Dehradun, July 31
A man was awarded death sentence by a local court for abducting and killing a 12-year-old boy, here yesterday. Additional District Judge Sehdev Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1.1 lakh on the convict. However, the confirmation of the death sentence will come from the High Court.

Nitesh Kumar, son of Chukhuwala resident Ram Rattan, had gone missing on May 27, 2008. His father received a call from Ganesh Sahu who sought Rs 5 lakh as ransom. He reported the matter to the police on the morning of May 28. Acting on the complaint, the Kotwali police arrested Sahu on May 30.

The cops recovered a mobile phone, which was used for making the extortion call, from his possession. During the police questioning, he admitted to killing Nitesh to take “revenge” on his father. He also alleged that Ram Rattan, who was a contractor, didn’t pay him for the various works done by him. He instead abused and beat him up whenever he asked for money. Thus he wanted to teach Rama Rattan a lesson by killing his son, 
he added.

He also told the police that he only wanted to kill his son and did not do it for money. On Sahu’s information, the police had recovered the boy’s body from the jungles of Channa Bhatta on the Saharanpur road.

There were injury marks on the neck and the body he was found hanging from a tree.

A total of 16 persons, including local residents and councillors, were deposed as witnesses in the case.

Sahu was booked under sections 302 and 364 A of the IPC. While for hiding evidence he was chrged under section 201 of the IPC and was awarded seven-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 for the offence.

Meanwhile, the last time a death sentence was pronounced here was in December 22, 2006, in a case in which Jiyalal had killed a seven-year-old girl after raping her. The sentence was awarded to the convict by the court of Upper District and Sessions Judge (II) Mina Tiwari. 

Mussoorie, July 31
The regional artistes, under the banner of the Uttarakhand Film and Culture Development Association, began a campaign to highlight their demand for the inclusion of the Garhwali and Kumaoni dialects in the 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution.

More than 12 theatre and film artistes and singers gathered at the Gandhi Chowk and raised slogans in support of their demand. Street plays were also organised in this regard. The artistes then marched up to Shaheed Sthal where they paid tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives during the Uttarakhand agitation.

The creative fraternity, through the street plays, emphasised preserving the local dialects at any cost so that the unique identity of the hills remains intact.

The coordinator of the street plays, Poonam Thapa, said they would travel across the state to created awareness on the inclusion of the two dialects in the Constitution.

Garhwali film director and producer Pradeep Bhandari addressed the gathering and lauded MP Satpal Maharaj for seeking the inclusion of the two dialects in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The regional singers like Preetam Bhartwan, Meena Rana, Jitendar Panwar, Uma Rana, Reshma Shah also extended their support to the demand. Girish Pahari, Nidhi Singh, Prem Pancholi, Shivendar Rawat, Prem Khanduri and Sandeep Prabhakar and others were also present. 

Dehradun, July 31
The annual general meeting of the Dehradun Ex-servicemen League was held at Gorkhali Sudhar Sabha at Garhi today. On the occasion, the 18th newsletter magazine of the league in the shape of a booklet was also released.

Around 400 ex-servicemen and the members of their families participated in the meeting. During the deliberations, they discussed the schemes for the welfare of the ex-servicemen, said Lieut-Col BM Thapa (retd), general secretary of the league.

The president of the league, Brig KG Behl (retd), Major-Gen Shamsher Singh (retd) and Major-Gen RP Singh (retd) were also present on the occasion. The event was organised by MLA (Rajpur) Ganesh Joshi who promised the ex-servicemen all help.

Colonel Thapa said the state government had passed orders on their demands, including the setting up of a war memorial for which Rs 1 crore had been sanctioned and no VAT on the purchase of vehicles. 

Dehradun, July 31
On the first day of the “Theatre fest-11” on Saturday evening, noted theatre director Bhanu Bharti presented "Tamasha Na Hua", a play written as a tribute to the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, whose 150th birth anniversary is being celebrated this year.

The theatre festival is being organised by REACH, a cultural organisation at the ONGC auditorium here.

The play is experimental in nature, the scene opens with artistes rehearsing Tagore’s play “Muktdhara”, which is a play within a play. But before the play could progress any further, the actors begin questioning the relevance of the play in the present time. Thus follows a long argument eventually forcing a discussion on the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi’s “ideology over Rabindranath Tagore and vice-versa” and the issue of man’s freedom in the present time.

The characters also comment on the prevailing condition of farmers in the country and the economic hardships being faced by them that have even led to suicides.However, the debate remains inconclusive and the play unperformed. In the process, conceptual and practical problems of the contemporary theatre are also visited. The play is an attempt to provoke a dialogue about the changing human values and conditions that most of the people often find ourselves dealing within our daily lives. Bhanu Bharti has over 50 productions to his credit. His major works are “Chandrama Singh urf Chamku”, “Ras Gandharva”, “Azar Ka Khawab” and “Yamgatha”.

The cast included Tekkam Joshi, Rajesh Sharma, Tilak Raj, Shauraya, Amit Singh, Ravi Khaanwilkar, Daksha Sharma, Danish Iqbal, Lakshay Goyal, Deepak Pandey. 

Dehradun July 31
A day-long workshop on e-Comprehensive Teaching Learning Tool (e-CTLT) was conducted at Kendriya Vidyalaya 2, Haathibarkala, here yesterday. The workshop began with the welcome of N S Rana, Education Officer, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Dehradun, accompanied by D P Mamgain, Principal of the school. Rana motivated the teachers to change their mindset and become technology savvy.

