Dharamsala, July 30
Though the state government and its regulatory bodies have been pulling up private institutes in the state for not employing proper faculty, many institutes being run by the government are doing the same, but going scot-free.

Many government institutes in the state are being run by guest faculty. The regional centre of Himachal Pradesh University at Dharamsala is one such government institute. The institute was set up at Dharamsala to cater to the lower areas of the state about 15 years ago.

The institute here is providing professional as well as postgraduate courses in many subjects. The regional centre of Himachal Pradesh University is providing degrees in law (LLB), master’s degree in mass communications and many other postgraduate courses.

About 800 to 900 students are enrolled in the regional centre every year. However, there are just one or two permanent lecturers in the entire institute. All remaining faculty is enrolled as guest faculty. The master's in mass communication courses are being run entirely by the guest faculty. According to the university norms, since the master's in mass communication degree was being offered by the Centre, it should have permanent faculty at professors, associate professors and assistant professors levels.

According to the university rules, the guest faculty comprises professionals who are called as guest faculty to provide guidance to students. However, the entire faculty in the regional centre of Himachal Pradesh University was being paid Rs 150 to Rs 200 per lecture as they were enrolled as guest faculty. Technically, however, the guest faculty cannot be enrolled throughout the year.

It is enrolled just during lecture days.

To add to it, for the past more than 15 years, the institute was being run from a temporary and ramshackle building.

Though the new building of the institute was ready, it has not been taken over by the Himachal Pradesh University.

Apart from the regional centre of the university, many government and aided colleges of the state were running many professional courses like BBA and BCA on self-financing basis.

All government and aided colleges in the state running such courses have hired only guest faculty for teaching the students.

In government college, Dharamsala, an MBA degree was also being offered. However, there is no permanent faculty. The institute has hired faculty on contract basis that is still better than guest faculty.

Many government colleges were also running in the temporary and ramshackle building.

The regulatory body formed by the Himachal Government for maintaining quality in education institutes was just monitoring the private education institutes. Inspections were carried out in these institutes to find out if these were adhering to the norms fixed by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and UGA for recruitment of faculty. However, no checks are being imposed on the government colleges and institutes.

Laxity in implementation of UGC or AICTE rules in government colleges was also leading to exploitation of teaching faculty at many places. Many lecturers in government colleges and the regional centre of Himachal Pradesh have been serving as guest faculty for the past many years. The government pays them paltry wages ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per month, whereas the starting salary of a regular lecturer is about Rs 30,000 per month.

The state government should put government colleges and institutes under the regulatory body so that they are also enforced to follow the norms fixed by the UGC or the AICTE and lecturers are saved from exploitation.

Hamirpur, July 30
The National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, has been awarded the “BEST Government Engineering College Award — 2013” by ABP News channel.

The award has been conferred on NIT for its achievements during the past several years in the field of education and excellence.

The award was recently received by Dr Kuldeep Kumar Sharma, Associate Professor and Coordinator, Informatics Centre of NIT, Hamirpur, on behalf of NIT Director, Prof Rajnish Shrivastava, in a ceremony held in Mumbai, in a function organised by the ABP News National Best School Awards — 2013, at TAJ Lands End, Mumbai.

Dr RL Bhatia, Founder-Project Director of National Business School Affairs and World Education Congress, jury members and several education ministers were present on the occasion.

Telling about this award, Dr Sharma said the basic purpose of instituting this award by the organisers was to pay a tribute to temples of learning and the Gurus (teachers), who shape the destinies of future creators.

Prof Rajnish Shrivastava has congratulated faculty, staff and students of NIT, Hamirpur, for this achievement and said that it was a proud moment for the NIT family that their efforts were being recognised by the industry leaders and these awards would definitely inspire them to strive hard in order to develop their institute as a global centre of excellence in every sphere of life including academic and research. Prof AS Singha, Registrar, NIT, Hamirpur, said it was the result of the collective and continuous efforts, diligence and team spirit of the faculty, the staff members and the students.

