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TOI : PUNE: American terror suspect David Headley visited the ‘Osho Ashram’ here twice during 2008-2009, a top police official said today.

“Headley stayed in the city for a day in June 2008 and March 2009 and visited the Ashram, frequented by foreigners,” Ravindra Sengaonkar, DCP, Crime, said.

According to Ashram officials, he visited the establishment at Koregaon Park for meditation, he said.

Headley, accused of masterminding terror attacks in India at the behest of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is believed to have visited Pune on a business visa and left for Mumbai later, police sources said.

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths which recently visited the city in connection with the probe has provided details of Headley’s visit here, they added.

A spokesperson of Osho Ashram Amirti Sadhna said the Ashram was open to all and visited by thousands of people for meditation.

“It is possible that Headley may have come here. We are fully cooperating with police in the investigations,” she said. Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | Related Articles Headley stayed near US consulate in Mumbai Links with Kasab & Co now NIA focus Headley fallout? High alert at N-facilities Headley used visa firm job as cover Hotels left vital details blank in Headley’s forms More Stories from this section Chargesheet against Purohit in arms case City boasts of script bank with over 2,200 plays Pu La’s legacy continues… Bhor farmers reap benefits of agri varsity devp programmes Solving Belgaum bor…More

TOI : PUNE: Twenty-one-year-old Ketan Deshpande, founder of the Friends Union for Energing Lives, and third year student of engineering at the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), is among top 100 entrepreneurs from 20 countries in Asia Pacific chosen for the year-long Paragon fellowship. The fellowship is given by the Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship (FYSE) to “Asia’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and social changemakers.”

Ketan’s initiative to ensure that students get up-to-date information about various entrance exams through the platform of Friends Union For Energising Lives (FUEL) has made a difference to thousands of youngsters from class 10 and class 12.

The story dates back to 2006 when Ketan, a std XII student and an engineering aspirant, missed out on an entrance test simply because he didn’t know when it was to be held. “It was quite a struggle to get the information. Luckily, I was able to clear another entrance test and get admission where I wanted,” he said.

But the memory of the near-miss stayed with Ketan, and he decided that collective information about various entrance exams was a must. So he collected information of all entrance tests and published it in a book called Students Fuel’. The news was published in newspapers then and his friends and classmates, who had faced the same problem, joined in.

Starting off with a handful of volunteers, FUEL today has a core team of six people, a total of 62 volunteers in Pune, and 116 across the state. Ketan travels on weekends to institutes (coaching classes, colleges, etc) across the state and conducts free seminars. The effort is supported by voluntary donations and the students’ own pocket money. At these seminars, members of FUEL, all studying in various years of graduation, guide students on all aspects of entrance examinations, including what tests they need to watch out for, what are their timelines, what documents to keep ready,…More

TOI : SATARA: Prakash Bagul, the teacher from the Annasaheb Kalyani Vidyalaya who allegedly beat up a std VII student last Monday, has been leading the Satara city police on a merry chase. A fourth police team has now been sent to nab him.

Bagul beat up std VII student Akash Nimbalkar on Monday with a rubber pipe for allegedly making changes in the terminal exam answersheet. Akash was admitted to the Krantisinh Nana Patil government hospital, where the medical exam revealed he had 46 injuries on his body. Bagul has been absconding since last Tuesday.

After getting a tip-off that Bagul had gone to Nashik, the Satara city police station on Friday sent a police team comprising an inspector and two constables there only to be told that he has gone to Nandurbar. After that two more police teams were sent and six police officials are on Bagul’s trail.

“A fourth team comprising two officials was dispatched on Monday and all the teams are now looking out for Bagul in Marathwada, Vidarbha and Khandesh,” said Shridhar Jadhav, police inspector in charge of the Satara city police station, on Monday. The Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, that runs the Kalyani Vidyalaya, has already suspended Bagul. The police suspect that Bagul has gone into a hiding in Aurangabad, his native place.

Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section Rains lash city again Two caretakers arrested for helping boys flee Traffic dept vows action against erring ST buses Hunting in Pakistan has endangered Siberian Crane Morni…More

TOI : PUNE: More than 100 applicants have staked their claim for the vice-chancellor’s (V-C) post at the University of Pune (UoP) by filing their pleas with the three-member search committee, headed by former justice B N Shrikrishna.

