The Weekly Observer Issue 9

The Weekly

Observer Volume 14 | Issue 9 BRIEFS

Drunkards, drug addicts attend school at night Drunkards and drug addicts are causing trouble to residents of Mangamanapalya at night.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Un-appy with India, trio finds success in US Darshan D Rane Aparna Singh The three founders of Bookpad, the first Indian tech start-up to be bought by Yahoo, say India is not start-up friendly.

Page 2 ‘Lollipop men’ scheme failing A road safety program for school children lacks trained personnel and well-equipped recruits as it completes a year in September 2014.

Page 3 Infant death scheme in a state A health scheme is failing in the city as the government is not creating awareness and mothers are unaware it exists.

Page 4

Niketh Sabbaneni, 24, and Aditya Bandi, 23 were interns for Amazon and Ashwik Reddy, 21, was a student of IIT-Guwahati when they started an app project in May 2012.

The young friends were frustrated that various documents on the web re-

quired different programmes to open them.

They created Docspad, an application that can open any document.

Karnataka’s government has held up the Bookpad deal, valued at $8.9million, as a model of state start-up success.

But Niketh said, “India is not an ideal place for start-up companies and especially a tech start-up. We had to go knocking on a lot of doors for the investments. We initially invested our own money and later, as we hired people, we invited their contribution as well.

“The technical start-ups in India are not that investment friendly and many in-

vestors in India do not

finding the investors and

Niketh Sabbaneni, Aditya Bandi and Ashwik Reddy quickly accept the idea of SAS, Software as a Service products,” he added.

The trio had problem focusing on the project as

onvincing them to fund the project was not an easy task. “It was a real issue as finding the investors.”

(Continued on pg 4)

Sand mining leaving locals in drought Elizabeth Mani Illegal sand mining at Ravgudlu mountains in Kanakapura for the last ten years has left residents in distress.

There are 150 families living around the mountain as well as an NGO called Vishwalaya.

Vinuth Krishna manager of Vishwalaya said, “We are not getting water as sand mining has affected the ground water level; government has made no effort to stop sand mining.”

“It's not just the Ashram which is affected, the whole village is in danger,” he added. Meera, resident of the village, said, “We had a

Illegal sand mining at Kanakapura pond in the village which used to be full of water, now it has no water.”

Subramani, another resident, said, “Our wells and bore wells are dry because of sand mining.”

Mr. Ashok Narayan from Space Geo Tech said "sand mining is very dangerous for the environment

as it reduces the groundwater level."

Rakesh, 23, said, “We start digging the sand at 8 am, in the afternoon we filter the sand; this goes on till 9.30 p.m.”

“If police or media come to know that, we are mining for sand illegally, we wouldn’t be able to work,”

he added.

Krishna Murthy, driver of a sand-transport truck said, “I have been working in the sand mining business for eight years now , I get Rs 300 for one truck-load; in a day we transport five to six loads.”

Kanakapura police says that they have fined 20 truckloads of sand on September 22; however they were unable to get details of people involved.

Mr Venkatesh, the writer for Kanakapura police station who is currently investigating illegal sand mining cases said "22 cases have already been filed, 126 vehicles were seized and were fined Rs. 25,000 each."

2

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Weekly Observer

Drunkards,drug addicts attend school at night Beem Nayak, ASI of

Nikhil M Babu

Bommanahalli Police StaDrunkards and drug ad-

Plug pulled on power cut app?

Natasha Singh

tion said, “There is no

The mobile application

dicts are causing trouble

problem in that area and we

for power-cut notification

to residents of Manga-

haven’t

by Bangalore Electricity

manapalya at night.

plaint.”

"They followed me as I was walking alone and tried

received

com-

Mustaq, a resident, said,

Johnson High School, Mangamanapalya

"To tackle the issue school

to snatch my chain but I

Supply Company has yet to be launched.

