In a shocking development for the nutrition of children and the human development index in general, the Maharashtra government has unilaterally cut supplies of cooking oil, pulses or vegetables to the state’s schools, the Swati Gole of the Times of Indian reports. The result? The much needed midday meal scheme across the state has been floundering for the past few weeks with no cooking oil, pulses or vegetables to cook the ‘khichdi’ that is served to school students in both rural and urban areas. The only thing supplied to schools has been raw foodgrains Neither has the funds been disbursed to enable schools to make purchases. 

So far, in some schools, principals are spending on ingredients from their own pockets because they do not want the children to suffer. Shockingly, other schools have not even received their supply of food grain. When contacted by TOI, state government officials said that funds would soon be released for the scheme. According to the state education director Mahesh Palkar, “the Union government recently disbursed the first instalment of Rs 400 crore to the state. The state government will allocate the amount to the education department, which in turn will disburse the amount to schools and kitchen contractors. The process would take another fortnight.”

According to data put out by TOI, 80 lakh students 79,000 rural schools in the state and 20 lakh students in 7,500 schools in urban areas benefit from the midday meal scheme totally. 

Meanwhile, kitchen contractors and women self-help groups that provide cooked meals to schools have written to the state government to speed up the reimbursement process, but have been told to wait. Rajesh Gaikwad, who manages a centralised kitchen in Pune, said, “We are managing from our own pockets. The system is to reimburse us for the raw material. The reimbursements have been pending since March. ” Most students in rural areas rely on the meals provided by schools, which help curb malnutrition. Teachers said the meals convince parents to send their children to school.

Mahendra Ganpule, a senior official of the principals’ association in Maharashtra, said, “When kitchen contractors go to the government for reimbursements, the officers threaten to terminate their contracts. Fear of losing the contracts makes them continue with their funding. ” The government recently told all kitchen contractors and schools to fill up information in the online system about how many children ate daily and quantity of meals cooked every day. A manager at a centralised kitchen shed in Bhor taluka said the online system does not work because it is not possible to share data in the system every day. “We are able to feed the data on some days but on other days the system is either down or we are unable to give inputs due to the workload,” he added. 

Two months ago, in August 2022, another circular issued by the Directorate of School Education (Primary), made it mandatory for the schools to have a mandatory Aadhar card to avail of the midday meal scheme, the deadline for this being November.

Educators and teachers across the state took exception to this policy decision, stating to the Indian Express that, “This is inappropriate and not in line with the Right To Education (RTE) act. Moreover, there is no such clause by the Centre which runs the policy,” adding, “Putting such a condition is going to have an impact.”

It was in July 2022 that the Directorate of School Education (Primary) issued orders to local education department offices of all districts. According to the order, schools have to submit updated data of Aadhar card registration of their students at the end of every month until November 2022. The aim is to collate the data before December 2022 which is the deadline to complete Aadhaar registration. According to teachers, the other government schemes at schools are likely to follow the same diktat. 

Exasperated teachers also pointed out that work does not end at registration of Aadhaar, “It has to be verified too,” said Mahendra Ganpule, from Maharashtra State Headmasters’ Association. He explained, “A child may have an Aadhaar card but it has to be verified on details such as name, birth-date, gender. If these details, on Aadhaar and in school enrolment do not match, the said Aadhaar registration is not considered valid. Now these are technical details, and there could be various reasons which may have led to a mistake. It is not right to decide if a child can be served a midday meal or not based on these technicalities, especially when it has been a driving factor for many parents to enrol their children to schools.” 

According to state-wide data shared by Ganpule, accessed by the Indian Express, out of 1,89,94,363 students with Aadhaar enrolment, only 89,29,525 have valid Aadhaar count. And out of total student enrolment count of 2,24,50,469 across the state, Aadhaar details of 34,56,106 students are yet not available. 

Other teachers were quoted by the newspaper like Vijay Kombe, a Zilla Parishad School teacher from Wardha district who is also the secretary of Maharashtra State Primary Teachers’ Association, said, “These technical mistakes are rampant in rural areas. Most parents won’t even know how to spell a name in English. Many times, illiterate parents have to depend on the operator to fill in the correct information. Many students in tribal belts don’t have an Aadhaar card.” 

However, the directorate was unyielding on its stand. Director of Education (Primary) Dinkar Temkar, who looks after the midday meal scheme in Maharashtra, said, “There is no Aadhaar mandate for school admissions. But in order to avail the facilities, students will need to have valid Aadhaar registration. There have been instances in the past when schools have forged the data of student count. The verification process for valid Aadhaar registration is important to ensure that the given 12-digits is a correct Aadhaar card number and is not repeated in any other school.”

