Multi-Sectoral Development Programme 
Only 20 per cent of funds spent
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 20
Despite a sizable amount released by the Central Government for the welfare of the minorities under the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP), the Uttarakhand Government has managed to spend only 20 per cent of the budget this financial year.

With an eye on the Assembly elections, the Central Government has made a generous allocation under the MSDP but poor spending by the BJP Government may upset the Congress’ plans to reap benefits in the poll.

According to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Rs 30.41 crore was released to Uttarakhand during this financial year and it has managed to utilise only 20 per cent of the funds. Owing to its poor spending of allocations under various schemes, it ranks 15th among the states in the country.

The MSDP for the Muslim community is under way in the districts of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar which have a sizable Muslim population.

A total of 455 anganwari centres based on the District Plans have already been approved by by the Central Government. These are to be set up in the districts with Muslim concentration.

In Haridwar work is under way for the construction of 245 anganwari centres.

Launched in 2009, the MSDP has been implemented across 90 districts with high minority population in the country.

The MSDP was launched on the basis of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee in 90 districts across the country in 2008 as part of the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme. The ministry has released Rs 2,238.76 crore under the programme so far.

The primary objective of the programme is to improve the backwardness parameters according to which the districts were identified as backward and to bring them on a par with the national average.

Police Memorial Day Today
CM to pay homage to martyred cops
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 20
Twelve policemen of Uttarakhand, who laid down their lives in the line of duty this year, will be paid tributes at the Police Lines here on Police Memorial Day tomorrow morning.

Along with senior police officials and other dignitaries, the Chief Minister, Maj-Gen BC Khanduri (retd), will pay homage to the martyrs. This year a total of 637 policemen from different wings and posted across the country attained martyrdom.

Jyoti Swaroop Pandey (DGP) said most of the martyred policemen from the state died in accidents.

The day is observed to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of the 10 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who took on the invading Chinese troops on the northern borders in Ladakh on October 21, 1959. They fought with their normal weapons against the self-loading rifles and mortars of the Chinese soldiers, ultimately sacrificing their lives while doing their duty. The Chinese act was condemned by the international community. Since then, October 21 is observed as Police Memorial Day by different police forces across the country.

Govt orders survey of Wakf Board property
Tribune News Service

Nainital, October 20
The Uttarakhand Government has ordered a survey of Wakf Board property in different districts of the state.

According to Ajmal Hussain Zaidi, who is a member of the national executive as also of the minorities cell of the BJP, “This would be the first such survey since the creation of Uttarakhand. The District Magistrates have been asked to submit a report following such surveys at the earliest so that the future course of action can be chalked about the Wakf properties which run into thousands of crores”.

Several Wakf properties are either under illegal possession or the tenants to whom they have been sublet are paying pittance in the name of rent thus defeating the very concept of Wakf the earning of which is ideally to be utilised for the betterment and uplift of the community.

Zaidi pointed that there were several examples that reveal that instances of tenants paying as little as Rs 30 for prime properties.

There are also instances of influential people having usurped several acres of Wakf properties in Uttarakhand. It was further related that there is a prime Shia Wakf property in Ramnagar which simply exists on paper as no one knows where it is located and who is in possession of it.

He said: “Several crores can be earned from the Wakf properties in Utarakhand which can be utilised for promoting education among the Muslims”.

Steps have been initiated towards getting two prime Shia Wakf properties located in the Durham House and Parvik Lodge areas of Nainital that are allegedly under illegal possession.

According to Ajmal Hussain Zaidi, the BJP Government in Uttarakhand is playing a positive role in getting illegally occupied Wakf properties vacated and their functioning streamlined. He said national president of the BJP Nitin Gadkari had already taken up the matter with the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

The issue is a contentious one in Uttarakhand with several organisations accusing the state government of not doing enough to get the Wakf properties vacated. According to Akbar Khan of the lesser known Socialist Janata Party, there are properties worth more than Rs 70,000 crore in Uttarakhand that are under illegal occupation.

He has been working on the issue for some time and had pointed in the past that several hotels and other commercial establishments have come up on the Wakf properties.

Citing details of the Wakf properties around Kumaon, he had said: “In Almora there are 56 properties out of which the papers of 40 are missing”.

In Pithoragarh there are 21 properties out of which the documents pertaining to nine are missing, Bageshwar has two properties and the documents of both are missing. Similarly there are 655 properties in Nainital and the documents of 475 are missing. In Udham Singh Nagar there are 685 properties and the documents of 90 per cent are not in order. No information is available for the Wakf properties of Champawat.

