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Uncertainty over IIAS ends
Strengthen tourism infrastructure: CM
Anti-cannabis drive hits tourism
HC orders truckers to transport cement
Miss Tibet fails to elicit response
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Train derails, no casualties reported
Kangra, September 29 Baijnath-bound train from Pathankot derailed near Sammela, 7 km from here, this afternoon, leaving rail traffic on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar track disrupted. 
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Uncertainty over IIAS ends
Shimla, September 29 The prestigious institute has been in a state of suspended animation ever since the UPA regime instituted an inquiry into the allegations of saffronisation and sacked the governing body headed by Dr G.C. Pande, constituted during the NDA government. An ad hoc governing body was appointed under the chairmanship of Dr J.S. Grewal for the remaining term of the sacked body which was to expire in April, 2005. Uncertainty gripped the institute as the government failed to set up a new governing body after the expiry of the term of the ad hoc body. Moreover, action on the report of the committee headed by Dr D.
Bandopadhyay, which inquired into the affairs of the institute, was still awaited. The inquiry committee had found glaring irregularities in the award of fellowships, besides damning evidence of saffronisation. It also unearthed serious administrative and financial irregularities in the functioning of the institute. The committee had submitted its final report in July. The ministry accepted the report and forwarded it for taking further action to the governing body. The meeting of the governing body was to be held in October but with a new governing body in place it may take some more time to consider the report. Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, an economist who is presently a member of the Planning commission,
has been made chairperson of the new governing body. The other members are Dr K.P. Singh, a former chairperson of the University Grants Commission, Dr
Savyasaachi Bhattacharya, a historian from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Mr Sadanand Menon, an art critic, Prof Shakil Ahmed, former Vice-Chancellor of Bihar University, Dr Mushir-ul-Hasan, Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Milia Islamia, and Dr Roopa B. Shah, Vice-Chancellor of the SNDI Women University, Mumbai. The chairpersons of the UGC, the Indian Council of Social Research, the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, the Indian Council of Historical Research and the Director-General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are the ex-officio members. The Director of the institute, the secretary and the Financial Adviser to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Secondary and Higher Education) will also be members of the body by virtue of their office. It is for the first time in the history of the institute that an agro-economist had been made chairperson of the governing body. An ardent believer in the philosophy of Ambedkar, Dr Mungekar is a well-known social thinker and a reformist. He held the chair of economics at the centre of advanced studies in Mumbai University. He was made a member of the Planning Commission in view of his contribution to agriculture and development economics. |
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Strengthen tourism infrastructure: CM
Shimla, September 29 He was speaking at the concluding function of the World Tourism Week celebrations organised by the Department of Tourism and Institute of Vocational Studies, Himachal Pradesh University. He said the middle-class tourist had been back bone of the tourism industry in the state and this needs to be promoted and strengthened further. “Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the world which throws open ample opportunities for self-employment, while generating employment for many,” he said. With the availability of basic amenities in the rural areas, thrust should be towards promoting rural tourism, as this would uniformly strengthen the economy of the state, he said. “However it must be kept in mind that the services being offered should be of professional quality so that the stay of the tourists is comfortable,” he stressed. Mr Virbhadra Singh said tourism was being given a new direction and the new Tourism Policy would help make tourism a household name all over the state. “The state offers so much in the shape of rich cultural heritage, folk culture, tribal areas, heritage, religious, and adventure tourism,” he said. Efforts are being made to break the seasonality factor and disperse tourism to lesser-known tribal areas. He said various national parks would be thrown open to tourists, while laying emphasis on eco-tourism. He said education tourism had been introduced as a course in the university so that the requirement of professionally skilled manpower could be met and educated youth could get jobs or have their own private ventures. |
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Anti-cannabis drive hits tourism
Kasol (Kulu), September 29 The drive has given a body-blow to tourism not only in the Manikaran valley but in the Kulu-Manali circuit just when the travel agents, hoteliers and guest house owners were welcoming tourists on World Tourism Day here yesterday. "We welcomed over 20 tourists, including eight foreigners, in a traditional way here on Tourism Day," said Mr Jagatnath, president, Kulu Hoteliers and Guest-House Owners' Association, Kulu. "The occupancy is almost 5-10 per cent here as the drive has sent wrong signals to tourists", he added. "The tourists have almost fled from the valley's guest houses as they fear unpleasant questioning by the police", said guest house owners here. The July to October period is the main tourist season in the valley. "The room occupancy has dipped to 5 to 10 per cent from the peak 40-50 per cent reported last week", said Mr Tayal Singh, vice-president, gram panchayat, Kasol, who runs a guest house here. But on the other hand, District Tourism Officer, Kulu, Mr Kamal Singh, said tourists start moving out from the valley after September. With Manilkaran as their base, foreigners make a beeline to the surrounding villages in the Tosh, Pulga,
