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PUNE, FEBRUARY 14, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com
CITY
TGS LIFE
Albert Pinto ko gussa kyun ata hai P3
Jab We Met
Pune’s contribution to Delhi’s new chapter
Moments after the muffler man, as Arvind Kejriwal is popularly known, emerged victorious, bagging 67 of 70 seats in Delhi Assembly elections, celebrations started. The festivities were not restricted to Delhi, where Aam Aadmi Party made a clean sweep. Pune, which has a small but growing number of AAP supporters, couldn’t contain its excitement either. After all, it wasn’t just Delhiites who ensured AAP’s victory, our very own home grown Puneites too had sizeable role to play in wiping out BJP and Congress. Inside: These Puneites helped muffler man become Delhi CM, see Spotlight on p9
City’s women power rule Maha share at Natl Games
Arti Ghorpade grabs three gold while Rutuja Satpute, Pooja Ghatkar and Madhura Tambe win two medals each in the event’s 34th edition at Kerala BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish
Pune’s women athletes have dominated the district’s medal tally at the ongoing 35th National Games in Kerala. With the city living up to its reputation of being the sports hub of Maharashtra by claiming 15 of the state’s 103 medals won so far, the local sportswomen’s share is 13 medals. The state is standing fourth in the medal tally with 27 gold, 40 silver and 36 bronze. International shooter Pooja Ghatkar (two gold), Arti Ghorpade (part of the state team that won three relay gold in 4x100 freestyle, 4x100 medley and 4x200 freestyle events with three national records), cyclist Rutuja Satpute (gold and a bronze) and gymnast Madhura Tambe (gold and team bronze) and Nishtha Shah with a two bronze medals are some of the women who have made the city proud. “We are happy with our girls’ performances. Maharashtra has always dominated shooting and gymnastics and this time we were expecting a few medals in swimming. The girls have worked hard. However, we missed a few medals by a slight margin,” said Pratap Jadhav, chief convenor of Maharashtra team.
Arti with father Dattatray Ghorpade and mother Ranjana being national kabaddi players and elder sister Pooja as a champion swimmer. Arti took to swimming at the age of seven and stole the limelight in 2004 by winning four gold with new junior national record in Jaipur. Th ree years later she won gold in Asian Age group competition in Turkmenistan. Talking about the national games, Arti said, “I can definitely say that the speed and power of Indian swimmers have improved tremendously. I couldn’t win an individual medal here, despite my best efforts. With the same timing, I would have won a gold in senior nationals, a few years back.” She is preparing for the World Championship to be held in Kazakhstan in July. RUTUJA BETTERS HER FATHER’S PERFORMANCE The 2013 Asian bronze medallist Rutuja Satpute has won two silver in the
ARTI GETS BACK INTO A RHYTHM
Rutuja Satpute
(Extreme L) Arti Ghorpade, Aditi Dhumatkar, Aakansha Vora and Monique Gandhi
Experienced swimmer Arti Ghorpade, who performed slightly below par in the 2014 season, is back in the game. With three team gold and national meet records, the 24-year-old swimmer has maintained her place in the younger Maharashtra squad. Sports run in the family of
SPORT
19th National Road Cycling Competition, Karnataka, in December 2014. With a gold in the 28km individual time trial road and a bronze in 3km individual pursuit, she has overshadowed her father’s performance. Her father Sanjay Satpute, also a national cyclist, had won a silver in the National Games in Kerala in 1987. Contd on p 5
The Cricket World Cup begins today P 15
RIP Riverside road?
SC orders PMC to demolish and remove the sections of the road and bridges in six months BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke In a major setback to the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) ambitious plan to construct a riverside road between Shivane and Vitthalwadi, the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday maintained the orders of National Green Tribunal (NGT) that termed the project as illegal. The apex court also orders the civic body to demolish and remove the sections of the road and bridges constructed
on the Mutha river in the next six months. The corporation has decided to construct a road in the Mutha riverbed as an alternative road to the crowded Sinhgad Road. Th is stretch would have avoided the traffic issues of the Warje – Erandwane area also. Speaking to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, advocate Asim Sarode, who represented all the petitioners, said that NGT had given its verdict against the corporation in July 2013. “Despite these orders, the construction activities continued in the riverbed,” Sarode said. Contd on p 3
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY PUNE
UPPLY
“I went to the forest bent upon ending my life. But I returned with another determination: Not only will I live, but I will also try my best to give life to others.” —Sindhutai Sapkal, social activist
24x7 water supply at twin-township P4
Start up innovates plug-n- play STPs P7
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ER AT S
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FEBRUARY 14, 2015
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Janwani’s cleanliness work gets national recognition
Dr Rajas Nitsure
Extensive cleanliness work carried out by Janwani makes Pune the best in healthcare BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat According to the latest national survey, Pune city ranked fi rst in healthcare due to its ‘cleanliness’. The credit for this goes to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and NGOs like Janwani, whose efforts to maintain cleanliness in the city have borne fruit. Taking into consideration the work by Janwani, SWaCH and the PMC workers, the corporation has now allotted them greater responsibility to maintain cleanliness in the city. Along with the current 20 prabhags, PMC has allotted Janwani the responsibility of maintaining cleanliness in ten more prabhags. JANWANI’S WORK Janwani started work in February 2013, after signing an MoU with the PMC. Their work started yielding the desired results in December 2014. They had set a goal of zero garbage in the designated areas, which translated into reducing the number of garbage container on the roads. When they started work, there were 265 garbage containers, and after a year, there were only 105 garbage containers. In effect, Janwani’s efforts have resulted in 160 garbage containers being removed from the roads. Janwani is a social initiative of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry and
Agriculture (MCCIA). They started work on the city’s garbage issue, in 2010, in the Katraj area, where they set up a gas plant. Katraj was a developing area at that time, where new housing societies were coming up, and there existed the old ‘gaothan’ (rural) area. The Janwani volunteers launched a doorto-door awareness campaign, organised street plays, film screenings on the hazards of garbage, and discussions for members of ‘Bachat Gat’ and self-help groups. Their main focus was on the segregation of garbage at the doorstep of very household. Janwani also setup a methane gas plant for wet garbage. This pilot project proved to be a huge success. PMC then asked Janwani to work in a larger area, covering 20 prabhags, from February 2013. In these constituencies, there are 2,61,828 properties, including flats, slums (huts) and commercial complexes. There were 265 garbage containers in these areas and Janwani’s focus was on the proper system of garbage collection and segregation, to reduce the number of containers on the roads. The 20 prabhags include underdeveloped suburban area and Model Colony, part of Paud Road, Erandwane, SP College, Mahatma Phule Peth. Except for two, every constituency includes a slum area. When Janwani assumed responsibility in February 2013, the percentage of segregation at garbage vehicle of PMC was
AREAS WHERE JANWANI IS WORKING
Tobacco-free India through Ayurveda
Baner-Balewadi, Pashan, Karve Nagar (Warje), More Vidyalaya (part of Paud Road), Shastrinagar, Erandwane, Model Colony, from Nagar Road Kalyani Nagar, Koregaon Park, from Hadapsar area Mundhwa-Magarpatta city, Gliding Centre and Hadapsar Malwadi, Kondhawa-Wanwadi, Salisbury Park, Dhankawadi, Balajinagar, Sahakarnagar, SP Collage, Veer Lahuji Wastad Smarak (Mahatma Phule Path), Sinhgad Road prabhag 55.
only 27 per cent of 69,828 properties. At the end of December 2014, it reached to 70 per cent with 1,83,566 properties. At present, there are only 105 garbage bins on the roads. Volunteers of Janwani worked as catalyst between garbage machinery of PMC and NGOs. Their volunteers worked on the field with waste-pickers of SWaCH and PMC. These volunteers conducted 1,266 awareness programmes including meeting in 420 societies and 177 meetings of waste pickers, 187 poster exhibitions, 118 films shows, 82 street plays, 71 rallies and many more. The PMC allotted `1.46 crore towards the campaign, while the rest of the funds were raised by Janwani from corporates. ashok.bhat21@gmail.com RAHUL RAUT
Janwani has successfully streamlined the work of garbage segregation at source in 20 prabhags. PMC has acknowledged it’s contribution to the cause and assigned them more city areas to maintain
Through their solution-based products, Nitsure family is helping people quit smoking and lead a healthy life BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal For generations, the Pune-based Nitsure family has been dedicated to the cause of Ayurveda. The Nitsures have been working on a ‘Tobacco-free India Campaign Through Ayurveda’, to raise awareness about the hazards and ill-effects of tobacco consumption, which is a main reason for oral or mouth cancer. One of the innovative aspects of their campaign is to replace conventional tobacco products with products based on the concept of ‘Ayurvedic Samhita’. They have received a very positive feedback in this regard and the ‘Ayurvedic Samhita’ products have helped countless people to break free from the addiction to tobacco, who are now leading a healthy life. Ayurveda, an ancient and traditional way of treatment, is gaining popularity worldwide. However, Ayurvedacharyas like Charaka, Sushruta and Vagbhatta had elaborated on the concept of ‘Dhoopam’ (medical smoking) in their respective ‘Samhitas’. This has been the basis of the Nitsure family’s concept of a tobacco-free product. They manufacture the solution based products through their Ayurvedic firm, Udayraj Exports. The family is spearheading their campaign through the media and by holding lectures, outlining the dangers of tobacco use, at IT/software companies, rehabilitation centres and government offices. The Nitsures also lend their support to a number of rehabilitation centres by providing their products free of cost or at concessional rates to them along with free consulation services. Dr Rajas Nitsure said, “The research for a ‘tobacco-free solution’ has been going on for 20 years. We have tobacco and nicotine-free products, which have the same taste and give the pleasure like tobacco, but without the harmful
‘My responsibility has increased now’ Activist Qaneez Sukhrani is the first woman in Pune to win the Sajag Nagrik Mahiti Adhikar Puraskar BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali
City activist Qaneez Sukhrani’s parents always emphasised on speaking the truth. They were very particular about standing up for what is right and never giving up. “I am glad that my parents taught me and made me what I am today. I am able to fight and speak the truth only because they taught me to,” said Qaneez, who was recently conferred the Sajag Nagrik Mahiti Adhikar Puraskar. Sukhrani is associated with the Viman Nagar Citizens Forum, Association of Nagar Road Citizens Forums, Nagrik Chetna Manch, Indian Maritime Foundation, Ocean Savers LIFE’S TURNING of India, Pune City Connect POINT (social arm of Confederation of Indian Industry, Pune) and Was she always inclined Jeshth Nagrik Sangh, Viman towards working for society? - QANEEZ SUKHRANI Nagar. “No. Not until my road She believes her accident in Mumbai in 1994, responsibility has begun now. when I went into coma for “Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM) has validated five days, because of a near-death experience my work in this field. My organisation, (NDE). Even after I was discharged, I did Nagrik Chetna Manch, and its president not have sight for about four months since a Maj Gen Jatar gave me immense support to nerve had got dislodged. I had a lot of time take this ahead. I plan to spread the nuances to hold a mirror and review my life, what I of RTI Act 2005 as much as possible. I had done/and not done, lives I had touch/ believe that the fi ling of RTI application not touched, made a difference to other should not be frivolous, whimsical, because people’s lives or not. I made a commitment it involves a lot of government machinery to God that when I recovered (not ‘if ’ as I being put into action to gather the requested was convinced that my second lease of life
“We need to grow out of our sectarian ghetto brain washing and work as Indians.”
Indians. In fact, the Centre must make moral science and civics a scoring subject in the curriculum again. Successive governments forget that a person as a whole has several facets. One facet should not be developed in isolation of the other, otherwise the result is an imbalanced and inward looking human being,”Sukhrani said. anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com
Qaneez Sukhrani
archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
QANEEZ’S WORKS
GITESH SHELKE
information. People should approach without any fear. Before fi ling the RTI, they should check if the information is available on public domain, and then evaluate what can be done if the information is received / not received. Information received/not received should be used conclusively only in the interest of general public. “It is also my message to government officials, public information officers (PIOs) not to delay the process of releasing the information. I want government machineries to work in transparency so that there should not be any scope for corruption. Th is is what I am focusing on,” said Sukhrani.
was for a specific purpose), I would fi rst educate myself in this sphere, then start working for people in general, at the same time empowering them of their rights and responsibilities, so that no one takes undue advantage. Th is would ultimately translate into rooting out corruption as my ‘lakshya’ (aim).” That was the time she had settled down in Pune, in Viman Nagar. The situation at Ramwadi Octroi post on Nagar Road was extremely hazardous, where one fatal accident per day was the norm. “That was my fi rst attempt at activism, along with groups of like-minded citizens abutting residential areas on Nagar Road. After facing success, there was no stopping, after which I was inducted into the Express Citizens Forum, National Society for Clean Cities, created my own citizens group, Viman Nagar Citizens Forum,” she said. She said that youth must get more involved in getting knowledge and working on community welfare, governance, not per se politics. Apart from their exam related studies, college fests, projects, they must set aside time for community services (not based only on religion, language, caste, creed). “We need to grow out of our sectarian ghetto brain washing and work a s
effects. These are Ayurvedic and herbal products with medicinal values.” These herbal products are circulated to city pubs and bars as well as to rehabilitation centres working with drug addicts. In 1996, the Nitsures made a ‘herbal bidi’, and a herbal cigarette (rolled in white paper with an attached filter), in 1998. Nitsure approached for patents for cigarette product in 2011 and it is in final stage. Later, they also introduced a herbal ‘hukka’, on the demand came from ‘hukka’ parlours’. As a substitute for gutka, they introduced ‘sutka’. It is an Ayurvedic blend containing amla, haritaki, bibhitak, shunthi, yashti and dadim churna. Nitsure said, “Gutka contains nicotine which is extremely harmful and addictive. To substitute nicotine, we are using shunti which has a natural masala flavour and provides the same stimulating and refreshing effect that nicotine gives. Instead of supari (betel nuts), we make the base out of Ayurvedic seeds that are hard and therefore, are chewable and enjoyable.” Another advantage of sutka is that it improves the digestion process and reduces acidity. Elaborating on the concept, Nitsure said, “The idea came from my grandfather who was suffering from a chronic cough. He did some research and created a herbal mixture for smoking, which helped reduced the cough and strengthened the respiratory system. He then converted the smoking mixture into a ‘bidi’ (hand-rolled in Tendu leaves), which showed good results on various patients. “All these products has analytical reports for ‘No Tobacco, No Nicotine’ from Central Tobacco Research Institute, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh; Bidi and Tobacco Research Station, Anand, Gujarat, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and MAARC Labs, Pune.
1. Aadhaar number – innumerable RTIs filed with about 35 Central, state, local authorities, where documents (about 10,000) that were received is the basis of a PIL being heard in the Supreme Court. 2. Illegal flexes and hoardings – data received through RTI was a mismatch of ground reality and action being taken which is the basis of a PIL being heard in Bombay High Court. 3. BRTS – innumerable RTIs filed with Ministry of Urban Development, State government and local corporations where documents, CDs (about 7500) were received. After collating and comparing the documents, it was clear that this transportation infrastructure even after spending Rs 1100 crore could not be rolled out as it was not according to globally accepted BRTS features, lacked vision, had no planning, mandated documents such as DPR, feasibility and pre-feasibility reports were not submitted. All these points and many more were submitted to the Standing Committee of Urban Development in New Delhi, asking that an enquiry commission be set up to investigate the irregularities, mismanagement and misuse of funds. Members of Standing Committee of UD group visited Pune, prepared a report which is the basis of Report number 1 tabled in both Houses of Parliament, pending say from all the authorities involved in disbursement of funds. 4. Information Boards – continuous communication with PMC to ensure that installing information boards by contractors/third parties doing work on public sites should be made mandatory as it would be considered part of citizen’s right to information. Although there was a brief general clause in the work order, it was being ignored and information boards were not being installed. After eight months of follow-up, I filed an RTI application, after which PMC made it mandatory for installation of such boards and shared the work order that made the information and design of the board very specific. As this work order was issued to Reliance Jio Info which allows laying of cables of 290 km all through Pune, this should become a citizen’s movement where each one of us should be vigilant in our areas to ensure a check system, otherwise report it to the PMC
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
Bike repairing on finger tips P6
Address n-energy costs first P 12
The Bird Valley Park, developed by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) at Chinchwad, in December 12, 2008, boasts of a large lake, boating facilities, jogging track and bird watching facilities. —www.pcmcindia.gov.in
Albert Pinto ko gussa kyun ata hai
Catholic-Christian community is upset with the way Bollywood portrays them; meets Vinod Tawde, minister for cultural affairs, to express their anguish TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly
The Catholic Christian community can’t take it anymore. The way Bollywood depicts the community or their clergy has upset them. Early this week, several members of the community met Vinod Tawde, minister for cultural affairs and demanded that the misrepresentation must stop. They sought a member of their community to be appointed on the Censor Board to put an end to the situation. The meeting that took place on February 10 in Mumbai was on the backdrop of recent All India Bakchod controversy. The delegation led by Vicar General, Archdiocese of Bombay, Bishop Agnelo, told the minister that they are “hurt and upset by the repeated wrong, distasteful and hurtful depictions of the community and its faith by Bollywood”. They demanded that rather than complaining every time a movie hurts their sentiments, the minister should think about appointing a member from their community on Censor Board. They suggested that the member should be chosen by Archdiocese and later appointed. After giving them a patient hearing, the minister requested Bishop Agnelo to send a detailed representation and promised to not only look into the matter but also to revert with a positive solution within a few days.
Judith Monteiro, secreatry of Association of Concerned Catholics, explained that there have been several instances of movies depicting Catholics as drunkards, or even portraying a distorted image of the priests. “As of now we go to police stations and file complaints for hurting our sentiments or take up the issue with the government. But that certainly is not an answer. We would rather have a permanent solution in place,” she said. STEREOTYPING THE COMMUNITY Father Malcolm Sequeira, Vicar general, Pune diocese said, “I agree with
Father Malcolm Sequeira
my Mumbai brothers and the portrayal of Catholics in Bollywood should change. We need to project us more positively. Right now we are used in a stereotypical manner, where a Catholic is either a drunkard or a goon. It is a serious matter. If you do a random count at any bar or restaurant you will not find only Catholics drinking there. These portrayals hurt our sentiments. We as a community have contributed to the welfare of the nation especially, in the field of education. We have catholic teachers in schools and so many nuns and fathers running good educational institutes. This side should be shown too.”
A Catholic priest played by Asrani is shown as dancing with a rosary around his neck and wearing a garland of lottery tickets with a church in the background
Upasana Joseph (24), dance instructor, shared that a gown or a coat does not describe their community. “We are not always roaming around in short skirts or having parties at home. We are stereotyped to an extent where people assume we have wine stocked at our homes at any time of the year.” Taking the drinking aspect further, Alexander Fernandes, founder, Christbearers (a Gospel rock band) added, “It is so evident that Bollywood only looks at our community as drunkards or people who make merry.
Alexander Fernandes
RIP Riverside road?
The section of the under construction river side road along with the Mutha. Construction & debris can be seen
Contd from p 1 “We again filed a contempt petition against the civic body for not following the NGT orders. The NGT again issued a notice to the corporation and the civic body approached the SC challenging the contempt,” he said. “The SC on Thursday dismissed civic body’s appeal against the contempt,” Sarode said. “It means that now the corporation will have to refrain from all construction activities in the riverbed. Not only this, the civic body will have to remove all the construction and debris
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from the riverbed,” he said. The petitioners and their lawyers have maintained that they are not against the construction of the road but it should be constructed beyond the blue Line of the river, without hindering the flow of the river. Submitting details of the project, the civic body told the SC that the road was needed in the larger interest of the people. The petitioners have now demanded that an impartial auditor must be appointed by the government to assess the actual spending of the civic
1. Where is Mech auto clinic located? 2. When was Jaldhara started? 3. What is the main cause of obesity in woman according to Dr Pushkar Kher? 4. When did Qaneez Sukhrani land in a coma? 5. When was the Honey Parlour restarted? 6. What is the title of actor Aarya
PUNE
body on riverbed road project. The corporation began the construction of 2.35 km long and 24 m wide road in the Mutha riverbed in 2011. The project was aimed at decongesting the crowded Sinhgad Road where major housing townships have flourished in the recent times. As the road connects Shivane and Vitthalwadi, it would have also facilitated the decongestion of Karve Road. In order to construct the road, the PMC dumped about 35,000 trucks of debris in the riverbed. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com
Babbar’s debut book? 7. Where did Sheetal and Santosh Gaikwad meet on their fi rst date? 8. What are the must-haves in Bhutan? 9. Which international cosmetic brand launched recently in India? 10. What is Neha Hinge’s perfect way to start the day?
like drunkards and murderers. There are shots where women are running a liquor store. Does our community stand for these beliefs only? We have always done our bit to be productive, peaceful and cooperative to the society we live in. We are foremost in imparting education and social services. All our social events run smoothly. Is there any social disturbance caused by us? Even as the churches are getting vandalised in the different parts of the country, we protest peacefully. The only positive portrayal of our community was in Guzaarish. Taking a leaf out of the movie…I want to say… ‘bas itni si guzaarish hai…’.” The members admired the film PK, but even there what was shown about priests converting people was wrong.
