Dehradun, November 6
After successfully keeping off multinational pharmaceutical companies retail counters at bay, retailers and wholesalers of medicines are now facing a new threat that is from government drug companies planning to sell generic drugs through Jan Aushdhi Stores (JAS) to be set up inside district hospitals in different cities.

The Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. will establish Jan Aushdhi stores at Dehradun and Roorkee hospitals, while the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceutical Limited (IDPL) in all probability is in line for a chemist shop at Haridwar and Rishikesh government hospitals. In the next phase, the shops will open at Srinagar, Uttarkashi and Haldwani district hospitals.

The state government has provided a shop free of cost to Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceutical Company Ltd inside the Doon Hospital and renovation activity is on.

“The entry of government shops will severely impact our livelihood. It will directly strike at the earning margin (25 per cent) of wholesalers and retailers. Obviously, medicines will be cheaper at these stores and nobody will come to buy medicines from us.

“These medicines will be directly bought from companies. A medicine bought from the Jan Aushdhi store will naturally be cheaper,” said Rajkumar Bansal, office secretary, Chemist Association, Dehradun.

“If the government wants to benefit the common man, it should distribute free medicines to patients. Why is it hell bent on striking at our only means of livelihood,” said Arvind Tayal, General Secretary of the Chemists Association.

As a mark of protest, the retailers and wholesalers owing allegiance to the Chemist Association in Dehradun will launch a token stir on November 9.

“We will hold a token protest on November 9 against the opening of chemist shops by government drug companies in Doon Hospital. If the government does not relent, we will be forced to hold a full-fledged agitation and will even give a call for state bandh,” said Rajkumar Bansal, office secretary, Chemist Association, Dehradun, while speaking to mediapersons.

Sensing a bigger plot, Tayal said that if things go on in this fashion, the government may even plan to shut dispensaries providing free of cost medicines to patients in the coming days.

“The Jan Aushdhi Niti that the government is promoting by setting such shops is a hoax,” Tayal said.

Calling for changes in the price mechanism (Drugs Control Act), Arvind Tayal, General Secretary of Chemist Association, said that the government should bring changes in the formula of pricing so that the medicine is evenly priced.

In Dehradun, there are 500 retailers and 100 wholesalers who will be affected by the move.

However, experts said that if medicines begin to be sold through Jan Aushdhi Stores, it would only benefit consumers. These will be run as self-propelled units and not as subsidised stores.

Dehradun, November 6
Scrumptious and lip-smacking food of Rajasthan is stealing away the show at Saras Mela in Dehradun. So many people from all walks of the life are enjoying the delicacies of other states. From choorma bati to mirchi bada and moong dal halwa to dal kachori, every snack nurses your platter with delightful and mouthwatering cuisines.

“I’ve come here for the third time with my friends to relish the delectable dal bati and moong dal halwa. The food is awesome and also nominally priced,” said Saurabh Thapa, a student who bunked his tuition just to come in the mela.

These days, doonites are busy splurging at the Saras Mela and gorging on the finger-licking snacks from Rajasthan. Another foodie, who came to visit the city from Pune, said: “Bajre ki roti and gatte ki sabzi are the best thing to be tried out at Saras Mela.”

“Like every year, the sale is going excellent and overall we are doing a remarkable business. Our stall ‘Aapno Rajasthan’ is witnessing more crowd than others and we expect to receive a good turnover by the end of this 12-day extravaganza,” said the owner of the stall. “Rajasthani thal is a must have, which comprises mava laddoo, bajre ki roti, dal bati, halwa and gatte ki sabzi for Rs 80 only,” elucidated Makhan Singh, one of the sellers at the stall.

“We have special paneer chile, Rajasthani dahi bhalle, aaloo paneer tikki, pyaaz kachori and mava kachori, which are exclusively made by people from Rajasthan,” he further added.

The stall has sweet and salty flavors for all foodies who love to explore gastronomy from different places and for this, people will have to shell out between Rs 20 and Rs 100 to savour the Rajasthan food.

Dehradun, November 6
The Indian Army band, which got a berth in the Guinness Book of World Records for performing “Amazing Grace” with about 4,500 musicians in Delhi Cantt in 1997, is all set to enhance the skills of its musicians.

Earlier, the musicians of the band, who are 34 in number and can be increased to 56 according to the event, used to blow only one instrument, but now, efforts are being made that every musician can, at least, blow two instruments.

Speaking to The Tribune, principal conductor SR Kandpal, who was here at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) for a music performance, said they were going to start the training for skill enhancement soon. This would help the band and the musicians as well.

Every Army unit has its band but this is the Army Headquarters’ band which welcomes VIPs and other dignitaries, who come from foreign countries, he said.