Puni, Talpani, Manikaran, Malana and Barshaini panchayats- a new drug haven in Kulu district. They stay there for months together till their six-month visa expires, reveal locals. "The main attraction is cheap and hassle-free stay and an easy, cheaper access to charas produced in the valley", they added. To stay for longer period the foreigners have invented in new way. After their tourist visa expires, they go to Nepal for a day or two and then come back, reviving the visa for another six months, said Mr AP Singh, Superintendent of Police, Kulu. "We have been cutting the cannabis in the valley for the past three years and nab them whenever we suspect them of smuggling", he added. The villagers accommodate them as paying guests for months together and earn Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 in a year. "Most of village unemployed youth are running this paying guest business", informed Mr Govind Singh, a local who is among over half a dozen residents, who has married a foreigner. Mr Tayal Singh said tourism and not charas trade had made the valley prosperous. "The villagers are aware that the charas is illegal. But drug addiction is a problem that afflicts more youth in towns than in the villages ", he claimed. But the tourists admitted that charas was an attraction in the valley. "The charas may be an attraction for some. For me it is snowy Himalayas", claimed Mr Mozad, an Israeli tourist, who along with his three friends left for Kulu yesterday from Kasol. The NCB's Zonal Superintendent, Mr OP Sharma, said the 2600 bighas of cannabis that had been destroyed showed that the valley had become a drug haven for Israelis and other foreigners over the past few years. Even a kingpin, an Israeli, who was arrested in Chandigarh this year with a record haul of over 165 kg of charas, operated his chain in the valley. The team never disturbed the genuine tourists", he added. |
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HC orders truckers to transport cement
Shimla, September 29 A Division bench comprising the Chief Justice, Mr Vinod Kumar Gupta, and Justice Deepak Gupta, directed the Deputy commissioner and Superintendent of Police, Solan, to ensure the compliance of this order that business in the area may run smoothly. This order came on an application filed by the Gujarat Ambuja Cement factory, alleging that the truck operators in the Darlaghat are causing great loss to their business by not lifting the material. It was alleged that the truck operators are raising unnecessary demands. The company said the truck operators engaged by them are getting more freight for carrying the material than notified by the state government in its notification on September 20, 2005. The cement factory has urged the court to allow making an alternative arrangement for carrying its material. The High Court took serious note and directed the Chief Secretary to constitute a permanent committee of at least three officers of the rank of Principle Secretary including Secretary transport. The Court further directed to constitute this committee with in three weeks from today, which would hold its first meeting within two weeks thereafter. The committee would interact with the representatives of the truck operators union based on such inputs, may decide to review the freight structures. |
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Miss Tibet fails to elicit response
Dharamsala, September 29 Despite this being the fourth consecutive
year of the contest, it has failed to generate the anticipated response. One major reason for the hesitation of prospective contestants is the
opposition of the contest from the Tibetan Government-in-exile, which had termed the show ‘un-Tibetan.’ The organisers spent the day, anxiously waiting for the applicants, who had initially expressed interest but were now ‘dilly-dallying.’ “We are still hoping that at least some of the applicants would turn up at the eleventh hour tomorrow as we had planned to start off with the training sessions from September 30. Otherwise, we might face the same situation as in the year 2003, when only one contestant, Tsering Kyi, turned up out of the initial 10 applicants and was declared the unopposed winner,” said an organiser. Since this is a new phenomenon, Tibetan girls still do not feel confident enough to walk down the ramp and that is why the low number of applicants. All the eight applicants this time are from outside of Dharamsala. Last year, there were five contestants for the pageant and the winner, Tashi Yangchen, hit the headlines when she was dropped from the Miss Tourism Pageant 2005 in Malaysia, allegedly under pressure from the Chinese embassy, which insisted that she participated as ‘Miss Tibet-China’ as Tibet was a part of
China, he added. |
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Train derails, no casualties reported
Kangra, September 29 According to railway sources, the train was on the way to Baijnath when wheels of one of the coaches slipped out 200 metres from Sammela railway station. No coach, however, overturned and no casualties were reported. |
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Shimla, September 29
