Many roads in Lahaul-Spiti district are still snow bounded and as many as 50 vehicles are still stranded in the way waiting to clear snow from the link roads. The district administration has launched snow clearing operation to maintain the supply of essential commodities to people in the snowline areas of Chamba district of State.

Heavy snowfall was also reported in higher reaches of Kangra and Kullu district which has intensified the clod wave in the entire region. Fresh snowfall in the state has frozen Surajtal and Chandertal lake in Lahaul-Spiti district, Manimesh in Chamba and others natural lakes in the region.

Rains have been lashing the region as well with Dharamshala receiving about 48 mm rainfall followed by Palampur with 39 mm, Bhuntar 11 mm and Kalpa has 9.4 mm. The agriculture experts are of the observation that the fresh spell of snow and rainfall is good for germination and sowing for Rabi Crop in this hill state. The wet weather is keeping optimum moisture content in the soil.

Visibility over the days has remained low during the day as there was haze and Sky remained mostly cloudy during the day when minimum and maximum temperature were marginally low in the state.

Photo and Video by: Himanshu Khagta

With a focus on economic empowerment for helping women achieve financial independence, government schemes have been able to form 24,329 women self help groups, an official spokesman stated. These groups involved in various income generating activities have done a commendable job by having successfully generated an annual economy of Rs 77 crores, he said.

To protect the rights of working women and check exploitation at workplaces, the government has constituted Female Grievances Redressal Committees. A gender budgeting cell has also been established in the social justice and empowerment department.

Decreasing female sex ratio is an area of concern. To tackle illegal female foeticide, the government has issuing strict directions for enforcing the law. Regular surprise checks on clinics conducting sex determination tests are being done by health department officials and awareness campaigns at district and village levels are helping to dispel biases, the spokesman said.

To support the birth of a girl child in below poverty line families, under the ‘Balika Samridhi Yojna’ an amount of Rs 500 is deposited in a bank or post office which she can attain at 18 years of age. Scholarships upto 10^th class are also being provided to girls and in 2008-09 an Rs 75 lakh amount was spent for the benefit of 13409 girls under this scheme.

Girls from poor families are being given a Rs 11,001 marriage grant under ‘Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna. For the marriage of 1056 such girls in 2008-09 an amount of Rs 1.16 crore was spent.

Financial assistance of Rs 200 per child to destitute women for support of two children till they attain the age of 14 years under the Mother Teresa Matri Sambal Yojna is being provided. In 2008-09 an amount of Rs 1.07 crore was spent for support of 13060 such children, the official disclosed.

Over 64 thousand widows and destitute women are being provided monthly social security pension of Rs 330. In 2008-09 an amount of Rs 25 crore was spent on these pensions.

The Kishori Shakti Yojna is aimed at improving nutritional and health status of adolescent girls. In the year 2008-09 as many as 95,944 girls were provided supplementary nutrition.

To encourage widow remarriage the government provides a onetime Rs 25000 grant. In 2008-09 Rs 21.50 lacs was spent on 86 such couples.

Speaking at the power minister conference in Delhi, today the chief minister said that the gap between demand and supply was likely to 800 MW by 2012, which would affect industrialization as well as other consumer needs. Dhumal asked the centre to set up a mega gas power plant to offset such shortages.

He asked the central government to increase 100 MW allocation to 400 MW from ultra mega power projects to the State, to meet increased energy needs.

Dhumal informed the gathering that out of the total hydropower potential of 23,000 MW, the state had harnessed 6500 MW. The state will have harnessed 10,000 MW by the end of 11^th plan and by 12^th plan the harnessed capacity would touch 15000 MW, he said.

Of the 3500 MW scheduled to be added in the remaining period of 11th Plan includes a 1000 MW Karchham-Wangtu project, 800 MW Kol Dam project, 800 MW Parbati II, 231 MW Chamera III, 192 MW Allian Duhangan, 100 MW Malana II, 100 MW Shorang, 100 MW Uhal and 70 MW Budhil Project.

Dhumal said that the all the census villages in Himachal were electrified and there was 100 percent consumer metering, billing and collection. Aggregate technical and commercial losses were at 15.1 percent which is one of the lowest in the country.

Seeking funding to meet huge investment needs for development of hydropower and establishement of a transmission network, the chief minister said that electricity consumers in the state enjoy one of the lowest tariffs in the country and no category of consumers is given free electricity.

The vehicle (HP-06-2543) was being driven by Krishan Negi (45), a resident of Molghi village in Rampur tehsil when it went off the road tumbling into the valley for about 500 meters before coming to a halt, said the police spokesman.

Negi who works as an principal at the government senior secondary school Baghi was on his way when the accident occurred.

The dead include Neerja (40), wife of Krishan, a ten year old son and his 75 year old mother in law.

Krishan who is greviouly injured has been admitted to IGMC hospital, here in Shimla and Madhur (7) his survived the accident.

Light gale winds lashed Shimla in the afternoon, which were accompanied by rain and sleet, yet many young people out for a weekend holiday thronged The Mall Road braving the cold and the rain. The tourist city recorded a high temperature of 16 degree Celsius which dropped to 3 degrees Celsius at the low point.

Elsewhere, Keylong the district headquarter of Lahaul recorded 16 centimeters of snow and the mercury hit a minus 6 degree Celsius, marking it as one of the coldest place in the state. Koksar recorded 30 centimeters of snow, the met office reported.

Snow was also reported from Pangi, Bharmour and other higher reaches of Chamba district. Cold conditions with cloudy skies were recorded in Kinnaur though no report of snow was received. Kalpa, the district headquarter of Kinnaur recorded a high temperature of 8 degree celius and a low of minus 2.4 degree Celsius, the weather man reported.

