Dehradun , June 14
With a view to reduce poverty in the hill districts by enabling rural households to take sustainable livelihood opportunities integrated with economy, Integrated Livelihood Support Project (ILSP) is slated to be launched under International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). The estimated project to the tune of Rs.400 crore will comprise 48 per cent for food security and livelihood enhancement and 45 per cent for watershed development. A meeting presided over by the Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar was held at Secretariat on Tuesday to discuss the implementation of the project.

The Chief Secretary directed the officials concerned to prepare a draft project formulation report including details of the project design to be ready by the end of July and a final design (appraisal) mission would be filed from August 8 to September 9 followed by drafting of loan agreement and approval by the IFAD Executive Board in December 2011.

He stressed on the adherence to the time frame so that subsidy could be availed by the beneficiaries. The strategy behind ILSP would be to support and develop the food production systems as main means of support for most households. This would involve improving technologies for production of traditional food crops and livestock and developing supporting services for input supply and marketing of any surpluses, he added.

To make food production more secure, he maintained that project would also support the production of fodder and other non-timber forest products in community forest areas (Van Panchyats).

The Chief Secretary said that thrust of the project was to generate cash incomes through the introduction and expansion of cash crops. Significant production of off-season vegetables, such as potatoes, tomatoes and peas and some fruit would get technological support and help for marketing . Availability of self employment avenues and livelihood would check migration form hills, he further said.

He informed that a component of the project would include food security and livelihood enhancement, and another component would include participatory watershed development, while a third component would include livelihood financing.

The project would also focus on building of the skills of rural people resulting in new and more remunerative jobs and self employment. He said that empowerment of women through access to more remunerative sources of livelihood, reduction in drudgery and participation in project institutions would also be ensured.

Those who took part in the meeting included Secretary Rural Development Om Prakash, Team Leader IFAD Edward Mallorie and other senior officers.

Dehradun, June 14
A group of 20 students along with the Principal and a teacher of Unison World School returned to the city from their international three-day educational programme today.

The group had gone to Kennedy Space Centre, New York, Orlando, Florida and Niagara as part of the programme. They had undertaken various educational tours and even had lunch with NASA astronauts.

They also spent time in classrooms at NASA learning about various space exploration projects. They also visited The Intrepid Museum.

According to the Dean of Activities, Trilok Singh Bist, “The students and teachers enjoyed this trip. They also visited the wax museum of Madame Tussaud’s and had fun getting them clicked with the was statues of different personalities.”

“Such national and international trips are a part of our curriculum at Unison World School and each time the girls visit a place they come refreshed and recharged to face the challenges of this complex world,” he added.

Dehradun, June 14
Dr Vasudha Pande, a historian from Delhi University, said today that the myth of the Gorkhali misrule in Kumaon was overplayed by some of the historians and to this day, the misgivings about the Gorkha rule continued to be in the minds of the people.

She said historians had to base their arguments with evidence and incidents of Gorkhali brutalities were a few and far between. “Both the British and Gorkha rulers displayed imperialistic tendencies, but some of the historians in Kumaon have gone on and on about brutalities perpetuated by these rulers, ignoring the commonalities. The 16th and 17th centuries was the period when expansionist tendencies were at its peak and whatever excesses were committed should be viewed in that context,” emphasised Prof Pande, while talking to The Tribune at the ongoing international seminar: “Before emergence of nation states: Indo-Nepal relations through Uttarakhand”.

Dr Pande said the relationship between Kumaon and Nepal was at its peak during the rule of Niranjan Mal Deo, who established the medieval kingdom of Doti that comprised the far western region of Nepal and the areas of Kumaon.

She said the Centre should establish relationship with Maoist rulers in Nepal, as the people had democratically elected them. “I do not what is holding back the Indian Government? It should reconcile with the fact that the government has been democratically elected by the people,” emphasised Pande.

Similar views were expressed by Dr KC Surendra, department of diplomatic history, Tribhuwan University (Nepal), who said India had a far-reaching influence in Nepal and added that the foundation of the Maoist movement in Nepal was “laid” in India. “It was 60 years ago that the Maoist movement was launched in Kolkata and all along, it had the support of intellectual classes,” he said. He said as a citizen of Nepal, he was awaiting a thaw in the relationship between India and Nepal.“It is sad that the Nepalese Prime Minister has not visited India for the past three years. We need to revive the relationship because it is a great loss for both the countries, whose people are bound by the same culture,” he added.

Dehradun June 14
Addressing media in his party office here today, Vinod Barthwal, state president of Samajwadi Party (SP), targeted the Congress for playing a conspiracy to silent Baba Ramdev’s voice against black money laundering by carrying a tirade against him. He demanded a session in Parliament to have a discussion on black money and corruption prevailing in the country.

Barthwal also attacked Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for addressing terrorist Osama Bin Laden as ‘Osama Ji’ and, Ramdev as ‘thug’, which he said, described “Congress leader’s cheap mentality.”

SP leader said the Muslims were not getting ample employment opportunities. Therefore, recommendations of Sachchar Committee and Ranganath Mishra Report should be implemented.

He also suggested that a ‘Himalaya Development Authority’ should be floated. This should include all hill states and should be headed by Prime Minister.

Reiterating his stand on the implementation of the Right to Education Act, he sought 25 per cent reservation for poor children in private schools. For the deteriorating traffic and law and order situation, he said, he would meet the officials concerned and discuss the issues. 

Dehradun, June 14
Rain played spoilsport during a protest of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at Gandhi Park here today. The protest was held against corruption and rising inflation and many senior leaders of the party from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand had reached the venue to address the protesters.

When the rain started, the audience took shelter under the trees and sheds while the leaders had to suspend their speeches till the rain slowed down.

