Shimla, May 18
Himachal is pinning its hope on getting representation in the Modi Cabinet with names of two of the newly elected MPs, Shanta Kumar and Anurag Thakur, doing the rounds in party circles.

Since it is for the first time in the electoral history of Himachal that the BJP has managed to win all four seats, the state is expecting to be rewarded adequately. Moreover, with Narendra Modi having a close association with Himachal as he remained its general secretary in charge, he could give special preference to the state in his cabinet.

The fact that two MPs, Anand Sharma and Virbhadra Singh, had been included in the Manmohan Cabinet from Himachal in the UPA regime, people are hoping to see both MPs being elevated as ministers.

However, with several senior BJP leaders, including several former chief ministers, three from Uttarakhand, winning the poll, it will be interesting to see who gets preference.

Among the BJP MPs, Shanta is the seniormost followed by Anurag who won for the third successive term. The name of Jagat Prakash Nadda, national secretary of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member, is also being tipped for a ministerial berth.

Though Himachal is a small state with only four Lok Sabha seats and little significance in the national political scenario, the BJP is hoping Modi will accord importance to the state. In fact, the BJP, during the election campaign, had termed Himachal as Modi’s second home and he too in his rallies had said the state was like a home for him.

Supporters of Shanta Kumar, a two-time chief minister and former union minister, are confident that he will be included in the first phase when Modi will assume office. “He not only has the experience of being a chief minister and a union minister, but his political stature is very tall within the BJP hierarchy as well,” said a BJP MLA and Shanta loyalist.

Moreover, Shanta Kumar’s name figures among the senior-most BJP leaders. He has remained the national vice-president of the BJP and is in charge of BJP affairs in Punjab. He is known to be a man who has never hesitated to speak his mind even if he has had to pay a political price for it.

He can lose out in the race if Modi decides against including leaders above the age of 75 years in his Cabinet.

The name of Anurag too is doing the rounds for being elevated as a minister of state. He is currently the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and stands a bright chance of being inducted, especially for a portfolio such as sports and youth affairs, considering his close association with cricket and sports promotion. This is his third successive win from Hamirpur.

Likely entrants
Among BJP MPs, Shanta is the senior most followed by Anurag who won for the third successive term. The name of Jagat Prakash Nadda, national secretary of the BJP and Rajya Sabha member, is also being tipped for a ministerial berth.

Shimla, May 18
The Congress strategy of getting Rajinder Rana, a Dhumal protégé, to take on his son Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha has boomeranged with the Congress candidate emerging as the biggest loser in the whole gamble.

Sitting BJP MP Anurag Thakur, keen to enter Parliament for the third consecutive term, managed to emerge victorious despite there being a very discernible resentment against him. Like all other candidates, it is the Modi wave which not only ensured his victory by a margin of 98,403 votes, but also made the seemingly tough fight rather comfortable.

In fact, the BJP, which had won from 11 of the 17 Assembly segments falling under the Hamipur segment in 2012 polls, allowed the Congress to take a lead only in one segment of Haroli in Una.

Anurag, despite being his father's political heir, has yet to come out of his shadow as it is Dhumal who worked overtime to ensure his son's victory, with his own prestige being at stake.

However, the fact that Anurag has managed to carve a niche for himself in the BJP national hierarchy and is heading the BJP's youth wing, has also worked to his advantage. Perceived close to Modi, Anurag's supporters sought votes from people stating that they would get a minister in the BJP regime in the Centre.

His contribution to the game of cricket and bringing Dharamsala on the international cricket map also seemed to have worked in his favour. In the two Assembly segments of Jaswan-Pragpur and Dehra, which fall in Kangra district, he got a lead of almost 13,000 votes. He got a lead of 31,232 votes from Hamirpur district.

On the other hand, the Congress fielded Rana, a former BJP man. The situation also partly arose with all Congress leaders, including Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and state Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, being reluctant to contest. With Rana being a hardcore BJP man till recently, there was reluctance in the party to support him.

The holding of the simultaneous Lok Sabha election and Assembly bypoll for the Sujanpur seat, vacated by Rana to join the Congress, also compounded his problem. To make matters worse, the Congress fielded his wife Anita Rana for the Sujanpur bypoll which in a way sent a signal that the Congress was on a weak footing in the parliamentary poll.

Sukhu opposed Rana's candidature till the last moment but Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh finally had his way in securing the ticket for Rana.

