The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Winter Session
House adjournments continue on Day III
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 23
Adjournments marked the third day of winter session of the Uttarakhand assembly with unemployment of trained teachers and land ownership rights to Bangladeshi refugees being the prominent issues of contention.

Shortly after the conclusion of question hour, Leader of Opposition Harak Singh Rawat sought a discussion over the issue of agitation of unemployed trained teachers. Raising his pitch, Rawat said it was a matter of concern that the unemployed trained teachers were being cane charged instead of providing them jobs. Rawat alleged that nearly 56,000 posts were lying vacant in the Education Department but the government was not filling them whereas the unemployed teaching diploma holders had been staging a dhrana for the pas several days.

The Opposition members stormed the well of the House demanding immediate discussion on the issues of government jobs to diploma holders in the Education Department and land ownership rights to Bangladeshi refugees.

BSP member Premanand Mahajan said Bangladeshi refugees living in Sitarganj and Kichchha towns of Udham Singh Nagar had not been given the land ownership rights while the refugees, who were rehabilitated in Gadarpur, had been given the similar rights several years ago. The commotion that prevailed led to speaker Harbans Kapoor directing for the first adjournment of the day.

Even after post-recess session, adjournments continued due to varied reasons.

Drainage problem of Doon

The problem of water logging in Dehradun was raised in the assembly today with members describing it as a persistent problem of the capital city.

Responding to a query put up by BJP MLA from Rajpur Ganesh Joshi, Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik admitted that there were as many as nine places that faced water logging during rain. He said the works for an effective drainage of rainwater were undertaken from time to time by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation as per the availability of funds.

Expressing concern, Mussoorie MLA Joth Singh Gunsola sought details about roadside drains. He held that it must be ensured that 12-km drain constructed at Mussoorie worked effectively. He also took up the issue of caving in of land in Mussoorie due to a lack of proper outlet for rainwater.

Earlier, Joshi said several localities of Dehradun city faced a lot of inconvenience during rain due to water logging. Even place like Clock Tower, which was in the heart of the city, faced the water-logging problem.

Girls’ home yet to have govt building

For want of a government building, shelter home for girls in Pauri is still functioning from a rented establishment located in Motadank.

In a written reply to a question posed by MLA Amrita Rawat, during the ongoing winter session, the government said the government was paying monthly rent of Rs 2,398 per month for the accommodation. Till March 2009, monthly rent to the tune of Rs 53,715 has already been paid.

The reply added that the alternative arrangement has been made as the construction of the government shelter was under way at Pauri Kotdwar.

In a query posed by Mayukh Mahar, the government said beneficiaries would be from Vin, Munakot, Kanalichina, Dharchula, Didihaat, Berinaag, Gangolihaat, Munsiyari and Dharchula to those living below the poverty line.

The sanctioned amount is Rs 15,000 per beneficiary. A total of 69 beneficiaries of the state have benefited under the Atal Awas Yojana started by the BJP government in 2009.

The House was informed that Janadhar centers’ information kiosks were functioning in all tehsils of Dehradun, Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi. While in Almora two and in Bageshwar one is functioning.

Notices to officials over non-utilisation of funds
Tribune News Service

Nainital, December 23
District Magistrate Shailesh Bagauli has issued notices to senior officials of the Forest, Sugarcane, Fisheries, Ayurveda and the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) for failing to utilise even 25 per cent of the funds allocated to them in the current financial year for carrying out different developmental works in the district.

He has also sought an explanation from officials of the Water Works Department for not attending a stock-taking meeting held here on Monday. Such meetings are held every month on the insistence of Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank for evaluating the development works in different districts of the state.

Bagauli asked heads of the various department to hold weekly meetings with the heads of the implementing agencies of various projects and furnish a report on the works done and the money spent on a regular basis.

He also directed the officials of those departments to whom money had not been released as yet under the district plan to make immediate proposals and get the money released for various developmental works.

The next meeting for evaluating the progress of various departments would be held on December 29 and those departments who had failed to utilise 60 per cent of the amount given to them must come up with facts and figures for not moving towards targets, he added.

Officials failing to utilise 60 per cent of the money allocated to them would face a strict action.

