Shimla, December 14
Women from various parts of Kinnaur have decided to observe March 8, International Women’s Day, as a black day. They are demanding amendment to the customary laws that deny tribal women a share in ancestral property.

Women from Kalpa, Murang and other tehsil blocks, who assembled at Reckong Peo, have sought the intervention of the National Commission for Women and the National Tribal Commission.

“This entire talk about gender equality holds no meaning for tribal women in Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti , Bharmour and Pangi as we do not get a share in ancestral property,” says Ratan Manjari, Chairperson of the Mahila Kalyan Parishad (MKP).

The appointment of Ravi Thakur, MLA from the Lahaul Spiti Assembly segment, as vice-chairman of the National Tribal Commission, has come as a ray of hope for these women. “We have also approached him and are confident that he will help in taking up our cause at the right forum,” says Manjari.

Ravi Thakur, too, has kept the issue of getting property rights for tribal women in Himachal as his top priority. “I will certainly do all that is required to get women their due share in property, " he says.

Though there have been resentment on the issue for the past some time, now the MKP has decided to intensify their stir and, if need be, even knock at the doors of the court. “The customary laws, preventing transfer of any property in the name of a woman, is discriminatory,” opines Manjari.

Similar sentiments are echoed by other women who have decided to join this movement which they feel will bring not just equality but also security to tribal women.

Shimla, December 14
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said equal, speedy and balanced development of the state was priority of his government and adequate funds were being made available for development projects.

Virbhadra laid the foundation stones of the science block of Government Senior Secondary School, Sunni, and a 50-bed Civil Hospital to be constructed at a cost of Rs 96.46 lakh and Rs 5 crore, respectively. He laid the foundation stone of a police post building, which would cost Rs 73.13 lakh. He also dedicated a road and lift water supply scheme on the occasion.

He said efforts were being made to protect the environment in the state. “While green felling was banned during the mid-eighties, now a ban has been imposed on the felling of peepal, bargad and aged mango trees on shamlat land besides other trees,” he remarked.

The Chief Minister said the overall development of the Shimla Assembly constituency was being ensured as foundation stones of various projects worth about Rs 12 crore were laid and projects worth Rs 22 crore were inaugurated some days ago.

He said the government had opened 17 senior secondary, high and middle schools in the past year in the area. He said the proposed hospital would be raised with modern pre-fabricated construction technology within four months. The government had opened three ITIs at Dargi, Jalog and Sunni, he said.

Kullu, December 14
As dry weather and a plummeting mercury continue to hit Kullu region, the rabi crop cultivation has come to a halt.

Besides, health problems, particularly viral infections, have also come to the fore.

The minimum temperature recorded at Bhuntar was below 1°C yesterday.

Medical experts believe that snow and rains would bring relief to the widespread viral diseases.

According to the Meteorological Department, the dry spell will continue till December 19.

On the other hand, hoteliers and travel agents are waiting for a white Christmas this year.

Anup Ram Thakur, president, Hotel Association, Manali, said the tourist inflow was expected to improve during the Christmas season.

The mercury further plunged in higher reaches with Manali recording an all-time low at -2°C.

Shimla, December 14
Around 10 lakh schoolchildren will get health profile cards mentioning their Aadhaar card numbers under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK).

Around 17 per cent of the schoolchildren suffering from anaemia and dental diseases and 5 per cent suffering from skin and ENT diseases and over 2,000 children having mental, cardiac and physical disabilities are getting free treatment and supplements under the programme, said health officials.

The condition of students came to light when the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), under the RBSK, had organised 3,132 medical camps in 10,545 government schools till November this year.

Under the programme, 7.5 lakh students from Classes VI to XII were examined and 60,627 students were referred to hospitals where they were treated free of cost, said Dr Zoya Ali Rizvi, state programme officer for the RBSK.

“We are providing folic and iron supplements weekly to 7.5 lakh students and 50,000 teachers. Around 1.05 lakh students are found to be anaemic,” she said.

“We have treated 1.05 lakh children suffering from dental problems. We are providing quality sanitary napkins to girl students in Mandi, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Una. As many as eight other districts will be covered soon to promote natural hygiene,” Dr Rizvi said.

Under the RBSK, six children suffering from cardiac diseases, two girls suffering from cancer and a hearing-impaired girl from Mandi and Kangra received free treatment at referral hospitals, said the officials.

A team of 15-16 experts and doctors screen over 250 children at each camp.

Asked about the reported cases of vomiting and allergic reaction among students who had consumed iron tablets, Dr Rizvi said those students who took supplements on an empty stomach were bound to get an allergic reaction. The medicines distributed among them were not of inferior quality.

Though the NHRM team has yet to conduct a study, the Health Department has extended the programme to cover 15,000 anganwadis.

“We will cover 10.5 lakh children in schools by the end of March 2014 and each student will get a health profile with the Aadhaar card number on it," Dr Rizvi said.

