RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. NO. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of PAGES 12 • PRICE ` 1 Navi Mumbai VOL. 13 • ISSUE 232 February 2020 SUNDAY 2 NEWS IN BRIEF Alert citizens nab thief A robber who was plan- ning to loot a man, was nabbed and handed over to police by alert citizens in Kalamboli on Thursday evening. The accused has been identified as Sonaku- mar Omprakash Rajput (24). The police have be- gun searching for his two accomplices… (More on page 2) Greens call for Ramsar site status to Panje wetland Expressing anguish at ‘all round destruction of wet- lands in Mumbai Metropol- itan Region, environmen- talists have asked the Cen- tre to have Panje wetland as a Ramsar site to save it from exploitation for a con- crete jungle and scrapping the NMSEZ projects which have been indulging in il- legal landfill causing floods in Uran… (More on page 9) NMMC extends application date for scholarship scheme The Women and Child Welfare, Social Welfare and Slum Improvement Committee and the Student and Youth Welfare Commit- tee under the Navi Mum- bai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), which had an- nounced scholarship schemes, have now ex- tended the date for filing ap- plication to 15 th February, 2020… (More on page 12) Contd. on pg. 7 By Chandrashekar Hendve NAVI MUMBAI: The reservation draw for the Navi Mumbai Mu- nicipal Corporation’s (NMMC) ward election was held at Vishnudas Bhave Auditorium at 11 am on Saturday, Feb- ruary 1, 2020. Reservation draw for wards evokes mixed response The draw was tak- en out by the children from the NMMC School in the presence of the Commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), Annasaheb Misal, Dep- uty Commissioner, State Election Commis- sion, Avinash Sanas, Additional Commis- sioners- Mahavir Pendhare and Suren- dra Patil and other of- ficials and staff. The draw brought out mixed reactions Contd. on pg. 2 City player Mahak joins Pune’s Rutuja, Arjun & Manas as No. 1 in MSLTA 2019-Year end rankings By Ashok Dhamija NAVI MUMBAI: The Annual rankings of the Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Associa- tion (MSLTA) for the year 2019, which were announced by the Ho- nourable Secretary of MSLTA Sunder Iyer last week in Mumbai, saw Navi Mumbai’s Mahak Jain & Akank- sha Nitture emerge as Navi Mumbai’s International player Mahak Jain who is the Girls Under 18 No. 1 player in the state currently occupies No 2 position in the Women’s Ranking behind Pune’s Rutuja S Bhosale. (Photo by Author) Contd. on pg. 8 By Chandrashekhar Hendve NAVI MUMBAI: The Rs. 10 lunch plate or ‘Shiv Bhojan’ scheme that was launched by the Maharashtra State government on Janu- ary 26 on a pilot basis at designated centres is receiving overwhelm- ing response. The scheme was also start- ed at the canteen of the Navi Mumbai Munici- pal Corporation’s (NMMC) First Referral Shiv Bhojan scheme receives overwhelming response People demand extension of timing as well as more centres for Rs.10 lunch plate
Transcript
RNI No. MAHEN/2007/21778 POSTAL REGN. NO. NMB/154/2020-22/VASHI MDG POST OFFICE
The Dynamic Daily Newspaper of
PAGES 12 • PRICE ` 1
Navi Mumbai
VOL. 13 • ISSUE 232February
2020SUNDAY
2
NEWS IN
BRIEF
Alert citizens nab thiefA robber who was plan-ning to loot a man, wasnabbed and handed overto police by alert citizens inKalamboli on Thursdayevening. The accused hasbeen identified as Sonaku-mar Omprakash Rajput(24). The police have be-gun searching for his twoaccomplices…
(More on page 2)
Greens call forRamsar site status to
Panje wetlandExpressing anguish at ‘allround destruction of wet-lands in Mumbai Metropol-itan Region, environmen-talists have asked the Cen-tre to have Panje wetlandas a Ramsar site to save itfrom exploitation for a con-crete jungle and scrappingthe NMSEZ projects whichhave been indulging in il-legal landfill causing floodsin Uran…
(More on page 9)
NMMC extendsapplication date forscholarship scheme
The Women and ChildWelfare, Social Welfareand Slum ImprovementCommittee and the Studentand Youth Welfare Commit-tee under the Navi Mum-bai Municipal Corporation(NMMC), which had an-nounced scholarshipschemes, have now ex-tended the date for filing ap-plication to 15th February,2020…
(More on page 12)
Contd. on pg. 7
By Chandrashekar Hendve
NAVI MUMBAI: Thereservation draw forthe Navi Mumbai Mu-nicipal Corporation’s(NMMC) ward electionwas held at VishnudasBhave Auditorium at 11am on Saturday, Feb-ruary 1, 2020.
Reservation draw for wardsevokes mixed response
The draw was tak-en out by the childrenfrom the NMMC Schoolin the presence of theCommissioner of NaviMumbai MunicipalCorporation (NMMC),Annasaheb Misal, Dep-uty Commissioner,State Election Commis-
sion, Avinash Sanas,Additional Commis-sioners- MahavirPendhare and Suren-dra Patil and other of-ficials and staff.
The draw broughtout mixed reactions
Contd. on pg. 2
City player Mahak joinsPune’s Rutuja, Arjun &
Manas as No. 1 in MSLTA2019-Year end rankings
By Ashok Dhamija
NAVI MUMBAI: TheAnnual rankings of theMaharashtra StateLawn tennis Associa-tion (MSLTA) for theyear 2019, which wereannounced by the Ho-
nourable Secretary ofMSLTA Sunder Iyerlast week in Mumbai,saw Navi Mumbai’sMahak Jain & Akank-sha Nitture emerge as
Navi Mumbai’s International player Mahak Jain who isthe Girls Under 18 No. 1 player in the state currentlyoccupies No 2 position in the Women’s Ranking behindPune’s Rutuja S Bhosale. (Photo by Author)
Contd. on pg. 8
By Chandrashekhar Hendve
NAVI MUMBAI: TheRs. 10 lunch plate or‘Shiv Bhojan’ schemethat was launched bythe Maharashtra State
government on Janu-ary 26 on a pilot basisat designated centres isreceiving overwhelm-ing response. Thescheme was also start-
ed at the canteen of theNavi Mumbai Munici-pal Corporation’s(NMMC) First Referral
will cost you only Rs 200/- + GSTfor direct buyers and sellers.
For details, call : 20870513, 27815380
ATTENTION READERSWhile every effort is made to check the genuineness ofparty/parties inserting ads in this paper, we cannot be heldresponsible for the truthfulness of its contents. The publish-ers, Editor and/or the staff cannot be held responsible forany loss or damage due to transactions that they may enterinto guided by the ads.
Printed and owned by Kailash Shankarlalji Gindodia Published by Shiv Kailash Gindodia Editor : Varda Sharma Printed at Siddhakala Print Media & Publications
Pvt. Ltd. Plot No. W-230, T.T.C. Ind. Area, MIDC, Khairane, Navi Mumbai – 400 710 and published at 1313/1314, 13th Floor, Real Tech Park, Plot No. 39/2,
Sec. 30A, Vashi, Navi Mumbai 400 703. • RNI No. MAHENG2007/21778 • Postal Regn. No. NMB/154/2014-16/Vashi MDG Post Office
URAN: SkillsDevelopment Employ-ment and Entrepre-neurship GuidanceCenter, JNPT, CIDCOAllcargo Skill Develop-ment Training Center,
Blood donation camp held
NAVI MUMBAI: PillaiH O C College of Engi-neering and Technolo-gy N S. S. A organised blood donation campin association withunit and group GramPanchayat recently.
Former Sarpanch R.D. Patil, Sawale GramPanchayat sarpanchShivaji Mali, DattaMhaskar, SatishDevkate, Pratik Bhoir,Ram Gatade and oth-ers were present on theoccasion.
Mega employment fairconcluded in Uran
Bokadvira Uran inassociation withPanvel, Raigad,Alibaug, ITI Uran andAlcargo Skill TrainingInstitute, (Bokadvira)Uran organised anemployment fair.
