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| Tuesday,
October 3, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Farm policy being reviewed:
Shanta Standing cannabis
destroyed National recognition for Himachal
girl Is it safe to hide truth of HIV
cases? Cong for probe into apple
procurement |
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Work on Kinnaur road
stopped Target set for rabi
season DCC elections
postponed Centre may amend PRB Act Two
killed as vehicle falls into gorge Syllabi of primary
classes to be reviewed HVC gearing up
for panchayat poll JEs feel stagnated,
seek promotion Shastri’s statue
unveiled IT institute in Solan opened Una-Talwara railline soon:
Chandel
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Farm policy being reviewed:
Shanta SHIMLA, Oct 2 — The Centre has decided to review the country’s foodgrain policy as the existing one don’t have answers for the problem of surplus food stocks. This was stated here today by Mr Shanta Kumar, Minister for Consumer Affairs, while talking to mediapersons. Mr Shanta Kumar said the existing policy had been framed when the country was facing scarcity of foodgrains and several restrictions were put on movement of grains. He said an expert committee would shortly be set up to review the existing policy and recommend a new policy. It will also examine whether the restrictions on movement of foodgrains should be lifted in the changed
scenario. The problem of shortage of storage of foodgrains would also be examined. He said the restrictions on the movement of foodgrains were illogical to me when over 100 lakh foodgrain were lying in the open. Mr Shanta Kumar said imposition of tax on foodgrains was obnoxious. Replying to questions on the current procurement drive in certain areas of Punjab, he said the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has decided to procure only good quality grains and it was making full payment to farmers. He said over 400 lakh tonne of foodgrains were lying in storage, of this 145 lakh tonne was rice and 277 lakh tonne wheat. This was 179 lakh tonne in excess of the buffer stock. The Centre was considering various aspects for exhausting the excess stocks. A proposal has been mooted to keep 2000 tonne of foodgrains at the disposal of each MP for the food for work programme in their respective constituencies. Negotiations were also being held for exporting foodgrains and a target to export 10 lakh tonne of sugar has been fixed. About 40,000 tonne has so far been exported. Mr Shanta Kumar said the FCI has decided to open 10 principal distribution centres of foodgrains in Himachal Pradesh. These will be in addition to the existing 13 such centres. This will help the state government save Rs 1.75 crore annually on the transportation of grains. The new centres would be opened at Bharmour, Tissa, Baijnath, Dehra, Rampur, Hatkoti, Karsog, Nauradhar, Sarkaghat and Jaishinghpur. Besides, two temporary distribution centres have already been set up at Chango and Sangla in the flood Ravaged Kinnaur district where about 15,000 families were being provided 20 kg of additional grains at subsidised rates. He said a separate office of the Bureau of Industrial Standards (BIS) has been sanctioned for the industrial area of Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh. The BIS will accord ISI certification as quality has to be maintained in this era of competition. Mr Shanta Kumar said conviction of the former Prime Minister, Mr P.V. Narasimharao and Mr Buta Singh has put the entire Congress party in the dock. He said the rout of the BJP in the panchayat elections in Gujarat might be because of some shortcomings of the party. This required introspection. He refused to comment on the demand of a section of partymen for removing Mr Narendera Modi from the charge of party affairs in Himachal Pradesh. Mr Shanta Kumar said he was satisfied while being in the central ministry at Delhi and did not want to return to the state politics. |
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Standing cannabis
destroyed KULU, Oct 2 — A team of the
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the customs and the police destroyed standing cannabis cultivated in more than 1,200 bighas of land in Meha village near Fozal in this subdivision, Gadhiyar, Glincha, Kandi, Bali, Kathyari, Dharapari, Khanala, Tilapur, Tuncha, Chanar, Ghrincha and Bathad in Banjar subdivision of this district. Mr N. Venugopal, SP, Mr Rakesh Goyal, zonal director, NCB, and Mr Sukhdev Singh, Superintendent, Customs Dommissionrate, Amritsar, said in a statement here today that they had educated and motivated villagers about the ill-effects of drugs and the punishment which could be awarded for cultivating cannabis. As many as 61 villagers between the age group of 10 and 65 years helped the team in destroying the cannabis. In reply to a question, they said
foreigners were indirectly involved as they supply hybrid seeds. All departments, including panchayatas, had been told officials concerned would be accountable for not informing the police about the illegal cultivation of cannabis. Mr Vennogopal the district police was given Rs 1,500 as source fund annually. He said he had requested his seniors to set up a special narcotics cell in this district. The SP said as many as 107 cases of involvement of foreign nationals were registered under the NDPs Act in the past 15 years and 129 foreigners had been arrested. |
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National recognition for Himachal
