Shimla, July 21
Dalits were suffering the most in Uttar Pradesh under the rule of Chief Minister Mayawati and her image would not improve in the eyes of the public by installing statues across the state.

This was stated by Buta Singh, chairman, National Commission on Scheduled Castes, here today.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the maximum cases of atrocities on SCs were taking place in Uttar Pradesh and the Chief Minister should focus on the welfare and uplift of the weaker sections instead of getting her statues installed all over.

Contribution of any leader could be duly recognised by installing a single portrait at a proper place as had been done in Parliament, he added.

While refusing to comment on the controversy triggered by the comments of senior Congress leader Rita Bahuguna under the pretext that the matter was sub-judice, he minced no words in criticising her style of functioning and indifferent governance.

However, he disapproved of the violent reaction to the comments and said action should be taken in accordance with the law.

Even more sad was the decision of the CM to reward one of the main accused with a prestigious office and the rank of minister of state.

Shimla, July 21
Irked by the indifferent response to its queries pertaining to implementation of policies for the uplift of Dalits in the state, the National Commission on Scheduled Castes virtually put the Himachal government on a fortnight’s notice to explain its position, failing which it would send a report to the President of India.

Chairman of the commission Buta Singh lamented that the government did not reply to the queries sent in February, 2008, and got into action only when the commission arrived here three days ago.

The officers came up with some incomplete replies, full of discrepancies, and there was no response to important queries regarding recruitment and promotions of SCs and enforcement of the Prevention of Atrocities on Scheduled Castes Act, he added.

The commission had asked the additional chief secretary and various Principal Secretaries to come to New Delhi and explain the position at a high-level meeting and give an unambiguous reply whether or not the state would implement the law passed by Parliament and the policies framed by the Centre within a fortnight.

In case the response was not satisfactory, the commission would not hesitate to send its report to the President, which could spell trouble for the state, he said.

The 85th constitutional amendment had not been implemented and issues pertaining to promotions of SCs had been unnecessarily embroiled in litigation.

Meanwhile, promotions had been effected and posts earmarked for SCs were filled from other categories. While no information was provided regarding backlog of posts under the SC quota, out of the total 1,000 reserved posts in PSUs, as many as 655 were vacant.

The situation was worse in the education department as evident from the fact that out of the 19,490 teachers, only 1,600 were SCs.

No specific information was given in respect to the Act about which even the police seemed to be quite unaware.

The DGP had been asked to ensure that a copy of the Act was supplied to each police station and displayed prominently for the knowledge of not only the police personnel, but also the common public.

Vice-chairman of the commission NM Kambely and members Satya Behan and Mohindra Bodh were also present at the meeting.

Shimla, July 21
While tax collections across the country have declined in the wake of global meltdown, the hill state has shown some buoyancy with tax growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

The overall tax collection for the April-June quarter rose to Rs 542 crore, an increase of Rs 77 crore, over the last quarter. The tax growth comes to 16.5 per cent as against 14 per cent for the last year.

The maximum growth of 20.5 per cent has been recorded in the excise duty, mainly on account of a good tourist season. VAT collections increased by 16.5 per cent during the quarter as against 14 per cent last year.

The performance of the state is remarkable in view of the fact that the neighbouring states are still struggling with sluggish or negative tax growth.

For instance, the increase in tax collection in the first quarter was only 6 per cent and negligible in case of Haryana.

An economic turn around may not be imminent but the positive trend in tax growth in Himachal provides an indication that the worst may have been over.

The slowdown had started impacting the state towards the last quarter of the last financial year causing an overall decline of 4 per cent in tax collections.

The maximum impact was on VAT collections which fell short of the target by Rs 90 crore. The VAT collections amounted to Rs 1246 crore as against the target of Rs 1336 crore.

The overall tax collections, including central sales tax, excise duty, goods tax and other taxes amounted to Rs 1908 crore against the target of Rs 1976 crore.

However, the government still raised the targets for the current year by a substantial 22 per cent, an increase of 8 per cent over the last year’s growth rate.

A target of Rs 2327 crore has been fixed, which is Rs 419 crore more compared to last year’s actual realisation.

The target for VAT has been increased to Rs 1604 from last year’s actual collection of Rs 1246 crore. The growth target of 22 per cent seems unrealistic as slowdown is likely to last till the end of the current year.

Dharamsala, July 21
The non-gazetted officers (NGO) association of the state has demanded parity with contractual employees.

Addressing a press meet here, union leaders alleged that different set of service rules were being followed for gazetted and non-gazetted employees in the state.

In the Health Department while the services of doctors being recruited on contract were being regularised after a time period of two years.

However, the services of nurses recruited on contract were not being regularised. This is an unjustified disparity.

They also alleged that the government had promised to implement the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations after the Punjab government did so.

The Punjab government has given scales recommended by the Sixth Pay Commission to its employees from this month, however, the government is still waiting.