Known to be a diehard Dhumal loyalist, Rana parted ways with his political mentor when he was denied the BJP ticket from Sujanpur in the 2012 Assembly poll. Rana gave a good fight but with BJP riding high on the Modi wave, there is little he could do. In fact, he was able to secure a lead of merely 3,220 votes from Sujanpur which he had won by an impressive margin of 14,000 as an Independent.

The fact that there was no coordination between the party organisation and ministers and MLAs of the Congress also damaged the Congress. Though both worked for the party, there was no synergy between the two. The fact that Rahul Gandhi failed to impress voters at his poorly attended Bilaspur rally in sharp contrast to the towering personality of Modi who addressed a mammoth rally at Sujanpur also gave a head start to Anurag.

Dharamsala, May 18
The historic win for Shanta Kumar of the BJP in the Kangra parliamentary constituency has upset many political calculations. The win was even beyond the expectations of BJP leaders who were expecting it by about 60,000-80,000 votes. However, the BJP won by 1,70,072 votes.

An interesting phenomenon noticed in Kangra was that people dispelled the votebank politics and voted for the BJP.

The Congress was relying heavily on the caste factor. It had fielded OBC leader Chander Kumar from Kangra. The OBCs comprise about 32 per cent of the total electorate of the Kangra parliamentary constituency. However, the Congress got maximum drubbing from the OBC-dominated Assembly constituencies.

Shahpur, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Jwalamukhi, Jawali and Sullah are the six Assembly segments where the OBCs dominated.

In the Shahpur Assembly segment, the Congress lost by a margin of 14,251 votes, in Kangra by 14,319 votes, in Nagrota Bagwan by 10,564 votes, in Jwalamukhi by 13,152 votes, in Jawali by 1,650 votes and Sullah by 12,798 votes. Jawali was the home constituency of Chander Kumar and had been his stronghold.

Another strong perception in Himachal before elections was the Congress government in the state would help the party in parliamentary elections. Earlier, it had a tradition in Himachal that the party in power in the state won in parliamentary elections also. Congress ministers were expecting that the BJP might win in the Kangra constituency, but were sure of the fact that they would ensure a lead for the Congress in their respective Assembly constituencies. However, this time, the Congress, despite being in power in the state, lost by a historic margin in all Assembly constituencies of Kangra.

The reasons are now being perceived by Congress leaders in the state was the price rise and corruption in the UPA government.

Congress leaders said the way people had voted this time, it seemed that they were influenced by the consistent price rise and scams that came to the fore in the UPA government and were given wide publicity by the national media.

"We will change our outlook and concentrate on governance for protecting our seats in future," they said.

For the BJP, it was the Modi wave that won them such a massive victory in the Kangra parliamentary constituency. It seems that for the first time, young voters voted enblock for the BJP. About 10 per cent of the total electorate in Kangra were the first-time voters. After the PM candidate of the BJP Narendra Modi gave a call to the youth from his Palampur rally to vote for a stable government, the party also targeted the section in Kangra. It seems that the party reaped benefits of the move.

Another important factor that worked in favour of the BJP was that it quelled the rebellion in the party. All major BJP rebels in Kangra district, including former MLA Rakesh Pathania from Nurpur, Sanjay Guleria from Jawali, Kamla Patial from Dharamsala and Dullo Ram from Palampur, were taken back into party in time. The return of all rebels helped the party during elections.

No to votebank politics The Congress was relying heavily on the caste factor. It had fielded OBC leader Chander Kumar from Kangra. The OBCs comprise about 32 per cent of the total electorate of the Kangra parliamentary constituency. However, the Congress got maximum drubbing from the OBC-dominated Assembly constituencies. Shahpur, Kangra, Nagrota Bagwan, Jwalamukhi, Jawali and Sullah are the six Assembly segments where the OBCs dominated. In the Shahpur Assembly segment, the Congress lost by a margin of 14,251 votes, in Kangra by 14,319 votes, in Nagrota Bagwan by 10,564 votes, in Jwalamukhi by 13,152 votes, in Jawali by 1,650 votes and Sullah by 12,798 votes. Jawali was the home constituency of Chander Kumar and had been his stronghold.

Shimla, May 18
Apart from the Modi wave that swept the whole country and the failure of the UPA-II, poor road conditions, unchecked import of apple and irregular supply of essential goods under the Public Distribution System (PDS) also cost the Congress heavily in the Lok Sabha poll.

Denial of ticket to Vinod Sultanpuri, son of Krishan Dutt Sultanpuri, who had won from the Shimla constituency six times in a row, also worked against the Congress in Solan district and the BJP got a massive lead of 48,629 from five Assembly constituencies in this district as BJP candidate Virender Kashyap hailed from Solan.

