically modified mosquitoes is another promising technique. In genetically modified mosquitoes, the genes of male mosquitoes are modified.

“Because of these changes, when they mate with female mosquitoes, their larval offspring cannot survive.

This practice is designed to control and significantly reduce the mosquito population,” Bekedam said.

Noting that preventing dengue or chikungunya virus’ transmission depends entirely on controlling the mosquito vectors or interruption of human vector contact, WHO India said that it promoted an Integrated

Vector Management (IVM) to control mosquito vectors, including those of dengue. “Transmission control activities should target vector in its immature (egg, larva, and pupa) and adult stages in the household and immediate vicinity.

“Schools, hospitals and workplaces need to work towards making their premises mosquito free by reducing any sources where vector breeding can happen,” Bekedam said.

He said that till date, no vaccine is available to prevent dengue and Chikungunya infection, although research is ongoing and the only effective preventive measure is protection against mosquito bites and vector control.

Noting that not everyone needs hospitalisation, WHO said that it is good to know early warning symptoms to seek referral care and very young children and elderly with underlying comorbidities are at greater risk of severe disease and need to be monitored carefully. “Everyone has a role to play in the control of dengue and chikungunya. More awareness is the key. Communities, resident associations, schools and other educational institutions, workplaces must come together to reduce vector breeding at source.

“WHO supports Health Ministry’s long-term strategy for control and prevention of vector-borne diseases,” he added.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

Mulayam Singh Yadav should leave ‘Putra Moh’ (love for his son and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav) and Call drops reducing; retire from active politics. At least a dozen members of the Yadav family are holding key political auctions to improve positions and therefore have their own set of ambitions. The feud was very much expected one day. services: Sinha - Mayawati, BSP Chief

Option of simultaneous polls

BY ZAFRI MUDASSER NOFIL Should the country have simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, the state assemblies and the local bodies? Yes, say our President and our Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first among the two to raise this issue earlier this year when he said that the country should be spared from bracing for polls “throughout the year”.

He had said his government was exploring the “option” of holding assembly and Lok Sabha elections simultaneously. His argument was that conducting Lok Sabha and assembly elections separately consumes quite a lot of time. Modi’s idea received support from President Pranab Mukherjee who on Teacher’s Day told school students that such a system could ensure political and administrative stability.

He also said that the Election Commission can put in its idea and efforts on holding the polls together.

Senior BJP leader LK Advani had also on a couple of occasions written on his blog about the need for holding simultaneous elections According to the Election Commission, it is prepared to simultaneously hold general and state assembly polls provided there is a consensus among all political parties and constitutional amendments to this effect.

Recently Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi had said

Election Commissioner AK Joti along with Sandeep Saxena, Deputy Election Commissioner visiting a Sewa Kendra in the view of upcoming Assembly polls, in Jalandhar

that to conduct elections simultaneously there would be a need for certain logistic arrangements in terms of procurement of more electronic machines, hiring of temporary workers, and staggering the election dates. “As a commission, this is our recommendation to the Law Ministry that elections in the country can be held together for both state assemblies as well as Lok Sabha,” he had said.

However, former CEC S Y Quraishi begs to differ. He says the idea is good in principle but seems fraught with constitutional issues and administrative problems.

In a newspaper article, he wrote that it is true that due to frequent elections, normal work comes to a standstill to a considerable extent, cost becomes a major issue and there is aggravation of vices like communalism, casteism, corruption (vote-buying and fund-raising) and crony capitalism.

But frequent elections have some benefits too, he says.

Mother’s body kept in house for 9 mnths HARINGHATA (WB): Two men kept their mother’s body in their house at Simhat in Nadia district for almost nine months and the skeleton was recovered, police said.

Arun Saha (65) and Ajit Saha (55), both unmarried, told police that their mother Nani Bala Saha died on January 16 at the age of 85, and they could not take the body for cremation as it was very cold then.

“We thought of taking the body to the crematorium a few days later. But later, maggots formed in the body and it was not taken for cremation,” the elder brother said.

Locals said the brothers did not interact much with the neighbours.

Enquired about the woman’s health, they would say she was ill and sleeping. But, no one was allow to go inside their house. A few days back, Rupak Adhikari, a local, went to the house for a survey on behalf of Haringhata Municipality. He had to measure the house and look into some documents but was not allowed inside.

Adhikari said he became suspicious and discussed this with other people and chalked out a plan.

“We formed a group of six people and sought to visit their mother this morning. When they did not allow us, a large number of people entered the house forcibly and found the skeleton on the bed. The room was shabby, dark and dirty,” he said, adding the police were informed then.

The house is situated on large land and far from the main road. Apparently, that is reason why the stench from the body did not attract attention, locals said. The brothers did not do anything for a living and led a frugal life. The younger brother was a private tutor some years ago, they said.

Police said the two brothers have been detained and are being interrogated. They seemed to have psychological problems.

In June last year, police had found a man living with the skeletons of his sister and two dogs in his house at posh Robinson Street in Kolkata.

Vol-III* lssue No.: 14 Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867) Printed and Published by: Shrikant Honnavarkar on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed at PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411 030, Tel: 020-41220010.

“One, politicians, who tend to forget voters after the elections for five years have to return to them. This enhances accountability, keeps them on their toes. Two, elections give a boost to the economy at the grassroots level, creating work opportunities for lakhs of people.

Three, there are some environmental benefits also that flow out of the rigorous enforcement of public discipline like non-defacement of private and public property, noise and air pollution, ban on plastics, etc. Four, local and national issues do not get mixed up to distort priorities. In voters’ minds, local issues overtake wider state and national issues,” Quraishi argues.

He also rejects the suggestion that vote of noconfidence must contain an expression of confidence in an alternative ruling arrangement saying that will be an unmitigated atrocity against the people’s will. He then comes up with some suggestions.

“In conclusion, if the reasons for

Citizens can’t become law ‘unto themselves’ NEW DELHI: “Citizens cannot become law unto themselves,” the Supreme Court said while asking the Executives to comply its orders in “letter and spirit” as concept of “deviancy” and “disobedience” has no room.

The apex court was irked over the contention of Karnataka that the “law and order” situation and state-wide protests led it to file the fresh plea seeking to keep in abeyance the September 5 order that had asked it to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 16.

“An order of this court has to be complied with by all concerned and it is the obligation of the Executive to see that the order is complied with in letter and spirit. Concept of deviancy has no room; and disobedience has no space,” a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit said. It said when a court of law passes an order, it is the “sacred” duty of citizens to obey it and if there is any grievance, they are obliged to take permissible legal recourse.

PTI

the demand are accepted (money and dislocation), let’s look at what is possible.

It’s possible to reduce the duration of the election process by half — by conducting the elections in one day.

That requires making available to the EC five times the Central armed police force that is currently provided. Instead of 700-800 companies, the EC will then need 3,500 companies. According to a rough estimate, Lok Sabha and state polls cost around Rs 4,500 crore in 2004.

A parliamentary standing committee looking into the Feasibility of Holding Simultaneous Elections to House of People (Lok Sabha) and State Legislative Assemblies in its report said that simultaneous polls would reduce the massive expenditure that is currently incurred for the conduct of separate elections; reduce the policy paralysis that results from the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct during election time; and also reduce the impact on delivery of essential services and burden on crucial manpower that is deployed during election time.

Following the report of the parliamentary standing committee, the Law Ministry had asked the Election Commission to give its views.

The EC supported the idea to hold simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies but made it clear that it will cost a lot and the Constitution will have to be amended to curtail or extend the term of certain state assemblies.

The Election Commission said simultaneous conduct of elections would require large-scale purchase of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines.

PTI Feature

PTI

President and Prime Minister say it could spare country from bracing for polls ‘throughout the year’

P 14

For 27 yrs, Sec 144 in force in Kota

KOTA: For the last 27 years, over one lakh residents of parts of Kota city have been living under the shadow of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC, which has prevented them from hosting any public functions and processions, except during marriages and funerals.

Places like Bajaj Khana, Ghanta Ghar, Makbara Patan Pole and Tipta, stretching over an area of two kilometer in Kota city where a large section of residents belong to the minority community, had been placed under the section which prohibits the assembly of four or more persons after outbreak of communal violence in 1989.

But residents claim that the restrictions were continuing till day though no law and order problem has been reported and it was a “stigma” for them. Locals allege that banks refuse to grant them loans and officials ignore their grievances.

Section 144 was imposed following the lifting of curfew after communal riots took place in September 1989. However,

the then district collector of Kota (S N Thanwi) in September 1990 issued a circular extending the imposition of the Section “till the next order”, which never came.

“The locals in the area are forced to lead an inferior life as they have not been to carry any cultural, social religious programmes or procession for last 27 years,” state secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions R K Swami said.

The locals moved court in March 2009 against the long imposition of the CrPC section in the area, Swami said.

He said though the state government gave a positive reply to the court, the restrictions were not lifted in the area where a sizeable population belongs to the minority section.

District Collector Ravi Kumar Surpur evaded a direct reply and said that the section is invoked to ensure there is no breach of peace. “Imposition of Section 144 in civil area is clearly violation of civil rights,” said Phralad Singh Chadda, RTI activist in Kota.

PTI

HARD-EARNED SUCCESS

Cadets jubilate after their passing out parade at CRPF Academy Kadarpur in Gurgaon

Solo travel growing among Indian women MUMBAI: Easy access to information and bookings is encouraging Indian women to slowly step out of their comfort zone to travel solo, a trend which has witnessed a steady growth over the last few year, according to experts.

“Solo travel is one of the most favourable options for Indian women travellers over the last two years with more than 35 per cent of Indian women opting to travel alone,” HolidayIQ Chief Executive Officer and founder Hari Nair told PTI here.

He said most women travelling single, prefer one out of every five trips to travel as couple or with group. Majority of these solo women travellers belong to northern region of the country followed by south, he said.

“Solo travellers from east are yet to gear up, compared to fellow travellers from the rest of India,” he added. Hotels. com Senior Marketing Manager--India and SEA--Amit Agarwal said solo travel as a trend has caught on in a big way among the young independent Indian women.

“Flexibility and access to information

has contributed to the growth of solo women travel. Usually, the only concern is added security challenge. However, most destinations over the world have stressed on safety factors like introducing women-only buses and trains, women taxi drivers,” he said.

“Many hotels have also introduced facilities for solo women travellers which have further accelerated the growth,” Agrawal said. He said according to the search data at Hotels.com from January-

August this year, searches for hotels by overall solo travellers for the top 10 destinations grew by over 90 per cent from last year.

There has been a rise in the number of Indian women exploring both domestic and overseas destinations in the past few years, mainly due to change in safety measures, better and safer accommodation options, improved transport and accessibility to off-beat destinations among others, he added.

“Usually, first time women prefer travelling with groups keeping the safety aspect in mind. However, this mindset is undergoing a drastic shift,” he said. .

Cox and Kings, Head, Relationships, Karan Anand said solo travelling by Indian women has grown by 20 per cent against the previous year. Ezeego1 CEO and Director Neelu Singh said the company witnessed a growth of 25 per cent this year over 19 per cent last year in the solo women travel segment.

“This can be attributed to the growing tribe of women- only travellers who are upwardly-mobile, educated and financially independent and more so want to celebrate their individuality and sense of freedom,” she said.

“Also, easy accessibility to book tickets online or through mobile apps, information about destinations offered is available at their fingertips contributed to this growth,” Singh added.

However, recently India is growing as a popular destination for solo women travellers because of its massive and diverse offerings, she added.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

We have on our lists 2,35,000 migrants who are just waiting for a good opportunity to depart for Italy, and they will do it. Reinforcing security is the most important issue at the moment. If we have a strong and unified army, then the dangers of terrorism and human trafficking will cease.

