Haridwar May 16
Despite millions thronging Haridwar annually to take a dip in the holy Ganga river, most of the ghats do not present a good picture. Due to administration apathy, a majority of the Ganga ghats are lying in a neglected condition and are being used for purposes other than bathing.

Keeping this in mind, social outfit Bhagirathi Sewa Samiti has started an awareness drive at Ganga ghat, urging violators not to pollute Ganga ghats by washing clothes, using detergents, soaps and putting garbage along side the Ganga ghat.

Notably, a majority of the ghats are being used for laundry purpose, washing clothes, drying clothes or for illegal activities.

Outside pilgrims,tourists, local people, Ganga activists, including some saint-politicians, too, seem to be ignoring the damage being done to not only the ghats but also to the religious sentiments of pilgrims who come to Haridwar with devotion.

What is more disheartening is the fact that a majority of the clothes being washed are of ashrams, dharmashalas and akhadas. Ironically, when it comes to keeping the holy Ganga clean, these very so-called religious representatives talk of taking the agitation route or cornerring the government for failing to address the problem.

But no one comes forward when the ghats are being misused and dirty water gets mingled with the river at these ghats, where devotees take a holy dip and perform rites.

So, be it Bhagirathi Point from where Ganga canal water is separately carved in, or Laljiwala ghat, Birla ghat, Jai Ram Ashram ghat, Pull ghat or Jatawada Pull ghat, one can see dozens of people washing clothes. Washed clothes spread or lined up at these ghats presents a sorry picture.

Dehradun, May 16
Census 2011 puts the population of Uttarakhand at 1.86 crore, roughly around 19 per cent more than the last decade. According to the primary abstract of the Census data released by the office of the Registrar-General of India, the population of Uttarakhan is 1,00,86,292 (pne crore eighty six lakh two hundred and ninety two).

Of this, the population of Schedule Castes (SC) stands at 18,92,516 (eighteen lakh ninety two thousand and five hundred sixteen) and Schedule Tribes (ST) at 2,91,903 (two lakh ninety one thousand nine hundred and three).

The districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar with a population of 18,90,422 and 16,48,902, respectively, have the highest number of SC population at 4,11,274 and 2,38,264, respectively. In Dehradun district which has a a population of 16,96,694, the SC population is 2,28,901.

The district of Udham Singh Nagar has the highest number of ST population at 1,23,037, followed by Dehradun with 1,11,663, Pithoragarh with 19,535, Chamoli with 12,260 and Hardwar with 6,323. The districts of Rudraprayag and Tehri have the lowest number of STs at 386 and 875, respectively.

The Directorate of Census, Uttarakhand, said the Census data would help in providing services to the members of the communities and also provide input for planning for the next Five Year Plan.

Further, the Census 2011 data also provides vital information regarding the marked improvement in the living standards of the members belonging to the SC and ST communities. In Uttarakhand, 86.71 per,cent of the SC households enumerated own houses while 85.83 per cent of the ST households own houses, according to the 2011 Housing Census report.

The condition of the houses, too, has improved as only 5.56 per cent of the SC and 3.79 per cent of the ST households are in a dilapidated condition.

Significantly, 35.15 per cent of the SC and 32.8 per cent of the ST households have concrete roofs.

Dehradun, May 16
Yesterday’s cash incentive awards to state players by Uttarakhand Sports Minister Dinesh Aggarwal has failed to render enthusiasm among the sportspersons of the state. The criterion for giving the cash amounts has been questioned. While some players got more than Rs 2 lakh, many got just Rs 15,000.

The Sports Minister had honoured a number of sportspersons who had shown excellent performances at national and international sports events at a function heldin Dehradun yesterday.

PK Mahrishi, former Sports Authority of India hockey coach, has registered a strong objection to the state sports ministry cash award incentive scheme. He has resented the alleged partial treatment meted out to some popular sports disciplines. He said while a participant of a lesser known sport like finger skating got a Rs 1.75 lakh, a hockey player, who won the bronze medal in Women’s Asian Hockey got just around Rs 15,000.

