Ayodhya verdict: Land to be divided, claims Ravi Shankar Prasad

Lucknow: Sixty years after it first went to court, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has pronounced verdict on the Ayodhya title suit.
Senior advocate and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad emerged from court today to say that the three-judge bench had ruled in a majority judgement 2:1, that one-third part of the disputed land should be given to the Sunni Waqf Board, one-third to the Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to the party for ‘Ram Lalla’. Prasad represents one of the litigants.Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed the court had ruled that the place where the idol of Ram was kept was the birthplace of the deity and the idols should not removed.Prasad claimed that the court had asked for a status quo for three months and in that time the litigants had to decide how to split the party. Litigants emerged from the courtroom with copies of the judgment and there has been chaos outside the Lucknow court ever since.The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court comprising Justice S U Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice D V Sharma, delivered the judgement today.The dispute at hand is about whether the 2.7 acres of disputed land on which the Babri Masjid stood before it was demolished on December 6, 1992, belongs to the Sunni Central Waqf Board or to the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.It has been a protracted legal battle, and people across the country have spoken in one voice on the need to maintain peace and harmony irrespective of the verdict.

EXAM SCAM School records of last 10 yrs to be verified

Dharamsala,Three-member committee, constituted by the state government for inquiring into the loopholes in Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE) after the expose of the examination scam, has now decided to scrutinise records of the private schools producing toppers in the last 10 years.Highly placed sources have told that the orders to this affect have been issued yesterday evening by chairman of the committee Omkar Sharma.The records are being scrutinised after some people gave inputs to committee regarding dubious means being used by certain schools to secure top positions for their students. The committee was on three-day visit to Dharamsala-based head office of the HPBSE last week. It had urged the common people to give them information regarding the scam, following which some people came and disposed off before the committee on-camera, the sources told .While scrutinising the records the committee will try to find out if some mechanism has been evolved by certain schools to procure top positions for their children. The schools that will be under scrutiny are from different parts of the state.Omkar said, “I have directed my team members to seize records of the last 10 years of the schools that are having meritorious positions in the results declared by the board.”In the present examination scam, the investigating agencies are of the view that examination system has been rigged by a group led by a former government teacher. He allegedly procured a few answer sheets from the government school. The answer sheets were scanned and further used by the accused. The students on rolls of accused never used to appear in examinations or practical examinations. He used the scanned answer sheets to get the papers solved for the students, who paid him to pass the examinations.The bundles of the answer sheets were sent directly to the evaluation centres by the accused. However, the sources told The Tribune that the entire operation could not have been carried without active connivance of the board employees.Though the answer sheets were sent by the accused directly to the evaluation centres, the details of marks in the practical examinations were sent directly to the board by the schools. How the board officials accepted fake practical lists sent by the accused is still a mystery?Presently the education board is carrying out its internal inquiry and has issued show cause notice to about 38 employees. The police has been investigating the case on its own. It has arrested the main accused and his aides, three postmen, who have allegedly delivered registered post of the education board to the accused. However, it has not yet questioned or arrested any of the board employees.The third probe is now being conducted by the committee constituted under Director (Industries) Omkar Sharma by the state government. However, it remains to be seen what results all these probes yield to restore faith of people in the education board.

World Tourism Week :: From Sep 26 to Oct 1

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Lets Start healthy tradition of Himachal Hospitality which attracts millions of tourists The purpose of this is to sensitizing people about preservation of our rich heritage & culture, cleanliness and warm hospitality. We should also re-instills a sense of responsibility towards tourists and re-enforces the confidence of tourist after all Atithi Devo Bhavah. LETS JOIN HANDS TO MAKE HIMACHAL MORE BEAUTIFULL

EXAM SCAM : Stokes seeks judicial probe

Shimla Leader of the Opposition Vidya Stokes has demanded a judicial probe into the worst-ever scandal in the State Board of School Education in which certificates were awarded to those candidates who had not even appeared in the examination.Expressing concern over the scam which had shaken the confidence of the people on the board, she said only a thorough inquiry by a sitting or retired judge of the high court could find out the culprits. She said the chairperson of the board should be removed forthwith and the probe should find out his role in the scandal.She said the inquiry by an IAS officer, ordered by the BJP government, was nothing but a cover-up exercise and its only aim was to give a clean chit to the board and the government. It was obvious that employees of the board were involved in the scam and the government must sack them without delay and give them exemplary punishment after conducting inquiry.Rogue academies and schools were selling certificates freely to the students in connivance with board employees but the chairperson had not resigned and the government had also not sacked him which was quite shocking, she said.The Dhumal government had by reinstating corrupt officers sent the wrong signals and such action would only encourage corruption which had become the biggest hurdle in way of speedy development, she added.

Too much rain takes crunch out of Himachal apple

Shimla, Looks can be deceptive. And this also holds true for apples from Himachal Pradesh, at least this year.The deep crimson apples hitting the market from the state are said to be devoid of natural sweetness due to the prolonged monsoon and overcast conditions.According to horticulture experts, the red apples, especially large and super large size, this year appear attractive but are not as crisp, crunchy or juicy. They blame the rain gods for the poor quality.The continuous fog-like conditions, coupled with poor sunlight over a period extending over two months, have severely affected the apple crop.’Prolonged cloudy conditions in the entire region in August and September have hampered the normal process of photosynthesis,’ S.P. Bhardwaj, former joint director at the Solan-based Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, told .
Photosynthesis is the process that converts of carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight.
‘When the fruit approaches maturity, it releases ethylene that enables the fruit to ripen. Starch is broken down into sugars, increasing the sweetness. Acids are neutralised making it less sour. For this process, sufficient sunlight is required,’ he said.An official of the horticulture department said delayed picking of fruit due to heavy rains coupled with non-availability of cartons and trays, shortage of labour, transport facilities and poor market rates have also contributed in retention of apples in orchards. This resulted in the over-ripening of fruit.’The crop that is reaching the market these days is over-ripe. In any over-ripe fruit, the sugar content reduces and its food value also gets impaired,’ he added.Bhardwaj said early flowering of the apple crop this season by 20 days and drought conditions during the early stage of fruit development have also affected the quality.According to him, the crop harvested in the state before July was more juicy as compared to the crop that was harvested in August and September.He said even this year, when the state is heading towards an all-time record of apple production of over 4.5 crore (45 million) standard boxes of 20 kg each, the problem of fruit rotting is also more.Till date, over 3.5 crore boxes of apples have been sent to various markets.’Continuous moist conditions provide more water for the biochemical reactions to occur that lead to a rise in the fruit rotting problem,’ Bhardwaj added.According to the meteorological office in Shimla, the prominent apple belts in Shimla, Kinnaur, Mandi and Kullu districts have seen heavy rains during the monsoon.Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office, said: ‘The monsoon has been plentiful this year as compared to last year. The state saw 858.9 mm of rain against the average of 769.9 mm from June 1 to Sep 22, which is equivalent to 12 percent surplus rainfall.’According to him, the monsoon normally starts retreating by the second week of September but it’s still prevalent in the region.Himachal Pradesh’s apple boom is credited to Satyanand (Samuel Evans Stokes, Jr). Stokes, an American missionary, first introduced high-quality apples in the Kothgarh-Thanedar belt in upper Shimla in the early 1920s.The entire belt is known for producing apples of Royal Delicious, Red Delicious and Granny Smith varieties.The economy of the state is highly dependent on apples, besides hydropower and tourism. The state’s apple industry is worth Rs.1,500 crore ($330 million).Apple is a highly nutritive, low fat and salt-free fruit. It contains minerals and vitamins in abundance and is a low calorie fruit. It is known to possess anti-oxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties.

