Thursday, 10 October 2019
How Modi-Shah-Fadnavis changed Maharashtra politics - By Rajdeep Sardesai
And the Congress, once Maharashtra's premier political party, is now battling for relevance. Indeed, if there is one state that perhaps best exemplifies the decline of the Congress and the rise of the BJP, it is Maharashtra. This, after all, is a state where the combined Congress-NCP vote share has never gone below 30%. This isn't Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress is a single-digit party, nor a state which has seen a Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-style political revolution. This is a state where the non-Congress opposition has never won a majority on its own: In 1995, the BJP-Sena came to power with the support of independents and rebels, and in 2014, the two parties came together only after the results to form an alliance government. Maharashtra is the last Congress citadel that is now in danger of totally crumbling. The first blow was struck when the Hindutva alliance in the early 1990s legitimised the politics of religious polarisation, especially in urban Maharashtra. The second breach came from within when Pawar in 1999 broke away for a second time from the Congress, and took away a number of younger Congress leaders, especially from western Maharashtra, with him. The third break came when the social churning among non-Maratha OBC groups found space within the BJP and Shiv Sena, especially in the more backward regions of the state like Vidarbha and Marathwada. The fourth jolt came with increased Dalit assertion, especially among empowered Dalit youth, who are unwilling to be co-opted by traditional elites. The final nail is being driven in 2019 with the Maratha leadership deserting the Congress for the BJP. The Marathas were at the apex of the power pyramid, a dominant agrarian caste that used its numerical majority to monopolise power and resources for decades. All battles for supremacy were fought within the Congress' Maratha factions with limited outside interference. Even the mighty Indira Gandhi was unable to rein in the warring Maratha groups: Her attempts to impose chief ministers like AR Antulay never fully succeeded. Now it seems that the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah-Devendra Fadnavis troika may succeed where even the Indira-led Congress failed in ruling over the Marathas. The crafty Fadnavis has followed a carrot-and-stick policy in dealing with the Maratha regional chieftains. Giving in to the vociferous demand for Maratha reservations was a key step in wooing the younger generation of Marathas who feared they were losing out in a competitive job market. The carrot of reservation was followed by the stick of systematically targeting the financial clout of local Maratha leaders who might offer political opposition. At the core of the Maratha financial muscle is the vast network of co-operatives that have been tightly controlled through a web of patron-client relationships. The 'cash-and-carry' business model of the cooperative sector has seen many sugar cooperatives being pushed to the brink and even run foul of the law. With the withdrawal of State protection offered under the Congress rule, the Fadnavis government was able to send a firm message to the sugar barons and their henchmen: Fall in line or else. It should come as no surprise that several of the Maratha leaders who have switched to the BJP are those with a number of pending cases against their institutions. In a sense, the Fadnavis-led government in Maharashtra, much like the Modi regime in Delhi, has shown itself to be the 'new' Congress, able to wield the levers of power with dexterity and a degree of ruthlessness. But where the Congress expended far too much of its political capital in internal squabbling, the Fadnavis government has shown a single-minded determination in using its tenure to demolish the opposition through artful political management: The Sena has been tamed and the Congress-NCP far too compromised by past deeds. Moreover, where the Congress high command did not empower state leaders, the BJP has given the likes of Fadnavis plenty of autonomy and authority. In a personality-driven election ecosystem, the BJP has successfully nurtured a viable regional face. Which is why despite no shortage of local issues from water scarcity to non- performing legislators, the BJP is in pole position to sweep the state. If the 2019 national election was the TIMO election (there is Modi only), the Maharashtra may well be the TIFO mandate (there is Fadnavis only). Post-script: At a recent media conclave, I asked Fadnavis why the BJP was embracing the very political leaders it once accused of corruption. 'Show me one leader we have taken who has an ED case against him!' was his clear-cut response. Forget other cases of corruption, the Enforcement Directorate seems to be the new benchmark while determining political untouchability. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Hindustan Timeshttps://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/users/yohannosams/
Officials mess up revenue dist basketball team selection trials
However, we were greeted by chaos," said Sriviji P V, a parent. The parents alleged the official who was appointed by the DDE's office to officiate the tournament did not have any expertise in basketball. "Imagine children having to spend an entire day in the hot sun, just because a few officials did not organise the trials well. It was a mess," Sriviji said. According to him, the officials with the DDE office pinned the blame on the Physical Education (PE) teachers. "How can they blame the PE teachers when the DDE's office was well aware that the teachers are on strike. They could have made alternative arrangements. Of course, many PE teachers accompanied the teams. However, since they were on strike, they refused to participate," he said. No umpire was selected to oversee the tournament, the parents alleged. "When we contacted the Sports Council and the basketball association, we found they were not contacted by the officials regarding the selection tourney," Sriviji said. After a long wait, the students had to leave the ground by 3 pm as the selection trials were postponed, said Sriviji. D Leela, Deputy Director of Education said the PE teachers' strike was the main reason why the selection trials did not go as planned. "We had designated required number of PE teachers for the purpose. Even, a Sports Council expert was decided upon. However, the person could not make it as he met with an accident," she said. According to her, the DDE's office had sent a letter to all PE teachers asking them to join duty. "We have sorted out the issue. We will conduct the selections on Thursday at Carmel Stadium," she said. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The New Indian Expresshttp://theseasonedcook.com/UserProfile/tabid/42/userId/1089935/Default.aspx
