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Raini Village: Where rivers run deep!

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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Aerial view of Raini Village By: Kalam Singh

Dateline Chamoli: Perched 500 metres above ground zero, Raini village near Tapovan in Chamoli district stood witness to the 7th February Rishi-ganga disaster in Uttarakhand in which thirty two people lost their life and many are still feared missing.

Home to Uttarakhand’s icon Gaura Devi, the face of Chipko Movement, Raini village is today home to fifty-five households. The village too lost five of its own in the disaster that struck that fateful morning of 7th February. One young man working at the hydro-power project, some out grazing their herd and others working in their farms close to the river head, were swept away in the raging water.

By: Vinod Singh

“We heard the sound before we saw the dust rising through the hills,” recalls Kalam Singh who lives in the village with his family of five. “Within minutes the flood wiped out everything in its wake. After two to three hours when the dust settled, we saw how close we were to being swept away in the raging Rishiganga.”

“There is fear amongst the villagers now . The foundation of the hill has been scrapped and god forbid, but in the future if another disaster strikes, the entire village will be swept away as well.” Kalam Singh adds, “Some villagers who had other alternates have already left Raini. The elderly are reluctant to leave home but the youth have already left.”

Gaura Devi’s son, 77-year-old Chandra Singh recalls, “When disaster struck, we were all shaken up. I dint think we would survive the deluge. We wanted to up and leave. But now when I see things around me settling. Getting back to normal. I cannot find myself leaving. This is home. My home. My roots. Our souls reside here.” And I leave him with his thoughts as his family of eight snuggle upto him in the winter sun.

Eleven dead and many feared missing in Uttarakhand deluge

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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Dateline Chamoli: Once again, images of the June 2013 Kedarnath deluge came alive. Today morning, visuals of the Dhauliganga river in spate went viral. An avalanche near Tapovan, close to Raini village in Joshimath led to the river, a sub-tributary of the Alaknanda into spate wiping everything in its path. Eleven people lost their life, 153 are reported missing (32 from Raini and 121 from Tapovan), six injured and twenty seven labourers have been rescued from two hydro projects in the area.

“There were two hydro projects on the Dhauliganga one, NTPC and the other Rishiganga Project at Tapovan where we are told that 150 labourers are reported missing. We hope for their safety,” SSP Ridhim Agarwal, STF Uttarakhand told Newspost.

Working on war footing, 70 SDRF personnel, two teams of NDRF, 425 ITBP personnel, 124 army personnel and four medical teams have been set up base at the site along with  officers and employees of Chamoli District Administration and Indo-Tibetan Border Police rushed to the area as the news reached the capital.

An appeal was made by the administration asking people to evacuate low-lying areas along the river. The Chief Minister on site tweeted asking people not to believe in rumours and  that the administration was taking all necessary steps. Talking to the media, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “As work on Rishi Ganga power project, Railway line project was going on in full steam, safety of life is of paramount importance. We have alerted people downstream and moved them to safer ground. We are monitoring the water levels and speed which has now slowed down. The flow of the river Bhagirathi has been stopped at the GVK Dam in Srinagar and Veerbhadra Dam in Rishikesh has been drained to accommodate the rising water levels of the Alaknanda.”

In a press conference late evening, the Chief Minister reiterated that prominence was being given to saving lives. He also announced an ex-gratia of rupees four lakh compensation for those who lost their life in the deluge.

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi tweeted: Am constantly monitoring the unfortunate station in Uttarakhand. India stands with Uttarakhand and the nation prays for everyone’s safety there. Have been continuously speaking to senior authorities and getting updates on NDRF deployment, rescue work and relief operations.

Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam: Motorhomes, the next big thing

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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Dateline Dehradun: This piece of news is for those of us who want to explore Uttarakhand on wheels as it offers personal space and comfort while on a vacation. Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam will be shortly launching their latest innovation, ‘Motorhomes,’ where to begin with, two 27 seater Tata vehicles of the GMVN have been redesigned and refurbished into the state-of- the-art caravan/ motorhome to cater to your vanlife.

Though a novel idea, GMVN MD, Dr. Ashish Chauhan strongly believes that the pandemic has given people something to think about since travelling has drastically changed, and motorhomes could well be the next-big-thing.

The motorhomes redesigned to roll out were readied within a month and a half. The project from scratch to finish cost close to nine lakh each. Made for the comfort of three adults, these compact home-on-wheels is fitted with the latest interiors, “very attractive interiors, with a television, small pantry, two sofas and chairs, small modular kitchen. A cycle stand mounted with a cycle for those who wish to cycle and camp,” if that wasn’t enough, “the motorhome is fitted with a GPS. It comes with its own dedicated driver and an attendant to see to your comfort and needs.”

