Haridwar, January 1
Residents woke up to a sunny day on the first day of the New Year. While there were many who thronged temples, Ganga ghats and Har-ki-Pauri, others, who had spent the previous night partying, stayed at home or went to office late.

On the one hand, the saint community began the year with a religious convention while politicians went to the Ganga ghats to perform rituals.

Haridwar parliamentarian Harish Rawat, who is a Minister of State in the UPA Cabinet, performed rituals at Brahmkund, Har-ki-Pauri. He was accompanied by district and city unit Congress party members.

Local legislator Madan Kaushik, who is a Cabinet minister in the Uttarakhand government, made an offering of 125 litres of milk to the Ganga and prayed for prosperity in the New Year.

Madan Kaushik offered milk at Neeldhara near the Kali Mandir where 11,000 earthen lamps were made to float on the river creating sight to behold.

He said that the state government had been trying to ensure the sanctity and cleanliness of the Ganga. He gave an assurance about the renovation and beautification of the Dakshin Kali Peeth temple near Chandighat.

Pilgrims made a beeline to the temples of Maya Devi, Vaishno Devi, Mansa Devi, Chandi Devi, Daksheshwar Mahadev, Bilkeshwar Mahadev, Bharat Mata in the city.

As the weather changed from the dark clouds to a somewhat clear sky, the tourist rush increased bringing a smile on the face of traders and hotel owners in the city.

Ghats, hotels, resorts and markets, which bore a deserted look for the past two days due to the cold, today were abuzz with activity.

Nainital, January 1
Fireworks and dancing to the tune of popular Bollywood numbers on a day when the weather gods decided to please the revellers with a snowfall marked the ushering in of the New Year across Kumaon.

The expectation of a snowfall and the dream to enter 2011 on a white carpet on the hills had been attracting tourists to Nainital, Mukteshwar, Kausani, Champawat, Ranikhet and Munsiyari right from Christmas.

With the New Year’s Eve falling on a Friday, tourists decided to enjoy the entire weekend at the famous destinations in the region. Christmas and New Year’s Eve are among the major festive occasions here, particularly in the Lake City of Nainital.

Hoteliers of Nainital and other tourist destinations were a happy lot as tourists had been thronging these places in large numbers right from Christmas and these businessmen had made up for the losses incurred during a bleak autumn tourist season.

Shopkeepers selling woollens, gift and confectionery items were the happiest of the lot along with restaurant owners and those running small eating joints.

According to hoteliers in Nainital, a snowfall was expected this year on account of a prolonged monsoon and they had been getting queries from far and wide in this regard in the past few weeks.

On Friday evening, the Nainital Hotels and Restaurants Association had arranged for the lighting and music in the entire Mall Road area.

Tourists from Delhi, Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states went to Kilbury Road to enjoy the snow at the nearby tourist spot of Himalaya Darshan, 6 km from Nainital. They were seen playing with snowballs.

Many hotels in the town had arranged for a New Year party. The Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam had arranged a traditional party marked by Kumaoni folk dances and Kumaoni cuisine which was appreciated by most tourists.

Incidentally, a large number of local residents decided to remain indoors and celebrate at home on account of the severe cold.

Taxi drivers fleeced tourists at several places like Almora taking advantage of the closure of the Khairna-Almora road due of bad weather conditions.

The police had a tough time regulating the crowd and traffic at several places across the region.

Dehradun, January 1
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today extended New Year greetings to political leaders, people’s representatives, senior officers and the general public who called on him at his official residence.

He appealed to them to contribute in making Uttarakhand an ideal state. He said that the first day of the year was a day of resolutions and it should prove to be a milestone in the development journey of Uttarakhand.

Harbans Kapoor, Speaker, Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Dr Harak Singh Rawat, Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Vijay, State BJP President Bishan Singh Chufal were among the visitors who called on the Chief Minister.