Some constituencies such as Paonta Sahib, Doon and Nalagarh had virtually become “no man’s land” for the Congress and it conceded the lead of 46,543 to the BJP.

Shillai in Sirmaur district was the only Assembly constituency in which the Congress fared better as compared to last Assembly poll in 2012 and got a lead of 2,421. The Congress had lost this seat in last Assembly poll.

The importance given to Independent MLAs in Paonta Sahib and Chopal Assembly constituencies also did not go well with loyal workers and calculations of the Congress to get massive leads from these segments misfired.

The Theog-Hatkoti road, which spelled doom for former BJP minister Narendra Bragta in the Assembly polls, boomeranged on the Congress this time and it conceded a lead of 6,576 votes in Theog and Jubbal and Kotkhai Assembly constituencies.

Urban and suburban areas were swayed more by the Modi wave and the BJP got the unexpected lead of 9,183 votes in Nahan, 8,893 in Shimla, 7,760 in Kusumpti, while Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakta, who had won the Assembly election from Rohru, failed to maintain his lead of 27,000 votes which slid to 13,127.

The youth and employees played a crucial role in the BJP’s victory and while the youth was vocal in favour of Modi, the silent majority of employees favoured the BJP. The announcement of giving unemployment allowance by the Congress also backfired.

Further, the Congress depended too much on Shimla district and took people for granted, but the home district of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh conceded a lead of over 12,000 and the Congress trailed by 1,734 votes even in Shimla (Rural) represented by the Chief Minister.

Congress candidate Mohan Lal Brakta was only known in Rohru and Shimla, while BJP candidate Virender Kashyap had contested for the eight times and was well-acquainted with the topography and issues. Moreover, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who was campaigning in the entire state, could not concentrate in Shimla district while the BJP leaders at the local level held the fort and successfully led the party to victory.

Una, may 18
BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti today said the only work that the Virbhadra government had done during the past one-and-a-half-year rule in the state was to register false and fabricated cases against BJP leaders.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said during the General Election, people had given a befitting response to the non-performing and vindictive Congress government.

Satti said Virbhadra was surrounded by ministers, who were misleading him for vested interests. He said these so-called well-wishers of the Chief Minister were already aware of the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections in the state, but were misguiding Virbhadra for reasons best known to them.

He said this was the reason why these ministers did not contest the elections, despite pressure from the Congress rank and file.

Taking on Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, the BJP chief said the performance of the minister in his home segment Haroli was dismal as the election results were not in lines with his claims of having brought schemes worth Rs 1,400 crore in the segment.

Satti said in order to gain cheap publicity, the minister distributed hundreds of bicycles, thousands of school bags and crores of rupees from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in the segment, but the lead for the Congress could not touch 7,000 mark.

Satti charged that the Industry Minister had laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Saloh village of Haroli segment in haste, on the day when the moral code of conduct was imposed. He said the notification for the institute was also not done by the Union Government.

The BJP president thanked party workers for the efforts which ensured win for the BJP on all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state. District BJP president Balbir Bagga and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha state vice-president Sumit Sharma were also present. 

Mandi, May 18
The defeat of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, at the hands of new BJP candidate Ram Swaroop Sharma, was quite amazing.

The verdict was startling for many since Ram Swaroop Sharma was being considered a weak candidate from the beginning by Congress leaders and many doubted his win. Formidable Congress candidate Pratibha Singh was also sure of her victory against Ram Swaroop since she had defeated a strong BJP candidate Jai Ram Thakur about 10 months ago by an impressive margin of over 1.36 lakh in the byelection.

When the BJP high command decided to field Ram Swaroop from Mandi to contest against Pratibha, there was a general feeling that the BJP was unable to find a strong candidate from here.

There was a common perception that Jai Ram Thakur was reluctant to contest against the CM’s wife again to avert the tag of defeat for the second time.

This situation created overconfidence among Congress leaders and their workers that Pratibha Singh would win the seat comfortably though with a reduced margin, making them complacent to some extent.

Buoyed with such reports, ministers and MLAs became somewhat smug and even Virbhadra Singh left the things to local leaders.

This is evident from the performance of the Congress candidate in several Assembly segments such as Rampur from where its margin was reduced substantially and Karsog and Ani where the CM could have changed the situation.

Similarly, Congress campaign managers could not assess the mood of voters in several constituencies such as Jogindernagar, Sarkaghat, Mandi Sadar, Balh, Sundernagar, etc where Ram Swaroop made major gains and Congress ministers, MLAs and local leaders failed to win support of majority voters.

