Nainital, October 29
The first stage of the installation of a state-of-the-art 130 cm diameter optical telescope of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) has been completed at Devasthal.

According to project manager and scientist of ARIES Dr Amitesh Omar, “The initial results are better than expected. The images obtained from the telescope have proven that Devasthal is not only the best site in the country, but is on a par with the major international sites for optical astronomy. The initial resolving power of the telescope is already so good that it can identify a car at 200 km distance or a multi-story building at a distance of 9,000 km. In comparison to human eyes, this telescope can see stars which are 60 lakh times fainter”.

The telescope is so powerful that it can gather candlelight at a distance of 2,500 km and detect it easily. This telescope is a good example of precise structural engineering most suitable for observations of stellar objects. It is equipped with parts from aviation and spacecraft technologies. It is capable of learning and self-correcting its mechanical problems. It keeps the time with an accuracy of 1/1,000th of a second.

Dr Omar said the site selection for optical telescope was much more important than the size of the telescope. The airflow and turbulence in earth atmosphere prevented it from obtaining very good stellar images of the sky from everywhere. The geographical location of Devasthal peak was such that it had laminar airflow and minimum turbulence above it making it one of the best sites in the world for doing optical astronomy.

Director of ARIES Prof Ram Sagar said the importance of the Devasthal site was already inferred by ARIES scientists more than 10 years back. Now those results had been proven. He thanked the local people, their representatives and public officers of the Devasthal region for their support in making installation successful and hoped that this support would continue to make Devasthal an internationally recognised site for optical astronomy. In future, a 360 cm telescope would be installed by the 2012 at Devasthal. The project board meeting is going on in the institute where directions for future will be charted out.

This telescope will be used for observations of star formation, galaxy formation and some of the events leading to destruction of stars such as supernova and gamma ray bursts. The telescope will also be used for study of other mysterious objects like black holes in the universe. It will also be used for teaching astronomy. In the next month, a live telecast of the telescope and various objects seen through the telescope will be made using Internet for the schoolchildren in Bangalore. In the second stage of the installation, high efficiency cameras will be used and telescope will become one of the most powerful telescopes in the country for optical astronomy. The installation team includes Dr Amitesh, Dr Brijesh Kumar, Jay Shreekar Pant, Tarun bangia, Shobhit Yadav, Ian Huss, Richard Neel and Mark Kelly. The scientists claim that the rarified atmosphere available at Devsthal makes this site competitive with the best international sites located in Chile and La Palma.

Dehradun, October 29
In the backdrop of cases of tiger territory struggle at the tiger-famous Corbett Park, the Tiger Conservation Coordination Committee of the National Tiger Conservation Authority has sought inclusion of the Lansdowne forest division in the park.

Bijendra Singh headed the Tiger Conservation Coordination Committee that met Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank at here today asked the state authorities for ensuring inclusion of Lansdowne forest division into Corbett. The panel described Corbett Lansdowne Corridor as vital link for support of the tiger population in the region.

Over the issue of the Kandi road linking Kotdwar to Ramangar via Corbett that was raised by the Chief Minister, the panel said since the matter was sub judice, alternatives could be looked into even while laying emphasis that such a road should be at a distance from the protected areas and not detrimental to the region’s wildlife.

“The Chief Minster did request us for the Corbett road linking Kotdwar to Ramnagar. We definitely understand the concern of the road. But, as the matter was with the apex court, we can only look at alternatives and a survey to find the road outside the protected area can be explored,” Singh pointed out.

The panel, which also has Dr Rajesh Gopal as its member, also, in particular, raised the issue of welfare of staff working in Corbett. He called for better service conditions for the staff apart from catering to its salary linked needs. The issue of the Tiger Protection Force at Corbett also came up for discussion with both sides deliberating on its modalities. Singh, however, also expressed satisfaction over the tiger population in Corbett stating that the tigers were doing well in Corbett.

Uttarakhand Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola and Additional Secretary (Forests) Sushant Patnaik were also present at the meeting. The panel members will be in Corbett tomorrow to take on the ground assessment of this high tiger density area of the country. Besides Uttarakhand, the committee is also slated to visit tiger range states of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa to assess the condition of tigers in these states. 