The application, Fault

authorities installed a gate

Management System (FMS)

somehow escaped," said

call from the residents at

ers had destroyed a statue

last month and now people

was a novel idea announced

Geetha a resident.

night but they escaped,”

of Mother Mary and bro-

even stand in front of the

by Bescom on January 31 to

said Kumar, PC of Bom-

ken the windows of the

gate and drink."

manahalli Police Station.

school last month but the

Residents complained that Johnson High School

"I have seen men bring-

keep customers informed about power cuts.

in this area has no security

"One day my roommate

police didn’t register the

ing girls to the school at

The initiative was taken

and people trespass at night

reached late, these guys

complaint

night for obvious reasons,"

as power cuts were rising

and get intoxicated.

taunted her and she was

blamed us.

said Prasanth, a resident.

and complaints to Bescom

“We know that people smoke ganja and drink

crying," said Sneha, who stays next to the school.

there. Two months ago we

Sonu Jerad, proprietor

went there after getting a

of the school, said: “Intrud-

and

instead

“After weekends we

The residents said de-

often find liquor bottles in-

spite all this the police still

were increasing.

FMS was supposed to

side the school campus,” he

don’t regularly patrol the

be available from July1 and

added.

area at night.

easily downloadable on An-

Students wash dishes at govt school

droid phones.

Once downloaded, the user could log in with their electricity meter number.

Divya Kishore School students have to

ministers. And we have to

helpers are provided by the

The app would release in-

manage things on our

NGOs and the organiza-

formation through SMS.

wash the utensils in

own,” said Rithvick, a stu-

tions themselves which

The vigilance officer,

which they are provided

dent of 5th grade.

provide food to these

Ashit Ullah Khan, said,

schools,” he added.

"When it comes to techni-

mid-day meal.

“It is difficult for us to

“We have a helper but

do the chores. But we can’t

most of the time he doesn't

complain

because

our

According to Mr. Ma-

cal stuff, we can't always

hesh, Relationship Man-

stick to dates that are an-

come, so we have found an

teachers have instructed us

ager, The Akshaya Patra

nounced. There are always

alternative for that. We ap-

to do that,” he added.

Foundation, that provides

technical difficulties in-

However, according to

food to more than 40 per-

volved."

Mr. Gangadhar, Senior As-

cent schools in Bangalore

Prabhakar Rajendra, a

sistant Director, Mid-day

including GHP School,

resident of HBR Layout,

point any two students

Rithivick, a student

from any class as food minister for a week and then it

Higher Primary School,

becomes their responsibility

Hanumanthangra have to

meal scheme, “Utensils are

Hanumanthanagara, “We

who takes tuitions at home,

to look after the dishes,”

lift buckets full of 5-10

not supposed to be cleaned

are not responsible for the

said, “The app would have

said the headmistress of

liters hot milk. And also

by the students there. It is

helpers. Our responsibility

helped me schedule the

Government Higher Pri-

they are forced to wash the

the work of the helper.”

is to provide food only.”

classes accordingly. But I

mary school, Hanumanth-

utensils.

“Helpers are appointed

gave up waiting and bought

“We don’t have any

that per 50 students, there

by the schools only on con-

a generator two months

primary

choice. For this week

should be a helper. But as

tract basis. They are not our

back so that the classes

Government

Vishwa and I are the food

per my knowledge these

employees,” he added.

aren’t disrupted.”

nagar.

Students of classes of

“There is a provision

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Weekly Observer

3

‘Lollipop men’ scheme lacks staff Punita Maheshwari A road safety program for school children lacks trained staff and wellequipped recruits one year after its launch.

Lollipop man was launched in September last year to avoid accidents and ensure child safety outside schools during peak hours.

It is a concept taken from U.S, U.K and Australia.

Out of 5,000 schools in Bangalore only 174 schools have registered under this scheme. One member from a school is trained by Traffic Training Institute for 15 days and then placed outside schools during peak traffic hours.

