Shimla, November 14
If the thin crowds and sluggish trading are any indication, the long-drawn process for the Assembly poll, coupled with a delayed Divali, have taken a toll on the over 400-year-old Lavi Fair, which concluded at Rampur today.

Famous for traditional items like pashmina wool, kalazira, chilgoza, walnuts, almonds and other dry fruits, the historical fair turned out to be a low-key affair this year.

While the continuing model code of conduct for the Assembly poll kept politicians away, the “festival of lights” affected the participation of traders and, in turn, the volume trade.

A large number of stalls remained unoccupied even as the four-day fair formally came to a close today.

The high rates of stalls also discouraged traders from participating in the fair.

“The fair has concluded officially, but the trading activity continues till the end of this month. We are still hopeful that more traders will arrive over the next couple of days,” said Naresh Lath, Additional District Magistrate, who is overseeing all the arrangements pertaining to the fair. The fair gets under way with the cattle fair in the first week of this month, but the main fair is held from November 11 to 14.

The scene at the cattle fair, during which world famous Chamurthi horses are traded, was also not encouraging as only about 400 horses were brought for sale against the normal 450 to 500.

However, the special Equine breed, which is much in demand because of its sure footedness in the precipitous hill terrain, fetched good prices. A horse from Uttarakhand was sold at the highest rate of Rs 40,000.

Most of the tribesmen from upper Kinnaur and Spiti started two or three days later from their native places in upper Kinnaur and Spiti as they made it a point to exercise their franchise. Thus, the early elections in the tribal constituencies did not affect voter turnout much, but it did take away some of the sheen from the fair as ministers and other politicians, the main attractions, were kept at bay.

With the production of traditional items like dry fruits and pashmina woollens declining with each passing year, their prices are increasing. The rates of chilgoza jumped from Rs 700 to Rs 750 per kg last year to Rs 900 to 1,000 per kg and that of almonds from Rs 280 to 350 per kg from Rs 500 to Rs 540 per kg.

The half pashmina shawl is available at Rs 6,000 per piece as against Rs 4,500 last year, while pure pashmina shawl is available at Rs 8,000 onwards.

With little Indo-China border trade, Chinese products like flasks, jackets and shoes are available only in small numbers.

In recent years, the character of the fair has undergone a sea change and traditional items have quietly given way to modern products like readymade garments, electronic gadgets, home appliances, motor vehicles and cheap plastic goods.

Of late, auto manufacturers have also made an entry into the fair by selling bikes, cars and other vehicles. Traditional items have now been confined to only a small corner of the fair called the “Kinnauri market”.

Palampur, November 14
Despite the fact that the entire Kangra valley is located in the most sensitive earthquake-prone areas of the country, haphazard and unplanned construction of houses, roads, hotels and other buildings is continuing unchecked. In the past five years Kangra district, particularly Palampur and Dharamsala towns, have turned into huge concrete jungles.

As the Dhauladhar ranges in Himachal Pradesh fall in Zone V, experts of the Seismology Department of Roorkee University have already recommended quake-proof constructions for this region. Unfortunately, neither the Town and Country Planning Department nor the state government has sincerely followed the recommendations and measures suggested by the experts. Most of the building plans approved by the Town and Country Planning Department, particularly for Palampur and Dharamsala, lack such norms.

Though the Himachal Pradesh Government has taken serious measures to regulate construction activities in this region and also brought all important towns of Kangra district within the purview of the Town and Country Planning Act, hundreds of buildings, including houses and multi-storey complexes in the district, have come up without the proper approval of the planning authorities.

Not only private parties, but semi-government and government agencies have also not followed the norms laid down for the construction. A number of buildings constructed by the Government Department and other government agencies have openly flouted the norms laid down by the Town and Country Planning Department.

A number of civil engineers and other senior officers of the state have been imparted training for the construction and designing of quake-proof structures. Special workshops on the subject were also organised by the government at various levels. Chief Engineers and Superintending Engineers attended the workshops, still unplanned construction is on the rise.

Dharamsala, November 14
The state government in a notification issued last year increased the minimum wages to Rs 110 per day. By that standard every labourer doing any kind of work should get at least Rs 3,300 per month, if employed on a monthly basis.

However, this will create a paradoxical situation in schools of the state. As per the Minimum Wages Act, now peons working in private or government schools will be entitled to a wage of Rs 3,300 per month. And most teachers working in private schools are paid less than peons.

Moreover, a large section of the employees in private schools are being deprived of even this basic minimum wage.

Local sources said thousands of qualified teachers working in private schools of the state were not being given the basic minimum wage of Rs 3,000 per month. They were being paid anything between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500 per month and that was a violation of the Minimum Wages Act.

In other states and schools run under the CBSE, the board had specified the minimum wages that could be paid to teachers by private schools to get affiliation.

The CBSE directs schools affiliated to it to pay the minimum basic pay of Rs 4,000 per month to a primary school teacher, Rs 5,000 per month to a trained graduate teacher and Rs 6,000 per month to a postgraduate teacher. The payment of the dearness allowance is subject to finances of the school management.

