General
Pune trio goes on a ‘long drive’ – a record 21,000 km through borders of India
Creating a new record, a Pune couple and their friend – all software engineers-cum-adventure lovers – went on a ‘long drive’ in an SUV, covering a whopping 21,000 km in 70 days across the entire boundary of India, from east to west, north to south.
They are — Jaykumar Anadkat, his wife Pooja Padiya-Anadkat, both from Gujarat, and their friend Sonesh Mehra from Rajasthan, who are the co-founders of the adventure club, ‘PlacesAroundPune’.
“We have done many activities like hiking, trekking, cycling, mountaineering, scuba-diving etc., but this time we wanted to do something unique and fulfilling. So we charted out this trip — “#MapMyCountry” — in our Tata Safari SUV, and we hope to make it to the record books,” said Jaykumar, after the trio returned home late on Monday.
The trio, all aged 35, embarked on their journey on February 27 from Magarpatta and returned to the same location on May 8, zooming through 26 states, several Union Territories, 52 major cities and over 250 important travel destinations along the boundary and borders of India.
“We went around the country’s periphery, all the border states and drew the India map through the car route, starting in a clockwise direction from Maharashtra,” said Mehra.
From Maharashtra, they went to Gujarat (Dwarka and Koteshwar temples in the extreme western parts of India), Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, the Northeastern states like Kaho in Arunachal Pradesh, the first village of India in the east, and Danushkodi Rameshwar and Kanyakumari as the southernmost tip.
“We touched six international borders — Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. We learnt a lot about the different people of India, their cultures and lifestyles, the weather systems, the abundant beauty of different parts of the country. It was a very enriching drive indeed,” said Pooja.
The ultra-long drive took them from 45-degree Celsius in Rajasthan deserts to the -5-degree Celsius in snowy Kashmir, braving hailstorms in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland, torrential rains in Assam, and the humid weather in the southern states. Though they carried suitable clothes, many a times they had to hunt for more locally in order to survive.
The trio recalls speeding through some of the wildest and densest forests akin to a jungle safari, off-roading, dusty dry desert sands, boat-rides in mangrove forests, traversing snowy mountains roads, or gingerly driving through bamboo bridges, over deep valleys and turbulent rivers in different parts of India, soaking in the first sunrise in the east and the colourful sunsets in the west and southern beaches.
They also joined some tribal and traditional cultural festivals, wearing local costumes, singing, dancing or prancing to their tunes, and gulping cuisines ranging from the weirdest to delicacies, cooking for themselves on roadside fires, or just gobbling some fruits when nothing was available or dhabas were shut.
There are literally miles of many memories, including some a bit spooky, that the trio returned with — like one excited gentleman from Punjab, Ripu Daman, who contacted them through Facebook and happily hosted them with his family for a night.
In Nagaland, they met a 95-year-old member of a tribe of erstwhile ‘headhunters’, who still proudly wears a garland with a few heads on it that he claimed to have acquired many decades ago!
Today, Jaykumar, Pooja and Sonesh are extremely thrilled on completing their ‘long drive’ without any untoward incident, something they will cherish for long.
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
When Muslims are 11% in the state, why is the Muslim community not represented in the Uniform Civil Code Committee? Raees Sheikh demands reconstitution of committee

Mumbai: Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East Raees Sheikh has demanded that the committee announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday (9th) to draft the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Act has not given adequate representation to all minority communities and the Muslim community should be represented in this committee.
Speaking in this regard, MLA Raees Sheikh said that the minority community in Maharashtra is 20 percent. It includes six communities namely Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Parsis. Among these communities, the largest number is only the Muslim community which constitutes 11 percent of the total population of the state. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today announced a 7-member committee in the Legislative Assembly. Not a single Muslim representative has been included in it. The Uniform Civil Code is most closely related to the Muslim community. There is confusion and fear among the Muslim communities regarding this code. Therefore, there is a need to give representation to the Muslim community in this committee. The state government cannot implement a uniform civil code without taking the Muslim community or the minority community as a whole into confidence. The government should not take a unilateral decision regarding this law. Raees Sheikh demanded that the committee be reconstituted by including a representative of the Muslim community in the 7-member committee headed by former Justice Ranjana Desai. MLA Raees Sheikh also said that we will soon meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.
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