Kangra, July 30
Born in an Aggarwal business family, magician Samrat Shankar, 63, a self-taught magician, has attained a global reputation. While holding his show in the town recently, the magician made a fervent appeal to the public to keep the art of magic alive.

He said governments should come forward to check the misuse of the art for commercial gains by unscrupulous people.

He said he was attracted by street-corner magic shows and soon unravelled the mystery behind the magic and received guidance from BN Sarkar. He started doing public shows at the age of 12 but did not leave school despite his talent for magic and attaining popularity.

Shankar passed his MCom from Government College, Delhi, and has now decided to devote his talent to free religion of superstitions.

He said entertainment tax should be withdrawn from magic shows because it was one of the major arts and a treasure of India, which was on the verge of extinction. Television was overshadowing it. The art needed to be preserved, Shankar said.

He said, "I am concerned about the fading art of magic and plan to set up an academy to impart training to youth in the wonderful art to produce good professionals."

Shankar said elders and children were now glued to the TV sets, therefore this form of entertainment was vanishing. Besides, some of the magicians were misusing this art.

Samrat Shankar said, "Not many professionals are left who are pursuing magic as an art. Most of the practitioners of magic learn some basic tricks to impress people and often misuse these to make money."

He said he was against the trend adopted by some foreign magicians to disclose the secret of the magic during TV programmes. Shankar says he has staged 28,000 shows across the world during the past 35 years. He demanded that entertainment tax be waived on magic shows in the country.

Palampur, July 30
Despite repeated announcements made by the state government for converting the 220 km Pathankot - Mandi national highway into four lane, which links Pathankot with Leh and other forward areas, official sources reveal that there is nothing in black and white which substantiate the claim of the state government.

Till date, no budget allocation has been made by the Ministry of Surface Transport or the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for the four laning of the highway.

Official sources confirmed that the state government has got the project for the conversion of Shimla-Kalka and Chandigarh-Manali into four lanes sanctioned on built operate and transfer basis (BOT) from the Government of India, but Pathankot-Mandi NH did not figure in the list.

Pathankot-Mandi National Highway-20 is considered as a life line for around 35 lakh residents of the northern region of Himachal Pradesh. This is one of the most significant roads of the country, which links Pathankot, Kangra, Mandi and Manali with Leh.

Because of disturbed conditions in Jammu and Kashmir, army authorities are regularly using this highway for moving their supplies to Leh, Ladhak and other forward areas.

The Ministry of Defense considers this road as the safest route for carrying army supplies and other heavy defence equipment to Leh and other boarder areas as the Srinagar-Leh highway falls within the firing range of the Pakistan army.

During the Kargil war, this road was probed a boon to the nation as entire army supplies including heavy equipment and tanks were carried through this route to Leh, Kargil and other boarder areas.

At present, the national highway is narrow at many points. Over one hundred bridges which were constructed by the Britishers have already lived its life and needs immediate replacement.

Palampur, July 30
Despite the fact that the entire Dhauladhar ranges in the Kangra valley falls among the most sensitive earthquake-prone areas of the country (Zone V), the state government is yet to regulate large-scale illegal construction going on here.

The haphazard and unplanned construction of residential houses, commercial complexes and hotels here has become a matter of serious concern. In the absence of political and administrative will, government agencies dealing with urban development and planning of towns have failed to streamline construction activities. In the past few years, many towns like Palampur, Baijnath, Kangra, Gaggal and Nagrota Bagwan have turned into a huge concrete jungles.

After the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, the state government had initiated a number of serious measures to regulate construction activities in this region and also brought all important towns of Kangra district within the purview of the Town and Country Planning Act. However, all efforts of the state government remained confined to papers and today most of the towns have developed like slums.

The illegal and unplanned construction is extending an open invitation for a major disaster like that in Gujarat or Assam. Not only private parties, but semi-government and government agencies have also not followed the norms laid down for construction. A number of government departments have openly flouted the norms laid down by the Town and Country Planning Department.