Lower parts of Kullu valley received rain whereas the 13,050 feet high Rohtang pass was experiencing heavy snow. Traffic across the pass into Lahaul valley was closed a week ago because of heavy snow. Bhunter weather station in Kullu valley recorded a low temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius.

Photo by: Amit Kanwar

Addressing a function to mark the ‘All India Cooperative Week’ in a village in Hamirpur district today, Dhumal said the Japan government had approved the Rs 270 crore organic agriculture project for funding. It would help to strengthen the farm sector, he added.

Sources in the agriculture department revealed that the five year project would come down to the state on a 90:10 cost sharing basis as Himachal was a special category state.

The Japanese government through its agency Japan International Agency (JICA) would fund the project, the agreement for which is likely to be signed by March 2010.

A two year project preparation study had divided the states development blocks into four categories, one where diversification had taken place, two and three which held prospects for increased farm incomes through diversification and the fourth category where there was little scope for diversification, said JS Rana, director agriculture.

For a start the project proposes to target the two and three category blocks by better management of water sources, improving irrigation facilities, constructing farm access road and strengthening the marketing infrastructure, he said. Organic farming, vegetable and herbal growing are going to be thrust areas, he added.

Shimla: Having a definitive impact on rural poverty, Rs 365 crore Mid Himalayan watershed program being implemented across 602 panchayats has increased household incomes by as much as 9 percent, a review meet has revealed.

At the mid-term appraisal of HP Mid Himalayas Watershed Development project with World Bank officials, on Friday evening chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal disclosed that the project was fetching encouraging results as its implementation had boosted economic activities in rural area.

Over 5 percent of below poverty line families in the region had been alleviated to above poverty line category,” said Dhumal adding, household incomes had shown a 9 percent increase.

Dhumal let the visiting officials know that by constructing 5933 mini and micro irrigation schemes an additional area of 1,724 hectares in the project region had been brought under assured irrigation benefitting 20,795 families, he added.

High value crops in the project area had shown an increase of 26 percent. Vegetable production alone had increased by 43 percent that had brought about discernible impact in the rural economy.

Productivity of traditional crops had increased by 6 percent and that of fruit crops by 11 percent, he said.

Plantation campaigns had brought 8,119 hectares of area under forest cover as 3,67,681 brush wood check dams, 71,944 dry stone structures and 62,074 crate wire structures had also been raised as part of soil conservation measures.

The state was exploring possibilities of pooling all internal and external resources to protect and conserve Himalayan ecology.

Spelling out measures ban of green felling, plantation drives, banishing usage of plastic bags, taken to attain carbon neutrality, the chief minister sough the banks intervention in assisting the state in its objective.

Ranjan Samantry, co-task leader of the World Bank team asked the government to submit a project for consideration of Himachal as a carbon neutral state, said the government official. The bank would be considering the requirements for it, he added.

Norman Piccani, World Bank team leader stressed up a more effective management of water resources and related activities as more traditional water sources the world over were drying up and so was the ground water level receding.

Chief Minister said that rural sports infrastructure was being created with a view to help rural sports come to the fore and represent State at national and international level. He said that such activities were also helpful in proper channelization of the energy of the youth. He said that it would go a long way in creating a force of strong and healthy citizens.

Prof. Dhumal said that the State Government had enhanced sports grant to various sports association by enhancing grant from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 35,000, Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 75,000 with a view to motivate youth to exhibit their sports talent. He said that emphasis of the sports activities had been in the rural areas and PYKKA had been created to give boost to sports activities at the gram panchayat level.

He further said that 45 sports stadiums had been constructed at a cost of Rs. 24 crore and indoor stadiums constructed at Una, Dharamsala and Bilaspur. He said that to motivate participation and provided opportunity to the special children Rs. 8 lakhs had been provided for their sports activities so that they did not feel ignored and could show their sports talents in the games being organized for such special children.

He further stated that State Government was providing three percent reservation to the outstanding sports persons in the government sector and so far 191 sportsmen had been appointed in various departments against sports recruitment quota.

Chief Minister said that hockey field would also be attached to the sports stadium in Una so that besides other games hockey was also popularised in the area as the district had provided hockey player which had excelled and earned laurels to the State at national and international level.

Speaking on the occasion, the Governor said that Indian culture had richest tradition which had shown the path of peace, moral values and harmony to the whole world. She praised SAARC for its commendable effort in spreading the message of religious and communal harmony.

The Governor said that Sufi music spoke of Indian culture in true sense and the performance by the renowned Sufi singer like Ustad Sardar Ali Qadir during the festival along-with other artists was a sincere effort to highlight the exquisiteness of Indian culture.

She also announced Rs. 20,000 to the artists for the promotion of cultural activities. Senior functionaries of SAARC Writers & Literary Foundation, Delhi and H.P Language and Culture Department were present on the occasion.

He further informed that a meeting of the Tourism Department was held here today under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Tourism Smt. Manisha Nanda. Representatives of M/S Destination Ltd. also participated in the meeting and it was decided that food court, handicraft & handloom center, amphitheatre, shopping baazar and public amenities would be provided in the in the proposed Food & Craft Center. The Center will display and promote the rich Himachali culture and handloom and agricultural and horticultural products.

Director, Tourism, Special Secretary Tourism and Joint Secretary, Tourism were also present in the meeting.

“As scientific culling or exporting monkeys for medical research purposes is being opposed by animal activists,” says Jagat Prakash Nadda, minister of forest and wild life, “we are looking at other ways by which we could assist farmers not just to contain their population but to guard crops.”

