After Tendulkar, Paresh Rawal Want to Shoot Politicians

Noted film and theatre actor Paresh Rawal created storm in Pune saying that he sometimes wants to become naxalite and criticized the politicians as very substandard people.

Rawal was felicitated in the city on Monday with ‘Pu La Sanman’. After the ceremony, he vented his ire through an open interview. When asked what does he think about today politics, he minced no words in venting his anger.

“What should I say? They are very third-rate people, mean creatures with no morality. After watching corruption around me, I sometimes want to join naxalites and shoot them all. I sometimes think why no revolution takes place in our country,” he said.

He added, “People like us who have money feel the hardships. What must the common people be feeling,” he said.

This reminds of the statement made by late theatre legend Vijay Tendulkar, who created a storm about eight years ago when he said that he wanted to shoot Narendra Modi. “If I had a pistol, I would have shot Narendra Modi,” he said during one of his famous interviews.

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Bad Omen : Sharad Pawar Praises R R Patil

Notwithstanding his criticism from opposition, Maharashtra’s home minister R R Patil was praised by his party boss. This comes within a month of his criticism for losing control over the former’s ministry. However, given the history of his praise, it bodes bad for the home minister.

Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister and president of Nationalist Congress Party, supported Patil for his handling the August 11 violence in Mumbai. Pawar said that Patil is a "capable" minister doing a good job. "Patil is a capable minister, who is doing a good job. He handled the situation well. The party is fully backing him," he told reporters in Pune on Wednesday. 

Pawar said the police handled the situation well to bring it under control as use of force would have resulted in many casualties. The praise evidently made Patil happy as he told a local news channel thanking his boss for the appreciation! Given Pawar’s penchant for making statements before taking a contradictory step, it is not a good sign for Patil. 

Pawar is known to make misguiding statements and then do exactly opposite. Seven years ago, when Chhagan Bhujbal, was deputy chief minister and was embroiled in the controversy over fake stamp scam by Abdul Karim Telgi, Pawar had similarly backed Bhujbal saying that he was clean. Within a couple of days, Bhujbal resigned on the orders from high command.

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City Congress Pays Tribute To Vilasrao Deshmukh

The city’s Congress workers and leaders offered their condolences to the demised leader, Vilasrao Deshmukh, on Wednesday after the flag hoisting ceremony.  His close associates in the city remembered the departed leader’s quality as a bankable friend who made great contributions to the development of the city.

 Deshmukh had a special affinity with Pune and it was during his tenure as CM that the city got three Minisers of State. Balasaheb Shivarkar, former MoS in Deshmukh’s cabinet and a close associate, said, “He was a leader whose actions matched the words. He would shower love on workers whom he liked and I was fortunate to be one among them. I don’t have own brother, but he loved me more than a brother. He kept to his word at any cost. His death is a great a loss to Congress party.”

 Explaining Deshmukh’s role in Pune’s growth, Shivarkar said while on way to Latur for Deshmukh’s last rites, “The roads, overbridges  and railway overbridges in the city came up during his tenure. Katraj by-pass and IT park at Hinjwadi were among two big examples. As CM, he helped the city during Commonwealth Youth Games. He loved Pune very much and reminisced often about the 11 years spent in Pune.”

 Ulhas Pawar, one of the closest associates of Deshmukh not only in Pune but in Maharashtra, was inconsolable. On his way to Latur, one of his aides said he was not in a situation to speak anything. Later, the MLC said that he could not believe that his friend of 40-42 years was no more.

 Chandrakant Chajed, also a former MoS and close friend of Deshmukh since his college days, “Deshmukh, Gopinath Mundhe and I were studying together at INS Law College. I used to send him off to stand for Latur on my scootes. His speciality was that he never distanced his old friends even after assuming prominence.”

 MP Suresh Kalmadi also expressed his grief over Deshmukh’s demise. In the condolence message, he said, “The untimely death of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has saddened me. He was a very statesmanlike, studious leader with a great presence of mind who took everyone along with him. He was a mass leader in true sense. It makes me sad to lose a virtuous friend in him. He put Maharashtra ahead always as a Chief Minister. A visionary leader with a fighting spirit has been lost with his death.”

 Nationalist Congress MP Vandana Chavan also condoled Deshmukh’s passing away. In her message, she said, “Deshmukh was a cultured politician in state as well as country with a big heart. It is saddening that a leader who communicated directly with masses who steered state & country on the path of progress through able administration has been lost. Deshmukh often guided and encouraged the functionaries including me.”

 City party president Abhay Chhajed, convened the condolence meeting for the departed leader at 11 AM on Wednesday. A board was put up at the party’s headquarter Congress House  on Tuesday and also conveyed to the party members informing about the meeting.

