State nature handbook to be out today
Dehradun, November 2
The Uttarakhand Forest Department is finally ready with its first-ever Uttarakhand Nature Handbook. Co-published in association with publishers Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh Dehradun, the department through the handbook primarily aims to meet the needs of the nature tourism industry.

Dehradun, November 2
Citing the important role played by Asha workers in Uttarakhand in the absence of doctors, Uttarakhand Health Minister Surinder Singh Negi today urged the Central Government to increase their honorarium.

"There is a dearth of doctors in Uttarakhand but the Asha workers are filling the gap and rendering valuable service and they deserved an increase in honorarium," he said while speaking at a two-day convention of Ministers of Health of different states in New Delhi which was organized by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Describing the shortage of doctors as a serious problem in Uttarakhand, Negi asserted that arrangements of doctors should be made for Char Dham Yatra and Kailash Mansarovar separately.

He pointed out that owing to deputation of doctors during these yatras, the health services were adversely affected. He said that health services had to be rendered in the remote areas under the NRHM through health camps. It may be noted that less than 50 per cent of the requisite posts of doctors are still lying vacant.

The minister suggested that norms for central projects be laid in line with the specific conditions of Uttarakhand.

"The population norms should be reduced to 1,500 from existing 3,000 for establishing sub-health centres in the state and the Centre's contribution in the state illness fund be increased to 50 per cent from the existing 33 per cent," said Negi.

He also sought 15 seats for students of Uttarakhand for postgraduation courses in government medical colleges. He said Uttarakhand being a new state, the PG courses were not facilitated in medical colleges. He disclosed that 16 seats were allotted to the students of Uttarakhand in 8 medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh time frame of which was till 2014.

Dehradun, November 2
Cultural festival Virasat-2012 saw the violin recitals by Cam Neufeld from Canada and Hans Vermeersch from Belgium on last evening.

Manju Mehta performs at Virasat-2012 in Dehradun.

Cam has played his own style of fiddle music in clubs and festivals across the prairies and around the world. From the street to the concert hall, his musical journey has spanned the gamut of styles from traditional fiddling to jazz.

Cam has spent the last two years tracing the route of gypsies from India through Turkey, the Balkans, France and Spain and studying and composing music inspired by this journey. Recently, Cam has produced a DVD ‘The Road to Django’ of a live performance in Edmonton which integrates the music of India, Turkey, the Balkans, Spain and the gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt. In the concert at Virasat last evening, he performed solo violin with the addition of foot rhythms using a board that has a pickup mounted on it.

He also used live looping to create sound textures that serve as a background for his improvisations.

Hans Vermeersch, born in Knokke (1957), a coastal town in West-Flanders, Belgium, is a violinist, teacher, composer, conductor and leader of the Rajhans Orchestra, also performed in the evening.

Since 1988, Hans has conducted a musical study-project in India which gave him the opportunity to meet reputed Indian musicians and scholars. As a result of this research, he created the 'Rajhans Orchestra' and Rajhans Ensemble.

Both the violin recitals were appreciated by the audience.

The last performance of the evening was a sitar recital by Manju Mehta, a well-known sitar player. She belongs to the well-known Bhatt family of Jaipur. She had her training in sitar from Shashi Mohan Bhatt, her elder brother, who is a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Manju started her performance with raag jogkauns. The first composition was in rupak taal and the second composition was in drut teen taal. In the second half, she played a Rajasthani folk composition in raag kirwani in drut teen taal.

Dehradun, November 2
The Uttarakhand Wakf Board, which has property worth hundreds of crores in the state, is not getting land for its office. The board has requested the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) for allotting a piece of land for the purpose.

Deputy Mukhya Nagar Adhikari, DMC , Sadia Alam Khan, who also holds the additional charge of Chief Executive Officer, Uttarakhand Wakf Board, said: “It is surprising that all wakf properties in the state have either been given on rent or have been encroached upon.

The land belonging to the board that is lying vacant in various areas is being used by people for different purposes and they oppose constructing the board's office there.”

She said the present office of the board, which was on rent, was very small. "I am planning to make more appointments in the board. So we require more space,” she added.

Sadia Alam Khan said it had become necessary to ascertain the status of wakf property with documentary support. "I will meet Principle Secretary HH Khan to discuss the issue, so that a survey of wakf property could be conducted," she said.