girl MANDI, Oct 2 — Hailing from a Nagwain village in this district, Ms Krishna Vaidya has become the first woman of Himachal Pradesh to win a national award for outstanding performance in anganbari. She is one of the 22 winners in the country to have bagged this prestigious decoration awarded by the Human Resource Development Ministry. She has been selected from among the 8,000-odd anganbaris operating in the state. The award will be presented at the silver jubilee function of the organisation to be held later this week in New Delhi. She told mediapersons last night before leaving for New Delhi that work done with earnestness and missionary zeal pays dividends. Replying to a question, she said, “I worked selflessly without dreaming for any consideration or award”. She attributed her success to Project Officer Chander Kala who inspired her. “My encounter with her in 1986 proved a turning point in my life and I embarked upon the gigantic task of admitting 100 per cent children into anganbari kendras”. She also achieved the cent per cent target of providing nutritious food and vaccination against diseases to children. Her biggest achievement, however, was the launching of a number of self-employment, projects for rural women and making them economically self-reliant. A number of self-help groups have been set up in the Nagwain belt of this district comprising poor village women who have been raising paltry contributions to launch productive ventures. The humble beginning made by Ms Vaidya has transformed the lives of many rural women. These groups grew up rapidly by raising bank loans and set up a cluster of units making shawls and carpets. A way has been shown to the rural women to get out of the mire of poverty and achieve economic freedom. Ms Krishna Vaidya has been getting state awards for her outstanding performance in the spheres of family planning and other women welfare activities. |
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Is it safe to hide truth of HIV
cases? KULU: The ‘ban’ on the disclosure of the ‘dangerous truth’ of a person being HIV positive should be lifted to safeguard society. Dr T.R. Thakur, in charge of the District Blood Bank Society, here, informed that a conference held at the PGI, Chandigarh, about six months back felt that the affected person should be told the truth. The doctors believed that only then could the spread of the deadly disease be checked. The Human Rights Commission which had banned the medical authorities to disclose the truth to the HIV positive cases, must realise that the infected person is carrying a ‘death warrant’ for himself/herself, and can pass on the ‘warrant’ to others. Dr Thakur said the declaration might cause humiliation to the patient, but it would certainly save others from being infected. He suggested that the government and NGOs should build protection homes for the AIDS victims. A total of 223 cases of HIV positive and 80 full-blown AIDS cases have been reported in Himachal Pradesh. In Kulu district, the official figure is six. A voluntary organisation which has surveyed this district, says that all the six cases are among the youth. Dr Thakur said AIDS has no cure, but it can be prevented. Adolescents and young people are the most vulnerable group of the population. To live an AIDS-free life, one must know all about AIDS. He said the Health Department had started a special family health awareness campaign and health camps were being organised twice in a year in villages. He emphasised that health education should be introduced in schools. The Society for Advanced Village Economy (SAVE), an NGO, has been screening sex workers and hotel workers in Manali under a project of the HP State AIDS Control Society. But the project might go haywire due to the constraint of funds. Mr Jagat Prakash Nadda, Health Minister of HP, recently announced that the government had started Rs 53 crore project to combat HIV/AIDS. The responsibility of fighting the deadly virus is that of the government, but NGOs like SAVE can play an important part in making the people aware of the facilities available in government-run health institutions. A survey of the rural areas shows that only about 5 per cent of the rural folk have some knowledge of HIV/AIDS and only 1 per cent of them know about the implication and how the virus is transmitted. |
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Cong for probe into apple
procurement SOLAN, Oct 2 — Former Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party leader, Mr Virbhadra Singh today demanded a high-level inquiry into this year’s procurement of apples by government agencies, alleging large scale irregularities. Mr Singh, who addressed a press conference here, said the government had, awarded labour contracts for loading of apples at the procurement centres to certain BJP men, after their ‘birds’ of charging only one paisa for 20 apple bags were found the lowest. Instead of realising that such ridiculously low bids could have been only cover-ups for large scale irregularities later on, the authorities simply awarded the contracts and closed their eyes to the consequent bunglings which resulted in heavy losses to growers. He also charged the government with showing utter lack of foresight in framing the apple marketing policy this year. The apple which were procured at an unrenumerative price of Rs 10 per kg were transported to the very markets normally availed of by the growers themselves and that too in gunny bags instead of the wooden cases or cartons. This resulted in crash in prices causing more losses to growers already reeling under the impact of recent floods. Mr Singh said the growers’ misery has been compounded further with the BJP led Union government hiked the prices of petroleum products last week. Having only a skeletal railway system. Himachal Pradesh largely depended on road transport. The hike in the prices of diesel tended to inflate the already high cost of transportation of farm produce to distant markets, causing serious setback to farmers’ economy. He said the Congress would submit a memorandum to Governor Vishnu Kant Shashtri at Shimla on October 10 demanding immediate withdrawal of the price hike. It would be followed by similar submissions of memoranda at all district and block centres in the state. Turning to his party’s organisational elections, held recently, he said that responsible Congress men from 26 out of total 68 constituencies in the state, had submitted written complaints to Congress election authorities regarding widespread rigging and use of unfair practices in those elections. He said he had full faith in the wisdom of party President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who got the Congress constitution amended to provide for a party election authority with the sole motive of ensuring fair elections. He hoped that the guilty would be brought to the book, soon. “Ironically, the handful of the very people who went out of their way to trumpet that the elections were wholly transparent and fair, were those rootless ones, who wanted to grab control of the party to further their narrow ends. They did not realise that by resorting to rigging they were sending a wrong message to the masses. Ultimately their wrong action would make people wonder about the bonafides of the Congress vis a vis it’s profession of being a democratic set-up and may boomerang, one day”. Mr Singh ended the press conference by paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri. |
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Work on Kinnaur road
stopped SHIMLA, Oct 2 — Restoration of the flood-damaged Hindustan-Tibet highway connecting the tribal area of Kinnaur with rest of the country is bound to be delayed as the authorities have ordered the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to abandon the construction of the road at Khadradank near Akpa. Kinnaur is cut off since July 31 when a flashflood damaged the highway and many bridges. It is learnt that the District Magistrate of Kinnaur, Mr Omkar Sharma, has ordered the BRO not to go ahead with the construction of the highway at Khadradank where local residents have complained of the water level having gone down. Moreover, the village nearby is sinking because of a landslide due to the cutting of the alignment for the road. Project Deepak of the BRO had constructed about 4 km of the road at Khadradank when the order of the District Magistrate came. The Chief Engineer of the project, Brig B.M. Bakshi, told TNS here today that the alignment of the national highway would now be followed for constructing the road. He confirmed that land had started sliding in the area and a dozer had skid down because of this. It might at least two months to restore the 21 km stretch of road which was washed away between Wangtu and Samdoh. Bridges have to be constructed at four places on the Sutlej where the highway was cut off. These are at Karcham, Shongtong and Kharo. The bridge at Khab was launched yesterday, enabling heavy vehicles reach Akpa. The damage at Akpa is expected to be set right within one week. Brigadier Bakshi said that the Malling nullah was causing unexpected problems and a warlike operation with the hurling of grenades and firing of mortar shells had to be created to artificially trigger the hazardous slides in the area. He said it was perhaps for the first time that infantry weapons had to be fired to bring down the landslides. The BRO is also assisting the NJPC for restoring its work which was damaged due to the flood. A bridge will be launched at Jhakri for the project. |
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Target set for rabi
season HAMIRPUR, Oct 2 — The launching of the national agriculture technology project in this district may help in producing more foodgrains during the ensuing rabi season. A sum of Rs 5 crore has been earmarked under the project for providing technical know how to farmers, according to Dr Hans Raj Sharma, Deputy Director, Agriculture, (Hamirpur). He said the Department of Agriculture had decided to bring about 35,580 hectares of area under oilseeds and various related crops. The department proposed to produce 68,000 metric tonnes of wheat during the rabi season. He said 34,900 hectares would be brought under wheat cultivation as against 34,795 hectares last time. Rabi crops had suffered last time for want of adequate rains and the district had failed to achieve the target of producing 57,000 metric tonnes of wheat. Dr Sharma said 17,000 hectares would be covered under barley, 1,100 hectares under gram and 1,200 hectares under oilseeds crops. The department had fixed a target of producing 30 metric tonnes of barley, 16 metric tonnes of gram and 15 metric tonnes of other oilseeds. He said the department would distribute 5,000 quintal of high-yielding variety of wheat, 50 quintal of gram seeds 10 quintal of masar seeds, and 374 quintal of seeds of cauliflower, peas and other vegetables. It would also distribute 100 quintal or barseem seeds for cattle fodder. Arrangements for providing adequate quantity of pesticides and fungicides, along with the chemical fertilisers had been made. He said the department proposed to distribute 5,150 metric tonnes of urea, NPK and SSP fertilisers. Dr Sharma said various central and state government-sponsored programmes like ICDP (wheat) and national oilseeds, garlic and intensive vegetable production programmes had been started. |
