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,...
Dr Babanrao Taywade submitting a memorandum to the Commission. The hearing of Dedicated Commission for Reservation for Backward Class of Citizens in Local Bodies of Maharashtra on Saturday evoked good response as 115 delegations submitted their memorandum before the commission. The representatives from six districts of Vidarbha including Nagpur, Chandrapur, Wardha, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Gondia attended the hearing. The representatives of the organisations launched heavy sloganeering in the premises to show their strength. Chairman of the Dedicated Commission Former Chief Secretary of the State Jayant Kumar Banthia (Retired IAS), Member and Associate Professor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Dr. Shailesh Kumar Darokar, Dr. Naresh Gite (Retired IAS), Former Principal Secretary Mahesh Jhagde (Retired IAS), former Principal Secretary H B Patel and Member Secretary of this Commission and Managing Director of Maharashtra Fisheries Development Corporation Pankaj Kumar (IAS)...