Haridwar, March 12
After back-to-back Peshwayis (royal procession) by various akhadas, today was the much-awaited Peshwayi of a major akhada - Shri Panchayati Akhada Bada Udasin Nirvan - and as expected, it was a grand one.

The huge cavalcade of Mahamandaleshwars and prominent saints on chariots, colourful tableaux, skillful display by saints accompanied by folk artistes coloured the city in Kumbh colours.

Renowned yoga guru Swami Ramdev also attended the Peshwayi for a short while attracting a mass of people and the attention of the media.

In the wake of the royal procession as has been the norm, traffic had to be diverted in the city as the Peshwayi entered one colony area after another during its route.

The Peshwayi began at 11 am after the performance of rituals from the Panchayati Akhada farm in Bhoopatwala and culminated at Har-ki-Pauri.

At all places along the route - Shivmoorti, Shankaracharya Chowk, Chowk Bazar, Kankhal and finally at the cantonment of the Panchayati Akhada near the Shiva temple of Daksheshwar Mahadev, massive crowds thronged to see the Peshwayi.

A glimpse of the cultural diversity of India was witnessed during the Peshwayi. From Punjabi folk artistes to helicopters spraying flowers to bhajans to chanting of slokas, the atmosphere was enchanting.

Heavy deployment of the mela police and paramilitary forces was done for the Peshwayi with the mela police cordoning both sides of the procession.

As the Peshwayi reached Shankaracharya Chowk, traffic on the national highway going towards Dehradun-Rishikesh were deflected to the Bahadrabad-BHEL route while traffic towards Delhi from both cities was diverted on the hill bypass route.

Similarly, traffic from the Najibabad side to Delhi was diverted towards BHEL via Laltaura bridge-hilly bypass route till the Peshwayi hadn’t fully moved on from the Shankaracharya Chowk.

For the duration of the Peshwayi, the entry of heavy vehicles was prohibited and these were stationed at the nearest vacant grounds and temporary mela traffic zones.

Haridwar, March 12
Baba Ramdev, Swami Awdeshananda Giri and Acharya BalaKrishan - experts of yoga and spirituality - today attended the International Yoga Festival at the Dev Sanskrit University here.

Baba Ramdev spoke about yoga at length. He defined yoga as the gradual awakening of the self and as a manifestation of divinity that takes a human to the super-human level from the level of beasts.

“At the middle level, he is a human being, but he still has many attachments along with virtues of compassion, love and kindness. Through yoga, he evolves to the level of gods and at the highest level, he reaches the feet of the Almighty,” said Ramdev.

On the Patanjali Yogpeeth and the Gayatri Parivar, Ramdev said that despite being distant and different, both have the same goal, mission and motto - that of the revival of the people and the nation.

Urging all to be a part of the Patanjali Parivar’s ‘Bharat Swabhiman Abhiyan’, an organisation formed by him to bring about social awakening, the Baba said, “Forty crore hungry and poverty stricken countrymen need to be fed and this can only be done when we work through the Bharat Swabhiman Abhiyan.”

Presiding over the sessions, Dr Pranav Pandya, Chancellor of the host Dev Sanskriti University which is organising the week-long festival, said that joint efforts of the two universities at the north and south corners of Haridwar will make it a spiritual city in the real sense.

Terming yoga and ayurveda to be the sciences of ancient sages, Acharya Balkrishan said, “Both are inseparable at the deeper level. Today, the most vital problem is inner vacuum and suffering which yoga and ayurveda can fill and cure. History is in the making and we all have to be active participants in the movement,” asserted Balkrishan. He also revealed the secrets of herbs like turmeric, tulsi, peepal etc.

The second session was attended by Swami Avdheshanandgiri, who is the Mahamandaleshwar of Juna Akhada.

Appreciating the experiments of the Gayatri Parivar for social uplift, Avdheshanandgiri said that Shantikunj is an unique laboratory of spirituality where men and women of the new era are being moulded.

On yoga, he said that it should be done continuously with reverence and patience. It should percolate to the depths of one’s character and manifest itself through one’s conduct and behaviour.

He suggested that if done properly, yoga can transform one’s life as it relieves afflictions, brings fragrance to life and lead the adherent towards perfection.

Despite being from the monastic tradition, the Mahamandaleshwar said he was an integral part of the Gayatri Parivar.

Delegates at the yoga festival and other participants underwent a yagna therapy, mirror therapy, ayurvedic panchakarma, naturopathy, acupressure and mantra chikitsa session in the afternoon.

Saji Umalatova from Russia, who is the president of Party for Peace and Unity, was also present on the occasion.

