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TOI : PUNE: Objecting strongly to the proposed move of the defence authorities to rename the National War Memorial (Maharashtra) at the Morwada junction in Pune Cantonment, former members of the war memorial committee will meet on Monday to decide further course of action.

The war memorial, erected with civilian initiative in the memory of the martyrs, is proposed to be renamed as Southern Command War Memorial on the occasion of Vijay Diwas on Tuesday.

Former war memorial committee member Shashikant Mehendale said although he had been told by the defence authorities about the plans of renovation of the war memorial, there had been no mention about renaming of the memorial. “The war memorial had been erected with citizens initiative and funds of over Rs 27 lakh collected from the public. We are meeting on Monday to decide future course of action. We have strong objections to the renaming of the memorial,” he told TOI.

The public relations officer of the Southern Command could not be contacted for comments.

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TOI : PUNE: In a bid to curb road mishaps, the state government is ready with a proposal which sets speed limits for vehicles on the Pune-Mumbai expressway as well as other state and national highways.

Speaking to TOI, Ramanath Jha, principal secretary, transport and excise department, said the proposal would come into effect once the central government issues a notification.

Jha said the speed limit for cars on the expressway is proposed to be 100 kmph, while for commercial vehicles it would be 80 kmph. The present speed limit for all vehicles on the e-way is 80 kmph.

Incidentally, the use of speedguns is the only means by which violation of speed limits can be checked. On the Pune-Mumbai expressway, the four-five speedguns which were earlier available are non-functional now. On other national and state highways, there is hardly any means by which speed limit pviolations are detected.

As per a TOI report published in May this year, while the Pune-Mumbai Expressway is touted as a world-class high-speed’ road that rivals the best in the world, the highway also has one of the highest death rates in the world this despite the fact that it has the lowest speed limit (80 kmph) of most expressways anywhere else.

The speed limits, Jha said, has been finalised by a study committee, and these have to be adopted by the Union government. And it has to be uniform across the country.

Jha, while launching a road safety awareness drive on the Pune-Mumbai expressway in August this year, had said that the speed limits on various highways have not been prescribed.

On road safety awareness campaigns which were supposed to be launched on all major highways across the state, Jha said that the campaigns have to be conducted periodically because of manpower crunch. “We have to draw staff from various departments and this affects routine work. Hence,…More

TOI : PUNE: There is more to Ajay Joshi than root canal treatments and periodontal probes. A dentist with a degree in mass communication and a doctorate in theatre criticism, Ajay’s byline has been a regular feature in city newspapers. However, this time around, the affable dentist has pushed the envelope further. He has actually translated into English, the only compendium of children’s plays the legendary Vijay Tendulkar wrote.

The book: Vijay Tendulkar: Five Plays for Children’ has hit the stands and the dentist cannot stop showing his teeth. The Tendulkar saga, according to Ajay, began a few years ago, when he penned an article on Marathi children’s plays. When he mentioned the children’s plays written by Tendulkar, all hell broke loose. Says Ajay, “Not many people knew that Tendulkar had actually written plays for children and the non-Marathi theatre population, especially, demanded an urgent translation.”

In early 2006, Rangasankara, a Bangalore-based theatre group organised a national level workshop for translators in Puducherry. Ajay attended the workshop and returned with confidence that he could translate a Tendulkar. Permissions were sought from the legend and the dentist got to work. Luckily for Ajay, the noted actor, Sulbha Deshpande, had three of the scripts. For the rest, Ajay, relentlessly combed the streets of Appa Balwant chowk, Pune’s book kingdom. He managed to trace copies of two more Tendulkar children’s plays. However, he never got hold of the sixth play: Chimnya Bandato Bangala’, at least, not before the book’s deadline.

Admits Ajay, with a shake of the head, “It was not easy translating Tendulkar. Several times I had to make visits to the Sahitya Parishad in Pune to look up old Marathi dictionaries for the correct meaning of some of his words!” According to Ajay, literal translation of high quality Marathi writing is not easy, especially when you have to communicate the exact nuances of the language. “For instance, tell me,…More

TOI : PUNE: The Maharashtra State Agri and Rural Tourism Federation, (MART), a federation of co-operative societies and farmers interested in agri-tourism, was launched on Friday at the Agriculture Development Trust, near Baramati.

According to Pandurang Taware, city-based entrepreneur and founder-director of the Agri Tourism Development Corporation, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has announced it will provide up to Rs 15 lakh credit to farmers to develop the necessary infrastructure.

“Representatives of agri-tourism co-operative societies met Nabard officials on December 10 where the bank announced its credit details,” said Taware. “For farmers using solar panels at their tourism centres, Nabard will bear 50 per cent cost of the total expenditure of the solar panels. We have tied up with Tata-BP Solar India Ltd, which will supply equipment.”

Explaining that the idea had been conceptualised in 2005, Taware added, “Back then, local farmers started rural tourism on an experimental basis. The facilities provided did not wholly justify the process, because the farmers had very low profit margins. We decided to rethink the strategies and launch a common federation wherein the farmers would have a common platform, give suggestions and be bound by certain guidelines to provide the best facilities to tourists.”

