Chamba, October 22
The Welfare Committee of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha emphasised the implementation of the Food Security Act effectively in letter and spirit so that people from the weaker sections could benefit from the scheme across the length and breadth of the state.

This was stated by the HP Vidhan Sabha Welfare Committee Chairman Mansa Ram while presiding over a meeting of the district-level officials at the Bachat Bhawan here last week. The chairman asked officials of various departments to ensure that welfare schemes launched by the Centre and the state government were being implemented for the uplift and well-being of the poor, adding that the officials engaged in these schemes should work receptively.

Regarding the pension schemes, the chairman said the committee was evaluating steps taken by the departments in the implementation of various welfare schemes and a report in this regard would be submitted to the state government.

He directed Chamba Deputy Commissioner to prepare a comprehensive report on the installation of solar lights in the district after compiling data from block development officers and send it to the committee in addition to the centrally sponsored drinking water schemes, hand pumps and link roads.

Answering queries of officials, the chairman said the tendering process for the construction of welfare bhawans was likely to be completed soon. Funds would spent under the Ambedkar Bhawan Scheme, he added. In case there was any problem of acquiring the land, the issue would be resolved forthwith.

Chamba, October 22
The state unit of the All-India Anti-Corruption Committee has alleged that despite Chamba being declared one of the most backward districts of the country, no engineering college, medical college or university has so far been opened in the district. The district is still deprived of nationalhighway, railway link and airport.

In a press statement here on Friday, committee state unit president Subhash Sharma, who is a retired government official, said the pace of development in the district had gone from bad to worse.

The condition of roads was pitiable, he added.

However, the condition of Chamba-Pathankot highway had improved due to the hydropower projects of the NHPC, a Government of India undertaking, he said.

Sharma said, “The condition of interior roads in Tissa, Salooni and Bhattiyat areas is deplorable. Farmers in particular suffer a lot as they cannot transport their apple and other off-season vegetable crops to the nearest markets.”

He rued that there was no all-weather road in Bhattityat subdivision.

The health and educational institutions were facing shortage of doctors and staff, he added.

Dharamsala/Una, Oct 22
The sports facilities at the district level are not being put to use, resulting in wastage of funds. The facilities created at Una and Dharamsala are a clear illustration of the fact.

In Una, a swimming pool was constructed at the Indira Gandhi stadium during the Congress rule from 2003-07. More than Rs 1 crore was spent on the construction of the swimming pool. However, in the past more 8 years, the swimming pool has not been put to use.

Sources said the District Sports and Youth Welfare Department had tried to outsource the management of the swimming pool. However, even the private party could not operate it due some technical fault in the construction. The sources said the swimming pool loses water quickly due to which the private firm gave up.

Some officials in the department said they did not have funds to operate it. Sportsmen in Una have demanded an inquiry into the construction of the swimming pool.

Recently, the Director (Sports) visited the area and according to sources had asked the officials to prepare a proposal of making it operational.

Una had recently got its second Astroturf hockey stadium. The stadium can host international matches. However, while designing the stadium, the authorities did not construct any visitors' gallery. The sources said the Director (Sports) had asked the officials concerned to break the visitors' gallery of the swimming pool and change its face towards the hockey stadium to create some seating space for spectators during hockey matches.

Dharamsala got the first synthetic athletic track of Himachal about two years ago. The synthetic athletic track was under the control of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) officials posted in Dharamsala. However, in the past two years, no major event has been held on the synthetic athletic track. Now, the SAI authorities have restricted the entry to the track as walkers were allegedly damaging the track.

Most of the machines at the indoor gymnasium of Dharamsala had been broken and the Sports and Youth Welfare Department did not have funds to maintain it.

The indoor stadium was the only facility that was being put to use by the locals for playing badminton and table tennis.

Kangra, October 22
Resentment prevails among residents and devotees visiting the Baba Balaknath temple in the town due to the callous attitude of the local municipal council authorities, who failed to clear debris from the road leading to the temple following a land slide three months ago.

Temple priest Swami Ram Dass said yesterday a massive land slide took place at the gate of the ancient Baba Balaknath Temple on July 23. The road leading to the temple, a centre of faith for thousands of people, remained blocked despite repeated requests to the authorities concerned even after the lapse of nearly three months, he added.

