Bahaar Kaur has been crowned Miss Uttarakhand 2010

Anjali Nauriyal

The recently-crowned Miss Uttarakhand, Bahaar Kaur feels that bagging the title has thrown open a door of opportunities for her and fellow winners. The 20 year old winner says, "For me my winning will act as an impetus for joining the glamour industry. I am very keen on journalism as well and hope to juggle the two." Bahar is presently pursuing her final year of bachelor's degree in journalism from IMS, Dehradun.

For this alumnus of Convent of Jesus and Mary, getting in the limelight is fast becoming a habit. She recently was declared Miss IMA at the end of term Ball Party held at the Indian Military Academy. For this only child of businessman Narendra Singh Rattan and homemaker Durga Rattan, home is her real haven that provides all the security and encouragement that she needs to become her own person. Mixed parentage (her father is a sikh while her mom is a Nepali) has contributed to her imbibing the best from two cultures adding to her charm. She now truly wants to make her parents happy. She also wants to do her bit in social responsibility work for organizations such as PFA. Life has been on a song for first runner-up Swati Negi ever since she was adjudged the winner. But right now she would like to complete her B.A. from DAV PG College, where she is studying in the first year and Airport Diploma from Avalon Aviation Academy. Though she has emerged the winner after a tough competition, she had to face a lot of opposition at home from her father who is senior warrant officer with Assam Rifles.

"He totally turned around after my win and is today my strongest supporter. Now he says, 'Do what you want'. He also wants me to act on television and is ready to provide all the wherewithal. My mom Rekha though was always supportive from the beginning along with my Bua and that was very encouraging," recalls the beauty with a smile. The third runner-up Manpreet Kocchar passed out of Doon Cambridge and Graphic Era before enrolling for MCom at DAV. Daughter of Kawaljeet Kaur, who is a teacher with Guru Nanak Inter College, and Ravinder Singh, Administrative Officer at ONGC Polytechnic, Manpreet informs that she could easily identity her strengths and weaknesses during the entire preparation phase of the beauty pageant. "Now I want to work for women empowerment and for the prevention of female foeticide. I now feel that if each one of us can teach one child how much difference it can make in the progress of our country," she wonders aloud. Interestingly all the three winners are Doonites and wish to work for the betterment of the city in some way or the other. They have already participated in a cleanliness drive and would like to make the city a better place, not only for humans but animals as well.

The other participants at the contest included Arushi Gupta, Chitrashi Tiwari, Deepika Bisht, Khushboo Khan, Manisha Rana, Nitisha Rana, Poonam Kohli, Shikha Rawat (all from Dehradun) and Chetna Kaintura (Pauri Garhwal), Kavita Bhandari (Pithoragarh), Kiran Bala Negi (Chamoli), Manpreet Dhillon (Kotdwar), Rahel Rupama (Tankapur), Sandhya Bhadri (Tehri Garhwal), Sangeeta Borai (Nainital), Tarang Chauhan (Haridwar) and Vidushi Bhatnagar (Mussoorie). Rajeev Mittal, Dalip K Sindhi, Directors of Sinmit Communications, which organised the pageant, expressed elation that the pageant, which began humbly, is growing in stature and is inviting participants from other states and even countries such as Nepal.

At A Glance: October 10, 2010

Woman pradhan files an FIR against husband

A woman pradhan of gram panchayat has filed an FIR against her husband accusing him of forgery in the district, police said on Thursday. Mamta, the pradhan of Sindhor in Block Kalsi approached the police and filed an FIR against her husband Mahavir Singh, alleging him of illegally procuring a duplicate rubber stamp of Pradhan and forging her signature.

Mamta has also written a letter to the District Magistrate (DM), Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Dehradun informing them about the same. Appreciating the move, Avadhash Kaushal Chairperson of RLEK, a Dehradun-based NGO working in the Panchayati Raj system said, "This exhibits Mamta's exemplary act of leadership and courage in valiantly exposing her husband's illegal interference in the discharge of her constitutional duties."

Snow and Glaciers Authority soon

With an aim to conserve Himalayan glaciers which are receding at a fast rate, the Uttarakhand government has decided to set up a Snow and Glaciers Authority, a first of its kind in the world. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank. Later, chief secretary Subhash Kumar told reporters that the authority would be set up under the Science and Technology department. "Science and Technology Minister and the Chief Secretary will be the ex-officio chairman and vice-chairman of the authority, which will have 21 members from various fields including four from Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)," Kumar said.

He said the representatives of central government would also be members of the authority. "The modalities of the authority are being worked out. It will study the impact of climate change on 10 big and nearly 1400 small glaciers in the hill state," a senior official said.

