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Bloom biz booming
HelpAge India official for better hygiene at old-age homes
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CM greets
winners of PM Shield Award
Kumbh: 13 PCS officers deployed
Vishal fashions Doon team’s 144-run win
Neeraj powers Ajabpur Young to victory
CAU defeat BCA by four wickets
A match in progress at the 58th District League Cricket Tournament in Dehradun on Friday. A Tribune photograph
Sunderwala, Nagar Nigam storm into semis
New Year’s Eve
Handball team leaves for Kolkata
Kumaon varsity to hold counselling for pvt colleges
Christmas carnival at Poly Kids concludes
Guru Nanak School celebrates annual day
Drive to check dropout rate
No dearth of jobs for good students: Expert
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Bloom biz booming
Dehradun, December 18 At a time when Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana are dominating the flower market in the country, Uttarakhand too has begun to make its presence felt in the cut-flower market. The bouquet that Uttarakhand “The total trade turnover of cut flowers from Uttarakhand is approximately Rs 50 crore. The state is looking at Rs 200 crore investment in the floriculture sector in 11th Plan period,” said Dr BP Nautiyal, Director, Department of Horticulture and Food Processing. According to the data provided by Department of Horticulture and Food Processing, the total area under flower cultivation in Uttarakhand for 2008-09 was 909.45 hectares and total production for the same period was 610.47 metric tonnes. Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Dehradun and Haridwar districts are the clear leaders as far as total area under floriculture goes. In Udham Singh Nagar, the total area under cultivation was 228.80 hectares and production 17.24 metric tonnes. In Nainital, 96.76 hectares yielded 17.24 metric tonnes while in Dehradun, 113.60 hectares produced 55.89 metric tonnes In Haridwar, the total area under flower cultivation was 285.10 hectares and production 249.64 metric tonne for 2008-09. With the central government promoting floriculture through its National Horticulture Board in a big way, securing finances is not a problem. “Farmers can secure loans through the National Horticulture Board that gives 20 per cent subsidy on the project cost. Another 20 per cent is borne by the state government’s Horticulture Technology Mission,” said Nautiyal. Much of the ensuing flower revolution can be attributed to the demand for flowers round the year be it for religious purposes, weddings and other celebrations. “Even while flowers from different states are expected to flood the market during Kumbh, local farmers growing marigold and roses in Dehradun and Haridwar can directly sell their produce for which there will be round-the-clock demand,” said Dr Amar Singh, District Horticulture Officer (Dehradun). The rising demand for marigold has encouraged Agriculture Minister Trivender Singh Rawat to draft a scheme for farmers so that they make use of their farmland lying vacant to grow these flowers. “It will be of immense help for farmers in areas that are on the Char Dham route,” said Rawat. In Doiwala block of Dehradun, marigold is growing in 14 hectares and in Sahaspur on 15 hectares. The pusa and basanti variety sells between Rs 150 and Rs 200 in the market. “The farmers can really get handsome returns as marigold is grown in February and March. These start flowering in May,” said Dr Amar Singh. But bright-coloured gerberas and galdioli clearly rule the roost in the flower market and farmers in Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital are growing them everywhere, from fields to poly-houses. The gerbera has done well and is grown in 1,50,000 sq m high-tech poly houses in the state and the number of flowers is expected to be around 4.5 crore and valued at Rs 12 crore. “Fuelling the demand is the tenacity of the stocks of gerberas grown here. These last longer and can undertake pressure of any kind,” said Deven Pundir, a progressive farmer from Vikas Nagar block in Dehradun. His family pioneered poly-houses in the state at the time when it was being slowly adopted elsewhere. He has eight poly-houses in which gerbera is being grown and gladioli has been planted in two acres. “We have a good demand for flowers in the domestic market and can earn quite a bit. The idea of exporting flowers is too far-fetched. “At the most, we can supply flowers to Thailand and other South-East Asian countries, but so far, all plans by the government have been confined to files only,” quipped Deven. He said that the government needs to set up a small auction unit for farmers in Dehradun so that small farmers can tap the local market. The farmers have formed small federations and associations in the state that ensure that their produce reaches the market on time. Another farmer GP Singh said, “I am growing carnations in 9,000 sq m of land in Shankarpur (Sahaspur block) which gives me a yearly turnover of 50 lakh tonnes. Floriculture has a bright future. I will be bringing another 15,000 sq m of land under gerbera cultivation.” As per 2008-09 figures, gerbera was grown on 14 hectares and production was 9.08 metric tonnes in Dehradun, gladioli in 42 hectares of land and production was 50 metric tonnes, carnation in four hectares and production was 8.99 metric tonnes, marigold in 40 hectares and production was 44 metric tonnes. Rose was grown in 5.5 hectares and production was 2.6 metric tonnes. To ensure that farmers adopt diversified agriculture, the Centre for Aromatic Plants at Selaqui is encouraging farmers to grow flowers for extraction of oil and rose water. “In Uttarakhand, extraction activity is at a very small scale (2 per cent). The state is offering subsidy and other incentives to farmers. It will take some time to scale our activity,” said Dr BP Nautiyal, Director, Horticulture.
