Modi-in-Goa?

In a disaster-prone state like Gujarat, astrologers have a large following, often forecasting calamities, even giving the exact date and time. But not any more. The Gujarat State Disaster Management Act empowers district administrations to serve a notice, under Section 38, on whoever makes forecasts without scientific basis. The accused can be sent to six months imprisonment. The Act also provides for similar punishment to those who obstruct public servants while performing their duties in such times or to those seeking relief using fraudulent means.

POTA patter

Pota has been repealed, but the debate over it hasn’t ceased. Last week, the Central POTA Review Committee visited the State to review five cases. A couple of days before the committee arrived, a Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court stayed all proceedings in the matter, in response to a petition filed by relatives of victims of the Godhra and Akshardham killings. The three-member committee received the order at Circuit House Annexe, where it was supposed to review the cases, and took the return flight to Delhi the same evening. The High Court order has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Great escapes

One of the recurring blots on the Gujarat Police is the ease with which undertrials give them the slip while being escorted to court or jail. Under the excuse of making a phone call or answering nature’s call, the undertrials have disappeared on several occasions, often leading to suspension of cops. But the police now have new hope in the video-conferencing facility that ensures the prisoner does not have to be moved out. However, the facility is available only in Ahmedabad central jail. According to in-charge DGP A K Bhargav, the facility will soon be available in seven prisons.

Teaching troubles

Teachers in Gujarat combine duty with devotion as most State-level education conferences are held in Ambaji. Whether it’s introduction of new curriculum or training of teachers, this north Gujarat pilgrim town always manages to find favour with organisers. As school principals meet here once again, they will recall the teachers’ meet held in last August when they found hundreds of mistakes in school text-books. The teachers stuck to their task faithfully, finding printing, spelling and factual errors. But it took an NGO to find the mistakes of tone and tenor in the books printed after the present dispensation came to power.

Compiled by MILIND GHATWAI