Nanaji Deshmukh, second from RSS ranks, to get Bharat Ratna
New Delhi, Jan 25: Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh, affectionately called Nanaji Deshmukh, is the second leader from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ranks after Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be conferred the coveted Bharat Ratna.
Nanaji was posthumously conferred the coveted award along with former President Pranab Mukherjee and singer Bhupen Hazarika.
Nanaji joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1928 as a 12-year-old and later remained a member of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the political arm of the right-wing group. He later became a part of the Janata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party.
He was a member of the sixth Lok Sabha between 1977 and 1979, and nominated to Rajya Sabha by the then NDA government in 1999.
A married man, according to the Rajya Sabha website, Nanaji started a chain of Saraswati Vidya Mandir schools throughout India to propagate the ideas of RSS.
He also set up the Deen Dayal Research Institute and the Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya in Madhya Pradesh which is considered the country's first rural university.
A Padma Vibhushan awardee, Nanaji was known for his work around 500 villages in Chitrakoot where he tried to bring about all-round development by the people themselves.
He passed away at the age of 94 in 2010 and was considered one of the architects of the Jai Prakash Narayan movement against Emergency in 1974, and was also instrumental in the formation of Janata Party government in 1977.
The RSS stalwart had also travelled to the USA, UK, Cuba, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Kenya (Africa).
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