If that is not all, the MD has also started work on making car-restaurants from ambassador cars and vintage jeeps that will add a tinge of nostalgia to prominent attraction sights in the hill state, starting with Dhanolti.

“We will wait for the feedback and will increase the number of motorhomes in Uttarakhand,”  Dr. Ashish Chauhan signs off.

The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam will soon update their website with finer details of online packages and bookings, route the motorhomes will ply on, its daily expense and thereof as soon as the motorhomes hit the road running.

‘Mai ma na Pucha,’ latest release from Narendra Negi’s camp

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
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Dateline Pauri: ‘Mai ma na Pucha,’ composed and written by Narendra Singh Negi, Uttarakhand’s iconic singer was released on the singer’s official YouTube channel today evening.

The close to five-minute romantic Garhwali song has been sung by thirty five year old Kavilas Negi, Narendra Negi’s son. Talking about his latest release Kavilas tells us, “It has been over ten years when I first sang a duet with my father ‘Dehradun walla.’ This is my first solo video song, which has not only been sung by me but directed as well.”

Shot exclusively in Pauri’s landmark institution the Mesmore Inter College as its backdrop, the romantic number is brought alive on the screen by talented, young artists Vivek Kestwal and Natasha Shah, who plays the young lad’s love interest. Produced under the Smanya Production banner, the video has been shot by Creative Budbak using drones, which highlights the picturesque hill station of Pauri, overlooking the longest range of the snow-clad Himalaya.

‘Mai ma na Pucha,’ by Narendra Negi, Music arrangement by Ranjit Singh, sung and directed by Kavilas Negi has the making of a blockbuster song amongst the growing number of fans of the father and son duo, especially the youngsters.

At present, Kavilas has his hands full as he is busy promoting his father’s online YouTube channel Narendra Singh Negi Official, and he adds, “I might take my singing career forward. All that depends on the public response. It is them who will chart my way forward.”

If you are die-hard Negi fan, do hit the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Skjmc_W26M

Goods news for Uttarakhand at the ATOAI elections

By
newspost
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0

Dateilne New Delhi: At the Annual General Meeting and Elections held by Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI), Uttarakhand’s Vaibhav Kala, Managing Director, Aquaterra Adventures was elected as Vice President, along with Uttarakhandi Arvind Bhardwaj  and Ajit Bajaj making it into the Executive Committee.

ATOAI a.k.a “Adventure Tour Operators Association of India” is a recognized nodal body for promoting adventure tourism in India. The association has been working with Central and State governments to make policies and set standards for safe and sustainable adventure travel in India.

Conceptualized in 1994, ATOAI has over four hundred and seventy five adventure travel professionals from the industry.

Apart from resolving issues impacting adventure tourism, ATOAI objectives remain to bring more adventure tour operators into the mainstream of Quality and Responsible Tourism Practices. Getting states to adopt ATOAI’s safety guidelines, prioritizing operational risk assessment within the membership, conducting skill development & capacity building workshops in association with state tourism departments and local associations. Running educational seminars and FAM tours for members, fostering new and innovative adventure tourism products and creating a pool of trained human resources within the industry.

ATOAI seeks to reduce environmental impact on India’s natural resources, check mass- tourism in our remote locales, and take active measures to help reduce accident rates as a result of mass-tourism.

ATOAI will further set up a dedicated task force of Women Entrepreneurs within the membership and also introduce an ATOAI Mobile App showcasing India’s adventure activities in conjunction with a revamp of the ATOAI website.

Office Bearer’s:

PRESIDENT – Mr. Vishwas Makhija, Managing Director – M/s India Insight Tours Pvt. Ltd.

Senior VICE PRESIDENT – Mr. Rajesh Ojha, Managing Director – M/s Banjara Camps Pvt. Ltd

VICE PRESIDENT – Mr. Vaibhav Kala, Managing Director – M/s Aquaterra Adventures India Pvt. Ltd

HON. SECRETARY – Mr. Vinayak Koul, Director – M/s Snowlion Expeditions Pvt Ltd.

HON. TREASURER – Mr. Pradeep Murthy, Director M/s – Muddy Boots Vacations LLP

Executive committee member’s: – 

Swadesh Kumar – Shikhar Travels Pvt. Ltd

Commander Sam T Samuel – Kalypso Adventures Pvt. Ltd.

Ronny Singh Gulati – Youreka Campouts Pvt. Ltd.

