Shimla: Absorbing the setback of the below expectations transfers recommended by the 12 Finance Commission, the Himachal Pradesh government budget today sought to tighten belts and proposed overall increase of 4 percent value added tax (VAT) slab to 5% that would raise prices of many items barring edible oil and food grains, which stand exempted.

Other than VAT, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who is also the finance minister mentioned in his budget speech that the government intended to impose goods entry tax for which a bill would be introduced in the house.

Presenting an Rs 197.51 crore surplus budget, Dhumal in his third budget of the term provided for an outlay of Rs 15,078 crore that incorporates borrowing amounting to Rs 2272.80 crores.

Expressing disappointment at the 13th Finance Commission’s recommendations that were laid in parliament recently, he said “the commission has recommended Rs 21,691 crore as the total fiscal transfers for Himachal for the next five years. The commission has under estimated our expenditure and over estimated receipts. The 13th Commission has recommended a revenue deficit grant of Rs 7,888 crore against the 12th Finance commissions recommendation of Rs 10,202 crore. This will have an adverse impact on the state finance in the coming years.

With an opening balance of Rs 630.14 crore the chief minister put the 2010-11 income estimate at Rs 14,646.29 crore and the expenditure at Rs 15078.92 crore, ending the fiscal with an surplus of 197.51 crore.

Later speaking to the media he said that by way of increased VAT the government expected to realize an additional revenue of Rs 20 to 25 crore.

He added that the proposed goods entry tax would be imposed on items like steel, diesel or other commodities which companies who were operating in the state but were making their bulk purchases outside, thereby depriving us of any revenues.

Responding to a query, the chief minister categorically ruled out any proposal for giving an unemployment allowance.

To contain impact of rising prices, state subsidy scheme on pulses, edible oil and salt would continue, he said, adding the foodgrains and edible oils have been kept outside the proposed increase of VAT taxes.

600 MW of additional generation capacity to be added

Other than these tax measures, the government expects the states hydropower generation capacity to increase by about 600 MW as some medium sized projects like Allian Duhangan, Malana II and Budhil in the private sector and Chamera III in the government sector are expected to be commissioned within the financial year.

The budget has laid emphasis on social and agriculture sector as uncertainty over extension of excise exemption beyond March for industry remains.

A Rs 372 crore crop diversification plan to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency and a Rs 85 crore apple rejuvenation projects are proposed to be implemented.

As a cost cutting measure, the budget proposed to involve the private sector in meeting government needs for office space. A policy whereby building constructed in the private sector could be hired on long term leases basis for housing government officers would be framed, said Dhumal. It would reduce the need to construct as well as maintain such buildings, he added.

For meeting drinking water needs and providing sewerages to the towns of Sujanpur and Sarkhaghat an outlay of Rs 260 crore stands provisioned.

To remove gender biases against the female child, ‘Beti Hai Anmol’ yogna for BPL families would be started. Under the yogna, for upto two girls born in a BPL family, the government would make a fixed deposit of Rs 5100/- each at time of birth which would only become cashable on adulthood.

Class 8 Board Exam to be done away with

As an educational reform the government announced doing away with a board examination for class 8 from 2001. Giving priority to education, the budget allocation for the sector stands at Rs 2567 crore, which includes Rs 2302 crores for salaries and other non-plan expenditure.

Tourism ‘Unforgetable Himachal’ brand

Taking cue from Incredible India brand, tourism in the state is to be brought under ‘Unforgetable Himachal’ brand and ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kheta Hai’ (Every house has a story to tell) compilation for Shimla city has been extended to include Har Gaon Ki Khani that would be documented as part of tourism literature. For promoting cuisine and handicrafts, there is a proposal to establish a Himachal Hat.

Budget Split

Of the total budget outlay, 77 percent would be met through revenues and the rest through borrowings. The revenues accrue as 26 percent from own taxes, 15 percent non tax revenues, 14 percent from share in central taxes and 45 percent as central grants. On the expenditure side, 30 percent (Rs 4596 Cr) goes towards salaries, 15 percent (Rs 2236.30 Cr) for interest payments, 8 percent (Rs 1153 Cr) towards loan repayments, 12 percent (Rs 1850 Cr) for pensions, 8 percent (Rs 1153 Cr) for maintenance which leaves out only 27 percent (Rs 4071 Cr) for development works.

Other than VAT, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who is also the finance minister mentioned in his budget speech that the government intended to impose goods entry tax for which a bill would be introduced in the house.

Presenting an Rs 197.51 crore surplus budget, Dhumal in his third budget of the term provided for an outlay of Rs 15,078 crore that incorporates borrowing amounting to Rs 2272.80 crores.

