Counterview

By Rajiv Shah There is fresh evidence of neglect of the girl child in Gujarat. Latest data released by the Government of India have suggested that Gujarat has one of the worst sex ratios in secondary and higher secondary schools as compared almost all states. Just about 70 girls study in Gujarat’s secondary schools for every 100 boys, while at the higher secondary level, there are 76 girls as against 100 boys. This is worst than nearly all 20 major states of India. The data were released by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), which operates under the Ministry of Human Resources Development, and have been published in “Secondary Education in India, Thematic Maps: 2012-13” (February 2014).

By Rajiv Shah  Fresh data released by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), Government of India, suggest that Gujarat is one of the poorest performers in ensuring the enrollment of children in secondary and higher secondary schools. Found reflected in the report, “Secondary Education in India, Thematic Maps: 2012-13”, published by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), which operates under the MHRD, the data suggest that out of 20 major states, as many as 13 of them enrolled a higher proportion of students than Gujarat at the higher secondary level. At the secondary level, things are not very different – here, too, as many as 13 major states enrolled higher proportion of students than Gujarat. At the higher secondary level, Gujarat could enroll just 38.04 per cent of children, the data show. This was better than only Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The best performer was Himachal Pradesh with a gross ...

By A Representative Top environmental journal “Down to Earth” has accused the Gujarat government of seeking to take away precious land, allotted to Sikh soldiers in Kutch following the Indo-Pak war in 1965, in order to help industry mine limestone for promoting cement industry. An article which has gone viral on the social media by Soma Basu in the journal says, this is the only reason why, on October 22, 2010, district collector M Thennarasan issued a notice to 784 farmers, mainly Sikhs, with the subject line, “Freezing agriculture accounts of outsiders of Gujarat state”. The notice stated that as per the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands (Vidarbha and Kutch Area) Act, 1948, mutation of land on the basis of the existing farmers’ certificates “cannot be done till further orders.”

Conviction rate in anti-atrocity cases (%) By A Representative Well-known Dalit rights activist Manjula Pradeep, releasing fresh data suggesting Gujarat’s failure to take care of the scheduled castes (SCs), has alleged that the “progressive” state is far behind the two “backward” neighbouring states, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, in implementing the anti-atrocities Act. The Act envisages stringent punishment to those involved in acts of oppression against Dalits and tribals. “The conviction rate of those found involved in violating the law is just about 7.8 per cent in Gujarat, as against 29 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 41 per cent in Rajasthan”, she declared.

Modi with top tycoons  By A Representative The eulogy of “Gujarat model” in the midst of Lok Sabha polls has begun to find pro-Narendra Modi economists to come with new ideas. One of them, Prof R Vaidyanathan of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B), has gone to the extent of saying that the steps taken by the UPA government by seeking to confer “new rights on the people” through “right to information, right to work (MNREGA), right to food, right to education, and now right to health” are only extensions of “the massively corrupt system refused to die and the Frankenstein state, created over 60 years.”

By Nachiketa Desai* Anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal’s prospects of trouncing Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi in Varanasi brightened further today when leading litterateurs, theatre artistes and academics jointly appealed to the voters to defeat ‘communal fascist’ Modi to save this holy city’s legacy of Sufi saints Kabir, Tulsi and Raidas. The appeal was made at a one-day ‘Anti-communal fascist convention’ held in the premises of Kabir Math from where the fifteenth century weaver-turned-saint had spread the message of Hindu-Muslim unity through his couplets written in the local Bhojpuri dialect.

By A Representative  One more powerful western media chain has strongly thrown its weight against the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who it predicts will win the current Lok Sabha polls. Top online newspaper Huffington Post, with presence in a dozen countries, including the US, UK, France, Japan and Brazil, has compared Modi with Slobodan Milosevic, Yuglosav ultra-nationalist who was president of the country from 1997 to 2000 and was charged with genocide in connection with the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo by the International Criminal Tribunal. Milosevic died in 2006 in jail.

Counterview Desk A top report prepared by well-known consultants, KPMG, employed in the past by the Gujarat government for advising on how to improve the state’s investment climate, has revealed that the state’s investment potential has been dipping over the last five years. In its just-released report, titled “District wise skill gap study for the State of Gujarat (2012-17, 2017-22)”, KPMG, which prides itself for having a network of global professionals offering best of advise on improving investment climate to governments and private parties, has shown, through a chart, that in Gujarat a total of Rs 103,871 crore of investment was made in 2012, which was the lowest since 2008.

By Nachiketa Desai*   The ganging up of forces with money and muscle power has helped polarization of voters on class line that cuts across caste and communal alignments. The battle of the ballots in Varanasi is fast turning into a struggle for survival for the poor, deprived and the oppressed. The battle of Varanasi has become crucial for Narendra Modi whose defeat would shatter Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) dream of seeing him as the prime minister. Hence, the BJP, backed by the organized cadre of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal, has pulled out all stops – loosening strings of its bottomless money bag to buy support.

By A Representative High profile annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), prepared by Dr Robert P. George with 10 others, wants While House to begin to “integrate concern for religious freedom into bilat­eral contacts with India, at both the federal and provincial level.” The report, prepared by the top US body, considered “independent federal advisor” which monitors religious freedom “abuses” abroad, has asked the Obama administration to “increase US embassy’s attention to issues of religious freedom and related human rights in India.”