“The best of talent and highly qualified musicians of the Army are posted in this band,” said Kandpal.

He informed that the band was raised in 1991 in New Delhi and had participated in various military tattoos and music festivals in Russia, France, Italy, Japan, the UK, Malaysia and Germany.

He said when music like “Kadam Kadam” is played, foreign crowds cheer it the most. They were highly appreciated by foreigners in their last performance.

He recalled, “It was after 1947 when the Britishers left the country that the Indian Army Band had to get its act together. Before 1947, the Britishers used to be the bandmasters while Indians used to play the role of musicians.”

The country opened its first Army music school, Army Education Core (AEC), in Panchmadi, on October 23, 1958. It received a tremendous response and all friendly Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan and others sent its forces to learn music here, said Kandpal, who has been the director of music in the AEC for 12 years and an assistant director for seven years.

In the AEC, only the director and assistant director are civilians and the rest are from the Army. Only the Forces can learn music in AEC, Panchmadi.

Dehradun, November 6
It was a scene of frantic activity at Jaswant Modern Senior Secondary School on Friday as children from various schools had come to display their science projects to judges to vie at district-level competition and then become eligible for state and finally at national-level competition.

Jaswant Modern received entries from 11 schools in junior category and 31 schools from senior category by mid afternoon.

Meenakshi Gandotra, principal of Jaswant Modern School said, “It is almost every year, students from state have been making successfully to the national-level, even if not win the competition in the end.” The reason for receiving maximum entries in senior category, she said, “CBSE has integrated all the science subjects at junior level. It is only at senior level, the students get to know science fully well in different streams of Biology, Physics and Chemistry. Therefore, they also participate more at this juncture of their studies.”

In this competition three best science projects will be selected each in junior and senior category from each of 13 districts. Then they will compete at state-level at Pithoragarh on November 1 for two days.

The winner will then participate at the national-level competition to be held from December 27-31 in Ahmedabad.

GK Sharma, chairperson State Academic Council who was supervising the whole event said, “The judges who are going to select winners today have been given training through an orientation program which was held at Kotdwar to follow guidelines while making judgment for this competition. Quality of the projects will be our top priority as the competitor has to compete at high levels.”

It was indeed tough for judges to make final decision, as said Manju Singal, Biology teacher, “The students came up with brilliant and novel ideas, which made my task of judging more difficult.” Besides Manju Singal, there were three more judges, VS Saini, scientist, Dr Brij Mohan Sharma, scientist and Kamla Pant, president NGO Pahal.

The students too were quite excited about the competition and exuded confidence in their projects. Their interest chiefly hinged around protection of environment. Sumit Ghanshala, student of Jaswant Modern had shown how felling of trees have been eliminating wildlife gradually and, severely affecting food chain.

Similarly, Ashish Chauhan, student of Doon Valley focused on depletion of water resources due to shrinking of rivers and overflow of garbage in them.

Nainital, November 6
State Education Minister Gobind Singh Bisht has ordered an action against the Principal of the Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at Tandi Pokhrar for allegedly not turning up at the institute since August.

The institute is located in a remote area and the Principal, who has an additional charge of the ITI, Haldwani, allegedly preferred not to make an appearance at the ITI-Tandi Pokhrar.

It was during a surprise visit to the ITI-Tandi Pokhrar on Thursday that the matter came to light. Bisht has asked the local administrative authorities and the Director (Social Welfare) to look into the matter and take appropriate action.

Residents of the area complained to the minister that there were many shortcomings in the institute’s new building, which is under construction.

They said the material being used is sub-standard and there were several flaws in the architecture as well. Bisht asked the district authorities to get a probe done by a panel of experts.

The minister also held a multi-purpose camp at Paharpani on Friday and took stock of the execution of the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana and other government projects, including the ones pertaining to minor irrigation. He has asked the District Magistrate to initiate action against government officials who have not been turning up for duty in various departments for a long time.

While ordering the reconstruction of a dilapidated building of Paharpani Government Inter College, he directed the district administration to get a survey done of all education institutions whose buildings are in a bad shape.

He also ordered a regular appointment of principals in the government schools at Babiyad and Paharpani.

The minister also took stock of the problems being faced by the residents of the area pertaining to the receipt of the old-age pension and provision of drinking water.

He asked the administration to resolve these matters at the earliest. Bisht stated that the places where hand pumps were to be installed should be earmarked at the earliest so that the project, aimed at providing drinking water to residents, could be executed at the earliest.

He ordered a probe into the delay of disbursement of old-age pension and asked the authorities to ensure that the residents got the same within a week.

He also ordered to clear the Guniyalekh-Babiyad road of the debris that had got accumulated in monsoon rain several days ago. 