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DCC elections
postponed SHIMLA, Oct 2 — The Congress party has postponed the elections of presidents and executive committees of the District Congress Committee (DCC) in Himachal Pradesh following complaints of massive rigging during the first phase of the elections of delegates to the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). The chairman of the state election authority, Mr V. Hanumantha Rao, has in a fax message to the PCC here said the elections of the DCCs, scheduled to be held between September 20 and October, 3, would now be held between October 10 and 15. He gave Dasehra the reason for the postponement. The leader of the Congress Legislative Party, Mr Virbhadra Singh, recently met the AICC chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, and the chairman of the Election Authority, Mr Ram Niwas Mirdha, at Delhi and brought to their notice several “irregularities” in the conduct of the organisational elections. It is learnt that supporters of Mr Virbhadra Singh have identified at least 18 places and are demanding a re-poll there. |
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Centre may amend PRB Act SHIMLA, Oct 2 (UNI) — the Central Government is considering to set up a committee to amend the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, or bring a new Act in its place as it does not meet the requirements of the present day print media. This was disclosed to UNI here yesterday by the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), Mr Bibekananda Ray. Among the recommendations of the RNI for amending or replacing the Act was the exclusion of many categories of miscellaneous publications which were not strictly newspapers as defined by the Act, he said. The miscellaneous publications comprise price lists, catalogues telephone directories, college magazines etc. Over the years, miscellaneous publications had been registered with the RNI to avail postal concessions, davp and state government advertisements and other benefits accruing from the RNI number, he added. Mr Ray said although officially the number of registered newspapers/periodicals up to 1999 was nearly 47,000, the actual number of registered publications could be much higher. He said the RNI had planned to identify these missing publications whose data were incomplete in records. The RNI had reasons to believe that many of these registered publications did not exist or could be bogus, he added. He said under a Section of the prb act, the publications which ceased were required to notify to the RNI, but few had done that. He said the RNI had launched a drive in 1998 to “de-block’’ or exclude from its verified list titles of publications which had not been registered within a specified time. Under the drive, nearly 1.75 lakh unregistered titles had been de-blocked which meant title holders had lost their claim on these titles which could be allotted to other publishers on demand, he added. |
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Two
killed as vehicle falls into gorge CHAMBA, Oct 2 — Two persons were killed on the spot and eight others were seriously wounded when a vehicle (Armada No HP-48/3332) carrying 10 persons veered off the road and rolled down into a 450-metre-deep gorge at Kohladi village about 25 km from here last night. According to official sources, the deceased have been identified as Raj Kumar (20), resident of Rinda village and Prakash Chand (19), resident of Kupahada village. Out of the eight injured admitted to the local Zonal Hospital three persons — Kamal, resident of Bhanoti village, Hitesh Kumar and Chaman Lal, residents of Dibkhari village were stated to be in a critical condition, the sources revealed. The sources said five persons — Rajinder Kumar, resident of Ganodi village, Parveen Kumar of Ganori village, Parvin Kumar of Dibkhari village, Kuldip Kumar of Tipra village and Suneel Kumar of Reenda village are also undergoing treatment at the Zonal hospital and are out of danger. A case in this connection was registered and investigations into the cause of the accident have begin. |
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Syllabi of primary
classes to be reviewed SHIMLA, Oct 2 — The Himachal Pradesh Government plans to review the syllabi for primary classes with a view to bringing improvement in the education. Stating this while presiding over the annual prize distribution function of Himalayan International School, here today, Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister, said beginning had already been made by preparing an integrated book for class one which would be introduced soon. Emphasising the importance of education in building the society, Mr Dhumal said that it should aim at multi-faceted development of students and enable them to meet the challenges effectively. He said need of the hour was to re-write the history and restore the country’s position as “vishwaguru” which would be possible only when literatteurs, intellectuals and educationists contributed their best. The Chief Minister said the country was forging ahead in the right direction under the stewardship of Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and it had attained the place of pride among nations for the first time after 52 years of Independence. He said today big powers recognised the capability and ability of India. He also gave away prizes to those who excelled in academic and co-curricular activities. |
