Sharad Pawar quits ministers' panel in-charge of fighting corruption ( Updated: April 07, 2011 09:51 IST )

New Delhi: After he was criticised publically by Anna Hazare and other social activists for being part of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to check corruption in the government, Sharad Pawar has quit the panel. Mr Pawar is Agriculture Minister and his Nationalist Congress Party is an important partner in the UPA coalition at the centre. Veteran social activist Anna Hazare and his supporters - now in the midst of a hectic campaign for a new law to fight corruption- had said that the fact that the government has entrusted Mr Pawar along with other ministers like Kapil Sibal to deal with anti-corruption proves that the government is weak-willed. "So what if he has quit?" reacted 72-year-old Mr Hazare from Jantar Mantar in the Capital, which has become the base of his current movement. "One Pawar goes, another will come...our campaign will continue." Mr Hazare has completed the second day of what he describes as "a fast-unto-death" to push the government to introduce a bold new Jan Lokpal Bill (Citizen's Ombudsman Bill) ; along with his supporters, Mr Hazare wants civil society to be included in the committee that will work on the new law. Thousands of people across the country are holding rallies and fasts to express their solidarity with Mr Hazare's campaign, India Against Corruption. "You say that your Group of Ministers are drafting the anti corruption law. Many of the members of this Group of Ministers have such a shady past that if effective anti-corruption systems had been in place, some of them would have been behind bars," Mr Hazare wrote to the Prime Minister. Arvind Kejriwal, known for his work on the Right to Information Act, is also a key supporter of Mr Hazare's movement. "The PM refuses to set up a joint committee...he says our Group of Ministers will decide who will set up our anti-corruption law. Now the Group of Ministers include people like Sharad Pawar - he will draft our anticorruption law! Moily - who drafted this weak law. Kapil Sibal - who does not see a scam in 2G. These are the people who are going to draft the anti-corruption draft of the country, isn't this an insult to the nation?" he said. The Lokpal bill is meant to create posts of Lokpal at the Centre, and Lokayukta in each state. They are meant to stop corruption among politicians and bureaucrats. The government's version of the Lokpal Bill has been squarely rejected by Mr Hazare and his group of activists, who have united as an organization named India Against Corruption. The group says that the bill continues to allow the government to decide which politicians and bureaucrats should be investigated, which defeats the point of the new law. The government has been urging Mr Hazare to give it more time to weigh his request for civil society's participation on the drafting of the new law. Mr Sibal said that while there are larger concerns about the precedent this would set - of moving legislation outside of parliament - the government has not rejected the idea. "They wanted immediate decision by April 5, that was not possible. But we are ready to look into their demands," said Union Minister Kapil Sibal, who is part of the GoM on Lokpal Bill. "I appeal to these civil society members to enlighten people. I appeal to their good sense to not to stall the dialogue but allow the dialogue to continue for a constructive approach," Mr Sibal added.

Article 2: Sharad Pawar slapping incident Pawar was slapped by a youth named Harvinder Singh at a the New Delhi Municipal Corporation centre while leaving the premises after attending a literary function on 24 November 2011. The attacker, who previously is said to have assaulted former telecom minister Sukh Ram, was later arrested. Motivation Harvinder Singh is an auto-rickshaw driver and has no political affiliations. He said after slapping Pawar in Hindi that 'He is a thief, they are all thieves'. He said that he slapped Pawar because of corruption and price-rise. Reactions All leading political parties in India condemned the attack. Some politicians argued that violence should not be used as a means of raising concern. The youth who slapped Pawar was highly praised on YouTube by common people, however politicians argued that violence should not be used as a means of raising concern. There were also several fan pages created on Facebook. There were parallels drawn with revolutionary and martyr Bhagat Singh, and pages advocating the shaming of more corrupt politicians. India Today reported that the opinion of the general public was in favour of further shaming of corrupt people holding public office. There was also widespread criticism of the NCP's call for a bandh. An opinion poll conducted by DNA India showed that people praised the attack on Sharad Pawar and public expressed happiness one of them did this to corrupt politicians like Pawar. Kolaveri parody A parody of Why This Kolaveri Di, a track from a Tamil movie '3' which is honored by YouTube with a Gold Award for getting the most number of hits, based on the Sharad Pawar slapping incident, known as "Chamaat Song" (Slap Song) was posted on YouTube . This track is listed in "Top 10 Versions of 'Kolaveri Di' Song" by the Times of India. The track received 964,729 hits by evening of 2 December 2011, within a week of its release on 25 November. Union Agriculture Minister and NCP leader Sharad Pawar was in a surprisingly relaxed mood as he spoke to Senior Editor Priya Sahgal about the many controversies surrounding him. Excerpts:

Q. Have the recent controversies weakened you ? A. (Smiles). I am used to controversies. I have completed 43 years in politics and have been a minister of state, chief minister and a Cabinet minister. A person who survives so many years is bound to face some attacks. It doesn't affect me because I know the truth. Q. Will the Government survive if the Prime Minister drops you from the Cabinet? A. The issue is not whether I or anyone else continues in the Government. The issue is to support a strong and stable Government. Q. If there is no truth in Anna Hazare's allegations, why did you resign? A. I did not want to get into a war of words with anybody. Q. What are your links with Shahid Balwa? Did you travel on his plane to Dubai with him? A. Vinod Goenka's father, K.M. Goenka, is known to me for the last 35 years. Vinod is Balwa's business partner. Just because the Goenkas are close friends, how am I concerned with what business they do or who their partners are? Yes, I have met Balwa casually but it makes me wonder why suddenly the issue of proximity is being raised. ICC headquarters are in Dubai. Shashank Manohar and I.S. Bindra were on the plane with me. It was Vinod who suggested that since his aircraft was practically empty, I should come along with them.

Q. Does Supriya Sule have any business links with Balwa? She owns shares in Panchshil Tech Park One (PTPO) and Balwa wrote to the Environment Ministry on a PTPO letterhead in 2007, seeking clearance for a five-star hotel being constructed by DB Realty at Yerwada. A. Supriya and Sadanand (her husband) have an equity of around 5 per cent in PTPO. That company bought land in 2004 for a tech park which was completed by 2006. DB Realty applied for a five-star hotel and a separate tech park project in 2007. That application was on a DB letterhead and not on PTPO's. Please understand, these are two separate tech parks. But they are being portrayed as one to create confusion and slander me. Don't Mr and Mrs Sule have a right to invest wherever they want? Q. How do you explain DB Realty constructing a 10-storey school building in Chandivali for Pawar Public School Trust headed by your daughter? A. Not DB Realty alone but three companies are building the housing project in Chandivali. The school is a part of this project. Talks are on with the Trust for the management of the school. Q. What about Niira Radia's allegations linking you with DB Realty? Did you seek favours from A. Raja for anyone? A. False perceptions are being created about me without an iota of proof. Look at your own questions. No question of my talking to Raja for anyone. Q. Is it true that the Pune Collector allotted 326 acres of land to Mukund Bhavan Trust where K.M. Goenka is a director? This after the Courts had allotted only 3.27 acre. A. This is an old case. This dispute is on since 1951 when I was in Class VI. The matter went up to the Supreme Court and the government lost. The compromise was for 79 acre. The Pune collector handed over 78.32 acre. Q. There are charges that land was illegally given by the government to a host of trusts which you are linked with, such as the Vidya Pratishthan Trust. That this was handed to you for Re 1 per year. A. Vidya Pratishthan Trust, like several other trusts in Maharashtra, got land from government for educational purposes. This is not my private property. It is a public trust. Its a 40-yearold institution with 16,000 students studying in it and a role model for rural education. Come and see it. I think criticism of good work should stop somewhere. Re 1 per year figure is wrong. Q. Do you own any land in South Africa or New Zealand? A. Why just Africa and New Zealand, why not other exotic countries? This nonsense must stop somewhere. Q. Are you the owner of Sahyadri Cow Farm in Baramati? Farmers have complained that their land was acquired to set up an industry in the area not a cow farm. A. No, I am not the owner. I did inaugurate it. Does everything I inaugurate become mine? Q. Did you give Baramati Airport, owned by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to Anil Ambani's ADAG to operate even though the company has no project in nearby areas? A. The state Government has handed over the operations of many such airports to ADAG through the tender process. Please ask the state Government. The MIDC does not come under the NCP quota of ministers. Q. A newspaper story recently alleged that bids were invited for only 19 of the VIP hospitality boxes at Wankhede stadium. A. Mumbai Cricket Association issued tenders inviting bids for the boxes. Only 5 parties responded though many bought the forms. The association then contacted those who had bought the forms and fixed a price for 32 boxes. I still have boxes available if anyone is interested. Q. Finally, is this a bad time to be Sharad Pawar? A. In my long innings, I have seen many sunrises and many sunsets; many good and bad times. These do not deter me. Whether some may like it or not, I am still the farmer that I was born as and will continue to be one. Why are you focusing on all the negative allegations? Why don't you see my track record as

