Maharashtra SSC board exam 2021 results to be declared on July 15 2
School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad had earlier confirmed that the results for the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) class 10 SSC board exam 2021 will be declared by July 15.
The board exams were cancelled this year in view COVID-19 pandemic and the Maharashtra SSC result 2021 will be calculated on the basis of the marks obtained by the student in Class 9 exams and internal assessments of Class 10. Students can check their Maharashtra 10th result from any of the following websites: mahresult.nic.in. and maharashtraeducation.com
MSBSHSE SSC result 2021 date and time has not been confirmed by the officials yet. However, to check Maharashtra SSC 2021 result on the official website:
Step 1: Visit the official website mahresult.nic.in.
Step 2: On the homepage, click on ‘SSC Examination Result 2021’
Step 3: Fill in your credentials and login
Step 4: The result will appear on the display screen
Step 5: Download your result and take a printout, if needed
Last year, 15,75,103 candidates passed the examination, wherein, the total number of girls passed is 7,34,491 girls as that of 8,40,612 boys. City vice, Konkan: 98.77%, Pune: 97.34%, Nagpur: 93.84%, Amravati: 95.14%, Latur: 93.09%, Aurangabad: 92%.
Rajan and Ravi waiting for a new life on Indian soil 4
Since Chhota Rajan returned to Indian soil he is released in many cases and many are still pending against him. Politically connected and having right-wing ideologies many suspects he is well planned. His henchman Pujari has more than 200 cases registered across the country including 97 cases in Karnataka alone. He was arrested in Senegal in West Africa in January 2019 but he jumped bail and fled to South Africa, where he was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and extortion rackets. Pujari was hiding under the identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder and was located in a remote village in South Africa. On a tip-off from India’s external intelligence agency, the Senegal police flew to South Africa and arrested the 52-year-old gangster.
Ravi Shulya Pujari was born in Udupi, Karnataka. He has two brothers and one sister. He is a father of two daughters and one son. He came to Mumbai in his teenage and started working in Restaurant. He remained a small-time criminal till he killed rival Bala Zalte and he made his identity in the Underworld. He started his unlawful activities at Andheri, Mumbai. Those days Dawood and Chota Rajan gangs were very active in Mumbai. Chota Rajan got impressed with this newcomer and gave him entry into his gang. Rajan mentored Ravi in the underworld syndicate. Soon he became the right-hand person to Rajan.
In the late 1990s, Ravi Pujari moved to Dubai to set up his own business. He earned money through extortion of real estate builders, the owner of the hotel etc. In the mid-1990s, his men shot Om Prakash Kukreja of Kukreja builders in his Chamber office. Eight years later, a Navi Mumbai builder, Suresh Wadhwa, escaped an assassination attempt by ducking under his office desk. When Chhota Rajan split with Dawood Ibrahim after the March 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai, Guru Satam and Ravi Poojari cast their share with him. The trio set up a base in South East Asia and continued their operations. While Rajan relocated to Kuala Lumpur, where a powerful local mafia protected him, Satam parked himself in Hong Kong and Poojari travelled extensively in South East Asia supervising the gang’s operations. Satam and Poojari have trusted aides of Rajan, until a futile attack was made on Rajan’s life in Bangkok by a team sent by Karachi-based Chhota Shakeel, Dawood’s right-hand-man, in September 2000.
After the attack, Chhota Rajan was suspecting the involvement of his own people. Rajan’s sharpshooter Rohit Verma, who was killed in Bangkok created a misunderstanding between Rajan, Guru Satam and Ravi Poojari. Rohit Verma was a small-time robber raised as a sharpshooter and managed to be the right hand of Rajan. Angry Rajan got his own people and his associates like Vinod Shetty and Mohan Kotian brutally murdered at Panvel and Bangalore respectively by Rajan’s shooters in India. Unable to convince Rajan about their loyalty, Guru Satam and Ravi too got separated and set up their own gangs and they all were operating from different world capitals.
Thereafter, Rajan became less active and his wife was allegedly doing extortion on behalf, Sujata Nikhalje got arrested by Chembur cops in several such cases. Devastated Rajan got busy bailing out his wife. His daughters were at the peak of their studies. Don had to tame down in such situations around him, moreover, underworld activities in Mumbai became difficult. His younger brother Vijay Nikhalje got into politics and during 2014; he rendered his support to BJP. There was a rumour that because of this support Chhota Rajan was tactically brought to India since he returned to his family having holiday time with him. He has been provided with a television in his cell, he plays loud music on it, which has been troubling for many inmates. He is also provided with all sorts of facilities from food to clothing, his family frequently visits him. Chotta Rajan’s deportation and arrest was a big political plot. Rajan, 57, is facing more than 70 criminal charges. The Indonesian police in Bali arrested him on October 25, 2015.
