Shimla, April 2
The announcement of the Election Commission to hold byelection for the Sujanpur Assembly seat along with the Lok Sabha poll on May 7 has put the BJP in a fix.

The party has been trapped in a “family feud” with former MLA Urmil Thakur staking her claim for the ticket while her brother-in-law, Narinder Thakur, who recently returned to the BJP, was also a strong contender.

Sources in the party said Urmil was not ready to give up her claim in favour of Narinder Thakur, son of BJP stalwart Jagdev Chand who launched the Jan Sangh and the BJP in the state.

Another BJP leader Rakesh Thakur, who is mandal BJP president, is also in the run but party sources said the ticket would be given to some member of the late Thakur Jagdev Chand’s family.

The Sujanpur seat was vacated following resignation by Independent MLA Rajinder Singh Rana, who joined the Congress to contest from Hamipur and a few days before the announcement of the byelection, Narinder, who had contested the Assembly elections against former Chief Minister PK Dhumal in 2012 and Lok Sabha polls against Anurag Thakur in 2009, rejoined the BJP.

Both Urmil and Narinder are claiming the legacy of Jagdev Chand and any rift in the party on the eve of Lok sabha poll could harm the interests of Anurag, who is seeking reelection from the Hamirpur seat.

Urmil said she had the first claim for the ticket as she had contested from this seat in 2012.”I was shifted from the Hamirpur Assembly constituency to Sujanpur. I am the claimant from this seat”, she added.

The state election committee of the BJP is meeting on April 5 to decide the candidate and much would depend on the stand taken by Dhumal and state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti.

Palampur, April 2
Workers of the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) clashed at Dheera village in the Sulaha constituency of the Palampur region here yesterday.

As per reports, Dr Rajan Sushant, who is contesting the parliamentary elections on the AAP ticket, had organised a road show in the Sulaha constituency when his convey of vehicles was blocked by BJP workers at Dheera village.

The BJP workers raised slogans against AAP and did not allow them to move further. Later, the situation turned tense and hundreds of local residents reached the spot. Sushant tried to pacify the BJP workers and asked them to allow the movement of their vehicles. However, the BJP workers were not ready to listen, resulting into clash between the two parties.

Sushant, later, went to the Bhawarna police station and lodged a complaint against the BJP workers who disrupted the peaceful road show of AAP. He said AAP workers were manhandled by the BJP workers.

The police have registered a complaint against the BJP workers, but no arrest has been made so for. A police official said matter was under investigation. 

Shimla, April 2
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal is in the habit of treating his political opponents as his personal enemies as two false cases were registered against him during the BJP regime in which he finally got a clean chit from the court.

Virbhadra today addressed election meetings at Kupvi area of the Chopal Assembly segment in Shimla district today. “I was falsely framed in two cases -- Sagar Katha and later the CD case in which I faced a session trail and got acquittal,” he said. He said it was very unfortunate that this kind of wrong precedent had been set by Dhumal in both his tenure as the Chief Minister of the state.

The Chief Minister also accused the BJP of indulging in fanning communal sentiments and dividing people along religious lines. Warning the electorate, the Chief Minister said, “Such divisive forces like the BJP must be kept out of power as they hamper the unity and integrity of the nation.”

He said there was no wave either in favour of the BJP or Narendra Modi and a hype was being created by the media to misguide voters.

He urged the people to vote for Rohru MLA and Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakta as it was for the first time that a candidate from Shimla district had been fielded by the Congress. He said if Brakta was elected to the Lok Sabha, the pace of development would be further accelerated. He said the Congress regime during its rule since it assumed power in December, 2012, had taken several decisions for the welfare of society, including women, youth, employees, farmers and other weaker sections. 

Baddi, April 2
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said the BJP would form the government at the Centre and this fact had also been acknowledged by the US whose diplomat had resigned, anticipating Narendra Modi’s victory.

Addressing public meetings at Nalagarh and Patta Mehlog in Doon constituencies from where he gave a push to the campaigning of Virender Kashyap, Dhumal said the US, which had refused visa to Modi, had sent its diplomat to meet him in Ahmedabad. This proved that Modi was nearing the mission 272-plus and the BJP was heading for a victory.

