Shimla, September 5
With the Centre turning down the request of the state for allowing holding of board examinations for Classes V and VIII, the state government has decided to set up an independent body to conduct internal exams so as to ensure accountability of teachers and arrest the declining academic standards.

On the occasion of Teacher’s Day today, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh directed the Education Department to bring about a policy within a month’s time so that there was an internal examination system which could assess the level of attainment by total 9.87 lakh elementary students, who were evaluated by their teachers right from Classes I to IX, till they took the first board examination.

The Centre has turned down the request of the state to revert to the old system of the Board of School Education holding Classes V and VIII examinations. The Himachal Assembly during the recent monsoon session had adopted a resolution seeking permission from the Centre to hold board exams for the two classes.

“By doing away with the board examinations for Classes V and VI, there has been a major decline in the academic standard, especially in the rural and far-flung areas, as there is no system in place for assessing teachers, which is very necessary,” said Virbhadra.

He directed officials to prepare a blueprint so that an independent body could be put in place by bringing about a policy.

He asked them to review and bring in place the old system of having district inspector of schools with teachers at the block level also being involved in inspecting schools in other blocks. “Though there has been an adequate expansion of network of schools, there is concern over the quality of education being imparted. Therefore, internal exams are a must,” Virbhadra said.

“The Centre has intimated us that under the Right to Education, board exams cannot be held for Classes V and VIII, though internal exams can be held, but the child cannot be detained in the class even if his performance is not satisfactory,” said RD Dhiman, Principal Secretary, Education.

Meanwhile, only those teachers having an exceptional academic and teaching record will now be able to serve in the District Institute for Educational Training (DIET), which trains teachers. The Chief Minister today directed the officials to prepare a blueprint within 15 days for posting the best teachers in DIETs so that the quality of teachers was not being compromised with. As of now, only those teachers who are “well connected” manage postings in DIETs at the 12 district headquarters.

Dharamsala, September 5
The Union Government has agreed to financially support the Food Subsidy Scheme of the state government for the Above the Poverty Line (APL) residents of the state. Minister for Food and Civil Supplies GS Bali said this today while talking to mediapersons here.

Bali said there were fears that after the implementation of the Food Security Bill, the Union Government would discontinue aid for the the Himachal Pradesh food subsidy programme, in which all residents of the state were getting cheap ration from the public distribution shops.

However, after the active lobbying by the Food and Civil Supplies Department of the state, the Union Government had agreed to provide cheap food grains for the subsidised ration scheme of the state government for all residents. In case the Union Government had not agreed to finance the scheme, the state government would have been forced to bear extra financial burden of about Rs 300 crore, Bali said. However, he mentioned that despite the continuation of aid by the Union Government, the state would have to affect nominal increase in rates of ration provided to the APL residents.

“I am not mentally ready for a hike. The matter would be taken up with the state Cabinet,” he said.

While responding to a query, Bali admitted that the cost of sugar in the public distribution shops of the state would increase for APL families due to decontrol of the sugar sector by the Union Government.

“At present, the people in the state are getting sugar at Rs 13.5 per kg in the PDS shops. The rate of sugar for the Below the Poverty Line (BPL) families will remain the same, but it will increase for the APL families, he said.” However, he failed to quantify the amount of increase that would be affected for the APL families.

Bali further said the Union Government had also sanctioned a project of the Himachal government to construct godowns for storing ration to be provided under the Food Security Bill under the private public partnership mode. He also said the food security programme would be launched in the state from September 11.

Bali stated that he had taken up the case of bad condition of National Highway-20 with the Union Minister for Surface Transport. 

Shimla, September 5
The HP High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to furnish information on officials who have been required to be included in the lists of “officers of doubtful integrity” as per norms prescribed by the government.

The court further directed him to place on record the chart disclosing the present posting of the officials concerned and also with remark about the perception of the department that the said posting was against sensitive or non-sensitive post. The court directed him to file an affidavit in this regard by October 1 and listed the matter for further hearing on October 3.

The court said as per norms, the name of those officials were required to be included in the list of officers of doubtful integrity, who had been convicted in court of law or awarded a major penalty in a department inquiry or against whom proceedings for a major penalty in a department inquiry had been started or against whom a court trial was in process for an alleged act of lack of integrity or moral turpitude and prosecuted but acquitted on technical grounds and in whose case, on the basis of evidence during the trial, there remained a reasonable suspicion about their integrity.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh passed this order on a petition filed by Sher Singh, former drug controller of the state, with the request to stay the departmental proceeding initiated against him pending trial in the vigilance case. 

