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By:

Kaustubh Kale

10 September 2024 at 11:37:15 pm

Duss (10) Suron Ki Sunoge, Toh Sahi Kaise Chunoge?”

Dussehra may have passed a few days ago, but its lessons remain relevant throughout the year. The festival celebrates Lord Ram’s triumph over Ravana, who is famously depicted with ten heads. In the world of personal finance, these “ten heads” can symbolize the overwhelming number of opinions and advice people receive when managing their money. If you listen to every voice and follow every trend, you will struggle to identify the right path for yourself. Learn Personal Finance: Knowledge is...

Duss (10) Suron Ki Sunoge, Toh Sahi Kaise Chunoge?”

Dussehra may have passed a few days ago, but its lessons remain relevant throughout the year. The festival celebrates Lord Ram’s triumph over Ravana, who is famously depicted with ten heads. In the world of personal finance, these “ten heads” can symbolize the overwhelming number of opinions and advice people receive when managing their money. If you listen to every voice and follow every trend, you will struggle to identify the right path for yourself. Learn Personal Finance: Knowledge is Power In today’s fast-paced world, financial advice is everywhere - friends, family, colleagues, social media influencers, and unsolicited internet tips. Not all of it will be relevant to your unique financial situation. To navigate through the noise, it is important to take control of your financial education. Start by understanding key financial concepts like risk, return, liquidity, and time horizon for different investment products. Risk refers to the potential loss you might face with an investment. Return is the profit you can expect to earn. Liquidity indicates how easily an asset can be converted into cash. Time horizon is how long you plan to invest before needing to access the funds. Learning these basics will help you evaluate which products actually suit your goals and needs. By educating yourself, you will develop a critical eye that helps you distinguish between helpful advice and distracting noise. Whenever you analyse any instrument, all four criteria (risk, return, liquidity, time horizon) must be considered together and aligned with your financial goals - such as children’s education, marriage, buying a home, vacations, cars, or retirement. Having a foundational understanding of these concepts ensures that you do not fall prey to quick-fix schemes or misleading suggestions that often sound attractive in the short run but prove damaging over the long term. Have a Financial Advisor: Like a Family Doctor for Your Finances As you educate yourself, you will eventually realise that managing your finances can be challenging. This is where having a reliable financial advisor, much like a trusted family doctor, plays a crucial role. Wealth creation is a marathon, not a sprint. While basic financial knowledge helps you understand the dos and don'ts, a financial advisor handholds you throughout the journey, guiding you towards your financial destination. A financial advisor tailors their guidance based on your unique profile - your income, savings, risk tolerance, and future financial goals. A good advisor helps you stay focused on long-term objectives while steering you away from emotional or impulsive decisions. Hence, it is important to have a well-qualified, full-time financial advisor. The Dussehra Reminder The message remains: do not listen to ten heads. Choose wisely, stay informed, and have a trusted financial guide by your side. After all, it takes years of education, experience, expertise, and wisdom to write a prescription - so do not self-medicate when it comes to your wealth! (The writer is a Chartered Accountant and CFA (USA). Financial Advisor. Views personal. He could be reached on 9833133605.)

OBCs, political parties hail SC order on Local Polls

Quaid Najmi
May 6, 2025
3 min read

Mumbai: Political parties and OBC groups in the state heartily welcomed the Supreme Court order on conducting the long-pending local bodies’ elections on the existing OBC quotas within four months in Maharashtra.


OBC leaders like Prof. Laxman S. Hake, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress state President Harshwardhan Sapkal, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) state chief Jayant Patil, Dr. Amol Kolhe, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders and others reacted to the SC interim verdict.


“We are very happy as the existing (27%) quotas between 1994-2022 have been sustained. The Jayant K. Banthia Commission had made its recommendations even without a proper survey, and we wonder how it arrived at its conclusions. Now it has been set aside and the elections have been ordered,” Prof. Hake told The Perfect Voice.


“This is a huge success in our endeavour for OBC political reservations. Through ex-MP Sameer Bhujbal, the Akhil Bharatiya Mahatma Phule Samata Parishad had filed the petition in SC to save the cause. We are pleased by the apex court decision. It is crucial for the political existence of the OBC nomadic communities,” said an elated Bhujbal.


Sapkal has said that the state government should now hold these elections without any delay and without finding any loopholes to bring back the former glory of the posts of corporator, mayor, and speaker.


He said that the 73rd Constitutional Amendment implemented the Panchayat Raj system, leading to decentralization of power, plus resulting in division of power among the Corporators, mayor and others.


“This continued well, but the local bodies elections were not held for the past few years as the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in the state and Centre wanted all the power in their own hands. After the SC’s verdict, the state government should forthwith announce the elections to give back power to the people,” urged Sapkal.


Patil said that the local bodies polls were not held for the past 3 years, but now the SC’s interim order will pave the way for the elections which are essential for all political parties and their workers.


“The polls will be held subject to the final order of SC regarding OBC quotas. It has also allowed the State Election Commission liberty to seek extension of time if needed. We hope that the state government will not push back the elections through the SEC,” averred Patil.


Hake added that the Centre’s announcement to conduct a Caste Census would not affect the OBCs quotas in elections.


SC: Ensure grassroots democracy

In a much-anticipated order, the SC division bench comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice N. K. Singh directed the Maharashtra government to conduct the local bodies elections which are pending since 2022 following litigation pertaining to implementing the OBCs quotas. The SC’s interim order directed the polls to be held as per the OBC reservations which existed prior to the Banthia Commission report (July 2022), to notify the polls process within four weeks and complete it within four months, to ensure and respect democracy at the grassroots level as enshrine in the Constitution.


Justice Kant and Justice Singh granted liberty to the SEC to seek an extension of time if necessary, and said that polls will be subject to the outcome of the bunch of petitions challenging the Banthia Commission though the order would not prejudice the contentions of the political parties.

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