Encouragement scheme for minority community students fails to take off
Guidelines yet to be approved by higher authorities
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
The Chief Minister's encouragement scheme for the minority community students has failed to take shape in the absence of approval of guidelines that await the nod of the higher authorities.

The announcement was made in 2012 by the Congress government to provide financial assistance to the students of minority communities, who were keen on a career in civil services but were constrained due to poor financial conditions.

''The guidelines for implementing the scheme have been drafted but these have to be approved by the government,'' said CMS Bisht, Director, Minorities Welfare.

According to the proposed guidelines, the first time aspirants of civil services among the minority communities for both the Central and state services were to be provided 100 per cent assistance during the first attempt and 50 per cent assistance during the second attempt for the civil service examinations.

Further, according to the proposal, the aspirants from minority communities whose family annual income was not more than Rs 4.50 lakh were eligible and the scheme was to be implemented in the minority dominated districts of Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital, Dehradun and Haridwar.

Under the scheme the aspirants were eligible for receiving an interest free assistance for preparing for the three stages of the state and central civil services examination.

Officials say frequent changes at the top and absence of officials in the districts had affected the pace of implementation of programmes.

''After the creation of the Directorate for the Welfare of Minorities, it was felt that the programmes for the welfare of the minorities would get the necessary fillip but we are still dependent on the officers from the Social Welfare Department for the implementation of the schemes. Even the proposal for the appointment of four minority welfare officers in the four districts is languishing in the files,'' said Bisht

Earlier all the schemes for the minorities were run by the Department of Social Welfare but to provide focused attention to the implementation of schemes for the welfare of minorities, a separate Directorate was created last year.

But going by the apathy of the government, the effort seems to have yielded little results. 

Uttarakhand the challenge ahead
Prioritise rehab work in phases: Nawani
The Tribune series on what needs to be done to rebuild state
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
Former senior bureaucrat and founder-member of Uttarayani, a Delhi based-organisation of non-resident Uttarakhandis, NP Nawani asserts that rehabilitation in Uttarakhand in the aftermath of the rain disaster needs a proper planning and has to be carried out in phases that have to be implemented on the basis of priorities.

Talking to The Tribune, NP Nawani, a former Tripura Chief Secretary and former secretary, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said a full-fledged rehabilitation exercise was a long-drawn process and could go up to as long as five to six years. “A proper rehabilitation cannot be done at one go. It has to be carried out in several phases and these phases too are lined up on the basis of priorities. Uttarakhand needs to prepare itself for it,” he pointed out.

He said first of all, women and children who are the lone survivors in their families in the aftermath of rain disaster need immediate support. “As they have lost the bread earners, these widows and children, who are now left with zero assets have to be taken out of trauma and supported,” he said.

“In the first phase, food needs to be given followed by shelters. Next, they will have to be future trained so that they are capable enough to sustain themselves for future and finally it may take a couple of years before these victims are able to make their both ends meet,” Nawani said.

He categorically said that providing a one-time relief amount to victims can never be considered as rehabilitation or even assistance for future.

A former Tripura-cadre IAS officer, Nawani, recalls the massive rehabilitation exercise undertaken under his guidance in Tripura in the early eighties in the aftermath of riots that broke out between tribals and non-tribals, leading to displacement of over a lakh people, who were to be rehabilitated within a short span of two years. Drawing parallels with Uttarakhand, he said here again a large population has to be rehabilitated which even involves entire shifting of villages from landslide hazard zones to safer places.

Suggesting the setting up of a dedicated team of bureaucrats for rehabilitation work, Nawani said Uttarakhand should come up with a team of dedicated IAS and PCS officers, who should be entrusted with the task of rehabilitation. These bureaucrats should be persons of high integrity. Further, it must also be ensured that none of the team members gets transferred till the entire rehabilitation process is completed. He said the entire rehabilitation should be taken up by the government itself. This is important to ensure that rehabilitation work is brought to a logical conclusion.

He also held that it was wrong to portray bureaucracy as corrupt. “There are also officers who are honest and believe in working with sincerity and Uttarakhand too has such officers," he said.

Coming out with suggestions of safeguards for future, Nawani said the state needs to act to stop human encroachments on rivers. He also called for the adoption of non-destructive blasting techniques for the construction of roads in hills to check their adverse impact on the environment. Further, he said those technologies must be adopted that ensure that we make roads that last.

He also sought from the state government the compulsory registration of pilgrims coming to the state. There should be strict registration of pilgrims and no vehicle should be allowed to go to Badrinath or any other shrine in the hills that is at road head after 8 pm.

