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TOI : PUNE: Akshay Bhimrao Chate of Sadhana Vidyalaya, Hadapsar, and Nachiket Vivek Kuntala of Shri Samarth Vidyamandir, Ahmednagar, emerged joint toppers in the secondary school certificate (SSC, Class X) March 2009 examination for the Pune division, which recorded a pass percentage of 83.46. The division’s result was down by 4.43 per cent over the 87.89 p.c. recorded in March 2008.

Both Akshay and Nachiket scored 627 out of 650 marks for an aggregate of 96.46 p.c. Akshay also emerged topper among the backward class students.

Over 2.49 lakh students from the division, which covers Pune, Ahmednagar and Solapur districts, appeared in the examination, results of which were declared by Shakuntala Kale, divisional secretary of the Maharashtra state board for secondary and higher secondary education, here, on Thursday.

Divisional board officials attributed the drop in the result to an “anticipated correction” in the performance after last year’s unprecedented 11.43 p.c. improvement over the 73.46 p.c. success in March 2007. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: State transport commissioner Dilip Jadhav will inaugurate the computerized system for issuing learner’s licence at the Pimpri-Chinchwad Regional Transport Office (RTO) office in Chikhli on Friday. Speaking to TOI on Thursday, Harishchandra Gadsingh, assistant RTO, said the system has been introduced to speed up the process of issuing learner’s licence and reduce the grievances of the applicants.

“Normally, around 300 applicants visit the office to apply for a learner’s driving licence everyday. However, the number goes up to 500 on Thursdays. There are only two officers who scrutinise the applications and conduct tests before issuing the learner’s licence. The large rush of applicants puts a great pressure on the officers,” Gadsingh said.

He added that several applicants have complained about the delay in getting the licence and completing the process, which made the RTO think about starting a computerised system so that there is minimum human involvement in the process of issuing the licence.

Describing the procedure, Gadsingh said, “The applicant has to fill the application form, read various driving rules, traffic signs and other information from the posters put up on the walls. Questions based on this information are asked in the computerised test. The officer conducts the physical test and the verification of documents.”

A batch of 41 applicants is sent inside the hall for the computerised test. They are asked 10 questions, with one question appearing on the computer screen every 10 seconds. The applicant has to score at least 60 per cent marks to be eligible to get the learner’s licence. If the applicant scores 60 per cent or more, the learner’s licence is automatically printed and is handed to him later. Applicants, who fail to score the required 60 per cent, can reappear for the test on the next day or any other day.

Gadsingh said the Bajaj auto ltd and the Maharashtra natural gas limited (MNGL) donated…More

TOI : PUNE: In the wake of attempted robberies at two octroi posts in Talawade and Moshi, the PCMC octroi department has suggested that armed guards should be deployed at all the 21 octroi posts in the municipal limits.

In the past two weeks, there have been attempted armed robberies at the octroi posts in Talawade and Moshi. Though no cash was stolen, two people were injured when the robbers had attacked employees with knives.

Speaking to TOI, Ashok Munde, assistant commissioner and chief of octroi department in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) said, “We have raised the demand for deploying armed guards at all octroi posts in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The standing committee is hopeful that the civic administration will pay heed to the demand as it will help prevent robberies.”

Munde added that most of the octroi posts are just make-shift cabins put up at the entry and exit points of the municipal limits. These should be replaced by concrete structures to make them more safe.

“All the cash collected used to be shift to the central office once in a day, but now we will shift the cash from the octroi posts at the end of every shift,” Munde said.

Meanwhile, leader of the opposition in the PCMC Santosh Barne has written to municipal commissioner Ashish Sharma pointing at the absence of basic amenities at octroi posts. In his letter, Barne stated that there are no facilities for drinking water, security, electricity or toilet at many octroi posts.

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TOI : PUNE: The M.Phil Kruti Samiti has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to revert its decision that makes it mandatory for M.Phil holders to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Eligibility Test (SET) before being considered for the post of a lecturer in a degree college.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, the representatives of organisation said, “The UGC’s decision is totally against the M.Phil holders and is unjustified. More than 20,000 candidates across the state will suffer following the unwelcome move.”

Sanjay Pokale, one of the representatives, said, “A strong agitation will be staged on June 9, 10 and 11 at the UGC office on the campus of the University of Pune. If the UGC fails to initiate corrective action, we will go in for violent agitation.”

