News

indianexpress: “Do you know how many different shapes can you see through this?” asks Devashish Paranjape, who has been ajudged the best child artiste for film Jinki Re Jinki in the Asian Panorama Section of The Golden Elephant, 15th International Children’s Film Festival of India, held at Hyderabad recently. The award carries a prize money of Rs 1 lakh.

The walls of Paranjape’ house reflects another of his talent. He gleefully shows you his sketchings which include the ones he did as a three-year-old. “I draw much better now,” says the 7-year-old who took his lessons from his favorite Joshi aaji.

Devashish’s parents are thrilled. “We don’t know if he would enjoy working in more movies. All we care is that whatever he does should not affect his studies, says his father Gajanan Paranjape.

Devashish was first noticed by Rishi Deshpande, the debutant director of Jinki Re Jinki, on the sets of Amol Palekar’s Thaang.

“First two days of the shooting were difficult. But then he got used to it,” says Paranjape. Towards the end, he grew so comfortable that when he heard Debu Deodhar, the cinematographer of Jinki Re Jinki, talking something about 50 mm lens, he said, “Debukaka, is it a close-up?”

Winning an award was unexpected for the Paranjpes. “We were astonished by his patience and the ease with which he faced the camera.” says Paranjape looking at Devashish engrossed in the animated Ramayana in Marathi. “He was never tired of retakes,” he smiles.

indianexpress:  The huge rush that is being witnessed at the Citizen’s Facilitation Centre (CFC) at the headquarters of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation for two weeks now has unnerved the civic officials. On Friday, angry citizens — tired of waiting in the endless queue — quarreled among themselves and even damaged PCMC property. On Saturday, the situation was equally tense, but no untoward incident occurred.

The long queues are aimed at securing income certificates which the citizens feel help them get a 400 square feet flat for Rs 1.50 lakh. The plan for constructing over 12,000 flats was announced by the PCMC earlier this month. Citizens who earn less Rs 60,000 as monthly salary are eligible to apply. The PCMC has not yet announced the construction of the flats neither have it issued any tenders. Yet, the rush for getting income certificates is growing by the day at PCMC headquarters.

“We have not announced anything so far. But the details about the scheme will come out in another 15 days,” said assistant municipal commissioner Sudhir Joshi, pleading with citizens not to create confusion at the PCMC headquarters. Joshi said in last two weeks, nearly 4000 forms for getting income certificates have been secured by citizens who troop in at the PCMC headquarters since early morning.

Sahebrao Gaikwad, another assistant municipal commissioner, said some agents spread rumours that the last date for the getting the forms for Rs 1.5 flat scheme was nearing. “That’s why citizens in big numbers are landing up at the PCMC headquarters.” He said on Friday, ugly scenes were witnessed leading to arrest one person. He said glass panes of the CFC were damaged in stone pelting.

indianexpress: City transport activists have raised questions over the utility value of the monorail in the Pune Metropolitan Area. Shortly after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) issued a request for the qualification (RFQ) of bids for the Pune project, city transport activists demanded that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) release a statement on what prompted them to suggest the monorail as a mode of transport, especially because it was at such short notice.

“The PMC should clarify as to why tenders for the monorail were floated all of a sudden. Also, the PMC should justify its stand that monorail is good mode of transport to mitigate traffic woes,” said activist Sujit Patwardhan, adding the PMC was not clear on its agenda. “Commoners should know if there’s something happening behind the curtains.”

A group of transport activists plans to submit a memorandum to the municipal commissioner demanding a clarification. The MMRDA had sought a bid for the monorail saying the Pune Metropolitan Area was rapidly expanding. “In view of this, the revised scope of bidders also includes implementation of the monorail system on route length of 20 to 25 km in Pune Metropolitan Area on a turnkey basis and operation & maintenance for a minimum period of three years,” said the notice.

“The elected representatives recently alleged that the civic activists and NGOs were interfering in the PMC’s work. “But the way things are moving in the PMC, activists and NGOs need to intervene for the benefit of the city,” said a senior activist who requested anonymity. He also alleged that the elected representatives were pushing their ideas like the monorail and trams without checking their feasibility

indianexpress:  After compiling information on the land acquired for amenity space which revealed that over 3,000 of the 18,000 land plots acquired by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) are yet to be developed, the civic administration has taken up work to compile the list of properties rented by it to various organisations and institutions for various purpose. “There is no compiled data of PMC properties that are rented to various organisations and institutions,” said deputy municipal commissioner (land acquisition) Suraj Mandhare.

The PMC has been renting its property for setting up stalls in markets, libraries, community halls, playgrounds, parking and use of office, he said adding there was no compiled information on how many properties of the PMC have been rented out and from when.

Though the PMC is collecting rent from these properties, there is no compilation of the total revenue generated from the total properties rented so far, Mandhare added. He said the work to compile the data of rented properties will give clear picture of the properties and the revenue collected from it.

The PMC will initiate steps to streamline the process of renting its property and also frame a policy for renting it based on the compiled data, Mandhare said adding, “The information will be compiled using GIS technology so as to keep a constant track on the status of the property. This will help to get the information of property, size, occupant to whom its rented and amount of rent at a click of a button.”

He said the idea to compile the data of property rented by PMC came after the civic administration realised that it has acquired 18,000 properties in the city having an aggregate value of Rs 1,000 crore. “The PMC was unaware of the extent and value of the amenity space acquired by it for all these years, so the case might be same on the data of properties rented by it,” Mandhare added.

indianexpress: His soul-searching books have inspired readers across the world, and have explored an unconventional dimension of spirituality that transcends all religious or cultural barriers. Brazilian author Paulo Coelho is undoubtedly a trend, who will soon be a part of an average Maharashtrian’s booklist, thanks to the efforts of city-based Scion Publications Pvt Ltd, which has embarked on a daring and daunting task of translating Coelho’s books from English into Marathi and Gujarati.

Scion’s director, Nitin Kottapalle, has bought the rights to translate all the books written by the author, and Scion’s first Coelho translation: The Witch of Portobello is due for release in December. Kottapalle has also bought the original photograph used in the English version’s cover from a Spanish agency ‘Idee’, for 350 Euros, which he will be using it on the Marathi translation’s cover as well.

Kottapalle, a translator himself and the winner of the State ‘Tarkateerth Lakshman Shastri Joshi’ award for the best translation in 2004, had translated Coelho’s The Alchemist and The Zahir into Marathi earlier, when he was heading the regional department of Macmillan Publications, in Pune. However, he transferred the rights of the books to Padmagandha Publications and quit Macmillan in December last year to start Scion and acquired the rights.

“My first association with Coelho was as an average reader rather than as a publisher,” said Kottapalle describing his encounter with the author’s works. “Coelho’s books describe a treasure trove of experiences, laced with complex human emotions like love, lust, freedom and anger which every ordinary individual undergoes. His writings urge the reader to discover himself and every reader interprets Coelho differently. After reading him, I wanted to bring back Coelho to my culture and to my people, in a language that they would comprehend,” he added.