Expressing disappointment at the 13th Finance Commission’s recommendations that were laid in parliament recently, he said “the commission has recommended Rs 21,691 crore as the total fiscal transfers for Himachal for the next five years. The commission has under estimated our expenditure and over estimated receipts. The 13th Commission has recommended a revenue deficit grant of Rs 7,888 crore against the 12th Finance commissions recommendation of Rs 10,202 crore. This will have an adverse impact on the state finance in the coming years.
With an opening balance of Rs 630.14 crore the chief minister put the 2010-11 income estimate at Rs 14,646.29 crore and the expenditure at Rs 15078.92 crore, ending the fiscal with an surplus of 197.51 crore.

Later speaking to the media he said that by way of increased VAT the government expected to realize an additional revenue of Rs 20 to 25 crore.

He added that the proposed goods entry tax would be imposed on items like steel, diesel or other commodities which companies who were operating in the state but were making their bulk purchases outside, thereby depriving us of any revenues.

Responding to a query, the chief minister categorically ruled out any proposal for giving an unemployment allowance.

To contain impact of rising prices, state subsidy scheme on pulses, edible oil and salt would continue, he said, adding the foodgrains and edible oils have been kept outside the proposed increase of VAT taxes.

600 MW of additional generation capacity to be added

Other than these tax measures, the government expects the states hydropower generation capacity to increase by about 600 MW as some medium sized projects like Allian Duhangan, Malana II and Budhil in the private sector and Chamera III in the government sector are expected to be commissioned within the financial year.

The budget has laid emphasis on social and agriculture sector as uncertainty over extension of excise exemption beyond March for industry remains.

A Rs 372 crore crop diversification plan to be funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency and a Rs 85 crore apple rejuvenation projects are proposed to be implemented.

As a cost cutting measure, the budget proposed to involve the private sector in meeting government needs for office space. A policy whereby building constructed in the private sector could be hired on long term leases basis for housing government officers would be framed, said Dhumal. It would reduce the need to construct as well as maintain such buildings, he added.

For meeting drinking water needs and providing sewerages to the towns of Sujanpur and Sarkhaghat an outlay of Rs 260 crore stands provisioned.

To remove gender biases against the female child, ‘Beti Hai Anmol’ yogna for BPL families would be started. Under the yogna, for upto two girls born in a BPL family, the government would make a fixed deposit of Rs 5100/- each at time of birth which would only become cashable on adulthood.

Class 8 Board Exam to be done away with

As an educational reform the government announced doing away with a board examination for class 8 from 2001. Giving priority to education, the budget allocation for the sector stands at Rs 2567 crore, which includes Rs 2302 crores for salaries and other non-plan expenditure.

Tourism ‘Unforgetable Himachal’ brand

Taking cue from Incredible India brand, tourism in the state is to be brought under ‘Unforgetable Himachal’ brand and ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kheta Hai’ (Every house has a story to tell) compilation for Shimla city has been extended to include Har Gaon Ki Khani that would be documented as part of tourism literature. For promoting cuisine and handicrafts, there is a proposal to establish a Himachal Hat.

Budget Split

Of the total budget outlay, 77 percent would be met through revenues and the rest through borrowings. The revenues accrue as 26 percent from own taxes, 15 percent non tax revenues, 14 percent from share in central taxes and 45 percent as central grants. On the expenditure side, 30 percent (Rs 4596 Cr) goes towards salaries, 15 percent (Rs 2236.30 Cr) for interest payments, 8 percent (Rs 1153 Cr) towards loan repayments, 12 percent (Rs 1850 Cr) for pensions, 8 percent (Rs 1153 Cr) for maintenance which leaves out only 27 percent (Rs 4071 Cr) for development works

Reacting to budget proposals that chief minister Dhumal put out in the house, Vidya Stokes, leader of the opposition said since the BJP government has come to power bus fares alone had been increased by as much as 49 percent. Other than that increasing VAT would only increase prices of many commodities, and only add to the burden of the common man, she said.

“This budget would only add to inflation,” she said adding, “the state government is even hesitant to acknowledge the contribution that central grants make for supporting this expenditure and development plans.”

An housewife Indu Mehta reacted saying, “there were many other items besides edible oil and food grains that are used in a household. Increasing taxes on them would only make them that much more expensive.”

Communist Party of India Marxist has termed the budget as anti peasant, anti employment and inherently disappointing. Tikender Panwar, CPI(M) spokesman said that though the economic survey released out on Thursday points out the huge gap between the number of farmers in the state and their declining share in the GDP, the budget proposes nothing to enhance this share.