We are definitely much more than the above. We are surely a happy community but we just do not only drink or make merry 24x7.” CONTRADICTING BELIEFS The second aspect Father Malcolm pointed out was whenever films want to show a religious scene they should study it well. Very often they show a priest in the wrong costume or doing the completely opposite of what we do. He added, “Our beliefs with regard to confessions, prayers and marriage are never portrayed in the right light. They just show us dressed in a white gown and contradict everything else.” Movies are a medium to reach the grass root levels of the society. Armilla Saldanha, 41, housewife said, “The way our community is portrayed in Bollywood movie is saddening. Ours is a community rich in culture and heritage. But, in almost all the movies sordid pictures are portrayed. We are depicted as lowest scum of the society
Armilla Saldanha
There is a one year procedure undertaken before converting someone. “We do not force them and they are constantly told to respect their own faith. The scene where a priest is baptising a man in the fields is completely false. It never happens. Baptising is a holy sacrament and we need to respect that,” Malcom added. Agreeing to this is Joanna who said, “PK portrayed use of money to convert people. This portrayal is not shown correctly. We do not give or accept money to change people’s beliefs or faith.” tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
OBJECTIONABLE FILMS There have been certain films that have tried to justice to the Catholic community, but most of the Hindi movies have ridiculed the community. Religious stereotyping, blasphemous imagery and sentimental lampooning have been done on regular basis in Hindi films. Kamal Dhamal Malamal: A Catholic priest played by Asrani is shown as dancing with a rosary around his neck and wearing a garland of lottery tickets with a church in the background, as the character of Shreyas Talpade misuses holy water sprinkler. Kya Super Kool Hai Hum: A Catholic priest blessing two dogs was considered offensive. Bobby and Mera Naam Joker: Raj Kapoor’s Bobby gave Christian girl a heroine’s status, but the teenaged Bobby wore bikini more than 25 years back. One also cannot forget the teacher (Simi Garewal) who’s responsible for an adolescent’s sexual awakening in Mera Naam Joker. Is it a coincidence that she, too, is a Miss Mary? Years later, Ramesh Sippy got Dimple to play Maria in Saagar, and shot an almost nude shot and smooch that had the nation agog. Sins: The priest played by Shiney Ahuja was shown to be obsessed with sex. Socha Naa Tha: It played the stereotype of the Christian family and their alleged preoccupation with drinks.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY PUNE
“Films contain whatever is happening in reality. The violence and the nudity is much more than whatever is shown in films.” —Poet and lyricist Gulzar
Vanrai to felicitate Anna Hazare
Revival of lapsed policies Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will start a 15-day programme to revive lapsed policies. If a policy is not revived after five years of the lapse period it is terminated entirely. The policies, which have been declared invalid, now can be revived under this programme. The revival procedure will conclude on February 28. Under this scheme, over 30 per cent concession on the interest rate will be given.
Charity for education
‘Snack Walk’ on Sunday Old City Breakfast Trail, Pune Food Trails and The Western Routes introduce the Pune Cantonment Snack Walk. The walk will explore the bylanes of Camp in search for some delectable savouries. The event includes unlimited food at six joints, guided walk through lanes of Camp. Cost per person is Rs 600. To register, please write to punefoodtrails@ gmail.com or thewesternroutes@ gmail.com with your contact details. For more information, contact Jayesh on 9011040773.
Bakery courses for women Shri Manilal Nanavati Vocational Training Institute for Women has organised a bakery training course from February 16. Bread and biscuit baking, pastry making, soup-stick making are some of contents of the course. For details, contact Anita Jadhav on 9403764262.
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24x7 water supply at twin-township Yamunanagar model to be replicated in other areas BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal Nearly 40 per cent of PimpriChinchwad area will get round the clock water supply in the fi rst phase, in the next two to three years. The Pimpri Praveen Ladkat Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) is all set to float a tender for appointing an advisory agency for this pilot project, on February 17. Elaborating about this project, Water Supply Department joint city engineer Praveen Ladkat told The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, “The civic body had prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for 24x7 water supply under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and sent it for approval in March 2014.” The civic body has received the approval letter from JNNURM last
week. The Centre has sanctioned `17 crore, while the state has sanctioned `7crore for the project. Under the JNNURM, the Centre shares 50 per cent, while the state shares 20 per cent of the total project cost. The PCMC will contribute the remaining 30 per cent. The total cost of the project is `143 crore, of which the Centre will contribute `71 crore, the state `28 crore and the PCMC `17 crore. The civic officials hope that at phase one, around 40 per cent of the city’s 18 lakh population will benefit from the scheme. It constitutes around 22 zones of the localities of Nigdi, Chinchwad, Bhosari and Pimpri. The remaining 60 per cent area will be covered in the second phase. The PCMC also made the DPR of the remaining 60 per cent localities, and any forthcoming government scheme will be covered under that scheme. A round the clock water supply system has been implemented in some pockets of Navi Mumbai, Nagpur and Balkapur. The PCMC has implemented 24x7 water supply project on an experimental basis, in sector 21,
Yamunanagar, Nigdi-Pradhikaran area, which covers over 2,500 households. It was implemented in specific water zones along the main or primary water lines. No new water reservoir has been constructed here. The PCMC conducted a study to determine the technical feasibility
The honey parlour opens with better product BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi Forced to shut down in 2012, the Central Bee Research and Training Institute of India’s (CBRTI) honey parlour on Ganeshkhind Road reopened in September 2014. The AGMARK-certified parlour is acknowledged as the most reliable source of pure honey. The institute’s officials have cited rapid urbanisation, less land under cultivation, de-forestation and strict guidelines laid down by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) as the reasons for the institute downing shutters. In conversation with The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, CBRTI deputy director Daisy Thomas said, “We regularly train cultivators. Our team visits colonies where the cultivators follow the guidelines, and we give them licence and procure honey.” The raw honey procured by the institute is processed as per the quality parameters defined under the AGMARK specifications, before it is sold. The cultivators have to maintain quality, capacity and should be registered with KVIC, she said. Thomas said that the honey sold in India contains diastase enzyme. “Th is enzyme ensures the honey’s freshness. We test the raw honey to check the percentage of this enzyme. Around 60-70 people visit us daily and our monthly sale is worth `65,000. Since
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and fi nancial viability of the project, while implementing the pilot project in Yamunanagar. Initially, all leakages in pipelines identified and all water connections in the area were fitted with new pipes. Officials said that many households in Yamunanagar are two-or three-storey
Customers buying honey from the Central Bee Research and Training Institute of India’s (CBRTI) honey parlour on Ganeshkhind Road
THE HEALTHY POTION The honey parlour is open from 10.30 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 4 pm on weekdays. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), under the Directorate of Beekeeping in Mumbai, had set up the Central Bee Research and Training Institute of India (CBRTI) at Pune in 1961, and the honey parlour was started in 1992. The institute carries out research on bee-keeping and trains beekeepers across the nation on practices of honey extraction. Honey forms an integral part of Ayurveda and the kitchen shelf of a home-maker is virtually incomplete without a jar of the amber-coloured liquid. Known to be rich in minerals like iron, calcium, and magnesium, honey is also used as a natural remedy for cough, asthma, fever and diarrhoea, and recognised as a rich source of carbohydrates.
BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal
opened. “We procure raw honey from a Madhya Pradesh-based fi rm that won the tender bid as it followed our guidelines. Our scientists tested their honey before approving it.” manasisaraf@gmail.com
New Town Development Authority (PCN T DA) chairman and Pune divisional commissioner S Chockalingam said that there is no proposal of extension of the authority’s S Chockalingam jurisdiction. And no housing plan has been proposed by the Authority for 2015-16. The annual budget of PCNTDA, also known as Pradhikaran, with an outlay of `436.1 crore was approved by the general body in the presence of Chockalingam and Pradhikaran’s chief executive officer and member secretary Suresh Jadhav. The officials said that PCNTDA has 11 plots allotted for educational institutes, two for hospitals and two commercial plots. The commercial plots will be sold after the state government gives its approval. “The development of commercial plots was neglected in the past. There is no plan for extension of Pradhikaran
AAP should not repeat its previous mistake victory may be termed as David over Goliath, which has created ripples across the nation. But the AAP should not repeat its previous mistake. —Vijay Dattatray Patil
No more moral policing on V Day What a win for AAP! The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) founded in 2012 by Arvind Kejriwal, also known as ‘muffler man’, has resurrected and hit back with tremendous enviable success. The AAP tsunami (with 67 seats) completely routed the Congress and gave a humiliating defeat to the BJP (3 seats). It is BJP’s first electoral defeat since its historical Lok Sabha win in May 2014, and thereafter subsequent wins in seven states. Also, it is an unprecedented washout and total destruction for the grand old party Congress. AAP’s
‘All the world loves a lover.’ Despite being oft-quoted, this famous maxim seems to be an anathem to some wetblankets who love to terrify lovers on Valentine’s Day that falls on February 14. Agreed, Valentine’s Day is a travesty of love and is a commercialisation of a very great human emotion, but why should ‘lovers’ be intimidated and threatened on this day? Moral policing on Valentine’s Day strangles the fun aspect of an innocuous tradition that may have been imported from the West nearly two decades ago. If two
archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
Commercial plots will be sold after the government’s nod, says divisional commissioner S Chockalingam
Pimpri-Chinchwad
September 2014, our collection has touched `5 lakh. Honey is sold at `180 for half kg and `340 for one kg,” she said. According to her, the institute has not received a complaint since it re-
structures and have neither overhead nor groundwater reservoirs. Despite this, the pilot project has been a success. The PCMC was supplying nearly 10 MLD (mega litre/day)water to Yamunanagar for its 24x7 water supply scheme. Before the start of this project, the PCMC was providing the same quantity of water to the area. Th is is a significant achievement, as residents are getting round the clock water supply without any increase in the water quantity. Ladkat said that the systematic efforts, advance technology for leakage detection and focused vision has proved a boon for the Yamunanagar locality, which has around 2,500 water connections, enabling an undisrupted water supply. The PCMC had used heliumbased leak detection technology to minimise wastage of water. The PCMC had fi xed over 132 pipeline leakages with this technology. The key reason for the success of the Yamunanagar model is the determined efforts of those concerned. The PCMC is undertaking similar work at Prem Lokpark, Chinchwad and some other localities.
‘No extension of Pradhikaran’
Central Bee Research and Training Institute of India’s centre is known for pure honey
Our newspaper is interactive and you are welcome to write in to our various segments: • Letters to the Editor email: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com; editor_tgs@gmail.com By post: The Editor, The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030, (Best letter gets a weekly prize) • For feedback: tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com • To get solution to your problems, mail your question at: wayforward@goldensparrow.com • Want to become an entrepreneur? For mentoring advice, write to our associates: mentoring@pune.tie.org • Get weekly events listed: listings.tgslife@gmail.com
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RAHUL RAUT
Plan India is organising a charity auction for raising funds for implementing programmes that would help marginalised children to complete ten years of quality education in schools by improving access to formal education and increase their transition to higher education by enhancing classroom transactions. This third fundraiser auction will be hosted by Arti Kirloskar, chairperson, Plan India Board and Varsha Chordia Patron for the event on February 15, at JW Marriot.
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ER AT S
Social activist Anna Hazare will be felicitated by Vanrai Foundation, on February 14 at 4.30 pm, on the occasion of 90th birth anniversary of Vanrai founder Padma Vibhushan late Dr Mohan Dharia. Programme will be held at Muktangan, Parvati. Dr KH Sancheti and senior journalist Vijay Kuwdekar will be chief guests while Ulhas Pawar will preside over the function.‘
In Palestinian territories, love struggles to bridge the separation
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Signposts
Self neglect is a common cause of obesity in women
UPPLY
FEBRUARY 14, 2015
adults choose to spend some time together proclaiming their love on this day, why should anyone have a problem? Why do we always bring in the issue of Bharatiya Sanskriti? Are those who oppose Valentine’s Day and its ‘flagrant’ manifestation of love, the real upholders of Indian culture, values and ethos? Even if they are, who has given them the right to frighten the helpless lovers on this day? Why are we becoming increasingly intolerant about non-issues? Will not we be better off with a little more thick skin? —Sumit Paul
Reservation, a social evil Is reservation justified for communities or do we need social change? Often communities use reservation as a tool to justify progress but rarely talk
about changes within the community itself. Man has been given the concept of time and space and how they are utilised. Religious leaders use different terms to justify their needs but never talk of their own duties towards the community. Progress is desired, but why should it come without efforts? Most success stories have had certain rules implemented and along with the human efforts, the results have been progressive. Communities have to look at themselves and realise why humans fail and succeed and a certain pattern will emerge. If education is a starting step then it has to be taken seriously. Children take a lot of effort for self improvement and it is a time and effort consuming task. Communities who talk about being backward and ostracised need to look within. Within the communities there are stories of success and these need to be highlighted. Asking for reservations
“No housing plan has been proposed by the Authority for 2015-16.” - S Chockalingam
locality but the surrounding areas of developed sectors could be included after the state government okays the proposal,” Chockalingam said. The annual fund allocation by Pradhikaran include `60 crore for Walhekarwadi Housing Scheme, `86.08 crore for road works, `55.40 crore for construction of flyover in Kudalwadi, and `15 crore for making a flyover in Sai Chowk on Aundh Ravet Road. The Authority has also made a provision of `44 crore for the proposed Pune International Exhibition and Convention Centre of Moshi (PIECC). archana.dahiwal @goldensparrow.com
may be like the balm on top but the pain will lie hidden below. Hate speeches may incite the minds but the time has come for religious leaders to have a reality check. —Sunil Melwani
Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow. com or mailed to Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030. The Best Letter of the Week will receive a special gift from Venus Traders, Pune’s finest stationery departmental.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
Recycled products become ‘dream catchers’ P7
According to the census survey of 2011 , its population is around 31 lakhs, an increase of around 33 per cent over the last census in 2001.
http://hupindia.org/
PUNE
Speech-to-speech translation will be a reality soon P8 RAHUL RAUT
Five years on Bibvewadi subway to be thrown open
The facility for BRTS passengers and pedestrians at Bibvewadi - Satara Road junction is now open for bikers
Five years after the work on Bibvewadi subway began, it may finally get completed by March. Work on the project meant to make life easier for pedestrians was started in 2009 and was to get over by 2012. A classic case of hurried planning, the subway has defaulted on multiple deadlines. This time around, however planners claim that they will finally throw it open pedestrians, and as a bonus to bikers as well. PMC executive engineer Vijay Shinde said that the design of the subway is a little critical as the plan that was proposed earlier has been modified to include two wheelers also. “Efforts are on to open the subway for passengers, pedestrians and two wheelers by March-end,” he said. The need for subway at Bibvewadi on the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) stretch of Satara Road was felt after a spate of accidents in 2007. Back then the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) proposed subways at Sai Baba Temple area, Bibvewadi junction and a foot overbridge at Dhankavdi for pedestrians. The work on the `5 crore subway at Bibvewadi began in 2009. SN Bhome, a consultant for PMC, designed it and it was supposed to be completed before the 2012 municipal elections. With the incomplete subway seeing the 2012 civic polls pass by, six corporators — Aba Bagul and Abhay Chhajed (Congress); Sunil Kamble, Manasi Deshpande and Manisha Chorbole (BJP) and Ashwini Kadam (independent) — made the subway issue their focal point of promise as they faced public flak. The delay also saw pedestrians and passengers have a tough time crossing the stretch due to increase in traffic on Bibvewadi and Satara Road. And suggestions were made to modify the design of subway to include two wheelers. The PMC acquired private land to implement the suggestions. Hence, the subway that was originally meant for BRT passengers and pedestrians is still incomplete and now will have to hold two wheelers also. And the modification in the subway has increased the project cost by `1 crore. The first con-
PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat
I have lost everything with him: Kamala Laxman Symbiosis Institute paid tribute to the legendary cartoonist BY YASH DAIV @yash009
The Bibvewadi subway construction was started in 2009. It will finally get completed in March 2015
tractor who carried out the civil work abandoned the plan citing lack of funds. A new contractor has been appointed to complete the project that began on 2009. Independent corporator of Prabhag 64 Ashwini Kadam said that municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar visited the site in November 2014 on his request. “After seeing the delayed project, he gave orders to complete the subway by March 2015 and the construction work has picked up hence,” Kadam said. Helmet use campaigner NGO Mere Apne’s president Balasaheb Runwal said, “We are waiting for this subway to be completed since 2012. But the speedy progress that has been
made in the recent past is promising. I hope the authorities will keep their promise this time.” ashok.bhat21@gmail.com
LACK OF PLANNING Commercial buildings are lined on both sides of the Bibvewadi junction with one building having its own basement parking. The subway project has raised the road level to such an extent that it has blocked the entry to the parking lot of the building. The crucial detail overlooked by the PMC has forced the users of this parking space to put their vehicles on the road.
Originally planned for pedestrians only, the subway will now be modified to accommodate two-wheeler circulation
City’s women power rule Maha share
Continued from page 1 Rutuja said, “I am happy with my two medals but narrowly missed another in the 500m time trial final. I am preparing for my future tournaments.” Drawing inspiration from his father, Rutuja began cycling at the age of eight. She first tasted international success in 2013, when she won a bronze at the Asian Cycling Championship in Bangkok. She finished second in the 500m time trial during Track Asia Cup held in New Delhi last year. Rutuja trains in Krida Prabhodhini under the guidance of her father and is supported by Giant Strakken Group.
RK Laxman’s wife, Kamala Laxman at the programme held by Symbiosis Institutes at Vishwabhavan
MEDAL HUNT
Shooting – Pooja Ghatkar (Gold – 10m air rifle individual, gold – 10m air rifle team) Cycling – Rutuja Satpute (28km individual time trial road; bronze – 3km individual pursuit)
Junior Air Gun Championship, at Doha, in 2009. She has represented India at international level tournaments, Asian championships and World Cups. Pooja gives her mother Bharati the credit for her success.
COMEBACK FOR CHAITRALI AFTER HEAD INJURY Chaitrali Pavnaskar was a young aspiring triathlon Swimming – Arti Ghorpade athlete, before the 17-year(Gold - 4X100m relay free style; 4X100 old met with an almost medley relay; 4X200m relay free style) fatal accident during her practice cycle ride in Dehu Rhythmic Gymnastics – Madhura POOJA’S SHORT in 2012. After recovery that Tambe (Gold – ribbon gymnastic; TERM GOALS took several months, she bronze – team event); Nishtha Shah Training with world record was advised not to take part Chaitrali Pavnaskar (Bronze – hoop gymnastic; bronze – holder Thomas Farnik in triathlon, as it involves team event) and mentored by Anjali swimming. Therefore, she shifted her focus to Bhagwat and Olympics cycling, worked hard and was selected in the Triathlon – Chaitrali Pavnaskar, bronze medallist Gagan Indian squad for the Asian Championship in 2013. Tejashree Naik (Silver – team event) Narang, Pooja Ghatkar won She couldn’t forget her first passion – triathlon, Pooja Ghatkar two national gold. In her and after three years, she made a strong comeback Athletics – Swati Gadhave pet event, 10m air rifle, she and won a team silver in Kerala. “After a bronze (Bronze – women’s 5000m) pushed behind talented youngster Ayonika Paul in 2011 Ranchi national games, winning a silver and Apurvi Chandela to grab the yellow metal. in Kerala is an improvement. But Chaitrali was Later, she teamed up with Ayonika and Olympian Anjali Bhagwat to win aiming for an individual medal too,” said Chaitrali’s mother Nivedita. A 10m air rifle team gold. “I believe in hard work and my strategy is to set swimmer since the age of six, she started taking part in triathlon events short-term goals. Now, I will prepare for the upcoming Kumar Surendra under national coach Tapankumar Panigrahi. She won her first state gold Singh Memorial Shooting Championship to be held this month,” said in 2009, followed by a national gold in Indore the same year. Chhatrapati Pooja, who is supported by Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ ). Pooja, who took awardee cyclist Vishal Pawar coached Chaitrali to better her cycling timing. up the sport in 2007, won her first international gold medal in the 3rd Asian ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
Guardian minister Girish Bapat said that renowned cartoonist, illustrator and humorist, the late RK Laxman, was as popular as Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi. The politician was speaking at a function organised by Symbiosis Institute at Vishwabhavan, SB Road, in memory of the legendary artist Laxman’s family and close friends narrated anecdotes and personalities from the city recollected their memories about him. The speakers demanded the setting up of an art institute in his memory. Kamala Laxman, the wife of the late cartoonist, said, “I seem to have lost everything with him.” “Laxman should be remembered not by naming a building or instituting an award but by opening a gallery where students can pursue their interest in arts,” Bapat said. Remembering Laxman’s commitment to perfection and success, author and poet Vijay Kuvalekar said, “There are awards for journalists in our country, but none for cartoonists. It is high time we have one named after RK Laxman.” Eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar
said that Laxman’s characteristic satire, wit and humour could converge into an institution. “The essential Hasya Rasa (an expression that conveys joyous laughter) is what we should take from this visionary who, for six decades, enchanted the leaders and common people alike,” he said. Narrating an interesting anecdote, Padgaonkar told the audience as to how Laxman used to stand by the window and observe the life outside. Once it had rained and the Mumbai streets were rain swept. Over a little puddle, a horde of crows was systematically taking a water dip, one after another, in a patient order. Laxman, who was observing this scene with Padgaonkar, asked him to look at the bus stop right opposite to the puddle. The scene was a stark contrast. People were pushing each other to cover their heads under the bus-stop roof, from the light drizzle. “He raised his one eyebrow at me and the moral was conveyed,” he said. Pune mayor Dattatreya Dhankawade termed Laxman’s demise a great loss to one of India’s valuable perspective. Founder-director of Symbiosis SB Mujumdar called Kamala Laxman, the wife of cartoonist, as the living legacy of Laxman, for her admirable strength and selfless devotion to her husband. yashdaiv@gmail.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
The data collected in 2014 shows that China has the maximum number of twitter users, which is over 35 million —www.jeffbullas.com/
Financial literacy empowers citizens, says Fadnavis
SC should set Sahara’s Subrata Roy free and take over his properties instead
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Bike repairing on finger tips
Facebook and Reliance launch Internet.org app in India
Thirty five-year-old Nigdi-based motorcycle mechanic, Chinmay Dangre develops a mobile app for two-wheeler riders in India
Chinmay Dangre is a 35-year-old motorcycle mechanic and tuner from Nigdi, who has developed a mobile app for two-wheeler riders in India. Available for download free of cost, the application makes it possible to sort out any problem that a motorcycle develops. It also shows how the problem can be repaired without going to a mechanic. Dangre ‘s app was launched at the seminar on ‘Motorcycle Technology and Race Engineering’, held at Chinchwad recently. Dangre, who has 15 years of experience with two-wheelers, is well aware of the day-to-day issues two-wheeler riders have to deal with on a daily basis. It is also time-consuming and at times difficult to take a problematic two-wheeler to a garage or a mechanic, and especially so for female twowheeler users, if the vehicle breaks down on the road. A majority of the citizens of Pune rely on two-wheelers as their mode of daily transport and therefore Dangre thought of an app which could come to the aid of every two-wheeler user. In a chat with The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, Dangre said, “I often get calls early morning or at night from two-wheeler users, who have some problem. Most of the time, I sort out the problem over the phone. I give the customer instructions on how to deal with the problem on their two-wheeler and the customers follow my instructions. Most of the problems can be sorted out in this way. The idea of developing a free app came about from experiences like these. “The mobile app is available on Google Play Store and anyone can download it for free in India. It is very user-friendly. In a few months, I will be launching an advanced version of the same app on a global platform,” he said. Dangre runs his repair shop called ‘Mech Auto Clinic’, at Sant Dnyaneshwar Business Complex, Sector 28, shop no 9, at Nigdi-Pradhikaran. Dangre who studied at Jnana Prabodhini High School, Nigdi, was curious
Aniruddha Rajandekar
By Archana Dahiwal @ArchanaDahiwal
Tweets will now be seen in Google Search results
Dangre runs his repair shop called ‘Mech Auto Clinic’, at Sant Dnyaneshwar Business Complex, Sector28, Shop No 9, at Nigdi-Pradhikaran
and interested in vehicles and engines ever since he can remember. This continued through his studies at SP College and at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Polytechnic. It was at the polytechnic that Dangre was able to pursue his interest in motorcycle engines and technology and hone and fine-tune his knowledge. After setting up his own garage, Dangre kept updating his knowhow of two-wheeler technology and kept abreast of the global technology and trends. He is now putting to use his knowledge and proficiency with two-wheeler technology, by teaching college students. Besides lecturing at engineering colleges, Dangre also conducts a crash course on motocycle technology and race engineering.
