Manali, July 15
A tourist guide, Devraj (35), has been arrested from a village in Punjab in connection with the alleged rape of a South Korean woman on the pretext of helping her to catch a Delhi--bound bus last month, the police said today.

On the basis of clues, a police team from Kullu nabbed Devraj from lalita kalan village of Ludhiana last night in connecion with the rape of a 28-year-old South Korean woman on June 30 last, Kullu SP G D Bhargava said.Devraj, a resident of Jogindernagar, worked as a tourist guide and had also taken a small hotel in Manali on lease in partnership, the SP said.

The woman was allegedly raped by the youth who had offered her a ride on his motorcycle from Manali bus stand after she had missed a bus to Delhi on the pretext of helping her to catch the bus.She was taken to a remote place, about 25 km from Mandi district, and allegedly raped before being dropped in front of a hotel in Manali, the next morning.

An FIR was lodged with the police station in Kullu in connection with the incident. South Korean Embassy had taken a note of the incident and a senior official of the embassy had visited Kullu to take the stock of the episode. — PTI

Shimla, July 15
The Rs 800 crore assistance from the World Bank will not only help improve the financial position of the debt-ridden hill state but also provide some respite to the employees as putting a cap on transfers is one of the conditions agreed to by the government.

The “policy matrix” approved by the Cabinet for availing assistance in the form of “development policy loan” lays down that the total number of transfers in a year will not exceed six per cent of the total strength of the staff. The total number of employees in the state is about two lakh and as such only about 12,000 transfers could be effected annually. This must come as a relief to the employees who are harassed by transfers round the year.

The bank is giving 90 per cent of the “development policy assistance” as outright grant and the remaining 10 per cent as loan. The bank wanted to limit the number of transfers with the twin objective to bring down the annual financial burden on the exchequer on this account and, more importantly, to ensure security of tenure for officials. It firmly believes that short and uncertain tenure is not conducive to good governance.

The guarantees which the government furnishes for raising loans, particularly in respect of public sector undertakings, has also been capped. The amount of government guarantees, depending on the risk factor will not exceed 40 per cent of the total receipts of the preceding. At the present level of receipts which the government guarantees will have to limited to about Rs 2,000 crore. However, the cap will apply to risk-weighted guarantees.

Another important clause in the matrix lays down that the level of subsidy on electricity to various categories of consumers will be maintained at the existing level. The quantum of subsidy will not exceed Rs 132 crore, the amount being paid during the current financial year. As such, if the cost of supply goes up, the consumer would have to pay more for power.

The government will formulate a comprehensive plan for protecting the fragile hill environment and carry out skill mapping to bridge the gap between demand and availability of manpower. For this the bank has already sanctioned Rs 2 crore.

The entire exercise will as per the projections help contain the fiscal deficit which will marginally increase from Rs 1,126 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 1,293 crore in 2011-12, while the ratio deficit to the state gross domestic product will improve from minus 3.4(-3.4) percent to minus 2.2 (-2.2) percent over the period. aSenior officers maintain that there was nothing unusual about the conditions as steps to contain fiscal deficit were already been taken under the budget management and fiscal responsibility act and the government already had a transfer policy as per which only three percent of the employees could be transferred in a year. However, the policy is observed more in breach and it remains to be seen if the involvement of World Bank will ensure better compliance.

Shimla, July 15
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today that former PCC Chief and power minister Vidya Stokes was left behind at the Annan Dale helipad due to communication gap.

In a statement issued he said it was unfortunate that such an incident, which was totally unintentional, occurred and he was sorry for it. The fact was that he was not at all aware that she was to accompany him, the statement said.

When he came to know about it on his arrival at Palampur, he immediately made an offer to send back the helicopter to pick her up. However, the offer was declined.

He was surprised to see news stories in the media which were entirely wrong and not based on facts. Any attempt to blow the incident out of proportion was regrettable, the statement added.

Chail, July 15
Taking serious note of the poor results of Chail Senior Secondary School, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today severally reprimanded the staff and directed the deputy director, Solan, to submit a detailed report on the school’s below average performance in the board examinations.

