Maharashtra
Maharashtra awaits SC nod for bullock cart race
The Maharashtra government is awaiting a nod from the Supreme Court for an almost 400-year-old tradition of bullock cart race that was banned by the Bombay High Court.
Called ‘Shankarpaat’, the bullock cart race is a traditional attraction at the fairs in villages across Maharashtra.
It starts soon after the Ganesh festival and continues right through the remaining Kharif, the entire rabi season and ends around April, ahead of summer.
It is not just popular because of the crowds it attracts, but it gives a push to the local economy wherever the events are held coinciding with fairs. This is a popular sport among the farming community.
Similar bullock cart races are held in Karnataka too, especially the areas that are adjoining Maharashtra.
There have been obvious comparisons with Jallikattu, another traditional sport from Tamil Nadu related to bullocks.
The Nagaraja case had resulted in the Supreme Court banning all such bull-related sports. While in Jallikattu, the men are directly in contact with the bullock, pouncing on the running bull, holding it by the hump and using other means to tame it, in Shankarpaat or the bullock cart race, a pair of bulls or a single bull will race along with the cart with the farmer holding the reins and goading the animal.
In April 2017, the state government passed an act that regularised the sport of Shankarpaat.
A PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court, which put a ban on the bullock cart races.
After the ban, the Maharashtra government approached the Supreme Court, which referred the matter to a five-judge bench.
This year, possibly as an antidote to the lockdown induced lull, there have been multiple attempts in Maharashtra where local farmers have resorted to organising such bullock cart races.
On Sunday, Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Minister Sunil Kedar accompanied by the state’s Animal Husbandry Commissioner Shailesh Kende met Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and the Maharashtra government’s counsels on the issue.
Patil told IANS: “We are hoping that the Supreme Court will be hearing our case on Tuesday.”
Kedar was supposed to attend the hearing, which was originally expected on Monday, but rushed back to Mumbai for a meeting.
“This is a topic very close to the hearts of hundreds and thousands of farmers in Maharashtra. It also impacts the rural economy,” Kedar said before leaving for Maharashtra.
Bharatiya Bailgada Sanghatana representative Ramkrishna Takalkar, who also accompanied the government delegation, said: “We farmers look after our bullocks just like our family members. There is no torture or cruelty involved with the animal during the bullock cart races, it is a misinformation campaign by animal lovers. The bullocks are fed regularly. What would we get by torturing the animal?”
Takalkar focussed on the economic aspects of the bullock cart races in Maharashtra.
“If there are no race events at the local village fairs, the farmers have valid question to ask: why should we continue to have these bulls?”
He had an even more pertinent question: “On the one hand, you allow horse races and on the other, you ban bullock cart races? Why the partiality?”
Maharashtra
Path paved for implementation of Uniform Civil Code in the state, announcement of 7-member committee in Maharashtra Assembly to draft UCC : Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: The path for the implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been paved in the state as well and the Chief Minister has approved a 7-member legal drafting committee to ensure the implementation of the uniform law. After this, a 7-member committee has been formed today which will prepare the draft of UCC and present it in the upcoming Nagpur Assembly. Uttarakhand was the first state to implement UCC, now the state of Maharashtra has made progress in implementing UCC.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has formed a 7-member committee in the state assembly today to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. This committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Justice Ranjana Desai and it has to submit a report within 6 months. This detail was presented by the state assembly here by the state chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He said that the constitution of the country gives the provincial governments the authority to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). On the same line, many states have also approved the draft of the UCC and the UCC has also been implemented here. Along with this, a 7-member committee has been formed in Maharashtra to ensure the implementation of the UCC. After the analytical and study report of this committee, the UCC will be implemented. This report will be presented within a period of 6 months and it is expected to be presented in the upcoming Nagpur winter session. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier announced the formation of a committee regarding the draft of the UCC. The formation of this committee was approved today. And now this committee will present an analytical report related to UCC.