In Punjab, the state education board has fixed the minimum basic wages for teachers working in any school affiliated with it.

However, the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPSEB) has no such rules for teachers working in private schools affiliated with it.

The authorities in the state board said teachers were not covered under the Minimum Wages Act. Only labourers or Class IV employees are covered under the Act. The failure of the government to specify minimum wages for teachers is leading to the exploitation of educated youth.

Some of them are justifying the policy of imposing the minimum wages in private schools on the plea that many small schools running in remote areas of the state might not be able to pay minimum wages to teachers and would be forced to close down.

However, some legal experts say that the minimum wages prescribed by the government is applicable for any employee working in the state. It is basic the minimum wages that any employer has to pay for hiring a person and it cannot be category specific if the person is working full-time.

However, private institutions generally do not show that all teachers employed with them as permanent employees. They are shown as part-time employees who are not entitled to minimum wages. Some managements also offer higher salaries to teachers, but pay them less.

Employees do not speak against their exploitation for fear of losing their jobs.

Shimla, November 14
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal celebrated Divali with children of the two local bal ashrams. He visited a bal ashram at Tutikandi and the local Kasturba Gandhi Sarvodaya Bal Ashram and distributed sweets, fruits and firecrackers among the inmates.

Dhumal wished them Divali and exhorted them to follow the principles of Lord Rama in day-to-day life. He said the need of the hour was to carry forward the rich legacy of humanity and sacrifice to make the world a better place to live. He said every individual needed to contribute towards the service of the nation to so that it could emerge as ‘Vishwa Guru’.

Dhumal said the festival of lights symbolised the victory of good over evil. Thus, celebrating the festival in the right spirit would strengthen the benign forces.

Earlier, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Subhashish Panda apprised the Chief Minister about various activities being undertaken for the welfare of the children residing at the bal ashrams.

He also visited the Raj Bhawan to greet Governor Urmila Singh on the occasion and extended good wishes to her. The Chief Minister also exchanged greetings with Union Ministers, BJP leaders, MPs, Governors and Chief Ministers of various states on the telephone.

Kangra, November 14
Every day 2,400 young people in the 15-24 years age group are infected with HIV around the globe, which represents 40 per cent of all new infections among adults.

“Getting to Zero”, the theme of the World AIDS Campaign, echoes the UNAIDS vision of achieving “Zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths.”

Dr RK Sood, Epidemiologist, District AIDS Programme Officer, said here today that under this campaign the key goal was to halve the new infections among youth by 2015 for which the AIDS control programme aimed at strengthening the participation of young people.

He said as a run-up to the campaign, a live discussion on FM radio was being conducted every Wednesday at AIR, Dharamsala, to enable young people to connect with their peers, plan strategy and maximise their ability to navigate the campaign successfully. The Youth Phone-in was among the main networking spaces for young people for sharing a collective passion to achieve “Getting to Zero”, asserted Dr Sood.

He said the phone-in talk show would break the silence and taboo and open discussions to stimulate an environment for the programme and supplement the Facebook social media platform and interpersonal communication approach.

He said, “Young people bring a fresh perspective to the HIV response, fuelled by passion and creativity. We are innovators and change-makers, and without our meaningful involvement, we will never be able to achieve our targets of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths,” he added.

He said earlier in the year, youth of this district participated in UNAIDS “Crown Out Aids” - a youth-led policy project that used social media tools and crowd sourcing technology to enable young people from around the world to develop a set of recommendations for UNAIDS Secretariat to work more effectively with young people in the AIDS response.

CMO, Kangra, SP Singh said efforts were on to empower young people. He said the upcoming campaign event offered the possibility to share high-quality information on the latest trends in the epidemic, along with an examination of youth-specific issues, challenges and needs. “HIV Is Still Here” reflects the need for everyone to talk with family and friends about HIV.

He said under the skills-based training on HIV, over 200 youth were trained this year and the trained youth would become role models and further communicate with 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,” he said.

Bilaspur, November 14
After receiving several complaints from workers during their meeting “Dhanyavad Sammellan” organised by BJP candidate Rajender Garga to assess his election prospects in the Ghumarwin constituency, the Election Management Committee (EMC) of the party has constituted a six-member probe committee to go into details and find if any party leader or office-bearer betrayed the party by working against the official party candidate during the elections.

Reports said the Block BJP Committee at Ghumarwin had formed the EMC to conduct the elections smoothly and ensure that BJP ticket aspirants not only supported Garga, but also took lead in ensuring his win in the elections.

But some members of the EMC were not satisfied with the behaviour of some of the aspirants and supporters who were even party office-bearers in the Block Committee. This sentiment was repeatedly expressed by a number of leaders at this meeting, all of whom claimed to have actual proof to show that some leaders had betrayed the BJP in pure personal interest.

Thus, the EMC decided to constitute a probe committee, led by veteran leader Dr Shyam Bihari Sharma and senior leaders Ram Prakash, Nand Lal, Subhash, Usha Thakur and Pritam Singh.

