THE TIMES OF INDIA, AHMEDABADMONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 20164 TIMES CITY

Raj Gopal, Dayani pulled up by cabinetPrincipal secretary, ports and transport

department, Raj Gopal; and statetransport commissioner Kamal Dayani

were recently pulled upby the state cabinet forthe mess in Gujarat’spublic transport sectorand massive corruptionin the transport depart-ment. These two were

the only officials summoned by thecabinet.Sources said ministers expressed theirdispleasure with the growing number of

state transport busesand corruption atcheck-posts as well asin RTO offices. Theofficials were repriman-ded for lacking a pro-active approach to deal

with the problem and their failure toimprove the working of the transportsector.

Agrawal blamedfor Gera’s transferThe recent transfer of IAS officer PK

Gera from the Gujarat Mineral Deve-lopment Corporation (GMDC) within ayear of his taking charge as managing

director, is being seenas a fallout of a tiff hehad with Arvind Agra-wal.Gera, a 1985 batch IASofficer, was transferredas managing director,

GACL, Vadodara. He had apparentlyobjected to Agrawal's decision to hold aGMDC board meeting along with a publichearing of grievances.He is one year junior in service to Agra-wal who is currently additional chiefsecretary (ACS), industry and minesdepartment.

Nehra was recently in the news whenRajkot beat Ahmedabad to enter theall-India list of 10 cleanest cities in thecountry. He has also been in the limelightfor winning several national awards. Nehra was made Rajkot municipal com-missioner last year after being trans-ferred from the Chief Minister’s Office(CMO).

Mukesh Kumar on comeback trail Mukesh Kumar, state project director,

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) andex officio commissioner of primaryeducation, is likely to return to the ma-instream in the next reshuffle. If sourcesare to be believed, he may get a postingin the Industries and Mines Departmentor the Urban Development Department.Kumar is seen as a proactive officer. Heplayed a key role in the formulation of thenew National Education Policy, a projectfloated by Prime Minister Narendra Modiand several successful changes in thestate's primary education.

Secretaries coldto Ravi’s requestJayanti Ravi, commissioner, and princi-

pal secretary, rural developmentdepartment, is unhappy with the reluc-tance of secretaries to make Mahatma

Gandhi National RuralEmployment GuaranteeScheme (MGNREGS)part of the work of theirrespective departments.Recently, after making apresentation, Ravi said

that compared to several other pro-gressive states, Gujarat's performance inimplementation of MGNREGS was verypoor. Earlier, in November last year, shehad raised the same issue but, accordingto Ravi, secretaries have done little sincethen to include MGNREGS in their depart-ments’ work.

The state government’srecent decision towithdraw from Singhthe additional charge ofGeneral AdministrationDepartment (GAD) hadset off all kinds of

speculation. However, reliable sourcessaid that the government had taken awaythe additional charge from Singh toprepare him for elevation as chief secre-tary.Singh had been looking after GAD for thepast several years. The state govern-ment's decision to give additional chargeof GAD to ACS, health and family welfare,Anil Mukim, triggered speculation ofanother kind. Earlier, the buzz was that ACS (home) P KTaneja would be shifted to GAD and Singhwill hold charge of the home departmenttill he becomes chief secretary. However,

following the minor reshuffle ofbabus that took place recently,everyone is wondering whetherMukim will be appointed regu-lar head of GAD with additionalcharge of health. Taneja will, ofcourse, continue to head thehome department.

Nehra not keen to leave RajkotRajkot municipal commissioner Vijay

Nehra has reportedly told officials atthe top level in the state government that

he is happy in Rajkot. Hehas said that he doesnot want to be shiftedfor at least 1-2 years sothat he can completesome key projects hehas initiated.

Sources said, Nehra had made thisrequest because his name was recentlymaking the rounds for the post of Ah-medabad municipal commissioner, incase the state government decided toreplace the incumbent, D Thara.

Earlier, Roopwant Singh who was thenmanaging director of iNDEXTb, wasshunted out allegedly because of adisagreement with Agrawal.

