Gujarati News: February 2007

Modi announces Rs.15,000 crore welfare scheme
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 | AY

Chief Minister Narendra Modi today announced a Rs.15,000 crore Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna for the overall development of tribals which accounts for 15 percent of the population of Gujarat. Announcing this under rule 44 of the Assembly Rule the Chief Minister said the ten point programme will be spread over next five years and it will cover a population of 75 lakh in 43 talukas from Umargam in South Gujarat to Ambaji in North Gujarat. Modi described it as Chief Minister’s ten point programme and said that it will set a new trend in the country as it is setting agenda for the development of tribals. Other focus areas are houses to tribal families, infrastructure for their healthy life, pure drinking water through pipeline, modern farming facilities in tribal areas and basic infrastructure facilities like road, bus stand and energy network.

Sterling AddLife signs MoU with MPSEZ
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 | AY

Sterling AddLife India Ltd and the Adani Group's Mundra Port and SEZ Ltd announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide health care related impetus for the development of Mundra Port and SEZ. Under this agreement, Sterling AddLife India Ltd will set up a 50 bed secondary care hospital at a cost of Rs 18 crore. This hospital will enable Adani Group to realize its vision of making Mundra SEZ the most preferred destination for business, living and learning. The hospital will be expanded to accommodate 100 beds at a later date. This hospital will have mobile intensive care unit (ICU) on wheels with qualified medical and paramedical staff manning it for medical emergencies.

Diclofenac - A threat to vultures
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 | AY

Vultures are facing serious threat of survival in Gujarat. There are just 2647 Gyps vultures in Gujarat as per the last census. The biggest enemy of these big birds is the painkiller diclofenac, a pain killer. Minister of State for Environment said that the government has asked panjarapoles and other organizations taking care of cattle that they should not use the drug. Vultures die on consuming cattle that are given diclofenac. The issue of depleting population of vultures was raised by Pradipsinhji Jadeja.

Gujarat budget is direction less
Saturday, February 24, 2007 | AY

Gujarat Congress in its reaction to the state budget said that it was directionless and it made hollow claims only. State president Bharat Solanki said that the budget provisions showed fears of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He said that it was surprising that the budget had no mention of abolition of Octroi, though Modi government had agreed in principal to abolish it. He further said that the relief in Electricity Duty to 80 per cent of the electricity consumers was eyewash since it will have a very marginal difference in the electricity bill.

Gujarat government bans sex education in schools
Thursday, February 22, 2007 | AY

In a surprise move, Gujarat government which was part of sex education programme of the Central Government today decided not to continue it. In a statement issued late this evening, Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training said that the decision had been taken considering the content of the sex education syllabus. The programme was earlier conducted by Gujarat State AIDS Control Society governed non government organizations. However, this programme had been handed over to the state’s Education Department from the year 2005.

New Ahmedabad BJP president elected
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 | AY

The Bhartiya Janata Party today nominated Jagdish Patel, former councilor of Nikol ward as the city president. He replaces Dharmendra Shah, a former councilor of Maninagar ward, which is a part of Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency. The party also appointed presidents of eight districts. Party spokesperson Vijay Rupani said that presidents of 23 districts have already been elected. With nomination of remaining eight the appointment in all the 32 districts have been completed.

First biometric ATM
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 | AY

Villagers on the outskirts of the state capital Gandhinagar will now be using latest state of art ATM for their daily needs of money. This follows inauguration of the first biometric ATM at village Balwa. Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala asked nationalised banks to lend money to rural people, specially the women, at concessional rate to achieve greater financial inclusion. He said rural people were more dependable in loan repayment. The ATM has been installed by Dena bank. Balwa branch of Dena Bank is one of the very few branches in rural areas which have credit-deposit ratio in excess of 100 per cent. Its deposits stand at Rs 7.92 crore while advances are Rs 8.33 crore.

Gujarati Awards on Feb 17
Monday, February 19, 2007 | AY

6th Annual Gujarati Screen and Stage awards (2006), hosted by Transmedia took place at the Andheri Sports Complex on February 17. In an effort to release Gujarati films in Mumbai, he announced the establishment of Gujarati Vikas Manch which will have 51 branches all over Mumbai and will try to bring 42 lakh Gujaratis of the city under one roof through regular social and cultural activities. This was in association with Dr Navin Mehta (CM, Jaina USA) who had also announced cash prizes of more than Rs three lakhs for the various categories of Mumbai Gujarati dramas. There are plans to organise workshops at Ahmedabad for filmmakers so that film festivals can be held in the four cities of Gujarat wherein 35 films can be exhibited for a week. This year Gujarati cinema is celebrating its platinum anniversary and this will be the first event of the year which will be telecast on Zee Gujarati on March 3 at 9.30pm.

Parsvnath signs MoU with Gujarat Govt
Sunday, February 18, 2007 | AY

Real estate company Parsvnath Developers Ltd., has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gujarat government to develop projects at an investment of Rs 1600 crore over a period of 2-3 years. The company would develop townships, group housing, commercial complexes, IT parks at Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Vadodra, Surat, Jamnagar and other districts in Gujarat. The MoU was signed by GUDC Managing Director K Srinivas and Parsvnath Vice President (Gujarat and Strategic Planning) Ashim Gandhi.

Tourism in Gujarat soars high
Saturday, February 17, 2007 | AY

Gujarat, which celebrated last year as `Tourism Year' has begun this year on a high note in the tourism sector. A total of 38 Memorandum Of Understanding (MOUs) for 69 projects in the tourism sector amounting to Rs 20,820.50 crores were signed at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor's Summit organised recently at Science City, Ahmedabad. The investors include eight Non Resident Indians (NRIs) with proposed investment of Rs 5,662 crore. A total of 33 investor companies have signed MOUs for 64 projects in tourism while four companies have signed four projects in the civil aviation sector, and one party has signed an MOU for development of infrastructure for the Pavitra Yatra Dham Vikas Board. The earnest efforts of the Gujarat Government seems to have worked in some measure as the state registered an increase of 32 per cent in tourist arrivals in 2006 compared to the figures of 2005.

