Dharamsala, October 13
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit here this afternoon was marked with wide ranging activity. A group of supporters of former Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia handed him a memorandum against former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and coordinator of today’s event Kewal Singh Pathania, former NSUI president. Students from various educational institutes from the area put forward their views regarding reforms required in education.

Supporters of Mankotia, led by Omkar Singh Rana, handed over the memorandum to Rahul under the banner of the Uttar Parvtiya Yuva Kranti Manch. In the memorandum they had questioned the rationale behind making Kewal Singh Pathania the spokesperson of the HPCC, coordinator for the function at Dharamsala. They also demanded the removal of Virbhadra Singh from the Union Cabinet on the plea that an FIR had been registered against him in a corruption case.

Kewal Singh was not available for comments as his mobile remained switched off.

Youth Congress workers and supporters of Manmohan Katoch, president, Himachal Youth Congress, gathered in considerable number and forced Rahul’s cavalcade to stop for some time on road. Rahul greeted the crowd gathered on the spot. He then straightaway headed to the municipal council hall where he was scheduled to meet students drawn from various education institutes of Kangra district. The entry was restricted strictly for the students selected at the whims of the coordinators of the programme. This came in for criticism from a section of students who failed to make it to the venue. They alleged that the MC hall was too small for organising the programme and it could accommodate only 300 students. Even the media was not allowed inside.

After the programme, some of the students, when contacted by The Tribune, expressed satisfaction with their interaction with Rahul. Vivek Thakur, a medical student, said he had urged the leader to do away with quota system in postgraduate medical courses.

Shivani, another medical student, complained against the high fee for medical and other professional courses. Students from rural areas complained about the poor infrastructure in their respective areas. Rahul assured the students that their grievances would be taken up in Parliament.

Shimla, October 13
Striking a different note on Pakistan, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi today asserted that a major international player like India should not be obsessed with the neighbouring country, which was “a small piece of the world view”.

“There is no comparison of Pakistan with India. We give too much importance to it,” he said during an interaction with mediapersons here.

Rejecting the contention that Pakistan had become more aggressive towards India in the second term of the UPA regime, he said there had been a sea change in the opinion and attitude of various countries towards the country since the times of the NDA.

The diplomatic success was not achieved in a single day, he added.

The UPA government had been creating pressure as a result of which Pakistan stood isolated in the comity of nations. Of course, there were internal issues plaguing the country which did affect India, he added.

Referring to the criticism of his visits to the huts of Dalits in remote villages, Rahul said that the Opposition parties were not in touch with reality of the country. The nation had two facets--- one which had all opportunities and the other which had none and living in poverty.

The Left underlined only one component and did not understand the connection between the two. It wanted to uplift one and totally ignore the other.

The BJP, on the other hand, focussed on the other half. It failed to connect with the deprived India. Besides, some of the ideas of the party, still haunted by Jinnah, were more than a thousand year old.

He said he was going to the people with a new vision to bridge the economic divide between the have and have-nots by using prosperous India as an engine to pull out the underprivileged India from poverty.

It was essential to spend time amidst the weaker sections to know their problems and needs.

He said he wished all youth Congress leaders visited villages and stayed with the underprivileged.

The UPA government was already working for the uplift of underprivileged by implementing programmes like the national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) and waiving farm loans.

Recollecting his father Rajiv Gandhi’s observation that “out of the every rupee spent by the government for the uplift of poor, only 15 paise reached the target people”, he said the Universal Identity Card scheme would ensure proper monitoring of programmes.

More importantly, the poor people of the country would get an identity on the basis of which they could take advantage of the government schemes, he said.

Shimla, October 13
His maturity, candid admission of the faulty political system and loopholes in the government set up, left everyone impressed as even students from rival outfits like the ABVP and the SFI gave the “youth icon” full marks for his adeptness.

With only a subtle hint of his political message, Rahul Gandhi won hearts of the youth who listened with rapt attention to every word he uttered at the hour-long “vimarsh”, an interactive rendezvous organised by the NSUI at Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here today.

