Shimla, September 3
The state government has effected major changes in the ayurvedic drug purchase policy to raise the quantum of classical medicines from the current 30 to 60 per cent and decentralise procurement by involving Rogi Kalyan Samitis.

Further, as much as 70 per cent of the medicines will be procured from pharmacies located within the state as against the existing 30 per cent. Each ayurvedic health centre will be equipped with first-aid facilities for all kinds of diseases.

They will also be required to procure medicines for common diseases such as fever, common cold, cough, bronchitis, diarrhoea, dysentery, acidity, abdominal pains, joint pains, anaemia, diabetes, hypertension, in sufficient quantities.

Purchase of other medicines will be guided by an understanding of the disease pattern at local level.

Every year appropriate targets for medicines, to be manufactured in the government pharmacies, will be set and procurement of such medicines from open market will be made only in case of shortfall in production.

In the drawing up of the list case of patent medicines required for treatment of specific diseases, preference will be given to local manufacturers wherever a choice is to be made.

Purchases will be made by the respective Rogi Kalyan Samitis at district level and two large institutions for which funds will be allocated by the director of ayurveda.

The system of delivery of medicines at various places has been done away with and, instead, the companies will now be required to deliver the supply at a central location in the state.

Samples of medicines will also be drawn at the point of delivery to ensure quality. The state civil supplies corporation will make further supplies to institutions.

It will be paid a flat fee of Rs 5 lakh each year for the first service and 6 per cent of the value of order for the second service.

The technical bids will be scrutinised by the technical committee and the evaluation of financial bids will also involve officers of the state civil supplies corporation.

The bidders and medicines will be listed disease-wise separately for classical and patent medicines along with recommendations.

The state-level purchase committee will approve the rate contract of the classical and patent medicines district-wise.

Shimla, September 3
Chief Minister PK Dhumal has urged the Centre to bring crop protection from wild animals under ambit of NREGA as farmers are suffering huge losses on this account.

He raised this issue in a meeting with Central Rural Development Minister CP Joshi at a high-level meeting in Delhi today.

He said the farmers in the state were suffering loss worth crores due to damage caused to their crops by wildlife, especially monkeys. He urged that a chowkidar may be allowed to be appointed to protect the crops under NREGA.

He said despite the fact that the Centre was paying Rs 100 daily as wages to those working under NREGA, the state had enhanced the wages to Rs 110 from March 1, 2009, and further enhanced it to Rs 138 in snow-bound tribal areas of the state.

“Due to increase in wages, the extra financial burden of Rs 24 crore per annum is being borne by the state,” he said.

He said under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) a sum of Rs 1,241.68 crore had been spent out of the total grant of Rs 2,195.16 crore.

“A sum of Rs 243.33 crore would be needed to complete 194 new development schemes in the state which needs to be sanctioned to keep up the pace of the development works,” he added.

He pleaded to bring the Panchayati Raj Training Institute at Baijnath under the cover of Extension Training Centre of the Centre. He sought adequate financial assistance to make it an institute of par excellence.

Hamirpur, September 3
Though the Education Department is claiming to provide adequate funds to promote sports in government schools, paucity of funds, declining interest in sports among school students and absence of sports teachers in many schools, is resulting in lower turnout in school games.

So much so that in high school games for girls of three blocks --- Sujanpur, Bijahad and Nadaun blocks of the district which began here today, only 60 odd girls were participating from total the 31 high schools.

Games such as kabaddi, kho-kho, badminton and volleyball were under way in
Government High School, Dugha, near Hamirpur, which would continue for the
next two days.

While several reasons are being cited for the low turnout of students, the main reason for this is stated to be paucity of funds.

According to sources, while the Education Department provides funds for sports at lower schools, no such funds are given for high schools. As a result, many schools find it difficult to send the students for participation in such games.

The other main reason being cited is that many government schools are running without physical training instructors (PTIs) and students are left to play at their own without any technical training about the games.

This problem is in the knowledge of the Education Department and the state government is reportedly spending adequate money to promote sports at the school level. However, things seem to be different on the ground level.

Sudesh Bala, deputy director, higher education, Hamirpur district, agreed that the paucity of funds in high schools was one of the major reasons for low participation in school games.

She said, “Since schools have to pay for the participation of students from their meagre funds, many times they fail to send them. But we have been taking up this problem at different levels from time to time and in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan meetings.”

Hamirpur, September 3
A central team, headed by EK Manjhi, visited the district today to make spot visits for assessing losses incurred due to drought to the last rabi and current kharif crops.

The team was given a presentation by Hamirpur DC Abhishek Jain about the intensity of the losses and funds required to provide relief to affected people. Jain said Nadaun and Bijahad districts were the worst affected areas.

The DC explained various measures by district administration under its contingency plan to provide relief to people like supplying subsidy on seeds and fodder and pressing into service tankers and tractors to supply drinking water in villages.

