Dehradun, 31 May 2005

The Uttaranchal Government has decided to establish two IT parks, one each in the two divisions of the state, with an estimated expenditure to the tune of Rs 200 crore.

Briefing newspersons on the outcome of a cabinet meeting, Additional Chief Secretary M Ramachandran said the parks, one each in Garhwal and Kumaon, will incur an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore per park.

In another major decision, the Uttaranchal government has decided to bring all government departments online within this year for ensuring better dissemination of information.

In a key initiative, the state government also decided to constitute a ‘cabinet committee on infrastructure’, to look into infrastructural needs.

As part of encouragement to the Multiplex cinema halls, the government has waived-off the license fee for an initial period of five years, however, with a condition that the Multiplex must continue to run for another five years.

Ramachandran said a rural development directorate had also been approved. “A Joint Secretary level post has been created at top most level followed by rural development commissioner, Chief Development officer and Block Development officer down the line.

News Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

New Delhi, 28 May 2005

Success in films, they say, is as much a result of hard work, technology and artistic inputs as of fate. Kismat Apni Apni, perhaps? Atlast that is the name chosen for the latest Garhwali film released in Delhi this Friday. Produced by Kailash Chand Dwivedi and directed by Ved Prakash Bhadola, the film stars Isha Rawat and Vijay Mehra.

“We have brought to light the problems of women of the hills. Also, you get to see the beauty of the mountain landscape,” says Dwivedi. “It is a family oriented film. No qualms about watching it with your children and elders.”

Garhwali filmmakers, like their counterparts from other regions, are often accused of making clones of the usual Bollywood fare without going into the atmosphere and culture of the hills, the circumstances that make living there unique. “You won’t find anything ‘Bambaiyya’ in our film,” promises Dwivedi, though the storyline does contain the quintessential ingredients: a heroine orphaned at birth, two brothers diametrically opposed in character, childhood sweethearts, a hero missing in action and, of course, a villain.

“In the music by Vinod Pandey we have tried some new arrangements,” he adds. This is Dwivedi’s second film. The first was Kutum, a video film directed by Nagendra Bisht. Both productions have been made under the banner of his NGO, Yugantar Jan Parish.

Usually produced on a shoestring budget, Garhwali films are known for extracting free or nearly unpaid work from all those involved. Not so for Kismat’s leading lady, Isha Rawat, who has appeared in the Garhwali films Jeetu Bagdwal and Auns ki Raat, besides modeling assignments and TV serials including Zee TV’s Saturday Suspense. “I get paid better than others,” she says with satisfaction. “I was born in Garhwal but brought up in Punjab, so I am very fascinated by Garhwali culture, my roots.”

A LONG WAIT
The first feature film in Garhwali was called Jagwaal, which I means waiting. That was nearly two decades ago. All these years, some would say, the wait continues.

For an artistically satisfying, authentic Garhwali film. For one that reflects the ethos of this region of Uttaranchal. That is not to say that films have not I been made in Garhwali. But the I filmmakers are usually untrained in the art and science of the medium. One reasonably good film, the story goes, was Teri Saun, which was made in the free time, so to speak, of a camera team that had gone into the mountains to get filler shots for some other film. If that is the manner in which the more tolerable films are made, say artistes with an abiding love for the region, what can be said of the others? Perhaps it really is a question of fate.

News Source: The Hindu

New Delhi, May 25 (UNI)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., (BSNL) has merged Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal into a single service area enabling subscribers in the region to talk on the phone at local charges.

There will be no STD charges for calls within these two States, BSNL said.

The move comes close on the heels of the merger of Uttar Pradesh east and west circles into a single service area to place all calls within the State on a local call footing.

“All calls within UP and those between UP and Uttaranchal will now be treated as local calls. The STD-barred telephone subscribers within the three service areas can also access this facility by using the ’95′ group dialling facility,” BSNL stated.

Mobile to mobile, landline to mobile and landline to landline calls within these service areas will be treated as intra-circle calls from May 25, and will be accessible to all customers including the STD-barred customers without dialing ’0′.

But the move to make calls within certain states cheaper than previously would prove counter-productive for BSNL itself.

The exact revenue loss would take 15 days to ascertain, BSNL CMD, Anil Kumar Sinha, said.

BSNL’s loss comes in the form of access deficit charge (ADC) loss paid by operators to the PSU apart from loss in STD traffic.

Sinha said the decision would have an adverse impact on the PSU, but hoped that the loss would be compensated through an increase in volumes.

Last week, the government had announced that calls between Chennai and rest of the Tamil Nadu and likewise between Mumbai and Maharashtra, Kolkata and West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh East and West would be treated as local calls saving roaming and long distance call charges.

Till now the three metros – Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai – and their rest of the states of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra respectively were treated as two separate telecom circles.

News Source: http://www.hindu.com

25 May 2005, Ramnagar

The hills of Uttarakhand are rich in natural resources such as forest, mineral, water, livestock and agro-climatic conditions, the hill region still has little potential for industrial development. We all know the availability of Dry Pine Needle (BOON or PIRUL) in abundance in our forests. What can be done of it and how can we get rid of burning forests year after year and every summer!! Dry Pine Needle can turn the face of hills so far as the industry in the mountains is concerned. It can generate employment in rural areas.