“For protecting crop lands, a license to kill monkeys is easily available,” said Nadda. A proposal to get guarding crops included as an employment avenue under the national rural employment scheme (NTRGA) is being pursued, he adds.

As an experiment to contain monkeys within primate parks by providing food within the confined area has all but collapsed, the minister said that government was also open to considering a cost sharing mechanism with farmers who kill rouge simians damaging crops. “Sharing of gun cartridges costs used for the purpose can be considered,” he said.

Expressing his frustration in protecting a family owned mangrove, Rakesh Pathania, an independent legislator from Nurpur, “I had to cut the plantation because raiding armies of monkeys have not let a crop mature for years.”

Facing similar problems, Piyush, an apple orchard owner in Kumarsain says, “protecting a crop from fruit set in Apirl to harvest in September, needs to be guarded for 16 to 18 hours a day, if there is to be some food on my table.”

However, the minister says that experts consider sterilization as the shortest method for containing the exploding simian population. “Starting the sterilization program has found support with the central government, he said.

Other than Shimla, monkey sterilization clinics are operating in Hamirpur and Gopalpur in Kangra. Another one is to come up in Una.

The Tutikandi clinic in Shimla has been declared a national centre which the central government would fund and would use for training purposes for states faced with the need to contain monkey populations, said the minister.

A sample count had projected the states monkey population at over 3.5 lakhs, two years ago and being localized to inhabited areas, the man-animal conflict was sharp over vast tracts.

With just 11,280 monkeys sterilized in over a year, it will be awhile before the rising conflict could find a resolution here or elsewhere.

Photo by: Amit Kanwar

Inaugurating the fair,Prabha Rau, Governor said that Lavi fair had its own historical importance and was famous for business activities.

She said that laudable efforts were made to preserve the old traditions and glory of the fair over the years and added that the fair provided an opportunity to market the local products besides a platform for cultural exchange.

Fairs and festivals played an important role in preserving rich cultural heritage. State. Every effort should be made to preserve the cultural heritage and to restore the old glory of traditional fairs and festivals as they were symbols of rich traditions and promoted national integration and communal harmony besides unity in diversity, she said.

Governor inaugurated the Kinnauri market and exhibition put up by various Government Departments and other organizations on the occasion and evinced keen interest in the exhibits.

The governor urged the District Administration to explore market for the products produced by Self Help Groups so that the income of women in the State could be raised.

JS Rana, Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of the Lavi Fair Organizing Committee welcomed the Governor and detailed out the activities of the fair. He also honoured the Governor with shawl, kinnauri cap and memento.

Kinnauri Cultural Troupe presented a colourful cultural programme on the occasion.

Shri Nand Lal local MLA, Ninju Ram, former MLA, Brij Lal, Chairman, Kailash Federation, RM Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Members of Lavi Fair Organising Committee and other prominent persons of the area were present on the occasion.

A lot of trading in wool, woollen products, chilgoza, kidney beans and many other items takes place at this fair.

Fresh from having made a killing at the markets from sale of the high value apple crop, most of the Kinnauri men and women are out to indulge in shopping at the variety of stalls that are set up.

Evenings are spent dancing around bonfires, with a traditional band resounding like heavy metal as the dominant sound of brass cymbals and melodious voices of Kinnauri women songs interweave into the folk music.

Men and women interlock in a chain, match steps as the lead dancers with a yak tail embedded into a Olympic torch type of baton swirls, bends and swishes about in a circle.

Tradition has given way to modernity as there are fewer takers each year for this activity but many can be seen thronging the venue of planned cultural evening events, a platform where local talent finds a stage to perform on.

Popular local artists rub shoulders with well known performers brought from elsewhere too add a punch of variety, much to the demand for entertainment among the fair goers.

Times have failed to revive trade links between Satluj valley and western Tibet that were sewn up in a treaty in circa 1681 between the Bushair royal house and the 5th Dalai Lama of Tibet and the Lavi fair at Rampur was started to mark the treaty.

Back then horses and swords were exchanged between Raja Kehar Singh (1696-1753 A.D.) of Rampur Bushair State and the Dalai Lama as a token of friendship.

It was pledged to hold the trade fair each autumn till the time Satluj went dry or crows turned white.

Thawing of Indo-Chinese relations did lead to opening of Shipki La as a trading point in the mid 1990’s on the Indo-Tibetan border in 1994 but even after 15 years Lavi has failed to regain the charm that prevailed before the 1959 Chinese invasion of Tibet.

Ninety year old Tikkam Negi from Nichar recalls, “Out shopping at Lavi used to be an unbroken tradition.”

Mainly consisting of barter transactions, pashmina, Tibetan gold, wool, Gudamma & Dohoru (woolen blankets), shawls, chilgoza (edible pine nuts) and chulli (sun dried apricots) were traded for ghee, salt and food grains before cold weather cut off the higher altitudes for many months, he says.

Tucked away in a small corner at the Lavi grounds, one can still comes across relics of the past where small traditional stalls selling Tibetan or Kinnauri artifacts for sale are visible.

As a cash economy overtakes the region, marketable produces like crisp apples, walnuts, kalazira (wild cumin), almonds, rajma (kidney beans), yak tails predominate today.

Two relics of traditional Lavi survive, one legal and the other is fiercely contained by the law enforcing authorities.

Buying and selling of horses still holds the attraction it did when motor roads had not penetrated the valley.

Chamurthi breed of mountain horses is much sort after and many from far off places come looking for this sure footed animal used for moving men and goods in high mountainous and snowy tracks.

