Shimla, August 21
Incessant rains and inclement weather notwithstanding, activists of various students’ outfits are campaigning vigorously to garner support for elections in Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and over 100 colleges all over the state, which are slated to be held on August 23.

Candidates of the three main players on HPU campus, SFI, ABVP and NSUI, today filed their nomination papers amid a lot of fanfare. The papers of all 12 candidates of the three outfits were found to be in order.

A majority of the colleges as well as the HPU will witness a triangular contest between candidates of the three main outfits, the Students Federation of India (SFI), the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI). Today was the last day for filing nominations and withdrawals.

To ensure smooth and peaceful poll in the colleges and HPU, the police has made elaborate arrangements. With violence usually marring the polls, especially in the HPU, the authorities as well as the law-enforcing agencies are not taking any chances and 200 police personnel have already been deployed.

Over 3,000 students will cast their votes in HPU to elect the Students Central Association (SCA) and department representatives. The SFI, which has virtually maintained its complete hold over the HPU, has fielded Rahul Chauhan, Priyanka Chauhan, Vikram Kainth and Amit Kumar for the top four posts.

The ABVP, on the other hand, is desperate to break the SFI’s virtual domination over the HPU and has fielded Dinesh Kumar, Parul Shukla, Tarun Thakur and Naresh Kumar Dasta for the top four posts. The NSUI has fielded Avtar Singh Hans, Rituraj Thakur, Sangeeta and Brij Mohan.

The candidates along with their supporters are seeking votes not just on the campus, but are visiting homes of the students to ensure their support. Undeterred by the rains, they start campaigning in the early morning and carry on till late in the night.

Nurpur, August 21
The Congress-supported students’ organisation, NSUI, received a jolt today when it failed to file nominations of its candidates on the last day of filing nominations in Government Degree College at Indora in this sub-division. It led to unopposed winning of the ABVP’s panel. The elections of the Students Central Associations (SCAs) in colleges have been scheduled on August 23. The following panel of the ABVP was declared winner:

President: Lekh Raj; vice-president: Arpan; general secretary: Amit Kumar; and joint secretary: Rahul.

Mandi, August 21
In order to keep “national reserve food stock” to provide food security to millions of people across the country, Himachal Pradesh has implemented the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in paddy crop in three districts of Mandi, Kangra and Sirmour for the current kharif season with a mission to grow local short-duration varieties in over 45,000 hectares in the state.

A high-level team from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) headed by the Director, wheat research, S Chaudhary, recently inspected the “farmers’ school” set up in the district. The team suggested that Himachal Pradesh should grow “local short-duration direct-seeded paddy varieties, which are cheap and easy to grow”.

Mandi district has taken a lead in implementing the NFSM. “We have set up 47 farmers’ schools in all nine paddy-growing blocks in the district to train farmers. We have distributed 1,600 quintals of paddy seed this season under this programme”, said AN Sharma, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Mandi.

Scientists from Agriculture University, Palampur, will pay four visits to the farmers’ schools to train them as per mandate of the NFSM. They will take care of deficiency of micronutrients in crop and suggest how to supplement them under the programme.

The government is providing 50 per cent subsidy on seeds and micro-nutrients to farmers under this programme. Similarly, other two districts have also geared up for this programme, the officials said.

A high-level state committee has implemented the NFSM programme in three major paddy-growing districts -Mandi, Kangra and Sirmour - for the current kharif season. “The next crop to be covered under the NFSM in will be wheat”, the officials said.

As recommended by Agriculture University, Palampur, the farmers have sown the short-duration four paddy varieties - HRP-2421, HPR-2143, HPR-1068 and Dasturi basmati in the region. “We have given 1,600 quintals of paddy seed this season to be sown in 19,500 hectares in the district”, Sharma said.

”The target is to produce around 39,000 metric tonnes of paddy this year”, he added.

Kangra, August 21
Tension gripped outside MCM DAV College here today when some outsiders, some of whom were allegedly drunk, tried to enter the premises where panels of different student organisations were being finalised. They were stopped by the college authorities and the police was called.

Fiftytwo students filed their nominations for different posts of the Student Central Association (SCA) and class representative. Out of them, 13 applications were rejected and 39 accepted, five of whom withdrew from the contest.