As the entire Dhauladhar ranges in Himachal Pradesh fall in Zone V, seismology experts have already recommended earthquake-proof constructions for this region. Unfortunately, neither the Town and Country Planning authorities nor the state government has followed these recommendations, and measures suggested by these experts have been kept aside. 

Nurpur, July 30
The demand for filling a large number of vacant posts of headmaster and principal in government schools in the state has started picking up these days.

The Himachal Pradesh Headmasters and Principals Association president, Parkash Thakur, talking to mediapersons here recently said that studies in government schools had been affected adversely due to these vacant posts of school heads.

He said the association was taking up the issue with the state government to make an interim arrangement for these posts so that school studies would not be hit.

He said that as many as 600 government schools were without headmasters and principals, whereas hundreds of eligible teachers were waiting for their promotions for these posts.

“A large number of school principals have retired after waiting for regularisation of their services. But none of the state governments took any step for their regularisation,” he lamented.

Thakur said the previous BJP government had discontinued promotion to the posts of deputy directors for those eligible candidates who had touched the age of 57.

The association would soon meet the Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, to annul this order keeping in view the larger interest of the eligible candidates waiting for their last promotions just before their retirement.

“The Education Department is the lone department in the state in which promotions have been denied to those who touching 57. This government should remove this disparity in the Education Department,” Thakur said.

He also demanded that only deputy directors should be appointed as heads of the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) in the state and not school principals.

He also demanded that all 10 posts of deputy director (inspection) be filled so that quality in government schools education could be improved further. 

Palampur, July 30
The large scale misuse of tractor-trailers in Kangra valley has given rise to illegal mining and quarrying.

Though, the state government has restricted the use of tractors for agricultural purposes only, but large number of tractors are engaged in illegal mining, quarrying, extraction of sand stones, transporting quarrying material from local streams and rivers to different towns in the district.

According to the information gathered by The Tribune, it is revealed that there are over 3,000 tractors in Kangra district which are registered for agricultural purposes, but all are put to commercial use and majority of tractors do not carry even proper documents such as insurance and registration certificates and when they are caught, the mining department do a little to take punitive action against them.

As per the laws applicable in the state, if a tractor, registered for agricultural purposes, is used for commercial purposes, the authorities can collect taxes with penalty from retrospective effect, besides, impounding the vehicle.

But, there is none in the administration to implement the legal provisions.

It is on record that majority of tractors registered for agricultural purposes often indulge in indiscriminate quarrying and mining.

A 40 km stretch of the Neugal river between Palampur and Alampur, the state government has prohibited quarrying and mining, but the ban is only in papers.

Numerous tractors can be seen digging stones and sand daily from the river at different points.

Neither the mining department nor the local administration is bothered to the check the illegal mining, which has resulted in a large-scale damage to forest lands, irrigation channels and drinking water supply schemes.

Solan, July 30
With the food processing industry requiring adequate quantity of varieties of fruits and vegetables, the agrarian community in the state would have to redraw its cultivation priorities to help make use of the financial support available under the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP).

These preliminary findings have emerged from the initial findings of a draft document being prepared by a consultant appointed to prepare a vision document to specify the activities, which would be taken up in the state for promoting food processing-based activities.

With the lion’s share of the state’s horticulture and agriculture produce being grown as table varieties, the share of fruits and vegetables diverted for the processing activities was limited.

The state would have to enhance its share of processing produce in order to cater to the processing industry.

Since the table varieties are superior varieties of fruits and vegetables and only low-grade items are diverted for processing in the state, their share was limited.

Various food items like apple, tomato, maize, lemon and orange, which are produced in adequate quantities in the state, can be processed for varied use.

The state would have to upgrade its infrastructure in terms of cold storage and warehouses so as to have adequate quantity of fruits and vegetables to cater to the new processing plants throughout the year.

The state would also have to enhance its productivity so that the processing facilities created under the NMFP have adequate fruits and vegetables throughout the year.

