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Third Great Himalayan Bird Count begins
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Birders have a tricky job at hand
Bhawali-Almora road opened, but not fit to travel
DAV College students gherao Principal office
Students of DAV PG College gherao their Principal in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
DBS College gets IGNOU affiliation
Shooting of ‘Kaun Banega Gyan Samrat’ begins
Students participate in the audition of ‘Kaun Banega Gyan Samrat’ in Haridwar on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
ICFAI holds seminar on relevance of law
Thomso 2010 begins today at IIT-R
Shrey, Nishtha bring laurels
Shrey Painuli and Nishtha Painuli who have won positions in the Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge Competition held in Bangkok recently.
RRMR Academy, Hilton School enter b’ball semis
A match of the AC Dev Memorial Basketball Championship under way in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Gaurav fashions Jaswant Modern School win
Players vie for the ball in a match of the ONGC Ram Bahadur Chetri Memorial Inter-School Football Tournament in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
U-19 women cricketers hailed
Three Dehradun women cricketers who have been selected for the under-19 cricket team of Punjab. A Tribune photograph
A match of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Memorial Twenty20 Cricket Tournament being played at the Matawala Bagh in Dehradun on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph
Host Haridwar win BHEL shooting ball tourney
The team of the Haridwar unit with the Shooting Ball Inter-BHEL Championship trophy in Haridwar on Wednesday. Tribune photo: Rameshwar Gaur
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Third Great Himalayan Bird Count begins
Dehradun, October 27 Flagging off the ARCH-initiated third Great Himalayan Bird Count in Dehradun, Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Dr RBS Rawat said taking into account ARCH’s birding activity in Uttarakhand and its forays into avi-fauna activities, the Uttarakhand Forest Department had decided to come with an MoU with ARCH. He said the state Forest Department was providing all logistic support to the participants at the bird count. The PCCF reminded the participants that they would be staying in some historical rest houses in the country. While interacting with participants, Dr Rawat asked them to pen their memoirs which, he said, could be compiled later in the form of a book. He asked participants to interact with locals to know more about Uttarakhand’s culture and its people. Chief Conservator of Forests (Administration) Rakesh Shah recalled the rich variety of avi-fauna in Uttarakhand. He said the Uttarakhand Forest Department had been promoting wildlife conservation activities in the state in a big way. Conservator of Forests (Headquarters) SM Joshi also appreciated ARCH’s efforts in encouraging birding in the state. ARCH Founder Trustee Prateek Panwar said people’s response to the Himalayan Bird Count had been growing phenomenally. He said the participants in the ongoing third Great Himalayan Bird Count had come even from the United States, Singapore and Dubai. “Birders from across the country are taking great interest in bird-watching activity in Uttarakhand and the response has been growing with each passing day,” Panwar pointed out. This year, a total of 112 participants from across the country and a few from abroad are taking part in the birding activity. A total of 16 groups have been formed that will be undertaking 36 different treks of around 10 km each covering trekking trails situated in the valleys of Tons, Yamuna, Bhagirathi, Bhilangna, Mandakini, Ganga and Alaknanda rivers in Garhwal. The count will conclude on October 30 and the baseline data on birds so generated will put be up in the form of a compilation.
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In four days, 112 participants in 16 groups will undertake 36 different treks in Garhwal
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Forest Dept may sign an MoU with ARCH to promote birding activity
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Birders have a tricky job at hand
Dehradun, October 27 Bird count is broadly divided into elementary, index and absolute categories. While elementary count limits itself to just the identification of species, the index one caters to the level of abundance. The absolute count, that is considered the most fool-proof, is used by scientists engaged in bird study and is most close to numbers. However, the absolute count, which involves greater effort levels, is practiced only by researchers and scientists. It entails point transect and line transect samples which finally lead to the ultimate number of a particular species of birds in a particular area. Wildlife Institute of India scientist Dhananjaya Mohan, however, attributes the success of any bird count to the ability of the personnel engaged in the count. “It is all important, particularly in case of a bird count, that the observers involved in the count have good identification skills and are inept in the count methodology or else a count could end up in compilation of poor quality data,” Mohan said. Another method in practice in avi-fauna census is spot-mapping, but that is used only to identify singing territorial male birds. This method has its limitation and can be practiced only during the breeding season. The encounter rate system is also used, but that is for bigger bird species like peacock. Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola admitted that one cannot be fool proof in terms of numbers in case of avian fauna due to the high mobility of birds. He acknowledged that most bird counts being done these days could more appropriately be called as an estimate than a census until and unless conducted under the guidance of experts. He said a flock of a particular species of birds at a particular bush could best be estimated rather than individually counted. Interestingly, among the oldest bird counts of Uttarakhand is the Asan wetland bird count of Dehradun. The bird count in Asan is held every winter to assess the total number of arriving migratory birds to this wetland that has a conservation reserve status. As of methodology, the forest guards here are deployed at the wetland on a particular day and then, the count of birds is done through spotting. This is practised once a week for the entire winter season and an average figure for every bird species is arrived at finally. This counting has been the basis to decipher the increase or decrease in number of arriving migratory birds to the Asan wetland. Techniques n Elementary count Just identifies the species n Index count Ascertains level of abundance n Absolute count Most foolproof; done by scientists engaged in bird study n Spot mapping Identifies singing territorial male birds during the breeding season n Encounter rate system Only for big bird species like peacock
