CM launches time share scheme
SHIMLA, Nov 5 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, the Chief Minister, today launched "Himalayan Leisure", an attractive time share scheme, which will provide inflation-free and assured accommodation to tourists at the destination of their choice in the state for a week every year over the next 20 years.

HVC leader joins Congress
DHARAMSALA, Nov 5 — The Congress today got a shot in the arm as Mr Kishori Lal, who had contested the previous assembly election on the HVC ticket, formally joined the Congress party. Mr Kishori Lal, a staunch supporter and loyalist of Mr Sant Ram, had contested the previous election against his mentor on the HVC ticket.

Scholars explode myths on woman
SHIMLA, Nov 5 — A three-day national seminar on "Indian Women in History, Myth and Fiction" commenced at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study here today.

HPCC divided over youth wing leader
SHIMLA, Nov 5 — Appointment of the new chief of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress has been postponed for the time being because of differences over the issue among top leaders of the Congress Party.

Devotees take dip in Renuka lake
NAHAN, Nov 5 — The Renuka fair concluded yesterday at the historic Renuka pilgrim centre, about 42 km from here. Thousands of devotees from Himachal, Punjab Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had a dip in the Renuka lake.

NSUI activists allege victimisation
DHARAMSALA, Nov 5 — Leaders of the National Students Union of India, have alleged that their activists, are being politically victimised by the college authorities.

• CM asked to solve workers' problems
• Woman with 820 gm charas held

• HVC leader flays former CM

CM launches time share scheme
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, the Chief Minister, today launched "Himalayan Leisure", an attractive time share scheme, which will provide inflation-free and assured accommodation to tourists at the destination of their choice in the state for a week every year over the next 20 years.

Giving details of the Rs 48 crore scheme, he said unlike most other time schemes promoted by private companies, the entire investment, would be refundable after the completion of the ownership period of 20 years and since the state Tourism Development Corporation was offering its functioning properties there was no waiting period. The corporation had tourist complexes at all the prime destinations, the investors could immediately start utilising the purchased units.

The scheme had been divided into three seasons, namely premium, high and normal to enable them to select the best suited period. Above all the scheme offers wide range of investment options ranging from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1.50 lakh per unit on the basis of week period and locations selected.

Another attractive feature was that the purchased units could be willed, gifted and transferred by the owners who also had the freedom of exchanging, postponing their week.

The funds raised through the scheme would be utilised for completing the ongoing projects and implementing new ones. He said the Pong Dam lake which attracted exotic migratory birds would be developed into a major tourist destinations by setting up a snake park and an aquarium. Besides, the Dal Lake at Dharamsala would also be improved at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore.

Priority would be given to promotion of adventure activities like heliskiing, white water rafting and parasailing. He said the decision of the Centre to relax inner line restrictions in tribal areas had given a boost to tourism in Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur. As many as 23 tourism projects were coming up in the tribal belt in the private sector.

Mr Dhumal said the Taj group was keen on starting its operations in the state and it was likely to send a team to the state to select a site.

Mr Rakesh Pathania, and Mr P.C. Kapoor, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the corporation were also present.

CM justifies demand for CBI probe
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, today said that the demand of the Himachal Vikas Congress for a CBI inquiry into the charges against Mr Virbhadra Singh, a former Chief Minister, was justified and asserted that there were many specific allegations which warranted an indepth probe.

Talking to newsmen here he said his government had examined the charge sheet submitted by the party at its own level before recommending it to the Centre for a CBI probe.

Replying to a question he said the HVC supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, was not blackmailing the government by issuing threats to withdraw support and all he wanted was a quick action on the charge sheet.

He said there was no threat to his government and Mr Sukh Ram had himself made it clear that he had no intention to destabilise the government.

Referring to the statement of 26 Congress legislators opposing the demand for CBI probe, Mr Dhumal said the Congressmen had the right to defend their leader but at the same time they could not challenge the right of others to demand an impartial inquiry into the charges.

He said if Mr Virbhadra Singh was so clean, why was he afraid of a probe then?