Gambling, a tradition at Lavi, is still carried out but in hidden places to hoodwink the law forcing agencies out in great numbers so as to contain it.

Satluj valley folklore narrates many tales of paupers having come out rich men after a lucky day at the fair and many returning poorer to live through a harsh winter ahead.

This was revealed by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal after a meeting with a delegation of Japan International Cooperation Agency, Padeco, Japan today that was led by Louis Berger Group.

S Majumdar, director Louis Berger Group, said that a feasibility study of the entire region would be carried for the proposed project, which would be sanctioned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency on recommendation of the Indian government.

After implementation, local communities would be associated with the project activities who would be caretakers for sustaining the future programs.

Separate projects for forest, clean energy, solid waste management, water management etc. could be formulated so that entire environmental activities were covered, said Majumdar.

Welcoming the environment protection and clean energy generation project funding proposal of Japanese Government, chief minister Dhumal said implementation of the project would give momentum to all environment protection activities.

He let the visiting delegation know that that green felling of trees had been banned decades ago in the state and the governments’ initiative to ban usage of plastics for daily activities was finding support from the people.

The board approved a proposal for outright sale of Cafe Bhairav in Baijnath, Cafe Aabshar in Dedgharat (Kandaghat) and Cafe Geetanjli at Dhundiara (Dalhousie). It also gave its nod for sale of Hotel Deothsidh at Shahtalai in district Hamirpur to the Baba Balaknath Trust.

A proposal to hand over the Mandav Complex in Mandi town to technical education department was approved which would further be transfered to Indian Institute of Technology for starting early classes at Mandi, a board spokesman stated

Revised pay scale – bonuses for employees
With Himachal tourism beating recessionary trends and having reported a profit of Rs 7.26 crore in the first two quarters of 2009-10, the board (HPTDC) at its meeting today approved revised pay scales and bonuses for benefit of about 1800 employees.

The revised pay scales for about 1400 employees would come into effect from January 2006 and for about 400 other employees would get a bonus of 8.33 percent under the Payment of Bonus Act, 2007, said a HPTDC spokesman.

The increased salaries and bonuses come in the backdrop of the government corporation having registered an increase of 21.24 percent in its income and earned a net profit of Rs 7.26 crore for the period of April to September, 2009.

At the meet, the chief minister asked for exploring the possibility of constructing a multi-storeyed integrated tourist’s facility centre at Shimla.

Need for tying-up with the Commonwealth Games authorities for attracting visitors to Himachal by offering all inclusive special packages to the sports lovers were discussed.

The board approved addition of a convention hall and additional 50 double bedded accommodation at Hotel Peterhoff, given the increase in business turnover it had managed.

An increase of 100 double bedded accommodations at Chail Palace Hotel and the possibility for adding another 100 rooms at the Manali Complex was approved.

Besides chief secretary Asha Swarup, others present at the board meeting included Subhashish Panda -MD HPTDC, new directors Govind Thakur – MLA, Ashish Chadha, SP Bansal, Narender Atri, Bhim Sen – principal secretary to CM, Ajay Tyagi – principal secretary finance, Manisha Nanda – principal secretary tourism and Yogesh Bhel GM HPTDC.
Ends

AK Dhiman, additional SP Shimla said that a sexual harassment case has been registered against Yogesh Bhardwaj, a head of one of the department at the government dental college, here.

The case was registered today after hearing the complainant, the person against whom allegations have been levelled and talking to other people from the concerned college, said Dhiman.

The PG student doctor, who is married, in her complaint has mentioned that her department head has been making sexual advances for over a year. He has been holding out a threat that unless she meets out his demands he would ruin her career by unable her to complete her degree, she mentions in her complaint.

Incidents mentioned include a trip undertaken in November 2008 to attend a seminar in Lucknow, when she was sexually harassed on the train journey. Other students’ team members in the train had intervened to save the day.

Despite a pregnancy that she is nursing, the department head did not stop making advances, states the harassed doctor.

Not succeeding in his intentions, the department head starting inflicting insults in front of fellow students and other staff member which the lady claims to be caused much emotional agony and had forced her to lodge a police complaint.

“A case under section 509 of IPC has been registered on the basis of the complaint,” said Dhiman.

Chaired by chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, the proposals cleared included a housing project, a pharmaceutical formulation unit, a furniture factory, a newspaper printing press, a gear and engine manufacturing unit and an aluminium unit.

Giving the details Manoj Kumar, commissioner industries said that the single window meet cleared a housing project for employees of MBD Printographers. The MBD group has two units operating and a third one is coming up.

The housing project would come up on 10,000 square meters of land, where about 100 flats for employees of the other units would be constructed, he said.

The biggest proposal cleared was of Rs 95.81 crore of Class Motors for setting up a gear and engine manufacturing unit in Amb-Una. This unit is part of the Sonalika group based in the area and they would be utilizing land bought earlier.

This facility is expected to come into production before March 2010 when the special industrial package for Himachal expires. Tractors are also proposed to be manufactured at this unit that expects to add 525 new jobs.

Mankind Pharma is to set up a second formulation unit at Poanta Sahib with a proposed investment of Rs 37 crore and likely to create 428 new jobs.

Virgo Aluminium is setting up a second unit at Kala Amb with a proposed investment of Rs 42.73 crore, said the industries director. The facility is expected to become functional before March 10.

Design Edge is to set up modular furniture unit at Nalagarh with an investment of Rs 26.50 crore. However the unit would only be given final clearance after it gets the approval from the centrally empowered committee as such units needs environmental clearance.

