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Indian Express
an hour ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Devendra Fadnavis at Express Adda: ‘If the Opposition fights us, we will welcome it. But where are they?'
Today, I am a more confident CM because I have already delivered. In 2014, when I started, (I was) delivering but I was not confident. Today, I know what my shortcomings were between 2014-19, so I'm a more confident person. I'd say that vote is a by-product if you are a good administrator and if you do the right things then there is a 90 per cent chance that you will be voted back. Earlier, I was more focused on transformation in infrastructure, in tangible things, but my focus for the past six months has been more on building institutions. So I first did a 100-day programme. It was a challenge for all the departments and offices. They had to work on certain issues and in 100 days, they completed it and so I threw a 150-day challenge. In these 150 days, we will be totally transforming the administration. Everything will be digital, on a single platform and automated. Secondly, my focus is more on e-governance. In my last 10 years, we brought lots of government services online, but now I want end-to-end digital governance. So if anybody wants anything from the government, they need not visit an office. We are also putting it on WhatsApp. We now have an MoU with Meta, which is also providing a payment gateway. Ultimately, we know that technology is something which increases efficiency, brings transparency. It's also a leveller. There's always been corruption. It's always been an issue and we have to fight it. I feel this issue can only be tackled by using technology. For me, it has always been an urgent issue. If there is no transparency, your goverment cannot become efficient. Both are responsible. When we designed systems, we considered how much it has rained in the last 20 years, what is our average rain. And now you see there are more rain occurrences, and also look at its severity, due to climate change… The problem is that even before the monsoon started it had already rained and the infrastructure was not designed for it. It is due to the problems of infrastructure, design and also climate change. But corruption cannot be denied either. Things are changing but we still have some work to do in Mumbai. This is the reality of politics. In politics, you cannot move ahead by turning away from these things. After getting a full majority in 2019 and after it was announced that I will be the Chief Minister, hurdles were posed in my way. Even after the announcement, Uddhavji betrayed us, the Shiv Sena betrayed us. In politics, you have to find a way to survive. So we found a way. There was a right path but our companions strayed from that path. So we took along those we could and moved forward. That's why I've always held on to my politics. I have followed this principle and have always upheld it. But when you work in politics, sometimes you have to compromise. But if I am the Chief Minister, then I won't allow anyone in my Cabinet to do wrong. I can guarantee you that this government will work to stop corruption. It was always like this. Look at it as this sort of a cycle. See the politics of Maharashtra in 1978. Sharad Pawar formed a government just like this. Then if you look at 1992, Sharad Pawarji's government did not have a majority and they broke the Shiv Sena and formed that government. At that time, Chhagan Bhujbalji went with him and by breaking the Shiv Sena he formed his own government. I think political opportunism is not new. It has always been happening. I think the political value has seen a devaluation. We have to accept this and we have to think about it. If there are issues based on facts, we should discuss them. If we bury them under the carpet, one day they will be exposed and then there will be an explosion. Earlier I, too, believed that all this talk about love jihad is an exaggeration. Then I got an unofficial study done on it. I have no objection to inter-caste or inter-religion marriage but when these marriages take place under false identities, when thousands of incidents started to appear, I realised there was a design behind it. This is not an issue of vote for me. I say this not to corner anyone or any particular religion or caste, this design is specifically weakening the country in many ways. Look at the way in which minorities in our country are being radicalised. You will say that you are talking about radicalisation, so you are polarising but I can only say that this is a fact and we will have to accept it. Love jihad is actually happening on the ground and we have to stop it. If the Opposition fights us, we will welcome it. But where is the Opposition? If you look at the Lok Sabha elections, then who fought against us? The front called Bharat Jodo was set up by Rahul Gandhi. There were 180 organisations in it and among them were organisations which during Manmohan Singh's government were counted among Left-wing extremist organisations or what are now commonly called 'Urban Maoists'. That is why I call them anarchists. Now I come to the second point. Along with love jihad, there is also vote jihad. If you see the voting pattern in Maharashtra, see where the minorities are (and see) the kind of polarised voting that has taken place. That was vote jihad. Who did that? Anarchist forces did it. We are used to fighting against parties, it could be the Congress, the NCP or anyone else but we are not used to fighting these (other) forces. Anarchist forces go to the grassroot level. In the Lok Sabha elections, they were confusing people. I had to tell the nationalist forces to give a befitting answer to them. People chose the nationalist forces and gave us a huge majority. The RSS is definitely a nationalist force but there are other nationalist forces. We got them all to come together. Vandita Mishra: In Pune, a 19-year-old is arrested and the college rusticates her because of an online post. The Bombay High Court has severely reprimanded your police and said that it shouldn't have happened at all and that it is playing with the young woman's life and career. How do