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Anglers have day out at Maund
That day Dharma was lone bodyguard of Nehru
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E-counselling portal launched
Journal on herbal plants released
Cut in commerce seats by SMJN college irks students
Non-teaching staff of IITs feel discriminated
Another strike simmering in GMVN
Deepak fashions Gujrara team’s victory
Garhwal Sporting thump Bajrang Club 4-0
Uttarakhand stand third at BC Roy c’ship
Haridwar to host national softball championship
Vinayraj Bhatt wins chess tournament
Summer cricket training camp concludes
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Anglers have day out at Maund
Mussoorie, June 28
The festivities began around 9 am after villagers from Silwar Patti brought out the sacks of timru powder amidst beats of local drums and bagpipes for prayers and traditional rituals performed by women folk of adjacent villages. A local folk and cultural programme was also organised on the occasion. The powder was then dropped into the Aglar rivulet and the chaotic rush to catch the biggest fish was on, thus heralding the festival Maund. Fishermen were pouncing on every opportunity as unconscious fish, intoxicated by the timru powder, popped up in the free flowing river downstream. One could witness young and old standing in the cool waters of the Aglar and looking for an anxious catch downstream stretching as far as the Yamuna bridge.
Ranbir from Got Gaon said the festival was also a place to feast with friends and relatives on an annual basis. It was a festival when people danced, made merry and met old friends, he added. Bitto Kavi from Nainbagh, who had brought some foreign guests along, said this festival had a unique identity that was deep rooted in tribal traditions going way back to the times of the Maharaja of Tehri. This was the day when the Maharaja visited the place to inaugurate the mela and the fishing festival. This was an opportunity for the villagers to seek blessings from the Maharaja and see him in person, added Kavi. This was his 15th consecutive visit to the fishing festival. Rameshwar Prasad from Kharak villlage said villagers from Silwar, Laloor and Panchgai etc, had a system as a part of which the timru powder was prepared by turns. Mahesh from Kandi Khal displayed his prized possession, a Baha fish, and bragged about its taste as being the best in the world. Narendar Negi of Kharag Sari village showed his basket stating that he was lucky to catch 2 kg of fish, otherwise this year due to lack of rains, the fish were fewer in the rivulet. Naresh of Kharag Suransu was elated to catch the longest fish called Gouse in local dialect. Shyam Singh, 75, of Jwarna village, said he had never missed the festival since age of 19. Ramlal, a vendor selling sweets in the mela area, said the business was brisk as pethas were the most liked delicacy on the occasion. Bitto Kavi, however, lamented the fact that the catch this year was less than last year due to the rampant use of dynamite explosion and bleaching powder. He said villagers would be educated and discouraged from using such means from next year. A meeting has also been called in a village after the culmination of the mela soon. The fishing festival has become an important event in the tourism calendar as tourists and locals alike converge on the river for the festival on annual basis. Jabar Singh from Kandi Khal village said the government should make an effort in popularising this festival among foreign tourists and fish lovers, so that much-needed revenue was generated through tourism. The lucky villagers will take the fish back home and the catch will be shared by all equally. The celebrations in the form of dance and dinner will carry on till late in the night in respective villages tonight.