He said all acts of corruption relating to the UPA would be probed by Modi government after he assumed power and even cases pertaining to corruption in the state would not be spared as some people had become symbols of corruption.

Dhumal said the Congress rule in Himachal was steeped in false inquiries, poor governance and chaos where the interest of the common man had failed to be watched. He said while capable officials had been sidelined, the government was being run by retired and tired officials who were indulging in sycophancy.

Launching a scathing attack on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he said the Congress always came to power on false promises and once it captured power, it forgot such promises. He said the Virbhadra government had failed to get the state’s due worth crores in the BBMB project.

He said the longest serving Chief Minister had been exposed before the people as his various acts of corruption had come to the fore.

The former Chief Minister said the Congress had organised a rally addressed by Rahul Gandhi in Dharamsala and could not muster adequate strength which could match Modi’s Sujanpur rally. This was an indication of their declining popularity. He said Rahul Gandhi’s promise of providing 50 per cent reservation to women had already been implemented by the BJP in 2008.

Dhumal urged party workers to work in unison and ensure the ouster of the corrupt Congress government.

Taking a dig at the state government, he said they had discontinued ration bags carrying pictures of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and instead pictures of Congress leaders such as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Virbhadra Singh and GS Bali were seen, but the bags had no ration.

Others present on the occasion were Shimla MP Virender Kashyap, BJP general secretary Dr Rajiv Bindal, MLAs Randhir Sharma, KL Thakur and others.

Mandi, April 2
BJP state president Satpal Satti has said the election has been focused on the failures of the UPA government and Congress misrule in the state.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said, “The failure of the UPA government in presenting a strong leadership at the national level is one of the major failures of the government and Narendra Modi has emerged as a strong national leader and people are looking to make him Prime Minister of the country.”

He alleged, “Unprecedented price rise, lack of development and large-scale corruption has taken place under the UPA regime and the Manmohan government has failed to act on the issues pinching the people.”

“The prestige of the country has also been lowered at the international level due to weakness shown by our national leadership in defending our borders and tackling other issues,” he said.

Satti said, “The Centre has also failed to check terrorism and Naxal attacks in various parts of the country.”

Talking about the state government, he alleged, “The Chief Minister’s statements against opposition leaders are not dignified and his remark against former CM PK Dhumal terming him an outsider is not true.”

“The CM should concentrate on highlighting achievements of the state government instead of making personal remarks against opposition leaders,” he added.

Replying to a question regarding the arrest of former BJP MLA Baldev Sharma on the charge of sexual exploitation of a woman, he said, “Our stand is very clear if somebody has committed a mistake, legal action should be taken against him. However, this episode pertains to 2012 and being raked up now to draw political mileage by the Congress,” Satti added.

Bhoranj (Hamirpur), April 2
Congress candidate from Hamirpur Rajinder Rana has said development of the poor and rural areas is his main agenda.

Addressing public meetings at Bharari, Patta, Ladror and several other places under the Bhoranj Assembly segment today, Rana said, “I have joined politics for social service and is committed to the poor people’s welfare and growth of villages.”

He said, “The UPA government during the last decade has launched several welfare schemes such as MGNREGA, the National Rural Health Mission, the Indira Awas Yojna, the Rashtriya Swasthaya Yojna, loan waiver scheme for farmers, etc and crores of people have been benefited by these schemes.”

“I have been working through an NGO, Kalyankari Sanstha, and have tried to provide relief to the poor, women and youths for the past so many years,” he added.

Explaining about his efforts to mitigate problems of people through the NGO, Rana said, “I am working for people and their affection has alevated a small person like me an MLA from Sujanpur in the last Assembly election.”

Talking about development schemes started by the state government, Rana said, “The state government has given free-travel facility to school students in HRTC buses, upgraded more than 300 government schools, opened 15 new colleges in the state and several development schemes were started in the Sujanpur Assembly segment.”

