Palampur, October 30
Dr NK Kalia, father of martyr Captain Saurabh Kalia, has said that he will continue his battle to get justice for his son, who laid down his life in the Kargil conflict 12 years ago.

Dr Kalia, bent with age and wearing thick glasses, has been moving from pillar to post and had approached several national and international organisations to pressurise Pakistan to identify, book and punish those who indulged in the most heinous, inhuman and unpardonable crime.

The Pakistan army kept his son in captivity for three weeks and subjected him to unprecedented brutal torture, as was evident from his body, handed over to the Indian army.

Captain Kalia was the first officer to detect and inform his superiors about the Pak intrusion while doing patrol duties in the first fortnight of May 1999. Captain Kalia, along with five other jawans, was captured alive on the Indian side of the LOC on May 15, 1999.

While interacting with mediapersons here recently, Dr Kalia said the Pakistan army indulged in the most dastardly acts of burning bodies with cigarettes, piercing ears with hot iron rods, removing eyes before puncturing them, breaking most of the bones and teeth, chopping off various limbs and private organs of these soldiers besides inflicting unimaginable physical and mental torture.

Evidently, being the leader, Captain Kalia fought the battle for 22 days, undergoing the worst possible ordeal. The Pakistan army shot them ultimately. The detailed postmortem, conducted by the Indian Army, confirms that injuries were inflicted ante mortem (before death).

Dr Kalia said his son and his companions were captured alive but their POWs status was not intimated to India. They were subjected to inhuman and brutal treatment that violates the Geneva Convention, to which both India and Pakistan are signatories.

Dr Kalia said after this unfortunate incident, parents would think twice before sending their wards in the armed forces. This may set a disturbing trend.

The western world would have gone berserk if this had happened there. It was unfortunate that the Indian human rights organisations remained silent and showed a feeble reaction to such a vital issue, he added. 

Kangra, October 30
Responsible behaviour is a solution for challenges faced by today’s youth. This was preached at “Celebrating Life” a district-level training camp organised by the HP Sate AIDS Control Society at the Tandon Club here on Saturday.

Dr RK Sood, District AIDS Programme Officer, stated that the Red Ribbon Club training aimed at empowering youth with knowledge, skills, resources and opportunities so that they could make healthy choices.

CMO, Kangra, SP Singh said the trained youth would become role models among their peers to promote informed and responsible choices, setting boundaries, gender sensitivity, be bold to talk about HIV AIDS and say “NO” to negative peer pressures and, thus, lead the HIV-prevention revolution.

During the workshop youth were engaged in finding solutions to the challenges they faced, incorporating youth development through approaches like self-awareness, promoting responsible behaviour and building capacity of the youth through open dialogue.

A mega banner featuring the Red Ribbon with the message “Zero Discrimination, Zero New Infections among Youth”was hosted. Over 80 youth peer educators from different colleges of this district wore Red Ribbons as mark of commitment to practise responsible behaviour for protecting themselves from HIV and to celebrate life.

Misconceptions, tendency to experiment and an environment which made discussing issues around sexuality a taboo added to their vulnerability, Dr Sood said.

The participants were told that HIV/AIDS was a leading cause of death in the 15-49 years age-group worldwide. With 3,000 being infected every day and half of the new infections globally being among young people, there was a need to step up efforts and increase a sense of urgency in addressing the problem through Red Ribbon Clubs and youth development centres. 

Bilaspur, October 30
National Congress general secretary and state party in charge Chaudhary Birender Singh has warned all rebels, who are contesting against official candidates, to either withdraw from the contest within the next 24 hours or consider themselves out of the party for at least six years.

This warning was given by Birender Singh at Padyalag, in the Ghumarwin constituency, recently where official candidate Rajesh Dharmani is facing Congress rebels, former Parliamentary Secretary Kashmir Singh Thakur and Rakesh Chopra, son of a Congress leader, as independents, apart from BJP and HLP candidates.

He said last year, he was in charge of elections in Uttarakhand where the Congress won, and now the same thing was happening in the state as the party had succeeded in ‘starting a wave in its favour’ and soon it would ‘snatch power’ from the BJP in the state. He said if Dharmani was elected, he would be given more responsibilities so that he could serve the people in a better way.

He charged the BJP with being an ‘enemy’ of the poor farmers, who were made to ‘part with their lands.

