Ravindra Gaikwad Brings Embarrassment for Shiv Sena Besides Himself

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was never known for his parliamentary prowess. Far from bringing fame to his constituency Osmanabad – one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra, he has brought disrepute for it. Incidentally, he is the second MP from Osmanabad to find himself in the soup. His predecessor and Nationalist Congress leader Padmasinh Patil was charged as conspirator of the murder of his cousin.

With the latest episode, Gaikwad has invited embarrassment for himself as well as his party Shiv Sena. The estranged ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party is already cornered with its recent failure to stop BJP's juggernaut in Mumbai Municipal Corporation election. It is also at odds with the BJP-led state government even after being a part of it. Shiv Sena has tried to take higher moral ground on issues like farmers' suicide and noteban. Gaikwad's ill tempered and ill timed misadventure has forced Shiv Sena to go on defensive.

The Delhi Police today registered an FIR against Gaikwad for assaulting an Air India staffer and transferred the case to its Crime Branch. Delhi Police chief spokesperson and special commissioner (operations) Dependra Pathak said a case has been registered under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour person) of IPC. He said the case is being transfered to Crime Branch for a thorough probe.

Gaikwad hit 60-year-old duty manager, R Sukumar 25 times with his sandal when the official persuaded him to disembark after the plane landed at the IGI airport, New-Delhi from Pune. The entire episode has been captured on mobile and is going viral.

The MP refused to alight, holding up the aircraft for over 40 minutes yesterday. Police received two complaints in this regard- one from Air India and the other from Sukumar. What is worse, Gaikwad bragged on camera that he hit the AI employee.The incident took place on Thursday morning inside Air India's Pune- Delhi flight AI 852, when the aircraft landed in Delhi. Mr Gaikwad refused to disembark despite attempts of persuading him to do so. An Air India official also tried to pacify the MP, who vociferously complained about the morning flight to Delhi from Pune, not having business class.

Seven airlines including state owned AIR India have barred MP Gaikwad from flying. The Federation of Indian Airlines, which has Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet, AirAsia and GoAir as its members has decided to blacklist Gaikwad who admitted to his unruly behaviour with Air Indian staffer. The IndiGo even went ahead to cancel his ticket from Delhi to Pune scheduled today.

Taking serious note of Gaikwad’s behavior Shiv Sena has asked him to give an explanation over the issue. Party chief Uddhav Thackeray also sought AI’s version over the incident. Speaking to media in Mumbai yesterday, Shiv Sena Spokesperson Manisha Kayande stated that the party does not subscribe to any such reaction while MP Sanjay Raut, who is always on forefront in criticizing the BJP said that manhandling government employees cannot be party's program.

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We want to fight next war with technology on our side : Gen. Bipin Rawat

‘We want to fight next war with technology on our side and not like the past’ said General Bipin Rawat, the Chief of Army Staff. Gen. Rawat sought efforts towards the most important need to bring in transparency of the battlefield to allow better decision making. Pointing out the drawbacks in trial equipment, he asked the industry and academia to focus on the fact that Indian Army will fight its wars in varied terrain and weather conditions seeking them to come up with robust, rugged, miniaturised yet technologically compatible solutions. He further nudged them to come up with a ‘Society for Defence Manufacture’ as the next step.

Gen. Rawat chaired a combined session of ‘the user and the provider’ attended by renowned industrialists, academicians as well as the decision making hierarchy of the Army and released the ‘Compendium of Problem Statements Vol II’, which has been prepared by Army Design Bureau (ADB) after detailed interaction with all stake holders including soldiers deployed in field.

The first volume, with 50 problem statements released on 5th December 2016, was received with tremendous amount of enthusiasm, 28 new problem statements have now been added which will enable industry and academia to understand the ‘Felt Needs’ and come up with indigenous solutions incorporating the latest technology trends for India’s military power.