Increasing VAT would only aggravate the price rise that people are facing. The party has announced plans of holding demonstration on 20th March over the anti-people budget proposals announced, the spokesman said.

However, a trader Sandeep Sud welcomed the move to impose goods entry tax. This measure would encourage companies operating here to source their material requirements from within However, a trader Sandeep Sud welcomed the move to impose goods entry tax. This measure would encourage companies operating here to source their material requirements from within the state, which would not only accrue revenues for the government but would increase sale volumes for resident businesses, he said.

Shimla: There were a record over 1.14 crore tourists who visited the state in 2009, which was more than 17 percent from the previous year. The states current population is projected to be only 70.29 lakhs.

In response to a question by Kaul Singh (congress), during question hour chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal let the legislative assembly know that with an objective to increase the staying span of tourists, 125 places had been selected, some of which were new, for which funds from central and state government would be used to develop suitable accommodation and connectivity.

He said that 1,14,37,155 tourists visited Himachal in 2009. Of these 1,10,36,572 were domestic and 4,00,583 were foreign tourists. In 2008 we had 97,49,433 visitors, he said.

Central tourism ministry has sanctioned Rs 23.45 crore of which Rs 6 crore had been released for offbeat tourism, Rs 5.72 crore for Shimla Theog, Narkanda circuit; Rs 3.80 crore for Sundernagar circuit and Rs 3.24 for Jubbal, Rohru circuit said the chief minister. An amount of Rs 56 crore has been proposed to the central ministry for Kullu and Sirmaur districts, he added.

For starting heli-taxis services, Dhumal – w ho is also the tourism minister said, a single bid by a private party had to be dropped and the tenders floated for the purpose had to be cancelled. An alternate model was being explored where all players in the field could be allowed to ply heli-taxis at various places, for which obtaining necessary clearances from director general of civil aviation was mandatory, he said. To improve accessibility to remote but scenic valleys or spots, plans were afoot to develop additional 12 helipads.

The adventure sport of heli-skiing was being conducted in Manali and was open from 6th March till 27th March, he said. A 30 year agreement for the high end sport was signed in December, 2006. However because of less snow, it failed to take off in 2007 and 2008, said Dhumal.

Photo by: Rahul Dhiman

The survey report expects the per capita income for 2009-10 to touch Rs 49,211 against Rs 44,538 in 2008-09 and Rs 40,107 in 2007-08. However the 10th Plan (2002-07) growth rate at 7.6 percent was 0.2 percent lower than the national average.

Whereas the state economy grew at a rate of 8.6 percent in 2007-08, and 7.4 percent in 2008-09, it was expected to better the nation growth rate by about 0.3 percent, said the chief minister after table the report in the Vidhan Sabha.

The long drought spell in 2009 has been reflected with food grain production estimated a 9.56 lakh tons, which down from 14 lakh tons in the previous financial year. Fruit crop production which was 6.28 lakh tons in 2008-09, in the current year till December it was only 3.31 tons. Apple production that constitutes bulk of the fruit produced in the state was only 2.8 lakh tons by December against a production of 5.10 lakh tons in 2008-09.

The economy is expected to grow higher than the national average in spite of the fact that Himachal is heavily dependent upon agriculture and its allied activities and any fluctuation does impact growth.

Impact of the special incentives for industries allowed in the state have shown the weightage in economy shifting from agriculture to industry. Agriculture contributed about 18 percent towards state domestic product in 2008-09 and industry made up for 15.6 percent of it, the survey records. In 1990-91, agriculture’s share in the economy stood at 26.5 percent and industry was 10 percent.

The gross domestic product that was Rs 36,924 in 2008-09 was expected to reach Rs 42,278 crore in 2009-10, the survey estimates.

In response to a call attention motion, chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that there was a need to redefine the firing range as innocent victims living in the vicinity of the range were falling target due to unexploded mortar in the range.

Ruling out any foul play in the accident, the chief minister said that during investigation it was observed that two brothers Rahaul (13) and Shail along with third child identified as Chandan (13) had gone to the Brahmanu Galu jungle where they had collected the unexploded shells of 51 mm mortar. The jungle is about 1 Km away from Kachhayari firing range that is used by defense forces for practice. While attempting to extract the metal out of those shells, three of them exploded and the boys died on the spot.

Investigation is in progress and efforts were being made to trace the origin of the shells and the force and unit to which they had been issued to fix responsibility, said Dhumal. Army authorities at Yol camp in Kangra have been informed about the incident They taken note of details of the three unexploded shells that were found near the dead children bodies, he added.