Elaborating the issue, Pokale said, “The UGC had passed a resolution in July 2008 stating that it had exempted the M.Phil holders from clearing the NET/SLET exams. The UGC had also clarified that the M.Phil holders till June 30 ,2009 will be exempted from clearing NET/ SET exams. Even the Bhalchandra Mungekar committee, appointed by the UGC, supported this exemption in its interim report. However, the UGC has reverted from its earlier stand.” The UGC has forwarded this regulation to be published in Gazette, he added.

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TOI : PUNE: Almost all regions in the country, including Pune, where the monsoon has arrived, saw subdued rainfall for a couple of days immediately after the arrival of monsoon. The consistency of this phenomenon in almost all regions is unusual, say weather experts.

“This year, the arrival of monsoon in most of the regions has been consistently followed by subdued rainfall activity,” said Medha Khole, director (weather forecasting), India Meteorological Department (IMD). “This kind of consistency is unusual.”

The monsoon has reached Kerala on May 23, a week earlier than the normal time. But after that there was hardly any rainfall in that region. The rainfall which took place was of very low intensity. Similar pattern has been witnessed in almost every region where the monsoon has reached thereafter, including interior Karnataka, coastal areas of Karnataka and Andhra, Madhya Maharashtra, Konkan and Goa, Khole said.

The monsoon advanced to Pune and some other parts of the state on June 21. Again, subdued rainfall activity was witnessed.

This showed that the monsoon was not very active in these regions, Khole added. “When we talk about the intensity of rainfall in areas like the western regions, even around 200 mm rainfall is not very uncommon during the arrival of the monsoon and after that. But this year, during the arrival of the monsoon and after that hardly around 40 mm rainfall has taken place.”

Khole clarified that there is no direct connection between advance of monsoon and intensity or quantity of rainfall.

The IMD considers various factors before declaring the progress of monsoon. If factors like fall in maximum temperature, cloudy atmosphere and change in wind direction are witnessed along with rainfall in a certain region, it is considered that the monsoon has advanced to that region.

A.B. Mazumdar, deputy director, general meteorology, IMD, said that when rainfall takes place at a particular region and…More

TOI : PUNE: History-sheeter Gajanan Marne of Shastrinagar in Kothrud, who allegedly’ opened fire at arch-rival and criminal-on-police record Nilesh Ghaywal at Dahanukar colony on June 13 was send to police custody till July 1 on Thursday.

Apprehending arrest, Marne on Wednesday had surrendered himself before judicial magistrate first class G G Itkalkar. He was later sent to magisterial custody till Thursday.

The Kothrud police obtained Marne’s custody from the Yerawada central jail. He was produced before the magistrate for obtaining seven days of police custody.

Assistant public prosecutor A V Ausekar submitted that the custodial interrogation of Marne was required for recovering the revolver and weapons which was used for opening fire and attacking Ghaywal.

Ausekar argued that Marne was absconding for 13 days after he was booked in the instant case and sought time to find out the motive behind attempting to commit the murder of Ghaywal and for tracing his absconding accomplices Pappu Kudale, Anant Kadam, Santosh Shelar, Rupesh Marne and eight to 10 others.

Apparently, the incident took place due to a gang-war rivalry between Marne and Ghaywal. Ausekar prayed for sufficient time to the police to find out whether there was any other motive behind the attack.

Defence lawyer Rohan Nahar said his client had not used any weapons and pleaded before the court to send his client to police custody for three days for enabling the police to find out whether he had used any weapons or not.

The magistrate upheld the prosecution’s plea and sent Marne to police custody till July 1.

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TOI : PUNE: The story of Akshay Chate, Pune division’s joint topper in the SSC examinations, is of sheer determination. When he was in std VI, he lost his father due to a cardiac arrest. On that day, he decided that he will work hard and excel academically.

“Had my father been here today, he would have been on cloud nine seeing what I have achieved today,” Akshay, who secured 627 marks (96.46%) told TOI.

“When I was 11, I lost my father. But, that day I decided that I will work hard, study day and night and achieve this goal. Today, I am happy that I could fulfil my parents dreams.”

Akshay, who also stood first among the backward category, stayed in a 12 ft x 12 ft room in a chawl until his father booked a one BHK flat at Malwadi in Hadapsar.

Akshay’s mother, Shivganga, said: “His father was the topper in SSC exams from Beed district. And now, Akshay has emulated him. I’m sure that he is missing his father today. He has handled the responsibility very well and has shown the world what sheer determination can do.”

Akshay’s father was a site engineer with a private construction company. After his death, Akshay’s mother was given a job by the company to teach at a cr?che for children of construction workers.

