It is family affair for Congress. One day before Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Gandhi family addressed a rally in Nanded, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's wife Amita filed her nomination papers from the Nanded constituency.
Monday was the last day for filing the nominations. This was in the contravention of the candidacy announced by Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar from the same constituency. Bhaskarrao Patil is the brother-in-law of Chavan and is the sitting Member of Parliament of the city.
Chavan, who accompanied Patil while filing latter's papers was also present with his wife while she filed her nomination.
When Chavan was in Nanded three days ago, several party workers had demanded to give the Congress canndidacy to Amita Chavan. Chavan had not given any reaction then. Khatgaonkar had filed his papers thereafter. Suddenly on Monday, Amita filed her papers. It is still an open question as to whether she remains in the fray or not because it is about a week to withdraw the nomination form. Whosever withdraws his papers, the candidate will be still from Chavan family.
Meanwhile, a total of 41 candidates are in the fray for Nanded Lok Sabha constituency. CM's wife was among the 21 candidates who filed their nomination on the last day.
Meanwhile, speaking in the election rally on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said that oppposition parties do not understand what development is.
"They do not talk for the poor. Duniya ko garibon ki nazar se nahi dekhte. (They do not see the world from the eyes of the poor. They know only privatisation and stock markets," Rahul said speaking for barely seven minutes.
What happened to Varun Gandhi is scarcely news now (1, 2 and 3). The drama in the aftermath of that infamous speech of Varun at an election rally has been covered in all its aspects by the media. Still, the pundits are still not sure why Varun, who had managed to keep a low profile till now in his political career of four years, chose to be a radical speaker. Some have termed as rabid the speech made by Varun. Even his party Bharatiya Janata Party has disasociated itself with the stand taken by Varun. Apparently, it does not want to offend the election commission as well as the large middle road voters.
The answer lies in the identity crisis. This crisis lies in case of Varun as well as BJP. Varun Gandhi is a member of the Gandhi family that has ruled for the most of part of last 62 years after India'sindependence. His father, Sanjay Gandhi was heir apparent of the family when Indira Gandhi, Sanjay's mother and Varun's grandmother ruled the Congress government. Sanjay's sudden demise in a plane crash in 1980 paved the way for Rajiv Gandhi to become prime minister four years later. Rajiv himself was killed in 1991 and Varun is now face to face with Rahul, son of Rajiv. Sanjay's tenure as the Congress party leader was marked by sudden zeal and extravagance.
This image still haunts Varun and one expects him to be a shadow of his father. Having failed to Impress upon the mind of the public any achievement of his own, he has no way but to hog the limelight in any way. It is the character of the Indian politics that only stardom sells, people does not go by the credentials of the man. That is why even a Lalu Prasad Yadav could cultivate the dream of becoming prime minister of India. On this background, Varun entered the BJP because he was sure that Congress will not give him the career lift that he wanted.
For BJP, Varun was but a showpiece that it could keep to attract the people. It knew that Varun has little ideological connections with the party but it wanted a piece of the Gandhi family pie. It fell prey to the superstition that a party can occupy the power only if it has a Gandhi in it. That is why, it did not any prominence to this young and ambitious man in last five years. Meanwhile, Rahul came to occupy more and more space in the political stage of the country. Prompting people to compare to Varun not only with Sanjay but with Rahul also.
That put burden on this man who has relatively little experience of political games. Having unable to evaluate himself in terms of the political ideology or action, he went on to rant what he heard from other leaders of his party like Narendra Modi. But he forgot that when Modi roars and world reacts, a large chunk of Gujarati supporters are behind him. Also, Modi himself is so suave that he manages thousands such oppositions from within and without. It has not happened in case of Varun. Barring some loyal supporters of Sanjay, he got support from few quarter. No familiar with such incidences, he first feebly tried to shoo away the controversy saying the CD of the speech was doctored. When he found that the contention was in vain, he tried to become a hero and defiantly surrendered himself to the court. This was because he is not sure what he is.
To allow Varun to grow out of dilemma, one has to stop comparing him to his father or his cousin. Then may be he could think freely and perhaps he can accomplish something.
Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL) has admitted to have erred in the evaluation of the answer sheets by class C & D employees of Zilla Parishads all across the state. This has irked the state government which in turn has ordered that Rs 25 to be deducted from the fees to be paid by ZPs to MKCL.
MKCL is entrusted with the carrying out oonline tests across all departments in the state government. The agency had conducted online examinations for the recruitment of above employees in June 22, 28 and 29. In August, it coveyed to the government that because of some errors in the software system, it has to evaluate all the answer sheets manually. State government had asked to furnish a unified report in this regard. The report was furnished in the month of January.
