IN DEEP WATER

The Centre has identified 34,846 habitations in Gujarat considered arsenic andfluoride-affected even as the state government sits on more than Rs 150 croreprovided for the purpose

Thousands of people across the state have been condemned to drink groundwater with naturally high quantities of arsenic and fluoride that can have serious repercussions on their health, according to the central government. However, the Gujarat government has turned a blind eye to the concerns raised by the Centre asserting that not a single case of fluorosis and arsenicosis has been reported from the state. To top it all, a sanctioned sum of over Rs 150 crore by the Union government meant for ‘arsenic and fluoride-affected habitations’ remains unused.

Government and private hospitals have maintained that they have been steadily receiving patients with ailments caused by arsenic and fluoride, but the state continues to maintain an ostrich-like approach to the grave situation.

Vaccine related deaths: Gujarat tops the chart

Gujarat has one of the most extensive child immunisation programme in the country, butthe state has reported 38 deaths following vaccine shots, the highest in India, since 2012
Sunita Bora, nine-year old tribal girl living in Vadodara died suddenly in 2010. She was one of the two students who died after they were administered a anti-cervical cancer vaccine that was meant for observation studies.

One-third IITans flunk in medium of instruction

IIT-Gn students excel in science papers, but many fall flat in English; the institute conducts test to check their level and train them accordingly to make them industry-ready

English trouble

It is no reflection on their technical skills, as the students of Indian Institutes of Technology are hailed as the outstanding brains of the country and are lapped up big corporates at sky high salaries. But when it comes to proficiency in English, nearly one third of the students of Gandhinagar campus flunk.

Toxic Power

A nation-wide survey has found the five biggestcoal-based power plants in the state – two govt-owned and three in pvt sector –to be among the worst polluters; they function at low efficiency, emit harmfulgases and one of them discharges effluent in the river! 
Gujarat is often touted as a role model state in industrialisation, but shockingly the biggest coal-based thermal power plants in the state are violating pollution norms. The list of polluters includes both government and private sector facilities which have been reported as inefficient.

Maninagar police refuse to file FIR, play agony uncle

A helpless and distraught 22-year-old woman has beentrying to report her abusive husband to Maninagar police for the last twomonths. But the cops are apparently so 'concerned' about her family life andher son's future that they have been playing agony uncles instead ofregistering an FIR. According to the law, it is the statutory duty of a policeofficer to register an FIR whenever any information pertaining to a cognisableoffence is reported to him/her. However, despite approaching the cops fivetimes to report the alleged dowry harassment, an FIR has not been registered.Police inaction has only worsened Sarita Joshi's (name changed) plight. Herhusband, who allegedly used to thrash and abuse her when she was living withhim, now goes to her mother's house and allegedly beats up both the women.

Malware trapp

Smartphones have become the most convenient way ofstaying connected with the world 24/7. There are applications or 'apps' foralmost everything right from keeping track of your day-to-day appointments,fitness, shopping and recreation, to even reminding you to drink water and eatfood. And if you are someone who heavily banks on Android apps to run your lifesmoothly, here is a word of caution.
According to the police, the trend of cybercrime has shifted from PC to cellphones, with Android operating system becoming the perfect platform for cyber criminals to launch malware-ridden apps. Case in point: Anita Mishra, 21, student of a private college, had downloaded an Android app called 'Photobook' on her phone. It was a photo-editing and designing app.

THE CAT’S WHISKERS

Whilecity youth lose their head over cheap party drug ‘meow meow’ that is deliveredat their doorstep, NCB fails to walk the talk

Easy to find, 20 times cheaper and 10 times more addictive than cocaine, ‘meow meow’ is the new fad in the city’s drug scene. The dangerous psychoactive drug, which is banned in party havens like Mumbai and Goa, is home delivered in Ahmedabad through internet pharmacies. While more and more youths are getting hooked to the drug that causes nosebleeds, anxiety, physical and sexual aggression as well as long-term mental health problems, the Narcotics Control Bureau here is busy holding ‘awareness events’ in colleges instead of cracking down on dealers to curb this menace.

Education goes rurban

Students of 51 grant-in-aid and private schools willsoon have to opportunity to interact with their counterparts from governmentschools in rural areas and learn from each other. The project, christened asGyansetu, aims at bridging the gap between children of different socioeconomicbackground. Under the initiative, private schools like Anand Niketan, DPS,Prakash Higher Secondary School, CN Vidyalaya, Udgam School, Diwan Ballubhaiand others will exchange their students with rural government schools for 10out of the 200-odd educational days every year.

HOW JUVENILE

The state registered a 51 per cent increase incrimes against children in just a year, reveals NCRB data. But does anybodycare?

* The district Child Working Committees (CWC), the final authority to dispose of cases related to protection and rehabilitation of children, are short of members.