- Martin Kobler, UN Envoy

DSK Shivajians’ run ends in semis P 16

Groups like Qaeda, ISIS will never be able to defeat US

Obama said US will neither be intimidated by terrorists, nor draw back from the business of the world, nor retreat from its democratic values

BY LALIT K JHA

US soldiers roll their flag during a ceremony to commemorate the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, in Resolute Support headquarters, in Kabul, Afghanistan

strengths. This is the America that was attacked that September morning. This is the America that we must remain true to,” Obama said. Across the country, Americans are coming together in service and remembrance, he said.

“We run our fingers over the names in memorial benches here at the Pentagon. We walk the hallowed grounds of a Pennsylvania field. We look up at a gleaming tower that pierces the New York City skyline. But in the end, the most enduring memorial to those we lost is ensuring the America that we continue to be—that we stay true to ourselves, that we stay true to what’s best in us, that we do not let others divide us,” said the US President, apparently referring to the Republican presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

Obama participated in a wreath

Most Chinese don’t regret racism gaffe

BY KJM VARMA BEIJING: Most Chinese don’t regret and back Air China’s offensive advice asking travellers to be cautious in areas populated by “Indians, Pakistanis and black people” when visiting London, the state media said, terming the flag carrier’s racially-charged warning a “careless mistake”.

“Most Chinese on social media are not expressing much regret over the incident. Many have shown understanding of the Chinese airline, suggesting that it had done something right, but unfortunately not in an appropriate way,” an article in the Global Times said.

“The travel alert, however, has unintentionally insulted Londoners and many other people who are inclined to use euphemisms to imply the connections between race and crimes.

As wonderfully diverse as London may be, harmonious it is not,” it said.

The travel advice in Air China’s in-flight magazine ‘Wings of China’ had warned passengers that London is generally a safe place to travel, but “precautions are needed when entering areas mainly populated by Indians, Pakistanis and Black people.”

It triggered a huge controversy after journalists noticed the tip and tweeted the picture to Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, who is of Pakistani origin on

September 8.

The magazine’s publisher has since apologised and withdrawn the controversial issue, saying it was an editorial mistake. Chinese Foreign Ministry too has asked the airline to investigate the incident.

The article suggested that the airline “should have just named boroughs and streets that have high crime rates without mentioning who lives there, a lesson for other Chinese companies that must keep in mind the sensitivity of racial issues in many Western societies.”

“Air China’s careless mistake is not an example of how racism is tolerated in China,” it said.

“It is merely a reflection of the Chinese’ unawareness of racial issues because of their much less exposure to other groups compared to most Westerners.

Though many may seem prejudiced, they are not racist.”

Referring to the protest lodged by British MP Virendra Sharma, the article said “for these British politicians who are making a fuss over the incident, perhaps they should just make their constituencies safer for both local citizens and travellers, so that travel alerts are no longer necessary”.

“As China’s population diversifies, it would benefit greatly to do away with prejudice and nurture trust among different people,” it said.

PTI

Magazine warns passengers to be careful in areas populated

by Indians, Pakistanis and Black people

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, marines take part in a joint naval drill in Zhanjiang, south China’s Guangdong Province. China and Russia started “Joint Sea 2016” drill off Guangdong Province in the South China Sea

ceremony outside of the Pentagon. He was joined by the Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Joseph Dunford.

A trumpet played as Obama stood solemnly in front of the wreath with his hand over his heart.

A moment of silence was observed at 9:32 in remembrance those who perished in the Pentagon attack.

“Today, we return to the site of an attack motivated by barbarism and hate. An attack that rattled the world, that shook this mighty building, and that took 184 lives from us here at the Pentagon as well as thousands more in New York and Pennsylvania,” Carter said in his address.

“Indeed, when someone strikes at the heart of what we stand for, we respond with the full might of the finest fighting

PTI

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said that terror groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State will never be able to defeat the US and asked Americans not to let “others divide us”.

“Groups like al Qaeda, like ISIL, know that we will never be able—they will never be able to defeat a nation as great and as strong as America,” Obama said at a memorial service for 9/11 victims at the Pentagon.

“So, instead, they’ve tried to terrorise in the hopes that they can stoke enough fear that we turn on each other and that we change who we are or how we live,” he said.

“And that’s why it is so important today that we reaffirm our character as a nation—a people drawn from every corner of the world, every colour, every religion, every background—bound by a creed as old as our founding, e pluribus unum,” he said.

“Out of many, we are one. For we know that our diversity—our patchwork heritage—is not a weakness; it is still, and always will be, one of our greatest

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force the world has ever known. Because our memory is long and our reach and resolve are endless, our enemies cannot hide, they cannot escape, they cannot endure. Wherever they are, they will surely, no matter how long it takes, come to feel the righteous fist of American might,” Carter said.

“Since September 11, 2001, millions of America’s best young men and women have volunteered to respond to those attacks and defend what’s best about America and civilization itself ‘our freedoms, our values, our care for life, and our way of life’, Carter said.

In a statement, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Americans were not the only ones who fell victim.

“The citizens of more than sixty countries perished in the strikes on the World Trade Center. That astonishing toll reflects both the inter-connected nature of modern society and the need to persist in our comprehensive and united response to the global threat posed by violent extremist groups,” he said.

“Over the past decade and a half, the United States has led that response.

With partners on every continent, we are helping to defeat terrorists by targeting their leadership, shrinking their territory, choking their finances, disrupting their networks, and discrediting their lies,” he added.

The US, he said, will neither be intimidated by terrorists, nor draw back from the business of the world, nor retreat from its democratic values.

PTI

America first choice to study abroad MUMBAI: Although the US is an expensive destination, it is the top choice for Indian parents who would consider university abroad for their wards, according to a report.

HSBC’s ‘The Value of Education Foundations for the future’ report has revealed 58 per cent of the parents had USA in their top three destinations list among 50 countries.

This, notwithstanding that the US is also the most expensive destination, with average annual tuition fees of USD 33,215 per year for international university students.

The report represents the views of 6,241 parents in 15 countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

“An international university education for their child is a highly desirable ambition for many parents.

However, it comes at higher costs, with living expenses and air fares on top of tuition fees,” HSBC India Head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management S Ramakrishnan said.

For Indian parents, the top three countries where they are most likely to send their child to university are the USA, Australia and the UK, the report said. When parents were asked for the top three reasons to best explain why they would chose an international university education, more than half (57 per cent) said it was for the international

India drags US over renewable energy

IN COMMEMORATION

Family members of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 touch the Wall of Names following a wreath laying ceremony at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa, as the nation marks the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks

Do not support independence for Balochistan WASHINGTON: The US does not support independence for Balochistan and respects the unity and territorial integrity of Pakistan, a state department official has said following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks over the rights situation in the volatile region.

“The government policy is that we support the territorial integrity of Pakistan and we do not support independence for Balochistan,” State Department Spokesman John Kirby told reporters at his daily news conference.

Kirby was responding to a question on growing clarion calls from both inside and outside Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on its independence and violation of human rights by the Pakistani security forces there.

“Where does the US stand on Balochistan? Because Indian Prime minister (Narendra Modi) has raised this subject,” Kirby was asked.

“The US Government respects the unity and territorial integrity of Pakistan and we do not support independence for Balochistan,” he reiterated.

PTI

work experience, 57 per cent said it would increase confidence while 53 per cent said it was for the exposure to new experiences, ideas and cultures.

The report also revealed that the proportion of parents who would consider university abroad for their child is relatively high, where almost half of those surveyed (47 per cent) said they would want to send their children to universities abroad.

The top three barriers, however, for sending the child to universities abroad are higher costs to the parents (43 per cent), higher costs for the child (29 per cent) and because the child could get homesick (28 per cent), it added.

PTI

GENEVA: India has draged the US to the WTO over America’s domestic content requirements and subsidies provided by eight states in the renewable energy sector.

“India has requested consultations with the US under the dispute settlement system regarding alleged domestic content requirements and subsidies provided by eight US states in the renewable energy sector,” the WTO said in a statement. The eight states are - Washington, California, Montana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Delaware and Minnesota. An Indian official said, “Yes we have sought consultations with the US on the matter.”

India has stated that the measures are inconsistent with the global trade norms because they provide less favourable treatment to imported products than to like domestic products, and because the subsidies are contingent on the use of domestic over imported goods.

PTI

Brazil ousts lawmaker who pushed for Rousseff impeachment BRASILIA: Brazil’s lower house of Congress has voted to oust its former speaker Eduardo Cunha, who spearheaded the drive to impeach president Dilma Rousseff only to suffer his own graft-stained downfall.

Cunha, who is often compared to the dark, manipulative villain Frank Underwood of the hit Netflix series “House of Cards,” was stripped of his seat in the Chamber of Deputies by a resounding vote of 450 in favor, 10 against and nine abstentions.

“I declare lawmaker Eduardo Cunha stripped of office for conduct incompatible with lawmakers’ duties,” said the decision read out at the conclusion of the late-night session.

Cunha, a 57-year-old conservative allied with the Evangelical Christian right, was a central figure in Brazil’s long impeachment drama.

His enemies accuse him of using his power to launch impeachment proceedings as a trump card to stave off his own prosecution for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes.

He resigned as speaker in July amid swirling accusations of corruption linked to the huge state oil company Petrobras.

He was forced to face the music in Congress for having “lied” to other lawmakers about his possession of secret Swiss bank accounts.

Cunha, who denies any wrongdoing, handled his own defense at the session. He mainly displayed the cool and calculating persona he is known for, but occasionally his voice broke with emotion.

“I didn’t lie. There’s no bank account. Where’s the proof?” he said. “Don’t judge me based on what public opinion says,” he implored, reminding his colleagues that at least 160 of them also face judicial investigations.

But his appeals fell on deaf ears. The vote against him was well clear of the simple majority of 257 needed in the 513-member chamber.

Cunha was first suspended in May, less than a month after lawmakers voted to open impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, Brazil’s first woman president.

Rousseff was definitively removed from office on August 31, and replaced by her vice president turned nemesis, Michel Temer. The new center-right administration brought an end to 13 years of leftist rule in Brazil.

AFP

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

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MONEY MATT ER S

Currently 28 per cent of our total volume comes from rural markets. From 1 scooter to 9 motorcycles in rural markets the ratio has improved to 3:9.

— YS Guleria, VP-Sales, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India

Signpost

If the petroleum products are taxed at a GST rate which is equivalent to the input GST cost, the cascading of taxes would be mitigated and the final price of the products may reduce.

— Bipin Sapra, Partner, EY

E-commerce mkt could reach $28 bn Domestic brokerage firm expects India to touch the figure by 2019-20

Direct selling norms issued for states To protect consumers from frauds, the government issued new norms mandating direct sellers to maintain confidentiality of private information of buyers as well as maintain record of complaint redressal. It also makes it mandatory for e-retailers and online marketplaces to get prior written consent of the direct selling entities like Amway before soliciting sales. The model guidelines, which have been sent to states, also seek to define direct selling and direct sellers as well as pyramid schemes involving chain of subscribers wherein a buyer enrols one or more subscribers and the chain continues.

Indian e-tailing market could reach USD 28 billion by 2019-20, registering a compounded annual growth rate of 45 per cent over the next four years, says a report.

According to domestic brokerage fi rm Kotak Institutional equities, this growth will largely be driven by an increase in number of buyers and annual average online spend.

Other factors like steady increase in household incomes and shift in consumption towards discretionary spends could also boost India’s retail demand.

“We estimate that the Indian e-tail market size could reach USD 28 billion by fiscal 2019-20, led by an increase in number of buyers to 110 million (assuming one person per urban household to shop online), and stable annual spends of around USD 260 per consumer,” Kotak Institutional Equities said in a research note.