Nirat Bhatt – Nidus Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

Nadeem Sheikh – Sea & Sky Travel (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Arvind Bhardwaj – Red Chilli Adventure Sports Pvt. Ltd.

Milind Bhide – Countryside Adventure Holidays Pvt. Ltd.

Tejbir Singh Anand – Holiday Moods Adventures Pvt. Ltd.

Ajeet Bajaj- Snow Leopard Adventures Pvt. Ltd

Doonite Abhimanyu Easwaran in Indian cricket team against England

By
Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dehradun: 25 year old, Dehradun born Abhimanyu Easwaran, makes it to the BCCI India squad as a standby for the first two test matches against England starting 5th February at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai. 

Abhimanyu Easwaran a star in Bengal cricket has represented the country in the Under 19 team as well. A top order batman, a right hand leg spinner and googly bowler, Abhimanyu has worked his way up the success ladder. He has represented Bengal in Ranji Trophy matches, and is based out of Kolkatta.

On making it as a standby in the team, Abhimanyu tells us, “It is a very good feeling being selected in the Indian Test Team standbys, it is a step closer to the dream for which I started playing cricket.” 

Abhimanyu has a lot of ‘firsts’ under his belt when it comes to cricket. He has played 64 first class matches, 57 List A matches and 19 T20s.  He  broke Saurav Ganguly’s record of being the youngest player to score centuries at both the innings of the Ranji Trophy tournament for the Bengal team while playing against Uttar Pradesh.

So what is his game plan for the days ahead, he replies, “Now is the time to play harder and improve my game more and get those performances so that I can make it into the main Indian Team and represent my country, that’s been my dream since I started playing cricket.” 

The India Vs EnglandTest Match will also mark the return of skipper Virat Kohli post his paternity leave along with Hardik Pandya and Ishant Sharma.

TEAM- Openers: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal. Middle-order: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul (subject to fitness after first Test). Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur.

Spinners: R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel. Standbys: KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Chahar. Net bowlers: Ankit Rajpoot, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Warrier, K Gowtham and Saurabh Kumar.Doon 

Uttarakhand hills awash with sunshine

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Mussoorie: Snug as a bug in the rug! Perfectly describes the weather conditions in the hill state of Uttarakhand these days. Over the next few days, we will be seeing a two to three degree rise in the maximum temperature, even as the plains will continue to reel under dense fog and smog, bringing the minimum and maximum temperatures plummeting.

Director Met Department, Vikram Bakshi spoke to Newspost, “The fog will continue to cover the plains of Uttarakhand especially in the districts of Haridwar and UdhamSingh Nagar. The hills will continue to have clear, bright sunshine. Post the 17th of January, there is possibility of the fog lifting and improvement in the maximum and minimum temperatures in the plains too.”

As the plains continue to be shrouded in a thick blanket of fog and mercury dipping, the hills bask in sunshine under a blue sky. All around, it is hard to believe that this is the very depth of winter. From residents to tourists, everyone seems to be enjoying the bonanza of a toasty winter sun. Of course, there are some who are disappointed. They came looking for snow and ended up with sunshine. Shakti from Bangalore, who is visiting friends in Mussoorie says: “It is most disappointing. Last year around this time it has snowed and I travelled all this way hoping that there would be lots of snow.”

Last year, in January, the hill station witnessed its first heavy snowfall and was covered under a thick blanket of white, but this year it is awash with sunshine and there is no sight of snow or rain, anyway not just yet.

“If it’s not snow, then it is the stunning winter-line along with the snow covered mountain-ranges that weave a magic all of their own. The hill-station never disappoints,” says Hotelier Prateek Karanwal as one witnesses a stream of vehicles making their way up the hill, come snow or sunshine!

Uttarakhand Tableau to be part of Republic Day Parade.

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Dehradun: Good news! This Republic Day Parade at Rajpath, New Delhi will once again witness a tableau: Kedarkhand,  from the hill-state of Uttarakhand, one amongst seventeen states to make it to the grand parade.

Confirming the news, Director General, Information Dr. Mehrban Singh Bisht said, “Orders for this were issued by the Government of India on 5th January 2020.” After five-rounds of detailed meeting with the Ministry of Defense, the tableau of the hill state was given a ‘thumbs-up.’

This year, the theme of the tableau display is entitled ‘Kedarkhand‘. While the frontal part of the tableau will display the state animal ‘Kasturi Deer‘, the state bird ‘Monal‘ and the state flower ‘Brahmakamal‘, the magnificent Kedarnath temple complex complete with the nandi and pilgrims will form the background of this colourful tableau.

