Wordsmiths & Newsplumbers

BY R.K.MISRA Insidious are the ways authorities function,   preaching one thing, practicing quite   another .   Administrative muscle- flexing   to suit political goals was on display when the BJP led   Vijay Rupani government in Gujarat banned the export of livestock days ahead of Eid. Even the Narendra Modi- led government   expressed its intent   to confirm it countrywide but stopped short of doing so. Here is a classic case of how governments function in India, looking London and   talking Tokyo. In April, the Gujarat High Court quashed three notifications of the state government aimed at stopping export of livestock from Tuna port in Kutch, terming it a ‘colourable exercise of powers”, to do something which cannot be done directly. A division bench of justices Harsha Devani and Bhargav Karia termed the decision as ‘grossly illegal, unconstitutional and violative of the fundamental rights of the petitioners”. Several livestock exporters had sought judicial re

BY R.K.MISRA Gujarat spent Rs 3,000 crore building the Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world, but in Surat 22 students died on May 24 because the fire brigade did not  have a  ladder to reach the fourth floor of a building in flames. Considered the commercial capital of Gujarat, Surat is the eighth largest city of India. There are almost 14,000 people per km here and the skyline is dotted with multi -storeyed buildings. Many lack safety standards, leading to the chilling sight of these teenagers jumping to their deaths when a fire engulfed their coaching centre. There was not even a netting to catch them as bystanders clicked the sight on their mobiles, showing the criminal callousness of the government. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has ordered a crackdown and warned that the guilty would not be spared but it is his government as well as those of his predecessors,   Narendra Modi and Keshubhai Patel, which are in the dock. A perturbed National Human Right