Dharamsala, September 5
Various schools of the district organised functions to mark Teacher’s Day today. However, nobody cared to highlight the plight of teachers in most of the private schools in the state who are even being denied minimum wages fixed for labourers.

The state government gives minimum wage of Rs 130 per day to labourers. By that standard, every petty labourer doing any kind of work should get a minimum wage of at least Rs 3,900 per month if employed on a monthly basis. However, a large section of employees in private schools are being deprived of even the basic minimum wage in the state.

Sources here said thousands of qualified teachers working in private schools ina the state were not being given the basic minimum wage of Rs 3,900 per month. “They are being paid anything between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 per month in violation of the minimum wages Act,” they added.

However, the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPSEB) has no such protection for teachers working in private schools affiliated with it.The authorities in the Himachal Board of School Education admitted that the HPSEB had not prescribed any minimum wage to be paid to teachers working in private schools. They said the teachers were not covered under the Minimum Wages Act. Only labourers or Class IV employees were covered under the Act.

The failure of the government to specify minimum wages for teachers is leading to the exploitation of educated youth. Some of them are justifying the policy of imposing minimum wages in private schools on the plea that many small schools running in remote areas of the state may not be able to pay the minimum wage to teachers and will be forced to close down their operations if the government forces them to do so.

However, legal experts said the minimum wage prescribed by the government was applicable to any employee working in the state. “It is the basic minimum wage that any employer has to pay for hiring a person and cannot be category specific, if a person is working full time,” they said. 

Una, September 5
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has appealed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to review the decision of scrapping of the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway project. He said the Anandpur Sahib Naina Devi ropeway was of great socio-religious importance for both the states. The Punjab government was ready to concede to the demand of the Himachal government that the ropeway should start from Himachal. It was also ready to bear the entire cost of the project, the Punjab Chief Minister said.

Badal was on a visit to Una district today. He, along with Punjab Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal, was here to attend a religious congregation organised at Radha Krishan Temple. The programme was organised by Una-based religious guru Bal Baba.

An agreement to construct the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway was signed between the Punjab and Himachal governments during the stint of previous BJP government in Himachal Pradesh. However, the present Congress government, after coming to power in the state, has scrapped the agreement.

Mittal said Anandpur Sahib and Naina Devi shrines were a symbol of religious harmony. People from across the religious faiths visited both the shrines. The ropeway would facilitate the pilgrims coming to pay obeisance at the Naina Devi temple and Anandpur Sahib. The project should not be mired in politics, he said.

When asked to comment about the outburst of BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu, Badal said it was an internal matter of the BJP and it was their sole prerogative to satisfy him. “I do not have any personal problem with Sidhu and if at all the BJP MP has any grouse, then the state BJP leadership should take care of that,” he said. When asked if he would accept Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a Prime Ministerial candidate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, the Punjab Chief Minister said the SAD, being a key ally of the BJP, would support any candidate of the party for the coveted post. He expressed confidence that the BJP-led NDA would certainly form the next government at the Centre.

“People were fed up with rampant corruption, unemployment, poverty, inflation and starvation during the Congress rule. The UPA government has failed miserably at arresting the declining value of Rupee, which has touched the lowest ebb several times recently,” he said.

Referring to the enactment of the Food Security Bill of the UPA government, the Punjab Chief Minister said there was nothing new in it. The Act was the copy of the Atta-Dal scheme of the Punjab government. “By implementing this importance piece of legislation, the Centre had realised that more than 80 per cent of people cannot manage to get a two-square meal a day,” he said. Earlier, addressing the religious congregation, the Chief Minister exhorted the people to follow the teachings of great gurus, saints, seers and prophets. Badal urged Baba Bal to organise such religious programmes in Punjab also.

Nurpur, September 5
The State Health and Family Welfare Department is organising a seven-day free multi-speciality surgical camp at the Gangath Community Health Centre, near here, from September 7 to 13.

The camp is being organised under the National Rural Health Mission programme by a team of specialists from a private hospital in Shimla.

Gangath Block Medical Officer Neerja Gupta said beneficiary patients would be enrolled on September 6 and 7 for surgeries to be conducted at the camp.

