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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Ajit Pawar dreamt big for Baramati

Mumbai/Pune : Shunned as a dry and drought-prone sub-district of Pune on the Deccan Plateau barely five decades ago, Baramati today symbolizes one of Maharashtra’s most striking examples of systematic rural transformation with the lion’s share of credit going to the state’s numero uno Sharad Pawar clan.   The prime activity of farming thrives here, cooperatives flourish, industries are booming, education soars and the infrastructure is envied even by many developed urban centres.   Little...

Ajit Pawar dreamt big for Baramati

Mumbai/Pune : Shunned as a dry and drought-prone sub-district of Pune on the Deccan Plateau barely five decades ago, Baramati today symbolizes one of Maharashtra’s most striking examples of systematic rural transformation with the lion’s share of credit going to the state’s numero uno Sharad Pawar clan.   The prime activity of farming thrives here, cooperatives flourish, industries are booming, education soars and the infrastructure is envied even by many developed urban centres.   Little wonder that the Pune region ranks lowest in terms of farmers suicides – in 2024, there were only 24 deaths, as per official data, said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti President Kishore Tiwari, who has chronicled distress in farmlands of the state for three decades.   “The Pawars ensured that the region got adequate funds, irrigation, power and other planned facilities that helped the farmers immensely… We wish all other districts in the state to emulate this example, especially Vidarbha which is regarded as the farmland suicides hotbed,” Tiwari told  The Perfect Voice .   Though the foundations of the sea-change was laid by Sharad Pawar, later it was his nephew Ajit Pawar who architected his uncle’s long-term vision to reality through untiring efforts, single-minded dedication and tough groundwork for over four decades to achieve what is the famed ‘Baramati Model’.   As several lakhs of mourners turned up from all over Western Maharashtra and other places to bid a final adieu to Ajit Pawar on Thursday (Jan. 29), many were seen weeping, crying and wailing, and some expressed concerns for the future of Baramati and Pune district – in the absence of their active ‘messiah’.   While Sharad Pawar laid the ground-map for Baramati, Ajit Pawar implemented it by ensuring that government policies, big and small projects and different schemes not only reached the region but tangibly changed the lives of the locals.   As he grew in politics and entered governance in various positions, Ajit Pawar quickly grasped how the official machinery worked, and along with his stern approach, fiscal and administrative discipline plus knowledge of his home turf, he kickstarted the evolution of Baramati and surroundings.   Way back in 2009, when he was not even a Deputy CM, Ajit Pawar told a group of visiting journalists from Mumbai his dreams of catapulting Baramati onto the world map in various aspects of a model of rural-led development and progress that touched each citizen.   For this, he persistently advocated the upgradation of the small Baramati Airport, built by the MIDC in 1996, having a short runway (1770 metres long x 30 metres wide), where his ill-fated aircraft crashed on Wednesday morning. The airport is mostly used for small aircraft operations and training purposes.   Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan under whose tenure Ajit Pawar first became the Deputy CM, said that “he was a rare politician, a young visionary, dynamic and decisive, passionately pro-farmer and supportive of the cooperative sector”.   “When I was CM and he was the Deputy CM, he helped me take many tough decisions in the public interest. He was a sure-shot to lead the state (as CM), sooner than later. We have lost a great national-level leader whom coming generations would emulate,” Chavan told  The Perfect Voice , acknowledging Ajit Pawar’s contributions to the state.   Baramati Effect A local party activist, Milind Jadhav recalled how, when the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founded by Sharad Pawar suffered a vertical split in July 2023, “every home and family in Baramati was splintered”.   “All the people were at a loss to decide whom to support in the ‘kaka-putnya’ political war, particularly during the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Thankfully, the politics was strictly kept at bay from Baramati’s development and also the Pawar household, he said.   Despite the political wranglings, Ajit Pawar visited Baramati at least once a week, reviewed important proposals, funds and expenses, status reports and other minute details, at times, showing more insight than the officialdom, was a stickler for the ‘ghadi’ (watch), often jumped up for unannounced site visits that rattled the officials.   The Baramati Industrial Development Corporation – part of the MIDC – came into existence in 1962 under Sharad Pawar, but under Ajit Pawar it spread wings to come up as an ideal industrial zone. National and international companies like Kalyani Steels, Bharat Forge, Godfrey Phillips, SMT Ltd. Imsofer, Schreiber, Piaggio, Ferrero, Senvion, India's first wine factory at Narayangaon (1982), and later proliferated to Nashik.   Simultaneously, the western Maharashtra’s agriculture backbone of sugarcane, grapes, jowar, wheat and cotton support many of the top performer cooperatives in the region and the Baramati Hi-Tech Textile Park (established in 2008 through Sharad Pawar’s efforts), support domestic apparels industry creating jobs and prosperity.   Strong background support comes from institutions like Agriculture Development Trust, several agriculture colleges affiliated to major agriculture universities, all combining for activities like modern farming techniques, entrepreneurship, water conservation, women’s education and empowerment, health-care besides skill development and upgradation.

Strategic Bargain

The signing of India and the European Union’s long-delayed free-trade agreement (FTA) and the formalisation of a security and defence partnership binds nearly two billion people and about a quarter of global GDP into a meaningful economic and strategic bloc. In an age of tariff wars, sanctions regimes and maritime disruption, this itself is no small feat.


While bilateral trade already exceeds $136 bn a year, the FTA promises to push it much further. But the defence partnership in this deal nudges India–EU relations beyond polite declarations towards capability-driven cooperation. This sudden affinity for India has less to do with any affection on part of the EU than about a shared sense of strategic urgency.


Europe’s post-Cold War security architecture has been shattered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. India, for its part, confronts an assertive China along a disputed Himalayan border and across the Indian Ocean. Both worry about weaponised supply chains and America under Donald Trump that looks increasingly unpredictable as a guarantor of global order. Thus, the stalled trade negotiation between the EU and India has re-emerged as a geopolitical necessity.


For decades Europe mattered to India strategically mainly through France. Now the relationship is broadening, driven by hard-headedness on both sides. Europe has advanced military technology but struggles to scale its production. India offers manufacturing capacity, a skilled workforce and a political push for indigenisation. Joint work on artillery, naval platforms, sensors and ammunition serves both Europe’s need to replenish depleted stockpiles and India’s desire to escape dependence on legacy suppliers.


Maritime security is the most visible point of convergence. European trade and energy flows depend heavily on the Indian Ocean, where piracy, coercion and instability from the Red Sea to the western reaches have become harder to ignore. India’s naval reach and its information-fusion hub for the region make it an attractive partner. The cooperation is deliberately non-confrontational, reflecting India’s insistence on strategic autonomy.


Emerging technologies, space security and cyber resilience offer potentially deeper gains. Here, co-development and dual-use innovation allow both sides to sidestep the sensitivities of outright technology transfer. Lessons from Ukraine about drones, cyber-attacks and disinformation have sharpened European interest about technology in warfare and India brings software expertise and operational experience to the table.


But for all this convergence, the partnership remains brittle. Europe sees Russia as an existential threat while India still treats it as a key defence supplier and energy partner. Brussels continues to engage Pakistan through trade preferences that Delhi views with suspicion, and continues to trade heavily with China despite India’s concerns. European lectures on human rights and environmental standards grate against India’s development-first instincts.


The result is a strategically cautious relationship. The FTA will likely strengthen supply-chain resilience and indirectly bolster security. If pursued pragmatically, the defence pact can enhance capabilities without forcing alignment. But absent greater convergence on Russia, China and regional priorities, this will remain a partnership of convenience rather than conviction.

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