We'll miss the Maruti 800

Discontinuing manufacture of the car of the people will leave behind many memories, and a tinge of sadness

- i, "' ,.' ii -;.

(... ' about it to 6ll vo lumes.

BY AVI CHANDIOK

J"\1.amti

'Papa, mere ktJ khareed do na' 'Ha heti, kal rhalenge'.

This conversation won't be happening anymore, as :tvfaruti Suzu ki has taken rhe d ecision to stop producing the original, muchloved Maruti 800 Ir was cheap, affordable, the young loved it and the o l d felt in control driving k If it broke down, i t was light e n ough to push along, and alm ost any wor kshop in the country conld r epair it. Ir was miserly wi th petrol and was known to carry a whole haraat, well almost!

'So what is co111t11011 betUJeen a Mamti and a haemorrhoid problem?'

'E11e1yone gets it sooner or later

The reality is that almost ever yone did have a Marnti, and along the resi dential streets of Delhi it seemed as if their num bers grew overnigh t , like mush room s in the dark. The Marnti see.med to be a part of the family and enough jokes were to ld

Bur it was not always such lighth earred fun Going back in his rory we might recall the dour days of the stagnant Indian economy, inAuenced by th e Soviet style 5- ye ar p lans w h en the only cars on the s treets were the Fi at 1 100 a nd the Hindustan Ambassador from Ital y and England, respectively. These mode ls, already thrown o n to the scrap heaps in their countries of origin , were introduced into India in the 1950s a n d 60s and for decades, wer e the only ve h icles to be seen dmgging around the streets. Su rely, th.i s d iscomaging state of affairs could n ot continue forever.

T he public was dise n c hanted.

The cars available were expensive, one had to join a wai ting list when p lacing a n o rder, and the n accept whatever colour of car tha t was offered 1 ew cars we re already o u t- dared, did n ot h ave p leasing designs, bad little character and were basic in the extreme. The public was being taken for a ride! Th en along came the swashbuckli ng Sanjay Gandhi, son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This youn g man had tal{en to tiol{ering w ith moto r vehicles in his younger days and to consolidate h.is learning, he served a n apprenticeshi p with Rolls Royce in England. He came back to India with a vi sio n of producing an ind igenously mad e car from scratch that would be affo rdab le for the masses. The favourite son was soon g iven a licence to produce an automobile.

'The na m e 'l\faruti' was chosen and Gandhi set about making t he automobile he had visualised. Regrettably, h is effo rts ca.me ro na ught as he und er estimated the comp lexity invol ved in produc ing a road -worthy machine.

1n Mrs Gandhi's se cond term as PM she resurrected her son's idea wh.ic h cleaclj' had a lot going for it, and set about ma ki ng ir a reality, in earnest. The rest is history!

1n 2012, the 1 0 millionth Maruti was sold. Of the series, about 2.8 million Maruti 800s were sol d in all, and dus car has bee n exported to many coumries Even the K athmandu taxi fleer i s almost entirely made up of these cars. The introduction of th e M aruti SOU was more than just anothe r car fro m which to choose. Tr was a b reath of fresh air. The colllltry was being released from the sh ackles of the Fiat and A mbassador Th ere was now a choice, a more modern , up -rodate des ign and e n gi n e. W h e n a country is used ro carrying a family of fom on a s cooter, the tiny 5-door hatchback felt more like a limousine. Ar a price of around two -thirds of diat of a F iat, the demand for this car simply skyroc keted!

After using it for a few yea rs, m y aunt wanted to sell her "Nfa ru ti 800 ''You can't do that, we'll have it", said h er children. So th e 800 went down the lin e from p are n ts to children and onro friends Like a pet, one just d oesn't bave tl-ie heart ro get rid o f i t

But the tim e has co m e! 1vfaruti

Suzuki announced that they are clisconti m t.ing production of t he ir original Maruti 800. Maybe this should be a time of sadness in India. Now w i th a choice of almost 1 00 cars, the 800 has had its time and goes out qui etly.

