The Golden Sparrow on Saturday 17/01/2015

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PUNE, JANUARY 17, 2015 | www.thegoldensparrow.com

TGS LIFE

‘Lighting up the Pune stage’

THE EDIT PAGE

SPORTS

Prophet controversy: West is enlightened and foolish P 12

Pune FC coach Bencherifa eyes I-league title P 16

Buses to airport, IT parks on the anvil A slew of initiatives have been planned by PMPML chief Shrikar Pardeshi to turn around the much-neglected public transport utility

BY ARCHANA DAHIWAL @ArchanaDahiwal An air-conditioned bus service from the city to Lohegaon Airport, buses to IT parks at Hinjewadi and Magarpatta City, mobile apps, an helpline and a larger fleet are among the initiatives being put on the fast track by the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) chairman and managing director Shrikar Pardeshi.

The airport bus service with a small fleet of high-end buses would become operational by April-May 2015, Pardeshi said, while speaking at the

first TGS Round Table discussion with a group of journalists from The Golden Sparrow on Saturday.

“We are working closely with the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations to provide good buses

for people arriving at Pune Airport.

There is also a big demand for public

transport in IT areas of Hinjewadi and Magarpatta City. All efforts would be made to cater to the needs of commuters,” he said.

A complete makeover of PMPML has been planned in a year’s time. Apart from ensuring that 85 per cent of the existing fleet strength of 2,100 buses is operationalised at the earliest, an additional 450 buses are being

LIFE after DEATH

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Organ donation can make our lives meaningful even after death. Such an example was set by 18-year-old Bibwewadi resident Abhishek Thakur. Killed tragically in a road accident, his grief-stricken family decided to donate his liver and both kidneys. Moments before his cremation, the transplant coordinator called to say that Abhishek’s three organs had helped three lives. “That was the moment I knew that my son’s soul will be at peace,” said his father Narendra Thakur. See Spotlight, P8-P9

WADIA SWACCH BHARAT MOVEMENT RAHUL RAUT

The Nowrosjee Wadia College campus was cleaned by the staff of Modern Education Society and Wadians Alumni Association under the programme ‘Swachh Wadia Abhiyan’ on January 14

procured under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Another 50 mediumsized buses would be added to the fleet to run in the congested parts of the city.

Serving as the State Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Pardeshi was given the additional charge as PMPML’S CMD

by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis soon after he took charge on December 14, 2014.

Pardeshi said that in a year’s time a computerised ticketing system, a helpline to assist commuters and an interactive website and mobile app would be introduced to improve the efficiency of PMPML.

Other initiatives include a biometric attendance system for the entire 10,500 PMPML staff, enforcement of discipline and rewards/incentives for good performance, better utilisation of the fleet and steps to increase revenue and reduce wastage. archana.dahiwal@goldensparrow.com Excerpts from the interview on P3

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

“Every child and woman has the right to lead a life, free from discrimination, inequality and exploitation. This is the key to our nation building.”

— Dr Girish Kulkarni, founder of Snehalaya

Students’ essays show intellectual approach: Meena Chandavarkar P4

Cut costs with alternative fuels: Anand Tatuskar P7

Leading them to brighter future A free ride from Vrinda Jatia, through her NGO Ashray, is helping slum children get an education and stand on their own feet

Rahul Raut

hospital to home

Ambulance driver Sanjay Jagtap transports poor patients at Sassoon Hospital to their homes, free of cost

By Gitesh Shelke @gitesh_shelke

Ishani Bose @ishani_bose With the sole purpose of educating economically backward children, Vrinda Jatia, a resident of Aundh started her NGO called Ashray, in 2002. She wanted to give this deprived lot the opportunity to succeed and become independent. The NGO provides tuitions to slum children, from pre-primary to class XII. “I have always been inclined towards teaching underprivileged children and making them independent. I used to teach English to a girl at my house. She did very well in her exams, and soon her friends started coming along to study. Thus, Ashray that started with only two, now has over 90 students, to whom we provide not just academic tuitions, but also vocational training and extracurricular activities,” Jatia said.

Children from slum areas such as Ambedkar Vasahat and Vidhate Vasti in Aundh, come to Ashray for tuitions.

These children are Marathi medium

students, who are weak in English, and Some of these teachers are are given special training in Spoken Mrinalini Arora, Shivpriya, Anuradha English, computers and personality Datar, Aparnnaa Venkatakrrishnan, development.

Neha Wani and Timma Srivastava.

Students appearing for the SSC Ashray also holds literacy classes and HSC exams are accorded a special and gives tuitions to poor and needy focus, with the aim to achieve 100 per women, including the mothers of the cent results. students.

The students are Ashray has also taught by teachers conducted a free cancer and volunteers who screening medical camp try to make subjects for the students’ mothers interesting by adopting to initiate medical novel and interesting awareness among them. teaching methods.

“We also provide “We have 24 a hotel management te a c he r s /v olu nte e r s , entrance training course making for a 1:4 ratio for students interested in between teacher/ the hospitality industry. volunteer and students.

Some of our students - Vrinda Jatia These teachers give have studied at reputed personal attention to the hotel management students and strive to institutes in Dubai and solve all their doubts in India, ” Jatia said. the easiest way possible. We have two Students are usually charged `200 sessions daily, the first one being from a month, except for pre-primary and 8:30am to 11:30am and the second one Class I and II students, who are taught being from 3pm to 6pm,” she said. for free. “We charge these students a

“Our aim is to educate at least one child from each home.”

nominal amount, in order to ensure that they don’t miss a single class,” she said.

Jatia says that she wants Ashray to grow bigger and educate and help even more underprivileged kids.

However, she stresses on the need for more volunteers who can support her movement in terms of teaching and imparting education to these children.

Financial assistance is also most welcome, she added.

“Our aim is to educate at least one child from each slum home so as to create awareness in them towards their surroundings; to improve their mental and physical abilities so that they can shoulder their responsibilities in a fruitful manner; to enhance the aesthetic sense in a child and to improve the social and emotional development of the parents so that they can nurture the youth of tomorrow. In all this, we have realised that education plays a major role and our primary focus will continue to remain just that,” she said. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

Rahul Raut

Art teacher Timma Srivastava (left) and Vrinda Jatia, founder of Ashray (right) recite nursery rhymes with the children at their training centre in Aundh

Sanjay Shankar Jagtap is an ambulance driver, who is constantly on the move, transporting patients and dead bodies.

But the 47-year-old also has a soft corner for the poor and ailing, and he goes out of his way to leave stranded patients to their homes free of cost.

There are scores of patients at the sprawling Sassoon General Hospital, who have been abandoned by their kin, or who have no families to speak of. As patients, they are attended to, but after recovery it’s a different story.

They have no family or friends to take them home, and some of them have no money for railway or bus fare home Some such patients also resort to prolonging their stay at the ever crowded hospital, which in turn deprives needy patients of medical care.

It is then that ambulance driver Jagtap’s services are called for, to drive the patients to their homes, at times in far off villages. “I do not charge such patients or the hospital authorities any money,” Jagtap said.

“These abondoned patients face a difficult situation. The poor families are wary of taking back the patient into their homes, being worried about recurring illness and the corresponding expenses,” Jagtap says. He and the hospital staff are also called upon

to give the family and patient some counselling.

Jagtap, who lives in Dhankawadi, has also had to play samaritan in 2001, when a stranger attempted suicide near his home. “My brother used to drive an ambulance, but he was not at home.

So, I dropped the man to the hospital.

And that is when I decided to work as an ambulance driver,” he said.

Jagtap uses the tips he gets to help the poor and needy patients.

Jagtap never refuses help to abandoned patients, especially from the villages and towns of western Maharashtra. He has dropped off patients as far off as Nagpur and Latur at times.

Jagtap is helped in his mercy missions by M B Shelke, a social worker at the Sassoon Hospital. Shelke is the one who is informed about such patients by the hospital staff.

Jagtap used to work as a construction labourer but finds the occupation as ambulance driver more lucrative. “Believe me, I do not have to beg money for diesel expenses from others, I manage it all by myself,” he said.

His son is in Class XII and his daughter is studying BCS at a reputed college. “I am happy. These are the blessing I receive by doing this work,” Jagtap says.

Apart from his regular job of ferrying patients and dead bodies to hospitals, Sanjay Shankar Jagtap also helps poor patients reach their homes after their treatment

A public platform for the common good Sajag Nagrik Manch highlights public issues at its monthly meetings and resolves them at the earliest

There are a number of activists and NGOs, who have been active with regards to public issues in Pune, for the past three decades. But they were fighting independently. The monthly meeting of the Sajag Nagrik Manch has succeeded in bringing them together on a single platform. United under the SNM banner, the pressure group resolves the common man’s issues.

Rahul Raut

By Ashok Bhat @ashok_bhat Social activists Vivek Velankar and Jugal Rathi set up Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM), a public platform, in 2006, to create awareness about the Right To Information Act (2005).

A major Jugal Rathi hurdle was how to gather people and make them aware of the RTI Act and it was then decided to hold a monthly meeting.

Thus the first public meeting of SNM was held on November 12, 2006, at the assembly hall of students’ hostel in Model Colony. Renowned journalist, the late Prakash Kardaley, elaborated about the RTI at this inaugural meeting. Only 30 to 40 persons were present.

From the second meeting onwards, the venue shifted to the classroom of Institute of Management Development and Research, Pune (IMDR). Then the journey of public meetings on first Sunday of every month began.

Since 2008, the NGO has been focusing on other public issues

A common forum for public issues

Success stories Western Ghats Report Eminent ecologist professor Madhav Gadgil’s report on the Western Ghats has sparked controversies. An NGO called Nisarg Mitra, invited Gadgil on the SNM dais, to speak about the report. A number of NGOs, environmentalists, experts gathered for the meeting as they were not aware of the report details. “For first time, everyone, including activists and mediapersons got to know about the report in detail. The overwhelming response to the meeting is a feather in the cap for the Manch,” Velankar said.

Vivek Velankar, president of Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM) addressing the participants at the 100th meeting of SNM, which was held on January 4, 2015. Guardian minister Girish Bapat (first from left) was the key speaker on the occassion

Vivek Velankar

like traffic, P M P M L , electricity fare hike or hike in PMC taxes, development plan, and the Western Ghat report of the Gadgil Committee.

On January 4, 2015, Sajag Nagrik Manch held its 100th meeting that saw the participation of over 200 people addressed by guardian minister Girish Bapat.

“This is the only public movement which has been addressing the public issues effectively for the past eight years in the city,” said Vivek Velankar, president of Sajag Nagrik Manch, adding that in the first two years,

public meetings were held basically on RTI. As awareness increased among general public, Velankar and Rathi, convener of SNM, focused on other issues, to prepare the pressure group for service providers like Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), electricity distribution company (MSEDCL), RTO, and the traffic police.

They kept the procedure very

Signature campaign When the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited announced a 40 per cent hike in tariffs for domestic consumers, Sajag Nagrik Manch invited Shantanu Dixit of Prayas Urja Group to address the meeting. He explained the injustice of this tariff hike. “The very next day, we initiated a signature campaign at Tilak statue in Mandai, and collected 8,000 signatures denouncing the hike, in just four hours. We submitted this to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) and attended the hearing. MERC refused the proposal and allowed the company to hike the tariff by 20 per cent only,” said Velankar

simple without any formalities of felicitating the guest speaker. The topmost importance was given to solving public issues.

The NGO has achieved many milestones and has inspired others to

follow the suit. It is evident from the fact that NGOs from 30 to 40 cities in the state have shown interest in this activity and expressed their will to start the same in their own towns. ashok.bhat21@gmail.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

‘By May, Pune will see 1,770 buses on the roads’ ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

One of the biggest challenges in Pune is that of public transport. Although the city has grown exponentially over the last two decades, the public transport infrastructure has not kept pace with the city’s needs. Worse, the issue was never given the necessary priority by the ruling politicians or the bureaucrats. There’s change in the air now with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis having appointed Shrikar Pardeshi as chairmanand-managing director of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd (PMPML) - the city bus service financed by the Pune and PimpriChinchwad municipal corporations.

Pardeshi replied to questions raised by journalists of ‘The Golden Sparrow on Saturday’ during a TGS Round Table discussion on January 14.

Excerpts from that discussion:

ABHAY VAIDYA: Given the history of poor performance of the PMPML for more than 20 years, why should the people of Pune now believe that something positive is going to happen? Why should they be hopeful?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: PMPML is catering to a population of over 68 lakhs under the Pune and PimpriChinchwad municipal corporations, three municipal councils, three cantonment boards and some villages.

To cater to a population of 68 lakhs we need a fleet of 3,100 buses. However we have 2,100 buses with us. The major problem was that the number of offroad buses was very high. When I took over the charge on December 14, only 1,235 buses were on the roads. You can see the difference against the norm of 3,100, only 1,235 buses are on the road, which amounts to 35 per cent. That is why the expectations of the people are very high from the public transport.

So getting new buses is altogether a big challenge. Of the buses which are available with us, getting 80 per cent of the buses on the road is our first target. As per the norms of the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Bhosari, any public transport undertaking must have 80 per cent of the buses running on the road.

Out of 2,100 buses we must be able to get 1,700 buses on the road and that is our first target. From 1,234 we have been able to get it to 1,450 buses; there is a rise of about 210 buses. We plan to reach 1,680 by the end of January, that is the target given to the staff.

So first is the trust or assurance.

Public transport becomes successful only when the bus comes regularly.

Unless you maintain the level of 80 per cent, the buses are not regular. Suppose somebody has to go for a job and he has to leave at 7 am to catch the 8 am shift. The bus comes regularly at 7:05 am every day and then suddenly stops coming.

Then he has to either go by auto or share a transport or then he thinks that he should better buy a two wheeler.

Trust, assurance and guarantee are the three things we need to restore immediately.

Second is quality. After trust we need to build on quality.

There are complaints about buses not stopping at every stop; even if they stop they are not docked properly at the bus stop.

Sometimes people comment upon driving, conductor’s behaviour towards women and handicapped... So, for all these things, the staff should adopt a service oriented attitude.

Then there is the requirement of display of information at every bus terminal, bus stops, including the information requirements through website, mobile applications and social media. If the information is disseminated accurately and timely,

more people can switch over to public transport.

Second target is quality and third target is frequency. Once we get the assured number of buses on the roads, then we can reschedule our operations.

There are some routes which are continuously making losses but they have to be reviewed. Then there is another section of routes where the demand is very high, so we have to reorganise the frequency. So, if we handle trust, quality and frequency in this way we can definitely improve the quality of service and also the quantity of service to the citizens of Pune.

AV: All this will require a lot of money. What is the financial provision?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: When I joined, I was faced with outstanding dues of `100 crores. We got `50 crore from PMC and `12 crore is pending from the PCMC. The financial situation is critical.

In most cities of the world, you need cross subsidisation of public transport.

Public transport by and large is never a profit making organisation. But how much should be the loss is the issue.

Both PMC and PCMC have raised concern over the mounting losses. Somewhere the management has to take stern steps to control the losses. So we have requested PMC and PCMC to bear the operational losses.

It is our prime target to control the losses.

The preliminary diagnosis is that there has been a gross underutilisation of resources. So we would like to make maximum utilisation of resources — manpower, money and time. It has been observed that there has been mis-utilisation of resources which we would like to curb.

If we are able to do it, we will be able to control the losses effectively.

And then we will request the two corporations to bear the deficit.

There is a mandate from the government of Maharashtra that PMC and PCMC should bear the operation losses.

The only thing is that funds from the PMC and PCMC should come on a regular basis.

This month they will be creating the budget for next year. The chief account officers have calculated the amount of losses for this year. Normally, the loss of this year is compensated next year. They have worked out an amount and we have requested both the municipal commissioners that the amount be included in the budget.

And then the monthly instalments should come regularly.

PMPML operates on daily expenditure on fuel, maintenance and salary expenditure. The corporation cycle peaks around the end of the year. Since it’s a daily operation, we need a continuous flow of funds. We are getting in touch with both the corporations and I hope it will be

In Aug 2011, we had 91 per cent buses on the roads and, in Aug 2013, we had 85 per cent buses on the roads for Rakhi Pournima. It means that there is a capacity and efficiency within the organisation to get these many buses on the roads

resolved.

ARCHANA DAHIWAL: Should we expect PMPML to become as efficient as BEST (bus service in Mumbai)? If yes, by when?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking) is a different kind of undertaking for two-three reasons. In Mumbai, there is a linear mode of transport because of the trains. BEST acts as a feeder service.

The major load is shared by the local trains and BEST acts as the supplementary mode.

Whereas in Pune, there is no other public transport.

Thus, there are high hopes from the PMPML. Traditionally, in BEST, it is cross-subsidised from the profits of electricity undertaking.

BEST is Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking, so they earn from the sale of electricity - and they are always in profit.

By law they share one-third of the profit for cross-subsidising the transport undertaking. Because of this there was guaranteed source of fund for BEST. Here in PMPML it is always in fluctuations. Now we are trying to restore the mechanism where we are requesting both the corporations to make an annual provision and give it every month. If that happens, we will probably have stability.

AD: The operational losses at `100 crore per year are very high. How do you plan to reduce these losses?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: As I said there has been a gross under-utilisation of resources. We have given targets to all our depot managers and depot engineers that by May 1, 2015, they should increase the passenger per busper day ratio by 22 per cent. It will be done in phases: January 7 per cent, February 6 per cent, March 5 per cent and April 4 per cent. This will result in a cumulative rise in the passenger load along with a commensurate rise in the revenue by 22 per cent. That would help us in curbing the operational losses.

In 2010-2011, we crossed the passenger load of 1,000 per bus per day. Right now it is staggering at around 900. It has been documented; it was done earlier, so we can do it now too. Similarly, on Rakhi Pournima every year we have maximum buses on roads. It is a celebrated day in PMPML and we want everybody to have public transport comfort.

In August 2011, we had 91 per cent buses on the roads and, in August 2013, we had 85 per cent buses on the roads for this festival. It means that there is a capacity and efficiency within the organisation to get these many buses on the roads. Now we have given them a target that let us celebrate Rakhi Pournima 365 days a year. Why not have the 85 per cent level throughout the year? It is easier to maintain a bus on a day-to-day basis than just maintaining it for one day.

Funds for spares: We came to know that there was a problem with the regular spares supply. I was told that the funds were not coming in regularly. So we found out a solution.

Of the daily cash collection, 6 per cent will be kept aside for this. A separate account was opened. Of the `1 crore to `1.5 crore that we receive daily, about `10 lakhs get deposited in that account daily, which will be kept exclusively for spares and maintenance. So they cannot complain that we don’t have funds.

Our objective is that when the buses are on the roads, the passengers get benefit, we get the revenue and the trust is maintained. Every bus on road gives us `10,000 every day.

Right now I need 250 buses to come on the road. We need 250 more buses to come on the roads immediately. If that happens we will earn additional `25 lakh every day. With just 500 buses last month we were losing `50 lakh every day. When the bus is off road the other expenditure still continues, including salary and overheads.

MEGHA CHOUDHARY: What other sources of revenue have you identified to make PMPML more self-sufficient and self-reliant?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: One is the ticket revenue. If we utilise our capacity properly, our ticket revenue will go up. Our target is to raise it by 22 per cent by May 1. There are other modes of non-ticketing revenue which are advertisements, lands and buildings wherein we can get a good realisation of revenue.

About advertisements, the last revenue report was not up to the mark. So there is a new tender, which ensures maximum possible revenue for PMPML. Coming to the lands and buildings, we have a couple of buildings which are rented out. We have found out that the property leasing rates were not according to the market trends. So the revenue was very minimal. We will improve this.

Another undertaking is that we have requested for a central government office at Swargate and it should be rented out as per the ready reckoner rate.

AV: In terms of addition to the fleet, what is the strategy and by when will we see more buses on the roads in a phased manner?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: By end of May, 85 per cent of the fleet would be on the road, that is about 1,770 buses.

We have also started procurement of JNNURM buses. The central government has sanctioned another 500 buses for the city. We have given work orders for 450 buses. The bus body building takes a lot of time. By the end of this year we will have 450 buses. We have floated a tender for another 50 buses of medium size. Once the tender process is completed we will issue the work order for the same.

The medium sized buses (capacity of 23-35 seats) would be for the congested parts of the city.

JAMES MATHEW: Will any of the PMPML services be outsourced?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : We will be outsourcing tourist (Pune Darshan) and airport buses because

their maintenance requires a special kind of expertise. And tourist buses require guides. Apart from that about 861 buses are outsourced. They are run by private operators. Of these, 550 buses are owned by private operators.

Remaining 300-odd buses are owned by us but run by private operators.

AV: In terms of innovations, what are the things you have in mind to make PMPML more attractive?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : There are a couple of things like airport services

by April or May. With the help of both the corporations we are working on it so that we can have good buses for people who are arriving at the Pune airport.

Secondly, there is a big demand in IT areas like Hinjewadi and Magarpatta City.

Once we increase the number of buses on the roads we will increase the number in these areas.

Then for Pune Darshan, PMC is giving us some good new buses.

We are looking at modernising and computerising the ticketing system so that data on revenue from sale of tickets will be updated automatically on a central server.

Steps to increase staff morale: We have issued some guidelines to drivers, conductors and the other staff which includes 10-12 directives on how to attract the passenger and how to increase the revenue.

We are telling the staff that it is for their own and city’s benefit that this organisation has to sustain efficiently.

And for that they have to change their attitude towards the passengers.

The behavioural change will happen over some time; however, the transformation has started. We have taken some stern action against black sheep, such as errant staff.

Incentives schemes will be introduced soon. Conductors and drivers getting good amount of passengers on board and good revenue will be incentivised.

operated buses. In the coming few years all the buses will run on CNG. We are also increasing CNG filling stations. By the end of May we would like to have two more filling stations.

AD: Any plans to introduce a Helpline to enable passengers to register complaints?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : There is a helpline at the moment but we want to refurbish it and come up with a better version of the helpline. We have started preparing a report on it. Soon we will have a helpline in place. We have started the process for a better website, mobile app and for better information sources.

ASHOK BHAT: You have completed a month in this office.

Have you given a thought towards the route structure of the buses?

S H R I K A R PA R DE S H I : We have taken two decisions - one of which concerns private buses running in the suburbs like Saswad, Talegaon and Khed Shivapur.

Private buses are running on per kilometre basis.

We analysed 35 routes and found that 21 routes are beyond 20 kilometre and 14 buses run within 20 kilometres. We have changed the base saying that maximum should be 22 kilometres so that they are available to the citizens in dense areas. We have introduced this from January 1. This will result in two benefits, namely, better buses for citizens in dense areas and cost cutting and increase of revenue.

Earlier it was 100 per cent central decision making. Now we have said that if you want to increase the revenue and passengers you have to think of the demand from the passengers where their number is very high. Some amount of decision making has been decentralised. Like Katraj-Hinjewadi, Kothrud-Hinjewadi, DeccanHinjewadi, Nigdi-Kharadi via Khadki there is a tremendous demand. We have given the staff liberty to show us the new routes and make profits.

Earlier it was 100 per cent central decision making. Now we have said that if you want to increase the revenue, you have to think of the demand from the passengers.

