Nagpur University: August 2009

B.A/B.Sc. ( Final )Exam Paper Mathematics paper-3 (Special Theory of Relativity) Summer 2007

B.A/B.Sc. ( Final )Exam Paper Mathematics paper-3 (Special Theory of Relativity) Summer

2007

B.A/B.Sc. ( Final )Exam Paper Mathematics paper-2 Abstract Algebra Summer 2007

B.A/B.Sc. ( Final )Exam Paper Mathematics paper-2 Abstract Algebra

Summe

r 2007

physical chemistry paper-2 B.Sc. Final Year exam nagpur university summer 2008

Chemistry paper-2 B.Sc. Final Year Exam Summer 2008 Nagpur University

Summer 2008 Chemistry paper-2 B.Sc. Final Year Exam Nagpur

University

Provisional certificate form

Provisional certificate form

Paper-2 Physics Winter 2008 B.Sc. Final Exam ( Molecular Physics, Nuclear physics and solid State Physics )

Paper-2 Physics Winter 2008

B.Sc. Final Exam

(

Molecular Physics, Nuclear physics and solid State Physics )

Maha to have tribal battalion to tackle Naxalism, says Patil

Maha to have tribal battalion to tackle Naxalism, says Patil

Maharashtra will soon raise an exclusive tribal battalion to deal with the menace of Naxalism in tribal dominated areas in eastern Vidarbha, Maharashtra Home Minister Jayant Patil said here today.

The proposed battalion will be deployed in the Naxal- infested areas of Gadchiroli, Bhamragarh and Gondia districts since the tribals are more familiar with the topography, weather conditions, language and culture of the area.

Therefore, they would be able to deal with Naxals in a better way, Patil said here today.

Patil earlier laid a foundation for the Rs 35 crore anti-Naxalities commando training centre 'Alpha Hawks', on the lines of Andhra Pradesh's 'Grayhounds' at Suraburdi, about 20 kms on the Nagpur-Amravati road near here.

It would require about 20 months to complete, Patil said adding it would provide training to 300 policemen.

State will soon have special police stations for women

In a couple of months, Mumbai and eight other police commissionerates in the state will have special police stations and helpline for

women. The police station will be managed by women police personnel. An announcement to this effect was made on Friday by the minister of state for home (rural) Nitin Raut.

The state has witnessed an increase in crimes like dowry harassment, molestation, rape and atrocities against women. However, in many cases it is found that women who were victims of rape, molestation and other sexual crimes feel awkward while reporting these incidents to the local police stations, Raut stated.

"To curb such incidents, the state government has decided to have a separate police station for women so that they can freely a crime or a complaint,'' the minister added.

According to the official figures, in past four years (2005 to 2008), there have been 6,054 cases of rape and 8,172 people have been arrested for it.

Apart from nine police commissionerates-Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik and Solapur-each district in the state will have one police station, especially meant for women. Each police station will have a senior police inspector, four sub-inspectors and 30 head constables. The5se police stations will be monitored by officers of the rank of the joint commissioner of police in that respective area, Raut added.

The state government has also decided to set up a separate toll-free helpline and legal advice dedicated to women. "On this helpline number, women can register a complaint or crime. Also, free legal advice will be given to the victims,'' Raut said. The helpline is expected to start in a month.

Top-class training facility for Force One

The state department for home has earmarked Rs 300 crore for an ambitious plan to raise world class facilities for training commandos of

the two special units of Force One in urban and jungle warfare in Pune and Nagpur respectively.

The plan forms part of the Rs 500-crore proposal moved by state chief minister Ashok Chavan to the Union government during the chief ministers’ conference earlier this week. “The Government of India has agreed to release funds for these projects and we are now into discussions with the Union home ministry officials for finalising the release,” state’s additional chief secretary (home), Chandra Iyengar, told TOI on Friday.

She said: “We have marked Rs 300 crore for the two Force One units alone. The remaining amount asked for will be utilised for other purposes such as police training academies and strengthening of the force.”

Iyengar said, “The idea is to develop the two special commando units into a highly focused and state-of-the-art forces dealing with urban and jungle warfare situations.” These forces will operate on the lines of the country’s elite special response unit, the National Security Guards (NSG). “We are getting vital inputs from NSG as well as the Israeli forces, which have developed high expertise in urban combat,” she said.

The two units of Force One were raised following the audacious terror attacks on Mumbai in November last year. The rising instances of attacks by Naxalites in the tribal districts like Gadchiroli over the last one year also underlined the need for such special forces.

While the Force One in Pune is mandated for training commandos in urban combat, the unit in Nagpur — known as Anti Hawks — is for training in jungle warfare. The state government has been working in tandem with the Union government for developing apt training facilities for these units.

Zoogate :-Central Zoo Authority (CZA) top boss arrives in city

Zoogate :-Central Zoo Authority (CZA) top boss arrives in city

Central Zoo Authority (CZA) member secretary B R Sharma is expected to visit the Maharajbagh zoo on Saturday to investigate the entry of

Maharashtra agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat into the tiger cage last week. Sharma is also expected to meet state’s principal chief conservator of forests for wildlife A K Joshi.

Sharma told TOI that the report sent by Maharajbagh zoo controller had reached his office, but denied he had rejected it. "I’m expected in Nagpur on Saturday but everything will depend on the weather in Delhi, which is right now unfriendly. If weather improves I will visit Nagpur or I will come next week." The TOI on Thursday had reported that the zoo officials and police had given a clean chit to Thorat for entering into the cage of tiger on August 15.