 Ramchandra Bhuvad, a veteran of Congress party and Seva Dal, said, “The party’s flag can not be hoisted above the height of the national tri-colour. Hence, we removed the party’s flag from the building on August 9. Now, we are to hold the flag hoisting ceremony at 10.15 AM and then bring the tri-colour at half as a grief periodAfterwards, when the national flag is taken down, the party flag will be hoisted and it will also be brought at half.”

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Kite Festival Comes To Maharashtra

Giving a boost to the agri-tourism and trying to take advantage of the experiences elsewhere, the state is to emulate the Kite Festival way. For the first time ever, a Kite Festival will take place next month thanks to Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), the cultural department of the state and Agri Tourism Development Company (ATDC) at Baramati.

The kite festivals are organised in states like Gujarat and Kerala and it has brought windfall for those states. Taking a cue from those experiences, the same festival is to take place at Baramati from August 15 to 20. Pandurang Taware, CEO of ATDC, said, “The timing of the festival here will be different because traditionally the kites are flew in this season in Maharashtra. During the month of Shravan, an important festival of farmers Bail Pola takes place which is when kites are in vogue.”

In Gujarat and other northern states, the kite festivals takes place in January around the Makar Sankranti time. In Maharashtra, Bail Pola is celebrated on the new moon day (Amavasya) of the month of Shravan to pay respect to bulls. On this day, the farmers take out their bulls to the river and clean them after which they are decorated and moved around in procession. Villages have fairs and cometitions on the occasion.

“That is why we have organised the kite making competition. Along with it, the people will be encouraged to fly Vavadi, a variant of the kites. The event was organised on small level last year but it has been given the official status this year only,” said Taware.

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Frustrated Fort Lovers Start Repairing Fort Themselves

Frustrated over the inaction by authorities, the fort lovers and history enthusiasts took the repairs of the Sinhgad fort into their hands. They claimed that parts of the fort’s Kalyan Gate were collapsing continuously putting a question mark on the stability of the fort. That is why a group of the volunteers went up the fort and carried out the repairs of about 2 feet of the wall.  

About 50 members of Sahyadri Pratishtan had warned that it will rebuilt relics at the Sinhgad fort, about 30 kms from the city. The actually did the same on Thursday even as the state archaeological department opposed the act. Shramik Gojamgunde, founder of the organization claimed that the campaign was successful and the members repaired the tower at the Kalyan Gate. They also reported that a major portion of the tower along the door has collapsed fighting with monsoons.

“A major chunk of the tower collapsed last year and since then 10-15 stones are falling time and again. This has happened this monsoon also. All the stones which fell off from the tower were lying near the wall and steps going down to the Kalyan village. We removed those stones and piled them in a side so that they could be placed in their original place,” said Gojamgunde.

A team from the organization visited the fort on July 11 and found that outer wall and towers  at the forts are either fallen off or in the danger of falling off.

However, V N Kamble, assistant director of the state archaeology department, blamed the police for inaction. said, “The Sinhgad is a protected monument. The organization had given me a letter to repair the tower within 7 days but it could not have been done. A certain procedure has to be followed and our headquarter has to be conveyed. I had conveyed to him not to do this agitation and don’t harm the structure. I had informed the district collector as well as police officials but they didn’t take any action.”

The archaeological department has sent a team of experts on Friday to the fort to assess the situation. Kamble said the team will submit its report and then action will be taken against the organization for ‘vandalizing the monument’.  “I will first get the report and will talk to my seniors. By Monday, we will decide the future course of action. They could have adopted the fort which is legal way of conservation and approved by our department,” he said.

Kamble had told earlier that a tender of Rs 1.21 Crores has been floated and sent to the state government for approval. That tender includes the works of restructuring the Kalyan Gate, cleaning and desilting of the wells found on the fort and weeding out the bushes grown on the outer walls of the fort.”

The plans for the renovation of Sinhgad were in pipeline since 2005. The proposal was approved in 2005 and the actual work began in 2008. The budget allocated was Rs. 3.76 crore however most of the that budget has been  spent in making roads or other works rather than maintaining the monuments. The state archaeology department had prepared a plan for the renovation of Sinhgad Fort at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. The work was to be completed by this May.

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Least Rains In This June

It is official now. As the June comes to end, it recorded lowest rainfall in this month during the last decade. The city has recorded only 34.5 mm of rainfall since June 1 which is only one third of the average rainfall for the month.

As per the India Meteorological Department, The average rainfall for the city in June is 116.1 mm. However, the rainfall recorded at Pune station of IMD since the start of this month was only 34.5 mm, at Lohegaon it was 25.1 mm while at Pashan station it was 34.4 mm. This trend is in line with other districts in the state where only 7 out of 35 districts have registered the average rainfall for this month.

The lowest rainfall in June for city during last decade was three years ago, when 117.5 mm rainfall was recorded. But the situation in 2009 was helped by 55.5 mm rains during the 24-hour period on June 6. This time around, the maximum rainfall did not go beyond 3 mm.

