Journalist Accreditation Could be Permanently Cancelled for Fake News

The government has said that the accreditation of a journalist can be permanently cancelled if the person is found generating or propagating fake news. 

As per the amended guidelines for the accreditation of journalists, if the publication or telecast of fake news is confirmed, the accreditation of that journalist will be suspended for a period of six months in the first violation and for one year in case of a second violation. 

In case of a third violation, his or her accreditation will be cancelled permanently, the information and broadcasting ministry said in a release. 

It said any complaint of instances of fake news will be referred to the Press Council of India (PCI), if it pertains to print media, and to the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), if it relates to the electronic media, for determination of the news item being fake or not. 

This determination is expected to be completed within 15 days by these agencies, the ministry said. Once the complaint is registered for determination of fake news, the accreditation of the journalist, whoever created and/or propagated the fake news, will be suspended till the determination regarding the fake news is made, the ministry said.

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Power Struggle In BJP

The newly elected president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh, has appealed to his party colleagues to stop talking about the Prime Ministerial candidate publicly. Poor leader had left with no choice as everybody who is anybody in his party was thinking aloud and blaring out some or other name as the prospective candidate for the next Prime Minister of India. They included former Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, former Union Minister Shatrughan Sinha and now suspended former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani.

Ever since the talk of impending parliamentary elections started making rounds in the country, the BJP leaders have jumped one by one into discussing the probable names of the next PM. They were buoyed by the recent victory registered by the party under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Since 1996, the BJP is fighting parliamentary elections, and to some extent even state assembly elections as well, by projecting some or other leader. From 1996 t0 2004, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2009, Lal Krishna Advani was projected as contender. Now, a majority of the party workers look to Modi as their savior who could end their drought of power for 10 years.

It is true that L K Advani is till around the corner. But his name is not a sure-shot prescription for the electoral victory. Advani, a veteran of elections ever since India became a Republic, is 85 today. Though he is in good stead physically and his vigor for the post is well known, the defeat in the last elections under his leadership gave a heavy blow to his claim.

Another problem plaguing the party is it is nowhere able to come to power on its own. It leads a coalition of over a dozen parties, called National Democratic Alliance. Till now, because of its sheer size, BJP had an automatic claim on the PM's post. Within last decade, many of the coalition partners of the NDA have ruled their states, gathering appreciation and public support, and in turn became a good challenger for the post. Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, is one such example.

By bringing back Bihar to the path of governance after a long spell of virtual bankruptcy and lawlessness, Nitish Kumar has upped his stakes and looks towards the coveted highest post in the country, which is more than obvious. He sees Modi as a strong competitor and tries to undermine his standing by resorting to secularism. Modi, with his 11-year rule and appreciation from all quarters for his management of the government in Gujarat, has a major black spot on his robe in the form of riots in February 2002 which allegedly killed over 1000 Muslims in that state. Even though he has attracted quite a following among industrialists, political workers and in public, the media and intelligentsia are not ready to mend their fences with him and he is constantly reminded of this dark past.

During the assembly election campaigning last month, Modi constantly took jibes at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the mother-son duo of the ruling Congress party at center. It was an open gesture of reminding his party and others that his eyes were set on New Delhi. Being only Chief Minister of BJP who wrested victory for third consecutive term is an achievement which automatically catapulted him to the larger role. Even though BJP has a plethora of leaders at New Delhi including Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jetli et al, none of them command such a mass following as Modi. Hence, he becomes the natural contender for the PM's post.

Now the question is, would BJP leaders accept him as their leader. Rajnath Singh's appeal to stop the chattering is an indication that they have not as yet!

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What Should One Do With Such News

First the news: Legendary naxal leader Kanu Sanyal dead - Yahoo! India News

What should one do with such news stories? Are they to be celebrated that the end of an old naxal leader will bring much needed peace in my country? Or should we seat to think whether the fight for the justice and equality has suffered one decisive blow to say that any new transformation is ages away.

Ironically, Sanyal’s suicide comes after heavy activities by the naxal activists in many parts of the country. The man who created a path of violence for youngster spanning three generations finally chose a much trodden path. Why he chose to do what he did will be discussed in the days to come.

For the time being,  the question hangs either way.

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Notice to Facebook Over Tobacco Content

The Facebook is facing its first major challenge in India. The social networking site is just served a notice for failure in removing content related to tobacco products. The failure of the social networking website “Facebook” to remove pages and groups relating to various tobacco products, brands and articles is now likely to land the company in legal trouble.