About 12 entrepre-neurs were present atthe fair. A total of 342candidates had comefor the interview, outof which 218 candi-dates were selected inthe first round.
from the corporators.The corporators, whosereservation categoryremained unchangedheaved a sigh of relief,while others expressedunhappiness.
The wards of the fol-lowing leaders havenow changed. Theseinclude: Mayor Jay-want Sutar, OppositionLeader Vijay Chougule,Standing Committeechairman Naveen Ga-vate, House SpeakerRavindra Ithape, ShivSena leader Dwar-kanath Bhoir, as well asformer MayorSudhakar Sonavane,former Deputy MayorAshok Gawade and Av-inash Ladesh. Theward status of the cur-rent corporator Ranja-na Sonawane, VijayChougule, MunawarPatel, corporatorKishor Patkar, corpora-tor Poonam Patil andcorporator Vishal Dolashas also changed.
The ward status ofSonavane, Madhvi, Shi-varam Patil, PrashantPatil, Jagdish Gavateand Naveen Gavate has
also changed. The general elec-
tion will be held inApril, 2020. The stategovernment has decid-ed to hold the division-wise elections in theprevailing manner dueto local opposition. OnJanuary 28, Secretaryof the State Election
Commission Kiran Ku-rundkar had orderedthe municipal electiondepartment to changethe reservation for thevarious wards in theeight divisions. Accord-
ingly, a reservationdraw was held. Dead-line for submitting ob-jections, suggestions onthe structure of theward will be acceptedfrom February 3rd to10th.
Based on the censusfrom 2011 the wardshave been reserved in
the following way: ST 2;SC 10; OBC 30; Gener-al 69. There will be50% reservation forwomen in all the cate-gories.
Reservationdraw for...
Contd. from pg. 1
Alert citizens nab thiefBy: Crime Reporter
NAVI MUMBAI:A robber who wasplanning to loot a man, was nabbedand handed over to police by alert cit-izens in Kalamboli on Thursdayevening. The accused has been iden-tified as Sonakumar Omprakash Ra-jput (24). The police have begunsearching for his two accomplices.
The victim Kuldip Singh SunderSingh Negi, 39, is a resident of Ama-rante Society in Roadpali area ofKalamboli. He had gone to withdrawmoney at the nearest Punjab Nation-al Bank ATM at around 5.30pm onThursday. He was unable to withdrawmoney even after three attempts. One
of the three men standing behindhim took his ATM card on the pre-text of helping him to withdraw mon-ey. He then asked Kuldeep Singh forthe password of the ATM card. How-ever, Kuldeep refused to give him thepassword. The third man snatchedthe wallet of Kuldeep and took awaythe cash of Rs. 10,000. The three thenescaped through the ATM. But asKuldeep raised an alarm, the citizenswho were near the ATM chased thetrio. Two robbers managed to flee,but one of the accused Sonu KumarRajput, was caught by the citizens.The citizens beat the accused andlater handed him over to the police.
Rotary Club of Satellite City presents vocational awards
By Chandrashekhar Hendve
NAVI MUMBAI: Themonth of January iscelebrated as the Voca-tional month in Rota-ry International calen-dar. The Rotary Clubof Satellite City, NaviMumbai organised avocational award cere-mony in a uniquemanner at Prerana
Hindi Vidyalaya,Ghansoli to motivatethe children especiallygirls to face challeng-es in the world.
The following werethe awardees: PoojaAdsul - Post Woman;Madhumita Kale Vaze-Veterinary Doctor;Richa Sameer - Mara-thon organizer; Chitra
Shelke - NMMT BusDriver; Archana Chi-vate - Sub Inspector ofPolice; Alka Patil - Po-lice Head Constable.
“They have all cho-sen their vocationknowing well thechallenges faced inthe male dominatedsociety and are doingwell for themselves.
They were motivatorsfor the children espe-cially girls not to dropout of school and con-tinue their educa-tion,” said a memberof the Club.
The ceremony wasgraced by Dis-trict 3142 First LadyDr Veena Chandavar-kar as Chief Guest who
gave away theawards. The club Di-rector Vocational Ser-vices Rtn DiwakarSingh ensured an in-clusion of a skit bychildren on importanceof Water and Sanita-tion which is the RCSCClub lead project.
The talented chil-dren presented other
skits on Nirbhaya,Shaheed and BetiBachao. The studentswere given prizes atthe hands of AssistantGovernor Rtn PramodMishra.
More than 400 chil-dren participated inthe event with parents,Rotarians and otherguests.
By Crime Reporter
NAVI MUMBAI: Theman identified asKundan GajananDesai, 37, has beenarrested by Ko-parkhairane police forcheating mobile shopowners.
The accused,Kundan Desai, whowas arrested in thiscase, had created afake Aadhaar card,PAN card and roomagreement under thename of AbhishekDeepak Mishra andhad opened anaccount with Bank ofIndia and AndhraBank. On October 8,he bought a mobilephone worth Rs29,990 at Zero Downpayment from SaiCommunication, amobile shop inGhansoli Sector-3.The shopkeeper gavehim the mobile phonethrough a loan fromBajaj Finance Limit-ed, after the accusedgave his Aadhar card,PAN card and roomagreement andcheque from AndhraBank.
However, when
Police arrest man for forgingdocuments for buying mobile
the shop owner did notreceive payment for aweek from BajajFinance Limited, hewent to the addressgiven by the accused.No one was found atthe given address. OnSeptember 26, anothershopkeeper wascheated in a similarway as the accusedsubmitted fakedocuments for pur-chasing mobile.Following which boththe shopkeepers andthe Bajaj FinanceSales Staff begansearching for theaccused.
Meanwhile, Desaiwent to buy third
mobile phone byproducing fakedocuments at OmMobile Shop inGhansoli Sector-5 at9.30 pm on January29. After the BajajSales staff realizedthis, they informedSai CommunicationMobile Shop operatorKamal about theaccused. So, heimmediately went toOm Mobile Shop inGhansoli Sector-3 andnabbed Desai andlater handed him overto the police. Accord-ing to the police, hewas arrested andcharged for forgingdocuments.
Mangalore cucumbers arrive in APMCBy Chandrasekhar Hendve
NAVI MUMBAI: TheAgricultural ProduceMarket Committee(APMC), Vashi is nowseeing the arrival ofMadras Cucumberor Mangalore cucum-ber. The greenish yel-low coloured vegetableis oval in shape and isconsumed raw or usedin preparing raita andcurry.
“These cucumbersare mostly added inmaking sambhar- aSouth Indian delicacyand hence are not onlypurchased for domesticconsumption but alsoby hoteliers who buythese in large quanti-ty”, said a trader fromAPMC.
“As these cucum-
bers are low in calories,rich in antioxidantsand are free from cho-lesterol, these aid inweight loss and help inregulating bloodpressure. Madras cu-cumber or Madrasi Cu-cumber are largelypicked up by people whoare health conscious,”
said another trader.Currently, this cu-
cumber is coming inlarge quantities fromBangalore. About 3 to 5trucks are arriving dai-ly. These are priced atRs 8-15 per kg. Whilethe price in the retailmarket is Rs 15 to 40per kg.
By Crime Reporter
NAVI MUMBAI: ThePanvel city police havelaunched a searchagainst two accused forlooting a woman of Rs37,000 by posing ascops.
The victim, AnitaChhedayya, 29, a resi-dent of Karanjade liveswith her husband and
Woman duped of Rs.37,000by men who posed as cops
children at the con-struction site in Karan-jade, where both sheand her husband work.On Thursday, she re-ceived three months’salary of Rs 37,000. So,on Friday morning,Anita was on her wayto Sector-5 to depositthe money in the bank.Two people, who posed
as cops approached her.They stopped her andsaid that they want tocheck her purse.
The woman handedover the purse to the‘cops’. The men thenfled on the motorcycle.The woman then wentto the Panvel city policestation and lodged com-plaint.
Oral Contraceptive Pills? Youcould be at risk of Heart Disease!Use of Oral Contra-
ceptive Pill (OCP) orother types of birth con-trol measures that havehormones, in healthyand young women, is acomfortable and safemethod to prevent preg-nancy. There are somewomen, though, whomay be at higher riskof Heart Disease, HeartAttacks, Strokes andBlood Clots. It is advis-able that all pregnancycontrol measures beprescribed by your phy-sician; this way, youcan discuss the prosand cons. Self-prescrip-tion should be avoidedat all cost!