Dehradun, January 1
Last night, when denizens of the Doon valley were busy enjoying themselves at one New Year bash or another at the city’s luxury hotels, children of slum dwellers in the capital were fast asleep.

The reason: They had to wake up early in the morning for yet another day of hardship to earn their daily bread.

The coming of a New Year may excite the upper and middle classes who can shake a leg at some rave party or the other in the city, but it is no big deal for people spending nights on the road sides without a shelter over their heads.

Raju, a 12-year-old boy who hails from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, sells chana at the Gandhi Park everyday. He ran away from his house after the death of his mother two years back.

“Every day is the same for me. Unless I sell chana daily, I cannot have two meals,” he said.

Gyanwati (16), who works as domestic help at the Defence Colony, greeted this correspondent Happy New Year, but didn’t know what it meant.

Even while the year changed from 2010 to 2011, there was no change in her daily routine. She went from house to house cleaning dirty dishes, brooming and wiping floors to earn her livelihood.

Rag pickers were busy picking garbage from roadside bins and many of their slum-dwelling mates continued to beg at Rajpur Road and Paltan Bazar.

Dehradun, January 1
Under the direction of the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Uttarakhand project to set up libraries in 12,653 government primary schools and 1,088 junior high schools, a three-day children’s book fair is being organised at Sanatan Dharm Inter College (Bannu) here from today. The book fair will continue till January 3.

The project is being initiated as an annual work plan and budget 2010-11 with an expenditure of Rs 3,000 for primary schools and Rs 10, 000 for junior high schools. Two state-level and district-level committees have been formed for the selection of books.

However, a non-centralised method has been formatted to select the books during the book fair where the amount of 50 per cent books will be borne by the state-level committee, while the rest 50 per cent will be borne by district-level committee.

The ongoing children book fair is exclusively for the schools falling in the Garhwal region where both the committees will select the books. The next book fair for the schools in the Kumaon region will be organised from January 6 to 8, 2011, at Haldwani.

While informing about the book fair, Sanjay Dhyani, administrative officer of the SSA, asserted that around 27 publishers of 40 publication houses had come to participate in the exhibition only after fulfilling the miscellaneous requirements of the state Education Department. “The books are based on stories, moral values, various subjects, biographies, health and sanitation which are different from the free text books distributed among the students according to their syllabi,” he added.

Haridwar, January 1
The semester examinations of the Uttarakhand Technical University (UTU), Dehradun, and the Uttarakhand Board of Technical Education are being held in the city’s lone examination centre Swami Darshanand Institute of Management and Technology (SDIMT).

Affiliated with Gurukul University, elaborate arrangements have been made in view of the examination on the SDIMT campus. Last year too, the college was chosen as the examination centre for the UTU examinations. Examinations for various technical courses get completed this week only with polytechnic examinations to be concluded on January 18.

Alongside the technical examination centre, the college has also been chosen as the examination venue for the MBA course of the Ramanand Institute of Pharmacy and Management.

Informing The Tribune about the arrangements, central examination in charge Prof SC Dhamija said in view of the previous year’s smooth conduct of the examinations, the state technical university has once again showed confidence in the college and special invigilators have been appointed to ensure that the exams are conducted in a fair manner.

“As per the standards of the technical university examination process, we are carrying out the examinations with special appointment of Dr AK Chauhan being appointed by Gurukul University as the chief invigilator, in addition to other appointments,” said Dhamija.

BL Nautiyal, chief examination in charge appointed from Uttarakhand Technical University itself, has also expressed satisfaction on the conduct and arrangements of the examination at the Haridwar centre.

Haridwar, January 1
Students of Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Mayapur, are learning about qualities like honesty, social work and team leadership at a NSS camp here.

Mansi Chaurasia, a Class XII student, said earlier that she had inhibition in working with boys, but now she felt at ease. She was made the group leader to carry out the kitchen work. Her group had to prepare food in right time, apart from participating in various chores at the camp.

Nisha Chaudhari said, “The camp has made me more environment consciousness, as we planted 100 saplings, nurtured them and put them in grid wires”.

