This photo I clicked today as I thought the frame has come perfectly. I do not know how that has come out but I liked it very much. This was also my first hand at taking pictures involving the humans. My office photographer, Yogesh Jadhav was busy taking photographs of the assignment he was supposed to do.
With the afternoon as backdrop, I think this photo has come out very well. Experts or more experienced in the photography will differ on the matter, but seeing its results I just want to click my camera again and again.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The First Photo
Maharashtra Government Announces Package for Classical Music
Schemes in the Name of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi announced
After farmers and industries, it is the turn of the classical music. Maharashtra government has announced package for the classical musicians in the state. It follows a similar package announced for the folk artists in the state. According to Harshvardhan Patil, the cultural affairs minister of the state, the package has been announced on the occasion of golden jubilee anniversary of Maharashtra as also Bhimsen Joshi receiving Bharat this year.
A likeable feature in the scheme announced by the minister is that it involves name of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. However, the total scheme has to be approved by the state cabinet.
The main features of the package are:
- Scholarships in the name of Bhimsen Joshi
Students in two age groups will get scholarships in the name of Bhimsen Joshi. The age groups have been divided from the age 10 to 17 years and 18 to 35 years. The total amount given in the scholaship will be Rs 9 Lakhs. An artist will get Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively per months under this scheme. A separate committee is to be constituted for this purpose.
- Music Festivals
Music festival on the line of Sawai Gandharva will be organised in Mumbai and three other places. The festivals will be of three days duration. The state government itself will arrange the festivals.
- Gurukul
State government is to start a Kirana Gharana gurukul at Pune. It will collaborate with the existing Sawai Gandharva Memorial established by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi himself. The teachers and students in this Gurukul will recieve stipend on monthly basis. In return, the Memorial has to provide the space free of cost.
- Helping the Classical Music
State government will help various organisations in the field of classical music to organise concerts in the state. The help will be in the monetary form. The criterias for the help will be decided soon.
Technorati Tags Music,News,Pune,Maharashtra,Bhimsen,Joshi,Classical,Kirana,Gharana
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Chakan
Mercedes Plant Opened at Chakan
Stage II of Industrialisation Soon
After Pune, it is the turn of Chakan. The Maharashtra government today expressed its plan to carry out heavy industrialisation of the town. Inaugurating the first plant in Pune of Mercedes-Benz at Chakan, about 50 km from Pune, Chavan today said that second stage of the industrialisation of the town will start very soon. He also appealed to the residents of the town to co-operate with the process. Meaning that they will have to forgo their land more willingly.
It is to be noted that a total of 1,387 hectares would be available in around three months for the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC's) phase II at Chakan. He said that better roads will be made in the next stage in Chakan.
The 100-acres plant premises also houses the India headquarters of the company. The company has erected this plant in the record time of 13 months and it has invested Rs 250 crores in the new facility in addition to Rs 150 crores. The plant was among the fastest green field projects to be created.
Mercedes Benz (India) Chairman Dr Joachim Schmidt said, ''The company will manufacture 5000 cars and 1200 commercial vehicle and will employ 500 people with independent facilities.'' Mercedes Benz (India) MD and CEO Dr Wilfried Aulbur said,''We are first time in the company's history choosing the Chakan facility for our home. This facility will be headquartered here for Indian operation.
Friday, February 20, 2009
BJP Confused in Maharashtra
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in a fix now as it is confused in chosing an alliance partner for the coming Lok Sabha elections, especially in Maharashtra. In the backdrop of a meeing between Sharad Pawar, president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Uddhav Thackerey, executive president of Shiv Sena, it is ready now to go on the backfoot for seat sharing formula.
BJP has a two decade long alliance in Maharashtra with Shiv Sena that has faced many a storms. The chief architect of this alliance were Pramod Mahajan of BJP, who was killed by his own brother two years ago and Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena supremo who is confined to solitarity owing to old age. In the changing political scenario, Shiv Sena is cosying up with NCP or vice versa. That has ruffled BJP’s feathers.
Speking in Pune on Thursday, BJP leader Gopinath Mundhe said is ready to take one foot backwards while arriving at a satisfactory seat-sharing arrangement. Mundhe said he was confident that a solution could be found through negotiations. Mundhe harped on the Hindutva ideology while expressing his faith for an alliance with Shiv sena.