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Narada after Saradha, most tension-filled Durga Puja for Trinamool leaders this year
On September 26, CBI sleuths, who were accused of making tardy progress in a case seen by many as an open and shut case of greasing palms, arrested an Indian Police Service officer S M H Mirza, seen taking wads of cash in the video. Mirza is said to be close to Roy-- seen advising the man behind the sting operation to go and meet Mirza. While this prelude to the pujas would have made ruling Trinamool leaders happy, they cannot be faulted if they still scamper for protection of the goddess. TMC leaders seen in the footage were Saugata Roy, Aparupa Poddar, Sultan Ahmed, Prasun Banerjee and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (Lok Sabha MPs), Subrata Mukherjee, Firhad Hakim, Suvendu Adhikari, Sovan Chatterjee, Madan Mitra (ministers) and Iqbal Ahmed (MLA). While Sultan Ahmed has died, Sovan Chatterjee has joined the BJP. Yet, the number of Trinamool faces seen in the footage is big, and they are no village or district-level leaders - some of them are known even outside the state and are virtual ambassadors for the party. Opposition leaders are already asking if an officer can be taken into custody for taking money, why politicians should stay out for the same offence. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said she accepted money as donation for the party but it is not known if she issued a receipt for the cash. Trinamool leaders can only hope for a miracle like the one seen in assembly elections 2016, when the Narada sting video, publicized by the BJP a fortnight before the polls, failed to prevent a TMC landslide despite the widespread impression that it would cost Mamata Banerjee's party dear. However, analysts point out that it is a different game this time with the BJP's emergence as a strong opposition that won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and cornered 40.25 per cent of votes cast. Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of political science of Rabindra Bharati University feels Narada might further strengthen the gathering winds of anti-incumbency in the state. So does political commentator Rajat Roy, who said there are hardly any precedents of so many prominent leaders being seen taking money at the same time. It might prove detrimental to the party in the civic elections that are expected in 2020 summer, which will be the last pan-Bengal electoral exercise before the crucial 2021 assembly polls that might turn out to be a do-or-die battle for Mamata Banerjee. The CBI action on Narada comes as a double whammy as the agency has Rajeev Kumar in its crosshairs, the head of the state CID, who is extremely close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee and accused of concealing and tampering evidence to protect influential beneficiaries of the Saradha scam. Kumar may end up in CBI net sooner or later and put several senior party leaders into difficulty. Congress state president Somen Mitra has gone so far as to suggest that Kumar might be sacrificed to save the skin of senior leaders. It is true that Trinamool Congress is not the only party whose leaders have been accused of taking cash, it is also true that they are accused of taking relatively small amounts - about Rs 4 to 5 lakhs each. But then it is also true that very few politicians actually get caught receiving money on tape! If the IPS officer's arrest is not an exception, Trinamool leaders will need nothing short of divine protection. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Hindustan Timeshttps://about.me/simenrjeekran
JCB shortlist 2019 announced: Debut authors Roshan Ali, Madhuri Vijay make the cut
'Bringing voices from across the country, these novels address the many specific difficulties of living a life in Indian society. With a combination of lyricism and humour, the five novelists portray characters who are at odds with their very different worlds. Their private struggles help illuminate larger themes, including patriarchy in rural southern India, religious and political conflict in Kashmir, and social and sexual marginalization in eastern India. Taken together, these novels remind us that fiction remains the most powerful way for a society to examine its fundamental concerns,' Krishen said. JCB longlist announced: Paul Zacharia, Manoranjan Byapari feature on the list 'This year's shortlist displays a satisfying diversity of voices, as is appropriate to the scale and variety of this country. These books transport us to very different parts of India, and give us access to very different kinds of life. Each of them is imbued by the spirit of its moment, which is perhaps why the shortlist has such an unsettled, turbulent flavour,' said Dasgupta. The JCB Prize for Literature is presented each year to a distinguished work of fiction by an Indian writer, as selected by the jury. Besides filmmaker and environmentalist Pradip Krishen, the 2019 jury comprises author and critic Anjum Hasan, authors K R Meera and Parvati Sharma, and economist and former Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India Arvind Subramanian. Gandhi's autobiography in Malayalam outsells others The winner for this year will be announced on November 2, 2019. Last year, the JCB Prize for Literature was awarded to Jasmine Days by Benyamin, translated from Malayalam by Shahnaz Habib. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The Indian Expresshttp://krachelart.com/UserProfile/tabid/43/userId/219880/Default.aspx
Huge iceberg splits from Antarctica