Kangra, April 2
AAP candidate Rajan Sushant will affect the prospects of BJP candidate Shanta Kumar as Sushant was a grossroot level leader and represented the BJP in the Lok Sabha too.

Prof Chander Kumar, Congress candidate from Kangra, said this today at Makroti village in the Shahpur Assembly segment while addressing a public meeting. He said the Congress had promised to develop a tourism circuit to give a boost to tourism. He said besides exploiting tourism potential, eco-friendly industries would be encouraged in this region.

He said the Pathankot Mandi narrow gauge railway line would be made broad gauge and be connected with Leh. He said tunnels connecting Holi with Chamunda and Chawari with Chamba would bring the far-flung areas closer and these two tunnels were on the priority of the party.

He said Chief Minister Virbhdra Singh would visit Jawali, Fatehpur, Indora, Nurpur and Shahpur during his three-day tour to this district from April 6 to highlight the contribution of the Congress in setting major projects in this region.

Chander Kumar said Central University, NIFT, DRPGMC Tanda , super-speciality hospital, Tanda, SAIL office and Chiki bridge connecting HP with Punjab was the contribution of the party. He ridiculed the BJP for its failure to bring any major project to this region. 

Chamba, April 2
In the wake of the scheduled poll date of May 7 for Himachal Pradesh to the Lok Sabha elections, out of the 591 polling stations in Chamba district, 33 have been identified as hyper-sensitive from the security point of view, taking into account their location on the borders of Chamba district adjoining Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab states.

According to information gathered from the Election Department, 88 polling stations have been identified as sensitive, and the remaining 470 as ordinary.

Chamba district has five Assembly constituencies, of which four segments, Bhattiyat, Dalhousie, Chamba and Churah (SC), fall in the Kangra Lok Sabha constituency, while the Bharmour tribal Assembly constituency (ST) falls in the Mandi LS constituency.

The Churah (SC) Assembly constituency has 17 hypertensive polling stations. These are Garh, Mansa, Guila, Juns, Bandori, Andwas, Mangli, Seikothi, Jhajha, Dehgrain, Shalelabari, Sanwal, Makkan, Sahu, Ayal, Khangu and Nera.

In the Dalhousie Assembly constituency there are 13 hypersensitive polling stations, namely Langera, Priyungal, Sanghani, Jalari, Sanooh, Bhadroh, Bhasua, Dand, Langhoi, Kandhwara, Gulel, Lahra and Sagoti.

While the Bhattiyat Assembly constituency has two polling stations Sihunta and Hatli and the Bharmour (ST) Assembly constituency has only polling stations at Luj.

The information revealed that so far 3,27,128 electors had been enrolled in the five Assembly constituencies of Chamba district which included 1,68,194 male and 1,58,934 female.

In addition to this, there were 3,295 service electors which included 2,429 male and 866 female.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, DK Chaudhary asserted that the security forces were all set to keep surveillance on the borderline of Chamba district and maintaining strict watch in view of the LS poll.

Shimla, April 2
Legislators in the present Vidhan Sabha in Himachal are on a tour spree as the fund-starved state treasury is no bar for them. The Vidhan Sabha liberally paid Rs 1.28 crore tour bill of as many as 53 legislators from January 2013 to December 2013.

Each legislator gets Rs 75,000 a year for tours. A majority of them surpassed the limit three times, revealed information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.

The top trotter among Himachal legislators is Congress legislator from Dalhousie, Asha Kumari. She spent Rs 5.56 lakh on her tours and got travel concession of Rs 1.26 lakh from January 2013 to December 2013 from the Vidhan Sabha, revealed the RTI information.

This was supplied by the Vidhan Sabha Public Information Officer to RTI activist and Aam Aadmi party (AAP) leader Amit Sharma.

A copy of the information document is in possession of The Tribune. The information does not include ministers and some Chief Parliamentary Secretaries.

Leader of Opposition PK Dhumal, a Hamirpur legislator, spent Rs 45,000 on tours in that year.

