Dehradun, June 3
Dehradun Basmati can regain its lost glory in the market if farmers are encouraged to adopt newer varieties of rice that give bigger grains backed by better procurement and market facilities.

Good climatic condition, fertile soil and mineral-rich water is conducive for development of aroma that is generally associated with Dehradun basmati, grown mainly in parts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkee and by working on grain enhancement through introduction of newer varieties of rice, it can be achieved, said Dr VP Singh, former Principal Scientist of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI).

Credited for developing Pusa Basmati and Pusa 1121 varieties of rice, Dr VP Singh spoke to The Tribune on the sidelines of a workshop. He stressed that the newer basmati rice varieties like Pusa Basmati 1121 and Pusa 1 gave just double the yield than the type-3 and basmati 370 varieties favoured by the farmers here and the same time do not lodge but provide stability to the yield,” he said.

In the export market quality rice is judged among other things for the length of the grain. The traditional Dehradun Basmati was quite popular in the 70s, but with the changing times, longer the grain better the price became the trend in the domestic and global markets.

“The Dehradun Basmati, also known as type-3 and 370 varieties, developed by scientists through pure line selection from traditional Dehradun basmati rice have shorter grain length of less than 7 milimetre while the Taraori Basmati (Haryana) has longer grain length of 7.5 milimetre, that is why it is fetching better price and higher profits in the market and is mainly grown by farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.

“As a result farmers in the Doon valley and adjoining areas usually get lesser remuneration compared to their counterparts in other parts. Hence the dwindling interest among farmers in growing paddy. Even the land under paddy has decreased,” asserted Dr Singh.

Dr VP Singh, who has worked extensively with the Father of Green Revolution, Dr Swaminathan, said scientists in the country were at present working on developing rice varieties that could be grown in areas of various climates depending on the availability of water.

“A variety called IR 64 has been developed that is submergence tolerant. Once the water is removed it starts growing with no signs of retarded growth,” he added.

Dehradun, June 3
Braving tough weather conditions, a mountaineering team of the Indian Military Academy (IMA) set a new record by scaling the Mount Jogin I in lesser time ever with the maximum number of mountaineers reaching the peak.

The team scaled the peak on the 9th day with maximum 20 of its members reaching the peak. It is the best effort at any one point of time on this peak which is 64,65 metre (21,210 feet) high. The team had left for the expedition on May 20 and returned on May 29.

“We finished the expedition in minimum time that is on the 9th day and with maximum number of mountaineers, which is 20, scaling the peak. This is the record on Mount Jogin I,” exults Major SPS Chauhan, who was the leader of the 20-member team.

The team members included 11 gentleman cadets, six instructors and three officers. “The technical team was of paramount help during our expedition as it cleaned snow from the path we had to trek on. There was less supply of oxygen and we were facing breathing problem as weather played very bad on such height,” recalls the team leader.

“We had the best slot of the Indian Army that with its hardship and motivation made it happen. The 60 per cent of the cadets had already gone for expedition earlier and it was the third expedition of mine too. We had trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, twice a year for this expedition,” adds Chauhan.

The IMA had earlier successfully completed expeditions at Mount Bhagirathi II in 2007, Mount Black Peak in 2008, Mount Bandar Punch in 2009.

Dehradun, June 3
At a workshop on “Quality Improvement on Production of Basmati Rice for Export”, farmers demanded accessibility to seeds and uniform quality norms for manure.

The workshop, which was aimed at enhancing the capacity of farmers, elicited a variety of responses from them. Out of a total of 125 farmers, 50 per cent participants were women.

Katar Singh, a farmer from Haridwar and president of the Bharat Kisan Club, said the government should impose uniform norms for manure that was sold in the market as most of the times it was not of good quality. “Those farmers who have adopted organic farming need to use organic manure with caution and should be informed about the contents in the manure,” he said.

He also said the organic rice was not fetching a higher price in the market despite having better quality.

Mangala Pawar, a woman farmer from Kesarwala, Raipur, said they were hamstrung by lack of fertilisers that could keep pests at bay.

While the area under paddy cultivation has drastically reduced, the farmers were urged to go in for diversification and adopt newer varieties of paddy.

Paddy is grown mainly in three districts of Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar. In all 2,200 hectare area is under paddy cultivation and 2,400 farmers are engaged in it.

The workshop was organised by the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi, Basmati Export Development Foundation, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram, and the Agriculture Export Development Unit (AEDU).