Dawood, who is believed to be out of Karachi in Pakistan and is sheltered by the country’s security forces round-the-clock, is likely to be succeeded by one of his brothers and Anees Ahmed is the front-runner all the control in his own hand. Dawood’s trusted lieutenant Chhota Shakeel – often referred to as the gang CEO – has many connections in India. Dawood made his empire tech-savvy. His return to India seems to be very difficult as he is one of Pakistan’s richest persons and a mastermind in Pakistan’s act of creating unrest in India. Ravi Poojari always maintained that his mission is to eliminate both Dawood and Chhota Shakeel.
Ravi Pujari’s wife the Padma and his 24-year-old son were detained at Mumbai international airport, the duo was deported to India. The Padma was on a red corner notice. Former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma and now a Shiv Sena worker had arrested the Padma in 2005 in a fake passport case. The Padma had forged documents to obtain her passport and those of her two daughters. She was released on bail after a month, but she fled the country within six months by secretly obtaining another passport from Mangalore in the name of Sridevi Pujari. Since then, a lookout notice was issued against her. The Padma got bailed out again and she and her kids are already having their life on Indian soil, her husband Ravi Pujari who is known as a patriot gangster. Both the families of Rajan and Ravi will have new life on their soil. Now it is interesting to see who and when and how Dawood would be brought back to India.
Marathi Manoos Vs Migrants - Mumbai is the only city to provide free houses to intruders: Bombay HC 11
The Marathi Manoos who was honestly paying rent for their shelter went on strike and the migrants who built unauthorized huts on government roads and land became millionaires by getting permanent houses, but most of the officials who provided them with ration cards, electricity connection, water and voting cards were the local officials. These intruders have made one plus houses in slums and ironically, there are about 65,000 such slum houses that have ground plus one structure. Whenever there is some government scheme, these people get double benefits.
Sachidananda Shedge a writer, social worker and thinker said, “The magnificence of Girgaon and its mills were once considered as the jewel in the crown of Mumbai. Thousands of Marathi families from Konkan and other parts of the country came to Mumbai to earn their living. Mill workers were living in large numbers as tenants. Due to unions and strikes, Marathi workers were attracted to the mill area. The Marathi Manoos who were fighting with the mill owners were neglected by other industries. When Non-Marathi’s entered to fill the vacancies here the Marathi Manoos lost their ground and it is unfortunate that the political leaders and officials who helped these outsiders to strengthen and systematically harboured were also Marathi. The Marathi man from Chali literally came on the streets due to these strikes. Mills got closed. Malls and tall buildings began to erect in their place. At the same time, it is the tragedy of the Marathi people that the non-Marathi populace who were illegally building slums and living there was taking everything for granted.”
On the other hand, Mumbai’s Bandra West constituency legislator Ashish Shelar from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a demand to the Uddhav Thackeray’s government to regularize the first floor of slum houses. Shelar has made the demand in a bid to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of housing for all by 2022. “If these structures are made legal, people residing there too will be able to get houses under the government scheme,” he said. Besides this, Shelar also wants a policy decision on providing separate light and water meter connections to families who have houses on the first floor in Koliwadas (fishermen community houses) and other slums. In Koliwadas also it’s a mixed population residing.
Commenting on his demand, Shelar justified, these tenants extended their houses vertically since the members of their family increased. To accommodate them, they have built an additional floor to their ground structure, which is legitimate.
Sonal Khanolkar, a social worker said, “Warnings are not new to the High Court’s stance on government positions. Earlier, the government had issued an ordinance to save the buildings in Ulhasnagar even after the High Court had given its verdict in the case in Ulhasnagar. Now, in the case of the accident in Malad, the government has expressed the view that it has made a big mistake by inserting the provisions of the Rehabilitation Act in the development regulations. He blamed the government’s policy on making it difficult to take action against illegal slum dwellers. Overall, the policy on slums on government land is decided by the state government, but the necessary role is administered by the municipality.”
