Dehradun, May 2
Family members of pilot Tejpal Singh Mamik, who is on board with Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu in the missing chopper, is anxiously waiting for him at their Race Course house in Dehradun as even after 48 hours, the helicopter could not be traced.

Mamik had joined Pawan Hans in 2005 after resigning from the Indian Army where he was working as a flyer. He did his schooling from St Joseph’s Academy and took admission at DAV (PG) College here.

However, he left his studies abruptly as he had got selected in the National Defence Academy (NDA). Mamik, after his course at the NDA, had joined the Army and was working there as a flyer.

“Since his childhood, he has been fond of driving new cars. He loves singing and travelling to different destinations. That is why he had decided to become a pilot very early in his life,” said his sister, Charanjit Kaur, who is working with the Survey of India.

Mamik’s father who is no more now was also working with the Survey of India. He has three sisters. The 50-year-old pilot has two sons who are studying in a school in Doon and his wife is a homemaker.

“Last time we spoke to him over the phone was on Friday. Since then we have been in touch with officers in the Air Force to know about the present situation there,” a worried Charanjit Kaur added.

The family members have been very tense and could not help crying. They are glued to the TV in the hope that the missing Pawan Hans Eurocopter would be traced soon. Relatives and neighbours, after getting the sad news, kept coming throughout the day to Mamik’s house to express their sympathies.

The chopper had taken off from Tawang helipad in Arunachal Pradesh at 9:50 am on Saturday and had lost touch at 10:15 am. Till the filing of the report, the helicopter couldn’t be traced.

Dehradun, May 2
Protesting against the non-fulfilment of their pending demands, the Anganwari workers today staged a dharna at Gandhi Park.

The Anganwari workers have been raising their demand since January 12 and even held protests from time to time but to no avail.

“Their main demands include setting up of gratuity fund for Anganwaris as directed by the Central Government, that they be brought under the ambit of Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojana (RSBY). They should be given benefits of Swarbhom Public Distribution System, ESI and provident fund. All Anganwari workers be given cheap rice and 35 kg of wheat and rent allowance for both urban and rural areas,” said Janki Chauhan, general secretary (regional), Anganwari Workers/ Sewika Karamchari Union Uttarakhand.

Those who participated in the dharna included Rekha Negi, Asha Negi, Laskmi Pant and others. 

Dehradun, May 2
Personnel of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today grilled Dehradun-based astrologer Ashish Semwal for the alleged deal of Rs 57 lakh with Arun Mishra who is on a seven-day CBI remand. He faces allegations of money laundering.

Mishra, during questioning, had named Semwal for his involvement with him. Following which the CBI had sent a summon notice to him to appear before the agency.

Sources said Semwal would frequent the grand guesthouse of Mishra on the Rajpur Road. Semwal is also running his astrology office in Noida and Ghaziabad. The CBI questioned him on Saturday.

Meanwhile, CBI Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelabh Kishore said: “We are questioning Semwal and it will continue in coming days too.” However, the SP refused to divulge more information about the questioning.

Dehradun May 2
The Congress councillors have accused the Dehradun Municipal Corporation of not performing up to the satisfaction of the residents of the Doon valley and not working appropriately in public interest, here today.

While addressing the media, Ashok Verma, Leader of Opposition, Dehradun Municipal Corporation, said, “It is sad that the two-year-old proposal given by the corporation board of allotting land to the landless freedom fighters and state agitationists has been rejected by the Mayor.”

“I’d also like to bring to the notice of the state administration that the privileges of freedom fighters in Uttarakhand was decreasing day by day whereas in the neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, they are given a pension of Rs 11,000 along with an allowance of Rs 20,000 at the time of their granddaughter’s marriage,” 
he added.

However, Verma also highlighted the various development schemes and projects to provide basic civic amenities in Dehradun, which are still lying pending. 

Nainital, May 2
A conference of the International Geography Union (IGU) Commission on the topic “Local and Regional Responses to Globalisation in the Mountains and Marginal Areas of the World” began here today with experts giving a clarion call for more research on the Himalayan region. They pointed out that more robust science was required for putting up more arguments in favor of those being marginalised in the mountainous region of the world in the era of globalisation.

The conference began with Prof Walter Leimgruber of University of Fribourg in Switzerland taking the participants on a journey into the past of the IGU. He underlined that becoming marginalised was neither destiny nor fatalism. He called for formulation of strategies and policies to reduce the regional disparity.

In his keynote address on “The Himalayas as the providers of essential eco-system services - Opportunities and challenges”, the Director General of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) at Kathmandu, Dr A Schild, gave an overview of the Hindukush Himalayas and how the region had become a climate change hotspot. He specifically called for need for more science to have more arguments.

He said: “There is a deficit of knowledge on the area which has an enormous potential as the third pole of the world.” It was pointed out by him that the Hindukush Himalayas had been ignored by researchers and there was very little worthwhile data available on these. The expert also stated that most of the work done in this area had been on project basis.

He underlined the importance of the region by pointing out that at least 10 major rivers of the world had their origins in the Himalayas.

Upstream, downstream relationships

Dr Schild emphasised the need to study and analyse the upstream and downstream relationships. The region is most diverse culturally. It was pointed out that climate change was going to have a long-term impact on the Himalayan region and the marginalised communities were already suffering. “New hazards and dangers are putting the marginalised communities at risk,” he said.

Stating that the Himalayas are indicators of the global health, he also advocated a complete review of the approach towards watershed development.

Mountains hotspots of biodiversity

Prof Martin Price, who is the Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS) at Pert College affiliated to the University of Highlands and Islands in Scotland, spoke on “Mountains - A global common good”. He was also a part of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 
2007 along with former Vice-President of the US Al Gore.

