Traffic chaos on Doon roads
Dehradun, November 7
Commuters faced inconvenience during Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker's visit to the state capital today.

Tight security to keep visit safe, secure
Dehradun, November 7
British royal couple Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles reached Dehradun on their maiden one-day visit amid tight security here today morning.

Dehradun, November 7
Prince of Wales Prince Charles has welcomed India’s concern over the issues of forestry and environment.

Addressing a gathering of students and staff at the convocation hall of Forest Research Institute here today, Prince Charles took notice of works being done by the country in forestry and environment and welcomed its concern on the issues of forestry and environment and efforts towards conservation. He said in India, forest dwelling communities and forests lived in harmony.

Dehradun, November 7
After a mystical sunset odyssey at Rishikesh last evening, consort to Charles Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles, today kept a date with the staff and boys of Doon School, where she was a witness to musical performances, a vigorous round of PT display and came face to face with children who are beneficiaries of social service programmes.

With a sudden dip in the temperature and rains having started, the boys had every reason to run indoors, but the presence of the British Royalty was so overwhelming that they stoically weathered the rain and windy conditions and took positions for the PT display.

But no sooner did the cavalcade of the Duchess entered the school premises, the weather began to clear up. The Duchess shook hands with the head boy of the school Sidharth Sethi and the rest of the senior boys.

Significantly, the head boy recounted the association of the school that has imbibed manners in them during his welcome speech, beginning with the appointment of first head master of the school Arthur Foot, who hailed from Great Britain.

No wonder that Doon School is often called the Eton of the East.

Though the Prince of Wales did not accompany the Duchess of Cornwall, the staff recounted the old association that the heir of the British throne had with the school’s former headmaster. “The heir to the British throne Prince of Wales was tutored by Shomi Das, the grandson of founder of the Doon School SR Das, at Gordonstoun School in 1963. He was head of the physics department at a school in Scotland,” said Piyush Malviya, Director, public affairs, Doon School.

The excitement among the schoolboys was palpable as they presented before the Duchess of Cornwall the multi-faceted skills acquired by them during their stay in the school. The Duchess watched the western and Indian folk music performance with rapt attention.

Later, she handed over a replica of the PT Gong (trophy) to the Hyderabad house for the best PT display. The Duchess, who, along with the Prince of Wales, supports several charities, envisaged keen interest in the work being undertaken by Waste Warriors to rid Dehradun of the garbage problem.

Dehradun, November 7
British royal couple Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles reached Dehradun on their maiden one-day visit amid tight security here today morning.

The entire route from Ananda Resort in Tehri till Dehradun had complete security arrangements.

The police and the administration didn’t leave any stone unturned to keep the royal couple’s visit safe and secure.

The traffic was stopped at many places for ensuring smooth movement of the VVIP fleet. The route toward Indian Military Academy (IMA) was heavily guarded by police personnel and the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC). The traffic on major junctions was stopped at least 15 minutes before the passing of the convoy.

The Shimla bypass road was turned into a fortress before the royal guests visited the Navdanya seed farm at Ramgarh, almost 25km from Dehradun.

Dehradun, November 7
Prince Charles today visited the Navdanya Biodiversity Conservation Farm, a centre for excellence in organic farming in Ramgarh village on the outskirts of the city.

He was accompanied by Dr Vandana Shiva, founder chairperson of Navdanya. He visited the seed bank at the centre and saw the diversity of seeds of nearly 2,500 crops, including 700 rice varieties, 195 wheat varieties, 150 kidney bean varieties and varieties of millets, oilseeds and pulses.

During the farm visit, Prince Charles was shown the diverse crops grown together and how they helped each other.

He also interacted with 50 volunteers and interns at Navdanya, who had come for training in the organic farming. He also planted the Rudraksh tree at Navdanya campus.

Dr Vandana Shiva said more than 7.50 lakh farmers across the country were primary members of Navdanya.

She said Navdanya was also helping Bhutan in its endeavour to go organic.

She said Navdanya had trained more than 1,000 farmers and about 60 agriculture extension officers of Bhutan.

Dr Vinod Bhatt, Director, said Navdanya was aimed at promoting the biodiversity conservation and organic farming.

Bhatt apprised that the main aim of the Navdanya biodiversity conservation programme was to support the local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants that were being pushed to extinction and make them available through direct marketing.

Navdanya staff, scientists, students and farmers were present on the occasion.

Dehradun, November 7
Demanding the appointment of a teacher, students of a primary school at Bangala village in the Ghar region of the Duggada block staged a dharna here yesterday.

While the government is spending millions of rupees to bring children to school and spending lot more on providing mid-day meals to them, there is no teacher at the primary school at Bangala. In the name of school, students are welcomed by a lock. The villagers have reported the matter to the officials of Education Department, but to no avail. They said the public representative had also not responded to their demand.

The students of the school, aged between 6 years to 12 years, along with their parents, ultimately resorted to attract the attention of the authorities by staging a dharna at the tehsil office in Kotdwara yesterday.

Bharat Negi, a social activist, said parents of the students had met the officials of the block and district level, but they received only false assurances. Sabeena Begum, a resident of the village, said she wanted her children to get education, but without a teacher in the school it was impossible. “Such situations have a negative impact on the psychology of the children,” she said.

Sushma Das, education officer, Dugadda block, said a teacher had been appointed at the primary school in Bangala village but he was yet to join. “A report about his behavior has been sent to the higher authorities and a show-cause notice has also been sent to him,” she added.

Mussoorie, November 7
A two-day book exhibition and workshop on creative writing and illustration began under the aegis of the National Book Trust in collaboration with the Department of Art and Culture at Oak Grove School, Jharipani, here today.

The exhibition and workshop was inaugurated by eminent author Ganesh Saili.

“Books are our unfailing friends and perennial source of joy. Unscrupulous craze for material gains has turned away people from reading books, resulting in cumulative tension and frustration,” said Saili. He shared his creative experiences and answered the queries related to their literary creations.

Prem Prakash Sharma, executive director, Railway Board, New Delhi, also encouraged the students to develop reading and writing habits.

He said good books helped in improving thinking skills and developing self-confidence among the students, so they should make it a habit to read a lot of books apart.

Ratna Manocha, an eminent children book author, and illustrator Suvidha Mistry, said it was important to conduct such workshops for children as it encouraged to read more.

They said the students who had a flare for writing, their stories would be collected and published in children books. It would provide them with a platform at the national-level, they said.

Manocha said today, the most popular source of entertainment for children was television and computer.

“The advent of nuclear family system has brought a decline in the reading habit. Grandmothers were an important part of storytelling, but it is not the same today,” she added. Suvidha said children could make their career as illustrators and would be provided all information. They would be told about the procedure and the layouts used in the digital process, so that they could publish books, school magazines and monthly newsletters on their own.

Anshika, a student of Oak Grove School, said she had bought many books during the exhibition. "The books would help me in enhancing knowledge," she said.

Principal of the school Sandip Trivedi commended the efforts of Abiral Kumar, an alumnus and writer of ‘Lost Pearl Of Paradise-- In Search of A Fairy’, that had hit the stands.