you look at this? Often when the police take some action the court feels that some of the actions are too much, it reprimands. And because of this we improve. We'll get better! But when Operation Sindoor is going on, the girl writes against our Army or if one person writes in favour of Pakistan then emotions run high against such posts. The police have to take action. Now the action, is it less or more? The court decides this. If the court feels it is too much then we will accept it. It will help us improve next time. Anant Goenka: Did your loyalty to your alliance force you to compromise your love for free speech in this whole comedian situation (Kunal Kamra) where there was an attack? Do you feel you had to show your friendship to your alliance more than you wanted to? To ignore such people politically is much better. You by your actions increase their stature to a large extent. So politically, it is better to ignore them but many times what happens is that Shiv Sena and our own party are a little emotional. We are not practical politicians. So sometimes that emotion makes us react a little. They are getting more attention because of the reaction. Anant Goenka: We've seen a complete transformation in Mumbai — the coastal road and the Metro to name a few. I will name an infrastructure project and you give us some sense of an update. It will change mobility in Mumbai entirely. The best thing is that we already have created UMTA (Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority). So, for the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region there will be one authority. All the transportation systems of Mumbai will be accessible on one card. We have already rolled out this single card; in six months it will be rolled out in the MMR region. Our plan is that within 200 metres and 300 metres, everybody should get at least one mode of public transport. It is almost complete and by August we will be able to open it. In the next three to four months we will complete the coastal road which joins Atal Setu to the new Mumbai airport. We are also constructing an elevated road from Thane to Navi Mumbai airport and a Metro from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport to Navi Mumbai Airport. That metro will take at least five years. We have already rolled out NAINA —its first IDP (Interim Development Plan) was cleared when I was CM in the last regime. Now the second IDP is almost there. In this new city — NAINA — certain thematic cities are coming up. We have built an edu city where we'd like to host at least 12 foreign universities. We are also creating a medicity, a sports city, a knowledge city. We will start our own water taxis. There is a single ticket. On the same ticket, you can travel in the metro, the monorail and the bus. The upgrade has happened quickly… We have developed amenities on a very large scale. We've introduced AC trains but people feel that the fare is too high. We have told Ashwiniji (Vaishnaw) to make all the trains air-conditioned and keep the same fare. He is thinking about it and perhaps will agree. We should start it this year. Land acquisition needs to be done to build and that cost is Rs 22,000 crore… a bank is going to give us the money. Later we will acquire the land and start work on this. Dharavi, looking at rehabilitation Building new cities is easy. What is difficult is urban rejuvenation. Dharavi is one of the world's major urban rejuvenation projects. Around eight lakh people live here and 50 per cent of them were ineligible for this. But if we send four lakh people away calling them ineligible then we will only be preparing new slums. So this is the first project in which everybody who was ineligible is eligible. We are providing them rental housing of the same quality. After paying the rent they will become its owner. Mumbai's business district is BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex) but this will be a new business district. There are 19,000 businesses in Dharavi and we decided that we will make them settle here. Dharavi is an urban transformation. Here, the poor will not be separated from the rich. It's a mixed design. This underground metro was operational on 16 out of17 stations. The 17th station was half inaugurated. If we didn't inaugurate the station, we could not complete this stretch. It was an accident and we were not prepared for it. The rain came early and was heavy. They had only made a bund which couldn't stop the rain. The work will be completed in August. And these kind of issues will never happen again. A 100 per cent. There is no question about it. You are right, but I don't think this will remain so for long because there is a growing awareness. For the new generation, environment is a concern. It may not be an election issue now but it will gradually become one. There are 10 things Delhi should learn from Mumbai. I don't see a single thing Mumbai can learn from Delhi. Of course, Nagpur. Mumbai. If we compare ourselves to any global city, Mumbai has the least number of buses. We've ordered 10,000 buses but the supply is slow. But things are looking up now. Oh my God. He/she can come from anywhere. It depends. There are times when bureaucrats have more technical knowledge, so their advice is right. But there are times when ministers know the ground reality so their perspective is also correct. So, you have to balance. Frankly, they are not communicative. Eknathji loves to manage and enter into any such situation. Ajitji and Eknathji: Who is better at local body elections? The BJP They don't do the tenderising processes. But on the infrastructure, all of us are together. We require a lot of infra and we need to create it at a great speed. None. Because I know my party's high command. They don't know. If it's a fast car, then I will take Savarkarji. If it is a normal, slow vehicle, then I'll take Gandhiji. Radha Goenka Director, RPG Foundation In Mumbai, we have the Mithi River and Mangroves. they are not protected enough. You mentioned trees on the coastal road — is it an opportunity? Because even if we have about 80 per cent native trees, it could really change the environment. I agree with you. On the Coastal Road, there