Shimla, November 17
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said the proposed allocation of Rs 3 trillion for education sector in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan adopted by the National Development Council (NDC) would increase the share of education from the present 7 to 20 per cent.

Speaking at the 17th convocation of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) here today, he said this hike would in turn help in achieving a credible progress towards the target of 6 per cent of the GDP. “The recommendations of the NDC are being implemented by various state governments and institutions of higher education,” he said.

He stressed the point that the universities must forge strong linkages between teaching and research laboratories. “In line with the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission, I am in favour of establishing smaller universities which are responsive to change and easier to manage,” he opined.

“The fact that girl students outnumbered boys hands down in Phd, gold medals and other areas is a matter of great pride and satisfaction and I only hope the rest of the country will emulate the hill state in this respect,” he remarked, while lauding Himachal’s stride in the field of literacy and education, especially that of women.

While exhorting youth to look towards the interests of the country while furthering their career, rather than mindlessly being swayed by the winds of globalisation. “India is well on the way to becoming an economic power and hence the country needs more talented young people to take charge of its affairs,” he said.

Mukherjee said today 65 per cent of the country’s population was below the age of 30 which can be both an asset or a threat if not guided properly. “This objective can be achieved through the instrument of education which should promote standard of life and not just standard of living,” he said. He added that the government was laying increased emphasis on human resource development and as such there had been a significant expansion of institutions for higher education in the recent years.

Governor Prabha Rau urged students to build a balanced and enlightened personality in the present age driven by science, technology, globalisation and market economy. More than 400 students received the degrees and gold medals at the convocation for 2007 and 2008 sessions.

Education minister, I.D. Dhiman also presented the degrees and gold medals to about 400 students along with Mukherjee and Rau. The lone recipient of D. Lit degree at today’s convocation was Prof P.N. Gautam, a former teacher at HPU who retired in 2003. Having completed his D. Lit in public administration he has also earned the distinction of being the first such person from the north-western universities of the region.

Shimla, November 17
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who is on a four-day visit to Israel, held a meeting with minister of industry, trade and labour of the country Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to discuss ways to promote cooperation in areas related to trade and agriculture, particularly water technology, in which it had developed considerable expertise.

Apprising the Chief Minister about the progress made in water technology, management and recycling of water the Israeli minister said 90 per cent of water was being recycled, out of which 77 per cent was being utilised for irrigational purpose. India’s Ambassador to Israel Navtej Sarna was also present during the meeting.

Dhumal urged the minister to provide all possible assistance and cooperation to Himachal Pradesh in transfer of technology pertaining to recycling of the water so that farmers of the state could benefit. He said the state was implementing a Rs 353 crore project to promote protected cultivation and expand irrigation facilities.

He will also attend the WATEC Israel-2009, an International Exhibition-cum-Conference on water-related technologies being held in Tel Aviv. 

Solan, November 17
Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said interests of the Himachalis would be safeguarded and employment opportunities would be provided to the locals in the high-grade mining project sanctioned to the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) near Arki in the district. The Steel Authority of India had recently signed an MoU with the NMDC for extracting high-grade limestone from the area.

Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh addressing a press conference at Solan on Tuesday

Addressing mediapersons here today after attending a function of the NSUI at the local degree college, the minister said since infrastructure could not be enhanced without adequate steel availability, they wanted to enhance its production. He said HIMFED had been made the nodal agency for procuring steel in the state and this would ensure its ready availability. Despite recession hitting the global economy, it had failed to impact the steel sector as its production had grown by 4 to 5 per cent.

Reacting to the party’s embarrassing defeat in the Congress bastion of Rohru, he said, “I am personally sorry for it but this was a temporary victory for the BJP who had pressed its entire machinery to win this seat as it had become a prestige issue for the Chief Minister.”

Outrightly rejecting that a section of Congress men, who had been served show-cause notices by PCC chief Kaul Singh, had worked against the party, Virbhadra said, “The party lost because the candidate got no time to move about in the constituency since his candidature was announced at the eleventh hour. It is pointless to pass the buck of defeat on one another.”

Expressing displeasure over poor implementation of centrally sponsored schemes like NREGS in the state, he said it failed to have an optimum impact and led to non-development of rural areas. He rued that the division of funds on political considerations defeated the purpose of central schemes while the state, on its own, had failed to generate funds.

He blamed the state government for its inability to check hoarding and said it was a major reason for the price rise though he agreed that the recent drought had led to poor crop production of wheat, rice and pulses.

Shimla, November 17
With the date for expiry of industrial package granted by the Centre to the hill state drawing near, the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana have stepped up their campaign to oppose the demand of Himachal Pradesh for its extension beyond March 2010.

The two states maintain that the package of incentives had led to flight of industries to Himachal Pradesh, affecting their economies. They raised the issue at the Industries Ministers’ conference at New Delhi today. However, the Himachal government does not agree with their contention and asserts that there has been no shifting of industrial units from the neighbouring states.

Industries Minister Kishan Kapoor said despite industrial package, the state had been lagging far behind in investment. “It is quite surprising that even far off states like Assam were claiming that grant of package to Himachal had affected their industrial development. The facts are otherwise. The latest figures of the Secretariat for Industrial Assistance (SIA) reveal that the state had been able to attract only 0.54 per cent of the total investment in industrial sector in the country since 1952. The data made it evident that there is no truth in the assertions of the neighbouring states that Himachal was growing at their cost,” he said.

Further, lack of industrialisation was the main cause of the high rate of unemployment with 8 lakh jobless on the live registers in a population of little over 60 lakh. Youth of the state had traditionally been serving in the armed forces but the new policy of recruitment on the basis of population had severely affected the employment avenues, he added.

