Ajit Pawar NCP president and deputy CM Ajit Pawar is facing flak over the inept handling of the row over the financial viability of CM's Ladki Bahin Yojana , a scheme to provide financial aid to poor women . He is also facing a hard time defending himself on reports of travelling to Delhi in disguise to meet Union home minister Amit Shah. Apparently, when the scheme for poor women was presented before the cabinet for approval, no minister objected since it was a populist move in view of the assembly elections .
According to reports, the finance department had sounded out govt over the massive annual expenditure of Rs 46,000 crore in view of the state's deteriorating economic condition and an unprecedented debt burden, which has crossed Rs 8.5 lakh crore. Ajit Pawar maintained a discreet silence for a few days and then said no objection had been raised, not even from the finance department.
But his clarification came too late and there were no takers for it. When reports of Ajit Pawar travelling in disguise appeared in vernacular dailies, he ignored them at first but couldn't stall any longer after the issue made the headlines in national dailies. There were specific details of how he changed his name on the boarding pass and wore a mask and a cap.
The reports became politically significant when Supriya Sule said it was bad for a politician like Ajit Pawar to travel in disguise and the issue raised questions about security agencies' competence. Reports said the information was revealed by a top aide of Ajit Pawar in Delhi. Again, Ajit Pawar made umpteen attempts to deny the reports, but it was a futile exercise.
Women at the helm It is a different kind of coincidence-all three all-India services in the state are headed by women. Sujata Saunik, IAS officer of the 1987 batch, is the chief secretary; Rashmi Shukla, IPS officer of the 1988 batch, is the DGP; and Shomita Biswas, an IFS officer of the 1988 batch, is the principal chief conservator of forests. Barring Shukla, who has been given a fixed tenure of two years as per an SC order, Saunik and Biswas will retire next year.
Saunik had the opportunity to take over the reins of the state bureaucracy last year. However, she was superseded on two occasions -first by husband Manoj Saunik and later by Nitin Kareer . The biggest challenge before the three officers will be to bring in administrative reforms by using new technology.
For several years, women officers have struggled to secure key administrative posts. A few years ago, some women bureaucrats had called on then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh to demand that women officers be considered for appointments to key posts, chief secretary, BMC chief , DGP and Mumbai police commissioner..
