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National security convention begins
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at a seminar in Haridwar on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph
Potable water issue rules question hour
Cong opposes CAG report
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Dr Subramaniam Swamy, president, Janata Party, being felicitated at a seminar in Dehradun on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Anil P Rawat
Dehradun women get vociferous over quota Bill
Jewellery thief arrested
Small traders in day time and thieves at night
Gen Rasquinha gives tips to RIMC cadets
Major-Gen NM Rasquinha, General Officer Commanding, 14 Rapid (Strike), interacts with cadets at the Rashtriya Indian Military College in Dehradun on Tuesday.
A langur that refuses to be tranquilised
Corbett starts current booking for safari ride
Rural representatives get training
Blood donation camp held
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National security convention begins
Haridwar, March 9 The convention is being attended by more than a 1,000 delegates from all over the country. Delegates include former Army Generals, judges, bureaucrats, defence experts, Vice-Chancellors, professors, politicians and hundreds of eminent persons from different fields. Chief guest Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand, stressed on the need to sensitise people on national security. He stated that it was not only the duty of armed and security forces to maintain the security of our country, but also of each and every citizen to see that integrity and security of India remains intact. Linking the security convention with the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Haridwar, CM Nishank said that it appeared auspicious that this Kumbh on national security was being held in the middle of the four-month-long Kumbh Mela. “While the Maha Kumbh is providing spiritual solace, this gathering is awakening a sense of national security among us,” said Nishank. Lieut-Gen DB Shekatkar (retd), national president of the forum, shed light on the working of the forum and its objectives. Recalling his experience in the Army in fighting insurgency, he pointed that earlier, it used to be external forces that used to weaken India, but now a proxy war is being fought inside the country which seemed more dangerous. RSS chief R Mohan Bhagwat called on citizens to realise that all other things take a back seat when it comes to nationalism. He lauded the efforts of the forum in taking the initiative. Shankaracharya Swami Satyamitranand Giri in his address said that ‘shashtra’ (weapons) were necessary to defend the integrity of country as the Shastras (scriptures) were vital for the integrity of the nation’s spirit. Former Union Minister of State for Defence Bachi Singh Rawat also talked about India’s defence and internal security challenges. The inaugural day saw various discussions and interactive sessions on regional security, national security, internal security and the global scenario and its impact on the nation. |
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Potable water issue rules question hour
Dehradun, March 9 Responding to a query put up by Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Surendra Rakesh, Uttarakhand Potable Water Minister Prakash Pant said the government was experimenting converting humidity into water for managing water in the areas that were completely devoid of water sources. He revealed that as per government records, as many as 783 areas comprising 606 villages and 177 town areas had been identified to be prone to potable water crisis this summer and needed immediate attention. Ruling out any major immediate potable water threat to the state, the minister held that the state government had come with a long-term and prompt-action programme to deal with potable water scarcity in the state. Pant also pointed that the state experiences 16 mm of rainfall every year and if even a part of it was put to use for harvesting, it could be of immense benefit to deal with potable water exigencies. He also held that the Chief Minister-headed
State Water Conservation and Enrichment Committee had been constituted that was taking to the issue of water conservation. Joining the issue, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal Om Gopal Rawat raised the issue of potable water shortages in Chika, Nakot and Khari villages of Tehri district. Congress legislators Tilak Raj Behad and Manoj Tiwari also raised potable water concern. |
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Cong opposes CAG report
Dehradun, March 9 Opposition Leader Harak Singh Rawat blamed the ruling party alleging that most of the contents of the CAG report was linked to Uttar Pradesh, which he said was a big anomaly. He also described it as disrespect to the state. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant categorically held that the state had little role to play on the contents of CAG report and it was a Central report. He also pointed that CAG contents had Uttar Pradesh details as some of the finances were linked to the period when even the state of Uttarakhand was not formed. Prakash Pant however said if the opposition members were not satisfied he was ready to refer the matter to Public Accounts Committee of the House. However, Opposition members insisted for suspension of tabling of CAG report, which was finally accepted by the speaker. Walkout over SC funds issue
Dissatisfied with Social Welfare Minister Matbar Singh Kandari’s
reply linked to the utilisation of funds meant for Scheduled Caste (SC) component sub-plan, Congress legislators today staged a walkout
in the Uttarakhand Assembly. Opposition Leader Harak Singh Rawat, who led Congress MLAs in staging the walkout, accused the ruling BJP of doing little for the benefit of the SC community of the state. Earlier, the minister responding to a query put by BSP MLA Narayan Pal gave the details of the amount sanctioned and utilised under SC component sub-plan. |
