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Tusker terror continues
Anti-depressant molecule from bael fruit developed
BJP leader held for molestation
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Woods worth Rs 2 lakh seized
10,047 birds of 47 species found in Corbett reserve
People sensitised about ill-effects of tobacco
Villagers protest move to extend Binsar sanctuary
Haridwar city MLAs lazy to utilise funds
Creating awareness on social evils through puppet show
Need to pass Communal Targeted Violence Bill
Experts favours consultancy centre for minorities in state
Jugran seeks White Paper on Muzaffarnagar incident
Infighting over election of state Cong chief
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Tusker terror continues
Dehradun, February 3 The incident happened early this morning today when a couple was confronted by an elephant near Bhadrakali forest in the Narendra Nagar forest division. While the woman was trampled by the elephant, the man was critically injured and was later taken to Jolly Grant hospital for treatment. The identities of the couple were still to be ascertained. Only a few days back on January 31, a truck driver Chaman Lal, aged 42 years, resident of Roorkie, was killed by an elephant when after parking his truck he had gone to relieve himself in forests along side the Rishikesh-Haridwar byepass road. Chaman had a chance encounter with elephant leading to his death. The cleaner of the truck, however, managed to escape. Meanwhile, the Dehradun-Rishikesh road continues to be closed after dark as mark of precaution. This has been done after frequent elephant-human clashes on the stretch of this road reported. The road closure came into effect on December 25, particularly after the cavalcade of Tehri Congress MLA Dinesh Dhanai came under elephant attack at Sat mour on the Rishikesh-Dehradun road and since then traffic movement has been completely prohibited on this road after dark. Last year, even the Wildlife Trust of India, an NGO, had suggested for clearing bushes along side the road and spreading awareness among motorists and pedestrians. The WTI's Dr AK Singh said shrinking habitat and scarcity of food and water was making elephant-human encounters more frequent. The elephant-human encounters on the Rishikesh-Dehradun road have become quite frequent in recent times. The stretch of the road between Sat mour and forest barrier in Rishikesh has been most vulnerable to such attacks. More than a month back, a major accident was averted when an elephant came in front of a Tata Sumo at Sau Fauti on the Dehradun-Rishikesh road. The elephant banged its trunk on the vehicle and tried to overturn it, but the driver speeded up the vehicle and had a narrow escape. The Uttarakhand forest authorities despite several efforts have failed to check the rising man-elephant conflict cases. |
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Anti-depressant molecule from bael fruit developed
Dehradun, February 3 A rejuvenating novel molecule for anti-depressant, anxiolytic and hypoglycemic properties from bael fruit has
been developed with due pharmacological evaluation by the team of scientists, including Dr S Murugesan, Dr N Senthilkumar and C Rajeshkannan, from the Division of Bioprospecting, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding (IFGTB), Coimbatore, a regional institute of
the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, under the guidance of Dr V.K.
Bahuguna, Director General, ICFRE. Leaves and ripened and unripened fruits were subjected to preliminary pharmacological studies against wister rats to
study the behavioural activities. The combined fractions were tested and finalized the dose for formulation in terms of acute toxicity studies as per the standard guidelines. Some of the compounds like alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols were identified from the tissues are found to be effective in restoration of blood glucose and body weight to normal levels. It is evident from the present study that the ripen and unripen fruits induces the secretion of serotonin (neurotransmitter), which reduces immobility period of the experimental animal under Forced Swim Test (FST). The present study
has generated required data on the bioactivity of these tissues against anxiety, depression, hypoglycemic and also
claimed to be useful in treating against many biological problems. Despite the plant having been widely used in India for medicinal purposes as well as various other biological uses, there is no information on anxiolytic and anti-depressant
activity. |
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BJP leader held for molestation
Gopeshwar, February 3 The leader, Ram Prasad Sati, had offered the girl a lift in his car while she was going from Pokhri Bazar to the Devar area of Chamoli on January 14, the father of the 15-year-old girl has alleged in his complaint. —PTI
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Woods worth Rs 2 lakh seized
Haridwar, February 3
The local Bhagwanpur police station was also informed about the information to make sure smuggler did’t escape easily. The mini truck (UK-08 CA-2957) was covered with vegetable but when forest officials uncovered the outer layer, logged woods of sagaun and sheesham trees were found inside. On interrogation, Aazam confessed to his involvement in a similar logging of woods in Khanpur on January 27, adding that this consignment was being taken for sale in the Roorkee market. Khanpur forest beat officer Satya Prakash Kandwal said they had been on lookout for the accused for quite some time due to his involvement in similar acts in recent past. The truck seized is owned by Aazam and he used to drive himself and had modified the vehicle to make sure that it easily operated in tough terrain of the Rajaji National Park and Haridwar divisional forest area. In view of this incident, patrolling in the Rajaji National Park as well as Haridwar Forest division has been intensified. Taking into consideration that wood smugglers try to intrude in forest and log trees illegally more in winters, this step has been taken by the Forest Department.