Regarding the transfer scam Mr Dhumal said the government had invited complaints from employees and these would be probed by the police agencies.

HVC leader joins Congress
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Nov 5 — The Congress today got a shot in the arm as Mr Kishori Lal, who had contested the previous assembly election on the HVC ticket, formally joined the Congress party.

Mr Kishori Lal, a staunch supporter and loyalist of Mr Sant Ram, had contested the previous election against his mentor on the HVC ticket. His return to the Congress is a big morale booster for the party as he had polled about 5000 votes, while Mr Sant Ram had won by slender margin of 900 votes.

Mr Kishori Lal said he had left the HVC as the party chief, Mr Sukh Ram was merely trying to settle his ‘personal enmity’ with others, without trying to protect the interests of the party.

Instead of staking a claim for contesting the Baijnath election, Mr Sukh Ram ‘compromised’ by demanding a CBI inquiry against Mr Virbhadra Singh. Another reason for his leaving the HVC was that ever since the BJP had come to power in Himachal and at the Centre, the rising prices had virtually brought the poor on the brink of starvation.

Mr Kishori Lal joined the Congress in the presence of Mr Sat Mahajan and the DCC president and MLA, Mr B B L Butail.

Meanwhile, Mr Dulo Ram today filed his nomination papers. A number of BJP ministers and MLAs accompanied him in a big procession to the SDM's office. However, the other contender for the BJP ticket, Ms Indu Goswami, and Mr Kamal Kishore were conspicuous by their absence at that time. However, Ms Goswami reached the SDM's office later after Mr Dulo Ram had filed his papers.

Though the supporters of Mr Dulo Ram were in an upbeat mood, they admitted that with the return of Mr Kishori Lal to the Congress, the contest could become tough as he had a strong base among Dalits and the OBCs in Baijnath town and adjoining villages.

Besides, the absence of the Chief Minister at the time of the filing of nominations by Mr Dulo Ram has also sent a wrong signal. It is common knowledge that the Dhumal camp had been backing Ms Goswami for the ticket. Mr Dulo Ram is a Shanta Kumar loyalist and it was the latter who pleaded his case at the centre.

On the other hand, the Congress put up a united show in Baijnath when Mr Sudhir Sharma, son of Mr Sant Ram, filed his nomination papers, despite the differences between Mr Virbhadra Singh and the PCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan.

After the filing of nomination papers by the Congress and BJP nominees, there was hectic activity in Baijnath. While both the Congress and the BJP are facing the threat of undercutting by their own partymen, the job of "appeasing" those who had been in the race for the ticket has already begun.

The Congress, on its part, is trying to encash on the sympathy factor as Mr Sant Ram has represented the Baijnath constituency for a long period. The CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, tried his best to pacify the Rajput community, which had wanted the ticket for its representative as it has over 10,000 voters in the constituency. A Congress Gaddi leader has, meanwhile, announced his resignation from the post of General Secretary of the Youth Congress. He was also a claimant for the party ticket.

The main contest will now be between the Congress and the BJP, but the role of the HVC workers will be crucial as they can internally help the Congress.

Scholars explode myths on woman
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — A three-day national seminar on "Indian Women in History, Myth and Fiction" commenced at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study here today.

In her opening remarks Dr Vijaya Ramaswamy of Delhi University said throughout history texts, myths and legends, literary works and the arts, imaging had been a male preserve. Women had been at the receiving end while canons, norms and laws for society were being drawn through history. Women had more often been imaged against, rather than finding the space for imaging the self.

As patriarchy appropriated the voice of women, there seemed to be very little difference in the way women spoke or imaged themselves. In extolling modesty and chastity and in condemning independence and boldness in their representations of the ideal female stereotype, women were speaking in a patriarchal voice, Dr Ramaswamy added while observing that a few women who spoke differently were considered deviant and dangerous. In her presentation Dr Kumkum Roy of Delhi University spoke of the unique early Buddhist documents Therigatha (songs of elder nuns) and Theragatha (songs of monks) and examined the understanding of imagery in these texts. It is important that while recovering pure unmediated. Women’s voices from these texts were impossible and perhaps unnecessary, our understanding of the images of women and men could be refined and enriched by broadening perspectives, she said.

