Chandigarh, July 22
There would hardly be a soul in the pre-Independence era that hadn’t been influenced by the charismatic personality of Mahatma Gandhi. In the early 1900s, while Gandhiji launched a non-violent movement to free India from the clutches of the British rule, there was one great freedom fighter and litterateur in the hills who started a relentless battle against Tehri King’s tyrannical rule - Dev Suman.

Born on May 25, 1916, at Jaul village of Bamund patti in Tehri district, Dev Suman silently fought in the rugged terrain of the Garhwal region that not many would be aware of. He was the author of many books in Hindi and Garhwali dialects.

It was in 1930, when Dev Suman came to know about the influential Salt Movement of Gandhiji. So impressed was this 14-year-old boy with the great personality of the Father of the Nation that he resolved to contribute to the freedom struggle. He joined the Gandhiji’s movement and went to jail for two weeks. At the same time, soldiers of the King of Rawaai opened fire at innocent people and killed many of them, which caused great pain to Dev Suman.

Both these incidents were the turning points in his life. He pledged to dedicate his life for the big cause. His pen now became a potent tool against the tyrannical rule of the king. He started igniting the souls of hill people with the feeling of nationalism and patriotism.

In the acknowledgement of his contribution to the freedom struggle, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru made him the president of the Akhil Bharatiya Desi Rajya Parishad Samiti’.

The King of Tehri, Bolanda Badri, started to fear the growing movement against him. Even an offer of a royal job from Emperor Narender Shah couldn’t deter Dev Suman from attaining his goal of ending the autocracy in Garhwal. When Bolanda Badri failed in his efforts, he ordered the arrest of Dev Suman on the false charge of treason and sent him to two years’ rigorous imprisonment in the Agra Central Jail.

Even after serving the sentence, Suman didn’t withdraw from his pursuit. He was again arrested on December 30, 1943, in Chamba. He was tortured 
in the jail, against which he sat on an indefinite fast. After going 84 days 
without food and water, this great literature and patriot breathed his last on 
July 25, 1944.

Dev Suman was truly the son of the soil whose name has been etched in the annals of the history of the country’s freedom struggle. His legacy continues to inspire many and in his remembrance, people of Uttarakhand living in Chandigarh have been holding blood donation camps for the past one decade.

“We will always remain indebted to Dev Suman. Since he sacrificed his life in the struggle, we like to remember him by holding blood donation camps on his death anniversary every year, ” said Pt Kundal Lal Uniyal, vice-president, Garhwal Sabha, Chandigarh.

Mussoorie, July 22
The dispute over the appointment of a Bhojan Mata from the Dalit community, reports of which appeared in the media, has been blown out of proportion. This was stated by parents of students studying in Government Inter College at Gharkhet at a press conference held at the Press Club here yesterday.

The parents alleged that the dispute was blown out of proportion due to nefarious designs of college Principal Ram Prasad Kannaujia. They said there was no dispute among students from upper castes that they had refused to eat the food prepared by a Dalit Bhojan Mata in the school under the mid-day meal scheme as reported in a section of the media.

Senior BJP leader and former pradhan of the region Rajendar Singh Rawat said the whole dispute was unnecessary and was the brainchild of the the Principal. Kannaujia levelled false allegations that the upper caste students were not eating the food prepared by Bhojan Mata Soni Devi, who was a Dalit. Rawat said the parents had levelled several charges of corruption and financial misappropriation against the Principal earlier, hence to divert people’s attention on that he created such a controversy in front of the media.

Rawat also said the real issue was that on July 12 as it was raining incessantly students could not eat the meal prepared by Soni. The next day when they came to know the news flashed in the media that the upper caste students were not eating the meal prepared by Soni they all went in the school and ate the meal to prove that no such discrimination on caste was prevalent among them.

The villagers were only demanding that the selection for the post of Bhojan Mata should be done according to the guidelines which stated that the women from the same village and that of a BPL family should be given preference but the Principal despite the school parent association recommendation appointed Soni whose husband was already working as a govt employee in another village. Thus he deprived deserving Bino Devi, who was not only poor but a widow too, of chance to get a job. Rawat further said the investigation conducted on the direction of the District Magistrate by the Nayab Tehsildar did not reveal any such division among students from the Dalit community and upper castes.

