Archive for the 'Development' Category

With taps running dry for years, Vatva falls back on private borewells

Friday, December 21st, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, December 21 Sairaben Ahmed (name changed) glances furtively at the hosepipe snaking across the floor of the kitchen as she chops vegetables.

In her ‘one room, kitchen, toilet’ tenement in Maqdum Nagar in Vatva, she is waiting for the evening supply of water. However, she is not the only person in Maqdum Nagar who [...]

Where garbage, kids and cattle battle for space

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, December 13 With barely two days left for the second and final phase of the Assembly elections, the fanfare of campaigning is at its peak in Maninagar. Both the Congress and BJP workers rallying strong and loud for their candidates—Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel and Chief Minister [...]

Slums razed for beautification, but none to look after the displaced

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, December 9 One fine morning in November 2005, Pathan Shamshad was getting ready to go to work, when he suddenly heard bulldozers thundering through the narrow lanes outside his house.
Without any notice, the workforce of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Board (AUDA) had descended in the Bakra Mandi area of Ranip to demolish houses.
The [...]

At IIM-A food festival, organic foods make healthiest profits

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha

Ahmedabad, December 4: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) is providing a platform to entrepreneurs to market and sell their traditional delicacies, which are made using organic ingredients. Dilip Patel is one such person who has been in the business of manufacturing pure jaggery, without using chemicals or acid, for the last ten [...]

Blind and borderless – Tenberken shows the light

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, November 23 Sabriye Tenberken can read and write in the dark. She even teaches her students to do the same. No, Tenberken does not possess miraculous powers, nor does she belong to the world of wizardry. She is blind, but as she says, that doesn’t prevent her from being a visionary.Along with her [...]

Retired defence personnel struggle for medical aid

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha

Ahmedabad, November 6: A 65-year-old retired infantry jawan stands exhausted at the gate of the Ex-Sevicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinic at Airport Circle in the scorching afternoon sun. The pain in the chest of this erstwhile jawan of the Indian Army has only worsened since 8 am when he left his house in [...]

Quack’s patients, Suffering in patience

Friday, October 12th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Adesar (Kutch), October 12 “In this profession, it is not the degrees and the qualifications that matter. What matters is experience,” says Ghanshyam P Gohel, injecting a six month old baby. “Though I did not study beyond the primary school level, I have been the most trusted doctor in all of Rapar for the [...]

World Space Week- an out-of-the-world experience

Thursday, October 4th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, October 04 If you thought withdrawing money from your nearest ATM is not rocket science, think again. At the World Space Week exhibition organised at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) campus, scientists are busy explaining to children and adults how technology, which we often take for granted, uses space science.

“When a person [...]

Fishy Tales

Friday, September 28th, 2007

Pulkit Vasudha
Thousands of fish have been swept up the shores of Gujarat in recent years. The incidents have become more common in the last few months. Here’s a quick recap at the latest incident of fish deaths along the shores of Nirmal Gujarat.
September 2005: Lakhs of fish die after immersion of Ganapati idols in Kankaria [...]