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‘Forest mafia’ active in wildlife sanctuary
Rising graft cases stir debate
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Jobless engineer sells works for kids’ education
Small-scale enterprises face neglect
vignettes
Cooperative bodies needed to stabilise apple market
Himachal diary
Panchayat pradhan suspended
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‘Forest mafia’ active in wildlife sanctuary
Kasol (Kullu), August 18 Tribune investigations revealed that 24 deodar trees had dried up and others around several resorts were dying as there was a conspiracy among the owners to eliminate trees one by one. “They let the trees dry up by removing barks or even injecting chemicals into their roots,” sources revealed. A private 15-room Deep Forest Resort run by a Jari-based influential former panchayat pradhan Moti Ram has come up among the deodar trees inside the sanctuary.Deodar is used lavishly in the resort despite a ban on the Timber Distribution Rights, inquiries revealed. While the resort is operational, another hotel is coming up inside the sanctuary without any permission from the MoEF. Moti Ram claimed that the resort was on his private land. “Nobody told him that an NOC was needed from the ministry,” he claimed. Besides, billboards have been put by a soft drink company, hoteliers and other advertisers on the deodar trees inside the sanctuary and other parts of Kasol. They have violated the Wildlife Protection Act and the Forest Conservation Act under the nose of forest and wildlife range officers, Kasol. Even on the private land, the owner has to get the mandatory NOC from the ministry to raise a commercial venture or hotel in the sanctuary area. This blatant violation has been going on over the years in the sanctuary with connivance of wildlife and forest staff of the Kasol range. “The department has not even issued a notice to the private resort owners for violating the Wildlife Protection Act, whose provisions are stringent,” revealed residents. “What is even more surprising is that most of the forest and wildlife guards, three of whom are newly recruited women guards, and the range officer (RO) are locals. This is a sensitive range, but the forest mafia is ruling the roost,” rued the residents. TS Guleria, RO, Kasol, who also comes from Jari, passed the buck to the RO, wildlife, but he did not comment on the drying up of trees in the Kasol range. The Wildlife and Forest Department feigned ignorance as nobody had brought the violations to their notice, they claimed. PK Sharam, conservator of Kullu, said violations had not come to the notice of the department in the Kasol range. “The permission for an NOC is sought from the MoEF, which is difficult in case of the wildlife sanctuary, but we will take action,” he added.
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Jobless engineer sells works for kids’ education
Kangra, August 18 AB Raajbansh, 49, a diploma holder in mechanical engineering and a resident of Ansoli village located on the outskirts of this town, had been struggling hard to get a government job, but remained deprived of it despite the fact that he belongs to the SC category. When he failed to get a job, Raajbansh diverted his attention towards creating new things. During this process, he created three records during 2004-05 by writing Gita, the Constitution of the US and the UK in the smallest forms. He wrote Gita in 169 pages with each page measuring 2.2 X 1.7 cm and the book had a thickness of 1.3 cm. He wrote the Constitution of the US in 123 pages and each page measured 2 X 1.5 cm with the total thickness of the book being 0.9 cm. This book weighed 2.17 g. His third creation was the Constitution of the UK in the smallest booklet form, comprising 111 pages with each page having a size of 2 X 1.5 cm and the thickness of the book being 0.6 cm. the weight of this book was 1.78 g. His achievements brought him fame and he thrice figured in the Limca Book of Records. Raajbansh, in a letter to world dignitaries, including Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister of Britain, US President, President and Prime Minister of India and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, communicated that he was selling all his three creations for meeting the educational expenditure of his two children. Raajbansh, who is still unemployed, is reeling under financial crisis with no source of income to sustain his family. His daughter was selected for law graduation course in HP University this year. Poverty forced him to sell these three smallest books in order to fund the education of his children.