Dangre has used his knowledge to innovative ends, such as developing aftermarket petal disc brakes for high performance bikes, including KTM Duke 200, Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi and the Yamaha R15. He knows the importance of reliable and efficient braking on Indian roads, where accidents take a heavy toll. Dangre is also involved with the tuning and repairs of high performance Indian motorcycles and superbikes. He has a fully equipped garage with a high profile tool room to deal with high end motorcycles. He also deals in spare parts for such motorcycles, and is a manufacturer, trader, importer and exporter. Dangre is also a a Royal Enfield dealer, and his garage was an authorised RE service centre.
Dangre’s mobile app This mobile app educates two-wheeler users about day-to-day issues with motorcycles and how to repair them. It is easy to use and can be used offline. There is no need for an internet connection once it is installed. The app will be especially handy if a two-wheeler breaks down on the road and there is no mechanic or garage at hand, or no communication connectivity. The app is for two-wheelers only. This is a free version and it has no expiry date. Dangre plans to update the app from time to time, to deal with new problems.
archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
Apple planning own search engine to trump Google? There perhaps isn’t anything that a Google search cannot find, but all of us who have only been ‘googling’ for information and knowledge may soon be “appleing” for them. The Daily Mail, in a report Monday, referred to an Apple job advertisement posted earlier this month, calling for a professional to develop “a search platform supporting hundreds of millions of users”. This has led to conjecture that the Cupertino, California-based tech giant Apple might be after Google’s crown for the undisputed king of online search. The advertisement has fuelled specula-
tion that Apple was aiming to launch a standalone search tool across iPhones, iPads and Macs, the report said. Back in 2010, analysts at investment banking and asset management company Piper Jaffray claimed that there was 70 per cent chance of Apple launching its own mobile search engine by 2015. In November last year, the Apple Insider reported that a web-crawling bot (a software application running automated tasks on the internet) was spotted on Apple’s servers. The rumours were bolstered that month when reports claimed that Apple was looking to
ditch Google as its default search engine on its Safari browser. Google has been the default engine on Safari for the past five years, but the deal is due to expire this year. Although this could see Microsoft’s Bing or Yahoo taking its place, Apple could also be working to develop a search engine of its own. Both Yahoo and Microsoft have already started canvassing Apple for becoming the default search engine on iOS devices and Macs, according to The Information’s Amir Efrati. Google reportedly paid Apple $82 million
in 2009, and $1 billion last year for the partnership. Search engines make money from such partnerships by sending traffic to their servers, and profiting from advertising revenue. However, Apple has been distancing itself from its rival for some time. Apple also replaced Google Maps with its own proprietary service, and stopped preinstalling Google-owned YouTube on devices. However, even if Apple does replace Google as its default engine, users are expected to be able to revert back, or select an alternative in the browser’s settings.
TED is a global platform where people from different fields come together and speak for 18 minutes or less about their respective disciplines. It was started in 1984 by a non-profit organisation called Sapling Foundation, under the slogan — Ideas worth sharing. Initially it organised conferences where matters related to technology, design and entertainment merged, but today it includes varied topics such as business, photography, art, science and the like.
‘I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much’ ..says author, comedian and advocate, Stella Young as she speaks about the society’s habit of turning disabled people into ‘inspiration porn’ Ishani Bose @ishani_bose When author, comedian and advocate, Stella Young was on her second teaching round of legal studies in a Melbourne high school, a boy from her class stood up and said, “Hey miss, when are you going to start doing your speech?” She had been teaching them defamation law for a good 20 minutes that day, and the question just got her wondering about what speech was the boy talking about. “You know, like, your motivational speaking— when people in wheelchairs come to school, they usually say, inspirational stuff,” he said. It then dawned on her that the young student had only experienced disabled people as objects of inspiration till then. “For a lot of people, disabled people are not their teachers or their doctors or their manicurists. They’re not real people. They are there to inspire. These people have been sold the lie that disability is a bad thing, and to
In a bid to provide affordable internet to people, situated even in the remote areas, Facebook has partnered with Reliance Communications to bring its Internet.org app to India. This move comes three weeks after Facebook announced it’s tie-up with Airtel, for the service, in Ghana. In addition to this, Internet.org is currently available in Tanzania, Colombia, Zambia and Kenya. The app enables users to access a variety of popular websites for things like job listings, healthcare, news, sports, and social networking, without incurring any data charges, and will work even on feature phones. The service will only be available for Reliance sim cards, and has been announced in six states so far—Tamil Nadu, Mahararashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, and Telangana.
live with it makes you exceptional. But, if truth be told, it’s not a bad thing, and it doesn’t make you exceptional,” Young said. Young, who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, happens to go about her daily life in a wheel chair---a fact that instantly turns her into a noble inspiration for people. In her 2014 Tedx Sydeney talk, she speaks about the society’s habit of turning disabled people into ‘inspiration porn.’ Young says that in the past few years, the society has been able to propagate disabled people as an inspiration to humanity, even further because of social media. “You may have seen images saying that the ‘only disability in life is a bad attitude’; or another one saying that ‘your excuse is invalid’ ; or this one that goes, ‘before you quit, try!’ These are just a couple of examples, but there are a lot of these images out there. You know, you might have seen the one where the little girl with no hands is seen drawing a picture with a pencil held in her
mouth. These images, are nothing but what I call as inspiration porn,” says Young. She deliberately calls them inspiration porn because these images objectify one group of people for the benefit of another group of people. “The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them and think, ‘Well, however bad my life is, it could have been worse. I
could be that person.’ But what if you are that person?,” she asks. And that is true. People do believe that life as a disabled person is somewhat difficult. Young uses the term ‘disabled people’ quite deliberately, because she subscribes to what’s called the social model of disability, which tells people that they are more disabled by the society where they live in than by their bodies and their diagnoses.
“So I have lived in this body a long time. I’m quite fond of it. It does the things that I need it to do, and I’ve learned to use it to the best of its capacity just as you have. Disabled people are not doing anything out of the ordinary. They are just using their bodies to the best of their capacity. So is it really fair to objectify them in the way that we do, to share those images?,” she says. Young thinks that ‘the lie’ that people have been sold about disability, is the greatest injustice done to disabled people. “It makes life hard for us,” she says. Lastly, Young says that she wants to live in a world where disability is not an exception; where people don’t have such low expectations of disabled people that they are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering their names; where people value genuine achievement for disabled people and where a kid is not one bit surprised that his new teacher is a wheelchair user. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com
Microblogging site Twitter Inc has extended a deal with Google Inc to make its tweets easily searchable and accessible online, Bloomberg reported. Tweets will be visible in Google search results as soon as they are posted, starting during the first half of the year, the report said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Twitter and Google engineers have started working on the project, it added. Google previously had to trail Twitter’s site for the information, which will currently be easily gained from Twitter.
Microsoft Office 2016 now available for preview After launching an early, limited preview of the touch-optimized Office 2016 suite, Microsoft is opening up its programme to allow anyone who agrees to a non-disclosure agreement the ability to download the software and test it before it goes on sale. Microsoft said in a response to an inquiry from ZDNet that anyone could access the bits under the terms of the non disclosure agreement and that what the people were currently accessing was a very early NDA preview. On smaller devices, like phones and sub-8-inch tablets, Office 2016 will be available for free. It may take a while for Microsoft to announce all the new Office 2016 features. Right now, the two notable new features for Office 2016 include a new Tell Me tool to help users get acquainted with Office and an automatic image-rotation feature.
Microsoft, Samsung settle contract dispute over patents Microsoft and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd have settled a contract dispute over patent royalties, though terms of the settlement are confidential, Microsoft said in a statement.Microsoft sued Samsung last year in a federal court in New York, accusing the Korean company of breaching a collaboration agreement by initially refusing to make royalty payments after the U.S. company announced its intention to acquire Nokia’s handset business in September 2013. The lawsuit claimed Samsung still owed $6.9 million in interest on more than $1 billion in patent royalties it delayed paying. Samsung has countered that the Nokia acquisition violated its 2011 collaboration deal with Microsoft.
Apple tipped to launch new notebooks on February 24 Apple is reportedly readying new MacBook Air computers before the end of the month. The company has allegedly been working on a lightweight notebook with a new cooling fan-free design, and a highdefinition 12-inch Retina display for over a year and its official unveiling is expected to be just few weeks away. The new computers coming at the end of February are expected to be new merely in terms of their internal specifications. Apple’s existing 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air notebooks are expected to get Intel’s latest-generation Broadwell processors so that they will be even faster, and even kinder to battery life.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
“If someone says he’s doing 20 hours of non-value added work in a week, he needs a job change. He’s stagnating there. I give such people new work to do. This improves our productivity” —Amit Kalyani, executive director, Kalyani Group
NRIs launch programme for Odia entrepreneurs A group of US-based non-resident Indians (NRIs) have launched an accelerator programme in Odisha to mentor and fund aspiring Odia entrepreneurs. ‘Oriya accelerator’ will provide mentorship by industry bigwigs, free-of-cost office space in Bhubaneswar and a range of discounted services. The accelerator targets to facilitate eight to 10 start-ups initially, one of its founders said. It has been conceptualised to encourage the talent in our ethnic community that ultimately goes to more lucrative cities for a lack of opportunity, PK Samal, a founder of the initiative and CEO of US-based Divensi Inc, a multi- million dollar company told IANS. “Our aim is to tap this talent and retain it within our state by bringing opportunities to them and letting them think out of the box towards successful start ups in Odisha,” he added.
RBI to allot `2000 Cr for startup fund in FY16 After initial reluctance over the multi-year nature of the allocation, announced in the Budget for 2014-15, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has finally agreed to allot about `2,000 crore in the next financial year to a startup-specific fund, top government officials said. As per this, a seven-year fund-offunds will be set aside out of the `10,000-crore allocation and managed by a nodal bank, the officials said. The money will be deployed to investment firms that apply for it.
“You need to be surrounded by good advisors, but you also have to trust your instinct,” — Chris Hughes, co-founder Facebook
Start up innovates plug-n- play STPs
A disruptive innovation in the field of waste water management by a young start up could help contain an impending disaster brewing in the labyrinth of our towns and cities
RAHUL RAUT
Signposts
PUNE
India’s Sewage (Mis) Treatment Figures • 4861 out of the 5161 cities/towns in India do not have even a partial sewerage network - 2011 report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services • Sewage generated in 300 cities in India is about 15800 MLD, while the treatment capacity is only 3750 MLD - Report on Urban Infrastructure by the National Institute of Urban Affairs
RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh India is on the verge of an ecological disaster. If statistics are to be relied upon, nearly 70 per cent of India’s sewage is currently pumped into water bodies without being treated. Rapid urbanisation of towns and cities is causing India’s centralised sewage treatment systems to collapse. Municipal bodies are unable to handle and treat sewage, which is being produced with existing systems. Rajesh Nair, Executive Director of Jaldhara Technologies (Greywater) said, “Central treatment of sewage involves large collection networks - RAJESH NAIR and bigger plants that take time and money to build. The best solution to India’s problem is to decentralise sewage treatment.” Jaldhara Technologies is a young start up funded by Nexus Venture Partners. It was founded in 2010 with the aim to create plug and play, stateof-the-art systems to treat sewage and create good quality water fit for reuse. “The idea was to use the experience of the founders to develop a product with lower carbon footprint and superior technologythat can be installed easily, is user friendly, has minimal operator intervention and low lifecycle costs,” added
Challenges faced by Jaldhara Technologies • Installation of STPs are driven by regulatory compulsion and thus people think that such systems don’t work. This issue must be addressed on a nationwide scale • Residential sector is price sensitive • Growth was not easy in the current market scenario
“The idea was to develop a product with lower carbon footprint.”
Team of Jaldhara( L-R) Shalabh Rawat, Rajesh Nair and Pravin Ingole at an on-going Sewage Treatment Plant installation site at Elina project of Phinix Developers at Sus Gaon
Nair. Their team has a collective experience of 108 years in the wastewater treatment sector. Jaldhara’s specially engineered sewage treatment products are based on SBR technology under the brand name GREWA. “In comparison with conventional technology, these systems have consistent performance, produce treated water of better quality that can be reused for washing, cleaning, flushing etc. instead of being disposed off,” said Nair. In cities such as Pune where since 2007 it is
mandatory to have a Sewage Treatment Plant in residential complexes having over 150 apartments, the problem lies in the lackadaisical implementation of regulations. “In most places the STPs are not installed or even those installed are not maintained properly. Builders don’t give STPs much importance and install systems to fulfil regulatory requirements,” said Shalabh Rawat, Business Manager. Awareness about the need for a sewage treatment system and the reuse of water thus produced is also very low. “People need to be educated about how this
treated water can be reused and its positive impact on the environment,” he pointed out. Nair advocates the need to decentralise sewage treatment to reuse the water produced. “To reuse this water there would be a cost involved in transporting it back to the users. In decentralised systems provision can be made to reuse this water which will also reduce dependency on the civic body to provide water for usage,” he added. While the company’s focus in the first year was on product development and deployment, by 2014, the third year of its operation, Jaldhara had secured 77 projects across India and boasts of high profile clientele including Club Mahindra, Dell, KN Bajaj Hospital, Unitech Group and Wadhwa Group.“We have been able to multiply sales despite the market conditions. It has given us the confidence and strength to go ahead,” said Nair. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
Recycled products become ‘dream catchers’
Siddhi Shah speaks about her love of making ‘dream catchers’, the traditional native American art
BY BARNALEE HANDIQUE Twenty-four-year-old, Siddhi Shah, is into creating art from recycled products and junk. Ask her how it all began, and she will sit you down and take you back to her childhood. Shah said,“I have always been creatively inclined. On the way back from school, I used to collect pebbles, twigs and anything that attracted my attention. Holding those things in my hand, I could imagine how I would decorate it with colours, pieces of mirror, bead and anything that
will make it stand apart from the rest.” across the state. She said, “Initially, Shah’s home is adorned with colourful customers never believed in the concept. quirky collection that she Now, there is a huge has created. demand. Customers Four years ago, Shah want to get their ‘dream started selling her unusual catchers’ customised. collection in Mumbai and They select different Pune. She was always colour combinations to looking for something complement their home new and quirky to add décor. ” to her repertoire. While Shah also agrees to searching the internet the fact that making a she came across ‘dream ‘dream catcher can be catchers’. She learned to meditative. It is a Native make the ‘dream catchers’ American art, which through tutorials available originated with the - SIDDHI SHAH on the Internet. Ojibwe tribe. “The shape Shah claims to of the dream catcher is have introduced the usually circular because concept of ‘dream catchers’ in India. it represents giizis, which symbolise the She has participated in various fairs sun, moon and earth. It also symbolises strength and unity. It is a handmade product, where a web is woven around a willow hoop. It is then decorated with feathers and beads. These materials used in it have a particular significance,” said Shah. The Native Americans believe that dream catchers are used as a charm. It is usually hung above the bed to protect those sleeping. However, Shah believes that it should never be hung against a wall for the Ojibwe tribe still believe that ‘dream catchers’ can change a person’s dreams. “Only the good dreams are allowed to filter through. It is caught in the web and passes through the feathers to the sleeper. The bad dreams get tangled in the web and disappear with the first light of dawn.” Shah makes around 15 to 20 dream catchers in a month. It takes around one to two hours to make a small dream catcher and one and half to two days to make a large one .The dream catchers are priced between `300 and `1000 and above. Shah invested `5000 to start her business. Recently, she launched her studio ‘Dark Reflections’ in Vimannagar. The studio is adorned with colourful dream catchers of different sizes. Shah organises workshops where she teaches to make ‘dream catchers’. One can opt for individual or group sessions. The cost of theses sessions is `2000 per person.
“Only the good dreams are allowed to filter through.”
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RAHUL RAUT
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
“If Indian society has to become a knowledge society, then it is important that every Indian becomes a knowledge worker.” - Raghunath Mashelkar, scientist
CARE ER “I feel that language doesn’t matter when if the students have a detailed knowledge of the subject.” - Jayant Narlikar, veteran astrophysicist
Speech-to-speech translation will be a reality soon
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
C-DAC executive director Hemant Darbari says technology is bridging the language gaps BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi Hemant Darbari, one of the founding members and executive director of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and recipient of Vividhlaxi Audyogik Samshodhan Vikas Kendra (VASVIK) 2012, said speech-to-speech translation would be a reality in India soon. The scientist was presented the award for his work in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). He has steered key projects such as development of computer assisted translation systems and packages for learning Indian languages through artificial intelligence. Darbari’s key implemented projects include machine assisted translation tool (MANTRA); learn Indian languages through artificial intelligence (LILA); and Shrutlekhan, a Hindi speech-to-text system. Speaking to ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’ after winning the award, Darbari said that he is happy with the technological advancements made by the country. Your study in artificial intelligence I am the fi rst person in the country to have a doctorate in artificial intelligence (AI), the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans, from IIT Roorkee under the guidance of Professor RC Joshi. For my research, I had developed an extract system for homoeopathy cure that will prescribe m e d i c i n e using natural language based information extraction and AI. The
machine would extract information like headache and other medical conditions. We developed MANTRA using this technology. We had developed the Sanskrit Parser, the language analyser tool initially. The uses of MANTRA It has been used in the Rajya Sabha since 2006. It helps in translating English speech to Hindi with one page per minute and the accuracy is 95 per cent. Actually, former Intel Corp chief executive Craig Barrett had demonstrated a prototype of it in 1998 at Delhi during his talk on business computing in next millennium. I won the ‘Computerworld Smithsonian Award Medal’ from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, for my work on MANTRA which is also a part of ‘The 1999 Innovation Collection’ at National Museum of American History, Washington DC, USA. Which are the other domains where information extraction system is used? We have successfully used it in tourism and health domains. Cross lingual use of it is like if you ask a query in English, but want the answer in Hindi then you can get it using this technology. The facility is available on the department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) website (deity.gov. in). What is the country’s research scenario in IT sector? The research in India has come to a stage where things can be delivered. These studies should benefit Hemant Darbari the masses and
The scientist’s expertise Hemant Darbari has been involved for more than twenty five years in the fields of artificial intelligence, natural language processing (NLP), machine assisted translation (MT), information extraction and information retrieval (IE/IR), intelligent language tutoring systems, speech technology (automatic speech recognition and text to speech system), mobile computing, decision support system and simulations, high performance computing and security.
not just the classes. The research in text to speech has reached an advanced stage. For example, by using the speech technology even an illiterate can withdraw money from a bank without taking the help of a third person and avoid the risk of being cheated. How do you see the future of artificial intelligence? The text-to-speech technology has reached an advanced stage, and speech-to-speech translations will also be a reality soon. By speech-to-speech translation I mean, if I am speaking in a language that you don’t understand, then using this technology that is based on artificial intelligence, you will understand what I am saying in your language. And vice versa. Similarly, augmented reality (AR) is a growing area in virtual reality research where any language can be converted to the language that you speak or read. For example, with the help of this technology, any text can be translated to your preferred language by taking a photograph of the text. We have come a long way in terms of research on virtual reality and artificial intelligence. manasisaraf@gmail.com
Manasi Tamgole’s responsibility of feeding her neighbour’s fish and water their indoor plants led to the innovation. It earned her the ‘little scientist’ honour
Necessity is the mother of invention
Class VIII student of Kalmadi School makes electric fish feeder BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi Manasi Tamgole, standard VIII student of Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School, has won laurels for her invention, an electric fish feeder. She is now known as the ‘little scientist’ of Muktangan Science Exploratory. Manasi had the responsibility of feeding her neighbour’s fish and watering their indoor plants, when they were out of station. “The fishes had to be fed a certain amount of food at regular intervals,” said Manasi, adding, “This prompted me to create the electric fish feeder. This feeder needs an electric supply while feeding, which takes a minimum of five minutes.” She used a pipe and converted it into a feeder, and attached it to the container where the food is stored. When the power supply is switched on, the food goes to the aquarium from the food container via the feeder. “The feeder can also be used to water the indoor plants. The container is big enough to
store a week’s supply of food and water,” she said. The challenge was to supply the right quantity of food as overeating is fatal for fish. “I had to be very precise with the quantity of food and water. I fi xed a timer so that when the required amount of food was given, the system stops automatically,” Manasi said. “A deep irrigation method can be used for watering the indoor plants. I used waste material, such as the lid of a container, plywood which I converted into a stand, unused water pipes etc.” Manasi, who wants to be an entrepreneur, said, “I want to make my country proud. I don’t want my machines or inventions to be used by other countries.” Manasi is an avid basketball and dodge ball player, but she is equally interested in science. “Languages give me butterflies in stomach, but social science, Mathematics and science make me feel happy,” she said. Her father Sunil is a software engineer and her elder sister Ritika is a dancer. manasisaraf@gmail.com
‘‘India needs ‘nutty’ guys to do science”
THIS IS NO CHILD’S PLAY!
