Haridwar, December 12
Acknowledging the importance of the Sanskrit language, a former Chief Minister, Major-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), has stressed the need for spreading the language, which is termed as the mother of all languages.

Pointing out the significance of Sanskrit not only as a language but also as a tool to spread moral values, Khanduri said the language needed support from all quarters, specially from the government. “The Union government should support financially for the spread and development of the Sanskrit language and if it’s not done then this ancient language seems to be on the path of extinction,” a concerned Khanduri stated at Jag Dev Singh Sanskrit Vidyalaya in Sapt Rishi.

Khanduri, who is legislator from the Dhumakot assembly, inaugurated new courses of yoga and karma kand at the vidyalaya and acknowledged that Uttarakhand was still pioneer in the spread of the Sanskrit language.

Shri Maha Mandleshwar Hari Chetanand said: “Human and moral values are kept intact by the Sanskrit language but the receding number of people learning Sanskrit is a major cause and this needs to be dwelt on both by the government as well as people related with Sanskrit”.

He also urged state cabinet minister Madan Kaushik to see that salaries of Sanskrit teachers get increased on a par with teachers of other subjects to halt the slide of Sanskrit scholars pursuing other professions.

Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik assured the experts of help in the spread of Sanskrit by generating requisite resources for the uplift of this rich heritage Indian language.

Gurukul Kangri University VC termed Uttarakhand as the region from where Sanskrit spread worldwide. Prominent persons present were Mahant Kamal Das, Swami Dev Anand, Swami Vinod Giri, Buddhi Ballabh Shastri and Prem Chand Shastri. 

Nainital, December 12
More than 30 persons sustained injuries in a clash between agitated villagers and the police at Bannakhera village in Bazpur on Friday evening. The place witnessed an eventful day that had started with a schoolgirl sustaining injuries after being run over by a JCB machine.

According to the information available the 16-year-old Suraj Kala was run over by a JCB machine on Friday morning while she was going for her tuition on a bicycle. An agitated mob of villagers thrashed the driver of the JCB who was identified as Akram from Badayun in Uttar Pradesh and also damaged the machine.

The villagers went on to take the JCB machine into their custody. The injured girl was taken to the Base Hospital at Haldwani and the JCB driver was handed over to the police.

However, when the police returned in the evening to take away the JCB machine, there was a heavy resistance from the villagers who allegedly resorted to stone pelting and firing.

In response to the aggression, the police also resorted to cane charge and fired in the air to disperse the mob. More than 30 persons, including nine policemen have been injured in the violence.

The villagers were agitated over the police taking the incident lightly and treating it as any other road accident. While they wanted the JCB machine to remain in their custody, the police was adamant on taking it away.

Dehradun, December 12
The Uttarakhand Congress Committee led by state party chief Yashpal Arya will gherao the state Assembly on the opening day of the winter session (December 21).

Addressing a meeting of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Cell of the party, senior party leader Suryakant Dhasmana alleged that all welfare programmes for minorities, SC/ST, and poor have come to a grinding halt due to the anti-people policies being pursued by the state Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government.

He further charged that all developmental works have come to a standstill while people were facing great difficulty in getting caste certificates for admission in educational institutions and for getting jobs.

He said that with a few days left for the start of the Maha Kumbh at Haridwar, there was no ground-level concrete work done by the state government.

Dhasmana said that two state government agencies had pointed fingers at the quality of the works being undertaken for Maha Kumbh besides the objections raised by the Governor herself on the issue.

He said Congress workers from the state would converge at the state Assembly to participate in the gherao.

Haridwar, December 12
Perturbed about not getting their queries related to Maha Kumbh works in Haridwar, youths have now taken the route of the Right to Information (RTI) to know the progress and real working of Kumbh related projects.

Disappointed by not getting reasonable answers and information from the mela administration and Haridwar legislators, these youths have now taken the route of the RTI to expose the discrepancies and low-quality works of the Kumbh works.

Initially, they had to face problems while filing the RTI as they were told that the information they were seeking is in thousand of pages and hence had to shell out rupees in same tune to get the specified information.

Varun Baliyan, a student activist, lashed out at the mela administration for trying to keep them at bay by not giving them information and even behaving rudely with them. “When we tried to sought information via the RTI we were asked for Rs 25,000 as the number of pages will exceed in thousands trying to dissuade us from seeking information,” said Baliyan.

The students had sought information related to those Kumbh works which were being carried out without tender process, access of reports filed by the monitoring agency evaluating the quality of works being carried, details of all funds under various schemes granted for the mela and also the persons responsible for inconvenience caused to people due to the delay and inferior quality of Kumbh works.