Sharad Pawar had reportedly a meeting with Uddhav on Wednesday, Feb. 18 in New Delhi. A day later he hinted at new alliances saying in Sangli said that NCP can ally with any party except BJP. That sent shockwaves in BJP camp. BJP knows that Shiv Sena is tired of the saffron alliance which was formed in 1984. It is perceived that BJP tries to wrestle more seats in each election. Also, caste factor plays a big role in all the understandings. While NCP and Shiv Sena share a common voter base comprising Maratha community, BJP is seen as a Brahminical party.
Technorati Tags India,Elections,News,Pune,Maharashtra,Gopinath,Mundhe,Sharad,Pawar,Uddhav,Thackeray,BJP,NCP,Lok,Sabha
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Clashes on Shivneri Fort
12 policemen, 20 activists injured
Fort Shivneri, where Chhatrapati Shivaji was born Image Courtesy WikiMedia |
The fort of Shivneri witnessed yet another battlelike situation on Thursday as thousands of activists clashed with police. The activists of Sambhaji Bridage were demanding reservation Demonstrators demanding reservation for Maratha community. They pelted stones in the direction of helicopter carrying Maharashtra's finance minister Dilip Walse-Patil at Shivneri.
Three activists of Maratha outfit Sambhaji Brigade and a policeman are reported injured in the clashes. The orgnisation had warned the state government if the quota for their community was not announced, they would not allowed the chief minister Ashok Chavan to step his foot on the fort. When Chavan was to arrive there, the acivists turned unruly and hurled stones at the helicopter. Police lathi-charged the protesters.
Maharashtra government has declared Feb. 19th as the Shiv Jayanti, birth day of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Though organisations and parties like Shiv Sena differ on the matter and they celebrate the day as per Hindu calendar. A ceremony took place on this fort where Shivaji was born in 1627. Walse-Patil's chopper was landing when the trouble began. Officials said, Chavan's helicopter arrived there around half an hour later.
Maharashtra government has declared Feb. 19th as the Shiv Jayanti, birth day of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Though organisations and parties like Shiv Sena differ on the matter and they celebrate the day as per Hindu calendar. A ceremony took place on this fort where Shivaji was born in 1627. Walse-Patil's chopper was landing when the trouble began. Officials said, Chavan's helicopter arrived there around half an hour later.
PTI has quoted Pune rural police superintendent Ravindra Kadam that although stones were thrown, they did not hit the helicopter and by the time Chavan landed, the situation had been brought under control.
Earlier, three activists of Maratha outfit Sambhaji Brigade and a policeman were injured when the police indulged in lathi charge as the protesters turned unruly and hurled stones at a government helicopter that landed before the Chief Minister's chopper in the fort.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Chavan said that an all party meet would be convened next week to take a decision on this contentious issue. A meeting in this regard took place in Mumbai on Wednesday night and it was reported that the said agitation was called off after a promise given by Chavan.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
A Riot of Flowers
Chhatrapati Sambhaji Garden, situated at Jungli Maharaj Road in Pune is normally visited by the love lorn couples and unemployed youths. Now it is brimming with flowers and various kinds of vegetables. This feast of colour and aroma will continue for two days. Pune Municipal Corporation is holding an exhibition of flowers and vegetables in the garden. What is more, there are various models of gardens placed in the exhibition. Some of these gardens, like Mughal Garden are being developed in Pune itself.
The exhibition is being organised on the occasion of PMC's anniversary. It will be open for public till Sunday. I visited the garden in the evening and was amazed by the sheer variety of flowers. There are Delia, Orchid, Jarbera as also Rose, the perpetual favorite. Even in roses, there is quite a variety.
I was also pleased to see that there is a good bit of flower decoration in front of Ram Ganesh Gadkari statue. The Marathi literatuer, famous for his rich prose and dramas rich with rhetoric was always famous for praising the beauty. He is known as the poet of Love, premacha shahir, for his poetry advocating love. What could have been a better gift for him than the valentine's Day.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Three Indian Cities in Top Emerging IT Destinations
KPMG, the audit, advisory and tax cosultation gloabl company has released its survey of emerging 31 Information Technology (IT)destinations across the world. Indian cities comparatively backward till now in terms of IT have featured in the list. They include Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Nagpur, three cities from three different states.
The report is titled-'Exploring Global Frontiers- the new Emerging Destinations'. It says that as the existing favourite locations for shared services and outsourcing have started to become saturated the newer cities are emerging, offering new and improved incentive packages and talent, that are better geared for the IT and ITeS industry.
KPMG Sourcing Advisory services in India Partner-in-Charge Viral Thakker is quoted by PTI as saying, "Realising the growth potential of the IT-BPO industry, Tier II cities in India have now jumped on the sourcing bandwagon and can be projected as viable destinations."
