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Rajaji opens for public today
CPM protests against price rise
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Punjabi artistes perform at mahotsava
Haridwar Mahotsava
Cong MP demands white paper on central scheme
‘Metroman’ Sreedharan gets PhD from IIT, Roorkee
Year gone by, man seeks justice for daughter
BHEL bags order for gas pipeline from Iraq
Schoolgirls faint, doctors term it mass hysteria
Jauljibi Fair begins
Programme on self-defence for women organised
Aryabhatta institute to install radar
Man on mission to popularise astronomy
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Rajaji opens for public today
Dehradun, November 14 Uttarakhand Minister of Rural Development, Children Development and Women Empowerment Vijay Barathwal will open the park at Chila range in Haridwar district at 6.30 am, which will be followed by deliberation between villagers and park authorities on man-animal conflict. In anticipation of mammoth turnout of pilgrims in the Haridwar region for Maha
Kumbh, the authorities at Rajaji National Park have charted out a series of interactive programmes with villagers to ensure their participation in the security arrangements, particularly during the Kumbh period. Apart from routine patrolling, daily wagers will also be put on deployment as shady elements in the garb of pilgrims can resort to misadventure inside the park during the fair. “It is certainly difficult to differentiate between a pilgrim and a poacher amidst such a large number of visitors to Haridwar during the Maha Kumbh”, Pradeep Kumar, warden, Rajaji Park, said. Then with pilgrims trooping in at Haridwar, there is a big possibility of garbage finding its way into the Park Forest area. “Ensuring park premises free of litter is definitely a challenging task and we are already putting our guards in place to meet out the requirements”, Kumar added. As coincidence, Chinese festival linked to showcasing of tiger skins is also slated to take place in China 2010, which triggers a big demand for tiger skins in the Chinese market. This is bound to make wildlife in Uttarakhand more vulnerable in the next couple of months. Corbett Park opens for tourists
With the opening of Dikala Zone tomorrow, the Corbett National Park will be formally opened for tourists. According to Corbett Director Vinod Kumar Singhal, all preparations linked to the opening of the park have been completed. He held that bookings for all zones had also begun. He also said the park had not introduced on-line bookings so far and was providing accommodations on first-come-first-serve basis. On the eve of the opening of the park, all accommodations are being booked to capacity till December 22. |
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CPM protests against price rise
Dehradun, November 14 The protesters, led by party secretary of the state Vijay Rawat, raised slogans against the Centre and state government. The party members said rates of commodities had gone out of the reach of the public. Hike and food security have become a big problem to people, said the state secretary. Country and Uttarakhand have been badly affected due to drought. Problems of drinking water, fodder and deteriorating condition of farming have hit the state badly. Party members said the UPA government had completed its 100 days in power, but their promise of decreasing the prices had fallen flat. Rather the prices had gone up further. They demanded that the ration card distribution system be run adequately. They also demanded that every family should be given 35 kg wheat at a cost of Rs 2 per kg, besides including pulses, sugar,
oil and mustard oil in the ration. The demands included that the prices of petrol and diesel should be reduced, fodder made available for pet animals, arrangements made to provide ration
and fodder to drought-prone areas and black marketing be stopped. |
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Punjabi artistes perform at mahotsava
Haridwar, November 14 The artistes performed bhangra and giddha and their performances were much appreciated by the audience. Till late night, people danced to bhangra beats. Alongside the Mahotsava, various sports events were also organised and winners awarded. In the group dance, Himalayan Ayurvedic College, Rishikesh, emerged the winner while Turning Point and Kaushik Art Groups got second and third positions, respectively for wonderful performances. |
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Anup Jalota mesmerises audience
Sandeep Rawat Tribune News Service
Haridwar, November 14 The past two days saw alternate performances by Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota and theatre group Sri Ram Kala Kendra from New Delhi mesmerising the audience with their melodious voice and theatrical performances. Not many know that Jalota, who is known more for Indian musical forms of ghazals and bhajans, was born in Uttarakhand i.e in Nainital. And so his attachment with this state is deeper and was reflected in his night performance. His ghazals and bhajans cast a magical spell on the audience and the public asked for more and more from the gazal maestro. Sri Ram Bharatiya Kala Kendra artistes too displayed Balle performance of high quality. Meanwhile, in rangoli competition Bhawna, Rupali and Nisha bagged the first three positions, while Gunjan and Neelam were given special prizes.
