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Climate change wrecking apple
Saving Forests |
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Child rights get loud accent
Operation clean-up in Dalhousie
Candlelight march to remember 26/11 martyrs
Campus Notes
Vignettes
Power board staff seek new division
Himachal Diary
'Development schemes must reach remote areas'
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Climate change wrecking apple
Shimla, December 1 While the production in many orchards has declined dramatically the ones in lower elevations have virtually vanished. The apple plantations in the middle hills are only marginally better as there has been considerable decline in the yield due to inadequate and erratic snow and rain and rising temperature. The scientists have identified the receding snowline as a major cause for the falling yield. Lack of snow during winters not only deprives the orchards of the minimum chilling requirement (1,200 hours to 2,000 hours during which temperature should constantly remain below 7 degree Celsius) but also affects the moisture content in the soil. Delayed snowfall in the recent years, not coinciding with the growing phase of apple, is affecting growth. The overall productivity has been declining as evident from the fact that the yield has come down from nine tonnes per hectare in the early 1970s to around six tonnes over a period of three decades. In fact, many progressive growers have raised new orchards at higher elevations within the state and some, mostly from Shimla district, have even shifted to the adjoining Uttarakhand. Vegetable crops like cauliflower, which grow in warmer climate, have replaced apple in lower hills. The impact of weather is still much less in higher elevations ranging from 7,000 ft upwards and a large number of orchards have come up in the cold desert of Spit, which has become warmer and more hospitable, at elevations exceeding 10,000 ft. Horticulture scientists warn that failure to take appropriate adaptive measures to mitigate the impact of climate change could spell doom for the apple. The situation can be improved by encouraging the growers to replace the existing traditional red delicious and royal delicious varieties with spur varieties like red chief and super chief which are weather tolerant. These varieties have been successfully grown over a wide range of elevations from 4000 ft in Kulu and Shimla to 11,000 ft in Spiti. The fruit setting and growth is better even if culling requirement is not met. Besides, adequate pollinating varieties must be planted in each orchard. At present pollinating varieties account for only 15 to 20 per cent of trees in orchards and it has to be increased to 35 to 40 per cent to ensure proper and regular fruit setting. The growers which were wary of planting pollinating varieties like golden, which fetched much lower returns than commercial varieties like red delicious and royal delicious, could now go for new pollinating varieties like gale gala and fuji in a big way as they fetch good price in the market. The biggest advantage, says director of horticulture Gurdev Singh, is that the plants of the spur and new pollinating varieties are much smaller in size and in one hectare 700 to 1100 plants could be planted as agsint 250 to 350 of traditional varieties. It not only increases production but also makes management of orchard much easier. At present apple is grown over more than one lakh hectare and production ranges from 2.70 lakh tonnes to over 5.50 lakh tonnes. The new varieties will not only stabilise production but could increase it more than two fold.
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Saving Forests
Palampur, December 1 Till recently, the forests were the major source of revenue for the state, but according to the new forest policy of the state, the government was laying emphasis on the protection and conservation of forests. The state government had imposed a ban on the green felling in the state. Now, the forests are no more a source of revenue and supply of raw material. Besides, the government had made forest laws more stringent to deal with smugglers and poachers in the state. The government had allowed the extraction of only dead, diseased, decaying trees and had allowed the removal of salvaged lots from the forests to meet the requirements of the local masses. However, the extraction of herbs had been allowed only on a selective basis. In the absence any financial assistance from the Centre, the state is finding it difficult to maintain the forest cover of the state. The budget allocations for the maintenance of the present forestlands and plantation of fresh trees are reducing year after year. Even the state has no adequate funds for the checking of forest fires which had been causing losses in crores every year. The Centre should come to the rescue of the state if it is
really interested to preserve the flow of water in rivers and save forest cover in the catchments areas of Bhakhra and Pong reservoirs which play a significant role in power generation of our country. In present circumstances, after five years the state government would not be in a position to appoint new forest guards, forest watchers and other supervisory staff to look after the forestlands in the absence of funds. In official records, in the state the area under the forests is 37,591 sq km, of which only 11,780 sq km is under tree plantation, that is less than one third of the state's total area. The economists in 1995 have put the total value of the state's forest wealth at Rs 39,000 crore. It is evident from various surveys and studies conducted by non-governmental agencies that the drive for plantation for more trees in the state has failed to gain momentum in the past 10 years. The state has planted trees only on paper and there is nothing worthwhile on the earth. Even the survival percentage of saplings has come down. The number of divisions and the survival percentage was recorded between 10 per cent and 30 per cent, which is quite low. Though the Centre revised the forest policy in 1988, its main objective was conservation, protection and development of forests in the country. Besides, much stress was laid to minimise the burden of fuel wood and other local requirements on the forests. How ever, nothing happened on that front. At the same time, no provisions were made in the Union Budget to compensate the losses of the states caused because of the ban on the felling of trees, which was a major source of income of many states. Unless the Centre comes to the rescue of the state, it would be difficult to save the forests.