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That day Dharma was lone bodyguard of Nehru
Mussoorie, June 28
Dharamdas, who is fondly called Dharma, is 85, but he still remembers those glorious days when leaders of such stature loved riding horses, along with their children, in Mussoorie. Dharma, recollecting those days with tears in his eyes, said politicians of that era were compassionate towards the poor. Dharma, a resident of Saunthiyal village in Tehri Garhwal district, came to Mussoorie at the age of 15 before Independence and stayed at his uncle’s house. For one month he worked with the manager of Hindustan Commercial Bank doing household chores for Rs 10 monthly. He left the job and thought of embarking on his own venture. Some relatives suggested he should own horses and rent them out to tourists. Dharma bought two horses of the Bhotia breed from Rampur Rs 120 each. That time the Palika collected Rs 7 as tax on an annual basis. Harnam Singh used to rent his horses to British tourists and Maharajas who frequented Mussoorie. Over the years Dharma had collected 72 horses of excellent breed. One day in the ’60s Dharma received a call from Harnam Singh, a renowned contractor of horses of that time, that first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru was staying at Savoy Hotel and was interested in horse riding. Pandit Nehru needed a sturdy horse for the day. Dharma agreed hesitantly to supply his best horse Rajah to Pandit Nehru. Nehru was extremely happy seeing the horse and immediately jumped on it. He then asked Dharma to ride the other horse along with him and directed his bodyguards to leave them alone. “For today, Dharamdas is my bodyguard,” said Pandit Nehru. Dharma says Nehru rode like a professional. He trot and galloped all along the Camel Back and the Mall Road for two hours and then returned to Savoy Hotel. Dharma recollects that Pandit Nehru took his services frequently thereafter. He even rewarded Dharma with a few thousand rupees and offered to take him to Delhi along with him, to which Dharma refused graciously. “If I had accepted the offer, I would have been a well-settled person by now, but my love for horses kept me from taking that decision”. Dharma also had the rare opportunity of providing horses to then Defence Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who stayed at the Landour Cantonment rest house after the Chinese aggression. Pandit Nehru was a better rider than Shastri, but their love for horses was similar, says Dharma. He remembers the Maharaja of Kapurthala who had his own fleet of horses and tread on the Mall Road. The families of Birlas, Singhanias, Mafat Lals, Bijorias and Goenkas would hire Dharma’s horses during summer vacations. Dharma also appreciated late astrologer RGR Bhardwaj for keeping him in his house free of cost. The stay at Bhardwaj’s house on the Camel Back Road came as a boon to him as most of the elite families came to the house with their queries. He got a chance to ferry them from their residence to Bhardwaj’s place on horse and started earning extra bit of money. The simplicity of Dharma can be gauged from the fact that one day when he provided a rich merchant horse service from Picture Palace to Landour Bazar. The merchant gave out two huge silver coins to him. Dharma pocketed both coins and was on his way home, but suddenly realising that the weight of the coins suggested these to be of more value, he went to the merchant and asked him to replace the coins with paper notes. Dharma went for a one-month trip of Delhi where a rich family provided him with a house and a beetle shop for livelihood, but the call of the mountains forced him to return and he left Delhi immediately and joined his old business of horses. Dharma is dismayed to see the condition of the present Mussoorie with chaotic markets and frequent traffic jams. People back then had etiquettes of walking and behaving on the Mall Road and did not litter. But, now the scene is completely the opposite. Dharma has now gone back to his village and has only yearning that people should try their hand on horses and keep Mussoorie clean. Local historian Gopal Bhardwaj says people like Dharma are walking historical documents in themselves and one can learn a lot about the past and compare it with the present condition of the town, which is in its downward mode now.
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E-counselling portal launched
Pantnagar, June 28 The portal, www.uktech.info, was formally launched by the Vice-Chancellor of Pantnagar University, Dr BS Bisht, at the College of Basic Sciences last evening. Appreciating the initiative of the students, Dr Bisht said: “Uktech.info is a very useful portal and I am sure it will be very helpful to the students who are looking for admission in engineering colleges”. Suggesting some modifications in the portal, he said this portal would be a big success. Raghav Kansal, who is leading the project, pointed out that until recently it was very difficult for the students to find authentic reviews and information about various options regarding the choices of colleges and branches available to them. “We faced the same problem during our counselling. Now, through the portal we have tried to bridge that gap and enable students to take a more informed and wise decision regarding their career. With the state AIEEE counselling to commence soon, the portal promises to be like a beacon to the engineering aspirants of Uttarakhand,” he said. This website will serve as a repertoire of information about the existing engineering colleges of Uttrakhand giving expansive reviews about them. The site also provides comprehensive ratings of the existing engineering colleges. The site will act as a platform for the engineering aspirants to interact with the students who are at present studying in an engineering college. Malay Goel, who is leading the Technical Department for the portal, said special efforts had been made to ensure that the website could be easily opened on slow-speed Internet connections and old browsers. Aayush Aggarwal, who is looking after creative works, said this was among the first steps towards improving the education system of the country by bringing in transparency through technology.
