Dehradun, November 8
Dr Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission and adviser to the Prime Minister, called upon the Uttarakhand government to set up a state knowledge commission in order to embrace frontiers of new knowledge about to unfold in the next couple of years.

“The Uttarakhand state could act as a laboratory for the rest of the country by building up new knowledge institutions. The government needs to show political will and take lead in becoming the knowledge capital of North India. Prepare a road map now,” exhorted Dr Pitroda while delivering the seventh state foundation lecture titled “Blue Print for Creating a Knowledge Society” held at AMN Ghosh Auditorium on the eve on the ninth anniversary of the state of Uttarakhand today.

He said in the next couple of years a second revolution was going to take place completely changing the way we communicate, live work and communicate. “A multidisciplinary approach would be ideal to take on the changes about to unfold in the future,” he said.

Adding that as education is a state subject, the states can play a decisive role in setting goals for the future.

Debunking the overemphasis on traditional knowledge, he said it was the new knowledge that needs to be pursued with a vengeance. “It will change the destiny of the country. It means going forward and will provide cutting edge to the country that sees itself as an important global player. Our traditional knowledge would only be acceptable if it is backed by factual data, documentation and experimentation,” emphasised Dr Pitroda.

The present education system in the country, he said, was almost obsolete. “The days of chalk and black board teaching where the role of the teacher was aimed at preparing and delivering content are long over. It can all be accessed on the Internet. The teacher has to become a mentor for his students and they (students), too, need to change their attitude and go for multidiscipline as one career may not last a life time,” he said.

Dismayed at the prevailing standards of education in the country, he said: “The country needs to be conscious of global knowledge scenario, quest for knowledge is absent and none of the universities are producing research work. There is negligible research and development work. We also need to provide training to our carpenters, electricians as there is no focus on basic level of education.”

The national knowledge commission is broadly focusing on innovation, increasing accessibility, encouraging excellence and also taking affirmative action so that the poor and the marginalised also got good education.

Earlier, Governor Margaret Alva said the state had a bright future and must realise it’s full potential. Enumerating the achievements of the state, she said the government had distributed health cards to BPL families who could get free treatment at government hospitals and had achieved the record of 98.8 percent electrification of the state.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the state was committed to achieving the 2020 vision.

Dehradun, November 8
The Uttarkhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has emphasised on collective efforts towards the cause of environment conservation.

Flagging off the Green Marathon at the Parade Ground as part of the State Foundation Day celebrations, the Chief Minister said it was the responsi ty of one and all to work for the betterment of environment.

Nishank said the state had always been at the forefront towards the cause of environment conservation. “Our very commitment to environment emanates from the fact that we are starting our State Foundation Day celebrations with the Green Marathon,” the CM said.

He also held that every participant at the rally was in a way communicator towards the cause of environment.

Uttarakhand Speaker Harbans Kapoor said the responsibility of taking the state into new roads of prosperity lay with the younger generation. He also pointed out that any development activity must be done takingenvironment concerns into consideration.

Nainital, November 8
Children from the Lake City were here for a special treat on Sunday at the ongoing festival of parallel cinema. A series of films aimed at the child audience were screened, much to the liking of adults as well.

The screenings began early with the screening of the movie “Hip Hip Hurray” that is directed by Rajesh Chakravarti. This was followed by the film “Open the Door”. But the pick of the session was renowned Iranian film maker Majid Majidi’s “Children of Heaven”. The Chalet Hall, where the movie is being screened, had a pin-drop silence with a packed audience enjoying the movie revolving around a brother and sister in Tehran. They share a pair of shoes since the girl’s pair is lost and they do not want to burden their poor father. The copies of the films that were put up for sale were sold out within no time.

The post-lunch session was a much serious affair with the screening of some of the renowned documentaries. The session began with the playing of Netra Singh Rawat’s 1976’s classic “Magh Mela”. This was followed by Biju Toppo’s “Gari Lohardagga” which took the audience through a train journey in Jharkhand while bringing out the essence of every day life of people of the region. The documentary has some brilliant Jharkhandi folk songs interwoven in the main theme of the film.