BJP Jogindernagar legislator Gulab Singh Thakur spent Rs 79,120 in the year.The second top spender turned out to be BK Chauhan, a BJP legislator from Chamba. His tour bill was Rs 4.16 lakh and the information indicates he did not avail free travel for the same period.

Of the 53 legislators in the 68-member House for which RTI information is available, 19 legislators, cutting across party lines, spent more than Rs 3 lakh each on tours for the same period.

Even the former royal from the erstwhile kingdom of Kullu state Maheshwar Singh, who is Himachal Lokhit Party chief and a legislator from Kullu, does not lag far behind among the top tour spenders. He claimed to spend Rs 3.52 lakh on tours that year and availed no free travel concession from the Vidhan Sabha.

His brother and Congress legislator from Banjar spent Rs 3.51 lakh as TA and DA of meetings. He got Rs 77,613 free travel concession for the same year from the Vidhan Sabha, revealed the information.

BJP legislator from Shahpur Sarveen Chaudhary was not far behind Asha Kumari. She spent Rs 3.88 lakh on tours that year and got Rs 77,613 free travel concession from Vidhan Sabha. Congress Sanjay Rattan from Jwalamukhi spent Rs 3.61 lakh on tour but no freebie from the Vidhan Sabha.

Another 15 legislators spent more than Rs 2 lakh, but less than Rs 3 lakh each on tours in that year. There were 10 MLAs who spent Rs 1 lakh or more each, but less than Rs 2 lakh on tours that year. BJP's Jai Ram Thakur from Seraj, Rajiv Saijal from Kasauli, Rikhi Ram Kaundal from Jadhaunta and Virender Kanwar from Kutlehar spent Rs 3.55 lakh, Rs 2.07 lakh, Rs.3.34 lakh and Rs 3.06 lakh and got Rs 79,657, Rs 72,731, Rs 73257 and Rs 49,982 respectively as free travel concession for the same year, it was revealed.

Congress’s Kasumpati MLA Anirudh Singh spent Rs 2.61 lakh and got concession of Rs 88,996 from the Vidhan Sabha this year.

Vidhan Sabha secretary SS Verma said each MLA was entitled to a yearly grant of Rs 75,000. The details of expenses supplied to the RTI applicant include TA/DA info for each MLA. They attend various meetings and Vidhan Sabha sessions, he added. 

Dharamsala, April 2
The paper checking work at 29 centres set up by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBOSE) across the state for spot evaluation was paralysed today. The teachers went on an indefinite strike demanding increased honorarium for paper checking.

Today was the first day of the spot-evaluation process.

Himachal Government Teachers’ Union (HGTU) block president GS Dadhwal said the remuneration being given by the HPBOSE was much below than what teachers were demanding.

He said a postgraduate teacher (PGT) gets an honorarium of Rs 6.5 per copy while a trained graduate teacher (TGT) gets Rs 4.5 per copy. Dhadwal said earlier, it was Rs 6 and Rs 4 per copy, respectively.

“In a meeting held with the board in February this year, we had demanded an increased honorarium as per the CBSE pattern or at least Rs 12 to Rs 15 per copy. The CBSE gives honorarium of Rs 20 per copy per day,” he said.

He alleged the board had earlier accepted their demand, but later increased it by 50 paisa per paper.

Teachers’ strike will not only hit the paper-checking process, but will also lead to an inordinate delay in the result declaration if issues were not resolved.

Currently thousands of teachers have been deployed on each of the 29 centres for spot evaluation by the board. The number was to be increased by April 7. On an average, around 250 teachers are deployed on each centre. Despite the remuneration amount for evaluation, teachers get Rs 180 as travelling allowance per day along with refreshment.

Each teacher has to check 30 papers per day. On an average, each teacher gets Rs 350 for evaluation duty per day.

HPBOSE secretary Balbir Thakur was not available for the comments. However, sources said board officials had called a meeting with the teachers’ union to resolve the issue. Till then, teachers had been asked to resume paper checking.

Shimla, April 2
About 4,000 teachers deployed for the evaluation of answer sheets of classes X and XII at 29 spot evaluation centres throughout the state today boycotted the evaluation pressing their demand to revise contingent charges and remunerations payable to persons involved in the conduct of examinations by the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPSOBE), Dharamsala.