Eminent scientist CNR Rao says absolute dedication and tenacity are the keys to doing science BY YASH DAIV @yash009
The colourful programme presented by the mini kindergarten students of Symbiosis Nursery School at Model Colony at their annual concert recently was the successful culmination of the hard work put together by the management, headmistress, staff and the tiny tots
Pursuing My Career
‘Stories of soldiers enthralled me’
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Yoginder Singh, 20, wants to become Judge Advocate General in the Indian Army My brother and I grew up listening to the stories of brave soldiers from the Indian Army told by my father, Jhaba Singh. He has been in the Indian Army for more than 25 years as a Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). These tales of bravery inspired me and my brother from a very young age. Whenever my father’s friends visited us, we would sit for hours together, listening to the stories about the Army life. There were moments when we wished to march along with the Army and live the life of brotherhood. My father insisted that we complete our education before making any career decision. While in school, I developed an interest for law. But, joining the Indian Army was still my top priority. I joined the Indian Law Society (ILS) College after by HSC exams.
Looking at the interesting prospects at the Judge Advocate General (JAG) department, I consulted my father’s friends who are working in this field. The post of Judge Advocate General in India is held by a major general who is the legal and judicial chief of the Army. JAG officers provide legal, in particular advising the presiding officers of courts-martial on military law. To join the JAG branch, a candidate should secure minimum 55 per cent marks in LLB Degree. He or she should be eligible for registration with the Bar Council of India and the State. I have ensured that my aggregate percentage is well above the required benchmark. The good record is a professional requirement and, above everything, I find it essential to maintain it for my personal integrity.
Besides academics, a JAB aspirant has to be physically fit for the performance of duty. I work out at the gymnasium for three to four hours every day. Ever year there are online and print advertisements regarding vacancies at the branch. After the application is approved by the Service Selection Board (SSB), one has to undertake group tests, psychological tests and go through an interview. The duration of the tests is five days, excluding the date of reporting at the Service Selection Centre. Once selected, there are a number of procedures and formalities that have to be completed before the candidate is finalised. It is a long route ahead. But the end-result is certainly worth it. As told to Barnalee Handique
Eminent scientist Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao, also known as CNR Rao, said that India needs ‘nutty’ guys for doing science. The head of scientific advisory committee to the prime minister delivered a lecture on ‘Doing Science in India’ as a part of Pune International Centre’s Reinventing India lecture series at Kale Hall, Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics on February 6. With wonderful anecdotes, Rao revived his journey with science and his vision for India to a full house. He said that Pune has a tradition of scholars who have the potential to work with science within limited constraints. He started the lecture by recounting his years in Banaras (Varanasi), where he decided to become a scientist. “I wanted to work in a research domain that has not been explored much,” he said. By quoting Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Less Travelled’, he said that he chose the road less travelled and ‘that has made all the difference in his life’. Rao decided to work in solid chemistry, that became one of the most sought after domains of research in chemistry. “Dedication, doggedness and tenacity are the three characteristics that every student must possess in order to become a successful sc ient ist. Indians are afraid to fail, which is in turn the major
hurdle to innovation. There has been no major headline in newspapers related to science in the past 30 years. Innovation will only materialise when the intelligent minds will take risks,” he said. The scientist said that greatest experiences come from failure. “If you take yourself too seriously, you will fail. We need ‘nutty’ guys for doing science. Absolute dedication is the key to doing science in India. In India, science will progress when there will be people who do science because it’s their identity, for their individualistic zeal and not for the government. Pune has a great deal of scholars. The city has nurtured education. I hope to see bright minds from the city doing some serious science, in turn benefitting the country,” he said. Rao said that there is a thin line between individualism and selfishness. The former is the key quality to perform better in science and related domains, and the latter is a vice. He quoted poem number 30 from Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Gitanjali’, where selfishness is narrated as a vice that needs to be left behind for true evolution to take place. He said that science has given him a lot, and he feels that he is just giving it back whatever little he can. Eminent scientist Raghunath Mashelkar congratulated Rao on his powerful extempore. Passion and dedication, he said, are the two qualities that define Rao. “With his path-breaking knowledge Rao does not grow older, but younger. He is 81 years old now. In the next 19 years, when he shall talk on his centenary, he will say that the best science that he has come across was CNR Rao just done yesterday.” yashdaiv@gmail.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
These Puneites helped muffler man become Delhi CM municipal corporation elections in 2017. Almost every supporter could be heard how in Delhi hardworking volunteers - from rickshaw drivers to entrepreneurs - all pitched in to announce to the world that the common man can and will win the elections. Despite stepping down from Chief Minister’s post in just 49 days, if Kejriwal could turn things around, AAP supporters believe winning Pune shouldn’t be too difficult.
alongside their makeshift stall. During the celebrations supporters went around the city On February 10, as Delhi Assembly playing AAP songs on their election results started pouring, the cellphones attached to handheld excitement in Pune was not very speakers while others proudly different from what one saw in the waved the Tricolour. Youngsters country’s capital. AAP volunteers in were seen sporting the Gandhi the city were brimming with joy and cap and proudly displaying the soon were out on the streets offering 5 years Kejriwal with AAP logo tilgul halwa to every passerby. “We button. had strict instructions; no fireworks,” While the party chief Arvind says one of the volunteer, as he all ceremony, AAP supporters in Pune are Kejriwal will be sworn in as Chief shakes hands with a family walking Minister on Saturday in an open to already in battle mode preparing for the BY PRACHI BARI & ISHANI BOSE @prachibari & @ishani_bose
ABHA MULAY MULAY, state secretary of AAP Abha Mulay (seen on the left in the photograph) couldn’t hide the pleasure of getting all the ten seats in the high-income constituencies of Delhi. This was her second experience working on the campaign. Earlier, she worked with the party in Varanasi during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. ”We are making huge inroads and as a secretary, it was indeed an experience to be a part of this victory. I was assigned the work of looking after the volunteers from Maharashtra. We had around 1,500 volunteers from Chandrapur, Vidarbha, Sangli, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Khandesh and Thane. Our volunteers were continuously conversing with people on 70-point manifesto of AAP and other local issues. Volunteers took leave from jobs and businesses to be part of this campaign. They came from all walks of life be it a rickshawallah or an IT professional. I worked in the office at Patel Nagar, basically co-ordinating between Delhi and our volunteers. I was working in every constituency interacting with volunteers and local people, thus convincing them about the party policies and priorities. It was not a difficult task as people were eager for change. The campaigning helped pushed the result in a party’s favour. I was in Delhi for 18 days. Maharashtra has a strong AAP base with Pune having 400 active volunteers. The volunteers were completely in charge of the Buzz Campaign and dynamics of the whole thing in Delhi was staggering. We were welcomed with open arms in all constituencies. Awareness and the dedication of the youth was overwhelming and they added more innovative methods to the campaigning like flash mobs, dance for democracy, where people danced on fixed steps and passersby joined us making this campaign memorable.”
ALISHA BUTALA, 21, Engineering student
Volunteers, who worked on the ground in Delhi or from their homes in Pune to turn the jhadu into a symbol of success, are only optimistic about change here as well. These dedicated volunteers from Pune set aside everything for the campaign in Delhi. Whether it was leaving their jobs behind, or taking a break to be in Delhi or even making calls from their homes here to garner support for the party that seems to offer hope to many, Puneites did their bit.
SANDEEP SONAWANE, 24, entrepreneur Sandeep Sonawane (holding the flag in the photograph), owns a cafe in Baner. Working with the Pune’s AAP office, he felt that it was necessary for him to be part of the AAP campaign. ”Delhi needed us. There it was ensconced with positivity. We knew that this time we would be able to form our government and effect will be seen across India. Besides, we needed a boost after the loss in the Lok Sabha polls. AAP is the only party that thinks about people—the common man first and then about its party and its workers. We stayed in a budget hotel and found a room which accommodated six of us. Three of us slept on the ground on mattresses. Food arrangement was made by the party. The party was working on three levels from Maharashtra with the first level being funding and finance, level-2 dedicated to volunteers working in Delhi and the third level was ‘call campaign’, where Delhi voters would be called through a toll-free number. I worked for the calling campaign or the buzz campaign as it was called. Maharashtra had the maximum number of people working on this level. I left for Delhi on January 30 and worked in Delhi until February 9. I could leave the cafe and my work only because of my wife and my brother, who extended support. The concept of buzz scheme was simple; visit a constituency, select a major road or a big chowk and begin connecting with people on the road. The city was already ‘Aapmaye’ so it was not that difficult to convince people to listen to us. We used to begin the campaign as early as 8.30 am and work until 9 pm. As we were not breaking any EC rules, we could go on talking to people as long as we wanted to. The kind of awareness I witnessed about AAP in Delhi was more than Maharashtra, and people from slums to rickshawwallahs to the high income groups, everyone was AAP’s supporter. “I feel that our hard work paid off though I will admit, I didn’t expect so many seats.” prachibari@gmail.com and ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com
Alisha Butala has been working with the Aam Aadmi Party since its foundation. As she had her Engineering exams, she couldn’t volunteer in Delhi for the election but had been handling and moderating AAP’s social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. In the future, she plans to work in AAP’s News Channel. ”I am moderating Aam Aadmi Party’s Facebook Page and the Twitter account. I also took part in the party’s Calling Campaign. I was also featured in one of the videos of the party, which is based on how things will change once Arvind Kejriwal becomes the chief minister of Delhi. Volunteering for the party and managing studies was not all that difficult. I used to study during the day, and make calls in the evening and handle the social networking pages at night. I had an organised way of working, and I think that’s what made things easy. It wasn’t an easy task convincing Delhiites to vote for AAP. At times, people got into arguments about the same, but I stood my ground and calmly tried to explain the party’s point of view and plans for Delhi. For instance, almost everyone asked me why Arvind Kejriwal resigned in just 49 days. It was no mean feat explaining things to them and sometimes it even got frustrating, but it felt good when by the end of the day I was able to convince them.”
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Given its significance, this valuable part of the city’s heritage ought to be restored, fenced and beautified ABHAY VAIDYA @vaidya_abhay
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Pune’s water situation improves City dams need additional 10 TMC water to tide over crisis BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat
`2,200 cr project for water augmentation
The Zero Stone monument in Nagpur and other parts of the world
Rainfall in July has brought some reThe PMC’s Water Supply lief to the citizens of Pune and the civic Department has proposed a administration. However, to be able to `2,200 crore project to replace ensure regular water supply without the network of old, leaking and cuts in the coming weeks and months, and drainage Modiwater tweets the dams supplying water to Pune willPMdamaged BY GITESH SHELKE lines. A Draft Project Report (DPR) need to build up an additional 10 TMCin Japanese @gitesh_shelke is scheduled to be placed before (thousand million cubic feet of water) the City Improvement Committee storage. Primenext minister Narendra With 28-years-old Asif Shaikh as its week, BJP’s groupModi leaderon While the Khadakwasla dam hasThursday putGanesh out a series of told tweets in head, the Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal in PMC, Bidkar TGS. reached its storage capacity of 1.98Japanese and said that be as his friends Trust on MG Road is truly an inspiring project would financed TMC, the situation in the Panshet,from The Japan had him to talk to icon of communal harmony, as it through theasked Jawaharlal Nehru Varasgaon and Temghar dams wouldthe people of Urban JapanRenewal directly, Mission. he had prepares for Ganeshotsav with a range be crucial not just for Pune city butdoneNational so. Modi is scheduled to visit Jaof charitable activities every year. The project will drastically curtail also for smaller towns downstream likepan from 30 to September 3. Describing their youth group as “a waterAugust wastage. Daund and Indapur, which depend onIn a tweet in Japanese, he said he was truly cosmopolitan mandal”, Shaikh these dams for their water supply. Tovery “excited” about the visit that will and the mandal’s secretary Sheldon fulfi l this demand, a total of 20 TMCstrengthen the relationship between Fernandes spoke of water will be required, of which storagethe ministration tookIna another review oftweet the rain-what Ganeshotsav two countries. of 10 TMC has been achieved. fall andtowater storage status at thecelebrations mean addressed his Japanese counterThis was underlined by the officialspartKhadakwasla, Panshet, Shinzo Abe, Modi said Varasgaon he deeply andto them every year. of the Irrigation Department duringrespected Temghar dams which supply water to Abe’s leadership. First and a meeting convened at the civic headthe city. foremost, the trust quarters by mayor Chanchala Kodre The Khadakwasla dam has waterinvolves everyone on Thursday. Those present at this storage to itsHerald full capacity of 1.98 TMC.from the locality in case: meeting included municipal commis-National The irrigation department thereforethe festivities. sioner Vilas Deshmukh, city engineerCourt hearing decideddefers to release some water from this The mandal Prashant Waghmare, water supply dam into the Mutha river. The PMCcollects vargani chief V. G. Kulkarni, standing comalso decided to withdraw the alternate( v o l u n t a r y on Thursday fixed December mittee chairman Bapusaheb Karne andA court day water supply plan and release water contribution) from 9 as the next date of hearing in a case top party representatives. once a day from this dam. the neighbourhood and During the meeting the civic ad-against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Contd on p 10but does not spend her son and party vice president Rahul it entirely on decorations and the Gandhi and others over acquisition of immersion procession. “Instead, we the National Herald newspaper. provide meals to the poor for 10 days Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati and also undertake other charitable Manocha deferred the hearing after it activities,” Shaikh said. was apprised that the Delhi High Court This includes the distribution
Signposts
APSHINGE:
The great village of brave soldiers Two days from today, July 28, 2014, will mark the centenary of the First World War, also known as the Great War, that ushered in a new epoch in world politics. The history of that war is intertwined with a small, remote village in Satara district. TGS Special Report p13 This medallion was presented by the Queen of England after the First World War to the next of kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed in the war. Sepoy Khashaba Powar’s medallion has been placed by his family at their place of worship
Signposts India to have 4 new central universities NEW DELHI:: The government has decided to set up four new central universities in the country, parliament was told early this week. “The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has decided to set up four new central universities, viz. one Central Tribal University each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one central university in Andhra Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar,” HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. At present, there are 40 central universities under the purview of the ministry.
Army chief pays tributes to Kargil War martyrs SRINAGAR: Indian Army chief after the wreath laying ceremony at the General Bikram Singh on Friday paid Kargil War Memorial in Drass town of tributes to the martyrs of 1999 Kargil Kargil district. War in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh The chief of the Indian Army said region on the occasion of 15th Vijay ceasefire violations by Pakistan have Diwas. been taking place regularly on the He said the army is alert and Line of Control (LoC) in the state, but has been deployed effectively on the assured that the army has been effectively borders to defend the integrity and the responding to those violations. sovereignty of the country. “They violate the ceasefire every “Let me assure you, the army is week and every month, but the army has deployed on the borders to defend the been taking effective steps to respond to PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com integrity and the sovereignty of the those,” he said. country,” General Singh told reporters Contd on p 10 I've always been a movie guy, movies have been my thing. I love movies, all kinds of movies. — Christopher Nolan
Boston Globe reported.
$250,000 fine. Shah was the president and CEO of SOHM and Costas, both based out of California. He was accused of paying kickbacks to an investment fund representative in exchange for buying stock in the two companies. The fund representative was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent working on an investigation into fraud in the market for penny stocks, the report said. Penny stocks are less heavily regulated than stocks that trade on major exchanges such as the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
students- to prepare for the winter. The mandal also runs a small library for the neighbourhood residents and children, says Shaikh, explaining that a lot of money can be saved if spent prudently on just decorations, sound systems and other such expenses. As a part of its activities, the mandal has rented out some space to a tea vendor and the rent is used for the Ganeshotsav celebrations. Ni ne te enyears-old Sheldon, a BBA student, helping others and doing something constructive for society brings lot of joy to everyone involved in the celebrations. Associated with this youth group since childhood, he says his fellow members hail from different castes, creed and religion. The Ashok Chakra Mitra Mandal close to Shivaji Market, Camp, is celebrating its golden jubilee this year and has a number of Muslims as its members, said Faiyaz Khan, one of Headed by Raghuvir Vanal, this
Pune brands go pan India
PUNE’S PEOPLE PURPOSE
BY PRIYANKA
dents were killed and some 20 injured when their school bus was rammed by a speeding train at an unmanned rail-road crossing in Telangana Thursday. The dead included the school bus driver. Although the number of school children is a minuscule part of the total number of Indians dying daily on the roads, activists say most accidents are avoidable. I dislike about Will’s school? Are my and my efforts in both on an excursion in these Maharashtra on Piyush Tewari, founder and presistandards really too high or are people crafts are unfolding. December 7, 2013. dent of Save Life Foundation, said —Priyanka working in Chopra the education field really In an accident in Tamil Nadu’s holding an adult “accountable for safetyjust that ignorant.” The next morning, Pudukottai district in June 2013, a of children while on the move” andshe received a call asking her to meet mini van collided with a bus, killing having child safety laws would act as the principal when she dropped off seven school children. deterrents. her son at Sonshine Christian AcadAnother seven children died when Two accidents this year injured 12emy, a private religious school, in Flortheir bus fell into a gorge in Jammu and school students. The first took placeida. To her shock, the school decided Kashmir’s Anantnag district in April May 12 in Greater Noida in Uttarto expel her son. 2013. In July last year, 11 students were Pradesh, injuring two students. Ten killed and 20 injured when their bus hit students were injured in adjoining Noia truck in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh da April 29 when their school bus was district. hit by a state-run bus. Contd on p 10 Three children died when their
‘Chayan’ promises to offer shelter, legal support and counselling to couples in case of outburst from families BY YASH DAIV @yash009
RAHUL RAUT
&DESERTED
DEAD
“Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is one such system which I suggest will help in providing opportunities through cooperative working of resource and social entrepreneur in the rural areas,” he said. “PURA is the creation of physical, electronic, knowledge connectivities leading to electronic connectivity of rural regions. With this combined and planned intervention of infrastructure, digital technology, information and enterprise, we can select a cluster of about 20 to 50 villages, which share core
“We collect money and support poor patients in the hospitals. Our members also support orphans in different orphanages in the city,”
from 20 last year and 23 the year Central minister with regards to this before, according to the list published project soon,” Bidkar said, adding that in the web edition of Forbes Asia. an announcement on the forthcoming China’s tech companies made a state assembly polls is expected in PUNE, OCTOBER 11, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com strong showing, with Tencent the most a week or two and the BJP is keen valuable, having a market cap of $155.6 to push the Pune Metro project to a billion, nearly twice that of runner-up decisive stage before the Model Code India’s Tata Consultancy Services. of Conduct comes into force,” he said. Lenovo is the biggest in terms of annual revenue of $38.7 billion, Continued on p 10
Pune’s hottest start-up, 2014 get top prize today
Muslims and Christians and they are steadfast about the spirit of unity in diversity and respect for all religions that defines the nation, said Khan.
mouth
you take care of your supporting this event and includes the roster in 2005. family. Association of Software and Other notable National companies from —Julia Roberts Service Companies (NASSCOM), India include HCL Technologies, Indus (Tie, Pune), which makes the listTh fore the fifthEntrepreneurs time, SoftwareIndustries, Technologies Parks of and Sun Pharmaceutical (STPI), Mahratta Chamber Of which appears on theIndia list for the third consecutive time. Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA), PuneTech, iSpirit, IIM Mahindra & Mahindra also rejoins Ahmedabad’s the list after a two-year absence. Centre for Innovation Incubation IANS and Entrepreneurship, SME Joinup, Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), IACC, and Pune Open Coffee Club. The four finalists for the top prize are: Scandid- a shopping technology start-up that enables shoppers to compare prices by scanning the product barcodes with one’s mobile phones; Framebench- a cloud based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform; Ecozen Solutions, started in September 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation, and The Green Raddiwala which focuses on providing door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like. Founded by Sushil Chaudhari and Madhur Khandelwal in 2012, Scandid also helps consumers find latest online and offline deals. The company previously won the regional round of the Seedstars World- a global start-up competition.