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) director Sanjay G Dhande and principal secretary to state department for higher and technical education J S Saharia are the other two members of the search panel.

While the last date for filing of applications was November 15, the panel’s nodal officer and IIT-K registrar Sanjeev Kashalkar said, “We are still receiving some pleas that were sent by post. We got some today too.”

Kashalkar said, “It will be the committee’s prerogative to take a final call on the applications that have reached us after the November 15 cut-off date, by considering factors like date of despatch and postal delay, if any. We will place all these applications before the committee.”

The V-C’s post at the UoP fell vacant on July 15 when the then occupant Narendra Jadhav moved to New Delhi to take up his fresh assignment as member, Planning Commission of India. The then pro V-C Arun Adsool has since been heading the UoP as an officiating V-C.

The UoP ranks among the country’s top five state varsities with a five star rating by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It has 587 affiliated colleges and 321 recognised institutions spread across Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts.

The appointment process for the coveted post has generated sizeable interest in the academic circles as well as common people here in view of the changes introduced by the state government.

For instance, the search panel was trimmed from a five- to a three-member body; qualification for V-C as well as members of the search panel were redefined and a transparent system of inviting pleas through nation-wide advertisements was introduced.

…More

TOI : PUNE: The Science Express,’ an innovative science exhibition mounted on a specially designed train will reach the city on November 18 at the Khadki railway station. The train will halt at the station till November 21.

The 16-coach train has been launched by the Department of Science and Technology, the German Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and Max Planck Society. The main objective of this unique venture is to nurture curiosity among the youth and rekindle their waning interest in science.

The exhibition, with more than 300 large-format visual images, over 150 video clips and multimedia exhibits, deals extensively with cutting-edge research in science and technology.

The exhibits explain our universe how it all began, glimpses of the space, black holes, galaxies, on the way to the Big Bang, our home in the cosmos, biotechnology, building blocks of life from gene to organism’, the world of senses, architecture of the mind, renewable energy, technologies and energy sources for future, nanocosmos, bio-engineering, genetics, cell biology, computer applications in medicine and global challenges.

Another special feature of this train is the Joy of Science Lab,’ where students can conduct hands-on experiments in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.

Though the exhibition is open to all, it primarily targets high school and college students. It attempts to develop scientific temper among them and encourage them to pursue careers in science.

The Science Express started on October 2 from Gandhinagar in Gujarat and will travel to over 56 locations, covering a distance of about 18,000 kms in seven months.

Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section Rains lash city again Two caretakers arrested for helping boys flee Traffic dept vows action against erring ST buses Hunting in Pakistan has endangered Siberian Crane Morni…More

TOI : KELWADE (PUNE): The rains caused by cyclonic storm Phyan last week have caused major losses to more than 15 polyhouses in Satara, Pune and Nashik. Estimates of the losses are still being carried out.

Not only were the plants inside the polyhouses damaged, but in some instances, the plastic sheets and iron beams have been torn down.

Jintendra Pandurang Konde, who owns a polyhouse some 30 km away from Pune, is one of many who incurred losses from the post-monsoon rains which fell between November 9 and 11.

Konde has set up a polyhouse on two-and-a-half acres of land in Kamthadi and is one of the main producers and suppliers of gerbera and carnation flowers in the Kamthadi, Kelwade and Degaon villages of Bhor taluka. This area has around 70 polyhouses set up by farmers in the last three years.

Other crops grown in Bhor taluka are tomato and brinjal, which have also been affected. While the area under conventional crops is larger, the returns from polyhouses has proved to be higher, prompting farmers to bring more area under polyhouses.

Aside from the polyhouse, Konde grows tomatoes on an area of five acres. The loss on the tomatoes, he says, will be the same as the loss due to partial damage of his polyhouse. “I need to remove the damaged tomato crop from the open farm and buy new seeds. I will have to buy a new plastic sheet to cover the polyhouse and repair or replace the steel beams. I don’t think my polyhouse will yield flowers in the coming weeks as the plants will take a long time to recover,” said Konde.