A social activist and crusader for public health causes, Hemant Goswami from Chandigarh has issued a legal notice to Facebook to remove all pages and groups relating to promotion of any kind of tobacco product or which promotes its consumption. Hemant who is also a notified member of the “National Steering Committee on Tobacco Control” formed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “Apparently Facebook claims to have a policy of not advertising tobacco products through paid advertisement on its website; however this claim remains ineffective as it allows all brands and tobacco products to be promoted through member pages and groups. Not only this; contrary to the claims, Facebook allows promotion of smoking culture through advertisements. We have sent a copy of links of such examples which are considered an offence under the Indian law to M/s Facebook.”

In the notice, served to Facebook Inc. and Facebook Ireland Limited, faxed to its California office, Hemant has alleged that, “many pages on www.facebook.com promote various cigarette brands and the concept of smoking. All such pages are visible on all computers, and all terminals installed in India through which the site Facebook.com is accessed. Such pages are also advertised through Facebook and are displayed on the pages of facebook users.” The notice warns the owners and managers of Facebook of their legal liabilities and reads, “The advertisers M/s Facebook and owners of the company are also equally liable and responsible for any such advertisements.”

The Indian law on tobacco control, “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” provides for imprisonment up to five years for violating the provisions relating to prohibition of promotion or advertisement of tobacco products and brands.

“We are very serious in our pursuit to end this kind of promotion of tobacco brands and tobacco products on social networking site like Facebook. To achieve this we will do everything possible. Governments across the globe are spending billions to end tobacco and have joined hands by way of the international treaty called “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC)” to end the menace, but it is unfortunate that small opportunistic companies allow promotion of tobacco products for petty gains. Such companies need to punished and civil damages too should be claimed from them to offset any profits these people might be making.” Hemant Goswami emphasised.

(Original Press Release: India PRWire)

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Raj Charges Up The Scene

He enters the place where a grand stage is erected. As he put his foot on the ground towards the direction of the stage, whole atmosphere comes alive with the sound of crackers and bursting of fires in the sky. To top this lighting, a cumulative voice soars new height with each passing moment hailing the young leader. As he comes to the microphone, there is a pin drop silence. Next one hours, the crowd of at least over 50 thousands hears to the leader. He minces no words in deriding his opponents and steals the show by hitting a cord with each member of the crowd.

This is Raj Thackerey for you.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief has taken centrestage in the ensuing assembly elections in the state. He is the clear winner of this political game, at least for now, even before the assembly elections are over. Every party leader is on his backfoot while coping with the popularity of Raj. This has led them to go into denial mode. Surprisingly, each one expects that MNS will eat away share of other party?s votes. After affecting the election results in the parliamentary elections just six months ago, nobody is ready to undermine MNS as far as electioneering is concerned. His party is seen as a potential Shiv Sena in the making

It is ironic that foremost among Raj?s opponents turned out to be Shiv Sena of which he was a prominent leader just three years ago. After being sidelined in SS by his uncle and SS chief Balasaheb Thackerey, who favoured his own son over Raj, he chose to trade his own path. He formed MNS in May 2006 and chose Marathi pride as its main plank. This was the same agenda on which SS worked on for four decades. It did not afford to lose his issue. Adding fuel to fire, Uddhav, the heir apparent of SS did not have the charisma or following which Raj inherited from Balasaheb.

Just yesterday, there were three rallies in Pune: that of Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Raj Thackerey. Political analysts unanimously agreed that the most lively and most crowded of all these meeting was addressed by Raj. This when he held three successive rallies in the city on a single day. How many candidates of MNS can be elected is not that important. What is important is the relation he establishes with the youths-his core voters. No other leader in the state is able to charm the youths like Raj does. This is the reason why Ajit Pawar today said that NCP will not shy away a government with the help from MNS. Since he knows that the clout Raj enjoys is surely going to tore apart political equations, made by Congress-NCP as well as Sena-BJP.

(To be continued)

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Party time for rebels-1

Rebels Having a Feast on Official Candidates

Maharashtra, let alone Pune, is facing highest number of rebel candidates in the assembly elections. The state is especially known for its fighting spirit. But never in the history of electoral democracy was such a frenzy of candidates soliciting the votes from the electorates. What's worse, it is not limited to one party.

I have already written about the rebellion of Anna Joshi from Kothrud constituency. Chandrakant Chhajed, sitting MLA from now defunct Bopodi constituency, followed Joshi's suit by by fielding himself from two constituencies – Shivajinagar and Vadgaonsheri against the official Congress nominees. The three time Congress MLA could not gulp down the fact that he was denied ticket by his party. While Vinayak Nimhan, a rebel MLA of Shiv Sena is the official candidate from Shivajinagar, Vadgaon Sheri was given to Nationalist Congress Party, alliance partner of Congress.