The zoo officials have played safe by citing agriculture university rules to protect Thorat. Sharma’s visit seems to be the result of Jairam Ramesh, minister of environment and forest, taking serious note of the incident and asking the CZA to submit a report. If found guilty, Thorat faces six months jail term or fine of Rs 2000 or both. He was filmed last week stroking a tiger cub in the zoo as his armed security guards and the city Congress president Jaiprakash Gupta looked on.

According to provisions of Wildlife Protection Act 1972, only zoo personnel are authorised to enter animal enclosures. Sharma’s visit has rattled local officials who are avoiding public comment. Zoo incharge Dr S S Bawaskar refused to comment saying he was busy in a meeting. Reliable sources in CZA said zoo controller M M Damke was trying to shift responsibility on Bawaskar by saying he was not aware of CZA rules and provisions of Wildife Protection Act 1972.

A source said some staffers were likely to face transfers too. Conservationist Kundan Hate however said if zoo controller was not aware of laws, why should he hold the post? "If action against Bawaskar is taken, then Damke should also be punished because everything happened in presence of both," he said.

First suspected swine flu death in Nagpur

A 60-year-old woman has died of suspected swine flu in the city today, official sources said.

Sitabai Khobragade, hailing from Rameshwari, died at the Government Medical College Hospital here where she was shifted yesterday from Lata Mangeshkar Hospital, the sources said.

Report of her blood samples, which have been sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, are awaited. If the report comes out to be positive, she would be the first victim of the flu in the city.

"For the time being the death is only suspected and unless NIV report confirms that she had indeed tested positive for swine flu, nothing can be said," the sources added.

Meanwhile, the total number of persons who tested positive for the H1N1 virus in the city remained at 23.

Zero power cut hearing on Oct 28

Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), on expected lines, has fixed the date of public hearing on MSEDCL’s proposal to

make seven cities — including Nagpur and Amravati — load shedding free from October 27 to November 6 in six cities. The hearing in Amravati will be held on October 27.

The hearing in Nagpur will be held on October 28 at Vanamati Hall, VIP Road, Dharampeth. MSEDCL has issued a public notice for its petition and invited suggestions and objections from the consumers. They have to be sent to superintending engineer of MSEDCL’s tariff research cell, Prakashgad, Mumbai. The public notice is available on the power utility’s website www.mahadiscom.in .

MSEDCL sources said that MERC has fixed the date of public hearings so late as it does not want to hold them during election code of conduct. Even though Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce elections in the state MERC seems to have taken the decision on basis of media reports that election would be held in second week of October. Nagpur and Amravati had paid a heavy price for MERC’s obstinacy last time when power sellers had cancelled the informal power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Vidarbha Industries Association (VIA) when MERC made it clear that hearings would not be held when code of conduct for parliamentary elections was in force.

MSEDCL in its petition had stated that it wanted to implement zero load shedding (ZLS) schemes from September 1. However, now there is no chance of this happening before December 1 as the public hearings would continue till November 6. MERC would take at least 15 to 20 days to issue an order. MSEDCL has stated in the public notice that copy of its petition containing all details will be made available at all zonal offices and can be purchased for Rs 20. In Nagpur you can get it at office of chief engineer (CE), Nagpur urban zone at Link Road, Gaddigodam and CE, Nagpur Zone at Katol Road Square. The consumers of Amravati will have to get copies from CE office at Akola.

PAPER SETS:- B.SC FINAL ( B.SC -3 ) PHYSICS PAPER-1 WINTER 2008

Almost every Muslim was with Gandhi when Jinnah left the Congress'

History might be better understood if we did not treat it as a heroes-and-villains movie, says eminent journalist and author M J Akbar, elucidating the Jinnah factor in pre-Independent India.
"Well, young man. I will have nothing to do with this pseudo-religious approach to politics. I part company with the Congress and Gandhi. I do not believe in working up mob hysteria."

The young man was a journalist, Durga Das. The older man was Mohammad Ali Jinnah . The reference is from Durga Das's classic book, India from Curzon to Nehru and After. Jinnah said this after the 1920 Nagpur session, where Gandhi's non-cooperation resolution was passed almost unanimously.

On October 1, 1906, 35 Muslims of 'noble birth, wealth and power' called on the fourth earl of Minto, Curzon's successor as Viceroy of India. They were led by the Aga Khan and used for the first time a phrase that would dominate the history of the subcontinent in the 20th century: the 'national interests' of Indian Muslims. They wanted help against an 'unsympathetic' Hindu majority.

They asked, very politely, for proportional representation in jobs and separate seats in councils, municipalities, university syndicates and high court benches. Lord Minto was happy to oblige. The Muslim League was born in December that year at Dhaka, chaired by Nawab Salimullah Khan, who had been too ill to join the 35 in October. The Aga Khan was its first president.

The Aga Khan wrote later that it was 'freakishly ironic' that 'our doughtiest opponent in 1906' was Jinnah, who 'came out in bitter hostility towards all that I and my friends had done... He was the only well-known Muslim to take this attitude… He said that our principle of separate electorates was dividing the nation against itself.'

On precisely the same dates that the League was formed in Dhaka, Jinnah was in nearby Calcutta with 44 other Muslims and roughly 1,500 Hindus, Christians and Parsis, serving as secretary to Dadabhai Naoroji, president of the Indian National Congress.

