The Government of India is in the process of bringing about major changes in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, which was passed by Parliament last year following struggle and advocacy by people’s movements across India. Despite its weaknesses, the view is strong among these groups that fresh efforts to water down the Act should be resisted in every possible way.
'Mayaben Kodnani, the kingpin of Naroda Patiya massacre of 2002, had been sentenced to 28 years of imprisonment for being the principal conspirator in the rioting and killing of 97 men, women and children. On July 31st, she walked out of jail after Gujarat High Court gave her a bail on health grounds. This was because of the delayed action by the Special Investigation Team which was investigating the 2002 riot cases. The SIT had failed to remain present in the court during the hearing of Mayaben Kodnani’s bail application and plead against the bail.
" Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani, who was sentenced to 28 years in jail for murder during the 2002 riots, has been granted bail by the Gujarat High Court on health grounds. She was the most high-profile figure to be convicted in connection with the riots. Ms Kodnani, 60, is undergoing treatment at the Ahmedabad civil hospital for acute depression..."
'Tweets by BJP national executive member C T Ravi on the Sahranpur riots has come in for severe criticism for their inflammatory tone. In one of the posts, Mr. Ravi, who is also party general secretary for Karnataka, uploaded a video link that said: “How Congress leaders made 1000s of Muslims attack the Gurdwara & cause Saharanpur riots — watch this Sikh speak.” Mr. Ravi also tweeted, “Only the Gujarat model, that worked from 2002 in containing their rioting elements, can work.
"Once Dr Radhakrishnan went for a dinner. There was a Briton at the event who said, “We are very dear to God.” Radhakrishnan laughed and told the gathering, “Friends, one day God felt like making rotis. When he was cooking the rotis, the first one was cooked less and the English were born. The second one stayed longer on the fire and the Negroes were born. Alert after His first two mistakes, when God went on to cook the third roti, it came out just right and as a result Indians were born.”—Page 8, Prernadeep -3. (Dr Radhakrishnan was the second president of India.)
'Gujarat’s new compulsory reading list for government primary and secondary students doesn’t just seek to educate students on “facts” about India’s culture, history and geography. It also has its own take on science, particularly landmark inventions. “…America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell research, but the truth is that India’s Dr Balkrishna Ganpat Matapurkar has already got a patent for regenerating body parts…. You would be surprised to know that this research is not new and that Dr Matapurkar was inspired by the Mahabharata...
"The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found deficiencies in the preservation of ancient and protected monuments in Gujarat, which comes under the jurisdiction of state Archaeology Department. "There were deficiencies found in the manner in which preservation of monuments was being carried out," the CAG report, which was tabled on Friday in Gujarat assembly, said. The survey, excavation and research work was almost negligible, it said. "There were no long-term plans for conservation of monuments.
"Dinanath Batra, author who was responsible for the pulping of American scholar Wendy Doniger’s book, has been prescribed compulsory reading in Gujarat schools. The State government has issued a circular dated June 30 for six of Dr. Batra’s books to all 42,000 primary and secondary schools in the State, Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, told The Hindu. A local daily reported that Mr.
"For the first time, the Gujarat government on Tuesday officially accepted that it gave a Rs 419.54 crore loan from the state budgetary resources to Tata Motors under its deal with the company... Government spokesperson Saurabh Patel, also industry & mines minister, said in the assembly that the state had given the Rs 419.54 crore soft loan at 0.1% interest to Tata Motors as an incentive for its Nano car plant in Sanand. He was replying to a question by Viramgam Congress MLA Tejashree Patel.
'The Gujarat government has spent more than Rs 7992.47 crore in the last five years on exploration for natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin but the investment has yielded no results since project was launched. This was stated by Gujarat's energy and petrochemicals minister Saurabh Patel in a written reply to an unstarred question by Congress MLA Tejshri Patel... The Return on Investment (RoI) of the GSPC from the KG basin is likely to be negative. Sources in the company said the he cost of the gas, if production starts, is likely to be very high.