Proposal of Kamal Oleo to set up a Rs 12 crore glycerine and other acid manufacturing unit at Baddi was also cleared by the single window authority on Monday.

Prominent Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala has proposed to set up a printing facility at Kandhaghat in Solan with an investment of Rs 7.23 crore. The proposal was accorded approval by the high level authority.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Dhumal asked that environmental issues and natural resources be taken into consideration while setting up of new industrial units

Asha Swarup, Chief Secretary, said that hazardous industrial units were being discouraged which had adverse environmental impact and low employment potential.

Those present at the meet included Avay Shukla and Ms. Harinder Hira, Additional Chief Secretaries, P. Mitra, Principal Secretary Industries, Subhash Negi, Principal Secretary Home and Chairman, HPSEB, Bhim Sen, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Ajay Tyagi, Principal Secretary Finance, Shri Anil Khachi, Secretary, Labour and Employment, Nagin Nanda, Director, Pollution Control Board, S.K.Chaudhary, Member Operation, HPSEB, Rajender Chauhan, Industrial Advisor and others.

Having lost four elections consecutively to his stronger adversary, Khushi Ram Balnahta after completing of counting today was declared winner from Rohru defeating greenhorn Manjit Thakur by over 8,473 votes.

Balnahta polled a total of 27,705 votes, where his rival Manjit managed to muster a support of 19,232 votes.

The seat witnessed a keen electioneering with chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and half a dozen of his cabinet colleagues camping in the constituency in the final round of electioneering, whereas for the congress union steel minister Virbhadra Singh and state party president Kaul Singh led the campaign to retain the seat.

The seat had fallen vacant after Virbhadra got elected to parliament from Mandi and had to vacate the assembly seat.

In Jawali, Sujan Singh Pathania of congress defeated Baldev Raj Chaudhary of BJP by 5249 votes, as counting of votes concluded.

Pathania, a four term MLA, returns to the assembly from a seat that was won by Rajan Sushant in the 2007 general legislative assembly elections.

However the seat fell vacant after Sushant was elected to parliament in May 2009.

Voting count

Rohru
Votes Polled 48,690
Khushi Ram Balnatah (BJP) 27,705
Manjeet Thakur (Congress) 19,232
Kewal Ram Negi (Ind) 808
Bihari Lal Chauhan (Ind) 946

Jawali
Votes polled 49,619
Sujan Singh Pathania(congress) 25,168
Baldev Raj (BJP) 19,919
Ashok Kumar Somal (Ind) 952
Madan Sharma (Ind) 3580

Shimla: Defying global warming patterns, early snows engulfed much of the higher reaches of the state to the delight of visiting tourists, residents and the farming community.

Dramatic drop in day temperatures kept most of Shimla residents and visiting tourists indoors whereas officer workers braved cold weather as there were no heating provisions in place at the onset of an early winter.

A heavy rain shower lashed the city in the late afternoon, leaving it washed and cold.

Reports of snow were received from higher reaches of Kinnaur, Solang valley, Narkanda, Kharapattar, Churchandini and higher reaches of Chamba.

Tourist destination of Narkanda reported about 3 inches of snow and so did Kharapattar. The slopes of Chansal in Rohru took on a white cover land locking the valley of Dodra Kawar.

However counting to the just concluded polling in Rohru is expected to begin in the morning according to schedule.

Till filing of the this report Rohtang Pass at the head of Kullu valley had recorded about 2 feet of snow and inclement weather continued to prevail as more snow was expected overnight.

Keylong, the district headquarter of the land locked region of Lahaul had recorded over 20 centimeters of snow by evening. An intense cold wave was sweeping through Kinnaur, Spiti, Lahaul and Bharmaur regions.

Winter sport lovers like ski instructor Champa were a delighted lot. “Unlike previous years, the early snow has raised hopes of a good snow through the winters and hopefully we would be able to conduct skiing events as well as training courses,” said Champa.

Widespread rains were reported from lower hills. The meteorological office recorded -1.6 degrees Celsius at Kalpa in Kinnaur at the high for the day there was 7.1 degree. In Shimla the mercury recorded a low of 9.1 and a high of 11.5, in Sundernagar (Mandi) it was 8 and 16.4, in Bhuntar (Kullu ) it was 6.8 and 12 degrees whereas at Dharamshala the low was 9.8 and he high recorded was 21.3 degree Celsius, met director Manmohan Singh disclosed.

The met office forecast more rain and snow over the next 24 hours.

The beneficiary weaver shall be eligible to spend upto Rs 7,500 per annum on their treatment in any of the hospitals or clinics, as outdoor patient, while as indoor patient, in any of the enlisted hospitals of the State Government the upper limit would be Rs 15,000 per annum, a cabinet spokesman stated.

Beneficiaries would only need to contribute Rs 95.20 as annual premium for availing health insurance cover while the rest of the premium shall be borne by the state, he added.

Presided over by the chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal the increased health cover decision of the cabinet would benefit about 16,000 weaver families across Himachal in the current year.

Weeklong Winter session from December 14

Cabinet decided to recommend convening a week long Winter Session of Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly at Dharamshala from December 14 to 21, 2009.

Approval for revised guidelines for setting up of universities in the private sector as per the amended guidelines was accorded.

Riverbeds to be auctioned for mining

The cabinet amended river – stream bed mining policy guidelines by going in for auctions for permitting the activity to extract sand, stone, and gravel (bajri) for open sale whereas mining lease would only be granted on private lands

However, neither auction shall be done nor mining lease for open sale of mineral shall be granted in border areas like Nalagarh Sub-Division and Kasauli Tehsil of district Solan; Chakki Khad and Neugal Khad in district Kangra; and Seer Khad passing through the districts of Bilaspur and Hamirpur, where there are chances of over exploitation of river/stream beds and illegal transportation of mineral outside the State.

