Dehradun, February 4
Quietly and away from the limelight, a move is afoot to bring the Udasin and Nirmal sects into the Sikh fold and academically and culturally the efforts have started yielding results.

The Udasin and Nirmal Akharas share the worship of Guru Granth Sahib with the Sikhs and making a fervent appeal for increasing the broad base of the Sikhs is Tarlochan Singh, MP and former member of the National Commission for Minorities.

“All the major religions have accepted schism and these differences never prevented the Christians from acknowledging the 25 different sects in their religion but as Sikhs we have remained ambivalent and refrained from calling members of the Udasin and Nirmal Akharas as Sikhs, for that matter even Sindhis,” he asserted.

Speaking with The Tribune on the sidelines of the seminar, “Udasin Sampradaya Dyara Gurbani Vayakhaya”, organised by Dr Balbir Singh Sahitya Kendra of Punjabi University yesterday, he said: “It is a good idea to bring as many people in the fold and I think the Udasin and Nirmal Akaharas are the torchbearers of Guru Nanak’s teachings and Guru Granth Sahib whose appeal is not restricted to the Sikhs alone,” he said.

Emphasising the role played by the wandering hermits, Tarlochan Singh said: “While the Gurus were busy fighting the Mughals, its was left to the members of the Udasin sect to protect the shrines of the Gurus. Their reach was very wide and they used to spread the Gurbani to the rural hinterland. They captured the catholicity of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh religion, and the eclectic nature of his teachings.”

Tarlochan Singh added that the alienation of the Udasin and Nirmal sects began after the adoption of the Gurdwara Act in 1925. “The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was afraid that its control over gurdwaras would end while the dera heads too did not want to relinquish their power as they were ruled by mahants. However, Sikhism is the only religion in which office-bearers of gurdwaras are elected. We have juxtaposed religion with politics,” he added.

He even added that the Guru Ram Rai, the seat of the Udasin sect, was blessed by Guru Gobind Singh when he visited Paonta Sahib.

He also said the issue of the restoration of Gyan Godri Gurdwara at Hari-ki-Pauri in Haridwar should be resolved peacefully.

Dehradun, February 4
After outshining thousands of budding dancers from all across the country and finally making it to the top 10 couples of the famous television talent-hunt show, “Dance India Dance Doubles”, Sangeeta Mandal and Abhinav Gusain were here today to meet their fans and promote different styles of dancing among the young enthusiasts of the Doon valley.

“Getting into DID Doubles in itself is a dream come true for us. I had earlier given the auditions for selection in the last two seasons of the show but only got selected in my third attempt. We are now a part of ‘Geeta ki Gang’ and are trained under Geeta Kapoor who is a great choreographer and a commendable mentor. She is a gem of a person who takes proper care of her pupils apart from guiding us in dancing,” said an elated Abhinav.

The dancing duo has consistently been among the most exciting performers and their performances are very much appreciated by their mentors as well as viewers who are watching them on TVs at their homes. Their performances evoke the ‘grand salutes’ of legendary Mithun Chakraborthy.

“People with different genres of dancing are collectively brought on one platform to showcase their skills. We both have different dancing styles and at the DID Doubles we have got an opportunity to learn other types of international dancing styles such as jazz, ballet, waltz, jive rumba, contemporary, hip hop, samba, salsa, cha cha cha and afro jazz. We are also given minutest of the technical details to perform the tough aerial acts on the stage,” quipped Sangeeta.

“The experts give proper training to all the participants to perform various stunts and acrobats on the stage. In fact, we have been trained for two months in various styles of ballroom dancing by international dancers due to which we are able to reach this level,” asserted Abhinav.

However, when asked about the practicing regime of the participants on the show before the final performance, Abhinav said all the contestants were made to rehearse for maximum 18 hours in a day apart from the three hours of fitness training. They follow a daily schedule of two hours of cardio exercises and an hour of gym to keep our mind and body fit as well as healthy. The organisers of the show under the able guidance of experts keep a strict check on their diet.

While Abhinav has command over the hip hopping and krumping style of dancing, Sangeeta has mastery in contemporary. Together they are trying to work on their weak points while highlighting their strong points at the show.