Dehradun, October 29
The Special Task Force (STF) today arrested a Tyuni resident and seized a skin of a leopard and another of a leopard cat from his possession.Acting on a tip-off, in a joint operation undertaken by the Special Task Force and the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) confronted a man at Ballupur, who was coming from Tyuni to Dehradun for selling skins of a leopard and a leopard cat.

The cops, who were already deployed there, caught hold of the man as he got down from a bus. The arrested was identified as Jayendra Singh Rana, resident of Chousal Tyuni village, Dehradun. The WPSI sources said the skins were supplied by poachers who had killed the felines in the Tyuni area of Chakrata.

Meanwhile, a case under Section 179/10 and 39/51 of the Wildlife Act has been registered at the Cantt police station.

According to WPSI Uttarakhand member Rajendra Agarwal, a total of 25 leopard skins recovered in the state were from felines poached in the Chakrata region which proves that the poaching of wild animals were going rampant in the Chakrata hills. 

Pitthoragarh, October 29
The two ancient mask dances of the state, Ramman from Garhwal and Hiljatra from Pitthoragarh in Kumaon, have been included for the first time in the category of mask tradition of India by the Indra Gandhi National Centre for Arts in one-month festival of masks, puppets and picture showmen tradition of India which began on October 20 in New Delhi.

A Hilljatra dance (right) and a Ramman dance being performed in Chamoli district.

Dehradun, October 29
The management students of ICFAI University had a one-to-one interaction during a lecture session on marketing myths with Vikas Gupta, co-founder of 9.9 Mediaworx Private Limited, one of India's fastest growing diversified media companies. Prior to this, Gupta was a president (Advertising Sales) in ABP Group, the leading media group of East India.

He was the senior vice-president and head of marketing at Coca Cola India. He also worked as global director for brand Coco Cola in Atlanta, USA.

The speaker discussed about various marketing myths which were an eye-opener to the passing out batch of MBA students. He put to rest certain obvious misconceptions which a consumer carries in his mind. He analysed some marketing strategies of renowned cooperates. The talk was most captivating laced with numerous examples drawn out of his 24 years of illustrious career in the field of marketing.

Also, present on the occasion were Dr GP Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor, ICFAI University, Prof PK Dash, Registrar, IUD, Brig ML Sabharwal (retd), Prof VN Saxena, along with other Deans and faculty members of the university. The guest was introduced by Roli Yadav and Ayush Sharma to the students of MBA programme. 

Dehradun, October 29
Delhi Public School (DPS) today organised a Halloween fancy dress party for its tiny tots. The children came dressed in their Halloween costumes, displaying immense creativity in the attires worn by them. There were friendly witches with a broom, Spiderman, Goblin, Casper, fairies and clowns, etc.

The party proceeded with a freeze dance, musical corners and open floor dance. The most sought-after activity was fun corner games, pin the nose on the witch, stem on the pumpkin and tail the cat, etc.

Dehradun, October 29
It was a day of fun and frolic at The Asian School, as the students celebrated its 11th founder’s day, here today. A large number of students participated in the sports meet with great gusto and fervour.

The day began with the parents-teachers meeting in the morning, where interactive session with boarder parents was held. Following it was the commencement of the sports meet. Tiny tots showcased their talent through animal parade, boogie-woogie drill, which was much enjoyed by guests while the junior students presented musical drill and dumbbell exercise with finesse. The most interesting part of the meet was the tug of war held between parents and teachers. Both teams put in their best efforts with zeal to win the match. Also, the students presented march past with the flags and badges of their houses. The chief guest also awarded the winners of various competitions at the end of the event. 

Dehradun, October 29
A four-day training programme on afforestation techniques for eco-task personnel organised by the Silviculture Division of the Forest Research Institute (FRI) came to an end her today.In valedictory address, AS Rawat, Group Coordinator, FRI, described the training programme as an important tool for establishing a laisoning between defence and civil society.

Col HRS Rana, Commanding Officer, 127 eco-task force, dwelt at length about the initiatives of the FRI in curbing forestry linked problems. Dr Manisha Thapliyal and Dr Ombir Singh, scientists of Silviculture Division, elaborated about the feedback received for the training programme.

The trainees also visited central nursery, herbarium and museums of the FRI in addition to the visit to model village at Shyampur, where they saw various forestry activities in practical.