The district administration had demanded a central government grant for the district to the tune of Rs 3,906.87 lakh to provide further relief to people.

Manjhi said since such natural calamities were becoming quite frequent, the administration should take long-term measures like undertaking watershed projects and rain harvesting.

The central team visited drought-affected villages of Badi Pharnol, Jalari, Dhaneta and Ser Baloni. Other members of this team were B Rath, B Dorje and AS Negi.

Dharamsala, September 3
Swine flu scare has forced authorities to postpone the North Zone Agriculture Fair that was scheduled to be organised at Palampur from September 21-23.

Farmers from the region were to participate in the fair which would have provided them with an opportunity to interact with agriculture experts, companies developing agriculture equipment and fertiliser-producing companies.

KK Katoch, director, extension education, admitted that the fair had been postponed indefinitely. He said since farmers from eight states were to participate in the event, health authorities were of the view that it might not be safe for participants in view of the swine flu threat.

Despite the fact that no swine flu case has been detected in the area so far, the scare has adversely affected business and other activities.

Most of the samples of suspected swine flu cases sent from the area have tested negative. However, the scare has taken a toll on the tourism industry in the area.

The influx of foreign tourists has fallen steeply. Hoteliers and travel agents, who were already reeling under recession, have been further hit.

Vikas, a resident of Bhagsunag, who runs a travel agency, said three trekking troops from the US, who had earlier booked with them, had now cancelled the booking following the swine flu cases in India.

Tourist operators have also claimed that at least 25 per cent of their bookings of foreign nationals have been cancelled.

Many businessmen, who had taken hotels and restaurants on lease here, are now planning to move to Goa in hope of better business.

Dharamsala, September 3
After drought in May and June, now it is excessive rain in the area that has started tormenting people.

Heavy rains in the Dharamsala region today led to heavy destruction at Mahdher village in the Baijnath area.

According to sources, heavy rains caused flash flood in Mahdher rivulet this morning, destroying about 11 cowsheds and killing 10 animals.

It also damaged about 12 houses, gharats (water-run mills) and other structures. Village pradhan Bhikam Ram pegged the loss due to flash flood at about Rs 5 crore.

Kangra DC RS Gupta said flash flood struck the area around 6 am. There was no reported loss of human life. However, there had been loss of animals and property.

The road to the village had also been damaged in patches. A survey would be ordered to assess the damage to private property, he added.

The entire region have been receiving heavy rainfall since early hours today. Most of the streams were overflowing by the afternoon.

The higher reaches of the Dhauladhar mountains also received first snowfall of the season. This led to a decline in the day temperature in the region, forcing the locals to take out woollens.

The heavy rains also resulted in the cancellation of the third one-day match of the Sahara-BCCI Corporate Cup today.

The heavy rains in the entire region have, however, come as good news for farmers of the region.

Sources in the agriculture university said the rains were good for paddy and other crops that had been sown late by farmers in the hills.

The rains were likely to increase the water level on the Pong Dam reservoir. However, it might compensate for the loss due to scanty rains in earlier months.

Chamba, September 3
The transportation services have been disrupted due to blocking of the Chamba- Hadsar highway by landslides at different points, following heavy downpour since last night, according to official reports pouring in to district headquarters Chamba today.

As a result, buses could not ply on the highway, including some other link roads, and the passengers bound for this area remained stranded at the local bus stand.

The report said the Chamba-Pathankot highway, the only lifeline linking the district headquarters with the outer world, also remained blocked due to landslides at certain points for about an hour, but traffic was restored after clearing the debris from the highway.

A double-storeyed house at the tribal Holi village, about 80 km from the district headquarters, collapsed as an aftermath of the heavy rain in the region, reports said, adding that officials were on the job to assess the damage caused due to rain.

Shimla, September 3
The local Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) is organising a five-day training programme on “Library Automation and Networking” for library professionals of Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring states from September 7 to 11.

The programme will help in implementation of two major initiatives launched by the Centre, UGC-Infonet which provides Internet connectivity to universities and the UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium to facilitate better teaching and research in higher education in India.

It facilitates free access to million of full text articles from more than 5,000 electronic journals to all universities.

Teachers, research scholars and students can also download the articles from journals published by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, SpringerLink, Elsevier and American Chemical Society.

Himachal Pradesh University and the IIAS are beneficiaries of the programme being organised in collaboration with Information and Library Network Centre, Ahmedabad.

In the eleventh plan, the INFLIBNET Centre has ambitious plan to extend the facility to all colleges in India.

It is an autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC)set up with the objective to modernise university libraries and establish network of universities for pooling and sharing of information.

Experts from the INFLIBNET and other organisations will demonstrate SOUL
(Software for University Libraries), designed and developed by the INFLIBNET
Centre for library automation.

In all, 35 library professionals will participate in the training programme. This is for the first time that the IIAS is organising such a training programme.