Garje Marathi Global – Mentoring program SOP
Garje Marathi Global’s Mentorship program is for connecting today’s prominent, successful and high achievers Marathi (Mentors) with tomorrow’s prominent successful and high achiever Marathi (Mentees) .
Scope of our program is limited to persons of Marathi descent
Our mentors are our elite members who earned significant achievements in their journey called 'Life', professionally and personally. They are more than happy to help others to select the path and guide to achieve their aims. Garje Marathi Global (GMG) Mentoring program is a unique and carefully designed offering. GMG does not charge any fee to connect you with Mentors and they too are not expected to charge any remuneration for interactions. However, if you decide to work with your mentor on your ideas, projects and need their continued guidance, there could be a commercial arrangement between you and mentor which Garje Marathi Global would never know or will never ask.
Mentors:
Effective mentoring to include “the ability and willingness on part of the mentor to
The Mentee is the student who needs to absorb the mentor’s knowledge and have the ambition and desire to know what to do with this knowledge. As a student, the mentee needs to practice and demonstrate what has been learned.
Mentees:
Mentee must show
Work Model
Key factors
For the sake of proper documentation the program is divided into following headings
'Ajay Bam, CEO and Co-founder of Vyrill.com and a Garje Marathi community member is currently raising a seed round of funding. He wishes to share the crowd funding campaign with GMG members.
Ajay Bam (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ajay-Bam)
Vyrill is developing a google search for videos like product reviews, how-to vides, unboxing videos etc and ability to google inside the video to enable video insights and video commerce for brands and retailers. Essentially, Vyrill has trained machines with AI to capture videos from social/smartphones, watch, understand, score and help leverage videos for product marketing. Vyrill was founded at U.C.Berkeley Skydeck program and is backed by top angel investors - Airbnb CTO - Vanja Josifovski and Chief AI Scientist at Pinterest & Top AI professor at Stanford - Jure Leskovec.
With consumer video creation and consumption growing 600% during covid & 200% year to year pre-covid, and with over 85% of consumers mentioning that videos influence their purchase decisions, reduces review fraud and offers a touch free shopping experience, video has become essential to brand growth. Vyrill counts many customers like Revlon, Porsche, Sargento, AirAsia, etc.
Vyrill, based in San Francisco CA, is currently raising a $2M seed round and have decided to open the investment of $1M to friends and family and investors on the crowd sourcing platform - wefunder.com/vyrill . The minimum investment is $250. The company has already raised $53K in 3 weeks of launching the campaign. If you are interested in an investment or would like to be a first time investor in a startup, this is a good opportunity to do so.
Greetings
I invite you to be the member of Garje Marathi Global, a truly global organization of Non-Resident and Back to Motherland(परत मातृभूमीला) Marathi.
To Join https://www.garjemarathi.com/registrationform.php
About Garje Marathi Global:-
GMG has four main objectives: Networking, Mentoring, Giving back to society and to our roots, and to celebrate success of Marathi around the world.
GMG Innovation Academy
GMG Innovation Academy is our new initiative, launched on 16 August 2020 (https://www.garjemarathi.com/innovation_academy.html) by Hon’ble Devendra ji Fadnavis.
GMG Mentoring Program
Garje Marathi Global has also launched the Garje Marathi Mentoring program. The details of the program can be found in https://www.garjemarathi.com/mentor-for-you.php
GMG Saksham
We have embarked on a very ambitious social initiative, ‘Saksham’/ सक्षम (Enabled).
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=77-Seconds-are-enough-
Garje Marathi Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Association
"Fostering Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Innovation-
To form synergistic, symbiotic network of academics, professionals, researchers, entrepreneurs and students from Biotech, Healthtech and Pharmatech.
GMG Agri Tech Forum
The forum is a symbiotic network of Agri-Tech and allied subjects experts, professionals, academics, and entrepreneurs for the benefit of students, young entrepreneurs, startup entrepreneurs and farmers from Maharashtra.
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=GMG-Agri-Tech-Forum
Our Newsletter:
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter.php
To Join mission Garje Marathi:
Please join mission Garje Marathi by submitting maximum possible and open to all details. (The profile will be visible to all)
https://www.garjemarathi.com/registrationform.php
Watch two concise videos to understand our mission.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOpGHb1i0HM
20 minutes is a long Video but I request you to watch.
This extemporaneous interview says all about what Garje Marathi Global is. https://youtu.be/9M7xRa9p87Q
Declaration:
Garje Marathi is a non-political, non-commercial and non-profit making mission. Each and every service offered by us is free. Garje Marathi will never seek any financial compensation or contribution from anyone.
The membership of Garje Marathi is free and will always be.
With Sincere Regards,
Anand Mahadeo Ganu , 001 7327897130, anand@garjemarathi.com
(Non-Profit registered at California, USA, www.garjemarathi.com )
(Non Profit , section ‘8’ company registered in India, www.gmgindia.org )
नवे वर्ष नव्या दिशा ..
विद्या हर्डीकर सप्रे
दोन हजार वीस हे वर्ष एकदाचं इतिहासाच्या खाईत अक्षरश: पडलं ! पण बारा महिन्यात अनेकांना लोळवून, अनेक उत्पात घडवून, जगात खळबळ माजवून,गेलं !
आता नवीन वर्षाचं नवं पान सळसळत आहे! जीवदान देणाऱ्या लसीच्या सोनेरी किरणात करोना संकटाची सावली नाहीशी होऊ पहात आहे! करोना च्या जागतिक संकटात एकमेकांना साथ करण्यासाठी , एकमेकांना आधार देण्यासाठी ‘गर्जे मराठी’चा मंच विश्वव्यापी महाजालावर ठामपणे उभा आहे ! एकमेकांना आधार देताना, माहितीचं आदान प्रदान, चर्चा, होतकरू व्यावसायिकांना मार्गदर्शन, आणि समाजऋण फेडण्यासाठी सक्षम सारखे उपक्रम आपण या व्यासपीठावरून गेले वर्षभर करत आहोत. गर्जे मराठीचे माझ्यासारखे अनेक सदस्य ब्यक्तिगत पातळीवरही आपापल्या देशातील मराठी बांधवांसाठी आणि भारतातील मराठी बांधवांसाठी काही ना काही उपक्रम करत आहेत.
करोनाची महामारी सुरु झाली तेव्हा महाराष्ट्रातल्या .. मराठवाड्यातल्या स्थलांतरित कामगारांसाठी शिधावाटपाचा प्रकल्प करताना मला विलक्षण अनुभव आले.. पुण्याजवळच्या वेल्हे भागातल्या बचतगटाच्या महिला “कमी तिथे आम्ही” म्हणत पदर बांधून उभा राहिल्या आणि जनजागृती पासून ते खेड्यातला भाजीपाला पुण्यात विकण्यापर्यंत त्यांनी जे कर्तृत्व दाखवल ते पहाताना मला थक्क व्हायला झालं. मध्यप्रदेशात काम करणारी नर्मदालय ची भारती ठाकूर उपाशी मुलांची माय बनून त्यांच्या जेवणाची व्यवस्था करू लागली तेव्हा मला गहिवरून आलं. ..
तसेच पोर्टलॅंड ला काही स्वयंसेवक उभे राहिले. त्यांनी एक साधी गोष्ट केली. देणारा दाता , करोना मुळे आर्थिक संकटात आलेली लहान उपहारगृहे आणि त्यांच्याजवळची रुग्णालये यांची सांगड घातली. रुग्णालयातील करोना योद्धयांच्या दुपारच्या जेवणाची व्यवस्था त्यातून होऊ लागली ! महाराष्ट्र, मध्यप्रदेश आणि पोर्टलॅंड ( अमेरिका) या तिन्ही ठिकाणच्या कामाची मी केवळ साक्षी नाही तर या कामांना सक्रीय हातभार लावण्याची संधी मला मिळते आहे. हे अनुभव गर्जे मराठीच्या मित्राना सांगावेत, जमलं तर थोडी प्रेरणा त्यांनाही द्यावी, म्हणून हा लेखनप्रपंच !
कारण लस येऊन विषाणू मेला तरी त्याचे दूरगामी परिणाम भयंकर होणार आहेत. त्यातल्या आर्थिक परिणामाँचे एक उदाहरण म्हणजे भारतातील मुलांची शॅक्षणिक उपासमार आणि शाळा बंद पडण्याचे संकट ! यासाठी सक्षम ची मोहीम फार उपयुक्त ठरणार आहेच. पण अन्य संस्थानी सुरु केलेल्या काही प्रकल्पांचाही उल्लेख केला पाहिजे.. ज्ञान प्रबोधिनी फौंडेशन या आमच्या अमेरिकेतील संस्थेच्या वतीने ‘लर्न इंडिया’ ही मोहीम सुरु केली आहे. “दिल्याने होत आहे रे आधी दिलेची पाहिजे” हे सूत्र आहे. डिसेम्बर हा देण्याचा महिना .. तर जानेवारीची संक्रान्तीची देण्याची परंपरा.. “घेणाऱ्याने एक दिवस देणाऱ्याचे हात व्हावे” अशी ती देण्याची परंपरा आपण येत्या वर्षातही जिवंत ठेवूया. आपापल्या परीने लहान मोठे उपक्रम करूया.. “सर्वेS त्र सुखिन: सन्तु ।” चा मंत्र म्हणत जुन्या वर्षाला पाठमोरं होत होत.. नव्या वर्षाचं स्वागत करूया..
सोनेरी सळसळत्या उत्साहानं नव्या सूर्याला सामोरं होऊया.. !
विद्या हर्डीकर सप्रे
Happy Birthday to you, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar
It was an amazing talk! : Written by Sunil Kulkarni Tokyo
Deepak Shinde: Outstanding Contribution Award.
3rd PBD Conference Samir Ketkar,
AI and Deep Learning in Real World Ruplai Deshpande
Innovation Intellectual Property IP Dr Sanjay Bhandari PhD
Ranuka Phadke in conversation with Pradnya Punekar
“Miles To Go Before I Sleep” Prof Ganesh Hingmire Bsc, LLB, LLM,
Dr. Amit Telang ji “Opportunities for cooperation in Healthcare sector in the post Covid world ”
Entrepreneurial Wisdom: Sanjeev Chitre
Success Story Garje Marathi AI mentoring
Garje Marathi Global Technocrats
Lead By Example Ravindra Kolhe
101 Ph. D. DEGREES SUPERVISED AS A SINGLE SUPERVISOR
Agricultural Industry Insights with Avinash Deshmukh
Ashwini Mokashi Keeps the Blood Flowing
Mentoring in AI by Ajit Jaokar
पद्मविभूषण डॉ रघुनाथ माशेलकर
०१ जानेवारी वाढदिवसाच्या हार्दिक शुभेच्छा
जीवेत शरद: शतम
" Dear Padma Vibhushan Dr. Mashelkar,
Garje Marathi Global Foundation is Non- Profit company, registered under section 8(1)(a), (b) and (c) of the Indian Companies Act, 2013.
Sanjiv Brahme and Sanjay Dhavalika are founders of GMG Foundation , the India Chapter of Garje Marathi Global.
This chapter is formed to lead and control all India focused activities of Garje Marathi Global , such as . GMG Saksham, GMG Agri-tech and others.
The chapter’s website is developed by Ninad Pradhan of Marathi-Shrushti. The site is live from 01 Jan 2021.
For more information visit www.gmgindia.org
The other day there was a talk organized by Garje marathi & the speaker was none other than Dr. Prof. Mashelkar. In his talk the line that caught my attention was "Scarcity and high aspiration is a potent combination" and that when he was a child he was experiencing the scarcity while his mother induced aspiration by probing/pushing him towards learning and higher education. (her mission was to have him reach the highest degree that can be achieved - so when he told her that he did his masters by then she had found that there is something called PhD and she inspired him / asked him to do it and so on) .. It was an amazing talk !
While listening to it, I realized that when we were trying to inspire or motivate our kids or induce aspiration, we were wrongly trying to tell about scarcity (that we had seen but which they didnt see). We often would tell them about the chawls, cycle, travel by bus and ration shop etc while they would be puzzled (as they experienced none). On the other hand we should have focused more on aspiration side - which can be still seen and observed. It need not be just Bill Gates or Tatas etc. It could be the doctor in your family circle who worked throughout the pandemic or the cousin who joined military leaving a corporate job or the ISRO scientist who launched the satellites and so on..
Aspiring to better yourself continuously or aspiring for something bigger and better with a noble cause in itself could be a good inspiration and motivator..
Secondly we can cover up for the scarcity part by rather giving more exposure - in terms of travel / internships / visibility / experience of working with NGOs and learning on social platforms from early age and so on ..
Good aspirations and exposure to different /diverse things at a young age can also be a potent combination I think ..
Tiger moms (for good aspirations) and elephant dads (for good exposure) could be an ideal balanced combination ..
The 10th Conference and Exhibition - China Sourcing Summit On Petroleum & Chemical Equipment ( CSSOPE 2020), jointly organized by TOPCO and Alibaba Group, was conducted # in Hangzhou China on 17-18 December 2020.
Deepak Shinde was facilitated by Outstanding Contribution Award.
This year's theme was Oil & Gas 4.0: Digital Procurement and Supply Chain Management in the Post-epidemic Era.
Large number of domestic and International participants took part in the conference, like SINOPEC Engineering, Alibaba, Saudi Aramco, SABIC, BASF, Linde Engineering, Schlumberger, Marie Tecnimont, Wison , Wanhua Chemical, Enppi Petroleum, CNPC, ADNOC and so on. Presented to the august gathering, which in addition to large physical presence also had over large numbers of virtual attendees.
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=SamirManohar-Ketkar
( Founder Garje Marathi Muscat Chapter)
3rd PBD Conference: Panel Discussion on India and the Gulf arranged by MEA, Government of India.
Samir participated in this important panel discussion recently as a representative of GCC Oman & India relations with strategic investment focus and its relevance for ensuring energy security of our “Atmanirbhar Bharat” vision.
The main part of his viewpoint is covered in 12 minutes clip from 45 minutes onwards for at this video link on :
Facebook: https://fb.watch/2j0PnSnzlo/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/50OsdzqGuw8
Jai Hind!
Samir Ketkar,
Upstream Economics & Strategy Consulting practice, EMEA
(based in MiddleEast/Muscat).
Rupali Deshpande - Global Partner Business Manager, Medical Instruments, NVIDIA In this talk, Ananth and Rupali From NVIDIA will dive deeper into one of the modern approaches of AI – Deep Learning (DL). This talk will cover basic fundamentals of DL, how the DL ecosystem has evolved, how different industries are adopting this technology including for the fight against COVID-19 and how it is changing and impacting the world in 2020. Tune-in and learn about building relevant skillsets and ways to be part of this new industrial revolution.
- What is "Intellectual Property(IP)" and what are the different forms of IP
- Why is Innovation & Intellectual Property so critical for the growth of your organization
- How to spur innovation and strategies for filing patents
Dr. Sanjay Bhandari: Semiconductor industry Executive with over 27 years of Industry experience in building and managing global development teams. Exemplary track record of delivering commercially successful products leading to high volume shipment in fast paced environments.
Mrs. Renuka Phadke , MSc CeMap Owner and Director of V R Mortgage Solutions Ltd
Renukas Phadke
( https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Renuka-Phadke ) Interviewed by Pradny Punekar, leading member of Garje Marathi UK Chapter,
Interviewer : Anand Ganu, Founder President Garje Marathi Global Inc. www.garjemarathi.com Prof. Ganesh Hingmire (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ganesh-Hingmire)
"Law Professor of The Year 2020 (IPR), By Indian National Bar Association!
“Opportunities for cooperation in Healthcare sector in the post-Covid world.” Hon’ble Dr. Amit Telang MBBS MD, Consul General of India, Frankfurt_ - Organized by Garje Marathi Global www.garjemarathi.com
Sanjay Tambe “Opportunities for cooperation in Healthcare sector in the post Covid world ”
Rohit Sathe “Opportunities for cooperation in Healthcare sector in the post Covid world ”
Sanjeev has had a tremendously successful industry career of starting, growing, and executing the liquidity of several small and medium size companies. In 2004, he founded The U-Group LLC, a strategic and M & A advisory firm focused on Exit-Engineered Execution including cross border leverage in transactions. The U-Group LLC has successfully implemented several value-enhanced exits for medium sized technology firms through product, technology, market expansion, and financial re-positioning in both domestic and global markets.
Garje Marathi Global Technocrats:
Association of Bio-Health-Pharma technocrats
GMG Technocrats: The Association of Bio-Health-Pharma technocrats was officially launched on 19 December 2020 by Hon'ble Dr. Amit Telang Consul General of India Frankfurt.
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=GMG-Technocrats-
Ravindra Kolhe MD. PhD. FCAP. Vice Chairman, Pathology. Physician | Scientist | Educator. Augusta, Georgia, United States
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Lead-By-Example-
Padmashree Professor (Dr). Ganpati Yadav
B.Chem. Eng. Ph.D. (Tech.), D.Sc. (Hon. Causa, DYPK), FTWAS, FNA, FASc, FNASc, FNAE, FRSC (UK), FISTE, FIChemE (UK), FIIChE, FICS
Garje Marathi is blessed to have Prof. Ganapati D. Yadav as our ‘Guide- Mentor’ (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ganpati-Yadav )
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF EMINENCE
J.C. Bose National Fellow (Govt. of India)
Former Vice Chancellor and R.T. Mody Distinguished Professor and Tata Chemicals Darbari Seth Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Leadership
INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI
Padmashri Awardee
Conjoint Professor, University of New Castle, Australia
Adjunct Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Adjunct Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Founding Chair, ACS India International Chapter
President, Maharashtra Academy of Sciences
Former President, Catalysis Society of India
Former President, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers
Council Member, Indian National Science Academy (2019-)
In top 0.2% of researchers in Physical Chemistry in the World, at No. 66 (Stanford Uni Nov 2020)
Avinash Deshmukh
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Avinash%20-Deshmukh
First Responder Spotlight: Ashwini Mokashi Keeps the Blood Flowing
Ashwini Mokashi
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ashwini-Mokashi
Program Leader: Prof. Ajit Jaokar London, UK
Organized By Garje Marathi Global Innovation Academy
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=GMG-Saksham-AI-program-
After successful completion of first program ‘Mentoring in AI’ (https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Success-Story-Garje-Marathi-AI-mentoring- ) Prof. Ajit Jaokar announces second program ‘Mentoring in AI’.
His noble mission ‘Give Back’ continues.
GMG Agri-Tech Forum
The forum is a symbiotic network of Agri-Tech and allied subjects experts, professionals, academics, and entrepreneurs for the benefit of students, young entrepreneurs, startup entrepreneurs and farmers from Maharashtra.
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=GMG-Agri-Tech-Forum
Garje Marathi Global ( www.garjemarathi.com ) has organized four weeks Agri-Tech workshop for the benefit of students, young entrepreneurs, startup entrepreneurs and farmers from Maharashtra.
अंकासाठी लेखन पाठवण्यास संपर्क: editor@garjemarathi.com
अंक दर महिन्याला प्रसिद्ध होतो.
अंकात व्यक्त झालेल्या विचारांशी आणि मतांशी संपादक सहमत असतातच असे नाही.
गौरव या अंकासाठी काही सूचना
GMG Agri-Tech Workshop
Garje Marathi Global ( www.garjemarathi.com) has organized four weeks Agri-Tech workshop for the benefit of students, young entrepreneurs, startup entrepreneurs and farmers from Maharashtra.
Webinar Series:
Vivek Damle Ph.D Biotech/Agribusiness Management, Chairman SAVIDA Agri- Com Pvt. Ltd. Mumbai India
Ashwin Abhyankar Business Mentor, Ideas, IT and Execution San Diago
Chinmay Soman PhD Interdisciplinary Materials Science Co-founder and CEO at EarthSense, Inc Illinois USA
Girish Chowdhary, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Donald Biggar Willet Faculty Fellow, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Computer Science
Avinash Deshmukh MSc Horticultural Science, VP Marketing - BASF Asia Pacific Singapore
Dr. Mandar Godge PhD Plant Molecular Biology Research Scientist Singapore
Moderator: Ashwin Abhyankar
Mentors may assist the deserving candidates on individual basis beyond webinar series
Application Form:
The desirous entrepreneurs, students, farmers and individuals from Maharashtra can apply in Google form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_249qxtABFrbwVGy-006hvXPrN8drVmNMQCdW5XxzCJLADA/viewform?usp=sf_link
GMG Agri-Tech Forum
The forum is a symbiotic network of Agri-Tech and allied subjects experts, professionals, academics, and entrepreneurs for the benefit of students, young entrepreneurs, startup entrepreneurs and farmers from Maharashtra.
The purpose statement
Founder Mentors:-
Garje Marathi Global invites Agri-Tech and allied subjects experts, professionals, academics, and entrepreneurs to join the forum.
For more details, contact Anand Ganu 0017327897130, anand@garjemarathi.com
After successful completion of first program ‘Mentoring in AI’ (https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Success-Story-Garje-Marathi-AI-mentoring- ) Prof. Ajit Jaokar announces second program ‘Mentoring in AI’.
His noble mission ‘Give Back’ continues.
Fill in and submit Google form for application: (Program Admission by Selection) https://forms.gle/XxYYGDzsf1YrneyF6
GMG Saksham AI program
Program Leader: Prof. Ajit Jaokar London, UK
Organized By Garje Marathi Global Innovation Academy
(Email your applications along with short CV to garjemarathi@gmail.com. Admission at the discretion of Prof. Ajit Jaokar)
• Three month program starts from Saturday 06 Feb 2021.
Python libraries for machine learning
End-to-End Machine Learning Problem: Regression
End to End ML Problem: Classification
AI is one of the key skills today. The Saksham AI mentoring program offers an opportunity to learn AI using your coding knowledge. Set up by education experts in the UK, the program has the following highlights
• Creating Arrays
• Accessing Arrays
• Other properties of Arrays
• Performing operations on Arrays
• Series
• Dataframes
• Dealing with missing values
• Statistics, Group By
• Feature Engineering, Apply functions
• Rescaling and Standardizing data
• Model evaluation and metrics
• Classification and Regression model instantiation
• Regularization
• Optimizing Parameters
• Ensemble models
• Building Pipelines
• Basic Plots
• Customising plots, subplots
Based in London, Ajit's work spans research, entrepreneurship and academia relating to artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT).
He is the course director of the course: Artificial Intelligence: Cloud and Edge Implementations. Besides this, he also conducts the University of Oxford courses: AI for Cybersecurity and Computer Vision.
Ajit works as a Data Scientist through his company feynlabs - focusing on building innovative early stage AI prototypes for domains such as cybersecurity, robotics and healthcare.
Besides the University of Oxford, Ajit has also conducted AI courses in the London School of Economics (LSE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) and as part of the The Future Society at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
He is also currently working on a book to teach AI using mathematical foundations at high school level.
Ajit was listed in the top 30 influencers for IoT for 2017 along with Amazon, Bosch, Cisco, Forrester and Gartner by the German insurance company Munich Re.
Ajit publishes extensively on KDnuggets and Data Science Central.
He was recently included in top 16 influencers (Data Science Central), Top 100 blogs (KDnuggets), Top 50 (IoT central), and 19th among the top 50 twitter IoT influencers (IoT Institute).
His PhD research is based on AI and Affective Computing (how AI interprets emotion).
Amita Kapoor is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics, SRCASW, University of Delhi, and has been actively teaching neural networks and artificial intelligence for over twenty years, and she is an active member of ACM, AAAI, IEEE, and INNS.
Amita completed her masters in Electronics in 1996 and her Ph.D. in 2011.
During her Ph.D she was awarded a prestigious DAAD fellowship to pursue a part of her research work in Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany. Amita was awarded the Best Presentation Award at the Photonics 2008 international conference.
Amita has more than 50 research publications in international journals and conferences, and has co-authored four books, including the best-selling “Deep learning with TensorFlow2 and Keras” with Packt Publications.
Passionate about using her skills for the betterment of society and humankind, Amita spends her spare time in various AI-related IoT and healthcare open source projects. She was recently awarded the Intel AI Spotlight Award 2019 for her work on the early detection of Acute Myeloid Leukemia using AI.
Amita’s present research areas include Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Deep Reinforcement Learning, and Robotics.
Kajal is a Machine Learning Engineer working with Machine Learning and AI projects for a large global consultancy.
She has worked on use cases like anomaly detection, sentiment analysis, classification, transactional AI assistants, complex big data processing, data analytics, document digitisation etc. Kajal also has been a part of multiple hackathons conducted within and across IT industries.
She is also awarded with Amazon Pride Card for her research contribution to “Women In AI” project of IIIT, Bangalore
She has won special recognition for her project 'Transactional AI assistant'. She also has been honoured as 'Master Hacker' in Makeathon at a regional level in India.
Kajal has also been leading a research project (non-commercial) working with a German company on pricing optimization using Reinforcement Learning (RL).
Her project involves working on RL on pricing optimisation strategy for revenue increase and customer retention using a mixture of algorithms based on Markov Decision Processes (MDP).
Aditya Jaokar is a student of Computer Science in London. He will be responsible for the development and evaluation of the coding submissions
First Responder Spotlight: Ashwini Mokashi Keeps the Blood Flowing
Despite the pandemic, the all-volunteer Montgomery Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) sponsored six blood drives in five months, thanks in large part to Ashwini Mokashi.
“We collected a total of 158 units of blood, which could save 474 lives,” says MEMS Sergent Ron Gerschel. “I am extremely proud of our organization for being able to have such a tremendous impact on so many people beyond the borders of Montgomery despite such difficult times. Ashwini made this possible.”
Gerschel also thanks The Montgomery News, township officials, and, of course, the donors, who also made it possible.
Considering the extreme strain on the nation’s hospital networks, blood banks are desperately looking for blood donors. Simultaneously, indoor gatherings’ restrictions required scheduled blood drives to be canceled, including the Montgomery EMS March drive.
As COVID cases and hospitalizations increased, the blood-stock in the hospitals dwindled, Gerschel said. Mokashi took on this challenge with aplomb and conquered it, organizing some of Montgomery’s most successful blood drives — despite the pandemic.
Mokashi simply says she got advice from her scientist husband about making blood drives safe for everyone. She then talked to Vitalant, the vendor that performs the Montgomery blood drives, and discussed plans with the MEMS executive committee. She also made a case to local newspapers, and then started organizing the blood-drives.
The response from Montgomery Township residents was tremendous. The drives were “sold out” a week in advance, and people would beg to get in on the list, Gerschel says.
Montgomery EMS was lucky to have been able to work with the Princeton Elks to host some of the drives, to take advantage of their extensive space. “Everyone felt good about doing something meaningful for the community,” he said.
Thanks to Mokashi, community members were able to safely donate blood during an especially needy time. The stories are heartwarming.
► One Montgomery man donated blood as a gift on his 50th wedding anniversary.
► A 72-year-old woman who hadn’t stepped out of the house for months, donated for the first time — signifying how important it is to give blood now.
Mokashi began volunteering at MEMS in April 2018. Within a month, she was organizing the blood drives. She also looks after the program of loaning medical equipment (wheelchairs and such) to residents who have a short-term need.
For a time, Mokashi also trained to be an ambulance driver. Even though she finally discontinued it, she says her driving skills improved to the point that her kids noticed, and they were surprised at how well she drove after four months in the program.
Fun apart, the emergency calls she took during that time taught her life lessons.
“Every call was an education on how people react in critical times, how they got into the crisis, and how helpless people can feel,” Mokashi said.
She says she realized her doctorate thesis in philosophy helped her to understand the practicality of philosophy — specifically how one can obtain happiness through perspective and positive thinking.
Her book, Sapiens and Sthitaprajna, was published in 2019. Her volunteer work with MEMS inspired her to start a business in 2020 called “Philosophy and Happiness,” where she coaches or counsels individuals philosophically.
She also is available for speaking engagements on philosophy. She plans to start philosophical workshops for young people and to advise organizations on how to streamline their ethical concerns.
In short, the EMS work goes hand-in-hand with her philosophical beliefs. She says she is grateful she gets the opportunity to help the community along with all her wonderful colleagues at Montgomery EMS. ■
Visit her website at: ashwinimokashi.com.
Published with permission from Ashwini Mokashi
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ashwini-Mokashi
Listen to Ashwini Mokashi : “Pursuit of Happiness in Lock down and beyond”, Hosted by Garje Marathi Global
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Avinash%20-Deshmukh
Welcome back to the Marketing Expert Series! In this issue we venture into the fields and minds of some of the most important people on Earth: our agricultural experts. Most of us do not give much thought to how the agricultural industry works, and how they have adapted to the changes in technologies and consumer trends. Who among us has stopped to think about how the agricultural industry has adopted new technology to improve the quality, quantity, and sustainability of the food that ends up on our tables.
