Dehradun, June 10
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has denied that yoga guru Ramdev has been forcibly taken to Himalayan Hospital, Jolly Grant, by the state authorities.

The Chief Minister said the decision to shift Ramdev to the hospital at Jolly Grant from Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar, had been done taking into account the importance of life of Ramdev for the country. He said Ramdev’s health was deteriorating and there was an urgency to give him the best of medical treatment. Nishank denied that the fast undertaken by the yoga guru had ended with his admission to the hospital.

Meanwhile, spiritual guru Ravishankar met Ramdev. He prayed for early recovery of the latter. Ravishankar, who was coming to Patanajali Yogpeeth, has to rush to Himalayan Hospital to meet Ramdev.

Local MLA Premchand Agarwal also visited the yoga guru at the Jolly Grant hospital. Senior Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik accompanied an indisposed Ramdev from Patanjali Yogpeeth till Himalayan Hospital.

Meanwhile, sources in Himalayan Hospital revealed that the yoga guru’s condition was normal and out of danger.

Haridwar, June 10
With yoga guru Ramdev currently undergoing medical treatment, support and prayers from various quarters have been pouring in wishing both health and success to Ramdev in his ongoing anti-corruption ‘Satyagraha’. First, his supporters thought that he was forcibly taken to a hospital in Haridwar. 

At the agitation spot ‘Yagyashala’ in Patanjali Yogpeeth phase-I, within 10 minutes of Ramdev being taken to Rishikesh for medical treatment, the agitation resumed once again with Patanjali Yogpeeth, Bharat Swabhiman Trust, Divya Yog Mandir and Acharya Kul Trust members, aided by saints and social activists, staging a protest.

Resentment as well concern could be seen on the faces of the followers, aides and even local people as well as pilgrims and tourists who throng the twin pilgrim cities of Haridwar and Rishikesh daily.While the Delhi-Haridwar-Dehradun highway was blocked by Patanjali activists for half an hour, later on the intervention of senior activists, saints and local people, agitating activists dispersed from the highway to the agitation venue.

The saint community has also expressed its concern over Ramdev’s health, hoping that he soon gets well with many in contact with the yoga guru admitted in Jolly Grant Himalayan Hospital, Rishikesh. Swami Ravindra Purji Maharaj and Swami SatyaMitranand Giri Ji who met Ramdev at his agitation venue said the condition of Ramdev was improving a little, urging followers to have patience. While Ravindra Tyagi, convener of the ongoing agitation led by Bharat Swabhiman Trust, said that constant updates of Ramdev’s health to the followers were being given. He urged all to stick to non-violent protest. 

Dehradun, June 10
The Forest Research Institute will host the 24th Session of the International Poplar Commission of the United Nations from October 8 to 12. The conference aims at promoting the cultivation, conservation and utilisation of the poplar trees and willows across the globe.

The five-day event will be attended by delegates from as many as 37 countries, including the US, Argentina, Germany, Canada, China, Iran, Iraq, the UK, Japan, South Africa, Pakistan, Portugal, Korea, Chile, Romania and New Zealand.

Presiding over a meeting of senior officers relating to the event, the Director-General, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dr VK Bahuguna, directed them to conduct the preparations in a speedy manner. He congratulated the officers for securing this prestigious international event to be hosted by the FRI in India for the first time and discussed at length the modalities for a successful hosting of the event.

Bahuguna said the poplar tree was the most preferred tree species in agro forestry system of North India. The poplar willow is used in plywood and board, match and paper industry and in the cricket bat industry.

“Harvested at the age of six years, this species is the backbone of a vibrant plywood and board industry. Indigenous poplars and willows are very important for ecology and socio-economy of the Himalayan region,” Bahuguna said. The meeting was also attended by Dr SS Negi, MS Garbyal and Dr VRR Singh.

Dehradun, June 10
The Army chief, Gen VK Singh, today met Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and appreciated the facilities provided by the state to the ex-servicemen.

General Singh lauded the role of the state government towards providing free of cost land for the construction of a residential colony for ex-servicemen. The General showed keen interest in upcoming Navgrah Vatika in Uttarakhand.

Nishank informed the General about various schemes started by his government for the betterment of the ex-servicemen, widows and members of their families. He said an Eco Task Force had been constituted to rehabilitate the ex-servicemen.

Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RBS Rawat were also present.

Pithoragarh, June 10
A retired schoolteacher through his untiring efforts has established a tribal heritage museum to preserve the depleting Himalayan heritage in Munsiyari town of Pithoragarh district. The aim of the schoolteacher was to o protect the heritage of the Shauka community, living in the Johar valley of the Himalayas at the Indo-China border in the district. The museum has now become the main attraction for the tourists visiting Munisiyari town. 