Organising secretary of the union Ajay Sharma said many NGOs have been posted in tribal areas of the state for the past five years and the government was not transferring these officers.

Dharamsala, July 21
Students of Government College, Dharamsala, have been left in the lurch due to alleged mishandling of an add-on course by Himachal Pradesh University (HPU).

Three years ago, 41 BSc students of the college were offered an add-on course by the college under the aegis of UGC-sponsored scheme.

The college authorities got Rs 12 lakh as grant from the UGC for imparting training to the students in laboratory and diagnostic techniques.

The students, after completing the three-year training, were to be given advanced diploma in the same. The diploma was supposed to help the students in getting jobs in the health sector.

However, after putting in three years of labour, the students are now being told that they would get just one-year diploma.

The students are agitated for genuine reasons. They are sitting on a chain hunger strike on the college campus against the injustice.

Principal of the college NK Awasthi admitted that initially the students were enrolled for the three-year course.

They had the approval for the same by the HPU, Shimla. “Our role was limited to imparting training to students while the university was to award degrees,” he said.

However, at the time of the awarding of the degrees, the paramedical council of the state had objected.

Interestingly, doctors of the Tanda Medical College, who were guest faculty of the course, were also members of the council. They never objected to the course while imparting training to students.

Initially, the paramedical council had decided to award advanced diploma to students if they undertook internship in any government hospital for a period of six months.

However, just 15 days ago, a fax message was received from the Secretary, Medical Education, that the students would be offered one-year diploma.

The principal also admitted that the diploma course would not help the students in getting jobs in the government sector.

The students, who felt cheated, displayed the prospectus in which message of Himachal Governor VS Kokje was carried stating that the course was job-oriented.

The medical department of the state, including the Tanda Medical College, is facing acute shortage of technical staff. However, it is strange that the state is not ready to accept students trained by their own institutions.

Sources also said the college authorities were mulling to stop job-oriented courses due to the current imbroglio.

Mandi, July 21
Farmers in the state have demanded that the interest for the current year incurred on crop loans be waived off as farmers in the state, including fruit growers, have suffered huge losses due to crop failure triggered by the prolonged drought.

Be it apple, mango, peas and off-season vegetable producers or farmers producing wheat crop, they have similar tale of woes to narrate.

Apple farmers rued that mite had attacked the produce in various parts of Shimla, Mandi and Kullu belts due to deficient rains.

Besides, deficiency in rains had led to poor development of size and quality of apple in most parts of the Shimla-Kullu-Mandi belt.

Undersized fruits — apple, peach, plum and mangoes — in lower belt of Mandi and Kullu, saw a decrease in production by another 10 per cent this year, farmers added.

Laxman Thakur, president of the Nandpur Growers’ Society in Shimla district, said that farmers who had 3,000 apple boxes last year, were expecting not more than 300 boxes this season.

Majority of the farmers had taken crop loans but were not in a position to pay instalments due to crop failure as the chances of turnover was not more 30 per cent this season, he said.

Thakur said most of the farmers availed crop loans from banks after making limited paying expenses on fertilisers, fungicides, seeds and plants.

“The government should waive-off due instalments and interest so that economic bone of a farmer is not broken,” he told The Tribune on phone.

Prem Sharma, president, Kullu Fruit Growers’ Association, said there was not more than 20 per cent fruit crop in the district this year due to drought.

Farmers at Seraj valley, Churag-Karsog, narrated the same story where, except for Janjheli apple, over 70 per cent of apple production had been destroyed.

Farmers said major fruit crops, including apple, should be brought under crop-insurance scheme so they are could be compensated in some way or other.

The state government has asked the Revenue Department to asses the exact loss to the crops so that appropriate action can be taken, according to sources.

“The government is concerned and has taken up the matter with the Centre, seeking compensation for the drought damage,” they added.

Shimla, July 21
Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur has underlined the need for integrated and decentralised planning at the district-level to ensure that benefits of developmental schemes percolated down to the deserving poor.

Inaugurating a two-day state-level workshop on integrated district planning, here today, he said transparency in the implementation of various schemes at the grass-root level could only be brought by integrating schemes of all departments at the district level.

While formulating priorities of district-level planning, efforts should be to seek active involvement of people by adopting a participatory approach so that schemes could be framed to suit their requirement, he added.

He said out of 24,532 elected public representatives of the panchayati raj institutions and other local bodies, as many as 24,000 had been imparted training under the capacity building programme.

A provision of Rs 1.20 crore had been made for holding refresher courses during the current year, he added.

Over 200 participants from panchayati raj and rural development departments are participating in the workshop.

Shimla, July 21
The state government plans to modernise the printing press by installing latest machinery and other required equipment.

Stating this while presiding over a meeting to review the functioning of the press, Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh said staff would be provided training to keep them updated of the latest printing technology.

It would go a long way in strengthening the department and providing the best possible facilities in the state itself.

He said efforts would be made to supply stationery items to all government departments and public undertakings and there would be no compromise with the quality of such items.