About the ongoing debate on hydro projects in the state, Nawani said the state needs to go for environmental friendly community owned micro hydel projects. He, however, is not averse to some bigger hydro projects to meet the state’s industrial sector energy requirements. “There is no doubt that micro hydel projects are more environment friendly, but for ensuring the much needed industrial development, you also need big power projects that can cater to the industry’s growing power demand,” he said.

He also stressed on the need to go into the cause behind the recent rain disaster in state. “We have to go into the causes behind this rain disaster for undertaking future mitigation measures,” he said.

Referring to Uttaranyani, he said the organisation has decided to adopt at least half a dozen disaster-affected villages and work for their rehabilitation.

NP Nawani, as a young captain, took part in the 1965 war against Pakistan before he was selected for the Indian Administrative Service. Nawani belongs to Pauri district of Uttarakhand.

Kiran for planned Char Dham yatra
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, August 10
The recent calamity in Uttarakhand can be majorly attributed to mass commercialisation of sensitive tourist places in the state and to the failure of the authorities concerned.

This was stated by social activist Kiran Bedi here today.

Disappointed by the lacklustre planning and management of the Char Dham pilgrimage, Kiran said an unplanned yatra was a proof that the administration was not doing enough to make the pilgrimage successful.

Kiran said the authorities were responsible for non-registration of the pilgrims bound for the Char Dham pilgrimage and massive encroachment being done near shrines and along the yatra routes.

"Pilgrims and local people pay for the laxity the authorities commit. The authorities concerned have failed to tackle the encroachment problem and regulate the pilgrimage properly. They are majorly responsible for all this and punitive action should be taken against them," said Kiran.

She said not even a single government official had been transferred or suspended for laxity and failure to manage the yatra proceedings. She said it pointed at the dangerous liaison between the politicians and bureaucrats.

Kiran said disaster management activities should be reviewed on regular intervals.

"Without proper planning and management, the Char Dham pilgrimage will never be safe. A broader and time-bound planning is the need of the hour," said Kiran.

She also suggested a specific policy for the Himalayan shrines and tourist places.

She said traffic management was also necessary in the hills.

"Imparting disaster management training to local people of the state can come handy. The state is prone to landslides, earthquake and flash flood and it is important for people here to know how to tackle the situation in the first stage," added Kiran.

Impose Prez rule in U’khand: BJP

New Delhi, August 10
A team led by BJP Vice-President Uma Bharti that had visited flood-affected Uttarakhand has suggested in its report that the tragedy should be declared a national calamity and President's rule must be imposed in the state as the state government "failed" to deal with the crisis.

The team consisted former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and MP Shahnawaz Hussain. They visited Kedarnath, Dehradun and other places from July 19, 2013, to July 26, 2013, to study the ground situation.

"The loss of lives in the natural tragedy was due to the negligence on the part of the state government. The state government is weak and ineffective," the report said.

"The state government is completely ineffective in dealing with the crisis. It should be dismissed and the Centre should take control of the state. A team of experts on dealing with such tragedies should be formed. Also, immediate and long-term relief and rehabilitation programmes should be formed," the team said.

It also emphasised on restoring the Kedarnath and the Dhaari Devi temples to their original glory.

Holding a private company responsible for the washing away of the Dhaari Devi Temple, which is building a hydro-electric project on the Alaknanda river, Bharti said the firm did not removed debris which forced the river to change its direction.— PTI

Joint Secretary appointed as nodal officer
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
The Central Government has designated Joint Secretary Anup Wadhawan as the nodal officer for looking into the LIC claims of the persons who either died or went missing in the natural calamity that struck Uttarakhand in mid- June.

Wadhawan has also been asked to make suitable arrangement for setting up a camp office in Dehradun.

Despite the written instructions on the issue of death certificates by the Central Government, taking the Tsunami incident into consideration, the state government is still looking toward the Centre, especially the Department of Finance to guide it on the matter.

Light rain in state; Ganga flows close to danger mark
Some villages flooded

Dehradun, August 10
Most places in Uttarakhand today received light rains though the river Ganga was flowing close to the danger mark, flooding some villages. Most of the places across the state, including Dehradun, received light showers, the Met Department said today.

While Nainital received 17.6 mm of rain, Dehradun received just 4 mm of rain in the last 24 hours, it said.

The sky is clear in the state capital since morning, it added.