The temple management requested the Kangra SDM on July 23 for an appropriate action to remove the rubble. The local sub-divisional authorities were approached time and again by the temple management but no action has been taken so far.

Visitors attending Suadayia of Bagwad Geeta in the temple at 8 pm for one hour daily were the worst sufferers. Those who visited the shrine on every Sunday morning at 6 am for yoga classes also suffered official apathy. Swami Ram Das demanded that a JCB be provided to remove the debris so that people visiting the shrine were relieved of the difficulty they faced while going to the temple. He said Chief Minister Virbhdra Singh should intervene to mitigate the problems of local residents.

Anadi Kaistha, a local resident, has approached the Kangra SDM to get roads of the town, which were in deplorable condition and were endangering the life of pedestrians, repaired. He also demanded one way traffic in the Main Market and ban on four wheelers from Tehsil Chowk - Main Market -College Road till SBOP Chowk, for the convenience of people. 

Kangra, October 22
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has completed its membership drive in the state and 1.15 lakh youth have been registered during the drive which started on September 2.Disclosing this at a press conference here yesterday, Sajjad Tariq, a Lok Sabha Returning Officer (LRO) for eight Assembly segments of the Kangra parliamentary constituency, said it was the second time that internal party polls were being conducted in this state.

Booth-level polls would start on October 29 and conclude on November 1. He said 27,000 members enlisted themselves in 17 Assembly segments of Kangra during the drive, but in the state the number touched 1.15 lakh.

I met Shabab Lalit at his residence in New Shimla. He, wrapped up in a quilt, was busy editing a ghazal sent by one of the hundreds who depend upon his literary brilliance for improving the tone and tenor of their writings.

I asked him that despite being unwell why was he straining himself; he said that he was paying the debt of being a guru. He believed that there were two more debts that a human had to pay back - the debt towards parents and that of a Rishi or sage. “Are your sons paying back the debt?” He replied, “I have three sons- Bharat, Swaraj and Vikas- and I can say for each of them that "mein jahaan bhi jaaoon uski Lakshman Rekhaa mein hoon/ Haan, koi kartaa hai meri paasbaani har taraf”. Shabab Lalit has completed his 80th birthday on August 3 this year and his wife Sharda is about two years younger to him (See Photo). I saw Sharda dutifully supporting her husband in all daily chores. Shabab admits that after his illness, his wife has been greatly burdened.

Physically, his movements are reduced today but mentally, he is zippy. He has authored twelve books of Urdu poetry, six of Hindi anthologies, two of Pahari poetry, three of literary criticism - the latest being Qualam Karishme (2012). There are thirty seven titles, including edited ones, to his credit. I photographed a few of them (See Photo). It is Shabab Lalit who carried the flag of Himachal’s Urdu poetry inside and outside the state. He is like a diamond whose sheen has even crossed the opaqueness of mountains. “Raaste mein paraa ek hiraa hoon mein/ Paarkhi ho koi to uthaa le mujhe.” And a fresh parkhee was popular journal ‘Chahaarsu’ (four sides) published from Rawalpindi (Pakistan). It brought out a special issue in the month of June this year in which 58 pages are devoted to the poetry and other works of Shabab Lalit. His proficiency in using names and expressions from mythology of different religions adds vivacity to his poems (Lakshman Rekha couplet above). Bano Sartaj, a prominent writer, has highlighted it in her recent 12 page treatise on Shabab. I strongly opine that his pen speaks for his literary genius but, pity; the academies could not appreciate it. He, who should have been honoured by the National Sahitya Academy, was marginalised for an award by the State Academy of Language, Arts and Culture. His genuine pain is depicted in the lines, “Duniyaa kabhi to degi mujhe bhi meraa mukaam/ Ye bhi Shabab apnaa khyali pulao thaa.” His lament is not that he did not get an award; he bemoans that none of the writers of Urdu in Himachal got it. Urdu language, he says, has sixty-seven per cent words of Hindi and a language that was born and matured in India got a raw hand and has been ignorantly considered as the language of the Muslims. He asks, “All eminent lovers and writers of Urdu in Himachal Pradesh-Lal Chand Prarthi, Suresh Shauq, Surendra Nath Verma, Kahan Singh Jamal, KK Toor, Dharam Pal Aquil and others- are Muslim?” And satires, “Umra bhar ab is hamaquat par lahu rovo Shabab/ Ghair-Muslim ho ke tum Urdu par shaida kyon hue?”