HOW CAN ORAL CON-TRACEPTIVE PILLS
RAISE HEART RISK?We doctors call
these pills as ‘hormon-al birth control mea-sure’. As the name sug-gests, hormonesincluding Estrogenand Progestin, arekey components ofthe pill. These hor-mones are alsopresent in otherforms of pregnan-cy control mea-sures, such as in-jections, Intrauter-ine Devices (IUDs),the patch, a deviceimplanted underthe skin calledNexplanon, andthe Vaginal Ring.
Studies show thehormones in theseforms of birth controlmeasures can affectyour Heart in manyways; they may raiseyour Blood Pressure,for instance. So if youtake birth control pills,get your blood pressurechecked every 6months to make sure itstays in a healthyrange. If you alreadyhave high Blood Pres-sure, talk with yourdoctor to see if there isanother safe way to pre-vent pregnancy, thatwould suit you better.Women who take cer-tain birth control pillsmay see a change insome of their blood fatsthat play a role in heartdisease. For exampleyour levels of HDL
By Dr. Brajesh Kumar Kunwar & Dr Bandita Sinha
“good” cholesterol couldgo down; at the sametime, Triglycerides andLDL “bad” cholesterolmay go up. This maycause a gradual build-up of a fatty substancecalled Plaque insideyour Arteries. Over acourse of time, that canreduce or block the flowof blood to your heartand cause a Heart At-tack or Angina (type ofchest pain). Estrogen inbirth control pills canalso raise your risk of
blood clots!WHEN ON OCP, RISK OF
HEART DISEASE ANDOTHER COMPLICATIONS
IS HIGHER IF YOU:- Are older than 35yrs- Have high Blood
Pressure, Diabetes,or high cholesterol
- Smoke- Have ever had a
Stroke, Heart At-tack, or Blood Clots
- Suffer from Mi-graines with aura
HOW TO LOWER YOURRISK OF HEART DIS-
EASE WHEN ON OCP?If you fall under any
of the categories listedabove that raise yourrisk for Heart Disease,you may still be able touse birth control. Themost important thingyou can do is to discussyour concerns with yourdoctor. They will help
you weigh the pros andcons, against each birthcontrol option that isoffered to you.
For example, re-search shows thatwomen with medicalconditions such as highBlood Pressure and Di-abetes, as long asthey’re well under con-trol, may be able tosafely take birth con-trol pills. If you’re over35yrs, healthy, anddon’t smoke, you cankeep using hormonal
birth control. How-ever, you shouldn’tuse birth controlwith Estrogen ifyou have ever hadBlood Clots,Stroke, or HeartDisease. Instead,speak with yourdoctor about preg-nancy controlmethods that onlyhave Progestin.These includeshots, a type ofbirth control pill
called the mini pill orPOP, Nexplanon, andIntrauterine Devices(IUDs). Women withcongenital heart dis-ease may be able to usemost forms of birth con-trol. Research suggeststhat Progestin-only op-tions as well as IUDsmay be safest for you.Get your doctor’s adviceto make the bestchoice.
No matter your age,if you use birth controlpills, you are at riskand should thereforemake well informed de-cisions after speakingto your doctor!Dr. Brajesh Kumar Kunwaris Senior InterventionalCardiologist & Dr BanditaSinha is Senior Gynaecol-ogist, Hiranandani Hospi-tal, Vashi-A Fortis Associ-ate
Need for introspectionOver the last few weeks, there has been a stupendous in-
crease in the crime graph. Cases of daylight robbery, chainsnatching etc. are on the rise while the detection rate has re-mained abysmal. This has instilled a sense of insecurity amongstthe residents. The non chalant attitude of the many police offi-cials, non friendly image of the police department and the diffi-cult legal procedures have only helped in eroding the imagefurther.
This is an era of specialization. Considering the competi-tiveness that one has to face, success in any field, to a greatextent, depends on specialization. This adage applies to thepolice department as well. The present day working in the po-lice department makes it imperative for the officials to carryout a wide range of duties, which in turn adversely affects theirperformance as prime security providing agency. The policetoday have no defined duties, which varies from nabbing crim-inals to providing security to the VVIPs to making bandobastfor dharnas & community celebrations, to managing traffic, me-diating in disputes, providing security cover to the politiciansduring elections and election rallies and what not. It is becauseof this multi faceted duty requirement that the performance ofpolice in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai is lack luster and they failto perform their prime duty that of providing security to theresidents, which is what they are actually created for. Limitedforce equipped with arms of the stone- age era with unlimitedworking hours is finding itself at the receiving end especiallywhen the nature of crime is getting sophisticated and complex.As is said power corrupts person, the same is true to greatextent for the police force also, which wields legitimate andsome times even illegitimate powers. Lack of commitment andweak morale are visible in the police force today leading todisgust in the society and police as a profession carries a verypoor image.
The police alone cannot be blamed for this sorry state ofaffairs. Huge interferences from the politicians who treat thepolice department as personal employees, has also contribut-ed towards its poor performances. Transfers and postings makelot of news these days where merits rarely count. This has puta big question mark on the working of the police departmentand there is an eminent need for revamping the whole systemespecially in view of the recent scam.
The police department needs to go in for specialized forcesfor different works like for example crime branch, VVIPs secu-rity, traffic department etc. It is heartening to note that recent-ly efforts have been made to modernize the department, butthe forces should be imparted specialized training in dealingwith particular kind of crimes especially in view of new types ofcrimes like financial and cyber crimes. A significant amount ofautonomy needs to be given to the police department and therehas to be a minimum interference from the politicians. In thisrevamping process not only the police department needs to beoverhauled but the public in general also needs to be coun-seled. The illegal migrants from neighbouring countries, theslum dwellers, many of the road side beggars and urchins arealso potential criminals and they need to be discouraged as pre-vention of crime is better than conviction of criminals aftercrime is committed. The working conditions in the police de-partment need to be improved and the police force should beaugmented and equipped with latest arms, means of communi-cation & transportation. They should also have better inter con-nection and exchange of information with other security agen-cies in order to enhance their performance and also to improvetheir sagging morale.
The Union Budget 2020-21 – Good for Many Individuals, Farmers, Corporate,Startups, MSMEs, Education, Housing & Infrastructure to Benefit
The Finance Minis-ter Smt. Nirmala Sit-araman presented theUnion Budget for 2020-21 amid thumping by
members belonging toNDA and occasional dis-ruptions from the oppo-sition party members.It was a marathon Bud-get lasting nearly threehours with our FinanceMinister reciting in-
A new personal income tax rate will entail es-timated revenue foregone of ¹ 40,000 crore peryear. More than 100 exemptions of different na-ture are currently provided in the IT Act. 70 ofthem have been removed in the new tax regime
Beneficiaries RupeesAgriculture 2.83 Lakh CrRural Development 1.23 Lakh CrInfrastructure 100 Lakh CrDefence 3.37 Lakh CrIndustry & Commerce 27,300 CrPower & Renewable Energy 22,000 CrTransport Infra 1.7 Lakh CrQuantum Technology 8,000 Cr. Bharat Net 6,000 C rHealth 69,000 CrSwachh Bharat 12,300 CrNutrition 35,000 CrClean Air 4,400 Cr.Scheduled Caste /OBC 85,000 CrScheduled Tribes 53,700 Cr.Senior Citizens & Differently Enabled 9,500 CrWomen Linked Programs 28,600 CrEducation 99,300 CrSkill Development 3,000 CrTourism 2,500 CrCulture 3,100 CrTextile 1,480 Cr
Income Tax
Income (per annum) Proposed Old TaxTax Rate Rate
Upto Rs. 2.5 lakh No tax No taxRs. 2.5 lakh-Rs. 5 lakh No tax 5 %Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 7.5 lakh 10% 20%Rs. 7.5 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh 15% 20%Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 12.5 lakh 20% 30%Rs. 12.5 lakh to Rs. 15 lakh 25% 30%Above Rs. 15 lakh 30% 30%
spiring Kashmiri Poemand Thirukural. In herspeech, the FinanceMinister stressed threetenets namely Aspira-tional India, EconomicDevelopment and Car-ing Society The Bud-get with the theme‘New Economy BasedOn Innovation’ is in-deed a very good forindividual, corporate,startups, MSMEs,Farmers, Housing, In-
frastructure, Trans-port, Education, Healthand Tourism sectors.The reduction in taxrates will give a boostto the economy. Hereare the Budget High-lights:
By Lakshman Sundar
• Data Center Parks to be built pan India.• 9,000 Kms Economic Corridors Soon• 2,000 Kms Strategic Highway• Electrification of 27,000 Kms tracks• Gram Panchayats To Be Digitalized• Comprehensive measures for 100 water-
stressed districts proposed• National Technical Textile Mission to propel
itself global leader in textiles production• Dividend Distribution Tax Abolished• FDI will be encouraged in Education Sector• Insurance cover for bank depositors raised from
Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh• Nirvik (Niryat Rin Vikas Yojana) scheme to
provide enhanced insurance cover and reducepremium for small exporters.
