New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today decided to field Vimla Kashyap as its candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh to be vacated by Union minister Anand Sharma. With BJP enjoying a comfortable majority in the state, Kashyap is now more or less sure to sit in the Upper House.

The name was cleared by the central election committee of BJP, presided over by party president Nitin Gadkari. The last date for filing nominations is March 16 and polling will take place March 26. Other leaders who had thrown n their hat included former MPs Maheshwar Singh & Kripal Parmar, and former state minister Praveen Sharma.

Vimla Kashyap, 68, is the three-time state Mahila Morcha president and presently she is serving as member of the this wing. If elected, she will be the seventh women member in the Rajya Sabha from the state. The others are Leela Devi, Satyawati Dang, Mohinder Kaur, Usha Mahajan, Chandresh Kumari and Viplove Thakur. All except Mohinder Kaur (Janata Party) were from the Congress.

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government today decided to reintroduced road tax and also enhanced toll tax being charged from private bus operators and vehicles coming from outside the state..

According to secretary transport PC Kapoor, a notification was issued here today stating that the government would increase toll tax and reintroduced road tax, to be implement from April, 1, 2010. About 2,000 private bus operators would be affected. after levying road tax, which was withdrawn by the state government in the previous budget(2009-10) to encourage private bus operators to extend their services in rural areas. An official claimed that the government decided to reintroduce road tax after it failed to get get a positive response from its earlier move.

The state government has also decided to charge more tax from vehicles coming from outsides the state. He said that toll tax being charged on vehicles having more than 120 quintals weight would have to pay Rs 240 on entry into Himachal Pradesh in place of Rs 120 and vehicles weighting 120 quintals and less would be charged Rs 150 per vehicle in place of Rs 100.

Shimla: Opposition leader in Himachal Pradesh Assembly Vidya Stokes called the budget presented by Chief Minister PK Dhumal on March 12 as sterile and anti-farmer, anti-common men and anti-employees. While initiating debate over the state budget in the House here today, Stokes lodged a scathing attack on the state government, alleging that it did not try to deal with basic issues.

She said that agriculture contributes 18 percent of the state GDP, but was given only 11 percent allocation when 70 percent people depend on this sector. Terming the budget inflationary, Stokes said the state government has proposed to increase VAT by one percent, levied entry taxes on goods being brought from outside the state, and hiked bus fare, reflecting that the government is misleading people.

She acused the government of indulging in double-speak as on the one had it was criticising the Union government for raising petrol and diesel prices on the other hand it raised bus fares by 30%. She charged that various sections of people living below poverty line had not been getting PDS rations in depots.

Stokes alleged that schemes mentioned in the state budget do not say anything about their time of completion and most of the budget reflects central-sponsored schemes. She refuted the state government for not upgrading the age-old working style and pattern of excise and taxation department, which could generate income to balance the state budget. Participating in the debate, GS Bali of Congress criticised it by alleging that every newborn would have to face a burden of Rs 35,000 due to mindless borrowing by the state government.

Shimla: In order to distinguish BPL patients from other regular patients, the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to introduce colored registration slip scheme from next month to provided free treatment facility to such households.

Health minister Rajive Bindal said the state government has been giving free treatment facility to all BPL patients and during the last one year as many as 11,330 such patients belong were treated. Bindal said that the government is introducing ‘coloured slip scheme’ from April 1, 2010, so that beneficiaries could be distinguished from normal patients. Bindal was replying to separate queries raised by GS Bali(Cong-Nagrota), Inder Singh (BJP-Gopalpur), Vipin Singh Parmar (BJP-Sulaha) and GR Mussafir (Cong-Pachhad) during the Question Hour in the Vidhan Sabha today.