The real cause of the whole dispute was that Kannaujia was sitting on the money to be used for the school building and was neither allowing the construction of the school building, nor returning the money to the government. The parents had complaint about his activities earlier to in front of minister Khajan Das. The parents demanded the immediate transfer of the Principal. They also demanded an inquiry into the charges of corruption levelled against the Principal.

The parents warned that if the Principal was not shifted within a few days they would start a massive movement against him in the region.

When contacted, officials from district administration, Tehri, said the matter was being thoroughly investigated and if any such discrepancies were found then action would be initiated against the Principal.

Meanwhile, Kanaujia was not available for comments. The Nayab Tehsildar had stopped appointments of Bhojan Mata in the village to defuse the situation. President of the Pradhan Snagathan Atol Singh, Pradhan Govind Prasad Gaud, Rajendar Singh Gaud, Kanahaiyya Rana, Vinod Kumar, Rakesh Kumar, Virendar Prasad, Ranvir Singh Takarna, Pooran Singh and others were present.

Dehradun, July 22
The Society for Pollution and Environment Conservation Scientists (SPECS) organised an awareness programme on water and hygiene at Government Primary School, Indira Colony, here today.

Around 130 students and teachers participated in the programme. Headmistress Anuradha Sundriyal welcomed the guests and said water was life and hygiene made life beautiful and healthy. Senior journalist Prakash Dashmana stressed on the need of purity in water.

The students come from the slum area and that’s why these children should know about safe drinking water and hygiene in their life.

SPECS secretary Dr Sharma presented two water filters with the capacity of 30 litres to the school. The filters were sponsored by the Uttarakhand Council for Science and Technology (UCOST).

Dr Sharma gave students and teachers lessons on the use and maintenance of the filter. The school was overwhelmed after receiving these filters and thanked the SPECS. These filters are made by regional laboratory, Bhuvneshwar, in collaboration with the Institute of Mineral and Material Technology.

Dehradun, July 22
To celebrate the winning of Harish Virmani and his appointment as the city president of the Bhartiya Rashtirya Chhatra Sangathan, local wing of the Youth Congress, in association with the National Students Union of India (NSUI), paid a warm welcome to the party leader here today.

In a meeting held at the Congress Bhawan, Sangram Singh, president of the association, welcomed Virmani and congratulated him for his achievements.

While addressing the gathering, Virmani said, “I pay my gratitude to the people who elected me again and I hereby promise to be of great significance as far as the issues regarding the national importance are concerned”.

ABVP National Secretary Ravi Kumar (L) addresses mediapersons in Dehradun on Thursday.

Dehradun, July 22
To participate in the survey conducted by the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the local wing of the council paid a warm welcome to national party leader Ravi Kumar here today.

To welcome the national workers of the council, local AVBP members held a press conference at their city office located at Karanpur, where the guest was honoured while the process for executing the survey was also discussed.

While addressing the gathering, Kumar said, “The ABVP is proud to be the world’s largest student association and organising a national convention in the Capital will be of great significance, where issues of national importance will be discussed”. 

Dehradun, July 22
The Sunderwala Football Club defeated Akranta Football Club by a solitary goal in a keenly contested super league match of the Nemi Dass Memorial Football League played on the Pavilion Ground here today.

Both teams played attacking match, but except for raiding their rivals could not score. Subham with the help of a brilliant pass scored a goal in the 29th minute of the game to give his team lead in the match.

In the second half of the match, the Akranta Football Club mounted several attacks to level the scores, but could not succeed. It was in the dying minutes of the game that Subham was shown a yellow card, however, did not do much for the Akranta team looking for a penalty. 

Dehradun, July 22
It was a goalless match played between Garhwal Sporting and Cantt Blues in the District Football League on the Police Lines Ground here today.In the first match played between Garhwal Sporting and Cantt Blues, both teams failed to score any goal.