In the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between MKCL and state, it is mentioned that Rs 125 per application be paid by the ZPs for evaluation of the answer sheets. Now, government has directed the ZPs to pay only Rs 100 per application to MKCL. The order issued by the government says that ZPs have incurred many hassles and courted cases on account of this problem. The reduction of fees is meant to compensate those problems.
This might testify to the image of Pune as a peaceful and cultured city. The district administration has notified just six pooling booths as sensitive out of the 3,453 polling booths in Pune Lok Sabha Constituency.
According to the information given by district collector and district election officer Chandrakant Dalvi, a total of seven thousand police officers are to be deployed in the electioneering process. The administration started to sell nomination forms from
today. But not a single form was sold on the first day.
The administration has classified four buildings in the city as sensitive. The police have received six complaints of violation of code of conduct and action has been taken against three of them.
A new constituency has been added this time to the Pune region. Maval constituency includes parts of Maval, Pimpri Chinchwad as also Uran, Panvel and Karjat falling into Raigad district.
I had written about the controversy over forming a separate office of divisional commissioner in Nanded. (Marathwada Divided, January )The next logical step of the development has been taken now with the forming of a new committe.
A one-member committee comprising retired justice P S Patankar is constituted by the state government to look into the dispute related to creationof separate Nanded revenue division, sources said today, according to agency story. The head quarter of the committee will be in Aurangabad city.
However, the full functioning of the committee will be only after the model code of conduct ends. The committee will hear grievances andobjections from various parties involved in the controversy.
The decision of creating the separate revenue division from existing Aurangabad division was taken by Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in December.The decision deepened the rift between former chief minister Viasrao Deshmukh and Chavhan. On the other hand, three petitions and many supplementarywrits challenging Chavan's decision have been admitted in the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court. State government has issued an order on March 19 for setting up this committee.
RSS Has A New Chief Maharashtrian Brahmin Again At Helm
Rashtirya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Mohan Bhagwat was today elected as the new chief of RSS. He replaces K S Sudarshan who held the top post of Sangh Parivar for nearly nine years. The move is significant as political front of RSS, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is trying hard to regain the power at centre. It is also important because a Maharashtrian Brahmin has returned to this post in the form Bhagwat after about 15 years.
The election of Bhagwat as Sarsanghchalak (RSS chief) came on the second day of the three-day RSS conclave. It is expected to redefine its relationship with the BJP. BJP president Rajnath Singh and Bal Apte, on deputation from RSS, were present on the occasion.
A veterinary doctor by profession, Bhagwat hails from Chandrapur in Maharashtra and became a pracharak (full time volunteer) of RSS from his early years. He is 59-year-old and is the youngest chief of RSS after Guruji Golwalkar who took the mantle in 1940 at the age of 34.
He has good relations with the BJP leadership including L K Advani. His name had recently figured in the ATS chargesheet when one of the accused in the Malegaon blasts had linked him to ISI, a charge he had strongly denied. Before becoming Sarsanghchalak, Bhagwat was the general secretary.He has held various responsibilities including district prachark for Akola, provincial pracharak for Nagpur and zonal prachark for Bihar before being made joint secretary.
Sudarshan's early years as RSS chief were tumultuous with the BJP in power at the Centre at a time when the Sangh Parivar came under attack due to the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat and the Jinnah controversy triggered by Advani during a trip to Pakistan.(Bhagwat, who will be the sixth RSS chief, is the youngest to assume the top post after Guruji Golwalkar. Bhagwat had become general secretary in 2000 when Sudarshan, an electronics and telecommunication engineer, took over the mantle of Sarsanghchalak from Rajendra Singh.
Sudarshan became Sarsanghchalak in 2009 when Rajendra Singh, popularly known as Rajju Bhaiyya stepped down from the post owing to ill health. Before him, it was said that only Chitpawan Brahmin can become the chief of the organisation.
The Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (Marathi Literary Meet) will take place in Mahabaleshwar without any presiding authority. Yes, the meet which is to start from Friday will have no president. This is the first time in the history of the meet that it will be conducted without president.
The meet is scheduled to start in Mahabaleshwar from March 20. Anand Yadav, the path breaking author who started era of rural literature in Marathi was elected as the president of the meet through an election process conducted all over the state. He has written a novel 'Santsurya Tukaram' which has invited wrath from the Warkaris in the state. According to Warkaris, the novel depicts Tukaram in bad light and has defamed the revered saint. After the controversy erupted about a month ago, Yadav had first refused to budge saying that Warkaris do not know what a novel is. Then he relented and withdrew his novel from the market.