Historical tradition in India conformed more or less to an ideological pattern in which women had been imaged by men or had imaged themselves in the mode of a male representation of women. Analysing the historical and literacy perceptions of heroic women in Rajasthan, including the legendary Rani Padmini, Dr Ramya Sreenivasan traced the imaging from the Rajput to the Gujjar traditions, from elitism to tribalism, largely drawing on Malik Mohammad Jaisi's "Padmavat".

Nandini Sinha, a historian from Delhi noted that royal records between 7th and 15th centuries from southern Rajasthan referred to women of the royal household as queens, patrons and builders. However, as the political processes of formation of regional states reached its peak, queens their names, lineage and background disappeared from the royal records, Nandini Sinha said.

The performing arts provided the most powerful representations of the imaging and self-imaging of women and perhaps the best example of women representing themselves in the musical tradition came from thumri. Vidya Rao, a fine exponent of thumri rendered lyrics of the Radha-Krishna lore.

In her paper on "understanding dais" imagery of the female body, Dr Janet Chawla, coordinator of the Matrika project gave a detailed account of the internally coherent empirically and culturally embedded indigenous knowledge of dais Dr Chawla sees while ritual uncleanness was the language of the Brahmanical oral and textual tradition women's work of birth involved different forms of scarlity and ethnomedical rites and practices.

As many as 25 experts from different parts of the country representing music, theatre, films fiction, history, health and sociology are participating in the seminar.

HPCC divided over youth wing leader
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — Appointment of the new chief of the Himachal Pradesh Youth Congress has been postponed for the time being because of differences over the issue among top leaders of the Congress Party.

It is learnt that the new President of the Youth Congress might be nominated sometime in December only after the byelection for the Baijnath Assembly seat is held.

The new chief of the party is to be appointed in place of Mr Kuldeep Pathania, a trusted lieutenant of the CLP leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh, who has crossed the age for holding the post.

The front runners for the post are, Mr Pramod Sharma and Mr Sukhwinder Singh (Sukhu). Mr Virbhadra Singh is learnt to have also recommended Mr Harshwardhan Chauhan, a sitting MLA, and Miss Renuka Dogra for the post.

Mr Pramod Sharma and Mr Sukhwinder Singh are making serious efforts for being nominated as Youth Congress chief. While Mr Sharma is the nominee of Mr Virbhadra Singh, the other Congress top brass, including the PCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, Thakur Ram Lal, Mrs Vidya Stokes and Mr Anand Sharma, are reportedly backing Mr Sukhu.

Appointment of the new Youth Congress chief has brought the differences among the top Congress leaders to the fore.

The Mahajan camp initially supported Mr Kuldeep Rathore for the post, but he is now out of the race because of the age factor. Mr Rathore is considered close to Mr Anand Sharma. Now they are backing Mr Sukhu, who the other camp alleges had always remained close to the HVC leader, Mr Sukh Ram.

The Youth Congress platform has always been considered significant by the seniors. Mr Sukh Ram mostly utilised the platform here while he was a minister at the Centre and the Congress Party set-up was in the hands of Mr Virbhadra Singh.

Mr Virbhadra Singh is learnt to have recommended to the AICC that Mr Harshwardhan Chauhan should be appointed the youth wing chief in case Mr Sharma was not considered. Mr Chauhan represents the Shillai constituency of the Sirmour district where all the five Assembly seats were won by the Congress. He is learnt to have described Mr Chauhan as one from an old Congress family and a non-controversial person.

The other group does not oppose Mr Chauhan, but is learnt to be vehemently blocking the appointment of Mr Sharma, who they say does not fit into the criteria fixed in the recent delegates' convention for appointment of state chiefs of the Youth Congress. They also point out that Mr Sukhu’s organising capacity was tested as the NSUI chief for six years from 1990 which included a crucial period when the BJP government headed by Mr Shanta Kumar was in power. Moreover, he is a sitting councillor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation for the second consecutive term.

