Dehradun, September 5
In the holy month of Ramzan, the Muslim population of Dehradun could not have asked for more.

A two-day exhibition to mark Ramzan is under way at the Tasmia Quran Library. On display are hundreds of copies of the holy Quran along with ‘Surahs’ and ‘Aayats’ written on various artefacts.

The exhibition opens the doors of immense information regarding the holy book both to a visitor from the other faiths as well as to the followers of Islam.

Besides, it is a delight for those who understand and appreciate the ancient art of calligraphy.

Organised by the Tasmia Quran Library, the copies on display take one through the journey of time with the oldest one on display being a re-print of the copy that was written more than 700 years ago.

An interesting copy is the 337-year-old one that was written by hand by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

Just next to it lies another copy that is marked by the art of Khat-e-Gulzar which means that there are flowers and creepers that have been skillfully made inside every alphabet of the holy book.

The first coloured Quran to have been printed in India in 1908 finds a prominent place in the exhibition. This copy was printed with the assent of the then King of Afghanistan Ameer Saheb Bahadur in Ludhiana. A scheme of seven colours was used for its printing.

Then there are the different translations of the Quran. One can browse through the holy book in Russian, Turkish, Chinese, German and a whole lot of other languages besides Indian languages including Gurmukhi. A copy written in Braille is also on display along with these translations.

There is a separate section of ‘locket and pocket’ Qurans. These are basically the miniature forms of the holy book written artistically.

“We have copies of the Quran weighing from 2 gm to 1,200 kg. Most of the things on display have been gifted by family members, relatives and friends over the past few years,” said Dr S Farooq, trustee of the Tasmia Quran Library. The copies on display range from the ancient manuscripts to the digital format.

There is a copy which has one chapter each of the holy book written on one page. The book thus has only 30 pages.

There is another one that has every line of the book starting with the Arabic alphabet called ‘Vow’.

Similarly there is another one that has every line of the book starting with the alphabet ‘Alif’ and is named ‘Alifi Quran’.

There is yet another that is 63 years old and yet exudes fragrance when one leafs through its pages.

Qurans of historical importance are also on display. There is a copy that was written by none other than Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb on a roll of paper that was not more than three inches in width. It boldly carries the stamp of its writer on the last page.

There is another one that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had got printed.

In addition to the copies of the Quran, there are a whole lot of artefacts with ‘Aayats’ inscribed or written on them. There is Allah written on iron nails, there are ‘Aayats’ written on material that range from paper to gold.

One can see ‘Aayats’ written on the skins of various animals like the camel, goat, fish and deer.

There are ‘Aayats’ inscribed with pearls on the shells of the oysters and on necklaces of ‘Rudraksha’. There is a big globe with ‘Aayats’ written all over it.

The material used for calligraphy has also been put on display for those curious to know the details of the art.

The exhibition is drawing a good crowd. Students from various institutions, including girls, are keen visitors to the venue.

Visitors can be seen clicking photographs of the exhibits. “It feels really good to see so many different copies of the holy book at one place,” said Abdul Majid, a student from Doiwala.

Dr Farooq said that preserving a rare collection like this is a tedious task. “We are doing our best to ensure that the treasure remains preserved,” he said.

Pitthoragarh, September 5
Thousands of villagers living in 111 villages in the area which falls under the Askot Wildlife Sanctuary felt relieved last week following a suggestion to keep these villages out of the sanctuary.

The Askot sanctuary is meant to protect speedily declining population of musk deer, the state animal of Uttarakhand.

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court suggested that all 111 villages falling in the Askot sanctuary should be taken out of the sanctuary and the park be compensated with more then 1,600 sq km of additional land.

“This award will now bring these villages into the developmental mainstream,” said Kushal Singh Bisht, a resident of Kanar village who has been protesting for this step since the sanctuary was announced in 1986.

“Even the 65-km-long Jauljibi-Munsyari road could not be widened during the past 23 years. Neither could the permission be given nor could the material be obtained from local sources due to sanctuary laws where even the villagers could not graze their animals,” said Bisht.

According to the suggestion given by the CEC of the Supreme Court, the 85 sq km agricultural land adjoining these villages will be now kept out of the sanctuary.

To compensate this, the sanctuary area will be increased from 600 sq km to 2,280 sq km.

“Though the villagers will lose 235 sq km and the forest land at a distance from their villages, but they will get the useful land adjoining their villages where developmental projects or infrastructure can be established,” said a forest officer.

The Askot Wildlife Sanctuary includes the whole area of Dharchula sub-division and part of Didihat and Munsyari sub-divisions.

The villagers of the area have been forbidden to collect fodder and fuel for their daily use and from all developmental works which are being done in nearby villages that fall out of the sanctuary. This has meant little development of these villages.

“When the musk deer’s habitat is above 7,000 feet, why have the villages, situated at 2,000 to 4,000 feet, been included in this sanctuary,” asks Kushal Singh Bisht.