Not pleased with this, Maharashtra Warkari Mahamandal, a body of warkaris demanded an apology from Yadav. Two days ago, Yadav submitted his written apology at Dehu, the place of Tukaram. He was reportedly manhandled and abused by warkaris there. Finally, Yadav tendered his resignation on Tuesday. Warkaris had threatened that in case Yadav dose not resign, 10,000 warkaris will start agiatiation in Mahabaleshwar.
"I have nothing to say on this affair. I just gave up the fight so that this annual literary meet is not hampered by some forces," Yadav said two days ago. One day after tendering his resignation as the president elect of 82nd Annual Marathi Literary Meet (Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan). Yadav is in no mood to speak about the extra-constituential censorship.
He said, "What should I do when there are forces bent to disrupt the meet for the sake of a person? In earlier times, people (media) used to come forward in defence of freedom of expression. But this time everybody is silent. I am sorry but I have chosen to be silent." A meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal was conducted yesterday in Mahabaleshwar. It was decided in the meeting that the meet will take place in the absence of a president.
Who is Yadav Anand Yadav, 82 years old, was born in a small village Kagal near Kolhapur. He completed Ph.D. at Pune University. His writing began a new era in Marathi literature called Gramin Sahitya i.e. rural literature.
Yadav's novel Zombi (lit. 'Fight against all odds') won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1990. Zombi is a realistic novel that narrates the story of small 'Andya', his eagerness to learn, his life in sheer poverty, his loving mother and illiterate rural father.
His second novel, "Nangarni" (cultivation of the soil), is a sequel to "Zombi". It narrates his struggle during youth and the challenges he faced in settling down in life. The third autobiographical novel of this series, "Gharbhinti", describes his adult life--his marriage, daughters' education and support of family back in Kolhapur.
Can a Good Morning kill you? Literally. A villager in Supe learned this hard way before he bid goodye to the world.
According to a PTI story, SunilJadhav, 42 years, lost his life due to the members of Good Morning squad chasing him. The incident led to tension in the village.
Jadhav owned a barber shop. He took fright when "Good Morning" squad comprising Panchayat officials, gave him a chase as he ran towards home. He suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the way, police said, adding Jadhav could have been a heart patient.
The tragic incident enraged villagers and relatives of the deceased refused to take charge of the body. Finally, tehsildar of the area gave a written assurance of financial help to the bereaved family settling the matter. Local residents said they were not able to use toilets built due to paucity of water being experienced in the summer.
Good Morning squad consists of district administration officers. It is formed to drive away the villagers from defecating in the open and use toilets instead. The squad members chase the people who defecate in the open or charge a fine who are caught 'red hand.'
The first election rally for the Bharatiya Janata Party was a dismal picture today. Even a leader like Narendra Modi could not save the rally from being a poor show. Modi launched the election campaign of BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra with this rally. There simply was not the enthusiasm in the workers which is like fodder to the election process. The meeting was marred by the incidences which attracted attention from reporters like me.
First of all, there was not a good speaker at the rally to so with. Also, the local people were very negligible with people pouring in from other cities. Leaders from other parties like Shiv Sena, which has a 20 year old alliance with BJP were not there also. The internal bickering of the party came to fore when some activists started playing drums and bands exactly when the party’s city chief Girish Bapat came to speak. The noise of their drum playing subsided only after Bapat sat down.
The party workers raved only Modi came on dais and started his speech. In his inimitable style, he fired some salvo targeting Congress party and United Progressive Alliance. He alleged that CAG report has found a huge sum of Rs 50,000 crore unaccounted for and "missing" from the 'Central government coffers'. Clad in white kurta and pajama, Modi was in his usual element and regaled his ‘audience.’
Speaking before a congregation of over 30,000 people, Modi attacked the center’s policy on terrorism and its approach towards Pakistan. Even though its nothing more than rhetoric, still it is Modi’s rhetoric!
Pune had a bit of showers today. The temperature is 36.5 degree celsius which is still two degree above the normal. It is a bit abnormal for showers to come in March. Also, IIndia Meteorological Department has announced in the second successive month that February was the excessively warm month. In the last month, IMD had brought out a report titled ‘Warm January 200' It said that January was the warmest month in many decades.
The report said, "January is generally considered as the coldest month. During first week of January, both maximum and minimum temperatures were below to appreciably below normal over many parts of Indo-Gangetic plains and also over some pockets of adjoining central India. Thereafter, there was a gradual increase in the temperatures. During second half of the month, both minimum and maximum temperatures were considerably above normal on many days. During the last ten days of January, particularly from Jan. 22, several stations have recorded abnormally above normal temperatures, surpassing the past records of extreme maximum temperatures.”
