Gujarat government asked to help small and diamond units

April 24th, 2009 JETPUR - The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat has been taking credit for the success of the schemes floated by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi said Friday. 'The BJP government in Gujarat is claiming many of the UPA government schemes as its own and receiving praises for the same.

April 9th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat has sought more paramilitary forces for poll duty, pointing out that the state has been on the terror map, an official said here Thursday. 'As of now, the central government has allotted 100 companies of paramilitary forces for poll duty in Gujarat against the state government's demand for 375 companies considering that Gujarat is a potential terrorist target,' the senior home department official told IANS.

March 17th, 2009 SURAT - A German university has sent a team of faculty members and students to Gujarat to help the struggling diamond industry find a solution to its woes. The team of 28 students, three researchers and faculty members from the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg has arrived here Sunday.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP), formed by dissident Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, will focus on the problems of Gujarat's nearly two million diamond workers during its campaign for the Lok Sabha polls, for which it will pick candidates after the big parties have announced their nominees. 'We will wait for the BJP and Congress to announce their list of candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha seats and then decide which of our candidates should be fielded,' MJP president Govardhan Zadhapia told IANS.

March 2nd, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The downturn-hit diamond workers in Gujarat should be given financial aid at par with the concessions offered to the Tata Group for its Nano car project, a breakaway faction of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said Sunday. The Mahagujarat Janata Party (MJP) - formed by some rebels of the Gujarat unit of the BJP - criticised Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his alleged apathy towards the recession-hit diamond workers in the state.

March 1st, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday announced a skill enhancement training and aid package for the slowdown-hit diamond workers in the state. Under the package, unemployed diamond workers from Surat, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar will get a stipend of Rs.100 per day during their training period.

February 22nd, 2009 SURAT/NEW DELHI - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Saturday urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to refrain from commenting on the state's economic initiatives but the Congress retorted by terming Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pro-corporate, saying it had little concern for the masses. 'Some people come from Delhi and give us advice on the Tata Nano project without full information,' Modi said in Surat.

February 16th, 2009 PALANPUR - Workers of diamond polishing units from north Gujarat, who lost their jobs due to the global financial meltdown, have threatened to boycott the Lok Sabha elections to protest government apathy towards their plight. 'We are firm on boycotting the Lok Sabha elections.

February 11th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Thursday called for state-specific funding programmes and special packages for the state's ailing industries, including the diamond processing sector. Modi made the observations during a meeting with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D.

January 18th, 2009 SURAT - Poor overseas demand due to the global economic meltdown has left thousands jobless in this Gujarat city, India's diamond cutting and polishing hub. Surat has about 6,000 units that provided jobs to 5.5 million people, most of them from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, who cut and polish almost 70 percent of the world's rough diamonds.

January 18th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - Owners of diamond cutting and processing units across Gujarat Monday floated a new organisation to represent them in a more unified manner and put greater pressure on the central government to heed them. So far, the Surat Diamond Association was the representative group of diamond cutters, traders and polishers, taking up issues such as mass employment and closure of units.

January 5th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to announce a 'relief package' for the diamond industry, which was hit hard by the slowdown. In the representation to the prime minister, Modi said the state's diamond industry had made great contributions in terms of revenue income to the Indian government by exporting polished diamonds.

December 31st, 2008 SURAT - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's Dec 26 assurance that diamond workers' livelihood would be secured has not instilled confidence among them. Not all closed diamond polishing units have resumed operations, and eight workers have committed suicide in less than a week since then.

December 25th, 2008 AHMEDABAD - The Congress party Friday accused Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi of not taking enough measures to help the crisis-stricken diamond industry of the state. For four months the workers of diamond units were on the street crying for succour.

December 25th, 2008 SURAT - India's $50-billion gems and jewellery industry should take the advantage of the global economic slowdown to build a strong overseas market by offering products at 'cost-effective' prices, said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi here Friday. 'I have decided to take global recession as an opportunity.