Abhinav, being a Garhwali, has strong connection with Dehradun. His parents are originally from the Doon valley but are at present based in Mumbai. “Once I complete this show, I’d surely like to encourage the enthusiastic dancers from Dehradun to pursue their career in dancing. I’ll conduct workshops, dancing classes and will focus on promoting the international forms of dance all over the country,” added Abhinav.

While talking to the The Tribune, Sangeeta and Abhinav affirmed that the SMS system is very genuine for selecting the dancers for the next round. “The coordinators and the organisers of the show are very fair as far as the results through the SMS system are concerned. All the performances by the contestants are real and are done in one single act. So, the SMSes are very genuine and provides honest results to all.”

The dancing couple considers Michael Jackson as their idol and has grown watching different national and international dance contests on the television. Both participants, who are in their final years of graduation, have to miss their examinations due to the tight schedule of the show and their commitments. But, they aspire to complete their studies in dancing through the show.

The duo aspires to win this contest and pursue a career in choreography.

Dehradun, February 4
Celebrating the onset of the spring season, Ragis from Jalandhar transformed the evening of the Guru Granth Sahib ka Raag Parva at the Dr Balbir Singh Sahitya Kendra into a memorable one.

Setting the tone, Bhai Avtar Dilbag Singh ‘Hoshiarpur’ began the recital with the Basant raag based “Dekh Phool Pholey” followed by the Bhairavi raag and Charan Sadki.

Belonging to the Patiala Gharana, Bhai Avtar Dilbag Singh’s robust singing of shabad kirtans left the audience in a trance.

“We follow the Indian classical style. In most gurdwaras, Basant raag is sung from February to March. Shabads for kirtan may be selected for a particular occasion. These are usually short and easy to understand,” said Bhai Avtar.

Most singers go through the rigour of early training and learning. “A ragi sings to God and the sangat with devotion. The selection of hymns should suit the occasion,” he said.

Dev Prasad Kar, accompanied by Santosh Kumar, also gave a scintillating performance.

“For devotional singing, the prerequisite is a pure heart and mind,” said Sant Satnam Singh Kishangar (Jalandhar) of the Kirana Gharana after his performance.

“I learnt music from guru Mani Prasad and my spiritual guru is Sant Sarwan Das. Usually, at the start, middle or end of such a performance ‘Waheguru’ (God) or ‘Sat-Nam-Waheguru’ is chanted in unison by the lead singer and the congregation,” said Sant Satnam.

“This recital has exposed the audience to the devotional singing style. The difference between ragas and kirtans is that there is complete harmony between words and music,” said Dr Harbajan Singh of the Dr Balbir Singh Sahitya Academy.

Dehradun, February 4
After ending their two-day hunger strike here on Wednesday, leaders of the Trivender Singh Panwar faction of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister in front of the GMVN premises for doing nothing to nullify the ‘controversial’ 10 high-level appointments made last year.

Congratulating the protesters, party president Panwar said, “If the state government does not reveal the outcome of the inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the appointments and take action against the erring officials, we will intensify our stir further”.

District president NK Gusai said the CM must recognise the black sheep thriving around him. Acting president AP Juyal admired the courage of the party leaders who had observed the hunger strike.

Those who sat on the hunger strike were general secretary Jai Prakash Upadhyay, city president Bahadur Singh Rawat, district president NK Gusai, general secretary youth cell Anil Uniyal, in charge of women’s cell Promila Rawat, publicity secretary DP Khankhriyal, Anita Shah and Devi Thapa of the women’s cell.

Dehradun, February 4
To usher in greater transparency, biometric smart cards will be given to beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) in Uttarakhand.

It is being done to prevent delay in payments to workers and bring in efficiency by saving their time. Once the villagers get these cards, they don’t have to worry about going to the bank for getting payments and forgoing one day’s wage.

“We are in talks with Punjab National Bank (PNB) and also holding discussions with other banks for introducing the biometric smart card scheme. The officials will be able to make payments to wage earners at their doorstep. The payments will be made through the business correspondent model (BCM),” said Dr Rakesh Kumar, Principal Secretary, Rural Development.

