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TGS LIFE
When hunger strikes past midnight
NATION
CITY
Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings P 12
Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days? P3
DITCH THE
AUTO,
Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted The creative writing teacher from a reputed school in Baner was booked and arrested in February 2013. A special court acquitted him on the grounds that police bungled up in collecting evidence ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
RITU GOYAL HARISH The case created ripples across the city. A teacher was accused of sexually abusing 22 students all from fi fth standard of a reputed school in Baner. In February 2013, Chaturshrungi police registered a case of sexual abuse against the creative writing teacher and arrested him immediately. Two years after the cops went all out to claim that they had a watertight case, the teacher has been acquitted by a Special Court. The court ruled that the prosecution made out a weak case. The management of the school and parents of students are not only disappointed but also irked with the outcome. “We are feeling let down by the prosecution and the system. It is upsetting because we do not how to face the parents and students who came forward to give their statements. We believe we were on the right,”
“We are feeling let down by the prosecution and the system. It is upsetting because we do not how to face the parents and students who came forward to give their statements.” DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL
said director of the school, who fi led the FIR and kept in touch with the investigating officer and public prosecutor throughout. The director is yet to get a copy of the order. The case dates back to February 2013 when some of the students studying in class five walked up to their class teacher and alleged that their creative writing sir had touched them inappropriately. The class teacher in turn informed the principal and management. School authorities spoke to several other students and found that 22 girls in all had levelled similar allegations. Director of the school approached Chaturshrungi police station and lodged an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA). The investigation was carried out by Supriya Bhoite from Chaturshrungi police station. Contd on p4
CAB ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
HAIL A
Rickshaw unions across the city want us to believe that private cab service providers or radio cab operators, as they are popularly known as, are villains. Around 12,000 radio cabs have made their lives miserable for 50,000-odd autorickshaw drivers in twin cities of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The auto drivers want us to believe that corporate houses with deep pockets behind the cab services are eating into their share. Essentially poor rickshaw drivers are getting poorer because of stiff competition from private cab operators. All that the auto drivers are saying is true. But what they are not telling us or willing to concede is that their enemy lies within. Their enemy number one is not private cabs but members of their own ilk – many of whom are rude, refuse to ply short
or long distances (depending on their mood), overcharge or ask for obnoxious fares, often refuse to ply by meter – the list is endless. TGS Team members decided to give the ‘victimised’ autorickshaw drivers a chance. Five members of the team tried hiring rickshaws for distances ranging between 1.5 and 20 kms. All the members came back irked and disgruntled. The autorickshaw community let us down badly, as they do with citizens across the twin cities. Then we tried our luck with private cab operators, who were more than were willing to oblige and take us wherever we wanted to go, for a price of course. In some cases, the cab fare worked out cheaper than what the auto drivers were asking us to cough up.
Spotlight Pg 8 and 9
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
PUNE
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein
Meetup unites people, their interests P6
Petition filed in HC challenging beef ban P4
To arm youth with a sense of purpose Satyen Patel’s mission is to help wayward youth get back onto the right path and attain success in life
Satyen Patel
BY BARNALEE HANDIQUE @barnalee Tushar Naikwade, 20, works with the service department of Eureka Forbes in the city. He joined the technical department of the company a year back and loves meeting clients and addressing their problems. Within six months, he has been able to impress
seniors by his hard work and passion. Naikwade’s life began in an orphanage in Wagholi and he studied at a nearby primary school. After completing the standard X boards, he wanted to pursue higher studies. With room-mates and friends into drugs and whiling away their time, Naikwade didn’t know how to realise his dream of becoming a successful man one day. Entrepreneur Satyen Vallabhbhai Patel, 37, helped Naikwade look forward to a bright future through his NGO Swastik Disha. Patel has brought smiles on the faces of around 50 children. Naikwade said, “I met Patel at the orphanage. We spoke at length and discussed many career options. He promised to help me fulfil my dreams. After completing my technical course, he helped me find a job.” About the launch of Swastik Disha in 2011, Patel said, “My family likes to spend my birthday in an orphanage. About four years back, while returning after my birthday celebrations at an orphanage in Wagholi, I happened to meet a group of boys. They were intoxicated and unaware of their actions. On finding that they were from the same orphanage (Wagholi), I enquired about them. Most of these boys had passed their standard X boards and didn’t know what to do.
(From left) Yogesh Magar, Tushar Naikwade and Vaibhav Panpanikar with Satyen Patel. Magar is an IT executive with Sahyadri Industries Ltd, Naikwade is a sales executive with Eureka Forbes and Panpanikar is working with Sahyadri Industries Ltd and pursuing diploma in hardware and networking from Kohinoor Technical Institute
That’s when the idea of setting up an organisation to guide and educate the youths was born.” Corporates in the city are always looking for talent. Patel wants to bridge the gap between the two. The organisation was named ‘Swastik Disha’ as ‘Swastika’ translates to ‘well-being’ in Sanskrit and has been
considered an auspicious symbol by Hindus, and ‘Disha’ means direction in Hindi. The main focus of the organisation is to guide children, give them skill-based training and provide financial help till they find a job. Swastik Disha takes up projects that aid underprivileged sections of society with education, habitation and
employment. It also holds programmes for welfare and sustainable development of society. Patel contacts orphanages like Sindhutai Sapkal, PVG in Nashik and Kasturba Gandhi and get details of children. “The owners of orphanages are possessive about their children. When I approached Sindhutai Sapkal, the owner was suspicious and didn’t want to part with any information. It took a lot of coaxing before she finally agreed,” said Patel. Patel guides children to make the right career choice. “Every child may not want to go for higher studies, but he or she may have an interest in technical or mechanical side. After counselling the child, we get them enrolled in technical or other institutes for skill-based training,” said Patel. The children are also made to attend special classes like personality development, communication skills and spoken English. Patel spends around `2.5 lakh on each child every year. The managing director of Sahyadri Industries Ltd (SIL), Patel has more
Pratibha Sapkal, one of the girls from Sindhutai Sapkal orphanage who is guided by Swastik Disha
than 10 years of experience in fibre and cement industry. He completed his post graduation in business administration from Savitribai Phule Pune University (formerly known as Pune University). SIL, a flagship company of the Patel Group, is known for its Swastik brand of Fibre cement roofing sheets. barnalee.handique@goldensparrow.com
Swastik Disha takes up projects that help the needy with education and employment
By the woman, for the woman For the love of sports BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh It is a winning combination. Roopa Dadia’s desire to help the underprivileged and earn a supplementary income by making products that expresses her inborn creativity has given birth to Shop for a Cause. The idea germinated in her mind 15 years ago when she was handling the human resource (HR) and administration department of her family-run IT venture and would be responsible to shop for corporate gifts. She used to scout the streets of Mumbai looking for the items. She wanted to begin creating the items she had in mind and decided to involve women from underprivileged backgrounds who had skill sets and time but no opportunity to utilise it and earn. She moved to Pune from Mumbai and launched Shop for a Cause. The label is now seven years old. Dadia gets needy women and men to give expression to her designs and the products are sold through a network of buyers. Her humane cause has helped around 22 families. “The work keeps the women busy. Most of them are homemakers, have no education and can’t go out to earn money. It is a form of additional income for them,” she said.
Dadia who was born and raised in Kerala considers herself blessed. “I got a lot from society and want to give something back. But I did not want to help anyone monetarily. They need to earn it to value it,” she pointed out. The Shop for a Cause label has numerous creative products for sale, nearly all designed by Dadia. The array of merchandise includes sling bags, purses, clutches, sari bags, bangle bags, pouches of all shapes and sizes, potlis, batuas, goody bags, coin purses in ornate Indian style fashioned out of brocade, silk and raw silk. She has over forty products only in brocade. The range of products in wood includes intricate coasters, tissue boxes with carving, cutlery boxes and trays with inlaid embroidered fabric, handcrafted Warli motifs and many more. The wooden products are made by male artisans from Ravivar Peth. In addition, she caters to the festive market with Diwali torans, shubh labhs, diyas, organic colours for Holi, wedding accessories and pooja accoutrements. The products range from `100 – `3,000. While she has a ready stock of nearly all the products at her home in Kalyani Nagar, she continues to design and give work to those families that need help. The income earned by one woman depends solely upon
Roopa doesn’t believe in giving monetary help but wants them to work and earn
how much she works. “They can earn an additional income of `5,000 per month, a figure that goes up in the festive season as they put in more time,” she said. But none of them are compelled to work. Most of them work when they have free time. “Sometimes the older children in the house help their mothers and in the bargain learn a new skill,” she said. Shop for a Cause products are sold all over the country and she recently sent a consignment of goods to Muscat. “We get a lot of repeat and bulk orders,” she said. As for marketing, she pointed out that she gets a few responses from Facebook page (Shop for a Cause – By the Woman, For the Woman) but it is mostly word of mouth that works for her. When asked about expansion and a five-year plan, she admitted that inventory management was her biggest challenge. And this is where her husband Samir, a businessman with two IT start-ups to his credit, pitches in. Although expansion through exports is a focal area for him, he helps her manage accounts and inventory. Dadia also wants to expand her cotton line and is currently on the lookout for talented women (and even men) in Pune. “The only criterion is that the person should be someone who needs work, is dedicated and can deliver quality,” she said. She also holds exhibition of her products. The next such Shop for a Cause event will be held at Varsha Hall, Baner on April 17-18 and will showcase the wedding collection. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com Rahul raut
Roopa Dadia (right) gets needy women and men to give expression to her designs and the products are sold through a network of buyers
Rahul raut
Lakshya provides training and support to deserving young sportspersons of India
Handmade products at Roopa Dadia’s Shop for a Cause are made by underprivileged
Vishal Chordia (left) taking a selfie with budding sportspersons who are under the wings of Lakshya
tgs news service @TGSWeekly Arjun Kadhe is a rising tennis star who is making a mark on both the national and international levels. Tejaswani Muley is shining at the shooting arena. Rahul Aware is carving his own niche in the wrestling world. Vidit Gujarati is a grandmaster in chess with big ambitions. So what do all these sports stars have in common? They are being groomed in their respective disciplines at Lakshya, a non-profit organisation set up by Vishal Chordia, 35, and his team. The organisation has six board members, Ashish Desai, Swastik Sirsikar, Manish Mehta, Sunder Iyer and Abhijit Kunte. The city-based organisation has a strong network all over the country and runs on contributions and sponsors. “There is immense talent across the country. Many do not have access to proper training or opportunity. My friends and I therefore decided to do something about this and that’s when the idea of forming an organisation to help budding sportspersons was born. The aim of our organisation is to discover sportspersons, besides providing them training and a platform to display their skills,” Chordia said. Lakshya has set a countrywide network to discover talented sportspersons. The representatives
of Lakshya get in touch with local coaches to locate such talented sportpersons and provide them guidance and training. Anjum Mukhil is a junior shooter from Chandigarh who has been provided a sponsor. The facility will include giving support that includes mental and physical fitness, a dietician, injury management and travel. Lakshya also bears expenses like travel and equipment. The costs of training can run from `7 lakh to `15 lakh. Monty Das is a shooter from Kolkata who has been aided by Lakshya in her training. They also gave her `5 lakh to buy a gun. The firm organises facilities like grounds and coaches for sportsperson in the place from where they belong. The coaches are usually of national and international level. Muley said, “I belong to a small village in Aurangabad. I dreamt of becoming famous but I didn’t know how. That’s when I came in touch with Lakshya. I shifted to Pune and started training under a professional coach. It has been a couple of years and since then I have participated in more than 20 national and international championships. This has been possible because of the help and guidance from the organisation.” Thanks to Lakshya, a legion of budding Indian sportspersons can now hope to fulfil their dreams and also bring glory to the nation in the sports arena. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
His disability should inspire others P5
They turn moments into lasting memories P7
PUNE
Pune contributes 11.4 per cent to the Gross State Domestic Product in terms of annual revenue to the State Government.
Why are traffic cops taking selfies these days? As you take a ride around the city at 7 am or 8 am, hundreds of traffic cops posted at various junctions can be seen taking selfies. It’s almost as if they have just discovered the joy of the trend popularised world over. No, they are taking their photographs to be posted on social networking sites. Instead it’s their way of telling their bosses that they have reached their designated spots and are all set to control the mayhem on roads. Every morning, 400 traffic cops report to duty at several junctions across the twin cities. While 200 of them are expected to turn up at 7 am, the remaining 200 report at 8 am. As soon as they resume duties, they start shooting selfies and sending them to their respective assistant commissioners via Whatsapp. The ACP in turn compiles a report of those present and sends it to his superior, the deputy commissioner of traffic police department. The traffic police department has just started using the selfie-Whastapp combination to ensure that all their constables manning important junctions report to duty on time. The seniors in traffic police department came up with the innovative idea recently after they found that attendance on some of the junctions was a problem. Earlier, the cops posted at junctions had to call their immediate superiors on reaching their designated spot. At times, constables would be nowhere near their spot and yet inform their superiors that they had reached, leading to chaos on the
Pic By Rahul raut
Gitesh Shelke @githesh_shelke
Traffic cops taking fancy to selfies Traffic cops taking fancy to selfies Traffic cops taking fancy to selfies Traffic cops taking
roads. To combat the situation, they came up with the selfie idea. Speaking to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, DCP Sarang Awad said, “Nowadays, all of us have smart phones with cameras. We thought that if we use simple technology, our lives would be a lot easier. All a constable assigned to a chowk has to
do, is fish out his phone, take a selfie, and send to an attendance group created on Whatsapp by ACP of that particular zone. The ACPs then sent a detail report to me sharp at 8.05 am,” Awad said. The twin cities are divided into four traffic zones, each headed by an ACP. Every zone has 100 constables who
are to man junctions every morning. They have to report in two batches, at 7 am and 8 am. “The selfie is taken in such a manner that background is also visible, thereby ensuring that the constable has reached his designated spot,” said DCP Awad. ACP Rajendra Joshi, who came up with the idea of selfies and Whatsapp
“We thought that if we use simple technology, our lives would be a lot easier.” - DCP Sarang Awad
explained that earlier inspectors in-charge of every area had to take rounds to ensure that there was no ‘fake calling’. “Now there is no need to do that. Instead the inspectors can focus on other things, saving us all a lot of effort and man hours,” said ACP Joshi. He added that the concept is also helping them tend to emergencies. In case of traffic jams in certain pockets, now the seniors, who are aware of their manpower deployment, simply direct constables from other junctions. gitesh.shalke@goldensparrow.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
PUNE
During the 1970-80s, Pune emerges as the engineering capital of the country especially in the automotive sector with Telco, Bajaj, Kinetic, Bharat Forge, Alfa Laval, Thermax, etc expanding their infrastructure
They meet to have fun
Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings
P10
P12
Petition filed in HC challenging beef ban While the two petitions filed in HC will come up for hearing on March 23, confusion reigns among restaurateurs in Pune
Neville Vazifdar,
Bapu Deedwania
Royal China chain of restaurants
Not so long ago Maharashtra government ordered a ban on sale and consumption of beef. The decision evoked a mixed response. For as many who supported the decision, there are those who have slammed the government. Latest one being actor Rishi Kapoor, who posted several messages on a social networking site against the decision. Simultaneously, two petitions have been filed in Bombay High Court challenging the ban. The core issue in both the petitions – one being Public Interest Litigation filed by former journalist Ketan Tirodkar and another writ petition in which noted lawyer Advocate Firoz Bharucha is appearing – is the amendment brought out in the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1976. The petitions challenge the constitutional validity of the recent amendment stating that is absolutely against the provisions of our Constitution. For beginners, The Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act was enacted in 1976. As per this Act the state completely banned the slaughtering of cows in Maharashtra and further laid down restrictions on slaughter of other animals, a list of which was annexed to the Act. On April 4, 1995, with a view to bring about changes in the 1976 Act, a bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly. This was called the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 1995. On March 4, 2015 this bill was published in the Official Gazette upon getting the Presidential nod and after a passage of almost 20 years has come into force. The new bill not only added bovines which cannot be slaughtered anymore but also made consumption
Speaking to TGS, Vazifdar said that for now they have banned storage and serving all sorts of beef meat in any form. “There is a lot of confusion amongst restaurant owners. All owners are constantly talking to each other to get clarity. Some owners have called me asking me if they can serve buffalo meat, some say that what is allowed is ‘water buffalo’ meat. However, no one has absolute clarity. Recently, the municipal corporation officials in Pune started conducting surprise checks. They would visit the joint and order for a beef dish on the menu and then get it packed. After the bill was settled they would make a case against the owners for violation of the law. Thankfully, we had initially taken a decision that till such times there is absolute clarity on what exactly can we store and serve, we will do away with all sorts of bovine flesh. I instructed that the stored meat at all joints that can be violative, be chucked. Most of the dishes that even comprise of sauce that uses beef in any manner for now are banned at my joints. Frankly, we don’t take a major hit as compared to suppliers and other joints that survive on beef delicacies,” he said. As for his personal opinion, Vazifdar says that people should be allowed to eat a meat of their choice, but as an owner of a joint, he believes in following the law, “Across the world there are some unreasonable restrictions. As an owner, I do not wish to create any ruckus but intend on following the law. We also believe in doing what others are following. For now, since there is no clarity, I would rather be safe than sorry,” he said.
of possession of such flesh illegal. In the writ petition filed earlier this week, Advocate Bharucha has agreed that it is the prerogative of the state to ban slaughter of bovines. BBut he has contested consumption and possession. “Possession or human consumption of the flesh of a bovine animal slaughtered outside Maharashtra would not impact the agrarian economy of the State in any manner whatsoever,” states the petition. It further argues that the state, in its enthusiasm to amend the statute protecting its bovine animals, has severely transgressed from the issue and has gone beyond its legislative
right to eat The other petition on the same issue has been filed by Activist Ketan Tirodkar on the grounds that the ban infringes on a citizen’s fundamental rights. “The right to eat the meat of one’s choice is integral to fundamental rights. The recent changes in the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 1995, which provides for punishment for possessing or selling beef are ‘atrocious’. Consumption and sale of beef should not be criminalized. Right to eat should not be affected,” says Tirodkar.
competence and hence these provisions are liable to be struck down. “A law enacted by Maharashtra cannot apply to animals outside the state that are slaughtered without offending the laws of our State. Therefore, flesh of cattle slaughtered outside Maharashtra ought not to have been covered by the provisions of the 1995 Act,” said Advocate Bharucha. The petition exposes a lacuna in the new law – it bans consumption of meat but does not say anything about hide of these animals. Leather is made from the hide of the very bovines, the consumption and possession of whose meat has now been criminalised. “The law is excessive, arbitrary and draconian since it restricts and makes the established dietary habits of the people in Maharashtra a cognizable and nonbailable offence punishable by law. These sections need to be struck down on this ground alone,” the petition concludes. The two petitions came up in HC on March 19 and will be heard on March 23.
