Haridwar, November 28
The growing acceptability of ‘marma’ science in curing various ailments got a fillip today with two universities in the country announcing the starting of certificate courses in ‘marma’ science and therapy from the next academic session.

Significantly, the two universities are also preparing to complete the medical-administrative procedures to incorporate ‘marma’ science as a separate medical science course. In the near future, marma medical science degrees-diploma studies could be pursued in these universities.

An announcement regarding this was made at the conclusion of the seven-day ‘Marma Science and Training Seminar’ organised at the Shri Yantra Mandir in Kankhal.

Gurukul Kangri University Vice-Chancellor Prof Swatantra Kumar said with ‘marma’ science emanating from the Vedas and being the oldest medical therapy, time had come to make it accessible to everyone. For this, the Gurukul Kangri University would be starting a certificate course in this science. Initially, it would be a part of the yoga degree-diploma curriculum.

Similarly, Dev Sanskriti University announced a six-month certificate course from the next academic session. The university is internationally known for its Vedic, cultural, yagya, spirituality-based education format. Dr Karmayogi, Registrar of the university, made this announcement.

Dr Prem Chandra Shastri, Vishwa Ayurved Parishad national president, dwelt on the need for making use of ‘marma chikitsa’ in today’s world when even common ailments took time to cure, while those diseases which used to be non-existent, had now spread worldwide with modern health sciences failing in either eradicating or curing them.

Urging all and sundry to lead a simple life with more emphasis on natural things particularly in terms of diet and wholesome personality - physical as well as mental, Hari Shankar Giri of the Mritunjay Mission, Vedic Ayurvedic Pratisthan, pointed to various instant cures under ‘marma’ therapy.

Haridwar-based Dr Sunil Joshi, chief expert of ‘marma’ therapy, said marma science is an ancient medical therapy which was based on pressure points and it was the need of the hour to spread its use and concept as it can bring desired results for all patients, particularly the poor who couldn’t afford costly medical facilities.

Lauding the social-humanitarian works of Dr Joshi who holds free medical health camps, Dr Mahaveer Aggarwal of the Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya said by ‘marma’ therapy, thousands had been cured in these health camps. The need was to have a healthy life which could be obtained by having good thoughts and deeds.

Among others who spoke on the occasion were former Deputy Director CCRA, currently Professor at Gujarat Vishwavidyalaya, Dr Gyanendra Pandey, Prof BD Joshi, a host of eminent medical, social, religious dignitaries, medical practitioners from various states and medical students of Patanjali, Rishikul and Gurukul Ayurvedic Colleges.

Pitthoragarh, November 28
Hill districts of the Kumaon region are facing an acute shortage of fuel wood as its supply has been almost stopped for the past three months after the Uttarakhand government introduced the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) scheme to cover every unorganised worker of the Uttarakhand Forest Corporation.

“After the scheme was introduced, the contractors are not entertaining temporary labourers as they cannot do it without registering them under EPF,” said an officer with the Regional Manager of the forest corporation at Haldwani.

In Pitthoragarh and Champawat districts, the fresh fuel wood quota has not been received by the corporation wood stalls for the past three month causing a shortage of not only fuel wood but also wood for cremation at Rameshwar Ghat.

“The poor families, who depend on this fuel wood, are purchasing it at Rs 800 a quintal from private sellers or saw mills as the wood is not available at the corporation stall,” said Mohan Chandra Bhatt, a local resident and president of the District Bar Association.

“Not only has fuel wood for daily use gone dearer, but the cremation of bodies at the Rameshwar Ghat is being solemnised by old motor tyres,” added Bhatt.

According to the Regional Manager of the Uttarakhand Forest Corporation, the production of fuel wood has been gradually decreasing every year as a gap of 10 years has been set for felling of dried trees in the forest of Kumaon region. This has resulted in less availability of fuel wood with the corporation.

“Last year, the Kumaon region consumed 10,978 cubic metres of fuel wood from its quota and nearly 5,000 cubic metres of fuel wood had to be arranged from other sources for the region,” said Bhuvan Chandra, Regional Manager, Uttarakhand Forest Corporation, Haldwani.

The Logging Officer at the Pitthoragarh Forest Corporation admitted that only after the Labour Department implemented the EPF scheme, the supply of fuel wood stopped at all seven stalls of the corporation in Champawat and Pitthoragarh districts where more than 70 cubic metres of fuel wood are consumed every month.

“We receive fuel wood quota from the corporation stalls at Haldwani, Khatima and Naugaon where the contractors are not taking interest in registering their labourers under the EPF scheme,” said DN Das, District Labour Officer, Pitthoragarh.

Uttarakhand Labour Minister Prakash Pant admitted that his department had implemented a labour welfare scheme for all unorganised sector labourers, including those of the Ban Nigam, under which the department takes two per cent cess from the contractor to be spent on the welfare of labourers.

