GUJARAT

Gujarat’s sex ratio at birth is third lowest in country

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Despite laws to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender, the girl child continues to be under threat inGujarat.

The state registered the third most skewed sex ratio at birth in the country with 909 girls per 1,000 boys, according to the Centre’s report, ‘Vital statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System 2020.’
Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per 1,000 males. According to the report, Gujarat only fared better than Manipur at 880 and and Daman and Diu at 898. The neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh fared better than Gujarat with sex ratios of 952 and 921 respectively.

In the 2019 report, Gujarat registered the lowest sex ratio at birth (901), followed by Assam (903), Madhya Pradesh (905) and Jammu and Kashmir (909). In 2018, the state recorded the fifth most skewed SRB at 897.

The data reveals that the SRB in rural areas of Gujarat was 929 while the same in the urban areas was 901. The data further reveals that in the state’s rural areas, the SRB was the lowest in Botad at 870, followed by Devbhumi Dwarka at 889, and Mehsana and Gir Somnath at 898 each.
In the urban areas, Mehsana registered the most skewed SRB at 858, followed by Surat at 865 and Botad at 867. The officials said that the sex ratio at birth was most skewed in Mehsana and areas of Saurashtra.

Gujarat had shot to national infamy with a skewed child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 886 girls per 1,000 boys in Census 2001 while it was 890 in Census 2011.

Diabetics form 59% of mucormycosis patients in Gujarat

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Analysis of the mucormycosispatientsinGujaratcarried out by the state Health department revealed that 59% of the total patients were diabetics, whereas 22% were immuno-compromised and 15% had co-morbid conditions. The number of diabetics out of 658 patients atCivil Hospitalin Ahmedabad on the other hand was about 95%, said experts.

The released the analysis of the cases but did not reveal the numbers of total cases so far, or of deaths. The central government on Monday had declared 2,165 cases the highest in the country to be from Gujarat. The state government claimed deaths of 4% patients, putting the approximate figure of deaths at 87, which is much lower than the experts conservative estimate of 250-odd deaths due to theblack fungusin Gujarat.

Analysis by the state government claimed that 14.3% of the total patients have got discharged, whereas 81.6% of the total cases are currently hospitalized. The male to female ratio is 2:1, said officials, whereas 71% of the patients are above 45 years of age. Only 0.5% were below 18 years of age, 28.4% in 18-45 years and 46.3% 45-60 years age group.

Gujarat’s car sales growth zooms past national average

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Be it festive sentiment or ease of supply constraints, the Growth in sale of cars inGujarathas certainly outperformed the national Average. While passenger vehicle sales in the country posted a marginal de-growth of 1.35% in April with 2.82 lakh units being retailed during the month, in Gujarat PV sales posted a 7% growth at 28,597 units retailed, according to data compiled by Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association (FADA).

Gujarat showed an overall growth of 4% in April, against the same month last year. This is significant since many other states have shown a marginal de-growth

Gujarat: Daily biomedical waste jumps 10-fold in a year

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The waste primarily consisted ofPPE kitsused by doctors at hospitals and by paramedics involved in testing and sampling of cluttered localities.

Ahmedabad today accounts for, on Average, more than 65% of the total Covid waste generated in the state, according to GPCB officials.

Apart from contaminated PPE waste, , waste sharps, metals and other solid waste are also destroyed at the 20-odd facilities in the state.

State has biggest dialysis network

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State Health ministerRushikesh Patellaunched 31 dialysis centres under theGujaratDialysis Programme. The programme is run by the Institute of Kidney

Diseases & Research Centre (IKDRC), and has some 500 technicians and experts.

A few other states do have dialysis centre networks, but most run onPPPmodel, he said, adding that Gujarat is perhaps the first in the country to introduce single-use dialyzer and blood tubing for every patient.

Gujarat govt drafting a stringent bill to curb cattle menace

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The urban development department is formulating a bill to effectively curb thecattle menacein urban areas of the state. Although the does not intend to bancattlealtogether in cities, it is expected to make punishment more stringent for cattle roaming on the streets.

