Haridwar, April 14
With several cases about self-styled gurus misusing their influence to make money and misguide devotees in the name of religion and spiritualism coming to light, the saint community in Haridwar has come out openly against them.

A number of revered saints at a convention on the occasion of 9th Brahmleen anniversary of Swami Vagishawaranand Maharaj at the Chetan Jyoti Ashram condemned the activities of these self-styled gurus, who were bringing a bad name to the saints and hurting the sentiments of devotees.

National spokesperson for the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad Baba Hatyogi said the recent cases of some Babas projecting them as saints needed to be condemned.

Hatyogi added that such ‘fake’ gurus were using the spiritual image of saints to make money and gain media attention. The saint community needed to take stern action in this regard or, otherwise, the faith of the people in religion and saints would diminish.

Swami Chinmayanand Saraswati, former Union Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, said such matters were of deep concern as in the Indian society religion and spiritualism were very important in day-to-day life and such self-styled gurus did not augur well for society.

Swami Chinmayanand urged the saint community and akhadas to look into the matter to ensure that the self-styled gurus did not befool people and the government took action against them.

He spoke about the life of Swami Vaghiswaranand and said the revered saint became the chairman of the Haridwar Municipal Corporation but performed religious works with full devotion at the same time. Saints like Swami Vaghiswaranand added to the aura of saints, whose life, ideals, conduct, teachings, guidance and vision were society-oriented, said Swami Chinmayanand.

Swami Rishiswaranand Maharaj, head of the Chetan Jyoti Ashram, said Swami Vagishwaranand opened several educational, medical and social institutions which were non-profit institutes and were aimed at providing facilities to poor and suppressed people.

Swami Premanand, Swami Chidvilasanand, Swami Sahej Prakash, socialites Paras Kumar Jain, Rajesh Rastogi, Sanjay Paliwal and Satya Narayan Sharma, former legislator Ramyash Singh, Brij Rani and Sanjay Chopra were present at the convention. 

Mussoorie, April 14
In a shocking incident, a 50-year-old woman was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in a cottage, Ock Brook, situated just above the main gate of the administration wing of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), near the Library Bus Stand, here today.

Pushpa Bisht, wife of Bhagat Singh, who was working as maid at the cottage for the past 25 years, was found dead on the floor of the drawing room of the cottage when the police arrived there around 8.30 am today.

Senior police officials along with a team of forensic experts and a dog squad arrived at the cottage and gathered evidence from the scene of the crime, which they termed prima facie as murder.

Virendar Lal, gardener at the cottage, said Pushpa used to live in the cottage instead of the outhouse provided to her whenever the owner couple was out of the station. She was sleeping in the cottage when the crime occurred. Hugh Gantzer and his wife own the cottage.

The gardener told mediapersons that when he came to water plants around 8 am, he was shocked to find the main door of the cottage open. He looked through a windowpane into the drawing room and saw Pushpa lying on the floor. He immediately summoned her two daughters. The girls found their mother dead with strangulation marks on her neck and an air gun, three glasses and an expensive liquor bottle lying close to the body.

The latches of the two adjacent private rooms used by the owners had been broken and clothes and other household goods were ransacked suggesting that the perpetrators of the crime had searched the house frantically after committing the murder. The drawers of a table there had also been opened and searched thoroughly.

The gardener informed the police about the crime and the latter rushed to there immediately. Mussoorie police station in-charge Parkishit Kumar reached the cottage and found that uncooked food and a packet of chips were lying in the kitchen untouched, indicating that some persons had come to stay in the cottage overnight.

SSP GN Goswami, SP (City) Jaswant Singh also inspected the scene of the crime to ascertain the motive behind the murder. Later speaking to mediapersons Goswami said prima facie it looked a case of murder by strangulation. He added the police had begun investigation and the case would be cracked soon.

The Mussoorie police is also considering working on several angles in order to solve the case. It is also not ruling out theft as the motive behind the crime. It also believes that someone closely acquainted to the woman could be responsible for the crime. According to sources, the body bore multiple injury marks. Meanwhile, the body was sent for a post-mortem. The police is looking into the call details of the cottage owner’s landline phone.

However, the police could not question Pushpa’s two daughters who were still in a state of shock. The owners of the cottage had been informed about the crime who would arrive in the town tomorrow. On the other hand, local residents were shocked over another murder in the otherwise peaceful town of Mussoorie. Kushal Singh Rana, district convener of the BJP, criticised the police saying this murder incident showed that this peaceful hill town in Uttarakhand was gradually turning into a safe haven for criminals looking for soft targets. Mussoorie has witnessed more than 12 murders in the past five years and all of them have remained unsolved. The cases of the double murder of Dua sisters, that of Rattan Lal and his wife Kamala and the attack on a cousin of popular Bollywood actor Tom Alter, Stephen Alter, and his wife were yet to be solved. 

Dehradun, April 14
Writing a touching short piece on the dilemma faced by a father whose gift of a plain doll is rejected by his beloved daughter in his short story “Gudiya,” famous author and poet Jiten Thakur says it was one story that did not require rewriting and continues to be his personal favourite.

Predictably to this day, famous author and poet Jiten Thakur terms his short story “Gudiya” as one of the best stories ever written by him. “I could maintain the tempo without resorting to rewriting and it continues to be my best story,” said Thakur.

