Kartik Lokhande's blog

Assembly Review The ‘spell’ of routine and a ‘miracle’ on the Bill By Kartik Lokhande  The first week of winter session of State Legislature this year was more of the same, once again. There were only a few changes indicating break from the routine in Legislative Assembly. The most important being lesser adjournments and more emphasis on legislative business from both the sides. The most important business of the first week was passage of Anti Black Magic Bill. With the referendum on Vidarbha statehood being conducted on Monday, it will be interesting to watch intensity of the main Opposition constituent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in following up the demand of statehood to Vidarbha. The second week may see more stormy developments with tabling of Adarsh scam report. The Opposition may press for tabling of Kelkar Committee report on backlog removal, and report of Special Inquiry Team (SIT) headed by Dr Madhavrao Chitaley on irrigation scam. As far as the fir...

Road damage worth -- Rs 3,263 cr Aid released -- Rs 931 cr only * The combined length of roads/bridges damaged due to floods in rural areas in the State is 25,438.89 kms * 8,392.97 kms of roads/bridges in Vidarbha damaged By Kartik Lokhande Floods and excessive rainfall inflicted a widespread damage to roads, bridges, and infrastructure this Monsoon. In Government’s own admission, the damage to roads and bridges require a whopping amount of Rs 3,263.1483 crore. However, official data reveals that only Rs 931.6177 crore aid has been released so far for repairs of roads and bridges. Though all 11 districts of Vidarbha region, three districts of Marathwada, and one district of Nashik Division were the worst-affected by floods and excessive rainfall, maximum aid has gone to Pune Division which is home to powerful political leaders in the State. In fact, funds for repairs of damaged roads and bridges were supposed to be released to only those districts affected by floods a...

Maha Assembly passes 'diluted' Anti Black Magic Bill * Bill to come up for consideration in Legislative Council * Opposition flays DF Government over ‘rushed’ passage of the Bill * Congress flays BJP, Shiv Sena over ‘suspect’ stand Staff Reporter NAGPUR, Dec 13: Around four months after the death of anti-superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar’s murder in Pune, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly adopted the much-debated Anti-Black Magic Bill on Friday. While the Opposition expressed displeasure over the ‘rushed’ manner in which the Bill was passed, ruling Congress flayed the Opposition for taking ‘suspect’ stand. Soon after murder of Dr Dabholkar, Maharashtra Government had issued an Ordinance of over 18-year-old Bill. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan resolved to pass the revised Anti Black Magic Bill during winter session of State Legislature. Accordingly, Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe tabled the revised draft of the Bill in the Legislative Assemb...

Reporters and photographers on duty outside Legislative Assembly building in Nagpur during winter session of State Legislature on December 11, 2013. (Pic by Satish Raut)

Non-creamy layer cap for OBCs to be raised in a month: Moghe * Oppn corners Govt over OBC, EBC scholarships Staff Reporter In a show of unity, the Opposition parties cornered the Democratic Front (DF) Government accusing it of being anti-OBC over the issue of delay in release of scholarships to OBC students. In response, Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe said that non-creamy layer income cap for Other Backward Classes (OBC) students would be raised in a month. He also assured to scrap two Government Resolutions. The issue of scholarships for OBC and Economically Backward Classes (EBC) students came up for heated debate during call attention motion by Devendra Fadnavis (BJP), Vijay Wadettiwar (Congress), Sudhir Mungantiwar (BJP) and other members in Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. Fadnavis said that income limit criteria for OBC and EBC students was not raised appropriately for several years. The members alleged that the State Government was not interested i...

Opposition against passage of Anti-Black Magic Bill in ‘haste’ * The much-debated Anti-Black Magic Bill introduced in the Legislative Assembly Staff Reporter After a long wait of over 20 years, the revised and re-revised Anti-Black Magic Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday evening. During the debate on the Bill that continued well past 8.30 pm, Shiv Sena voiced its clear opposition while other Opposition parties expressed ‘displeasure’ and sought certain explanations, amendments in the Bill. The Ruling side supported the Bill. After withdrawing the 2011 Bill, Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe introduced the much-awaited Anti-Black Magic Bill, 2013 in the House. The Opposition members including Devendra Fadnavis, Gopal Shetty, Yogesh Sagar, Dr Sudhakar Bhalerao (all BJP), Subhash Desai (Shiv Sena), and Vivek Pandit sought to refer the Bill to Joint Committee comprising members from both the Houses of State Legislature and seek report wi...

SPECIAL REPORT Sudden declaration of wildlife sanctuary locks up mineral deposits worth Rs 10,000 crore * The case highlights how different Government departments work in isolation By Kartik Lokhande Passion at the cost of rationality, and working in isolation both harm the larger public interest if these things are related to the Government departments. In one such case, sudden declaration of Umred-Karhandla wildlife sanctuary in Nagpur district has locked up exploration of mineral wealth worth a whopping Rs 10,000 crore! On June 26, 2012, Maharashtra Government published a gazette notification vide which parts of Nagpur and Bhandara districts were clubbed to form new Umred-Karhandla wildlife sanctuary. As per the Forest Department notification, it broadly comprises Kitadi (Rithi), Ranbodi, Wanoda, Nawagaon villages of Nagpur district and Parsodi, Khapri, Jogikheda (Rithi), Chichgaon (Rithi) villages in Bhandara district. The total area of this wildlife sanctuary...