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Journal on herbal plants released
Dehradun, June 28 Giving the scenario of herbal research in Uttarakhand, chief guest on the occasion Director, UCOST, Dr Rajendra Dobhal said the UCOST had till date funded 137 projects in various fields of science and technology, out of which over 25 projects were on medicinal and herbal plants. He further informed that the council had initiated some research project addressing the herbal sector prominent among them being with the Centre for Aromatic Plants, Selaqui, SBS (PG) Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Dehradun, and Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun. The projects were in the advanced stages of execution and showing encouraging results. Researchers should develop interest in high-end research and like-minded people in the field of herbal sector should get benefits of the research through networking and forming a proper global database to make it a commercially viable proposition, he concluded. UJPAH Chief Editor and president of the Himalaya Drug Company Dr S Farooq in his inaugural address said India was poised to become the global pharma destination by 2020. The latest reports revealed that the domestic pharmaceutical market value was around Rs 55,754 crore and growing by 10 per cent annually. The value of exports of medicines from India was around Rs 40,000 crore and growing at a rate of 22 per cent. He further added that the European Union’s (EU) bid was to create a trade to Indian exports of herbal medicines to its 27 countries. The barrier came in the form of EU’s recent traditional herbal medicine product directive that would practically make it impossible for most ayurvedic drugs here to be marketed in the EU member countries after March 2011. Giving reference of the Union Budget for 2010-11 presented by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha on February 26, 2010, Dr Farooq pinpointed out that it did not mention any significant change for the life science sector and scientific research on herbs. Only the pharma industry research and development has been given a relief of additional 50 per cent, effective up to March 31, 2012. This would augur more projects from some institutions, he concluded. Public Relations Officer, UCOST, Dr DP Uniyal said the UCOST in association with the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants were working on inventories of cultivation and conservation status of medicinal and aromatic plants in Uttarakhand. The objective of the project was to know the herbs suitable for cultivation in various altitudes of the state and to find out the active ingredient percentage. As of today, rural areas account for 21 per cent to the country’s pharma market and 70 per cent of the Indian population resided in rural areas. The Indian pharma market was, therefore, regarded as one of the fastest growing pharma market in the world. Scientific documentation by way of research on Indian herbs was, therefore, the mandate of the UJPAH, Dr Farooq said. Among those present on the occasion were scientists from various premier research institutions Dr IP Saxena, Dr GK Pathak, Dr Maya Ram Uniyal, Dr BP Purohit, Dr Lata Shukla, Dr Ashutosh Mishra and Dr Veena Painuly from UCOST.
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Cut in commerce seats by SMJN college irks students
Haridwar, June 28 Notably, in SMJN College 120 seats are directly filled, while 240 commerce seats are filled via self-finance. But, this time only 180 seats are available for students via the self-finance scheme. Students have termed this cut in seats unnecessary and detrimental to the future of students. Students taking admission forms for the BCom course are seen enquiring about the number of seats available and many are also weighing options of taking admissions in nearby colleges of Rishikesh, Dehradun and Roorkee, if their names do not figure in merit list. Former college union president Indresh Gaud, himself a commerce student, has accused the college management of keeping mum on this matter. He has warned the management of taking up the matter at the university (Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University) level. He termed it as exploitation of local students and pointed that every year decision on fixing the number of self-finance seats is also delayed which affects directly academic session and students are left out with the less number of studying days. Students aspiring to take admission in this college but having less percentage are quite wary of their future. They point out that SMJN College since its inception has been a commerce-oriented college and is known for its commerce education in the whole state, but now the very backbone of the college is being hurt. “If we don’t figure on the merit list then we have to either go for the arts stream or seek admission in private colleges of the city which stand nowhere when it comes to imparting education and infrastructure,” said Anushka Pandey, a student seeking admission in the BCom course. The Akhil Bharatiya Parishad, the National Student Union of India and the SMJN College Union have decided to protest cut in the commerce seats and have warned the management of the agitation if the earlier number of seats is not restored.
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Non-teaching staff of IITs feel discriminated
Roorkee, June 28 Speaking at a convention of the All IITs Employees Union, Professor Saxena assured the employees that all their problems and demands were being looked into and he was in touch with the Human Resource Ministry regarding the matter. Highlighting the success of IIT students and global brand image of the IITs, Professor Saxena said be it in education, research, teaching all IITs were highly regarded globally which was due to a mutual contribution of teachers, students and all employees of these institution. Joint coordination committee coordinator and IIT-Khadagpur employees union leader Ravi Shankar Shukla pointed out that while the teaching staff were paid high salaries, the non-teaching staff were being exploited despite their contribution in making the brand IIT was noteworthy. The convention will conclude tomorrow with union members of all IITs taking part and dwelling on issues concerning them. “We are prepared to take an agitational route if our problems are not met. Discrimination at such institutions of international repute doesn’t augur well for IITs as also for the country,” said Vinod Gaur, an IIT-Roorkee non-teaching employees union member.