Kutch crafts are back
Thursday, February 15, 2007 | AY

After the devastating earthquake six years ago, the traditional artisans of the Kutch region of Gujarat are back in the fray with brighter prospects for their handicraft. The earthquake hit around one lakh artisans in the remote areas of the Kutch district, considered the abode of many a handicraft. Thanks to the timely help from the governments and NGOs, both from within the country and abroad, these artisans are back in business. The Sri Kutch Kalyan Trust at Sodha Camp at Zhurah took up the rehabilitation of the victims of the earthquake and The revival of handicraft of Gujarat in general and the Kutch district in particular. Traditional crafts like tie & die, ethnic embroidery, woollen shawls, leather items and iron bells with copper-coating producing different sounds which are part of the social, religious and economic lives of the Kutch artisans, are back on the market.

Air Arabia to Ahmedabad
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 | AY

Air Arabia LLC, the first low-fares airline in the Middle East and North Africa, announces the start of flights to Ahmedabad, India from 3rd April '07 with an inaugural flight departing Sharjah at 13:50 and arriving Ahmedabad at 17:55 and then depart Ahmedabad at 18:40 to arrive Sharjah at 19:55.

MakemyTrip opens office in Ahmedabad
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | AY

To cater to the tourist traffic of Gujarat online travel company MakeMyTrip.com has opened its branch office in Ahmedabad. The office will offer complete travel solutions including, international holidays, hotels, domestic holidays, and air tickets. The office is Located at Arvind Avenue, C.G. Road, Ahmedabad.

New software for effective disaster management
Monday, February 12, 2007 | AY

In an attempt to make disaster management more effective and easy in disaster prone Gujarat, Oxfam GB, a charity organisation has teamed up with the Saline Area Vitalization Enterprise Limited (SAVE), a public limited company and Geographis India Pvt Ltd to make a software called, ‘Organisation Level Disaster Preparedness Tool-Gujarat’. The software in the form of a CD can be accessed in both English and Gujarati. It has a database that stores exhaustive information about the population, rail and road network, water bodies and other kinds of information, categorised as per village, taluka and district. The software is aimed at helping NGOs and government officials who can get information about important suppliers for food, water and other amenities after disaster. The software also has a map display facility which means that a district, taluka or village can be displayed on a map and information sorted out accordingly.

Image of Judiciary affected
Sunday, February 11, 2007 | AY

The spat between two Gujarat High Court judges has "affected" the image of Judicary and the row between the two should have been sorted out "internally." The news about the scuffle between Justice Sethna with fellow High Court Judge Justice P B Majumdar on January 11 had made headlines. The senior advocate was of the opinion an "in-house committee" should have been formed within the Gujarat High Court to sort out the issue between the two judges.

Biotech park at Savli near Vadodara
Thursday, February 8, 2007 | AY

Akruti Nirman and The Chatterjee Group (TCG) have announced that they will be developing a biotech park at Savli near Vadodara, Gujarat. For this purpose, both the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government. Akruti Nirman would invest in excess of Rs 2,000 million in the project. The biotech park would be developed on 700 acres of land, in three phases. The two companies and the Gujarat government would form a joint venture to implement the project. Akruti would have 66% stake in the JV, while TCG would hold 23% stake and the remaining would be held by the Gujarat government.

Milk price up by Re 1/litre
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 | AY

Residents across Gujarat, except for Vadodara, started coughing up Re 1 more for a litre of milk from Sunday following a price hike announced by Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF). GCMMF implemented its recent decision to revise milk prices for the third time within a span of one year. The decision comes even as Union government recently banned export of skimmed milk powder to control milk prices across the country. Following GCMMF's decision, all dairies have started charging Re 1 more from consumers while Baroda Dairy, where the hike would come for third time in a span of eight months, will decide over the issue on February 9 during its board meeting.

Subhash Ghai have a tie upwith Gujarat school
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 | AY

Subhas Ghai is all set to have a tie up with Ahmedabad based Tulip international school for starting an acting school here. This is among the three new courses the School has planned on the completion of ten years. For the acting school, Tulip will have tie up with Subhas Ghai’s Whistling Woods International, a film, television and media arts institute. For the acting course starting from August, Ghai will soon visit Ahmedabad to work out details.

New baggage security system
Monday, February 5, 2007 | AY

In a few months, domestic passengers flying out of Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Srinagar and Calicut would not need to stand in long queues to get their bags x-rayed before the airline accepts them for check-in. In a first for the country, these airports would get the online security system under which passengers would straightaway take the bags to airline counters and then they would be screened by one agency. Only in case of some suspicious object being detected in a bag, the passenger would be called for opening them and checking the doubtful thing. This process would offer a much better security and reduce chances of pilferage from bags as only one security agency would handle them.

`Parzania' director's new strategy
Sunday, February 4, 2007 | AY

The director-producer of `Parzania', a film based on the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, has agreed to arrange a "special show'' for exhibitors in the State to help them decide whether to show it. Parzania' was released all over the country, except in Gujarat and Kerala, on January 26. While the exhibitors in Gujarat developed cold feet at the last minute apparently fearing reprisal from the Bajrang Dal and other Sangh Parivar outfits, it could not be released in Kerala because of "logistic problems." Mr. Dholakia said the film was not against any individual or party. It only attempted to depict how the common people were affected during communal riots.