The camp was held in association with SEWA Trust, and was dedicated to the loving memory of two young journalists who died young. Ajai Srivastava, a crusader for the rights of the disabled, convener of the camp and president of Umang Foundation, said blind persons gave a very strong message to the society that they want to make a positive contribution to the society and should not be excluded at all. Anurup Thakur, Tarachand, Kartar Sharma, Gopal and Naveen Kumar, all blinds, also donated blood. Shobhu Ram thanked Ajai Srivastava for giving an opportunity to blind persons to donate blood and support the cause of children with thalassemia.

The Chief Minister, while visiting the blood donation camp, said that Umang Foundation was rendering a great service to the society by creating awareness about the importance of blood donation and the problems being faced by children with Thalassemia.

Rakesh Kanwar, founder trusty of SEWA Trust, was among those who donated blood. He said the trust would continue to support such cause in future also. Prof. Vepa Rao, patron of the trust, Ms. Meeakshi Kanwar, a trusty, was also present in the camp. The camp received active support from members of YES, a local organization of youth.

Shimla: The Bharatiya Janata Party government today finally completed the formality of formally inducting two cabinet ministers and three chief parliamentary secretaries. Jai Ram Thakur and Mahender Singh were sworn in as cabinet ministers while Satpal Satti, Virender Kanwar and Sukh Ram Chaudhary were administered the oath of office and secrecy as Chief Parliamentary Secretaries. There were also speculations that Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal may also announce a political advisor to accommodate another colleague.

Jai Ram Thakur, born on 6th January, 1965 has done his graduation from Government College Mandi. He started his political carrier  as Joint Secretary, State ABVP in 1986. He remained as Organizing Secretary, ABVP ( J & K) , 1989 – 90, State Secretary Bhartiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha from 1993- 95, President, State Bhartiya Janta Party Yuva Morcha, President BJP, District Mandi and President State Bhartiya Janata Party since January, 2007. He was elected to State Legislative Assembly in 1998 and re-elected in 2003 and for the third term in December, 2007 from Chachiot Assembly Constituency. He also remained Chairman, General Development Committee and Education Committee and Vice Chairman State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd.

Mahender Singh was born on 22 February, 1950 in Richhli, District Mandi.  He had his education from Merrut in UP. He was elected to State Legislative Assembly in February 1990 as an Independent candidate for the first time and was elected again in 1993 and 1998, in  2003  and in 2007.  He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha for five times and during this time  as BJP candidate. He remained as a Cabinet Minister and held various portfolios including Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Excise and Taxation and PWD during the 1998 – 2004.

Satpal Satti born on 5th January 1964 at Jalgran in Una and is MA, M.Phil (Political Science) and has done Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management and Labour Welfare.  Satpal Satti remained State Secretary, ABVP from 1990- 93, National Secretary ABVP (1994-97), President, State Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha( BJYM) and Executive Member of State Bhartiya Janta Party. He was elected to State Legislative Assembly in 2003 and re-elected in 2007 from Una Assembly Constituency in Una district.

Virender Kanwar born on 29 January 1964 at Village Deev, has done B.A. LL.B and Diploma in Pharmacy. He remained convener of ABVP District Hamirpur (1981–85), General Secretary and President BJYM District Una 1992-95 and 1995-2000. He remained as Member State Bhartiya Janata Party, Executive Committee, 2003-06 and President BJP District Una in 2006.  He also remained Memeber Zila Parishad  from 2000-03. He was elected to State Legislative Assembly in 2003 and was re-elected in 2007 from Kuthlehar Assembly Constituency in Una.

Sukh Ram born on 15th April 1964 at Village Amargarh in district Sirmour is Intermediate and has Diploma in Electrical.
He was elected to State Legislative Assembly in 2003 and re-elected in 2007 from Paonta Sahib Assembly in Sirmour district.

Shimla: A meeting of State Advisory Committee on  youth programme in respect of Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) Sangathan was held today under the chairmanship of VC Pharka, principal secretary, Youth Services and Sports Department.  Reviewing the progress of the various activities currently underway of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in Himachal Pradesh, Pharka underlined the need to ensure effective coordination among different departments like Youth Services and Sports, Health, Information and Public Relations and State Art, Language & Culture Department for the execution of various schemes related to the youth activities.

He said that cultural troops of Language & Culture  Department, I & PR department and Kala Jathas of literacy mission should be roped in for the propagation and dissemination of the schemes and programmes of various departments for the welfare of youth. Pharka said that the programmes like AIDS control, female feticide, prohibition could only be implemented effectively and in true letter and spirit, if all the departments dovetail their programmes with each other.

He asked the NYK Sangathan to groom new youth clubs in the State and provide adequate funds for the infrastructure development like buildings etc in view of their excellent performance.  He also emphasized the need to bring out directory containing information about the various Yuvak Mandals operating in the State.

Pharka told that as many as 76 thousand NSS volunteers have been making their presence felt in the rural areas by under taking various developmental schemes. He also asked the concerned Department to bring out a blue-print for the adolescents to check the menace of drug addiction among the youth in tender age.

