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Wildlife Week concludes
Dolphin Institute promotes green measures
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International Writers Festival
Thousands perform last shradh at Narayani Shilla
Aashirwad Scheme For Unemployed Youth
Landslide-hit Almora residents demand geological survey
Govt has 36 hectares to shift landslide-prone villages: Tamta
DAV Student Council Elections
International Writers Festival
Nigam generates record power
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Wildlife Week concludes
Dehradun,
October 7 He, however, admitted that any development work done without giving proper consideration for environmental conservation could have catastrophic results. He said contrary to the popular belief, there was no real conflict of interest between the development works and works aimed at environmental conservation. As development work executed without consideration for conservation of the environment would have destruction as its end result. Gupta praised the state forest authorities for organising a series of wildlife awareness activities across the state as part of Wildlife Week observation. “It is remarkable that over 25,000 persons, including a large number of schoolchildren, took part in the Wildlife Week celebrations in Uttarakhand,” he pointed out. Earlier, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Uttarakhand, Dr RBS Rawat said while 2011 had been announced International Year of Forests, the forest predominant Uttarakhand kept much of significance. He said the preparations were also afoot to celebrate the completion of 75 years of the Jim Corbett National Park. He said the Forest Department was also coming out with a calendar for 2011 that would display important information about the state’s flora and fauna. Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Dr Srikant Chandola informed of the activities undertaken by the Forest Department during the Wildlife Week. Senior retired forester AS Negi was also present on the occasion.
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Dolphin Institute promotes green measures
Dehradun, October 7 The institute has identified schools and colleges in the region to promote conservation of specific elements of wildlife significance, while aiming at adopting wildlife species typical of the Sal forests around with the support and cooperation of the Forest Department. During the awareness campaign, IFS Prachee Gangwar, former silviculturist, sal Region, Haldwani, expressed the need for developing an educational-cum-nature trail in the Sal forests typical of the region. To celebrate the wildlife week, an awareness drive was initiated through the active participation of the students of the Dolphin Institute, particularly of the Departments of Forestry and Biosciences, under the inspiration of Prof S Biswas. Chairman of the institute Arvind Gupta stressed upon the need to conserve wildlife in its natural habitat and raising awareness among the communities inhabiting the adjoining forests. He discouraged the students and the people from the use of products of the animal origin to avoid promoting hunting and trade. Principal of the institute Dr Shailaja Pant urged the need for raising awareness in the educational institutions on such issues of relevance at school level. Vice-Principal Dr Arun Kumar laid emphasis on practical orientation on different aspects of the wildlife studies. During one-week observation and celebration of wildlife, Prof S Biswas informed that the placards with brief information on the significance of the week and the wildlife, in particular, were placed at various vantage points in the campus to make the students and the staff to aware about the significance of the wildlife. The students were taken to sites which could be considered to be the haven of the wildlife and the genetic diversity of species, especially in the sal forest of different subtypes typical of the Doon valley. During the present Wildlife Week, a microhabitat of conservation value in the surrounding Sal forests of the Dolphin Institute was characterised and named “Vertical heaven of the forest flora” by students of the Department of Forestry. The microhabitat has emerged out of the sweeping off the ground flora of adjoining the sal forests due to soil erosion, soil compaction and forest fire, Professor Biswas informed.
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International Writers Festival
Mussoorie, October 7 The book, published by Westland Books, is based on the unsolved murder mysteries in the town, especially the infamous Dua Sisters’ murder that rocked the town. Thapliyal, in his fiction, has woven the facts, rumours and hearsay prevalent at that time. Thapliyal weaves the word with ease in which he sweeps the past with present. He read out excerpts from his latest book which will hit the stand in the next 15 days. The other writers who read out their works were Sheela Jaywant, who articulately read out her essay “Yearning for the Outdoors - a city dweller’s plight”, written in the form of verses. Another writer Anuradha Roy read out quotes from her book “Folded Earth” based on womenfolk of the Himalayas. Anuradha in her book has captured the essence of the mountains through the eyes of Maya. The author goes on to say that, “Hill people even if they are born in flatlands cannot be parted from Garry Weare read out from his book “A Summer Ramble in the Himalayas”. Garry explains through his book the conflict between development and needs of the natives living in the mountains. Paro Anand read out excerpts from her latest book “Pure Sequence” in which she captured the yearning of four old women. Vance Martin in his slide-show presentation called “Nature Needs Half… to Keep the Planet Whole”, highlighted the fact that the nature needs half and not just a few per cent. He also emphasised on the need of national parks and keeping those less crowded. Bittu Sahgal in “The Source” and Kate Harris in “Frame Means Forward: Exploring the Contours of Cold” divulged on the environmental challenges faced by the planet. The highlight of the evening was Kashmiri, Dogri and Punjabi songs from Harshi Anand. Harshi enchanted everyone and brought the audience to tears with the classic song “Abhi to main jawan hoon”. Harshi is close relative of famous actor of yesteryear Balraj Sahni.
