Posts Tagged ‘Gandhinagar’
Written by admin on 24 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 24 – Former union textiles minister Shankersinh Vaghela, whose name figures in the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition, Tuesday said he was never involved in any way in the demolition of the 16th century mosque in Ayodhya.
‘The first time I went to Ayodhya and Faizabad in my life was in 2008 in the company of a Congress leader friend,’ said Vaghela, who rebelled against the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995 and subsequently switched over to the Congress.
‘L.K. Advani had spoken to me about the Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra, for which I made necessary arrangements in the geographical area under Gujarat in my capacity as the state BJP president. If that is construed as involvement, so be it,’ Vaghela told IANS.
Vaghela said he was neither taken into confidence nor aware of any plans relating to the demolition of the mosque.
‘Even while with the BJP, I have all along been opposed to the hardliners, including the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, and their politics of extreme. I also did not figure in either the planning, funding or movement of the kar sevaks,’ he added.
Vaghela, who began his political career with the Jana Sangh and continued with the BJP, had rebelled in 1995, walking away to ‘Khajuraho’ with a large chunk of the party MLAs to ultimately pull down the first BJP government in Gujarat headed by Keshubhai Patel.
He subsequently became the chief minister, heading a regional outfit with outside Congress support. Later, he merged the outfit with the Congress to become the union textile minister when the UPA came to power defeating the NDA. He, however, lost the last Lok Sabha elections which he contested from Godhra.
Tags: Gandhinagar
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Written by admin on 12 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 12 – The Gujarat High Court has ruled that children born to surrogate mothers on Indian soil are Indian citizens by birth, irrespective of the nationality of their fathers. It has urged the central government to immediately frame laws to clear the confusion.
In a landmark judgement, a division bench of Chief Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Anant Dave ruled that immediate legislation is necessary to provide clarity in the situation created by advances in reproductive science and genetics as the existing legal system lacked clear answers to issues arising on the matter.
The court directed restoration of the Indian passports to the twin sons of a German father, who were given birth to by an Indian surrogate mother.
The judgment was a sequel to the judicial intervention sought by German freelance writer Jan Balaz, who had sought Indian passports for his twins Nikolas and Leonard, born to an Indian surrogate mother, Martha Khristi.
Balaz and his wife, Sussane Lohle, had come to India to seek assistance from well-known Anand-based surrogacy expert Nayana Patel last year. Sussane was unable to conceive, so under Patel’s supervision an unnamed Indian woman donated eggs, which were fertilized with Balaz’s sperms and planted in Martha’s womb. She gave birth to the twins on Jan 4, 2008. Surrogacy is banned in Germany.
Balaz, who had since shifted to the United Kingdom, sought Indian passports to take his sons to Britain. The passports were initially issued but subsequently withdrawn by the Ahmedabad passport office on the ground that the column of mother’s name carried that of Sussane, who had technically not borne the children.
The situation contravened the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1969. Balaz then sought judicial intervention.
The court pointed out that ‘many legal, moral and ethical issues arise for our consideration in this case, which have no precedents in this country.’
‘We are primarily concerned with the rights of two new born innocent babies, much more than the rights of the biological parents, surrogate mother, or the donor of the ova. Emotional and legal relationship of the babies with the surrogate mother and the donor of the ova is also of vital importance.’
The court upheld the citizenship rights of the two children and noted that ‘We, in the present legal framework, have no other go but to hold that the babies born in India to the gestational surrogate are citizens of this country and, therefore, entitled to get the passport, and therefore direct the passport authorities to release the passports withdrawn from them forthwith.’
It, however, also underlined the urgent need for a comprehensive legislation defining the rights of a child born out of surrogacy agreement, the rights and responsibilities of a surrogate mother, the egg donor, legal validity of the surrogacy agreement, and all the intricacies emerging therefrom, including the parent-child relationship and the responsibilities of Infertility Clinics.
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Written by admin on 10 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 10 – The Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is to look into irregularities of ownership of Platinum II, a US ship believed to be carrying toxic material and awaiting clearance for berthing and dismemberment at the Alang ship breaking yard for over a month, an official said Tuesday.
This follows a note from union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh Monday to the Gujarat government and other agencies advising that the controversial ship not be allowed to berth at Alang. The memorandum also asked the Gujarat Maritime Board to look into the case of falsified ownership of the vessel as brought to the notice of the central ministry.