Some amount of decision making has been decentralised

JM: Have you thought of conducting a study to analyse PMPML’s strengths and weaknesses?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : We have thought of appointing experts and have invited bids. We will appoint experts in six areas - namely finance, HR, traffic, stores, statistics and workshop engineering. We will take in officers, preferably retired officers, from BEST or MSRTC. They will be acting as advisors to CMD. So we will be getting professional experts to diagnose our weaknesses which will help our course correction. It will be done next month.

ASHISH PHADNIS: Owing to the pollution in the city, do you have any plans to install CNG operated buses?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : 55 per cent of the current fleet is run on CNG. All the JNNURM buses are CNG

YASH DAIV: Have you thought of putting the elaborate network of routes on Google Maps since many people now use smartphones?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI : Wait till May and you will have a mobile application and a website in place.

ASHISH PHADNIS: There is an absence of public transport at the Balewadi stadium when there is a special event. Any plans for introducing buses during special events?

SHRIKAR PARDESHI: We regularly arrange for buses. Like last year there was an Asian Athletic Meet where we provided special buses.

Whenever we receive a letter from the authorities there, we depute our buses immediately. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

“The PMC has provided `50 crore for setting up small processing plants at the ward level. We are going to create public awareness on garbage segregation.”

—Kunal Kumar, Pune municipal commissioner

Sanskrut Sammelan tomorrow Sanskrutbharti, Pune has organised a Sanskrut Sammelan on January 18 from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, at Abasaheb Garware College. Renowned scientist Pradip Kurulkar and management expert Milind Pandey will speak on ‘Sanskrut Sahayak Sarvatra’. Another segment titled ‘Kala Tatha Sanskrutum’ will have eminent Sitar player Dileep Kale and danseuse Sandhya Sharma addressing the audience. Minister for social justice Dileep Kamble and Aurveda specialist Dr Balaji Tambe will be present for the occasion.

TGS Quiz Contest

A

No. 31

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. What is the alternate fuel Energy 1 provides?

2. Who won the Fergusson Gaurav Award?

P13

Students’ essays show intellectual approach Eminent educationist Meena Chandavarkar was charmed and impressed with the entries received for the TGS Children’s Day competition on ‘Child Labour in India’

THE RESULTS OF THE COMPETITION GROUP A (UPTO CLASS I, II, III, IV, V)

SAEE JOSHI

1

SIDDHI OSWAL

2

GARGI DESHMUKH

3

DES New English Medium

RANK Class II

DES New English Medium

RANK Class II

DES New English Medium

RANK Class V

COMMENDATION CERTIFICATES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

IV

ANUSHKA KADAM

III

New English Medium Primary School

CLASS

Rotary Air Show on January 18 To promote the Swachha Bharat Abhiyaan, the Rotary Club of Pune Hillside has organised the ‘Rotary Air Show’ at the SP College ground, Tilak Road, on Sunday, January 18, between 9 am and 10 am, informed Club president Abhay Jabde. Guardian minister Girish Bapat will grace the occasion. Rotary district governor Vivek Aranha and other office-bearers will be present. This year, 16 aero models will be displayed and 11 flyers will be participating at the event

Discovery, guided by morality

P11

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Signposts

Be positive at all times to aid recovery of cancer patients

KRISHNA

IV

New English Medium CLASS Primary School

MAITHILI KULKARNI New English Medium

V

CLASS Primary School

CLASS

SIDDHI KOLE Millennium National School

GROUP B (CLASS VI, VII, VIII) TANVI THATTE

1

Jnana Prabodhini Prashala

RANK Class VIII

SANSKRUTI SALUGTI

2

RANK Class VIII

3

Millenmium National School

ABHIRA AGNIHOTRI

RANK Class VI

SHREYAS DIXIT

3

Panditrao Agashe School

Jnana Prabodhini Prashala

RANK Class VIII

COMMENDATION CERTIFICATES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) VI

ISHA SHINDE

CLASS

The TGS essay competition, which was announced on the occasion of Children’s Day, November 14, received over 200 essays from school students across the city.

The editor of The Golden Sparrow on Saturday fi rst judged the entries and the final judgment was made by eminent educationist Meena Chandavarkar, who declared the top three in every category.

She said that sincerity was the hallmark of a majority of the children’s writing.

“I saw an intellectual approach. The essays were rich in information and were carefully constructed. The language was precise and the chronology was methodical,” said Chandavarkar.

The top three essays in every category were marked by a proficiency in the English language. “I also saw empathy, which is very important. They realise the plight of children who are deprived of education.

The thoughtful compositions are endearing,” she said.

Some children have used the Internet to provide a wealth of facts. “Students used

CLASS

SAEE LIMAYE

VIII

Eminent educationist Meena Chandavarkar reviewing the essays written by school children

YASH DAIV @yash009

VIII

Millennium National School

CLASS

the Internet as a source for facts. But it was not a direct copying of the online text,” she said.

Chandavarkar believes that the real craft of writing or for that matter any creative skill springs out of cultural endowments. School children should have access to diverse forms of music, art and culture. Intellectual growth stems from the observation of different cultures. The sooner the students learn to think, the better they can form perspectives on sensitive issues,” she said. yashdaiv@gmail.com

VI

Jnana Prabodhini

PRANIT BHALERAO

PRITYA ANAND

VIII

Modern High School

Millennium National

CLASS School

SANSKRUTI BHOSALE

VISHAKHA CHAUDHARI

VIII

Panditrao Agashe CLASS School

CLASS

St Crispin’s Home

GROUP C (CLASS IX, X) 1

GEETIKA GITE

RANK Class IX

VEDIKA PATIL

2

Panditrao Agashe School

RANK Class X

ASMITA SAPKAL

3

Jog Educational Trust

RANK Class IX

NMV Girls Highschool

COMMENDATION CERTIFICATES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) X

CLASS

IX

CLASS

ADITI SAKALE NMV Girls High School

NIKHIL MUSALE Modern High School

X

FIZA SHAIKH

X

NMV Girls High CLASS School

KANCHAN TAWARE NMV Girls High

CLASS School

X

X

KADAMBARI CHAVAN

CLASS

NMV Girls High School

OJASWINI DIXIT NMV Girls High

CLASS School

X

CLASS

SAKSHI JOSHI NMV Girls High School

Lions Club members clean Mula-Mutha banks

PASSION FOR ART CONTINUES!

3. Who judged the TGS Essay Competition?

4. How many PMPML buses will be on road by May 2015?

5. Which is Rana Daggubatti’s next Hindi feature film?

6. Which incident changed artist Anuradha Upadhyay’s life?

The members of Lions Club International and volunteers cleaned the banks of MulaMutha river as a part of their Environment Week

7. What is the name of Randhir Khare’s latest novel?

8. Who won the best feature film Award in the Marathi film category in PIFF 2015?

TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeekly

9. What is the role of Aalok Rajwade in Natak Company?

Lions Club I nt e r n a t i o n a l is locally invigorating M o d i ’ s Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan by celebrating an Env ironment Week from Atul Kapole January 12 onwards. The members of the club initiated the week by cleaning the banks of the Mula-Mutha river.

10. Where will ‘Earth Matters’ painting competition be held on January 18?

Contest # 30 winners Viswadeep Mane ‘Passion for Art’, an initiative by Venus Traders Stationery Superstore to promote the love for paintings, was inaugurated on January 15, at Darpan Art Gallery in the Kalachhaya Campus. The exhibition will continue till January 20

The drive began at the banks of the river at Bhide Pool, Narayan Peth.

Superintending Engineer (irrigation) Atul Kapole led the team of volunteers, citizens and students, who had gathered at the banks at 9:00 am.

“The four dams built on Mutha River, namely, Panshet, Varasgaon, Temghar and Khadakwasla have been authorised to provide water to the city and villages in the district,” said Kapole. Maximum amount of water is used in the irrigation and the rest is provided to the city.

He raised a concern over the still river that flows through the city.

“The still water can cause ample of health problems. It can accelerate

the growth of water -borne diseases,” he said.

Kapole requested the participants to spread awareness on water conservation.

“We should go back to basics, where we were taught on how to conserve water at the household.

It can make a lot of difference if we conserve water at an individual level,” he said.

Along with the cleanliness programme, Lions Club has also organised a Lions Service Forum and the Lions Environment Expo till January 18, at Sakhar Sankul, Shivajinagar. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Jihadists’ ‘suicide bombing’ deserves universal condemnation TGS LIFE

JANUARY 3, 2015 PUNE

Our newspaper is interactive and you are welcome to write in to our various segments: • Letters to the Editor email: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com; editor_tgs@gmail.com By post: The Editor, The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030, (Best letter gets a weekly prize) • For feedback: tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com • To get solution to your problems, mail your question at: wayforward@goldensparrow.com • Want to become an entrepreneur?

For mentoring advice, write to our associates: mentoring@pune.tie.org • Get weekly events listed: listings.tgslife@gmail.com

indul ge

Rahul Raut

TGS is interactive

Boko Haram recruiting prepubescent What do they know of religion and Saturday, are very valuable and must be (as young as 10/11-yr-old) girls/boys a cause that’s brainwashed into their followed by everyone to stay fit. To lose as suicide bombers is something that impressionable psyche? It’s time, Islamic weight, to shape up you have to follow deserves universal condemnation. The scholars, regardless of the sects they the diet and exercise regime. To shape very concept of ‘suicide bombing’ is belong to, came together and condemned up into a new you, another technique is to visualise yourself as you want to look, outright un-Islamic because suicide itself the idea of jihadists’ ‘suicide bombing.’

— Sumit Paul carry yourself. Follow this by creative goes against the fundamental tenets (Gets prize for best letter) visualisation technique. Suppose you of Qura’an and Hadith (Muhammad’s aNI wIth want to lose weight, then say I want to lose teachings). However great a cause may bIry 's toUch, everyday meal seem, ‘a motivated self-inflicting act’ a mothtoEr weight. Reaffirm this by repeating it and mach e-sto on-th easyan the dish ani is aiming make (a predictive phrase coined by Samuel Ammi's Biry ending with I can and I will. Similarly I want to lose weight proportionally Huttington in his seminal essay, ‘A clash of civilisations’, page 14, 1963) is always B Health tips given in the January and then follow it by affirming and reaffirming. On the same condemnable because it leads to further 3 issue of The Golden Sparrow on lines you can tackle fear bloodshed as in the case of a suicide e cis er diet, right ex and tiredness. Along bombing. This kind of indoctrinated Stay healthy in 2015 with proper with physical fitness, motivation is akin to opium-induced in the New Year?

Looking to shape up ises wisely k your diet, pick exerc mental health should altered state of mind, which is often Chec and more also be taken care effected by the religious chloroforming.

F of, by keeping your And in the case of innocent children mind active, reading, being used as cannon-fodders and writing, playing mind suicide-bombers, the less said the better.

Matka Phirni

TGS health tips are valuable

By Anjali Shetty @shetty_anjali

Hospitality angalore-based TMA brand, Ammi’s Services’ flagship set up shop at Biryani, has now nt is Pune. The restaura Kalyaninagar in savoury crowds with its drawing in the s are and yellow interior s biryani, and the red foodie aura. The Ammi’ in keeping with the y Kuch Accha Hungr Jab of line Biryani tag the ambience.

Khao, also gels with founder and CMD Ammi’s Biryani 's

biryani "I am a foodie and Navaj Sharief says, that biryani is often is my favourite. I realised nient way. So, we served in a very inconve our healthy food with emphasise good and ’Biryani in a box’. unique concept of the restaurant, Sharief About the name of created in our kitchen said, "Every delicacy royal ic recipe from the authent the es ’s combin tes, with a mother kitchens of the sultana s Biryani is a tribute ’s reassuring touch. Ammi’ ng taste of any mother to the ever-so-inspiri make a love. The idea is to – ent ingredi secret le for biryani that is palatab light and non-oily

to stay in Anderson shares how itness expert Tracy om. shape, reports people.c body you want: yourself about the with your * Be honest with at you’re ation about where Have a real convers with some sort of to find exercises you want your health. You need a strategy for how strategy behind them, . body to look and perform don’t work days a week: If you * Exercise five to seven

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and even office-goers.” was light on oil, Food: oooor and kheer. The biryani d blend of flavours.

The Ammi’s Biryani balance ambience: oooor from we moderately spicy, a ranges menu and curry menu, service: oooor From the paratha badi to , which meal for two: executive, Hydera vegetarian kheema nal picked the Soya rs 500-800 ment to the comple regiona l and traditio , ideal an with its gravy was tGs LIfe picks: parathas, curries, starters badi hydera The s. and chicken paratha snacks and sweets. n Tikka was smooth biryani inThe Lasooni Chicke fresh spices are ground rice matka Phirni the last bite. small creamy and good to mud vessel house. Traditional the matka phirni, the biryanis and For dessert, we had is used for executive other varieties. parrow.com enhancing the flavour. basmati rice for the ian Hyderabadi anjali.shetty@goldens Vegetar the d We sample onions served with raita, biryani, that was

or gain weight. going to stay the same out one day, you’re our bodies. We to taking care of We need to get used brushing our teeth, and teeth are a day So if teeth spend five minutes rest of our bodies. the to ison compar tiny in of your body can s of your day, the rest take up five minute s. take up 30 to 60 minute have weight hand in hand: If you go exercise and * Diet good at exercise. train yourself to be to lose, you have to not about calorie ly important, but it’s foods that And diet is definite ed foods, and include restriction. Avoid processas possible, as well as greens and nature to as are as close ries. superfoods like mulber music is to out g playlist: Workin —IANS * Create a good need to do. something that people

games, taking interest in socio-political issues and interacting with friends, and passing your time positively. It would help if you wake up in the morning with a positive thought, and the day will follow happily and peacefully.

— Urmilla Ramrakhiani

Dhoni sets an example

To retire or not to retire is the choice every sports professional has to make.

Th is decision often leads to a debate.

MS Dhoni has once again proved his leadership qualities by choosing to retire from the test cricket. He has thus given an opportunity to other talented players to enter the team.

Having opened up two slots, his retirement should be celebrated and not questioned. He may have had a

few good years in front of him but by choosing to step aside he has indicated that numbers are meaningless.

— Sunil Melwani

Write to Us Letters to the Editor may be emailed to editor_tgs@goldensparrow. com or mailed to Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt Ltd, 1641 Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411030.

The Best Letter of the Week will receive a special gift from Venus Traders, Pune’s finest stationery departmental.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

Modi must resolve inner contradictions P 12

Next to Thane, Pune and Mumbai (Suburban) are other bigger districts in the state with population 94,26,959 (8.4%) and 93,32,481 (8.3%) respectively as per Census 2011.

— www.census.co.in

PUNE

Past students redefine Fergusson’s glory P6

Double deck flyover planned at Chandni Chowk Second Level Flyover

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat

First Level Flyover

NDA Road

Katraj-Dehu Road Bypass

Mulshi Road

4

NDA Mulshi

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has drawn up a comprehensive plan for the construction of a double-deck flyover at Chandni Chowk in west Pune to deal with the chaotic traffic situation developing there.

As a preliminary step, Pune municipal commissioner Kunal Kumar has made a provision of `45 lakhs in the 2015-15 civic budget. The total cost of the project has been estimated at `250 crore.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is expected to bear this cost to a substantial extent.

Suburbs such as Pashan, Bavdhan areas along the national highway and Mulshi Road are among the fastest growing areas of the city.

The emerging chaotic traffic situation at Chandni Chowk was highlighted by this newspaper last month.

The chaotic situation at the dangerous spot had resulted in a road accident that claimed the lives of a mother and her child in 2011. A solution to the problem at Chandni Chowk was lingering for nearly two years now due to the dual jurisdiction of the PMC and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

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SRINAGA Modi N SHARMA Dear Atal to give R: Kashmir We Readers, to see Behari Vajpayee; a final, welcome Narendra Citizen improving is waiting a divisive Prime dramati your Modi it may Please to address Minister for the figure comments the Initiati s’ com, soon. instead for traffi write c push future and Sher-e-Kas an get But Golden to us c manageme and electionModi in the hope ve Heritage, to the where is suggestion at tgs.feedba hmir state. rally is scheduled nt at 4332/33. TilakSparrow BJP’s hopingthe both Vajpayee’s Stadium the at Srinagar’s BJP Chandni s for welcome Publishingck@golden division march disappear shadow on You Road, Th that Pune-411 Monday, Chowk. may runnersough theand haunt is waiting Pvt. into Monday would also Ltd. sparrow. away the Valley tweet 030, BJP him.

Poor traffic management the to ‘one 1641, when to aggravated is ongoingform to us Tel: 020-2432 by rampant flouting of onThe tragic death where from Madhav Kashmir— come lakh’ the among rules by road-users, have of a woman and her child Lal at @TGSWee peoplearound the made Chandni Chowk fivesparked in 2011 injured Chowk, some on Decemberthe election governmen front one of the most accident-prone efforts to improve the situation. at the and listen people will intersections in Pune. somebodypast However, there is still in third cricket t kly. to Modi on Modi lots more to be done to ensure to give week were KHALID phase Jammu after “You stadium. a CRPF lobbed citizens’ safety at the busy BJP I am when and 9—the opinionof pollingand junction.

BJP’s the fi KASHMIR JAHANGIR Depending are the BJP. hit some team one north all here.

Prime march nal, dramatic SPOKESPERS here, but is dividedis at into , of Banihalon the speak wait for Let Till civilians. instead his partyMinister the push whether ON a few was Valley,divide between Pass to He will at the him us lands Valley. people unimaginab is planning years you BJP here When the Narendra to Srinagar change stadium.to ago completely,” or on Monday, the it le Jammu south are “It Lal to have to the Kashmir Modi Chowk; its for the his would to listenbring one of says game constantly offi is seen and the Khalid party. enthusiastic be a fact ce in BJP’s to him. lakh spokesperso two a record,” both Jahangir. have “Vajpayee supporters armed reminded that is as Jahangir who been n security by the Hotel in Srinagar,” gush was welcomed is sitting But hover over Pamposh, the in guards office-bearer it last the the BJP is a clear Jahangir. in his says by a huge PM just Habbakada 8 die Vir a grenade’s sign in the has fi office audienceto that from Saraf, at l constituenc In both heart nally arrived attackas militan throw a BJP umbrella around 2003, of Kashmir, Refugees Srinagar’s literally,geographica Kashmir 20,000 Vajpayee y. of security. in Kashm army Supporters even from ts lly people had team if under and Pakistan Stadium, camp addressed are now at match had to occupied the ir almost where the Sher-eBY looking SRINAGAR when against RAJEEV Pune Kashmir abandon the Indian at Modi mounted during the pitch the West China gears (POK) : Heavily-ar SHARMA an the lunchwas dug Indiesa one-day has stage up to provocation Indian an audacious come a demonstrat med and host break. up by in 1983 media Army militants . Th up with protesters the city’s early Kashmir’s has Gilgit-Balti India-Pakis ion camp attack just e Chinese yet another in Jammu Friday, gunbattle Baramullain Contd occupied stan described on first Jammu While tan confl state-run on p dead. ever taking Khunjerab reporting that triggering Kashmirregion the disputed 10 ict over district Korean policemen Three left expense sides road in a the Kashmir.

Pakistan which Pass, terror with as ‘Pakistan’, closure soldiers three fierce film Xinjiang of India were Pakistan rebels links a highly Field attack fest of the season, region and thus also in the China’s took strategic Mohra Ordinance at the two agency China’s and PoK, far-western 67-year-old place killed.

Uri. near The point described state-run for the Camp at army’s The the on the midst attack the pass Xinhua winter border located Karakoram of in took news as “a the the town at place elections state. five-phase highway.strategic of THE GOLDEN SPARROW

ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 6, 2014 PUNE

THE GOLDEN SPARROW

DECEMBER 6, 2014

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BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke Chandni Chowk is one of the busiest and most important road junctions in

service road. The never-ending traffic flow, the flagrant flouting of traffic rules and poor infrastructure are the prime reasons for the ensuing chaos at the spot.

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Pune city. Despite several Posters attempts by the civic and police authorities to resolve traffiof c issues, the spot is constantly the beset by traffic some snarls and accidents, owing to of management. the lack of planning and the This constant flow of trafficKorean at the chowk is because it is the where many important intersection roads meet, including the heavy and traffic of the Pune-Bengaluru high-speed Bypass.

This is where the NDA Road, Bavdhan, Paud, Kothrud, service road and the bypass Ved Bhavan from Mumbai and Katraj intersect.

It’s nightmare for pedestrians who are completely ignored.

On an average, over 25,000 vehicles, including 10,000 heavy equipment transport, pass through Chandni Chowk.

The traffic consists of two-wheelers, cars, buses and trucks.

The comprises a narrow bridge, stretch also and a narrow

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By ASHO K BHAT @ashok _bhat Former corpora tor Murlid submitted har Mohol traffic chaosa solution plan to address has then munici at Chandni the pal commi Chowk to Pathak the ssioner in 2013.

Mahes solution has been Mohol said that h Infrastr ucture Pvt suggested by Krishnthe that had Ltd, the ae architec of Sanche designed the t firm grade are four ti Hospital Chowk separator . “As there we visited roads that face enginee the spot along heavy traffic, rs with a team preparing and studied the of the issue the solution plan.traffic before with I discuss enginee r (traffic PMC additional ed Bonala plannin city and the latter asked g) Shrinivas to draw Chowk a solution plan his engineers traffic,” for Chand Mohol He said ni that the said.

Chowk chaos is highway due to city roads at Chandni and nationa junction. meeting and l passing There at to be resolved are some issues that the after minister need Nitin Gadkameeting transpo the Nation rt ri as it involves India (NHAal Highway I) that coversAuthority of highway. the differen “We have suggest national t ed three including solutions at three spots, tunnel, grade separator

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By GITES H SHELK E @gitesh_shelke Dehu Road In a detailed bypass. coverag up and Sparrow drop point It is also a pickon Saturda e last week, The passeng for inter-st Golden traffic manage y highligh ers. ate bus ted the has been In spite of this, ment of traffic poor given to no indiscipline and the high providing thought for pedestr one of the at Chandn degree two foot ians. What safe access i Chowk chowk has major junctions it needs , overbridges, in neatly small and witnessed a numberthe city. This a footpat are 2) Providmarked zebra crossing h and of acciden mother and big, including e ts, her daughte the death number good signages: s. of a Follow of roads r in 2011. cross at converg Since a newspaper ing special coverag this e on good signagechowk, there and crisse in accompanied December is a need 6, a TGS this s and for multiple highly planner languag direction board qualified team es to their Bhonsle and consultant traffic destinations.to guide motoris in to 3) Prataps Chann Chandni ts examining ingh elise traffic the situatio Chowk. After Provide with barrica Bhonsle well-barricaded n with offered des: ensure that could cost-effective TGS, traffic discipli channels move from to solution PMC for be easily implem ne as vehicles Bavdha ented by s NDA or junction better traffic plannin the the road n towards Paud, in western Kothrud. descend g at this Pune.