However, Haldwani in Nainital district received heavy showers with the maximum 112 mm rainfall recorded there in the past 24 hours, the weather man said.

Incessant rains over the past few days has swollen the Ganga at Haridwar, which was flowing close to the danger mark yesterday, inundating some villages in Luxor area, State Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre (DMMC) here said today.

About 600-700 affected people have been evacuated to safety by the administration, it said.

The Ganga in Haridwar is flowing at 293.70 metres, whereas the danger mark is 294 metres, the DMMC said. Pauri district was also lashed by moderate rains over the past few days with most of the rivers and canals in Lansdown area in spate.

The administration has asked people living close to the banks of rivers like Nayal and Mander in the area to move to safer places.

Power supply has been affected for the past 15 hours in Kedar valley, authorities here said. —PTI 

Protests against Pak continue in Kumaon
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 10
A demonstration against the killing of five Indian soldiers by the Pakistan army, continues in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand as demonstrators burnt effigies of the Pakistan Government at Pithoragarh, Tanakpur, Didihat, Lohaghat and Almora, yesterday.

The leaders of the Aam Aadmi party gathered at the Kumour bend of the district headquarter and shouted slogans against the Pakistan army, citing it as coward act.

"We also condemn the Government of India for showing unnecessary restraints on this subject," said Shamsher Singh Mahar, leader of the Aam Adami party and organiser of the meet.

Retired soldiers and other citizens also gathered at the Tulsiram chauraha in Tanakpur today.

They shouted slogans against the shameful killing of the soldiers.

BJP District Chief Subhash Bagauli said by not acting on the killing, the Government of India has acted against the general will of the nation.

The demonstrations against the act of Pakistan were also held at Almora, Didihat, Gangolihat, Dharchula and border town of Jhoolaghat today.

Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad workers burnt effigies of the Pakistan Government at Lohaghat and Pati block headquarters.

Cultural programmes mark 71st year of Quit India Movement
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, August 10
The seventy-first anniversary of the Quit India Movement was celebrated in Kumaon region yesterday. The anniversary marked cultural programs, honouring the freedom fighters and their dependents and symposiums on various topics related to the freedom movement in the country.

The anniversary is known as the August Kranti Diwas. It was celebrated at the Nehru ward of Almora jail, where Pt Jawaharlal Nehru had spent some days as prisoner during the freedom movement.

"The prisoners and the jail staff along with the freedom fighters and other invitees lit a lamp in the memory of the freedom fighters and those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of future generation of the country," said Devendra Sanwal, a veteran Gandhian fighter of Almora, who was the chief guest at the program.

Besides Sanwal, other eminent freedom fighters, dependents of the freedom fighters, Nagar Palika chairman and local MLA Manoj Tiwari were also present.

A program was also organised by the Swatantrata Sangram Senani Uttaradhikari Sangthan at the local municipal hall in Pithoragarh.

The program was chaired by veteran freedom fighter Dev Singh Dasila and was addressed by Nagar Palika Parishad chairman Jagat singh Khati, Gangolihat MLA Narayan Ram and former MLA Gopal Dutt Oza. 

Hindu Jagran Manch protests
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
Members of Hindu Jagran Manch held a protest here today against the violence in Kishtwar town of J&K. The members protesting against the arson and violence after the ID-ul-Fitr prayers in Kishtwar town demanded strict action against the culprits.

They charged that the state government had utterly failed to control the ''anti-Indian forces in the state led by Hurriyat Conference.'' They said that such incidents would vitiate the communal atmosphere in the state.

20 roads blocked

Haldwani, august 10
Over 20 motor roads, including the Dharchula-Tawaghat portion of the national highway no. 9 in Pithoragarh district are still blocked. A PWD official in Haldwani said it was causing inconvenience to the passengers and local villagers.

Source said Bageshwar district has 13 roads closed till today, most of which are in the Kapkot subdivision of the district. — OC

UKD seeks befitting reply to Pakistan
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
The spokesperson of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar) has demanded the government to give a befitting reply to Pakistan for targeting Indian soldiers. While paying tributes to the five soldiers who were shot dead by assailants from Pakistan, he said, "Pakistan has always been attacking Indian soldiers posted on the borders.

It has been training terrorists to disturb peace and spread terror in the country. By flouting the norms of ceasefire on the border time and again, it has been hurting the morale of our soldiers. Hence, the right time has come to give Pakistan a befitting and strident reply. How long can we tolerate its dastardly acts?"