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Thousands perform last shradh at Narayani Shilla
Haridwar, October 7 The Chauddas mela is also
organised on the occasion. There were serpentine queues stretching to the main road at Devpura which led to traffic jam from morning
till afternoon. Hundreds of thousands of people took a dip in the Ganga at Har-ki-Pauri, Brahamkund and other adjacent ghats. Since morning, the Ganga ghats were jam-packed with devotees and after taking bath, they went towards various temples for offering prayers. People in large numbers from other states too came to Haridwar to perform rituals of their forefathers at Narayani Shilla. On shillas (idols) at Lord Vishnu’s temple, known as Narayani Shilla, rituals were performed by people for the peace of their forefathers’ souls. According to priest at Narayani Shilla Pandit Manoj Tripathi, observing shradh rituals at Narayani Shilla has a great importance as here the souls of those people who had untimely death get peace. He added that Narayani Shilla had immense importance in offering of prayers to the departed souls as for those souls who were given shradh and tarpan here went to heaven.
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Katrina takes holy dip
Haridwar, October 7 Dressed in a white kurti-salwar, Katrina looked quite different from her “baby doll, western” image and was quite curious to know about the Ganga, city temples, mythology and the Maha Kumbh. Though she kept away from the media, with her visit being quite secret, yet it didn’t remain private. As she reached here late night, she got her wish of remaining aloof from fans as she has been shooting under the spot light in Dehradun for the past few days. Katrina evaded questions on her film career, Salman Khan and her duration in Uttarakhand. She only said this was her private, peace-searching visit, and so “please do cooperate with me”. When The Tribune asked her on her views on Uttarakhand, particularly Haridwar, Katrina’s face just glowed. She said Uttarakhand was a wonderful place having natural richness in abundance. She couldn’t attend the famous Har-ki-Pauri Ganga arti as she had reached quite late. But she decided to take a dip in the holy Ganga at the VIP ghat.
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Pant, Illinois varsities to jointly set up ‘Innovation, Education Centre’
Pantnagar, October 7 This was announced at a programme organised at Ratan Singh Auditorium of the university during the visit of a delegation from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), US. The delegation was here to renew its co-operation with the Pantnagar University. Welcoming the delegation, ice-Chancellor of
the University BS. Bisht termed it as a historic occasion to revisit the
glorious past, look into current programmes and find new areas of future collaboration. Dr Bisht, through his presentation, gave a brief history of the past co-operation of the two universities and the infrastructure as well as other facilities presently available in Pantnagar. He recalled that the University of Illinois had helped Uttar Pradesh in establishing Pantnagar University in the Tarai State Farm in 1960. “The faculty from Illinois University worked at the Pant varsity for many years in the beginning of its establishment. Because of this cooperation, Pantnagar University later became the harbinger of the Green Revolution in India. “It is now celebrating its Golden Jubilee Year. In this background the University of Illinois has once again desired to reestablish its ties with Pantnagar University,” he said. Chancellor and Provost of the University of Illinois Robert A Easter congratulated the university on its Golden Jubilee. He showed a film in which retired persons of Illinois University, who worked at Pantnagar in the early years of its establishment, while recalling past memories of their stay at Pantnagar, conveyed their best wishes for the university. Dr Easter said in two days his team would discuss with scientists at Pantnagar to find out specific areas of mutual cooperation for future. Dean, College of Agriculture, Commerce and Environmental Sciences of Illinois University, Robert Hauser gave a brief report about his college which will be the nodal college from his university for collaboration with Pantnagar. On the occasion, Dr Hauser and Dr SD Samantray, who is Professor and Head, Department of Computer Engineering, Pantnagar University, announced the establishment of “Innovation and Education Centre”. This centre will find out the modalities and areas for cooperation, like student/scientists exchange, human resource development, organisation of joint trainings and conferences, promotion and support for new innovation in education, research and extension etc. The major areas for cooperation in research include food science, food processing, soil sustainability, new agronomic practices, plant protection, agricultural engineering, environmental protection, micro-financing, seed development and others. Presiding over the function, Principal Advisor, Uttarakhand State Planning Commission, NS Napalchyal said the early cooperation between these two universities was a testimony of how two great institutions could bring about so much change. He said future cooperation must also include areas which were major challenges before Uttarakhand, such as soil and water conservation, climate change, organic farming, extension activities, food processing and incubation centre for students to prepare them to enter in practical production areas.
