Mantri to mantri: Long leash of remote control Wednesday, November 28, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
It was a big rally of some twenty to twenty five thousand people at Morbi two weeks back, brought from the rural area in trucks and buses. Occasion was the usual reception to Chief Minister Narendra Modi, his ministers from the area, particularly minister Bokharia's field of influence, including Kutiana, from where Narendra Modi is believed to be planning to contest his assembly seat.
But then there dropped a fly in the cup. None of the organisers had expected this. It was a bolt from the blue. Narendra Modi was delivering his long sermon in his whacking and self-aggrandising tone. He declared that soon after coming to power, he had ordered all the taluka and district officials to convene the Gramsabha and, lo and behold, they already convened general body meetings in 18,000 villages within five days!!!
People paid rapt attention to his further claims, when a large group of those dusty villagers suddenly interrupted him by standing up and shouting. They wanted Narendra Modi to understand that none of the panchayat mantris in their area had held such a Gramsabha and such reports coming to him from districts had no truth in them. Some of those angry protesters waved papers in their hands and screamed that 'such reports are just pieces of paper' and nothing more. 'They are simply absurd'. 'Our mantris are good for nothing and most of them are corrupt'. 'They show up only once a week or a fortnight'. 'Those TDOs never visit our village'. 'We have never seen the face of our collector, too'.
I was told this on phone by a close friend at Morbi, who happened to be one of the local dignitaries sitting there on the dais. I had no reason to reject his story. I also did not feel like cross checking this with Narendra Modi's staff. Even if those rural folks had not dared to admonish Narendra Modi, I myself would have written to him on the fallacy of such a claim about Gramsabha, as I was told the same story by some other folks from Surendranagar and Bhavnagar districts.
It is really too much to believe, under the currently deteriorated and corrupt administrative machinery, such a claim of holding 18,000 gramsabha within five days. Narendra Modi could be too much of a novice if he really believed it. Most of the Panchayat mantris have become as despotic and corrupt as some of those top mantris sitting in the A/C chambers of Gandhinagar. Less said the better about the collectors, holding as much power as some sheikh of an Arab country but cut loose from any mass contact.
Sanat Mehta, former finance minister and member of parliament, once told a similar rally the other day that lack of sensitivity to people's ordeals had become a hallmark of the officials and present day politicians and they preferred to work mostly with remote control. They hardly go to the people and try to understand or feel about their problems. They grab their share of the booty most of the time sitting in their ante-room of the chamber or in the panchayat office itself. I agree to what this veteran old time politician says., because I have seen this with my own eyes in many villages. Even a small certificate needed by a villager would require a bribery of at least Rs 200 for a mantri.
All this is well known. Only surprising thing is our Narendra Modi's 'innocence'. Gujarat started implementing newly amended panchayat law from 1994. Article 4 empowers Gramsabha to take all major decisions. It is a must for every Grampanchayat to call the Gramsabha. Articles 93 and 94 stipulate the formality like who and when such Gramsabha would be convened. Every year before the end of May such a meeting is mandatory. At least twice each year such meetings must be convened by giving minimum seven days' notice to all the voters of the village. Any person authorised by either TDO or DDO is empowered to call such a meeting. At least 50% of the village resident voters form a quorum.
Now anybody having some knowledge of how our panchayats are functioning can tell you that no such provision has been enforced in any village. How can the TDO-DDOs implement it within five days?
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Trust gets latest MRI tech to city Wednesday, November 28, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: The city will soon be able to benefit from the latest Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology in a number of very complex medical applications. The latest model of MRI has been brought here by city-based Paramount Charity Trust which will provide the facility at subsidised rates.
The trust, which had also brought the first CT Scan facility to Vadodara, will ask doctors to prescribe the amount of subsidy depending on the financial condition of the patient. The new machine to be installed is a 'superconductor' (1.0 tesla) machine.
"This machine will be the first in the state. Patients will have to pay according to the doctors' recommendations," said Samirt Tuli of the trust.
"There is always a heavy rush for CT scans and spiral CT scans. This new model will not only make available this facility to the city, it will also help diagnosis in the growing number of patients here. The rush can be gauged by the fact that our centre alone gets about 450 patients every month," Tuli said.
The trust upgraded the CT scan to a spiral CT scanner in 1999, and has now invested Rs 3.5 crore to establish the Super Con (1.0 tesla) MRI scanner.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
RMC struggles to meet water distribution costs Wednesday, November 28, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
RAJKOT: Distribution of that 'precious' stuff, water, to quench the thirst of parched throats in the city, has become a losing proposition for the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.