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HelpAge India official for better hygiene at old-age homes
Dehradun, December 18 He was speaking with The Tribune on the concluding day of the five-day Refresher Training Programme for Managers of Old-Age Homes held today. Old-age homes across India are poor in hygiene and that can prove detrimental to the health of senior citizens who are more prone to infection. This needs to change. “The persistent problem of lack of sanitation needs to be addressed first and foremost before embarking on a programme of extending such homes in the country,” he said. He said that the depreciatory attitude of old-age home owners needs to be changed. They think that their obligation is over once they provide a roof to elderly people. “The overbearing attitude of the owners at once creates an unfriendly environment for residents who do not enjoy living in such homes,” said Khosla. Khosla said that with the Indian society in a transitional phase, it has been found that more and more children are leaving homes in search of careers. In such a situation, institutional care can prove to
be advantageous. “That the parents are looked after by their children is an ideal situation, but at times, it may not be the case. Well-run homes, where the elderly lead a meaningful existence, can be achieved by imparting training to caregivers and old-age home owners. “In the past, HelpAge India only supported such organisations, but now, we are running a home for women in Kolkata and Tamil Nadu. This can be replicated in other parts of the country,” apprised Anup. Speaking about the experiment in Tamil Nadu, Khosla said that for the first time, a self-help group of elderly persons was set up in the country and the community in the vicinity was also involved. “The group is flourishing and has 270 members, an Elders for Elder Federation has also been formed which is functioning as an apex body,” said Anup Khosla.
28 given certificates
A total of 28 participants were given certificates on the conclusion of the five-day Refresher Training Programme for Managers of Old-Age Homes of Uttarakhand that was organised by HelpAge India, Uttarakhand. Aapga, Deputy Director, Programmes, said that
the programme received good response from the participants who enthusiastically participated and shared their experiences. “We will hold more
training programmes to broaden the horizon of the participants.” Pankaj Kumar Sinha, Manager (RM) of Help Age India, said that in Uttarakhand, HelpAge was engaged in building awareness about the issues of the elderly, utilisation and networking of community resources for elderly care.
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CM greets
winners of PM Shield Award
Dehradun, December 18 Nishank said it was a matter of honour for Uttarakhand that the scouts of the state were getting selected for prestigious national awards. He said the award won by them will come as an inspiration for other students.
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Kumbh: 13 PCS officers deployed
Dehradun, December 18 These PCS officers include SDM Almora Lalit Mohan Rayal, Pitthoragarh’s Ram Dutt, Rudraprayag’s Dipendra Singh Negi, Uttarakashi’s Mehar Singh Bisht, Nainital’s Shresh Kumar and Alok Chandra Pandey, Devmurthi Yadav presently posted at the office of the Commissioner, Nainital, in Udham Singh Nagar, Udham Singh Nagar’s BS Chalal and Fincha Ram, Dehradun’s Ajay Arora and Hansa Dutt Pandey, Chamoli’s Devanand and Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee’s chief executive officer PC Dandriyal. These officers will be working in the capacity of sub-divisional officers, Kumbh
Mela.
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Vishal fashions Doon team’s 144-run win
Dehradun, December 18
He smashed 75 runs. Middle order batsman Chandbabu made 25 runs. For Almora team Narendra took two wickets and gave away 50 runs. Chasing the victory target of 277 runs, Almora team was all out for 31 runs. It was a poor batting display by Almora team. Its batsmen fell like a pack of cards before discipline bowling of Dehradun team. Raj Kumar was the highest scorer for the Almora team with 13 runs. It was Nishant for Dehradun team who rattled through Almora team middle order to leave them struggling for runs, whereas Vaibhav and Vidhur took two wickets each.
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Neeraj powers Ajabpur Young to victory
Dehradun, December 18 Batting first RPCA team scored 131 runs in allotted 20 overs. Team began on a bad note, losing its opener Nitin early at the team score of 7 runs. The second opener Mayank also got out early to leave his team struggling for runs. First down batsman Deeshank gave his team some stability in the match and went on to scored 29 runs. Virath supported him well from the other end to score 23 runs. It was middle order batsman Manu who scored 41 runs in 27 balls. He accelerated the team’s run rate. Lower order batsman Prince also made a useful contribution of 20 runs. For Ajabpur Younger team Rajan was the pick of the bowlers taking three wickets, whereas Arvind, Narindra and Navenesh took a wicket each. Chasing the victory target 132 runs, Ajabpur Young team reached the target with three wickets. Openers Naresh and Rajan gave a fine start to the team. Naresh went on to score 14 runs, whereas Rajan scored 11 runs. It was the middle order batsman Neeraj who along with Bhuwan scored the required runs for his team. Neeraj smashed 52 runs and Bhuwan scored 24 runs. For RPCA team Mayank and Rohit took two wickets each.