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Child rights get loud accent
Hamirpur, December 1 The campaign to protect child rights was taken up by a Sweden-based organisation, World Children’s Prize Foundation which have Queen Silvia of Sweden, noble prize laureates Nelson Mandela, Jose Ramos Horta and Joseph Stiglitz, besides former executive director of UNICEF Carol Bellamy as its patrons. The basic aim of organising the competition was to propagate child rights among students and build a worldwide campaign for the implementation of UN charter adopted in a convention on child rights in every country of the world. While students campaigned for child rights hero they also debated child rights available to them as per the UN charter declaration. The list of heroes had 13 people and organisations who have been working for the protection of child rights which included African leader Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel who have devoted their life for protecting child rights; murdered carpet factory slave Iqbal Masih from Pakistan; and savior of sex slaves, Somaly Mam. Nelson Mandela, who had remained in jail for 27 years and had been most vociferous voice for the rights of children in Mozambique and Africa, and his wife Graca Machel were elected the heroes of child rights by the students. On the occasion, the students also held press conferences to speak for child rights. In one such press conference at Him Academy Public School (HAPS), Hamirpur, conducted by Swati and Aarushi, group leaders, who had campaigned for each hero not only talked about commendable work done by their hero but also detailed out rights available to children as contained in the UN resolution and violation of child rights in India. The students also vowed to work for child rights and demanded implementation of these rights in India.
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Operation clean-up in Dalhousie
Dalhousie, December 1 The students of the HiVE Trust, along with the students of Dalhousie Hilltop Public School, gathered at the Pehalani Mata Temple, a famous picnic spot in the environs of Dalhousie hill town. The temple was chosen as it is the smallest possible tourist spot nestled in Dalhousie hills with just a small temple, four tea shops at the top and a superb panorama of the snow-clad mountains. All 70 students and adults had gathered there with empty sacks; however, within an hour all the sacks were filled with empty plastic bottles and wrappers of biscuit, toffee, chips, etc.. Students and teachers pledged to come again for cleaning the environs there. Though hardly a dent had been made on the amount of garbage spewed on the hillside, it was a step in the positive direction. This exercise brought out the sad truth that while a lot has been done on the promotion of tourism, management of these places has been completely neglected. Within the Dalhousie city limits the municipal authorities cry for lack of funds and outside the city limits there are no provisions made by the panchayats, tourism or for that matter the forest authorities. While the local administration and the state government remains blind to these issues, the fragile mountain ecology is getting severely polluted. The organisers of the “educational picnic” said people were no more trusting the tall promises of the politicians and more and more people were voicing their opinions and it would be wise if the politicians and bureaucrats start making some real effort. We all can see the sad state of all the tourist spots like Dalhousie, Dharamsala, etc., where pollution has gone beyond control and nothing concrete is being done; organisers of the “educational picnic” argue. Talking about the tourism, they mentioned the developing of picnic spots and leasing out the forest rest houses in the name of eco-tourism to private enterprises and the potential problem of pollution control in these places. The forest and the tourism departments bring out these half-baked schemes where they do not cater to the problems arising out of these tourism projects, especially as they do not take any undertakings or responsibility for the pollution and the environmental damages caused in these pristine forested areas like Kalatop or Dalhousie. There are solutions to be found. Instead of pledging crores of rupees for building tourist attractions, we need to pledge to spend one-fourth of that money on environmental planning before promoting that place for tourism, commercial housing or industrial development and not after the damage has been done.
