Nainital, April 29
Union Minister for Human Resource and Development (HRD) Kapil Sibal laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district today. The stone-laying ceremony was held at Gram Kundeshwari in the Escorts Farm area. This happens to be the first IIM project in the country coming up in a semi-urban area.

In his address, Sibal said the real wealth of a nation was its intellectual capacity. He underlined that the children must be given the independence to choose their careers and it was precisely with this intention in mind that changes were being made in the education setup in the country.

Stating that one has to learn from the past but one has to plan for the future, the minister stated the government intended to develop the area around Kashipur as an educational hub. He said: “Opening more colleges is no big deal but making them into institutions of excellence is the real challenge.” He called upon the Board of Directors of the IIM, Kashipur, to accept the challenge and make it into a centre of excellence.

The gross domestic product (GDP) is not a true indicator of a nation’s development but it is the ideas of the children that are the real wealth of the nation. He asserted that his ministry was committed to maintaining high standards at the IIM, Kashipur, and it would be only merit that would be recognised at the institution. He said the HRD Ministry would be keeping a constant vigil over the developments at the IIM, Kashipur.

Sibal once again expressed his concern over the high dropout rates in education and said in India only 14 per cent of students made it to the universities while the figure in developed world was between 60 and 70 per cent.

Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said in a short span of a decade Uttarakhand had set an example in promoting education and fiscal disciplines. He said at present there were seven academic institutions of international repute in the state.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the institute Dhruv M Sahni said the first session of the IIM would commence from July this year with an enrolment of 60 students. He said to begin with the institute would function from temporary facilities.

Dehradun, April 29
Scores of exiled Tibetans gathered at the Gandhi Park to stage protest against the alleged occupation of Kirti Monastery in Tibet by Chinese troops, and also to commemorate the martyrdom of Phuntsok Lama, who had immolated himself in protest on March 16, this year.

The protesters, comprising Tibetans and Buddhist monks carrying placards, condemned Chinese atrocities and asked the United Nations to intervene so that repression against Tibetans could end. They raised slogans against the Chinese regime and offered prayers for the Tibetan people suffering under the regime.

The Tibetans have also started a 24-hour relay hunger strike that will end on May 7.

In 2008, the Chinese troops had sealed the monastery, making it impossible for monks to move out and devotees to offer food to the monks.

Mussoorie: The Tibetan community in Mussoorie, led by the Tibetan Women’s Association, and members of the Tibetan Youth Congress, paid homage to Thupten Ngodup, who on April 27th, 1998, set himself on fire in Delhi, and died for the cause of Tibetan independence.

The Tibetan community, including the students, held special prayers at Buddha temple early this morning, and offered floral tributes to the martyr. The Tibetan Women’s Association president, Kalsang Dolma felicitated 85-year-old Kunsung, who had accompanied Thondup during the hunger strike 13 years ago.

Dehradun, April 29
In keeping with the contemporary times, though torch bearers of a legendary tradition of Benares gharana that has enriched the cultural landscape of the country, the Mishra Badhus, led by the elder Ritesh Mishra, will like the new generation to do away with the traditional gharana system and instead focus on uniting all schools under one banner.

“We are proud of our heritage but it is time that we did away with the old schools systems and instead opt for a unified school called the Hindustani gharana,” said Ritesh, while speaking with the Tribune on the sidelines of a vocal recital held today at the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing auditorium and organised by the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture (SPIC MACAY).

Following in the classical tradition of Pandit Rajan Mishra and Sajan Mishra, the sons are enlivening the sixth generation of the family of great musicians but are very much keyed to the changing times. “As members of different gharanas, we have learnt and sung the same ragas, so why should we have different schools; this nomenclature creates controversies and fissures. Such tendencies should be eliminated as music has power to unite people even across borders,” stressed Ritesh Mishra.

Schooled by their father and uncle, the brothers have been performing for the past 18 years and the chemistry between them is evident the way both of them complement each other on the stage. “I must tell you that the values instilled by our Gurus ensured that both of us gave equal space to each other. We have been together in our musical journey because of the values of togetherness and cooperation instilled by our parents,” said Rajnish Mishra.

While Ritesh began his apprenticeship as a vocalist, Rajneesh first experimented with playing tabla, finally switching to vocal music and the team was formed. “We both give space to each other; whenever I feel Ritesh wants to take centre stage, I give away and this gesture is reciprocated by my brother,” emphasised Ritesh.

Though they have CDs (compact discs) to their credit, they prefer live performances. “The CDs have no life, the memory of people is short-lived; as such we prefer live performances. They take you to another world and there 
is this instant connection with the audience,” stressed Rajnish.

The duo dazzled the audiecnes with their superlative performance that began with Malhar raag and ended with a bhajan from the Ramayana. 

Dehradun, April 29
Uttarakhand Potable Water Minister Prakash Pant has underlined the need for concerted efforts to fully realise the potential of riverbank filtration in Uttarakhand, even as the state government reiterated its commitment to provide pure and safe drinking water to the people.

Pant was addressing the inaugural session of the three-day Indo-German workshop on river bank filtration, jointly organised by Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology, in assistance with the Division of Water Science, University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, Germany, the Department of Science and Technology New Delhi, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkie, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, and Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board, here today.

He said while river bank filtration was being seen as having a great potential for improving both quantity and quality of water supplies throughout the country, it could be a boon for Uttarakhand, where providing potable water was a big challenge.

Prof Thomas Grischek, Division of Water Science, University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, Germany elaborated on Indo-German cooperation in carrying out research in river bank filtration.

He said states like Uttarakhand, having a large number of rivers, could be greatly benefited from the River Bank Filtration technique.

Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology Director General Dr Rajendra Dobhal said the recommendations of the workshop would be sent both to Uttarakhand and Central Governments. He emphasized on the need to exchange on going research and ideas between India and Germany.

HP Uniyal, Director, Uttarakhand Planning Commission, DD Dimri, Chief General Manager, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, and Prakash Chandra Kimothi, Secretary Appraisal, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, were the other prominent participants on the first day of the workshop.

Significantly, river bank filtration is being used to provide drinking water to communities located near water bodies, typically rivers.

The process involves digging of wells adjacent to rivers to extract the underground water, which needs no purification, and is totally fit for drinking. 

Dehradun , April 29
The cadets of Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) go through various co-curricular activities throughout the year. The intersection quiz is an integral part of the co-curricular activities conducted at the college. Every term, the quiz is conducted in two phases, one at the beginning of the term and the other at the end of the term. The cadets take a keen interest in preparing and participating in the quiz. 

This term also the first round was conducted in the beginning of the term and the second round of the quiz was conducted on April 28. The quiz consisted of many rounds like the current affairs round, the nature round, the science round, the audio round, the video round, the brain teasers round and the buzzer round. All the sections were on the same level till the buzzer round after which Ranjit Section led the points table and emerged victorious.

The final results of the quiz were as follows.

1st - Ranjit Section (175 points), 2nd- Chandragupta Section (130 points), 3rd - Pratap Section (115 points), 4th - Shivaji Section (100 points).

The chief guest at the prize distribution function was Col. PK Kumaria, Commandant, RIMC. He congratulated and complimented all cadets for competing whole heartedly in the competition and wished them to do even better in the days to come. The overall coordinator of the event was P K Sharma supported by Selvan, Neeraj Negi, and Vineet

Mathews. The quiz masters of the evening were Santh

Kumar, Neelam Kaushik, Shishupal and Taiyaba

Khatoon. Other dignitaries present on the occasion were Lt Col A Tiwari, Wg Cdr SK Thapliyal, Major SR Sahu, KS Ahlawat, CS Vishwakarma. 

Dehradun , April 29
Welham Girls’ School defeated Moravian School by four goals in the Dehradun District Council Schools Association Inter-school Girls’ Hockey Tournament played at Unison school here today.

The tournament was inaugurated by PS Kalra, principal, Guru Nanak Academy. The teams took part in a march past and then took an oath to uphold the spirit and honour of the game. A total of six teams are participating in the tournament.

In the opening match, Welham School, the defending champions trounced Moravian School 4-0. Welham girls played better hockey and scored two goals in both the halves to defeat their opponents.

Dehradun April 29
After defeating Monal House by 6 wickets, Mandakini House won the final of Shri Rohitash Memorial Boys’ Super 8 Inter House Cricket Tournament-2011, here today.

Monal house won the toss and elected to bat first. In the first innings Monal scored 31 runs for the loss of 3 wickets, while Mandakini scored 40 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.

In the second innings Monal scored 30 runs for the loss of 6 wickets, while Mandakini scored 22 runs lossing 2 wickets.

St Thomas College-B beat academy

St Thomas College-B registered a win over Raja Ram Mohan Roy Academy by 5 wickets in the ongoing 16th Gardner Premier League Inter-School Indoor Cricket tourney, here today.

In the second match, The Aryan School beat Carman School, Prem Nagar, by two wickets with Aman’s top scoring 13 runs for the winning side. Also, St Jude’s School scored a 38-run win over Hilton School in the third match.

Basketball

Mandakini House beat Sagwan House

In the Inter-House Senior Girls Basket Ball tournament organised at The Heritage School, Mandakini House defeated Sagwan House by making maximum baskets, here today.

There was a tough fight for the trophy between the Houses, but Mandakini won the match by 3 points.

However, Sagwan House made 18 baskets and Mandakini made 21 baskets. 

Dehradun April 29
The students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Mohkampur, celebrated its annual sports competition at the Sardar Bhagwan Singh PG Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, here today. Various sporting events took place in which both girls and boys participated. The chief guest of the programme, SC Negi, Principal, Sports College, Dehradun, was accompanied by UC Aggarwal as the guest of honour, and NS Rana, Education Officer, KVS, Regional office, Dehradun, as the special guest.

Results

4X100m relay race for senior boys: Arun I, and Ajay II

1Km walk: Ajay I, and Ayush II

800m: Sunil I, and Amit II

Senior Group (girls)

400m: Madhuri I

200m: Arushi

Junior Group (boys)

600m:Ravindra Bhandari I, and Ravindara Kandari II

400m: Mudit I, and Pravesh II

200m: Vishal I, and Abhisek II

Junior group (girls)

400m: Kanchan I, and Anchal II

200m: Shivani Negi I, and Shivani II

100m: Saifali I, and Deepika II

Sub junior Group (boys)

Rolling ball: Vansh Thapa I, and Ankur II

Frog Race: Varun I, and Divyanshu II

Dress up race: Vivanshu Saini I, and Harsh II

Sack race: Ambuj I, and Shivang Rawat II

Obstacle race: Rohit Negi I, and Shubham Rawat II

Sub junior Group (Girls)

Imerti race: Anupama Rawat I, Sakshi II

Make up race: Tanya I , Sunidhi II

Three-leg race: Anushka and Shreya I, Shivani and Nidhi II

One-leg race: Sweety Varma I, Simran II

Shuttle-run race: Kiran Thapliyal I, Aradhna II

200m race for Female teachers: Alka Tariyal I , Binita Jugran II, and

Sarita Pandey III

50m back race for male staff: Kartar I, Arvind II, and Sunil Saini III.