Dehradun, March 12
In order to promote and conserve biodiversity of the region, the School of Environment and Natural Resources of Doon University will soon set up a Bio Resource Centre that will provide information to farmers about preservation and conservation of bio resources.

Addressing a press conference today, Dr Jyoti K Sharma, a professor of the School of Environment and Natural Resources, said the centre would come up at the university and farmers would be provided training in ex-situ and in-situ cultivation of plants. “We are also planning to set up a State Botanical Garden by utilising degraded land near the university,” Dr Sharma said.

The biodiversity in the region is under stress due to increasing human activities and hydroelectric power projects. “In the past 300 years, the country has lost around 100 species, most of them have become extinct due to over exploitation of resources and our inability to conserve them,” said Dr Sharma.

We need to monitor the farming activities as well in order to conserve the traditional crop varieties. “Hybrid varieties are killing the traditional crops and nutritional value is being lost due to the extensive use of non-traditional crops,” he said.

Mussoorie, March 12
Chairperson of the state monitoring committee for private educational institutes Karen Hilton on the sidelines of a press conference in Mussoorie said the committee would act punitively to regulate the working of private educational institutions in the state.

She said the committee would act on any anonymous complaint received and investigate the matter accordingly. She also said the committee had also succeeded in controlling the rampant fee hike in private schools and parents felt a sense of relief with the BJP government’s move to control these institutions. She said the schools would now be allowed to increase their fee once in a year and they would be able to charge only 10 per cent of the tuition fee as sundry fees for various purposes.

The committee was also looking into complaints that schools were sending schoolchildren to collect donation through fancy fair raffle draws and other means which will also be curbed. She categorically stated that commercialisation of education by these private educational institutes will not be tolerated by the committee at any cost.

Replying to the question of schools forcing the parents to buy the course books from the school itself in connivance with local publishers, she said several complaints had been received and as it was against the law strict action would be initiated soon. She also said deliberations were on to amend the State Education Act and the result would be visible soon.

Dehradun, March 12
The Indian Medical Association in association with the Rotary Club held an awareness camp on the occasion of International Glaucoma Day here today. The health camp was presided over by Dr Ajeet Gairola.

A large number of people attended the health camp besides other dignitaries. Eminent eye specialists, Dr Sanjay Sethi, Dr Amit Singh, Dr Nishant Navani briefed the gathering on various eye ailments.

The secretary of the IMA, Dr Alok Semwal, and the president and the secretary of the Rotary Doon, Shivalik Hills, were present.

Dehradun, March 12
The concluding day of DAV (PG) College’s union week was celebrated with zeal and merriment here today. Students had a gala time enjoying the performances of singer Ravi Shukla (Amul Star Voice of India participant), Saveri Bhattacharya (singer Abhijeet’s niece) from Mumbai and Shefali, a dance troupe from Delhi. The euphoric atmosphere captured everyone’s attention and made them dance and sing along.

The chief guest for the day was Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. Addressing the gathering, he said: “To make the campus green and neat, every student must plant five trees and the college authorities should assist to make the environment better for the overall development of the students”.

However, discussing the role of students in nation building, he said students were the future of the nation and so they should never forget their moral responsibilities and duties.

Jyoti Gairola, president of the Van Vikas Nigam, said many programmes were being run for the development of students and these would benefit them in the long run.

The Chief Minister also presented awards to the deserving students and teachers and appreciated the articles published in the monthly magazine “Jigasa”. MLA Ganesh Joshi, Principal BP Nautiyal, president of Students Union Ashish Bahuguna were prominent persons present at the function.

Dehradun, March 12
Student of D Pharma at Guru Ramdas Academy (GRD) today walked out of their classes and laid a siege to the college campus, leading to disruption in road traffic. The police personnel in large numbers had to be called to control the situation.

The students were protesting against the failure of the college in getting affiliation from the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). They alleged that only four colleges were affiliated to the PCI in Uttarakhand while their institution failed to get the affiliation.

Mainly final year D Pharma students were the part of the protest since their session was about to over. “We have just got assurances that the institution would get affiliation but till today nothing has happened. The future of the students has been in danger due to this,” a student alleged.

Meanwhile, the police reached the spot and asked the students to vacate the road but the students refused to budge. However, after being given assurance from the college authorities of doing something in this regard the student agreed to withdraw the protest.

Haridwar, March 12
Keeping with the tradition of doing social work in Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL), a gardening event was organised by the town administration of BHEL to raise concern about environment conservation, along with a discussion forum on environment conservation and saving of natural resources.