Meet Avinash Deshmukh, Vice President for Marketing for BASF Asia Pacific, a man not only passionate about the agricultural industry but also about humanity. Well-traveled, vastly experienced, Avinash has worked in agriculture for most of his life, and takes us on a fascinating journey of digital transformation and adaptation in an industry that we really should all be paying more attention to.
Disclaimer: The views expressed below are personal and should NOT be interpreted as BASF views, although several references have been made to BASF.
Welcome, Avinash, it’s great to have you on our Marketing Expert Series. To get started, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you end up in your current role?
While growing up in Mumbai, India, I visited my uncle’s farm every year during the summer vacation. This led me to study agriculture and has become both a passion and my life over the years.
I am grateful for the opportunities in my life, which has taken me around the world – circa 10 years in the UK while also working across Europe, around another 10 years in the USA, followed by 6 years in Germany, and now 4 years in Singapore looking after Asia-Pacific marketing.
In agricultural business, I meet many farmers and associated colleagues. I’ve visited places that you tend not to find in the ‘Top 100 Must-Visit Tourist Places’ and I enjoy every bit of it. I have met farmers who farm more than 10,000ha and farmers who farm less than 1. I find amazing similarities in all their passion for food production and their feet-on-the-ground approach.
On a personal side, my wife’s support has been the most critical success factor in living around the world, travelling +50% of the time and bringing up our son in so many different places. Currently, my son is pursuing his PhD in Astrophysics in Germany and I am hoping that he will contribute to agriculture in the Space 😊.
Was there something that first drew you to marketing? Was it something you always wanted to do?
I started my career with a passion for agriculture and a strong desire to work internationally. Flexibility, attitude, and respect for humanity have been my key companions in this journey. I’ve been a salesperson, logistic coordinator, regulatory affairs manager, product manager, commercial (export) manager, strategic manager, a leader, helping M&A etc. I never looked at any of these roles as being less important than others. I don’t even have a formal MBA in marketing, and my MBA was achieved over 30+ years interacting with farmers, professionals, colleagues in real life across various roles & with differing responsibilities.
At the moment you work with BASF Asia Pacific, what kind of work does BASF do?
We create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world.
Our portfolio is organized into six segments: chemicals, materials, industrial solutions, surface technologies, nutrition & care, and agricultural solutions. I work for the Agricultural Solutions segment where we firmly believe that farming is the biggest job on Earth – and it’s getting bigger and more complex. The challenge is to give our growing population access to enough healthy, affordable food, while reducing its impact on the environment for future generations. At BASF, we not only take up this challenge but also aspire to lead the way forward for agriculture by finding the right balance for success – for farmers, for agriculture, and for future generations.
To sum up in 6 words: “The Right Balance For Better Yield”.
Is there something in particular you enjoy most about your role at BASF?
Several things actually, but to name just a few:
First and foremost, the people-oriented culture & creative working atmosphere.
Secondly, the diversity of businesses, people and cultures throughout the organization.
And lastly, for me personally, the unmatched opportunity to interact, learn from and contribute to the farmers, professionals, and colleagues who ensure there is enough food on our table.
When I first approached you about joining this Series, you mentioned that agriculture is the latest frontier being disrupted by digitization. What’s it like working in the agriculture industry as a marketer?
We could talk about this for hours. Digitization is changing the world at a much faster pace, especially with the COVID-19 situation. Although we use digitization as a generic term, I want to focus on three areas: automation, outreach, and convenience.
Agriculture has always been people’s business and will stay that way, but the way we do business is changing.
Examples of automation in the industry include GPS-guided farm machinery allowing precision sowing/seeding, harvesting, etc.. Machine learning and algorithms are also helping provide prognoses and solutions for future problems, while computing allows us to access and record farm data.
In terms of outreach: traditionally, a new product training or piece of information was disseminated through face-to-face meetings. This method is time-consuming and less efficient. Today we can reach an audience of 50,000+ in one go through online platforms.
With regards to convenience, many farmers can now buy and sell their produce at a click of a button. They can spray their crops using drones – making the operation both faster and safer for the operator. BASF has recently announced a joint venture with Bosch in the field of smart seeders and smart sprayer technologies. Additionally, through BASF’s Xarvio digital platform, we are already helping thousands of farmers identify crop-specific problems and solutions – all through a simple app on the smartphone.
Agriculture is undergoing tremendous changes this decade as many genius minds and organizations are focusing on this sector. Personally, I believe that all these changes will contribute to sustainable agriculture that we will all be proud of.
Has being involved with agriculture impacted your marketing style in any way?
Absolutely. I deal with farmers, channel partners, and professionals who live either on the farm, usually in rural places and small villages. There are many special traits of the farming community. For example, this is the only community that consistently sees sunrise every day. In my travels many of my meetings have started at 6am. Also, farmers buy everything retail but sell their produce wholesale. And lastly, farming is still the most unpredictable, largest scale operation in the world that is totally at the mercy of mother nature – you can not control rain, shine, wind, hail, cold, hot…… I can go on 😊.
Having worked with this community over the years makes me appreciate their challenges, contribution, and needs. BASF is a trusted brand all over the world for that very reason, because every employee is in it to find that right balance.
Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, has there been any strain on the industry? Have you had to adapt your marketing strategy to any changes?
Fortunately, agriculture is one of the least affected industries because food production is the basic need. That said, the industry has suffered from supply delays or additional freight costs, shortages, volatility in currency rates, trade barriers, low commodity prices etc. Closure of restaurants, public places, and state boundaries has affected demand for fruits, vegetables and perishables. I am confident, however, that the resilient farming community is overcoming these pressures.
For us, not being able to meet our customers face-to-face has been the most important challenge. We are adapting our interactions to online platforms, virtual trial tours, permissible small face-to-face meetings, and various other means. Digital Marketing has become extremely important, especially content creation. So we are adapting our digital marketing outreach. For example, BASF Agricultural Products has one of the largest Facebook follower communities in Asian agricultural markets.
What about for you, personally, when this pandemic is over, what’s next for you?
Well, first and foremost, I would like to see my family and friends face to face. Then I will take as much time as required to connect with the farming community “in person” and fill my lungs with farm air – honestly, I miss it. The majority of the food is and will be produced on the farm for the foreseeable future and I cannot wait to get out there to find that right balance for success – for farmers, for agriculture, and for future generations.
Any advice you’d give to young and aspiring marketers?
I would not call it advice, but rather a sharing of what has worked for me.
Flexibility, attitude, and respect for humanity have been my key companions in this journey. In any business, it is important to identify and resolve the pain points of the customer, and/or to create a new “wow” experience. It is vitally important that the marketed product meets the value propositions assured by an organization. Always remember that customers will ultimately figure out the authenticity of your product/service promise.
There will be rapid changes all around us but as long as you have a big heart, open mind and a strong character, you will always come out better.
Thank you, Avinash, for sharing these insights and experiences. How can people connect with you if they’d like to know more?
You can always reach me at +65 8139 6153 either by phone or WhatsApp, or they can always email me at avinash.v.deshmukh@basf.com.
Source: By Olwen Van Dijk-Hildebrand
Published with permission from Avinash Deshmukh.
101 Ph. D. DEGREES SUPERVISED AS A SINGLE SUPERVISOR
Padmashree Professor (Dr). Ganpati Yadav
B.Chem. Eng. Ph.D. (Tech.), D.Sc. (Hon. Causa, DYPK), FTWAS, FNA, FASc, FNASc, FNAE, FRSC (UK), FISTE, FIChemE (UK), FIIChE, FICS
Garje Marathi is blessed to have Prof. Ganapati D. Yadav as our ‘Guide- Mentor’ (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ganpati-Yadav )
EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF EMINENCE
J.C. Bose National Fellow (Govt. of India)
Former Vice Chancellor and R.T. Mody Distinguished Professor and Tata Chemicals Darbari Seth Distinguished Professor of Innovation and Leadership
INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY MUMBAI
Padmashri Awardee
Conjoint Professor, University of New Castle, Australia
Adjunct Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada
Adjunct Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Founding Chair, ACS India International Chapter
President, Maharashtra Academy of Sciences
Former President, Catalysis Society of India
Former President, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers
Council Member, Indian National Science Academy (2019-)
In top 0.2% of researchers in Physical Chemistry in the World, at No. 66 (Stanford Uni Nov 2020)
Total No. of Ph .D.s guided as a single supervisor December 15, 2020): 101
• From 2012 onwards- All degrees awarded by ICT, Mumbai as a separate Deemed University (39)
• From 1991-2011- All degrees awarded by University of Mumbai; the entire work was done at UDCT/UICT as integral part of University of Mumbai (62)
❖ AWARDED BY THE ICT, MUMBAI AS SEPARATE DEEMED TO BE UNIVERSITY (2008 onwards)
115 MASTERS THESES GUIDED IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY
• Total No. of Masters Degrees Guided as a Single Supervisor (Feb 2020): 115
• Degrees Awarded by University of Mumbai (up to 2010) and by Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai from 2011-12 onwards
"Innovation & Intellectual Property (IP)"
- What is "Intellectual Property(IP)" and what are the different forms of IP
- Why is Innovation & Intellectual Property so critical for the growth of your organization
- How to spur innovation and strategies for filing patents
Dr. Sanjay Bhandari:
Semiconductor industry Executive with over 27 years of Industry experience in building and managing global development teams. Exemplary track record of delivering commercially successful products leading to high volume shipment in fast paced environments.
1]
Looking for a strong SAP Solution Architect with experience in Media particularly in Studios. Should have at least 10-15 years of experience in building solutions and managing SAP ECC system alongwith integrations to Rights Management, Avails and CRM. Has experience in migration of SAP ECC to SAP Hana.
Location: US
Start Date : Immediate
2]
Looking for a strong AVID Architect with experience in Post Production workflows. Should have atleast 10-15 years of experience in managing AVID Media composer and migration of AVID to Cloud.
Location: US
Start Date : Immediate
3]
Looking for a strong Solution Architect with experience in Data and Analytics in Media and Entertainment Space. Should have at least 10-15 years of experience in developing solutions on data management, data lake, data visualization and analytics. Implementation of AI/ML solutions will be an added advantage.
Location: US
Start Date : Immediate
Contact:
Anand Ganu
Or
Uday Ghare : Vice President, Global Delivery Head, Media and Entertainment Business Unit at Tech Mahindra and Member, International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, presents the International Emmy Awards
Ravindra Kolhe MD. PhD. FCAP.
Vice Chairman, Pathology. Physician | Scientist | Educator. Augusta, Georgia, United States
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ravindra-Kolhe
"I was lucky enough to receive the 1st dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. My team works closely with thousands of COVID19 samples daily and we all were fortunate enough to put ahead in line for the vaccination. I still see people skeptical about the COVID19 vaccine including some of my colleguaes in medicine. I would encourage all of them to look at the science and body of evidence for mRNA vaccines rather than baseless claims.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end of this pandemic".
Garje Marathi Global Technocrats
Association of Bio-Health-Pharma technocrats
GMG Technocrats: The Association of Bio-Health-Pharma technocrats was officially launched on 19 December 2020 by Hon'ble Dr. Amit Telang Consul General of India Frankfurt.
GMG Bio-Pharma-Health Technocrats
Parent Body:
(1) Garje Marathi Global Inc. Non-profit registered in the state of California USA
(2) Garje Marathi Global Foundation, Non Profit , section ‘8’ company , registered under Indian Companies Act 2013.
Organization:
This is a forum of Garje Marathi Global members who are involved and interested in Bio-tech, Pharma-tech and Health-tech
This forum is open only to those who are officially admitted as the members of GMG Bio-Pharma-Health Technocrats.
Mission Purpose
Activities
Networking, Webinars, Panel-group discussions, Mentoring, Startup Ideation-Incubation- Acceleration, Recognition and accolades, Online monthly publication,
We will maintain an intimate and collaborative setting for discussion and presentation of relevant subjects (Knowledge sharing, Networking, Product and business
development, Project and operational management, R&D, Commercialization strategy and marketing, Patents and patent applications) while also incorporating an element of networking.
The contributors will be academicians, professionals from biotech, healthtech and pharmatech industry, academicians, venture capital and consulting firms.
Stakeholders/ Members :
Membership structure:
Benefits to stakeholders:
The members will have access to the wealth of experience of GMG’s vibrant mentors in BPH, bringing our community together to connect, learn, network and prosper.
The members can host webinars.
They can present their achievements; have the peer to per interaction.
The accolades and honors of the members will be published forum meetings and in GMG Newsletter Gaurav.
The forum will facilitate Mentor-Mentee connect , giving a good avenue to ‘Give Back’.
Contribution by stakeholders:
To Join:
Today, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is impacting all areas of our life.
I teach AI at the University of Oxford. I have been mentoring students and start-ups at Oxford for AI.
So, when Anand proposed to me the idea of creating an AI mentoring programwithin the Garje Marathi Innovation Academy, I was happy to set it up from a technical perspective.
We started with some simple guidelines for the AI mentoring program
• We received a wide range of applications from farming, personal feedback,
fraud/anomaly detection
• Youngest participant only 19!
• All five participants completed the program and have a demo
• Selection criteria was based on practical feasibility(building a baselineproduct in three months)
• The initiative required time and effort with regular follow up
The selected initiatives and members were:
Farm Assistance Device for fruit farmers to improve farmproductivity while reducing use ofirrigation & fertilizers. – by Sanket Kedar. Objective: Develop AI & IoT based intelligent farm assistancedevice for farmers. Uses time series data
Object detection utilizing AI and Secure Edge ComputingByShreyas Panditrao. Objective: Use computer vision to detect the presence of hardhats (PPE) in the field in hostile environments(ex: mines). Uses computer vision on edge devices
Public Grant Prediction and Fraud DetectionBy Samir Gujar & Yuwaraj Shinde. Objective of this project is to learn the grant makingpattern/model for EU grants and Applications. Using thesepatterns/models we will be helping the Organization to catch thefraudulent attempts and to predict which application will begetting the grants. Uses natural language processing.
YouBetterMe Personal feedback tool –by Amol Parab and Akshay Sankpal. Objective - To enable important conversations and feedback. Uses natural language processing.
To develop an anomaly detection toolBySagar Warke. Objective: Develop models for anomaly / outlier detection for IoT Data. Uses supervised and unsupervised anomaly detection models
(representative image of graph – source engineering.com)
By
Ajit Jaokar
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ajit-Jaokar
संपादकीय -----!
दीप म्हणजे दिवा आणि आवली म्हणजे रांग ! दीपावली म्हणजे दिव्यांची रांग ! दिवाळी म्हणजेच दिव्यांचा सण ! येणार येणार म्हणता म्हणता दीपावली आली आणि संपूनही गेली ! ’न भूतो ‘ अशी ही यंदाची २०२० ची दिवाळी होती.कोरोनाचे भयानक सावट ह्या दिव्यांच्या सणवार पडलेले होते.लाखो लोकं मृत्युमुखी पडली आहेत,
उद्योगधंदे बंद आहेत,लाखो संसार उद्ध्वस्त झाले आहेत,उद्याची चिंता प्रत्येकालाच भेडसावत आहे.पण या संकट काळातही महाराष्ट्राची संस्कृती,परंपरा जपणाऱ्या मराठी माणसाने भविष्याची उज्ज्वल स्वप्ने मनाशी बघत मोठ्या जिद्दीने,उमेदीने दीपावलीच्या दिव्यांच्या माला प्रकाशित केल्या.
२०२० ची दिवाळी ही विशेष महत्त्वाची आहे.कारण यंदा जे दिवे आपण प्रज्ज्वलित केले आहेत ते फक्त आपल्या स्वतःच्या जीवनात आनंद आणणार नाहीत तर त्यांचा प्रकाश हा इतर अनेकांचे जीवन प्रकाशमय करणार आहे.कोरोनाच्या ह्या महामारीच्या काळात अनेक आव्हाने निर्माण झाली आहेत. आणि त्याला यशस्वी पणे सामोरे जाण्याचा मार्ग दाखवणार आहेत दीपावलीचे हे प्रज्वलित दिवे !
कोविड १९ ने ‘ नाते ‘ ह्या भावनेला पुनर्जन्म दिला आहे. माणसातील ‘ माणुस ‘ खडबडून जागा झाला आहे.माणुसकीच्या नात्यांचे बंध दृढ होत आहेत.आणि ह्या माणुसकीच्या नात्यातूनच जन्म घेतला आहे ‘ सक्षम ‘ ह्या गर्जे मराठीच्या ----प्रकल्पाने !कोविड १९ च्या ह्या संकट काळातील मोठे आव्हान म्हणजे ‘ ई लर्नींग ‘ ! महाराष्ट्राच्या पुढील पिढीचे भविष्य हे ‘ e learning ‘ वर अवलंबून आहे.पण आजही महाराष्ट्राच्या खेड्यापाड्यातील मुलांना ई लर्निंग साठी लागणारे साहित्य,बदलत्या शिक्षण पध्दतीतील लॅपटॉप ,कम्प्युटर ,स्मार्टफोन इंटरनेट,अशा सर्व सुविधा उपलब्ध नाहीत आणि ही तर आजच्या काळाची मोठी गरज आहे.आणि म्हणुनच ही सर्व साधने उपलब्ध करुन देणे ,तसेच त्यांना मार्गदर्शन करणारे शिक्षक,आयटी इंजिनिअर्स स्वयंसेवक,समाज कार्यकर्ते अशी टीम उपलब्ध करुन देणे हा या प्रकल्पाचा उद्देश आहे.
दीपावलीच्या शुभदिनी अतिशय आनंदाची बातमी समजली की ह्या आपल्या प्रकल्पाला राजाश्रय मिळाला ! ऑस्ट्रेलिया स्थित ,गर्जे मराठीचे मार्गदर्शक,श्री विजय जोशी यांच्या प्रयत्नांना यश आले.१२ नोव्हेंबर २०२० रोजी,विजय जोशी याना ,भारताचे पर्यावहन मंत्री,माननीय श्री नितीनजी गडकरी यांचे पत्र मिळाले गर्जे मराठीचे सल्लागार आणि मेंटॉर म्हणुन सहयोग देण्याचा प्रस्ताव नितीनजींनी मान्य केला आहे.आणि जातपंथ ह्या भेदाभेदांच्या पलीकडे असलेल्या ह्या पवित्र प्रकल्पाला सर्वतोपरी मदत करण्याचे आश्वासन दिले आहे.
थोरामोठ्यांचे शुभाशीर्वाद लाभलेला ‘ सक्षम ‘ हा प्रकल्प यशस्वी करण्यासाठी आपल्या सर्वांच्या मदतीच्या हातांची आवश्यकता आहे.आणि म्हणुनच दीपावलीच्या शुभमुहूर्तावर आपण सर्वानी ‘सक्षम’ प्रकल्प यशस्वी करण्याची,एकमुखाने शपथ घेऊ या आणि महाराष्ट्राचे नाव उज्वल करु या !
स्वस्थ रहा ,सुरक्षित रहा !
जय मराठी ,जय महाराष्ट्र !
मेघना वर्तक ,दुबई ----meghana.sahitya@gmail.com
Young Eco Hero and Social Entrepreneur : Riva Tulpule Dubai UAE
Ways to Evolve from Mangers to Entrepreneurs. Nitin Paranjape
Dr. Samir Mtragotri., Core Faculty,Wyss Institute at Harvard University
Cancer in simple words By Dr. Sulochana Gawande
“Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Universe” Dr. Rachana Bhatawdekar,
OptraLABS receives ICMR clearance for its COVID 19 Recovery Test Kits
Maharashtra Education Society Turns 160 this year
ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT :An Overview By Prashant Girbane
Decoding Artificial Intelligence with Dr Bhooshan Kelkar मराठी मध्ये MCCIA
“Thank You, Sudhir Joshi, Christchurch, New Zealand.”
Maya CARE, The Next Best Thing to Family
LinguaSol Linguify Your Business
Students’ struggle during the pandemic , Hong Kong Story
Chief Mentor and Adviser GMG Saksham
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Dr.-Samir-Mitragotri-
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=-Humanity-in-the-Desert
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=LinguaSol-Linguify-Your-Business
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Proud-of-you,-Prachee-Gokhale-
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=My-Thoughts--Ashok-Sapre-PhD
अंक दरमहिन्याला प्रसिद्ध होतो.
अंकात व्यक्त झालेल्या विचारांशी आणि मतांशी संपादक सहमत असतातच असे नाही.
गौरवसाठी लेखन पाठवताना…
आपले लेखन मराठी, हिंदी अथवा इंग्रजीत पाठवता येते.
अंकातील मजकुराच्या पुनर्प्रसिद्धी विषयी
हा अंक तुम्ही आनंदाने वाचा आणि मित्रानाही वाचण्यासाठी उत्तेजन द्या. परंतु ….
My Thoughts On
Using Cultural Affinity to form Professional Relationships and Mentor-ships Among Marathi People: A Guiding principle of Garje Marathi Global.
Ashok Sapre, PhD, Caliofornia, USA, sapre@aol.com
Perhaps, the most important bond among people, other than the blood relation, is the language, especially their mother tongue. For us it is Marathi.
We may be in any corner of the world, in any setting, large or small, with any group of people, when we hear even a word, much less a phrase, a sentence or a dialogue, in Marathi immediately our ears perk up and we look in the direction where that sound came from. Our brain goes through some kind of a quick assessment and alerts us, “Look, there is a friend nearby. He speaks your language. Go talk to him”. What a great pleasure to go through that experience! We the NRIs have gone through that exhilaration at least a few times in our lives.
Wherever Marathi people have migrated, they have formed Marathi Mandals to keep their ties to Marathi culture alive through language, music, dramas and of course the cuisine. Many volunteers work tirelessly to keep these Marathi Mandals on-going and vibrant. Hundreds of Marathi schools staffed with volunteer teachers have been established in North America alone to teach Marathi language to the next generation.
Many Marathi NRIs publish literature written in Marathi.
Thousands of Marathi people come together for 3-4 days for attending Marathi Conventions in North America every other year. European countries also hold well attended Marathi Conventions biannually.
Many Marathi NRIs have invested time and money to help people in Maharashtra. They have started schools, colleges, libraries, student hostels etc. Charity organizations have been established by Marathi communities in many countries to raise money for the benefit of people in Maharashtra and India. Many Marathi NRIs have donated money, and done volunteering in urban and rural Maharashtra.
Such is the bond Marathi NRIs have with their motherland and especially with their tongue.
Accomplishments of Marathi NRIs around the world in the field of science, technology, medicine, engineering, and even business have been too many to count.
All in all, Marathi migration has been a huge success story! Something that each Marathi person in the world would be proud of.
So, where do we go from here? How do we build on these glowing successes?
One idea that has been proposed in some corners is to use the existing strength of the cultural affinity among Marathi people as a foundation to specifically create an Organization to promote connections and networking among Marathi scientists, professionals and business men /women around the globe. Currently, there is no such formal Organization. Marathi Mandals are limited in scope. They are mainly focused on cultural activities, although some informal professional networking may take place concomitantly.
The purpose of thisproposed Organization will be to facilitate networking, forming partnerships, mentor-ships, guiding/advisory relationships, and helping hands for the deserving and the needy, etc. It is envisioned that thisOrganization will be a powerful force to promote excellence and overall well being of the Marathi community at large, and particularly in Maharashtra.
Is this idea of a professional, rather than a cultural, Marathi Organization viable and would it in fact deliver what is expected?
Culture, and for Indians their mother tongue, is a powerful force to bring people together, as history has proven over and over again. But it does have boundaries. It limits the group. You are a member of the group if you have the same mother tongue. Otherwise you are an outsider. The language is the binding force.
The fields like science, technology, medicine, and even arts and business have grown tremendously especially over the last few centuries. One of the reasons for their glorious success is thought to be that they broke the traditional barriers of culture, community and geography and became increasingly global in nature. For example, scientists from different parts of the world collaborate on projects. Doctors without Borders is an organization supported by Medical Professionals from various nations to provide medical services in many disadvantaged parts of the world.
In these cases interest in the subject matter is the binding force, not Mother tongue, nationality, or cultural identity. Indeed, if the latter became important considerations the progress will be slow and limited.
Therefore, arts, science, technology etc should--must-- not be bound by a language, much less by a mother tongue.
And that is the real world experience. I talked to several people, Marathi and non-Marathi, who have done mentoring. Unanimously, they said that there was no major consideration other than the merit when they chose someone to mentor. Personally I had mentors who were Americans, and I have mentored people in my limited way without considering where they were from or what language they spoke. I believe that many NRIs have the same experience. Indeed, I believe that this kind of open-mindedness contributed to the success of many NRIs.
Even the disciples, beneficiaries of the mentor-ships whomI talked to concurred. They chose a Guru based on the merit and not on their cultural compatibility. If cultural compatibility happened to be there, that was coincidental, or at best a ‘gravy’.
Instead of the mother tongue or the culture, subject matter is the pulling force. That is to say that traditional languages based culture was replaced by subject matter or expertise based culture.
Even in this subject matter culture the importance of geographic regions has not been lost. For example, there are local subject matter associations along with National and International Associations. Together these Associations promote sharing of knowledge, networking, partnerships, mentor-ships etc.
Mother tongue based cultural affinity breaks the barrier of the subject matter. That is to say that the subject matter does not play a role in that culture, only the mother tongue does. Similarly, mother tongue does not play any significant role in this subject matter culture.
In this environment of subject matter cultures what role can the traditional language based cultural play?
So, if the envisioned Organization doesn’t seem viable or even desirable for professional connectivity, in what way can we to exploit the strength of the Marathi cultural community?
A few ideas come to my mind.
1. Promote excellence in science, technology etc. especially in rural Maharashtra by identifying and supporting gifted students early, and making it possible for them to attend good educational institutions.
2. Create scholarships for deserving and gifted Marathi students to pursue their interests.
3. We, the NRIs who have been blessed with good life can, and should, do more to improve educational opportunities, health care, child care, women empowerment, and perhaps most important, employment in Maharashtra. Invest in Maharashtra.
4. Raise money to support deserving projects in Maharashtra.
There is lot more that can be done. But what we should not do is to limit ourselves.
Ashok Sapre, PhD, Caliofornia, USA, sapre@aol.com
https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Ashok-Sapre
“Hon’ble Shri. Nitin Gadkari ji Chief Mentor & Adviser GMG Saksham, your blessings and guidance is our strength.”
Hon’ble Shri. Nitin Gadkari ji, Minister Roads, Transport and Highways, MSME , Government of India, has most graciously accepted to be Chief Mentor and adviser for Garje Marathi Global’s philanthropic initiative ‘GMG Saksham’
GMG Saksham is a technology driven knowledge dissemination platform open to students of Maharashtra. GMG Foundation Saksham’s vision is to create a platform for connecting deserving and desirous students from Maharashtra to the global community of professionals, academics and entrepreneurs. The platform will help these students via regular webinars, tutorials to learn, gain knowledge and be future ready. The GMG’s Foundation Saksham aims to bridge the digital divide by enabling economically disadvantaged students from Maharashtra by providing them with the right equipment, right guidance and prepare them for the right opportunities.
Saksham aims at providing 25,000 digital devices by 01 August 2021. On successful implementation of the program it will be repeated for the following three years.
Hon’ble Minister Nitin ji has said that he will guide us and will help us in every possible way.
With his guidance and support about GMG Skasham we are confident that “We Certainly Will’
Students’ struggle during the pandemic – Hong Kong Story
In the wake of the pandemic it has been incredibly difficult for students across the university to keep up with academic commitments, job applications and even their social lives at the University. In Hong Kong, university campuses have not been normal since 2019 when the protests took place. Many international students have been stuck in their own countries for a year and the entire landscape of education has changed. Personally, I find it difficult to keep up with online classes as there are limitations to interactions, social life in university has changed and as a final year student I will be entering an extremely uncertain job market.
Student led activities have also been affected on campus due to the protests and the pandemic. Last year, I was elected as the Chairperson for Amnesty International Student Club at the University of Hong Kong. The club aims to raise awareness about human rights issues on campus, however we were unable to organise events and activities for an entire year. This month, we decided that we will not let this hinder us and we decided to start organising online events to help students.
As we spoke to more students, we realised that the exceptional circumstances have not been ideal for everyone and have taken a toll on student mental health. This was a problem that the majority of the students were facing. As this semester is also available online, many students felt like they did not have a social setting or an avenue to discuss their mental health or academic problems. To help open this discussion up, we decided to conduct a forum to allow students to discuss their issues and hopefully feel like they are not alone during this tough time.