* Existing CWC members do not meet regularly

* Even the selection panel that chooses members of CWC has not been formed yet

KILL PILL

In blatant disregard forthe law, medical stores in the city are selling life-threatening abortion pillsto minors without seeking their age proof, doc’s prescription and an approvalletter by the guardian

Girls aged 10-19 years account for 11 per cent of all births worldwide and 23 per cent of the overall burden of disease (disability- adjusted life years) due to pregnancy and childbirth, according to World Health Organisation. Fourteen percent of all unsafe abortions in low-and middle-income countries are among girls aged 15–19 years. About 2.5 million adolescents have unsafe abortions every year, and they are more seriously affected by complications than are older women.

Student snorting, NCB men snoring

State Narcotics Control Bureau is acutely aware of the factthat drug abuse is rampant in colleges, but WILL NOT arrest offenders even asNCBs elsewhere are on overdrive. Its excuse: We don’t want to ruin students’career

Gujarat registered 100 per cent growth in drug trafficking in 2014, highest in the country, surging past New Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Arunachal Pradesh. Despite such a damning figure, Gujarat NCB has failed miserably in checking drug abuse on college campuses in the city.

Chai pe Kharcha

It was the ubiquitous tea that was a game-changer for the BJP government. Now, an expensive ‘Modi chai’ is leaving a bad taste among rural youth in the state
It was a simple, game-changing ‘Chai pe Charcha’ that catapulted Narendra Modi to national fame. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Modi had addressed a series of ‘Chai pe Charcha’ (connect with the electorate over a cup of tea) programmes that received tremendous response. Even US President Barrack Obama was charmed by PM Modi serving up the brew from a silver teapot on the lawns of Hyderabad House when he came visiting.

AIR-POCALYPSE

If commuting on Ashram Road makes you nauseous, don’t be shocked. You are breathing in the most polluted air in the city; industrial areas such as Narol and Odhav are less polluted

It might not shock you if told that Delhi is the most polluted city in the world (World Health Organisation report last year). But what if you get to know that the air you are breathing in aapnu Amdavad is more poisonous? Ahmedabad records the highest dangerous concentration of air pollutants in the country on certain days every month, if the data procured from the state’s first air quality index station in Maninagar is anything to go by.

But if you think that air pollution is highest in industrial areas, you are mistaken. The air in commercial and residential areas is most poisonous with highest concentration of unhealthy pollutants. Ashram Road and Sabarmati are the most polluted in the city, while air pollution is within limit in Narol and Odhav, data from Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) suggests (see box for pollution levels in different areas).

No place for the old

Harassed at home by their own kids, vulnerable and easy targets against crimes, Ahmedabad accounts for the highest number of cases against senior citizens in the state

— On June 13, a 29-year-old painter asked his mother to accompany him to a nearby field in Vatva. He gagged and raped her before abandoning her. When no one heard her cries, the shocked woman mustered courage to reach her daughter’s house in the same locality.

— Hemant Mehta, a 77-year-old retired government officer lives alone at a flat in Praladnagar. Recently when his eldest daughter Kinjal Mehta came to meet him, she found that Rs 50,000 was missing from the house. Police investigation revealed that one of the two nurses employed to look after him had stolen the money and escaped.

Blessed by tech, Blocked by babu

Sumita Singh, a 52-year-old Canadian citizen of Indian origin, came to aapnu Amdavad in February to make her family "complete". After a long wait, her prayers bore fruit when she held her surrogate daughter in her arms. It was a picture perfect moment for her. And the preparation to go back home started. However, she had not reckoned with the Indian bureaucracy and its ways.

Foreign Residents Registration Office (FRRO) in Ahmedabad, which grants exit visa to foreign couples' children born on Indian soil, has held back the document for the child on the ground that there is 1 per cent discrepancy between the DNA reports of the child and the parents. This, when according to medical experts, 90 per cent match is enough to conclude that baby belongs to a couple.

Malnourished newborns up by 50 per cent

Stateinvested Rs 250 cr to improve infant mortality rate, yet number of low-weightkids surged from 9,170 in 2012 to 13,456

At a time when the state government is struggling to curb high infant mortality rate, the number of low birth weight babies are on the rise in Ahmedabad district.

Fraudship request: Cyber flirts `cash in' on singletons

Crime Branch hasregistered seven cases where the accused pose as NRIs and propose marriage tosingle men and women online before conning them out of lakhs of rupees

Anjali Mehta (name changed), a banker, fell in love online with Anil Mu kesh (name changed) who claimed to be a doctor with the United Nations, settled in the UK.He professed undying love to Anjali and told her he was taking a transfer to India for a happily-ever-after. All seemed well till one day, she received a call from a `customs official', seeking Rs 20 lakh in duties. As Anil was shifting to India, he had sent all his valuable medical equipment to Anjali's address. But the `official' sought the amount as customs duty. Anjali got even more confused when Anil began emotionally blackmailing her, and asked her to pay up. On July 4, she again got a call from the `official', demanding the money but when she tried to call back on the number, the phone had been switched off.

Helpless and wanting Anil to come and live with her, she transferred Rs 20 lakh to the bank account given by the caller through real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS). But Anil never called back and that was the end of the love story.