Traffic training institute is ready to train more than the number they receive currently. Viresh, Sub- In-

Trainer displaying the uniform. Courtesy-TTI spector at the training institute, said, “It is always two way traffic, so we at least need two lollipop man controlling the traffic .Our trainers are ready to train more volunteers, but the initiative lacks on the part of the schools.”

When asked about the money invested in the scheme, M.G Nagendra Kumar, Assistant Commissioner of Police Traffic Training Institute (TTI), said, “It is an independent venture by traffic police,

and expenses are covered under regular salaries itself.

It is a successful scheme as no accidents have been reported as of now, and we are in the first phase of training with four complete sessions.”

The institute has two sessions per year in which approximately 40-50 people undergo the training . So, far 180 trainees are authorized to be lollipop men.

Lollypop man scheme was launched to minimize the burden on the traffic

police.

“We cannot trust lollipop men solely for the traffic management, we have to leave our traffic spot to regulate traffic outside schools when the classes are dismissed,” said, a traffic police officer controlling traffic outside St. Mary Covent School.

The training institute has largely seen private schools sending their attendees for training while government schools lack funds and staff to recruit lollypop men.

The financial burden is borne by independent schools for the total investment.

“Private schools receive high amounts of donation.

Government schools cannot afford this concept,” Sneha Shiromani, parent of a child studying in Govern-

ment High School in Bhuvneshwari Nagar.

Vice-Principal, St. Joseph High School, Mariam Angelo, said, “We have sent out our man to the training but he is usually occupied in his main job.

We prefer our collaboration with a private security company above the lollipop man.”

B. Pradip, lollipop man, APH school, said, “I am a physical education teacher, if I get time, I go for half an hour to regulate the traffic as well.”

Steven, a lollypop man, said, “I was given only one day training where they used only visuals to train me. I sometimes go on the lollypop man duty if I get time apart from my regular job for which I am paid for.”

Software employees unpaid after firms split Apoorva Choubey Employees of Axis Software Private Limited claim that they have not been paid for nine months.

The workers claim that the company after breaking

its collaboration with the State Bank of India fired many workers in cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata and Bhopal.

Sanjit Kumar Singh, from Delhi, said: "I have not been paid the salary for

Somesh, worker from Bhopal

nine months. My appointment letter was online and so was the payment. I have been emailing Abhay, CEO of the company and contacting him since I was made to leave the job but he does not reply."

He added, "There are 10 workers in Chandigarh who have not been paid and were given proper appointment letters at the start.”

Somesh, from Bhopal, said: "They had to pay me Rs.11,000 per month. I have to be paid for seven months' work.

“There were four other workers under me in Indore and Bhopal who have not been paid either,” he added.

Ajay, Head of north zone, said, “I contacted

them via email and phone but only got replies that they would pay us the next month for sure.”

Sanjit Singh, Delhi An employee in Bangalore said, “I was not paid for five months but they are paying me now.”

Maneesh Kumar, of Hyderabad, said: “I was not paid the provident fund for almost 3 years work..

“The fund was deducted as part of company policy but they did not pay any of it after I was made to leave the company,” he added.

Mr. Makran Apte, Director of the company, said, “The company intimated the workers two months before firing them. We paid them their full salary till they were working for us.

We fired them because we did not need that many workers after the term of bond with the SBI got over.

“In fact in Delhi and Bhopal, we paid them four months extra salary as well.

The workers are just complaining and lying about not getting paid because they got fired,” he added.

4

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The Weekly Observer

Infant death scheme not working in the city - NGO’s

tor of Community Health Cell (CHC) at Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action (SOCHARA), said, “NHRM needs to work more towards the issue of awareness. It has to involve media as much as possible to create awareness about such schemes and government fails to do so.”

SOCHARA runs the fel-

lowship program that trains the people to create awareness about the hygiene issues and schemes that government launch.