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KV teacher makes learning fun
Dehradun, October 7 Narendra Singh Bisht has deviated from the traditional method of taking attendance of students. He does not call out their names or their numbers. “The whole idea is to make children learn difficult terms and
concepts through play way method. Learning through fun always works better with children,” he said. Everyday, he gives the name of a country each to all his students and the next day, when he calls out a country’s name, the children reply in the affirmative by telling the capital. “This makes it very easy for them to remember that Paris is the capital of France, Washington DC is the capital of the United States of America and London is the capital of the United Kingdom. “I give the name of a country and ask them to come back with the name of the capital for the next day’s attendance. They labour hard at home and came back happy at having learnt something interesting,” he told The Tribune. The experiment seems to have gone down well with the students and they seem to be enjoying the exercise. Prakriti Rawat of Class IV-A is happy with her new name - the Netherlands. She is happy to reply ‘Amsterdam’ whenever she is addressed as the Netherlands. “We are now learning countries and their capitals by a new method,” she says proudly. In the process, Bisht has become immensely popular among tiny tots. After making the children learn capitals, he now intends to make them learn about currencies, chemicals and gases in a similar manner. This is perhaps the only experiment of its kind being carried out in Uttarakhand.
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Aashirwad Scheme For Unemployed Youth
Dehradun, October 7 In a unique partnership struck between the Uttarakhand government and private companies, such as Ashok Leyland, Godwin, Gaursons and Religare, these companies will not only train the local youth, but also employ them after successful culmination of the training. “The Chief Minister’s Aashirwad scheme has been designed to upgrade the skill of the local youth and during the period of their training, they will also be eligible for stipend. As of now, 400 local youth are already undergoing training at Ashok Leyland,” said Rajesh Naithani, advisor to the Chief Minister. Around 100 youth are employed at the Godwin Group of Hotels after three months of diploma course in house keeping and personality development. “We have also tied up with Gaursons and Mumbai-based Bansal group. Boys are being screened at Pauri, Tehri and other parts of the state,” said Arun Kuksal who is also part of the implementing team. Though a bit ambitious, the government is aiming to absorb around 5,000 youth in these private companies in the coming years. Scouting opportunities for tie-ups locally, the government has also roped in St Joseph School alumni so that they too can pick up local youth for employment. “Around 1,000 youth will be trained in different areas, such as bakery, share market, automobile repair, industry etc,” said Dr Naithani. Not only is the government hoping to increase economic conditions of rural youth, but urging industries to actively take up social initiative and contribute to local economy.
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Landslide-hit Almora residents demand geological survey
Pitthoragarh, October 7 “The cultural city of Almora needs a proper geological survey by highly skilled experts who should ascertain whether the town is worth living or not,” said Sobha Joshi, chairperson, Almora Nagar Panchayat. Not only does the Nagar Palika feel the needs to survey Almora town, which was established in 1665 by Kumaon Kings, but common citizens in Almora are also with the chairperson on this topic. “The landslide at Bari and Balta has proved that Almora town is unstable. The mode of the town’s future growth should be decided by a scientific method,” said Vittu Karnataka a local Congress leader. Dr HS Bisht, Professor of geography at Almora Campus College who fell victim to the recent rain fury, also feels the same. “All low-lying areas of Almora town have now become unsafe and need a detailed geological and geographical study,” he said. According to geologist Rajendra Shukla, the hilly terrains of Almora town have a tendency of sliding at every 50m and some areas
like Dugalkhola have become unsafe to live. “The main geological problem of Almora town is the lack of a drainage system for rain water. This causes water logging inside the soil. The soil gains weight and begins to slide,” said Shukla, the state geologist who is surveying disaster-hit areas in Almora. According to the geologist, the rocks of Almora hill are solid and strong, but due to the unplanned expansion of the town, these are gradually locking water in the soil. “Three things need to be
done. First, strict town planning on the lines of Nainital, Mussoorie and Haridwar needs to be adopted in Almora. Only 65 per cent
area out of the total available should be used for constructing houses. Thirdly, a proper water drainage system needs to be set up in the town.