Chhajed is known to be close to Suresh Kalmadi, member of parliament from Pune. He was instrumental in ensuring success for Kalmadi just five months ago.
While Anna Joshi switched over to NCP to contest election from Kothrud seat, Ujjwal Keskar, another prominent person from BJP stable is fighting it alone. He will also contest from the Kothrud constituency. He had made no bones about his wish to contest the election but the seat fell into Shiv Sena's lap during seat sharing bargaining. On the other hand, he seemed not ready to wait for another five years before diving into the state politics. This constituency seemed to have more rebel candidates than those of parties. Dipak Mankar, who was recently in a soup over the land grabbing cases was out of race in Congress for the candidacy. But he managed to get bail just on the eve of elections. He also filed his nomination from Kothrud making it difficult for Joshi.

Ramesh Vanjale, another notable figure in the district politics of Pune has switched over to two parties in the same league. The former member of Zilla Parishad has his origins in the Congress but was in talks with Shiv Sena for a ticket from Khadakwasla constituency. Later, when he realised it is not possible, he managed to get going in the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. 

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Anna Leaves BJP! What is the difference?

 Will  desertion by Anna Joshi be a jolt to Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls? The answer is no, it is relatively a minor set back. It is nothing extra-ordinary what with large scale desertions and defection in all political parties in the state.
Even though Anna Joshi is a a senior leader of the party and former MP of BJP. Yesterday, he announced that he is quitting the party and joining  NCP. He will be a candidate from Kothrud assembly constituency on NCP ticket.

Joshi, was MP from Pune in 1989 and 1991. his candidacy from Kothrud was declared by Nationalist Congress Party spokesman
Ankush Kakde yesterday. He will take on Chandrakant Mokate of Shiv Sena, alliance partner of BJP.

Joshi, who had also held the post of Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly, was licking his wounds for many days in BJP after he was sidelined twice. He was denied ticket in the last Lok Sabha polls and again for the Assembly elections from Pune. Joshi was known for his rivalry with late Viththal Gadgil, congress party veteran from Pune. He was helped by Sharad Pawar, who was in Congress at that time but was heading rival faction against Gadgil. Interestingly, Pawar had a man friday in Suresh Kalmadi at that time. The equations have changed a lot since then.

Born on April 3, 1935 at Varangaon, Jalgaon, Joshi has done a lot of work for Pune. He was a corporator in Pune Municipal Corporation during 1968 to 1979 and went on to become deputy mayor of city during 78-79. He was responsible to give BJP three consecutive wins in the Lok Sabha elections. He comes from the Brahmin community and started his career in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The voter base of the BJP came mainly from these two sectors. People of these sectors have significantly reduced in numbers. Therefore Joshi is hardly a winning candidate anymore for the party. Still to be fair, Joshi deserves honour as he stuck to his party even 13 years after losing his position. But Pawar's friendship with him has earned him the candidacy.

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Austerity! At what cost?

At the time when recession is officially lingering at receding line, the ministers and leaders of Congress party are having austerity drive. From the public elected 'heir-apparent' of country Rahul Gandhi to the non-committal Shashi Tharoor, everybody is coping with the cost cutting in his own ways. Media is untiringly picking up each and every piece of information disseminated from New Delhi. However, considering the wild card given by media to Gandhi dynasty, some facts will not be probed ever.

The celebrations were just short of fire crackers when Rahul Gandhi announced to travel by Rajdhani Express. The statement of Louis XV, that punctuality is the courtesy of the king, was given a twist to say that AC travel by one of the most expensive train was the nobility of this young man. After his voyage, some things were never asked:

• were other passengers allowed to seat in the same compartment in which Rahul was seated?
• How much cost was incurred on the travel taking into consideration the security arrangements including security personnel? 
• How did the security at each station managed?
  

 The wide coverage given to the pelting of stones on the train in which Rahul was travelling was also not surprising. It is on the same lines which was adopted while reporting on the famed speech by Rahul, wherein he referred to a woman in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. He portrayed, in moving words, the poor condition in which the woman lived and how he spent one night in the woman's hut. In the latest incident, print and electronic media alike expressed concern over the stone pelting. Surprisingly, the culprits are not caught yet. One national newspaper went on to say that the risk taken by Rahul was unnecessary and he staked country's future in his act. As if something happening to Rahul is directly culmination of India's prospects. The old slogan of Indira is India is resurfacing again. 