The report was launched at this week’s NASSCOM outsourcing event in India. KPMG claims to have identified 31 cities which are rapidly emerging as leading pretenders to the BPO crown held by the traditional powerhouses such as Bangalore, Chennai or Shanghai. The full list includes 10 locations in the Americas (Buenos Aires, Campinas, Curitiba, Calgary, Winnipeg, Santiago, Guadalajara, Queretaro, Boise, Indianapolis); 10 in Asia-Pacific (Brisbane, Changsha, Hangzhou, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Penang, Davao City, Iloilo City, Ho Chi Minh City); and 11 in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (Sofia, Zagreb, Cairo, Port Louis, Belfast, Gdansk, Cluj-Napoca, Rostov-on-Don, Belgrade, Tunis and Lviv).
The report has a map showing emerging and emerged destinations in India. Pune is shown as emerged destination in the map. Besides that Bangalore, Mumbai, National Capital Region, Chennai and Hyderabad are termed as emerged destinations. It also says that many Tier II and III cities in India have potential to attract IT-BPO investment.
The full report is available here
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Bharat Ratna for Anna
Bharat Ratna for Anna
'Bharat Ratna', the highest civlian award from the President of India has been conferred on Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the maestro of classical music.
Bharat Ratna was declared for Panditji or Anna, as he is fondly called about a month ago. He was requested to indicate his preference for coming to New Delhi to receive the decoration of the award from the President. However, on account of his frail health, Panditji could not travel to Delhi. Panditji, on his part, indicated his preference for receiving the award at his residence in Pune. He also had made it clear that the presentation may be a low key affair without involving too many people.
According to wishes of Panditji and his family members, the decoration of the award of Bharat Ratna comprising a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President of India and a medallion was presented to Panditji at 'Kalashree', his resident in Navi Peth at the hands of A. E. Ahmed, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs. On this occasion, a commemorative brochure containing the citation and photograph of Panditji was also been released.
Before Panditji, singers like Satyajit Ray, M. S. Subbulakshmi, Lata Mageshkar have received this award.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Vanishing Vultures
The number of vultures in Pune is decreasing at alarming rate. The news appears every now and then. But the changing lifestyle and fast pace of life seems to have become a bane for the birds. According to an estimate, only 100-odd vultures are left in the Pune district, which was a fertile ground for the bird till some years ago.Forest department in Pune used to study the problem of vanishing Vultures till some year ago. It seems the reason why so many vultures died in the district was the excessive use of painkillers for animals. When a vulture eats a dead animal injected with anti-inflammatory drug, it accumulates uric acid leading to kidney failure. Especially drugs like diclofenac were always deemed for a ban.
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Several explanations are given for disappearance of of vultures. One prominent reason given is rapid habitation and urbanisation. Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) cites the rampant use of pesticides in farming and DDT, aldrin and dieldrin as a major factor leading to vulture deaths.
Just two decades ago, there were 85 million vultures in the country. They are now estimated to number just a paltry 3000 to 4000. It is said that Pune had about 450 vulture in the past. Now it is said that only 12 of them have left. One of them can be seen in the Rajiv Gandhi zoo at Katraj.
The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had in 2003 requested the state forest department to initiate a project to count the population of endangered vultures in Maharashtra.Scientists observed that the population of stray dogs was rapidly substituting vultures as primary scavengers along the transects, highways and garbage dumps. The six species of vultures commonly found in Maharashtra are Black (or King), Cineverous, Indian Griffon, Indian Longbilled, Whitebacked vulture and the White Scavenger vulture.
Friday, February 06, 2009
The Mangalore Pub attack has now taken a different turn. National Comminssion for Women (NCW) which was at the forefront condemning the incident has developed difference of opinion.
The Commission has rejected a report by one its members who had said that the pub owner had not provided enough security. This has angered the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury. She had had dispatched another enquiry team while the Ministry issued a show-cause notice to the NCW member on Thursday evening for not submitting her report on time. The ministry asked also Venkatesh to explain why she had gone public with her opinion on the matter.
However, the member, Nirmala Venkatesh, retaliated by saying that she stood by her observations and would not step down. She was quoted by PTI as saying, "Who is she (Renuka) to be satisfied (with our report) or not. Let her do her work.Why the resignation, for what? I will be abiding with any my recommendations and observations."
NCW on the other hand has rejected the report filed by Venkatesh. "The Commission took stock of the entire report filed by Nirmala Venkatesh and decided not to accept it," NCW Chairperson Girija Vyas said after an early morning meeting on Friday.