The first step was to fight the right resources: our panelists included an award winning professor from the Faculty of Business and economics, an academic counselor, a youth development professional and a mental health professor. I moderated the panel myself and asked questions about personal, professional and academic advice for students. The forum was conducted over zoom and other participants also had the opportunity to ask questions. As professionals, the biggest piece of advice that the panelists gave was to be able to build relationships at an uncertain time like this. One of the panelists shared that the job market was also extremely uncertain when they graduated from University, however meeting the right people and network efficiently got them the job that they currently have. Another important piece of advice was to be able to share your mental health problems with others and seek the right kind of help to understand that you are not alone at a time like this.
No matter what your personal, professional and academic standing is, organising events like this and opening up discussions is the only way for all of us to successfully get through a time like this!
Sanika Kulkarni, Hong Kong
Nov 15, 2020
Prachi Gokhale , Wellington New Zealand, ( https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Prachee-Gokhale) was honored with ‘Community Service Award’ in recognition of her contribution to the Federation and Multicultural communities of New Zealand.
Prachee is Founder-director of Garje Marathi New Zealand Chapter.
LinguaSol Linguify Your Business
Information Technology & Services Pune, Maharashtra
Language Translation and Localisation Solution for Websites, Enterprise Technology Platforms and Mobile Applications.
LinguaSol is a rare breed of company – on one hand it builds innovative localization products based on cutting-edge technology, on the other it offers full spectrum of translation services.
LinguaSol inherited the Linguify product stack and a highly specialized team through LinguaNext acquisition.
LinguaSol continues with the philosophy of completely external non-disruptive localization middle-ware products. These products are complemented by the translation services. The collective effect is Linguify – the one-stop solution: technology for completely external #localization and fully managed solution.
Linguify your business: globalize your website, #localize your applications or #translate your documents – quick, easy and painless.
Website http://www.linguasol.net
Sunil Kulkarni
President at Fidel Technologies, Tokyo, Japan is very esteemed member of Garje Marathi Global family. He has featured in Garje Marathi Book 2. He has actively supported mission Garje Marathi Global.
Sunil is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating new products and markets.
Fidel Technologies (www.fideltech.com) is a mid-size firm with verticals focused on - Enterprised Software development, FinTech solutions (www.fixsol.com), IOT solutions(myrakshak.in), Product Localization (www.filose.com) & Bilingual Consulting (www.fidelconsulting.com).
Specialties: FinTech, FIX, Blockchain, IoT-M2M, Enterprise software, Localization, OpenSource, Web, Mobile, Mobility
Maya CARE Foundation has conducted over 10,000 free visits to senior citizens across India over the past 11 years and has continued to work relentlessly through the pandemic. The purpose of these visits is to offer the elderly convenience, independence and happiness while continuing to live in their own homes or in assisted living. Services have ranged from accompanying the elderly to chemotherapy sessions and sitting outside the ICU to bringing Ganpati idol home or assisting them in writing books or operate gadgets even when their eyesight does not support their desire to remain active.
Maya CARE has been funded so far through the salaries of its founders Abhay Joshi and Manjiri Gokhale Joshi. Abhay and Manjiri are members of Garje Marathi UK Chapter. It is their fervent wish that Maya CARE continues to serve beyond their work lives, make it self-sustainable through donations and available in all cities of India (currently present in 12 cities) and 3 UK cities.
We seek your support in reaching out to senior citizens grappling with loneliness and helplessness that severely impacts mental health.
To volunteer, champion the cause, suggest a senior citizen who could use the service, or donate, write to service@mayacare.org. India helplines: +91- 9552510400 or 9552510411. UK: 0044-7768941251 or 7835347697.
“Thank You, Sudhir Joshi, Christchurch, New Zealand.”
The Founder-Director of Garje Marathi New Zealand Chapter, Shudhir Joshi organized a special meeting of Marathi Community in Christchurch, NZ.
The meeting was attended by nearly every who’s who from Marathi community. The very attentive and involved gathering appreciated the ‘Mission Purpose’ of Garje Marathi Global presented by Sudhir Joshi.
Prachee Gokhale, Prashant Belwalkar, Shirish Paranjape and Sudhir Joshi are Founder-Directors on Garje Marathi New Zealand Chapter
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=CLZUF-E03N4
अमित परांजपे, अध्यक्ष, आय. टी व आय. टी. ई.एस समिती,एम.सी.सी.आय.ए, यांनी लेखक, इंडस्ट्री ४.०-नव्या युगाची ओळख, डॉ भूषण केळकर यांच्याशी संवाद साधला. आर्टीफिशियल इंटेलीजेंस आणि इंडस्ट्री 4.0 यांचा थोडक्यात आढावा देऊन त्यातील पुढील संधी देखील सांगतात. येत्या काही वर्षात नवीन टेकनॉलॉजी शी जुळवून न घेतल्यास काय काय परिणामांना सामोरे जावे लागू शकेल ह्याचाही अंदाज आपल्याला ते देतात. एआय आणि इंडस्ट्री 4.0 लघु उद्योगांना कशी मदत करू शकतील यावर देखील बोलतात. शेवटी डॉ. केळकर आपल्याला या दोन विषयांबद्दल अधिक जाणून घेण्यासाठी उपलब्ध असलेल्या वेगवेगळ्या संधींबद्दल देखील सांगतात.
Amit Paranjape, Chairman, IT & ITES Committee, MCCIA In Conversation with Dr. Bhooshan Kelkar, Director at Neuflex Talent Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and Director at MoebiuSutra Consulting Pvt Ltd And Writer of the book ' Industry 4.0 - नव्या युगाची ओळख' in the Seventh Episode of MCCIA series 'Decoding Artificial Intelligence with Industry leaders' but the First one to be in Marathi. The conversation shed light on It also gives a brief overview of Artificial Intelligence and Industry 4.0 and its future opportunities. They Also talk about how AI and Industry 4.0 can be extremely beneficial to SMEs and MSMEs and How they can Implement These Technologies and Methodologies. Tune in to find out about the consequences of not adapting to new technologies in the next few years. Contact Us Website www.mcciapune.com Email info@mcciapune.com Phone +91 020 2570 9000 Head Office Address 505, A-Wing, MCCIA Trade Tower, ICC Complex,403, Senapati Bapat Road, Pune-411 016 INDIA.
1.
The 'Atmanirbhar package' was announced in three tranches over the past six months from 12th May 2020 to 12th Nov 2020, that covered monetary and fiscal stimuli. During this time, a set of reforms were also announced.
On the monetary stimulus front, The RBI did the heavy lifting with suitable and adequate measures that were announced and executed proactively. The Government also did its share by supporting the creation of liquidity through schemes like the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). Given the constraints of available fiscal space and the uncertainty of the pandemic, the Government of the day has used an incremental approach towards the fiscal stimulus as against the UBI (Universal Basic Income) approach of one-time cash deposits in the account of every citizen to boost aggregate demand.
There were significant hardships caused during the reverse migration of labour as unemployed migrant workers yearned to be with their family back home in the times of stringent lockdown and utmost uncertainty. However, schemes like the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and the Top-Up on MNREGA ensured that any significant distress incidents in rural India were avoided.
Urban India, that houses much of the Industry and services sector experienced an unprecedented negative impact due to the pandemic. Still, the larger companies in most sectors are recovering as the unlocking gained pace in Q2 of this Financial Year (FY). The Q2 financial results of more than 3000 listed companies in India indicate that their revenue is already more than that of Q2 in last FY and the profits as compared to previous financial year showed a phenomenal rise of more than 30%.
The most impacted segment that has yet to gain a similar pace of recovery is the informal sector, the MSMEs of whom more than 50 mn do not use formal credit and hence did not benefit from the schemes. It is these firms that also recruit the highest number of informal employees without social benefits and contribute to more than 90% of job losses in the pandemic. Notwithstanding the challenge of beneficiary identification in this segment, the Government needs to find innovative ways to avoid the impending distress in this informal sector.
Apart from monetary and fiscal, the third leg of the stimuli was 'reforms’—the reforms announced during the pandemic were in the fields of, Labour, Agriculture and the National Education Policy. Each of them holds great potential to help India enable growth in the medium to long term. A lot now depends upon the state governments who need to take these forward.
2.
'Atmanirbhar Bharat' the philosophy, however, builds on earlier announcements of 'Make In India'. In the recent past, many major economies, including the US and China, have not just announced the promotion of domestic manufacturing but have supported the intent with detailed blueprints and significant resources towards realising it. India's announcement of about a dozen PLIs (Production Linked Incentives) to create not just national but global champions, many of them in sunrise sectors is a positive step in that direction. Over the next five years, PLIs have a budgetary allocation of $26 bn to deliver $520 bn of production, and much of that is expected to be exported. The first PLI focussed on ‘mobile phone and electronic components’ is already delivering very encouraging feedback.
For India's merchandise exports to realise their potential, our role in Global Value Chains (GVCs) needs to be significantly larger. As we aspire to tap into much larger foreign demand (exports) as compared to domestic demand, we need to be open to import the intermediaries that enable exports.
Hasty and indiscreet increases in import tariffs in union budget announcements do not support overall exports. While the claims of some commentators on tariffs heading back to pre-1991 levels are an exaggeration, the average of 18% tariffs in 2020 is undoubtedly higher than 13% in 2014 while being far lower than 125% in pre-1991.
While some sectors and sub-sectors (especially strategic ones) on occasions do justify increased import tariffs, the overall journey of tariffs needs to be on a downward gliding path.
Our industries need to become efficient and competitive not by the protection of increased import tariffs but with the Government's help in a) reducing the compliance burden through further ease of doing business, b) reducing the cost of logistics from 14% of GDP to a globally competitive single-digit number, c) reducing the cost of energy through open access to renewable energy and d) reducing the cost of capital through increased competition of private sector banks while reducing Government role in PSBs. These steps will help India boost its inner strengths that will make us further self-reliant.
Integrating India into GVCs also means deepening our trades with other countries, and in an era where the WTO is dysfunctional, FTAs play an essential role. We must judge each FTA on the merits of its terms. While RCEP seems to have undesired China centricity, our FTAs with the EU, USA and UK have been in the works for long and deserve urgent attention.
Like any other policy narrative, 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' also needs to complete the intent to implement a journey that has just about begun. On its way, it must cross the following milestones-
Prashant Girbane
Director General at Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries & Agriculture - MCCIA, Pune
Prashant Girbane has always supported Garje Marathi Global in advisory capacity
वाळवंटातील मानवता----!
By: Meghana Vartak
काही काही गोष्टी अतर्क्य असतात,अनाकलनीय असतात,कल्पने पलीकडच्या असतात आणि त्या फक्त स्वप्नातच घडू शकतात.सूर्य उगवलाच नाही असं कधी सत्यात घडले आहे का ? अर्थातच नाही,ते फक्त स्वप्नातच घडू शकते.तसेच जग स्तब्ध झाले आहे,एका जागी थांबले आहे असे सुद्धा फक्त स्वप्नातच होऊ शकते.२०२० साल उजाडले आणि एक प्रदीर्घ ,कल्पनेच्या पलीकडचे ,आकलनाच्या बाहेरचे असे हे भयानक स्वप्न जगाला पडले !
आजपर्यत जग कधीच थांबले नव्हते ! पण हे स्वप्न होते वाऱ्याच्या वेगाने धावणाऱ्या जगाला थांबवणारे ! मागे वळून बघायला लावणारे ! जातधर्म ,उच्चनीच, गरीब श्रीमंत, शिक्षित अशिक्षित अशा सर्व भेदाभेदांच्या पलीकडे नेणारे ! लाखो जिवांचा बळी घेणारे ! लाखो जिवांचे जीवन उध्दवस्त करणारे ! अशा या ‘ न भूतो ‘अशा स्वप्नाचे नाव आहे ‘ कोविड १९ ! हे कोणा माणसाचे नाव नाही.हा आहे एक छोटासा जिवाणू ! कोणी त्याला कोरोना असेही म्हणतात.हे स्वप्न म्हणजे आहे जगाच्या इतिहासाचे एक दुर्दैवी पान ! कोविड १९ नावाच्या लेखणीने निसर्गाने लिहिलेले ! आजपर्यंत मानवनिर्मित दहशतवादींनी जगात हाहाकार माजवला होता.आज निसर्गनिर्मित दहशतवादींनी म्हणजेच कोरोना या रोगाने जगाची झोप उडविली आहे.मृत्यूचे तांडव सुरु आहे.लाखो लोकं मृत्युमुखी पडली आहेत.लाखो संसार उद्ध्वस्त झाले आहेत,आर्थिक व्यवहार ठप्प झाले आहेत.लोकांच्या नोकऱ्या गेल्या आहेत,उद्योगधंदे बंद झाले आहेत.हातावर पोट असणारी माणसे उपाशी मरत आहेत.वाऱ्याच्या वेगाने धावणाऱ्या जगाला जणू खीळ बसली आहे.जगाच्या पायात कोरोनाच्या बेड्या पडल्या आहेत जगभर लॉक डाऊन जाहीर झाला.हजारो प्रश्न निर्माण झाले. विमानसेवा अचानक बंद झाली आणि विविध देशात अडकलेल्या परदेशी नागरिकांना विविध आपत्तींना तोंड द्यावे लागले.प्रत्येक देशाच्या खिडकीतून आत डोकावले तर देशकाल परिस्थितीनुरुप प्रत्येक देशाचे भयानक चित्र दिसले.
पण एक मात्र नक्की अशा ह्या अनाकलनीय स्वप्नात दिसले की ,निसर्ग निर्मित कोरोनाने माणसातील माणुसकीला जागे केले होते.दररोजच्या यंत्रवत जीवनातील स्पर्धेमध्ये माणुसकी लोप पावली होती. प्रत्येकजण स्वार्थी झाला होता.कोणाला कोणासाठी थांबायला वेळ नव्हता,दुसऱ्या माणसाचा विचार करायची गरज वाटत नव्हती,चार प्रेमाचे शब्द तोंडातून उमटत नव्हतें.किंवा दुसऱ्याच्या दुःखाने मनाला पाझर फुटत नव्हता .सर्वांच्या वागण्या बोलण्यात बेगडीपणा आला होता.पण या कोविड १९ च्या जीवघेण्या संकटामुळे माणूस खडबडून जागा झाला आहे.त्यातील विरुन गेलेल्या माणुसकीचे नव्याने दर्शन होऊ लागले.कोविड १९ ने ‘नाते‘ ह्या भावनेला पुनर्जन्म दिला आहे.
आणि या भयानक स्वप्नात आखाती देश दिसले.आखाती देश म्हटलं की पहिले नाव डोळ्यासमोर येते ते दुबई ! !वाळवंटातील नंदनवन ! दुबईच्या खिडकीतून आत डोकावले तेव्हा मनात संभ्रम निर्माण झाला की आपण दुबईच्या खिडकीतूनच आत डोकावलो ना ? की कोणत्या दुसऱ्या देशाची खिडकी होती? वर्षाचे ३६५ दिवस २४x ७ ,रणरणत्या उन्हाळ्याचीही पर्वा न करता जिथे विविध कार्यक्रम चालू असतात,ओसंडून वाहणाऱ्या धबधब्याप्रमाणे जी सदैव आनंदाने उत्साहाने परिपूर्ण असते,अशी ही पहाटे तीन चार वाजेपर्यंत जागी असणारी दुबई ह्या स्वप्नात आता दिवसरात्र झोपलेली दिसली.जगाच्या कानाकोपऱ्यातून येणाऱ्या हजारो प्रवाशांच्या आगमनामुळे जिचा विमानतळ सदैव फुललेला असतो तो विमानतळ स्मशानवत भासत होता.टप्याटप्याने लॉक डाऊन सुरु झाला.आणि बघताबघता संपूर्ण दुबई बंद झाली.एक महिना लोकांनी घरात बसून काढला पण जसजसे दिवस जाऊ लागले तसतशी अस्वस्थता वाढू लागली.कामे बंद झाली होती.आणि हातात पैसे येणे बंद झाले होते.भीती आणि टेन्शनचा पारा वाढत चालला होता.प्रत्येकाच्या समस्या वेगळ्या होत्या.दुःख विविध होती.
दुबई हा प्रगतशील देश आहे,अजून सुधारणा चालू आहेत.त्यामुळे इथे कामगार वर्ग मोठ्या प्रमाणावर
आहे.आता कोरोनामुळे नोकरी नाही पैसे नाहीत,खायचे काय घराचे भाडे कसे द्यायचे,कर्जाचे हप्ते कसे फेडायचे,परत भारतात जावे तर विमान वाहतूक बंद ! भारतात शहराकडे आलेली लोक मैलोनमैल चालत तरी आपल्या गावाकडे परत जात होती.पण इथे हा पर्यायही उपलब्ध नव्हता परदेशात एकटे,कोणाकडे तक्रार करायची,कोणाकडे मदत मागायची,कोण आपले दुःख समजून घेईल,लिहिता वाचता येत नाही,अशा प्रकारच्या अनेक प्रश्नांनी त्यांची झोप उडाली होती.
व्हिजिट व्हिसा काढून नोकरी शोधायला येणाऱ्या लोकांची संख्याही खूप होती.सर्वांचे आवडते पर्यटन स्थळ म्हणून प्रसिद्ध असल्याने टुरिस्टची संख्याही प्रचंड होती.कोरोनाचे हे संकट आले आणि ह्या सर्वांचे हाल सुरु झाले.व्हिजिट व्हिसावर आलेल्यांची व्हिसा संपलाय हातात पैसे नाहीत,नोकरी मिळण्याची तर आशाच नाही.तीच गत टुरिस्टची ! दुबईत मजा करायला म्हणून आले पण वेगळ्याच चक्रव्यूहात अडकले आणि बाहेर पडण्याचा मार्ग माहीत नाही ! दयनीय अवस्था झाली होती अनेकांची !
जगाला पडलेले स्वप्न अधिकाधिक गडद होत चालले होते.पण त्याचवेळी दुबईच्या ह्या वाळवंटात वाऱ्याची एक सुखद झुळूक आली.यंत्रवत झालेल्या जगामध्ये हे अघटितच घडत होते.मनाला पुन्हा समजावले की स्वप्नात काहीही घडू शकते ! निरपेक्ष बुद्धीने एक मुलगी सर्वाना मदत करण्यासाठी धावून आली.वाळवंटातील जणू देवदूतच ! माणसाशी माणुसकीचे नाते जोडणारी,मुलगी म्हणजेच धनश्री वाघ पाटील ! यंत्रवत जीवनात लोप पावलेल्या माणुसकीला जागे करुन माणुसकीचा अर्थ नव्याने सांगणारी ही मुलगी !
दुबईत अडकलेल्या अनेकांचा आधारस्तंभ झाली होती.जणू घरातील वडीलधाऱ्या माणसांप्रमाणे तिने दुबईतील महाराष्ट्रीयन लोकांची जबाबदारी स्वीकारली.अनेकांचे डोळे तिच्याकडे आशेने पाहात होते.कारण तिने सर्व प्रथम मानवतेचा यज्ञ प्रज्वलित केला.आणि नंतर त्यातून स्फूर्ती घेऊन दुबईतील अनेक व्यक्ती संस्था यांनी मानवतेच्या या यज्ञात प्रयत्नरुपी समिधा अर्पण करुन तो यज्ञ प्रज्वलित ठेवला आणि सर्वानी मिळून सामूहिकरित्या दुबईच्या वाळवंटातील मानवतेचे दर्शन घडवले.परदेशात गेलेला मराठी माणूस एकमेकांचे पाय ओढत नाही तर एकमेकांना संकटकाळी कशी मदत करतो हे जगाला दाखवून दिले.धनश्री पाटील सारखी मुलगी केवळ मदत करुन थांबत नाही तर त्यांच्या दुःखाशी समरस होते,त्यांच्याशी भावनिक जवळीक साधते,कारण आत्ताच्या ह्या संकटात मानसिक आधार हा अतिशय महत्त्वाचा होता.संकट काळात लोकांना माणुसकीच्या नात्याने मदत करण्याच्या वेडाने झपाटलेल्या धनश्रीला मी विचारले ,तुला ही स्फूर्ती कशी मिळाली ? स्वतःला सावरत तिने बोलायला सुरुवात केली--
माझ्या वृध्द सासऱ्यांना पुण्यात हार्टचा त्रास सुरु झाला होता.त्यासाठी आम्हाला तातडीने पुण्यात जायचे होते आणि अचानक फ्लाईटस बंद झाल्या.मी दुबईतील इंडियन कोन्सुलेट मध्ये गेले होते.त्यावेळी तिथे एक साऊथ इंडियन फॅमिली भेटली.नवरा बायको दोघेही बोलण्याच्याही मनःस्थितीत नव्हती.त्यांचा एकुलता एक १८ वर्षांचा मुलगा ल्युकेमियाने दुबईत गेला होता.त्यांना त्याचे अंत्यसंस्कार बँगलोरला करायचे होते कारण त्या मुलाच्या आजीआजोबाना नातवाला एकदा शेवटचे बघायचे होते.पण दुर्दैव असे की त्याची बॉडी जाऊ शकत होती पण आपल्या लेकराला अखेरचा निरोप देण्यासाठी आईवडील मात्र त्यासोबत जाऊ शकत नव्हते.विमानसेवा नुकत्याच बंद झाल्या होत्या.लॉक डाऊनची ही तर नुकतीच सुरवात होती.त्यामुळे धडपणे नियम झाले नव्हते,त्यांची अंमलबजावणी होत नव्हती भारतीय दूतावासातही सर्व गोंधळ होता,व्यवस्थित पणे कोठे काहीच माहिती मिळत नव्हती.
मुलाच्या आईची भकास नजर अंतःकरणाला चीर पाडत आरपार छेदत जात होती.वडिल फॉर्म समोर ठेवून नुसतेच मूकपणे बसून राहिले होते.मी पटकन उठून पुढे झाले,आणि त्यांना मदत करायला सुरवात केली.लेकरु चालले आहे महायात्रेला आणि त्त्याच्याबरोबर खांदा द्यायला आई वडील जाऊ शकत नव्हते.ज्या मुलाला बोट धरुन चालायला शिकवले,त्याचे बोट अर्ध्या वाटेतच सुटणार होते.खरे म्हटले तर मुलाचे अंत्यविधी ते दुबईतही करु शकत होते.पण आजीआजोबांच्या भावना त्यांना समजत होत्या आणि म्हणून मनावर दगड ठेवून लेकराची बॉडी पाठवायचा कठीण निर्णय त्यांनी घेतला होता.वडिलांनी अखेर फॉर्मवर सही केली आणि मुलाच्या अखेरच्या कर्तव्यातून ते मुक्त झाले.
तो सर्वच प्रसंग मन हेलावून टाकणारा होता.मनात आले कोरोनाच्या या संकटात कुठे नात्यातील बंधही जपले जात होते ! कोरोनाने जगाला घडवलेले माणुसकीचे दर्शन ! मातृपितृ नात्याचे अनोखे रुप !
हा सर्व प्रसंग माझ्या मनात खूप खोलवर रुजला.त्याचवेळी मी मनाशी निःश्चय केला की ह्या संकटकाळात निराधार,अडचणीत सापडलेल्या आपल्या माणसांना सर्वतोपरी मदत करायची.
धनश्री पुढे बोलतच होती,पण तिला मधेच अडवत मी म्हटले आणि त्या आईवडिलांप्रमाणेच तू धन्य आहेस या संकटकाळात हजारो लोकांशी माणुसकीचे नाते जोडून नात्याना नवीन अर्थ दिलास !
धनश्री सांगू लागली --मी प्रथम माझ्या व्हाट्स अँप ग्रुपवर आणि माझ्या फेसबुक पेजवरुन दुबईतील महाराष्ट्रीयन लोकांना आवाहन केले की लॉक डाउनमुळे महाराष्ट्रातील ज्या व्यक्तीना जेवाणखाणं राहायला जागा किंवा ज्यांना भारतात परत जायचे आहे अशा अडचणीत सापडलेल्या लोकानी संपर्क साधावा. माझा msg गेला आणि अक्षरशः दिवसभर माझा फोन वाजतच होता.सर्वांच्या मनातील भीती इतकी गडद होती की त्या रात्री मला क्षणभरही झोप लागली नाही ! मेघनाताई आजपर्यंत ह्या दुबईने लाखो घरात प्रकाश पसरवला आहे,अनेकांची स्वप्ने पूर्ण केली आहेत.पण आज ह्या कोरोनामुळे अनेक स्वप्ने उद्ध्वस्तही झाली आहेत.आणि वाळवंटातून नंदनवन निर्माण करणारी,सर्वाना सहनशीलता आणि आशावाद शिकवणारी ही दुबई आज हताश होऊन बसली आहे !
हे सांगतानाही तिच्या आवाजात कातरता होती.डोळे भरुन येत होते.मी हलकेच तिला म्हटले धनश्री अग ह्यालाच तर जीवन म्हणतात ना ! जीवनाच्या प्रवासात हे चढउतार असतातच ग !
स्वतःला सावरुन ती पुढे सांगू लागली,मेघनाताई सर्व प्रथम मला एक गोष्ट सांगावीशी वाटते की मी जे हे कार्य करत होते ते एकटीचे कार्य नाही.त्याला अनेक मदतीच्या हातांची जरुर होती.दुबईतील अनेक व्यक्ती ,मंडळे,ग्रुप्स यांनीही या कार्यात पुढाकार घेतला. प्रत्येक ग्रुप स्वतंत्र काम करत होता,पण अंतिम ध्येय एकच होते आणि स्वतःच्या घरातील कार्य असल्याप्रमाणे सर्वजण सहभागी झाली.परदेशात निर्माण झालेल्या ‘ आम्ही मराठी ‘ ह्या भावनेचे अनोखे दर्शन जगाला घडले !
कोविद १९ चे हे स्वप्न अधिकाधिक धूसर होत होते.माझा विश्वासच बसत नव्हता की आजच्या काळात एखादी व्यक्ती आपल्या कार्याचे श्रेय स्वतःकडेच ना घेता इतरांनाही योग्य ते श्रेय देत आहे ! पण पुन्हा मनाला समजावले की स्वप्नात काहीही होऊ शकते !
फेसबुकवर धनश्रीची पोस्ट बघून,कोविडमुळे निर्माण झालेल्या परिस्थितीचे गांभीर्य लक्षात येऊन ,दुबईस्थित उद्योजक राहुल तुळपुळे ह्यांनी तिला फोन केला.आणि त्यांनी मदतीचा हात पुढे केला.त्यांच्या प्रयत्नातून महाराष्ट्र मंडळ दुबई,तसेच गल्फ मराठी बिझिनेस फोरम ही संस्था ह्यांनीही मदत केली.तसेच ,वैशान्ती कवठणकर ह्यांचा ‘ दुबई आखाती मराठी बांधव’ हा ग्रुप ,संतोष कारंडे आणि सहकारी यांचा ‘आमी परिवार ’ हा ग्रुप या सर्वांच्या सहकार्याने दुबईतील हजारो गरजू लोकांना जेवणखाण पुरवले तसेच कित्येकांच्या नोकऱ्या गेल्या होत्या,पगार मिळत नव्हते घराची भाडी भरु न शकल्याने जी लोकं रस्त्यावर आली होती त्यांची जागेची व्यवस्था केली.फोन रिचार्ज करुन दिले औषधे पुरवली.पण हे कार्य करत असताना आमच्या लक्षात आले की ह्यापेक्षा अधिक भक्कम असे कार्य करण्याची जरुर आहे.कारण ही सर्व मदत तात्पुरत्या स्वरुपाची होती.असे किती दिवस चालणार होते ? कोविडचे उच्चाटन कधी होईल हे कोणीच सांगू शकत नव्हते.अडकलेल्या सर्व लोकांना एकेक क्षण घालवणे कठीण झाले होते.सर्वानाच कसेही करुन लवकरात लवकर आपल्या घरी परत जायचे होते.
याचवेळी,बालपणातच समाजकार्याचे बाळकडू मिळालेल्या,राहुल तुळपुळे यांनी दुबईत अडकलेल्या हजारो लोकांना सुखरुपपणे मायदेशातील त्यांच्या घराकडे पोहोचवण्याचे मोठे कार्य हाती घेतले !.त्या पाठोपाठ ‘ दुबई आखाती मराठी ‘ ह्या ग्रुपच्या वैशान्ती कवठणकर यांनी गोव्यातील लोकांना त्यांच्या घरी पाठवण्याचा विडा उचलला.आमी ‘ परिवार ’चे संतोष कारंडे आणि त्यांच्या सहकाऱ्यांनी महाराष्ट्रात ठिकठिकाणी राहणाऱ्या लोकांना घरी पाठवण्यासाठी प्रयत्न सुरु केले.