Solan, September 5
The State Pollution Control Board has filed a case against unit-I of Jaypee Cement Plant in a local court for undertaking expansion without obtaining the environmental clearance and other approvals.

Even as the Chief Minister directed the officials to review the expansion proposal of Jaypee Cement Plant of its unit-I at Baga village in Solan district at a meeting of the Single Window Clearance Agency (SWCA) held yesterday, a case has been filed by the board for violating the Environment Protection Act, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

The case was registered in July following directions of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), which had found that the plant had enhanced its capacity of producing clinker from 2.05 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 3.5 MTPA early this year without the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance.

The Industries Department, which was examining the case, had, however, presented the case before the SWCA yesterday to grant post-facto approval. It was while examining the case that the Chief Minister directed the officials to check the production, capacity and other details of the plant’s expansion before giving it an approval.

Though undertaking expansion without taking approval from the SWCA is a major violation of the said norms, the Industries Department is yet to take action in the case. It had taken the case to the SWCA for granting it an approval.

The earlier proposal of Jaypee Cement Plant to grant it approval had been rejected by the Industries Department and they had been directed to seek environmental clearance first and then apply for approval. Following this, the management of the plant had applied directly to the MoEF for environmental clearance after having expanded its capacity from 2.05 MTPA to 3.5 MTPA. But the MoEF had directed the state government to prosecute the plant management for having violated the environment laws.

The development comes a year after Jaypee Associates was fined Rs 100 crore by the high court for bypassing a similar mandatory EIA clearance on false pleas in running its other plant located at Bagheri in Nalagarh.

It is yet to be seen what action the officials of the Industries Department take against the unit for bypassing mandatory approvals.

Director, Industries, Mohan Chauhan said he was examining the case after registration of a case against the unit by the State Pollution Control Board.

Shimla, September 5
Member of Parliament Pratibha Singh today requested Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari to organise the 45th International Film Festival of India in Himachal Pradesh.

She requested him to rotate the venue of the prestigious international-level event so that film lovers of the region could also communicate with film professionals and understand the emerging technologies and challenges in the field.

She assured help and assistance in organising such international events in the state and said Shimla, Dharamsala and Manali had proper infrastructure and facilities to host such events.

Pratibha also requested opening of a satellite campus of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in the state for cinematic studies and said free land and other modern infrastructural facilities would be provided for it. “Keeping in mind the demand for professionals in various departments of film making opening up such a training institute will be very beneficial for youngsters,” she said.

She requested the Union Minister to put Doordarshan Kendra, Shimla, on the DTH service, so that people living in metropolitan cities could have access to Himachali programmes. She said it would benefit around 10 lakh Himachalis settled in metropolitan cities and a large number of youth working in the Army and multinational companies all over the country.

Dharamsala, September 5
Vijay Singh Mankotia, Congress leader from Kangra, said today that the micro-hydel projects in the Shahpur Assembly constituency were wreaking havoc on the ecology of the area.

He said due to the violation of norms by micro-hydel projects, houses at Harvoh were sinking. He specifically targeted the 5-MW Brahol Top micro-hydel project, which is owned by Kamal Padha, BJP leader from the area, and the Raheja power project.

He said even an inquiry conducted on the Brahol Top micro-hydel project by the Forest Department had stated that the project authorities had violated the permission granted to it for the construction of road and dumping of the material generated in the process. The report had also indicted the project authorities for illegally mining material from the local rivulet, Mankotia alleged.

He also provided a copy of the inquiry to mediapersons, alleging that no further action had been taken against the erring power project authorities.

Mankotia said due to the violation of norms by the power projects, houses at Uni village were also sinking. The Raheja power project in the area had not constructed spillway to put water used in the power generation back into the Gajj rivulet. The water being released from the power project was going into the village and destroying the houses of poor people, he alleged.

He further said he would request Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to order an inquiry into the micro-hydel power projects allotted in the state during the stint of the previous BJP government. During the rule of the BJP government, power projects were allotted to politically influential people who did not care for the environmental bylaws or rights of local people while undertaking construction works.

Kamal Padha, on the other hand, denied the charges levelled by Mankotia. He said his power project had not violated any norm. He said some vested interests were targeting the project for personal reasons. They were taking political help to achieve their personal interests, he said.

Mankotia also alleged that besides Terah Lines village near Dharamsala, many others had suffered damage due sinking of land. In Diara village near Dharamsala, 42 houses had developed cracks and were unsafe for living.