Dadabhai was too ill to give his address, which had been partially drafted by Jinnah and was read out by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Sarojini Naidu, who met the 30-year-old Jinnah for the first time here, remembered him as a symbol of 'virile patriotism'.

Her description is arguably the best there is: 'Tall and stately, but thin to the point of emancipation, languid and luxurious of habit, Mohammad Ali Jinnah's attenuated form is a deceptive sheath of a spirit of exceptional vitality and endurance. Somewhat formal and fastidious, and a little aloof and imperious of manner, the calm hauteur of his accustomed reserve but masks, for those who know him, a naïve and eager humanity, an intuition quick and tender as a woman's, a humour gay and winning as child's... a shy and splendid idealism which is of the very essence of the man.'

Jinnah entered the central legislative council in Calcutta (then the capital of British India) on January 25, 1910, along with Gokhale, Surendranath Banerjea and Motilal Nehru. Lord Minto expected the council to rubber stamp 'any measures we may deem right to introduce.' Jinnah's maiden speech shattered such pompousness.

He rose to defend another Gujarati working for his people in another colony across the seas, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi . Jinnah expressed 'the highest pitch of indignation and horror at the harsh and cruel treatment that is meted out to Indians in South Africa' . Minto objected to a term such as 'cruel treatment'. Jinnah responded at once: 'My Lord! I should feel much inclined to use much stronger language.' Lord Minto kept quiet.

On March 7, 1911 Jinnah introduced what was to become the first non-official Act in British Indian history, the Wakf Validating Bill, reversing an 1894 decision on wakf gifts. Muslims across the Indian empire were grateful.

Jinnah attended his first meeting of the League in Bankipur in 1912, but did not become a member. He was in Bankipur to attend the Congress session. When he went to Lucknow a few months later as a special guest of the League (it was not an annual session), Sarojini Naidu was on the platform with him. The bitterness that divided India did not exist then.

Dr M A Ansari, Maulana Azad and Hakim Ajmal Khan attended the League session of 1914, and in 1915, the League tent had a truly unlikely guest list: Madan Mohan Malviya, Surendranath Banerjea, Annie Besant, B G Horniman, Sarojini Naidu and Mahatma Gandhi .

When Jinnah joined the League in 1913, he insisted on a condition, set out in immaculate English, that his 'loyalty to the Muslim League and the Muslim interest would in no way and at no time imply even the shadow of disloyalty to the larger national cause to which his life was dedicated' (Jinnah: His Speeches and Writings, 1912-1917, edited by Sarojini Naidu).

Gokhale that year honoured Jinnah with a phrase that has travelled through time: it is 'freedom from all sectarian prejudice which will make him (Jinnah) the best ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity'.

In the spring of 1914 Jinnah chaired a Congress delegation to London to lobby Whitehall on a proposed Council of India Bill.

When Gandhi landed in India in 1915, Jinnah, as president of the Gujarat Society (the mahatmas of both India and Pakistan were Gujaratis), spoke at a garden party to welcome the hero of South Africa. Jinnah was the star of 1915.

At the Congress and League sessions, held in Mumbai at the same time, he worked tirelessly with Congress president Satyendra Sinha and Mazharul Haque (a Congressman who presided over the Muslim League that year) for a joint platform of resolutions.

Haque and Jinnah were heckled so badly at the League session by mullahs that the meeting had to be adjourned. It reconvened the next day in the safer milieu of the Taj Mahal Hotel .

The next year Jinnah became president of the League for the first time, at Lucknow. Motilal Nehru, in the meantime, worked closely with Jinnah in the council. When the munificent Motilal convened a meeting of fellow legislators at his handsome mansion in Allahabad in April, he considered Jinnah 'as keen a nationalist as any of us. He is showing his community the way to Hindu-Muslim unity'.

It was from this meeting in Allahabad that Jinnah went for a vacation to Darjeeling and the summer home of his friend Sir Dinshaw Manockjee Petit (French merchants had nicknamed Dinshaw's small-built grandfather petit and it stuck) and met 16-year-old Ruttie. I suppose a glorious view of the Everest encouraged romance. When Ruttie became 18 she eloped and on April 19, 1918 they were married.

Ruttie's Parsi family disowned her, she separated from Jinnah a decade later. (The wedding ring was a gift from the Raja of Mahmudabad.)

As president, Jinnah engineered the famous Lucknow Pact with Congress president A C Mazumdar. In his presidential speech Jinnah rejoiced that the new spirit of patriotism had 'brought Hindus and Muslims together... for the common cause'. Mazumdar announced that all differences had been settled, and Hindus and Muslims would make a 'joint demand for a Representative Government in India'.

Enter Gandhi, who never entered a legislature, and believed passionately that freedom could only be won by a non-violent struggle for which he would have to prepare the masses.

In 1915, Gokhale advised Gandhi to keep 'his ears open and his mouth shut' for a year, and see India. Gandhi stopped in Calcutta on his way to Rangoon and spoke to students. Politics, he said, should never be divorced from religion. The signal was picked by Muslims planning to marry politics with religion in their first great campaign against the British empire, the Khilafat movement.

Over the next three years Gandhi prepared the ground for his version of the freedom struggle: a shift from the legislatures to the street; a deliberate use of religious imagery to reach the illiterate masses through symbols most familiar to them (Ram Rajya for the Hindus, Khilafat for the Muslims); and an unwavering commitment to the poor peasantry, for whom Champaran became a miracle.

The massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in 1919 provided a perfect opportunity; Indian anger reached critical mass. Gandhi led the Congress towards its first mass struggle, the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1921.

The constitutionalist in Jinnah found mass politics ambitious, and the liberal in him rejected the invasion of religion in politics. When he rose to speak at the Nagpur session in 1920, where Gandhi moved the non-cooperation resolution, Jinnah was the only delegate to dissent till the end among some 50,000 'surging' Hindus and Muslims. He had two principal objections.

The resolution, he said, was a de facto declaration of swaraj, or complete independence, and although he agreed completely with Lala Lajpat Rai's indictment of the British government he did not think the Congress had, as yet, the means to achieve this end; as he put it, 'it is not the right step to take at this moment... you are committing the Indian National Congress to a programme which you will not be able to carry out'.

Gandhi, after promising swaraj within a year, withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement in the wake of communal riots in Kerala [ Images ] and, of course, the famous Chauri Chaura incident in 1922. The Congress formally adopted full independence as its goal only in 1931. His second objection was that non-violence would not succeed. In this Jinnah was wrong.

There is a remarkable sub-text in this speech, which has never been commented upon, at least to my knowledge. When Jinnah first referred to Gandhi, he called him 'Mr Gandhi'. There were instant cries of 'Mahatma Gandhi'. Without a moment's hesitation, Jinnah switched to 'Mahatma Gandhi'.

Later, he referred to Mr Mohammad Ali, the more flamboyant of the two Ali Brothers, both popularly referred to as Maulana. There were angry cries of 'Maulana'. Jinnah ignored them. He referred at least five times more to Ali, but each time called him only Mr Mohammad Ali.

Let us leave the last word to Gandhi. Writing in Harijan of June 8, 1940, Gandhi said, 'Quaid-e-Azam himself was a great Congressman. It was only after the non-cooperation that he, like many other Congressmen belonging to several communities, left. Their defection was purely political.'

In other words, it was not communal. It could not be, for almost every Muslim was with Gandhi when Jinnah left the Congress.

History might be better understood if we did not treat it as a heroes-and-villains movie. Life is more complex than that. The heroes of our national struggle changed sometimes with circumstances. The reasons for the three instances I cite are very different; their implications radically at variance. I am not making any comparisons, but only noting that leaders change their tactics.

Non-violent Gandhi, who broke the empire three decades later, received the Kaiser-I-Hind medal on June 3, 1915 (Tagore was knighted the same day) for recruiting soldiers for the war effort.

Subhas Chandra Bose, ardently Gandhian in 1920, put on a uniform and led the Indian National Army with support from the Fascists.

Jinnah, the ambassador of unity, became a partitionist.

The question that should intrigue us is why.

Ambition and frustration are two reasons commonly suggested in India, but they are not enough to create a new nation.

Jinnah made the demand for Pakistan only in 1940, after repeated attempts to obtain constitutional safeguards for Muslims and attempts at power-sharing had failed.

What happened, for instance, to the Constitution that the Congress was meant to draft in 1928?

On the other hand, Congress leaders felt that commitments on the basis of any community would lead to extortion from every community. The only exception made was for Dalits, then called Harijans.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who remained opposed to Partition even after Nehru and Patel had accepted it as inevitable, places one finger on the failed negotiations in the United Provinces after the 1936-37 elections, and a second on the inexplicable collapse of the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 which would have kept India united -- inexplicable because both the Congress and the Muslim League had accepted it.

The plan did not survive a press conference given by Nehru. Jinnah responded with the unbridled use of the communal card, and there was no turning back.

A deeply saddened Gandhi spurned August 15, 1947 as a false dawn (to quote Faiz). He spent the day not in celebrations in Delhi [ Images ] but in fasting at Calcutta. Thanks to Gandhi -- and H S Suhrawardy -- there were no communal riots in Calcutta in 1947.

How not to tackle H1N1

How not to tackle H1N1

On August 12, when schoolteacher Roopa Chand became the first person in Bangalore to die of swine flu, the print and electronic media noted that

Karnataka health minister B Sriramulu was camping in Bellary to campaign for the by-elections.

However, the minister’s steadfast principal secretary I R Perumal told journalists that Mr Sriramulu was remote-controlling all measures being taken to combat the virus. Almost as if to make up for lost time, the minister has been holding regular press briefings over the last few days in Bangalore where he has been advising the public not to panic since he had “directed health officials not to take any chances on the issue and the government had initiated measures on a war-footing”.

And all this even while one of the city’s main testing centres closed at 4 pm every day since it did not have enough testing kits. By August 19, the death-toll in India’s Silicon Valley had risen to seven and there were two instances of the test-report being submitted after the patient had expired.

On August 18, minister Sriramulu took a literally hands-on approach to the H1N1 crisis, perhaps to make the point that he was not a modern-day Nero, as his critics had claimed. An official press release, issued on August 18, proudly states in a rather long headline, ‘Health Minister Sriramulu visits H1N1 patients in five Bangalore hospitals, refuses to wear surgical mask, mingles with patients, boosts their morale’.

The text of the release adds that the doctors had advised Mr Sriramulu to wear a surgical mask before entering the isolation wards but that the minister had politely refused since “he had come to dispel the unnecessary scare over the disease”.

