Two important Pieces of information on Swami

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Retd Lt Gen’s Wife Elected Village PanchJanuary 19 Rajesh Jauhri IT COULD be a

pointer towards the way people havebegun to look at politics and definitely a

big boostto Panchayati Raj. The wife of a retired LieutenantGeneral, who took

the plunge and contested for thepost of panch in Gangalkhedi village Panchayat,

haswon causing a pleasant and welcome surprise. And because of her status, she

could also be madethe deputy sarpanch, as the seat is reserved forbackward

class. However, the small panchayat now hasa very

well-educated and suave panch to usher indevelopment in her panchayat. Meet

Pushpa Malhotra, wife of Lt Gen (retd) S LMalhotra. It was her zeal to work for

the societythat prompted her to contest the elections. Pushpa'shusband, Gen

Malhotra, retired from the Indian Armyas Director General NCC in 1986 and

served ascommandant of Infantry School and GOC 26 Div. Born in Karachi in

Pakistan, Pushpa's parentsmigrated to India in 1947 and after her marriage

shewas involved in several social service activities,including serving the

families of soldiers andcivilian employees through Army Wives

WelfareAssociation (AWWA). Talking to Hindustan Times, she said that shestarted

true social work when Gen Malhotra wasDeputy MD of Tata International in Dewas,

where shestarted a small charity school in 1986

with 12children of tribal labourers of the factory. Whenshe left the school in

1992, the strength had risento 400. When asked about the aim she had in mind

whencontesting the election, she said her first prioritywould be the uplift of

the poor and backward peopleof the village through education, cleanliness

driveand de-addiction movement. She said that her granddaughter Meghan

Pasricha, whois based in the US, was already running ananti-tobacco campaign

throughout the world and hasalso consented to work in the village for the

cause. She said she was already imparting training ofsewing and weaving to

young girls of the village,which would gain magnitude after her role in

thevillage Panchayat. Being a disciple of Sathya SaiBaba, she said that she had

entered politicalservice by the

grace of Sai Baba to serve thedeprived, as she used to do in various missions

ofSathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthy. Pushpa will be one among 12 panchs, and

because ofher status, she could be well be made the deputysarpanch. (The

Hindustan Times : 21.1.05)

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"Ex-engineer To

Supervise Water Schemes" HyderabadJan. 20. R. Kodala Rao, former

engineer-in-chief, PanchayatiRaj, has been appointed by the State Government

toassist the Satya Sai Central Trust in implementingdrinking water supply

schemes to the upland areas ofEast and West Godavari districts. Mr. Rao is

currently advisor to the Government forSchool Education and Panchayat Raj

Departments. According to an official press release, Mr. Rao willbe provided

technical assistance by the ChiefEngineer (Rural Water Suply) in the

formulation andexecution of the schemes, which are expected tocover 500

habitations with 5.5 lakh inhabitants. At the district level, the Collector

will head acommittee to provide support required by the Trust.This committee

will have the

Superintendent Engineer(Rural Water Supply) as member-convenor. (The Hindu : 21.1.05)

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