Meanwhile, scant rains in the catchment areas of the dams have helped the water scarcity situation a little. The Temghar dam has recorded 2 mm of rains and Warasgaon and Panshet dams have recorded 3 mm of rains overnight. This has meant an insignificant increase in the level of water in all these dams.

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Can LPG Diversion Stop in India?

The government of India has embarked upon an ambitious project to check the pilfering of the LPG cylinders, a major component of the domestic fuel in the country. Recently, S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, launched a unique initiative - the 'LPG Portal' - that will host data on the last mile delivery of domestic LPG cylinders, supplied by PSU Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to nearly 10.4 millions households in the country. This is expected to curb the black marketing of the LPG cylinders.

The LPG Transparency portal can be accessed through the official website of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas : www.petroleum.nic.in. It can be also be accessed through the websites of oil marketing companies Indian Oil (www.indane.co.in); Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (www.ebharatgas.com) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (www.hindustanpetroleum.com).

For decades, the Indian OMCs supplied the cylinders to consumers at their doorsteps. Since the advent of economic liberalization in the country, this scenario changed with the demand for LPG cylinders by commercial establishments like eateries, hotels etc. Some cylinders even were fitted in the four wheelers. It was but natural that this surge in demand was fulfilled with diverting the LPG cylinders meant for domestic consumers to commercial customers.

In late 1990s, the government came up with idea to separate both cylinders and having color coding to identify the cylinders for each segment. However, given the level of corruption in supply cycle and absence of effective vigilance mechanism, that scheme has produced minor results when compared to the total volume of diversion.

The potal allows the consumers to know their individual pattern of LPG usage, LPG booking status, LPG refill history or request for surrender of their connection, highest consumption consumers, subsidy availed etc. The information on the portal can also be sorted by consumer number, consumer name and by distributors' name easily.

The government has expressed hope that this measure will emerge as a powerful tool for social audit for all domestic LPG supplies. This portal not only benefits consumers but is also a unique resource for civil society to access LPG distribution information, report discrepancies and register their feedback on the anomalies in supply, if any, an official release said.

Minister Reddy said at the occasion, "OMC's have been making efforts to increase coverage of LPG so that it is available in all parts of the country. However, the high prices and volatility experienced in the prices of LPG and our high dependency on imports of LPG makes it very challenging to maintain the supply of LPG to the customers at the subsidized price. The three Oil Marketing Companies supply over 32 lakhs cylinders per day and are expected to incur a subsidy burden of Rs.43,000 crore this year. Thus the need to curb unauthorized usage of LPG for commercial purposes has become acute in the recent times."

This is just one of the schemes launched by the government to curb the unauthorized use of LPG cylinders. For example, in Pune (Maharashtra), Mysore (Karnataka) and Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), the HPCL has launched a scheme wherein the finger prints of the consumers are registered. Similarly, IOC has decided to provide Unique Identification Numbers to the consumers. For this, the companies have joined hands with UID authority also. As per the plan, the delivery men of the company will check the finger prints of the end consumer before delivering the cylinders. These prints will be stored on the servers of the company.

In April 2012, R. P. N. Singh, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, informed the Lok Sabha that till April 1, OMCs had blocked 8,89,267 LPG connections of Piped Natural Gas consumers, in an effort to stop diversion of subsidized domestic LPG. PNG connections are provided to households in cities having City Gas Distribution projects to supply natural gas as cooking fuel. He also informed that the Government has enacted "Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Regulation of Supply and Distribution) Order, 2000" and formulated "Marketing Discipline Guidelines, 2001" which provides for penal action against LPG distributors indulging in diversion/black marketing of LPG.

However, these measures have failed to throw up the expected results. During 2010 alone, OMCs had taken action in 140 established cases in the country for release of benami/bogus LPG connection

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Fire In Secretariat Arises Suscpicion

An unprecedented major fire which broke out in the Mantralaya (secretariat) in Mumbai has given birth to suspicions that it is part of cover-up. The fire took place in the urban development department on second floor which had most of the files pertaining to Adarsh scam. Even as this post is being written, the fire fighters are trying to douse fire which has engulfed 4th, 5th and 6th floor. According to reports on news channels, most of the offices on these floors were gutted in the fire. 

All the employees working in the building were evacuated. One of my friends, who works in the publicity department, said that all employees rushed downstairs immediately after the fire broke out. There was no cause of worry. Around 10 fire tenders were trying to bring the fire under control and even Indian Navy's choppers were pressed into service.

The social networks were filled with posts expressing doubts on the cause of the fire. Almost everybody thinks that the fire was started deliberately to destroy the files pertaining to various scams. Even senior officers, like former IPS officer Y.P. Singh were apprehensive. 

Fire breaks out on fourth floor of Maharashtra secretariat in Mumbai

The urban development department is one of the most important departments and is a major source of black money for politicians, he told Headlines Today. Besides this department, even Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's office on 6th floor was also on fire.