The auditorium was packed to capacity an hour before Rahul’s arrival as students scrambled outside to gain admission. Seeing the students, nobody was left in any doubt about his soaring popularity. However, after the interactive session, he ensured every heart was won with his optimism, honesty and positive outlook.

Exhibiting greater political maturity than most senior leaders, he spoke about finding agreement in “disagreement” as finding solutions in national interest was supreme.

“Unlike most netas, he does not talk politics and, above all, he thinks straight from the heart without even an iota of ego,” said Charu Rathore, fifth semester Law student.

His political acumen was at its best when he drew a parallel between Vajpayee and Advani, while terming the former Prime Minister as the most flexible and the latter as rigid and not open to ideas.

He admitted that India had the most faulty political system where most political parties had no democracy. “When I joined politics, I too was struck by the fact that we have no say in selecting the candidates we vote for and it is not easy for a common man to make it big in politics,” he confessed.

His take on “politics of dynasty” left everyone surprised when he remarked that it was an indicator of closed politics with no democracy.

“However, if someone in your family is in politics, there should be no bar on your following suit as I got my first lessons in politics by merely listening to the conversation my grandmother and father had at lunch,” he said. He also made mention of his father Rajiv Gandhi’s mission of reducing the gap between demand and supply through efficient use of technology.

Taking a dig at BSP supreme Mayawati for spending crores on statues, he said there was no dearth of money but of delivery in our set up. “We need to gain from the first hand knowledge a farmer, scientist or any other specialist in his field has rather than planning without knowing the ground realities,” he said.

Talking about his concept of “aam aadmi ka sipahi” coined for NSUI workers, he said they should constantly keep acquiring knowledge, evolve and above all bridge the gap between common man and politicians.

Shimla, October 13
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said today that the process of democratisation of frontal organisations initiated by him would go a long way in ending the dominance of the “influential and well-connected” in the party.

“In the existing set up, doors of political parties were not open to common youngsters as a result of which those having good connections had an inherent advantage. The programme to democratise the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the Youth Congress (YC), on which I am working, will completely change the face of the two organisations,” Rahul, who was on a day’s visit to the state to interact with youth, said while explaining his plan for building a strong and more representative party. There would be no place for nominations and instead of a president, a team of seven members would be elected through a transparent poll process. Since carrying out such exercise required a large infrastructure across the country and proper training, it would take some time for completion, he said.

The election of the YC had already been completed in Punjab, Gujarat and Puducherry and the process was on in Tamil Nadu. As it took about two to three months to complete the process in a state, the elections in rest of the country would take about two years.

The objective of the entire exercise was to open the doors of organisations as wide as possible and let the “aam aadmi” instead of the well-connected take charge.

He was doing this even as other political parties were reluctant to democratise the organisation and open their doors to one and all.

Rahul also had a piece of advice for the party men in Himachal Pradesh. In his brief address at the Congress Bhawan, he said merely opposing the BJP would not help, the party, en masse, should strive to raise the real issues concerning people to win their support. He also underlined the need for maintaining unity to strengthen the party base in the hill state.

He was extended a warm welcome by party men both at Shimla and Dharamsala where he had interactive sessions with the youth.

PCC chief Kaul Singh, Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh accompanied him during his visit.

Dagshai, October 13
Dagshai Public School celebrated its 52nd annual day today with IPH Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi gracing the occasion. He said values inculcated in the school went a long way in laying the foundation of a child’s future.

While lauding the contribution of private educational institutions in the state, he said they helped fill the gap and they, along with the state-run educational institutes, helped Himachal to emerge as the leading state in the field of education. With a view to giving boost to technical educational, as many as seven private universities had been given letters of intent, he added.

While lauding the efforts of students and staff in presenting a colourful cultural programmes, he said the presentation of gatka depicting Sikh mythology brought alive the nuance of our rich history.

Other presentations of the day included an English play, a Punjabi play, orchestra and dance performances which regaled the audience.