Khanolkar further stated, “It is also important to check which class of people’s representatives controls the authority in the municipality. Municipal corporators, regardless of their party affiliation, seem to take care of the interests of their class while making strategic decisions. Elections of people’s representatives are also sponsored and even then we see who are the congregations kneeling around them, so it seems impossible to see a different picture than what is today.”
Dhananjay Shinde, Aam Aadmi Party, State Secretary said, “According to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, every Indian has the right to live with dignity. And it is the responsibility of the government to grant this right. A citizen of India can go and live in any corner of the country. That is the right given to the citizens by the constitution. Unfortunately, in the last 74 years since independence, the number of people moving from rural to urban areas has skyrocketed. Similarly, Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has a large number of migrants. After coming to Mumbai, these poor citizens get employment but also the facilities required for a living are available in the city of Mumbai. Only Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore have developed in the last 74 years. But the overall development of rural areas is not seen. In cities like Bai, state government officials and Mumbai Municipal Corporation officials, with the help of local Rajka Rani, there are many cases of migrants officially protecting houses built on government land. For established politicians, this bunch of immigrants has formed as voters. Therefore, during the development work in the city, the houses of these urban migrant poor have been protected. The same has been provided in the law. This is a serious problem for the residents of the old slums in Mumbai. The problem of the citizens living in chali on a Pagdi system has become a very serious issue in Mumbai. The recently amended Tenant Act passed by the Central Government is both for the benefit of the owners and detrimental to the tenants. All the established political parties are responsible for this situation.”
“It is true that today the government is giving houses to outsiders through SRA scheme and also providing all the facilities, but the government does not give houses to ordinary Marathi families in Mumbai today because they will go to Virar, Panvel Kalyan. It is a great tragedy that outsiders break the law by building huts in the middle of Mumbai, but the government gives them a house. Today, the Marathi man in Mumbai is left with only medicine. If this wrong policy is not changed soon, the Marathi man will soon become extinct,” said Vishwanath Talekar a Mumbaikar from Sion.
Deepak Tarkar, a scriptwriter said, “How can the general public understand the problems of the government and how can the government understand the problems of the common people and solve them by staying in the system of government. Some arbitrary explanation can be easily made on this… but it will not be right… So before writing anything there is a need for proper investigation on this report. Media needs to be factual and more responsible while publishing such news.”
Do you know that the very first one to oppose British rule was a Christian Priest? Charles Freer Andrews was a Church of England priest. A Christian missionary, educator and social reformer in India, he became a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi and identified with the cause of India’s independence. He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading light in the Indian civil rights struggle.
In 1906, voicing these sentiments, Andrews soon became involved in the activities of the Indian National Congress, and he helped to resolve the 1913 cotton workers’ strike in Madras. Accamma Cherian was a freedom fighter from the erstwhile Travancore (Kerala), India. She was popularly known as the Jhansi Rani of Travancore. In February 1938, the Travancore State Congress was formed and Accamma gave up her teaching career to join the struggle for liberty. Under the State Congress, the people of Travancore started an agitation for a responsible government. C. P. Ramaswami Iyar, the Dewan of Travancore, decided to suppress the agitation.
On August 26, 1938, he banned the State Congress which then organised a civil disobedience movement. The prominent State Congress leaders including its President Pattom A. Thanu Pillai were arrested and were put behind the bars. The State Congress then decided to change its method of agitation. Its working committee was dissolved and the president was given dictatorial powers and the right to nominate his successor. Eleven ‘dictators’ (Presidents) of the State Congress were arrested one by one. Kuttanad Ramakrishna Pillai, the eleventh dictator, before his arrest nominated Accamma Cherian as the 12th dictator.
Accamma Cherian led a mass rally from Thampanoor to the Kowdiar Palace of the Maharaja Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma to revoke the ban on State Congress. The agitating mob also demanded the dismissal of the Dewan, C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, against whom the State Congress leaders had levelled several charges. The British police chief ordered his men to fire on the rally of over 20,000 people. Accamma Cherian cried, “I am the leader; shoot me first before you kill others”. Her courageous words forced the police authorities to withdraw their orders. On hearing the news M. K. Gandhi hailed her as ‘The Jhansi Rani of Travancore’. She was arrested and convicted for violating prohibitory orders in 1939.