Dwivedi getsadvice on brevityDhananjay Dwivedi, secretary, science

and technology, is good at makingPowerPoint presentations but apparentlyhe does not see much virtue in brevity.His presentation on the IT policy of thegovernment at the last meeting of the

committee of secretari-es was so lengthy thatthe senior officials werein a daze because ofboredom. When Dwivedi did nottake the hint and appea-red in no mood to stop,

additional chief secretary(finance) J N Singh had topublicly ask him not to wastetime but present only rele-vant information.Sources said that because ofDwivedi’s rambling show,Mukesh Kumar, state projectdirector, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA)and ex officio commissioner of primaryeducation, could not make his presenta-tion on the SSA and the new initiative inprimary education. Chief secretary Ganga Ram Aloria andmost of the officials present showed theirdisapproval but Dwivedi was not to bestopped. This forced J N Singh to inter-vene and ask Dwivedi to keep his presen-tation brief.

Singh gets ready to be top babu If sources in the bureaucracy are to be

believed, additional chief secretary(finance) J N Singh has been asked to beready to succeed Ganga Ram Aloria asGujarat chief secretary when the latterretires in July this year.

TRUE LIES

Ahmedabad: The drastic drop in po-pulation of Indian wolves from 1,374 in2000 to around 250 recently has becomea cause for concern for wildlife expertsin Gujarat. Today, there are only 1,500 ofthis species left in the country. The fo-rest department in Gujarat is now setto develop special breeding centres forrevival of the dwindling Indian wolfpopulation.

Sources in the department said thatthe state government will make alloca-tions in the budget for the breedingcentres.

According to a study, the populationof wolves is estimated to be around 190to 270 in Gujarat and 253 to 350 in Ra-jasthan. The study has recommendedgiving legal protection, paying com-pensation for loss of livestock and pro-

tecting the breeding habitat.Principal chief conservator of fo-

rest S C Pant said that the presence ofwolf keeps neelgai and wild boar popu-lation under control and thus saves thecrop.

Realizing that the population of ne-elgai is increasing, the state govern-ment too is keen on the wolf revivalprogramme. The population of neelgaiin the past five years has increased byover 56% to around 1.86 lakh.

H S Singh, former additional prin-cipal chief conservator of forest, said,“We are only concerned with saving ti-

ger, lion, elephant or rhinoceros. Butefforts should also be made to save thisspecies. During the British rule, therewere reports of hunting of over 20,000wolf in the state, but now the popula-tion has gone down below 1,500.”

In order to keep the neelgai at bay,farmers resort to electric wire fencingwhich kills around 10 animals, inclu-ding protected and herbivorous ones,every month.

The farmers in Saurashtra like thepresence of lion in the vicinity of theirfields as it keeps the neelgai and thewild boar away.

Breeding centres to help revive wolf population

Animal HelpsFarmers By KeepingNeelgai Population

Under Control

Today there are only 1,500 of this species left in the country

TOI

Himanshu.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad: Chief mini-ster Anandiben Patel inau-gurated phase I of AnandDham on Bavla-NalsarovarRoad, considered to be thefirst home for the childrenwith mental disabilities.

The facility, run by Aast-ha Charitable Trust, is dif-ferent from similar organi-zations on the aspect that italso provides care and faci-lity for the adults insteadof only children and teen.

“The idea stemmedfrom the concern that whatwould happen to our child-ren when we are no more.Who would take care of the-ir welfare and safety? Theidea became basis for for-ming Aastha CharitableTrust,” says RajendraShah, a city-based busi-nessman and proud fatherof 41-year-old Krina havingmental health problems.

First ‘home’for mentallydisabled kidsinaugurated

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

A power substation locatednear city airport caught fireon Sunday evening becauseof which electricity at theairport and in Sardarnagararea was disrupted for awhile. Fire tenders fromairport rushed to the stationand doused the flames in fewminutes. According to sour-ces, it was a short circuit andno one was harmed. Airporthas generators for back up,hence electricity at airportwas restored in five minutesand there was no impact onoperations.

2nd phase of polio immunization

Chief minister AnandibenPatel kickstarted secondphase of nationwide polioimmunization drive in Guja-rat by administering poliovaccine drops to toddlers onSunday morning at theCommunity Centre of Mini-sters’ Bungalows in Gand-hinagar. Nearly 85 lakhchildren under five years ofage will be covered under thecampaign. Health depart-ment has deployed around1.58 lakh volunteers for thepurpose.