• Instant allotment of PAN Card throughAadhaar Card
• Fiscal deficit for the year 2020-21 pegged at3.5 % of the GDP
• The National Police University and NationalForensic Science University proposed
• Hospitals in Tier-II and Tier-III cities with theprivate sector using PPP.
• Agri-credit availability set at ¹ 15 lakh crorefor 2020-21.
• Provide 20 lakh farmers to set up standalonesolar pumps. Help another 15 lakh farmers tosolarise their power grid.
Other Initiatives• 5 More Smart Cities to be built• 100 more airports to be developed by 2024 to
support the UDAN scheme
By Ashok Dhamija
NAVI MUMBAI: Cen-tral Railway will oper-ate Mega Block on itsSuburban sections(Harbour and Mainlines) for carrying outmaintenance work forinfrastructure upkeepand safety on Sunday2, February, 2020 asper the followingschedule:
A) Vashi - KurlaUP & DN HarbourLines
From 10.21 am to3.40 pm.
UP Harbour lineservices for Chhatra-pati Shivaji MaharajTerminus (CSMT),Mumbai leaving Panv-el/Belapur/Vashi from10.21 am to 3.00 pmand DN Harbour lineservices to Vashi/Be-lapur/Panvel leavingCSMT Mumbai from10.34 am to 3.40 pmwill remain suspended.However, Special ser-vices will run on
CR Mega Block Today
Services to be affected between Vashi and Kurla on Harbour line
CSMT, Mumbai – Kur-la and Vashi – Panvelsections during theblock period. Harbourline passengers are per-mitted to travel viaTrans harbour Line andMain Line from 10.00am to 4.30 pm duringblock period.
B) Byculla-
Vidyavihar DNMain Slow Line
From: 10.42 amto 3.44 pm.
DN Main Slow ser-vices leaving Bycullafrom 10.42 am to 3.44pm will be diverted onDN Main Fast line be-tween Byculla andVidyavihar stationshalting at Parel, Da-
dar, Matunga, Sion andKurla stations and fur-ther re-diverted on DNMain Slow line atVidyavihar station.
DN Main Slow ser-vices will not availableat Chinchpokli, CurryRoad and Vidyaviharstations. Passengers ofthese stations are al-
lowed to travel viaParel, Dadar, Kurlaand Ghatkopar sta-tions.
Up Main Fast ser-vices leaving Thanefrom 11.24 am to 3.26pm will halt at Diva,Mulund, Bhandup,Vikhroli, Ghatkoparand Kurla stations inaddition to their respec-
tive scheduled haltsand will arrive destina-tion 15 minutes behindschedule.
DN Main Fast ser-vices leaving Chhatra-pati Shivaji MaharajTerminus Mumbaifrom 10.49 am to 3.21pm will halt at Ghat-kopar, Vikhroli, Bhand-up, Mulund, and Divastations in addition totheir respective sched-uled halts and will ar-rive destination 20 min-utes behind schedule.
All Main Slow ser-vices arriving and leav-ing Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj TerminusMumbai between 11.00am and 5.00 pm willarrive destination 10minutes behind sched-ule.
Due to these blocks,suburban trains arelikely to be more crowd-ed than usual. Passen-gers are requested notto take any risks whiletravelling.
The one thing thatstrikes you theminute you land inIndia from a tripabroad is the sound ofhonking on Indianroads. The stark dif-ference in the decibellevel is apparent inseconds from the timeyou step out into anyIndian airport, and sois the attitude of thepeople.
I remember beingpleasantly surprisedwhen people invari-ably slowed downtheir cars and smil-ingly allowed pedestri-ans to cross the roadswhile I was in theUS. It is unthinkablein India, where onecrosses the road inmortal fear of beingrun over if one isn’tquick enough. Theimpatience on theroads is unbelievable,and can make driv-ing a living night-mare, especially forcitizens who wish toabide by the rules. Ifthere is a signal, andyou have stopped du-tifully as you are sup-posed to, the deafen-ing honking of thecars behind willmake you feel like anaberration. Not onlydo people not followthe traffic rules them-selves, but they alsopressurize others not
Honk Not OK Please
to do the same by inces-sant and unbearablehonking, which is com-pletely unnecessary.
The recent move bythe Mumbai policewherein traffic signalswill continue to stay redif the decibel levels ex-ceed 85 dB is a muchneeded, innovative andwelcome decision. Itwill hopefully bringabout a gradual changenot only in the levels ofsound but also in thepatience levels of peoplewho will realize thatthey will end up wait-ing longer if they try torush the people ahead.
More than curbingnoise pollution, this willalso help in inculcating
life lessons. Roads area learning school forour children, and nomoral science lessonscan teach them the val-ues that they learnwhile they are on theroad. It is a truth uni-versally acknowledgedthat children learnmore from observationthan from formal edu-cation. More often thannot, there is a blatantcontradiction betweenwhat they are taught todo and be, and whatthey discern in theworld around them. Ev-ery morning they wit-ness their own family
members, bus driversand others maneuvertheir way to schoolwithout following therules, breaking sig-nals, honking persis-tently without a rea-son, parking in ‘noparking’ zones, speed-ing beyond the per-missible limits, abus-ing and expressingtheir rage at fellowdrivers. Yet, they aretaught to be polite andcourteous to theirpeers and elders, notto complain or seekinstant gratificationbut to learn to be calmand patient. They arewarned about thegrave dangers andconsequences of pollu-
tion, and are urged toprotect the environ-ment. They are ex-pected abide by therules in school and athome, and are pun-ished for the slightestdeviation or signs ofaggression.
If we could only fol-low what we preach,we would be able toraise our children intobetter human beings– and there is no bet-ter place to start thanon the road that takesus from home toschool – for that iswhere real educationbegins!
Radcliffe School, Ulwe celebratesSports Cultural Fest with the theme
“The school hasalways strived toimpart valuesamongst the studentsand sensitise them
about their health,surroundings andenvironment. Thetheme ‘Jo fit hai, wohhit hai’ was a steptowards creatingawareness to imbibe alifestyle that keepsone fit and healthyand joining handsand pledging to be apart of Fit India
Movement initiated byour Honourable PMShri Narendra Modi,”said Anshu Saxena,Principal of theSchool.
The audiencewitnessed a spectacu-lar version of variedmass drills, cultural
performances, funraces, short put,discus throw, relayand 200-800 meterdashes, Heats of Kho-Kho, Football andconcluded with agrand finale. Everyitem of the eventpropagated themessage of fit healthand a healthy life-
style.The races were
objectively named anddesigned embodyingthe theme. To name afew from the list are:Supplement the dietrace; Make the shakerace; Handsome hunkand fit damsels’ race
A thematic paradewas a part of everysession of the festwhich got the audi-ence curious andexcited about theupcoming items. Thecolorful props and theinfectious moves of theparade participants
Sachin Tendulkar inaugurated the TMGA Academy & Sports Centre at DY Patil, NaviMumbai. Speaking on the occasion he said, “I hope this centre encourages everyoneto adopt sports as an active part of life & thus play a role in transforming India from asport loving nation to a sport playing nation.” (Photo courtesy: ChandrashekharHendve)
top ranked Girls andNo.3 Under 18 playersrespectively.