भारत सरकारने कोरोनामुळे परदेशात अडकलेल्या लोकांना परत मायदेशी नेण्यासाठी ‘ वंदे भारत अंतर्गत विमानसेवा सुरु केली.भारतातील विविध शहरात विमाने जात होती.दुबईत असलेली विविध प्रांतीय लोकं आपापल्या कुटुंबाकडे परत जात होती.मात्र मुंबई पुण्यात महाराष्ट्रात मात्र एकही विमान जात नव्हते.त्यामुळे लोकांमध्ये अधिकच चिंता वाढू लागली.हजारो लोकं मुंबईला जाण्यासाठी विमानाची वाट बघत होते.कामगार ,नोकरी गेलेले दुबईतील रहिवासी ,दुबई पाहायला आलेले, पैसे नसलेले ,व्हिसा संपलेले औषधे संपलेले ,विद्यार्थी,जेष्ठ लोकं,आजारी लोकं,प्रियजनांच्या अखेरच्या दर्शनासाठी जीव व्याकुळ झालेली लोकंअक्षरशः रडत होती.सर्व परिस्थिती मन सुन्न करणारी होती.असे चित्र दुबईत कधीच दिसले नव्हते.परिस्थितीचे गांभीर्य राहुलच्या लक्षात आले.आणि त्याने हे शिवधनुष्य उचलले !
उचललेले हे शिवधनुष्य पेलणे सोपे नाही हे राहुलला समजत होते,पण हार मानणे त्याच्या रक्तात नव्हते दुबई सरकार,महाराष्ट्र सरकार,केंद्र सरकार या तिघांची सांगड घालत,फोनाफोनी मेसेजेस,व्हिडीओ कॉल्स अशा अनेक मार्गांचा अवलंब करत ‘ रात्रंदिन आम्हा युध्दाचा प्रसंग’ या उक्तीप्रमाणे दिवसरात्र त्याचे प्रयत्न सुरु झाले.इकडे हजारो लोकं घराच्या वाटेकडे डोळे लावून बसले होते,सर्वाना मानसिक धीर देणाऱ्या धनश्रीचा रात्री क्षणभरही डोळ्याला डोळा लागत नव्हता.सर्वच परिस्थिती क्षणाक्षणाला बिकट होत चालली होती.
तेव्हाच राहुलला चार्टर फ्लाईटची कल्पना सुचली.आणि त्या अनुषंगाने त्याचे विचारचक्र सुरु झाले.तिकीट काय पडेल,लोकांना परवडेल का ,परवानगी मिळेल का -----विचार मनात आला आणि राहुलचे प्रयत्न त्या दिशेने सुरु झाले.पुन्हा मुंबईत दिल्लीत वरिष्ठ अधिकाऱ्यांना फोनाफोनी ,चर्चा ,भेटीगाठी ! पण आता फरक एव्हढाच होता की अर्जुना प्रमाणे आता ध्येय समोर होते,आणि आता फक्त नेम धरुन अचूक बाण मारायचा होता.अखेर राहुलच्या भगिरथ प्रयत्नांना यश आले.जून महिना उजाडला आणि अखेर चार्टर फ्लाईटला परवानगी मिळाली.त्यानंतर सूत्रे भराभर हालत गेली दुबईचे भारताचे कौन्सल जनरल माननीय विपुल शहा यांची भेट म्हणजे राहुलच्या दृष्टीने जणू परदेशात मिळालेला पितृवत आधार होता.एक एक लढाई जिंकत पुढील मार्गक्रमणा चालू होती.
आणि अखेर जगन्नाथाचा हा रथ ,१४ जूनला १८९ प्रवाशांना घेऊन मुंबईच्या दिशेने मार्गस्थ झाला. पाठोपाठ दुसरा रथही आणखी १८९ प्रवाशांना घेऊन पुण्याच्या दिशेने मार्गस्थ झाला.आणि एका सकाळी प्रत्यक्ष मातोश्री वरुन अभिनंदनाचा फोन आला.महाराष्ट्राच्या मुख्य मंत्र्यांनी केलेल्या गौरवामुळे पुढील कार्यासाठी ऊर्जा मिळाली,मार्ग अधिक सुकर झाला.
चार्टर विमानांच्या एका नवीन पर्वाला राहुलने सुरुवात केली होती.पुनःश्च हरि ओम सुरु झाले ! ९०० हुन अधिक लोकांचे अर्ज आलेले होते.यावेळेला पाऊलवाट परिचित झाली होती.यावेळी राहुलने दीपस्तंभाची भूमिका घेतली होती.हजारो हात मदतीसाठी पुढे आले होते.त्यांचा मार्गदर्शक बनून तो अनेक मदतीच्या हाताना दिशा दाखवत होता.
कोविड १९ मुळे मुळे उद्भवलेल्या बिकट परिस्थितीत लोकांना मदत करण्यासाठी,महाराष्ट्र मंडळ दुबई पुढे आले.मंडळाचे २०१९-२० चे अध्यक्ष संदीप गुप्ते आणि त्यांच्या कमिटीने लोकांच्या मदतीसाठी ‘ मैत्र जीवांचे ‘ हा उपक्रम सुरु केला.दुबईचे महाराष्ट्र मंडळ हे ‘परदेशातील माहेरघर‘ म्हणून प्रसिद्ध आहे.कोविड च्या ह्या संकट काळात मंडळ हे खरोखरच परदेशस्थांसाठी माहेरघर आहे हे सिद्ध झाले ! माहेरी मिळणारे प्रेम,वात्सल्य,चार प्रेमाचे शब्द आणि पितृवत आधार मंडळाने अडचणीत सापडलेल्या मराठी बांधवाना दिला आणि विविध प्रकारे मदत करुन परदेशात आपण एकटे नाही ह्याची जाणीव दिली.
महाराष्ट्र मंडळाने राहुल तुळपुळे यांच्या मार्गदर्शनाखाली युएई तील बांधवांना मायदेशी परत जाण्यासाठी सात चार्टर्ड विमानांची सोय केली.अशा प्रकारे दुबईतून १२०० माणसाना महाराष्ट्रात ठिकठिकाणी त्यांच्या घरी पोचवण्यात ही सर्व टीम यशस्वी झाली.या उपक्रमात मंडळातील अनेक सभासदांचे तसेच युएई तील अनेक संस्थांचे मोलाचे सहकार्य लाभले
गेली १४ वर्षे दुबईत वास्तव्यास असलेल्या आणि एका प्लेसमेंट कंपनीची मालक असलेल्या वैशान्ती कवठणकर हिने मानवतेचा महायज्ञ प्रज्वलित ठेवण्यासाठी प्रयत्नांची पराकाष्ठा केली आणि मानवतेचा प्रकाश दुबईच्या वाळवंटात पसरवला
कोविडमुळे दुबईत अडकलेल्या गोव्यातील शेकडो लोकांना गोव्यात परत पाठवण्याची जबाबदारी तिने स्वतःवर घेतली.त्यासाठी गोवा सरकार,इंडियन कौन्स्युलेट आणि परराष्ट्र मंत्रालय सर्वांशी पत्रव्यवहार,करुन गोव्याच्या फ्लाईटसाठी विनंत्या केल्या.हजार खेपा,फोनाफोनी तहानभूक विसरुन तिने आयुष्य जणू झोकून दिले होते ह्या उदात्त कार्यासाठी.आणि अखेर यश आले !वंदे भारतच्या २ऱ्या ३ऱ्या ४थ्या फेजमध्ये तीन फ्लाईट्ना गोव्यासाठी परवानगी मिळाली.वंदे भारत आणि चार्टर फ्लाईट मिळून ९ फ्लाईट्स वैशान्तीच्या प्रयत्नातून गोव्याला पोहोचली.ह्या सर्व कामामध्ये तिला तिने सुरु केलेल्या ‘ दुबई आखाती मराठी बांधव ‘ ह्या समूहाच्या सभासदांचे सहकार्य लाभले.तसेच गोव्याचे मुख्यमंत्री आणि इंडियन कौन्स्यूल जनरल विपुल शहा यांचे अमूल्य मार्गदर्शन मिळाले आणि त्यांनी केलेल्या प्रशंसेमुळे पुढील वाटचालीसाठी ऊर्जा मिळाली.
७००० हुन अधिक सभासद असलेला,व्हाट्स अँप ग्रुपच्या रुपात एकमेकांशी जोडला गेलेला हा दुबईतील मराठी रहिवाश्यांच्या एक ग्रुप ‘ अखिल अमिराती मराठी इंडियन्स म्हणजेच आमी परिवार! ‘ एकमेका साहाय्य करु अवघे धरु सुपंथ ‘ हे या ग्रुपचे ब्रीदवाक्य आहे आणि कोविडच्या ह्या महाभयंकर संकट काळात,सभासदांनी एकमेकांना साहाय्य करुन ते सार्थ ठरवले आहे.परिवार म्हटले की एका सदस्याचे दुःख हे सर्व परिवाराचे असते.आणि ह्याच कौटुंबिक भावनेने आमी परिवार ह्या समूहाचे प्रमुख संतोष कारंडे आणि त्यांचे सहकारी यांनी अडचणीत सापडलेल्या हजारो लोकांना विविध प्रकारे मदतीचा हात दिला.
या परिवारातील सदस्यांच्या सहकार्याने युएईत अडकलेल्या मराठी लोकांना महाराष्ट्राचा परतीचा मार्ग उपलब्ध करुन देणारे मुंबईकर संतोष कारंडे हे ‘ एअरलिफ्ट मॅन ‘ ठरले एअर अरेबिया चार्टर विमानाने २० जून रोजी शारजा पुणे विमानाने १६८ लोकांना सुखरुप आपल्या घरी पोचवले.आणि त्यानंतर अनेक लोकांनी अधिक विमानांची व्यवस्था करायला विनंती केली.आणि म्हणून संतोष,ओरिएंटल ट्रॅव्हल्स आणि टीम क्षणाचाही विलंब न लावता पुढील कार्यासाठी प्रयत्नाला लागली.अशा प्रकारे ४ चार्टर विमानांची व्यवस्था करुन या संकट काळात सुमारे १००० च्या वर लोकांना मायदेशात त्यांच्या घरी सुखरुपपणे पाठवण्याचे कार्य या परिवाराने केले.आणि आमी परिवार हे नाव सार्थ केले.
सर्वांचे हे कार्य मराठी माणसातील माणुसकीचे दर्शन घडवत होते.हे कार्य करत असताना अनेक बरे वाईट अनुभव गाठी आले.सरकारी कामाची पाऊलवाट ही नेहमी खाचखळग्यांनी भरलेली असते ह्याचा सर्वाना वारंवार प्रत्यय येत होता.चार्टर विमानांच्या परवानगी मिळे पर्यंतच्या काळात,निराशेच्या गर्तेत जात चाललेल्या सर्वाना प्रेमाचे चार शब्द बोलून आधार देणे अतिशय गरजेचे होते.ह्या सर्वानी तहानभूक,घरदार विसरुन,मराठी माणसाला जो पितृवत आधार दिला तो दुबईतील प्रत्येक मराठी माणसासाठी अभिमानास्पद होता. हे करत असतानाच हजारो प्रवाशांची यादी,त्यातून आजारी ,वृध्द आत्यंतिक गरजू प्रेग्नन्ट स्त्रिया कोणाचे कुटुंबीय महाराष्ट्रात अत्यवस्थ आहेत ,लहान मुले याना प्राधान्य द्यायचे होते.हे काम अतिशय जिकिरीचे होते.दुबईच्या एअरपोर्टपासून मुंबई पुण्यात फ्लाईट लँड होऊन तिथे विलगीकरण ते प्रत्येकाचे घर हा जो सर्व प्रवास होता,त्यात काय अडचणी येऊ शकतील याचा बारकाईने अभ्यास करुन सर्वाना आपल्या घरी सुखरुप पोचवण्यासाठी ह्या सर्व टीमने जी मेहेनत घेतली त्याचे वर्णन शब्दात करता येणार नाही !स्वतःच्या घरातील कार्य असावे त्याप्रमाणे झोकून देऊन कामाला लागले.एक कुटुंब तयार झाले आणि त्या कौटुंबिक जाणिवेतून प्रतीत होत होते महाराष्ट्राचे,आपल्या मराठी माणसाबद्दलचे प्रेम !
आणि अशा या मानवतेच्या उदात्त कार्यावर कळस चढविला ,तो महाराष्ट्राच्या मातीचे ,मराठी लोकांबद्दलचे प्रेम ज्यांच्या नसानसात रुजले आहे,परदेशात अडचणीच्या काळात मराठी माणसाला आधार द्यायला जे सदैव तत्पर असतात त्या डॉ धनंजय दातार आणि वंदना दातार यांनी !अल आदिल कंपनीचे मालक,मसाला किंग डॉ धनंजय दातार यांनी ३०० हुन अधिक लोकांना स्वखर्चाने विमानाची तिकिटे दिली आणि त्याना स्वघरी सुखरुप पाठवले.
बघता बघता ह्या कार्याने व्यापक रुप घेतले.केवळ दुबईतच नव्हे तर बहारीन मस्कत कुवेत अशा इतर आखाती देशात ह्या मानवतेच्या यज्ञाचा प्रकाश पसरला तिथे अडकलेल्या मराठी बांधवाना मायदेशी परत पाठविण्यासाठीही प्रयत्न सुरु झाले.डॉ धनंजय दातार यांनी सौदी अरेबिया मधील कारागृहात अडकलेल्या ७०० हून अधिक भारतीय कामगारांची जबाबदारी स्वतःच्या शिरावर घेतली.त्यांचे जेवणखाण,राहण्याची व्यवस्था आणि नंतर सर्वाना स्वखर्चाने भारतात त्यांच्या घराकडे पोचवून वाळवंटातील मानवतेचे दर्शन जगाला घडवले आणि महाराष्ट्राचे नाव उज्ज्वल केले !
‘आपल्या मराठी माणसाला मदत करायची ‘ ह्या एकाच भावनेने प्रेरित झालेली ही व्रतस्थ मंडळी तीनचार महिने आपली नोकरीधंदा,घरदार,मुलेबाळे विसरुन निरपेक्ष बुद्धीने झपाटल्या सारखी कामे करत होती.डोळ्यासमोर उद्दिष्ट फक्त एकच होते,मराठी माणसाला सुखरुपपणे त्याच्या कुटुंबाकडे पाठवणे ! आणि हे उद्दिष्ट साध्य करण्यासाठी त्यांच्या कुटुंबीयांनीही तेव्हढीच साथ दिली.त्यांच्या सहकार्याशिवाय हे कार्य सफल होऊच शकले नसते.
धनश्री वाघ पाटील या मुलीने सुरु केलेल्या मानवतेच्या या यज्ञात ज्यांनी प्रयत्न रुपी समिधा अर्पण करुन तो यज्ञ सुफल संपूर्ण केला त्या सर्वाना,आपल्या कुटुंबाकडे परत गेलेल्या लोकांकडून जे शुभाशीर्वाद मिळाले ते त्यांच्या आयुष्याची मोठी कमाई होय !
या यज्ञाचा प्रकाश दुबईच्या वाळवंटावर पसरला होता.आणि त्या प्रकाशात लक्षात आले हे जगाला पडलेले स्वप्न नाही,सत्यच आहे ! हेच वास्तव आहे.जीवनाच्या प्रवासात कधी कधी अतर्क्य गोष्टीही सत्यात घडतात,त्यावर विश्वासही बसत नाही.पण अखेर त्या सत्याचा स्वीकार करावा लागतो.कोविड १९ हे सत्य म्हणजे जगाच्या दुर्दैवाचे भयाण वास्तव आहे ! पण या दुर्दैवी परिस्थितीतही मनात अनोखे समाधान होते ते नव्याने जन्माला आलेल्या मानवतेच्या नात्याचे ! अभिमान होता,कौतुक होते ते मानवता रुपी यज्ञात प्रयत्नरुपी समिधा वाहणाऱ्या दुबईकर मराठी माणसांचे !
मेघना अशोक वर्तक ---meghana.sahitya@gmail.com
आज आपला देश एका नव्या वळणावर उभा आहे.कोविड-१९च्या जागतिक महामारीने संपूर्ण जगासमोर अनेक आव्हाने निर्माण केली.या आव्हानांना सामोरे जात असताना,नव्या युगात आपला देश अधिक सामर्थ्यसंपन्न आणि सर्वार्थाने बलशाली कसा होईल हा विचार प्राधान्याने पुढे आला आहे.त्यातूनच ‘आत्मनिर्भर भारत’ ही संकल्पना वास्तवात आणण्याचे प्रयत्न विविध पातळ्यांवर सुरु आहेत.देशाला प्रगतीपथावर नेण्यासाठी कर्तव्याच्या भूमिकेतून सरकारने अनेक पावले उचलली, त्याचबरोबर जागतिक परिस्थितीतून योग्य बोध घेत,समाजातील विविध घटकांनी आपली जबाबदारी ओळखून या संकटातून देश लवकरात लवकर बाहेर पडावा यासाठी प्रयत्न सुरु केले आहेत.या प्रयत्नात भारतीयांचा एक प्रशंसनीय भाग म्हणजे उद्योग जगताबरोबरच आर्थिक, सामाजिक अशी सर्व क्षेत्रे आपापले योगदान देत आहेत.
आत्मनिर्भरता या शब्दाचा नेमका अर्थ आपण समजून घेतला पाहिजे असे मला वाटते. केवळ आर्थिक किंवा उद्योग क्षेत्रापुरताच त्याचा विचार न करता एक व्यक्ती म्हणून जीवनाचा सर्वांगीण विकास साधण्यासाठी आपण हा मुद्दा समजून घेतला पाहिजे. व्यक्तिमत्त्व विकासाच्या दृष्टीकोनातून अधिक गांभीर्याने त्याचा विचार करण्याची गरज आहे. व्यक्तिमत्वाच्या विकासा शिवाय जीवनातील आर्थिक किंवा व्यावहारिक यश परिपूर्ण ठरू शकत नाही, समाज आणि देशाच्या विकासात दीर्घकालीन योगदान देता येत नाही. त्यादृष्टीने विचार केला तर संस्कार, शिक्षण, प्रशिक्षण, कला, क्रीडा अशा सर्वच बाबींचा विचार करावा लागतो.अशा सर्वांगीण विकासासाठी शिक्षण संस्थांचे कार्य महत्वाचे ठरते.
मी ज्या शाळेचा व संस्थेचा माजी विद्यार्थी आणि आता अध्यक्ष आहे त्या पुण्यातील महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीने (मएसो) Maharashtra Education Society आपल्या शाळा, महाविद्यालयांमधून विद्यार्थी घडवत असताना असे प्रयत्न जाणीवपूर्व आणि कष्टपूर्वक केले आहेत. १९ नोव्हेंबर २०२० रोजी महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीने शिक्षण क्षेत्रातील १६० वर्ष पूर्ण केली आहेत.आद्यक्रांतिवीर वासुदेव बळवंत फडके, वामन प्रभाकर भावे आणि लक्ष्मण नरहर इंदापूरकर या द्रष्ट्या समाज सुधारकांनी १६० वर्षापूर्वी म्हणजे देश पारतंत्र्यात असताना, स्वदेशी शिक्षणाची गरज ओळखून ,महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीची स्थापना केली.त्या वेळी तिचे नाव पुणे नेटिव्ह इन्स्टिट्यूट Pune Native Institute असे होते, जिथे आज पेरुगेट भावेस्कूल मोठ्या थाटाने उभे आहे.पहिल्या स्वातंत्र संग्रामाला फक्त ३ च वर्षे झाली होती आणि ब्रिटिश राजवट भारतीय संस्कृतीला डावलून पाश्चिमात्य शिक्षण पद्धत अंमलात आणत होती.अशा या कठीण परिस्थितीतही, देशातील भावी पिढ्या स्वावलंबी, चारित्र्यसंपन्न आणि देशप्रेमी असल्या पाहिजेत या विचाराने मातृभाषेतून शिक्षण देण्यास सुरवात केली गेली.
आद्यक्रांतिवीर वासुदेव बळवंत फडके यांनी त्या काळी शिक्षणाबरोबरच आत्मनिर्भरतेचा देखील विचार केला होता हे मला आवर्जून नमूद केले पाहिजे. विदेशी मालाला पर्याय देण्यासाठी त्यांनी साबण तयार करण्याचा, छोटासा का होईना पण एक उद्योग सुरु केला होता.त्यांच्या या कृतीतून आपल्या देशावर, समाजावर झालेला स्वावलंबनाचा संस्कार अगदी आजही ‘आत्मनिर्भरते’ च्या रुपाने समोर आला आहे.
अशा या १६० वर्षां पूर्वी लावलेल्या अंकुराचे आज एका विद्यारुपी वटवृक्षात रुपांतर झाले आहे. सुरवातीच्या काळात संस्था शालेय विद्यार्थी घडवत होती.सुरवातीचा विस्तार सुद्धा पुण्याच्या आजूबाजूच्या जिल्ह्यातूनच शालेय शिक्षणाने झाला.हळूहळू महाविद्यालयीन शिक्षणपण सुरु झाले.आजमितीस ‘मएसो’च्या महाराष्ट्राच्या सहा जिल्ह्यात ७७ शाखा आहेत. समाजाच्या सर्व स्तरातील विद्यार्थ्यांना शिक्षण उपलब्ध झाले पाहिजे यासाठी संस्थेने केवळ शहरी भागातच शाळा न चालवता बारामती, सासवड अशा तालुक्यांच्या ठिकाणी देखील शाळा सुरु केल्या.काळाची गरज ओळखून पारंपारिक,क्रमिक अभ्यासक्रमा बरोबरच,विद्यार्थ्यांनी आपल्या स्वतःच्या पायावर उभे राहावे यासाठी संस्थेने व्यवसायाभिमुख अभ्यासक्रम शिकवण्यास सुरवात केली.देशात संगणक क्रांती झाल्यानंतर त्यादृष्टीने आवश्यक असलेले संगणक शास्त्रातील शिक्षण देणारे विविध अभ्यासक्रम, त्याचबरोबर व्यवस्थापन शास्त्रातील विविध अभ्यासक्रम संस्थेने सुरू केले. सध्याच्या काळात अतिशय महत्वाचा विषय असलेल्या जैवविविधता आणि जैवतंत्रज्ञान यासारखे अभ्यासक्रमदेखील संस्थेने सुरु केले.संस्थेच्या कार्याचा विस्तार आज ‘केजी टू पीजी’ KG to PG अशा सर्वच स्तरावर झाला आहे.मला सांगायला अतिशय अभिमान वाटतो की, त्याही पुढे जात जैवतंत्रज्ञान या विषयातील एक ख्यातनाम संशोधन केंद्र सुरु करण्याचा मान ‘मएसो’नेच मिळवला आहे. शालेय विद्यार्थ्यांच्या मनात विज्ञान या विषयाबद्दल कुतुहल निर्माण व्हावे, वैज्ञानिक प्रयोग त्यांना प्रत्यक्ष करता यावेत आणि त्यातून नवे शास्त्रज्ञ घडावेत या हेतूने केंद्र सरकारने सुरु केलेल्या ‘अटल टिंकरिंग लॅब’च्या Atal Tinkering Labs योजनेत संस्थेच्या तीन शाळांची निवड झाली.आमच्या विद्यार्थ्यांनी देखील या लॅबचा पुरेपुर उपयोग करून घेतला.संशोधनातून त्यांनी लोकोपयोगी उपकरणे तयार केल्याबद्दल सासवडमधील वाघीरे विद्यालयातील विद्यार्थ्यांना सलग दोन वर्षे केंद्र सरकारचे पुरस्कारदेखील मिळाले.नुकत्याच स्टॅनफोर्ड युनिव्हर्सिटीने Stanford University जाहीर केलेल्या यादीमध्ये जागतिक स्तरावरील एकूण १५०० शास्त्रज्ञांपैकी डॉ. रंजन याग्निक,डॉ.सतीश ओगले,डॉ.श्रीधर गद्रे हे म. ए. सो. च्या पेरुगेट भावे स्कूलच्या १९६६च्या बॅचमधील माजी विद्यार्थी आहेत.
जीवविज्ञान, रसायन विज्ञान, पर्यावरण विज्ञान, इंजीनियरिंग, गणित, चिकित्सा या विषयांमधील उत्कृष्ठ शोधांसाठी ४५ वर्षापेक्षा कमी वयाच्या वैज्ञानिकांना शांति स्वरूप भटनागर पुरस्कार दिला जातो. हा पुरस्कार मिळविणारे डॉ. योगेश जोशी व डॉ. बालसुब्रम्हण्यम गोपाल हे अनुक्रमे मएसो विमलाबाई गरवारे हायस्कूल व मएसो आबासाहेब गरवारे महाविद्यालयाचे माजी विद्यार्थी आहेत.
‘मएसो’ने कायमच विद्यार्थ्यांच्या शिक्षणाबरोबर कला आणि क्रीडा विषयक विकासाकडे लक्ष दिले आहे. ‘मएसो क्रीडावर्धिनी’तर्फे दरवर्षी इ.चौथीपर्यंतच्या विद्यार्थ्यांसाठी ‘मएसो क्रीडा करंडक’ ही स्पर्धा आयोजित केली जाते.या वयोगटातील विद्यार्थ्यांसाठी शासनातर्फे कोणतीच स्पर्धा आयोजित केली जात नसल्याचे लक्षात आल्यावर संस्थेने ही स्पर्धा सुरु केली.आज या स्पर्धेत ‘मएसो’च्या शाळांबरोबरच अन्य शिक्षण संस्थांच्या शाळादेखील आवर्जून सहभागी होतात.
महिला सक्षमीकरण हा आणखी एक महत्वाचा विषय.त्या दृष्टीकोनातून महिलांना रोजगाराभिमुख प्रशिक्षण देण्यासाठी ‘मएसो’ची रेणुका स्वरुप इन्स्टिट्यूट ऑफ करिअर कोर्सेस MES's Renuka Swaroop Institute of Career Courses (https://www.rsicc.mespune.in/) कार्यरत आहे.
या संदर्भात विशेषत्वाने उल्लेख करावा लागेल तो म्हणजे, ‘मएसो’च्या राणी लक्ष्मीबाई मुलींची सैनिकी शाळेचा.सैन्यदलात भरती होऊन देशसेवा करण्याच्या विद्यार्थिनींच्या स्वप्नांना या शाळेने पंख दिले आहेत. पुण्याजवळ कासारआंबोली येथे असलेल्या या निवासी सैनिकी शाळेत शिक्षण घेतलेल्या अनेक विद्यार्थिनींनी सैन्यदलांमध्ये जाण्याचे आपले स्वप्न पूर्ण केले आहे.शिक्षण, व्यापार व अन्य रोजगाराच्या संधी कमी असलेल्या व आरोग्य विषयक सुविधांची कमतरता असलेल्या दुर्गम अशा कोंकण भागात मएसो इन्स्टिट्युट ऑफ हेल्थ सायन्सेसच्या माध्यमातून परशुराम रुग्णालय व संशोधन केंद्र,आयुर्वेद व नर्सिंग मधील पदवी व पदव्युत्तर अभ्यासक्रमाची महाविद्यालये सुरु केली.यामुळे आसपासच्या भागातील रहिवाश्यांना रोजगाराच्या अनेक संधी उपलब्ध झाल्या.नर्सिंग कॉलेजमधून शिकलेल्या विद्यार्थिनींना मुंबई, पुणे सारख्या मोठ्या शहरांमधील रुग्णालयांमध्ये नोकरीच्या संधी प्राप्त होत आहेत.
‘मएसो’च्या विविध शाखांमधील विशेष उपक्रम, आजी-माजी विद्यार्थ्यांचे यश, संस्थेतर्फे आयोजित केले जाणारे कार्यक्रम आणि राबविण्यात येणारे उपक्रम अशी लक्षणीय माहिती एकत्रितपणे ‘मएसो ई-वार्तापत्र’ या अंकाच्या माध्यमातून देण्यात येते.