Devotees take dip in Renuka lake
From Our Correspondent

NAHAN, Nov 5 — The Renuka fair concluded yesterday at the historic Renuka pilgrim centre, about 42 km from here.

Thousands of devotees from Himachal, Punjab Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had a dip in the Renuka lake.

Presiding over the concluding ceremony, Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, Governor of Himachal Pradesh appealed to the youth be more considerate towards their parents. She said, according to the legend Lord Parshuram descends from his abode in nearly Mahendra Parbat every year during this period to meet his mother Goddess Renuka and it was a reminder to the progeny to be more respectful and considerate towards one's parents. In a lighter vein she reminded the youth that a law has been enacted in the state making it mandatory to take proper care of elderly people.

Mrs Rama Devi praised the hard working women of the state. She, however, regretted that most of the men indulge in drinking instead of cooperating with women in household chores. Emphasising the need for cleanliness, the Governor said that during her visits to various hospitals in the state she had observed that most of the diseases prevalent among people, particularly in women, could be eradicated by paying a little more attention to personal hygiene and sanitation. Education and literacy were of utmost importance to accelerate the pace towards progress and prosperity, she added.

The Governor also paid tributes to Guru Nanak Dev Ji whose birth anniversary fell yesterday.

Earlier Congress MLA from Nahan Kush Parmar welcomed the chief guest and apprised her of various problems being faced by the people in the district. Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kaushal honoured the Governor by presenting her the traditional shawl and "dhattu (bandana)". She was also presented a portrait of Goddess Renuka.

The Governor also distributed prizes to various government departments which held their exhibitions at the fair. Exhibitions of Agriculture and Horticulture Departments were adjudged best and second best, respectively, while third prize was shared by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Industries.

The Governor also awarded prizes to the local resident Sunita Gupta for doing meritorious work in small savings and an artist Hardev Singh Bainwal who presented the Governor with her portrait.

NSUI activists allege victimisation
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Nov 5 — Leaders of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), have alleged that their activists, are being politically victimised by the college authorities.

Talking to newspersons here yesterday they alleged that the college authorities were dragging NSUI students into one controversy or the other on the directions of "political bosses". The campus president of the NSUI, Mr Parvesh Rana, said it was a drunkard, who came and disrupted a cricket match between activists of the NSUI and ABVP. He provoked the students, which led to a clash.

The state general secretary of the NSUI, Mr Sumeet Khanna, said if there was a clash between two groups, then why had cases been registered only against the NSUI activists. "It is surprising that after the clash all 20 students who had been rounded up by the police belonged to the NSUI," he said.

The campus general secretary of the NSUI, Mr Aman Sharma, said what was most intriguing was the fact that when the police raided the hostel they were not accompanied by the Principal or the warden but by an ABVP activist, who had already left the college. Regarding the recovery of weapons from the hostel, he said there was no witness, and moreover if this was true why did the police not register cases against them.

CM asked to solve workers' problems
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — The president of the HP Non-gazetted Employees Federation, Mr Gopal Dass Verma, yesterday called on the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, and sought settlement of the grievances of employees.

Mr Verma told newsmen that the Chief Minister assured him that the meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee would be convened after the by-election for the Baijnath Assembly seat.

We said Mr Dhumal was sympathetic towards the demands of the employees.

Woman with 820 gm charas held
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 5 — The police has arrested a woman and recovered 820 gm of charas from her possession.

The Superintendent of Police, Mr A.N. Sharma, said that the owner of a tea stall and his servant had also been arrested in this connection.

Eight persons have been arrested for selling illicit liquor.

The police has launched a drive against eve-teasers and anti-social elements here, he added.

HVC leader flays former CM

BILASPUR, Nov 5 — Major Shivram Sharma, President of the district unit of the HVC, yesterday criticised the former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, for calling Mr Sukh Ram, HVC leader, a `black mailer'.

Addressing mediapersons here, Major Sharma said the statements of the former Chief Minister only showed his frustration and fear of facing a CBI inquiry. He alleged that during his tenure Mr Virbhadra Singh had misused his power to break the unity of ex-servicemen in the state.