The rankings werebased on the compila-tion by the MSLTARanking committeefrom the performance ofplayers in various agegroups from 128 tennistournaments held inMaharashtra from Jan-uary to December2019, the highest by farthan any other state onthe AITA Calendarwhich consisted of 8International events(Three ITF Women’s,One ITF Juniors,Three ATF Seniors andOne ATF Juniors) 76AITA ranked events(which included theUnder 12,14,16,18,Men’s and Women’s),34 Under 10 StateRanking events alongwith three Veteranevents and The All Ma-harashtra Inter ClubChampionships, JuniorTennis League (Mum-bai, Pune and Kol-hapur), Road to MSLTAevents at the districtlevel.
While Mumbai re-gion hosted 45 eventsincluding three Inter-national event, PuneRegion Hosted 20events which includedfive Internationalevents the highest inthe country, Kolhapurregion hosted 25 events,Navi Mumbai’s NMSAhosted 5 events includ-ing one internationalevent (IWTC $25000 forthe seventh year in arow), Nagpur regionhosted eight events,Aurangabad region 10
events, Solapur regionfour events includingone international eventand Nashik region sev-en events.
Pune region howev-er took the top honoursby finishing with eightNo 1 players in Maha-rashtra in 2019. Thisincludes Arjun Kadhe(Men’s Singles), Rutu-ja Bhosale (Women’sSingles), Vaishnavi Ad-kar (Girls Under 16),Yashraj S Dalvi (BoysUnder 16), ManasDhamne (Boys Under14 and 12), Ruma Gai-kaiwari (Girls Under14), and Prisha Shinde (Girls Under 10)emerge as top rankedstate players. Mumbairegion on the otherhand finished with twotop finishes with AdityaBalsekar (Boys Under18), Ayan Shetty (BoysUnder 10), while Nain-ika Reddy from Solapurfinished No 1 in theGirls Under 10 catego-ry.
City based Mahakand Akansha in fact fin-ished second and thirdranked player in theWomen’s and Girl Un-der-16 category respec-tively too.
On the occasionSunder Iyer stated thatthe 128 tennis tourna-
ments held in Maha-rashtra for various agegroups from January toDecember 2019, cou-pled with quality Na-tional and Internation-al level events have en-sured our state playersimproved ranking onthe National level. Asmany as six Maharash-tra players finishedUnder top 5 players listin the country in vari-ous age groups in 2019-year end rankings.Some of these are Inter-national Women’s andMen’s Tennis playerRutuja Bhosale, ArjunKadhe, Mahak Jainalong with Men’s Na-tionals Runner up Ary-an Goveas, Mini JuniorNational ChampionsPari Chauhan andMahi Khore, India No.1 in Boys Under 14 andNo. 2 in Under 12Manas Dhamne.
“It feels great to bethe top ranked player inmy age category. Thesame wouldn’t havebeen possible withoutthe support of mycoaches and parents.My aim is not only toexceed at national butalso at internationallevel in the comingyears, for which I amready to put in the ex-tra yard,” shared Ma-
hak Jain, who gave atough fight to eventualchampion BarbaraHaas (Austria) in semisof the 6th edition of theNavi Mumbai ITFWomen’s TennisChampionship in 2018.(Photos by Author).
Top ranked playersaccording the year endranking list.
Boys Under 10: 1. AyanShetty (Mumbai), 2. SureshDhron (Mumbai), 3.Om Verma (Mumbai), 4.Neel Kelkar (Pune), 5. AhanShetty (Mumbai), 6. SarthakGaikwad (Kolhapur), 7. VeerMahajan (Mumbai) and 8.Shounak Suvarna (Kol-hapur).
Girls Under 10: 1.Prisha Shinde (Pune), 2.Parthsarthi Mundhe (So-lapur), 3. Mehak Kapoor (Pune), 4. Kavya Deshmukh(Pune), 5. Mrunal Shelke(Pune), 6. Vrundika Rajput(Aurangabad), 7. NamrataPawar (Solapur) and 8. Hri-tika Kaple (Pune).
Boys Under 12: 1.Manas Manoj Dhamne(Pune), 2. Samarth Ujjaval
Ruma Ashutosh Gaikaiwari(Pune), 2. Pari Sagar Cha-van (Mumbai), 3. ShravaniSachin Khawale (Pune), 4.Sonal Paygonda Patil (Kol-hapur), 5. Madhurima San-gramsingh Sawant (Pune), 6.Khushi S Sharma (Pune), 7.Kkaira S Chetnani (Mumbai)and 8. Gia Alana Pereira(Mumbai).
Boys Under 16 : 1.Yashraj S Dalvi (Pune). 2.Anargha Ganguly (Pune), 3.Daksh A Agarwal (Pune), 4.Saheb G Sodhi (Mumbai), 5.Sahil S Tambat (Pune), 6.Arjun N Gohad (Pune), 7.Sandesh D Kurale (Kol-hapur) and 8. Nirav D Shet-ty (Mumbai).
Pune’s Arjun Khade is the top ranked state Men’s player. Navi Mumbai’sAkanksha Nitture
currently occupiesNo.3 position in theUnder 16 and 18 age
category.
City playerMahak...Contd. from pg. 1
1846 women benefitted from 24 women cancer diagnosis screening camps organised by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. The camp has been organised in associationwith Indian Cancer Society.
Viveck Shettyy being felicitated by Dr. Debjani Dasgupta
Art has positive influence onhuman well being: Viveck Shettyy
MUMBAI: Speakingat the annual daycelebrations of DYPatil School ofBiotechnology andBioinformatics,Viveck Shettyy LifeCoach, Yogi and,Mystic said that arthas positive influenc-es on human wellbe-ing. Viveck Shettyydescribed the explora-tion of art asa fascinating andriveting journey fromthe objective dimen-sion of life to thesubjectivedimension of life.
The theme for thisyear’s celebrationswas ”Art-a-Tech”,bringing art andtechnology together.
Adding further,Viveck Shettyy said,“This transition givesus a better under-standing of the moresubtle yet profoundexperiences oflife. Our entire life ismerely a stroke of thebrush on the canvasof consciousness.” Heshared the example ofthe late blind poetMilton, whose blind-ness made himexplore the subjectivedimensions of life togreat depth and as aconsequence, some ofhis best reputedpoetic works cameout after his blind-ness. He furtheradded that artexpands ourimagination to thebest possible extentand imagination isthe true sign of
intelligence.Moving on to
music, Viveck Shettyyopined that there isan inner vibration toevery human being onthis planet. Ifour inner sounds arein harmony with theexternal sounds thatwe make, chances arethat more often thannot our entire exist-ence will be joyousand exuberant. Heshared intriguinginsights into thehealing power ofmusic and ancientIndian mantras.
“Our deepestenergies find expres-sion when we exploreart forms. Mereeconomic pursuit withno exposure to art willresult in frustrationand the experience issimilar to that of aplant that can bearboth flowers andfruits, but is restrict-ed to only bear fruits.Eventually, the rootsof the plant will befrustrated since it
cannot bear flowers,”added Mr. Shettyy.
He concluded bysharing one of hispersonal experiencesas a Life Coach,where he helpeda student overcomedepression by pursu-ing writing andpainting. An unhealthymind needs thecompany of a healthymind and notpills according toViveck Shettyy. Heurged the audienceto take up some formof art in theirlifetime, else theywould have missedout the very essenceof life.
Dr. DebjaniDasgupta, Head ofD.Y Patil School ofBiotechnology andBioinformaticsdelivered the wel-come address. Therewere brilliant danceand theatre perfor-mances by thestudents. Theatmosphere waselectric.
left the entire crowdamazed.
The races wereorganized to conveythe importance ofhealthy lifestyle whichstands irreplaceable inone’s life. The winnersof each race were alsofelicitated on the day.