Giving feedback on the first vol, industrialists and academicians expressed keenness to step up R&D for solutions to Army’s problems and deeply appreciated Army’s efforts calling the raising of ADB as a path breaking step. Mr RS Bhatia pointed that India is probably the only great nation where Industrial might of the country is not yet reflected in its Defence Forces.

General Rawat took the opportunity to challenge the industry and academia by asking them to align the solutions to the stated problems. Industry leaders and the academicians who seemed greatly ‘fired up’ committed to work towards ensuring that ‘Indian Army Will Win India’s Wars with Indian Solutions’.

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NFAI adds Notable Foreign Films to its Collection

In another significant acquisition, National Film Archive of India (NFAI), Pune has added a number of foreign films to its rich collection!

The acquired titles are all internationally acclaimed, having been honoured at festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival, the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes Award, the British Academy Film Awards and the Robert Awards (Danish equivalent of the Academy Awards). The titles include three films from France (Lemming – 2005, Invasions Barbares – 2003 and The Beat That My Heart Skipped – 2005), one from Belgium (l’enfant – 2005), a gripping political thriller from Denmark (Kongekabale – 2004) and one film from Bosnia and Herzegovina (Gori Vatra – 2004). The plot of Lemming (2005) follows a strange dinner party after which the attendees make discoveries about their seemingly well-ordered hosts. Invasions Barbares (2003) revolves around a terminally ill professor whose illness helps him reunite with important people in his life. Gori Vatra (2004) depicts the aftermath of the Bosnian War and the U.S. President’s impending visit.

                    

It is notable that the film The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) by the path-breaking French filmmaker Jacques Audiard is also part of this collection. The film follows the life of a deceitful young realtor and whether he will grow out of his ways to fulfil his dream of becoming a concert pianist. The Dardenn brothers’ film l’enfant (2005) was a winner of the Palme D’Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, and revolves around a young couple trying to fend for themselves by committing theft. These 6 films were acquired from Mumbai resident Shri. Narayan Srinivasan.

Another lot of Iranian films was acquired from the Iranian Embassy in Mumbai. The collection includes celebrated Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s highly acclaimed film The Peddler (1989) and the documentary ‘The Afghan Alphabet’ (2002) by Makhmalbaf. The acquired titles also include Pouran Derakhshandeh’s Wet Dream (2005) and Shahram Assadi’s Avinar (1991).

"We are proud to have a representative collection of world cinema, and thrilled to acquire these notable titles which have enriched our collection”, shared Shri. Prakash Magdum, Director NFAI. He also appealed to the public to submit any such rare, archival film material and join us in our mission to preserve India’s cinematic heritage.

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EVMs : The Liberals Are a Loser Lot

Ever since the results for the Uttar Pradesh and four other states were announced, the liberal camp has gone hysterical against the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The EVMs were introduced in India in 2003 and since then, en number of governments have been removed or voted back in power - all with EVMs. At the central level alone, Vajpayee government lost the power in 2004 while Congress-led UPA retained and lost the power each once. It is true that Lal Krishna Advani protested against EVMs in 2009 and asked them to be removed. But wait, who was the adviser of Advani in 2009?
Sudhindra Kulkarni, the same commie Left Rasputin on whose insistence Advani toured Pakistan and made that unfortunate statement praising Jinnah. That brought doom on poor leader's career who had spent decades in serving BJP - nay, the party is seeing today's glory thanks to his untiring crusades against the pseudo-seculars (actually it was he who minted and popularized the term). The point is, in Kulkarni's company, Advani became a loser and cribbed against everything that went against him - a characteristic trait of the liberal imposters; they are always okay with anything until it goes in their stride. Not surprisinly, Advani cribbed even when Narendra Modi was given charge of leading BJP's campaign in 2014 and thereafter too.
When Advani made these allegations against EVMs, the Election Commission of India had put up 100 EVMs in open and challenged all to demonstrate how they could be hacked. Obviously, nobody took up the challenge. It was easier to shoot in the dark and play victim than prove the credentials of one's allegations. However, the issue was meaty enough for some souls to feast on it. Subramanian Swamy, a perpetual litigation-monger, took up the issue. He went to Supreme Court to seek relief with Lady of Irony standing smilingly behind him as hardly anybody remembered him standing in electoral fray ever and winning with a large vote share or say - losing with a thin margin.
Now, the crucial part. The SC, after pondering over the matter and giving due hearings, ordered that EVMs should be supplemented with the printed receipt of the vote being given. The court never said that EVMs were vulnerable or that they were useless. Like Kulkarni and his Red tribe, the entire spectrum of liberal ideology is bereft of any real liberalism or progressivism. This ilk is sustained on an inherited legacy of struggle, strife and sanity. The sustenance on which they survived till now is exhausting very fast and as they say, shallow water is always noisier.
That is why while crying hoarse about the fallibility of EVMs in UP and Uttarakhand, they forget that three states have thrown up results that sounded music to their ears. One only hopes all the best to the selective color-blindness of the liberals because that is the sure shot remedy of their removal.

