Palampur, March 9
Despite the high rate of accidents in the state, the Himachal Pradesh government has failed to check overloading and roof travelling in buses and trucks. The rise in the number of accidents has once again put question mark on passengers' safety and functioning of road transport system in the state.

Every third day a road mishap is reported from the state. According to official figures, over 150 persons have lost their lives in different road mishaps in the past six months. Though the government is well conversant with the situation that 98 per cent of the total population of the state is dependent on road transport, the safety of passenger has completely been neglected.

Since the situation is quite alarming, the state government has been forced to constitute a high-level panel to distribute quick relief to the accident victims. Instead of initiating corrective measures like improvement and widening of roads, keeping check on roof travelling and overloading in buses, banning the use of cellphones by drivers, the government had anticipated that because of rise in vehicles in the state in future, the rate of accidents could go up, therefore the formation of relief panel was necessary. Perhaps, the Himachal Pradesh was the only state in the country which had Accident Relief Panel.

Bilaspur, March 9
Gopal Dass "Shyamu" is perhaps the most contented man on this earth. Despite all his difficulties, he has been in the service of society for the last 50 years. "I have the unique satisfaction of serving a cause selflessly which nobody else has taken up till now," he says with a smile and a sparkle in his eyes.

Belonging to a poor Brahmin family and residing in Raura Sector of Bilaspur town, the white bearded and traditional white boat-cap wearing Shyamu would immediately rush to the cremation ghat at the very first honk of the "shankha", a natural trumpet made up of shell, announces death in a household .

Within minutes, he is at the shamshaan ghat, taking charge of the cremation of the body, without making any distinction, whether it belongs to a minister or a pauper. He fixes his own duty till the entire body is completely turned into ashes. It does not matter whether it is dead of night, shivering cold or scorching sun, he is there to help all.

Sometimes, particularly during the winter nights, he is all alone with nobody to accompany him and would only return home after the job is completed . "Sometimes I have to go hungry as I have to rush to the call of duty whenever a "shankha" is honked," he adds.

The best part is he neither charges anything for this service nor accepts anything, which distinctly separates him from the historical and legendary Raja Harish Chandra who had to charge a specific tax on directions of his master for the same job.

A man of few words and a soft spoken old man, he invariably and consistently but courteously refuses all financial payments or any favours as a charge for this unique service. The Himachal Pradesh State Journalists Federation had spotted his selfless services to the society and, as a goodwill gesture of recognition of his selfless services, has fixed him an annual pension of Rs 5,000 and got him honoured in its annual conference from the Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal recently at Bilaspur town. Dhumal was so impressed by his services that he announced an award of Rs 10,000 for him on the spot.

"I was in my youth and I used to catch huge logs in the Satluj during floods in the old town of Bilaspur. One morning I jumped into the river with my "Sanahi" (an inflated and air filled goat- skin used for swimming then) and caught a log and carried it ashore. But to my amazement, I found that with this log was tied the body of a young woman with a dead child clinging to her breast," he reminisces.

"That was the turning point in my career. This moving scene shocked me and changed my view of life and death and I consigned the two bodies to the flames and decided to do the job all my life as a humble service," he concludes.

Shimla, March 9
With the Union Ministry of Mines giving a go- ahead to the geological wing of the state Industries Department for exploring certain belts in the hill state for potential mineral deposits, the possibility of more vistas opening up for the people of these areas cannot be ruled out.

It was at the behest of state Industries Department that the Central Geological Programming Board of the Union Ministry of Mines granted approval for undertaking prospecting of limestone-dolomite bands in the Renuka-Sarahan area of Sirmour district and search for quartzite in Rampur area of Shimla district.

The mapping done by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) earlier has indicated the presence of limestone-dolomite and quartzite deposits in these belts. Till now, quartzite was being obtained from boulders collected from the river beds in Una district and being sent to glass industry.

“Since the Ministry of Mines has accepted our proposal, we will shortly start work along with GSI experts to assess the viability on the basis of qualitative and quantitative analysis of these deposits,” said Arun Sharma, state Geologist. He added that the procedure involving steps like chemical and pit sampling and drilling would indicate if it would be a viable project.

Experts said in case presence of calcium oxide was more than 46 per cent and magnesium less than four per cent then the minerals could be used in cement industry. At present, the belt between Sarahan-Renuka in Sirmour district has no industrial units and in case mineral of high quality is found in this region, the locals would stand to benefit immensely, both directly as well as indirectly.