Anamika Sharma, a student of Shravan Nath Math Jawaharlal Nehru College, said though less than a fortnight had left for the commencement of the worlds greatest fair, Kumbh works were more on files and less on grounds.

These youths are getting support from all local colleges and university unions like Gurukul Kangri University, Chinmaya Degree College, Haridwar Educational College.

General secretary of Gurukul Kangri University Arun Kumar said: “This initiative reflects the concern and responsibility which Haridwar youths are acknowledging.”

Meanwhile, the mela administration has refuted the charges. An information department official said the RTI was accepted on December 8.

Dehradun, December 12
As the century’s most important environmental negotiations are now taking place in the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, where leaders the world leaders are meeting to take a giant step forward in addressing global warming; the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Uttarakhand State Council, in tune with its agenda to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, organised a workshop on Climate Change and Carbon Market — Challenges and Opportunities today at the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board, Dehradun.

Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board member secretary Dr Ajay Gairola welcomed the experts and appreciated the CII’s initiative of generating awareness on clean development mechanism (carbon credits).

He further said the 
workshop was a perfect example of public private partnership, where industry and government collaborate on important issue like climate change.

Climate change is the most critical global challenge of the day. Its impact will range from affecting agriculture, rise in the sea level and accelerated erosion of coastal zones, increased intensity of natural disasters, extinction of species and spread of vector-borne diseases.

Reaffirming it’s commitment to facilitate and assist growth of the Indian industry, CII, Northern Region, is organising series of workshops on climate change and carbon markets, to build a low carbon economy.

The purpose of these workshops is to generate awareness among the CII members about the clean development mechanism with an objective to enable participants to identify the in-house projects with the potential to generate carbon credits.

This practice would not only bring a financial incentive to the project proponent, but also be a tool to scale up this practice which will add to the noble cause of preventing global warming.

CII Uttarakhand State Council chairman Rakesh Oberai said, “Billions of people are impatiently awaiting a decisive global solution to climate change that will secure their future.

The first phase of the legally binding agreement which rules carbon emissions — the Kyoto Protocol — expires in 2012. A determined political consensus needs to be agreed this year so that 192 countries are ready for implementation beyond 2012, to follow on the first phase.”

As India has become a major global player in greenhouse gas emissions - it is now fourth in the world, after China, the US and the EU - India’s role in any global climate negotiation would be crucial.

One may well remember India’s per capita emissions have increased by 50 per cent in the past 15 years. Since industry contributes to India’s economic growth story in two ways: overcoming today’s slow down and sustaining the growth.

Therefore, industry needs to play a significant role in dealing with the global threat of climate change.

Our industry’s role in shaping an energy-efficient, climate-friendly, economic growth path has been commendable.

Agrinergy Consultancy, pioneers of Indian clean development mechanism (CDM) industry, director Robert Taylor said, “Through this series of conferences we hope to ponder insight into the current and future direction of the carbon market and the opportunities this holds for the Indian industry.”

Nainital, December 12
A murder case has come to light in the Bhikiyasen block near Ranikhet.The body of a 45-year-old Mohini Devi was recovered by her uncle on Thursday from her kitchen in Dumdoli Batiya village.

The woman had not been seen by anyone since Wednesday. It was her cow that started braying for food and water that drew the attention of the deceased’s uncle who started searching for her.

Nainital, December 12
Prevention is not profitable, but cure surely is! Even as the world was rocked by climate gate on the eve of the ongoing Copenhagen meet on climate change, a scientist in Uttarakhand has been expressing his reservations on the approach adopted on the issue for months now.

Director of the Indian Meteorological Department, Dehradun, Dr Anand Sharma has been consistently of the view that too many assumptions have been made by scientists and environmentalists on the issue of global warming and climate change impacts that has led them to paint doom’s day scenario.

Dr Sharma wants a more pragmatic approach to database development and modelling for predictions and projections. His views, expressed way back in a workshop on “Role of Youth in Mitigating the Impact of Climate Change for Sustainable Livelihood” held in Dehradun in October 2008 have been documented in a report brought out by the Chandigarh-based Commonwealth Youth Programme, Asia Centre.

The report quotes him as saying that many people are confusing inter annual climate variability with climate change. He co-related the enhanced run off and sedimentation due to land use or land cover changes and destruction of natural drainage patterns to the increased occurrence of floods and its frequency.