Besides this, she will also constitute a panel of senior advocates to frame rules and regulations for the board. She said: “It is strange that the board has been working without any rules and regulations. Despite the Uttarakhand Wakf Act in place, no system has been evolved for better functioning. I will constitute a panel of lawyers who would do the task for us.”

Mussoorie, November 2
The second day of Writers’ Festival being organised at Woodstock School saw eminent mountaineers from the world sharing their valuable experiences about challenges faced by them while scaling the mountain peaks around the world through short films presentation today.

Loveraj Singh Dharmshaktu from Munsiari in the state, who has climbed Mt Everest six times and has reached the summit on four occasions, was felicitated with a memento by Principal of the school Jonathon Long for his exemplary contribution in mountaineering.

Dharam Shaktu said he had climbed Nanda Kot (6,600 m) at the age of 17. Since then, mountaineering had been his passion, he said. He scaled 32 major Himalayan peaks, including Kanchenjunga, Mana and Kamet. His most recent climb to the top of the Everest was accomplished in June 2012. He followed this up with a successful expedition to Gangotri in October 2012.

He further said all peaks were challenging but the Everest expedition from the East Ridge side in 2001 was a daunting task for him as he had to face several avalanches during the course which made climbing immensely difficult. He expressed hope of repeating it once again and reaching the Everest this time.

Shaktu said in his childhood, he was always fascinated by the smoke emanating from the Mt Pancholi due to blizzard. It was a popular belief that the smoke was caused due to the prayers being offered by the Gods in the mountains. The curiosity to find the reason behind the smoke made him take up mountaineering.

He opined that adventure sports were the thing of future and the government and corporate houses should show interest in it as it had immense possibilities of growth in the state. He also said if youth were trained in mountaineering, it would help in addressing the disaster management issues as well. Shaktu further opined that the state government should formulate a single-window system for the climbers as they were forced to run from one office to another to seek permissions. If such bottlenecks are removed, the tourist inflow to the state government would increase manifolds, added Shaktu. He was also of the view that the climbers were aware of the environmental fallouts and were doing their bit in keeping the ranges clean but the Forest Department, which charges exorbitantly from the climbers for cleaning the garbage, should deploy more people so that the environment around the peaks remains clean.

American climber Steve Swenson shared his astonishing climbing experiences with the students. He has climbed the Everest and K2 without supplementary oxygen.

He screened a short film ‘The Old Breed’, which was a chronicle of his ascent of Saser Kangri II in the Karakoram range of Kashmir. It was the second highest un-scaled summit in the world before he and two of his companions conquered it.

Italian alpinist Maurizio Zanolla presented an awe-inspiring film of rock climbing in the Dolomites. Pia Singh talked about her experiences of crossing the high passes of Garhwal. Australian climber Susan Hunt also spoke of her mountaineering experiences. She is the first woman to scale the Everest. Teh Himalayan food festival was also held at the quadrangle of the school where the guests enjoyed the delicacies from the Himalayan region prepared on the occasion. However, the highlight of the show was the poem recitation session by renowned poet, filmmaker, lyricist and writer Gulzar. The eminent poet read out poems written about mountains much to the appreciation of the gathered audience. Pawan Kumar and Supriya Singh accompanied Gulzar and recited several poems in English.

Dehradun, November 2
Sunderwala Boys won the Lala Nemi Dass Memorial Football league by defeating Doon Star Club by a solitary goal in the final match played here yesterday. The important goal for the Sunderwala Boys was scored by Shubham Bisht in the sixth minute of the match. Doon Star tried its best to score the equalizer but were thwarted by the solid defence of the Sunderwala Boys.

Earlier, Akranta Club beat Adhoiwala XI by 2-0 to secure the third place in the league tournament. Vishal scored the first goal in the 27th minute while Ankit Negi scored the second goal in the 58th minute.

Uttarakhand Sports Minister Dinesh Aggarwal gave away the prizes to the winners and runners-up teams. The winning team was awarded a cash prize of Rs 60,000 while the runners-up team received Rs 30,000. The third and fourth place teams got Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000. All 24 participating teams were also awarded a sum of Rs 5000 each.

Vishal Rawat was declared the best defender of the tournament while Guru Sagar was adjudged as the best forward player of the tournament. Abhishek Rawat received the prize of best back player and Shailender Panwar as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Shubham has been declared as the most upcoming player of the tournament.