Himachal beefs up security ahead of Ayodhya verdict

Shimla Himachal Pradesh Wednesday intensified security ahead of the court verdict on the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya, police said.

Security has been beefed up in almost all prominent tourist places in the state even as no town or village has been declared sensitive, Inspector General of Police S.R. Mardi told IANS.

‘Special measures have been taken in Bilaspur, Nahan, Chamba and Nalagarh towns where a large population of a minority community is living,’ he said.

Monsoon withdraws from Himachal Pradesh

T

he southwest monsoon, which brought bountiful rains to Himachal Pradesh this year, has withdrawn, the weather bureau said here Tuesday.

This year the rainfall was 16 percent more than the normal in the state, compared to a 36 percent deficit last year.

‘From June 1 to Sep 28, the state experienced 977.4 mm of rain against the normal of 831.7 mm,’ Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, told IANS.

He said the monsoon this year has broken the record of 15 years.

‘After 1995, it was for the first time that the state got the highest excess rain. In the past 15 years, the highest surplus rain was witnessed in 2003 (4 percent),’ he said.

In 1995, the state experienced 17 percent more rainfall than normal.

He said all the 12 districts in the state, except Lahaul and Spiti, got normal to excess rainfall.

‘Till date, Lahaul and Spiti saw deficient rainfall of 19 percent, whereas Kinnaur district recorded 210 percent more rains,’ he added.

Shimla, once the summer capital of the British, experienced 40 percent more rainfall till date. It saw 999.9 mm of rain against the normal of 715.9 mm.

The southwestern monsoon that reached the state July 5, normally starts receding from the region by Sep 15. But this year it was delayed.

Himachal Pradesh’s agriculture and horticulture-based economy is highly dependent on the monsoon.

BSNL connects Himachal’s remote valley with mobile network

State-owned cellular operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) Tuesday connected Himachal Pradesh’s remote Miyar Valley with the mobile phone network, an official said.

‘The mobile services began with the installation of a tower at Tinget village (Lahaul and Spiti district),’ BSNL subdivisional officer K.S. Verma told IANS from Keylong, the district headquarters, over telephone.

He said that the mobile phone service would benefit over 1,000 people settled in six villages across the valley. The area is already connected with BSNL’s landline service.

Verma said only the Tindi Valley in the district was now left without the mobile network.

BSNL has more than 14 lakh mobile subscribers in the state.

The picturesque Miyar Valley is a preferred destination for adventure tourists.

The climatic conditions of the entire Lahaul and Spiti district, dominated mainly by tribals, are harsh as much of the land falls under a cold desert where the temperature plummets to as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius in winter.

Teacher burns student’s fingers

A teacher in Himachal Pradesh allegedly burnt the fingers of a Class VI student after accusing her of stealing a mobile phone.

According to a complaint lodged with the education department Tuesday, the victim’s parents said Seema Devi of the Government Senior Secondary School in Shillai in Sirmaur district committed the crime Monday.

‘The teacher forced their daughter to put her fingers over a lighted candle, saying if her fingers burnt, it would mean she was the thief,’ an official said.

Deputy Director Jagdish Negi said: ‘We are inquiring into the matter.’

Himachal Pradesh’s farmers earn profit from Kiwi fruit cultivation

Kiwi fruit cultivation has become a profitable venture for Himachal Pradesh’s farmers after demand increased in the wake of the Commonwealth Games.

There are four different varieties of Kiwi fruit being cultivated in the hilly state.

“There are four varieties of Kiwi fruit: Hayward, Monty, Bruno, Allison, and all four are getting a good response in the market,” said Anil Khullar, who has been cultivating Kiwi fruit in the region for the past 10 years.

The demand for the fruit has increased sharply as the Commonwealth Games draw near. The Games are scheduled to begin on October 3 and would conclude on October 14.

“Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and some markets in Punjab are regular buyers of kiwi fruit, but this time sales are good. Because of the Commonwealth Games there is more demand for Indian kiwi fruit,” said Nakul Khullar, another cultivator.

The government of Himachal Pradesh is also providing an incentive to kiwi fruit cultivators by giving them financial aid.

“Farmers are getting good support for cultivating kiwi fruit orchards. If any farmer wants to plant kiwi fruit on his land, then for every one hectare land he will be given rupees 22,500 by the government,” said A. K. Gupta, Deputy Director of the Horticulture Department.

Postman, teacher arrested in exam scam

Dharmshala : The police today arrested Kachri village postman Jagdish Chand and Kashmir singh, ateacher in Adarsh Public school in this case. According to sources Jagdish Chand has been accused for delivering the registered post from the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBSE) to Kashmir Singh.

Kashmir singh an agent of Ashwin dogra (a key accused) delivered him the registered posts.The post included the roll numbers and detailed marksheets of students which were in possession of Dogra and were given only after full collection of fees. Many students of Arvind’s school were benifitted from this scam.

Both accused were produced in the court today and remanded in police custody. When asked, Kangra SP Atul Fulzele said the accused principal, Piarai Lal, who was the superintendent of an examination centre, absconded. It is suspected that Pairai Lal supplied the original answer sheet to Dogra which was later scanned for producing many fake answer sheets. Fulzele further said they had confiscated the answer sheets of those students who were beneficiaries of the scam, from the education board. The handwriting of students would be matched with that in the answer sheets.

Also, a case of forgery would be registered against those involved in the scam, he added. The board found that 180 students of classes VIII, X, XI and XII had got certificates from Dogra. Meanwhile, with the government throwing its weight behind the education board chairman, he has decided to expand the probe even up to supplementary papers conducted in the last one year.

Agriculture Leadership Award 2010 for Himachal

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh has been judged as Best Agriculture Performing State in the country and will be conferred upon the prestigious State Agriculture Leadership Award 2010 for its outstanding policy initiatives and performance in agriculture development,also award would be presented on 29th September, 2010 during the Agriculture Leadership Summit at New Delhi.

State government spokesman said that the Award was finalised by the National Awards Committee of the Agriculture Leadership Awards 2010 headed by Dr. A.R.Kidwai, former Governor of Haryana with Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, eminent agricultures scientist and Father of India’s green revolution as one of its members. He said that the committee was highly appreciative of the outstanding policy initiatives and performance of Himachal Pradesh Government in the field of agriculture and allied sectors, which were positively impacting the lives of vast majority of farmers and ushering rural prosperity.

He said that Agriculture Leadership Awards were instituted by ‘Agriculture Today’, a national agriculture magazine in the year 2008 for recognizing excellence and leadership roles played by individuals and organizations towards the development of Indian agriculture and bringing about rural prosperity. He said that the Leadership Award for agriculture development was given to Gujarat in 2009 and to Andhra Pradesh in 2008.

The Spokesman further said that under the leadership of Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh Government was allocating 12 % of Plan resources to agriculture and allied sectors, which percentage is highest in the country. He said that the State Government was vigorously implementing Rs. 353 crore ‘ Pt. Deen Dayal Kisan Bagwan Samridhi Yojana’ under which 80 percent subsidy is being provided for construction of poly houses and micro irrigation facilities. He said that for BPL families, 90% assistance was being given for construction of bamboo poly houses. It is targeted to bring 15 lakh sq meter area under poly houses besides providing micro irrigation facility in 20,000 hectare area under the scheme in three years.

He said that special emphasis was being laid on promoting organic farming in the State and the farmers were being encouraged to have Vermi-Compost Units at their farms. He said that more than 3.40 lakh Vermi-Compost Units had been established and more than 20 thousand farmers registered for organic farming in the State. He said that the Government was providing free soil testing facility to the farmers to help them to adopt crops as per the quality of soil. He said that about three lakh soil health cards had been distributed to the farmers in the State.

