Dehradun, December 24
The Uttarakhand Congress has decided to organise "Dalit Swabhiman Sammelans" in the state in protest against the alleged anti-Dalit policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government.

Suryakant Dhasmana, spokesperson of the party, said that Uttarakhand Congress chief Yashpal Arya has decided to take the fight of the Dalits to the people following the failure of the state government to protect their rights. A state-level “Dalit Swabhiman Sammelan” will be held at Dehradun on January 11, he said.

Dhasmana alleged that despite several pleas, the members of the Dalit community are not getting caste certificates necessary to apply for government jobs.

“Thousands of applicants from the Dalit community have been deprived from applying for government jobs, particularly in the police department, due to the want of caste certificates. The present BJP government has been deliberately delaying the issue of the certificates,” said Dhasmana.

A delegation of the Uttarakhand Congress led by state party chief Yashpal Arya had also called upon state governor BL Joshi last week to apprise him of the attempts to keep the Dalits out of opportunities to gain government employment.

As Yashpal Arya himself is a Dalit leader, the Congress is trying to hit out at ruling BJP and also make a dent in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) citadel in Haridwar district. Haridwar has six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators out of total nine in the district.

The Dalits of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar are facing problems in getting their caste certificates.

With a Dalit leader at the helm of affairs in the state, the Congress has been trying to wean away the Dalits from the BSP and portray the ruling BJP as anti-Dalit in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.

Haridwar, December 24
Internal factionalism in the Uttarakhand Congress once again came to the fore when state vice-president Brahmaswaroop Brahmachari termed former parliamentarian Harish Rawat as a ‘migratory bird’.

This statement has again brought the two rival factions - one led by Harish Rawat and another by veteran Congress leader N.D. Tiwari - at loggerheads.

With the parliamentary elections nearing, the probable candidates have started activities in their respective constituencies.

Former state Congress chief Harish Rawat, for the past one month, has been active in Haridwar district. Although, Harish Rawat had announced that he would not contest elections till 2010, his activities and meeting with party workers extensively in Haridwar, Rishikesh and Roorkee have fuelled speculation that he may contest from Haridwar since his home constituency of Almora has been reserved in the fresh delimitation.

This has made the other probable candidates worried and each one of them is trying to outwit the others.

The controversy arose when Brahmaswaroop Brahmachari was asked about Harish Rawat’s activities in the district. Brahmchari said that it is time for local Congressmen to beware of the ‘migratory birds’ indirectly referring to Harish Rawat as he hails from Kumaon region.

State secretary of Rajiv Gandhi Sena, Ramesh Joshi, a Rawat loyalist took exception to Brahmacharis’ remarks and said that the Congress should not be afraid of birds but should beware of the elephant, referring to Bahujan Samaj Party’s symbol.

The BSP is the dominant political force in Haridwar district and has won six out of the total nine assembly seats in the district.

Harish Rawat had also been in the news for attending a Dalit Sammelan in Rishikesh organised by expelled party leader Jaipal Jatav. He and his supporters were not seen in the ‘Jail Bharo Andolan’ organised by the Uttarakhand Congress.

Dehradun, December 24
The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly Speaker Harbans Kapoor expressed his dismay over the conduct of the legislators during the winter session of the assembly.

“Despite making so much efforts, it is really disheartening that MLAs created ruckus in the House. The manner in which legislators interrupted the proceedings of the House was extremely unfortunate,” said Kapoor.

He added that it was commendable that despite several interruptions and uproar, the first-time legislators successfully raised several important issues in the House, which concluded on December 20.

Speaking to mediapersons, Kapoor said that during the six-day session, the proceedings in the House continued for 16 hours, 35 minutes.

“From a total of 67 short notice questions, one was admitted and was answered by the government. Likewise, total of 380 starred and non-starred questions were asked by the legislators,” he said.

The speaker also said that a committee has been constituted for choosing ‘Best MLA’ based on the conduct of the legislators in the House.

Dehradun, December 24
Chief Minister BC Khanduri today directed constitution of a sub-committee for speedy conduct of works of the Bhagirathi River Valley Development Authority, including concessions for the affected villagers.

Presiding over the first annual meeting of the river authority, the Chief Minister said the authority work was related to issues such as conservation, enrichment of environment, balanced development and ensuring concessions to Tehri Dam oustees.

The authority vice-president, BD Raturi, said the objectives of the authority could be met only if suggestions at the meeting were taken up on priority and decisions implemented speedily.

The meeting discussed at length the procedural works linked to preparation of the Master Plan, making the traditional ropeway route operational, sparing some part of profit earnings from hydroprojects in the valley for the authority and purchasing land for the authority’s office.

The Chief Minister referred to the directions of the apex court while framing the Dehradun Master Plan.

Also present at the meeting were MLAs Gopal Singh Rawat, Om Gopal, Kishore Upadhyaya, Kazan Das and Balbir Singh Negi, and officers of the authority.

Dehradun, December 24
The much-awaited presentation of the prizes to the winners of ‘The Tribune Festival Bonanza Contest’ took place at The Tribune sub-office Dehradun, here today.

Col. AK Chatterjee (retd) who was given the first prize was handed over a LG LCD as the judges found his slogan the best among all the entries and his answers to the two queries correct.

Brig. Vijay Kumar (retd) and Dr. AK Manchanda won the second prize and were handed over Flatron televisions, individually. Three third prizes, which included DVD players, were presented to TS Bansal, Mohan Nand Nautiyal and Vinod Kumar Malik.

