Haridwar, June 6
Although Ramdev has been claiming that his agitation is apolitical with no one allowed to using this as a means to realise their political aspirations, today firebrand leader Uma Bharti declared at Patanjali Yogpeeth that she had come there as a politician to express solidarity with the yoga guru.

While talking to The Tribune, Uma Bharti said prior to her coming to Patanjali, she had made it clear to Ramdev that she would be coming as a political persona as her “karma” is politics while her personal life is that of a ‘sanyasin’ (saint).

She had a closed-door meeting with Ramdev and later revealed to the media that she had expressed solidarity with Ramdev on his agitation and would be following his movement till it reached its zenith.

When questioned about her political future, Uma Bharti, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, said she wanted to be an active worker of the BJP again. “All depends on BJP national chief Nitin Gadkari as the sole decision of the party will be taken by him only. I also have told him that my second phase of political career in the BJP lies in his calling only”. Earlier, she had contradictions with some senior leaders of the party in 2006.

On the yoga guru’s “Satyagraha”, she said she would also be meeting Anna Hazare also as both the causes were common man centric, which the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre was trying to curb at all cost.

She termed the police action at the Ramleela Ground in Delhi as barbaric. It hurt the very Gandhian principles of ahimsa. “I have been advocating for bringing back black money stashed in foreign banks for the past 20 years and involved in varied social agitations, but never seen such a barbaric attempt like the one made in Delhi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi should make apology not only to Ramdev but also to all the people involved in the movement,” she said.

Bhimtal, June 6
Defending the action taken by the Central Government against yoga guru Ramdev, Union Minister and senior Congress leader from Uttarakhand Harish Rawat has charged the latter with promoting the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In an interaction with the media on the sidelines of a programme launched by the Directorate of Cold Water Fisheries here, Rawat said: “I would appeal to the BJP and the RSS not to exploit Ramdev’s image as a yoga guru for political gains. The impression that has been going out is that he, too, is promoting the Sangh’s agenda.”

He stated that the Delhi Police had enough input that Ramdev was instigating the people for taking the law into their own hands.

Calling the RSS and its affiliates as “anti-establishment” forces, Rawat also launched a scathing attack on the entire Sangh Parivar for trying to use the ongoing developments for drawing political mileage.

“What they could not achieve in 2004 and 2009, even during the height of the Ayodhya movement and despite the Gujarat riots of 2002, they were trying to do so by moving against democracy by making use of democracy,” he underlined.

When asked about the charges of the Central Government having acted in an undemocratic manner, he said the Central Government was responsible for carrying out talks, which it did with the desired results. The rest, according to him, was the job of the police and the law-enforcing agencies.

On the issue of corruption, he said the government was serious on the issue and was trying to tackle the issue. “We have included civil society in the initiative. There are certain ‘black laws’ on which suggestions are welcome. We are open to formulation of new laws,” he said. Rawat said the government was even making efforts to get the details of the black money deposited in foreign banks.

Haridwar, June 6
Despite being the home city of Ramdev, a stiff opposition to his agitation has also been witnessed in the pilgrim city, particularly from the Congress and surprisingly from the religious heads. Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Harish Rawat, who also represents the Haridwar parliamentary constituency, said Ramdev’s agitation had backing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

Noted religious head Jyotipeethadeeshwar Shankaracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati too has termed the ongoing agitation by Ramdev as more of a ‘drama’. Shankaracharya Swaroopannad said if Ramdev had so much love for the nation, then why was he pursuing the high-tech agitation while putting at risk the lives of lakhs of people in Delhi.

Meanwhile, activists of the Sewa Dal of the Congress staged a protest here. They said Ramdev had misguided both the government and people about using the ground for agitation. Initially, he had sought permission from the administration to use the ground to hold yoga sessions.

Dehradun, June 6
The Uttarakhand Secondary Education and Examination Council (USEEC) declared the results of Classes X and XII examinations today. Securing 95.2 per cent marks in Class XII examinations, Kanchan Kumar Kandpal of Nainital has topped the state in the science stream. Amit Semalty of Tehri Garhwal stood second with 88.6 per cent marks.

Ankita Chauhan (88.4 per cent) and Vijaypal Singh Rawat (88.2 per cent) have been declared the third and the fourth, respectively.

In Class X exams, Nishant Kaushik of Kashipur has topped the state with 94.6 per cent marks. Neelam Bisht of Almora stood second with 94.4 per cent marks followed by Shivam Keriwal of Kashipur with 93.4 per cent.

In Dehradun, Megha Mishra of Government Girls Intermediated College, Rajpur Road, and Yash Arora of Government Inter-College, Dakpatthar, secured 91.2 per cent marks in their high school exams.

Following them closely was Shefali of Government Girls Inter-College, Bullawala, with 90.40 per cent marks.

Pradeep Kumar Kushwaha of Government Inter-College, Dharampur, stood sixth in the state in the intermediate exams with 87.6 per cent marks.

Nearly 30, 7639 students had taken the exams this year. A total of 17,8480 appeared for the high school board examinations while 12, 9159 for the intermediate examinations.

CS Gwal, Director (School Education), Uttarakhand, has congratulated students for their success.

