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November 10, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Kangra leaders in race for post District status
for Nurpur sought Boys, girls are 50:50 in HP schools Bail refused in rape case Power staff’s ‘protest
day’ on Nov 15
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SFI, DYFI to launch stir HP civic bodies
poll on Dec 20 Maths can help
predict quakes Himalayan
studies centre proposed Hamirpur HVC
chief re-elected HP Beopar Mandal
withdraws stir call Ban on salt: HP
to consult experts
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Kangra leaders in race for post DHARAMSALA, Nov 9 — The tall claims of senior Congressmen from Kangra district to remain united in the interests of the people of lower Himachal have turned out to be a farce as many of them are vying for the coveted post of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. The display of unity by some former ministers and MLAs to fight for the cause of Kangra and its people is nowhere to be seen. These Congress leaders, who had only a few months back, admitted to having lost the chief ministership for Kangra due to infighting, are once again pulling one another’s leg. With the election of the HPCC chief yet to be held, a number of leaders from Kangra are in the race for the post. They include a former IPH Minister and sitting MLA, Mr Chander Kumar. Apart from being a candidate of the Virbhadra Singh group, he is being supported by MLAs from the weaker sections and the backward classes to which he himself belongs. The HPCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, too, is learnt to be a contender for the post. He is hopeful that because of the rivalry between the two factions, he could emerge as a consensus candidate. A former Tourism Minister, Mr Vijay Mankotia, who had been projected as the leader of Kangra district by some workers in the party, is also trying to garner support in his favour. Not to be left far behind is the party legislator from Nagrota, Mr G.S. Bali, who on the basis of his Delhi connections is trying to grab the post. Another senior leader and Rajya Sabha member, Mrs Chandresh Kumari, has put in her might behind former Speaker and sitting MLA, Mrs Vidya Stokes. Being the All-India Mahila Congress President, she has a good say at 10, Janpath, and as such could play a crucial role. Senior Congressmen, under the leadership of Mr Mankotia, had toured the entire district, vowing to remain united. Others who had joined him in safeguarding the interests of Kangra, included the MLAs, Mr B.B.L. Butail and Mr Harsh Mahajan, a former minister, Mr Kewal Singh Pathania, a former MLA, Mr M.R. Goma, Mr Vikram Katoch, and Mr Jagjivan Pal. Now, all these leaders from Kangra are fragmented and have failed to project one of them for the post of state party President. Despite comprising of 16 Assembly segments, Kangra district has not been able to have its hold over the state politics due to differences between senior leaders. A majority of the senior leaders from Himachal, while extending full support to the AICC President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, have said that the decision of electing the state President be left to her. However, at the same time, most of them are camping in Delhi to garner support in favour of their candidates. |
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District status
for Nurpur sought NURPUR, Nov 9 — The announcement made by the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, at Mandi recently for creating new districts in Himachal Pradesh during the present term has raised a ray of hope among inhabitants of Nurpur, Jawali and the neighbouring Bhatiyat subdivisions who have been, demanding a district status for Nurpur since a long time. The BJP had promised the creation and reorganisation of new districts in the state in its election manifesto. Residents of Nurpur, under the banner of the Nurpur Banao Sangharash Samiti, had launched a stir in 1995 during the Virbhadra Singh regime. They received a set- back following the split of this subdivision with the creation of new Jawali subdivision. The samiti’s stir failed owing to political reasons. The Chief Minister has said that the proposed district should have five
assembly segments. There is a demand for granting a district status to Nurpur by incorporating Nurpur, Jawali and Bhatiyat subdivisions. The proposed district would consist of five Assembly segments — Nurpur, Gangath, Jawali, Guler and Bhatiyat. Significantly, the Nurpur, Municipal Council had submitted a resolution to the state government demanding a district status to Nurpur. The nagar panchayat, Chuwari, had also passed a resolution for merging Bhatiyat subdivision with Nurpur. |
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Boys, girls are 50:50 in HP schools SHIMLA, Nov 9 — Himachal Pradesh has made rapid strides in promoting education among girls with the percentage of girls students touching as high as 49.5 per cent of the total students enrolled in schools during the current academic year. Stating this while presiding over the second meeting of the governing body of the state Primary Education Society, here last evening, Mr P.K. Dhumal, Chief Minister, said Himachal was next only to Kerala and Goa as far has enrolment rate of girl students was concerned. The literacy rate in the age group of 10 to 14 years had also reached 94 per cent for boys and 86 per cent for girls. The Indian women development report, 1999, has placed the enrolment rate for Himachal Pradesh at 93 per cent and discontinuation rate at 2 per cent in the case of elementary classes. The findings had also extolled the achievements of primary education in Himachal Pradesh by observing that “The transition from mass literacy to near universal primary education has taken place over much shorter period in the state even though the educational expansion had been