Maharashtra is at a standstill

State is at a standstill

CAMIL PARKHE

Sakal Times

http://www.sakaaltimes.com/20120605/5311163883781370098.htm

Tuesday, June 05, 2012 AT 08:13 PM (IST)

Tags: Bihar,   Nitish Kumar

The recent reports that Bihar has recorded the highest, 13 per cent, growth rate among the states needs to be welcomed not only by the people in Bihar but also other states where local politicians have been crying hoarse over the influx of Biharis in their respective states. Bihar has experienced a new lease of life after Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) took over as chief minister, ending the over 15-year-old rule of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Maharashtra, the leading state in the country, has experienced a strong resentment against the presence of Biharis and people from other northern states after Raj Thackeray broke away from the Shiv Sena and used the issue of "outsiders" to create political space for his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. When Bal Thackeray floated his Shiv Sena in the 1960s, he too had made the south Indians in Mumbai the targets and entrenched himself as the voice of the Marathi people, especially in Mumbai. Today, when Raj Thackeray has been praising the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat model of development and Bihar is progressing fast, Maharashtra is fast losing the race to retain its lea in development.

Almost all parts of the state are facing load shedding for several hours a day. The plight of farmers and entrepreneurs in rural sectors is worse. They face power shutdown when electricity is most needed. The economic growth in these areas has virtually come to a halt and yet there are no sign of measures to mitigate the situation in near future. The power scarcity is expected to create an alarming situation within a few years and the ruling group leaders and those in the opposition are refusing to acknowledge the writing on the wall. Some major cities like Aurangabad receive drinking water after an interval of two days while towns like Shevgaon in Ahmednagar district get water after four days. Shevgaon is not far away from the Jayakawadi reservoir, state’s largest irrigation project. Even then, residents of such towns are considered luckier than people in remote villages, who just do not have any source of clean drinking water. This indeed is a sorry state of affairs for an economically developed state.

What is worse is that none of the political parties and leaders -- ruling or opposition -- has taken up these issues in the interest of the masses or tried to exploit them to their own political advantage. All politicians take up people’s issues and hit the streets only during the state or the civic polls. They return to their cabins in New Delhi or Mumbai as soon as the elections are over, even before counting begins. In the past, leaders like Sharad Pawar, Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde or even Ramdas Athavale had undertaken statewide tours, mobilising public opinion on  people’s issues. This had helped them to be on first-name terms with local leaders and eventually become a leader of the masses. The new breed of politicians has not tried that sort of approach. They have never tried to be with the masses to really get to know their problems. They usually do not know the pulse of the masses.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani recently criticised the UPA government for the various crises faced by the country but lamented that even the BJP work has been disappointing. The same can be said about the Congress-NCP front in Maharashtra. The front has been elected to rule for the third consecutive term only because the opposition parties have miserably failed to expose the ruling group’s failures on economic, industrial and other fronts. The state has not witnessed any major development in power generation, industrial growth or on removal of the regional development imbalance. The ruling politicians have remained steadfastly apathetic to the people’s problems while the opposition leaders have not been much different.

The recent BJP executive meeting saw Gopinath Munde on the dais after long. Although a mass leader in his party, Munde has been keeping a low profile after Nitin Gadkari became the party president three years back. The voices of other opposition leaders, including the Shiv Sena, are heard only when the state legislative session is on, or when elections are round the corner. Their agenda is confined to the protests in the House and statements at media conferences.

Raj Thackeray has rarely moved out of Mumbai to keep himself abreast of the state situation. Nor is he monitoring the affairs of the state legislature and civic bodies, where his party members have been elected. The leaders don't realise that Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee had to toil hard for nearly two decades before they could oust the ruling parties in their states.

The lacklustre performance of all-party politicians is ominous for the future of the state. In the face of intense competition from other states, Maharashtra will have to strive extra hard to attract investment and maintain its lead in development. And everyone must remember that even the basic needs of the entire population are not being met at present.