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Candlelight march to remember 26/11 martyrs
Solan, December 1 Holding placards emphasising the end of terrorism, which led to the death of hundreds of innocent people in the Taj incident, students silently spread the message of condemning such attacks. While describing the peace as the pillar of the nation's unity, they emphasised the fact that unity alone could keep the country’s peace intact. Joining in the cause, Vivek Chandel, SDM, Solan, flagged off the procession on the occasion. Addressing the students he said: “Terrorists have time and again tried to disrupt the peace of the country, but the spirit of secularism is so deep-rooted in our hearts that we stand united in such adversities. Such acts are not only condemnable, but also we should take a pledge to propagate the spirit of brotherhood in such circumstances”. The procession passed through the Mall Road and inspired one and all to join in and show respect to those who had laid their lives fighting the terrorists. Pratima Sharma, MD of the institute, said this was a small gesture to recall the sacrifice made by our soldiers in freeing the hostages from Taj Hotel and also to foster a spirit of nationalism among the students who were at their crucial stage of learning. The one-hour candlelight procession was also joined in by locals, politicians and passers-by who found themselves supporting the cause of disseminating the message of peace.
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Campus Notes
Dharamsala, December 1 While inaugurating the workshop, Vice-Chancellor Dr Tej Partap said challenges posed by global warming had started showing its effect on the hill agriculture in the form of delayed rainfall and drastic variation in temperature. The recommended varieties and technology on various crops was becoming irrelevant and there was an urgent need for making farm plans capable of facing the changed scenario. He proposed that university scientists and farm officers jointly survey various districts of the state and collect relevant data to formulate strategies to deal effectively with the situation. Variety of seeds
To mark the forthcoming 31st foundation day of the University this month, 18 new crop varieties were released for the farmers of the state. These varieties of crops developed by university scientists have also been approved by the HP State Seed Sub-Committee for general cultivation by the farmers in different agro climatic conditions of the state. Among newly released verities, there are three wheat varieties HPW-249 (Asmi), HPW-251 (Aryan) and HPW-236 (Santosh) which have been recommended for cultivation under timely sown rainfed and irrigated conditions. These varieties have average productivity ranging from 26 to 35 q/ha.
Research activities
An adhoc project entitled “Rapid conversion of normal maize inbreds to quality protein maize and further enhancement of limiting amino acids in elite inbreds through marker-assisted selection” has been sanctioned to the university, with Dr Swaran Lata as principal investigator. l
College of Home Science celebrated World Food Day at village Darang. l
Students of Dr GC Negi Veterinary College organised Vet Fair 2009. It was inaugurated by Dr BC Bist, Director of Animal Husbandry, HP, VC Dr Tej Partap, presided over the inaugural ceremony. l
Dr VK Gupta was conferred fellowship by Indian Association of Veterinary Pharmacists
Training programmes
The Directorate of Extension Education organized 40 training programs on various aspects in which 1,398 farmers participated. l
College of Home Science organized a training camp on soft toy making in which 40 ladies from Baijnath and Lambagaon blocks learnt skills of toy making.
l Department of Entomology organized two training programs in which 35 trainees participated.
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Vignettes
On way to YMCA, opposite the Ritz, is a hall which is known as Masonic Hall. Only a few associated with Freemasonry know the reasons for its existence. A large number is ignorant. Many think that Freemasonry is a secret society and even its members, called Masons, think that they are forbidden to talk about it to others except the Masons. “Nothing is secret except the modes of recognition of Masons,” says PK Khanna, secretary of the Masonic Fraternity of Shimla.
Freemasonry, with different Lodges, is the oldest fraternal order in the world. It is a society of friends and brothers and what a commoner calls a Hall is actually a temple for Masons. So the building being discussed is Masonic Temple of Shimla. Freemasonry is neither a benefit society nor an eleemosynary institution founded to collect and disburse charity or to give alms, though the Shimla society, believing in selective charity, disburses scholarships to the poor and deserving students and has donated a piece of equipment to the cancer hospital. Khanna says, “The Fraternity is religious in character, but it is not ‘a particular religion’. It is religion based upon the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of God. He, who is a Mason, believes in the God but no one is asked to express a particular belief about the God - it is the privilege of each individual not violated by Fraternity”. The objective of Freemasonry is making of better men. “Its teachings include brotherhood, morality, justice, tolerance, citizenship, education and freedom of ideas, of religious choice, of expression”. The Masonic Temple in Shimla is controlled by a committee formed under the chairmanship of Bhupendra Gupta, a senior advocate. The Lodge Himalayan Brotherhood was founded in Shimla in 1838 by three leading tradesmen and Henry Torrens, secretary to the government. On June 24, 1839, St. John’s Day, even today it is celebrated annually as the Brotherhood Day, the members of the Lodge had assembled at Royal Hotel, at present Rani Jhansi Park, and marched in procession to Church, which was at Northbrook Terrace on the Mall. The Governor-General, Lord Auckland, had allowed his band to be played on the occasion. The natives had thronged in numbers to see this spectacle and some called it ‘jadoogari’ (magic) some called it ‘goron ki shaitani’ (white men’s devilry). There was no fixed temple then and the meetings of Lodges were held at different places. To establish a temple, the Brotherhood took loan from a bank in 1859 and purchased a building at Chhota Shimla for establishing Masonic Temple. It functioned there till 1870, but the brethren could not repay the loan and the building was auctioned to one Patterson for Rs 1,500. The meetings of the Lodges were then held at Benmore, US Club, Town Hall and other places. The present Masonic Temple was erected in place of ‘Quarry’ which was the property of trustees of Shimla Union Church. The Brotherhood purchased and demolished Quarry in 1906. The present temple was constructed and the first meeting was held there on December 1, 1907. The uniqueness of the building is that its structure is a designed steel framework which was prepared by a company in England from where it was brought to Shimla and fixed on the spot. “All walls and roof can be removed and rebuilt in the same shape on the basis of the steel frames,” writes Brother VC Guleria. The number of Lodges now, manned by Indians, has risen to 12 in Shimla. Freemasonry is not dead here, it is growing instead.
