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TOI : PUNE: Four members of a family, including two women and two children, were killed and two others injured when the Indica car (MH14/BK3196) they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck (MH12/BT1482) on the Pune-Solapur highway in Band village on Thursday evening. All the deceased were residents of Chikali in Haveli taluka.

The Yevat police identified the deceased as Jayashree Sopan Hazare (32), Mayuri Ranjeet Mohalkar (21), Ankita Savta Hazare (11) and Archana Savta Hazare (13). The injured, Pratibha Savta Hazare (28) and one-and-a-half-year old Om Savta Hazare, have been admitted to a private hospital in Yevat.

According to the police, seven people were travelling in the car, which was heading towards Pune when the mishap took place around 4.30 pm. The truck hit the car after its driver lost control over the vehicle, they added. The impact of the collision was such that the four people died on the spot. Truck driver Appa Bhagwat of Karmala has been taken into custody under relevant sections of the IPC after a case was registered by the car driver, Ranjit Uddhav Mohalkar. Sub-inspector S N Khot of the Yevat police station is investigating the case. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: The Maharashtra state electricity distribution company ltd (MSEDCL) is expected to propose a new zero load-shedding model before the Maharashtra electricity regulatory commission (Merc) seeking to prevent load-shedding in the six revenue division headquarters of Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Amravati, Nashik and Aurangabad.

Though the reason for this development is cited as “failure of the franchisee model currently running in Pune, Thane and Navi Mumbai,” the real reason is the tough questions posed by the Merc about MSEDCL’s steps to reduce load-shedding in the state during the May 28 hearing about the Pune model.

The MSEDCL is expected to answer these questions when it submits a petition by June 30 suggesting permanent arrangements for mitigating load-shedding in the state and what it planned to do to augment power availability.

Sources told the TOI that the MSEDCL has put the complete onus of running the Pune model on the consumer organisations and interim franchisee (Tata power company) and claimed that it was only the “facilitator”. “The power utility has also claimed that it was only after the MSEDCL reminded the consumer representatives and the interim franchisee about expiry of Pune model agreement on May 31, did they send a letter seeking extension on May 12,” sources said.

The letter did not have any details about where cheap power was to come from and how the additional rates were to be recovered to prevent load-shedding in Pune, Navi Mumbai and Thane, sources said.

Sources also stated that when the petition seeking extension came up for hearing at Merc on May 28, the consumer representatives (Prayas and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)) were not present. “We wonder whether they are serious about continuing the model. Overall the franchisee model has not been successful so that MSEDCL may propose a new model before the Merc,” sources added.

The stand taken by the MSEDCL has evoked sharp…More

TOI : PUNE: Decline in reading habit, a weak foundation vis-a-vis understanding, and the lack of expressive skills are the prime factors that continue to make English language a difficult subject to score at the higher secondary certificate (HSC, Class XII) level, feel academicians.

The subject recorded a pass percentage of 86.42 in the HSC March 2009 examination, which was among the lowest and far less than many mainstream subjects, particularly in the science and the bifocal vocational segments.

It does not help matters that teachers, who are supposed to be the major link between the students and the language, often lack adequate expressive skills themselves, feel the experts.

Ravindra Pardeshi, principal of Fergusson College said that performance in English was a reflection of the overall decline of reading habit. “It is a fact that students don’t read as much as they did before. Of course, in our college, we do concentrate on communicative English, but students need to read more books and pay attention to the language as well.”

Rahul Pongoliya, an English teacher at the Abasaheb Garware College said: “There is a mismatch between expectations and actual performance. That’s because while English is positioned as the first language, we teach it functionally like a third language. And that is reflected in the performance. Besides, very often the teachers, who are the sole source of the language, lack sufficient proficiency in English themselves. They are supposed to set the standard, but can’t use the language with lucidity.”

He further pointed out the key difference between learning an information-based science and a communicative language. “When it comes to studying physics or geography, you can avail of a certain amount of information through textbooks. But this does not apply to a language, as there is no fixed quantum of information you can acquireit is a habit and a skill.”

According to Nowrosjee Wadia college principal Bhagwan…More

TOI : PUNE: The directorate of social forestry, in association with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and NGOs Alert and Youth to Youth, has organised a programme on the occasion of the World Environment Day on Friday. The function will be held at the New English School from 9 am onwards.

Addressing reporters on Thursday, Subhash Badve, deputy director of the social forestry department, said, “A number of people, including divisional commissioner Dilip Band; director of the social forestry department, Prakash Thosare; Pune Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Zhagade; district collector Chandrakant Dalvi and DCP (traffic) Manoj Patil, among others, are expected to speak on environment-related topics. Former Pune mayor Vandana Chavan will give a presentation on global warming”.

A procession of a float, focusing on environmental issues, will be taken out to mark the occasion. The march will start from New English School and will travel via Tilak road to Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalay, from where it will pass by the Vishrambaug Wada and proceed towards Dattawadi via Laxmi road and Shastri road.

“While students and teachers of the National Green Corps will be part of the procession, nature and environment enthusiasts are welcome to join them,” Badve said.