3 ECOZEN SOLUTIONS Framebench, founded by Rohit Agarwal, is a cloud-based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform. Framebench is a central workplace where one can store and share one’s creative assets. The company can help remote teams and
THE GREEN RADDIWALA clients to review, mark changes required on the assets and even host discussions on them in real time, which automatically gets documented for viewing later. This visual communication workflow allows for crisp & quick feedback. Ecozen Solutions run by Devendra
Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pande was started in 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation. It is with this view that this designed a pioneering and innovative micro Cold Storage- a solar powered cold storage system, which was primarily designed for the rural segment to serve their needs ideally. This innovative product can be suitably adapted for local conditions Great across thethings world. can happen when have the The you fourth finalist, The Green courage to yourself. Raddiwala hasbebeen established by Michael Sam Nikhil Pagare—and Saurav Pasalkar to provide door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like. Green Raddiwala purchases the recyclable waste from households at market rates and sells it directly to recycling industries. This drastically reduces environmental pollution. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com
(Left to right) MANS state secretary Milind Deshmukh, president Deepak Girme and Dhanak secretary Asif Iqbal at SM Joshi Hall in Navi Peth on November 4
After several brainstorming sessions that probed into legal, religious and humanitarian aspects of marriage, the group devised the concept of Chayan (choice). These organisations aspire to make Chayan a national movement. The conference began with an “oath of humanity” to promote the principle of non-discrimination based on caste, religion, language or gender. Madhav Bhavge, secretary, MANS said Chayan is the need of the hour. “It could be a national level movement which would give shape to the ideas and suggestions that we have
“People blindly follow the vedic rituals. A person should be able to justify all his or her activities rather than following a tradition. If we are able to instil this attitude in the masses we will be able to eradicate class politics and in turn the problems of mixed marriages,” he said. Subhash Bhave, secretary, SM Joshi Socialist Foundation emphasised on the need for mass awareness. “People have a tendency to hide their marriages until the legal documents are ready. This attitude must be changed,” he said. It was suggested during the deliberations that there should be a group of five to ten people in every district who will promote and provide assistance if required, for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. yashdaiv@gmail.com
City takes lead over Delhi, Mumbai in the journey of product start-ups TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeeKLY Pune has emerged as the nation’s second-fastest product start-up hub in the country. A close second to Bangalore, Pune has taken a lead over mega-metros like Delhi and Mumbai. This has been stated in the latest report by iSPIRIT, (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable), a company mainly focussed towards the product industry. “Pune is significantly ahead of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad,” the report said while
noting the product start-ups activity in Bangalore at 33% of India, Pune (21 %), Delhi and Mumbai (about 1112% each) and Hyderabad at 9%. “Pune is definitely No. 2, which is excellent,” said Amit Paranjape, co-founder of Pune-Tech, an online tech portal for the tech and startup community in Pune. Addressing a recent press conference Paranjape spoke about Pune’s viable ecosystem, which has been developing tremendously to enable entrepreneurs to launch an enterprise.
Others who shared this thought were Gaurav Mehra, past president SEAP and managing director, Saba Softwares; Maneesh Bhandari, director, Pune Division, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad; Ashutosh Parasnis, president of SEAP and managing director of Qlogic; Ramaswamy Narayanan, vice president, SEAP; Vishwas Mahajan, president of TIEPune chapter and Navin Kabra, cofounder of Pune Tech. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
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CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA Mention your name, age, standard, school’s name and contact number in your entry. Last Date for Receiving Entries: Saturday, 22nd November Prize Winning Entries will be announced in this newspaper Entries may be sent to: The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune - 411030. Tel: 020-24324332/33
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the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which is complicated, different in every state and plagued with controversies. “A platform like Chayan can help modify such a law,” he said. Iqbal suggested that under the national platform one can create a secure place for couples who have mixed marriages. “We can offer them shelter, legal procedures and counselling in case there is an outburst from the families,” he said. Chayan would ensure the smooth functioning of the legal structure pertaining to marriage. Deepak Girme, president, MANS said society’s mindset have deep religious roots. Having worked with the late anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabolkar for 25 years, he said any religious text should be questioned.
Asif Shaikh (left) and Sheldon Fernandes (right) of Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal Trust preparing the decorations for Ganeshotsav
mandal runs a social organisation called Anzuman Faizane Raza and the members celebrate other prominent festivals and occasions such as Eid, Independence Day and Republic Day with equal fervor.
competencies and empower those using local enterprise. This would enable our country to grow by shared efforts and overcome the challenges faced by the society,” he said. Charting out a link between creative leadership and economic development, the former president emphasised the importance of the role that change in leadership would play for ensuring success. He also accentuated on the role of integrity among leaders for sustained success and development of the society. (IANS)
Horse,s
Prominent social workers from different parts of the country who promote intercaste and inter-religious marriages have decided to establish a national movement called Chayan (Choice). This was decided at a meeting in the city on November 4-5 during a conference on ‘Right to Choice of Partner in Inter-caste and Interreligious Marriages’. Activists from the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), SM Joshi Socialist Foundation, Rashtriya Seva Dal and Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal along with the voluntary organisation, Dhanak from Delhi, were present at this meet.
Six out of eight subways in the city are in a sad state of neglect and are closed to the public. Some are used as convenient urinating spots or as gambling dens. They are dirty, poorly lit and unsafe. Why can’t city subways be restored and made user-friendly for pedestrians? Also related is the complete avoidance of foot over-bridges by pedestrians. Why waste public exchequer and construct them if they are so very unpopular with the public? See Spotlight on p8-9
THE FINALISTS ARE...
the BJP’s newly elected city MP Anil Shirole, was to closely follow-up on the mass transportation project. Shirole focused on updating himself on the project and seeking clarifications on the project as proposed by the Congress-NCP government.
Pune FC enter Durand Cup final P 16
Nat’l movement to promote marriages of choice gets going
2FRAMEBENCH
a bid to counter the ruling CongressNCP government in the forthcoming polls, the BJP is chalking out its strategy to gain maximum advantage by announcing critical steps on the Metro project. Speaking to this newspaper, BJP’s leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Ganesh Bidkar said that one of the top priorities for
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Carrying the torch in the battle against cancer P2
Telangana school bus accident resulting in the death of 19 students is part of a larger tragedy that demands immediate attention
NEW DELHI: India not only has the dubious distinction of having one of the worst road accident records in the world, but these are taking more and more young lives, particularly of school children. Road accidents have left nearly 70 children dead and many injured since the start of 2013, a NGO has said.
RAHUL RAUT
(IIM)-Shillong to emerge as creative leaders to bring about the required change in the country. “I want to see all of you as creative leaders to bring about the required change,” Kalam said, while delivering a lecture “Dimensions of National Development” at the prestigious B-school on Thursday. The “missile man”, as Kalam is also known due to his background in aerospace engineering and his role in India’s
indigenous missile development, is one of the visiting faculty members in IIMShillong. Kalam spoke about the challenges that India and the world were facing and emphasised the role of leadership to tackle these issues and develop possible solutions to ensure socio-economic development. He said the key requirement for achieving a distinctive profi le for the nation was by creating sustainable enterprise-driven models at the rural level. Kalam urged the students to emulate a development model to bring
TGS LIFE
City subways are
Emerge as creative leaders: Kalam to IIM students SHILLONG: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has urged students of the Indian Institute of Management
country as special markings for a survey by the British. India’s Zero Stone stands proudly in Nagpur, denoting the centre of the country. The oldest and most famous of such milestones is located in Rome, the Milliarium Aureum (“Golden Milestone”) of the Roman Empire. The maxim “all roads lead to Rome” is believed to have originated from this monument. A number of prominent cities in the world have their own “zero stones” and are proud of it, including Washington DC, Tokyo, Berlin, Buenos Aires... The citizens of Pune and publicspirited organisations such as the MCCIA’s Janwani, INTACH, Pune International Centre and the National Society for Clean Cities, to name a few, need to lobby with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Heritage Cell to do what is needed. The Golden Sparrow on Saturday pledges its fullest support to such an effort. Get in touch with us at: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com www.goldensparrow.com or Tweet us: @TGSWeekly
Generosity & communal harmony define these mandals
What is going wrong with road safety in India?
convicted in stock scheme WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, when this newspaper took a review of Pune’s Zero Stone on the footpath outside the General Post Office (GPO), the sight was pathetic to say the least. With white paint spilled over it, there was a sweeper’s broom lying next to it and rubbish all around. A tea vendor was stationed with his cart next to the stone. In 2006, when this journalist fi rst reported on this small, yet valuable piece of Pune’s heritage, there was a watermelon seller sitting on the stone, using it as a convenient stool. The Zero Stone is a very special milestone as it signifies the geographic location of a city and the point from where distances are established between towns and cities. As such, it ought to be restored, fenced and beautified so that the children of this city, other citizens and tourists can go back to the time when Pune was taking shape under the British, bit by bit. There are just 80 of such special milestones that were installed in the
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Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh paying homage to martyrs at the Infantry War Memorial during his farewell visit to the Infantry School, Mhow in Indore recently
Ajinkya Shinde (right, in the photograph), along with seven other IT professionals from Pune, reached Delhi on December 20, much before the election dates were announced. They were given lodging at a place situated on Ramkrishna Ashram Marg, near the New Delhi Railway station. ”When all of us reached Delhi, we had to assemble at the AAP head office at Patel Nagar. We were asked about our accommodation and food. Some were able to manage for their food and accommodation, but those who couldn’t, necessary arrangements were made for them. I stayed at the lodge they provided, but food was something I managed on my own. I was in charge of the Buzz Campaign. What we needed to do was to travel in Metros and engage the people in a conversation and tell them why they should vote for AAP. Also, some of us went to the market places such as Connaught Place and distributed pamphlets and the AAP topi. The local volunteers were assigned the task of answering questions like— Why did Arvind Kejriwal resign?, and things like that. From Maharashtra alone about 1,220 volunteers went to Delhi, which was the highest number registered. Out of this, about 74 volunteers were from Pune. Those were tiring days. Since we did not have enough money to attach the banners, each one of us used to hold the banners, in turns. Those who could not go to Delhi, volunteered through the ‘Calling Campaign’. A toll free number was given, through which an AAP volunteer could get in touch with the Delhi voters sitting in any part of the country. In total, about 10 lakh 10.21 lakh calls were made, out of which Maharashtra recorded the largest number of phone calls, which was about 2.71 lakh. I returned to Pune on January 4, and planning to work with the party, on its ‘Mission Vistar’. Our State Committee has already been formed, but now we are going to concentrate on forming regional committees such as Konkan Committee, Vidarbha Commitee and the like. We’ll reform the committees by involving and training the new employees regarding the party ideology and more. Further, we will build Taluka committees, wards and finally booths. By February 2016, we aim to have minimum two volunteers, one male and a female, at every booth. Working at the grassroots level is the only way to prepare the party for the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections.”
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Kulpreet Chadha volunteered with the Aam Aadmi Party from January 30 till February 4. During this period, he stayed at his friend’s place in Malviya Nagar and managed his food all by himself. He extensively campaigned along with the other volunteers in Patel Nagar, Connaught Place and Karol Bagh. The managing director of a Pune-based media and entertainment company that specialises in documentaries and ad-films,Chadha is willing to offer his assistance to the party if it contests elections in other states. —”We also went to the JJ Colony and Okhla slums and instead of people asking us questions, we decided to ask them if they had experienced any positive changes in their locality during the APP’s 49 days tenure when they were in power. We got positive answers like some said they got water for free, vegetables at lower prices and the roadside vendors did not have to pay money to cops. I was happy to know that the common man remembered the party’s good work.”
A Woman Of Substance
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
Talented, hard-working and a big league movie star, They are independent and opinionated and Deepika Padukone can also these 20-year-olds are going it solo when everyone around them is getting hitched. take a tough stand when Ishani Bose tells us more push comes to shove. Anjali Shetty gauges public opinion See P10-11
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“Governors should spread the message of sanitation in their states to ensure to attain the goal of Swachh Bharat by 2019” — Pranab Mukherjee, President of India
Why the AIB roast and Rushdie tweet matter There can be no progress in a democratic society without airing our ugliest selves. India, however, seems intent on rolling backwards BY SANDIP ROY Let’s be clear about one thing about freedom of expression. It ain’t pretty. It never was and it never will be. For freedom of expression to be worth anything, it has to be about standing up for the right of someone else to say what we don’t believe and in fact, find offensive, insulting and tasteless. I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Whether or not Voltaire actually said that, it remains the simplest and clearest line in the sand when it comes to freedom of expression. But we just don’t get it. We keep mistaking freedom of expression as being the freedom to say what we agree with. So someone stands up for MF Hussain but not for Charlie Hebdo. Or Shirin Dalvi. But the same rules apply to Hussain and UR Ananthamurthy and Salman Rushdie. And for that matter the AIB roast. It’s a little bizarre that a roast, that’s meant to be rude, crude and obnoxious, has suddenly become our litmus test for freedom of expression. AIB was not set up to test the limits of freedom of expression. It’s not pretending to be avante garde art. It’s a roast that wants to skewer everything in sight and within reach. It’s potty-mouthed, scattershot, offensive. And that’s by design not accident. Aamir Khan, like millions of others, don’t find that kind of profanity-laced humour that targets every group from gays to the dark-skinned to women to college dropouts remotely funny. He does not like the ‘violence’ of the verbal abuse dished out on the show. He said he’s not 14 years old that he’d be impressed by bad language. And he did
the right thing. He chose not to watch it. Here’s another rule we keep forgetting. Don’t like the book? Shut it. Don’t like the movie? Don’t watch it. Don’t like that painting? Walk away. But Khan who has become a bit of the nation’s self-appointed consciencekeeper had his two paisa to add. “I completely believe in freedom of expression. No issues. But we have to understand we all have a certain responsibility.” But what is that responsibility? Khan said as far as he is concerned if you want to make him laugh, do it without hurting someone. But that’s his yardstick for humour — not one held by AIB. Different strokes for different folks. “As a creative person do I have the liberty? I also have the responsibility,” said Khan. But that is always easier said than done when it comes to striking the balance. That balance is the classic liberal dilemma. What is that responsibility? Is it about not doing offending any one? Or forcing AIB not to do it? Khan clearly knows that’s not the solution. He says his response would be to fold his hands and request them not to do it again, appeal to their good sense. But what if they shrug and keep roasting? Karan Johar took the high road when responding to the entire controversy: “Silence can mean several things... strength...weakness and indifference... to me it always signifies dignity...which is above everything else!” Full marks to Karan Johar for having the guts to be the butt of jokes on that roast, and dishing out as good as he got, but ‘dignity’ is probably not the word to use when talking about the X-rated humour of that roast either. Let’s not make it something more grand than the locker room humour it was meant to be. Charlie Hebdo too had once been
Our great debate around freedom of expression has come down to a Salman Rushdie (left) tweet and a YouTube clip featuring Karan Johar
‘requested’ by the French authorities not to publish one of their incendiary cartoons. They listened but chose to do so anyway. The French authorities requested them to think again but chose not to force them to stop. That in the end is the only way, imperfect as it is, a liberal democracy can work when it comes to protecting freedom of expression. No country, not France, not USA and certainly not India are actually 100 per cent freedom of expressionsafe zones. They all have their Lakshmanrekhas. If it’s the picture of the Prophet somewhere, it’s Holocaust denial somewhere else. But that kind of freedom is what we should be aspiring to that. India unfortunately seems more intent on going backwards.