An expert ing of the Similarly, extend towards on traffic-r Bhonsle road divider the length Prata has elated issues, Chowk Psing US. In Pune, had field experie near bridge h Bhon nce in the to prevent Chandni violatio he has been with the sle one-wa working Pune 4) Provid n and short cuts closely traffic manage Traffic Police by motoris y e better to improv ts. lighting Poor illumin firm Global ment in the e at chowk: ation can be consultancy Traffic Solutiocity while his addressed at Chandni Chowk to a numbe ns provide mast lamps by providi Western s ng high r and Gulf at three road bus Here are countries. of cities in stop, b) spots: a) Paud his sugges leading at the chaos at toward junction Chandni tions for ending road toward steeply 1) Provid Chowk the descend s Kothru : e safe ing intersec d and This chowk access for pedestr tion of Paud road c) at the road. is witness ians: converg – NDA 5) Traffic ing from the from a numbe to traffic island: National r of roads Introdu Island Kothrud, ce a traffic at Defence Academ (Paud road) NDA Road Bavdha Bhavan y, – Bhugao junction service road n, Paud, traffic n would help Ved diversio and the better n instead Katraj – of the chaosand management presently. gitesh.sh elke@go ldensparrow.co m

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IN THE NEWS

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developments in Pune as the week comes to a close

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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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Artificial limbs distributed About 33 Vikas Foot (artificial limbs) were distributed to the needy, with demonstration, at an event organised by the Rotary Club of Pune Metro, in association with Manaji Rajooji Trust, Bharat Vikas Parishad Charitable Trust.

The event was organised at Apang Kalyankari Kendra in Wanavdi. A

Maha skaters bag overall championship

ALASKA

USA

`2,200 cr project for water augmentation

The Zero Stone monument in Nagpur and other parts of the world

Rainfall in July has brought some reThe PMC’s Water Supply lief to the citizens of Pune and the civic Department has proposed a administration. However, to be able to `2,200 crore project to replace ensure regular water supply without the network of old, leaking and cuts in the coming weeks and months, and drainage Modiwater tweets the dams supplying water to Pune willPMdamaged

BY GITESH SHELKE lines. A Draft Project Report (DPR) need to build up an additional 10 TMCin Japanese @gitesh_shelke is scheduled to be placed before (thousand million cubic feet of water) the City Improvement Committee storage.

Primenext minister Narendra With 28-years-old Asif Shaikh as its week, BJP’s groupModi leaderon While the Khadakwasla dam hasThursday putGanesh out a series of told tweets in head, the Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal in PMC, Bidkar TGS. reached its storage capacity of 1.98Japanese and said that be as his friends Trust on MG Road is truly an inspiring project would financed TMC, the situation in the Panshet,from The Japan had him to talk to icon of communal harmony, as it through theasked Jawaharlal Nehru Varasgaon and Temghar dams wouldthe people of Urban JapanRenewal directly, Mission. he had prepares for Ganeshotsav with a range be crucial not just for Pune city butdoneNational so.

Modi is scheduled to visit Jaof charitable activities every year.

The project will drastically curtail also for smaller towns downstream likepan from 30 to September 3.

Describing their youth group as “a waterAugust wastage.

Daund and Indapur, which depend onIn a tweet in Japanese, he said he was truly cosmopolitan mandal”, Shaikh these dams for their water supply. Tovery “excited” about the visit that will and the mandal’s secretary Sheldon fulfi l this demand, a total of 20 TMCstrengthen the relationship between Fernandes spoke of water will be required, of which storagethe ministration tookIna another review oftweet the rain-what Ganeshotsav two countries. of 10 TMC has been achieved. fall andtowater storage status at thecelebrations mean addressed his Japanese counterThis was underlined by the officialspartKhadakwasla, Panshet, Shinzo Abe, Modi said Varasgaon he deeply andto them every year. of the Irrigation Department duringrespected Temghar dams which supply water to Abe’s leadership.

First and a meeting convened at the civic headthe city. foremost, the trust quarters by mayor Chanchala Kodre The Khadakwasla dam has waterinvolves everyone on Thursday. Those present at this storage to itsHerald full capacity of 1.98 TMC.from the locality in case: meeting included municipal commis-National The irrigation department thereforethe festivities. sioner Vilas Deshmukh, city engineerCourt hearing decideddefers to release some water from this The mandal Prashant Waghmare, water supply dam into the Mutha river. The PMCcollects vargani chief V. G. Kulkarni, standing comalso decided to withdraw the alternate( v o l u n t a r y on Thursday fixed December mittee chairman Bapusaheb Karne andA court day water supply plan and release water contribution) from 9 as the next date of hearing in a case top party representatives. once a day from this dam. the neighbourhood and During the meeting the civic ad-against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Contd on p 10but does not spend her son and party vice president Rahul it entirely on decorations and the Gandhi and others over acquisition of immersion procession. “Instead, we the National Herald newspaper. provide meals to the poor for 10 days Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati and also undertake other charitable Manocha deferred the hearing after it activities,” Shaikh said. was apprised that the Delhi High Court This includes the distribution

Signposts

The great village of brave soldiers Two days from today, July 28, 2014, will mark the centenary of the First World War, also known as the Great War, that ushered in a new epoch in world politics. The history of that war is intertwined with a small, remote village in Satara district. TGS Special Report p13 This medallion was presented by the Queen of England after the First World War to the next of kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed in the war. Sepoy Khashaba Powar’s medallion has been placed by his family at their place of worship

Signposts India to have 4 new central universities NEW DELHI:: The government has decided to set up four new central universities in the country, parliament was told early this week.

“The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has decided to set up four new central universities, viz. one Central Tribal University each in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, one central university in Andhra Pradesh and Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Bihar,” HRD Minister Smriti Irani said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

At present, there are 40 central universities under the purview of the ministry.

Army chief pays tributes to Kargil War martyrs SRINAGAR: Indian Army chief after the wreath laying ceremony at the General Bikram Singh on Friday paid Kargil War Memorial in Drass town of tributes to the martyrs of 1999 Kargil Kargil district.

War in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh The chief of the Indian Army said region on the occasion of 15th Vijay ceasefire violations by Pakistan have Diwas. been taking place regularly on the He said the army is alert and Line of Control (LoC) in the state, but has been deployed effectively on the assured that the army has been effectively borders to defend the integrity and the responding to those violations. sovereignty of the country.

“They violate the ceasefire every “Let me assure you, the army is week and every month, but the army has deployed on the borders to defend the been taking effective steps to respond to PUNE, AUGUST 30, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com integrity and the sovereignty of the those,” he said. country,” General Singh told reporters Contd on p 10 I've always been a movie guy, movies have been my thing.

I love movies, all kinds of movies.

— Christopher Nolan

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 the start of 2013, a NGO has said.

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.

$250,000 fine.

Shah was the president and CEO of SOHM and Costas, both based out of California. He was accused of paying kickbacks to an investment fund representative in exchange for buying stock in the two companies.

The fund representative was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent working on an investigation into fraud in the market for penny stocks, the report said. Penny stocks are less heavily regulated than stocks that trade on major exchanges such as the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

students- to prepare for the winter.

The mandal also runs a small library for the neighbourhood residents and children, says Shaikh, explaining that a lot of money can be saved if spent prudently on just decorations, sound systems and other such expenses.

As a part of its activities, the mandal has rented out some space to a tea vendor and the rent is used for the Ganeshotsav celebrations.

Ni ne te enyears-old Sheldon, a BBA student, helping others and doing something constructive for society brings lot of joy to everyone involved in the celebrations.

Associated with this youth group since childhood, he says his fellow members hail from different castes, creed and religion.

The Ashok Chakra Mitra Mandal close to Shivaji Market, Camp, is celebrating its golden jubilee this year and has a number of Muslims as its members, said Faiyaz Khan, one of Headed by Raghuvir Vanal, this

(IIM)-Shillong to emerge as creative leaders to bring about the required change in the country.

“I want to see all of you as creative leaders to bring about the required change,” Kalam said, while delivering a lecture “Dimensions of National Development” at the prestigious B-school on Thursday.

The “missile man”, as Kalam is also known due to his background in aerospace engineering and his role in India’s

indigenous missile development, is one of the visiting faculty members in IIMShillong.

Kalam spoke about the challenges that India and the world were facing and emphasised the role of leadership to tackle these issues and develop possible solutions to ensure socio-economic development.

He said the key requirement for achieving a distinctive profi le for the nation was by creating sustainable enterprise-driven models at the rural level. Kalam urged the students to emulate a development model to bring

TGS LIFE

Pune brands go pan India

PUNE’S PEOPLE PURPOSE

dents were killed and some 20 injured when their school bus was rammed by a speeding train at an unmanned rail-road crossing in Telangana Thursday. The dead included the school bus driver.

Although the number of school children is a minuscule part of the total number of Indians dying daily on the roads, activists say most accidents are avoidable.

I dislike about Will’s school?

Are my and my efforts in both on an excursion in these Maharashtra on Piyush Tewari, founder and presistandards really too high or are people crafts are unfolding.

December 7, 2013. dent of Save Life Foundation, said —Priyanka working in Chopra the education field really In an accident in Tamil Nadu’s holding an adult “accountable for safetyjust that ignorant.” The next morning, Pudukottai district in June 2013, a of children while on the move” andshe received a call asking her to meet mini van collided with a bus, killing having child safety laws would act as the principal when she dropped off seven school children. deterrents. her son at Sonshine Christian AcadAnother seven children died when Two accidents this year injured 12emy, a private religious school, in Flortheir bus fell into a gorge in Jammu and school students. The first took placeida. To her shock, the school decided Kashmir’s Anantnag district in April May 12 in Greater Noida in Uttarto expel her son.

2013. In July last year, 11 students were Pradesh, injuring two students. Ten killed and 20 injured when their bus hit students were injured in adjoining Noia truck in Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh da April 29 when their school bus was district. hit by a state-run bus.

Contd on p 10 Three children died when their

‘Chayan’ promises to offer shelter, legal support and counselling to couples in case of outburst from families

BY YASH DAIV @yash009

RAHUL RAUT

&DESERTED

DEAD

“Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) is one such system which I suggest will help in providing opportunities through cooperative working of resource and social entrepreneur in the rural areas,” he said.

“PURA is the creation of physical, electronic, knowledge connectivities leading to electronic connectivity of rural regions. With this combined and planned intervention of infrastructure, digital technology, information and enterprise, we can select a cluster of about 20 to 50 villages, which share core

“We collect money and support poor patients in the hospitals.

Our members also support orphans in different orphanages in the city,”

from 20 last year and 23 the year Central minister with regards to this before, according to the list published project soon,” Bidkar said, adding that in the web edition of Forbes Asia. an announcement on the forthcoming China’s tech companies made a state assembly polls is expected in PUNE, OCTOBER 11, 2014 www.goldensparrow.com strong showing, with Tencent the most a week or two and the BJP is keen valuable, having a market cap of $155.6 to push the Pune Metro project to a billion, nearly twice that of runner-up decisive stage before the Model Code India’s Tata Consultancy Services. of Conduct comes into force,” he said.

Lenovo is the biggest in terms of annual revenue of $38.7 billion, Continued on p 10

Pune’s hottest start-up, 2014 get top prize today

Muslims and Christians and they are steadfast about the spirit of unity in diversity and respect for all religions that defines the nation, said Khan.

you take care of your supporting this event and includes the roster in 2005. family.

Association of Software and Other notable National companies from —Julia Roberts Service Companies (NASSCOM), India include HCL Technologies, Indus (Tie, Pune), which makes the listTh fore the fifthEntrepreneurs time, SoftwareIndustries, Technologies Parks of and Sun Pharmaceutical (STPI), Mahratta Chamber Of which appears on theIndia list for the third consecutive time. Commerce Industries & Agriculture (MCCIA), PuneTech, iSpirit, IIM Mahindra & Mahindra also rejoins Ahmedabad’s the list after a two-year absence. Centre for Innovation Incubation IANS and Entrepreneurship, SME Joinup, Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), IACC, and Pune Open Coffee Club.

The four finalists for the top prize are: Scandid- a shopping technology start-up that enables shoppers to compare prices by scanning the product barcodes with one’s mobile phones; Framebench- a cloud based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform; Ecozen Solutions, started in September 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation, and The Green Raddiwala which focuses on providing door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like.

Founded by Sushil Chaudhari and Madhur Khandelwal in 2012, Scandid also helps consumers find latest online and offline deals. The company previously won the regional round of the Seedstars World- a global start-up competition.

3 ECOZEN SOLUTIONS Framebench, founded by Rohit Agarwal, is a cloud-based online collaboration, communication and feedback platform. Framebench is a central workplace where one can store and share one’s creative assets. The company can help remote teams and

THE GREEN RADDIWALA clients to review, mark changes required on the assets and even host discussions on them in real time, which automatically gets documented for viewing later. This visual communication workflow allows for crisp & quick feedback.

Ecozen Solutions run by Devendra

Gupta, Prateek Singhal and Vivek Pande was started in 2009 to promote awareness against poor energy management practices and elevate the Indian industry to the standards and expectations of a developed nation.

It is with this view that this designed a pioneering and innovative micro Cold Storage- a solar powered cold storage system, which was primarily designed for the rural segment to serve their needs ideally. This innovative product can be suitably adapted for local conditions Great across thethings world. can happen when have the The you fourth finalist, The Green courage to yourself.

Raddiwala hasbebeen established by Michael Sam Nikhil Pagare—and Saurav Pasalkar to provide door-to-door services in collecting raddi or recyclable waste such as plastic, newspapers and the like.

Green Raddiwala purchases the recyclable waste from households at market rates and sells it directly to recycling industries. This drastically reduces environmental pollution. ishani.bose@goldensparrow.com

(Left to right) MANS state secretary Milind Deshmukh, president Deepak Girme and Dhanak secretary Asif Iqbal at SM Joshi Hall in Navi Peth on November 4

After several brainstorming sessions that probed into legal, religious and humanitarian aspects of marriage, the group devised the concept of Chayan (choice). These organisations aspire to make Chayan a national movement.

The conference began with an “oath of humanity” to promote the principle of non-discrimination based on caste, religion, language or gender.

Madhav Bhavge, secretary, MANS said Chayan is the need of the hour. “It could be a national level movement which would give shape to the ideas and suggestions that we have

“People blindly follow the vedic rituals. A person should be able to justify all his or her activities rather than following a tradition. If we are able to instil this attitude in the masses we will be able to eradicate class politics and in turn the problems of mixed marriages,” he said. Subhash Bhave, secretary, SM Joshi Socialist Foundation emphasised on the need for mass awareness. “People have a tendency to hide their marriages until the legal documents are ready. This attitude must be changed,” he said.

It was suggested during the deliberations that there should be a group of five to ten people in every district who will promote and provide assistance if required, for inter-caste and inter-religious marriages. yashdaiv@gmail.com

City takes lead over Delhi, Mumbai in the journey of product start-ups TGS NEWS SERVICE @TGSWeeKLY Pune has emerged as the nation’s second-fastest product start-up hub in the country. A close second to Bangalore, Pune has taken a lead over mega-metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

This has been stated in the latest report by iSPIRIT, (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable), a company mainly focussed towards the product industry.

“Pune is significantly ahead of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad,” the report said while

noting the product start-ups activity in Bangalore at 33% of India, Pune (21 %), Delhi and Mumbai (about 1112% each) and Hyderabad at 9%.

“Pune is definitely No. 2, which is excellent,” said Amit Paranjape, co-founder of Pune-Tech, an online tech portal for the tech and startup community in Pune.

Addressing a recent press conference Paranjape spoke about Pune’s viable ecosystem, which has been developing tremendously to enable entrepreneurs to launch an enterprise.

Others who shared this thought were Gaurav Mehra, past president SEAP and managing director, Saba Softwares; Maneesh Bhandari, director, Pune Division, Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad; Ashutosh Parasnis, president of SEAP and managing director of Qlogic; Ramaswamy Narayanan, vice president, SEAP; Vishwas Mahajan, president of TIEPune chapter and Navin Kabra, cofounder of Pune Tech. tgs.feedback@goldensparrow.com

Children, send us your paintings, poems & essays on

CHILD LABOUR IN INDIA Mention your name, age, standard, school’s name and contact number in your entry.

Last Date for Receiving Entries: Saturday, 22nd November Prize Winning Entries will be announced in this newspaper Entries may be sent to: The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune - 411030. Tel: 020-24324332/33

For Details SMS/Contact: Prachi, Tel: 9822619858 or Yash: 9762884007

Vow Factor The

From the

mouth

the Special Marriage Act, 1954, which is complicated, different in every state and plagued with controversies. “A platform like Chayan can help modify such a law,” he said.

Iqbal suggested that under the national platform one can create a secure place for couples who have mixed marriages. “We can offer them shelter, legal procedures and counselling in case there is an outburst from the families,” he said.

Chayan would ensure the smooth functioning of the legal structure pertaining to marriage.

Deepak Girme, president, MANS said society’s mindset have deep religious roots. Having worked with the late anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabolkar for 25 years, he said any religious text should be questioned.

Asif Shaikh (left) and Sheldon Fernandes (right) of Shri Shivram Tarun Mandal Trust preparing the decorations for Ganeshotsav

mandal runs a social organisation called Anzuman Faizane Raza and the members celebrate other prominent festivals and occasions such as Eid, Independence Day and Republic Day with equal fervor.

competencies and empower those using local enterprise. This would enable our country to grow by shared efforts and overcome the challenges faced by the society,” he said.

Charting out a link between creative leadership and economic development, the former president emphasised the importance of the role that change in leadership would play for ensuring success.

He also accentuated on the role of integrity among leaders for sustained success and development of the society. (IANS)

Horse,s

Prominent social workers from different parts of the country who promote intercaste and inter-religious marriages have decided to establish a national movement called Chayan (Choice).

This was decided at a meeting in the city on November 4-5 during a conference on ‘Right to Choice of Partner in Inter-caste and Interreligious Marriages’.

Activists from the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), SM Joshi Socialist Foundation, Rashtriya Seva Dal and Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal along with the voluntary organisation, Dhanak from Delhi, were present at this meet.

Six out of eight subways in the city are in a sad state of neglect and are closed to the public. Some are used as convenient urinating spots or as gambling dens. They are dirty, poorly lit and unsafe. Why can’t city subways be restored and made user-friendly for pedestrians? Also related is the complete avoidance of foot over-bridges by pedestrians. Why waste public exchequer and construct them if they are so very unpopular with the public? See Spotlight on p8-9

THE FINALISTS ARE...

the BJP’s newly elected city MP Anil Shirole, was to closely follow-up on the mass transportation project. Shirole focused on updating himself on the project and seeking clarifications on the project as proposed by the Congress-NCP government.

Pune FC enter Durand Cup final P 16

Nat’l movement to promote marriages of choice gets going

2FRAMEBENCH

a bid to counter the ruling CongressNCP government in the forthcoming polls, the BJP is chalking out its strategy to gain maximum advantage by announcing critical steps on the Metro project.

Speaking to this newspaper, BJP’s leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Ganesh Bidkar said that one of the top priorities for

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Carrying the torch in the battle against cancer P2

City subways are

Emerge as creative leaders: Kalam to IIM students SHILLONG: Former president APJ Abdul Kalam has urged students of the Indian Institute of Management

country as special markings for a survey by the British. India’s Zero Stone stands proudly in Nagpur, denoting the centre of the country.

The oldest and most famous of such milestones is located in Rome, the Milliarium Aureum (“Golden Milestone”) of the Roman Empire. The maxim “all roads lead to Rome” is believed to have originated from this monument.

A number of prominent cities in the world have their own “zero stones” and are proud of it, including Washington DC, Tokyo, Berlin, Buenos Aires...

The citizens of Pune and publicspirited organisations such as the MCCIA’s Janwani, INTACH, Pune International Centre and the National Society for Clean Cities, to name a few, need to lobby with the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Heritage Cell to do what is needed.

The Golden Sparrow on Saturday pledges its fullest support to such an effort. Get in touch with us at: editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com www.goldensparrow.com or Tweet us: @TGSWeekly

Telangana school bus accident resulting in the death of 19 students is part of a larger tragedy that demands immediate attention

convicted in stock scheme WASHINGTON

On Wednesday, when this newspaper took a review of Pune’s Zero Stone on the footpath outside the General Post Office (GPO), the sight was pathetic to say the least.

With white paint spilled over it, there was a sweeper’s broom lying next to it and rubbish all around. A tea vendor was stationed with his cart next to the stone.

In 2006, when this journalist fi rst reported on this small, yet valuable piece of Pune’s heritage, there was a watermelon seller sitting on the stone, using it as a convenient stool.

The Zero Stone is a very special milestone as it signifies the geographic location of a city and the point from where distances are established between towns and cities. As such, it ought to be restored, fenced and beautified so that the children of this city, other citizens and tourists can go back to the time when Pune was taking shape under the British, bit by bit.

There are just 80 of such special milestones that were installed in the

Generosity & communal harmony define these mandals

What is going wrong with road safety in India?

Ever wondered where thoroughbreds go after retirement? Or why jockeys are weighed before and after a race? Barnalee Handique has the answers

Maharashtra skaters grabbed the overall championship with 160 points in the Mayor’s Trophy interschool national skating tournament held at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in B a l e w a d i recent ly.

In all, the state s k a t e r s earned 15 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals. A total of 676 skaters from 18 states participated in this event. Maharashtra’s Mansi Kumbhar, Amulya Nanda (U-11 girls) and Siddhant Kamble (U-17 boys) won gold on the last day of the championship.

BUDAPEST

WIKI COMMONS

BY ASHOK BHAT @ashok_bhat

APSHINGE:

physiotherapy lab with new equipment was also inaugurated on the occasion.

A Rotary Youth Leadership Camp was conducted for differently-abled children in the first week of January wherein over 170 students participated. The twoday event involved activities focusing on breathing exercises, memory enhancement, motivational speeches, career guidance and on-the-spot skit performances.

NAGPUR

City dams need additional 10 TMC water to tide over crisis

The four-day flower exhibition at the Empress Botanical Garden beginning from January 23 will display approximately 3,000 flower plants. The organisers showed a glimpse of some plants that will be exhibited at the show

sectors Viz Fleetguard (auto ancillary), A r v i n d Pargaonkar (Larsen and T o u b r o electrical sector), H i t e n d r a Admuthe (Racold - FMCD), Abhaya Bhargava (Thermax India Ltd Project Engineering), MR Hasan (Tata Motorsautomobile), Laxmansa Katwa (Engine Rieter India Pvt. Ltd Engineering), Yogesh Bhavsar (Coca Cola- FMCG) and Saurabh Dhanorkar (Finolex Industries Ltd Process Industry) were presented the Rotary Vocational Award in Logistics Excellence by Symbiosis Society Symbiosis founder president SB Mujumdar.

Pune’s water situation improves

WIKI COMMONS

Abhi Impact Logistics Solutions and Rotary Club of Pune Royal organised the Rotary Vocational Logistics Excellence Award function recently.

Logistics professionals from various

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WIKI COMMONS

Rotary Club presented excellence award

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WIKI COMMONS

Eye surgeon Mandar Paranjpe was presented the Poona Opt ha l molog ic a l Society’s MB Jhanwar Netraseva Award at the annual Mandar Paranjpe conference of the society recently.