Other border areas shall also be included on the basis of study being conducted. Leases for free sale upto area measuring 5 hectare for a period of upto 5 years in areas shall be granted in private land subject to the condition that no bounders/cobbles/hand broken road ballast shall be allowed to be transported outside the State.

Fresh bids to be invited for power projects

Cabinet approved re-advertising of hydropower projects Dugar (236 MW); Kilhi Bahl (7.5 MW); Mane Nadang (70 MW); Lara (60 MW); Tingret (81 MW); Kuling Lara (40 MW) and Suil (13 MW) HEP and sort to invite fresh bids in accordance with the new power policy.

To curb frequency of road accidents, the cabinet decided to make licensing regime more stringent, where all the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. 1988 and Rules would be implemented in letter and spirit before issuance of driving licenses.

To curb reckless driving, violation and non-adherence of time table by the stage carriage operators offences shall be compounded under Section 192-A of the Act which provides for penalty ranging between Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000, the cabinet spokesman said.

Government to charge royalty from small hydro

Cabinet accepted recommendations of the Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board about claiming free power towards royalty from the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of Small Hydro Projects upto 5 MW capacity, as per the revised Power Policy of the State in cases where Implementation Agreements are yet to be entered into.

At the same time Independent Power Producers who had not started work on their projects would henceforth be closely monitored and reviewed. Show cause notice would be issued on non-serious IPPs allotments, which could be cancelled.

The cabinet decided to invite Expression of Interests as per the survey conducted by M/s RITES for construction of ropeways from Neugal to (Kandi) Palampur and Shah Talai to Deoth Siddh.

It granted permission for conduct of Common Entrance Test for admission to 1,923 seats for 2 Year JBT Course/Session 2009-11.

It granted approval to renew the Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme to provide insurance cover to all the government employees upto Rs 2 lakh.

To tune up with changing requirements, the cabinet approved amendments in the HP State Guest Rules.

It decided to lift ban on seating capacity of maxi cab imposed earlier which shall now be permitted to ply vehicles with sitting capacity upto 12 instead of 9 plus 1 allowed earlier.

Cabinet approved filling up of 20 posts of constables on regular basis on compassionate grounds from amongst the dependents of deceased police personnel who have died in harness and 2 posts of stenographers in the Department of Labour and Employment.

The cabinet also condoled the death of the bus accident victims which took place at Haripur in district Kangra recently.

Addressing a gathering of Swayan Sewaks that was open for the public also at Hotel Peterhof, Bhagwat said one did not need expert opinions to realize that relations with the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, China and Bangladesh were those of distrust, which were a constant threat to the nations security.

To maintain its economic growth China toes the lines of peace with neighbours, he said, but its designs on Arunachal Pradesh and plans of diverting the Bharmaputra were not friendly actions of a neighbouring country seeking maintaining of peaceful relations.

He opined that US was playing a double game in South Asia by allying with Pakistan, which has been fermenting trouble in Kashmir and other parts of the country and at the same time to balance China’s growth as a superpower was allying with India.

With bases in Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, an encirclement of India was taking place. Relations with Nepal were on the wane and unless serious efforts were not made to improve relations with it and Myanmar, the encirclement would be complete, warned Bhagwat.

He said that the borders of the nation were not secure. Terrorist based in Bangladesh, a country where terrorist camps targeting India are known to exist, were frequently using loopholes along the porous borders to strike India, he said.

Emphasizing on the need of holding onto unity under diversity, he said that it was the very foundation of the nation, something that Hinduatava advocated.

Globalization was turning out to be a melting pot in which cultural identities were being eroded and moral values were being degraded, he said. Not just our country, but even the western societies were confronted with these problems, he added.

To respond to the threat from globalization, MNC and monopolistic tendencies, the nation needed to be prepared from within as Indian values can provide solutions to global problems, he said.

He said that when all religions believed in oneness of God, why inducements were being used to obtain religious conversions. Opposing the ‘Vande Mataram’ – a song in honour of the motherland, will not strengthen the nation, he added.

Distancing RSS from being counted as a para-military organization or having affiliations with any political party, he said “RSS does not oppose anyone, does not impose fear on anyone nor does it fear anyone.”

Earlier, Tilak Raj Mahajan, a former DGP Himachal who was the chief guest in his address pointed out that globalization – internet was threatening national boundaries. Values were eroding and RSS needed to consider its role in faces the challenges ahead, he said.

Besides chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, among the audience were several ministers of his cabinet, which included, JP Nadda, Rajiv Bindal, Ravinder Ravi and Jai Ram Thakur.

Polling was peacefully in all the 209 polling stations and no untoward incident had been reported from any part of these constituencies, said Khachi.

The voter turnout was comparable to the General Vidhan Sabha Elections, 2007 in Rohru Constituency while in Jawali it witnessed a drop of 5 percent.

He said 209 polling parties were deployed in both Assembly Constituencies for bye-election, out of which 118 were deployed in Rohru and 91 in Jawali. 202 polling parties reported back on 7 November, 2009 while 7 polling parties of Dodra-Kawar reached Returning Officer’s Headquarters on 8 November, 2009. All EVMs had been sealed in the Strong Rooms with tight security.

Chief Electoral Officer said that in Jawali, polling exceeded 80% in three Polling Stations, 33 polling stations registered more than 70% whereas in 46 polling stations it exceeded 60 per cent. The maximum voter turn out of 83.67% was recorded in 65-Charudi Polling Station.