Himachal Government Teacher Union president Virender Chauhan said there was a vast difference between the remuneration paid by the (HPSOBE), Dharamsala, and the CBSE.

He said for a spot evaluation, a matriculation examiner was paid Rs 3.5 per book by the HPSOBE as compared to Rs 16 per book paid by the CBSE while a class XII examiner was paid Rs 5 per book as compared to Rs 22 per book.

He said the union had submitted a charter of demands to the board on February 11 and served an ultimatum to the education board on March 26 to revise the rate and make them at par with the CBSE, but only 50 paisa per answer book was increased on March 27 that too from back date, following which the union decided to boycott the evaluation in a meeting held in Ghumarvi (Bilaspur) yesterday.

Boycotting of evaluation work by 4,000 examiners today would lead to a backlog of 1,20,000 answer book as one examiner evaluates 32 answer sheets in a day.

Dharamsala, April 2
College teachers have condemned the latest directions of the Education Department that had increased teaching hours under the Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

In a notification issued recently, the state Education Department had increased the teaching hours for language teachers in colleges to 33 hours per week and for other subject teachers to 26 hours per week. Earlier, as per the UGC guidelines, teachers were to teach for 18 hours per week.

The Himachal Pradesh College Teachers Union president, Satish Thakur, said the state government was adopting its own standards in terms of teaching hours.

It was almost impossible for teachers to complete the teaching hours fixed by the state Education Department, he said.

The language teachers would have to teach for at least five hours a day which meant they would have to take five classes every day.

Taking breaks into consideration between the classes, it was impossible for a teacher to take five classes a day, he said.

He alleged earlier, the Education Department of the state had increased the duration of classes in government colleges from 40 minutes to one hour. Taking five classes a day was not a norm in any university around the world, he said.

The college teachers threatened to launch a strike in case the new directions issued by the Secretary, Education, were implemented.

The college teachers were finding it difficult to comply with the increased duties being fixed on them under the RUSA. However, the state government was committed to implementing the RUSA regulation to get grant from the Centre in higher education.

The college teachers said if the state government wanted to implement the RUSA, it should also provide all facilities to the faculty. College teachers working on contractual basis should be regularised immediately.

The professor cadre should be created in colleges and PhD teachers should be allowed to guide PhD students. The college teachers should also be granted leave at par with university teachers to attend seminar and conferences of their respective subjects.

Shimla, April 2
The Secretariat of the CPM has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the “illegal affiliation” given to Maharshi Markandeshwar Medical College, Kumarhatti, by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the role of the state government in allowing the college to admit students.

“A CBI probe is a must to unearth the facts as to how affiliation was given to a college that has been illegally affiliated to a university that has no provision for it," Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation and CPM State Secretariat member, said.

Alleging a nexus between the state government, the MCI and MMU in grant of “illegal affiliation", he said it was shocking that the state government-run medical colleges had failed to get the seats enhanced to 150 but MM Medical College had been given a letter of permission (LOP) to admit 150 students in the first batch of MBBS.

The CPM pointed out that MM Medical College had been affiliated to MMU whereas the private university had no power to affiliate any college under the MMU (Establishment and Regulation) Act 2010 and grant of affiliation to the college was violation of Section 7 of the Act.

The Act states that the university can run courses on the campus and has no right to affiliate colleges and also there is no provision for management quota in private universities.

The government had not only hiked fees, but also allowed 50 per cent management quota to the college which was applicable only to colleges affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), he asserted.

The CPM also raised suspicion over the admissions under the management quota and said as per the fee structure approved by the government, the fee was about Rs 50 lakh for the entire course and the students were forced to raise education loans at higher rates of interest.