Next came the screening of a yet another classic, “Everest” by NS Thapa. This was followed by “Mahua Memoirs”.

Earlier on Saturday evening, the audience was shown the movie “Ek Minute ka Maun”, which is based on the life and eventual assassination of JNU student’s union former president Chandrashekhar who was allegedly killed at the behest of politicians.

Chandrashekhar was a leader from the All-India Student’s Association (AISA) and stood for the cause of the masses.

The evening ended with the screening of the all-time hit “Modern Times” by Charlie Chaplin. Made in 1936, the movie hits out at the prevalent social and economic norms of the day.

The festival will come to an end with the screening of the classic feature film “Bicycle Thief” by Vittoria de Sica.

The film festival organised by the local cultural group Yugmanch in collaboration with the Jansanskriti Manch has received a good response from the audience. Besides the screening of films, there are books on people-centric issues, along with films for sale at the venue.

Nainital, November 8
Saturday evening once again saw local artistes coming up with an excellent performance at the ongoing six-day Autumn Festival. Local groups of artistes presented a variety of songs and dances pertaining to the Kumaoni culture and in the course of their presentation they drew tremendous applause from the audience.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation by the Buransh group from Haldwani. Their presentation of dances to the tune of Kumaoni songs like “Pare bhire ki basanti chhori”, “Ruma jhuma” and “Ghut ghuti batuki lage” besides a whole lot of others was liked by one and all. They handed over the stage to the artistes from the Rajasthani Kala Manch, Bikaner, who treated those present to a wonderful collection of Rajasthani folk songs and dances. The presentation compelled the audience to stay glued to the venue despite the winter chill.

The local and Rajasthani groups created an ideal atmosphere for child artistes from the television industry to take over and regale the audience with their performances. The late evening performers for the day were Swarit Shukla, Pratiksha Srivastava and Hemant Brijwasi, who came up with one popular Bollywood number after the other. The choice of songs ranged from the classic “O meri zohra zabeen” to the latest “Chal mere naal bol hadippa”.

Local child artiste Madhulika also presented a splendid performance by singing songs like “Ishq kabhi kariyo na” and “Deedar de”.

Besides the cultural bonanza, a photo exhibition by the local photographers was also held at Free Mason Hall. Inaugurating the event, the Vice-Chancellor of Kumaon University, Prof VPS Arora, the photographs of the local landscape had a very vital role to play in bringing out the character of a region. A slide show was also presented.

Meanwhile, Sunday afternoon saw a large number of people participating in offbeat competitive events held under “Pagal Gymkhana”. The events included a needle and thread race, sack race and other events of similar kind.

Dehradun, November 8
The Rajya Siksha Sangh conducted its district-level teachers’ election here yesterday. Chief guest for the occasion was Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harbans Kapoor and Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli.Present at the venue were teachers from government high schools, inter-level trainers, state provision officer (SPO) and district provision officer (SPO).

Around 1 pm, members interested for the post of president, vice-president, secretary, joint secretary, union secretary and supervisor filed the nominations. Each nominee looked excited and was trying to convince other members to vote for him/her.

Rajya Siksha Sangh members also presented a memorandum to Kapoor. “It’s a pity that teachers, who are educating people and doing social service, are facing some grave issues. Along with our elections, which takes place after every two years, we have issued a memorandum stating our main demands,” said former district president of the sangh Narendra Singh Bisht.

With flexibility in the transfer policy, under the 2008 Service Conduct Rule, a degree of BEd and lecture training should be compulsory for teachers who are of the old batch, arrear for senior lectures, pension plan for newly appointed teachers and surprise check should be curtailed as it leads to humiliation and effects the integrity of the teachers.

Later in the evening, results of the elections were declared.

Dehradun, November 8
The northern region, which continues to be the largest contributor to the national gross domestic product (GDP) over the year, has underperformed as per the national average.

