Norwegian artistes delight audience with western music

Gustavo Tavares from Brazil (left) and Anders Oien
from Norway perform at a Spicmacay programme
in Dehradun on Wednesday. 

Dehradun, September 19

In keeping with their desire to bring the artistes of western classical music closer to the young audience, Spicmacay (Uttarakhand) this time round has brought to Dehradun the Norwegian duo of Gustavo Tavares, a cellist player, and Anders Oien, a guitarist.

Both acclaimed artistes played samples of western classical music inspired by two Norwegian composers Edvard Grieg (19 century) and Kenneth Sivertsen ( 20 century).

Speaking with The Tribune at the end of their performance today, Gustavo, who is based in Oslo, said tours like these excited him as they exposed him to different cultures. “For half the year I play for Norwegian National Opera, and for the remaining period, I am free to experiment and do my own thing, which is basically music and more music,” he said.

Despite performing for an audience with limited exposure to western classical music, Gustav struck a chord with them without compromising on the vocabulary or grammar of his music. “ I do not compromise on quality of music or my own experience of music making. The standard has to be maintained at all costs,” he said.

He was accompanied by guitarist Anders Oien, who learnt music at the Norwegian Academy of Music and is a classicist in his own right.

Both agree that music had no boundaries and musical tradition of the world was based on a set of expressions that were fine-tuned. Both the artistes gave a scintillating performance at Unison World School today.

They also performed at Doon School and Summer Valley Schools.

Simultaneously, Spicmacay also organised a Bharatnatyam dance workshop by Anuradha Venkataraman, who taught the students of Govt Girls Inter College (Rajpur Road) the basics of Bharatnatyam dance.

The dancer who learnt the art under guru Saroja Vaidyanathan for 15 years and has now taken up the job herself, said that the the guru-shishya parampara had kept alive the dance and musical legacy of the country. “This Indian tradition of holding the guru in high esteem is even prevalent abroad, and this was vividly brought out even by the Norwegian artistes,” she said.

Anuradha Venkatraman also performed with the Norwegian artistes much to the delight of the audience.

DAV COLLEGE STUDENTS’ UNION ELECTIONS

ABVP's Jaguri wins post of president

Dehradun, September 13
The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad has maintained its superiority in the DAV (PG) College Students Union elections winning the prestigious post of president.

The ABVP's Mahesh Jaguri defeated NSUI candidate Mohit Rawat by a margin of 359 votes in a bi-polar contest. Mahesh Jaguri polled 2,621 votes.

For the post of general secretary, Nitin Chauhan from the lesser known Pattu Group defeated Satish Mohan Pant of the Aryan Group with a margin of 312 votes. Nitin Chauhan polled 1,898 votes whereas Satish Mohan Pant got 1,586 votes.

As for the post of vice-president, Brijmohan Singh Negi defeated the Student Federation of India's Devendra Singh Rawat by a margin of 118 votes. Saurabh Mamgain won the University Representative post defeating Deepak Bisht by a slender margin of 20 votes.

For the post of joint secretary, Kumari Suman defeated Dhirendra Singh by a big margin of 1,057 votes. Suman polled 1,871 votes. Neha Bisht was elected as treasurer. She defeated Ashish Chamoli by 49 votes. Bisht polled 1,215 votes. For the post of Student Undergraduate representative, Pankaj Singh defeated Sachin Purohit by a margin of 262 votes.

Earlier, the counting began in the DAV (PG) College at 11 am amid tight security.

The results were finally announced at 5 pm by Chief Election Officer Anil Sinha.

2nd phase of National Population Register plan to begin soon

Dehradun -Very soon the second phase of National Population Register (NPR) project would begin in Uttarakhand under which every citizen would be issued Smart Card.

This card would be the proof of that person’s citizenship and domicile. The Uttarakhand Government has released Government Order in this regard. Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain reviewed the progress of NPR project at Secretariat on Tuesday.

Jain asked the officers to link the Smart Card with Public Distribution System and other Government projects. A database being prepared under NPR could be utilised in other government projects also. the database would be first of its kind which would cover all the citizens of the State and it being bio-metrics its authenticity would also be more.