Akshay has been scoring 93-95% in the school examinations since std VII and has always been among the school toppers. He was selected to the scholars batch (special batch for a few top rankers) of the school.

“Though I am only std VII pass, I made sure that Akshay was regular at his studies. I used to visit his school every week to monitor his progress and check if there’s room for improvement,” said Shivganga.

Akshay aspires to get into an IIT and has already joined the preparation…More

TOI : PUNE: Divisional board secretary Shakuntala Kale confirmed on Thursday that the Vimlabai Garware high school was asked to re-valuate the internal marks it gave to 146 students in mathematics and social studies, following complaints that the school had granted excess internal marks.

Kale told TOI that a preliminary enquiry by Zilla Parishad education officer Prakash Parab revealed that the school had given more than required marks in the internal assessments for the two subjects.

“We asked the school principal to re-evaluate their marks and after they did so, we declared their result along with that of other schools today,” said Kale.

Principal of Vimlabai Garware school, Chandrasena Murkute, however, has denied the incident. “I have been appointed as principal here since June 1. Nothing of this kind has happened in the school and their was no favouritism of any sort,” she said.

According to Kale, the preliminary probe was ordered in the view of a complaint received by the board. Kale refused to identify the complainant.

She said, “The board will now appoint a committee, who will further inquire and take necessary action against those teachers guilty of issuing excess marks. The principal was asked to re-evaluate the marks keeping in mind the future of the students since we had to declare results and could not keep them waiting,” she said.

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TOI : PUNE: Despite the burden of their full-time jobs, these youths left no stone unturned to shine academically, all thanks to the Bhaisattha night school in the neighbouring Ahmednagar district.

The school gave Sumitkumar Dilip Thube, Hanuman Rohidas Dongre and Sunita Vitthal Gadhave a platform to complete their basic education despite their trying circumstances. The trio hogged the first three spots in the night school category in the SSC Pune division results with 77.23%, 75.38% and 75.08% respectively.

The three had taken a break from the regular school at different points of time in their lives owing to circumstantial compulsions. However, their urge to pass their standard X examination brought them to the Bhaisattha night school.

Sumitkumar worked as a mechanic in a garage at Ahmednagar for a year-and-a-half when a nagging illness kept him from attending a regular school. Once through with the suffering, he decided to join standard X at the night school. “My work as a mechanic helped me to keep myself constructively occupied,” he said.

Sumit doesn’t regret having lost a year-and-a-half of school life. “I worked hard at the night school and was confident about scoring over 70%. But, standing first in Pune division was a pleasant surprise. This achievement more than compensates for the loss of my high school life,” said Sumit, who now wants to enrol for an engineering diploma. “Post-diploma, I would like to a pursue full-time engineering degree. This time I will work part-time and study full-time,” he said with a tone of promise.

Eighteen-year-old Hanuman had to share his family’s responsibility and dropped out of school from 2003 to 2008. “But I was back to school, this time it was a night school, because I really wanted to finish Std X,” said Hanuman, who began working at a farm from an early age. “Then I moved on to being a worker at a machinery shop….More

TOI : PUNE: The key to success for Pooja Patil, the Pune division topper among girls, is simple and clear: “Rely on self-study and maintain focus.” Pooja scored 625 marks for 96.15 % to share the girls’ topper slot in the division with Shruti Latne of Sangola in Solapur.

Pooja, a student of Ahilyadevi high school, certainly did not expect to figure anywhere among the divisional toppers. “I was expecting to score around 92%, but this comes as a pleasant surprise,” she said moments after she was informed about the result by the principal of the school over the phone.

Pooja, who also topped in English in Pune division with 95 marks, credited her success to her parents. “I did not join any coaching class during the year. I relied on self-study. My parents have an important role to play in my success as they guided me throughout the year,” she said.

Her mother, Pragati Patil, is a teacher of mathematics at the Kanyashala high school while father, Kamlakar Patil, teaches English at Sarvapalli Radhakrishna school in Bopodi.

“I think it’s her sincerity that paid off, especially when she did not join any coaching classes. The school teachers have also contributed in her success in a big way,” said Pooja’s mother, Pragati. “Also, it was not as if she studied rigorously. She was in fact regular at her co-curricular activities and also led the school in the yogasana competition.

Pooja now aims at a science seat at the sought-after Apte Prashala and aspires to become a mechanical engineer one day. She scored an impressive 140 marks in mathematics, 91 in Marathi, 96 in social studies, 96 in science and 98 in Sanskrit.

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