eUttaranchal - Uttaranchal News

Dehradun, 03 Jan 2009

Iron turbine-driven watermills are providing more employment opportunities in Dehradun in Uttarakhand.

The iron-turbine has replaced the wooden turbine in water mills here. Though a small step, it is proving to be a huge leap.

Watermills have long been used to generate power here.

In turn, so generated power ran various kinds of grind mills like flour, oil and even handlooms.

“It is working free of cost with water. People get grains grinded. We also grind our own flour and sell it. It is providing many employment opportunities,” said Manoj Kumar, water mill operator.

A big advantage of water mills is increased reliance on local resources, making use of almost no direct imports. Many ventured into new business only after they had this changed and more efficient water mill at their disposal.

“My restaurant is working with the help of electricity produced by water mill. My fridge and flour grinding machine is working with the same electricity. It has been really beneficial,” said Bansuri, a restaurant owner.

Water mills, which used to be the most widespread rural technology, lost their importance when diesel mills entered the rural areas. But with the diesel prices touching the sky they are back in the reckoning.

“The wooden turbine has been converted into iron turbine. Initially, one water mill could grind only six to seven kgs of flour per hour. Now after we have introduced new technology, people are getting employed. Initially where only one person was employed, now ten are employed,” said Manmohan Negi, a technician.

Increased processing capacity of the improved watermills has helped the owner earn more profit. The widespread use of watermills and its popularity owes much to its simple and cost-effective mechanism. By Ashish Goel (ANI)

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Dehradun, 2 Jan 2009

Though Uttarakhand has often been described as a hub of herbs, it has so far failed to tap the natural resources to its potential.

Farmers have been reluctant to switch to cultivation of medicinal herbs with lack of marketing and other infrastructural support acting as major deterrents.

The state is, however, now making efforts to encourage the farming community to take up cultivation of these plants with Chief Minister B C Khanduri himself being involved in drawing out plans for optimum tapping of the medicinal plants and promising to take care of the shortcomings in their cultivation and marketing.

“To begin with, we have initiated the process of free registration of farmers who are cultivating medicinal plants. This will give us an idea about the production of medicinal herbs and also help in drawing the future roadmap. Each farmer is being given a yield certificate also,” Dr Aditya Kumar, vice-chairman, State Medicinal Plant Board (SMPB) told The Indian Express.

He further stated that the Government has established seven nurseries — at Mandal, Parsari and Kothiyal Sain in Chamoli, Dhanaulti in Tehri, Sela Qui in Dehradun, Gadarpur in Udhamsingh Nagar and Munshiyari in Pithoragarh — to provide saplings of these plants to farmers. These nurseries provide plants that are grown at different heights and in different climatic conditions.

“We are also giving 50 per cent grant to farmers who are cultivating medicinal plants,” said Dr Kumar. “A plan is also in place to encourage farming of medicinal plants in clusters. Any farmer who sets up a distillation unit in these clusters will be given a 95 per cent subsidy. This has primarily been done to discourage migration of unemployed youth from the higher reaches of the Himalayas.”

“To plug the loopholes in marketing, a revolving fund worth Rs 50 lakh has been created by the Chief Minister so that farmers with smaller quantities of produce do not face problems. In addition to this, a Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been declared for nine medicinal plants,” pointed out Dr Kumar.

Meanwhile, farmers cultivating medicinal plants have been also alleging harassment by the Forest Department officials —something that Khanduri himself had talked about at a meeting earlier this month. “I am conveying my displeasure and anger at the way things stand. It is convenient to resort to means of smuggling than to work honestly. A man transporting things honestly is stopped by 25 forest officials,” he had said.

Officials, however, claimed that in order to facilitate easy passage of farmers, the transit passes are being issued without any hassle and in an easier format.

Uttarakhand’s potential can be gauged from the fact that more than 70 industries dealing in manufacturing of herbal medicines have set up units in the state. Some of them utilise nearly 1,000 metric tonnes of herbs on a monthly basis alone.

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

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Dehradun, 30 Dec 2008

The Uttarakhand Assembly’s sitting of a mere 20 days this year is woefully short of the sittings recommended for recently created states.

According to the officials of the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha secretariat, the Assembly is supposed to meet for at least 60 days, but this quota was never fulfilled.

This 60 day sitting period has been recommended by the 13th Whips Conference held in New Delhi in 2007. Chief whips of various political parties from every state participate in the Whips Conference and the days of Assembly sittings recommended vary from state to state. In case of bigger states, the number of sittings recommended is more.

The number of sittings held this year is more than the previous year. The Uttarakhand Assembly had met for just 16 days last year.

Assembly speaker Harbans Kapoor told The Indian Express, “Ours is a new state. We too want the House to have more sittings so that development issues are taken up at length. Efforts are being made in this direction and things are happening gradually.”

The six-day winter session of the state Assembly concluded on December 20 this year. The session was scheduled from December 15 to December 19 but it got extended by a day on account of the election of the first deputy speaker of the House.

The winter session saw both the ruling and the Opposition parties accusing each other of not allowing the proceedings to take place in a smoothly and preventing taking up development issues. Congress and the BSP leaders staged a boycott of the proceedings for two days alleging that the B C Khanduri-led BJP Government in the state acted contrary to the decisions taken at the all party meeting before the session. On the other hand the ruling party charged them for making a display of disruptions for political motives.

The speaker has expressed his dismay over the conduct of the legislators during session. “Despite so much effort, it is disheartening that the MLAs created a ruckus in the House. The manner in which the proceedings were disrupted was extremely unfortunate,” said Kapoor. In order to encourage smooth democratic functioning of the House, a committee has been constituted which will choose the best MLA on the basis of the conduct of the legislators in the House, he added.

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

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