 |
Monday,
February 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Centres for disabled in HP Use fertilisers, VC tells farmers HP urges Centre to insure
fruit crop
Teachers refute minister’s claim |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
5-year term for VC demanded Set up patent search facility,
say scientists BJP
dissidents hold meeting Rs 3 cr assistance for state OBCs 50 pc streetlights in Shimla
non-functional Sainik Rest Houses to be renovated Hamirpur loses one more jawan
|
|
Centres for disabled in HP
Shimla, February 3 The Central Government has sanctioned Rs 62 lakh for the district rehabilitation centres and Rs 25 lakh for the state resource centre, which will provide all types of specialised services and peripheral training at the district and block levels. The district centres will also offer medical rehabilitation services such as early detection, timely intervention, restorative therapy parent counselling and the necessary aids and appliances. Of late, the rehabilitation and welfare of the physically challenged was being given special attention by the state government. To ensure that the physically challenged students are not deprived of education, scholarship ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 900 per month is being given. Students having a disability of 40 per cent or more and whose parents’ annual income does not exceed Rs 60,000 are eligible for scholarship. As against Rs 8.26 lakh spent last year under this scheme, Rs 10.30 lakh has been earmarked for the current year. Besides, physically challenged persons with an annual income below Rs 7,500 are being provided with financial assistance of Rs 2,500 for setting up small ventures like tea-stalls and tailoring works. A provision of Rs 5.83 lakh has been made under this scheme during the current financial year to ensure gainful employment to these hapless persons. To promote their physical, economic and psychological rehabilitation, they are being provided with financial assistance to procure quality, durable and scientifically manufactured modern aids such as callipers, artificial limbs, shoes and tricycles. Last year 68 such persons were provided assistance for the purpose. They are also being provided a marriage grant of Rs 5,000 and last year Rs 12.20 lakh was spent under this programme to benefit 255 persons. A monthly pension of Rs 150 is also being given to the physically challenged in the state and at present 12,557 persons are being covered under the scheme. In addition, reservation has also been given to the physically challenged in government jobs. Homes for the Handicapped have been set up at Sundernagar to provide free education up to Class V and vocational training to deaf and dumb children whose parents’ monthly income is less than Rs 2,500. Free boarding and lodging facility is provided to the handicapped children in the home. The physically challenged have been issued identity cards for free travelling in the state transport buses. Under the Gramin Punarvas Yojna, two fitness centres are being set up at Shimla and Dharamsala. These centres will provide facilities for assessment on the need of assertive devices and therapeutical services to the disabled. The fitness centre at Dharamsala has become functional and started assessing the needs of assistive devices and providing artificial limbs to the needy. The endeavour of the state government is to enable the physically challenged in the state to lead a respectable life and become partner in the socio-economic development.
|
|
Use fertilisers, VC tells farmers
Palampur, February 3 Inaugurating the four-day training and visit programme organised by the university in collaboration with the Indian Farmers and Fertilisers Cooperative IFFCO for farmers of Kangra, Una, Mandi and Bilaspur districts at the campus, he said the country was already facing the problem of “inadequate and excess” water, which would become more critical in the coming years. He said the global warming, destruction of forests in the catchment areas of rivers and injudicious use of water was responsible for this situation and unless we adopted water harvesting and ensured better water management the situation would become irretrievable and the traditional water sources would dry up in many villages and have to be relocated after two decades. Advocating the need for diversification in agriculture and better use of fertilisers, he said India had achieved self-sufficiency in food and now the focus should be shifted to growing of quality food crops so that better and nutritious food was available to all. Stressing the need for revaluating the traditional crops, Dr Tej Partap said that every area had its own food habits which contributed to the good health of the residents and asked the farmers to assess the usefulness of old crops of the area which stood neglected. He said agriculture for self-consumption had to be divorced from commercial farming and added that most of the agriculture land in Himachal was divided into small holdings. One must find ways and means to achieve their full benefit and agriculture scientists and economists could provide information and the advise farmers to attain this goal, he added. Having a dig at the farm scientists, Dr Tej Partap said the advice of a scientist might be valid from the point of view of production but might not prove true on the economic level and as such every farmer had to adopt planning at his own level keeping in view his needs and problems. He asked the scientists to help the farmers in this direction. Earlier, addressing farmers, Dr L.N. Singh, Director of Extension Education of the university asked farmers to make full use of the Agriculture Technology Information Centre opened at Palampur and various Krishi Vigyan Kendras set up in each district. He emphasised the need for involving women in such training programmes as they performed most of the agricultural duties. PTI
|
|
|
HP urges Centre to insure