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Cong MP demands white paper on central scheme
Nainital, November 14 Talking to The Tribune, Tamta said the state government was responsible for failing to implement various central schemes in the districts. “Their own senior-most officials in the bureaucracy accept that the execution of various centrally sponsored schemes does not go beyond 16 per cent,” he said. A tussle of sorts has been on for almost a year between the BJP-led state government and the Congress-led central government over the fate of centrally sponsored schemes. While the BJP leadership has been accusing the Centre of having a partisan attitude towards the needs of the state, the latter has been saying that there is no dearth of assistance being provided to the state and it is the state government that has failed to execute projects in the public interest. “I am on a visit to four districts of Kumaon to take stock of implementation of various schemes. Take for example the case of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme. There are 34,000 job card holders in Champawat and not more than 14,000 have been given jobs. Similarly, there are 21,000 job card holders in Pithoragarh and not more than 9,000 have been given work. This only proves that people in villages want to work, but are being deprived of the opportunity. The same is the case with the Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana,” pointed out Tamta, who is well known for his role as a civil society activist in the region. “These are schemes that have made a lot of difference in states like Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and this has been acknowledged by their leaders who have accepted that these schemes have helped in checking migration of labour force from their respective states,” he said. He went on to charge that even in case of the distribution of ration, the role of the state government is questionable. “They have totally mismanaged the distribution of foodgrains to families living the Below the Poverty Line (BPL) and those that are the Above the Poverty Line (APL). It is just to escape the wrath of the masses that they are blaming the government,” he added. Tamta also accused the state leadership of not taking the five Congress MPs into confidence. “They have never called us to discuss public issues. After all, we also represent people of the state and are bound to work for their welfare,” he said. |
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‘Metroman’ Sreedharan gets PhD from IIT, Roorkee
Roorkee, November 14 While congratulating the passed-out students who were here to receive their degrees, Dr Sreedharan, who along with renowned industrialist Jai Parkash Gaur was also conferred with the Doctorate in Philosophy (Honoris Causa) by IIT-R Chairman Ashok Bhatnagar at the function, said that he was proud to be a part of IIT, Roorkee. Terming the honorary degree to him a great honour and recognition, Dr Sreedharan said, “It’s like a dream-come-true for him”. Also touching upon his successful completion of major projects, including Delhi Metro and Konkan, Dr Sreedharan said it was the outcome of the efforts of the team of dedicated engineers and workers. “Both projects have posed different kinds of challenges to us,” he added. “Engineering is a noble and edifying profession and ensuring safety, health, welfare and quality of our citizens should be paramount importance to any engineer. The high standards of the profession should not be sacrificed for short-term financial gains,” said Dr Sreedharan to the students while adding that they should save themselves from prevalent corruption. Apart from that, four alumni, including Lt Gen Ajay Kumar Singh Chandel (AVSM), Prof DP Garg, SS Khurana and HK Goel, also received distinguished alumnus awards. Four national-level research awards went to Dr Tarun Kant, Dr Sirshendu De, Dr Sankar Kumar Nath and Dr BK Maheshwari. As many as 1,226 students were awarded with degrees (BTech/Barch, Dual Degree- 492, MTech/MTech (ES), MBA, Integrated MSc- 584, PhD-150) by IIT Director SC Saxena. Bhatnagar and director SC Saxena wished the students good luck for their future. Earlier, the function started around 11.15 am with the arrival of ‘shobha yatra’ in which the faculty reached the spot amidst the chanting of ‘Vedic mantras’ followed by the welcome song, ‘jayati jayati vidya sansthan’, presented by the students. Saxena also threw light on the achievements of the institute during his welcome speech. The ceremony lasted around three hours. |
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Year gone by, man seeks justice for daughter