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Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan holds talks on regionalism
Dehradun, March 9 Dr Subramaniam Swamy, former Union Minister and President of Janata Party, said the issue of regionalism had raised its head in Tamil Nadu before taking over Mumbai, which was more on linguistic basis. Such issues had been dug up to shred the fabric of unity of the country and seek political mileage out of them. Be it manoos of any part of India, all of them shared the same ancestors and spoke the languages derived from the mother of all languages, Sanskrit. He clarified that word “manoos” was born out of original Devnagiri word “manushya”. He urged Indians to get rid of colonial idiosyncrasies and feel a part of one India. He said, “Unless we associate with each other and merge our diverse identities for one identity of an Indian, such parochial forces will keep dismantling peace of our lives”. It is the migration of rural youth toward more resounding economy of metro cities which is becoming the genesis of such scuffles over employment and limited resources. Witnessing similar trends taking place even in fast-surging economy of China, Prof Girijesh Pant, Vice-Chancellor, Doon University, said, “The only solution is to strengthen the local economy to prevent the migration from villages and giving better standard of life to the natives in their surroundings only”. Dr S Farooq known for his dexterity on Urdu poetry used the medium to explain how the British misused the four concepts of religion, region, language and caste to divide and rule India. He said, “We are still bearing the brunt of those worn out glitches”. Lt General VK Sharma (retd), Chairman of Dehradun Kendra of Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, appreciated the Bhawan for its exemplary work. Aloke Lal, Director-General of Police, also
graced the occasion. Dehradun Kendra’s honorary secretary handled the ceremonies. Arvindar Singh proposed the vote
of thanks. |
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Dehradun women get vociferous over quota Bill
Dr Rupali Behl, Proffesor, said, “When it comes to talking, our leaders promise us a million things, but in reality nothing is being done. On the occasion of Women’s Day such uncalled for behaviour is a national shame and is only going to hinder the progress of women in varied fields. Moreover, it’s important that thinking is changed, without a broader perspective nothing can be achieved”. Deepika, a student,
said, “I strongly condemn such attitude of the Opposition parties and feel that sooner or later this Bill should be passed”. Sheetal Shuharu, a student, said, “Already when women at different spheres are facing hurdles in a male-dominated society, it’s essential that they are timely given their due share. Reservation Bill not being passed is simply going to demoralise them, not allowing them to think big and change the orthodox system”. Mamta Pandey, a senior research fellow at a
PG College, said, “As women are no less than men and with time outshining them, it’s important that our politicians think beyond such trivial matters and do something constructive for the development of the nation”. |
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Jewellery thief arrested
Dehradun, March 9 The rest the four accomplices managed to flee. However, the police managed to nab Prempal, alias Tejpal, a resident of Tilya Ghat district, Bulandshahar (UP), during the chase. Besides recovering jewellery of around Rs 3.5 lakh from the accused, the police also recovered country-made pistol, four cartridges and an instrument to break shutters from the spot. The gang committed previous thefts under the Nehru Colony police station area where they broke the shutters of two shops on the same day and one at Kohinoor jewellers under the Patel Nagar police station area. The arrested person told the police that Rampal, Kedar, Premi and Mulva, all hailed from Sahajpur (UP), were his other gang members. Prempal also revealed that they also had two children of age group of 14-15 years in their gang.Jagatram Joshi, Superintendent of Police (City), said they were trying to arrest the rest of the gang members. Meanwhile, the Sarfara Mandal, Dehradun, announced a cash reward of Rs 11,000 to the police team. |
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Small traders in day time and thieves at night
Dehradun, March 9 He, along with his other four gang members, used to sell watches in the day time and commit thefts at jewellery shops at night. In the guise of selling watches in the day time at the railway station and localities, they used to do recce and target the jewellery shops at night. The gang members used to get watches at wholesale rates from Delhi and sell these in Dehradun. They were vagabonds and would stay in the state capital for about 10 days and commit thefts and then leave the place for sometime. They used to repeat the schedule after a particular period of time. Jagatram Joshi, Superintendent of Police (City) said they used to target rural areas on the city outskirts. They would spot a place and target it at night. Prempal told the police that he had been into this trade for the past eight years, but he was active with his gang in Dehradun for the past few months only. He admitted having committed such thefts in Mujpharnagar (UP) earlier. The police said other four gang members Rampal, Kedar, Premi and Mulva, all hailing from Shahjanpur (UP), who fled the spot last night, couldn’t be found. With the arrest of robbers in different robbery cases last year, it has come to light that a majority of them used to put vegetable rehris in the area where they struck.