The highlight of the new law will be that every cattle head in urban areas will have to be accounted for and owners will have to get a license for every cattle that they own.

The minister said that the new law will not entirely ban cattle in urban areas, but the punishment for leaving cattle on the roads will be made more stringent.

Two crucial studies on the increasing soil salinity inGujarathave raised concerns. Of the 6.73 million hectares of land affected by salinity in India, Gujarat constitutes 2.23 million hectares, followed by UP 1.37 million hectares, whileMaharashtrahas 0.61 million hectares affected by soil salinity. In fact Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra, W Bengal andRajasthanconstitute 75% of saline soils of the country. This has been claimed by the department of botany of Banaras Hindu University in September this year.

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salinity also leads to large agricultural production loses. Another study by department of soil science of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar (CSK),Himachal Pradesh, Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (HPKV), Palampur, India and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu has claimed that Gujarat state suffers 4.83 million tonnes of production loss because of soil salinity. In terms of monetary loss, Gujarat tops the list with Rs 100.63 billion, followed by Uttar Pradesh with Rs 81.29 billion.

The study further adds, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have the largest salt-affected area which is more than 50% of cultivated area in the country. The two states alone share around 79% monetary losses in the country. All these states deserve policy attention for management of salt-affected areas to reduce the crop production and monetary loss, the study states.
One of the major reasons for rising soil salinity is the use of brackish groundwater Irrigation waters that is causing secondary Salinization in about 17% of irrigated lands in the country. Good quality irrigation water is scarce in the country. Increasing pressure of producing more food per unit available arable land forces for extensive use of brackish groundwater for irrigation claims the study.

Gujarat third worst with 1 lakh kids out of school at primary level

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Data tabled by the Union Government in the Lok Sabha on Monday shows thatGujarathas the third highest number of ‘out of school children’ (OoSC) at the elementary level. The only two states that have higherOoSCnumbers areUttar PradeshandBihar.

In reply to a written question, the Union minister of state for Education said that according to thePrabandhonline portal maintained by the Union government, there are 9,30,531 children in the country who are out of school at the primary level.

While UP has the highest number of OoSC at 3,96,665, Bihar is second with 1,34,252. Gujarat ranks third with 1,06,885 children not admitted in any primary class.Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme of the Union government, all states and union territories (UTs) need to conduct household surveys for identification of OoSC. The department of school education and Literacy has developed an online module for compiling data on OoSCs identified by each state and UT on the PRABANDH portal.

Gujarat engineering exports grew by 7% in April to December period

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The engineering sector inGujaratsaw exports grow despite negative global factors such as high and the Ukraine-Russia war.

The Indian engineering Industry registered exports worth $69 billion in April to December 2022, about 7% higher than the same period of the previous year.
Experts say machinery demand has risen and has driven this Growth. Gujarat accounts for around 36% of India’s engineering exports, according to data from theEngineering Exports Promotion Council(EEPC).

According to EEPC, from April to December 2021, Indian engineering exports were worth $64 billion, and grew by 7.8% to $69 billion in April-December 2022. However, December exports registered a decrease of about 3%.

Gujarat is a leading state in the engineering sector and companies serve demand for machinery from industries like automobiles, textiles and chemicals as well as supplying CNC machines, boilers and brass parts to many countries.

Gujarat mulls new law for CCTV installation and data sharing

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If all goes to plan for the , the installation of at least oneCCTVcamera facing the street and providing its feed to local Police for use in crime prevention and detection will be required by law by early next year.

Highly placed sources said several senior Ias and Ips officers are being consulted to bring a draft to life to regulate and integrate the use of CCTVs across private and public buildings in the state. The draft is likely to be tabled in the budget session of the assembly.
Sources close to the development said that so far, commercial establishments are covered in the police notification for installation of standard CCTVs. The proposed law will also cover residential societies and colonies.

Along with involving departments such as urban development, roads and buildings and the like, the government has also sought legal advice to ensure that provisions of the proposed law are not challenged in court.