based almost entirely on government schools with relatively little contribution from private institutions”. The Chief Minister said it was a matter of pride that the Sarswati Bal Vidya Sankalp Yojna started by the state government for improvement of infrastructure for primary schools had been adopted as model by governments of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Underlining the need to improve academic standard, he said issues relating to teachers’ deployment and training curriculum, textbooks and training facilities at primary level required attention. The primary education programme had already taken an initiative in this regard and he hoped that the State Council for Education and Research and district institutes of education and training would follow suit. The sarva shiksha abhiyan which was being launched shortly would promote decentralised planning with full involvement of panchayati raj institutions in the education sector. He expressed confidence that the experience gained by the Himachal Pradesh Primary Education Society in the implementation of district primary education programme would help it a lot in the successful implementation of the sarva shiksha abhiyan in the state. Mr I.D. Dhiman, Education Minister, said with the objective of universalisation of elementary education the Central Government had accorded top priority to it. It had conceived a 10-year mission for the universalisation of elementary education in India. The sarva shiksha abhiyan was a holistic and convergent approach which incorporated all existing programmes of elementary education in the Centre and centrally sponsored
categories. It sought to provide quality elementary education to all children by 2010. There would be a special focus on girls, children belonging to SC and ST community, urban slum dwellers, low female literacy blocks, disabled children and children in difficult circumstances. Mr Karan Singh, Minister of State for Primary Education, said 808 new primary schools with 1616 posts of teachers had been opened in four educationally backward districts of the state under the district primary education programme. The average attendance rates of all classes have increased to 91 per cent and there had been a significant decrease in the drop-out, which has declined to less than 1 per cent. |
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Bail refused in rape case SHIMLA, Nov 9 — A single Bench of the High Court consisting of Mr Justice M.R. Verma today dismissed the anticipatory bail applications of Mr Tara Chand and Mr Rattan lal. The petitioners are alleged to have committed offences under Sections 376, 354, 506/34 of the IPC. They are charged with raping a girl at her residence in Bilaspur in July, 1999, Tara Chand had in writing accepted the commission of the offence and promised not to indulge in such heinous offences in further. However, he continued to future the mother of the victim and on October 11, 2000, the matter was brought before the Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur. An FIR was lodged on October 25 on the orders of the Judicial Magistrate. Counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioners had been “implicated” in the case. The alleged incident had occurred about two years back and the police had registered an FIR on October 25, 2000, in pursuance of the order of the Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur. Dismissing the bail application of the accused, the Judge observed that from the material on record so far, particularly the statements of the victim and her mother, it could be prima facie concluded that the offence was indeed committed by them. “This is a case where anticipatory bail cannot and should not be granted to the accused,” the Judge observed. |
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Power staff’s ‘protest
day’ on Nov 15 SHIMLA, Nov 9 — The H.P. State Electricity Board Employees Union has decided to observe November 15 as ‘Protest Day’ against the move of the government to set up the State Electricity Regulatory Commission and trifurcation of the HPSEB. Mr Chander Singh Mandayal, general secretary, of the union, yesterday alleged that this was being done in the garb of economic reforms thus paving the way for the privatisation in the board which was in the interest of neither the employees of the board which nor the consumers of the state. He said that the programme of action was being observed on the call of National Co-ordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineer constituted for the first time at the national level to launch an agitation against globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation in power sector through the proposed Electricity Bill-2000 to be introduced in the ensuing parliamentary session. Mr Mandayal said that the board management had not increased the “electricity allowance” and other allowance on the PSEB pattern and there appeared to be a move of the board of deviating from the principle of PSEB analogy. |
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SFI, DYFI to launch stir SHIMLA, Nov 9 — The state units of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) will launch a joint campaign in the state to mobilise people against the “ruinous policies” of the Centre and the Himachal Government from November 10 to 27. Stating this at a press conference, Mr Tikender Pawar, secretary of the DYFI, and Mr Dalip Kaistha, secretary, SFI, here said yesterday that a joint “jatha” of the two organisations would cover over 1,800 km and hold 150 public meetings and over 100 street plays to expose the “anti-people” policies. Over 50,000 leaflets would be distributed during the campaign and 1.5 lakh signatures would be collected in support of the memorandum to be submitted to the President on November 27 in Delhi. The leaders accused the BJP of backing out from its poll promises made to the youth like providing jobs to one lakh persons and education to all. In reality, the problem of unemployment had further aggravated with over nine lakh youth registered with various employment exchanges, they said, adding that workers were being retrenched and government-run institutions were being transformed into societies to reduce the strength of employees by over 4,000 every year. The students were being fleeced with the government going all-out for commercialisation of education. A medical college seat under the NRI scheme was costing Rs 45 lakh. Similarly, for admission to the MBA course, nearly Rs 3 lakh was required and Rs 10 lakh for an engineering
