Dharamsala, February 27
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has denied that there is any pressure on the state government to withdraw the criminal case filed against the 17th Karmapa, Oygen Trinley Dorjee, by the Una police.

The Chief Minister, who was at the Tanda medical college today, said there was no pressure on the government to withdraw the case against the Karmapa.

Asked about the letter written by the Karmapa to the Una Deputy Commissioner pleading for the removal of his name from the charge sheet filed by the police against him, the Chief Minister said the letter would be considered on legal merit.

He said nobody was above the law and the law of the land would prevail in the Karmapa case also.

The Chief Minister indicated that the state government was not in any mood to provide any relaxation of the Karmapa in the criminal case filed against him in an Una court.

Meanwhile, police officials who have investigated the case are miffed at the idea of withdrawing the case against the Karmapa. Talking to The Tribune on condition of anonymity, senior police officials of Una said they had no knowledge regarding the move to withdraw the case against the Karmapa.

They said that were not in favour of withdrawing the case as it had been filed after about a year’s investigation.

The district attorney of Una, who has the letter allegedly written by the Karmapa, declined comments.

Sources in the Karmapa monastery at Sidhbari near Dharamsala told The Tribune that he was unlikely to appear before Una court on the first hearing of the case scheduled for March 6. Sources said he was in Bodhgaya and was attending religious ceremonies till March 8. He would not be in a position to attend the court hearing on March 6.

The police had failed to deliver summons in the case of the Karmapa as he was away in Bodhgaya. The police is likely to send summons to him there. All other officials accused in the case are also in 
Bodhgaya.

The Una police has booked the Karmapa under Section 120-B of the IPC. He has been named as a conspirator in the case. The police maintains that as head of the Karma Garchen Trust, the 17th Karmapa was in full knowledge of the crime in which his aides and others have been booked.

Sources said since the police had now filed a charge sheet in the court, it could issue directions for the removal of the name of the Karmapa from the list of the accused.

For doing so legally, the public prosecutor will have to move an application and the matter will be decided by the court.

Shimla, February 27
Having remained in controversy for some time now, the International Roerich Memorial Trust at Naggar in Kullu is once again making news for the wrong reasons. Its Executive Director-cum-curator has been summoned by the Foreign Registration Office (FRO) for violating the directives of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Executive Director-cum-curator of the Trust Elina Adamkova was today asked by the Kullu SP, who is also the Foreign Registration Officer, to appear before him tomorrow with regard to certain restrictions imposed by the Ministry of External Affairs while issuing her the visa.

“We have asked her to appear before the FRO tomorrow and explain her position and present documents supporting her stand,” confirmed Ashok Kumar, SP, Kullu.

The Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, too, had earlier asked Elina not to visit Kullu till the issues pertaining to the Trust were not settled. In a communication to the curator, he had pointed out that she had been seen in Kullu in violation of the directives of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Official sources, however, said Elina, in her defence to the Deputy Commissioner’s letter, had replied that she had not been intimated about any such condition imposed on her by the ministry.

The Trust had been set up by actress Devika Rani in memory of her husband and legendary Russian painter Svetoslav Nikolaevich Roerich in 1993 to preserve his works and develop the centre at Naggar as a place for promoting art with the joint collaboration of India and Russia. The Trust in recent times had been mired in one controversy or the other, including alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) as it has reportedly been receiving donations from abroad.

Elina, who has come under severe criticism for her role in the Trust, got her visa renewed in January this year. However, the ministry had put a rider while issuing the visa that she would not be allowed to visit Naggar and Kullu till all issues of the Trust are not settled.

The state government, too, has written to the ministry to take up the issue of membership of Russian nationals in the Roerich Trust with the Russian Embassy. Chief Secretary Rajwant Sandhu has already written to the ministry to advise Russian Ambassador Alexander M Kadakin to withdraw his membership of the Trust.

Shimla, February 27
With elections to the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) due in April this year, no fresh taxes have been proposed in the deficit budget of Rs 139.24 crore for 2012-13 presented by Mayor Madhu Sood today.

As expected, there is no proposal to impose any fresh taxes on people as elections to the prestigious MC are due in April.