 

What is true of Rahul is true for other ministers also. The ministers who have shown readiness to give one month's salary for the drought affected areas in the country will not part with the perks and allowances they get. It is a common knowledge that salaries of these ministers and MPs constitute a fraction of their income. Even actual contribution of that salaries is also not known. Pranv Mukherjee is saying he flies by economy class. Other ministers are expected to follow the suit. But the question is not of flying class but of flying unnecessarily. Why should the ministers and other functionaries fly by air to attend the foundation laying ceremony of projects which take at least a decade to complete? Can't these men work sitting in their offices? While opposing to economy class flying, Sharad Pawar said ministers have confidential files and working in planed with people around causes problem. I don't think passengers in a plane go to the minister's seat and lean over to see what file he is working on. Pawar himself will face much less problem if he cuts his trips to Pune or Baramati from New Delhi over petty issues. But he won't. And he is not alone. Almost each minister in the cabinet is doing the same.

In this scenario, the Congress will do a favour to public if it stops this austerity drama. The country is best prepared to be relieved of public money for minister's expenses. That's what is the norm for last six decades. Once this drama stops, there will be hope that someone will have time and inquisitiveness as to what happened to that woman whom Rahul referred in his speech. Did her life improved after the party won vote of confidence?

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Confusion Party of Maharashtra

Even as the assembly elections fever is yet to catch up with public, political parties are finding it difficult to manage the unbearable tension. On the one hand, no party is sure as to whom it should align to. Secondly, the political atmosphere is so divided and obscure that no one has any idea of clicking it big this time. This is the most confusion times in Maharashtra.

Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, ruling for almost ten years in the state, are still entangled in the seat sharing war. Congress wants NCP to blink first and it has justification for its demand. It has garnered most seats in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, NCP has suffered huge losses due to various factors. One of the major failures of NCP is in Satara district. Sharad Pawar, national chief of NCP chose Udayanraje Bhosale, 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji as party's candidate to consolidate Maratha votes. Even though Bhosale was elected, and he was destined to be as his leadership is unchallenged in the Satara constituency, he refused to align himself with the party's stand. Right from the campaigning, Udayanraje acquired a posture which more or less eroded party's position in Satara and eventually Western Maharashtra.

Unable to bargain for more seats, NCP is now trying its hard to hold on to existing seat sharing formula. But it is unlikely that it will get 124 seats. Congress leadership in the state was forced to eat many bitter pills in last ten years due to NCP's better position. Now, all the side effects of those pills are spilling out. Even if the sharing takes place, there will be much internal manoeuvring for the detriment of each other. A meeting of both parties is to take place at Varsha, the official residence of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

Opposition parties do not have a much unenviable position. While Shiv Sena has suffered losses in the urban belts in Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party has to put its own house in order before plunging in elections. The only solace these parties have is that they have an alliance in place and their seat sharing formula is almost finalised. Shiv Sena even though accepted to give same number of seats to BJP, but is yet to be convinced that its ally will be able to stand on its feet what with recent drama in the party. There was talk in the inner circle of BJP that Lal Krishna Advani will not be invited for the campaigning in the state. Neither will be Narendra Modi. This puts the onus on Gopinath Mundhe only.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the new enfant terrible on Maharashtra's political scene is in the eye of discussion over the period. But it is still unclear whether the party will go it alone or will fight the election with others' help. Raj Thackerey, party's chief has made it clear that the party will not field candidates in all constituencies in the state. Besides, in some recent interviews to local newspapers and news channels, he has made it clear that his party will not share power with anyone. “My plan is to assume full power and never until then,” he has said. This effectively takes wind out of MNS' ship. The only thing now the party will achieve is eating in of the votes of Shiv Sena. Since both parties claim to address the same voter base.

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Could milk adulteration racket averted?

Western Maharashtra was shocked in the first week of August when a major racket of milk adulteration was unearthed. A combined raid by district food and adulteration administrations of Pune and Satara was carried out in Baramati and Phaltan. According to latest report, all eight samples of milk collected during the raids have been tested positive for adulteration. The question is: can this racket be avoided? And answer is: yes.

According to preliminary estimates, the milk which was prepared in the collection centres in above two talukas was supplied to Pune, Sangli, Satara, Ahmednagar and Solapur. The milk in those collection centres was prepared by mixing chemicals with water. Officials are still unsure what this chemical really is. Its lab test report is yet to be received. The culprits are suspected to have amassed crores of rupees through this mean.

Now we go back to 2004-05 when Ajit Pawar, city's guardian minister had warned against the milk adulteration. He had said then that state government will enact a law providing strict punishment for milk adulteration. Five years have gone by and nothing sort of the thing has come by. Had the government acted on the matter, the racket could have been easily avoided.