Dry Pine Needle (DPN) which is a forest waste and a serious fire hazard has now successfully been converted into useful water cooler pad used for the room cooling. Its going to replace the pine wood material and save trees from felling.

DPN is also going to be used for extracting Lignin Chemical, which will be used by the Lead Acid Batteries, Oil Well Drilling, Textile Tanning, Water Treatment, Cement, Agricultural spray, Ceramics, Refractories, Foundry, Briquetting, Gypsum Board, Asphalt Emulsions, Industrial cleaners, Carbon black and Pigments, Ore Benefication, Linoleum Paste and Vanillin.

The first pilot commercial project on DPN is coming up at Mohaan near Ramnagar. This plant will produce 300mt of Lignin chemical and 5 Lakh water cooler pads annually. Garjiya Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. will consume only 3,000 mt of DPN. Interestingly, Uttarakhand alone has more than 4 Lakh mt/year of forest waste DPN. The patent for converting DPN has been registered by Shri. S N Verma and all the necessary Research & Development completed in long 17 years. Once the commercial pilot projects goes off the stream, states like J&K, Himanchal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and countries like Nepal – Bhutan would like to set-up factories for processing this forest waste in their areas

Chandan Dangi

New Delhi, 22 May 2006

India has decided to pursue the franchisee route, based on the US concept but modelled to local requirements, to ensure that all 582,000 villages receive power by 2009.

In 2005-06, under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna, 10,000 villages were electrified, which according to the current definition means connecting the health centre, the community centre, the panchayat or village council and at least 10 percent of the village homes to the power grid.

For 2006-07, the power ministry has set a target of connecting another 40,000 villages to the national power grid, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said here Monday while launching the national programme on franchisee for village electrification.

“Development of rural electricity franchisees is a very important component of our programme. Besides opening up new employment opportunities to rural men and women, they will also instil a sense of ownership among people,” said Shinde.

The franchisee is for distribution of power in the rural areas through entrepreneurs, NGOs, women self-help groups, users associations, cooperatives and panchayats.

“Wherever the franchisees have been installed already such as Nagaland, Assam, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh, we have received encouraging results such as reduction in power losses as well as increase in efficiency, revenue collection and employment generation,” the minister said.

In Uttaranchal, some franchisees have been able to reduce power losses substantially and increase the revenue collection by as much as 25 percent.

This year franchisees for about 22,000 villages are to be appointed. All those selected would have to sign a commercial agreement along with three months’ security or bank guarantee. Training in power distribution and metering is essential part of the programme, Power Secretary R.V. Shahi said.

The business model worked out allows only 15 percent power losses, mainly due to thefts, and 10 percent commission to the franchisee. But if the power loss is reduced further, the franchisee can look forward to additional commission, Shahi said.

On the target for power generation capacity addition this year, Shahi said while projects for about 40,000 MW were underway, it was expected that “we should be able to complete projects of over 19,500 MW” by the end of fiscal 2006-07.

The ministry was also planning ahead for projects to be executed during the eleventh plan (2007-12) and preparing the tendering process though the actual project execution would be undertaken next year.

“The tender process for generation projects worth Rs.30 billion is being made ready,” said Shahi.

Projects worth Rs.50 billion were envisaged during the current plan period (2002-07), while projects worth around Rs.62 billion are proposed to be developed in the 11th Plan period.

News Source: http://www.newkerala.com

19 May 2005, Dehradun

Amid growing concern over the dwindling tiger population in the country, the Uttaranchal forest department today began a fortnight-long wildlife census in all its national parks and sanctuaries, including the famous Jim Corbett and Rajaji Parks.

The biennial exercise began this morning with the counting of elephants in Chilla range of Rajaji park, known worldwide for its Asiatic elephants.

For smooth conduct of counting, the Rajaji Park has been closed for tourists for a fortnight till June three, chief wildlife warden Shirikant Chandola said here.

However, the Jim Corbett National Park would remain open but the movement of tourists will be restricted in certain areas, Chandola said adding, the census would be completed by June seven.

According to the official 2003 census, the tiger population decreased to 245 in the state as compared to the previous figure of 251 in 2001. However, leopard population showed a marked improvement of 6.57 per cent to 2090 (2003) from the previous figure of 1961 (2001).

The population of elephants also increased by 4.97 per cent to 1,582 in 2003 from 1,507 in 2001, the census figures showed.

An army of 3,000 trained forest personnel have been deployed to carry out the massive exercise, he said.

Rajaji Park Director G S Pandey, who is in-charge of the census in all the three circles- Shivalik, Yamuna and Bhagirathi-in Garhwal region said the number of elephants would be counted by their sightings on May 19,21 and 23, while counting of tigers and leopards would be done from May 28 to June three.

Other animals would be counted from June five to June seven on head-count basis, he said.

The whole process would be completed by the first week of next month and the final data was expected to be available by the end of the next month, Pandey said.

He said for counting of tigers and leopards, the traditional pug mark technique was being used, however, the big cats would be counted again November this year under the project tiger and then the modern techniques would be used as per the suggestion by the central government.

News Source: http://www.outlookindia.com