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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Fadnavis writes off Rs 48,000 crore

Mumbai: In a clear indication that the Maharashtra government is leaving no stone unturned to keep the state’s agrarian base happy, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has unleashed yet another massive populist measure. Hot on the heels of relaxing the eligibility criteria to ensure a blanket farm loan waiver, the Chief Minister announced a sweeping Rs 48,000 crore waiver on the pending electricity bills of farmers across the state. Addressing a ‘Krutadnyata Sohala’ (gratitude ceremony)...

Fadnavis writes off Rs 48,000 crore

Mumbai: In a clear indication that the Maharashtra government is leaving no stone unturned to keep the state’s agrarian base happy, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has unleashed yet another massive populist measure. Hot on the heels of relaxing the eligibility criteria to ensure a blanket farm loan waiver, the Chief Minister announced a sweeping Rs 48,000 crore waiver on the pending electricity bills of farmers across the state. Addressing a ‘Krutadnyata Sohala’ (gratitude ceremony) organized by the BJP Kisan Morcha at Mumbai’s Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan on Wednesday, Fadnavis declared that farmers using agricultural pumps of up to 7.5 horsepower will see their historical electricity dues completely wiped out. The announcement was met with the traditional sounding of the Tutari and thunderous applause from hundreds of farmers who had gathered from every corner of the state. The Chief Minister framed the mega-sop as a necessary step to “wipe the farmers’ slate clean,” enabling them to write a new chapter of prosperity. Calculated Pitch The timing and scale of the announcement underscore a government that is boldly embracing populist economics to solidify its political footprint in rural Maharashtra. While Fadnavis maintained that these decisions were taken purely in the interest of the farmers—pointing out that the original loan waiver was announced when no elections were in sight—the political undertones were unmistakable. Taking a sharp dig at the opposition, the Chief Minister accused rival parties of running “political shops” in the name of farmer agitations without understanding the government’s genuine intent. Asserting his grassroots connection, Fadnavis proudly claimed, “I do not make decisions sitting in my house. I am a farmer myself, a man of the soil.” He openly defended the government’s recent move to strip away the stringent conditions attached to the blanket farm loan waiver, signaling that his administration will not hesitate to clear bureaucratic hurdles if it means putting money directly into the hands of the rural voter. Balancing Sops Even as he rained freebies, the Chief Minister attempted to balance the populist optics with a dose of economic pragmatism. He acknowledged that handing out repeated loan waivers is a symptom of deep-rooted agrarian distress, not a permanent cure. Pointing to the Rs 95,000 crore in aid currently being pumped into the agricultural sector by the state and central governments, Fadnavis outlined his administration’s shift toward an investment-driven agricultural model. He championed the success of schemes like ‘Jalyukt Shivar’ and ‘Magel Tyala Shettale’ (farm ponds on demand), claiming these initiatives have already empowered farmers to harvest multiple crops a year. Addressing the core issue of farming costs, he noted that the government already subsidises power to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore annually. By coupling this with a push for solar pumps and solar agricultural feeders, he promised that 100 percent of the state’s farmers would receive uninterrupted daytime electricity by the end of the year. Infra Dream Looking beyond immediate financial relief, the Chief Minister laid out a grandiose vision to permanently drought-proof Maharashtra’s most vulnerable regions. A staggering Rs 6 lakh crore infrastructure pipeline is being planned to ensure the next generation never witnesses a drought. Fadnavis detailed ambitious river-linking projects, including the Wainganga-Nalganga link, to divert excess floodwaters to parched regions. The state plans to construct 24 new dams and raise the height of 16 existing ones to ensure not a single district in Vidarbha faces water scarcity. Furthermore, massive engineering feats are on the drawing board to divert 200 TMC of floodwater from Western Maharashtra to Marathwada, and lift 275 TMC of wasted water from the Ulhas basin to quench the thirst of North Maharashtra and Marathwada. By marrying immediate, massive debt relief with long-term infrastructure promises, the Fadnavis administration is aggressively cementing its pro-farmer narrative. As the Yashwantrao Chavan auditorium echoed with whistles and cheers, it became highly evident that the government’s strategy of pairing mega populist waivers with big-ticket rural dreams is striking a powerful chord with the state’s agrarian voters.