The Karnataka health minister is now one-up on his Maharashtra counterpart who, just the other day, visited the Nagpur zoo along with his gunman and patted a tiger cub in its cage. Hopefully, the H1N1 virus which is presently stalking Bangalore will be suitably scared by the ministerial bravado!

Indian iron ore miners slam new royalty scheme

Indian iron ore miners slam new royalty scheme

Business Standard reported that iron ore miners are protesting alleged ambiguity in the government’s method for calculating the 10% ad valorem royalty notified on August 13th 2009.

Representatives of the industry met officials of the Indian Bureau of Mines recently in Nagpur and demanded that implementation of the new royalty scheme be kept in abeyance till a satisfactory clarity was agreed on.

Mr SBS Chouhan federation of Indian mineral industries advisor said that “The notification is silent on the type of iron ore on which the royalty is proposed. Whether it would be calculated on the basis of dry metric tonne, free on board or ex-mine, the notification does not reveal anything.”

Mr Chauhan said that they suggested IBM charge royalty on dry metric tonne, ex mine basis. If the price is ascertained on the current formula, the royalty would be almost 15 times more from the current levy of INR 27 per tonne.

He said that the thumbrule for calculating the royalty is the IBM benchmarked rates for each state every month, plus 20%. There has been no explanation for this 20% clause in the notification. If it is on tonnage basis, a majority of tiny and medium size mines would incur losses and have to close.

Mr Siddharth Rungta director of Rungta Mines Limited said that we are not averse to the royalty. But before implementing such an ambiguous notification, the government must come out with clarity on it. Otherwise, it will create havoc for the industry.

IBM officials have worked out a methodology with FOB as the benchmark price, minus transportation charges. The companies said that ex mine ore contains a huge amount of moisture, which dries over a period of time. This cost is being unfairly pushed on the miners.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on July 31st 2009, approved the 10% ad valorem royalty rate on iron ore, besides hiking the levy on minerals like copper, zinc and lead. India exported 106 million tonnes of the total production of 223 million tonnes of iron ore in 2008 to 2009.

Longer jail term for molesters

he state has proposed to increase the prison term for offenders booked in cases of molestation, outraging modesty of women or insulting

them by using abusive language, messages, signs or printing material with intention of blackmailing and for those caught for rash and negligent driving. The proposal to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was tabled and approved in the state cabinet meeting held in Mantralaya on Thursday.

But the government has showed its velvet gloves, also proposing to make some sections offences on which a compromise can be reached between the offender and the complainant. These include Sections 147 (rioting punishable with two years jail and/or fine), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon; the punishment in this case is up to three years and/or fine) and 506 (A) (criminal intimidation, punishable with two years jail and/or fine).

"Ordinances for these proposals will have to be promulgated. If there's no Ordinance, then the Bills have to be introduced in the coming Assembly session to be held in Nagpur (winter session),'' law & judiciary principal secretary M N Gillani said. But the amendments would require President Pratibha Patil's consent, he added.

One of the important recommendations involves Section 354 that deals with outraging the modesty of women; the government has suggested increasing the existing punishment from two years to three. Another proposal concerns Section 509 that deals with insulting women by using abusive language, messages, hand signs; it has been proposed that these attract a punishment of one year or fine or both. The state has also proposed to make Section 292 a non-cognisable offence; this deals with printing of material with intention of blackmailing. It has been recommended that the punishment for this be two years of imprisonment or fine or both.

The government has taken a cue from the Alistair Pereira case as well. The Bandra boy was booked under Section 304(A) in the hit-and-run case. The state has now proposed to increase the punishment for this from two to five years if there is a death because of rash and negligent driving. For Section 279 (rash and negligence driving), too, the government has suggested increasing the prison term from six months to one year; the state has proposed the fine be made unlimited from the existing Rs 1000.

Yogita's family alleges threats

The family members of Yogita Thakre, the girl found dead in a car at state BJP chief Nitin Gadkari's home on May 19, on Thursday alleged

that they were being threatened by unknown persons including some purporting to be policemen to withdraw the case or face dire consequences.

Yogita's mother Vimal, one of the petitioners in the ongoing case in Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court demanding for CBI probe into her daughter's death, also claimed before the media that the ‘police' were also harassing her other employers at Mahal and this may lead to her losing livelihood.

She works as domestic help in some local residences. She claimed that she had been threatened that she would be jailed and beaten up by police if the family did not withdraw the case.

Sources claimed that police were already gearing up to frame charges of negligence against Vimal, one of the drivers of the car, and a police guard in the case. The city police's investigation into negligence aspect was criticized and altered by High Court which directed the cops to complete the probe under charges of murder and destroying of evidence which they had earlier registered.

"There is no justice for the loss we have already faced. Some people claiming to be police are coming to our house and threatening us everyday.

They are threatening to get my daughters kidnapped and me jailed. For what? What is our mistake? Is losing our daughter our fault? Where is the person who killed my daughter," asked Vimal.

9-year-old crushed to death

Vivek Uike, 9, who was playing by the roadside, died after being crushed by a truck at Satrapur village on Bhokhara-Koradi Naka Road on

Wednesday afternoon.

The boy, who was scampering across the road, was hit by the speeding vehicle.

The driver fled the spot without attending to the profusely bleeding boy.

The children, playing with Vivek, raised an alarm and soon the boy's parents him rushed to the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital where he was declared dead after around six hours of battling with life.