The female voter turnout for Jawali stood at 71.74% while male voter turnout was 62.43%. The maximum female voter percentage had been registered in 63-Patti Polling Booth of Jawali AC, where 89.71 % female voters cast their vote. The maximum female electors in Jawali AC were in 19-Maira-1 Polling Station which had 707 female electors, out of which 483 cast their vote and the percentage worked out to 68.32%. Female voters outnumbered in 77 polling stations and male voters in 14 polling stations.

In 3-Rohru highest voter turnout of 93.09 percent was recorded in 22-Andreothi Polling Station. Polling exceeded 80 per cent in 13 Polling Stations, 64 polling stations registered more than 70 per cent whereas in 25 polling stations it was over 60 per cent. In four polling stations the polling was below 50 per cent.

The female voter turnout for Rohru stood at 66.15% while male voter turn out was 72.35%. The maximum female voter turnout of 90.91%. had been registered in 118-Pandar Polling Booth. The 15-Karasa Polling Station with 563 female electors registered 57.19 per cent female voter turnout.

Female voters outnumbered in 4 polling stations and male voters in 114 polling stations in Rohru Constituency.

He said that 48690 voters cast their vote in Rohru while 49619 in Jawali Assembly Constituency.

The CEO further informed that counting staff had been imparted training by the respective Returning Officers.

The counting would commence on 10 November, 2009 at 8AM in the presence of Election Commission of India’s Observers and postal ballot papers will be taken up first before the EVMs are opened.

“A lady called up at about 3.30 a.m. informing about the senior police officer having shot himself,” said a spokesman of Kasumpati police post. A police team found the officer dead in the house with a bullet injury to the head.

“It appears to be a case of suicide,” said RM Sharma, police superintendent Shimla district. Though the police got information later but the suicide is believed to have taken place between 1 and 2 a.m., he added.

The pistol of the officer was found near the body.A case has been registered and the death is being investigated.

Jagjit Kumar, a 1985 batch IPS officer, is survived by a son and a daughter.

A report appearing in The Hindu quoting union law ministry sources mentions that Justice Kurian Joseph, the senior most judge of the Kerala High, had been recommended for being appointed as the chief justice of Himachal Pradesh.

The file has been sent to attain President Pratibha Patil’s approval and the appointment is expected next week, the report mentions.

Justices Ananga Kumar Patnaik (Madhya Pradesh), Tirath Singh Thakur (Punjab and Haryana), Surinder Singh Nijjar (Calcutta) and K.S. Radhakrishnan (Gujarat) whose names were cleared by the Supreme Court collegiums have been approved for elevation to the Supreme Court, the report states.

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During the closing ceremony of State Youth Festival at Government College Mandi, Chief Minister and other state leaders were invited.

An ABVP activist was allegedly slapped by DC Mandi almost two months back and protest turned ugly when Police started cane charge.

The private bus that was on its way from Jassur to Dera when it fell into the gorge near Haripur town at around 10.55 a.m., said the police Kangra police spokesman.

Initial reports indicate that at least 18 people, including five children and seven women, have been killed in the morning accident, he said.

The dead toll could rise as some reports put the number higher at 30 dead.

Haripur is 50 km from the district headquarter town of Kangra, which is almost 250 km from state capital Shimla.

Shimla: Himalay Niti Abhiyan (HNA), a campaign of movements and individuals advocating for sustainable development policies in the Himalayas, has raised strong reservations against the changes being proposed through the Draft Timber Distribution Rules, 2009 by the State Forest Department.

Terming the proposed changes as impractical, misdirected, anti-people and anti-forests, the campaign contends that they are in no way going to solve the problems considering which the High Court had suspended these rights two years back. On the contrary, the proposed changes are going to make the forest management task of the forest department even more difficult and also go against the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006. They should be opened up for wider public debate before finalization.

There are many contentious issues within the draft rules. According to them, an APL family shall have to shell out 30 percent of the market value of the timber while a BPL beneficiary shall have to pay 10 percent. Both these amounts work out to be Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 18,000 respectively which people in the state would be unwilling to pay considering that these benefits were being availed by them almost free of cost till now.

Additionally, the rules propose that the wood shall be made available to the beneficiaries only at designated depots in converted form that too only when the requisite amount of wood is silviculturally available in the local forests. While, the Abhiyan has welcomed the decision to sanction a fixed quantity of wood to the beneficiaries, neither the proposed cost nor the proposal to make timber available at depots is practical.

The steep increase in cost may not be acceptable to the people and this might aggravate the illicit felling problem in the forests considering the fact that the Forest Department was already not able to control it in the absence of cooperation from the people said Ranjit Singh Negi of HNA.

The proposed contentious provisions in the rules are going to give the people a feeling that the Forest Department is trying to increase its control over forests, a factor that has been largely responsible for the alienation of the forest users from their forests and the consequent loss of forest property due to illegal activities.

The government need not apply such high cost for timber as it is only making available the trees that dispensable as per the forestry norms, said Kulbhushan Upmanyu of the Abhiyan. Besides this, the government is already trying to enhance its revenues by seeking credits from the central government for preserving the green cover, which can be sustained only with people’s cooperation.

The biggest flaw in the proposed mechanism for the sanction of timber is that it is almost the same as the ineffective and, at times, corrupt one that existed before.

It would have been better if the government had proposed a decentralized and transparent system implementable at the village level for, deciding the silvicultural availibilty, deciding the beneficiaries, assessment of their need and monitoring of proper usage of the sanctioned timber.