Earlier, Secretary, Horticulture, Vinod Fonia, during the inaugural session of the workshop, said the government would provide all kinds of assistance to women farmers and was committed to raising the profile of the local rice so that it fetched better market.

Later, Dr BP Dhyani, Professor from the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, while reacting to the problems of the farmers asked them to shun the use of chemical fertilisers as they raised pollution levels.

“The environment in Uttarakhand is conducive for organic farming as the carbon level is more, only thing is nutrients need to be managed,” he said.

The workshop was attended by CS Mehra, Secretary, UOCB, Anup Rawat, Manager, AEDU, Dehradun, GS Pande, Additional Secretary, Horticulture, Navneesh Sharma, Deputy General Manager, Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority , and Amit Srivastav, Technical Manager, Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UCOB).

Dehradun, June 3
Though religious tourism season has already peaked, the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) is busy discussing its grey areas causing it a perpetual loss and the ways to tide over the losing proposition and to move toward profitability.

Normally, such an exercise is undertaken before the augmentation of any big event or season to make the most of the timing but in the nigam, which has been struggling with the cascading effects of wrong decisions taken over the years and the internal wrangles, the move has come quite a late when the Maha Kumbh is over and Char Dham and Sri Hemkund Sahib pilgrimage are going on. A conclusive report has been prepared with the help of a chartered accountant.

The report says that on an average the tourist rest houses owned by the GMVN get merely 25 per cent occupancy in comparison to 50 per cent average booking made by private operators. It is only its 11 all season tourists rest houses such as in Dhanaulty, Haridwar and Muni-ki-Reti, which bring in inflow of tourists throughout the year. The other 43 enroute rest houses situated on pilgrimage passages like Badrinath, Barkot and Hrsol make up by getting a large number of tourists during the religious tourism and earn the maximum among all other tourist rest houses.

Eleven seasonal rest houses, including the ones in Auli, Chamba, Chilla, Kaudiyali, which hugely depend on the limited season to survive. The main eye sore are 18 rest houses in outlying distant location which largely remain out of control of the nigam and dent the coffer of the nigam in a big way.

UK Kabadwal, General Manager, GMVN, says, “The outlying tourist rest houses have been stationed in tricky and treacherous trekking locations, where a few tourists go. In bargain, we have to pay salaries of peon and manager and maintain the accommodation which for all 18 rest houses run into several lakhs on annual basis whereas the gross profit is painfully low.

“It is the state government which urges to keep them functioning to earn a good reputation of the state machinery working even in difficult areas for the tourists’ benefit but the nigam has nothing to gain from these rest houses.”

He also rued the fact that it was difficult for the nigam to kept a direct control on the outlying rest houses due to their locations and because of that the employees made money by wrong method by renting out accommodation to tourists without maintaining a record of such entries.

The report suggests that replacing the high-salaried employees in outlying rest houses with a caretaker. And to ban any entry other than online booking to put a break on the devious manner of the employees to fill their pockets.

To be continued

Nainital, June 3
Triggering off the much-awaited academic reforms, Kumaon University has decided to bring a whole lot of master’s degree programme under the semester system. The decision to transform the existing pattern was given a clearance at the Academic Council meeting of the university that took place on the Durham House premises this afternoon.

Vice-Chancellor Dr VPS Arora said the master’s programmes going into the semester system included master’s in arts for yoga, music, home science and visual arts, besides master’s in computer science, biotechnology, statistics, information technology, forestry and geology. The LLM programme would also be run on semester pattern from the forthcoming academic session.

In addition to this, the university is introducing master-level programmes in philosophy, social work, microbiology, psychology and education, all of which would be run on the semester system.

Dr Arora said all management-oriented programmes being run by the university at both bachelor’s and master’s level would also be run on semester pattern. The university had also decided to introduce education and philosophy as subjects at bachelor’s level.

Another important decision taken at the meeting was that the old and new ordnances of the university would be got printed afresh and would be duly circulated.

The bringing out of the fresh academic calendar was also cleared by the council and it was announced that the next session would start from July 1 this year.

The university would also be framing rules for fellowships and medals awarded by institutions and individuals through it. The rules for affiliation of colleges to this university would also be revisited, the Vice-Chancellor announced.

Dr Arora also said, “The council has also given clearance for entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the institutes like the Institute of Veterinary and Research Sciences (IVRI) at Mukteshwar, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) etc where the students can go for their internships and research”.