In the budget, the estimated income has been shown at Rs 110.83 crore while the expediture has been pegged at Rs 250.07 crore. While delivering her budget speech, the Mayor pointed out that the main liability on the MC was on account of over Rs 132.78 crore that it owed to the Irrigation and Public Health Department for the water supply and Rs 6.41 crore that it owed to the HP State Electricity Board for the power supply.

“In case the government provides us a grant of Rs 139 crore to meet this liability, we can have a surplus budget of Rs 3.57 lakh,” she pointed out. She also made a mention of areas identified for revenue generation, including imposition of the green tax on the pattern of Manali, which is expected to generate an annual income of Rs 6 crore.

The other measures that the MC intends to take up to rake in money include running taxis on the pattern of the Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) in the town.

The budget also indicated a sum of Rs 11.20 crore, which has been given by the Centre for undertaking complete computerisation of the working of the MC. The budget also indicated expenditure proposed for undertaking various development works in the town.

Nagchala (Sundernagar), February 27
A leopard sitting at a height of about 15 m on a tree has become a centre of attraction for residents of the Balh valley. Hundreds of persons, mostly children and women, from various villages of the Balh valley were seen going towards Nagchala village, 14 km from here, in the Balh valley.

As per information, the leopard injured labourer Thakru of Chatru village today around 10.30am and when some locals raised an alarm, it ran away from the spot and sat on a tree to save its life. Till 6 pm it was on the tree as it could not run away due to the crowd assembled near the tree.

According to Nagchala panchayat president Anjay Kumari, ward member Daya Kumari first got the information about the incident and told her. The former further informed DFO, Mandi, Anil Joshi about the same.

The DFO, who reached the spot at Nagchala village, said he was camping the site along with the field staff of eight persons from his division and the wildlife wing.

He further said he had asked for a tranquilliser gun.

“It will be used if needed, he said, adding, “We will first wait till the dispersal of the crowd and will give a safe passage to the wild animal. If needed, it will be trapped in a manner so that no one is harmed.”

Mandi, February 27
The concluding procession (jaleb) of the “Raj Madhav Yatra” of the week-long international Shivratri fair today turned into a political slugfest as Congressmen, led by party president Kaul Singh Thakur, boycotted the procession and lodged their protest with Governor Urmila Singh, the chief guest at the ceremony.

The helicopter flying the Governor took off late from Shimla following which the Governor deputed mela committee chairman-cum-Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, Devesh Kumar to perform puja on her behalf to start the “jaleb” in time.

However, the mela committee failed to convey the latest directions from the Governor to Congressmen, who had gathered at Gandhi Bhawan, and the “jaleb” started as per the schedule after 2 pm without the presence of the Governor.

The Governor, however, joined the procession at the Bhootnath temple and performed

puja there. More than 190 devis and devtas participated in the procession. Devotees gathered at Chauhta Bazar for the “visarjan” ceremony where the devis and devtas camped for three hours before they started their journey back home.

Congress men, wearing traditional turbans who had gathered at Seri Munch, raised slogans against the Deputy Commissioner and boycotted the procession from Damdana to Paddal Maidan. They, along with three Congress MLAs, instead went back to Gandhi Bhawan, the Congress headquarters, in protest.

The main grudge of the Congress men was that Congress president and Drang MLA Kaul Singh, Mandi Sadar MLA Anil Sharma and Balh Congress MLA Parkash Chaudhary were not invited telephonically by the mela committee chairman for the “jaleb”.

Kaul Singh told The Tribune that the ruling BJP had turned the Shivratri fair into a party affair. “The jaleb started from Damdama Palace before the Governor could reach there to perform puja. We have lodged our protest before her and she has invited me to Shimla to discuss the matter,” he added.

Kaul Singh claimed that they were not invited telephonically by the mela committee for the “jaleb” today. Devis and devtas were above politics and the mela committee should not violate the traditional decorum, he said.

However, Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar said he performed puja at the Raj Madhav temple on behalf of the Governor after receiving directions from her.

