Gujarati News: April 2006

CM visits Pramod Mahajan
Sunday, April 30, 2006 | AY

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday paid a visit to BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and enquired about his health. Mahajan, who underwent another surgery on Saturday morning, had Modi as the first visitor after that.

Technology to preserve ancient books
Saturday, April 29, 2006 | AY

A rare 800-year-old book made entirely out of cloth is one among thousands of historic manuscripts housed at the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad, where ancient book preserving techniques are being used. The book Dharamvidi Prakran, written in 1,200 AD, is a rare book written on pages made from cloth by a religious scholar who lived during that period. The book is written in Sanskrit and consists of about 300 pages made out of thin cloth. The book was earlier white in colour but with the passage of time it has turned pale yellow. The ink used to pen the book is a mixture of soot extracted from a lamp and herbs. A sweet-smelling powder of a herb, known as 'ghodavaj' locally, is used to prevent bacteria, insects and book-worms from destroying these ancient texts. The books and manuscripts are covered with red-coloured cloth which protect them from humidity especially during the monsoons. The red colour of the cloth also keeps some of the insects away.

New DCP of Gujarat appointed
Saturday, April 29, 2006 | AY

The appointment of P C Pande, Ahmedabad's former police commissioner, as the DGP of Gujarat, has created a public outcry. Pande has been widely criticised and held responsible for police inaction during the Gujarat riots. The Congress party and social activist Teesta Setalvad are now planning to file a petition against the appointment. The Chief Minister, meanwhile, has maintained silence despite the public outrage, but it seems that the matter may soon become a full-blown controversy.

Fanaa faces threat in Gujarat
Saturday, April 29, 2006 | AY

Aamir-Kajol starrer 'Fanaa' receives political threat, as Gujarat BJP youth wing stated yesterday to media persons that they would not allow Aamir Khan's forthcoming 'Fanaa' to be screened in Gujarat till he tenders apology for supporting Medha Patkar and Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement). Earlier they have not allowed screening of 'Rang De Basanti' in Gujarat theatres after Aamir visited agitation site of NBA in New Delhi and supported thousands of displaced peoples and demanded their rehabilitation.

Taj steps in Surat
Wednesday, April 26, 2006 | AY

Taj Group of hotels, resorts and palaces, enters into management contract with Gujarat JHM Hotels. Taj will operate under the brand name ‘Gateway Hotel’. Currently, the hotel is located on the banks of river Tapi and is build on five acres of land. It offers 132 guest rooms comprising four deluxe suites and one presidential suite. Before Taj, Gujarat JHM Hotels had management contract with Hotel Holiday Inn. With the new airport in Surat, the company believes that the quality of traveller will also improve in Surat. Apart from the 56 hotels in India, Taj Group now has 15 international hotels spread in Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, UK, US, Dubai, Bhutan and Malaysia.

Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006 | AY

During the Microsoft's Imagine Cup 2006 under the theme 'IT towards Health Care', three teams from Gujarat based institutes were picked up for the national contest to be held in Bangalore on April 24. Of them, two teams are from Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DAIICT), Gandhinagar and one is from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT), Surat. Th eteam selected together have designed 'The Navigator', a solution to support people with Cerebral Palsy. This will help patients navigate a computer and browse the web easily without having to resort to the use of specially designed hardware or special software or websites. Th eteam from from DAIICT are working on a solution called Sonique. This solution aims to enable visually impaired people to achieve high quality access of day-to-day navigation scenarios and techniques. Sonique will give them the ability to move around easily and in the process revolutionise their sense of mobility.

eInfochips opens new centre in Ahmedabad
Saturday, April 22, 2006 | AY

eInfochips, India’s fastest growing provider of electronic design services to global blue-chip technology companies, announced the opening up of its third design centre in Ahmedabad. A center of excellence” for complex chip & SoC design and product design services for consumer multimedia applications are planned for the new Ahmedabad Center. eInfochips is targeting a revenue of US$18mn in 2007-06 up from US$10mn registered in 2006-05. eInfochips is currently working on a US$5mn expansion plan that includes corporate campus in Ahmedabad and Pune.