According to the report, though the growth of e-tail market in India is often compared to that of China, given the broad similarities in population

Toll-free number for postal complaints The government launched toll free number 1924 to register postal complaints, over a month after introducing Twitter Sewa for redressal of telecom and postal grievances.

“Prime Minister has asked all departments to set up and strengthen public grievances redressal system.

Moving on these lines, we started Twitter Sewa on August 2 and now we have issued a toll free number 1924 to address postal complaints,” Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said after inaugurating the service.

The service will be operational initially for 12 hours on working days between 0800 hrs to 2000 hrs.

Sinha said the complaints will be addressed in 24 hours unless they are related to policy matters.

“The service has been started initially in three languages -- Hindi, English, Malayalam and gradually we will start services in all scheduled languages,” he added.

He said the Department of Posts (DoP) is 8th largest department in terms of number of complaints received.

“We have been receiving average of 100 complaints in a day from across the country on Twitter Sewa and the resolution status is 97 per cent till date,” Sinha said.

The DoP will set up a nodal officer in all postal circles who will handle public complaints.

“In three months we will start

providing services in all languages on India Posts helpline number.

Meanwhile, we will direct calls received in any other language to the concerned circle. If required, we will also expand operating hours from 12 to 24,” DoP Secretary BV Sudhakar said.

The complaints received on the toll free number would be registered in Computerised Customer Care (CCC) Centre portal by the operators at the Dak Bhawan and the 11 digits ticket number would be provided to the complainants.

If the complaint is already registered, the complainant would be informed about the status as viewed in CCC portal.

The Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha launched “Twitter Sewa” for addressing the complaints and concerns of the common man and other stakeholders in the telecom and postal sectors. The twitter handle of the Minister will be @manojsinhabjp.

PTI

and mobile internet penetration, in the near-term in India may not mirror China completely due to various economic and other differences between the two countries.

The report noted that the e-commerce sector is expected to see

steady growth and is likely to register a 45 per cent annual growth over financial year 2017-2020. while China witnessed a CAGR of 116 per cent during 2009-15.

India’s present Internet user base of around 330 million was similar to that of China in 2009, when B2C

Indirect tax collection up 27% in Apr-Aug Government’s revenue collection in the first five months of current fiscal has shown impressive growth, with indirect taxes up 27.5 per cent and direct taxes, 15.03 per cent.

The total direct and indirect tax collections at the end of August stood at Rs 5.25 lakh crore, about a third of the Rs 16.26 lakh crore target for 2016-17.

The government is eyeing 12.64 per cent growth from direct tax to Rs 8.47 lakh crore in the current fiscal, and 10.8 per cent growth to Rs 7.79 lakh crore from indirect tax.

Led by robust collections in personal income tax and excise duty, direct tax mop up touched Rs 1.89 lakh crore and indirect tax revenue stood at Rs 3.36 lakh crore during the AprilAugust period.

Direct tax revenue includes corporate and personal income tax.

Indirect tax takes into account mop up from excise, service tax and customs duty. The gross collection of Corporate Income Tax (CIT) grew at 11.55 per cent, while that under personal income tax (PIT) it was 24.06 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal.

After adjusting for refunds, however, the net growth in CIT collections is (-)1.89 per cent while that in PIT collections is 31.76 per cent.

Excise duty collections grew 48.8 per cent in the April- August period to Rs 1.53 lakh crore, while Service Tax recorded an increase of 23.2 per cent at Rs 92,696 crore.

PTI

e-commerce took off. However, the online buyer base in India has remained relatively stagnant over the past 2-3 years, and online buyer penetration at 16 per cent is already lower than that of China in 2009.

Though mobiles have led internet penetration in both countries, it is essential to differentiate between the quality of users based on: the quality of handsets and data speeds.

Of the total 330 million internet users in India, only around 142 million have a broadband connection. This is in sharp contrast to China, which has around 86 per cent of its internet users on broadband (defined as 3G/4G networks), the report said, adding that the scenario in India may certainly change as data prices reduce and new broadband services are launched.

As per technology research fi rm Gartner, Indian smartphone shipments will remain skewed in favour of feature phones, implying that India may well be 5-6 years behind of China in smartphone quality which will eventually determine easier access to online shopping.

Another factor that may impact the Indian e-tail story is the low female participation in the labour force, the report added.

PTI

Rupee depreciation between July 2015 and July 2016 has been equal to the rate of Consumer Price Index (CPI) giving no advantage to the exporters on exchange rate whereas the cost of

production and transactions had risen, an exporters body said.

The analysis of engineering exports done by the EEPC (Engineering Export Promotion Council) India shows that during the said period, the rupee depreciation is about the same as the CPI. “Indian exporters were also paying real interest rates much higher than the competitive peers like China, Malaysia, Argentina and Mexico,

leaving Indian exports less competitive in the international market,” EEPC said in a statement.

To the extent of rising cost of production, rupee inched up, but on the other hand, the pricing power of Indian exporters has not been improving in the tough global markets, it noted.

“While the pace of decline in the exports has declined, the development has to be seen on a very base year-on-

Assuring small-scale businessmen that the era of e-commerce would not affect their trade, Union minister Piyush Goyal said the importance of corner stores and small shops would only increase in the coming days as compared to big shopping malls.

Citing examples of America and Europe, the Union Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy said the relevance of corner stores was increasing and big malls were becoming “unviable”. Therefore, he said small-scale businessmen should not have any concern.

“The relevance of small shops would not lessen. In America and Europe, the number of corner stores is increasing whereas the big malls are being shut down. In the era of e-commerce, the relevance and importance of small shops would only increase,” Goyal said at the 3rd Yuvak-Yuvti Parichay Sammelan of Shri Agrawal Parmarth Seva Samiti here.

“Delegations come to us to express concern over the impact of supermarkets and e-commerce on small businesses but I do not see any concern because I understand that supermarkets are now becoming unviable and e-commerce will only benefit small businesses. Corner stores and shops will continue to be relevant,” he said.

As compared to supermarkets, goods purchased from small shops

are cheaper. The customer not only has to pay more for the goods but also has to spend on parking, food etc. at the malls, the Union minister pointed out.

On another note, Goyal said politics is a “means to serve the society”.

He said there were certain customs in the society which needed to be “eliminated”.

“The time has come to link the community with active politics and serve the society as a whole.

Members of the community have the capability to serve it with honesty and more and more people should come forward to do that through politics,” he said.

The Union minister lamented the fact that even after 70 years since Independence, nearly 20-22 crore people in the country were without electricity.

“Crores of students are deprived of good education. They are forced to drop out and work at farms.

The reason behind this is that good people did not join politics. I want to provide electricity to every household. Th is too is a community service in a way,” said Goyal.

He said in the coming years, the eastern states would get Rs 3.25 lakh crore from the auction of coal blocks and the money will be spent on public service and welfare of people.

PTI

Call drops reducing; auctions to improve services: Sinha

Telecom Minister cautions operators to improve quality of service or they will be “out of the sector” The call drop menace has reduced over the last two months, Telecom Minister of India Manoj Sinha said even as he cautioned operators that the service quality has to improve further or they will be “out of the sector” that has an “open and competitive market”.

The upcoming spectrum auctions, he said, will provide operators with more radiowaves that will help them improve services and earn more revenues.

“On my fi rst day (in the Ministry), I had said we will see a qualitative

Rupee depreciation last year brought no positive impact: EEPC

Premier trade and investment promotion body says currency value and CPI has been equal

SEGMENT WILL NOT AFFECT SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES: GOYAL

year since the drop in shipments had started some 20 months ago,” EEPC India Chairman TS Bhasin said.

While the real interest rate in India is about nine per cent, it is less than five per cent in China and Malaysia, below one per cent in Mexico and minus four per cent in Argentina putting Indians on disadvantage against other competitors, EEPC said.

PTI

improvement in the situation over the coming four months. I can say, the situation has already improved, and it is visible. I assure consumers that in about 3-4 months there will definitely be further qualitative improvement,” Sinha told PTI in an interview.

The telecom market is “open and competitive”, he said, adding that players - be it public or private - not providing good services will find themselves out of the sector.

“It is an open and competitive sector. Whosoever does not give quality, will be out of the sector. Often there is discussion that spectrum is less. We will address that with the auctions. To quite an extent, people will get relief from the call drop issue,” he said.

Terming quality of service as one of

the key areas that impacts the common man, the minister said that telecom operators are working on improving their services by creating infrastructure and making investments.

“Where the NDMC and the cantonment board are concerned, new BTS have to be put up. Our Department in co-ordination with others have resolved issues,” Sinha said referring to certain areas of the national capital.

He exuded confidence that companies will participate “enthusiastically” in the upcoming spectrum auctions, as they will need the radiowaves to offer good quality service, increase their revenue, and maintain a good image.

“With the kind of competition that exists in the market, whosoever has to give quality service will need spectrum. It is required for increasing revenue, customers, for good data service, voice calls, and for good image also,” Sinha said.

“Those who will not buy spectrum, will not be able to meet these parameters. Therefore, I believe people will participate (in the auction) and participate with enthusiasm,” he added.

The auction for telecom spectrum across frequency bands is set to take place within a few weeks and is expected to be the biggest to be held in the country.

PTI

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

WATCH OUT When: September 17, 3 pm to 6 pm Where: Imagination Roof, A1, Patil Heritage, Ganeshkhind Road, Bhosale Nagar

PIZZA FEST AT THE IRISH HOUSE Enhance your beer drinking experience with a special pizza menu available all through September at The Irish House. If you love a cheesy pizza with a mug of chilled beer, your favourite neighbourhood pub is the place to be. Dig into a whole range of craft fully created pizzas and indulge guilt free. The menu includes options like Assorted Veggie, TIH Salad Pizza, Three Cheese Pizza, Crispy Bacon and Sundried Tomatoes Pizza, BBQ Chicken Sausages Pizza among others.

When: Till September 30 Where: The Irish House, Phoenix Marketcity, Viman Nagar

BRINGING EXOTIC FLAVOURS OF CHINA TO PUNE

If you love buying handmade beauty and skin care products and are always careful about what you pick for your daily care here’s a chance to make your own products using homemade ingredients. Learn how to make handmade soaps at this unique weekend workshop. Participants take back four soaps, basic, designer and herbal. Recipe, method and materials will be provided to each participant.

And not just that, you can also pick basic packaging methods and gift these to your near and dear ones this festive season.

Dr Alaknanda Vaidya, a handicapped gynecologist posted at Baramati sub district hospital, finally got justice after filing a petition for transfer to Pune, on ‘Change.org’, an American petition website. On Tuesday (September 13) evening, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took cognizance of her petition that was supported by 85,000 net users, and assured her transfer to Pune by Wednesday. Vaidya had previously submitted five written applications, requesting her transfer to Pune, but to no avail. But by using the social website, she got justice within a week. Fadnavis apologised to her and asked her to reveal the name of the officer who did not heed her request.

Fadnavis tweeted, “Got your request, Dr Alaknanda Vaidya from change.org, needful your

EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE

SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2016

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 the Ganesh immersion recently.

“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.

Shivane’s Riverview Society resident Naina Hemant Patil said that many residential complexes SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2016

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What if the roof

CAVES IN TOMORROW?

‘We can’t throw out the tenants who have been staying here for ages’ person has come to seek shelter in the wada in the last five years. However, almost all the houses, be it the humble one room shelter of 10x10 feet, or a bigger dwelling of two rooms twice as big, all rooms are occupied. “I was married into this house nearly 20 years ago. My mother-in-law and my children, everyone live here,” said one of the dwellers who refused to tell us her name.

The owners of the Patel Wada are the Patel family who follow Islam and did not want their identity to be disclosed due to religious reasons.

They said, “The house has existed since our forefathers came to settle here. This building was erected in 1946 and since then has been given out to tenants. However, we don’t really benefit from it. The rents are abysmally low as one room is for Rs 75 per month and even that, most people don’t pay. We don’t force them to pay either as all of them have been living here since a long time.”

