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UJVNL workers to go on indefinite strike from today
Use Assembly to debate issues; shun walkouts, says Kunjwal
25,000 vaccines stocked to save migratory sheep in Bhabar area
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Punjab Speaker: Judiciary, legislature must respect each other’s boundaries
‘Govt failed to carry forward schemes launched by BJP’
Training for women panchayat members
Bahuguna promises
Punjabi academy in Uttarakhan
SC/ST body on protest outside Vidhan Sabha
UPES signs MoU with IBM Academic Initiative
Stress on need to develop scientific temper in Indian society
Health insurance cover for workers in unorganised sector
Career progression
benefits for UFDC employees
Police studying case
of 5 criminals held in Kashipur: SSP
Training programme for women panchayat representatives
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UJVNL workers to go on indefinite strike from today
Dehradun, November 29
With this strike, all hydropower houses in the state will remain closed and power generation will enormously be affected from Friday onwards. The management has also not sought any alternative plan. Patel said that he would make all possible efforts to bring about a solution of the problem by talking to the Secretary, Energy, in this regard before the employees went on strike in the morning on Friday. President of the association AP Amoli said: “The MD did not give us any concrete assurance over our demands. We have been protesting for the past three days and had also given an ultimatum to the management about going on strike from Friday in case our demands are not met. It seems that the management is not sincere about our issues. From tomorrow all employees, including those who are working at hydropower stations, will join the strike, which directly means that the power generation will plummet to zero.” When Patel was asked about any alternative plan to run the power houses in such a precarious situation, he said: “I have not thought of any alternative plan at the moment. I am just focusing on resolving the stalemate. By tomorrow I am hoping to solve it by having talks with the Energy Secretary.” The demands of the employees are promotion as per time-scale, power generation bonus, revision of pension, Provident Fund scheme and arrears and emoluments as per the Sixth Pay Commission. |
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Use Assembly to debate issues; shun walkouts, says Kunjwal
Dehradun, November 29 He said while it was understandable that the opposition MLAs could oppose the government, but it should not lead to frequent walkouts and disruptions. Similarly, guest speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal, who is Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, urged the MLAs to use a well-drafted Private Member’s Bill for drawing the attention of the House towards vital issues. “Much to my consternation, the Private Member’s Bill is being sparingly used in the state assemblies and Parliament. Since 1970 not a single Private Member’s Bill has been passed in Parliament. The first Private Member’s Bill in Indian Parliament was brought by SMA Qasmi and it became an Act,” he said. Atwal outlined the importance of finance and money bills and urged the members to read past debates of the members of the House. He stressed on advance preparation by the legislators before coming to the Assembly. Former MP Munna Singh Chauhan asked Atwal which between the judiciary and the legislature was supreme when amendments to the Constitution were to be carried out. Atwal replied, “Only the legislature has the power to carry out amendments within the framework of the Constitution. Besides, as we are following the Westminster form of Democracy, Parliament will always prevail over the judiciary,” he said. On the other hand, former state Parliamentary Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Prakash Pant asked the MLAs to introspect on their conduct both outside and in the House. “You should not use the House to stage protests as it lowers its dignity. The legislators must always remember that as representatives of the people and custodians of public interests and rights, they have to be extremely careful in their behaviour in and outside the House,” he said. Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hriyadesh said when she began her career as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly her focus was on asking as many questions as possible. “As MLA you are very powerful and should be able to use your skills in the best possible manner in the House,” she said. Around 20 to 24 MLAs attended the workshop, while ministers belonging to the Congress except Indira Hriyadesh skipped it. |
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25,000 vaccines stocked to save migratory sheep in Bhabar area
Pithoragarh, November 29 “This precaution has been taken as hundreds of sheep died last year due to pneumonia and other diseases in plains as they could not resist the dry cold conditions in the Bhabar region,” said Dr PS Yadav, joint director, Animal Husbandry Department. Yadav said the department had stocked 25,000 vaccines this year considering the record number of 35,000 migratory sheep that reached the Bhabar region of the district last year. “Besides the stock of vaccines, we have also arranged for the mid-way treatment for the sheep,” he added. As the arrival of the sheep started in the first week of November, VK Mahra, Range Officer of Bom in Champawat district, has reported that eight groups of sheep herders having nearly 150 sheep, 50 goats and six horses each have arrived in the range till date. “At least two groups of sheep herders with animals have arrived in the Dogari and Cheeni ranges,” said Mahra. The sheep herders of high altitude Himalayas with their animals left their homes in the upper valleys in the first week of November and after travelling for 15 days started arriving in the Bhabar region of Champawat district. “More than 5,000 sheep have reached several forest ranges till date. Herds of sheep in a big number are on the way and will reach their winter destination by November 15 before chilling cold starts in the higher region,” said MD Bhatt, Dogari Ranger. |