Anti-Black Magic Bill not against any religion: CM * Chavan assures to call a meeting of Group Leaders soon, appeals all parties to pass the Bill unanimously Staff Reporter Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Monday, said that Anti-Black Magic Bill was not against any religion but against the evil practices not suiting the civilised society. He appealed to members of both the Houses of State Legislature and representatives of various organisations against the Bill, to extend their whole-hearted support to passage of the Bill. Chavan was speaking after presentation on the draft of the Bill before legislators, representatives of various organisations opposing it, and also spiritual leader Govind Dev Giri Maharaj (Acharya Kishore Vyas). Social Justice Minister Shivajirao Moghe made brief introductory remarks before presentation by Secretary (Social Justice) R D Shinde, in the hall of Legislative Council, after adjournment of both the Houses of State Legislature. Chairma...

CM’s trick works, Opposition tries hand with counter-trick Staff Reporter After a gap of a few years, the Opposition leaders attended the customary tea-party hosted by Chief Minister on the eve of commencement of winter session of State Legislature. However, there are political undertones to the seemingly simple development. During the winter session commencing from Monday, more such political developments are likely to be witnessed. Usually, the Opposition cites reasons like failure of the Government in addressing the real issues of people, failure in ensuring all-round development of Vidarbha region, farmers suicides, corruption etc. There was a bit of a trouble within the Opposition constituents as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena boycotted the tea-party while Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attended it. MNS cited the reason that it wanted to discuss with Chief Minister the issues concerning people. This was perceived as crack within the Opposition. Chief...

Oppn should discuss issues in ‘given time’: Chavan * There will not be any  demand for statehood if issue of Vidarbha region’s development is addressed properly, says Chief Minister Staff Reporter Virtually ruling out the possibility of extending period of winter session from two weeks to four weeks, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan expected that the the Opposition would not waste time in disrupting proceedings and raise issues of public interest in ‘given time’. “I came to know from the meeting with the Opposition that it wants to raise several issues of importance during winter session. I expect them not to waste time in disrupting proceedings of the State Legislature, so that time available for the session was utilised effectively to discuss issues of public importance,” said Chavan. Addressing a press conference on Sunday evening at his official bungalow ‘Ramgiri’ here, after a meeting with the Opposition leaders and ministers, Chavan said that the Governme...

Congress’ rout elates ally NCP * Cadres feel that seat-sharing formula for Lok Sabha elections should change, leaders say ‘haste is waste’ By Kartik Lokhande  The rout of Congress in Legislative Assembly elections in four states elated the cadres and leaders in its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra. While the cadres felt that seat-sharing formula for ensuing Lok Sabha elections should change from existing 22:26 for NCP:Congress to 24:24, the leaders of NCP chose to keep mum ‘for a while’. The four states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan have 72 seats of Lok Sabha. However, as the results of Legislative Assembly elections declared on Sunday made it clear, Congress failed to retain power in Delhi and Rajasthan and it could not snatch power from BJP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Following these results, the Opposition’s main constituent in Maharashtra -- BJP -- was all smiles while Congress was in ‘analysis’ mode. Chi...

29-11-13 State ayes ‘confined’ field trials of transgenic crops in 28 cases * These crops include Wheat, Maize, and Cotton * One of the applications was submitted by city-based CICR for a cotton variety ‘Suraj’ converted into Bt version By Kartik Lokhande While debate over impact of introduction and adoption of transgenic crops in the country is still raging, Maharashtra Government has cleared field trials of several transgenic crops in at least 28 cases. Interestingly, one of these proposals is of Nagpur-based Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR). Following a heavy pressure mounted by NGOs and activists, Central Government had directed the agriculture input companies to seek ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the Governments in the States where they wanted to conduct field trials of their transgenic crops. In Maharashtra, there were no guidelines regarding issuance of NOC in such cases. As a result, Maharashtra Government formed a 10-membe...

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on 'Sunday Sundae' page on Sept 22, 2013 80 years ago, here came the Mahatma... In 1930, the Mahatma had addressed a huge gathering of people along the banks of Sabarmati river that he would not return to Sabarmati Ashram till India got ‘Swaraj’. In 1931, the second Round Table (Golmej) Conference with the British Government failed to yield positive results as far as Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of ‘Swaraj’ was concerned. During this period, the Mahatma was invited to Wardha (Maharashtra) and Bardoli (Gujarat). To awaken the masses and revamp rural economy, Mahatma Gandhi chose to move to Wardha. And, on September 23, 1933, he first came to Wardha. ‘The Hitavada’ revisits the story behind the Father of the Nation’s arrival at Wardha 80 years ago. By Kartik Lokhande “I have returned empty-handed but my hands are clean,” said Mahatma Gandhi while addressing a mammoth gathering at Mumbai on his return from the second Round Table C...

WRD concerned over protection of its immovable assets  * Asks its offices to appoint an officer to take care of estate management Staff Reporter Water Resources Department (WRD), like all other Government departments, has become concerned over management of its immovable assets across the State. Considering encroachments on its property at a few places, it has now asked offices to appoint an officer to take care of estate management. This is part of the State Government’s initiative of maintaining land records of various of its departments. As far as WRD is concerned, it acquires land for different irrigation projects. Besides, it has immovable assets in the form of colonies, godowns etc. Despite having such a huge land stock and constructed property in every district of the State, it did not have an officer dedicated to the task of keeping records in this regard. Of late, sources said, need was felt to ensure protection of immovable assets from encroachment. A...