India Against Corruption

India Against Corruption
Pune, August 28, 2011
4
A more elaborate celebration will be held on Sunday when people gather in various places to celebrate the historic achievement
MAIN BHI ANNA, TU BHI ANNA, SAYS PUNE IN UNISON
Youth cry out
in joy, wave the
tricolour to
celebrate Anna
Hazare’s
victory on the
Jan Lokpal
movement
DNA Correspondent
The faces of Puneites that
wore worried expressions over
Anna Hazare’s health condition and the deadlock with the
government till late evening,
suddenly erupted with joy on
Saturday evening following
Anna’s historic victory on the
Jan Lokpal Bill issue.
All eyes were glued to the
television following the developments in New Delhi
where Parliament unanimously passed a resolution accepting Anna’s demands on the Jan
Lokpal Bill and incorporating
elements from it in a new draft.
People SMSed one another
with messages such as
“Cheers. Anna wins. People
win.
Parliament
wins.
Democracy wins. Bharat wins.
Jai Hind!’’
The area near the Balgandharva Rangamandir at Rani
Laxmibai Chowk, Shivajinagar, which was the hub of the
people’s agitation in support
of Hazare’s indefinite fast in
New Delhi, became the focal
point of the celebrations.
Young activists burst crackers, waved the tricolour and
raised slogans hailing Hazare.
The slogan ‘Anna Hazare
zindabad’ rent the air as also
the inspiring anti-corruption
slogan that underpinned the
movement: “Main bhi Anna,
tu hi Anna, ab to sara
desh Anna.’’
ANAND UTSAV
ON SUNDAY
India Against Corruption, I am
Anna club and Art India
Foundation have organised a
victory celebration on Sunday at
the Balgandharva Rangamandir
at 4 pm. This would include a
celebration of the victory rally,
which will culminate at the
Chatuhshrunghi temple
complex.
An evening of art, music and
poetry has been organised at the
Chatuhshrungi temple complex
at 5 pm on Sunday. The evening
will culminate with a maha aarti
at the temple at 7.30 pm.
Anna Hazare’s supporters celebrating at Balgandharva Chowk on Saturday night—Aniruddha Rajandekar DNA
Ralegan Siddhi erupts in joy
Villagers had blocked the Pune-Ahmednagar highway in Parner Phata for 3 hours
Rahul Chandawarkar
RALEGAN SIDDHI
As news of the Jan Lokpal Bill
getting the in-principle nod
in both the houses of Parliament reached Anna Hazare’s
village Ralegan Siddhi late on
Saturday night, the anxious
villagers erupted in spontaneous joy and celebration.
The villagers, who had
waited with bated breath the
past 12 days supporting Anna
through various forms of
non-violent agitation, finally expressed relief that he had
called off his
indefinite
fast.
With
Kailesh
Kher’s
catchy Anna
song ‘amber
tak yahi naad
gunje ga’ blasting
from the loudspeakers,
the villagers, men, women
and children danced as if
there was no tomorrow.
Sarpanch Jaisingh Mapari
said, “Anna’s perseverance
has paid off. God has answered our prayers. We are
very very happy tonight.”
Hazare’s nephew’s wife
Kaushalya Hazare told DNA,
“Today is a great day. We are
all so relieved and happy. We
are looking forward to Anna
withdrawing
his
fast tomorrow.”
The gram sabha invited all
villagers for a formal celebration at 10 am on Sunday
opposite the Sant Yadavbaba
temple.
Earlier in the day, 412 villagers (350 men and 62
women) from Ralegan Siddhi
had blocked the busy PuneAhmednagar highway in
Parner Phata for three hours
on Saturday morning to
protest against the
continuing deadlock.
The villagers
squatted on
the highway
from 9.45am
and shouted
pro-Anna and
anti-government
slogans.
They did not budge
from their positions and
managed to block the traffic
for nearly three hours. This
led to a very long hold-up of
vehicles on the busy stretch.
The police had to summon
five state transport buses and
two police vans to transport
the villagers to the Parner
taluka office. However, the
police refused to press
charges against the villagers.
A number of people said
Anna Hazare had created history with his 12-day-long fast
and now the government
would be required to take
care that he would not be required to go on a fast again.
