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TOI : PUNE:The 101st convocation speech at the University of Pune (UoP) on Thursday markeda welcome departure from the drudgery of long-winding advisory orations.The young pass-outs were,instead, in for some crisp and candid remarks made extempore by well-knownBritish economist, author and Labour politician of Indian origin Meghnad Desai,who stressed on the need to develop ‘critical rationality’ in the approachto any proposition.”Thinkfor yourself. Do not accept any authority other than your own reason,” Desai, aprofessor emeritus with the London School of Economics, exhorted the students.”Great cultures are created only when people think for themselves rather thankow-towing others,” he added.Desai said that apart frombeing universal in the coverage of all subjects, the universities ought to beuniversal in their outlook by absorbing and transcending cultures.”Our ancient culture was greatbut elitist considering that a limited section of the society had access toeducation. It was with the advent of colonialism and western education that theprocess of democratisation of education began in true sense,” he said. Theapproach of finding truth based on evidence, reason and logic had enabledwestern countries to surge ahead, Desai said. Citing the Indian context, headded, “We (as elder generation) made a mess of ourselves but, the futurebelongs to you (students).”…More

TOI : PUNE:State energy minister Dilip Walse-Patil on Thursday said that the stategovernment was contemplating to replicate the Pune power model in other citiesfacing the load-shedding problem.Speaking at the 4thstate-level award function by the Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA),Walse-Patil said, “There is demand for implementation of Pune’s public-privatepartnership model of using captive power plants to mitigate load-shedding. Thegovernment is contemplating on implementing this model in some cities of thestate”.He said the powerscenario has been deteriorating in the state. “The government is putting everyeffort to overcome power shortage. We are roping in investment for the powersector, but it will take some time. Until then, we could only help the situationby saving power.”Theminister added that 250 MW power generation stations at Pawali and Paras willhelp mitigate the crisis. “The land acquisition process for setting up powergeneration plants at Kaparkhed and Bhusawal has been completed. Also, more powerwould be coming from the Dabhol plant by nextmonth.”Non-conventional energyminister Vinay Kore said, “The state government is planning to offer subsidiesto industries which initiate power-saving measures”….More

TOI : PUNE:The issue of disqualification of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporatorGurubaksha Pehalani has united all the corporators and has turned it into abattle between elected representatives and theadministration.This becameclear from the stand taken by the corporators at the general body (GB) meetingof the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) held on Thursday. Thecorporators, cutting across party lines, supported Pehalani and approved hisleave application.Civic chiefDilip Band had disqualified Pehalani on Wednesday rejecting his reply to theshowcause notice.Initiatingthe debate, NCP corporator Yogesh Behl pointed out that the commissioner has noright under the Bombay Provisional Municipal Corporation (BPMC) Act, 1949 todisqualify Pehalani. Only the civic general body can take such an action and ifthere was a dispute over the corporatorship of anyone, the matter should betaken to the court.He alsodemanded to know why mayor Vaishali Ghodekar did not table Pehalani’s leaveapplication for approval before theGB.Ashok Sonavane, groupleader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporators said commissioner’saction was against the natural justice. Expelled Congress corporator ShrirangBarne said, “Band should have sought mayor’s opinion before disqualifyingPehalani. It was a hastydecision.”Maruti Bhapkar,social activist and independent corporator said, “If the commissioner took thedecision after taking the advice from legal advisor Ajay Suryavanshi, the lattershould be suspended for giving wrongadvice.”Later, a resolution toaccept Pehalani’s leave application was unanimously approved and the GB meetingwas adjourned till January 7, 2008….More

TOI : PUNE:Even as the Pune Municipal Corporation’s hawkers rehabilitation policy awaitsapproval from the corporators, the administration has decided implement thepolicy.The encroachmentdepartment has prepared a list of unauthorised and authorised hawkers on the 30main roads of the city which are to become no-hawkers zone.Speaking to reporters onThursday, deputy commissioner Dnyandeo Thube said 971 authorised and 3,720unauthorised hawkers have beenidentified.”The ward officershave been asked to identify small plots on the arterial roads of these 30 roads.The hawkers will be temporarily relocated to these plots until the market placesfor their rehabilitation are finalised,” Thube said.He added that the PMCofficials, along with representatives of hawkers groups, a land surveyor and aninspector from the encroachment department, were inspecting the 110 plotsidentified for hawkers’markets.”By January we areplanning to finalise the plots and tenders will be invited,” Thubesaid.A ‘hawkers meet’will be held in January at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch. Thube said the hawkers wouldbe given information about the hawkers policy, and explained the procedure forimplementation. Their doubts would be cleared and records would beverified….More