agriculture minister? We have a record food production of 235.88 million tonnes this year, the highest since 1947. The agriculture credit for 2003-04 was Rs.86,900 crore in loans to farmers at 11 per cent interest. Today, it is Rs.4,75,000 crore at 4 per cent interest. The country's growth rate of 8 per cent is mainly because of agriculture. I have been criticised for focusing on cricket but have not neglected my ministry. Both in agriculture and cricket, the country has broken records.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/2g-db-realty-sharad-pawar-exclusive-interview-on-corruptioncharges-against-him/1/136055.html

An opinion poll conducted by India Today to find out who are India's hated politicians has revealed some interesting results. Recent attacks on Indian political leaders have exposed the growing discontent among the masses, who are fed up of rising prices and corruption.

Head of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, has been agriculture minister for the past seven
years and is being blamed for food inflation. He is the latest Indian politician to be attacked by a disgruntled youth, who accused him of corruption and held him responsible for price rise. Pawar has also faced several allegations of corruption and has been accused of being incapable of handling the hike in prices of agricultural produce since he took over as Agriculture minister. The controversial Lavasa project near Pune is considered to be the dream project of the Maratha strongman. Since the last five years, Sharad Pawar has been the strongest advocate of the project. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar declared assets worth Rs12 crore, but there is a wide perception that his riches far exceed the stated amount.
New Delhi, November 24, 2011

Sharad Pawar attacked

Gargi Parsai

Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar was assaulted here on Wednesday by a youth. The youth had attacked the former Telecom Minister, Sukh Ram, last week. The incident occurred as Mr. Pawar, 71, was walking down the steps of a New Delhi Municipal Council auditorium after participating in a literary function. The youth broke away from a group of journalists and hit the Minister on his face. The Maratha strongman lost his balance but quickly regained his composure and walked towards his car. The youth was identified as Harvinder Singh, a transporter from Rohini. He was overpowered by some journalists and private security guards. Raising anti-corruption slogans, he brandished a sharp object. He was arrested by the Connaught Place police and charged with voluntarily causing hurt, assault, criminal intimidation, using force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty and attempt to commit suicide.

Later, Mr. Pawar told journalists that the youth was shouting that he had a mission to target political leaders. Asked if he had forgiven his attacker, he said: Who am I to forgive? I am not a judge and I am not saying anything good or bad about him. I have no enemies now nor will I have in the future. I can't say why this attempt was made [on me].'' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was among the first to speak to Mr. Pawar on the phone. The Prime Minister regrets the increasing tendency to take recourse to violent means to express disagreement,'' said a statement issued by the media adviser to the Prime Minister.

This combo picture made from TV grabs shows (top) Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar being slapped by a youth in New Delhi on Thursday. (Bottom) The man who slapped Mr. Pawar brandishes his dagger after the incidend.