There are no jobs, quota won’t guarantee employment : Nitin Gadkari
Aurangabad : Stating that reservation will not guarantee employment as jobs are shrinking, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said there is a “school of thought” which wants policy-makers to consider the poorest of poor in every community.
Gadkari made the remarks, responding to reporters’ questions on the ongoing agitation by the Marathas for reservation and similar demands by other communities in Maharashtra.
“Let’s us assume the reservation is given. But there are no jobs. Because in banks, the jobs have shrunk because of IT. The government recruitment is frozen. Where are the jobs?
“The problem with the quota is that backwardness is becoming a political interest. Everyone says I am backward. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Brahmins are strong. They dominate politics. (And) They say they are backward,” the senior BJP leader said.
“So one school of thought is that a poor is a poor, he has no caste, creed or language. Whatever may be the religion – the Muslim, the Hindu or the Maratha (a caste), in all communities there is one section which has no clothes to wear, no food to eat.
“One school of thought also is (that) we must also consider the poorest of the poor section in every community,” he said.
This is a “socio-economic thinking” and it must not be politicised, the Union minister said.
Maintaining that Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was trying to resolve the Maratha quota demand by holding talks, Gadkari urged people to maintain peace.
“The responsible political parties must not add fuel to the fire,” he added.
The development, the industrialisation and the good prices for rural produce would ease the economic distress that the Maratha community is suffering from, he said.
courtesy : hindustantimes.com
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Govt floats tender for new Shivaji Maharaj statue in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg
Mumbai (PTI): In the wake of collapse of the Shivaji Maharaj statue in Sindhudurg, the Maharashtra government has issued a tender for the construction of a new 60-foot-tall statue there, nearly twice the size of the previous one, officials said on Wednesday.
The statue will be built at a cost of Rs 20 crore and the government has set a six-month timeframe for the completion of the work, they said.
A 35-foot-tall statue of the 17th century Maratha empire founder, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rajkot fort in Malvan tehsil of Sindhudurg district on December 4 (Navy Day) last year, collapsed on August 26 amid strong winds.
The statue's sculptor, Jaydeep Apte, was later arrested.
The government has faced flak as the opposition parties alleged the decision to install the statue in Sindhudurg was taken haphazardly, which resulted in poor quality of work.
Maharashtra Public Works Department (PWD) had flagged concerns over rust gathering on Shivaji Maharaj’s statue and suggested permanent measures in a letter sent to a Naval official just six days before the structure collapsed.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said the statue was designed and constructed by the Indian Navy.
He claimed winds were blowing at 45 km per hour when the statue collapsed.
A tender has been issued for the construction of a new statue and its height would be 60 feet, a PWD official said.
"The total cost would now be Rs 20 crore, including its engineering, installation and maintenance. The government has given six months to complete the work. The height of the statue would be 60 feet," the official said.
