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Cabinet approves Lokayukta Bill
‘It’s stronger than Anna’s Bill’
Controversy
Over Inter-Caste Marriages |
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Kumaon to have Shatabdi service
All set for Nainital film festival
Need for promoting communal harmony: Satpal Maharaj
First complaint made under Right to Service Act
Villagers’ tradition of migration dies out
Bhandari soccer tournament begins today
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Cabinet approves Lokayukta Bill
other decisions n
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules and Regulations (2011) cleared
Dehradun, October 29 At the Cabinet meeting, the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill 2011 was approved incorporating a few amendments to the existing Lokayukta Act. The Bill would now be introduced in the two-day special session of the Assembly beginning from October 31. The Uttarakhand Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules and Regulations (2011) were also given approval, paving the way for the release of 65 per cent Central Government’s share of funds in the coming days. With an eye on the elections, the Cabinet also cleared several proposals, including raising Mitr Parikshaks’ (ITIs) salaries from Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,300. The honorarium of PDS shopkeepers (small shops with 50-300 cards limit) has been raised to Rs 3,000 per month. The unemployed youth possessing Basic Teachers Course (BTC correspondence) qualification would now be paid an honorarium of Rs 1,500 for a period of one year. The salaries of PTA teachers in government-aided schools have been hiked from Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000. The government also decided to entrust the responsibility of transfers of Assistant Teachers and License Teachers (LT and Basic) to the state. Earlier, these transfers were made at the division level. The Uttarakhand Government has decided to upgrade the polytechnic at Suddhowala to an Engineering College. The constituent college of Uttarakhand Technical University at Pithoragarh has been upgraded to an autonomous university and named Semant Shiksha Sansthan. The government has also brought in changes in the guidelines for establishing private universities. Now, the requirement of land for setting up university campus in the plains has been reduced from 15 acres to 10 acres and in the hills from 10 acres to 7.5 acres.
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‘It’s stronger than Anna’s Bill’
Dehradun, October 29 Sources in the government claim that the Jan Lokpal Bill did not make provision for undertaking audit of the accounts of the Lokayukta, the concept of appointment of judicial officials and constitution of a Search Committee that would shortlist suitable persons for the post of Lokayukta. Besides the proposed Bill also aims at getting rid of the shortcomings inherent in the UP Lokayukta Act adopted by the Uttarakhand Gvernment. The sources claim that the proposed Bill provides independence to the Lokayukta in respect of investigation of corruption cases and prosecution in such cases. The proposed Bill also gives financial independence to the Lokayukta by bringing the Chief Minister, all members of the Council of Ministers, all MLAs (subject to Article 194 of the Constitution of India), all government servants of Uttarakhand (including all India Service officers). While the lower judiciary will be covered under the Lokayukta, the judges of the Uttarakhand High Court will not be under the purview of the Lokayukta. The BJP is optimistic that by addressing the issue of graft through a strong ombudsman it could strike a chord with the voters. On the other hand, the Congress leaders are asking the BJP to take action against its leaders who have been allegedly involved in graft cases. It is also confident that it can defuse Hazare's aggression by enacting the Lokpal Bill in the winter session of Parliament.
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Controversy Over Inter-Caste Marriages
Nainital, October 29 The social activists and civil society representatives have handed over a memorandum to Tripathi urging her to ensure that the rights of the two couples are protected. According to them Lalita and Tanuja Khati had married Ranjit and Naveen Arya of the Lal Dhang area on September 10 this year. However, the father of the girls, Mohan Singh Khati, lodged a complaint of abduction at the Kaladhungi police station. Activists say that the couples presented themselves before the Uttarakhand High Court and the girls stated that they had married of their own free will and were not facing any problems from their husbands. Following this, the court ordered Naveen to surrender in a lower court as the documents showed the age of Tanuja to be 17.5 years. The social activists claim that this was subsequently proved to be 19 years following a medical examination. The social activists have alleged that the police continues to harass Ranjit and his wife Lalita. The two were earlier called to the Kaladhungi police station on October 3 and then asked to appear before Subdivisional Magistrate Ashok Joshi the following day. It is being alleged that despite every relevant document being furnished by the two, the girl was sent to Nari Niketan and her husband was not allowed to meet her. All this while her family members continued to meet and allegedly threaten her. Then all of a sudden, she was sent to her parental home on October 14. The social activists have demanded that action be initiated against Joshi and the police officials concerned following a high-level probe into the matter. They have also sought an end to the harassment of the two couples and the initiation of steps by the administration to protect the rights of couples going in for inter-religious and inter-caste marriages. |
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Kumaon to have Shatabdi service