“But the actual reason of the shortage of fuel wood is untimely and delayed cutting and collection of fuel wood in Udham Singh Nagar and consumption of fuel wood at this year’s Kumbh Mela from the Kotdwar depot of the Uttarakhand Forest Corporation,” said the minister.

The Uttarakhand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is again on the back foot. After a roll back of its decision to allot 56 small hydroelectricity projects following fear of an adverse judgement in the Nainital High Court, the state government finds itself in a similar situation again.

This time, it was the case of land allotment and change of land use from industrial to residential given to the Citurgia Chemical Company at Rishikesh which has come under judicial review in a court case.

The petitioner in the case has sought a probe into the land deal alleging malafide intentions on part of the BJP state government in giving concessions to the chemical company to come up with a residential complex on industrial land.

The petitioner Swami Darshan Bharati has pointed that the entire case was decided from the lowest level up to the Chief Minister’s level in one day without charging anything for land use change.

On the other hand, the state government pleaded that the decision was taken on an order passed by the Bureau of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) to bail out the company and pay final dues to its employees after the closure of the company.

However, political ground realities and overall atmosphere in the country against corruption has forced the state government to take away the concessions given to the company last night before the case comes up for next hearing on November 29.

The state government fearing any adverse judgement in the case decided to withdraw all concessions given to the company for construction of a residential complex at Rishikesh.

This time, the state government wrote to the company that certain facts were hidden from the state government by the company so the concessions given to them to built a residential complex has been withdrawn till further orders.

The decision of the state government has been conveyed to the Bureau of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) also.

It was feared that the BJP government would have found itself in a no-win situation in case the High Court decide to order a probe in the land deal.

It was deemed appropriate to cancel the concessions given to the company and the same would be conveyed to the court tomorrow to save the state government from any further embarrassment.

Earlier, the state government had found itself in a bind on the issue of allotment of 56 small hydro-electric projects to lesser-known companies.

It was alleged in a public interest litigation (PIL) before the High Court that these hydro projects were allotted without going into the merits of the companies but just for alleged ulterior motives.

Some of the companies that were allotted projects had no prior experience of building hydro projects and some of them were into liquor business and bicycle manufacturing.

Dehradun November 28
Controversies surround the election of the managing committee of Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala College, one of the oldest and reputed women colleges of Dehradun. The election of 11 members of various categories of the college committee was held here today. Vipin Nagliya, Saumya Goel and NR Goel have been elected in the patron category, Dr Ashwini Kumar, D S Negi, Sandeep Sharma and Radhika Sikand have been elected in the lifetime membership category whereas Lalit Badakoti, Jitender Singh Negi, Ashok Raj Panwar and Charulata Verma were declared elected in the ordinary category.

Meanwhile, managing committee’s former president NS Bhatnagar has charged the secretary and other members for alleged malpractising in the governing body. He even accused the society of debarring him from officiating as one of the members from the founder’s family as per the constitution of the college committee.

While talking to The Tribune, Bhatnagar alleged that the other members of the managing committee had allegedly conspired against him to leave his share of interest in the governing body, while the subordinate of the society had also usurped his posts. He said, “I fulfilled all requirements for representing the founder’s family members in the managing committee of Mahadevi Kanya Pathshala College. The management has disqualified me from the post of president of the society on the grounds of not being appointed in the approved manner (of having no active blood relation with the founders Jyoti Swaroop Bhatnagar and his wife Mahadevi Bhatnagar) and of being incapable”.

“I strongly oppose the charges levelled by the society as I am capable of performing my official duties physically and mentally, while I was unanimously selected by the members of the family to represent blood relations of the founder’s family. I was discharged without being informed about the charges against me and without passing a no-confidence motion. Tough politics is being played by the committee members to turn us (Bhatnagars) out from the membership in the governing body of the society,” asserted Bhatnagar.

Denying the allegation put by the former president of the committee Jitender Singh Negi, managing committee secretary, said, “All accusations levelled by Bhatnagar are false. He was debarred from the office as he is not a descendant of the founders of the college society and the civil court also seized his powers as president of the society. Also, the Right to Information application filed by one of the committee members revealed his alleged malpractices.”

However, the committee has 266 members in the patron category, out of which four members- Santosh T Singh, Vipin Nagliya, Saumya Goel and NR Goel- were nominated. Out of the 1,000 members in the lifetime category, six members, DS Negi, Madan Kumar, Ashwini Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Radhika Sikand and Ranjit Singh, were nominated. While Saroj Tripathi, Lalit Badakoti, Jitender Singh Negi, Veenpani Joshi, Ashok Raj Singh Panwar and Charulata Verma were nominated in the 52 members ordinary category of the committee.

Haridwar, November 28
Registering its dominance once again in the field of Sanskrit, Haridwar-situated renowned Bhagwan Das Sanskriti Mahavidyalaya students won the maximum number of competitions in the state-level classical Sanskrit events.

Host Bhagwan Das college students who won the first prizes are : In Vyakaran Shloka competition- Kuldeep Gaur; Sholika Antyakshari- Krishnan Kant Jha, Suresh Pokhriyal; Sahitya elocution-Hemchandra Joshi; and Vedant elocution-Suresh Chandra Joshi bagged first prizes.