Even though the building has received several demolition notices, the tenants are not ready to move out. “Even we wish for the property to be rebuilt, as it is too old and risky.

But we can’t throw out the tenants who have been staying here for ages,” one of the Patel family members said.

Every once in a while, especially during the monsoons, there is news about old houses collapsing. From the real estate perspective, such structures pose a complex situation, where the rights of tenants and landlords come into play, and then there are the more tragic kind of situations where the occupants of old, dilapidated buildings have no option, as they neither have the money to repair the structure or invest in new homes

BY GARGI VERMA AND GULAL SALIL @TGSweekly

P

une city is currently booming with housing projects. As the city is aiming to become ‘smart’, the housing projects all claim to provide state-of-the-art facilities. However, amidst the swanky new buildings, are houses that date back a century or more. Weather and time have taken their toll on what were once stylish constructions. These dilapidated bungalows or wadas are still inhabited by generations of the same family that occupied them decades ago. But apart from being old and relics of the past, these structures are now a hazard to the people who occupy them, as well as to others.

Years of wear and tear have left these buildings in a dilapidated state, where collapse sold be imminent.

These ancient houses are in dire need of wither

repair or demolition and reconstruction, but the disputes between the parties involved has stopped such constructive action. While most involve an owner-tenant dispute, some are family owned houses that aren’t being renovated due to lack of funds or permission, or both.

While these buildings are a symbol of the past, their existence is a concern for the civic authorities.

With two building collapses happening within a month in the same area, the authorities have become even more cautious. However, the inhabitants continue to live there, oblivious to the danger.

Team TGS found its way to some of these old buildings, and talked to the residents, trying to fathom what keeps them living in these structures that seem to be on the brink of collapse.

He has been residing with his extended family in rooms saved from collapse for the past three years

to serve as well trained pastors and evangelists for the churches. However, the building has had better seasons,” said Reverend Sonal Christian, who is the principal of the seminary. The seminary currently has nine students. “The students are expected to live here in the seminary itself. But even their quarters are not in a proper state,” she explained. This has acted as a major turning point for the students, several of whom have turned back looking at the

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2016

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‘‘Most parents are construction workers, migrants, security persons among others who

are illiterate about the online process. This was pointed out to the education officers, but ‘We were given a loan of Rs 11,000 they insisted on continuing with the online process. The results were on expected lines.’’ in the flood year by the government’

B

- Matin Mujawar, Activist

ehind Shaniwarwada, in the centre of a redeveloping and hyperactively concretising Shaniwar Peth, sharing a wall with a newly erected grey complex and anchored to that same plot which was once home for 70 families, is a reminder which now covers only a quarter of the area. The floods that devastated in Pune in 1961 displaced every family, to search for safer settlements.

The ones who stayed back were the Vaidyas, Ayurveda practitioners in the courts of the Peshwas, and owners of the ruined wada.

Srinivas Vaidya, a former government servant, painter by passion, and also the oldest living member of the family, recalls how the floods submerged the wada completely and the entire structure collapsed. Back then it was him, his seven cousins and their respective elders. He recalls how his family stuck around to rebuild their house. What stands there today in a rather broken down condition is the wada that has weathered the ravages of five and a half decades, a reminder of the grandeur of his childhood.

“We were given a loan of Rs 11,000 in the flood year by the government but the debt was waived later,” he recalls as he speaks of the time when his family was without a home.

The plot was gradually sold off and only this quarter was kept back. Today the Vaidyas have the property divided among the seven cousins. The family is wrangling in the High Court over rebuilding issues with their neighbouring plot owners since the year 1990. Srinivas’s nephew Mandar describes the case as an affair which may just go on till the PMC decides to intervene. The corporation hasn’t issued any notice pertaining to the dilapidated condition of the “if the PMC intervenes or the case gets resolved, a more BY stable DNYANESHWAR BHONDE house yet. house could be constructed, but the neighbours Mandar does hope that a new society could don’t give up,” he said. @dnyanesh1 eventually get constructed as the plot has been in a Mandar currently lives at Sinhagad Road with his contract with a builder since before 1990. The contract portion of rooms in the building locked, and it is only gives his family possession in any redevelopment The that Srinivas Vaidya with hison wife and his son’s family who still assaults government takes place. He peers at his family home and points out live there. The rest of the rooms have been given out on and as time security to the robust complex right beside it. He mentions hospitaldoctors,staff that rent. The house still awaits a decision moves on.

Soon, you may ‘touch’ objects in videos!

P 11

Hospital staff struggle to cope with the aftermath of violence

The hospital staff who are victims of assaults by the public, are finding it hard to come to terms with the trauma

guards by irate members of the public,

to be onmoney the rise.And the 1296‘We don’t have thatseem much bed government-run Sassoon General or why would we stay here?’

Hospital, Pune is no exception. In

‘We can’t leave after running this place for over 130 years’

T

age-old lineages, like the Vaidyas still residing in their heritage homes.

-Bhargav Shingre

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

PUNE

PICS: RAHUL RAUT & TEJAS GAIKWAD

he Pune Cantonment Board has sent multiple demolition notices to the United Theological Seminary, located at the end of Prince of Wales Drive. The 137-year-old structure occupies a sprawling stretch of land, and there is a lot of land around the building itself. But even the lush greenery on the scenic campus is not enough to hide the dilapidated state of the main hall of the seminary. Being over a century old, the old tiled roofs have caved in, leaving gaping holes that are covered with flex sheets. Even the buttresses of the structure have withered away over the years. The metal frame of the roof is bent at places, and the water supply pipes have left seepage marks over the building’s walls. Plants are growing in the cracks of the building, and are probably weakening the structure further.

But the United Theological Seminary continues to function.

The seminary, started by the American Marathi Mission in 1878 at Ahmednagar, was shifted to Pune in 1929. It has not changed much since.

“Our building has remained the same, as have our educational beliefs. We take in sponsored students from each diocese in Maharashtra and teach them,

Aditya Khanna Filmmaker One reason why a lot of women might not want to drive their rickshaws is probably because they have a business and own several. That’s the case with most rickshaw owners since the drivers don’t own the vehicle. So I don’t think the problem is necessarily to do with women. And if the problem is to do with women because they don’t want to drive their own rickshaw’s out of pressure or something, then colouring the rickshaw Pink is not going to make any difference. That’s a pretty lazy solution.

The Malabar Coastal state of India, Kerala is a haven of tranquil backwaters, serene beaches, exotic wildlife, lush mountains, and a home to a unique and colorful cuisine. With dishes like Puttu or Kadala Curry, Kerala is certainly a food-lover’s paradise. The food festival, Taste of Kerala brings to the forth the culinary expertise of the region. This food festival is sure to take the foodies on a gastronomical voyage from cuisines of God’s own country. Chef Tolien Varghese from Kochi will take you through the secrets of this traditional cuisine with its heart-warming dishes made in authentic hue.

When: Till September 25, 7 to 11 pm Where: Senses, Marriott Suites, Koregaon Park

Vijayata Lalwani Writer I don’t think you can force women to draw their source of income from riding autos just because there is a reservation for them to do so. However, when it comes to the license, the regional transport office needs to broaden its view. If the license is transferred to the wife of an auto rickshaw driver, she should be able to choose as to what she wants to do with it within a certain time frame, which also helps the RTO keep a check on the regulation aspect of it. I think colouring the autos is complicating matters for the RTO. They need a uniform system to regulate this.

condition of the seminary. “In the end it is all about the faith and devotion one has for the subject and the cause. A devout pastor-to-be can and will adjust anywhere,” she said.

The building has suffered major damage. The rain water leaks from the roof and the walls in almost all rooms. The library that used to house some really antique and rare books, has lost several of its treasures as the rain water has destroyed them beyond salvage. “It’s a charitable organisation and funding has been far between and less. However, we manage with whatever we can,” said Sonal.

The building can even collapse on to itself as the walls have been developing cracks. They have even received notice of demolition from the Pune Cantonment Board under whose jurisdiction the building falls. “We can’t desert this place that has been running for over 130 years. If God wills, he will make the place better. Till then, we manage with what we have,” said Christian.

While the notice was served almost two months ago, when the rains had just begun, the Board hasn’t followed up or hasn’t sent an inspection and demolition team yet. The seminary, however, hopes that help will arrive before that.

H

ouse number 276 on MG Road is 200 years old. It belongs to Jeetendra Mhaske, whose forefathers built and lived in this three-storey home. Before the rains hit Pune three years ago, Mhaske’s tenant accidentally fractured a wall by ramming a piece of furniture into it. This minor crack gradually led to the collapse of three-fourths of the heritage structure within a year, undefended and weakened by the seeping rains. While viewing the house from the busy MG Road, the perimeter walls and windows hardly show any sign

Floor space index (FSI) in cantonment areas should be increased. The FSI norm of 1 or 1.2 for redevelopment projects at old building sites in the civil areas of cantonment board jurisdiction has kept people away from undertaking any redevelopment project and the cantonment areas are left with too many dilapidated old building structures.

Most of the old structures in cantonment areas are constructed on the basis of 1 or 1.2 FSI, but the major problems are faced by owners of this structures is when it comes to the fresh FSI for redevelopment as the FSI norm is similar 1 or 1.2 which earlier was only 0.5 and was recently amended by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

As per the recent orders issued by

transfer will be done tomorrow, plz inform which officer did not consider your request, apologies for inconvenience.”

Vaidya is 90 per cent handicapped. She had applied for a medical officer’s job at the Baramatibased government hospital. Her mother and 11-year-old daughter, Ananya, live in Pune, so she wanted a transfer to a Pune-based government hospital, and she had requested health directorate accordingly through written applications. But she received no communication regarding her transfer.

“I got a call from the Mumbai health directorate and deputy director Dr Hanumant Chanvan about the transfer. They are now checking the vacancies in Pune, and by tomorrow evening, I will be in Pune,” she said.

Niyanta Mirjankar Advertising professional The reason behind women not riding their own rickshaws, goes beyond the need for them to earn money from two sources.

Women needing to feel safe to ride their rickshaws at any time in the day and night, is the real issue that needs to be undertaken.

I am not sure if the illegal renting will get resolved by painting the auto pink. In fact, it may further deter the drivers as there will always be a way to identify them for anything. That is a sort of intimidating prospect. Painting the rickshaw pink isn’t aiding anyone but the RTO themselves.

RESIDENTS BREATHE IN GARBAGE STENCH HERE

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

Individual houses become our headache, authorities say

A year back, Pune RTO mandated that all autos licensed to women drivers be painted pink so as to identify such women and whether they are driving their vehicles themselves, rather than illegally renting them out. A year later, hardly any female owner has followed the mandate rendering RTOs plan useless. We ask Punekars their take on the issue

CM RESPONDS TO DISABLED WOMAN DOCTOR’S PLEA FOR JOB TRANSFER

By arresting a 12-member gang, the Pune Rural Police on September 14 foiled the former’s plan to murder Talegaon Dabhade Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator Bapu Jaywantrao Bhegade.

The gang’s bid could not be executed as the police got a tipoff of their robbing a petrol pump to take care of the legal expenses needed after committing the murder. To set their murder plan in action the gang decided to rob the IBP petrol pump located in Talegaon Dabhade on the expressway.

They were to use this money for the court proceedings that would follow if they are caught by the police for committing the murder. Acting on a tip-off, the police nabbed the gang even before they set their plan in action.

According to the police, Mayur Takle is the mastermind behind the plan. He had apparently been planning the murder for a year now. His main accomplice were Sham Ramchandra Dhabhde and Balu Takle. Dhabhde who is a criminal himself is said to have given Rs two lakh for buying arms. The police have recovered three pistols, four local pistols, 23 live cartridges, chopper, mobile phones, SIM cards, nylon rope, hukka pipes, monkey caps and a total sum of Rs 6,20,750.