Maharashtra
Member of milk adulteration gang arrested, 470 liters of adulterated milk seized

A team led by Sandeep Patil (in-charge of Unit 12) under the supervision of DCP Nunath Dhawale of Mumbai Crime Branch arrested an accused involved in milk adulteration in Dahisar area on Thursday. The police seized about 470 litres of adulterated milk, which is attributed to the brand names of Gokul and Amul, from the spot. The police had been receiving complaints of milk adulteration for the last few days. Acting on the instructions of Commissioner of Police Devin Bharti, Joint CP (Crime) Anil Kumbhare, and Additional CP Krishnakant Upadhyay, the operation was launched under the leadership of DCP Nunath Dhawale, which included ACP Ravinder Adane and Sandeep Patil, in-charge of Unit 12. After this operation, the gang involved in milk adulteration was exposed. Along with this, after the action of the FDA, the Mumbai Crime Branch has also tightened its grip on those selling adulterated milk.
Maharashtra
‘Don’t threaten Oppn, you are the Chief Minister’: Raj Thackeray targets Fadnavis over Mumbai e-way ‘Missing Link’ tunnel leak

Mumbai, July 9: Launching a scathing attack on Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the recent water leakage inside the Mumbai-Pune Expressway ‘Missing Link’ tunnel, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday accused the MahaYuti government of hiding its failures behind emotional rhetoric.
Addressing the anniversary event of the MNS Railway Kamgar Sena, the MNS Chief questioned the Chief Minister’s defence in the Legislative Assembly and hit back at his remarks warning the Opposition against “politicising” the issue.
Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Fadnavis’s objection to the Opposition’s criticism, Raj Thackeray said, “Wow! He (Devendra Fadnavis) says don’t politicise it. When anyone speaks out, it becomes ‘politics’ to them. What were you doing all those years when you were in the Opposition? Weren’t the agitations you staged against previous governments ‘politics’? Now that the heat is on you, you claim the Opposition is playing politics.”
He also dismissed the Chief Minister’s emotional appeal in the House, where Devendra Fadnavis had said that he could tolerate personal attacks but not the insult of Maharashtra.
“People are raising genuine questions about the Missing Link project. Where is the insult to Maharashtra in that?” he asked.
“If anyone speaks against the Central government, they are labelled ‘anti-national’. If someone speaks about the Missing Link, it is called an insult to Maharashtra! Are citizens not supposed to ask you questions at all?” Raj Thackeray added.
The MNS Chief also targeted Chief Minister Fadnavis for issuing warnings to critics and suddenly shifting languages during his Assembly speech.
“The Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) declared in the Assembly that the Missing Link features top-notch construction quality and threatened to ‘deal with’ those politicising it. Listen, you are the Chief Minister. What do you mean by ‘I will deal with you’?” Raj Thackeray remarked.
The MNS Chief also said, “After saying all this, the Chief Minister suddenly started speaking in Hindi. Who was he speaking in Hindi for? The MLAs sitting in front of him are Marathi, the Legislative Assembly belongs to Maharashtra, yet our Chief Minister speaks in Hindi. Why? Perhaps Devendra Fadnavis wanted to send a message to his party bosses at the top, telling them that ‘I will deal with them’. Even he (Devendra Fadnavis) knows where these leak videos are originating from. There is massive internal infighting brewing within the BJP — just wait and watch what happens next.”
Turning his focus to the state of infrastructure, Raj Thackeray alleged widespread corruption in government contracts, claiming it has severely compromised construction quality.
“They (MahaYuti government) have completely ruined Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Thane, and this government calls it ‘development’. Construction is happening everywhere you look; the Chief Minister should just shut down all this construction. Building just roads and flyovers does not equate to development. I honestly don’t understand what these people learn when they travel abroad,” the MNS Chief said.
Highlighting the structural flaws of the mega-project, Raj Thackeray said, “The Missing Link project was inaugurated on May 1. Now, in July, water is leaking through it. A brand-new tunnel started leaking within just 60 to 65 days! During the inauguration, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was boasting about how materials for the project were sourced from various countries. But the moment you hand it over to Indian contractors, they do exactly what they always do.”
He concluded with a serious allegation regarding contractor kickbacks.
“Some contractors are openly saying that they have to pay 56 per cent of the contract value as bribes to people in the state government. If they have to execute the project with just the remaining 44 per cent of the budget, this is exactly the kind of roads you are going to get,” the MNS Chief said.
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