Alwan Masih, Director, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Shimla detailed out the calendar of activities being taken up by the Sangathan during the current financial year. Several other issues like Capacity Building Training Programme   Scheme of Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of India, Community Convergent   action, activation of youth clubs were also discussed in the meeting.

Shimla: Following their successful campaign last year to press for the demands of single women, the HP Ekal Naree Shakti Sangathan is now holding a Jan Sunvai (public hearing) at the Gaiety Theatre on July 6 to make the state government once more aware of the current situation and seek its active participation in solving problems that still remain.

During the hearing, about 120 women from 20 development blocks, 7 districts shall be getting together and giving public testimonies before a panel of women activists to make them aware of the ground realities. It may be remembered that the Ekal Naree Shakti Sangathan had organised a 3-day Padyatra, which culminated in front of Vidhan Sabha on 3rd April, 2008. The government had accepted several of the demands put forward by single women.

What has not happened?
1 The BJP during the elections to State Assembly in 2007, promised to provide Social Security pension to every person above the age of 60. The Government has failed to implement this promise.
2 To get clearer understanding of situation in which Single Women in Himachal are living, a State level Study was to be commissioned. This is not happened.
3 Land for those poor single women who desire to become Kisan and be self sufficient- there is no movement on this demand
4 Fast Track Courts to decide divorce and maintenance cases have not been established
5 Eve though the whole State is covered by Health Insurance Scheme, this is beneficial only when hospitalisation is required. For day to day illnesses and age related disabilities, when women need medical care, they have to pay – for tests and for medicines. How can women whose pension is just Rs 330/- per month afford this?

New problems identified by ANSS:
1 After the death of adult son, the fathers are making a will in the name of grandchildren and also making paternal uncles as `guardian’, thus depriving young widows any rights/access on sasooral property.
2 Ration cards are not issued to single women living with their parents, unless they get a certificate from sasooral Panchayat that their names have been deleted. This is creating peculiar situation where in women feel, if they cut-off their names from sasooral, they and their children would loose all the rights over sasooral property.

In wake of present global climate change, a direct impact on apple crop is seen in Himachal Pradesh. Over a century ago, Sachidnand Strokes didn’t think about the fate of apples in the region. Experts say, if a crop is not natural resident of a region but is a foreigner to similar biotic environment, it will multiply rapidly and then there will be a fall in the growth, losing its natural resistance. Somehow, I feel its happening to apple in Himachal.

In 1995 my father had been to Nauni University as part of a delegation from our Block. Even to this day he keeps quoting one Dr. John from US, who had taken some workshop on exchange of ideas about apple varieties and production techniques in the US. Dr. John and his team had forecasted apple production to be limited above 6,000 ft. by 2010. The conclusion was part of global research done by eminent US scientists’ team in wake of global climate change.

Since 2005, in a way I have been keeping a close watch on apple trends in Himachal, especially in Kotkhai-Jubbal and Rohru belt.  In year 2007 snowfall has been limited to above 5,000 feet elevation and sufficient chilling hours I think has been limited above 6,000 ft. In 2008 the snowfall itself was limited up to 6,000 fts and sufficient chilling hours were limited above 7,500 fts in most of areas in of Himachal Pradesh. The results can be seen in the lower belts and lower middle belts as this year these areas are low in apple production.

The summer 2009 has been hotter than usual, deviating 5°C above the normal temperature all across Himachal Pradesh with longer dry spells. The Monsoon could have saved the apple production but the El Nino and La Nino effects weekend it around Deccan Pleatue and there has been not much substantial progress for two weeks.

Seeing the past trends of apple production, the horticulture department was optimistic of achieving a target of 7,00,000 tonnes of apple production. But nature had a different plan. Presently guestimate by various experts and formal estimates by the horticulture department are being pegged around 50% of the last year’s production.

The above production figures for the last 15 years clearly show a cyclic trend of apple production in HP. After a constant growth trend for about 4-5 years there is a sudden fall and most of these falls are due to change in climatic conditions. In year 1999 the production fell to 12.5% of the previous year’s production figures and in 2006 the apple production again saw a steep fall to about 50% as compared to previous year’s level. Both these years, if we remember, have been drought-affected years with scanty of snowfall and rainfall.
In year 1994 the area under apple production was about 75,000 hectares, which increased to over 90,000 hectares by year 2000. Since then the area under apple production has been more or less same.

This was the past and the near present we have seen and I hope that Monsoon will be good enough to save us our bread and better for this year at least, as no one can bet on future by drawing inferences form present climatic scenario. But there is some way ahead to be at least prepared for the future.

For that matter we the people of hills are well aware of global climate change and its future implication on humanity as a whole. (leave aside apples). On my recent visit to Shimla and beyond, I found that people are still not serious and mostly not aware about the business of climate change. Incessant forest fires in the hills right from Barog to Rohru were a common scene this year. The valleys were gutted in thick smoke, and for the first time in my life I couldn’t see the village on the other side of my valley.