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10,047 birds of 47 species found in Corbett reserve
Pithoragarh, February 3 "The bird-counting exercise at Bhogpur, Tumaria Dam area of south Jaspur range, was undertaken with the help of WWF volunteers and schoolchildren," said Nishant Varma, a forest officer. Later, the schoolchildren were informed about the specialties of various species of birds that come to this area during winter months and about the procedure of counting the birds. Five teams of bird watchers, WWF volunteers, nature guides and schoolchildren were formed to count the birds.
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People sensitised about ill-effects of tobacco
Haridwar, February 3 Students through cultural programmes also raised social issues related with society like tobacco consumption, dowry, illiteracy, female foeticide and impact of polythene on environment. NSS programme coordinator Satish Jagta shed light on the week-long NSS camp and the impact students had made on the local villagers of Jamalpur Kalan. Many shopkeepers in Jamalpur Kalan village have decided to stop selling tobacco products with many taking pledge not to sell these products after being made aware by the students. School principal Phool Singh lauded the efforts of the NSS students, urging villagers to induct every child in school as education is imperative for overall development of human beings. Tobacco vendors Rajendra Pal, Neetu, Ravi Kumar and Isthkar at a function appreciated the concern of the younger generation to the ill-impact of tobacco. "I never thought about this for the past two years since I had begun selling tobacco products at Jamalpur Kalan. But now due to the awareness generated by the students, I will be selling other consumer goods like confectionery items" said Isthkar. Localites Dr Suresh Chandra Tyagi, Naseem, Ravindra Kumar, Hemant Saini and staff members of the school Vijay Shankar and Sandeep Negi were present. |
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Villagers protest move to extend Binsar sanctuary
Pithoragarh, February 3 Saying it will further hamper their already damned development due to the sanctuary laws, the villagers last evening also visiting the state secretary, Tourism, Dr Umakant Panwar, and appealed to him to give justice on the issue. “The surrounding villages have already suffered much on the development front after the declaration of the Binsar area as a bird sanctuary in 1988. It can not bear further neglect,” said Ishwar Joshi, organiser of the protest. The villagers have said that after the declaration of Binsar as a bird sanctuary, not only the traditional forest rights of the adjoining villages were curtailed but all development activities were also stopped in these villages, resulting into migration of the villagers from their villages. “Due to the ban on forest accessibility, the 90 per cent fertile land in the nearby villages of the sanctuary has gone out of cultivation. Villagers are not only being deprived of the basic facilities of drinking water but they are also losing job in resin collection from the forest of the area,” said Joshi. Forest Department officials have confirmed that the proposal for an eco-sensitive zone within 5 km radius villages of the sanctuary has been marked. “This will include areas in Almora and Bageshwar district,” said AK Bahukhandi, a forest officer from the Almora division. The protesting villagers have also alleged that essential legal formalities have not been taken into consideration at the time of formation of the sanctuary, giving edge to the vested interests but neglecting traditional rights of villagers. “While hotels and resorts are being constructed inside the sanctuary, the villagers are being denied drinking water schemes on the pretext of sanctuary laws,” said Chandan Singh Bisht, president of the Almora Gram Pradhan Sangathan, who also took part in the protest. According to the protesting villagers, the villages around the sanctuary have seen great migration from their traditional villages after the declaration of sanctuary in 1988, as all the development and infrastructure works have been denied to these villages. “While the number of families in four nearby villages of Santari, Reshap, Dalar and Gonap was 115 before the declaration of the sanctuary, it has remained only 27 after the sanctuary laws have been imposed in the area,” said Joshi, coordinator of the protest. The villagers alleged that even this time the state government was playing fraud with the villagers on declaring these villagers eco-sensitive zone, as no local representative has been included in the committee made to recommend the zone. “As the villagers continue to suffer, the Forest Department is not in a position to know how the original area of the sanctuary was increased from 45.49 sq km to 47.07 km without informing the villagers in the past,” said Joshi. |
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Haridwar city MLAs lazy to utilise funds
Haridwar, February 3 Ten months past the ongoing financial year, the snail’s pace of utilisation of the funds has evoked questions on the very need of having a separate fund. All four legislators- Madan Kaushik (Haridwar City), Swami Yatishwarnand (Haridwar Rural), Aadesh Chauhan (BHEL-Ranipur) and Chandrasekhar Bhattewala (Jwalapur), cite a number of projects they had proposed as a proof of their concern to utilise the MLAs fund in time. The amount spent on the projects indicate the progress is slow and with very less time left for the financial year to end, a major portion of this legislator fund may get lapsed. Talking to The Tribune, Madan Kaushik, a three-time legislator, said he had till date mooted 60 odd proposals while it was the delay in the sanctioning process and release of funds that was hampering the progress of the development work. Swami Yatishwaranand, a saint-turned politician, pointed out that the sum released to him was spent by half. Aadesh Chauhan lamented that though the MLAs fund was a prerogative of legislator, but it was the department that had to carry out the task. Similar voice was echoed by veteran Jwalapur MLA Chandrasekhar Bhattewal, who has spent 50 lakh of his released fund on development projects. Bhattewala pointed out that if MLAs had to increase the percentage of completed work in a time-bound manner, then they had to keep a tab on the progress of the projects from initial stages itself. “The MLAs have to be answerable to public about the delay or non-utilisation of funds. We ourselves need to keep tabs on it regularly,” said