“In the past 10 years government is making efforts for the awareness by investing in the advertisements but that clearly are not enough.

ASHA advisory group and SOCHARA have asked NHRM to involve media to reach out to people. For other schemes it is doing something in the field of advertising but for JSSK, especially in Bangalore there is no such initiative,” she added.

JSSK clearly states that a mother-to-be will be treated cost free and the medicines will also be provided free of cost. It also provides mothers with transport facility from their houses to hospitals.

“At the time of the birth I came by the auto to the hospital. I did not know that there is a program that provides the mothers with the transport, “said Lalitha Kumari, mother of a threemonth-old boy who came to Victoria Hospital to get him treated for fever.

Dr. Sarala Sabhapathy, Associate Professor of Pediatric in Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital said: “There are many reasons for the increase in IMR. The deaths in newborns are not often seen but infants are seen suffering from respiratory infection.

The other reason is that many children are not vaccinated properly at the proper time. The parents think that the vaccinations will cost them and also lack of awareness is one problem that is faced in such issues.”

Services Companies, he said, ”It helps in nurturing ealy stage companies and they help with mentorship, connect to customers and investors. They also help in partnerships and networking.”

Before starting up the project Niketh and Aditya were working in Amazon.in

as interns and Ashwik was studying in IIT-Guwahati.

He quit his job in July 2013 to focus completely on the product.

Niketh, from Hyderabad and Aditya, from Indore,.

They are currently living in Indiranagar in a rented apartment. “All three of us will be moving to Yahoo,” he said. They said that they were confident about the project but they did not know it would be this big and this early in their careers. He also said that there is much more to come for all of them in future.

“The support and patience of the family and

faculties has paid off.

The Silicon Valley is where a lot of action is happening at the moment and we are looking forward to hit on the competition,.” he said.

He declined to comemnt when asked if he and his fellow directors were now millionaires.

He said that they were very surprised and excited about their success but there is still a long way to go and this was just the beginnig of their careers.

“The competition is tough out there as techies despite low investment issues are coming up. ”

Aparna Singh A health scheme is failing in the city because only a few people know it exists.

The Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram scheme by government aims to arrest the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in the state.

It has failed as the IMR has been rising in Karnataka.

The lack of awareness towards the program is said to be one of the reasons for this increase.

IMR in 2011 was 38, in 2012 it went to 33. In 2013, it was 28. In 2014, the number of deaths is 27 till date which is projected to reach 36 by the end of the year, hence the number will increase from the last year.

Salma Shakil, 28, mother of a three-year-old boy and a month-and-a-half old daughter said: “I do not know about any such

Victoria Goverment Hospital scheme. I gave birth to my daughter on August 5 in Victoria. The medicines were cost free but I have never attended any workshop and also never heard of it.”

The government has held a few workshops in schools to educate the women and the families about the scheme and its benefits. Dr. Thelma Narayana, co-initia-

Continued from pg 1 “Initially, the idea started off completely differently.

It was basically a Business to Customer sort of a thing where it had more to do with how we can read documents or books any time on devices like phone, laptop and other devices,“ he said.

Niketh said that the Karnataka government has opened start-up centres called Start-up Warehouse with the help of Nasscom.

This is a centre of innovation for start-ups and it was of huge benefit to the venture.

The government, as he

said, was helpful with the venture.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) also helped them with mentoring and training.

When asked about the role of the National Association of Software and

OBSERVER Team: Editor - Divya Kishore, Chief Sub-Editor - Apoorva Choubey, News Editor - Punita Maheshwari, News Desk -Agnivesh Harshan, Sub Editors - Asmita Kundu, Devdatta Sukhdev,Elizabeth Mani,Designer -Natasha Singh, Layout Desk - Pulaha Roy, Aadhira Anandh,Photo Editor - Nikhil M Babu , Proof Reader - Darshan D Rane,Aparna singh, Reporters - Kimaya Varude,Nikunj Ohiri