SMA Kazmi, bureau chief, The Tribune Dehradun, while greeting the winners, handed over the prizes. Conducted during October-November this year, The Tribune Festival Bonanza Contest had received tremendous enthusiasm.

The first prize winner and now proud owner of LG LCD resident of Defence Colony Dehradun, Col. AK Chatterjee recalled his long association with The Tribune.

“I first came across The Tribune when posted at Ambala in 1964 and even during 1971 war when I was a war causality at Dera Baba Nanak, my bondage with the newspaper continued to grow with each passing year,” he said.

Recalling one particular instance when posted at Chandigarh in 1986, Col. Chatterjee said his son attained 4th position in All-India Combined Defence Services Examination and while preparing for defence services, Tribune did helped him a lot at that time.

“After his success, my son too continued his association with the newspaper and even recommended it to other defence career aspirants as the best to brush up the current affairs.”

He in particular praised Tribune for its big font size pointing out that it certainly does not strain the eyes.

The winner of second prize and resident of Ballupur road, Dehradun, Brig. Vijay Kumar (retd), said, for defence personnel, The Tribune was their voice.

“Hardly any other newspaper covers defence issues to such big extent as done by The Tribune,” he said.

Dehradun, December 24
The 52-year-old, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has formed a 51 member ‘Think Tank’ to pump-in young and innovative ideas for tackling issues facing the oil major. All 51 officers are brand new recruits, what the oil major terms Graduate Trainees (GTs).

The Think Tank has been selected from a batch of 1300 officers, recently recruited by ONGC who attended a workshop on 'Creativity & Innovation'; the final list was drawn after an elaborate screening process, designed to filter only the brightest, most creative and fertile minds.

The 51 officers will now pitch-in their ideas to the ONGC Board in a two-day meet being held near Delhi on December 29-30. ONGC, director (HR), Dr. AK Balyan and chief of employee relations, Sushant Vats are piloting this workshop, which is expected to see brainstorming on the ways to enhance productivity, retain talent and speed up decision processes in the most valuable public enterprise in India.

Manoj Barthwal, who is coordinating the exercise, said, “This unique initiative will not only attract some good ideas, but also foster a sense of belongingness to the young generation workforce, who has a long career for them in ONGC.”

Haridwar, December 24
The battle has begun for the honour of the best team among the Universities in India. The National Inter-University Hockey Championship began today at the Dayanand Stadium in the Gurukul University.

In the inaugural match, the host, Gurukul Kangri team thrashed Nagpur University comprehensively scoring nine goals while Nagpur could only score a solitary goal. From the very beginning, the Gurukul team showcased attacking style of hockey and it paid dividends when they scored first goal in just seven minutes.

For Gurukul, Devendra was the star of the match scoring the first hat-trick of the tournament. Rajendra scored two goals while Sanjay Pandey, Abhishek, Manish and Harikesh scored one each in the victory. Nagpur players were totally outwitted by the strategy employed by the Gurukul coach, Dhirendra Chauhan. He changed the strategy at will and to successful effect.

In the other matches of the first day, Panjab University, Chandigarh slammed half a dozen goals against a hapless Pune University. From Chandigarh, first goal came in the 37th minute with Amit Bhargava scoring a hat-trick. Yaduvendra scored twice while Amandeep scored one goal.

In the third match of the day, Mumbai University was thrashed by Kurukshetra University by a whopping 6-0 margin. Mumbai team had to play with just nine men as two of their players were shown red card by referee, KP Singh for foul play. Mid field player, Maninder and goalkeeper, Abdul Meru were shown the red card the first of the tournament.

In the fourth match of the tourney, Bangalore University and Ranchi Unviersity displayed classical hockey and in the end both the teams had to settle for a draw with one goal scored by each side. Mohan scored for Bangalore while Manohar scored for the Ranchi University.

In the fifth match, Madras University clashed with Gwalior in which Gwalior won comprehensively by 2-0 margin. Sixth match of the day was between Bharti Das University and BHU Varanasi in which Varanasi was given a walk over as Bharti Das University couldn’t turn up at the scheduled time.

In the last match of the day between Madras Annamalai University and Sambhalpur University both the teams due to ultra defensive play could not score a goal and had to share the points.

Earlier in the morning, the championship was inaugurated by Madan Kaushik, Uttarakhand Minister for Education. Kaushik urged the players to utilise sports as a mean of interaction too as coming from diverse states they have the opportunity to know each others’ culture and share their expertise in the game of hockey too.

At the ceremony, Vice Chancellor, professor Swatantra Kumar, gave a cheque of Rs one lakh to the Gurukul team on winning the North Zone Hockey Tournament, which eventually made them qualify for this prestigious event.

Dehradun, December 24
Kala Chand of Nainital won the 100m sprint at the 6th Uttarakhand State Police Athletics Competition that concluded in Dehradun today.

In Men’s category, Nainital team won the Running Trophy whereas in Women’s, Rudrapur team is the winner.

Six sports achievers who brought glory to the state by winning medals at various national level competitions were also given out of turn promotions.

The names include Jagat Singh, Ravindra Rautela, Madanmohan, Sunita Rana, Nishan Rana and Hemlata Semwal. Results:

100m (men): Kala Chand of Nainital won the gold, Arvind Bharatwaj of Pauri won silver and Raj Kumar of Nainital won bronze.

4x100m (women): 31 PAC won gold, 40 PAC won the silver and Dehradun won
the bronze.

4x100m (men): Gold was won by Nainital, Derhadun settled for silver and 40 PAC of Haridwar won the bronze.