B u t surely it will be the one remembered, wh en many other model s have faded from memor y.

India wants BIMSTEC to focus on five key areas

India recently outlined five focus areas for the seven - nation BTh1STEC ro realise tli e full p ote nciaJ of tlie regional grouping o f 2.5 billion people with a combined output of $2.5 trillion.

"In today's inter-linked and interdependent world, commonalities between us provide oppornmities to enhance our cooperation", Foreign 1'1in.ister Salman Khurshid cold the ministerial meeclng a head o f the summit in. ay Pyi Taw in Myanmar.

"BIMSTEC is privileged to have a full a nd active membership committed co its priorities", said the foreign minister, who is part o f the delega tion accompanying Prin1e N1inister Manmohan Singh for tl1e su mmit in Myanmar capital.

The fore.ii,m minister highlighted five focus area s for BlMSTEC, die Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical a nd Economic Cooperntion comprifilllg Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan:

• Providing connectivity for sea1nless m ovement between India's northeast, Myanmar and Thailand on o ne side and w:ith Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal o n tl1e other.

• Facilitating economic development as a strategic imperative and promoting techno logy and inn ovati on, while providing better livelihood to the people of tl1e regio n.

• Addressing energy secm ity concerns b lessed with ruitural resources wiili cooperatio n in the use of gas, hydropower, renewable energy sources and gr id interconnections for mumal benefit.

• Working co address ilie security co ncerns of the difficult neighbourhood chat has a high incidence of terrorism and other transnalional crimes.

• E ncouraging people- to- people Links, which is by far tlie srrongesc link in bringing rogeilier the culmral experiences of the seven councr.ies by promoting tourism and youtl1 exchanges, among otl1er facets. Khu.rshid said India was keen to ruake this happen.

Kashmir first state to get new child health program

Jammu and Kashmir recently became the first state in India to lam1ch the Rashtriya Bal Swastl1ya Karyakaram (RBSK) Project Swasthya Slate.

Health and Family Welfare Minister

Ghulam Nabi Azad and New and Renewable Energy 11iniscer Farooq Abdullah inaugurated a 220- be.d super-s peciality hospital in Jammu, besides launching me RBSK Project Swasthya Slate and the 102 referral servic e under the Nacional Rural Health Mission (NRH1\,f)

Co ngratulating tl1e people for getting iliis s pecial health care institution, Azad s aid he \Vas optimistic about the s uccessful functioning of this prestigious centre w hich will play a key role in perking up medicate facilities in the state

He. said tl1e focus was on extending optimum relief to t he people and thu s save diem from waiting for montl1s in ocher states for special heal th care se rv ices.

"\Ve have not only given new dimensions m the health sector, bur all development fields have w itnessed a discernible change in tli e. past 4 -5 years", he said.

He said o ne more medical college has been s anctioned for Rajouri discr.ict, tlierefore raising the mtal number of newl y-sanctio ned medical colleges in the state to five.

Azad sai d the union govern ment bas given the nod to 75 new cancer instimtions in the countr y compared co only one such centre in tl1e last 65 ye ars.

On the shortage of medical faculty jn the state , Azad asked the sta re government co enhance the retirement age of doctors so mac the healili secmr does n o r suffer for want of adequate staff.

Corruption, Lokpa l to be key poll issues: Google survey

Corruption and Lokpal are lik ely to be the. two decisive factors on which young people are going to vote in the L ok Sabha polls, search engine Google said recently in New Delhi.

J\frer a three- month smvey, Google concluded that tl1 e Lok Sabha election s have evoked unprecedented interest among online users who want to kn ow abour the various issues io Aue ncing national politics.

"These. elections are tui.ique because for me first time, it's a clash o f personalities as much as it is about ideology and party affiliations. The battle lines are draw n primarily between Narendra Modi o n tbe o n e hand and Rahul Gandhi on the othe r", the survey said.

"Tbese elections are also unigue because of the Lmprecedenced in terest that's been generated online, the war for votes is being fought online as much as it's being fought on tl1e streets and in main stream media".