Chintu Angry
Actor Rishi Kapoor posted several tweets earlier this week from his Twitter handle @chintskap. - I am angry. Why do you equate food with religion?? I am a beef eating Hindu. Does that mean I am less God fearing then a non eater? Think!! - Aapko naheen khaana beef/ pork mat khao. Ultimately your Karma counts not &*^%#@ dictates by bigots. Karo Apna kiddos. Karm achche hon bas! - Ye pandit maulvi sab chodo! Karo dil ki baat. Man ki baat. Ban on food? Unheard of by Idiots!!! Politics!!
In January Special Court presided by Judge Prachi Kulkarni, acquitted the teacher on the grounds that prosecution could not prove the case against him. The court found that of the 22 victims, statements of only 14 were recorded. Of these only three were made to depose before the court. Several key witnesses were not examined by the investigating officer. Also, after the alleged incidents came to light school management held a parents’ meet to discuss the issue and had an internal inquiry. Documents pertaining to the two major developments would have helped the case, but Bhoite did not collect either. Special court found that several crucial pieces of evidence necessary to prove the charges against the teacher were ignored by cops, which led to acquittal. On being told about the observations made by the Special Judge, director of the school said, “The cops told us that deposition of three children will also do and hence we did not push other parents. Statements of the children were recorded in the presence of the parents, police and counsellors. We thought they had submitted the entire bunch to the court. We are not really experts in law and trusted the cops with what they were doing.” The school director’s major concern is safety of all the girls who came forward. “He (the accused, now acquitted) saw all the children who deposed in court in the corridor before the hearing began. He also asked to
For representational purpose only
Teacher booked for sexually abusing 22 students acquitted Contd from p1
restaurateur speak
Court order
Judge Prachi P Kulkarni of Special Court passed the acquittal order on January 9 this year. In the 58 page order Judge gave a detailed reasoning as to why the Gothoskar was being acquitted. Excerpts: “Supriya Bhoite narrated how she did the investigation of the case, but she is lacking on the point of collecting proper evidence on record. She did the investigation casually. The evidence collected by her ought to have shown that really on 5/2/13 the 22 girls complained against accused, she would have collected the list of those girls and particular act done to them by the accused. But no such evidence is collected. Not only that, she has not collected the inquiry report of the incident. Nor she has collected the minutes of meeting to show that really there was parents meeting. She has not examined the witnesses which are really important for the case... So what evidence she has collected is the only statement of witnesses. She has not done the investigation as per requirement of law and therefore lacuna remained on record in her investigation. So she should be blamed on that point. Thus, after going through the entire evidence on record, I say that prosecution utterly failed to prove the case within the purview of section 7 r/w 8 and section 9(f) r/w 10 of The Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act 2012. So I am of the view that prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and accused is entitled to acquittal.”
be seated in the court during their depositions. When I brought this up with the presiding judge, a flimsy white sheet frame was placed between the children and the accused. But he saw them nevertheless. Why wasn’t anonymity guaranteed? Children’s safety and security is a very big issue for us now. I wonder if after this, students and parents will ever come
forward with complaints,” said the school’s director. Parent of the girls, who came forward are equally upset. “We are extremely disappointed to know that he has been acquitted. There will always exist a fear in the child’s mind and heart that he is free and we could bump into him somewhere. Also, when this thing broke out we explained to the children the importance of speaking up and standing up, and so this is very disheartening. It would be difficult for them to trust a process again. We gathered the courage to take it ahead and if it fizzles out like this, it is very disheartening,” said parent of one of the victims.
When The Golden Sparrow contacted Prakash Mutyal, additional commissioner of police, North region, he promised to get the court order examined and find out the flaws if any on the part of his investigation team. “We will closely examine the order. If possible, we will file an appeal and also initiate action against the concerned officer who investigated the case. In all this, the teacher who has been acquitted refused to comment. When contacted by The Golden Sparrow team at his residence in Pashan, he said that since the appeal period was till April 9 (cops can file an appeal within three months of the order), he would not like to comment at this juncture.
Govind Thakker Blue Frog, Pune
Thakker emphasised on the need of clarity in the law and an alternate plan for those whose means of livelihood depended on bovine flesh. “In my opinion, the law against beef always existed. We have never had any beef dish on our menu. But now it seems that the government has decided to implement the already existing law effectively. In such a situation what one needs is absolute clarity. The government should try and send out notices that lay down in no uncertain terms the do and don’ts for restaurant owners, suppliers, municipal corporation, Food and Drug authority, association of hotels and even the police. All authorities should have clarity on the existing law and its implementation. This will make it simple for us to satisfy our patrons on their queries,” he said. Thakker also said that the livelihoods of many people is dependent on trading, supplying or slaughtering of a certain flesh. “With the implementation of this law, there can be a situation where some people who have been carrying on with their business or trade will find themselves out of job or business. We do agree that law of the land is to be followed, but for lack of clarity and a recent change in the law if some people will face survival crisis, then there situation should be taken into account and possibly an alternate plan should be chalked out for them,” said Thakker.
Cops posted outside pubs to nab you Pune cops have come up with an innovative drive against drunkards; For now they are nabbing and warning four wheeler drivers, but soon will put them behind bars Gitesh Shelke @githesh_shelke Legally when a driver is caught driving under the influence of alcohol, he is to be taken to police station, booked and produced before a magistrate. The magistrate, depending upon seriousness of the crime and alcohol content can sentence the driver for a day or more. All this just to curb drunken driving on our streets. But here in Pune, traffic cops have come up with an innovative way to curb the menace. These days they are nabbing drunk drivers, getting them out from behind the wheels, warning them and sending them home without their vehicles. “This is just the beginning,” said Sarang Awad, deputy commissioner of police, traffic department. He explained that the idea is to let the drivers know that they can be caught and will have to go through the legal process if they are caught in future. The idea germinated after traffic cops were accused of only nabbing drunk two-wheeler riders. Moreover, there were complaints of cars zooming around in Koregaon Park, Kalyaninagar, Mundhwa,
Ahmednagar road and Chandani chowk. Residents complained that cars driven by drunk drivers were endangering lives of others. Before initiating strict action, traffic police decided to sensitise them. They began the exercise last week. A posse of cops could be seen standing outside known pubs and lounge bars across the city. Armed with breath analysers, the cops stopped all the patrons coming out of these bars in their cars. Those who were found to be in an inebriated state were asked to call up their families or friends. “They were warned but not booked. They had to arrange someone else who was in his senses to drive the car back home or leave it for the night. We hailed autorickshaws for those who could not arrange for drivers,” said DCP Awad. On one day alone, they were able to nab 70 drivers. Officials explain that the sensitisation drive will be taken up in several other areas for next few days. “Once the awareness drive is over, if we catch drivers in an inebriated state, we will book them. They will have to cool their heels in the lock ups or in jails,” he concluded. gitesh.shalke@goldensparrow.com
“Autos hailed for those who could not arrange for drivers.”
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
Microsoft will open a datacentre in Pune by the end of 2015, one of the three that it would be opening in India.
Garbage is our problem too, not only PMC’s P11
PUNE
LIFE CARE
Competitiveness of India’s insurance sector
10 SAVE MONEY MEDI APPLIA ACCIDENT
P14
His disability should inspire others By climbing Everest and flying off the peak on paraglider, Ashok Munne will become the first amputee to do so BY RITU HARISH GOYAL @ritugh His dream is to scale Mount Everest and fly off the peak on a paraglider. Sounds a bit bizarre but it is doable. As a matter of fact, four persons have glided off the world’s highest peak in the past so he isn’t going to be the fi rst one. But none of them have been like 30-year-old Ashok Munne, an amputee who uses an artificial leg. Undergoing a two-week training at Nirvana Adventures, a company in Kamshet that will give him certification as a paragliding pilot, Munne will ride from Nagpur to Kathmandu for his Everest mission. The expedition is slated to begin in the fi rst week of May this year. Son of a farmer from Murti village near Nagpur, Munne lost his leg in a railway accident in 2008. He had to endure the pain of three surgeries in one and a half years, but finds the experience nothing as compared to what he was made to feel as a physically
challenged. “I was treated badly. Relatives and friends shunned me and I was shocked and sad,” he said recounting the harrowing time. After the fi rst two surgeries, money for hospitalisation had also run out. But it was a turning point in his life. “I decided to do what even able bodied people will think twice before doing,” said Munne. Soon after the third surgery conducted at the Command Hospital in Pune was successful and he got a prosthetic foot, he began pursuing adventure activities with a newfound vigour. “I enjoyed swimming and climbing mountains more than academics,” he said. In 2012, he scaled Mt Mera peak (21,247 ft) in Nepal and became the fi rst handicapped person to do so. He rode to Khardung La in Ladakh in the same year on a bike. He runs 22 kilometres in two hours at the Satara Hill Marathon every year. From yoga to martial arts, in addition to mountaineering, running and
swimming, Munne has never felt that his disability is a hindrance. On the contrary, he believes that he can scale new heights with each adventure. Munne’s resolve to scale mountains was strengthened when all the governmentrun mountaineering institutes in India that he approached refused to train him. “I climbed Mera peak without any training,” he said. When he decided that he would fly off Mt Everest he was prepared to undertake it without training. “I thought I will learn it from YouTube videos,” he said. The Everest expedition is a very crucial one for Munne. In 2012, when he decided to scale Everest, he was forced to shelve the project for lack of sponsors. “It costs Rs 30 lakh for the expedition and I have managed to find sponsors for Rs
80% PROPERTY
Ashok Munne (centre) during one of his previous expeditions
20 lakh,” he said. Even though he has yet to arrange the remaining amount and buy a new lightweight paraglider (he will carry on his back up to the peak) that will cost between Rs 2.5 and Rs 3 lakh, he is not perturbed. “Miracles have happened in my life in the past and I know that I will be able to undertake this expedition,” he said, brimming with optimism and hope. Munne’s will to make something out of his life, without wallowing in self-pity is a story of courage and inspiration. After he got a prosthetic leg, he sought employment as a driver in Nagpur. “I would work on hourly or daily basis and with the money I would earn, I would go and climb a mountain,” he said. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
“I decided to do what even able bodied will think twice before doing.”
HAVING A BALL! RAHUL RAUT
The students of College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP), practising for the Annual Regatta in the waters of MulaMutha river. The annual event is the biggest event for students of engineering college, which has a dedicated Boat Club. Mashal (Torch) and other illuminations will be used by the students while rowing or Kayaking during the Regatta scheduled on Sunday evening. About 350 students are practising for the event.
TGS Quiz Contest
No. 40
A
nswers to the following 10 questions are embedded in the stories featured in this edition. Send us the correct answers at contest. tgs@gmail.com and be one of the two lucky winners to receive gift coupons. 1. Can you name the two movies directed by writer director Sandeep Mohan? 2. What was Raghu Dixit’s first album?
3. What do food stalls serve you post midnight in Swargate? 4. Can you name two books written by Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam?
5. What is the sports club at Nigdi that teaches Malkhamb? 6. What is the paan boutique in the city which offers luxurious paans? 7. Who is the skipper of Krida Prabodhini hockey team?
8. Cadence Raigad Royals lead by skipper Nikhil Paradkar defeated Guardian Warriors to win what title?
9. Which Indian based automobile company is making its comeback after a five-year gap? 10. Name the aircraft that is powered by the sun solely that recently landed at Varanasi’s Lal Bahabdur Shastri Airport.
Contest # 39
winners
Radha Pawar Pramila Chirukandan
Now a spate of autorickshaw thefts ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat
We have heard of cars and bikes getting stolen. But to hear about autorickshaws getting stolen, that too the ones which have been scrapped, is weird. Recently Hadpasar police during one of their routine checks found a rickshaw running without any papers. One thing led to another and by the end of the day they seized 10 more autos, of which five had been scrapped by the owners. All the vehicles were stolen and running on lesser known nondescript routes in the city. The number of autos stolen in a year is around 175. The incident came to light on March 3, when hawaldar Yusuf Pathan attached to Hadapsar police station intercepted an auto. The driver, identified as Ravindra Divan could not produce any papers and gave evasive answers. Suspecting foul play the resident of Manjari Budruk was taken to police station for questioning. During the course of questioning Divan admitted that he had stolen the vehicle along with his friend Riyaz Mulani from Hadapsar Bridge in January this year. Police immediately arrested Mulani and seized 10 more autorickshaws from them. They had allegedly stolen the autos from Race Course and Chandan Nagar.
“They had replaced original number plates with fake ones.” “They had replaced original number plates with fake ones. Engine and chassis numbers had been wiped clean. While six vehicles had been scrapped by the owners, the remaining five had functional permits. Their owners had registered FIRs. All the rickshaws were found to be running on Hadapsar-Manjari route and neighbouring rural areas,” said Pathan. As for the scrapped vehicles, which the robbers had repaired and plying them on road, police is yet to race their original owners. Pathan explained that once an auto is scrapped, owner buys another vehicle on the same permit or sells the permit to someone else. Owners do not care much about the scrapped auto. Bapu Bhave, an autorickshaw union leader explained that such thefts are on rise because cops and Regional Transport Officers seldom ask for papers for vehicles running on roads. “If
the authorities start checking papers diligently not only will they be able to recover stolen autos but also be able to fi nd out how a lot of scarpped autos are plying on our roads.” PMPML BUS STOLEN AS WELL On Wednesday morning Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited officials were in for a rude shock as one of their buses parked at Markey Yard was stolen. The bus (MH 12 FC 3125) that did not have an ignition key, and two open doors, was last spotted around 1.45 am on Tuesday night. Cops explained that none of the older PMPML buses have ignition keys and drivers start them using a switch. The bus driver, after fi nishing his duty, like any other day parked the vehicle and left. The next morning there was no sign of the vehicle. A day later on Thursday the bus was traced to Nashik. While the bus was brought back to Pune, cops could not get their hands on the thief. Senior Police Inspector S M Babar of Market Yard Police Station said that there was 120 litres of diesel in the tank of the bus, enough for the accused to make it to Nashik from Pune. “We are examining CCTv footages of hotels and toll nakas to verify how it went to Nashik,” Babar said. ashok.bhat21@gmail.com
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
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The first ever webcam was deployed at Cambridge University computer lab. It was used to watch a coffee maker. —www.reddit.com
Frozen Yoga? You’ll Still Break a Sweat
Will the issues ever ger addressed?
