Kartik Lokhande's blog

By Aboli Lokhande I entered the class late. As my home was at a walking distance from school, in recess I used to come home (in fact, four of us, the siblings) to have lunch and managed to go back to school in time. But that day I saw all classmates were in class and teacher had just entered.  As soon as I sought permission to enter the class, all eyes were on me. Some might not have seen me. They might have been busy in settling down for that period.  I was feeling awkward for being late. This is the incident when I was in 10 th standard. Years later… same class, same classmates on the platform of WhatsApp group and I entered late. Forty one students were already in the group. All eyes were on me but some might not have noticed me. They must be busy in their day to day life or must be good in not losing concentration. One of my friends from those days and who used to be one of the toppers in the class, added me in the group and it stunned me with the same feeling. The

* Proposes a variety of measures including plan for ‘moneylender-free village’, special tax to raise funds for strengthening agriculture, and special Farm Debt Tribunals in each tehsil   Staff Reporter  Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM), set up by Government of Maharashtra to monitor implementation of the relief packages for farmers in six suicide-affected districts of Vidarbha a few years ago, has come up with a draft report on ‘Farm Credit Policy’. The re-constituted VNSSM, in its draft report submitted to the Chief Minister, has suggested a slew of measures including restoration of farm credit and advancing the farm credit distribution schedule.  Restoration of farm credit, and advancing of farm credit supply schedule to bring all farmers in the net of banking (institutional) credit by April 2016 have been set as the ‘first goal’ of the draft Farm Credit Policy. “Currently, only 20 per cent of farmers are getting credit through banking network, an

By Kartik Lokhande  Throughout the country, ‘Smart City’ concept has become a buzzword. Everyone in every other sector has his/her own notions about understanding of the concept. But, everyone is sure that implementation of the concept will change his/her city and make it ‘future-ready’. However, will the concept of ‘Smart City’ change the basic character, inherent culture and nature of a city?  Air Vice Marshal (Retd) D K Pande, who has been working on ‘Smart City’ concept, feels that a city will have to be understood ‘as it is’ to transform it into a ‘smart’ city that is sustainable and liveable.  For, every city is unique. AVM Pande, who is Vice-President (Government, Defence, and Aerospace) at Persistent Systems Limited, is clear about the concept of ‘Smart City’. The concept is all about making cities better-equipped with technology that could be used to deliver services to people in a more efficient and effective manner, and its ultimate goal is ‘smart governance’,