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BJP jubilant over win in Haryana,
Maharashtra
VIGNETTES
Unit area property tax method for
Shimla
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Students seek refund from BIMS
‘Education biggest weapon for disabled’
‘Tallest’ national flag in Dalhousie hoisted
Basketball Championship begins at Dagshai APS
CM honours Hindi poet
Relief to disowned heirs of farmers
Red Cross Mela organised
Pinegrove School celebrates 23rd annual day
Dance Fest ends 1 killed in mishap, cop suspended Badminton championship ends PWD staffer booked for forgery
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BJP jubilant over win in Haryana,
Maharashtra
Shimla, October 19 Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal, former Union minister and MP Shanta Kumar, BJP national secretary JP Nadda, party state president Satpal Singh Satti and other BJP leaders said the victory was a proof that the public had approved the policies of the BJP government. The BJP leaders stated that in Haryana the number of BJP MLAs had increased 12 times from four to 48 and the party was all set to form the government while in Maharashtra, the increase is three times from 46 to 120. Satti has congratulated all party office-bearers, members of youth and women cells and workers who have worked hard during the election campaign in Haryana. Poll results prove Modi has people’s support: Dhumal
Hamirpur: “The Assembly results of Haryana and Maharashtra have proved that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a mass leader and people have supported him”, said former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal at Awahdevi near here today. He said it was the call of the Prime Minister to make India Congress-free and corruption-free and voters of both states had done so by uprooting it from Haryana and Maharashtra. Dhumal congratulated the Prime Minister and the national president for the victory in Haryana and Maharashtra. He said the Modi Tsunami would surely make India a Congress-free country. He said the BJP was emerging victorious in every state where-ever election had been held. Now elections in Jammu & Kashmir and Jharkhand would be swept away by the BJP. He said this would bring the two states to the main stream of development. He said it was the BJP-led government that had helped the Kashmiri people in distress and they could not forget the contribution of the Army. He said the BJP high command had invited the
Shiv Sena to join hands for the formation of government in Maharashtra. Cong accepts defeat
Kangra: Congress accepts people’s mandate in Haryana and Maharashtra with respect and modesty and the party will introspect and go into the reasons for defeat. Deepak Sharma, state spokesperson of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, stated this here in a press note today. He said the results today were more affected by anti-incumbency factor this time. He expressed satisfaction that the party performed better than it did in the Lok Sabha poll. Sharma, however, continued to maintain that there was no Modi wave in the two states and opined that the BJP’s performance had lowered in comparison to its performance in the May 2014 Lok Sabha elections. |
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Going out for a nature walk
Shriniwas Joshi
I may add a word of caution here that a recce of the desired walk is a must because the age of the SAGES-ramblers is from teens to the 70s, even 80s. This time our party had senior-most Tejinderjit Singh (83) and junior-most Jasraj Singh (10). Recce is a colloquial word culled out of the military term reconnaissance, which means a mission to obtain information by visual observation or other detection methods of a particular area and also to know about its geographic characteristics. Had recce been done, SAGES would not have dared to take a couple of gentlemen and women through that hazardous steep.
Our rendezvous, Oakwood Hamlet Resort, was surrounded by Himalayan Oak at a height of 5,900 ft above the mean sea level. It covers an area of about half a hectare and falls in Shunglu village of Kandaghat tehsil in Solan. The main sitting room for the resort is a thatched-roof space called Machhan, which actually means a raised place used for hunting (see photo). The views of the valley, village fields, mud-plastered cottages and straw-and-bamboo huts take one away from the ballyhoo of the cities. The earthy scent, silence that one can hear a feather drop, a pleasing view of the sky-blue swimming pool that has the provision of re-cycling the water, an open space outside the kitchen to chit-chat in the shade of broad-leaf trees immediately refreshes the tired legs. Sometimes doing nothing invigorates you to do more in future, but you have to take time out for doing nothing and in this resort, far from the madding crowd, you simply do nothing; just relax, just stand and stare, at the green jungle, at the Kalka-Shimla toy train passing by slowly cutting the curves, hear no sounds except the cows mooing and birds chirping. That’s all. That is the medicine required for all those who are always jogtrotting. The resort provides adventurous activities like rock climbing, rappelling, valley crossing, tree climbing and zummaring to those who are here for doing something. Zummaring was a new word for me. Advanced rock or tree climbing techniques, such as rappelling or zummaring, need the use of different types of ropes and special equipment that need to be carried along on a trek. Sushil Sharma, owner of the place, told me that there was ample water in his resort and the spring-water here was health-giving as it carried minerals that were found in a Himalayan oak jungle. He shared with me the legend that Maharaja of Patiala always used to have water from the springs under the oaks at Kandaghat. He said a truckload of tanks filled with water used to go daily from Kandaghat to Patiala for his use. He, I believe, is partially true. The popular legend is that the Maharaja used to get his water supplied from the natural springs in Kandaghat, a home for an abundance of Himalayan oak trees, to his palace at Chail, only 29 km away, as long as he stayed there. Today, the springs of Kandaghat are lost under brick and mortar. TAILPIECE “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” – Aldous Huxley
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Unit area property tax method for
Shimla