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Bhawali-Almora road opened, but not fit to travel
Almora, October 27 Large stretches of road, particularly between Chara and Kwarab, had been devastated in the recent rain-related disaster that had struck the area in the latter half of September. The road between Chara and Almora had remained closed for more than a month and people wanting to go to Almora were travelling via Ranikhet covering an additional 47 km in the process. The administration opened the road last week. A ride by this correspondent up to Almora on a motorcycle was nothing less than a nightmare. The journey on the track, particularly between Chara and Kwarab, is full of life-threatening dangers. There are several stretches where mud has settled down and the oozing water from the hillsides has made these stretches slippery and dangerous. The half of the road towards the Kosi river is either broken or has sunk. No driver knows where he would encounter a ditch, a stretch of badly broken road or a stretch still having boulders covering a section of the road. To cap it all, even buses are now plying on this stretch. Throughout the journey, one does not come across a single facility that could provide first aid in the event of some emergency. No security personnel was seen on the stretch. With proper mobile connectivity still eluding large parts, there is no way a person can even make a distress call. Mona Sen from West Bengal, who was travelling on this route in a taxi, told The Tribune, “We were told by taxi operators that the road was open. Hence we decided to undertake the journey. The administration should have taken more time, but provided a safe route”. Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary, All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), who had come to Almora for a meeting, said, “One can imagine the plight of ailing people, particularly women, if they have to be transported by such a road.” Officials, on the other hand, pointed out that the top priority of the administration was to open the road as it is the arterial road that leads right up to international borders. It is also being pointed that the first thing on the mind was to get hundreds of vehicles that had been stuck in the middle of the broken stretches out from there. They said that the repair works are now to be undertaken as the agencies involved like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Public Works Department (PWD) have worked out the basics. Persons, particularly those coming on their personal vehicles, are still being advised to take the route via Ranikhet.
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DAV College students gherao Principal office
Dehradun, October 27 When Principal BL Nautiyal did not agree to the demand of the students during the gherao, they locked up his office threatening to stage protest against the college management followed by hunger strike. It is relevant to mention that two of the student council posts are vacant now. Two of the elected members have been withdrawn from the posts for producing bogus certificates in the college. Meanwhile, under the leadership of Anshul Chawla, president of student council, the Principal surveyed the entire college to recognise the problems of the students and to check the strength of students coming to each and every class.
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DBS College gets IGNOU affiliation
Dehradun, October 27 The college is introducing diploma as well as PG diploma courses in disaster management, environment, tourism and rural development while various certificate programmes on disaster management, tourism, rural development, laboratory technique and functional English. “The college has given charge to Dr Pratyush Vatsala, Associate Professor, English Department, as a coordinating head of the IGNOU Study Centre. Desiring candidates can soon apply for the course as the last day for submitting the admission forms on November 30,” said Dr OP Kulshreshtha, Principal the college.
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Shooting of ‘Kaun Banega Gyan Samrat’ begins
Haridwar, October 27 Haridwar is among the 80 selected cities from the whole country from where school-level participants are taking part in this reality show. Prior to the shooting of the episode, a written examination was conducted through which 80 participants for the Haridwar phase of the show were selected. The shooting which began at city Municipality Town Hall will be featuring 10 episodes in all from Haridwar round and the venue is already getting crowds in large numbers to see the young students showcasing their knowledge skills. Speaking to The Tribune, show’s host Shambhu Nath Pandey said the objective of the show was to inculcate cultural and traditional values among children so that the younger generation got acquainted of our vast traditions, civilisation and cultural history. Of the 80 participants, 10 will find place in the final.
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ICFAI holds seminar on relevance of law
Dehradun, October 27 The session started with the welcome address by Dr B Kumar, Director, Faculty of Law, who introduced the guest speaker and updated the audience with his numerous achievements and contribution in the field of law. Bhasin expressed that coming to the university and talking to the budding lawyers was a matter of pride for him. He further stated that institutions of education were temples of learning and excellence. He further stated that lawyers had legal, moral as well as social responsibilities. He advised all prospective lawyers to study a variety of literature and widen their horizon in gaining all round knowledge which would immensely help them in becoming complete human beings and good citizens of the country. In his address he said the lawyers played an important part in every walk of life in the society. He also explained that in India, we have now a large number of competent young lawyers who were heading some famous law firms. Dr GP Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor, ICFAI university, thanked Bhasin for his valuable talk on the subject and exhorted the students of law not only to emulate the words of wisdom given by him, but also pass on these to other students of other faculties since these are relevant to each and everyone. The event was coordinated by Monica Kharola and vote of thanks given by Randhir Singh.
