'The Gujarat government on Friday decided that no migrant workers will be allowed to travel back to their natives during the lockdown period. The officials said that district administrations have been instructed to provide food and accommodation to such workers during the lockdown and stop their movement. Earlier this week, thousands of daily wage earners started going back to their native homes on foot in neighbouring Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat after the lockdown was announced.
'...Left without work after the lockdown was imposed nationwide to contain COVID-19, 30,000 tribal labourers from Jhabua have returned from Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Another 30,000 from the district are left stranded in these States. With transport suspended, shops shuttered and food supply halted, some families hired pick-up trucks, while others hailed jeeps. But scores lumbered their way back to western Madhya Pradesh, carrying luggage, water cans and infants...'
'Cathy Chakhesang has been living in Ahmedabad since 2017, working as an executive at a dental insurance company’s call centre. Last Friday, March 20, began as yet another day at work for the 24-year-old from Nagaland. But it ended on a horrific note: she, along with eight of her colleagues, all from Nagaland, had to spend the night in a government quarantine facility meant for suspected patients of the coronavirus disease. There were six women and three men in the group. None of them ticked any of the boxes that qualifies people to be treated as a suspect case.
'While addressing the Lok Sabha on the violence that broke out in parts of northeast Delhi on 24-25 February, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi claimed that most incidents of rioting have taken place under the Congress regime adding that the only incident of riots, which everyone is always reminded of, was in Gujarat in 2002 and there has been no such case post that in the state... Let’s take look at how the data collected by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which falls under the ambit of the Ministry of Home Affairs, contradicts Lekhi’s claims...'
'A special SIT judge hearing the 2002 Naroda Gam riot case, in which former BJP minister Maya Kodnani is an accused, has been transferred as principal district judge of Valsad by an order of the Gujarat High Court. According to a notification issued by the Gujarat High Court on Friday, principal judge, city civil court, Ahmedabad, M.K. Dave has been transferred as principal judge of Valsad district. He will be replaced by S.K. Baxi, who served as principal district judge, Bhavnagar, before being transferred here...'
'Vadodara Smart City Development Company, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), withdrew Rs 265 crore from Yes Bank a day before the Reserve Bank imposed a moratorium, an official said on Friday. On Thursday, the RBI restricted withdrawals from Yes Bank to Rs 50,000 per depositor due to the private lender's precarious financial situation...'
'Despite Narendra Modi’s reminder to his Twitter followers that “peace and harmony is central to our ethos”, the international press put the blame for the Delhi violence on the Prime Minister’s hardline policies, especially the rollout of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Most publications also noted the culpability of BJP leader Kapil Mishra, whose inflammatory remarks are said to have majorly contributed to the violence that has led to over 40 deaths.
'A mob set two roadside cabins and motorcycles on fire in Khambhat town of Gujarat’s Anand district on Tuesday as communal clashes entered the third day, PTI reported. Five persons have been detained for the arson incident, Inspector General of Ahmedabad Range IK Jadeja said. Some Hindutva outfits had organised a shutdown in the town on Tuesday to demand action against those who indulged in violence on the previous two days, Jadeja said. Several persons gathered at Gavara Chowk and staged protests, he added.
'At least 13 people were injured as a clash broke out between two communities in Khambhat taluka of Gujarat’s Anand district Sunday, where communally charged mobs set afire houses, shops, and vehicles. This is the second clash between the two communities within a month. According to the police, the members of the two communities came face to face again on Sunday afternoon over their past clash on January 24 which had left one person dead. However, the exact reason is still under investigation...'
'After the heinous insult the 68 women students of a Bhuj girls’ college were subjected to by being asked to strip and prove they were menstruating, in another incident female trainee clerks of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) were allegedly made to strip, stand naked and undergo a gynecological finger test, apart from being asked personal questions at a state-run hospital, reported The Times of India.