“The committee had invited all dignitaries as per tradition. It welcomed all MLAs and former MLAs to the procession. However, there was some miscommunication, but the issue has been resolved,” he added.

Mandi, February 27
Governor Urmila Singh today urged people to protect the rich cultural heritage of the state and urged the district administration to provide marketing facilities to self-help groups (SHGs) to help them sell their products.

Addressing a gathering on the concluding ceremony of the week-long international Shivratri festival at Paddal Maidan today, the Governor said fairs and festivals went a long way in strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and fraternity among the masses.

“The Mandi Shivratri fair has its own importance in the religious ceremonies of the state and also provides an opportunity to people to get together,” she said.

She said gods and goddesses occupied the topmost place in society. “I appreciate the efforts of the Shivratri mela committee in inviting 215 deities to the festival.”

Urmila Singh said exhibitions put up during the Shivratri fair gave an opportunity to producers to display their produce. “The local administration should take steps to encourage the marketing of goods produced by women under self-help groups to empower them financially,” she added.

She gave away prizes to participants of various cultural and sports competitions on the occasion. She paid obeisance at the Madhorai and Bhootnath temples and participated in the “jaleb” procession.

Deputy Commissioner Devesh Kumar, who is the chairman of the mela committee, presented a memento and a shawl to the Governor on the occasion.

Hans Raj Chauhan, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Mandi, welcomed the Governor and detailed out the activities of the Shivratri mela.

Solan, February 27
With a view to giving a boost to science learning, the State Council for Science and Technology has set up a Virtual Centre for Science Learning and Creativity where an effort will be made to inspire, transform and stimulate the thinking of children towards science.

The web portal for the same has been developed and the council is now endeavouring to provide facilities for this centre at Anandpur, near Shimla.

While it is slated to play a pivotal role in demystifying science and give a shape to creative thoughts of children, they can register, log in and ask questions related to science, apart from updating their profile. This can help increase their participation in science activities in areas like physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer science.

With facilities like downloading of study material and sharing videos on their experiences in science creativity, the portal can help inculcate a scientific temper in young minds, said secretary-cum-director, Science and Technology Council, Dr Nagin Nanda.

The centre, which was inaugurated by Dr RK Pachauri, Director General, TERI, earlier this month, provides a novel learning technique, including videos, models and project photographs, uploaded on the web portal.

The presence of online tutorials in both Hindi and English for a variety of subjects like mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and environment has made it a versatile study medium.

The web portal has linkages of internationally reputed websites like Khan Academy, Arvind Gupta and Odyssey of the Mind that will prove useful to students as well as teachers.

It has websites in Wiki mode, hosting of materials and access to experts through “Ask a question”. Besides, a panel of experts are available to answer posed by users on the portal and a weekly quiz is also there that will help judge intelligence of students.

While the bilingual concept has been incorporated due to the initiative taken by the Chief Secretary. Various informative ideas from Khan Academy and Arvind Gupta have helped in making the portal more informative.

Additional Chief Secretary, Forests and Environment, Sudipto Roy said they would plan to set up a physical centre if the response of the virtual centre was good as this would help gauge its response from students and the teaching community.

Kangra, February 27
The first-ever annual national conference of the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine (IAPSM) in a rural setting was today inaugurated by Chief Minister PK Dhumal at the Sobha Singh Auditorium of Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC) in Tanda.

Over 700 doctors from the country and abroad participated on the first day and panel discussions were also held.

The Chief Minister said health care was the priority for his government and the mortality rate had come down to 40 from 45 per 1,000 in the state, which was the best in the country. He said efforts were on to minimise the mortality rate further.

Dhumal assured the medical fraternity that his government had political commitment coupled with eagerness to achieve the target of making the state devoid of most of communicable and non-communicable diseases with the help of people.

He lauded the role of IAPSM for serving society in the right perspective. The Chief Minister gave IAPSM national awards to five eminent doctors of the country.

Prof JP Narayan, Director, Sustainable Development, WHO SEAR, said society was suffering on three fronts communicable and non-communicable diseases and weak health system in the country.

He suggested that people would have to individually contribute to eradicate non-communicable diseases.

