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Vidhan Sabha building at Gairsain
Assembly building in town a political stunt: CPI (ML)
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Haridwar residents welcome Cabinet decisions
Marginal victory for hill people: UPP, URM
UKD (P) president admires Bahuguna
Now global cooling cause for concern: Scientist
Conference on Vedanta discusses ways to check malpractices
Mussoorie Half Marathon
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Vidhan Sabha building at Gairsain
Dehradun November 4 Addressing the media here today, adviser of the organisation Ravinder Jugran said it was a good beginning in the right direction and demanded that a mini secretariat should be built at Gairsain. “The state government must build a mini secretariat at Gairsain and depute some top bureaucrats there, so that people from the hills do not need to travel all the way to Dehradun for minor issues. This way the development issues and grievances of hill residents could be addressed,”
he said. He also demanded to get the hearing on the matter of the Mujaffarnagar shooting case to be transferred from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand and urged for making sincere efforts to expedite the hearing with regard to shooting at Khatima, Mussoorie
and Karanpur. State president Jagmohan Singh Negi expressed displeasure in the manner pertaining to pension of statehood strugglers. He said, “The pension cases of more than 185 statehood agitators are pending in various districts of the state. The District Magistrates did not feel the need to send the progress report to the state government. The government is also ignoring the state agitators, which will not be tolerated.” On the issue of domicile certificate, district president Pradeep Kukreti said the Chief Minister could not blur the line between permanent residents and temporary residents. He said the government must stick to the Supreme Court’s verdict in this regard, which approved the year 1950s as the cut off date to hold any one as the permanent resident of any state. On this occasion, another adviser of the organisation Omi Uniyal and senior members Saroj Panwar and Sulochana Bhatt were also present. |
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Assembly building in town a political stunt: CPI (ML)
Dehradun, November 4 In a statement issued here today, Indresh Maikhuri said if the state government was really serious about the sentiments of the people about Gairsain, it would have declared it as permanent capital. He termed the decisions taken at the Cabinet meeting held at Gairsain as mere eyewash and the decision to construct the Vidhan Sabha building as an attempt to siphon off the money provided by the Central Government for the construction of a permanent Vidhan Sabha in the state. “It is conspiracy by the politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus,”
he alleged. Maikhuri further said hype was created for a usual Cabinet meeting and crores of rupees from public exchequer were spent just to give a leg up to the sagging electoral fortune of the Congress with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He charged that instead of serious deliberations to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses, the Gairsain cabinet meeting was turned into a festival. “Without any commitment to make Gairsain as permanent capital, the proposed Assembly session during summer months will be turned into picnic for politicians and bureaucrats,” he charged. He also raised questions about the presence of Vidhan Sabha Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal and Lok Sabha MP from Pauri Garhwal Satpal Maharaj at the Cabinet meeting. “Even the validity of
the Cabinet is questionable as outsiders were present at the meeting,” he added. |
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Haridwar residents welcome Cabinet decisions
Co-founder of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal and a veteran social activist Rana Ranbeer Singh welcomed the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s initiative and termed it as positive and progressive. He said, “We are willing to cooperate with the state government in the development of Gairsain and other hill regions. But if it was a politically motivated step, then the Congress will have to the wrath of people.” Former MLA Ambrish Kumar also welcomed the initiative, though he said the previous governments had ignored the problems of the people of the state. He cited the development-oriented vision of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister late Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, who developed the districts of the state without bias. Head of the Paryavaran Sachetak Samiti Gyan Prakash Pandey also welcomed the initiative. He said it would bridge the gap existing between the hills and the plains. “The government has to be serious about the development of Garisain as the summer capital of the state, and completion of the Vidhan Sabha bhawan. Small-scale trades should also be developed on the lines of Himachal Pradesh,” said Pandey. |
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Marginal victory for hill people: UPP, URM
Dehradun, November 4 President of the UPP PC Tiwari asked the Congress to clear its stand over the capital of the state. He said the state government made the historical blunder this time by not declaring Gairsain as the capital of the state. He said the announcement of Vidhan Sabha building and holding summer session at Gairsain had strengthened the agitation started on this issue by different political parties and organizations so far. The URM, however, questioned the logic of building infrastructure at Gairsain if it was not to be the capital of the state. Party spokesperson PC Thapliyal said, “The announcement regarding building Vidhan Sabha premises at Gairsain was not the part of the agenda of the Cabinet. The core issue was clarity about the capital of the state, which had not been solved. By spending on two the Vidhan Sabha premises and expenditure on flying the entire Cabinet and paraphernalia to Gairsain each summer, the government would add a burden to the exchequer. By merely creating symbolic infrastructure at Gairsain bereft of facilities would not do any good to it. The Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha has condemned the step to abolish the position of Chief Managing Director (CMD) with a Chairman of a Cabinet Minister rank at UPNAL PC Thapliyal said. “UPNAL is the agency which facilitates employment to ex-servicemen of the state. Its CMD, who had been a senior Army officer, is now replaced by a Cabinet minister. It is now feared that the minister would facilitate jobs for his own people and not ex-servicemen and exploit the treasury deposited with the hard-earned money of the
