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Kaushik unhappy, but won’t revolt
BJP has stalled progress: Bahuguna
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Haridwar has seen stalwarts compete
At IIT fest, students show the green way
India can regain its top position by adopting Vedic lifestyle instead of today’s consumerist culture
Activist Baghari gets National Youth Award
National bird safe, says survey
This, MC in trouble
72-run victory for MCC
Survey of India win
VHP sadhus begin yatras
Farmers to study HP practices
Yet another tusker found dead
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Kaushik unhappy, but won’t revolt
Haridwar, March 22 Kaushik was earlier announced as the candidate for Haridwar seat, and the image of the party has suffered a major dent after his name was withdrawn. Notably, Kaushik’s work as a legislator and his man-management skills were appreciated even among the rival parties. He had started his campaign with a bang and held road shows in the newly inducted constituencies of Dharampur and Rishikesh, which fall under the Haridwar seat. Albeit Kaushik said he would fully support the BJP’s interest, insiders claim that the cabinet minister is deeply hurt by the decision. On the Congress side, the delay in naming the candidate for Haridwar is hurting its prospects. Although the party has named candidates for Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Almora-Pitthoragarh seat, it is yet to do so for Nainital and Haridwar constituencies. However, it seems that former Congress state chief Harish Rawat would be the likely candidate from Haridwar and if he does contest the party would have a fair chance of winning, as with the inclusion of Dharampur Doiwala, and Rishikesh under the Haridwar seat the percentage of hill voters has increased significantly. Moreover, Rawat has a strong voter base and is also popular among the Muslims who form a sizeable chunk of voters in Haridwar. It is believed that his contesting would also have a positive effect on Almora, Pauri and Tehri Garhwal seats. As far as the Samajwadi Party is concerned, last time around its candidate Rajendra Badi had secured a win from Haridwar. However, this time the party has opted for Ambrish Kumar, the present SP Uttarakhand chief, instead of Badi due his lackluster performance in the past five years as MP. The Bahujan Samaj Party has opted for Bahadrabad legislator Mohammed Shahjad as the candidate for
Haridwar. |
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BJP has stalled progress: Bahuguna
Dehradun, March 22 Bahuguna, who was here today, alleged that the BJP government led by BC Khanduri has no concern for long-term development of the state. "By trying to make Ganga river a political issue in the forthcoming elections and by suspending work on the hydro-electric projects, the BJP government has done great disservice to the state," he alleged. Bahuguna said hydro-electricity and tourism are two areas that are the backbone of the states' economy, but the BJP government in a bid to exploit the religious sentiments of Hindus on Ganga has harmed the interests of the state. Earlier, Khanduri had stalled works on the Pala Maneri and Bhairon Ghati hydroelectric projects on Bhagirathi river under pressure from various Hindu organisations, and following the fast-unto-death by environmentalist Prof. GD Agarwal. Interestingly, Vijay Bahuguna and BC Khanduri are first cousins. On the fast-unto-death by Prof. Agarwal to demand a ban on hydroelectric projects on Ganga, Bahuguna alleged that it was all done with a political motive. Asked about the suspension of work on Loharinagpala project being built by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Bahuguna said the Union government has suspended the project because the BJP was trying to exploit the issue for electoral gains. Notably, suspension of work on these projects in Uttarkashi district has adversely affected thousands of people who were directly or indirectly employed with them. Regarding the problems faced by people affected by Tehri dam and those cut-off due to formation of the Tehri lake, Bahuguna said out of a sum of Rs 149 crore given by the Union government the state government spent only Rs 80 crore. "The state government has been working with a vengeance, as the ordinance passed by the previous Congress government to start a horticulture university at Rani Chauri in Tehri Garhwal district has been allowed to lapse,” he alleged. Bahuguna further said industries were attracted to Uttarakhand due to uninterrupted power supply. But due to suspension of work on the hydroelectric projects, the industries are retracing. "The BJP government has given a message to the industry that they are not welcome here," he said. On the issue of demand of the state government for extension of the central industrial package beyond March 31, 2010, for three years he said, "We fully support it along with the demand for speedy work on the project for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences at Rishikesh," he added. Meanwhile, Yashpal Singh, a senior BJP leader from Chakrata block of Dehradun district, today joined the Congress in the presence of Vijay Bahuguna and Chakrata Congress legislator Pritam Singh. |
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Haridwar has seen stalwarts compete
Dehradun, March 22 While the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) central
