Vikas Vaidya

By Vikas Vaidya, What does she get to learn in her school? Manjusha Vijay Maske, a second standard girl of E-Anganwadi at Fetri village, with shy smile replies, “Everything!”  Does her teacher read out the things on the blackboard to the students? “No! The board says all the things, we get to see it and listen,” comes the reply from that little child. Manjusha learns in E-anganwadi set up in Fetri, a village adopted by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, just 20 km away from Nagpur. Fetri is a recent example of how a small village can be transformed into a fantastic livable place if a powerful politician adopts it and lets it grow in a different way. Fadnavis adopted it responding to the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had asked all MLAs, MLCs, MPs in the country to adopt one village and develop it.  Fetri has all amenities being developed, including, state of the art hospital, e-Anganwadi, posh administrative office, good infrastructure. T...

Pratik Harde, Prateek Malhotra and Ritu Malhotra By Vikas Vaidya In most houses leftover food is either dumped in sink, bathroom, toilet or by roadside. Often, food containers get stuck in drains leading to choking of drainage line making it difficult for anybody to clear it. The unclear drain, drainage lines and leftovers thrown by roadside pose health hazards to not only the dwellers but also other residents. Taking cognisance of health and hygiene of citizens, three young Nagpurians have come up with a solution -- Ezy Liquid Disposal Bin and Ezy Vomit Bag -- to the growing problem. Their innovation is not only useful in clean disposal of liquid waste but also in converting it in hybrid fertiliser. Acknowledging its usefulness, the product was adjudged ‘The Best Innovation’ by Godrej recently. The young innovators are Pratik Harde, Prateek and Ritu Malhotra. The trio has founded ‘Innovations’ through which they have come up with three more products and acquire...

By Vikas Vaidya With a view to bring transparency in transfers of doctors working in Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Maharashtra, Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER) has decided to consider the grading of doctors for choice transfers. This is probably for the first time in the country that such a decision would be implemented. Till now doctors transferred and most of them got those posting canceled through their various contacts or some never joined the duties at new places. It resulted in services getting hampered. According to sources in Mantralaya these transfers have become headache for the ministries. To find the way out of it, Medical Education department has come up with the solution of providing grading to doctors. Girish Mahajan, Minister of Medical Education told ‘The Hitavada’, “To get the gradation, doctors will have to upload their profile details on department’s website. A, B, C, D gradation will be given as per the details of individual doctors...