TOI : PUNE:They call themselves ‘Sparsh’ and rightly so - they do manage to touch achord in you with their renditions of classic rock songs. The five-memberRanchi-based band is set to perform at Not Just Jazz By The Bay here on December21.Influenced by rock greatssuch as Deep Purple and Pink Floyd, the rock band usually performs covers bythese bands. “We also have a few originals which we will be performing in Pune,”says the Sandeep Chhetry, lead vocalist.With Ajit Horo on the bassguitar, Rishiraj Kachhap on the rhythm guitar, Ujjwal Lakra on the lead guitarand Adolf Khalko on the drums, the band has managed to regale rock lovers notjust in their hometown, but also in cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati amongothers.The decision to performoutside their city was a conscious one. “It helps us touch base with the rockscenario in different cities and there’s so much about new age music that we canlearn,” says Ajit.The band isparticularly excited about performing in Pune considering its thriving rockscene. And Rishiraj has another special reason: “I have studied law fromSymbiosis and, while studying here, I was in touch with several local rockbands. I was even part of the rock band Circles for twoyears.”Being one of the firstbands on the emerging rock music scenario in Ranchi has given the band adefinite edge. “We have formed the Jharkhand Rock Music Association that willhelp promote rock music culture. We also assist rock bands in finding new venuesto present their talent,” says Ujjwal.The future of rock music inJharkhand is set to receive a fillip as the band is set to have Paul Di’Anno ofIron Maiden to perform in Ranchi in January 2008….More

TOI : PUNE:The anti extortion cell (AEC) of the Pune police on Friday arrested two historysheeters who were allegedly tracking a former corporator and Congress leader.Two loaded revolvers were seized from the suspects.Inspector Bhanupratap Bargesaid the AEC had received information that Vishal alias Munna Jayant Kalekar(27) from Budhwar Peth and Sunil Laxman Harkude (22) from Bibwewadi weretracking a former corporator.”We laid a trap near Holkarbridge and nabbed Sunil on the spot. Vishal was caught after a chase of 20minutes. Both had loaded revolvers with them. The police seized the revolversalong with seven bullets,” Barge said.According to the police,Vishal, who was externed by the Faraskhana police in February, had politicalenmity with the former corporator. With eight cases registered against him, hewas in Yerwada jail for two years for the murder of political activist SandeepKadam. He was out on bail recently and since then he was after the formercorporator’s life.”On Friday, Vishal and Sunilwent to the Yerwada jail to meet Uday Sawant who is jailed in the Telgi stampscam case. However, Friday being a holiday, they couldn’t meet Uday andthey were going towards the Holkar bridge, when the police stopped them,” Bargesaid.Another person involvedin the case, Santosh Tonde, who provided the suspects with revolvers isabsconding….More

TOI : PUNE:The Pune rural police on Thursday arrested two army jawans and four others fortheir involvement in the theft of two 52-inch-long elephant tusks from ashowcase in the officer’s mess of the Mechanised Infantry RegimentalCentre (MIRC) inAhmednagar.The main accusedwere nabbed in Shikrapur and identified as Rajivan P.V. Kannan Iringal (35) andRajesh Babu Balanna (28). Both of them are currently with the MIRC.Surprisingly, till the Punepolice arrested the accused, MIRC officials were unaware of the theft as the menhad replaced the original tusks with plaster of Paris models.The real tusks have aninternational market of around Rs 2 crore, according to district superintendentof police (rural) VishwasNangre-Patil.According to thepolice, three weeks ago, Anand Shivaji Awuti (35) from Parner taluka ofAhmednagar, offered Iringal and Balanna Rs 40 lakh to remove the tusks from theMIRC.The duo agreed and tookpictures of the tusks on their cellphones. Awuti and his associate, Raju aliasDanny Mahavir Chavan (28) of Sainik Colony in Bhingar, then gotPrakash NarayanDhore (32) of Amravati to make replicas. Early on Thursday morning, the exchangewas made.All five men involvedin the case then hired a Tata Sumo jeep in Ranjangaon and were on their way toShikrapur to sell the tusks when they were picked up by the police.Assistant police inspectorAnil Shevale and his team managed to trap the gang after a tip-off from aninformer. They seized the tusks.The rural police went toAhmednagar to investigate the matter further. “When we informed army officersabout the theft they were shocked to learn that the 100-year old tusks had beenstolen from the showcase.”TheShikrapur police have booked all six accused including the car owner undersections 44, 49 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act of1972.Further investigationsare on to find out who was going to buy the tusks. The accused have not revealedany names yet, said the police….More