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GE Lights Maharashtra's Hope With $200 Million Promise

CM Prithviraj Chavan and GE officials inspecting the plan of the proposed plant at Chakan.

US major General Electric on Friday announced that it will invest $ 200 million (INR 1,100 crores) in Maharashtra, India to set up a new manufacturing facility in Pune for developing products for the energy sector. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)was signed between the state government and GE at Chakan.

The MoU was signed at Hotel Hyatt Regency in the presence of Prithviraj Chavan, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Expressing his pleasure, Chavan said the planned project will provide employment to over two thousand people. "We are confident that such initiatives will strengthen the manufacturing sector in India and enhance growth. 21st century is about competition & we want to increase manufacturing in the state," he said.

In a statement issued by GE India, John Flannery, President & CEO, said,

"GE India announced that its new manufacturing unit would develop localised products and solutions for the energy sector in its first phase of operation commencing in 2013," the company said in a statement.

GE already has a wind turbine assembly unit in Pune. The proposed plant will come up at 68 acre of land and will manufacture the energy products as well as environment friendly products.

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Professor of English Sues Publisher For Infringing Copyright

A former reader of Goa University, who is settled in the city, has filed lawsuits against two publishers and claimed Rs 25 lakh each in damages over copyright infringement after he allegedly found books written by him being sold without his permission at high prices.


Prof Anand Patil, former head of the English Department, Goa University, claims that he has not received the royalty amount for his books Western Influence on Marathi Drama published by Rajhauns Vitaran, 1993 and The Whirligig of Taste: Essays in Comparative Literature published by Creative Books, New Delhi.

He said that the academic books are also available online. Patil has also filed cases against Google Books and Amazon.com.

Patil, a resident of Dahanukar Colony, learnt about the piracy last month from his US-based daughter who told him that his books were available on Amazon.com.

“Western Influence on Marathi Drama was based on my thesis on which I had worked for 12 years. When I found that it was sold online for about Rs 4,000, I was shocked,” Patil said adding that after browsing further he found The Whirligig of Taste: Essays in Comparative Literature was also on sale.

“Both of these publishers did not pay a single penny. When I demanded an explanation, one of them denied having published the book. Rajhauns Vitaran has offered me a cheque of Rs 10,000 but my counsel advised me against encashing it,” he said.

“Since there is no authoritative work available in English on Maharashtra’s language, culture and traditions, my books are sought by researchers. My essay is included in Cambridge Sourcebook of Comparative Literary into Comparative Literature,” he added.

Patil said that he was not worried about recovering damages from Google Books or Amazon.com because they have a better Intellectual Property Rights policy and will settle the dues. “It is these two publishers that I want to teach a lesson,” he said.

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Maharashtra Day Without Fervour

The usual fervour which accompanies Maharashtra Day on May 1 was absent this time. The state has been mired in problems ranging from lawlessness to drought and there is no remedy in sight. The ruling politicians have put up a brave face being a developed state but that does not take away the limelight away from the serious problems the public is facing here.

Just a couple of days before the celebrations for the 52^nd foundation day for the state began, the local media reported about the demand or wish by villagers in Jat division of the Sangli district. The villagers had collectively demanded that they wanted to go in the Karnataka state because the farmers in the neighbouring state are getting much better treatment. Their argument is that even though farmers in Maharashtra are suffering from drought, they are not given adequate waivers. In the contrast, the farmers in Karnataka are getting loans with zero interest and power without charge.

This news item was an eye opener for those who prided on the strides made by the state in social welfare, justice, economic equality and industrialisation. All the claims made by government stood dwarfed in the light of this development.

Not only the villagers of Jat, many parts of the state resent the downgrade of Maharashtra in recent years. Just August last year, Vairagadh village in Buldhana district made a similar demand through the gram sabha. They had even written a letter to Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat for inclusion of their village in that state.

The state has taken a beating on each and every front. It stands at top in the list of debt ridden states and is followed by Uttar Pradesh with a total debt burden of Rs 1.36 lakh crore. The state is paying Rs 20,000 crore towards interest on loans alone.

The state also is ranked first in the number of farmer suicides with more than three thousand farmers taking their lives each year. According to Economic Survey 2011-12, the economic growth of the state has falled to 8.5 % from 11.3 % last year.

These hard realities have confined the Maharashtra Day to rituals. This has been second time in a row that the state is missing the usual celebratory mood. Hope it is improved next year.

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Trekkers Paradise Under Development Threat

The trekking community in Pune and Mumbai are enraged over the possible destruction of one their favourite destination. The trekkers and fort lovers are worried over a plan by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) to build a resort at Harishchandragad, a fort on the south-east of Pune at about 160 kms.

Harishchandragad is a hill fort in south east of Pune. It has played a major role in guarding and controlling the surrounding region. Konkan Kada, the cliff is the most fascinating point for those who go up the fort because besides being vertical, it is spread like a cobra's hood.