Beginning his writing career in the 70s, when the now defunct Hindi magazine 'Dharamyug' published his collection of stories, Thakur’s literary career took wings and there was no looking back. “After the publication of poetry came the turn of short stories; those, too, were published in another Hindi magazine 'Sarika.' I had arrived on the literary scene. There was a deluge of letters from readers, such was the impact and reach of these magazines,” said Thakur.

However, he says in the last decade, while the audience for Hindi literature has not diminished, the writers were facing difficulty in reaching out to the reader living in second and third tier towns, mainly due to the absence of strong publishing network.

“Earlier the literary magazines such as 'Dharamyug' and 'Sarika' managed to provide platform to the young writers who could connect with their readers present in all corners of the country; such was the reach of these magazines. Now the writer has to approach the publishing houses for getting their works published,” he said.

Based in Dehradun, Jiten Thakur has four novels, a collection short stories and poetry. Recently Hind Pocket Books released a collection of his stories 'Yadgaari Kahaniya,' that are representative of the author. The publishers have already released books' authors such as Rakesh Mohan, Manu Bhandari and others.

Using a strong narrative technique while describing the incidents in the lives of common men, Thakur’s eye for detail often surprises the reader. “Dealing with familial relations in stories is often challenging, as most of the time the author has to draw from his own reservoir of experiences but most of the time the environment around you and injustices being meted out to somebody can act as a spark,” averred Thakur.

Pained at the disappearance of democratic values and spirit of co-existence and the changing landscape of the city, the writer says he had seen better days. “There was a time when one could unhesitatingly visit a neighbour’s house and expect him to host poetry recitation session. Today it is no more the case; all round there is erosion of values and mob culture rules the roost,” he averred.

Dehradun, April 14
The birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb B.R.Ambedkar was celebrated today at ONGC Headquarters by the All-India Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Employees Welfare Association. Extolling the qualities of Baba Saheb, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Sudhir Vasudeva said seldom had one man left such a huge imprint on the minds of his contemporaries and influenced generations of people. Vasudeva further said Ambedkar emancipated millions through his intellectual prowess, personal initiative, leadership and a deep conviction that sustainable progress could be achieved only by engendering an egalitarian society free from the shackles of religion, caste and creed.

Vasudeva said as a public sector enterprise, ONGC has been central in implementing the national agenda on social empowerment for the underprivileged. “We in ONGC are votaries of proactive affirmative action and are committed to the belief that we cannot grow alone. Growth has to be inclusive for development of the society in which we conduct business. We believe in sharing our prosperity with the less privileged sections of society for all-round growth,” he said.

He said ONGC is engaged in path-breaking initiatives for establishing a direct connect with the less privileged sections of society. “We have a comprehensive corporate citizenship policy in which we pledge 2 per cent of our net profit towards social developmental schemes. These funds are used for education, building rural infrastructure, medical care, entrepreneurship schemes, disaster relief, scholarships and other causes,” Vasudeva added.

Executive Director-Chief, Employee Relations, ONGC, Sundar Lal, said ONGC, besides shouldering the responsibility of meeting the energy requirements of the country, is fully committed towards the welfare of SC and ST communities. Dr Kancha Ilaiah, Director Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, said like the ONGC, all the private companies could give reservation and also maintain production levels. He urged ONGC employees to focus on the Ambedkarite education in their families. He stressed that reservations should be strictly implemented in schools. In implementing the Right to Education Act, he expressed the hope that ONGC will sponsor some school children in private schools. Later, a scintillating cultural programme was organised on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a function was held at Congress Bhavan, Dehradun, where Congress Rajpur MLA Rajkumar said Ambedkar always fought for the rights of downtrodden and unprivileged sections of society. He said it was hopeful from Congress party to carry forward the philosophy of Ambedkar.

At another meeting of Dehradun Mahanagar Congress Committee, after offering floral tributes to Ambedkar, the speakers expressed happiness over Congress coming to power in the state.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders paid obeisance to Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar at the BJP headquarters.

BJP chief BS Chufal said Ambedkar's contribution towards the uplift of the downtrodden and in the framing of the Constitution cannot be forgotten. Ambedkar believed in equality and wanted the downtrodden to lead a life of dignity.

HARIDWAR: Floral tributes were paid to Dr BR Ambedkar on his birth anniversary today.

At Valmiki ashram at Kankhal, a special function was organised, where people from all walks of life paid tributes to him and remembered his pivotal role in the freedom struggle and the upliftment of the Dalits.

Representative of the Valmiki samaj Nitin Teshwar said Baba Saheb always vowed for social equality paving way for the suppressed people of society to join the mainstream.

Lakshman Singh, block chief of the Congress, said the country could only progress if all segments of society work together.

Mahant Man Das, Surendra Teshwar, Ravi Ram Vaid, Neeraj Chachar, Madhukar and Ram Darshana coordinated the 'bhandara' organised at the ashram on the occasion.

Meanwhile, under the aegis of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Yuva Sangathan, a special function was organised at Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar Auditorium at Kashipura colony.

Later, a meeting was also held at the auditorium, where BJP Scheduled Caste cell divisional chief Sanjay Trival urged people to follow the mantra of the great leader --- get educated, remain united and fight for one’s rights.

Ravindra Mishra, Rakesh Kumar, Bali Kumar, Rajendra Kumar, Annusen Behlot and Vishal Jatav also spoke on the occasion.