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Rishikesh residents face jumbo problem
New technique to detect rabies
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Thousands pay homage to Sikh philanthropist
Tanuja adjudged best debater
Vyas House bags overall trophy
4 IMA horse riders in top 30
Schools not doing their bit to promote hockey: Expert
Abhiymanu Cricket Academy, Aryan School triumph
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Rishikesh residents face jumbo problem
Rishikesh, November 21 Contrary to the past few years, this year, elephant movement has also been noticed at Dehradun-Rishikesh highway, Chidarwala area near Teen Pani, Gumaniwala forest belt, IDPL colony area and Jolly Grant international airport track. Denizens of Dhalwala, the most-affected area, are so much perturbed that, recently, they held a protest and burnt effigies of the Forest Department for not being able to solve the problem. Residents complained that their normal life has been severely affected due to the elephants intruding into their agricultural lands as well as targeting their homes and commercial establishments. Taking cognisance of the situation, local legislator Om Gopal Rawat inspected the affected area and had to face the anger of the residents. Om Gopal Rawat has assured that necessary steps would be taken to control the movement of the elephants in the area. “Elephants are affecting the people’s life severely and we are in talks with concerned authorities to evolve a solution and curtail elephant movement in the area,” said Rawat. Jumbo intrusion is a common phenomenon in Shyampur and Dalwala areas. This week, a jumbo entered ward number-1 and attacked a general store named Semwal General Store. The elephant broke the shutter of the shop and ate ration items stored inside the shop. Shopkeepers in the vicinity gathered and raised a noise and even burst crackers to make the elephant leave the premises, but to no avail. Then, locals called Forest Department employees. It was only when they fired in the air that the elephant ran into the nearby jungle. Local shopkeepers are living in fear as earlier too, elephants had targeted their shops. “We are living in fear. Seeing the aggressive behaviour of elephants, we feel humans are not safe either. By sunset, we creep into our homes for fear of an elephant attack,” said Satish Uniyal, a resident. In the past few years in the Rishikesh forest range, the Forest Department has paid several lakhs of rupees to affected persons and farmers. Forest officials relate the movement of elephants to their search for food and water. As this affected area comes in the middle of their route, rampant elephant movement is seen in the area. Similarly at Lal Dhang area falling in Haridwar, elephants are creating havoc and several ‘bighas’ of sugarcane fields have been ravaged by them. Elephants come in groups and for hours, they make merry while villagers and farmers haplessly see their hard work getting destroyed. Some affected persons complained that despite informing the forest officials, they don’t turn up on most occasions. MS Negi, Ranger, Chilla range, refuted this and said that they were monitoring the situation. Whenever they get information about an elephant’s intrusion into residential areas, forest as well as park employees reach the spot. Wildlife experts said that the elephant activity in the area has increased due to the growth of residential areas near forests. Based on the experience of the past few years, locals stated that elephant activity in the Badkot corridor has increased and now, elephants were seen more frequently on highways and in human habitations. “Elephants have become accustomed to the beating of drums and sound of fire crackers. This has increased the frequency of jumbo visits to the area,”said Dr Ritesh Joshi, a wildlife scientist. Most of these elephants come from Rajaji National Park, especially Motichur range. During their movement, they have to cross the national highway. Hence, the sighting of elephants and disruption of traffic has become a frequent occurrence.
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New technique to detect rabies
Nainital, November 21 According to the Director of the Institute, Dr RS Chauhan, “The cell culture technique is much advanced than the traditional technique. It has several advantages. Firstly, there is no involvement of mice as was the case earlier when virus was injected into the mice to ascertain whether a dog was rabid or not. Secondly, it provides a 100 per cent accurate result on early detection of rabies.” He disclosed that the cell culture technique is being used in very few institutes in the country for the detection of rabies. Dr Chauhan further said that the institute is aiming towards developing a rabies vaccine by using this technique. “We want to develop this vaccine through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode as it involves a heavy investment,” he said. For the first time in the state, the Institute is organising a training programme for veterinary and health professionals along with experts in biotechnology on diagnosis of rabies through this technique. The programme starting from November 23 will have participants from the Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and even from the southern states. The participants will be given hands on training on the use of the cell culture technique in the newly developed laboratories of the Institute. The trainers at the programme would include scientists from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Mukteshwar, IVRI Izzatnagar, National Disease Control Centre Delhi and the Pantnagar University. Besides the cell culture techniques, the participants will also be trained in some other techniques, including ELISA, PCR, Seller’s staining, virus handling and fluorescence technique in cell culture. Dr Chauhan informed, “In 96 per cent of the cases rabies is spread by dogs. In the remaining four per cent, the animals responsible for the spread of virus are cats, monkeys, jackals, foxes and mongoose.” Referring to the developments at his Institute, he mentioned, “The research and development programme has already been initiated and to give it a momentum six scientists have already been appointed. Another ten scientists will be recruited in the first week of December.” The Director also added that research work on alternative therapy and control of the decease will be initiated using indigenous knowledge and modern biotechnological tools.