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Meetup unites people, their interests Log on this social media platform to find those who share your likes in city. It offers many genres, subjects, activities and categories BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh From platforms that moved interactions between people from the real world to a virtual one to a virtual platform that encourages people to meet in person, the evolution of social media has come full circle. Meetup is a new social media platform that allows registered users to create an event or meetup where like-minded people join the group and meet in person. Meetup in Pune pan a multitude of genres, subjects, activities and categories. There is a Pune 40+ Meetup, a Pune – MH12 Photography meetup, Pune Entrepreneurs and Startups Group, The Open Film School Pune, Pune giving it back to the society meetup, Pune Writer’s Group, Pune Women Entrepreneurs, Pune Cloud Engineers and Architects, Pune Gujjus meetup, Pune Arsenal FC Meetup, Pune Parents Group and many more. From IT to fi lms, from fitness to partying, from socialising to adventure travel, if one is seeking a partner or a group to mingle with, Meetup is the place. Th irty-year-old Rahul Pardeshi is an avid horror movie buff. He watches all the movies of this genre that come to cinemas. “I like to watch horror movies and only the best ones, like Insidious, Drag me to hell, Citadel etc. But all the movies don’t make it to the big screen, most of the best and scariest movies are missed by many horror fans in India,” he said. When a friend introduced him to Meetup, he decided to start a meetup for likeminded people. He called it the Pune
Entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs at the Pune Startups and Entrepreneurship Group meetup. (Below) A screenshot of the site
Horror Movie Lovers Meetup, which has 34 members as of now. The members have met twice for movie screenings at a city multiplex. Pune Entrepreneurs and Startups Group had their second meetup recently where over twenty budding and
aspiring entrepreneurs met in an informal environment at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hinjewadi. Attendees discussed the pros, cons, highs and lows of being start-ups and fi rst time entrepreneurs. Keerthi Kadam, the organiser of the meetup
and an entrepreneur with three start-ups to his name called it an opportunity for networking. “The forum was perfect for people to exchange ideas and for those who want to become an entrepreneur, it was a testing ground” he said. SJ Venkatesh who is employed and attended the meetup said, “I wanted to get a feel of what it is like to be a startup.” To interact with someone with a degree of anonymity and freedom over the Internet is easy, but to shed personal inhibitions and meet those people in real life is certainly a different adventure. “Initially, it was strange meeting other people, but overall it was fun. Now we gel due to our common interest,” said Pardeshi. Sim*, who founded Young Internationals in Pune three years ago as a meeting ground for likeminded people (well
travelled, have lived outside India, professional and educated), said, “The purpose of our group is to hangout with people who have shared interests. We catch up for tea, dinner etc. It’s a relaxed way of getting together.” The group has over 400 members most of whom are in their 20s and 30s. Awkward 30, a meetup that was started in October 2014 in Mumbai, has over one thousand members. The group was started to bring thirty plus people together who go through an ‘awkward’ time after they turn thirty. Pune organiser of Awkward 30 group Ron*, an IT professional who is part of four other groups, said, “They should enjoy life even if they are over thirty.” The group comprises a mixed bag of individuals; married, single, divorced and separated. “It is very interesting to meet individuals from different backgrounds and learn about their lives. There are geologists, doctors, engineers etc. amongst the sixty one members of the Pune group,” he said. While one can choose to keep identities anonymous, Ron accepts that there are instances when individuals with fake IDs befriend the women in the group. “We remove the person from the group when we get a complaint and also inform other groups about the person,” he said. To Pardeshi, Meetup has been the sort of social media he was looking for. While his identities on Facebook, LinkedIn and the like are hidden, he has gone public on this platform. “When it came to Meetup it has changed a bit of me, (it has) made me public now, this is the power of Meetup,” he said. *Aliases of organisers ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
Teens unaware of privacy Online sharing risks on social media killing real-life enjoyment Study reveals that they disclose details first and then evaluate consequences NEW YORK: Most teenagers upload personal information on the social media networks like Facebook without considering the risks involved, says a study. Researchers from the Pennsylvania State University found that they were not really thinking at all while posting private pictures or information, or at least were not thinking like most adults do. What our model suggests is that teenagers do not think this way - they disclose and then evaluate the consequences. “Adults often find this very difficult to understand and paradoxical because they are so used to considering possible risks of disclosing information online first and then taking the necessary precautions, based on those concerns,” said Haiyan Jia, postdoctoral scholar in information sciences and technology. “The process is more experiential in nature for teenagers,” Jia added. For the study, the researchers used data from the Pew Research Centre’s 2012 ‘Teens and Privacy Management Survey’. The survey gathered information on social media behaviours from 588 teenagers in the US, most of whom were active users of sites such as Facebook. Teenagers are often more exposed to online risks because they are using social media as a platform for self-expression and as a way to gain acceptance from their peers. When teenagers begin to struggle with privacy concerns, they often try to find possible
It is difficult to imagine a teenager growing up and avoiding the Internet and online communications in this age
protective actions to mitigate risk. Those remedies include seeking advice from adults,
Teenagers are exposed to online risks because they are using social media as platform for self-expression removing online information or going offl ine completely. “A parent’s first impulse may be to forbid Internet or social media access, but completely
avoiding risks may cause other problems,” according to researchers, who presented their findings at the ‘computersupported cooperative work and social computing’ conference on March 17. First, we cannot imagine a teenager growing up and avoiding the Internet and online communications in this age. “But there is also a danger that without taking on the minimum risks, teenagers will not have access to all the positive benefits the internet can provide, nor will they learn how to manage risk and how to safely navigate this online world,” Jia said. “It is a lot like learning to swim. You make sure they enter the water slowly and make sure they know how to swim before you let them swim on their own and in the deeper parts,” the authors said. IANS
NEW YORK: Is your penchant for sharing photos on social networking sites preventing you from enjoying real life experiences? May be, suggests a new study. The study has found that 58 per cent of people believe that ‘posting the perfect picture has prevented them from enjoying life’s experiences’. The study was conducted by the New York Times best-selling authors Joseph Grenny and David Maxfield, who surveyed 1,623 people to see how social media affects their lives, Mashable reported. Maxfield decided to explore this subject after going on vacation with his family on his 60th birthday and finding that he was more focused on documenting the moments than he was on experiencing them. He and Grenny have come up with a name for it - Trophy hunting. Trophy hunters are driven by something other than experiencing things and shooting photos to remember those moments - they want trophies to hang up. “They want to kill it and stuff it and put it on their wall,” Maxfield was quoted as saying by Mashable. Ninety one percent of the participants in the study also reported seeing tourists missing memorable moments because they were too busy trying to capture and share photos of the places they were visiting. Other participants reported engaging in unethical or dangerous behaviour in order to capture a
well-liked photo. “I disciplined my son and he threw a tantrum that I thought was so funny that I disciplined him again just so I could video it,” the study quoted one respondent as saying. “After uploading it on Instagram I thought, “What did I just do?” the respondent said. Maxfield suggests people should become more self-aware, limit their social media usage and should be intentional about experiencing life instead of simply “hunting for trophies”. IANS
APP WORLD SIM Details Tech Android Apps Ltd launched this app on March 3, 2015. The app gives you details on the following counts. SIM Details: Operator name, SIM Status, SIM IMSI, Roaming Information, Mobile Data Status, Country ISO. Network Info: Network Provider, Network Type 2G, 3G, LTE etc, Operator ID, Data State. Device Details: IMEI Number, Device Type GSM/CDMA, Model Name, Manufacturer, Brand, Hardware Info. Operating System Info: OS Name like Jellybean, Kit Kat, SDK Version, Android Version, Binary Type SIM Contacts: List of Contacts stored in your SIM It gives you your SIM card info upfront. You don’t need to go under the skin of your mobile settings to get the basic info about your phone anymore. Available on Android
TV Tamil Live HD This app was launched by Telugu Tvmon on March 2, 2015. This app is a media and video based app that contains Tamil TV programmes, TV shows, movies, news, serials, comedy shows, cooking, comedy, kids cartoon, reality shows by Tamil TV channels all in HD quality. Viewers can easily access the programmes. The app contains close to 19 TV channels. This application takes no charges for viewing the channels. The app has been highly appreciated by many Android users. Available on Android
Caller Info The app was launched on March 16, 2015. Caller Info shows you the caller location offline. It shows you the network operator Name and Telecom Circle name with network operator image on incoming and outgoing calls. This app also shows you the caller location on a map. You can also block unwanted numbers. Through this you can block spammers too which has proved to be a great addition to the app. Available on Android
IDBI Bank GO Mobile The app was launched by IDBI BANK on February 24, 2015. Mobile Banking couldn’t be made easier and takes less than five minutes. You simply download it, just like you would any other android app. Activate the Mobile Banking app (onetime activity) by first visiting www. idbibank.com and authenticating your Debit Card credentials. You will then be prompted to set a temporary PIN which can be used to activate the app on your mobile handset. The following Key services can be now be easily accessed from your mobile handset: • Account Balance Enquiry. • Account Statement Enquiries. • Cheque Status Enquiry / Stop Payment. • Cheque Book Requests. • Fund Transfer within the Bank and to other Banks (NEFT). • Instant Funds Remittance through IMPS ( Immediate Payment Service). • Utility Bill Payments. • Mobile and DTH Recharge. Available on Android
Learn English The app was launched by BignumWorks Software LLP on March 6, 2015. Those who are sceptical about talking in English or don’t have a strong conduct over the language can now gain help with this app. The app gives you confidence to talk in English and clears your doubts about English words. This free app teaches you spoken English from Hindi and is meant for users whose first language is Hindi. Available on Android
Indian Caller Info
Maxfield suggests people should become more self-aware, limit their social media usage
The app was launched by Tech Android Apps Ltd. on January 16, 2015. The app gives you information on the callers Telecom location on Incoming calls on your screen. The application shows the location and SIM Service provider info of the caller on incoming calls on the screen. Smart Call Logs: Call logs with fine detail of every call like Location of call, SIM service provider name, etc. Smart Contacts: Contacts with detail like Geographical area of Service Provider, Location etc. STD Codes of Indian Cities. ISD Codes of All Countries. PIN/ZIP Codes of all Important Indian Cities. Available on: Android
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
“If you are an entrepreneur and if you are successful, you can change thousands of lives. Entrepreneurism is the need of the hour.” —Ragesh Keisham, SuiGeneris
Signposts Graphic India gets $2.8mn seed fund
Tripoto raises pre Series A round Online travel community platform Tripoto has raised its second round of funding led by IDG Ventures India and existing investors Outbox Ventures also participated in the round. The amount invested is undisclosed. Following the round Karan Mohla from IDG Ventures will be joining Tripoto as a board member. The company funds will be primarily used for rapid growth in mobile, team augmentation and building upon the early success already seen in global expansion. Tripoto raised a seed investment of 400,000 USD from angel investors led by Outbox Ventures, including Snapdeal’s Founders Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal and Sachin Bhatia of Trulymadly in November last year. Tripoto was launched in early 2014 and as the leading travel content and community sharing platform. The company aims to disrupt the current model in this segment.
“India is a land of unorganised & unstructured business. There are people who are experts manufacturing, trading, sourcing, designing etc and build small business out of this ‘skill’..” —Ankit Nagori, Flipkart
They turn moments into lasting memories
For home repairs, count on them
Mahadev Bhendekar, Sachin Bansal and Kaustubh Patil’s homecareman.com provides stable income to 44 plumbers, electricians and auto mechanics get stable income
Hope Creators comprises budding event managers who change ideas to reality
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Digital character and story creator startup Graphic India has closed $2.8 million seed round led by existing investor, CA Media LP, the Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG), and NYC based media investment group, Start Media, Founded by Michael Maher. Graphic India produces digital comics and animation to create new character franchises targeting the 550 million Indian youth under the age of 25 and the 850 million people mobile market as they leapfrog directly to smartphones and tablets. Based in Bangalore, Graphic India has worked on a diverse set of projects and collaborations like the post-apocalyptic futuristic ‘Ramayana 3392 AD’, ‘Sholay: Gabbar’, ‘Girl P.O.W.E.R. Animated Series’, ‘Mistry P.I.’ and ‘Buddha’.
BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh Imagine a bunch of twenty somethings staring into the city skyline from their sixth floor office terrace on Sinhagad Road, sipping glasses of chilled iced teas, discussing and brainstorming ideas to create lasting memories of your special day. It could be an engagement, a wedding, a long-awaited holiday or your child’s first birthday. They have carved a niche for themselves as customised event managers through their young company Hope Creators.
(From left) Gaurav Rajandekar, Kashmira Navale, Vaishnavi Pore and Omkar Dasna having a brainstorming session for one of their projects
THE JOURNEY It was while making the short film ‘Changer’ in August 2013 that Gaurav Rajandekar (25), Kashmira Navale (23), Niranjan Vaidya (24) and Samruddha Kulkarni (26) realised a powerful creative synergy between them. Their dreams of achieving something substantial in lives and the desire to support each other to achieve it culminated in the formation of Hope Creators. “We wanted to create something that spreads happiness and brings joy to people,” said Rajandekar, adding that they didn’t fit the 9-5 corporate structure. These five friends from Pune pooled in `1,500 per head and formed the partnership firm in December 2013. The team has changed since its inception. While Omkar Dasna (25) and Vaishnavi Pore (22) have joined the team, the latter as an intern, Kulkarni and Vaidya are no longer involved in the daily running of the company but visit the office. From Ganesh idol making workshops to event management, the transformation of the company was a quick one. Hope Creators has five sub
brands catering to different segments of event management – Enchanting Knots for weddings and engagements; Marshmallows for birthday parties, picnics and fun weekends; Projections for photography, graphic designing and videography, especially films on values and ethics; Cozy Clatters for kitty parties and get-togethers and Wayfarer for tours, adventures and nature trails. A café called Panthi at Karve Nagar due to begin operations in mid-April will offer multicuisine street food. The team members have unique designations. Rajandekar is the Vision Initiator, Navale the Joy Craftsman, Dasna the Path Carver, Vaidya the Buoyant Activist, Kulkarni the Concept Unveiler and Pore the Artistic Neophyte. Despite their designations, Rajandekar admits that all of them do everything when it comes to a project. “The ideas board is open to everyone. This reduces monotony,” he said. From working out of Rajandekar’s parents’ bedroom to having an office space, infrastructure and technical
Pakumania brings hometown delicacies to your doorstep Love of food brought together Vaibhav Shrivastava, Nikita Vora and Premanshu Manghirmalani to start e-venture
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CHALLENEGS
support, the firm has come a long way in a short time. While the partners are all able to meet their expenses from the company’s coffers, they are still bootstrapping. “Other than the initial capital of `1,500 each we have not asked our parents for money,” said Navale. REACHING OUT The company has an open door policy for creative people who wish to explore their passion. “We want to remove the uncertainty associated with freelancing, so we take in new people for projects and promote them,” said Rajandekar. Reflecting on the reason why they have sustained their venture in an environment when event management companies vanish in no time, Rajandekar said, “We give personalised and valuable service and never treat our clients as a ‘customer’ ‘party’ etc. We don’t go after money because if our ideas click, money and success will come. To us only their sentiments matter.” ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
BY ANJALI SHETTY @shetty_anjali The biggest challenge most of us face when it comes to home care is getting timely services for repairs and maintenance. Providing a one-stop solution for the same is homecareman. com started by Mahadev Bhendekar, Sachin Bansal and Kaustubh Patil. A six-month old service, homecareman. com offers a wide range of home maintenance and repair solutions. Homecareman gives a one year home maintenance and repair service for `3,000 per annum in plumbing, electric repairs, carpentry and auto services. “I used to work at a consultancy that provided maintenance to homeowners for one year. However, people started facing issues from next year. Th is prompted us to start this venture. Now we have a customer base of 3,400 within six months of our launch and have hired 44 plumbers, electricians, carpenters and auto mechanics,” said Patil, technical head, homecareman.com. Mahadev Bhendekar, founder and director, Homecareman.com said, “Earlier technicians had to wait for hours for any business. And some days they would not get any customer. We have helped them secure fi xed income plus incentives. They also get a toolkit and advance technology training for free.” On the challenge front, the people find it difficult to trust a fi rm because today everyone is out there to fleece you. “Clients ask for a guarantee to sign up with us. So we get all the documentation done on stamp paper, ensuring commitment,” Patil said.