He said it was also decided to constitute an evaluation committee for scrutinising all diplomas being offered by the university to ensure that every academic programme was serving its desired purpose. Dr Arora said two nominees from the office of Directorate of Higher Education would comprise the committee.

An exercise in self-evaluation is also to be introduced for all colleges affiliated to the university.

Dehradun, June 3
Once again history repeated itself as Rimcollians bagged all prestigious honours at National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakvasla, Pune.

P Ashok Verma stood out achieving the most honourable President’s Gold Medal as well as the first in computer science stream award, best naval cadet award, best in foundation course award and best in jointmanship award. During his stay at Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) here, Verma was section commander of Pratap Section, a brilliant scholar, an outstanding basketball player. He was also a national-level quizzer.

Rohit Shekhar was awarded President’s Silver Medal and was also adjudged best in officer like qualities (OLQ) and best Army cadet. In RIMC, he was an excellent all round cadet, an agile athlete, a good hockey, cricket and a soccer player and was also the cadet captain of RIMC.

Cadet Raghav Swaroop Gupta was bestowed with commandant’s motivation award. During his days at RIMC, he was a good scholar, a promising debater and a natural actor.

Haridwar, June 3
While people from around the world come to Dev Sanskriti University and Shanti Kunj to learn yoga and Indian culture, ethics, moral values and tradition, the university on its part is also trying to give much-needed exposure to its students. So, the students will be taking internship in nine states of India as well as internship abroad.

For the first time a batch of the university students will be going to Nepal as part of their internship curriculum, where they will learn as well as disseminate what they have learnt in the university. Also a specialised 10-student batch will be prepared from laborious, effervescent students who will be trained to spread Indian culture and traditions among the foreign youth.

Thirtysix batches of the final-year students from various disciplines left for the internship training programme, apart from Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Before their departure, a session was held for the interns on the university premises wherein they were addressed by university management and officials. All-India Gayatri Family chief and Chancellor of the university Dr Pranav Pandya urged students to come forward and puy on the mantle to take the nation forward while serving the society too. He urged them to follow the principles of Pandit Shri Ram Sharma, who always termed the students and youth as his hands.

Terming the internship tenure as a reality test of one’s efforts during the learning period, Dr Pandya said the student time was the best phase and if during the period some work was done for society, it was best utilised.

Stating that the purpose of sending the students was to make them more responsible, Shanti Kunj head Shail Jiji said it was a matter of pride for parents and teachers when they saw them executing the responsibilities with perfection.

All students vowed to live up to the expectations and make a name of the university while working as interns during the tenure. The internship training will commence from June 6 and conclude on June 30.

Dehradun, June 3
Amidst the summer season, where people are craving for good rain showers, light-textured summer wears are good option to keep it cool. Cotton outfits with lycra mixed fabric gives a nice feel to the body while keeping it cool throughout the sweltering day.

Markets are flooded with a variety of jeans, capris, hot pants and T-shirts, but the most demanding attire for school and college-going youngsters are ganjis teamed up with the three-fourth shorts. Similarly, girls want clothes and footwear which are in line with fashion as well as comfortable to be in. City markets have come up with an array of latest fashion that suits every budget.

“We launched our summer collection in April, displaying shoes, sandals, flip flops, oshos chappals, mojaris etc. Every week we come up with the latest designs of footwear at our store at an affordable price ranging between Rs 399 to Rs 1,000,” said a salesperson at Gian footwear shop.

Bata, the brand known for manufacturing comfortable footwear, has launched its summer collection starting from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000. Bata has launched Dr Scholls unisex sandals, an orthopeditian from Germany, which are especially meant for people who are suffering from joint aches and with a soft sole. It’s mostly preferred by older customers.

Floaters range by brand name of Power are also selling like hot cakes, and for men fashion footwear by Bata is made of genuine and Italian leather, which are also hugely popular amongst men.

However, for those who mostly prefer haute couture, brands like Reebok, Nike, Adidas, Lee Cooper, Puma, Levi’s and many other known brands are perfect to pick up trendy clothing and footwear that are excellent for beating the heat. The stuff at branded stores are good in quality as well as soothing in this scorching summer.

“In Reebok for this season we have introduced floaters which are soft from interiors and hard from exteriors and last for months being sturdy as well as comfortable in nature. The honeycomb shaped cushion base floaters, which is the latest range by Reebok is based on the hexalite technology, and though being priced at Rs 3600 is a hit, as it completely absorbs sweat and shocks in areas of peek pressure,” said one of the sales executive at Reebok outlet.