Present on the occasion were farmers from various agri-tourism societies in the state, more prominent among them from Maval, Ratnagiri, Baramati and Satara.

“Before we decided to launch the federation, we asked those in urban areas what they expected from agro-tourism. We found that, close to 43 per cent, did not have any relatives in the villages. We also found that over 97 per cent of the city crowd were ready to travel over 300 km to experience the rustic beauty of village life,” said Taware.

“The whole idea behind starting this project is to give farmers a new dimension to their means of living and help them walk shoulder-to-shoulder with…More

TOI : PUNE: The University of Pune (UoP), the official agency which holds the State Eligibility Test (SET) in Maharashtra and Goa, has set the ball rolling for a phased introduction of online systems for the test.

The SET is the minimum qualifying benchmark for post-graduate (PG) students from different streams, for appointment as lecturers in the state universities and affiliated institutions.

Beginning December 11, an online process has been introduced for issuance of admit cards to the 35,000-odd candidates who have enrolled for the 23rd SET, scheduled for January 18, 2009. The test will feature 26 subjects and will be held at 12 centres including Panaji in Goa.

All a candidate has to do is to visit the university’s website, www.unipune.ernet.in/set, and fill in details like name and application number to download an e-admit card, said N N Godbole, UoP’s SET convenor, while speaking to TOI on Sunday.

“The candidate has to take a printout of the e-admit card and get the same attested by a designated competent authority like principal or head of the departments, a gazetted officer or a special executive magistrate,” Godbole said. “The attested printout can be carried to the exam hall as an admit card,” he added.

A key condition is that the e-admit card will be considered valid only when the candidate carries another I-card with his or her picture on it (driving license, passport, college ID), to the exam hall, said Godbole.

The online system will not only ease the workload on the existing manpower, but save time that was otherwise taken up by procedures involved in postal delivery of admit cards, said Godbole.

“The enrolments for the Jan ‘09 exam have been much more than our expectation, considering that 24,000-odd candidates appeared in the 22nd edition this year,” he said. “We were expecting the numbers to rise and settle between 27,000 and 28,000 applications,” he…More

TOI : PUNE: His performance at this year’s Sawai Gandharva music festival was marked by his signature virtuosity. A renowned vocalist and a music scholar, Madhup Mudgal’s expertise in dhrupad, tarana, Indian folk music and classical vocal has now become a benchmark of Indian music.

A disciple of Vasant Thakar, Pandit Jasraj and the celebrated Kumar Gandharva, Mudgal is a performing artiste with an academic bent. He currently heads the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi’s leading and oldest music institution, founded by his late father and first guru Vinay Chandra Maudgalya.

Armed with an M.Phil degree from the University of Delhi, for his research in the structure of khayal, Mudgal understands the importance of maintaining the sacrosanct quality of music. “Khayal is too individualistic in nature. So, for me, it’s meant for study,” says Mudgal, a Padma Shri awardee.

He wants to publish his thesis someday and perhaps write a coffee table book on Indian classical music. He assures, it will be a serious tome that discusses music as a medium to understand, not necessarily, a medium of entertainment.

Mudgal’s creative search has led him to experiment with various musical forms. For many years now, he has been the conductor of the Gandharva Choir, a group started by his father. The 30-member choir is structured on the lines of a Western choir, where singers stand in rows with their musical act conducted by Mudgal. With several performances across the country, the choir offers a rare musical treat a unique collection of recitals which Mudgal hopes to compile and release someday. “But, there’s no one to release such an album because they say, it won’t sell,” rues Mudgal.

Even the mind set of the audience has changed over time, he observes. “These days, pure Indian classical music is not played often. Given an increasing number of audience at music events, classical vocalists are compelled to perform general renditions instead…More

TOI : It’s the keenness with which they appreciate Indian classical music at the prestigious Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav that brings them together. After all, the audience has over the years, acquired a highly discerning ear and knows it can’t afford to miss out on the precious gems the festival offers every year.

“There’s always a rare bandish presented at Sawai,” says Ketaki Kale, a regular at Sawai for 25 years now. “Such compositions are not easily available in the market, that’s why the festival is so special to me.”

New compositions and intelligent improvisation is what she has always seen at the performances here. Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki’s performance in mid-1980s at the Sawai is one recital etched in Kale’s mind. “He performed the complicated raagmala, and till date I haven’t seen a performance matching his,” she says.

She found Ajoy Chakraborty’s recital on Thursday and a Kathak performance by Smruti and Anuj Mishra on Friday, outstanding. “They definitely stood out at this year’s Sawai,” says Kale.

Kishore Unde is still reliving Kumaresh and Ganesh’s violin duet on Saturday. But he also clearly remembers his favourite Sawai performance till date. “Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s recital in 1998 was truly exceptional,” he recollects. And, each year presents newer musical gems. “Actually, each new edition of the festival offers an understanding of different gharanas’ and new artistes,” he says.