Mahadev Bhendekar (left) and Sachin Bansal are founders of homecareman
Homecareman.com also gives the staff training about customer handling. Sachin Bansal, operation head, homecareman.com said, “Customers’ safety is very important for service providers like us. Besides police verification and in-house background verification, in our training we also inform employees regarding harsh consequence they have to face if they misbehave with customers.” According to him, the fi rm has taken a step further and educated customers regarding their services. “Our customers are informed in advance who will come to their houses for the services. And details of the service person are shared with customers and society security staff in advance. We have also persuaded our customers to inform any misconduct by our staff. So we can take strict action towards them,” he said. anjali.shetty@goldensparrow.com
EXPERIENCE
THE THRILL OF DRIVING
RAHUL RAUT
For Pakumania, to deliver the product swiftly and safely to customers has been the most challenging effort in logistical planning and implementation. Packages arriving tampered or damaged was a problem they have now managed to resolve by tying up with market leaders in logistics. Another challenge they’ve had to face is that their vendors are not tech savvy. Most of them are in traditional businesses for generations and cannot understand or work with technology.
PRICING The company strives to sell ‘pakwaans’ at the price they are available for in the city of its origin. Vaibhav Shrivastava looks after the vendors for Pakumania
TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly When 24-year-old Vaibhav Shrivastava and 28-year-old Nikita Vora met in Pune a few years ago, they found that they had something in common. Both had moved to Pune from their respective hometowns, Shrivastava from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and Vora from Jamnagar in Gujarat and both missed the speciality food from their hometowns. “Especially during festive seasons, we used to wish there was some way we could get the ‘pakwaans’ of our hometowns to Pune,” said Shrivastava. ‘Pakwaans’ is the Hindi word for speciality sweets/savouries. In August 2013, the duo founded Pakumania.com, a web portal that delivers specialities of a region or ‘Pakwaans’ to people all over India. With an initial capital of about `2 lakh, Pakumania Food Services Pvt Ltd was incorporated. Vora took over
the marketing and Shrivastava handled vendors. Business was slow since Vora was employed in a food and beverage (F&B) company and Shrivastava was studying law from MMCC Law College, Pune. They hired a company to revamp their website and improve functionality in March 2014. Premanshu Manghirmalani, 31, their service provider, saw the potential of the idea and jumped in as third director in October 2014. HOW IT WORKS Once the company receives an order, it is passed on to the vendor who has two days to prepare the delicacy. Once ready, the product, packaged to retain its freshness, is picked up and delivered to the customer. The delivery time as of now is 6-8 days. “We are trying to bring the delivery time down to 2-3 days,” says Manghirmalani. Their range of products include ‘Petha’ from Agra, ‘Namkeen’ from Indore, ‘Banana Chips’ from Kerala,
Karachi biscuits from Hyderabad and varieties of ‘Modaks’ from Maharashtra. They are experimenting with savouries that have a longer shelf life than sweets. The company assures quality by working with vendors who are FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) certified. RISING CONSUMERS Since November last year, Pakumania has serviced over 3,000 customers from across India. Their target market includes students, armed forces personnel and central government employees. To increase sales, Pakumania has recently started half kilogram packaging and combo packs. “Discount coupons are also being explored,” said Shrivastava. While they have been approached by venture companies for investment, Manghirmalani is cautious. “We want to define our processes further before we pump money into the business” he admits. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
Ditch the
auto, hail a
cab
Tilak Road to Sopan Baug | Sneha Krishnan
Early last week autorickshaws went off the roads for a day as mark of protest. Among many other things they were protesting against radio cabs being given licences to operate in Pune. Their grouse is that the cab service providers with endless resources are eating into their share of profits and severely affecting their livelihood. While the auto drivers could not gain much from the strike, it made most of us wonder if their demand to ban private cabs was justified. Before taking sides, we decided to give them both a chance. We chose five different destinations across twin cities and stood patiently on roads hoping that auto drivers would take us to our destinations without much hassle. But all the
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
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five TGS members had to wait anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour before convincing and begging auto drivers to take them. The drivers in some cases asked for half return or money over and above the metered fare on some routes, made faces and even muttered abuses at us for bothering them to go long distances on meter. All this struggle and humiliation for a bumpy ride in an non air-conditioned three wheeler. In contrast, most private cab service providers were willing to take us wherever we wanted to go. Barring a few instances, on almost all the routes, the cabs offered competitive rates. Rides were more than comfortable in airconditioned cabins.
MARCH 21, 2015
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Unions up in arms Nitin Pawar, Convenor, Rickshaw Panchayat
Most of these radio cabs are registered outside Pune. The law is such that even an owner of a private
Tilak Road to Wanowrie
Dattatray Ghule,
car registered elsewhere has to obtain permission to drive his vehicle within Pune limits. Moreover, these cabs have tourist permits but their drivers do not wear a uniform like autorickshaw drivers. We are expected to wear our badges and uniforms. Why this discrimination? Legally speaking the radio cabs are running illegally in twin cities. Most importantly, I wonder how safe are the cabs. They are closed on all sides, whereas our autos are open on two sides. At the same time I do not support autorickshaw drivers who refuse to ply on certain routes or overcharge.
President, Manali Autorickshaw Sanghatna and Mahila Bachao Rickshaw Sanghatna
Baba Shinde, President,
Pune City Autorickshaw Federation
Nigdi to Kalewadi Phata |
The companies running radio cabs do not really own the vehicles. The taxis are owned by individuals, and cab companies merely operate the service. From what we understand, companies pay a fixed sum t the drivers and owners of thee vehicles. It seems like a loss making venture and yet the companies are least perturbed. There is something wrong about this entire deal and we are going to take up this issue with Income Tax department and the State Government. Moreover, the cab companies are eating into our share of business. They have taken away around 25 per cent of it.
Archana Dahiwal PICS ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
Tilak Road to Balewadi Stadium
Barnalee Handique
“I am completely against autorickshaw drivers who refuse to ply short distances. We are all bound by the rules framed by the transport department - charging as per the meter, wearing a uniform, displaying the badge prominently, not refusing to ply anywhere in the city, among others. Sadly, none of these rules are being followed by our ilk. The radio cab services will prosper and take away a sizeable chunk of our business. Their rates are competitive. It’s about time we respond to competition and not simply protest to oust the cabs. Auto drivers need to mend their ways.”
Ashish Phadnis
were those, who stopped, heard the I needed to get to Sopan Baug and destination, looked at their watch decided to take a rickshaw assuming and said it was too far for them to it’s a cheaper option. But it was bad travel at this hour. It was only 7 decision. For over half an hour I pm by the way. After a good half struggled to get hold of a driver who an hour wait, my knight in shining would agree to take me there. First armour, or should I say few rickshaw drivers cared to black and yellow armour – stop but flat out refused to Auto arrived. This one agreed to go to Sopan Baug. Then `124 go. But the catch was that there were those who Cab I would to shell out `20 didn’t know where the area `145 over and above the meter. I was and hence declined was left with little choice, as to explore the unfamiliar I was already late to get to my territory. I stood there waving at destination. I quietly sat in the auto every empty autorickshaw passing and while alighting gave him `124 by only to be refused by everyone. (Meter showed `104). Some of the drivers slowed Same time next day, I realised down, and scooted as soon as I said I was done waiting endlessly and Sopan Baug. Then of course there
begging for an auto. So, I called for a cab from Wings Radio Cab for Sopan Baug. The air conditioned Maruti van at my doorstep, almost 20 minutes late. But I didn’t mind the delay so much – at least I wasn’t aimlessly waving in the middle of the road. The ride in the spacious air-conditioned vehicle was comfortable. Driver was polite, and didn’t crib about the traffic at all. On reaching my destination, the meter showed `145. I paid my fare and the driver gave me a receipt for the same. The only catch about hiring a cab when you cross Cantonment is that you have to pay toll of `30.
Tilak Road to Laxmi Road Gitesh Shelke
I needed to get to Laxmi Road from my office at Tilak Road. It was only 5.30 pm and I wrongly placed my faith in autorickshaw drivers from the city. I was so wrong. The first auto I hailed was being driven by an elderly driver. They are otherwise very helpful and go out of their way. But this one flatly refused to go to Laxmi Road – all because the destination I had chosen was too close for him to bother. The second one I hailed was kind enough to tell me that he would take me to Jai Hind corner on Laxmi Road, but it would cost me `20 over and above the meter.
I refused to pay a penny extra and waited for the next ride. Third driver heard my destination and quickly said, “tikade jane nahi parwadat (doesn’t make business sense to go there)”. Next few autorickshaws I waved, also sped away without even caring to halt. They just heard Laxmi Road and gave me a ‘are you stupid’ look. I had waited for over 40 minutes and was getting increasingly impatient. I might as well have walked to my destination. Just then a decent auto driver halted and asked me to sit. I asked the driver as to why most others do not like to ply short distances. “Short
I had to get to Balewadi to cover a tournament. I got on to Tilak Road and started looking for an autorickshaw. For over 40 minutes I struggled to hail one. The first guy who cared to stop after hearing Balewadi, flat out told me that I would have to pay half return, which essentially meant paying 50 per cent over and above my metered fare. “The stadium is on the outskirts of the city and we don’t get customers from there,” he told me curtly when I questioned his unreasonable demand. The second driver asked me for `50 over and above the meter. When I refused to pay anything above what the meter would show, the driver sped away. Third guy Auto quoted a lump sum figure `250 of `300 and then brought Cab it down to `280. Just when I thought I would negotiate ` 180 further, another auto driver who passing by stopped and joined us in the conversation. The new guy offered a better deal – `250. By now I had run out of patience and had no strength to haggle with the unruly auto drivers. I fished my phone out and called for a radio cab. I called TaxiForSure service and their customer service executive assured me that cab will reach in the 30 minutes. To my pleasant surprise the cab driver called me within 15 minutes and announced his arrival under my building. I hopped into silver coloured Tata Indica whose driver welcomed me with a cheerful smile. The journey was bliss – the air conditioning and Lata Mangeshkar’s songs on the radio made me forget horrifying experience with the auto drivers. Half an hour later we were at Balewadi and fare was `184, including service tax.
return. Fourth and fifth ones to I had to head to Wanowrie and arrive asked for `20 over and above obviously my first choice was an the meter. I effused to get submit auto rickshaw. I have travelled on to their demands and stood that route several times and patiently. Another auto came each time I have had to and agreed to take me by struggle a lot hiring an Auto meter. The tariff came auto. Like every other `103 to `103 and the driver time, this time too I After a lot of haggling didn’t ask for a penny was mentally prepared Cab more while alighting. for what lay ahead of `145 I tried the same me. In the past I have journey in a cab. I called had to shell out more for an Ola, which arrived dot than the metered fare. At on time. The ride was smooth and times, I haven’t been able to driver was willing to play music convince a single auto driver to take from any of the FM channels me to Wanowrie and have walked I wanted. Despite the peak hour all the way to Swargate to hail one. rush in the evening it took the This time too, I stood for over cab good ten minutes less than an 40 minutes begging for a ride. auto. The fare came to `148 with First two autos refused to go to taxes. Wanowrie. Third one asked for half
distances do not make sense. You make mere `17 per trip and have to wait endlessly for the next run. I also agreed to take you to Laxmi Road because from there I might get a patron wanting to travel far,” said the driver, who charged us the minimum fare for the trip from Tilak Road to Laxmi Road. I didn’t care to try out a radio cab knowing very well that none of them would charge less than `90. But frankly it makes more sense to walk short distances than bother waiting endlessly and begging for a ride from our city’s autorickshaw drivers.
be willing to take me to Kalewadi I needed to get to Kalewadi Phata. One of the drivers agreed and Phata from Nigdi and decided to quoted `170 for the ride. hire an auto from outside PCMC’s Interestingly, in PimpriF zone office. The area has Chinchwad autos do not two auto stands an saves Auto ply on meter. I tried telling you the trouble of standing `160 the driver that he was endlessly in the middle of Cab overcharging for a distance nowhere. At the stand, over of mere 8kms. But he a dozen autorickshaws were ` 139 stood his ground. I walked parked. Their drivers were up to another group of drivers busy chatting. I walked up to standing not so far away. Here one the group and asked if they would
of them quoted `180. I asked him to take me by meter, and he mumbled something under his breath, which to me sounded like he was abusing. “Here autos do not ply on meter. Take it or leave it,” said the driver. At this point the first driver came back and offered to bring down the price to `160. That was the best price I got from all the drivers there. I refused to pay a huge sum for the ride. I called Ola taxi service.
The executive at the other end asked me if I was in a hurry and needed a cab right away. When I replied in affirmative, he said that the taxi would reach the starting point in less than 10 minutes. True to their commitment, the cab arrived within seven minutes. This was my first ride in a radio cab. The cab was clean and driver extremely polite. At the end of the journey the tab worked out to `139 with taxes.
Note for Ola: Before calling TaxiForSure service I made a call to Ola hoping that with their biggest fleet of private cabs in the city they would be faster in responding. The executive at the other end said that their company does not service Balewadi sports complex. “The location is out of city limits,” he said. May we remind you that Balewadi is part of Pune and very much falls within the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation.
Citizen speak Anamika Rawat,
Intuitive Healer and Khadakwasla resident Often I come to the city to meet my family and friends. Since I don’t drive, I am dependent on the public transport system. If I miss my bus to get back home, I have no choice but to look for an auto. The autowallas often refuse me and those who are willing charge double the fare. That’s the last thing you need at the end of the day. These days, I prefer calling a radio cab company which is hassle free. I feel safer travelling in a cab than in an auto. The fare is also cheap compared to autos.
Ria Dhanani,
Student and Kalyani Nagar resident I travel regularly from home to Bund Garden and back. An autorickshaw fare works out to `80 one way, while cab charges me `100 - `110 oneway. Most autowallahs don’t agree to come till Kalyani Nagar and if they come they charge me `100 flat. It is a hassle finding an autorickshaw. It makes more sense to book a cab.
Nihar Nighojkar,
Shivani Muzumdar,
Niranjan Katke,
Kothrud resident
Bibvewadi resident
Sinhagad Road resident
IT professional and
My relatives stay at Nigdi, Kothrud and Katraj. It makes perfect sense to book a cab online. These cabs have made my weekend travel hassle free. Cabs come on time and charge reasonably. It’s much better than waiting for an auto and haggling with the drivers.
Professor and
While returning from work in the evenings from FC Road I have to struggle a lot to find an auto. It’s a struggle convincing utowallahs to come to Bibvewadi. I also travel quite often to airport, mostly early in the morning. Often I have tried hailing a rickshaw and have been told that I will to shell out `750 for the ride. These days I just call for a radio cab and end up paying mere `225.
IT professional and
Recently my father took ill and I took him to our family doctor in Kothrud. While on our way back we asked over a dozen autowallahs, all of whom refused. We then walked to nearest stand and there too all the drivers refused. I tried telling them that my father was ill but they didn’t care. Finally I called my sister, who came with her car and drove us back home.
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
PUNE
“Indian Muslims are patriots and are not swayed by fundamentalist ideologies. Extremism is alien to their nature.” — Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister
They meet to have fun
Who says Pune has a dearth of fun community groups to spend weekends together? TGS gives a glimpse of a few like-minded people who share the lighter side of life BY SNEHA KRISHNAN @sne_krishnan Community groups are a great platform for those interested in picnics, try different restaurants and cuisines, parties and dance socials. And most importantly, for those who are interested in enjoying life to its fullest. Pharmaceutical professional Pranav Deshpande needed a muchneeded break from his mundane routine that he was trapped in. The thirty-eight-year-old began looking for social groups in the city that shared similar interests and would come together. And Dhamaal Masti Group was born in March 2013. With 1,400 Members of Pune Dhamaal Masti Group enjoy a day of white-water rafting in Kolad. members and the figure rising, the (Below) MH 12 Photography team during one of their excursions to Peshwa Lake, Katraj group holds meetings and events every month. “Our trips to Goa and kinds of meetings and enjoy trips The group’s founder Malshej Ghats last year regardless of destination. Deshpande said, “We were some of the most “Th is is a group for anyone share similar interests memorable outings,” he interested in going out for picnics, and meet new people said. hangouts, try out different restaurants, each time. Our group Most clubs in the parties, dances and watching movies. also has a handful city come together for We believe in enjoying life to its of foreigners and a particular purpose, fullest,” Deshpande said. interacting with them for instance, artistic MH12 Photography Club is for widens our perspective.” sessions, book reading photography enthusiasts and anyone From treks to coffee sessions or dance who shares the love of photography, table meetings and practices, but this isn’t and wants to click, share and learn the snorkeling dates, the the case with Dhamaal art together. group plans a bunch - AMIT PHALTANKAR group. They plan all Co-founded by Amit Phaltankar, of different activities.