The state already has over one lakh metric tonnes of processing facilities available in a year both in the public and private sector. These plants fail to run throughout the year due to lack of adequate material.

The agrarian activities will have to shift their focus to enhancing their productivity by adopting modern agricultural practises but studies also reveal that handicaps like availability of small land holdings, higher cost and lack of availability of labourers are deterrents.

Leading global firm Grant Thornton has been appointed as the consultant for the centrally-sponsored NMFP.

Thornton is a leading firm that provides consultancy support for evaluation, assessment and research in various fields, including agri-business and natural resources.

Rajinder Chauhan, adviser, Industries, said they were awaiting the draft report of this project which would help them chalk out its nitty-gritty.

The Centre had provided funds for this project as per its 12th Five Year Plan and Himachal is among other states where the project is being implemented.

While the Union Ministry of Food Processing will provide 75 per cent of the budget, the remaining 25 per cent will be pooled in by the state. The state had received about Rs 4 crore for the same.

The project aims to undertake technology upgrade, establishment and modernisation of food processing industries, introduce schemes for setting up cold chains, value addition, preservation infrastructure for non-horticulture products and scheme for human resource development.

Deol (Palampur), July 30
Deol village situated in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges near Baijnath is facing threat to its existence. Unscientific cutting of hills and reckless blasting for the execution of a tunnel and a road by a hydel power project have resulted in large-scale landslides and soil erosion causing widespread damage to over a 100 residential houses, roads, forest and water supply schemes of village.

Residents of this village have been spending sleepless nights because of regular flow of muck, boulders and debris to the village from upper hills damaging their houses. The road leading to the village has also been wiped out because of heavy landslides. Many families have already migrated to safer places.

A Tribune team visited the village recently and noticed that the company executing the power project had virtually played havoc with the nature. The muck, boulders and debris dumped by the power company in the forest have come down and entered many houses in the past few days during heavy rain.

Environment activists and members of the People’s Voice, an organisation fighting for the protection of environment in the Dhauladhar ranges, said because of largescale environmental degradation, entire hills adjoining the village were sinking.

Besides, heavy blasting was also conducted in the hills for the execution of tunnels which adversely affected the fragile ecology of the Deol-Phathar belt of Dhauladhar ranges causing soil erosion and landslides. They feared an Uttarakhand-like situation in this village if it rained heavily in the next few days.

Villagers said in the absence of any check from the local authorities like a Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) and an SDM, the power company had flouted the environment laws and indulged in reckless cutting of rocks through blasting.

KK Gupta, DFO, Palampur, admitted that the company had flouted the environment laws and also indulged large-scale deforestation at Deol village. He said the department had already initiated action against the company.

However, till date neither any case has been registered against the company under forest laws nor the company has paid damages to the affected villagers.

Kishori Lal, Congress MLA from Baijnath, categorically stated that the government should register a criminal case against the power company that had caused a huge loss to property at Deol village. He said this was a man-made clematis and the administration should not become a mute spectator and must act judiciously. He asked the panchayats not to issue no-objection certificates for such projects which destroyed nature and create hardship to local residents.

Unfortunately, the administration is yet to wake up as till date no government official has visited the village or extended any assistance to the affected villagers.

One morning I went to Akhara Bazaar in Kullu. As proclaimed by a book on Tourism in Himachal, it is the best place to roam about in Kullu. It is not; because Akhara is not more than a crowded bazaar. The Gurudwara there in its whiteness spreads purity and an old aesthetic building at Rambagh in which runs Handimachal, a physiotherapy centre, attracts. Rest is mumbo-jumbo of a hill-station market. I slipped towards Beas and the sight was delightful. Barring the ugly backside of Akhara, all was beauty. The river that bathes humans and animals was itself bathing in the early morning filtered sun-light. The green mountains were lavishing in the "vibgyor" (See Photo). I saw a stone there installed on October 7, 1969, when Dr YS Parmar had inaugurated the Akhara Bridge across Beas. The bridge has gone and the stone is in the process of going. Tennyson wobbled me: "The old order changeth yielding place to new."