State At A Glance: October 3, 2010

State At A Glance:

Search for trekkers abandoned

Uttarakhand government has abandoned the search operation for missing trekkers from West Bengal as various teams engaged in the operation failed to trace them on Gangotri-Kalindikhal area. This was stated by Bhatwari Sub Divisional Magistrate S.N. Semwal. The eight-member team led by N. Prasadrao has been missing for the past 12 days from Gangotri-Kalindikhal trek following turbulent weather in upper Himalayan reaches. After getting information on September 21, Uttarkashi district administration launched a search operation. Two Cheetah helicopters of the army as well as ITBP personnel were also pressed into service but they failed to trace the trekkers as the area had received heavy snowfall in the past several days. West Bengal ministers Kanti Ganguly and Srikumar Mukherjee, along with a rescue team, had also made an unsuccessful attempt to search them with the help of helicopters.

HC reserves order on CS appointment

The Uttarakhand High Court has reserved its order on a petition challenging the appointment of Subhash Kumar as chief secretary of the state. A division bench comprising Justices Tarun Agrawal and V.K. Bist reserved its order after completing hearings on a PIL challenging appointment of Kumar on the post of chief secretary, petitioner's counsel A.K. Tiwari said.

The petitioner claimed that Kumar's appointment has been made ignoring the seniority norms of IAS cadre rules. A pay scale of Rs 80,000 has been fixed for Kumar, while three other officers are also in the same scale. This is against the rules as the state government did not take necessary approval from the Centre,’ Tiwari claimed.

Corporates I-T returns deadline

The income tax department has extended the last date of filing returns by corporates for the assessment year 2010-11 to October 15, on account of disturbance due to floods in many parts of the country. "The Central Board of Direct Taxes has extended the due date of filing income tax returns for the assessment year 2010-11 from 30th September 2010 up to 15th October 2010. The due date has been extended in view of disturbance to general life caused by floods," an official statement said. Accordingly, the deadline for obtaining tax audit report also stands extended to October 15, 2010. It further said that the due date for Jammu and Kashmir, however, remain at November 30. Floods have affected various parts of the country including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Efforts to boost tourism

The Uttarakhand government said it wanted the hill state to be on the international tourism map in next five years. Speaking at a function on the World Tourism Day, chief minister Ramesh Pokhariyal 'Nishank' said, "Uttarakhand has a vast potential of tourism and the government has fixed a target of establishing it on international tourism map as a model state in the next five years." Governor Margaret Alva, who inaugurated a tourism exhibition on the occasion, said the state with abundance of natural beauty has a potential to attract tourists in large numbers.

Kasana villagers force minister to go back Villagers of landslide hit Kasana village of Pauri Garhwal district forced state minister Vijaya Barthwal to go back when she visited the area which falls under assembly constituency Yamkeshwar. Kasana is affected by landslides every year and heavy rains this monsoon season aggravated their problems. However, when Barthwal reached the village on hearing the plight of the people and to hand over cheques of relief amount, she was asked to go back when she tried to convince the villagers to leave their unsafe houses and take shelter in school buildings and tents. The villagers, who even refused to accept the cheques of relief amount, said they should be rehabilitated elsewhere and given agriculture land. Barthwal told the villagers that she would talk to the chief minister in this regard.

23 pilgrims killed as truck falls into gorge in Uttarakhand

Twenty—three people, mostly from two Haryana villages, were today killed when a truck ferrying ’Kanwarias’ (Shiva devotees) fell into a gorge in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The truck, which was on its on way to Gangotri, fell into the 150—metre deep gorge killing 23 people, including the driver and the cleaner, at Dabrani on Rishikesh—Gangotri national highway about 70 kms from here, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Saurabh Jain told. 21 bodies of youths have been fished out by the police and ITBP personnel and they have been sent for a post mortem, he said, adding efforts are on to extricate two more bodies from the accident site. A pall of gloom descended on villages of Baghanki and Kherki in Haryana’s Gurgaon district, from where nearly all the youths killed belonged. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank has also ordered a magisterial probe into the incident. The Haryana Government announced an exgratia of Rs two lakh each to the next of kin of the deceased. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed deep shock and grief over the deaths and said that his government was in touch with the administration of Uttarkashi to bring back the bodies. Gurgaon district administration has sent of a team of officers led by Tehsildar Manesar KS Dhaka to assist the family members and villagers who have rushed to Uttarkashi, according to the Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria. A group of 29 youths from the two villages had gone on the pilgrimage, district officials said, adding efforts were on to identify those missing.

