ABVP burns effigy of Montek
Dehradun, November 12
An hour before the arrival of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, for the 11th annual convocation, workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) held a protest demonstration against him today.

Zeeshan wins varsity debate
Dehradun, November 12
On the occasion of National Education Day, ICFAI University, organised an Inter-department Debate here today.

Face of the week
Happy-to-serve doc
Dehradun, November 12
When the Fortis Escorts Heart Centre began the OPD at the Coronation Hospital, patients welcomed it heartily by pouring in a large number. Attending upon them is Consultant at the Fortis centre Dr Yogendra Singh, who is contemlating setting up the cardiac catheterisation services.

Dehradun, November 12
Appreciating India’s efforts to help restore normalcy in Afghansitan, Minister Councillor of Afghanistan Humraaz has expressed desire to revive the lost Afghan-Dehradun connection.

With famous vocalist from Patiala Gharana Ustad Eltaf H Sarahang in town, Humraaz Sahib, as he is popularly called, said he was happy to be in the city that provided refuge to the Afghan rulers who first came here in 1839. Amir Dost Mohammad Khan, abdicated his throne and spent three years in Dehradun.

“I am on a nostalgic trip. The family members of the Afghan rulers have informed me about the rich legacy that Afghanistan shares with Dehradun. We would like to revive the lost ties with your city. We can start student education exchange programme so that young boys and girls from Afghanistan could come to here for studies. It would be wonderful to promote educational ties with the city that boasts of good schools,” said Humraaz.

Ecstatic about the famous Doon Basmati rice that was brought to Dehradun by Dost Mohammed Khan, Humraaz, with pride, reeled out the whole list of contributions made by the pedantic Afghans. “The Hindustani classical music and your food and culture has a definitive Afghan stamp and our ancestors did play a decisive role in shaping India and we are equally proud of your non-violent independence movement,” he said.

Desisting from making any political comments, Humraaz spoke about the efforts being made by the Indian Government to bring war-ravaged nation back on track. “We have strong cultural and blood ties. So many people from Afghanistan made India their home. Despite man-made boundaries, people continue to mingle and interact,” he said.

Dehradun, November 12
Kurukshetra University, Delhi University, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly and Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, today won their respective matches in the North Zone Inter-university Cricket Tournament being organised by Uttarakhand Technical University here.

In the first match, Himachal Pradesh University beat Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, by four wickets. The Meerut team scored a total of 136 runs all out in 38.1 overs. Arpit Mogha was the top scorer with 32 runs. Akshay Sharma of HP University took three wickets for 15 runs. In reply, HP University, Shimla, scored 137 runs for six wickets in 25 overs. Abhinav Guleria and Ajay Saklani scored 25 runs each. Prashant Chaudhary and Sachin Saraswat took two wickets each.

In the second match, Delhi University defeated CCS Hisar Agriculture University, Hisar, by nine wickets. CCS Hisar Agriculture University, Hisar, won the toss and decided to bat first. They scored 88 runs all out in 20 overs. Pradeep Kumar was the top scorer with 20 runs. Gaurav Kochar took three wickets for 17 runs. In reply, Delhi University scored 89 runs for the loss of a single wicket winning the match by nine wickets. Opener Gaurav Kochar scored 55 unbeaten runs while Hemant Singh scored unbeaten 22 runs.

In the third match, MJP Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, beat Lucknow University by four wickets. Lucknow University scored 194 runs all out in 39.4 overs. Mayank scored 60 runs while Mohit Sharma took two wickets for 44 runs. In reply, the Bareilly team scored 195 runs for six wickets in 38 overs. Opener Mayank Raj Singh scored 42 runs while Chitwan Sharma scored 45 runs. Harsh Singh took four wickets for 25 runs.

In the last match, Kurukshetra University defeated Thapar University, Patiala, by 144 runs. Kurukshetra University won the toss and chose to bat first. They scored 191 runs all out. Raman scored 41 runs while Dharmender scored 42 runs. Gurasish and Shrey Parmar took two wickets each. In reply, Thapar University was bowled out for a paltry 47 runs. None of the batsman could reach double digit score. Narnder took four wickets for eight runs while Dilraaz took three wickets for eight runs.

Dehradun, November 12
The shining eyes and smiling faces said it all. Dressed in red and black robes, the students of Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, were rewarded for their hard work with degrees at the 11th convocation ceremony held at Roorkee.

A total of 1,336 degrees were awarded which included 508 degrees in the technical graduation stream, 714 in the technical post-graduation stream and 114 PhDs.

The institute also awarded five Integrated Master of Technology degrees for the first time in polymer science and technology during the ceremony.

Analjit Singh, chairman of the board of governors and the founder and chairman of Max India Limited, conferred the Doctor of Science degree on Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Distinguished alumni awards were conferred on several others present on the occasion.

“You are fortunate to be part of a rapidly growing economy that in the past five to six years has grown by 8 per cent. India’s growth rate will reach 9 per cent in the years ahead. During my growing-up years, it used to be too slow at 1.5 per cent,” said Ahluwalia, while delivering the convocation address.

Policemen jostle with workers of the ABVP at Roorkee on Saturday. Photo: Navreet Milton

Ahluwalia exhorted the new generation to brace up for upcoming changes and encouraged them to become entrepreneurs.

He said that climate change and the pressure of depleting water resources would be major constraints in the next 20 years as 80 per cent of the land in the country was agricultural.

“These may call for rapid base infrastructure changes. Changes will also be needed in policy,” said Ahluwalia.

