Haridwar, January 17
It was quite surprising to see the same Har-ki-Pauri mela area, which had been thronged by around two million people in the back-to-back holy baths of Makar Sakranti and Mauni Amawasya, quite barren today. Though pilgrims were taking a dip in the holy Ganga, the Har-ki-Pauri area seemed to have gone into total silence.

Pilgrims who thronged Haridwar for the two holy baths have left for their respective destinations and now it is usual affair at the Ganga ghats with people engaged in normal rituals and local ones outnumbering the pilgrims from other states to be seen.

While on both holy baths there was bright sunshine in Haridwar, foggy conditions prevailed the very next day of Mauni Amawasya. A weak influx of pilgrims has been attributed to severe cold and low visibility due to fog.

Similar is the case with railway station, bus station and taxi stands, which otherwise on both days seemed quite chaotic.

But, this is only a short gap. The crowd will revisit the Har-ki-Pauri ghat on January 20 when the third festive holy bath of the Maha Kumbh, ie of Basant Panchami, falls. Though people’s rush has decreased and the mela administration, including the police, seems to be taking a rest, the preparations are in full swing for the third holy bath.

The mela police is chalking out plans and reviewing the whole situation so that it makes a hat-trick of successful hosting and completion of holy baths of century’s first Maha Kumbh.

While in previous years around two lakh devotees would visit Haridwar to take a dip in the Ganga on Basant Panchami, this time the day falling during the Maha Kumbh it’s expected that a minimum of half a million people will throng the ghats.

The mela administration is looking into loopholes that surfaced during the first two festive baths on January 14 and 15. Though from the security point of view and traffic regulation, the mela administration did a commendable job with traffic in charges getting accolades from senior police officers, this time the administration wants to take the coming holy bath as a trial of preparations for the first Shahi Snan on February 12 on the occasion of Maha Shivratri, a prominent festival of the Hindus celebrated nationwide.

DSP (Traffic) Shweta Chaubey says as Haridwar city has limited highway and road options, with only one way for entering and exit in the mela area, the management of traffic is of prime importance, apart from the security aspect. Various alternative traffic routes are being devised.

Meanwhile, many pilgrims have decided to be in the city for a week time so that they can attend all three holy baths. “We thought it better to stay for the Basant Panchami bath also as the Maha Kumbh comes once in 12 years,” said Savitri Dimri from Karnaprayag district and Shakuntala Nautiyal from Dehradun, who have been staying at the house of one of their relatives in Shri Nath Nagar.

(More Maha Kumbh stories on page 3)

Dehradun, January 17
Strenuous studies and mind-boggling syllabi have surely turned a few students into scholars, while the rest are left flunked in academics as lethargic living mannequins. The race to come first in class or get into some prestigious college for further studies is the sole aim of the students.

CBSE-affiliated schools are proving a boon for all non-scholastic students. According to the new policies directed by the CBSE as well as the NCERT, no student will be held back till Class VIII. The news has brought respite to many parents as well as to their wards, for the schools have done great job of eradicating the examination phobia from the minds of students.

“All schools affiliated to the CBSE will have to follow the policies as directed by the board that says schools will not conduct examination for the students of class II and III, but will evaluate students on the grounds of other skill-based applications like reading, writing, reasoning and other co-curricular activities being held throughout the session. However, students of class IX will be allotted grades instead of marks and granted five chances for getting promoted to the next class,” said S Ghildiyal, teacher of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hathibarkala.

She said the directives given by the board would help the weak and non-intellectual pupils to go ahead in life with their positive points in the forefront. The amendment as well as the introduction of new teaching methods had changed the style of old and traditional education. Not only this, the NCERT had strictly commanded the teachers and school administration to cut down on the amount of homework, while more emphasis would be laid on class education.

Mugging up history lessons, balancing chemical equations in chemistry, finding the fulcrum of an object or solving tedious sums of mathematics would not help to gain dexterity. Other life skills like gardening, stitching, painting, clay modelling, yoga and languages could also help students in gaining knowledge and recognition.

Pratima Rawat, mother of two kids studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Raipur, was at ease to hear this enumeration. She said she was a homemaker and was unable to dedicate much time to make her kids learn and complete their homework. But she was now happy for all mothers like her.