Terming the nature conservation as imperative, chief convener of BHEL Ladies Club Vandana Modi laid stress on the need of generating awareness about nature among people.

“Nature is our mother while trees-flowers are its sons and as the way we care for our family we have to care for our nature mother. There is a relation between nature and human beings and we can’t exist without nature”, said Modi.

She remarked that the environment conservation was the foremost need of the hour and every citizen should cater his services to towards it.

Prizes were presented by Ritu Singhal, who had won respective events in Raj Bhawan Dehradun and Roorkee flower competitions.

In total, nine winners from Dehradun, 66 from Roorkee and local 73 artistes were felicitated at the event. The judges for the event were Sunita Lamba, Arti Gupta, Saroj Khandelwal, Rekha Garg, Kusum Sharma and Sangeeta Raj.

Dehradun, March 12
Under the aegis of the Shri Jagdamba Samiti and the FFT India, HESCO (vigyan gram) commenced a three-day beekeeping workshop here today. The founder of HESCO, Dr Anil P Joshi, Padmashree recipient, inaugurated the workshop. The workshop aimed at spreading the awareness of doing business in beekeeping and how to seek financial assistance in the form of subsidies by the government.

A large number of small industrialists and persons in the beekeeping profession from Uttarakhand, Uttarkashi and Dehradun districts attended the workshop. The experts have also explained the techniques of yielding good fruits and crops through modern methods.

However, this particular workshop is based and in continuation of the workshop held on February 4 in Rishikesh.

Dehradun, March 12
Poor banking facilities in the state is delaying payments to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) beneficiaries. In remote areas of the state, it takes one to two months for NREGA payments to reach the actual beneficiaries through post offices that have a sizeable presence in the state.

In order to arrest the problem, the state government is planning to set up 428 mini-banks that will be linked with cooperative banks in the state that is expected to reduce the problem of absence of physical banking.

“Lack of physical banking will be considerably addressed with this new venture that we are hoping to start by next year,” said Om Prakash, Secretary, Rural Development.

At times there may be delay in the release of funds by the Central government for the scheme itself, for this reason the revolving fund with a corpus sum of Rs 3 crore comes handy for taking care of immediate financial needs.

Besides, the state government has also asked the Union Ministry of Rural Development to increase the allocations made for administrative costs from 6 per cent to 10 per cent.

“For effective implementation of the scheme, we require more gram rozgar shahayaks, as villagers are spread across several kms and hilly terrain too makes coverage difficult. Right now, one gram rozgar shahayak is responsible for six gram panchayats,” said Om Prakash.

There are a total of 2,668 (NREGA) workers in the state, 2,425 at panchayat level, 190 at block level, 39 at district level and 14 at state level.

NREGA is being implemented in all 13 districts of the state, with hill districts performing better than plain districts.

The state ranks eighth among 34 states of the country and has utilised 85.4 per cent of the budget allocated till February 2010. It has utilised Rs 239 crore, out of a total of Rs 280 crore available funds.

Dehradun, March 12
Maharana Pratap Sports College (MPSC) defeated Shiva Cricket Academy by three wickets at the Jitendra Anand Memorial Cricket Tournament under way at the OFD ground here today.

Shiva Cricket Academy could manage to score 163 runs in their allotted 30 overs. The team gave a poor start to the match with their openers Anil and Siddharth getting out on lower score. Anil was out for 10 runs, whereas Siddharth was out for 11 runs. First down batsman Satender too failed to live up to the expectations of the team and was out for 16 runs. Middle order batsman Rahul and Vaibhav tried hard to score runs and stabilise the team inning. Rahul scored 21 runs, whereas Vaibhav made 28 runs. Lower order batsman Jasbeer made 14 runs. For Shiva Cricket Academy, Shubham claimed four wickets, whereas Sunny and Sunil took two wickets each.

Chasing 164 runs, the MPSC team reached the target with an ease. Opener Fatheh scored 48 runs and Sagar made 9 runs. Nishant came up with 79 runs off 48 balls. For Shiva Cricket Academy, Vivek took four wickets, whereas Jasbeer and Love took two wickets each.

Dehradun, March 12
The first day of the re-union 2010 of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) saw a hockey match being played between the cadets and the Rimcollians, the old boys. After a tough fight, the old boys emerged victorious with a tally of two goals to the cadets one.

On the side of the cadets, cadet Mohit Mayank scored a goal in the 17th minute, but was equalled by Capt Sunny Ghosh, who scored a goal in the 19th minute. Finally, Lt Col Ravi Kumar scored the winning goal.