“Every year more than 1,000 tourists visit this museum which is the only one of its kind in the state and has a Himalayan heritage of the past 1,000 years,” claimed Dr Sher Singh Pangti, a retired school teacher who along with his brother Khushal Singh Pangti created this museum. “The actual shape to this museum could be given only after 1993 when I retired from a government job and settled in my home town,” said Dr Sher Singh Pangti, a research scholar in the history of the Himalayan Shauka tribal people.

The museum contains heritage goods of use to the Himalayan Shauka tribals who reside in the Johar valley of this part of the Himalayas. The museum has daily-use goods, machinery-like hand-run grinders, stone-made rice extracting devices, Nepalese and Indian coins of that age, Shauka and other tribal costumes which used to save the tribes from bitter snow storms during their sojourns to Tibet by crossing the high Himalayan passes at the time of open trade with Tibet before 1962. The museum also contains parts of old water mills used by the Himalayan tribal people during last centuries and the wooden goods of daily use in the kitchen. “The visitors have shown a lot of interest in the wooden locks used by the tribal people to lock their houses at the night time in the absence of the present metal locks,” said Pangti.

“The museum can depict the full view of a Himalayan tribal village with traditional technology in practice and Shauka women in full traditional costumes,” said Abhinav Rather, a tourist from Rajasthan.

According to the owner of the museum, the idea of preserving the old goods used by the tribal community of Johar valley came just after 1962, when due to closure of the Indo-Tibet trade, the tribal villagers of the Johar valley started migrating to lower valleys to settle there and adopt a new pattern of life.

“To adopt to the new ways of life is not bad, but in a hurry to adjust with the new life, the tribal generation started forgetting its rich heritage. Sensing the danger of losing it forever, we started collecting the old goods from the tribal homes and by now have collected more than 300 goods which were in use from 1950 back to year 1000 AD,” said Dr Pangti.

“We have a special section on tribal costumes and ornaments comprising more than 30 items which a tribal woman used to wear on special occasions like marriages in the family,” said Dr Pangti.

He not only collected the heritage items by visiting interior parts of the Johar valley but also could persuade the new generation of the tribal women to wear the rich old costumes of their culture at least on festive occasions.

Dr Pangti feels that preserving the culture of the high Himalayan valleys needs to be taken up seriously. “Even some rare things of old tribal use in the valley of Johar are yet to be collected. The other valleys of Darma and Byans also have their unique cultural heritage that need to be preserved,” said Dr Pangti. 

Pithoragarh June 10
The pre-monsoon showers have started showing their impact in this part of the Kumoan as due to the cloudburst in the area, a house collapsed and three cattle washed away in Teekh Daula village of Kapkot sub-division of Bageshwar district on Wednesday.

“Due to this sudden flash flood, which was caused due to the cloudburst, nearly 10 tolas of gold ornaments and an equal amount of cash lying in the house was washed away as our son had married only last month,” said Tara Singh, who lost his house in the cloudburst.

According to the Puran Verma, patwari of the village, the drinking water tanks in the village have also been washed away. “I have sent a report of the incident to the district administration,” said the patwari.

Govind Danu, Zila Panchayat member, informed this correspondent that as the village lies at the ridge of the hill, three more houses of Dev Singh, Swaroop Singh and Gopal Singh could collapse if further cloudburst occurs in the area.

Other parts of Kumaon region are also reeling under the havoc of the pre-monsoon spell of showers as roads, crops and houses are facing threat from the sharp rains occurring in the area.

“Eight villages in Munsiyari sub-division of Pithorgarh district are engulfed in complete darkness. A tree fell on the electric line as a result of which the power lines have been disconnected. Barakot area of Champawat district and Harbagar area of Bageshwar district have also been disconnected as the motor roads or track routes connecting these areas have been washed away in the rains,” said the district administration officials here.

Dehradun, June 10
To support the cause for an independent Tibet, members of the Bharat Tibet Sahyog Manch will hold a “Tibet Mukti Jan Jagran Yatra” from October to November. The yatra will start from Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh and proceed till Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Giving details about the yatra, Kuldeep Chand Agnihotry, Director, Himachal Univesrity, Regional Centre, Dharamsala, said, “The yatra will pass through different villages, towns and cities of the country to make Indian people aware of the Tibetan issue.”

Expressing herself on the issue, Tibet’s independence, Sam Kyi, member in charge of Tibetan Women Association appealed the Indian Government to take up the Tibet agenda during official meeting between India-China. She urged the Indian Government to press the Chinese government to release the Tibetan prisoners and Lamas in Tibet. 