Others Achievers

High School: Ritika Bisht (Almora) 93.20%, Girish Bourai (Kashipur) 92%, Ashish Kumar (Pauri Garhwal) 91%, Bharti Singh (Khatima) 91%, Rajat Granthi (Uttarkashi) 91%, Anuj Kumar Singh (Chamba) 91%, Deepak Bhatt (Almora) 91%,

Himanshu Negi (Srinagar) 90.8% , Kritika Khulbe (Almora) 90.8%, Aditi (Jaspur) 90.8%, Anmol Arora (Jaspur) 90.6%

Intermediate: Atish Kumar Maurya (Pauri Garhwal) 87.8%, Pradeep Kumar Kushwaha (Dehradun) 87.6%, Deepak Gusain (Chamoli) 87.6%, Garima (Pauri Garhwal) 87.4%, Ajay Shankar Bangwal (Uttarkashi) 87.2%.

Pithoragarh, June 6
A 40-member relief and rescue team of the ITBP has been deputed at the Gunji camp on the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra route to help the pilgrims on their 69-km trek between Sirkha and Nabhidhang in case of any natural disaster.

“The team will be based at Gunji and in case of any eventuality it will rescue pilgrims from the disaster-hit area,” said Vishwamitra Anand, Commandant, ITBP. A chopper of the Indian Army will be on standby during the four-month of yatra to airlift pilgrims in case of an emergency, he added.

“The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra remains risky in this part of the Himalayas as the danger of landslides and shooting stones looms large in the area,” said the Commandant.

Meanwhile, the ITBP personnel have completed the work on installing red flags on both sides of the 3500-metre-long patch between Nabhidhang and the Lipulekh Pass. This stretch of the trek route becomes invisible due to a thick cover of snow. “We have also installed the solar lights on both sides of the stretch. Now, it is not only traceable due to the red flags but also has good visibility condition,” said the ITBP Commandant. 

Bhimtal, June 6
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Harish Rawat has called for promotion of cold-water fisheries for giving a new face to the economic development and tourism in the region.

Inaugurating a two-day meeting between the Directorate of Cold Water Fisheries Research (DCFR) and the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) held here on Monday, the minister said there was tremendous potential for developing cold-water fisheries in the region. “This place can be turned into an angler’s delight,” he pointed out.

Rawat said the Central Government was laying emphasis on promoting research in the fisheries sector.

Giving an example, he said the breeding of golden mahaseer was being promoted with the help of a Hungarian technique.

“Our job is to carry out the research and field trials but I must say that the extension of the programme has to be done by the state government,” he said. Rawat has asked all the hill states to make use of the latest research and the techniques developed for promoting cold-water fisheries as a major economic activity in their respective areas.

The Director of the DCFR, Dr PC Mahanta, said there was a need at the policy level to understand the difference between the inland fisheries and cold-water fisheries.

He expressed his happiness that under the 12th Plan, cold-water fisheries had been recognised as a separate sector.

The Deputy Director-General (Fisheries), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr B Meena Kumari, spoke o the issue of lots of research being facilitated by the government in the fisheries sector. She said a lot of work had been done in the partnership mode, and it needed to be intensified.

The KVKs are the ideal partners for the purpose, she added.

Deputy Director-General (Extension), ICAR, Dr KD Kokate, pointed out that fisheries was providing livelihood and financial security to more than 14.5 million people in India. He called for development of proper harvest and post-harvest infrastructure. While calling for development of infrastructure and promoting cold-water fisheries, he also underlined the need for a proper enforcement of existing legislative measures.

Pithoragarh, June 6
After getting partial success in removing new liquor shops from near their respective villages in March, women of two dozen villages in the Koirala valley in Champawat district are again up in arms against liquor use as according to them, the menace has been destroying their families.

“The liquor shops opened in the area during the past 10 years have destroyed our families,”said Devki Devi of Kyeeti village of the valley.

According to Prakash Joshi, a local poet and resident of Joshikhola, 25 km from the Champawat district headquarters, the first phase of the anti-liquor movement has been completed. In this phase volunteers of the movement, Nasha Mukta Parivesh, contacted villagers in the valley and appealed to them to join the movement. “The valley, which was once rich in ginger production,has now been gripped by the liquor menace, as most male members of the families living in the valley have become addicted to liquor,” said Joshi.

Most of the male members of the families work under the MNREGA scheme where they get Rs 120 per day as wages.They spend the amount on liquor and go home empty-handed creating problems for their families.

“It is women who are running the families as they too work under the employment guarantee scheme,” said Joshi.

“Liquor is also ruining the future of the area as children are facing financial problems in continuing their education beyond Class X,” said Joshi, who is coordinating the movement.

“Before the liquor shops were opened 10 years ago, liquor consumption was low,”he said.

The next phase of the movement will be run by women of the Mahila Mangal Dals of the area and schoolchildren, said Joshi. “Thereafter, the movement will cover the whole of Champawat district,”he added.

“Had liquor not been made so easily available by the state government, liquor addiction would not have spread and destroyed our families,”said Manju,leader of the Mahila Mangal Dal in Matela village of the valley.