The “Precision Sangeet Mahotsava” celebrates its 10th year. Dedicated to classical music, this festival began in 2015 and has significantly strengthened Solapur's cultural identity. This year, the festival was held on February 15 and 16, 2025.
On February 15, the festival commenced with a mesmerizing santoor recital by Dr. Shantanu Gokhale, accompanied by Yashwant Vaishnav on the tabla. The second session featured a classical vocal performance by Bhuvanesh Komkali, grandson of the legendary Kumar Gandharva.
On the second day, the first session showcased an enthralling sitar performance by renowned sitarist Shri Asad Khan, with tabla accompaniment by Ustad Akram Khan. The festival reached new heights with a soulful performance by the esteemed vocalist, Padma Shri Pandit M. Venkatesh Kumar.
Dr. Hedgewar Blood Bank, a renowned institution in Solapur, has been actively working in the field of blood donation and supply for the past 34 years. It is recognized as a NAB-accredited charitable organization.
Through the CSR fund of Precision Camshafts Limited, Dr. Hedgewar Blood Bank has been provided with a state-of-the-art centrifuge machine. This machine facilitates the separation of blood components, allowing plasma and platelets to be obtained separately. As a result, it becomes easier to provide these components to patients as per their needs. The highly advanced and automated machine will enhance the efficiency and quality of the blood bank's services.
The machine was formally inaugurated by Dr. Suhasini Shah, Chairperson of Precision Foundation. The event was attended by Dr. Hedgewar Blood Bank's President Ramesh Vishwaroop, Suhas Joshi, Dr. Vijay Shivpuje, Satish Malu, Milind Phadke, Prakash Kulkarni, Dr. Sumedha Kandalgaonkar, and other directors and officials.
Drama as an Effective Medium for Learning
Even the most challenging subjects can be simplified through educational drama. This approach allows students to express themselves while benefiting from the audio-visual nature of drama, which ensures long-lasting retention of concepts. Recognizing its effectiveness, Precision Foundation launched an Abhyas Natya Initiative.
At the beginning of the academic year, 134 teachers from 25 schools in Solapur district received training in educational drama. The training covered scriptwriting for subjects like Science, Mathematics, Geography, and Civics, guiding students in enacting plays, and effectively presenting them in the classroom. This training was conducted by renowned theatre expert Prakash Parkhi.
In the following academic session, a competition was organized among participating schools. A total of 19 plays from 11 schools across the city and district were staged. The team from Hingulambika Primary School secured first place, while Sonomata Prashala, Limyewadi, and Innovative School, Ankoli (Tal. Mohol) won second and third places, respectively.
Additionally, Ashwin Sangave from Hingulambika School won the award for Best Direction, while the Best Scriptwriting award was jointly presented to Ashwin Sangave and Paigambar Tamboli.
The competition was inaugurated with a lamp-lighting ceremony by Dr. Suhasini Shah (Chairperson, Precision Foundation), Prakash Parkhi, and Siddharam Mashale from Sir Foundation.
Public Water Supply in Londhewadi (Taluka Madha, District Solapur) now runs on Solar Power.
Londhewadi is a small village in the Solapur district that has endured drought for generations. The youth of the village came together to tackle water scarcity and participated in the Water Cup competition. Their hard work paid off when they won the first prize at the taluka level, boosting the village's confidence. With immense effort, they transformed the village, implementing various improvements such as concrete roads, covered drains, streetlights, a tourist center, gardens, and a well-equipped school.
Recognizing this progress, Precision Camshafts limited has decided to contribute to the village's development. The company allocated it's CSR funds to transition the village's public water supply system to solar energy. A well located 2 km from the village now pumps water to the main storage tank and supplies the entire village. The entire system, which includes 23 HP water pumps, now runs on solar energy. As a result, the village no longer has to pay electricity bills for water supply.
Book Marks Workshop & Competition
A unique competition for creating book marks was conducted under the ‘Precision Vachan Abhiyan’ with the objective of getting the younger generation to develop interest in books & literature, to start reading and to create a reading movement. Students of class III and IV of Modern School, Solapur participated in this workshop & competition. Dr. Sandhya Raghoji interacted with the children explaining them the importance of books & reading. The students were then taught how to make book marks. Children used their creativity and made some beautiful bookmarks. A competition was held and 3 winners were selected from among the participating students.
The book marks were presented to the chief guest, renowned poet and writer Dr Aruna Dhere, and to the audience at the second ‘Precision Vachan Abhiyan’ program. Dr. Aruna Dhere appreciated this unique bookmark competition.