Urmila Singh, Governor inaugurated an exhibition of paintings, sculpture, ceramics and prints titled ‘Digressions’ and ‘Phalgun Utsav’ at Gaiety theatre Shimla today. The exhibition was organised jointly by Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi and Language, Art and Culture Department, Himachal Pradesh.

She thanked all the parties for ending the fourteen years long battle and showing unequivocal support towards the cause.

She lauded the efforts made by the Chief Minister Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal for providing 50 percent reservation to women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and municipal bodies in Himachal Pradesh.

Not satisfied with chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s reply to the motion of thanks over the governors address, Vidya Stokes leader of opposition got up from her seat and demanded that the government withdraw the bus fares as it was a burden on the common man.

With the government standing by its decision, congress members trooped out shouting anti-government slogans.

Later the chief minister criticized the opposition for walking out over an unreasonable issue.

Making a suo motto statement on Monday, transport minister Mohinder Singh had announced a 30 percent hike in bus fares that was to come into effect the same day.

Justifying the hike in bus fares, Dhumal said that HRTC had an accumulated loss of Rs 512 crore s and it was impossible to run a fleet of 1900 HRTC buses without increasing bus fares after recent raise in fuel prices.

He said that bus fares were raised because of the hike in fuel prices by the Congress-led UPA government and it was ironical that Congress in the hill state was agitating over an issue created by their own party government at the centre itself.

Speaking after the signing function, the Yoga guru said that the juice concentrate would be used by Patanjali Ayurved for its products as well as sale of apple juice at its outlets. He also disclosed that the countrywide HPMC juice bar outlets would also stock Patanjali Ayurved sale products.

Such an arrangement would not only be of mutual benefit but would give a boost to apple cultivation by providing a ready market for its processed products, he added.

The MoU has settled upon supplying a minimum of 350 tons of concentrate and a maximum of 700 tons in a year.

An HPMC communiqué stated that the arrangement was a befitting reply to low cost Chinese Apple concentrate being dumped in the Indian market on a large scale.

Under the agreement, the production from a proposed apple processing plant to be set up at Gumma in Kotkhai would also be supplied to the Ayurved unit at Haridwar.

The conference would launch the proposed year long activities of the court to mark Ruby Jubilee celebrations of Himachal High Court, he said. Besides the chief justice of the country, renowned legal luminary retired Justice BR Krishna Iyer would also participate in the conference.

Other activities planned include legal literacy camps and Public Interest Litigation camps. Functions involving public participation which would have an impact on clearing the arrears of cases would also be organized throughout the year, the spokesman disclosed.

On attaining statehood in 1971, the Himachal High court first established and was headquartered in ‘Revenswood’. The state’s first chief justice appointed was Justice MH Beg.

Later Justice MH Beg and another chief Justice of the court justice RS Pathak went onto become Chief Justices of the Supreme Court. In fact Justice RS Pathak also remained a Judge of International Court of Justice at Hague.

At present the strength of the Judges of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh is ten including the Chief Justice. Justice Kurian Joseph only took over as the new Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh on 8th February.

The plan size has been increased by 11 percent over last year’s plan of Rs 2700, providing additional Rs 300 crore for the new plan.

Dhumal, who had rushed to Delhi after having rescheduled business at the ongoing budget session of the state assembly by postponing the budget presentation from 9th to 12th March said, with an allocation of Rs 1010.79 crore for social services which constitutes 33.69 % of the plan size, the sector has been accorded top priority.

Next priority has been marked for transport and communication which has been allocated Rs 588.93 crore and makes up for 19.63 % of the plan size, he said. This has been followed by energy sector for which Rs 354.37 (11.81%) has been put aside.

Allocation for others sectors was Rs 342.84 crore for agriculture and allied services, Rs310.48 crore for irrigation and flood control, Rs 168.66 crore for rural development, Rs 93.45 crore for economic services, Rs 70.24 crore for general services, Rs 27.27 crore for industry and mineral, Rs 20 crore for science technology and environment and Rs 12.97 crore for special area programs.

Of the total plan, am outlay Rs 1925 was for the general plan. Rs 742 crore for scheduled caste sub-plan, Rs 270 crore for tribal sub-plan and Rs 63 crore for backward area sub-plan.

The chief minister also disclosed that hydropower project with a generation potential of 600 MW are to be commissioned in next financial year.

Speaking about the power sector, Dhumal said that the government had completed allocation of over 95% of its total hydel power potential to various agencies.

An allocation of 9088MW (39.5%) had been done to the central sectors PSUs which included SJVNL whereas another 10,000 MW (43.5%) would be harnessed by private sector and the remaining 3800 MW (17%) will be exploited by state sector said Dhumal.