Barrister George Joseph was born in a Christian family in Kerala. He was a strong participant in the Home Rule Movement. He later became a disciple of Gandhi. He died in 1938. Have you heard of Titusji? He was also a Gandhian. He participated in the Salt Satyagraha. He was one of the Satyagrahi who followed Gandhi on his March to Dandi. He is depicted as a Christian priest following Gandhiji in the Salt Satyagraha sculpture. The Christian missionaries who gave full support to the nationalist cause were embarrassed and indignant of the British colonial government. Among these missionaries, the most well-known names are Stanley Jones, C.F.Andrews, J.C.Winslow, Varrier Elwin, Ralph Richard Keithahn and Ernest Forrester-Paton. Some missionaries were even deported from India for their support to the nationalist cause. Given this situation, missionary sources do not speak about the political and nationalist involvement of missionaries for fear of having to come under the censure of the government. In spite of this, there were numerous Christians who involved themselves in the freedom struggle. George Thomas, a well-known Church historian maintains that the Indian Christian Community played an influential role, especially in the early phase of the Indian National Congress – founded in 1885 – which was the premier instrument of political nationalism. The influence of Christians was impressive in the various sessions of the Indian National Congress. In the third annual session of the Congress in 1887, out of 607 participants in the session, 15 were Indian Christians, and among those who addressed the assembly was Madhu Sudhan Das (1848-1934, popularly known as ‘Utkal Gourab’), a well-known leader from the Christian community in Odisha. The number and influence of the Indian Christians continued to be impressive in the subsequent sessions of the Congress. Kali Charan Banerjee (1847-1907), a Bengali Christian and a fine orator, regularly addressed the annual sessions of the Congress in moulding the policy of the National Movement.
In the Congress session of 1889, among the 10 women delegates, three were Christians, Pandita Ramabai Saraswati (1858-1922), Mrs Triumbuck, Mrs Nikambe. There are records of active Christian participation in the Swaraj Movement (1905), the Non-Co-operation Movement (1920), the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) and the ‘Quit India’ Movement (1942). Since the 1920s, many Christian institutions and organisations like the All India Conference of Indian Christians, the National Christian Council of India, Christian leaders and student groups related to United Theological College (Bangalore), Serampore College (Bengal), St. Paul’s College, Calcutta (Bengal), Malabar Christian College, Calicut (Kerala), the Youth Christian Council of Action (Kerala), the Student Christian Movement of India, the Indian Christian Association of Bengal, a conference of Christians in Bombay, a meeting of Christians in Palayamcotta and Tinnavelly, and passed the resolutions expressing complete solidarity with the freedom movement. Some of them even took part in massive manifestations against the British colonial government. J.C.Kumarappa (original name John Jesudason Cornelius, 1892-1960) was a veteran Congress leader. He was a professor of Philosophy for some time at Lucknow University.
On May 9, 1929, he met Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram and that resulted in their becoming close associates. He was a strong supporter of Satyagraha and encouraged Christian participation in the national movement. Before Mahatma Gandhi started off the Dandi March in 1931, he encouraged Kumarappa to write regularly for his weekly Young India and informed him that he would be its editor after his imprisonment. Thus, Kumarappa became the Editor of Young India and his fiery writings gave him one and a half years of rigorous imprisonment in 1931. But fortunately, he was released after a couple of days, because of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. He took up the editorship of Young India from Mahatma Gandhi in 1932, which again sent him to jail and was detained in Nashik prison for two and a half years. In 1942, he was under detention and trial for a year and a half in both Mumbai and Nagpur.
During the ‘Quit India Movement’, he had a hand in the underground activities in Bombay along with his Congress colleagues. These secret sabotage activities led to his arrest. He was sentenced to two and a half years of rigorous imprisonment for three charges and sent to the Jabalpur Central Jail until 1945. He was also a prominent figure in Congress affairs; he was given a chance to be a member of the All India Congress Working Committee in the place of Jay Prakash Narayan in 1947. The list of Christian freedom fighters is long, we must respect all those who fought for freedom irrespective of their religion. But these days, BJP leaders have forgotten oneness and nationalism.
The old arms of BJP had to quit from their portfolios and let the young get in with fresh faces and aura. Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar quit as Union Ministers, in big upsets ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet reshuffle. Ravi Shankar Prasad was Minister for Law and Electronics and IT and had lately been locked in a bitter feud with social media companies, mainly Twitter, over new IT rules.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and his deputy Ashwini Chaube both resigned. They are among a dozen ministers asked to go. Other Union Ministers who have resigned are: Thaawarchand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Babul Supriyo, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Rattan Lal Kataria, Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Debasree Chaudhuri. Their resignation comes as the government battles criticism of its handling of the second wave of Covid in April-May, which ambushed India’s health infrastructure and left tens of thousands desperate for oxygen, hospital beds and vaccines. Images of bodies floating in the Ganga or washing up on its banks in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar played out in India and abroad. According to Labour Ministry sources, Mr Gangwar paid for his ministry’s abysmal handling of the migrants and jobs crisis in the early months of the pandemic, when the country was in lockdown.