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The Maharashtra government has told the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court that the wheelchair bound former Delhi University professor is being given medical care and is kept in a separate cell. They say he is safe from the risk of contracting Covid-19. This was told to the court when the state opposed Saibaba’s bail plea. 

A Division Bench of Justices Z.A. Haq and S.M. Modak was hearing an appeal filed by Professor Saibaba (50) who is seeking a suspension of his sentence and temporary medical bail due to Covid-19. 

Speaking on his behalf Saibaba’s wife Vasantha has consistently maintained that he suffers from multiple comorbidities that put him in a more vulnerable situation now more than ever as he is being forced to live in unhygienic conditions, fears Vasantha. “If he ever tests positive for Covid-19 he will be confined to his cell alone. He will not be allowed to be shifted out of the jail. They isolate Covid-19 patients within the jail,” she says. 

Saibaba, in his plea filed through advocate Nihalsingh Rathod, had sought bail on medical grounds so that he can get treatment outside.  He has been in Nagpur Central Jail since May 2014, and is serving a life sentence for his alleged links with Maoists.

As there had been a Covid-19 outbreak in the prison, Saibaba had stated that due to his multiple ailments he was prone to contracting the disease. His wife had said earlier that if he was infected with Coronavirus, it would be a “death sentence for him.” 

According to news reports around 150 prisoners and 40 jail staff have tested positive for coronavirus so far, in the Nagpur Central Prison . 

However the jail officials have now replied that he is being given all the healthcare needed and was getting regular check ups by “expert doctors of the Government Medical College and Hospital and Super Speciality Hospital and by the Chief Medical Officer of the Nagpur Central Prison.”

Saibaba’s petition states that suffers from multiple ailments including: “acute pancreatitis, fatty liver, sleep apnea, blackouts/fainting, dizziness, spinning head, difficulty in urination, burning sensation during urination,”  formation of painful lump inside stomach”. According to his legal team he has not been treated for the lump. The petition adds that he suffers from “paralytic attacks, palpitations in chest and stomach, cyst in the brain, left brachial plexopathy intensified further weakening the muscle, deltoid, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, hypertropic cardiomyopathy with left ventricular dysfunctional for which he requires round-the-clock attention, assistance and medication.”

However, the official reply to his application for fresh consideration of bail on medical grounds has been “strongly opposed” by the state which has called his reasons “baseless grounds.” 

According to the reply Saibaba is “ provided medicines as recommended by experts of Government Medical College and Hospital and Super Specialty Hospital, Nagpur.” It added details of hospital visits from 2018 and said that Saibaba “was advised laparoscopic Cholecystectomy surgery and was refereed to Government Medical College and Hospital Surgery Department for admission and surgery on July 16 2018, but he refused to attend the Hospital.”

The reply adds details of other referrals and medical advice of 2018 and stated that Saibaba “refused to undergo these investigations.” His wife has maintained that they believe in Ayurvedic treatment and want to avoid invasive procedures which they say are difficult to recover from in jail conditions.

However the state authorities say that due to the “uncooperative nature of the applicant the investigation and diagnostic process have been repeatedly hampered.”  Prison Administration maintains that it is “taking every effort to provide all necessary health services” including “regular check up by expert doctors.” They add that he is even given “khichadi, and fiki dal (bland dal)” when he requests. 

However, his lawyers say that all the citations are from 2018 and according to a member of his legal team they have not been given any medical records since March 2019.

“Their reply said acute pancreatitis has become normal. But Sai was suffering from this since his conviction, so how did it become normal without any treatment?” asked a lawyer.

There is also no update on the gall bladder problem, suspected  cyst in the brain etc, said his lawyers. They too say that Saibaba needs daily physiotherapy with assisted exercise, however it is not possible or feasible to take him to the hospital daily.

According to his lawyers, “the four ailments mentioned on orthopaedic dept opd dated June 16, 2020 are degenerative. For the last two years there has only been detection, but no treatment at all.”

Even though the prison is ‘sealed’ and has rotational staffing in line and all precautionary measures in place according to the Covid-19 protocol, the first positive case was detected on June 30. “The number soon reached 100 and now it has reached  more than 250. So, any close unit can delay the spread, but it cannot stop it. Especially when we are in the community phase,” said a lawyer adding, “Earlier they used to say- prison is sealed, hence corona cannot reach there. We saw the results. At last, it’s just a matter of time.”