Shabab Lalit, with birth name Bhagwan Dass, was born in 1933 at Khangarh in Muzzafargarh district of Multan division in Pakistan to father Ram Krishna Lalit and mother Lakshmi Devi. He is MA in history, Urdu and PhD in Urdu literature from Panjab University. The entire family migrated to India in 1947 and ultimately domiciled at Dahrampur in Solan district. Shabab’s grief was visible when he told me about the death of his first wife Satish who was electrocuted due to faulty wiring. He admits that the pain of separation from the beloved surfaces in most of his works. I wished him well and as active life as he lived editing ‘Fikr-o-Fun’, a government magazine, for eleven years. He replied, “Yun umra ki dhalaan pe hum thak ke choor hain/ Jaise kisaan khet se ghar lautate hue.” 

Solan, October 22
Elin Appliances, Baddi, a small-scale enterprise manufacturing home appliances, has bagged this years national-level Golden Trophy awarded by the National Safety Council of India (NSCI). This award was recently presented to the unit by Arun Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, and VB Sant, Director General, National Safety Council of India. It was received by the unit management, including directors Kamal Sethia and Sanjeev Sethia, plant head JS Kang, safety officer Mrinal Kanti and others.

Explaining about various endeavours of the company in maintaining safety standards plant head Kang said, “Stress is laid on creating awareness among employees through regular trainings, which include firefighting, first aid and mock drills. This not only tests our preparedness, but also helps to recognise the shortcomings, which can be improved and corrective steps taken to ensure compliance of laid norms and safety standards.”

The unit has also bagged other safety awards, which include the coveted Greentech Safety Award - 2011, NCSI Safety Award-2011 etc.

Kang said since the establishment of unit in 2008, its management had accorded top priority to safety, health and sustainable growth of the enterprise. With manpower being the asset of the company, their safety was of prime significance. The organisation had laid down its own policies to enforce occupational health and safety so as to create an ambient environment for growth he added. Kang had been motivating his team to not only to aspire for various national-level awards, but also improve their yearly performance .

He said, “The management ensures emergency plan awareness through regular trainings in hazardous waste, chemical handling, firefighting and first aid to make sure that employees are aware of the basic emergency handling. An accident reporting, investigation and analysis system has been set up to ensure that such mishaps do not recur as known safety, no injury. No safety, known injury.” Few units in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial hub have come forward to apply for these national-level awards. 

Bilaspur, October 22
Village elders should come forward to help others in settling petty disputes at the local level either through mutual understanding or with the intervention of gram panchayat leaders, which will save people from several problems in future.

This was stated by Judicial Magistrate First Class and Civil Judge Vishal Bhamnotra while presiding over a subdivision-level legal literacy and awakening camp at Balhaseena near Ghumarwin recently.

He said such legal awakening camps were being held even in far-flung areas only to apprise villagers of their rights, privileges and duties under the law and also to inform them about the legal provisions made to protect their interests from any type of exploitation or harassment or excesses so that they could take full advantage of their rights under the Constitution.

Bhamnotra said the Legal Services Aid Authority helped all those with income up to Rs 1 lakh or women, industrial labour, children, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, handicapped or mentally and physically challenged persons, natural calamity affected. They could get free legal aid to fight their cases at any level after submitting a simple application on paper to the authority at the district or subdivision levels.

Advocates Anshul Rattan and Kamal Kishore Bhardwaj also addressed the camp and gave details of the rights of people in matters concerning domestic violence, Hindu Marriage Act, Panchayati Raj Act and arrest and detention of people by the police. A large number of people, including women and gram punchayat representatives of the area, attended the camp. 

The Language, Art and Culture Department provided an opportunity to young artists to learn the skills of the unique processed flower art by organising a two-week workshop at its head office. Established artists like Neha, Alisha Rongta, Nikhil Bansal and Nitin, were among the 10 participants who were taught the nuances of the dried flower art by septuagenarian Krishna Paruthi, who is a master in converting flowers and other foliage into the work of art.