Int’l travel mart

The three-day Vibrant Guja-rat International Travel Mart(VGITM) concluded on Sun-day as hundreds of visitorsthronged the stalls in Mahat-ma Mandir. During VGITM,more than two dozen MoUswere signed across sectors.This includes skill develop-ment, education, tourisminfrastructure, heritageconservation, event manage-ment & entrepreneurship.The event hosted more than3,000 B2B (Business to Busi-ness) meetings of inter-national as well as domesticbuyers and sellers, providinga platform to explore busi-ness opportunities.

IIT-Gn celebrates MotherTongue Day

On the occasion of Inter-national Mother Tongue Dayon Sunday, students andfaculty of Indian Institute ofTechnology, Gandhinagar(IIT-Gn) came together tocelebrate the vividness anddiversity of India at its cam-pus in Palaj. Students be-longing to various regions ofIndia presented songs andpoems in their local languageand dialect. The institute alsoexhibited a bookstall havinga collection of many langua-ges like Sanskrit, Bangla,Urdu, Gujarati and Hindi.

CITY DIGEST

Fire near airport

Ahmedabad: Soon, the far-mers in Ahmedabad andGandhinagar districts willbe able to tap domestic aswell as international mar-kets through their profes-sionally-managed producercompanies.

Noida-based Horticultu-re Produce Management In-stitute (HPMI) and Ahmed-abad’s business advisoryfirm Cluster Pulse have co-me up with a pilot project —Transparent AgribusinessGuarantee System (TAGS)— to connect 50,000 farmerswith the market.

Since its launch in De-cember 2015, as many as3,500 farmers have joinedthe project and 28 produ-cers’ companies have alrea-dy been registered. Altho-ugh the registration is un-der the Companies Act, thecompanies will operate onco-operative basis, wherefarmers will be made share-holders.

The primary objectiveof the project is to create anecosystem for farmers byproviding them backwardand forward integration.As part of the backward in-tegration, an agri-mart un-der the brand name Ginkgo

Plus would be set up, whichwill procure quality seedsin bulk thereby reducingthe input cost. Farmers willalso be given facilities suchas warehouses, pack hou-ses, research and develop-ment as well as farm mecha-nization services.

“Apart from this, we willform joint ventures to sellthe farmers’ products. Swe-dish firm Plantagon has al-ready evinced interest in ty-ing up with us,” said JagatShah, promoter of ClusterPulse .

The project also envisa-

ges creating retail and foodoutlets, to be known as FoodMart.

The forward linkage in-cludes retailing, exports,processing, value additionand brand creation for farmproducts. According toShah, entrepreneurs will beencouraged to set up unitsfor value addition and thetarget is to have 10,000 suchagripreneurs.

The project is mainly ai-med at organic farming anddeal in commodities likepaddy, castor, cumin seeds,guar seeds, chilli, tomato,brinjal, potatoes as well asfruits.

“There is a huge demandfor organic farm productsin the international mar-ket,” said Shah.

Gujarat State Co-opera-tive Bank will also be ropedin for financing farmersand agripreneurs.

The project proponentsplan to bring in 20,000 hecta-res of land in the first yearand 40,000 hectares in fiveyears under this initiative.

Gujarat farmers form companiesto market their products

Ahmedabad: Karuna, a 15-ye-ar-old girl from Vadva is mar-ried to Lalji, 18. Karuna’s pa-rents married her off at thetender age of 13 years, and nowshe has a daughter. Her pa-rents were planning to sendher to Saurashtra for work,but fearing untoward inci-dents they got her married.Later the married couple wentto Saurashtra together. Inanother incident of early mar-riage, Dashrath Manga wan-ted a bride for his son, who was30, but was searching in vain.Finally, he managed to find abride, but the bride’s familywanted a girl in exchange fol-lowing satta-paddhati. Dash-rath married off his 14-year-old daughter to the brother ofhis son’s bride, who was 21 ye-ars.