Music aficionado Appa Ganorkar says the festival raises the bar for every artiste, veteran or otherwise. “You should see how every performer at Sawai works hard to meet the impeccable standards set by the festival. Every performance need not be exceptional, but a music-lover like me gets to see a few bright sparks every year,” says Ganorkar.

Sawai is a melodious mystery that every music lover wants to unravel. Almost every person in the audience is engaged in his or her own musical quest, while listening to the performances…More

TOI : PUNE: Sugar production in the state this year is expected to be nearly half its production last year. Shortage of sugarcane has forced several sugar factories to stay shut this season. Hence, this season is expected to be a shorter one, with all factories likely to finish crushing by mid-March. The state’s sugarcane crushing season usually lasts till mid-April.

“We had estimated that 530 lakh tonnes of sugarcane would be crushed this year to produce 62 lakh tonnes of sugar. However, a review meeting late last week has shown that 140 factories operational in the state this season will crush 91 lakh tonnes and produce under 50 lakh tonnes sugar. This is a fall of almost 45 per cent over last year, when 771 lakh tonnes cane was crushed to produce 91 lakh tonnes sugar,” state sugar commissioner, Rajagopal Devara, said.

The outlook for the next year, however, is buoyant, with plantation happening on a large scale, Since this year’s harvest was the second or third crop, next year, it will be a fresh crop. With farmers getting good rates for their produce this year, averaging Rs 1,200 per tonne, acreage of sugarcane plantation could also increase.

While the sugar commissionerate had estimated that 154 mills would operate this year, only 140 began crushing. Four factories have already shut down. These are Rayat sugar factory of Karad, Manganga factory of Sangli, Sambhajiraje, a private factory in Aurangabad and the Balaghat sugar factory in Latur, which has been leased to Shree Renuka Sugars, a Belgaum-based private sugar mill which has taken two other co-operative sugar factories on lease in Maharashtra.

Another 11 mills, which had fired their boilers and done other preparations prior to the start of the season, have chosen not to run this year.

Most mills facing cane shortages or those which have not started operations are from the Marathwada region.

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TOI : PUNE: According to the annual statistics released by city-based Muktaa HIV/AIDS helpline, a staggering 50 per cent of its 12,477 callers in the last one year were in the age group of 15-25 years, with a majority of them graduate and post-graduate students.

The helpline, formed three years ago by a group of city-based volunteers, was motivated by the lack of awareness among people about HIV/AIDS. A voluntary initiative of city-based Maitri trust, Muktaa stands for Making you know and talk about aids.’ Aided by the Heroes project, the organisation undertakes numerous awareness drives including sensitisation sessions at government offices, schools, outreach drives.

“When I used ot work at the governmenmt hospital I met 13 year olds who believed that testing HIV positive was good’, because they were taught in school that anything negative was bad. It was apalling and saddening at the same time. That is when I felt I shoulkd join Muktaa,” said Anuradha Tarkunde, one of the oldest counsellors of Muktaa.

Discussing the profile of the callers, Betty Anthony, another volunteer told TOI that in the last one year, a new group of callers from the BPO industry has emerged in a big way. “We never got calls from them before this,” she said.

The city-based helpline has been getting calls from not only rural Maharashtra, but also Bangalore, Delhi, Rajasthan, and even Dubai, Singapore and Africa!

Madhu Oswal, another volunteer shared that callers from other countries often come to India only to get themselves tested for HIV. “Some countries deport the foreign nationals if they test positive. So these people come to India only for the test,” Madhu said.

Maximum calls are centred around questions relating to transmission and anxiety about tests. “The window period between unsafe exposure to the virus and testing positive is three months. It can be a very harrowing time for the person, and they…More

TOI : PUNE: Pune police commissioner Satyapal Singh appealed to educational institutes on Saturday to maintain a systematic record of their foreign students to help the police keep a tab on the activities of foreigners in the city.

Singh was addressing the 30th governing body meeting of the advisory members of the Top Management Consortium (TMC) to discuss problems relating to the registration of foreigners at the police commissionerate.

Singh asked the institutes to take a policy decision to provide accurate information on foreigners to the police. He sought the co-operation of the foreign student’s department of the University of Pune in this regard.

Deputy commissioner of police Ravindra Sengaonkar of the special branch, Pune highlighted the problems faced by the police in maintaining records of the nearly 19,000 foreign students and 5,000 other foreign nationals in the city.

Sengaonkar pointed out that the police find it extremely difficult to manage the information due to a lack of infrastructure needed for maintaining large amounts of data.

He also apprised the members of the efforts made by the police to provide residential permits to foreigners and extend visas in a week’s time.

He said that over 100 students had been deported from the city in the last three months for staying in the city without valid visas.

TMC secretary general J G Patil suggested the introduction of smart cards containing personal details to foreigners to help the police keep a tab on them. The cards will also make the extension of visas easier, he added.

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