Aamir Khan retaliates
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 | AY

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, who earned the wrath of pro-Narmada Dam activists for supporting the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) agitation, today defended his stand on the issue and said he would not be bullied by political pressure. Aamir told that " I will not step back even if the protestors threaten to harm me or my films. I have lived in Kutch for six months during the filming of Lagaan and am very well aware of the water scarcity in the region". The actor said he did not wish to comment on the issue of raising the height of the dam. He said it was the duty of the governments of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra as well as the Centre to rehabilitate the project-affected at the earliest.

DFS finally given an accreditation
Tuesday, April 18, 2006 | AY

The Gujarat Directorate of Forensic Sciences was recently given an ISO certificate after an approval from the National Accreditation Board of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), an autonomous institute that functions under the ministry of science and technology. The DFS had applied for the ISO certificate to NABL around six months ago and pursuant to that a team of eight scrutiny officials visited the campus here and inspected their facilities. The scrutiny experts were from various faculties of forensic sciences like brain mapping and brain finger printing polygraph, narcotics, blood alcohol, DNA testing, chemistry and ballistics. The DFS was granted a certificate as an ISO/IEC 17025-2005.

Load shedding for one day in a week
Monday, April 17, 2006 | AY

Refusal of the Centre to allocate 200 MW of power to Gujarat has led to load shedding for one day in a week, in the non continuous industries across the State. The Gujarat government had been requesting the Centre to divert the power to the state for last four months, instead it was diverted to Maharashtra. The official said Gujarat has been facing problem of capacity shortage and is not in a position to get additional assistance of power from elsewhere in the country as most of the states have been facing crisis on the power front.

Endangered Caracal spotted after a decade
Wednesday, April 12, 2006 | AY

Forest officials in arid Kutch region of Gujarat have spotted and photographed the endangered Caracal, a cat family species, after almost 10 years. The Caracal is a beast that is in between a tiger and wolf in appearance. It has tufts at the tip of its long ears. It is found in parts of Africa and in some parts of Madhya Pradesh apart from Kutch in Gujarat. The officials managed to spot the shy beast after many days of observation and efforts to track it in whatever manner they could.

AAL has bagged the biggest order
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 | AY

Alkok Ashdown Ltd (AAL), which is a govt owned company, who has been manufacturing boats, passenger and cargo vessels for the last 30 years, has bagged biggest order worth more than Rs 600 crore to construct eight oil tanker ships from Norway-based Sea Tanker Management Company Limited (STMC). With recently developed state-ofthe-art ship building facility at Chanch, AAL could manage to acquire big overseas order from the Norwegian company. Recently, the company made four 2550 DWT coal carrier ships for Mumbai-based M Pallonji & Company Limited. AAL has also completed construction of 15TBP tug vessels for Gujarat Maritime Board. With bulk contract of the Norwegian company on hand, the company management is expecting a turn over of Rs 170 crore in 2006-07 in comparison to last year's Rs 102 crore. In 2004-05 and 2003-04, company's turnover was Rs 72 crore and Rs 37 crore respectively.

Five ODI matches in the state
Monday, April 10, 2006 | AY

Ahmedabad is hosting five one-day international cricket matches for the Champions Trophy in October-November. Joint secretary of GCA Hitesh Patel told PTI that the decision was taken in the BCCI meeting at Mumbai today. Ten teams, including the Indian team, would be in the city for the first time during this tournament. The Sardar Patel stadium at Motera has a capacity to hold over 45,000 spectators and work is underway to extend that capacity to over 50,000 before the matches.