The mountains are providers of eco-system services and are hotspots of global biodiversity. “They are critically important for supporting local livelihoods and are providers of a large number of medicines,” he said, adding that the mountains are culturally diverse centres and are extremely important in context of climate change.

Talking to The Tribune, he said mountain people are marginalised everywhere. They hardly get a decent share of their resources that are exploited and utilised by people residing in other terrains of a political entity. He gave an example that mining activities had never done any good to the mountain 
people.

All they have got in return for mining is pollution and health hazards.

When asked why political establishment has always been less sympathetic to the needs of the marginalised mountain communities, he said, ”The majority of their voters do not live in the mountains.”

Dehradun, May 2
A former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Justice Ajit Parkash Shah, has said the state has failed in fulfilling Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of an education system that favoured children belonging to the lowest stratum of society thereby ensuring their social transformation through education.

“The state has really abetted in the betrayal of the Constitutional promise and shattering of Gandhiji’s dream. By the 86th Amendment, the Right to Education (children between the age of 6 and 14) has been declared as a fundamental right, but basic education still remains an unreal mirage,” he said.

He was speaking at the 8th Sir Ratan Tata Distinguished Lecture on Education organised by the Latika Roy Foundation at the Welham Girls’ School last evening.

He said the state and society had forgotten that this was a fundamental right and it was not an act of charity. “Every child and that means the girl child, the disabled child, the Dalit child, the HIV positive child, and every other vulnerable child has this unassailable right, and there is no screen behind which the state can hide to avoid its obligation.

There can be no delay nor dilution in discharge of this constitutional duty,” he said.

A school has gone on record saying that under the RTE Act, the school would have no choice but to admit students from poor families, which would pull down its standards.

The lecture was attended by students and teachers from many schools in Dehradun besides eminent personalities in the government and civil society.

The Latika Roy Foundation is an organisation that works with children and young adults with mental and multiple disabilities and is based in Dehradun.

Dehradun, May 2
St George's College, Mussoorie, and Rashtriya Indian Military College(RIMC) today set up a title clash in the 7th SK Kandhari Memorial Hockey Tournament held at Welham Boys’ School here today. The final will be played tomorrow.

The two sides won their respective semifinals today. St George’s beat

hosts Welham Boys’ School 2-1 in the first semifinal. Sushant (55th minute) and Misthel(65th)were the scorers for the winning team.

Birguraj (ninth) was the first one to strike in the match for Welham.However, no goal came for the hosts’ team later.

In the second match, Doon School were drubbed by RIMC 3-0.

Ayush (18th and 68th) put his team in a strong position. Suhas (25th) also chipped in with a goal.

Dehradun, May 2
For initiating the Golden Quadrilateral National Highway Development Project as Union Minister of Surface Transport, a former Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Major- Gen BC Khanduri (retd), was honoured by the Uttarakhand Public Forum here today.

Khanduri was felicitated by the forum for achieving the ninth position on the list of achievers working on development projects. Among those present were Vinod Chamoli, Mayor, Dehradun, Dr Anil Joshi, social activist, Sunder Lal Bahuguna, environmentalist.

Dehradun, May 2
A faction of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) led by party president Trivender Singh Panwar, protested at Gandhi Park and urged the state government to take effective steps to pacify the agitators of different departments and corporations.

The agitationists have rocked the entire city.

Panwar said all employees from the village level to the secretariat were engaged in various agitations. 

Mussoorie, May 2
International karate maestro and instructor Peter Zaupa from Italy, who specialises in Ren Bo Kan Karate Do, was here today to impart training to students at the local Bamboo Sports Academy. He also gave tips to the local instructors on innovative techniques used at the international level in karate.

Zaupa was impressed with the enthusiasm shown by the students here. However, he felt that for competing at the international level, India required knowledge of the latest technique for which instructors and coaches needed to be trained so that they could share it with their students. He also said that the federations here should introduce the sport at an early age especially in schools so that children picked it up at the right time.

Zaupa said that due to good infrastructure and effective training, his country, Italy, had outplayed Japan and emerged as world champions, who dominated the sports earlier. Peter also opined that karate was a complete sport and a good form of defence especially for girls and, if introduced at early stages, could grow at a faster pace in the near future, thus improving the medals tally in the process.

Zaupa also said that Ren Bo Kan Karate Do had been recognised but not introduced in the Olympics yet. He demanded that the sport should be introduced in the next Olympics for its growth in other parts of the world.

The Indian representative of the sport, Arvind Kotnala, revealed that Zaupa was in Uttarakhand at the invitation of his association and would be imparting his expertise after the state-level championship that is scheduled to take place in Dehradun from May 6 onwards.

Kotnala further informed that Zaupa would also be teaching traditional Shotokan Karateto to both children (ages 6- 12) and adults (ages 12 and above). Kotnala was of the view that the karate lovers in the state would imbibe the teachings of the maestro and improve their skills in coming days. Peter Zaupa is 8 Dan Black Belt and has been teaching the the sport for the last 40 years at international level. 

Dehradun, May 2
Hosts Unison World School edged past Guru Nanak Academy (GNA) 2-1 in the seniors’ category during the DDCSA Inter-school Senior/Junior Girls’ Hockey Tournament here today.

Pragati Paliwal (15th minute) and Ritika (23rd) were the scorers for the winning team.Lakshmi (12th) of GNA scored the lone goal for her team that lost the game by a narrow margin.

The semifinals of the senior category will be played tomorrow. Welham

Girls' School will play against GNA and Moravian Institute will lock horns with Unison World School.