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Swami Vivekananda’s struggle stands valid in the New Year

January 8, 2019

Swami Vivekananda, born as Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Swami Vivekananda was one of the greatest spiritual leaders from India. He is seen as a key figure to have introduced Indian philosophies of Vedanta and yoga to the western world. It was his 1893 speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago that made him popular as “Messenger of Indian wisdom to the western world”.

He was the chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna and founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He was considered a major force in bringing Hinduism to the status of major world religion in the late 19th century. His 156th birth anniversary on January 12, 2019, will be observed with much glory. Swami Vivekananda Jayanti from the year 1985 is also celebrated as National Youth Day.

The various forms and ceremonies, prayers, pilgrimages, and holy books are the preparations which take of the impurities of the soul. When the latter is cleansed, it will naturally want to get to the mine of purity — God Himself. Every religion insists on people having faith. No doubt, blind belief is not advocated but on deep analysis, one can find a very great truth behind it.

The mercy of God is eternal and unchangeable, but how then can we reckon with the difference among humanity? The explanation offered is that the present life depends on the acts carried out previously. So, for a purposeful life, we are asked to carry out pious deeds now to ensure that our future shall be smooth and prosperous.

The man has been provided with three gifts — a body, the desire to be free and a noble soul. Using them, he has to reach the goal. From Whom all beings are projected, in Whom all life and unto Whom all return can be called God. The concept of God is a fundamental element in the human constitution. Not withstanding the differences and controversies existing among various sects, there are several grounds of unitize. Almost all agree on the Existence of God… who creates, sustains and destroys. Second, of the soul and its re-appearance and third, of the universe. Our scriptures state that every duty is hold and devotion to it is the highest form of worship of God. Faith in themselves was the motive power which pushed our ancestors forward in the march of civilisation. These are some of the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

On Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary, also called Swami Vivekananda Jayanti, political leaders, sportsmen, citizens across the world took to micro-blogging site Twitter to pay homage to one of the worlds greatest spiritual leaders.

The various forms and ceremonies, prayers, pilgrimages, and holy books are the preparations which take of the impurities of the soul. When the latter is cleansed, it will naturally want to get to the mine of purity – God Himself. Every religion insists on people having faith. No doubt, blind belief is not advocated but on deep analysis, one can find a very great truth behind it.

The man has been provided with three gifts; a body, the desire to be free, and a noble soul. Using them, he has to reach the goal. From Whom all beings are projected, in Whom all life and unto Whom all return can be called God. The concept of God is a fundamental element in the human constitution. Notwithstanding the differences and controversies existing among various sects, there are several grounds of unitz. Almost all agree on the Existence of God… who creates, sustains and destroys. Second is of the soul and its reappearance and third is of the universe. Our scriptures state that every duty is hold and devotion to it is the highest form of worship of God. Faith in themselves was the motive power which pushed our ancestors forward in the march of civilisation. These are some of the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.

C.K. Subramaniam

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Letters to the Editor: January 8, 2019

Web Team

January 8, 2019

10% Reservation for Poor Upper Caste

It refers to government decision favoured generally by the opposition parties but only in principle regarding 10 per cent reservation for the Poor Upper Caste covering roughly 90 per cent of people from the General category with the parameters defined for getting reservation benefits being as high as household income above Rs 8 lakhs per annum, agricultural land less than 5 acres, residences less than 1000 sq ft and residential plot less than 100 sq yards in a notified municipal area and 200 sq yards in a non-notified municipal area. If the Central government is really sincere about economically weaker section (EWS) of the society, these parameters need to be made realistic. Otherwise, proposed 10 per cent quota should be doubled to at least 20 per cent.

However proposed policy is not likely to be struck down by Apex Court which has fixed maximum 50 per cent reservation quota only for backward classes made under article 16(4) of Constitution as per 1992 clarification by the Supreme Court. Simultaneously, Central Government should implement verdict dated September 26, 2018, by a five-member Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court for exclusion of creamy layer from reserved categories under scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Reservation-benefits must be given to families with up to two children.

Complete policy of Reservation incorporated in the Constitution for a limited period of just fifteen years to create a homogeneous casteless society is in itself a big failure whereas this policy has instead made people of reserved categories separately identified from others.

Madhu Agrawal

Nepal Rashtra Bank querying about legality of Indian currency notes

It refers to the Nepal Rashtra Bank (NRB) on January 4, 2019, asking Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to declare Indian currency notes of Rs 200, Rs 500 and Rs 2000 as legal tender in Nepal. Presently, Indian currencies of upto Rs 100 denomination are allowed in normal circulation in Nepal where Indian currency is allowed to be used in normal circulation like the Nepalese currency.

RBI should allow only currency notes of up to Rs 500 as legal tender. Indian currency notes of Rs 2000 may not be allowed as legal tender in Nepal. Such a decision is necessary because there are still takers of demonetised currency notes such as the earlier Rs 500 and Rs 1000 at a discounted value because of hope to get these legalised through the Nepal route. Decision of not allowing Rs 2000 Indian currency notes as legal tender in Nepal will prevent any such situation in case Indian government decides to demonetise Rs 2000 currency notes.

Such a decision will give a signal to hoarders of black money in form of Rs 2000 currency notes in India to deposit such black money in banks fearing a further demonetisation, thus negating need of any further demonetisation of currency. People in India will themselves avoid accepting Rs 2000 notes in normal circulation. A stricter control on currency circulation thereafter will undo the effects of poor implementation of earlier demonetisation done on November 8, 2016.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal

Power (Shakti) and discipline

Afternoon Voice cherishes, follows and propagates values engrained in Mahaveer Hanumanji. There is lot of indiscipline and loose talk in our country. PM Modi, Amit Shah and RSS must do utmost to eradicate such bad habits growing among the masses.

Mahendra Singh

Runway should be upgraded

The Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru is witnessing consistent early morning flight delays owing to the prevailing weather conditions. Fog has played havoc causing unscheduled delays, disruptions in runways and thus, leading to cascading delays across the check-in counters and at the airport. At a time when the airport is rejoicing with many milestones related to notable infrastructural improvements and passenger traffic achievements, it is high time that the present runway be equipped with an advanced technology in place to enable landing and take offs during the early morning fog.

Many passengers get affected owing to unscheduled flight delays daily. Also, most of the people use the airport mainly for the purpose of business and official travel visits, which happens normally in the mornings after 10am upon landing at the destination from Bengaluru. Hence catching an early morning flight from KIA is highly essential. The otherwise ‘safety’ trade-off factor owing to fog delayed flights will cost the passengers time and money and who also invest heavily on flight tickets to cut travel time.

As also it is known that the upcoming Runway 2 at KIA will be equipped with the advanced CAT IIIB ILS technology that will enable seamless landing during the foggy conditions, it is also high time now to look into upgrading the existing runway infrastructure with necessary advanced technology. Such a move will enable the airport to handle seamless flight operations and ensure completion of timely boarding formalities during foggy weather conditions.

Varun

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)

Alok Verma joins back as CBI Director

Web Team

January 8, 2019

Giving a big relief to CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma, the Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated and quashed the Centre’s decision divesting him of his powers and sending him on leave.

Verma’s two year tenure comes to an end on January 31. The CBI director had challenged the government’s decision to send him on leave and divest him of his duties.

Pronouncing the unanimous judgement authored by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi but read by Justice S K Kaul as CJI was unavailable during the preceedings said, “There is no provision in law which permit the government to divest the CBI director of his powers and functions without prior consent from the high powered select committee.”

However, the top court, restrained Verma from taking any major policy decision till the Central Vigilance Commission inquiry is over.

The apex court also said that any further decision against Verma would be taken by the high-powered committee which selects and appoints CBI Director.

CBI Director Verma has been accused by CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana of taking bribe from a Hyderabad-based businessman being investigated by the agency. Verma has accused Asthana of the same crime.

NSEL scam: Brokers’ bodies slam SEBI for delaying probe

Web Team

January 7, 2019

Nearly five years after the NSEL scam came to light with SEBI’s probe, the question arises that why FMC’s the then chairman Ramesh Abhishek suppressed the report of Rajvardhan Sinha? Why the then Head, EOW-Mumbai (Additional Commissioner of Police) had not taken action against the brokers despite having full power through gazette notification of August 2013? Now, Rajvardhan’s report is filed by SEBI as a response to the brokers’ petition as an annexure.

In a complaint application submitted to the sessions court in Mumbai on March 2015 by Pankaj Ramnaresh Saraf, one of the investors who suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 2.2 crores, alleged that during the period from October 2008 to July 2013, NSEL allowed 25 members, to trade on the exchange as sellers. It is also alleged that in authenticating these companies due diligence was not followed. It is further alleged that during the relevant period, these 25 members (sellers) in connivance with NSEL, traded fictitious stocks on the exchange for which they raised fake documents.

During the initial contracts between these Member Companies as sellers and buyers, the companies squared off the contracts on the date of maturity, but later on when the investments in the company grew substantially, they did not honour their commitment and thereby, caused wrongful loss of approximate Rs 5,600 crores to the other investors which include a number of more than 13,000.

National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL) is a company registered under The Companies Act, 1956, on May 18, 2005, in Mumbai. The company provides an electronic platform for spot trading in commodities and operates from 16 States across the country. The Company is promoted by M/s. Financial Technologies (India) Ltd. (FTIL), which holds 99.99 per cent of the total share capital of the Company.

The board of directors of NSEL consisted of Shankarlal Guru, Chairman, Jignesh Shah, the Vice Chairman, BD Pawar, Director, Joseph Massey, Director, Anjani Sinha, Director (MD & CEO), Shreekant Javalgekar, Director, Ramanathan Devarajan, Director. The key officials of NSEL are Amit Mukherjee, Jai Bhaukhundi, Maneesh Chandra Pandey, Santosh Mansingh, HB Mohanty, Shashidhar Kotian, Nirav M Pandya, the Auditors of NSEL: Mukesh P Shah.

The Founder Chairman and Group CEO of FTIL is Jignesh Shah. Jignesh Shah along with Joseph Massey and Anjani Sinha is in charge of the overall management and affairs of NSEL. The key officials of NSEL listed above are very central to the operations of the NSEL. The key officials are the “arms” of the NSEL whilst Jignesh Shah, Anjani Sinha, Joseph Massey are the “brains” behind NSEL.

There are 25 defaulters viz. Mohan India Pvt. Ltd., N. K. Proteins Pvt. Ltd., ARK Imports, LOIL Health Foods Ltd., LIOL Overseas Foods Ltd., LIOL Continental Ltd., PD Agro Processors Pvt. Ltd., Lotus Refineries, Jaggurnaut Projects Ltd., Top Worth Steel & Power Pvt. Ltd., Metkore Alloys & Industries Ltd., White Water Foods Pvt. Ltd., NCS Sugars Ltd., Namdhari Food International Pvt. Ltd. Shri Radhey Trading Corporation Pvt. Ltd. Spin Cot Textiles Pvt. Ltd., Vimladevi Agrotech, Namdhari Rice & General Mills, Swastik Overseas Corporation, Tavishi Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., MSR Food Processing, Sankhya Investment, Yathuri Associates, Aastha Minmet India Pvt. Ltd., Brinda Commodity Pvt. Ltd.,

Based on the FIR of Pankaj Ramnaresh Saraf, an offence was registered at PS MRA Marg vide against the aforesaid persons. Unit-V, EOW, took over the investigation of this case. During the course of the investigation, it was revealed that the transactions between the NSEL and borrowers were not fully supported with the actual delivery of goods. Prima facie, it was unveiled that there are many accommodation entries which emerged during this financial mishap due to collusion between the NSEL and borrower accused.

However, during the investigation of this offence, the main accused Amit Anandkishor Rathi (Anand Rathi Commodities Ltd.), Cherassary Parmeshwaram Krishnan (M/s Geojit Comtrade Ltd.) and Chintan Rajeshkumar Modi (IICL) were arrested on March 2015 when they had visited the EOW for the investigation.

The facts revealed during the investigation are false assurances to the investors as regards NSEL with wrongful and misleading statements leading to enticement for investments in NSEL products, the possible nexus between NK Proteins (defaulter accused) and ARCL or perhaps a possible tie suspected between NSEL and ARCL and suspicious transactions of funding through multiple accounts.

The small brokers who are wrongfully stuck into the matter despite having no evidence, raise their concern that this being a matter between the client and exchange, how can they be dragged into this fraud case? And what will the small brokers do to come out of this legal matter? How will the small brokers manage to afford the manipulating and delaying of the case just like the main accused? They believe that the government failed to take firm action and delayed the matter.

CEO of one of the commodity brokerage firms Sanjay Parikh shared, “My 20 lakhs are at stake with NSEL. SEBI hasn’t managed to take the case in the right direction. All main accused are basically delaying this matter. Ultimately, they are going to get in a soup, there is no doubt about it. But how does a broker become involved in this? As a broker, I am supposed to advise my clients; I am not inducing them wrongly. How am I to be held responsible if the exchange goes broke? Apart from that, the clearing agency also has to pay 2 lakh to me. However, Congress at that point of time allowed the illegal exchange to function even after knowing all.”

Small brokerage firms involved in the case also suggest SEBI that they must take action against such brokers against whom the clients have complained. If a client has complained, investigate both the reports, the client may be wrong, as may be the broker. There is no evidence with SEBI that all the 300 brokers are involved in this scam. Five or six brokers might have induced their clients wrongly, that is what the EOW and the SFIO report says.

However, after over two years of a probe launched against some brokers for alleged misselling of products with the promise of assured returns in connection with the Rs 5,600 crore NSEL payment fiascos. Now on January 3, 2019, the SEBI issued a supplementary show-cause notice (SCN) to equity markets brokers, including Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Anand Rathi Shares and Stockbrokers Ltd. and India Infoline in the case.

Criminal lawyer Pankaj Jadhav commented, “Among the frauds, the biggest name was of Jignesh Shah. The case was of 2013, but the charge sheet has been filed in 2018, now with the court proceedings, more accused will be punished and the victims will get justice. The High Court has already ruled that all the investors are to be given back their money.”

The probes conducted by various investigating agencies and market regulator, namely EOW-Mumbai, SFIO, and SEBI, reveals that top five leading broking firms were involved in misselling of NSEL product, KYC manipulation, Client Code Modification and infusion of black money through their NBFCs.

CA Uttam Agarwal stated, “The report of EOW is already there in media and known to the public at large. Hence, the respective department should investigate the matter further and faster.”

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Fakes that got exposed during Modi Rule

Vaidehi Taman

January 7, 2019

Since the Modi government has come to power, we have noticed many things happening. Such as 30 million fake LPG connections, the Direct Benefits Transfer for LPG scheme or DBTL (also known as PAHAL), billed as the world’s largest cash transfer programme, and has weeded out over three crore bogus subsidised domestic cooking gas connections, saving billions of rupees for the exchequer.

Out of the 15 crore subsidised LPG connections, 12 crore beneficiaries have authenticated their connections under the DBTL by linking their bank accounts. Of these, about 8.5 crore have also linked their Unique Identification Number (Aadhaar) to bank accounts. The remaining three crore were bogus connections as nothing was done by the beneficiaries to validate these. LPG subsidy “a complete success but three crore connections, were assumed to have been cancelled”. The fact that the use of commercial cylinders has gone up in recent months is in itself an indication (that subsidised cooking gas was earlier being diverted for commercial use). In contrast, commercial (unsubsidised) LPG consumption grew steadily since the DBTL launch. It is a clear indicator of bogus domestic connections (misused by commercial users) having been weeded out.

Another fake got exposed of 21 million bogus ration cards; there was a statement from the government that as many as 2.16 crore fake, bogus or duplicate ration cards have been detected. Around Rs 13,000 crore, which would have otherwise been diverted, would now go to the beneficiaries. Minister of State for Consumer Affairs CR Chaudhary openly told in Lok Sabha that in 34 states and union territories, about 60 per cent of the ration cards have been linked with Aadhaar. The government has completed digitisation of ration cards.

BJP government’s initiative to weed out bogus workers under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has led to the identification of 52 lakh fake job cards which have since been weeded out. The drive was the part of the efforts to streamline the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and ensure that no fake identities were paid, Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said. He, however, denied that linking of Aadhaar cards to the MGNREGA has been made compulsory to help with this. Out of the 11 crore workers under the job guarantee scheme, 8 crore have already got Aadhaar cards and 4.5 crore of these Aadhaar cards have already been linked to bank accounts. As of now, 95 per cent of payments go to bank accounts and only about 5 per cent are given in cash. Civil society activists have alleged that the government was making Aadhaar compulsory to get work under MGNREGA and this was reducing the number of workers who can avail work under this scheme. But the government was committed to provide employment under the rural employment guarantee scheme and has already sent Rs 23,000 crore to the states for labour payment this year. Nearly 92 per cent of assets created under the MGNREGA has been put on geo-tracking and progress of work was being monitored centrally.

Four million fake refugees (estimated), 3.29 crore residents of Assam had applied for inclusion after a massive Supreme Court-monitored exercise to identify illegal migrants living in Assam, the Registrar General of India (RGI) found 40 lakh people ineligible to be included in the draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC). This set off strong political reactions with the opposition attacking BJP for trying to divide the people for political gains. But one needs to understand these are the same people who are the vote bank of opposition. There could be several reasons why those people could not substantiate their claims on their voting rights; this is a subject matter of the Election Commission. But ironically, no punitive action was taken against them. Altogether, 3.29 crore residents of Assam had applied for inclusion in the NRC, which RGI had begun to update in 2010 to detect and deport migrants residing in the country illegally, especially from Bangladesh. The exercise to update the NRC was stopped for some time for various reasons and, later, revived in 2015 under the directive of the Supreme Court. RGI has now given one more opportunity to those who couldn’t make it to the NRC to prove their citizenship. Nevertheless, the fundamental rights and privileges they have been enjoying, as Indian citizens so far will remain unchanged till they live in India. Mumbai and Delhi are accounted for over a third of the 1.63 lakh companies de-registered by the government, as a part of the cleansing act undertaken on companies with suspicious and questionable operations. While the number of companies de-registered stood at 33,000 in Mumbai, it was 22,863 in the case of Delhi.

In the case of Hyderabad the number of companies de-registered stood at 20,588 and for Chennai, the number was 12,133. All these four cities — Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Hyderabad — together accounted for little over 50 per cent of the 1.63 lakh companies de-registered by the Registrar of Companies. Also, 11,286 companies from Bengaluru and 10,083 companies from Pune were de-registered. The 1.63 lakh companies have been largely identified on the basis of data mined from the demonetised notes deposited with banks post- November 8 last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled the validity of certain high value denominated notes. BJP’s HRD Ministry has identified around 80,000 “ghost” teachers in various colleges and universities across the country after the introduction of Aadhaar.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, however, clarified that none of these teachers are from any Central universities. There are certain ‘ghost’ teachers, which use proxy methods and are apparently teaching at multiple places full time. After the introduction of Aadhaar, 80,000 such teachers have been identified and BJP government will consider action against them. The HRD Ministry has asked all universities to seek Aadhaar numbers from all employees and students to ensure there is no duplication; concerns have been raised about the leakage of data. There are many such things that got exposed during the BJP rule; those were a liability on country’s economy. All these exposes should be taken as BJP’s achievement.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@www.afternoonvoice.com)

Ceased to be a legislator Maha Health Minister quits

Web Team

January 7, 2019

Denied renomination as an MLC by his party Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Public Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant resigned on Monday.

Sawant’s term as a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) had ended in July last year, but he continued as minister hoping that he would be renominated by the party.

However, Sena leadership denied Sawant another term, after several workers of the party accused him of inefficiency, sources said.

Sawant resigned on the last day of his tenure as a minister. The charge of Health ministry has been handed over to senior Sena leader Eknath Shinde.

As per rules, one can continue as a minister without being a member of either house of the state legislature only for a period of six month.

Before completion of six months, one has to become a member of either the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council, or has to resign.

“There were several internal meetings in the last four years when Shiv Sena party workers from across the state expressed their disappointment with Sawant not being receptive to their demands. The disappointment was growing and finally the party decided to nominate someone else who could be more useful for the party,” said a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

When asked about prospects of the Sena assigning a full-fledged responsibility of the Health portfolio to any of its leaders, he said, “We do not have enough time for appointing someone as a Public Health Minister. There is less scope of taking policy decisions, as the code of conduct for Lok Sabha polls and later the state assembly elections will kick in”.

Sawant told a regional news channel that he was not “unhappy”, but is looking forward for a new responsibility from the party leadership.

Industrial court restrains BEST workers from going on strike

Web Team

January 7, 2019

An industrial court on Monday restrained employees of the civic-run Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking from going on a strike from midnight.

Employees affiliated to the BEST Workers Union had declared they would to go on strike from Monday midnight alleging that mounting BEST losses were causing delays in salary disbursal.

The union also demanded that BEST and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) budgets be merged.

The BEST management had declared the strike illegal and issued internal circulars warning staffers of strict action if they proceeded with it.

It further said that provisions of Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) would be invoked against the union workers if they went ahead with the strike.

When all talks between the parties failed, the BEST management approached the Industrial Court here seeking relief against the strike.

Industrial Court Member S V Suryawanshi, after hearing brief arguments, restrained union workers from going on strike till it hears the complaint filed by BEST management.

Bihar oppositions alleges Centre’s quota move as electoral stunt

Web Team

January 7, 2019

Soon after declaring 10 per cent reservation to the economically backward among the upper castes, the Opposition parties in Bihar, which have come together and formed a Grand Alliance to take on the BJP-led NDA in the next Lok Sabha polls, on Monday dismissed the Modi government’s move as an electoral stunt.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief Upendra Kushwaha, who was a Union minister till a month ago, said while in NDA whenever I sought to draw the governments attention towards inadequacy of the 50 per cent ceiling on quotas, I was offered the alibi that it was fixed by the Supreme Court and breaking the barrier would require a constitutional amendment.

Now, I wonder how they are going to implement this proposed quota unless they bring in the necessary constitutional amendment. It is, of course, an electoral stunt, another example of jumlebaazi (rhetoric). A similar gimmick was resorted to by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a few years ago when he set up a Savarna Ayog. Nobody knows what happened to that, Kushwaha told reporters.

The NDA is in dire straits and Lok Sabha polls are round the corner. The move is a desperate attempt to win over a section of the society with a misleading promise. But the upper castes are never found to be wanting in discernment. They would see through the game, he claimed.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said Ambedkar had envisaged reservations as a measure to remove social and educational inequality. And that aim remains still unrealized as just a 50 per cent quota has been set apart for a social segment that comprises about 85 per cent of the total population.

To a pointed query as to whether he was in support of extending reservation benefits to the poor among the upper castes, Yadav the leader of the opposition in the state assembly and a former Deputy CM shot back the 50 per cent that falls outside reserved category has remained open for the 15 per cent.

Moreover, if the Modi government is so sincere about improving the peoples economic condition, he should fulfil his own promises of two crore jobs and a cash transfer of Rs 15 lakh into the account of every poor Indian.

Yadav also reiterated his partys demand for making the report of caste census public and revision of reservation quotas for respective social groups accordingly.

Former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) founding president Jitan Ram Manjhi said I say you do not give 10, but 15 per cent reservations to the poor among the upper castes. But before that please raise the limit for reserved seats to 90 per cent so that all segments of the society get their due. Unless this is done it will be seen as an electoral stunt.

Besides RLSP, RJD and HAM the “Mahagathbandhan” in Bihar comprises Congress and lesser-known parties like LJD and VIP. The Congress has called the proposed quotas an “election gimmick”.

Meanwhile, State minister and JD(U) leader Jai Kumar Singh thanked the Narendra Modi government for the move saying our victory in the state as well as at the Centre depends a lot on the support we enjoy among the upper castes.

Not involved in rescinding Sahgal’s invite to meet: Maha CMO

Web Team

January 7, 2019

Amid flak by opposition leaders and authors over rescinding the invitation to author Nayantara Sahgal to inaugurate the 92nd all-India All Marathi literary meet, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) Monday distanced itself from the controversy.

In a statement, the CMO said that the decision on who to invite for the meet is taken by the organisers and the state government has no role in it.

The CMO statement came after the organisers invited Sahgal, 91, to attend the meet, scheduled this week at Yavatmal, and later cancelled it, citing law and order issues.

Opposition leaders like Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam alleged the invitation was cancelled at the behest of the ruling BJP.

The CMO statement said a section of media is dragging the state government’s name in the controversy. The Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Mahamandal (which organises the meet), is an autonomous body and neither the CM nor the state government interfere in its functioning, it said.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP was not impressed by the government’s statement and said the invitation was cancelled “out of fear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi” would not like if Sahgal, niece of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, attended the literary meet.

The NCP said Modi always speaks against Nehru and asked Fadnavis to re-invite Sahgal for the meeting.

The noted English-language author who was at the forefront of the ‘award-wapsi’ (returning of awards) campaign, was to inaugurate the meet on January 11 in the presence of Fadnavis.

In 2015, several writers returned their awards to protest against what they described as “rising intolerance and growing assault on free speech” under the Narendra Modi government.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “The way Sahagal’s invitation was cancelled by the organisers of the meet, the government’s hand is there somewhere (in this).”

“Modi always speaks against Nehru. Sahgal belongs to Nehru’s family. There is a fear in the mind of the Maharashtra BJP and the chief minister of Maharashtra that if Nayantara Sahgal attends the meeting, Modi won’t be happy,” Malik said.

The invitation was cancelled after a member of the MNS threatened to disrupt the meeting opposing Sahgal’s presence, the NCP leader said.

“If the invitation was cancelled in the name of law and order, it is the responsibility of the Chief Minister, who is also home minister of the state, to convince Sahgal to attend the function,” Malik said.

2 directors of property development firm booked for cheating

Web Team

January 7, 2019

Police have booked two directors of a real estate development firm for allegedly cheating 16 people to the tune of Rs 47 lakh, an officer said Monday.

According to the complainants, they were neither given possession of the promised plots under a project in Shahapur in Thane district nor the amount deposited by them ever returned in the last nine years.

A case was registered against Madhukar Pawal and Santosh Padwal of VMC Developers under sections 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Thane Police PRO Sukhada Narkar said.

The complainants claimed that though they had paid for the purchase of the plots, they were never given possession of the said property since 2010.

“They claimed that the firm never returned them the amount deposited by them,” Narkar said.

No arrest has been made so far.

Officials of the firm could not be reached for comment.

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