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Punjab Speaker: Judiciary, legislature must respect each other’s boundaries
Dehradun, November 29 “It is a self-demarcated Lakshman rekha that both should not cross because if the judicial activism continues in this fashion, it may pose grave problems in the future,” said Atwal. He said of late the judiciary had expanded it’s frontiers in the name of judicial activism and protection of Fundamental Rights, leading to a tussle between the judiciary and the “In my view Parliament is supreme and the will of the people should prevail,” he added, while speaking with The Tribune. Atwal was in Dehradun to participate in an orientation workshop for MLAs. The Punjab Assembly Speaker was also of the view that while the legislatures were accountable to the people and people had the power of voting out MLAs who proved to be poor law makers, this was not the case with the bad judges. “While the MLAs and MPs can be booted out if they neglect their constituencies, this yardstick does not apply to the judges who give bad judgments,” stressed Atwal. Further, he said, he was all for maintaining independence of the judiciary so also of the legislature as these two together with the executive strengthen democracy. “After all the laws have to be made by Parliament and the judiciary has to ensure that there is no denial of right to the people as enshrined in the Constitution,” he said. A senior leader of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Atwal said once inside the Assembly he forgets his party affiliation and tries to keep the Opposition and the ruling party members on an even keel. “Accusations and counter-charges flow during heated discussions but the Speaker’s task should be to give equal space to both the ruling and the Opposition party members,” he said. On the issue of frequent walkouts in Parliament and state Assemblies, Atwal said both the Opposition and ruling parties should behave responsibly. “The Opposition may think walkout is the only tool to express it’s concern on issues that are being ignored by the ruling
party, but this should not become a rule. The Opposition members can expose the government by coming prepared to the House and use question hour and zero hour to make themselves heard,” explained the Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly. |
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‘Govt failed to carry forward schemes launched by BJP’
Pithoragarh, November 29 He said the Congress-led government had either stopped release of money for the projects sanctioned during the BJP regime or had scuttled these, causing great difficulties to the people of the state. “The Vijay Bahuguna government has stopped the scheme of providing ration launched by the BJP. It has also stopped releasing the quota of rice and wheat to the above poverty level (APL) families sanctioned during the BJP rule,” said Chuphal. “This government has also failed to provide an alternative to the schemes sanctioned during the BJP rule for the benefit of the people of the state. These are the questions the party will raise during the Assembly session that will conclude on December 13,” he said. The BJP president added the remaining issues to be raised by the party in the Assembly session would be discussed at the meeting of the core committee on December 3.
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Training for women panchayat members
Dehradun, November 29 The focus of the training was to make these women self-sufficient in terms of financial planning and management. It was the first initiative of this kind where more than 150 women were trained by master trainers. The programme was jointly conducted by SKOCH Foundation, Delhi, and Rural Litigation Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Dehradun. There were sessions on banking, loans, insurance, national stock exchange and various developmental schemes and pensions. The women were trained using many innovative tools and games. The groups of interns from different law colleges all across the country also participated in the program by presenting small skits based on the issues under discussion. Short films and videos pertaining to the sessions were also showed.
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Bahuguna promises
Punjabi academy in Uttarakhan
Dehradun, November 29 Bahuguna made more such announcements in this direction, including forwarding a detailed project report of Rs 8 crore to the Centre regarding the development of tourism in Hemkund Sahib and filling up of vacancies of Punjabi teachers in the state. The Chief Minister said on the lines of other tribal and minority communities, special schemes would be devised for the development of the Banjara and Rai Sikhs communities. Similarly, he said the Sant Kesar Singh Memorial Trust scheme would be upgraded from the district to the state level. An amount of Rs 25 lakh had been approved for two education institutions run by the Sikh community in the state. Two more such institutes would be incorporatedset up in Udham Singh Nagar in future. Bahuguna said his government had also approved two crore for medical activities and Rs 60 lakh for academic works in Udham Singh Nagar. State Congress vice-president Suryakant Dhasmana, Sardar Rajender Singh Rajan, Seva Singh, Devender Sethi and DS Mann were present on the occasion.
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SC/ST body on protest outside Vidhan Sabha
Dehradun, November 29 “The governement has not put a freeze on the DPC meetings and we are demanding it should be stopped immediately till the time the report by the Hussian commission is out,” said Madan Shilpkar, president of the federation. He said the government should bring a Bill for quota in promotions that could not be challenged in court. “The Uttarakhand government had passed a proposal for quota in promotions for members of the SC and ST communities at a Cabinet meeting on March 12 this year. Now, it is the time to bring an Act,” said Shilapkar. The members said that they would intensify their stir in the coming days in view of the coming winter session of the Assembly.