The survey said ilie Adarsh Society s cam follmved by tl1e coal scam and t h e 2G scam were among the highest number of online searches.

Mukesh Ambani richest I ndian as Bill Gates returns to top

Mukesh A mbani again emerged as t he richest among ten Indians in t he Forbes annual list of a record 1,645 billionaires with an aggregate ne t worth of $6.41 trillion, up fro m $5.4 trillion la.st year

Ambani, with a net worth of $18.6 billion was ranked 40th as i\1icrosoft founder B ill Gates was back on mp as the world's richest person o n Forbes' 28th annual ranking of the world's billionaires after a four- year hiatus. His younger brother An.ii 1\mbani was v alu ed with a net worth of $5 billion.

Gates ha s copped tlie list for 15 of the last 20 years With a net worili of $76 billion, up from $67 billion in 2013, tl1e tech n ology guru moved up o n th e list by o ne sloe di.is yea r.

Th e Reliance industries chairman was followed among the. Indians by steel tycoon Lakshmj Mfrcal (No 52) witl1 $ 16.7 billion in the second place and Wipro's Azim Premji (No 6 1) wi th $ 15 3 billio n in ilie third p lace.

Ocher fodiaos on me lisc were: Dilip Shanghvi (No 82) $ 12.8 billion, Shiv adar (l02) $11.1 billion, Kumar Birla (19 1) $7 billion, Sunil J\,Uttal & family (244), $5.7 billion, An.ii Ambani $5 billion, Mkky Jagciani (28 1) $5 billion and Savitr.i Jindal & family (295) $4 9 billion.

Gares bear o u t te lecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu (2), who had maintained the number one spot for the past four consecutive years but lost $1 billion of his net worm, now valued at $72 billion, according co a Forbes m edia r elease.

Spanish clothing retailer Aman cio Ortega (best known for the Zara fashion chain) maintain ed hi s number 3 spot fro m 2013, but increased his n et worth $7 billion for a total of $64 billjon, ahead o f \X'larren Buffett (No 4) with a net wo rth of $58.2 billion.

While Google c o-founder Sergey Brin (19) made ir into tl1e mp 20, tl1e biggest nee worth gain er was Face.book's Mark Zuckerberg (21), who more tl1an doubled his fortune from S 13.3 billion in 2013 to $28.5 billion.

The company's COO, Sheryl Sandberg (1 ,540), made the Ii st for tl1e first rime.

Thanks to tl1e tech boom and stron g eguity markets, d1e US led w iili tl1e greatest munber of billionaires, witl1 492, foUowed by China w ith 152 and Russia ,viili 'I 11, Forbes said

Regionally, Europe b oasted the most billionaires omside of the US, with 468 billionaires, followed by Asia- Pacific wiili 444.

Now, Geographical Indication rights for'Tirupati laddu'

Tirumala T irnpati Devastl1anam (JTD), which runs tlie affairs of the richest Hindu temple, is enforcing Geogrnphical Indicatio n (GI) r ights for its famous 'Tirupaci laddu'.

The Office of the Reg istrar of Patents, T rademarks and Geographical Indication s, fodia has already awarded the statuR to Tirupati laddu, the fan1ed sweet given to million.<; of pilgrims as 'prasadan1' or sacred offering by Tirumala temple.

TTD had filed an application for GI to safeguard its i me.Uecmal property. The GI registratio n was facilitated by Confederation of Indian Industry's Andhra Pradesh Techno logy Developmen t and Promotion Ce ntre (APTDq, said a statement in H yderabad recently.

APTDC, ilirough its network partners, brought o ur the fact that a few entities from small time miscreants to large well known sweet outlets have been selling 'laddus ' with names similar to 'Tirupati laddu'.

Th e JYladras High Court in D e cen1ber last year had restrained a sweet scall in Chennai from selling 'laddus' by using the brand name 'Tirupati ladclu'.

