Save tigers campaign in Uttarakhand

School students in Uttarakhand took out a rally here to create awareness about the dwindling number of tigers in the country and to save the forest areas.

Carrying placards and raising slogans, the students marched through the streets of Ramnagar in the state's Nainital district.

The rally was organised under the aegis of a non-charitable trust, the Corbett Foundation, which is committed to preserving the wildlife in the famed Jim Corbett National Park.


The students also painted their faces with yellow colours with black stripes like that of a tiger.
"We want to convey the message - please save the tigers, which are fast dwindling so that our future generation can see the species. We feel sad that we could not see the dinosaurs, which are now extinct and that is the reason why we want to save the tigers," said Nirmala Panth, a student.

Harender Bargeli, deputy director of Corbett Foundation in Uttaranchal, said that if children are made aware, they could help in conserving the environment and wildlife.

"Our main aim to involve these children was since children are our future, if they are aware and if they take the initiative to save the forest wildlife then we can save many animals like tigers, elephants," said Bargeli.

Poaching and loss of habitat have caused the number of tigers to plunge to an alarming rate in India.

Conservationists say the trade in skin and bones is booming to countries such as China, which has banned the use of tiger parts in medicine but where everything from fur to whiskers to eyeballs to bones, are still used.

Source: dnaindia.com

2 lakh compensation to Uttarakhand CRPF Jawans

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to family members of CRPF jawans of Uttarakhand who were killed by Naxals at Chhatisgarh. Nishank expressed grief to the family members of all the seven jawans.

According to a list released by the CRPF, those who hailed from Uttar Pradesh were:

Zamurulhasan, Sharvdev Singh, B K Sharma, Brijesh Kumar Tiwari, Rakesh Kumar, Ved Pal, Bhupender Kumar, Awdhesh, Satrajeet Ram, Manak Chandra Sharma, Devender Yadav, Narender Kumar, Khalil Khan, Jamuna Prasad Giri, Sanjay Kumar Jalaon, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Navneet Kumar, Arender Kumar, Virender Singh, Udaj Veer Singh, Suraj Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Mahender Kumar, Tara Singh, Ajit Singh, Ramanand Yadav, Jitender Kumar, Praveen Kumar Raj, Satender Singh Yadav, Ranjeet Kumar Yadav, Dharam Pal Singh, Udai veer Singh, Nahar Singh, Sachin Kumar, Satish Chandra, Rajender Singh Rana, Sushil Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Nirvesh Kumar,Amit Kumar Singh, Inderjeet Kumar Ram and Shyam Lal.

The six personnel from Uttarakhand were:

Manoj Nogai, Brij Anand, Lalit Kumar, Mahesh Singh, Vinod Pal Singh, Tikam Singh.

Six jawans from Bihar:

Surinder Rai, Prakash Kumar, Jeetu Anand, Bishwanath Raj, Bhutan Yadav and Moti Lal Ram, were killed in the ambush.

K Vijay Kumar, D Shekar, Mohan Rangan from Tamil Nadu, Pradeep Kumar and Sandeep Kumar from Haryana, Loes Xess and Raja Ram Ekka from Chhattisgarh, Sampat Lal and Ram Karan Meena from Rajasthan and Yogeshwar Naik and H K Malik, who were from Orissa, sacrificed their lives during the attack.

Other deceased CRPF personnel are Ali Hasan (Delhi), Amle Sopan (Maharashtra), Shivappa (Karnataka), L K Kalita (Assam), Rajesh K (Kerala), Ashish Kumar Bhagel (West Bengal) and M C M Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), the list said.

22 Couples enter Wedlock in Haridwar

Twenty-two specially-abled couples entered wedlock at a mass marriage ceremony during the ongoing Maha Kumbh mela in Haridwar.

A voluntary organisation, Narayan Seva Sansthan of Udaipur, conducted the ceremony.
The couples were married as per traditional Hindu rituals. The whole camp was beautifully decorated.

Rohit Sharma, director of Narayan Seva Sansthan, said: "This is for the first time that such a marriageof specially-abled couples is being held during the kumbh mela. We are not only giving them free medical help but also organising marriages for them so that they come to the mainstream society."

The organisers also gifted household items to the newly married couples.
Mass marriages are becoming very popular, especially among the economically backward sections of Indian society.

Source: Oneindia.in

Uttarakhand government to clear Ganga of corpses

Ganga won't have to bear the burden of unidentified corpses and carcasses anymore, at least in Rishikesh.