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Rising graft cases stir debate
Hamirpur, August 18 Till recently, lower rung government officials like revenue department personnel, police constables or other such employees were infamous for doing petty public works only after taking bribe, but today even top officials are being arrested for graft. In Hamirpur, a district food and civil supplies officer (DFCSO) and a sub-inspector working in the Sadar police station were caught red handed while accepting money for doing official work. The DFCSO had accepted Rs 10,000 from a secretary of a society while the SI had demanded Rs 4,000 for helping an accused in a case registered against him. Earlier, social stigma coupled with blot on one’s career and legal consequences were considered the biggest deterrents for others to indulge in corrupt practices. Other factors like ethics and morality also kept a check on corruption. But nothing seems to work now. The sub-inspector was entrusted with the job of recording evidences in the case of corruption against the DFCSO, but later, the SI too was caught accepting bribe, which proves that all such things are now having a little impact in checking corruption. With changing times and the exposure of top politicians in multi-crore scams and their acceptance by our society has definitely led to the acceptance of corruption as a necessary evil. But the debate still continues whether corruption is being accepted as the part of our system against which little could be done in the larger context or something must be done to root it out from our country?
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Small-scale enterprises face neglect
Solan,August 18 While the sector faces neglect from all quarters as no specific concessions are doled out both by the state and the Centre, what hits their fiscal health most is the credit rating done by the banks on the basis of their loan returning performance. The situation has been aggravated due to the global recession which has adversely hit the SMEs. The entrepreneurs rue that the rates of interest, which vary from 11.5 to 13.5 per cent, are on a par with the medium and large-scale entrepreneurs. While the bigger units could afford to pay such high rates as their profit margins were higher, the SMEs could ill-afford the same rates as their profitability was much less. Keeping their high employability in mind the government should scale down their interest rates to 6 - 7 per cent, suggest SME entrepreneurs who add that this step would provide them a major boost. The problem was not just limited to arranging finances but with no specific plots being allocated to the SMEs, setting up such ventures was fraught with problems, explained Arun Rawat, general secretary, Laghu Udyog Bharati, Pharmaceutical Council. While plots were usually set aside for the bigger industrial ventures, little thought was ever given to facilitate plot allotment to them. Rawat added that plots should also be reserved in the Special Economic Zones and even power should be provided at subsidised rates. This would help sustain this segment which helped train the industrial workforce who after gaining some experience shifted to the bigger units leaving the SMEs with untrained workforce. A sizeable part of the time and finances were hence incurred on training their workforce. Besides, with the SMEs being invariably first generation investors this sector required more impetus to survive as they lacked the requisite experience to sail through the recession. The prevailing slump had not only rendered a vast majority of these units located in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt uneconomical but quite a few had to shut their operations for good. There were 3445 SMEs while the number of medium and large units was around 358 in the state. Director, Industries, Manoj Sharma, however, said that they were working out the nitty-gritty of allotting plots to this sector and efforts were afoot to set up a cluster of SMEs which could later get central assistance. The effort, however, appears too little and too late as the 2003 central industrial package is in its last phase and already scores of SMEs are on the brink of bankruptcy in the state in the absence of requisite support.
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vignettes
An article in The New York Times of September 22, 1879, with the heading “English morals in India-Simla the centre of wickedness” reads, “Simla is full of “unscrupulous men and women”-”debauchees”- who made “every vice in the Decalogue the fashion, not the shame of the hour”. In “wicked” Shimla, a game being played by the amorous Brits was that ladies would sit on a tabletop dangling their legs and men below the table were to feel their “lower extremities” - forbidden by the rules to go above the knees - and declare who’s who. One with maximum correct answers was pronounced the winner.