Disaster relief works
Nityanand calls for checking corruption
Tribune News Service

Nityanand, social worker and RSS ideologue, speaks at a seminar on natural disasters in Dehradun on Thursday. A Tribune photograph

Dehradun, October 20
Social worker and RSS ideologue Nityanand has stressed the need to check corruption in the execution of disaster relief works.

Addressing a seminar on natural disasters on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Uttarkashi earthquake, Nityanand said there was need to check corruption in the execution of relief works in the aftermath of disasters.

He said even in the case of the Uttarkashi earthquake on October 20, 1991, while relief came from all quarters, there were irregularities in the distribution of the same. He also referred to Anna Hazare’s agitation again corruption. “I had been to his native village in 1987. I appreciate his concern against corruption”, he added.

State Agriculture Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat recalled his experiences when he had visited Uttarkashi after the earthquake as part of the first RSS relief team.

He said Nityanand constantly monitored relief operations in the quake-hit Uttarkashi region. Rawat said RSS volunteers had to face a lot of hardships while visiting quake-hit villages, but they had overcome them with determination.

Senior BJP leader and Secretary of the Disaster Relief Assistance Committee, Uttarakhand, Naresh Bansal said it was after the Uttarkashi earthquake that the committee came into being. He claimed that besides carrying out relief and development works in the Uttarakashi region in the past two decades, the committee had also been sending financial assistance to quake-hit areas in other parts of the country.

Industrialist Rakesh Oberoi, RSS functionaries, Darshan Lal Arora, Prem Badakoti and Ram Pratap Mishra Saketi were also present. 

Centre on Vajpayee to be set up
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 20
To revive interest in former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the BJP party will set up a dedicated centre with all the relevant information on the leader, including his speeches.

Vinai Shasrabuddhe, a member of the National Executive of the BJP, said today senior party leader Arun Jaitley would be in Dehradun to formally launch a programme relating to the establishment of the centre on November 3.

“The centre will be inaugurated on December 25,” said Vinai. 

Scrapping of forest rights Act demanded
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, October 20
Eminent natural resources economist MM Pant has called for the scrapping of the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, describing it as adverse for forest conservation.

In a letter to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan, Pant wrote that the Act was totally misconceived, arbitrary, unreasonable, mala fide and bad in law. “To put it bluntly, it is a large scam that has legalised the loot of life-sustaining lives - forestlands and tree ecosystems,” Dr Pant held.

Dr Pant claims that the mischief was built into the Act itself when A Raja, the then minister in charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, surreptitiously got changes inserted in the original Bill on its journey through the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The expression “Other Traditional Forest Dwellers” was added to “Scheduled Tribes”, thereby bringing within its orbit every forest dweller.

By another change in the Bill, the area of the forestland to be distributed to each Scheduled Tribes family was increased from 2.5 hectares to 4 hectares. Yet, another change advanced the cut-off date from October 25, 1980 to December 13, 2005 for recognising land ownership. The idea was to extend the benefit to all, thus help increase their respective vote banks.

It is noteworthy that Dr Pant has been a lifelong, hardboiled forester. His experience spanning 55 years includes several stints abroad as a consultant to numerous UN agencies. Now, he has started a crusade against the growing malpractices in the forest departments all over the country, particularly their overstaffing.

Shantikunj Celebrations
Women conch blowers to be main attraction
Sandeep Rawat
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, October 20
Women playing musical instruments like the violin or the mandolin is a common scene, but it may be a rare spectacle seeing women blowing the traditional conch, also known as ‘shankh’, with the same dexterity as their male counterparts.

More than 100 women conch blowers are all set to lead one of the early morning processions as part of the centenary birth celebrations of Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya at Shantikunj. This unique musical presentation will reverberate through the streets of Haridwar. As many as 100 women who will play ‘dafli’ will also join them.

Bharati Nagar of the Mahila Mandal, Shantikunj, said in the Hindu religion, the blowing of ‘shankh’ signified triumph of good over evil.

She said 200 women had been selected from different parts of the country and after hours of training, this traditional Indian instrumental women band was now ready to show its talent on November 6 when the celebrations would begun.

She said for an effective blowing of ‘shankh’, the modulation of vocal chords and right breathing technique was needed. For this, yoga experts had been roped in to train these women.

“The sound of conch has a religious significance in our mythology. Dafli is a household instrument commonly used during kirtan. So we opted for these two,” said Yashoda Sharma, coordinator of the musical wing, Shantikunj.