Tailpiece
A postman read an unsealed letter addressed to the God in a letterbox. It was from a man who asked Rs 100 from the God as help to his hungry family. The postman took the letter to a Lodge. The secretary sent Rs 50 in a Lodge envelope and gave it to the postman to deliver it. Next day the postman again found a letter to the same addressee. It read, “Thank you God, but never send money through the Lodge as they keep half of the amount for themselves”.
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Bajjreshwari temple faces neglect
Kangra, December 1 These temples are built in varied styles of architecture. Bajjreshwari or Vagreshwari Devi temple is one among them where a large number of pilgrims come every year. Since the temple is situated in the centrally located town of Kangra, it has a high tourism potential. However, it remains devoid of basic facilities and development due to the government apathy. The temple officer of tehsildar rank, who looked after its affairs, retired in February this year. Since then there is no regular officer to supervise the temple activities, adversely affecting its functioning. Chief priest Ram Prasad Sharma says, “The temple activities have been suffering. There is a need for a fulltime and regular officer for its smooth running”. Chief Minister PK Dhumal was approached in this regard a few months ago, but nothing has been done in this direction, sources disclosed. The local tehsildar was given an additional charge to look after the temple, who, despite trying to strike a balance between both assignments, failed to streamline the temple activities. A dispensary in the temple premises, which was being run for pilgrims and needy persons, was closed down six months ago following the retirement of its pharmacist. The post is lying vacant since then. The sources say gradually each department of the temple is getting affected with the retirement of their officials as the posts are not being fulfilled for reasons best known to the higher-ups. They say it is now the turn of the sanitary wing of the temple to face the trauma as its chief fitter is due to retire soon. Lakhs of pilgrims from all over the country pay obeisance at the temple annually, mainly during Navratras. The poor condition of the temple is despite the fact that it generates revenue of nearly Rs 2 crore per year. Residents of the town demand that the government must come forward to rescue this place of religious significance from further degradation and boost tourism in the region.
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Power board staff seek new division
Nurpur, December 1 Boards different employees’ unions have pleaded for fulfilling of longstanding demand of creation of Indora electrical division by rationalisation of workload of existing Nurpur and Jawali divisions. Rotash Sharma, organising secretary of the HPSEB Employees’ Technical Union, has asserted that the board’s decision to merge T&C division would be opposed strongly by different employees unions of the board. Enquiries reveal that the draft proposal submitted by the office of the Electrical division Nurpur in 2006 had suggested renaming of T&C division Bodh as Indora electrical division and shifting of Indora, Damtal and Kandrori electrical sub divisions from Nurpur division and Rey sub division from Jawali division into new division. According to them, this would not only justify new electrical division but also divide workload equally. It has claimed that such rationalisation of workload would totally be in public interest and the HPSEB would render best use of the T&C division without any financial burden on the management. The proposal has suggested incorporating four electrical sub-divisions in every electrical division for smooth and convenient services by the HPSEB.