UKD protest peaceful
Tribune News Service

(Above) UKD workers being stopped by the police from proceeding towards the Assembly House; and government school teachers stage a dharna in front of the House in Dehradun on Wednesday. Tribune photos

Dehradun, December 23
Around 200 activists and leaders of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) protested in front of the Vidhan Sabha to press for their demand of shifting the state capital to Gairsain, non-inclusion of 184 villages from Uttar Pardesh (UP) in the state and a check on rising prices of essential commodities.

The march went peacefully except for a couple of incidents where the activists had a minor scuffle with the police. Six women activists of the UKD were detained but were let off later.

BD Raturi, former president of the UKD, said their dharna went off successfully as they had been able to register their protest before the government on these serious issues. He said: “Our party has been consistently demanding for Gairsain to be made capital of the state. Only then people of hilly region will be able to truly avail the benefits of development. We are fiercely against inclusion of 184 villages of UP in Uttarakhand as it is a conspiracy to exclude people from hills who fought for the formation of this state from gaining further access to education and employment.

Senior leader like Promila Rawat, women’s wing president, Bahadur Singh Rawat, city unit president, PD Kotiyal, founder member, Om Uniyal, district president, and Naval Kishore Gosai took part in the protest.

Govt teachers

A large number of government school teachers under the banner of the Uttarakhand Basic Sikshak Samanvay Samiti staged a dharna near the state assembly to draw attention of the government towards their demands here today.

Samiti members said if the attention wouldn’t be paid to their demands even today, they would go for a large scale protest in January. The protesters shouted slogans against the government and rued that their plea hadn’t been heard for a long time.

One of the main demands of the samiti is that junior high schools, which have been upgraded to high schools, sans the induction order of basic teachers. The members said it had led to unemployment of educated persons and had also become hindrance in the promotion of the working teachers.

They also demand that for the basic education (class I to VIII) of the state a basic education directorate should be set up. The salary of basic teachers should be clearly mentioned so that they can get the benefit of the Sixth Pay Commission, the samiti demanded.

CPI stages dharna

A protest by the Communist Party of India at the Assembly House went off peacefully. Around 100 activists of the CPI marched to the state Vidhan Sabha against the policies of the state government.

Vijay Rawat, secretary, CPI, said: “The state government couldn’t wash its hands from its accountability on inflation issue by shifting blame on the Central government. Otherwise people would not have faced unavailability of ration. He stressed on taking help of three districts of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun, which are rich in foodgrain, to supplement food supply in the state, especially in the hilly region.

Then state government has failed badly in properly utilising funds of NREGA. The beneficiaries are only utilising the benefits of 50 days’ work and the marginal farmers holding five acres are also not able to develop their fields.

He slammed the government for adopting a biased approach for certifying people for SC/ST. He termed the basis of accepting property holders of 1950 and thereon faulty for the SC/ST category. He demanded all people living in the state at the time of its formation should be considered for the title. He said migrants such as namshudra, mallah who came here before the Partition and many of them did not own any property to be enlisted in the SC category.

Cane Support Price
Only mills getting benefits: Cong
Jotirmay Thapliyal
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 23
Even after the announcement of the highest support price for sugarcane in the country, the issue continued to generate interest in the ongoing winter session of the state assembly.

While the Treasury Bench claimed that the state’s sugarcane support price was the highest in the country, the Opposition termed it inappropriate alleging that mills were still the final beneficiaries in the process.

Responding to a query put up by Congress legislator Kunwar Pranav Singh ‘Champion’, Sugarcane Minister Madan Kaushik asserted that Uttarakhand was providing Rs 215 per quintal support price for ordinary sugarcane while the better quality was backed by Rs 220 per quintal support price.

Dwelling at length on the procedure adopted by the state government for fixing the sugarcane support price in the state, Kaushik said the government had come up with an expert committee that looked into the factors like operational, rental and land cost factors before arriving at a price rate to which Rs 2 per quintal was added by the government to come up with the present support price of sugarcane.

Kunwar Pranav Singh pointed out that while mill was earning Rs 360 per quintal from sugarcane, the benefits were not trickling down to farmers.

He said it was the farmers’ share of the profit that was being eaten away by the mills. He also asked for recovery based support price for sugarcane in the state.