While the houses that have been served notices regarding the hazardous state of the buildings due to age are all individuals, not many seem to come forth when the actual disaster strikes. According to Pune Cantonment Board Assistant Executive Engineer S N Gaikwad, “The buildings become our headache even though they shouldn’t technically be. These are individual houses that are posing risks to the general public and thus we have to get involved.”

Pune Municipal Corporation Deputy Engineer Rajendra Thorat said, “These houses are generally disputed. There are disputes between the landlords and the tenants, in which neither party is willing to negotiate.”

However, just serving notices is not the end of the task. “We have task teams who have specific areas to look after these buildings. If the buildings start to fall, we have to send our team to evacuate and rescue and then clean up the debris,” explained Gaikwad.

We all look forward to our picnic outings once in a while. But taking that time out can often be a task in itself. Now you don’t have to go too far to enjoy your day out. Introducing a never before concept, JW Marriott Pune is offering a culinary retreat right in the heart of the city. The fiesta will offer to its guests, a wide range of tempting food items and beverages at the outer deck of their favourite restaurant, Spice Kitchen.

The festival will offer contemporary

Woodcut, the oldest technique used in fine art printmaking, is a form of relief

RURAL POLICE FOIL PLAN TO MURDER CORPORATOR

he old parts of Pune are a treasure trove of history. Patel Wada in one of the alleyways in Bhavani Peth is such a structure dating back to 1946 when the Patel family built the house. Even though it poses a serious risk to its occupants, as the wooden infrastructure has become weak with the passing years, it still is the abode of people who have been living there for ages.

The survey number 1121 is a now dilapidated house with a huge courtyard. Although it was built in 1946, nothing much has changed except for minor damage to its exterior walls. However, the age becomes obvious once one enters the house through the low doors. The interiors have been done up mostly with wood. The stairs, panels, window shutters and balustrades are all made of wood that has now lost its lustre. At places, the stairs and panels are broken. While some are covered up with plastic sheets or flex sheets, most breaks are visible to the eye. The walls of the three-storey building are slightly crooked, as if age has rendered them incapable of maintaining an upright stance.

The building tells its own tale of age and withering, but it is still home to ten families. The houses aren’t a recent possession. In fact, no new

ENJOY YOUR PICNIC IN THE CITY

WOODCUT PRINTMAKING WORKSHOP

WEEK THAT WAS

VOX POPULI

THE TASTE OF KERALA IN PUNE

Once again Baan Tao brings you an exciting gourmet food festival.

‘Bringing China to Pune’ is all about flavours of authentic Chinese delicacies. These dishes have been especially curated by Guest Master Chef Sun Wenlin from Hyatt Regency Chennai & Chef Sunil of Baan Tao. Be a part of this exclusive gastronomical journey and taste their signature dishes such as Dou Ban Jaing Beans, Xo Sea Bass, Mud Crab Ginger Leek Sauce, Sichuan Chicken, Trio Chilli Mushrooms and more.

When: September 17 to 27 Where: Baan Tao, Hyatt Pune Kalyani Nagar

SOAP MAKING WORKSHOP

T

printing. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood— typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts.

Learn this unique technique by being a part of this exclusive workshop this weekend.

When: September 18, 3 pm to 6.30 pm Where: Imagination Roof, A1, Patil Heritage, Ganeshkhind Road, Bhosle Nagar

fast food that everyone loves; fries, stomach fillers of flat breads and buns like – burgers and hotdogs, stuffed buns and sandwiches along with the thirst-quenchers like milk shakes and iced teas, to name a few. Peppy music and picnic benches under the starry night will add to the charm.

When: Till September 24 Where: JW Marriott, SB Road

of the dilapidation inside. To the passing eye, it seems vacant. That is why the house probably never got any notice from the Pune Cantonment Board to redevelop or demolish the structure. Mhaske began his visits to administrative offices, pursuing officers and permissions in the summer of 2014, in an attempt to save his inheritance from ruin.

But he will not resort to under-the-table means.

Before seeking redevelopment permissions, the property’s ownership needed mutation to Mhaske after his father

passed away in 2013. It took two years for the transfer when regulations mandate one.

At the same time, Mhaske suggested a repair plan which the PCB turned down, arguing that only the broken sides could be redeveloped. For him, like many others, this is practically impossible to do due to the risk of the complete building collapsing in the process. “It is complete harassment by the PCB. They keep making me run around for this and that,” he tells us in a tone which echoes the sentiments of most such house owners on MG Road.

Existing FSI needs to be changed in Cantonment areas the MOD a couple of months ago, the FSI was relaxed from 0.5 to 1 or 1.2 for redevelopment projects of old building structures in the cantonment limits.

However, the order is helpful only for those owners of the dilapidated buildings who don’t have tenants residing in it. The order is not helpful to provide solution to the thousands of dilapidated structures waiting redevelopment in the board areas.

Arun Godbole, Deputy Engineer of Khadki Cantonment Board, stressed the need for increasing the FSI norms for the renovation of buildings in the

cantonment area. Due to FSI restrictions no developers or owners come forward to develop a building or structure which leads to losses due to the limitations on the FSI. “KCB hardly receive applications from developers or owners of dilapidated structures for renovation,” he said.

“In case of old building there are tenants residing since years or even generations and pay only a nominal amount of rent from Rs 20 to Rs 50 to the owner of the buildings. Even though they are declared to be hazardous by the board, tenants cannot develop the structure or

In a nonchalant narration of his political connections, he mentioned that he even sent a letter to Prakash Javadekar in 2014 to get the mutation issue resolved. It did, but it immediately got succeeded by another blockade of unfair property taxes. The annual assessment value of the house stood at Rs 6244 in the financial year 2011-12, and within a year it was exponentially increased to Rs 43,624, an approximate 70 per cent jump in property tax. A commercial tax was also levied even though it is a residential property which has never harboured any business activity in its double century of existence. The quotient of all this is that his repair permission still remains due and the tall structure remains in a precarious state.

Mhaske’s woes don’t lie in taxes and the ‘harassment’, or the delays in his attempts to get things done without bribes. He strongly posits his stance saying that he “won’t pay a single penny to the board”, neither backhandedly, nor for the amplified revenues. His agony lies in the fact that he has been residing with his extended family in rooms saved from collapse for the past three years, alongside rubble which once bore the footprint of his forebears.

rebuild it and the owners of the structure don’t want to redevelop due to the low FSI norms. Most of the owners wait for the structures to collapse and then develop it,” said Godbole.

“As the same number of carpet area has to be allotted to the tenants most of them demand the owners and developers don’t come forward to redevelop and construct a new building which is a loss of money. No one is interested in redevelopment of structure in board area which is the only reason for a large number of dilapidated structures waiting for redevelopment. The number will keep rising.

In KCB there are around 30 dilapidated structures,” he said. (with inputs from Vicky Pathare)

Dilapidated houses need more support than rules This is pertaining to your spotlight article about dilapidated houses and their monitoring by various housing boards of Pune. I like the fact that you have done the story on houses from a human as well as legal perspective.

I think, apart from the family and ownership issues the main problem with these is the floor space index. If it was possible for new builders to get more FSI, the owners of the wadas would be more open to letting it go by selling or getting a flat or two once reconstructed.

It was also intriguing to read about

I

n Khadki Cantonment Board jurisdiction there are many old houses that date back to the era when the British rulers settled in the area. Most of them are vacant but some of these houses are still occupied by tenants who have been living in there for generations. One such property is in Gadi adda, right next to the old Kirkee club house.

While the owner of these houses lives in a modern building, the tenants refuse to relinquish their houses even though some of them have caved in completely. Despite the risks involved, the cantonment board’s intervention has failed to evacuate them as the owner-tenant dispute has made the house-dwellers tenacious.

Parmeshwar Dhandere was even younger than his youngest grandchild when he came to live in the old house. His uncle used to stay here before that and when he got married, his wife came to the house and not the village dwelling.

“I have been living here for nearly 50 years now. My husband had been staying here even before me.

the past year, there have been three When our entire lives have been incidents of assaults on doctors, and spent here, where do we go now?” asks Kesharbai, fiveParmeshwar’s assaults wife. on security guards at the The owner of the houses, the Kadam hospital. family, who refused to comment on the issue, have relinquished all TGS found that the victimsare claims on the houses. “When the finding it hard board officers come, they ask us to resume their way to pay the tax. We don’t have that of life,before the attacks. They seem much money or why would we stay here?” says unable a dispirited Kesharbai. to erase it and the associated Of the old two-room houses, fromhouses their memory. two have trauma collapsed. These fell while people were inside but no dnyaneshwar.bhonde@ goldensparrow.com

‘Now, I feel insecure when I have to deal with the patients’ relatives’ Pawan Suresh Musale, 25, of Kedgaon,a Sassoon Hospitalsecurity guardwas going to have dinner on the night of February 19, 2016, when he was told about a woman selling clothes in from of ward number 24. He and his two colleagues Avinash Jadhav and Joseph Ratan Jadhav, rushed to the spot and tried to evict the woman. The woman refused to go away, and then Rajesh Chavan,who claimedto be her brother, confronted the guards. Musale and his colleagues took Rajesh to the Jamadar’s office, but then he called up some people on his cellphone.

“Within minutes, around 30 people armed with sticks came there and started beating us three guards.Somehow we managed to escape from the clutches of the mob and got

one was seriously hurt. The tenants however, used the rubble from the fallen buildings to create their own houses. “There isn’t anywhere we can go. So, what other option do we have?” asks Kesharbai whose house hasn’t fallen yet, but she thinks that it is on the verge. “The board officers “The officers keep telling us and the Kadams don’t repair it for us Gaikwad, 26,resident ofdown Padmavati in Indiranagar,has that they will break our and won’t letKavita us repair it ourselves.

We houses. But then, where will we are willing to pay the rent but there is been working as ago? security guard in Sassoon Hospital for two Isn’t construction better than nowhere else we can go,” she stated. destruction?” says in March this year,atthe The house rent was a meagre Rs years.

She happened to be onKesharbai night duty rhetorically. The Kadams refused 84 in the yesteryears and the owners women’s number 24, on the their third to comment or give firstfloor of the main building. haven’t increased it since.ward However, either. they don’t collect the rent anymore.

At around 9pm annames inebriated man came to the door of the ward

admitted,” said Pawan. He and the other two filed a complaint against Rajesh Chavan and the woman under sections 353 (prevent a government employee from discharging his duty) and 332 (causing hurt) of the IPC. “After the incident, my colleague Avinash quit the job here and joined a company at Daund,as he was afraid of being subjected to such attacks in the future.Now, even I feel insecure when I have to deal with the patients’ relatives, as it is possible that someone else may also raise their hands on me. So I am also waiting for a transfer,as the incident has created a fear psychosis in my mind,’’ he said.

Eight months after registering a complaint against Rajesh Chavan, the Bund garden police have not arrestedhim.

‘It was heart-breaking to lose my child because of a drunken man’

and asked to meet his wife who was admitted to the ward.

“Male visitors are not allowed at night in the women’s ward, so I refused. The man grabbed me by my throat, and he punched me in my stomach also. Fortunately, some of my colleagues arrived in time and stopped him from beating me further. Iwas petrified, and moreover I was two months pregnant at the time.

After being punched in the stomach, I suffered intense painin my stomach. Then the unthinkable happened, and when the pain did not subside, I was advised to abort the embryo. Itwas heartbreaking to lose my child because of a drunken man. I am still disturbed when I think about it, but I have to carry on working.

I earn Rs 8,000 a month. I did not lodge a complaint with the police, because had I done so, I would have to make frequent visits to the court. I just don’t have the time, as I have domestic responsibilities and my job as well,” she said.

