Manohar Parrikar: Man with a single minded devotion to take Goa forward

He was an exceptional IITian, an exceptional politician and above all, an exceptional human being

Current Affairs: There is a genuine sense of loss and sorrow at the passing of Manohar Parrikar, and not just among political classes. An extremely unassuming and dedicated man, he fought valiantly the pancreatic cancer that was devouring him and bore his immense suffering stoically, much the same way as Steve Jobs did. He continued to serve till the end. It takes the ‘genius’ of Rahul Gandhi to interpret this as a sign of Mr Parrikar blackmailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi because he, Parrikar, apparently had secret Rafale files showing Mr Modi’s culpability.

I was among a very small number of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, class of 1965, to have met and interacted with  Manohar Parrikar. I met him at Vadodara airport in December 2012. He was standing behind me in the line for security clearance. He could have easily skipped that as he was the chief minister of Goa then. As is now well-known, he never did that.

My friend Karan Grover, the noted architect, who was Mr Parrikar’s host, introduced us. When Mr Parrikar found out my IIT background and my role in establishing Institute of Rural Management at Anand, he immediately said that I should visit him because he would like me to help him establish an institution of higher professional learning in Goa.

Manohar Parrikar passes away: Here’s a timeline of his political journey

Parrikar became the chief minister for the first time on October 24, 2000. However, his tenure lasted only till February 27, 2002

Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar died in Panaji on Sunday after a prolonged pancreatic ailment. He was 63. He served as four-time Goa chief minister and had a three-year-long stint as Defence Minister in the Narendra Modi-led cabinet. Parrikar, often referred to as ‘common man’s CM’, was being treated at the All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

His health started deteriorating in February 2018 and he was first admitted at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital for pancreatic ailment. He was flown to the US in the first week of March last year where he remained admitted at hospital till June.

Here’s a timeline of Manohar Parrikar‘s journey:

Born in Goa’s Mapusa in 1955, Parrikar joined the RSS during his school days. He studied at Loyola High School, Margao. He completed his secondary education in Marathi and went on to graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1978. He is the first IIT alumnus to serve as MLA of an Indian state. He pursued metallurgical engineering from IIT-Bombay and graduated in the year 1978. As a sanghchalak in Mapusa, in the 1990s, he was heavily involved in spreading the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Goa.

Parrikar’s entry into mainstream politics:

1991: An RSS pracharak from Goa, Parrikar’s electoral debut was unsuccessful when he was defeated by Congress candidate Harish Zantye in the 1991 Lok Sabha polls.

1994: He was first elected to the second legislative assembly of Goa in 1994. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was still new in state politics.

1999: He rose to become Leader of Opposition from June to November 1999.

2000: Parrikar became the chief minister for the first time on October 24, 2000. However, his tenure lasted only till February 27, 2002.

2002: On June 5, 2002, he was re-elected and became the chief minister for a second time.

Rafale twist: Why did France refuse to give India a sovereign guarantee?

Documents reveal how two core conditions of a government-to-government contract were diluted in the run-up to purchasing 36 Rafale jets

Latest News – The Narendra Modi government has consistently claimed that the Rafale aircraft deal was between two governments – India and France – and therefore there was hardly any possibility of India’s interests being compromised in any way.

However, government documents accessed by The Wire reveal the Ministry of Law and Justice had opined that the “core elements of Government-to-Government (G-to-G) character” of the Rafale deal were not acceptable to France and consequently had to be diluted and waived in the final inter-governmental agreement (IGA) signed between the two governments in September 2016.|Rafale Deal 

So what were the two core G-to-G elements that France did not accept? The law ministry gave a clear view to the Ministry of Defence that in G-to-G contracts, “the responsibility for the supply of equipment and related industrial services and performance of the entire contract remains with the foreign government”. The second condition cited by the law ministry was that “the dispute resolution mechanism remained at Government-to-Government level only”. However, in the course of negotiating the IGA, certain sensitive issues arose whereby the French government sought to transfer its own direct responsibilities and obligations to the industrial supplier – in this case Dassault Aviation.

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LIVE: Manohar Parrikar's to be sworn-in as Goa CM; Congress slams BJP for 'backdoor entry'

Get live updates on Manohar Parrikar's swearing-in ceremony as Goa Chief Minister

Goa election result 2017 LIVE: Over two years after he quit as Chief Minister of Goa to become the nation's Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar is set to take over the coastal state's mantle again on Tuesday at the head of a BJP-led government. The decks were cleared for Parrikar to take oath as Goa Chief Minister with President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday accepting his resignation as Defence Minister and assigning additional charge of the ministry to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "The President has accepted Manohar Parrikar's resignation from the council of ministers with immediate effect under clause (2) of Article 75 of the Constitution," a President Office statement said.

Earlier in the day, Parrikar resigned to head a new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Goa. Parrikar has been Chief Minister of Goa twice before -- from October 2000 to February 2005 and from March 2012 to November 8, 2014, when he was appointed the Defence Minister of India.

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  Subramanian Swamy
  

  ✔@Swamy39

  Just now phoned Parrikar and congratulated him and also expressed sorrow that we lost an very honest tough Defence Minister

  2:43 PM - 13 Mar 2017

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  Manohar Parrikar as Goa CM: During hearing of Congress petition in SC, petitioner alleged that established constitutional practices are being violated by BJP
  
  
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