However, Madan Kaushik pointed out that there was no concept of recovery based support price for cane in Uttarakhand and hence, talking about it was irrelevant.

Joining the issue, BSP’s legislator Surendra Rakesh too expressed concern over the plight of sugarcane farmers.

Meanwhile, BJP MLA Premchand Aggarwal, sought to explore additional bonus arrangements for farmers.

‘Crime graph has gone down’

Uttarakhand Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant has rejected the Opposition’s charge that the law-and-order situation was deteriorating in the state.

Replying to a debate yesterday under Rule 58 over the deteriorating law-and-order situation, Pant told the House that crime had reduced substantially and held that while murder cases, so far, were 16.59 per cent less when compared to last year. Riots too were 16.11 per cent less in comparison.

On the Mahima Seth murder case in Ramnagar, Pant said as it was a blind case, it had been tough to crack, but added that five police teams had been constituted to investigate and hoped that the police would certainly get some leads.

He also said the case of Anand Kumar, who had gone missing from Uttarakashi, had been handed over to the Central Bureau of investigation.

Earlier, Opposition leader Harak Singh Rawat said the law-and-order situation in Uttarakhand was on a decline and the government had stood like a mute spectator.

Technology aiding femicide: Experts
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 23
Technology is posing a threat to the existence of the girl child in the state and encouraging female foeticide. The uneven child sex ratio is quite alarming and several districts are now in the red giving enough indications that laws alone are not enough to prevent female foeticide.

Expressing these views at the one-day workshop on Declining Sex Ratio and Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act, 1994, (PC and PNDT) organised by the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) today, Dr AP Mamgai, Director, National Programmes, said technology was to prove a boon for the masses, but the misuse of ultrasound machines has exposed the darker side of technology.

“Even the PC and PNDT Act is of no avail. We have only seized two machines in 2005, but after that, there has hardly been any complaints and no seizures. I think only attitudinal change in society can help in arresting the decline in child-sex ratio,” stressed Dr Mamgai.

The sex ratio among children (0-6 years) presents a terrible picture of the state. The state average is 906 as compared to the average sex ratio (964 females/1000 males) comprising the total population of the state.

As the sex ratio of the state among children has reduced to 906 in 2001 from 948 in 1991, this trend implies further decrease in the forthcoming decades.

A significant decline of sex ratio among children might effect the total male-female ratio of the state in next few decades.

Even the districts of Champawat and Bageswhar have shown a decline of seven points from 1991 to 2001.

Haridwar has recorded the worst (852), followed by Dehradun (903) while Champawat recorded a higher sex ratio (939) among the children in the state in 2001. The decrease is highest in Haridwar (56), Dehradun (41) and lowest in Champawat (7).

Dr Zainab Rehman, head, Sociology Department of the MKP PG College, said that the pernicious practice of dowry was responsible for selective abortions.

“Economically mobile groups, cutting across religious lines, still think that to raise a girl child is a big drain economically simply because they have to arrange for dowry.

“Now, the practice has even been adopted by the Muslim community too. Unless girls and boys begin choosing their own spouses with the involvement of parents, the practice of dowry will continue to be responsible for the murder of female foetuses,” she stressed.

Dr Geeta Balodi, Reader, MKP College, in her presentation highlighted the skewed ratio that may make women extinct in the coming years.

She said selective abortions were even being undertaken in districts that were economically well off. “Diagnostic centres continue to undertake selective abortions on the sly and conduct sex-determination tests for this purpose. Code language such as blue sky for a boy and pink flower are used to camouflage the outcome of tests,” she said.

Green Theme Campaign
Students discuss eco issues
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 23
Dehradun Hills Academy as part of its Green Theme campaign has flagged off the first round of green seminars wherein students of the academy will get to interact with authorities from different environmental fields to discuss issues of mutual concern.

Dr Ajay Gairola, member secretary of the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board, with his team members SS Pal and Ankur Kansal, along with film director Shiv Painuly, visited the academy today.

On this occasion, Dr Gairola said, “He wanted the students to design a environmental programme on their own - Lead for others to follow.” They monitored the students progress in there short play writing. These plays are to be short skits that will highlight key conservation issues. These will be performed by the students in and around the city under the guidance of Walton’s Dehra Dun Now.