She said such events happen roughly every 60 or 70 years. "The danger with this event is that it shouldn't be interpreted out of context."It is true that atmospheric warming as a result of the greenhouse gasses emitted from burning fossil fuels has contributed to the melting of glaciers and ice sheets around the world, including in Antarctica. Between 2012 and 2016, Antarctica lost 219 billion tons of ice, according to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. But most of that loss occurred in West Antarctica. D28, by contrast, is in East Antarctica.Ice shelves are floating extensions of glaciers, some of which can cover more than 20,000 square miles of land. Those glaciers shed ice periodically as a way of balancing the weight they gain when snow falls on their centers. Absent that behavior, they would "just grow and grow and grow - like not cutting your hair," said Daniela Jansen, a geophysicist with the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany.An ice shelf "acts like a cork to hold in the flow of the ice that's inland of the ice sheet," said Robert L. Hawley an associate professor of earth sciences at Dartmouth College. If too much of the ice shelf is removed during a calving event, it can't hold back the rest of the sheet anymore, potentially setting it up for a series of collapses. "It is like you are removing a cork from a champagne bottle," Jansen said.In the case of D28, which gets its name from a classification system used by the US National Ice Center, there's no indication that the ice shelf left behind is unstable. And as for sea level rise, "The ice has already been afloat for decades so there will be absolutely no impact on sea level," Adrian Luckman, chairman of the geography department at Swansea University in Wales, said by email.Geographic events of this scale "are fascinating reminders of big things happening in remote corners of the planet, even though they are a natural part of the growth and calving cycle of ice shelves," said Luckman, who added that we are in "the golden age of satellite earth observation."Being able to track events like this in real time has transformed what we know about the most remote parts of Antarctica, he said, "as well as the rapidity with which these big calving events can be detected and reported upon." DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The Telegraphhttps://www.mobypicture.com/user/bagwabends
Sunday, 6 October 2019
'My job is to play in certain manner and I will try doing that': Rohit Sharma
And I'm going to try to do that," the stylish Mumbaikar said after receiving his man-of-the-match award. Rohit, who is India's vice-captain in limited-overs cricket, said opening the innings in the longer format didn't come as a surprise as he had already been told a few years back that such an opportunity may come his way. "Couple of years ago it was communicated to me that I might open someday. Even in nets, I used to practice with the new ball. I wouldn't say it was a surprise," he said. "It's a great opportunity for me at the top. Thankful for the chance, considering I've never done that before," he said. Mixing caution with aggression was his mantra for success as he also hit a world record 13 sixes during the knock. "No matter what ball you play, whether it's a red ball or white ball. At the start, you've got to be careful. Focus on basics - leaving the ball outside off, playing close to the body," Rohit said, adding that match awareness is also another aspect. "Everything depends on the situation you're batting in. It's my game to mix caution with aggression, that's been my mantra." His second-innings century came off 149 balls, which included 10 fours and seven sixes. "In the second innings, I had to try and play some shots. It may have come off but may not have come off also. Bowlers are pretty smart these days but I backed myself and I guess fortune favours the brave," Rohit said. Rohit broke a slew of records during his innings. He became the first batsman to hit twin tons in maiden Test as an Opener apart from the 13 sixes. Asked about the records, he said: "There are a lot of things (that happened) in this Test, which I am not aware of in terms of records. ' "Focus was to have fun and put the team in a good position. Just wanted to go out there and do what I do best. The focus was on winning the Test match and I think we pretty much did everything right today." One of the major architect of the win, Mohammed Shami, who returned with a five-wicket haul in the second innings, said the fast bowlers reaped the benefits of persistently targeting the stumps. "It would always be difficult (to bat) as the wicket was slow and low. We had the plans to attack the stumps between the two fast bowlers. We have been supporting each other well for the last 4-5 years," he said. "In the second innings, the variable bounce and reverse would be beneficial for us. It was visible that the batsman's discomfort zone was that stump-line and you can see the result. "It was of utmost importance for us to remove the first 4-5 batsmen as soon as possible. In the first innings, of course, Ashwin was fantastic for us. The more we would attack the stumps, the better it would be for us." ... DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Deccan Chroniclehttps://www.avitop.com/cs/members/yohannosams.aspx
Salwa Eid Naser becomes first Asian to win women's 400m world title
"This is crazy. I already did the mixed relays and I was just hoping for the best, but now I'm world champion. I'm really short of words to describe how I'm feeling, it's just crazy. I'm screaming I'm so happy," International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) official website quoted Naser as saying. "It's been so tough with all the training and injuries, and getting there has been hard. I didn't want to chase because I'm so used to chasing all the time, so I had to go out fast, and I just kept going. To cross the line and see that I am world champion in that amazing time, I just couldn't believe it," she added. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: Deccan Chroniclehttp://danmooredesigns.com/UserProfile/tabid/61/userId/468658/Default.aspx
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