Newsroom24x7 Network
Mumbai: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Monday 5 April resigned from the Uddhav Thackeray-led ministry.
Deshmukh’s resignation came shortly after the Bombay High Court directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary investigation within 15 days into allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Deshmukh submitted his resignation letter to Thackeray
Lalit Shastri
The innocent and less informed are in a state of shock over the latest disclosure from Mumbai – yes, its been splashed widely by all sections of the media. The news spread like wildfire and was immediately viral on social media – the news about the long letter said to have been written by the ex-top cop of Mumbai Param Bir Singh and addressed to the Maharastra Chief Minister to tell him in detail how the state Home Minister had set a target of Rs 100 Cr per month as extortion money for several police officers in the commercial capital of India. One of the officers given this target was Sachin Vaze, who was earlier detained by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a case of terror and a suspected murder. The Bharatiya Janata Party, leading the ruling NDA at the Centre, is gunning for the Maharashtra Chief Minister and the State Home Minister in the wake of the explosive content of this letter, which according to the CM’s office, requires verification since it does not carry the sender’s signature. Notwithstanding the objection raised and the call for probe into this matter, what is important and should ring aloud the alarm bells is the fact that no one who knows how the system works is casting any doubt over what has been revealed. A friend of mine who has served as a top bureaucrat remarked: “This is more or less true of all metro police (the targets could vary). Congress perfected it. Police stations are auctioned. The problem blew up as these guys got too greedy. Why do you think, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) asked for the Home portfolio when it joined the ruling coalition in Maharashtra? All know, it was with a purpose”. My friend was quick in his response when in a state of total distress one had said – “What to talk of Daud, or the terrorists from across the border, when we have the Home Minister of Maharashtra facing the allegation of running an extortion racket in Mumbai allegedly involving several police officers.”
In the midst of all this gloom, earlier yesterday, a JNU alumnus had retrieved a news clipping from his archive and posted it on his facebook page to tell all his friends how many years ago he was part of an anti-corruption movement and had gone with a delegation to meet Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, the then President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan to demand action on the Vohra Committee report on the politician-bureaucrat nexus.
Another friend, a reputed historian, scholar and columnist, has brilliantly summed up the scenario with a unique post on facebook this morning. I’m quoting the post in verbatim. It says it all:
“Word Problem in Mathematics for Class 3 students in 2021.
If 100 cr per month is collected for one minister by one Assistant Police Inspector then please find out how much will be collected by two APIs, five Patwaris, 10 Excise Assistants, and 15 Assistant Engineers for 10 ministers in four years. It is a given that one Patwari collects double that of an API, an EA collects 1.5 times that of a Patwari and, an AE collects 3 times that of an EA.”
In sharp contrast, a friend sent me from Australia this morning the video of former diplomat Deepak Vohra, speaking on the TEDx Talk platform. He rolled out figures to establish India has come of age and is now a world leader. Vohra concluded his speech by tapping to the popular tune and asking the audience to join and sing in chorus: “Abhi to party shuru hui hai” (the party has just begun).
Surely, it will be time to party, if as a nation all of us join the chorus and convey to those in power in one voice that its high time we use the “explosive letter” to ensure the protectors of the Constitution will never be allowed to play havoc with the system; corruption will not be tolerated; and the guilty, no matter how high and mighty, they shall not be allowed to go scot-free.
Newsroom24x7 Network
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Congress’ parliamentary committee earlier this week passed a resolution in support of Muslim and Maratha reservation in the state.
This resolution was passed at the Maharashtra Congress Parliamentary Committee meeting on Tuesday 23 February. It was presided by state Congress president Nana Patole. Party’s state in-charge HK Patil was present.
A year ago, Maharashtra Minister for Minorities Nawab Malik had said the state government was going to table a bill providing 5% reservation for the Muslim community. This was countered by his cabinet colleague from the Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde, who had gone in record stating that the government had ‘not taken any such decision yet’.
Newsroom24x7 Network
Nagpur: A female tiger, age about 3-4 years, was found dead on Sunday 22 November 2020 in Compartment no 1452/1 of the TAS beat of Umred Paoni Karhadala sanctuary in Bhandara district of Maharashtra by local Forest Guard during regular patrolling.The spot is inside the forest and the nearest village is about 3 km away.
According to Field Director Pench Tiger Reserve, DFO Bor Rahul Gawai who was in the tour there reached the spot immediately. During the spot verification as per the SOP of NTCA, 4 foetus, 7-8 weeks old, were also found aborted nearby. The body was found dragged for about 50 m inside thick forest. Several signs and indications of infighting were found in the nearby stream- including blood trails, multiple tracks of pugmarks, drag marks, heavily disturbed ground and body hair spread everywhere, including on the vegetation. Postmortem was carried out in presence of veterinarians Dr Chetan Patond, Dr Syed Bilal and Dr L A Khan LDO Nand, in presence of CCF & FD Pench Tiger reserve, DFO Bor and Sanjay Karkare, Asst. Director, BNHS as the representative of NTCA and Dr Vasanta Kahalkar, Asst. Professor as the reprentative of CWLW.
The carcass was found eaten up from left side with rib cage broken. There were puncture marks on the ventral neck (due to canines) and death might have caused due to asphyxia and bleeding.
As per the observations during PM and circumstantial evidences, prima facie, the internecine fight can be attributed as a cause of death.
Samples have been collected, camera traps have been deployed to collect additional information. All possible information is being collected collected to rule out any other possibilities as a cause of death.
The carcass was disposed-off as per the NTCA SOP.
The tigress was an adult female captured during the last P-IV exercise. She was the new entrant to UPK.