He said that farmers in the State had been exempted from the payment of Stamp Duty on land mortgage up to Rs. 10 lakh. Taccavi and Land Development Loans of small and marginal farmers taken between 1950-1960 had been waived off by the Government benefiting 43,485 farmers. He said that the State had covered major crops like Maize, Rice, Wheat, Barley, Potato, Ginger in Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana (RKBY). He said that commercial crops like Tomato, Spring Potato, Apple, Mango had also been covered under Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) on pilot basis.

He said that the State Government had instituted a Scheme for awarding best farmers under which awards were given to progressive farmers at State, District and Block levels. He said that marketing infrastructure was being expanded and modernized to provide marketing facilities to the farmers.

He said that Rs. 400 crore Project had been prepared for crop diversification, organic farming and water harvesting, which had been sent to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funding. He said that the Scheme had been enlisted in the priority list of 2010 by the Economic Affairs Department of the Central Government.

He said that the State Government had launched Rs. 300 crore, ‘Doodh Ganga Yojana’ with the objective of increasing number of quality milch cattle and milk production besides providing self employment opportunities especially to women fanners. He said that ‘Mukhaya Mantri Arogya Pashudhan Yojna’ had been initiated to provide veterinary institutions in all the left out Panchayats of the State.

Heavy rains predicted in Himachal

Shimla, The hills of Himachal Pradesh may experience heavy rains by Wednesday, the weatherman said here Tuesday.Meanwhile, all the rivers and their tributaries in the state are already in spate.’There are chances of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state Wednesday,’ meteorological office director Manmohan Singh told.No major rainfall was recorded in the state Tuesday.A government spokesperson said Satluj, Beas and Yamuna rivers and their tributaries are already in spate in Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Bilaspur and Sirmaur districts.

Drug menace on rise among school kids: DGP

Shimla With at least one youth from every panchayat in Kullu district serving sentence for drug trafficking and peddling, increasing incidents of chemical substance abuse, especially among youths could lead to a very dangerous situation in the coming decades.

This was stated by DGP DS Manhas at a seminar organised here today by the HP Voluntary Health Association to create awareness among schools about increasing use of tobacco among the schoolchildren in the town, which according to their study was at an alarming 40 per cent.

“Surveys by the Narcotic Control Bureau indicate that the scale of drug peddling by youth from Kullu is so significant that one youth from every panchayat is lodged in a jail somewhere in the country,” he stated, adding, “We need to take corrective steps or else we will be faced with what America is grappling with.”

Manhas said though tobacco addiction by schoolchildren was definitely a cause of concern, but the challenges were far more complex and daunting. “With Himachal alone producing 100 quintals of charas and 10 quintals of Malana crème, the threat of chemical drug abuse by youths is looming large,” he said.

While advocating a multi-pronged strategy, he said it was both parents and teachers who could together help the vulnerable 10 to 16 years from going astray. “Teachers must identify absentee students and inform parents and look for abnormal physical signs and change in behaviour,” he added.

He suggested that the school, too, at its level must help channelise the talent of those who do not fare well academically, so that they do not seek solace in other distractions like drugs.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal Secretary, Education, Srikant Baldi said the figures of addiction among youths were startling and disturbing. “It was only if each one of us takes it up as a mission that there can be some check,” he added.

Principals from almost all schools of the town attended the seminar. While expressing concern over the problem of tobacco addiction among youth they felt that the provisions of cigarettes and other tobacco products (Prohibition of Advertisements and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA) were not being adhered to, especially with regard to sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of the schools.

Executive director of the HPVHA Narinder Sharma said a campaign had been launched to ensure new pictorial warnings on tobacco products by December by sending memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, Health Minister and Sonia Gandhi.

Hamirpur garbage plant a ‘waste’

Hamirpur, While the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad had not utilised a solid waste management plant, set up about five years ago near Dugnedi village on the outskirts of Hamirpur, to its optimum, nagar parishad workers continue to dump the garbage on a nearby hill polluting water of two supply schemes drawn from the Hathli.The plant was established in a deep forest near Dugnedi village, about five km from here, by the Hamirpur Nagar Parishad in 2005 by spending about Rs 1.3 crore.The main purpose was to segregating the garbage and preparing manure from the solid waste and disposing of the garbage in a scientific manner without polluting the environment. Strangely, the authorities concerned have not only failed to utilise the plant to its optimum but the employees are still dumping garbage on a nearby hill, polluting potable water schemes. A team of journalists that visited here recently found a lot of garbage dumped on the nearby hill, flowing into Hathli .The potable water for two schemes i.e. Nalti and Masyana- Bazuri is drawn from the Hathli khud, which supply water to many villages in the surrounding area.A villager from Dugnedi, Bimla Devi, said: “The authorities had earlier assured that the garbage would not be dumped in the open and they would prepare manure after establishing the waste management plant but to no avail.”Another villager Sanjeev Kumar said: “The garbage dumped on the hill is polluting water in the Hathli khud from where water is drawn for our potable water supply scheme.”President, Hamirpur Nagar Parishad, Deep Kumar said: “We have issued an instruction not to dump garbage outside the waste management plant and will look into the matter at the earliest.”

Rains a pain for Himachal apple growers

Shimla, Prolonged monsoon rains, landslides and poor road condition have hampered the transportation of apples from Himachal Pradesh. ‘Hundreds of trucks carrying apples have been stranded in various stretches in the upper Shimla region, especially in Jubbal, Rohru, Kotkhai, Chopal areas due to landslides in the past two days,’ Sanjay Chauhan, a prominent fruit grower based at Kotkhai, told Tuesday.’The condition of roads is so bad that it took more than 12 hours to cover just 72 km from Kotkhai to Shimla instead of the normal two hours,’ he said, adding that truckers are refusing to ply their vehicles.Others said the inclement weather and transportation problems have led to the rotting of apples.’Apples are being dumped in rivulets as these have started perishing,’ said Rajeev Gautam, a grower from Rohru.Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said heavy rain in the state has damaged roads and bridges.’Our estimates say the damage to roads and bridges was Rs.332 crore till Aug 31,’ he said.The condition is reported to be the same in other apple-growing areas in Mandi, Kullu and Chamba districts.Officials of the horticulture department said more than 75 lakh boxes are yet to be transported out of the state. Till date, over 2.80 crore standard boxes of apples have been sent to various markets, they said.Manmohan Singh, director of the meteorological office here, said: ‘The monsoon has been plentiful this year as compared to last year. From June 1 to Sep 14, the state saw 816.6 mm of rain against the normal average of 741.1 mm, which means the state got 10 percent surplus rainfall.’According to him, the monsoon normally starts retreating by the second week of September.Apple is the main fruit crop of the state and is grown in nine out of 12 districts. More than 90 percent of the produce go to markets across the country.The apple industry is estimated to be worth about Rs.1,500 crore (Rs.15 billion).

Tourists from Kolkata stranded in Himachal

Shimla Nearly 50 tourists from Kolkata have been stranded in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district following the closure of roads due to massive landslides, an official said Tuesday.’Nearly 50 tourists from Kolkata have been stranded in and around Sangla village for the past few days due to massive landslides on the road linking to the village,’ Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Mamta Chaudhary told over phone.She said the administration came to know Tuesday that the tourists have been stranded there for the past three days.’We are trying to reopen the roads but bad weather is hampering the road-clearing operation. The communication network in the area is also not working,’ she said.Chaudhary said nearly 100 tourists, including some foreigners, stranded in other areas of the district were evacuated Tuesday.