“Being a part of this group brings me closer to like-minded people.”
TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly Municipal swimming pools will be the fi rst facility to be covered by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for its online prepaid service for sports facilities. Officials of sports committee and computer department took the decision at a meeting held recently. PCMC computer department chief Neelkant Poman said, “We plan to introduce cashless facility for using our sports centres. With increasing health consciousness among citizens, the demand for starting advance paying system for swimming pools has come from the residents of suburbs like Chinchwad, Wakad, Pimple Saudagar, Pimple Gurav and Sangvi.” The civic official said that heavy rush to its 10 pools is witnessed from February to May with 60 per cent citizens having passes. The prepaid fees for using pools are `400 (three months), `700(six months) and `1,000 for one year. Late Balasaheb Gawade Swimming Pool at Keshavnagar, Chinchwad, alone has 400 pass holders. The prepaid facility will save time and help maintain transparency in administration. PCMC choose swimming pools because the revenue generated from this facility is increasing every year. In 2013-14, the civic body collected `67 lakh from passes alone and `45,29,440 from tickets sale at venues. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
BE A PART OF THIS GROUP Contact details: MH12 Photography club (Facebook Page) Pune Dhamaal Masti Group (Facebook page) Pranav Deshpande: 9881831122 Amit Phaltankar: 9922112903
For those who love and care for nature
NFS honours Arif Siddique, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Forest Cell and Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly On the occasion of World Sparrow Day on March 20, when organisations across the world were doing their bit to save the bird, Nature Forever Society (NFS) came up with a unique idea to celebrate the day. Working for the conservation of House Sparrow and other common flora and fauna since 2006, the society honoured three commoners for their extensive work in the field of environment. NFS tied up with WIPRO and gave away Sparrow Awards to – Arif Siddique, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Forest Cell and Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee. “Conservation has been a closed field, limited only to activists. But we believe that conservation will not be successful till we do not involve the common man. Hence we came up with the idea of Sparrow Awards, to honour citizens who go out of their way, despite their busy schedules to conserve the environment,” said Mohammed Dilawar, Founder and President of NFS. ARIF SIDDIQUE Arif hails from a family of hunters and as a child his family insisted that he accompany them on their hunting trips. But he refused to participate even then. Currently working as an engineer with PWD, Arif is posted at Arunachal Pradesh. He goes around spreading the word of conservation among locals. Thanks to his work, locals have stopped indiscriminately felling trees and killing animals for fun. “It’s always a difficult job to stop hunting or felling of trees in an area where people are dependent on forests for their daily life. But hunting as a hobby has declined in the last few years as the younger generation is now educated.” He is relieved that the youth would rather chase “fashionable things” than hunt. Yet, the task ahead will be to dissuade villagers in remote
areas. Arif hopes to promote Eco Tourism to make it community-based so that the local people can get some sustainable livelihood from it. BRUHAT BANGALORE MAHANAGARA PALIKE FOREST CELL It’s an army of 7,000 odd volunteers. They have always been attuned to the rights of the environment and other animals. Many have been volunteers from their youth, while many have also been volunteers with other nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). A lot of volunteers have been working for a long time and the experience and conviction that they all can make a difference on a larger scale have made all the difference. Their focus is to reach out to animals in distress. Their goal now is to start paramedicare centres across Urban Bangalore to attend to wildlife. RUSHIKULYA SEA TURTLE PROTECTION COMMITTEE The Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee (RSTPC) is a sterling example of the people of several villages along Rushikulya’s coast coming together across generations to save the Olive Ridley Turtle. The result of their concerted effort is one of the best examples in India of the wonderful difference the selfless service of a community can bring about in the field of conservation. RSTPC was officially registered in 2003. The organisation has involved volunteers and villagers. It has encouraged them to become wholeheartedly involved in spreading awareness among the village folk about the turtles. RSTPC not only protects the safety of the turtles but also keeps their nesting beaches safe. Once that is done, it is time for members of the organisation to collect data and monitor breeding and nesting turtles. They record nest predation, mortality and numbers. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
HAL staff strike; agitation at Force Motor ends While public sector company has failed to give salary for 10 months, private firm agrees to 10-yr-pending wage agreement
ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR
PCMC introduces online prepaid service for swimming pools
38, in 2014, this group has around 900 plus members. “The idea of starting this group came to me when I couldn’t find any such group in Pune. I’m an avid photographer and have been clicking pictures for about four years. Camera is my best friend. Being a part of this group brings me closer to likeminded people,” Phaltankar said. The MH12Photography organises workshops, photo-walks and theme photo contests once every month. Most of their walks are held on SB Road. “A large number of participants attend our walks and we chose a winner from the entries,” he said. Such community groups have endless advantages, apart from making friends and exchanging ideas. “Some of our photography excursions have been to Bhigwan, Nighoj and Lonavla. We have learnt a lot from experts about new technologies and software. These walks are a great platform for amateur photographers too,” Phaltankar said. snehakrishnan@hotmail.com
‘Hamara Bajaj’ makes a comeback P 14
BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal In what could be inferred as the contrasting way in which the management of a public and private fi rm take care of employees, Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL) is yet to pay staff salary for past 10 months while Force Motors Ltd agreed to sign the prolong wage agreement. The 1,100 workers of HAL plant at Pimpri have started an indefinite sit-in agitation opposite the company gate from March 13 for their pending demand. With the salary issue remaining unsolved despite a strong follow-up, the staff had no option left but to launch strike. Speaking to TGS, Hindustan Antibiotics Mazdoor Sangh (HAMS) general secretary Sunil Pataskar said, “We have shown a lot of patience for the past nine months but the government has failed to heed our demand. Agitation is the only alternative that we have.” In order to gather maximum support, HAMS launched the ‘Save HA’ campaign to revive the country’s first public sector undertaking (PSU) in
Even as the indefinite sit-in agitation by HAL’s 1,100 workers continues from March 13 (left), the stir started by the women of Force Motors staff borne the desired results
the drugs and pharmaceutical sector. The workers had distributed thousands of pamphlets to citizens appealing to them to take part in the mass movement. Social media was used to spread the message, besides writing letters to Prime Minister. Citing the importance of the historical plant, workers told citizens that HAL a vital role by supplying medicines during wars, Gujarat plague, Killari (Latur) earthquake and natural disasters. The plant can satisfy the country’s need of
HAL workers’ body distributed pamphlets highlighting their cause
medicines as it is made as per the World Health Organisation standard and has skilled labour. DISPUTE AT FORCE MOTORS ENDS WITH A HAPPY NOTE The ten-day hunger strike by ten women, wives of staff of Force Motors Ltd, ended on Wednesday with the management agreeing to sign the wage pact that was pending for 10 years. The indefinite strike had turned serious when three of the women had to be hospitalised on the fifth day. Even the family members of workers and union members had led a protest march to the firm’s Akurdi plant last Tuesday. Finally, the management agreed to discuss the issue. Labour commissioner Ratnadip
Hendre, MLA Mahesh Landge, Corporator Datta Sane, social activists Maruti Bhapkar and Manav Kamble, union leaders Yashwant Bhosale, Bharat Shinde, Dilip Pawar, Keshav Gholve and BJP women city president Shaila Molak attended the meeting with Force Motors Ltd management. The workers’ representatives said that there is a litigation going on between the company and its workers’ unions over the latter’s recognition and the case is pending before the Supreme Court. The dispute is regarding who will represent the workers as there are two rival unions in the company —Bharatiya Kamgar Sena (BKS) and Pune Employees Union (PEU)AITUC. The recognition of BKS
was challenged by PEU. The case was transferred to Supreme Court in 2009 after it moved from lower industrial court to the high court. The dispute has seen the plant’s staff coming down from 2,200 permanent workers to around 500. The staff representatives told the management that they had got a no objection certificate from both BKS and PEU to negotiate a wage agreement directly with the company, but it was turned down by the firm. The last agreement between the workers’ union and company was signed in 2001. The company management was not available for any comment but issued a statement that it was a fight between the rival trade unions. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com
ENVIRONMENT Area
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY
H EALTH
MARCH 21, 2015
Fine Particulate Matter
Ozone
Respirable Particulate Matter
0-50 Good/average 50-100 Poor/unthealthy
PUNE POLLUTION LEVELS
82 69
175 163
62 47
Shinajinagar (unhealthy)
106 91
149 141
73 21
IIT team develops affordable dialysis
Commonly referred to as ‘artificial kidney’, haemodialysis is used to remove impurities from the bloodstream
Asserts Wanowrie’s three-year-old resident forum that spreads awareness about compost pits and healthy garbage-free life
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur have engineered an indigenous, costeffective kidney dialysis technology. The innovative technology was recently recognised with the National Award. Haemodialysis is administered to patients suffering from various stages of kidney failure. Commonly referred to as ‘artificial kidney’, it is a machine that uses dialysis to remove impurities and waste products from the bloodstream before returning the blood to the patient’s body. “Administering haemodialysis is a very expensive affair for an average Indian. Haemodialysis cartridges are not manufactured in India and are imported from Germany, Korea or Japan,” said Anirban Roy, a research scholar at the IIT’s department of chemical engineering and co-inventor of the technology. The cartridges are formed of 7,000 to 15,000 hollow fibres of 180-220 microns inner diameter and 15-40 micron thickness, and the challenge lies in spinning these clinical grade hollow fibre membranes to the specific dimensions, said Roy. “The present innovation is about a technology (using disposable syringe assemblies) that has been designed to spin such clinical grade fibres in India since the country does not possess the technology to spin hollow fibre membranes of such specifications.” “Th is technology does not use the conventional expensive spinnerets
BY SNEHA KRISHNAN @sne_krishnan
Maithili Manakawad
Since the mohalla community began in Pune, a large number of citizens have joined hands to form groups in their localities and take up civic issues. Across the city, people have been gaining awareness about saving the environment and creating a better living for themselves and neighbours. TGS caught up with one such mohalla committee known as the Wanowrie Residents Forum (WRF) and spoke to them about their work. “Garbage segregation is the need of the hour in our city,” said WRF senior member Maithili Manakawad. “We create mess and expect Pune Municipal Corporation to clear it. The civic body doesn’t have a magic wand. Citizens must take ownership of their garbage and segregate it at source.” Mohalla committees play a major role in the development of areas. It
The Biocomposting Pits at Windsor Avenue Housing Society, Wanowrie. (Left) The Daily Dump compost pit can be placed in your home to treat wet waste on a daily basis
appears to be a simple elementary concept but has far-reaching effects. “We conveniently dump garbage in dustbins without thinking about ragpickers who risk their health while segregating the waste,” she said. WRF is a group of 30 residents who are trying to strengthen the garbage segregation system in their area. Recently they took up the issue of garbage burning in areas with the municipality, which resulted in notices being slapped on buildings. “From my seventh-floor apartment, I can see garbage being burnt. The air is unhealthy,” said Manakawad.
0-100 Good/Moderate Above 100 Unhealthy
Bhosari (unhealthy)
Garbage is our problem too, not only PMC’s
Krishna Monie
PUNE
Windsor Avenue opposite Ruby Hall Clinic in Wanowrie, the housing society where Manakawad lives, has been segregating garbage at source for the past nine years. WRF secretary Krishna Monie says, “We are trying to get all housing societies and nearby bastis to segregate garbage. Along with civic officials, we are organising awareness campaigns as most people don’t know the advantages of segregating wet and dry garbage.” PMC has access to only two dumping grounds, Uruli Devachi and Phursungi, and both have capacity of 700 tonnes each. Th is shortage of space
is reflecting on the streets of the city. “Dumping garbage at these spots is unfair to the villagers there. We have encroached upon their space and polluted their environment,” Monie said. According to the SC’s notice, all housing societies built post 2002 have to build their own vermin-compost pits or dispose wet waste in an ecofriendly manner. To get this order cracking, WRF has asked the civic administration to send notices to erring housing societies and even to those that have the pit in place but are not using it. snehakrishnan@hotmail.com
Gifting made eco-friendly
which are employed by the companies abroad,” said Roy, adding only four to five companies worldwide enjoy the monopoly in this business and all have their own patented technology. “Due to this, each dialyser costs Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,500 and ideally three such dialysers are needed per week for each patient,” he said. The estimated manufacturing cost of such a dialyser developed by the IIT-Kharagpur team is expected to be around Rs.200-300, he said. Th is is a project of national importance and was funded by the Department of Science and Technology, with two Bengalurubased companies as industrial partners of the technology, said Roy. Animal and clinical trials of the product are awaited, although in-vitro (laboratory) tests have been completed. The product won the runners-up prize at the fi fth National Award for Technology Innovation in the category of polymers in public health care on February 21, said Sirshendu De, who is the principal investigator and coinventor of the technology. He is a Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar awardee. “Th is is a flagship project which perfectly fits in with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of ‘Make in India’,” said De, professor at the IIT’s department of chemical engineering, in a statement. The developed process has been fi led for an Indian patent and also for a US patent.
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THE SAD STATE OF PUNE’S ‘ZERO STONE’
Help restore Pune’s Zero Stone
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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 The project would financed from Japan had asked him to talk to icon of communal harmony, as it the people of Japan directly, he had prepares for Ganeshotsav with a range done so. Modi is scheduled to visit Jaof charitable activities every year. pan from August 30 to September 3. Describing their youth group as “a In a tweet in Japanese, he said he was truly cosmopolitan mandal”, Shaikh very “excited” about the visit that will and the mandal’s secretary Sheldon strengthen the relationship between Fernandes spoke of the two countries. In another tweet what Ganeshotsav addressed to his Japanese countercelebrations mean part Shinzo Abe, Modi said he deeply to them every year. respected Abe’s leadership. First and foremost, the trust involves everyone National Herald case: from the locality in Court defers hearing the festivities. The mandal collects vargani ( v o l u n t a r y A court on Thursday fixed December contribution) from 9 as the next date of hearing in a case the neighbourhood against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and but 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 has put on hold a trial court’s summons of blankets, jackets and other such clothing to the poor, especially
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
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
IANS
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
What is going wrong with road safety in India? Telangana school bus accident resulting in the death of 19 students is part of a larger tragedy that demands immediate attention BY PRIYANKA 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
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
WASHINGTON
RAHUL RAUT
convicted in stock scheme
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
Generosity & communal harmony define these mandals 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 e nyears-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 the activists. Headed by Raghuvir Vanal, this
The creative market in Pune is a lot more welcoming than in other cities and this is clearly visible in our flee market trend
TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly It might sound superficial when you are told to follow your dreams. The fastpaced lifestyle demands us to keep our creative sides at bay and work around the clock. But not everyone wishes to and necessarily does so. Unlike other cities, Pune does not promote extremely competitive lives and it’s easier to pursue creative interests. One can even make a living out of it like the forty-two-year-old Rohit Bell. Bell, the founder of Occasions Gifting Solutions, makes attractive products out of paper. “The idea came to me when I realised that I wanted to do something different and not get lost in the rut of a nine-to-five working life. I have always been fascinated by craftworks and colours. Even in school, I would focus on craft activities and make pretty objects out of paper,” Bell said. “As a kid I would collect paper of different shapes, sizes, colours, designs and textures and I make numerous things out of it. The compliments that I would get for my works boosted my
confidence,” he said. After working for a few years in Mumbai, Bell decided that it was time to follow his dreams. He moved to Pune and along with his wife Rhitu Bell launched his company at Bootie Street in Camp. “The creative market in Pune is a lot more welcoming than other cities as is visible in the city’s thriving flea market. People here want something different and beautiful and it helps keep the creative person inside me going. When I started working with paper and launched our company, I felt that I have reached where I wanted to be. Not many people attain this level of satisfaction with their work,” he said. Occasions Gifting Solutions makes customised products. These may look simple, but there’s a lot of hard work in making handmade products. When asked about how challenging the work gets, Rohit said, “Th inking creatively and out-of-the-box at all times is a challenge. We always try to meet the demands of customers, even those who are unable to put across their ideas.” Some of the products made by the fi rm are earrings, photo frames,
envelops, bags, tags and tea light holders. All the items are made of paper and decorated using techniques like quilling. Check out Facebook page Occasions Gifting Solutions for the variety of products made of paper. About future plans, Rohit said, “We will be increasing the range of new and innovative paper products. Apart from making personalised gifts bags, we plan to cover companies also.” The venture also provides the underprivileged a chance to earn a living. “We have been able to provide livelihood to about eight workers in the vicinity. Some of the people under this section of society are highly skilled and hardworking but get few opportunities to show their talent. Small-scale companies like us try to change their lives. We have also worked with a couple of NGOs in the city who help those with hearing problems. Th is way they get to uplift their self-esteem by using their talents.” Rohit’s dream was to build something that was dear to him but his pursuit has helped the environment and offered a helping hand to the needy. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
$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.