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Election Preparation in Full Swing

The district administrations of Pune has completed process of removing banners and political ads from the public places, claimed district collector Chandrakant Dalvi today. Dalvi held a meeting of officers related to election work after which he addressed the media.
This is the first sign of election process coming into full swin g in Pune. Dalvi informed that a quick response team has been formed to look into the strict implementation of election code of conduct. He said that data entry of the voter's list has been prepared. All the lists will be made available on internet. In addition, two helplines will be started for the voters.
It is interesting here to note that Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla yesterday had admitted in Mumbai that the voters' list in the state are ridden with mistakes. However, EC has rejected the demand that ration cards should not be allowed as a proof of identity. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had made this demand with state election commission.

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Miraj not as peaceful

Iit was expected that the immersion procession in Miraj would be peaceful. But it was not to be. Today Shiv Sena leader Diwakar Rawate tried to enter Kolhapur city but was forbidden from doing so. According to a release from Neelam Gorhe, Shiv Sena leader, Rawate had gone there to see the situation. District administration arrested him and stopped from entering the district. Gorhe has demanded a high level enquiry into the matter.

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Burning Miraj Comes to Peace

Ganesh Immersion in City Tomorrow 

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and other Hindu organisations have voiced their objection over the riots in Miraj and Sangli. According to press releases issued by the organisations, murder of Afzal Khan was one of the illustrious incidents of the history of Maharashtra and India. There is hardly any counterpoint against this argument.  The riots in the southern part of the state were a unfortunate development.  Statement from the Hindu organisations have come one day after Gopinath Munde, leader of Bharatiya Janata Party was prohibited from visiting three cities by Sangli district administration.

Meanwhile, curfew in was relaxed in Sangli, Miraj and Ichalkaranji on Wednesday, as the situation was gradually improving. Communal clashes had broken out at in Miraj town and Sangli city last week. 

Trouble started on September 2 (a day before Anant Chaturdashi), when some pro-Hindutva organisations tried to raise an arch on the immersion procession route, depicting the killing of the Mughal warrior Afzal Khan by Maratha King Shivaji. This led to group clashes. According to primary reports, Muslim groups took objection to this.. But now it is clear that the police department was main hurdle in the erection of this structure. It was destroyed which gave way to riots. After three days, the fire spread to nearby cities. The gravity of the situation can be gauged by the fact that Sangli is hometown of Maharashtra's home minister Jayant Patil.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan had convened an all party meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday in this regard. A deal was struck in the meeting. Meanwhile, Sarvajanik Ganesh mandal representatives in Miraj have decided to immerse the idols tomorrow during 10:30 to 11:00 AM

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Politics is family business in Maharashtra

State legislature assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled for October 13 in Maharashtra. All major parties in engaged in finalising the list of candidates. While the electoral clashes are heading towards theatrical and interesting, one bit of the polling is prominent. In each politicl party, the election is a family business. Leaders across the board have their offsprings or kins in the fray without a trace of remorse.

Leading the way is Congress which makes an obvious choice for hereditary politics. Since the time of Indira Gandhi, Congress workers are accustomed to bow before their anointed leader on the single virtue of coming from an influential family. This time around, party will have little space to take newcomers on board while struggling to make justice with sons and daughters of its leaders. Chief minister Ashok Chavan himself is such a politician who happens to be son of Shankarrao Chavan, the late Congress leader. Having graced posts of home minister and finance minister at New Delhi as also CM of Maharashtra twice, Shankarrao passed on his legacy to Ashokrao. He first tasted political water in 1987 by becoming Member of Parliament from Nanded, the seat was vacated by his father to become CM of Maharashtra. Ashokrao's brother in law Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar is now MP from Nanded.

Another prominent politician is Vilasrao Deshmukh, former CM of Maharashtra and now union minister for heavy industries. While his son Ritesh is making waves in Bollywood, his second son Amit is sure to solicit votes from Latur constituency. District Congress committee of Latur has 'unanimously' recommended Amit's candidacy. Dilip Deshmukh, brother of Vilasrao is already in the state cabinet coming from State legislature Council. Vilasrao's junior in union cabinet Pratik Patil is grandson of Vasantdada Patil who won recently from Sangli parliamentary constituency. Madan Patil, another son of Vasantdada is minister of employment guarantee scheme in state cabinet of Maharashtra. Another heavyweight of Sangli, Patangrao Kadam, who holds the empire of Bharati Vidyapeeth in Pune, is trying to field his son Vishwajit Kadam in the race. If elected, he is sure to bag a post in cabinet as Patangao is himself revenue minister currently. Towering all them all will be Raosaheb Shekhawat, president of India Pratibhatai Patil's son. He want a ticket for himself from Amrawati constituency. Praniti Shinde, union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter is in tipped to be a candidates from the Solapur assembly constituency. She will be the third member from Shinde family second being ….... Vandana Shinde, wife of Sushilkumar. She contested the seat in 2004 when Sushilkumar was CM and still lost the election. Present school education minister in Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is son of veteran leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Likewise, higher education minister Rajesh Tope is son of veteran Congress leader Ankush Tope.