Dr Umesh Kapil, president, IAPSM, demanded that for the effective implementation of the NRHM, CMOs and DMOs should be graduates in public health also.

Dr Sunil Raina, Joint Organising Secretary of the 39th IAPSM conference, said Dhanwanto Oration was today awarded to Dr CP Misra and Dr Charan Singh and Oration was awarded to Dr GPI Singh.

A penal discussion on “Moving beyond 100 years and The Role of ICMR in Promoting Public Health and Research in India” was held in which Dr Devkinandan, Chancellor Santosh University, JP Narayan, WHO SEAR, Dr GS Toteja, ICMR, Dr Sanjay Zodpe of PH Foundation, Dr Ashoo Grover, ICMR and Dr VK Shrivastav participated, Dr Sunil said.

In another session Dr Satish Gupta and Dr Bhupinder Tripathi, both from UNICEF, spoke on Immunisation Future Scope and Opportunity and Dr Menoo Singh of PGI chaired the session.

The Chief Minister released the souvenir of IAPSMCON 2012 and a newsletter of SCA DRPGMC, Tanda.

Health Minister Rajeev Bindal, IPH Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi, Social Justice and Women Empowerment Minister Sarween Choudary and MLAs GS Bali and Sanjay Choudary were among those present.

Shimla, February 27
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said the state government was spending 9 per cent of its annual budget for ensuring the overall development of tribal areas by formulating a separate tribal sub-plan to achieve the objective.

This was stated by the Chief Minister while presiding over a state-level 13th Gaddi Kalyan Board meeting held here today. He said the Gaddi and Gujjar communities, that were residing in non-tribal areas, were also eligible for benefits under the tribal categories. He said there were 690 villages dominated by tribal communities in Chamba and Kangra districts alone.

He said to develop these areas, basic amenities and necessary infrastructure like good roads, education, health, electricity, drinking water and irrigation facilities were being provided there.

Dhumal said the state government had launched the Bhed Palak Samridhi Yojana to strengthen the traditional avocation of sheep rearing. He said the state government had been providing a soft loan of up to Rs 1 lakh to each beneficiary.

He said the government was trying to create economic activities for the tribal population at their doorsteps by providing them skill upgradation training under different programmes. He said unemployed tribal women were being provided one-year training in handicrafts and handlooms and paid a monthly scholarship of Rs 950.

Besides, they were being provided looms and other allied equipments free of cost on the completion of training. He said the government was also providing remunerative prices for the purchase of wool from shepherds.

Shimla, February 27
With the process of converting apple procured under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) into organic manure taking over 18 months instead of the expected three to five months, the initiative has been a failure.

However, it has demonstrated that the waste fruit can be gainfully utilised if composting is carried out in a planned manner.

The HPMC has sold the first of the four pits in which about one lakh bags of apple were vermi-composted for Rs 4 lakh. The corporation decided to dispose of the entire lot on “as-it-is-on-the-site” basis as sieving, packaging and marketing of manure involves much expenditure. Some other pits are at an advanced stage of composting. However, the bulk of the fruit was subjected to bacterial composting because of inadequate availability of worms, for which inoculums were procured from a private company. There has been little progress in bacteria composting and the lots are now being subjected to vermi-composting. HIMFED, the other agency which handled the MIS fruit, had sent the manure for testing.

The vermi-composed manure has been tested by the university of horticulture and forestry and the quality has been found to be good. However, to make the utilisation of waste fruit practical, many issues will have to be tackled. The long-drawn process of composting (almost five times the normal duration) and shortage of cow dung and straw are a major obstacle in the mass utilisation of the technology. The high acidic content in the fruit, besides shortage of worms and lack of proper composting pits have been mainly responsible for the delay.

With the region receiving heavy snow and rain during the winter, composting could not be carried out in open heaps as the required temperature could not be maintained and excess of water also affected the worm activity, Dr GP Upadhyaya, a senior scientist of the university who is overseeing the vermi-composting part, pointed out.

However, the scheme can be made economically viable only if the manure is made from pulp after extracting juice at the collection centres using mobile crushers (mounted on utility vehicles). This will drastically reduce the acid content and the worm activity will not be hindered. Proper covered composting units should be constructed using bricks.

