Togadia dares BJP govt on Ayodhya Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
RAJKOT: While Opposition parties may feel that it is a joint ploy by the Sangh Parivar outfits to whip up sentiments on the Ram temple issue, Vishwa Hindu Parishad international general secretary Pravin Togadia threw a challenge to the BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh to oppose the present plan to construct the Ram temple at Ayodhya. He said "no political party, be it the BJP or the Congress, can oppose the temple construction."
Togadia told newsmen: "No political party can win in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections without giving a helping hand to the cause of construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya." Asked if the stand taken by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal on the construction of the temple could lead to a confrontation with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre and the BJP government in UP, the VHP leader said: "The Hindu samaj is ready for such a confrontation."
According to Togadia, courts cannot give a judgment on the rights of any faith, and the Hindus have the right to worship at the Ram temple. The court can only decided on the site of the temple, not on matters of faith.
"There is no solution to the Ram temple issue without 'sangarsh' (conflict)". Giving details of the construction of the Ram temple, Togadia said the first step towards the temple construction would begin from November 26 when 'Ram Naam Jaap' will be undertaken. As many as five crore people would be mobilised. The programme would conclude on February 17 when the call for "Chalo Ayodhya" would be given by the VHP leaders and sadhus. The programme of 'Ramdhun' would begin from November 26 at all villages in the country at 8 p.m., and in bigger towns at 9 p.m.
"For the next 100 days, lakhs of Hindus would come to Ayodhya, and almost five crore VHP volunteers would be on stand-by orders." Togadia said the main event would taken place soon after Mahashivratri.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Governor at 'puja' celebrations Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Governor Sundar Singh Bhandari inaugurated Durga Puja celebrations organised by Durgabharati and Purbasha Sanskriti Mandal respectively at Chandkheda and Gandhinagar on Tuesday. In his inaugural address he urged the people to imbibe the spirit of valour to fight the evils which plague society.
He also prayed the Mother Goddess and sought blessings for the destruction of demonic power of terrorism. He also released a Durga Puja souvenir booklet produced to mark the programme which is being held till October 26.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
32% industries shut or sick in Gujarat Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: Chief Minister Narendra Modi got the first insight into Gujarat's industrial scenario on Tuesday when he was told that a mere 67.6 per cent of the large and medium-scale industries are working out of a total of 2,108.
In a presentation on the state industries department, headed by Principal Secretary L Mansingh, Modi was told that 23 per cent of the industries have closed down, and another nine per cent are sick and may shut down. Industries minister Suresh Mehta was present during the high-level meet.
Presenting the results of the latest survey by the state industries commission, Modi was also told that it is the big units, with an investment of Rs 100 crore plus, which are in a better shape than the medium ones. The survey results say that of the Rs 92,217 crore investment (and Rs 1,00,863 crore production) in the 1,425 units working normally in the state, 87 per cent are of those with an investment of more than Rs 100 crore. An earlier survey of the small-scale industries had found 20 per cent of the units closed.
Though officially called a routine briefing, the CM's office kept its lips tight over what strategy the CM suggested on overcoming such a large incidence of closure. Insiders, however, said, the CM was told that the closure was "not because of recession" but had taken place over a long period, and that there was reason to believe there were some other factors. "Japan's industrial closure rate is 18 per cent per year. We are indeed better off," an official remarked soon after the briefing.
To put across the point that the state was not suffering on account of recession, the industries department officials told the CM that the net state domestic product had gone up by 8.68 per cent last year, compared to an all-India growth rate of 5.6 per cent. Significantly, the latest 'Socio-Economic Review: Gujarat State, 2000-01' suggests a major downfall of 4.7 per cent in the NSDP, for the first time in a decade. The growth rate was 21 per cent in 1994-95.
The per capita NSDP, the yardstick of people's purchasing power, went down by six per cent. "The CM was not told these figures," remarked one CM aide. The 'Review' says that the negative growth is on account of the sharp fall in agricultural production to the tune of 29 per cent, adding that "the manufacturing and tertiary sectors have registered a positive growth _ 3.3 per cent and 5.5 per cent _ but not impressive as compared to the corresponding growth of 12.6 and 8.7 per cent respectively."
The CM, on his part, talked of the need to make Gujarat's industries "stronger" in the face of the globalisation challenge. Insisting on adopting a "comprehensive approach", he announced that there would be a business partnership meet from February 8 to 10, a repetition of the failed Intechmart experience a couple of years ago. "The UK would be the partner country, while California would be the partner state in the mega event," said an official quoting the CM as saying. There would be one-on-one meetings, where plans of bureaucrats and businessmen for visiting abroad would be worked out.
Abandoning ex-CM Keshubhai Patel's dream of building the second phase of the Science City at the cost of Rs 350 crore with private partnership, Gujarat may finally land up with a prototype of New Delhi's Pragati Maidan just next to the site where the first phase is currently being built behind the Gujarat High Court. Narendra Modi said, the Centre had "approved" a sum of Rs 100 crore for the new exhibition-cum-convention complex, adding that it would be adjacent to the current Science City site. It is not, however, decided how big a plot of land would be needed for the new complex.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Malaria deaths speak volumes of the neglect of social sector Wednesday, October 24, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: If Nana Patekar's lingo _ "Ek machhar admi ko admi nahin rehne deta" _ is to be used for the Gujarat government, suffice it to say that one mosquito is enough to dent the reputation of a government which makes Utopian plans like 'Vision 2010'.