“Hockey is an important sport of the country as compared to finger skating. So much disparity in the cash incentive amounts is a matter of serious concern. This is a mockery of the system. How can you have a discriminatory cash incentive award policy,” Mahrishi argued.

Mahrishi asserted that he would exercise the right to information to get details about the sportspersons awarded so far in the state under the cash incentive award scheme. “I fear that only a chosen few again and again make it to the final awards list,” he said, while criticising the state Sports Ministry’s discriminatory attitude.

Shivani Bisht, a hockey player who won the bronze in the Thailand Asian Hockey Championship had refused to take her cash award at the function yesterday.

However, she was persuaded by senior state sports officials to accept the award.

While Shivani got Rs 15,000, sportspersons from disciplines of shooting and power lifting got Rs 1.33 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively.

Uttarakhand Deputy Director Sports, Ajay Kumar Agarwal, said the concerns raised by certain sportspersons regarding the amount of cash incentive would be considered and, if necessary, the policy reviewed.

“It is strange that the state government goes out of the way to honour a cricketer like Unmukt Chand, but budding sportspersons, who come from poor family backgrounds in the state, are seldom encouraged,” alleged Maharishi.

Dehradun, May 16
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna today presided over a meeting held to give a final shape to the annual Plan proposal for the state for the year 2013-14.

A meeting is proposed with the Union Planning Commission on May 23 in Delhi in which the Plan has to be approved.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials that the Plan proposal should be based on facts and presented in a convincing manner.

He said stress should be laid on the budget allocation under Special Plan assistance.

The state would demand green bonus as well as a budget to shift 233 villages which were in the disaster-affected zone.

Stress would also be laid on the development of infrastructure in the border areas.

He said agriculture and tourism, which were important for the development of the state, would be highlighted. He said a project for installing gravity-based ropeway in the fruit belt should be prepared to ensure that fruit reached the market in time.

The Chief Minister said an impressive and effective scheme should be prepared for organic farming, cold storage ,warehousing and modernisation of agriculture in the hill areas.

He said a proposal for tourism development at the Tehri reservoir would also be placed before the Planning Commission.

Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, Chief Resident Commissioner S.K.Mutto, and principal secretaries Rakesh Sharma, S.Ramaswamy and S.S.Sandhu were present at the meeting.

Dehradun, May 16
Mayor Vinod Chamoli has asked the state government for land as well as funds of Rs 1 crore for construction of four burial grounds for the people of Muslim and Christian communities and Rs 50 lakh each for three burial grounds for Hindu children in the city.

He said the only burial ground at Chandan Nagar for Muslim community had exhausted it's capacity. Another at Lohia Nagar is in the making.

Keeping the burgeoning population of the city, he said four more burial grounds are required at Azad Colony bypass, Chuna Bhatta near Adhdoiwala, Bhagat Singh Colony and Sattowali Ghati on Kanwali Road.

He placed similar proposals for burial grounds for Hindu children at Sahastradhara Road, Dharampur, Rajpur, and one in the area between Subhash Nagar and Ballupur.

He said the state government must ensure the District Magistrate identifies land for the purpose and releases funds for their construction.

Chamoli said land for one burial ground for Hindu children has been provided on bypass road for which Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) required Rs 20 lakh for the construction of embankment and Rs five lakh for a small bridge.

He said the burial ground for Muslim community at Lohia Nagar required lot of work to be done. ''A sum of Rs 5 lakh has been released for the construction of 20-metre embankment at Lohia Nagar burial ground. An amount of Rs 8 lakh is required to build a connecting road to the bypass. A small bridge is also to be made there. PWD has given the structural designs of these remaining works of

burial ground which in totality will cost Rs 61.29 lakh, which DMC will provide from it's own resources. ''For the rest of the proposals, he said he would urge the Chief Minister to pitch in.'' According to Chamoli, each burial ground for Muslim community would cost Rs 1 crore. This includes Rs 30 lakh for embankment, Rs 5 lakh for a hall room, Rs 61 lakh for a bridge, Rs 5 lakh for filling up of soil and Rs 8 lakh for connecting road.