District guardian minister Girish Bapat was the chief guest.

The award is given in recognition of exceptional organisational and community work.

HE A R D .

IANS

Award for eye surgeon

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

os on to ensure Efforts are S g np m m around 10.3 lakh m m children in the district are cov ere d under the pulse polio immunisation drive that will be held on January 18. Nearly 16,400 persons will be put on the job by the health department for the drive in the district from Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and rural areas. Additional collector Pradeep Patil said, “We have arrangements made by rural area health authorities and both the civic bodies. More than rural areas, it is the city that needs more awareness and we urge that citizens come to the booth.” The official said that not a single case of polio had been registered after the last case in Nashik in 2010.

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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

PUNE’S FIRST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

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THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

ED UCATION

PUNE

“There is much less emphasis on matters that concern wildlife in schools. There are no great chapters that discuss this in text books. We need to bring it much more into the limelight.”

— Valmik Thapar, tiger conservationist

CARE ER

Modi-Jaitley must focus on 3R’s — reform, reform, reform P 10

Be careful before loan settlements P 14

The Ex-Fergussonian’s Association (EFA) of Fergusson College felicitated some of its most successful alumni who have achieved high distinction in various fields

BY YASH DAIV classical vocal music overseas. Her @yash009 versatility is marked by her mastery Fergusson College felicitated its over diverse musical genres such as former students who attained renown Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, Ghazal, Geet, in various fields, with the Gaurav Natyasangeet, and Bhajan. and Abhiman awards. Eminent Hindustani classical vocalist Prabha Dinesh Deshpande, the silent guard Atre was the recipient of the Fergusson Chairman of the Fergusson Gaurav Award, and the Fergusson College Alumni Committee, Vijay Abhiman awards were Sawant described given to Admiral Vice Admiral Dinesh Dinesh Deshpande, Deshpande as a born educationist N C leader. Deshpande has Joshi, journalist Dileep been honoured with the Padgaonkar, veteran Vishishta Seva Medal for sportswoman Sindhutai outstanding service to Halwe and upcoming the nation. Deshpande badminton players said that it was his time Gauravi Wamburkar at Fergusson College and Shireen Limaye. that laid the foundation The ceremony was held of his career, and it at the Fergusson College was where he imbibed Alumni Association his fi rst lessons in - DILEEP PADGAONKAR hall, on January 12, camaraderie. and the awards were presented by former Dileep Padgaonkar, Supreme Court judge P B Sawant. journalist and author Dileep Padgaonkar is a journalist Prabha Atre’s music bound who has served with distinction in generations together India and abroad. He was the Paris Prabha Atre said the creation of correspondent for The Times of India her identity as a classical singer began and Asia Pacific information officer for at Fergusson College, where she was UNESCO. “The award is a reminder offered many a platform to present her of what I have taken from Fergusson. It musical craft, even as she was acquiring has taught me to uphold intellectuality, an education in the science stream. celebrate the genius and stand up for Atre is counted among the myself,” he said. country’s elite Hindustani classical vocalists, representing the esteemed NC Joshi, the thriving educationist Kirana Gharana. She has performed Former president Pratibha extensively and popularised Indian Patil, educationists DY Patil and

RAHUL RAUT

Past students redefine Fergusson’s glory

“The award is a reminder of what I have taken from Fergusson.”

Marathi writer Sandeep Jawale says that people should adopt Swamiji’s teachings to avoid polarisation of opinions

BY GITESH SHELKE @gitesh_shelke

City-based writer Sandeep Jawale in his new Marathi book ‘Kon Hote Swami Vivekanand?

(Who was Swami Vivekanand)’ says Swami Vivekananda was influenced by Gautam Buddha and thought deeply about casteless Indian society.

The writer bases his conclusion on evidence that he collected in the form of letters written by the social reformer and philosopher.

Social worker Baba Adhav and Subhash Ware released the book at SM Joshi Foundation Hall in Navi Peth recently.

Jawale said that Swamiji’s letters referred to Buddha’s teachings as valuable. “As Buddha, he too was affected by poverty, hunger, superstition, health issues and had sympathy for the downtrodden,” he said.

“Swamiji questioned himself as to what is the basic duty of a sanyasi?

He devoted his life towards educating people and eradicating poverty and shunning untouchability,” Jawale said.

As droughts and famine were regular, the Swami stressed on educating farmers to bravely face these calamities.

Jawale said that the Swami wrote many letters to religious scholars and peers studying with him.

The fact that the Swami was against caste system and was not a

Hindu preacher was underlined in his historic speech in Chicago on September 11, 1893. He read books on Hindu religion and sought answers from religious scholars.

“Swamiji was impressed by the industria l isation of America and stressed on the need of industries in India to generate employment. He laid importance on industries over religion,” he said.

According to the writer, the philosopher criticised Hindu rituals and blind faith.

“While deriving answers from religious scholars and preachers, Swamiji fought against the evils of society,” Jawale said.

“He wanted education for all, irrespective of caste and creed. And believed in the power of reasoning, urging everyone to develop reasoning abilities, and wanted the youth to join him,” he said. Adhav said that religion is not a monopoly of a few but belongs to everyone. “Some established rituals can be challenged with reasoning,” he said.

The writer said that people should adopt and follow teachings of Swamiji to avoid polarisation of opinions.

“What Owaisi (Asaduddin) is saying or what Hindu organisations are saying will not matter when people use their reasoning. And only education can do this,” Adhav said. gitesh.shelke@goldensparrow.com

YP Kulkarni have hailed NC or Nanasaheb Joshi’s contributions to the social and education spheres. Joshi has contributed immensely to the reforms at Savitribai Phule Pune University.

“To be awarded by an institution that I consider to be a privilege to study in, is extraordinary,” he said.

Sindhutai Halwe, passion for sports Sindhutai Halwe was notching up record-breaking performances in the 100-metre sprint and long jump at the inter-college sports competitions, in the 1950s, when a woman’s place was thought to be in the kitchen and home.

She studied at Deccan Education

Society’s Ahilya Devi High School and was offered entrance to Fergusson College on a platter. “The credit for my confidence goes to Fergusson College. I would like to be reborn as a Fergussonian,” she said.

Gauravi Wamburkar’s heart winning

determination Gauravi Wamburkar was born deaf, but the disability did not deter her.

She represented Fergusson College in various badminton competitions with distinction. She credited her success to Fergusson College and her parents. yashdaiv@gmail.com

BMCC and Sinhagad college fests add sparkle to students’ lives BMCC’s ‘Troika’ and Sinhagad Institute’s ‘Karandak’ annual festivals light up the city youth horizon

BY VIDYA UNNITHAN @vidya_unnithan January is the month of annual college festivals. The plethora of hoardings don the city streets announcing all the exciting events, as is the social media. Pune is home to a very diverse and cosmopolitan college student population, and there is no surprise that the city’s college festivals are a true and colourful reflection of vibrant youthfulness. The festivals also offer the students an outstanding platform for displaying their creativity, talent and innovation.

The festivals also afford lively interaction among the students of different colleges, uniting them on one platform, and facilitate a sharing of ideas and interests. They are also an occasion for students to mingle with teachers and faculty outside their classrooms. With each passing year, the college festivals are evolving into bigger and better platforms.

But it does not happen overnight.

Preparations begin months in advance, with students themselves delegating responsibilities, working on sponsors and publicity, bringing in participants for the creative contests, and adding the dash of necessary glamour.

BMCC’s Troika The Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) ‘Troika’ festival was based on a classic cartoons theme, reverting to the carefree times of Johnny Bravo and Scooby Doo,’.

“We are the children of the 90s and in our childhood we watched endless shows on Cartoon Network.

As the channel has been revamped, we thought of taking our fellow students

to a merry, nostalgic trip of the 90s,” said Vineet Rajani, a Troika volunteer.

In its sixth edition, on the opening day, January 12, Troika had 3,000 visitors, from city colleges. Off-beat and quirky events such as ‘Mock Stock’, ‘Apprentice’, ‘Treasure Hunts’ and gaming hit the right note with the audience on the second day.

The ‘Mad-ad’ event featured students making advertisements dedicated to the classic ‘Tom and Jerry’ shows. Th is year’s major attractions were ‘Super-bike’, ‘Flash mob’ and a show by comedian Vir Das. “We also organised magic shows, cartoon movie show and lunch for the underprivileged children of Seva Sadan, Bal Sadan and Saheli,” said Mayur Sakpal, a volunteer.

The event was a grand success.

“Th is is the fi rst time I attended ‘Troika’ and I must admit that I was blown away. Everything about the fest was impressive, right from their theme

to decoration to events,” said Vaibhav Jere, a visitor.

‘Karandak’ by Sinhgad Institute Sinhagad Institute’s annual festival, ‘Karandak’ has evolved into one of Pune’s biggest youth cultural events. Started in 2006, the attendance crosses the 1,50,000 mark. Th is year, the fest kicked off with Indian-born British singing sensation Jay Sean.

The concert saw an audience of 18,000 students singing along the tunes of the R&B singer. An inter-college fest, Sinhagad’s Wadgaon campus attracted students from different branches. The ten-day fest was divided into ‘neon, spectrum, spectacle and techtonic’ categories.

Neon, the cultural segment, comprised cultural events like dance, singing, battle of bands, fashion show and streetplays.

Spectrum’s ‘Apprentice. Adzilla, Investors Gala and Wall Street

Titans’ were dedicated to management students.

Techtonic, as the name suggests, hosted over 100 challenging and innovative events and 40 plus workshops catering to the geeks.

‘Karandak’ is known for its big budget and Bollywood quotient. The event was visited by the cast of Marathi fi lm Mitwa, to promote their fi lm and interact with students.

“I have been visiting Karandak for the past two years. You meet new people, interact and compete with them and exchange ideas. The energy is infectious,” said Chirag Nambiar, a student of Sinhagad Institute.

“I have been working for Karandak since the past three years. The coordination and support we receive is good. It is a tiring yet gratifying experience,” said Omkar Ravindre, a volunteer. The fest is on till January 22, 2015. vidyaunnithan@gmail.com

ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

‘Swami Vivekananda was keen on an India free of caste, blind faith’

Veteran sportswoman Sindhutai Halwe receiving the Fergusson Abhiman Award from retired Supreme Court judge PB Sawant. L-R: Chairman EFA, Vijay Sawant; YD Mehandale, and eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar at the programme organised by Ex-Fergussonian’s Association (EFA) of Fergusson College

Students performing at Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce’s (BMCC) ‘Troika’ festival. The festival was based on classic cartoons theme

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

“There is no shortage of opportunities. We have been able to convince many analysts that IT modernisation and digital transformation are different and they should be kept separate.”

— Anand Deshpande, CEO & chairman, Persistent Systems

A session on Financial Mgmt by TiE Pune & Villgro The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Pune in association with Villgro is organising the next edition of Unconvention Speaker Series for Social Entrepreneurs with ‘Financial Management’ as the theme for this month on January 17, 2015. In this session, social entrepreneurs will get an opportunity to understand the concepts of financial management and get a feedback from the speaker about their own project. Siddharth Inamdar, a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Of India, who currently practices as a proprietor of SH Inamdar and Associates, will be the leader. The event will be held in Conference Room no 6, Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, 5th floor, Senapati Bapat Road.

NASSCOM seeks clarity on several long pending issues

Start-up Mentor

NASSCOM has shared its budget recommendations with the government, which highlights aspects that can promote a growth oriented business environment for innovation driven start-ups and SMEs. The IT industry body has asked the government to address regulatory and tax challenges for technology startups and SMEs, like difficulties in access to funding for low asset firms; investor difficulties related to regulations and taxations, discouraging investors.

Vishwas Mahajan

Cut costs with alternative fuels

Aniruddha Rajandekar

Pune based Energy 1 provides cost-effective alternative biomass fuels for use in hot water generators and hot air generators

BY Yash Daiv @yash009

“Sustainable growth and the cutting down on utilisation and costs of nonrenewable fuel resources are the two goals that can be achieved through alternate fuels,” says Anand Tatuskar, founder of Energy 1. Defined by Tatuskar as an ‘alternative and economical energy system’, Energy 1, which aims to promote a green culture, by providing cost saving and energy efficient biomass pellet-heating solutions, is a part of the Dolphin Group, that has been working in the solar thermal application, ventilation products and LPG gas storage and circulation areas for 16 years.

Made out of agro biomass and wood dust, the burning of these pellets results in significantly lower ash and carbon residue. Energy 1 launched this alternative fuel in 2013. Energy 1 was set up in 2010 to cater to the growing demand for alternate fuels.

“We started researching alternate fuels by visiting European companies.

In India, a lot of agricultural waste and wood dust is generated, which we saw as sources of viable alternative fuels. We tested the first prototype in 2011, that proved to be a success,” said Tatuskar.

The Energy 1 office was set up in

The pellets are a cleaner and more efficient renewable energy option for industrial and commercial requirements, says Anand Tatuskar

“ The biomass pellets fuel their hot water generators at an economical price.”

Kothrud and its manufacturing plant in Shivne, in 2013.

“Energy 1 produces biomass pellets,

Outcome-based contracts: Be careful, not afraid

This feature is a collaboration between The Golden Sparrow on Saturday and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), the world’s largest non-profit network of entrepreneurs. For additional questions about your entrepreneurial challenges, write to mentoring@pune.tie.org

We are a small IT Services company and work with a customer in US developing software. We are on a monthly payment mode, but they wish to change the billing to ‘outcome-based’. We don’t know the nuances of this. Can you guide?

- Anurag Mittal “The customer really doesn’t want a drilling machine, he wants a hole in the wall” is a famous quote of Theodore Levitt, the celebrated economist.

As businesses across all industries come under increasing pressure to deliver more value within constrained budgets, organisations are looking to an outcome-based contracting model for a solution.

Outcome-based contracts, where customers pay for pre-agreed ‘outcomes’ rather than for prescribed products and services, are not new, but are gaining increasing attention.

Large players in IT industry are already offering it to their customers, so its no surprise that your customer has asked for it.

What is outcome-based and how is it different?

Under an outcome-based approach, a customer contracts and pays for business results delivered by a service provider, rather than for defined activities, tasks or assets. The contract focuses on the desired outcome of the work to be performed (the “what”) rather than the manner in which it is to be performed (the “how”). The service provider decides how it will deliver on the customer requirements – and thus a degree of both control and risk shifts to the service provider.

There are several businesses in India that are already following this model.

For example, energy management companies offer to conduct energy audit of large establishments and change the electrical equipment, maintained at

“The leader’s responsibility is to solve the crisis, and for that he has to be external to the situation. Use your intellectual ability and execute through people you trust.”

—M S Unnikrishnan, managing director and CEO of Thermax

their cost while charging the customer for a percentage of savings in electricity charges.

Key characteristics There are some variations to the basic outcome-based procurement model, but all outcome-based contracts will typically have the following three fundamental characteristics: 1. A focus on business outcomes rather than activities and tasks.

2. The use of measurable performance standards that are tied to the required outcomes.

3. A pricing model that comprises or includes rewards and risks.

These key elements of an outcomebased contract are inter-related— outcomes need to be translated into measurable performance standards and delivery against performance standards is used to determine the amount of fees paid. They are also usually the same elements that present parties with maximum difficulties in successfully negotiating and documenting an outcome based contract.

Benefits Advocates of outcome based contracts point to the following benefits: •Cost savings •Supporting innovation on the part

high efficiency heating products and systems that produce significantly lower carbon emissions, and are sustainable and affordable. The pellets are a cleaner and more efficient renewable energy option for industrial and commercial requirements,” said Tatuskar.

Energy 1 clients are from the metal process, laundry, chemical, room heating and powder coating sectors.

However, a majority of their clients are from the powder coating sector, that needs large amounts of fuel to heat water. “Hot water is required for degreasing (removing of grease or oil)and biomass pellets provide an

Indian mobile solution startup, ZipDial, is likely to be acquired by Twitter. Twitter had acquired a similar startup called Mitro labs in August last year. TechCrunch quotes multiple sources as saying the deal is in different stages. One says the deal has already been closed at $30 mn-$40 mn and will be announced by the end of this week.

Another says a different company (possibly Facebook) is also closely watching at acquiring ZipDial, though talks have cooled down. The report also cites another source to say the deal has not been closed yet, and the two companies are still in talks.

ZipDial, founded by CEO Valarie R. Wagoner, COO Amiya Pathak and Chairman Sanjay Swamy in 2010, has already collaborated with Twitter in a prior instance. The firm let users give a missed call on a particular number associated with a celebrity or other Twitter handle in order to receive their tweet alerts via a text message service on the handsets.

The micro-blogging firm is planning to monetise its service.It acquired another mobile advertising startup in June called Namo Media last year.While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, Namo Media said in a blog post that its technology would be rolled into MoPub, the ad serving platform that Twitter purchased in 2013 for more than $300 mn.

Meera Thosar’s ‘Happy Tails’ dog boarding facility and activity centre at Bhugaon offers a shelter away from home for pets

By Barnalee Handique @barnalee Are you planning to go on a vacation but do not know where to leave your pet dog? Your children’s exams are around the corner and you don’t want the distraction of a pet at home. Or you simply want a break from the everyday routine of looking after your canine...

The answer is Meera Thosar’s Happy Tails dog boarding facility and activity centre at Bhugaon. Set up on an one-acre plot, this is an ideal facility where pets are well looked after.

Thosar, 32, is a professional dog trainer and behaviourist, who launched the centre eight years ago.

W h i l e studying at the Brihan

“I love pets and always pick up strays and take them home. It gives me immense pleasure to feed and look after them. Now, I have three cats and four dogs” Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), Thosar realised that caring for animals was her true calling. She quit college and worked as a volunteer with veterinarians.

She said, “I love pets and always pick up strays and take them home. It gives me immense pleasure to

of the service provider •Closer alignment of objectives between the customer and the service provider •Increased motivation for the service provider to achieve the best outcome to maximise its financial gain •More responsive to customer requirements •Greater efficiency in service delivery, through allowing the service provider flexibility in its method of delivery and an ability to adapt to technological advancements •Better outcomes for customers.

Challenges for ‘outcome-based’ contracting Despite the many advantages seen by both customers and service providers who are parties to successful outcome based contracting arrangements, this contracting model is still not a standard practice. This is especially true in IT Services business that you are into.

If you are a small company, you will need to be careful in negotiating an ‘outcome-based’ contract with your customers. We will discuss this in next week’s column.

Having said that, businesses must brace for this challenge because customers are driving this transition.

If you don’t respond, be sure a competitor will.

economical alternative,” said Tatuskar.

The company plans to make small capacity steam generators, pellet burners and cooking stoves, for use in canteens, restaurants, milk processing, hospitals, laundries and pharmaceutical industries. They will save costs by as much as 40 per cent.

Biomass pellets will also help reduce India’s imports of 78 per cent of its crude oil needs.

Energy 1 has an annual turnover of `5-10 crore. They also see immense potential for their products in the food processing industry. yashdaiv@gmail.com

Twitter to acquire Indian mobile startup ZipDial

Creche facility for pet canines

aniruddha rajandekar

Signposts

PUNE

feed and look after them. At present, I have three cats and four dogs at home.”

The veterinarians she worked with advised her to enroll for a dog training course. Thosar joined ‘Canines Can Care’ in Mumbai, run by Shirin and Junaid Merchant. She also availed of special training from John Rogerson, founder and principal lecturer of Northern Centre of Canine Centre, in the UK. Thosar also completed training in other aspects such as crime and investigation, behavioral training, dog problems, dog psychology and kennel management.

Thereafter she started training dogs. In 2011, she started the kennel facility with an initial investment of `20,000. Over time, the facility prospered and Thosar availed of a bank loan for expansion. The facility can now cater to more than 40 dogs. Thosar has a staff of three who look after the running of the pet centre.

“We follow a strict schedule. The dogs are taken for a walk around 6.30 am and are given breakfast at 7.30 am,” Thosar said. Other services include pet selection, pre–pet counselling, obedience training, behaviour modification, refresher training sessions and puppy care. The boarding facilities are for all breeds and the costs are `450 to `750 daily according to the size and breed of the dog. A bath costs extra. The facility also provides post operative care and health checkups for dogs that stay for more than six months. barnalee.handique @goldensparrow.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

LIFE after DEATH

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

PUNE

JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

PICS BY ANIRUDDHA RAJANDEKAR

Make cadaver transplant easier Cadaver organ donations (organ donation after death) can help save more lives

After 18-year-old Abhishek Thakur was killed tragically in a road accident, his grief-stricken family decided to donate his liver and both kidneys. Moments before his cremation, the transplant coordinator of the hospital called to say that Abhishek’s organs had been successfully transplanted. “That was the moment I knew that my son’s soul will be at peace,” said his father Narendra Thakur

The wound is fresh; the pain lingers in every part of the room Abhishek Thakur lived in before he was cruelly snatched away from his family in a bike accident on the Pune – Bengaluru highway last year. A student of FY BCom at Wadia College, his college ID, a cricket ball (he was a promising left arm spinner and played for PYC Gymkhana), his watch, sunglasses and mobile phone have been placed in front of his photograph.

Certificates of achievement in cricket adorn the walls; a brutal reminder of a life that was, of a ‘physically fit, robust, large hearted, happy boy’, says his father, his eyes welling up with tears.

Recalling his childhood, Thakur says, “This boy would often rescue stray kittens and puppies even if he was shouted at.” He was the kind of boy who gave away his brand new spikes to a bowler suffering an injury due to lack of new shoes that his family couldn’t afford even though he was from the opposing team.

“We didn’t want to do the last rites of this child as a ‘dead body’. We couldn’t let him go just like that,” he adds.

Abhishek was a possible hit-and-run who was brought to the hospital by a Good Samaritan. He was put on life support, which was removed on the fourth day after he began breathing on his own. The family gained strength from signs of recovery to the extent that a doctor asked his father to arrange for Abhishek’s beard to be shaved on day 7.

“Suddenly on the eighth day his condition deteriorated and, after the tests confirmed it, the doctors declared him brain dead. It was explained to us that there was no chance of recovery,” says the distraught father.

Thakur wanted to donate Abhishek’s organs and consulted his daughter Natasha who agreed with her father’s decision. The task of convincing Abhishek’s mother was daunting. “It was a delicate moment for her. She is the mother and the shock of the death was bad enough,” says Thakur. But the brave woman agreed and on the ninth day the consent was given.

While the Thakurs as a family is supportive of organ donation, the father’s resolve to donate was strengthened when he observed people in the hospital. “I kept thinking – when my body is over, why can’t it be used for someone else’s benefit?” he said.

The absence of their young child is a hard fact they’re still struggling to accept. “Sometimes it feels like he has gone to play matches and will be back, but memories are all we have now,” says Thakur, choking up again.

The family has no desire to meet the recipients of Abhishek’s organs and insists that they don’t want credit for the decision. “We have ensured that we honoured Abhishek’s life with this act. It has nothing to do with us,” emphasises the father.

