Dharamsala, September 23
China has no role in taking any decision on the issue of the reincarnation of lamas. The Dalai Lama said this when asked to comment on statements by Chinese officials that his next reincarnation will be in China.

He said the reincarnation of the lamas was a concept related to the religious beliefs of Tibetan Buddhists.

However, the communist government in China did not believe in any religion. If the Chinese officials wanted to decide on the reincarnation of the lamas, they should first believe in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama said.

The Dalai Lama said as the religious head of all Tibetans, he retained the authority to decide on his reincarnation. He said, “I will take a decision regarding the next Dalai Lama only after my eighties”. The Dalai Lama is 77 years old and he indicated that he was in no hurry to take a decision on the next Dalai Lama.

Though the Dalai Lama said there was no urgency to decide on his reincarnation, the participants at the 11th annual meeting of the Tibetan and Bon religious heads, being held at McLeodganj, were asked to give their opinion regarding the reincarnation of the lamas.

The Dalai Lama has been giving different statements regarding the continuation of his institution. He had earlier stated that he could be the last Dalai Lama. He had also stated that a woman could also be the next Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama today addressed the religious heads of Tibetan-Buddhism institutes.

Besides the other religious heads of Tibetan Buddhism, the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, also attended the meeting today.

The Tibetan community-in-exile is concerned about the moves of the Chinese government to control the reincarnation of the lamas. Earlier, the Chinese government had banned the reincarnation of the lamas. However, this did not shake the faith of the Tibetan community in the institution of the lamas. The Chinese government then installed its own Panchen Lama, the second-most powerful lama in Tibetan Buddhism, after allegedly “taking away” the Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama identified by the Dalai Lama has been missing since the age of five.

The Panchen Lama installed by the Chinese government is now being carried around Tibet to carry out a campaign in their favour.

Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama today joined heads and representatives of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon religion for a special prayer service at the main temple, offering prayers to all those Tibetans who sacrificed their lives for Tibet’s cause and to mitigate the sufferings of those undergoing inhuman imprisonment and alleged torture under the Chinese rule.

Dharamsala, September 23
Uncertainty over the Dalai Lama’s visit to South Africa continues as sources available here said the South African foreign office has maintained that his visa application was incomplete.

The South African authorities have accused the Dalai Lama’s office of submitting incomplete visa application. However, the Dalai Lama’s office has maintained that it was a practice on their part to submit photocopy of the Dalai Lama’s passport, along with the visa application.

“When we first submitted the visa application on August 29, the Dalai Lama was on a tour to the US. After he returned on September 20, his original passport was submitted to the authorities of the South African Government, the office of the Dalai Lama said.

The office of the Dalai Lama applied for visa to South Africa as he wanted to go to that country to attend the 80th birthday celebrations of Desmond Tutu, an activist who rose to fame due to his anti-apartheid campaign. Like Dalai Lama, Tutu also received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Earlier also, Tutu had invited the Dalai Lama to visit South Africa in 2009. However, the South African Government had denied visa to the Dalai Lama allegedly under pressure from the Chinese Government.

Tutu criticised the decision to bar entry to his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg. However, the South African Government maintained that it did not want to jeopardise relations with China by giving visa to The Dalai Lama.

The sources said Tutu had urged the South African Government to grant a visa to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. In case he is granted visa, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to give a lecture as part of the events to celebrate Tutu's birthday on October 7.

Shimla, September 23
Wearing many hats, including that of MP from Hamirpur, national chief of the BJP youth wing and the latest high-profile post of secretary of the BCCI, Anurag Thakur has catapulted into the elite group of those escorted by a pilot vehicle owing to a threat perception to his life.

As such Thakur, who also happens to be the son of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is now in the league of the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Chief Justice, who are the only dignitaries in Himachal Pradesh whose vehicles are preceded by a pilot vehicle whenever they are travelling within the state.

The new elevated status of the young MP came as a surprise to many as they saw a pilot vehicle paving the way for his Scorpio, as he attended a function at Himachal Pradesh University here today. Inquiries revealed that the decision to accord the status of a dignitary, who will be accompanied by a pilot vehicle, was taken at a recent meeting of the Secretary (Home) and the Additional Director-General of Police (CID).

“After his elevation as the national chief of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, a review of his security was done recently, where he has been placed in the Y-security category, owning to the threat perception he faces,” said a police official. However, he added that dignitaries placed in this category were not provided a pilot vehicle and it was the decision of the district police to do so keeping in view the threat perception.

The others who have been placed in the Y-security category include judges of the high court, ministers and MLAs, who are merely provided a personal security officer (PSO) from the CID wing of the police but no pilot vehicles. As such an exception was made in case of Thakur by providing a pilot to him.