New Delhi, October 30
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) in its fact finding report, “The State of Juvenile Justice in Himachal Pradesh” stated that juveniles in the state are effectively being denied access to justice. For its 12 districts, Himachal Pradesh has only one observation-cum-special home for boys and girls at Samoor Kalan under Una district.

At the time of ACHR's field visit, it was found that there were 10 juveniles hailing from Chamba, Solan, Kangra, Shimla, Kullu and Una districts and they were required to be regularly produced before the Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) in various districts of the state.

“At times, a particular juvenile is needed to be produced three to four times a month. The situation worsens when the chairperson of the JJB (a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Judicial Magistrate of the first class) is absent and the hearing is postponed,” said ACHR in its finding report.

“Astonishingly, the officials of the observation-cum-special home are required to arrange funds from their own pockets for the appearance of the juveniles before the JJBs though the state government later on reimburses the expenses. The officials nonetheless face acute financial crisis.

The travel funds allocated for the observation home have been reduced from Rs 44,000 during 2010-11 to Rs 20,600 during 2011-12,” the ACHR added.

A 'court room' has been constructed at the first floor of the observation-home-cum-special home for boys and girls at Samoor Kalan, Una, taking note of the problems with the lone observation-cum-special home, but no sitting has been held there.

According to ACHR, the pendency before the JJBs remains significant.

However, the number of sittings in a number of JJBs was inadequate. The JJB at Chamba had lowest 48 cases and highest 65 cases pending between June 2010 and June 2011, but the JJB had maximum of three sittings per month during this period. There is no segregation of the juveniles at the lone observation home-cum-special home at Una as well as of the children in need of care and protection at various children homes across the state.

Similarly, separation of children is not maintained at some children homes such as Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home at Mashobra, Shimla, Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home at Masli, Shimla, and Children Home at Sunder Nagar, Mandi. Six out of seven government children homes namely: Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Sujanpur, Hamirpur, Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home, Garli, Paragpur, Kangra, Children Home, Sunder Nagar, Mandi, Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home, Mashobra, Shimla, Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Masli, Shimla, and Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Tutikandi, Shimla, did not have any teacher posted to provide education to the children. Some of the children homes have been found to be under-staffed which impacts care and protection of the inmates.

A number of crucial staff positions have not been appointed/filled up such as the post of superintendent and the post of warden at Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Sujanpur, the superintendent or assistant superintendent at the Balika Ashram-cum-Children Home, Garli, and the post of assistant superintendent (no post of superintendent has been sanctioned) at Bal Ashram-cum-Children Home, Masli.

No social auditing to "monitor and evaluate the functioning of the children's homes" as provided for under Section 36 of the JJ(C&PC) Act has been done. According to the data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Himachal Pradesh registered 159 cases of juvenile delinquency under the Indian Penal Code in 2010, 127 cases in 2009, 122 cases in 2008, 118 cases in 2007, 102 cases in 2006, and 136 cases in 2005.

In addition, under the Special and Local Laws, nine cases were registered against juveniles in 2010, eight cases in 2009, one case in 2008, nil in 2007, five cases in 2006 and nine cases in 2005. The Asian Centre for Human Rights recommended to the Himachal Pradesh government to establish observation and special homes in every district and in the meantime, issue necessary directions to conduct the hearing in the "court room" constructed at the first floor of the observation home-cum-special home for boys and girls at Samoor Kalan, Una; increase the number of sittings of the JJB at Chamba district; conduct social auditing to "monitor and evaluate the functioning of the children's homes"; ensure segregation of the juveniles and children in need of care and protection as per the JJ (C&PC) Act; provide proper educational facilities, including issuance of certificates on completion of the academic year; and fill up the vacancies of staff in various children homes. — ANI

Bilaspur, October 30
All ticket seekers of the BJP, threatening to rebel and contest elections as Independent candidates, have reconciled with the party. But the Congress rebels have decided to contest in three constituencies out of four in this district.

Two Congress rebels are in the field against the official candidate. They are Bambar Thakur from Bilaspur Sadar and Jitender Chandel, a state Congress committee member and a former zila parishad member and a supporter of Kaul Singh Thakur and KD Lakhanpal, former HAS officer and retired Registrar of Central University, Dharamshala, a Virbhadra Singh supporter.

