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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western...

Commercial LPG 'evaporates' in Maharashtra

Mumbai : The short supply of commercial LPG cylinders turned ‘grim’ on Wednesday as hundreds of small and medium eateries – on whom the ordinary working Mumbaikars depend on for daily meals – shut down or drastically trimmed menus, on Wednesday.   With an estimated 50,000-plus hotels, restaurants and small food joints, the crunch is beginning to be felt severely, said Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) vice-president and Hotel and Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI) spokesperson Pradeep Shetty.   “We are in continuous touch with the concerned authorities, but the situation is very gloomy. There is no response from the Centre or the Ministry of Petroleum on when the situation will ease. We fear that more than 50 pc of all eateries in Mumbai will soon down the shutters. The same will apply to the rest of the state and many other parts of India,” Shetty told  ‘ The Perfect Voice’ .   The shortage of commercial LPG has badly affected multiple sectors, including the hospitality and food industries, mass private or commercial kitchens and even the laundry businesses, industry players said.   At their wits' ends, many restaurateurs resorted to the reliable old iron ‘chulhas’ (stoves) fired by either coal or wood - the prices of which have also shot up and result in pollution - besides delaying the cooking.   Anticipating a larger crisis, even domestic LPG consumers besieged retail dealers in Mumbai, Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Kolhapur, Akola, Nagpur to book their second cylinder, with snaky queues in many cities. The stark reality of the 12-days old Gulf war with the disturbed supplies has hit the people and industries in the food supply chains that feed crores daily.   “The ordinary folks leave home in the morning after breakfast, then they rely on the others in the food chain for their lunch or dinner. Many street retailers have also shut down temporarily,” said Shetty.   Dry Snacks A quick survey of some suburban ‘khau gullies’ today revealed that the available items were mostly cold sandwiches, fruit or vegetable salads, cold desserts or ice-creams, cold beverages and packed snacks. Few offered the regular ‘piping hot’ foods that need elaborate cooking, or charging higher than normal menu rates, and even the app-based food delivery system was impacted.   Many people were seen gloomily munching on colorful packets of dry snacks like chips, chivda, sev, gathiya, samosas, etc. for lunch, the usually cheerful ‘chai ki dukaans’ suddenly disappeared from their corners, though soft drinks and tetrapaks were available.   Delay, Scarcity  Maharashtra LPG Dealers Association President Deepak Singh yesterday conceded to “some delays due to supply shortages” of commercial cylinders, but assured that there is no scarcity of domestic cylinders.   “We are adhering to the Centre’s guidelines for a 25 days booking period between 2 cylinders (domestic). The issue is with commercial cylinders but even those are available though less in numbers,” said Singh, adding that guidelines to prioritise educational institutions, hospitals, and defence, are being followed, but others are also getting their supplies.   Despite the assurances, Shetty said that the current status is extremely serious since the past week and the intermittent disruptions have escalated into a near-total halt in supplies in many regions since Monday.   Adding to the dismal picture is the likelihood of local hoteliers associations in different cities like Pune, Palghar, Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and more resorting to tough measures from Thursday, including temporary shutdown of their outlets, which have run out of gas stocks.

Centralized Education, Regional Defiance

Updated: Feb 19, 2025

The clash between Tamil Nadu and the BJP-led Centre over the National Education Policy is the latest chapter in the long-running Hindi vs Tamil identity feud.

Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu

The Hindi versus Tamil identity tussle took yet another sharp turn following Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s remarks on withholding crucial education funds until Tamil Nadu adopted the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its controversial three-language formula.

The remarks have fanned the flames of a bitter political confrontation. For Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK, the fight is about the very essence of the southern state’s identity.


The M.K. Stalin-led DMK, which has long stood as the defender of the Dravidian ideology, sees the imposition of the NEP and its tri-lingual policy as a direct affront to the state’s autonomy and a veiled attempt to foist Hindi upon a Tamil-majority population. The DMK, backed by nearly all major political parties in Tamil Nadu, has accused the Centre of politically-motivated actions, seeking to force compliance by using financial leverage.


The context for this seemingly endless battle can be traced back to the Dravidian movement, which, since the 1930s, has fought for linguistic self-determination and opposed the imposition of Hindi. The two-language policy, emphasizing Tamil and English, has been a pillar of the state’s educational system. Successive Tamil Nadu governments have rejected the notion of a three-language formula, with the most vocal opposition coming from the erstwhile AIADMK government. In 2020, then Chief Minister E.K. Palaniswami categorically rejected the NEP’s three-language formula, invoking the legacy of C. N. Annadurai and MGR, who fiercely resisted any attempts at imposing Hindi.


Now, with Tamil Nadu’s next Assembly election due next year, the DMK has doubled down on its stance. Chief Minister M K Stalin has vowed that the state will not buckle under what he termed ‘blackmail,’ asserting that Tamils will not accept any decision that undermines their cultural and linguistic pride. This rhetoric, echoed by his son and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, has sharpened the political stakes. Their opposition to the NEP is framed as a defense of Tamil identity, a battle against a perceived homogenizing force emanating from Delhi.


Actor-turned-politician Vijay, leader of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), went so far as to label the Centre’s approach as “fascist.”


At the heart of the conflict is the allocation of funds under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, which is essential for the state’s education system. Tamil Nadu has yet to receive over Rs. 2,150 crore in promised funds, which are vital for teacher salaries, student welfare initiatives, and the Right to Education reimbursements for underprivileged students. With the state already spending Rs. 76 crore monthly on teacher salaries and Rs. 400 crore annually on RTE, the absence of central funding has become a significant financial burden, threatening the very sustainability of the state’s education system.


The Tamil Nadu government sees in Pradhan’s remarks a wider attempt to centralize governance and curtail the autonomy of regional governments.


Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the NEP is not just about resisting the imposition of a three-language formula. The DMK government has criticized several other aspects of the NEP, including the common entrance exams, the push for a four-year undergraduate program, and the introduction of uniform exams for Classes III, V and VIII. These reforms, the DMK claims, would exacerbate dropouts and create inequalities within the education system, entrenching a two-tiered structure that would affect marginalized students.


To counter the NEP, the DMK government set up a 13-member panel to draft a State Education Policy (SEP), which aims to provide a localized, inclusive alternative to the NEP. The panel, which included prominent figures like chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna submitted its recommendations last year, but the SEP has yet to be finalized.


The BJP-led government’s insistence on the NEP, with its sweeping reforms, may be seen as an attempt to standardize education across the country, but for Tamil Nadu, it risks erasing the regional identity that has long been a cornerstone of its political culture.

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