Dehradun, February 8
In order to document traditional knowledge about medicinal plants and protect these in their natural habitats, a project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is under way at seven rich biodiversity sites in Uttarakhand. However experts say it is but a small drop in the ocean as no sincere effort is being to document the traditional knowledge and develop patents on products and processes relating to the medicinal plants.

The Medicinal Plant Conservation Area (MPCA) sites are located at Kandara in Uttarakashi, Jhuni in Bageshwar, Gangi in Tehri Garhwal, Mandal in Chamoli, Puranjari in Champawat, Munsiyari in Pitthoragarh and Almora.

Under the United Nations Development Project, many sites rich in medicinal plants have been selected in three states of Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

“Conservation exercise is being taken up at certain pilot sites so that pressure on natural wild herbal sites is reduced. The plan also envisages documentation of traditional knowledge of the villagers regarding herbs. Conservation of herbal wealth by promoting community herbal gardens, home herbal gardens and plantation of medicinal trees wherever possible,etc, is being looking at,” said GS Pande, Additional Secretary, Horticulture.

The herbs so selected have to be evaluated clinically for which a literature support may not be present. Solving identity of controversial raw materials both from plant source and inorganic source is another area that has to be worked on. The project to be undertaken at the Gopeshwar-based Herbal Research and Development Institute (HRDI), its findings would be replicated in other parts of the country. The plan also envisages a bio-prospective analysis so that a large-scale cultivation can be undertaken.

In order to target the Rs 8,000-crore Ayurveda industry, the institute would have to focus on research and development by adopting best manufacturing practices.

“Many companies are selling traditional medicines which don't conform to the government specified standards. The reason could be as varied as poor quality of raw material, contaminated herbs with excessive pesticides or metal contents, substandard handling and processing during the manufacturing of these medicines. These products either don't produce desired effect or could have negative effects on the user tarnishing the image of traditional medicines not only in the global arena but in the domestic market as well. We will like to develop a plan so that the active constituent analysis of the produce is accurate,” said Pande.

However, experts say a long-term plan is required for the documentation of traditional knowledge on herbs that should move to product patent, for which an intensive research and development is required. “Realistic achievable targets of herb cultivation can pitchfork the state among leading producers of raw material but we need to focus on patenting, which can only be achieved through research work. Unfortunately, no efforts have been made to document the efficacy of traditional herbs, so that the information could help in patent development on processes and products,” said a top scientist.

Pitthoragarh, February 8
Slow, but continuous rain, in the region has come as a boon for the Rabi crop in the lower areas of the district. Fresh snowfall has put a white sheet on the high mountain reaches of Kalamuni, Panchchuli, Hansling, Darma and Johar valleys as well as on the Kailash Mansarovar route onward from Gala.

“The Kailash Mansarovar route above the height of 9,000 ft witnessed nearly 10 inches of snowfall in the past two days,” said an ITBP source.

Agricultural scientists heaved a sigh of relief as the rain has saved the Rabi crop in valleys and middle reaches of Pitthoragarh, Champawat and Bageshwar districts.

“The Rabi crop, which has reached seeding stage and required rains, has been saved from total destruction,” said Dr RK Singh, an agriculture scientist attached with the Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Pitthoragarh.

“My Rabi crop, sown in nearly 1 acre could be saved by rain if it continues for the next 48 hours. In the last two years, we are losing our Rabi crop as rains skip the season and come when have to collect the crop,” said Iswari Dutt Joshi, a farmer from Dharigoan in Pitthoragarh district. Joshi has sown barley, wheat, masur and mustard in his farm.

According to horticulture scientists, this timely rain has not only helped plants grow, but also created the right condition for nurseries. “The generation of more than 80 per cent humidity in the atmosphere will help set the fruit in the plants of peach, apricot and their families at the right time. This rain has stemmed the losses that the horticulture farmer would have had to bear had this rain not occurred,” said Dr IA Khan, a senior scientist at the Horticulture Research and Extension Centre at Chaubatia, Ranikhet, Almora district.

Dehradun (TNS): Uttarakhand today experienced light to moderate rain and snow at many places and the situation is likely to continue for the next 24 hours.

According to Director of the Dehradun Meteorological Office Dr Anand Sharma, the state will continue to be under the spell of rain and snow for the next 24 hours. Snowfall was recorded at the higher reaches of Gangotri, Harsil, Badrinath and Kedarnath.

Dehradun recorded 4 to 5 mm of rainfall while Tehri and the Mukteshwar area experienced 15 mm of rainfall.

Dr Sharma also did not rule out occurrence of snowfall in Mussoorie late in the night. He said an alert had also been sounded to the Disaster Management authorities, ITBP and Army to meet out any eventuality.

Dehradun, February 8
Valentine’s Day is a week away, but its preparations are in full swing. In fact, every day leading up to February 14 has a special significance.