Even though there is a big question mark over the mining of limestone and dolomite in various areas of Sirmour district bordering Uttarakhand but the fact remains that this has greatly helped in uplifting the rural economy, which, otherwise was solely dependent on subsistence farming.

“The extraction of quartzite will be viable only if it has up to 99 per cent silica as only then there would be demand for it in the glass industry,” said Sharma.

The geological wing is keen to undertake prospecting of the minerals in the potential belts as this will help create employment opportunities for the locals as Himachal has very little industry and that too confined to the fringes. It is felt that in case the deposits are of high quality the people of the region would benefit, thereby creating ample employment opportunities.

Even though the prospecting might take up to three years but in case the outcome is positive, the possibility of setting up cement plant in the Sarahan-Renuka area and sending quartzite to glass industry would be feasible. Though there was iron-ore extraction in the Lana Cheta area near Rajgarh area by the erstwhile rulers of Sirmour state but since it was not economically viable it could not be taken up on a large-scale.

Hamirpur, March 9
Job security is what drives many to opt for government jobs, but that wasn't the case with Rajesh Sharma of Paplah village. After having served in the education department for 10 years, he put in his papers to purse his dream, i.e. farming.

Today, he owns a successful vegetable and dairy farm set up in his native village and provides fresh vegetables, milk and its products to students of Bhareri College, besides selling these in the market. Before taking up this occupation Rajesh was working as a physical education teacher in a government school. With his inherent desire to work independently, he had left the job and started vegetable production on a small piece of land comprising 35 kanal.

By adopting new techniques and diversification in agriculture, he is successfully growing ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes and turmeric, etc. Keeping in view the irrigation needs, he also got two wells bored in his land through which he is irrigating the crops and also fulfilling the requirement of potable water.

Three years ago, Rajesh also started dairy farming and today he owns 15 buffaloes and a cow.

To continue his interest in the field of education, he also started a physical education college named Meharram Dutta College of Physical Education at Bhareri. Presently, more than 150 students from throughout the state are studying in this institution.

For his achievements in dairy farming, Rajesh Sharma was honoured by the Animal Husbandry Department and given a cash prize of Rs 10,000.

Happy with his success he wants the other unemployed youths of the area to take up such activities at home.

He says, "They should have faith in their capabilities and draw full advantage of the schemes like Pundit Deen Dayal Bagwan Samridhi Yojana and Dugdh Ganga Yojana launched by the state government.

Rajesh is earning about Rs 20,000 per month from these activities and tells, any body having about 3 kanal of land could earn Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per month by growing vegetables using modern techniques.

The corporation has already invited expressions of interest for four big parking complexes to be constructed at Sanjauli, IGMC Hospital and the Lift, which will have capacity for 1500 vehicles. Besides, three more parking projects are being planned the biggest of which will come at the bypass bifurcation at the entry point of the city

Insider and outsider debate rage

Himachali and non-Himachali has not been a major issue in the hill state but politicians of various hues have been raising the bogey of "outsider" to suit their convenience from time to time. The race for the Rajya Sabha ticket for the lone seat falling vacant later this month has revived the debate and, in fact, the candidature of Satya Pal Jain, in charge of BJP affairs in the state, has not found favour on this ground.

While Jain is indeed an outsider, even those living in the state for generations were being dubbed so to undermine the prospects of rivals. If this yardstick is applied more than half the people of the state would fall under the category of outsiders, particularly as large parts were merged into the state during the reorganisation of Punjab. The instant target of the outsider campaign is BJP's state organising secretary Mohinder Pande whose father joined service in the Education Department in 1952 and retired as a deputy director in 1990. He has been living in the state all through.

Similar has been the case of Anand Sharma who has been sent to the Rajya Sabha twice and has done the state proud by his excellent performance as a minister in the UPA regime. Earlier, Another Rajya Sabha member from the state, Usha Malhotra, whose husband retired as the PWD engineer-in-chief, also fell in the same category. Besides two rank outsiders, Mohinder Kaur and Krishan Lal Sharma, were also sent to the House of Elders from the state. State Congress general secretary Harbhajan Singh, who has represented the Shimla Assembly seat twice, and BJP leader Ganesh Dut, who unsuccessfully contested from Shimla in 2003, also fall in the same category.

