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TOI : PUNE: Pro-reservation Dalit and OBC leaders from various parties are expected to attend a convention in the city on September 24 at the B.J. medical ground to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Pune Pact that was signed between Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar in 1932.

Former MP and Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh (BBM) leader Prakash Ambedkar said on Thursday, “The pact signed between Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar will complete 75 years on September 24. We have decided to organise a rally on this day which will be addressed by various Dalit and OBC leaders from all parties except the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)”.

The leaders expected to attend the convention are BJP leader Gopinath Munde; Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mustaffa Faruki; Peasants and Workers Party leader MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh; Jansurajya leader and minister in the state cabinet Vinay Kore; Adivasi leader Divakar Pedam and Laxman Mane and Dhangar community leader Haribhau Bhade and Annarao Patil.

About the political overtones of the convention, Ambedkar said, “I have spoken to various leaders and they have agreed to attend the convention. As a leader of the BBM, I am trying to get together an alternative political front.” While he added that any one from the BJP, the Shiv Sena or any other party was welcome to join, he refused to divulge any details regarding the alternative front.

“The current political system is insensitive and in a democratic set-up a government is replaced by people’s mandate. We are chalking out a five-year term programme, which includes issues like power, agriculture system, employment and development of urban areas,” said Ambedkar, adding that the alternative front would be introduced on the state level.

He said the Bahujan Samaj Party would have no role to play in the front, as its popularity had decreased. Ambedkar said though Sharad Pawar had said that all Dalit…More

TOI : Elephants, horse-drawn carts, actors, fancy costumes, dances and light and sound effects – this is the stuff that has made Ganeshotsav this year a spectacle to behold.

Turning away from the old custom of erecting stationary tableaux, many Ganesh mandals in the city chose instead to stage live performances dealing with a variety of subjects. For the entire duration of the 10-day festival, the artists performed with finesse in front of a packed crowd, delivering upto 15 shows a day.

Rajendra Deshmukh, president of the Akra Maruti Kopara in Shukrawarpeth, highlighted the thinking behind the changing trend. “When we put up a static display, a single individual earns lakhs of rupees. A live performance, instead, provides a stage for artists to display their talent. Also, it gives an assured source of income for the period of the festival,” said Deshmukh.

The Akra Maruti Kopara recreated the scene of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s coronation, replete with huge torches and horses. The 14-minute performance culminates with Shivaji being crowned as 35 artists dressed in royal finery blow trumpets.

“The audience response has been fabulous. We have received invitations for 22 shows by people who were impressed with our performance here!” says an enthusiastic Mahendra Mahadik, the director, producer and lead actor of the play.

The actors in the play ranged from a 10-year-old to professional doctors and engineers essaying various roles. Aparna Giri, who played Shivaji’s mother Jijabai, said, “We have performed this play to a great response in Pimpri-Chinchwad township as well as in Mumbai.”

The Indian freedom struggle was the other flavour of this Ganeshotsav season. The killing of British officer Charles Rand by the Chapekar brothers on Ganeshkhind road 111 years ago was enacted by the Hind Tarun Mandal with astonishing adeptness.

The performance area comprised a two-storied set replicating the old houses in the city,…More

TOI : PUNE: One more person, who had sustained severe burn injuries in the fire that broke out at the Kailas crematorium on Thursday, passed away during the treatment on Friday. The deceased was identified as Manohar Chatsingh Sotte (24), a resident of Azadnagar, Wanowrie.

Meanwhile, the Bund Garden police have arrested assistant manager of Sun Enviro private limited, Piyush Kantilal Solanki (28), a resident of Anand Park, Dhanori, and supervisor Hemant Namdeo Jagjal (32), a resident of Mangalwar Peth. The police have also booked contractor Sunil Singhania and Dharmendra Dube of Avon beauty products. According to the Bund Garden police, both Singhania and Dube were untraceable.

Shabbir Ganibhai Khan (29) of Wanowrie was charred to death on Thursday while conditions of another four persons, who had sustained severe burn injuries, was said to be critical by the authorities. On Friday, the accused, Solanki and Jagjal, were produced before the JMFC court and were remanded to police custody till September 14.

According to senior inspector, Ranjeet Dhure of the Bund Garden police station, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had awarded the contract of the bio-medical waste plant in Kailas crematorium to Sunil Singhnia of Sun Enviro private limited. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: Issues such as female foeticide, malnourishment, education, child labour, begging and awareness about children’s rights will soon be tackled by a state child rights organisation.

The Maharashtra government has drawn up a proposal to form the state child rights commission (CRC) on the lines of the women’s rights commission, minister for women and child development, Harshavardhan Patil said here on Friday.

The proposal will be discussed at the cabinet meeting in Aurangabad on September 17-18. Senior government officer Leena Mehendale would be the member secretary of the CRC, he said. Print EMail DiscussNew B…More

TOI : PUNE: The demographic projection report prepared by the population research centre of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics (GIPE) in Pune says the percentage of migration to the city will be on the decline after 2011.

“It has been observed in previous years that employment was the main reason for people to move to the city. However, opportunities in the formal sector are declining and unskilled people will find it difficult to get a foothold in big cities,” said Sanjeevanee Mulay, who prepared the report and headed a team of two researchers.

“There’s a limit to growth and according to me, migration will come down in future,” said Mulay, who retired as a reader from the institute a couple of months ago.

Mulay prepared the report as sought by the Pune Municipal Cor-poration (PMC) for the development plan (DP).

Prashant Waghmare, city engineer, PMC, said, “It is mandatory to do a survey on the city’s population while making a development plan. Accordingly, we handed over the task to GIPE. This study will tell us where exactly the social and economic status of the city stands. It will also give us a brief idea about the employment pattern in various sectors. It will basically help us build our development plan better.”

According to the report submitted to the PMC, the rising trend in migration to the city seen in the 1991 and 2001 censuses was mainly due to economic reasons. The estimated migration between 1991-2001 was 3.6 lakh, which was about 15 per cent of Pune’s population at the end of the decade.

Taking into account the expansion of the information technology (IT) sector in recent years and the probable impact on migration, the re-port projects that, between 2001-2011, migration will remain constant at 12 per cent as in the past two decades. But between 2011-2021, it…More