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Prasar Bharati complex to miss Dec deadline
Dehradun, November 21 If the delays in construction activity were not enough, the central government is yet to clear the remaining amount for the project for which the proposal has already been sent three months back, creating hurdles in advance planning. The financial allocations for the Prasar Bharati complex have been made by the central government under the 10th Five-Year Plan. When the stone was laid for the complex in 2006 by the then Chief Minister ND Tiwari, work began at a feverish pace. The work began with the allotment of land at Bypass Road behind the Vidhan Sabha complex. But it soon lost steam with the change of guard. Lack of interest by succeeding BJP Chief Ministers led to slackening of work at the site. The initial projection of the project was then put at Rs 5 crore but the total cost on completion would be anywhere between Rs 30-40 crore. In 2007, when the work began on the project, the site that is situated on the riverbed got inundated, forcing engineers to raise flood-controls structures in the form of concrete blocks that took considerable time. A similar structure has been raised for the Vidhan Sabha. Work could only proceed further after it received a go-ahead from the Flood Control Agency that took rudimentary inspections. “Four acres on Bypass Road were made available by the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) for the complex and the construction activity is being undertaken by the CPWD (Civil Construction Wing of the All-India Radio and Doordarshan). The work was recently affected when contractor Shabir Ahmed passed away,” said Balwant Singh, Assistant Engineer, CPWD. It is believed that once the construction work is completed, it will take another eight to nine months for Prasar Bharati officials to equip it with state-of-the-art studios and other equipment that would render the complex fit for functioning. “The double-storey building will house 100 rooms with two studios for Doordarshan and another set of studios for Akashvani with inbuilt insulators and also sound-proof systems,” said Nand Lal, Engineer, Doordarshan Kendra, Dehradun. The slow movement on the project has also affected the full functioning of the Doordarshan Kendra that is yet to work to its full capacity and has to make do with limited staff and a temporary building, though its transmission is being received in most parts of the state. Even Akashvani is yet to function fully and continues to be a regional newsroom without a station with bulletin-broadcasting arrangement with Lucknow station of All-India Radio (AIR) and also functions from a temporary building.
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Thousands pay homage to Sikh philanthropist
Born in February, 1910, at Chakwal, he shifted to Rishikesh after Partition and was engaged in establishing gurdwaras attached with serais for pilgrims at Haridwar, Rishikesh, Srinagar, Govind Ghat, Govind Dham, Ghangaria and Hemkunt Sahib. He was also engaged in building a dharamshala in Chandigarh for patients coming to the PGI, Chandigarh, from far-off places. Inter-faith and multi-lingual prayers were recited en route the funeral procession that passed through the streets of Rishikesh. Later, his last rites were performed at Chandreshwar Ghat by his son Jagmohan Singh Bindra and his grandsons.