Shimla, October 19 The House exempted owners of grassland, plot owners in green areas and public paths in private land from tax. The House, chaired by Mayor Sanjay Chauhan and attended by Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar, and councillors, including Municipal Commissioner Amarjeet Singh and Assistant Commissioner Naresh Thakur, passed the property tax bylaws. The corporation would soon issue the notification and start the process of collecting property tax, said municipal officials. The House made certain amendments to property tax and exempted the owners of grassland, agricultural land from tax, said Sanjay Chauhan. “It is now the government’s responsibility to approve the bylaws and clear its stand whether it wants to impose the property in the merged areas”, he added. The bylaws were passed by the House today and submitted these to government for the final approval, added Amarjeet Singh. “The bylaws will be notified after the approval”, he said. All councillors of the merged areas of the city had boycotted the general house meeting on property tax in protest, pleading that new tax should not be imposed in the area as “it has no civic amenities”. Though the MC has to yet collect property tax worth Rs 2 crore in the city on the old pattern, the Shimla hotelier association had opposed the hike in tax, while residents in the merged area have demanded that they should be excluded from the municipal areas. The high court had asked the MC to finalise property tax bylaws and prepare a list of defaulters. The court had taken a suo motu notice of the non-collection of the property tax, even as corporation had been reeling under financial crisis. The Bill to implement the UAM was passed by the Assembly in 2011 and the Urban Development Department issued a notification in February 2012 and amended the Municipal Corporation Act by scrapping the old system of property tax, including 100 sq m exemption in tax. About the system Each ward in the city has divided in different units. The zoning and value of each unit is calculated on the basis of some factors - use of building, location, rent value and type of property whether commercial or non-commercial, said municipal officials. The unit area method property tax will be calculated considering these prime factors. |
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Students seek refund from BIMS
Shimla, October 19 The commission had clearly stated that these courses were being run without the approval of the UGC and the state government and the degrees obtained by
students may not be of any value. It had asked the BIMS to refund the excess fee, but this was no compensation for the aggrieved students, who had spent money and wasted two years as the degree obtained by them would be of “no value”. One of the aggrieved students said the entire money spent had gone waste, but the commission neither directed the institute to refund the entire fee nor imposed any penalty as compensation for the loss of time and money. Further, the order is specific and covered only petitioners and there was no relief for other such students, he said. Rahul Parashar, a student, said: “The decision to close down distance education courses is welcome, but how will it benefit students whose time and money have been wasted due to wrong actions of the institute and the university?” Simply directing the institution and the Sikkim Manipal University to close down the “illegally” run courses could be a relief for future students, but would not help those students, who were roped in by the institute, he said. Students must be adequately compensated and if adequate relief was not provided, aggrieved students would be forced to move the court, he said. CPM state secretariat member Tikender Panwar, who is also the deputy mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, has also demanded that the entire fee of students be refunded and they be compensated for the loss of time and money. He urged the government to keep check on functioning of private universities and ensure that the standard of education was not compromised. |
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‘Education biggest weapon for disabled’
Shimla, October 19 Abrahim also showed some clips of his serial “Nazar Ya Nazaria”, being broadcast by Doordarshan. He appraised the teaching and non-teaching community about the challenges faced by the visually impaired in life, especially in pursuing education, and said with advancement of technology, there were no barriers and sky was the limit for blind persons too. Exhorting the visually impaired to chase their dreams, he said the visually disabled people had become software engineers, lawyers, judges, bank employees and even entered the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). The number of blind persons in education sector was less as they were not given equal opportunities and their necessary requirements were not met, he said. Abrahim said the government had made a number of laws, but they needed to be implemented in real sense. Ajay Srivastav, Chairman of the foundation, thanked the Principal of RKMV and Sanjauli college for admitting visually impaired students and giving them a chance to be part of the main stream. |
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‘Tallest’ national flag in Dalhousie hoisted
Dalhousie, October 19 The 108-ft-high flag, at an altitude of 7,000 feet, was hoisted against the backdrop of an oak and pine forest. The school band presented the national anthem followed by a cultural show. A patriotic song representing the Army, Air Force and the Navy was sung by students. The Army was represented by a life-size battle tank, the Air Force by a fighter aircraft and the Navy by a warship. The school’s art teacher Ravi Gurung and students of the art club took almost six months to prepare these props. The programme was followed by prize distribution by chief guest Thapliyal to students for their achievements in academics and extra-curricular activities. Lt. Gen Bhopinder Singh (retd), PVSM, AVSM, former Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, was the guest of honour and Naveen Kumar Jaggi, international president of India’s oldest NGO Balkan-ji-Bari, accredited by the UNO, was a special invitee. Jaggi introduced two prizes, best boy and best girl, which were given to Kumar Kartikay and Saaya Dua, respectively, in the memory of late Charanjit Kaur, founder chairperson of the school. The chief guest in his address appreciated the “military-like precision” of the function.
