Dehradun, April 6
Cecilia Flores-Oebanda (Philippines), Murhabazi Namegabe (Congo) and Monira Rahman (Bangladesh) have been nominated for the World Children’s Prize by the International Child Jury, 2011.

One of them will get a prize money of $1,00,000, which has to be used in the winner’s work for the rights of children.

As many as 24 million students in 101 countries are involved in it. It helps them to have faith for the future, and a chance to demand respect for their rights. Children alone decide the winner of the prestigious award for their unique contribution to children’s rights. Around 7.1 million children voted the last time globally.

City-based Unison World School is among 53,300 selected schools that were registered with the Global Vote this year.

Trilok Singh Bist, the Dean of activities, Unison World School, said the ballot paper was provided to each child during the assembly here today, and the results of the voting would be submitted online by the evening.

The World Children’s Prize is the world’s largest annual educational programme for young people on child rights, democracy, environment and global friendship.

One of the nominees, Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, has been nominated for her 20-year struggle against child labour and trafficking. She founded the organisation, Visayan Forum, which has rescued thousands of girls from slavery and trafficking. The forum also does preventive work in towns and rural areas to stop exploitation of children.

Another nominee, Murhabazi Namegabe, has been chosen for his 20-year-long struggle for children in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 1989, Murhabazi and his organization, BVES, have freed as many as 4,000 child soldiers and more than 4,500 girls, who have been sexually assaulted by armed groups, and taken care of 4,600 refugee children.

The other nominee, Monira Rahman has been chosen for her courageous fight to put an end to acid and petrol violence in Bangladesh.

The winner will be declared on April 26.

Dehradun, April 6
Taking a cue from the indefinite hunger strike by renowned Gandhian Anna Hazare in Delhi against corruption, President of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (Panwar faction) Trivender Singh Panwar has decided to go on two-day hunger strike from tomorrow against corruption in the state.

Members of party units at the district headquarters will embark on a day-long strike.

Elated over the response that the party claims to have got from the people for the Pol Khol campaign, Panwar said the campaign would be extended to eight phases. The second phase would take place from May 1 to May 10.

“The campaign took us closer to the people and gave us an opportunity to get to know their problems which mostly hinged around the scarcity of water, wood for fuel and grass as fodder for animals. Plus, we also added 20,000 members to the party and hope to add more in the remaining campaigns,” he said.

Dehradun, April 6
A platoon Commander of Homeguards, posted at Kotdwar, was today nabbed by the Vigilance team while taking a bribe of Rs 1,000 from a jawan to fetch him a permanent job.

Accused Rajender Prasad said he was taking the bribe for his seniors and the share of the money went to the commandant level as well through babus. Almost all jawans paid bribe to get placed, he said.

According to the Vigilance, Homeguard jawan Surender Prasad, a resident of Kotdwar, complained to the Vigilance Department on Friday that the platoon commander had asked for Rs 1,000 as bribe for getting him a permanent job.

The Commander, who is a Sub-Inspector-ranked official, asked him to bring the money today. However, the vigilance team laid a trap and the Commander was caught while accepting the money from Surender.

Superintendent of Police BK Juyal had handed over the investigation to Investigation Officer Rajiv Dandriyal. Accused Rajender has confessed the crime.

But he lamented the fact that he had been made a scapegoat and the real culprits had not been brought to book.

Juyal said they had been getting this sort of complaints from the department, but no jawan ever dared to report the matter. The SP appreciated the boldness of jawan for helping catching the culprit.

Haridwar, April 6
With men in khakhi being burdened with work and related pressures that come with the job, one can’t see these cops smiling. But positive thinking and taking their job as noble work will do wonders in easing the pressure situations that crop up on a daily basis. And it did, as one saw smiling, relaxed faces of cops at a motivational session in Roshanabad here, giving a glimpse of their other side, which is the “real one”.

This was due to renowned motivational guru Tapas Das Mohapatra who gave a whirlwind, effective motivational tips in varied sessions in the city.

What set apart this event was that it was not organised by the Police Department, but was a unique gesture worked on by SIDCUL-based industrial house ‘Kirby’.

So from DIG, Haridwar, Sanjay Gunjiyal, Superintendent of City Police Dr Kiran Lal Shaw and Circle Officer Pankaj Bhatt, most higher officials didn’t let this chance go by and attended the motivational session. Senior officers shared laughs with constables as Mohapatra involved everyone with his effective drawing skills. His lectures have surpassed the 2,000 mark.

Such was the impact of the motivational session that Gunjiyal said he would be suggesting to the DIG to have this motivational guru session from Mohapatra at the state level too, so that every cop could benefit from it.

Informing The Tribune, DGM, Kirby Solutions, Sudhir Mehta said seeing the daily routine and work pressure, he thought of holding this motivational session for the cops as he had earlier arranged one such for company employees which was of immense benefit. “Now it has become a norm to put the onus on policemen or blame them for any anti-social act or crime that takes place. But we forget that they are human beings too and are overloaded with work round the clock. So to provide them some moments of relief, which may change their outlook, we thought of organising this motivational session,” said Mehta, who is quite involved in various social works in the city.

“Everyone seemed to be in a different world during the session, and when they came out their body language was quite positive. Earlier, I was a bit apprehensive to have a talk with the cops, but their jovial and simple nature came out fully in the session,” averred Nandani HR of the hosting company.

Mussoorie, April 6
The 11th All-India Inter-School Win Mumby Memorial Basketball Tournament began at the Win Mumby gymnasium at Woodstock School here today.

The event, affiliated with the Basketball Federation of India, was inaugurated by the Principal of the host school David Laurenson.

He said that the tournament is held in the memory of Woodstock Alumnus Winston W Mumby, who was an exceptional athlete, and his son Ted Mumby, who founded the first physical education college in India (Lucknow Christian College). He was also a coach for the Indian Olympic Team in 1932 and the Commonwealth Games in 1934.

The Woodstock School jazz band and the cheerleaders added to the aura of the tournament.

Yadavindra Public School from Patiala, Sherwood College from Nainital, Shri Ram School from Gurgaon, Lawrence School, Sanawar, Modern School, Welham Girls and Boys, Hopetown Girls and Doon Boys from Dehradun and Wynberg Allen, Tibetan Homes and St George’s College from Mussoorie will be vying for the coveted trophy.

The tournament will be held on a league-cum-knockout basis for boys and girls and the final will be held on April 9.

Dehradun, April 6
Inmates of Raphael Ryder Cheshire Home were out on the lawns showcasing activities that brought out their creativity. The occasion was the 53rd Founder’s Day.

Presiding over the function, chief guest Padambir Singh, Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Administration Academy, lauded the efforts of the Raphael. He also urged other organisations to work for the underprivileged and the needy.

Air Marshal BD Jayal, Chairman of Raphael, in his welcome address, traced the history of the institute and recounted the contributions made by Founders Lady Ryder and Lord Cheshire and former Chairman late Major Ranbir Bakshi.

Earlier, the children of Raphael sang a welcome song. A popular game played by children with intellectual disability Boccee was also organised as part of the celebration.

Stalls were put up displaying paper and cloth handicraft prepared by the inmates of Raphael.

The programme ended with a short cultural programme presented by the children.