As part of the programme, the students of the academy also had a question and answer session with the chief guest. The students asked various questions from preventing cutting of trees to solid waste management etc.

“I got a chance to interact with Dr Gairola and it was really interesting to get his views on some of the major environmental issues,” says Daljeet Kaur of Class IX.

“I am really happy that we are getting a chance to meet people in power in government as well private agencies to guide us in our bid to make Dehradun a more sustainable eco-system,” says Nisha Bhatt of Class X.

Director of the school Yudhister Singh shared how the idea of doing the event originated. “Each day we would hear about the recently concluded Copenhagen Climate Change Summit and I thought why not have a similar event in our academy and give the students the opportunity to share their views with the people who really matter.”

He further stated, “Efforts are being made to include the Green Theme Programme as part of our regular curriculum from the 2010-11 session. Our main focus is to ensure our events remain student friendly and we want the children themselves to decide what should be our next step after all it’s the students who are the future of the country and it is important to prepare them for the ever growing challenges of the future.”

On this occasion Rajiv Seth, Waltons’ Doon Now representative, said, “This is exactly the kind of programme we wish to promote in all schools across the Doon valley. It is high time the youth of the valley get involved in conservation issues as they are the true stakeholders in the health and sustainability of this eco-system. I would like to thank the management of DDHA for partnering with us to highlight various conservation related issues to students.”

Towards the end of the seminar, Painuly told the students he would be back to make a documentary and showcase all their efforts to the people of Uttarakhand.

Harmeet Kaur, the event co-ordinator of the academy, said, “We have a jam-packed month of January which includes World Heritage and Conservation Week, apart from that, the Green Exchange Programme is also slated for a January launch.

Children celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus
Tribune News Service

(Top) A person dressed as Santa Claus distributes gifts to students of Euro Kids; and tiny tots at the Christmas celebrations at Delhi Public School in Dehradun on Wednesday. Tribune photos

Dehradun, December 23
Christmas celebrations were held at Euro Kids, Dalanwala, here today. Kids took part in the celebrations with enthusiasm. All kids were dressed on the Christmas theme. They sang Christmas carols and rejoiced the company of Santa Claus and danced with him. The whole atmosphere was like a fanfare when Santa Claus cut the cake and distributed gifts to the kids.

The Director of Euro Kids said every festival was celebrated at their school through which children learnt about different cultures and their festivals. All teachers of the school were present at the function.

DPS students stage ‘Birth of Christ’

Delhi Public School celebrated Christmas with great enthusiasm and excitement on the school premises here today. The students decorated Christmas tree with bright coloured balloons, stars, streamers and socks.

The function began with a welcome speech by teacher in charge Rashmi Srivastava followed by a skit presented by the students. The skit was based on the story of a red nosed reindeer. They also sung Christmas carols and enacted a play “The Birth of Christ” that has the biblical reference on Christ’s birth.

Children at the function were also dressed like Santa Claus and angels. Their colourful costumes filled the whole atmosphere with fun and frolic.

Kids, who participated in the celebrations, were quite confident and grooved to the dancing tunes of the Bollywood numbers.

Santa Claus also distributed sweets and gifts among children.

Kisan Swabhiman Divas
Tributes paid to Charan Singh
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 23
The Uttarakhand unit of the Samajwadi Party celebrated the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh as “Kisan Swabhiman Divas” here today. Speaking at a function organised at the party office, state president of the party Vinod Bharatwal said Chaudhary Charan Singh was a great leader, economist and administrator, who raised the voice of the downtrodden, particularly farmers, at the national level.

He further said Chaudhary Charan Singh tirelessly worked for the economic uplift of farmers and waged a lone battle against corruption. Dr SS Sachhan, a senior party leader, said the rural area of the country could prosper only by following the path of Chaudhary Charan Singh.

At another function organised by Jat Sabha in Subhash Nagar, Clement Town, tributes were paid to Chaudhary Charan Singh. Rajpur legislator Gamesh Joshi, who was the chief guest at the function, eulogised the work done by the former Prime Minister for the poor, downtrodden and the farmers. He also distributed woollen to the poor children on the occasion.