जीवनाच्या विविध क्षेत्रात आपल्या कार्यकर्तृत्वाने आपली शाळा-संस्था आणि पर्यायाने देशाच्या नावलौकिकांत भर घातलेल्या ,संस्थेच्या प्रतिभावान माजी विद्यार्थ्यांची प्रदीर्घ परंपरा आहे. कित्येक माजी विद्यार्थी निरनिराळ्या देशांमध्ये उच्य पदांवर कार्यरत आहेत. याचा संस्थेला सार्थ अभिमान आहे. MAA म्हणजे MES Alumni Association च्या माध्यमातून अनेक माजी विद्यार्थी आजही संस्थेच्या संपर्कात असतात.माजी विद्यार्थ्यांमध्ये प्रसिद्ध शिवशाहीर बाबासाहेब पुरंदरे,श्रेष्ठ साहित्यिक कै.प्र.के.अत्रे, शरदचंद्र पवार, अजितदादा पवार, कै. विलासराव देशमुख, प्रकाश जावडेकर, अमर साबळे असे धुरंधर राजकारणी, प्रसिद्धी, माहिती, प्रसारण क्षेत्रातील प्रतापराव पवार, संगीत क्षेत्रातील संजीव अभ्यंकर, डॉ. अरविंद थत्ते, मधुरा दातार,रंगकर्मी कै. भक्ती बर्वे (इनामदार), कै. आनंद अभ्यंकर, प्रसाद ओक, योगेश सोमण, मधुसूदन घाणेकर, सिने अभिनेते श्रीराम लागू, सिने अभिनेत्री कै. स्मिता पाटील, सिने दिग्दर्शक सचिन कुंडलकर, दिग्पाल लांजेकर यांचा समावेश आहे. सर्वच क्षेत्रात मएसोचे माजी विद्यार्थी प्रशंसनीय कामगिरी बजावीत आहेत. विविध कारणांनी प्रसिद्ध अशा सर्वच माजी विद्यार्थ्यांची नावे येथे देता येणे शक्य नाही.
अनिवासी मराठी आणि मातृभूमीला परतलेल्या मराठी माणसांचे‘विश्व मराठी कुटुंब‘ बनवण्याच्या ध्येयाने निर्मिती झालेल्या ‘गर्जे मराठी ग्लोबल‘ Garje Marathi Global ( www.garjemarathi.com )ह्या व्यासपीठाचा मी वैयक्तिकरित्या सभासद असल्याचा मला अभिमानआहे. ह्या वैश्विक मराठी व्यासपीठाच्या माध्यमातून, जगाच्या कानाकोपऱ्यात पसरलेल्या मराठी माणसाने,मराठी समाजासाठी, महाराष्ट्रासाठी आणि भारतमातेसाठी दिलेल्या योगदानाचे व त्यांच्या यशोगाथेचे दर्शन घडविले जाते,मराठी मनांचा एकमेकांशी संवाद साधून,विचारांची देवाणघेवाण केली जाते व महाराष्ट्राचे आणि मातृभूमीचे ऋण फेडण्याची संधी उपलब्ध करून दिली जात आहे. या व्यासपीठाशी महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटी जोडली जात आहे.गर्जे मराठी ग्लोबलशी वैयक्तिकरित्या माझे नाते असतानाच महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीच्या माध्यमातूनही ऋणानुबंध जोडले जात आहेत आणि याचा मला अभिमान आहे. या व्यासपीठाच्या सक्षम प्रणाली मधून महाराष्ट्रातील गरीब, गरजू व पात्र विद्यार्थ्यांना आर्थिक सहाय्य लाभेल तसेच,जागतिक स्तरावरील उद्योजक,व्यावसायिक आणि शैक्षणिक क्षेत्रातील दिग्गज यांच्या अनुभवाचा फायदा ज्ञानप्राप्तीसाठी होणार आहे.‘गर्जे मराठी ग्लोबल’ द्वारा प्रकाशित केल्या जाणा-या गौरव मासिकासाठी लेख पाठविताना मला आनंद होत आहे तसेच गर्जे मराठी ग्लोबल व्यासपीठाशी महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीचे नाते अजून दृढ होईल अशी मला आशा आहे.
महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटीची गेल्या १६० वर्षांची दैदिप्यमान वाटचाल निःश्चितच अभिमानास्पद आणि प्रेरणादायी आहे. त्याबद्दल कितीही लिहिले आणि कितीही बोलले तरी शब्द अपुरे पडतात. मी या संस्थेचा माजी विद्यार्थी आहे आणि ह्याचा मला मनापासून आनंद आणि अभिमान वाटतो .
जय हिंद
महाराष्ट्र एज्युकेशन सोसायटी,
‘ गर्जे मराठी ‘ ह्या वैश्विक व्यासपीठाचे भाग्य थोर आहे, म्हणुन एअर मार्शल भूषण गोखले ( निवृत्त ) (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Bhushan-Gokhale ) यांच्यासारखे थोर व्यक्तिमत्त्व,मार्गदर्शक म्हणुन लाभले आहे.गर्जे मराठीच्या सर्व महत्त्वाच्या विषयांवर ,विशेष करुन शिक्षण क्षेत्र आणि व्यक्तिमत्त्व विकास या क्षेत्रात एअर मार्शल भूषण गोखले यांचे मोलाचे मार्गदर्शन लाभत आहे.
25th Nov 2020 (Pune): Pune based OptraLABS announced today that it has received approval from ICMR towards its COVID-19 rapid test kits named “Optra-Shield”. Based on studies conducted at National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune, “Optra-Shield” test kits showed 99% specificity & 95% sensitivity to detect immunity post COVID-19 infection. These kits detect IgG antibodies which are developed post COVID-19 infection as a fighting mechanism of body immune system. Once these antibodies are developed, the person becomes non-contagious and considered safe to intermingle with others.
“Optra-Shield” comes with a mobile based Self-assessment app and at-home rapid test kit (like a glucose testing or pregnancy testing type of simple device). It comes with lancet (a finger pricker) to obtain a drop of blood on the strip which in few minutes show your immunity levels against COVID-19.
“COVID Pandemic has paralyzed whole world. Lockdown was imposed in many parts of the world that resulted in controlling spread of the virus but also impacted on our economy. The only option is to allow people working again to bring back economical developments. But how would one ensure that people are safe to work ? Not all businesses can afford to work from homes,” Said Abhijeet Gholap, founder of Optra Group of Companies. He added, “OptraLABS kits for Recovery Testing is the solution. These kits can be used in home or at work. These kits are also very useful to test effect of COVID vaccine. We are not only manufacturing these in India but made sure that our kits are extremely cost effective. We are making Optra-Shield available at Rs.350 in India,”
OptraLABS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Optra Group of companies. OptraSCAN, a digital pathology venture, OptraHEALTH a genetic testing venture, Devisha Films a National award winner entertainment company are some of its other group companies.
About Optra Group of Companies
Optra group is a Data-driven Intelligence Company leading initiative within healthcare, life sciences and medical devices market segments. Optra Systems solutions and services harness data for translational and clinical research, generate real world evidence for pharma, and provide expert product engineering for medical device and laboratory automation organizations.
Abhi is an alumnus of IIT Mumbai and Stanford University Graduate school of Business. He specializes in startups and product management. With over 4 successful startups to his credit as founder, investments in over 9 startups, 14 international patents and an active member of leading angel groups in Bay Area, Abhi handholds startups from ideas to commercialization. Abhi is TiE Silicon Valley charter member and medical advisory board member of Frost and Sullivan.
Over the years, Abhi and the companies he has founded, received a number of awards:
Abhi is also passionate about films and entertainment with National Gold Lotus award to his debut film project in India.
Dr. Gauri is a biotechnologist with an extensive commercial research and entrepreneurial background. She has extensive experience working in the genetics, cytology, microbiology, molecular biology, medical imaging and bioinformatics fields.
company which was acquired by Roche Diagnostics. Gauri is a biotechnologist with an extensive commercial research and entrepreneurial background. She has extensive experience working in the genetics, cytology, microbiology, molecular biology, medical imaging and bioinformatics fields.
Gauri was selected as a young scientist for various research programs in biotechnology and microbiology internationally. She has 11 U.S. patents published to her credit. She has published many research papers in international journals and has participated as a speaker in many international conferences. She is on the editorial and advisory boards of many prestigious journals and forums, including the Journal of Applied & Translational Genomics and the International Organization for Rare Genetic Disorders. Gauri was also awarded with the prestigious “Woman Entrepreneur Award" by the government of India.
At Optra, Gauri is responsible for enriching the domain knowledge of her companies, as well as involved in the strategic planning and business development activities.
Dr. Gauri and Abhi Gholap have featured in Garje Marathi book 1. They have always supported every important activity of Garje Marathi Global Inc.
Organized by Garje Marathi Global www.garjemarathi.com
Dr. Samir Mtragotri. Core Faculty Wyss Institute at Harvard University Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Interviewer Sandeep Padhye, Director –Founding Member Garje Marathi Global inc.
Garje Marathi Global Inc.is proud to be associated with Dr. Samir Mitragotri . Dr. Samir has featured in Garje Marathi Book 1.
Samir has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of biological barriers and drug delivery. His research, which is focused on the fundamental understanding of biological barriers, has led to the development of new materials and technologies for diagnosis and treatment of various ailments including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, skin conditions and infections. Many of his technologies have advanced to human clinical studies and products. Samir’s technical contributions are in the area of drug delivery and include the development of unique bio-inspired nanoparticles with engineered shapes and mechanical properties that exhibit enhanced circulation and targeting to cancer and inflamed endothelium.
He has also developed novel bio-synthetic hybrid systems that use synthetic nanoparticles hitchhiking on circulatory cells to avoid immune clearance and allow delivery to tissues. Specifically in transdermal drug delivery, Samir has established a fundamental knowledge-base of transport properties of skin and has pioneered a large number of technologies including low-frequency ultrasound, pulsed microjet injector, and high throughput screening (INSIGHT).
He has also established an understanding of the effect of penetration enhancers on permeation across the intestinal epithelium and has invented novel technologies, in particular intestinal patches and a novel permeation enhancer (PPS) for oral delivery of proteins such as insulin and calcitonin. Samir is the author of more than 210 publications in the area of drug delivery and biomaterials, has given close to 500 invited and contributed presentations worldwide, and is an inventor on more than 150 pending or issued patents.
He is a co-founder of several companies that are developing therapeutic or diagnostic products based on his inventions. Samir is an elected member of the National Academies of Engineering and Medicine, and elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors, the Controlled Release Society, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Bioengineering and Translational Medicine. https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/samir-mitragotri/
Organized By: Garje Marathi UK Chapter.
Dr. Rachana Bhatawdekar, astrophysicist European Space Agency (ESA) Netherlands
In conversation with
Pradnya Punekar, HR Strategist/ Advisor,Winner Mrs India UK 2017, Blogger/Writer, Model/Fashion Icon, Fitness and Travel enthusiast
I am happy to tell you that very informative book कर्करोग माहिती आणि अनुभव . डॉ सुलोचना गवांदे will be read on radio (AIR- आकाशवाणी, all 42 stations in Maharashtra) , one chapter each week, for the next 32 weeks starting from 09 November 2020.
I have read the book and it givea detailed information about ‘Cancer’ in very easy to understand manner.
Core Faculty
Wyss Institute at Harvard University
Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Interviewer Sandeep Padhye, Director –Founding Member Garje Marathi Global inc.
Garje Marathi Global Inc.is proud to be associated with Dr. Samir Mitragotri . Dr. Samir has featured in Garje Marathi Book 1.
Samir has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of biological barriers and drug delivery. His research, which is focused on the fundamental understanding of biological barriers, has led to the development of new materials and technologies for diagnosis and treatment of various ailments including diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, skin conditions and infections. Many of his technologies have advanced to human clinical studies and products. Samir’s technical contributions are in the area of drug delivery and include the development of unique bio-inspired nanoparticles with engineered shapes and mechanical properties that exhibit enhanced circulation and targeting to cancer and inflamed endothelium. He has also developed novel bio-synthetic hybrid systems that use synthetic nanoparticles hitchhiking on circulatory cells to avoid immune clearance and allow delivery to tissues. Specifically in transdermal drug delivery, Samir has established a fundamental knowledge-base of transport properties of skin and has pioneered a large number of technologies including low-frequency ultrasound, pulsed microjet injector, and high throughput screening (INSIGHT). He has also established an understanding of the effect of penetration enhancers on permeation across the intestinal epithelium and has invented novel technologies, in particular intestinal patches and a novel permeation enhancer (PPS) for oral delivery of proteins such as insulin and calcitonin.
Samir is the author of more than 210 publications in the area of drug delivery and biomaterials, has given close to 500 invited and contributed presentations worldwide, and is an inventor on more than 150 pending or issued patents. He is a co-founder of several companies that are developing therapeutic or diagnostic products based on his inventions.
Samir is an elected member of the National Academies of Engineering and Medicine, and elected fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Inventors, the Controlled Release Society, the Biomedical Engineering Society, and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher. He serves on the editorial boards of several journals and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Bioengineering and Translational Medicine.
https://wyss.harvard.edu/team/core-faculty/samir-mitragotri/
Ways to Evolve from Mangers to Entrepreneurs.
Nitin Paranjpe - Managers Vs Entrepreneurs
Sometimes it takes extraordinary intellect to make an explanation very simple.
In today’s story Nitin Paranjpe, the Chief Operating Officer at Unilever, shares a wonderful example of the same.
A masterclass on entrepreneurship by Late Prof. CK Prahlad.
Credits: #Storytelling #BusinessStorytelling
Nitin Paranjape is a great supporter of Garje Marathi UK Chapter.
Nitin Paranjpe (born:1963) is the present Chief Operating Officer of Unilever, a position that he took over in May 2019. Prior to this he was the President of Unilever's Food and Refreshment business, a role he was appointed in 2018. Before this, he headed the Home Care business from 1 October 2013. Paranjpe was also the CEO of the Unilever's Indian business - Hindustan Unilever - and Executive Vice President for the South Asia region encompassing Unilever's businesses in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal from 2008-2013. (Credit Wikipedia )
Credits: Ashwin Abhyankar for YouTube and the details
Young Eco Hero and Social Entrepreneure : Riva Tulpule Dubai UAE
Wecareby Riva
कोण म्हणते आजची तरुण पिढी बेजबाबदार आहे ? त्यांच्यावर संस्कार नाहीत,आजूबाजूच्या जगाचे भान त्याना नसते,त्यांना दुसऱ्यांची कदर नाही? तरुण पिढीविषयी असलेले हे समज बदलायला लावणारी ,त्यांच्या विषयी अभिमान वाटेल अशी एक बातमी आत्ता नुकतीच ,मी दुबईतील वर्तमानपत्रात वाचली.आणि मला मनात कुठेतरी खोलवर समाधान वाटले.कारण मला नेहमी असे वाटते की आपण ह्या पिढीला समजून घेण्यात कुठेतरी कमी पडतो !
आत्ताच फेब्रुवारी २०२० मधे ‘ Middle East Youth Expo २०२० ‘ या संस्थेतर्फे ‘United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ( UNSDG ) च्या मानाच्या पुरःस्कारासाठी रिवा राहुल तुळपुळे,या १४ वर्षीय दुबईवासी एका मराठी मुलीची निवड झाली.आणि तिला ट्रॉफी आणि तिच्या ‘ WecarebyRiva ‘ या तिच्या मंचाच्या पुढच्या मोहिमेला मदत म्हणुन ५००० दरहॅम रोख बक्षिस देऊन सत्कार केला.
१२ फेब्रुवारी २०२०ला ‘ Masdar Inovation Center Abu Dhabi ‘ ने आयोजित केलेल्या Ecothon Sustainability Competetion ‘ मध्ये रिवा तुळपुळेच्या नेतृत्त्वाखाली ७ जणांच्या तिच्या सहकारी टीमने भाग घेतला आणि प्रथम क्रमांक मिळवला.कोणत्याही गावाच्या ,शहराच्या विकासासाठी ऊर्जा ( energy ) असणे आवश्यक असते.त्याशिवाय त्या गावाचा ,शहराचा विकास होऊ शकत नाही. ही गोष्ट लक्षात घेऊन ,किनियातील मसाईमारा या गावाच्या विकासासाठी ,सौर ऊर्जा आणि जैविक इंधन ( Solar energy and Biogas ) यांच्या संयोगाने निर्माण करता येईल अशी शाश्वत स्वरुपाची उपाय योजना रिवाच्या टीमने सांगितली.यातुनच गावकऱ्यांनाही उपजीविकेसाठी उत्पन्नाचे एक साधन मिळू शकेल हेही दाखवले.आणि आता रिवा आणि तिच्या सहकारी टीमची ‘ Y4S ‘ पुरःस्कृत ‘ International Sustainability Study Tour ‘ साठी निवड झाली आहे.
खरे म्हटले तर ,रिवा राहुल तुळपुळेंचे नाव यापूर्वीच दुबईत सर्व परिचित आहे,ते ‘ WeCarebyRiva ‘ या तिच्या मंचामुळे ! रिवाने पॅडमॅन हा चित्रपट पाहिला,आणि महाराष्ट्रातील ग्रामीण भागातील मुलींना सॅनिटरी पॅड्सचे वाटप केले. या कार्यासाठी तिने ‘ WeCarebyRiva ‘ या मंचाची स्थापना केली.या मंचातर्फे,वयाच्या १३ व्या वर्षी रिवाने Menstrual Hygiene Initiative आणि EWaste मोहीमा दुबईत राबविल्या आणि त्याला प्रचंड प्रतिसाद मिळाला.
अचानकच रिवाच्या भेटीचा योग आला.अतिशय साधी,नम्र ,समाजातील दुःखाने हेलावणारी अशी मुलगी आहे.माझा विश्वासच बसला नाही की ह्या एव्हढ्याशा मुलीने हे एव्हढे मोठे कार्य हाती घेतले आहे ! पुण्यातील एका उच्चभ्रू कुटुंबात,खेळाडूंच्या घरात जन्माला आलेली,आणि आता दुबई सारख्या आधुनिक शहरात वास्तव्य असलेली तेथील GEMS Modern Academy या शाळेत ९व्या इयत्तेत शिकणारी,अभ्यासात खेळातही हुशार ,पण त्याचबरोबर आपण समाजाचे काही देणे लागतो या विचाराने सदैव अस्वस्थ असलेली,अशी मुलगी म्हणजेच रिवा राहुल तुळपुळे !
मी तिला म्हटले काय ग रिवा ,पुण्यात तुमचे घराणे तर खेळाडूंचे घराणे म्हणून प्रसिध्द आहे.तर मग तूला खेळ सोडून इतक्या लहान वयात,समाज कार्याकडे वळण्याची प्रेरणा कशी मिळाली ?
रिवा सांगू लागली ,टेनिस बास्केटबॉल हे खेळ माझेही प्राण आहेत.अभ्यासही मला आवडतोच.माझे वडील माझे प्रेरणा स्थान आहेत.कोणालाही कुठेही मदत करायला सदैव तयार असतात.आणि हेच संस्कार माझ्यावर रुजले आहेत.आपण जे चित्रपट बघतो त्याकडे नुसते करमणूक म्हणून नव्हे तर त्यातून काहीतरी शिकायचे असते अशी माझ्या आईवडिलांची सदैव शिकवण आहे.मी जेव्हा अक्षय कुमारचा ‘ पॅडमॅन ‘हा चित्रपट पाहिला तेव्हा,माझ्या मनाने हाच ध्यास घेतला की ग्रामीण भागातील मुलींसाठी आपण काहीतरी केले पाहिजे.निसर्ग धर्मानुसार होणाऱ्या ,मासिक पाळीदरम्यान आपल्याच वयाच्या मुली,तसेच स्त्रिया २१ व्या शतकात सुध्दा ,रुढी रीतींच्या विळख्यात अडकल्यामुळे कोणत्या त्रासातून जातात,त्यांना त्यावेळी सॅनिटरी टॉवेल्सही मिळत नाहीत,ह्या काळात प्रत्येक स्त्रीने किती स्वच्छता राखायला हवी याचीही जाणीव नाही,हे जेव्हा मी चित्रपटात पहिले तेव्हा माझ्या अंगावर काटा आला.!’
मी दुबईत लहानाची मोठी झाले.येथील सरकारच्या कडक नियमांमुळे सर्वंकडे खूप स्वच्छता पाळली जाते.मला आठवतंय,आम्ही रस्त्यावर टिशू टाकला तरी आईबाबा रागवायचे.लहानपणापासूनच्या स्वच्छतेच्या या सवयीमुळेच जळी स्थळी स्वछता दिसते आणि ती नसेल तर मन अस्वस्थ होते.मी जेव्हा सुट्टीला भारतात येते तेव्हाही रस्त्यावरचा कचरा ,सार्वजनिक टॉयलेट्स मधील घाण हे सर्व पाहून ,तसेच लोकांचीही त्याबद्दलची अनास्था आणि उदासीनता पाहून मन खरंच खिन्न होते.ग्रामीण भागात जेव्हा मी गेले ,तेथील मुलींशी ह्या विषयावर बोलले तेव्हा लक्षात आले की कित्येकांना ही स्वच्छता आपल्या स्वतःच्या आरोग्याच्या दृष्टीने किती आवश्यक आहे,स्वच्छतेचा अभाव किती घातक आहे याचीच जाणीव नव्हती.ज्यांना होती त्या मुलीही अनेक कारणांमुळे स्वच्छता ठेवू शकत नव्हत्या.आपल्याच वयाच्या मुलींची ही अशी अवस्था आहे ह्यावर मी विश्वास ठेवू शकत नव्हते !
रिवा आठवणीत रंगली होती,भरभरुन बोलत होती ,माझे कान तिचे बोलणे ऐकत होते पण माझ्या मनात मात्र वेगळेच विचार चालू होते.खरे म्हटले तर जिने अजून आयुष्य म्हणजे काय असते हे पाहिलेच नाही,अशा लहान मुलीच्या मनात हा असा काही विचार येणे ,याचे श्रेय हे पॅडमॅन या चित्रपटाचे आहे.पण त्याचबरोबर हे श्रेय तिच्याआईवडीलांचे आहे.कारण त्यांनी केलेल्या संस्कारांमुळे ती हा विचार करु शकली.तरुण पिढीतही बरेवाईट असणारच आहे तसेच चित्रपटही चांगले वाईट असणारच आहेत.गरज आहे ती आपण समजून घेण्याची.आणि त्यातील संदेश उकलून मुलां पर्यंत पोचवण्याची ! आणि ही आजच्या काळाची खरी गरज आहे.
रिवा पुढे सांगत होती ,मी गुगल वर जाऊन माहिती काढली आणि आश्चर्यचकित झाले .भारतातील केवळ १८% स्त्रिया ह्या सॅनिटरी टॉवेल्स वापरतात आणि ८२% स्त्रिया ह्या अनेक कारणांमुळे अशा प्रकारचे सॅनिटरी टॉवेल्स वापरु शकत नाहीत.एक तर त्या पॅडची असलेली किंमत ! दोन वेळेचे पोटभर जेवायला न मिळणाऱ्या या मुलींना स्त्रियांना सॅनिटरी पॅडची किंमत कशी काय परवडणार ? दुसरे कारण म्हणजे अजूनही आपल्या देशातील ग्रामीण भागात किंवा शहरामध्येही लोकं स्वच्छते विषयी जागरुक झालेली नाहीत.आणि म्हणुनच आजही आरोग्याला धोकादायक अशा गोष्टींना स्त्रियांना सामोरे जावे लागते.दुबईतच वाढलेल्या माझ्या सारख्या मुलीच्या दृष्टीने हे सर्व अतिशय धक्कादायक होते.
आईवडीलांशी विचार विनिमय करुन २०१८ मध्ये ही मोहीम सुरु करायचे ठरवले.दुबईस्थित भारतीय लोकांची भेट घेऊन तसेच सोशल मीडियाद्वारे ,लोकांना माझ्या या योजनेची माहिती सांगितली.दुबईमध्ये लोकांना फक्त २० दरहॅम देण्याची विनंती केली.त्या २०दरहॅम मुळे एका गरजू मुलीला १ वर्षभर पुरतील एव्हढे सॅनिटरी नॅपकिन्स देता येतील,हे पटवून दिले.दुबईवासीयांनी माझ्या या योजनेला भरघोस प्रतिसाद दिला.पहिल्या तीन आठवड्यातच ७०० मुलींना मदत करता येईल एव्हढा निधी जमा झाला
डिसेंबर २०१८ मध्ये मुंबई मध्ये ठाणे तालुक्यातील शहापूर या गावाजवळील आदिवासी भागात मी गेले.तेथील मुलींना स्वच्छतेचे महत्त्व समजावून सांगितले ,आणि २५० मुलींना वर्षभर पुरतील एव्हढे सॅनिटरी नॅपकिन्स दिले. ‘ समन्वय प्रतिष्ठान ‘ च्या माध्यमाने हा उपक्रम पुरा करण्यासाठी ,आम्हाला सर्वतोपरी साहाय्य केले.
या पहिल्याच प्रयत्नाला लाभलेल्या लोकांच्या प्रतिसादामुळे माझा उत्साह द्विगुणित झाला आणि ह्या आपल्या मोहिमेचा लाभ महाराष्ट्रातील आणखी मुलींना मिळवून द्यायचे मी ठरवले.पुण्यातील भारती विद्यापीठाच्या ,सरकारी अनुदान असलेल्या ,झोपडपट्टीत असलेल्या ,सौ विजयमाला कदम प्रशालेतील २०० मुलींना वर्षभर पुरतील इतके पॅड्स दिले.त्याचवेळी पुणे म्युन्सिपाल्टीच्या दोन शाळेतील २५० मुलींना ही पॅड्स दिले.
माझ्या ह्या उपक्रमाला महाराष्ट्राचे त्यावेळचे मुख्यमंत्री श्री देवेंद्र फडणवीस ,आणि त्यावेळच्या स्त्री आणि बाल कल्याण मंत्री पंकजा मुंडे ,पुण्याच्या महापौर सौ मुक्ता टिळक यांनी सर्वतोपरी पाठिंबा दर्शविला आहे.
आठवणीत रमलेल्या रिवाला आठवणीतून जागे करत मी विचारले ,मुख्यमंत्र्यांपासून सर्वानी दिलेल्या ह्या,पाठिंब्यामुळे तुला काय वाटले ?
त्यावर रिवा पटकन म्हणाली, मला वाटते वडीलधाऱ्या लोकांचे आशीर्वाद मिळणे हा तर आपला अनमोल ठेवा आहे.मला त्यामुळे कामाला हुरुप आला.जेव्हा आपण आपल्या देशापासून दूर असतो ना तेव्हा आपल्या मातृभूमीसाठी काहीतरी करायला हवे ही जाणीव अधिक प्रबळ असते.मी त्या मुलींच्या घरी जाऊन त्यांच्याशी संवाद साधला ,आणि लक्षात आले आता खरी गरज आहे पाणी पुरवठा आणि मार्गदर्शनाची ! पुण्यातील म्युन्सिपल स्कूल मध्ये गेले ,तेव्हा त्या सर्व मुली माझ्याकडे ज्या नजरेतून बघत होत्या ती नजर मला बरेच काही सांगून गेली.त्या नजरेत आश्चर्य होते अगतिकताही होती ,आनंदही होता आणि त्या नजरेला दुःखाची किनारही होती ! त्या नजरेत अनेक आशा एकवटल्या होत्याआणि तुम्हाला खरं सांगू का मला स्वतःला कुठेतरी खोलवर guilty ---अपराधी वाटत होते !कारण मी आजपर्यंत दुःख अनुभवलेच नाही. त्त्यामुळे असे वाटते की माझ्या ह्या सर्व बहिणींसाठी काहीतरी केलेच पाहिजे आणि त्यांच्याही आयुष्यात सुखाचे किरण यायला आपण मदत केली पाहिजे.
हे सर्व बोलताना रिवाला गहिवरुन आले होते,तिच्या मनातील भावना तिच्या व्यथित चेहेऱ्यावर प्रतिबिंबित झाल्या होत्या .तिच्या हातावर हलकेच थोपटत मी तिला म्हटले आता तुझा पुढचा उपक्रम काय आहे ?