If the list above seems exhaustive, it is not. It gives only a glimpse of what how political space is full of dynastic endowments. After Congress, Nationalist Congress Party has also turned democracy into a kind of baton relay. NCP's chief has kept two parliamentary seats with him as well as his daughter Supriya Sule. Ajit Pawar, state's water resources minister and guardian minister of Pune is his nephew. Thus, decision making in NCP is controlled by the Pawar family. Besides him, Padmasingh Patil, who is brother in law of Sharad Pawar was elected from Usmanabad recently to Lok Sabha. He was later accused of murder of his cousing Pravinraje Nimbalkar. Though, Padmasinh's son Rana Jagjitsinh Patil is a minister in the state cabinet and sure to get a ticket from NCP. State's tourism minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil has sent his son Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil to Rajya Sabha. Ganesh Naik, who has a large following in Navi Mumbai area, was in Shiv Sena earlier but later switched to NCP. He is bringing his son to front now. Chhagan Bhujbal, another heavyweight who shifted from Shiv Sena to NCP, is now deputy CM. His nephew Samir Bhujbal was recently sent to Lok Sabha from Yewala constituency.
Shiv Sena and BJP are also not free of this element. Truth of the matter is that Shiv Sena split twice because of dynastic tendency of its chief. So much so that Balasaheb Thackerey was not ready to part with leadership other than his son Uddhav. His nephew Raj Thackerey and a stalwart like Narayan Rane left the party because of this reason. It is another matter that Rane himself has sent his son Nitesh to Lok Sabha while keeping minister's post with himself. He has openly expressed his desire to become chief minister and it is to be seen whether Nilesh Rane, his another son throws his towel in the ring.

In BJP, Dhananjay Munde, nephew of Gopinath Munde, who is member of parliament from Beed now, is willing to contest from Beed for 's assembly seat. His daughter, Pankaja Palwe is said to be ready to jump in the fray. Poonam Mahajan, late leader Pramod Mahajan's daughter was enraged when she was denied a ticket in parliamentary elections. Munde, who is brother in law of Pramod Mahajan, also expressed his dissatisfaction over the denial. This time round, Poonam is tipped to get a ticket from Ghatkopar West constituency. Some other minor leaders will also try to pass on the baton to their kins.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 2

All these parties are already in the propaganda mode. While Congress-BJP alliance is harping on the development works in its ten year tenure, which is a classic case of self-eulogy, its rival alliance is also bent on giving prominence to Hindutva agenda. For a change, Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackerey has really well etched out a role for itself in the sad series of farmer's suicide. The party is also taking up the load shedding issue, easily overlooking the fact that it can help little in the issue even if it comes to power.

Having set its target audience, MNS has little to present than the sorry state of Marathi people in their own state. Bad management of affairs by ruling alliance has made sure that MNS does not run out of fuel in its campaign. If MNS becomes a major power in the state after the election, it should thank more the ruling alliance than the voters.

As things stand out today, any of these parties can strike a partnership with any of the parties before or after the elections. It was rumours about Shiv Sena joining hands with NCP that is said to be a reason behind both the parties' debacle. It is after all only a question of convenience for the leadership of respective parties. One, NCP is fed up of living on the favours of Congress and want to have own rule. Second, Shiv Sena must have a partner to come to power as it is way short of winning the number's game. Third, both NCP and Shiv Sena thrive on the same electorate which mainly consists of rural, semi-literate youths and both the parties have same mentality. It is said about NCP that it is a party of fiefdoms. Shiv Sena is more than vocal in expressing its inclination towards the ancient way of politics. Fourth, Shiv Sena and BJP do not have the same cordiality that was 20 years ago. After passing of Pramod Mahajan, real connecting line between them has been cut. Present alliance is only a relic of two decades for amity. In fact, Shiv Sena thinks BJP more as a liability than the asset. Recent bickering in BJP at New Delhi only compounded the crisis. That is why Samana, Shiv Sena's Marathi mouthpiece daily recently compared BJP with the dead parrot while describing itself as an eagle. State leadership of BJP does not take it lightly but their hands are really tied. The party does not have a dedicated workforce to ensure smooth ride on its own. In its desperation, leaders like Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari had even went further to suggest that their alliance should take in MNS as partner. The suggestion was naturally turned down by Shiv Sena because its rivalry with MNS is necessarily a clash of personal egos.