However, all this will be relegated to past because the MTDC wants to build a rest house near the cliff and is to start excavation work there, claim the trekkers. The fort is among 25 forts which MTDC has chosen initially to develop tourist facilities on the forts. The company already has a rest house at Malshej sanctuary. To facilitate the tourists, a road is to be built also in the hill. Railings are to be built on the cliff for which, it is feared, a part of the cliff has to be cut.

Now, the decision is being opposed by trekkers. Giriventures, a Facebook group of trekkers from both the cities, has launched online campaign to oppose the development work. Anurag Vaidya, a trekker from city, said, “Some villagers at the fort told the trekkers from Mumbai about this proposal. When we got to know about the proposal, we contacted the officials at the fort. But we were told that there is no such proposal. I posted about it on my FB account so that people should know how the government is creating chaos.”

Jagdish Pati, managing director of MTDC, said that the Harishchandragad figures among the forts to be developed for tourists but the job will be done without harming the environment. “We have planned a base camp, toilets and other amenities at the fort. The plan is to connect the fort with Bhandardara and other tourist destinations in the area. However, we will not do anything which will harm the environment. It is our endeavour to promote a healthy and environment friendly tourism in the state,” he said.

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Can Intellectual Property Rights Save Pune's Heritage?

In a unique development, the pride of Pune’s may be protected by the Itellectual Property Rights, if all comes out as planned. Following in the footsteps of other cities, the Maharatta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) is finding the ways to protect city’s heritage with IPR.

MCCIA and Janwani, recently held a workshop on the subject. It was a part of the ongoing Heritage Week celebrations under Virasat Pune initiative of these bodies. According to these organisations, the objective of the exercise was to brainstorm and identify the ways in which the tangible and intangible assets in the cultural and natural heritage of Pune can be protected.

Those who addressed the workshop included Priyank Gupta, Amol Ghadge and Vithika Sharma. Priyank Gupta, manager, IPR at Legasis Services, told Pune Mirror, “There has been attempts all over the world to preserve own culture and heritage. Pune has recorded two major events where it lost a large chunk of its history – one was when the Shaniwar Wada was burned during 1890s and then floods in 1961 wiped out many wadas and historical documents. We want to prevent this to happen again.”

To prevent such losses, Ghadge, a patent & trademark attorney, proposed to digitise the heritage items. Also, Sharma suggested to form a City Mark depicting the city’s identity with a known monument or product. “Like Puneri Pagdi, some of jewelleries or handicraft which may not be visible in the city may be found in the digital archives so that young generation can access and know them,” he said.

Gupta pointed to Birmingham where the city council has archived all newspapers and documented all family trees of the citizens. This facilitates people to trace their ancestry.

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Japanese Comes Calling To Marathi

Going beyond the Okamyoma garden and Origami classes, the city’s relations with Japan are getting a boost now in the form of a Marathi-Japanese online dictionary. As a part of the celebrations of 60 years of diplomatic relations between India-Japan, the government there has funded a project to build online Marathi-Japanese dictionary. About 30-35 volunteers from the city are contributing in this project.

The Online Verb Handbook will be one of the first of its kind. The project is launched by Dr. Prashant Pardeshi, Professor of Cross Linguistics in National University of Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), Tokyo. He and his 7-member team has identified basic verbs in Japanese language and they are providing complete explanation in Japanese, about meanings of the verbs in their various shades and numerous examples of their usage in sentences, idioms, proverbs, and even example of wrong usage (for avoiding common mistakes of usage) and so on. It also consists audio information (for accurate pronunciation) and animation (for proper understanding).

A team of volunteers from city is taking care of translation of the Japanese explanation into Marathi. The team consists of Dr. Hari Damle, Salil Vaidya and other Japanese language teachers. According to Dr. Damle, the project assumes significance that it is precursor to other languages. After completion of this project, similar verb handbooks will be prepared in other languages like Chinese, Korean and English.

For editing this handbook, Prof. Kiryu from Mimasaka University has developed an online editor, which enables simultaneous editing of the handbook from different countries. The work is expected to be completed in an year.

A workshop was recently held at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) about the nuances of this project. During the workshop, Prof. Pardeshi spoke about earlier efforts in this direction. He exhibited a copy of his earlier Japanese-Marathi basic verb dictionary in printed book-form. He added, “The present handbook is the first of its kind in the sense that it is the first attempt in Japanese to compile such a work using a large scale database of written Japanese.” Prof. Yasunari Imamura

Prof. Pardeshi is a Puneite by birth. After securing education in Japanese from Pune and New Delhi, he compeleted Ph. D. from Kobe University.

The Maharashtra-Japan Relations

The relations between Japan and Maharashtra, especially Pune, share common bonds. Adv. Sameer Khale, president of Association of Friends of Japan, told Pune Mirror, “The grammar of both languages is same. That is why it is found that Marathi students acquire Japanese language more easily than others. There are about 500 families or 2000 Maharashtrians living in Japan now. This dictionary will facilitate to all those who want to learn Japanese without knowing any other language like English.”