Bhattewal. |
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Creating awareness on social evils through puppet show
Haridwar, February 3 Girl students of Methodist Girls Postgraduate College presented sensitively through the puppet show, social malpractices such as dowry system, liquor consumption and sexual assault on women. Under the guidance of Professor Dr Amita Shrivastava of Home Science, students of BA-final year conceptualised and coordinated the whole event. For the students, this is a new concept with the puppet show’s popularity can be gauged by the fact that other colleges, social organisations and NGOs working in relative social fields are contacting to hold similar events. Dr Amita Shrivastava said while seeing a puppet show in television programme, the idea of replicating similar one in their college sprung up which she discussed with her students. “We worked on, researched and watched original puppet shows before finalising the theme, dress and stage for our college’s maiden puppet show. The audience's response is quite overwhelming and hope we can convey much better our message via the puppet show,” said Shrivastava. Girl students Sonal Kumari, Chanchal, Reshu Saini, Sonia and Neha told TNS, "They wanted to give social message in a different way and keeping in mind the response they are getting, the puppet show will be performed in near future too."“Kath means wood and putli meaning middle (black) part of eye, it’s a Rajasthani art mentioned in Rajasthani folk tales, history and ballads. It’s now a popular mode of entertainment in Rajasthan as well as other parts of the country” said Sonia, a student. |
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Need to pass Communal Targeted Violence Bill
Dehradun, February 3 Justice Madan B Lokur, Judge, the Supreme Court of India, while presiding over the valedictory
function, lauded the role of media and expressed that it was a powerful tool for constructive development of society. The second day of the workshop saw erudite people that included the sitting Judge of the Supreme Court, educationalists, administrators, journalists and intellectuals debating on issues related to the rights for the minorities. Dr Faizan Mustafa, Vice-Chancellor, NALSAR, Hyderabad, emphasised the need to bring children going to madarsas into
the mainstream education. He further added, “We would be a successful country if
freedom of identity is respected.” Justice Lokur, Dr Faizan Mustafa, Prof Mirza Asmer Beg of Aligarh Muslim University, Wajahat Habibullah, Chairperson, National Commission
for Minorities, and Dr Asgar Ali, engineer, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Sachinanada Murty, resident editor
of The Week, and many others were the prominent people who participated in this two-day deliberation. Avdhash Kaushal, Chairperson, RLEK, said,
“The workshop is an awakening call to address the issue of minorities. The RLEK shall organise a series of national level workshops to ensure that the constitutional provisions as guaranteed are delivered.” The workshop concluded with a 15-point recommendation that was
unanimously passed by the eminent panelist and the participants of the workshop. |
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Experts favours consultancy centre for minorities in state
Dehradun, February 3 This was recommended by experts at a national workshop on "Legal rights of minorities -understanding minority rights, constitution and law”, which concluded here today. To instill confidence among the minorities during a communal riot or conflict, it was suggested that the police be given a rigorous training on secularism and multi- religious policing along with propositional recruitment of forces in accordance with the population at the district level. It was also recommended that training to be imparted to members of the lower judiciary on minorities-related issues and the proposed Communal Targeted Violence Bill needed to be enacted expeditiously to tackle communal situations in a better manner. The workshop recommended that the definition of minorities in India should specifically include women as minorities with the dwindling sex ratio and the Women Reservation Bill should be passed. It was also suggested that the government should publish all information on riots- related cases filed, investigation/ prosecution and conviction or cases dismissed / withdrawn with reasons of dismissal and withdrawal, all information about target killing, encounter killing and custodial death of minorities and all information about the detainees under counter terror. The workshop suggested that keeping in mind the 12th plan’s emphasis on inclusive growth, provisions should be made for better representation of minorities in government job as well as in private sectors. An all-India muslim education board should be formed to reform primary and secondary school education. This board would organise, coordinate and monitor the overall functioning and progress of minority schools and colleges. India has 4 lakh acres of Waqf land, half of which has been encroached upon or is under dispute. For the development of Waqf properties, there was need of an institutional structure at the national level. The workshop noted that textbooks in schools have been written with a lot of insensitivity vis-à- vis minorities, leading to the creation of caricatures and stereotypes in the impressionable minds of children. The National Curriculum Development Board should take affirmative action to remove religious biases and prejudices. There needs to be a proper