The database would include not only the photograph of the person but also impression of fingerprints and pupil. A directives had been given to complete NPR projects in one year time. In the meeting, it was revealed that 19, 98, 000 houses were covered in the first phase of NPR. In the second phase, the Enumerators would visit every house.

In all 150 houses had been placed in one block and a camp would be organized to take bio-metrics data. In Uttarakhand the phase would begin from Dehradun Nagar Nigam area for which Central Public Sector Undertaking is selecting the firms to carry out the work. Register General of India would visit Uttarakhand to take stock of the NPR process between 11 and 14 September, 2012.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Census DS Gabrayal, Director Census Snehlata Agrawal, Staff Officer to Chief Secretary MC Joshi and other senior officers.

Bank strike in India cripples services

 

Mumbai, August 22
A two-day strike by employees of nationalised banks, 12 old generation private banks and eight foreign banks crippled banking services across the country.
The strike call by the United Forum of Banking Unions (UFBU), the umbrella organisation of several trade unions and officers’ associations of banks, received overwhelming response with more than a million employees staying away from work, the UFBU said in a statement here.
The All-India Bank Employees Association, the biggest of the unions, said the strike aimed at preventing passage of the banking reforms Bill that aimed at amending the banking laws to allow managements to fix salaries as per their banks’ financial performance. The proposals also involved greater leeway for managements to promote and recruit employees directly from the market in addition to raising qualifications for employees, AIBEA general secretary Vishwas Utagi said.
Under the garb of banking reforms, managements were being allowed to outsource important functions to third-party operators, unions alleged. This, they said, would jeopardise the rural initiatives of major nationalised banks.
According to the unions, routine banking services for customers, foreign exchange transactions, cheque clearance and capital market activities were affected. Analysts said the volume of transactions in the forex markets was low as only the major private banks were operating today.
Customers were depending more on the ATMs as the bank managements had made advance arrangement for loading the machines with cash. “Several banks, including the SBI, have outsourced cash-loading business with private firms. Most of the ATMs have enough capacity,” a senior SBI official said. However, the fund movement of individuals and corporates would get affected because of delays in cheque clearances.
The volumes in the government bond and share markets were also impacted.

PROTESTING REFORMS

Over 10 lakh employees and officers all over the country joined the strike

The call for the two-day strike was given by the United Forum of Banking Unions

The strike aimed at preventing passage of the banking reforms Bill

The Bill would allow managements to fix salaries as per banks’ financial performance

Balkrishan released from jail

 

Dehradun, August 17
Balkrishan, close aide of yoga guru Ramdev, was released from the Sadhowala jail in Dehradun this evening after he was granted bail by the Nainital High Court yesterday. A single Bench of Justice Tarun Aggarwal granted bail to him. He also ordered Balkrishan to furnish two personal sureties of Rs 10 lakh and directed him to appear in person in lower court for further hearing.

Balkrishan was arrested by the CBI for forgery and the violation of the Indian Passport Act. He appealed to the high court for bail after his bail plea was turned down twice by lower courts. A Special CBI court rejected his bail plea on July 20, the day he was arrested from Haridwar and by the Dehradun District Courts on July 31.

After coming out of the jail, Balkrishan said the UPA government would not be able to quell discontent growing against black money stashed in banks in foreign countries. He added he along with Ramdev would continue to wage a fight against corruption and black money.

Balkrishan said the UPA government had implicated him in a false case to divert attention from its scams and it would not be able to prove anything against him.

Ramdev said his fast against black money held in New Delhi was a runaway success. He added trust shown by the public in him had encouraged him to intensify his agitation. The convoy of Ramdev and Balkrishan passed through many parts of the city, including Clock Tower and Rajpur Road, where their supporters raised slogans in their favour. They also showered flowers on the duo. 

6 killed, several hurt in U.S. gurudwara shooting

Wisconsin - At least six persons have been killed and several injured, some critically by one or more gunmen at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurudwara, in what appeared to be a hate crime in Oak Creek, a quiet suburb of Milwaukee. (reports said that an "active shooter” killed at scene and 6 others have been killed at the gurudwara).

After news of the shooting broke around mid-day local time, media reports quoted Lee Biblo, Chief Medical Officer at nearby Froedtert Hospital, saying that three male adults had been brought into the operating room in critical condition, with gunshot wounds to abdomen and the face.