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SMJN College tense after NSUI-ABVP blame game
Haridwar, November 21 The situation took an early turn with certain girl students alleging misbehaviour and manhandling with them by ABVP members on the campus itself. Two senior girls, Priyanka Maini and Deepali Tyagi, were allegedly stopped by certain students asking them to show their college identity cards. To this, they replied that they were coming to college to take admission in PG classes and had full right to enter the college as they had done their graduation this year only. Soon students from both sides gathered in large numbers and a verbal duel ensued. Reacting to the alleged misbehaviour with girls, NSUI members closed the college and raised slogans. ABVP members too retaliated, and both sides tried to outwit one other in the blame game. In the wake of Friday’s violence on the campus, the college administration had request police security. Seeing the situation going out of hand, Jwalapur SHO BS Chauhan tried to pacify the students. He took strong cognisance of some of the respective outfit leaders who were not college students but were trying to play politics in the college. He warned them that this would not be tolerated in future and sought college management’s help in resolving this matter. Teachers and non-teaching staff remained stayed on the sidelines at the college ground where both sides nearly came on the verge of an altercation. College president Shakti Tyagi, ABVP’s Sanjeev Chaudhari blamed outsiders for the entire ruckus, specially girl students. “They (NSUI) are taking shield of girls to enter college while those girls too don’t have an identity card as they are not a part of the college and its only outsiders that are disrupting the atmosphere of the college,” remarked Mahima, an MA first year student. On the other side, Priyanka Maini and Deepali, who sat on a dharna, were adamant that until those students who misbehaved with them apologised publicly, they wouldn’t end the agitation. “Seeing us alone they tried to misbehave with us and also used foul language but the college management is not taking any action against them. It is appalling,” said Priyanka Maini. College Principal AK Ghildiyal said he was in touch with the college management and trustees and urged students not to boycott the classes.
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Parents, teachers discuss grading system
Dehradun, November 21 To shed light on continuous comprehensive evaluation (CCE), the speakers for the day were Principal of the school Chhaya Khanna, JS Rawat, Assistant Commissioner KV association, Radhika Jha, Additional Secretary, and Supreme Court lawyer and author Ashok Arora. With the aim of decreasing stress levels as well fear due to board exams among children, the CBSE, on a consensus basis, has come out with a reliable system of school-based evaluation. The evaluation pertains to a holistic assessment of a leaner and also includes co-scholastic area of life skills, attitudes and values, sports as well as co-curricular activities. Parents gathered at the auditorium in a large number. All queries of the parents were answered by the principal who said: “For this year, students of Standard IX will be evaluated by a grading system whereas from the next year, the same will be applied to the students of Standard X so that in future students don’t end up being self-critical, dropout rate is reduced and a holistic development of students is achieved. “Earlier, where students used to focus on studies during a few days ahead of exams, under the CCE they have to sit for semester-based exams. A continuity has to be maintained in academics as well in the co-scholastic area and co-curricular activities so that students can give good results.” Students also presented an informative play “Be a Rebel”, which depicted how children get out of hands if parents are least bothered and selfish in nature. Following it was a detailed discussion on “Life Skills” by Ashok Arora who motivated students to be positive and to dream to achieve their goals. Later, JS Rawat and Radhika Jha focused on the importance of regularity in this new grading pattern.
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Tanuja adjudged best debater
Dehradun, November 21 The competition began with lighting of the lamp. The chosen topic for the day was ‘Is media abdicating its role’ for which students from various institutes participated and spoke for and against the motion. IMS, DBS, Law College, DAV (pg) College, Baba Faridkot, Doon Paramedical College and few others were the enthusiastic participants. “ There’s always confusion regarding this arguable topic, and as we think young minds can give opinion backed by justified reasons we organised this debate. Today, not only they will gain confidence for future competitions, but will also get more enlightened in the company of learned guest who are here to guide them,” said Jitendra Sinha, faculty SIPAS. The topic pointed good background research and sensitive understanding of what media is supposed to be doing and whether it is or not meeting its important role as a watchdog of democratic societies. Students speaking for the motion were roundly critical of ‘Commercialisation of Media’. A couple of them quoted P Sainath, who censured the growing tendency of politicians buying space and time before elections. They emphasised pressure from advertising agencies and advertisers, and from powerful vested interests in society where the real news gets elbowed out by titillating celebrity coverage or crime trails. Counter arguments ran equally strong. With confidence and sporting spirit some of them contended that media pressure on the government and judiciary to perform yielded tangible results such as the review of judgments (Manu Sharma case) and many other such important cases. These would not have been possible without media monitoring, investigation or sting operations they asserted. However, giving a tough competition to the co-participants, first position was bagged by Tanuja Rawat of SIPAS, second position by Kartikeya Sharma of Law College, third position to Enna Dutta of IMS College and consolation price to Neesha Dhar of SIPAS. The thought provoking competition concluded with Aparna Singh, registar of SIPAS thanking the guest for sparing time from their busy schedule. Prakash Pant also appreciated the efforts of the students and said that a balanced approach in media is very essential so that transparency comes into play. Along with the chief guest and other distinguished guests, SIPAC Chairperson Harish Arora and Vice-Chairperson Rani Arora were present at the event.
