Dehradun, 30 June 2005

The Uttaranchal government is likely to bring its separate wine policy in the wake of growing demand for fruit-based wine at home and abroad.

“There is great need for a new wine policy for the state. Around 25-30 per cent of the fruits get wasted due to poor storage and inadequate processing. The wine industry in India provides possibilities for value addition to fruits, which could be cultivated on a large scale as a measure to agri-diversification offering higher incomes to farmers,” a top official told Business Standard.

According to a study of the horticulture department, fruits-based wines have tremendous export potential. The establishment of wine policy would enhance more investors in the state as help in increasing excise revenue generation.

The study further stated that wine industry also offers fair opportunities for increased domestic production to counter large import of wine and generate huge employment opportunities for the state.

The study also noted that Uttaranchal’s annual production of fruits stood at 3.54 lakh tons under 1.90 lakh hectares of land. The productivity is 2.56 tons/hectares, it said.

Among the fruits, Uttaranchal produces 36,708 tonnes of pears in an area of 12,225 hectare with commonly grown “stone pear” being branded as suitable for wine making.

The area under plums is 9,843 hectare which provides an annual production of 12,748 metric tons to the state. The varieties such as “Satsuma” and “Victoria Red” are found suitable for wine production.

The plum wines are one of the healthiest wines due to highest antioxidants contents, the study said. The state has also abundance of apple crop.

It produces 59,329 metric tons of apples in 51,025 hectare land. European varieties like Cox’s o range pippin, Jonathan, Macintosh, Rymer, Delicious are easily available in the state, which are suitable for apple cider.

Besides this, there is also possibility to make cereal based (Rabi/Malt) wines that have very a high calcium content.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

Pithoragarh, 29 June 2005 (PTI)

Dharchula, a border town in this district of Uttaranchal, is fast becoming a haven for illegal trade in wildlife organs given its rough, hilly terrain and proximity to Nepal and Tibet.

Delhi, Jammu and Taklakot area in Tibet are the three centres used as conduits to smuggle out the high-demand items to the international grey market, says a report compiled by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (wildlife crime cell).

The report reveals that since May 2000, there have been seizures of 131 leopard skins, a snow-leopard skin, 15 pelts of other wild animals, 127 kg shahtoosh wool, 126 gm bear bile and other wildlife parts in the Kumaon region and smugglers arrested have admitted their connection with Dharchula.

Proximity of Dharchula to Nepal and Tibet (China) and local trade relations with these countries combined with the hilly terrain and poor surveillance by Indian enforcement agencies make it convenient for smuggling, the report says.

Garbed as local traders, smugglers often dupe the police and other agencies by hiding shahtoosh wool in bags of Chinese silk or Tibetan wool on the backs of pack animals, it says.

Tiger and leopard skins are carried with their clothes and sometimes tribal women work as couriers.

In the international grey market, the going rates are tiger pelt Rs 50,000-90,000, leopard skin Rs 3,000-12,000, tiger bones and bear bile (medicinal purposes) Rs 1,500-2,000 and Rs 6,000-8,000 per kg, shahtoosh wool Rs 22,000-35,000 for a kg, 10 gm musk Rs 8,000-10,000, snow-leopard skin Rs 50,000-75,000, the report adds.

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

Tania Saili, Dehradun, 26 June 2005

The Doon School played host to a meeting of 650 women Panchayat functionaries from the village, block and district level in Uttaranchal.

Women have always been the backbone of the hill economy, and the meet sent out the unanimous signal that while men rule the roost, women were no longer content playing second fiddle.

“People have made women a part of the election procedure but they are not allowed to come out of their houses, said Deela Naakoti, Panchayat member.

“All women who are still limited to their homes should follow elected women and come to the forefront,” she added.

Miles to go

At present there are nearly 7500 elected women at various posts in the state government, representing 42 lakh women in the state.

However, the man behind the meet said the government has much to do to improve the conditions of women.

“It is our job to put pressure on the government. The government has made no Panchayati Act as yet, we have borrowed the Act from UP,” said Avdesh Kaushal, RLEK.

“The very reason behind the creation of Uttaranchal is defeated in such a case, he added.

If Uttaranchal has to progress, it will be through the help of women who are free of political shackles and empowered to work for the common good.

At the end of the day, it is power that will separate the climbers from the crawlers and the doers from the dreamers.

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

New Delhi, 24 June 2005

The Uttaranchal government has decided to develop the Sitarganj industrial estate in the state with private sector participation.