Aamir Khan meets kids affected by Gujarat riots
Sunday, April 9, 2006 | AY

Actor Aamir Khan, who is in the capital these days, met children who were victims of the Gujarat riots. It was an emotional morning for the actor as he lashed out against the riots saying it wasn't Hindus or Muslims that were killed in the massacres but Indians. The children have been brought to Delhi by an NGO, Anhad, to provide them with an education. The NGO is run by Shabnam Hashmi. Aamir Khan is also believed to be a voracious reader and book lover. And he was in the capital as a special guest at the launch of Kiran Nagarkar's new novel God's Little Soldier.

Maa Santoshi Maa
Saturday, April 8, 2006 | AY

'Jai Santoshi Maa'- the block buster film of the 70's, is being remade with a brand new cast, music and a "modern" package to suit the tastes of the multiplex generation. The film will be made in Hindi and in Gujarati. The title of the film would be "Maa Santoshi Maa" which will be directed by first timer Ahmed Siddqui who has earlier assisted Yash Chopra. Southern actress Vedhika Kumar will be making her Hindi film debut in the movie. The film is expected to hit the theatres by Navratri this year.

Tremors felt in the state
Saturday, April 8, 2006 | AY

Two tremors of moderate intensity on Thursday struck several parts of Gujarat and Mumbai within a gap of nearly six hours. The tremors were felt by people living in Kutch and parts of Ahmedabad city. The first tremor, measuring 4.7 on Richter Scale struck at 1733 hours and the second at 2329 hrs with the intensity of 5.5. The waves of these tremors were felt as far as Mumbai at around 2330 hrs. The affected areas included the western suburbs of Versova, Andheri and Ville Parle, Sion in central part of the city and Kalyan.

Gujarat bags the title
Saturday, April 8, 2006 | AY

Gujarat and Delhi won the boys and girls' titles respectively in the National inter-State under-14 tennis championship that took palce in Gurgaon. Samip Mehta won both his singles and doubles matches to help Gujarat beat Andhra Pradesh. Samip and Vaidik Munshaw won the unfinished doubles tie against Tamil Nadu in the semifinals earlier in the day and asserted themselves once again in the decisive doubles match in the final.

Medical tourism gaining momentoum in the state
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 | AY

Wockhardt Hospitals, Ranbaxy's Fortis Healthcare Ltd and Apollo Tyres' Artemis Healthcare are planning to make investments of around Rs 250 crore lined up over the next couple of years. While Wockhardt is planning to pump in over Rs 100 crore in setting up a multi-speciality hospital each in Surat and Rajkot, Artemis is planning a Rs 140-crore project in Ahmedabad. These will be in addition to the around 250-bed government hospital in Palanpur that the Wockhardt group has agreed to manage in a unique public-private partnership with the Gujarat government on a non-profit basis.

Almost all medical stores shut in Gujarat
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 | AY

Except fifteen shops, all 13000 medical stores in Gujarat remained closed on Monday against the implementation of VAT in the state. Family members and relatives of ailing patients had a real tough time. Chemists across Gujarat shut shop protesting against the state's switch to VAT. Although the tax rate remains the same chemists insist it will cause a lot of confusion. People say the state government should now ensure that at least a few shops remain open for meeting medical emergencies.

A 3-day convention of Gujaratis in New York
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 | AY

The newly formed Gujarati Association of North America, is organizing a 3-day convention of Gujaratis from across the globe on July 7. Topics like problems faced by young people in adjusting to societies other than their own will be discussed, among other things. The Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) Tri-state, Vishwa Gujarati Samaj, Gujarati Samaj of New Jersey and other Gujarati Associations from across the United States have promised to support the event. This would be a unique way of projecting Gujarat to the whole world and mainstream American communities.

Cosmetic laser hair transplant
Tuesday, April 4, 2006 | AY

Dr. Mahadevia’s Cosmetic Laser & Hair Transplant Clinic, in the city of Ahmedabad at India has been offering Latest Follicular Hair Transplant treatment. He has got the latest equipments like Long and Short pulse Nd - YAG Laser and Intense Pulsed Light, with the help of this latest technology, Dr. Mahadevia can also treat vast range of cosmetic surgery like permanent Hair reduction of unwanted hairs from any part of body, Facial rejuvenation by Photo facial, redness, dark and brown spot rectification, pimple or acne laser treatment, port wine stains, freckles, lentigines, melasma, pigmentation and fine wrinkle reduction etc. Moreover, he is also offering his quality services for cosmetic surgery operations like liposuction, breast, ear or nose shaping and skin surgeries at affordable prices.

