Gujarat Discussions Thread

[tryindiffdrugsngirls]

Originally Posted by gandhi.rushabh1992

Gujarat ‘gaams’ glittering on diamond power

Forever Electricity Is Shifting Surat’s Units To Villages In Saurashtra

LINK


More than 5,000 units that cut and polish gems of low value operate from rural areas





Surat/Rajkot: Two years ago, a family issue forced diamond polisher Jatin Nasid (28) to quit his Rs 7,000-a-month job in Surat and return to Abhrampura, a village in Amreli district. Instead of returning to the world’s largest diamond-cutting centre, Nasid started a small unit in his village.

While many parts of even urban India went powerless recently, there was a sparkle in many Gujarat villages which are emerging as new outsourcing hubs for the Rs 80,000 crore diamond industry.

Scores like Nasid chose to operate from their villages. Statistics show more than half of the total 10,000 units cutting and polishing single-cut gems of low value operte from rural areas, handling about 25% of the total business.

There are more workers based in villages, about six lakh, than in Surat which is home to four lakh – mostly from Amreli and around Saurashtra. Diamond workers in Surat are down by two lakh – from over six lakh a decade ago.

Dinesh Navadia, president, Surat Diamond Association, says, “Apart from good infrastructure and uninterrupted electricity, diamond business has prospered in villages due to cheaper wages.

“ A worker in Surat earns Rs 15 per piece but his counterpart in a village gets less than Rs 8 per piece. Workers are still game because they get to live with families back home and earn additional income from farms.”

While the outsourcing process started in 1990s, improving power situation accelerated it in the last five years – clearly the impact of the Jyoti Gram scheme of the Narendra Modi government.

“In those days, diamond units were run on generators,” says K K Sharma, former executive director of Indian Diamond Institute (IDI).

Devastating floods in Surat in 2006 also prompted diamantaires to de-risk business. “I was the first to start a unit in Abhrampura. Now, there are four units,” says Nasid.

Bhupat Patel, chairman of Suratbased Jogani Diamond Exports, has set up three units in Lilia village in Amreli in the past four years. “We have a diamond factory in Surat, but wanted to extend our presence to our hometown,” says Patel.

That's only a start. Villages in Gujarat are first in country that get 24x7 electricity and WiFi. May be they will be the first one in India to have McDonalds, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts? Just give it a little more time of 5-6 years and there won't be much difference between Villages in Gujarats and cities regarding facilities

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

I went to Vyara (near Surat) on a college project and had to go into the interiors of the Dangs forest. There I noticed that all the tribal's huts had a meter outside!! That area is known as one of Gujarat's most backward areas and yet it had good sturdy two lane roads, safe drinking water and electricity...

[aks_sky]

Talking about food, how about a cha pani ne nasto thread like a misc thread?

[NitinPatel]

you want Say our own chaibar "Gujarat Chaibar Thread"

[tryindiffdrugsngirls]

It would be only called Gujarat Chai Thread. bars not allowed :P jk

[C-DAC]

Gujarat Chhas Thread!

[aks_sky]

not a Chaibar thread but a misc thread.

[kongutamizhan]

Folks a question. Any promising / efficient second level leaders for top-spot in GJ if Modi moves national? Does BJP have a succession plan?

[TheOptimist]

might be Anandiben Patel (current revenue minister) or Saurabh Patel (current minister of power & industries)

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Originally Posted by kongutamizhan

Folks a question. Any promising / efficient second level leaders for top-spot in GJ if Modi moves national? Does BJP have a succession plan?

Saurabh Patel, IMO, would be the next best choice. He is a highly educated minister (probably an IIM/IITian) and is a major spoke in the Modi Administration...

I somehow dont trust Anandiben Patel that much..

Then there's also Vajubhai Vala (finance min). He is also quite capable.

[TheOptimist]

Originally Posted by gandhi.rushabh1992

I somehow dont trust Anandiben Patel that much..

I think you might be wrong thinking that, check this story out -

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/g.../1/141956.html

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Well, if Mr Modi has selected her as his successor than I have no more doubts about her...though I still think Saurabh Patel will make a better CM.

[tryindiffdrugsngirls]

ah the patels. how about giving chances to some one else?

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

The Patels are due now, its been Modi for 11 years now (before him was Keshubhai Patel, Chimanbhai Patel etc.) Modi is just a brief interruption

[TheOptimist]

DNA / Jitendra Dave / Sunday, August 5, 2012 12:56 IST

Call it a reaction to the Congress’s promise to fulfill the middle class’s dream of a home of one’s own, the state government is thinking of coming up with a policy on affordable housing schemes in Gujarat.

Sources in AMC said that the state government seems to be considering providing higher Floor Space Index (FSI) along with more ground coverage and more height for new structures. The government believes that the benefit of these relaxations will be passed on to end users, the sources said.

“Under the new policy that the government seems to be working on, builders may get FSI of 2.4 for affordable housing schemes in R-I zone where FSI of 1.8 is currently available,” said a source in the AMC.

In a step in this direction, AMC officials had called up leading builders for a meeting on ways to provide affordable housing for the middle and lower income groups would be discussed.

Developers with affordable housing schemes and those working on AMC’s slum rehabilitation projects were particularly invited for the meeting which was held on Friday evening. Another topic on the agenda of the meeting was how to make the slum rehabilitation scheme successful in the city. An AMC official said that builders are not able to provide affordable housing in the city because of skyrocketing land prices.