Apart from this, in other disciplines winners are Ravindra Kumar from Bhimad Dayanand Jyotirmay Gurukul, Dehradun, won the first prize in Vyakaran elocution and Kuldeep Kumar won in Ashtadhyayi Kanthaya. Rishikul College’s Virendra Kumar again asserted the pilgrim city’s stamp in the Sanskrit field by winning in the Jyoitsh-Kanthpath event, while Kapil Pandey from Champatwat-based Kurmanchanl Anglo Sanskrit Vidyalaya won the Amarkosh Kanthpath competition.

The various events included Vyakaran, Sahtiya, Vedante, Dharam Shastra, Jyotish, Meemansa, Nyaya, Sankhayyog, Kavyapath and Antyakshari which was organised by Nav Dehlisth Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan. At every performance the participants were quizzed by eminent Sanskrit judges and scholars.

Earlier, at the conclusion ceremony, Bhagwandas Sanskrit College Principal Dr Bhola Jha lighted the lamp amidst chanting of matras. Present at the competition were Dr Arvind Narayan Mishra, Kanta Prasad Vadola, Dr HariGopal Shastri, Dr Mohan Chandra Balodi, Naveen Pant, Dr Dhruv Mitra Tripathi, Dr Niranjan Mishra, VK Singh Dev, Manjunath, Dr Shweta Singh, Dr Poonam Arya, Geetanjali among others.

Students union president Kuldeep Gaur, Suresh Joshi, Prakash, Pankaj and Devesh Kumar coordinated in the proceedings of the two-day competition. Winners were accorded prizes in the evening session with championship overall title to Bhagwan Das Mahavidyalaya.

Dehradun, November 28
The 10th All-India Police Water Sports Championship ended with all 17 participating teams taking part in a march past along the banks of the Ganga Canal.

In the last five days, 26 events were conducted in various categories of rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The rowing trophy was bagged by ITBP while Uttarakhand were the runners-up.

 

The BSF and (right) Uttarakhand Police team receive the trophy from Minister of Tourism Madan Kaushik and DIG Alok Sharma at the 10th All-India Police Water Sports Championship in Roorkee on Sunday. Photos: Navreet Milton

In kayaking, the BSF won the championship while Uttarakhand were the runners-up. In the canoeing championship, BSF won top honours while SSB were the runners-up.

In the overall championship, BSF was at the top of the table with nine gold medals and a final tally of 16 medals and an aggregate of 60 points while Uttarakhand came in second with five gold medals and a final tally of 15 medals and an aggregate of 47 points.

Tourism Minister Madan Kaushik was the chief guest at the concluding function and was impressed with the conduct of the championship and lauded the efforts of the organising committee on the success of the event.

He said, “We would like to further promote water sports in Uttarakhand as there is a lot of natural potential available in the state which can bring in revenue and increase tourism too.”

The thrilled runners-up Uttarakhand team went around the canal celebrating their success.

ADG, Law and Order, SK Bhagat thanked the organisers and the participants and read out the message of DGP JS Pandey who was not able to make it to the final day.

Present on the occasion were senior police personnel and senior Army officers who included ADG, Kumaon Range, Ram Singh Meena, SSP, Rural, RL Sharma, Commandant BEG and Centre, Brig DS Ahuja and Laksar MLA Pranav Singh.

Dehradun, November 28
College of Engineering Roorkee (COER) won by a big margin of 129 runs against Dev Bhoomi Institute of Technology (DBIT) to enter the final of the Uttarakhand Technical University’s second Inter-College Cricket Tournament. The match was played at the Survey of India stadium here today. They will face Uttaranchal Institute of Management in the final tomorrow.

In today’s semifinal, DBIT won the toss and opted to field first. COER mustered a huge total of 239 runs in 35 overs. Viswa Vinayak (47), Muninder (40) and Bhanu Pratap (33) were the main scorers.

For the bowling side, Lokesh and Digvijay got three and two wickets, respectively. Sanjeev and Ravi also took a wicket each.

While batting, DBIT scored 110 runs before getting all out. Amit Kumar with 44 runs topscored for his team. Akshendra got three wickets for COER. Utsav and Intakhab took two wickets each.

Dehradun, November 28
St Joseph’s alumnus donated 600 books to Prem Dham (home for the aged) for establishing a library here today. The donated books for the aged residents included biographies of Mahatma Gandhi, Munshi Premchand, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, books on health and yoga, mythological books, books on moral values, motivational books, news-based magazines and general knowledge.

The alumnus was also in the process of setting up libraries at the Juvenile Jail and Bal Bharti Schools and books had been collected for that purpose.

Also present on the occasion were Neha Sharma, Rajeev Sachar, Surbhi Arora, Seema Sharma , Amit Mahajan, Isha Rawat, RK Verma, Nivedita Sheel, Deepanaji Shahi and Saurabh.