Mussoorie, May 16
Diwank Singh Tomar, a techie and former student of Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie, has been conferred with the prestigious Thiel Fellowship 2013, worth $100,000 (Rs 53 lakh), which allows youngsters to pursue their own business ideas.

Tomar, who shifted his base some time back to Pao-Alto in USA, will now be mentored by the likes of PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Elon Musk as well as Facebook co-founder Sean Parker on technical projects and learn about entrepreneurship.

Diwank Singh Tomar

According to Kurien Arackal, the fellowship picks 20 individuals who are aged under 20, provides $100,000 each to the selected ones, besides mentorship from a host of entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders, including Thiel, who is also one of the first outside investors in social networking giant Facebook.

This is the third edition of the fellowship and Diwank Tomar is the only Indian-born entrepreneur to win the fellowship this year.

Diwank Tomar, son of RS Tomar and Shikha, began his early education at Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh. Following that, Diwank Tomar completed his high school education from Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie.

Diwank Tomar was also topper for ICSE 2009 batch, added Kurian Arackal. He finished his class 12th education from a school at Delhi and was enrolled in Birla Institute of Technology, but dropped out of his college in India and moved to Silicon Valley to work with an online platform. He had earlier bagged Mozilla Web FWD fellowship for his work related to improving learning online.

The school staff, congratulating Diwank Tomar, on his achievement said that he was a very intelligent student and very fond of computer and it's application in school.

The school is also planning to felicitate Diwank Tomar on his achievement once he returns to the country in the near future.

Currently Tomar is working on a collaborative learning platform in the USA.

Dehradun, May 16
Uttarakhand Drinking Water Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani today reviewed the potable water works linked to the Char Dham Yatra that started a few days ago.

Naithani directed the officials concerned to spend more time in the field and keep in constant touch with public representatives and the local people. He said both Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam employees need to develop a new work culture and take up public problems on priority.

Uttarakhand Potable Water Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani reviews water works linked to Char Dham Yatra

The minister said while the Char Dham Yatra had started the Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra was about to begin. Thus, potable water supply across Garhwal hills should be in place. He added the availability of potable water must be ensured at all yatra routes.

Naithani also directed the officials to ensure prompt repair of leakages in water pipelines. He said there should be no dearth of funds for the drinking water schemes in the state. He ordered the officials to ensure speedy construction of new water schemes.

Additional Secretary, Potable Water, Arjun Singh and other senior officials of the Jal Sansthan and the Jal Nigam were present at the meeting.

Dehradun, May 16
The Uttarakhand BJP senior leader, Ravinder Jugran, has threatened to go on a hunger strike if the Congress government failed to honour two orders issued in 2011 aimed at providing relief to the family members of martyrs who lost their lives during the statehood agitation.

At a meeting with Chief Secretary Subash Kumar, he said, ''Along with this government order, the BJP government had decided to give monthly pension to the next of kin of the victims.”

Dehradun, May 16
The Uttarakhand chapter of the All-India Consumers Council has sought the cancellation of the Central government’s notification on the eco-sensitive zone in the Uttarkashi region of Uttarakhand.

In a statement issued today, the president of the council, Brig K.G.Behl (retd), said the Centre should cancel its December 18, 2012 notification on the eco-sensitive zone in Uttarakhand to enable the state to develop and prosper rather than go backward.

The Centre notification declares an area of 4,179.59 sq km covering the entire watershed of about 100 km stretch of the Bhagirthi river from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone, and thus prevents any infrastructure development activity in the region.

Brigadier Behl said this would have an adverse impact on development in the region.

“Further, the declared zone is very close to the Chinese border and as the notification prohibits all types of construction, the roads which are essential in that area for development as well as for defence cannot be constructed. This will be like compromising with security, which has become even more important in the wake of the recent incursion of Chinese troops in the Ladakh area,” he pointed out.

He said the Chief Minister along with some MPs had met the PrIme Minister recently in New Delhi to impress upon the necessity of immediate withdrawal of the notification.