Shimla, April 2
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) yesterday criticised the “commercialisation” of higher education and the implementation of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) by the state government without fulfilling the minimum basic requirements. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad state secretary Ajay Thakur said in the second meeting of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan Project Approval Board (PAB) held on March 12, 2014, it was observed that Himachal was not prepared to implement Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan in the state as there was no adequate physical infrastructure. It lacked laboratory equipment, library space, teaching classrooms with information and communication technology (ICT) facilities, there was no provision for research facilities and ban on recruitment, he said.

RUSA-PAB also took a strong note of the proliferation of private universities in the state. They said access to Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan funds would be subjected to the removal of ban on the recruitment and availability of adequate infrastructure.

Ajay also lashed out at Himachal Pradesh University for preparing the syllabus of various undergraduate courses by using cut-and-paste method or converting the old annual curriculum into semester syllabus without even updating the syllabus.

He said it was unfortunate that compulsory courses recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC) such as human values, internet/cyber security were not included in the new syllabus.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members said they had been fighting against the mushroomed growth of private institutions in the state since the beginning. They said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who made several promises to make fresh provisions to shut private universities down, had started the process of opening new universities. 

Dharamsala, April 2
The Chairman of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), New Delhi, has nominated state convener Maalvika Pathania to the INTACH governing council.

Maalvika has been associated with INTACH since its inception in 1984 and been convener of the Kangra chapter.

As a state convener, she has been instrumental in saving and restoring the over 500-year-old Bharakali temple at Sarah in Kangra district. She was a helping hand in the restoration of the Bhoothnath temple at Mandi. The restoration of the Deiji Sahib temple at Poanta Sahib is underway.

She is the first woman to be nominated to the INTACH governing body from Himachal Pradesh since its inception.

INTACH was founded in 1984 in New Delhi with the vision to create a membership organisation to stimulate and spearhead heritage awareness and conservation in India.

Since 1984, INTACH has pioneered the conservation and protection of India's natural and cultural heritage and is the largest membership organisation in the country dedicated to conservation.

It has 170 chapters in Indian cities, along with chapters in Belgium and the United Kingdom.

Kullu, April 2
The Kullu-Manali airport at Bhuntar witnessed regular air connectivity after a gap of about 45 days today. A non-scheduled airliner operated its inaugural flight, carrying eight passengers from Kullu to Chandigarh. Five of the passengers are reportedly senior executives of the company.

Kullu DC Rakesh Kanwar flagged off the new carrier at the airport. The airline plans to conduct three return trips every day between Kullu and Chandigarh and will charge Rs 9,195 per person for one-way journey.

Budhi Prakash Thakur, founder and Managing Director of the airline, said the services would be provided using eight-seater Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft.

A government air carrier had shut down its operations to Kullu since February 15. Even earlier, Air India had stopped its Delhi-Kullu operations in July 2012 and resumed these in May 2013 only for the operations to be halted again in July 2013 till September 2013. While a 48-seater ATR-42 was also operated by Kingfisher airlines till September 2012, the figures of foreign tourist arrivals to Kullu did not decline in 2012. The numbers did not show a significant growth either, with foreign visitors increasing from 1,38,488 in 2011 to 1,43,900 in 2012.

The number of foreign visitors to Kullu decreased to 1,19,341 in 2013 due to non-air connectivity during the peak tourist season in summer besides other reasons like pathetic condition of road between Chandigarh and Kullu, especially till Bilaspur and flood calamity in Kinnaur last year.

While Air India has announced resumption of its operations from April 15, the tourism industry in the valley has received a setback due to frequent shutdown of air connectivity in the last two years.

Kullu Travel Agents Association patron Bhupender said expansion of the airport at Bhuntar would enable larger aircraft to operate here and other players in the aviation industry might be seen vying for their share of the pie.

He said the government should provide clearances and support to the new airline to facilitate the tourism industry.

Una, April 2
During the first two days of the Chaitra Navratra fair underway at Chintpurni temple, devotees have come up with offerings to the deity amounting to Rs 45.48 lakh.

Temple officer Subhash Chauhan said 37 grams gold and 552 grams silver had also been offered, adding that round-the-clock counting and weighing of the offerings was being done.

He said about 9,000 devotees had visited the shrine during the first two days of the fair.

