NaMo hangs out

Gujarat’s techsavvy CM Narendra Modi went a step further on social media, being the first Indian politician to host a live Google+ Hang Out.
In a face-to-face programme, “Strong & Glorious India long cherished by Swami Vivekananda!” hosted by Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan, Modi responded to pre-screened questions.
On a question on defining secularism, posed by a certain Trivedi from London, Modi said: “Everyone has their own definition, I also have one, mine is India first. If everyone has this in their heart, it is a great thing for this country,” he said.
“But politicians try to serve their interest in the name of secularism. In India, it (secularism) has lost its meaning due to vote bank politics.”
Talking about black money, CM said: “I’m going to bring in a new law on black money. Nobody will be able to contest an election in Gujarat unless he gives a declaration that he has no investments and money stacked away abroad.”
In response to a question posed by Mani Bhushan from Bangalore, on why India's youth hesitate to join politics, Modi responded saying that unfortunately India has not been able to incorporate youth in main stream politics. He urged youth to join politics.
Modi further said that the country needs to focus on primary education and infrastructure. “If you ask parents what their main priority is, they answer education.”
Asked about ways to stop brain drain, Modi disagreed with the notion of brain drain. “Have all the intelligent people left? We want Indian knowledge to spread across the world. There is a lot of resource in our country, we need not worry.”

More than 5,000 questions were posed on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Modi's own site, reaffirming his popularity in the world of social media.

Dholera development snippets

Gujarat has sought Rs 11,000 crore from Japan for implementing various projects related to the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). During a meeting held in mid-August in Gandhinagar between top officials of the state government, the Centre and representatives of Japan government agencies, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB) proposed a number of new projects for Dholera.
The development comes soon after Japan’s offer of rupee loan of $4.5 billion (about Rs 25,110 crore) for corridor-related projects. “Gujarat has pioneer’s advantage as it’s moving faster than other states,” said a senior official from the Government of India. “Dholera plan is in the fast-forward mode with the state opting for town-planning route for planning.”
Secretary of department of industrial policy and promotion Saurabh Chandra said that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) executives are holding meetings with all states that have a stake in DMIC. The meeting held in Gandhinagar was a part of that series.
“The proposals put forward by the state government were linked to connectivity and water supply to Dholera,” the official said adding, “The money sought for implementing these projects is in the range of $2 billion.”
Apart from metro rail connectivity and a major expressway connecting Ahmedabad to Bhavnagar via Dholera, elevated roads around Dholera were on the list. Elevated roads have been suggested by infrastructure experts to counter the problem of saline water creeping in, the official said.

Naroda Patia case judgement

A special court in Ahmedabad has convicted a former minister in NaMo's government of murder in the biggest post-Godhra communal massacre at Naroda Patia.
The court held 32 people guilty for the massacre, including the ex-minister, MLA and gynaecologist Dr Maya Kodnani, and Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi, saying the killings were a part of a pre-planned conspiracy. This is the largest number of people convicted in a single 2002 riots case and comes as Gujarat prepares to go into the run-up for the December assembly election.
This is also the sixth 2002 case investigated by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has seen convictions.
All the convicts have been charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, rioting, arson, attempt to murder, unlawful assembly, insulting religious sentiments by targeting religious places and fanning communal hatred.
The court also convicted three persons—Suresh Didawala, Manubhai Maruda and Mukesh Rathod alias Vakil—of gang rape. This is only the second post-Godhra case in which rape charges have been proved, the first being the Bilkis Bano case.

Dr Maya Kodnani is a BJP MLA since 1998 and was minister of state for women and child development in 2009 when arrested. Soon after the verdict, she broke down and said she was a victim of politics. The Gujarat government distanced itself from Kodnani saying an MLA is not a govt functionary, nor was Kodnani a minister when the incident took place
BJP plays down verdict:

On February 28, 2002, 97 Muslims, including 36 children and 35 women, were killed after 59 people, mostly kar sevaks, were burned alive in the Sabarmati Express carnage at Godhra a day earlier.
Delivering the verdict, additional principal judge Jyotsna Yagnik acquitted 29 others, giving them the benefit of doubt. The quantum of punishment is likely to be declared on Friday.
The trial began in August 2009 and charges were framed against 62 people, while one accused died during the course of trial.
The judgment runs into 1,927 pages. The judge heard the case for 37 months and the prosecution examined 327 witnesses comprising eyewitnesses, victims, doctors, police personnel, government officials and forensic experts. Journalist Ashish Khetan, who conducted a TV sting operation on the accused, was also examined by the court.
The Gujarat police had arrested 46 people initially, whereas 24 more people were apprehended after the probe was handed over to the SIT in 2008. The court rejected victims’ plea to arraign top cops and kept its order on demand of compensation on Friday.