When tension gripped outside the college gate, the college management closed the gates. Principal Neelam Mahajan contacted SDPO Dinesh K Sharma and called the police. She with Vice-Principal KC Gupta remained at the college gate to restrict the entry of unscrupulous elements.

The police arrived on the scene and pushed the miscreants away and restored the peace. It continued to keep vigil at different places around the college till the panels were finalised.

Students belonging to different organisations took out rallies in support of their candidates despite the rain.

For the presidential post, Ankit Walia (ABVP), Nitesh Sankhayan (SFI), Rahul Mehra (NSUI) and Rahul Sharma (ACS) are in the fray. For vice-president’s post it is a direct contest between Arun Kumar (NSUI) and Pankaj Rana (SFI).

For the general secretary’s post Anjana Devi (ACS), Arpan Sood (ABVP), Parth Arora (NSUI) and Ravi Thakur (SFI) are in the fray. For the joint secretary’s post Anubhav Kapil (SFI), Nitin Sharma (NSUI) and Pooja Chuhan (ABVP) are contesting. The poll will be held on August 23.

Solan, August 21
Shoolini University, Solan, has signed an MoU with the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, to establish cooperative relations between the two universities in education and research, thus furthering its pursuit in building strong alliances with institutions of international repute.

The University of Ulster is the largest university in Northern Ireland providing education in business management, engineering, information technology, life and health sciences, arts and social sciences.

This will help establish academic and scholarly cooperative projects to undertake dual degree programmes at under-graduate, post-graduate and doctoral levels with a provision to transfer credits on a reciprocal basis leading to the award of additional certificate between the two institutions.

Dr PK Khosla, Vice-Chancellor, Shoolini University, said, “This will help in promoting education and academic exchanges between the two institutions. Efforts will be made by both the universities to encourage direct contact and research cooperation between their faculty members, departments and research institutes and student and faculty exchange.

Besides this, Shoolini University has linkages with industry and academia of repute, including Magna Carta College, Oxford (UK), Genpact, Nutra Helix, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan and Seoul National University, South Korea.”

Solan, August 21
Reeling under cumulative losses of nearly Rs 14 crore, inimical policies of the state government appear to be pushing the Himachal Pradesh State Co-operative Marketing and Consumer Federation (HIMFED) further into a debt trap.

This is apparent from the delay in releasing adequate funds for the federation to procure fertilisers in time, forcing it to avail loans to meet demands of the agrarian community in the state.

Though the federation has been demanding Rs 10 crore as working capital for the purchase of fertilisers, the proposal has not been considered by the state government and it had to avail loans worth crores every year. The state government has even failed to provide guarantee to HIMFED for availing a loan of Rs 25 crore till now.

The HIMFED officials rued that though other public sector enterprises like HPMC had been extended guarantee for availing loans, the state government had failed to accommodate HIMFED even though it had been repaying its loans in time and was serving farmers of the state.

In the absence of adequate funds, the federation has availed loans worth Rs 8 crore at a monthly interest of Rs 22 lakh, besides other loans to make available adequate funds for fertilisers’ purchase after exceeding its credit limits. This had added to the financial woes of the federation with interest far exceeding the profitability in fertiliser distribution.

Lack of funds also delayed purchase and subsequent distribution of fertilisers in the state and though the kharif season begins in May every year, the farmers were facing shortage of fertilisers throughout the peak season. The fertilisers were now made available to the farmers.

Himachal is considered a non-priority state by various fertiliser manufacturing companies, including IFFCO, Indian Potash Limited, National Fertilisers Limited, and Rashtriya Chemical Fertilisers, due to less usage and therefore its supply is often delayed. Moreover, such transactions require advance payment and delay in arranging adequate funds also contributed to the delayed availability of fertilisers to the farmers.

Shimla, August 21
The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the State Public Service Commission (SPSC) to recommend the name of a candidate who is next in the merit list in the Scheduled Castes category for appointment to the post of a Block Development Officer against a vacancy created by non-joining of the selected candidate.

The court passed this order on a petition filed by Jaspal, who was next in the merit list, seeking appointment against the non-joining of duty by Ashok Kumar as a Block Development Officer. It was stated in the petition that the Public Service Commission had recommended the name of Ashok Kumar for appointment as Block Development Officer (BDO) in the Rural Development Department in the Scheduled Castes category.