Nidhi, a florist for 12 years, has even put up a poster in her shop listing these days. February 7 is ‘Rose Day’, February 8 is celebrated as ‘Propose Day’ when couples exchange commitment rings; February 9 is ‘Chocolate Day’, February 10 is ‘Teddy Day’ when soft cuddly stuffed toys are gifted to express love, February 11 is ‘Promise Day’ when you can renew your vows and promises to your beloved, February 12 is ‘Kiss Day’ and February 13 is ‘Hug Day’.

She said, “In the past four years, V-Day celebrations in the city were extremely dull. But this year, couples seem to be eager to celebrate the whole week in style. Apart from young couples, married couples are also expected to buy a lot of roses to celebrate the Rose Day.”

The V-Day week is expected to be very busy and expensive for all love birds in Doon Valley.

Impuls, a jewellery shop, is the ideal place for guys to buy jewellery for the woman in their life. Ekta, from Impuls, says “Boys usually buy bracelets, earrings, rings or neck pieces. And if they are indecisive, we suggest that they buy the heart pendant which is a huge favourite.”

Ironically, Amarjeet, owner of Blessings gift shop, makes a different observation. She says, “This year, a majority of my customers have been girls and married couples. The obsession with red colour and heart-shaped things is also quite low.” The popular Valentine’s Day gift in her shop is the snowball photo frame.

Art Home, a gift shop, is decorated with red heart-shaped balloons for the occasion. Here you can find message bottles to gift to your Valentine and pink heart-shaped empty boxes which can be filled with chocolates or anything you wish to gift to your beloved.

Dresses for girls and shirts for boys are also a popular gifting option among couples. Las Vegas, a clothing store, is popular among youngsters for Valentine’s Day shopping.

Coming to V-Day week special eatables, Surendra Gulati, owner of Old Ellora’s, says “Couples order heart-shaped cakes with customised icings and our freshly made chocolates, usually in the shape of a heart.

“We are also planning to have a Valentine’s Day special fast food menu to celebrate this week.”

Manoj, working in Nirula’s, says, “Couples like to hang out here and eat our sweet stuff like ice creams, sundaes etc. I think the mood for the week was set yesterday when a boy proposed to his girlfriend here. He surprised her with a bouquet of red roses.”

Many shops steered clear of decorations or advertising for Valentine’s Day due to the fear of that some organisations might stage protests that may damage their goods and shops.

Roorkee, February 8
The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) is gearing up to materialise the dream of the common man of having his own house.

The CBRI, which is in its 64th year, is a constituent establishment of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.

It has undertaken the ambitious programme jointly with other Central and state housing and developmental agencies for extensive extension of its R&D technologies from laboratory to the field.

The institute has been planning to reach many remote, rural and tribal areas of the country under the CSIR-800 RSWNET programme on dissemination and training on housing.

Under the programme, the institute would organise many on-site trainings and exhibitions for rural masses and village/block-levels decision makers, said CBRI officials.

“In the XIth Five-Year Plan, the CBRI is working in two areas of national importance - supra institutional project on high-performance building materials and construction technologies for sustainable built space and a CSIR 800 RSWNET project on dissemination and training on rural housing technologies for exploitation of housing technologies for the benefit of rural masses, women and tribal population of the country,” said SG Dave, senior scientist, CBRI.

He added that the institute, jointly with state agencies, has already organised several on-site trainings in Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Meghalaya for training of rural artisans, NGOs and engineers.

The institute has made a significant impact in the improvement of housing for weaker and Below Poverty Line section of the population. More than 10 lakh houses have been constructed by over 200 agencies all over the country using cost-effective building components and construction and sanitation techniques developed at the institute, added Dave.

The building industry has also absorbed many of CBRI’s R&D in production of several building materials. “One of our newly developed technologies on rice husk plastic composites has been transferred to industry for commercial exploitation,” claimed Dave.

“We have decided to extend the benefit of our R&D to the common man of the country on our foundation day, falling on February 10.

“In the coming years, green and sustainable housing, clean technologies, disaster mitigation, development of building materials, using agro-industrial and construction wastes, polymer composites, pre-fabricated technologies, economical housing in hills and difficult soils will be the focus areas of R&D here,” he said.

Dehradun, February 8
Doon Cambridge School celebrated their farewell ceremony today on the school campus. They bid adieu to the outgoing students of class XII with a colourful programme of dance, songs and games. The ceremony was well organised by the students and the staff of the school. The students, who presented the fun-filled procession, also decorated the school campus.

Nirmala Joshi and Ganesh Joshi, Rajpur MLA, were the chief guest on the occasion. While HK Chabra inaugurated the function by lighting up the lamp. The function began with the slow march by office-bearers of the outgoing batch followed by the handling over the house flags to the vice-captains.

Dehradun, February 8
Seven-day health camp organised by National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers of Sri Guru Ram Rai (PG) College came to an end today. The camp on health and hygiene was organised at Sri Mahant Indresh Hospital, Gramin Swastha Prashikshan Kendra, Mothrowala, where 110 children were administered polio drops and were given other medical aids under the supervision of doctors of the Mahant Indresh Hospital.