If Aamir Khan is merely ‘scolding’ his good friend Karan Johar for being part of that roast, Maharashtra’s cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawde is going a step further. He wants to act against Salman Rushdie for using ‘objectionable language’ against Jnanpith award winner Bhalchandra Nemade. Nemade had called English a ‘killer language’ and suggested that like footwear, it be left at the door. And he’d dismissed Rushdie and VS Naipaul as ‘pandering to the west’ and questioned the literary merit of his works after Midnight’s Children. Rushdie retorted in a tweet “Grumpy old bastard. Just take your prize and say thank you nicely. I doubt you’ve even read the work you attack.” “All literature lovers must object to the use of language,” Tawde responded
as if politicians are the finest upholders of parliamentary language. Aaptard. Maut ka saudagar. Khujliwal. Butcher. Chor. All of these fine terms buzz around our political discourse routinely, many of them bandied about by Tawde’s own peers. Politicians who live in glass houses should really not throw stones just as film stars who act in films with jokes that substitute balatkaar for chamatkaar — as 3 Idiots did — should really not act more righteous than thou. If we step back from our hysteria and hand-wringing for a minute, we might pay a little closer attention as to what is said — and what it says about ourselves. Freedom of expression’s greatest virtue is that it brings everything out into the open — the good, the bad and the ugly — and allows us to take a good look at who we are. Offensive speech is valuable not in itself but because it spurs a deeper and more important debate about itself and the issues it raises. The RushdieNemade spat left to its own devices, for instance, should have sparked an open discussion about English versus vernacular writing in India. Salman Rushdie’s attitude towards writing in the ‘vernacular’ is well-known. In his Mirrorwork anthology of the best Indian writing from 1947-1997, he cavalierly swept aside almost all Indian writing that was not in English — or having English translations that were up to the mark —as not being worthy of being included in his anthology. While Nemade struck the first blow against Rushdie in this case, Rushdie’s retort carries with it the baggage of that old dismissive attitude. Nemade, on the other hand, was being ungracious. There is a huge and valid debate about the privilege English still enjoys in India. But that does not
mean writers like Rushdie or Naipaul who write in English because that is the only language they can write in should feel guilty about it or be singled out for reprimand. Nemade’s ‘grumpy’ comment at the moment he was being honoured showed starkly the difference between a champion of the local versus the unpleasantness of being simply parochial. As for the AIB roast, it revealed how much of what passes for cutting edge humour is often simply gross, insulting and has not graduated from the gutter minds of, as Aamir Khan puts it, 14-year-old boys who get a kick out of hearing bad words. It shows that humour for them still comes with a fat suit, that gays and women are the butt of jokes just for being gays and women. And for an added special India touch, we make being darkskinned into comedy fodder as well (and they aren’t Fair and Lovely jokes either). Even as the debate is about the highminded idea of freedom of expression, all of this just reveals the worst in us. These are our thought-moulders and culture-shapers — all at their pettiest best. But that’s a good thing. There can be no progress in a democratic society without airing our ugliest selves. India, however, seems intent on rolling backwards. Our great debate around freedom of expression has come down to a clip on YouTube and a tweet. We live in an age when the state is gearing up to do battle in full legal armour against a tweet! At least Satanic Verses was a full-fledged book. Now we are down to 140 characters. Freedom of expression itself feels downsized thanks to these spats in the age of short attention spans. By special arrangement with Firstpost.com
No country, and certainly not India are actually 100 per cent freedom of expressionsafe zones
SC should set Sahara’s Subrata Roy Modi temple: PM free and take over his properties instead tells people to clean India instead The Sahara group has been taking everyone, from Sebi to the Supreme Court, for a ride, and this is partly because the regulator and the court have been reluctant or unwilling to see the issue for what it is BY R JAGANNATHAN The Supreme Court has tied itself in endless knots over the way it has handled the illegalities of the Sahara Group, whose boss Subrata Roy is currently in jail. On 4 March, Roy would have spent a year in jail – which would be a record of sorts for a businessman who once had several top politicians and Bollywood actors at his beck and call. The problem is simple: Roy has to produce `10,000 crore to get bail, money he has been unable or unwilling to produce despite claiming to be the owner of properties worth thousands of crore. On February 11, Roy’s counsel claimed in court that a deal to raise money from a firm called Mirach had fallen through. As The Economic Times tells it, the deal collapsed ‘when a letter underpinning its proposed deal with Mirach and supposed to confirm the existence of funds was found to be forged. Mirach denies it had forged the letter.” The problem, though, lies as much in the way the Supreme Court has handled the issue as in how Sahara has mishandled it. This is a short history of the Sahara case. Around June 2011, market watchdog Sebi, after detailed investigations, issued an order to two Sahara group companies – Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation – to wind up and return the money to investors with 15 per cent interest. Reason: they had raised over `24,000 crore illegally from over 30 million investors without Sebi’s nod. Sahara kept appealing and appealing, but on August 31, 2012, the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment, upheld
We now have a former judge, an amicus and, next, an asset management company to deal with a problem called Subrata Roy Sahara
the Sebi order and ordered Sahara to comply with it. Simultaneously, it also asked a former Supreme Court judge, BN Aggarwal, to help Sebi recover the money from Sahara. But as the Supreme Court and Sebi suspected, Sahara could not do so, possibly because a significant chunk of the money raised was probably benami. So are probably the properties to be used to raise money for bail. This is where the matter came back to the Supreme Court. What it had to deal with was a simple issue of benami money, not violation of Sebi’s jurisdictional powers over two Sahara companies. It has gone about it the wrong way. First, when Subrata Roy did not comply with its judgment even 18 months after it had passed its final order, both by delaying it and by refusing to pay up, he was clearly in contempt. This is what he should have been punished for. But the court put him in jail demanding the
money, an upfront payment of `10,000 crore, to get bail, and the balance after being set free. Second, since the real issue is not whether Sahara can pay up, but whether some (or a major portion) of its transactions involved black or benami money, the only logical thing to do was to set up an administrator for Sahara’s properties, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate whose money it was anyway. Instead, what the court has done is keep Roy in jail, and allowed him to try and sell his properties from Tihar. If the Supreme Court can set up a SIT to bring back black money from abroad, one wonders why it is hesitating to do so with Sahara. Third, to ensure that the sale was kosher, the court appointed an amicus curiae, Shekhar Naphde, to oversee the sale of property. Naphde has now told the Supreme Court bench headed by
TS Thakur that the Mirach deal can’t go through. “It seems we are being taken for a ride.” Sure, the Sahara group has been taking everyone, from Sebi to the Supreme Court, for a ride, and this is partly because the regulator and the court have been reluctant or unwilling to see the issue for what it is. The ET report quoted Justice Thakur as saying: “We can’t be stuck in this kind of situation forever. We will ask the committee headed by Justice BN Aggarwal to examine this. Also you (the amicus) can examine transferring properties to an asset management agency.” So we now have a former judge, an amicus and, next, an asset management company to deal with a problem called Subrata Roy Sahara. Sebi already has a small army of experts investigating the bonafides of Sahara’s alleged investors. It is yet to find too many of them – once again pointing towards the possibility of benami investors. If investors are spurious, the chances are the ownership of Sahara properties will also be clouded in mystery. In this situation, the Supreme Court should bite the bullet and call a spade a spade. It has to appoint an administrator for all Sahara properties rather than just create an asset management company which will spend a year figuring out whether Sahara actually has clear title to the properties it claims it owns. You can sell and asset only if you know who the real owners are. The best thing to do is to set Roy free for a moderate amount of bail and instead arrest his properties. All his properties should be put under an administrator. Firstpost.com
The supporters of Narendra Modi have constructed a temple dedicated to him at a cost of ` seven lakh BY FP STAFF
Prime minister Narendra Modi has a lot of fans and supporters throughout the nation. However, perhaps the fandom went a bit too far when his supporters in Rajkot built a temple for him. And the prime minister is not even remotely amused. “Have seen the news about a Temple being built in my name. I was appalled. Th is is shocking & against India’s great traditions,” the prime minister tweeted, adding that it made him very sad. He even urged the people to spend their time and resources on building a clean India instead of building a temple for him. Building such temples is not what our culture teaches us. Personally, it made me very sad. Would urge those doing it not to do it. The temple, with a bust of Modi in the sanctum, stands on Kothariya road and is scheduled to be inaugurated on February 16. “It is a fi rst of its kind in Gujarat, temple of a living person,” said Jayesh Patel, leader of Om Yuva Group. More than 350 members of the group joined hands to construct it by collecting small donations and now plan to conduct daily worship there, he said. “Members of our organisation have been worshipping Modi as God from the time he contested his fi rst assembly election from Rajkot and became the chief minister of Gujarat,” Patel said. “We are very much impressed by the work he did as the chief minister and
the work he is doing now as the prime minister, so we decided to construct a temple for him. “Initially we had placed a framed photo. Now we have installed an idol, spending `1.7 lakh,” Patel said, adding, that the total cost of construction was around `7 lakh. “Our members, earning from five thousand to fi fteen thousand rupees a month, contributed,” he said. Patel said that the 350 sq yard plot of land where it stands was provided by the Kothariya Gram Panchayant ten years ago for religious purpose. The village is now part of Rajkot Municipal Corporation. Members are hoping to get a BJP minister from the Centre or the state to inaugurate it. The group members were unfazed by the BJP’s defeat in Delhi assembly elections and they had nothing do with any political party, said Patel. Firstpost.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
“We have embarked on a major online initiative called Common Health. We aim to provide a secure, well managed digital platform for doctors, nurses, practitioners and policy makers.” — Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth secretary-general
“Antimicrobial resistance if not checked and if not checked soon can return us to an era where we will be stripped of tools that today we take for granted.” —Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO-SEARO
Self neglect is a common cause of obesity in women Once a person’s metabolism is correct, it is easy for him/her to maintain weight, says Dr Dr Bedi-Kalekar BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal “There are many reasons why women are more prone to obesity. Hormonal influences are very common in women. Hypothyroidism and Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) are common among women resulting into increase in weight. It becomes an issue that is difficult to handle. However, the most important cause for obesity in women, is self-neglect. Health is low on women’s list of priorities and most don’t begin paying due attention to their health, until it is too late,” said physician and stress therapist Dr Pushkar Khair. Khair was speaking on the subject of ‘Women and Obesity’ at the lecture organised by Urja Health Club at Nigdi-Pradhikaran. Ayurvedic practitioner Dr Prerana Bedi-Kalekar, founder of the club, endorses a holistic approach for women as regards health and control of obesity. Khair said, “Obesity is a chronic and stigmatic disease that is rarely curable. It is not restricted to only middle-aged people, but has now become a growing problem among children and adolescents. Numerous health hazards risks are associated with being overweight and obese. These conditions contribute to the morbidity and mortality of individuals suffering from diseases such as hypertension, stroke and type-2 diabetes. A diet chart plays an important role in controlling obesity. The human mind is not inclined to follow diet charts unless they pay large sums of money for them. However, diet principles can be incorporated in dayto-day living. One should avoid going on a binge at all costs. Overeating during just one meal can disturb the body balance. Diet modification can be done in a stepwise manner. One should make a note of what we eat
Physician and stress therapist Dr Pushkar Khair speaking on ‘Women and Obesity’ at Nigdi-Pradhikaran
from time to time, it can influence our unconscious mind to make the necessary changes. One should also maintain weekly weight and waist size charts at home. Once a person sees the positive effects of losing weight, he is motivated to continue on the path to good health. Elaborating on Ayurveda’s approach to obesity, Dr Bedi-Kalekar said, “Ayurvedic treatment can be of great benefit in weight control, without the negative side effects of conventional
drugs. With diet therapy alone, the treatment of obesity is incomplete. A fi xed diet can avert the possibility of gaining more weight, but the body fat has to be treated and the defective metabolism must be corrected, which Ayurvedic medicines are capable of doing. These medicines improve fat metabolism in an obese individual. Once a person’s metabolism is correct, it is easy for him to maintain his weight.” archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
• A simple formula is the Body Mass Index, which gives an approximate idea about the relationship of weight and height. It, however, does not calculate the actual fat content, which requires different methods. The body fat analysers seen even on the roadsides these days are not very accurate. The waist-hip ratio also gives an idea of the fat distribution, and the lower the ratio, lower is the risk of disease. • Remedies for it: Prevention is the best remedy. It is important to understand that calorie requirement decreases with age. We need to be extremely watchful of what we eat. Often eating is a passive phenomenon happening when the mind is filled with many thoughts. This leads to either stress overeating or under eating. The healthy utilisation of the food we eat depends greatly on our mood while eating. Exercise forms an important aspect of obesity prevention and treatment. Any form of focused physical activity consistently for at least 30 minutes in a day helps greatly in bringing the mind and body in synchrony. Medicinal and surgical remedies like gastric banding are helpful in morbidly obese individuals.
TIPS FOR WORKING WOMEN AND HOUSEWIVES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Pay attention to your health. Put it high on the list. Devote 30 minutes for brisk walking daily Avoid frequent cups of tea or coffee at work If your workplace offers meals, decide beforehand what and how much to eat. Avoid second helpings Avoid fast food like samosa, wada pav, or pastries There should be a gap of at least three hours between dinner and sleep Do not eat while watching television
7.
Avoid foods high in carbohydrates, like polished rice and potato 8. Avoid oily and fried foods, processed foods, fatty foods like butter, cheese, yoghurt, cream, chocolate 9. Consume vegetables like bitter gourd and bitter variety of drumsticks 10. Replace refined flour with whole-wheat flour and rice with brown rice 11. Increase intake of fruits, salads and vegetables
Is screening a dangerous marketing trick for your health?
There was an interesting article, some time ago, in The Atlantic, written by Oklahoma physician John Henning Schumann, which brings up the issue of over-screening—medical tests that simply are not necessary, or worse, detrimental. “General health checks did not reduce morbidity or mortality, neither overall nor for cardiovascular or cancer causes, although the number of new diagnoses was increased. Important harmful outcomes, such as the number of follow-up diagnostic procedures or short-term psychological effects, were often not studied or reported and many trials had methodological problems. With the large number of participants and deaths included, the long follow-up periods used, and considering that cardiovascular and cancer mortality were not reduced, general health checks are unlikely to be beneficial,” says the Cochrane Library. I have been condemning routine screenings, especially cancer screenings, for decades. Many routine screening-detected ‘cancers’, in fact, are only incidentalomas which, if left alone or not detected in the fi rst place, would have outlived the person. For example, the so-called ‘ductal carcinoma in situ’ in the breast is not a cancer at all. Cancer screening is not only useless but downright dangerous. The best studies (these are studies done over 10-year durations in Canada, the
30-minute nap can reverse effects of poor sleep
ARE YOU OBESE
Searching for ‘sickness’ BY PROF DR BM HEGDE
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US and Europe) have found that you have to screen 2,100 women every year for 11 years to prevent one death. So, to answer the question, ‘Is it lifesaving?’ Yes. One in 2,100 women would benefit from being screened over an 11-year period. But, at the same time, of those 2,100 women, about 600 to 700 will have a false-positive. They will find something unusual or something abnormal and that will require biopsies, open surgeries, mastectomies and psychological trauma wrote Alan Cassels of University of Victoria (BC) who has authored several books on screening. The best one, according to me, was: Seeking Sickness: Medical Screening and the Misguided Hunt for Diseases. Th is book is an encyclopaedia of the scam of screening. Screening in apparently healthy people is encouraged mainly to make lots of money from post-screening activities. It is just another marketing trick and a potentially dangerous one at that. One can have a cancer in his/ her body and live a perfectly long and healthy life. The cancer literature in medical science which is funded by the industry is mostly wrong. John Ioannidis at Stanford found that most of those studies cannot be replicated independently. Of the hundreds of studies by John Ioannidis, most did not stand up to scrutiny. Th is applies especially to cancers and statin drugs for prevention. I would end this by quoting Dr Andrew Oxman of the Norwegian
Cancer screening is not only useless but downright dangerous
Knowledge Centre for the Health Services in Oslo, who told Reuters: “There are lots of examples where things start to be used and have entered the market based on surrogate outcomes and then actually proved harmful.” He mentioned the heart rhythm drugs encainide and flecainide which, for many years, were given to people with acute heart attacks. But trials showed they were actually bad for these patients. “These drugs were given by wellmeaning clinicians, but they actually killed more people than the Vietnam War did,” Oxman said. I still remember the days when I was senior registrar in cardiology at The Middlesex Hospital, London, where the protocol in the CCU was to give all these drugs one after another even if a couple of innocent premature beats are seen on the monitor in this order—Lignocaine, procainamide, encainide, flecainide. Most of these drugs were later shown to be killers! I was once hauled up before an enquiry committee for not following the protocol in a healthy MP admitted one evening directly from the House of Commons where he felt ‘suffocated’. He was, of course, absolutely normal, as proved by later tests. He was grateful to me but I had to face a trial for dereliction of my duty in preference to my patient’s safety! “When it comes to screening, a doctor who says ‘Let’s err on the side of caution,’ may actually err on the side of reckless ignorance and grave harm.” – Otis Webb Brawley (Professor Dr BM Hegde, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 2010, is an MD, PhD, FRCP (London, Edinburgh, Glasgow & Dublin), FACC and FAMS.) @moneylife.in
LONDON: A short nap for half an hour can help relieve stress and bolster the immune systems weakened by poor sleep - as little as two hours - the previous night, says a study. “Our data suggests a 30-minute nap can reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep,” said one of the study authors Brice Faraut from the Paris Descartes University in France. “Th is is the fi rst study that found napping could restore biomarkers of neuroendocrine and immune health to normal levels,” Faraut added. Lack of sleep is recognised as a public health problem. Insufficient sleep can contribute to reduced productivity as well as vehicle and industrial accidents, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers examined the relationship between hormones and sleep in a group of 11 healthy men
between the ages of 25 and 32. After a night of limited sleep, the men had a 2.5-fold increase in levels of norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter involved in the body’s fight-or-fl ight response to stress. Norepinephrine increases the body’s heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar. Researchers found no change in norepinephrine levels when the men had napped following a night of limited sleep. Lack of sleep also affected the levels of interleukin-6, a protein with antiviral properties, found in the subjects’ saliva. The levels dropped after a night of restricted sleep, but remained normal when the subjects were allowed to nap. The changes suggest naps can be beneficial for the immune system. The study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). IANS
Insufficient sleep can contribute to reduced productivity as well as vehicle and industrial accidents
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
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TH E EDIT PAGE
The difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind.
Editor’s pick
—Charles Darwin, naturalist and author
Don’t let Jaishree Gholkar die again It’s been a month since she’s left us. But her memories keep hounding me, constantly remind me how I failed her and how the system let her down. When I first met Jaishree Gholkar in November 2011, I almost broke down. Confined to a rickety cot in the bedroom of her sprawling bungalow, Jaishree’s only companions were three stray dogs – Hazel, Bambi and Coco. The 65-year-old hadn’t stepped out of her house in 13 years. She could barely sit up. The mattress on the bed had rotten. A small tub under her bed was her toilet. “My husband left me years ago. My father gifted me this house. My brothers live around here with their families but they rarely come to see me,” she said with a steady gaze on 30 plus stuffed polythene bags kept around her. The bags with her clothes had been stacked up around her bed ages ago almost as if she knew that someday she won’t be able to move much. She hadn’t taken a bath in ages. The only thing she did to maintain hygiene was brush her teeth after every meal brought to her by Good Samaritans living around her house. Flooring in the house had cracked and rubble was lying all over. There were carcasses of dogs, cats and even a rat. The stench was unbearable. The living room had a broken TV, a washing machine and a sewing machine. Documents kept inside her cupboards were barely legible. One of the affidavits I came across was a will in which she had given all her possessions including the bungalow worth `30 crores to her nephew. Jaishree Mai was a classic case of how children and relatives give up on ailing senior citizens hoping that they would die sooner or later leaving behind their property to them. Moved by Gholkar’s condition I decided to find out provisions of law and which authority is to care for them. It didn’t take too long to find out that the government had no mechanism to look after the ageing. Old age homes run by NGOs are few across the state. The only factor that held some hope was The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act passed by the Parliament in 2007. The Maharashtra Government, in 2010, too had passed The Maharashtra Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Rules 2010. The law stated that it was the duty of children and relatives to look after senior citizens and if they failed to do so they could be put behind bars. A little more research sent my hopes dashing. The law was merely on paper. Police wouldn’t register cases or even summon senior citizen’s relatives. Tribunals that were to be set up at district level to enforce the law had not been set up. Essentially, Jaishree Mai would have to be left alone in the
house to die. This wasn’t acceptable to me, so I decided to file a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court to shake up the government. Natasha Sara, a salon owner near Jaishree Mai’s house, who had accidentally chanced upon the frail old woman was my co petitioner. Noted criminal lawyer Niteen Pradhan agreed to fight the case and refused to accept his fees. The cause was dear to him as well. This was in 2012. After a few hearings HC pulled up the state and police for neglecting Jaishree Mai and several others like her. While the case was being heard in HC I came across a dozen such cases of children abandoning their parents. The court ordered that state look after such citizens and come up with a concrete plan. Over the last three years, all that the state has done is made some excuses or the other. In Jaishree Mai’s case, the state agreed to get an NGO involved and cops would check on her regularly. That did happen but only once - the NGOS and cops came after the court order, gave her a bath, a meal but never returned again. With nothing concrete happening, Natasha started organising her meals, got a maid to clean Jaishree Mai’s house everyday and give her a bath every morning. Sometime in October last year her condition deteriorated. Mai refused to go to a hospital or even let a doctor examine her. Our hands were tied as we couldn’t force her to do anything. We once again urged the court to expedite the matter. HC ordered, in January this year, that the senior citizen should be immediately rushed to a hospital. Left with no alternative, the police came and took her to a hospital where she barely survived for 24 hours. She breathed her last on January 9, this year. While there are no statistics available organisations working for senior citizens say that thousands of senior citizens have been abandoned by their children across the state. After Jaishree Mai’s death, HC has pulled up state and ordered that they submit a plan to take care of abandoned senior citizens without much ado. “It is common knowledge that traditional norms and values of the Indian society are not being followed and senior citizens are no longer respected as they used to be in the past. The joint family system has crumbled, giving rise to nuclear family of parents and children. Most of the children, these days, prefer to stay abroad and become citizens of that country, leaving behind old and ailing parents,” a division bench of Bombay High Court recently observed. I am keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that we don’t lose other Jaishree Mai’s around us. @TGSWeekly editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com
Cartoon by: Morparia; Courtesy: Moneylife
Address n-energy costs first BY RAJGOPAL S AND DEBAPRIYA DAS
The last few days have seen the revival of the dormant India-US nuclear deal, signed in 2008. It took six long years for the two countries to declare that issues relating to the deal have been resolved which was claimed as a breakthrough. While one could feel good at finding a solution ‘culminating towards commercial operation consistent with our laws and international legal obligations’, as stated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without further details, no clear conclusions can be drawn. The statements by Prime Minister Modi and US President Barack Obama made during their press conference support this assessment. So the question now is: How soon will the ‘breakthrough’ lead to accelerated addition of nuclear capacity, thereby addressing the issues of climate change and energy security. Assuming the answer is sooner than later, there are several other questions which arise and which need to be addressed. Due to the lack of details, there is considerable speculation as to how an issue relating to the liability of suppliers, which dragged on for nearly four years, got resolved in such a ‘breakthrough’ manner. The fastest, but hardest, route to resolve the issue is to amend the relevant clause (s) of the Civil Liability Act of 2010. This being highly political in nature, keeping in mind the Bhopal tragedy and its aftermath and the commitment by the government not to dilute the Act, the possibility of amending it can be ruled out. It is understood that an Indian
The press statements made by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on nuclear deal support the cause of finding a solution ‘culminating towards commercial operation consistent with our laws and international legal obligations’
insurance pool led by the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) will be formed to enable the operators and suppliers procure insurance to cover their liability. This idea has been in the air for quite some time now and the progress made is not known. An Indian media report indicated that “a conglomeration of India’s largest public sector companies, including the stateowned General Insurance Corporation (GIC), can only provide coverage up to Rs900 crore ($146 million) of the required Rs1,500 crore”. Others suggest that only Rs750 crore will be provided by the public sector companies and the government will supply the remainder to the insurance pool via instruments known as catastrophe bonds. On the other hand, it has been reported in the US that ‘Indian and
