QAhmedabad: Alpesh Thakor Allowed to Vote in RS Polls & More

Here is your round-up of the top stories from Ahmedabad.

1. Alpesh Thakor Can Vote in Rajya Sabha Elections

The Gujarat High Court has dismissed a petition by Congress chief whip in assembly, Ashwin Kotwal, seeking the court's direction to Speaker Rajendra Trivedi to decide the application for disqualification of Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakor within three days.

A division bench of Justice SR Brahmbhatt and Justice AP Thaker said the petition was "devoid of merit" and that legislative procedures are not open for judicial review. Thakor can now cast his vote in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the state on 5 July.

Thakor, through his counsel Jal Unwala, had contended that he had only resigned from his positions in the Congress on 10 April and has not given up his primary membership of the party. He had argued that the Congress failed to produce any document showing that his resignation was accepted.

(Source: DNA)

2. Gujarat Budget: Amnesty Offered on 20,000 Pre-Gst Cases

The Gujarat government on Tuesday,2 July, in the modified state budget for the year 2019-20, declared an amnesty scheme to fast-track the resolution of over 20,000 pending tax litigations that existed before the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The amnesty scheme will cover industries and traders as well.

Presenting tax proposals in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said, “Before the introduction of GST, various taxes like Sales Tax, VAT, Motor Spirit Tax, CST, Entry Tax, Sugarcane Purchase Tax etc were in force. Over 20,000 litigations pertaining to these taxes are pending at different stages.”

Patel said adding that various industry and trade associations had approached the government for such a scheme. He said that it would help the government recover old dues and reduce administrative expenditure.

(Source: The Indian Express)

3. 94% of Religious Conversion Applicants Are Hindus

Of the total 900-odd applications received by the state government from people seeking religious conversion in Gujarat, over 94 percent of these were from Hindus, the state Legislative Assembly was informed on Tuesday.

In the past two years till 31 May 2019, 911 persons applied for religious conversion, the government said in written replies provided to various questions posed by MLAs during Question Hour.

Of these applications, 863 came from Hindus seeking to convert to other religions. Similarly, 36 Muslims, 11 Christians, one Ismali Khoja (from the Gir Somnath district) and one Buddhist also submitted applications during the two-year-period.

The highest number of applications have come from Surat, Junagadh and Anand districts. 474 Hindus in Surat have applied for conversion, in comparison to 11 Muslims and zero Christians in the district. Most of them are presumed to be among the 432 Hindus who embraced Buddhism at an event organised by the Buddha Dharma Diksha Angikar Samiti in January 2019.

(Source: The Indian Express)

4. Foodgrain Production Declined by 11% in 2018-19, Assembly Told

Faced with poor monsoon and paucity of Narmada water, estimated food grain production in Gujarat dipped by 11 per cent during the year 2018-19, states Socio-Economic Review for the year 2018-19 presented in the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday, 2 July.

The production of food grains during the year 2018-19 is estimated at 66.91 lakh tonne, which is over 11 per cent less than 76.61 lakh that the state produced during 2017-18, states the review, which points out that the area sown under both Kharif and Rabi crops was less compared to the previous year.

However, food production is still way behind the record 100.71 lakh tonnes that the state produced during the year 2010-11. During the year 2018, the average rainfall in the state was 638 mm. This is approximately 30 percent less when compared to 909 mm rainfall received in 2017.

(Source: The Indian Express)

5. Anti-Drone System Installed to Monitor Threats

The Ahmedabad police department will use anti-drone system during the 142nd Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra to be held on 4 July. The system will be used to eliminate any unauthorised drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) used during the Rath Yatra bandobast.

Deepan Bhadran, DCP Crime Branch said, "In order to eliminate the possible aerial threats or destruction of installments, the city police have installed the anti-drone system which will jam the GPS signals of the unauthorised drones in the particular area and will stop the user from operating the drones during the Rath Yatra."

During the Yatra, the system will be installed in Jagannath Temple where Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs and Vijay Rupani, chief minister will be present.

(Source: DNA)