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TOI : PUNE: The Khadki police on Thursday arrested a Shiv Sena activist for allegedly causing damage at the Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) office and also manhandling police personnel.

The suspect, Shivaji Pawar, was purportedly involved in a scuffle with the police after he broke flowers pots outside the Cantonment Board CEO’s office and damaged a window pane.

Senior police inspector Vilas Gawali said: “A KCB employee received a tip-off in the morning that eight to 10 Shiv Sainiks will be coming to the office to create trouble. A police team was sent to the premises. They spotted Pawar and the others there. The men could not give a satisfactory explanation for their presence. A scuffle then broke out between the policemen and Pawar. In the meantime, his accomplices managed to escape.” Pawar was nabbed and taken for a medical check-up, he said.

Gawali added: “The police have lodged a complaint against Pawar for obstructing government work and beating up policemen. Another complaint will be lodged by the KCB against him for damaging government property.”

Vinayak Panse, chief revenue superintendent, said, “Pawar came carrying a newspaper article on the Khadki bazaar water tank issue. He went to the CEO’s office, but was told that he was not inside. He came down and broke some flower pots and a window pane. By then, the police arrived on the scene.”

Pawar had been involved in an attack on the KCB office earlier as well, Panse said. “The employees are under constant fear due to such incidents,” he said.

Around 300 employees affiliated to the KCB Employees’ Union, Panse said, have protested against the incident. They will submit a memorandum to the CEO demanding the deployment of four armed policemen on the premises.

Pawar had earlier undertaken a violent agitation over water scarcity in Khadki bazaar, when he had damaged furniture in the CEO’s office. After the…More

TOI : PUNE: The NCP corporators of the Pune Municipal Corporation has delegated all powers to select the mayoral candidate of the party to senior leader and state power and water resources minister Ajit Pawar. The power to select the president of the party’s city unit has also been given to Pawar.

The mayoral election will be held on December 1, while the election for the NCP’s city president will be held on November 28. November 27 is the last day for parties to nominate their candidates for the post of mayor and deputy mayor.

On Thursday, Pawar held a meeting with the corporators and other NCP members, when the powers to decide the candidates were delegated to him.

At least 12 NCP corporators have filed nominations for the post of mayor. They include leader of the house Anil Bhosale, Subhash Jagtap, Dilip Barate, Bapurao Karne and Mohansingh Rajpal and newcomers like Shrikant Patil and Chetan Tupe.

The final decision on who will remain in the race will be taken in Friday.

During the meeting, Pawar also discussed other civic issues with the corporators like the digging charges to be recovered by the PMC from telecom companies. The PMC had recently proposed a hike in cable laying charges. While many companies have been opposing it, Pawar said that instead of collecting one-time fee, the PMC must collect it in instalments.

Meanwhile, from the Congress party, corporators Vidya Bhokre, Managala Mantri, Chandbi Nadaf, Prasanna Jagtap, Rajan Kachi and Lakshman Arde have filed nominations for the post of deputy mayor.

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TOI : PUNE: Even after three weeks, the mystery behind the disappearance of 28-year-old engineer Kavita Ishwar Chikali continued. The Pune rural police are still clue less about the whereabouts of Kavita.

A resident of Chandannagar, Kavita, working with a private company on Pune-Amednagar highway, went missing from the Sinhagad hills, where she had gone for a trek with her colleagues on November 5.

The company was preparing for a trekking competition for which the trekking event was organised. Thirty-two people were participating in the trek, which began around 7.30 am. The team was together till Khamkar point. After that, Kavita and another employee, Chandrakant More, lagged behind. More was the last person to have seen Kavita.

Her colleagues searched for her on the fort till afternoon. Then they informed the Haveli police. The police took the help of about 40 trekkers, 30 commandos, a sniffer dog and local residents to search for Kavita. On November 9 the search was stopped.

Speaking to, TOI SDPO Pardeshi said, “It is confirmed that Kavita was not on the premises of the fort. We had searched each and every part of the fort for four days. But, could not find any clue about her. We have questioned almost all the vendors on the route to the fort. But, no one had noticed Kavita.”

Pardeshi said that the police had questioned all her 31 colleagues who had gone for the trek. “Kavita was staying as a paying guest in one of her colleagues residence in Chandannagar. We had questioned that colleague and her husband, too.”

Pardeshi said that, the police had also questioned Kavita’s parents, who hail from Karad. “We individually questioned her family members to find out if there were any family problems. But nothing came out of it.”