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
“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
mouth
BY YASH DAIV @yash009
&DESERTED
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.
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.
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.
Pune’s hottest start-up, 2014 to get top prize today
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.
“We collect money and support poor patients in the hospitals. Our members also support orphans in different orphanages in the city,”
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.
This members of this group include
shelke.gitesh@goldensparrow.com
WASHINGTON: A dozen Indian firms figure in this year’s Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 list of the region’s best big publicly traded companies with HDFC Bank making the list more times than any other company. China boasts the most companies on the list, as it has for the last three years. But the number fell to 16, down “We are planning to meet the 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
The Software Exporters Association of Pune’s (SEAP) annual mega event, PuneConnect 2014, that seeks to promote a culture of innovation, just edging out India’s Tata Motors. creativity and enterprise in the city is India trails China with 12 companies setsame to unfold on the Fab 50 list, the numbertoday as at Hotel Westin, PUNE, AUGUST 2, 2014Koregaon www.goldensparrow.com Park, at 9.30 am. last year. At this event 2014’s hottest start-up HDFC Bank, the country’s fromsector Pune will be selected from four second-largest private bank, finalists for theyear, top prize. appears on the list for the eighth The entire the most times of any company on the galaxy of bodies You have pride in how promoting in India is list since Forbes began compilingStart-ups this 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.
2FRAMEBENCH THE FINALISTS ARE...
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
(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
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 (See related reports on p3)
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
“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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From the
Ever wondered where thoroughbreds go after retirement? Or why jockeys are weighed before and after a race? Barnalee Handique has the answers
‘Chayan’ promises to offer shelter, legal support and counselling to couples in case of outburst from families
RAHUL RAUT
BY ISHANI BOSE @ishani_bose
ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat
Pune FC enter Durand Cup final P 16
Nat’l movement to promote marriages of choice gets going
With support from Delhi, city BJP 12 Indian firms among keen to push Pune Metro project Forbes Asia’s Fabulous 50 In view of the forthcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, central road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has begun giving personal attention to the proposed Pune Metro project. In 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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ing 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
PUNE’S PEOPLE PURPOSE
WITH A
Carrying the torch in the battle against cancer P2
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
Emerge as creative leaders: Kalam to IIM students SHILLONG: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has urged students of the Indian Institute of Management (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
TGS LIFE
Pune brands go pan India
City subways are
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
Boston Globe reported.
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
ILLUSTRATION BY GAURI BARVE KALE
EDIT PAGE
Guide for Dummies: It’s easy to grab headlines in India P 12
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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“Regardless of what the Centre does — in Goa minorities are 39-40% — if it is part of their food habits, why and how can we ban it? For people — especially minorities — eating beef is part of their food.” —Laxmikant Parsekar, Goa Chief Minister
Coming a long way P 15
Bakery worker’s daughter gets her wings Syeda Salva Fatima became the first female from Hyderabad to get the licence By Mohammed Shafeeq Unlike girls of her age who dream of becoming doctors or engineers, she wanted to be something different. Many laughed at her dream, but today she is one among the few Muslim women in India to hold a commercial pilot’s licence. Coming from a modest background - her father is a bakery worker - Syeda Salva Fatima, with her sheer determination and hard work, entered the male-dominated field and became the first female from the poverty stricken old-city of Hyderabad to get the licence. Having crossed the first step she is now preparing for the second - certification on a mid-sized passenger jet. A resident of Sultan Shahi, a densely populated neighbourhood in the backward old city, Salva dreamt of flying aircraft since her school days. “When I was in the ninth standard I used to collect articles about the aviation industry and pictures of different aircraft. Like almost all the girls, my friends wanted to be either doctors or engineers, but I wanted to do something different,” 26-year-old Salva told IANS. “I used to share my thoughts with my classmates and they always used to
I was thrilled,” recalled Salva, who had This requires Rs.30 to Rs.32 lakh. an adventurous nature from her school Refusing to give up, she is making days and was a keen participant in all efforts to and standing by her is her extra-curricular activities and games. husband Shakeeb, whom she married Salva was also aware of the ups and in 2013. downs in her path. “People used to ask She is now looking for support from me: ‘You are a girl, what will you do by the government and philanthropists to becoming a pilot? After your marriage, reach her final destination. you will have to She is keen to take up a job in be a housewife.’ I never cared about Spicejet or Indigo. these comments and taunts because my Zahid Ali Khan, who along with family supported me,” his friends spent Rs.18 she said. lakh for Salva’s pilot Five years later, she training, is making all successfully completed efforts to help her reach her initial training, her destination. He has logging 200 hours of written to Civil Aviation flying on aircraft like Minister Ashok Gajapati the Cessna 152 and 172, Raju and Telangana including 123 hours of Chief Minister K. solo flight. Chandrasekhar Rao, She obtained a seeking their support. Private Pilot Licence “What is important and Flight Radio is that a girl has - Syeda Salva Fatima Telephone Operator achieved this. It doesn’t Licence, besides a matter whether she is a Commercial Pilot Muslim, a Hindu or a Licence (CPL). Sikh,” Khan told IANS. The training was tough, especially Khan, whose newspaper is active the written exams, and she slowly but for various social and educational steadily completed it. “I never came causes, believes women have an equal across any discrimination against role with men in this century. women or Muslims. Everybody was “Muslim women can and should cooperative.” participate in every field within the After obtaining her CPL in 2013, limitations prescribed by Islam. Salva she found that this was not enough to can wear a scarf without any problem get a pilot’s job in an airline. and there is also nothing objectionable She has to now undergo in the dress which she has to wear as a multiengine training and Type Rating pilot,” he said. to be able to fly bigger aircraft like the (Mohammed Shafeeq can be Boeing 737 and the Airbus A-320. contacted at m.shafeeq@ians.in )
“My friends wanted to be doctors, I wanted something different.”
Five years later, Syeda Salva Fatima successfully completed her initial training, logging 200 hours of flying on aircraft like the Cessna 152 and 172, including 123 hours of solo flight
ask me whether this is really possible. But in the end, the dream came true thanks to Almighty Allah,” said the burqa-clad woman, who studied at the Aizza School in Malakpet here. Eldest among four children of Syed Ashfaq Ahmed, she had no clue either as to how her dream would come true in view of the meagre earnings of
her father. As her parents insisted that she opt for engineering, she enrolled for coaching conducted by Urdu daily ‘Siasat’ for EAMCET, a common entrance test for engineering and medical courses. It was ‘Siasat’ editor Zahid Ali Khan who gave wings to her dreams.
On learning about her ambition, he offered to bear the entire expenditure for her training. It took a year for Salva to gather all information and prepare herself to take the final plunge. In 2007, she enrolled in the Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy. “It was my first air experience and
For the love of art and Solar Impulse 2 lands in Varanasi passion to innovate The zero-fuel airplane maintained a minimum altitude of around 5,200 metres
Another innovator from Chennai has developed a prosthetic knee for walking on uneven terrain Irked by the overflowing municipality dustbins in front of her home in Anna Nagar, at Chennai, 15-year-old Priyanka Mathikshara has designed an innovative trash bin that not only disposes garbage but also boasts of a streetlight and CCTV camera -- all powered by solar energy. The ‘Super Stocker 3C - Ultra Model Dustbin’ collects and crushes garbage for maximum space utilisation and has a solar panel attached on top which provides power to the crusher as well as a street light and CCTV camera for security purposes. “When the dustbin gets filled to capacity, it automatically sends a message to the local municipality. The super stocker can play an important role in the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan,” the class 11 student told IANS. Mathikshara is part of a group of ten innovators, two artists and two writers who are at present staying in Rashtrapati Bhavan as part of the ‘Inresidence scheme for writers/artists/ innovators’. Another innovator from Chennai, Anand T.S. has developed a prosthetic knee for walking on uneven terrain. “The usual prosthetic knee is made of two pieces of wood joined together by a bolt which does not allow the wearer to stand up straight. This design, however, has four movable parts and is much better,” 28-year-old Anand, a graduate of IIT-Madras, told IANS.
Priyanka Mathiksharas’ Super Stocker 3C
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Vikas Karade from Mumbai wants to revolutionise how surgeries are done in India with a smartphone application that converts X-rays of bone shapes into 3D models within seconds.
The Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), a solarpowered aircraft on a mission to fly around the globe without a drop of fuel, has landed here on Thursday, completing the fourth leg of its historic flight, according to media reports. The aircraft, piloted by the Swiss project chairman Bertrand Piccard, had taken off from the Indian city of Varanasi early on Thursday, and reached Myanmar after crossing the Bay of Bengal and a tall mountain range, covering a distance of about 1,400 km, according to a BBC report. Capable of flying over oceans for several days and nights in a row, the single-seater Si2, which started its journey from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on March 9, will travel 35,000 km around the world in 25 days. It will likely be another five months before the aircraft returns to the UAE, after it crosses both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Si2 has been built not just to fly around the world without a drop of fuel, but also demonstrate the effectiveness of clean technologies and the importance of sustainability. Acknowledging the role of the ancient science of Yoga, which originated in India more than 5,000 years ago, former Swiss fighter pilot Andre Borschberg said he practices it while flying the Si2. Piccard takes turns with project CEO Andre Borschberg to guide the Si2 on its circumnavigation of the globe. So far, the pair has covered about 4,500 km since the start of their adventure. The Si2 project has already set plenty of world records, including the
greatest distance covered in a single solar-powered flight. This was the 1,468 km achieved on the second leg of the flight from Muscat in Oman to Ahmedabad in India. During the Ahmedabad sojourn, besides ‘refuelling’ the aircraft, the pilots were given a Gujarati cultural treat comprising ‘garba-dandiya’ dances and other sights of the west Indian state from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi hails. The wingspan of the aircraft is 72 metres, which exceeds that of a 747 jumbo jet airliner. It, however, weighs only 2.3 tonnes, which is equivalent to that of a small car.
The light weight of the Si2 will be critical to its success over the coming months. So too would the performance of the 17,000 solar cells that line the top of the aircraft’s wings, and the energydense lithium-ion batteries that it would use to sustain night-time flying, the report said. The Pacific and Atlantic crossings will require the Si2 to fly non-stop for several days at a time. This will put tremendous stress on the pilots, Borschberg and Piccard, who will be permitted only short naps on these long legs of flight. The Si2 venture is reminiscent of other great circumnavigation feats in
the history of aviation, albeit fuelled ones. In 1986, the Voyager aircraft became the first to fly around the world without stopping or refuelling. The propeller-driven vehicle took nine days to complete its journey. Then, in 2005, the time set by Voyager was beaten by the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, a jet-powered plane, which completed its non-stop circumnavigation in just under three days. Its 17,248 solar cells and four lithium batteries, weighing 633 kg, supply the electric motors with enough renewable energy for a 24x7 flight, up to an altitude of 8,500 metres - less than the height of Mount Everest which stands at 8,848 metres.
‘Cheating-free exams not possible in Bihar’ Vol-1* lssue No.: 40 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)
Patna, March 19 (IANS) Bihar’s exasperated Education Minister P.K. Shahi admitted on Thursday that cheating-free examinations were not possible in the state, minus the cooperation of students’ parents. More than 1.4 million students are appearing in the Class 10 board examination amid widespread reports of mass copying and cheating. Shahi admitted to the media that holding “free and fair exam” was a big challenge for the Bihar government. “The government cannot stop
Bihar’s Education Minister P.K. Shahi
cheating in exam,” he said. “It is also the responsibility of the society to ensure a cheating-free exam. “More than the government, parents and guardians should come forward (to end mass cheating),” he said. The minister expressed the government’s helplessness to hold a cheating-free exam. “It is not possible to fully stop cheating during exams or hold exams where students don’t go for unfair means.” Shahi said the situation in Bihar was so bad that at least four to
five people helped every student to cheat. “First, I appeal to parents and guardians to stop cheating to help the government ensure free and fair exams,” he said. In the last three days, more than 600 students, caught cheating in the board examination, have been expelled, an official said on Thursday. “The students were expelled on charges of adopting unfair means,” said Lalkeshwar Prasad, chairman of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB).
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
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“We have the best opportunity in decades to pursue a different future between Iran and United States of America.” — US President Barack Obama
From poverty to power P 16
Gender gap in education cuts both ways Girls suffer from a lack of self-confidence in their maths abilities. Boys, by contrast, are much more likely to be disengaged, play more video games BY EDUARDO PORTER Why do the best-educated girls do worse at math than top-educated boys? Concern about this deficit exploded into public consciousness 35 years ago, when researchers in the department of psychology at Johns Hopkins University published an article suggesting the gap might be caused by a “superior male mathematical ability.” The debate that ensued was furious. It was so hot that a quarter of a century later, a similar controversy contributed to the ouster of Lawrence Summers from his post as the president of Harvard. Was there anything “natural” about the performance gap? Or was it the product of gender bias working its way through schools? As the debate raged, ending the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering and math became a critical policy priority. Amid the din over top girls’ mathematical abilities, something important was forgotten: What is happening that so many boys are falling behind in pretty much everything else? Last week the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development - a collective think tank of the world’s industrialized nations - published a report about gender inequality in education, based on the latest edition of its PISA standardized tests taken by 15-year-olds around the world.
The gender gap in math persists, it found. Top-performing boys score higher in math than the best-performing girls in all but two of the 63 countries in which the tests were given, including the United States. Test scores in science follow a similar, if somewhat less lopsided, pattern. And women are still steering clear of scientific careers: Across the OECD nations, only 14 percent of young women entering college for the first time chose a science-related field, compared with 39 percent of men. But these are hardly the most troubling imbalances. The most perilous statistic in the OECD’s report is about the dismal performance of less-educated boys, who are falling far behind girls. Six out of 10 underachievers in the OECD - who fail to meet the baseline standard of proficiency across the
Dismal performance of boys suggests development alone is not enough to lift their educational prospects
Frozen Yoga? You’ll Still Break a Sweat
In Bozeman, Mont., participants in a twice-weekly class snowshoe to their destination as a warm-up, do about a half-hour of yoga, including the reverse warrior pose, and then snowshoe home. Credit Lynn Donaldson for The New York Times
BY COURTNEY RUBIN It seemed as if yoga should have exhausted its opportunities for expansion by now, considering it has already made such unlikely alliances as marijuana, dogs, karaoke and stand-up paddleboards. But the yoga creep carries on with what may be the practice’s strangest bedfellow yet: snow. This latest incarnation of yoga is called, inevitably, snowga, and it’s done outside in freezing temperatures, that archenemy of stretching, often as a mash-up with snow sports like skiing and snowshoeing. In Bozeman, Montana, this winter, a company called Flow Outside began a twiceweekly class in which participants snowshoe to their destination as a warm-up, do about a half-hour of yoga and then snowshoe home. Stowe Mountain Lodge in Vermont offers snowga (calling it Stowega) with both skiing and snowshoeing. And at Finger Lakes Yoga Escapes in Canandaigua, New York, an owner, Jennifer Hess, said snowga (her
version is with snowshoes) has been such a success that she plans to introduce a class at night, with headlamps. There’s also a popular hashtag, #snowga, with yogis posting pictures of themselves holding poses in the snow, occasionally with ad hoc props, like snow shovels. The hashtag took off a couple of years ago, after two of yoga’s Instagram stars - Laura Kasperzak (1 million followers) and her high school friend Masumi Goldman (125,000 followers) - began using it. Laurie Riedman, who regularly skis, snowshoes and practices yoga (but never all together), said she was surprised by how good a combination snowga was when she tried it recently in Canandaigua. “Yoga and cold just sounds like an oxymoron,” said Riedman, a public relations consultant. Carin Gorrell, editor in chief of Yoga Journal, said this latest version of yoga was almost predictable, especially because outdoor hybrid classes like yoga and hiking or yoga and stand-up paddleboarding are always the first to sell out at the magazine’s events.
