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Blockade of roads during rallies
No need for CBI inquiry, says Bali
Interview procedure comes under scanner
Internal assessment scheme soon
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Vivek school students lift declamation trophy
Separate directorate proposed
4 more women on fast
‘BJP entered Cong rally with a motive’
2 killed in accident
1 killed, 3 hurt as JCB falls into gorge
Complaint under RTI
Permission to kill leopard
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Blockade of roads during rallies
Shimla, September 2 Expressing anguish over the painful death of a four-year-old child who could not be taken to hospital in time due to the parallel rallies of the Congress and the BJP here on August 29, he said the incident should spur political parties and the government to find a solution to the problem which was a countrywide feature. In other states such incidents were a regular feature and mostly went unnoticed. He said political parties should come forward and take the initiative to find a permanent solution to this problem as religious, political and social events spilling over to roads had of late become a regular feather in the country. It caused unnecessary and unintentional harassment to road-users. There was a limit to everything and it was time to address the problem once and for all. He said in other countries there were emergency lanes for police vehicles, ambulances, fire tenders and other emergency services. In India the concept of emergency lanes was unthinkable at present but some way could be evolved to prevent people from hindering the movement of traffic. Referring to the police lathi charge on BJP workers in front of the Vidhan Sabha, Sinha said it was the act of a party on its way out from the seat of power and reflected its frustration. The fact that a senior leader like Shanta Kumar, virtually a “saint in politics”, was attacked and injured gave an indication how desperate the Congress had become. There were already several issues like the failure of the Prime Minister to grant the announced package, corruption and the audio CD and the police action on BJP workers would only add to the woes of the ruling party and hasten its exit from office. Replying to a question he said he had not left acting but after joining politics he was not able to give time for shooting. However, now he had decided to do one film at a time. Sinha said he had some good offers and had already examined some manuscripts and would take a decision soon. At the moment he was more concerned about the launching of his sons, Luv and Kush, in Bollywood. While Luv would enter the film world as an actor, Kush was keen on direction. They had done all required training from the New York Film Academy. When asked about Lalu Yadav’s positive contribution to Bihar he said the leader had brought a sense of dignity and belonging among the poor and restored their confidence. The weaker sections of society could not longer by harassed by the wealthy or the men in khaki. |
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No ‘jungle raj’ in Bihar
Shimla, September 2 “Despite sincere efforts by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, things are not moving at a desired pace in Bihar,” he said at meet-the-press programme organised by the Shimla Press Club. “An overhauling of the system is required. Measures in bits and pieces will not do,” he said. He expressed hope that the state government would take effective steps to further tone up the law and order situation in Bihar.
— PTI |
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Shimla Clash
Kangra, September 2 Bali, who arrived here this afternoon from Delhi, was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a factory price outlet. He denied that the police had committed any atrocity on BJP workers at Shimla on Wednesday last. He said as this was the last day of the assembly session at Shimla, the Congress had sought permission for holding its public rally between the AG office and the barrier. He blamed the BJP leadership for fomenting trouble by instigating Congress workers. He said if the BJP had any permission for this venue “let it come with the documents.” He asked the BJP leadership that if it had anything on record regarding any police atrocity let that be handed over to the state government. He said if anything required a CBI probe it was the Vivekananda Medical Research Trust headed by former Union minister Shanta Kumar. He asked why the BJP was silent on this scam. Bali said the BJP was a leaderless organisation and to divert the attention of the people from infighting among Shanta Kumar, P.K. Dhumal, Maheshwar Singh and Jai Ram for party leadership, the party was raising bogus issues without any basis. |
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Interview procedure comes under scanner
Solan, September 2 Expressing doubts over the fair conduct of interviews, vice-president of the BJP state unit Dr Rajiv Bindal today demanded the postponement of the interviews. He said there was no sanctity left in the conduct of these interviews and it was being apprehended that candidates had been finalised and the interviews were a mere eyewash. He said the selection committee included deputy director general (DDU) Education Dr P. Dass, ex-pro VC Dr D.R. Thakur, VC, HAU, Dr J.C. Katiyal, VC, MPAU, Udaipur, Dr S.L. Mehta, director ICAR Academy Dr B.S. Hansra, ex-VC, PAU, Ludhiana, Dr K.S. Aulakh, principal chief conservator of forests Dr Khullar, ex PCCF J.C. Chaudhary, DDG (horticulture), director general ICFRE, DR H.P.Singh, ex-DG Dr N.K. Joshi, ex-VC Dr D.S. Rathore and ex-VC Dr Kirti Singh. He said serious doubts had arisen over the veracity of the interviews. Since the posts were advertised three times in February 2006, November 2006 and April 2007, it only proved that the university authorities were waiting for their favourites to either apply or become eligible to apply. Intriguingly, while candidates applying for the post of professor in MBA could be those residing abroad, this relaxation was first extended for the post of librarian in an earlier advertisement and later found missing in the last advertisement. He said this had created suspicions about the selection panel. He has demanded the postponement of the interviews from the Governor. Supporting his earlier allegations of irregularities in the department of Post Harvest Technology (PHT) Dr Bindal produced a handwritten copy of a letter written by it’s head Dr S.P.S. Guleria wherein he admitted of having committed procedural lapse in 2005, while leaving answersheets unchecked and granting marks ranging from 90 to 95 to certain students. The letter dated January 3, 2006, was addressed to the VC requesting him for grant of a general pardon for these irregularities. He said the letter was proof enough that his allegations were true and that the authorities had failed to initiate any action against the offender. He said university authorities should remove him from his post. |
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From The HPU Campus
Shimla: Students enrolled in various colleges all over the state will have to be more serious as far as attending classes and the terminal examinations are concerned, as the internal assessment scheme will be implemented from the current academic session.
