Hardik Patel offers to quit Cong in pitch to youth
Taking up the row over recent question paper leaks of Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB) head clerk examination and Saurashtra University, Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel accused the BJP of crushing dreams of youths. He called on youth to express grievances against the ruling party with him. The former Patidar Andolan Anamat Samiti leader appealed to young voters to elect Congress in the 2022 state assembly elections. He asked, “If the youth wants to fight against the government, I am ready to stand with them. If they think that I am in the Congress party and have an agenda, then I am ready to quit. But are they ready to fight?”
BJP begins exercise to strengthen OBC vote bank
BJP leader Alpesh Thakor launched a padayatra in North Gujarat’s Mehsana district on Sunday. Alpesh has been marginalised since his defeat in the by-poll from Radhanpur seat and is back on the prowl. Thakor community-dominated seats of North Gujarat, Radhanpur, Bahucharaji, and Siddhapur, belong to Congress. Following Jagdish Thakor elevated to Congress president, now the BJP has resumed the exercise to woo OBC votes. Alpesh, a leader of Thakor community via his former alliance with the Gujarat OBC Ekta Manch, reached the state assembly for the first time on a Congress ticket in 2017. By the time the Lok Sabha polls came, he defected to the BJP. In the assembly by-poll, he faced defeat and lost due to polarisation of voters from OBCs against him.
Student’s innovative PPE wins challenge
Meenu Agarwal, a design student from Surat has won acclaim by creating user-friendly personal protective equipment (PPE) for female sanitation workers to improve their working conditions in Covid frontline operations. She won `25,000 prize at the Design Innovation Challenge organised by the Collective Good Foundation (CGF) for her PPE outfit which offers better productivity and comfort. Sanitation workers of Surat corporation were surveyed by Meenu – along with her classmates from Surat’s Institute of Design and Technology (IDT) – to gauge the problems faced by them while.
‘Prison Olympics’ at Surat’s Lajpore jail
A two-day sports festival was organised for the inmates of Lajpore Jail in Surat from December 25 with an intent to maintain good physical and mental health of the inmates. Over 800 inmates participated. Prison inmates enthusiastically participated in various sports. The list of sports items included rope pulling, 100/200/400 metre sprint, volleyball, carrom, chess, sack race, etc. Prison Olympics are part of jail reforms which has been part of Gujarat state government’s agenda since a few years. Jails need to work more as correctional centres that prepare prisoners for rehabilitation back into society.
Dilip Singh Kshatriya
Our correspondent in Gujarat dilipsingh@newindianexpress.com