US officials said part of the solution to the liability impasse could be a $122 billion insurance scheme proposed by India. That would be funded by India’s government and Indian nuclear companies and be managed by the General Insurance Corporation of India, according to Indian nuclear negotiator Amandeep Gill’. Obviously, there is no clarity on this issue and the Indian government has also not spelt out any details. If the insurance pool is totally Indian, it can be observed that the entire liability, in case of an accident, will have to be picked up by the Indian insurance companies and the Indian government. A serious accident like Fukushima could result in a heavy financial burden on GIC. Hopefully this has been analysed to keep risks well below the break point of
Women use cudgels to save forests BY VISHAL GULATI
Vol-1* lssue No.: 35 Published by: Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 and printed by PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 at Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai. Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411 030, Tel: 020-2432 4332/33. Editor: Yogesh Sadhwani (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867)
Keylong (Himachal Pradesh): A movement that a handful of woman activists started in the early 1980s to save forests in the Himalayan terrain of the picturesque Lahaul Valley, populated mainly by Buddhists, has yielded the fruit of labour. It began in the panchayat of Kawaring, which has a population of 112, of whom 64 are women, according to the 2011 Census, and then was taken up in other parts of the valley located at an elevation ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 feet above the sea level. Currently, 139 ‘mahila mandals’ or women groups in 27 of the 28 panchayats in the valley have pledged to guard the forests. “Two ‘mahila mandals’ in the Tindi panchayat are yet to pass a resolution to guard the forests,” Divisional Forest Officer Hira Lal Rana told IANS. Th is is the last panchayat located adjoining Pangi in Chamba district. The ‘mahila mandal’ in the Th irot panchayat passed a resolution last month that if anyone was caught cutting trees, a fine of `5,000 would be imposed. The offender will be even socially boycotted. Rana said the ‘mahila mandal’ in Th irot has also decided to fence the entire forest. Before this, three panchayats in the Miyar valley decided to protect the forests through
community participation. “If the forest is saved, we will save the biodiversity. The fencing of the forests, which will be done in summer, will enable the native fauna to flourish,” octogenarian Dolma, a resident of Th irot, told IANS. She said the colossal damage to the biodiversity with the upcoming hydropower projects in the Lahaul Valley can now be witnessed and it’s high time to save the biodiversity. Another villager Chokpa said the villagers have taken a pledge to safeguard the local flora and fauna. Severe winter in the higher reaches prompted wild animals to migrate to lower altitudes. “During the winter season, we remain alert as poachers are active. In summer, we will set out in batches to the nearby forests to guard it voluntarily,” Chokpa added. Wildlife officials said migration of the Asiatic ibex - a wild goat species - and the Himalayan blue sheep or ‘bharal’ in the valley is common during winters. Even the sighting of the red and the common fox goes up in the villages. Rana said in October every villager in the valley is allowed to collect salvage (fallen or dry standing trees) from the forests for 10 days. After that no extraction of the forest produce is allowed. There is also provision to provide
fi rewood at subsidised rates to locals during winters. “A few years ago the demand for fi rewood at our Udaipur depot was around 4,000 quintals during winter. Now it’s over 7,000 quintals. Th is shows that the locals are now banking more upon government supplied wood than on forests,” said an official. According to Rana, taking the help of villagers, especially the women, in protecting the forests has been a great success. The forest department has only a “supervisory role”. Every year the forest department honours the best woman group with cash prizes. Kawaring resident and Zila Parishad member Rigzin Samphel said the drive started from his village to safeguard the forests is now a grand success in the entire valley. Not open throughout the year, the landlocked Lahaul Valley in LahaulSpiti district remains cut off for at least five months from December owing to heavy snow accumulation at the Rohtang Pass (13,050 ft) - the only connection with Manali in Kullu district. According to the census for 2011, the population density in the district, inhabited mainly by tribals, is just two people per sq km against the state’s 123 people per sq km. (Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)
the insurance companies. One possible option for the government is to explore the possibility of the Indian insurance pool becoming part of the global nuclear insurance pool for which some conditions, like allowing reactor inspections, will have to be agreed to. It is interesting to note that organisations like the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) already inspect reactors from the safety point of view. One other issue relates to Clause 46 of the Civil Liability Act of 2010 relating to application of other laws. US laws allow victims to directly claim damages from operators, suppliers and designers - though international liability conventions place the liability exclusively on operators. Clause 46 is similar to the US law. Hence, it should not come in the way of moving towards the commercial operation of the deal. Assuming that all issues related to civil liability are resolved, the crucial issue of cost of energy will also have to be addressed. It is understood that a French offer is stuck because of high capital costs and high unit energy cost. Lastly, from the Indian standpoint, the aspect of public acceptance/opinion will have to be seriously addressed. Otherwise, all the efforts put in to add new capacity will not only go waste but also negatively impact climate change. (Rajgopal S and Debapriya Das are with The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bengaluru. The views expressed are those of CSTEP. They can be contacted at rajgopal139@gmail.com and priyadas@ cstep.in)
#Valentine Day @Harnetsin Choo chweet. PM tweeting his personal best wishes to Team India. He’s such a social media whiz. Maybe he’ll wish Happy Valentine’s Day too? @bhak_sala As an IITian he was ridiculed for reading books on Valentine’s day. He then took an oath that 1 day he will take an oath on Valentine’s day @brennonthekidd_ valentine’s day is coming up, so if you’re in love with me please speak up.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
With selections from The New York Times
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“I have never equated Indian clothing as religious clothing but I spoke about clothing which if worn during certain ceremonies reflect or signify that a person is also celebrating that particular religious ceremony,” —Dr Mohd Asri, mufti of Perlis state, Malaysia
World Cup 2015 P 15
BY DOREEN CARVAJAL MARSEILLE, France - Since Marina Picasso was a child, living on the edge of poverty and lingering at the gates of a French villa with her father to plead for an allowance from her grandfather, Pablo Picasso, she has struggled with the burden of that artist’s towering legacy. When she was in her 20s and inherited the 19th-century villa, La Californie, as well as a vast trove of Picasso’s art treasures, she turned the paintings to face the walls in resentment. Th rough 15 years of therapy, she dissected bitter family memories of her grandfather’s perceived indifference and her brother’s suicide. In her 2001 memoir, “Picasso: My Grandfather,” she bared her pain and anger at the Picasso clan. Now 64, Picasso acknowledges that she is expanding her rebellion by preparing to sell off many of his artworks to finance and broaden her philanthropy - aid for a pediatric hospital in Vietnam and projects in France and Switzerland benefiting the elderly and troubled teenagers. And her unconventional sales approach is reverberating through international art markets, worried dealers and auctioneers accustomed to playing key - and lucrative - roles in the sale of renowned art. In an interview, Picasso said she would sell works privately and would judge “one by one, based on need,” how many, and which, of the remaining Picasso works, of about 10,000 that she inherited, she would put up for sale. Picasso has been regularly selling her grandfather’s works for years to support herself and her charities. And since the death of her longtime dealer in 2008, she has tried various strategies in the market - auctioning two major paintings in 2013 and displaying a collection of nude drawings by her grandfather at Sotheby’s in Paris last
year. But her decision to sell them on her own suggests a more aggressive effort to purge herself of her legacy. And while other Picasso heirs have occasionally sold works, Marina Picasso is the only one who seems to be “accelerating” the sale of art objects, said Enrique Mallen, an art history professor at Sam Houston State University in Texas who created the Online Picasso Project to track the art. “It’s better for me to sell my works and preserve the money to redistribute to humanitarian causes,” said Picasso, speaking publicly about her new strategy for the fi rst time while inspecting a hospital site in Marseille, where she is financing a psychiatric unit for teenagers in crisis. “I have paintings, of course, that I can use to support these projects.” The news of her unusual strategy is spreading in select circles by word of mouth, generating rumors and misinformation - including a recent tabloid report that she planned to sell off her grandfather’s villa and seven major works. That is leading to speculation that she could flood the market and depress prices. “Instead of having a dealer show them, it’s been an open secret that there are works for sale and people have been asking other people if they would be interested,” said John Richardson, a Picasso historian and biographer in New York. “I’ve been asked by odd people who tell me, ‘We are in on a great deal, and Marina is selling all her stuff.’” While bypassing dealers and auction houses in the sale of major works is not unusual, sellers going it alone can be at a disadvantage in trying to estimate the value of their own works and to vet the buyers and their source of funds. At the same time, with some auction houses increasing their fees, it can be a smart move in the end for a seller eager to make more money. Picasso, who inherited about 300
Marina Picasso, granddaughter of Pablo Picasso, at North Hospital, where she is funding a psychiatric unit for teenagers in crisis, in Marseille, France
BY JODI RUDOREN & MAJD AL WAHEIDI KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - He said he fell for “her ideas, her thoughts.” She said he made her forget she was overweight, and “feel beautiful.” They fl irted awkwardly at a conference in Amman, Jordan, where they met in 2011. Then, in flurries of text messages over a few weeks, they discovered they both were interested in photography and astronomy and craved the Saudi rice dish kabsa. Their mobile phones both had the Backstreet Boys song with the lyrics: “I don’t care who you are/Where you’re from/Or what you did/ As long as you love me.” They got engaged, exchanging rings and completing a contract to marry in an Islamic court. But theirs is a love unfulfi lled. Dalia Shurrab, 32, lives here in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, and Rashed Sameer Faddah, 35, in the West Bank city of Nablus. Romance is not among the humanitarian reasons for which Israel allows Palestinians to travel from here to there. Now, the couple have started a Facebook campaign calling on President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority to “Deliver the Bride to the Groom.” “I have the love of my life - he’s really warm and kind, he always tries to make me happy, he’s proud of me,” said Shurrab, blushing and giggling as she shared their story. “When we cannot achieve what we are dreaming of, it dies slowly inside of us.” The frustrated couple are among thousands of Palestinians who human rights groups say are suffering from the separation of the West Bank and Gaza, especially since the militant Islamist Hamas movement took control of the coastal strip in 2007. In a report last year, two Israeli groups, B’Tselem and HaMoked, documented dozens of cases in which Israel, which lies between the territories, prevented Palestinians from passing through for weddings, funerals or other needs.
WISSAM NASSAR/THE NEW YORK TIMES
In Palestinian territories, love struggles to bridge the separation
Dalia Shurrab talks to her fiance, Rashed Sameer Faddah, who lives in the West Bank city of Nablus, on Skype in her room in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip
Israeli policies have “made daily life unbearable for families split between the two areas,” the report argued. International law enshrines “the right to family life,” it said, yet for many Palestinians, “the simplest matters - starting a family, living together with one’s spouse and children, and keeping in regular contact with the families of origins of both partners - can no longer be taken for granted.” A spokeswoman for Israel’s coordinator of government activities in the territories said she could not discuss individual cases like that of Shurrab and Faddah. Regarding the general situation, the agency said in an email that “when Hamas - a terror organisation - came to power in Gaza, a policy was enacted” allowing exit into Israel “only for humanitarian cases and under the procedure to prevent unauthorized permanent residence” of Gazans in the West Bank. Shurrab says she is focusing her appeals on Abbas, not Israel, because “he’s responsible for the Palestinian people.” She imagines that Palestinian officials could
somehow intervene on her behalf because they coordinate with Israel on security issues. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Abbas’ spokesman, did not return a text message. The president’s media department did not respond to an email inquiry. Xavier Abu Eid of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which Abbas also heads, said in an email that the couple was in “an awful situation that reflects the nightmare that thousands of Palestinian families have due to Israeli apartheid policies,” which “have been dramatically radicalised in the last few years.” Palestinians seek a state combining Gaza and the West Bank, but a passage linking the two, promised in the Oslo Accords two decades ago, has not been established. In the early years after Israel captured the territories in the 1967 war, Palestinians moved freely between them. In 1991, during the fi rst intifada, or Palestinian uprising, Israel began requiring individual exit permits from Gaza; they became rarer amid continuing violence. © 2015 New York Times News Service
paintings among those 10,000 Picasso artworks - ceramics, drawings, etchings and sculptures are among the others - said she had not decided on the number to be sold and had no plan to put the villa on the market. But she knows which piece she will sell fi rst: “La Famille,” a 1935 portrait of a family surrounded by an arid landscape. “It’s symbolic because I was born in a great family, but it was a family that was not a family,” Picasso said. By the time of his death in 1973, Pablo Picasso had created some 50,000 artworks and left behind a tangled brood of four children and eight grandchildren, as well as wives and muses, who have had a long-running battle over his estate and his legacy. Marina Picasso is the daughter of Pablo Picasso’s son Paulo, and she has long kept her distance from the rest of the family. For years she was guided in her sales by Jan Krugier, a Swiss art dealer who curated and sold off many of the best works in her collection until he died in 2008. She was disappointed, she said, by other sales routes, like a 2013 Sotheby’s auction of two major paintings, including “Femme Assise en Robe Grise.” The works drew $6.8 million, according to Sotheby’s in Paris, but Picasso said she had expected more because buyers knew the money was going to support her charities. Her timing is good: Last year, auction sales of Picassos were second only to those of Andy Warhol - $449 million last year in a $16.1 billion international market, according to Artnet, the New York-based art researcher. While the sales will broaden Picasso’s philanthropy, they will also help her move on from the burden of her family history, she said. Picasso said that she had no photographs of herself with her grandfather and had none of his works until she received her inheritance. She recalled that he would fashion flowers out of paper for her, but she was never allowed to keep the trinkets.
Her father, Paulo, was the son of Picasso and his fi rst wife, Olga Khokhlova, a Russian ballerina. Picasso said she still suffered from the memories of Paulo serving as her grandfather’s chauffeur, among other lowly roles, and begging for money. Her mother, Emiliénne, split from her father after a brief marriage and struggled with alcoholism. he relied on handouts from her exhusband to raise Marina and her older brother, Pablito. “I saw my father very little,” Picasso said. “I didn’t have a grandfather.” Her alienation from her grandfather and his entourage intensified after her brother was barred from Picasso’s funeral in 1973 by the artist’s second wife, Jacqueline Roque. A few days later her brother committed suicide by drinking bleach. Contributions from friends paid for Pablito’s funeral, according to Marina Picasso, who supported herself then by working in a hospice for autistic and mentally ill children. Pablo Picasso left no will when he died at 91, setting off a bitter struggle among his widow, children and grandchildren. Unexpectedly, Marina Picasso was named an heir and inherited a fi fth of the estate, including the villa. Picasso, who has five children, three of them adopted from Vietnam, said that selling more of Picasso’s art to expand her charities is a fitting use. In just the past year, she has donated 1.5 million euros (roughly $1.7 million) to the Hospital Foundation of Paris and France. ome went to the psychiatric emergency unit for teenagers, and Picasso also financed a project for elderly patients in long-term hospital care. “I live now in the present,” she said. “The past rests in the past. But I will never forget, never. I respect my grandfather and his stature as an artist. I was his grandchild and his heir, but never the grandchild of his heart.” © 2015 New York Times News Service
Deer on the move
Seasonal migrations for food are essential to the survival of many animals BY JAMES GORMAN THE RED DESERT, Wyoming - As a small group of scientists and volunteers waits by the side of a gravel road here, a helicopter swoops down, carrying two blindfolded mule deer in slings. It hovers for a moment in a furious swirl of rotor-blown snow, detaching the deer slings. As it lifts and turns, the team runs into the stinging cloud. Team members carry the deer on canvas stretchers to a spot where they can be weighed and tested. From each animal, they draw blood, pull a whisker, check a GPS collar or put on a new one, take a rectal temperature and fecal sample, perform an ultrasound on the haunches, shoot a local anesthetic into the jaw and pull a tooth. Ten minutes of probing and testing later, the deer are freed and dash off, with numb mouths and doses of antibiotics, perhaps wondering what in the world just happened. The scientists were taking snapshots of the deer’s health and downloading their movements from their digital collars - part of a broader effort to track and preserve their migration route. Researchers only recently discovered that path, known as the Red Desert-to-Hoback migration, which is as long as any known land migration in the lower 48 states, a twice-yearly, 240-kilometre journey that has inspired numerous conservation groups to work together to protect the deer’s route from encroaching development. “We think this has the potential to be a model for what state and federal agencies do across the West,”
said Leslie Duncan, public lands manager for the Pew Charitable Trusts. Seasonal migrations in search of food are essential to the survival of many animals. The famous herds of the Serengeti chase the rain. In the West, many elk, deer, antelope, moose and other big game move to lush mountain slopes in the spring and summer, and wait out the winter at lower, warmer elevations. “Migration is the underlying mechanism that allows this landscape to support the deer populations,” said Hall Sawyer, a research biologist with Western EcoSystems Technology, a consulting firm, who discovered the mule deer route. Because houses and roads, fences and gas wells, and busy routes for four-wheelers and snowmobiles can pose obstacles to animals as they travel, conservationists have long recognsed that preserving migration routes is essential to preserving wildlife. About 500 deer travel the full 240 kilometres from their winter range here in the Red Desert to spring and summer grounds in the Hoback River basin near Jackson, Wyoming. Other herds, totaling 5,000 deer, follow most or part of the path. The route crosses public and private lands, and scientists say it is extraordinary, given its length, that a relatively clear path still exists for the deer. But conservationists have recognised that protecting it will require unusual cooperation among public and private groups. The good news, said Steve Kilpatrick, head of the Wyoming branch of the Wildlife Federation, is that conservation groups are joining forces to help the mule deer in ways he had not seen. © 2015 New York Times News Service
(MICHAEL KIRBY SMITH/THE NEW YORK TIMES)
Marina Picasso has been regularly selling her grandfather’s works for years to support herself and her charities
BENJAMIN BECHET/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Heir to 10,000 Picassos is ready to cash out
Mule deer outside of Pinedale, Wyoming. Researchers recently discovered the Red Desert-to-Hoback mule deer migration route
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
MONEY MATT ER S
“The current account deficit (CAD) will be under control and the government will try to keep fiscal deficit within the prescribed limit. There is a need to boost investment especially in infrastructure sector.” — Arun Jaitley, finance minister
Signpost Sensex up 140 points A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday was trading 140.53 points or 0.50 per cent up as capital goods stocks gained. Good buying was observed in capital goods, banking and consumer durables sectors, while marginal selling pressure was seen in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,450.26 points, was trading at 28,496.15 points (at 09.28 a.m.) in the early session, up 140.53 points or 0.50 percent from the previous day’s close at 28,355.62 points. The Sensex has touched a high of 28,532.46 points and a low of 28,439.04 points in the trade so far.
Unhedged foreign exchange is a risk The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cautioned companies over their unhedged foreign exchange exposure as a risk to the country’s economic and financial stability. An unhedged foreign exchange exposure leaves the investors at the risk of currency fluctuations. Khan, however, assured that the RBI would not “micro-manage” firms’ hedging strategies. On the country’s forex reserves reaching a record high of $330 billion, Khan said there should be no complacency as no amount of reserves may be enough to fight extreme volatility.
Low oil prices to spur economic growth Global credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said the lower oil prices is expected to alleviate India’s high inflation and spur economic growth. Its research report said India and the US stand out amongst some of the beneficiaries of lower oil prices. “For India, high inflation has been one factor constraining growth in recent years, which the fall in oil prices will alleviate,” Moody’s said. Moody’s forecasts US GDP growth of 3.2 per cent and 2.8 per cent in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
“Half of the 628 Swiss bank accounts was held either by NonResident Indians or were legitimate accounts. `10,000 10,000 crore may be recovered from the rest on completion of assessment proceedings.” — Arjit Pasayat, retired Supreme Court judge
Financial literacy empowers citizens says Fadnavis
Speaking at Moneylife Foundation’s fifth anniversary, Devendra Fadnavis, the CM of Maharashtra said, financial literacy would help people to understand risk and returns better, thus saving them from being duped MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra said, financial literacy and financial knowledge gives more power to citizens and help them understand investment risk and returns better. “Our government would like to work with institutions like Moneylife Foundation to make people financially literate. In addition, based on the ground level inputs from such institutions, we would also like make policies for investors. Th is will make people understand the difference between gain and loss on their investment,” he said while speaking to a packed audience at Moneylife Foundation’s 5th Anniversary in Mumbai. Addressing a crowd of over 700 prominent citizens, businessmen, activists and whistle-blowers, the Chief Minister said, “Financial inclusiveness requires financial literacy. People are always in need of an instrument for saving. However, most of the time, they do not look at the ‘scheme’ or who and why is he offering such a higher returns. People do not even look at similar instruments in the market. We simply get attracted at higher interest rates without checking credentials of the offering party, and several times this ends it severe losses for investors.” (There was a man who became millionaire by selling an item worth `100 at `50. Someone asked, how is this possible? He was billionaire before!!),” the CM said in a lighter vein, warning investors to be aware about the fact that nobody is in the market to give ‘fancy or sky high returns’. Talking about Ponzi and money circulation schemes, Mr Fadnavis said, “Maharashtra is among the earliest states to put in place an act to save depositors. The Maharashtra Protection of Interests of Depositors Act provides for a competent authority, a special court in each district, attachment of properties, a wider definition of the term “deposit” and imprisonment of up to six years.” “Soon, the state government is appointing a deputy collector to sell
assets worth `5,000 crore seized from one of the biggest Ponzi operators in Maharashtra,” the CM announced. Calling economic offences, especially using online media as biggest challenge emerging, Fadnavis explained how existing provisions in the Information Technology (IT) Act are making fast probe difficult in such cases. He said, “The IT Act mandates to register and probe any complaint by an officer not less than a police inspector (PI) rank. However, most the PIs joined the force before the IT Act and may not be tech savvy. At the same time, we have several police sub-inspectors (PSIs), who have sound k no w l e d g e a n d know how t o
use technology for investigations. We have requested the Centre to make suitable amendments in the IT Act to allow officers of PSI rank to register and probe online frauds.” “Maharashtra, in the meantime, has decided to strengthen IT wing of police force and is training around 1000 officers on how to deal with IT related offences. Th is additional force would help us to prevent and crack such offences,” Mr Fadnavis added. CM Fadnavis, who hails from Vidarbha region, said basic reason for farmer suicides in that area is due to absence of institutional credit. “Farmer suicides are directly connected with the availability of institutional credit. About 90 per cent of banking activity in Maharashtra takes place in Mumbai, Thane and Pune area. Th is means, just 10per c e n t banking takes
places in rest of the Maharashtra.” “Due to the absence of banking activities or institutional finance, farmer in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada have no option but to take loan from private moneylenders. And when there is a single failure in crop, the farmer found it very difficult to get another option to rearrange credit from these moneylenders. Th is results in farmer suicide. However, economic growth is the real casualty in such regions caused by lack of widespread banking network or institutional credit,” Mr Fadnavis said. Maharashtra Government has put out the draft of Right to Service (RS) Act or Maharashtra Guarantee of Public Services Act. In 2011, Mr Fadnavis had proposed the original draft, which stated that an official would be termed as ‘habitual defaulter’ after failing to provide service more than 50 times in a year. He said, “We are inviting comments, views from government employees and citizens and would take a call based on the response. The Draft bill of Right to Services has been made public for suggestions and views and would be tabled in the budget session of State Legislature in March.” @moneylife.in
India’s growth data continues to confuse, says Nomura MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM According to Nomura, the sharp upward revision in India’s growth rate is due to a change in the estimation methodology. If the data is correct, then this suggests robust consumption and no need for any policy accommodation Indian growth data continue to confound. Following the revision in annual real GDP growth in FY13 and FY14, the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has estimated that real GDP growth is expected to rise an even more robust 7.4 per cent y-o-y (year-on-year) in FY15, from 6.9per cent y-o-y in FY14. The quarterly data for FY15 were accordingly revised higher by around 1.6 per cent as compared with the old series. These observations are made in a research note from Nomura. In Q4 2014, real growth rose 7.5 per cent y-o-y, slightly lower than the 8.2per cent y-o-y in Q3 (Figures 1 and 2), owing to lower agricultural sector growth, which offsets the strong pickup in non-agricultural growth (mainly services). Nomura said, “The sudden jump in growth rates is due to a change in the real GDP growth estimation methodology. Earlier, real GDP growth was estimated as a change in volume, while the new series estimates value added at each stage. Also, the government now uses sales tax, service tax and corporate performance data to estimate quarterly GDP. As a result of these changes, growth in industry (especially manufacturing) and the services sector (financial and real estate and government services) is much stronger in the new series.” “If the numbers are correct, then the GDP data suggest that the economy has been rising at a much faster pace than estimated earlier and that potential growth in the Indian economy is still above 7 per cent. However, the composition of growth is still biased towards consumption, while investment demand remains relatively sluggish, reducing the need for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease monetary policy,” Nomura argues in the research note. Based on the new series and the growth uptick indicated by forwardlooking indicators, Nomura expects real GDP growth to rise to around 7.58.0 per cent y-o-y in FY16. @moneylife.in
Truth in lending: Is the RBI bending?