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Another strike simmering in GMVN
Dehradun, June 28 Purushottam Puri, head of the Employees Union of the GMVN, said: “Higher officials of the GMVN have even made a committee to prepare the modalities of the decentralisation of the nigam. It is only when the letter to the purpose was leaked out, we got to know of such a move. But, we won’t let this happen, because all this is meant to privatise the nigam”. He said they were closely watching nigam’s progress in this respect. Besides the decentralisation issue, the officials have been asked to consider handing over the management of those Tourist Rest Houses (TRHs), which had not been doing well for the past many years, to private players. Denouncing any such move, Puri said it was unfortunate that the state government had already given Auli Tourist Rest House to a party on the PPP mode for six months when the SAF Winter Games would be held there. Even the rope way in Auli had been given to a company on the PPP mode, he added. Not only this, he said the GMVN had been asked to take applications from private companies who are interested in dabbling in tourism-related activities in the state. Decrying government’s policy on giving out its properties on the PPP mode, Puri said: “The renowned Drone Hotel, which is situated in the centre of the city, too has been ruined after it was given to private players. The hotel, which was earlier turned into an official state guest house, has now again been converted into a hotel, but the damage which the property went through in intervening period has not been made up for till now”. Kabadwal declined having any concrete information regarding the privatisation of these institutions, yet he confirmed the nigam was considering such proposals. Regarding decentralisation, Managing Director VVRC Purushottam admitted chalking out a plan where operations of the GMVN would be divided into four zones, Dakpathar, Kotdwar in Pauri Garhwal, Rishikesh in the Gangotri valley and Srinagar in the Badrinath valley, for the purpose of decentralisation of the nigam. In all these four zones, four general managers, who will take charge of tourism, marketing, construction and industry-related activities will be deputed. Employees working in various wings will be promoted to the positions of general manager. He said: “The objective of decentralisation has been aimed at smoothening the functioning of the nigam and to save time and efforts on the part of people looking after these regions. They would no longer need to rush to Dehradun for every little thing”. The nigam has somewhat slowed down on the decentralisation policy to assuage the angry employees. It was just a month ago, 2,000 employees of the union had gone on a strike mainly on the issue of decentralisation. To support his argument on the subject of decentralisation, Puri said: “In this time of financial crisis, when the ban on the nigam’s stake in business-related to wood, liquor and mining has already given it a severe blow, this new baggage of creating buildings, infrastructure, recruiting manpower to establish four zones will dent its financial position further, this will ultimately affect the employees”. He appreciated the present system where the heads of all departments sat under one ceiling. Privatisation will eventually mean loss of jobs to 8,000 employees who are working in the nigam, he feared.
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Deepak fashions Gujrara team’s victory
Dehradun, June 28 Lakhera opened his team’s account in the 19th minute when he hit from the 40-yard distance after getting a beautiful pass from the right wing. The goalkeeper of the Pavilion Ground team made a good attempt to stop the ball, but his height defeated him as the ball sailed through his head. Lakhera scored his next goal in the 32nd minute to lead his side 2-0 at the end of the first half. Rival Pavilion Ground side made some good moves, but failed to get a score. No goal came in the second half and the match ended on 2-0 in Gujrara Tibetan Colony’s favour. Tomorrow, Team B of Pavilion Ground is slated to meet the Chaandmari village.
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Garhwal Sporting thump Bajrang Club 4-0
Dehradun, June 28 The Garhwal Sporting blanked Bajrang Club 4-0 with a brilliant performance by Shashank Mamgai who struck a hat-trick. He scored in the second, 31st and 43rd minutes of the game to put his team on the winning map. Gaurav also scored a goal in the 59th minute. In another match, Sports Hostel defeated Cantt Blue 2-0. Shishir netted brace in the win. He scored in the 48th and 63rd minutes. The rival team failed
to retaliate. The Wills Youth Club and Little Star are scheduled to meet for clash tomorrow. In the second match, Indra Club to take on
Eleven Star.
