Dehradun, August 30
On the first day of filing nominations for the coming students' union elections at DAV (PG) College here, eleven candidates filed their papers for different posts today.

Tight security arrangements have been made at the college for the process.

Only two candidates, Siddharth Rana (ABVP) and Bhupendra Negi (NSUI) filed their nominations for the post of president.

Deepak Rawat (independent) filed papers for the post of vice-president and Govind Singh (Pattu Group), Yudhbir Singh Negi (Satyam Group) and Jogender Singh (Aryan Group) filed their papers for the post of secretary. Only one nomination was received for the post of treasurer and one for faculty representative.

For the post of university representative (UR), three candidates filed their papers. According to sources, no nomination was received for the post of joint secretary on the first day. Election officer Gopal Chetri said the nomination process on day one remained peaceful.

Haridwar, August 30
The students' union elections were held at Shravan Nath Math Jawaharlal Nehru College amid tight security here today. The results were declared in the evening.

Aman Sharma (BCom II) has been elected president, Harish Kumar Soni vice-president, Neeraj Mishra secretary, Deep Chand sub-secretary and Shaukin treasurer.

Shruti Sharma, Neha Arora, Jyoti Pahva, Shalini Kaushal and Someshwari have been nominated to the students' union executive body committee. Ashish Bhatt has been appointed university representative.

Elections for class representatives of BA (I), BCom (I) and BSc (III) were also held as more than one candidate had filed their nominations for the same.

For the other courses, class representatives were chosen unanimously.

Circle officer (city) Rajesh Bhatt said adequate police force had been deployed on the college campus to ensure the peaceful completion of the elections.

Dr SK Batra, faculty head (commerce), said identity cards of all students and the staff were checked at the college gates and the entry of outsiders was completely banned.

Aman Sharma thanked the students for reposing faith in him and assured them of solving their problems on a priority basis.

Dehradun, August 30
Tripti Dhyani of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was elected president of the students’ council in MKP PG College today. The party won all 12 posts in the election.

Tripti secured 366 votes and defeated her nearest rival Karishma Rawat, who contested the election as an Independent candidate. Pooja Gusain of the Vikas group finished third.

The other ABVP candidates, who were elected office-bearers of the students’ council, are: vice president- Sangeeta Sajwan; university representative-Kiran Chauhan; treasurer-Chander Kapoor; and joint secretary- Aasma Ansari. Chander Kapoor was elected treasurer unopposed.

The elected executive committee members are Neha Thapa, Shilpa, Anamika Verma, Garima Chawla, Priyanjali Sharma and Simran Kaur (all belonging to the ABVP).

Dehradun, August 30
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Saheed Bhagat Singh Sena have announced support for the candidature of Swati Negi, who is going to contest the students’ union election for the post of president from DAV PG College.

SP spokesperson Subhash Pawar announced that the party had decided to contest the students’ union election in Dehradun for the first time and it had decided to field its candidates for the post of president and vice-president in Sri Guru Ram Rai PG College. Mohan Joshi would be the party’s candidate for the post of president and Shahnawaz’s name has been finalised for the post of vice-president.

However, the party will not field any candidate from DAV PG College directly and would support independent candidate Swati Negi for the president's post. 

Mussoorie, August 30
The practice of general house meeting in which probable candidates contesting for the MPG College elections debated on the issues faced by the students for several hours in the past has been lost in oblivion.

MPG College began from a few rooms at Summer House Hotel in Kulri Bazaar in 1963. Thereafter, it was shifted to the existing premises at Kingcraig. The tradition of holding a general house or a meeting in which the adversary candidates debated on various issues faced by the students and became an important event which determined the result during the college students' union elections continued uninterrupted till 2007.

However, the practice was discontinued after 2007 due to several reasons as cited by the past president of the college.

The former presidents are of the view that it was the debate in general house that set the trend for the winning groups as the student leaders deliberated strongly with each other for more than three hours and answered the questions raised by the students.

The former presidents of the college, Megh Singh Kandari, Jaipla Kandari, Gaurav Gupta(NSUI) and Trilok Rana and Ashutosh Kothari (ABVP) rued the fact that the general house which set the tone of the college elections was abruptly stopped in the year 2000, thus resulting in the loss of the charm during the elections. The debates were worth watching as the leaders use to keep their views in front of the packed house charged with emotions. The students also had the opportunity to gauge the political intellect of the student leaders whom they would vote for in the elections. The general house usually took place a few days before the elections added former student leaders. Some leaders blame the Lingdoh committee which took all the fanfare out of the student elections in the country, thus resulting in the general house going into oblivion.

Ravi, student of MPG College, refutes the claims and said that the Lingdoh committee had only recommended less use of posters and banners not the closure of general house which is the right forum to assess the future leaders of the country. He demanded that the practice should be reinstated in the larger interests of the students here.