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Basketball Championship begins at Dagshai APS
Solan, October 19 Col Manish Sehgal, Commanding Officer, 20 Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion. In the inaugural match, APS, Dhaula Kuana, trounced APS, Pathankot 54-31. Amandeep of APS, Pathankot, was the top scorer with 12 points, followed by Rohit Mehta and Pragitesh of APS, Dhaula Kuana, with 10 points each. In the girls’ category, the host APS, Dagshai, defeated APS, Jalandhar, 57-27. Stanzin Zomskit of APS, Dagshai, was the top scorer with 16 points, followed by Jasneet Kaur of the APS, Jalandhar, with 14 points and Arawali Rawat of the APS, Dagshai, with 12 points. In the second match played in the boys’ category, APS, Patiala, beat APS, Jalandhar, 53-23. Bhupender of APS, Patiala, was the top scorer with 16 points, followed by Himanshu with 12 points and Navdeep with 10 points of the same school. In the second match, APS, Kandrori, trounced the APS, Shankar Vihar, New Delhi. Muskan was the top scorer with 26 points, followed by Pallavi with 13 points and Gayatri and Sugandhika with 4 points each of APS, Kandrori. |
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CM honours Hindi poet
Shimla, October 19 He congratulated Shriniwas and said it was an accomplishment in the field of the Hindi literature, a language which is widely acknowledged and understood in Bharat. At 78 years, Shriniwas made his presence felt as a critic in Hindi literature. He began his writing career with his anthology of poems ‘Niyati’ and since then there was no looking back for him. He was honoured by the Dinkar Award by the Rupambra, a National Hindi Academy for projecting relations between man and nature through his early writings and poetry. The Chief Minister also released the anthology of poems, “Aadmi ki Duniya ka din” and a book titled ‘Katha Trikon’ a critical analysis by
Shrikant. |
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Relief to disowned heirs of farmers
Mandi, October 19 Earlier, such persons are not considered agriculturists for purchasing agricultural land. In a communication to the deputy commissioners, Principal Secretary (Revenue) Tarun Shridhar said the main objective
of enacting Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, was
to discourage such people from acquiring land in the state who were not agriculturists in Himachal Pradesh. “But legal heirs of an agriculturist cannot be debarred from the status of agriculturist if disowned by their predecessor, father or mother from the property by way of will or otherwise,” he said. Shridhar said: “Restrictions have been imposed to purchase land by non-agriculturists to avoid concentration of wealth in the hands of non-agriculturists moneyed class.” |
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Smriti’s Shimla visit cancelled
Shimla, October 19 Smriti was scheduled to arrive here tomorrow to deliver a lecture on Rabindra Nath Tagore at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study
(IIAS) and also visit the BJP office to address workers of the Mahila
Morcha. “We received the information about cancellation of her visit last night and she may visit Shimla some other time”, state BJP spokesman Ganesh Dutt said. The IIAS was awarded the Tagore Centre for the Study of Culture and Civilisation by the HRD Ministry on the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath
Tagore. Focusing on Tagore’s works and thoughts, the Centre will create space where the vision of the seer, the sensibility of the poet, the creativity of the artiste, the anxieties of the educationist, the questions of the philosopher, the aspirations of the subjugated and the hopes of the internationalist will find a place. The IIAS has planned activities to be undertaken at the centre and there will be four fellows in residence at the centre every year. The fellows’ term will be for six months to a maximum of two years. |
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Red Cross Mela organised
Mandi, October 19 Appreciating the District Red Cross Society, she said it was the “best” in the state in undertaking activities. She said it was providing several medical test facilities at low rates at the local Zonal Hospital, community health centres in Sundernagar and Kasog and was providing free medicines to needy patients. On the occasion, she released a souvenir and launched the website of the society. She also inspected stalls put up by various departments and schools. A blood donation camp was also organised and children from various schools took part in the cultural programme. |
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Pinegrove School celebrates 23rd annual day
Solan, October 19 Students performed gymnastics, karate and yoga, along with a field dance. A live musical band and brass band further added zing to the show. The school orchestra performed Indian music. The show culminated with a play titled “Pinjara” portraying the saga of women. Amber Raskin, appreciated the management’s efforts to carry out an overall development of children in multiple fields. Headmaster Capt AJ Singh thanked parents for reposing their faith in the institution. |
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Shimla, October 19
Shimla, October 19
About 50 members of the Shimla Amateur Garden and Environment Society (SAGES) started gathering at the Shoghi railway station (see photo) without knowing that they would foot the way to their destination, Oakwood Hamlet Resort, 3 km away, and while doing so, they would cross the boundary of their district to reach Solan district. The travel from Shoghi was through 750 m of the railway track, a steep footpath of about 2 km and then by a kacha road about 500 m.
Anyway, the passage was full of excitement and the wild flora of the area attracted the gathering. I am specially mentioning here Cotoneaster Berries. The genus name cotoneaster is derived from “cotone”, an old Latin name for quince, and the suffix “aster” means resembling. So, cotoneaster means “resembling quince”. It is a very popular garden shrub today, grown for its attractive habit and decorative fruit. The fauna of the area included barking deer, wild fowls, partridges, peacocks etc. We did not see any of these on the way although a few common birds were chirping on the trees. 