“We tried to trace the location of her cell phone, but nothing concrete was found,” Pardeshi said, adding…More

TOI : PUNE: A five-member committee under educationist G R Ekbote was set up by the senate of the University of Pune (UoP) on Thursday to study the changes in the Maharashtra University (MU) Act of 1994 and recommend an alternative solution to these changes. The panel’s report, which is expected to be furnished in 10 days, will be forwarded to the state department of higher and technical education.

At the heart of this exercise is the amendment in the MU Act, which redefines the qualifications for membership in various statutory bodies like the senate, management and academic councils, board of studies, etc, in the state universities.

According to the redefined qualifications, a PhD degree will be necessary for people seeking to contest elections and get into the statutory bodies of the universities. The government, which has formalised the amendment through an ordinance, has justified the changes on the grounds of improving standards of higher education.

However, a section of members in the UoP circles, including principals and teachers, have strongly opposed the changes on the ground that the it would deny the non-PhD but highly experienced members the opportunity to voice the concerns of students, teachers and other stakeholders, through the statutory bodies.

Senate member Chintamani Ghate moved an adjournment motion on the issue, which drew an hour-long animated discussion in the senate house. At the end of the debate, it was decided that a five-member committee would go into the MU Act changes that, many members felt, were not feasible for implementation.

The committee would file its report to the UoP for a further representation to the state. Principal Nandkumar Nikam, S P Lawande and Rajendra Vikhe Patil are among the members of the committee.

The term of the various statutory bodies of the UoP is due for culmination on August 31, 2010 and the election process for the same begins three months…More

TOI : PUNE: The Times of India has organised the two-day Times Franchise Expo at Hotel Sun n Sand on November 29 and 30, 2009.

The Times Franchise Expo has been organised to provide a proactive platform for entrepreneurs to interact with franchisors. The exhibition will showcase several business models from reputed companies with an investment range starting from as low as Rs 1 lakh.

The Times Franchise Expo has proved to be the most successful B2B marketplace and has completed 26 exhibitions in 15 cities across the country, in which more than 300 brands have participated and over a lakh visitors attended the show.

All are cordially invited to visit the expo. Exhibition timings are from 10.30 am to 7.00 pm.

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TOI : PUNE: The sleuths from the crime branch on Wednesday arrested a criminal on police record for allegedly kidnapping an animation artist. The artist was kidnapped from Baner road on Monday and was released on Tuesday morning.

The police have identified the suspect as Gokul alias Dadya Ajinath More (30) of Sus road. Acting on a tip-off the police team led by inspector Suresh Kekane laid a trap near a petrol pump in Pune cantonment and nabbed the suspect.

Kekane told TOI that the complainant Rajkumar Girwale of Thergaon was working as an animation artist. Some time ago, his friend Nitin Awtade gave him a foreign currency note and asked him to make copies of it. He told Girwale that the cost of note was Rs 80 lakh. But, the note was misplaced by Girwale. “A few days later, Girwale bought a two-wheeler and a flat in Warje-Malwadi. Awtade suspected that Girwale made the purchases by selling the currency note, and sought the help of his friend More.”

On Monday evening, More blocked Girwale’s way near Baner and forced him into his car, Kekane said. “He took More to a secluded place near Sus and asked for the foreign currency note at revolver point. When Girwale told him that he did not have the note, More demanded Rs 50,000 from him. More asked Girwale to bring Rs 40,000 on Wednesday and the remaining amount after 10-15 days. More released Girwale at Baner on Tuesday morning.”

Kekane added: “Girwale contacted deputy commissioner of police (crime) Anil Kumbhare. Our team laid a trap at Parihar chowk on Wednesday morning but More did not come. He contacted Girwale in the evening and asked him to come with money near a petrol pump in Pune cantonment.”

“We nabbed More when he came to collect the money. He was earlier booked for extorting money and possessing illegal fire arms.”

…More

TOI : PUNE: “The first priority of the Indian banking system must be to strengthen itself significantly to support a modern, vibrant and inclusive economy,” said President Pratibha Patil on Thursday.

Inaugurating the platinum jubilee celebrations of Bank of Maharashtra, Patil said the banking system has grown considerably but even today it has the challenge of reaching the unbanked areas and make its services available to the needy.

Pointing out the fact that about 73 per cent rural households have no access to formal sources of credit, Patil said this creates a situation where people fall victim to moneylenders. “Banks must reach out to this segment of population and thereby ensure financial inclusion of every individual,” she said.