fruit crop Nurpur, February 3 Mr Narinder Bragata, Horticulture Minister, while talking to mediapersons here yesterday said owing to the fast development of the HP as a fruit state it was required that the fruit crops should also be brought under the scheme. He accused the previous Virbhadra government of discriminating against the fruit growers of lower areas. It had done nothing to promote horticulture in these areas. The present government had initiated concerted efforts to exploit horticulture potential in the state, he added. Mr Bragata said the government had set up a model floriculture station at a cost of Rs 1 crore at Mahu Bagh in Solan district to boost floriculture. The government had planned to develop floriculture parks in the state. To promote organic farming, the government was setting up a biological control laboratory in the coming fiscal year at a cost of Rs 60 lakh in Shimla. The Horticulture Department proposed to set up plant health clinics at Shimla and Dharamsala, he said. The minister said the Himachal Pradesh Fruit Processing and Marketing Corporation had taken up a three-tier strategy to get out of the red. |
|
|
Tourists, ‘don’t’ feed highway monkeys Shimla, February 3 The highway has become dangerous as groups of monkeys keep roaming there in search of food. A large number of visitors from neighbouring states come here everyday to feed the monkeys because of religious reasons. The Minister for Forests, Mr Roop Singh, yesterday said he had ordered the wildlife authorities to install boards on the highway. The problem is acute on the stretch between Parwanoo and Dharampur where monkeys keep waiting for tourists to come and offer them food. People generally carry bread, channa and bananas for them in their vehicles which, wildlife experts say, has changed the eating habits of the monkeys who have now shifted to the highway and adjoining towns where they get the food easily. Sometime ago, the district authorities here had engaged the experts of the Agriculture University, Palampur, to develop some medicine for making the monkeys infertile so as to check their population. However, the project was abandoned because of resentment of certain religious groups. The monkey menace has been discussed in the state Assembly several times when the legislators demanded that effective measures should be taken to tackle them. During the recent meeting of the National Wildlife Advisory Board, of which the Prime Minister is the Chairman, Mr Roop Singh demanded that the Centre should provide a grant of Rs 3 crore for compensating the losses caused to crops by monkeys and other wild animals. About Rs 25 lakh was being spent by the state government for providing relief to the victims of leopards. In case of death of a person by a wild animal, the compensation was Rs 1 lakh and in case of an injury, it was Rs 30,000. Mr Roop Singh further said he had urged the Centre to establish a breeding centre in the state for the extinct snow leopard, western tragopan and other rare species. However, the experience of the authorities in caging certain extinct species had not been encouraging. The only snow leopard, Rozi, died here recently in captivity. Two musk deers had died sometime ago and a number of western tragopans also lost their lives in captivity. The authorities had also been facing financial problems in maintaining the 32 wildlife sanctuaries, two national parks and three zoos in the state.
|
|
Teachers refute minister’s claim Bilaspur, February 3 Led by union state president Roshanlal Sharma and state general secretary Shiv Dyal Chaudhary, other teacher leaders Subhash Chandel, Mohan Singh, Baburam Chandel, Som Prashar, Mangatram Sharma, Kuldeep Singh Bhabhoria, Hira Singh Negi, K.C. Sharma, Satayaprakash Sharma, Prempal Singh, Balakram Sharma, Piaruram Sankhayan and Kartar Singh Badal said here yesterday that as a matter of fact the standard of education had gone down and education had been turned into a mess in most of the schools. Teachers’ transfers all the year round, attempts to commercialise education and the persistent neglect of even essentials in schools, apart from the unnecessary interference from outside elements and hasty and unwise decisions by the Education Department authorities without taking the sections concerned into confidence were some of the reasons which had resulted in the “marked degradation” in the educational system in Himachal Pradesh. The leaders said it was not clear how educational standard could improve when a middle school was being provided with only two teachers instead of six and senior secondary schools with only seven lecturers instead of 12. The posts of clerk in high schools and superintendent in senior secondary schools had been abolished and every now and then there was a change in the holidays schedule and “vidaya upasaks” being appointed instead of trained teachers. Also untrained teachers were being appointed. Senior officers and teachers were being deprived of their due promotions. |
|
|
5-year term for VC demanded Solan, February 3 Mr Chauhan, who is also secretary of the media cell of the state unit of the BJP, while addressing mediapersons here alleged that the reduction of the term of the Vice-Chancellor from five to three years was politically motivated as the then incumbent of the post, Dr B.R. Sharma, was perceived to be sympathetic towards the BJP. In fact he was appointed during the BJP regime and was believed to have been hand-picked by the then Chief Minister, Mr Santa Kumar. Mr Chauhan said the Congress government which could not fault Dr B.R. Sharma on any valid ground used the stratagem of reducing the Vice-Chancellor’s term for getting rid of him. “The Congress government while indulging in this petty and vindictive act had ignored the larger interests of the state and its farmers.” He said the university along with the agricultural university of the state at Palampur had played a significant role in extending modern technology to the farms thereby helping ameliorate the lot of the state’s faming community. This task was made considerably similar with the Vice-Chancellors enjoying sufficient time space for implementing their ideas and concepts. In this connection it must be remembered that horticultural and forestry research routinely spanned larger time frames for evaluation purposes. This made it imperative on the part of the government that the Vice-Chancellors be allowed sufficient time space in office for enabling them to effectively translate their development concepts into practice for the benefit of farmers. Mr Chauhan also recalled that the five-year term for the Vice-Chancellors had been incorporated into a Model Act for Farm Universities framed by top academicians of the country in 1987 after long deliberations and regretted that Himachal Pradesh had chosen to ignore it.