Mankotia demanded that a policy be formulated to provide suitable compensation to the people whose houses had been damaged in natural disasters.

Shimla, September 5
Taking a serious note of the arbitrary manner in which private universities have been imposing fines on students for delay in the payment of fee and other charges, the government has specified the quantum of penalty for late fee charges.

Some universities had been extorting additional amounts from students by imposing exorbitantly high penalties in the name of late fee charges. Further, there was no transparency or uniformity and the penalty ranged from Rs 100 to Rs 5,000. The State Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission had received several complaints from students in this regard and it had not only taken action against the institutions concerned but also forced them to refund the excess amount to students.

The commission also brought the matter to the notice of the government and it had on the recommendation of the Fee Structure Committee fixed the quantum of fine. As the fee for various courses varies from Rs 30,000 to Rs 60,000 per semester, for most of the courses the maximum fine will range from Rs 300 to Rs 600. Late fee charges up to a period of 15 days from the due date will be 0.5 per cent of the total due charges and, thereafter, maximum penalty of one per cent up to one month or the total delay will be applicable.

The official notification in this regard said in addition to tuition fee, mess, security charges and institutional development fund, private universities were charging additional amount from students in the name of late fee charges in respect to examination fee, mess charges, tuition, revaluation fee, re-test, migration and penalties were being imposed in a variable manner. The penalty specified by it would bring uniformity and restrain universities from imposing charges arbitrarily.

The commission had last month ordered one of the universities to refund Rs 1.67 lakh charged arbitrarily from students. It agreed to refund the amount to those who had left the institution and adjusted it against the fee and other charges to be paid in future by the existing students.

The commission after carrying out inspections of the universities allowed four of the 16 universities, which fulfilled the norms prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), to conduct PhD courses. These include the Jaypee University of Information and Technology, Shoolini University, Bahra University and Eternal University. Only those faculty members who have the requisite qualification and experience of research guide will be allowed to enrol students for PhD.

The commission was forced to step in after some private universities enrolled a large number of students for PhD without any faculty and in violation of UGC norms.

Shimla, September 5
As a mark of protest against “exploitation”, more than 500 assistant professors working in various degree colleges on a contract basis in the state today wore black badges by observing “Shok Diwas” on the occasion of Shikshak Diwas.

Teachers who were appointed on a contract basis through the HP Public Service Commission in 2009-10 said they had been compelled to protest as despite being qualified, they were appointed on a contract basis. The protests were held in various colleges all over the state.

The association demanded that the Recruitment and Promotion Rules be scrapped immediately and all the assistant professors on contract be regularised within three years of service.

President of the association Harsh Vardhan Singh said it was a silent and polite expression of anxiety, grief and despair as the highly qualified assistant professors faced an uncertain future. He added that most of them were above 40 years of age after having already devoted their finest years in pursuit of academic excellence.

He said an advertisement of 793 posts of college cadre lecturer on a regular basis in 2007 had raised the hopes of an entire generation which were dashed when the new government scrapped them and re-advertised 634 posts on contract. “Since then more than 500 candidates who had been recruited through the HP Public Service Commission had languished on a contract policy,” he said. 

Shimla, September 5
Governor Urmila Singh presented the National and State Awards to 19 teachers at a state-level function organised to mark Teacher’s Day at the Raj Bhawan today.

The National Award was conferred on Pradeep Singh (Una), Nek Ram Shashtri (Jogindernagar) and Devika Rani (Una) for their outstanding services in the field of education. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was the chief guest at the function.

The recipients of the State Award included Om Prakash Kaistha (Mandi), Suresh Kumar Gautam (Mandi), Krishan Chand (Hamirpur), Raj Kumar Kanwar (Una), Shri Ram Krishan (Mandi), Shri Nand Lal Sharma (Shimla), Dr Manohar Lal Awasthi (Kangra), Mohinder Singh (Solan), Mela Ram (Solan), Neena Thakur Shastri (Chamba), Yugal Kishore Gupta (Bilaspur), Krishna Devi (Mandi), Sita Devi (Bilaspur), Chuni Lal Sharma (Shimla) and Chandrawati (Mandi).

The Governor said teachers were the backbone of society as they shaped the destiny of children who were nation builders.