स्वतःला पटकन सावरुन घेत ती पुन्हा त्याच उत्साहाने बोलू लागली
२०१९ च्या ऑक्टॉबर मध्ये मला ,ऑरगॅनिक सॅनिटरी पॅड बनवणाऱ्या ‘ LIZZOM ‘ ह्या सुप्रसिध्द कंपनीने बोलावले होते.दुबई मध्ये एक NGO आहे .ही संस्था बांगला देशातील समाजातील उपेक्षित मुलांसाठी शाळा चालवते. निसर्ग नियमानुसार होणाऱ्या मासिक धर्माच्या वेळी स्वच्छतेचे काय महत्त्व आहे हे शाळेतील मुलींना समजावून सांगण्यासाठी ,त्यांच्यात जागृती निर्माण करण्यासाठी आणि कंपनीच्या ब्रँडचे महत्त्व लोकांना सांगण्यासाठी मला त्या NGO ने बोलावले होते.एक वेगळाच अनुभव मिळाला.जगातील अशा प्रकारच्या उपेक्षित मुलींना जवळून बघण्याची संधी मिळाली.
ऑक्टॉबर २०१९ च्या दिवाळीच्या वेळी ,मासिक धर्माच्या स्वच्छता मोहिमे विषयी माहिती सांगण्यासाठी जेव्हा मी ग्रामीण भागात गेले होते ,तेव्हा माझ्या लक्षात आले की ह्या मुली शाळेसाठी दररोज ४ ते ५ किलोमीटर अनवाणी चालत जातात.घरच्या गरिबीमुळे दोन वेळचे जेवण मिळत नाही ,तर चप्पल कोठून मिळणार ? तेव्हाच मनाशी निःश्च्यय केला कि या मुलींना चप्पल मिळवून देण्यासाठी फंड्स उभे करायचे. दुबईतील प्रत्येकाने २० दरहॅम जरी दिले तरी एका मुलीला एका वर्षाला एक चप्पल जोड मिळू शकतो.
आणि यासाठी मी ‘ Smiling Feet Campaign for Tribal area in India ‘ या नावाने एक उपक्रम सुरु केला. दुबईत ठिकठिकाणी होणाऱ्या दिवाळी कार्यक्रमात त्याबद्दल माहिती सांगितली.तसेच दुबईच्या GMBF --गल्फ मराठी बिझिनेस फोरम मध्ये माहिती सांगितली सर्वंकडून भरघोस प्रतिसाद मिळाला.त्यातून जे फंडस् उभे राहिले ,त्यातून मी ६ ते ९ मार्च २०२० या काळात पुणे आणि मुंबईतील सहा शाळातील गरजू मुलींना चप्पल जोड वाटणार आहे.ह्यासाठी महाराष्ट्रातील सुप्रसिध्द ‘ पॅरेगॉन ‘ ह्या चपलांच्या ब्रँडेड कंपनीबरोबर करार केला.
Sustainability and Menstrual Hygiene in rural India ‘ ह्या क्षेत्रातील कामाबद्दल CITIZEN ,’ My Better Start Now ‘ ह्या २०१९ च्या पुरःस्कारासाठी सर्वात लहान विजेती म्हणुन निवड झालेली रिवा ,तिच्या ई वेस्ट उपक्रमाबद्दल माहिती सांगू लागली --
२०१७ पासून मी Awareness & Recycling of Electronics waste या मोहिमेवर काम करत आहे.दुबई सायन्स पार्क ग्रीन लीडरशिप कॉन्फरन्स ‘ मध्ये मी इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स वेस्ट चे दुष्परिणाम या विषयावर भाषण करुन लोकांमध्ये जागरुकता निर्माण करायचा प्रयत्न केला.दुबई शहरातून गेल्या दोन वर्षात मी साडे चार टन ewaste गोळा केला आणि ज्यांचे recycling शक्य होते त्या वस्तू recycling कंपन्यांकडे दिल्या.
२०१७ ला चालू केलेली माझी Ewaste मोहीम १८,१९ या वर्षीही खूप उत्साहात चालू होती आणि आता सर्वात आनंद याचा होतोय की दुबईतील मुले या उपक्रमात भाग घेण्यासाठी तयार होत आहेत.तरुण मुलांमध्ये होत असलेली ही जागृती बघून मलाही काम करण्यासाठी हुरुप येत आहे.कारण आपण प्रज्वलित केलेली ही ज्योत हाती घेऊन त्याचा प्रकाश सर्वत्र पसरविण्यासाठी अनेक हात सहभागी होत आहेत .
रिवाला झालेला आनंद तिच्या बोलण्यातून प्रतीत होत होता.मी तिला म्हटले रिवा आता मुलांमध्ये ई वेस्ट संबंधी जागृती होत आहे ,या व्यतिरिक्त २०१९ च्या मोहिमेत तुला विशेष असे काय जाणवले ?
रिवा मे १९ च्या सुखद आठवणीत रमली.ती सांगू लागली ही मोहीम खूप वेगळी होती. कारण यावेळी मी एकटी नव्हते तर विविध शाळातून निवडलेली ७ मुलांची टीम माझ्याबरोबर होती.टीम मधील प्रत्येकजण कामाशी भावनिक दृष्ट्या एव्हढा एकरुप झाला होता की जणू ते त्यांच्या घरचेच कार्य आहे.अक्षरशः ३ आठवड्यात १० टन ई वेस्ट आम्ही गोळा केला.आणि १५ जूनला उपक्रम बंद करताना २० टनाहून अधिक ईवेस्ट गोळा केला गेला.
रिवा म्हणते टीम म्हणून काम करताना एक वेगळाच अनुभव गाठी आला.सांघिक रित्या काम केल्याने एक भावनिक बळ मिळाले.समाजासाठी कर्तव्याची जाणीव झाली ,समाजाचे आपण देणे लागतो ,आपल्याला जे मिळते त्यातील काही भाग समाजासाठी खर्च करायला हवा हीही जाणीव झाली.धर्म जातपात पंथ ह्या सर्वापलीकडे,एक माणूस म्हणून मदत केली पाहिजे ही भावना जागृत झाली. टीम मधील प्रत्येक सदस्याने नेमून दिलेल्या आपल्या भागातून ,तसेच स्वतःच्या परिचित लोकांशी संपर्क साधून मोहीम यशस्वी करायला मदत केली.
रिवा ओसंडून वाहणाऱ्या धबधब्याप्रमाणे भरभरुन बोलत होती.तरुण पिढीचे प्रतिनिधीत्त्व करणाऱ्या रिवाकडे पाहून मनात विचार येत होता ,रिवासारख्या मुली भारतात असताना भारताचा भविष्यकाळ नक्कीच उज्ज्वल आहे.
पुढे रिवा सांगत होती , दुसरी आवर्जून सांगण्या सारखी गोष्ट म्हणजे ,दुबईतील स्थानिक कंपन्यांनी दिलेला भरघोस पाठिंबा ! त्यांनी आम्ही दिलेली स्पेशल बीन्स कंपनीच्या आवारात ठेवून स्टाफसाठी आंतर्गत ई वेस्ट मोहीम सुरु केली DP World ,Landmark Group ,Topaz Energy ,AGMC BMW ,Indian Consulate ,दुबई अशा अनेक सुप्रसिध्द कंपन्यांच्या पाठिंब्यामुळे ,आमची मोहीम लोकांपर्यंत पोचायला मदत झाली तसेच आमचे ध्येय गाठायलाही मदत झाली.
आमच्या या मोहिमेची माहिती, दुबई सायन्स पार्क, दुबई इंडस्ट्रिअल पार्क या फ्री झोन्सनीही आपल्या सोशल मीडिया प्लॅटफॉर्म वरुन तसेच प्रसार माध्यमा द्वारे लोकांपर्यंत पोचवली.
दुबईच्या विविध शाळातील ( Dubai International Academy ,Raffles World Academy,Raffles International Academy ,The Winchester School ,VISS Sharjah ,GIIS Dubai ) विद्यार्थी आणि पालक या मोहिमेत सहभागी झाले आणि त्यांनी ३ टन ई वेस्ट गोळा केला.
याच वेळी Dubai Radio City १०१.६ चॅनलने आमचे कार्य जनतेसमोर आणण्यासाठी पुढाकार घेतला आणि आमची जाहीर मुलाखत घेऊन घराघरात आमचे कार्य पसरवले.हजारो हात आमच्या मदतीसाठी पुढे आले.ह्या अशाप्रकारे समाजाच्या सर्व घटकांकडून मिळालेल्या प्रतिसादामुळे खरोखरच आमचा उत्साह हजारपटीने वाढला आणि आमचा विश्वास वाढला की भविष्यातही आमचे कार्य अखंड चालू राहणार आहे.
आत्तापर्यंतच्या कार्यात समाजाकडून मिळालेल्या भरघोस प्रतिसादामुळे आलेल्या आत्मविश्वासाने ,रिवाने एक नवीनच प्रयोग करत असल्याचे सांगितले.ती म्हणाली
गेल्या दोनचार वर्षात दुबईत बालमृत्यूचे प्रमाण खूप वाढले आहे.आणि हे मृत्यू नैसर्गिक कोणत्या कारणांमुळे होत नाहीत तर केवळ मुलांच्या हलगर्जीपणामुळे ,निःष्काळजीपणामुळे असे अपघात घडतात.दुबईच्या वर्तमानपत्रात मधून मधून सारख्या बातम्या येत असतात की आज कुठे स्विमिंग पुलावर लहान मुलाचा मृत्यू झाला ,तर कधी बाल्कनीतून पडून ,तर कधी घरातील किचनमध्ये ,कधी शाळेत तर कधी मॉलमध्ये ! खरोखर धक्कदायक अशा या बातम्या असतात.अर्थातच हे प्रसंग फक्त दुबईतच घडतात असे नव्हे तर जगभर होत असतात. ह्यपाठीमागे कारण म्हणजे सर्वांचा निःष्काळजीपणा ! रिवा सांगत होती पण ह्यामुळे मन व्यथित होते.ह्या छोट्या मुलांना त्यांच्याच भाषेत समजावून सांगायला हवे, शिकवायला हवे हे लक्षात घेऊन मी लहान मुलांना आवडतील अशा व्यंगचित्रांच्या (कार्टून्सच्या ) माध्यमातून गोष्टी तयार केल्या आहेत.या गोष्टींद्वारे विषयाचे गांभीर्य ,आणि असे काही प्रसंग घडू लागले तर त्यावेळी सुरक्षिततेसाठी काय काळजी घ्यायची हे मुलांपर्यंत पोचवायचा प्रयत्न केला आहे आणि लवकरच त्यांचा संग्रह प्रकाशित करणार आहे.माझ्या ह्या गोष्टीरुपी व्यंगचित्रांमुळे हे अपघात जर कमी झाले ,छोटे जीव वाचले तर ह्या कार्याची व्याप्ती वाढवता येईल !
‘ Girl on a mission ,Dubai’s Eco Warrior ‘ अशा शीर्षकाने दुबईतील सुप्रसिध्द वर्तमानपत्र ,’ गल्फ न्यूज ‘ ने लेख लिहून जिचा गौरव केला ,त्या रिवाला मी म्हटले रिवा आता ह्याच्यापुढे तुझे हे कार्य असेच चालू ठेवणार आहेस का ? त्यावर क्षणाचाही विलंब न लावता ती म्हणाली अर्थातच हे कार्य असेच चालू ठेवायचे आहे .E Waste ची माझी ही मोहीम तशीच पुढे चालू ठेवायची आहे.जोपर्यंत मानवजात आहे तोपर्यंत ई वेस्ट तर असणारच आहे.आणि आज आम्हाला मिळणारा पाठिंबा आणि इतर मुलांचा उत्साह पाहून विश्वास वाटतो कि आमच्या कार्यातून प्रेरणा घेऊन आम्ही नाही तर दुसरी मुले ह्या कार्याची ज्योत सदैव तेवत ठेवतील.
दुसरी महत्त्वाची गोष्ट माझ्या लक्षात आली ती ही की महाराष्ट्रातील ,भारतातील ग्रामीण भागातील या सर्व मुलींना स्वच्छतेसाठी मार्गदर्शन करण्याची आवश्यकता आहे.मुलींना नुसते सॅनिटरी पॅड पुरवून चालणार नाही तर त्यांचा योग्य वापर कसा करायचा ,ते dispose off कसे करायचे हेही शिकवणे आवश्यक आहे.अजूनही गावाकडे मुली शाळेत शिकायला जात नाहीत.त्यासाठी काही उपक्रम सुरु करण्याचा मानस आहे. मला असे वाटते की शिक्षकांना सुध्दा दरवर्षी प्रशिक्षण दिले तर नवनवीन शोधांची त्यांनाही माहिती होईल.
काळ बदलतोय.इंटरनेटमुळे जग जवळ आले आहे.त्यामुळे समाजाच्या विकासाला घातक असलेल्या रुढी रीतींच्या विळख्यात अडकून न बसता आवश्यक तिथे नव्याचा स्वीकार करुन प्रगती करायला काहीच हरकत नाही.सर्वात मोठा आनंद होतो की दुबईतील अनेक मुलामुलींनी या कामात मदतीचा हात पुढे केला आहे.आणि मला विश्वास आहे की आम्ही नक्कीच काहीतरी विधायक कार्य करु शकू !
दुसऱ्यांच्या दुःखाने व्यथित होणाऱ्या ,समाजाच्या सर्व घटकांपर्यंत पोहोचून मदतीचा हात पुढे करणाऱ्या ,‘रिवाच्या WeCareby Riva ‘ या मंचाची ज्योत महाराष्ट्राच्या ,जगाच्या कानाकोपऱ्यात पसरु दे आणि तरुणाईला प्रेरणा मिळून,लाखो हात सहभागी होवोत ‘ ह्याच रिवाला ,तिच्या कार्याला शुभेच्छा !!
मेघना अशोक वर्तक meghana.sahitya@gmail.com
https://youtu.be/hKVQybbg8Z0 The 2020 Princess Diana Awards
Facebook: /WeCareDXB
InstaGram: @WeCare_DXB
Twitter: @WeCarebyRiva
जगभरातील मराठी लोकांना आपल्या अनुभवांची देवाण घेवाण करण्यासाठी, आपल्या यशाचा आनंद आणि जतन केलेले समाजऋणबंध व्यक्त करण्यासाठी, व्यासपीठ असलेले ‘गर्जे मराठी’ चे जिव्हाळ्याचे मुखपत्र
गौरव
वर्ष पहिले ऑक्टोबर २०२० अंक पहिला
संपादक : मेघना वर्तक, विद्या हर्डीकर सप्रे
संस्थापक: आनंद आणि सुनीता गानू
अंकासाठी लेखन पाठवण्यास संपर्क: anand@garjemarathi.com/garjemarathi@gmail.com
अंक दर महिन्याला प्रसिद्ध होतो.
अंकात व्यक्त झालेल्या विचारांशी आणि मतांशी संपादक सहमत असतातच असे नाही.
गौरव या अंकासाठी काही सूचना
नमस्कार मंडळी
‘ गर्जे मराठी ग्लोबल ‘ या अनिवासी आणि मातृभूमीला परतलेल्या, मराठी माणसांचे,मराठी माणसांनी स्थापिलेले,मराठी परिवाराचे व्यासपीठ ! आपल्या ह्या वैश्विक व्यासपीठाचें पहिले मासिकपत्र,दसऱ्याच्या शुभमुहुर्तावर,आपल्या हाती सुपूर्त करताना आम्हाला अतिशय आनंद होत आहे.
पण हा आनंद निर्भेळ नाही.कारण ह्या आनंदाला आहे दुःखाची किनार.! ह्या दुःखाच्या किनारीवर निसर्गाने ‘ कोविड १९’ नावाच्या लेखणीने जगाच्या इतिहासाचे एक दुर्दैवी पान लिहिले आहे.आजपर्यंत मानवनिर्मित दहशतवादींनी जगात हाहाःकार माजवला.होता.आज निसर्गनिर्मित दहशतवादींनी म्हणजेच कोरोनाने जगाची झोप उडविली आहे.जातधर्म ,गरिबश्रीमंत,उच्चनीच ,शिक्षित अशिक्षित अशा भेदाभेदाच्या पलीकडे जाऊन सर्वांचा जीव घेणारा हा जिवाणू !
लाखो लोकं मृत्युमुखी पडत आहेत.लाखो संसार उद्ध्वस्त होत आहेत आर्थिक व्यवहार ठप्प झाले आहेत.लोकांच्या नोकऱ्या गेल्या आहेत,उद्योगधंदे बंद झाले आहेत.हातावर पोट असणारी माणसे उपाशी मरत आहेत.वाऱ्याच्या वेगाने धावणाऱ्या जगाला जणू खीळ बसली आहे.कोरोनाच्या बेड्या जगाच्या पायात पडल्या आहेत जगभर लॉक डाऊन.जाहीर झाला आणि सर्व जीवन पध्दतीच बदलून गेली.नोकरीच्या ठिकाणी work from home सुरु झाले,शाळा कॉलेजेस मधून e learning चालू झाले मानवाचे आयुष्यच ‘ डिजिटल ‘ झाले !
पण एक मात्र नक्की ह्या निसर्ग निर्मित कोरोनाने माणसातील माणुसकीला जागे केले.दररोजच्या यंत्रवत जीवनातील स्पर्धेमध्ये माणुसकी लोप पावली होती,प्रत्येकजण स्वार्थी झाला होता.कोणाला कोणासाठी थांबायला वेळ नाही,दुसऱ्या माणसाचा विचार करायची गरज वाटत नाही,चार प्रेमाचे शब्द तोंडातून उमटत नाहीत.किंवा दुसऱ्याच्या दुःखाने मनाला पाझर फुटत नाही.सर्वांच्या वागण्या बोलण्यात बेगडीपणा आला होता.पण या कोविड १९ च्या जीवघेण्या संकटामुळे माणूस खडबडून जागा झाला आहे.त्यातील विरुन गेलेल्या माणुसकीचे नव्याने दर्शन होत आहे.कोविड १९ ने ‘ नाते ‘ ह्या भावनेला पुनर्जन्म दिला आहे.नवीन रुप दिले आहे.कुठे हे नाते अधिक घट्ट झाले आहे,कुठे ह्या नात्याच्या बंधाना कर्तव्याची जाणीव झाली आहे,तर कुठे नवीन नाती जोडली जात आहेत.
आपण सर्वांनीही नवीन नाते जोडू या ----माणुसकीचे ! महाराष्ट्राच्या खेड्यापाड्यात राहणाऱ्या दारिद्र्याशी झुंज देणाऱ्या,अन्न वस्त्र निवारा ह्या प्राथमिक गरजा भागवण्यासाठी लोकांसमोर हात पसरणाऱ्या अशा शिक्षणासाठी वंचित असलेल्या छोट्या मुलांशीं ! मुलुखगिरी करत,जगभरात आपल्या कर्तबगारीचा झेंडा रोवणाऱ्या मराठी माणसाने,विश्व् कल्याणाचे ‘ पसायदान ‘ मागणाऱ्या संत ज्ञानेश्वरांची शिकवण आपल्या आचरणात जोपासली आहे.आणि आता ही शिकवण आपण प्रत्यक्षात आणू या महाराष्ट्राच्या मातीपासून !
गर्जे मराठीने सुरु केलेल्या ‘ सक्षम ‘ या एका महत्त्वाकांक्षी प्रकल्पाला हातभार लावून ! महाराष्ट्राच्या खेड्यापाड्यात राहणाऱ्या मुलांना बदलत्या शिक्षण पध्दतीतील लॅपटॉप ,कम्प्युटर ,स्मार्टफोन इंटरनेट,अशा सर्व सुविधा उपलब्ध नाहीत आणि ही तर आजच्या काळाची मोठी गरज आहे.आणि म्हणुनच ही सर्व साधने उपलब्ध करुन देणे ,तसेच त्यांना मार्गदर्शन करणारे शिक्षक,आयटी इंजिनिअर्स स्वयंसेवक,समाज कार्यकर्ते अशी टीम उपलब्ध करुन देणे हा या प्रकल्पाचा उद्देश आहे.अर्थातच प्रकल्प यशस्वी होण्यासाठी आर्थिक पाठबळ हे महत्त्वाचे आहे.आणि म्हणुनच आपल्या सर्वांच्या मदतीच्या हातांची आवश्यकता आहे.प्रभू रामचंद्रांना लंकापुरीला जाण्यासाठी,विश्वकर्मा पुत्र नळ नावाच्या वानराने इतर वानरांच्या साहाय्याने समुद्रात एकेक दगड टाकून सेतू बांधला तद्वतच ‘ गर्जे मराठी ‘ आपल्या परिवाराच्या सर्व सदस्यांना आवाहन करत आहे की प्रत्येक सदस्याने आर्थिक शारीरिक बौध्दिक मदत करुन आधुनिक काळातील हा ज्ञानसेतू बांधायला हातभार लावावा आणि महाराष्ट्राच्या खेड्यापाड्यातही ज्ञानाचा प्रकाश पसरवून पुढील पिढीचे पर्यायाने महाराष्ट्राचे भविष्य उज्ज्वल करावे
आज दसऱ्याच्या शुभदिनी सरस्वती पूजन करुन,बुद्धिदायक गणरायाला प्रार्थाना करु या की भूतलावर पसरलेला कोविड रुपी अंधःकार दूर होवो आणि सर्वत्र मानवतेचा प्रकाश पसरुन महाराष्ट्र ‘सक्षम’‘ होवो !
स्वस्थ रहा ,सुरक्षित रहा !
जय मराठी ! जय महाराष्ट्र !
मेघना अशोक वर्तक ,दुबई ----meghana.sahitya@gmail.com
Table of Contents
Garje Marathi Global (GMG) Foundation.
GMG INNOVATION ACADEMY (GMGIA)
Garje Marathi Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Association
Prestigious Appointment for Dr. Uday Bodhankar
Manoj Kulkarni Passion of study at the age of 50 !
Dr. Manoj Prabhakar Kulkarni, PhD
Doctorate in Business Administration: Supply Chain Management
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
EarthSense, Marathi Startup Entrepreneurs
Sanika Kulkarni. Hong Kong : Impact of Covid19 on Art Industry
Aditi Potnis, Qatar, Member of Model United Nations
Neelaja Shrotre Volunteering during tremors of Covid 19 pandemic
Volunteering during tremors of Covid 19 pandemic
’चांगल्या संकल्पनांमधून घडतात प्रभावी बदल’
It is a philanthropic initiative of Garje Marathi Global Foundation.
On 01 August 2020, GMG celebrated third anniversary of its inception.Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar and Padma Vibhushan Dr. Avinash Dixit had graced the occasion by their presence as the Chief Guests.
During his speech Dr. Mashelkar, mentioned an incidence where an economically challenged father had to sell his cow, the only means of his livelihood so that he could buy a Smartphone for his daughter’s online education that has become a new normal during Covid-19Pandemic. This was the point of inspiration and conception of ‘सक्षम’
77 Seconds are enough to set up a movement if the heart is in the right place!”
https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=77-Seconds-are-enough-
GMG Saksham is a technology driven knowledge dissemination platform open to students of Maharashtra. GMG Foundation Saksham’s vision is to create a platform for connecting deserving and desirous students from Maharashtra to the global community of professionals, academics and entrepreneurs. (Please see list of GMG mentors https://www.garjemarathi.com/mentor-for-you.php) The platform will help these students via regular webinars, tutorials to learn, gain knowledge and be future ready. The GMG’s Foundation Saksham aims to bridge the digital divide by enabling economically disadvantaged students from Maharashtra by providing them with the right equipment, right guidance and prepare them for the right opportunities.
Saksham aims at providing 25,000 digital devices by 01 August 2021. On successful implementation of the program it will be repeated for the following three years.
The main criteria for the selection of beneficiaries:
Till December 31/2020:-
For 300 laptops and administration:
US $ 45000/- (Indian Rs. 32 Lakh Approx).
This will be raised from within GMG members
Till 01 August 2021:
For 25000 Laptops, Contents, Learning Management System and Administration:
3.40 Million US $, ( Indian Rs. 25 CR. Approx)
20 % 680000/- US$ (Indian Rs. 5 Crs approx) from GMG members and individual / corporate donors outside GMG
80 % 2720000 ( Indian Rs. 20 Crs Approx.) from Big corporations
For Detailed Consideration:
1. Manage expenses and availability of appropriate Data Plan for sufficient period
2. Prevent the misuse of internet by students apart from educational contents
3. The access and availability of good quality sufficient educational contents
4. Development of multimedia contents based on local context, syllabus and syllabus Access and availability of Open Education Resources (OER) on their mobility device
5. Maintenance, security and safety of mobility devices
6. Include the Operating system (with updates), Word processors (MS OFFICE, etc.) with a perpetual license, Adobe, Antivirus/internet security with a perpetual license, Software and hardware maintenance/troubleshooting etc.
7. Pre-loaded digital resources/content to avoid data dependency Both in English and Marathi
8. Form a system to provide guidance, counseling and mentoring to students with difficulties Training to be given to teachers to provide good quality lessons-Contents-hand holding on these devices. Association with good local teachers who can guide, mentor and develop contents This will kick off the production of quality local contents.
9. Identify Execution partners and NGOs as partners in India
10. Highly scalable central cloud base service portal
11. Bulk connection engagement with top Telecom operators
12. Local device manufacturers and OEM suppliers: Import kits and assemble in India.
Garje Marathi Global Inc. is a Non-Profit corporation registered in the State of California, having office at 718, Rustic Lane, Mountain View, California 94040, USA.
Garje Marathi Global Foundation, subsidiary of Garje Marathi Global inc., is a company registered under Section ’8’ Indian Companies Act, 2013 with its registered office at Sanjiv Brahme 202,B-5 Vikas Complex, Castle Mill Compound, Thane West Maharashtra 400601.
Shri. Sanjay Dhavalikar and Shri. Sanjiv Brahme are the founders of Garje Marathi Global Foundation.
GMG Foundation is part of Garje Marathi Global (GMG), which is a platform of global non-resident Marathi community and community members who returned to our motherland, Bharat. It aims are creating synergies through networking, mentoring of our members with an intent to give back to Janmabhumi and Karmabhumi. Established in 2018, today GMG and its chapters are present globally with over 5000 professionals associated with it. Famous and respectable laureates like Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar (Chief Mentor of GMG), Padma Vibhushan Dr. Avinash Dixit, Padma vibhushan Vijay Kekkar, Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale, Padmashree Ganpati yadav, etc. are associated in various capacities with GMG Foundation.
Our foundation is based on education, knowledge, enterprising skills and patriotism. Celebrating success of our Marathi community is our way of acknowledging their contributions to the society, to the economy and to our great nation.
(Garje Marathi Global Inc. initiative)
Conceptualized on the most auspicious day of चैत्र शुद्ध १, गुढी पाडवा (25 March 2020) and launched on महाराष्ट्र दिवस (01 May 2020)
Garje Marathi Global Inc. is registered corporation in the state of California and has applied for ‘Non- Profit’ status.
GMG Innovation Academy is a Non-commercial activity aimed to assist, guide and mentor start-ups by Marathi promoters.
What is a Start-up?
An entity that develops a business model based on either product innovation or service innovation and makes it scalable, replicable and self-reliant. Start up is an organization searching for unknown customers and features.
Large companies execute to the established business model and therefore a Start-up is NOT a smaller version of a big company. Start up fails when the founder and team confuse Search with Execute.
Start up is a temporary organization to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.
Every start-up will need to figure out (a) if there is "Desirability" to their product/service idea, (b)If there is "Feasibility" to build such a product/service and (c) If such a product/service can be built with financial "Viability".
Here are the 9 key components of a business model structure
Section A: Desirability
1- Customer Segments
2- Channels to reach the customers
3- Customer relationship
4- Revenue stream
Section B: Feasibility
5- Key resources
6- Key Activities
7- Key Partnerships
Section C: Financial Viability
8- Cost Structure
9- Value proposition
The GMG Innovation Academy intends to build a robust eco-system for nurturing innovation and start-ups which will in turn drive sustainable economic growth for the promoters, community and the nation.
With the aim of nurturing innovation and start-ups, GMG Innovation Academy will offer guidance in following areas:-
Following selected thrust areas as identified by GMG have potential for faster growth:
Themes
On Micro level
The idea is to uncover new Innovations that will improve the quality of life in interior Maharashtra at the same time support entrepreneurship to reduce migration to cities.
These innovations can be:
(a) Technology based (example devices built on arduino or raspberry pi or public systems using inexpensive tablets), or
(b) Traditional sciences that have solutions to modern day challenges, such as new herbal remedies, or
(c) Localized cloning of city services for villages, such as phone voice message based bike-mobility service, or
(d) Infrastructural and supply-chain support to facilitate market access via digital marketplaces.
As an example, Sewa has a project of making women’s sanitary products in villages for villages. I can think of simple devices for water filtration, moisture conservation in soil, humidity and alkaline measurements of soil, air to water devices for moisture capture, recyclable plant based bags, the list goes on...
