Yogesh Avasthi

By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, April 13, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090413200904130206085525639788a ) The recession-hit diamond industry has started to cast a shadow on the Gujarat University answer sheets. An examiner correcting the Hindi (second subsidiary) paper of the BA first year examination was enlightened about the sufferings of jobless diamond workers’ families by a letter written on an answer sheet. Professor Anil Parmar of St Xavier’s was the examiner who went through the unique experience. Among several Hindi answer sheets he was correcting, one stood out. The answers were followed by a letter written in Gujarati. The gender used in the letter hinted that the examinee was a girl. Narrating the plight of her family, she wrote, “My father was a worker in the diamond industry. He lost his job due to recession six months ago. Since my mother is a diabetes patient...

500 counterfeit tickets worth Rs 12 lakh can be printed using the paper roll By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, April 13, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090413200904130205587249afcefdf ) Next time you are in a hurry to board a train, avoid buying ticket from any stranger. It could be fake. A roll of paper, which can be used to print 500 counterfeit computerised rail tickets worth Rs 12 lakh, went missing under mysterious circumstances from a sealed carton in Ahmedabad on March 29. The railway authorities detected the theft on April 2. Suspecting involvement of a fake ticket racket in the incident, the commercial department of Ahmedabad Railway Division has lodged an FIR with Railway Protection Force. It has also instituted a departmental inquiry. The paper rolls used to print general rail tickets are shipped to all booking offices under Western Railway from Mumbai in sealed carto...

Krunal Patel of Bharuch has decided to take admission to IIM, Bangalore By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, April 11, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090411200904110314159744e7116b3 ) An engineering grad of the state has achieved an envious feat. He has managed to make it to the final list of five IIMs in the country. Meet Krunal Patel of Bharuch. He has the privilege of taking admission to any of the IIMs at Bangalore, Indore, Lucknow, Kolkata and Kozhikode.Krunal said he would take admission to IIM, Bangalore. “I had decided to take admission in one of the three IIMs at ABC (Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Kolkata, erstwhile Calcutta). “I failed to make it to the final list of IIM-A. Thus, it was a toss-up between the premier B-schools at Kolkata and Bangalore. But after talking to seniors, I have made up my mind to pursue my management degree from IIM, Bangalore.” Sharing his experie...

Government Polytechnic student Ishwar Damor kisses girl he liked; gets rejected and faces tough action from college By Yogesh Avasthi and Mehul Jani Posted On Friday, April 10, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200904102009041002363513076ed34e0 ) A student of Government Polytechnic kissed his college mate expecting to trigger a romance with her, but ended up courting nothing but big trouble. The incident happened at the Polytechnic campus on Thursday morning before the students were to take their internal exams. Incensed at the audacity, the girl reported the matter to the colleges authorities, who took down her complaint but let both of them take the exam before deciding on action against the boy. The women’s cell of the college meanwhile met and decided to recommend the suspension of student Ishwar Damor’s(18) to the state education department. Sources said Damor, the girl and a few...

Officials of the Ahmedabad railway station want to use the plot occupied by taxi drivers as a car park By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, April 08, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009040820090408025624795627b3754 ) In what may inconvenience passengers, officials of the Ahmedabad railway station have decided to remove a taxi stand on the premises. The move, railway official say, will free up a lot of space for parking, and help generate additional revenue. Around 250 drivers work in two shifts at the taxi stand, which apparently was set up more than 70 years ago. “For the past several years, taxi drivers have been using the plot without paying any rent: the railway ends up losing lakhs,” a senior divisional commercial manager (DCM),” Udayshankar Jha said. “We have issued an order asking taxi drivers to vacate the plot.” Jha said that the railway was not against taxi drivers opera...

After spending lakhs on unreliable contractors promising to rid the station of rats, the railways now look for a specialist By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Wednesday, April 08, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200904082009040803453018661dcaa76 ) The last pest control agency railways hired, gave up after a year. A new quotation has been sought nowRailways are at war with rats, and are losing it. They’ve tried everything in the book to check the menace at the city railway station, but the rodents are outwitting them hands down. Nothing is working. Fuming them out of holes, poison baits, lakhs spent on pest-control specialists have all failed. Alas, they don’t make Pied Pipers anymore. The railways’ Ahmedabad division spends Rs 5 lakh on rodent-control for a two-year contract. Several agencies have been tried out, but none has been able to produce results. The last one walked out mid-way and...

Nadiad Dy Station Superintendent Vijay Pandya is suspended, found guilty of serious neglect of duty By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, April 07, 2009 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=2009040720090407024644358328c1f81 ) Story so far • Pandya failed to give the driver of Bandra-Jamnagar train a caution note of repairs being done near Mehamdabad • Sans the warning, the train could’ve run over workers or derailed on application of emergency brakes • Alert driver Suresh Shah averted mishap • Pandya suspended Acknowledging that a major lapse had been committed by a railway official that risked the lives of 600 passengers travelling on Bandra-Jamnagar express on March 31, the safety department of Baroda division held Nadiad deputy station superintendent Vijay Pandya guilty of serious neglect of duty and suspended him on Monday. Pandya had failed to give the driver of the train a caution note...

The investigating agency sends report to the state human rights panel asking action against four RPF men for unlawfully detaining an innocent youth By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, April 07, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=200904072009040702325068633e13100 ) Charging 2 Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel with violating human rights, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a report to the Gujarat State Human Rights Commission seeking strict action against them for unlawfully detaining an innocent youth and harassing him. The four RPF personnel, including assistant security commissioner Atar Singh, inspectors S K Sharma, C S Rajput and Pankaj Dhakad, nabbed a youth of Malia last December falsely implicating him in a railway track theft case that took place near Dhangadra station last October. They detained the innocent youth, Mehboob, for three days and demanded Rs...