Why the bazaar is called Akhara? Standing on the new arch bridge, I had no clue of it though I knew that there were akharas of Hindu sadhus. I also knew that today there were three major —Juna, Mahanirvani and Niranjani -- and three minor — Atal, Agni and Anand —Akharas. Their classification into different 'samprdayas' is Shaiva, Vairagi and Kalpwasi as followers of Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma respectively. You will question me that the arena reserved for wrestling is also called Akhara and how does it go with the mendicants carrying a modern stereotypical image of passiveness? I believe that the basic purpose behind establishing Akharas was to form a group of 'dharma sainiks', well versed in Hindu Martial Arts, who could protect and safeguard dharma from evil forces, whenever need arises.

To know why this bazaar is called Akhara, I opened the pages of "Himachal Pradesh ka Itihaas" by Mian Goverdhan Singh. Raja Jai Singh was ruler of Kullu from 1731 to 1742. He was forced to leave Kullu for Ayodhya or Hardwar and invited his brother, Terhi Singh, to rule Kullu. He remained on the throne till 1767. Quite a few people in Kullu never recognised him as the Raja believing that Jai Singh would return one day. They rebelled against him. A group of Sadhus or 'dharma sainiks' happened to pass by Kullu once. Raja Terhi Singh enchanted the Sadhus and asked them to stay in Kullu and used them to take revenge against the rebels. The Raja was, somehow, successful in inviting the rebels to his palace and "dine and wine" with them. When the rebels were totally inebriated, the 'dharma sainiks' killed them. The dead numbered about 360. The Raja gave the Sadhus space to stay in Kullu. They turned the space allotted to them into Akhara to carry on their activities —spiritual and martial. A bazaar developed around the Akhara, called Akhara Bazaar.

During my wanderings around Akhara Bazaar, I saw a board prohibiting foreigners' entry inside Hanuman temple (See Photo). I immediately thought of my daughter-in-law, Vibhuti Sharma, now an American citizen and a great devotee of Lord Hanuman, whose entry into the temple stands banned. By virtue of the dictate, no person from Nepal, the only country that constitutionally is a Hindu country, is allowed in the temple; even Barack Obama, the President of America, who has 'monkey-god' as one of the charms is prohibited to go in; the South Africans, Hindus gone there and settled from generation to generation, are still the devotees of Hanuman, are not allowed inside the temple. Lord Hanuman is immortal; he lives today and is present there where Ramcharitmans is recited. I do not know what his reaction is. Is it "jahi vidhi rakhe Ram, tahi vidhi rahiye"?

May I add that the scriptures belittle Hanuman's wisdom by declaring that he could not recognise Sanjeevani so he brought the entire mountain-top to Lanka? He who is "vidyavan; guni; ati chatur: Ram kaj karibe ko atur" could not be so ignorant. Actually, besides Sanjeevani (life-giver), with the mountain, Hanuman brought 'Vishalykarni' that heals the weapon-wounds, 'Sandhani' that is bone-restorer and 'Suvarnakarni' that stops the flow of blood. All these were used on unconscious Lakshman.

Tailpiece
“Lord Hanuman knows that 1,40,000 foreign tourists visited Kullu district last year.”

Chamba, July 30
There are many difficult terrains in the mountainous region of Chamba district still. One such terrain is Sirdi in the Bharmour tribal subdivision where a government primary school has been running for the past about two decades. The successive governments of the state have so far failed to upgrade the school.

Since the school has not so far been upgraded to the middle standard, the students of Sirdi primary school had to trudge about 5 km, a long distance which passes through the undulating hill slopes to get middle school education at government school at Pullan. Moreover, many of the schoolchildren lack means of transportation in the absence of road network in the terrain, facing a tough time.

After initial heavy rain, the monsoon has been moderate but it has still caused extensive damage to roads, sewer lines, houses and other infrastructure in and around the state capital.