The Health Ministry resignations are a big risk when the move could be seized by the opposition as a sort of political victory and vindication after their daily attacks on the government’s Covid handling. But sources said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to send out a strong message that performance was key.
Harsh Vardhan, a doctor, enjoyed an authentic record in his past stints as health minister, both at the Centre and in Delhi before that. But the sheer scale of devastation in the second surge of the virus would prove to be an unprecedented challenge.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet got a facelift on Wednesday amid efforts to reinvigorate the administration that has been heavily criticised for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, soaring prices of essentials among a range of issues.
The names in the cabinet reshuffle include several new entrants as well as existing ministers who will be reassigned. Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Dr Virendra Kumar, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Ramchandra Prasad Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Pashupati Paras, Kiren Rijiju, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Bhupender Yadav, Parshottam Rupala, G. Kishan Reddy, Anurag Singh Thakur, Pankaj Choudhary, Anupriya Singh Patel, Dr Satya Pal Singh Baghel, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Shobha Karandlaje, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, Meenakshi Lekhi, Annapurna Devi, A. Narayanaswamy, Kaushal Kishore, Ajay Bhatt, B. L. Verma, Ajay Kumar, Chauhan Devusinh, Bhagwanth Khuba, Kapil Moreshwar Patil, Pratima Bhoumik, Dr Subhas Sarkar, Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar, Bishweswar Tudu, Shantanu Thakur, Dr Munjapara Mahendrabhai, John Barla.
The cabinet reshuffle, the first in PM Modi’s second term, will see 43 ministers being sworn in. There will be 14 ministers below the age of 50 in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has a perfect balance of castes, regions and experience. The rainbow cabinet will have ministers who are seasoned administrators to anchor and guide their departments — 46 have experience in the Central government, four are former Chief Ministers and 18 are former ministers in state governments. The council of ministers will also have a mix of experienced professionals — with 13 lawyers, six doctors, five engineers, seven civil servants, seven with research degrees and three with degrees in business. There will be 11 women ministers from across nine states. The reshuffle took place after a detailed performance evaluation of the ministers by the Prime Minister. The new ministry also cuts across communities. There will be one Muslim, one Sikh, one Christian and two Buddhist ministers. Three of the cabinet ministers are religious minorities.
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Biggest Modi cabinet reshuffle: The "youngest-ever" in India's history 15
Amid uproar on Rising fuel prices, unemployment, inflation and job losses and farmer’s agitation, the Modi government decided to reshuffle the Cabinet by allocating various portfolios to young ministers by taking away additional portfolios of senior leaders. A new “Ministry of Cooperation” has been created to “strengthen the cooperative movement in the country”, according to the government.
There are now more women ministers and special representation will be given to those who have administrative experience, say the sources. Government sources also say the revamped cabinet will include “PhDs, MBAs, post-graduates and professionals”, to bring up the average education level. The reboot will also focus on regions within states, with an eye on polls in five states next year and the 2024 national election.
Fifteen Cabinet ministers and 28 Ministers of State, comprising new faces and those elevated, were sworn in at a ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
This is the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019. An extensive and protracted review was carried out by Modi and the BJP top brass through a series of meetings with ministers ahead of Wednesday’s big exercise. These meetings were also held in the wake of widespread criticism of the Central government’s handling of the COVID crisis.
Narayan Rane, 69, a Rajya Sabha MP and a former Maharashtra chief minister, was the first to take the oath.
After Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, former Assam chief minister, took oath in English. The 58-year-old leader has earlier served as Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; and Sports and Youth Affairs under Prime Minister Modi Congress-turned-BJP leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, also took oath as a cabinet minister. The 50-year-old leader was Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Union Minister of State for Commerce & Communications in the earlier UPA government.
Lok Sabha MP from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh Virendra Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP from Odisha Ashwini Vaishnaw, Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar and JD(U) leader R C P Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Hajipur Pashupati Kumar Paras, were also sworn-in as Cabinet ministers.