Nainital, October 29 He has also stated that the Railways would also consider increasing the frequency of the Kathgodam-Jammu and Kathgodam-Kanpur Garib Raths along with that of the Kathgodam-Anand Vihar Air-Conditioned Express. At present while the Garib Raths are being run to and fro on the said routes on a weekly basis, the train to and fro to Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi is being run three days a week. The minister made these statements during his personal visit to the region. He pointed out that the Garhwal region was already connected to New Delhi by a Shatabdi train and he wanted such a service to be started for the Kumaon region as well. He went on to point out that the state governments had a major role to play in the development of the rail network in their respective states. Very often these governments also contribute to the extension of these services. He disclosed that he would be meeting the Chief Minister, Major-Gen Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri (retd), to sort out these issues soon. He pointed out that efforts would be made to add general coaches in most of the trains across the country as a majority of people travelled in these coaches only. Efforts are on to enhance the facilities with regards to sanitation and comfort of the passengers both inside trains as well as at railway stations. The minister inspected various facilities at Kathgodam Railway Station. He went to the running room of the loco pilots where he interacted with the engine drivers and assured them that facilities being provided to them would also be enhanced. He pointed out that steps were being taken to even change the uniforms of the loco pilots. The engine drivers narrated that there was no provision for them to answer the call of nature while the train is on the move. The minister promised to sort out this problem. The minister also disclosed that steps were being taken to improve the quality of food being served to passengers during travel and to ensure that there was no fleecing of passengers. He claimed that the Indian Railways was currently interacting with 40 caterers to sort out this issue. |
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All set for Nainital film festival
Nainital, October 29 Aptly titled “Pratirodh ka Cinema” (cinema of resistance), the festival has made a place among the prominent annual events of the town. The event is being jointly organised by the Jan Sanskriti Manch and the local cultural organisation Yugmanch. Over the next three days there would be screening of films for all categories of film lovers. The films scheduled to be screened will be some of the internationally famous feature films and documentaries that have made a mark in the realm of parallel cinema. This year’s festival is being held in the memory of three artists who have made exemplary contribution to the world of arts, culture, theatre and cinema. These include Gurusharan Singh, Mani Kaul and Kuber Dutt. The festival would get rolling with the screening of an all time popular satire “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron”. The film by Kundan Shah and some memorable performances by Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Vaswani, Om Puri and Satish Shah hits out at the system and the rampant corruption seeped in it. Along with the screening, a painting exhibition of the works of Pranav Mohanty would also be put up. The other prominent movies that would be screened during the festival include “Sunday” by Pankaj Advani, classics made by Bert Haanstra including “Glass”, “Zoo” and “Morror”, Anne Leonard’s “The Story of Stuff” and Robert Enrico’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. In addition to this there would be screenings, talks and discussions on contemporary topics of social relevance. An interesting screening scheduled during the event is the music videos of Lal Band from Pakistan who have taken to the masses the works of poets like Habib Jalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Talking to media persons Zahoor Alam of Yugmanch stated: “Our purpose is to bring realistic cinema which is being made outside the purview of Bollywood and Hollywood to the masses. There is lots of good, meaningful and entertaining cinema that is being made but somehow it is not reaching out to the masses. We have named it as ‘Cinema of Resistance’ because the resistance is to the rubbish that is being dished out in the name of entertainment and being consumed by an intellectually bankrupt society without looking or dealing with real issues.”
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Need for promoting communal harmony: Satpal Maharaj
Pauri Garhwal, October 29 At the convention, called ‘Sadbhawna Sammellan’, Satpal Maharaj, who is also Member of Parliament from the Pauri Garhwal constituency, has stressed the need for promoting communal harmony and brotherhood in the country as India is a country where people of different religions, sects and communities live together. Expressing sympathy with the families of those who were killed in the recent Rudrapur communal riots, Maharaj says such incidents only take the nation backward as the hatred created by antisocial elements affect several generations of the victims. He urged people to look beyond caste, creed, religion, etc, and instead focus on making the society a progressive one where interests of everyone are catered to. At the convention Amrita Rawat, wife of Satpal Maharaj, who is also the legislator from the Dhumakot Assembly segment in Pauri district, spoke as a special guest. Amrita emphasised the need of having a spiritual guru who worked as a medium between the God and the devotee. Only a spiritual-religious guru can take you to the path of the God, inform you about spirituality and guide you to work for social causes too, which Satpal Maharaj has been doing for decades, said Amrita during his religious discourse.