Another training course in wood seasoning by the Forest Product Division of the FRI also concluded today. During this course, lectures were delivered on advance drying techniques and wood plasticisation for making bent wood articles. Cost analysis of drying of timber in different modes, demonstration of technique of wood plasticisation, vacuum kiln, wood and bamboo preservation, special sawing techniques, moisture content and tolerances, movement in wood, wood composites, solar kiln, air-drying and stacking techniques were also discussed by the participants.

Dr Vimal Kothiyal, Dr Sadhna Tripathi, NK Upreti, Dr Kishan Kumar, Shailendra Kumar, Ajmal Samani wer present on the occasion. Head of the Forest Product Division Dr Vimal Kothiyal distributed the certificates. 

Haridwar, October 29
On the third day of the eighth National Inter District Athletics championship being held in the BHEL stadium here in association with the BHEL Sports Club various individual records were made with the athletes from southern states dominating the proceedings. But it was Divyani Rawat who brought laurels to the state by securing second position in the gold medal tally by clinching second gold medal in 1,500mtr race adding to the two silvers and sole bronze medals in the overall tally.

Divyani from Rudraprayag in the girls under-16 1,500metre race, clocked her career best 5:05:7 minute time to win the gold medal amidst loud applause from the crowd. Divyani was followed by Uttar Pradesh’s Ritu Mishra timing 5:10:1 for silver medal and Dimple Singh clinching bronze with a timing of 5:14:1 minute.

Andhra Pradesh’s B Kantha Rao won the under-16 boys 100metre race clocking 14.1 seconds to win the coveted gold medal with Bihar’s Chandan Kumar Metha with 14.5 seconds and Ajinkya Pawar from Maharashtra bagging bronze medal with 15.3 seconds.

Krutika Nalawade from Maharashtra bagged gold in girls under-16 100mtr with a 18.2 sec timing followed by silver medallist S Shwetha from Maharashtra (19.4) and Nikita Jagadish Ayre from same state (20.9) sharing the podium.

In javelin throw, with a record 60.35mtr Ganesh from Jhunjhunu district, Rajasthan, bagged the gold medal with Satendra Singh (50.0m) from Uttar Pradesh coming second and Haryana’s Mandeep (49.01m) being in the third position.

In under-16 boys high jump event, Rahul (1.90m) from Haryana, Uttarakhand’s Ankit Bohra (1.83m) and West Bengal’s Ashish Roy (1.77m) emerged the eventual gold, silver and bronze medallists, respectively.

While in under-14 boy’s high jump, Saoib from East Delhi cleared the bar with 1.72mtr winning the gold with Maharashtra’s Sarang Singh (1.69m), Haryana’s Bharat Pal (1.63m) winning silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Under-14 boys 200metre event saw P Siva, Akhila Jakhmola, M Lenin emerging as the medal winners, in u-16 girls 400metre event South Delhi’s Pushpha Chahar (1.02.0sec), UP’s Preenu Yadav (1.02.5) and Maharashtra’s Snehal Shinde (1.04.8) emerged victorious.

A new national record has been made in the boys under-16 category by Mandeep from Pune, Maharashtra, by completing the 1500metre race in national record time of 4:09.06s. While participants Jaspreet Singh in shot put, Mandeep in 800m, Rahul in high jump, Monu in shot put, Yogesh in discuss throw, Ganesh in javelin throw, Navjeet Kaur Dhillon in discuss throw has set new meet records.

Maharashtra (Pune) is leading the medals tally with three golds with West Bengal’s Manibhum district and Andhra Pradesh (Kadapa), too, with same number of gold’s chasing closely but with Maharsthra owing to higher number of silvers leading the overall medals tally while Uttarakhand (Rudrapryag) is in ninth position with Dehradun district in 11th position credited with a sole gold medal.

Dehradun, October 29
Sneha Kothiyal of Convent of Jesus and Merry pulled off a spirited challenge of Sumita of MKP College to win the girls’ under-17 final during the District Table Tennis tournament held on the Parade Ground’s multipurpose hall here today.

Kothiyal won the first set 9-11 and lost the second set 13-11 and third set 6-11. She struck back strongly in next sets- 11-5, 16-14 to become the champion. She earlier in the first semifinal beat Yagya Chada of Welham Girls School 11-7, 11-3, 11-5.

Sumita also defeated Gargi Dangwal of Welham 11-9, 13-11, 11-9 in the second semifinal. Meanwhile boys final will be played tomorrow.