Resentment brewing in Kangra
Tribune News Service
SHIMLA, July 17 — The Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal, has kicked up a controversy in Kangra district by deciding to revert the Kashmir House at Dharamsala to the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) for setting up a hotel.
The move of Mr Dhumal is being seen as an attempt to do away with the practice of the annual winter move of the Chief Minister to Kangra and also undermine the importance of the district where his opponent, Mr Shanta Kumar, has a stronghold.
The practice of annual move of the Chief Minister to Dharamsala was started in 1994 by Mr Virbhadra Singh soon after he came to power. The move was appreciated by residents of the area as it provided them an opportunity to get their grievances redressed at their door steps.
The Kashmir House was renovated for being utilised as the Chief Minister’s residence during winter. The building was with HPTDC before the practice of annual move was started.
Not only the Congress in the opposition, but certain leaders of the BJP have also not liked the idea of abandoning the practice or converting the Kashmir House into a hotel which would give an impression of the BJP-HVC combine government trying to reduce the importance of Kangra.
The PCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, has said that the people of the new merged areas, particularly Kangra, should not be made to suffer because of groupism within the ruling BJP.
Mr Dhumal claimed that his intention was not to play with the sentiments of the people of the area by reverting the building to the HPTDC. It was done to prevent unproductive expenditure on its upkeep, he said.

Farm Notes
Hops industry hit hard
by C.M. Kumbhkarni
SHIMLA: The infant hops industry and growers in Himachal have been hit hard with free imports of this commodity following its removal from the restricted list.
With the import duty on hops having been drastically reduced from 120 per cent to 40 per cent, the brewing industry making beer has easy access to the value-added products of hops like hop extracts and hop pellets, which are low-volume processed products of hops, easy to handle, transport and store and less perishable, though not superior to leaf hops so far as the quality of the end product-beer — manufactured from the other two alternatives is concerned.
The hops industry has been forced to face competition from international giants who have the capacity to manipulate the trade and adversely influence India's infant hops industry. This has resulted in the loss of demand for Indian hops by breweries.
Hops is an indispensable raw material for the manufacture of beer throughout the world and to date there is no replacement for it in the brewing process. The functions of hops or its products in the brewing industry are to provide the desired bitter taste, aroma and bacteriostatic stability to beer and modify yeast performance during fermentation.
Himachal is the only state of India where hops cultivation is being commercially undertaken. It is being cultivated in the tribal areas of Lahaul in Lahaul and Spiti district and Pangi in Chamba district.
According to the Regional Research Laboratory of the CSIR at Jammu, the quality of hops grown in Himachal compares well with the international standards.
However, with the change in the economic policy of the Government of India, the production of hops came down from 130 mt in 1994 to 35 mt in 1997. The area under hops has also gone down considerably from 215 hectares in 1995. Farmers have also started neglecting their hops plantation, leading to a decline in its production, according to Dr Jagmohan Singh, Director of Horticulture, Himachal.
In view of the tough competition, the hops industry and growers in Himachal look up to the government for assistance in value addition in hops for the manufacture of hops pellets and hop extracts to remain in business. So far there is no expertise and technology available in the state for the manufacture of value-added products. The current technology comprises mainly hops-drying kilns where the moisture content is reduced below 10 per cent, and the dried hops are then baled into convenient packages for subsequent storage and supply to the consuming industry. It would be desirable to support the hops industry with advanced processing technology available elsewhere in the world.
According to Dr Jagmohan Singh, the state government is alive to the problems of the industry and growers and intends to take the necessary steps for the modernisation of the hops processing industry. Efforts are being made to get a detailed feasibility report for the establishment of hops-processing facilities for the manufacture of value-added products. The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries has also been requested by the state government to provide financial assistance for the establishment of such facilities.

Cattle epidemic takes heavy toll
From Kanwar Yogendra
KUPVI (Chopal): More than 1000 head of cattle of some poor peasants have died so far following an epidemic in the Kupvi sub-tehsil of Chopal in Shimla district. Even last year hundreds of animals, mainly sheep and goats, died of this disease in the area. Surprisingly, the Animal Husbandry Department has failed so far in either identifying this disease or controlling its spread.
Instead of sending some special medical teams, the government has failed even in filling the vacant post of veterinary doctor in Kupvi animal dispensary. If not checked in time this epidemic may spread further and hundreds of small and marginal farmers would be robbed of a livelihood.
A number of farmers are involved in sheep raising and breeding from Kulag, Kanda, Charon and Judu-Shilal panchayats of the Kupvi area. This disease is also spreading now to other areas of Chopal and also towards adjoining Sirmaur district.
This disease occurs mainly in the rainy season and is contagious. The animal starts shivering in the evening and by the next morning it collapses. "There is no detection of this disease by the authorities concerned", says Hari Singh of Tikkar village who lost 12 sheep because of this infectious ailment.
Another bacterial disease called anthrax in sheep and other cattle is also prevalent here which can be transmitted to human beings and is known as "kharaon" or "kharog" in local parlance.
Due to the scorching heat of the plains in summer the shepherds who had migrated to the plains in winter, return. Almost every agricultural family in this area owns sheep and goats along with other milch cattle. Owing to scarcity of fodder and severe winter in higher reaches, the farmers prefer to send the sheep to the plains.
A number of "tolis" are collected in villages with every farmer sending his livestock and contributing to the welfare of the shepherds who would look after the animals in distant pastures. After some time all these "tolis" or small group of sheep get together and make a big congregation called "shal".
This big pack of sheep has hundreds of sheep and goats and move together in search of grass to different areas under the supervision of a shepherd's family and some big sheep-dogs. Shepherds develop their own mode of communication with the flock. These shepherds keep changing from time to time and after a particular distance they are continuously given food items and other cereals from their respective villages.
Farmers owning livestock are charged fees in cash or kind during this exercise of migration of fodder. A new-born baby sheep costs between Rs 1000 and Rs 2000 and an adult between Rs 2000 and Rs 4000 in the market, according to its quality and weight. The sheep and goat are kept mainly for wool and meat. Their meat is the staple food during Bakrid, a long festival during winters having allegiance, origin and traces in the old "khas" tribal culture of this area.
Many people dependent on rearing sheep find it difficult to support their families. If the epidemic spreads further they would lose their only sources of income. Apple or any other cash crop is not grown in all these areas of Chopal. The subsistence level economy of shepherds is going to be shattered soon if the administration does not intervene.
The local kisan sabha has represented to the government, local MLA and the Animal Husbandry Department but to no avail. The panchayat sangh of this area plans joint action to tackle this problem, according to Devi Ram Sharma, the local pradhan.