The fact was revealed in the analysis presented in the second edition of the CII’s report on gross state domestic product for northern states released on Thursday. The northern region continued to be the largest contributor to the national GDP at 27.5 per cent in 2007-08. However, the economic growth in the region has underperformed the national average this year.

Harpal Singh, Chairman, CII, Northern Region, said the underperformance of the region had been witnessed across primary and tertiary sectors. One of the key reasons in the primary sector has been slow growth rates witnessed by two of the largest agrarian states in the region, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, which contribute 57.5 per cent to the region’s primary sector.

So, while the northern region has not been able to capitalise on its traditional stronghold, agriculture, it has also not been able to capitalise on opportunities in the service sector as much as the other regions, added Singh.

He also pointed out that the performance of the northern region had been reasonably good in the secondary sector, driven to a large extent by growth in the construction sector. Construction, in fact, is also the fastest growing sub-sector for the region. The other fastest growing sub-sectors for the region are, transport, storage and communication, banking and insurance, real estate, ownership of dwellings and business services.

Two of these sub-sectors, construction, transport, storage and communication, are among the top five contributors to the region’s GDP, indicating their importance in the regional economy. Over the period under consideration, the combined contribution of these sub-sectors to the regional GDP has increased significantly from 12.8 per cent to 20.4 per cent.

Discussing the state economies, Singh said Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi were the three largest economies in the region. Chandigarh, Uttarakhand and Haryana were the three fastest-growing economies in the region.

All northern region state economies have witnessed declining contribution from the primary sector. The greatest increase in percentage contribution of the secondary sector has been in Uttarakhand, 15 per cent. Similarly, the contribution of the tertiary sector has witnessed the greatest increase in Haryana, 10 per cent.

Statewise best performing sectors include Chandigarh (sub-sector trade, hotels and restaurants witnessed the highest growth rate in the country), Delhi (sub-sector real estate witnessed the third highest growth rate in the country), Haryana (sub-sector real estate witnessed the second highest growth rate in the country), Himachal Pradesh witnessed the third highest growth rate in agriculture among all states and UTs, Uttarakhand clocked the second highest growth rate in construction and the third highest in manufacturing.

Dehradun November 8
Audience at the third and final day of Grafest-09 was mesmerised with the charm spell by playback singer and performer Kunal Ganjawala. He sung hit Hindi songs, which elicited appreciation and applause on Sunday night at Graphic Era University. His silken and melodious voice filled the crowd with charisma and magnetism.

His songs “Bheege hoth tere” and “Channa ve ghar aa ja re” graced the event wonderfully. Singing songs demanded by the audience, he made students as well as other guests sway and dance to the tunes of hit filmy and pop numbers.

Other attractions of the day were chef competition, paper presentation, brain teaser-quiz, model making, flower arrangements, robotics display, debate and personality show. Students enjoyed and grooved till the end of the 3 days exaggerated event.

Dehradun, November 8
SGGR Nehru Colony, Summer Valley School, Army School and Welham School won their respective quarterfinals in the ongoing Coca Cola Junior-Level Football Championship underway at Welham Boys’ School.

In the first quarterfinal of the day, SGGR Nehru Colony defeated Gorkha Military School 2-1. Both teams struggled hard to score a goal in the initial part of the game. Suraj Singh hit a goal in the 30th to take a lead for the team.

Gorkha retaliated in the 36th minute when Sandeep scored a goal for them to make the score 1 each. Both teams made several attempts to score later, but didn’t succeed. However, Suraj of SGGR helped his team sail home by netting a goal in the 50th minute.

In another match, Summer Valley got the better of CMS 3-1 in the penalty shootout.

The teams were at 1-1 score in the stipulated time. For CMS Rahul scored in the 15th minute while for the winning team Aryan Ansari scored in the 46th minute to level the match.

The winners were decided in the penalty shootout. Summer Valley scored two penalties while CMS couldn’t convert even a single penalty in to a goal.