Thakur feels that the awareness about organ donation is very low in the country. “Instead of donating lakhs of rupees in charity, donating your organs is a better path to salvation,” says Abhishek’s father. Going forward he wants to volunteer in raising awareness about organ donation. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

Organ donation is a social problem, not just a medical one. We are aware of the shortage of donor pool, and something must be done about it. It is a hard fact that the periphery quality of dialysis is horrible. Organ donation is therefore the best choice for renal rehabilitation.

Way back in 1990 we used to do two surgeries per week in KEM Mumbai. That number dropped to 1 – 2 surgeries in two months due to non-availability of relative donors. These days in nuclear families, relative donors are not frequently available.

Cadaver donation is the only assurance for such patients.

Our medical expertise is increasing every year, but we are unable to utilise the advances in science to save lives because of lack of donors.

“He was a sportsman and we had to do something that would honour his spirit,” say the Thakurs, a family that voluntarily donated three organs of their deceased son

HOW ORGAN DONATION WORKS

1

Once the patient is admitted, all efforts are made to stabilise the patient. If those efforts fail, the patient is pronounced brain dead, but only after the doctor’s evaluation, testing and documentation.

2

Consent from the family is obtained to proceed with the donation, and the organ procurement organisation (in case of Pune it is the ZTC) is informed. A NOC from the local police station is also obtained.

3

In the meantime, the organ donor is maintained on ventilator, and stabilised with fluids and medications.

He/she also undergoes numerous

laboratory tests.

4

Recipients are also identified for placement of organs. A surgical team is mobilised and coordinated to arrive at the hospital for removal of organs and tissues.

5

The donor is brought to the operation room. Multiple organ recovery is performed with organs being preserved through special solutions and cold packing. The ventilator support is then discontinued.

6

The donor’s body is surgically closed and released.

Source: www.DonateLifeIndia.org

Transplant coordinators: Every hospital authorised by the National Health Services to transplant organs must necessarily have ‘transplant coordinators’ (TC).

TCs are individuals from medical social work field and are the single point coordinators between the doctors, the patient’s family, the police (for NOCs), recipient’s family and the ZTCC. Shilpa Barve, TC at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital says, “We create a rapport with the patient’s family as soon as he/she is admitted in the ICU.”

Presumed consent: Countries like Singapore, Belgium and Spain advocate ‘presumed consent’, which permits organ donation by default unless the donor has explicitly opposed it during his lifetime.

MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS MUST STEP FORWARD I lecture people in rural areas about becoming donors. As doctors it is our duty to save the life of a patient and do what is best for them. But we are an interested party and cannot approach a brain-dead patient’s family directly. Transplant coordinators in hospitals are doing a good job but I feel other doctors must step forward to support.

General physicians, family doctors and neurosurgeons must encourage their patients to pledge their organs.

It is also very sad that not a single cadaver donation from any government hospital has been done in Pune while 2-3 cadavers are received by them every day. They have a callous view about cadaver transplantation, which must change.

The Thakur family has kept Abhishek’s college ID, a cricket ball, his watch, sunglasses and mobile phone in front of his photograph

TOP 1

A 22-year-old Pune girl can now dream of a life without biweekly dialysis all thanks to an unnamed donor whose kidney she received last year

BY DR ABHAY N SADRE @TGSWeekly

One donor saved three lives

BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh

Kidney transplant brings joy in Pooja Bhakre’s life

5

Organ Donation Myths

Only liver, heart and kidneys can be donated

Donating your organs is the best gift of life

By pledging to donate organs, you can help many suffering patients to lead normal lives again. There is no greater gift to give

Fact: Organs such as heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver and intestines can be donated. Tissues that can be donated include the eyes, skin, bone, heart valves and tendons.

2

BECOME A DONOR

Fact: People of all ages and medical histories should consider themselves potential donors. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissue can be donated. With recent advances in transplantation, many more people than ever before can be donors

3 4

Organ donation disfigures the body

5

Carrying a donor card is all you have to do to become a donor

Fact: All major religions approve of organ and tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.

Fact: Donated organs are removed surgically, in a routine operation similar to gall bladder or appendix removal.

Donation does not change the appearance of the body.

Fact: It is important to talk to your family about your decision so that they are aware of your wishes and will feel comfortable honouring them, as they are required by law to give their consent in writing for the donation.

Source: www.GiftALife.org

NGOS IN PUNE ZONAL TRANSPLANT COORDINATION CENTRE Arti Gokhale, 489. Rasta Peth, Sardar Moodliar Road, Pune 411011 Phone: +91 9890 210 011

GIFT YOUR ORGAN Sameer Dua Founder & Chief Catalyst Location: Pune Mobile Number: +91 9823 280 055 sameer@giftyourorgan.org www.giftyourorgan.org

(Dr Abhay N Sadre is a leading city nephrologist. As told to Ritu Goyal Harish)

ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

I am too old to be a donor/my medical history makes me unfit for donation

My religion doesn’t allow me to donate my organs

I remember when, in the year 2000, we conducted the first cadaver transplant, the police came to arrest the transplant team.

We have moved on from there and there is certainly more awareness

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION I feel that there must be some compulsion by the government for cadaver organ donation. The body of a brain-dead person should be declared as property of the government and ZTCC (Zonal Transplant Coordination Centres) should be given control. Only then the problem will be sorted out.

Also, patients face a big problem of funds for transplant operations. There are many schemes available to them such as Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana. But the transplant surgeries are always emergency operations and patients don’t receive the funds on time. The government must rectify the rules to make sure that these funds are received immediately.

1. REGISTER YOUR DECISION 2. DISCUSS WITH YOUR FAMILY/LOVED ONES 3. ALWAYS CARRY YOUR DONOR CARD WITH YOU

BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh The ‘Gift of Life’ – the phrase used in a 1980s commercial for eye donation, was conjured with the intent to create awareness about organ donation. Despite the lapse of nearly three decades, not much has changed. In India, the statistics for organ donors stands at 0.08 persons per million population (PMP). In a population of over 1.2 billion people, this number is distressingly low.

Closer home, the figures are no better. In 2014, only eight donors’ organs were transplanted in a city like Pune, where the number of recipients hovers between 190 and 200.

Religious sentiments, misconceptions and myths perpetuate the lack of voluntary donations, making cadaver donations (donations after death) a very miniscule number.

Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC), a NGO and agency appointed by the National Health Services is the central organ transplantation agency for Pune region. The central coordinator for ZTCC Arti Gokhale, who has conducted around 100 awareness programmes in IT companies, schools, colleges and other places in 2014, says, “The awareness for organ donation is increasing but it is not enough.”

WHO CAN DONATE Any patient who has been declared ‘brain dead’ by a team of doctors can donate organs.

Anyone over the age of 18 can become a consensual donor.

Organs of children can also be donated only if their parents agree.

According to Gokhale, it is of utmost importance that the family members, next of kin and relatives are told about the desire to donate. “Even if the patient has a donor card, for cadaver donations, we have to get the consent of the family members in writing before the harvesting is done.

Sometimes relatives are not ready to donate or take too much time to take a decision and the opportunity is lost,” she said.

THE PROCESS Once a patient is declared brain dead and becomes a potential cadaver donor, the transplant coordinator (mandatory personnel in every hospital authorised for organ transplantation), seeks permission of the next of kin/relatives for organ donation, even if the donor has a card. Once this is done, the list of organs that can be harvested is given to the central coordinator who allocates the organs to potential recipients from the list.

PLEDGE YOUR ORGANS. HERE’S WHY… • Thousands of people in the country die awaiting an organ.

The need for organ donation has never been greater.

• Pledging to donate your organs is perhaps the only way one can help another human being in the most humane and selfless manner. It is important to remember that one person’s organs can save the lives of several others.

• Relatives of the deceased must understand the need for such donations. As Surekha Joshi, transplant coordinator at Ruby Hall Clinic, puts it, “We tell the patient’s family that through organ donation they will have helped so many others to get the gift of life.” For some families it is the only positive outcome of their loss. ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

FACTS ABOUT ORGAN DONATION • Chennai has the largest number of cadaver organ donations in the country • In 2009, only 500 liver transplants were performed. The number rose to 750 in 2010 • Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh died awaiting a liver transplant • Organs that can be donated: heart, kidneys, pancreas, liver,

lungs, intestines, skin, corneas, bones, heart valves and tendons • If someone donates three fourths of the liver, it regenerates to its original size in six weeks • In India, 5,00,000 people die annually awaiting an organ • Only 150 organ donations have taken place in Maharashtra from 1995 onwards

PLEDGE FORM

What does it look like?

Pooja Bhakre with her parents and brother

BY RITU GOYAL HARISH @ritugh Since she turned ten years old, Pooja Bhakre has been in and out of hospitals. By age 12 her parents were told that both her kidneys were damaged and, by age 15, this young girl was frequenting a dialysis centre in Pune twice a week.

Her mother Sunanda Vishweshwara Bhakre, who works in a small fi rm, recalls all those years of struggle and says, “We are a low income family. The daily medicines and dialysis cost us half our income and we were in trouble financially.”

Bhakre’s husband owns a hairdresser salon and together they earn `20,000 per month. The worst ordeal was to explain the procedure and its importance to a child.

“Pooja used to get scared many times, but we used to tell her that she

will be alright,” she said.

When Pooja entered standard XII, her parents were told about the organ transplant list where her name was eventually included. After a wait of over three years, Pooja finally received a kidney last year.

Her medical condition has improved since the surgery. “Her haemoglobin would never go beyond 6 despite our best efforts initially, but, after the operation, it has been 12 steadily” her mother points out.

“If it wasn’t for the donor kidney, I don’t know what would have happened to Pooja” says Bhakre acknowledging the ‘Gift of Life’ that has given her daughter the chance to live a normal life. “Everyone must pledge their organs. It is because of one such donor that my daughter is alive today,” she adds.

While she recuperates from surgery, Pooja has enrolled into a six-month Tally course.

She aspires to do MBA in HR, says her mother, a dream which can now be real thanks to this life-saving surgery

ritugoyalharish@gmail.com

ORGAN DONATION NEEDS A YOUTH MOVEMENT To Thomson Varghese, charity began at home when he, after learning the truth of patients dying in Pune’s hospitals due to lack of donor organs from his medical practitioner friends, he got all his family members to become donors.

But he didn’t stop there. Being part of the teaching profession, he realised that the best place to begin the process of change had to be at the bottom of the ladder, and then change would eventually climb upwards. He began speaking to his students (all over the age of 18) about pledging to donate their organs.

“It is easier to talk to them and they will make the change that we want,” says Varghese, candidly adding that it was impossible to change the mindsets of the 30 somethings he has encountered.

While he has received 30 signed forms from his students, he says that many more are struggling to get their forms completed as their parents refuse to support their intentions. “Convincing the parents is proving to be difficult although some have not only signed forms for their children but have pledged their own organs as well,” he adds.

Varghese hopes to continue spreading awareness about organ donation amongst the youth to spearhead a process of change. “Donating your organ means giving life to somebody. It is the noblest deed,” he adds.

TYPES OF ORGAN DONATIONS CADAVER When a donor is declared brain dead by an authorised medical practitioner and his/her organs are harvested and given to a patient in need. Brain death results from a severe, irreversible injury to the brain. All areas of brain are damaged and no longer function due to which a person cannot sustain his/her own life, but vital body functions may be maintained by an artificial support system. This maintains circulation to vital organs long enough to facilitate organ donation. People who experience brain death also donate tissues.

LIVING When a donor and recipient come together either because of a pre-existing relationship or through a third party, and the healthier person donates an organ to save the life of the recipient.

Source: www.Shatayu.org.in

THE CRISIS OF ORGAN DONATION IN INDIA The waiting list for organ transplants in India present a very dismal picture. Of the 4,000 – 5,000 hearts needed every year, only 70 hearts were transplanted in 2011. That number has touched 100 in 2014, according to a research article by the ‘Journal of Pharmaceutical and Scientific Innovation’. The situation with cornea transplants is even worse. Out of the 80,000 – 1,00,000 corneas needed annually, a mere 4,500 were transplanted in 2012-’13.

While doctors lament that many citizens are dissuaded by their religious or societal mindsets from donating their organs, the bleak number of organ donors has also a lot to do with the lack of a central registry in India and the lack of adequate infrastructure in most hospitals, especially government-run hospitals to harvest the organs in time.

According to doctors, the need to dispel the myths that surround this ‘Gift of Life’ is the urgent need of the hour.

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

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Study finds more reasons to get and stay married P 13

“ I condemn terrorism of any kind, especially if done in the name of religion. The killing of people is not allowed in Islam.”

— Minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah

Modi-Jaitley must focus on 3R’s — reform, reform, reform Not pursuing reforms will have severe implications for companies and government that expect to raise large sums of money from

Regardless of what happens in the Delhi elections in February, for Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley 2015 should be a year for good economics, not indifferent politics. For, the writing on the economic wall is clear: global growth is slowing, which means that India’s economic revival depends on what we do here, and not on good luck from abroad. Oil prices have given us an unexpected bonanza, but globally growth has slid on cheaper oil.

It is thus time for the three R’s: reform, reform, reform. Or else we will be where the world is headed with the fourth R – recession.

On January 14, the World Bank cuts its global growth target for 2015 to 3 per cent from 3.4 per cent six months ago, and the IMF could do the same next week. The World Bank’s chief economist, Kaushik Basu, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that

even the current forecast could be revised downwards, since the only economy growing soundly is the US. Basu said: “The global economy today is much larger than what it used to be, so it’s a case of a larger train being pulled by a single engine, the American one. Th is does not make for a rosy outlook for the world.” The Bank cut its forecast for the euro area to 1.1 per cent (from 1.8 per cent earlier), for China from 7.2 per cent to 7.1 per cent, and for Japan from 1.3 per cent to 1.2 percent.

Ruchir Sharma, head of Morgan Stanley Investment M a n agement (Emerging Markets and Global Macro), has outlined the downside risks as essentially China. The reason: its

Centre’s plan to clean Ganga seems a pipe dream

BY SANJEEV SINGH Indian holy scriptures suggest a dip in the Ganga River can cleanse believers of their sins, and purify the soul.

But even the most devout follower can be forgiven that a dip in the Ganga could lead to atmahatya (suicide) today.

Its water, holy and pristine once upon a time, has turned toxic; ingesting even small amount could be lethal.

A few years ago, Sankatmochan Foundation, a Varanasi-based NGO, assessed the quality of water around the popular ghats. Some of the samples had a fecal coliform count of 62,000 to 2.7 million per 100 ml. And a biochemical oxygen demand of 20-50mg per litre.

How dangerous is this? The permissible level of fecal count for bathing is just 500 per ml. And the oxygen demand (higher the pollution greater is the amount of oxygen required to clean it) should be less than 3 mg per litre.

Now, fancy drinking this water!

The Centre has promised the Supreme Court that it will clean up the river by 2018. It gave the assurance after the court asked the government if it intended to turn cleaning of the Ganga into an electoral issue in the next Lok Sabha election or complete the project before that.

The deadline set by the Centre is reassuring. But it looks like a pipedream, especially when the government is yet to give details of how it plans to carry out this ‘Bhagirathesque’ project.

From mythological kings, sages and politicians the Ganga has always been difficult for Indians. According to Valmiki, Bhagirath had to pray to Brahma for several years to release the river from his karmandal and then seek Shiva’s help to contain the damage from its fall on earth. Later, King Shantanu paid a heavy price for stopping Ganga, whom he had married, from immersing their eighth child into the river. When stopped, Ganga left him and their son Devvrat (Bhishma).

When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, he announced a Ganga Action Plan (GAP) to clean the river. Over the next few years, after spending nearly

`5 billion, the GAP was abandoned.

In 2009, Manmohan Singh launched Mission Clean Ganga to ensure that by 2020 no untreated municipal sewage or industrial runoff enters the 1,560-mile river.

A World Bank spokesman described the plan, saying, “Earlier efforts to clean the Ganga concentrated on a few highly polluting towns and centers and addressed ‘end-of-the-pipe’ wastewater treatment there; Mission Clean Ganga builds on lessons from the past, and will look at the entire Gangetic basin while planning and prioritising investment instead of the earlier town-centric approach.”

And in July 2014, prime minister Narendra Modi, whose symbolic gesture of contesting from Varanasi drew lot of attention to the plight of the holy river, launched the Namami Ganga project, promising to restore Ganga’s glory in three years. His government allocated nearly `2,000 crore for the project. Environmental experts point out that while addressing the pollution of the Ganges is important; focusing on pollutants alone is not the best approach.

“The decrease in water flow in the Ganges has reduced its capacity to purify or dilute its pollutants,” says Brahma Dutt Tripathi, professor of environmental engineering at the Banaras Hindu University and an expert member of the National Ganges River Basin Authority (NGRBA).

The Modi government has planned 16 new dams across a 1,600-km long stretch of the river between Varanasi and Hooghly. According to the Down to Earth magazine, domestic sewage leads to maximum amount of contamination; around 2,700 million litres a day of sewage is produced by 50 cities located along the river, accounting for 85 per cent of its pollution. Thousands of dead bodies, of humans and animals, are thrown into it every month.

According to Indian mythology, Ganga is patita pavani—liberator of the sinner. Unfortunately, the river is now waiting for somebody to liberate her.

Will Modi save her, or, it will disappear like the other sacred river—Saraswati?

We will know in 2018.

Firstpost.com

contribution to global growth in 2014 was 33 per cent while the US’s had fallen to 20 per cent, down from the 33 per cent of 1994. 2015 is seeing a US revival, but a simultaneous Chinese slowdown means last year’s faster engine is slowing.

So where does that leave India, which is expected to grow at 5.5 per cent, according to the Mid-Year Economic Analysis put out by the Chief Economic Advisor in December?

Basically, it means if we don’t do something ourselves, growth won’t revive to 6 per cent or more in 2015-16 – as is being widely predicted.

The World Bank, in fact, has also lowered its growth forecast for 2016 from 3.5 per cent to 3.3 per cent. Th is means no pick-me-up for India from favourable global winds even in 2016.

We have to lift ourselves up on our own. Ruchir Sharma makes the consequences of not pursuing reforms in India clear: a stock market fall, which has implications for companies and government, which expects to raise large sums of money from disinvestment.

In a recent interview to NTDV telecast, Sharma presented a slide which showed that markets rise in Year

1 of hope (Modi’s election in 2014), but Year two performance depends on reforms. The historical record shows that when reform happens, the markets rise by a further 20 per cent in Year 2; if it doesn’t, the markets could crash 12 per cent. He says 2015 will be make or break for the Indian economy, even though he expects growth to improve due to favourable oil prices.

Th is is the message Modi and Jaitley need to take to heart, and not what happens in Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party is expected to put up a good show, and possibly even win.

February’s budget is the only window available for setting the year’s economic agenda. After February, the NDA’s focus ought to be on getting key legislation — for which several ordinances have been issued — passed. Th is means, even politics must be focused on getting the legislative agenda through parliament, even if it means letting the BJP’s shortterm political interests slide for a while.

The other key points Sharma made were the following: One, a key reform should be the devolution of more power to states. Th is also means the transfer of more resources to state, which the Finance Commission (which

Modi has to make federalism central to his growth agenda

IANS

BY R JAGANNATHAN

submitted its report in November) is bound to recommend. Modi has to make federalism central to his growth agenda.

Two, along with emerging markets, Indian growth too should be better. But exports will be tough to push through when global growth is slowing.

Th ree, Sharma also see competition for capital flows — into equity and debt — this year. Th is makes reforms doubly important or else the other emerging markets will get more flows. Without reforms, foreign institutional flows will stay shy.

Four, commodity prices are likely to remain low for an extended period.

Sharma said that usually commodities boom for a decade and then lie low for the next two. Th is has huge implications for oil. It means the era of cheaper oil has begun, and it is not just a short-term 2014-15 surprise.

Five, the collapse of global inflation due to cheap oil means India is not likely to see any spike this year.

Now you know why Raghuram Rajan lowered the repo rate on January 15.

Six, stock market wealth is shifting back from energy and commodity industries to technology. Now you know why Flipkart is valued at $10 billion and Tata Steel just over $6 billion. Between the World Bank’s growth forecasts and Ruchi Sharma’s crystal ball, the message for Modi and Jaitley is clear. In 2015, we have no option but to drive reforms back home if we want to see achche din.

On the upside, it also means raising public investment to restart the investment cycle. The proposal, made tentatively in the Mid-Year Economic Review, now has its raison d’etre.

By special arrangement with Firstpost.com

Congress finally out of sleep mode as Sheila era ends, new order takes charge IANS

BY SANJEEV SINGH The Congress may look battered and bruised, and its electoral strategy confused and directionless, in all other states. But in Delhi, it appears to be making the right moves at the right time. It has taken almost over a year for the party to come to terms with the changing political scenario across the country, especially Delhi, but decks have now been cleared for a new set of leaders to chart their own course.

The party’s Central Election Committee cleared the second list of 25 names for the Delhi elections with senior leader Ajay Maken taking the lead with himself being a candidate. The former Union minister has been fielded from Sadar Bazar seat while his former colleague in Parliament Mahabal Mishra has been fielded from his seat of Dwarka. By fielding former MPs and ministers in the assembly election, party vice president Rahul Gandhi wants to signal to the seniors that they need to share the burden of carrying the party when the chips are down. Maken has wisely chosen to lead from the front, making it tough for any senior leader to ignore Rahul Gandhi’s diktat under any garb.

This decision comes within days of appointing Maken as the head of the 101-member Campaign Committee for Delhi elections. Maken was a three-time MLA before winning the New Delhi parliamentary seat twice (2004, 2009). The party is not known to project a ‘face’ during assembly elections, but has given clear indications about their choice in the post Sheila Dikshit era in Delhi Congress.

This decision came after the former chief minister had made it clear that she is not keen on active electoral politics

Former chief minister Sheila Dikshit had made it clear that she is not keen on active electoral politics in Delhi

in Delhi, paving the way for Maken to take over the reins.

“We are not here to second guess the decision. The decision has been arrived at after deliberations in all quarters,” affirmed Abhishek Manu Singhvi, spokesperson Congress and Rajya Sabha member. “It is an excellent choice that will lead us to excellent result and let me assure you that every aspect has been kept in mind before announcing this choice,” he said.

Other seniors like Chaudhary Prem Singh and Dr Yoganand Shastri too have been fielded from Ambedkar Nagar and Malviya Nagar respectively. Neeraj Basoya gets the nod for Kasturba

The high command hopes that the new bunch will be able to rebuild the lost faith

Nagar while newcomer Pratyush Kant made the cut for Kirari seat to add the youth factor to the list of 25 candidates.

Apart from them, 8 sitting MLAs and 12 former MLAs and those candidates who finished second in the 2013 elections have already been allotted tickets in the first list. They include former ministers Dr AK Walia and Rajkumar Chauhan, ex-Mayor Satbir Singh and Sachin Bidhuri.

“I have a performance of 21 years in public without facing any charge and we will work hard. We are trusted and tested,” said Ajay Maken. “We have rich experience in leaders like AK Walia, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Yoganand Shastri and Kiran Walia.

The AAP may be trusted but not tested,” he added.

AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal has been stressing on the point that Congress has already given up the fight in Delhi. He is keen to create this

perception to rally the anti-BJP voters to his party. But with Maken’s elevation and the signal of fielding seniors and ex-MPs on all possible seats, Congress is suddenly out of sleep mode and looks ready to make a fresh start. They are keen to showcase the development of Delhi during their 15-year-rule (19982013) as their main poll plank while exposing the antics of other political parties.

The new team of Maken, Lovely and Haroon Yusuf seems to have convinced the Gandhi scion of the need to accept ground realities and revitalise the grass-roots worker. The high command is willing to go the whole hog in the hope that the new bunch will be able to rebuild the lost faith and take on both AAP and BJP aggressively and spring a surprise in an election where no one is willing to put their money on them.

Firstpost.com

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

“Regenerative medicine is the future of the world’s medicinal system. In coming years it will grow thoroughly.”

—Dr Chandan K Sen, Ohio State University

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“All women deserve equal chances of mental wellbeing and happiness, regardless of their sexuality. Specific stigma around bisexual identity needs to be similarly confronted.”

—Dr Lisa Colledge, Director of Research Metrics, Elsevier

Be positive at all times to aid Centre to fund new Ayurveda recovery of cancer patients

centre in Kerala

Dear Ravi My 50-year-old cousin who lives in another state has been undergoing multiple rounds of painful chemotherapy after contracting mouth cancer. We suspect he got this dreadful disease from his habit of chewing gutka/tobacco.

He has two school-going children. I’m terrified about his and his family’s future. I have spent time with him and have also offered financial assistance which he has declined. How best should I help him?

- Anxious Cousin Dear Anxious Cousin Your anxiety reflects your concern for your cousin’s recovery and the welfare of his family. Your sympathy for your cousin’s predicament will enable you to find ways in which you can help him cope with his situation. The sad fact of life is you reap what you sow.

Unfortunately, he has to face the consequences of his tobacco chewing habit and bear his pain. Apart from the moral support you can give, empowering him to accept and deal with the situation, you could also assure him that you would do your best to help his family, especially his two children, for the unstated fear appears to be that he may not respond positively to his treatment. For the present however, your demeanour should reflect positivity and faith in his treatment and recovery. You could also be a source of strength to his wife and children, bolstering their hopes and helping them deal with thoughts of eventualities. On a wider canvas, you could also do your bit in dissuading others from the use of tobacco products, not only to save them from unnecessary trauma but also to save other cousins like you from the angst you are currently facing. Can you imagine the good it will do to people if all the land used for cultivating tobacco were to be used to cultivate food instead?

indirectly interacted with me. They have embellished my knowledge and enriched my life. I am grateful to one and all, including my own granddaughters, who are now my new teachers. Each one not only taught me something new but also added their own dimension to the most important learning in life – how to live it.

“If history repeats itself and nothing is new under

THE WAY FORWARD WITH COMPASSION & HOPE BY: C. RAVINDRANATH

the sun, how incapable must man be of learning from experience,” said George Bernard Shaw. Experience, that supreme, sublime teacher has always been with us, every moment of our lives. It is we who choose to shut ourselves from the learning each experience offers us. It is up to us to either close doors and windows and complain of stuffiness or open them to let sunshine and freshness in.

“Asato ma sat gamaya; tamaso ma jyotir gamaya; mrityor ma amrutam gamaya.” Many schools and other centres of learning display this slogan which roughly translated means, “Lead me from untruth to truth; from darkness (ignorance) to light; from mortality to immortality.” We are mortals but learning is immortal. It existed before us and will

LEARN AS IF YOU WERE TO LIVE FOREVER “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” These words of Mahatma Gandhi succinctly summarise living and learning. As a process, learning has never failed to excite me and if I have to describe myself in one word, it would be ‘learner.’ Learning keeps me alive, flexible and ever ready to realize and accept change. Learning in my view, is something that continues till our last breath.

“I am yet to meet a person from whom I could learn nothing,” said a famous personality. I have learnt something from every person who has directly or

continue to exist after we have passed away.

“It’s not that I’m smart, but I stay with the questions much longer,” was Einstein’s take on learning, which speaks of his curiosity and passion to seek answers. Why do we have to allow this curiosity and passion fade away over the years? At 67, after by-pass surgery, my friend V.V. Mujumdar is still eager to learn and whenever I meet him, he is doing some course or other. Winner of a U.N. prize for innovation, he still engages in research, ever ready to learn something new. My mother learnt and later taught Russian language after her retirement.

As children, learning was fun. At school, we learnt from books, from our teachers, from the experiments we did and by interacting with our peers and elders. Where did all this fun disappear? In our struggle for survival or our mad pursuit of pleasure, comfort and material, have sequestered ourselves from the joy of learning? None other than Socrates has said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the fi lling of a vessel.”

One final word: all the learning we acquire will have no value unless it is put to use. Learning is knowledge. Knowledge of how to use this knowledge is wisdom. But that is another topic in itself.

(The writer is a multi-faceted personality who believes in responding with compassion and hope to the difficult situations in life.)

Is a problem bothering you endlessly? Write in to us at wayforward@goldensparrow.com for advice and suggestions from C Ravindranath

Let children play in the sun to curb vitamin D deficiency Vitamin D deficient children complain of acute body pain

BY MANASI SARAF JOSHI @GargiManasi Rohan, a Class VI student of Abhinav English Medium School, missed his exams because of excruciating pain in his right ankle.

Dr Pramod Jog Despite treatment, there was no relief. Eventually the doctor suggested Vitamin D level tests, which showed that Rohan’s vitamin D levels were below 20.

Vitamin D deficiency is common among children, who suffer bouts of acute pain. Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium. Therefore, its deficiency also brings about a corresponding calcium deficiency, which in turn causes weak bones and rickets in children. There is no data on how many children are affl icted by Vitamin D deficiency, but it seems to be on the rise.

In conversation with The Golden Sparrow on Saturday, paediatrician Dr Pramod Jog said, “It is true that these days the number of children complaining about muscle and bone pain has increased, which is basically due to unequal levels of vitamin D in the body. It happens due to growing tendency to cover our whole body while stepping out in the sun. Then there are few who dislike milk, but unknowingly we are inviting the risk of vitamin D deficiency. In a country like ours, where we can have plenty

5

Top

reasons for Vitamin-D deficiency

Lack of exposure to sun between 10am to 3pm Aversion to milk Growing tendency to cover our whole body while stepping out in the sun Playing in the parking areas of housing societies, which have limited space and little sunlight Different body lotions on our body hamper the penetration of the sun’s rays into the body GRAPHIC THEREFORE DESIGN

LEAD BY EXAMPLE In China, office-going people are given half an hour free between 11 am and 11.30 am for sun bathing.

The country is taking precautions to save their children and the young generation from becoming Vitamin D deficient, said Dr Jog.

of sunlight, the rising incidence of vitamin D deficiency is surprising.”

In the same vein, gynecologist Dr Anil Gugale said, “Layers of clothes and ‘flat’ culture has added to this deficiency among children. These days, children are not found on the playgrounds but play in the parking areas of housing societies, which have limited space and little sunlight.

”Children are either at school or at day-care centres during the day, and are therefore deprived of sunlight,” said Dr Gugale. “Therefore, we have started giving supplements of vitamin D along with calcium to pregnant ladies, to ensure the right levels of both among the newborn and women,” Dr Gugale said. “The tests for checking vitamin D level are expensive, so we generally prescribe the medicines, and if the patient has not recovered, we insist for the test,” Dr Gugale said.

Dr Jog said, “Lifestyles are changing. These days we put different body lotions on our body, which further hamper the penetration of the sunrays into the body. We also avoid fatty foods like butter and cheese which have lots of vitamin D. Increasing pollution has also played a role. The level of vitamin D in the blood should not be lower than 20 nanogram; it should be above 30,” said Dr Jog. Both the doctors were unanimous about what should be done. “Children must play in open areas. They should play at least for half an hour in the open,” they say. Dr Jog said, “Unlike the old belief that the early morning sun rays are beneficial, recent studies have shown that the sunrays between 10 am and 3 pm are beneficial and thus children must be out in the sun during this period.” Deficiency of vitamin D increases the risk of fractures, rickets and in later life, increased risk of cardio-vascular disease, cognitive impairment in adults, severe asthma in children and cancer.

Food items like fish, eggs, cheese and butter are sources rich in vitamin D. manasisaraf@gmail.com

T H I RU VA N A N T H A P U R A M : Sivakumar said ayurveda was not The central government will extend only an alternative way of treatment financial support to set up a new but also one of the “engines” for the ayurvedic clinical research centre in state’s economic growth.

Kerala to help scientifically validate The industry, which is worth traditional systems of healing, a union Rs.1,000 crore annually, aims minister said Sunday. to grow five-fold by 2020. The Shripad Yesso Naik, minister National Arogya 2015, an initiative of state for AYUSH, said this as of the World Ayurveda Foundation he announced the new National (WAF) in partnership with the Programme of Ayurveda Inspired RGCB, is proposed to be held here Research initiated by the Rajiv Gandhi April 23-26, at the end of a monthCentre for Biotechnology (RGCB) and long ayurveda festival that will the proposed ayurveda expo National bring together practitioners, policy Arogya 2015 at a function here. makers, manufacturers, research and The RGCB will set up the development institutes, students and National Centre for Excellence for members of the public to widen the Ayurveda Inspired global reach of Indian Discovery that will traditional medicine. lead research into RGCB director M. efficacy mechanisms Radhakrishna Pillai involved in ayurvedic said the proposed therapeutics.

Centre for Excellence It has also was a small effort proposed two in facilitating the sister campuses, an rediscovery of Indian ‘ayurvedic clinical traditional medicine. research centre’ in Among the objectives Konni and a ‘high of the Centre of altitude discovery Excellence will be centre’ in Munnar in analysis of ayurvedic Kerala. therapeutics for Naik said the treatment response and central government their effect on pathowill fund the setting - SHRIPAD YESSO NAIK physiological processes up of the clinical and developing research facility in uniform protocols, Konni. Kerala’s Minister for Health compositions and components. and Family Welfare V.S. Sivakumar The project will also include a promised to provide approximately 50 research centre to study medicinal plant acres of land for the project. conservation, metabolic engineering to “The set-up in Kerala, including improve active plant components and training and delivery system in both a discovery programme looking for the public and private sectors, is of a therapeutically significant molecules very high standard,” Naik said. and compounds. Leading bio-medical “Kerala can contribute immensely companies such as central public towards raising the status of traditional sector enterprise HLL Lifecare Ltd. healthcare systems for which we require and other Ayurveda companies and scientific inputs, standardisation and organisations are expected to be certification processes,” he said. partners in the project.

IANS

“Kerala can contribute immensely towards raising the status of traditional healthcare systems.”

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

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TH E EDIT PAGE

Editor’s pick

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

— Martin Luther King, Jr

Prophet controversy: West is enlightened and foolish

In 1981 when the spiritual mystic Osho had moved base to Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, the Christian right in the United States was alarmed. Here was a spiritual leader who drew inspiration from Buddha, Confucius, Plato and Socrates; a number of other world philosophers, mystics, saints, seers and Western psychologists but who had rejected all established religions.

Irreverent to the core, Osho, who then called himself Bhagwan Rajneesh, was deliberately provocative as he wanted to attract the world’s attention.

In the global capital of Capitalism, he dressed outlandishly like a modern day prophet, sported Patek Philippe watches and Gucci shades and cracked jokes on the then US President Ronald Reagan and Jesus Christ.

He grabbed headlines with all of this and also attracted the directionless youth of America in droves.

The Christian right was alarmed and incensed by this new ‘cult’ that had invaded America and saw to it that Rajneesh was driven out of America his followers say on false and fl imsy charges.

His followers also accused the US government of slow poisoning Rajneesh and produced a variety of medical tests and reports from British labs to substantiate their claim.

When Rajneesh was deported from the US in 1985 and took off from Oregon in his personal jet to re-establish in another country, the world was treated to another spectacle, as his plane hopped from country to country, having been rejected entry in 21 nations- under pressure from the United States.

He finally returned to his motherland and his popularity soared, especially after his controversial death on January 19, 1990, with a high demand for his newspaper columns, audio and video recordings and meditation techniques. Modern civilisation is immensely beholden to the West for its many gifts to mankind.

Philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke Goethe, Marx and others who have enriched human thought. The idea of democracy was born out of the French Revolution which in turn inspired the American Revolution and the war of Independence.

The ideals and ideas of democracy, liberty, equality, self-government and individualism, further reinforced by the founding fathers of the United States such as James Madison, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, continue to inspire us even today. The world stands beholden to the West for a methodical pursuit of scientific thought and the Industrial Revolution; for the many advances in science, technology and pharmaceuticals which have helped improve human life and fight diseases.

But this is the same West which also gave the world the nuclear bombs which have the potential of wiping out mankind itself. Th is is the same West which gave mankind deadly biological and chemical weapons and which repeatedly unleashes war in the Gulf to

ensure a fi rm control on oil supplies.

Th is is the same West that has given mankind the gift of Global Warming through a mad pursuit and promotion of consumerism. At the end of it all, poverty has accentuated, the global community stands sharply divided and the world has been reduced to a playground for terrorists- from the Boko Harams in Nigeria who effortlessly abduct girls by the hundreds to the Al Qaeda which is bent on bettering its past record...The Mumbai terror attack of 2008 and the murder of Charlie Hebdo journalists are merely pauses in this unending narrative of modern times.

People of all religions are touchy about their personal faith. The masses are not enlightened enough to understand that the underlying spirit of all religions is the same - irrespective of whether you are a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian. You can be intensely spiritual without being religious.

People are touchy about anyone making fun of their religion and the easiest way to generate hatred is to make fun of someone’s religion.

What does one gain by making fun of the Prophet in the name of journalistic ‘freedom of speech and expression’?

In his piece, Charlie Hebdo: Who Is To Blame?

Dr Ludwig Watzal writes in countercur rents. org: “In promoting the Islamic enemy image, Charlie Hebdo was not the real model of freedom of speech. It was rather one of many mouthpieces of a predominant trend all across Europe that is racist, islamophobic, xenophobic and exclusively Western valueoriented. Th is arrogant attitude is now bearing terrible fruit. Nevertheless, the question remains: Who benefits from it?” The fi rst lesson that we learn as journalists is that freedom of speech and expression is accompanied with limitations and is bound by a sense of responsibility. Apart from generating a few laughs among a section of non Muslims, Charlie Hebdo has achieved no constructive purpose by provoking Muslims.

What is the use of sending missions to the Moon and Mars when there are thousands of people dying of starvation in the world? Much of our intelligence in developing technologies for a better fabric, a faster car and a smarter smartphone stands wasted because what is required on priority is freedom from disease and malnutrition for millions across the world; a better life for the physically and mentally handicapped and a better world for the elderly.

We need the world to move towards less of pollution and less of consumerism; greater equality, higher levels of literacy and greater protection against human trafficking - especially of young girls who go ‘missing’ by the thousands.

The world needs to stand united in its fight against terrorism. Irresponsible journalism of the kind of Charlie Hebdo is not going to help in this process. @TGSWeekly editor_tgs@goldensparrow.com

The first lesson that we learn as journalists is that freedom of speech is bound by a sense of responsibility

Vol-1* lssue No.: 31 Printed and Published by: PRI – Media Services Private Limited CIN: U22222MH2012PTC232006 on behalf of Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. CIN:U22200PN2014PTC151382 Printed at Diligent Media Corporation Ltd., Plot No. EL-201, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Mahape, Navi Mumbai.

Published at Golden Sparrow Publishing Pvt. Ltd. 1641, Madhav Heritage, Tilak Road, Pune-411 030, Tel: 020-2432 4332/33.

Editor: Abhay Vaidya (Responsible for the selection of news under the PRB Act, 1867)

Cartoon by: Sandeep Adhwaryu; Courtesy: The Sunday Guardian

Modi must resolve inner contradictions The prime minister’s 2015 agenda should include coming down heavily on Hindutva radicals and follow economic reforms

BY AMULYA GANGULI The year ended by confirming the BJP’s upward mobility when the alliance led by it secured a majority in the Jharkhand assembly and the party put up its best ever show in Jammu and Kashmir. But there is a hint in both the elections that the party’s ascent may not continue to be as smooth and effortless in 2015 as it has been in 2014.

In Jharkhand, for instance, the BJP could cross the half-way mark in the 81-member legislature only with the help of its ally, the All Jharkhand Students Union, which added five seats to the BJP’s tally of 37, which was way down from the 58 assembly segments which the BJP won in the general election six months ago.

What is more, the BJP’s victory rath (chariot) came to a halt outside the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, showing that it is only the party’s vote bank of the Hindus of Jammu who supported it while the Muslims gave it a wide berth since the BJP could secure only 2.2 per cent of the votes in the valley.

The reason for the rebuff by the minorities is clear enough. They have been angered and disheartened by the aggressive anti-Muslim and antiChristian campaigns of the Hindu supremacist RSS and its rabid affi liates like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal. These fundamentalist outfits have seen the BJP’s rise to power at the Centre as the most opportune time to push their fascistic idea of converting secular India into a theocratic Hindu rashtra (nation). There is little doubt that if prime minister Narendra Modi is unable to rein in these members of the

Hindutva Gestapo, then his memorable and unexpected victory in the general election will begin to unravel.

It is worth recalling that the BJP’s success in May was the culmination of a series of political victories which saw the party win assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and emerge as the first party in Delhi at the end of 2013.

While the BJP’s success story can be said to be continuing, its main adversary, the Congress, is going steadily downhill and has now reached a stage when its revival seems to be nearly impossible. The reason is its inept leadership, comprising the mother-and-son duo of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, both of whom palpably lack political charisma (which used to be the Nehru-Gandhi family’s forte), intellectual acuity and an economic vision in sync with the modern world which has lost patience with socialism, which the Gandhis seem to prefer.

As a result, the Congress has lost virtually all the major elections for more than a year while the BJP has forged ahead. Only in several by-elections, notably in Rajasthan and, surprisingly, in Gujarat has the Congress fared well but they have been too few and far between to rejuvenate the party.

In contrast, Modi has all the requisites of a winner - charisma, oratorical skill, a forward-looking economic agenda and administrative acumen with a hands-on approach.

But his Achilles heel is the RSS, VHP and other Hindu militant groups like the Dharma Jagran Samiti, which has been organising the proselytising ‘ghar wapas’ (homecoming) campaigns to woo the minorities back into the Hindu fold.

It is not that Modi is unaware of what’s hobbling him. But, in a way, he is helpless because having spent all his life in the fundamentalist environment of the RSS shakhas and among its karyakartas (workers) - Modi himself was once a pracharak (preacher) - it must be now very difficult for him to turn against them even if he knows that they are harming his development plans.

Although he has partially succeeded in taming the hardliners by persuading them to put off the issue of constructing the Ram temple by a year in keeping with his Independence Day call for a moratorium on sectarian animosity, he doesn’t seem to have reckoned with the penchant of the extremists to conceive of one divisive idea after another - love jehad, ghar wapsi, bahu lao-beti bachao and so on.

The last-named campaign is the obverse of the love jehad programme.

While the latter warns Hindu girls against being trapped by Muslim boys into marriage, the bahu lao-beti bachao slogan advises Hindu boys to marry Muslim girls while saving their own sisters.

As a result of the xenophobia propagated by the votaries of Hindutva with claims that India exploded an atomic bomb in prehistoric times, as was stated by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, MP, and invented plastic surgery - an assertion made by Modi himself - India is passing through a surreal atmosphere where a pro-market economy reflected by the glittering malls and multiplexes is coexisting with articulations redolent of an unscientific and unsophisticated worldview.

This contrast is also evident in the government-forming negotiations

How to manage time?

BY ANIL RAJVANSHI

evaluate all the choices can give us peace of mind. Such a brain is developed Where is the time? This is the general through Sanyam which is a combination refrain that one regularly hears from a of concentration, contemplation and modern day harried person. Everybody meditation on a single thought. However, is pressed for time. Has the time really right from childhood, the children are shrunk? The physical time is going at its bombarded with innumerable choices regular pace as it has since eternity, but which create attention deficit behaviour it is our perception that time seems to and do not help them improve their have shrunk. concentration.

I think it is our insecurity All great people manage which gives us the feeling that their time well. Gandhiji was a we are not achieving enough and great manager of his time. To hence the perception of shrinkage him every small thing had a of time. We sometimes seem to value and hence he devoted all be following the maxim “we are his attention and energies to the running all the time but going work in hand. Whether it was nowhere”.

Charkha spinning or launching The more choices we have THINK a major national movement; all the more insecure we feel since things were equally important to missing out is a constant threat and him and endowed with a powerful brain fear at the back of our mind. One of he focused on them one at a time with the outcomes of this insecurity is the tremendous concentration. multitasking behavior that lots of people Similarly Einstein, the high priest exhibit. For fear of loosing out they of time was never flustered not did he would like to do many things at the complain about time wastage. Once same time with the result that nothing is a famous European scientist came to done properly. This insecurity results in a meet Einstein by train which was late. feeling of emptiness since we always feel The scientist apologised profusely to that we could have achieved more. Thus Einstein for having to wait for him at anxiety and worry is a sign of perception the station. Einstein calmly replied that that there is not enough time. there was no problem since he used the A powerful brain which can opportunity to think about a physics

problem he was working on.

Einstein once jokingly explained the relativistic nature of time; “If you are with a beautiful girl in a park the hours appear to be minutes while if you are sitting on a hot plate then even a minute is like an hour”. Inadvertently he gave a very good explanation of the perception of time.

Thus when we enjoy our work then the sense of time simply vanishes and we are completely immersed in the work. All of us have experienced this feeling sometime in our lives. That enjoyable feeling comes from the power of concentration and internal security.

Somehow we do not teach or inculcate this habit in our children.

The increasing power of concentration also gives us a perspective in life since it allows us to evaluate large number of choices. This helps us to differentiate between the important and trivial issues, allowing us to focus on the important ones which give us the luxury of doing things at a leisurely pace without hurry. Thus to create better and well balanced citizens we need to inculcate in our children the power of concentration and focus on work at hand. They will then have all the time in the world to do great and wonderful things. © Anil K Rajvanshi anilrajvanshi@gmail.com

between the BJP and Muslim-majority parties of the Kashmir valley like the People’s Democratic Party and the National Conference, which the saffron hawks regard as pro-separatist and, therefore, anti-national.

Unless Modi can resolve these contradictions between a 21st century government and the Hindutva radicals by coming down heavily on the latter and resolutely pursuing economic reforms, the earlier optimism associated with him will disappear.

The gainer from any such inability will be the Congress and the other opposition parties whose stalling of parliament over the antics of the saffron activists has compelled Modi to take the ordinance route to pass crucial pro-reforms laws. But such bulldozing tactics are a sign of the prime minister’s, and the democratic system’s, failure.

If Modi nevertheless opted for them, it is to divert attention from the antics of the Hindutva fanatics. He will have to pursue the economic reforms the road to middle class hearts - even more energetically if the BJP fails to stave off the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) challenge in the Delhi elections which are likely to be held in February.