The idea is to create entrepreneurs through such innovations who have a market for their innovations with in the village itself and nearby villages. The idea is to create cottage industries in villages with market for their goods in the urban areas.
All such entrepreneurial ventures should be low investment projects around Rs. 50K - 100K.
We can run a contest and the 8-10 best innovation ideas can be short-listed for incubation and prepare them for real implementation in villages. Incubation will include coaching, mentorship and financing. We can ensure that at least 2-3 projects are directed towards alleviating the challenges of women in rural areas.
Contest winners will get media coverage, incubation opportunity, and project funding.
These 8-10 ideas can be listed for funding, starting with as low as $100, max $5000 contributions. The students of these colleges will also help build a common site for this initiative consortium, do social media promotion, and build a site to track funding and progress of the funded projects.
More Details : https://www.garjemarathi.com/innovation_academy.html
Garje Marathi Innovation Academy , Think-Tank Video Conferences
Idea Validation and Market sizing Vijay Talele CEO COEP's Bhau Institute Pune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76aa6ZgPiok&t=7s
The Dynamics of 5G New Opportunities Sakir Sakpal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiWqVfCS5xE
Webinar on Design Thinking by Madhav Dabke Garje Marathi Think-Tank member: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfeRGWTp6ug
GMGIA Value Prop and Messaging By Start up GURU Sudhir Kadam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUpJWCiXEZA&t=2967s
Webinar Topic Mobility By Shrikant Nistane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCIwcLqooiA
https://soundcloud.com/poetsandmuses/imogen-arate-with-kedar-hardikar
Poets and Muses is an award winning weekly podcast where poets around the globe are interviewed. They interviewed Dr. Kedar Hardikarof Garje Marathi for his recent experiment in poetry - mathematical poems and for his upcoming book, as part of their series. You can listen to the episode here.
"Fostering Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Innovation "
Purpose Statement:-
डॉ. उदय बोधनकर भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीवर केंद्रीय मार्गदर्शक नियुक्त
भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीची घोषणा आज करण्यात आली. यात प्रदेश समन्वयक, सहसंयोजक, विभागीय संयोजक, सहसंयोजक व मार्गदर्शक मंडळ यांची घोषणा करण्यात आली.
यामध्ये नागपूरचे *प्रसिद्ध बालरोग तज्ञ डॉ. उदय बोधनकर यांची महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारणी मध्ये मार्गदर्शक म्हणून नियुक्ती करण्यात आली. ही नियुक्ती भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी प्रदेश संयोजक डॉ. अजित गोपछडे व आमदार गिरीश महाजन यांनी केली.
डॉ. उदय बोधनकर हे नागपुरात एक जग विख्यात बालरोग तज्ञ म्हणून प्रसिद्ध नाव आहे. अत्यंत कमी वयात भारतीय बालरोग तज्ञांची संस्था चे प्रेसिडेंट होण्याचा मान त्यांना मिळाला. अनेक वर्षापासून सामाजिक कार्यात आपला सहभाग देत आलेत. त्याचप्रमाणे अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्था कॉमहेड चे एक्झिक्युटिव्ह डायरेक्टर म्हणून काम बघतात. त्यांच्या या सामाजिक सेवा कार्याची दखल घेत त्यांची प्रदेश कार्यकारणी वर नियुक्ती करण्यात आली.
या कार्यकारणीचे मार्गदर्शक म्हणून डॉ. उदय बोधनकर याच्या सोबत खा. डॉ विकास महात्मे, खा डॉ. प्रीतम ताई मुंढे, खा. हिना गावित, खा. डॉ सुभाष भामरे, खा. डॉ. भारती पवार, खा. डॉ भागवत कराड आहेत.
डॉ. बोधनकारांनी आपल्या नियुक्ती बद्दल केंद्रीय मंत्री व नागपुर चे खासदार मा. श्री. नितीन जीं गडकरी, महाराष्ट्र राज्य चे माजी मुख्यमंत्री मा. श्री. देवेंद्र जीं फडणवीस, भाजपा प्रदेश अध्यक्ष मा. श्री. चंद्रकांत दादा पाटील व विदर्भ संघटन मंत्री डॉ. उपेंद्र कोठेकर* यांचे विषेश आभार मानले.
Dr. Uday Bodhankar : https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Uday-Bodhankar
We at Garje Marathi Global, are happy to inform that Manoj Prabhakar Kulkarni, the member of the Strategic Committee of Garje Marathi has recently been awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration for his research in Supply Chain Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His specific research aais strategic sourcing in automotive component industry in China and its implications on supply chain performance. As he presented his thesis, one of the external examiners mentioned that his research constitutes an important contribution to the empirical literature on strategic sourcing in automotive supply chain management. Read More: https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Dr.-Manoj-Kulkarni-PhD-
Sanika Kulkarni is a final year Literature and Communication student at the University of Hong Kong. She is currently interning at a Hong Kong based tech and entrepreneurship magazine called Jumpstart. Jumpstart is a media company dedicated to "making innovation matter". More than just a media company, they provide resources, support, and education to startup founders, industry leaders, and creative game-changers.
Recently, she has written an article discussing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the art industry. Read More: https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Sanika-Kulkarni.-Hong-Kong-:-Impact-of-Covid19-on-Art-Industry-
Aditi Potnis, Qatar, Member of Model United Nations
Albert Einstein once said, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ The relevance of this particular quote in the contemporary world is exemplary.
The youth of our world can come up with the best possible solutions and solve the issues that our world is currently facing in political, social as well as economic scenarios because their way of thinking is different. The best way to increase our exposure to these global issues is through Model United Nations.
Neelaja Shrotre Garje Marathi Global Bahrain Chapter
In addition to the series of accomplishments made by Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS), in first week of August, MWPS surpassed another milestone when about 175 stranded migrants travelled back home to Chennai from Bahrain. MWPS was instrumental in chartering Gulf Air flight for the first time in their endeavor.
Theimpact of thePandemic isin job loss across the globe, Gulf countries are no exceptions. Under “Covid-19 relief drive” MWPS volunteers are providing assistance including, basic ration kits,medication etc.tothe unskilled migrantworkerswho have no job, no pay. Untilnow, 12000kits have been distributed andarebeing continued. MWPS is also financing the air tickets for repatriation of these stranded migrants of all Nationalities…….. https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Volunteering-during-tremors-of-Covid-19-pandemic-Neelaja-Shrotre-Garje-Marathi-Global-Bahrain-Chapter-
’विविध क्षेत्रांमध्ये आणि लोकांच्या आयुष्यावर आपला प्रभाव पडेल अशा प्रकारचे संकल्पनाधारित काम करण्यावर मी कायमच भर दिला आहे. अशा कामाला प्राथमिकता दिली आणि त्यातून ओघाने आर्थिक लाभ होत राहिले. साधारणत: पाश्चिमात्य संकल्पना उद्योग क्षेत्रांमध्ये वापरल्या जातात. मात्र, आरोग्य सेवांच्या अर्थसाहाय्याबाबत भारतात होणारे काम हे इतरांसाठीही उदाहरण आहे असे मला वाटते,’ अमेरिकेत सॅन डिएगो येथे राहणाररे व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ अश्विन अभ्यंकर सांगतात.
अश्विन अभ्यंकर यांचे शालेय शिक्षण हडस हायस्कूल येथे तर इंजीनिअरिंगचे शिक्षण यशवंतराव चव्हाण कॉलेज ऑफ इंजिनीअरिंग येथे झाले. काही काळ नोकरी करून त्यांनी युनिव्हर्सिटी ऑफ लॉस एंजेलिस येथून एमबीए पूर्ण केले. या शिक्षणादरम्यान आणि पुढील काळात त्यांनी मानवी स्वभावाचा अभ्यास, वर्तनात सकारात्मक बदल घडवून आणणे या बाबत अभ्यास आणि काम सुरू केले. कॉर्पोरेट कंपन्यांबरोबर काम करताना व्यक्ती आणि कंपनी अशा दोघांनाही लाभ होईल अशा संकल्पनांवर ते काम करतात. अमेरिकेतील सुमारे दोन दशकांच्या कारकीर्दीत घरकर्ज, अर्थपुरवठा, आरोग्यसेवा, उत्पादन अशा विविध क्षेत्रात सकारात्मक संकल्पना राबविण्यात त्यांना यश आले आहे. अश्विन हे प्रख्यात व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ डॉ. सी.के.प्रहलाद यांचे जावईदेखील आहेत. डॉ. प्रहलाद आणि पत्नी दीपा प्रहलाद यांच्या साथीने त्यांनी या विषयावरील पहिल्या पेटंटचेही लिखाण केले होते…… https://www.garjemarathi.com/Blog/newsletter_details.php?newsletter=Ashwin-Abhyankar-
नमस्कार.
गर्जे मराठीच्या पहिल्या वहिल्या गौरव गाथेचा समारोप करताना विजयादशमीच्या उत्सवी आनंदाचा जल्लोष आहे, तशी कोविद-१९ च्या संकटाची सुन्न आर्तताही आहे.
मेघनाने संपादकीयात लिहिले आहे, तसे या संकटाने माणसामाणसात माणुसकीचे नवे नाते निर्माण झाले आणि त्याला कर्तव्याची किनार मिळाली. त्यातून उभे जगभर राहिले करोना योद्धे ! रुग्णालयाच्या आघाड्यांवर, शहरातील झोपडपट्यात, गांवोगावच्या वस्त्यांवर आणि पाड्यांवर यांचे काम अथक चालू आहे.. कोणी तातडीच्या जेवणाची सोय केली.. कोणी शिधा वाटला.. कोणी मुलांच्या शिक्षणाची जबाबदारी उचलली.. कोणी वृद्धांच्या सेवेला लागले.. देशोदेशी कामे सुरु झाली.. महाराष्ट्राच्या कानाकोपऱ्यातही मदतीचे हात उभे राहिले..
महाराष्ट्र बंद झाला. महाबंदी झाली. आता महामारी की उपासमारी ?
कुणी शेतातले काकडीचे उत्पन्न गावाला वाटले..कुणी स्थलांतरित शेतमजुरांना आसरा दिला..
एका छोट्याशा ग्रामीण भागाचं एक चित्र पहा ना : पुण्याजवळ वेल्हे भागात बचतगटाच्या बायका आपण होऊन पुढे आल्या.( तिथे ज्ञान प्रबोधिनी या संस्थेच्या मार्गदर्शनाखाली बचतगट आहेत.) .“ जिथं कमी तिथे आम्ही” म्हणून पदर खोचून उभ्या राहिल्या.“ काळजी करु नका. काळजी घ्या” या मंत्र घेऊन या आपल्या साखळी पद्धतीने २० गावातल्या १५०० लोकांपर्यंत पोहोचल्या. एका गाडीचा पास काढण्यापासून खटपट करुंन एक स्पीकर लावलेली गाडी गावागावात फिरवली. शेतावरच्या मजुरांपर्यंत या कर्णा गाडीचा संदेश पोहोचला. काही बायकांनी माहिती देणारी पत्रके , पोस्टर्स तयार केली. ग्रामपंचातीसमोर भिंतीवर लावली. करोनाबद्दल ‘जाणीव जागृतीची’ मोहीम केली. वरच्या स्तरावरून भराभर निर्णय होतात. आदेश काढले जातात. पण अगदी तळाच्या नागरिकापर्यंत ते नीट पोहोचत नाहीत. त्यासाठी हे बचत गटांचं जाळं किती महत्वाचं आणि उपयुक्त आहे हे पुन्हा एकदा लक्षात आलं.
. बचत गटाच्या कामाची शिस्त होती. पाहणी करायची. यादी करायची. हिशेब ठेवायचे. आधी वृद्धाना मदत केली. गरिबांना शिधावाटप केले.काही बायका मास्क बनवू लागल्या. काही म्हणाल्या, “ आपण गावची भाजी पुण्यात विकूया. गावातल्या बंदीमुळे भाजीपाल्याचे नुकसान होऊ नये म्हणून खटपट केली आणि पुण्यात नेऊन विक्रीची व्यवस्था केली. गावात उत्पन्न सुरु केलं.
“business management , needs analysis , resource allocation, supply chain management, . motivation , commitment,” इत्यादी शब्द न वापरता आलेली ही आत्मनिर्भरता ! प्रसंगी आपल्याला लागण होण्याचा धोका पत्करून काम करण्याची हिम्मत आणि निर्भयता ! रुग्णालयातले कर्मचारी, पोलीस, त्यांच्यासारख्याच याही करोना योध्या : दुर्गा आणि महिषासुर मर्दिनी !
नवरात्र संपलं ,तरी हे कार्य चालूच आहे.. आता विजयादशमी..’ सरस्वतीची’ पूजा आपण ‘सक्षम’ या प्रकल्पातून बांधलेली आहे.. नुसते संगणक देऊन आपलं काम संपत नाही.. तो तर प्रारंभ आहे..
एका नव्या मोहिमेचा..सक्षम
करोना चे दूरगामी परिणाम पुष्कळ आहेत. भारतातली काही लाख मुलं शिक्षणावाचून वंचित रहाणार आहेत. कुणाकडे फीचे पैसे नाहीत.कुठे शिक्षकांना पगार नाहीत.. . कुणाकडे संगणक नाहीत.. तर कुठे इंटरनेटचे महाजाल नाही..समाजाच्या तळागाळापर्यंत पोहोचून त्या सर्वाना शिक्षणासाठी जोडून घेण्याची ही मोहीम आहे.. या मुलांच्या मनापर्यंत आपल्याला पोहोचायचं आहे. लौकिक पुस्तकी शिक्षण , त्यापेक्षा मोठं मनुष्यघडणीच शिक्षण !
कारण त्यातून उभे रहाणार आहेत उद्याचे मराठी उद्योजक,शास्त्रज्ञ, कलाकार आणि तंत्रज्ञ.. आपल्या गर्जे मराठीच्या मंचावर त्यांची गौरव गाथा लिहिली जाणार आहे.!
विद्या हर्डीकर सप्रे
Garje Marathi Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Association
"Fostering Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Innovation- A GMG Initiative "
GMG Bio-Health-Pharma Tech Association will be officially launched on 19 November 2020 by Hon'ble Dr. Amit Telang Consul General of India Frankfurt.
Purpose Statement:-
‘सक्षम’
77 Seconds are enough to set up a movement if heart in right place!
Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, is our Mentor, guide since our inception and every major action by us is undertaken with his guidance or is inspired by his wise words.
On 01 August 2020, we celebrated our third anniversary. Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar and Padma Vibhushan Dr. Avinash Dixit had graced the occasion by their presence as the Chief Guests.
During his speech Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, mentioned an incidence where an economically weak father had to sell his cow, the only means of his livelihood so that he could buy a Smartphone for his daughter’s online education that has become a new normal during Covid-19 Pandemic ( You may listen to Padma Vibhushan Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doIY6er496U&t=29s From 10 minutes 35 seconds to 11 minutes 52 seconds)
These ‘77’ seconds inspired many and I got a number of phone calls wishing to donate their old smartphones.
Garje Marathi Global thought of taking this one step forward and we have embarked on a very ambitious social initiative, ‘Saksham’/ सक्षम (Enabled).
Concept note on Garje Marathi project “Saksham”
Main Framework
1. Good intention of providing support to the deserving students in Maharashtra India to learn online from their homes/study centers using mobility devices even when normalcy returns post Covid-19.
2. On 01 August each year for coming four years, we shall give free of charge 25000 Laptops to deserving students.
a) Before end of 2020 , we shall run the program on a trial basis in 15 Schools of Chhatrapati Shikshan Mandal, SGGS College of Engineering and Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad.
3. Giving Laptops is not the purpose of ‘Saksham’ but it is the means for the main purpose which is imparting knowledge, education free of cost to deserving students. We shall stay in touch with the recipients and our ‘Mentors’ will guide them via regular webinars, tutorials.
4. Selection of the students will be done on the basis of 10th and 12 th standard results and economic status of the student’s family (BPL Certificate, Under privileged as per NFSA 2013).
5. All deserving students from the state of Maharashtra will be eligible irrespective of Caste, religion or language.
Supporting Framework:
1. Manage expenses and availability of appropriate Data Plan for sufficient period
2. Prevent the misuse of internet by students apart from educational contents
3. The access and availability of good quality sufficient educational contents
4. Development of multimedia contents based on local context, syllabus and syllabus Access and availability of Open Education Resources (OER) on their mobility device
5. Maintenance, security and safety of mobility devices
6. Include the Operating system (with updates), Word processors (MS OFFICE, etc.) with a perpetual license, Adobe, Antivirus/internet security with a perpetual license, Software and hardware maintenance/troubleshooting etc.
7. Pre-loaded digital resources/content to avoid data dependency Both in English and Marathi
8. Form a system to provide guidance, counseling and mentoring to students with difficulties Training to be given to teachers to provide good quality lessons-Contents-hand holding on these devices. Association with good local teachers who can guide, mentor and develop contents This will kick off the production of quality local contents.
9. Identify Execution partners and NGOs as partners in India
10. Highly scalable central cloud base service portal
11. Bulk connection engagement with top Telecom operators
12.Local device manufacturers and OEM suppliers: Import kits and assemble in India.
Financials/ Budget
A) Indian Rs. 25.0Cr each year ( Rs. 10000 per laptop X 25000 Laptops ) + / - 10%
B) First ‘2’ year requirement: Indian Rs. 50. Cr.
C) Garje Marathi members will raise Indian Rs. 10.00 Cr. ( Arun Joshi from Portland USA has pledged Indian Rs. 1.00Cr. + another 2.00 Crs. from two more donors are most likely to get confirmed soon) and remaining 40 Cr. From Industry, business houses, Global companies like Google, FaceBook, Microsoft, Apple, Reliance etc. .
'Saksham' initiaitve will be managed by Garje Marathi Global Foundation, a company registered under Section ’8’ Indian Companies Act, 2013. Sanjeev Brahme, Sanjay Dhavalikar and Anand Ganu are on the board of Garje Marathi global Foundation.
Our phone conversation with the heads of many educational institutions including engineering colleges from interior of Maharashtra indicated that around 30% students from these institutions are without Smartphone or Laptops.
We will announce the initiative सक्षम on the most auspicious day Dasera Sunday 25 October 2020
With Sincere Regards
Anand Ganu +1 7327897130
डॉ. उदय बोधनकर भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीवर केंद्रीय मार्गदर्शक नियुक्त
भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारिणीची घोषणा आज करण्यात आली. यात प्रदेश समन्वयक, सहसंयोजक, विभागीय संयोजक, सहसंयोजक व मार्गदर्शक मंडळ यांची घोषणा करण्यात आली.
यामध्ये नागपूरचे *प्रसिद्ध बालरोग तज्ञ डॉ. उदय बोधनकर यांची महाराष्ट्र प्रदेश कार्यकारणी मध्ये मार्गदर्शक म्हणून नियुक्ती करण्यात आली. ही नियुक्ती भाजपा वैद्यकीय आघाडी प्रदेश संयोजक डॉ. अजित गोपछडे व आमदार गिरीश महाजन यांनी केली.
डॉ. उदय बोधनकर हे नागपुरात एक जग विख्यात बालरोग तज्ञ म्हणून प्रसिद्ध नाव आहे. अत्यंत कमी वयात भारतीय बालरोग तज्ञांची संस्था चे प्रेसिडेंट होण्याचा मान त्यांना मिळाला. अनेक वर्षापासून सामाजिक कार्यात आपला सहभाग देत आलेत. त्याचप्रमाणे अंतरराष्ट्रीय संस्था कॉमहेड चे एक्झिक्युटिव्ह डायरेक्टर म्हणून काम बघतात. त्यांच्या या सामाजिक सेवा कार्याची दखल घेत त्यांची प्रदेश कार्यकारणी वर नियुक्ती करण्यात आली.
या कार्यकारणीचे मार्गदर्शक म्हणून डॉ. उदय बोधनकर याच्या सोबत खा. डॉ विकास महात्मे, खा डॉ. प्रीतम ताई मुंढे, खा. हिना गावित, खा. डॉ सुभाष भामरे, खा. डॉ. भारती पवार, खा. डॉ भागवत कराड आहेत.
डॉ. बोधनकारांनी आपल्या नियुक्ती बद्दल केंद्रीय मंत्री व नागपुर चे खासदार मा. श्री. नितीन जीं गडकरी, महाराष्ट्र राज्य चे माजी मुख्यमंत्री मा. श्री. देवेंद्र जीं फडणवीस, भाजपा प्रदेश अध्यक्ष मा. श्री. चंद्रकांत दादा पाटील व विदर्भ संघटन मंत्री डॉ. उपेंद्र कोठेकर* यांचे विषेश आभार मानले.
Dr. Uday Bodhankar : https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Uday-Bodhankar
Date and time |
Presenter /Event |
Description |
02 Oct Friday 6.00AM |
Dr. Devendra Puntambekar M.Pharm, PhD, Post-Doc, MBA |
Global Pharmaceutical Industry Outlook How close are we to COVID 19 vaccine? Eventbrite Link for Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122577876729 The pharmaceutical sector is at a crossroads. In a heavily disrupted marketplace, characterized by shifting payer attitudes and patient empowerment, neither incremental adjustments nor steady evolution are likely to halt the decline of the traditional pharmaceutical business model. As technology and behavioral science converge, the focus is increasingly shifting to disease prevention. Experts believe revenues will fall well short of forecasts as current projections, as well as business and operating models, do not reflect the turbulence in the marketplace. Since the global outbreak of COVID 19 early this year, a wide range of researchers, backed by public and private funders, have accelerated their efforts to develop vaccines and/or treatment for this deadly pandemic ‘COVID 19’. As a result, pre-clinical research and clinical trials have increased significantly. Hundreds of clinical trials have been registered since the beginning of 2020. Most of them test drug candidates but several vaccine candidates are also being tested. Testing many different approaches can increase the chances that at least one, or a few, candidates are successful. Let us together examine/understand the following:
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03 Oct Saturday 7.00AM |
Vijay Talele
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Idea Validation and Market sizing Eventbrite Link for Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122643948351
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04 Oct Sunday 7.00 AM |
Hon’ble Vijay Keshav Gokhale |
Only for GMG members “India’s policy in its strategic neighbourhood”. This would outline how our concept of neighbourhood has changed over the 70 year period, how our policy has evolved and our relationships with the neighbourhood including China. |
10 Oct Saturday 7.00 AM |
Shrikant Nistane |
Mobility Eventbrite Link for Registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122891229977 Founder and CEO of Crave InfoTech - SAP, Zebra and HERE technology Partner company helping global customers to realize their digital transformation goals. Co-founder of HARP Capital group – Investing in Hospitality commercial real estate in North America. In this webinar we shall discuss:
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17 October Saturday 7.00AM |
Sudhir Kadam |
Value Proposition and Messaging Eventbrite Link for Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122894884909 Webinar synopsis Successful startups are built on the strength of Value Propositions that strongly resonate with the customers, differentiate your offering, and give customers the reason why they should choose you over others. Value Propositions are core to your product offering and your business models are built around them. Companies that fail to craft unique value propositions struggle to engage potential investors, customers, strategic partners, and therefore risk failure. Sudhir Kadam, Startup Guru in the Silicon Valley, will explain the process successful startups follow to create compelling value propositions, that have elements of product-market-fit embedded in them, and how to communicate these with effective messaging to build your market positioning. |
24 October Saturday 7.00AM |
Lalit shinde |
Comprehensive Cybersecurity using ML and AI Eventbrite Link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122898581967 Key points covered in this Webinar: --Current Cybersecurity Trends. --What does Comprehensive Cybersecurity mean? --Key ingredients to achieve it and role of ML and AI. --Current Covid-19 Pandemic impact on cybersecurity. --Couple of real world use cases walk through.
Who Should Attend
Lalit is an incisive, results-driven, and visionary executive with an exceptional record of developing breakthrough products and driving introduction to generate significant revenue, competitive advantage, and market share. |
25 October Sunday 7.30 AM |
On the auspicious day of Dassera , GMG is launching three initiatives |
Skasham: GMG's ambitious initiative to tackle 'Digital Divide' Formation of GMG Women Faculty Gaurav: First issue of Bimonthly publication. |
31 October Saturday
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Sudhri Kale |
Customer Journey Mapping for Startups and Enterprises Eventbrite Link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122901524769 A customer journey is defined as a customer’s interactions with one or more product (goods or service) providers to achieve a specific goal.Acustomer journey map creates a visual depiction of the customer journey and is an efficient tool for communication, decision making, and governance. The technique has been growing in popularity not only among customer experience (CX) professionals but also within marketing, user experience, product management, customer service and IT professionals. Founders of startup businesses should find this tool to be a vital component of their go-to-market strategy. This seminar will provide attendees with a solid understanding of the concept of customer journeys and will provide specific instructions on mapping them. Specifically, you will learn:
Seminar Leader Sudhir Kalé, Ph.D., has spent more than three decades as a professor, consultant, and researcher. He is currently the Founder and CEO of GamePlan Consultants, a boutique consultancy which has advised clients on five continents. Dr. Kalé combines scientific rigor with hands-on practitioner experience to provide cutting-edge solutions to his clients. He bringsa very strong academic and research background with over 4,000 citations of his work. His consulting and research spans the areas of customer experience, service quality, loyalty programs, branding, organizational culture, business transformation, employee engagement, CRM, service blueprinting, casino marketing, and responsible gaming. He has consulted on customer journeys with large multibillion-dollar companies such as Wynn Macau, Galaxy Macau, and Sands China Ltd. --What is a Customer Journey Map? --What is Buyer Persona? --How to Map a Customer Journey? --Applications of Customer Journey Maps --Using Customer Journey Maps for Innovation. |
Dr. Chinmay Soman (https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Chinmay-Soman )
and Dr. Girish Chowdhary
Friends sicne 5 th grade, they went their separate ways for higher education - getting PhDs in nano-biotechnology and aerospace engineering respectively. In 2010 they got back in touch - picking up their friendship - and started looking for opportunities to work together on a high-impact opportunities to collaborate on and the 'Earthsense' was born: https://www.earthsense.co/
EarthSense - a Marathi-founded Startup Creating Robots for Farmers Around the World
With climate change, population growth, and environmental degradation, farming is under increasing stress. In 2016, Chinmay Soman and Girish Chowdhary founded EarthSense with a mission of improving the livelihood of farmers around the world through advanced robotics and AI solutions. Chinmay and Girish have been friends since 5th grade - when they met in Jnana Prabodhini in Pune.
Since the beginning, EarthSense has worked with farmers and agricultural scientists from around the world. Based on a thorough understanding of pain points across agriculture, the EarthSense team has created their unique robotics and AI platform with multi-million dollar funding from the US government and support from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Since 2018, EarthSense has been selling their first product - the “TerraSentia” robot and associated machine-learning algorithms. The TerraSentia platform is helping major seed and agrochemicals companies and agricultural scientists around the world create better varieties of crops including maize, soybean, cotton, wheat, and more. EarthSense is now also testing their next generation robots with farmers. These next-generation robots will help farmers manage herbicide resistant superweeds, reduce fertilizer use, and improve soil quality.
The cutting edge work at EarthSense has been recognized in multiple ways, including a feature article in the New York Times, as well as $1.3 Million in research grants from the US government. In 2019, EarthSense also raised a $1 Million venture funding. EarthSense is currently working with investors around the world to raise a $4 Million funding round.
To learn more and work with EarthSense, please contact hello@earthsense.co
INVITATION
To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/120809433267
Webinar on Design Thinking by Madhav Dabke a practicing design thinker and a management consultant helping global clients to deliver transformation technology programs.
Saturday 19 September 2020, at 7.00 AM California Time, 3.00 PM London, 7.30 PM India.
He is a banker turned technology consultant and has wide experience across geographies. He has helped clients in developing innovation led strategies with human centric approach over system driven thinking.
In this webinar, he will introduce:
Please fill up and submit the Google form to have better connect with the speaker:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Y55cmLgUd4dgYcguSdiD_JrzduNRP6gkVlLeLgp2Gng/edit
To know more about Innovation Academy:-
Dr.Anuradha Chougule (Sandhya Deodhar) and Shri. Datta Nadkarni co-wrote this article.