The 1TD bad argued that ~rirupati laddu' has i ts own sanctity as it is offered at tl1e feet of Lord Venketeshwara before being made available to devotees

The ladd11, made £tom flour, sugar, ghee, o il , cardamom and dry fruits is sought after by those vis.icin g the temple. The temple authorities prepare around SO million 'laddus' every year.

ITD, \vhich last week approved an arumal budget of Rs.2,401 crore for 2014- 15, has projected revenue of Rs.190 crore from sale of 'prasadarn'.

Agreement si~ned to kickstart Delhi -Mumbai Industrial Corridor

Tbe i\1fabarasbcra government recentl y s igned the state support agreement and shareholders' agreement for the first phase of the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai Industria l Corridor which aims to create around 3.80 million jobs in the state.

The mega-infrastrucnLre project, whid1 will generate industrial output by Rs.20 lakh c.rore by 2042, will cover 26 percent of the state's population in eight districts - Thane, Raigad, Pune, Dhu!e, Nandurbar, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Aurangabad.

Giving details in Mumbai, Chief Minister

P rirhviraj Chavan said tlrnt four major industrial clusters in engineering, food parks, textile, printing and construction will come up with provisions for regional -level roads, open spaces, public utilities, etc , wh ich have tl1e potential to make l\faharashtra a \VOrld leader in manufacn1ring.

Aimed to be developed in l:\vo phases, the mega -infrasmLcture project's first phase will focus on development of the ShendreBidkin Industrial City and an exhibition-cumconvention centre in Autangabad, a MultiModal Logistics Park at Karmad and a water supplr scheme in Shendre.

The Shendre-Bidkin Industrial area will be spread over 84 square km of which 32 square km will be developed in Phase I with ilie projected industrial activities to create around 500,000 jobs and an investment of Rs.17,3 I9 crore.

In the second phase, Chavan said tl1at projects will include tl1e Dighi Port Industrial area, Dhule Mega lndusccial Park, Nash.ikSinnar-lgatpuri Investment Region and a Multi- Modal Logistics Park.

"l\faharashtra's contribution would be in the form of providing laud for the projects with 51 percent stake, while the centre's co ntribution would be to the mne of Rs.3,000 c.rore for each of the township p rojects. The rest will come from a tie- up with Japan International Cooperation Agenci', Chavan told media persons after the signing ceremony.

The state government and the DMIC Trnst have formed the joint venmre for developing all these projects over che next nearly iliree decades, envisaged m1der the National Manufacmring Policy-2013 which aims to enhance the share of manufacnu:i.ng seccor in DGP growth from 16 percent to 25 percent in a decade and create 100 million new jobs

Besides DMIC, the central government has alteady aru1ouoced J\mritsar-Kolkata

Industrial Corridor project with the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor as i ts backbone, the Cheonai -Bangalore Industrial Corridor and the Bangalore-Mw11bai Economic Corridor.

Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and state Industry Min ister Narayan Rane were also present ar the signing.

Everest climbers will be asked to bring down waste

In a bid to clean Mt. Everest of waste accumulated over decades of d i mb ing, the Nepal government has introduced a new provision, effective as of d1e coming spring season , where every climber will have to bring down at least eight kg of garbage to base camp while returning from the expedition, an official said recently in Kathmandu.

"Each clinlber will have to return with a miniumm of eighc kilograms of solid waste from the coming spring and everyone will have to abide by chis condition", Madhusudan Butlakoti, joint secretary in Nepal's tourism ministi-y, to ld Xinhua over phone

Though the l epal government has always sought that climbers to the world's highest peak come down with some solid waste, this is the first rime the government has stipulated the minimum amount of waste it wants to be brought down.

The tourism ministry announced in the tl1ird week of February the setting up of a contact office at the base camp of Mr. Everest to ensure the safety of climbers The contact office will also have personnel o f tbe Sagarmarba Pollution Commi nee (SPCC).

"The mountaineer will have to hand over the waste he/she carries back from Everest to the SPCC", said Burlakoti adding that this would "not only help make the peak clean but also help to preserve tl1e glory of Nepal".

