Good deed
The Lion's Club, Pune Metro, decided to celebrate Mahavir Jayanti a little differently this year. On March 29, apart from the regular celebrations to mark the day, they organised a blood donation camp in Timber Market. Citizens responded willingly and by the end of the camp 150 bottles of blood had been collected. Lion Deepak Shah, District Governor (Elect) and Lion Virendra Patel, President, Lion's Club, Pune Metro, set the mood for the camp by donating blood themselves.

For our senior citizens
The seventh year of the Association of Senior Citizen's Organisations of Pune (ASCOP) existence was celebrated on March 21 at the Manohar Mangal Karyalaya and was organised by the Prabhat Nagar Senior Citizen's Organisation on behalf of ASCOP. The association began with a membership of six organisations, now it has 52. ASCOP seeks to promote the cause of the senior citizen. It coordinates and guides the activities of the various Pune-based senior citizens organisations, conducts research on gerontology and geriatrics and publishes useful literature among other things. Lt Col MG Athavale, executive president of ASCOP made a presentation on the activities that ASCOP had undertaken in the year. One major achievement has been to have granted the 30 per cent concession on rail tickets for all classes to all those of 65 and above. An organ of ASCOP, the Academy of Senior Citizens has announced that some of its forthcoming projects are workshops in computer technology for senior citizens and the establishment of aGerontology Centre in collaboration with Bharatiya Vidyapeeth.

Media Material
The annual Prabhakar Padhye Memorial Lecture, hosted by PU's Department of Communication and Journalism is back, focusing this time on ``Interactive Mass Media - The Coming Revolution''. The lecture will be by Dev Nadkarni and is to be held at 6.00 p.m. on April 9 at the Ranade Institute Building on FC Road.

From the heart
Developing human resources is the key for a country like ours - Our greatest strength could be our population. And this is what Pragati Learning System (P) Ltd, a consulting and training firm has understood. On March 27, the book `Managing from the Heart' written by Arun Wakhlu was released at the Turf Club. The book is said to neatly encapsulate the essence of the work that Pragati has done to inspire leadership at all levels.

And in another savvy move, they have launched their new website (www.pragatilearning.com), which promises to be useful to managers in corporate organisations, entrepreneurs, youth, people working in NGOs and educationists for it has information on developing human potential.

Insurance study
A seminar on `Privatisation of the Insurance Sector; Problems and Prospects' was organised by Poona College of Arts, Science and Commerce on March 31. Dr SR Dastane, Controller of Examinations, delivered the key-note address where he spoke of the need to open the insurance sector but also to study the consequences of such an action to the economy. Faculty members of the National Insurance Academy presented papers on the problems and prospects of LIC and GIC in this context.

To foreign shores
Sulabha Naik, lecturer at the English department, Modern College, is off to foreign lands on an invitation to the University of Tuebingen, Germany, to attend an international conference. The conference, ``Colonies, Missions, Cultures in the English Speaking World: Dependence, Independence, Interdependence at the Threshold of 21st Century'' will be from April 6 to 11. She will be reading a paper at a seminar conducted by Dr Nobert Platz on April 8. She will also attend ``History of Rhetoric'', a conference at Vrije University, De Boelelaan, Amsterdam between July 12 and 17.