Shimla, July 20
After the initial success, the Western Tragopan breeding programme has failed to bring about the desired results as merely two out of 55 eggs have hatched, forcing wildlife authorities to seek the help of UK-based World Pheasants Association to evaluate factors which could have affected successful breeding.

The wildlife authorities, who were very hopeful of getting a sizeable number of chicks at its hatchery in Rampur, are trying to look for reasons which could have affected breeding.

The breeding and conservation programme for the rare and endangered bird is one of its kind in the world. John Corder, an expert from the World Pheasants Association, is being consulted to zero in factors which resulted in the dissatisfying results.

“Out of the total of 55 eggs, 31 were thin-shelled, so there was no question of their hatching. But even in the remaining eggs, so far only two chicks have survived,” said KS Thakur, wildlife conservator.

Experts have pointed out that the unusually dry weather in the past could have also adversely affected hatching. “Besides increasing calcium intake in the diet of birds to ensure healthy eggs, we will be installing water showers and other methods which will maintain the required moisture level inside the hatchery,” said Thakur.

To reduce the stress level for birds while in captivity, a bigger and spacious hatchery is being made at a greater elevation, almost one km away from the present location.

“We are making the new hatchery much spacious with greater height so that birds can take natural flight,” said Thakur.

In order to provide the closest possible natural environment for the birds, it has been decided not to construct a road right upto the hatchery as movement of vehicles could cause disturbance and stress to the birds.

Movement of visitors and staff of the wildlife department too will be kept at the minimum so that birds are not stressed at all.

Launched in 2003, the breeding and conservation programme had so far yielded very encouraging results. Out of a total of six eggs which hatched last year, four chicks have survived.

“With four more eggs yet to hatch, we are hopeful of getting at least one or two more chicks by keeping them under both natural mothers as well as broody hens," said officials.

Shimla, July 20
The government has decided to start three shifts at selected industrial training institutes (ITIs) in the state to help bridge the huge mismatch in demand and supply of skilled manpower.

The plan is to double the annual availability of skilled manpower of different categories, from the existing 23,000 to about 50,000, in the current year itself. A study conducted by the Planning Department recently revealed that the requirement of skilled manpower up to 2015 will be over 4 lakh as against the availability of around 3 lakh. As new training institutions could not be set up overnight, it has been decide to start second shift in the single-shift institutes and third shift in those already running two shifts. There are 77 government ITIs in all and 32 of them are already running two shifts.

In fact, the third shift had been introduced in ITI Nalagarh and a committee of principals had been constituted to identify institutes where adequate physical infrastructure and teaching faculty was available for running the third shift. Further, second shift will be introduced in another 20 to 25 ITIs.

Sixty industrial training centres (ITCs), set up in the private sector, have also been asked to introduced second shifts to increase the intake. However, these centres offer very few trades as compared to the ITIs. As many as 11 ITIs in the state are being upgraded to centres of excellence under the scheme of the government of India.

Besides, Rs 10 lakh each is being provided for 39 ITIs for the implementation of the Modular Employable Skills programme in public-private partnership under the skill development initiative.

Chief Secretary Asha Swaroop said the skill upgradation programme was being implemented in consultation and active involvement of the industry. For instance, the drug manufacturers’ association of Baddi had agreed to provide six months training to a batch of 400 youth who would be absorbed in the industry after completing the course.

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) had suggested six trades, including laboratory assistant, boiler attendant, instrumentation technician, footwear technician, air-conditioning and ventilation technician for which there was a demand in the industry.

Keeping in view the keenness of the industries to employ girls in non-traditional trades like auto industry, steps are being taken so that more girls could be trained in such trades. 

Shimla, July 20
About 1,27,211 farmers, who had raised agriculture loan from different cooperative banks, had been benefited to the tune of Rs 211.50 crore from the debt-waiver scheme in the state.

Stating this while reviewing the functioning of the Cooperative Department here today, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said Rs 118.44 crore had been passed on to the beneficiaries and directed the authorities to ensure that every eligible debtor got relief under the scheme.

He also underlined the need for organising awareness campaigns to educate farmers about banking facilities being made available to them.

The government also proposed to bring a new law on the lines of the model law framed by the Centre to strengthen the cooperative movement in the state and make primary cooperative societies self-reliant. The objective was to make societies economically viable, he said.

If required, an amendment in the law would be considered to ensure depositors of primary cooperatives have voting rights, audit by chartered accountants, while a registrar would carry out a special audit.

He said it was also being examined to keep society defaulters, for certain period, out of the quorum strength for election purposes and deploy inspector from adjoining area to complete the process.

Dispute resolution at society level would be carried through arbitration council constituted by the general body, he added.

