Dharamsala, October 26
The Congress has decided not to project any chief ministerial candidate before the Assembly election results. This was stated by R.K. Dhawan, in-charge of the party affairs of the state, while talking to mediapersons in the circuit house here, today.

He said that Congress had never projected its chief ministerial candidate before the results of any Assembly election anywhere in India and the same tradition would be followed here in the state also. The name for this post would be declared after consultation with the newly elected MLAs and the party high command decision would be final in this regard, he said.

This statement of the Congress leader assumes significance in the light of the fact that a section of the Congress leadership in the state was putting pressure on the Central leadership to replace Virbhadra Singh and bring in some young and energetic person on the forefront.

Expressing full confidence in the party’s victory during the elections, he said that AICC chairperson Sonia Gandhi, her son, Rahul Gandhi, and other senior Congress leaders would campaign for the party candidates in the state.

The Congress leader further said early elections would not cause any serious problems for the ruling party. However, he said if the three tribal constituencies were at a disadvantage during the past elections, the remaining 65 seats were at loss this time as their mandate did not get a full five-year term to perform.

Replying to the questions of media persons, Dhawan said that efforts would be made to allot tickets to those people who had a clean image and also fresh faces. He said that women, if found fit to win would be given due representation. Above all, winning potential would be the deciding factor in all the ticket allotment, he added. 

Chamba, October 26
A visit to Chamba by animal husbandry and urban development minister Harsh Mahajan next week has raised the hopes of the people here who want him to contest elections from his home assembly constituency. A rousing reception is planned for him.

Pandit Laxmi Dhar Sharma, an executive member of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), said party workers along with hundreds of Mahajan supporters first met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and requested him to build pressure on Mahajan to contest elections honouring the sentiments of not only Congress leaders, workers and the rank and file but also his fans.

Sharma said that they had convinced Mahajan to come to Chamba as early as possible and announce his decision before his party workers and supporters. As a result, Mahajan had agreed to come to Chamba by next week. 

Sloan, October 26
To woo the agrarian community in the coming Assembly polls in the state, the former Chief Minister and MP from Hamirpur P.K.Dhumal today vowed not to acquire their arable land for setting up industries or pursuing other commercial ventures. While opposing the forcible acquisition of fertile tillable land he said non-arable land could be used for the purpose.

Dhumal who was addressing a workers sammelan here said the party would annul all allotments made by the state Waqf Board in violation of norms if voted to power.

While giving a stern message to the land mafia which had become active ever since the present Congress government had come to power he said a thorough probe would be ordered into all Benami land deals. The party had not only adopted a resolution against the land mafia, but a former BJP minister himself had levelled allegations of the land mafia grabbing land from the poor in the district.

Advocating the need for projecting a unified image among the masses, Dhumal said the workers should rather focus on highlighting the misdeeds of the present Congress government.

He said the much-hyped rally held at Nagrota Bagwan yesterday was a flop show as it failed to mobilise the masses.

Earlier, regional organizing secretary of party Manohar Lal exhorted the workers to work in unison and counter the Congress strategy right from the booth level. Local MLA Dr Rajeev Bindal accused the Congress of ignoring Solan in the matter of development. District BJP president H.N.Singh and former minister M.N.Sofat also exhorted the workers to work unitedly and help the party emerge victorious.

Shimla, October 26
With both the Congress as well as the BJP giving far less representation in ticket allotment to women than the promised 33 per cent, women aspirants can now hope to get a better deal from the BSP, with party chief Mayawati being projected as a symbol of women power.

Despite a large number of women applying for the Assembly ticket from the two main political parties in the state, the Congress and the BJP, not too many have been fielded in the Assembly polls. The representation given to them by both the parties has been far less than the promised 33 per cent.

With the BSP making its presence felt in the hill state for the first time in such a big way, women who have been active in politics can get a platform if denied a ticket by the Congress and the BJP. The party has already received applications from 10 women, who are keen to try their luck on the BSP ticket with the blessings of Mayawati.

“With our party chief Mayawati being a source of inspiration for women, the BSP would certainly want to give tickets to maximum number of women having potential winning chances,” asserts Vijai Singh Mankotia, who is spearheading the party’s campaign and has been projected as the chief ministerial candidate.