The world is a theatre, said Shakespeare. Now, Maharashtra has become an interesting theatre with a month long drama being enacted here. Let's applause the actors because without them, we would be left without any entertainment.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 1

All kind of political manoeuvring is taking place in Maharashtra. With assembly election barely a month later and code of conduct in force, most of the dealings are taking place in back room discussions. This time the theatre is set in so fashion that one is having a feast of drama. There all players of all hues and colours as well as numbers in the fray. So nobody actually knows what will be the ending of this play.

In the Lok Sabha elections, it was expected that ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will get a drubbing and Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come out handsomely. But the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena played a perfect spoilsport to the Sena-BJP alliance. The result was that Congress emerged as frontrunner with 17 seats out of 48. Even though it shares power with NCP in state, Congress was in cloud seven when NCP suffered heavy losses managing to get only eight seats. Buoyed with this victory, Congress is bargaining for more seats this time for assembly elections. NCP being at receiving end is finding it hard to preserve its quota of seats at the level of year 2004. Interestingly, even though NCP had contested less seats last time, its tally of winning candidates was more than Congress in the assembly. Obviously enough, Congress does not want a repeat of that episode. Therefore it is trying to browbeat its rival-turned-ally in conceding more seats.

Upto now, elections in the state were limited to these four parties. But this time around, there are two-three more players who can give these parties a run for there money. Actually, MNS has already proved its mettle by eating up a large chunk of votes in Lok Sabha elections in April. However, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could not prove to be a worthy threat to the main players. Its political TRP was no doubt high but the performance on ground was almost invisible. Even in constituencies like Pune, where it touted its social engineering formula as its main plank by fielding D. S. Kulkarni and every political analyst was putting his bet on the candidate, it failed miserably to prove up to expectations. MNS has a large base of Shiv Sena activists and its Marathi Manoos agenda is already making waves in the people. I have seen it in places like Marathwada that people are ready to trust MNS and anticipate a good performance from the hitherto new party. However, the people also have too many complaints about the party not living to the expectation. It is not uniform in its activities and it seems as going into a slumber at times. Moreover, some recent incidents have put the party activists in a bad light. Accusations like extortion, kidnapping, rape and threatening have been levelled against the partymen, cases being already filed against them. Raj Thackerey, chief of MNS has shown no clear sign of dissociating himself or his party from the dirty elements. How this will affect the prospect of the party in election is better left to the people. I am never ready to make a pronouncement in this matter, because the Indian public is very tolerant when it comes to electing their representative. There is no surety that a person with heaps of criminal records or corruption charges will not get elected.

As for BSP, failure is not new to the party. It is contesting elections for over two decades in the state and has yet to make any mark. Still, it has an appreciable endurance which can help it win a handful of seats. In the October elections though, BSP's ship might sail in rough weather as various Dalit parties with splinter Left groups have joined hands against Congress_NCP as well as Shiv Sena-BJP. This new front is to address the same audience to that of BSP hence there might be a clash of interest between them. Major constituents of new front come from various groups of Republican Party. The reason for their coming together was defeat of candidates like Ramdas Athavale and Rajendra Gawai, who have hitherto earned their bread and butter by aligning themselves with Congress or NCP leadership. A main drawback of this new front is that it has only leaders and no workers. Even the front is planning to contest all 288 seats, it has hardly any chance of winning at more than a dozen seats. That a leader like Dr. Prakash Ambedkar is not in the front further limits the prospects of the front.

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26 hours procession in Pune

Even after cancelling decorations and bypassing the show, Pune's Ganesh Mandals can not keep the procession limited to 24 hrs. The mandals have shown readiness to end the procession within 12 hours, but actually it lasted for 25 hrs. and 45 minutes.

The procession had started at 12:00 PM yesterday and ended today at 11:45 AM. Even though many mandals came without any float; Nimbalkar Talim's procession was without vehicle at all, they could not end it within time. Onus lies with Dagdusheth Halwai Ganpati, which is the centre of attraction because of its heavy lighting and decorations. The mandal did not have any decoration but it was late from the start. It had promised to bring the chariot on Laxmi Road at 9 PM but could not do so. Then its immersion actually took place at 5:30 AM. Obviously many mandals got late because of this.

Even though it appears to be a long time, the roads of procession were never heavily ridden with public. Hence it did not cause much trouble to public. Traffic on F. C. road from Karve Road was open as early as 11 AM. Normally it is closed till late in the afternoon. This had made sure that immersion procession in Pune will always be at least 24 hours long.