Vyas said that the NCW will not send a fresh team to Mangalore on a fact-finding mission as the independent commission from the Women and Child Development Ministry has already visited Mangalore for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident. (The Full Story)
Vyas said that the NCW will not send a fresh team to Mangalore on a fact-finding mission as the independent commission from the Women and Child Development Ministry has already visited Mangalore for an on-the-spot assessment of the incident. (The Full Story)
In Pune also, there have been attempts to barge pubs by various organisations. But they have been largely unsuccessful perhaps because the pub culture is not active in Pune. The pubs vie for more activity. That is why there has been no sensational incident attached with them.
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Thursday, February 05, 2009
A Jolt for Government
The Bombay High Court finally set aside the appointment of A. N. Roy as the Director General of Police of Maharashtra. It has also asked the government to appoint a new DGP within four weeks. However, the court has allowed the state to move Supreme Court against the order.
The ruling by the Bombay High Court has come after a petition was filed saying that Roy was promoted out of turn. The ruling is considered potent with far reaching consequences. The court observed that the whole selection procedure was based on irrelevant considerations, non-application of mind and arbitrarily.
Central Administrative Tribunal in Mumbai had in October 2008 dismissed government's claim that Roy was the most meritorious officer in Maharashtra and had asked it to appoint a new DGP.
The government now has to decide between S. S. Virk, J. D. Virkar and Suprakash Chakravarty, who had challenged Roy's appointment on the grounds that Roy had unduly superseded three other DGPs for the appointment on the top post. Virk, who is former Director General of Police, Punjab is most likely to succeed Roy.
Roy was appointed to state's top police post in February 2008. Chakravarti had filed an application before Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), challenging the appointment on the ground that Roy superseded three other officers senior to him. The CAT had later held that while appointing Roy
as DGP, the state did not comply with the Supreme Court's directions in an earlier case. Both Roy and the State Government then challenged CAT's decision in the High Court. A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar today upheld the CAT's order and termed Roy's appointment as contrary to the law.
Top Cop in Pune
Roy was Commissioner of Police, Pune during 2003 to 2004. Later on he became the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai. He had a 13 month tenure in the city and no major incident happened in his tenure. He had replaced P. S. Pasricha as CoP, Mumbai and subsequently as DGP, Maharashtra.
Technorati Tags Police,News,Pune,Maharashtra,DGP,Appointment
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Babus Will be Richer Now
State government employees were waiting for the benefits of sixth pay commission to fall into their lap. State government has at various times to give all the benefits arising from Sixth Pay commission to all its employees. A final decision in this regard was expected to be taken during the assembly session. A committe headed by retired Union secretary P. M. A. Hakim has been constituted in this regard. Its report was submitted on 20 Dec 2008. Government has approved the recommendations from the committee today.
Government employees will get the increased salaries and allowances in five stages. A total of 14 lakh (1.4 million) existing and 7.42 lakh (0.742 million) retired employess will get benefit from this. The package means that:
- Employees will get hiked salaries from April 1, 2009 and it will be given in the salary of May 2009.
- It will mean that salary employees will increase by 20 to 25 percent.
- Arrears from January 1, 2006 to March 31, 2009 will be deposited in the gratuity fund of the employees in five stages.
- This will put an additional burden of Rs 8091 Crores on state exchequer.
- State has accepted the reformed structure of pay band and grade salary instead of current structure.
What Babus Want
The central government has implemented Sixth Pays Commission for its employees since September 08. State employees also want the rise from that day in respect to allowances. Employees had put forward our demand that we should get increased allowances from September 08 onwards. However we want the salary increase from January 1, 2006. They seemed to have got what they wanted.
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Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Dehu Won't Host Dow
Dehu will host more programs this years coinciding with the 400th birth anniversary of Sant Tukaram. Though it is in the news for wrong reasons for quite some time, Dehu is more known for Sant Tukaram, one of the spiritual gurus of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Even after more than 300 years since Tukram left this earth, the town is heavy with the spirit of the sant who was more interested in his devotion than the worldly attachments.
Three days ago, much of the state government was present in this town to commemorate 400th birth anniversary. The issue of Dow Research Centre coming near Bhandara Hills, where Tukaram used to meditate and compose his abhangas came up at the event. At that time, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan catgorically stated that Dow's centre will be shifted elsewhere. That will put a heated debate to rest hopefully.
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I was in Dehu on 22 December. I visited the temple where Tukaram used to worship Panduranga or Viththal. A scenic but quite an unclean river flows from near this temple. The build of the temple is quite old fashioned but offeres a soothing view to the eyes of a man like me who is forced to spend his days in the concrete jungle.
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