The SPCC will men dispose the disposable waste and bring the non-d isposable waste to Kathmandu and hand it over to the Kathmandu Metropoli tan Office for further treatment.

Previous!)', climbers were asked to hand over disposable garbage at SPCC while carr)~ng non-disposable waste all the way to Kathmandu and g ive it to ilie Kathmandu Metropolitan Office.

Burlakoti said the campaign will be launched on a trial basis.

"lf it succeeds, we w ill prepare a legislation to further the campaign and e..xpand i t to o ther mow1taias", he said.

According to government statistics, aro1md 450 climbers from all over the world scale d1e world's highest peak every year.

Stakeholders said Mt. Everest still has some SO tonnes of waste, including used oxygen cylinders, ropes, bottles, ladders and clothes, among others, which have been piling up for the last more than 50 years.

Healthcare in India shou ld be cost effective: Montek

Healthcare in fodia should be cost effective and indi,~dual states should come up wiili innovative ideas to address this challenge, Planning Commission Depury Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in New Delhi recently.

"Health actually is nor a centtal subject but a state subject. Only medical education is Llnder the central government", Ahluwalia said addressing a conference on the furore of healthcare in New Dellii.

As a country, India has to focus on what is the most cost effective way of getting results in the health sector, he said.

Ahluwalia contended tl1at the next decade can be the period when lndia manages to improve its health infrastrucrure.

According to Healili Secretary Luv Verma, India's total health expenditure is 3.7 percent of the GDP which is "woeful".

"The quality of healthcare services suffer as there are doctors who are not adequately trained", he said.

Pratl1ap C. Reddy, chairman of Apollo hospitals, hoped that the conference would ilirow some light on the needs of healthcare in India.

"Amazing progress has been made in healthcare over the last 30 years, yet barriers of accessibility, quality and cost persist", he said.

Educating the criminal mind:

Tihar shows a way out

Crinlinal behaviour can be changed by imparting education and towards this, New Delhi's Ti.bar Jail, one of the largest i.n Asia, is vigorously conducting a literacy campaign among its teeming inmates, 20 percent of whom are unlettered and a staggering 65 percent have not even studied rill C lass 10.

Observing drnt the "lesser the literacy me more tl1e crin1e seems to be tbe trend ," prison authorities are conducting various education programmes to raise the awareness level of its inmates and broadening their mental horizons away from tbefr criminal past.

"As per data compiled, the majority of the prison population (around 65 percent) has education below C lass 10, thus providing the linkage bel:\veen educational standard and criminality", an official of Ti.har Jail said recently in New Delhi.

The official added that the illiterate population of 20.68 percent would have been much higher but for tl1e jail's literacy programme.

Most of tl1e prisoners in the illiterate category are newcomers.

The prjson administratio n has sec up centers of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to impart education to prisoners.

The official said tl1at adult education classes are being co nducted in the 10 subjails in the prison that has 13,552 prisoners. Amo n g d1e conv icts and under trials, the ma.'l:imum number are accused of rape and murder. Over 33 percent convicrs, and over 24 percent Lmder trials are in jail in murder charges, while over 13 percent of both categories are in jail for rape.

According to Tihar data, at the time of admission, more than 19 percent of the males and 36 percent o f females were illiterate, while 44 percent of males and 34 percem females have noc passed Class I 0. However, around five percent of the males and six percent of the females are graduates while one and three percent in each category are postgraduates.

"The prison ad.ministrat.ion in 2013 started stenography courses and foreign language classes in French, Spanish and German, as well as in Hindi and English to build selfconfidence among the prison inmates", said Director General of Prisons Vimlaa Mehra. The prison inmates are also being trained in hotel management in collaboration with tl1e tourism ministry.

Mehra said that campus p lacements are also being organised to provide job opportunities to the qualified inmates to help them earn a respectable liv elihood and keep them away from crime after their release.

Jail officials also encourage irnnate.~ to participate in activities like poetry and essay writing to bring om their creativity, she said.