‘We are responsible for others’ security, but who will ensure our safety?’

Poonam Zirpe, 27,a woman security guard of Sassoon Hospital, sustained a fracture in her hand, when two drunk men beat her with a stick. The incident happened on September 5 at around 8:30 pm, when a man came to the ward, and asked to meet his wife admitted to ward number 19.

Sushma Gajbhiye, a woman security guard,refused him entry and told him to come the next day, as men were not allowed in the women’s ward at night. The man then started abusing her. Zirpe, who was on duty at an adjacent ward, rushed to help Sushma.The mancaught her by the hand and slapped her. Then his accomplice arrived and beat both of them with a stick,which was when Poonam’s left elbow was fractured.

The incident has left Poonam in a depressed state. Shehas been working at the hospital for three years,but she has now availed of a week’s leave,to overcome the trauma.

“Some patients’ relatives are downright rude.They don’t bother about the hospital rules

and regulations, and if we try to stop them they are quick to argue and resort to violence. We are responsiblefor the security of others, but who will ensure our safety?” she said.She filed a complaint against the culprits but the police have not made any arrests.Her husband works in a company and earns Rs 15,000 a month.

Beaten up by a cop Dr Karmazimba Bhutia, an MS orthopedic doctor from Sikkim, shared his experience with us. Dr Bhutia, then a final year student of BJ Medical College, was on emergency call on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at around 8:30pm. He was going to the Operation Theatre (OT) on the second floor of the orthopedic ward to see an emergency patient. In the passage in front of ward number 14, Bhutia dashed against Samarth police station constable Shrikrishna Khokle.

As per the police record, the cop beat Bhutia with a wooden stick.

Both of them registered cross complaints against each other at

Bund Garden police station the same night.

“I was shocked to see a law enforcer responsible forcitizens’ security turn into alaw-breaker.

The incident left me in the kind of traumatised state I never imagined I’d be. I could not concentrate on my studies and practice after the incident.

In all, the unpleasant incident just disrupted my schedule and quality of life,” he said.

Dr Bhutia completed his MBBS degree from a Sikkim based university. He then got admission toa Master of Surgery (MS) a post graduate course at BJ Medical College, Pune three

years ago.

Another fallout of the incident is that he has had to makethe rounds ofthe court.

He has already attended four hearings, and there is another one he has to attend at the end of September.He does not know how many more he will have to attend.

“I have complete faith in our judicial system, but the court hearings have affected my studies. Thanks to the unstinting support from Dean Dr Ajay Chandanwale and my MARD team colleagues,I have been able to cope with the situation,” he said.

Kids of sex workers beat Rs 38 lakh to security can only be Violence the odds to succeed in life cured by counselling Sassoon Hospital owes

Security guard agency has asked the collector to intervene and ensure the payment of Rs 37.97 lakh arrears of guards’ salaries

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1

On one hand they are wary of attacks by the public. But the 125 security guardsat Sassoon General Hospital are waiting to receive Rs 37.97 lakh in pay for 2013-14, for four years.

Pune District SecurityGuard Board (PDSGB) has sentnumerous notices to the hospital but to no avail.The agency has now written aletter to the collector,requesting him to senda notice to the hospitaland recoverthe money.

“We are taking a follow-up for last one year with the hospital, but thehospital administration has not paid the amount of levy and payment for 2013-14,” said Suresh Salunke, secretary of PDSGB. “Wehave sent numerous notices to the hospital and reminders under section14 of the Maharashtra Private Security Guards (Regulation andemployment and Welfare) Act, 1981. Last time we had sent a notice

on May 30, 2015 to the hospital, and asked them to deposit the money within 15 days. But they didn’t, so we sent a notice to the Pune collectorand asked him to recover the money,” he said.

After this, PDSGB sent a letter to the Pune collectorate for recoveryof the amount, on June 18, 2016 with several reminders. But there isno response form collectorate office yet. “Despite sending the notice to the collectorate, we neither got a response from the collectorate nor hospital.

Security guards keep demanding their arrears and we are unable toprovide the amount till they deposit it in our account,” he said.

Deputy Dean Murlidhar Tambe has assured that the pending amount will bedistributed soon. “The said amount is pending and we havecompleted all the clerical process and amount will be deposited with PDSGB within 15 days.” dnyaneshwar.bhonde@ goldensparrow.com

NGO Vanchit Vikas has helped chart bright future for children

BY GUNWANTI PARASTE @gunwantiparaste

Their childhood days were spent at traffic signals, some as young as five years old, begging customers. Now it is all past as these children of commercial sex workers no longer stand on the street soliciting customers.

NGO Vanchit Vikas has changed their lives for the better. The social organisation was founded by social activist Vilas Chaphekar who started social work at the age of 17 and worked extensively among students, street children, children of sex workers, and gave non-formal education in slums. These children have now become role models for other children.

Speaking to TGS, Shrikant Gabale said, “When I was in standard VII, I came to know that my mother is a sex worker. I never asked her about how she landed in the red-light area. It was Vanchit Vikas that supported me for studies. Kids like us are shifted to Nihar Hotel in Lohegaon when we reach 12 years old, and I joined a private hostel after completing my standard X exams. During my graduation at Modern College, I had to do odd jobs like rag picker, delivery boy, sweeper to pay for college and hostel fees as I had to move out of the hostel after Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Examination. My mother always supported me but never stayed with me.”

Gabale credits Vanchit Vikas for allowing him to stay at the organisation’s kitchen as he cannot afford the hostel fees.

“My mother was staying alone in slums, working as a maid after leaving the red-light area. With the NGO’s help and mother’s blessings, I completed my doctorate and am working as a manager with a private firm. I helped my sister get married and bought a home for my mother. The joy on my mother’s face and her happiness after seeing the house cannot be expressed in words.

It was heart-breaking to read your article on hospital staff getting beaten up by irate relatives of patients. Reading how the female security guard at Sassoon lost her child to a violent attack by a patient’s husband chilled my bones. Violence like this is just unjustifiable. I don’t know why people are so weak mentally when they are emotional. I think the attitude that ‘we can do anything we want without a care’ is really dangerous for us as a community. I hope there’s a solution for this as this is not just a law problem.

-Shivani Gautam Kiren Hiremath (30) has never seen her mother as people around him said that I am an orphan and staying with Vanchit Vikas. “I never asked about my parents but wanted to become successful in life. Till I was 12, I was staying with the NGO before I was shifted to Nihar Hotel. I always requested teachers and guardian to help me run a business. It was while working at a hotel in Pune that the owner got impressed with my hard work and helped me start my small hotel. Soon, I married Laxmi Hiremath (27) who also stayed at the Lohegaon hotel and she helps me manage the hotel,” said Hiremath. The couple has two children and they have big plans for their future. “We will try our best to provide a better environment for our kids,” he said.

Shrikant Milinmani and Shridevi Shikle are siblings. “My mother hails from Karnataka and I did not know how she ended up in red-light area. My sister Shridevi and

I stay at the NGO that took care of our education. My sister now works as a nurse at Bharati Hospital and I am pursuing my final year BCom, besides working part-time.”

Vanchit Vikas NGO Director Sunita Joglekar said that the body has helped 93 kids of sex workers enter mainstream.

“Society accepts orphans but the future of children of sex workers is bleaks. Our aim is to development of these children. We are dedicated to educating and empowering children from red-light areas and ensure that they continue studies. We have several success stories to share as many such children have excelled in higher studies, securing top posts in government and private sector jobs,” she said, adding, “we encourage mothers to drop their children at our school. We convince the CSWs that their children have no future without education. We counsel these women as well as their children.” gunwanti.paraste@goldensparrow.com

have come up along the riverside. “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. 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.”

Appalled at the inhumaneness

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2016

PUNE

Old age home sans food and electricity Ajay Bhute started an old age home at Khed Shivapur after taking Rs 17-25 lakh from every occupant. Five years later, he has fled with their money

BY VICKY PATHARE @Vickypathare2

His plan was simple, his target was innocent, and he made away with Rs 2.30 crore. By promising all the amenities required at an old age home, Ajay Govind Bhute of Sahakarnagar opened ‘Shantiniketan’ at Khed Shivapur in 2010 under the Shanti Charitable Trust Foundation. He vanishes from the scene after collecting money from 16 senior citizens and they have now lodged a complaint against him with the Khed Shivapur Police under the Rajgad Police Station.

According to the elderly complainants, Bhute had put up an attractive newspaper advertisement about ‘Shantiniketan’ being located at a calm, pollution free

environment with 500 sq ft fully furnished accommodation with recreation rooms and rooms for medical care, besides two times meal and breakfast with tea. It also promised an administrator who will be responsible for the running of the home and supporting staff such as clerks, cashier cum accountant, nursing staff, attenders, maids and a cook. A medical officer to attend to the health needs of the inmates and medicines and medical accessories.

The housing project also had recreational and reading facilities such as televisions, newspapers and books. The other facilities included a bus to travel, picnic and tours every month, and Rs 500 per month as pension to the residents.

Many senior citizens fell for the advertisement and gave Rs 17-25

lakh each as Bhute assured lifetime care of the occupants. The conman ran the house for five years and f led on June 30 with their hard-earned money, leaving the 10 elderly citizens to fend for themselves with no food, electricity or any other facility. With no sign of the ‘ever-smiling’ Bhute, the aged dwellers lodged a complaint with the Khed Shivapur Police after waiting for one and half month.

According to the complainants, 16 senior citizens had paid their hard-earned money to buy their place at ‘Shantiniketan’ and the total money paid to Bhute was Rs 4 crore.

Three of the inmates died due to lack of medication and some moved

PMC on a lookout for mosquito breeding spots around your house PMC conducts door-to-door drive to identify and destroy mosquito breeding spots in the city, and guilty parties are made to pay fines

out due to the grim situation at the home. The situation changed for the worse when Bhute collected Rs 1 lakh from each senior citizen in 2015 citing that he is in debt and cannot manage their food and electricity bill. He also passed a message through the manager that he cannot provide them with any facility, even food, from August 30.

THE VICTIMS Vidhyadhar Bharadwaj, 95, was a loner as he didn’t want to burden his relatives. The newspaper advertisement describing the government recognised safe old age home ‘Shanti Niketan’ at Khed

Shivapur became the ideal place to spend the rest of his life. He disposed of all his belongings and collected his savings to raise Rs 25 lakh to get his accommodation at the old age home. He was not made to sign any agreement before paying Rs 25 lakh.

“I have sold all I had to pay for the ashram. We all are under depression due to the lackadaisical approach of the ashram owner. Even if I get my money back, what will I do with it? Where should I go now? I don’t have any option and I can’t even go and look for other accommodation because of my advanced age,” he said.

Shivaji Kudale, 78, and his wife Sulochana Kudale, 70, both have no

children and relatives to take care of them. The couple had sold their jewellery and savings to pay Rs 17 lakh to Bhute. Shivaji had retired as a driver and their savings were all they had. “There is no one to take care of us. We have foodgrain stock for three days that we have managed from our own money. We fear of starvation now,” said Sulochana.

Janardhan Surve, 71, who retired from Central Railway, and Vatsala Surve, 63, fell for the advertisement and its promised amenities. They sold their house and paid Rs 21 lakh to Bhute after the couple was assured of lifetime care. “We don’t have a child to take care of us so we decided to sell our house and spend our remaining time of life in the old age home. We thought that at least here we will have someone to take care of us. How can people be so inhuman?” questions Vatsala.

The police said that the accused has already two pending cases against him. “We have filed a case of cheating as per Section 420 of IPC against the accused who is at large,” said Dnyaneshwar Bajgire, Police Sub Inspector of Khed Shivapur Police Chowky. The police visited his father-in-law’s home at Sahakarnagar and his office located at Kumtekar Road, Pune.