Vikas Konde, another polyhouse owner from the same area said, “The rains have disrupted electricity supply to the area. Most of the polyhouses have a mechanised watering system and it has been difficult to water the plants manually as…More

TOI : The Ranbaxy Science Scholar 2009 award for Pharmaceutical Sciences has been conferred upon Gaurav Vadnerkar, a National Doctoral Fellow of AICTE and research scholar at the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Poona College of Pharmacy, Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune. The award has been given for his research work Synthesis, kinetic studies and pharmacological screening of prodrugs for colon-specific drug delivery in inflammatory bowel disease’ under the guidance of Suneela S Dhaneshwar, assistant professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, Poona College of Pharmacy.

The RSF, a non-profit organisation set-up by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, recently announced its 3rd annual science scholar awards to upcoming new generation of scientists in the fields of medical and pharmaceutical sciences.

The award was presented by Nobel Laureate Peter C Doherty at a function held at the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, and comprised of a certificate and a scholarship of Rs 50,000, a press note said.

Lila Fellows return from UK

Thirteen Lila Fellows, prot’g’s of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, have returned from the UK after having undergone a comprehensive Leadership Program at the Asha Centre, Gloucestershire, a press note said. The foundation has been active since 1996 in empowering young women by financially supporting their higher education and conducting a diverse array of mentoring programmes to help develop and nurture their personalities. The week intensive training program included diverse skills like Alexander technique presentation strategies, Lucca leadership and voice modulation, amongst others. The exploratory field trips to Oxford, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon and London exposed them to the rich history of Britain.

Among the projects that the Lila Fellows will be undertaking in the forthcoming year will be working with old-age homes, destitute children, running women’s savings groups, and helping abused women.

Microbiology workshop

A two-day workshop was recently organised by the Bioera medical systems and the Department of Microbiology, Abeda Inamdar College Pune. In the course of the workshop, techniques…More

TOI : PUNE: As a part the plan to gear up for a possible second wave of the pandemic H1N1 influenza, the Union government has chosen BJ Medical College as one of three centres in the country to train microbiologists in the various aspects of epidemic control and diagnosis, said Arun Jamkar, dean of the B J Medical College on Monday.

“A batch of 12 microbiologists has come down to Pune for a week’s training. They have come from various parts of the county. Experts of the B J Medical College’s department of microbiology is imparting the training,” said Jamkar. The other two centres in the country where the training is provided are Christian Medical College, Vellore and the All Indian Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, he added.

The Union government has initiated this training programme under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said Jamkar.

Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section City boasts of script bank with over 2,200 plays Pu La’s legacy continues… Bhor farmers reap benefits of agri varsity devp programmes Solving Belgaum border dispute will empower democracy Rainfal…More

TOI : PUNE: The Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) has shown its readiness to allow the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to start the construction of the new overhead water tank for Khadki.

Speaking to TOI, S C Kaushik, chief executive officer, KCB, said that the board has identified the land for constructing the new overhead water tank and the PMC officials have also seen it. The land is located at the Pandit Nehru Garden along Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar road. “The KCB is ready to transfer the land to the PMC. We have sent a letter to the PMC in this regard,” he said.

Earlier, BJP leader and corporator Vikas Mathkari while speaking to mediapersons had alleged that the KCB is neglecting its responsibility for the construction of the new water tank. He had said that the PMC has made allocation for the construction of the water tank in its annual budget of 2009-10. He demanded that the construction work should begin at the earliest as the budgetary funds may lapse if not used before March 31, 2010.

Mathkari had alleged that PMC has repeatedly informed to KCB that the old water tank in Khadki bazaar is in bad condition and needs to be demolished. He said, “A new one needs to be constructed as a replacement. The PMC has informed the KCB that it will be not responsible if the old water tank collapses and causes any damage.”

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TOI : PUNE: The State Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), Pune, has filed a chargesheet against Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit in a case of preparing forged documents to obtain a fire arms licence for a family friend.

ATS assistant police inspector Satish Gurav filed the chargesheet in the court of judicial magistrate first class G G Itkalkar through assistant public prosecutor A V Ausekar.

The chargesheet says Purohit had forged documents and helped a family friend and businessman Milind Date of Erandwane in Pune to obtain a fire arms licence from Anantnag in J&K in 2005. Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section City boasts of script bank with over 2,200 plays Pu La’s legacy continues… Bhor farmers reap benefits of agri varsity devp programmes Solving Belgaum border dispute will empower democracy Rainfal…More