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UPES signs MoU with IBM Academic Initiative
Dehradun, November 29 Speaking on the occasion, Malathi Srinivasan, country leader, Academic Initiative, Software Group, IBM India, said, “This partnership aims at bridging the academic-industry gap by training the faculty and students on cutting edge software tools and technologies. The ongoing series of faculty development programmes will ensure smoother knowledge transition to students.” “Through the partnership, we will be able to help students understand the latest developments in the field of software engineering and also encourage them to apply their learning to solve real-life problems. The certifications and a hands-on experience in problem solving will make the programme more employable,” added Malathi. “The COE will give students the opportunity to put skills to test and allow innovation to take the centre stage by providing exposure to leading and emerging technologies. We are confident that the COEs will enable skill set development among students for years to come,” said Dr SJ Chopra, Chancellor, UPES. The partnership is aimed at making faculty and students familiar with the IBM technologies in pursuit of their academic excellence. The initiative is focused at taking industry a relevant technology to the doorsteps of prospective technocrats to bridge gap in technical expertise of prospective IT workforce. This will be the third IBM COE in the state to offer training and certification on various IBM tools and technologies. The COE is an outgrowth of IBM's Academic Initiative, which covers 2,000 colleges and universities around the world. Under the initiative, IBM partners with the local government and academia to create an enabling environment by allowing access to IBM software, course materials, training and curriculum development, helping India become an innovators’ nation by investing in skills development and technology empowering future workers with the right skills.
—TNS |
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Stress on need to develop scientific temper in Indian society
Dehradun, November 29 He said UCOST would continue to extend
support to the organisations working towards bringing science closer to the people. Earlier, Specs Secretary Brijmohan Sharma reiterated the organisation's commitment towards popularisation of science. He said Specs was also working towards entrepreneurship development among youth through innovative science techniques. He said Specs-created LED energy lights had been quite popular among the people. Specs' representative DS Pundir held discussions with delegates of science clubs. Representatives from a large number of science clubs from North India are taking part in the workshop. |
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Health insurance cover for workers in unorganised sector
Dehradun, November 29 Presiding over a meeting of Labour Department officials in Dehradun today, Harish Chandra Durgapal said a large number of people working in the private sector did not get proper health service facility and thus the government had been providing health insurance cover to these employees in the state. He said these workers were getting this benefit under the State Health Insurance Plan. He also held that the workers should be apprised of hospitals that had been earmarked to provide facilities to them. Senior Labour Department officials attended the meeting. |
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Career progression
benefits for UFDC employees
Dehradun, November 29 The payment of ACP amount less than Rs 1 lakh would be given in one single instalment, above Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in two instalments and above Rs 5 lakh in three instalments. A proposal was cleared with regard to setting up two stone crusher units, one in Haldwani and the other in Haridwar. An official premises will also be built at Haldwani. A solar equipment centre and windmills unit would also be established. The locations will be finalised later. Besides, Radio Frequency Identification Devise, a chip-enabled devise, would be given to truck drivers to use it while loading and off-loading the stock for quarrying or timber woods purpose. The system would boost transparency. Of 24 drivers of UFDC, 14 were regularised seniority wise. Similarly, 18 employees who were removed from UFDC but got relief from the Supreme Court would also be regularised. It was acknowledged in the meeting that the UFDC made a profit of Rs 38.53 cr this year. The board meeting was attended by Chief Principal Forest Conservator RBS Rawat, Managing Director S K Chandola and other senior officials of the corporation. President of UFDC Kunwar Pranav Singh expressed displeasure, saying that he would complain about the absence of the officials to the Chief Minister so that the same mistake was not repeated in future and the negligent officials became vigilant. |
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Police studying case
of 5 criminals held in Kashipur: SSP
Pithoragarh, November 29 The Kashipur police nabbed five criminals on Wednesday who were plotting to kill two persons, including Congress leader from Haldwani Khajan Chandra, alias Guddu. One of the criminals disclosed to the police that a Nainital builder had given him blood money of Rs 10 lakh to kill the Congress leader. “We have received a complaint from the Congress leader citing threat to his and his family members’ lives from the builder. We are investigating the matter and gathering information from the Kashipur police regarding the five arrested criminals,” said the SSP. Datee said they know the Haldwani builder, who gave money to the criminals to kill the Congress leader over some property dispute with the latter. “The builder has gone underground. We are still investigating the case and, if required, will nab him,” said The SSP. |
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Training programme for women panchayat representatives
Dehradun, November 29 The core focus of the training was to make these women self-sufficient in terms of financial planning and management. It was the first initiative of this kind in the entire country where more than 150 women were trained by master trainers. The programme was jointly conducted by SKOCH Foundation, Delhi, and Rural Litigation Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Dehradun. There were sessions on banking, loans, insurance, national stock exchange and various developmental schemes and pensions. —TNSTraining programme for women panchayat representatives |
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Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal today expressed serious concern over frequent disruptions in the Assembly and urged the MLAs to use the House as a platform to expose the government.
Dehradun, November 29
The Society of Pollution and Environment Conservation Scientists' (Specs) three-day workshop for science communicators of North India started in Dehradun today.
Inaugurating the seminar, Uttarakhand Council of Science and Technology's (UCOST) Director General Rajendra Dobhal stressed on developing scientific temper in society. He called for efforts towards ensuring popularisation of science.
Uttarakhand Khadi Gramudyog and Labour Minister Harish Chandra Durgapal today said the state government was providing health insurance cover for the workers employed in the unorganised sector and called upon the officials to bring more and more of these workers under its ambit.
“The Congress-led government could spend only 35 per cent of the annual budget in the last eight months. This shows its inability to usher in development in the state,” said Chuphal while talking to this correspondent here today.