Mussoorie, June 10
The excitement of the students at Mussoorie Girls Inter College knew no bounds when they were apprised of solar system through a mobile planetarium that was installed at the school premises by the Society of Pollution and Environmental Conservation Scientists (SPECS) today. The students learned about the planetary movement in relation to earth.

The camp was inaugurated by Hemendar Gupta, senior scientist from SPECS. He said the objective of the camp was to disclose the mystery of solar system and astronomy to the students. He said that astronomy was the oldest subject in the world and there was more scope for further discoveries.

He appealed to the students that through the programme “Know your stars” they can satisfy their curiosity about the solar system through interactive question answer sessions.

Ajay Joshi, another scientist, educated the students about the ways to identify the stars in the solar system.

Students also learned about the composition of Sun and activities taking place on daily basis vis-à-vis earth. The students for whom this was first interaction to the stars posed several questions which were answered by the scientists in detail.

A quiz session was also held after the session in which questions were asked from the students regarding what they had learned during the programme.

Mussoorie Girls inter College Principal Abha Shaili thanked the scientists for their effort to inculcate interest among the students about the subject such as science and astronomy in particular and was optimistic that students would gain something through this virtual learning.

The scientists informed that the programme will continue till June 18. These educative tours are supported by Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology and the National Science Academy of India.

Dehradun June 10
Uttarakhand Maati Kala Board formed a year ago in the state is in a state complete neglect. Neither the department nor the staff for the board has been constituted till date. Vinod Arya, vice-president of the board, seems to be the one-man army left to oversee the Board. Arya blamed the sluggishness of the state government in approving the manpower and policies for the board. Regarding the name of chairman, he said, he was not sure that Bansi Dhar Baghat, cabinet minister for Industries, will be the chairman of the Board anymore.

“It was just a year ago in an event of potters that senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh had assured to form Maati Kala Boards in all those state where the BJP-led governments were running and provide employment to the potters. We formed Maati Kala board on February 11 last year but till date we have not been able to create infrastructure and required manpower for it. The laxity of the state government is responsible for this. In Chattisgarh, this board though is doing very well. But I still hope that our proposal for structure and manpower would soon get through,” he said.

Arya said during the last one year, he distributed 40 power wheels to the potters in Haridwar to help them in getting better output and quality product in a lesser period. He also took a group of 25 artisans to Kurukshetra in Haryana and, Khurja town renowned for its excellent potteries in Uttar Pardesh, so that they learn the art of pottery making, especially of bone china material.

He informed, “I have asked Research and Development Center, Khurja, to formulate a project for us after which we will also be able to set up such an industry in Haridwar and, train the potters who have been doing this work for many generations. Till now, they just roll out simple earthenware such as pots, surahi, decorative items, etc. Once this proposal is implemented, it will provide employment to 500 artisans at one stretch”

He saw profitable deal in the promotion of this trade. “The state government has to spend 20-30 crore in providing employment to one thousand people. But with the promotion of pottery, we can give jobs to ten thousand families with an investment of only one crore.”

Dehradun, June 10
The Uttarakhand Ministerial Collectorate Employees’ Union has decided to continue its indefinite strike at the Collectorate till the time the government “wakes up” and fulfils its demands.

Speaking to The Tribune, District Secretary Devender Kumar said they would soon decide about their next step. “The State Principal Secretary, Revenue, PC Sharma, has convened a meeting with the association office-bearers on Wednesday noon, but failed to reach an agreement on the demands,” he affirmed.

Meanwhile, Devendra Sundriyal, district general secretary, said they would intensify their agitation unless demands were met. “We are sitting on protest for nine days at the Collectorate but the state government has turned a deaf ear to us,” he added. 

Dehradun, May 10
A three-member delegation of United States Forest Service (USFS), led by Dr Toral Patel Weynand, Senior Adviser, Bioclimatology, today visited the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) to discuss possible areas of collaborative research in the field of forests and climate change.

Dr VK Bahuguna, Director-General, ICFRE, along with officers and scientists from the council and the Forest Research Institute (FRI), had an interactive session with the members of the delegation at the FRI.

A brief presentation was made highlighting the various research activities of the council. The USFS delegation discussed various research activities undertaken by them and showed a keen interest in forging collaborative ties with ICFRE on the forests and climate change studies.

The areas, which were discussed and identified for collaboration, include monitoring forest carbon stocks, forest ecosystem-based research and assessments, modelling and projections to understand the impact of climate change and adaptation needs in the forestry sector, etc.