There are two supporters of Kaul Singh from Congress, Hoshiar Singh Thakur, former district president, state secretary and zila parishad vice-chairman and now zila parishad member and Puran Chand Bhatia, prominent dalit leader of Jukhala valley and president gram panchayat, Jukhala, in Naina Devi constituency, opposing official candidate, former minister Ram Lal Thakur.

In Ghumarwin, Rajesh Dharmani, sitting Congress MLA (an Anand Sharma supporter) and now official candidate, faces rebel in former parliamentary secretary and Virbhadra Singh supporter, Kashmir Singh Thakur.

Vijay Kaushal, a Kaul Singh supporter and zila parishad member would cut in to Congress party votes in Jhandutta segment, as a rebel against official candidate Dr Biru Ram Kishore.

No veteran BJP leader, despite their objections to official nominees, fielded as a rebel and are silent. The party only faces threat from a recent “convert“ Rakesh Chopra as an independent and a veteran leader KD Dharmani, a former BJP district president and MLA at Ghumarwin as HLP (Himachal Lokhit Party) candidate.

At Bilaspur Sadar, BJP faces threat from Daulat Ram Sharma, an advocate and a veteran BJP district president as a HLP candidate. 

Nurpur, October 30
The ban on mining at the Chakki rivulet on the Himachal-Punjab border following directions from Punjab & Haryana High Court directions a few months back has resulted in a large number of stone crushing units in Punjab closing shop.

In the past, JCBs used to sneak into Himachal Pradesh in the night for quarrying stones from the Chakki rivulet. The illegal mining not only lowered the underground water level but also resulted into the collapse of the Chakki bridge. The illegal and unscientific mining also damaged the supporting pillars of Chakki railway bridge snapping rail traffic on Pathankot- Jogindernagar railway line several times.

Earlier, farmers of Khanni, Baduee, Kandwal, Mohtli, Lodhwan, Baranda and Maira gram panchayats used to produce around 500 tonnes of foodgrains by using Chakki river water for irrigation but illegal mining had played havoc with their fertile fields. The villagers of the affected gram panchayats and environmentalists raised a voice against illegal mining of the Chhaki rivulet by constituting the “Chhaki Bachao Sangarsh Samiti”.

They did not succeed in their mission as musclemen of stone crushing units in Punjab indulged in unscientific mining in Himachal Pradesh area.

Nurpur DSP Rajinder Jaswal claimed that illegal mining of the Chakki river bed had also been checked on the part of Himachal Pradesh after deputing mining field staff and police personnel who were keeping round the clock vigil.

“JCBs, tippers and tractor-trolleys have been challaned and heavily fined for ferrying stones from the river bed. The JCB, tipper and tractor-trolley are being fined Rs 25,000, Rs 5,100 and Rs 3,100 respectively,” he asserted. 

Chamba, October 30
A three-day national seminar on “Emerging Consumerism in the Context of Climate Change — Issues and Challenges” concluded at Government Postgraduate College, Chamba, recently.

The seminar was organised by the college in collaboration with the Centre for Consumer Studies of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi, sponsored by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs. Prof OP Monga, an expert in the subject from the ministry, was the chief guest on the opening day of the seminar.

In his keynote address, Professor Monga attributed the extensive use of natural resources to the unbalancing of ecosystem. Citing the findings of 108 scholars who had assembled in the Madras Institute of Technology way back in 1970, he said resources were depleting and causing apprehensions that resources like coal and gas may be exhausted by 2050. He also stressed upon a balanced approach to consumerism in consonance with the use of natural resources.

“The way natural resources are being exploited, it will result in natural disasters like tsunami etc,” Professor Monga pointed out.

A book titled “Water and Development” compiled by Dr M Salariya was also released by him. The Principal of the host college, ML Sharma, welcomed the dignitaries, including the distinguished participants hailing from the University of Turku, Nepal, and other parts of the country.

During the seminar, Dr Sachin Kumar, Dr Saroch, Dr Mamta, Dr Sanjeev Sharma, Dr Vivek Diwedi, Prof Ashwani and Prof Raghuvir Sharma read their papers.

According to the organising secretary of the seminar, Dr Mohinder Salariya, the main themes of the seminar were green revolution, foodgrains scarcity, communication and the Vedas, among others. 