Guman Singh of the Abhiyan said that while formulating the current prescription the government has totally ignored the tenets of Joint Forest Management and the provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006 which empower the Gram Sabhas for the management, protection and control of local forests. Through incorporating democratic mechanisms, a feeling of ownership can be inculcated amongst the forest users and they can become partners in the conservation and propagation of forests.

The abhiyan and its associate Lok Vigyan Kendra have submitted to the Forest department a mechanism to achieve these objectives and reduce the hardships faced by the Forest Department during the sanction of timber.

The Abhiyan proposes that while 10 % of the market cost may be charged from the income tax payers, the rest should be made to pay only the cost of conversion of the timber and that too at the local prevailing rates and not the rates of the HP Forest Corporation. The provisioning of timber at depots should be resorted to only where the site specificities made it practical.

The way in which the government frames policies without any inputs from the members of the public working on relevant issues is much to blame for the lack of pragmatism in the design of these rules.

The Forest Department’s territorial acquisitionary mindset is also responsible for the current proposal, a factor that has already caused much loss of forest resources due to alienation of the people from protecting their forests.

There is a need for the proposed rules to be opened up for public debate in order to formulate a prescription to bring about a win-win result, said Upmanyu. The Abhiyan proposes that whatever mechanism is finally put in place should be subject to constant and independent monitoring and review so that improvements can be incorporated in it from time to time.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh and Himachal leader of opposition Vidya Stokes addressed an impressive rally in Badhukhar in Jawali constituency in Kangra in support of party candidate Sujan Singh Pathania.

Senior leader and BJP Vice President Shanta Kumar also addressed a number of meetings for the party candidate Baldev Raj Chaudhary along with the newly elected MP Rajan Sushant, who had vacated this seat.

Other two independents Madan Sharma, a BJP dissident and Dr Ashok Kumar Somal in the fray continued with their door to door campaign in the constituency.

Madan Sharma who is elder brother of BJP MP Rajan Sushant is making a huge dent in the BJP vote bank and Dr Somal, a retired IFS officer, who is supported by the left parties and even BSP is harming the Congress prospects by making inroads into OBC and youth voters.
Any number of votes secured by these two could be a deciding factor since the contest is going to be a close one, observerors felt.

The upper Shimla constituency of Rohru is also witnessing a close contest this time as the State Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh are doing their level best to win this seat. Mr Dhumal is himself leading the party campaign
here and promising an epoch-making development if party nominee K R Balnatha gets elected.

On the other hand PCC Chief Kaul Singh, Mr Virbhadra Singh and his supporters who were reluctant earlier and questioning the high commands decision of denying ticket to his wife also tried their best to seek votes for the party candidate Manjeet Thakur. Mr Virbhadra has represented this constituency for five terms and it was a traditional Congress monopoly here.

The BJP has alleged that it was shocked by the backwardness of this rural constituency which was represented by a Chief Minister for such a long time. “You elect Balnatha and you would taste the real development”, is the BJP slogan here now.

All major cabinet colleagues of Chief Minister Dhumal are camping here and addressed a series of meetings on the last day of campaigning and convinced people on the two year achievements of Dhumal government.

Interestingly Ms Pratibha Singh who was denied the ticket by Congress high command also joined her husband Virbhadra Singh on the last day of campaigning for the party candidate Manjeet Thakur, said the Congress campaign incharge.

हिमाचल मित्र द्वारा पहाडी दिवस का आयोजन

नवम्बर की पहली शाम को मुंबई का आकाश पहाडी सुरों से गूँज उठा | साथ थी बांसुरी पर पहाडी धुन |

सबसे बड़ा आकर्षण था बच्चों के गाये लोकगीत और कविताएँ |

हिमाचल मित्र पत्रिका ने एक नवम्बर को मुंबई के चेंबूर इलाके में हिमाचल भवन में पहाडी दिवस का आयोजन किया |

हिमाचल समाज के समक्ष हिमाचली बच्चों ने लोकगीत गाये और पहाडी कवितायेँ सुनायी | पेशे से टैक्सी ड्राईवर कुलदीप ने बांसुरी पर पहाडी धुन बजा कर कार्यक्रम का श्रीगणेश किया |

नयी पीढी को अपनी संस्कृति के जरिये अपनी पहचान बनाने की कोशिश के तेहत आयोजित किये गए इस कार्यक्रम में स्मिता, सोनल और अरुधंति ने लोक गीत पेश किये और मिंकल, आकाश तथा नितिन ने पहाडी कवितायेँ सुनाईं |

इसके अलावा मनोज राणा, नरेन्द्र लोहिया, संगीता शर्मा और सोनी जैसे मँझे हुए कलाकारों ने लोक संगीत प्रस्तुत किया |

एक कार्यक्रम के मुख्य अतिथि प्रसिद्ध सिने और टीवी अभिनेता विजय कश्यप ने अपने बचपन में सुने लोकगीतों को याद किया और हिमाचल मित्र पत्रिका की भूमिका का महत्व समझाया | राष्ट्रपति पुरस्कार से समानित डॉक्युमेंटरी निर्माता विवेक मोहन ने कहा की हरेक हिमाचली को अपने प्रदेश का ब्रांड एम्बेसडर बनना चाहिए |

पत्रिका के सरंक्षक ओंकार सिंह चम्ब्याल और अमर सिंह चौहान ने बच्चों को पुरस्कृत किया और पत्रिका से जुड़े गणमान्य व्यक्तियों का सम्मान किया |

इस अवसर पर हिंदी पहाडी पत्रिकाओं की प्रदर्शनी भी लगाई गयी और पत्रिकाएं निशुल्क वितरित की गयीं |