Modi's CMO usurps quake relief from GSDMA Sunday, October 21, 2001
BY BHARAT DESAI, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Strangely enough, while the handling of earthquake relief and rehabilitation in Gujarat under chief minister Keshubhai Patel was blamed for the ruling party's growing unpopularity in the state, his successor Narendra Modi has a rather lofty notion about the exemplary manner in which the government gave an account of itself after the January 26 catastrophe.
Don't believe just Modi's statement when he says that after the WTC attack on September 11, even the West had realised why Gujarat took such a long time in removing the debris of the earthquake and started appreciating the relief and rescue measures taken in Kutch. It is indeed significant that the officials chosen by the chief minister while re-constituting the CMO has officials with a proven record in earthquake relief and rehabilitation.
Modi , who is currently touring Kutch district for two days to see for himself the progress of rehabilitation, appointed P K Mishra, the CEO of the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) as his principal secretary. Anil Mukim, who served as collector of Kutch during those difficult months before he was promoted and shifted to Gandhinagar, has become the additional principal secretary in the CMO. Mukim continues to be the chairman of the Bhuj Development Authority. And Arvind Sharma, who is the chairman of the Rapar Development Authority, has also joined the CMO as secretary.
Bureaucrats said the hand-picking of officials with experience in earthquake rehabilitation shows the attention that Modi would like to pay to the issue, apart from it being a recognition of the appreciation that he has for the previous regime's record in this area. Mishra has in fact been allowed to retain his position as CEO of GSDMA. "It will effectively mean that decisions at the authority level will be speedily cleared by the CMO and the policy of the CMO will be effectively executed by the GSDMA," said another official.
However, there is also criticism that Modi had disturbed the GSDMA which had emerged as a powerful co-ordinating body for earthquake relief and rehabilitation after the initial period of confusion. Only M Sahu, the additional CEO of GSDMA, remains in the authority at the senior level because it is felt that Mishra's time would be occupied more by the CMO.
P Pannervel, the other additional CEO in the GSDMA who was also serving as relief commissioner, has now been moved to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation as commissioner. Pannervel was handling the crucial job of housing reconstruction in the affected areas and the speed of reconstruction had even surprised the World Bank and Asian Development Bank who are the main funding agencies for the job. Modi, of course, has also replaced Sanjay Gupta, who was chairman of the Anjar Development Authority, with P N Roychoudhary. This is one of the many posts that Gupta had to lose after the new dispensation took over.
Currently, a battery of senior officials led by chief secretary G Subba Rao and chief co-ordinator L Mansingh, are touring Kutch along with the chief minister. Mansingh's continuance is crucial for industries minister Suresh Mehta, who also hails from Kutch and who has excellent rapport with Mansingh, also the secretary of the industries department. During the Keshubhai regime, Mehta had the grudge that the chief minister used to give more importance to the speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Dhirubhai Shah, also a Kutchi strongman, whose political interests often clash with that of Mehta.
Officials say Modi's two-day visit to Kutch, which will end on Saturday, may shape the changes, if any, he plans to bring about in the elaborate administrative structure of the government's earthquake rehabilitation machinery.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Garba inspires Bollywood, but with no thanks Sunday, October 21, 2001
BY JAHNAVI CONTRACTOR, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: The city has been dancing to its tunes every night since Wednesday. So have Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan on celluloid. It's the garba.
Think of hit film songs such as 'Dholi Taro', 'Adha Hai Chandrama, Raat Aadhi', C Ramchandra's 'Badal Ki Palkhi Par Sawar' or the current favourite 'Lagaan' number 'Kisliye Radha Jale' _ all have one element in common, they owe their origins to Gujarat. All have drawn inspiration from Gujarati film songs, garba, raas, garbis or lok sangeet.
Gujarat may have fared badly in terms of the quality of films it produces. But, when it comes to songs and music, it is Gujarat that Bollywood draws heavily upon. From the first talkie, 'Alam Ara', to the present day 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam' and 'Lagaan', Gujarati garba and lok sangeet have left their indelible mark on Bollywood.
For instance, the Madhuri Dixit starrer 'Lajja' has a monologue rendered by her that is based on 'Ram Tame Sitaji Ne Tole Na Avo', a song composed by eminent Gujarati poet and composer Avinash Vyas. The song has also been rendered by Asha Bhonsle as a bhajan in one of her albums.
Eminent Gujarati litterateur Sitanshu Yashchandra says Gujarat has a rich tradition of garba songs, poems, bhajans and lok sangeet which has influenced many a filmmaker. According to him, music and literature are woven into Gujarati tradition and have been an important part of the Indian music tradition. In this connection, Vyas is still remembered in Bollywood for his rich repertoire of Gujarati garba, songs and bhajans, he says.
Mukesh Mawlankar, who has scripted as many as 45 Gujarati films, says, "Gujarati films may have failed to make their mark, but Bollywood should always remain indebted to our rich culture."
"Many have been clear cases of copying, but not much can be done as these come under the genre of lok sangeet which does not have any copyright protection. Even if they don't come from the genre of lok sangeet, the process of litigation is too complicated and most of this 'plagiarism' goes unnoticed and Gujarati music and lok sangeet do not get the respect due to them," he says.
According to Mawlankar, many old hits like C Ramchandra's song 'Badal Ki Palkhi Par Uthke Sawar' are inspired by Avinash Vyas's garba, 'Mehendi Te Vavi Mandve'.
Siddharth Bhatt, retired professor of political science, feels that apart from the new breed of films, many Bollywood classics like 'Saraswati Chnadra', V Shantaram's 'Navrang', 'Mother India' (the background music for the famous cart race), 'Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje' and 'Manthan' are influenced by Gujarati garba and lok sangeet.