Meanwhile aerial television footage showed at least one body lying near a parking lot outside the gurudwara. A CNN report quoted Gurcharan Grewal, president of the Sikh Religious Society of Wisconsin, saying that multiple sources had confirmed that “there were wounded people still inside the temple and that there may have been multiple perpetrators.”

Reports also quoted an unnamed member of the Sikh community saying that a Sikh priest visiting from New Delhi, India, was said to have been shot at, at the scene of the crime. Even as breaking news indicated that at least one gunman may still be inside the gurudwara, law enforcement officers were said to have “returned fire and [a] shooter was put down.”

One police officer was injured in an exchange of fire. Chief Bradley Wentlandt of the Greenfield, Wisconsin Police said that “multiple rounds were exchanged and the officer was shot multiple times,” and the shooter was “presumed deceased.” Mr. Wentlandt however noted that based on information on police scanners there was still no clear evidence that there were multiple perpetrators.

While Mr. Biblo said no women or children had been brought into the hospital yet, Rajwant Singh, Chairman of the Sikh council on Religion and Education in Washington said that women and children may have been among those in the gurudwara at the time of the shooting, generally on site at this time of day to prepare the community meal.

However, other local hospitals reportedly received victims from the shooting incident too and a full list of potential victims was not yet available. Amardeep Kaleka who said his father was in the gurudwara at the time of the attack, said to media outlets that his father had sought refuge apparently hid in a closet and said to his son on the phone, “They’re out there.”

Mr. Kaleka added that the police informed him around "26 to 28 people had been shot", including the head priest who was "bleeding profusely."

Meanwhile the Indian embassy in Washington said that it was "seized of the situation and has been in touch with the National Security Council in Washington, D.C." While the Indian Consulate General in Chicago too has been in "close touch with the local authorities to monitor the situation," the embassy also noted that an official has been deputed to visit the site "to ascertain the situation on-the-spot."

Police describe chaotic scene

Authorities were on the scene on Sunday of shootings at the Sikh Temple near Milwaukee, where police and witnesses described a chaotic situation with an unknown number of victims, suspects and possible hostages.

Police were called to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in the suburb of Oak Creek on Sunday morning, when witnesses said several dozen people were gathering for a service. They responded with a dozen ambulances, although Greenfield Police Chief Bradley Wentlandt said it wasn’t clear how many people had been shot.

Mr. Wentlandt also said it wasn’t clear how many suspects were involved, although one opened fire on an officer and the officer “put down” that man. Wentlandt said the officer was shot multiple times.

Three shooting victims, all men, were taken to Froederdt Hospital in Milwaukee, the main trauma center for the area, spokeswoman Carolyn Bellin said. One was in the operating room, another in a surgical intensive care unit and the third was being evaluated in the emergency room, she said.

Sukhwindar Nagr, of Racine, said he called his brother-in-law’s phone and a priest at the temple answered and told him that his brother-in-law had been shot, along with three priests. The priest also said women and children were hiding in closets in the temple, Mr. Nagr said.

34 killed in Uttarakhand, search for bodies on

Dehradun - ITBP and police personnel on Sunday searched debris of flattened homes and dug rubbles to look for more bodies in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand where the toll due to the incessant downpour reached 34. Six people were still missing in the Uttarkashi district, said a top government official.
"In Uttarakashi alone, 31 people have been killed and six are still missing following heavy rains," district magistrate R Rajesh Kumar said.
Twenty three workers of the state-run UJVN Ltd's Assi Ganga hydel project, who went missing early Saturday following a cloud burst in the upper hills of Uttarkashi district, have now been declared dead.
"We are now counting these 23 workers in the list of dead people," said Kumar.
During the past two days, incessant rains battered the hill state triggering landslides, cloud bursts and flash floods which flattened homes and stranded hundreds of pilgrims with the chardham yatra coming to a grinding halt.
The Garhwal region bore the brunt of the natural disaster in the wake of heavy rains with the government sounding a high alert in the state.
The Army has also been alerted in the wake of the heavy rains in the hill state.
Elsewhere in the state, three people were killed in Chamoli district following heavy rains since Saturday.
The government has launched relief and rescue operations and has sent food packets to the affected people.
Nearly, 250 families have already been taken to safer areas in the different areas of Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts.