A local court in Kolhapur on Friday extended the judicial custody to November 7 of 32-year-old Sameer Gaikwad, an activist Sanatan Sanstha and prime suspect in the murder of veteran Communist leader Govind Pansare.

Gaikwad’s remand extension, which was pushed back a further 14 days, was as per the usual procedure of an undertrial yet to secure bail, said lawyers in Kolhapur.

Since his arrest on September 16, the police and investigative agencies have drawn a blank in drawing something concrete out of their interrogations of Gaikwad despite the activities of the Sanatan Sanstha coming into sharp relief as a result of the investigations.

Earlier, the court had rejected the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) request to conduct a brain mapping test on the accused after the latter cited the pretext that he was “not in a proper state of mind”.

Further, a Psychological Evaluation test report given by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) observed that Gaikwad had a “duplicitous personality.”

A group of Marathi writers today went to Mantralaya, the state secretariat here, to return their literary awards to protest the ‘culture of intolerance’ in the country.

Noted writers Ganesh Visputay, Sambhaji Bhagat and Pradnya Pawar were among those who went to Mantralaya to return their awards.
The writers went to the office of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, but were told that he was not in Mantralaya. They insisted on meeting the CM’s Principal Secretary Pravin Pardeshi and return the awards.

Pawar, Marathi poet and feminist, who is among the prominent literary figures, who have decided to return various awards given to them by the state government, said the gesture was to protest against growing religious intolerance, ban on personal freedoms, and killing of rationalists.

These writers are also urging other writers and artists to join the stir, which started after a man in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly lynched by a mob last month following rumours that his family had been storing and consuming beef.
Pawar, a former member of the Maharashtra State Literary and Cultural Board, said she had written to the Chief Minister that she was handing back five awards, including a cash prize of Rs 1.13 lakh.

“Even at the national level, writers, poets and personalities from different fields have started returning Sahitya Akademi, Padma and other awards,” Pawar said.
“This is not just a token protest. I have written to the Chief Minister and the Culture Minister about what we feel about the ban on food choices, killing of rationalists and endorsement of radical religious views in every sector, from education to art.”

Visputay said he was giving back his two awards to protest against the “ban culture” promoted by politicians. He said the stir by writers, poets and other figures would spur the “silent society” to voice its anger.

“We want to make a big noise against this calculated silence. This is not the end of the stir. We will come up with a new strategy against the culture of bans,” he said.

A task force on farmers distress set up by Maharashtra government has suggested that farmers be given a grant equivalent to 100 wages from MGNREGA and a price stabilisation fund be instituted to protect them from distress sale of their produce.

Prominent farm activist Kishor Tiwari, chief of the Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swawalambi Mission, said due to increased labour cost, very few works of digging wells in fields have been completed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

“Farm labour costs are ever increasing and make a big chunk of input costs for cultivation, and more so with low level of mechanisation in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

When MGNREGA funds are anyway used to pay for labour in digging of farm wells, why not for other farm labour as well?” Tiwari asked.

“It would be a big help if 100 days of wages under MGNREGA are deposited in farmers’ bank accounts so that the cost of labour for a season are met,” he said.

The Swawalambi Mission was the task force constituted by the state government a couple of months back to address the issue of farmers’ suicide and agriculture crisis.

The mission made the recommendations during a recent review meeting called by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Tiwari also recommended that banks should consider a five-year term for farm loans after assessing borrowers’ land costs and other securities. This would give farmers more financial freedom.

In another recommendation, he suggested speedy implementation of price stabilisation funds to protect farmers from distress sale of their produce in the event of a price fluctuation.

The mission is also undertaking the task of training gram sevaks, police Patils and health workers so that they provide timely assistance to farmers on various aspects and thus, reduce their stress levels.

Even as Maharashtra government approved supplementary demands of over Rs. 14,000 crore during the monsoon session of state legislature, it failed to make provisions for certain other expenses, resulting in a spending of about Rs. 145 crore from the Contingency Fund (CF).

Provisions were not made in state budget for expenses like purchasing Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar’s home in London and providing Rs. 77 crore to District Cooperative Banks (DCC) in lieu of transforming short-term loans to long-term.

Besides, the state government had approved Rs. 7.65 crore for a health scheme in 14 suicide-prone districts on September 11 this year, and also Rs. 28.35 crore to transform additional milk into milk powder on September 14.

According to official records, several such schemes have resulted into an expenditure of Rs. 145 crore from the CF that is primarily used to meet emergency needs.

However, state Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the money has only been spent on agrarian issues.

The CF has a permanent limit of Rs. 150 crore. However, the BJP-led state government had increased the limit on a temporary basis to Rs. 962 crore on May 27 this year.

The CF has been created under the Mumbai Contingency Act 1956 and since April 11, 1990, it has permanent limit of Rs. 150 crore.

“Though the fund limit has been set at Rs. 150 crore, there are instances when it is raised in view of unforeseen events like natural disasters,” an official from the finance department said.

According to the official, since July this year, Rs. 145.59 crore was spent from the CF for various purposes.

The newly installed Tsunami Early Warning System Siren will be tested in Mumbai on October 26.

The test will be conducted between 12:00 12:10 PM on October 26 near INS Angre, SBS Marg, Mumbai, a Defence spokesperson said.

The Siren and a Digital Electronic Board is part of a system for issuing early warning in case of a Tsunami threat in the Indian Ocean region.

The siren has a radical range of three kms in all directions and will have continuous hoot for one minute.

The system is installed at the Meteorology Office of Western Naval Command by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), an autonomous organisation under Ministry of Earth & Sciences (MoES), Government of India.

Once this test is successful, the siren will be connected to and remotely controlled by INCOIS, Hyderabad and will operate in case of a possible Tsunami threat in the local region.

Post successful completion of drill, it is intended to carry out testing of the Tsunami Warning Siren on regular basis between 12:00 12:10 PM on second and fourth Saturday of every month commencing November 1.

The 5th Vasai-Virar Mayor’s Marathon, sanctioned by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), will be held on November 22 and is expected to be a tussle for supremacy between defending champion Neeraj Pal Singh and 2013 winner Elam Singh.

Pal Singh broke Elam’s previous record of 2:22:44 set in 2012 to win the race last year in 2:22:38 and pocketed Rs 2 lakh in prize money.

A fierce battle for top honours is expected between these two Army runners in this year’s race.

Among other runners who would take part in the full 42.195-km race are Nitender Singh Rawat, Prahlad Sahai Meena, Girish Tiwari, Radhey Kumar, Sunil Kumar and Kapil Kumar, it was announced at a media conference here today.

Women’s half marathon has attracted 2010 Asian Games silver medallist and defending champion Kavita Raut, Monika Athare, Priyanka Singh Patel, Monika Raut, Rohini Raut, Vijaymala Patil and Manisha Salunkhe. There would be a half marathon race for men too.

This year the total prize money has been enhanced to Rs 26 lakh across all categories with the winner of the full marathon for men taking home Rs 2.5 lakh, while the second- placed runner would get Rs 1.25 lakh.

“The race would be overseen by AFI and would be conducted jointly with the state body (MAAA) and the newly formed Palghar Athletics Association. AFI would appoint a race officer,” said a spokesperson for the organisers.

The timing chip is mandatory for all the runners taking part in the men’s full and half marathons and the women’s half marathon.

This is the richest national-level prize money marathon for Indian athletes and amateur runners (who will run for 11km), according to the organisers.

The men’s and women’s half marathon races offers Rs 1.25 lakh each to the winning athlete and Rs 75,000 to the person finishing second.

The city police have arrested two alleged associates of the gangster D K Rao in an extortion case.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Parag Manere told reporters this evening that on July 17 this year a builder from Badlapur in the district received a call, allegedly on behalf of Rao, asking for a ransom of Rs 3 crore.

Police started a probe and arrested Vicky Raju alias Vikrant Jadhav (51) at Shirgaon in Badlapur on October 19, and recovered a pistol and two live cartridges from him, the DCP said.

He confessed to have made the extortion call. Based on the information given by him, police arrested Habiba Hussain Khan (51), a resident of Tilak Nagar, Chembur, in Mumbai, Manere said.

Rao, a close aide of fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan, has some 22 cases registered against him in Mumbai region and is presently lodged at Taloja jail in connection with another extortion case, he added.

Both the arrested accused were remanded in police custody by a local magistrate up to October 26. Further probe is on.