Prominent activist and
president of the Nagrik
Chetana Manch (NCM), Maj.
Gen (retd) SCN Jatar, was critical of the behaviour of the
politicians throughout the agitation and expressed concern
over the health of the veteran
Gandhian.
President of Surajya Sangharsha Samiti (SSS) Vijay
Kumbhar said that supporters
of Hazare in the country had
made the agitation successful.
Although it is not a final victory, henceforth, people would
be more enthusiastic in overcoming hurdles considering
the changed situation, he
said. As the entire nation is focused on Parliament, the government cannot afford to water down the Jan Lokpal Bill
after it is sent to the standing
committee, he added.
A more elaborate celebration will be held on Sunday
when people gather in various locations to celebrate the
historic achievement.
Woman commits suicide
to support Hazare
Her husband says she had never discussed the issue
Mohsin Mulla Sangli
Overjoyed villagers
celebrate in Ralegan
Siddhi on Saturday night
—Ravindra Joshi DNA
Women play fugdi in Ralegan Siddhi on Saturday
night —Ravindra Joshi DNA
The villagers who were detained at the taluka office
were in a belligerent mood.
The women, both young and
old, were the most vociferous.
At 5 pm, the police transported all the villagers back
to their village through state
transport buses.
All of this was forgotten
once the resolution was
worked out by the Centre and
passed in Parliament bringing
about an instant change in
the mood of the people.
A 34-year-old woman in Miraj
town of Sangli district died on
Friday after she allegedly committed suicide to protest
against the government’s failure to support veteran anticorruption crusader Anna
Hazare on the Jan Lokpal
Bill issue.
The suicide note of the deceased, Shubhangi Karande,
who hanged herself in her
small dwelling said, “Anna
Hazare is on a hunger strike
but the government has not
taken it seriously.’’
Shubhangi’s death came to
light on Friday evening when
her 14-year-old daughter Monica returned home from school.
The homemaker has two children and her husband works as
a fabricator. She used her saree
to hang herself from the ceiling. The woman was educated
till standard IX.
The Miraj police have registered the death as a suicide. According to the police, on Friday,
Shubhangi was alone at her
home when the family members and the neighbours had
gone to the adjacent Khotnagar
area for a function.
Her husband Vinayak said
Shubhangi
Karande
The Miraj police have registered
the death as a suicide. According
to the police, on Friday,
Shubhangi was alone at her home
when the family members and
the neighbours had gone to the
Khotnagar area for a function
Shubhangi had never discussed
the Hazare issue at home, but
for the past few days, was
glued to the TV coverage on
Hazare’s indefinite fast in New
Delhi to demand government
support for the Jan Lokpal Bill.
Police inspector Sanjay
Gorule said the suicide has
been confirmed as also the
handwriting in the suicide note
as that of Shubhangi. “However,
the police will take an expert’s
opinion to ascertain the handwriting in the note,’’ he said.
A neighbour said Shubhangi
was a member of the Swadhyay Pariwar which is a spiritual movement focusing on the
welfare of society.
One of the neighbours,
Anusaya Satpute said she was
shocked by the incident as the
Karandes were living peacefully without any domestic trouble. “Although they are very
poor, they were generally happy with life,’’ she said.
Neighbours said they were
puzzled by the deep impact
that Anna Hazare had made on
her mind.
Her suicide note said in
Marathi: “I am committing suicide to make India corruptionfree. I am pained to see poor
people crying for food, the rising cost of living and the bribe
one has to pay to get a job.
Anna Hazare is on a hunger
strike but the government has
not taken it seriously. I am doing this for society and my
family should not feel bad
about it.’’
Shubhangi said in her note
that her note that pregnant
women should not be informed of her act as it would
disturb them. She also asked
her husband to remarry and
taker care of their children.
MIT alumnus rings Nasdaq bell
Pradeep Akkunoor was part of team which won top honours at a contest in Canada
DNA Correspondent
In a rare honour, Pradeep
Akkunoor, a 2003 alumnus of
the Maharashtra Institute of
Technology’s (MIT) electronics and telecommunication
engineering
department,
was invited for the prestigious Nasdaq stock exchange
closing bell ceremony in New
York on Friday.
Akkunoor was invited as
part of an MBA student group
from the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, which won
the top honours at the Stu
Clark Investment Competition in Winnipeg, Canada.