 The state’s reply added: “if he is released on bail he will again conspire with Naxals and it will send wrong message to society.” The matter comes up for hearing on July 28.

Related:
 

GN Saibaba should be shifted to hospital before it’s too late: NPRD
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New agency PTI reported that Justice Sarang Kotwal said: “The title of the CD, Rajya Daman Virodhi itself suggests that it has something against the State while War and Peace is about a war in another country. Why you (Gonsalves) were having books and CDs at home? You will have to explain this to the court.” 

War and Peace, first written in Russian in 1869 and later translated into English in 1899, is known as world masterpiece. Tolstoy, great author, thinker had influenced number of people across the spectrum through this work, and continues to do so. Nobody could have imagined that this book would be objected as ‘anti-State’ material ever anywhere. But Pune police did.

Interestingly, the Pune Police is completely unaware that this world classic was translated into Marathi and published by the Maharashtra Government in 1977!

NewsClick has a copy of this translation published by ‘Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Sanskruti Mandal’ (Maharashtra State Literature and Culture Forum). The book was translated by AN Pednekar in 1977. The copy of the book clearly mentioned that it is published by the ‘Secretary’ of the said forum and published at ‘Mantralaya’ in Mumbai, the state’s administrative headquarters! 

This book is also has an introduction by none other than Lakshmanshastri Joshi, who was a Colossus-like figure in Maharashtra’s political, social and cultural life, and one of the most influential thinkers that the state has produced.

Activist Vernon Gonsalves at his residence, 2018

Joshi was chosen as an advisor against untouchability by Mahatma Gandhi himself. When Gandhi was imprisoned at Yerwada Jail in Pune, Joshi used to give him references and inputs from Veda and Smriti (Hindu literature) against untouchability.

In his introduction, written on June 16, 1977, to the translated book, Yuddha Ani Shanti, Joshi mentions that “to make Marathi language rich with the world’s best literature, the forum (Literature Culture Forum) has chosen the most important 300 books in first series.” War and Peace by Tolstoy was one of them!

Before objecting to the possession of this book, the least Pune Police could have done is a little bit of homework that the book is considered one of the highly respected literary creations in the world today and is also a widely acclaimed in Marathi.

First published in Newsclick.
 

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Image Courtesy: DNA

The nine activists and human rights defenders jailed for more than an year allegedly in connection with the violence that erupted at BhimaKoregaon on January 1, 2018, have written to Maharashtra’s Governor Ch. VidyasagarRao and have appealed “ if we really want democracy to function as per the Indian Constitution then all political prisoners should be released.”

The letter has been signed by advocates SurendraGadling, SudhaBhardwaj, Arun Ferreira, writer and activist SudhirDhawale, Professor ShomaSen, activists Vernon Gonsalves, Rona Wilson and Mahesh Raut.

The activists have been inside Yerwada jail for the past year. While five of them were arrested on June 6, 2018, the rest on August 28, 2018.

“If the country is its people, then encouraging people to criticise and raise questions to the government chosen by the people, how can that be called seditious and anti-national?” asked the activists in the letter. The activists have been charged with different sections of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The activists alleged that the public prosecutor and the police officers in charge were interested in media trial, and hence their bail hearings are conducted like ‘mini media trials’.Though, the supposed e-mailed letters in which it’s alleged that they have exchanged communication with Maoists have been freely handed over to the media, despite it [since their arrests] being an year, none of the electronic evidence has been shown to the accused. “This raises questions on the intentions of the prosecution,” said the activists.  Notably, in a blatant violation of procedures, the Pune police had conducted a press conference after the August arrests. And some media houses such a Zee News and Republic had flashed “the original letters”.

The first chargesheet in the case was filed in November 2018. The chargesheet ran upto 5000 pages and claimed that the accused had “active links” with the Maoists. It had further alleged that the accused had helped organise the ‘ElgaarParishad’ in December, 2017.

The case made by Pune police was that this hugely successful gathering, attended in huge numbers was the reason behind the violence in the aftermath of attacks on Dalit groups in BhimaKoregaon on January 1.

The supplementary chargesheet was filed earlier this year. This chargesheetaccused the rest of also participating in the “crime” and claimed that it relied heavily on electronic evidence especially from the laptops and mobile phones of the accused. A copy of the evidence hasn’t been made available to the accused or their lawyers yet.

