Dehradun Sep 28 PTI Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will visit Uttarakhand on October 1 to unveil a statue and a memorial of Peshawar revolt hero Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali at his ancestral Peethsain village Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali a Havildar Major in erstwhile Royal Garhwal Rifles is regarded across Uttarakhand as a hero of the Peshawar kand of 1930 when defying the British he refused to open fire on unarmed Pathans fighting for Indias freedom The defence minister will visit Peethsain on October 1 and unveil the statue and memorial of Garhwali besides offering tribute to him Cabinet Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said The Union minister will also distribute cheques of interest free loans up to Rs 5 lakh among women self-help groups and launch the Ghasiyari grass cutters welfare project on the occasion he said A Ghasiyari kit containing tools will be distributed among 25000 rural women as part of the scheme PTI ALM SNE SNE

Dehradun Sep 28 PTI The Uttarakhand government is considering to simplify registration for the Chardham Yatra exempting pilgrims from the formality of dual registration on Smart City and Devasthanam Board portals for an e-pass Additional Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan in a meeting with officials of departments connected with the yatra said an interim plea should be filed in the Uttarakhand High Court seeking an increase in daily number of pilgrims visiting the temples Asking them to simplify the procedures for the yatra he said since conditions on both portals are the same exempting Devasthanam Board e-pass holders from the compulsion of registering on Smart City portal can be considered The process of registration on the Devasthanam Board portal and checking of e-passes should be simplified as much as possible he said Bardhan also asked officials to address the difficulties being faced by pilgrims in logging into the Devasthanam Board portal and establishing a QR code system for checking of e-passes on check points en route to the shrines of Badrinath Kedarnath Gangotri and Yamunotri PTI ALM RDK RDK

Dehradun Sep 27 PTI BJP president JP Nadda on Monday said that empowering women and harnessing their talent for nation building has been central to the partys policy Virtually addressing the concluding session of the national executive of the BJP Mahila Morcha here Nadda said respecting women has been part of the Indian tradition and the ancient Hindu scriptures are a testimony to this fact He spoke of the importance given to women in gurukuls in ancient India The BJP chief said the world may be saying ladies first today but India has been from time immemorial taking the names of its goddesses before that of its gods like Gauri-Shankar Sita-Ram and Radha-Krishna Nadda said recognition of womens merit and bringing them at par with men is also evident in the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given key portfolios like external affairs finance and human resource development to women This is the largest representation given to women in any ministry he said The BJP leader said Indian women have excelled in different walks of life and also spoke about how well women like PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal were doing in the field of sports He also showered praise on women for playing a vital role in the countrys fight against the COVID-19 pandemic Earlier during a question-answer session BJP organisational general secretary BL Santosh said the party intends to give 57 per cent reservation to women not just 33 per cent but it will take time BJP Mahila Morcha president Vanati Shrinivasan general secretaries Indu Bala Goswami and D Purandeshwari were among those who attended the meeting PTI ALM AAR

Dehradun Sep 27 PTI The Bharat Bandh called by farmer unions against the Centres three agri laws evoked a mixed response in Uttarakhand as most of the shops and establishments remained openFarmers organisations descended on the streets at Roorkee in Haridwar district Rudrapur Kashipur Khatima and Gadarpur in Udham Singh Nagar district to enforce the bandh but most of the shops remained openThere was not much impact in Dehradun either as people did not have a problem going about their daily routine as usualOverall the bandh remained peaceful with no untoward incident reported so far from any part of the state police said However farmers organisations staged dharnas at a number of places demanding withdrawal of the new farm laws The Bharat Bandh called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha an umbrella body of 40 farm unions marks one year since President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the three controversial laws and 10 months since thousands of farmers set up camp at Delhis border points to voice their protest PTI ALM KJ KJ KJ

Dehradun Sep 26 PTI The first palmetum of Uttarakhand and the biggest in north India has been developed by the research wing of the state forest department in HaldwaniSpread over three acres the palmetum funded by the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority CAMPA has around 100 different species of palms Chief Conservator of Forest Sanjiv Chaturvedi said on SundayAround 20species of palm at the palmetum are endangered or threatened according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN listOf the total number of palm species at the palmetum one named Trachycarpus takil Takil Palm is endemic to UttarakhandIt is the only palm species that can survive in sub-zero temperatures and is declared threatened by the Uttarakhand Biodiversity Board Chaturvedi said PTI ALM RC

Dehradun Sep 25 PTI The Uttarakhand government has said the rapid rise in population is causing demographic changes in certain areas of the state resulting in migration of several communities from those places besides posing a threat to communal peace Expressing concern over the development in an official release here on Friday the government directed the state DGP all DMs and SSPs to take precautionary steps to resolve the problem It asked the officials to constitute committees in all districts that will offer suggestions to the administration for addressing the issue Besides peace committees should also be set up and their meetings held from time to time to review the situation the release said Such areas in all districts should be identified and action should be taken against anti-social elements residing there it said A list of people with criminal records coming from outside the state and living in these areas should also be prepared after verifying their original place of residence the release said The district magistrates DMs have been asked to keep an eye on illegal land deals in such areas and see that people do not sell their lands out of fear or pressure Strict action should be taken against people of foreign origin who have obtained forged ID cards or voter ID cards Records of such people should be prepared and action taken against them as per the legal provisions the release said The list of directions follows a letter written by BJP leader Ajendra Ajay to Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami recently in which he had alleged that people of a particular community were not only building their places of worship but also buying land in bulk in certain areas of the state causing an exodus of the original inhabitants The home department had been asked to look into the matter after the BJP leader wrote to the chief minister PTI ALM AQS AQS