The Academic Council of the HPU has already approved the report submitted by the committee in this regard. As per the scheme, 20 per cent marks will be added to the final aggregate of the students on the basis of his attendance and performance in the terminal examinations conducted by the colleges. A committee comprising the vice-chancellor, dean of colleges, teachers associations and principals of some colleges had been formed to finalise the scheme. “The main objective of the scheme is to ensure that the students are more regular in attending classes and take the terminal examinations seriously,” dean of colleges Prof Rajender Chauhan said. He said vice-chancellor Dr Anil Wilson had himself drafted the scheme as he was keen that students must be regular in attending classes. The scheme which has been introduced for the B.A -I and B. Sc-I from this year will cover all classes in a phased manner. College education
to be costly
College and university education might cost more as the Resource Mobilisation Committee constituted by Himachal Pradesh University has recommended increase in the tuition and examination fees. The committee has submitted its report to the vice chancellor and this will be placed before the executive committee (EC) for the final approval and implementations. Even though the committee had prepared its report some time back, the matter was not placed before the EC in view of the Students Central Association (SCA) elections. The university authorities have already clarified that some harsh steps will have to be taken to mobilise resources. The committee has recommended three-time increase in the examination fee for the postgraduate classes from Rs 80 to Rs 240. In case of undergraduate classes, it is proposed to increase the annual fees from Rs 100 to Rs 300. It is only after the EC approves the enhancement of fees that it would be implemented in all colleges of the state. The examination fees of Rs 80 being charged by the university has not been revised for the past several years. The university officials point out that even the HP Board of School Education charges examination fee of Rs 275 for class XII examination. They reason out that out of the Rs 80 examination fee for four papers, Rs 40 is given to the examiners and it is next to impossible for the university to meet the expense of printing question and answersheets. Cause of worry for SFI
The SFI has been able to retain its hold over the Himachal Pradesh University once again, but there is cause for worry as it has lost out in certain areas where it had a good hold. It is the NSUI which to everyone’s surprise has been able to do exceptionally well in most parts of the state. It’s a different matter that it has never been in a strong position in the HPU. On the other hand, the ABVP’s dream of gaining control over the prestigious HPU SCA has once again remained unfulfilled. It was only once in 2001 that the ABVP was able to gain control over the SCA of the HPU by winning all four seats. In 2003, the ABVP was able to win only two seats with the SFI, making a clean sweep the very next year. |
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Vivek school students lift declamation trophy
Solan, September 2 While Gursheel Sahni from St John’s High School, Chandigarh, won the gold medal in the English category, Shrutkirti of St Thomas Convent, Karnal, won the top award in the Hindi category. Schools from Ajmer, Kunjpura, Patiala, Chandigarh, Sonepat, Sujanpur Tihra and Shimla participated in the contest. First HP NCC Battalion’s commanding officer Col Shailesh Panchlotia was the chief guest at the function. He gave away prizes to the winners. Harnoor Kaur of the host school bagged the silver medal in the English section while the bronze medal was bagged by Kanwardeep of St Kabir School, Chandigarh. In the Hindi section, the silver medal was awarded to Sanya Ojha of Vivek High School, Chandigarh, while the bronze medal was won by Divesh Thakur of DAV Senior Secondary School, New Shimla. Consolation prizes were awarded to Nadia Sajad of Auckland House, Shimla, and Garima Yadav of Army Public School,
Dagshai. |
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Eco-tourism