The case has been marred with delay tactics all along, a condition specific to political prisoners and those charged with draconian laws. Gadling and Ferreira, who are also practising lawyers, have been appearing in person in the case. But the police has sparingly produced the accused in the court. During the entire election period, they were not produced in the court in the name of “election duty”.

Immediately after the first round of arrests, accused had moved applications for bail. Till today, the bail hearings have not been completed. Infact when the hearings were nearing completion, the trial court judge Kishore Vadanehas been transferred and a new judge has been appointed.

However, this hasn’t deterred the morale of the activists, Gadling, as per the jail authorities, has started a legal aid unit at Yerwada prison where he is lodged.

Moreover, the police conducted second round of raids at Jharkhand activist, Father Stan Swamy’s house in Ranchi, again in connection with the BhimaKoregaon incident.

Gadling, the jail authorities say, has started a legal aid unit at Yerwada prison where he is lodged.A senior jail official said, “He was instrumental in getting at least a dozen accused out in the past one year. Under-trials who do not have the wherewithal to fight their case have been approaching Gadling for legal advice and he has been willingly helping them draft their applications and build their arguments”.

“Sabkasathsabkavikas– looking at the record of the government’s previous term, we are yet to see how effective it will be. It’s questionable, because if the government has to win everyone’s trust (Sabkavishwas), then it will have to show its commitment to constitutional values,” noted the activists. They added that requires that everyone is treated in a similar and justiciable manner. “Suppressing disagreements, views critical of government views oppositional viewpoints, charging them [the people] with treason or sedition and arresting them..is an open attack on the freedom of expression.”

The activists also commented on the spate of lynching incidents that took place immediately after the government was elected on a second term. They said, “They [mob lynching] are not being stopped and they continue to spread religious fanaticism. The government is not seen probing against those who support NathuramGodse openly so sabkavikas (everyone’s progress) is a deceit.

“If there is democracy and the Constitution then why don’t we have the same law for everyone in the country. Why is someone inside and someone outside. If we really want democracy to function as per the Constitution then all political prisoners should be released,” the activists have appealed.
 

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Calling the order of the lower court granting extension of time to the Pune police to file a charge sheet against Surendra Gadling as ‘illegal’, Justice Mridula Bhatkar of the Bombay High Court had, yesterday, October 23, quashed the Pune court order. The HC  order had paved the way for Gadling and other activists to be released on bail. However the Judge stayed her own order from becoming operational till November 1, following a request from the Maharashtra government, thus giving time to the state to appeal.
 
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi considered the submissions of lawyer Nishant Katneshwar, appearing for the Maharashtra government, and acknowledged that the appeal needed to be heard on an urgent basis, PTI reported.
 
Appearing before the court, Katneshwar said if the Bombay High Court order is not stayed, then the accused in the case would become entitled for grant of statutory bail for want of non-filing of chargesheet within the stipulated period.
 
Earlier, after extending the house arrest of the five other activists (who had been attempted to be arrested on August 28) till October 28, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the arrest of these activists and declined the demand of appointing a SIT to investigate the matter. A strong dissenting judgement by Justice Chandrachud had however taken a different view of the case.
 
In a sensational crackdown, the Maharashtra Police had arrested five activists — Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha –for alleged Maoist links in the aftermath of violence that occurred at Bhima Koregaon near Pune last year. The first bout of arrests took place in June 2018 (after raids had been conducted in April 2018). The second round was attempted on August 28.
 
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Sambhaji Bhide (foreground, orange turban) is charged with inciting violence at KoregaonBhima. (Courtesy HT photo)

It appears that a ‘high-power’ committee, comprising 10 senior ministers, had recommended his name for the Padma Sri. Curiously enough, the recommendation had been made by the committee using its discretion, even though the government had not received any application for it.

The Hindustan Times report said that the relevant reports were obtained by its team from the state government’s protocol department by filing an RTI application.

Bhide, along with Miling Ekbote was accused of inciting Bhima Koregaon violence by giving inciteful and hate speeches just before the event which was the bi-centenary of the Battlle of BhimaKoregaon. He is a controversial figure who has been active in propagating militant Hindutva ideology and building Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan. He has been rather active in the past three decades in supposedly ‘spreading awareness’ on the life of Maratha warrior king Shivaji.

It is notable that he also faces charges of instigating communal riots in Miraj-Sangli in Sangli district during Ganpati emersion, over an arch sporting a poster depicting the slaying of Afzal Khan. Though a demand was made for his arrest, but the then Congress-NCP government didn’t take any action against him. He also played a major role when his organisation ransacked theatres to protest the film, Jodha Akbar in 2008.