leadership had to buckle under the pressure of the Sant Samaj and replace its candidate Madan Kaushik with Swami Yatendranand Giri, the Congress party is also in a fix about fielding its candidate from this seat. The significance of this constituency can well be gauged from the fact that apart from Congress and BJP, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are also keen on pocketing this seat. BSP had fielded party MLA Shahzad from this seat, whereas SP has pitched in its state unit president and ex-MLA Ambrish Kumar. Although religious importance of this parliamentary constituency is a known fact, not many know that some of the leaders who today claim to be Prime Ministerial candidates, have also tried their luck from this seat. A perusal of the election records revealed that almost 22 years back, BSP supremo Mayawati and Lok Jan Shakti chief Ram Vilas Paswan had contested from Haridwar seat (Undivided Uttar Pradesh) and both had lost. After the demise of the Congress MP from Haridwar, Sunderlal, a byelection for the seat was held in 1987. Mayawati contested from BSP, while Ram Vilas Paswan tried his political fortunes from Janta Party. Interestingly, both of them failed to make it to the
parliament, as the Congress nominee Ram Singh had his way. According to figures, Ram Singh was polled 1,49,377 votes, whereas Mayawati could manage only 1,25,399 votes and remained at the second place. What was more interesting was the fact that Paswan stood fourth with 34,225 votes. An Independent, B Rakesh, who got 39,780 votes, stood third. Mayawati once again tried her luck by contesting from Haridwar in 1989, but this time again she was unlucky and remained at the third position. However, after a span of over two decades of unsuccessfully contesting elections from Haridwar, Mayawati and Paswan are today among the top leaders in the country. Mayawati is BSP supremo and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and one of the contenders for Prime Ministerial post. Likewise, Paswan is heading Lok Jan Shakti party and is a minister in the UPA government. |
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Dalit literature helped break shackles: Experts
Dehradun, March 22 Mayor Vinod Chamoli, who was the chief guest, said, “Literature is usually a reflection of ideas of writers about the circumstances that exist
around them.” He added that literature should be in a language that could be easily read by the masses and brings about social growth. Eminent personalities like Prof SZH Abidi, head, Department of English, Lucknow University, and Mr Neerav Patel, eminent poet and writer from Ahmedabad and Dr S. Farooq, industrialist, spoke on the occasion. Elaborating on what Dalit literature meant Abidi, who was the keynote speaker, said that several writers have expressed resentment and anger against social customs that have acted “as oppressive forces against the Dalits for centuries now”. He said that Dalit literature provided a platform to writers to depict the condition prevalent in society. It also speaks about crimes against Dalit women who were raped and treated as sex objects by high-caste persons. He added that renowned Indian writers, including Premchand, have given an insight into the prevailing condition of Dalits at
his time. The word ‘Dalit’ has the global connotation. Dalits are found in every country. Anyone who is deprived of their rights in society is a Dalit, he said. The parallels of Prem Chand’s work on Dalits could be drawn with Henry Fielding’s novel “Tom Jones” and other writers in the West. Their works present a similar picture of the deprived sections of society in their country. Dr H Randhawa said, “There are a number of myths, rituals and plays which clearly show that for centuries, Dalits
were oppressed.” According to Dr Meeta Shukla, Dalit literature was essentially against exploitation. “It made use of writing as a method of propaganda for the movement against exploitation,” he said. Other dignitaries present on the occasion were Dr Ashok Saxena, principal, DAV (PG) College, Dr HS Randhawa, organising secretary, and Dr Meeta Shukla from the Department of English, DAV (PG) |
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Officers take pleasure trek from Rajpur to Jharipani
Mussoorie, March 22 These officers started from Rajpur at around 10 in the morning and covered a distance of about 5 km in 90 minutes. Senior officers including various principal secretaries, joint secretary and DMs of various districts of the state were part of the group. Terming the trek as a refreshing experience, Indu Kumar Pandey said that he really enjoyed it. The state government has taken steps to develop the 5-km trek from Rajpur to Jharipani which earlier was used by pedestrians to travel between Mussoorie and Dehradun. Pandey also said that he was in favour of developing similar treks around Mussoorie. “I will like that other treks like Mussoorie-Bhadraj and Mussoorie-Nag Tibba are also developed,” he said. He added that such developments would also be an added attraction for tourists. |
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At IIT fest, students show the green way