According to him, flood, cyclone, drought, cloudburst, etc. are normal weather phenomenon that have been occurring in the past and will occur in the future also. But the damages will be greater in the future as more and more people would be living in vulnerable areas. He believes that unplanned urbanisation, massive and widespread land use or land cover change, unsustainable lifestyle and unethical behaviour is contributing a lot towards damages to the earth and is wrongly being linked to climate change.

In his lectures at various institutions of repute Dr Sharma has been contesting the view that glaciers and polar bears will disappear, the sea level would rise and bio-diversity will decrease, along with an increase in forest fires and frequency of cyclones. He has been contesting that in the absence of an adequate database over a long period of time, such ideas cannot be based.

Talking to The Tribune, he said, “For example we hear of a decline in apple production. Nobody takes into account the rampant use of chemicals and pesticides on apple trees that has even prevented pollination by honey bees.

“If 10 out of 100 trees are merely acting as a centre for pollination without bearing any fruit, the production is bound to fall.”

Dehradun, December 12
The sinful act of humanity going sane with the increasing rate of animal slaughtering on the name of religion and faith. Past records of animal sacrifices during festivals and poojas to appease God and Goddesses have augmented the slaying steadily.

The mission has been started by Beejal organisation, Pauri Garhwal, president Sarita Negi, who held a press conference here today. She was here in the city to highlight the inhuman act of animal sacrifice in the name of religion and tradition. Other members of the organisation present at the meet were Meneka Negi, Sushilla Negi and Mohan Khatri.

Sarita said, “People, especially in the hilly regions, are uneducated and superstitious. Due to lack of awareness hundreds of animals are mercilessly slaughtered.”

She also spoke of Kanda mela, where her endeavour have proved fruitful, as animal sacrifices have completely eradicated a year ago. The list of her diligent activities against brutal slaughtering is quite gratifying.

She managed to put a halt on sacrifices of animals during festivities and prayers for the betterment at many villages of Pauri district.

In spite of Meneka Gandhi’s and Nepali Buddha Boy Ram Bahadur Bomjan’s appeal, the mass sacrifice of animals could not be prevented at Bariyapur in Bara district, southern Nepal, last month.

The neighbouring country, Nepal, conducted biggest slaughtering fair, where nearly 5,00,000 buffaloes, goats, roasters, ducks and pigeons were killed. Its been estimated that more than 5 millions Hindus from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have gathered in the evil act.

In fact, Doonites are also following the ill customs of appeasing Gods and goddess through animal slaughter. Famous Shantala Devi near Jayantunwala witnesses same barbaric view of killing goats every Saturday and Sunday. Similarly, people go to sacrifice animals at another small temple of Kali at Anarwala in order to conciliate almighty.

According to Negi, surprisingly the number of animal sacrifices has drooped down from 150-200 to 38-40 in a year’s time.

A mission, Pashu Krurta Nivaran, was started in 1960 but couldn’t get implemented effectively. She said, “We are aiming at high rate of eradication of this social evil with the constant support of the people. 

Dehradun, December 12
Virasat, a folk life and heritage festival, will now be held at Dr BR Ambedkar Stadium from December 17 to 31.

The organisers of the festival, Rural Entrepreneurship in Art Culture and Heritage (REACH), has been postponing the festival for a lack of funds for the past some time.

The festival is usually held during Dussehra. At a meeting presided over by the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Speaker, who is also patron of REACH, it was decided to hold the festival from December 17 and also popularise it like the yearly International Edinburgh festival.

Virasat attracts participation from more than 8 lakh people, who come to enjoy the rhythm of folk life.

Dehradun, December 12
The Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) conducted a two-day workshop on transformer installation at the Institute of Engineers here today. A large number of engineers participated in the workshop, which was aimed at providing basic knowledge about preventing the burning of the transformers in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand.

Junior and assistant-level engineers attended the workshop where they were trained to take preventive measures against the uncertain incidents of transformer malfunction in the state.

JM Lal, Managing Director, UPCL, inaugurated the workshop and unveiled prototype transformers by lighting the lamp. Lal said: “As many as 37,530 transformers were installed in 2008-09 in Uttarakhand out of which 4,940 were damaged due to uncertain burning. Their maintenance and repair cost was Rs 13.35 crore.”

“We have invited representatives of transformer producing companies and experts from designing companies. We are aiming to bring down the incidence of transformer damage from 14 per cent to 11 per cent and then to 8 per cent by 2010 and fully eradicating the issue of transformers problems,” he added.

Other eminent persons present at the workshop were AK Johri, Director (Project), Sharad Krishan, Director (HR), and PP Sharma, Chief General Manager, UPCL.