Nashik Diary

Then, after a pause, he chuckled and announced that he had already filed his pension papers in Nagpur but that as a member of the government he would have to 8220;show some development8221; before the polls. Not so fast, Mr Pawar!Didn8217;t your teachers in school tell you about the virtues of round-the-year study8217;? And the futility of last-minute preparations?

Dr Aher8217;s Double Talk

During the Maharashtra Legislature session in Nagpur, Health Minister Dr Daulatrao Aher declared that the government would 8220;not tolerate8221; ragging in colleges and that an ordinance would be promulgated to provide for severe penal action against erring students.

What he conveniently forgot was that his nephew Advaya Aher had attacked two fellow students of the medical college run by the Maratha Vidhya Prasarak Samaj of which Aher is chairman recently. None of the members in the Legislature brought it to Aher8217;s notice either, probably because the news was not carried by newspapers published in Nagpur.

Aher also failed to inform the House that the issue had figured in the executive committee meeting of his educational institution and that it was conveniently ignored.

So, when he returned to Nashik after the conclusion of the Legislaturesession, he was asked about the action to be taken against his nephew. Pausing for a moment, he said the incident would be 8220;looked into.8221; Like we didn8217;t know.

And being an efficient servant of the public, he neither specified who would conduct the inquiry nor the time stipulated for the inquiry officer/committee.

A Tough Exercise

AHER, however, has learnt to play it safe, no doubt after the gaffes that his innumerable outbursts8217; inevitably result in. Then again, maybe not.After returning from the Assembly session in Nagpur, he called selected mediapersons for a press conference in Nashik. Care was taken to exclude those who were known to be unnecessarily meddlesome, read, 8220;likely to ask uncomfortable questions.8221; All was well until a former BJP MP from Malegaon, Kachrubhau Raut, who was also present for the press conference, took off on the subject of Plight of Tribals, and advocated the formation of a separate tribal state on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border. Aher panicked. Fearing that thedemand of his party colleague might land him in another controversy, he immediately dissociated himself from the demand, assuring the assembled hacks that he and his party had nothing do do with Raut8217;s demand. It was a personal opinion, the frantic minister added. The spasm of quick thinking saved Aher from public embarrassment, but not from the wrath of his party colleague. An enraged Raut later lambasted the health minister for 8220;lacking the guts to stand up for the tribals.8221; Raut didn8217;t stop there. He pointed out that Aher was 8220;too small a fry8221; and that his support or opposition would make no difference to the issue. The demand for a separate tribal state would be discussed with the 8220;topmost leadership8221; of the BJP in Delhi, the hapless minister was further told.

Plans For The Future

Back to our Tribal Development Minister, who8217;s not so anxious about the State-level exams8217; after all: Arjun Pawar declared recently that the backlog of ashram schools would be cleared as soon as possible.And to demonstrate his sincerity, he announced that 325 new ashram schools would be built in the state in the next academic year. Well, nothing wrong with that. In fact, Pawar seems to be good at clearing all kinds of backlogs. For instance, in the recently held elections to the board of directors of the Tribal Development Corporation, he played a crucial role in getting son Nitin elected as director unopposed. Whether Pawar gets re-elected in the next Assembly polls remains to be seen. But smart Dad that he is, he8217;s ensured a five year term for his son in the Corporation. And, since Pawar is a tribal himself, do we take the gesture to mean a contribution to tribal welfare8217;?