Gujarati News: December 2005

Seismological institute set up in the state
Sunday, December 18, 2005 | AY

An Institute of Seismological Reseach has been set up in the state for better understanding and prediction of earthquakes. Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said in a written reply that the state government has also informed that it has procured Digital Seismographs. Gujarat was devastated by an earthquake few years back which had brought heavy loss of life and destruction of property.

Indian and Srilankan teams arrive in Ahmedabad
Friday, December 16, 2005 | AY

The Indian cricket team sans dropped former captain Sourav Ganguly arrived in Ahmedabad for the last and crucial test against Srilanka. India is leading the series 1-0 after the rain interrupted first test in Chennai and historical Delhi test where Indian Batting Mastreo, Sachin Tendulkar scored the world record 35 th test century. The Lankan team arrived one day early and is all raring to go to tie the series one all. The rd test begins in the Motera Stadium, Ahmedabad on the 18, saturday. Indian Captain Rahul Dravid will surely want to go for the kill and seal the series in an emphatic way before the crucial Pakistan series.The team was directly driven to the hotel amidst tight security.Security has been beefed up both at the hotel and at the stadium.

More 'wind power' from Suzlon
Thursday, December 15, 2005 | AY

Energy major, Suzlon has decided to generate 1000 nmega watt of power in the state by developing large wind farms in the coastal belt.The 5000 crore project will be completed in two phases.Suzlon to generate 1,000 mw of wind power in Gujarat by 2006. Suzlon, set up in 1995, initially manufactured and supplied WTGS for a 3.34 mw windfarm project in Gujarat using 0.27 mw and 0.35 mw WTGS. The company has since grown and has a total installed capacity of 1,500 mw, most of which is in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Suzlon produces of 65 % of the total energy produced from wind in the state.

A new invention to fight filariasis
Monday, December 12, 2005 | AY

Anna University's Centre for Biotechnology has developed an action kit that helps in quick diagnosis of filariasis, after years of trial, which will be commercially launched by Span Diagnostics of Gujarat. It is the culmination of 15 years of research, trials on animals and humans and validation by authenticating agencies like the World Health Organisation and the Indian Council for Medical Research. The kit isolates antibodies and identifies filariasis, which is endemic in several parts of the country. Filariae in body tissues cause the disease, often resulting in occlusion of the lymphatic channels that can lead to elephantiasis.

Godhra panel denied Ex- President's letter
Saturday, December 10, 2005 | AY

Rashtrapati Bhavan has once again refused to send copies of the letters written by the former president late KR Narayanan to the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about troop deployment in Gujarat during the post-Godhra riots in 2002. The panel has kept further hearing on this matter on December 17. It has also consulted the UPA government in this regard, after which the under secretary in the ministry of personnel, public grievance and pensions had written to the commission stating that the letters were “unpublished official records relating to affairs of the state” and, therefore, could not be made public. An advocate representing a section of riot-hit familes had said the letters written by the President to the then prime minister could hold vital clues regarding the government’s ‘inaction’ in controlling riots in Gujarat.

Stop pollution...or else ...Shut the factory
Saturday, December 10, 2005 | AY

An interim order passed by the Gujarat High Court has asked Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to take strict action against those factories who don't comply with pollution norms. In Vatva industrial estate in Ahmedabad, 680 factories, mostly manufacturing dye and dyestuff for the textile industry, had to close their shutters following that order. According to estimates, the closure will lead to losses of around Rs 500 crore per day for the industry. The state government and central government will also lose their share of revenue in the form of taxes, pegged at Rs 35 crore and Rs 75 crore a day. The Vatva industrial estate is known as the hub for making dye and dye stuff in India. However, the factory owners allege that GPCB is cracking down on the industries without any reason.

Record rate for the serial
Tuesday, December 6, 2005 | AY

So Dada Sasu Na, Gujarati serial, by Mehul Kumar which is aired at 8.00 pm on ETV Gujarati, Monday to Friday has notched very high TRPs. According to AMRA TRP rating firm, this serial directed by Anup Malik covers up to 52.5 viewers in Gujarat. In urban areas it covers 29 per cent viewers and in rural area it covers 13.5 per cent viewers since the last two months.

Counting of new voters
Sunday, December 4, 2005 | AY

A house-to-house count of eligible voters for the Gujarat legislative assembly elections, will begin from December 16. The voters' list was last revised just before the polls in December 2002 when the electorate totalled 33.8 million but with the addition of hundreds youngsters attaining the age of 18 years by January, 2006, the number is sure to rise sizably. There are 182 assembly segments in Gujarat with the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, capturing power in the state by capturing 126 seats.

Cancer drugs to be developed here
Saturday, December 3, 2005 | AY

Drugs major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the University of Oxford have signed an agreement to develop experimental cancer drugs in India. The company plans to open six centres in India to test products such as Lapatinib for breast cancer and Cervarix, its potential blockbuster vaccine against cervical cancer. The move underlines India's appeal as a low-cost base for research as well as its intellectual and scientific strengths. The centres are to expected to be set up in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kerala and Ahmedabad. India, with its huge population and thousands of doctors and researchers, has proved the ideal test-bed for international drugs firms.