Kiren Rijiju, R K Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, G Kishan Reddy and Anurag Thakur were elevated to the Cabinet-level.
Bhupendra Yadav, who has been serving in the BJP organisation as a general secretary, was also sworn-in as a Cabinet minister.
As many as 28 Ministers of State took oath including seven from Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls next year with the BJP seeking a second term there.
Pankaj Choudhary, Anupriya Patel, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Kaushal Kishore, S P S Baghel and Ajay Kumar– all Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh — took oath as new Union Ministers of State. B L Verma, a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, was also sworn-in as a Minister of State.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Shobha Karandlaje, MPs from Karnataka; Darshana Vikram Jardosh from Gujarat; New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi; Annapurna Devi (Jharkhand), A Narayanaswamy (Karnataka); Ajay Bhatt (Uttarakhand), Chauhan Devusinh (Gujarat), were also sworn in as MoS.
Others who took oath as Ministers of State at the ceremony were Bhagwanth Khuba (Karnataka); Kapil Moreshwar Patil (Maharashtra); Pratima Bhoumik (Tripura); Subhas Sarkar (West Bengal); Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad (Maharashtra); Rajkumar Ranjan Singh (Manipur); MPs Bharati Pawar (Maharashtra), Bishweswar Tudu (Odisha) and Shantanu Thakur (West Bengal) Munjapara Mahendrabhai (Gujarat), John Barla and Nisith Pramanik (West Bengal); and BJP’s Tamil Nadu state president L Murugan. At least 16 entrants to the Council of Ministers are first time MPs.
Ahead of the cabinet changes, Union Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot was elevated as Governor and several Governors were shifted on Tuesday. The Union Cabinet, which can have 81 members, currently has 52 ministers. This means 29 ministers can be added.
Senior Congress leader told Afternoon Voice that, “Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Narayan Rane, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)’s Pashupati Para – none of these names inspire any confidence and none of them are exciting. Just politicians being rewarded. None of them are particularly young either. So, I’m not sure what the fuss is about. Anyways, the PMO makes all decisions so irrelevant who the ministers are.”
A social worker in Mumbai said, “How does this news even matter for the common man? In the end, none of these ministers would do anything for the people, only interested in their own personal gains. People were dying during the oxygen crisis, what were these so-called “leaders” doing then?”
Monsoon Session 2021: Shortest, strained and stormed 17
The two days monsoon session of Maharashtra began and ended; this was the shortest ever parliamentary session. Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has decided to curtail the monsoon session of the state legislature to two days (July 5-6) in the backdrop of the Delta variant found in Mumbai and few other districts.
Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders were geared up and well prepared to counter BJP. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray maintained his demure. Ajit Pawar to Jayant Patil all was on guard, and this time they were not in a mood to take any undue attacks or blames from the opposition. Bharatiya Janata Party Leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis hit out at the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, accusing it of purposely limiting the session with the aim to oppress the Opposition’s voice on several issues. BJP believes that the Thackeray government had set a dubious record in respect to the conduct of sessions of the State Legislature.
Meanwhile, during the session Fadnavis moved an adjournment notice, asking for a debate on the functioning of the Maharashtra Public Service Commission in the wake of the suicide of Pune-based MPSC aspirant Swapnil Lonkar. The 24-year-old Maharashtra government job aspirant allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his house in Pune’s Hadapsar area on June 30, police earlier said. He left behind a suicide note in which he termed the MPSC exams as a “mayajaal” and appealed not to get into it. In the House, Mungantiwar claimed 430 MPSC candidates have threatened self-immolation.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the MPSC issue was discussed in detail and the government took it very seriously. The vacant posts will be filled by July 31, 2021. The MPSC exam was held in 2019 in which Swapnil Lonkar appeared and cleared in July 2020. He was among the 3,671 eligible candidates who cleared the exam for 1,200 posts. On September 9, 2020, the Supreme Court ordered an interim stay on the SEBC quota, after which the interview process was stopped by the MPSC, which is an autonomous body.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis alleged that the ruling parties used the incident to reduce the number of Opposition legislators in the assembly. On Day 1 of the Maharashtra assembly’s monsoon session on Monday, 12 legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were suspended for a year. Ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghahi (MVA) said disciplinary action was taken over their misconduct and use of abusive language used against presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav.
State parliamentary affairs minister Anil Parab moved the proposal which was passed through a voice vote by the ruling parties. The argument between the ruling and Opposition benches started over a resolution passed to seek empirical data from the Centre for a political reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections.