It all started on July 30, 1986, when the Uttar Pradesh Government declared a musk deer sanctuary at Askot in Pitthoragarh district incorporating 600 sq km land in which 514.83 sq km was civil land and 85 sq km was agricultural land in these villages.

“After the land of the villagers was taken and sanctuary law imposed on them, the villagers were not only deprived of drinking water schemes but also from collecting fodder and dry wood for fuel from the forests near their villages,” said JS Bora, who organised the villagers against these steps and started an agitation.

Bora added that more than 150 villages of Talla Bagar, Baram, Tawaghat Kuta and Jamtari area have remained backward and their agriculture and animal husbandry has been destroyed.

“More than 10 intra-villages PWD roads have been cancelled in the area in the past 23 years,” said Bora.

Though the villagers might have suffered a lot, the sanctuary seems to have gained in the bargain.

The need of a sanctuary was felt during the eighties when the musk deer was included in Article 36 (A) of Schedule one of the Indian Wildlife Act 1972 awarding the animal the highest degree of protection.

“In 1986, when this sanctuary was announced, only 12 musk deer were seen in Askot area but this number has gone up to 96 in 2007 and is on the rise as illegal poaching has been controlled and awareness among villagers to protect this species has increased,” said District Forest Official, Pitthoragarh.

Dehradun, September 5
All-India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF) today submitted a memorandum to the Defence Minister through the general manager, AIDEF, demanding fulfilment of their various demands.

With the submission of the memorandum the AIDEF also ended their week-long protest in relation to a 17-point charter of demands. Anil Uniyal, president of the federation, led the protest, along with general secretary SB Nautiyal.

They demanded that the government should reopen recruitments for new vacancies and also demanded that vacant posts should be filled by the central government.

They protested against the privatisation and demanded 49 per cent foreign direct investment. They also asked to provide piecework, over time and night duty. 

Dehradun, September 5
The bid of Uttarakhand government to promote the state as an eco-tourism destination of international repute is being marred by conflicting interests among tour and travel companies and the authorities.

While rafting companies are pitted against the forest department on one front, small-time regional tourism promotion bodies are opposing any move on part of Corbett authorities to go for online bookings. In both cases, local tour operators fear losing out on business to bigger players from outside the state.

Even though the state tourism department has accepted the demand for five-year permits for rafting companies operating on the Ganga, the stalemate between the forest department and these companies persists. Rafting companies under the aegis of “Sahasik Paryatan Sangarh Samiti” have set September 14 as the deadline for forest authorities to issue the permits.

The local operators are prominently opposing auction of beaches around the Ganga, as it would encourage a syndicate managed by outsiders while throwing them out of business.

“We will under no circumstances accept auction of beaches around the Ganga as this will completely phase out locals from the rafting business”, said Deepak Bhatt, president of Sahasik Paryatan Sangarsh Samiti while addressing mediapersons today.

He also said companies from outside would be the highest bidders due to their better financial strength. Bhatt accused the forest officials of unnecessarily levying a fee of Rs 10 per visitor on the pretext of service charge.

On the other hand, forest authorities maintain that by auctioning these beaches, they are providing equal opportunity to all rafting companies. Moreover, the department’s revenue is also expected to rise phenomenally if it goes for an auction. But rafting companies contest these claims while asserting that such an auction was only aimed at benefiting big companies.

On the five-year permits, forest authorities contend that while a new beach policy was in the making, a one-year permit was part of the interim arrangements. Operators claimed that they were the first ones to introduce rafting in Ganga, but forest authorities were now trying to reap the dividends of the hardwork done by them.

“Why is the forest department after only the Ganga; why can they not develop the Yamuna, Tons, Sharda and Kali rivers for rafting?” questioned Manjul Rawat, an operator.

The Sahasik Paryatan Sangarh Samiti members, who held several rounds of talks with the forest minister and other senior officials today, said they were now left with no option than to go for a protest if forest authorities do not meet their deadline.

“We will be completely sealing the rafting zone from September 14 onwards and stage a protest at the forest department’s Bhagirathi circle office,” informed Bhatt.

As far as the imbroglio at Corbett is concerned, local businessmen are protesting tourism authorities move to introduce online bookings, which according to them would benefit bigger companies from outside.

Operators at Ramnagar, who make bookings for Corbett, fear losing out on their livelihood if the state government persists with its decision for online bookings.

In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Nishank recently, Corbett Forest and Employment Protection Committee said online bookings would adversely impact their business.

Satyaprakash Sharma, a local taxi operator at Ramnagar, alleged that online bookings would completely destroy their business.

“With locals losing their jobs due to online bookings, they will be forced to look into alternative sources of employment and can end up becoming a party to anti-wildlife elements active in the region,” said Sharma.

Corbett Park authorities have in the meantime issued tenders for online booking process and hope that these would be in the interest of tourists coming to Uttarakhand.

On the other hand, at a convention of Adventure Tours’ Operators held earlier this year, eminent companies from across the country had accused Uttarakhand of doing little to promote tourism and not allowing bigger companies to enter the state.