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Govt has 36 hectares to shift landslide-prone villages: Tamta
Pitthoragarh, October 7 Talking to mediapersons here today, Pradeep Tamta said that the recent calamity in the state not only damaged houses, but also standing crops and cultivable land. “The valley areas of the state, which produce much of the state’s cereals, witnessed not only losses to standing crops, but also to the cultivable land that was washed away by rivers,” said Pradeep Tamta. He added that the farmers, who produced surplus grain every year, have to now go without food. The MP from Almora-Pitthoragarh constituency said that the Uttarakhand government in its hurry to take maximum political gain out of the crisis has forgotten that it has land in its possession to settle the calamity affected. “Residents of Qurie-Jimia can be settled on 18 hectares available with the Horticulture Department near Dharchula town while the victims of Almora can be settled at the same measure of land with the Horticulture Department lying idle at the Gururabang area of Almora district,” said Tamta. Tamta said that the Union government has standard procedures for giving relief during disasters, but every state government has its own disaster mitigation and relief and rehabilitation policy. “The Uttarakhand government seems to be the only government which wants to obtain maximum money from the Centre instead of utilising its own resources for this crisis which comes every year in the state.”
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Sai Group of Institutes hold freshers’ day
Dehradun, October 7 The first session comprised freshers from the diverse streams of physiotherapy, business administration, microbiology, biotechnology and mass communication while the second session
was reserved for old students who performed with aplomb and a definite “seniors” airs and grace. There was creativity, verve and practice on display for the solo dance, group dance, skit and singing competitions. Outstanding performers included Bhavna Wangoo, MSc Biotech, Ritu Rana, BA mass communication, Tina Khaitan, MPT and Jaiveer Tyagi. Chairperson Harish Arora welcomed the new batches of students and said he was very happy to include them in the SGI family. “It is indeed a pleasure to see the focused energy on display here and the enthusiasm of those who are looking forward to laying a foundation for their career with us. The world is changing fast and I will request all of you to prepare yourself in earnest to take your place in the global arena with skills, knowledge and most importantly, the right attitude,” he added. Coordinating the performances were Azhar Salim, Jaiveer
Tyagi, Vinay Bhatt, Neena Pandit, Raees Ahmed and Shiv Prasad. The guests present at the
event were Dean of life sciences Dr VD Sharma and Principal Dr Sandhya Dogra.
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DAV Student Council Elections
Dehradun, October 7 It is learnt that confusion among students as well as the college administration is the main cause of the delay in announcing the date of re-polling. DAV is now looking forward to consult the high-powered committee of HNB Garhwal University about the recommendations laid by the Lyngdoh Committee for conducting election in case of resignation from the post by any elected member of the student council. Though the varsity has opposed the guidelines of re-election for the college student council, Lyngdoh has given full-fledged rights to colleges of scheduling polling again in the case of the death of a council member, voluntary resignation from the post or if found guilty of violating any rules. “There are speculations and apprehension related to the re-polling procedure at the college. To seek clear assistance about the issues raised, the college management will consult the high-powered committee of the varsity and thoroughly go through the recommendations of Lyngdoh. After that a college election committee will be constituted,” said BL Nautiyal, Principal, DAV College. Students, specially those who will now contest elections for the vacant posts, are worried with the struggle of finalising the elections again. However, two years earlier, DBS PG College had also conducted re-election due to similar situation, where assistance on the matter was taken by the varsity. But the final decision was of the Principal who took the charge of conducting the elections again for the vacant posts.