TOI : PUNE:The Pune rural police have arrested seven people involved in the theft of aReliance tanker containing monoethylene glycol and the murder of its driver.On December 3, Reliancecompany tanker (MH06 EC 6343) was stopped and stolen on the Pune-Solapur roadnear Basweshwar dhaba. It was carrying Rs 11 lakh-worth monoethylene glycol, animportant raw material for industrial applications. Satish Nagnath Kendre (19)of Latur, the cleaner of the tanker, was found unconscious in Gadhinglaj inKolhapur; while the dead body of driver Pundalik Dnanoba Jaibhai (30) was foundin Sankeshwar in Karnataka.After a complaint filed byDadasaheb Manikrao Kalkute in Panvel, a Mumbai offence was registered at theDaund police station under sections 396 and 328 of the Indian penal code.Two separate squads undersuperintendent of police Vishwas Nangre-Patil were formed to probe into thecase.Eventually, the tanker was found in Sawarde near Chiplun in Konkan. Thechemical was missing. The police checked with the factories in the Ratnagiri andPanvel areas which use the chemical and interrogated seven suspects who admittedto the crime.Thepolice have seized the chemical and the tanker….More

TOI : PUNE:The department of posts, Pune region, has made special arrangements for handlingthe additional load of Christmas and New Year greeting cards at various postoffices in the city.Astatement released here by S.C. Jarodia, postmaster general, Pune region, saidlast year they had handled about 15 lakh pieces of Christmas and New Year mail,in addition to the normal mail. This year, from December 17, 2007 to January2008 the postal department was anticipating about 18 lakh pieces of festive mailin the Pune region.Specialarrangements have been made for accepting Christmas and New Year mail atimportant post offices not only in the city and Pune district, but in districtslike Ahmednagar, Satara and Solapurtoo.In Pune, separate plastictrays will be kept to divide local mails, mails meant for Mumbai, Pune district,Maharashtra and other states. People have been urged to keep their mail in therespective trays.All postoffices have also been instructed to keep adequate stock of postal stamps andstationery to meet the festiverush.Jarodia said the postalpersonnel had been given standing instructions to pre-sort Christmas and Newyear mails, prepare label bundles and close justified bags for local postoffices, district delivery offices and mail offices in the state and othercircle concentration centres. All important post and mail offices have beenasked to put a rubber stamp on the Christmas and New Year mails to ensure it didnot get mixed up with the regularmail.To expedite processing,bulk mailers have been asked to present their mails on the counters in apre-sorted manner, instead of putting them in letterboxes.Special trays are keptin the following post offices in the city: Pune head office, Pune city headoffice, Khadki, Deccan Gymkhana, Shivajinagar, Yerwada, Ganeshkhind, Parvati,Model colony, Pimpri, Chinchwad east, Hadapsar, S.P. College, Market Yard,Ex-servicemen colony and Swargate….More

indianexpress: The week that starts with Christmas Eve and ends with New Year has always set the cash register ringing at liquor retail outlets across the world. And Pune is no exception. In fact, with the demographic pattern of the city seeing a makeover in recent years, with the onrush of jobseekers in the IT, ITES and automobile sectors, the liquor consumption pattern too has undergone a change with white spirits and wine picking up sales like never before.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the state excise department has set itself a target of collecting excise duty on 17.16 lakh bulk litres of foreign liquor this month. Against this, Pune had seen a sale of 12.69 lakh bulk litres in December 2006. This is a rise in consumption of 35 per cent over the last Christmas season.

Beer and wine will be no laggards either. The estimated sale of beer this month is 21.5 lakh litres, up from 18.12 lakh litres a year ago while that of wine is pegged at 36,590 litres, up 4,000 litres from last December.

“The festive season of December grosses maximum profit. The sale of liquor starts going up from the month of October but December is a special month for us. Winter and festivity together play a vital role in the sale of liquor by the year end,” says R V Nimbalkar, deputy superintendent of state excise department, Pune.

To cater to the increased appetite for the spirits during the festive season, liquor vendors are expected to at least double their intake as compared to the normal days.