Three-term Naroda MLA Maya Kodnani gets 28 years in jail — 10 years for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons and 18 years’ life imprisonment.
First woman and MLA to be convicted in post-Godhra riots case
Kodnani convicted for criminal conspiracy as well, disproving Modi’s claim that the riots were spontaneous
and the ruling BJP had nothing to do with it
Bajrang Dal leader Babu Bajrangi gets imprisonment till death; 22 to serve 14-year terms; 7 to serve 21 years

Somewhere in Gujarat....

Osamu Suzuki visited the site for Maruti Suzuki’s proposed plant at Hansalpur in Mehsana.

Ghar nu Ghar

The Congress blows the election bugle in Gujarat....bribing the voters?

Close on the heels of promising 15 lakh homes to urban women in five years if voted to power, the Congress fired an electoral missile on Wednesday aimed at rural voters. It promised a 100-yard plot free to landless and homeless in rural Gujarat. The beneficiaries will also be given a Rs 1 lakh loan to construct a 30 square metre house.
This is the fourth such populist promise by the party ahead of the assembly elections in December. The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has also promised to make petrol, diesel, CNG and fertilizers cheaper by reducing value added tax (VAT) and implement recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for government employees.
The latest focus is the ‘Ghar Nu Ghar’ scheme which has already caught the fancy of urban voters, especially women, in a big way and threatened the core votebank of chief minister Narendra Modi.
GPCC president Arjun Modhwadia added that 31 lakh families lived in singleroom houses in the state and another 3.34 lakh families in rented houses. “These weakest of all sections in rural areas would benefit from this scheme if they vote the Congress to power,” said Shankersinh Vaghela, the chairman of the Congress campaign committee.
 He also promised that his party’s government would become the guarantor for loans given to the homeless and landless in rural areas and shoulder 50% of the interest burden. The rural plots will come with basic infrastructure, a kindergarten nearby and a public plot for recreation.
To fulfill the promises, the party says it will make special arrangements with Hudco, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and other institutions. “If there’s shortage of land in villages, we will purchase it,” Modhwadia said.

MP snubs Gujarat on lion translocation

Countering Gujarat’s opposition to lion translocation project, the Madhya Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that a second habitat for Asiatic lions in Kuno — cleared by National Board of Wildlife — was mandatory to avoid Tanzania’s disastrous experience in Serengeti where an epidemic almost wiped out the entire lion population.
Madhya Pradesh met with disdain Gujarat’s apprehension about safety of lions. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government did not deny the past lapses allowing poachers to wipe out the entire tiger population in Panna, but said the new model of wildlife protection had got it laurels from many quarters and other states were emulating it.
“Although the state has been criticized severely for the extinction of tiger from the Panna National Park, the state has been, in the last few years, able to translocate and reintroduce the tiger in the park and currently, can boast of a population of 14 tigers,” the state’s counsel said, adding, “The state’s efforts have been duly recognized by the Tiger Authority of India, which assessed MP’s performance as outstanding.”
MP said Asiatic lions “must be relocated and reintroduced in an area which would be suitable alternative habitat for its survival in the event of outbreak of any epidemic”. On the suitability of Kuno Palpur Sanctuary, MP said it was the historical range of Asiatic lions, though the modern habitat was limited to Gir.

Statue of Unity

An international consortium, led by Turner Project Management — the project management consultants of Burj Khalifa — signed an agreement with the Gujarat government for “engineering, design and contract management” to construct the 182-metre-high Statue of Unity of Sardar Patel.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa happens to be the world’s tallest building, while the Sardar statue, in the midst of Narmada river, is proposed as the tallest statue of the world.
Other partners in the consortium, apart from USbased Turner, include Michael Graves and Associates, also from the US, and Mindheart from Germany.
The Statue of Unity will cost Rs 2,500 crore, the agreement says, and it will be built under the supervision of the consortium, which will charge Rs 56 crore for the job.
During the first year and three months, the consortium will prepare master plan of the project and finalize contract bid documents. In the next 40 months, it will supervise the construction activity, and in the last two months, it will hand over the statue. In all, it will take 56 months to complete the Statue of Unity.
The formal agreement, signed in the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) in Sachivalaya, says, the consortium will carry out technical and financial feasibility of building the statue, including its pre-investment planning, detail a financial and revenue model, prepare a tourism plan for the area surrounding the statue, and manage the bid process for choosing the contractor to build the statue.
Apart from the statue, the agreement says, the consortium will have to conceptualize “the bridge that will connect the statue in the Narmada river, off the Narmada dam on Sadhu bet, the approximately 3.5 km road connecting the project to the town of Kevadia, the memorial and the visitor centre buildings, the memorial garden, the hotel and convention centre, and miscellaneous support structures.”
For all this, the agreement says, the consortium will have to supervise on a continuous basis in order to ensure that the work is of the highest order, carry out insitu and ex-situ inspection, and assist dispute resolution.