The Shimla ADC at the Gaiety Theatre was very popular and presented a perfect setting for flirtations. Iris Portal recalled that “hearts were broken and mended again on that stage and many riotous parties took place on it and the Green Room”. There was a stiff competition among women for a part in a play. On the night of the performance, fans and admirers would send bouquets to their favourite and the woman who got more bouquets was an object of jealousy for others. It meant that there were more men paying court to that lady. Closeness with a member of the opposite sex in Shimla then was necessary for cheery life. Val Prinsep, a fashionable artist who visited Shimla in 1877, commented on this: “If you do not have a pair, as in my case, you are likely to die of inanition”. Shimla was grand and gay and it required lots of money to enjoy the life there. “The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook” contained a warning, “No one should go up that has not a bag of rupees and many petty frocks”. Ruby Morten, an Australian living in Shimla, wrote to her homeland: “The women in Shimla were the most flirtatious: “that horrid Simla manner - the gush, the giggle and the repartee”. Another venue for amusement was the Annandale Ground. The recorded history of the ground starting from September 1833 spoke of a funfair held there. Since then, it remained a centre of attention for picnics; fairs; flower, dog or horse shows; gymkhana with tent pegging, steeplechase, tandem race, ladies’ hack race; polo; football; cricket; archery; shooting; horse races; croquet and even boomeranging. Boomeranging started here because of Gilbert Walker, special assistant to Sir John Eliot, who was the director-general of the Indian observatories. Childish games, such as egg and spoon races or a chasing game known as “tiggy, tiggy, touch wood”, were played by the ladies. Doz wrote in 1913 about the Ye Shepherd’s race in which a sheep was tied to a long pole in the centre of the Annandale Ground. Riding couples would come up to it and asked, “Ba, ba, black sheep, have you any wool?” Afraid of horses and people around it, the sheep would bleat. The competitors guessed what the sheep had said, jotting it down they would race back to the starting point. The first couple whose answer matched with the one already recorded would win the top prize. What ways to run the administration of India?
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Cooperative bodies needed to stabilise apple market
Shimla, August 18 The production has been fluctuating over a wide range from 95 lakh standard boxes in 1999 to almost 2.96 crore boxes (2007) depending on the weather conditions, However, returns have been even more uneven with the crop in the lower hill ranges, which reaches the market early, fetching higher returns than that of the middle and upper hills. This has been a regular feature, particularly during bumper crops, when heavy arrivals cause a glut. The lack of adequate processing and storage infrastructure and dependence of the growers on traders have been the main factors behind the highly volatile apple market.In India, almost all the apple produce comes from three states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and the country contributes just 15 lakh tonne to the global production of 58 million tonne which is negligible compared to 21 million tonne produced by China. “Given the huge domestic demand, marketing should not have been a problem for the growers, but they are suffering due to lack of adequate processing and storage facilities and also because they are not organised”, points out Rajiv Chauhan, a leading grower who presented a paper on the issue at a conference organised by the International Federation of Agriculture Producers at Dublin recently. Globally, about 71 per cent of the produce is consumed fresh and 20 per cent processed into value-added products like apple butter, baking mixes, syrups and granolas and about 9 per cent into other products like packed natural apple juice, cider and jams. However, in India only 0.64 per cent is processed and the lack of controlled atmosphere storage infrastructure along with poor distribution infrastructure creates market scarcity for consumers and reduces options for farmers. Strong intermediary cartels create low returns for the farmers and high prices for consumers as apple is mostly sold through commission agents in the country, Chauhan explains. The price growers get is around Rs 20 to Rs 30 per kg for the good quality fruit retailed at a band of Rs 80-120 per kg and the huge differential of Rs 60 to Rs 90 per kg is pocketed by the middlemen. Since the grower is not in a position to hold back his produce during the harvest season because of the lack of appropriate storage facility, he is forced to send his fruit to wholesale markets where a strong nexus between the commission agents and the wholesalers ensures that the produce is sold at a very low price. Further, the low grade fruit procured under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) floods the market severely affected by the price of high quality produce. According the Chauhan, the average drop in the price ranges from Rs 100 to Rs 200 per box, causing an overall loss of about Rs 200 crore to Rs 300 crore to the growers. A permanent solution to the marketing problem could be found if the growers organise into cooperative societies, set up a series of processing plants, cold stores and cold chain facilities to effectively regulate arrivals. The best thing about apple is that it could be kept in stores for as long as six months. Nearly 1,82,000 tonne of apple, over 14 per cent of the total apple production, is lost because of inadequate post-harvest handling facilities. The availability of storage facilities will help control the supply of apples during the peak season from mid- August to the end of September and ensure a uniform price ranging from Rs 30 to 40 per kg.The stored apples can be marketed towards the end of December after apples from Kashmir are sold out. It will enable growers to compete with apples imported from the U.S.A, Chille, New Zealand and some other countries which retail at Rs 90 to Rs 150 per kg.
