Earth processes in wake of Gujarat earthquake reviewed from space

             Earth processes in wake of Gujarat earthquake 

                               reviewed from space

             Two years after a devastating earthquake in Gujarat, India, scientists from many disciplines met at an international workshop to share the latest knowledge about Earth system processes related to this natural disaster. The meeting particularly focused on the use of spaceborne technology to study the effects of lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere interaction prior to and following the earthquake. More than 80 of the participants were affiliated with research and academic institutions in India, and several scientists from the United States, Germany Russia, and China also participated.

            Soon after the earthquake on 26 January 2001, Indian scientists established a Global Positioning System (GPS) network to monitor crustal motion around the earthquake's epicenter in cooperation with scientists from Japan, Germany, and the United States. Observations made by routine GPS measurements in the past have shown that the Bhuj area has significantly shifted anti-clockwise. The leveling observations made by the Survey of India show that the Santal Pur Bhuj Block was uplifted up to 60 cm, while Bhuj, Bhachau, and Mundra subsided ∼60 cm. The need to establish a dense network of level lines and gravity stations in Kachchh was stressed at the meeting.

Ashis Nandy vs. the state of Gujarat

Ashis Nandy vs. the state of Gujarat: authoritarian developmentalism, democracy and the politics of Narendra Modi

             This article aims to unravel the rise of Gujarat's current Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his brand of personality politics that has dominated Gujarati politics in the past decade. It uses the legal battle between the eminent sociologist Ashis Nandy and the Government of Gujarat, that unfolded in 2008, as a case study to illustrate the dominant impulses of what has been termed ‘Moditva’ or the Modi model and its implications. The state-sanctioned prosecution of Ashis Nandy over a newspaper article that criticized the Gujarati middle classes was ultimately struck down by the Supreme Court of India but the legal battle, and the public discourse around it, serves as a useful prism to understand the deeper processes at work within Moditva and the particular brand of authoritarian developmentalism it offers, with little scope for dissent. The legal battle erupted just a few months before a galaxy of India's top industrialists publicly backed Modi as a future prime minister, hailing his excellent developmental record post-2002 and the creation of an investment-friendly climate in Gujarat. At one level, the Nandy case can be read as a straight narrative of an iconic battle for freedom of speech, one in which Gujarat and its politics were once again at the centre of the debate. But the debate about Moditva is also a metaphor for alternative visions for India. Its future trajectory will be decisive not only for the future of Gujarat but equally for the future of the BJP and for the idea of India itself.