ex-servicemen.” He demanded from the state government to roll back the decision and threatened to hold an agitation if it was not done so. |
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UKD (P) president admires Bahuguna
He, however, cautioned state government, saying that the ministers should not hail Gairsain as the picnic spot in the summer. He stressed that until it became the capital of the state, the issues related to migration, unemployment and grievances of hill people would not be solved. He said whenever the UKD came to power in the state, it would declare Gairsain as its capital. Panwar, who, till now, had been accusing the disgruntled factions of the party or the BJP for its dismal performance in elections, blamed the public this time. He said, “It is the intellectual section of the hill community who are subservient to the national parties. By not helping us to win the election, it is only the hill people who are losing out.” On the issues of taking along the dissident leaders, he said there were a few party activists whom he was willing to take back into the party fold but not the leaders. He said
his party too would survive the factionalism like the Congress. He also announced of a dharna on November 9 by party members at the district headquarters throughout the state to register their protest against the state government’s decision to go by the High Court’s verdict over the domicile issue. |
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International Poplar Conference
Dehradun, November 4 The shop promotes the forest-based livelihood and supports the poor selling eco-friendly souvenirs, organic products and other artifacts and handicrafts. The profit from the sale of these products will help promote other welfare activities for rural artisans and forest-based enterprises. Dignitaries visiting the shop have praised the scheme of showcasing the products based on forest-based livelihood. The endeavour aims at increasing livelihood of the artisans through self-help groups, offering the employment and reviving the dyeing traditional handicrafts. Articles, including handmade baskets, slippers made from fibers, jute bags, laptop bags, bamboo jewellery, articles made from Bhimal fibers from hills and other forest-based raw materials like ringal have been put on display at the shop. Also, stoles made from Himalayan Nettle (Bicchu grass), Madhubani painting made on machi product and tamarind seeds items from Andhra Pradesh are also on sale. The shop is effectively using its linkage and fraternity among foresters, as the inhabitant artisans of model villages created by the ICFRE through eight Institute located at Jorhat, Jabalpur, Jodhpur, Shimla, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Ranchi are in direct contact for the procurement and purchase of more than 200 artifacts directly from the people. The products put up for sale also include appliqué work on handbags, grass mats produced from Munj grass prepared by the Tharu tribe from Khatima in the state. During the IPC session, the delegates from participating countries also visited the Prerna stall and made purchases ranging from metal castings to wooden jewellery worth Rs 1 lakh. It is expected that increase in income of the forest-based artisans shall also help conserve forest as their dependency on forest will be reduced. The existing network of the ICFRE is helping procure artifacts and handicrafts from Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Nagaland, Assam, Tripura, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Gujrat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The Prerna souvenir shop is an endeavour between forests-based industry, forest tribal groups and SHGs. It offers platform for the handicrafts of these groups and promoting their livelihood activities. The branches of Prerna are going to be setup in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh also. |
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Now global cooling cause for concern: Scientist
Pithoragarh, November 4 Dr Jain was speaking on the second day of a two-day workshop on astrophysics and space science organised by Motiram Baburam Postgraduate College at Haldwani today. "This new phenomenon of global cooling is not being seriously taken by the scientists worldwide except those of India as Indian scientists have drawn results from X-ray photos being sent to our laboratory by G-sat-2 satellite, sent by India to study solar X-rays spectrometer in 2003," said Dr Jain. He added that the concern being expressed by the world scientist community on global warning was futile exercise as, according to a study done by Indian
scientists, the world temperature had now started receding from its extreme point. According to Dr Jain, the global warming on the planet occurred not due to the interference with nature by man or industrialisation, but the continued changes in the nature of solar blots made it occur. "The western countries have falsely blamed India and China for the global warming due to their high population density, but the data presented by these scientists are belying themselves as the India has 139th place in the world in the matter of carbon emission," said Dr Jain. "Despite several concerns expressed by the western countries on global warning, the warming has not raised more than 0.3 degree Celsius till date, which, if rises, will not harm as much as it will harm if it cools down, as the symptom is being seen," said
Dr Jain. "The changes in temperatures of the earth depend on the changes in the spots of the sun as the spots have started reducing. It is
possible that in the coming decade, the temperatures of the earth can reduce," said the scientists from the National Physical Laboratory, Ahmadabad. Inaugurating the seminar, Almora MP Pradeep Tamta has said the scientists should find out causes behind frequent incidents of cloudburst in Himalayan states of the country for the damages being done to small farmers could be minimised by taking precautions of these incidents. |
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Tusker succumbs to injuries