Dilip Chhabria - Man who designs dream vehicles

Sakaal Times

Man who designs dream vehicles

08 Dec 2009 11:45,
Dilip Chhabria, head of DC Designs, has designed cars, vans and buses for a large number of celebrities and VVIPs including L K Advani, Bal Thackeray, Amitabh Bachchan, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Bhardwaj, Omar Abdullah and Narayan Rane. An alumnus of the US-based Art Center, he worked with General Motors at Detroit for four years and quit the secure job to start his own business of offering people exclusive and comfortable vehicles. Chhabria speaks to Camil Parkhe about blending his passion for cars with people’s desire for changes
Why did you give up a job in a world automobile giant and return to India to start your own business?I wanted to start car designing business. Basically, I am car crazy. I have an obsession, passion for cars. People want a change, something new, something different from others. I wanted to give them a vehicle of their dreams, either totally exclusive or having additional facilities. I said to myself, If I could do that, I will survive. While giving up my US job, I did not worry about financial security. I told myself that I have nothing to lose. I could take a job and start afresh if this venture is failed. That was in 1993. I had the courage to take the jump.How did you enter the car designing sector?In the beginning, Mahindra & Mahindra helped. They asked me to design Armada in 1993. Bal Thackeray was one of my first VVIP clients. The Shiv Sena supremo wanted a designed car to enable him to travel to different parts of the state. During the last 17 years, celebrities and VVIPs from different walks of life have approached me to design cars, buses to suit their requirements. After I designed a car for the Sena chief, the word about my car designing skills spread fast. The mouth publicity about my skill in car designing helped me get clients from various parts of the country.
Why do people opt for designed vehicles?
There are two reasons why a person may wish to have a designed car or any other vehicle. For exclusivity and for comfort. Some people may want their vehicles to be special, different from what others have and so they opt for car designing. Then there are others who seek more comfort and additional amenities in their vehicle and so go for a designed vehicle. What is your process in car designing?When a person approaches me for vehicle designing, first of all I want to know what the client exactly wants. I first find out whether the person is seeking exclusivity or comfort. Accordingly, I proceed with the task. Let me make it clear that we do not accept all demands made to us for vehicle designing. On an average, every day we get about 100 calls for vehicle designing and we do not accept all of them. We start the initial discussion on vehicle designing only if the project is exciting to us as well. The money earned in the project is not the sole criterion for accepting it. DC Designs has now become a brand because we are here not for money alone. How do you and your client arrive at a particular model of design?I normally have sittings with the clients to know their mind, to understand what exactly they want. However, in every case we make it clear that the design discretion will be totally ours and we assure the clients that out design will meet their requirement of exclusivity or comfort and that they will surely like the final result. And we have so far not disappointed any of our clients. On the other hand, in four to five per cent cases every year, we ourselves inform the clients that the designing project is complete as per the plans but we are not satisfied with the result and so we would like to take some more time to further modify the designing. The end result should be to our satisfaction as well. During the first meeting, we understand the client’s needs. Then we draw some sketches, modify or make changes and later prepare a master sketch and computer modelling. The first idea about the proposed car design always comes from me. The other staff in the company later come up with minute details, fill in the gaps. It takes three to four months and nearly 20,000 man-hours to complete a single vehicle designing project. The projects seeking comforts may cost in lakhs. So far, DC Designs has designed over 2,000 vehicles including 700 cars. We started the production unit in Chinchwad in 2005. Even now our headquarters is still in Mumbai. My son Bonny looks after marketing of our products.What are your impressions about your celebrity clients?I found Shiv Sena chief Thackeray a down-to-earth personality. I held him in awe as he was first VVIP client. He wanted a vehicle in which he could travel comfortably. Lalu Prasad Yadav impressed me as a very intelligent and witty person. I had six meetings with Shah Rukh Khan to finalise designing for his car. I have also enjoyed the experience of working with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.