Nainital, November 14 Almost a year after the gruesome rape and murder of his daughter Priti Sharma, justice and succour continue to elude him. It was on November 19, last year that Priti, a bubbly counsellor at a computer institute in Haldwani, was raped and murdered. Alleging a cover-up on the part of the police, residents of the town had resorted to a mass agitation compelling the state government to recommend a probe by India’s premier investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). It is at this point that things have stood still. According to Sharma the Centre has not paid any heed to the recommendation by the state government and the latter has also failed to follow up the matter with the Centre. Remembering his daughter on Children’s Day, Sharma told The Tribune, “For the past 11 months I have been running from pillar to post seeking justice for the perpetrators of the heinous crime against my daughter. “The police had enacted a drama of arresting just one person whereas I am of the firm belief that the crime could not have been done by a single man. There is an attempt to protect criminals who are well connected. Even the person
who had been arrested has been granted bail as there was no one to follow the case properly”. Sharma, who runs a small restaurant near Chhopra in Almora district, is particularly annoyed with politicians from the Congress party who have been unable to follow his case with the UPA government at the Centre. “Along with representatives of society, I have met our local parliamentarian KC Singh Baba, Congress president Yash Pal Arya, union ministers Harish Rawat and Prithviraj Chauhan on numerous occasions, but nothing concrete has come out of it,” he said. He further stated, “I have also filed a writ in the state High Court in this matter seeking directions that a CBI probe be initiated in the matter, but the Centre has not even bothered to respond in this matter and its lawyer has been continuously seeking a further date for hearing.” Sharma, along with others from the civil society, plans to hold a protest demonstration outside the Kashipur office of the local parliamentarian on November 19, the day his daughter who was in her late teens, had fallen prey to the crime. |
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BHEL bags order for gas pipeline from Iraq
Haridwar, November 14 The order of Rs 91 crore has been placed by the Power Engineers Contracting Company of the UK and envisages supply of state-of-the-art 42 MW (Frame 6B) gas turbine generating unit. The order is for Nasiryah Power Project in Iraq. Notably, BHEL has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the company for supplying Fr-9E gas turbine generators and steam turbine generators for future projects in Iraq. For the contract, the gas turbines and associated equipment will be manufactured and supplied by the BHEL plant in Hyderabad and the state-of-the-art control system will be manufactured and supplied by BHEL Electronics Division, Bangalore. BHEL has established its mark in six continents spanning over 70 countries and its technical competence is the main hall mark which is drawing worldwide acclaim. The global leap comes under the strategy 2012 vision by the company. This globalisation strategy is already yielding dividends with the company have been bagged export orders from 22 countries across five continents in the fiscal year 2008-09 to the tune of Rs 3,265 crore . BHEL spokesperson informed that more projects were in the offing and the company was envisaging doubling the current orders in the coming year. |
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Schoolgirls faint, doctors term it mass hysteria
Nainital, November 14 The incident first occurred on Tuesday when more than five dozen girls fell unconscious for a while and then returned to normalcy. Concerned at the development, the authorities called for a medical examination of students at the institution. Just when a two-member team from Kotabagh Community Centre arrived at the school for the medical examination, another 12 girls became unconsciousness. While there are a number of rumours about some supernatural phenomenon doing the rounds in the region, the medical fraternity has termed the incidents as a result of mass hysteria. The parents have demanded that professional psychiatrists be sent to the school to treat children. The doctors on the other hand have requested the parents to keep a watch on their wards and record their activities. Officials in the district administration have stated that the school is open and functioning normally. |
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Jauljibi Fair begins
Pitthoragarh, November 14 This fair is organised on the bank of the Kali that acts as a boundary between India and Nepal. “The bridge on the river and the entire fair area was cordoned off,” informed Puran Singh Rawat, Superintendent of Police, Pitthoragarh. “We have deputed one circle officer from Dharchula, six sub-inspectors, six head constables and 30 constables, besides 10 woman constables and 30 home guards and 50 jawans of the PRD,” said Rawat. In addition to this, one company of SSB and 15 jawans of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and two swimming squads of the police have been deputed for this eight-day fair. “These are extraordinary security arrangements and have been ordered keeping in view the reported activities of Maoists in Nepal,” Rawat said. “The fair mainly reflects the face of Bhotia tribal economy and its culture, and if we want to continue this fair of woollen garments, we should strengthen the cottage industry of tribal people,” said Chufal. The woollen goods prepared by Bhotia families as well as the goods made by local craftsmen of Nepal are on sale at the fair. Indian customers purchase agriculture instruments, besides woollen clothes from this fair. |
