Do you have girl friend? When will you get married?: Gujarat police to Hardik Patel during investigation

By Our Representative
The Gujarat police is learnt to be asking strange questions to young pro-quota Patidar leader Hardik Patel, currently in Surat’s Lajpore jail of Gujarat on charges of sedition. Details of the questions asked during the police interrogation suggest, among the questions he was asked included whether he had a girl friend, and when would he get married.
Giving details of the police interrogation, a local Gujarati TV channel has reported, the policeman questioning Patel, who happens to be the topmost leader of the Patidar Anamat Andolan (PAA), told him, “Details of your horoscope published in a daily suggest your stars favour you, and you would become the chief minister of Gujarat one day.”
The policeman, belonging to the Gujarat crime branch, advised Patel, “I recommend you to leave the movement for Patidar reservation movement and join a political party in order to pursue your political career.” He even pleaded, “If you become chief minister, do not take a revenge against me, you may like to keep me for your security.”
The channel reports, this came to light in Patel’s affidavit prepared by his lawyer Jashwant Vala, who said, the details of his questioning suggest what type of “stupid questions” were asked to the pro-quota leader.
The policeman asked Patel whether the latter thought he was in for trouble for his utterances (allegedly advising Patel youth to kill a couple of cops), even as telling the leader that he seemed to be “innocent” and an “innocent person should not be punished.”
The policeman also asked him whom did he suspect had lathicharged the youths soon after the five lakh strong pro-quota Patidar rally ended, and that how could the chief minister order the lathicharge as she belongs to the same community as Patel, the youth leader replied, “Maybe it was chief minister. It is not clear who in the government gave the order.”
On a supplementary question whom did he suspend was behind the lathicharge, Patel replied, “May be it was Amit Shah.” Shah, a well-known Narendra Modi protégé, is the BJP president.
In yet another question, Patel was asked which party – BJP or Congress – helped him, Patel replied, “No political leader supported me, though I know most of the leaders, and I talk to them on phone.” Among the leaders he named included Uddhav Thakre, Nitin Gadkari, Keshubhai Patel and Nitish Kumar.
There also a question whether it was true he was offered Rs 1,000 or 1.200 crore for taking back his agitation, to which Patel replied, “We do not have an office, but BJP leaders would come to me with bags full of money.”
Patel has moved the Gujarat High Court seeking bail. His bail application came after the Surat district and sessions court rejected his bail plea on December 10. In the bail application submitted before the Surat court, Hardik claimed that he has been booked under false charges by police, as mere spoken words do not amount to sedition.
Meanwhile, the Patidar leader has admitted before the Supreme Court that some of the controversial statements he made during the quota stir were “stupid” but he never intended to overthrow the elected government of Gujarat through violence. He approached the Apex Court through senior advocate Kapil Sibal of Congress, as the Gujarat High Court has refused to stay sedition charges against him.

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132 Gujarat citizens, including IIM-A faculty, others declare solidarity with Kashmiris

Counterview Desk
A week after it was floated, 132 activists, academics, students, artists and other concerned citizens of Gujarat, backed by 118 living in different parts of India and the world, have signed a "solidarity letter" supporting the people of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), who, it claims, have been silenced and held captive in their own land. The signatories include faculty members and scholars of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Bharat Ratna nominee ‘joined hands’ with British masters to 'crush' Quit India

By Shamsul Islam*
The Quit India Movement (QIM), also known as ‘August Kranti' (August Revolution), was a nation-wide Civil Disobedience Movement for which a call was given on August 7, 1942 by the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee. It was to begin on August 9 as per Gandhi's call to 'Do or Die' in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan on August 8. Since then August 9 is celebrated as August Kranti Divas.

Gujarat's incomplete canals: Narmada dam filled up, yet benefits 'won't reach' farmers

By Our Representative
Even as the Gujarat government is making all out efforts to fill up the Sardar Sarovar dam on Narmada river up to the full reservoir level (FRL), a senior farmer rights leader has said the huge reservoir, as of today, remains a “mirage for the farmers of Gujarat”.
In a statement, Sagar Rabari of the Khedut Ekta Manch (KEM), has said that though the dam’s reservoir is being filled up, the canal network remains complete. Quoting latest government figures, he says, meanwhile, the command area of the dam has been reduced from 18,45,000 hectares (ha) to 17,92,000 ha.
“According to the website of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, which was last updated on Friday, while the main canal, of 458 km long, has been completed, 144 km of ranch canals out of the proposed length of 2731 km remain incomplete.
Then, as against the targeted 4,569 km distributaries, 4,347 km have been constructed, suggesting work for 222 km is still pending. And of the 15,670 km of minor canal…

Ceramic worker dies: 20,000 workers in Thangadh, Gujarat, 'risk' deadly silicosis

By Our Representative
Even as the country was busy preparing for the Janmashtami festival on Saturday, Hareshbhai, a 46-year-old ceramic worker from suffering from the fatal lung disease silicosis, passed away. He worked in a ceramic unit in Thangadh in Surendranagar district of Gujarat from 2000 to 2016.
Hareshbhai was diagnosed with the disease by the GCS Medical College, Naroda Road, Ahmedabad in 2014. He was found to be suffering from progressive massive fibrosis. He is left behind by his wife Rekha sister and two sons Deepak (18) and Umesh (12),
The death of Hareshbhai, says Jagdish Patel of the health rights group Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), suggests that silicosis, an occupational disease, can be prevented but not cured, and the Factory Act has sufficient provisions to prevent this.
According to Patel, the pottery industry in the industrial town of Thangadh has evolved for a long time and locals as well as migrant workers are employed here. There are abou…

Cess for Gujarat construction workers: Spending less than 10%; no 'direct help' to beneficiaries

By Our Representative
While the Gujarat government’s Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, set up in 2004, as of March 31, 2019, has collected a total cess of Rs 2,097.62 crore from the the builders, it has spent less than 10% -- Rs 197.17 crore. And, as on May 31, 2019, the total cess collection has reached Rs 2,583.16 crore, said a statement issued by Bandhkam Majur Sagathan general secretary Vipul Pandya.
Pointing out that just about 6.5 lakh out of 20 lakh workers have been registered under the board, Pandya said, vis-à-vis other states, Gujarat ranks No 13th in the amount spent on the welfare of the construction workers, while 11th in the amount collected.
And while the builders are obliged to pay just about 1% of the total cost of their project, the calculation of the cess is flawed: It is Rs 3,000 per square yard; accordingly, Rs 30 per square yard is collected. “Had the cess been collected on the real construction cost, it would have been at least Rs 7,000 cr…

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