Consequently, the letter was issued to him on November 21, 2011, and he was appointed by the government as the BDO. He was directed to join duty within 15 days with a condition that if he did not join the duty within the stipulated time, the offer of appointment would be treated as cancelled. But he did not join the duty despite three extensions given to him for joining. When he did not join on May 28, 2012, the Principal Secretary (Rural Development) requested the Public Service Commission to give a replacement of Ashok Kumar as the department was facing shortage of Block Development Officers.

But the commission turned down the request on the ground that at a belated stage it could not be considered and the government was requested to send fresh requisition on or before June 30, 2012. Thereafter, the Principal Secretary (Rural Development) requested the commission that the post of BDO might be filled up through the Himachal Pradesh Administrative Service (HPAS) examination for 2011.

The commission informed the government that it was not possible for the commission to fill up the said post through the HPAS Combined Competitive Examination and, therefore, the government was requested to include the said post in the advertisement likely to be issued in 2013.

The court directed the SPSC to recommend the name of the petitioner since the petitioner is next in the merit list in the reserved category meant for Scheduled Castes for appointment to the post of Block Development Officer within 10 days.

Shimla, August 21
The state Indian Youth Congress has started online membership facility to help enroll members round the year, effectively monitor the functioning of the members and ensure transparency in the organisation.

Launching the online membership facility, national secretary of the Youth Congress Harsh Wardhan said here today that youth aged up to 35 years could register as member by uploading documents pertaining to their identity, photograph and other details. The valid documents for identity include voter ID card, Aadhar card, driver’s licence, PAN number and passport. He said so far members got enrolled during elections only, but with the online system the membership would continue round the year.

Those who did not have access to Internet could get registered through offline mode by filling form along with postal order directly to the state unit of the organisation. A monthly target would be assigned for enrolment for each Assembly constituency and the progress of membership drive would be reviewed on a regular basis.

The existing members could recommend new members and it would also reflect their performance. The organisation would maintain a database of all the members and the performance would be monitored using MIS (management information system) to identify active members.

The state had 1.25 lakh Youth Congress members when the organisational election was held early this year and the number was expected to increase with the introduction of online enrolment. Members would be required to renew their membership after every two years and they could continue as members up to the age of 35 years.

Shimla, August 21
Buckling under pressure from Virbhadra Singh the Congress high command today proposed to appoint Gangu Ram Musafir working president of the state Congress, but unity was a far cry.

The inept manner in which the high command handled the issue ruffled many feathers and created confusion. It initially agreed to appoint a working president, but retracted when the anti-Virbhadra camp exerted pressure.

Party general secretary Birender Singh, who was also in charge of party affairs in the state, and state party chief Kaul Singh had stated publicly that there was no such move.

This had infuriated the veteran leader, who not only skipped the rally addressed by Sheila Dixit at Sujanpur, but also convened a meeting of loyalists in Delhi today.

The high command again agreed to appoint his supporter Musafir working president. A formal AICC announcement was likely shortly.

The flip-flop would embarrass the rival camp, particularly Kaul Singh, whose authority would be undermined.

Instead of bringing warring factions together, the high command had created multiple power centres by setting up several committees, with separate leaders as chairpersons.

It also bungled in the appointment of secretaries by inducting several non-entities, which left a faction sulking. Virbhadra had openly criticised the composition of various poll-related panels and demanded a revamp.

With leaders pulling in different directions and the high command unclear, the whole thing had been made so complicated that the leader of one faction or the other would be offended when the issues were sorted out.

Instead of dealing with groups in isolation, the high command should have convened a meeting of senior leaders and tried to bridge the gap.

The continuous confusion was affecting the party’s poll preparations as leaders were camping in Delhi or Shimla instead of working in their respective constituencies.

Shimla, August 21
Launching a scathing attack on the UPA regime, the BJP today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as well as AICC chief Sonia Gandhi must clarify their position on the issue of price rise.

Addressing a press conference here today, state BJP general secretary Rajeev Bindal said in light of comments made by Union Minister Beni Prasad that he was happy that prices were rising, both the PM and the Congress chief must clarify the stand of their government.