Though the track record of the Congress is slightly better than the opposition BJP, as far as fielding women is concerned, but even then it is far less than what is being demanded by women in the Parliament. During the last Assembly elections in 2003, the Congress had fielded eight women candidates.

Out of these eight candidates, four won and in fact three made it to the Cabinet. Those who won the elections included power minister Vidya Stokes from Kumarsein in Shimla, former education minister Asha Kumari from Banikhet in Chamba, Anita Verma from Hamirpur and Chandresh Kumari from Dharamsala in Kangra.

Those who lost the elections included HPCC chief Viplove Thakur, Krishna Mohini from Solan, Sukriti Kumari from Nalagarh and Vidya Zar from Nadaunta. With Viplove heading the party, women aspirants can this time hope for better chances of getting a ticket.

While Chandresh Kumari lost her ministerial berth on account of downsizing of the Cabinet, Asha also resigned following a controversy. Verma got the post of chief parliamentary secretary (CPS), but with the High Court terming the appointment of CPS and parliamentary secretaries (PS) as illegal, she too resigned.

The BJP on the other hand had only given the ticket to merely four women, with none of them registering victory. 

Shimla, October 26
All 88 police stations in the state have been provided with the number 100 dialing facility, making it possible for people to lodge their complaints on a toll free number. The 12 police stations in the state which did not have this facility have also been covered now. Out of the 12 police stations which did not have the facility, eight were in Shimla district,while two were in Chamba.

IG (law and order)Sitaram Mardi said the number 100 dialing facility in all police stations would enable people to lodge all kinds of complaints and also to pass on vital information to the police. He added that directions had already been issued to all the SHOs to respond to such complaints or requests of the public received on number 100.

The eight police stations in Shimla which will now have this facility, include Sadar police station in Shimla, Kumarsain, Jhakri, Kotkhai, Jubbal, Chirgaon, Nerwa and GRP, Shimla. Out eight police stations in Chamba district, the two stations (Killar and Pangi) which did not have the facility have been provided with. The other two police stations which have been covered include Bhawanagar in Kinnaur district and Kandaghat in Solan.

Besides directing the SHOs to respond to all calls received on number 100, supervisory officers have been asked to ensure that there is immediate response so that peoples’ complaints are redressed at the earliest.

Providing number 100 facility in all police stations will now make it possible for a person travelling to get across to the police not only in case of major accidents but also when stranded in a traffic jam.

Since 100 is a toll free number ,no charges would be made for the call as such people would readily share important information with the police and help in its functioning and maintaining law and order.

Shimla, October 26
Besides holding routine public meetings, the BJP would be using other modes of electioneering right from extensive use of electronic media to staging of street plays. These methods have been found to be very effective in Uttarakhand, a state having similar topography and culture to Himachal Pradesh. The state election management committee will be meeting here on October 27 to thrash out all issues concerning poll strategy, including the modes of campaigning to be used and the national leaders whose services could be utilized for campaigning. Senior party leaders will also assess the strong and weak areas of the party during the meeting and chalk out the poll strategy accordingly.

The party is likely to hire services of the already trained troupes from Uttarakhand, who will not only entertain the people but also put across the message in favour of the party by staging street plays.

Although the street plays will be staged all over the state, the focus will be more in the remote areas of Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, which have been traditionally Congress strongholds.

Senior party leaders said the central leadership was keen that the party improved its performance in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur.

As far as campaigning for the three tribal belts is concerned, national vice-president Shanta Kumar, MP P.K. Dhumal and state party chief Jai Ram Thakur will lead the party campaign. During the campaigning for the remaining 65 seats, L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj will tour the state and address election rallies.

Nahan, October 26
In a meeting of Congress leaders, mandal presidents and district executive convened in the Congress Bhawan here today party observer for the district Virender Singh Visht gave separate hearing to the party workers of every constituency and every group and noted their views regarding possibility of winning of different ticket seekers in the five Assembly constituencies in the district.

As per the political observers, there was not much controversy on granting Congress tickets to three sitting MLAs of Pacchad, Renuka and Shillai Assembly segments along with the ticket of Kush Parmar, a former MLA and son of Dr Y. S. Parmar. Party ticket issue for Paonta-Doon constituency remained in the lime light today.