Heavy rains and floods over the last two days have left six others dead and thrown life out of gear in Uttarakhand. Several important roads were washed away in the heavy floods due to which a large number of villages were cut off. A vital stretch of Raipur-Chamba road was also washed away due to heavy floods in the river Song in Dehra Dun, where large areas have been inundated leading to loss of property after last night’s torrential rains that broke a 44—year record. Meanwhile, two ‘Kanwarias’ from Uttar Pradesh were today killed while another was injured when a motorcycle on which they were riding collided with a bus at Jwalapur area of Haridwar district, 47 km from here. The incident took place when the motorcycle collided head on with the bus killing Raju (20), a resident of Ghaziabad and Bablu (22), a resident of Meerut on the spot, police said. Another person identified as Deepak was also injured in the accident and he has been admitted to a nearby hospital, they said.

Fair of many firsts

2010 Kumbh has been unique in many ways

The first Mahakumbh of the century at Haridwar and the first to be held after the creation of Uttarakhand, concluded with its eleventh and last snan on the auspicious occasion of the Purnima of the Adhimas (additional month) of the Baisakh of the Hindu calendar on April 28.

The devotees, including the sant community, bid adieu to the holy city, hoping to meet here again on the bank of the Ganga, after eleven years in 2021. "Due to the required conjunction of planets and stars for the holding of the Kumbh, the next Kumbh at Haridwar will be held after 11 years, instead of twelve years, a phenomenon which will occur after thousands of years," says Vipin Parashar, an eminent astrologer of the city. The last snan of the Kumbh started at wee hours at all the ghats, including Brahm Kund at Har-ki-Pauri, with cries of 'Har-Har-Mahadev' and 'Jai Ganga Maiya'. Most of the devotees came from Western U.P., Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujrat. Four special trains were run by the railway department and 200 special buses were also pressed into service to ferry the devotees from different states. Since the administration did not want to take any chance regarding the safety and security of the pilgrims, highly elaborate security arrangements were made and strict traffic plan was in place in the entire mela area. The official sources say that more than 15 lakh devotees took holy dip in the last snan. The Kumbh 2010 will be remembered for many firsts to its credit. For the first time in the history of the world such a huge gathering was witnessed at one place. The Kumbh mela officer, Anand Vardhan says that millions of devotees, from the country and abroad, driven by faith, congregated in the mela area during the four month mela period. Secondly, no cultural event had so far attracted such a global attention.

Huge number of devotees from more than 100 countries, including Pakistan, Nepal, the U.S.A., the U.K., Russia, Japan, Italy, Germany and Australia, flocked to the bank of the Ganga to have vivid glimpses of the mysticism and rituals of the wide spectrum of the Indian culture. Again, the akharas, which occupy the centerstage at the Kumbh, also made history this time. So far, at the Kumbh at Haridwar and the three other places where the Kumbh is held, there used to be three Shahi Snans, one Shahi Snan of the seven Sanyasi Akharas and the two other Shahi Snans in which all the 13 akharas, including the 7 akharas of the Sanyasis, 3 akharas of the Bairagis, the 2 akharas of the Udasins and one akhara of the Nirmals, used to take part. This time, in a welcome gesture of unity and harmony not only did all the 13 akharas participate in all the three Shahi Snans, but also declared the snan of the Bairagis, Udasins and the Nirmals, which was held on March 30 as a Shahi Snan, thus raising the number of the Shahi Snans from three to four. Also for the first time, the representatives of the Akhara Parishad, the apex body of all the akharas, took snan with masses on the last snan on April 28. The unity and comradeship, displayed by the akharas this time, ensured that there were no mutual bickering and clashes among the sadhus and the mahants, which had been a common feature in the previous Kumbhs not only in Haridwar but at other venues of the Kumbh too. Moreover, in the Kumbh at Haridwar it was for the first time that the administration provided camps and tents for all the mahamandleshwars, mandleshwars and mahants on the bank of the Ganga at Daksh Dweep, Gauri Shankar Dweep, Bairagi Camp, Neel Dhara Bank etc., outside the main city. The shifting of the main Kumbh area outside the city, on the pattern of the Kumbh at Prayag, eased pressure of the heavy rush of pilgrims from the main city. A welcome feature of this Mahakumbh was that both the central and the state governments acted in perfect sync, to ensure safety and security and smooth holding of this unique event. The central government provided heavy para military forces, besides generously providing financial assistance of about Rs.560 crore, the highest ever provided for the holding of any fair in the country. The Kumbh mela D.I.G., Alok Sharma says that 20,000 security personnel, including civil and the P.A.C. jawans of Uttarakhand and many other states and 60 companies of the para military forces provided by the centre were deployed throughout the mela area.

If the Mahakumbh 2010 made history on many fronts, history repeated itself in one respect. Inspite of the best efforts of the administration and highly elaborate security arrangements and massive preparations for crowd management, casualties due to untoward incident could not be avoided. The mega fair, which otherwise went very well, free from terror and violence, was disgraced by an unfortunate accident, resulting in a stampede and the caving in of the railings of a bridge, claiming at least seven precious lives.