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indianexpress: Cities should be planned with effective storm water drains and good drainage system which can help deal with flash floods and they should also have a good disaster alert system, said Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy at the national workshop on ‘Urban flooding: Scientific, technological and management challenges,’ — a two-day meet at YASHADA that was inaugurated on Thursday.

Reddy emphasised that the Centre would render all support for such projects. The meet had been organised to evolve a nine-step participatory and consultative process to evolve the first of its kind national guidelines for management of urban flooding by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The minister said that there were no universal ‘feel safe solutions’ and there was need for an efficient flood management plan. Discouraging paving of open spaces, promoting rain water harvesting and coming up with an effective disaster alert system along with the meteorological department were some of the suggestions put forth by Reddy.

“We need to prepare the cities for any type of contingencies and the government seems to have neglected this area till the JNNURM came about on December 3, 2005. This was to prepare a development plan, a master drainage plan and a fully integrated plan to incorporate anti-flood measures,” Reddy said.

He also came down heavily on encroachments along river bodies and demanded that strong action by local authorities was necessary. Reddy called for rehabilitation of those displaced under the housing and poverty alleviation schemes.

indianexpress: Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Dilip Band now finds himself on a sticky wicket. He and his wife, Dr Sunita Band, seem to have clearly violated laid-down norms while purchasing flats in the Chankaya Housing Society in Model Colony, Shivajinagar. Not just that, both of them also face action for trampling upon the rules and regulations while renting out their respective flats.

Sending out a clear-cut message to the Bands, Joint District Registrar, Pune, Arun Adhari in separate letters dated October 11, 2007 has warned them of “action” if they don’t take necessary steps to “register their respective property documents and inform him about the action taken.” A copy of both the letters issued to the Band couple is available with Pune Newsline. The letters point out that Dilip and Sunita Band have violated the provisions of the Registration Act, 1908 and the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958.

When contacted on Friday, Adhari told Newsline that both Dilip Band and his wife had not registered their respective flats and have not paid the stamp duty on them. “Neither have they registered their leave and licence agreement while renting out the flats. Similarly, stamp duty on the rent agreement has also not been paid,” he said.

Stressing that “it was a fact” that the Bands had not registered their flats under the Registration Act, 1908, Adhari said they face a penalty which is 10 times the stamp duty evaded. Adhari, however, said he was yet to calculate the penalty amount. He said he was waiting for their reply before proceeding further.

indianexpress:  Forced to shoulder the responsibility of supporting her family just in her early 20s, woman entrepreneur Manisha Kirad ventured out into male territory when she decided to launch her own plastic moulding business. She started work at her own residence, where she had to operate the heavy second-hand moulding machine herself.

“Back then there was a lot of uncertainty about how the business should work besides pressure to bring home the money, because my father — a heart patient — could not work and needed very expensive medicines to survive,” said Kirad, who lost her father shortly after she began the venture. Six months later, Kirad had her first profit of just Rs 10. Since then, she hasn’t looked back.

From modest beginnings at her own terrace to a flourishing 1,000 sq ft facility at Dhayari, she has come a long way. Her Rs 50-lakh turnover enterprise today provides employment to destitute and abandoned women as well as handicapped individuals. Milind Kanchan’s dream of setting up his own engineering enterprise began as an adolescent tinkering around in his father’s workshop. It took him several years of working for others before he could finally set off on his own. Today, he is at the helm of a fast growing factory, where he manufactures and repairs machine parts for a wide range of machinery for pollution control, electro plating tanks, assembly fixtures and so on.

He now hopes to expand business further to one day compete with the likes of Tata and JCB. For Baramati-born Vishwas Jagdale, it was a strong desire to set up a paint manufacturing business that brought him to the city along with a friend. Just over four years later, he now runs a successful business focussed on the manufacture of industrial paint, and has been nominated for several awards for his successful business model. Though they come from different backgrounds, these young entrepreneurs share one thing in common: they owe their beginnings to the Bharati Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), that has been promoting grassroots-level entrepreneurs across the country for over 13 years. BYST provided them with not only financial assistance but also put them in touch with an appropriate mentor to guide them through their venture.

indianexpress: Armed forces Medical College, Pune will conduct National Ophthalmology Update ‘Ophthalmology — 2020’ on Saturday and Sunday. The update will be inaugurated by Lt Gen S K Kaul VSM, director and commandant at AFMC. On this occasion he will release a handbook on retinal detachment. The update assumes importance in the light of newer advances and introduction of cutting edge technology in diagnostic as well as treatment modalities in this field.

According to Col Ajay Banarji, professor and head of the Department of Ophthalmology at AFMC, ophthalmology has become an equipment-intensive field with the development of several sub-specialities. The update is being organised to review progress made in the recent past in fields such as cataract surgery, oculoplasty, refractive surgery, keratoplasty and vitrectomy.

The keynote address will be delivered by Prof Amod Gupta of PGIMER at Chandigarh on diabetic retinopathy. The session will be chaired by Maj Gen G Rajagopal AVSM, dean and deputy commandant at AFMC. He will also release a Handbook on diabetic retinopathy.

The deliberations will include presentations by luminaries such as Dr Ashok Grover of Sir Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi on oculoplasty, Padmashri M S Sachdeva of New Delhi on refractive surgery, Dr T P Lahate of J J Hospital, Mumbai on phaco versus invasive cataract surgery, Dr S Natarajan of Mumbai on sutureless vitrectomy, Dr J Biswas of Shankar Netralaya on uvetitis and Dr Rajan Fogla from Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad on advances in keratoplasty.

indianexpress: Pune’s Muslim women will read the namaz for the first time on the occasion of Ramzan Eid on Saturday. A group of women will assemble at the Poona Kerala Muslim Jamat Hall, near the Modern Bakery in Nana Peth at 7.30 am and read the namaz.

“Over 2000 Pune Muslims go for the Haj piligrimage every year. While both women and men read the namaz during the Haj piligrimage to Mecca and Medina, for some reason it has not been replicated in Pune,” said C Shamsuddin from the Pune Kerala Muslim Jamat which has taken initiative in this direction.

Referring to Kerala, Shamsuddin said, “While Kerala, the most educated State, boasts of almost 80 per cent of its women reading the namaz, and Pune, the place where Mahatma Phule sparked the revolution in women’s education, is not far behind. Hence, the Jamat’s president Sallu Gafur and secretary Kadija Shamsuddin struck upon this idea that Pune’s Muslim women will read the namaz on Eid from now on,” said Shamsuddin. The namaz will be read under the supervision of Imam Rashid Maulvi.

indianexpress: The University of Pune (UoP) will undertake academic collaborations with Finland-based University of Helsinski. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Helsinski University rector Iiika Niiniluoto with UoP authorities on Wednesday, according to a UoP press release.

The University of Helsinski is currently the leading university for the European Research Universities group, and as such a major focus in the MoU will be on joint research with various faculties of the UoP. Apart from this, transfer of credits and opportunity creation programmes for students will be undertaken along with faculty and student exchanges.

The MoU was signed during a visit to the UoP by a 17-member delegation representing Finnish Universities including the University of Tampere, University of Turku, University of Kuopio, University of Helsinski, Academy of Finland and the Finnish Council University.

Recently the UoP signed collaborative agreements with various universities abroad, including the Universities of Ontario, University of Canada, Yunnan University (China), Eberhard Karis Universitaet Tuebingen and Universitaet Gottingen (Germany). MoUs were also signed with the Sciences Po, Lyon 3, Paris 1 and Bordeaux University in France and the Embassy of Spain.