In 2013, the BJP came first in Delhi. But coming first will not do this time, for it will show that the Modi wave is petering out. Even securing a majority may not satisfy the BJP top brass if the AAP comes anywhere near the 28 seats it won last time. In that case, Modi will have to confront the saffron brigade head-on in a face-off reminiscent of Hitler’s night of the knives.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst.

The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)

Limericks of the week

BY C RAVINDRANATH

Delhi is again free To choose AAP or BJP If I’m not wrong Both are strong But who wins, let’s see!

We await Obama’s visit Hoping it will be a hit We’re eager to see How it will be But first, let’s wait a bit.

UP ka hai bura haal Now due to alcohol Can we lagao booch To the evil of hooch For the welfare of all?

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

With selections from The New York Times

PUNE

“We want that Mauritius be a bridge for India, a real bridge for India, and through Mauritius they can come and invest and go to Europe and Africa. This is very important.”

—Showkutally Soodhun, vice prime minister of Mauritius

Indians lack nuanced skills of Test cricket P 15

Study finds more reasons Cancer’s random assault to get and stay married Smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer, but for other cancers, the causes are not clear

A new economics paper has some oldfashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend.

Social scientists have long known that married people tend to be happier, but they debate whether that is because marriage causes happiness or simply because happier people are more likely to get married.

The new paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, controlled for premarriage happiness levels.

It concluded that being married makes people happier and more satisfied with their lives than those who remain single - particularly during the most stressful periods, like midlife crises.

Even as fewer people are marrying, the disadvantages of remaining single have broad implications. It is important because marriage is increasingly a force behind inequality.

Stable marriages are more common among educated, high-income people, and increasingly out of reach for those who are not. That divide appears to affect not just people’s income and family stability, but also their happiness and stress levels.

A quarter of today’s young adults will have never married by 2030, which would be the highest share in modern history, according to the Pew Research Center. Yet both remaining unmarried and divorcing are more common among less educated, lowerincome people. Educated, high-income people still marry at high rates and are less likely to divorce.

Those whose lives are most difficult could benefit most from marriage, according to the economists who wrote the new paper, John Helliwell of the Vancouver School of Economics and Shawn Grover of the Canadian Department of Finance.

“Marriage may be most important when there is that stress in life and when things are going wrong,” Grover said.

They analyzed data about well-being from two national surveys in Britain and the Gallup World Poll. In all but a few parts of the world, even when controlling for people’s life satisfaction before marriage, being married made them happier. This conclusion,

A new economics paper has some old-fashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend

however, did not hold true in Latin America, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Intriguingly, marital happiness long outlasted the honeymoon period. Though some social scientists have argued that happiness levels are innate, so people return to their natural level of wellbeing after joyful or upsetting events, the researchers found that the benefits of marriage persist. One reason for that might be the role of friendship within marriage.

Those who consider their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as others, the study found.

The effect of friendship seems to be the result of living with a romantic partner, rather than the legal status of being married, because it was as strong for people who lived together but were not married.

Women benefit more from being married to their best friend than men do, though women are less likely to regard their spouse as their best friend. “What immediately intrigued me about the results was to rethink marriage as a whole,” Helliwell said. “Maybe what is really important is friendship, and to never forget that in the push and pull of daily life.”

Spouses have taken on roles as companions & confidants, particularly those who are financially stable

Marriage has undergone a drastic shift in the last half century. In the past, as the Nobelwinning economist Gary Becker described, marriage was utilitarian: Women looked for a husband to make money and men looked for a woman to manage the household. But in recent decades, the roles of men and women have become more similar. As a result, spouses have taken on roles as companions and confidants, particularly those who are financially stable, as economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers have discussed.

The benefits of marital friendship are most vivid during middle age, when people tend to experience a dip in life satisfaction, largely because career and family demands apply the most stress then. Those who are married, the new paper found, have much shallower dips - even in regions where marriage does not have an overall positive effect.

“The biggest benefits come in high-stress environments, and people who are married can handle midlife stress better than those who aren’t because they have a shared load and shared friendship,” Helliwell said.

Overall, the research comes to a largely optimistic conclusion. People have the capacity to increase their happiness levels and avoid falling deep into midlife crisis by finding support in long-term relationships.

Yet those relationships seem to be less achievable for the least advantaged members of society.

© 2015 New York Times News Service

Discovery, guided by morality

Dr Ann Lam and Dr Elan Ohayon founded the Green Neuroscience Laboratory at San Diego. They dream to create an educational training programme in green neuroscience

By JOHN MARKOFF MENLO PARK, California: Dr Ann Lam delicately places a laboratory slide holding a slice of brain from a living human onto a small platform in a room the size of a walk-in refrigerator. She closes a heavy door and turns to a row of computers to monitor her experiments.

She is using one of the world’s most sophisticated and powerful microscopes, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, to learn about the distribution of metals in the brains of epilepsy patients. But she has another reason for being here as well.

Traditional techniques for staining brain tissue produce byproducts and waste that are hazardous to the environment. And often, this sort of research is performed on animals, something Lam insists on avoiding.

The radiation that illuminates the Stanford microscope was once a waste product produced by the particle accelerators. Now that it has been harnessed - recycled, in a sense - she is able to use it to examine tissue removed from living human patients, not animals. For Lam, those are important considerations.

Indeed, scientists like her worry that neuroscience has become a dirty business. Too often,

they say, labs are stocked with toxic chemicals, dangerous instruments and hapless animal subjects. Funding often comes from the military, and some neuroscientists fear their findings may soon be applied in ways that they never intended, raising moral questions that are seldom addressed.

In 2012, Lam and Dr Elan Ohayon, her husband, founded the Green Neuroscience Laboratory in a former industrial building in the Convoy District, an up-and-coming San Diego neighborhood. Solar panels rest on the roof, and a garden is lovingly tended on the second floor. Lam and Ohayon refuse to experiment on animals, a mainstay of neuroscience research, and will not conduct research with military applications. At scientific conferences around the country, they have been urging scientists to stop clinging to dated notions of normalcy and deviance. “Our dream is to create an educational training programme in green neuroscience where people can really study ethics, philosophy and experimentation all at the same time,” she said.

At a time when research often seems to suggest that humans are neural puppets, Lam and Ohayon are chasing projects intended to show how brain functioning is connected to free will and

personal freedom. And they are believers in transparent, open-source science: They are committed to publishing findings and data without restrictions.

Their ideas have raised eyebrows in scientific circles - and hopes.

“The lab is one of the laboratories that has a chance to become a place where new ideas in artificial intelligence and neuroscience come from,” said Hava T Siegelmann, a professor of computer science who studies neural systems at the University of Massachusetts.

“They don’t want to play the game,” said W McIntyre Burnham, a neuropharmacologist at the University of Toronto, with whom Ohayon studied. “They may be the wave of the future, but I think they may also have trouble getting support.” The two came to the idea of an alternative approach to neuroscience on a backpacking trip on Vancouver Island in 2011. Lam was ending a postdoctoral fellowship, and the two scientists were worried about the direction of neuroscience. As it turned out, they were not the only ones.

Eventually they found a kindred spirit in the neuroscientist Dr Jay S Coggan. The Green Neuroscience Laboratory is affiliated with - and shares offices with - the NeuroLinx Research Institute, which he founded.

out. Dividing cells must make copies of their DNA, and errors in the process can set off the uncontrolled growth that leads to cancer.

Vogelstein said research of this type became possible only in recent years, because of advances in the understanding of stem-cell biology.

The analysis did not include breast or prostate cancers, because there was not enough data on rates of stem-cell division in those tissues.

A starting point for their research was an observation made more than 100 years ago but never really explained: Some tissues are far more cancer-prone than others. In the large intestine, for instance, the lifetime cancer risk is 4.8 per cent - 24 times higher than in the small intestine, where it is 0.2 per cent. The scientists found that the large intestine has many more stem cells than the small intestine, and that they divide more often: 73 times a year, compared with 24 times. In many other tissues, rates of stem cell division also correlated strongly with cancer risk.

Some cancers, including certain lung and skin cancers, are more common than would be expected just from their rates of stem-cell division - which matches up with the known importance of environmental factors like smoking and sun exposure in those diseases. Others more common than expected were linked to cancer-causing genes. To help explain the findings, Tomasetti cited the risks of a car accident. In general, the longer the trip, the higher the odds of a crash. Environmental factors like bad weather can add to the basic risk, and so can defects in the car.

“This is a good picture of how I see cancer,” he said. “It’s really the combination of inherited factors, environment and chance. At the base, there is the chance of mutations, to which we add, either because of things we inherited or the environment, our lifestyle.”

Dr Kenneth Offit, chief of the clinical genetics service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, called the article “an elegant biological explanation of the complex pattern of cancers observed in different human tissues.”

He said the hypothesis “appears to be correct,” but added that it is “just a first approximation,” and he noted that certain types of cancer did not fit the model. One form of thyroid cancer, for instance, has a much bigger hereditary component than the model would suggest, he said.

Although the article focused on factors in cancer beyond people’s control, Offit said that about half of cancer deaths could be avoided.

“So one would not want to dilute the important public health message that although most cancer is likely due to random events (affecting DNA replication) at the cellular level, at the population level, the most powerful interventions to decrease the burden of cancer are to stop smoking, know your family history and aim for ideal weight,” he said. © 2015 New York Times News Service

“Cancer leaves signals of its presence, so we just have to basically get smarter about how to find them.”

Emily Berl/The New York Times

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Tamara Shopsin/The New York Times

Those who consider their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as others

By DENISE GRADY It may sound flippant to say that many cases of cancer are caused by bad luck, but that is what two scientists suggested in an article published in early January in the journal Science. The bad luck comes in the form of random genetic mistakes, or mutations, that happen when healthy cells divide.

Random mutations may account for two-thirds of the risk of getting many types of cancer, leaving the usual suspects - heredity and environmental factors - to account for only one-third, say the authors, Cristian Tomasetti and Dr. Bert Vogelstein, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We do think this is a fundamental mechanism, and this is the first time there’s been a measure of it,” said Tomasetti, an applied mathematician.

Though the researchers suspected that chance had a role, they were surprised at how big it turned out to be. “This was definitely beyond my expectations,” Tomasetti said. “It’s about double what I would have thought.” The finding may be good news to some people, bad news to others, he added.

Smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer, but for other cancers, the causes are not clear. And yet many patients wonder if they did something to bring the disease on themselves, or if they could have done something to prevent it. “For the average cancer patient, I think this is good news,” Tomasetti said. “Knowing that overall, a lot of it is just bad luck, I think in a sense it’s comforting.” Among people who do not have cancer, Tomasetti said he expected there to be two camps. “There are those who would like to control every single thing happening in their lives, and for those, this may be very scary,” he said. “There is a big component of cancer I can just do nothing about.”

- Tomasetti Vogelstein said the question of causation had haunted him for decades, since he was an intern and his first patient was a 4-year-old girl with leukemia. Her parents were distraught and wanted to know what had caused the disease. He had no answer, but time and time again heard the same question from patients and their families, particularly parents of children with cancer.

Tomasetti and Vogelstein said the finding that so many cases of cancer occur from random genetic accidents means that it may not be possible to prevent them, and that there should be more of an emphasis on developing better tests to find cancers early enough to cure them. “Cancer leaves signals of its presence, so we just have to basically get smarter about how to find them,” Tomasetti said.

Their conclusion comes from a statistical model they developed using data in the medical literature on rates of cell division in 31 types of tissue. They looked specifically at stem cells, which are a small, specialised population in each organ or tissue that divide to provide replacements for cells that wear

Elan Ohayon and his wife, Ann Lam, who is holding their daughter, at a meeting with student researchers at the Green Neuroscience Laboratory in San Diego

Coggan had earlier grown disappointed with the ‘establishment’ science in which, he says, academic research and corporate profit priorities are increasingly indistinguishable. He bootstrapped the research laboratory with his own money and now supports it with funding from a variety of private individual contributions and scientific research grants.

NeuroLinx now supports a range of research projects, including an exploration of the way dolphins sleep, an effort to create a computer simulation

of the ubiquitous lab worm C. elegans (known as the Open Worm project), and an exploration of nerve damage in diseases like multiple sclerosis. “We have to treat neuroscience and robotics like we treat biological and chemical weapons,” Ohayon said. Lam and Ohayon have decided that all of their research projects must have two components. One is the “familiar and experimental” outline of the scope and requirements of the project, Lam said. The other is a bit more unusual: “A parallel green paper that guides the study and helps explore the

application guidelines.” In short: How can the study be done ethically, and how can the finding be used ethically?

Brain technologies emerging today may put anything that George Orwell might have imagined to shame, they say. The government’s ambitious effort to map the human brain, they note, also includes research into whether information can be “written” into the brain.

“The problem is that we haven’t learned from history,” Ohayon said.

“Now we know what science can create.” © 2015 New York Times News Service

MONEY MATT ER S

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

“As India launches its Make in India campaign, we look forward to more exports from India to Australia.We see natural resources, services and manufacturing sector in India giving a boost to the trade.”

- Grayson Perry, counsellor commercial, Australian Trade Commission

Signpost Sensex drops 96 pts; oil & gas stocks dip A benchmark index of Indian equities markets on Friday was trading 96.35 points or 0.34 per cent down as oil and gas stocks slipped. Heavy selling pressure was seen in oil and gas, IT and banking stocks, while some good buying was observed in healthcare sector. The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 28,056.61 points, was trading at 27,979.20 points (at 9.19 am.) in the early session, down 96.35 points or 0.34 per cent from the previous day’s close at 28,075.55 points. The Sensex has touched a high of 28,106.22 points and a low of 27,950.91 points in the trade so far. The S&P oil and gas index tanked by 71.89 points, IT index slipped 68.38 points and bankex dropped by 59.06 points. The wider 50-scrip Nifty of NSE was also trading 34.10 points or 0.40 per cent down at 8,460.05 points.

30 oil discoveries for production The government has cleared 30 oil and gas projects stuck in contractual disputes, that would also help monetise about 2.6 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. Within three months, 30 long-pending issues have been resolved. This is expected to result in exploitation of about 34 million barrels of oil and about 0.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas. The policy framework for relaxation, extensions and clarifications allows three-to-six month extension in the current 18-60 month timeframe for submission of declaration of commerciality (DoC) of discoveries.

The deadline for submitting the investment plan for the discoveries would also be extended by up to six months.

Air India offers discounted air fare during lean season Flag carrier Air India Monday launched a special discount offer to attract passengers during the lean season.

According to the flag carrier, the new scheme will provide passengers with nearly 50 percent discounted air fare on bookings starting from Jan 12 to Jan 18 for travel Jan 16-April 30.The fare list on the company’s website showed that flight prices on the busy Delhi-Mumbai sector which average around Rs.6,000 will come down to nearly Rs.3,000 one-way, under the new scheme.The airline said that its ‘Spring Sales’ offers an all inclusive fares on domestic route starting at Rs.1,557.

“Bringing back black money is a very complex issue. There are several international treaties coming in the way. BJP will succeed in giving appropriate punishment to offenders.”

— Amit Shah, president, BJP

Be careful before loan settlements Seven years after he settled a loan, a borrower is being subjected to numerous calls, notices and even arrest warrant. The only mistake, he committed was not to collect the NOC and account statement from the lender after his settlement

• Keep copies of all your written communication with the lender • Always have everything in writing (Even if you receive a phone call, send an acknowledgement mentioning points discussed during the call) • Keep copies of the settlement letter, cheque/DD or pay order you submitted • After the settlement, obtain a NOC and collect all your postdated cheques, if any • Do no forget to collect your loan account statement that shows zero balance

MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM Mumbai-based trader Ramnik Patel (name changed) was happy and relieved when in 2007 he repaid `58,000 to ABN AMRO Bank as full and final settlement against his loan outstanding.

Seven years down the line, he is receiving calls from recovery agents, and notices from lawyers and warrants from places located thousands of kilometres away from Mumbai. He is not only disturbed, but feels like being mentally tortured just because a small mistake committed by the bank while updating its record.

In 2005, Patel took a personal loan of Rs2.15 lakh from ABN AMRO Bank. However, during 26/7 monsoon fury, he suffered heavy loss and could not repay his loan on time. Then on March 21, 2007, he received a letter from the Bank offering him a settlement. As per the offer letter, he was asked to pay `58,000 in two tranches of `29,000 each. The Bank also promised him that it would hand over all his unused postdated cheques (PDCs) and no-objection certificate (NOC) within seven working days of the loan being closed on its system.

After accepting the offer from the Bank, Patel, promptly paid `29,000 each time on March 28, 2007 and April 20, 2007 to ABN AMRO Bank as per the settlement offer.

Meanwhile, ABN AMRO Bank was sold to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). RBS then sold all the debts of ABN AMRO to Kotak Mahindra group. Phoenix Asset Reconstruction Co, a unit of Kotak Mahindra group handles the recovery of these debts acquired from RBS. Suddenly, in 2012, he received a

Checklist for a settlement

phone call from somebody called as Choudhary from Patiala Parliament Police Station informing that there was a case fi led against him and warrant was also issued by the Court. The warrant was sent from Delhi Police to Dadar Police station in Mumbai for execution. When Patel reached Dadar police station, he was told that a case was fi led against him in 2011, which was transferred to Delhi Court. Th is was related with the loan he took from ABN AMRO Bank, he was told.

Interestingly, Patel never received any notice, memo or any warrant for his arrest from anybody until the phone call from Choudhary. Patel, then asked his

`42,811.95 that would have to be repaid along with an interest of 2 per cent per month. Patel, then again had to reply to this notice and submit all the documents.

Next year, on April 3, 2014, Patel received a notice from the Mumbai District Legal Services Authority to be present during a hearing in the Lok Nyayalaya on 12th April. Phoenix ARC had approached the Lok Nyayalaya to take up the matter.

Patel went to the hearing and put forward his case. After looking at the documents and hearing Patel’s side, the representative of Phoenix agreed to verify his account and get back to him within seven days. They even gave an undertaking in writing.

Th is has been about nine months, since Patel went to the Lok Adalat and yet there is neither any response from

Seven years down the line Patel received notices for the banks’s mistake

l aw y er to send reply to all concerned, including one lawyer called S Gupta from Delhi and police stations at both Delhi and Mumbai.

Again, in November 2013, Patel received a notice from Mumbaibased lawyer on behalf of Phoenix ARC. The lawyer, in the notice invited Patel to settle his loan in a conciliation camp (for settlement) organised by Kotak Mahindra Bank on December 2, 2013.

The lawyer claimed that as on April 30, 2012, Patel had an outstanding of

Smart investment management At a Moneylife Foundation event, Debashis Basu, editor, Moneylife, explained how one can invest in a mix of financial products for retirement and other goals MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM

The Moneylife Foundation’s event titled—‘Back to Basics: Investing & Insurance’, Debashis Basu, editor, Moneylife, educated the audience on the various asset classes and how one can allocate their savings in each to save effectively for retirement.

Most savers are clueless when it comes to financial savings. They earn an income, they spend, and whatever is saved is kept in bank fi xed deposits.

There is virtually no savings plan. If such a habit continues, Basu cautioned, that one would end up with much less money for future goals such

as buying a house, or retirement. Basu, in his presentation, spelt out the various ways in which one can be smart with money and presented to the audience the best way in which one can invest safely.

The best way to start investing safely is by planning your finances, he said. Basu took

the audience through how they can plan their investments for different goals. The best investment lesson is to be cautious and avoid making mistakes and losing capital. However, too many investors are lured by the image of big financial brands or glib talk of sales staff hawking their products.

Basu explained the various asset classes and the risks they carry. These included stocks, mutual funds, gold and realty. He explained the difference between investment products and speculative investments and then took the audience through the impact of inflation on their savings and how it erodes the value of their nest egg.

Stocks and equity funds are the best assets available for creating long-term wealth. The best way to invest in stocks is through regular investing in equity funds. He pointed out how much one should invest in equities and fi xed income products.

On gold, Basu said that the metal is a precious but speculative investment and it cannot be valued since it does not pay interest or dividend. The price

the Bank nor any respite to him from the recovery agents.

So what went wrong with Patel?

From his side, he did not collect the NOC and unused PDCs from ABN AMRO Bank, while the Bank failed to make necessary changes into its account books. Th is also raises big question, on how can a big lender like ABM AMRO forgets to update its loan book and record the settlement and passes on the same as dues to the buyer. In addition, since ABN AMRO no longer exists, how and where the borrower, who is being shown as defaulter, and harassed for recovery of dues that he had already paid, would go?

If you are facing similar issues, then you may want to take help from Moneylife Foundation’s free credit helpline which offers free counselling to help you get out of this trap. In Mr Patel’s case, he approached the Credit Helpline and Moneylife Foundation’s trustees have also taken up this case with the Reserve Bank of India’s customer services department. moneylife.in

of gold is only derived by what others are willing to pay for it on a given day. If you buy gold betting on guaranteed returns based on previous price trends, you may be in for a nasty surprise.

He also pointed out that all talk about realty returns were based on anecdotes rather than hard data, which is simply not available in a uniform, standardised form over a long period. Basu said that people must differentiate between a house that one buys to live in (which can also appreciate significantly) and realty as an investment, which will be bought and sold.

He warned against mixing investment with insurance through products like unit linked insurance plans (ULIPs). These investments involve huge costs and there is no long-term data on the fund management performance.

Examples were shown on how one could use the power of compounding to their benefit. “The best way to invest smartly is to start as early and save as much as possible”, said Basu. moneylife.in

Electronic fund transfer may be a risk Despite directions from RBI, banks refuse to share details of the entity sending money through NEFT MONEYLIFE DIGITAL TEAM The National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), used by almost everyone to transfer money quickly, can also put the receiver in a difficult position. The main reason is, there are no details available about the remitter or sender and if the amount is large, then the recipient may end up facing Income Tax (I-T) Department queries. Remember what happened with Aishwarya Rai, when in 2006 she received a parcel containing 23,000 euros (around Rs14 lakh at that time) sent by an unknown person from the Netherlands?

Well, with banks hesitating in sharing details of the person or entity who is transferring money via NEFT, it may be you next time. Although the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to furnish appropriate details in passbook or account statement for credits sent and received by the customer through NEFT, all the

recipient gets is just a name and amount.

“A very generic mention as ‘NEFT’ or ‘NECS’ does not help customers in identifying the source of credits, particularly where multiple credits are afforded to their accounts through these products. The Core Banking Solutions (CBS) of banks should be enabled to capture complete information from the relevant fields in the messages, data fi les which can be displayed to customers when they access their accounts online or provided to them additionally when they approach the branch counters, help desks, call centres,” the RBI had said.

However, all the recipient gets to know is just a name. There are no details like sender’s PAN number, address and the cause/remark for the money transfer.

Often money launderers are found using bank accounts of lowincome individuals for transferring money. In addition, due to the forceful implementation of the Jan Dhan

Yojana, we have about 10 crore new bank accounts, out of which 73% do not have a single penny. But consider that tomorrow, if somebody uses these accounts to launder money, then without detailed information about the remitter, how is a poor Kalawati supposed to answer queries from the authorities, including but not limited to I-T department. In the absence of detailed information about the remitter, how will she explain the unaccounted money remitted into her account through NEFT? Receiving funds from unknown remitters becomes an even bigger issue for non-governmental organisations (NGO), who need to give a receipt as well as I-T exemption certificate. If there is just a name of the remitter, how and where is an NGO, like Moneylife Foundation, supposed to send the receipt?