He said, it was due to sluggish attitude of the Indian government that soldiers of the country were becoming victims of the attacks from the other side.

Talent search programme in state
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
As part of its campaign to search for young budding folk singers, Subharti Entertainment TV Channel will hold a talent search programme starting from Uttarakhand.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun, Channel head Neeraj Sharma said the campaign ''Meri Awaaz Meri Pahachaan'' will try to bring out young folk singers whose talent was still to get recognition. He said the talent hunt will be held all across North India but Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will be covered in the very beginning.

He said Subharti Entertainment TV Channel had pledged to give quality programmes in Hindi with focus on folk art and culture. He also expressed concern over large-scale deceit in the name of reality shows.

Can sensors warn of landslides in U’khand?
Experts not very hopeful of their success, unlike in Idukki
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
Can Idukki show some way to the landslide-prone Uttarakhand? The hill district in Kerala that experiences frequent landslides, particularly during the rainy season, resulting in a large number of deaths and destruction, is now all set to install wireless sensors in the affected slide zone as an early warning system to save lives.

Brainchild of the University of Alabama, the wireless sensors are being installed by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board as part of collaborative research project. One of its kinds in the country, the sensors are installed on the landslide-prone area at a distance of at least a kilometre. The sensors, apart from recording rains and moisture content in soil, also register ground movement. The data so generated is fed into a computer that automatically gives advance warning of possible landslide.

Those trying to install sensors in Kerala do not rule out its replication in Uttarakhand. But the state’s disaster management and geology experts here, while welcoming such initiative in this landslide-prone state, are not hopeful of very encouraging results due to geological reasons.

SP Sati from the Geology Department of the HNB Garhwal Central University, Srinagar, Garhwal, says sensors will be partially successful in Uttarakhand. “These sensors can be effective only in hill zones that have a history of landslides. But in case of Uttarakhand, every incident of cloudburst results in a large number of new landslides and here these sensors could have little success,” he points out.

Girish Joshi, former Uttarakhand disaster management and mitigation official and an authority in disaster management, argued that while rocks in places like Idukki down South are stabilised, there are large rock variations in the Uttarakhand hills, making it extremely difficult for sensors to give a right outcome. “There is no uniformity in rocks-- they can be metamorphic, sedimentary and others -- and thus the success rate for sensors is bleak,” Joshi said. He, however, did not rule out installing sensors in some stretches in Uttarakhand hills where there is some uniformity in rocks.

Significantly, after the recent rain disaster causing large-scale havoc in Uttarakhand and repeated occurrences of landslides in the state over the past many years, strong voices are being raised for the installation of an early warning system in Uttarakhand hills to prevent loss of lives and sensors could be of some hope in this regard. Interestingly, V Oommen from the Kerala State Biodiversity Board, on the other hand, has not ruled out sensors being of much help for disaster-prone Uttarakhand.

There have been also been repeated demands for the installation of Doppler Radar in Uttarakhand to get accurate short time predictions for cloudbursts.

Garhwal MP Satpal Maharaj has been repeatedly urging the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences for installing of Doppler Radar in hills where there are frequent incidents of cloudburst. While more than a dozen Doppler Radars have been installed at various places in the country, Uttarakhand is still to get one.

Rs 43 cr disbursed to kin of dead, missing
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 10
The Uttarakhand Government has managed to disburse Rs 43 crore to the next of kin of persons from Uttarakhand who died or went missing and are being presumed dead in the mid-June calamity that struck the state.

“A total of 132 bodies have been identified by the family members of the dead persons who hail from Uttarakhand. But the ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 crore has been disbursed to the next of kin on the behalf of 100 persons who died in the calamity. Others have not come forward,” said Subash Kumar, Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand.

The government has also disbursed ex-gratia amount of Rs 13 lakh to 73 persons who were injured in the calamity.

Further, for the owners of 1,275 houses that were fully damaged in the calamity, Rs 24.54 lakh has been disbursed for 1,230 houses.

Similarly, out of 1,661 animals (cattle, horses and mules) who died in the calamity, the ex gratia amount of Rs 25,000 per animal, has been disbursed among 456 persons.

The Uttarakhand Government has also given monetary relief to 186 water mill owners whose water mills got washed away in the natural calamity.

“Around 115 water mills were washed away in Tehri, 25 in Pithoragarh, 14 in Dehradun, 17 in Uttarkashi and 5 in Chamoli. We are giving Rs 25,000 as monetary relief to the water mills and Rs 13 lakh have been disbursed so far,” added Subash Kumar.