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First complaint made under Right to Service Act
Dehradun, October 29 District president of the Kisan Mahasabha Jagat Martoliya today lodged a complaint at the District Magistrate’s office in Pithorgarh stating that the hospital had failed to make alternative arrangements for conducting operations following construction work being undertaken at the operating theatre. Also, no alternative arrangement was made after the General Surgeon went on leave. As a result, no operations had been conducted for the past 15 days at the hospital, putting patients to great inconvenience. Mahasabha members first met District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar and apprised him of the situation and said that the government had failed to make arrangements in this regard as a result of which women patients were forced to travel several kilometres for operations when these could have been done at the women’s hospital, if the necessary arrangements had been made. The District Magistrate has asked the CMS to look into the matter. Dehradun: The All-India Consumer Council, Uttarakhand, has welcomed the coming into effect of the Right to Public Service Act in the state. The president the council, Brig KG Behl (retd), said it would ensure that certain work was carried out within a specified time and bring about efficiency in the government departments concerned. It would also reduce the number of visits that people make to these offices to get their work done.
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Haridwar, October 29 According to the people residing near the Damkoti bridge, near Alaknanda Ghat, they spotted a deer caught in the middle of the canal.They tried to shoo it away to the other side but in panic the animal went towards the deeper side and got stuck there. They informed the forest officials. A team of the Rajaji National Park officials, led by OP Singh, launched a rescue operation. With the help of a long rope, net and divers the deer was rescued and later released into the nearby forest from where it had come.
— TNS
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Villagers’ tradition of migration dies out
Pithoragarh, October 29 Villagers from four blocks of Champawat district--- Champawat, Pati, Lohaghat and Barakot--- used to migrate to the plains of Tanakpur and Banbasa with their entire livestock and live there for four months of winter.”The villagers used to migrate to the plains to find work for themselves and fodder for their animals and return just before Holi in March,” said Parmanand Chaube, a retired college lecturer
and resident of Champawat district. Scholars who have worked on this tradition of migration from Kali Kumaon to Terai said that at a time when a motor link was not available to hill districts, it was the need of the villagers to go to marts in the plains to purchase essential goods like jaggery, salt and clothes. As these items were available in markets in the plains, the villagers had to go there to purchase these by earning money by working as labourers at various places there,” said Dinesh Pandey,a social worker at Champawat. “Over the years, when border areas have been linked by road,making essential goods available on their doorstep, and work is available near their villages, the villagers have gradually stopped migrating to the plains,” said Pandey. According Dr Madan Chandra Bhatt, a historian, the people of Kali Kumaon used to play a ”stone war” called “bagwal” at at least 20 places in the region before departing to the Terai area for four months. ”These ‘bagwals’ used to decide who would be commanding the folk from the villages in the Terai area during the four-month migration period,” said
Dr Bhatt. “Nowadays, the winter migration of Kali Kumaon villagers two decades ago has stopped. Instead the villagers have now started cultivating their fields for winter crops which they did not do during the migration days,” said Dinesh Pandey. Still there is a tradition of “bagwali” fairs in the Kumaon region during Divali.Such fairs are still being organised at Madlak, Bagwali Pokhar and Champawat. “But neither is the ‘stone war’ played at these places nor do villagers set out for the Terai area after playing ‘bagwal’,” said Dr Bhatt. The enforcement of the Conservation of Forests Act in 1980 has also played a vital role in discouraging Kali Kumaon villagers from migrating.The Act ended the traditional rights of the villagers on the pastures and forests of the Terai area and it became difficult not only to extract forest produce but also to graze their animals as freely as they used before the introduction of the Act in 1980,” said Pandey. |
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Boxing championship begins
Dehradun, October 29 The event is being played in 10 different categories. Five teams each in the boys and girls’ categories are
taking part in the championship. In the 51 kg category, Rahul Chauhan beat Subodh and Mohit Rawat got past Yashvant Singh in the 57 kg. In the 64 kg category, Deepak Walia beat Mahender Singh
Kunwar.
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Bhandari soccer tournament begins today
Dehradun, October 29 The event is being organised by the Nehru Gram Samiti on a knockout basis. A total of 16 teams will play in two different pools in the championship. Balaji Club, Bajrang Club, Sunderwala Boys, XI Star, City Young, Willis Youth Club and Gypsy Young have confirmed their participation in the
tournament. The final will be played on November 10. The winning team will get a cash prize of Rs 11,000 and the runners up Rs 7,000.
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Handball Tournament
Dehradun, October 29 In the junior boys’ match, SGRR, Nehru Gram, surpassed SGRR, Patel Nagar, 24-15. Suraj topscored with 10 goals for the winning team while Manish chipped in with six goals. For Patel Nagar, Kuldeep and Neeraj netted four goals each. In the sub-junior boys’ match, SGRR, Nehru Gram, beat Doon Club 13-8. Suraj, Arshad and Himanshu struck four goals each for Nehru Gram. Kuldeep and Furkan fought well with four goals each for the losing side. In the junior girls’ encounter, MKP Inter-College got past Doon Club 6-4 with Sonam and Urmila scoring three and two goals, respectively, for the winning squad. Shalini Chauhan of MKP netted three goals along with Priya, who chipped in with a goal.
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Pauri Garhwal, October 29
Handball
Tournament