“We have recorded the statement of the ashram’s manager and directed him to take care of the elderly dwellers in the absence of the owner. Even the manager said that he has not received his salary for the past three months and most of the workers have left the job at the ashram for non-payment of wages,” Bajgire said. vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

-Ritwik Gaikwad WORLD CUISINE TOUR

SUNDAY

Pune’s Traffic mess requires more than just fines

BY DNYANESHWAR BHONDE @dnyanesh1

To curb mosquito breeding and the spread of dengue, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health department has launched a house-to-house drive in the city to detect such spots. No less than 207 owners of properties or societies, bungalows, offices and constructions sites, with stagnant water or garbage, which is conducivefor mosquito breeding,havebeen fined, and Rs 1.75 lakh was collected from them in 20 days.

There was an alarming upsurge of dengue cases in the city,in August. To tackle the denguemenace, the PMC health department of vector-borne diseases, formed 79 teams comprising 300 workers, and assigned them to the door-to-door vector programme in the city, since August 16. These squads go

from house to house, identify mosquito breeding sites, and also fine the owners, with amountsranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500. If such breeding sites are found indoors, the residents are fined.If the spots are on society premises,the chairman or secretary is held responsible. These teams are also scrutinising construction sitesand offices,and bringing them to book, if found guilty.

These 79 teams conducted searches at5.65 lakh establishments in the area of 15 ward offices,from August 16 to September 6.In the drive, 5785 establishments were identified as being conducivefor mosquito breeding. Of them, 204 establishments were fined Rs 1.75 lakh, and were also issued notices.

These teams are conducting indoor searches in 15 wards of the city, including Aundh, Ghole Road, Warje, Kothrud, Dhole Patil Road, Ahmednagar Road, Sangamwadi, Tilak Road, Bhavani Peth, Vishrambaugwada, Bibwewadi, Sahakarnagar, Hadapsar, Dhankawadi, Kondhwa and Wanowrie.

The largest number fines, 50, were levied in the Ahmednagar Road ward office. Only one establishment

was fined in the jurisdiction of Tilak Road, the lowest among all ward offices. In the Kondhwa-Wanowrie ward offices, 2.34 lakh house searches were conducted, 2572 establishments were found conducive for mosquito breeding, and seven were fined.

Dr Kalpana Balivant, PMC chief of vector-borne control diseases, said that they are trying to curb the breeding spots on a war footing.

“Our teams are going door-to-door to find the breeding spots. We have eradicated the breeding spots we have found and fined the owners of such establishments. Along with homes, we also visited schools and found breeding spots at four of them,.” said Dr Balivant. If breeding spots are found at homes, PMC will fine the owner Rs 200, and if 4-5 or more houses in a society are involved, the amount can go up to Rs 6,000 , she said. “Collecting fines is not our object but making people aware is the main purpose behind it. Many of them hesitate to pay the fine and call local representatives, but we don’t spare them. People should keep their area clean so that breeding spots are not created,” said Dr Balivant. dnyaneshwar.bhonde@ goldensparrow.com

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PMC health department’s officials during a visit to society on Prabhat Road (Left); The officials didn’t stop at merely fining those who had breeding spots in their houses but told them how to keep their surroundings clean

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10-16, 2016

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PUNE

US varsity to study Pokemon Go

Many animals may be extinct by 2100

‘‘Road safety has always been a neglected subject. Road safety fund is, hence, a very welcome step. The fund needs to be used comprehensively to cover all related aspects if a positive transformation in road safety conditions has to be achieved.”

- Prashant Inamdar, convener of Pedestrians First

P13

P11

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m m in the fast lane Life d mp

Your s ory n L e abou Go-Kar racers was hr ng o read I am so surpr sed ha such young en hus as s are pro ess ona Go-Kar ers A champ on a he age o 9 s so overwhe m ng I was wa ch ng Bob he Bu der a he age o 9 K ds oday are h gh ach evers and ee s rea y good o see so many o hem rom my c y I hope hese k ds ge more suppor rom Punekars and a so he He ha b ough home a governmen o pursue he r pass on v ng Gau n ead o an do Th s w ra se a ew heads o FESTIVE ook -Soum ra Ra pu THE n o he ma er w h a more ser ous SEASON N THE de bera on I s s mp s IS c oHERE! h nk FAST LANE ha on y ru es and agen s ensur ng ha such ru es are o owed s wha makes every h ng poss b e Wh e nes or h ngs ke break ng s gna s cou d be ncreased o de er peop e rom break ng ru es I h nk rec y ng he cense exam na on procedure cou d a so be very Write to Us ru u Tra c po ce can o en ge Le er o he Ed or may be ema ed o shor handed he prob em s no ed or_ g @go den parrow om ack ed a s roo s The ac ha yoge h adhwan @go den parrow om censes are ssued w hou ak ng or ma o The Ed or exams proper y renders he pub c Go den Sparrow Pub h ng Pv L d gnoran abou he mpor ance o 1641 Madhav Her age be ng good dr vers T ak Road Pune-411030 -Ir an Hab b

door to clean city’s traffic mess

‘‘Land owners must be allowed to construct in the BDP and then only the greenery can be protected. If hilltops and hill slopes are reserved as BDP , slums are certain to come up. If we want to protect our hills from slum encroachments, we have to give construction permission.”

— Ajit Pawar, NCP Leader

A rising China needs to restrain itself P13

Tanushree Kulkarni Art History Researcher I don’t see the need to identify women drivers based on the color of the auto. There is no denying that illegal renting of autos is rampant, given the fact that there are hardly any female rickshaw drivers in the city. Coloring the auto pink seems to serve gender stereotyping rather than solving the problem. A more sophisticated or alternate method can serve the purpose as well.

filed

by Kishore Mansukhani Puneites knock on court’sregarding

Your story about the old age home made me shift in my seat. I am appalled at the fact that somebody can do something like this with such senior citizens. I usually don’t have great interest in fraud related news, but fraud with such elderly citizens and their hard-earned savings made me rethink my faith in our species. The last thing someone would want in such an old age would be to die in such turmoil. Any way they are not getting care from their own family which is further debilitating.

PUNE

Kishore Mansukhani’s love for the city motivated him to file PIL

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma

Five Puneites have taken upon themselves the mammoth task to question the traffic mismanagement of the city. They have filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court and have raised multiple loopholes in the system of traffic maintenance.

Pune has come a long way from being the sleepy town that it once was. According to a state economic survey, the percentage of vehicles owned by families in Pune district is higher than any other district in the state. The city’s roads are so prone to traffic violations that it has become a norm for city dwellers.

Team TGS decided to speak to the main petitioner, Kishore Mansukhani.

Mansukhani, 59, belongs to an era when Pune had very few cars. “Just think of this, when I got my licence some 40 years ago, there were hardly any cars on a Sunday afternoon on the busiest of streets,” he said reminiscing about the days gone past. However, in the recent years, when he couldn’t drive through a road without having at least one outburst, he knew it was high time. “I am a proud Punekar.

I have lived all my life here. However, when I realised that the city was becoming unlikeable due to its traffic issues not just for outsiders but even for people like me, I knew that we have gone from bad to worse,” he said. Mansukhani and five others, including Ashwini Malhotra, Suvir Mirchandani and Vivek Seth, then

decided to file a PIL at the high court.

“We realised that the system in place to check traffic violations was non-existent and flawed. The Regional Traffic Office is applauding itself over digitising the process, which doesn’t work. What is digitising worth if it doesn’t show me the history of the licence holder?” he asked. When they realised that it was the system, they decided to approach the high court. “The fatality rate in Pune for road accidents is very high.

Places like Mumbai, Delhi and Kochi come far behind. This made us look into the road monitoring system, only to realise that the cameras installed across the city are actually manned by personnel and thus are not very effective,” he said.

The PIL brought into the notice of

the court the high fatality rate along with the ineffectiveness of the present fines and punishments levied on traffic violations.

“Why do the youngsters whiz past overspeeding even when the signal is red? They know that the most that will happen is a Rs 100 fine if they are caught,” he said, adding, “clearly, the fines need to be modified and increased.”

The PIL filed by them in June 2015 is still subjudice. However, the court has taken cognisance of the matter. For the petitioners, senior counsel Anil Anturkar and advocate Abhay Anturkar have represented in the court.

“The bandobast has become better over the years we have been fighting the case. Clearly, the cops wish to help, but even their hands are tied,” he said, adding that it is however, too

little and too late. “Cops monitoring traffic movement should have begun earlier. Now no one fears them at all,” he said.

The court in its last interim order has asked the city authorities to respond if the system of recording could be automated.

“In many countries and even in a few cities in the country, the cameras installed near traffic signals are fully automated. The software is thus programmed that if there’s a traffic violation, the cameras click pictures automatically. That way, there’s definitive proof of a violation and then the punishment process also gets very transparent,” he said.

The court has also asked the possibility of the traffic police monitored WhatsApp number, akin to Mumbai traffic police’s initiative, in Pune, where citizens could send pictures of traffic violations and then follow up on their reported cases.

The traffic situation in the city has become a woe for many. However, the PIL is an attempt to right this massive wrong.

“When we were young, we did our share of foolhardy stunts. But we were always scared of the police and never ever did we endanger anyone’s life. Nowadays, however, accidents have become commonplace and it is marring the image of this city. Rather than sit in my own car and grumble about this, I along with the others, wanted to correct the flaws.

That was the only motivation I had behind filing the PIL, which I am hoping is going to get us some results,” he said. The last date of the hearing was on September 7, however, it couldn’t take place. The next date of the hearing is expected later this month. gargi.verma@goldensparrow.com

BY GARGI VERMA @missgverma

The Government of India isn’t leaving any stone unturned to accomplish the Swachh Bharat mission. But the reality is quite different, in Pune city. In a posh locality frequented by tourists, an open land plot has become a garbage dumping ground for resident of housing societies in the vicinity. The concerned authorities know about the situation, but they seem to be turning the proverbial blind eye.

The tribal museum at Koregaon Park is part of the government-run Tribal Training and Research Organisation.

The museum is a great tourist attraction as the Sahyadri, Marai, Gondwana and othertribes from the state are duly represented along with their culture. However, right outside the building, there is a garbage dumps with various levels of decomposing material.

City based activist Qaneez Sukhrani was shocked to see the dumped garbage. “I wondered if the plot wa

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17-23, 2016

PUNE

“The level of commitment Virat Kohli has shown, the discipline and work ethic, the way he has been so disciplined with his fitness is something that has inspired all of us.”

— KL Rahul, India Batsman

SIGNPOSTS Fide ranking chess from Sept 24

Buddhibal Krida Trust will conduct the Maheshwarnand Saraswati Memorial Trophy All India Fide Ranking Chess tournament at Ganesh Sabhagruha, Karve Road from September 24. The winner will get richer by Rs one lakh, while the runner-up will receive Rs 55,000. The tournament will be played in Swiss league format (10 rounds). So far two grandmasters and nine international masters have confirmed their entries. For details, contact Nitin Shenvi (9096698691), or Rajendra Shidore (9890485666).

Double crown for Dastur School

Sardar Dastur School teams emerged winners in the girls’ under-14 and under-17 age groups in the inter-school basketball tournament held recently at Indira National School. In the under-14 category, Dastur girls defeated Infant Jesus High School 29-6. Sanika Kirad and Vaishani Shinde were impressive for the winning team. In the under-17 age group, Dastur girls prevailed over Kamal Nayan Bajaj School 33-9. Sudhiksha Kulkarni, Akanksha Pathak and Nidhi Palre contributed for Dastur.