Dr. Umesh Joshi vice president of Mombusha Scholars Association of India, said, “This is the first Japanese dictionary based on verbs. This dictionary will take the natural language to common people beyong academic circles. Most of all, it will be free of cost.”

Dr. Saroja Bhate, veteran indologist, said, “The relations of Maharashtra and Japan are very deep. There used to be an annual issue named Maharashtra. Also, Acharya Atre’s famous book Shyamachi Aai was translated also in Japanese.” Dr. Bhate said that there is a tremendous interest among Japanese for indology and given their lesser skills in English, these types of projects will bridge a wide gap.

The commonalities

The basic structure of Japanese and Marathi are too similar viz. subject-object-verb. The particles in Japanese are closer in meaning to Marathi. Even some words have the same meaning. For example, Marathi ka and Japanese ka means why. Dr. Damle informed that even some proverbs in both languages astounding similarities. For example, the equivalent to Marathi bhintila kana astat (walls have ears) is khabe-ni mimi aari in Japanese.

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We, The Indians, Need This

German voters are more and more inclining towards those political parties which favour more internet freedom. With the present United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi pressing for bringing more restrictions on internet use, we also need to adopt this trend.

Internet freedom becomes German political catalyst 

As per this report, Germany's Pirate Party, a party devoted to Internet freedom, gained backing in a weekly poll that showed it siphoning off support from opposition parties. The Pirates climbed 1 percentage point to 13 percent, displacing the Green Party, which slid 2 points to 11 percent, as the most popular force after the two main parties, according to a Forsa poll commissioned by Stern-RTL. 

The Pirates, whose platform focuses on web privacy and copyright issues, are gaining support from young voters disenchanted with the more established parties. The emergence of the party, which won its first seats in a state parliament in Berlin last year, threatens to shuffle

"For many young people, the Greens have become stale and old," Forsa director Manfred Guellner said in a statement. "The antinuclear issue doesn't pull them in anymore."

It has been long since the idea has been floated to incorporate internet in the list of basic human rights. But the leaders of Congress party, which is heading the UPA government and which claims the legacy of more than 100 years, are showing hysteric tendencies over the critical comments made on social networking sites and blogs. If the voters chose to give credence to leaders for more internet freedom, the scenario may change in the country. 

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Nilu Phule Gets Tribute From Mother Organisation

Rashtra Seva Dal, an arm of the socialist organisations, paid tribute to one of its illustrious members on Sunday by opening an art academy in his name. The academy, named after actor Nilu Phule, will conduct classes in acting, dance and singing.

Nilu Phule, a thespian of the Marathi and Hindi theatre and movies, was a member of the Rashtra Seva Dal before he rose to prominence. Till his death in July 2009, he was a dedicated worker of the organisation. To preserve his memories as a social worker, the organisation came up with the thought of building an academy. It took off with the inauguration of acting workshop on Sunday.

According to Deepak Rege, director of the academy, each workshop will be of 15 days and total 20 hours of training will be given to students in each workshop. Training on videography, editing and audiography will be added later. These workshops will be run all year long and keeping in socialist tradition, the fees for these courses will be kept low. Makarand Tillu, renowned artist, was present at the inaugural workshop.

The Rashtra Seva Dal came up with the idea to start such an academy after it conducted number of workshops teaching dance, music and even acting. Rege said, “There are a number of institutes right now teaching these type of things. However, they are limited to the affluent class. We want to create new artists with a clear consciousness to help the society. These were the ethos of Nilubhau and need to be imbibed in the next generation.”

Reminiscing about his association with Phule, Rege said, “Even though we met quite often, I could never act with him. At that time, he used to tour part of the month for plays and remaining part was given for shooting. I was working with a bank then and used to take part in plays after service hours. Because of this, we could never tour or work together.”

“Since this is a socialist organisation, we want to reach to every sphere. Younger generation want to learn every type art forms. This is evident from the audience present here. We got 100 to 150 calls within a month after we announced the opening,” said Suresh Deshmukh of Rashtra Seva Dal.

He said, “It was characteristic of Nilu Phule that he remained a hard core humanist till last. Today’s artists throw tantrums at the first chance they get in TV or other mediums. We are teaching the students to avoid this. In another words, this is an attempt to create a gentleman from them.”

Deshmukh said that the organisation is charging Rs 4,000 which includes lodging and food charges as well. He said, “I have seen talent at rural places. The young ones in villages can learn the art here and practice it in their place as well.”

Abhijit Kosambi, winner of the Saregama championship, will be training the students in singing. He said, “It was because of the guidance given by Phule sir that I ventured into singing. I am very thrilled that I will be a part of the exercise associated with his name.” He reminisced how Phule was humility personified and reminded the students that the greatness of the heart makes an artist great.