Koradi police have registered a case of rash driving and culpable homicide, and are searching for the driver and his vehicle.

MERC nixes city's zero power cut dream again

Nagpurians' dream of uninterrupted power has been dealt a blow once again by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC).

The commission has refused to pass an interim order on ending load-shedding in city leading to demand by Nagpur west MLA Devendra Fadnavis for ouster of MERC chief and energy minister.

MSEDCL had filed the revised petition for making Nagpur, Amravati, Pune, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Aurangabad load-shedding free on July 28.

As per MERC rules, it takes minimum 21 days for fixing the date of public hearing on a petition.

This period lapsed on August 18 but MERC has not fixed the dates so far.

ZLS scheme is being implemented by MSEDCL in Pune, Navi Mumbai and Thane on basis of interim order issued by MERC in May.

Swine flu cases jump to 23 in Nagpur

Swine flu cases jump to 23 in Nagpur

As many as 23 persons have tested positive for swine flu in city as on today, official sources said.

A total of 205 persons were suspected to be diagnosed with the symptoms and their blood samples were sent to National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune which confirmed 23 cases, they said.

A total of 1970 patients were treated and sent back home, the sources said.

Nagpur's green cover under threat

Here's another statistic to prompt greater care of the city's green patches. The 95 gardens and parks covering 102 hectares, maintained

by NMC and NIT, constitute just 0.5% of the city's area, while it must be 1.8% as per the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act. As expected, the ratio is going down steadily with roadside trees toppling after being choked due to tiling of footpaths and tarring of roads.

The Environment Status Report of Nagpur City (2007-08) warns that existing green cover and vegetation is not enough to sustain increasing pollution with tremendous population growth. Though Nagpur is recognized as the second greenest city of India, the tempo of tree plantation and maintaining the greenery has declined substantially.

Yet, the civic body has failed to wake up. At the speed with which roadside trees are dying in the city, conservationists give 20-25 years for most of the city's green cover to disappear. In the past four months, at least 50 trees have crashed, most of them due to concretization and tarring.

Five years ago, during then municipal commissioner T Chandra Shekhar's tenure roads were widened under the Integrated Road Development Project (IRDP). However, the tarring has led to closure of the mouths of many trees, cutting supply of water and air to the root. Now these trees are dying a slow death.

Even as trees continue to die, the issue seems to have been bogged down in NMC files and authorities have failed to do anything about it.

Even after orders were issued to rescue the choked trees, of the 10 NMC zones not one has physically started work on it. While Satranjipura Zone ward officer was not available for comment, the nine other officials admitted that work to open up mouths of choked trees has not started yet.

A N Shambarkar, chief engineer for PWD (NMC), who had issued a circular in this regard on May 14, admits, "Tiling and tarring around the trunks of trees along roadside affects them adversely by cutting off moisture to the roots and suffocating the trees by blocking root aeration. I had also asked the garden superintendent to take cognisance of the TOI reports and coordinate follow up action."

The circular was submitted to municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta. It was also forwarded to ward officers of 10 zones for necessary action. Interestingly, all the zones were asked to act before the monsoon. Shockingly, the ward officers are 'sleeping' over the issue even as the monsoon has come close to its end.

Tree officer & garden superintendent N B Shrikhande was candid in admitting that none of the 10 zones have physically started work on removing tiles and opening mouths of the choked trees. "Some have conducted surveys but not one ward officer has submitted a proposal or approached me. I will review the situation and let you know. It's true that trees are dying due to choking," he noted. Interestingly, when TOI called up the ward officers some of them were not even aware of such a circular and others said the survey was going on. Only Laxmi Nagar zone ward officer S M Jaidev said he had submitted a proposal in this regard to the garden superintendent.

The issue had first cropped up in April when a huge neem tree opposite Sandipani School, Civil Lines, crashed without any warning. After that at least 50 trees have come down, most of them due to choking.

Conservationist Kishor Rithe says choked trees, particularly large ones, need to be enclosed by a six-feet by six feet patch of wet soil so that run-off water can seep into the soil and keep it healthy. Trees on the roadside usually suffer from poor hydration. "'It's really bad that precious trees are dying slowly and NMC is doing nothing," he remarked.

P B Nandkar, HoD of botany department at Nagpur University, says, "We need to be serious. These trees die as their root system fails to get water due to choking. Trees intake air and water from the sides where water percolates into the ground. If these sides are closed, capillary water supply is cut causing slow death."

Healthy Ayurvedic Mantras to Induct in Your Daily Diet.