Latest incarnation of yoga is called snowga, and it’s done outside in freezing temperatures
tests in math, reading and science - are boys. That includes 15 percent of American boys, compared with only 9 percent of girls. More boys than girls underperform in every country tested except Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. Across the board, girls tend to score higher than boys in reading, which the OECD considers the most important skill, essential for future learning. “The message you get is that girls around the world don’t get a chance in education, but that is not true for most of the world,” said Gijsbert Stoet, who teaches psychology at the University of Glasgow and has studied educational inequality globally. “Boys around the world don’t do well in education. What surprises me is the lack of eagerness to solve the problems that boys face.” Men’s educational attainments have fallen decidedly behind women’s. By 2012, 34 percent of women ages 25 to 64 across OECD countries had attained a college degree, compared with 30 percent of men. “Trapped in a cycle of poor performance, low motivation, disengagement with school and lack of ambition,” as the OECD puts it, many young men are in no shape to succeed in a job market that requires increasing skill levels.
“People who are passionate about practicing yoga want to do it everywhere - they’ll tell you yoga goes with everything,” she said. Yoga Journal Live classes tend to be in warmer months, but if an opportunity arose to offer snowga, “we probably would,” she said.) Fans say the pairing is more natural than it sounds. Beth Stewart, a spokeswoman for Windham Mountain Resort in the Catskills, said the company was inspired to offer snowga for the first time this winter after guides on snowshoe outings watched women spontaneously strike yoga poses, “a grown-up version of making snow angels,” she said. A class description suggests the snowshoe portion of the class is “meditation in motion.” Anne Anderson first paired yogic breathing with skiing to calm students’ nerves while she was a ski instructor at Mohawk Mountain in Connecticut. Buoyed by the results, she spent a summer kitted out in shorts, boots, skis and poles to figure out what poses worked when weighed down with equipment, then went to the Kripalu center in Massachusetts to earn her 200hour yoga teacher training certificate. Anderson pointed out that yoga’s chair pose is essentially skiing’s racing tuck. Lynda Kennedy, who offers snowga in Chelan, a resort town in north-central Washington, said some of yoga’s warrior poses (the ones that are variations on lunges) and forward bends are ideal preparation for one of the hardest parts of snowshoeing: putting on the shoes. “Many people’s hips are too tight,” she said. “So we start with just our boots on, and the yoga gets us flexible so we can reach down and put our snowshoes on.” Susan Sirianni-Grimm, a chiropractor in Pittsford, New York, near Rochester, usually does hot vinyasa yoga, but no matter how warm she gets, she can get only so far with her standing forward fold. Recently, though, she put on three layers of clothing, joined a snowga class, and went deep into the pose with the help of her snowshoes, which curve up, making them easier to reach than bare feet. For seasoned yogis, the snow makes nearly everything more of a workout, including getting back up if you fall. Yoga in the snow does have its limits. Poses like plank and chaturanga, the yoga pushup, are nearly impossible if there’s a thick coating of fresh powder, because the hands sink too fast. (“It’s fun to try but then you get stuck,” Kennedy said.) © 2015 New York Times News Service
The question is what to do about it. Part of the answer is about raw development. The OECD’s latest report suggests that economic and social progress reduces boys’ deficits. The gaps are usually smaller in more developed countries. While the OECD did not find a systematic relation between the gender gap and socioeconomic status in the United States, the general pattern meshes with findings that American boys from poor, single-mother families tend to do worse than girls. And yet one thing to understand is that while social and economic development might help boys, research suggests it won’t reduce girls’ math deficits. Overall, girls outperform boys on the standardized tests by some of the widest margins in relatively poor countries, like Malaysia and Thailand, and in nations like the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that have little in the way of women’s rights. The gender gap in math at the top actually widens as living conditions improve. Girls’ scores improve but boys’ scores improve more. Moreover, the dismal performance of so many boys in well-developed countries like the United States suggests development alone is not enough to lift their educational prospects. The OECD’s suggestions to close gender gaps in education are hardly earth-shattering. Topperforming girls suffer from a lack of selfconfidence in their mathematical abilities. Boys, by contrast, are much more likely to be disengaged. They play more video games. They devote less time to homework and read less for fun, especially complex and demanding books. The bottom line is that strategies premised on the belief that gender gaps in education merely reflect discrimination in society have not closed the long-standing deficits of the best-educated girls. And they have done nothing for boys. © 2015 New York Times News Service
Boys Fall Behind
Around the world, more boys than girls are failing to meet minimum standards of proficiency in the OECD’s standardized tests. Percentage of children who are low achievers in all subjects (reading, mathematics and science) SELECTED COUNTRIES
GIRLS 0%
10
20
BOYS 30
40
50
Jordan Brazil Mexico Chile Israel Greece Turkey Slovak Rep. Sweden Iceland Hungary France United States Italy Norway OECD AVERAGE
Russian Fed. Spain Britain Australia Czech Republic Germany Ireland Poland Canada Finland Japan Vietnam South Korea Estonia China (Shanghai) Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
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“We want to behave more like what we call an aggressive federation with private equity characteristics and this demonstrates to our shareholders that we have created value.” —Anand Mahindra, Mahindra Group
“We spend about £3.5bn on our product investment each year and focus on making sure that our future cars are both economic in terms of fuel economy.” —Mike Wright, Jaguar Land Rover
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With the sealing of seven more units, the number of centres manufacturing Agra’s famous petha sweet that have been shut down for using coal has risen to 30. The Wednesday night operation was a joint effort of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the Agra Municipal Corporation and the district administration. It followed reports that the units making petha, a sweet candy made of gourd, were still using coal although they had given affidavits that they won’t do so. An FIR lodged by pollution control board official Anand Kumar triggered the latest crackdown. The still functional petha units in Agra’s Noori Darwaza area have downed their shutters protesting against the government action. “At this rate, Agra’s petha manufacturers will go out of business,” fumed Ankur, a shopowner at Noori Darwaza, the chief petha bazaar in this Taj Mahal city, to IANS.
Anti-black money bill tabled in Lok Sabha A bill on unearthing black money and punishing those with ill-gotten wealth was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the last day before parliament goes into its scheduled month-long recess. The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of New Tax) Bill, 2015, proposes a short window to overseas income tax assessees to declare their assets, pay tax and a penalty and thus avoid imprisonment. It provides for a maximum of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for evading tax on foreign assets.
India has a long history of practice of insurance
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More petha units shut down in Agra
Competitiveness of India’s insurance sector BY AMIT KAPOOR The Rajya Sabha passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 on March 14 after the Lok Sabha had earlier passed it on March 4. The enactment of this bill has the potential to be a historic game-changer for India’s insurance industry. India has a long history of the thought and practice of insurance. The thought of pooling resources and re-distributing these finds mention in the writings of Manu, Kautilya, and Yagnavalkya. It was the precursor to the modern day insurance industry. The sector, during the British era, had quite a number of life and general insurance companies. The life insurance companies were nationalized in 1956 and the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) created. Similarly, the general insurance companies were also nationalized in 1973 when 107 companies were amalgamated into four entities. Post-1994, there was a move to set up an Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in 1999 to foster competition within the sector. The sector, post-2000, has seen greater participation by private and foreign companies. The Indian insurance sector can at present be broadly subdivided into three distinct segments – The life insurance segment (24 companies), the general insurance/non-life insurance (28 Companies) and the reinsurance segment (1 company). The industry
LIFE CARE SAVE MONEY
80%
PROPERTY thus has post 2000 certainly seen the emergence of greater competition. The penetration rates are still dismally low at less than five percent for the life insurance segment and less than one percent for the non-life segment. The industry has been somewhat privatized over the years and at present, this sector has a 45 percent share in the non-life insurance segment and an approximately 25 percent market share in the life insurance segment. The life insurance segment continues to be dominated by government-owned LIC with a market share of over 70 percent. The reinsurance segment has a government monopoly with The General Insurance
Corporation of India (GIC Re) being the sole entity for over 40 years now. The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 becomes important against the backdrop of this historic, present and an evolving insurance industry landscape. The bill has several provisions that can enable Indian consumers, as well as domestic and foreign companies, to benefit from India’s vast and at present an almost unpenetrated market. First and foremost, the bill has increased the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in the sector to 49 percent from 26 percent. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), in a press note
As expected, Bajaj Auto is re-entering the scooter segment after five long years. According to reports, the company is making a comeback with its iconic ‘Chetak’ in a new, modern avatar
The company that created the scooter market through its popular ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaigns, was selling just one scooter the 100-cc gearless ‘Crystal’ when it decided to exit the segment
Bajaj Auto Ltd, the company famous for its ‘Priya’, ‘Chetak’ and ‘Super’ brands of scooters until last decade, which in 2009 decided to call it quits for scooters, is now making a comeback in the segment. According to Autocar India, Bajaj is working towards making a reentry into the scooter market with the ‘Chetak’ brand. “It’s still early days, and no details are presently available about the upcoming new Chetak, which we guess should be seen by around the Indian Auto Expo 2016. We expect Bajaj will power the new Chetak with a four-stroke, single-cylinder and air-cooled engine, displacing somewhere in the region of 125-150cc. The new Bajaj powerplant can be expected to offer gearless ease, unlike old Chetak scooters,” the report says. Th is was bound to happen. In 2009, Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of the company, announced the company’s plans to exit the scooter segment by end of the fiscal year to focus exclusively on motorcycles in the twowheeler category, as part of Bajaj Auto’s goal to become the world’s biggest motorcycle maker in the future. His father, Rahul Bajaj, who made the scooters popular with its ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign, was also saddened by his son’s decision to exit from this segment. “I feel bad, I feel hurt,” Rahul Bajaj had said at that time,
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‘Hamara Bajaj’ makes a comeback
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but son Rajiv insisted that solutions should be drawn from logic more than emotions. “I care less for a solution from emotions, I believe more in the magic of logic,” Rajiv Bajaj had said at that time. “I can’t say harm the company and its shareholders by doing something you should not do. But I am still not convinced. He (Rajiv) has tried to explain it (the move) to me,” Rahul Bajaj said in a TV interview at that time. The company that by and large created the scooter market in the country through its popular ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaigns in 1980s and 90s, was selling just one scooter category— the 100-cc gearless ‘Crystal’ when it decided to exit the segment. Rajiv Bajaj, while launching its 135-cc Pulsar bike in December 2009 had said, “We will exit the scooter market because we don’t see much sense in it. If we are to be a motorcycle specialist, we cannot make scooters. Scooters did not sell according to our expectations. We are making hardly 1,000 scooters a month now and mostly for exports. Now our focus is on motorcycles.” At that time, I had said that one day the company will make a re-entry into the scooter segment, which was its bread and butter before it launched the Pulsar range of bikes. Near the end December 2009, I wrote, “In effect, the scooter segment of Bajaj seems to have died an unnatural and untimely death mainly due to
lack of support from the family. But looking at the company’s—especially Mr Rajiv Bajaj’s stance in the past—I wonder if it will start making and selling scooters again. After all, not so long ago, Bajaj did an about-turn on its decision to exit from the 100-cc motorcycle segment after failing to catch up with market leader Hero Honda, after the success of Bajaj’s higher-end models like the ‘Pulsar’. In July 2009, Bajaj re-entered the 100cc motorcycle segment with a better product in its ‘Discover’.” India’s market is divided roughly into two categories, urban and rural, depending on the needs and resources of consumers in these areas. For example, pricing and fuel efficiency matters most for rural consumers whereas the urban consumer would prefer more power and style in a motorcycle. In an effort to capture the younger, techsavvy urban consumer market, Bajaj ignored the rural market and had not launched any new variant in the 100-cc motorcycle segment since 2007 till its re-entry in July 2009. These 100cc motorcycles offer a better mileage at a lower cost compared with motorcycles in the above 100-cc categories and are therefore preferred in rural areas. Not to forget, after shifting focus to the Pulsar range, and thus ignoring entry-level bikes, Bajaj in January this year, re-launched its new Platina in 100-cc category with better mileage. Th is time, the company claims that the new Platina ES (electric start) gives a mileage of 96.9km per litre, the world’s highest in this category. Therefore, it is not surprising that Bajaj wants to re-enter scooter segment. However, by focussing entirely on the motorcycle segment and thus ignoring scooter altogether Bajaj has lost a big opportunity. Remember, during all the slowdown, it is the scooter segment, especially variants from Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI), the unit of Japanese Honda Motor Co Ltd had kept its volumes soaring. In fact, even today, there is a certain waiting period (varies from location to location and dealer to dealer, but about one month) for Honda Activa, which is now into its third generation mode. Not only that, scooters made by Hero MotoCorp (erstwhile Hero Honda), TVS Motor Co Ltd, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd, Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd and Vespa are also selling like hot cakes. In fact, it was the delay in delivery by Honda that seems to have helped others, especially Suzuki, TVS Motors and Mahindra to capture a significant market share. Unfortunately, Bajaj, the once the ‘king of scooters’, was nowhere in the picture. @moneylife.in
following the enactment, amended the April 2014 Consolidated FDI Policy Circular. Th is move is expected to push foreign companies who are at present in joint ventures in India to increase their investments. These include companies like Nippon Life of Japan, BUPA of Britain and Metlife of the US. The capital infusion is expected to be close to $2 billion in the near term and $10 billion over the medium to long term. The move will also help in creating jobs that India requires for its ever-increasing workforce. Some consultancies have estimated an additional 15-20 percent jobs in the industry in the coming few years. Second, the bill also gives IRDA
greater powers to frame laws for the sector. Some have compared these powers to be akin to those of capital market regulator SEBI. The law also gives IRDA powers decide the agency commission structure that is expected to curb the high attrition rates (among agents) that were previously experienced in the sector. Th ird, the bill also enables foreign reinsurers to set up branches in India. Th is segment is expected to deepen with the coming in of global giants like Berkshire Hathaway, Munich Re, Lloyds and Swiss Re. It is also likely to help India develop technical expertise within the domain over the next couple of decades. The bill is thus all set to benefit the Indian consumers who may witness an increase in choice with the entry of newer players as well as increase in the competitiveness of the sector. It is because both the existing and newer players will enable greater capital infusion into the economy. According to a recent McKinsey report for CII, the market size of the total insurance sector is currently close to $60 billion. Th is is expected to quadruple over the next ten years till 2025 to $250 billion. If that happens, it not only means greater capital infusion but also greater insurance penetration among the masses and greater jobs within the sector. (The article is co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness & Editor of Thinkers. The views expressed are personal. Amit can be reached at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and tweets @kautiliya)
Online shopping? Beware of ‘hidden’ charges Do not get tempted at huge discount offers at online portals. The devil is in the delivery charges, as I found out. An item was being sold at 82% discount for `68 with delivery charges of `100! BY YOGESH SAPKALE There is no doubt that online shopping has picked up in India and the trend is showing phenomenal growth. Almost everything that you can think of is now becoming available on online shopping portals, like Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal. However, several times, customers are taken for a ride, when there is a huge difference between the price of the item shown and its actual cost, including delivery charges. For example, last week I came across an Flipkart with item sold on a price tag of Rs68. On checking, I found the delivery charge (hidden on the home page and disclosed on product page) was Rs100, more than the product price. S u r pr isi n gly, the seller was selling the item at a whopping discount of 82 per cent as against a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs399! Most of the visitors to the online shopping portals preferably click on an item displayed on the home page itself, especially, those items offering bigger discounts. Th is may be misleading, but there is no answer to this question. When asked, the support team at the online retailer Flipkart replied on Twitter that it is the seller who decides the delivery charges not them. According to a Flipkart spokesperson, the delivery charges depend on location of seller inventory and delivery partners. Perfectly fi ne. Now comes the twist. Most of the items sold by Flipkart (I am sure other online shopping portals also use the same system) are couriered through its in-house agency, like eKart Logistics. In that case, I asked Flipkart, how the seller could decide exorbitant charges and there should be some standard tariff offered by, let us say by eKart. “While items that sellers store in our
warehouses have a fl at delivery charge, those that are picked up and shipped directly from seller locations have charges that are decided by sellers based on various business metrics,” the spokesperson for Flipkart replied. In addition, there is the contentious issue of sales tax or value added tax. Since different states have different tax structures, online shopping portals prefer to sell items from location where the tax is lowest. For example, most of electronic items, mobiles sold by Flipkart are dispatched from Bengaluru, as there is a lower VAT in Karnataka compared with over 12 per cent in Maharashtra. However, when the seller is selling an item at 82% discount, it helps him in terms of lower sales tax. In the above example, for a selling price of Rs68, t h e seller would pay only Rs3.5 as tax instead of a tax of Rs20 on the MRP of Rs399. However, when he is charging Rs100 as delivery charges, there is no sales tax and after paying for the courier charges (around Rs40) and service tax, if applicable, he can pocket the rest. In short, the seller would be earning about Rs125 from the sale, while the state would be earning only Rs 3.5 as against Rs 20 in taxation and the buyer would end up paying Rs 168. Online shopping portals are not responsible in the taxation and according to Flipkart, the VAT is charged by the seller on the selling price of the item. Coming back to our main issue of buying an item at lower rates online, always do check the cost, which includes price and delivery charges, if any. If the total cost is more than the actual price at which it will be available at your next-door shop, then buy it locally. If the difference is about 20 per cent-30 per cent (cheaper at local shop) then also buy it locally. Only if the difference is more than 50 per cent or the item that you are looking for is not available at local shop, then order it online. @moneylife.in
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
The PMC will try its best to compensate the family members of those who died or were injured in accidents involving PMPML buses. —Dattatreya Dhankawade, mayor
PUNE
The state government has made provision of Rs 175 crores for the Pune Metro Project in the financial budget for 2015-2016, — Sudhir Mungantiwar, state finance minister
Will the issues ever ger addressed? Pudumjee Park at Camp has transformed from a green and peaceful area to a chaotic one
Rahul ruat
sprung up in the vicinity, which has led to increase vehicular traffic. The vehicles parked on the roadside are causing nuisance to the public. The lanes have become congested and narrower. There are times when the vehicles are parked right in the front of the society gate. One has to squeeze through the parked cars to get out of the society. It becomes really unbearable during the monsoon season, especially when the car rental companies and second-hand car sale companies park their vehicles in the lane. Adding to our woes is the garbage problem. The garbage collectors are irregular. The stench from the uncollected garbage is unbearable. Usually during all times of the days pigs and dogs forage into the dumps for food. Unfortunately, when the area’s housing societies were built, no one anticipated such a high increase in vehicles. Although we have parking inside our society, the others don’t, and it causes us great difficulty. It’s high time the concerned authorities address the issues. With the impending monsoons, the area will be again water logged and inaccessible.