Pune surpassed its recording of maximum temperature twice on Jan. 22 and 26. Breaking the previous record of 35 degree Celsius set in 1938, the city witnessed maximum temperature of 35.3 degree Celsius on Jan. 26.
February Again The latest report titled 'A report on exceptionally high temperatures during February 2009' says, "Mean maximum temperatures for the month were above normal by 2- 4ºC over most parts of central , adjoining east & peninsular India, northeastern states & western Himalayan region and parts of plains of northwest India. Mean minimum temperatures of the month were also above normal by 2-4ºC over many parts of Rajasthan & Gujarat, some parts of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Maharashtra and isolated pockets of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Marathawada, Vidarbha and Bihar." The report gives figures of how the average maximum and minimum temperatures were above normal throughout the month.
The Multilingual Brahmin convocation was a much talked about subject in the last month. The two day event held in Pune had hit the headlines after an academician was forced to abandon her speech favouring modernism for women. Thereafter there was talk that the even was ">hijacked by the politicians. Shyam Deshpande, chairman of Standing Committee in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Vikas Mathkari, leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in PMC expressed unhappiness over the manner in which Sheila Dixit, chief minister of New Delhi and Suresh Kalmadi, Congress member of parliament got prominence on the dias. Deshpande even vent his ire on the dias itself refusing to accept the felicitation by organisers. Even Shalinitai Patil, leader of Kranti Sena and herself from Maratha community gave a political speech against the reservation quotas.
Now, a month after the event, some Brahmin activists again held a meeting in the city last Thursday. The meeting organised by Akhil Bharatiya Brahmin Mahasangh has called on the community members to vote in maximum numers in the ensuing parliamentary elections. It is aimed to have 70 to 80 percent of voting through the community members. A release brought out by the Mahasangh has also appealed the community members to not only vote but to encourage others also to vote in the election. The things to be considered while voting will be deliberated in the next meeting.
It is not clear how much following the Mahasangh has. It has announced that it will create a new record for blood donation in during the meet. But the organisers of the meet failed miserably. There were also some dissenting voices during the meet itself. The caste factor, an important part of the Indian politics will not be that much important this time. As Bahujan Samaj Party has put up a candidate of Brahmin caste. Suresh Kalmadi, the present Member of Parliament representing the constituency is also from the same caste. He is likely to get a continuation this time also. That means we might expect a Brahmin v/s Brahmin fight this time.
, It is official now. Almost half of the marriagable women prefer arranged marriage to the modern ways. The fact has been bought to fore by the one of the prominent matrimony portals of India BharatMatrimony.com.the portal conducted an interesting survey on ‘Woman & Marriage’ in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bangalore and in tier II cities which include Madurai, Mysore, Pune, Trichy, Coimbatore & Jaipur.
According to a press release by the company, the company will conduct more surveys in understanding the trend among the most relevant audience. The survey was conducted among 1058 women in the age group of 20 to 30 yrs.
Some of the results of the survey are: 49% prefer arranged marriage 59% consider parents decision the most important in a marriage 27% prefer to sacrifice their career for marriage 71% opt 21-24 as the ideal age for marriage 75% of the women say that they will refer online matrimony to others 46% consider this an ideal platform that helps one access profiles at their own time of convenience
"Women are scaling great heights in every field. However, one thing, which remains unchanged, is their belief in the institution of marriage. This is evident from our survey to gauge the attitudes and sentiments of Indian women towards marriage," Uma Thenappan, Head Marketing of BharatMatrimony was quoted as saying in the release. Press release distribution via India PRwire
Pune is known for its wadas. These are structures housing many families under the same roof. But with the passage of time, these wadas have become as old as the city itself. There are many wadas in the city which date back to Peshwa era.
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had tried to ascertain the 'structural stability' of wadas in old parts of the city. But it has not brought much change. Especially in the rainy season, many old wadas crumble under the onslaught of nature.
Following incidents of wada collapses due to heavy rains last year, the PMC had invited applications from engineers to be part of a panel to inspect the stability of the wadas and decide whether they needed to be pulled down.
I was to Nanded yesterday. I reached to Latur at around 6:30 AM. I was travelling through a State Transport bus. As I was sitting at the window, I could click some of the view that this opportunity allowed. However, the movement of the bus was not in my hand. Hence, I could not take some good photographs even though I could see them emerging. So the bus travelling and camera shaking, I took some photographs. About two weeks ago also I was at Latur at the same time. But I did not have the camera with me then. This time around, the first thing I took with myself was camera. Because when in tarvel, you never know when the opportunity to click offers itself.