In fact, he was the first to start flower work on glass. However, during the workshop flower work was done only on paper to produce visiting cards, greeting cards, wedding cards, bookmarks and other such floral art pieces.

The participants were imparted in depth knowledge of the new medium of artistic expression right from the collection of flowers and leaves, techniques of drying using herbal preservatives and use of different parts of plants for various purposes before starting work on the canvas. The participants were also sent on excursions to collect plants. However, during the workshop, the dried flowers and plants were provided by Paruthi as the process of drying takes more than a month.

The artists were keen to learn the new skill as it would provide them another medium of creative expression to add to the art of paintings in which they had already acquired proficiency. Paruthi appreciated the effort of the department and said he could provide training on regular basis, if the suitable space was provided in or around the central places like the Gaiety Theatre.

Bilaspur, October 22
The district Rajput Kalyan Sabha has urged Central government leaders to accept the ill-effects of the present reservation policy, scrap it and make provisions of reservation on the basis of the financial condition of a family.

This resolution was adopted in a meeting of the sabha held under the presidentship of Prem Lal Thakur at Auhar, near here, yesterday. The meeting was also attended among others by prominent leaders Devender Chandel, Yogesh Thakur, Dhani Ram Thakur, Prakash Chandel, Hukam Singh Thakur, Jogender Singh, Sunka Ram, Gagan Singh Chandel and Capt Lekh Ram (retd).

In the meeting leaders deliberated on the reservation policy, which was authorised by founding fathers of the Constitution only for 10 years.

It was extended for another 10 years under the excuse that more period was required to undo the imbalance in population and then there would be no reservation at all.

Several politicians and parties manipulated the policy alike to ensure that it continued even after 66 years of Independence only to safeguard their “vote bank” politics.

In the meeting it was opined that this led to resentment among unreserved population. Reserved categories were usurping even their deserved rights and talent was being ignored which resulted in frustration and disappointment among competent and efficient youth of the unreserved categories. This could one day lead to a serious confrontation between the reserved and non-reserved population.

In the meeting it was pleaded that the matter desired serious consideration before it was too late. The society and country should be saved from impending disaster by changing the reservation policy in time, said leaders who participated in the meeting. 

Chamba, October 22
Himachal Pradesh, particularly Chamba district, is endowed with a variety of medicinal plants. About 37.7 per cent area in the district is having forest cover and is very rich in medicinal plants.

The district also has a network of protected areas comprising five wildlife sanctuaries- Kalatop-Khajjiar, Kugti, Tundah, Gamgul Siabehi and Sechu-Twan.

The rare and highly valued medicinal herbs are frequently exported by smugglers after buying them from the local right holders who have age-old riparian rights to extract and collect them for export to far-flung countries like Japan and China through the markets of Amritsar and Pathankot. Many important herbs are nagchattri (trillidium Ggvanianum), gucchi (morchella esculenta), kuth and jungli lahsun (fritillaria royelei).

A number of medicinal plants are exported every year officially after obtaining export permits from Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs). The main herbs include dhoop, mushakbala, kour, cuchi, ban kakru, kakarsingi, patish, bhutkeshi, datishan, pathenbed, chukri, brass flowers etc.

However, the possibilities of surreptitious movement of some of these medicinal plants cannot be ruled out in the interest of avoiding the payment of permit fee to the state Forest Department.

To discourage people from the illegal export of medicinal plants, a draft notification has recently been sent to the government . The draft notification includes 91 species of medicinal plants. The permit fee ranges from Rs 100 to 10,000 per quintal for gucchi.

Official sources said there was abundant potential for the collection and export of medicinal plants in the Churah forest division followed by Chamba and other forest divisions. The annual average collection of medicinal herbs is around 2,220 quintals in the district.

The forest department has set a norm of planting 30 per cent saplings of medicinal nature out of the total saplings planted every year. This year, more than nine lakh saplings of medicinal plants would be planted in the Chamba forest circle.

The exclusive nurseries like Sural Bhatori, Hudan Bhatori in Pangi forest division, Holi and Lamu in Bharmour forest division and Joth Dhar in Dalhousie forest division of medicinal plants are also maintained in various parts of the district.