Yogita Dighe works as a salesperson at an electronics store in Aundh, an upmarket neighbourhood in Pune, India’s ninth-largest city.
Even though she has a comfortable job, Dighe used to be filled with consternation at the thought of having to use the store’s toilet. It is a unisex space shared by customers and staff, and is “constantly dirty” owing to overuse, being cleaned only once every day or two.
“It smells and I don’t like to enter it,” she says.
A year ago, Dighe discovered a “Ti bus” (“ti” translating as “her” from Marathi) – a restroom inside a decommissioned bus, parked about five minutes away from her workplace. Since then, she’s used it regularly. Cleaned after every use, the toilets within the bus “feel nice and fresh”.
Dighe says she can also wash and freshen up there, since running water and a mirror are always available, unlike the bathroom at her workplacr.
Dighe is not alone. Her peers, women working elsewhere in the market in shops and small offices, as well as female sweepers, vada pav and chai hawkers, security guards and police officers who do not have access to clean toilets in their vicinity, are also regulars, says Manisha Adhav, the attendant who works at the Aundh Ti bus.
Currently, 12 decommissioned city buses in Pune have been converted and refurbished into restrooms by SaraPlast, a private sanitation company.
Located near public parks, bus stops and tourist centres, the buses-turned-bathrooms fulfil a deficit for women not only in Pune, but also in Hyderabad, Andaman and Nicobar’s touristy Neil Island and, as of next month, in Noida and Gandhinagar.
It is common for women in India to scramble to find a clean toilet during their daily commute to work, school or while running errands. Bus stops, crowded markets and even tourist spots either lack hygienic restrooms or don’t have one at all, leading women to avoid drinking water for hours.
The True Cost of Poor Sanitation, the most recent report on the subject conducted by Lixil, WaterAid Japan and Oxford Economics, in 2016, stated that a lack of access to sanitation cost India 5.2 per cent of its GDP in 2015. The situation has not improved much since then.
Every person, whether rich or poor, should have access to a good, clean toilet
Ulka Sadalkar,
director, SaraPlast
Pune has only 1,240 toilets for a population of 6.8 million, according to the Pune Municipal Corporation. Some of these are non-functional, and many others are used as dumping grounds for tobacco and cigarette butts. Most Indian cities also suffer from a lack of constant flowing water in public toilets.
It’s why the team at SaraPlast, which is in the business of building portable toilets for construction sites, decided to build these lavatories for women and children. Each solar-powered bus toilet comes with a full-time female attendant and can be accessed either free of charge or for a fee of 5 rupees (25 fils), affordable even for low-income women.
Prior to the pandemic, the average footfall for restrooms was 150 to 200 per day, says Ulka Sadalkar, SaraPlast’s director.
A study published in the Indian Journal of Gender Studies in 2019, found that women were unable to use public toilets owing to a lack of water, adequate light, accessibility and visibility from main roads, sanitary towel disposal bins and absence of female attendants.
SaraPlast’s toilets check all these boxes. Showers, Indian and western latrines, breastfeeding and baby-changing stations, sanitary towels and drinking water are all included in the buses to meet the needs of every woman.
Vaishnavi Rajput, a business development professional in Pune, has become particularly picky about public toilets since the pandemic started. “I choose the Ti bus over a lot of cafe toilets,” she says.
Sadalkar says: “Every person, whether rich or poor, should have access to a good, clean toilet.”
But to run a sustainable business, the space includes either a kiosk selling masks and juices or an affordable health diagnostic centre, set up on one side of the bus. Banner ads also bring in revenue, which goes towards water supply, electricity, repairs and the salary of the attendant who cleans and maintains the restroom from 8am to 8pm.
In India, a public bus goes out of commission after 15 years. Pune’s transport department recently auctioned 400 buses for scrapping and has 150 more in its stores.
Recycling the body of the buses and building toilets within them prolongs their life by up to two decades, aside from the social service it offers.
Buses are placed where brick and mortar toilets cannot be built owing to a lack of space and infrastructure.
“I don’t have to buy land or get permissions, so it is faster than constructing a concrete toilet,” Sadalkar says. “A bus toilet can also be placed on a heritage site without damaging anything, which is a big advantage.”
While the running costs are borne by SaraPlast, the funding for construction comes from the CSR departments of corporates, while the local municipality office appoints a location, and sorts out connections to existing drainage, water and electricity lines.