With the government having admitted to 61 malaria deaths in two months in the state on Monday, even its claim made on the same day, that 41% of the annual plan of Rs 7,267.85 crore okayed by the Centre is for the social sector, sounds like a bluff.
Top secretariat sources say this year's allocation for health is a mere Rs 210 crore, compared with last year's Rs 240 crore. The amount meant to tackle the malaria epidemic is just Rs 21 crore. Analysts say it is clear that the foundation of perhaps the most prosperous industrialised state in the country is on shaky ground as far as critical areas in the social sector, like health, are concerned.
The state has been ranked 9th among 15 big states in the health development index developed by scholars Indira Hirway and Darshini Mahadevia. However, their study, 'Gujarat: Human Development Report', has not been put out by the state government for fear of making public stark facts about the state.
"There are hardly any indications to suggest that things might have improved on health front after the report was prepared in 1999," Dr Hirway told 'The Times of India'.
If malaria is taken as an example, officials admit, funds constraint and lack of official surveillance are the two main reasons why little is being done to fight the disease. Already, 61 suspected deaths have been officially reported in Surendranagar, Kutch and Banaskantha districts while the unofficial toll is pegged much higher.
The World Bank, as usual, on Tuesday was urged to finance an anti-malaria programme in Gujarat. A WB team has also been asked to consider the setting up of a malaria preparedness and forewarning centre in Ahmedabad with a district and taluka data base and satellite imagery backup, apart from a research project under the Jamnagar University on ways to find out new means of fighting breeding of mosquitoes.
"But all this will take a lot of time," points out an official. "We have to prepare a project, submit it to the Bank. None can say whether it will be considered at all."
Apparently, there is lack of clarity on policy direction for funding, too. The WB, said a top Secretariat official, will give loan for a malaria project, but that will involve a debt burden. The state health department, as a matter of principle, prefers assistance. It has been "promised" Rs 170 crore by the European Commission for reconstructing hospitals.
But assistance is not easy to come by. An earlier plan to have a malaria forecasting centre with British funding had to be abandoned because the organisation that was to finance the project had "other priorities".
Even otherwise, little success is noticed in projects taken up so far. The Rs 30-crore five-year World Bank project to fight malaria in eight districts started in 1997 may officially seem a great success. Being implemented in the Dangs, Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Narmada, Vadodara, the Panchmahals, Dahod, Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts, where incidence of falciparum malaria has gone down from 28,545 in 1997 to 3,149 till now this year.
But strong doubts exist in the claimed success rate. Says Ashok Bhargav of the Institute for Development Education and Learning, "About 75% of the malaria cases are treated at private clinics. People go to the private doctors because the government machinery does not work." An 'early warning' of a malaria epidemic by the World Health Organisation was taken indifferently by the officialdom, he alleges.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Nine held for rioting over garba passes Tuesday, October 23, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: In the second incident this week, the Satellite police arrested nine persons on Monday for allegedly attacking a garba organiser after a brawl over entry passes to the garba at the St Xavier's College grounds on Sunday morning.
Donald Erics Marcs, who was allegedly attacked by a group of boys, lodged a complaint at the Satellite police station that Smith Anthony Fernandes and eight others intercepted his car on the Drive-in road while he was on his way home after Saturday night's garba. Police sources said the boys fought over some passes for the garba. They followed Marcs and threw stones at his car at about 2.45 am. Their vehicles have been seized by the police.
Those arrested and booked for rioting are Fernandes, Navpreet Singh Manohar Singh Sindhu, Saujan Anand Prasad, Sinu Jugetam George Verghese, Devdutt alias Jingu Devraj Singh, Billu Attarsingh, Rajendra Bhogi Jayantilal, Satyen Vaswan and Ashutosh Bameshwar Singh.
Truckers robbed, killed
Two persons in a truck (GJ 12 U 5716) parked near Motipura village on the Himmatnagar-Ahmedabad highway were robbed and stabbed on Monday morning by four unidentified persons. Adding to the spate of highway dacoity was this incident where driver Valaram Shankarlal Mali and his assistant Surrbhai Bagdadi were attacked by two persons while they were sleeping in the truck at around 4.30 am. The assailants stole Rs 4,000 from their pockets, and when the two woke up they were stabbed with a knife. Two others joined in and attacked them with stones, after which Bagdadi succumbed to wounds in the hospital. A complaint was lodged by Pir Ali Mansuri.
Dacoity at Thaltej
Some 10 persons robbed gold ornaments worth Rs 28,000 from Sitaben and her husband Ramesh Rabari at Thaltej on Sunday afternoon, in an apparent bid to settle scores. Sita and Ramesh stay at Riddhi Siddhi Apartments in Thaltej. They were visiting Sita's father Ajmalbhai at the Ajanta-Ellora Apartments, where Gova Bhagwanbhai Rabari, Ramabhai Jivabhai Rabari, Mafatbhai Rabari, Babubhhai Gamanbhai Rabari and Gemarbhai Karamsibhai Rabari, with five others, attacked and robbed them. They attacked the couple in revenge, following a suspicion that Sita's brother Raju had eloped with Gova Rabari's daughter.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