The university also introduced a credit system for these courses, wherein 25 marks will amount to one credit By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Tuesday, April 07, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009040720090407023232983344905f5 ) Gujarat University has introduced a new syllabus and new teaching techniques for its Master of Education (MEd) and Bachelor of Education (BEd) courses beginning in June. The university has also introduced a credit system for these courses, wherein 25 marks will amount to one credit.Earlier, the National Council of Teachers’ Education had asked all the universities in the state to update their MEd and BEd syllabus. Gujarat University’s department of education dean RS Patel said the objective of the new course is to develop and enhance the skills of budding teachers. The new syllabus gives 60 per cent weightage to practicals and 40 to theory. Two new subjects, yoga ...

Bandra-Jamnagar Intercity driver slams emergency brakes on spotting a group of labourers on track near Mehamdabad. At 100 km/hr that could have derailed the train By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Sunday, April 05, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=2009040520090405203802967ea77e153 ) Close shave » The driver should have got a caution note at Nadiad about the ongoing repair work near Mehamdabad. He did not » Train was speeding at 100 km/hour when he spotted some people on the track » The driver now had a choice to make – if he applied emergency brakes to save the labourers, he risked a derailment » He took the risk and used emergency brakes Hundreds of passengers and a dozen track workers had a brush with death and now realise they owe their lives to the driver of Bandra-Jamnagar train but for whose alertness there could have been a bloodbath near Mehamdabad a couple of days ago. Ra...

More medical colleges opening in the state and preference to study on home turf reasons for declining interest in test By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Saturday, April 04, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009040420090404023440436d6eed85f ) Fewer Gujarati students are taking the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Examination with each passing year. A paltry 5,400 science students took the PMT in 2008, while even fewer, 3,613, took it. This, however, is not because Gujarati students are no longer interested in medicine. Explaining the reasons for the drop, academics say students from the state have a poor record in clearing the all-India medical test. A small percentage makes it through for they are competing against the bright students from all over the country. The other unpleasant thing about PMT for Gujarat students is that after clearing PMT they are liable to be given admission in medical...

Twenty-five years after world recognised that asbestos dust can cause cancer, asbestos sheets are being removed from Kalupur railway station By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Friday, April 03, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=2&contentid=200904032009040303263865826891de ) Passengers can breathe easy. The Kalupur railway station is scrapping ‘cancer-causing’ asbestos sheets. Railway authorities are replacing them with steel sheets at a cost of Rs 60 lakh. While the railways should have done this about 25 years ago when the world recognised the hazard of asbestos, it is better late than never. The new sheets will be more aesthetic and stronger compared to conventional asbestos sheets The railways stopped using asbestos sheets to provide shelter on platforms after knowing that the sheets might cause cancer to people. “The work will be over in a month,” said Uday Shankar Jha, senior DCM (Ahmedabad divisi...

Rahul Jain says he is aware of the 11-year-old girl’s ordeal; expresses willingness to take custody of Kamini, who attended school with a head injury inflicted by her stepmother on Tuesday By Yogesh Avasthi and Dhwani Pathak Posted On Thursday, April 02, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090402200904020331463305601aadb ) GIRL BATTERED BY STEPMOTHER A relative of the 11-year-old girl who was beaten up by her stepmother on Tuesday wants to take her custody and raise her. Kamini Jain, a class VI student of Reubs High School in Maninagar, received an injury in her head after her stepmother, Anita, hit her with a comb. The school’s principal reported the incident to the police after he saw blood dripping from Kamini’s head.Rahul Jain, who is Kamini’s uncle, said that he wanted to save her from “torment and abuse” by taking her custody. “I have asked my brother, Virendra, at least three t...

Union protests saying checkers are paid Rs 3 per paper and take home mere Rs 75 daily By Yogesh Avasthi and Jyoti Jha Posted On Tuesday, March 31, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009033120090331024713440c7488109 ) Acting on complaints from students, the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Board (GSHSEB) has decided to impose a stiff penalty on paper checkers whose errors cost students valuable marks. For each error that costs a student a mark, the paper checker will have to penalty of Rs 100. This also applies to extra marks inadvertently given to students. The decision is being seen as harsh, for a paper checker is paid Rs 3 for each paper he checks but will have to pay Rs 100 for every little mistake. Worse is, with checkers being allowed to check only 25 papers over three sessions between 11 am and 5 pm, a hard day’s work brings home a paltry Rs 75 for them. Two teachers have ...

Large and small rodents are finding their way into train coaches, and they prefer A-C atmosphere to ordinary class By Yogesh Avasthi Posted On Monday, March 30, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=20090330200903300311331432fef49d8 ) Seen those cat-sized rats roaming on railway tracks at stations? Now, chances are that you might stumble upon the creatures in your coach, and an A-C cabin more so. Railway authorities have tried out all possible ways to eliminate the rodent menace at stations, but few are working. In fact, it’s worsened. Recent experiences indicate these large and small rodents are finding their way into train coaches. The rats thrive in the filthy conditions on railway tracks and feed on leftovers thrown by passengers and excreta on tracks. The place breeds cockroaches too. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Udayshankar Jha admits rodents and pests are a nuisance at rail...