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Thomso 2010 begins today at IIT-R
Dehradun, October 27 “Thomso 2010 comes with a difference as since 1982 we have been having professionals performing live for us, but this time it’s only students who are going to rock the stage,” said Tanmay, adding that this had been done as the college administration wanted to encourage college students to portray their talent. An entertaining array of events is lined up to exhibit the talent of budding engineers. A fashion parade is also in the offing that will give the students a chance to walk on the ramp. “To ensure quality participation we have limited our registration to 1,000 only. So far, we have got 750 registrations and expecting 250 more by tomorrow evening”, said Tanmay. Prize money is also the main attraction this year as it has been doubled making it to Rs 4 lakh. IIT students were seen busy the whole day welcoming their friends from distant areas and getting to know one another. Angad Singh from NIIT, Jalandhar, was all excited on arriving with his team. He said it was great performing outside one’s own institute as it brought confidence and satisfaction. Out-station students are excited about attending the ethical hacking and information security workshop as the IIT, Roorkee, caters with technical expertise in this field. “It will be an opportunity for many students to learn something apart from usual technical stuff and acquire a deep insight of learning the ropes on various technical and coding aspects of hacking,” said Manjushah Rai, who is also represents Radha Govind Engineering College, Meerut, in the Footloose show. Students also look forward to attend many such workshops under the banner of Thomso. IIT, Roorkee, will also hold a workshop on robotics and mobibotics which is based on mobile-controlled robots. The motive behind this workshop is to develop an interest among upcoming engineers by imparting knowledge of all robotics and introducing them to the needs of the current automation sector. Both workshops are scheduled from October 28 to 30.
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Shrey, Nishtha bring laurels
Dehradun, October 27 Six players from India took part in individual events out of them the two siblings, who were the only ones from Uttarakhand to participate in this championship, won the positions, said Pankaj Bhardwaj, secretary of the Ice Skating Association of Uttarakhand, in a press conference. “The girls’ category was tougher than the boys that is why Nishtha had to settle for the fifth place, but we are happy as her brother also bagged the bronze medal. They were the only ones among the participants from India who got positions,” Bhardwaj informed. As per the association, in this three-day Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge Competition about 70 players contested from 10 countries contested in 15 different events. This is for the first time that the state got the fame in the international skating event under the banner of the Ice Skating Association of Uttarakhand, which is affiliated from the Olympic Association of India. The two were recently honoured by Governor Margaret Alva, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and other state dignitaries for crossing the highest motorable mountain pass of Khardung La on in-line skates.
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RRMR Academy, Hilton School enter b’ball semis
Dehradun, October 27 Host RRMR Academy will battle it out with Hilton School and Pestle Weed College will face Doon International School in semi-finals. While today in quarterfinals, Pestle Weed College thrashed Selaqui International School 33-11 to enter the semi-finals. Pestle Weed won the four quarters- 7-5, 10-2, 10-1, 6-3. Saurabh scored highest with eight points for the winning team while Manu scored four points for the rival team. In another quarterfinals, Hilton School beat Heritage School 40-21. The winning team won the first and second quarters 9-5, 9-4, respectively. While lost narrowly in the third quarter 5-6, however, it strongly struck back in the fourth quarter 17-6. Shivam Solanki (14 points) shone in the win of Hilton and Shubham (10 points) put in his first effort in the fight of Heritage.
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Gaurav fashions Jaswant Modern School win
Dehradun, October 27 The match remained highly competitive throughout the play. The first half of the match went goalless with both sides failing to score any goal. Rawat (37th minute) of Jaswant School ended the drought in the second half. The rival team couldn’t retaliate later on and suffered a narrow lose in this tough encounter. In the second match played today, KV, IMA, defeated the SGRR Mission-B team 3-1. Jitender (50th, 60th) and Saurabh (57th) were the scorers in the win of KV, IMA. Rahul Thapa (fourth) was the lone scorer for SGRR that lost the game after a good start. Meanwhile, KV, FRI, will face Doon Valley Public School and St Joseph Academy will meet Manav Bharti, Mussoorrie, in the tomorrow’s scheduled matches.