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Shiv Sena Legislators Unhappy with Their Own Ministers

Even though Shiv Sena has joined the BJP-led government in Maharashtra, the party seems to be getting no traction from the arrangement. Even as the party chief Uddhav Thackeray lashes out at the alliance partner regularly, his legislators are unhappy with their own ministers.
Almost half of the ministers in the Maharashtra cabinet come from Shiv Sena. They offer a good opportunity to serve the public but the ministers are doing no work at all, the party's legislators complain openly. Even Uddhav Thackeray himself reportedly expressed his displeasure on his ministers' performance after the local bodies elections held in the state   last year.
The legislators complain that the party's 12 ministers have only occupied their chairs without contributing anything to the party that is involved in a bitter rivalry with its saffron ally.
In the recently held municipal elections in the state, Uddhav and other senior leaders of Shiv Sena concentrated on Mumbai while entrusting the responsibility of the remaining 9 municipal corporations to the ministers. However, they failed to launch an effective campaign in other parts of the state leaving them for the BJP to win. That is why Shiv Sena failed to muster any impressive performance in either the municipal corporations in urban areas or in Zilla Parishads in rural areas.
 The legislators fear that if the situation continues like this, the party will be hard pushed to muster win in the elections in future, eventually losing ground to a surging BJP.

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NCL and IGIB Sign Licensing Agreement with Ahammune Biosciences for Vitiligo Drug Development

CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL), Pune and CSIR- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi together signed a Patent Licensing agreement with Ahammune Biosciences Pvt. Ltd., Pune for Vitiligo drug development on March 2, 2017. Ahammune is a resident incubatee company of Venture Center, NCL’s technology business incubator.

Ahammune Biosciences is an innovation-led drug discovery start-up company with the vision to find a new drug for the debilitating skin disorder, Vitiligo. It is the most common depigmenting disease with over 80 million people affected by it. In Vitiligo, color-producing cells are lost from areas of skin leaving behind white spots. The spread of depigmentation is unpredictable, ranging from days to years. Due to its effect on physical appearance, it is a cause of immense psychological torment, with patients feeling isolated and depressed. This disease is of major concern in India, where it is considered as a social stigma due to its confusion with leprosy. The current treatment strategies provide only temporary relief and are mostly ineffective. Ahammune is striving to fulfil this unmet medical need in the vitiligo therapeutic area.

Ahammune Biosciences would like to conduct further work towards potential vitiligo drug development through this Licensing agreement. CSIR labs will receive milestone payments based on the progress.

The patent was the outcome of the collaborative research work in chemistry and biology between these two labs. Dr. D. Srinivasa Reddy (CSIR-NCL), Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale (CSIR-IGIB, on deputation from NII) and T. N. Vivek (CSIR-IGIB) are the lead inventors of the patent.

Prof. Ashwini Kumar Nangia, Director, CSIR-NCL and Dr. (Miss.) Parul Ganju, Director, Ahammune Biosciences Pvt. Ltd. signed the agreement in presence of respective teams from both parties.

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