While distribution costs are mounting, the returns are negligible. If one goes by the figures dished out by the RMC, the civic body is accumulating huge losses by distributing water.
When contacted, city engineer at the RMC, Narendrasinh Vaghela, told 'The Times of India' that while the cost of bringing in water from Bhadar dam was Rs 6.50 for every 10,000 litres, it was a rupee more when the water was drawn from the Wankaner bore project.
Vaghela said the city had approximately 1,07,000 authorised tap connections and needed to be supplied 150 million gallons of water a day.
He said that the civic body spent Rs 856 per connection to distribute water while charging water tax of just Rs 240. The tax has not been increased for years, for reasons best known to the civic fathers.
The city engineer said that to supply water to the people of Rajkot, the civic body spent Rs 15 crore a year. On the other hand, many citizens did not even bother to pay the water tax in time.
Vaghela said that power bills comprised a chunk of the water distribution expenses. The civic body incurs an expense of Rs 1 crore to fetch water from Bhadar while it spends Rs 1.25 crore to draw water from the Wankaner bore project every month.
Vaghela said that going by the World Health Organisation standards, the civic body has to supply 550 litres of water to each family per day, but it was giving just half of that.
He said efforts must be made to conserve water locally so that the water table could rise which would help minimise the distribution costs.
With almost all sources of water in and around Rajkot on the verge of going dry, there would be no alternative but to bring water from the Wankaner bore or even the Mahi Pariej project, which would be even more costly, he added.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
IDA holds beautiful smile contest Wednesday, November 28, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: It was smiles all the way at the 'Beautiful Smile Contest' held here when the Gujarat state branch of the Indian Dental Association chose among contestants from all over the state. The programme was held under the National Oral Health Programme -- 'Smile through the millennium'.
The participants were winners of similar contests held by local branches of IDA in various cities and towns of the state. The winners from the two groups - six to 10 years and 11 to 15 years - will now fight it out with contestants from other states at the 'National Beautiful Smile Contest' on December 16 in Mangalore.
"While judging the participants, emphasis was laid on the general condition of the teeth, relation of the jaws, placement of the teeth in relation to the smile, confidence radiated through smile, general awareness about oral health and hygiene," said IDA honorary state secretary, Amish Mehta, who would also be on the panel of judges during the national contest.
The winners in the six to 10-year group include Hardik Maniar from Bhavnagar, Monika Sant from Vadodara and Jignasha Gohil from Bhavnagar. In the 11-year to 15-year group, the winners were Chandni Devani from Junagadh, Atik Fatima Mamrawala from Bhavnagar and Sargam Yagnik from Ahmedabad.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Tribal girl was abducted to be to forcibly married off Wednesday, November 28, 2001
SOURCE - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
VADODARA: The girl who managed to escape from the clutches of her abductors in Lavaria village of Dahod district recently has alleged that she was "picked up by a group of people and handed over to another person who wanted to marry her and take her to Junagadh."
When TNN contacted the girl, Kokila Mansinh, who is now in the city, she said she went through a harrowing time while in captivity for over a month. Social activists working in the tribal-dominated central Gujarat region say many girls like Kokila are becoming victims of a new social trend, where girls are abducted to forcibly marry them off. "It is taking the form of a systematic racket," says Kanubhai Brahmbhatt, a Sravodaya worker.
Kokila said that she was abducted on October 24 and taken to Dangaria village. She claimed that she was then handed over to a person in Dangaria. "They were then discussing to take me to Junagadh. However, I managed to escape under the pretext of relieving myself," she said.
According to social workers working in the area, the incident was not an isolated one. "There are several persons who pick up girls forcibly. Such incidents keep happening in the area," said Pratap Raiji Baria, a local leader.
"Till now we used to believe that this was a tradition. Now, we have realised that this is a racket in which local leaders are playing a dubious role," said Brahmbhatt, who has given shelter to Kokila and her relatives in Vadodara.
Brahmbhatt said that Kokila was minor and this could be confirmed by a medical examination. "We will approach high-ranking police officials regarding this. They should take the matter seriously and initiate immediate action," he added.
Commenting on the episode, Special IG (Vadodara range) Deepak Swaroop said "there are occasional complaints of missing girls, but these are mostly cases of elopement or sometimes consent marriages," he said. Swaroop added that the problem had a larger social dimension to it.
"It is not essentially a law and order problem," he said, adding that non-government organisations working in these areas need to study this and come up with solutions instead of merely making wild allegations.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