Instead of using plain water in beverages, use water in which cumin seeds have been soaked overnight. Cumin seeds have a cooling effect on the body and are an effective digestive.
Add flavour to juices by making ice cubes out of fruit juices, lemon juice and rose water. Lemon juice is an excellent source of Vitamin C while both lemon juice and rose water have a cleansing and cooling effect on the body. They blend with any fruit juice without causing any side effects, even as they enhance the flavour of the drink.
When making juices, use castor/ powdered sugar instead of cubes or grains. This is good for health as it is not processed as much as ordinary sugar. If you do not have powdered sugar, grind 250 grams of sugar in a mixer and keep handy. Use approximately one spoon of powdered sugar (seven to eight grams) per glass of any juice. It takes less time to dissolve.
Excessive sugar consumption can contribute to dehydration, so switch to natural sweetners such as honey, raw sugar or jaggery.
Use glucose powder to add energy to your drink.
Substitute cow’s milk with soya milk. Soya milk is high in protein and adds nutritional value to your diet. Here’s how to make it.
- Soak soya beans overnight in water.
- Drain the water next day.
- Blend the soaked beans with three cups of very hot water for three minutes.
- Cool till warm to the touch and filter through a muslin cloth by squeezing.
- Simmer soya milk on a stove for 20 minutes.
- Stir and allow to cool.
- Use it to whip up some yummy milk shakes.
Substitute table salt with rock salt.
Substitute chocolate-flavoured health drink powders like Bournvita, Complan and Horlicks with plain cocoa powder to add more nutrition value to the drink.
For garnishing juices, use chopped fresh fruit and dry fruits.
Want extra spice in your food? Use generous amounts of ground dry ginger blended with powdered sugar, chaat masala and cinnamon powder.
Never mix more than three types of fruits while making a juice.The combination of different fruit enzymes could cause acidity and digestion problems.
Citrus fruits (orange, sweet lime and grape) can be consumed in combinations (say orange and sweet lime, sweet lime and grape). However, citrus fruits should not be combined with any other type of fruits as their enzymes can chemically react with other types of fruit enzymes, causing allergies in extreme cases.
Vegetable juices (cabbage, carrot, beetroot) should preferably be diluted in the proportion of 7: 3 (vegetable juice: water).
Never have strong concentrated juices (unless recommended) early in the morning on an empty stomach. Dilute the juice with water and then consume it.

Maha ties up with Microsoft to train teachers

The government of Maharashtra has signed an MoU with Microsoft India, which will provide training in information technology to school

teachers. Microsoft will also help build "employability-readiness skills'' in junior college students.

Currently, Microsoft India has set up three state-of-the-art IT academies, in Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad, and trained over 92,000 teachers.

Under the new agreement, Microsoft will train one educator from each cluster in the state, who will be required to undergo a 10-day training module in a classroom setup.

Microsoft will conduct over 200 sessions at the district-level over the next two years in order to train 6,000 resource persons in as many clusters.

Additionally, the initiative will focus on building employability readiness among students in classes XI and XII. Under the agreement, Microsoft will help students learn the fundamentals of computing. The programme will include soft skills like English-speaking personality development and grooming.

Microsoft will also provide a login which will enable students and teachers across the approximately 85,000 schools in the state to acquire email with school-specific domains, and give schools the tools with which to create an online community.

Maharastra teachers to be trained by Microsoft

The government of Maharashtra has further extended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Microsoft India for training teachers with basic computer skills to improve computer education better in schools in the state.

Initially Microsoft had set up institutes in Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad and had also trained 92,000 teachers.

This MoU would be an extension to this program. Microsoft would train 6,000 teachers and 100,000 pre-service teachers in the next two years.

This is being done keeping in mind the job readiness of the students and Microsoft would also help to build the last-mile capacity among teachers.

Every teacher would have to take a 10-day long training module in a proper classroom environment.

Microsoft to build IT skills in Maharashtra schools

The government of Maharashtra today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft India to enhance information and communication technology adoption in schools and build job readiness skills of the future workforce in the state.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will over the next two years train 6,000 teachers, as well as 100,000 pre-service teachers. The MoU is an extension of an existing relationship between Microsoft and the state government, under which Microsoft India has set up information technology academies at Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad and trained over 92,000 teachers.

Additionally, the software giant will also help build last-mile capacity among educators. One educator from each cluster in the state will be required to undergo a 10-day training module in a classroom setup. Microsoft will conduct over 200 sessions at the district level over the next two years for training 6,000 resources in as many clusters.

Six farmers commit suicide in last 24 hours

Six farmers commit suicide in last 24 hours

Six farmers have committed suicide in various parts of Vidarbha as drought situation looms large over the region, an NGO has claimed.

The suicides were committed since yesterday, Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti, tracking farmers suicides in the region, said in a release today.

The deceased have been identified as Vijay Bodhe, Mahapal (Yavatmal), Vishwanath Gavne, Pimpri (Amravati), Ramesh Maraskolhe, Pathrat (Yavatmal), Ramchandra Mungale, Bhishi (Chandrapur), Dilip Nandne, Ithlapur (Wardha) and Arun Dakhre, Yenikini (Nagpur), the release said.

He said as many as 38 farmers have ended their lives this month in the region and 62 farmers in last 18 days in Maharashtra.

Planned power cuts likely to go up in state

The duration of planned loadshedding in the state may increase soon unless central authorities take effective steps to curb heavy

overdrawal by northern states. The state has been facing unplanned power cuts since August 3. Beginning with 15 to 30 minutes of unplanned cut, the duration has now increased to two hours.

Even major urban centres like Pune and Nagpur have been facing two-hour unscheduled power cuts in the last few days.

The maximum demand-supply gap, which was around 1,600 MW in the third week of July reached 3,800 MW on August 17. Ajoy Mehta, managing director of state-run power distributor MSEDCL, admitted that unscheduled power cuts had become frequent in the last few days and stressed that unless the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) and Regional Load Dispatch Centre (RLDCs) were able to curb overdrawal by northern states, MSEDCL would have think about increasing scheduled load-shedding in a day or two.

“We have lodged a complaint with NLDC and RLDCs regarding heavy overdrawal by northern states at low frequencies. We are fervently hoping that these agencies take stringent steps to curb blatant violation of grid discipline by these states. Otherwise we will have to think about increasing load shedding,” he said.