Almost all warring groups of Paonta Congress today expressed their unanimity on the issue of granting party ticket to a consensus candidate so that party could put a united fight to snatch Paonta seat back from the BJP MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhry.

A dominating group of party workers from Paonta area put forward the name of Congress leader Kirnesh Jang and advocated party ticket for him as he was the ‘only winning candidate’ in the Paonta-Doon constituency. Jang, who fought as independent candidate in the last elections was defeated by BJP candidate Sukh Ram Chaudhry in a stiff contes,t while official candidate of the Congress, the then parliament secretary Rattan Singh was pushed to the third place. Party workers claimed that Jung had the capacity to defeat the BJP in the Paonta constituency as he had support of all biradries and sects in the Paonta area.

Shimla, October 26
The Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJSP) will contest only two of the three tribal seats for which elections are scheduled to be held on November 14.

The party has decided to field Bhagat Singh Kinner, who recently resigned from the post of the vice-president of the tribal cell of the BJP and joined the LJSP, from Kinnaur.

Prem Lal Dogra, a social activist, has been granted the party ticket from Lahaul-Spiti.

The party will not contest the Bharmour seat.

State party president Sadanand Chauhan said the party was planning to contest all 65 seats for which elections would be held in the second phase. It had already started the process for selection of candidates for the second phase. The final decision would be taken by the party high command on November 15.

He said the party would not have alliance with any party. Besides party supremo Ram Bilas Paswan, other senior leaders, including MPs, would also campaign in the state. Paswan was expected to tour the state in the first week of November.

Bilaspur, October 26
Veteran BJP leader and former party district finance secretary Jagdish Katoch, has given a call to former health minister and prominent BJP leader Jagat Prakash Nadda to declare his withdrawal of candidature for the party ticket from the Bilaspur sadar constituency here and follow suit like minister Harsh Mahajan of Chamba, and avoid unsavory controversy regarding his leadership here in the constituency.

Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, Katoch said unfortunately despite having got the party ticket three times and being a minister for full five years, Nadda had failed to win confidence of a powerful section of the party workers here.

He said Nadda should give in to the interest of the party and should withdraw in favour of some one else who could win the confidence of both warring factions of the party in this constituency in order to ensure victory of the party in the election.

Katoch said the party was strong in this area but it was facing divisions only due to a particular way of functioning of Jagat Prakash Nadda. If he abdicated, it would not be difficult to choose any able leader acceptable to all in the party which would certainly lead the party to a thumping victory on the elections, he said.

Kullu, October 26
The second-last day of Kullu Dussehra is locally called “Mohalla”. All participating deities register their presence and support to the chief deity Lord Ram for killing Ravan on the last day of the festival.

Idols of Ram, Sita and Hanuman, brought from Ayodhaya by the then ruler of Kullu Jagat Singh are worshipped for the last five days at the camp temple at Dhalpur Maidan. A descendant of Raja Jagat Singh, Maheshwar Singh, takes blessings from Shakti as a representative of Lord Ram by performing Durga Pooja.

Tripura Sundari Devi, a “kul devi” of erstwhile rulers of Kullu, performs the ceremonies and blesses Ram to defeat the evil. Goddess Kali is also worshipped by sacrificing seven animals to mark the culmination of the festival on the seventh day.

Dussehra in Kullu begins after the Dussehra celebrations are over in the rest of the country. This is because the functions related to Raghunath, chief deity of Kullu, are according to the moon calendar.

On Mohalla night, Dhalpur Maidan comes alive with crowd in the evening. Young boys and girls dance together at the temple. Eloping is acceptable to society on this evening. The lovers can get married on this evening.

In the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra, the final of the folk dance competition is held. This year Harbhajan Mann will tonight.

Shimla, October 26
Lack of medical facilities and other infrastructure at the grassroot-level has led to high infant mortality rate (IMR) in the state.

It is paradoxical that in a state which boasts of the best health infrastructure and robust health indicators, the IMR should be as high as 49 per 1,000 live births in the sample registration survey-2005 (SRS).