On the concluding day of the camp, the students winded up the affairs with a presentation of cultural activities. Patriotic song, bhangra and a skit was performed on the occasion by the students.

Camp coordinator Ajay Singh told The Tribune that they tried their best to instill social and ecology awareness among the students.

School Principal Vijay Pal Singh gave New Year wishes to the students. Kumari Vidhika, Ajay Singh, Naveen, Mayank, Gaurav, Pooja, Priyanka, Nisha, Nidhi and Kapil Saini were honoured for their special contribution in the successful conduct of the camp.

Dehradun, January 1
Defending champion Deepika Sinha of Bihar beat Kabita Devi of Manipur in a straight fight 21-0, 21-0 during the 39th Junior National and Inter-State Carrom Championship, here today.

Also, Tuba of Chandigarh defeated N. Abhiram of Tamil Nadu 21-6, 13-6 and Archana of Bihar thrashed Kabya Shree (Jharkhand) 20-1, 21-0.

M. Knagdhara of Tamil Nadu had a fight against MSK Harika of Andhra, in which she defeated the latter 9-14, 19-12, 21-15. Farheen of the city beautiful Chandigarh surpassed N. Rajya laxmi of Andhra 18-11, 21-6.

Last year, champion K. Srinivas of Hyderabad defeating Mohd. Kashif of Uttar Pradesh 16-15, 21-15 registered his entry into the quarterfinal.

Boys Singles: 4th Round- K. Srinivas (Hyderabad) beat T. Vamsi (Andhra) 21-1, 21-0; Mohd. Kashif (UP) beat K. Tamilselvan (TN) 21-1, 15-11; Wahib Ali (UP) beat Mohd. Shaquib (Chandigarh) 21-0, 21-6; Akash goel (Maharashtra) beat Y. Avaid Singh (Manipur) 21-3, 17-12, Mohd. Talib (Chandigarh) beat S. Sai (Hyderabad) 21-5, 21-5 (Talib scored white slam in 4th board of 2nd game); A. Mahendran (TN) beat Subham Shekhar (Jharkahnd) 21-0, 21-6; Mohd. Danish (Delhi) beat G. Midhun Chakrabarti 21-0, 21-0; Mohd. Adil (UP) beat SK. Elahi (Andhra) 21-5, 21-8; Mohd. Hassan (Chandigarh) beat B. Dilleswara Rao (Andhra) 21-0, 21-0; N. Yaimasna (Manipur) beat Sitaram Bandekar (Maharashtra) 18-1, 10-21, 15-5; Ansari Naeem Akhtar (Maharashtra) 21-0, 12-8, 21-3; Mohd. Arif (UP) beat R. Venkateswaran (TN) 21-0, 21-0; U. Naresh (Hyderabad) beat S. Bonikapooor (Manipur) 20-7, 21-5; Vinay Kumar (UP) beat Akash Sendre (Chhattisgarh) 12-10, 14-5; Irfan Nizam Shaikh (Maharashtra) beat Gowthaman (TN) 19-0, 11-6; Abdul rehman (UP) beat Deepak Singh (Jharkhand) 21-0, 21-0.