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CAU defeat BCA by four wickets
Dehradun, December 18
Middle order batsman Kapil scored 65 runs of runner balls, hitting seven fours and two six in his innings. Nadesh supported him well on the other end to score 14 runs, whereas Manu scored 13 runs. For CAU team Nitin took three wickets in his seven-over spell, whereas Ravi and Vijay took two wickets each. Chasing the victory target of 204 runs CAU team reached the target with four wickets in hand. SS Rana was the highest scorer for the team 60 runs in 55 balls, hitting seven fours. Vijay was the second highest scorer for the team with 25 runs and Prakash made 22 runs. For BCA team Adesh took two wickets, whereas Monu, Shakir and Kapil took one wicket each.
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Sunderwala, Nagar Nigam storm into semis
Dehradun, December 18 Gipsy team was pushed on the backfoot right in the beginning. It was Sunil for Sunderwala Boys team, who struck for his team in the 9th minute of the match. After conceding the first goal Ravinder came up with second goal for his side in the 27th minute. At the end of the first half Sunderwala team was leading by 2-0. Meanwhile, in the second half, Sunderwala team further pumped in two goals to make it 4-0. Gypsy team was on the defensive throughout the match and made little attempts to launch an attack. Sunil of Sunderwala team scored his second goal in the 49th minute of the match, followed by Himanshu in the 55th minute that helped them take a invincible lead of 4-0 in the match.
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Foresters gear up to curb poaching
Akash Ghai Tribune News Service
Roorkee, December 18 It has been seen that the cases of poaching increase with the end of the year drawing nearer. Many poachers go to restricted forest area to celebrate New Year by hunting wild animals. But this time the forest authorities are claiming that they are all prepared to curb the menace. Apart from planning to intensify the patrolling during the last week of the year, the department is also looking forward to the villagers living near the forest areas to help curtailing illegal hunting in the forest area. While admitting the fact of sudden increase in number of poaching cases during the end of the year, a senior forest official said, “This time, we are involving the villagers to keep vigil on the unscrupulous elements. For the purpose, officials of the Forest Department have been holding meeting with the villagers to prepare them for the job for the sake of safety of forests as well as the wild animals”. The forest guards have also been asked to be alert, especially the last week of the year and intensify the patrolling in their respective areas. To keep an effective surveillance, the forest areas, fall under the Roorkee range and Khanpur range have been divided into four sections. Each section would be divided further into two beats. In both ranges, as many as 24 forest officials (eight inspectors and 16 forest guards) have been deputed. Notably, the poachers had hunt down many animals, including sambhar, deer and ‘neel gai’ on the New Year eve of 2008 while in 1999, some had even poached a panther besides many other wild animals.
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Handball team leaves for Kolkata
Dehradun, December 18 Team members include Arun Kumar, Naveen, Gurnam Singh, Hemant Sharma, Vinod Kumar, Manish Dobhal, Bhupinder Singh, Kamal Kumar, Amrendra Singh, Manai Singh, Chhotu Ram, Amit Devrani, Lakhwinder Singh, Manoj, Sunil Kumar and Virendra Kumar Rawat.
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Kumaon varsity to hold counselling for pvt colleges
Nainital, December 18 The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Dr VPS Arora, told The Tribune that the counselling for the students who wanted to be enrolled in these colleges will be started within a week. He said in the recent past there had been a detailed probe into the infrastructure and the facilities available in the private colleges offering this course. This probe had followed the instances of various irregularities coming to light in the last session. However, since the university has got the reports of the investigations, the counselling for these colleges is all set to begin. Dr Arora said: “There is a tendency among the managements of the private colleges to enrol students by taking money and in this process the very concept of merit is given a go by. It is to check this practice that the university has taken upon itself to conduct the counselling for the private colleges.” After the counselling is done on the basis of merit, the students would be allotted seats in various private colleges. On the issue of the fees being charged for the course, the Vice-Chancellor said it was for the government to decide on the issue of how much fee should be charged from the students. Talking about the overall scenario, Dr Arora said there was a shortfall of more than 500 teachers in various colleges that were affiliated to the university and steps were being taken to overcome this shortfall. Continuing with the practice of making personal visits to various colleges, Dr Arora paid a surprise visit to MB Post-Graduate College in Haldwani yesterday and took stock of the prevailing academic atmosphere and the existing infrastructure in the college. He also inaugurated the first annual festival being organised by the Uttarakhand Forest Hospital Trust Medical College where he called upon teachers to focus on giving a qualitative education to the students. He said there was a constant need for the teachers to keep themselves abreast with the latest development in their respective fields and transfer the same knowledge to their students. Ever since he took over charge as Vice-Chancellor, Dr Arora has undertaken an exercise to put the house in order. To begin with, he is trying to ensure that all exams are conducted as per the schedule. The university has finally got a full time Registrar after almost a decade.
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Christmas carnival at Poly Kids concludes
Dehradun December 18 The school and a Christmas tree were decorated with balloons, streamers and bells. Children
were dressed like fairies and Santa Claus. The attraction of the celebrations was the arrival of Santa Claus, who cut the cake along with the students. He also danced on the tunes of famous Christmas carols and distributed sweets and gifts among the kids. Captain Mukul, Chairman; Directors - Ranjana Mahendru, Capt Rohitt, Nandita Singh; Nigam, coordinator; Nidhi, headmistress; and staff members were present at the function.
Bright Land School
Christmas celebrations were organised at Bright Land School, Dalanwala, here today. The
programme was entirely a fun-filled occasion with junior and senior students participating in it
with enthusiasm. Carol singing and a small skit on the birth of Jesus Christ captivated the hearts of the audience while the arrival of Santa Claus made children jump with excitement. He distributed sweets and gifts among students. Many students were dressed as fairies and angels. The celebrations commenced with the distribution of prizes among the winners of Inter-School Art Competition held at Vivekanand School and Lions Club. Pushpa Thapliyal, Principal of the school, gave away the awards to the winners. The winners of the Vivekanand Inter-School Art Competition are: Nidhi Tomar and Ananya Malhotra (junior section) and Deepti Singh and Sharad Kumar (senior section). Winners of Lions Club Inter-School Art Competitions are Samartha Dabral and Ashutosh Singh (Group B), Nidhi Tomar and Ainesh Chhetri (Group C), Sara Bora (consolation prize) and Aanchal Singh (Group D). Bright Land School also bagged the overall winning trophy of the art competition.
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Guru Nanak School celebrates annual day
Dehradun, December 18
Students presented dances and culture of Garhwal, Orissa, Gujarat and Punjab. Ashok Basu, Director of Sun Valley School, was the chief guest. He inaugurated the event and appreciated the hard work put in by the students and their teachers. He distributed prizes to the winners in sports and academics. Parents of the students had also attended the event. Harbajan Singh, President of Gurdwara Trust, Balbir Singh, Fulhan Singh and Amarjit Singh Sethi were present on the occasion.
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Drive to check dropout rate
Haridwar, December 18 Held under the aegis of the District Education Department, an awareness drive has been initiated. It focuses the role of parents in school education to arrest the rising dropout rate. The Joint Education Director, Dr Santosh Kumar Sheel, launched the drive and laid stress on generating awareness among parents about the need of educating their children. Programme coordinator Manoj Dheeman suggested farmers and workers at least should not send their children for work in fields and other areas during school hours. Upper District Education Officer (Basic) KK Gupta said if one has to make sure this drive is successful then it should also include those mothers who are illiterate as an educated mother makes the whole family educated. Head of Ambuwala village Dharmendra Chaudhari said he, along with other village heads, would help the department in trying to make understand villagers of the necessity of school education for their children. A rally was also organised today from Secondary School, Bhagwanpur, at Bahadrabad in which officers of the District Education Department, primary teachers and students participated in large numbers. Prominent persons present on the occasion were Divisional Education Officer Asha Ram Panyuli, Parents Union head Shesh Ram, Shikshak Sangh chief Dinesh Verma and Junior Sikshak Sangh chief Ashok.
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No dearth of jobs for good students: Expert
Haridwar, December 18 “There are ample employment opportunities and you need to focus on your area of interest. Work hard with a definite career-oriented approach and there will be no dearth of opportunities,” stated Dr Niyagi. While Commerce department head Dr SK Batra stressed on generating skills other than regular college courses. He said multi-skill is the key to success these days and if one has to be successful in the long run then it’s imperative to be study aligned courses too. Earlier, the seminar was inaugurated by the college principal Dr SK Mishra who urged the students to tread right path not only in career but also in their lives. College girls did a Saraswati Pujan while Dr SK Kulshreshtha and Sugandha Sharma hosted the event. Among those who voiced their opinion were Dr Tejvir Singh Tomar, Manoj Sohi, Kuldeep Bharadwaj, Vinay Saini, Rinkal Goyal, Priyanka Pandey, Jyoti, SK Maheshwari and Saraswati Pathak.
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Dehradun, December 18
Dehradun, December 18
Dehradun, December 18
Dehradun, December 18
Dehradun, December 18
Dehradun December 18
Haridwar, December 18