The government had decided to provide a loan of rupees Rs 190 crore and an equity contribution of Rs 100 crore to Himachal Pradesh Power Corporations for the execution of 4 projects that are being assisted by Asian Development Bank which include the Sawra Kuddu, Renuka Dam, Integrated Kashang and Sainj projects, he said.

While additional 2600 MW generation capacity is expected to be added during the current 11th Plan, the target for 12th Plan is to harness 7500 MW.

Expressing disappointment with the 13th Finance Commissions recommendations, the chief minister said that it has proved to be highly disfavourable for the state government.

“Whereas total devolutions recommended by the 13th Finance Commission to all states in the country over the next five years constitute and increase of 126% over the total transfers recommended by the 12th Finance Commission during the 2005-10 period but in case of Himachal Pradesh the increase in total transfers comes out to just 50 percent, which is lowest increase percentage wise among all states in the country,” said Dhumal.

In reply to a question tabled by Kaul Singh but raised in his absence by Gangu Ram Musafir (congress), the minister told the assembly that the central government in three years had sent Rs 27.30 crore for development of Shimla city.

Of the funds spent, Rs 3.04 crore had been spent to purchase 75 buses for improving the city’s transport system and another Rs 2.02 crore had been spent for widening and lowering of Auckland House tunnel, he said.

Work on a Rs 16 crore solid waste management plant that had been stalled because of land problems is beginning to pick pace, said the minister. Environment clearances for it had been received and the High Court had settled the land disputes involving the site, he added. Till date Rs 72.18 lakh had been spent of the waste plant project.

Low cost housing project for urban poor was coming on track after land related disputes at Dhalli suburb had been settled, the minister said. So far only Rs 3.63 lakh had been spent on what has been labeled as Ashiana II project.

Rs 72 crore for revamping century old water supply lines
On the occasion, the minister also informed the house that Rs 72 crore under JNURM funds had been received for revamping the old water supply lines of the city. Plans were being drawn up to utilize the funds and improve the water supply which is plagued by leakages.

Additionally, he said another Rs 48 crore funds were marked for providing sewerage lines. This would funded jointly by the centre and the state, with the centre contributing Rs 38 crore towards the project said Mohinder Singh.

After declaring his current asset and liability status today, Sukku said it was important to uphold transparency and morality in public life and MLA’s declaring their sources of income needed to be made mandatory.

He said that he had submitted his statement of asset and liability to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat but the legislative body did not have a provision for putting out this information on its official website. To overcome the delay being caused by the Vidhan Sabha, he said that he had chosen to go public over it by disclosing it before the media. He also asked other MLA’s to follow suit.

The two term lawmaker was open to bringing in a private members bill to make in enforceable by law after legislating one that would make it mandatory for all MLA’s to publically display their current sources of income and liability on the official Vidhan Sabha website.

“The issue had been raised by me when I was a student leader itself and the issue had attracted a privilege motion by the then Vidhan Sabha,” said Sukku. Now that I’m a member of the assembly, I still stand for transparency in public life and have taken the lead in voluntarily disclosing my assets,” he added.

He also said that he would ask Kaul Singh Thakur, state congress president, to put out his asset disclosure statement on the party’s website also.

Assets declared by Sukhvinder Singh include sources of income Rs 10,000 per annum as commission from LIC, Rs 8 lakh as rental income per annum and per year Rs 4.50 lakh as salary from Vidhan Sabha.

Assets owned are a Rs 70 lakh worth building at Knowlswood in Chotta Shimla, a Rs 15 lakh flat at Strawberry Hill in Chotta Shimla, a Rs 20 lakh worth housing board flat at Mandhala in Baddi, Rs 30 lakh worth of ancestral and personal land at Nadaun, two vehicles which include an Alto car and Scorpio SUV worth Rs 10 lakhs and holds shares and fixed deposits worth Rs 12 lakh as part of overall worth.

Among his liabilities, the MLA put out a Rs 19 lakh loan from PNB Shimla, another Rs 8 lakh loan from UCO Bank of the Vidhan Sabha branch, Rs 4 lakh loan from Kangra cooperative Bank, Dhaneta another Rs 2.20 lakh laon from SBI Shimla and an unsecured loan of Rs 29 lakhs from his older brother.

Chamba: Hundreds of people from Churah valley marched into Chamba town with banners, demanding suspension of four corrupt gram panchayat pradhans and dismissal of congress MLA Surinder Kumar Bhardwaj, whom the protesters alleged was responsible for shielding the corrupt practices of the pradhans. A big section of the society submitted a memorandum addressed to the governor of Himachal Pradesh through deputy commissioner,Chamba.