Lecturer pens book on hill state

A political science lecturer's penchant for fact and figures and deep interest in history and culture has given birth to "Himachal Pradesh - A Himalayan Dreamland", the most complete book of information on the hill state till date. Currently teaching at Government College in Sunni Dr Rajender Attri has indeed put in a painstaking effort in collecting wide-ranging facts covering every aspect right from the early history dating back to 4000 BC to the present stage.

The voluminous 1005-page book spread over 44 chapters provides valuable information about history, culture, social life, flora and fauna, rivers, lakes forests and other natural resources, economic activity, tourists destinations and even existing and proposed hydro-electric projects. A notable feature is that the information has been organised in most reader-friendly and accessible manner. Geographical information includes details of famous peaks (41 peaks) and high mountain passes (62 passes) with altitude and location, important institutes, temples with the names of founders and important legislations (136 up to 2008) enacted by the Vidhan Sabha. A section is devoted to district-wise facts and figures which include population density, literacy rate, sex ratio and other salient features.

"It has taken more than five years to collect and organise the material and produce the book", says Attri who hails from Snora village in Rajgarh. A native of Sirmour district he was greatly influenced by Dr YS Parmar, founder of Himachal Pradesh, and his first work was, in fact, the biography of the state's tallest leader. The latest book will serve as a useful compendium not only for all those appearing in various competitive examinations but also for administrators and planners.

(Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi)

Shimla, March 9
Painting has been his passion and photography profession. Devoted to his twin artistic talents Sarju Prasad has achieved excellence in both.Using two different mediums of expression the veteran artist, who recently turned 80, has created innumerable majestic images over the past six decades. His deft fingers have wielded the paintbrush and clicked the camera with consummate dexterity.

 Blending imagination with technique he has exploited the creative scope of the two mediums to give vent to the artistic urge within and explore the aesthetics of the external world to the full. Not only that the Shimla-based artist has been gifted with enviable film-making skills. In fact, one of his major achievements has been the National Award that he won for the documentary featuring the 1982 Asian Games.

Despite his mastery over both camera and canvas Sarju has remained an "unsung" hero. "The most unfortunate part of his life is that his invaluable contribution in the field of arts has not been duly recognised" points out Sheffali Aavishkar Ranjan in her research work entitled 'Sarju Prasad -A veteran artist of Himachal Pradesh'.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth Sarju renounced the material luxuries for the sake of art. The journey from his birthplace Ghazipur, a nondescript village in UP, to Shimla has been full of ups and downs. His penchant for photography stemmed during his student days when he excelled in the subject of art and passed out with flying colours. As his performance in other subjects was below par, the course of his career and life was chalked out.

After formative education at Victoria High School, Ghazipur, Sarju went on to study graphic arts first at Lucknow Arts College and subsequently at Morwin Arts College, Shimla.

However, his talent bloomed under the patronage of the then Lieutenant-Governor Bajrang Bahadur Singh Bhadri ,who along with his wife, Girija Devi, treated him as their son. Not many know that Sarju Prasad's first exhibition was inaugurated by the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, at Rashtrapati Bhawan, who found his paintings "very nice and appealing."

His well-known exhibition 'Study of Feminine Faces' at Shimla was inaugurated by the then President of India, Dr. Zakir Hussain, who found the pictures strikingly good. This exhibition brought to the fore Prasad's refined photojournalistic style that combined a unique sensibility with technical capability to tell the story with spontaneity and novelty.

Another feather in his cap is the award conferred on him on August 15,1999, by the then Governor, Rama Devi, for his sincere and dedicated services in the field of art, filmmaking and photography.

His oil paintings depicting village life of the tribal region bring out the grandeur of mountains. One of his paintings--"Devil Dance"--depicts the Lamas performing the Chham dance with the mountains of Spiti forming a breathtaking backdrop. Even in the era of cameras with slow shutter speeds he was able to venture well beyond the confines of the studio. His well-composed photographs record the array of feelings written on the human face, the immaculate beauty of the earth and sky. Professionally he also clicked Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and many actors of Hindi Cinema of that time.

He also specialises in miniature paintings and has authored a book on miniature paintings. In his leisure time, he sings ragas and bhajans. In the twilight years, he still possesses the same joie de vivre and enthusiasm, which could make any adolescent envy him. He can still be seen moving around with his camera.