संगोष्ठि के उद्देश्यों पर चर्चा करते हुए जिला एड्स परियोजना अधिकारी डाॅ॰ आर॰के॰ सूद ने बताया कि HIV के संभावित खतरे से महिलाओं को बचाना एक चुनौतीपूर्ण कार्य है जिसकी मुख्य वजह यौन व्यवहार व निर्णय लेने में महिलाओं की स्थिति गौण है। कंडोम का प्रयोग पुरूषों के व्यवहार व निर्णय पर निर्भर है। महिलाओं की शारीरिक संरचना और उनमें यौन संचारित रोगों की अधिकता होना उन्हें HIV के खतरे के और करीब लाती है।

चर्चा में हिस्सा लेते हुए लोक विज्ञान केन्द्र से इरा सक्सेना और एकल बेटी परिवार संगठन से विमला विश्वप्रेमी ने कहा कि ज्यादातर महिलाएं अपने अधिकारों खासकर यौन व्यवहार को लेकर जागरूक नहीं हैं वह अकसर पति के व्यवहार अनुपालन करती हैं। कंडोम के बारे में बात करना, न तो उन्हें सजग लगता है और न ही वह पति को कंडोम इस्तेमाल करने के लिये बाध्य करने की स्थिति में है।

डाइट से प्राध्यापक नीलम ठाकुर व रंजना ने कहा कि इसके लिए समाज की रूढ़िवादी मान्यताएं भी जिम्मेवार हैं, जिसके अनुसार भावनाओं का इजहार और विचारों की अभिव्यक्ति को रोका जाता है व कम बोलने के संस्कार दिये जाते हैं। मधु कपूर निशा राणा और अनामिका ने भी लिंग भेद को वजह बताया।

मोनिका पठानिया इंदु धीमान शारदा शर्मा आशा धीमान व मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता जितेन्द्र राणा ने अपने विचार सांझा करते हुए प्रत्यक्ष और परोक्ष रूप से HIV से महिलाओं को संवेदनशील बताया। उन्होंने कहा कि यदि घर का कोई पुरूष HIV से संक्रमित होता है तो घर की महिलाएं शारीरिक, सामाजिक व आर्थिक रूप से ज्यादा प्रभावित होती हैं अगर वह पत्नी है तो संक्रमण उसे भी चपेट में ले लेता है। इसी के कारण उसे सामाजिक प्रताड़ना भी सहन करनी पड़ती है व उसके चरित्र पर भी कई सवाल लगाये जाते हैं।

Hamirpur: Thousands of people visited the cave of Baba Balak Nath and offered ‘roates’ (made of wheat atta, ghee and sugar) and sought his blessings on the occasion of month-long Chaitra melas (fair) that started at the historic shrine of Baba Balak Nath at Deotsidh in Hamirpur district today.

Baba Balak Nath is said to be incarnation of Lord Artichoke, the elder son of Lord Shiva. Nearly seventy to seventy-five lash people from various parts of northern India and foreign countries take part in this annual function and offer their puma to the Babara.Women, who are not allowed to visit the cave as per century-old traditions, offered their puma from a platform erected at a distance from the cave. Hamirpur DC Abolisher Jain offered puma at the temple and also unfurled the temple flag. He also took part in a Yagi held at the Yagi place inside the temple complex. Maharani Remainder Kiri of the temple was also present on this occasion.

The temple administration has decided to open the cave for twenty-four marshals of Babbie during the fair. However, ‘daresay’ of the cave will be restricted during the Marti time. An official spokesperson claimed that the situation at the temple remained under control and no untoward incident was reported from any part of the Despotism town where this temple is located on the Dhaulagiri hill.

Meanwhile, the temple management had set up two control rooms for the benefit of the pilgrims.

Shimla: An earthquake of 4.6 magnitude on the Richter scale was felt in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab this afternoon. Meteorological centre director Manmohan Singh said low-intensity shocks were experienced at 12.23 pm in the border areas of the state. The epicentre of the quake was at Hoshiarpur. There were no reports of any casualty from the state.

New Delhi: India signed a 59.1 million US dollar agreement with ADB for the second tranche of Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy development Investment Program.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi on Friday by Dr Anup K Pujari, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs on behalf, of the government of India, and by Kun Kim, country director, INRM, on behalf of ADB. Tarun Kapoor, MD, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd, signed the agreement on behalf of the Corporation as well as the Power and Finance Department of Himachal Pradesh government

The second tranche will cover civil works for construction of a diversion barrage, power intake, de-sanding arrangements and gates and hoisting for the Sawra Kuddu hydroelectric project, located in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. The Himachal Pradesh Clean Energy Development Investment Program, approved in 2008, is for a total amount of 800 million US dollars. It covers the Sawra Kuddu, the Keshang I, II and III stages, the Sainj, and the Shontong – Karcham projects. The first tranche of the project was signed on November 10, 2008. It was for an amount of 150 million US Dollars.

Shimla: Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishanan today said that  legal judgments should have social impact to improve the lot of poor, downtrodden and common man at the grassroots level. Speaking at the inaugural session of the one-year-long Ruby Jubilee Celebrations of Himachal Pradesh High Court at Peterhoff, he asked judges to take lead in inculcating social values in the society by being sensitive to the aspirations and expectations of people.

Justice Balakrishnan said that each generation should respond to the political, economic and social challenges and find out solutions to face these for the betterment of the society. In a large democracy like India, people should have access to the minimum living requirements like food, nutrition and shelter. Our legal system should make contribution to change the face of the society and empower the poor and common man through legal judgments’.

He said that in liberalized India judiciary is expected to be vigilant for widening the area of social equality. He said that there had been a broad understanding on the constitutional law and personal liberty in our judicial system. The complications with regard to the disputes of citizens should be taken note of by the judiciary and try to solve them in the larger interest. He said that women representation in the courts was minimum and need to be enhanced.

Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said that the state government would consider setting up Gram Nyayalayas in a phased manner to ensure speedy justice. Dhumal said that the State Legal Services authority is taking necessary steps through Legal Aid Clinics to provide justice to common man at the threshold. Three Legal Aid Clinics had been set up at Shimla, Dharamshala and Mandi for providing free legal aid to the needy and poor litigants. The Chief Minister said that state government is ready to extend full co-operation for construction of lawyer’s chambers besides agreeing to implement the recommendations of Padamnabham Committee regarding revision of pay scale of judicial officers.

Justice Kurian Joseph, Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court said that 53,000 cases are pending in the high court and time bound target has been fixed for their disposal.

Fatehpur: Highlighting the chaos and conflict that prevails in the implementation of developmental schemes at grassroots level, a village panchayat in Fatehpur sub-division of Kangra district has given an ultimatum to the irrigation and public health department to stop illegal supply of water from a tubewell, which they claim is not as per the original plan.

The farmer development committee of Manow Silah village had on February 2 given a written complaint to the IPH department stating that water supply from the said tubewell to areas not under the map should be immediately stopped as it would affect supply to their land. As no action was taken by the department, villagers again submitted a written complaint on March 3, this time giving the department 10 days to act or else face closure of the tubewell. Surprisingly, instead of talking to villagers to seek a solution to the problem, the IPH department pasted a notice at the tubewell, threatening legal action against anyone found guilty of disrupting water supply.

Expressing resentment among the villagers, president of the area farmer development committee Ashok Kumar said they are ready for a direct face-off with officials and have even written to IPH minister Reminder Ravi, besides other high-ranking officials. Ashok Kumar claimed that the said tubewell was installed seven years back and was supplying water as per the map, but recently the water distribution channels were altered to benefit a particular person who is in relation to an official working with the IPH department. He further declared that on March 13 villagers would hold a protest march at Hada Chawk in Fatehpur and submit a memorandum to the district administration, after which they would proceed to lock the said tubewell even if the government takes action against them.

On the other hand, IPH Xen BK Barmani, when asked about the issue, claimed that there is excess supply of water at the said tuewell and the decision to supply water outside the mapped area was taken in consultation with the farmer development committee. However, farmer development committee president Ashok Kumar denied any such move by the IPH department.