One factor, which proved the death knell for the Congress, was that they underestimated the impact of anti-incumbency against the UPA government, price rise, corruption charges against several Congress leaders, scams under the UPA and local issues such as bad conditions of national highways and lack of health facilities in the rural areas. They relied on development works such as the opening of IIT, ESIC medical colleges and several schemes announced at the fag end of the Central Government tenure.

Inaccessibility of Pratibha Singh to the common people, who was always surrounded by "sycophants" and a battery of government officials, also went against her. On the other hand, the common man’s tag of Ram Swaroop saw him victorious.

The Congress campaign also lacked the organisational support and cohesiveness as this was being run by a coterie and no mature leader was stationed in Mandi to monitor the campaign and rectify lapses after taking the feedback. On the other hand, the BJP campaign was run in a well-planned manner and guided by seasoned leader Jai Ram Thakur and others.

The Congress leaders’ euphoria about their development track record of the UPA and state government failed to convince majority voters and the Modi wave gave them a chance to vent their disenchantment against the Congress and vote for a stable government at the national level under Modi, making Ram Swaroop victorious.

Shimla, May 18
CPM and AAP have managed to register their nominal presence in the tribal constituencies of Bharmour, Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Despite the fact that none of the candidates went for campaigning in these tribal constituencies, the total vote share turned out to be 91,606.

CPM’s Kushal Bhardwaj got 411 votes in Bharmour, 116 in Lahaul-Spiti and 314 in Kinnaur. The vote percentage comes to 0.9 per cent which is less than its state’s average of 0.8 per cent.

This amply showed that the left had a nominal presence in the tribal belt in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, despite CPM has been in the state since 1951. On the other hand, AAP candidate Jai Chand Thakur secured 804 votes -- 222 votes in Bharmour, 146 in Lahaul-Spiti and 436 votes in Kinnaur -- which comes to about 0.88 per cent. This is less than that of state’s two per cent vote share the party got in the elections.

As many as 777 tribals, about 0.85 per cent - 273 voters in Kinnaur, 166 in Lahaul-Spiti and 338 voters in Bharmour in Himachal pressed the NOTA button rejecting all candidates, which is less than the state’s NOTA vote percentage of 0.9 per cent in this election.

The tribal votes were bonus for CPM and AAP candidates. Though BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had campaigned in Reckong Peo in Kinnaur, none of the leaders or candidates canvassed in Lahaul-Spiti and Pangi in the Bharmour constituencies in these elections.

The vote share of the Congress has declined in three tribal segments this time, but Congress candidate Pratibha Singh, wife of Virbhadra Singh, secured a lead in all three segments, showing that tribals preferred to stay with the state government.

AAP secured about 2.0 per cent vote share out of the total votes. CPM’s vote share, which had fought Mandi and Shimla seats, was dismal as compared to BJP’s 53.3 per cent and Congress 40.7 per cent. CPM just got 0.87 per cent vote share, which is a further drubbing from 2009, when party candidate Dr Onkar Shad secured 20,000 votes from Mandi seat. Both Kushal Bhardwaj and Jagat Ram got 25,389 votes together in this election. Bhardwaj got just 11,434 votes while Jagat Ram ended up with 13,955 votes. 

Palampur, May 18
With the onset of summer, the Forest Department in Kangra district is gearing up to check forest fires. The department has made appropriate arrangements in all the forest divisions to create awareness among the local public and right holders on how to check forest fires and assist field staff.

Control rooms have been equipped with a wireless system and a mobile phones department has been set up in different divisions. In addition to this, fire-fighting units have been created in all-sensitive areas.

A senior officer of the Forest Department said a long spell of winter, regular rain in March, April and May, and prolonged cold conditions had given much relief to the department this year. He said frequent showers had helped keeping down forest fires to extremely low across the state, thereby saving the rich forest wealth.

Forests in the middle and lower hills of the state comprising Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Una and Bilaspur district are prone to big fires between April and June, keeping Forest Department officials on tenterhooks.

Besides disturbing the fragile flora and fauna, these blazes harm wildlife and standing trees. The state has one of the richest and most varied forests in the northern India, particularly the Himalayan pine variety.

For the past few years, the department has not been able to take up the required preventive measures like controlled burning of forests and maintenance of fire lines in total forest areas because of financial crunch in the department. Therefore, it carried out controlled burning over a small forest area.

As per norms, controlled burning has to be carried out over at least one-third of the total forest area susceptible to forest fires. The total area under pine forests, where controlled burning is required, is over 1,50,000 hectare and as such, preventive measures are to be put in place on over 50,000 hectare.