These are not rare or isola-ted incidents. Even though thelegal age of marriage for wo-men is 18, as far as marriagesin scheduled castes and tribesare concerned the reality isdifferent as shown by Census2011 data. One out of three

marriages in scheduled castesand tribes of Gujarat involvethe marriage of underagegirls. Around six percent ofthe girls below 19 years in Gu-jarat are already married, andthe majority of them belong toscheduled castes and tribes.

Below the age of 19 years,around 34 per cent of the 1.50lakh married girls of SC andST communities in the statehave more than one child, andnearly 4,190 underage brides

have given birth to four child-ren. Census data also disclo-ses that those girls revealed asmarried under the age of 15 ha-ve been married for more than40 months at the time of thecensus, indicating that thegirls were married off whenthey were just 10-11 years old.“The state government is awa-re that girls are still being mar-ried at a young age. We are kee-ping a watch and are also in-volved in educating peopleespecially from the scheduledcastes and tribes,” said Vasu-ben Trivedi, minister for wo-men and child welfare.

Informing that the govern-ment has come out with seve-ral schemes to prevent earlymarriages, Trivedi said,“Even during meetings of wo-men we explain the effects ofearly marriage to raise aware-ness.” Martin Macwan, a dalitactivist and a member of Nav-sarjan, an NGO, said, “Even inour centre we get studentsfrom the scheduled castes andtribes who are married, andfrom below the age of 18.”

Says Census2011; ActivistsBlame Satta

Custom, Poverty

Underage marriagesplague tribes, dalits

SC & ST General0-14 yrs 15-19 yrs 0-14 yrs 15-19 yrs

➤ Married 23,153 1,27,217 1,06,733 5,51,513➤ No child 15,308 84,393 70,756 3,97,211➤ One child 1,691 26,404 8,730 92,223➤ Two children 6,154 8,561 27,247 31,748➤ Three children 0 3,669 0 14,133➤ Four children 0 4,190 0 16,198

PREMATURE MARRIAGES Married below 19: Census 2011

Himanshu.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

The office of the Comptrollerand Auditor General in its

report for the year 2014 hadcome down heavily on the stategovernment over its failure toprevent child marriages. "Outof 659 complaints of childmarriages received during2009-14, court cases were filedonly in 15 cases (two per cent)and not a single person wasconvicted in Gujarat," the CAGreport had stated. TNN

‘No one gets convictedin Gujarat’

Ahmedabad: National Co-uncil of Teachers’ Educa-tion (NCTE), formed by theUnion HRD ministry, willhold a meet with teachers,principals, educationists,students and their parentsat ‘Knowledge Consortiumof Gujarat’ (KCG) near Gu-jarat University on Mon-day.

The NCTE team has be-

en visiting various institu-tes and universities acrossthe country to take reviewfrom the people who are as-sociated with educationsector.

The five-member teamheaded by professor Mo-hammad Akhtar Siddiqi ofJamia Millia Islamia is lik-ely to discuss the issue ofextending BEd coursefrom one year to two yearsin the meeting.

NCTE to hold meet in cityTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Noida institute andcity-based advisoryfirm first came upwith the idea

Kalpesh.Damor@timesgroup.com

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: Flaunting their geared bicycles and sports ac-cessories, over 3,000 enthusias-tic cyclists participated in Sugarfree Cyclothon on Sun-day.

The event, organised by JP Sports & Events, was flagged off by Saurabh Patel, state minister of tourism at the Sa-barmati Riverfront. Prizes worth Rs 12.5 lakh in five cat-egories – champions’ ride (100 km), challengers’ ride (50 km), green ride (14 km), fashion ride (5 km) and kids’ ride (2 km) were given away to cy-clists. The winner for cham-pion’s ride was awarded Rs 1 lakh.

Apart from profes-sional riders, the event also saw many home-makers, kids, sen-ior citizens

paddling their way thorough. Among the participants was country’s first woman blade runner Kiran Kanojia from Hyderabad who had registered for the 50 km ride.

“People in Ahmedabad have started liking cycling.

Government of Gujarat al-ways supports any type

of sports be it cy-cling, swimming or skating,” said Patel.

Cyclothon a hit among Amdavadis