Badve said about five lakh saplings, including those of bel, palas, banyan and bamboo, will be on sale at a stall at the New English School on June 5 and at the Omkareshwar temple on June 6. “The banyan saplings are meant for Vat Poornima, which falls on June 7. The banyan saplings are being offered as people find it difficult to find banyan trees near their homes,” he added.

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TOI : PUNE: Pune-based NGO Sakshatkar will launch an year-long statewide survey on Friday to identify roadkill belonging to all species of animals.

The organisation had earlier carried out an exhaustive study of reptilian roadkill in Mahabaleshwar and other hill stations in Maharasthra.

Sakshatkar has appealed to citizens to provide information on areas where they regularly spot roadkill or animals killed by vehicles, often those travelling close to wildlife habitats.

“Roadkill is a very serious issue. A survey conducted by us in 2004-05 had revealed that almost six lakh snakes were crushed by vehicles in the state’s hill stations. This study has pushed us to undertake a more extensive survey covering all species of animals,” Sakshatktar’s Vilas Kane said on Thursday.

Kane said the volunteers will have to cover a large area while locating roadkill, more so since 10,000 kms of roads run through or near jungles and other fauna habitat in the state.

Kane appealed to citizens to email details of roadkill spotted by them to sakshatkarpune@gmail.com. The details to be included are the date, time, breed/family of animal and the spot of the roadkill. A photograph of the animal casualty may also be attached.

“It will help us gather first-hand information on such incidents. The report will primarily include statistics on the number of animals killed, the roads and places where the maximum roadkill were spotted and the animal species which bore the brunt,” Kane said.

He said the report will be submitted to the forest department. “An action programme will be formulated on the basis of the survey with other NGOs,” he added. Print Emai…More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Deogiri college, one of the leading educational institutions in the city, continued to dominate the merit list of the higher secondary certificate (HSC) examination conducted by the Aurangabad division of the Maharashtra State Board for Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in February-March 2009.

“All the divisional toppers, except in the arts stream, are from Deogiri college,” principal Pradeep Abde said. “No teacher opted for holidays during the preparations for the HSC exam and we provided systematic teaching in addition to proper infrastructure, including uninterrupted power supply to the class rooms and laboratories, to avoid any inconvenience to the candidates,” Abde said. “We have maintained our track record of good teaching that has resulted in the good results.”

He also said that the girls usually work harder and pay greater attention to their targets in comparison to boys.

A total of 2,614 students of the college appeared for the HSC exam in different streams. The college saw a passing rate of 97%, vice-principal Sudhakar Kute said. “The credit for the college’s success goes to all the people concerned, including the parents, who co-operated with the management by paying attention to their kids’ education,” Kute added.

The jubilant toppers too said that it was the teaching in college, in addition to co-operation from parents and relatives, that has resulted in the spectacular performance. “I did not take any pressure or tension as regards the examination. I followed all my routines, including classical dance classes and watching TV programmes. At the same time, I was also regularly paying attention to my studies,” division topper Neha Pareek said.

“We didn’t expect her to top the merit list, though she has been a bright and hardworking student right from the beginning,” her mother Kamla Pareek, a housewife, said. “We never pressurised her to take up reading or give her stress over her studies. She did everything on her…More

TOI : AURANGABAD: Even as girls outshone boys in the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination conducted by the Aurangabad Division of the HSC board in February-March 2009, Neha Shivbhagwan Pareek topped the division with 95.33 per cent marks. Out of 92,326 successful candidates in the division comprising Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Hingoli and Parbhani, girls not only overwhelmingly dominated the merit list, but also surpassed the boys in clearing the exam by 3.93 per cent.

According to the result declared by the division here on Thursday, the passing percentage among boys was 80.15 while it was recorded at 84.08 per cent among girls.

Like the previous years, this time too, girls from Deogiri College dominated the merit list. The first three ranks in the general merit list were secured by Neha Shivbhagwan Pareek (95.33 per cent), Tejashri Chandrashekar Pathrikar (95.17 per cent) and Akanksha Ramanand Modani (94.50 per cent) from Deogiri College. Neha and Tejashri also stood first and second respectively in the vocational stream and also among girls.

First two among the backward class candidates are Babasaheb Suryabhan Divekar (93.17 per cent) of the Shiv Chhatrapati Mahavidyalaya, Aurangabad and Archana Jagannath Gaikwad (92 per cent) of the Shri Nath Junior College, Paithan.

First two in science stream are Chaitanya Vishwanathrao Lakhkar (94 per cent) of the Bal Vidyamandir Junior College, Parbhani and Sneha Pradeepkumar Bajaj (93 per cent) from the Shri S B College of Science, Aurangabad.

Parbhani candidates dominated the merit list in the arts stream. Bhagyashri Prabhakarrao Desai (92.83 per cent) of the Dnyansadhana Mahila Junior College, Parbhani and Pandurang Hanumantrao Pharande (91.67 per cent) of the Late Raghunathrao Kaldate Higher Secondary School, Parbhani stood first and second in the arts stream merit list.