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U-19 women cricketers hailed
Dehradun, October 27 Sneh Rana, Nilam Bisht and Pooja Bamrada appeared in the senior Punjab cricket team trials and all were selected for the camp. “This is a proud moment for me but if our state gets affiliation from the BCCI, I would like to play from my state,” said Sneh who has also been named as vice-captain of the team. She said they had no option but to play from the other state in the absence of the BCCI affiliation. Sneh representing under-19 Punjab cricket team played against Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and gave a good all-round performance. Sneh is an opening batsman and off-spinner and has played major role in some of the wins of her team. The players were offered rosary of flowers and sweets were also distributed. Other players also danced to dhol. President Narender Shah and secretary Kiran congratulated the players.
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NICS get better of Satyam
Dehradun, October 27 Satyam, batting first, set a target of 91 losing its all wickets in 19 overs. Vijay was the highest scorer with 29 runs. Pawan of NICS bowled superbly getting two wickets in three overs giving away 14 overs. While replying, NICS easily achieved the target of 92 runs at the loss of three wickets. Sumit led the team to the win with his knock of 25 runs.
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Host Haridwar win BHEL shooting ball tourney
Haridwar, October 27 In the final, the Haridwar team thrashed the Bhopal team by a margin of 2-0 replicating the same score by which they won the league rounds. Seven teams participated in the championship which was held at the BHEL Sector-1 Stadium. Executive Manager of BHEL DK Mody presented the trophy and urged the participants as well as people to have discipline and leadership qualities in their day-to-day life which sports amply displayed. Athletics meet begins The 8th Inter District Junior Athletics Meet, under the aegis of the Athletic Federation of India, started amidst a beautiful cultural opening ceremony at the BHEL Sports Club here today. The national-level meet is being participated by 175 districts of 21 states with a whopping 2,527 athletes taking part in the meet. Various athletics events will be organised in the three-day meet. Federation Director SM Dogra said the meet would be seeing national-level referees and officials. Chairman of the technical committee Dr Kripal Singh, joint secretary CK Wilson, BHEL sports club managers Sunny Joshwa, KS Bhandari, Inder Mohan Barthwal among others were present in event. In under-16 girls 800 metre, Preenu Yadav, Lucknow won gold medal, Rishu Singh, Nashik, bagged silver and Dimple Singh Kushi Nagar won bronze. In under-14 Boys 800 metre Nishu Kumar, Dehradun, won gold medal, Surendar, Mahendar Garh, got silver and Umesh Chand, Gautam Buddh Nagar bagged bronze. While in u-14 girls 800 m, Shiva Shakya, Lucknow, bagged the gold medal followed by Sudehsna Rajpur from Nashik and Jagnandani from Bhatinda clinching silver and bronze medals, respectively. Similarly, in u-14 boys category Pune’s Mandeep won the gold medal with Haridwar’s Suresh Kumar bagging silver and again Pune’s Rakesh Sharma sharing the podium with a bronze medal.
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Uttarakhand forest authorities have expressed their willingness to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Action and Research For Conservation in Himalayas (ARCH) for promotion of birding activity in the state.
Flagging off the ARCH-initiated third Great Himalayan Bird Count in Dehradun,
Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Dr RBS Rawat said
taking into account ARCH’s birding activity in Uttarakhand and its forays into
avi-fauna activities, the Uttarakhand Forest Department had decided to come with
an MoU with ARCH.
Demanding the conduct of re-election for the two vacant posts of the college student council, members of the independent parties at DAV PG College gheraod the Principal office here today.
The shooting of the religious-cultural knowledge-based reality show, “Kaun Banega Gyan Samrat”, commenced with an overwhelming participation by students. With a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for the winner of the final episode, which will be filmed in Mumbai, this question-answer format-based show seems to be already a hit among the participants as it tests their knowledge to the hilt.
ICFAI University held a seminar on the relevance of law here today. The talk on the subject was given by Lalit
Bhasin, who is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and a recipient of the Indira Gandhi National Unity Award (1990).
Brother and sister duo of Shrey Painuli and Nishtha Painuli made the country and the state proud getting third and fifth positions in the boys and the girls’ categories, respectively, during the Asian Junior Figure Skating Challenge Competition that held at Imperial World Skating Centre Bangkok in Thailand from October 22 to 24.
Semi-finals of the AC Dev Memorial Basketball Championship for senior boys will be held at Raja Ram Mohan Roy
(RRMR) Academy, Clement Town, here tomorrow.
Gaurav Rawat’s one-goal effort did the trick for Jaswant Modern School that edged past North Point Children’s Academy 1-0 in a knock-out encounter during the ONGC Ram Bahadur Chetri Memorial Inter-School Football Tournament here today.
Dehradun, October 27
In front of a jam-packed stadium, last year’s runners-up Haridwar team took sporting revenge by winning against the last year’s champion Bhopal team in a thrilling final of the Shooting Ball Inter-BHEL Championship here today.