Dehradun, January 11
To woo the Dalit electorate for the Lok Sabha elections, Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee organised a “Dalit Swabhimaan Sammelan” here today.

Addressing a mammoth gathering, state Congress president Yashpal Arya said that the Dalit community would play a crucial role in the general elections and would be the deciding force.

Arya, who is a Dalit, said that the Congress would emerge victorious in the general elections on the support of the Dalit community.

“The budget of the Special Component Plan, which is for the Schedule Castes, was reduced by a whopping Rs 108 crore by the Khanduri government. Whatever schemes were initiated by the previous Congress regime for the uplift of the SCs have been discontinued by ruling BJP,” rued Arya.

He added that the Congress had always fought for the rights of the Dalits and will continue to do so.

Terming the sammelan as historic, the state Congress president said that the huge turnout is a vindication of the fact that Dalits have full faith in the Congress.

“The Congress had always strived for the progress of the Dalits. The Congress gave Dalits the opportunity to come into mainstream politics whereas other parties have always exploited them and made false promises.”

“And I am sure that the Dalit community will never support a communal party like the BJP,” added Arya. He denied that the sammelan was an exercise to woo the Dalit electorate.

Addressing the gathering, Tehri MP Vijay Bahuguna termed the Dalits as the “backbone” of the Congress.

He said that the aid being given by the Union government to Uttarakhand for the welfare of the Dalits was not reaching them because of the anti-Dalit policies of the Khanduri government.

“The state government is not recruiting persons for posts reserved for the SCs in various government departments,” he alleged.

While applauding the policies of the UPA government, he said that while the prices were increasing in foreign countries, inflation was going down in India.

The sammelan, which continued for several hours, was attended by Dalits in quite a large number.

Former minister Navprabhat, party state media in charge Suryakant Dhasmana, MLA Dinesh Aggarwal and MLA Rajesh Juwatha were also present at the sammelan.

Dehradun, January 11
Following the failure of talks with the state government on implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the State Employees Joint Council yesterday announced that it would observe an indefinite statewide strike from January 15.

The state executive committee of the council took this decision during its meeting
held here.

The decision to relaunch the stir, which was suspended in December 2008 after assurances by the government, came following the failure of talks held yesterday between principal secretary to CM Subhash Kumar and representatives of council.

The state president of the council Prahlad Singh said that the decision to resume their stir was unanimous.

All government employees under the banner of the council will boycott work in government offices on January 12, 13 and 14 before starting the indefinite strike.

The council has been compelled to resort to a comprehensive agitation plan as the government has dithered on its assurances given to its delegation on December 27, 2008, he added.

In the meeting, representatives of various constituent employees unions assured complete participation in the agitation.

Council spokesperson Arun Pandey said in a release that they felt Chief Minister BC Khanduri was sympathetic to the concerns of the employees.

The Chief Minister had let the fact known by constituting the State Pay Committee after the announcement of the Pay Commission recommendations but sadly he was being misled by elements in the bureaucracy who were inimical to the interests of the employees, he added.

Dehradun, January 11
Experts from the Maimonides University, Argentina, have started translating Yugrishi Shriram Sharma Acharya’s literature in Spanish so that Indian culture and its philosophy can be popularised in South America.

This was announced at the concluding session of the training programme by Argentina delegation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, here today.

Aliana De Alzendro has already completed the translation of Acharyashri’s Karmayoga-based ‘Hariye na Himmat’ as ‘No Piardas to Korasone’.

Appreciating the translation, Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyala, Dr Pranav Pandya emphasised that Indian culture should be spread to all parts of the world.

He distributed certificates among the participants and wished that with the help of Maimonides University translation work of such literature would be completed soon.

Head of Shantikunj, Shail Jiji, said by spreading Indian culture in the world, the Vishwavidyalaya wants to make a ‘global family’.

Chief coordinator of the Argentinian delegation Dr Alfredo H Laria said the literature of Yugrishi Shriram Sharma Acharya contains solution to numerous problems. He added that these would be included in the syllabus of their university.

During the seven days, the delegation was imparted knowledge on various facets
of yoga, ayurveda, scientific spirituality, yagyopathy and various other aspects of
Indian culture.

Mussoorie, January 11
Members of the Mussoorie Hotels Association (MHA) have vehemently opposed the proposal of the nagar palika to implement eco-tax on tourists.