Highly placed sources in the government of Gujarat said Tuesday that the state maritime board would address the queries raised by the union environment ministry. ‘The board will look into the irregularities pertaining to the ship brought to its notice by the union ministry,’ the official said.
According to the environment ministry memorandum, it had been brought to its notice that the ship violated the United States Toxic Substances Control Act and that an order had been passed by the US Environment Protection Authority against its owners.
The central govenment also wanted the GMB to probe allegations that the ship had been brought to India with a falsified flag and registry.
Komalkant Sharma, the owner of Platinum II, said he was still awaiting a decision from the GMB on his plea for berthing permission to dismantle the ship.
V.K. Gupta, president of the Ship Recyclers Association, said the vessel prima facie fulfilled the criteria laid down by the Supreme Court qualifying for breaking at Alang.
Environmental activists campaigning for turning the ship back have alleged that fake registration documents of the government of Kiribati had been furnished and that the vessel lacked a national flag.
Originally the US vessel SS Independence, it later became the SS Oceanic before becoming the Platinum II.
While the environmental group, Indian Platform on Ship Breaking (IPOS), seeks the recall of the ship by the US government – as the French did with Le Clemenceau – the Gujarat environment department authorities have said that facilities for the disposal of hazardous substances already exists in keeping with Supreme Court guidelines at a special earmarked site.
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Written by admin on 08 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 8 – Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled the top brass of the state administration, transferring 80 bureaucrats and 19 police officers in one sweep late Saturday.
The transfers came within a day of chief minister resuming office Friday.
Among those transferred were 36 officers of the rank of secretary and principal secretary and 44 district level officers and 19 police officers.
The highlight of the transfers was the shifting of D.J. Pandian, managing director of the state public sector Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC). He has been replaced by Tapan Ray, hitherto secretary finance.
Pandian who set a record by being in the same post for over seven years has been elevated to principal secretary, energy and petrochemicals.
B.K. Sinha who returns from central deputation is the new principal secretary of ports and transport. He replaces H.K. Dash who moves on as principal secretary Narmada Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpasar department(Water Supply).
Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd Managing Director R.K. Tripathi moves on as principal secretary of Agriculture and Cooperation.
Among the police officers, Kuldeep Sharma of the 1975 batch – additional director general of police level officer – who was awaiting posting after returning from a foreign assignment has been made managing director of the Gujarat State Sheep and Wool Development Corporation.
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Written by admin on 05 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 5 – Gujarat’s principal health secretary is down with swine flu and is among several top officials to be quarantined even as Chief Minister Narendra Modi has recovered from it and is getting ready to join office Friday.
Ravi Saxena, principal secretary, health, has tested positive for the H1N1 virus. He has been quarantined at his residence in Ahmedabad. Health commissioner Mukesh Puri has tested negative, but has been isolated as he was in close touch with Saxena.
They are among 11 senior officials who have been quarantined on suspicion of swine flu. Saxena is responding well to treatment and Puri says there is no cause for alarm.
Over a hundred people, from top bureaucrats to junior employees and a galaxy of top industrialists who accompanied Modi as part of a business delegation to Russia, are under varying degrees of surveillance for the H1N1 virus.
Modi, 60, was diagnosed with swine flu last week after his return from Russia.
Chief secretary D. Rajgopalan and principal secretary, energy, S. Jagadeeshan, who had accompanied the chief minister, have completed their quarantine periods and returned to office Thursday.
An exercise is afoot to mark out officers and employees who had interacted with Saxena in the last few days for precautionary checks and even isolation. Incidentally, many of his colleagues had come in contact with him at a meeting of the officers’ tea club within the secretariat Tuesday.
Forty people have died of swine flu in Gujarat and about 300 cases of the H1N1 virus have been reported so far.
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Written by admin on 04 November 2009
Gandhinagar, Nov 4 – Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was diagnosed with swine flu last week, has recovered and is expected to resume office work Friday, officials said Wednesday.
Diagnosed with Influenza A (H1N1) virus late Thursday following his return from Russia, 60-year-old Modi has shown rapid recovery.
He was declared ‘completely healthy’ by the team of doctors attending on him Tuesday, but has been advised rest until Thursday when his week-long period of ‘isolation’ ends.
The chief minister is likely to preside over the weekly cabinet meeting Friday, an official said.
The officials and industrialists who accompanied him to Russia as well as his personal staff have been administered Tamiflu and are being monitored by the health department.
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