Three deaths, three lifers

Landmark verdict in 60 days as pune court terms crime ‘rarest of rare’; calls ‘brutal’, ‘inhuman’ and ‘barbaric’

Mumbai: In a milestone verdict, a Pune Special Fast Track Court handed triple death and triple life sentences to a 65-year old man for the rape-cum-murder of a three-years and two-months old girl, within barely 60 days of the crime, terming the case as falling in the ‘rarest of rare’ category, on Monday.


Special Judge S. R. Salunkhe slapped the verdicts “to be hanged till death” and “life imprisonment” for each of the three main charges – rape, murder, kidnapping besides provisions of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, terming the acts of the convict, Bhimrao Prabhakar Kamble, as “brutal, inhuman and barbaric”.

 

“The Special Court has awarded three life-terms and three death sentences for all the main charges. This is an unprecedented and historical verdict,” an elated Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ajay S. Misar told ‘The Perfect Voice’ shortly after the ruling.

 

The precedent-setting ruling came before a jam-packed courtroom  where Kamble stood with his head down in the witness box, the family members of the victim’s family, along with SPP Misar, the Pune Police Investigating Officer Inspector Vijaymala Pawar, and Pune (Rural) Superintendent of Police Sandeep Singh Gill besides the family’s lawyer Vipul Dushing remaining present.

 

Diabolical Crime

The Special Judge observed that the diabolical crime – for which Kamble was convicted on June 25 - did not just shock the judicial conscience but also shook public ethics, citing similar bestial incidents in Kathua (Jammu & Kashmir, 2018) and Unnao (Uttar Pradesh, 2017) that had sparked similar public outrage – as the victim’s family members broke down in the courtroom today.

 

According to the police and prosecution, the victim girl, who was visiting her grandmother, was accosted by Kamble, later raped and murdered on the afternoon of May 1 at Nasrapur village in Bhor taluka of Pune district.

 

“The offences relate to the commission of serious crimes like murder and rape by an accused with a prior record and a substantial history of serious assault. The offence was committed outrageously and involved inhuman treatment and torture of the victim. The victim was an innocent, helpless child. The murder was committed to satisfy lust, which evidences total depravity. It was a cold-blooded murder without provocation. The crime was committed so brutally that it shocks not only the judicial conscience but even the conscience of society,” the Special Judge Salunkhe said.

 

Aggravating Factor

Justifying the capital punishments, the Special Court said the only circumstance that could be posed was the age of the accused  (65 years), and opined that it was not a mitigating but rather an aggravating factor, while relying on solid and circumstantial evidence like CCTV footage, DNA profiling, the statements of 55 witnesses, including a child, crime scene panchnama, identification parade records, articles seized during the probe, chemical analysis and other scientific reports, produced during the trial,

 

SPP Misar said six crucial CCTV footage reconstructed the sequences of events, it showed Kamble taking the victim towards the crime scene at 3.12 pm that afternoon and returning alone at 3.51 pm, establishing she was in his custody for 39 minutes. It was during that period he sexually assaulted the victim, committed an unnatural sexual act, killed her and then concealed her body to mislead the investigators.

 

Medical Reports

The prosecution team of SPP Misar and Prathamesh Shingane also relied on the medical and autopsy reports, the detailed analysis of the injuries that corroborated its reconstruction of the crime and other circumstantial evidence indicated that the crime was pre-planned by Kamble.

 

The Special Court noted that the prosecution proved both the last seen theory and the chain of evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, that Kamble was the ‘last person seen with the victim’ while she was alive, and there was no one else in her company before her death, with the entire set of circumstantial evidence unbroken and complete, pointing to his guilt.

 

Strongly seeking the capital punishment SPP Misar cited 12 Supreme Court judgements while the family’s lawyer Dughing said: “The victim was of a very tender age, 38 months old while Kamble was 65 years. The nature of the crime is extremely barbaric and committed solely to satisfy his lust.”

 

They rubbished Kamble’s statement to the court as “totally false”, demolished by the probe, scientific  DNA profiling, medical records, forensic reports and circumstantial evidence, to decisively nail him.

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