The vermi-composting initiative came in the wake of a record apple crop of 8.92 lakh tonnes in 2010 when government agencies were forced to procure an all-time high 1,11,000 tonnes of fruit under the MIS, of which a meagre 8,000 tonnes was processed by the HPMC and another 45,000 tonnes sold in the market, leaving over 55,000 tonnes to rot. The HPMC is composting about 12,000 tonnes and the HIMFED about 18,000 tonnes.

Bilaspur, February 27
The government has accepted the long-pending demand of students and people of the area and MA classes in two subjects, English and economics, will be started at Swami Vivekananda Government Degree College at Ghumarwin from the new session. This was stated by OP Sharma, Director of HP Higher Education, while presiding over the annual prize distribution function of the college at Ghumarwin on Saturday evening.

He said Rs 7.90 crore would be spent on developing of a suitable playground for the college on 42 bighas of land and an auditorium would also be constructed there. Sharma said Rs 65 lakh had been sanctioned for the construction of staff quarters there.

Earlier, Principal JS Negi read the college annual report and presented achievements and problems of the college.

Sharma also distributed prizes among the students who had excelled in various activities of the college, including studies, sports and games, cultural events and social service etc.

Present on the occasion were Principal (retd) SR Kaushal, Nagar Parishad vice-president Rakesh Chopra, college PTA president Prem Sagar Bhardwaj and a large number of officers, senior citizens and representatives of the SCA of the college.

Chamba, February 27
The Himachal Pradesh Computer Teachers Association has resolved to resort to a statewide agitation if the state government fails to regularise their services by March 4 deadline.

Announcing this here today, district president of the association Ravi Kumar said their contract for imparting information technology education in Himachal Pradesh schools was going to expire on March 31 next, but the state government had so far not bothered to think about their future.

He said there were approximately 1,272 computer teachers engaged in providing IT education in various parts of the state.

He appealed to the state government not to privatise IT education in schools as that would render these computer teachers unemployed.

He hoped the state government would accede to their demand of regularising their services by March 4 deadline failing which they would be forced to go on the warpath.

Solan, February 27
Terming the decision of the state BJP government to discontinue science and commerce streams from 300 government schools across the state as a move to privatise education, the Congress said today that it would defeat the very purpose of Right to Education.

Sanjay Awasthy, president, Block Congress Committee, said today that this move was not only inimical to the interest of the rural youth, but was also reflective of the lack of concrete policy of the state government on education.

He said though science and commerce were considered the backbone of development in society, the BJP government was following a policy of depriving the rural youth from the study of these subjects.

He said this “anti-student decision” would also severely affect the centrally sponsored Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which had been providing grants worth lakhs for constructing science laboratories in higher secondary schools.

Awasthy said while the Centre was promoting opening of new educational institutes to enhance the gross enrolment ratio in schools, such steps would defeat the very purpose of educating rural youth that comprised over 90 pc of the population.

Kangra, February 27
A three-day annual event projecting the multi-faceted persona of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) here started a fashion spectrum from today and RS Gupta, DC, Kangra, inaugurated the event.

A workshop for craft persons from Kullu and Chamba was also organised at NIFT where over 50 artisans participated. They were imparted training in design intervention and production diversification. The products of different craft cluster of the hill state were kept for exhibition and new and innovative packings introduced to market this traditional art.

Gupta lauded the management of NIFT for taking a lead in giving a new dimension to the age-old traditional art of the state.

Artisan Ved Ram of Mandi and another artisan from Chamba expressed satisfaction over the efforts of NIFT for providing them better marketing and modern presentation techniques.

Dinesh Kumar Rangra, Director, NIFT, said the event, Spectrum 2012, was packed with students’ activities in a mela milieu. Students from 15 institutions of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were participating.

Students displayed a number of exhibitions on the first day of the event.

SDM, Kangra, Vinay Kumar Singh also visited the event.

Rangra said besides a cultural competition, a rock band from Delhi also performed during the event.

He said a fashion show by students would be organised tomorrow.