The commerce steam saw the Deogiri College, Aurangabad, dominating the list as Harsha Shriram Totla (90.83 per cent) and Khan Husna Fatima Khan Zia Ahmed (90.17 per cent) stood…More

TOI : PUNE: The state registered a pass percentage of 78.38 in the higher secondary certificate (HSC, Class XII) March 2009 examination with Almas Sayyad Nazeem of the Shri Shivaji science college, Nagpur, emerging as the overall state topper with 591 out of 600 marks for 98.5% score. Almas was also placed first among girls and in the bifocal vocational stream in the state.

Pune’s Bhagyashree Bhalchandra Patwardhan topped the commerce stream in the state with 93% score (558 marks) while Aurangabad’s Bhagyashree Prabhakar Desai emerged state topper in the arts stream with 92.83% score (557 marks).

The results of the HSC exam, conducted in February-March by the Pune-headquartered Maharashtra state board for secondary and higher secondary education, was declared on Thursday by the state board chairperson Vijaysheela Sardesai. Of the 11,67,140 students, who appeared in the exam, 9,14,802 students were declared pass for an overall success of 78.38%.

Sardesai said, “The state’s overall showing reflects a marginal 1.03% improvement over last year’s result of 77.35%.” The improvement was far less compared to the 13.1%. increase that was recorded by last year’s result.

One of the factors behind the low improvement was the unusually large number of fresh students this year, she said. “We has 10.59 lakh fresh students, who appeared in the exam this year, as against the 9.50 lakh fresh students last year,” she added. The result of fresh candidates dipped by 5.47% this year, compared to last year. Girls continued with the tradition of outperforming boys with a success ratio of 82.98% : 75.08% in favour of girls. Among the state board’s eight divisions, Latur provided the best showing with 83.51% success while Nagpur was placed last at 73.67 pass percentage. However, the surprise package was the performance by the Mumbai divisional board, which was placed at seventh position with 74.61 pass percentage. Nashik with 82.15% was placed second, followed by Pune (81.85%), Kolhapur…More

TOI : PUNE: Everyone at the Mahilashram Junior College was in a celebratory mood on Thursday, and rightly so, as Gauri Deshmukh became the first student in the 100-year history of the institution to top the Pune division. Gauri scored 573 out of 600 marks for 95.50 per cent. Gauri is the bifocal vocational stream student of the college run by the Maharshri Karve Stree Shikshan Sanstha.

Now, Gauri wants to pursue research in mathematics, but her immediate aim is to secure admission into one of the top engineering colleges in the city depending upon her Maharashtra health and technology-common entrance test (MHT-CET) score.

“It was moment of surprise and joy when I got to know that I topped the division,” Gauri said soon after the results were declared. “It was definitely unexpected. But, my efforts have paid off,” Gauri, who shifted to Pune from Mumbai in class VIII, said.

Now, the former students of the Abhinav English Medium School wants to pursue research in the field on mathematics. “Although, my mother is a doctor, biology is not my subject. Hence, I opted out of it after class X and focused more on mathematics and physics.”

With the institution completing 100 years in 2007, Gauri’s success added another feather to the college’s cap. Said Padmaja Nalawade, principal of the college, “For the past 100 years we were trying to reach similar feat, but it happened only now. It is a great honour for us. Gauri has really done us proud. However, we would like to take this forward and continue to perform in similar fashion in the future.”

The college has registered an overall pass result of 95%. Gauri, an ardent follower of classical music, attended every music concert that took place in the city, including the prestigious Sawai Gandharva. “Although, I do not sing, I am a big fan of classical music and follow it…More

TOI : PUNE: The Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC) more than made up for last year’s disappointment with an impressive performance in this year’s higher secondary certificate (HSC, Std XII) exams, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.

This year, the college bounced back with two BMCC girls figuring among the state’s top three positions in the commerce stream. Bhagyashree Patwardhan (with 93%) and Manasi Bhagwat (92.17%) stood first and third respectively in the state. None of the college’s students were among the state toppers last year.

According to principal Aniruddha Deshpande, running a special merit batch throughout the year was the key to the college’s success. It’s after a gap of five years that a BMCC student has made it to the top position in the state. Prajakta Karandikar had scored a record 97% in 2004 to top the state. She went on to pursue her higher education in economics at the prestigious Delhi School of Economics.

“We were extremely nervous last year as our student did not figure in the state list. We have a tradition of performing well not only in the Pune division but also at the state level. But the students have made up for last year’s disappointment this time,” Deshpande remarked.

The college has been working on improving their skills through innovative measures such as discussion-oriented paper design, a special library, recommendation of new books and solving exercises. The result is there to be seen, with 246 of its 520 students who sat for the exam securing a distinction and 10 students scoring over 90%.

Over the years, BMCC is recognised as a leading institution for studies in commerce. The college registered an overall pass result of 96.7%. The college conducted merit batches for 30 students chosen on the basis of their Std XI performance.

“They were given personal attention and special coaching. Solving old question papers,…More