Dehradun, September 20
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, with his first electoral victory as Chief Minister in his bag, will embark upon another important assignment to distribute largesse in the shape of positions of chiefs and vice-chiefs of various corporations and boards in the near future.

After taking over the reins of the state in the last week of June, following the decision of the ruling BJP high command to replace Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), Nishank had taken resignations of all those party leaders who were given such assignments.

For nearly three months since Nishank took over, all these senior ruling BJP leaders and even party legislators have been waiting for the restoration of their positions. They were feeling miserable in the absence of facilities of car, staff and other remunerations associated with such positions.

But, the Chief Minister kept on delaying his decision till the Vikasnagar assembly polls, forcing the party legislators as well as senior leaders to work unitedly for victory in the 
crucial assembly bye-election.

After winning the first election under his command, Nishank has managed to consolidate his position in the government as well as in the organisation. With a win under his belt, he has won admiration from party bigwigs. During his visit to the national capital after winning the Vikasnagar byelection, he has also obtained a go-ahead from the party high command for the distribution of positions to party leaders.

According to party sources, the Chief Minister will be distributing these positions to nearly 24 senior party leaders of the state, including 12 party legislators. According to a rumour, four party legislators will be made parliamentary secretaries for the first time in the history of the new state of Uttarakhand.

The issue of giving out positions, some with ministerial ranks, has remained a sensitive issue since the first elected Congress government headed by ND Tiwari came in power.

A clever and seasoned politician, Tiwari resorted to giving positions to disgruntled Congress men and even outsiders during his regime. Interestingly, the number of such position holders in the Congress government were more than 200. During the assembly elections in 2007, Opposition BJP made it one of the main election issues and was able to trounce the Congress and form the government headed by Gen Khanduri.

However, soon after assuming office, there was pressure from party leaders to get these positions. Khanduri resisted for some time but with rising dissidence against him, he, too, distributed these offices among nearly 50 senior party leaders. Party legislators who did not get anything got annoyed. They rose in revolt against General Khanduri, leading to his ouster.

He is treading cautiously on the issue and want the legislators also to get on board. It was expected that he would announce first list of such persons during the Navratras. 

Dehradun, September 20
A three-day-long Kashmiri handicrafts exhibition began in the city here yesterday. Women in a large number thronged the exhibition to purchase exclusive Kashmiri wears. Authentic sushni and aari embroidery, in a wide range of colours, displayed the traditional workmanship of Kashmir, which is attracting artistic work lovers since centuries.

“We belong to Jammu and before coming to Dehradun, we surveyed the demand as well as availability of Kashmiri wears.

“As we found a lot of buyers, we decided to organise the exhibition so that people can purchase Kashmiri wears as well as generate awareness among them,” said Jaspreet, organiser.

Delicately woven world famous pashmina and semi-pashmina shawls, intricate embroidery on suits, saris and stoles attracted women who are looking for a perfect amalgamation of style with quality.

However, the range of the clothes varied according to the volume of embroidery. The range of saris started from Rs 5,000, semi-pashmina from Rs 1,200 and pashmina from Rs 12,000 to almost Rs 1 lakh.

“We are here not only to sell quality stuff, but also offer our customers designs which are unique.

Moreover due to a lot of duplicate Kashmiri work entering the market, it’s necessary that people should be made aware so that they don’t get bluffed,” added Jaspreet.

Shawls will look beautiful this winter. Saris and suits in crape and georgette fabrics are light in weight and can be worn in this festival season.

“I love the traditional aari work and will surely pick up a few of my favourite designs,” said Rashmi, homemake.

Dehradun, September 20
For the overall development of the state its imperative to cooperate at all levels. This was stated by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokriyal Nishank at an inauguration ceremony held at the Uttarakhand Development Council in Jogiwala here today.

However, to encourage people to develop reading habits he donated Rs 11 lakh for the council’s library as well for the construction of building. “For the sake of the state’s freedom, the freedom fighters’ role and their sacrifices cannot be ignored,” added Nishank.

After lighting the lamp at the ceremony, he felicitated Deepak Upadhaya for organic, Vishnu Prasad Semwal for forest protection and Himmat Singh in the field of herbs.

Discussing the role of the development council, the Chief Minister further said since the days of its inception it had dutifully worked for the development of the villages, providing employment to the poor and the needy.

“We will provide timely assistance to the council as we want the state to have all facilities for its steady development,” he said.

State Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat declared to give Rs 10 lakh under the allotted MLA fund. 

Dehradun, September 20
To give exposure to participants to new trends in the fields of obsterics, gynaecology and infertility, a conference on Obstetrics and Gynaecology was organised here yesterday under the aegis of the Dehradun Obstetrics and Gynecological Society of India.

The two-day workshop has planned scientific sessions in the latest advances in the field of gynaecology and obsterics.

Doctors who are participating in the conference are Dr Taposhi Patnaik, President Obs and Gynae Society of India, Dehradun, Dr Arti Luthra, Dr Anu Dhir, Dr SG Sethi and Dr Arti Sharma.

Dr Patnaik, president of the society, said 20 per cent of the population in the country suffered from infertility. It could be due to environmental and biological reasons.

“Infertility can be treated through medicines and simple surgical interventions. The problem of polycystic ovarin disease (POD) that usually sets in early among girls and if not treated properly can lead to complication in adulthood,” she said.

She also dwelt at length on the IVF fertility treatment available in the country and discussed about the endoscopic methods in use.

Dehradun, September 20
Two more persons have tested positive in Haridwar. The nodal office received results of seven medical reports today, out of which two were found positive. Now the total number of confirmed cases of influenza A (H1N1) virus in the state is 46.

