Dehradun, April 1
Senior-level office-bearers of the Sarv Pradesh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, led by its president Jagdish Singh Jheenda, met the Leader of the Opposition Harak Singh Rawat regarding the reconstruction of Gurdwara Gyan Godri Sahib near Har-ki-Pauri in Haridwar.

Jheenda said he had once again come in town to discuss the issue of Gurdwara Gyan Godari Sahib and had already met Governor Margaret Alva in this regard. He has taken an appointment with the Chief Minister as well, he added.

Vice-president of the committee Harpal Singh Sethi said he had complete trust in Rawat that he would sincerely consider this decade-old demand for the reconstruction of Gurdwara Gyan Godri at Har-ki-Pauri. General secretary Inderjeet Singh Chugh said a national seminar on this issue would be held in Haridwar this month. Those present on the occasion were Harender Singh Ladi, Paramjit Singh Talwar and Kamaljeet Singh.

Dehradun, April 1
The provisional census report suggests that the three plain districts, comprising Udham Singh Nagar (33.40 per cent), Haridwar (33.16 per cent), Dehradun (32.4 per cent) and hill district of Nainital (25.20 per cent), have witnessed a maximum increase in population for 2001-2011.

However, negative growth in population has been recorded in hilly areas like Almora (-1.73 per cent) and Pauri Garhwal (-1.5 per cent). Tehri Garhwal, too, recorded less population (1.93 per cent). The reasons being attributed are migration spurred by dam activity and employment. The fall started in 1981-1991.

The Census 2011’s provisional data, released on Thursday, affirms that the growth is slowing down and the number of literates growing, especially female literates. The decadal growth for Uttarakhand has shown a slight decrease. It is pegged at 19.7 per cent for 2001-2011 and was 20.4 per cent in 1991-2001.

The national decadal growth, too, has witnessed a slight decrease, for the decade 1991-2001, it was 21.54 per cent and for the decade 2001-2011 it is pegged at 17.64 per cent.

The Haridwar district scores in the number game. It has the highest population (2011) at 19,27,029, followed by Dehradun 16,98560, Udham Singh Nagar 16,48367 and Nainital 9,55128.

Around 61.57 per cent of the total population of the state is concentrated in the districts of Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Nainital. If the average population of a district is pegged at 7,78,212, then the population in the remaining nine districts is less. Uttarakhand’s share in the total national population is 0.84 per cent and comprises 1.69 per cent area of the country.

While the state has a total population of 1,01,16752, while number of female is 4,74,404 and the total male population is 51,54178. Census 2011 was done in two phases. An estimated 21,174 enumerators fanned out across the state to undertake the mammoth exercise that even involved physically verifying the presence of a single family that is residing at a height of 8,200 feet in a village in Chakrata.

Dehradun, April 1
State’s female literacy has gone up to 70.70 per cent, a jump of 11 per cent compared to the last census carried in 2001, when it was 59 per cent.

The total literacy rate of the state is pegged at 79.6 per cent, while the country’s average is 79.63 per cent. The male literacy of the state is pegged at 88.3 per cent and female at 70.70 per cent. While at the national level the male literacy is at 82.14 per cent and female literacy is 65.46 per cent.

The total population of female literates in the state stands at 30,67,259 and number of male literates are 39,30,033. It ranks 17th literate state in the country. In Dehradun, the rate of female literacy is 79.61 per cent.

The total number of literate females is 879 per 1,000 females. However, females have an edge in Almora district, where the literate female population is 1,142 per 1,000 females. In Dehradun, it is 902 per 1,000 men.

The total population of others who were enumerated for the first time is 259 in the state and is spread all across the state. There are 12 children under six years of age who also figure in this list. In Dehradun, the population of others is 57 and in Haridwar 47. 

New Delhi, April 1
A reputed painter, Sandhya Singh, who hails from Dehradun, was a big attraction at a just-concluded national tribal mahasabha at Talkotra Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. Men and women dressed in their traditional costumes thronged to see non-tribal artist’s 19 oil paintings depicting tribal life and culture.