SambhajiBhide is also a former RashtriyaSwyamasevakSangh (RSS) worker.

Every year, an 11-member committee comprising 10 ministers and the secretary of the protocol department, shortlists the names to be recommended for the Padma awards as state entries from the applications they received every year. The committee also has powers to recommend the names that haven’t figured in the applications they receive. The recommendations were sent to the Centre on October 12, 2015.

Coometing on this, Dalit leader and activist, Prakash Ambedkar, grandson said it was ‘intellectual bankruptcy’ on the part of the government to have done this, “Neither Congress-led government dared to arrest him, nor incumbent Fadnavis-led government can arrest him for his involvement even though his name is there in the FIR. The reasons behind it are obvious. The local police had initiated the procedure of his externment after the Sangli riots in 2008,” he said. After the BhimaKoregaon violence, Ambedkar, along with other activists had demanded for his and Milind Ekbote’s arrests. Ekbote already received anticipatory bail by the Supreme Court.

However, when the HT team contacted the committee members, they said that they didn’t feel they did anything wrong by recommending his name, infact they appreciated him for having a motive of ‘building an idealistic youth’

On the other hand, Nitin Chaugule, working president of Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan informed that Sambhaji “refused to accept the award” since it was against his principles and ‘wish’ of Shivaji and SambhajiMaharaj.

Bhide was recommended along with PopatraoPawar, medical field practitioners Dr. Anil Kumar, Dr Rumi FarduBehramji, Dr Aswhin Mehta, Dr Ragini Parekh and actors Prashant Damle and Asha Parekh.

Nomination of Bhide in the past only goes on to show the closeness of Maharashtra government with radical Hindutva outfits and its willingness to appease such people who are essentially a threat to the secular and democratic fabric of Indian society.

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On November 19, 2012, the day after Bal Thackeray's funeral, Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan from Palghar were arrested for questioning the state-wide bandh in a Facebook post. The arrests sparked nationwide outrage, with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) even ordering the state to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 each to both girls. After hearing the state's belated response justifying the arrests, the NHRC has now had a change of heart and concluded that the girls need not be compensated. The young women have however stated that they would continue to fight for their rights.

After Thackeray's death on November 17, 2012, the Sena called a state-wide bandh the next day, the day of the funeral. Questioning the bandh, Shaheen had posted on Facebook, “With all respect, everyday, thousands of people die, but still the world moves on. Just due to one politician died a natural death, everyone just goes bonkers… Respect is earned, given, and definitely not forced. Today Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not due to respect (sic).“

In its long-delayed reply to the NHRC, the state said that the two girls “had to be arrested keeping in view the tense situation“ and claimed that “all the norms and directions of the Supreme Court were observed at the time of arrest“.The state also contended that the action of the police was “justifiable for the situation“ and also for “the protection of both the girls“.

 While Dhada had written the post, Srinivasan had merely `liked' it. A Sena leader filed a complaint against the two, while party supporters vandalised a clinic run by Dhada's uncle in Palghar. The two were booked under section 66A of the IT Act (sending offensive messages through a computer or a communication device) along with other sections of IPC for `causing communal disharmony'. In 2015, the Supreme Court held Section 66A `unconstitutional'.

Their arrest sparked nationwide protests and drew into focus the misuse of Section 66A of the IT Act. Due to the expression of public outrage, the police were forced to drop charges against the two.

On November 4, 2013, a year after the incident, the NHRC directed the Government of Maharashtra to pay Rs 50,000 each to Dhada and Srinivasan for violation of their human rights. When the state refused to do so, NHRC released a scathing press release on July 15, 2014 titled “Pay Rs 50,000 each to two girls or face coercive process in Facebook comments case.” Maharashtra had a change in government in October 2014.

 The state finally responded to the order only last year, where it claimed that an enquiry into the incident was conducted by a police inspector of Palghar police station. Requesting the Commission to drop the proceedings, the state said, “During the enquiry, both the girls along with other witnesses were examined. Keeping in view the tense situation, the girls had to be arrested… The action of police was justifiable for the situation and also for the protection of both the girls. Therefore, the case is not fit for any compensation.”

When the Mumbai Mirror contacted Dhada, she said, “I was not expecting such an order but I intend to fight for my rights.“ She said freedom of speech is the most important thing in a country like ours and needs to be upheld, adding, “What happened with me was a nightmare.“
 

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