Salman Rushdie’s heritage house in Himachal crumbling

Solan Salman Rushdie’s ancestral home, where the acclaimed India-born British novelist spent many summer vacations as a child, is succumbing to the ravages of time and neglect.The roofs of the single-storey villa, built in 1927 in typical hill architecture style with smoke-emitting chimneys, have developed leaks and rainwater finds its way through crevices into the rooms. Most of the walls of Anees Villa, the six-bedroom bungalow locked over the past 13 years, have developed moulds.Though the roofs developed leaks around four years ago, it got worse this monsoon.’The roofs have developed leaks and the recent heavy rains have badly affected them. Due to seepage, most of the inside walls have developed black mould spots. Even wet rot has set in on structural woodwork,’ caretaker Govind Ram told .He said since most of the time the rooms remain locked and there is no ventilation, the rot problem has got aggravated.’Since sahib (Rushdie) took possession of the bungalow in 1997, he has only visited here once. His lawyer (Vijay T. Shankardass) is taking care of the property. We have already informed him about the leaking roofs,’ said Ram, who has been taking care of the house for more than a decade.Rushdie last visited the villa along with his son Zafar for a few hours on April 14, 2000.Last month the gate of the house got damaged when a big eucalyptus tree fell on it following heavy rains. The 150-foot-tall eucalyptus tree even blocked the passage to the villa.Built in 1927, the Rushdie estate, spread over three bighas (one bigha is 0.4 hectare), was purchased by Mohammad Uldin, grandfather of Salman Rushdie.When the Rushdies left for Pakistan, the government declared it an evacuee property and transferred it to the revenue department.Salman Rushdie’s father Maulvi Anees Ahmad gifted the villa to his son in 1969 and Rushdie put a claim to it in 1992.After being convinced, then deputy commissioner Shrikant Baldi granted the property back to Rushdie in November 1997.Rushdie’s neighbour B.K. Aggarwal said the area is highly moisture-prone due to the presence of thick deodar forest.’The villa housed several government offices before Rushdie took its possession again in 1997,’ said Aggarwal, who settled here more than four decades ago.According to him, it was a trip down memory lane for Rushdie during his visit in 2000.As he stepped in his house, his immediate remark was: ‘How can one forget one’s childhood days?’Rushdie, during his visit to the villa in 2000, announced that he wanted to develop it as a writers’ retreat, but that promise is yet to see the light of day. He has since never referred to it again or bothered to look up the property for which he fought a legal battle.

Water inflow into Himachal’s Pong dam rises again

The inflow of water into Himachal Pradesh’s Pong dam again increased marginally Monday due to rainfall, but the authorities said there was no need for worry as the reservoir still has capacity to withhold additional water. “The inflow increased this (Monday) morning to more than 18,000 cusecs against Sunday’s 8,000 cusecs,” K.C. Rana of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) told over telephone.He said in the past few days the inflow was between 5,000 cusecs and 8,000 cusecs.The Pong dam is located along the Punjab border, about 250 km from state capital Shimla. It fulfils the irrigation requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.”Now we are discharging 18,000 cusecs daily through normal operation of turbines. The spillways were closed Sep 16 after remaining open for three days to flush out excess water,” he said.For the first time in 15 years, the spillways were opened as a precautionary measure Sep 14 as the water level touched 1,394.25 ft. At that time, the daily inflow was more than 65,000 cusecs.The water level was 1,393.14 ft Monday morning but the dam can store water up to 1,395 ft.”We are constantly the situation. If there is heavy rainfall in the catchments of the dam, then the spill gates would be re-opened,” another BBMB official said.The met office in Shimla said some areas in the state are likely to witness heavy rainfall in the next 24 hours.One of the largest manmade wetlands in northern India, the Pong dam reservoir is spread over an area of 41 km with a maximum width of 19 km. It came into existence after the construction of a dam on the Beas river in 1975.

CSIR result 2010 – CSIR UGC NET Result June 2010 – csirhrdg.res.in

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India has been published its CSIR result 2010 or CSIR UGC NET Result June 2010 today on September 17, 2010. These CSIR result 2010 or CSIR UGC NET Result June 2010 were made available on the official website of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) at csirhrdg.res.in as the joint CSIR-UGC Test for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and eligibility for Lectureship (NET) was held on June 20, 2010. The CSIR result 2010 or JRF-NET results can be downloaded from here or from the website of csirhrdg.

CSIR result 2010 – http://csirhrdg.res.in/

Direct Link for CSIR UGC NET Result June 2010 – http://csirhrdg.res.in/netresultjune2010.pdf

The candidates with following roll numbers have been declared successful in the category under which their roll numbers appear subject to the condition of their fulfilling all the eligibility criteria for the test, viz. M.Sc. qualification with requisite percentage of marks, age etc. The candidates, who are declared qualified for JRF-NET, will also be eligible for Lectureship (NET).

Now, panchayats can issue ration cards

Shimla, The government today decided to authorise panchayats and other urban local bodies (ULB), including Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats, to issue ration cards within their respective jurisdiction.The decision was taken by the Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today. It had been decided to authorise Secretary/Executive Officer/Assistant Commissioners of Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council or Nagar Panchayats to issue ration cards within their respective jurisdiction. These have to be countersigned by the president, chairperson or mayor of the concerned urban local body.In rural areas, the ration card shall be issued by the secretary, panchayat sahayak of the concerned gram panchayat and countersigned by the pradhan in their respective jurisdiction and if the panchayat is defunct it will be issued by officials of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department.The government also decided to provide 8 kg of wheat or flour per person every month during the intervening period of July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, in all tribal areas of the state and difficult areas of Dodra Kwar in Shimla district and Bara Bhangal in Kangra district in relaxation of the norm of 35 kg of quota per family.The Cabinet also granted permission for filling 258 posts of pharmacist in the Health Department on contract basis through the Rogi Kalyan Samitis. It approved regularisation of services of the 11 contract teachers completing eight years of service in different District Institute Education Training.It also approved the attachment of local government health institutions for clinical and practical training purposes of BSc and GNM students in some of the existing private institutions to meet the mandatory requirements of the Nursing Council of India.It approved arrangements for the sale of power share through the Power Trading Corporation of India at competitive rates in the open market, both against equity participation as well as free power entitled in various hydroelectric projects.It approved Himachal Pradesh

(Forest Police Stations) Rules, 2010, for effective implementation in checking of smuggling of forest wealth, illegal forest felling and to protect the forest wealth.

10-year-old wants park in Shimla, writes to high court

Shimla, A 10-year-old girl has written to the chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, urging him to ensure that a playground is provided to children in Shimla so that they are not glued to the TV all the time.’In the absence of parks and playgrounds, the schoolchildren are forced to watch television…the government should create such facilities here (in Shimla),’ Vipasha, a Class 5 student, wrote in a two-page letter.’Today Shimla is a concrete jungle with no parks, open spaces or grounds for children, forcing them to remain glued to television, which we know is not good for our health,’ she added.Taking cognisance of Vipasha’s letter, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajeev Sharma Saturday asked the government to respond on the matter.The high court has listed the matter for next hearing Oct 28.Planned for a maximum population of 16,000, the Queen of Hills, as Shimla was fondly called by the British, now has more than 200,000 residents.High-rise buildings and other development projects have gobbled up much of its green patches, besides leading to the problems of water scarcity and parking.At present, there are 187 buildings in Shimla, each having more than five storeys. These include a 12-storey commercial building being constructed by Jagson International Ltd and an eight-storey building of the Oberoi group’s five-star hotel

Cecil.