Police officials admitted that the decision to provide him an escort had been conveyed to all the district superintendents of police. “It is in view of the Tiranga Yatra that he led that there was a review of his security and according to the directives of the CID, we have provided him a pilot vehicle,” said Sonal Agnihotri, SP, Shimla.

Shimla, September 23
Close on the heels of some BJP dissidents, including legislators, knocking at the door of the high command, it is now the turn of disgruntled Shanta loyalists from Kangra who had a closed-door three-hour meeting with Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal at his residence, Oakover, last evening to air their grievances.

Enraged over the issue of undue interference by a minister from Kangra close to the Chief Minister and not being taken into confidence in postings of officials and development works, they conveyed their displeasure to Dhumal. It is reliably learnt that the Chief Minister assured them that they were welcome to approach him anytime and he would address all their grouses.

Those who were present at the meeting included die-hard Shanta loyalists, including ministers Ramesh Dhawala and Kishan Kapoor, MLAs Praveen Sharma (Palmpur), Vipin Parmar (Sulah) and Des Raj (Ganggath), Kangra BJP chief Ranjit Singh Pathania, Kangra Kisan Morcha chief Narender Sharma and vice-chairman of the HRTC Rajeev Bhardwaj.

They pointed out that there was a complete lack of coordination between the party and the government and a minister and an MLA, both close to the Chief Minister, were interfering in their constituencies, which would not be tolerated at any cost. “We made it clear to the Chief Minister that the dream project of Rajya Sabha MP and National BJP vice-president Shanta Kumar, Vivekanand Hospital in Palampur, was lying incomplete,” he said.

It is learnt that the Shanta loyalists held a meeting at the residence of one of the legislators from Kangra a few days ago where they discussed their strategy after which an appointment was sought with the Chief Minister.

With a little over one year left for the Assembly poll in the state, it is being expected that dissidence within the party might rise. Dhumal’s arch rival and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, too, has been airing his views on corruption and obliquely disapproved of certain government decisions and nepotism within the party.

Senior party leaders Khushi Ram Balnahata, MLA from Rohru, and former Speaker Radha Raman Shastri, along with other leaders, had expressed their discontentment over the functioning of the party and the government before national party chief Nitin Gadkari earlier this month.

Manali, September 23
All shops and business establishments in the tourist town of Manali remained closed today in protest against the slow construction work on the beautification of the Mall Road, Manali.

Hundreds of shopkeepers of the town assembled at the Nehru park, commonly called Ram Bagh, and held a protest march, demanding speedy work on the beautification of the Mall Road.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards and raised slogans against the authorities for carrying out the work at a snail’s pace.

Members of the Beopar Mandal met Manali SDM Balbir Thakur and submitted a memorandum to him. They also sent a copy of it to local MLA Govind Thakur, Kullu Deputy Commissioner BM Nanta, the Executive Engineer, PWD, and the Assistant Engineer, PWD.

In the memorandum, the traders have asked the district administration to remove boulders and debris from the Mall Road within three days, failing which they would do so themselves.

The traders also demanded the widenting of the Rani Nullah stretch of the Manali-Rohtang road on a war footing, which, they said, was adversely affecting the tourism industry in the Kullu valley.

Shimla, September 23
With a relatively better crop in the upper areas, particularly the tribal Kinnaur district, the number of apple boxes sent to various markets finally crossed the one-crore mark yesterday.

Last year when the state had a record crop of 4.46 crore boxes, as many as 2.88 crore boxes had been sent out by this time. However, the situation is much better than the lean year of 2009 which saw an output of just 1.40 crore boxes as only 85 lakh boxes had been marketed over the same period.

Further, the procurement under the market intervention scheme has been 3,146 tonnes so far as against 912 tonnes during the entire 2009 season.

The harvesting season officially comes to a close on October 31 and as such there is more than a month to go. On an average, over 250 trucks are being sent out daily and going by the comparative figures, the production will exceed that of 2009.

However, the rates in the Delhi market, which dipped towards the second week of this month, have again picked up. The superior grade of apple is fetching Rs 1,900 per box as against Rs 800 per box last year and Rs 1,500 per box in 2009. The late upswing in the market will help the growers of Kinnaur, which is known for producing very high quality of apple. Unlike the rest of the state, the crop has been normal and about 17 lakh boxes are likely to be produced.

The procurement under the MIS has picked up as growers of upper areas in Shimla, whose crops were damaged by hailstorms, are preferring to dispose of their produce in collection centres to save on packaging and transportation charges as they are not sure of the returns.

Some progressive orchardists have by-passed the Delhi market and have sent their produce directly to Ahmedabad and some southern markets like Bangalore.

However, it is still a better deal as they have to spend about Rs 120 per box more for Bangalore but they do not have to pay 6 per cent commission and the produce also fetches higher prices.