Will the RBI ask government to enact the stringent truth in lending law, which has provisions for penalty on creditors? NEHA SOMANI
Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to disclose to borrowers, more information on lending rates and fees on their websites. With these guidelines to be implemented from April 1, 2015, the central bank hopes to promote transparency in banking operations, especially in lending activities. By having a uniform standard for presenting the terms of consumer credit, individuals have a much easier time of comparing and thus, choosing the best credit option. Instead of things being shielded and hidden from the consumer, this gives power back to borrowers as they need to make informed choices about credit. Before the concept of truthin-lending came into picture, consumers were not able to compare the interest rates and loan costs, properly. Frauds and scams were therefore, rampant because the lenders used to take advantage of the fact
that the consumers were not able to make comparison between the credit options. Hence, taking cue from the global scenario, India definitely needs stringent norms and laws with respect to truth-in-lending. The recent RBI notification covered here, is definitely a major step to imbibe transparency and authenticity in the transactions of banks with the individual borrowers. Truth-in-lending laws, found in many countries world-over, ensure that lenders make a truthful disclosure of their rates of interest, and do not try to attract borrowers with misleading rates of interest. Truthful disclosure of rates of interest is as important as fair disclosures made by a vendor selling goods. There was a time when there was no truth in lending in India at all. A lender could get away with disclosure of what was called “flat rate of interest”, which was almost like half of the actual interest rates. Leading housing finance lenders would show what was called “annually declining rate of interest”, which was also was deceptively lower than the actual interest rates.
Guidelines are implemented to bring transparency in bank operations.
Steps taken by RBI to ensure transparency The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) vide its Circular dated January 22, 2015 has instructed banks to adhere to the following instructions, which shall
come into effect from April 1, 2015. • Banks are required to disclose on their websites the range of interest rates of the loans contracted with the individual borrowers, in the previous quarter. • The average interest rate of the abovementioned loans is also required to be displayed on the website. • At the time of processing of loans, the entire fees and all related charges, including the processing fees should be disclosed to the borrowers, as well as displayed on the website of the banks. • Banks should disclose the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), to show the total cost of credit on loans to individual borrowers. • Banks are required to give an explicit and lucid statement/ fact sheet to all the individual borrowers, at each stage of loan processing. RBI barred suppliers’ subvention financing Earlier, RBI vide its circular, dated September 17, 2013, took the high moral ground in directing commercial banks to desist from certain “pernicious practices,” which, in its view, “deter consumer protection and accounting integrity.” At the core of its directives, was the fairly widespread practice of certain banks, which offer retail loans at “zero per cent” interest to purchase high value consumer durables such as LED TV sets, high-end refrigerators, and the like. Arguing that there is no such thing as an interest free loan, the RBI laid down guidelines to make a large swathe of retail lending by banks
more transparent. Subvention, as well as moratorium on payment is fairly common practices to boost sales. There has been a disquieting tendency among banks of not giving their customers information on the full extent of such concessions. Even more unacceptable has been the practice of part-loading these to the interest rate charged to make the latter appear lower. Credit card issuing banks quite often promise an interest-free EMI loan if a particular card is used for a particular purpose- saying, booking of a travel. There are no free lunches in life; neither is there any interest free credit in the world of banking. Here, zero interest is a misnomer because the borrowers are charged a high processing fee. Canons of transparency require all such fees to be uniform across all products and segments. It
was also stated that no fees would be charged on debit card transactions by merchants. Considering the overall scenario, consumer protection is far more vital than a short-term dip in sales of consumer durables, which will rebound over time anyway. By seeking to make expensive products affordable to even those who cannot really afford it, the “zero-interest” schemes, which were not really doing that, were ultimately drawing consumers into a debt-trap. Hence, this notification came into picture at an appropriate time. The truth about The Truth in Lending Act The Truth in Lending Act (TILA) of 1968 is US Federal law that requires lenders to provide standardized information so that borrowers can
RBI’s latest guidelines direct banks to share more information on lending rates, fees and charges to borrowers. But then, these are just guidelines. The enactment of stringent truth of lending laws remains a prevailing questionpenalty on creditors?
compare the loan terms and take their call accordingly. It has been implemented by Regulation Z (12 CFR Part 226). Regulation Z has been considered as one of the most complex and broad regulations in the consumer lending space. Before its enactment, consumers were faced with a bewildering array of credit terms and rates. It was difficult to compare loans because they were seldom presented in the same format. Now, all creditors must use the same credit terminology and expressions of rates. At the application stage, disclosure of terms and conditions allows the consumer to compare credit offers from different financial institutions. At the acceptance stage, full disclosure of terms and conditions allows him, to adequately predict how much the credit arrangement will cost him and whether it is an appropriate financial move. Two of the most important terms regulated by this Act are finance charges and the annual percentage rate. Both of these terms may be difficult for a lay person to understand, may vary from lender to lender, and may greatly impact a consumer’s personal finances. The Act explains that the amounts of both the finance charges and the annual percentage rates need to be disclosed and may not vary significantly from the disclosed values. Th is is essential for the consumer’s understanding of the credit terms and ultimate repayment amount. @moneylife.in
SPORTS
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
Michael Clarke (Aus)
Eoin Morgan (Eng)
Angelo Mohammad Mathews (Sri) Nabi (Afg)
Mashrafe Brendon Preston Mortaza (Ban) McCullum (NZ) Mommsen (Scot)
FEB 14, SATURDAY 3:30 AM - New Zealand vs Sri Lanka 1st Match, Pool A at Hagley Oval, Christchurch 9:00 AM - Australia vs England 2nd Match, Pool A at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
FEB 23, MONDAY 3:30 AM - England vs Scotland 14th Match, Pool A at Hagley Oval, Christchurch FEB 24, TUESDAY 9:00 AM - West Indies vs Zimbabwe 15th Match, Pool B at Manuka Oval, Canberra
FEB 15, SUNDAY 6:30 AM - South Africa vs Zimbabwe 3rd Match, Pool B at Seddon Park, Hamilton 9:00 AM - India vs Pakistan 4th Match, Pool B at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
FEB 25, WEDNESDAY 9:00 AM - Ireland vs United Arab Emirates 16th Match, Pool B at The Gabba, Brisbane
FEB 16, MONDAY 3:30 AM - Ireland vs West Indies 5th Match, Pool B at Saxton Oval, Nelson FEB 17, TUESDAY 3:30 AM - New Zealand vs Scotland 6th Match, Pool A at University Oval, Dunedin FEB 18, WEDNESDAY 9:00 AM - Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 7th Match, Pool A at Manuka Oval, Canberra FEB 19, THURSDAY 3:30 AM - United Arab Emirates vs Zimbabwe 8th Match, Pool B at Saxton Oval, Nelson FEB 20, FRIDAY 6:30 AM - New Zealand vs England 9th Match, Pool A at Westpac Stadium, Wellington FEB 21, SATURDAY 3:30 AM - Pakistan vs West Indies 10th Match, Pool B at Hagley Oval, Christchurch 9:00 AM - Australia vs Bangladesh 11th Match, Pool A at The Gabba, Brisbane FEB 22, SUNDAY 3:30 AM - Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka 12th Match, Pool A at University Oval, Dunedin 9:00 AM - India vs South Africa 13th Match, Pool B at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
FEB 26, THURSDAY 3:30 AM - Afghanistan vs Scotland 17th Match, Pool A at University Oval, Dunedin 9:00 AM - Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka 18th Match, Pool A at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
MAR 05, THURSDAY 3:30 AM - Bangladesh vs Scotland 27th Match, Pool A at Saxton Oval, Nelson MAR 06, FRIDAY 12:00 PM - India vs West Indies 28th Match, Pool B at W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth MAR 07, SATURDAY 6:30 AM - Pakistan vs South Africa 29th Match, Pool B at Eden Park, Auckland 9:00 AM - Ireland vs Zimbabwe 30th Match, Pool B at Bellerive Oval, Hobart MAR 08, SUNDAY 3:30 AM - New Zealand vs Afghanistan 31st Match, Pool A at McLean Park, Napier 9:00 AM - Australia vs Sri Lanka 32nd Match, Pool A at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney MAR 09, MONDAY 9:00 AM - England vs Bangladesh 33rd Match, Pool A at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide MAR 10, TUESDAY 6:30 AM - India vs Ireland 34th Match, Pool B at Seddon Park, Hamilton
Eden Park (Auckland) Opened in - 1900 Capacity 50,000
Saxton Oval (Nelson) Opened in - 2009 Capacity – 5,000
Westpac Stadium (Wellington) Opened in - 1999 Capacity – 37,000
MAR 14, SATURDAY 6:30 AM - India vs Zimbabwe 39th Match, Pool B at Eden Park, Auckland 9:00 AM - Australia vs Scotland 40th Match, Pool A at Bellerive Oval, Hobart MAR 15, SUNDAY 3:30 AM - West Indies vs United Arab Emirates 41st Match, Pool B at McLean Park, Napier 9:00 AM - Ireland vs Pakistan 42nd Match, Pool B at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide MAR 18, WEDNESDAY 9:00 AM – A1 vs B4 1st Quarter-Final at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney MAR 19, THURSDAY 9:00 AM – A2 vs B3 2nd Quarter-Final at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne MAR 20, FRIDAY 9:00 AM – A3 vs B2 3rd Quarter-Final at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide MAR 21, SATURDAY 6:30 AM – A4 vs B1 4th Quarter-Final at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
Stadiums in Australia
World Cup Trivia At the first four World Cups, all players wore the traditional white uniform and red balls were used. At the World Cup in 1996, Australia and West Indies refused to play their matches against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka due to security concerns, causing both matches to be awarded to Sri Lanka by default. Also, Sri Lanka were awarded a victory for their semi-final by default against India because of crowd riots. The only man to have played both World Cup Football and World Cup Cricket is Viv Richards - Antigua at football and West Indies at cricket. There is another joining him in this unique double, Australian Ellyse Perry has appeared in both cricket (2009) and football World Cups (2011). Anderson Cummins is only the second player to represent two different teams in the World Cup (West Indies 1991-92 and Canada 2007). The other is Kepler Wessels who played for Australia in 1983 and for South Africa in 1991-92. Sri Lanka, who co-hosted the 1996 Cricket World Cup, was the first host nation to win the tournament.
MAR 13, FRIDAY 6:30 AM - New Zealand vs Bangladesh 37th Match, Pool A at Seddon Park, Hamilton 9:00 AM - Afghanistan vs England 38th Match, Pool A at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
2nd Semi-final MAR 26, THURSDAY - 9:00 AM
at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne
Seddon Park (Hamilton) Opened in - 1950 Capacity 30,000
University Oval (Dunedin) Opened in - 1920 Capacity – 6,000
MAR 12, THURSDAY 6:30 AM - South Africa vs United Arab Emirates 36th Match, Pool B at Westpac Stadium, Wellington
FINAL MAR 29, SUNDAY - 9:00 AM
Hagley Oval (Christchurch) Opened in - 1886 Capacity - 20,000
Elton Chigumbura (Zim)
MAR 04, WEDNESDAY 6:30 AM - Pakistan vs United Arab Emirates 25th Match, Pool B at McLean Park, Napier 12:00 PM - Australia vs Afghanistan 26th Match, Pool A at W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth
MAR 01, SUNDAY 3:30 AM - England vs Sri Lanka 22nd Match, Pool A at Westpac Stadium, Wellington 9:00 AM - Pakistan vs Zimbabwe 23rd Match, Pool B at The Gabba, Brisbane
Stadiums in New Zealand
Jason Holder (WI)
MAR 11, WEDNESDAY 9:00 AM - Sri Lanka vs Scotland 35th Match, Pool A at Bellerive Oval, Hobart
FEB 28, SATURDAY 6:30 AM - New Zealand vs Australia 20th Match, Pool A at Eden Park, Auckland 12:00 PM - India vs United Arab Emirates 21st Match, Pool B at W.A.C.A. Ground, Perth
at Eden Park, Auckland
Mohammad Tauqir (UAE)
MAR 03, TUESDAY 9:00 AM - Ireland vs South Africa 24th Match, Pool B at Manuka Oval, Canberra
FEB 27, FRIDAY 9:00 AM South Africa vs West Indies 19th Match, Pool B at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
1st Semi-final MAR 24, TUESDAY - 6:30 AM
McLean Park (Napier) Opened in - 1911 Capacity 22,500
William Misbah-ul-Haq AB de Villiers Porterfield (Ire) (Pak) (RSA)
MS Dhoni (Ind)
GROUP B
GROUP A
WORLD CUP 2015
Melbourne Cricket Ground (Melbourne) Opened in - 1854 Capacity – 1,00,000 Adelaide Oval (Adelaide) Opened in 1871 Capacity – 53,583
Manuka Oval (Canberra) Opened in - 1929 Capacity – 13,550
The Gabba (Brisbane) Opened in - 1895 Capacity – 42,000
Sydney Ground (Sydney) Opened in - 1854 Capacity – 48,000 W.A.C.A. Ground (Perth) Opened in - 1890 Capacity – 22,500
Bellerive Oval (Hobart) Opened in - 1914 Capacity – 20,000
SPORTS
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2015
PUNE
“ Playing at home is a very difficult situation, with the extra pressure and expectations. So go out of your way to embrace the fact you’re playing in front of your own crowd.” — Former Australian captain Allan Border
Signposts Basketball player Bhosale passes away
“ Much of the chat in the media has centred around the idea that the New Zealand team has momentum. However, for me that is the most over-used word in sport, and cricket in particular.” — Former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming
Kohli must bat at No 4
Despite his poor run of form, he can support troubled Indian captain and hold things together in World Cup 2015
PUNE: Former international basketball player Akshay Bhosale, 23, passed away after he suffered a cardiac arrest on Wednesday. He was doing his regular fitness session at the BMCC ground. He was studying management at Bharati Vidyapeeth. Bhosale had represented India at the U-19 School Games held in Vietnam in 2007. He had played various national tournaments and was also part of the Bharati Vidyapeeth University team at the all-India University matches held in Chennai.
By Chetan Narula In Perth, after India had lost their last tri-series match against England, skipper MS Dhoni sat in the press conference picking up the pieces. His team were still winless after three months on tour, and were faced with more questions than answers going into the 2015 ODI World Cup. P e r h a p s the biggest one pertained to Virat Kohli’s spot in the batting order. For the first time in the tri-series, he batted at his favoured position, number three. He didn’t last long, holing out in the deep as he went after Moeen Ali. On Sunday then, as India began their final run-in with a warm-up game against Australia, he again batted at the same spot. There was also similarity in the result, once more dismissed cheaply. Throughout this triseries and warm-up games, as for much of last year, the Indian team has been experimenting with its batting line-up. While it is necessary to do so, this obviously hasn’t helped Kohli at all. In his last six 50 overs outings then, he has scored 5, 18, 8, 3*, 4 and 9 – 47 runs at an average of 9.4 (that 3*
Pune to Kanyakumari cycle expedition PUNE: With a mission to promote cycling and spread awareness about reducing carbon footprint, a few cycle enthusiasts from the city will start their Pune to Kanyakumari expedition from February 21. The expedition ‘Ride for Peace’ will cover 1,650kms and pass through Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Veteran cyclist Upendra Shevde will lead the group of 10 cyclists, including Vedang Shevde, Anand Ghatpande, Surhud Ghatpande, Adwait Joshi, Omkar Brahme, Nandu Apte, Umesh Pawar, Chandrashekhar Iti and Ashish Phadnis. The route of the expedition is Pune - Karad - Hubli - Ankola - Surathkal Payyanur - Kozikode - Kochi - Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari.
coming in the washed-off match against Australia in Sydney) – three times each at number three and four. Coming on the back of his four hundreds in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, this isn’t the form the Indian team management would have liked Kohli to take into the all-important World Cup. Even so, they have only themselves to blame for it as the number three or number four debate has crept in. As such, there is little difference in the mannerism with which Kohli bats at number three or four. The Jaipur blast against Australia, wherein he scored 100* off just 52 balls with consummate ease at number three, comes to mind instantly. On the one side, there are those who love to watch him bat at number three. Kohli himself prefers to bat there, a spot that allows him to dictate terms to the opposition, as he has said many times. On the other side, well, it’s all about where the team needs him to bat. And this Indian think-tank needs Kohli to bat out the last thirty overs, helping out the lower-middle order in the death overs. It is easy to understand the first argument. Kohli is compared with Sir Vivian Richards and Ricky Ponting. On the evidence so far, sure, he seems to be in the same class as them. So let him bat at three, let him get out on the park early, you need the best batsman to bat as many overs as possible. While it is all very valid, why stop at number three then? Why shouldn’t Kohli open the innings if he is to bat maximum number of overs in an Indian ODI innings? After all, he is also compared with Sachin Tendulkar. It was in the 1999 World Cup, when captain Mohammad Azharuddin and coach Anshuman Gaekwad decided to play Tendulkar at number four in certain matches. In 2003, Sourav Ganguly and
John Wright resisted this urge and moved him back to the opening spot, after he had batted at number four in the ODI series in New Zealand just before the World Cup began in South Africa. Then in 2007, Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell went the other way again, and Tendulkar was back at number four. If India’s – and Tendulkar’s – performances in these three World Cups are seen, the results speak for themselves, and favour the ‘best batsman should bat maximum overs’ argument. But there is a big difference with the current situation. In both 1999 and 2007, India had a settled batting line-up that the team management thought would revolve around Tendulkar at number four. Now fit, he has got a hundred against Afghanistan, but will inconsistency creep in again when faced with better bowling attacks? Meanwhile, as good as he is, Rahane has shown over the last year that he is illequipped to handle the number four responsibility and must bat higher up the order. The same goes for Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina, with both tried at the same spot, and both failed to grab the chance. As such then, Dhoni is struggling to hold the middle order himself especially since he has to play five full-time bowlers to negate the use of two new balls and changes in fielding rules. Despite his poor run of form therefore, Kohli must bat at number four, to support his troubled captain and hold things together. He needs to rest the weak middle-order on his shoulders, weigh anchor in the middle overs, and then go ballistic in the power-play/death overs. He is certainly able and conceivably the only batsman in this side who can do that.
The results speak for themselves, and favour the ‘best batsman should bat maximum overs’ argument
By special arrangement with Firstpost.com
Elevate Sports, Pride win titles
TGS News Service @TGSWeekly PUNE: Elevate Sports boys scripted a 41-31 win over D Mark team in the final of Pride 4X4 under-13 Pune Basketball School League held recently at Modern High School ground, Shivajinagar. In the girls’ segment, Pride defeated Apratim Group 27-18 to lay their hands on the trophy. In the boys’ final, Elevate Sports were leading 22-11 at the end of the second quarter. Even after switching the side, they continued their domination and maintained a clear lead till the final whistle. It was Chinmay Mule, who emerged as the highest scorer in the final with 28 points and was supported by Pritviraj Gaiwal who chipped in with nine points.
On the other hand, Yashraj Waghmare (15 pts) and Atharva Amrule (11 pts) of D Mark team put their best efforts in reducing the margin. In the girls’ segment, Bhargavi Srinivasan played a key role for Pride team in beating Apratim Group in the final. Bhargavi with great energy in the first quarter and led the team by scoring 17 points in the match. Apratim Group’s Sanskruti Pawar (8 pts) and Triveni Bane (6 pts) proved no match against Bhargavi’s onslaught. Bhargavi was later adjudged as the player of the tournament. Awards Girls: Player of the tournament: Bhargavi Srinivasan (Pride), star
The Golden Sparrow on Saturday (TGS) had taken initiative in this tournament and had sponsored three teams. TGS Shooting Stars and TGS Growlers, featured in the boys’ category, while TGS Thunderbolt made a debut in the girls’ segment. During the group matches, Growlers started well by beating D Mark team 20-18. Ojas Ambedkar and Aryan Raskar were impressive from the team. On the other hand, TGS Shooting Stars went down with narrow margin (15-17) against Chintan Group. Meanwhile, TGS Thunderbolt also failed to reach the quarterfinals, but their Anagha More was awarded as the star defender of the tournament.
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Ashish Phadnis
The players of Apratim Group (orange) and Helan O Grady in action
TGS teams win hearts
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Come and experience the best 4x4s Get behind the wheel on special tracks! PRE REGISTER ON WWW.OFFROAD.EVO.IN
FEB 27-MARCH 1, 2015 at Amanora Town Centre, PUNE
rebounder: Saee Jagtap (Jk Group), star controller: Sanskruti Pawar (Apratim), star defender: Anagha More (TGS Thunderbolt), star drive in: Ruhi Raisoni (Helan O Grady), star shooter: Triveni Bane (Apratim) Boys: Player of the tournament: Pritish Kokate (Elevate Sports), star rebounder: Kunal Chahane (Chintan Group), star controller: Advait Chalke (DY Patil), star defender: Gautam Kulkarni (Elevate Sports), star drive in: Yashraj Wagmare (D Mark), star shooter: Shreyas Shinde (Chintan Group) tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
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TGS Thunderbolt team at the prize distribution ceremony
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The teams prove supreme in the under-13 basketball league; TGS teams make a debut
TGS Growlers pose for shutterbugs before the match
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