Dehradun Sep 24 PTI Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday inaugurated a three-day international apple festival here for the commercial promotion of apples grown in the stateInaugurating the festival at the Rangers Ground here Dhami said Uttarakhand is capable of growing the finest quality of apples and hoped that the event will help it earn the distinction it deserves nationally and internationallyHe expressed hope that the event will provide apple growers of the state new opportunities to sell their produce PTI ALM KJ

Dehradun Sep 23 PTI Kumar Satish Ravi a professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences AIIMS in Rishikesh has earned the distinction of editing the first South Asian edition of Snells Clinical NeuroanatomyDr Ravi works as an additional professor in the Department of Anatomy AIIMS RishikeshReleasing the first South Asian edition of the book which is read globally AIIMS Director Arvind Rajvanshi said It is a matter of pride for the institute that a book with a global readership has been edited by one of its eminent faculty He congratulated Ravi for his incredible efforts The book has been recommended by the doyen of neurology -- M V Padma Srivastava Professor and Head Department of Neurology and Chief Neurosciences Centre AIIMS New Delhi Hon Professor UCLAN UKIt is a dream come true for me I had not even imagined that I would one day get a chance to edit a book I had grown up reading and admiring Ravi said PTI ALM RC

Dehradun Sep 20 PTI Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday flagged off five financial literacy vans equipped with ATMs for remote hill areas of the state Belonging to the Uttarakhand Gramin Bank the mobile ATM vans which have been sanctioned by NABARD will move in remote hill areas and educate locals about the latest banking technologies like digital payments Besides helping people in monetary transactions through ATMs they will also help spread financial literacy among the locals Dhami said describing it as a significant step towards Prime Minister Narendra Modis financial inclusion initiative and Digital India Mission The chief minister asked Uttarakhand Gramin Bank officials to set up camps in all districts and distribute loans among the maximum number of people under state governments different self-employment schemes Dhami also released Uttarakhand Gramin Banks ninth annual report on the occasion PTI ALM AAR AAR

Dehradun Sep 19 PTI AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised to take big steps to end migration from Uttarakhand assuring an unemployment allowance and an 80 per cent job quota for people of the state if his party comes to power in the next assembly elections Making six promises Kejriwal said every youth of Uttarakhand would get employment if the AAP is voted to power and assured a monthly allowance of Rs 5000 to an individual from every family till they got a job He also promised to reserve 80 per cent of both private and government jobs for the people of the state and to create one lakh employment opportunities within six months of coming to power A job portal on the lines of the one in Delhi will be launched which will provide an interactive platform to job seekers and employers Kejriwal said addressing a press conference in Haldwani A separate ministry will also be created to address the issues of unemployment and migration the Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party AAP national convenor added Kejriwal also accused successive governments of doing nothing but looting Uttarakhands resources for years If voted to power the AAP will take big steps for large-scale creation of jobs and prevention of migration from the hills he said Referring to his earlier promises of free electricity to farmers round the clock and 300 units of power to every household at no cost Kejriwal said all these are meant to be fulfilled Unlike others we do what we say We are going to keep all our promises If we say we will give free power to farmers 24x7 or give 300 units of power for free we mean it We have done it in Delhi and we will do it here he added He asserted that all of what he has said can be done and the only thing needed is good intention Successive governments in Uttarakhand have been devoid of good intentions and have only looted its resources Kejriwal alleged When we came to power in Delhi in 2015 we were asked from where would we bring the money that was needed to keep the commitments we had made to people But we turned a deficit budget into one of profit within four years All we did was wipe out corruption and everything else followed he said Kejriwal said the AAP has run Delhi and it will bring that experience to serve the people of Uttarakhand Seventy-three per cent of people in Delhi are getting free electricity he said adding that the Delhi model of development will be adopted in Uttarakhand Giving an example of how the Delhi government was saving money on every development project he said the Wazirpur flyover which was estimated to be built at a cost of Rs 325 crore required Rs 200 crore only Given an opportunity the AAP will help the people of Uttarakhand overcome the misery of 21 years in just 21 months If people want all this to happen they must give AAPs chief ministerial candidate Col Ajay Kothiyal a chance Kejriwal added Taking a dig at the ruling BJP which has changed two chief ministers in Uttarakhand in quick succession Kejriwal said If you vote for BJP you will get a new chief minister every month but if you vote for Kothiyal you will get a stable CM for five years who will get your children jobs Governments do not suffer from shortage of funds what they lack is good intentions he said He asked people to give just one chance to Kothiyal if they wanted the announcements made to them to be fulfilled We dont make false promises We make only promises which are meant to be kept Politics and corruption are not in our blood he said Replying to a question he said the AAPs doors are open for good people in all other parties Good people in other parties who feel suffocated and want to do something for employment generation infrastructure development roads and electricity are welcome he said It was Kejriwals third visit to the poll-bound state within just a few months On each visit he has made a string of populist announcements to lure voters including free electricity to farmers for 24 hours free electricity up to 300 units per billing cycle exemption from payment of old bills and now an unemployment allowance of Rs 5000 and an 80 per cent job quota for locals The AAP sees an opportunity for itself in Uttarakhand where the BJP and the Congress have been in power alternately PTI ALM SMN SMN