Snow, rain in Himachal

Shimla,The higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh Sunday experienced another spell of mild snowfall, weather officials said.

‘Higher reaches of Kinnaur district saw mild snowfall early Sunday morning. Chitkul (village in Kinnaur) got three to four inches of snow,’ a weather office spokesman told .

He said lower areas in the district saw moderate rainfall.

Kalpa, a picturesque town 250 km from here, got 74.3 mm of rain, the highest rainfall in the state.

There were also reports of a cloudburst near Chitkul, but no report of any loss of life or damage to property.

The picturesque Chitkul is located at an altitude of 3,450 metre (11,319 feet) above sea level. It is the last village connected by road in the area and lies close to the China border.

Meanwhile, the minimum temperature in most parts of the state came down.

While Shimla saw a low of 13.6 degrees Celsius Tuesday, it was 7.1 degrees in Keylong – the district headquarters of Lahaul and Spiti district – and 5.5 degrees Celsius in Kalpa in Kinnaur district.

Self Driving Cars with Human Vision-Based Supercomputer Chip Coming Soon

Self Driving Cars with Human Vision-Based Supercomputer Knight Rider chip coming soon to market as the Scientists at Yale University and New York University are developing a supercomputer on a chip that is capable of navigating a car more quickly and efficiently through the use of a human-based visual system on busy streets.

Eugenio Culurciello says cars are going to drive themselves in the near future, who was an associate professor of electrical engineering at Yale Unversity. He helped design the chip that could make it happen. The Knight Rider microchip contains a supercomputer with the ability to recognize and distinguish surrounding objects, such as other cars, people, trees, lampposts and whatever else can be found on the road.

The supercomputer, which Culurciello and his associates named NeuFlow, was inspired by the mammalian visual system, which imitates a neural network allowing it to interpret the supercomputer’s surroundings. Culurciello says the supercomputer is necessary for implementation into a car, because regular computers wouldn’t be able to handle the complex algorithims done to distinguish the surrounding objects. He said it differs from the precrash braking systems seen on various car models.

“Those warning systems you see on some cars that break automatically if you’re about to crash, those use laser systems. The laser can sense something in the area whereas this is a vision. It actually sees the object. It can actually figure out what things are,” Culurciello.

To develop the complex algorithims that made this vision possible, Culurciello turned to Yann LeCun, a silver professor of Computer Science and Neural Science at New York University. To get it to recognize the objects, LeCun and Culurciello’s NeuFlow processes tens of megapixel images in real time.

Still, there is work to be done before the cars of the future become the present. Culurciello says his team will now have to prove the supercomputer can work in real time. Once the car has tested, the team will analyze data to see where they have made mistakes.

Culurciello says they have not worked with any car companies yet, but would like to. He also said the supercomputer could be used to improve robot navigation into difficult-to-reach locations or provide soldiers with 360-degree synthetic vision.

Two more judges recuse themselves from Virbhadra case

Shimla:Two more judges of the Himachal Pradesh High Court Friday recused themselves from hearing Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh’s plea to transfer the alleged corruption case against him to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a day after another judge refused to hear the case.A division bench of Justice R.B. Misra and Justice V.K. Sharma recused themselves from the case Friday. Justice Misra announced in the court: ‘We will not hear the case.’He asked counsel for both the parties to ask Chief Justice Kurian Joseph for placing the petition before the appropriate court.A senior court official said the petition is likely to be placed before another division bench after lunch Friday.The petition was Thursday placed before a division bench of Chief Justice Joseph and Justice Rajeev Sharma for the first time for hearing.As the petition came for hearing, Justice Joseph announced in the court that Justice Rajeev Sharma refused to hear the case. Later in the evening, Justice Joseph placed the petition in another division bench and listed the matter for hearing Friday.While Justice Misra has been serving the Himachal Pradesh High Court as judge since April 30, 2008, both Justice Rajeev Sharma and Justice V.K. Sharma have been serving the high court as additional judges respectively since 2007 and 2010.Virbhadra Singh, five-time former chief minister, moved the high court Sep 14 for transferring the alleged corruption case against him from the state police to the CBI. He also sought that the CD case against Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Director General of Police (DGP) D.S. Manhas also be investigated.In the petition, Virbhadra Singh said that after Dhumal became chief minister in December 2007, the government registered a case against him and his wife Aug 3, 2008, under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the basis of an audio CD released by his political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.Police say that in the CD, Virbhadra Singh was heard allegedly referring to some monetary transactions during his phone conversation with Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. It also contained the voices of his wife and some industrialists.The high court had Sep 3 turned down Virbhadra Singh’s petition to transfer the case to the CBI. The court ruled that the investigation could not be transferred to the CBI under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.’Now we are seeking the transfer of the case under Article 226 of the constitution,’ his counsel said.Virbhadra Singh also alleged that when the two audio CDs surfaced — both allegedly containing voices of Dhumal and one containing the voice of Manhas in January this year — the government adopted different yardsticks of their investigation.

In the alleged conversation recorded in one of the CDs, Manhas (then the vigilance chief) was heard asking Dhumal about tapping the phones of Virbhadra Singh and his wife. At this Dhumal replied: ‘Do it.’

Pollution ‘factories’ by river side

Dharamsala :Courtesy good monsoon, much has been said about the damage to the infrastructure because of swelling rivers. Though the swelling rivers pose a threat to life and property almost every year during monsoon, many big industrial units are coming up on the banks of rivers, and in some cases, even inside the river basins.In Una district, a new paper mill is coming up on the banks of the Swan River on Santoshgarh road. The place where the industrial unit has been set up exposes it to swelling river waters, especially during monsoon. In the Gagret industrial area, a battery-making industrial unit has been set up in the middle of the bed of a seasonal rivulet. Sources told The Tribune that the unit had been inundated many a times during monsoon but the unit was still persisting with its position in the middle of a rivulet. Similarly, many industrial units in Solan, Sirmour, Una and Kangra districts had been set up on the banks of rivers.Interestingly, both units come in red category due to pollutants released from them. The environmentalists alleged that the units were just being brought on the banks of rivers so that the toxic effluents could be released easily in natural water courses. Since water is running, pollutants get washed away easily, they added.Already much hue-and-cry is being raised regarding the pollutants being released in rivers from the Baddi and Golthai industrial areas. The environmentalists from Punjab alleged that the pollutants from Baddi industrial units were damaging the environment in the Ropar international wetland area and those from Golthai the Nangal national wetland area.The environmentalists had moved the Punjab Human Rights Commission against the said pollution. The commission last week sought an information regarding the steps taken by the Himachal Pollution Control Board against the polluting units. The officials in the Department of Industry said they allowed the units to come up near river only after a no objection certificate from the Irrigation and Public Health Department (IPH).However, officials of the department said land of river beds on which the industry had been set up was a private land. There is no policy to stop private owners from using their land for other purposes.

Himachal Govt to motivate industrialists to set up fire stations in industrial areas

In order to meet the demand for fire brigades in industrial areas, the state government will motivate the industrial sector to take initiatives. Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said on Thursday such a feasibility study would be done to see of fire stations could be opened in the industrial areas of Kala Amb in Sirmour district, Amb and Gagret in Una district and Gwalthai in Bilaspur district.He was speaking after flagging off a fleet of 11 fire tenders from the Central Telegraph Office (CTO) here. With this, the fleet strength of fire tenders in the state has gone up to 88. He said eight more tenders would be added soon. The new fire tenders will be positioned at Rampur, The Mall, Shimla, Chhota Shimla, Tilak Nagar, Nahan, Paonta Sahib, Mandi, Dharamshala, Baddi and Una.