Border fencing in 3 States almost complete
Monday, April 3, 2006 | AY

Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, said that the border fencing work in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat were almost complete while the work on West Bengal and Tripura Borders in Bangladesh was in progress. He said that once the fencing is complete the terrorist influx from Bangladesh and Punjab can be checked fully. He also hoped that trafficking and drug smugglings would be checked from across the borders from Myanmar which were prone to such problems.

Liquor costlier in Gujarat
Monday, April 3, 2006 | AY

Liquor permit holders in Gujarat will have to pay about 25 to 30 per cent more for liquor from the government permitted liquor shops across the state. All brands of liquors including whisky, rum, beer, gin, vodka, and brandy are going to be costlier. The Association of Liquor Permitted Shops submitted a memorandum to the state government saying that, it has becoming costlier due to continuing levy of central sales tax and levy of octroi imposed by the local civic bodies on the bottles of liquor.

Leicester comedy festival
Sunday, April 2, 2006 | AY

Dipak Joshi and his team of Gujarati comics were rewarded in London for their performance at the Leicester Comedy Festival, an event that attracted over 60,000 people in the town. Festival officials decided to organise an awards ceremony as a thank-you to those who helped to make the 10-day event in February a huge success. Joshi and Gujarati Comedy, his team, won the award for best newcomers.

IIM has hiked their fees
Sunday, April 2, 2006 | AY

The Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) announced a 12 per cent fee hike for its two-year post-graduate programme (PGP). The IIMA board of directors have decided to increase the fees for the PGP courses from Rs 1.58 lakh per annum to Rs 1.77 lakh. IIMA would also raise the amount for scholarships for students from lower income groups. In the last three years, the institute has maintained its fees at Rs 1.58 lakh per year, stated to be highly subsidised, and it was just about time that IIMA also hiked its fees similiar to IIM-Chennai and IIM-Lucknow.

A sports drink `Stamina' launched
Saturday, April 1, 2006 | AY

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), the largest food-marketing organisation with a turnover of over Rs 3,500 crore, has launched a sport drink "Stamina", which is scientifically formulated and endorsed by Apollo Hospitals. Stamina would be available in refreshing Lime & Lemon flavour at a price of Rs 12 per pack of 200 ml in tetra pak packages. While imported energy drinks are carbonated sugar drinks and priced high, Amul's Stamina is a whey-based, protein drink containing electrolytes, vitamins and minerals in easy to digest form. It is targeted at sport persons and the highly active groups, especially youngsters.

Mona Thiba bags award
Saturday, April 1, 2006 | AY

Mona Thiba won the Best Actress award for her performance in the Gujarati film Gago Ke Dadano Painu Painu Karto To recently at Transmedia’s 5th Annual Gujarati Screen & Stage awards 2005 function. Having acted in more than 15 Gujarati films, she has also won the Gujarat State Awards for best actress for two films Dikri No Mandvo and Mindhol Chhutye Mandve.

The marbled teal, found in Gujarat
Saturday, April 1, 2006 | AY

A rare and endangered migratory eurasian duck, the marbled teal, has been spotted for the first time after a decade in the Nal Sarovar Sanctuary of Gujarat. The last recorded spotting of this very rare migratory bird in the sanctuary was in 1994. The marbled teal, which derives its name from the marble-like spots over its plain brown plummages, is listed as `vulnerable` by international organisations like Bird Life International and IUCN. During the census which was conducted earlier this year, only two marbled teals were spotted among the 2,62,000 birds (both migratory and resident species) that were counted in Nal Sarovar.