Kangra, May 18
In India, one person suffers a stroke every 40 seconds. One person dies in India following a stroke, also called a brain attack, every 4 minutes, taking the number of deaths in the country round the clock to 360.

In Himachal Pradesh, there are around 10,000 fresh stroke patients every year. Of them, 4,000 to 5,000 patients die due to stroke-related complications, which is alarming.

This was stated by medical experts during a day-long Continuing Medical Education (CMC) programme on the management of acute “ischaemic stroke”, called brain stroke or brain attack. The programme concluded at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC) at Tanda.

Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, DRPGMC, Tanda, said this CME was in continuation of the telestroke project started in Himachal Pradesh by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Vineet Chawdhry with expert assistance from Dr MV Padma, Professor of Neurology, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. During his speech, Dr Chauhan said the facilities for treatment and management of brain attack were now available at the Tanda college too.

He said the CME was attended by more than 70 delegates, including doctors from six adjoining districts of Himachal Pradesh faculty, students and resident doctors of Dr Rajendra Parsad Government Medical College Tanda. The speakers spoke about the importance of treating brain attack as early as possible.

He said during the CME, it was deliberated as to how to provide comprehensive treatment to patients of brain attack at all the hospitals of the state where CT scan facility was available. It was also discussed as to how expert services of neurologists of DRPGMC Tanda would be utilised to provide support to doctors working in adjoining six districts of the state in management of acute stroke.

Dharamsala, May 18
The ban on the sale of tea gardens is a bane for small farmers of Kangra. The state government has made it a point that tea gardens in Kangra district cannot be sold for other agricultural purposes. Owners of tea gardens are exempted from the Land Ceiling Act. They are allowed to retain more than 300 kanal of land, but with a condition that they cannot sell tea gardens without permission of the state government.

However, the said act is a bane for small land holders and farmers living in the Palampur and Kangra region. Many farmers in the district have a few kanals. Though the land is valuable as it is located near Palampur, the fastest growing town of Kangra district, they cannot sell their land due to certain restrictions on them.

Such farmers alleged that the benefit of exemption in land ceiling was taken by few farmers as they retained large chunks of land for retaining tea gardens. Ironically, it is these farmers who took benefit of ceiling for tea gardens and have been given permissions for selling tea garden land by the successive state governments in the last two to three decades.

Farmers who did not take benefit of the land ceiling are not being permitted by the state government to sell their land as they do not have influence to pursue their cases.

Sources said though the present government had been targeting a few cases of sale of tea gardens, nobody was speaking about large chunks of tea gardens taken over by various religious cults. Many religious cults had taken over hundreds of kanals in Kangra district and raised pucca structures over them. However, none of the officials or politicians in the state had spoken against them till date.

As per experts, the production of Kangra tea has fallen to just 8 lakh kg per annum against 17 lakh kg per annum production recorded in 1998. The said production is just .01 per cent of the total 90 million kg production tea in the country.

With just 8 lakh kg production, tea cannot be promoted at commercial scale in any of the markets. The area under tea plantation in Kangra district has fallen to just about 2,000 hectares as compared to 4,000 hectares at one time.

As per experts, the low yield and lack of initiative among local tea farmers is responsible for low production of Kangra tea. Presently, the average yield of tea in Kangra is 230 kg per hectare. However, at country level the average yield is 1,800 kg per hectare.

Not even a single tea farmer from Kangra has applied for the scheme launched by the Tea Board of India for re-planting old tea orchards. Most of tea plants in Kangra are over hundred years old. The age reduces their production. So the government had launched a scheme and 25 per cent subsidy is being given to farmers for re-planting in orchards.

Experts said small and scattered holding, absentee planters, abandoned gardens, non-availability of skilled labourers and tea auction centres were basic weakness of Kangra tea.

Tea planters said the Centre was giving long-term financial support for the Horticulture development. Similar support in which loans are provided at an interest rate of 4 per cent should also be provided for Kangra tea, they added.

They said the Kangra tea industry was paying less than Rs 2 lakh per annum cess to the Centre for producing black tea. However, it leads to a lot of paper work. If the cess is done away with, it would be a relief for illiterate tea planters of Kangra. The farmers here also alleged that the only sale centre for Kangra tea planters is at Kolkata. Taking their produce adds to transportation cost and contributes towards lesser profits for farmers.

Prominent agriculture experts from the region said since the government was not allowing farmers of Kangra to divert their land to other agriculture purpose except tea, it should also compensate them.