have to be native trees because they will create a great ecosystem. If we can rejuvenate Mithi, that will change the entire environment. We have been saying this for 25 years, but now we have started the real action. The biggest advantage Mumbai has is the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Such a forest is hardly expected in a city, but it is there in Mumbai. We need to conserve all these things. They will have to be rejuvenated and we will do that. Pratik Agarwal Chairman, Serentica Renewables Maharashtra has a huge potential for wind power. A lot of developers have been facing issues in the east of Maharashtra; in places like Solapur and Beed. Your office has helped in the last month to solve this. But we hope that more can be done. Renewable energy has been an important issue on which our government is working. By 2030, 52 per cent of the energy will come from renewable sources. You are right about Maharashtra, where wind and solar (energy) companies have been facing problems, especially due to the local mafia, but now we have tightened all of the things and I've told the police to apply the strictest sections and punish anyone creating problems. The problem is largely resolved, but if there are any issues, do tell us and we will help you.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Neeraj Chopra at Paris Diamond League 2025 Live Streaming: Indian thrower seeking 1st victory of season
Neeraj Chopra at Paris Diamond League 2025 Live Streaming: The last time India's Neeraj Chopra and Germany's Julian Weber met on the Diamond League circuit, both athletes breached the 90m mark on the same night. First, Neeraj had breached the elusive threshold with a 90.23m effort in the third round, finally ending his long quest to break the 90-metre barrier. But soon, he was joined in the 90m club by Weber, thanks to a 91.06m effort in the final throw of the competition, snatching victory away from his Indian rival. That heady night in Doha will still be fresh in many memories. But here comes the sequel as Neeraj and Weber meet in Paris at the Diamond League. Of course the duo also competed in the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial a week after Doha. There too, Weber was on top, throwing the spear thrice beyond 85m while Neeraj could only manage a best of 84.14m with his last attempt which helped him end second. Can Chopra best the German javelin thrower? We'll know soon enough. The Meeting de Paris will see five throwers who have breached the 90m mark. Besides Neeraj and Weber, there are also current World No 1 Anderson Peters (Season Best 85.64), Kenya's Julius Yego (SB 78.74) and Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott (SB: 84.65).The three throwers rounding up the field are Brazil's Mauricio Luiz Da Silva (SB: 86.34), Moldova's Andrian Mardare (SB: 80.51) and France's Remi Rougetet (SB: 80.49). Here's a live streaming guide for the Paris Diamond League meet: When will Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League take place? Neeraj's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League will be held in the early hours of Saturday (Friday night in Paris). Where is Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League taking place? Neeraj will compete at Paris' Stade Charléty on Saturday in the Paris Diamond League meet. What time does Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League start? Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League is scheduled for 1.12 am IST (Saturday). Which TV channels will broadcast Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League? There is no telecast option of Neeraj Chopra's javelin throw event at the Paris Diamond League in India. You can catch the streaming of the event at Wanda Diamond League YouTube channel.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Indian Express
Heavy rains lash South Gujarat; situation to prevail across state till June 26: IMD
Vapi in Valsad received the highest amount of rainfall – 173 mm in 12 hours till 6 pm – among 92 talukas of Gujarat that were lashed by rains on Thursday. Four other talukas of the district also received heavy rainfall. These included Pardi (128 mm), Kaprada (115 mm), Dharampur (108 mm), and Umergaon (99 mm). Other than Valsad, the southern districts of Navsari, Bharuch, Surat, Dang and Tapi were lashed by the rains. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast, Sabarkantha and Aravalli are under orange alert against very heavy rainfall on June 22 and 23. Gujarat is expected to continue receiving heavy rainfall till June 26. The weather department has also issued an alert against 'light thunderstorm with lightning and surface wind of 30-40 kmph accompanied with light to moderate rain' across the state till June 24. The heavy rainfall is attributed by the weather department to 'upper air cyclonic circulation over Southwest Rajasthan, trough from northwest Uttar Pradesh to north Gujarat across another cyclonic circulation over northeast Rajasthan and neighbourhood, and an off-shore trough at sea level chart from north Konkan coast to north Kerala coast'. Other talukas to receive heavy rainfall were Khergam in Navsari (98 mm), Hansot in Bharuch (91 mm), Olpad in Surat (89 mm), Vaghai in Dang (87 mm), Valia in Bharuch (79 mm), Umarpada and Mangrol in Surat (72 mm and 64 mm, respectively), Valsad (62 mm), Dang-Ahwa (59 mm), Subir in Dang (56 mm) along with Kamrej and Bardoli in Surat at 53 and 50 mm respectively.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
SCERT releases revised timetable structure for Class 1 to accomodate third language