Roorkee, March 22 As many as 15,000 participants registered themselves online and the number of on-campus registrations crossed the figure of 2,200, said organisers. ‘Think Energy, Go Green’ was the theme of the year on which number of events took place during the fest. Landscape workshop, Six Sigma: yellow belt certification in quality control, aero-modelling, robotics workshop, 3-D photography, flash IT and bio-informatics, are being held here. Terming the fest as the second largest technical festival in Asia, Kaustuv Prakash, the convener, said this year the fest aimed at addressing the environmental problems like global warming, energy conservation and alternative sources of energy. Apart from Indian institutes, many students of renowned foreign technical institutes, including University of Cincinnati, Ohio State University (USA), Technical University of Crete, Greece, Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal, RIBA North-west Liverpool (UK) are also participating in the fest, said Parkash. To apprise the participants of the latest developments in the related field, many top class experts would deliver guest lectures during the fest. These experts include Dr Sylvester J Gates, physicist from University of Maryland, USA, Dr John C Mather, Noble Laureate Physics, 2006 (via video conferencing), Dr MC Mehta, environmentalist (Magsaysay Awardee), Dr John R Ockendon, director, Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics, BL Chawla, father of Lt. Kalpana Chawla. Earlier, Dr Chandra M Kintala, director of Yahoo! Labs (India) inaugurated the fest. |
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India can regain its top position by adopting Vedic lifestyle instead of today’s consumerist culture
Haridwar, March 22 Speaking on “The relevance of Vedic knowledge in the global age”, Frawley said, “The world can have ultimate peace and happiness by taking refuge in Indian culture.” He recalled India’s glorious past and described her as the golden bird. Dr David Frawley is the writer of Vedic Science and the chairman of the American Vedic Institute. He is also known as Pandit Vamdev Shastri. He described India as a prosperous country. “The only reason for poverty here is that the citizens of the country have forgotten Vedic culture.” He said that India can regain its top position by adopting Vedic lifestyle instead of today’s consumerist culture. He supported the proclamation about a bright future for India in the 21st Century given by Pandit Shri Ram Sharma Acharya, the founder of Gayatri Pariwar and Shantikunj. Emphasising on his intimate relationship with Dr Pranav Pandya, the head of the All-World Gayatri Pariwar, he appreciated the efforts of Dr Pandya in disseminating India’s yagyic culture around the globe. Shambhavi Frawley, wife of Dr Frawley, said that the DSVV was a ray of hope in awakening the inner talent of youth. The vice chancellor of the university, Dr SP Mishra paid the vote of thanks. |
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Activist Baghari gets National Youth Award
Haridwar, March 22 Social activist Geetta Baghari was given National Youth Award in the seminar for her work on women empowerment in various villages of Joshimath. A post graduate student Geeta has been working towards youth related issues like education, child marriage and guiding youths to new employment avenues. Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust Rural Institute, Family Welfare department Uttarakhand and Constella Futures group held a convention titled as Udaan, which focused on the problems faced by adolescents. Stating the need of sex education in the schools Dr. Vartika Saxena co-director of the Himalayan Institute said, “With the hormonal changes and socio-information diversions the adolescents need parental support and guidance which comes helpful in acclimatising to the changes,” said Dr. Vartika. Meanwhile, in a debate on “Female foeticide and its eradication” held in Gurukul University today. Experts stressed the practice as a black spot on our society. Prof. Ajit Singh from Germany said ultrasound was intended to know the health of the child in womb but it has now become a tool to know the gender of the child and abort if it’s a girl. . Present among the delegates at the seminar were Dr. Rajiv Bijalwan, Neelam Pandey, Manoj Rawat, Dr. Geeta Balodi, DK Bulakoti, Gaurav Kishore, Dr. VP Singhal and other guests. |
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National bird safe, says survey
Dehradun, March 22 After frequent deaths of peacocks in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other areas of the country in recent years, Dehradun based wildlife institute had conducted a All-India Questionnaire based survey that was carried out over a period of 2 years following which the scientists suggested for its full proof census in the country. A total of over 1,700 sites were surveyed across the country, including 448 national parks and sanctuaries. This was apart from 350 District Magistrates and other bird watchers and volunteers who took up the cause of peacock assessment. The outcome of the survey, however, did not come out with any alarming results but proved useful in revealing the condition of their habitat along with their relationship with the villagers. Presence of peacocks is as a high 82 per cent in the protected areas while 345 out of 519 districts too admitted their presence in residential areas, the survey revealed. “While the survey results have been satisfactory and as such there is no major threat to the bird but we have recommended a comprehensive survey of peacocks in the country to know the true assessment of the national bird,” said S Satyakumar, who led the survey. States like Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa revealed very good status of peacocks as encounter rate here touched as high as 50 peacocks per hour. For the state of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, the encounter rate varied from 31 to 50 peacocks per hour. As of remaining states, it was somewhere between 5 and 30 peacocks per hour. The encounter rate system entails the number of peacocks sighted in one hour of travel of any of peacock habitat. |
