1. Gujarat: Govt Lines up 70,000 Private Jobs for 60,000 College Students in Poll Year
With an eye on young voters for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the BJP government in Gujarat on Monday announced to hold 23 placement camps for over 60,000 students studying in the final-year of various graduate, post-graduate and professional courses at government and grant-in-aid colleges and universities across the state.
According to officials, the state government has lined up about 70,000 jobs in the private sector for the students. The first of these placement camps is being held at the Gujarat University in Ahmedabad where more than 8,000 students have registered.
Handing over the letters of intent to some of the students who were interviewed by private firms and offered jobs, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said, “The slogan of BJP is Ayodhya mein Ram, Yuvano ko kaam, Mehngayi pe lagaam, Kisaano ko sahi dam aur hata do brashtachari badnam (Ram in Ayodhya, jobs for youths, controlling inflation, right price for farmers and removal of corruption).”
(Source: The Indian Express)
2. Gujarat BJP Chief Jitu Vaghani Apologises for Breastfeeding Comment
Gujarat BJP chief Jitu Vaghani on Monday offered an apology for his statement about the Gandhi family. However, Congress Chief in the state, Amit Chavda, dismissed the apology, terming the statement as “unpardonable”. The Gujarat Congress has decided to hold a state-wide protest against Vaghani.
Vaghani, on Sunday, at a BJP youth meet in Radhanpur town of Patan district, had said that Gandhi family leaders are born into VIP culture and are guarded by commandos since birth. He took things a step further by saying that they must be breastfed surrounded by commandos as well.
Offering an apology at a press conference held at party headquarters Shri Kamalam, Vaghani said, “Relations between mother and children are always sacred. I offer my apology, if any individual or group has been offended by my statement. The Congress has been misinterpreting my statements and wrongfully creating a controversy.”
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
3. Guj Govt to Go for Vote on Account Instead of Full Budget
The Gujarat government would present a vote on account instead of a full budget during the Legislative Assembly session beginning on February 18 in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
As per the schedule released by the Legislative Secretariat on Monday, the state Assembly would meet for five days in Gandhinagar for approving the vote on account.
A Full Budget typically includes the passage of a finance Bill while a vote on account is sought for proposed expenditure to be incurred in the next few months till the new government takes over.
On the first day of the session, Governor OP Kohli, as per a legislative convention, would address the Assembly. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also handles Finance portfolio, would present the vote on account on February 19, an official release said on Monday.
(Source: PTI)
4. Gujarat: Government Staffers to Protest Fixed-Wage Policy in Feb
An informal group of fixed-wage employees of Gujarat – Team Fix Pay, which is coordinating the legal fight in the Supreme Court against the Gujarat government’s controversial policy of employing people on fixed wage for five years before regularising them – has decided to protest on February 16 when the policy will enter into 14th year.
The group has decided that all the state government employees who have been recruited under the fixed-wage policy will, first, give a memorandum to the concerned head of the department with a demand to end the policy immediately and second, work wearing black ribbon as a mark of protest on February 16.
The policy has been quashed by the High Court. However, the government has challenged it before the Supreme Court.
(Source: The Indian Express)
5. Gujarat: 38 CETPs Join Hands to Form Body, Will Monitor Industrial Pollution
Thirty-eight organisations running Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) in the state have recently formed a federation, which will act as an apex advocacy body. The move comes after a recent order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took strict action against Vapi Green Enviro Ltd for its failure to manage pollution levels in effluents being drained into the Damanganga River.
The NGT also ordered Vapi Green to pay a penalty of Rs 10 crore. Individual units not adhering to effluent norms will also have to pay a hefty fine. The NGT had also asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to monitor the efficacies of CETPs across the country. CETPs will have to submit an action plan for bringing down effluent content within 90 days.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
6. Vadodara: Villagers Robbed by 12 Armed Men in Midnight Loot
A group of around 12 armed men attacked and looted the residents of Ishwapura village in Waghodia taluka of Vadodara in a midnight heist on Sunday. A complaint was filed against unknown persons on Monday morning.
As per the complaint filed by one Natwar Vasava, the robbers barged into his house where his mother and son were sleeping. Around midnight, Vasava’s son called him in the other house to say that some men had broken into their house and were thrashing them with sticks.
The robbers then entered the house. Vasava has alleged that the robbers snatched their chains, ransacked their house. He has said that the men were aged between 20 and 30 and were talking in Hindi. He also said they had covered themselves in sheets.
(Source: The Indian Express)
7. Ahmedabad: Rs 4.4 Lakh in Fines Recovered From Traffic Offenders in Zone-4 Areas
The Deputy Commissioner of police of Zone-4, Niraj Badgujar, on Monday conducted a mega traffic drive in Zone-4 areas of the city, targeting those who are not following traffic rules.
The drive was conducted across the main junctions of Dariyapur, Shahibaug, Sardarnagar, Naroda, Meghaninagar, Krishnanagar and the airport area of the city. During the drive, the DCP, two ACPs, seven PIs and more than 300 police officers were deployed to nab traffic violators. On Monday morning, from around 10am, cops were deployed on the roads and they started checking and issuing memos to traffic offenders.
According to a senior police officer, on the first day of the drive, 5,254 vehicles were checked, 101 vehicles which did not have registration number-plates and documents were detained, and 4,084 traffic offenders were fined and issued traffic memos too. A total of Rs 4.38 lakh in fines was recovered from traffic offenders during the drive.
(Source: DNA Ahmedabad)
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