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HVC gearing up
for panchayat poll HAMIRPUR, Oct 2 — The Himachal Vikas Congress is gearing up to contest the ensuing panchayat and civic body elections on its own. The party has finalised its strategy in this respect, according to Mr Deepak Sharma, Joint Secretary of the party. Talking to this correspondent here today, he said the party was at present concentrating on its organisational elections. The party had completed its membership by August 30, 2000, which had crossed 1.50 lakhs. A meeting of the district returning officers appointed by the party would be held in Shimla on October 8 under the chairmanship of Mr Braham Swaroop Sharma, returning officer to finalise the election programme. He said organisational elections would be completed by November 15 as per the decision of the Election Commission. He said the decision of the splinter group of the party to form another party after their claim for the party name and symbol was rejected by the Election Commission proved that the real HVC was the one led by Mr Sukh Ram and he was the undisputed leader of the party. |
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JEs feel stagnated,
seek promotion MANDI, Oct 2 — The zonal unit of the Himachal Pradesh Junior Engineers Association today expressed resentment against the government for not accepting its demands. Mr D.C. Bhardwaj, president, of the association said junior engineers (JEs) were fed up with the evasive attitude of the authorities towards their
demands. The JEs were stagnating at the same post for decades, he added. He demanded that the JEs with 16 years of service should be promoted to assistant engineers on the Punjab and Himachal patterns. He said JEs of the PWD and the IPH would launch a joint agitation in support of their demands to be decided at the state-level convention of the association to be held at Una this
month. |
Shastri’s statue
unveiled SHIMLA, Oct 2 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal unveiled a statue of Lal Bahadur Shastri, on his 96th birth anniversary here today. The statue has been made by famous sculptor Ravi.V. Murthy. Paying glowing tributes to the late Prime Minister, Mr Dhumal said Lal Bahadur Shastri was a symbol of honesty, simplicity and a true patriot. His services to the nation would always be remembered. The Chief Minister said the statue of the great leader would inspire the future generation. He said his slogan “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” was a pointer towards a self reliant India. He said the slogan given by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan” was a step further in this direction. He said the government had also decided to install a statue of Major Som Nath at Palampur, the first Parmaveer Chakra awardee in the country. He said the statue of Thakur Jagdev Chand at Hamirpur, Lt Hari Singh at Chopal and Maharana Pratap would also be installed soon. Mr K.R. Bharti, Director, Art, Language and Culture, read the life history of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The Union Food and Civil Supply Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, Speaker, HP Vidhan Sabha, Mr Gulab Singh Thakur, Minister of State, Mr R.D. Kashyap, Parliamentary Secretary, Mrs Urmil Thakur, Parliamentary Secretary Mrs Sarveen Chaudhary, MP, Mr Suresh Chandel, were among those present on the occasion. |
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IT institute in Solan opened SHIMLA, Oct 2 — The Himachal Pradesh Government has formulated a comprehensive e-governance plan for the hill state under which all its offices, from the secretariat to block level, will be linked through a network of computers. This was stated by Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, after laying the foundation stone of the Rs 30-crore Jaypee Institute of Information Technology at Vaknaghat in Solan district last evening. He said that the plan prepared by National Informatics Centre would cost Rs 7.10 crore. It would provide a host of services like e-mail, Internet access, video conferencing, web-enabled government public interface and data transfer and enable the government to effectively monitor the functioning of various departments and implementation of development scheme. Mr J.P. Gaur, Chairman of the Jaypee Institute of Information and Technology, said the institute had a tie-up with the University of California, Berkeley, USA, which would provide academic and organisational development
assistance to the institute. |
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Una-Talwara railline soon:
Chandel HATWAR (Ghumarwin), Oct 2 — The Himachal government has decided to connect Una with Talwara, Hoshiarpur and Harvilwer through railway lines in the next three years. Besides this, Rs 90 crore will be spent on village link roads within the next three years. This was stated by Mr Suresh Chandel, MP from the Hamirpur constituency while addressing a public meeting after inaugurating the second Athletic Meet of the Ghumarwin-Jhanduta complex of the Saraswati Vidya Mandir in Government Senior Secondary School here on Sunday. Mr Chandel told The Tribune that Rs 15 crore would be spent on the Una-Talwara railway link and the work will be completed within two years. A survey is being conducted for laying the Una-Hoshiarpur link while a railway line from Una to Harvilwer is in progress. An impressive cultural programme was also presented by the participants. |
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