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TOI : PUNE: The Pune zilla parishad (ZP) has undertaken a comprehensive programme to treat malnourished children in 11 talukas of Pune district by setting up child development centres (CDC). The project, a part of the National Rural Health Mission, will be extended to the remaining six talukas in the next six months.

According to district health officer HH Chavan, the CDCs were first set up on a pilot basis in tribal talukas like Ambegaon, which have comparatively larger numbers of malnourished children, in December 2007. “The project was implemented in these talukas initially to gauge its impact. As the results were promising, we decided to extend it to the entire district,” said Chavan.

Under the project, malnourished children are admitted to the CDC for up to three weeks. They are then provided a healthy diet and medicines to improve their nourishment levels. “Around Rs 160 per day are spent on each child. After the children are discharged from the CDC, their health is monitored for the next six months,” said Chavan.
Notably, along with the children, their parents are also housed at the CDC and are compensated for the loss of wages incurred during the period. The mothers are also made aware of the importance of a nutritious diet.

The work is carried out under the supervision of qualified medical professionals. All treatment and diet-related facilities have been made available under one roof. For recreation, toys, television sets etc have also been provided at the CDCs, Chavan added.

“So far, around 103 children were found to be malnourished. Almost all of them have been treated successfully,” Chavan stated.

CDCs have been so far been set up in Ambegaon, Junnar, Haveli, Velha, Bhor, Purandar, Baramati, Shirur, Daund, Maval, Indapur, Mulshi and Khed talukas. In talukas with large populations, two CDCs have been set up.

ZP chief executive officer…More

TOI : PUNE: Three years back, Pune youth Rajanikant dreamed of becoming an officer in the defence services. He couldn’t fulfil his dream then and had to settle instead for the post of a sailor in the Indian Navy. Now, he has finally seen his dream come true, and will soon head to Goa to train to become an officer in the navy.

“I am the first sailor on my ship to become an officer since its commissioning ten years back,” Rajanikant told TOI on Tuesday.

He will join the INS Mandovi in Goa on July 7 for four years of training, after which he will take charge as a sub-lieutenant in the navy.

Rajanikant, who is currently posted on INS Kora in Visakhapatnam, was selected as an officer through the Commission Worthy Entry (CWE) route. The CWE provides an opportunity to non-commissioned officers in the defence services to become officers.

Specialising in electrical work, Rajanikant is currently responsible for handling the communication of his ship.
Based in Dapodi, Rajanikant completed his education from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Khadki. His father, Ranjan Prasad, is a retired havaldar in the army.

Around 3000 sailors from across the country had appeared for the exam. Only 11 have been chosen to become officers following a tough selection process which included an interview by the Preliminary Selection Board (PSB), a written test, an interview by the Services Selection Board (SSB) and a medical test.
“I have experienced the life of a sailor. I know the hard life they have to lead,” Rajanikant said. “When I become an officer, I will command a team of sailors. I will be better placed to understand their problems and find solutions to them.”

Commander of the Indian Navy PK Banjaree (retd) opined that rising from the post of sailor to an officer is a “tough task,” and…More

TOI : PUNE: An unholy nexus between schools and suppliers of textbooks and stationery is having a negative bearing on the availability of books in the market. This is further viewed as the “root cause” of non-availability of books for a given standard at a single shop.

“There are schools, which tie up with particular suppliers and recommend parents to purchase books from them only, while there are schools that effect direct purchases from the Maharashtra state bureau of textbook production and curriculum research (Balbharati) depots,” said Sudhakar Joshi, a member of the Pune Book Sellers’ Association, while speaking to TOI on Wednesday.

Either way, he said, book sellers were finding it difficult to decide the quantum of stocks to be maintained at their stores. As a consequence, students and parents have to visit stores repeatedly in the quest for particular textbooks. “The issue is not about textbook supplies from Balbharati, but about maintaining the right stocks to meet the demand,” he said, adding that the school-supplier nexus was hitting the availability.

Joshi, who runs a prominent book services outlet at Appa Balwant chowk, said that almost all textbooks were available at Balbharati.

Balbharati director S.N. Pawar confirmed that the ‘Vaachanpaath’ books for class X English medium course were yet to be published. Similarly, the textbooks for Sindhi, Telugu and Kannada languages for standards III and VII courses were short in supply due to factors like difficulty in finding translators, type-setters and experts for these languages. “It will take at least a week for the Vaachanpaath books to reach the market,” he said.

With a revised course for standards III and VII, the textbooks bureau finds itself presiding over a gigantic task of publishing 772 titles in eight languages for books from standards I to X. The collective print order for the state is 13.5 crore, Pawar said. “This year, the…More

TOI : PUNE: He is young but not restless. He has definite plans in life and is working hard to change them into reality. And, most importantly, he has made sure his traipsing into something exotic does not adversely impact his lifestyle.

Meet the new-age pensioner. Unlike the ubiquitous government retiree who warily awaits the monthly credit of pension money into his bank account, this is a guy who defines what his ‘pension’ on retirement is going to be even when he has not crossed 40 years of age.

The country’s insurance sector is witnessing a phenomenal rise in the premiums collected under retirement plans. And, interestingly, those taking pension seriously are in the younger age bracket of less than 40 years. According to Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA) figures, 28 per cent of the total premiums collected by Indian insurance companies come from retirement plans, which is a staggering 290 per cent rise between 2004 and 2007.

Say Meenakshi Malhotra and her husband Vipul Malhotra, both financial industry professionals in their early 30s: “Thanks to our successful careers, we have been able to create and maintain a lifestyle which we enjoy presently. We don’t want to experience a dip in this lifestyle in our old age. Also, we have not only dreams but concrete plans for our retirement which we don’t want to be unfulfilled due to inadequate funds. Hence we decided to invest in pension plan in addition to other investments.” That indicates that finally there seems to be some reversal of the cliched comment ‘insurance is not bought in India, it is sold’. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The city is witnessing a disturbing trend. According to police records, around ten complaints are filed at different police stations in the city everyday about people having gone missing.

Around 1,610 people have gone missing this year, till May end — 497 men, 620 women, 191 boys and 302 girls. Of these, 782 have returned — 224 men, 291 women, 99 boys and 168 girls.

In 2007, there were around 3,006 missing complaints — 1,104 men, 1,149 women, 487 boys and 595 girls. Of this, 1,969 (545 men, 666 women, 361 boys and 389 girls) returned home, but the police are clueless about the rest — 459 men, 483 women, 126 boys and 206 girls.

Inspector Rajendra Bhamre, chief of the social security cell (SSC) of Pune police, said more women and girls than men and boys go missing. However, he refuted any kind of trafficking angle to the trend. “A large number of girls elope and settle down elsewhere. To protect the family’s honour, parents file a missing complaint without disclosing what their daughters have done,” he added.

Blaming social etiquette imposed on women, Bhamre said girls from middle-class families do not have a right to marry as per their wishes. “Girls prefer to elope than confide in their parents. Generally, girls in the age group of 16-20 years are the ones who elope,” he pointed out. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More