Wasps claim woman’s life in Pithoragarh
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, October 20
A woman, identified as Devki Devi (55) of Barabe village, died after being stung by wasps.

Dr DN Paundiyal, medical officer, Pithoragarh District Hospital, said the woman and her daughter, Manju, had been admitted to the hospital on Tuesday after they were stung by wasps in the forest where they had gone to collect grass. While Devki died due to an infection in her blood, her daughter was still under treatment, he added.

He said last week, two persons, Puspa Devi (28) and Deepa (8), died after being stung by wasps. Another death due to wasps’ stings has been reported from Nachni village of Munsiyari subdivision recently. The deceased, Saurav (7), was stung by wasps in a field near his home.

The Forest Department has expressed helplessness in compensating the victims as the insects have not been classified as wild in the forest manual of the state. “Recently, death due to a snakebite has been included in it. However, death due to the biting of poisonous insects is yet to be declared compensable,” said Manoj Chandran, District Forest Officer, Pithoragarh. 

Group hones skills of underprivileged children
Tribune News Service

Haridwar, October 20
To bring to the fore the hidden talent among the underprivileged children, a city-based cultural society has been honing their skills as well as giving them a platform to showcase their talent.

The Nrityanagan group today organised a cultural show where these students showcased their talent, impressing the audience at the Town Hall auditorium here.

The chief guest, former chief of the State Women Commission Kamlesh Singhal, lauded the efforts of the society and urged the children to work hard as today there were many opportunities in the cultural field.

Shedding light on efforts by Nrityangan in the district, Bhawani Singh, director of the group, said there was immense talent among children but the lack of platform and learning institutions came as a hindrance. That is why they are providing the underprivileged children with these facilities.

Among the winners were Awika Goswami, Shrishti Jetli, Aditi Tomar, Vaishali Sharma, Vanshika Gupta, Nishtha Garg, Tanya, Shruti, Awisha, Shristhi, Kanya Arora, Vanshika Mishra and Drishti Garg.

“We are lucky that we got training from Nrityanga experts and are provided such a platform,” said Awika. 

Young classical musicians enthral
Rajeev Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nainital, October 20
Sangeet Pratibha, a four-day festival of young musicians, began at the Flats Grounds last evening. It is being organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

This festival is focusing on the young talent in the field of classical music and bringing this talent before the masses.

It is designed to bring forth some of the best talents of the northern region endowed with a rich heritage of Hindustani vocal music. The festival will be presenting Hindustani and Carnatic practitioners of instrumental music from various parts of the region.

The evening began with a soulful performance on the sarod by Smit Tewari who has become a well-known name in the field. He was accompanied by Aman Pathre on the tabla. Tewari began with a rendition in raga jhinjhoti which was followed by another tune. His performance left the audience spellbound.

After Tewari’s performance, it was time for Arnab Chatterjee to take over. A disciple of well-known Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, he sang dhrupad to the accompaniment of Tapas Kumar Das on the pakhawaj.

He began with mangalacharan and followed it up with alaap. Later, he presented bandish based on raga bhopali. The manner in which he controlled and directed his vocal chords left the audience mesmerised. But the best had been saved for the last.

The Percussion Ensemble led by the mridangam maestro Peravali Jaya Bhaskar simply weaved magic. He was accompanied by Nawab Ali on the tabla, Rama Murty on the ghatam, Vetri Bhoopathy on the khanjira, Bejjanki Ravi on the morsing and VSK Anna Durai on the violin.

The Kacheri presented on raga hindol also mesmerised the audience. The team presented for almost an hour. It was an experience to witness such a performance as the sound created by the instruments reverberated across the major portion of the town.

After the performance, the audience could be seen commenting, “Never before has this town witnessed such a lovely presentation of classical music. More such performances can go a long way in promoting classical music in this region.”

Angling competition begins at Pancheswar
Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, October 20
The Fifth International Angling Competition began at the confluence of the Kali and Saryu rivers at Pancheswar in Champawat district yesterday.

The competition was inaugurated by Champawat District Forest Officer SP Singh. Anglers from across the country are participating in the competition that include British angler Jerme Williom, KJ Vakil from Ahmedabad, P Tonk from Gurgoan, KP Bisht from Almora, Doren Singh from Imphal, Gunashekher from Bhubaneswar and Roman Mukherjee from Bhimtal. A team from Delhi, led by Manav Aggrawal, has also reached here to make a documentary on the event.

The competition is being organised by an NGO, Drishtikon, after getting a permit from the Forest Department,” said the DFO.