Nagpur experiences heavy showers

Nagpur experiences heavy showers

Nagpur, Aug 19 After a dry spell which led to humid weather in city, heavy showers were experienced this evening causing traffic disturbances for some time in most parts of city.

Streets were flooded with rain water and those returning from offices and work were caught in the sudden showers. No untoward incident was reported but citizens heaved a sigh of relief from the humidity.

Nagpur in Vidarbha region has witnessed a dry spell for more than a fortnight.

GlobalLogic to recruit 400 people in next 7 months

GlobalLogic to recruit 400 people in next 7 months

GlobalLogic, a provider of software product development, has said that it would recruit 400 technically skilled workforce in India in the next seven months.

"We have approximately 100 positions open at present. These positions have to be filled in a month's time. In the next seven months we will recruit around 400 technical people for our various divisions in India," GlobalLogic chief people officer Milind M Jadhav told CyberMedia.

GlobalLogic will hire people who understand both technology and domain in which technology can be deployed.
The company is witnessing increase in demand for software product development in telecom, health care and video space. Around 50 per cent of the workforce to be recruited by the company in the coming days would work for telecom related products.

In the process it would expand its collaboration program with institutes to fill the gap in skill of workforce to be selected by the company.

"We already have collaboration with institutes in Nagpur and will be increasing it further. It is our company that selects institutes and establishes contact with them. Through the faculty of institutes we initially train students as per our requirement and also send our people. This saves a lot of our training time to be given to candidates," said Jadhav.

On asked whether GlobalLogic would prefer people on virtual pool of some IT companies in India, Jadhav said, "This will be an open system. Those who clear our selection process will be only selected. Typically we will prefer people with minimum 2-3 years of work experience in product development and understanding of that domain."

Founded in 2000, GlobalLogic is backed by venture capitalists viz., Sequoia Capital India, NEA and New Atlantic Ventures. GlobalLogic is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, with sales and software R&D centers across India, Europe and Asia. The company employs nearly 3,000 professionals worldwide.

My FM achieves break-even

My FM achieves break-even, reports gross turnover of Rs 13.39 cr in Q1 FY10

Launched in May 2006 with its first radio broadcast in Jaipur, My FM, the FM station from the Dainik Bhaskar Group, has announced that it has achieved break-even for the period of April-July 2009. My FM’s gross turnover is said to be Rs 13.39 crore for this period and has also reported an increase in its net revenue by nearly 46 per cent.

In an email interaction with exchange4media.com, Harrish M Bhatia, COO, My FM, said, “My FM’s gross turnover stands at Rs 13.39 crore for the period April-July ’09. Achieving break-even is a great achievement for us, and at My FM we believe that success is a journey and not an end, so we are looking forward to many more milestones. After achieving operational break-even, it is time now to expand our footprint.”

The FM player believes that the way forward is to further customise the offerings as per the expectations of the listeners. It had earlier carried out a research on listeners’ choice in January 2009, and has carried out another research in August 2009 to gain a better insight into the evolving listener preferences.

Bhatia further said, “We have a vision of making My FM a pan-India brand in the coming Phase III of licensing and are awaiting Government’s announcement on the bidding and resolution of the music royalty issue.”

Currently, My FM is spread across seven states – Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is available in 17 cities – Jaipur, Jodhpur, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Udaipur, Gwalior, Indore, Ajmer, Amritsar, Bilaspur, Nagpur, Raipur, Kota and Jabalpur.

Flu or inflation, Ganesha goes on

Swine flu, recession, and inflation may be wreaking havoc in life of a common man. But despite these factors or, perhaps, because of

them, people are flocking to elephant deity like never before.

The lord of knowledge and wisdom is all set to arrive for his ten-day sojourn on August 23. As the Orange city braces itself to welcome Ganesha in its 116th year, the numbers of organisations as well as families installing the Vighnaharta (one who wards off evil) have grown manifold.

Ganesha’s over centuryold bastion in the city — Chitar Oli — is abuzz with artisans giving finishing touches to the idols. However, with swelling demand, concerns about avoiding environmental damage have also increased.

“We have hiked prices by 15-20% but the demand keeps growing every year. The hike was necessary because price of raw-materials and labour have both shot up,” Vidarbha Chitra-Murti Kala Vikas Sanstha president Mulchand Gaur told TOI. The Chitar Oli based organisation has over 150 members, mainly artisans engaged in making idols.

An old member of the organisation Kamlakar Ingle, whose idols have gone to places like Thailand, said prices had definitely increased but demand was still double. “We have to refuse new orders due to severe clogging of space in narrow-lanes of Chitar Oli," the 59-year-old veteran says. One of lady artisans Sonika Mahurkar expressed concern over growing inflation. “Due to price rise, raw material prices are touching the sky,” she says.

Another artist Vijay Darlinge feels that plaster of paris (PoP) idols are affecting the business. “These idols are easy to make and look stunning due to colours. However, they do not immerse easily and thus cause pollution in water bodies,” he says.

Dipak Ingle informs that he has orders from as far as Chennai, but he also feels that PoP makers are ruining the business. “There is no effect of swine flu or recession, but PoP idols are fast eating into the market due to their good finish,” he informs.

Nonetheless, from next week the state government, which is already battling the flu menace, will have to really pull up its socks for challenging festival season ahead. The season that starts with arrival of elephant deity on Sunday.