Food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis government failed to acquire the data, while the latter said the resolution is unlikely to give desired results. The resolution was passed in chaos following which a few BJP legislators reached up to the chair of the Speaker and tried to snatch the mic and the mace while Jadhav was presiding over the proceedings.
Later, the BJP MLAs apparently used foul language against Jadhav in the deputy speaker’s cabin. Jadhav said, “The BJP legislators tried to corner me and used abusive language in the cabin. I requested Devendra Fadnavis, who was also present in the cabin, to ask his legislators to calm down but he did not help.”
Fadnavis said, “The brawl started only after Shiv Sena legislators reached the cabin. I even apologised to Jadhav for their misconduct. Despite that, the ruling parties passed the resolution to reduce the number of Opposition MLAs.”
The Maharashtra Government also presented supplementary demands worth Rs 23,149.75 crore amid a mismatch between the revenue and expenditure due to the coronavirus induced lockdown and economic downturn. Of the Rs 23,149.75 crore, the government has earmarked Rs 4,960 crore towards repayment of loan taken under UDAY scheme for power distribution reforms in addition to Rs 856 crore for energy department, Rs 3,644 crore for public health, Rs 3,040 crore for Public Work, Rs 3,000 crore for water supply and cleanliness, Rs 1,843 crore for social justice and Rs 1,200 crore to Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. In addition, the government has allocated Rs 762 crore cooperation, marketing and textile, Rs 628 crore medical education, Rs 628 crore for woman and child welfare, Rs 397 crore for home, Rs 325 crore for urban development and Rs 301 crore for agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy development and fishing.
Since the MVA government took over in November 2019, it had tabled supplementary demands worth Rs 16,120 crore in December 2019, Rs 24,273 crore in February 2020, Rs 29,084 crore in September 2020, Rs 21,992 crore in December 2020 and Rs 21,076.32 crore in March 2021. Cumulatively, the state government has presented supplementary demands of Rs 1,35,695.07 crore.
There was a 90 per cent presence for the assembly from both ruling and opposition parties, and the media was there in huge numbers. The sessions were hustle-bustle, somewhat that ended today.
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Deceased MPSC aspirant, Swapnil Lonkar’s family to get financial assistance: Ajit Pawar 19
In the two-day monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly, opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis targeted the state government over an MPSC aspirant’s suicide.
Taking cognizance of the suicide of 24-year-old Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) aspirant Swapnil Lonkar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the posts for which the MPSC exams were completed will be filled up on a priority basis by July 31. Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis had urged the state government to keep aside the entire business of the house and discuss the suicide committed by MPSC aspirant Swapnil.
Speaking on the first day of the two-day monsoon session, Ajit Pawar said the state government will consider providing financial assistance to the family of Swapnil Lonkar and added the state government will try to create such an atmosphere that no one else will be forced to take such extreme steps in future.
Ajit Pawar said, “We discussed this in the cabinet meeting. We will meet GAD (General Administration Department) and we’ll take immediate steps. We’ll also look into aspects of helping Swapnil Lonkar’s family. We’ll try to make such an atmosphere that no Swapnil will be forced to take such a step. The vacant posts will be filled by July 31, 2021. The MPSC exam was held in 2019 in which Swapnil Lonkar appeared and cleared in July 2020,”
The 24-year-old Maharashtra government job aspirant allegedly committed suicide at his house in Pune’s Hadapsar area on June 30. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Assembly extended the deadline for the Joint Committee on the Shakti Bill (that is preparing the final draft of the Bill) till the last day of the next Assembly session.
Amid lockdown where Mumbai local is stalled for common commuters, personal and private vehicles hugely took the streets resulting in crores of rupees toll collection. Traffic is back to the highways, according to official data on usage of FASTags.
Over 3.45 crore FASTags have been issued so far. On July 1, 63 lakh FASTag transactions were recorded. And across June, the Government earned Rs 2,576 crore through FASTag tolls, a jump of 21 per cent from May.
With the Government opting for a standardized unlock of business activities, these tags have become the favourite mode of toll collection in 780 toll plazas, including all 660 under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
By June-end, toll collected through this electronic mode touched Rs 97 crore in a day, and by July 1, Rs 103 crore. This is just short of the all-time daily high of Rs 107 crore in March, just before the second wave hit, the official data show.
In March, just before the second wave hit, FASTag usage hit a peak of 19.3 crore transactions a month. But from April, when cases started spiking, that figure dipped to 16.4 crore transactions worth around Rs 2,776 crore.