Saraswati Iyer, resident
For the last 40 years, I have been residing at Pudumjee Park in Camp. When we shifted to the area, it was considered to be a heaven for residences. The tree lined lanes were home to different species of birds. There were not too many cars and bikes and it was a pleasure walking through the lanes in the mornings and evenings. In course of years, the trees have died and concrete buildings have replaced them. Commercial establishments have
Citizen journalist
Coming a long way
A prayer for Pune city
I have always been interested in philosophy and I knew that I had to come to India to pursue it. After going through websites, I chose Pune. My friends had already enrolled in Savitribai Phule University and that was one more deciding factor for me. That was eight years ago! Pune is very different from South Korea, the country I belong to. My first impression of Pune was that of a small, sleepy industrial town, very charming with ancient banyan trees
lining the road, their roots exposed and intertwined to form an interesting weave. I found the undulating terrain very interesting. Often on weekends, my friends and I used to visit the Khadakwasla lake. Being an outdoor person, Pune has allowed me to enjoy nature greatly, and has permitted me to pursue my love for sports, basketball and football. The soothing climate of Pune also adds to its charm. I remember my first experience of rain in Pune. It was like a small hill station, transformed with varying shades of green, and so light a drizzle, you could almost walk through without getting wet. After I completed my course, I returned back home. But I decided to come back to this beloved city. As of now, I am pursuing the BSL course from Indian Law Society. (ILS), Pune The city has changed drastically. It has turned into a bustling city that’s grown too fast in a short time. Concrete and glass blocks have replaced the stone and brick houses, marring the skyline. Restaurants and night clubs have sprouted all over the place, waking the city from its long slumber. But it is sad to see the city bursting at the seams with no proper infrastructure. Change is inevitable and even welcome, but there has to be a method in the madness.
Rahul raut
Pune has changed from a sleepy town to a buzzing metropolis
from foreign
shores
Jin Lee
Aniruddha Rajandekar
Letters to the
Editor
The Rickshaw Panchayat’s one-day strike against cabs plying in the city left commuters high and dry. The strike was mainly against the government’s decision to allow radio cabs and private taxis to operate on city roads. Very few auto rickshaws were seen on the road
It is actually like two cities with a great cultural divide. When I first came to Pune as a student, I fell in love with the city, especially the University. I had gone with my friends to check it out. It was full of trees and winding pathways, the perfect backdrop for young minds. Pune of course has changed since then. The city has become more cosmopolitan with shopping malls, multiplexes, and of
non-native
parole
When I first came to Pune as a student, I fell in love with the city I belong to Rajasthan. After completing my studies, I have chosen to live in Pune because I believe it is one of the few cities in India which give you quality of living. Being a frequent visitor to Mumbai, and combating with traffic snarls there, I consider Pune as heaven! It is one of the few cities in the country which is a centre for education, spirituality, business, IT and manufacturing. I love the climate, the quaint shopping areas like all the peths, the Mula/ Mutha rivers which slice the city into two, with Camp being referred to as
Gopal Singh, IT professional
the other side of the river that was once famous for the restaurants on East Street and Osho Ashram
course all the world cuisines on offer. People make a city and Puneites (I prefer to call myself a Puneite, rather than a Puneri), are really a relaxed lot. What I like most about them is their philosophy of ‘each to his own’. Everybody minds their own business here. The women in Pune are very emancipated. We see women of all ages whizzing on their two-wheelers, with scarves covering their faces. I am often asked by out-of-towners, why Pune women dress up this way. How I wish I could give an exotic explanation, instead of the mundane, “to keep pollution at bay.” The future is very bright for Pune, provided we are able to handle the progress. I wish the city had better infrastructure, better connectivity, better public transport, cleanliness and lastly, more tree plantation all over the city to ensure that the weather is great all year round.
Why do the common people always have to bear the brunt? while those plying refused to carry passengers. The rickshaw drivers who were on the road exploited the situation by charging extra. Passengers at Pune railway station were worst affected. Similarly those at Swargate bus depot were standing helplessly for hours. Being a frequent visitor to Mumbai, I was stranded near the railway station for hours. In fact, few rickshaws were seen at the pre-paid booth at the railway station. Even cab drivers were reluctant to bail out the passengers fearing a backlash. When I tried to contacting a cab operator, they refused as they did not want to take the risk. The question is when the authorities were intimated about such a situation why did they not make arrangements? There should have been more buses on the roads to handle the crisis. It is saddens me that whenever any such situation crops up, the common people always has to bear the brunt. - Harsh Dawalkar
Prison or pleasure? This is with reference to the exPresident of the Republic of Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed being sentenced to 13 years in prison (Maafushi prison) under the anti-terrorism laws, over the abduction and controversial military detention of criminal court chief judge Abdulla Mohammed, in January 2012. This incident is like the bitter memories of Pakistan’s ex-military chief and President Parvez Musharraf, who sacked and jailed chief justice Choudhary and 150 judges during his despotic rule. The ex-president M Nasheed has been given a ‘royal treatment’ in the prison and accommodated in an air conditioned and furnished 264 square foot apartment of one room, sitting room, with TV, VCD player, garden (108 square feet) and allowed to live with other inmates, with full respect and dignity. One wonders whether this is a punishment or luxury living in the prison, in the enjoyment of punishment,
especially when the island nation Maldives is a ‘republic’. This is clearly a mockery of justice and a bad precedent in the case of the president. - Vijay Dattatray Patil
Writing talent In today’s human world, all are been blessed with a talent. One of the talents is writing. Humans can express themselves through various means like emotions, expressions and writing. Since olden times, writing has been a requisite factor for communication as well as a creative talent. From the manuscripts of Egyptian era to Bhagvad Gita, Mahabharata, and Ramayana, all were scripted by great saints. But in today’s era,writing has become a great hobby as well as a fond habit among the humankind. It gives a great impact on mindsets of the people and courage to fight the evils through writing. Great Indian writers and novelists like Sir Rabindranath Tagore, Shri
Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Ram Vilas Sharma etc. have given a rostrum for the writing career. Writing helps the young blood to show their talent as well as establish a concrete career through it. It has the power to make evils to bow down. Writing is a pole star for all those who want to show their art in this career. - Paridhi Shrivastava
Winning accolades Congratulations to Nupura Kirloskar and Janhavi Joshi! The duo who are students MIT Institute of Design have won the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation award, 2015 in the socially relevant technological category. The self-initiated graduate diploma project of students can help hearingimpaired dancers learn and perform dance steps with the help of device called ‘Sway’. The product, which is currently in the form of working prototype, converts the beat patterns of a song to counts needed for dancing.
Kirloskar and Joshi used a technology to find a faster way using a smart phone application. I hope the student population get inspired by their achievements and strive for excellence in their life too. - Bipin Singh.
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SPORTS
THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2015
PUNE
“This Indian side bears no resemblance to that team whose morale was so low from the start of the competition. This is a side that has mastered the art of winning crunch games.” — Former India pace bowler Javagal Srinath
“This is easily the worst performance that we’ve done in the World Cup and it’s disappointing not to make it a memorable one for Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.” — Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews Aniruddha Rajandekar
Signposts BEG win Mayor’s Trophy hockey Bombay Engineering Group and Centre (BEG) defeated Krida Prabodhini 7-1 in the final of Mayor’s Trophy interclub hockey tournament at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi recently. Sham Kandulana scored two goals, while Rajendra Ekka, Besant Tirkey, Jorang Guriya, Bikram Singh, Ajay Kujur added one goal each for the winning team. Meanwhile, in the match for third place, Khadki United scripted 4-0 win over Pune City Police.
PUNE: Krida Prabodhini hockey team’s skipper Gaurav Nimbolkar played a key role in his side’s performance in the recently concluded Mayor’s Trophy inter-club hockey tournament at Balewadi. He led the young team of Prabodhini and tamed big teams like SRPF and Pune Police en route to the final. Though they lost in the final, Gaurav was a happy man to receive the runners-up trophy. However, he had not always led such a gilded life. Gaurav’s childhood was spent in the poverty-stricken Lohara village in Yavatmal district.
City-based Evening Marathon group will conduct the second edition of Kundalika River Half Marathon in Jamgaon village in Raigad district on March 28. The event will be organised in half marathon (21km), 10km and 5km. The participants will be provided timing chip. For details log on to www.eveningmarathon.com or contact Shailesh (8805957900).
Cheteshwar Pujara leads ONGC to victory
Gaurav Nimbolkar during a practice session at Balewadi
PFC teams maintain top position
Club’s A and B sides register easy wins in the Pune District Football League TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly PUNE: DSK Toyota sponsored Pune District Football League’s super division was completely dominated by Pune FC teams with convincing wins. Pune FC’s A and B teams registered their fourth successive win this week. Both teams are leading the points table with 14 points from six games. However, Pune FC ‘B’ (goal difference +18) lead the Super Division standings owing to a slightly better
goal difference than their compatriots Pune FC ‘A’ (goal difference +17). Pune FC ‘A’ team were on a winning spree when they ousted Parshuramians SC 5-0. Altamash Sayed opened the account in the sixth minute. He was followed by Loushingam Sanatomba Singh, who found the back of the net in the 17th minute. Later, Sannik Murmu chipped in with two goals (41’ and 82’) while Chesterpaul Lyngdoh added one in the 62nd minute. In another one-sided encounter, Pune FC ‘B’ thrashed Sangam Young
Boys with 3-0 verdict. It was the fourth win for B team too. Abhishek Mhaske put PFC in an early lead in the fourth minute and later V Omega (82’) and Buanthanglun (91’) added one goal apiece. Meanwhile, DSK Shivajians ‘C’ team qualified for the knock-out round in the second division with a narrow 1-0 win over Sangavi FC. Parshuramians ‘B’ also logged a 1-0 win over Swaraj FC in the other second division match at the Dhobarwadi Ground in Ghorpadi. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Raigad Royals win MPL Former Maharashtra skipper Nikhil Paradkar propels his team to victory TGS NEWS NETWORK @TGSWeekly PUNE: Former Maharashtra skipper Nikhil Paradkar’s 47-ball 74-run innings propelled Cadence Raigad Royals to an emphatic 17-run title win over Guardian Warriors in the final of the 4th Maharashtra Premier League
Krida Prabodhini’s hockey player Gaurav Nimbolkar is fighting odds to make it to India camp By Ashish Phadnis @phadnis.ashish
Kundalika River half marathon on Mar 28
India player Cheteshwar Pujara played a key role for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) as they won 35th Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) Inter-unit cricket tournament by beating Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) by six wickets. In the match for third place, BPCL defeated HPCL by 10 wickets.
From poverty to power
(MPL), at the MCA International Stadium in Gahunje recently. The league, back on the menu after a gap of three years, was a four-team affair this season. Royals finished second with nine points from six matches, while Warriors, who won their last league encounter against Dahad Sailors by one run, ended with 10 points to top the league. In the final, Paradkar shared a 132-run third-wicket partnership with fellow Maharashtra Ranji player Sangram Atitkar as Royals posted 141 for four in their allotted 20 overs after
The victorious Cadence Raigad Royals team pose for shutterbugs with the trophy
being put in to bat. The two dominated Warrior’s toothless bowling attack for almost 16 overs. Paradkar slammed seven boundaries and two hits over the fence while Atitkar hammered three boundaries and two sixes in his 60run innings off 55 deliveries. Paradkar was later adjudged as the man of the match. Chasing a challenging total, Warriors crumbled under pressure. Except Mandar Bhandari’s 23 off 17 and Tushar Srivastav (25 off 19), no other batsman managed to stand firm at the crease. Royal’s Sahil Kothari (215), Mohsin Sayyed (2-29) and Azhar Ansari (2-31) snapped up wickets at regular intervals to leave Warriors gasping. Swapnil Gugale who received the best batsman of the series managed to contribute just 18 runs to the total. Brief scores: Cadence Raigad Royals: 141-4 (Nikhil Paradkar 74, Sangram Atitkar 60; Samad Fallah 1-13) bt Guardian Warriors: 124-8 (Tushar Srivastav 25; Sahil Kothari 2-15). Other awards: Man of the match: Nikhil Paradkar (Cadence Raigad Royals); Man of the series: Chirag Khurana (Cadence Raigad Royals); Best batsman: Swapnil Gugale (Guardian Warriors), Best bowler: Nitish Salekar (Guardian Warriors). tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com
Turning point Gaurav’s father Subhash runs a small saloon in the village and his mother cooks khichdi (dal-rice) for government-sponsored Anganwadi (playgroup) kids. While Gaurav’s two sisters helped their mother in household duties, Gaurav used to help his father in their tiny saloon. However, whenever he used to get free time from his daily work routine, he used to play hockey with his friends, barefoot on muddy streets, with a wooden stick. “My schoolteacher, Bhatkar sir, saw me playing hockey one day, and decided to include me in the school team. I think that was the turning point of my life. If he had not given me the opportunity, I would still be working in a saloon,” said Gaurav.
The youngster soon excelled in the “I still have a long way to go. I sport and was part of the team that took need to improve my fitness and skills. part in the school nationals at Kerala in India player Yuvraj Walmiki is my 2008. His performance was noticed by icon. He spent his childhood in the Krida Prabodhini coach slums in Mumbai, but and former Olympian improved his game and Ajit Lakra, who invited was selected for the Gaurav for the selection national team. It is very trials. inspiring and I want to “I was excited follow in his footsteps,” about the offer, but said Gaurav, a second unfortunately, just before year BCom student that trials I was robbed of Modern College, by two older boys, who Shivajinagar. took away my hockey stick. My school had Long way to go provided that stick for Apart from his daily the matches and I had no practice, college studies option but to play with and fitness training my hand-made broken sessions, Gaurav spends - Gaurav Nimbolkar stick during the trials. his afternoons with I was glad they noticed his coach to improve my game and not my his skills, and he also stick and offered me a place in the Krida guides his team-mates in the evenings. Prabodhini team,” said Gaurav. “I just can’t sit back and relax. I have to take care of my parents and two Seizing the opportunity sisters. Whenever I go to my place to After joining Krida Prabodhini visit them, I don’t tell everyone that I in 2009, Gaurav made tremendous am a national hockey player. Instead, I improvements to his game. He was part just help my father in our saloon to ease of the team which finished runner-up in his pressure. With his current physical the Aga Khan Cup in 2011, and then condition, I fear he will not be able to he was also selected for the sub-junior work much longer. Therefore my priority national tournament at Wardha in is to get a good job and then continue 2012. Gaurav scored four goals in the my efforts to get selected for the India tournament and enabled Maharashtra camp. I know hockey players don’t get team to finish fourth. paid as much as the cricketers, but this He was adjudged the best player at sport is my passion and I am confident the Junior National Tournament held in that one day my parents will be proud of Nagpur last year. He scored seven goals me,” Gaurav says. for his team. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com
“Hockey players don’t get paid as much as the cricketers, but the sport is my passion”