The dignitariespresent on the occa-
sion were: MandataiMhatre -MLA Belapur,Swati Mukerjee -Regional head, Radc-liffe group of Schools,Nikhil Mishra-HTManager, Jithin Jacob-Ex PTA member,Karuna Tawde -SMCmember, MukeshSharma -PTA vicePresident, VardaSharma-Editor NewsBand, Akhila Dinesh -Principal RadcliffeSchool Kharghar, MrSunil Prabhakaran-Major City and others.
The Principal,Anshu Saxena gave abrief delineation of theproductive year in herAnnual report.
Vedanti Sakare ofclass VII who won Rs50,000 HT ScholarshipScheme 2019 and othersports achievers of theyear 2019-20 were alsoaccoladed at the event.The school Staff MrPawan -shot put, goldmedallist and MSRashu Navgekar- BestTeacher Awardee werealso felicitated.
RadcliffeSchool,Ulwe...
Contd. from pg. 6
TEXPROCIL welcomesUnion Budget 2020-21
MUMBAI : 1st Feb2020 Government hasannounced the UnionBudget for 2020-21 to-day . Welcoming theBudget, Dr.K.V.Srinivasan , Chair-man of The Cotton Tex-tiles Export PromotionCouncil said , “ TheBudget is positive ,growth oriented and inthe right direction”.
The Budget hasstated that the Schemefor Remission of Duties& Taxes on Exportedproducts will belaunched this yearwhich will refund theduties and taxes leviedat the Central, Stateand local levels, such aselectricity duties andVAT on fuel used fortransportation, whichare currently not get-ting exempted or re-funded under any oth-er existing mechanism.The implementation ofthis scheme will cer-tainly go a long way inimproving the compet-itiveness of the textilesproducts in the exportmarkets ,according to
Dr.Srinivasan.The Budget has
abolished the anti-dumping duty on PTA. Dr. Srinvasan , said“this is an importantdecision as PTA is a crit-ical input for the textilefibres and yarns andremoval of anti dump-ing duty will make itsavailability to the in-dustry at competitiveprices and give a boostto downstream valueadded product .
On Technical Tex-tiles , the Chairman ,TEXPROCIL said, “the proposed NationalTechnical Textiles Mis-sion with a four-yearimplementation periodfrom 2020-21 to 2023-24 at an estimated out-
lay of ` 1480 crore, willgive the much neededencouragement to thissector and provide themuch needed break-through in product de-velopment “.
Dr. Srinivasan alsowelcomed the variousinitiatives in the bud-get for the MSME sec-tor such as increasingthe threshold for auditof books of accountfrom Rs. 1 crore to 5crore crore ,provisionto enable NBFCs to ex-tend invoice financingto the MSMEs etc willalso lead to ease of do-ing business for theseunits.
On imports , the de-cision to review theRules of Origin under allFTAs , then strengthenthe safeguard measuresto deal with surge inimports and the reviewof all Custom duty ex-emptions will protect thedomestic manufacturerswhich in turn will en-courage “Make in India”initiative , according tothe Chairman, TEX-PROCIL .
Shiv Bhojanscheme...
Contd. from pg. 1
Unit (FRU) Hospital atSector 10A, Vashi.
The Yojna was inau-gurated by the NMMCDeputy Municipal Com-missioner TusharPawar in the presenceof the Rationing officerB P Muluk andother officersand staff.Lauding theinitiative, thepeople feel thatthe schemeshould be intro-duced at manyother centresand the timingtoo should beextended fromthe current two-hours.
Under the scheme,thalis or lunch platesare available to the peo-ple at Rs. 10. The ‘tha-li’ consists of two chap-atis, one vegetable, riceand dal. The thalis areavailable for people be-tween 12 noon and 2pm. Currently, the can-
teen in the hospital isserving 75 thalis(plates) per day.
Rationing officer BP Muluk said, “The ini-tiative is generatinggood response from thepeople, who are de-manding more suchcentres in the city.”
DMC Tushar Pawarsaid “The goal of the
scheme is to provide af-fordable and qualityfood to all, irrespectiveof caste, creed, religionand financial status.”
The actual cost ofeach thali is Rs 50 eachin urban centres and Rs35 in rural areas. “Thebalance amount willborne by the district
collectorate,” said anofficial.
Amit Patil, canteenowner at NMMC’s Hos-pital said “People arevery happy with thequality and quantity offood. The demand in-fact is more.”
Deepak Yadav, a pa-tient’s relative who reg-ularly takes Shiv Bho-
jan Thali said,“The quality offood is verygood. I takethis thali ev-eryday and feelthat the initia-tive should beintroduced inother hospitalstoo.”
Bharat Pa-til, a relative
of a patient from Tur-bhe said that the num-ber of thalis should beincreased from 75 tomore. “The demandfor thali is more andhence the number ofplates should be in-creased so that morepeople can avail theopportunity.”
Greens call for Ramsar Site status to Panje wetlandNAVI MUMBAI:
Expressing anguish at‘all round destructionof wetlands in Mum-bai MetropolitanRegion, environmen-talists have asked theCentre to have Panjewetland as a Ramsarsite to save it fromexploitation for aconcrete jungle andscrapping the NMSEZprojects which havebeen indulging inillegal landfill causingfloods in Uran.
Panje Wetland thatsignifies biodiversityand serves as destina-tion of hundreds ofnative and migratorybirds has beenconstantly underthreat and the latestone being the inclu-sion in a urbandevelopment plan bythe city plannergovernment-ownedCIDCO, the environ-mentalists said at amedia seminar on#SaveWetLandsSave-Mumbai. The eventwas part of the WorldWetlands Day eventsby environmentgroups NatConnectFoundation, ShriEkvira Aai Pratish-tan, Save NaviMumbai Environmentand fishermen’s forumPaaramparik Machhi-mar Bachao KrutiSamiti.
The groups alsoexpressed distress atthe recent findings byWetlands Internation-
al South Asia statingthat Mumbai has lostthe maximum 71% ofwetlands between1970 and 2014. Thewetland loss was aresult of the increasein built-up area to1074 sqkm from 149sqkm, stated thestudy.
“It is in thiscontext that we seekthe inclusion of the289-hectarePanje inRamsar listwhich embod-ies thegovernment’scommitmentto take thesteps neces-sary to ensurethat itsecologicalcharacter ismaintained,”said B NKumar,director ofnot-for-profitNatConnectFoundation.
DespiteCIDCOdeclaringPanje as aholding pond, a floodcontrol mechanism forthe upcoming Drona-giri node, it hasearmarked thewetland for real estatedevelopment as part ofNavi Mumbai SEZ.
NandakumarPawar, head of ShriEkvira Aai Pratish-tan, pointed out thatthere has been a
wanton destruction ofmangroves andwetlands all acrossthe Mumbai Metropol-itan Region (MMR).The ecologicallysensitive Uran hasborne the brunt of thebrutal attack byvarious projectproponents such asNavi Mumbai SEZ,JNPT, JNPT SEZ,NHAI etc. Vast
stretches of wetlandsand over 20,000mangroves have beendestroyed at JNPT4th Container termi-nal, NH-348 (nearPunjab warehousesCFS) and NMSEZ’ssites. Wetlands of asmuch as 100 acres atPagote and 150 acresat Bhelkhand – bothunder NMSEZ - have
been destroyed byillegal landfill, Pawarsaid.
He said NMSEZprojects across 1,250hectares should bescrapped immediatelyas the illegal landfillis causing floods inUran region. As manyas 20 villages out of 27were submergedduring the lastmonsoon. Further
land filling willdefinitely leads toflooding in entireUran taluka, he saidand remarked:“Development at thecost of human lives isnot acceptable.”
Sunil Agrawal ofSave Navi MumbaiEnvironment, whohas been campaigningto save the Talawe
wetland near Sea-woods NRI from beingburied for a golfcourse, stoutly sup-ported the idea to savePanje. MaharashtraEnvironment MinisterAditya Thackeray hasrecently asked CIDCOto treat Talawe pondas a bird sanctuarywhich is a major steptowards protecting thebio-diversity of Navi
Mumbai,Sunil Agrawalsaid.
Much ofUran, sup-posed to bethe largestcoastalwetlands ofMaharashtra,has beenturned into amere dustbowl. Localfishingcommunityand 26villages arepaying pricefor relentlessdevelopmentthat isdestroying theecological
balance. Fishermen’slivelihood and theirlives are under threat,said Tukaram Koli ofPaaramparik Machhi-mar Bachao KrutiSamiti.
