Kartik Lokhande's blog

  By Kartik Lokhande In the current atmosphere of political hate-mongering and media attention being diverted to high-profile murder mystery, news of Edula Santhosh Reddy’s death has been relegated to national silence. For, his death raises many basic questions that no one is probably willing to find answers to. For those who do not know who Edula Santhosh Reddy is, here is a brief: He was a Class X student studying at a private school at Julapally mandal headquarters in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. A resident of Abbapur village, he committed suicide as his family was not being able to pay the fees and the school authorities made him stand outside classroom along with some other students for long time. Before ending his life, Edula shot a selfie-video and narrated the entire incident that led him to take the extreme step. Now, this raises an important issue – How to make education affordable to all? At the root of this question is massive commercialization of e...

By Kartik Lokhande Dear Bapu, As the world and our nation gear up to celebrate your birth anniversary on October 2 later this week, I wish to take the opportunity to write this letter to you. I am a small man, who nurtured a wish to write to you since his teen-age. I wished to share with you, obviously without any expectation of a reply, some thoughts and some questions to which I could not get logical answers till this date. Hence, this letter. Bapu, your biggest gift to mankind was non-violent, peaceful protests. Sadly, they are a rarity today. For, since India gained independence, Governments of the day gradually tended to ignore such protests except when some influential activists were involved. Today, if a common man wants to stage peaceful protest or takes to non-violent agitation to press for his demand, he is simply ignored. Besides, Governments of the day often tend to take cognisance of only violent protests involving burning of tyres, stone-pelting, torching o...

*The National Award winning Marathi movie features city-based ‘Left Ambedkarite’ activist Vira Sathidar in lead role  By Kartik Lokhande  It was around 3.30 pm on Wednesday. Vira Sathidar was in the office of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) near Zero Mile in the city, when his mobile phone started ringing. It was a call from his wife Pushpa. He was surprised when Pushpa asked him, “What has happened? I have been getting too many calls...”   “It was then that I came to know that our movie ‘Court’ had been nominated as India’s official entry to the Oscars,” Vira told ‘The Hitavada’. Wednesday was an important day in the stupendous success story of the movie and Vira, a Nagpurian, who has made every other Nagpurian proud. Getting to know the news, Vira’s joy knew no bounds. “I am very happy to see that the movie that portrays struggle of a common man has now gone global as India’s official entry to the coveted awards,” he said.  Sharing his joy...

  By Kartik Lokhande  At the start of the month of September -- ahead of Paryushan Parva of Jains, Ganeshotsav of Hindus, and Bakr-Id of Muslims -- there erupted a controvery over so-called meat ban in Maharashtra.  Soon, the ‘impartial’ media went furious with the tales of states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and even the court in Jammu and Kashmir ‘dictating’ the eating habits of people. Sadly, the ‘secular’ media highlighted the issue placing religious identity politics at the core of the debate. This same media forgot what it championed at other times -- the cause of animal rights.   Animal rights always takes a backseat in media debate whenever the media finds more attractive packaging opportunity in the form of attaching political and religious significance to any development in the country. Another element is making an informed choice about one’s food habits, instead of laying emphasis on superstitious beliefs...

* Re-survey of some villages to be conducted to assess the condition and formulate appropriate response  Staff Reporter   Since the BJP-led Government under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken over in Maharashtra, Gosikhurd mega irrigation project has received a major boost. Following the directives of the Chief Minister, the administrative machinery has started expediting the task of rehabilitation of project-affected persons (PAPs) to clear way for increasing water storage in the project.   “We are planning to complete rehabilitation of all the PAPs in Nagpur and Bhandara districts by March 2016. However, even if some issues crop up, it is my word that rehabilitation will be completed by December 2016,” said Anoop Kumar, Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur. Anoop Kumar was addressing a press conference on Saturday evening, after a review meeting at his office here. He informed the reporters that various issues had been identified and being sorted out. As p...

By Kartik Lokhande  When one talks of 1965 war and the role played by Indian Air Force (IAF), the critical technical support of Maintenance Command headquartered in Nagpur finds just a mention. However, very few know about the significance of the support of the Maintenance Command and its various units as well as 44 Squadron.  Indian Air Force came into being in 1932 and is today regarded as one of the most formidable fourth largest Air Forces in the world. But this kind of air supremacy could not have been achieved without a strong maintenance support provided by Maintenance Command. Of course, different wars and conflicts contributed to evolution of the Maintenance Command also. And, one of these events was 1965 war with Pakistan.  Maintenance Command was set up at Kanpur on January 26, 1955, with Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh MBE (Most Excellent Order of British Empire), PVSM (Param Vishishth Seva Medal) as its first Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AO...

Staff Reporter  The proposal regarding installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Nagpur city has been submitted to Information Technology Department of State Government. This was informed by officials in a meeting on law and order in Nagpur district, held at Mantralaya on Wednesday.  Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Guardian Minister of Nagpur district, had called the meeting in which various other issues pertaining to modernisation of police force in Nagpur city and district, and filling up of vacancies, new police stations etc were discussed. The officials present in the meeting informed the minister that Home Department had granted approval to make available ‘bag scanner’ at Nagpur, for better vigilance. A proposal regarding installation of General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) system, a widely-used mobile data service, on vehicles with City Police was discussed.  Bawankule directed Nagpur (Rural) Police to prepare a proposal on setting up new p...