An outright misinformation in DNA: Non-veg food is banned in Ahmedabad

I was a little surprised to read a picture story in DNA news website, which includes Ahmedabad as the first city among seven where non-vegetarian consumption is banned.

I don't know about the other cities in the list -- Pushkar, Palitana, Tirupati, Veshno Devi, Shirdi, Haridwar -- in the story, which claims that the information is not an opinion but has been obtained from media reports.

However, as for Ahmedabad, non-veg food is not only easily available but is fast becoming increasingly common for those seeking to eat outside home. Not only this, you can easily order it online -- I have myself done it several times.

Of course, there are Jain-dominated housing societies where non-veg food is "not allowed". But I am told even some Jains go out and reach up to non-veg eateries in western Ahmedabad to have "tasty food."

The DNA story is as false as the common saying that Gujarat is a vegetarian state. Officially, 42% people are non-veg in Gujarat, but a caste wise calculation reveals that at least 72% Gujaratis take non-veg food.

Only upper caste Brahmins and Banias, Patels, Jains and a very few OBC castes have been traditionally vegitarian. Others -- Muslims, upper caste Rajputs, Dalits, Adivasis and numerically strong OBC castes Thakores and Kolis are have been traditionally non-veg consumers.

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Disappearing schools: India's education landscape undergoing massive changes

The other day, I received a message from education rights activist Mitra Ranjan, who claims that a whopping one lakh schools across India have been closed down or merged. This seemed unbelievable at first sight. The message from the activist, who is from the advocacy group Right to Education (RTE) Forum, states that this is happening as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, which floated the idea of school integration/consolidation.

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The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. I don't know who owns this site, for there is nothing on it in the About Us link. It merely says, the Nashik Corporation site "is an educational and news website of the municipal corporation. Today, education and payment of tax are completely online." It goes on to add, "So we provide some of the latest information about Property Tax, Water Tax, Marriage Certificate, Caste Certificate, etc. So all taxpayer can get all information of their municipal in a single place.some facts about legal and financial issues that different city corporations face, but I was least interested in them." Surely, this didn't interest...

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RTI framework ‘nuked’? SHANTI Bill triggers alarm, grants centre sweeping secrecy powers

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Punishing senior citizens? Flipkart, Shopsy stop Cash on Delivery in Ahmedabad!

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Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

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