Gujarat village with over Rs 1000 crore in NRI deposits

The tiny Dharmaj village in Anand district, about 70 km from Vadodara, has a population of only 11,333 but has as many as 13 banks.

For the past several decades, NRIs in this village have been depositing money in banks and post offices and the kitty today has grown to over Rs 1,000 crore, making it one of the richest villages in the country and with the highest NRI deposits.

Deputy general manager of Vadodara division of Central Bank of India, R N Hirve said that NRIs of this village prefer to park their money in banks which are mostly state-run banks and therefore the deposit in the banks have now cumulatively run into more than Rs 1,000 crore.

Rich flow of funds has made Dharmaj one of the richest and most literate villages not only in the state but across the country.

The over 3,000 Patidar families live life king size and zip past in swanky cars and almost every family in the village has a member sending in the money for several decades.

There as many as 1,700 families hailing from this village settled in Britain, around 300 families in the US, 160 in New Zealand, 200 in Canada, and 60 in Australia, among others, taking the total number of families staying abroad to around 3,120.

Kerala liquor policy pragmatic, practical: Congress

"The Congress party is such where opinions are given publicly, but when it comes to the new liquor policy of Kerala, it passed muster at various levels. It (policy) is pragmatic and practical," Sudheeran said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of winding up his statewide month-long yatra, which will end on Tuesday with a meeting here in the presence of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

The liquor policy which was announced in August, following a tough stand taken by Sudheeran, aims to achieve prohibition in a phased manner by October 2023.

"The liquor policy that is in place now has undergone an evolution since K. Karunakaran was in office. I am not an autocratic person. This policy was the need of the hour...It (liquor) has become a social menace and we wanted to end it," he said.

The policy includes closing down of all bars in the state barring the five star hotels. It was being questioned by the Kerala bar owners association.

The Kerala High Court has been hearing the case. Earlier this, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the Kerala assembly that though the fundamental rules in the policy would not be changed, certain corrections would be made with regards to the tourism sector and the rehabilitation of about 7,000 employees of the bars.

Sudheeran came under attack from his party colleagues, state Excise Minister K. Babu and senior Congress leader Vakkom Purushothaman, who went public by describing Sudheeran's stand as impractical. "An image is not one that is created by self, instead it has to be thrust upon by people," Sudheeran said.

Source: Chhattisgarh Hindi News and MP Hindi News

Kerala opposes inter-linking of rivers

Making it clear that Kerala would not agree to the project at any cost, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the Assembly on Wednesday that repeated pressure from the state resulted in National Water Development Agency (NWDA) removing Pampa-Achenkovil linking with Vaipar from its priority list.

Government would continue its opposition to the project by presenting before the forum concerned, the adverse impact it could cause to the state, he said.
  
The Chief Minister also claimed that the project would lead to massive ecological destruction and inundate 2000 heactares of land, including forests. Kuttanad area where the two rivers join would become a desert if the project was implemented, he said.
  
Besides, studies conducted on the two rivers by experts have also found that there was no excess water. In the case of Mullaperiyar dam issue, the state had "certain weaknesses" because it has a long-standing agreement with neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

But in this case, there was no need for anxiety as waters and rivers are state subjects and the Centre could not proceed on the matter without the consent of the states concerned. "We are constitutionally protected in this issue," he said.

The project envisaged by NWDA proposing to link the Pampa-Achenkovil rivers with Vaipar as part of river linking scheme under Peninsular component was taken by Mathew T Thomas (JD-S).
  
He demanded that steps be taken to protect the interests of the state by resisting 'influences' on the Centre, especially in the wake of a Supreme court verdict on the issue.

Source: Chhattisgarh News in Hindi and MP News in Hindi