Townships celebrate in 'small is beautiful' style Saturday, October 20, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: They are small in scale yet elegant. They combine class with a homely atmosphere. They all generate oodles of gaiety and fervour. They are the 'township garbas' of the city and its surroundings as PSUs and private companies host their own garbas during Navratri.
Be it the oil giants like ONGC, IOC and IPCL or the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) or private companies like Alembic, the motto seems to be "small is beautiful" as officers and their families bring their best dresses out and get ready to put their best foot forward.
Being performed for over half-a-century now, the garba organised by the Alembic group, begun by late Dhirajben Amin to ensure unity, has grown from an informal affair where the performers both sang and danced to a professional one now. While about a 100 people participated and saw the garba in the 50s, the garba in the Alembic ground now attracts about 8,000 people with music by professional singers belonging to the Shruti group.
At the Gujarati Medium School ground, Gujarat Sanskar Samaj of Indian Oil Corporation's Gujarat Refinery began the Navratri Mahotsava from Wednesday as thousands poured in to join the garba and watch the proceedings as singing group from city Shreeji Garba Vrinda belt out the songs.
The lush green lawns of the Tapovan Temple Complex is playing host to the children of the IPCL township for nine nights as the Petrochemical Township Devasthan Trust organises the Shishu Garba Mahotsav. Though this garba gets over at 10 pm, the music and songs by Harmony group is providing nights of pure fun.
The township's garba ground is also attracting thousands of people with music by city-based music group Swar Nad and every participant putting in their best performance to emerge the best dancer in three different groups.
The competitive spirit is also mixed with the fun and frolic at the ONGC stadium where people are also putting in their best performances. "Every night, about 3,000 to 4,000 play the garba to the tune of the city-based Swar Archana group. Best dancer awards will be provided in three categories," says ONGC Employees' Welfare Committee vice-president Rajiv Kumar.
In nearby Anand, the Garba Lawns of the NDDB begins to fill up as every night. The milk capital is reverberating with the sound of garba as about 1,500 to 2,000 people gather every night to join the revelry.
"Not just the NDDB employees and their children, we have also invited students from Anand schools, students from Vidyanagar University girls' hostel and medical students from Karamsad Hospital for a one-night performance," says Manoj Inayat, cultural secretary of Boho Club that organises the NDDB garba.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Modi's greenhorns add colour to drab ministry Friday, October 19, 2001
BY RAJIV SHAH, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR: They are the dozen 'novices' of the Modi ministry who have just got possession of a sparkling new car with red flashing lights on top. The air of importance and the sense of power comes basically because of the 'hangers' all around them. In fact, one of them was barking away on his telephone to someone in Amreli that a certain murder accused has to be immediately released, come what may.
The 39-strong ministry shows that, for the first time, the BJP has turned to the backward classes as a future support base. The new comers, many of them virtually unheard of till they became ministers on Wednesday, may not perform here in Gandhinagar as able administrators. Nor are they meant to. But their raised status in their community will perhaps help the BJP use them as vote-catchers when elections arrive.
Indeed, many of the greenhorn ministers admitted quite frankly that they have little knowledge of either state policy or administration. Take minister of state Devanand Solanki, given independent charge of animal husbandry. He told TNN that though he's a farmer's son, the department is "totally new" to him, and that he knows "nothing about it".
Solanki said: "Of course, I know animals. It would be better if I had also been given cow-breeding. But I don't mind. After all, it's the CM's prerogative." He said working in the administration with a fresh mind is "like fasting after taking a heavy meal". Whatever that means.
Or take the junior-most minister among the ministers of state - Sundarsinh Chauhan - who took charge of labour and employment department. Flanked by labour secretary Arjun Singh and another senior labour department official, Chauhan, a second-term MLA from Kheda district, is every bit a simpleton. He said this whole thing of governance was alien to him. He had just taken over, had sought a briefing from officials, though was not sure when he would get it.
The smartest among the dozen-odd fresh faces is Ishwarbhai Makwana, the new culture minister. Belonging to Mehsana district and an MLA for the first time, he runs a monthly magazine, composes poems, writes articles and stories. "I was part of the JP movement," he told TNN proudly. Makwana's predecessor, Mahendra Trivedi, also composes poems. Even sings. Trivedi, in one of his poems, wrote that the ministers do nothing but "meet, eat and cheat." Not Makwana. He says he believes only in "meeting and seating, not in eating and cheating". Nor does he believe in writing such satirical poems.
Minister of state Bavku Ughad has been given petrochemicals and ports, two very important departments from Gujarat's perspective. One of the two private ports, Pipavav, falls under his constituency. Yet, he awaits a briefing next Monday on the projects to lay down gas pipelines in the state, the controversial Gas Act which the Centre has asked the state not to implement, and a gamut of intricacies which these two departments entail. He is also trying to figure out whether Pipavav would fall under his jurisdiction, being a private port. His officials have so far told him it won't.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Baroda registers first credit card fraud Friday, October 19, 2001
VADODARA: The police have arrested Praharsh Brahmbhatt (21) for unauthorised use of Standard Chartered Bank credit card. He had cashed on the credit card, drawing cash from the bank against the limit and purchasing goods worth Rs 59,000 from retail shops. The police said this was the first case of credit card fraud here.
His two accomplices, Akshay Patel and Imran, are absconding. Praharsh has a diploma in mechanical engineering and had worked as a credit card agent for Standard Chartered Bank.
"He was entrusted the job of enlisting customers and cancelling credit cards. Though he had ceased to be an agent a couple of months ago, he contacted some customers and got their credit cards on the plea of cancelling them. Then he got to know the codes and forged signatures to make purchases on credit", the police said.
The police seized two credit cards from Praharsh, one of which belongs to V B Singh and the other to S N Desai, on whose card Akshay is learnt to have drawn Rs 3,000.
On Wednesday, Standard Chartered Bank at Alkapuri suspected Praharsh when he tried to withdraw cash on V B Singh's card. The bank learnt that the card had expired and alerted Sayajigunj police. Within hours Brahmbhatt confessed to his crime.
bppolice: Sayajigunj police PI M M Patel interrogating one of the accused in the credit card fraud case.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
It's 'e' for empowerment here Friday, October 19, 2001
It's the 'e-setu', the e-path that would form the mother of all bridges _ connecting every administrative department in the city through computers, taking the government closer to the people. Termed the 'Nagar Setu' project, the second phase of the Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), the collectorate, the police commissioner's office, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and 17 other offices listed in the Citizen's Charter will be wired.
'Nagar Setu', which is a part of the GSWAN's horizontal connectivity, will bridge the gap between the government and the public, bringing in speed, transparency and accountability. The government will then embark on an ambitious project of vertical connectivity to wire all the talukas of the district by May 1, 2002.
For the citizens, its opening up avenues _ on-line application, on-line checks on movement of files and not having to trudge miles from far flung places to get a ration card. Vadodara seems to be entering the ICE age. It's now time to hope and dream that citizens get a better deal.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Recession takes a back seat Friday, October 19, 2001
When it's Navratri in Gujarat, it's mostly about money, honey. For once, the grand garbas, the huge crowds they attract and the dazzle all around and the big banners across the stadia do raise a serious question: Are we really facing a recession ?
Name any big FMCG company and its banner would probably be featuring in at least one of the garba grounds. And, as the world rues the death of dotcom, one could still take heart as one dotcom company is sponsoring an important garba here.
Talk of slowdown in the tourism industry and you find hotels falling over their backs to sponsor garbas or at least advertise in a big way. Clouds of recession do not seem to be hovering over Vadodara this Navratri. Is there a recession at all? Or is it that time of the year when everybody wishes to relegate their worries to a corner and immerse in merry making? Well, we live only once, and it seems it's the spirit that matters.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