“I am just an average student scoring between 50 per cent and 60 per cent in academics. Last year, my parents were not at all satisfied to see my results and threatened to send me to a boarding school. But I think the new system of schooling will change the whole scenario and I can escape from being sent to a boarding school,” said Vineet, a student of KV.

Dehradun, January 17
Students are delighted by the decision taken by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) that has rendered respite to them by reducing the weight of their school bags. In the recent policy of the KVS, it is clearly directed that all its branches in India will follow the latest trend of teaching methods as indicated by the NCERT that does not include carrying text books by students every day.

Not only students, but parents also are elated at the pronouncement. As these days school-going children are troubled with spine and back pain, so the decision is taken by the organisation while keeping the health perspective of the students in mind. The students should have a straight and upright torso is what the organisation now aims at.

Sarita Pandey, mother of class IX student, ecstatically said, “My daughter often looked tired and used to complain about having lower backache. It’s good to hear that the decision of reducing the weight of school bags has been passed by the school authority, which will surely help my daughter as well as other students to enjoy childhood without pain”.

The KVS is also setting an example to many other institutions that need to amend their teaching techniques with time. Loading a student’s mind with exhausting syllabus or caning them will do no good for the child’s development. Teaching them lifestyle skills, rather than turning them into a bookworm, is what matters the most nowadays.

“We have been specified to discourage textual matter to the verbal and other technically-aided teaching methods. To lessen the burden on the shoulders of the students, shelves and racks will be allotted to every student to keep their text books and other less required registers or note books in the class,” said SK Tripathi, teacher of KV, Hathibarkala.

He further added, “As directed by the NCERT, we are also want to provide our students with High Order Thinking (HOT) materials. HOT precisely comprises unsolved papers of every subject, based on the pattern of board examinations. These steps will certainly help students to cut down the weight saddled onto the shoulders of the students”.

Dehradun, January 17
A three-wicket haul by Vikash helped the DRCA team register an easy win over the Little Master Cricket Club in the 58th District Cricket League underway at Survey Stadium here today.

Batting first, the Little Master Cricket Club managed to score 188 runs in 29.4 overs. Opener Vishal could not do much for his team and was out for one run. Another opener Pushkar scored 27 runs before been given out on bowling of Vikash. Thereafter, Manish and Vipul accelerated the run rate for the Little Master Cricket Club. Manish made 16 runs, whereas Vipul scored 30 runs. Sunny came up with a well-made 25 runs, whereas Jaiveer scored 22 runs. Prakash was the highest scorer for the team. He made 33 runs hitting six boundaries and three sixes.

For the DRCA team, Vikash was the pick of the bowlers. He claimed three wickets in his six over spell, whereas Ajay, Manish and Birender took two wickets each.

The DRCA team reached the target with eight wickets in hand. Opening pair of Birender and Manish set the pass for the team. Birender made 18 runs and Manish scored 38 runs. The first down batsman Zeeshan made 73 runs off 55 balls helping his team reached the target with an ease, whereas another batsman, Virender scored 38 runs off 44 balls. For the Little Master Cricket Club, Manoj and Vishal took one wicket each.

Meanwhile, in the second match, the LIC team registered a four-run victory over AXIS Bank. Batting first, the LIC team scored 211 runs. Opening batsman Durgesh and Sharad scored freely for their side and contributed 102 runs for the opening wicket stand. Durgesh made 53 runs off 69 balls and Sharad scored 51 runs off 52 balls. First down batsman Rupender scored 35 runs off 40 balls, whereas Diwakar cored 34 runs off 27 balls. For Axis Bank, Vikas and Chandan took two wickets each.

The LIC team failed to reach 212-run target. Opening pair of Amit and Chandan scored 35 and 20 runs, respectively, to give a fine start in the match. First down batsman Vikas scored 31 runs off 31 balls, whereas Manish scored 23 runs off 31 balls. Middle order batsman Rajat made an important contribution in the match. He made 37 runs, but in the end, lower order batsmen failed to adjust themselves to the LIC team bowling attack and lose the match by four runs. For the LIC team, Devesh took three wickets, whereas Rupender took two wickets.