Fact file Owners of tea gardens are exempted from the Land Ceiling Act. They are allowed to retain more than 300 kanal of land, but with a condition that they cannot sell tea gardens for other agricultural purposes without permission of the state government The production of Kangra tea has fallen to just 8 lakh kg per annum against 17 lakh kg per annum production recorded in 1998. The said production is just .01 per cent of the total 90 million kg production tea in the country. The Kangra tea industry was paying less than Rs 2 lakh per annum cess to the Centre for producing black tea.

I met Zahid Abrol rather late in life. In a symposium on Lal Chand Prarthi, organised recently by the State Academy of Language, Arts and Culture, he had read a paper on ‘Wajood-o-Adam’, one of the books written by Prarthi. The paper deserved three cheers for its inclusiveness with sparks of excellence.

Zahid means devout or ascetic and the word transports me to Ghalib, “Zahid sharaab peene de masjid mein beth kar, Yaa who jagah bataa jahaan Khuda naa ho.”

Zahid is the pen-name of Vijay Kumar Abrol (See photo) who was born in Chamba to Mool Raj and Bimla Devi in 1950. He did MSc in physics and went on to become a banker. He has superannuated as a senior manager of the Punjab National Bank. His love for Urdu started in 1971 after he left the college and today he is the author of ‘Andha Khuda’, a collection of Urdu poems; ‘Ek Safa Purnam’, poems on terrorism in Punjab; translation of ‘Manzum Tarjum’, a book of poetry and his magnum opus Faridnama (See photo). He has a pleasing name for his present residence, ‘Gulrukh’, at the Nangal road, Una.

His Faridnama, poetic translation of Farid’s shabad and shloka into Urdu and their presentation in Urdu and Devnagari scripts, was first published by Ajanta Books International, Delhi, 10 years ago and a hardbound copy costs Rs 350. Hazrat Khwaja Fariduddin Masud Shakar Ganj was a Sufi saint belonging to the Chisti Order. Khushwant Singh writes, “Shakar Ganj (storehouse of sweetness) was one of the honorifics conferred on him by his numerous admirers. He was a disciple of Qutub-ud-din Bakhtiyar Kaki.” Kaki is the same of a Sufi saint in whose honour “Phool walon ki sair” is celebrated at Mehrauli in Delhi every year.

Baba Farid was born in 1173 CE at Kathwal village in Multan and died in 1266 CE at Ajodhan (Pattan) village in Pakistan. His 112 shlokas and four shabads are included in Guru Granth Sahib. The most important contribution of Farid, however, is towards developing Punjabi language for literary purposes. Punjabi, prior to Farid’s verses, was considered a less refined language for scholarly works. He used Punjabi as the language of poetry, thus providing a base for great Punjabi literature to be developed later. Zahid Abrol’s ‘Faridnama’ is the first-ever Urdu translation in verse of the Sufi poet’s sayings.

Prof Satinder Singh Noor of Delhi University gives his comments on the book: “In the history of poetry, it has rarely been seen that poetic language, symbolism, imagery, figures of speech, tone and texture, elucidation of philosophy, the aesthetic quality of a poet; all these are rendered in translation and presented before the reader in such a manner that he feels he is reading and enjoying the original. The credit goes to the imagination and poetic acumen of Zahid Abrol.”

I want the readers to taste the charm of words that Zahid has used. Farid’s most known couplet has been translated as: “Rookhi sookhi khaaye ke thandaa paani pee/ Chupri dekh paraai ki mat tarsaa apnaa jee.” We have no time to pray and the life is short. What will you report to the God when He asks for your deeds here? “Chaar gavaanye bhatakte, so ke gavaanye chaar/ Rab maange lekha ki tu aayaa thaa kis kaar.” The next couplet directs a person to knock that door only where from one hopes to get something. Indirectly, it hints at tapping the door of the Almighty. “Wahi sarovar dhoondh tu jahaan bane kuchh baat/ Chappar dhoondhe kya mile keechar aave haath.” Early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise has been said differently here: “Subuh kaa jaagnaa phool hai, phal hai aakhir-e-shab/ Jo jaagen haasil karen baksheesh deve Rab.”

Zahid’s journey is continuing. His three books- Dariyaa Dariyaa- Saahil Saahil; Khwaabon ke Per Tale and A Three Step Journey (English)- are in pipeline which the coming years may see in print.

TAILPIECE
Baba Farid was called Shakar Ganj because his mother used to encourage young Farid to pray by placing sugar under his prayer mat. Once she forgot to place it but Farid, miraculously, found the sugar and that gave him more spiritual fervour.