In May, when active cases reached a peak of 90 lakh, tag data showed 11.6 crore transactions worth about Rs 2,100 crore. Over most of May, major Covid-hit cities and towns were in various modes of lockdown.
Officials said data from June indicate that effects of the second wave, as signified by highway traffic, maybe on the wane. his time last year, in the middle of the first wave, the total number of FASTag transactions stood at just about 8 crores, translating into Rs 1,511 crore.
In September last year, which saw the peak of the first wave with over 26 lakh cases, highways clocked 11 crore FASTag transactions worth Rs 1,940 crore.
Jesuit priest and tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy was from Jharkhand. He has worked in the state for over three decades on various issues of the Adivasi communities on land, forest and labour rights. This includes questioning the non-implementation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which stipulated setting up of a Tribes Advisory Council with members solely of the Adivasi community for their protection, well-being and development in the state.
The threat to BJP is not congress or AAP but it’s the Left. Left ideology is opposite to BJP and it wants to make sure the Left is completely wiped out. So, every left leader is today languishing in jail no different than what the British did to freedom fighters and maybe much worse. Swamy is the oldest person to be accused of terrorism in India. Swamy was implicated in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon violence, while he claims that he was not in Pune during the said period.
It was alleged that the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC) founded by him and Sudha Bharadwaj, to fight for the release of around 3,000 men and women who had been labelled as Maoists and imprisoned was a front for Maoist fundraising. The Jesuits have denied the allegation of Stan Swamy being a Maoist, by stating that it was against the ethos of the Jesuit order. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 8 October 2020, from Bagaicha, a Jesuit social action centre and charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 under which bail can be denied.
The case was initially investigated by the Pune Police but later handed over to the NIA. He was earlier arrested in June 2018 in Ranchi on similar accusations. There have been widespread protests across India with the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), All India Catholic Union, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference (KCBC), Kerala Latin Catholic Association (KLCA), Kerala Jesuit Provincial, Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences (FABC), and the international Jesuit community, calling for his release.
The Ranchi Catholic Church too released a statement saying it was “distressed and troubled” at the way he was arrested. The arrests have been termed as politically motivated due to his work among the Adivasi community, the release of undertrials, and the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee. Among others. Leaders of other minority religions have also protested his arrest. In a protest on 21 October 2020, leaders of opposition political parties such as Shashi Tharoor, Sitaram Yechury, D. Raja, Supriya Sule and Kanimozhi along with economist Jean Dreze, Dr Joseph Marianus Kujur, the director of the Ranchi-based Xavier Institute of Social Sciences, activists Dayamani Barla and Rupali Jadhav, and lawyer Mihir Desai called for Stan’s release.
The interim bail on medical grounds was rejected by the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on 23 October 2020. On 6 November 2020, Swamy submitted an application to the special court requesting a straw and sipper as he was unable to hold a glass due to Parkinson’s disease. The NIA requested 20 days to respond to the application. On 26 November 2020, the NIA responded that they did not have Swamy’s straw-sipper. Swamy also filed for bail the second time on the grounds that he is 83 years old and suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Stan Swamy suffers from Parkinson’s disease apart from other age-related morbidities. He has fallen multiple times while in prison. He suffers from hearing loss in both ears and has undergone surgeries.
The Court adjourned the next hearing to 4 December 2020 while directing the jail authorities to respond to his request for straw-sipper and warm winter clothes. Around 50 days after being arrested and amidst public outrage from citizens, the Taloja jail authorities provided Swamy with a sipper. Activists Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves and Arun Ferreira are also lodged at Taloja prison along with Stan Swamy. On 28 May 2021, the Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to admit Swamy to a private hospital for 15 days, considering his rapidly deteriorating health, preferably the same day of the order. He was admitted to the Holy Family Hospital, Bandra.
On 18 May 2021, in a note submitted to the Bombay HC, it was reported that Swamy was gravely ill in prison. The Court ordered for the formation of an expert committee to examine Swamy. While appearing before the Court over video conferencing on 21 May 2021, Swamy refused to be admitted to either JJ hospital or any other hospital and requested only interim bail so that he could go to his home in Ranchi, citing his rapidly deteriorating health. Meanwhile, Swamy tested positive for Covid-19. And finally, On 4 July 2021, Swamy was put on ventilator support as his health deteriorated until he died.
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