Under the scheme, biometric accounts would be opened as per the guidelines issued by the Rural Development Ministry. The database would also be shared with UIDAI for its unique identification project, which has recently been renamed as Aadhar Project of India.

According to the state coordinator of the MGNREGA AK Rajput, over 9.61 lakh households have so far been offered jobs across the state. The MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of employment annually on demand to any adult in rural areas.

There were also complaints from some blocks about bungling of funds by marking fake attendance. “The biometric smart card is expected to curb such cases of irregularities to a great extent. It can make manipulation of the data impossible,” said Rajput.

Besides, several blocks are also undertaking the Management Information System (MIS) for bringing in greater transparency. The Centre is releasing funds to only those states that are implementing the system fully.

Dehradun, February 4
Worried about the precariously hanging loose wires all over the city, members of the Mahanagar Congress Committee, under the leadership of its president Harish Virmani, submitted a memorandum to the Executive Engineer of the Power Corporation here on Wednesday.

The memorandum says high-tension wires are hanging all over residential areas of Kishan Nagar, MDDA Colony, Vasant Vihar, Yamuna Colony, Gandhi Nagar, Kaulagarh Jakhan on the Kanwali Road and Prem Nagar and many other areas.

Virmani said the Power Department was not paying any heed towards this problem. Besides the loose wires, most of the poles were not properly fixed and these could fall anytime, leading to accidents. Many areas are facing the problem of fluctuation in voltage, but the department is not even making any estimates for the installation of new transformers in these areas to sort out the problem.

Virmani stated that the employees of the department were fixing meters on the poles near the houses of consumers and in certain areas the meters had been fixed on the pole so high that consumers found it difficult to check the reading. The officials kept saying that the estimates were ready and they would soon start the work to re-fix the meters at an appropriate height, but nothing had been done so far, he added.

If the department failed to solve their problems soon, they would launch an agitation, he said.

Those who were present at the office of the Executive Engineer included former general secretary of the Mahanagar Congress Committee Deep Vohra, Mukesh Bhatt, Arun Chamoli, Pankaj Bhatt, Savita Kapoor and Vijay Chauhan.

Pithoragarh, February 4
Sore over the Uttarakhand Government’s order under the new PDS system for paying transport bills of owners of the PDS ration shops on the basis of a bill by the RFC office, owners of the PDS ration shops of the Kumaon region have threatened that if their demands are not met in time, they will not pick up the ration stock to be released under the new ration system.

“Under the new system, the government wants to make the owners of rations shops bonded labour,” said Dinesh Goyal, president of the association of the PDS ration sellers in Almora district.

The owners of major shops that sell the PDS ration submitted memorandums to the respective District Magistrates in district headquarters of Almora, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat. “If the regulations for the PDS shops are not made according to our demands, we will not pick up ration from godowns,” said Goyal.

They said they wee being paid the freight according to the rates prevalent in 1960. “For the past 60 years, we have been getting a profit of Rs 6 per quintal. While the cost of the ration that we distribute has gone up 20 times, our profit margin and freight are the same. This profit margin should be raised to Rs 50 per quintal,” Nilambar Joshi, an office-bearer of the association in Pithoragarh district, said.

Besides reviewing the new government order, the association has demanded that the freight being given to those running shops at interior places should be revised according to the geography and terrain of that area and all their bills should be reimbursed by the District Supply Officer rather than by the RFC office.

“In our eight-point charter of demands, we have also demanded that no officers other than the DSO should be allowed to inspect our shops, as being unaware of the DSO office rules, these officers create avoidable problems,” said Joshi.

Dehradun , February 4
Junior Cantt Football Club defeated Pacchwa Doon Football Club in the Narayan Gurung Memorial Football Tournament by a solitary goal.

In an interesting game, it was Ankur of Junior Cantt who scored the winner in the 35th minute by a free kick from outside the penalty area of the rival team.

Pacchwa Doon tried hard for the equaliser and got a chance too. In the second half, the team got a penalty, but Pacchwa Doon striker Kavi shot outside the goal post.