Chamba, May 18
The Chamba Welfare Association has expressed deep resentment over the inordinate delay by the government in rolling back the hike in the rates of drinking water supply.

Association president RK Mahajan and general secretary SK Kashmiri said here today that though the Himachal Pradesh Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Minister had responded to their recent memorandum and asked the Engineer-in-Chief of the IPH Department to send his comments about the removal of 10 per cent increase in drinking water supply rates every year, yet no outcome had so far been achieved.

The association office-bearers, however, reiterated their demand of rolling back the 10 per cent increase in the drinking water supply rates every year.

Chamba, May 18
District Child Welfare Committee members Rajeev Kaushal and Dr PK Gupta in a press statement issued here today have revealed that Chamba district has a high incidence of crime against children.

Taking a strong exception to the increase in the heinous crimes occurring against minor girls in Chamba district, the members of the committee met the Deputy Commissioner of Chamba and submitted a memorandum to this effect recently.

In order to prevent and detect crimes against children in the district, the committee members urged the Deputy Commissioner to take necessary steps.

They suggested that directions should be issued to the departments concerned, social institutions and particularly the police associated with the welfare of children and women in the district to bring about awareness amongst children and their parents so that they could be protected from the criminal elements of the society.

Shimla, May 18
With a change of guard at the Centre, farmers and NGOs have raised a fresh clamour for assurance on pending issues like increase in import duty on apples and green bonus on protecting green wealth worth Rs 1.50 lakh crore.

"The people of the state responded to the BJP's assurance and elected four MPs for the 16th Lok Sabha. It is now time for BJP MPs to put their act together and convince the Centre to ensure that import duty on apples is increased from 50 per cent to 60 per cent if not more," said apple farmers Sachin Chauhan and Jagdish Thakur.

"Import of apple from foreign countries is impacting local fruit. Imported fruit is fancier and sells more than stored domestic fruit in off-season. Despite 50 per cent import duty and one percent surcharge on apple, imported fruit is available in the market at the competitive prices," the farmers said.

The farmers demand that the new government should bargain with negotiators of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for increasing import duty on apples, which is likely to be reduced as India is a signatory to the WTO agreement, the farmers said.

Apart from the farmers, NGOs hope for a similar response from the Centre on the issue of green bonus or royalty on forest and its 7.19 per cent share on Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) projects.

NGOs Himachal Kisan Sabha (HKS) and Himalayan Niti Abhiyan (HNA) have been seeking compensatory 25 per cent green bonus or cess on protection of forests from the Centre.

In the face of the blanket ban on green felling, the Centre has been urged to give the state 25 per cent compensation for saving or conserving forests each year, said Dr Kuldip Tanvar, president, HKS.

They hope the pending issue of green bonus would be resolved, said Kulbhushan Upmanyu, HNA's president.

"The BJP government cannot complain of pulls and pressure of the allies as the party has majority on its own in the Parliament to enact the law," it was opined.

The demands The farmers demand that the new government should bargain with negotiators of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for increasing import duty on apples, which is likely to be reduced as India is a signatory to the WTO agreement In the face of the blanket ban on green felling, the Centre has been urged to give the state 25 per cent compensation for saving or conserving forests each year

Mandi, May 18
Freedom fighter and first Public Works, Health, Transport and Irrigation Minister of Himachal Pradesh Pandit Gauri Prashad died here this morning at his residence in Mahajan Bazaar.

Pandit Gauri Prashad (94) remained Cabinet minister in the first government elected in the state under Chief Minister Dr YS Parmar in 1952 and was the only surviving member of the first Cabinet.

The freedom fighter was a close associate of former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai and former Defence Minister Jagjivan Ram.

Born on October 18, 1920, at Ner Chowk in erstwhile Mandi state, Pandit Prashad joined the freedom movement while studying in Lahore after becoming a member of the Congress in 1935.

He was elected member of the territorial council from Mandi state and later became president of the Mandi Prajamandal Movement launched against the then rulers of the state and was jailed by the Mandi ruler.

From 1947 to 1952, he remained Mandi District Congress Committee president and was elected to the Assembly in 1951 from the Rewalsar Assembly constituency and inducted by Dr Pramar in his Cabinet in 1952. He remained active in the Congress in later years.

His last rites were performed at the Hanuman Ghat and the funeral pyre was lit by his son Hitender Sharma.

Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma and several prominent people attended his funeral.

Many Congress leaders have condoled the death of the veteran leader.