Maha wins national rollball

The Maharashtra team defeated Uttar Pradesh to claim the national title in the Senior Rollball tournament held at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi. In the final, Maharashtra were leading 2-1 in the first half, and they later scored three to sign off with a comfortable victory. Aditya Ganeshwade opened the account for Maharashtra in the 6th minute. Yogesh Tayade (21, 31’) and Akash Ganeshwade (12, 32’) scored two goals each. Pathak and Nidhi Palre

Pritha bags state title Pune’s paddler Pritha Vartikar added another state ranking title to her kitty by winning the cadet final in the 4th State Ranking Table Tennis Tournament, held at University Pavilion, Marine Lines, Mumbai recently. In the final, top seeded Pritha defeated Sampada Bhiwandkar of Mumbai Suburb 11-9, 11-9, 11-8. Meanwhile, in the midget category, Devyani Kulkarni went down to Gloria George of Mumbai City in the final. In the sub-junior boys’ segment, Pune’s Karan Kukreja lost to

IMED win basketball

Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship Development, (IMED) Pune, defeated Ness Wadia College 90-66 in the final of the Deccan Gymkhana Inter-college Basketball Championship recently. IMED who were in the lead right from the first quarter (25-22) maintained the rhythm and never allowed Ness Wadia to come back into the game. Yousuf Sayyed was the top scorer with 26 points, while Nikhil Patil (18) and Rahul Singh (12) contributed to the total. For Ness Wadia, Pranav Wagale scored 19 points.

Ornellian football from today

Ten school teams will lock-horns for top honours in the Fonseca Ornellian Memorial Rolling Trophy Football Tournament, which will be played from September 19 at St Patrick’s School ground. This knock-out tournament has been organised by Ornellas School along with its former students, for school teams of under-16 age category. Apart from cash prizes for the winner and runners-up, individual prizes for the best player, best goalkeeper and golden boot will be awarded.while Nikhil Patil (18) and Rahul Singh (12) contributed to the total. For Ness Wadia, Pranav Wagale scored 19 points.

“This is very significant. I hope my journey and the medal can serve as an inspiration for differently-abled individuals to break out from their social boundaries and pursue their dreams”.

— Deepa Malik, Silver Medalist in Rio Paralympics

MKL goes Pro-Kabaddi way Ropes in star players, hosts matches at Balewadi, along with separate women’s league

AUCTION PROCESS

The players in the auction pool were selected from trials conducted by the Maharashtra Kabbadi Association.

Over 3,500 players attended the selected trials out of which 300 were selected and 130 players making it into the teams. Every team had a fund of Rs six lakhs. While the base price for category A players comprising national and international players was pegged at Rs 30,000 each, the base price for category B players comprising Junior national players, District players and University players was Rs 20,000.

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish There is no doubt that the Pro-Kabaddi League has worked like a miracle for this basically desi sport. The popularity of the league has been on the rise over the last three seasons, and even the players are achieving celebrity status. The Maharashtra State Kabaddi Association (MSKA) has decided to cash in on the growing popularity of the sport, by launching its own Maha Kabaddi League (MKL) last year.

Although this has not brought in the anticipated glamour and television coverage, the MKL has been a boost for the state’s rural players, who didn’t get a chance to showcase their skills in the national league.

“The basic idea behind MKL was to provide a platform for state players who didn’t get much opportunity in the Pro League.

Secondly, the sport is more popular in rural areas of Maharashtra, so instead of just concentrating on big cities like Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur, we had chosen Baramati, Sangli and Ahmednagar as venues for the league,” said Siddharth Mehta, CEO of MKL. Unlike last year, the organisers have zeroed in on Pune and have hosted all their matches at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi.

However, in the second edition, the organisers wanted to attract more glamour and hence picked up some Pro-Kabaddi players along with other stars like international player Deepika Joseph. The player who had represented India in the 2010 Asian Games, 2012 SAFF Games and the first Kabaddi World Cup in Patna, in 2012, was also part

AUCTIONED PLAYERS

of Pro-Kabaddi league in which she led the Storm Queens in Women’s Challenge.

As expected, she has become the most expensive player of the second season, as Ratnagiri Raiders roped her in at a price of Rs 94,000. She was followed by Swapnil Shinde who was bought by Kolhapur Hurricanes for Rs 88,000.

However, they are nowhere near the last edition’s auction price. In the last edition, Pune’s Neha Ghadge became the most expensive player of the league, when she was roped in by Baramati for Rs 2,28,000 in the auction. She was followed by Abhilasha Mhatre (Rs 2,26,000 - Raigad) and Sayali Keripal (Rs 2,08,000 - Mumbai). Even the cash prize has been reduced drastically. Last season, the winning team received a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh. This time, the winning team will get just Rs five lakh, and the

runners-up teams will get Rs three lakh, apart from prizes for the best raider, man of the match and man of the series.

NEW TEAMS The second edition of the league will also have eight teams, but the Baramati Hurricanes and Nagar Challengers have been replaced by Kolhapur Hurricanes and Pimpri Chinchwad Challengers.

“We have just changed the names of the teams as we have got the new franchises. All the teams have picked up a new squad from the auction and thus it won’t matter to any player,” said Mehta.

The eight teams in the men’s section (Group A) are Thane Tigers, Kolhapur Hurricanes, Pune Panthers and Ratnagiri Raiders, and Group B including Sangli Royals, Raigad Dynamos, Mumbai Mahakal

Pune lad creates history in USA Arjun Kadhe and Julian Cash become the first doubles team in Oklahoma to achieve the top spot in inter-collegiate rankings TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Pune’s Arjun Kadhe has been his pursuing studies at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in the US, where he has also had the opportunity to pursue his passion for tennis. Kadhe made history recently when he and his partner became the fi rst doubles team in Oklahoma State history to achieve the top spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings.

Julian Cash and Kadhe produced their best performance and scripted 34 wins, along with prestigious AllAmerica honours at the NCAA Doubles Championship. The last Oklahoma player to gain top spot in the ITA rankings was Oleksandr Nedovyesov in the 2009-10 season.

Kadhe and his partner Jakob Sude had finished in third spot two seasons ago. That was Kadhe’s best personal performance. However this time, he has bettered his performance and created history for the state too.

He gave credit to OSU coach Jay

Men: Swapnil Shinde (Kolhapur Hurricanes; Rs88,000); Nilesh Kalbere (Thane Tigers; Rs78,000); Sanket Chavan (Mumbai Mahakal; Rs52,000); Chetan Thorat (Ratnagiri Raiders; Rs48,000), Ninad Tawade (Ratnagiri Raiders; Rs42,000); Omkar Jadhav (Sangli Royals; Rs34,000); Women: Deepika Joseph (Ratnagiri Raiders; Rs94,000); Raksha Narkar (Mumbai Mahakal; Rs34,000). and Pimpri Chinchwad Challengers, who will fight for a berth in the semis.

Meanwhile, in the women’s A group, Thane Tigers , Sangli Royals, Pimpri Chinchwad Challengers and Mumbai Mahakal will be in the frey, and Kolhapur Hurricanes , Ratnagiri Raiders , Pune Panthers and Raigad Dynamos will be in Group B. While seven players were selected from auction, eight players made it to the team as owners’ choice.

“We made it compulsory to have rural players in the team as they would get a chance to showcase their skills,” said Mehta. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Double crown for Siya Deshmukh TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly Siya Deshmukh won a memorable double crown, winning the girls under-12 and under-14 singles titles in the PN Gadgil & Sons Trophy PMDTA Ranking Tennis Tournament, organised by Om Dalvi Memorial Trust at Maharashtra Police, Parihar Chowk, Aundh recently.

In the under-12 girls final, Siya defeated Sonal Patil 7-6 (5) to claim her fi rst title of the tournament. Later in the under-14 final, she faced tough competition from Gautami Khaire. The giant-killer had stunned top seed Agrima Tiwari in the semi-finals, and was heading towards the title by winning fi rst set 5-3. However, Siya came back in the game strongly and levelled the score with a 4-0 win in the second. The tie-breaker turned out to be a crucial one and eventually it was Siya who claimed the title (10-7).

Meanwhile, in the boys’ under-10 event, Arnav Paparkar claimed his supremacy ousting Ananmay Upadhyay 7-4. However, he missed a double crown as in the under-12 final, he went down to Arjun Gohad.

Paparkar who had beaten Namit Misra 7-1 in the semi-finals, failed to perform against top seed Arjun and surrendered tamely 1-7. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Udwadia for his success, saying that claiming the top spot was one of his goals, and that the coach put in a lot of efforts for the doubles team.

“I am very excited and this performance will be a great boost before the final season,” said Kadhe, who will probably return to India in 2017. With this performance, he is likely to be considered one of the strong doubles player in the country.

Cash and Kadhe were great against the toughest competition last season, defeating seven ranked opponents including two top 20 foes on their run to becoming All-Americans. The pair is joined by another duo in the rankings, as Lucas Gerch and Jurence Mendoza coming in at number 52. After competing in the NCAA Singles Championship last season, Cash checks in at number 29 in the rankings, while the remaining three Cowboys all cracked the top 100.

Kadhe came in at number 87, Mendoza at number 97 and Gerch rounded out the quartet at number 98. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

DSK Shivajians’ run ends in semis Rohit Kumar finishes as joint top scorer with four goals TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

DSK Shivajians FC was done in by Neroca FC 0-3, and with it ended their dream run in the 128th Durand Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi The Manipur-side netted via Sushil Kumar Singh (36th minute), Malemnganba Meitei (65th), Anandkumar Singh (90+3’) to squash DSK Shivajians’ hopes. The loss, however, did ensure that DSK Shivajians made history for themselves. They became the first team from Pune to reach the Durand Cup semi-finals.

Manager Dave Rogers made five changes in his playing eleven. Given starts were goalkeeper Sayak Barai, Mohd Sajid Dhot, Vanlalremkima, K Lalthathanga, while Lalawmpuia earned his maiden start. Making way were Rakshit Dagar, Zohmingliana Ralte, Sairuat Kima, Hitova Ayemi and Gagandeep Singh.

DSK Shivajians began the game on the

offensive and had close chances early on with a host of corner kicks. Defender Mohd Sajid Dhot went the closest in the 10th minute when his header off Juan Quero’s corner kick from the right whizzed past the second post.

Despite the heat taking its toll on the players, DSK Shivajians continued to dominate proceedings before taking a breather with a water break at the half hour mark.

Post the break, Neroca FC began pushing up and creating pressure around the DSK Shivajians box. Medio Rohit Kumar was pulled up for a late tackle on rival striker Singam Subash Singh and the referee awarded Neroca FC a penalty kick. Sushil Kumar Singh stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way (0-1).

DSK Shivajians re-composed themselves and began pushing up. However, despite having the better chances, the score at half time favoured Neroca FC 1-0. The second half began with both sides playing a high tempo game. DSK Shivajians were charging up from the flanks as Neroca pushed up on counter attacks. Ten minutes in, Manager Dave Rogers made the first change as Juan Quero made way for North Korean striker

Kim Song Yong with DSK Shivajians seeking an equaliser.

However, it was Neroca FC who doubled their lead in the 65th minute. Sushil Kumar Singh curled in a cross from the right to find David Lalbiakzara in the box. The ex-Shivajians midfielder chested the ball down to K Malemnganba Meitei, who smashed home a half-volley from the top edge of the box, leaving custodian Sayak Barai helpless in the DSK Shivajians’ goal (0-2).

DSK Shivajians kept pressing high up in search of a goal and almost reduced the deficit in the 78th minute. Substitute Kim Song Yong received a long ball on the right as he managed to break the offside trap and run clear in the box.

However, as he tried to lob the keeper, his attempt went agonisingly wide. Minutes later Lalawmpuia benefited from a loose ball after the rival ‘keeper had a soft collection, but his effort way wayward with no one but a defender in goal. Three minutes into injury time, Neroca FC sealed the game with another goal when substitute Anandkumar Singh finished off a cross from the right flank by Subash Singh to make the scoreline 0-3. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com