“Official responseto our RTI applica-tions show veryclearly that NMSEZor its contractors havenot taken any permis-
sion nor have theypaid royalty fordigging hills fortransporting hundredsof truckloads of soil.At Panje, NMSEZillegally constructed amassive wall aroundover 500 acres andeven prevented birdwatchers and fisher-men from entering,”Pawar said.
JNPT, which hasalready been fined lastyear for causing thedeath of 4,500 man-groves, continues todestroy the sea plantin the expansion of its4th Container termi-nal. MCZMA whichclearly mandated thatmangroves should notbe harmed has calledfor a probe on prioritybasis into the allega-tions of environmentaldestruction, Kumarsaid and called forrevoking the environ-mental clearance ifthe charges areproved.
The not-for-profitorganisations de-scribed MMRDA planto build housingcomplexes in salt panareas as “disastrous”and “invitation toenvironmental crisis. Requesting theenvironment ministerto checkmate this, thegroups have called forreviving the RiverRegulatory Zone tosave the rivers andthe people and preventrecurring floods.
MUMBAI: Several ce-lebrities from Bolly-wood, business, and ac-ademic world met at atwo day event to raiseawareness about men-strual hygiene. Theevent called #PeriodTo-PeriodShame kicks offmonths long campaignto reach out to as manyas 42 lakh women andcalled for putting an
end to period shame. Aspart of the campaign,Period Potlis - a bag ofessential menstrualhygiene products, nu-trition products and aperiod manual will alsobe distributed to younggirls while impartingnecessary knowledgeand awareness abouthealthy menstruation.
The event hosted atWockhardt FoundationGlobal Office in Mum-bai on the 25th Janu-ary, and SL RahejaHospital Mahim on26th January, washosted by Dr. NidhiKumar, Celebrity ShowHost and Lead NewsAnchor at DD Nation-al & DD News, and Yo-gini Shlloka, an IndianYogi, Ayurvedic Dietand Lifestyle Expert,trained extensively un-der Sadhguru’s guid-ance.
Dr. Nidhi Kumarsaid, “Despite new de-velopments in hygiene& sanitation sector inrecent years, recentsurveys provide someappalling statistics.70% of Indian womenthink ‘period’ is impureand refrain from talk-
#PeriodToPeriodShame
• Celebrities from Bollywood and Business World Share their Stories of Periods to raise awareness
about Menstrual Hygiene • The Republic Day Event Called For Putting An End To Period Shame
ing to their childrenabout it. 88% of wom-en in rural India useunsterilized clamps,ashes, sand during pe-riod. It is clear that pos-itive conversationaround menstrual hy-giene has always beenstarved of mainstreammedia attention.” Itwas earlier reportedthat India has one of
the highest incidencesof UTI in the world,about 73% higher thanin other countries. 23%of girls drop out ofschool, the momentthey hit puberty.
According to theevent host, Yogini Shl-loka , “Period shamingremains a real strugglefor today’s women. It isoften seen workingwomen euphemisingperiod cramps by call-ing it as a stomach acheor chums while talkingto their bosses andmale colleagues. Peri-ods are a natural bodi-ly function. They arehealthy. We should callit a period and not useindirect names whilereferring to it.” YoginiShlloka is touted as oneof the youngest and thebrightest pioneers ofYoga & Wellness in thecountry. A product of St.Stephen’s College & theDelhi School Of Eco-nomics. She is also anational swimmingchampion, in additionto being an Ayurvedic /Yogic nutritionist, diet& lifestyle expert.
The event was spon-sored by the Wockhardt
Foundation - a not-for-profit organizationwhich runs several pro-grammes in health, ed-ucation, water and san-itation across the coun-try, The Rizwan AdatiaFoundation - a not forprofit, that focuses onreducing disparities ineducation, healthcareand economic develop-ment within the com-
munities of Asia andAfrica, SL Raheja Hos-pital - the award win-ning hospital chain inMumbai, Phoenix Pads- started in 2018 to ad-dress the grave need inintimate hygiene sectorof reliable and long last-ing products, ChitaleGroup - one of the old-est organized privatedairy initiatives in thecountry., and DasPendawala - the 100year old brand of tradi-tional Indian Sweetsand Namkeen in Gujar-at.
The attendance atthe event included, SirDr. Huz , Executive Di-rector at the WockhardtFoundation, Mr VarunNarula and Mr IshitGarg , co-founders ofthe innovative men-strual hygiene brand,Phoenix Pads, Mr.Rizwan Adatia and MrSandip Dutta, Founderand Country Manager,respectively, of theRizwan Adatia Founda-tion and , Ms Saumya-ta Tiwari, Founder ofwomen centric digitalmagazine, Aspiring-She, Ms Anu Aggarwal, the highly acclaimed
former Indian modeland actress; bestknown for her work inAashiqui who now runsthe Anu AggarwalFoundation, Anotherfamiliar face from Bol-lywood was that of Ac-tor and Model Alankri-ta Sahai . The Chitalegroup was representedby Mr Girish Chitale,Partner at M/S B.G.
Chitale and DasPendawala was repre-sented by Mr Baiju Me-hta who is the ThirdGeneration of the fami-ly owned business. Ce-lebrity Chef HarpalSingh Sokhi , aka ‘theEnergy Chef of India’ or‘the Dancing Chef ofIndia’ known for hismoves on the celebritydance show JhalakDikhla Jaa Season 9Colors TV also graced
the event.The talk around nu-
trition, and the impor-tance of ayurvedic foodas a medicine was ledby a host of expertsfrom the food industryand academia. It in-cluded Dr Bhandarkar, the renowned yogaand Ayurvedic expert;Prof Smita Lele - atechnologist with in-
dustrial, academic andresearch experienceover 3 decades; Dr Pra-bodh Halde , the imme-diate past president ofthe Association of FoodScientists and Technol-ogists of India CFTRIMysore, and a re-nowned Food Technolo-gist; Ms Sheryl Salis, aSenior Registered Clin-ical & Sports Nutrition-ist, who has been in-strumental in setting
up departments for Di-abetes and WellnessManagement at Hospi-tals and Corporatehouses and now runsthe wellness startupNurture Health Solu-tions; Dr Subha Nish-tala , a senior executivein quality operations inFood Processing Indus-try across organiza-tions including Coca-
Cola India and Al Ka-beer Exports. And Mr.Sukhbinder Singh, atri-athlete and a LIM-CA record holder pro-fessional deep sea div-er.
The hosts called formen and women acrossthe country to use thehashtag #PeriodToPe-riodShame on socialmedia to share theirperiod stories and takethe period pledge.
Letter to the Editor....
Government needs to double
the Investment in R & D sectorFor India to progress towards achieving high-
er quality employment, the Government shouldinvest more in the education sector this year. TheDraft Education Policy suggests increasing the spending on educationto about 6 per cent of GDP, should be included in the budget for thisyear. If India has to achieve higher employment, the Government shouldinvest more in the education sector. It is also important to provide verylow interest rates on education loans to support higher levels of enroll-ment especially in a country like India where there is a large dropout ofstudents at the school level. The Government needs to double the invest-ment in Research and Development in the country, which is currentlyonly 0.7 per cent of the overall GDP, and also encourage the privatesector to invest more in R&D by providing various incentives and letthem play a more proactive role in the field of education”.