However, for people who want to cling to the cheap and best quality of the dresses throngs to the Tibetan market and Indira market. From shirts to caps, from bags to rugs, everything is available at these markets. The markets are famous among college goers, and the shopkeepers there do a fair amount of business throughout the year.

“We often get confused with the situation of what fashion to follow in this sweltering heat. Specially, we girls are puzzled before stepping out of what to wear and what not. We need reasonable clothes for the college purpose that easily available at Tibetan or Indira market at an affordable price,” said Arunika, a student.

“A large variety of comfortable chappals and stylish stilettos are available at our store. We provide good quality footwear. Moreover, we have footwear priced between Rs 100 to Rs 2,000 in almost every colour and being totally comfortable and stylish women of all age groups love to flaunt it during summers,” said Praveen, a salesman at Edwards footwear shop at Indira Market.

Dehradun, June 3
A 21-day summer camp for children organised by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Karamchari Kalyan Samiti, Dehradun, began yesterday. It offers several activities to them.

The summer camp was inaugurated by Dr Sundar Lal, Executive Director, ONGC, who said such camps helped explore the hidden talent in children. Around 600 children of ONGC employees in the age group of 5-20 years are participating in the camp.

They will have the option to participate in various games.

Dehradun, June 3
Flagging off the rafting and cycling expedition as a part of golden jubilee celebration of Army Cadet College was held in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) here today.

Prizes were also distributed to the participants by Lt Gen RS Sujlana, PVSM, AVSM, VSM Commandant of the IMA, Dehradun.

Earlier, a team comprising two officers and 24 cadets of the IMA set off on a expedition to commemorate the celebration. The rafting expedition was led by Capt Gaurav Panwar and cycling expedition by Major Debhashish Nath.

The team started off with white water rafting across the Ganga from Marine Drive to Neem Beach on their rafts, covering distance of 30 km with 10 rapids dominating the giant tides showcasing their strength, skill and team work through different degrees of rough water. On successfully completing the rafting sports, the team cycled down to the IMA on their mountain bikes via Fun Valley checking out their stamina and endurance.

A cricket match was also organised today between the alumni and the under-trainee cadets of Siachen Battalion (ACC Wing). To commemorate the celebration, they also joined in to cheer their teams on the fields.

A match in progress at the Lala Nami Das District Football League in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

While tomorrow the Roshni Club will play a match with the Rishikesh Club.

Little Star thump Garhwal Boys

In a hard-fought battle, Little Star managed to beat Garhwal Boys 1-0 with the lone goal of Mohit on the second day of the football league being organised by the District Football Association in the Police Lines here today.

Mohit netted a goal in the 10th minute of the match to become the star of the day. No goal came later in the match, despite the good efforts by both teams.

Meanwhile, the Sarvodaya Club will meet the Uttarakhand Police in another fixture in the Police Lines here tomorrow.

Dehradun, June 3
The mascot of South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championships (boys and girls) to be held on June 5 and 6 was released in Summer Valley School by Agriculture Minister Trivendera Singh Rawat here today.

The Himalayan Monal has been selected as the mascot of the championships. It is the state bird of Uttarakhand and is also deemed as the national bird of Nepal, which is also participating in these championships.

Rawat said all participating south Asian teams had similar kind of culture and were a single nation earlier. He added that the sports were the way to connect with the other countries and make good relations.

Teams from seven nations Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and India are participating in these championships. The organisers said five teams had confirmed their participation while one was yet to confirm it. At least, 150 players and officials from the five countries were expected to participate in the tournament, said the organisers.

The championships are being organised by the Uttarakhand State Table Tennis Association in two categories: under-15 and under-18 in the team as well as in the individual events.

The top two teams from these championships will qualify for the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship to be held in Bangkok this year.

Dehradun, June 3
Himadri Thapliyal, a student of BA part II at GRD Girls College, Dehradun, has bagged a team gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Junior Women Event in Germany. She is the daughter of DN Thapliyal, who is a section master of the Chandragupta Section in the RIMC. She participated in the recently concluded World Junior Shooting Championship at Suhl in Germany. A team of 35 shooters participated in the competition and she bagged a team gold medal with a high score of 365.

The shooters for the competition were selected from the trials held in Pune. More than 26 countries participated in the competition. She also thanked the RIMC for providing her with all available facilities and support that helped her achieve this milestone.