Chairman, members of the school trust and principal Beant Singh also spoke on the occasion.

Rattan Singh was adjusted the best actor while Parneeta was awarded the prize of best dancer. Park John bagged the award of the best artist, Amritpal Gill was chosen the most disciplined boy while Amely Kang was declared the most disciplined girl. Opinder Singh bagged the best singer prize, best athlete in the middle girl category was given to Harshpreet while Sanampreet Singh won the honour in the middle boy category. In the senior section, Kulnoor Brar and Devinder Khosla were chosen the best athlete in the girl and boy category, respectively.

The coveted trophy for best house in “shabad gayan” was bagged by the Zorawar House which also bagged the trophy for excelling in academics as well as sports. Ajit House managed to take home the trophy in co-curricular activities.

Dagshai, October 13
Providing the much-needed relief, the state health department has finally appointed an assistant drug controller at Baddi.

This post was earlier held by drug inspector Navneet Marwaha who was only handling responsibilities of an assistant drug controller while officially being an inspector. The lone promotion in the department comes after a gap of nine years.

It is worth mentioning that the department was facing dire shortage of field staff and though efforts were afoot to streamline the department, a little had been done to recruit adequate staff. The officials are, however, hopeful now that steps would be taken in that direction and shortage of staff would be removed.

Since hundreds of pharmaceutical units had established their operations in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area, it had earned the sobriquet of being the pharmaceutical hub of Asia. It had, therefore, become imperative to maintain quality check on the drugs manufactured here as a lone drug inspector failed to effectively man all units here.

Shimla, October 13
The ‘Anaemia Free Himachal’ scheme, launched in two districts of the state by the Health and Family Welfare Department, will now be extended to the remaining 10 districts from December 1.

This was revealed by Health Minister Rajiv Bindal at a review meeting held here today. He said the scheme that was already being implemented in Kangra and Hamirpur districts since the past one year, would be extended to the entire state soon. He said more than 9 lakh people were tested for anaemia in these two districts and were provided treatment.

Bindal said the scheme would be executed in one health-block of each district. He directed the authorities to provide medicines and equipments for blood testing to the selected blocks by the middle of December.

District-level training camps would be organised from December 1 to 15 in each district which would be attended by Deputy Commissioners, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Chief Medical Officer, District Ayurveda Officer, District Welfare Officer, Child Development Project Officer and Deputy Director, Education.

The minister said it would be for the first time that more than 20 lakh people would be tested for anaemia in the year 2009-10.

Bilaspur, October 13
Thirteen shopkeepers and hoteliers have fallen in the trap of officials of the District Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department at Ghumarwin near here when their shops and hotels were raided last evening.

Surender Singh Pathania, an official of the District Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department, said here today that the team of the department checked the premises of 18 hotels and dhabas and found that 12 of them were misusing domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes against the rules.

The team took all cylinders in its possession and served notices as to why action should not be taken against them under provisions of the law.

Pathania also said the raiding party checked shop premises of one halwai at Ghumarwin and found 113 quintal of sugar worth Rs 3.61 lakh lying stored without any valid permission or licence from the government or even cash memo from where it was purchased. The sugar was seized by the department and a notice was served to the halwai for action against him according to the Essential Commodities Act.

The raiding party also found 35 litre of government depot supplied cheaper and blue-coloured kerosene oil in this shop which was also seized and another notice was served on the shopkeeper.

Nurpur, October 13
Sumit Kumar (22), son of Sharif Dass of Toond village, near here, died on his way to the Civil Hospital last night. He, along with his friends Bir Singh and Sanjay Kumar, was injured when their motorcycle (HP38-1814) skidded and met with an accident.

According to the police, Bir and Sanjay were accompanying Sumit to drop him at his village when the motorcycle met with a mishap near Ganoh.

Bir and Sanjay were also admitted to the hospital. Later, Sanjay was referred to Tanda Medical College as he was also seriously injured in the mishap.

The police has registered a case under Sections 279, 337 and 304(A) and handed over the body to the family after conducting a post-mortem examination.