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Himachal Diary Within a period of months, the local Natraj Theatre has come out a new venture, a short telefilm, entitled “Sanshaya”, which has been telecast by local station of the Doordarshan twice. Directed and edited by Mohan Joshi, the film is based on a story written by Arun Bharati and features Dr Lekh Raj Thakur from the Department of Theatre, Panjab University; Shashi Sharma, and Dr Hukum Chand from All-India Radio, Shimla, in the main roles. It is a family drama revolving around the life of a top officer and his modern wife who do not pull on well. The main reason for the discord is that the wife does not care for husband and his father. The chasm continues to widen until the husband starts drinking, visiting clubs and falls for another women. The fear of losing the husband brings a sudden change in the attitude of wife who now goes out of the way to please him and ultimately, wins him back to start a new chapter in their married life. Unlike the first telefilm, which was shot in a residential cottage in the Bharari locality, the latest venture has been shot in the studio of Doordarshan. However, Joshi laments a lack of essential infrastructure for making telefilms in the state and whatever he had been able to do was only because of the new digital technology. A good studio where set could be created for shooting films was the need of hour. It would encourage more people to produce films and open up more opportunities for the talented actors and directors of the state. His plan is to stage a play based on the telefilm at the Gaiety Theatre, which is buzzing with activity after restoration. Staging a play at the historic theatre, which has thrown up many big artistes, gives immense satisfaction to every performer, he says. (See picture) Short span of education dy director
The short span of incumbents at the level of deputy director in the department of education has forced the government to amend the recruitment/promotion rules for the post. Henceforth, a principal with less than a year to go for retirement will not be considered for promotion to the post of deputy director. At present, those on the verge of superannuation were getting promoted and as a result, they had a stay of only few months at the helm. There are 29 posts of deputy directors in the department and the inmost cases the incumbents have been retiring in less than a year. The gravity of the problem could be judged from the fact that Hamirpur district has seen 27 incumbents over a period of 23 years.
INIFD students to showcase creations
The International Institute of Fashion Designing (INIFD), Hamirpur, has taken an initiative for its students by tying up with the Lakme Fashion Week 2010. Students of the institute would now get a chance to show their skills in the “generation next” competition by displaying dresses designed by them. About 40 students of the institute would participate in the event. The event is an important platform as international dress designers display their dresses designed for film celebrities and other important people of fashion world through models on the ramp. The Chandigarh corporate office of the INFID has also decided to give a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh to the best designer of the competition from among the students. Further, the local unit will bear airfare and other expenses of the best designer of the Lakme Fashion Week. (Contributed by Rakesh Lohumi and DP Gupta)
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'Development schemes must reach remote areas'
Chamba, December 1 Tulsi Ram, Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Speaker, emphasised this in his keynote address at the inaugural ceremony of the three-day "Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign" organised by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at Chamba. Speaking on the occasion, the speaker said the information of various welfare schemes of the government should be disseminated among the people, particularly in the under-developed districts like Chamba. He said the public information campaign was an effective step in this direction. He said flagship schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) had put a tremendous impact on the rural poor and helped them a lot ameliorating their economic conditions by way of getting employment opportunities, adding that this was a remarkable achievement of the scheme. He also drew attention of the Central government towards the complaints of non-seriousness of panchayat pradhans towards the implementation of the NREGA in the state. Though the Right to Information (RTI) Act was an important law which ensured the information of various programmes of the government to the common people, some people had started taking undue advantage of the Act, the speaker regretted; stressing that the government must give punishment to such elements who misuse the Act for their own selfish motives. The speaker also elaborated about the implementation of other Central government schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the National Rural Health Mission, etc., in the state. He said the state government was committed to improve the condition of farmers through boosting the horticulture sector, compensating the lack of teachers in the schools and linking the far-flung and rural areas with the road connectivity. The speaker asked the organisers of the public information campaign to put up the issues raised by him to the Central government so that these state-level issues could be considered while making amendments in different development schemes. The objective of the campaign is not only disseminating information about the government programmes, but also gathering feedback and suggestions of the people. The campaign also aimed at spreading the message of anti-alcoholism through its cultural presentations and photo exhibitions, besides focusing on the theme of different flagship schemes launched by the Centre for the development of the under-developed and backward areas and uplift of its people.
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Shimla, December 1
Within a period of months, the local Natraj Theatre has come out a new venture, a short telefilm, entitled “Sanshaya”, which has been telecast by local station of the Doordarshan twice.
Directed and edited by Mohan Joshi, the film is based on a story written by Arun Bharati and features Dr Lekh Raj Thakur from the Department of Theatre, Panjab University; Shashi Sharma, and Dr Hukum Chand from All-India Radio,
Shimla, in the main roles.