This committee would report its findings to the Block and District BJP Committees for its further action in the matter. Some leaders claimed that they even had mobile phone conversation recordings with them, which would prove the charges.

If the EMC succeeds in pinpointing these leaders and their fault against the party, there is no doubt that some of them will have to face disciplinary action.

Kangra, November 14
Green Field Senior Secondary School, Nagrota Bagwan, bagged the overall trophy for the best performance in the science congress held at Rehan.

The school principal said students participated in various activities, including model making, science skit, survey reports and quiz. He said the school won an overall trophy for the best performance once again. The trophy was presented to the school by the district science supervisor.

He said now Sonal Dhiman, Arushi Walia, Akhil Bhardwaj, Sugam Thakur, Radhika and Rohit Mehra would represent Kangra district in the state-level science congress to be held at Chamba.

Bilaspur, November 14
The Himachal Pradesh State Employees’ Confederation has opposed the move of the Central Government to invest the pension fund of employees in the open market in foreign companies.

Vinod Kumar, state president of the confederation, said here today that the pension fund was the only capital available for pensioners for their post-retirement period and it should not be invested in foreign companies.

The confederation has opined that the Centre could not give any guarantee that the invested money would remain safe and secure and would earn profits.

The confederation has urged the Centre to desist from its step of introducing any such bill in the Parliament.

Chamba, November 14
The local Himotkarsh Parishad celebrated its annual function at Chamba recently. It was presided over by RP Sharma, Chief Engineer, NHPC, Chamera Power Station, Stage-III.

As many as 48 merit holders of the annual Himotkarsh state-level merit scholarship examination for 2010 and 2011 were honoured with silver medals, certificates and cash awards at the function. A new scheme for the adoption of orphans for bearing their education and other expenses was also launched by the state president of the parishad, Kunwar Hari Singh, on the occasion. Two girls from a local orphanage were adopted for providing them financial assistance.

The Himachal Shri honour was bestowed on Hem Raj Puri and Prakash Chand Anand for their distinguished services in the fields of environment and metal crafts, respectively. RP Sharma, who was the chief guest, gave away the prizes.

Dalhousie, November 14
A three-day Divali Mela-2012 was celebrated at Balun Ground here from November 11 to 12.

The function was organised for all ranks and families of Army personnel and civilians in the cantonment.

Ritu Sofat, Senior Director, FWO, inaugurated the function by lighting the traditional lamp.

Many events were organised during the mela.

Locals from the cantonment and schoolchildren of Dalhousie participated in activities, including games, during the fair.

A magic show was held and a troupe from Chamba performed during the cultural evening.

The final day witnessed a raffle draw in which prizes were distributed to winners followed by a performance of pipe and jazz bands during the musical evening.

The celebrations concluded with cracker display, witnessed by nearly 1,000 persons.

Shimla, November 14
Thousands of people participated in the traditional “Pathar Mela”, a unique ritual during which groups of villagers pelt stones at one another, at Dhami, 25 km from here, today.

The event passed off without any major casualty. However, a youth, Vipin, was injured after being hit by a flying stone.

He was discharged after being provided medical aid. Many persons were hit during the ritual that lasted for about 20 minutes. It was stopped when one of the participants started bleeding profusely.

The event is called “Pathar Mela” in which two groups of villagers, one representing the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Dhami, and the other, their rival, pelt stones at one another. The team comprises residents of Dagoi, Turnu, Katedu and Jathodi clans and they together take on the opponent Jamogi clan.

It was a “bloody” affair in the past, when a large number of people used to suffer serious injuries.

The annual ritual is held a day after the “festival of lights”.

The number of participants in the event is relatively small nowadays. Male adults from the two groups assemble at the Kali temple and in the midst of playing drums and other traditional instruments, they pelt stones at one another with small stones.

A local committee, including representatives of the royal family, organises the event.

It keeps the administration informed about the event so that all required arrangements like medical facility and police security were made available for its smooth conduct. The battle takes off after the deity of the Narsingh temple in the Dhami palace arrives at the Kali temple.

A descendent of the royal family, Jagdeep Singh, who was involved in the conduct of the event, said over 3,000 people participated.

He said it was a century-old tradition and the “pelting of stones” was introduced to replace the more heinous tradition of human sacrifice, which was prevalent in many hill states.

Hamirpur, November 14
Three firecracker stalls were destroyed in a fire at a Sujanpur bazaar in Hamirpur district last night.

The incident occurred at about 8 pm, when a firecracker burst by someone entered a stall selling firecrackers, leading to the fire. Three stalls put up by Ravi Kumar and Sandeep Kumar, including cash, were completely destroyed in the fire.

The timely arrival of fire tenders saved surrounding stalls from catching fire.

Nurpur, November 14
The police today nabbed a rape accused from a forest near Sanihal village, where he had been hiding after raping a minor girl. The accused has been identified as Baldev Chand (47) of Sanihal.

On November 7, Baldev raped the victim, a mentally challenged girl, when she was alone in her house and fled after the crime.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajinder Jaswal said a case had been registered under Sections 376 and 452 of the IPC against the accused. He would be produced in a court tomorrow for police remand.