Offering a tribute to Phule, Sandhyatai Kate, a veteran theatre personality who worked with the thespian in many folk plays, reminded that Phule used to experiment a lot in his plays. “He along with Ram Nagarkar used to play pranks and make additions during plays which put other artists on toes. But that made the entire experience interesting one,” she said.

Nilubhau And RSD

Nilu Phule started his career with Rashtra Seva Dal, which had an art wing, during the independence struggle period. He mainly acted in plays which gave a strong message of socialism, humanitarianism and political agitations. He was the head of the art wing in Pune of the organisation during late 1950s. His major plays with the organisation include ‘Yeragabalyache Kam Nahi’, ‘Kunacha Kunala Mel Nahi’, ‘Binbiyanche Zad’ and ‘Pudhari Pahije’.

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Pune Gets Hotter

The summer has arrived with a bang. The city's temperature is getting warmer. On Saturday, the city recorded maximum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. It is still only the beginning and the season is promised to make us sweat!

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Intercaste Marriages Get Life Support

With the incidences of honour killing on the rise in the state, the activists pressing for inter-caste marriages are also gearing up for a fight back. Those who are helping the couples from different communities coming together are themselves coming together in the city to discuss the hideous crimes in recent past and ways to prevent them.

The state has seen two such incidences in the last two months both of which were in Satara district. In the first instance, a Dalit woman was dragged and beaten, also allegedly paraded naked in the village in the month of January. In another instance, a woman was killed by her own father for insisting on marrying outside her community.

On the other hand, some activists are actively encouraging the intercaste or interfaith couples. Members of Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti, who register or arrange such marriages are to converge in city on March 18 & 19 to spread awareness about such marriages.

"The idea is to tell people that intercaste marriage is not a shameful thing. The society has to accept it and shed inhibitions about losing one's reputation in the community,” said Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, executive president of MANS.

To imbibe this message, the conference is named as Amhi Purohit Antarjatiy Vivahache (We are priests of intercaste marriages) even though MANS does not encourage religious ceremony for marriage.

Dr. Dabholakr said that to make the interacaste marriages a success, the couples should to be provided four fold support. The couples should be encouraged to shed their caste orientations, they should be provided counseling and other services, there should be institutional system for the protection of these couples and finally the families of the couples should be made aware that these marriages are as natural as other marriages are.

"With this conference, we are doing the same. The members who are participating in the conference will also narrate how difficult it is for them to officiate such marriages and how they deal with such situations,” said Dr. Dabholkar.

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Meghalaya To Follow In Maharashtra's Strawberry Path

Impressed by the rapid strides Maharashtra has made in the strawberry plantations, farmers from Meghalaya are looking to recreate the success in their own state.

A 25 member delegation from the Meghalaya was  at Mahabaleshwar studying various aspects of the strawberry farming. According to the members of the delegation, the Meghalaya is leading in the tea plantation owing to a very conducive climate. However, the state is not so successful in having the production of starwberry in same measure. He compares the climate of his state to Mahabaleshwar which is very same. That is why he thinks that this study tour will be helpful for the farmers from his state.

In return, the delegation will impart training about the tea gardening to farmers in Mahabaleshwar which is the only place with favourable conditions for tea gardening in Maharashtra.

Balasaheb Bhilare, president of Strawberry Growers Association of Maharashtra said, "We had imparted training in the strawberry cultivations to Meghalaya farmers some years ago. Now that the initial experiments have brought good results, the farmers there came to probe further opportunities. The delegation was here for two days and studied various aspects."

However, this will not be a one way affair as the Maharashtrian farmers are also looking for opportunities in tea cultivation. A team of farmers will leave for Meghalaya in June to study the possibilities of tea cultivation on the hill slopes of Mahabaleshwar.

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Pune's Blackberry Experiment To Go Global

After having won accolades from the government and people alike, the traff-i-cop experiment started in the city is set to reach to international level. The designers of the Blackberry-based system presented it to a conference in Orlando and countries like Bermuda are looking at it for the implementation.

"Right now Kolkata and states like Assam, Punjab and Gujarat have asked us for the implementation of this system. In a conference at Orlando, US, the company officials had a presentation on this system to which Bermuda has responded positively,” said Hitesh Shah, Director, Commercial Relationship India of Research In Motion (RIM), the producers of the Blackberry. The conference was organised by RIM for its worldwide partners showing their applications where traff-i-cop was applauded by all.

In November 2009, the traff-i-cop system was experimented by the Pune Traffic police with the application for the system developed by Omni Bridge Systems, a city based company. The system envisages tracking down the traffic offenders with the help of Blackberry. Initially the project was meant to be for three months but it was extended to 13 months.

"Right now we are in talks with the Pune police, RTO and other officials. Even though it is away from public glare, the work is underway to update the system and removing whatever shortcoming which came or might come in future,” said Shah.