When contacted the Principal of the MPG college Sudhir Gairola said that the general house was a healthy practice where the probable student leaders debated with each other in a congenial environment. 

Dehradun, August 30
To ensure its widespread presence in the social media, Uttarakhand Congress today inaugurated its communication centre at Congress Bhavan, Dehradun. The centre will propagate Congress policies and programmes through social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Inaugurating the centre, Uttarakhand Congress president Yashpal Arya said in the present political scenario in the country, more and more political parties are utilising social media to air their views and, thus, it has become important for Congress to make a formidable entry into social media in the country. He said establishment of the communication centre will help increase mass base of Congress in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand Congress assistant in charge Sanjay Kapoor said the communication centre in Uttarakhand will help the party put forward its policies and programmes effectively before the people. He apprised the communication centres were being opened by Congress Party across the country and Uttarakhand has also taken an initiative in this regard.

Congress vice president Suryakant Dhasmana and other Congress leaders were also present on the occasion. 

Dehradun, August 30
Uttarakhand senior BJP leader Munna Singh Chauhan has alleged large- scale corruption in the allotment of works under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in Uttarakhand and has sought a CBI probe into the matter.

Addressing a press conference in Dehradun today, Munna Singh Chauhan alleged that 75 out of 113 tenders for various works were allotted through a single tender system and a single bid basis evidently to ensure that one particular individual gets the contract.

Chauhan accused Uttarakhand Rural Development Minister Pritam Singh of trying to benefit one of his close relatives and has flouted all norms of tendering procedure. He also alleged that a lot money has exchanged hands to ensure that those close to the minister get the contract under PMGSY.

Demanding a CBI probe, Chauhan alleged that he would soon meet Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi and even Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna and would seek action on the matter.

Haridwar, August 30
Divyansh Sharma, a popular face in the television industry, hails from suburban Jwalapur in Haridwar city. Though he had no godfather or any major platform to exhibit his talent, Divyansh with sheer determination, hard work and acting abilities has made a name for himself on the small screen.

He now wants to foray into Bollywood and follow into the footsteps of another city born actor Shriya Sharan, who is popular in the south film industry. Divyansh is in the city at present to groom budding actors hailing from Uttarakhand. Talking to TNS, he said contrary to earlier times there was more scope for actors now as a number of television entertainment channels had come up.

Divyansh has played popular roles like of young Sai Baba and acted in TV serials like Prithviraj Chauhan, Crime Patrol and Sawdhaan India. Divyansh has also set up an acting institute, “Acting Factory”, at Ranipur where he grooms budding actors. 

Dehradun, August 30
An inter-school quiz contest was organised by Fylfot Public School here today.

Fifteen schools participated in the quiz contest, which included some of the top CBSE schools from the Doon valley like Scholars' Home, GRD, Indian Academy, DSB International, Jaswant Modern, St Mary's Secondary School, Him Jyoti, Army Public School, Lucent International to name a few.

Each school was represented by a three-member team comprising students from class IX to XII and in all the quiz competition had a total of eight rounds. The quiz competition was conceptualised on the need for the students to be aware about the latest happenings from the world. The topics included current affairs, economic crisis, politics etc. The quiz competition was inaugurated by Ajeet Rana, Director, Fylfot Public School, in the presence of staff and students. The programme was coordinated by Subhash Bourai and Pooja Nagalia.

There was a very close battle between most of the schools. But eventually there always has to be a winner and thus overall the team from Fylfot Public School was declared the winner, followed by Scholars' Home which stood second and the third position was awarded to DSB International. Rest of the participating teams were given their due credit by awarding them with participation certificates. The prize distribution ceremony was presided over by Ajeet Rana.

Speaking on the occasion Ajeet Rana, Director, Fylfot Public School,stated:''It is important to groom and prepare the students for the future. Knowledge building is and will always be an important component in the development of the child.''

The quiz competition was followed by Principals' meet, which involved heads of schools

of most of the top CBSE schools. Towards the end, the vote of thanks was delivered by Roochika Rana, Principal, Fylfot Public School. 

Dehradun, August 30
In the ongoing All-India Basketball Tournament at Welham Girls' School, the host Welham Girls (White) team defeated Unison World School with the final score of 35-13 points in its favour. Riya Jain of Welham's remained the highest scorer of the match after scoring 12 points.

In the second match played here today, Modern School, New Delhi, defeated Hopetown Girls' School, Dehradun, comfortably with a final score of 40-06. Madhu Kumari scored the maximum number of points in the match.

The match between Mayo College Girls' School, Ajmer, and Yadavindra Public School, Mohali remained close though in the end, Mayo College won it by 37-26 points.

It is to be noted that the tournament began on Thursday and six teams are participating in the tournament.