The Shimla Municipal Corporation has pegged the loss due to rains at Rs 6.55 crore, according to preliminary estimates. The rain has triggered more than a dozen landslides in various localities and a number of retaining walls along the roads have also given way. At places the railings and side-drains have also been damaged. A major bridge on the Shimla bypass road has also collapsed. The total loss on account of roads and bridges has been estimated at Rs 4.48 crore.

Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar said public toilets had been also been damaged at three places and some private buildings had collapsed in Krishna Nagar. In the Ruldu Bhatta area, sewer lines had been damaged extensively. However, the maximum damage had been caused to water supply and many areas of the city had to go without water for days together.

The road surfacing had come off in large stretches and loss on this account had been put at Rs 73 lakh. Potholes on roads were giving a tough time to both motorists and pedestrians. Heavy movement of trucks due to apple season adds to the problem.

Mandi, July 30
Rajesh Joshi may be popular with his clients and the legal fraternity because he is a practising lawyer in this temple town, but few know that his talent for clicking rare landscape images and those of nature in Himachal can put him on an even keel with professional lensmen.

Joshi's pictures say what a thousand words cannot explain about nature and landscape. His pictures of a diseased tree and white

water at the trout-rich Uhal river have won him accolades from the country’s top lens men.

Joshi is shy of publicity as he loves photography as much as he likes the legal profession. His talent with the lens was recognised recently by the jury of the country’s top photographers.

Joshi received the best photographer in the amateur category for fine art. “I have been involved in this hobby for the past seven years now," he says.

The jury picked up Joshi’s three images shot in Saryolsar lake, Kullu, Uhl rivulet, Mandi, and a macro shot of a diseased tree clicked near the holy towering shrine Naina Devi in the uphill of Rewalsar lake, the pilgrimage centre for the Buddhist, Hinud and the Sikhs in Mandi district.

Like 29 winners, Joshi received the award from the Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi recently.

The jury headed by the noted photographer, S Paul, faced a tremendous task of sifting through 4,500 entries that it received for the second National Photo Awards, 2011, for professionals and amateurs alike. The jury chose 29 best among them for the awards. The winners received a cash prize, a plaque and a certificate.

It was at the initiative of his wife, Minakshi, that Joshi agreed to share the moments of his art with The Tribune. “I do not require publicity as I love photography and like to do it quietly,” he says. He says his wife always backed his hobby. My friend, Vishal Bhopal, has recognised my talent and younger brother, Deepan Joshi, a journalist, is my spirit, he adds.

His further plan is to shoot the Churah subdivision of Chamba and showcase it before people. A talk with K Madhwan Pillai of Better Photography magazine was a great experience in Delhi, he adds. Besides, the chief guest, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tiwari was also present.

Chamba, July 30
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri celebrated Van Mahotsav on the right bank of Sechu nullah forest in a remote Saach village of the Pangi tribal subdivision by planting a sapling of ‘thangi’ (hazelnut) last week in order to motivate people to supplement this valuable species of the valley.

Residents of the village planted various saplings of deodar, ash and fraxinus in the area. The minister was welcomed in a traditional way by residents when he reached Pregran village.

Several events were held to celebrate the 64th Van Mahotsav during various occasions in the state and Chamba district.

Later, he was welcomed by Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) ARM Reddy in a public gathering on the premises of Nag Mandir at Saach. The CCF apprised people of various activities of the Forest Department.

He thanked residents of the Pangi tribal sub-division consisting of 16 panchayats for conserving the forests of the valley.

The quality of timber of both deodar and kail in the Pangi valley was much superior to the same found in other forest divisions of the district, the CCF said.

Bharmouri, while addressing the gathering, urged them to go for massive afforestation programme by planting medicinal plants.

He said the transit rules had been amended suitably to enable farmers to collect and export medicinal plants and other non-timber forest produce after obtaining permit from the divisional forest officer concerned.

The minister also visited the famous Mindhal Mata temple, 16 km from Killar, where he performed a traditional puja. Bharmouri also listened to public grievances.