Mandi/Kullu, September 23
With both eyes now on the upcoming state Assembly elections, the state government has withdrawn its notification deputing divisional forest officers (DFOs) dedicated to expedite encroachment cases, giving a big jolt to government’s willy-nilly drive against encroachers in the state.

All the three DFOs (encroachments) has ceased to function with effect from September 7 after withdrawal of this notification.

The Dhumal-led government seemed to have bowed to the public outcry against its move to create three separate DFOs (encroachments) in the Kullu, Rampur and Shimla divisions.

The government had yet to “create similar offices at other districts. But it smacked of regional discrimination as the “cases of encroachments are widespread in all districts of the state”, sources said.

Besides, the Congress has already upped its ante against the present government for targeting farmers in its anti-encroachment drive.

The Congress had also alleged that the present government had a “double face on the issue of encroachments”.

During its previous tenure, the BJP government had sought applications from encroachers in its bid to regularise them.

After the government move, over 50,000 applications with affidavits came before the Forest Department for regularisation in the state, the sources said.

But the government move of appeasing farmers went haywire and turned anti-farmers following the High Court directive against encroachments asking the government to register an FIR in each case of encroachment.

At that the police had already lodged over 2,000 FIRs in connection with the encroachment cases. This, in turn, has raised public hue and cry against the government.

As assembly elections are round the corner, the government has withdrawn its notification from September 8 on the grounds that the DFOs (encroachments) and DFOs territorial overlapped under the Land Premises Act.

Second, the DFOs (encroachments) could not make much headway as the office lacked staff and infrastructure, said officials.

Principal chief conservator of forests RK Gupta said the DFOs (encroachments) would cease to function from September 8 as the notification had been withdrawn.

“The DFOs (territorial) will be strengthened as we are filling all the 20 vacant posts of the ACF by promoting the range officers,” he said.

Chamba, September 23
The Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Virbhadra Singh has categorically stated that the mountainous tribal areas of the state were being overlooked by the BJP ruled state government with regard to their development and the inhabitants of these areas were living in difficult geological conditions.

Addressing a public meeting at Killar, the Pangi tribal sub-divisional headquarters, yesterday, Virbhadra Singh regretted that the state Chief Minister had been misleading the public by levelling baseless allegations of not getting the state’s share and the fiscal support from the Centre. He described these allegations as “totally untrue”.

Virbhadra said he had pleaded to the Centre for spending more funds from the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) funds in the Pangi tribal areas so that the pace of development could be accelerated.

Speaking about the land deals in the state, Virbhadra warned that the prime land of the state which was sold to non-Himachalis by throwaway prices would be investigated when the Congress Party would come to power in the state next year.

He said the invaluable land of the state had been sold by flouting the provisions of the laws of the land, adding that it was made available to the outsiders without caring for the interests of the state and its people.

Shimla, September 23
Concerned over the increasing cases of fraudsters duping the gullible by sending e-mails, SMSes and other communications on fake letterheads, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has urged the police to set up a separate cell to deal with such cyber crimes.

R Gurumurty, General Manager of the Shimla branch of the RBI, said after promising huge amounts by way of a lottery, scholarship or job fraudsters gradually persuade victims to remit money to the specified account on the pretext of processing fee, tax clearance charges, conversion charges, transaction fee, etc.

Once the money is transferred , they quickly withdraw the amount and vanish, leaving the victim poorer by a few lakhs. Even well-educated persons had been duped by them.

The victims generally do not lodge a formal complaint after transferring the money outside the country as they contravene the Foreign Exchange Management Act and other regulations.

The RBI had been carrying out awareness campaigns and warning the people not to respond to such communications.

Speaking about the plan to expand banking services in the rural areas of the state, he said the 48 villages having a population of over 2,000 had been selected in the first phase and these would be covered by appointing business correspondents equipped with biometric mobile ATM machines.

The first phase would be completed by March 2012 and in the second phase 500 villages having a population of over 1,000 would be taken up.

He said increasing the credit deposit ratio in the hill state was a problem as the people, particularly in the rural areas, were averse to taking loans. — TNS

Nurpur, September 23
Ganesh, who is undergoing judical custody in the sub-jail here, has levelled charges of the third-degree method adopted by the local police during his police remand.

His wife, Anita Devi, had submitted a written complaint to the Kangra SP on Wednesday alleging burning of his private parts during the police interrogation and demanded action against the erring police personnel.

Local DSP Rajinder Jaswal told mediapersons that initially he had observed that this was a modus operandi to twist the ongoing investigations into a serious crime committed by the culprit on September 8 when he attempted to murder and rape a woman who was alone in her house. He said the accused had slit the neck of the victim and looted her earrings. “Around five medical examinations of the accused had been conducted and no burn injuries were found,” he said.

The accused, through his councillor, has also moved an application to the local judicial court. It has directed the in-charge, sub-jail, Nurpur, to produce a detailed report of his medical examination conducted while the accused was in police custody. — OC