The application has been awarded ‘Best innovative project/technological application’ by Ministry of Urban Development last week.  By using this application, traffic police could easily identify the offenders and trace them real time. Now, this is set to be used for detecting the stolen vehicles which are taken to other cities.

"National Informatics Centre (NIC) is digitising the databases of all Regional Transport Offices in the state. Once it will be available on the server, the stolen vehicles or vehicles found violating traffic norms will also be traced easily,” said Amit Shitole, director of the Omni Bridge Systems Pvt. Ltd.

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Mark Of A Controversy

The jewellery professionals in the city are now up into arms agaisnt a recent directive by the central government to make the hallmark certification mandatory. The professionals have termed this order as an impractical one and say that it will create more problems for the sarafi pedhis.

The Union Cabinet had decided in January that all the gold jewelleries sold in the country should bear the Hallmark stamp. Apparently, the decision was taken to ensure the quality and authenticity of the gold jewelleries. A large part of the jewellery sold in the country carries this stamp already but it was a voluntary step and not the mandatory one.

However, the decision has not gone down well among the jewellers. Fattechand Ranka, president of the Pune Saraf Association, told Pune Mirror, “At the moment, there are not enough Hallmark centres. To get the Hallmark stamp means that jewellers from far off places will have to put off their business for at least four hours a day. Also, carrying the jewellery will pose danger to the person.”

The Jewellers are also dissatisfied with the provision that if the jewellery is found faulty even after the Hallmarking, then the responsibility will have to be carried by jeweller himself rather than the Hallmarking centre.

Ranka said, “We have given a presentation to the Union government in this regard. We have requested to set up more centres and clear these shortfalls. It has not come up with the draft of the law. If the law is enacted in the current form, then we will have no other option but to go to court.”

The Hallmarking of the gold and silver jewellery is done in India by the Bureau of Indian Standards, under the Consumer Affairs Ministry. 
The mandatory Hallmarking oof gold jewelleries, among others, will be implemented once the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Act, 1986, bill will be amended.

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Bio-Diversity Map Of India Ready : Kasturirangan

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Department of Bio-technology (DBT) has prepared a biodiversity map of the country on the landscape level. It has also prepared digitized inventories of important bio-resources which includes medicinal plants, other economically important plants, animal, marine and microbial resources. This map will be instrumental for strategic planning, said Dr. K. Kasturiranga, member of the planning commission and former chairman of ISRO.

Dr. Kasturirangan was speaking after inaugurating the National Conference on BiodiversityAssessment, Conservation and Utilization which was organised by Abasaheb Garware College along with BAIF Development Research Foundation. He praised Madhav Gadgil, senior scientist and chairman of Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, who was present on the dais. He said, “You are lucky to have Prof Madhav Gadgil , who is the world recognized expert on ecology and for his work on the Western Ghat as your patron. His work evokes pride in all of us. Prof Gadgil had kindly consented to be the chairman of Steering Committee on Environment & Forests which was constituted for the 12th plan preparation.”

He outlined the key course of action taken by planning commission based on recommendations made by the Prof. Gadgil's working group as greening 5 million hectares under Green India Mission including 0.75 million ha. of degraded lands and afforestation and eco-restoration of 2.0 million ha of ecologically sensitive areas, Reclaim wetlands/inland lakes /ponds of 0.1 million Ha by 2017, Improve forest production and maintain biodiversity, Prepare and implement recovery plan for identified 16 wildlife species and assess ,Coastal Biodiversity resource, use and sustainability.

He said that the Planning Commission is developing a Environmental Performance Index (EPI) that combines ecological performance with economic delivery for purposes of fiscal planning and social delivery.

Prof. Gadgil reminded that Western Ghats is one of the two biodiversity hotspots in the country other two being Eastern Himalaya. Eminent scientist Dr. Vasant Gowarikar, principal secretary of revenue and forest, Maharashtra, Pravinsingh Pardeshi were also present on the occasion.

The Biodiversity Facts

• India has over 91,000 species of animals and 45,500 species of plants in its ten bio-geographic regions have been documented so far.
• Nearly 6,500 native plants are used in indigenous healthcare systems.
• Thousands of locally-adapted crop varieties are grown traditionally since ancient times, and nearly 140 native breeds of farm livestock, continue to thrive in its diversified farming systems.
• The country is recognized as one of the eight Vavilovian Centres of Origin and Diversity of Crop Plants, having more than 300 wild ancestors and close relatives of cultivated plants still growing and evolving under natural conditions.
• It is estimated that about 4,00,000 more species may exist in India which need to be recorded and described.
• In addition over 3 lakh samples of cultivars , which have gone out of cultivation are under long term storage in the National Gene Bank.
• An estimated 41 percent of the country’s forest cover has been degraded to some degree.
• As much as 78 percent of forest area is subject to heavy grazing and about 50 percent of the forest area is prone to forest fires.

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