The project to be developed on a “Swiss Challenge Approach” basis, will have an anchor developer to undertake the entire development and management and will provide all basic infrastructure facilities and amenities in line with the best known industrial estates.

The State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttaranchal Ltd (SIDCUL), the nodal industrial development agency of the state government, had so far received 10 expressions of interest for estate development, according to a state government official.

The Sitarganj Integrated Industrial Estate, with a total area of about 1,200 acres, will be the state’s third such industrial estate after the BHEL industrial estate in Haridwar and the one at Pant Nagar.

About 65 per cent of the land in the industrial estate would be allocated for sectors like processed and packaged food, plastic commodities and components, paper products and packaging, pharma and personal care products.

The remaining 35 per cent of the industrial estates had been reserved for projects in the biotechnolgy and bio-information technology parks. The industrial estate would be a hot favourite among industries, since it was the only upcoming industrial estate in the National Capital Region (NCR), the official said.

The industrial estate would also have good connectivity to major towns in the state like Rudrapur, Haldwani, Mordabad, Rampur, Kashipur and across states to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

The state government also plans to upgrade the nearest airport at Pant Nagar, only 50 kilometre from Sitarganj.

Uttaranchal has become a hot destination of investment during the last one-and-half-year beacause of the fiscal incentives for investors offered both by the Centre and the state government.

Units in Uttaranchal can avail benefits like 100 per cent exemption in excise duty and income tax and capital investment subsidy at 10 per cent and central transport subsidy.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

Dehradun, 21 June 2005

The Uttaranchal Pollution Control Board has ordered the closure of two agro-based paper mills in the Kumaon region for not following environmental safety measures.

“The Chima and Multiwal paper mills have been closed,” a top government official told Business Standard. The closure came following the board’s directive to all the paper mills in the Kumoan region to follow the environmental safety measures.

The two paper mills had been given notices repeatedly to either shift from agro-based production to waste-paper jobs, or put up chemical recovery plants.

But both failed to comply with the directive, the sources said. While the Rs 16 crore Chima paper mill is located in the Bajpur area of Udham Singh Nagar, Multiwal is based in the Kashipur area of the Kumaon region.

Meanwhile, the board has also seized the bank guarantees of four other paper mills, all located in the Kumaon region, on similar grounds. However, all the four mills have told the board they would meet the environment safety norms by March next year.

Harbhajan Singh Chima, the owner of the Chima Paper Mill, said he should have been given more time to implement the safety measures.

Stating that his company had got an IDBI loan of Rs 6 crore for buying environmental safety equipment, Chima said he had requested Chief Minister N D Tiwari to give time till March 2006.

Chima, who is also a BJP MLA from Kashipur, criticised the government for not giving any attention to the industries in the state, which he said were on the verge of closure due to its “indifferent attitude”.

The owner of the Multiwal paper mill could not be contacted.

News Source: http://www.business-standard.com

Tania Saili, Dehradun, 19 June 2005

The Aasan Reservoir in Yamuna valley has been declared as the first ever ‘wetland conservation reserve’ by the forest department of Uttaranchal.

This man-made reservoir plays hosts to thousands of migratory birds every year because of its rich bio-diversity.

Taking note of the disturbance caused to migratory birds during winter months at the Aasan Reservoir in Yamuna valley, Uttaranchal’s forest department decided to declare it a ‘wetland conservation reserve’.

“Earlier whenever the Yamuna barrage was shut down for maintenance, lots of migratory birds would migrate elsewhere. We were worried that their departure would lead on to a permanent migration for elsewhere and they may never return in the future. Another strange thing is that although there are two water bodies – Aasan and Daknathar. The birds have chosen Aasan, perhaps for its biodiversity,” said Nav Prabhat, forest minister, Uttaranchal.

This proposal is being seen as a welcome move because of the variety of avian visitors that come to Aasan Barrage from all over the world after enduring gruelling journeys.

These avian visitors make Aasan Barrage a hot favourite with bird watchers – if not above at least at par with Bharatpur.

“In the years ahead, the migratory birds that come here shall continue to adopt this as their wintering grounds and the economy of Uttaranchal will reap the benefits of all the bird-watchers who will throng here. The wetlands of Bharatpur have almost vanished, the government there has been unable to give water and a vital link has been almost finished. Of course, this will never make up for that loss but some people will definitely come this way,” said A S Negi, a conversationalist.

After years of indecision on the fate of the birds here, the forest department’s proposal promises a safe haven for about 150 species of migratory birds that have made this lake their winter home.

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