Meanwhile, Ramnik Jain was awarded the President’s Gold Medal for securing the highest point average among graduating students of the institute.

“I am thrilled as my years of hard work has paid off,” said 22-year-old Ramnik who was awarded a BTech in computer science.

He said that IIT Roorkee was the only institute among the IITs which holds its convocation four months after the completion of the course. This enables the passing-out students to return to the institute and meet faculty members and juniors. 

Dehradun, November 12
On the occasion of National Education Day, ICFAI University, organised an Inter-department Debate here today.

The topic of the debate was “Is RTE Act 2009 sufficient to ensure primary education to all”. Zeeshan Khan, a student of BTech won the first prize while Upmanyu Bhaumik from the law course was declared the runner-up.

The Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar presented them with the trophies and certificates. The panel of the judges comprised Prof Rajeev Agarwal, Dr Neeraj Aswal, Prof Monica Khairola and Sarita Negi. 

Dehradun, November 12
When the Fortis Escorts Heart Centre began the OPD at the Coronation Hospital, patients welcomed it heartily by pouring in a large number. Attending upon them is Consultant at the Fortis centre Dr Yogendra Singh, who is contemlating setting up the cardiac catheterisation services.

When The Tribune met the doctor recently and asked him about the reasons for joining the centre, he said, “It is a unique experience for me working at the government hospital within a private set-up. I have performed Angiography, Angioplasty and have installed pace maker.”

During his stints at the government and private hospitals, Dr Yogendra performed 3000 Angiographies and 1000 Angioplasties.

Always keen on exploring new vistas, Dr Yogendra said newer devices in coronary intervention programmes would prove to be a boon for the poor countries. “Lots of innovation is taking place in this field and slowly and steadily these interventions will become common in India,” he said. After clearing DM in Cardiology from LPS Institute of (Cardiology) in 2004, where he also worked for a while, he began working at Apollo, Kolkata. “A jump from a government to a private hospital was necessary as I wanted to gain more experience and get acquainted with the latest state-of-the-art technology,” he said. He finds the environment at the private hospitals more conducive for people who want to learn new things in the field of surgery. “The work culture at private hospitals is more competitive and they are never short of people or equipment. At the same time, the private hospitals should also be able to provide for the poor patients,” stated the doctor.

For he is happy to serve people, rapid increase in the number of heart patients worries him and he is never short of doling advice or his patients. “One should not sit for long hours. To keep the heart healthy, exercise and stress-free lifestyle is of utmost importance,” said Dr Yogendra, who loves to read and watch movies in his leisure time.

Dehradun, November 12
Dhruv Pal, Arnav, Prakhar, Dron and Siddharath today reached the finals of their respective age groups in the 13th Uttarakhand State Open Junior Tennis Tournament being played at the Shanti Tennis Academy here.

In under-18 years (boys), Arnav Alok defeated Utkarsh Bhardwaj 4-2, 3-5, 4-1 while Dhruv Pal trounced Mritunjay Badola 2-4, 7-3, 4-0.

In under-14 , Utkarsh Bhardwaj beat Swapnil Negi 8-7, 7-5, Manik Dabar beat Dhruv Sabbharawal 8-2, Aditya Singh beat Shaurya Shukla 7-2 and Mritunjay Badola defeated Ravi Kumar 8-3.

In under-12, Prakhar Pal beat Rohit Rawat 7-2 while Dron Walia beat Ishan Sethi 8-7. In the under-10 group, Siddharath Aggarwal beat Madhav Goel 8-6 while Ishan sethi trounced Priyam Jain 8-5. 

Dehradun, November 12
St Joseph's Academy, Dehradun, bagged the winner’s trophy in the Annual Inter-school IT-Quiz, Doon IT Quest 2011, organised by the Computer Society of India (CSI), Dehradun Chapter, on the ONGC campus here today.

The winners were awarded the prize money of Rs 12,000 while Doon International School, Brightlands School and Cambrian Hall, Dehradun, stood second, third and fourth runner-up teams respectively. They were presented with the prize money of Rs 9,000, 6,000 and 3,000 respectively.

The quiz witnessed the participation of as many as 81 students from 27 reputed schools of Dehradun. Out of these, only four teams qualified for the final round after an online elimination round.

Other teams were awarded consolation prizes for their participation.

Chief guest PK Bhowmik, Executive Director- Head of KMDIPE, ONGC, and guest of honour S Raju, Principal Secretary, IT, Government of Uttarakhand, graced the final round and the prize distribution ceremony. 

Dehradun, November 12
Welham Gils’ School, Summer Valley School and Carman School won their respective matches in the DDSCA Junior Girls’ Basketball Tournament played at Welham Girls’ school here today.

In the first match, Welham Girls’ School defeated Hopetown Girls School 50-10. Sarah Chaudhary scored 18 points for the winners.

In the second match, Carman School beat Unison School 14-03. Priyanka was the top scorer for Carman School with 10 points. In the third match, Summer Valley School defeated Heritage School 15-13. Anchal scored eight points for the victorious team.

Dehradun, November 12
Heritage School and Summer Valley School won their respective matches in the Inter-school Junior Boys’ Basketball Tournament played at Heritage School here today.

In the first match, Summer Valley defeated GRD Academy by 11 points. Summer Valley School scored 17 points while GRD Academy could score only six points.

In the second match, it was a close contest. Heritage School defeated Hilton School by a single point. Heritage School scored 18 points while their opponents scored 17 points. Anubhav Vohra of the Heritage School scored 12 points.