Children acquire hockey, roller-skating and painting skills at various summer camps in Dehradun. Tribune photographs

Dehradun, May 5
With declaration of summer vacations in Dehradun schools because of oppressive heat and polling for the general election scheduled for May 13 here, students are all excited and looking forward to enrolling themselves in summer camps during the two-month-long summer break.

Summer camps are a hit with children looking to break monotony, that comes from their strict academic schedule, and to developing skills through various activities at the camps.

A number of summer camps are being held in the city promisiFng fun and frolic to children. "I have enrolled my child with a dance class to enhance her dancing skills. It will give me satisfaction that she’s not just whiling away time,” said a mother.

“Summer extravaganza” camp promises a learning experience like none other. It boasts of having appointed experts in dance, music and theatre. The camp caters to the children in the age 6 to 15 age group. The fee is Rs 2,000 a month.”

Interestingly, the camp is welcoming adults. To teach dance, well-known Bollywood dancers Rohan Rokre and Uday Pawar, who runs a dancing school called Versatile and has been an assistant to choreographer Saroj Khan, have been appointed.

For singing, Lalit Mishra of the “Gangajal”, “Chameli”, “Socha Na Tha” fame have been hired whereas for theatre, the services of Mohammad Hammad Farooqui, a senior Doon School faculty member, who has thrice won the best director theatre given by Uttar Pradesh, have been hired to teach children as well as adults the fundamentals of acting. “The response so far has been excellent,” said Surbhi, “Smiling Souls”.

“Animaster,” a leading 2D, 3D and web animation training and production academy in the town, has a large number of students for various courses.

“To enhance skills of children during the long summer break it plans a summer camp, offering students a creative experience. At our institute, students aged 14 and above will be taught drawing, painting, clay modelling, skits and mimickry with the help of Photoshop, a basic software for learning animation skills. We have professionals to teach. For basic course, the fee is Rs 3,000, for those aged 14 and above, there is an advance course for Rs 5,000. The response till now is good. Our camp will begin on May 15 and end on June 14,” said Faizi Aleem, Animaster.

Those interested in learning about the history of different countries and with an inclination for art and craft, may enroll themselves with “Funshalla”, an academy for creative education. It has collaborated with the Pogo channel to help children hone their creative skills.

“We set up camps in Baroda, Mumbai and other cities but it is for the first time that we have collaborated with Pogo for northern cities. As many as 30 professionals have been groomed by Pogo experts to teach students various activities.

“Art and craft will be taught to children in the age group of 6-10 and 11-15 at Rs 1,450 for 15 days and Rs 2,750 for a month. Dehradun, being a hub of education, has students with a tremendous potential for developing skills in a plethora of activities,” said Anju Sikand, proprietor, Funshalla.

“My kid loves the MAD show on Pogo and I am happy that summer camps with innovative activities are taking place in the city,” said Pooja.

For those who prefer outdoor activities like skating, horse riding and swimming, Arvind Gupta, an international sports coach, organiser of the “Olympus” summer camp since 10 years, has introduced activities such as roller- skating, swimming, lawn tennis and karate to help students develop their skills under expert guidance.

“We have got a huge skating rink where children can learn with help from professionals and for indoor activities such as salsa dancing and aerobics, we have hired experts. The fee structure is based on the number of activities opted for. A child in the age group of 2 to 16 may join a single activity for a month at Rs 350 or may combine indoor and outdoor activities. Our motive is to give them atmosphere most condusive for learning,” said Arvind Gupta.

Dehradun, May 5
The District Rural Development Authority has managed to achieve 70 per cent of the target while installing bio-gas equipment in the six blocks of Dehradun district.

Under the central government scheme, bio-gas plant installation is being promoted in a big way in the district as an eco-friendly alternative for generating electricity.

The government is promoting both community and individually managed equipment for which financial assistance is provided.

“For the period 2008-2009 March, we have disbursed an amount of Rs 3.5 lakh
towards the setting up of bio-gas plants in six blocks ,” said Rs Pokhriya, district
development officer.

He said the central government provided 100 per cent financial assistance
for the project.

“The scheme is particularly popular in rural areas of Kalsi and Chakrata blocks where women are engaged in farming activities,” he added.

Further, he said under the Deen Dayal Awas Yojana assistance was being given to families living below the poverty line.

“We have achieved the target of making available cheap and environmentally friendly houses for the poor families in the six blocks. A total of 429 houses have been constructed between 2008- 2009 March,” said Pokhriya.

On the success of National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, he said so far the expenditure incurred on the programme for the same period is Rs 11.9 crore.

“We have increased the wages to 100 Rs per day that is proving to be beneficial for those seeking work under the programme,” stressed Pokhriya.

Dehradun, May 5
A new format of cricket, which is played indoors and is based on the concept of T-20 is gaining popularity in the city.

Although, this format of the game is being followed here from the last 14 years, but it has shot into the limelight in the recent times, particularly after the Indian Premier League fever.

In this new format, a team consists of a total of 10 players, but only six players play at a time in a match at 32 by 18 meters court that is completely indoors.

With its own set of rules, the match consists of two innings and in each innings 6 overs are bowled on a 20 yards pitch.

One can score a maximum of two runs by striking the ball go past the bowlers to hit the wall behind him.

The entire court is covered with nets to prevent the ball go out of the court. If the ball bounces out of the net then one run is awarded.

If the ball goes over the net without bouncing even once in the field, the batsman
is declared out.

Similarly, if the batsman hit a shot and the ball strikes any structure above the level of the net without a bounce in the playing area, a batsman is declared out.

Satendra Singh, who is sports in-charge of St Thomas College where the game is
played, said, “This game came into existence 14 years back at the St Thomas
College. Due to lack of grounds we decided to adopt this format and frame new
rules for the game.”

The game has got immensely popular in the schools among the both boys and girls. And many school teams participate in the indoor cricket tournaments held here.

This year, 24 teams are participating in the tournament that includes both boys
and girls teams.

Dehradun, May 5
The final round of the inter-section quiz competition was held in Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) at Thimmaya auditorium, here today.

The quiz comprised eleven rounds, which included environment, geography, current affairs, science, sports, personality, RIMC, audio-video, surprise and buzzer round.

To check the alertness and spontaneity of the students RIMC has also introduced a surprise round in the quiz.

At the end of the eleven rounds the scores were Pratap-95, Shivaji-120 and Ranjit and Chandragupta had a tie at 190 points. Thus, making both Ranjit and Chandragupta section the winners for the trophy.

The chief guest for the event was Commandant RIMC, Col H Dharmarajan, who awarded the trophy to the winning teams and praised the high standard of the quiz.

The quiz masters for the occasion were TS Selven and the computer instructor
was Vineet Mathews.

Some of the other dignitaries preset in the occasion were Lt Col Rajeh Nathawat, Mr KS Ahlawat, Sqdn Ldr YS Panghal and Maj R Rexon.