Rekong Peo, October 30
Your journey to the picturesque and remote district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh will be an object lesson in preserving the environment and going back to nature.

The locals here did not wait for the government to impose a ban on eco-unfriendly products. They serve water in “kulhars” or clay mugs and there is a self-imposed ban on mineral water in plastic bottles. The district administration has also decided not to use plastic water bottles at official functions. Only water stored in environment-friendly mud pots like "matkas" or "surahis" will be allowed.

“We are promoting ‘kulhars’ by offering water and tea to guests in them. Even in our kitchens, we have again started using ‘matkas’ or 'surahis' for storing water, rather than plastic buckets or containers,” said Neena Devi, a resident of Kilba village in the Kalpa block.

She said people in neighbouring villages too have adopted traditional methods for storing water, milk and curd. Kilba's gram panchayat head Daulat Singh Negi said even during the visit of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to the village recently, water was offered to him in a ‘kulhar’. Kuldeep Singh, owner of Deep Cottage, a home-stay unit in Kilba, said most of the home-stay owners in the district were offering water to tourists in ‘kulhars’. Even storage of mineral water bottles had been stopped. The district has more than 60 registered home-stay units. The home-stay scheme was launched by the state government in July 2008.

Rural home-stays had provided employment to around 3,000 people and generated economic activity worth over Rs 4 crore in the state, said tourism officials. Vidya Karan Negi, a tour operator in Sangla Valley, 275 km from Shimla, said luxury holidaying was now a passé. “The tourists now prefer to stay amid nature, where they can enjoy local cuisine served in traditional utensils,” he said.

The idyllic, pastoral settings in Kinnaur have been attracting a large number of backpackers, mainly foreigners, for mountaineering expeditions, high-altitude treks and white-water rafting.

Abhinav Duggal, a Delhi-based tourist at the Sangla Valley, said: “It’s quite refreshing to have morning tea in an earthen pot. The introduction of 'kulhars' in the kitchen is the soundest step as it helps in reviving traditional avocations”. Deputy Commissioner Rajeev Shankar said the administration had banned the use of mineral water plastic bottles in all official meetings and functions.

“The next step to reduce carbon footprints is to promote cloth or canvas bags and paper towels. Soon we are going to provide canvas bags to the tourists free of cost at the entry points of the district,” he said. — IANS 

Nurpur, October 30
The school administrations of all government schools in the area are in a quandary over the opening of schools on November 2 in the wake of a holiday for Karvachauth fast to female teaching staff. Most of the government schools’ teaching staff (male) has been deputed on election duties, scheduled on November 4. They have to leave for their duties with electronic voting machines on November 2.

Coincidentally, Karvachauth fast falls on the same day and the state government has declared a holiday for the female government employees across the state. Who will open and run government schools on that day? The question is haunting school administrations in the area.

Prem Kaushal, president, Nurpur Block Government Primary Teachers’ Association, said he had taken up the issue with the deputy director, primary education, and had strongly protested and demanded to declare holiday on November 2. 

Bilaspur, October 30
The Himachal Pradesh State NGOs Federation has criticised leaders, who are pleading that the already abolished State Services Tribunal should be brought back to the state judicial system for taking up cases of employees. After a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the federation here recently, its president Ram Singh said the federation had once again rejected any such institution in the state.

He said in the past, the tribunal had proved to be a ‘hindrance’ in getting quick justice, just the ‘opposite’ of its objective, despite a huge expenditure on it for several years. Ram Singh said it was after a long struggle that the employees succeeded in getting it abolished. He said the federation had decided to oppose the proposal of the revival of the tribunal. — OC

Having spent three months in the USA, I am back in Shimla. When I left America, election fervour was at its peak there. The first debate of Romney (Republican) and Obama (Democrat) had taken place where the present President had given a listless performance and people had apprehended that the vote-share of the Democrats was likely to drop. It appeared to have recouped when the vice-presidential candidate Biden (Democrat) had an upper hand on Ryan (Republican) in another debate. The remaining two debates between the presidential candidates are now over and the stage is set for election on November 6. I read in the papers that Obama did very well in both the debates and is the favoured candidate. The elections there are very clean - no posters plastered on the walls of houses or public places and no honking of the loudspeakers. I saw small ‘Romney-Ryan’ flap-cards erected on two pegs inserted on the lawns of the people siding the Republicans and those favouring the Democrats had ‘Barrack-Biden’ card installed in the same way.