Protesters said block development officer Tissa joined in the month of December 2009 and has been up against the four most corrupt gram panchyat presidents, against whom inquiries for the last two years were going on.

However congress MLA supported them and on 26th February he held a rally in Chamba and demanded transfer of block development officer, TISSA.

Protesters said BDO is not corrupt but MLA and four pradhans are corrupt.

They also alleged that fire incident of 28th February is a planned and way to finish records of corruption in office of the BDO.

They demanded high level inquiry in the case.

In response to a question by Gangu Ram Mussafir (Congress) who sought to know what the state stood to gain by the delegation led by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal that recently visited Costa Rica, forest minister JP Nadda responded that a Rs 365 crore environment plan would be submitted to the World Bank after incorporating the experiences of the study tour to the central American country in the field of environment.

The eight-member HP team led by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, which also included Nadda had toured Costa Rica and in between had also met chairman of the World Bank during the February 10 to February 19, 2010 visit.

The minister said that if approved, the World Bank funding of the project would be available as 90 per cent grant and 10 per cent soft loan.

Speaking about the tour, the minister said that Costa Rica’s efficient environment management system had helped it to increase its forest cover from 21 per cent to 51 per cent in the last two decades. The government is study ways and means to adopt Costa Rica system of payment made for environment services delivered among others.

He said that the BJP government was committed for making the state carbon neutral and for achieving such an objective a drive to plant broad leave trees in 4000 hectares would be started.

The minister also informed the house that the chief minister in his meeting with the World Bank chief sought extension of the Mid Himalayan Watershed Project from the present 602 panchayats to over 2000 panchayats in the hill state.

Forest minister JP Nadda in response to a question from Mukesh Agnihotri (congress) let the Vidhan Sabha know during question hour that the government has issued a notification to the effect on March 2, 2010 of granting permits to shoot the Neel Gai in lower parts of the state which include Nurpur, Una, Bilaspur, Nalagarh and Poanta Sahib.

The state government has already permitted killing of pig, monkey, sambhar, rabit, black bear and parrot through a 1984 order, the minister said.

Divisional forest officer (regional and wildlife) and Range officers (regional and wildlife) have been authorised to issue the permit for killing neel gai, Nadda said.

The permission has been granted in accordance with relevant sections of Wildlife (protection) Act, 1998 which allows killing of animals dangerous for agriculture or mankind, the minister added.

The animal killed would be disposed by the forest guard with the help of panchayat, he said.

About lifting of past cases related to killing of neel gai, Nadda said it would be decided on the basis of merit of the case.

It may be mentioned that Himachal Kisan Sabha had recently protested in Una district, demanding permission for killing of these marauding animals as farmers were facing cropping problems in the region.

The Sabha had even threatened to voluntarily kill the animals should the government not intervene in the matter.

Speaking at a PHD committee meet in Baddi, Dhian Chand – chairman PHD Himachal said “connecting Baddi, Barotiwala and Nalagarh by railways is an urgent requirement in the industrial belt. It will not only help to sustain existing industries but would also attract fresh investments.

Pointing out the transportation constraints in the region, he said that the road from Pinjore to Nalagarh was not in too good a shape. Rail connectivity would not only remove road congestion but would prove cost effective, he said.

The Chamber decided to take up the issue with Union Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee and the central government by involving the state government.

Other issues that industry faced in the area that found echo in the meet included infrastructure development, power requirements of industry, a need for a master plan for the industrial belt, problem of barriers, powers of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority and excise and taxation related issues.

Rajender Guleria, President BBN Industries Association who was also present on the occasion said that “issues of industrial importance should be addressed so as to help retain industries retained in the state”.

The committee also felt that the government needed to take steps to develop new townships in industrial areas. Investors have to be encouraged to live in the area where they have set up their industries, for this the government needed to establish good health care centers, educational institutes and recreational facilities, said a PHD spokesman.

Participating in motion of thanks to the governors’ address, she said that if the state had to regain its clean image, there was a need to finish the prevailing CD culture, take effective steps to contain corruption or otherwise the state is doomed.” When one goes out of the state, she said, people mocked us by asking which is the latest CD out in Himachal.

She counted dominance of land mafia, failure to ensure teachers in educational institutions, shortage of doctors to man institutions, farmers left in the lurch when crops have failed and increasing drug addiction among the youth others as failures of governance in two years of the BJP government.

Stokes mentioned sale of land in contravention of Section 118 of HP Land Reforms and Tenancy Act, whereby landlords had been bought out in Mashobra suburb of Shimla and rampant violations having taken place in Solan districts, which the government had failed to check or investigate.