The leaders of the BSP, including Transport Minister, UP, Ram Achal Rajbar, made their presence felt at the podium before an audience, which did not match the strength of the leaders.

The other striking feature of the rally was the audacity of the workers of the BSP who parked their vehicles inside the park flouting the rules. The BSP leaders later faxed a six-point agenda to the Governor.

While addressing the protesters, the leaders made scathing attacks on the Congress for increasing inflation. The state in charge of the party, Dr Megh Raj Singh, said: “It has been standard rule with the Congress to first come into power by lowering inflation and after attaining power it goes on to increase inflation to benefit those who supported it with money during the elections. This way it has hiked the prices of patrol and diesel 11 times in the past one year.”

Meghraj denounced the alleged highhandedness of the Congress in crushing Ramdev’s agitation. At the same time he criticised the BJP for adopting tactics to cash in on mistakes of the Congress. He asked people to vote only for the BSP to change the prevalent system and asked them to overlook petty concerns of caste, creed, religion and focus only on the symbol of their party.

Ram Achal Rajbhar, Transport Minister, said both the Congress and the BJP were two sides of the same coin. Both had been involved in one scam or the other.

“These parties had been blaming each other for the scams but neither of these have ever tried to get to the bottom of these scams,” he said.

The governments of both the Congress and the BJP in Uttarakhand had slowed down the pace of development by complicating the procedure of getting caste and domicile certificates. Now, property documents dating back to the 1950s are required to get these certificates.

He advocated the day of the formation of the state be fixed as the date for the required documents. Rajbar also demanded the right of ownership for those who had built their houses on the land in the state.

Mohammad Shahzad, MLA, mourned the death of Swami Nigamananda, saying that it was unfortunate that he was utterly neglected by the state government. Speaking on the Assembly elections, he said corruption and inflation would remain the chief issues.

Pithoragarh, June 14
Congress workers, led by Pithoragarh district Congress chief Mahindra Singh Lunthi, today gheraoed the District Medical Officer to register their protest against inadequate medical facilities in the district.

“Despite Pithoragrah being the home district of a senior cabinet minister in the state government and the state unit chief of the ruling party also belonging to the district, there is an acute shortage of medical staff as well as medicines in the district hospitals,” said Ravindra Singh Bisht, member of the AICC.

According to the Congress workers, a total of 105 posts of doctor are vacant in the hospitals of the district. Of these five posts are of senior specialist in the main district hospital.

“A minister in the Uttarakhand Cabinet and local MLA Prakash Pant has been assuring the people of the district for a long time that these posts would be filled but nothing has been done so far,” said Bisht.

Workers of the Youth Congress also participated in the gherao. They warned the state government that if the health care in the district hospitals, which also cater to the patients from the neighbouring country of Nepal, is not improved, then the Youth Congress will launch an agitation.

“If vacant posts of doctor are not filled and sufficient quota of medicines is not provided to the hospitals in the district, then the Youth Congress will lock up the CMO’s office,” said Anil Mahara, state general secretary of the Uttarakhand Youth Congress. — OC

Dehradun, June 14
Battling with a manpower shortage that have left several Community Health Centres (CHC) without the services of the medical staff, the Uttarakhand Health Department is planning to run them under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

The government has invited bids for running the CHCs and its future course of action will depend upon the response to the initiative.

“We will be selecting one CHC in each district of the state that is thickly populated and witness a large number of patients at OPDS, but due to staff shortage, the needs of the patients are not being served, said,” Dr Asha Mathur, Director General Health and Family Welfare (Health Directorate).

The Uttarakhand Government is viewing the PPP mode as a viable option for running services that have been stalled due to the absence of the medical staff.

In 2009, the government had planned to run some of the district hospitals located in the remote areas under the PPP mode. The project was to start with the Chakrata and Pauri areas of Uttarakhand. However, it failed to take off.

Dehradun, June 14
Alleging “carelessness” in utilising the funds released by the Centre for the development of tourist spots of Dehradun, the Mahanagar Congress Committee, Dehradun, held a protest outside the Uttarakhand Paryatan Vikas Parishad headquarters and submitted a memorandum to its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Workers of the party, led by Anil Negi, general secretary, reached the headquarters and raised slogans against the department and the state government. Following the protest they handed the memorandum to the CEO. According to the memorandum, the Centre had sanctioned about Rs 2.5 crore on March 8, 2011, for the development of infrastructure in the city, including roads, streetlights and tourism convenience centres, and for the beautification of several places.

However, the protesters alleged, no work had been started on these projects so far. The Congress doubted the intention of the department and the government over the utilisation of the funds released by the Centre. The Central funds are to be used for development works within a stipulated time period. The workers of the party said the state government had been accusing the Centre of not allocating funds to it but the ground reality was that the funds were not being utilised due to carelessness on the part of the government.

The workers warned that if the funds released by the Centre were not utilised in a proper manner, he party would be forced to go for a major agitation and the Uttarakhand Paryatan Vikas Parishad would be responsible for the same.

Pithoragarh, June 14
Railway Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, and DFA, Benaras, defeated Army Junior Boys, Lucknow, and JCT, Phagwara, respectively on the fourth day of the All-India Football Tournament played at DS Bisht Stadium here today. The first match between RCF, Kapurthala, and Army Junior Boys, Lucknow, was decided through penalty shootout while the second match between DFA, Benaras, and JCT, Phagwara, ended at the score 1-0 in favour of the Benaras team.

“Both the teams in the first match scored one goal each in the second half of the match but finally we had to resort to penalty shoot out to get a decision,” said VS Waldia, secretary of the committee which is organising the tournament.

State BJP president Bishan Singh Chufal was the chief guest for the second match of the tournament while Dharam Chand, former Asiad boxer, was the chief guest for the first match. — OC