He was addressing a public gathering after laying the foundation stone of the Rs 60 lakh Science Block in the school. Visibly upset over the poor results where barely 40 per cent students had passed in matriculation and 25 per cent in +2, he summoned the principal Jagjit Kashyap in full public view and asked him to announce the result.

Lashing out at the lack of interest taken by the teachers, he said it was unfortunate that despite the state’s teachers receiving the highest salary among educational departments of the country, their performance was dismal.

Reacting to complaints made by the locals against the school’s teachers, he said it was a matter of utmost regret that despite availing house rents, the teachers preferred to commute from Solan and other places. He said the teachers were duty bound to stay at their place of posting as they were paid allowances for it.

The CM was at his aggressive best and also gave a word of caution to the PWD which had constructed a building under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan. He expressed anguish at the ill-concieved building plan and ordered immediate demolition of the structure constructed at a cost of Rs one lakh. He took the PWD authorities to task and directed them not to waste resources by constructing such buildings. He directed chief engineer R.C. Gupta to ensure demolition of this building tomorrow and said a three-storey building could come up in it’s place.

Paying heed to the demands of the locals, the CM announced a grant of heritage status to the 102-year-old school building which was donated by the erstwhile Maharaja of Patiala in 1905. He directed the authorities to initiate this project after preparation of it’s detailed project report. He announced Rs 2 lakh for the restoration of the school’s building.

The low student turnover in +2 where barely two students had secured admission and eight others in +1 led the locals to wonder why Rs 60 lakh was being spent on the construction of a new science block.

Shimla, July 15
Amid speculations that the Assembly elections in the three tribal constituencies of Himachal Pradesh will be held earlier than schedule, Congress legislators representing these seats have moved the High Court seeking conduct of polls on all seats in the state simultaneously.

The three legislators: Jagat Singh Negi (Kinnaur), Raghubir Singh (Lahual and Spiti) and Thakur Singh Bharmouri (Bharmour), through a civil writ petition have called upon the Election Commission delinking these three constituencies from the rest 65 seats for conduct of polls in winter on the plea that the areas would be covered by snow.

With the state Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh due in February next year, they fear the polls would again be postponed in their constituencies by six months.

The petition is listed for hearing in the court for admission tomorrow, their lawyer Ajay Sood told PTI today.

Negi said they have contended that if elections in other Assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh like Baijnath in Kangra, Dodra Kwar in Rohroo in Shimla district that have similar topography and climatic conditions are held along with the rest of the state, there was no logic of delinking only these three constituencies.

Also the delay curtailed their term to less than five years. Besides, delayed conduct of polls deprived voters the privilege to choose the government as the results of the polls in the three seats go in favour of the ruling party. — PTI 

Shimla, July 15
Successful implementation of the innovative "Quality in delivery of public services" e-governance initiative has prompted the Himachal government to adopt it as a state policy for carrying out administrative reforms.

The project enabled Himachal to become the first state in north India to acquire ISO:9001:2000 certification for e-governance services in issuance of driving and conductor licenses and registration certificates (RCs) for motor vehicles.

These documents are now being automatically issued to public within three working days after submission of complete application forms on a first come, first serve basis. This has not only led to increased efficiency in service delivery mechanism but also imparted greater transparency to the whole process much to the satisfaction of the public. It has also eliminated the role of middlemen as documents are automatically delivered.

The initiative was taken in Hamirpur and Mandi districts for getting the e-governance centres quality-certified. Accordingly, in all three subdivisions of Hamirpur, Barsar, Nadaun and Sundernagar subdivision of Mandi, the e-governance centres were restructured to make them ISO compliant. Procedural changes were also carried out to eliminate discretion and cutting bureaucratic red tape.

The process of restructuring at e-governance centres was done in consultation with Det Norske Veritas (DNV) by involving the staff and officers. It involved rigorous training on the Central Motor Vehicles Act and rules to ensure that its provisions were uniformly understood and implemented. The ADM was appointed as the management representative to coordinate and ensure implementation of decisions. A citizen charter was also formulated in consultation with the stake-holders, including taxi unions and prominent citizens to create awareness. Performance monitoring sheets were introduced which captured processing delays at the branch and the regional licensing authority levels, separately.