Sandhya was a special invitee to the mahasabha, which was attended by the representatives of over 300 tribal organisations who met here for three days to prepare a road map to focus on the issues affecting their life and culture.

Sandhya belongs to a big village, Badripur, which is situated on the outskirts of the capital of Uttarakhand. She comes from a big zamindar family known for the cultivation of the best basmati rice. Her husband is a former naval officer. Her brother runs the only tennis academy in Dehradun.

“We decided to exhibit Sandhya’s thought-provoking paintings as she has been painting on themes of great relevance to the Indian culture for 35 years,” Dr Ram Dayal Munda, Congress member of the Rajya Sabha and member of the National Advisory Council, told The Tribune. “The idea was to show the tribesmen how non-tribesmen look at them,” he added.

Sandhya said: “After receiving the invitation from Munda a year ago, I visited many interior tribal villages in Jharkhand and Assam to get a feel of the tribal culture.”

“Many of my paintings reflect my love for music,” said Sandhya, “and I developed my own visual grammar to depict tribal music and dance. The essence of music appears on my canvas in abstract, utilising harmonious mixtures of colours representing total harmony, wave motion - the rhythm and the progression”.

Haridwar, April 1
The saint community has once again joined hands to oppose the innumerous hydel projects being carried on the holy Ganga and other rivers in the state.Though the saint community representatives have voiced that they were not against development, but it should not be done at the cost of hurting religious sentiments, environment and local heritage.

Firebrand political-cum-religious leader Uma Bharati, along with different saints and spiritual heads, also warned of taking to agitation route if the governments does not take their suggestions seriously and continues the working and sanctioning of the hydel projects in the region unabatedly.

Uma Bharati was in Haridwar today to attend a saint community representatives high-level meeting held at CCR towers to maintain sanctity and purity of the holy Ganga and passing resolution regarding saving of the holy river.

Religious representatives also urged the government to stop the works at all such project sites temporarily and form a reviewing committee to look into various aspects such as environmental considerations and local religious sentiments associated, so that there was no dispute regarding these projects.

A resolution was also passed regarding the Dhari Devi Temple at Sringar Garhwal, which was planned to be shifted to a higher level, as it comes in the submersion zone due to construction of the Alaknanda Hydel Project. Most of the members voiced their opinions on the methods to save the Ganga from pollution and it being confined to tunnels owing to dozens of big and small hydel projects.

Pitthoragarh, April 1
The denizens of Almora have a reason to cheer. Almora district, with a sex ratio of 1,142, is ranked second in the country.According to Census 2011, which was released on Thursday, Mahe district in Puducherry tops the list.

Out of 640 districts in the country, the two worst sex-ratio districts in the country are Daman and Leh where the sex ratios are 533 and 583 females per thousand males respectively.

The residents of Almora gave the credit for this achievement to their centuries-old tradition of educating girls.

Shobha Joshi, Chairperson, Almora Nagar Palika Parishad, said, “Instead of worrying about the cost of marriage and dowry of their daughters, which is the root cause of female foeticide in the country, guardians in Almora lay emphasis on their education.

“Today, if you look inside any bus going to Delhi from Almora, you will find 80 per cent girl passengers. There, these girls take up jobs ranging from lower assistant to higher managerial positions,” she said. 

Nainital, April 1
The Udham Singh Nagar district administration has initiated a special drive in the Sitarganj area that aims to issue a health smart card to all the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in every village of the block under the National Health Insurance Scheme.

According to District Magistrate BVRC Purshottam, the drive has been carried out from yesterday onwards and would continue till Sunday.

Eight special teams, which are visiting various villages and issuing the smart cards on the spot to the identified beneficiaries of the scheme, have been constituted for the purpose.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr RS Aswal would make arrangements for execution of the drive and supervise the issuing of the smart cards. The administration has appealed to the BPL families in the area to avail the facility being provided to them by the government. They could also contact the health officer concerned and the Additional District Magistrate if they encounter any problem.

The smart cards were issued to the residents of Sisauna, Lalarkhas, Rudrapur, Rajnagar, Etchta, Bihi, Gidhaur, Devipura and Nanakmatta villages yesterday. The smart cards would be issued to the residents of Pandari, Nakaha, Sarkada, Sisayya, Tukdi and Barkidandi villages today.

The remaining villages would be covered in the next two days. The Village Development Officers (VDOs) concerned have been made nodal officers for carrying out the drive, while the Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM), along with the ASHA workers, are being involved in distributing slips to the identified beneficiaries, who could come and get the smart cards made.

The smart cards are being issued at a cost of Rs 30 each. A BPL family of five members could avail medical treatment worth Rs 30,000 from an identified non-government nursing home during the course of one year on the basis of the insurance cover being provided by the card under the scheme.

Pitthoragarh, April 1
Senior Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) leader Kashi Singh Airy said here today that the struggle for a separate state had not yet concluded as the state of the people’s aspiration was yet to come into being.“The national parties of the BJP and the Congress have not done works according to the people’s vision of the hill state,” said Airy while addressing a press conference on the 5th day of “Pol Khol Yatra” which started in the district from Narain Ashram on March 25.

The UKD leader said the time had come to oppose the national parties to make Uttarakhand a state according to the dreams of the statehood activists who had sacrificed their lives for the creation of the state.

“We have decided to start a new movement in the state to draw attention of the people of Uttarakhand towards the basic needs of the state, which the national parties are neglecting,” said Airy.

The “Pol Khol Yatra” in being organised by the Trivendra Singh Panwar group of the UKD across the state to expose the misrule of the Congress and the BJP after the creation of the state.

“The yatra is getting a good response as the people of the state are in search of an alternative to the two national parties.

The only aim of the national parties is to loot the poor state of its rich natural resources. After the natural resources of this newly created state are out of reach of the common man of the state, these parties will stop befooling the people,” said the UKD leader.

The UKD leader has mentioned 23 scams by the Congress regime and 26 anti-people decisions by the BJP Government as the proofs substantiating the “anti-hill” policies of the mainstream parties.

Pitthoragarh, April 1
As the fire season has started with the onset of summer, the Forest Department of Champawat district has started preparations according to the policy decision of the Uttarakhand Government declaring the forest fires asnatural calamities.

“We have established 55 crew stations in the division to tackle forest fires this year and are going to appoint in charge at these stations with two or three assistants, keeping the sensitivity of this forest range to fire in mind,” said SP Singh, Divisional Forest Officer, Champawat.

According to forest officials, the emphasis to tackle the forest fire this year will be publicity campaigns under which the villagers will be made aware of the consequences of the forest fires.

“We will tell the villagers through the campaigns to be launched by the registered cultural parties in the district that if they did not prevent the forest fires, they will lose not only the precious vegetation but also precious fauna,” said the DFO.

Champawat district lost 47 acres of precious forest products in 17 incidents of forest fire last year.

“This year we have been focusing on the forests of the Tanakpur, Purnagiri, Debidhura and Bhingrara ranges of the division on the basis of last fire records,” said the DFO, adding that besides the awareness campaigns through the cultural parties, the department has also constituted blockwise committees to help in minimising the forest fires in the division.

Nainital, April 1
A team constituted by the state administration has started inspecting the repairs of the infrastructure in Udham Singh Nagar district that was devastated during the prolonged rains last year.

The team will be inspecting and verifying the repairs done in the various development blocks of the district. The four-member team is led by the Managing Director of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Chandresh Yadav and would carry out the inspection over the next six days.

At a meeting held in Rudrapur today, the District Magistrate, Dr BVRC Purshottam, asked the officials of the various departments to be readily available so that any information sought by the team could be instantly furnished. He has also asked the officials to furnish the expenditure and utility certificates along with photographs of the repairs done.

Dr Purshottam has also ordered the officials that the remaining work must be done by the end of this month while keeping the quality aspect in mind. The money which remains unutilised is to be surrendered so that it may be utilized elsewhere. —TNS