In the absence of qualified doctors, she said, practice of Jhola Chap (Quacks) practitioners was flourishing for the people had nobody to turn to in ill health. Objectives of national rural health mission were proving to be a failure, she added

The opposition leader took offense to omission of the central government’s role in bailing out the state in various sectors.

“The government has been insisting upon discrimination against it by the centre but the fact remains that it is only the union governments funding which enables implementation of states programs. Other than that the state is hardly in a capacity to get anything done on its own,” she said.

Rubbishing the awards given to the state by private organizations, she said, “harping upon having won such awards was a mere drama, which two years ago even our government got and at times are given when one does not deserve them.”

Shimla: Mohit Chauhan bags Filmfare Award for Best Playback Singer in male category for Masakalli (Delhi 6) on 27th February, 2010.

Mohit, the well known singer for his romantic and unique deep voice, started his career singing with the band Silk Route. They bagged many awards for their song ‘Dooba Dooba’ of their first album ‘Boondein’.

Recently in 2009 he released his solo debut albumn ‘FITOOR’.

Before ‘Masakalli’ hesang “Khoon Chala of the movie Rang De Basanti” for A.R.Rahman.

With Mohit Chauhan other nominees for this 55th Film Fare Award were Atif Aslam for Tu Janne Na (Ajab prem ki Ghazab Kahani), Javed Ali and Kailash Kher for Arziyan (Delhi-6), Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for Aaj Din Chadaya (Love Aaj Kal), Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani for Dhan Te Nan (Kaminey) and Sonu Nigam and Salim merchant for Shukran allah (Kurbaan).

To check out more Award winners click here.

Urmila Singh, Governor, being presented a 1005 paged book on Himachal Pradesh a “Himalayan Dream Land” at Shimla.

Shimla: With an eye on the degrading human values and increasingly fragmented Indian Ethos, Himachal Pradesh University UGC-Academic Staff College has organised a twenty-one day long Refresher Course in the campus on the theme “Human Values and Indian Ethos”.

About fifty participants are partaking in the event from different states like Orissa, Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Rajsthan, Assam, Haryana and Gujarat.

Prof. G.D. Sharma, Chairman Department of Yoga at the University and Co-ordinator of this Course said this programme will enlighten the teaching community to attain the past glory of the Indian Ethos and human values. He said that today the human values and ethos are attached by terrorism, materialism, sex-abuse, dishonesty and the time has come where educationists must intervene. He said that the loosing past glory of ‘Vishav-Guru’ of this great country India has to be attained where we have to inculcate the values of live and let-live, happiness and charity targeting deeply the humanity and bonding the one-ness.

Urmila Devi, Joint Secretary, UGC, inaugurated the function and stressed the need of moral education in the educational institutions so that the younger generation is well put-up on the right track. She also added that India being the second largest promoter of Education having 475 Universities has always stressed to develop the human resource by one way or the other.

Shimla:

Met director Manmohan Singh said that a western disturbance is going to affect the state, adjoining western Himalayan region and the plains.

Under influence of the disturbance, rain and snowfall is likely to occur at a few place over the next 48 hours said Singh.

While the maximum temperature is likely to drop by 2 to 3 degree Celsius during the period, the minimum temperatures would fall by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius, he added.

The disturbance would weaken between 5th and 6th March leading to mainly dry weather but would revive on 7th and 8th March, said the weatherman.

Spelling out the objectives of the mission Pon Subbiah, head NTS-India, said national, regional and local norms for all seven levels of general education are proposed to be developed.

Instruments of evaluation (tools and scales) in the disciplines of language and literature are proposed to be developed before extending it to other disciplines. These instruments would be standardised through 60 regional field units (RFUs) established by NTS in order to build up national consensus, disseminate information, prepare tools and scales, administer them in the field, collect data, make an analysis, and to come out with conclusions, said Subbiah.

Some of the RFUs are located in the state capitals of the country Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttaranchal), Delhi (UT of Delhi), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), and Pondicherry (UT of Puducherry)], he added.

He said that in order to provide a comprehensive basis for developing the tools of evaluation, a Concept Based Continuum of Graded Syllabi (CCGS) needed to be developed.

“NTS has set up three task groups for Research & Development (R & D), Survey & Documentation (S & D) and Consultancy & Training (C & T) to plan and formulate the basic frameworks and subsequently execute them for the benefit of the society at large. It also proposes to train 16000 teachers of various levels and disciplines in this context,” he said.

A sub-scheme called Grant-in-Aid has been created within NTS to extend financial support to the individuals and institutions for developing materials and manpower in Evaluation. Apart from this, 45 Research Fellowships in Hindi, Tamil and Urdu per annum (30 Doctoral and 15 Post Doctoral) have also been instituted to encourage the young researchers to take up the advance studies in this inter-disciplinary area, disclosed professor Subbiah.