A number of Amitabh Bachchan's hit numbers have been drawn from Gujarati garba. "Manmohan Desai has used many Gujarati garbas as a base for his film songs. 'Sabse Bada Tera Nam O Sheronwali', for example, and 'Ke Pag Ghungaroo Bandh Meera Nachi', were first written by Gujarati poet Ragunath Brahmbhatt from Nadiad," says Bhatt, who has compiled more than 40,000 old and new Hindi film songs in old record format and also hosts an All India Radio programme on the progress of Indian cinema.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
State to pay Rs 239 cr compensation to PAPs Sunday, October 21, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: After resisting pressure for several months, the Gujarat government has finally succumbed to demands of Madhya Pradesh in a desperate bid to remove a bottleneck in the way of raising the Sardar Sarovar dam height from the current 90 to 100 metres. Gujarat has bowed to MP's insistence for a liberalised financial package to the tune of Rs 239 crore for the thousands of dam oustees in the neighbouring state unwilling to come to Gujarat to resettle.
Mooted by the MP government before the onset of monsoon in Gujarat, no final agreement on the package could be reached for four months. The Gujarat government insisted the neighbouring state to bear 50 per cent of the cost of the package. MP did not agree. "As things were getting delayed for dam construction, the state government decided, several days ago, to bear the full cost of the package," said an official.
"Now okayed, the plan has been sent to MP," said a top bureaucrat. "We expect a policy order by the MP government soon, so that dam rebuilding restarts immediately." An agreed programme allows dam construction up to 100 metres from January 1, 2002 onwards, and completion of work within six months. The height remains static at 90 metres for a year, depriving large parts of the state of the benefits of dam water."
Gujarat's finance department would fund Rs 137 crore of the package immediately. The rest would be given in instalments.
The package sanctions Rs 1.25 lakh for each hectare of land an oustee farmer family decides not to receive against the submerged plot.
It also increases the cash compensation per oustee family from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh. "The package was worked out because the MP government insisted it had no land for project-affected-persons (PAPs) unwilling to come to Gujarat," the source said.
The height of the Narmada dam, under a Supreme Court order, cannot be raised if the oustees' problem is simultaneously not taken care of. A Narmada Control Authority meeting, to be held on November 8 in Delhi, is likely to put a stamp of approval to the package, officials said. Top officials of Gujarat, MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan will participate in the NCA meeting, to be chaired by the water resources secretary of the Union government.
Insiders say it would be a "Herculean task" to convince the oustees about the package as a better option when little land is available in the neighbouring state for those unwilling to come to Gujarat. As of today, 453 MP families at the submergence level of 100 metres would have to be immediately compensated. The figure might go up. The number of families not willing to come to Gujarat is increasing. It might reach 600 by the year-end.
"Though 887 MP families at the 100 metres submergence level have agreed to come to Gujarat and letters have been issued to give them land, many might finally opt to stay back," informed a top government source. Land acquisition is already proving to be a major problem in MP. "About 140 hectares have been acquired in Dhar district, but the land is so bad that no farmer is willing to settle for it. Besides, it would accommodate only 70 families."
Informed one bureaucrat: "In all, 33,000 MP families would suffer by the full dam height level of 138 metres. Out of this, 14,000 are expected to come to Gujarat, while the rest would stay back in MP. Those entitled to get land but are unable to receive it in the neighbouring state would all have to be given cash compensation after the government takes an undertaking about the oustee family's renunciation of land claim."
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Gujarat seeks Rs 5 cr from Centre to fight Anthrax Sunday, October 21, 2001
BY ANIL PATHAK, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: The state government has prepared an action plan titled 'Fight against Anthrax' with the help of experts to deal with possible anthrax infection in Gujarat though no cases have been reported even among animals which are carriers of bacteria in past two years.
Health minister Ashok Bhatt, who was inducted in cabinet on Wednesday, is busy going through animal husbandry records and discussing precautions against the disease. He said that in past two years not a single case has been detected in the state.
Bhatt said he would leave for New Delhi on Sunday to seek Rs 5 crore from Union health ministry to strengthen the facilities to meet bio-war threats. He will meet Union health minister C P Thakur in this connection.
Anthrax is called kaliyo taav (black fever) among cattle breeders and shepherds who are familiar with its symptoms. Talking to TNN, Bhatt said, "we have taken extra precautionary measures as Gujarat has a border with Pakistan which was engaged in cross border terrorism with India".
He said all hospitals attached with medical colleges have been asked to be prepared. Plans have been formulated to open special wards for prompt treatment to patients. If need be, those tested positive would be admitted to ICCU in civil hospitals in six cities where teams of doctors would be ready to handle any exigency.
Senior health officials and doctors and faculty of biology and micro-biology pathology and members from animal husbandry commissionerate, at one day workshop on Saturday, worked out a multi-pronged strategy to check the possible outbreak of anthrax in the state.
The minister said district health officials would be informed the details of this action plan through video conferencing on October 25 and private dispensaries and hospitals would be briefed about the anti-anthrax steps they might have to take in case of any eventuality. The government hospitals are well- equipped to deal with anthrax and there was no need for panic.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
DEO notice to school on chocolate mishap issue Sunday, October 21, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: The city District Education Office (DEO) has issued a show-cause notice to Shree Narayan Guru Vidyalaya to explain why a private company was allowed to hold a quiz competition in the school premises.
Seventeen children had taken ill on Wednesday, minutes after they consumed chocolate 'Perk-Slims' distributed after completion of the preliminary round of the Bournvita Quiz Contest (BQC) which was held on Tuesday.
DEO S B Mandlik told reporters that the school had been asked to reply to the show-cause notice within seven days, and action would be taken on the basis of the report submitted.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