Shimla, December 14
Making a fresh pitch for setting up the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) here, the Global Human Rights Council (GHRC) today said the previous BJP regime had done nothing in this direction despite many complaints of human and child rights violations had been reported in the state.

On the sidelines of a seminar on human rights at RKMV College here today, GHRC (Regional and Central) chairperson Arvind Thakur, said, “The National Human Rights Commission receives 6,000 complaints of rights violations from the state yearly. The previous BJP regime had organised a meeting when it came to the power to revive and strengthen the SHRC, but nothing concrete was done.”

Human rights violations are increasing both at workplace and government offices, but the redressal mechanism is not in place, he said.

Thakur said he would take up the matter with the Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh as he has promised to strengthen the SHRC with proper infrastructure when he had assumed the power.

“Around 40 per cent of migrant labourers have been working in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area. Children below 14 years of age have been working in dhabas and small scale-units there. Despite lodging complaints with the Industries and Labour Departments, the violation of the Child Labour Abolition Act continues in the state,” he said.

He said the Labour Department made excuses that child labourers run away when they raided dhabas and other eating joints.

RKMV principal Meera Ahluwalia said the seminar was educative for both teachers and students as it provided basic education regarding the protection of human rights and responsibilities.

Nurpur, December 14
State agriculture schemes have failed to bring the desired results in Nurpur due to vacant posts in the Agriculture Department here. Nurpur is one of 15 blocks in Kangra district where most of the posts in the department have been lying vacant since long.

Other agriculture blocks in lower Kangra district, Fatehpur, Indora and Nagrota Surian, are facing the staff shortage, too. Farmers are facing inconvenience in getting farm inputs and field guidance in the absence of the field and office staff.

There are two sanctioned posts of Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) at Nurpur and Rehan but both have been lying vacant since long. Similarly the sanctioned post of Assistant ADO at Nurpur is too vacant. The government has sanctioned eight posts of Agriculture Extension Officers (AEO) at Panchara, Jonta,Talara, Sadwan, Chonki, Rehan, Chowki and Jachh. Barring Rehan, all are lying vacant.

The Kisan Sabha said all schemes had been only on papers in the area as no extension programme for the guidance of the farmers were being organised for want of the field staff. It had urged the state government to fill vacant posts.

VK Soni, Deputy Director, Agriculture Department, Palampur, admitted that the department was facing hardships due to vacant posts in different departments in Kangra district.

"As many as 80 posts of AEOs are vacant in 15 agriculture blocks of the district and I have written to the authorities in this connection," he added.

Manali, December 14
The Himachal Pradesh Ex-Servicemen Welfare Samiti is organising a state-level Vijay Diwas at Barthi in Bilaspur on December16 to commemorate the supreme sacrifices of martyrs, war widows and veer naris of 1971 as well as to honour brave soldiers.

Brig Khushal Thakur (retd), Yudh Seva Medal, who is the convener of the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement Himachal Pradesh, said Vijay Diwas is commemorated every on December16 as its military victory over Pakistan in 1971.

He said in 1971, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops surrendered to the allied forces consisting of Indian Army and Mukti Bahini, led by General Jagjit Singh Arora.

Bilaspur, December 14
A district-level foundation day of pensioners will be organised at the Dholera Temple complex here by the district unit of the Himachal Pradesh State Pensioners Welfare Association (HPSPWA) on December 17.

This was stated by HPSPWA district general secretary Jagdish Dinesh after attending a meeting of the district executive committee here. He said pensioners from all parts of the district were expected to attend this congregation for which all arrangements had been finalised.

He said former Director, Higher Education, Dr OP Sharma would be the chief guest on the occasion, while the association would honour all those pensioners who had turned 80.

Dinesh said state president Jiva Nand Jivan had been invited to address this congregation, while it would be addressed by state senior vice-president JK Nadda and other prominent state leaders.

He said the meeting adopted a resolution urging the state government to ensure that all heads of offices send to government pensioners’ quarterly funds demand for the clearance of their all reimbursement bills.

Sundernagar, December 14
The decrease in water flow at the Beas has adversely affected the production in the 990 MW Dehar Power House.

Out of the six machines at the power house, not even a single one was producing electricity for 21 hours.

The Beas has been diverted from Pandoh and after using the water at the Dehar Power House in Slapper, it ultimately flows into the Sutlej, controlled by the Bhakra Beas Management Board.

Six generators each having the capacity of 165 MW were installed at the power house. Due to acute water shortage these days, it was not even sufficient to run a generator for 24 hours.

About 2,200 cusecs of water was required to run a single machine, but at present, the inflow of water was around 1,700 cusecs. It was further confirmed by the BBMB authorities that the intake of water would further go down after a spell of snow in the catchment area which feeds the Beas for the whole year.

Sources said only one machine was functional till 5pm and thereafter, no electricity was produced and all the machines were stopped.

The sources added that the water was first collected in a balancing reservoir in Sundernagar and then used so that maximum electricity was produced during the peak hours.