“The government cannot play a role in reducing land prices but it can definitely change provisions of General Development Control Regulation (GDCR) to make housing cheaper,” said the official.

Developers have also demanded that the government lower the rates for paid FSI and processing charges such as scrutiny fee and others. “If the government reduces these charges, builders will be able to pass on the benefits of this to customers,” said the AMC official.

Further, the failure of slum rehabilitation policy and the difficulties faced by builders in implementing it were also discussed at Friday’s meeting.

“Developers want the state government to remove the clause that requires them to get consent of 75% slum-dwellers for slum development,” said another senior AMC official. He also said that the builders had also demanded that instead of being asked to provide temporary accommodation to slum-dwellers, they should be allowed to pay them rent for alternative accommodation while the slum is developed.


Source :- http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report...ng_1724118-all

[GJ10]

Originally Posted by gandhi.rushabh1992

Saurabh Patel, IMO, would be the next best choice. He is a highly educated minister (probably an IIM/IITian) and is a major spoke in the Modi Administration...

I somehow dont trust Anandiben Patel that much..

Then there's also Vajubhai Vala (finance min). He is also quite capable.

Saurabh Patel does seem like the best candidate overall, lack of charisma after Modi will be noticeable, but he talks good economic sense. A lot of ppl talk about Modi running Gujarat more like a CEO than a CM, I think Saurabh Patel would def be able to continue that.

Saurabh Patel: No competition for Gujarat in years to come

Riding on financial and political stability, as well as a sound industrial policy, the Gujarat government feels it would not face competition in the state in the years to come.

Speaking at ‘Business Standard Gujarat Round Table 2012’ in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, Minister of State for industries, energy and petrochemicals, Saurabh Patel, said the state was way ahead of others in the country. “The most important thing for a state is to have a strong foundation of financial stability. Today, Gujarat is one of the most financially stable states in the country. We have passed the financial responsibility Bill and performed better than what we had promised in the Legislative Assembly,” he said during his keynote address at the event. The theme for the event was ‘Gujarat: Its Growth Challenges’.

The state’s budget plan size rose from Rs 5,000 crore in 2002 to Rs 51,000 crore in 2012. “I can assure you we are years ahead, compared to any state. The only state with which Gujarat is compared is Maharashtra. In the last five to seven years, because of the political stability, clear-cut directions & policies and a clear road map, we have been able to do better than any other state in the country. If this continues at the same rate, which I am sure it would, I don’t think there will be any competition for Gujarat in the coming years,” Patel said.

The minister stated three major challenges the state was likely to face in the days to come—land-availability for setting up new industries, skilled manpower and management of water in industrial units and farmland. “Every day, one industry comes with a proposal for immediate availability of land with ready infrastructure. This is a difficult issue for us, as providing ready infrastructure takes time. The demand we are receiving is a big challenge for us to meet,” he added.

For skilled manpower, demand is more than supply. “It is necessary that actual demand is identified by the industry. The government has started skill development centres in partnership with industrial associations. It is trying hard to meet the requirement of industry,” Patel added.

“No one has thought of water as a challenge. Ten years down the line, water would be one of the biggest challenges in the country. If we look at the usage of water in the agriculture or industrial sectors, it is not at all efficient. Because of inefficiency, the consumption is higher, especially in the farm sector. The usage of water would have to be restricted in the coming days. This issue needs to be tackled immediately,” Patel said.

He said Gujarat’s power generation capacity of 15,000 Mw was expected to rise to 30,000 Mw by 2017. “One might think the figure is very high. But it is a fact, as most power plants have started work. This is going to be the most important strength of Gujarat in the years to come,” he said.

Patel expressed concern over the fact that owing to the rise in the prices of land, it would be difficult for the government to secure big areas.

“The policy of setting up private industrial parks would, therefore, attract investors. Because of this policy, we will be one up over other states,” he said.

[tryindiffdrugsngirls]

Its already 17,000 MW but it`s kinda hard to believe it will go up to 30,000MW by 2017 :P a bit over confident?

[GJ10]

Main concern would be whether coal/gas availability affects any projects. Apart from that, the target is very easy.

Please check out the first two posts in this thread. There are already power projects of 12000MW u/c right now. When Congress talk about those Vibrant Gujarat Mous that havent come into fruition yet, a major chunk of that is the power sector. Even though Gujarat is power surplus, 39% of live investment in the state is in the Energy sector, according a recent report from Assocham (link)

Whats funny is that Govt of Gujarat is often accused of hype, but Saurabh Patel has actually quoted an artificially low figure for Gujarats power capacity. The usual 16500ish figure that is quoted is the official figure from 1st Jan 2012.

Since then Adani and Essar alone have commissioned more than 2000MW for the Gujarat Grid, plus whatever % of the first 1600MW from Tatas UMPP also go to Gujarat. Adani and Essar have their own captive coal supplies, Tata unfortunately relied on Central Govt ensuring coal for its pet-project UMPPs...

[Kaushal]

+ 4400MW Mithi Virdi Nuclear Power Plant, it is under development now, but I am sure it would be in commissioning phase by 2017

[gandhi.rushabh1992]

Keshubhai forms Gujarat Parivartan Party

LINK

I am not posting the full article as Server space should not be wasted for crap like this