Shimla, September 2 The department has been asked to prepare a blue print for the proposed directorate which will be responsible for implementing the eco-tourism policy approved early this year. A separate directorate is needed to achieve necessary linkages with the panchayati raj institutions, local bodies, non-government organisations and mahila mandals to involve people in promoting community-base tourism. The government has already set up the state eco-tourism society (EcoSoc) for development of eco-tourism circuits and camp resorts in the state. It has also transferred the control of 168 selected forest rest houses out of the total 512 to the society. These rest houses will be renovated, improved and managed by the divisional eco-tourism society. The society will employ four persons per rest house, including a cook, helper and attendant to provide various services to eco-tourists. The government is already negotiating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which has agreed to grant Rs 30 crore for the development of eco-tourism circuits. The bank is funding a Rs 600 crore tourism plan for the country and wants to focus on eco-tourism. The objective is to develop theme-based eco-tourism circuits with focus on local heritage, biodiversity, flora and fauna, religious places and adventure activities. The department has already submitted proposals for the development of 12 eco-tourism circuits with an investment of Rs 9 crore to the Centre for funding. It has also decided to earmark 1 per cent of the funds available under the catchment area treatment (CAT) plan for the purpose. An amount of Rs 60 lakh has been released. Eco-tourism aims to take care of issues like carrying capacity of the area, treatment of sewerage, litter control, waste disposal and ensure optimum use of the fragile eco-system. |
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Anganwari Recruitments
Nurpur, September 2 Ram Devi of Kopra gram panchayat, Taro devi and Sushma devi of Kotpalari panchayat, and Pushpa devi of Bhaloon gram panchayat have given a memorandum to the deputy commissioner (DC), Kangra, through the SDM regarding anganwari recruitments. They sat on a 24-hour hunger strike last evening along with their children on the office premises of the SDM. They have demanded an impartial inquiry into the anganwari appointments in their gram panchayats. They alleged that influential candidates having no eligibility were selected and their eligibility had been ignored. They demanded that their appeals filed before the DC, Kangra, be heard at Nurpur as they were from poor families and could not afford travelling expenses. SDM Inder Bhardwaj has clarified that their memorandum carrying the demand of hearing appeals at the subdivisional headquarters had been faxed to the DC Kangra. |
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‘BJP entered Cong rally with a motive’
Hamirpur, September 2 Addressing a press conference here he said BJP leaders had been frustrated for quite some time due to the pro-people measures taken by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh like the creation of thousands of jobs, giving benefits to employees and providing cheap ration through PDS shops. He said to gain public sympathy the BJP leaders not only detoured from the venue of their rally but also thronged the Congress rally with a clear intention to create problem after breaking police barricades. Pathania said “Even senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar enacted a drama by saying that he received six stiches after being hit by a stone.” He questioned could six stitches be caused by a stone on an elbow? |
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2 killed in accident
Shimla, September 2 Surajmani, wife of Surat Ram, and an unidentified labourer died on the spot. Those seriously injured were: Tek Singh (driver), Chanderkanta (41) and Mira(40). They were taken to the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital. Other injured, Ashok Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Raja Ram, Lubha Devi, Manjit, Kuldeep, Pramod and Rohan, were hospitalised at Rohru. |
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1 killed, 3 hurt as JCB falls into gorge
Nahan, September 2 Driver of the JCB reportedly fled from the spot after the accident. Ramesh Kumar (22) of Kando village was killed on the spot. Prem Singh (14) and Satish (21), both of Khegwa village, and Jagia Ram (21) of Ghaton Kail village were injured in the incident. They were taken to the Dadahu Hospital by local residents and police personnel from where they were referred to the Nahan district
hospital. Sangrah tehsildar J.C. Sharma gave Rs 3,000 as immediate relief to the kin of the deceased and Rs 500 each to the injured. A case has been registered. |
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Complaint under RTI
Bilaspur, September 2 Parmar said today that he had applied for the information under the Right to Information Act, 2005, on July 18, but it has not been provided to him so far. He has demanded action against the officer concerned. |
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Permission to kill leopard
Chamba, September 2 The leopard had killed one person and injured some others while working in their fields a few days ago.
— OC |
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