Dehradun, November 6
ICFAI National College, Dehradun, a constituent of ICFAI University, Dehradun, distributed laptops to all its’ MBA students of 2009-11 batch. A total of 117 students were the beneficiaries of the scheme.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harbans Kapoor distributed the laptops to the students at a function held here today.

College Principal Brig ML Sabhawral (retd) in his welcome address stated: “Computers are considered as one of the greatest invention of mankind as they become an inherent part of our lives.” He congratulated the university for standardising the quality of higher education in the state and extended good wishes for its bright future. He stated that Dehradun as a city was better known for secondary and senior secondary education, but the emergence of quality institutions of higher learning like “ICFAI have helped the city achieve the same status in higher education.” He also expressed his happiness about the development of the university campus at Rajawala.

He said in this era of economic growth and globalisation, IT revolution had contributed substantially to the nation, hence providing laptops to students just at the beginning of their professional degree course wouls help them in their professional growth.

VC Dr GP Srivastava emphasised on the university motto “Meritum Ethicus”, which means both Merits and Ethics. He added that the university has been continuing to impart quality education to the youth.

Also present at the occasion were principal adviser of the university Dr Suresh Chandra Deorani, chief administrator of the university Col SK Jairath. The programme was co-ordinated by Amit Adlakha.

Pitthoragarh, November 6
Civil works at the Almora medical college and for the extension of the Srinagar Medical College will be stopped if the state government does not get an extra amount of Rs 330 crore out of the promised Rs 730 crore as accumulated central assistance by the Planning Commission during the finalisation of the annual plan 2009-10, Uttarakhand Minister Prakash Pant said yesterday.

Pant has written to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, to release the remaining amount of Rs 330 crore under accumulated central assistance to Uttarakhand.

“Besides, various other projects in power, transport education and medical sectors will have to be stopped as we don’t have any alternative to this central assistance,” he said.

“The Rs 60-crore work going on in power sector, including the construction of mini-hydel projects and electrification of more than 100 villages, will also suffer,” he added.

The state government has to start work on Rudrapur Medical College in Udham Singh Nagar and the Nanghat drinking water project in Pauri Garhwal district besides civil work at Doon University.

Pant said the construction of helipads at tehsil headquarters of all districts, to be constructed under this proposed budget, would be scrapped if the state did not get the money from the commission.

A musical performance in progress at the cultural week of St Joseph’s Academy in Dehradun on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, November 6
The second day of the cultural week of St Joseph’s Academy began with full entertainment and fervour today. Children got together to present eye-catching activities throughout the day.

The day started with prayer by school principal AJ George in the presence of special guest Brother A Bosco and Peter Odour of the Patrician Society from Kenya and senior music teachers Dewarker Ganguly and C Ince, western music teacher at Welham Boys School Mohit Mishra and Hemant Nawani, a known name in the entertainment industry.

Following it was a group song (English-Hindi), solo (English-Hindi) and instrumental performances by class 6 to class 12 students. In the English solo, the first position was bagged by Dooley House, second position by Donavan House, third by Bergin House and Duffy House got the fourth position.

While in the Hindi solo, the first position went to Donavan House second to Dooley House, third to Duffy House and fourth position went to Bergn House. However,in the English group song Duffy House bagged the first position, Dooley House second, Donavan House got third and fourth went to Bergin House. And in the Hindi group song, the first song was bagged by Bergin House, second by Duffy House, third by Dooley House and fourth by Donavan House.

A foot tapping instrumental performance added a tinge of spark to this musical carnival. Duffy House came first for the performance of an electrifying duel drum for the first time in the history of the school by Shubham Nagalia and Pallav Sharma. The second position was bagged by Dooley House for “Rock the heart”, a rock-based performance, third by Donavan House for self-composed melodies and fourth position by Bergin House for a power pact display of drums. However, the event concluded with captivating performances of students in Hindi dramatics and Ad Bag, an advertisements making competition, where students were judged by veterans in the field of Hindi literature.

Dehradun, November 6
Welham Girls’ School defeated The Aryan School by 41-11 at the Council School Basketball Tournament here today. Garima was the top scorer for Welham Girls’ team with 14 points.It proved to be a one-sided match with Welham Girls’ team dominating the match from the beginning.They took an important 12 points lead in the match in the very first quarter with Garima doing most of the scoring.

There was no respite for the The Aryan School in the second quarter as well, they just managed to score four points, whereas Welham Girls’ further increased their goal tally by 18 points taking the score to 30 points.

In the third quarter, The Aryan School managed to put a stop on the Welham’s score, but it failed to increase its pointes. Anya was the only spiker from The Aryan School team to have scored some points.

In the last quarter, Welham’s team scored points at will taking their final score to 41 points, whereas The Aryan School team could only manage to score 11 points.

In the second match STC team got a walkover on Shighali Hills.