“The minister has virtually made mockery of the plight of the poor,” he said. He said the comments had clearly exposed the Congress party as it was pursuing an agenda of increasing prices in a planned manner.

“The leaderless and directionless UPA regime has pushed India 15 years back as inflation is at all-time high whereas during the NDA regime, it remained well below 2 per cent,” he said.

Bindal said the prices had skyrocketed and the Centre had failed to come up with any concrete step to bring it under control.

Bindal said it was strange that the UPA regime was blaming Pakistan for its internal problem and mass migration within the country. “The UPA regime has made India look helpless whether it is before Pakistan, China or even Bangladesh for that matter,” he said.

Nurpur, August 21
The Revenue Department will hold a preliminary examination-cum-screening test for short-listing 750 candidates for main examination for the recruitment of patwaris. The Directorate Land Records, Shimla, will conduct the examination on August 26.

A large number of unemployed youth from Nurpur, who have to appear in the examination, are on tenterhooks as they have received their roll numbers and other instructions from the directorate, but examination centres have not been mentioned in the call letters.

The candidates have been directed to enter the examination halls at 10.45 am on the scheduled date as the examination has to start at 11 am. They have been informed that the examination will be held at sub-divisional headquarters, but the name of their examination centres have not been intimated to them.

Rajat Gupta, Naresh Kumar and Bholli Devi are among hundreds of candidates who have to appear in this screening test. They rued that they were facing hardship in getting information about their examination centres.

Ratan Singh, Director, Land Records, Shimla, clarified that the screening test was earlier scheduled to be held on July 29 last, but it was postponed as its schedule clashed with the date of BEd entrance test of Himachal Pradesh University.

“The examination has now been scheduled on August 26 and the examination centres will remain same as mentioned in the previous roll number slips issued by the directorate for July 29 examination,” he said.

Solan, August 21
A case of cheating has been registered against a cellular company at Dharampur police station. Complainant Sanjiv Sood, company’s distributor, has alleged that he has been duped of Rs 24 lakh at the hands of company officials.

Sood had been running an Aircel distribution office at Dharampur since 2009-2010 where he was distributing e-tops and was supposed to cater to Dharampur circle.

Sood, in his complaint, alleged that company officials duped him of Rs 24 lakh by illegally changing the mapping without his permission and transferring e-tops through master demo to mobile numbers of various distributors in Solan, Arki, Jabli, and Chail etc.

He noticed this embezzlement while perusing through papers of income tax return. When he enquired about this from company officials, he did not get a satisfactory response from them.

A case under Sections 420, 120-B and 406, IPC, has been registered and the police is investigating the matter, said DSP Shweta.

Bilaspur, August 21
The Central government has started a number of projects for the benefit of farmers of the state with hundreds of crores of rupees being spent on these. This was stated by Ghumarwin MLA Rajesh Dharmani while inaugurating Rs 2.50-crore Central government-financed Regional Silk Research and Extension Centre at Hambot in the Ghumarwin constituency, 68 km from here, on Sunday.

He said such regional silk centres would go a long way in helping farmers to utilise their vacant hours to earn an additional income by rearing silk worms and producing cocoons. He said silk production had been a very productive avocation of thousands of families in this district for centuries. There was hardly a home or family in this district which did not rear silk worm every season for cocoon production.

Dharmani said it was due to this reason that the Central government, at his instance, gave priority to set up this centre here so that maximum farmers could take its advantage to increase and develop their production of better cocoons and quality silk which could easily compete and beat even international markets like those of China.

Dharmani said even today silk produced by cocoons from this district was adjudged the best in the entire state. He said this was the first such centre in the state and would also provide help to other adjoining areas of the state.

Prominent Dehradun silk experts and scientists Sardar Singh, RC Kimothi and SK Tyagi also addressed a large gathering of farmers and silk producers and gave details of better ways for quality cocoon production and protection and production of silk worms and saving these from untimely mass destruction due to various reasons.

Present on the occasion were panchayat representatives, including president Sonia Kaliya, vice-president Sunil Kumar and Babu Ram Thakur, Kanta Devi, Ram Lal, Jai Lal, Nand Lal, Rattan Chand, Gyan Chand, Longu Ram and Jagdish Kumar etc.