Wood smuggling: ITBP men confess involvement

Shimla While the possibility of involvement of senior ITBP officials in the red sander wood smuggling case cannot be ruled out, the two arrested personnel have confessed to their association in the crime-taking place across the Indo-China border in the Lepcha area of Lahaul Spiti.The two arrested ITBP personnel, Deputy Commandant Sukhdev Singh Rana and Inspector Manmohan Singh, are presently in the police custody till September 20. It is reliably learnt that the two have admitted their involvement in the crime and the police has been able to find corroborating evidence. Both have now been placed under suspension following their arrest.However, there are indications that the police could lay its hand on some evidence, which could establish the involvement of a few senior officials of the ITBP posted on the Lepcha border. Three villages, located in Tibet along the banks of the Parechu, are visible from the Indian side at Lepcha and smuggling had been taking place here for the past some time.During interrogation, the two arrested ITBP officials have admitted accepting money in lieu of allowing illegal passage of the wood.“They, however, said the moment they got to know that the police had apprehended the trucks, they destroyed the cash received, though we have yet to confirm this,” said a police official.They have, reportedly, admitted to allowing smuggling small consignments of the red sander wood across the border even in the past. In fact, this time it was the biggest consignment which was being smuggled into China for which the licence was issued by them.During investigation, the police has been able to establish the fact that even in the past the two officials had been accepting favours, including monetary benefit, to allow smuggling of other products. This included jackets, shoes, crockery, flasks and other such products.Meanwhile, the police is trying to locate the main suspect Narinder who is the kingpin in the case. He was last seen at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, on August 24 where his son was admitted,” said SR Rana, SP, Lahaul Spiti.The police has even questioned his wife and taken call details of her mobile number with little success. The police has tried to gather information about Narinder from his father and other relatives who live in Kaza but he has not got in touch with anyone.

Congress opposes land allotment to DLF in Himachal

The Congress party Tuesday stoutly opposed the Himachal Pradesh government’s decision to allot agricultural land to Delhi-based DLF Universal Ltd to set up ultra-luxurious housing projects in the state.State Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur told reporters that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was promoting the realtors in the state by diverting agricultural land to non-agricultural purposes.’DLF has recently given advertisements in newspapers inviting applications for the upcoming projects in the vicinity of Shimla and Kasauli,’ Thakur said.’We are totally against the decision of the government to allow the realtor to build high-end cottages. The BJP government in the state is promoting land mafia,’ he said.Sources in the government said that DLF has identified a huge chunk of land around Shimla and Kasauli towns and plans to invest Rs.200 crore in these projects.Thakur said Shimla town already faces water shortage, besides traffic chaos, and that such projects would only add to the woes of the people.’By allowing such realtors to set up housing projects, the government is going to multiply the problems of the town. Moreover, the builders are alluring buyers by saying that even outsiders (non-Himachal people) can purchase the villas,’ he added.Under Himachal Pradesh land laws, only the state’s permanent residents can buy land in the state. Others who want to purchase land for non-agricultural purposes have to seek relaxations under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act from the state government.The DLF projects would have high-end residential villas and apartments.The Shimla residential project is located at Waknaghat on the Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway-22, whereas the Kasauli project is located near the industrial hub of Baddi.

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Himachal Lafarge plant now fails environment test

In yet another instance of a proposed industrial activity falling victim to environmental concerns, the National Environmental Appellate Authority has struck down the clearance granted to French cement major Lafarge’s plans to set up a cement plant and an accompanying limestone mining project in Himachal Pradesh.Quashing down the environmental clearance given to the Rs 900-crore integrated project in June last year, the single-member authority pulled up the company, for claiming incorrectly that the mining area was ‘uncultivable’, and the Expert Appraisal Committee and the Environment Ministry for clearing the project without making a sound assessment of the adverse impacts.The authority’s ruling followed a site visit made by its only present member in June this year.“Taking into consideration all the relevant aspects, the authority is convinced that on environmental and social considerations, it is neither desirable to mine the Telehan village nor put cement plant at Gangher,” says the order dated August 30 but made public on Monday. “Accordingly, the environmental clearance for setting up of integrated cement plant at village DPF Ghanger and captive limestone mine … by M/s Lafarge India Private Ltd is quashed imposing no cost to respondents,” it said.

Water released from Himachal’s Pong dam

Water was released from Himachal Pradesh’s Pong dam into the Beas river Tuesday morning as it was near the danger mark in the reservoir. This is the first time in 15 years that the spillways were opened as a precautionary measure.Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) chief engineer V.N. Goel told over telephone that the water level in the reservoir was 1,394.25 ft Tuesday at 10 a.m. against Monday’s 1,392.42 ft. The dam can store water upto 1,395 ft against the danger mark of 1,390 ft.’We have released around 33,000 cusecs water, including 18,000 cusecs through normal operation of turbines, at 9 a.m. The current inflow is over 65,000 cusecs,’ he said.The Pong Dam is located in Himachal Pradesh, along the Punjab border, about 250 km from the state capital.’There is no need for panic as we have released only 15,000 cusecs additional water. Up to 50,000 cusecs, it’s not treated as flooding in the downstream. We have released the water just as a precautionary measure,’ Goel said.According to him, if there is continuous rainfall in the catchment of the reservoir, then more water would be released.Meanwhile, BBMB officials said the authorities in Punjab have been alerted as water released would directly affect most of the villages located downstream.One of the largest man-made wetlands in northern India, the Pong dam reservoir is spread over an area of 41 km with a maximum width of 19 km in Himachal Pradesh. It came into existence after the construction of a dam on the Beas river in 1975.It fufils the irrigation water requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.Sources in the BBMB said the water from Pong dam was discharged after consulting the Bhakra dam authorities as the released waters of both the Bhakra and Pong could damaged the Harike barrage near Punjab’s Ferozepore town.
‘If the water is simultaneously released from both the dams, it could damage the Harike barrage,’ they said.

Alsindi cement plant runs into rough weather

Shimla The Rs 900 crore Integrated Cement Project, being set up by the multinational Lafarge India at Alsindi in Karsog, has run into rough weather with the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) quashing the environment clearance granted in June 2009.
The environment clearance to the 3 million tonne capacity project has been challenged by two separate petitioners—Pratap Singh Thakur and Ganga Singh Thakur—on the ground that the negative socio-economic and environmental impact of the project was overlooked.A team of the NEAA, headed by JC Kala, had visited the site of the cement plant and the associated limestone mines in June early this year to assess feasibility of the environment clearance granted to the project last year.“The dispossession, impoverishment and trauma attached to displacement have neither been captured by the Environment Impact Assessment nor appreciated by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) or the state government,” says the order.It further takes note that the Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary is less than 5 km from the project site and could have possible impact on the wildlife.The authority, after viewing the CD of the public hearing, observed that the concluding recommendations of the ADM in the minutes of the meeting were uncalled for.

“The authority is convinced that on environmental and social considerations, it is neither desirable to mine the Telehan village, nor to put up a cement plant at

Ghanger. Both the EAC and the ministry have not correctly assessed the impact of the project on land, water and air and failed to appreciate its effects on the livelihood of people of the area,” it stated.

The company maintains that the committee had not found any irregularities or violations of environment norms. The reservation of the authority is regarding the suitability of the area as a whole but cement plant could be set up only where the limestone deposits are located. The local panchayats and other institutional bodies have supported the project. It is confident that the issue will be settled and the plant will come up.

The company had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government for setting up the project in March 2007 and the latest development has put a question mark over its future. Even if it manages to obtain environment clearance afresh, the project will be further delayed.