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Gen Rasquinha gives tips to RIMC cadets
Dehradun, March 9 General Rasquinha has a wide experience in command and staff duties. Besides commanding an infantry battalion in a counter insurgency environment in Assam, he commanded an Assam Rifles sector in Nagaland. He also participated in counter-insurgency operations in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir as a Company Commander. For his efforts and dedication to service, he has been awarded the Chief of Army Staff commendation twice and the Vice-Chief of the Army Staff commendation once. He had an interactive session with cadets answering questions on topics like insurgency, India’s military status in the world, military doctrine, economic and military strategy, defence technology and the value of natural resources. General Rasquinha is a keen environmentalist with particular interest in bird watching, local flora and fauna and conservation of water and electricity. He also talked about issues related to environmental conservation with the cadets. He also spoke about the life in the military forces and reminded the cadets of the duties that lay ahead of them in future and encouraged them to continue the legacy. Col H Dharmarajan, SM, Commandant, RIMC, thanked the General for interacting with the cadets and explaining as to what is military all about. Other dignitaries present were Lt Col R Nathawat, Sq Ldr YS Panghal, Lt Cdr Chakraborty, Maj SR Sahu, Mr KS Ahlawat, Mr CS Vishwakarma, DN Thapliyal and PK Sharma.
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A langur that refuses to be tranquilised
Nainital, March 9 Over the past two days, the efforts of the department have been in vain. They have been chasing the animal across town with tranquilising guns in their hands. Although they have managed to hit the langur with tranquilisers several times, the effort proved pointless as the animal has efficiently been taking out the tranquiliser needles and throwing them out. Talking to The Tribune, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Bijulal TR said, “It is not easy to capture the animal. Even today, we managed to hit it thrice, but it was able to take out the syringes”. He said personnel of the department had started operations to capture the beast once permission was received from the office of the Chief Wildlife Warden. The langur has reportedly bitten more than 24 persons, including pedestrians and schoolchildren, since Holi. Officials said simians in Nainital had become a major problem, which was compounded by people offering eatables to them. By the time of filing of this report, personnel of the Forest Department were still chasing the irate langur.
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Corbett starts current booking for safari ride
Nainital, March 9 Talking to The Tribune, a representative of the agitators Madan Kaushik said the 52-hour advance booking was a tool to favour hoteliers as common middle-class tourists had to stay in Ramnagar and around for 52 hours before they could go inside. He said it also impacted the livelihood of locals involved in tourism activities as most of the time the tourists had to avail services provided by the hotels. |
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Rural representatives get training
Dehradun, March 9 The EWRs attended gram sabha
meetings and learnt about various government schemes. The EWRs were briefed on various Central schemes and the RTI and other Acts. At the end of the training, Laxmi Devi, ward member of Bageshwar, said the information they got during the training was beneficial. |
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Blood donation camp held
Dehradun, March 9 Hundreds of officers and employees participated in the blood donation. Chief General Manager SC Goyal, Human Resources GM SK Sharma, General Manager (Planning) DN Joshi, General Manager (Garhwal Zone) Kamal Kant also donated blood.
— TNS |
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India is not only fighting external forces, but is also engaged in a battle within its borders. These forces - be it naxalites or Maoists - are weakening the country.
Dehradun, March 9
Dehradun, March 9
Dehradun, March 9