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Programme on self-defence for women organised
Dehradun, November 14 The programme was a coalition of a presentation by Human Right Centre head co-ordinator Smriti Kaul and a skit presented by college students. Kaul spoke about the legal rights of women against eve-teasing and provision of self-defence under the Indian Penal Code, 1860. She apprised the audience about various provisions in the Constitution against harassment of women. College students presented a skit to show the awareness of self-defence among women. Professional trainers from the ITBP, Mussoorie, were also present at the event to give demonstrations. Additional Surveyor General of India Major-Gen PN Koul was the chief guest. Other dignitary was Secretary of Surveyor General of India Major-Gen Manoj Tayal. Staff association and students of the college were also present. |
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Aryabhatta institute to install radar
Dehradun, November 14 “The radar will record up to 30 km (in situ), the changes taking place in the atmosphere, which will be useful for carrying meteorological studies and making advance predictions,” said Prof Ram Sagar, Director, ARIES, Nainital. He made these observations today while participating in the workshop, “Recent Trends in the Advancement of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics and Introduction to Astronomy and Galileo”, organised by
Shri Guru Ram Rai PG College, coinciding with the golden jubilee year of the college
and International Astronomy Year (IAY-2009) declared by UNESCO. Professor Sagar said studies in astronomy had benefited immensely from the advances taking place in science and technology. “The telescope, developed by Galileo, has undergone several phases of advancement. ARIES has developed a 3.6-m telescope to be installed at Devasthal (Dhari tehsil) for which the foundation stone has already been laid and will be operational by year-end. Another 360-cm telescope will be operational by 2012. All these telescopes will benefit in exploration studies. On this project $ 1 billion is being spent. It will be able to map an area of 30 m,” said Professor Sagar. In the coming years, ARIES will help in building up of a user community for upcoming observing facilities like ASTROSAT and upcoming new 2-m Optical Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) at Hanle in Leh. He said astronomers from different countries were working on a 2.3-m telescope, first in Asia that would be accompanied by an electronic sensor computer. “The old telescopes had very thick mirrors, but now supporting systems are very light,” said Sagar. Earlier, Vice-Chancellor of Uttarakhand Technical University Prof DS Chauhan inaugurated the workshop. Principal of the college Prof VA Bourai said the workshop had been organised to popularise astronomy among students. |
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Man on mission to popularise astronomy
Dehradun, November 14 Encouraged by Prof Jayant Narlikar, he
has introduced astronomy to tribal children at Pokhri village (Ambegaon
tehsil) in Maharashtra. “My aim is to popularise astronomy among children so that they become rational
citizens of the country. We even allow children to keep telescopes to kindle their curiosity,” said Paranjpye. Participating in the workshop “Recent Trends in the Advancement of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics” and a workshop on “Introduction to Astronomy and Galileo” held today at Sri Guru Ram Rai PG College, Paranjpye had a invigorating session with the students tracing the history of astronomy down the years. He is part of the outreach village programme being run by IUCAA. “We have built an observatory 80 km North of Pune and organise several sky shows for children,” he said. A Khagol Manch has also been formed to kindle interest about astronomy. Paranjpye said an astrology that only gave rise to superstition should not have any place in our lives. “In my opinion stars do not impact our lives, astrology is being given far greater importance in our lives, when it should be discouraged. By lighting the lamp of scientific knowledge we can eradicate the astrology induced darkness,” he said. He said it would be a major achievement if the scientists manage to detect the gravitational waves, it would only help us in our understanding of science. Paranjpye also presented a sky show for the college students. |
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Dehradun, November 14