In the third encounter of the day, Army School managed to get past Kasiga School 5-4 in the penalty shootout. For the winning team Sunil struck in the very 1st minute of the game and for the Kasiga Kanak scored in the 55th minute to level the match.

Later in the penalty shootout, Army School scored four penalties while Kasiga could score three penalties and lost the match. In the last quarterfinal, Welham School blanked Kendriya School 2-0. 

A chess tournament of Ordnance Factories’ employees under way in Dehradun on Sunday. Tribune photo: Anil P Rawat.

Dehradun, November 8
RR Singh of west zone is leading the OFIL All-India Inter-Zone Chess Tournament organised by OLF working committee here today. RR Singh has scored three points in the tournament.

DR Jaswal, G Ravi and OP Yadav are jointly placed at second spot with two-and-half points.

Results:

RR Singh (west zone) defeated top seeded south zone G Vivekanandan, (aouth zone) G Ravi beat PK Dutt, (east zone) R Rai beat (south zone) K Sirajuding, central zone OP Yadav beat SD Sharma of central zone, NZ Prem Babu beat RS Negi, west zone DV Kedari beat north zone's MD Shirode, south zone J Sureshlal beat east zone S Vishwas, east zone SA Ansari beat north zone Ishwar Dayal. 

Dehradun, November 8
Welham Girls’ School lifted the Council School Basketball Tournament for Girls here today. In the final they defeated St Thoman College (STC) by 62-30. Garima was the star performer for Welham Girls’ with 18 points.Welham girls played aggressive game right from the beginning. They scored 16 points in the first quarter with and kept on increasing their lead. STC could only managed to score five points in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Welham girls were on the attack against and scored some quick baskets to further accelerate there score by 18 points. Garima did the scoring 
for the team.

St Thomas College was demoralised and could only managed to score two points in the quarter.

In the last two quarters, Welham School further increased their score by 18 points taking the score to 62 points. STC could only managed to score five points in the last two quarters. 

Dehradun, November 8
Doon International School defeated The Asian School by 20-16 at the u-16 Basketball Tournament underway at Doon International School here today.

It was a narrow victory for Doon International School over The Asian School. In the first quarter Doon International School managed to take one point lead in the match.

Doon International School scored nine points against The Asian School who could only score 8 points.

In the third quarter, Doon International School lagged behind by one point as they could only score two points against The Asian Schools three points.

The third quarter also saw The Asian School taking a lead of two points in the match.

In the last quarter Doon International School team bounced back to score 8 points against The Asian School who could only managed to score two points.

Results of other matches:

SMS beat THS, SVS beat THS, AS beat KS, SMS beat SVS. 

Derhadun, November 8
Hilton School and STC won their respective matches at the ongoing Council School Cricket Tournament at St Joseph Academy here today.

In the first match played between STC and GRD Academy, STC won the match by six wickets. It was a bad start for STC team, which lost the first opener, Abdul, in the very first over for zero runs.

Second opening batsman Bhavesh scored vital 25 runs. On the other end, Aakash supported him well to make 21 runs.

In the middle order Amit and Karan added some runs to help the team reach a respectable score of 91 runs in 25 overs. For STC team Tanuj, Priyam and Aman took three wickets each.

Chasing the victory target of 92 runs, STC team reached the target with six wickets in hand. STC openers gave a fine start to their team adding 40 runs for the first wicket partnership. Aman gave a scintillating performance to play a knock of 84 runs.

Meanwhile, the second match was played between Hilton School and Doon Dhruv School. Hiton School piled a mammoth total of 193 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Gaurav was the highest scorer for the team with 38 runs followed by Nitin who made 25 runs.

Middle order batsman Mukul made a useful contribution of 18 runs. For Doon Dhruv team Rachit and Harshit scored two wickets each. Chasing the victory target of 193 runs, Doon Dhruv team fall shot by two runs in the end. Nikhil was the highest scorer for team with 38 runs, Ankit made 21 and Rachit made 17 runs. For Doon Dhruv School Arpit and Nitin took three wickets.