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Simple & Gracious Farewell to Ganesha

ganpati 011, originally uploaded by deshpande.devidas.

City of Pune bid its favourite deity a simple yet graceful adieu. All the pomp and hoopla which accompanies the festival each year was absent this year. Even though the scare of H1N1 Flu had curtailed the festivities, it did not affect the festive mood of the mandal workers. The mandals had given way to the decorations and floats, which are hallmark of Pune's Ganesh Utsav. Instead, the mandals were engaged in the some social work which they are involved in throughout the year anyway. All five prestigious Ganpatis of city had completed their immersion procesion till afternoon.

I was in the procession after evening. Even at that time, the environment was brimming with the loud voices of Ganpati Bappa Morya. Loud speakers were blaring out choices of songs filled with rhythm and beats. Language was not a question. I could hear Kombadi Palali, a hit Marathi song and the next song was Mambazha Mambazham from Pokkiri, a Tamil movie! But that is always a part of an immersion procession and that is exactly what I like to be. If one derides this fare as an expression of substandard taste of low-brow public, then there was also high class squads of Indian instruments like dhol and lezim. Schoolchildren happens to be a major attraction of these squads but they were not on the roads yesterday as a precautionary measure. I could spot the same devotion and dedication in volunteers of those squads which they exhibit each year.

All in all, Bappa received a fitting farewell this year also. Simple, Gracious and Safe!

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Maharashtra's Power Companies Charged Up

Those whose eyes are blazed by the shine of fat pockets, security and safety of a government job is the thing to die for. With the current situation in industries almost grim, hardly anybody with suitable qualification can choose to be indifferent towards a job in quasi-government company. Even if that job does not have any glow like the ones in Information Technology industries have. For such people, state power companies of Maharashtra are offering too many jobs in coming days. The companies are moving with lightening speed to recruit new people now.

The candle makers in Maharashtra were happy with the state's energy scenario becaue it allowed them to make hay while sun shined. Scarcity of the rains has added fuel to the opposition's campaign against load shedding. Consumer organisations have already fired a salvo by questioning the motive behind the recent tariff hike. In this scenario, government can not take the issue of load shedding lightly.

The shortage of manpower in the power companies has hardly come under the glare of media reports. While more than half of the state is reeling under the dark, all three power companies in the state involved in generation, distribution and transmission of the electricity are heavily understaffed. According to estimates by the worker's unions in Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited (MSEDCL), about 32,000 posts are vacant in the company.
Actually, power companies have lost their aura for many years now. Those were the days when a job in a power company appeared bright in terms of perks. Situation is quite different now but if youths are still following the jobs, it is because halo surrounding the job, that is security, is still intact. Some illumined minds like me despised a job in MSEB then and I am sure quite a number of people like me must be still there. Because the spark of the talent never really blows itself off. When I was pursuing my diploma in electrical engineering, the future of a diploma holder in the stream appeared bleak. Because MSEB, the original company which was later tri-partitioned in 2005 has put a cap on the recruitment.

Fortunately enough, I never passed my diploma. For me, there was no shine in the field. Instead after many turn and returns, I finally settled for the journalism. Now I can understand that the decisions regarding electrical power are taken after considering power factor in politics rather than in generation plants. They are more interested in load sharing rather than load shedding. The dream of Maharashtra becoming a developed state appears to be an obscure one now what with daily downfall in the generation of electricity. The state need an electrifying personality, a firebrand leader to bring it on the track. But unfortunately, since last nine years what it has got are two politicians, cold as a refrigerator, whose only proof of existence was promises to make the state load shedding free. Earlier, Dilip Walse Patil used to say that the day will arrive in 2008 and now, Sunil Tatkare is saying it will arrive in 2012. Both were never charged up in true sense, but charges they have against them. Both have failed to enlighten masses as to why the citizens are not getting their due.

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Elections Bring Respite

Thank god election commission has announced the date for election to Maharashtra state assembly. For the last many days, in fact about two months, every minister and politician made it sure that his photo and statement appear in the media each alternate day.

Even yesterday, when the news of the election commission's announcement came by, many programs were scheduled in the city. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had to cancel an inauguration program in the state reserve police force while guardian minister Ajit Pawar had to cancel his press conference in view of the code of conduct.

District collector Chandrakan Dalvi has announced that all the official vehicles given to the functionaries of locla bodies, including Pune Municipal Corporation and Zill Parishad are to be taken back.
The code of conduct prohibits the administration to publish any advertise announcing achievement of the ruling party with government expense. It also prohibits new appointments in the government bodies. This will also affect the ad spending of government. But after all, this has brought a respite for many like me who were bored with the propaganda going on till now.

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