seat. |
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HP civic bodies
poll on Dec 20 SHIMLA, Nov 9 — The State Election Commission today announced that the election for municipal councils ‘and nagar panchayats in Himachal Pradesh will be held on December 20. According to Mr K.C. Sharma, State Election Commissioner, 20 municipal councils and 28 nagar panchayats will go to the polls. Nominations will be received from November 29 to December 1. Scrutiny will be held on December 2 and withdrawals will be allowed on December 4. The code of conduct for these elections will come in force on November 16 and remain operative till December 22. |
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Maths can help
predict quakes SHIMLA, Nov 9 — Mathematical models can be used to predict earthquakes, according to Prof Sarvajit Singh of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. In his paper on seismology presented at the three-day National Conference on Mathematical Analysis and Applications which concluded today at Himachal Pradesh University, Prof Sarvajit explained how mathematics could be applied for predicting tremors. Prof R.C. Sharma presented his work on steam displacement of heavy oil as an efficient secondary and tertiary oil recovery method. He also elaborated on the basic physics and mathematics of fluid dynamics, and the applications of mathematics in oceanography. As many as 45 eminent mathematicians and scientists participated in the conference. |
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Himalayan
studies centre proposed SHIMLA, Nov 9 — A three-day seminar on “Himachal Pradesh — a socio-cultural profile” which began at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, here today, underlined the need for undertaking research on the Himalayan culture. Inaugurating the seminar, Mr I.D. Dhiman, the state Education Minister said the entire Himalayan region was a rich repository of culture but it had so far escaped the attention of scholars and researchers. He said the Himalayas had been the fountain head of the Indian culture and its inaccessibility had helped in preserving the rich heritage. He suggested that the institute should have a special research unit for Himalayan studies and assured all help from the state government in this regard. He said the state had a vast potential for tourism but it should not be developed at the cost of its culture. Delivering the keynote address, Prof V.C. Srivastava, Director of the institute, asked scholars to explore the historic trends and cultural factors that the state had witnessed in the past. Prof Srivastava said the art of the Himalayan region offered considerable scope for further and new research. Its architecture, its languages and poetry were some of the other fields that continued to offer challenges to scholars. Prof B.R. Grover, Chairman of the Indian Council for Historical Research, New Delhi, laid emphasis on the urgent need for collecting primary source material for studying the history of Himachal Pradesh. |
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Hamirpur HVC
chief re-elected HAMIRPUR, Nov 9 — Mr Dharam Dass was re-elected as the President of the Hamirpur district unit of the Himachal Vikas Congress here today. The election was conducted by Mr Ram Nath Sharma, DRO. Thakur Badan Singh will be the senior vice-president of the party and Capt Sriram Sharma would be its senior general secretary. Mrs Rama Kanta would be the vice-president and Mr B.D. Sharma and Mr Jaswant Singh Kamal the general secretaries. Mr Pratap Singh has been named the treasurer.
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HP Beopar Mandal
withdraws stir call BILASPUR, Nov 9 — The Himachal Pradesh State Beopar Mandal has withdrawn its call for a statewide “hartal” and “beopar bandh” on November 11, 18, and 19. The decision was taken after the Chief Minister Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, invited the mandal for talks on November 15 at the HP Secretariat in Shimla, to settle their demands. Announcing this here yesterday, mandal president Hemchand Sood said the mandal was confident that the problems of lakhs of traders and shopkeepers would be amicably settled through these talks. |
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Ban on salt: HP
to consult experts SHIMLA, Nov 9 — The Himachal Pradesh Government will set up an expert committee to decide whether to lift ban on the sale of non-iodised salt or not in the state. This was stated by the Health Minister, Mr J.P. Nadda, here today while talking to mediapersons. He said although the Centre had given a free hand to the states on the issue, yet the state would go by the recommendations of the expert committee. The minister said the incidences of iodine deficiency-related problems, particularly in the interiors, would be kept in mind. |
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Life term for
killing
brother’s wife NAHAN, Nov 9 — Mr Janeshwar Goel, Sessions Judge, Sirmaur Division, here today convicted Het Ram of Agrhiwala village in the tehsil under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for life and also fined Rs 3,000 in connection with the murder of Mrs Saroj Devi, the wife of his elder brother. |
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