The tableau’s theme, design, model and music were hand-picked and successfully projected by Deputy Director, Information Department, KS Chauhan who explained, “the process for the selection of tableau design is a very complex one. Thirty two States including Union Territories participated in the selection arena, out of which seventeen states were finalized, with Uttarakhand being one of them.”

Over the years, various tableaus from the hill-state have been a permanent fixture making their way down the Rajpath on the occasion of Republic day. ‘Phuldei’ in 2003, ‘Nandrajajat’ in 2005, ‘Valley of Flowers’ in 2006, ‘Corbett National Park’ in 2007, ‘Adventure Tourism’ in 2009, ‘Kumbh’ in 2010, ‘Herbs’ in the year 2014, ‘Kedarnath’ in 2015, ‘Rammana’ in the year 2016, ‘Rural Tourism’ in 2018 and ‘Annashakti Ashram (Kausani Migration and Anashakti)’ in 2019 gave a glimpse of the richness of Uttarakhand’s diverse heritage and culture to the world.

Last year, a lot was spoken and written about the missing Uttarakhand tableau from the 71st Republic Day Parade held in New Delhi, but all that is now a thing of the past as 2021 has definitely started off on a good note for Uttarakhand.

Pet Dog License mandatory in Dehradun

By
Dr. Tania Saili Bakshi
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0

Dateline Dehradun: Next time you take your four-legged friend for a stroll in public places in the city, it would be a good idea to carry a ‘Valid pet dog license’ issued by Nagar Nigam, Dehradun.

Dr. Dinesh Chandra Tiwari, Senior Veterinary Officer, Nagar Nigam Dehradun tells us, “Under the Municipal bylaws there is provision to issue licenses for pet canines,” adding, “Over the months, we got complaints were pets had rabies like symptoms and on checking, to our surprise these pets had not been vaccinated for various ailments including serious disease such as rabies. Current vaccination against Rabies is pre-requisite to obtain the dog-license, and is part of the supporting documents needed to apply for a fresh license or its renewal. This is in interest of public and animal health both.”

Last year alone some five hundred and thirty six pet licenses were issued in Dehradun district. While the cost of the pet license, valid for twelve months, is priced at a nominal two hundred rupees, those with ‘no-license’ can be fined up to rupees five hundred.

Keeping pandemic restrictions in place, especially for senior citizens, the Veterinary Department has a 24×7 email facility in place for those who cannot physically be present to apply for the license. In the near future, Dr. Tiwari assures us, “we are planning to put up camps in various wards to make it easier for people to apply for licenses for their pet. But until such date, they will have to make do with whatever is available and we will send our teams to assist.”

Revival of ‘Dog licensing’ serves as a great check and balance system that ensures that within their municipal limits, pet owners are doing their bit to keep the community and their own pets safe.

For further assistance, write in to : [email protected] 

World Wisdom Map: Life lessons from 2020

By
newspost
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0

Dehradun: Project FUEL, India, in association with the Singapore International Foundation’s (SIF) Arts for Good (A4G) Projects, recently launched a one of its kind digital World Wisdom Map.

This unique project features life lessons and stories of people from hundred and ninety five countries across the globe. The collation and exhibition of human wisdom is showcased on an artistic and interactive digital world map. It combines visual and wisdom anthropology that people of this diverse world have to offer each other, promoting cross-cultural understanding and creating social impact.

“I wanted to give the world a hopeful and fitting gift to end this tough year. A world map full of perspective and stories seems like a good effort in assisting people to create a life of purpose and power.’ adding, “using the tool of technology, it is easier to connect and exchange information to ignite hope and global participation in an unbiased and creative way,” said Deepak Ramola, the Founder & Artistic Director of Project FUEL. Apoorva Bakshi led as the Head for Strategy and Business while Ayushi Jaiswal helmed the role of Program Manager.

It took the team close to a year to document one story each for every country. In collaboration with ten talented Southeast Asian artists, thirty original pieces have been inspired by life lessons. Additionally, more than fifty students, five Indian and four Singaporean academic and non-academic institutions present a rare collection.

The World Wisdom Map has exclusively curated life lessons from Singapore, transgender women of India, voice of influence from across the world including Nobel laureate Jody Williams, Bollywood actors and actresses Abhay Deol, Sonakshi Sinha, Dia Mirza et al., popular Latvian musician Māra Upmane-Holšteine, Madame Sophie Trudeau (wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau), amongst others.

Please contribute your life lessons to The World Wisdom Map at https://worldwisdommap.com/

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