|
|
Set up patent search facility,
say scientists Shimla, February 3 This was the main recommendation of the workshop organised by the state Council of Science, Technology and Environment on patent awareness at Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur, yesterday. Besides, students at graduate and undergraduate level must be encouraged to have knowledge about intellectual property rights and patent search should be among topics of research for Doctorate, M.Phil and M.sc. Releasing the recommendation here today Dr S.S. Chandel, Principal Scientific Officer of the council, stressed on the need for setting up patent cells at research institution. It was suggested that a patent cell for engineers be established at REC, Hamirpur, with facilities for patent research. The Department of Technical Education should set up a cells at its various polytechnics and industrial training institutes. These cells should have a comprehensive database and literature related to patents so that students students and teachers could carry out further studies. All cells should be linked to the Patent Information Centre set up by the council here. The Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, which jointly organised the workshop, will consider strengthening of patent cells in institutions on the basis of their performance. |
|
BJP
dissidents hold meeting Hamirpur, February 3 Nearly 300 party workers opposed to the present state and district-level leadership of the party aired their views in the meeting. The presence of nearly 50 activists of the “Nadaunta Bachao, Baldev Sharma hatao manch” was the highlight of the meeting. The activists consisted of 12 women led by Ms Anita Garg, former member of the Hamirpur Zila Parishad. Speakers one after another blasted the party leaders for ignoring them and terming them as outsiders. They said the party had been captured by those who had played no role in its past. They asked the party leadership to rise above petty politics and try to accommodate all those who had made sacrifices for the party since its inception. The speakers warned the party leadership that they would go to the masses and expose the real face of their leaders. They said they would not tolerate any injustice and if the party high command didn’t listen to them, they would decide their future course of action. Party activists from Nadaunta blasted the district BJP chief, Mr Baldev Sharma, and demanded his removal from the post. They said their manch would continue its stir till all of its demands, including the removal of Mr Sharma from all party posts, was met with.
|
|
|
Rs 3 cr assistance for state OBCs Shimla, February 3 Stating this here today a government spokesman said the welfare of other backward classes (OBCs) was the priority and various effective steps had been taken aiming at their speedy socio economic uplift during the past over three years. These included reservation of 15 per cent seats in the Panchayati Raj Institutions for OBCs, enhancement of reservation in government service from 15 per cent to 18 per cent on the recommendations of the state Backward Classes Commission and raising the income limit for creamy layer from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh per annum. The meritorious OBC students were being given a scholarship of Rs 10,000 each in the plus one and plus two classes and the corporation was giving loans up to Rs 5 lakh to enable them stand on their own feet at a nominal interest rate of 7 per cent to 10 per cent. While 85 per cent of the cost of the project was borne by the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (HBCFDC), 10 per cent was shared by the state’s corporation and 5 per cent by the beneficiary. The corporation had approved 53 schemes for the purpose of sanctioning loans to OBC beneficiaries and as many as 913 beneficiaries had been provided a loan of Rs 9.35 crore in the past three years. This year 236 beneficiaries had been advanced Rs 3.01 crore so far. It also gave interest-free study loan to OBC students for pursuing technical and higher diploma, degree and certificate courses beyond high school provided their annual family income from all sources did not exceed Rs 36,000. Under this scheme a loan of Rs 10,000 per annum up to a maximum of Rs 50,000 for the entire course was given. The recovery of loans was made in five years in 20 quarterly instalments.
|
|
|
50 pc streetlights in Shimla
non-functional Shimla, February 3 At present more than 50 per cent of streetlights in the town are non-functional. Many areas are devoid of these and residents have to face inconvenience in the evening on their way back to homes. Even tourists complain that due to the absence of streetlights in the town they have to face various hardships. The maintenance of the streetlights is being looked after by the Electricity Department. Sources say that the corporation has been giving payments for the maintenance work from time to time. On the demand of Councillors, the corporation passed Rs 15,60,291 for the streetlights. Either new streetlights were to be erected or repaired of older ones was to be carried out in 19 wards of the corporation. An amount of Rs 5 lakh was given to the Department in April and August last year. But the maximum streetlights are non-function till date. The Summer Hill area, Chaura Maidan, Lakkar Bazar are provided with proper streetlights. All streetlights in the bus stand area are out of order. |
|
|
Sainik Rest Houses to be
renovated Hamirpur February 3 He said here yesterday that in the second phase of the programme, rest houses in other districts of the state would be renovated. The Chief Minister had asked the Deputy Commissioners concerned to complete the same within a stipulated period. Brigadier Dogra said the government was also examining a proposal for the setting up of two more Sainik rest houses at Sujanpurtira in Hamirpur district and Bangana in Una district. The government was in search of land for this purpose. |
|
|
Hamirpur loses one more jawan Hamirpur, February 3 He is survived by his parents, wife and a three-month-old baby. The body of the deceased is expected to reach his native village this evening or tomorrow morning, according to official sources. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Minister for Education Ishwar Dass Dhiman, Parliamentary Secretary, Urmila Thakur and Deputy Commissioner Anuradha Thakur have mourned the death of Suresh Kumar and sent condolence message to the bereaved family. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