“Indian economy, after a period of deceleration, is now turning around with industrial production increasing and activity picking up in other sectors as well. Banks will continue to play a role in the phase towards sustained growth. They must fulfill their basic role of keeping money in circulation in a responsible and regulated manner as they look at ways and means to enhance their efficiency and productivity while ensuring economic stability,” the President stressed.

Patil said bankers and money managers the world over – and therefore in India – have a responsibility to follow the principles of prudence and risk-management. “Bank is not just a place where money is kept as deposits. Banks also invest for a customer, whose money they must not expose to unnecessary risks,” she warned.

The President inaugurated the Hivare Bazar branch of the bank by electronically unveiling a stone edict at the bank entrance.

Union minister of state for finance (in charge of banking) Namo Narayan Meena said the banks should simplify procedures to include those who are unbanked; to exploit their capacity to add to the nation’s gross domestic product. “The banks must expand the network of their correspondents in the…More

TOI : PUNE: The state education department’s proposal to extend primary education up to class VIII was tossed out in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

State school education minister Balasaheb Thorat informed that the proposal was not passed because of the complications involved in extending primary education to class VIII.

“There were several complications involved in doing so. We would have had to overhaul the entire education system in the state,” Thorat told TOI on Thursday.

There are close to 34,000 zilla parishad schools in the state and most have infrastructure only up to standard VII. Passing this proposal would force all these schools to upgrade their facilities to std VIII with laboratories and infrastructure, among other things.

“Most of these schools are zilla parishad schools and their number is huge. It is impossible to upgrade the infrastructure in each of these schools and hence the proposal was rejected,” said Thorat.

In the month of August this year, the Parliament had passed the landmark Right to Education Bill, which states that all children aged between 6 and 14 have a right to free and compulsory education. Following this, the state government forwarded a proposal to extend primary education up to class VIII.

According to the present education system in the state, std I to IV is treated as primary, while std V to VII is treated as higher primary and class VIII is attached to the secondary section. Extending primary education up to std VIII would mean the secondary education would only have two classes – IX and X.

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TOI : PUNE: A rapid yearly growth in the number of students pursuing higher education should take place to achieve the goals set for the 11th Five-Year Plan, President Pratibha Patil said on Thursday.

The President was speaking at the closing ceremony of the centenary celebration of Pune Vidyarthi Griha, an educational organisation. Governor S C Jamir, Union minister for heavy industries Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shiv Sena MP Manohar Joshi shared the dais.

“In the 11th plan, emphasis has been given dealing with the decrease in the percentage of students pursuing higher education and the geographical imbalance,” Patil said, adding, “The plan aims at increasing the percentage of students in higher education to 15 per cent by 2012. But at the same the educational quality should not suffer.”

“To achieve this goal, structural changes of the education’ is needed. The educational organisations should stress more on introducing newer subjects. Promotion of information technology, nano technology and bio-technology should also be done,” Patil said.

The number of students pursuing post-graduation has increased to 116 lakh, the President said.

Praising the role of Pune Vidyarthi Griha (PVG) in education, Patil said that the organisation has made remarkable work in providing education to poor children and orphans.

Speaking on the occasion, Deshmukh said: “Starting an educational institute was a tough task around 100 years ago. But organisations such as PVG has set an example. Special treatment should be given to such organisations. The state government should consider special grants to the organisations, which have completed 100 years.” Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section Hoax calls galore Pune railway station to get one more footbridge PMPML ex-chief booked for misappropriation of funds Two incidents of chain snatching reported in Pimpri Creating a…More

TOI : PUNE: The district administration will soon take up an extensive drive in the city to detect bogus ration cards. During the drive, all ration card holders will have to submit details of the members named in the card, along with residence proof and a photo of the card holder, to the administration.

The food distribution officer (FDO) Pradip Patil told TOI, “The drive is expected to begin around December 15. “It will enable the administration to identify fake ration cards and people with the multiple cards. The drive would also curb the unethical pratices being carried out by touts at zonal offices.”

Patil said the card holders will have to fill up a form with details of the family members mentioned in the card. “We are still to receive the forms from the government. We would need around 10 lakh forms, considering the number of ration cards in the city.”

The procedure for issuing ration cards had come into limelight a couple of times last year, when fake cards in the name of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and terrorist Ajmal Kasab were issued from zonal offices.

Patil said the forms will be made available at ration shops. The forms found without proper information would be considered as bogus.

He said that “there are more than 8.5 lakh ration card holders in the city under various heads including cards for people below poverty line, white ration cards, cards under antyoday scheme and cards for people above poverty line.

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