“This is an extraordinary
moment of joy for me and I
am thrilled to no end,”
Akkunoor told DNA over the
telephone. “It is inspiring and
electrifying to have the good
fortune of being here, on
ground zero, so to speak,”
MIT alumni Pradeep Akkunoor (extreme right) along
with team mates from the Sasin Graduate Institute of
Business Administration, Thailand, on the Nasdaq
stock exchange’s giant screen in New York on Friday
Akkunoor said, adding they
had landed in New York on a
historic day, when Steve Jobs
had resigned from Apple Inc.
“Like millions and millions
of people around the world,
I’m his fan too. His 2005
commencement speech is
something everyone should
read,” he said. Just a few
months ago, this group won
the top prize at the ‘mai
Bangkok Business Challenge
2011’, a prestigious international competition for MBA
students.
As is the custom, on Friday
the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony was broadcast on the
giant screen of the Nasdaq
stock exchange at Times
Square, New York and shown
live over the internet.
While prominent Indians
such as investment tycoon,
Motilal Oswal, film star Shah
Rukh Khan, businessmen
Azim Premji and NR
Narayana Murthy are among
those to have rung the Nasdaq bell, this honour is also
given to students winning
prestigious
international
competitions.
A graduate in marketing
and strategic management
from the Sasin Institute,
Akkunoor’s group, comprising four other members, won
the top prize in the contest,
the King of Thailand’s Award
and $10,000. Their prizewinning business project revolved round ‘Siam Organic’
— an export marketing com-
pany developing the world’s
most nutritious and healthy
specialty certified organic
rice. Under the project, Siam
Organic, supported by a fully
integrated supply chain,
would access consumers
worldwide and develop one
of the most premium branded organic rice strains coming out of Thailand.
The
Bangkok Business
Challenge
was
created
in
2002 to encourage postgraduate stuPradeep
dents in busiAkkunoor
ness administration programmes across
Thailand and Asia to become
more entrepreneurial. The
teams not only compete for
the top award in the name of
the Thai king, but also to
win over $20,000 in prize
money.
NRI takes benefit of PMC’s scheme for poor
Civic official issued letter for financial assistance of Rs one lakh, says KEM Hospital
DNA Correspondent
A Non-Resident Indian (NRI)
woman based in the United
States, whose husband is a
doctor, was provided with financial medical assistance of
Rs one lakh by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) under a scheme meant for people
below
the
poverty line.
A complaint to this effect
was made by the city Congress committee’s general
secretary Ramesh Aiyyar to
municipal commissioner Mahesh Pathak on Friday. He accused civic officials of misusing funds for the poor to help
an NRI woman and demanded an inquiry and action into
the matter.
According to Aiyyar, the
NRI, Rajlakshmi Balasubramanian had come to Pune for
a religious function in July. As
she fell ill, she was admitted
to the King Edward Memorial
(KEM) Hospital for treatment
in the intensive care unit
where she died on July 12.
Aiyyar said that of her total
bill of Rs6.03 lakh, Rs4.98 lakh
was paid by a credit card to
the hospital. For the remaining amount, PMC’s deputy
chief health officer Dr Somnath Pardeshi gave a letter to
the KEM Hospital stating that
the civic body would pay the
remaining amount under the
scheme for poor people.
Aiyyar said the scheme was
meant for people below the
poverty line living in slums
and only those with an annual family income of up to Rs
one lakh were eligible.
The late Rajlakshmi Balasubramanian’s death certificate carries her address as
‘4607, Centennial Ellicott City,
MD 2/042 USA’. Aiyyar alleged it was clear that the
family of the deceased had
misused a scheme meant for
the poor. He alleged that a
politician had made this possible.
When contacted, the general administrator of KEM
Hospital, HG Mansukhani,
told DNA that the hospital
had received a letter from the
PMC that it would provide Rs
one lakh towards the bill of
the patient and the hospital
accepted it.
Dr Pardeshi told DNA that
mayor Mohansingh Rajpal
had requested him to help the
family. He said that since the
name of the deceased was
mentioned in a ration card for
poor people, he issued the letter for financial assistance. He
said in the light of the fresh
details, he would now withdraw the letter.