The State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) on Thursday released a revised timetable structure for Class 1 to accommodate a third language. This came a day after the Maharashtra government issued a revised Government Resolution (GR) stating that Hindi will be taught as the third language in Marathi and English medium schools across the state for Classes 1 to 5. With the new timetable, the stipulated minutes to be spent on each subject have been reduced, creating a major gap from what is recommended under National Curriculum Framework (NCF). The document released by SCERT, adds a third language to Classes 1 and 2 formally, as until now, the only official document in this regard, which is State Curriculum Framework-Foundation Stage (FS), recommended only two languages for these classes, as per NCF. 'The changes will be applicable to Class 1 from academic year 2025-26. Whereas for Class 2, these changes will be applied after the introduction of the new syllabus and curriculum as per the SCF,' states the document released by SCERT Director Rahul Rekhawar. Even as the NCF-recommended timetable structure suggests 50 to 60 minutes spent on each subject, the state's revised timetable structure reduced it to 35 minutes. 'This was bound to happen as the NCF-FS includes only seven subjects, whereas the state has added one more subject by introducing a third language from Class 1. To accommodate the additional subject, time spent on all other subjects has been reduced,' said Mahendra Ganpule, former head of the Maharashtra School Principals Association. The note released by SCERT also provides a sample timetable. It states 'Schools can design their own timetable, based on their timings. But they will have to stick to the stipulated time mandate per subject.' According to schools, this announcement has come very late as schools have already started and structuring the timetable is finalised way before that. 'Now that we are almost a week into the new academic year, a new timetable guideline has been issued. Schools have already started with the timetable structure issued in the past in the SCF-FS, which does not include a third language for Class 1,' said a senior teacher. Schools have also complained that the government has included a new subject into the timetable structure for Class 1, without clarity on teachers to teach the third language, alternatives to Hindi, and curriculum guidelines.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
In slum rehabilitation schemes HC upholds decision for open spaces, says 35% be strictly reserved for public park
The Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the state government's 2022 regulation permitting non-buildable open spaces exceeding 500 square metres in the city to be used for slum rehabilitation (SR) schemes. However, it has directed that at least 35% of the vacant space on such lands used for SR Schemes must be treated as a public amenity, such as a functional and usable public park, and not as a private area for residents only. The HC was hearing the plea, challenging the consistent use of public open spaces (POS) that are reserved for recreational purposes to implement SR schemes. Such public open spaces used for SR schemes are those which are otherwise non-buildable and reserved under the Development Plan for parks, gardens, playgrounds, etc. The HC also directed the BMC to complete the GIS-based mapping and geo-tagging of all plots designated as open space in the sanctioned development plan and the same be published on its website within four months. The bench said that once the SR project is completed, 35 % of its open space must be handed over to civic bodies for management within 90 days of obtaining occupation certificate for the project, unless the corporation permits joint maintenance with housing a society and such space shall not be enclosed or restrict entry of local public. 'No portion of the open space shall be reserved exclusively for any private group, resident association, or developer,' it noted. The HC directed the state government and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) to form a dedicated committee or appoint a senior officer to oversee implementation of regulation on the ground and quarterly reports be submitted to the SRA and Urban Development Department (UDD), which shall be uploaded on their websites. A division bench of Justices Amit Borkar and Somasekhar Sundaresan passed a verdict on a plea by NGO Alliance for Governance and Renewal (NAGAR) and others, argued through senior advocate Shiraz Rustomjee. The petitioners had challenged the Regulation 17 (3)(D)(2) of the Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR), 2034 under Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act inserted in the year 2022. The impugned decision allowed that non-buildable open spaces of over 500 square metres can be used for SR schemes, provided 35 % of the ground area is kept vacant and continued to serve the designated public reservation. However, the petitioners argued that the said regulation in effect legalised the diversion of up to 65 % of land from the reserved public use and permitted its use for construction. Therefore, the said regulation diluted the purpose of reservation and was robbing Mumbai of its much-needed green and open spaces,' they added. Rustomjee argued that public parks and open spaces 'should not be sacrificed to accommodate encroachments or private development, even under the banner of welfare schemes.' The petitioners further argued that the 2022 decision was an extension of the 1992 notification, They added that that while the 1992 notification sought minimum plot size of 1000 square metres, the 2022 regulation reduced it to 500 square metres, which will lead to more smaller open plots available for construction and further reducing already scarce open space in the city. In a 191-page judgement, Justice Borkar for the bench observed that the impugned decision 'tries to achieve the balance' that the government has to strike between its duties to protect, improve urban environment and to ensure shelter and safety for weaker sections of the society. Upholding the validity of the regulation in question, the HC also said disciplinary action be taken in case of any violations and projects retaining more than 35 % vacant space should be encouraged. It also directed the BMC to give ward wise action plans listing all reserved open spaces to UDD and conduct quarterly inspections to identify encroachments. Among a slew of directions, the court also asked the state government to undertake a comprehensive policy review of the impugned regulation within two years. It said that HC verdict should not be 'read as giving a free hand to the State to reduce open spaces in the city.'
