Mansukh Vasava, a BJP MP from Bharuch, has made a statement that may tarnish the image of his own party. Vasava has said that the police collect ₹35 lakh in monthly instalments from the bootleggers in Gujarat, a dry state.

He also said that the ‘elements’ running the liquor centres are sheltered by the police. It would be no surprise if the tremors of this statement could be felt all over Gujarat and even in Delhi BJP.

The whataboutery of the Secretariat

Gujarat’s chief secretary, Raj Kumar had ordered the department heads to compulsory retire Class 1 to Class 3 officers aged between 50 and 55, who seem inefficient, or have a corruption complaint against them.

However, after the order, the Secretariat buzzed with murmurs, many believing that the order should be followed for the IAS officers too, as the officials in IAS services are also involved in cases of corruption and scams.

Only trailers, no movies

In his recent visit to Mumbai, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel talked about the Cinematic Policy to attract investments from the entertainment industry. However, looking at the track record of the celebrities, hopes shouldn’t fly high.

In the past, actor Sanjay Dutt and his friend Paresh Ghelani had announced a ₹1,000 cr investment in Gujarat for a film city. Similarly, actor Jackie Shroff had shown interest in establishing a ₹500 cr studio near Nal Sarovar.

Producer Mihir Bhuta had announced ₹500 cr, and producer Indra Kumar had announced the establishment of a film studio and academy in Vadodara. Actor Ajay Devgn had also announced ₹500 cr for a film city in the state. 

Even after 10 years of such massive announcements, no project has taken off in the state.

Snake antidote unavailable in health minister’s constituency 

Gujarat registers close to 2.5 lakh snake bite cases a year, and out of that, nearly 3000 lives are lost. Notably, a large number of these cases come from rural Gujarat, where people are more reliant on government hospitals for healthcare.

However, these hospitals do not have a sufficient inventory of snake venom antidotes, putting people’s lives at risk.

Recently, a woman at Visnagar General Hospital lost her life as antidote injections weren’t available at the hospital, situated in the constituency of the state health minister Rushikesh Patel.

An official from the district health department assured action against the people responsible for the incident.

State’s sports budget: ₹600 cr, gold medals: 00

The Asian Games was an event of collective pride for India, with the country clocking at more than 100 medals at Hangzhou.

However, the state-wise tallies of the athletes who have won the medal, paint a sad picture for Gujarat.

The state was allotted a whopping ₹608 cr budget for sports by the Centre. The ‘Khel Mahakumbh’ held by the state boasts 40 lakh players representing Gujarat. Despite that, the contribution of Gujarat in the medal tally of the country stands at absolute zero.

According to reports, 6,500 schools in the state don’t have a playground for the kids to play. On the other hand, the state claims that for the last 13 years, students in Gujarat have played over 40 sports in the schools.

Considering the budget allotted and the tall claims made by the state, the results are extremely contradictory for the state when many states in India, with significantly lower budgets than Gujarat, have produced medal-winning athletes.

Two board exams, two voices

Under the New Education Policy (NEP), the Gujarat government has decided to organise two board exams in a year.

After March, the students will appear for their boards in July, too. The policy states that students will be allowed to keep the best scores from the two exams.

Many have spoken in favour of the policy, while many believe that the students will take the board exams lightly, and won’t be serious about its importance thinking they would have another chance in July to score better.

There are also concerns within the education fraternity about the heightened workload  on the teachers due to the two exams.

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