Garhwal commissioner Umakant Panwar has submitted an interim report to the Uttarakhand government, about the state irrigation department's illegal practice of dumping unidentified corpses and carcasses on the banks of the Ganga, a few kilometres downstream from Rishikesh.
Panwar has asked the police to maintain a record of the dead bodies, conduct post-mortem and perform their last rites.The inquiry began on March 3 and it was recently submitted to chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.

It all started when Nishank took serious note of a MAIL TODAY report, (Illegal & undignified dumping of the dead' edition dated February 26) and ordered a commissioner- level inquiry.
Once the probe was announced, the police decided to become more active.From March 3, they began maintaining a register at the Laxman Jhula police station in Rishikesh.

Panwar said: " We have recommended proper disposal of the dead bodies. We want the state government to give additional funds to the police for cremating the unidentified bodies at Bir Bhadra Barrage. We cannot take action against the irrigation department staff for lack of evidence."

With this, an illegal practice that is more than three decades old, has ended. Till now, the irrigation department officials have been allegedly dumping the bodies in the river while cleaning the barrage.

The department has placed an iron fence at the barrage, three km from Rishikesh in Uttaranchal, to ' net' the bodies floating in the river. This is to ensure that waste- free water flows into the Chilla powerhouse, located 14 km away.

According to reports, two boatmen used to daily look for corpses at the barrage. They would tie a nylon rope on the bodies and fasten its other end to the boat.

The bodies would then be taken to Malwala Sroath, a cremation ground on the riverbank. But instead of cremating the bodies, the men would tie them to a tree on the riverbank - so that they can't float back to the barrage - and leave them to decay in the water.

The villagers living in and around the controversial dumping site are happy about the government's action.

Chander Mohan Singh Negi, a resident of the nearby Kunao village, said: "Malwala Sroath is being used as a cremation ground by the villagers here. Very often, we had to look for other cremation sites since bodies would be rotting in the river here. Government action has been long overdue."

Source: Indiatoday.com

Uttarakhand Raises Gender Budget for Women Empowerment

Dehradun, Mar 18: For empowering women, Uttarakhand government has increased the gender budget by nearly Rs 200 crore for 2010-11.

Concerned over the skewed sex ratio in the Uttarakhand state, the government has earmarked Rs 1417.75 crore for gender budget, meant for women empowerment through various schemes.

The allocated amount for 2010-11 is nearly 17.65 percent more than the previous fiscal when it was Rs 1205.04 crore.

For the first time, Rs one crore has been allocated for providing free gas connections to rural women while an equal amount has been provided for employment-oriented plantation of herbs like Harr, Bahera and Trifla.

The Uttaranchal state government has also earmarked Rs 50 lakh for protecting women against domestic violence, while Rs 5 lakh each has been provided for constructing homes for mentally challenged women and promoting widow marriage.

Uttarakhand with Gail set up 2 Power Plants

The Uttarakhand Government today said it was setting up two gas-based plants of 500 Mw each in collaboration the Gas Authority of India (Gail).

Under the plan, both Garhwal and Kumaon regions would have one plant each. “It is our commitment that we will set up two gas-based power plants with the help of GAIL,” said Devendra Bhasin, Chairman of the state media advisory committee. The power through these plants would be used mainly for industrial usages. For this purpose, the Uttarakhand government has already urged the centre to supply 3 million metric standard cubic meter per day of gas to the hill state.

Following recent talks between GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi and Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank here, the government is optimistic that gas pipelines of GAIL would be extended to the state which is facing acute power shortage.

GAIL has agreed to bring gas to Garhwal region from Dadri-Bhatinda pipleline from Saharanpur side. This pipeline can be extended to Haridwar where gas-based power plants can also be established. Similarly, the GAIL’s gas project via Karanpur and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh to the two industrial towns of Rudrapur and Kashipur is likely to give a tremendous boost to hundreds of existing industries in Kumaon region which are facing power shortage.

The government also sees vast scope for private developers to set up such plants in both Garhwal and Kumaon region.

This would also give further flip to industrialization in the region as vast notified industrial land is still available there.

The power demand in the state, which is presently hovering around 26 to 27 million units, is likely to grow by 10 to 15 per cent every year due to urbanization and industrialization in the state.

The State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarankhand, a state government enterprise, which has developed several industrial estates, had signed an agreement with GAIL to give a push to gas-based energy projects.

Source: Business-standard.com