Dehradun, February 4
A three-day cluster-level sports meet organised at the Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Salawala, concluded here today. Five teams - KV-1, KV-2, KV Birpur, KV Mussoorie and KV Upper Camp - took part.

The meet, which was exclusively for junior students, was organised under the common minimum programme of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sansthan.

Kho kho matches, skipping race and throw ball matches for boys and girls were held today.

KV-1 bagged the overall first position in the competition. KV-2 stood second, KV Birpur stood third and KV Upper Camp stood fourth.

In the relay race, KV Birpur got the first place. Shivam, Prashant and Abhishek were the winners.

In girls’ relay race, Vineet, Varsha, Kavita and Monika of KV Upper Camp, Cantt, emerged winners. While in the balance race for girls, Savitra Gurung of KV Birpur got the first place.

In another competition, Diksha of KV Upper Camp, Cantt, and Yatan of KV 1 got the first position in the girls and boys categories, respectively. Earlier, the students took part in the drill and PT display.

Ashok Kumar Morya, Principal, KV-1, distributed the prizes.

Dehradun, February 4
Graphic Star beat Survey of India by 28 runs in a match of the Dehradun District Cricket League at Survey of India ground here.

Batting first, Graphic Star piled up 229 runs losing eight wickets in the process. Zeeshan scored the highest (64) runs followed by Ashish Tyagi who scored 63 runs.

Batting second, Survey of India could only score 200 runs all out.

Tomorrow’s match will be played between Secretariat and Health.

Dehradun, February 4
In view of an order given by the Government of Uttarakhand to take immediately a piece of land for the purpose of broadening the roads from the St Joseph’s Academy, the staff and students of the school have appealed to the administration not to take the possession of the school property, here today.

According to the appellants, “The land belongs to one of the oldest and reputed educational institutions of Doon. Taking away our school property will be like taking away a part of us.”

“The part of the land, which the government is taking away is our games field, where major events of the school take place. We are emotionally attached to our school and are deeply hurt by the decision of the government,” they said.

Dehradun, February 4
Members of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) have submitted a memorandum to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister asking him to let people who have done various courses to work in rural areas.

Govardhan Bharwaj, Mahanagar General Secretary, BJP, stated that a lot of skilled people were required to work in rural areas and villages as there was shortage of staff there and they could not be sent to other places.

He further stated that many institutes were providing courses in public health and nutrition, ayurvedic beauty care, panch karma, yoga and naturopathy and many more. The youngsters who had done their diplomas in these should be allowed to work in rural areas, as this would not only lessen their problems, but also provide help to the villagers.

Dehradun, February 4
A weeklong art and cartoon exhibition began at the Marshall School here today. The theme of the competition-cum-exhibition is corruption, global warming and changing phase of the state in the last 10 years.

Commissioner, Uttarakhand Soochna Aayog, Vinod Nautiyal inaugurated the exhibition. Cardiologist Dr Kuldeep Dutta accompanied him. The exhibition is open to all while the winners of the competition would be declared on the last day of the exhibition.

Dehradun, February 4
Annoyed with the step-motherly treatment given to people belonging to the minority communities by the BJP Government, members of the Mahanagar Congress Committee protested at the Gandhi Park here on Monday.

The members submitted a memorandum to the Uttarakhand Governor through the Dehradun District Magistrate.

Addressing the gathering, state president Dr Jeet Ram claimed that the BJP Government had interfered in the development of the state in the past four years.

He said the schemes that were offered for the development of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes had been ignored. Moreover, the government had failed to spend the money for the special component plan. Ram said thousands of reserved posts were lying vacant, but the government was not paying heed towards it.

City president Shravan Kumar Rajoria said, “The BJP Government has failed in all aspects and peace in the state has broken as a lot of incidents like theft, murder etc are taking place here regularly”. He said people of the minority categories were getting all the facilities when Uttarakhand was the part of Uttar Pradesh.

Rajoria also said the people of these communities, who were residing here since November 2000 or before, should be considered residents and not migrants.