Kangra, April 2
Youth in general and children in particular should be close to their cultural roots in order to shape their future.

Manager of DAV Public School, Bankhandi, stated this today at the school’s annual day. He said it was the responsibility of parents and teachers to put young citizens on the right track.

He said the Indian culture had enlightened not just the country, but also the entire globe. The younger generation is drifting away from it.

He said children should desist from using mobile phones and social networking sites. The school's annual report was read out by officiating principal Promila Guleria.

Dance performances regaled the audience.

Chamba, April 2
District and Sessions Judge Chamba TS Kaisth on Monday inaugurated the wi-fi facility at the District Bar Association for its members and Bench.

Speaking on the occasion, Judge Kaisth congratulated the members of the District Bar Association.

He said the concept of e-courts was coming up in the country and members of the Bar and the Bench had to be updated technologically for speedy justice. 

Shimla, April 2
The Shimla police today summoned the former BJP MLA from Badsar in Hamirpur district who was booked in a sexual assault case. A 44-year-old woman from Hamirpur district had filed the complaint. The police, after preliminary inquiries and recording of the statement of the woman, registered an FIR at the Boileuganj police station yesterday.

The woman had alleged that the accused, then a sitting BJP MLA, sexually assaulted her on March 25, 2012, at his residence in the Vidhan Sabha complex in Shimla when she approached him for the transfer of her husband, working as JE at Mandi, to Hamirpur.

The woman reported the incident to the then DGP and the CM's office, but no action was taken.

Shimla SP Abhishek Dullar said the accused had been summoned.

BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti said anybody guilty of such a crime should be brought to book. He expressed apprehensions about the timing of the complaint and fairness of probe.

“The Congress has been in power for the past 15 months and the victim could have approached the police anytime. The timing of the complaint suggests that the charges are politically motivated,” he said.

Kangra, April 2
Rain lashed the Kangra valley while mild snowfall was experienced at the Dhauladhar mountain range, dropping down the temperature again. The sky was overcast since morning while the valley experienced cold-wave conditions after a day-long sunny day yesterday.

Reports of rain were received from different parts of the valley, including McLeodganj and Dharamsala.

Shimla, April 2
Recent spells of rain in the major agrarian states of northern India, including Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, may hit the rabi crop production by almost 15 per cent.

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in its report on the adverse impact of rain on the rabi crop, has made this prediction. It is estimated that rabi crop food grain production may fall short by 20 million tonne.

India’s rabi crops food grain production was estimated at around 135 million tonne during 2013-14, which is likely to fall to 115 million tonne.

Vital rabi crops such as wheat, barley, oilseeds, sunflower, pulses including gram, peas, massor, beans and vegetables such as peas, cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, carrot, etc, have been severely affected by rains and strong winds.

The report points out that unseasonal rains have dampened the mood of wheat farmers in Punjab and Haryana ahead of the harvest season. The analysis points out that the rain has not only weakened the wheat plant stems, but it has also damaged the grains and has affected their colour. Besides, the harvest period has also been pushed back by at least 15 days.

The overall food grain production, including rabi and kharif crops, may fall to 243 million tonne during the current financial year as against the second advance estimates of 263 million tonne.

It is estimated that the cultivation of crops in these states would also require multiple labour efforts, resulting in a three-fold jump in man-hour and would result in lower acreage and shortfall in production.

“The fall in food grain production scenario may stoke food inflation, as the demand-supply gap in various food items is already on the borderline. A marginal shortfall in a particular food item may cascade the overall food prices scenario and push food inflation in the double digits trajectory once again,” said Sharad Jaipuria, president, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He pointed out that the government should take effective steps to make sure that the supply of essential food items was not affected at this juncture.

Hamirpur, April 2
A blood donation camp was organised at Government Polytechnic College at Badu here today. As many as 70 persons donated blood at the camp.

College Principal Rakesh Kapoor inaugurated the camp. He said blood donation was a great service to the society and awareness was very important for motivating people to donate blood.

He said the camp was being organised with an aim to create awareness among people regarding blood donation. He appreciated students for donating blood.