In his reply health minister Rajiv Bindal let the house know that between December and January, 264 people suffering from Hepatitis E jaundice were admitted to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) and Deen Dayal Upadhya (DDU) hospitals.

The worst affected area was Kasumpati locality where 121 cases were reported from, said the minister.

He said that the government had water samples tested and also samples were sent to National Centre for Disease Control, Delhi which confirmed that drinking water supply was not contaminated.

The minister said that people in some places fell ill because of drinking impure water due to improper sewerage system laid out in the area.

“An awareness campaign has been launched and people have been asked not to drink water from defective community taps,” he said.

Bindal disclosed that there were about 1 lakh ration card holders in Shimla but there were only 10,728 sewerage connections in the town which clearly indicated that defective sceptic constructed by majority citizens was contaminating water sources.

The minister said 4 joint teams consisting of officials from the Health department, IPH and Shimla Municipal Corporation has been formed in order to contain the outbreak of jaundice.

In reply to a question by Ramlal Markanday (BJP) during question hour, the minister said that of the 3243 panchayats in the state as many as 2157 had been made ODF. The total sanitation drive was in full swing and we hope to achieve the target of making the state ODF free within 2010, he added.

At the same time the minister mentioned that the central government under Sampoorna Swachata Abhiyan (Total Sanitation Drive) has fixed a target of achieving ODF by 2012.

Ghumarwin block in Hamirpur district had received the nirmal gram award till January 31, 2010 while case of 15 other blocks were under consideration for the top national award for next financial year he said.

The sanitation drive was launched in Himachal in 2000 from Sirmaur and subsequently was extended to other 11 districts of the state.

The minister said that despite limited funds being provided by the central government, the sanitation drive was running successfully in the state.

He added that against an demand of Rs 149 crore presented by the state for the program, the central government had allocated a meagre Rs 29 core from start of drive in 2000 till Janaury 31, 2010.

Under the banner of Himachal Kisan Sabha (HKS), led by President Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, the protesting farmers also submitted a memorandum for the chief minister through the district magistrate seeking state intervention to contain the menace.

The protesters have sought government permission to kill wild boars and blue bulls as well as are for inclusion of overnight watch duty’s for protecting farm lands form wild animals under NREGA, the rural employment guarantee central government program.

Should the government not act, the Sabha has threatened to identify a team of shooters and kill the blue bills to save cropping lands.

“We have decided to hold a meeting for shooters on 11th April at Dulehar and voluntarily proceed to kill animals who have rendered productive land fallow in the region,” said Tikender Panwar, secretary HKS.

Ravinder Joshi and Vijay Sharma, member of the Sabha claimed that because of the wild animal menace cropping pattern in over 18 panchayts of the region had shifted from high value crops like sugarcane, black gram, Bengal gram, kidney beans, chick peas, horse gram and green gram to just growing fodder crops like taramira.

After the police recovered the body of Simranjit Kaur (27) from a forested area ‘Hassan Valley, on the outskirts of the city earlier in the day, superintendent police RM Sharma stated that her husband Simaranpal Singh (28) had been arrested for the crime.

Simaranpal is a resident of Freozepur in Punjab and he had married Simranjit who was from Moga on January 17th by way of an arranged marriage, said Sharma.

According to the accused statement, said the district police chief, the duo had come to Shimla on 21st February. On a sightseeing visit, the accused had an altercation with his wife in Hassan Valley, where first he throttled the girl and later threw her into the valley.

The crime went undetected and Simaranpal left for Chandigarh. It was the boy’s father Rashpal Singh, who on learning that his daughter-in-law was missing started making inquiries from his son’s friends and also met him on 25th February at Chandigarh to inquire about her.

Rashpal ultimately lodged a missing report at Ferozpur and with the help of police detained Simaranpal at Panchkula on 28th February. On questioning, Simaranpal confessed to killing his wife. The Himachal Police arrested the accused on Monday night and after taking him to the site today recovered the girl’s body, said Sharma.

The woman’s face had been eaten up by the animals while the body was preserved. After conducting a postmortem, it was handed over to the father of the girl, today itself, he added.

The accused, said Sharma, says the motive for the murder was suspicion about having a illegal relationship with his father, while Rashpal denies any such thing.

Just last week, suspicion in a relationship had led to the brutal murder of Pragati Tibberwal, a 3rd year textile engineering student at IIT Delhi by her lover Garuv Verma, also an 3rd Year IIT student at Rorkhee.