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Vyas House bags overall trophy
Haridwar, November 21 In the overall categories Vyas House bagged the winners trophy followed by Sandeepani, Vashishta and Drona houses, respectively. While in the senior group, Drona House got the first slot followed by Vahshisthan, Sandeepani and Drona. Ironically, while Vyas House came first in senior category, Drona was at bottom and in junior group, Drona came first while Vyas house came last. School principal Kiran Sharma lauded the efforts of the students and said that the school authorities are trying to bring a healthy routine among students with stress on yoga and outdoor sports.
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4 IMA horse riders in top 30
Dehradun, November 21 A total of 78 riders from across the country participated representing 61 Cav, RVC, ASC and private clubs. The IMA Team was represented by Gentleman Cadet Ashish Malik, Gentleman Cadet Vijay Choudhary, Nb Sub AK Shukla, Dfr Ashok with Gentleman Cadet P Phule as reserve. The first trials were conducted to select the Indian team for three-day event in the forthcoming XVI Asian Games. In the individual placing of riders, GC A Malik came 16th while GC V Choudhary secured the 19th position. Nb/Ris AK Shukla bagged the 26th spot and Dfr Ashok came 27th. 3DE is an equestrian event, which comprises dressage, cross-country and show jumping. This event is a comprehensive cavalry riding test requiring mastery in all three spheres of riding. The dressage phase was conducted on October 9 and 10. The next phase, cross-country, requires both the horse and the rider to be in excellent physical shape, exhibit courage and implicit trust in each other. Show jumping tests the technical jumping skills of the pair, including suppleness, obedience, fitness and athleticism. The cross-country event was conducted on October 11. The course comprised 30 obstacles in a distance of 3,500m. The Time allotted to complete the course was seven minutes. While many seasoned riders failed to complete the course, the young riders of the IMA were able to come clear the course incurring some time penalties. Since all four participants from the IMA had cleared the cross-country phase and were part of the first 38 riders, they participated in the last phase i.e.
show jumping. The course comprised 10 jumps with 02 double combination obstacles and 01 triple combination obstacle. The IMA team came out with flying colours under the proficient guidance of Lt Col
MK Dewan. Lt Gen RS Sujlana, Commandant, Indian Military Academy, congratulated the team and encouraged them to do better in the second trials which are to be held at
Meerut.
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Schools not doing their bit to promote hockey: Expert
Dehradun, November 21 Hockey Coach of Sport Authority of India PK Maharishi said: “The game seems to be suffering due to negligent attitude of school instructors. They are hardly taking any pain in honing hockey skills of
students. It is a skilful game and children need to know the basics perfectly.” Recently, an inter-school state competition was held in senior and junior categories. But, none of the school teams, from various districts, could display good skills and endurance in the game, losing out badly to the Dehradun team. In seniors’ category, the Dehradun team thrashed Gopeshwar 17-0 in the final. It defeated Kotdwar 12-0, Almora 9-0 and Tihari 7-0. Even in the junior category, the team performed well as it defeated Almora 5-0 and in the final it defeated Kotdwar 12-0. Maharishi further said: “The data is self-evidentiary that how serious the schools are towards the game. Unless physical instructors in schools take the game seriously the game cannot get popular
amongst children.” He was also angry that despite giving outstanding performance, some of the good players failed to make it to the school state teams. Amrit Pal Singh, former national player, complained that there were too many people who were interested in forming an association and the tussle between various associations was affecting the game at a
higher level. Another national player, SZ Nadeem said: “There is still a good amount of hockey being played at the school level in Dehradun. But, beyond it there are not tournaments. The state does not conduct inter-district or state-level tournaments in the game as a result the talent in the game has ceased to come forward.”