Another issue with NEFT fund transfer is the delay. According to RBI

policy, banks need to afford credits to beneficiary accounts or return transactions (uncredited for whatever reason) to the originating / sponsor bank within the prescribed timeline.

It also directed banks to move towards hourly settlement starting from 9am to 7pm on all week days and between 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. Yet, it appears that banks are still using the last part of the work-day or fi rst hour of the next day for NEFT transactions.

Coming back to the Aishwarya Rai episode, the actor was grilled by the Customs official for two-and-ahalf hours at the international airport as soon as she landed in Mumbai from Jodhpur. The parcel was allegedly sent by one Avineshwar from the Netherlands marked to the actress.

It arrived at the Foreign Post Office in Mumbai during September 2006.

Besides the currency, it also contained a top-brand shirt, a pair of binoculars, a DVD player and other electronic items.

Following a notice, Aishwarya’s father Krishnaraj Rai, on 15th November met Custom officials to clarify her position.

However, the officials insisted to know details from Aishwarya, due to which the actor had to come to Mumbai to clarify her position. She was shooting for the movie ‘Jodha Akbar’ in Jodhpur at that time. After the enquiry, she was give a temporary clean chit by the

Customs.

Therefore, it is high time the central bank issues another order mandating banks to share all details of the remitter who is sending money through NEFT or any other payment method to the recipient and actually penalises banks if there are persistent complaints about flouting the RBI’s order. moneylife.in

SPORTS “Kohli has got the job now and it is his for the near foreseeable future.

He has got all the attributes for leadership and I think he will do well because he is aggressive and wants to win all the time.”

— Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly

Signposts Nadal says his body no longer responds PARIS: Spanish tennis ace and World No.3 Rafael Nadal admitted that though his body no longer responds the way it did when he was 20 years old, he still maintains the same determination and the same desire to win titles.

In an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe Wednesday, the Spaniard, 28, admitted that the older you get, the more difficult it becomes to deliver a high performance. Nadal acknowledged that in his career he has at times been lucky, because despite facing disappointments, he has experienced a lot of positive moments.

JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

“AB de Villiers can play a touch game or a power game and can also keep wickets. He’s also one of the best fielders and has taken some wickets too. I think he’s the most valuable cricketer around” — Australian cricketer Adam Gilchrist

All set to dominate

Is Indian skipper Virat Kohli the heir to most successful Australian captain Ricky Ponting?

BY TRISTAN LAVALETTE

Let’s be honest. The recently concluded India and Australia Test series was good, but not great despite three of the Tests providing exciting finishes because of charitable Australian declarations.

The pitches were excruciatingly flat, bat cruelly plundered ball and the feeble Indian bowling attack somehow solidified an erratic Australian batting line-up. Because of underwhelming bowling combined with the very favourable conditions and good fortune with the tosses, Australia was made to look like the 1948 Invincibles.

Simply put, it was hard to be enthused watching Australia repeatedly pillage India’s attack. Conversely, it was riveting viewing when India’s aggressive batsmen were battling a wellrounded Australia attack.

More specifically, it was absolutely compelling viewing watching Virat Kohli wickedly wielding the willow. His ascension to the demigod echelon is the main reason why I think this series will be more than just a footnote in cricket annals. It is destined to be remembered as the Test breakthrough for the player most likely to become the dominant batsman in international cricket over the next decade.

With apologies to Kane Williamson and Steve Smith, Kohli is the player with the highest ceiling out of the new wave of emerging superstars. At just 26, Kohli

Ronaldo announces comeback plans RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil great Ronaldo has revealed plans to make a comeback to football with US second-tier club Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The 38-year-old said he is targeting a return for the Strikers’ first match of the North American Soccer League season against New York Cosmos April 4, reported Xinhua. “It isn’t easy to get fit. I will try. I will train a lot,” Ronaldo said while announcing he has become a part owner of the Florida-based club.

KOLKATA: Pankaj Advani, Ashok Shandilya, Rupesh Shah and Sourav Kothari are the top four seeds respectively after re-seeding was done Wednesday at the end of league matches of the National Billiards Championship. The top 16 will now battle it out for the title on a knockout basis, with the final scheduled for Jan 17 at the Bengal Rowing Club

PLAYER’S CORNER

Rutuja Satpute

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish PUNE: Rutuja Satpute has been born with cycling genes, that she inherited from her Chhatrapati award-winning father Sanjay.

Rutuja, an Asian bronze medallist, won two silver medals in team event at the recent 19th National Road Cycling Competition, in Karnataka. In the 30km event, Rutuja along with Maharashtra’s Deepika Shilnadkar, Pritali Shinde and Shweta Jadhav claimed a silver medal and later grabbed another in the time trial event.

“The performance was satisfactory enough, but I expected more. I should have improved my timing,” said Rutuja, who is sponsored by Giant Cycles.

About her preparations, she said, “We underwent extensive training for over six months in New Delhi. We put in 100-120km of road training and 30km of track cycling. It was very challenging and we were happy with our preparations.”

Inspired by her famous father, Rutuja began cycling at the age of eight and there hasn’t been any looking back ever since. Under her father’s guidance, Rutuja’s performance improved. The proud father has never shied away from providing Rutuja with everything that she needed for her sporting career, despite middle class constraints.

She practices at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex in Balewadi currently.

Rutuja fi rst tasted international success in 2013, when she won a bronze medal at the Asian Cycling Championship in Bangkok. S h e finished second in the 500m time trial during Track Asia Cup held in New Delhi last year.

is already an all-time great ODI player, having scored 21 tons in just 138 innings at an average of more than 52. In other words, he chalks up a ton in less than every seven hits. Brian Lara averaged an ODI ton every 15 innings (19 from 289). Kohli’s repeatedly pulverised opponents in the coloured clothing, but has struggled for consistency in Tests - a format that demands patience, grit and nuance.

Question marks surrounded his arrival to Australia after a shocking series in England, where his highest score was 39 from five Tests. Many critics doubted his credentials.

Those doubts were stunningly erased during Kohli’s historical series in Australia, which yielded 692 runs and four centuries.

More impressively, he evoked images of a great player from the past.

Kohli will probably always be linked to Sachin Tendulkar.

After all, he is the natural successor to the little master.

Sachin’s burden has been transported to India’s new batting sensation, who faces the daunting prospect of fulfi lling the expectations and dreams for one billion people.

But personally, I’m reminded of Ricky Ponting when I watch Kohli – whether it’s the way he devastatingly counterattacks off the back foot, twirls the bat after he completes a shot or offers thin-skinned diatribes at opponents during media conferences.

Both players have oodles of selfconfidence. Both are prone to bouts of

Both players have oodles of selfconfidence. Both are prone to bouts of petulance, yet have intrinsic leadership qualities

Advani top seed in national billiards

Rutuja Satpute with her father Sanjay

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY

petulance, yet have intrinsic leadership qualities. Both had Test struggles early and were shifted around in their respective batting line-ups.

Much like Kohli trying to establish himself amid India’s famed batting lineup, Ponting struggled early in his career stamping a permanent spot in Australia’s powerful team, and was dropped several times after bouts of inconsistency at number three. The raw talent was always evident Rod Marsh had labelled Ponting the best 17-year-old he had ever seen. And no bowler intimidated the young gunslinger.

A vivid memory of the precocious Ponting was watching the then 22-year-old brazenly hooking Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh on a bouncy Gabba wicket in 1996.

Despite starring at number three in ODIs, Ponting honed his craft in Tests at number six during a productive period from 1999-2001, where he was able to become a regular in Australia’s record-breaking team.

But after becoming fodder for Harbhajan Singh during Australia’s tour of India in 2001, Ponting was elevated to number three for the Ashes in England. Aged 27, and after more than five years of experience in Test cricket, Ponting was equipped to thrive with the added responsibility.

Despite his heroics, Kohli can’t be satisfied. Test cricket has a knack of striking the contented in the proverbial stomach.

He needs to turn hundreds into ‘daddy hundreds’ - his 169 at the MCG is his only Test score above 150. But they should start materialising. Even Ponting only had one score over 150 during his fi rst 50 Tests (he ended his career with 15).

Kohli is at the start of his peak, much like Ponting was in 2001. His best years are intoxicatingly ahead. There is every possibility that Kohli goes on to emulate Ponting and ruthlessly dominate international cricket. I can’t wait.

(By special arrangement with Firstpost)

Indians lack nuanced skills of Test cricket

Indian players seem to lose their way and do not know how to get back on track

BY VETURI SRIVATSA

“Overall my performance in 2014 was good but I want to perform better. I am physically fit but I have to work on my mental strength. I need to be strong to be able to overcome pain or injury,” she said.

“Cyclists usually adopt advanced technology to improve. But I believe that old is gold. So, I train with my father, who knows exactly where I can improve. His tips and knowledge from his own cycling career have always worked for me,” Rutuja said.

Rutuja, who won silver medal in senior national competition last year is now aiming for gold.

“Last year, I missed the gold medal by a whisker. It was a close finish with the top three separated by just 15 seconds. I am determined to do better and return with gold,” said Rutuja, who will also participate in the National Games in Kerala next month.

“My long-term aim is to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games. In the last Commonwealth Games, two teams qualified for the event. But due to cost cutting, the Cycling Federation of India decided to send only one team. It was very sad. My aim now is to qualify in the fi rst team,” said Rutuja. ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

A debate is raging whether India’s young skipper Virat Kohli should have shared the Man of the Series award Down Under with his Australian counterpart Steven Smith at the end of the four-match Test series.

Another point being discussed is why India keep failing overseas even after the batsmen give them 400-plus scores in the fi rst innings as they have done in all the four Tests. Former India captain Nari Contractor 50 years ago made an insightful observation that anyone scoring big runs against Bombay in the Ranji Trophy has to be a really good batsman considering their bowling strength.

Those were the years when the Bombay (now Mumbai) players claimed that it was easier to get into the India team than find a place in their Ranji Trophy side.

Contractor, representing Gujarat, scored heavily in a zone in which Bombay was also a part and he got into the India team after scoring a century against the strongest side in domestic cricket.

The measure is the same for bowlers, too. If the same yardstick is applied, Virat Kohli’s four tons and 692 runs at an average of 86.50 may be statistics-wise a tad inferior to Steven Smith’s 769 runs, also with four centuries at an average of 128.16 -- but then see the vast difference in the bowling attacks of the two sides.

Kohli faced Mitchell Johnson, rated world’s best pace bowler, in the fi rst three Tests in which he scored three hundreds.

Even off-spinner Nathan Lyon looked exceptionally good with his deceptive fl ight and turn on the bouncy pitches.

New lad Josh Hazlewood also seemed to have learnt the tricks of the trade quickly, bowling a perfect line and length consistently to keep the Indian batsmen on a tight leash.

Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman (R) with Bengal cricketers at Eden Gardens

If only the Indian bowlers had showed some discipline, the series would have at least been drawn -- if not gone India’s way.

For sheer quality of batsmanship, Kohli’s fabulous hundreds should be rated a notch or two above Smith’s incredible sequence of scores in the series. The one big difference between the performances of the two is that Smith’s hundreds won matches for Australia whereas India’s bowlers could not help Kohli win or square the series, even though the batsmen came close to delivering twice.

In the fi rst Test in Adelaide, the Indians batted in the second innings as if there were only two results in Test cricket -- victory or defeat -- whereas in the Sydney Test they realised that they could even draw when they are not in a position to win or in danger of losing.

What’s wrong with the team?

Simply, the lack of understanding of the nuanced skills of Test match cricket. In

adverse situations, they seem to lose their way and did not know how to get back on track. They waited for the opposition to make mistakes, be it batting or bowling, instead of being proactive.

A captain cannot do much if the players do not execute the team strategy with their own thinking. That did not seem to have happened and India capitulated from a position of strength in the Tests they lost.

Every time the fast bowlers falter overseas, the explanation given is that they are carried away by the bounce and movement and in the case of batsmen it is said their technical ineptitude gets magnified.

Most of the young batsmen and bowlers these days go with the India A teams to Australia, the West Indies and South Africa regularly and do well. Yet, they do not seem to get noticed by the selectors immediately.

— IANS

SPORTS

THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JANUARY 17, 2015

PUNE

“We all think that Messi will be at Barca in the next few years and that is what all the fans want. The thought of having a team without Messi is not even something we contemplate.”

—Barcelona coach Luis Enrique

“There is no way back for Kevin Pietersen in the team. The current group of players will drive the England team forward, whereas Kevin’s situation hasn’t changed over the last year.”

— England’s new ODI captain Eoin Morgan

ASHISH PHADNIS

RESTORING THE LANDMARK

The Pune Municipal Corporation has initiated a massive plan to revamp Nehru Stadium to its former glory

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish PUNE: The Nehru stadium, also known as Club of Maharahstra Ground in Pune, was built in 1969 and has a capacity to seat 25,000 spectators.

The ground was once home to the Maharashtra cricket team, who represent the state of Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy cricket. The stadium, located close to the busy Swargate, hosted 11 one day internationals (ODIs) in its heyday, and the last ODI was played at the ground, between India and Sri Lanka, in 2005.

Since then however, things have taken a downturn, made worse by the stadium being mired in controversies.

The low point came in 2007, when the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) expressed their inability to host the India-Sri Lanka match at the Nehru Stadium, the match consequently being shifted to Kolkata.

The main reason for the MCA decision was the demand for a significantly higher number of free passes by the then deputy commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), said MCA president Ajay Shirke. The dispute and BCCI’s new rule disallowing matches to centre which did not have its own stadium, forced the MCA to build a new,

Signposts Abdulla, Snehal lift tennis titles PUNE: Shaikh Abdulla and Snehal Mane won the men’s and women’s singles titles in the Flame Kurukshetra Trophy Open Tennis tournament held recently. The tournament was organised by Flame Business School at their tennis courts in Bavdhan. In the men’s singles finals top seeded Abdulla Shaikh scored a 6-2, 6-4 win over second seeded Ketan Dhumal in a battle lasted for more than one hour.

Shaikh trains with Hemant Bendre at PYC Hindu Gymkhana. In women’s segment, top seeded Snehal Mane outplayed Anaya Thorat 6-0, 6-0 to win the title.

PFC U-19 team win Pune derby PUNE: Pune FC rallied from a goal down to log a stunning 3-1 win over DSK Shivajians FC in Under-19 I-League Round-6 encounter at the DSK Football Field in Loni recently.

In a hard fought encounter, it was striker Lallianzuala (7th minute) who put the hosts in the lead before Arif Shaikh pulled Pune FC level in the first half. Second half strikes from Farukh Choudhary (78th) and Arif (85th) handed Pune FC all three points. The derby-win also helped Pune FC (13 pts) end Shivajians’ (15 pts) unbeaten run in the league and close the gap at the top of the table to two points after six rounds in the Maharashtra Zone.

Maharashtra women beat Railways PUNE: Maharashtra women team pulled out the thrilling super-over win over Railways in the Senior Women T-20 Elite Group A encounter at PYC Hindu Gymkhana ground recently.

After scores were tied on 113, match headed for super over. Maharashtra put 20-1 and then restricted their opponents for just 10-1, to garner four points.

world class stadium at Gahunje, rather than invest in the Nehru Stadium.

With the establishment of the Gahunje stadium, the Nehru Stadium seemed destined for oblivion, not to mention being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Th ings are looking up for the sports stadium, however, now that the PMC has decided to restore the stadium to its former glory. The corporation has earmarked two crore rupees for its refurbishment, that includes the construction of new pitches, boosting the seating capacity, maintenance of the drainage and sprinkler systems and upgrading of the changing rooms.

“PMC additional commissioner Rajendra Jagtap has taken the initiative in this project, and Nadim Memon has been appointed as chief curator. Memon is one of the most experienced curators in India, who has curated pitches at the Wankhede and DY Patil Stadium in Washi.

Memon and his team are working round the clock, and once they have completed their job, the Nehru Stadium pitch and ground will rate as an international quality venue,” said Balasaheb Thorve, chairman of the Club of Maharashtra.

About the project, Memon said, “We are doing our best. The central wicket will be a sporting one, and four other practice wickets will be laid. The major work is constructing an outfield. We have replaced the earlier soil with rich quality soil from the Satara region.”

However, will this huge expense be justifiable, is the question. With the new Gahunje stadium, it’s very unlikely that MCA will allow any international match at Nehru Stadium, and even the staging of a Ranji Trophy match will be a big achievement.

Thorve said, “It’s true that even after spending all this money, we will not be able to host international matches

The PMC has earmarked Rs 2 crore for refurbishment, construction of new pitches and upgradation

In the past The stadium hosted its first international match on December 5, 1984, when an England team under the leadership of David Gower defeated a Sunil Gavaskar-led Indian side by four wickets. Dilip Vengsarkar’s century was the highlight of the Indian innings.

The stadium also hosted a historical World Cup match between Kenya and the West Indies, on February 29, 1996, when minnows Kenya bundled out the former world champions in just 93 runs in 35.2 overs, to notch up a 73-run victory.

here. But, the stadium is centrally located and if we can provide a good quality ground to Pune’s budding cricketers, the expense will be worthwhile. We are also discussing with the MCA the possibilities of hosting women’s cricket and MCA’s invitational age group matches at Nehru Stadium,” he said.

‘We can win I-league for sure’

Pune FC coach Karim Bencherifa feels the team has been consistent but need better finishing ahead of 2015 season

BY ASHISH PHADNIS @phadnis_ashish PUNE: Pune FC had a dream run in 2014. They finished runners-up in the Durand Cup, and the King’s Cup in Bhutan. The team has put in consistent performances, but is yet to lay hands on the I-league trophy, a tournament which it has been a part of since 2007. With the 2015 season kicking off today, coach Karim Bencherifa spoke to The Golden Sparrow on Saturday on various issues. Excerpts from the interview.

How do you rate Pune FC’s recent performances, especially their showing in the King’s Cup? It is not just the King’s Cup, but also the Durand Cup, and in terms of performance, we were very consistent. We played good games and we also had better ball possession than the opponents. We won most of the games in both the tournaments except the final, which we lost on both occasions. Though we conceded goals from set pieces in the finals, performance-wise it was a very consistent showing.

What did you make of this experience? In what aspects do you think the team can improve?

One of the most important things, is wherever, and in what ever formation they play, I absolutely love to see them play attacking football. I emphasise on the team defending and attacking as a unit. Honestly, I feel so far we have achieved that. There is a lot of consistency in the manner of playing, defending and attacking from the team now. But even though we have achieved that, I still feel we need better runs from the midfielders, and the side backs in terms of overlapping and supporting the attack. I also feel that we need better finishing. I feel that we do not score enough compared to the chances that we create. That is an important area that we are working on.

How impressed are you with the youngsters like Lalrempuia Fanai and the Munmun Lugun?

There is definitely some fantastic talent in the team as far as youngsters are concerned. There is no doubt about that. Not just Lalrempuia and Munmun, but Haokip too has impressed me. Even though he was not consistent at times, he is a very good player with a lot of potential. Not just these two, but there are a lot of youngsters who are doing very well. When you have a young team and young players, you have to be patient. They are never going to consistently give you 30 top performances in a season.

We will always help the youngsters who show the will to improve and also have the potential.

“In I-league season consistency plays a very important role from the first game to the last one.”

Coach Karim Bencherifa Because, when you talk about the senior team, and the I-League, it is not an easy task. There is a lot of pressure on the players, and there are a lot of demands from the fans, to play good football and keep winning. My job is not to see the players in a comfort zone, where they are satisfied. My job is to make them improve.

What are you expecting from the I-league 2015?

We are looking to win the league this time around for sure. We have worked hard and twice we have missed the chance to bring home the prestigious trophy. We were the runners-up in the Durand Cup and the King’s Cup, so near and yet so far. And though we played positively in the Federation Cup, we lost against Bengaluru FC and Salgaocar FC. Th is was after we created more chances and even had better ball possession throughout these games. As I

said before, this is something we need to correct. We are missing too many chances and are not converting as much as we should. That was the difference between us and Bengaluru FC and Salgaocar FC. They converted their chances. while we didn’t convert from the many chances that we created.

How will the performances in the King’s Cup and Federation Cup help the team in this season?

Since we have come so close to winning but lost in the Durand Cup and King’s Cup, now the I-League is a very important tournament for us. We want to bring home the trophy home this year. It will not be easy, because compared to the Durand Cup, the King’s Cup and the Federation Cup, which are short-duration tournaments, the I-League is a long one. And consistency is very important, from the fi rst game to the last one. There are a lot of good teams out there and the competition will be stiff. We are waiting eagerly for the start of the tournament.

What about the inclusion of Bharat FC in the Pune Derby? What do you think of their signings?

The club has signed some good players. They have signed some experienced players from the ISL and there are also some experienced foreigners.

Remember that there is no easy game in the I-League.

It will be a very competitive league this time around.

I think a new club in Pune will only add to the flavour and competition. Hopefully, it will also spark interest amongst fans because we will also have two derbies played in Pune. Of course, we will work very hard to ensure that we are the top club in the city.

Coach Karim Bencherifa with Pune FC players during their practice session

ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

ashish.phadnis@goldensparrow.com

Mundhe bags six wickets in Maha’s win PUNE: Firing on all cylinders, four big guns - Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu - won their Ranji trophy engagements inside three days Thursday.

Rajasthan were in for a surprise in Pune against Maharashtra as they found all-rounder Shrikant Mundhe at his best with the ball. The medium fast bowler picked up figures of 6/38 and bundled Rajasthan for a paltry 106 at MCA stadium in Gahunje.

Maharashtra then went out and chased down the target of 103 runs losing only one wicket in 19.3 overs, courtesy a blistering half-ton from Swapnil Gugale.

Rajasthan were greeted with Mundhe’s pace and swing. None could make a healthy contribution, with the highest being 19 runs from Aristh Singhvi.

Meanwhile, Manan Sharma spun Delhi to an innings and 150 run victory with a six-wicket haul giving away just 24 while Vikas Tokas and Shivam Sharma equally shared the remaining four wickets, as Odisha were skittled out for 85.

Beginning their fi rst innings at the overnight score of 25/1, Odisha failed to tackle left-arm spinner Varun Sood and medium pacer Navdeep Saini - who picked up three wickets each - to be bowled out for a pathetic 118. Sharma then bowled with guile to wreck the Odisha second innings and enable Delhi clinch the one-sided game.

At Ongole, Andhra pacer D. Siva Kumar finished with a career-best haul of 11 wickets as he bowled his side to an innings win over Tripura.

Resuming their second essay at the overnight total of 13/3, Tripura failed to do much of a recovery act and were all out for 151. Kumar bagged 4/54, while CV Stephen chipped in with three, and D.P. Vijay Kumar picked up two scalps. Tripura’s only resistance came in the form of middle order bat Nirupam Sen Chowdhury who scored 42 runs.

— IANS