The figure has gone up further to 50 as per the latest SRS report likely to be issued shortly. Even in Uttarakhand, it was 42 and in Sikkim just 30, which clearly indicated that the state’s medical services needed improvement.

More disturbing was the fact that the female infant mortality had surpassed the male infant mortality rate for the first time in 2005. The IMR for males declined from 54 in 2003 to 44 in 2005 and for females had increased from 44 to 51.

The state has 2,071 health sub-centres, 444 primary health centres (PHC’s), 72 community health centres (CHCs) and 51 civil hospitals, which far exceed the norms laid down by the Central Government. For instance, there is a sub-centre for a population of 2,700 as against the norm of 3,000, a PHC for every 13,000 persons as against the prescribed population 20,000 and a CHC for 80,000 persons, as against the norm of 1 lakh.

Yet the percentage of institutional deliveries is as low as 48, which is a major factor for high IMR. Perennial shortage of manpower, indifferent management and lack of adequate training to midwives are the other factors contributing to the high IMR.

Most of the institutions are located in rural areas. Some of them are in very remote areas, where doctors and other staff are reluctant to go. Thus the doctors and paramedical staff are not often available during emergencies.

A large number of deaths during births are caused due to asphyxia which points towards inadequate training to the midwives. Besides, a high percentage of anaemic women add to the problem.

The comparative data of national family health surveys conducted in 1998-99 and 2005-06 reveals that there is no change in the percentage of anaemic women in the 15-49 age group which continues to be as high as 41 per cent but there has been deterioration on the immunisation front with the percentage of fully immunised children declining from 83 to 73.

However, on the positive side, the percentage of underweight children up to the age of three years declined from 41 to 27 and that of anaemic children has declined from 70 to 59, but it was still very high.

Director health services M.L. Mahajan maintains that the situation was improving and the percentage of institutional deliveries had gone up from 29 to 48 over the past decade. He said the goal was to increase it to 60 by 2010 and further to 80 subsequently.

As almost 60 per cent of the deaths take place in the first month, the IMR would be significantly reduced with the increase in institutional deliveries.

However, secretary, Planning and Finance, Arvind Mehta is of the view that given the difficult hilly terrain, the number of institutional deliveries will remain on the lower side and it will be worthwhile to provide better training to midwives to ensure safe deliveries in rural areas.

The state is second only to Kerala in literacy with a literacy rate of 88 per cent. There has been success on the family planning front with the birthrate declining to 20 as against 23.8 for the country and the total fertility rate to 2.1 as compared to 2.9 at the national-level. 

Bilaspur, October 26
The sting operation carried out by Tehelka on the Gujarat riots, exposing Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the riots, has been condemned by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

Addressing mediapersons at circuit house today, BSP state general secretary and former MLA Krishan Kumar Kaushal said the shameless description by culprits of these heinous crimes had put the country to shame. He said thousands of innocent people were killed in the riots which took place in 2002.

Kaushal expressed shock that senior BJP leaders instead of condemning Modi were defending him and said the BJP should expel such people from the party. He ridiculed the BJP of posing itself as a non-communal national party committed to human values and principles.

Kaushal demanded that the President and the Supreme Court should take immediate action and punish those who had humiliated the country’s democracy and Constitution.

Shimla, October 26
The state BJP legal cell will bring to the notice of the Election Commission all cases of violation of the model code of conduct by the Congress.

A meeting of the state working committee of the cell was held here today under the chairmanship of national convener of the cell and in charge of party affairs in Himachal Satpal Jain. He said the role of the lawyers was all the more important during the elections time.

State organisational secretary Mahender Pandey said lawyers should assist election observers by bringing to their notice all cases of violation of model code of conduct. — TNS

Hamirpur, October 26
A sacked employee of the Industries Department has not only sought intervention of the President of India but also decided to go on fast if his grievances were not redressed soon and orders of the administrative tribunal not implemented.

Karam Chand, a resident of Haryani village under Bhoranj tehsil of the district, has requested the President to prevail upon the state government to get orders of the HP State Administrative Tribunal implemented for which he had been running from pillar to post for the past three years. He said though the tribunal had directed the government to pay him the subsistence allowance, he had not been paid the same till date. — TNS