She stressed the need for educating girl child to empower women in society. She said an ideal environment should be created in schools where every student should get an opportunity to grow as per his or her interest and ability. Teachers should explore the potential of students and facilitate learning process beyond the classroom for their overall development, she added.

The Chief Minister said the government had ordered reopening of all the schools closed by the previous government to provide education facility to people living if far-flung areas at their doorsteps.

He expressed concern over discontinuation of examination system up to elementary level and added that promoting to next class on the basis of assessment could prove harmful to students in the long run and would affect the academic standards. Examinations were essential for the proper evaluation of standards and it was good for both the students and the teachers. The government was rationalising the deployment of staff to fill vacant posts of teachers in far-flung areas, he added.

Shimla, September 5
The BJP staged a demonstration against the indifferent attitude of the state government towards the problems of apple growers in Rohru today.

The demonstration was jointly organised by Rohru and Jubbal-Kotkhai blocks of the BJP. It was led by former Horticulture Minister and state BJP vice-president Narinder Bragta.

Party members said the import of apples had greatly hit the business of the fruit growers.

“The apple prices are at their lowest and freight has been enhanced by 15 per cent. The cost of carton has also been hiked and the grower is not getting a good price for his fruit,” lamented Bragta.

He said in such a scenario, the growers were feeling let down, as neither the local MLA nor officials had come to their rescue.

He said despite a bumper crop of apple in 2010, the BJP government had handled the situation well and the growers did not face any problem. “The Centre, rather than enhancing the import duty on apple from 50 per cent to 150 per cent as promised by the state Congress in its election manifesto, has reduced it to zero, thus flooding the market with imported apple,” he said.

On the one hand, people were burdened by price rise and now with the apple economy being threatened due to various factors, the apple growers were facing great inconvenience, he added.

Hamirpur, September 5
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal said today the UPA government was not paying due regards to martyrs of the country, and ministers were belittling their martyrdom by making illogical statements.

Addressing a state-level meeting of the ex-servicemen cell of the BJP here today, Dhumal said, “The present government is taking divergent stand on the incursions and killing of our soldiers on the borders by external forces. It is disrespect to our martyrs.”

He said, “Whenever the BJP has come to power at the Centre and the state, it has paid due regards to our martyrs. But the UPA government has failed on this front,” he said.

Dhumal further said, “I was the first MP who raised the issue of one rank, one pension in Parliament in 1992, but the UPA government has been dithering over it.”

Dhumal said, “There are about 1.25 lakh ex-servicemen and 1 lakh serving soldiers in the state and their votes cannot tilt the balance in favour of any party in elections. Therefore, leaders of the BJP ex-servicemen cell should give make efforts at winning their support and work for solving their problems.”

Addressing the meeting, the state BJP president said, “It is a matter of shame that ex-servicemen are forced to raise their demands when it is a duty of the government to look after their interests.”

Resolutions were also passed at the meeting, demanding withdrawal of levying of 4 per cent VAT in the CSD canteens, bringing Dogra regiment to the state and creation of a Himachal/Himalayan regiment in the Army.

It was also decided at the meeting that 600 ex-servicemen would be send to attend a rally of ex-servicemen being addressed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at Rewari in Haryana on September 15.

Shimla, September 5
Baldev Singh, Session Judge (Forest), today sentenced Luxmi Devi of Shimla to life imprisonment for murdering her husband.

According to the prosecution on January 24, 2012, Rahul Kumar lodged a report at the New Shimla police station stating that deceased Biru Ram was his brother-in-law who always complained about the misbehaviour of his wife Luxmi Devi and two boys who were residing on the lower floor of their residence.

It was further alleged that Biru Ram was strangulated with a chunni in connivance with the two boys. The police arrested Luxmi and then she disclosed that after killing Biru they had buried the body at the Kufri Forest.

Nurpur, September 5
Shravan Kumar (31) of Riyali village, who was arrested for attempting to rape a 12-year-old girl yesterday, was produced in the court here yesterday. He was remanded in police custody for five days by the court.

On a complaint of Jungo Devi, mother of the victim, a case under Sections 376 and 511 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against the accused by the Fatehpur police in Jawali sub-division.

DC Verma, DSP, Jawali, said it was alleged in the complaint that the accused had taken the victim to a cowshed when no one of her family was at home. He allegedly tried to rape her, but on hearing her cries, the victim’s mother, who had gone to the fields, reached there and rescued her. She then reported the matter to the police.