Mrs. K.S. Jamali, Principal, Beacon High School, Khar -Mumbai
NCC Cadets represents real India - PM ModiBy Vinod C. Dixit
While addressingthe cadets from theNCC (National CadetCorps) and NSS (Na-tional Service Scheme)in New Delhi our PMNarendra Modi hassaid that no person orregion must be left be-hind in “new India.Speaking to the youngNCC and NSS cadets,PM Modi said theyshowcased a “mini In-dia, new India” and rep-resented the real IndiaHe urged the gatheredcadets to keep debatingabout their duties to-wards the nation andset examples. Such ef-forts are what will leadto the creation of a newIndia. The NCC takesupon itself to providemotivated leadership in
all walks of life throughinteractive curriculumand activities like NCCRepublic Day Camp.NCC is dedicated to fos-tering the spirit of ad-venture among theyouth, but also incul-cates social responsibil-ities and encourages ca-dets to contribute to-wards AIDS awareness,Cancer Awareness,Adult education, AntiDowry, Anti Drugs, Or-gan Donation andCleanliness pro-grammes. Their contri-butions towards socialcauses have been recog-nized. The nation is in-deed very proud of you. The NCC, with its mottoof Ekta aur Anushasan(Unity and Discipline)has been providing ouryoung people with oppor-
tunities for self-develop-ment and avenues tofulfil their potential forgrowth. In India, manyyoungsters are trainedin line with defence incase the need arises. Ifyoung students want tomake it their career op-tion, then being a NCCcadet holds a lot ofweight. Days are gonewhen the students usedto stick to their schoolbooks and notes toachieve high scoreswith having no expo-sure to the real worldoutside the books. To-day, it has become veryimportant for every stu-dent to get indulgedinto the extra curricu-lar activities like NCC& NSS.
It came into force in1948 with a view to im-
part the rudimentaryskills and training inhandling of weapons ofdifferent type, andmake them physicallytough such that theycould face the hardshipeasily. NCC works to-wards the empower-ment of country’syouth engaging theminto the constructiveactivities that keepthem away from anynegative forces. Youthis the major factor thatdetermines the overallsuccess rate of a na-tion. NCC works to-wards the empower-ment of country’syouth engaging theminto the constructiveactivities that keepthem away from anynegative forces whichmay drive the youth to-
wards some acts likedrug addiction, terror-ism or robberies.
NCC is known forits discipline and unity.NCC is not a mecha-nism. NCC is a mis-sion. NCC is not just auniform or uniformitybut it is unity in truesense of the word. NCCcadets learn to takepride in them and thetraining also strength-ens the spirit of beingan Indian. This helpsthem gear towards join-ing the forces and pro-viding their 100%when the country is inneed of them.
Today, NCC hascompleted more than70 years. The journeyof seven decades, andmillions and millions ofNCC cadets like me
moved on the path oflife by receiving the val-ues of patriotism.N.C.C. camps play avital role in nationalintegration through in-teraction among differ-ent caste, creed andculture. With a view togiving a boost to theyouth in the positivedirection, NCC hasbeen included in thecourse curriculum.
NCC is shaping thecharacter and moral fi-bre of our young people,and ultimately the effec-tiveness and dynamismof the nation. NCCshould continue withthis hard work andachieve their dreamsand goals with dedica-tion and distinction.
Rruchi Bhandari, a SecondYear Biotech student from Kar-maveer Bhaurao Patil College,has carved a niche inHockey. She has representedMaharashtra in senior nationalsheld at Haryana and also repre-sented the state 4 times in a row.Her team was the 2nd runners upin Nehru Hockey held at Pimpri-Chinchwad Pune. She represent-ed Mumbai at Senior Nationals atDelhi. She claims her mother tobe her role model and gives creditto her coaches for grooming herin the sport and for teaching dif-ferent techniques to cope with allthe obstacles while playing thesport. In an exclusive interviewwith Newsband’s reporter, RyheaGeorge, she speaks about herstruggles and the challenges.Here are the excerpts of the in-terview:
Newsband: When did you de-cide to take up Hockey as yourcareer?
Rruchi Bhandari: I startedplaying hockey in grade 3 during thesummer camp. After that I didn’tplay hockey for a year. Then, oneday, my school hockey coach cameto each and every class to enroll stu-dents in the hockey team. That iswhen my friends who were playinghockey told me to come back to theteam and I joined hockey again. Imade my first goal in NMSA tour-nament. I was really happy and thenI decided to continue with the sportwhile my friends who told me to joinhad themselves left hockey.
Newsband: You have beenplaying hockey for years, whatkind of hard work do you needto level up with the other play-
ers who have been playing sincelong?
Rruchi Bhandari: I have beenplaying hockey since I was 9 yearsof age. The 3 top most elementsyou need for this sport are: speed,stamina and strategy. The most dif-ficult part is the fitness. You haveto make your legs as strong as a
pillar because the game is of 90minutes and to sustain your bodyfor such longer period is necessary.Having the required skills is also animportant factor as each player onthe field is important because shehas a different skill to control theball, to shoot in the goal and alsomost importantly to save the goalsof the opponent.
Newsband: Who is yourfavourite sportsman and why doyou consider him/her as yourrole model?
Rruchi Bhandari: Franklyspeaking there are no such favou-rites because each of them havetaught me to become the best of
paper for scoring goal against theteam whom we lost every year. Theyear 2017 -2018 was a difficult pe-riod as I had to drop hockey due tomy injury.
Newsband: Any other sportsthat you play apart from hockey?
Rruchi Bhandari: Apart fromhockey I have played roll ball, foot-ball, kabaddi, Volley ball, throw ball,skating.
Newsband: Any specific teamin Mumbai or a club that youwould like to play for?
Rruchi Bhandari: There is nosports club of hockey in Mumbai andNavi Mumbai. We have to individu-ally practice on our own. So, I prac-tice at Fr. Agnel’s ground, Vashi andlook for my individual fitness.
Newsband: How many hoursdo you spend in coaching andexercise?
Rruchi Bhandari: In my schooldays we used to practice for around2 to 3 hours a day. Even now I try tobe consistent and practice for thatmuch of hours.
Newsband: What were themajor challenges on your way?
Rruchi Bhandari: I was in-jured in the year 2017-18, I had myHSC boards in the month ofFebruary and my state tournamentwas just after 10 days from my in-jury. After 3 days of my injury I wentfor my practice, tying a scarfaround my mouth. My coacheshelped me keep myself safe andhygienic during practise drills. Also,my family has struggled a lot tomake me this capable. My grand-mother has always motivated andinspired me by telling incidents inher life and how she overcamethose with grit and determination.
My Summer Camp In 3rd Grade was turning point formy career In Hockey: Hockey Player Rruchi Bhandari
what I am now. My mother is myrole model. She is a pillar of sup-port and stands by me whenever Ipass through rough phase. Shemakes me understand my mistakesand together we try to rectify these.
Newsband: How is approachto hockey different from othersports?
Rruchi Bhandari: Hockey is anational game of our country and isalso a relatively difficult game. Theapproach towards hockey is lessknown as compared to the othersports. Players prefer taking part infootball and cricket.
Newsband: Tell us about yoursports journey?
Rruchi Bhandari: My schooljourney is the part where I havelearnt so much from my mistakes. Igot to know what actually teamwork is. My coach Suri sir, Regosir, Mahmood sir, Tony sir haveplayed a major role in my hockey’sjourney. The proudest moment waswhen I saw my name in the news-
NMMC extends application date for scholarship schemeNAVI MUMBAI: The
Women and Child Wel-fare, Social Welfareand Slum Improve-ment Committee andthe Student and YouthWelfare Committeeunder the Navi Mum-bai Municipal Corpora-tion (NMMC), whichhad announced schol-arship schemes, havenow extended the datefor filing application to15th February, 2020.
Applications for the
scholarship schemeimplemented undervarious schemes needto be submitted alongwith the required doc-uments by 15th Febru-ary 2020 in the pre-scribed format at Be-lapur Bhavan, 1st floor,Sector 11, CBD Be-lapur, during officehours only. Applica-tions received after thedeadline will not be con-sidered, said an NMMCofficial.
Name of the scheme
1. Scholarship to chil-dren whose motheris either widow / di-
vorced.2. Distribution of
scholarships to boysand girls from 1st
standard to collegefrom the financialand weaker sec-tions.
3. Distribution ofscholarships tobackward class stu-dents from 1st tograduation.
4. Distribution ofscholarships to thechildren whose par-ents work in stonequarry / construc-tion / sand mining/ daily wage work-
ers in Navi Mum-bai area.
5. To provide scholar-ship to the studentsstudying in all thecourses from 1st to12th standard ofproject affected fam-ilies in Navi Mum-bai area.
6. To provide scholar-ships to the chil-dren of cleaningworkers and con-tract workers inNMMC.