Kapoor pointed out that the state was leading in health , education and social welfare sectors and there was no reason why it should not be helped to do better in important sectors like industries where it was lagging.

The state was originally granted the package along with Uttarakhand for a period of 10 years from 2003. However, exemption in excise under it was later curtailed to March 2010. The state has been demanding its restoration till the original period. 

Shimla, November 17
Having added stature to his inches by turning into a professional wrestler, Khali (7’ 3”) literally walked like a colossus on the Mall today, followed by a huge crowd, on his first visit to the Queen of Hills after acquiring the celebrity status.

Keen to meet the people of the city where he had spend some hard days as little-known Dalip Singh Rana performing menial jobs to earn a living, Khali chose to walk through the Mall from the Central Telegraph Office to the Gaiety Theatre to attend a civic reception. The crowd kept surging at each step and by the time he reached the Scandal Point, every inch of space was occupied. People came out of offices and homes to have a glimpse of the tallest WWF wrestler from the country whose heroics in the ring they have been witnessing on the small screen.

Everyone in the crowd who a camera enabled cell phone clicked his pictures. He stopped after every few steps to shake hand with people and made it a point to wave to all those greeting him from balconies and perched precariously on the hill slopes. He had to bow, which was quite a task for him, to enable people to garland him but he happily obliged all of them. The police had a hard time controlling the crowd, which stayed put outside the Gaiety Theatre until he left the venue after being honoured by the Shimla Progressive Youth Association.

“The transition from Dalip to the great Khali has not been easy. I worked hard for years to build my body and thereafter underwent strenuous training to learn wresting first in the USA and than Japan to enter the WWF arena as a professional wrestler,” he said while narrating his journey from Dhiryana village in a remote pocket of Sirmour district to an international celebrity.

“Apart from being confident about my capability, I had immense faith in God and always believed that there is something good in store for me. The moral he drew from his own story was that God rewarded sincere efforts,” he added.

However, despite achieving success as a wrestler and reaching the pinnacle of WWF glory, he was keen to return to India.

He had already bought a house in Texas but plans to pursue his wrestling career for some more time and return after three or four years. He said he was overwhelmed by the love showered by people of the state and would like to do something for them in return, particularly for his own backward Sirmour district.

Khali came to India last week to attend the marriage ceremony of his younger brother Bhagat Singh Rana held in his native village.

Mandi, November 17
ABVP and NSUI activists today staged a dharna at Vallabh Government College in protest against the government’s inability to provide alternate accommodation for students.

The students’ anger targeted the government as the main college buildings, along with HPTDC-run Mandav hotel and PWD rest house, have been handed over to make room for IIT Mandi.

The protest followed soon after the college administration locked the main buildings following order from the government. The order asked to hand over the college premises to IIT Mandi by October 31, but possession was delayed so as avoid flaring up of student unions, sources said.

The activists held dharna on the campus and pleaded to the college principal to assure alternate accommodation to the students.

President students central association council Abhinav Guleria said the government had done nothing to provide alternate accommodation to students so far. The students require seven lecture theatres which have given to the IIT Mandi by the government, he added.

The NSUI and ABVP leaders said they welcome IIT but the government should not let students suffer. The government must speed up the building up of alternative for students, they added.

The government handed over the possession to the IIT at this time to escape wrath of the protesting students as college classes are more or less off these days due to closing in for the house tests, the sources said. “Moreover, the college goes on winter holidays from December to February”.

Meanwhile, the five-member team from IIT Roorkee led by Dr SP Gupta, coordinator, IIT Mandi, and other officials inspected the college campus, HPTDC hotels and PWD rest house on Sunday and took possession of the buildings, the sources revealed.

However, Gupta assured the college authorities that they could use the buildings for examinations till work on buildings was started by IIT.

College principal Kusum Bakshi said, “The college has taken up the matter with the management for using it for examinations purpose. We will make adjustments for classes in the coming session and no student will suffer.”

Dharamsala, November 17
Scientists from Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), a CSIR centre at Palampur, have been stranded in tribal area of Lahaul for the past 10 days.

Sources available here said the scientists, along with officials of the forest department, had gone to the Lahaul area for identifying site for bringing up a research station of the IHBT in the tribal belt.

Some of them got in contact with The Tribune on phone. While speaking on condition of anonymity, they alleged that the state government was not making any effort to airlift them from Keylong area despite frantic requests. One of the trapped officials might fail to attend his daughter’s wedding due to the government apathy, they alleged.

Besides the IHBT scientists and forest officials, power grid executives and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel are also trapped in Keylong.

At present, about 50 officials are trapped in Keylong area.

More than 50 tourists are also reported to be trapped in Darcha area, about 100 km from Keylong towards Leh. Some officials are also reportedly trapped in Jyot area. The trapped officials are facing extremely hostile conditions due to lack of power and frozen water pipelines in the area. In fact, power supply has been disrupted in the area for the past three days, the sources added.

The helicopter for airlifting trapped officials is generally provided by the General Administration Department (GAD) of the state government. Negi, section officer dealing with helicopter in the GAD, when contacted, said he had forwarded various requests for providing helicopter to the state government. It is for the government to take a decision in the matter, he added.

Negi also said the government had entered into an agreement with Mesco airlines company for supply of multi-seated helicopter for operations in tribal areas. However, according to the agreement, the company had to supply helicopter from December 15. Now there are two options for the government if it wants to rescue stranded officials. Either it has to pre-pone the agreement for supply of multi-seated helicopter or carry out a large number of sorties with the currently available smaller helicopter, Negi said.

The sources also told The Tribune that the helicopter available with the state government was today provided to Union Minister for Finance Pranab Mukurjee who is on a visit to the area. Tomorrow the chopper might be used for airlifting some stranded officials.

However, the delay in rescue operations is creating panic among those trapped in difficult conditions.