However, a vast majority of town’s population has remained mute on the issue.

At a meeting held here today, organised by the nagar palika to invite objections from the public against the proposed tax, members of MHA said the proposal for the new tax did not make much sense.

“The nagar palika is already imposing a tax for cleanliness of the town on the residents. Imposing an additional tax on tourists for the same purpose is not understandable,” said Ajay Bhargava, MHA secretary.

MHA representatives also said the nagar palika has sufficient funds and if these are utilised properly there is no need for imposing the additional tax.

It was demanded that the palika should conduct a public audit of their accounts and explain the need for imposing eco-tax.

On the other hand, the palika members vociferously countered these objections and there were some heated arguments.

Nand Lal, member of the nagar palika, said, “The proposed eco-tax would go a long way in improving the cleanliness in and around Mussoorie. Damage to the environment from hazardous polythene waste would also be effectively controlled.”

Notably, the Mussoorie nagar palika has proposed an eco-tax on tourists the receipts from which would be utilised for cleaning the town.

The tax would be collected from each visitor at Kolhu Khet, a place mid-way between Mussoorie and Dehradun.

However, the local residents of Mussoorie would be exempted from this tax.

Through this meeting the Palika had invited objections from the public against the
proposed tax.

Meanwhile, OP Uniyal, chairman of the nagar palika, opined that the general public of Mussoorie is not opposed to implementation of this tax.

“Mussoorie’s population is around 30,000 but we have received only around 30-35 objections, which indicates that the majority is not opposing the tax.”

However, he assured that based on the grievances filed with the nagar palika, suitable modifications would be made in the mechanism of imposing the eco-tax.

“These shall be discussed in the board meeting and subsequently the proposal would be submitted to the state government for final approval,” Uniyal said.

AK Banerjee, DFO, Mussoorie, who made a presentation on eco-tourism initiatives being taken by the forest department in Uttarakhand during the meeting, said hoteliers should not oppose such initiatives since cleanliness around Mussoorie would attract more tourists to the town and thereby enhance business prospects.

Manmohan Singh Mall, former president of the nagar palika, Ram Kumar Goel, Sandeep Sahni, Gaurav Aggarwal, Nitish Mohan, Deepak Gupta, BS Dhanai and Vinod Thapliyal were among those present at the meeting.

Haridwar, January 11
Swami Satyamitranand School defeated Saraswati Shishu Mandir eight wickets at the District Inter-School Tournament got underway at BHEL sports stadium here today organised by the Cricket Association of Haridwar (CAH).

Swami Satyamitranand school won the toss and chose to field first to use early morning dew. The bowlers proved the decision right scalping three early wickets and bundled out the whole opposition for 83 runs in the stipulated 20 overs.

Middle order batsman Kamlesh scored 16 runs while Vinit scored a 17 but none of the other batsmen could reach the double figure mark. Satyamitranand’s Sanjay, Vijay and Rajkumar took three wickets each.

Chasing the target of 83 runs, Swami Satyamitranand opening pair gave a solid start to their team with Sunil and Sushil Chauahan scoring 32 and 31 runs each.

Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir bowlers could only take two wickets and though bowled a good line and length, specially Deepak who took two wickets.

Thus, Swami Satyamitrand School comprehensively defeated Saraswati Shishu Mandir Boys and won by eight wickets.

The tournament was inaugurated by Indian Industries Association president Avinash Chand Ohri with Indra Mohan Barthwal secretary of CAH.

On Monday, the match will be played between Doon Cambridge and Bal Bharati Senior Secondary School.

Dehradun, January 11
Haridwar City won the finals in the boys and girls categories at the 7th Sub-Junior State-Level Kabaddi Championship that concluded at Parade Ground here today.

In the boys final, Haridwar City defeated Haridwar Rural 29-25. Earlier in the semifinals, Haridwar City outclassed Rudraprayag 28-23 and Haridwar Rural defeated Dehradun 23-20.

In the girls final, Haridwar City beat Udham Singh Nagar 23-20. Earlier in the semifinals, Udham Singh Nagar beat Pauri 35-30. In the other semifinal, Haridwar City defeated Dehradun 25-24.

Moharram supported him well on the other end to score 30 runs. After Moharram got out at 30 runs, no other batsman showed much resistance and UCA lost the match.