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Pradip, Shanti bag top honours
Dehradun, October 7 In long jump men’s final, Pradip of Dehradun was first, Lalit Rawat of Nainital was second and Devanand from Almora was declared third. In 4x400m women’s final, Rekha, Poonam, Renu and Nutan from Haridwar were first, Luxi Tiwari, Sonika, Saroj Joshi and Sunita Negi from 31st Vahini PAC were second and Meenu, Sarita, Sharmila and Seema Ramola of 40th Vahini PAC came third. In discus throw women’s final, Shanti Bisht from Pitthoragarh, Anita Garola from the 31st Vahini PAC and Vinita from 40th Vahini PAC bagged the first, second and third positions respectively. In the 5000m women’s final, Saroj Joshi from 31st Vahini PAC came first, Bhavna Joshi from Dehradun second and Vidhya Mehta from Pauri Garhwal came third. In discus throw (men), Naeem Ahmad from
Tehri Garhwal, Sanjay Kumar from Dehradun and Sher Singh Negi from Nainital got first, second and third positions respectively. In the 400m women’s final, Shakuntala from Udham Singh Nagar came first, Poonam Bhatt from Haridwar second and Hemlata from 40th Vahini PAC came third. In the 400m men’s final, Mahesh Puri from Dehradun was declared first, Lalit Rawat from Nainital second and Uttam Singh from RRB was third. In high jump women’s final, Sonika from 31st Vahini PAC bagged the first position, while Anuradha from Naintal was second and Gayatri Karki from Pitthoragarh third. In the 3000m hurdle race men’s final, Narender Singh from IRB was declared first, Virender Gole from Almora as second and Jitender Giri from Udham Singh Nagar came third. In hammer throw men’s final, Shiv Kumar from Haridwar, Gurjit Singh from Nainital and Sher Singh from Nainital came first, second and third respectively. In 400m hurdle race men’s final, Sumit Kumar from Nainital, Naresh Nath from Nainital and Neeraj Joshi from Udham Singh Nagar came first, second and third respectively.
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Another day of successful chases
Dehradun, October 7 In the first match, Guru Nanak Academy won the toss and elected to field against St Jude’s School. In the first innings, St Jude’s scored 33 runs at the loss of four wickets. In reply, Guru Nanak Academy scored 40 runs for four wickets in their first innings. In the second innings, St Jude’s School scored 30 runs for seven wickets. Guru Nanak Academy scored the required 24 runs at the loss of two wickets and won the match by five wickets. Ravinder of Guru Nanak Academy was adjudged the best player with a total of 15 runs. In the second match, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy won the toss against Heritage School and elected to bat. They scored 21 runs at the loss of six wickets. In reply, Heritage School scored 33 runs for the loss of seven wickets. In the second innings, Raja Ram Mohan Roy School scored 23 runs for the loss of three wickets. Heritage School scored the 15 required runs losing only two wickets. Aditya
of Heritage School was adjudged the best player.
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Welham Girls win singles title
Dehradun, October 7 In the team event, Anusha of Welham Girls School defeated Vatsala of Doon Blossoms School 3-0 in the first match. In the second match, Saumya of Welham Girls’ trounced Raksha of Doon Blossoms School 3-0. In the third match, Saumya Talwar of Welham
Girls won her match against Manika of Doon Blossoms 3-0. In the final of the singles, Anusha of Welhams Girls defeated Manika of Doon Blossoms School 3-0 to lift the trophy.
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International Writers Festival
Mussoorie, October 7 Harshi, speaking to The Tribune, said she still felt young at heart, but sometimes the feeling entered that physically she was old. She said she fell in love with the song “Abhi to main jawan hoon” while she was child. They had a record of Mallika Pukhraj at home which she liked immensely and sang frequently and that was how she was associated with the song. Harshi was six years old when she used to sing, along with her friend Usha, on the streets of Rawalpindi - “Ek bangla bane nyara...” being a favourite. There was a Sardar family driver who was a great admirer and would spend endless hours listening to them. From then, encouraged by her school teacher, Harshi would sing at all school functions. Once Agaye Vatsayan heard her and was impressed. In 1946, the IPTA movement was starting and on the train to Bombay, Harshi sang revolutionary songs of lyricists Prem Dhawan and Shailendra. She was taken into the singing squad of IPTA where she became the main singer. Back in Srinagar, she became the first girl to sing on Radio Kashmir. The Maharaja himself had left by then, but one of the court singers, Jhandoo
Khan Sahib, took her under his wing and taught her Pahari songs. As a young bride in Calcutta, she took to Rabindra Sangeet. Harshi Anand has always sung for friends and family, her signature song, “Abhi to main jawan hoon” reflects her
attitude to life.
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Nigam generates record power
Dehradun, October 7 Managing Director, UJVNL, RP Thapliyal said 2010-11 was proving to be a significant year in terms of power production. The Nigam made some whopping production of 557.628 MU in July with its big and medium projects. He also informed that in 2010-11, the UJVNL had already achieved 2,796 MU as against the target of 2,888 MU for the whole year, that too when the hydro-electric projects had to be closed down for long intervals due to deposition of silt, weed and flood condition. He gave credit of the good production to the officials and employees of the Nigam.
— TNS
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