Dehradun, November 4 Last week, a team of Special Task Force (STF) of the police had found the carcass of another elephant from the same forest section on the basis of information given by poachers, who were arrested with 67 kg of tusk. "The elephant was not eating anything for the past two days and had taken water only once. It had gone weak. A wound was seen in his throat and his one hind leg was also injured," said Narendra Singh Chaudhary, Divisional Forest Officer, Lansdowne forest division. The postmortem of the tusker confirmed that internal injuries and subsequent loss of blood were the causes behind its death. One tusk of the elephant was also found half broken. SDO of the forest division Ishpal Singh Rawat said the injuries found on its carcass were most probably suffered in a fight with another elephant. The injury in its throat made it impossible for the elephant to eat anything and that led to its death. The tusker was buried in the forest after a post-mortem examination and its tusks had been taken in custody, said
the DFO. |
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Finally, MC begins garbage disposal drive
Haridwar, November 4 The Municipal Corporation is now taking away the garbage dumped at various spots by the Dera Sacha Sauda volunteers. The corporation has deployed dumpers and garbage disposal vehicles on the city periphery to dispose of garbage collected adjacent to Ganga ghats, roads, highways, inner lanes and colonies by the Sauda devotees. More than 1500 metric tonnes of garbage have been taken away by the Municipal Corporation alone in Haridwar, while in Rishikesh too, hundreds of tonnes of garbage have been disposed at dumping grounds by the Municipal Committee. Town Health Officer, Haridwar, Dr Kailash Joshi said 12 dumpers from other departments had also been pitched in to collect the garbage and dispose it at dumping grounds while light garbage was being burned at various spots. Though many colonies are still untouched by the garbage disposal drive by the corporation. Residents blame it on the laxity and slow working nature of corporation and sanitation employees. Kuldeep Bisht, a Shivalik Nagar resident, said the cleaning up act by the Dera Sacha Sauda volunteers was almost historic as they did it in just a few hours, what Municipal civic bodies, Ganga Sabha, social-religious organizations and multi crore clean Ganga projects couldn’t do it in years. |
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Conference on Vedanta discusses ways to check malpractices
Haridwar, November 4 The conference will also arrive at ways to guide the society and the country in this era where moral and social values have taken a back seat and materialistic, profit and self-oriented thinking is gripping the human beings. At the inaugural session of the conference, renowned Gita acharya Shyam said both world and human body are not eternal but the Almighty and the soul
are forever. He added that hidden powers managing this world and human beings rule the world and one should try to devote his concentration to know more about this power which is always supreme. Citing varied cultural, heritage and traditions, Acharya Shyam said since inception, Indian culture had been spiritually oriented, but off late materialistic inclination was changing the nature of this culture. He also took a strong objection to politicians who had the power to change the society and reform it too but they were getting materialistic benefits of power. "Politicians in a democratic setup have a bigger role to change the society and eradicate the problems of the people but they are now getting power crazy and using wrong means to retain and attain the power which is for public service
only," said
the acharya. |
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Western culture blamed for moral downfall of the youth
Haridwar, November 4 Swami Hari Narayanand, general secretary of the samaj, said though the nation had taken a
leap in terms of development, modernisation and education, addiction to pro-materialistic ways of lifestyle had led to a downfall of moral values among youths. “This is serious cause for concern as youngsters are considered the future of our country. If they
are not aware of moral values, how can we expect them to lead the country to a prosper India," he said. Mahamandaleshwar Swami Shyam Sundar Shastri Maharaj said spiritual and religious feelings were also getting degraded. He said they would launch an anti- tobacco-alcohol drive and involve youngsters, schools, colleges and private educational institutes. In the coming
Maha Kumbh at Prayag, Uttar Pradesh, a five-day convention will also be organised, which will dwell on religious life, the Hindu religion and mass corruption in the government and the administration. The Bharat Sadhu Samaj is also carrying out a movement to reconstruct and revive damaged temples. |
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Dance, music mark school's annual day celebrations
Dehradun, November 4 A theme-based dance, “Vibrant India”, representing the states of Rajasthan, Punjab and Goa, was widely appreciated by the audience. Later, Principal of the school B Gill read out the annual report of the school and chief guest Yogender Chaudhary presented awards to students and houses for excelling in academics, sports and cultural activities. Shivani Verma, who topped the ISC exams, was given a scholarship. The prize for the best academics went to Monal House while Principal’s
Cup was awarded to Mandakani House for excelling in cultural and sports activities. The programme concluded with a song, “We are
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Mussoorie Half Marathon
Mussoorie, November 4 Steve Luukkonen, head of physical education (PE) department, Woodstock School, arrived two minutes later and was declared second. Bendix, a class XII student of the school, was declared first in the school section. In the women’s section, Shannon Schultz, PE teacher, stood first while English teacher Melanie Reichwald from the school finished second. In the team relay event, the teams from Mussoorie stood first and second, respectively. The event began around at 7 in the morning from Garhwal Terrace on Mall Road and the runners snaked their way to Everest House before returning to Picture Palace and finishing at Woodstock School. Veteran marathon runner Pete Luukkonen, who had also participated in the Delhi marathon last year, said it was an extremely challenging course and altitude was one of the factors that affected the performance of the most of the runners. |
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Haridwar, November 4
Dehradun November 4