Girls Singles: 4th Round- Dipika Sinha (Bihar-Defending Champion) beat A. Adhulya (TN) 15-21, 21-1, 17-1, Kajal Kumari (Bihar- Current Sub Junior Girls National Champion) beat Priya Sharma (Chandigarh) 13-2, 21-0; Nini Jha (Jharkhand) beat Asharfunnisha (Hyd) 15-7, 14-6; R Vinitha (TN) beat Ekta Tripathi (UP) 21-5, 14-6; Manu Gupta (Chandigarh) beat Amruta (Gujarat) 21-0, 21-3; Bibha Kumari (Bihar) beat Aishwarya Kushwaha (UP); 16-0, 13-11; P. Jayashree (TN) beat Rajni Soni (Jharkhand) 16-10, 13-9; N. Rajayalakshmi (Andhra) beat G. Jyothi Pravalika (TN) 21-7, 5-14, 14-8; Farheen (Chandigarh-Ex Junior National Champion) beat Vrushali Patil (Maharashtra) 21-5, 21-6; M. Kanagdhara (TN) beat Suruchi Kumari (Bihar) 18-5, 3-15, 16-1; MSK Harika (Andhra ) beat Anjali Taneja (Chahattisgarh) 9-21, 14-7, 16-12; Maitreyee Gogte (Maharashtra) beat Kabya Shree (Jharkhand) 13-9, 9-6; Archana (Bihar) beat Pravasini Singh (Orissa) 21-0, 21-0; Tuba (Chandigarh) beat Neha Vemula (Maharashtra) 21-0, 21-0 N. Abirami (TN) beat D. Nagmani (Hyderabad) 21-0, 20-0; Kabita Devi (Manipur) 14-4, 11-0.

Youth Girls Singles: Pre Quarter- Kudarat (Chandigarh- Top seed Last year Winner) beat Insha Ijaz (J&K) 21-0, 21-0; K. Karn (Bihar) beat A. Benita Glady (TN) 21-5, 15-7; B. Sudha Rani (Andhra) beat C. Marvia (Puducherry) 6-20, 21-6, 21-0;A. Swathi (Hyd.) beat Rozi Parveen (UP) 16-11, 19-1;Chaitali Harizan (Goa) beat L. Gayatri Devi (Chhattisgarh) 13-0, 21-0; D. Amuly (Hyderabad) beat Khushbu Kumari (Jharkhand) 21-4, 21-0; Kamna Gupta (UP- Last year Runner) beat Shilpa Gautam (Vidarbha) 21-12, 21-0.

Youth Boys Singles- Pre-Quarter Final- Mohd Gurfan (UP) beat Manish Gupta (Jharkhand) 21-5, 21-10; S. Romendra Singh (Manipur) beat Ranjan Prakash (Bihar) 19-5, 19-13; Nikul Kakade (Maharashtra) Aryan (Haryana) 21-0,21-0; Md. Salman (Delhi) defeated D. dilli Babu (TN) 11-19, 18-0, 14-7; Manish Jaiswal (Bihar) beat Saju (Uttaranchal) 21-0, 21-0; V. Akash (Orissa) beat Arshadyulla Khan (UP) 19-6, 21-10; Raj Kumar (Chandigarh) Srikanth P. (Kerala) 21-0, 10-11, 16-11S. K. Wasim (Vidarbha) beat A. Raghavendra (Andhra) 21-0, 21-0.

Dehradun, January 1
Arpan scored a brace in the 2-0 win of the Willis Youth Club over Doon United in the Great Vivekanand Memorial Football Tournament being organised by the Sarvagun Society and the Rama Krishna Mission Ashram, Dehradun.

In the knock out match, he scored in the 23rd and 55th minutes of the game. In total, 16 teams are taking part in this competition being played on knock out basis on the Pavilion Ground.

Meanwhile, Doon Challengers and Doon Valley will face each other and Cantt Blues will lock horns with Balaji Boys tomorrow.

Dehradun, January 1
Eleven Star entered the semifinal of the Shaheed Khadag Bahadur Memorial Football Tournament defeating Nehru Gram 3-1 here today at SGRR, Nehru Gram.

In this quarterfinal, Jatin opened the account of his side in the 22nd minute of the first half. In this half, no other goal could be scored and the first half finished on 1-0 in favour of the Eleven Star.

However, there was more trouble in store for the Nehru Gram in the second half, as Shashank scored a brace. He netted goals in the fourth and 22nd minutes of the half, while Akash scored the lone goal for the Nehru Gram in the second half in the 26th minute.

Nitin Gurung of the winning side was declared man of the match. Meanwhile, tomorrow’s first semifinal will be played between Doon Star and Sports Hostel.