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Uttarakhand stand third at BC Roy c’ship
Dehradun, June 28 The junior team has been a champion twice in the zonal football championship, but in the nationals this is the first time it has got the third place, the best ever, said Uttarakhand State Football Association secretary Syed Akhtar Ali. The state team lost in the semifinal to West Bengal 5-0 to be satisfied with the third place. Earlier, Uttarakhand had registered the semis berth with one win, one draw and one defeat that fetched it four points in its group. It had held defending champion Karnataka to a one-all draw in the last quarterfinal league match of the Group A. “This is an achievement of sorts to clinch the third position in the all-India meet. This is a new state and after it got separated from Uttar Pradesh this is the biggest win at the nationals in junior category,” said Devender Bisht, secretary of the Dehradun Football Association. Football experts in the town feel that it was unfortunate for the state that it got pitted against the mighty West Bengal in the semifinal. “They (West Bengal) are the toughest rivals for any team. On top of it, they were playing at home. So they certainly had got an advantage of that,” Bisht added.
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Haridwar to host national softball championship
Haridwar, June 28 pionship, earlier this year, Haridwar is preparing to hold the state national-level softball championship next year. The Softball Association of India has decided to give hosting rights to Haridwar which will take place next year. The Uttarakhand Softball Association is chalking out the programme for the coveted championship with executive members concerned being given different responsibilities. Informing about the championship hosting details, Softball Association of India secretary Dr Praveen Anawkar said the hilly state was chosen for the upcoming championship owing to laudable working of the State Softball Association and the interest shown by people in this game. Accepting that providing basic infrastructure for this new game may be tough for the home association, Dr Anwakar assured full support and guidance. Executive member of the State Softball Association Poonam Bhagat said the event would be drawing national-level sporting attention to Haridwar and urged all and sundry to come forward to help the state association in making the championship a successful one. She further stated that preparations had already begun from their side with the national association giving inputs and help was being sought from specialised coaches, agencies and other state associations in this regard. Softball is quite popular in the USA, European countries and has been featured in the Olympics too, though the International Olympic Committee has dropped softball along with baseball for the next summer Olympics scheduled to be hosted in London in 2012. The USA had won Olympic softball gold since 1996 while last time in Beijing 2008 Japan had defeated the USA in the softball final.
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Vinayraj Bhatt wins chess tournament
Dehradun, June 28 While former Delhi champion DK Chopra got five-and-a-half points to emerge third. Sanjeev Suri and Narender Singh with five points each claimed the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. In today’s seventh round matches, Bhatt played a draw with Sanjeev and Pokhriyal got the better of Sanjay Rana. Also, DK Chopra defeated Ranjan Sood.
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Summer cricket training camp concludes
Mussoorie, June 28
The chief guest on the occasion Mandi Parishad president Upendar Thapli distributed prizes among students excelling in the camp. Dehradun Sports Association member Ranbir Singh was also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion Upendar Thapli commended the efforts of the organisers and said such camps would enhance the talent of budding cricketers and boost their morale for forthcoming competetions. More than 198 children from Roorkie, Meerut, Haridwar etc participated in the camp. Mussoorie Sports and Cultural Committee president Narendar Kumar said the objective of the camp was to provide high-quality training to the participants and inculcate sporting values and discipline in them. Samuel Chand, Ghanshyam Arya, Shyam Mohan Baloni, Gajendar Negi, Mohan Negi, Ravi, Indu Uniyal, Sandeep Agarwal, Shailendar Bisht, Surendar Rana. Uttarakhand Y-20 Cricket Association Gen Sect Javed Butt was present on the occasion.
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More than 7,000 villagers from the Aglar-Yamuna valley dived into the Aglar rivulet, 30 km from Mussoorie, to celebrate the annual communty fishing festival shouting “Macha! Macha!”
Mussoorie, June 28
Dehradun,
June 28
Haridwar,
June 28
Dehradun,
June 28
Navin, aged 12, from Silvar village, also spread his traditional net in the river. He said till evening he would like to collect nearly 2 kg fish so that it could be distributed equally among relatives. 
