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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

  Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...

Give reservation to muslims based on social backwardness : Owaisi


AIMIM and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi
By Dheeraj Fartode
President of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday demanded reservations to Muslim community in Maharashtra. “The Muslim community in Maharashtra should be given reservations not on religious but based on social backwardness,” said Owaisi citing report of Mehmood Ur Rehman commission report. 

Addressing a mammoth rally at Buddha Park, Ashok Nagar, Owaisi came down heavily on Congress and NCP governments for neglecting the community for past 60 years of independence and using it as vote bank. “Muslims are living in critical conditions in the state. Muslims students are leaving schools in early ages as the their parents are unable to bear expenses of education. Only few numbers of muslims are graduated since independence,” Owaisi said. 

He also appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ask Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for reservation to muslim community. If the government wants to do something for muslims then they should give reservation based on social backwardness, Owaisi opined. Reservation is the fundamental right of the muslims and Constitution of India has given right to reservation for socially backward classes, Owaisi claimed.

Owaisi further said that the BJP-Sena government had refused to introduce a bill to replace the ordinance that was brought by the Congress-NCP government on Muslim reservation. “We are not against Maratha reservation. The BJP had the Maratha reservation bill, but bogged down the Muslim reservation bill,” he said. City President of AIMIM Haji Mohd Salim, National President of Bhim Sena Shridhar Salawe, Shakil Patel, Shahjad Khan, Manish Patel and others were present on the dais.

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