An innovative project “Abhyas Natya”- use of theatrical skills and other performing arts in teaching and learning - is being introduced with the objective of making the learning experience more interesting for children and helping them develop interest in studies and arts. This involves enacting lessons from the curriculum by the children and staging performances/ plays in the classroom.
A training workshop was organized for teachers from 23 schools from the city and district with the help of Mr. Prakash Parakhi who is an expert in the field of education, particularly in propagating the concept of Abhyas Natya. Mr. Prakash Parakhi had carried out this activity for a period of 8 years in Pune district and saw wonderful results.
The workshop was inaugurated on July 23, 2024, at Modern Highschool Solapur in the presence of Mr. Prakash Parakhi, Dr. Suhasini Shah (Chairperson of the Foundation), Ms. Pragya Bodhe (Principal of Modern School), Ms. Shilpa Joshi (Trustee Modern School) and Siddharam Mashale (Sir Foundation).
This workshop was held for three consecutive days. On the inaugural day 55 teachers from 09 schools attended the full day workshop. Twenty teachers from 6 schools attended the workshop at Shetphal while 55 teachers from 8 schools participated on the last day at and on the third day at Sevasadan High School, Solapur.
The teachers are now expected to use this methodology for teaching in their respective schools by involving children in this process. Precision Foundation will organize a contest at the end of the semester and the best performances will receive prizes.
Why Abhyas Natya?
Abhyas Natya has proved to be a very effective tool for personality development. This concept was included in the previous syllabus and is a part of the new syllabus under the New Education Policy (NEP) Performing arts like dance, music, and drawing carry good weightage in the curriculum and are taught in schools or by private teachers. All these art forms are united in Natya or Drama, however it is a neglected art form in schools. The concept of drama makes learning easy, interesting and the performing in front of an audience leads to overall personality development of children, like improved language skills, stage courage, accepting applause as well as criticism. Those watching the plays get a better understanding of the subject and learn to be a good audience. All arts are meant for expressing our thoughts, and children express themselves more through plays. Studying drama is the need of the hour.
Distribution of Deskits..An innovative school bag with a folding desk!
500 students from 18 primary schools of Solapur district received the innovative Deskit as a part of CSR of Precision Camshaft Limited.
Teachers from all 18 schools received the Deskits in a small program held at Sonamata School, Solapur for further distribution to children in their respective schools.
This innovative school bag is designed by a student of IIT Kanpur after thorough research. The Deskit is useful in schools that do not have desks and children have to sit on the floor. Many of these students particularly from rural areas do not have tables and chairs to study at home. Deskit opens up as a small table on the floor and helps students sit upright with improved posture. This has directly helped their concentration and progress in studies.
Deskits were distributed to 500 students from the following schools: Innovative School, ZP School Bairagwadi, ZP School Mangalvedha Vasti, ZP School Chikhli, ZP School Shivajinagar Mangalvedha, ZP School Siddhewadi Pandharpur, Kamala Nehru School, ZP School Lamboti, ZP School Kudal, ZP School Kegaon, ZP School Khed, ZP School Kondi Tanda, ZP School AmbikaNagar Bale, Ramabai Ambedkar Ashram School Nimburgi, Sonamata High School Limyewadi, ZP School Audi, ZP School Shivajinagar Bale and ZP School Modnimb. (ZP = Zilla Parishad)
Precision through its various educational initiatives has been working for all-round development of underprivileged students particularly from rural areas.
A new initiative ’Precision Vachan Abhiyan’ was started with a bang on July 6, 2024.
The objective of this initiative is to bring together the literature enthusiasts from various Book Clubs operating in the city and also to inspire more and more people to join this movement of reading books.
The advent of TV and excessive use of mobiles has drifted children and elders away from books alike. Precision has been working on developing reading habit in school children with its ‘Password’ project for the last 3 years benefitting 1000 students. The Foundation now aims at bringing the adult population of Solapur to read more books and exposing them to literature in different languages.
This Reading Campaign was launched on Saturday, July 6, 2024 with a Marathi book ‘Walking on the Edge’ by Prasad Nikte. Dr. Sumedha Kandalgaonkar presented the book by reading a few passages (Abhi Vachan) this was followed by an interview with the author Prasad Nikte from Thane who is a trekker & now a writer. He narrated the experiences and highlights of his arduous journey of more than a thousand kilometers on foot in the Sahydris. He walked from Bharad in the Satpuda Mountain range to Chorla, the southern tip of the Sahyadri Mountains over 75 days. The audience had a wonderful interaction with Mr. Nikate in the Q&A session.
The book along with other publications of ‘Sam kaleen publications & Suvidya publications were made available at the venue, Indian Medical Association, Solapur.
We will be inviting authors, poets from all over the state to participate in this initiative and will organize a meet on the first Saturday of every month.
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