Cloudburst hits Kharahal Valley in Himachal Pradesh

Kharahal (HimachalPradesh): Property worth millions was destroyed as a cloudburst hit Himachal Pradesh’s Kharahal Valley on Monday.The locals, who heard some thunder early this morning, witnessed the road overflowing with water.”We heard some noise outside in the morning, so we all woke up suddenly and came out of our houses. We saw that the drains were overflowing and our house started shaking, so we all vacated our houses and woke up all the neighbours,” said Vinod, a local.The locals have, however, been safely evacuated from their houses.
Around a dozen villages have been adversely affected by the recent cloudburst with roads in many areas being washed away.
It has been reported that this cloudburst will affect the economy of the region, as it will severely affect the apple cultivation, which is the mainstay of agriculture here.This cloudburst has led to washing away of several roads and bridges in the region.Himachal Pradesh has received three percent more rains than normal during the current monsoon season.

HCL Infosystems bags Himachal’s Rs 100 cr R-APDRP project

NEW DELHI: IT firm HCL Infosystems on Monday said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 100 crore from Himachal Pradesh for providing data and IT applications for energy accounting/auditing and IT-based consumer service centres.

The project, under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (RAPDRP), was awarded by the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB), HCL Infosystems said in a statement.

The project will entail the deployment of a statewide solution to establish baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting/auditing and IT-based consumer service centres in 14 towns, comprising 30 sub-division offices and 293 other offices, it added.

The company will also set up a Disaster Recovery Centre and modernise the state’s existing Data Centre, as well as create a Wide Area Network.

The Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme (R-APDRP) is a flagship programme of the Indian government with a total outlay of Rs 51,577 crore.

Under the programme, IT companies would assist power utilities to strengthen and upgrade transmission and distribution networks from concept to commissioning in order to facilitate a reduction in aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses.

“This being our second win in the space after the similar project won in Rajasthan testifies for our understanding and leadership in setting up IT-based solutions for such critical projects in the country,” HCL Infosystems Executive Vice- President (System Integration and International Business) Rajeev Asija said.

The company had in 2009 won the country’s first R-APDRP project from Rajasthan for over Rs 500 crore, it said.

Himachal to use EVMs for panchayat, urban body polls

Himachal Pradesh will go into the election mode, once again, before the end of the year to complete the process for electing new panchayat and urban local bodies.

The state Election Commissioner Dev Swaroop told media persons the commission has already set in motion the process for verification of the voters’ list ahead of the polls and electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used for the first time in the polls.

“The announcement of the election schedule could be made any time after the commission gets reports on completion of the electoral rolls. The process for verification of the rolls have already started from today and would be completed by September 20,” he informed.

All block development officers (BDOs) have been instructed to appoint teams for house-to-house verifications. The team will include panchayat secretary of sahayak, patwari, school teachers and anganwadi workers. The teams will be handed over working copies of the existing rolls generated from the data of the election commission.

Himachal govt gets temporary respite against Oberois’ move

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday granted a temporary respite to the state government against Oberoi group’s unilateral plan to change composition of the equity share in the multi-crore Wild Flower Hall project, a joint venture already running into serious troubles and legal battles.

A single bench headed by Chief Justice Kourian Joseph, after hearing the government’s plea against the company, which had convened a meeting of the Board of Directors for September 14 apparently to change certain terms of the joint venture agreement restrained the group against taking up two controversial items in its proposed meeting next week.

The government has been fighting a legal battle against the company for reducing its equity share and thus putting the state into huge loss. Recently when the company circulated an agenda listing a move to convert Rs 100 crore loan into equity, the government vehemently opposed the move and declined to attend an earlier meeting fixed for August 10, which eventually could not happen for want of quorum. But the company,alleges a senior government official still chose to go ahead with the plan and convened a fresh meeting to discuss the controversial issue next week.

Admission norms relaxed for 21 polytechnic institutes

Solan Acceding to the demand of 21 private polytechnic institutes, the state government has finally relaxed admission norms to enable more candidates to secure admissions in various courses.

The relaxation came as a major relief to the managements of private institutes where a large number of seats had fallen vacant after the last counselling session in August.

Vijay Chandan, director, Technical Education, while confirming the relaxation, said one-time relaxation had been granted to 21 private institutes where almost 30 to 40 per cent seats had fallen vacant. All seats had, however, been filled in the eight polytechnic institutes being run by the state government. About six different courses were being offered in these institutes.

As per the relaxed norms, any matriculate could opt for a polytechnic course and the earlier stipulation of 50 per cent marks had now been waived off. Further, the ITI students who have appeared for their exams and were awaiting results could secure provisional admission in the lateral entry category and the mandatory condition of appearing in the Polytechnic Admission Test had been relaxed. This relaxation would enable ITI students to seek admission in various three-year polytechnic courses who had earlier been denied this opportunity. Read Full Story

Cabinet nod to caste count in census

New Delhi Bowing to demands by several political parties, the Union Cabinet today gave its approval for a caste-based census to be implemented through a separate house-to-house enumeration from June to September next year.
It would be a process separate from Census 2011. “After considering various options based on the response of political parties, the Cabinet decided that a separate house-to-house enumeration of caste will be done from June to September 2011,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here. The Cabinet meeting was presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

According to reports, the proposal to include caste in the next census exercise was cleared by a voice vote at the cabinet meeting. The government has also reportedly earmarked Rs 2,000 to 3,000 crore for the census. Read Full Story

Himachal rivers may abate, ease Punjab, Haryana floods

The flow in rivers and streams running downstream from Himachal Pradesh to neighbouring Punjab and Haryana is likely to abate as the rains are receding, the weatherman said here Friday.

Moderate to heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh in the past few days is among the factors that have contributed to a flood-like situation in Punjab and Haryana.

‘After days of heavy to very heavy rainfall in Sirmaur (located adjoining Haryana) and in Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Kangra districts (located upstream of Punjab), the entire hill state would get moderate to mild rains in the next few days,’ Manmohan Singh, the director of the meteorological office here, told .

He said there are chances of moderate rainfall in some areas of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Shimla and Solan districts Friday.

Continuous rainfall for the past few days abnormally increased the water level in the major rivers of the hill state — the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna — which enter the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

Two major highways were under water in Haryana Thursday and over 30 villages in Yamunanagar district inundated as the Yamuna river overflowed its banks.

Agricultural land located on the banks of the Satluj river in Punjab was inundated due to rise in the river’s water level again.

Himachal police zero in on rare wood smuggler

Himachal Pradesh police have zeroed on a man recently released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail as the mastermind behind the smuggling of banned red sanders wood to China from here.

‘We have established beyond doubt that Narinder Bodh of Kaza (a village close to China border in Lahaul and Spiti district) was the kingpin in the attempt to smuggle the rare wood to China,’ Superintendent of Police S.R. Rana told .

He said Bodh was released from Tihar Jail in April after serving a 14-year jail term in a drugs smuggling case.

Two trucks transporting 12 tonnes of red sanders wood were seized at Kaurik, just 3 km from the international border, on the night of Aug 23. The truck drivers — Vijay Kumar and Raju — were arrested on the spot.