Kangra, May 18
The condition of roads in this temple town, which receives lakhs of pilgrims and tourists annually, is deplorable. The authorities and political leadership seem to be mute spectators to the trauma people are facing.

The road passing through the Vivekananda Vihar locality of the town connecting the Kangra bus stand with Kachiari and Gurkhari, popularly known as the Bhatha Road, is in a terrible condition. The drains are choking and water has been flowing over the road for the last nearly six months. The road is completely damaged and despite repeated requests to the PWD authorities, no official has visited the site, said local residents.

Residents, school-going children and visitors are facing great inconvenience.

PR Agnihotri, president, Vivekananda Vihar Development Committee, said the committee had approached the PWD authorities time and again for the repair of the culvert and the drains to save the road, but to no avail.

He said this road required a speed-breaker near the Shiva Temple as the point was accident-prone, but despite assurance by the Executive Engineer, PWD, Kangra, nothing had been done.

The main market from the Tehsil Chowk to the College Road too is in a bad condition. The roads are dug for sewerage purposes, but repairs are still awaited.

The local Beopar Mandal lodged a protest with the SDM, Kangra, a few months back, but nothing has been done till date.

The Dharamshala road connecting the general bus stand with Gurkhari at Birta is in a bad shape. The Matour Shimla National Highway is in a pathetic condition between Ranital and Jwalamukhi. As for the Pathankot-Mandi national highway, it is damaged between Trilokpur and Kotla.

The bad condition of roads is adversely affecting tourism in the state, besides residents of the state.

Kangra, May 18
A faculty member of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Kangra, was booked by the Gurgaon police under Sections 498-A and 506, IPC, on complaint of his wife Pampa Jaiswal.

Pampa alleged she was being tortured by her husband and in-laws for dowry and that they even threatened to kill her and her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

Pampa of Sector 17-C, Gurgaon, alleged that she had been tortured by Niraj Jaiswal, her husband, Dina Nath Prasad and Vidya Devi, father-in-law and mother-in-law, respectively, for dowry and the family was unhappy with her for giving birth to a girl child. She, in her complaint, said her husband had his second marriage with her and when posted here in Kangra, he had allegedly developed relations with a woman faculty member of NIFT Kangra. Her name also figured in the FIR.

She said she reported the matter to Kangra police regarding the violence she was subjected to by her husband when she was staying at Kangra, but getting a lukewarm response from the police here, she decided to lodge an FIR with the police in Gurgaon where she has been residing with her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

Pampa, a teacher at a reputed Gurgaon school, was married to Niraj on June 24, 2011. He then had a small business and later got the job of assistant professor in NIFT Kangra in September 2012. She, in her complaint, alleged that the situation started deteriorating when he got a government job and aggravated further after she delivered a baby girl.

Inspector Brijender Singh, SHO, Gurgaon Sector 17-18 police station, when contacted, confirmed that Pampa Jaiswal had lodged a complaint and a case under sections 498-A and 506 of IPC was registered against Niraj Jaiswal and others and investigation was in progress.

He said action would be taken against the accused after the investigation is complete. He however said the police were yet to call the accused mentioned in the FIR for joining the police in the investigation.

He said the FIR was registered on May 1, 2014. Kangra Sub Divisional Police Officer Ashok Kumar confirmed that Pampa Jaiswal had reported the matter of domestic violence to the police, who had called them for counselling.

Kullu, May 18
OLS Utsav, the annual function of Our Lady of the Snows School, was organised at the Lal Chand Prarthi Kala Kendra here yesterday. The occasion was marked with the commemoration of the bicentenary celebrations of a new era educationist, Don Bosco Rev Ignatius L Mascarenhas, Bishop of the Shimla-Chandigarh diocese, presided over the function.

Deputy Commissioner, Kullu, Rakesh Kanwar, who was the chief guest, said the valley had a few reputed private schools and the OLS was one of them. He congratulated the principal, staff and students of the school for achieving many distinctions since 1969 and producing good citizens and capable officers. Meritorious students were presented mementos and the annual school magazine was released on the occasion. A cultural programme was presented by students till late evening, though the programme was delayed by over an hour due to showers.

Shimla, May 18
Four persons were killed while two others sustained serious injuries as the Maruti car (with registration number applied for) they were travelling in met with an accident near Summerkot, 15 km from Rohru, yesterday.

The ill-fated car was on its way to Chadgaon when the tragedy struck. The injured, Yogeshwar and Dixit, were rushed to the Government Hospital at Rohru, sources said.