State Nodal Officer Pankaj Jain said two more students of Delhi Public School, Haridwar, had tested positive.

In all, eight students had tested positive in the school, taking the number of total confirmed cases of H1N1 virus to 13 in Haridwar alone.

The Rapid Response examined one patient today. He has been admitted to the isolation ward of Doon Hospital.

A total 238 samples have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), New Delhi.

Three patients have been admitted to the isolation ward of Doon Hospital and one at ICU. Two patients are undergoing treatment at the isolation ward of Coronation 
Hospital. 

Dehradun, September 20
On the 11th film show here today, since its launching on July 5, 2009, the film club of Dehradun, REACH Talkies, screened “Woman Next Door”, a 1981 film directed by French director Francois Truffaut.

Bernard Coudray lives with his wife and young son in a remote country house near Grenoble. One day, a married couple, Philippe and Mathilde Bauchard, move into the house next door. Mathilde and Bernard were lovers, many years before, and both are equally surprised at the unexpected reunion.

Initially, Bernard avoids Mathilde, but a chance meeting in a supermarket reawakens a long-buried passion and they are soon having an affair. Unfortunately, neither of them seems capable of controlling the emotional whirlwind which this unleashes.

REACH Talkies shows movies by renowned film directors every week on Sundays at 4 pm at the KDMIPE mini auditorium in ONGC, Kaulagarh Road campus. “The Rules of the Game”, a film by French director Jean Renoir, will be screened on Sunday, October 4, at the same venue. 

Dehradun, September 20
Eleven Star registered a 3-0 victory over Akranta in the first match of the Football Super League, played on Pavilion Ground here today.

The Eleven Star team had an upper hand in the match and showed some good coordination and teamwork to press hard on the Akranta team for goal. On the other hand, Akranta launched some sharp counter attacks to put their opponent under pressure.

It was a tough game between the two teams in the first half as both teams pressed hard to score a goal. Eleven Star came close on scoring a goal in the 15th minute of the match. But Akranta’s goalkeeper showed good skill to defend certain goals.

In the 19th minute, the Eleven Star team was on the attack again. But a strong defense put up by Akranta did not allowed them to penetrate it for the second time. At the first half both teams were locked at 0-0.

In the second half, players of the Akranta team were not very agile and gave too many wrong passes, allowing the Eleven Star team to dominate the game.

The Eleven Star team scored their first goal in the 46th minute of the match through Satya Prakash, who scored a powerful kick from the left of the striking circle.

In the 77th minute, it was Jatin Badi for the team, who scored through neatly placed the ball in the net to make 2-0 for his side. Two minute latter, Jatin scored again making it 3-0 leaving little space for the Eleven Star team to make a comeback in the match. 

Dehradun, September 20
Mahesh Shukla won gold in the Uttarakhand Yoga Championship organised at Doon Sports Academy here today.

Boys result:

In 8 to 11 years category: Ritu Raj of Delhi Public School (DPS) won gold, Abhishek of DPS bagged silver and Animesh of DPS won bronze.

In 11 to 14 years category: Manav Kant of DPS won gold, Mukesh Bisht of WDSC won silver and Mahendra Pratap of DPS received bronze.

In 17 to 21 year category: Pankaj Nautiyal of Manav Yoga Kendra bagged gold, Amit Chamoli of Arvind Vidyapeeth silver and Ankit Kotnala of Arvind Vidyapeeth bronze.

In 21 to 25 years category: Nandini of Arvind Vidyapeeth won gold and Ekta of MYK silver.

In 35th to 45 years men’s category: Mahesh Shukla of MYK won gold and Tikam Singh (Champawat) silver.

In above-45 years men’s category: Gopal Thapa of Western Doon Sports Club won gold.

Girls result:

In 11-14 years category: Shardha Gurung of WDSC bagged gold and Neha Kotnala of Shri Arvind Vidyapeeth silver.

In 17-21 years category: Anjali Kotnala of Arvind Vidyapeeth won gold and Sanyukta Nautiyal of Manav Yoga Kendra silver.

In 25 to 35 years women’s category: Shivani Gupta of Unison World School won gold and Bharti of Martav Yoga Kendra silver.

In 25 to 35 years men’s category: Ajay (Manav Yoga Kendra) won gold and Naveen Kumar of Arvind Vidyapeeth silver.

Dehradun, September 20
He has umpired in 25 Grand Slam tournaments and always has a tough job at hand leaving no space for an error for him. Nitin Kannamwar is the first Indian to have umpired at a Wimbledon match in 1994.

Till date, he has umpired in 13 Wimbledon Grand Slams with a total of 25 Grand Slams, which include Australia Open, US Open and French Open tournaments.

“It is always a tough job to umpire in a big tournament as there is no margin for error from our side. When I took to umpiring, there were hardly any people in India who took it up as a profession. But, there has been a change in the scene with the passing of time ,and with a good number of international tournaments being organised in India, requirement of umpires has also increased,” said Nitin, who is in Dehradun as a chief tennis referee of the International Tennis Federation Women tournament being organised at Shanti Tennis Academy.

He recently umpired the Wimbledon Grand Slam and, thereafter, the Davis Cup match between Philippines and Pakistan. Matches between Kafelnikov and Andre Agassi and Agassi and Andi Roddic are some of the high-profile matches he has umpired.

He wishes to be a chair umpire in a Roger Federer match, who is his favourite player in the tennis circuit. “In a big match, there is always great pressure on the umpires to give a correct judgement,” said Nitin.

At present, India has three brown batch referees, one silver batch, two gold batch, two white batch and 17 white batch chair umpires.