Compared to 663 cooperative societies with a membership of 18,375 in 1948, the state has 4,426 functional societies with a membership of over 14 lakh and working capital of Rs 10,392.25 crore. The total deposits amounted to Rs 7,663.46 crore.

Dhumal underlined the need for computerisation of the entire cooperative network to ensure transparency, efficiency and easy access to services. A Rs 20-crore computerisation plan was under implementation in the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank, while the State Cooperative Bank had already computerised many of its branches.

Shrikant Baldi, secretary, Cooperatives, said about 13,000 persons were employed by the cooperative societies which were playing a significant role in the rural sector. 

Dharamsala, July 20
Student politics once again reared its ugly head at Government College, Dharamsala, today. Activists of the ABVP, students’ wing of the BJP, today thwarted efforts of the SFI, students’ wing affiliated with the Left, to start a unit in the college.

The SFI activists, most of whom allegedly outsiders, tried to enter the college for promotion of their party. However, ABVP activists stopped them from entering the campus that led to an altercation between the two groups. Girl students of the ABVP made a chain to prevent the SFI activists from entering the college.

Timely intervention by the college principal prevented the clash from turning ugly.

Sources available here said the ABVP activists also prevented students from wearing the badges of the SFI.

Meanwhile, the district administration deployed cops at the gates of the college to prevent any unpleasant incident. Orders have been passed not to allow outsiders in the college.

Shimla, July 20
The Himachal branch of the National Federation of the Blind today demanded that the combined schools being run for the visually and hearing impaired at Dhalli and Sundernagar must be segregated as needs of the children studying here were 
different.

State secretary of the federation Mukesh Kumar Sharma said though the schools were being run by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment for girls at Sundernagar and by the Child Welfare Council for boys at Dhalli, the two institutes had failed to fulfil the needs of the inmates.

“Students at Sundernagar do not even have brail books and, moreover, the visually impaired complain of being bullied by the hearing-impaired girls,” he added.

He said the situation at the Dhalli institute for boys was no different.

“A separate committee must be set up to run these two schools and the education department must be associated in the task as these children need normal education with the help of specially trained teachers,” said Sharma.

There is a shortage of teachers and specially trained personnel at these institutes. “The institute at Dhalli is badly under-staffed and the people working there are underpaid, resulting in many of them leaving for better options. The issue warrants immediate action,” he said.

Bilaspur, July 20
All-party Bhakra Oustees Rights Protection Committee here has urged the Chief Minister to summon a meeting of the government-constituted Bhakra Oustees Rehabilitation and Advisory Committee under his own chairmanship at the earliest to restart the process of finding solution for long-pending problems of lakhs of oustees .

Addressing the meeting of the oustees committee here yesterday, Ghumarwin MLA Rajesh Dharmani said the oustees had made a great sacrifice for the welfare and development of the neighbouring states and it was a matter of great shame that they were still bearing pangs of uprootment. 

Solan, July 20
The unravelling of a massive scam wherein cheques, collected in lieu of issuing national permits (NPs) to the tune of Rs 65 lakh and failed to be deposited in the bank by the local Regional Transport Authority (RTA), has put a question mark over the fee-deposition system prevalent in the department.

It is worth mentioning that though the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau is looking into the matter, the stark truth remains that the system of depositing the fee was far from being foolproof as it was fraught with several lacunae.

According to the scam details which have emerged till now, truckers were issued NPs and the fee that they deposited as cheques was never dispatched to the respective states.

Instead, there existed a system where the cheques were either withdrawn after a few months, or allowed to be lapsed.

According to the proposal, the STA was to open an online bank account in the SBI, where the fee collected in lieu of issuing the NP to vehicles outside the state, could be deposited.

Earlier, the possibility of using the services of HDFC bank had been explored but since the SBI has a nationwide presence with nearly 4,000 branches, it was decided to approach the latter.

As a step in this direction, the state government had already accorded permission to open an online account with the SBI about four months ago.

Shimla, July 20
Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes has urged the government to take all necessary steps to ensure safety of pilgrims at the Naina Devi shrine and other temples which attract lakhs of devotees during the month of “Shrawan”.

The failure of the administration to make proper arrangements last year led to the worst-ever stampede at the Naina Devi shrine in which about 150 persons lost their lives. It was a dark day in the history of the state which exposed the BJP government’s failure on the governance front. The image of the peaceful hill state took a battering which could have hit plans to promote pilgrim tourism, she said.

An inquiry was conducted into the stampede and some steps were also recommended to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

The government must implement all recommendations and also take measures to decongest the temple premises and create the required infrastructure to ensure safety and security of pilgrims and make their visit comfortable.

Such incidents were not conducive for the growth of pilgrim tourism, she added.