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This, MC in trouble
Haridwar, March 22 Due to non-submission of utility certificate in time, the 12th finance commission wage grant of 1.20 crore has not been released yet. Executive officer Harshwardhan Mishra said efforts are being made to get the grant released. Finance officer Shivendra Singh Khyanat informed that Rs 55 lakh has to be paid in total as salaries to the employees. Similar is the case with the Special Component Plan costing 6.20 crore, which still awaits government go-ahead. Last year, the government had directed the municipality to give back the component plan amount as it had failed to utilise it in due time. Subsequently, the municipal committee made a hurried attempt to lapse the fund by putting forward a project based on slum colonies to the secretary urban development, via the District Magistrate, in December last year. As if this was not enough, the important sub-panel elections of the committee have also not taken place in its 11-month tenure. The polls have been cancelled four times. |
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Abhishek sprints to gold
Dehradun, March 22 Results: 200 m (boys): Abhishek (gold), Manus (silver), Anuj (bronze); 200 m (girls): Shipra (gold), Ritika (silver), Gagandeep (bronze); High jump (boys): Anuj (gold), Sunil (silver), Priyanshu (bronze); High jump (girls): Saumya (gold), Ritika (silver), Anjali (bronze); Discus throw (boys): Zameer (gold), Shakur (silver), Vikrant (bronze); Discus throw (girls): Shikha (gold), Anjali (silver), Sobhabi (bronze). |
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Doon Tigers thump Star Club
Dehradun, March 22 Batting first, Doon Tiger Cricket Academy piled up 260 runs in their allotted 40 overs. Despite receiving two early jolts, Doon Tigers made a strong comeback. The team lost two wickets for zero. Vijay was the top scorer and made 61 runs off 65 balls smashing seven fours and three sixes while Shanky made 21 runs. Lower down the order, Arvind made a useful contribution with the bat to help his team reach the score of 260 runs. He made fiery 48 runs off 31 balls. For Star Club, Ashish, Anuj and Junaid took two wickets each. Chasing the target, Star Club were all out for 142 runs. The first four wickets of Star Club were out for a meagre 19 runs. Junaid top scored with 33 runs off 28 balls. For Tiger Academy, Pradeep Rana picked up three wickets and Arvind took two wickets. |
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72-run victory for MCC
Dehradun, March 22 Batting first, MCC piled a huge total of 180 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Lakshman was the top scorer with 44 runs off 33 balls. Kailash scored 21 runs and Kamal contributed 12 runs. For Delta Sporting, Vicky scalped three wickets. In reply, Delta Sporting were all out for 107 runs. Shantanu was the top scorer with 17 runs and Amit made 12 runs. For MCC team, Arvind picked up five wickets while Kelash and Laksham took two wickets each. |
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Survey of India win
Dehradun, March 22 The Vidhan Sabha team scored only 93 runs. Kuldeep scored 19 runs while Ajay and V Rana scored 17 runs each. Devender of Survey of India took five wickets. Displaying a good batting performance, Survey of India reached the target for the loss of four wickets. SS Rawat scored 38 runs and Rakesh Negi scored 15 runs. |
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VHP sadhus begin yatras
Dehradun, March 22 They have launched a 'dharm raksha' campaign in the three states which will culminate at Bijnore. Top religious figures of Haridwar, including Mahant Harigiri of the All- India Akhara Parishad, are backing the campaign.The VHP, however, is keeping the campaign low key. In the second phase, it plans to undertake similar campaigns in the rest of the country. It would ask the Centre to declare Ram Janmabhoomi and Ram Setu as national heritage sites.
— PTI |
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Farmers to study HP practices
Pauri Garhwal, March 22 Thirty farmers from various blocks of the state are learning the various ways of agriculture practiced by Himachal farmers. The group will visit Solan, Nauni, Chambaghat, Kufri, Chahar and Dhaulakuan in Himachal Pradesh. The group will also visit Saproon valley which is touted as the Asia’s biggest valley of vegetables. Pauri district horticulture officer DL Tamta said that the group is on a seven-day visit. It would be immensely beneficial as the landscape of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand is similar. |
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Yet another tusker found dead
Dehradun, March 22 The forest authorities have ruled out any foul play. According to wildlife experts, infighting among male elephants is common during the mating season. Meanwhile, the Corbett authorities have buried the body of the pachyderm after the conduct of post-mortem formalities. |
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