When I reached Shimla, the state was getting ready for the big event on November 4. Here the walls are plastered with the posters of the candidates who are in fray (see photo). At places, the lampposts which exist to illuminate our way are also used to throw light on who should we vote (see photo). Poor lamppost! A drunken uses it for support, a dog for some other purpose and a politician asks for vote through it. I am glad that the Election Commission is strict this time and there is much less plastering with posters of the public places. I have also seen that the posters glued on the walls of the rain- shelters have been removed or have been asked to remove from there. There are clear-cut directions from the Election Commission that no poll-related material can be pasted on any private building without the permission of the owner of the property and an absolute ban has been imposed on pasting posters or banners on any government building. It is a right step in the right direction.

I also witnessed a press conference organised by PR Ramesh of Theog on behalf of Himachal Election Watch in which he explained Rule 49 O of The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 of India that governs elections in the country. It is a rule that only a few know. I feel like making the people aware of it through these columns. You enter a booth and say that you do not want to vote anybody. You have to go through the normal procedure though you do not want to record your vote. The presiding officer then shall make a remark to this effect against your name in Form 17A and obtain your signature against such remark. The election process will continue right up to the counting of votes and if a candidate happens to win by 250 votes and there are 251 entries under Rule 49 O then that polling will be cancelled and the entire polling will be re-done with new candidates because the original candidates have been rejected by the voting population. PR Ramesh emphasised on the point that in such cases, in the present procedure, the secrecy of voting is not protected -even the polling agents in the polling station come to know of the person who has decided not to vote anybody. He wanted that the required provision of the People’s Representation Act be amended and a provision of ‘none of the above’ be made in the ballot paper itself after the name of the last contestant. If it is done, it will make the entire procedure simple and maintaining the secrecy of the voter, the purpose of discarding the corrupt politicians will be achieved.

Tailpiece

Ramu has designed a format for a candidate fighting elections in India. An interesting question in it is: Reasons for contesting the elections (circle one or more): A. to make money B. to escape court trial C. to grossly misuse power D. to serve the public E. I am from the dynasty F. I have no clue (if you chose D, attach a certificate of sanity from a recognised government psychiatrist).

Large-scale construction activity involving hydropower projects is not only taking a heavy toll on environment but also causing extensive damage to the road network, particularly in the ecologically fragile tribal district of Kinnaur, where a number of big projects are coming up.

The deplorable condition of the old Hindustan-Tibet highway and several other roads in the area (see photo) provide ample evidence of it. The highway has been virtually transformed into a dustbowl beyond Wangtu and only patches of tarring have been left on many other roads. Even the road leading to the picturesque Sangla valley, a major tourist destination which attracts the maximum number of foreigners, is in bad shape.

Driving on the dusty, pot-holed bumpy roads is a nightmare for tourists and a daily ordeal for the local tribals. They maintain that maximum damage has been caused to the main highway by the Karcham Wangtu project.

What upsets them the most is that no effort has been made to repair the road even one year after the commissioning of the project.

They assert that the government should have either got it repaired or asked the Jaypee Company, which constructed the power project, to carry out the job.

Every passing vehicle raises a cloud of dust causing air pollution in the otherwise clean hill environment and exposes people to skin and pulmonary diseases. With almost a dozen big projects lined up for construction, the people will have to contend with bad roads for decades, unless the government takes stringent steps against power companies and stipulates deadlines for repair of roads and other infrastructure damaged due to construction of projects.

The Himachal-based 192 MW AD Hydro Power Plant (ADHPL) has brought two prestigious international awards for the LNJ Bhilwara Group.

The project won the Gold Award in the Hydro Power Project of the Year category and also bagged the Bronze Award for the Independent Power Producer of the Year category at the Asian Power Awards ceremony held recently in Bangkok.

The Asian Power Award is considered as the “Oscar” of the power industry. It gives recognition to the top achievers in the industry “who relentlessly strive for great quality and excellence in their own categories.” The jury comprises practitioners and experts in the Asian power market, looked for the “best-of-the-best” practices in Asia's power generation and power supply industries and organisations.

The awards were received by OP Ajmera, CEO, ADHPL, who dedicated these to the entire project team. He said employees would be further motivated to follow the best practices.