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Himachal diary The long weekend on account of Janmashtami and Independence Day turned out to be an unexpected bonanza for the tourism industry which has taken a hit due to the swine flu scare. Holiday revellers from the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana and other parts of the country arrived in hordes causing endless traffic jams on the narrow hill roads. All those connected with the tourist trade did brisk business. The hotels were packed to capacity and taxi drivers and travel agents also made a fast buck. However, the incessant rain during the period proved a boon for umbrella and raincoat sellers. The sudden deluge came at a time when the threat of drought has been looming large over the country and it brought much cheers to the tourists. They were too keen to enjoy the rain and did not mind buying protective gears. The Mall and the Ridge, which usually wear a deserted look during rain, were crowded with umbrella-sporting crowd. The revellers made the best of the inclement weather and spent most of the time on the streets. (See picture) Poor rain ‘helps’ PWD The prevailing drought-like situation has indeed caused damage to the agriculture and horticulture crops. But like the proverbial wisdom tells us that every dark cloud has a sliver lining and it’s true in this case too. The roads which suffered damage due to heavy rains last season, are in good shape thanks to the failed monsoon. The state had been spending crores of rupees every year on restoration of rain damages in respect of the roads which are the lifelines of the hill people. Last year, apple growers faced hardships in transporting their produce to the market as practically all the roads in the upper Shimla area, which account for over 70 per cent of the state’s total produce, were blocked by the landslides. Some of the link roads remained closed for the weeks together. Even the apple procured by government agencies under the market intervention scheme could not be transported to the processing plant at Parwanu. As a result, about one lakh bags of fruit rotted by the side of collection centres. This year, the crop is poor but the rates are almost double as compared to the last year and the roads are still traffic worthy much to the relief of the growers. Engineers of the PWD, who have to work overtime to keep the roads through during the rainy season, are also breathing easy.
BJP, Cong in war of words Registration of an FIR against Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh in the audio CD case by the State Vigilance Department has triggered a war of words between the Congress and the BJP. Leaders of the two parties have found an issue which can help them to remain in the news. They are making the best of the opportunity by addressing press conferences and issuing press statements. While many of these want to hog limelight in this raging controversy, others are keen to appease their top leaders by speaking in favour or against the case to suit the convenience of their political masters. As many local leaders visit the offices of newspapers with stereotyped press releases, criticising or defending Virbhadra Singh. Many of them plead for marking their presence in the media so that they have something to show to their leaders. The matter does not end here, they further want the press statements to be carried in New Delhi editions so that it comes to the notice of Virbhadra Singh or other Central leaders. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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Panchayat pradhan suspended
Nurpur, August 18 According to DPO Chain Singh Punia, the pradhan, who was suspended under section 145 of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, had been directed to hand all movable and immovable property of gram panchayat to the panchayat secretary with immediate effect. Punia told that he had submitted a showcause notice to the erring pradhan, but she failed to respond satisfactory reply in connection with the allegations levelled against her, including diverting of MP fund, failure to start work on various development schemes even after receipt of the first installment of allocated budget from the Blockh
Development Officer (BDO), Nurpur. He revealed that he had conducted an inquiry into the allegations through the BDO who in his report had vindicated the allegations.
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Kasol (Kullu), August 18
Kangra, August 18
The long weekend on account of Janmashtami and Independence Day turned out to be an unexpected bonanza for the tourism industry which has taken a hit due to the swine flu scare. Holiday revellers from the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana and other parts of the country arrived in hordes causing endless traffic jams on the narrow
hill roads.All those connected with the tourist trade did brisk business. 