While in the second match played between Eleven Star and the Wills Youth Club, the former defeated the latter 3-1.

Dharam Singh emerged top scorer for the Eleven Star team scoring two goals in the 54th and 60th minutes in the second half of the match.

Satya Prakash scored the third gaol.

While the solitary goal was scored by Arpan for the Wills Youth Club in the 49th minute.

Pitthoragarh, July 22
Lakhs of devotees, most of them worshippers of Lord Shiva, are thronging the Jageshwar temple near Almora in the auspicious month of ‘Shrawan’.Jageshwar is the place from where the worship of Shiva in the form of lingam began in the Puranic era. “Devotees, whose number is expected to cross 4 lakh this year, will continue their journey till July 24. They not only come from India, but also from abroad as well,” said Shasthi Dutt Bhatt, chief priest of the Jageshwar temple.

According to the chief priest of the temple, the Jageshwar Dham is more than 2,000 years old and in the Puranic era, Lava and Kush, sons of Lord Rama began worshipping Lord Shiva here in the form of a lingam.

“The original temple was revived by the Katyur Kings of Uttarakhand in the 8th century and later, the Chand Kings of Kumaon revived the temple of Lord Jageshwar, who is also considered a form of Lord Shiva,” said Bhatt.

During the month of ‘Shrawan’, a large number of women devotees throng the temple aspiring that their wishes be fulfilled.

“It is believed that even secret wishes are fulfilled by Lord ‘Mahamritunjya’ who is the main deity at Jageshwar.

“After a wish gets realised, the devotee comes to Jageshwar and performs rituals during ‘Shrawan’. The ‘yagna agna’ in which mud statues of Lord Shiva are erected and worshipped is the main attraction,” said Bhatt.

According to archaeologist Dr Gyan Prakash Tiwari, the Jageshwar temple is the oldest place of worship of Lord Shiva in Uttarakhand, maybe just as ancient as the Kedarnath temple of Garhwal.

The cluster of 125 temples reflects various temple construction styles of the Gupta era in Indian history. “This temple complex was continually under construction from the 7th to the 16th century,” said Dr Tiwari, an expert in ancient archaeology of Uttarakhand.

He added that this temple complex is included among the 22 Jyotirlingams spread across the Indian subcontinent.

“It is oldest Jyotirlingam as the tradition of worshipping Shiva in the form of a lingam started here,” said Shasthi Dutt Bhatt, chief priest, Jageshwar.

Haridwar, July 22
After making the state government bow on the issue of recruitment of class III and IV posts in Uttarakhand, now state agitators are demanding 10 pc quota in state government posts.

Relating this as an act of neglect from the current state government towards statehood agitators, members of the Uttarakhand Rajya Andolankari Manch have sought an instant allocation of a specified quota for statehood agitators.

“This issue should be instantly tackled as statehood agitators played a pivotal role in making Uttarakhand a separate state out from Uttar Pradesh. The benefits that everyone, including the state government ruling party, is accruing is majorly due to our efforts,” said Mira Raturi, district chief of the women cell.

However, the state agitators have welcomed the step of the state government taking out the class III and IV posts bracket from the purview of the state Public Service Commission as it would have severely hurt the prospects of state applicants.

Terming the decision of the state government as one which will have long-term benefit for people of the newly carved state, manch state vice-president JP Pandey said it was a wise decision, though a bit late one.

Giving credit to the state agitationists who came to the streets to protest against the selling of the above-mentioned posts in the state, Pandey said, “It’s an irony that we have to come to the streets for our rights which we deserved owing to our birthplace and the adversity we suffered during the state movement,” said Pandey.

Among others who signed were Dr Amar Singh Ahtiyan, Vinod Dandriyal, Suresh Mamgain, Bhagwan Singh Uttarakhandi, Mahendra Aswal, Hukum Singh Rawat, Baisakh Singh Pawar, Sushma Dhasmana, Dhamman Singh Rawat, Pradeep Kukreti, Ram Lal Khanduri and Sadhna Nawani.