policy in place to look after the rights of internally displaced persons. A mechanism needs to be set in place to ascertain the losses incurred by all internally displaced persons, especially Kashmiri pundits, and they be duly compensated. In Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the indigenous Van Gujjars have been categorised as Scheduled Tribe. The same status should be awarded to Van Gujjars of Uttarakhand. They should also be given the benefits of ST and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of forest rights) Act 2006. If they agree for relocation voluntarily, the land patta should be given to them. The recommendations of the Sachar Committee and the Ranganath Mishra Commission need to be implemented expeditiously and effective monitoring for the programmes especially made for the Minorities. Efforts need to be made to set up a state minority commission in all states of the country, including Jammu and Kashmir. The workshop recommended that the Press Council of India should ensure honest and unbiased media reporting and the diversity of the nation should be reflected in all public institutions. |
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Jugran seeks White Paper on Muzaffarnagar incident
Dehradun February 3 Jugran said the government must explain what the previous governments had done and what the present government had done in regard to taking action against the accused of the Mujjafarnagar incident where the convicts molested several women and raped many others who did not report about the incident for the fear of social ignominy. He expressed shock that in the last 18 years ever since this incident had happened, no action was taken against any accused. He lamented that all successive state governments preferred to brush this matter under carpet. He alleged brutalities were triggered under a conspiracy hatched by then state government and the police machinery. Drawing comparison with the Delhi rape case in a moving bus where five accused had been charge-sheeted within two months of the incident, he asked the state government to issue a White Paper clearing its stand with regard to
the accused who sexually assaulted the women agitators of the state 18 years ago. |
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dehradun Diary
THE infighting within the Uttarakhand Congress continues unabated with factions opposed to state Congress chief Yashpal Arya trying to dislodge him from the post. There was a lot of activities as almost the entire Uttarakhand Cabinet and senior state party leaders rushed to the national capital during the past week.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was also staying in the national capital after the Jaipur Congress meet as all other senior ministers and leaders also joined him. It was believed that the group led by Union Minister of Water Resources Harish Rawat made a forceful plea with some central leaders to replace state Congress chief Yashpal Arya. Leading the charge was senior minister Indira Haridyesh who argued that the principle of “one-man, one-post” should be adhered to in Uttarakhand. Since Yashpal Arya is a senior minister in the state Cabinet, besides being the state party chief, she argued that the work of the party organisation has been suffering. She along with other members of the Harish Rawat group was of the opinion that the state needed a new party chief ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha elections scheduled in May 2014. However, the issue seems to be unresolved with party bigwigs, including new party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and party president Sonia Gandhi, unable to meet Uttarakhand leaders. On the other hand, Yashpal Arya reiterated that being a loyal party soldier, he would abide by the decision taken by the party high command. Birender Singh, general secretary and in charge of Uttarakhand party affairs, created confusion by stating that a change in the state party leadership would occur but with a consensus before the Lok Sabha elections but did not gave a time-frame for the change. According to party insiders, Yashpal Arya, a Dalit leader, who has remained successful in the past five years, would continue to remain in his post till the municipal elections scheduled to be held in March/ April this year. The Congress has won all the five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 Parliamentary elections and later also won by a slender margin the 2012 state Assembly poll under the leadership of Yashpal Arya. Senior party leaders believe that a change would take place in the summer of the year with each group trying to capture the position. Satpal Maharaj, Pauri Garhwal Lok Sabha MP, is also in the race and could also get the support of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna. But he could only stake his claim on the post if he decides not to contest the Lok Sabha 2014 poll. The new party vice-chief has reportedly made it clear that state chief should devote time to party work and not to contest election. There is also a talk of sending Satpal Maharaj to the Rajya Sabha when a vacancy happens in the state in February 2014. But before that, the issue of state Congress president would be resolved. The powerful Harish Rawat faction has also been trying to get hold of the crucial
post and many names from the group are in circulation. Above all Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna would also try to convince the party leadership to have state Congress chief of his own choice. —SMA Kazmi |
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Elephant terror continues in Rishikesh and its adjoining areas. In less than a week, two human deaths have reported from the region in the elephant attack incidents. After January 31 death of a truck driver, a woman was killed by an elephant closed to Bhadrakali forest falling in the Narendra Nagar forest division of the state.
The workshop was organised by the Rural Litigation and Enlightenment Kendra (RLEK) with the support of the Ministry
of Minority Affairs here today.