Other cities are following in Pune’s footsteps, too. Last year, Bengaluru commissioned SaraPlast to convert a scrapped bus into a toilet and installed it at a bus stop in the city.
The concept was so well received that NK Basavaraju, chief mechanical engineer – production at Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, says: "Now, the city’s transport department is emulating the design to create many more bus toilets.”
* Video shot and provided by SaraPlast
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Omar Yabroudi's factfile
Born: October 20, 1989, Sharjah
Education: Bachelor of Science and Football, Liverpool John Moores University
2010: Accrington Stanley FC, internship
2010-2012: Crystal Palace, performance analyst with U-18 academy
2012-2015: Barnet FC, first-team performance analyst/head of recruitment
2015-2017: Nottingham Forest, head of recruitment
2018-present: Crystal Palace, player recruitment manager
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PROFILE OF HALAN
Started: November 2017
Founders: Mounir Nakhla, Ahmed Mohsen and Mohamed Aboulnaga
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport and logistics
Size: 150 employees
Investment: approximately $8 million
Investors include: Singapore’s Battery Road Digital Holdings, Egypt’s Algebra Ventures, Uber co-founder and former CTO Oscar Salazar
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Brief scoreline
Switzerland 0
England 0
Result: England win 6-5 on penalties
Man of the Match: Trent Alexander-Arnold (England)
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
Tips for newlyweds to better manage finances
All couples are unique and have to create a financial blueprint that is most suitable for their relationship, says Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial. He offers his top five tips for couples to better manage their finances.
Discuss your assets and debts: When married, it’s important to understand each other’s personal financial situation. It’s necessary to know upfront what each party brings to the table, as debts and assets affect spending habits and joint loan qualifications. Discussing all aspects of their finances as a couple prevents anyone from being blindsided later.
Decide on the financial/saving goals: Spouses should independently list their top goals and share their lists with one another to shape a joint plan. Writing down clear goals will help them determine how much to save each month, how much to put aside for short-term goals, and how they will reach their long-term financial goals.
Set a budget: A budget can keep the couple be mindful of their income and expenses. With a monthly budget, couples will know exactly how much they can spend in a category each month, how much they have to work with and what spending areas need to be evaluated.
Decide who manages what: When it comes to handling finances, it’s a good idea to decide who manages what. For example, one person might take on the day-to-day bills, while the other tackles long-term investments and retirement plans.
Money date nights: Talking about money should be a healthy, ongoing conversation and couples should not wait for something to go wrong. They should set time aside every month to talk about future financial decisions and see the progress they’ve made together towards accomplishing their goals.
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J%20Street%20Polling%20Results
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh289,000
Find the right policy for you
Don’t wait until the week you fly to sign up for insurance – get it when you book your trip. Insurance covers you for cancellation and anything else that can go wrong before you leave.
Some insurers, such as World Nomads, allow you to book once you are travelling – but, as Mr Mohammed found out, pre-existing medical conditions are not covered.
Check your credit card before booking insurance to see if you have any travel insurance as a benefit – most UAE banks, such as Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, have cards that throw in insurance as part of their package. But read the fine print – they may only cover emergencies while you’re travelling, not cancellation before a trip.
Pre-existing medical conditions such as a heart condition, diabetes, epilepsy and even asthma may not be included as standard. Again, check the terms, exclusions and limitations of any insurance carefully.
If you want trip cancellation or curtailment, baggage loss or delay covered, you may need a higher-grade plan, says Ambareen Musa of Souqalmal.com. Decide how much coverage you need for emergency medical expenses or personal liability. Premium insurance packages give up to $1 million (Dh3.7m) in each category, Ms Musa adds.
Don’t wait for days to call your insurer if you need to make a claim. You may be required to notify them within 72 hours. Gather together all receipts, emails and reports to prove that you paid for something, that you didn’t use it and that you did not get reimbursed.
Finally, consider optional extras you may need, says Sarah Pickford of Travel Counsellors, such as a winter sports holiday. Also ensure all individuals can travel independently on that cover, she adds. And remember: “Cheap isn’t necessarily best.”
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The five pillars of Islam
Read more about the coronavirus
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
All Black 39-12 British & Irish Lions
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 3
Danilo (16'), Bernardo Silva (34'), Fernandinho (72')
Brighton & Hove Albion 1
Ulloa (20')
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Company%20Profile
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
BIG SPENDERS
Premier League clubs spent £230 million (Dh1.15 billion) on January transfers, the second-highest total for the mid-season window, the Sports Business Group at Deloitte said in a report.