M S Chauhan, Assistant Commissioner, KVS, Chandigarh Region, also expressed views on the occasion. He reiterated that the aim should be to evolve the education system. Anjanli Dwivedi, KV2, Ferozpur, and Harminder Suri, KV, Pinjore, also threw light on the role of computer in library management and teaching the learning process. Also Zafar Iqbal, a science teacher, KV, Chandigarh Region, gave information about the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) result automation software prepared for Classes I to X. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by A K Varshey, a Hindi teacher, KV2, Dehradun. 

WITH only six months left for the next assembly elections in the state, all major political parties have started their campaigns to woo different sections of the population. A major tussle has also been started among various political parties to influence the Muslim voters of the state who comprise the largest minority in the state. Interestingly, the Muslims in Uttarakhand constitute roughly 10 per cent of the total population and have the capacity to influence the outcome of polls in many assembly segments in the districts of Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar and Dehradun.

Since the creation of separate state of Uttarakhand, the Muslims in the state, particularly in these three districts of terai, had overwhelmingly voted for either the Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) or the Congress in the past two assembly polls held in 2002 and 2007. The BSP through its social engineering was able to win seven assembly seats in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

The party won two seats in Udham Singh Nagar district and five in Haridwar mainly due to the combination of Muslims and Scheduled Caste votes. In 2007 assembly polls, the BSP repeated its feat by capturing eight assembly segments, one more than their previous tally. They got six seats in Haridwar district, one more seat than in 2002 assembly polls.

However, the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 marked a major shift in the politics of Haridwar. Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat shifted to the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat after his home constituency of Almora in the Kumoan region was declared as reserved for the Scheduled Caste candidate. The entry of senior Congress leader in the fray changed the scenario of the politics of the area as Harish Rawat, a shrewd politician, was able to win over two of the sitting BSP legislators,y Qazi Nizamuddin and Chaudhary Yashvir Singh, and ensured his victory to become a Union Minister of state in the Central government in 2009. There was a marked shift in the preference of the Muslim voters of the district towards Congress in the elections. It was after a gap of 25 years that the Congress was able to win the Haridwar Lok Sabha seat.

This development has intensified the fight for the minority votes between the BSP and the Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections. Fearing that the Harish Rawat factor could influence their share in the Muslim votes, the BSP has seized the initiative by declaring their candidates for 36 assembly seats, particularly in their political bastion of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

Except Qazi Nizamuddin and Chaudhary Yashvir , all the sitting party legislators have been given party tickets. Out of the first list of candidates, seven candidates are Muslims.

On the other hand, the Congress had also been trying to win over the Muslim votes. Last month, it organised a convention of Muslims at Haldwani where all senior state party leaders were present. They tried to paint the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government as “anti-Muslim” as it failed to start any schemes for the welfare of the minority communities.

It was alleged that the schemes, started by the previous Congress regime for Muslims, including the 15-point programmes of the Central government, hads come to a halt. Muslim workers did ask some searching questions from senior party leaders about their real intentions of garnering Muslim votes and then forgetting them after capturing power. The Congress leaders were asked that how many Muslim candidates would be fielded by the Congress in the forthcoming Assembly poll.

The ruling BJP is also not letting any stone unturned in influencing the Muslim votes in the states. Already, the ruling party had organised two Muslim conventions, one in Dehradun and another at Haldwani, led by Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

It was Nishank who led the party to victory in the Vikasnagar assembly bypoll in September 2009 where a sizeable population of Muslims voted in favour of the BJP. This has boosted the confidence to the party to explore community support further. Speaking at the Haldwani Muslim convention on July 30, 2011, Nishank asked the community not to be misled by the Congress, a party that has treated the Muslims as vote bank. He promised the Muslims that their areas would be incorporated in the Atal Adarsh Yojna, an ambitious state government plan to develop villages and urban areas. He also promised to start free coaching classes for academically brilliant Muslim students to prepare them for competitive examinations and announced formation of a Muslim Directorate at the state level.

The state BJP government in its past more than four years of rule has not yet formed “Arabic-Farsi Board” and was found to be disinterested in running the Muslim Education Mission. The Wakf Board constituted by the BJP government after more than three years, last year, has been marred by several controversies. But, the state government has been making all tall promises to the community. It is election time and all the political parties are promising the moon to the Muslim community.

The holy month of Ramzan, in which devout Muslims fast from dawn to dusk for a month, is going to start from August 2. Political parties and leaders of the state, particularly those from areas having the Muslim population, has plans to even exploit the holy month to their political advantage. Most of them are planning “Iftaar” parties for the Muslims in the coming month of Ramzan to feast them.

Interestingly, the number of “Iftaar” parties where Muslims are invited to break their day-long fasts, is the maximum in the election year. The number of such parties dwindles after election year.

(By SMA Kazmi)

Dehradun, July 31
Uttarakhand in charge of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Ramachal Rajbhar said yesterday that the party had plans to field at least 11 Muslim candidates in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state even as he reiterated party’s commitment to work for the welfare of the minorities.

Addressing a press conference here, Rajbhar said in the first list of 35 candidates released by the BSP, seven Muslim candidates had been given tickets by the party. He said three more Muslim candidates would be given tickets out of the rest of the Assembly seats. Rajbhar pointed out that the BSP was the only party that had given ticket to a Muslim even in the Parliamentary elections.

Former Uttarakhand BSP president Meghraj Singh categorically held that the BSP would contest the forthcoming Assembly polls on its own and would have no alliance with the BJP or any other party in the state.

Another resident Naveen Jain said: “Water stagnates on the roads during the rainy season due to damaged small drains and they have complained about it to the MLA but no action has been taken to get them repaired”.

Residents Speak