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GEUB win by 69 runs
Dehradun, November 21 After winning the toss, GEUB team set a massive target of 139 runs in allotted 15 overs. The opening pair made a useful contribution of 82 runs in just seven over to set the pace for the game. Opener Mandeep played a useful knock of 43 runs by hitting six fours and one six, whereas his partner Deeshank went on to play a scintillating innings of 51 runs, smashing six fours in his knock. First down batsman Anuj too played a useful knock making a contribution of 19 runs. For BFIT Irfan picked of the bowler by claiming three wickets in his three-over spells. Chasing the victory target of 140 runs, BFIT team fall shot by 69 runs. BFIT team began on a bad note losing both its openers when the team score was seven runs only. None of the other batsman showed any resistance and fell as a pack of cards before the disciplined bowling display by GEUB bowlers. Nehal was the only batsman who showed some resistance and scored 21 runs. For GEUB team, Abhishek took four wickets, whereas Aditya and Ahmen took two wickets each. Meanwhile, the second match was played between ITM and GEUB-II team. GEUB-II won the match by three wickets. Batting first ITM team scored 89 runs in allotted 15 overs. Prashant scored 18 runs whereas middle order batsman Amjad scored 20 runs. For GEUB-II team Zunaid took four wickets, whereas Anuj took three wickets. Chasing the victory target of 90 runs, GEUB-II team reached the target with five over to bowl. They began on fine note and scored 29 runs in their first four overs. Thereafter, it was middle order batsman Ashish who scored 28 runs and helped his team win the match. For ITM team Sajad took four wickets.
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Abhiymanu Cricket Academy, Aryan School triumph
Dehradun, November 21 In the first match, Abhiymanu Cricket Academy registered a 102-run victory over Doon Boys. Batting first, Abhiyamnu Cricket Academy piled a mammoth total of 140 runs in allotted 20 overs. Opener Tushar scored 27 runs, whereas Saksham piled 39 runs and Akash scored 18 runs. For Doon Boys Neeraj took two wickets, Manish and Abhishak took one wickets. Doon Boys kept on losing wickets as the whole team was all-out for 39 runs. Kamal was the only batsman who reached the double figure with 15 runs. For Abhiymanu Cricket Academy Siddharth picked up three wickets, Sanjay and Sachin took two wickets each. Meanwhile, in the second match, Aryan School defeated Sports Trainees by one wicket. Batting first Sports Trainees team scored 99 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Vaibhav and Anurag scored 32 runs each, whereas Deepak made 18 runs. For The Aryan School, Raj, Ayush and Mahesh one wicket each. Chasing the victory target of 100 runs, The Aryan School reached the target with one wicket in hand. Sushant scored 40 runs whereas Sandeep made 11 runs. For Sports Trainees, Deepak took three wickets and Anurag took two wickets.
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Volleyball: Indian School win
Dehradun, November 21 The Indian Public School won the first set by 25-14 to push The Heritage School on the back foot right from the beginning. In the second set, The Heritage School came back strongly to narrowly win the set by 25-23. The final set was won by the Indian Public School by 15-9. In the second match of the day, Summer Valley School got a walkover on Presidency International School.
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Udham Singh Nagar top with six gold
Dehradun, November 21 Results: In 7-9 years: 1. Amit 2. Gaurav 3. Dayaush and Trupad In 10-11 years: 1. Paras 2. Sarthak 3. Nitaus and Pankaj In 12-13 years: 1. Mukul 2. Nikhil 3. Naveet In 14-15 years: 1. Santosh Bisht 2. I.Aggarwal 3. Akshat In 16-17 years: 1. Rishi 2. Mahesh 3. Arvind In 18-20 years: 1. Prakash 2. Laksham 3. Prakash
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With winter setting in fast, the incidents of elephants intruding into residential areas and fields in Rishikesh is on the rise. Such has been the havoc created by pachyderms in the city that residents and farmers have taken to the agitation route to bring this problem to the notice of the Forest Department and the administration.
Contrary to the past few years, this year, elephant movement has also been noticed at Dehradun-Rishikesh highway, Chidarwala area near Teen
Pani, Gumaniwala forest belt, IDPL colony area and Jolly Grant international airport track.
Dehradun, November 21