CS Bautyal, Deputy Controller, Civil Defence, Dehradun, was the chief guest for the closing ceremony. Twelve students of SGRR College also donated blood at Doon Hospital during these seven days of the camp. The entire staff and faculty volunteered in the conduct of the camp.

The camp was held under the aegis of Dr Puneet Ohri, head of the Mahant Indresh Hospital. Other programme officers were Dr Seema Saxena, Dr HV Pant, Dr Rakesh Dhaudiyal. Prof VA Bodai, Principal of SGRR College, and Dr AK Gupta, HOD, Chemistry Department, were also present at the closing ceremony of the health camp.

Dehradun, February 8
The recently conducted state athletics meet at Haridwar saw 26 budding athletes of the RIMC come out with flying colours. This competition was held at the BHEL stadium, Haridwar.

The team was informed of this competition at a very short notice and faced stiff competition indeed from the elite class of athletes, who poured in all from all over the state to compete in this distinguished competition. The cadets still bagged 14 medals in all and distinguished themselves. The team participated in three categories, in which the cadets managed to clinch the following medals:

U-14 Boys: In 100m cadet, O Nelson Singh won a silver while cadet Kumar Vikram won a bronze. In 600m cadet, O Nelson Singh bagged bronze.

In shot put, cadet Kumar Vikram got a bronze. In long jump, cadet Saurabh Singh has to satisfy with a bronze.

U-16 Boys: In 100m, cadets K Arjun won a bronze. In shot put cadet K Arjun won a silver while cadet Aman Kumar got a Bronze. In javelin, cadet Mohit Mayank bagged a silver.

U-18 Boys: In 800m, cadet Leonard Arambam won a bronze.

In 400m, cadet Abhinav Anand bagged a bronze. In shot put, cadet Himanshu Thapa won a bronze. In javelin, cadet Avinesh Kumar came up with a silver. In long jump, cadet Surya Prakash came up with a bronze.

Dehradun, February 8
The Sunderwala team moved to the next round of the second President’s Cup Football tournament under way at the Pavilion Ground here today. Victory for the Sunderwala team came in the tiebreaker, in which it registered a 5-4 win.

Throughout the match the teams were level at a 1-1. The Doon Star team dominated the game throughout and its players looked in a good touch, creating many good moves to pressurise their opponent. They scored the first goal in the 10th minute of the match. Balwinder scored the goal for his side through a powerful kick. By the end of the first half, the Doon Star team clearly led the match.

But in the second half, the Doon Star players failed to coordinate well and lost on the scoring opportunities.

In the end, the Sunderwala team scored an equaliser through Rajender. He dodged two defenders before taking an accurate shot at the goal making it 1-1 for his team in the 46th minute. After scoring an equaliser, the Sunderwala team played far better than it had done in the first half. The match went into a tiebreaker that was won by the Sunderwala team by 5-4.

Meanwhile in the second match, the Akaranta team defeated the Garhwal Boys team by 5-4. The Akaranta team proved better side than the Garhwal Boys team. The team played outstanding throughout the match, but failed to give a finishing touch to its attacks. None of the players of the Garhwal Boys team scored any goal in the scheduled time and the result of the match was decided in a tiebreaker, in which the Akaranta team won by 5-4.

Haridwar, February 8
In the All-India Major Junior Prize Ranking Badminton tournament held in Haridwar, Andhra Pradesh players won the majority of titles at stake in different categories. The tournament concluded late in the evening with the distribution of prizes by Director General of Police, Uttarakhand, Subash Joshi.

In the U-16 final, Arun George of Kerala pulled off a nail-biting win against Andhra Pradesh’s Sanotsh Ravuri (21-18, 15-21, 21-18).

In U-13 category, ASS Siril Varma of Andhra Pradesh made his state proud by clinching the title defeating teammate C Rahul Yadav by 21-10, 21-14.

In U-13 doubles category, Andhra Pradesh shared trophy with host Uttarakhand when C Rahul Yadav and Chirag Sen won the title by 21-15, 17-21, 21-14 against Uttarakhand duo Bodhit Joshi and Lakshya Sen.

In the girls section U-13 doubles, Kuhoo of home state won with V Harika beating Akhsita Bhandari and Mahima Aggarwal of Karnataka by a margin of 21-17, 23-21.

In singles, K Maneesha of Andhra Pradesh defeated West Bengal’s Rituparna Das by losing one set but regaining her composure to win 21-15, 18-21, 21-16 in final set. In U-13 girls final, V Harika of Andhra Pradesh won against compatriot R Santoshi Hasini by 21-14 and 21-19.

At prize distribution ceremony, DGP Joshi lauded the skills of the participants and commendable efforts put in by the organisers in successfully hosting the championship.

Notably, this was the first major national championship that was held in Haridwar city and drew a major crowd during all four days of the competition. Major factor in Haridwar getting the hosting rights of this championship is the state-of-the-art sports complex at Bhalla college grounds.

Equipped with all latest sporting facilities the complex boasts of four international-level badminton courts and a well-furnished gymnasium. Former national-level badminton player BB Giri says that this is the best badminton complex not only in Uttarakhand, but also in the northern region.