Dr Anuradha Chougule, Professor and Scientist – Molecular Diagnostic and Translational Medicine, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
Datta Nadkarni, member of Garje Marathi Global, global strategy consultant, explain why a wider adoption of liquid biopsy techniques in India could detect cancer much earlier, reduce burden on the limited cancer hospitals while saving a lot of lives – all at much lower patient costs
Early detection is the holy grail of cancer management. In clinical oncology, the current clinical practice for diagnosis and treatment decisions are based on methods like tissue biopsy, imaging techniques (CT, MRI, or PET Scans), and cytology. The information gained from these approaches is static in time, coarse grained, because they provide little detail at the molecular/genomic level about the underlying cancer. During a particular tissue biopsy the surgeon may or may not capture the precise tumour cells in the tissue sections captured for histopathology / morpohology, which then determines the next steps for treatment. Further these surgical tissues biopsies cannot be iterative given the patient’s frailty, tolerance for invasive procedures, costs etc. The presence of interpatient tumor heterogeneity complicates treatment decisions. However, tissue biopsy remains the gold standard in diagnosing the various histolopathology types and subtypes of solid tumours.
One of the biggest advantages of liquid biopsy (LB) is the ability to detect the cancer biomarkers in blood and malignant body fluids earlier than conventional methods like tissue biopsy. Current research literature in precision medicine suggests that liquid biopsy is indicated for advanced and metastatic solid-tumour cancers, before first-line therapy, or as the cancer progresses. However, it is not indicated for hematologic malignancies and early stage cancers (stages I or II). This emerging new technology has revolutionised the genomic profiling and led to precision medicine like Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor therapy (TKI).
The existence of liquid biopsy (cfDNA) was first demonstrated in 1948 by Mandel and Metais. During the programmed cell death (apoptosis) and necrosis, the dead cells are engulfed by macrophages and other scavenger cells (phagocytosis). However when macrophage phagocytosis is exhausted, there is increased nucleosome (shed DNA fragments) amounts released into the bloodstream. These “shed DNA” fragments are the circulating-free DNA (cfDNA).
Similarly, during tumour necrosis, shedding of nucleosomes by malignant tumours result in release of circulating-tumour DNA (ctDNA) along with cfDNA. This ctDNA causes changes in the genomic sequence (genetic mutations) within the patient’s normal genes. The circulation of ctDNA via the lymph and blood circulation spreads the disease to other organs – and is termed “metastasis”.
The genomic profiling of plasma-shed ctDNA is an emerging multimodal diagnostic tool for the therapeutic approach in clinical oncology. Their presence can be analysed by using plasma, urine, saliva and other malignant body fluids cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), pleural effusion, pericardial and ascitic fluids, which are close to the tumour.
Dr S D Banavali, director, academics, Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) said,“We at Tata Memorial Hospital pioneered liquid biopsy testing in India particularly in Lung cancer. Because of the site and size of the tumour in lung cancer, “tissue is the issue”, and hence detection of driver oncogenic mutations in liquid biopsy becomes more advantageous over tissue biopsy”.
Dr Kumar Prabhash, head, medical oncology, TMH states,“In one of our published data, a high concordance (96.96 per cent) between tissue biopsy and ctDNA for oncogenic driver mutations was observed, showing a false negative rate of only around 3 percent which is acceptable. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of the assay were 91.1 per cent, 100 per cent 100 per cent, 95.6 per cent, and 97 per cent, respectively.”
With the advent of high throughput technology and with several notable studies in cancer, testing of liquid biopsy (plasma ctDNA) is becoming more popular to identify somatic driver actionable mutations, and predictive and prognostic biomarkers in various cancer tumours in the oncology clinic. Further, LB can also be effectively used to monitor the efficacy of TKI (Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor) treatments and evaluation of resistance mechanisms in the human body. The biomarkers other than plasma ctDNA liquid biopsy include circulating cell-free tumour DNA (ctDNA), circulating tumour cells (CTCs), exosomes, tumour-derived RNA, and tumour-educated platelets. The analyses of these biomarkers are still being researched, and has not yet been approved for routine testing.
Dr G S Bhattacharyya, medical oncologist (Kolkata) and member of ESMO Global Policy and WHO Steering Committee states, “Genomic or liquid biopsy tests hold great potential to improve patient outcomes by selecting targeted treatment and monitoring response and forms an important armamentarium for personalised and precision medicine . These tests can be used to guide initial therapy, identify relevant clinical trials, and help us understand and tailor therapy based on mechanisms of resistance, they can also be used for cancer screening and early detection.”
For tissue biopsy a larger team of CT Scan, intervention radiologist, on site pathologist, technician to make blocks, pathologist, molecular pathologist or molecular biologist is essential whereas for LB the essential team is just a phlebotomist, molecular pathologist or biologist. In tissue only 18 percent of patients get their complete tissue genotyping, however this number can greatly improve by performing a liquid biopsy. A cross-sectional observation study regarding patients and their physician’s willingness to wait for driver mutation report on the tissue biopsy is just 35 percent. In lung cancer there are several procedural complications of CT guided biopsy, of pneumothorax, pneumothorax with a need for intervention, pulmonary haemorrhage, haemoptysis with spontaneous haemostasis and haemothorax, and hence LB ( partial invasive procedure) testing, predominantly overcomes all these complications.
In terms of time management the reporting of genomic profiling is much faster than tissue biopsy (seven days versus 15 days) and since liquid biopsy bypasses all the surgical procedures, it is highly cost effective.
In normal subjects, the concentration of plasma cfDNA ranges from less than 10 ng/ml to more than 100 ng/ml. The half-life of cfDNA is between 16 mins to 2.5 hours. In cancer patients, ctDNA represents a small proportion of total cfDNA, varying from less than 0.1 per cent to over 10 per cent according to the tumour burden, cancer stage, cellular turnover, and response to therapy. For the accurate analysis of downstream pathways of genomics, an algorithm of plasma separation and extraction of ctDNA has to be implemented meticulously. In case of in-house sample analyses, the sample can be drawn in routine K2 EDTA vacutainer, whereas, the sample which is transported to a reference Laboratory, has to be collected in special vacutainers (Streak, PAX gene etc..) having larger stability of 48 hours, to prevent the plasma from degrading. Once the sample reaches the laboratory it is very important to separate out the plasma within two hours and stored at -80 C till the cfDNA is extracted. There are several commercial DNA-extraction KITS based on different principles like column based, magnetic bead based and silicon based etc. For genomic profiling the samples are processed on NGS (next generation sequencing) platform. It is an unmet need for the samples to be sent out only to a certified (NABL /CAP) Laboratory, who can then provide a final report outlining the detected genomic alterations.
Significance of liquid biopsy testing
The highly dynamic clonal evolution of the tumour over time warrants longitudinal surveillance of the molecular landscape of the tumour. This cannot be efficiently achieved with tissue biopsy samples alone, and requires an alternative approach. Due to the rapid turnover rate of tumours, tumour materials such as nucleic acids, vesicles, and viable cells are constantly released into the circulation. Liquid biopsy can be used to frequently assess the dynamic molecular landscape of tumour with the least cost or discomfort to the patient.
Challenges of liquid biopsy
Liquid biopsy plasma ctDNA has approximately 86 per cent chance of positive detection across all solid tumour types. It is a promising biomarker in advanced/metastasis cancer disease. However a negative liquid biopsy test result may not indicate an absence of tumour oncogene. So here a tissue biopsy analysis is recommended. LB can also be challenging in early stages of cancer because of low ctDNA levels in the body fluids. The presence of mutations in plasma does not establish that these mutations are originating from a particular cancer and does not establish its histologic type and subtype. ctDNA reflects the genome of dying tumour cells and not the existing tumour cells or resistant population, and hence cannot provide the exact origin of the mutation.
The registry of new patients of various cancer types in Tata Memorial Hospital alone is approximately 75,000 / year. The World Cancer Report said that according to the estimated cancer burden in India in 2018, there are about 1.16 million new cancer cases, 784,800 cancer deaths, and 2.26 million 5-year prevalent cases in India’s population of 1.35 billion. Projections suggest that this figure will increase to 1.70 million by 2035. Approximately 87 per cent of these patients seek medical attention in advanced stages of disease. This contributes to India’s very high mortality-incidence ratio of 0.68 which is substantially higher than that of high-income countries. In addition to late-stage presentation, other factors that likely contribute to poor cancer outcomes in India include limited health system infrastructure, a scarcity of oncologists, and patients’ inability to afford cancer treatment.
Cancers of oral cavity and lungs account for over 25 per cent of cancer deaths in males and cancer of breast and oral cavity account for 25 per cent cancers in females. As seen in the diagram, the top five cancers in men and women account for 47.2 per cent of all cancers; the mortality rate of these cancers can be significantly reduced or prevented, if screened, diagnosed and treated at an early stage. In this era of personalised medicine, there is a huge unmet need for early diagnosis and early treatment protocols, particularly in solid tumours. The crude cancer incidence rate was highest in Kerala and Mizoram, followed by Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Assam.
A wider adoption of liquid biopsy techniques in India could detect cancer much earlier, reduce burden on the limited cancer hospitals while saving a lot of lives – all at much lower patient costs.
So to conclude, LB is similar to tissue biopsy, less invasive and safer for patients, less tedious to perform, requires less manpower than tissue biopsy, and last but not least it is cost effective and can be performed at any remote place in India and can save millions of lives of cancer patients.
Prominent Indian oncologists at the “user-end” attest to the efficacy of LB
Says Dr Hemant Malhotra, president, Carcinogenesis Foundation – India, and professor and head, dept. of medical oncology, Sri Ram Cancer Center, MGMC Hospital, Jaipur,“I have no doubt in my mind that, with the advancement of technology and techniques, and the ever increasing need for tissue, this modality is going to become more and more important in the near future”.
“In oncology, liquid biopsy helps us make the right decision for treatment of patients in many ways. When tissue biopsy is not possible or fails; when the biopsy needs to be done at frequent intervals; when additional mutations driving disease progression need to be identified; when targeted treatment is commenced, changed or stopped; when patient develops unusual features that do not match the natural history of the cancer. I cannot think I can do justice to many of my cancer patients without the benefit of proper use of liquid biopsy,”says Dr Purvish Parikh, group oncology director, academics and academic professor of medical oncology, Shalby Cancer & Research Institutes, India.
“Liquid biopsies are essentially using blood, serum or other body secretions including but not limited to urine, saliva, sputum. Sampling blood seems very attractive as this helps us to overcome the tumour heterogeneity – a shortcoming of limited tumour biopsy. It can also be done serially at various time points to study the tumour progression, response to therapy and to look at genetic changes that could help us to tailor treatment,” states Dr K Govind Babu, consultant medical oncologist, St Johns Medical College and Hospital, HCG Hospitals, Bangalore.
Published with permission from Dr. Anuradha Chougule and Datta Nadkarni
We at Garje Marathi Global, are happy to inform that Manoj Prabhakar Kulkarni, the member of the Strategic Committee of Garje Marathi has recently been awarded a Doctorate in Business Administration for his research in Supply Chain Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His specific research aais strategic sourcing in automotive component industry in China and its implications on supply chain performance. As he presented his thesis, one of the external examiners mentioned that his research constitutes an important contribution to the empirical literature on strategic sourcing in automotive supply chain management.
He is currently the head of the corporate supply chain at Johnson Electric, a Hong Kong-based multinational company, the leading manufacturers of micro motors.
He is an expert in supply chain management and has over thirty years of experience in establishing supply chains in the engineering industry globally as well as locally. Over the last thirty years he has held various positions in various Indian, American, European and Asian companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford Motors, Emerson Electric, Rosemount Measurement, Johnson Electric.
He has visited more than 800 engineering companies around the world and conducted detailed audits of several companies. As a result, he has experience working in different business cultures in different countries.
Over the past few years, he has focused on the Asia-Pacific region. He has been living in China for the last ten years to study this rapidly evolving geographical area. Initially he worked for a Chinese company in Shanghai for a few years and later moved to Hong Kong. With his extensive experience in working for Asian managements, he has an in-depth knowledge of Asian business culture and systems, which is relevant to the area of his study.
Manoj was known as a high achieving student from primary school as he was awarded the National Merit Scholarship in Class X and XII Board Examinations. He holds a degree in Production Engineering from KJ Somaiya College and a degree in Management Science from SP Jain Management Institute.
Even though he is a science student, he has been interested in Marathi language and social work since his early. He established a Marathi Mandal at Dahisar, Mumbai twenty years ago. While living in Shanghai, he was the President of the Shanghai Marathi Mandal. There he was successful in showcasing local Marathi talent by conceptualising programmes that included theatre performances, singing, dancing and much more.
Currently he has been the President of Hong Kong Maharashtra Mandal for the last 4 years. Last year, he has formed a group of Maharashtra Mandals in the eastern part of Asia - "Purva Bandh"
He has written some books for children and also edited the books of Shri. RatnakarMatkari, Shri. Dilip Prabhavalkar, Shri. ShirishKanekar.
Manoj was raised in the Marathi middle class environment of Mumbai and educated in Marathi medium school in Goregaon.
He says, “the study of doctorate at the age of 50 was a journey of making a dream into reality; the journey from an engineer to doctor, the journey from industrial world to academia with the help of God’s grâce, my parent’s blessings, my passion and support from everyone that met me throughout the journey. The real challenge was, to manage all at a time - the job in multinational company, the presidentshipof Maharashtra Mandal and study for doctoral thesis.”
Sep 14, 2020
Sanika Kulkarni is a final year Literature and Communication student at the University of Hong Kong. She is currently interning at a Hong Kong based tech and entrepreneurship magazine called Jumpstart. Jumpstart is a media company dedicated to "making innovation matter". More than just a media company, they provide resources, support, and education to startup founders, industry leaders, and creative game-changers.
Recently, she has written an article discussing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the art industry. This article provides great insight in understanding the impact on non-traditional industries such as the arts. This is an industry that has shown growth, innovation and adaptability during a global health crisis like this to continue to produce and distribute content. She mentions how the lockdown has urged people to turn to art for comfort as the viewership for platforms such as Netflix has significantly increased.
Drive-in concerts, and cinemas, zoom theaters and virtual exhibitions have become the new ways of artistic expression. At the end of the article, she raises some questions such as, the advantages of the changes seen by this industry and if this pandemic has changed the way we consume art forever.
You can access the article through this link on Jumpstart Magazine's website:
https://www.jumpstartmag.com/the-post-pandemic-face-of-the-arts-industry/
Aditi Potnis, Qatar, Member of Model United Nations
Albert Einstein once said, ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’ The relevance of this particular quote in the contemporary world is exemplary.
The youth of our world can come up with the best possible solutions and solve the issues that our world is currently facing in political, social as well as economic scenarios because their way of thinking is different. The best way to increase our exposure to these global issues is through Model United Nations.
MUN is a platform where students assume the roles of nations and work towards solving a global issue in a committee room along with several other aspiring delegates. I have been a part of the MUN community for 4 years and I have gained a plethora of knowledge and confidence through it. I have attended over 10 in person conferences as a delegate, I am the standing director of the MUN club at my school and I have also held positions on the secretariat board in 2 MUNs. Furthermore, I was also chosen to represent my school GCIMUN which is an international yearly conference held in New York. Currently I am also a part of the secretariat for an MUN conference that is gathering funds which it will further donate to a local charity which aids the education of kids who cannot afford it. We are working towards making the most out of the quarantine situation by providing a conference opportunity to aspiring candidates as well as doing charitable work. The MUN community not only yields confident, diplomatic candidates who would strive to make a difference in the real world, but it also provides a sense of importance and gratitude towards the world. The world isn’t short of problems, but it is short of people willing to put these problems on their top priority. MUN helps me make my contribution to fixing these issues. This platform has built up my character to unfathomable heights and has made my persona congenial.
Aditi Potnis , Qatar
In addition to the series of accomplishments made by Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS), in first week of August, MWPS surpassed another milestone when about 175 stranded migrants travelled back home to Chennai from Bahrain. MWPS was instrumental in chartering Gulf Air flight for the first time in their endeavor.
Theimpact of thePandemic isin job loss across the globe, Gulf countries are no exceptions. Under “Covid-19 relief drive” MWPS volunteers are providing assistance including, basic ration kits,medication etc.tothe unskilled migrantworkerswho have no job, no pay. Untilnow, 12000kits have been distributed andarebeing continued. MWPS is also financing the air tickets for repatriation of these stranded migrants of all Nationalities.
Personally, in my career of community service in Bahrain for over 10 years as well as in profession of teaching Physics more than 30 years, I am able to give back to the society, though my contribution is very little in spreading the pollens of humanity.
Neelaja Shrotre is a member of steering committee of Garje Marathi Global-Bahrain Chapter and has shared her achievements in the field of community service to those who were adversely affected by Covid-19 pandemic in Bahrain. Neelaja has been providing active support and overseeing this humanitarian work in her capacity as a General Secretary of MWPS, Bahrain based NGO. She is keenly interested in increasing awareness among unskilled work force aboutoccupational safety, health and hygiene while advocating their legal responsibilities and rights as a contribution towards sustainable development of a society in the country of residence.
’चांगल्या संकल्पनांमधून घडतात प्रभावी बदल’
’विविध क्षेत्रांमध्ये आणि लोकांच्या आयुष्यावर आपला प्रभाव पडेल अशा प्रकारचे संकल्पनाधारित काम करण्यावर मी कायमच भर दिला आहे. अशा कामाला प्राथमिकता दिली आणि त्यातून ओघाने आर्थिक लाभ होत राहिले. साधारणत: पाश्चिमात्य संकल्पना उद्योग क्षेत्रांमध्ये वापरल्या जातात. मात्र, आरोग्य सेवांच्या अर्थसाहाय्याबाबत भारतात होणारे काम हे इतरांसाठीही उदाहरण आहे असे मला वाटते,’ अमेरिकेत सॅन डिएगो येथे राहणाररे व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ अश्विन अभ्यंकर सांगतात.
अश्विन अभ्यंकर यांचे शालेय शिक्षण हडस हायस्कूल येथे तर इंजीनिअरिंगचे शिक्षण यशवंतराव चव्हाण कॉलेज ऑफ इंजिनीअरिंग येथे झाले. काही काळ नोकरी करून त्यांनी युनिव्हर्सिटी ऑफ लॉस एंजेलिस येथून एमबीए पूर्ण केले. या शिक्षणादरम्यान आणि पुढील काळात त्यांनी मानवी स्वभावाचा अभ्यास, वर्तनात सकारात्मक बदल घडवून आणणे या बाबत अभ्यास आणि काम सुरू केले. कॉर्पोरेट कंपन्यांबरोबर काम करताना व्यक्ती आणि कंपनी अशा दोघांनाही लाभ होईल अशा संकल्पनांवर ते काम करतात. अमेरिकेतील सुमारे दोन दशकांच्या कारकीर्दीत घरकर्ज, अर्थपुरवठा, आरोग्यसेवा, उत्पादन अशा विविध क्षेत्रात सकारात्मक संकल्पना राबविण्यात त्यांना यश आले आहे. अश्विन हे प्रख्यात व्यवस्थापन तज्ज्ञ डॉ. सी.के.प्रहलाद यांचे जावईदेखील आहेत. डॉ. प्रहलाद आणि पत्नी दीपा प्रहलाद यांच्या साथीने त्यांनी या विषयावरील पहिल्या पेटंटचेही लिखाण केले होते.
नागपुरातील उद्योजकतेला उत्तेजन
या व्यावसायिक कामांबरोबरच अभ्यंकर हे उद्योजकतेला प्रोत्साहन देणार्या विविध उपक्रमांमध्येही सहभागी आहेत. वायसीसीईसारख्या संस्थांच्या माध्यमातून इंजिनीअरिंग आणि इतर क्षेत्रातील उद्योजकतेला विविध मदत करण्याचे काम ते करतात. टीआयईच्या नागपूर शाखेचे ते संस्थापक सदस्य आहेत. भारतातील स्टार्टअप्ससाठी काम करणार्या आयहबसारख्या उपक्रमांशी ते जोडले आहेत तसेच विविध स्टार्टअप कार्यक्रमांमध्ये ते वक्ते म्हणूनही सहभागी होत असतात. प्रोव्हिजनल पेटंट्स तसेच विविध औद्योगिक संकल्पनांवर ते पत्नी दीपा यांच्यासह सातत्याने लिखाण करीत असतात. विविध कंपन्यांच्या सल्लागार मंडळांवरही ते कार्यरत आहेत. अर्थसेवा क्षेत्रात त्यांनी केलेल्या कामाबद्दल त्यांना एमव्हीपी पुरस्काराने सन्मानित करण्यात आले असून प्रतिष्ठित फॉर्च्युन मासिकातही त्यांच्या कामावरील लिखाण प्रसिद्ध झाले आहे. कॅलिफोर्नियातील थाउजंड ओक्स या शहराच्या शहर गुंतवणूक आढावा समितीवरही नियुक्ती करण्यात आली होती. अश्विन अभ्यंकर हे पत्नी दीपा यांच्यासह ग्रामीण आणि शहरी भारतातील घरांची छते या क्षेत्रातही काम करतात.
जंगल व्यवस्थापन संकल्पनांवर काम
या व्यावसायिक कामाबरोबरच अश्विन यांना जंगलांची विशेष आवड असून भारतात दरवर्षी होणार्या भेटीदरम्यान नागपूरभोवतालच्या जंगलांमध्ये पर्यटनाला जात असतात. मानव-वन्यजीव संघर्ष कमी करणे, जमिनीखालील पाण्याची पातळी वाढविणे, जंगलांवर अवलंबून असलेल्यांसाठी रोजगारनिर्मिती इत्यादी क्षेत्रातही ते काम करतात. याशिवाय, टेनिस हा त्यांचा आवडता खेळ असून आपल्या मुलाबरोबर ते विविध स्पर्धांमध्येही सहभाही होत असतात.
Credit:- mandar.moroney@timesgroup.com Tweet: @MandarMoroneyMT, Maharashtra Times, Nagpur.
Published with permission from Ashwin Abhyankar
GMG New Zealand chapter has been formally launched after completing the formalities on 24th August 2020.
The journey of chapter formation has been quite interesting.
Anand Ganu was in touch with several individuals across New Zealand and was keen on getting the local chapters started. New Zealand is famous for a saying that generally there is only 2 degrees of separation between any 2 people. And it turned out to be true as the people Anand had contacted knew each other very well. This led to a mutual trust and exchange of notes on how to get this done.
Given the geography of NZ the founding trustees quickly agreed on a few points while forming the chapters
• A single pan NZ entity to be formed to cater to entire NZ
• Individual cities will work as a local branch of the national chapter.
• Auckland (Prashant Belwalkar), Wellington (Prachee Gokhale) and Christchurch (Sudhir Joshi,
Shirish Paranjape) were decided to be the foundation cities with named Trustees.
• Prashant raised his hand with the support of the team to look at forming the constitution and register the entity
• This work was completed in a month’s time and despite the setback of Covid 19 formally completed the constitution documentation in March 2020.
• It was decided that given the nature of work being carried out by GMG NZ the best option would be to set it up as a Charitable Trust to give it more credibility and sustainability.
• We applied for the registration of the entity with the Charities Commission in April after ensuring that the purpose and intent is clearly confirming to the requirements for a Charitable status.
• Normally a 12 week period is required to complete the formalities. However the Commission was also under pressure due to Covid restrictions and came back with questions on intent and purpose and their relationship with commercial outcomes.
• Extreme care was taken to refer to the founding organisations principles and 4 guiding principles and their relation to Charitable purpose. This was accepted by the Commission as we were explicit of ending the involvement at the commercialization state of help.
• GMG NZ was there to help mentor Maharashtrians and give them wings to expand beyond NZ shores.
The journey took 8 weeks more than our anticipated timeline but the lessons we learnt were valuable.
Some of them are:
• Working under a single entity where possible reduces conflict and gives a nationwide cohesive identity.
• Where possible and able to gain a Charitable trust status as it brings more credibility and easier for receiving grants and funding if required.
• Working with local Marathi cultural institutions as well as student bodies will be of great help.
We are looking forward to formalize our activities and help others to go through the registration process so as to reduce the time required.
Prachee Gokhale, Prashant Belwalkar, Shirish Paranjape and Sudhir Joshi
Honorary member of Garje Marathi Global, Advisory committee, Shri. Narendra Kale https://www.garjemarathi.com/member_details.php?member=Narendra-Kale, says, “We are doing our part in Digital India Movement".
September 11, 2020: Siemens India has integrated its systems with the Air Cargo Community System (ACS) framework at Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) called as GMAX, developed by Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale), to facilitate seamless time-critical functioning.
Siemens aims to have real-time visibility of their shipment movement with standard milestone tracking capabilities along with other useful information from the ACS. Under this framework, Siemens can get real-time updates on cargo movement within their air cargo import ecosystem. Moreover, verification and validation of documents make the framework more viable for the importing community.
“Siemens India, being one of the largest importers through air cargo in India, focuses on automating and digitalizing business processes. All their operations are integrated with the SLAs of their global headquarters. Several of their operations on the air cargo imports side continued to be semi-automated, with data dependency on external stakeholders,” said the release.
Dr Pramod Sant, VP- head of import, export and customs, Siemens India, said, “Time criticality is an essential factor for Siemens. With ACS integration we made the right move to give our organization and stakeholders the immediate value needed during these uncertain times. When we thought about IT solutions for air cargo, Kale was our first choice. Their proven track record of delivering cutting edge technologies for fortune 500 companies globally stands as a testimony to their capabilities. We strongly believe Kale’s ACS will help us meet our long-term strategic business initiatives.
MIAL’s ACS-GMAX
In a bid to foster better communication and effective dissemination of information to trade partners, MIAL introduced ACS-GMAX. The platform is widely used by trade to facilitate business and have real-time shipment visibility. It is one of the most successful and innovative cargo communities in the world with over 2500 stakeholders companies using it on a daily basis. Some of the benefits realized by trade are; faster movement of trucks at the cargo complex, reduced data entry and paper handling. GMAX has also become a shining example for airports not only in India but also worldwide.
Manoj Singh, senior vice president – head of cargo, MIAL said, “Technology plays a very crucial role in ensuring seamless processes at MIAL Air Cargo, and was the primary motivation behind the launch of GMAX in 2013. With the latest upgrade of the portal, we are providing our stakeholders with a single digital point of access to ensure data accuracy and provide real-time cargo status and updates amongst other benefits. The ease of integration of the portal with Siemens speaks volumes about the relevance and future scope of GMAX (ACS from Kale) towards air cargo operations. It also enables us to further extend this service to import consignees, regulators and global airports initially to start with CEIV certified partner airports in a phased manner.”
Amar More, CEO, Kale Logistics Solutions said, “We are delighted to have the likes of Siemens, which is one of the most reputed multinational companies in the world connecting directly and benefiting from the ACS system in Mumbai. Logistics is all about speed, visibility and connecting different stakeholders for efficiency. This is probably another global first for the Mumbai air cargo community wherein the exporter/importer has connected directly with the ACS. We are proud to be part of this initiative and are committed to digitally transform the airport cargo community globally.”
Source and credit: https://www.itln.in/siemens-integrates-directly-with-mials-air-cargo-community-system-aviation
Webinar on Internet of Things, By Dr. Sanjay Bhandari.
12 September 2020, at 7.00 AM California Time
To Register : https://www.eventbrite.com/e/119769408525
First webinar in the series of weekly webinars on 10 Technology Tracks and 10 Business Tracks. This series is precursor of GMG Innovation Academy Start-up Incubation and Acceleration program 2021
Dr. Sanjay Bhandari interfaces with multiple organizations in USA as well as in India for mentoring.
His Ph.D. (IIT Mumbai in 93) was on Artificial Neural Network, ANN/CNN/Deep learning which remains to be a hot topic even now. For last 10 years, he is involved in sensors, edge networks for IoT
Synopsis of webinar by Sanjay Bhandari
Internet of Things (IoT) is forecasted to bring a tectonic shift in the worldwide technology market in the coming decade.
In this webinar, we will discuss:
GMG Innovation Academy’s management committee has announced GMG Innovation Academy Start-up Incubation and Acceleration program 2021
Members of GMG Innovation Academy’s management committee Avinash Padhye, Sameer Padhye, Sanjay Bhandari, Shrikant Nistane, and Vijay Talele are going to be facilitators and moderators of the program.
The program will be preceded by a series of weekly webinars on 10 Technology Tracks and 10 Business Tracks. Webinars will be hosted by Educators, Professionals and Industry Experts from the Team Garje Marathi Global.
Conceptualized on the most auspicious day of चैत्र शुद्ध १, गुढी पाडवा (25 March 2020) and was launched on 16th August 2020 by Hon’ble Devendra ji Fadnavis.
Garje Marathi Global Inc. is a registered corporation in the state of California and has applied for ‘Non- Profit’ status.
GMG Innovation Academy is a Non-commercial activity aimed to assist, guide and mentor start-ups by Marathi promoters
https://www.garjemarathi.com/innovation_academy.html