Minimum maintenance of inventory and consumables were assessed and a system was put in place to ensure a basic critical level of inventory. Document requirements along with relevant forms that are required to be filled and attached with the application have been worked out and a comprehensive booklet has been designed to guide the public. Record keeping was structured scientifically for proper upkeep and trackable registers have been opened. It has reduced the tracking time from 5-6 hours to five minutes. Further, the quality policy statement led to e-governance centres on a defined path for efficient delivery of public services.

Since the performance of these e-governance centres is being monitored on a daily basis, the system has an inherent synergy to comply with objectives. It has promoted good governance and has received tremendous positive response from the local public. It is expected that the project ambit would be expanded to other areas of administration like issuance of copy of revenue records.

Nahan, July 15
The Paonta police late this evening arrested two persons for blackmailing and demanding Rs 6 lakh from Raj Kumar of Tokio village. In a report filed with the Paonta police, Raj Kumar said he had recently sold some land in Uttarakhand and people knew that he had received a good amount after the deal. First, a relative Pawan Kumar of Bhatanwali village tried to blackmail him, saying that he would reveal the ‘actual cost’ of the land to the authorities concerned if Rs 6 lakh was not paid to him.

Through his relatives Raj Kumar persuaded Pawan Kumar not to adopt such practices to harass him.

Then, another Pawan Kumar of Paonta demanded Rs 6 lakh, posing as an inquiry officer deputed to probe the land deal. Pawan Kumar had asked Raj Kumar to reach near Kanishka Hotel at Badripur with the money on July 14 failing which he was threatened with dire consequences.

Raj Kumar narrated the whole story to the police last evening. The police registered a case against both suspects and arrested them.

Shimla, July 15
The Forest Department will form a special committee that will allow scientific culling of monkeys in endemic areas so as to give relief to the villagers whose crops are suffering extensive damage at the hands of simians.

With the government agreeing to allow scientific culling of monkeys in view of the damage being caused by them to crops all over the state, the Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti today organised a function at Nauradhar in Sirmaur district. Sharp shooters were identified from about 500 farmers from 15 nearby panchayats of the Nauradhar area.

Additional principal chief conservator and wildlife warden Vinay Tandon was also present on the occasion. He said scientific culling would have to be undertaken under strict supervision of the department. “The department will fix the date and timing for culling in a particular area to ensure that there is no mishap and the area is free from human presence,” he said.

Spokesperson of the Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti Om Prakash said 89 farmers were already registered as gun-holders and committees would be formed in every panchayat to undertake culling with permission from the forest authorities.

The samiti has been demanding that the government should take some concrete steps to give relief to the farmers form the menace being created by monkeys. 

Shimla, July 15
Advanced techniques like three-dimensional voice spectrography has made it possible to crack cases where DNA analysis fails to provide conclusive results using the speaker identification technology, says forensic scientist S.K. Jain, who has developed the technique in India.

Every person has a unique voice print which could be identified using hi-tech equipment that produces a three-dimensional spectrogram, a visual representation in terms of frequency, intensity and time. It enables to identify the distinct features on the basis of the spectrographic analysis of the voice and finally the computerised analysis in which a number of fundamental pitch formants were created.

Explaining the technique Jain, who was here to deliver a lecture on “Forensic speaker identification” said that the most interesting feature which made the technique useful and accurate was that the ratio of frequency formants was a constant, making it speaker specific and text independent. As such even if a person speaks different words, imitates the voice of another person or disguises his original voice by speaking in a female voice or resorts to any other method of disguise, including synthesis using electronic gadgets, his voice could still be identified.

This made the technique very useful. It could be used in cases involving twins where the DNA profiles of two persons were similar. The unique voice characteristics depended on the dimension of vocal cavity, chords, tongue and palette. The minute analysis of voice starts from sentence, narrow downs to words, letters and finally ends up pinpointing the distinct features on the basis of acoustic characteristics.

It is being used in cases of hi-tech crime where cloned mobile phones were used for handing out threats, demanding ransom and other criminal activities. The computer savvy criminals are resorting to mobile cloning which enabled them to produce replicas. The mobile phone clones were produced by replicating the SIM card.