To give or not to give
Shruti Rajkumar Badole was recently awarded Maharashtra government scholarship to complete her PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. A product of IIT, Madras Shruti should have been feted by her community as well as the state as she had been selected by one of the top ranking universities for research in one of the most difficult subjects. Instead, she finds herself at the centre of a controversy. The opposition in Maharashtra has severely criticised the decision to give her state scholarship. Reason? Her father Rajkumar Badole happens to be the social welfare minister of the state and, as claimed by opposition, was part of the panel that decided the grant of scholarship.
The scholarship was meant for students belonging to backward classes, and Badoles belong to backward class. Three scholarships were available for PhD students and, apparently, there were only two applications, one of which happened to be that of Shruti.
Her father says he had recused himself from the panel when the decision about Shruti was taken.
The criteria for this scholarship states that the annual income of the applicant's family should not be more than Rs 6 lakh per annum. As a cabinet minister, Badole earns more than Rs 21 lakh per annum as the state government had recently passed a bill to hike salaries earned by elected representatives and ministers.
Interestingly, son of Dinesh Waghmare, secretary to the department of social welfare, has also been selected for a similar state scholarship.
Paying a price for prohibition
The Vahangaon village panchayat in Chandrapur district recently passed a resolution that sale of liquor should be permitted in the village. It was because of the immense boost illegal liquor sale got in Chandrapur district following implementation of prohibition in Chandrapur in 2015.
Vijay Vadettiwar, local Congress legislator and former minister, was quick to take a cue. He carried out a survey of sorts and realised that not just illegal hooch but even drug addiction had increased since Chandrapur was declared a 'dry' district by BJP government.
Vadettiwar has now promised his constituency that one of the first things that Congress government will do, if it comes to power in 2019, would be to lift prohibition in Chandrapur.
The home-grown rebel
BJP MP from Vidarbha Nana Patole has been criticising BJP's central leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Patole recently said that Modi does not tolerate any questions being asked even by BJP MPs. Patole had been scolded by Modi when he tried to raise the issue of agrarian crisis and a separate ministry for the welfare of OBC community.
Patole has been critical of state BJP government, too. Recently, at a public meeting in Vidarbha, Patole criticised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and said that Pankaja Munde, a minister in Fadnavis cabinet, should lead the state government. BJP legislator Ashish Deshmukh, who was present at this meeting, expressed a similar view. Interestingly, the event was attended by Pankaja Munde, too. But she preferred to remain silent.
Out of file
Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao recently gave a go-ahead to an inquiry by Lokayukta against Housing Minister Prakash Mehta. Lokayukta will now conduct an inquiry into the controversial MP Mills compound case. Mehta is accused of misleading Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in case. He also wrote on the file that the chief minister had been apprised of the MP Mills proposal, while Fadnavis has clearly stated in state legislature that the file never reached him.
What remains to be seen is whether Lokayukta calls for a statement from the CMO when it probes Mehta's remarks.