In the long run, climatic eclipse might turn into a future apocalypse for apples in lower heights of HP. How long it will take, to know this we have to wait as no one can challenge nature and its cyclic wraths. (I am saying wait here, because seeing the present attitude I don’t think we are preparing or trying to avert this imminent apocalypse)

(Most of the figures and facts are from recent news items and can be crosschecked for authenticity before making it public)

Shimla: Design India, a country-level theatre and art group, would be staging a new version of Dev Das, written by Bangla writer Sharat Chander, at the historical Gaiety Theatre in Shimla, on Monday, 6th July. The play has been adapted by reputed cine writer Jagdamba Prasad Dixit.

The legendry love story as ever, written and staged as a play, is being jointly enacted by a team of Bollywood and Himachali actors. The roles of Devdas, Chunni Babu, Parbati, Chandermukhi and Chaudhry Mahashay are being played by Abhimanyu Pandey, Girish Harnot, Usha and Swati as Paro, Ritika and Prabha as Chandermukhi, and Rakesh Sharma as Chaudhary Mahashay respectively. The play is being directed by Abhimanyu Pandey and produced by Girish Harnot with new interpretation of the story that has been made and remade in celluloid thrice.

According to chairman of Design India, Girish Harnot, the play is being performed for the first time on stage in play-form in the history of Indian theatre.

By: Vani

Not too long after Himachal had burst out in jubilation for two of its representatives at the Center being made cabinet ministers, the honeymoon for the state now seems over. And that too with a rude shock of no mention of the state in the Central railway budget, that was today in the Parliament yesterday.

Were the people expecting too much as for the first time the state had two leaders as Central ministers - Anand Sharma and five-time former CM Virbhadra Singh? Or as Chief Minister of Himachal Prem Kumar Dhumal put it, “Is the state facing neglect because of being a peaceful state?”

Big disappointment met people of the state when the railway budget unfolds on their TV sets. So what was the state expecting? After many years the hopes of railway extension and development in the state had started to take off and projects like Mandi-Manali-Leh railway line, which is of strategic importance (the PM having given his consent in principle earlier), Bilaspur-Bhanupalli railway line and Chandigarh-Baddi link to boost and back up industry, were awaiting budget allotment. Alas! Nothing happened. Not even a mention.

A question that comes to minds of many residents of Himachal is that why does the Centre feel we are insignificant? A small state with population over 70 lakh has a record and history of significant contributions to the nation.

The hard fact remains that if it were not for Himachal’s hydro power wealth and developmental strides in the sector for which people of the state had to sacrifice their land and homes, many states of north-India would not have been able to get electricity. Had people of Himachal not sacrificed their natural rights on the forests that give them essential wood to repair their homes and fodder for the cattle, the catchments of many rivers and tributaries that cater water to many neighboring states would not have been preserved.

When it came to projects of national importance like the Bhakra Dam, Pong Dam and now Renuka Dam that would feed water to national capital Delhi, local people were asked to sacrifice their agricultural lands. Does this contribution of the state in national interest seem less in any manner?

In his sharp reaction to the budget, the CM today said, “Was Himachal being ignored because it was a peaceful state and on the other hand states like Jammu and Kashmir and North-East, where law and order situation was not good were being given special package or special railway corridors, which was incorrect”. He said that people of the state had been hurt with this attitude of the Centre.

Strong reactions have also come in from BJP president Jai Ram Thakur who has questioned why the two cabinet ministers from the state could not plead for the state’s interests.

Shimla: Blind Persons’ Association president Shobhu Ram, a well known blinds’ rights activist of Himachal Pradesh, will inaugurate the voluntary blood donation camp, being organized by Umang Foundation and SEWA Trust on 5th July, 2009 at The Ridge in Shimla. The camp, dedicated to the cause of children with Thalassemia, will be in the loving memory of two journalists - Vikas Panwar and Jai Chand Chandel - who had died vey young.

Ajai Srivastava, president of Umang Foundation and convener of the camp, said that it would be the sixth blood donation camp in the last 13 months by Umang in support of children with Thalassemia. According to him, “Thalassemic children in Himachal Pradesh are the most vulnerable individuals and Umang Foundation has been trying to create awareness among masses and the government about their rights. Blood donation camps dedicated to their cause have helped a lot in protection of their right to life.” He said people from all walks of life, including blind persons, are expected to donate blood in the camp. Youth for Enlightening the Society (YES), a vibrant organization of students, is supporting the camp.

HimVani

Shimla: The Railway Budget-2009 brought disappointment for Himachal Pradesh as except for the Churaru Takrala-Amb Andaura section of Nangal Dam-Talwara rail link, the railway minister made no commitment on other major projects including the Bhanupalli-Bilaspur-Beri Broadgauge rail line and Ghanauli-Baddi rail line. Though the Talwara rail line is among the seven expansion projects to be taken up this year, the state was expecting completion of other tracks as a priority, especially rail line to Baddi. The Nangal-Talwara rail line was started almost thirty years ago.

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