Both the drivers had in possession valid permits issued by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at Sumdoh to move closer to the border Read Full Story

Highways blocked due to heavy rains, normal life disrupted in Himachal Pradesh

Major highways connecting the region have been blocked due to landslides triggered by heavy rains disrupting normal life even as one person was buried alive and half-a-dozen houses collapsed in the area.Nahan-Shimla, Nahan-Paonta-Dehradun, Nahan-Chandigarh, Paonta-Shillai-Ronhat highways, all roads linking tehsil headquarters of Rajgarh, Renuka, were blocked due to numerous landslides bringing normal life to a still, officials said.One person was buried alive, while two others were injured when a house collapsed near Delhi Gate in Nahan. Read Full Story

Fruit bats destroy apple crop in Himachal

Fruit bats, which play a critical role in controlling pests, have become a menace in the Jubbal-Rohru belt in the upper Shimla region of Himachal Pradesh, destroying a ripe apple crop.

Bats leave claw marks on most of the fruits, making these unfit for human consumption.

Roshan Lal Manta, an apple grower in Bhamnoli village on the outskirts of Rohru town, said bats are destroying a bumper apple crop in the area. ‘In some areas, there were reports of more than 50 percent damage to the crop.’

‘We have noticed the bats’ predation after a gap of almost 40 years. At that time, such attacks were common but were controlled by their mass culling,’ the octogenarian Manta added. Read Full Story

In Himachal, Pass Class X Without Sitting For Examination

Shimla: To reduce the students burden, Kapil Sibal ¬- the minister for human resource, has mooted doing away with Class X examinations, but some students in Himachal have devised a smarter way.As many as 63 of them have passed the exam conducted by Dharmshala based Himachal Education Board even though they did not appear for it in March 2010.OP Jamwal, ASP Dharamshala confirmed registration of a case in the matter.He said that since the 63 students did not appear for the examinations at the allotted centers, but the board’s in-house preliminary investigation found all their answer sheets (numbering about 400), clearly there were indications of connivance in the matter.”“Some students and board employees have been questioned but nobody has been detained so far,” he said Read Full Story

Shortage of trays, cartons add to apple growers’ woes

Shimla An acute shortage of apple trays and cartons has added to the woes of growers who have been facing unending problems in transportation of produce due to bad roads and non-availability of trucks.

Respite from incessant rains over the past one week has allowed the growers to harvest the crop. However, they are unable to send the produce to the market as trays and cartons are not available.

With state-agencies like the HPMC and HIMFED having failed to make adequate arrangements for the supply of packaging material for the bumper season, the growers are virtually left at the mercy of traders who are exploiting the situation to the hilt.

Automatic apple trays are being supplied at Rs 8 to Rs 10 per piece as against the normal rate of Rs 4.50 per tray. Sun-dried trays, which are normally available for Rs 2.50 to Rs 3 each, are also being sold at more than double the rate.

“Cartons, which were available for Rs 33 at the start of the season, are now being supplied for Rs 42 or even more,” said Pawan Chauhan, pradhan of Pandli panchayat in Kotkhai.

So far, 4 lakh tonnes of apple have reached the market and every day about 1,200 trucks are being sent out from the state. Read Full Story

Himachal High Court dismisses Virbhadra’s plea, paves way for prosecuting him

Speaking outside the court, Satyapal Jain, the governments lawyer stated, “the court has dismissed the application filed by Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh which had sought to quash registration of an FIR in a case registered by HP police and had asked for a CBI in the matter.”

“We let the court know that the police investigation in the case was complete and there was no malafide in the matter as the police officer who had registered the case, was later taken up by Virbhadra Singh as private secretary in his capacity as a minister in the union cabinet,” said Jain.

“By dismissing the application, the court agreed with our contention of letting matter be decided by the trail court as the police have completed all investigations,” he added.

However, the court granted 15 days for the judgment to become operative, which Sharwan Dogra, lawyer for the petitioners said, “was in response to their application of letting the court know that they intended to contest the matter in the Supreme Court.”

Jain said that only after reading the judgment, would the government consider whether it could file the charge sheet in the court before the 15 days reprieve granted as the main plea has been dismissed in totality. Read Full Story

HC directs Himachal govt to furnish list of tainted officers

Shimla The Himachal Pradesh High Court today directed the state government to furnish a list of all tainted officers against whom investigations were in progress. A complete list of the tainted officers be furnished against whom investigations were in progress and inform the court “whether the government considered the factor of image of public service and the image of government while reinstating these officers, a bench comprising of Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Kuldeep Singh said.

The bench also asked the Chief Secretary to furnish information about the reinstated officers against whom cases were under investigations under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also directed the top official to inform the court what steps government had taken to expedite the trial or investigation against such officers and explain if the government had applied its mind before passing the order of reinstatement of such officers.

The Chief Secretary, in her affidavit, said three officers were facing trial in corruption cases but no details of officers against whom investigation is pending was furnished.

Himachal industry gears up for upcoming textile park

With Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal laying the foundation stone for a technical textile park in Una district, last week, it could add new dimension to the status of industries in Himachal.

The state, which managed to attract investment worth Rs 7799.05 crores from 2003-2010(primarily due to central excise package) now faces a challenge of attracting the industries ,sans benefits.The lapse of tax and central excise concessions on holiday package announced for Himachal along with other states in 2002, was initiated with the withdrawal of excise package from March 31.

Sandeep Jindal , managing director, Ludhiana-based Jindal Cotex Limited(two subsidiaries of Jindal Cotex Limited are setting up their units in the park with combined investment of over Rs 200 crore, maintained the park could definitely provide a new facade for the industrial sector in Himachal. Since the upcoming park was a technical one it would attract players interested in setting up their technical textile units and could help the state add a new chapter to its textile industry. Read Full Story

Four in Himachal sentenced for killing ragging protester

A court in this Himachal Pradesh town has convicted four students for stabbing to death another student, who stopped them from ragging juniors in a degree college in 2003, a law official said here Tuesday.’Four of the five students were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment by Additional District and Sessions Judge Rajiv Bhardwaj Monday for murdering Amit Thakur,’ Additional District Attorney Kuldip Sen told .They were also fined Rs.25,000 each.He said the case of the fifth accused, who was juvenile at the time of the crime, was transferred to a juvenile court. The five students stabbed Amit and his friends Munish Walia and Rajesh Sharma with sharp-edged weapons when they tried to prevent them from ragging freshers in the Government Degree College at Palampur (now Shaheed Vikram Batra Degree College) near here Aug 20 in 2003 . Read Full Story

Poppy cultivation in HP declines, cannabis continues to grow

Dharamsala Initiatives launched by government to curb burgeoning narcotic trade in Himachal Pradesh appears to have gained success, if one goes by police records. The areas under poppy cultivation has recorded drastic decline while the cannabis growth has marginally gone up. Police and Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) had been jointly campaigning in the state to destroy poppy fields in six districts of the state, including Kullu, Mandi, Kangra, Chamba, Sirmour and Kinnaur.

“We tried everything possible to prevent the state from turning into Afghanistan; the campaign launched over past one decade has brought some results” Additional Director General of Police I.D Bhandhari told over telephone from CID headquarter in Shimla. Next to Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh records highest growth of poppy in the country.

Opium extracted from poppy in Himachal Pradesh finds is way into north Indian states of Haryana and Punjab, while some portion of produce is smuggled into parched areas of Rajasthan. State police claims that the opium production in state has declined by nearly 60 per cent. Read Full Story

Himachal to boost tourism by introducing houseboats

Shimla Himachal Pradesh plans to introduce houseboats in the state’s prominent lakes, on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir, to attract more tourists. Beautiful houseboats in Kashmir’s Dal Lake are among the state’s biggest tourist attractions. “Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has directed the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to explore the possibility of starting houseboats in the lakes to promote tourism and generate employment avenues for the local people,” an official statement said.

The HPTDC is also planning to announce a special package for visitors to woo foreign tourists to the hills during the October Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

The state has already offered a week’s free hospitality to all world record holder players who choose to visit the state during the Games.