Doon Valley School, Lucknow, wins national civic fest award

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Doon Valley School, Lucknow, has been declared the winner of the ‘Bala Janaagraha National Civic Fest’ held here today.

The annual National Civic Fest is a final event for the Civic Fests being held across the country in various cities.

Over the last six months, Civic Fests have been held in 25 cities, and 40,000 students have participated in them, according to the organisers.

Bala Janaagraha is a civic learning programme of the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit organisation based in Bengaluru.

The Doon Valley School project was to improve and develop a road in Mulayamnagar ward in Lucknow by approaching the local corporator and the Mayor, a Janaagraha release said.

They also raised concerns about safety, street lighting, paving and asphalting of roads in the area which led the local administration to take action resulting in a patrol guard by the city police, and the construction of a pavement and a motorable road in the ward.

The Doon Valley school students also conducted various awareness sessions on themes ranging from crime against women to drunken driving to eve teasing to garbage collection and water logging on streets, the release said.

Doon Valley High School, Lucknow; Oasis International School, Bengaluru; St Michael’s High School, Ranchi and St Kabir School, Ahmedabad were the finalists.

Bala Janaagraha, one of the flagship programmes of Janaagraha, is running a civic education programme for students of government, aided and private schools across 25 cities in the country.

(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA, Daily News & Analysis / Home> India / Saturday, February 11th, 2017

School kids aim to paint for 72 hours straight to break world record

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Meerut :

A group of seven school children have come together in the city to break the existing world record of the maximum number of hours spent painting. The record is currently held by France, where a group painted for 60 hours. The attempt comes close to the heels of the city holding the position of the longest painting by numbers.

Children from Class X and XI of Guru Tegh Bahadur Public School started started painting on Monday afternoon, and will be allowed a two-hour break per student, in a manner that five students are always painting for 72 hours.

Arrangement of proper food has been made on the school premises and authorities have also commissioned a team of doctors. The theme of the painting marathon is ‘Cleanathon’ and aims to showcase Swachch India. The school authorities have also put up the event on record by means of a video camera and it can be seen on a projector in the school hall, which will be open for school students and parents who wish to have a look at the record being made.

The students vying for the record include Bhanu Dev Sharma, Akhil Kumar, Jatin Kumar, Sawan Verma, Piyush Kumar, Lakshay Verma and Bhavya Grover.

“When Meerut got its name for the longest painting by numbers, all students interested in art started looking up for records that could be broken. We researched well, and discussed it with the school authorities, who readily agreed,” says an elated Bhanu.

Bhavya Grover, a Class X student, who is also suffering from Cerebral palsy, said, “I have a difficulty in walking but the doctor here ensures I don’t put a lot of pressure on my legs. The small breaks I get are also good enough. I want to give thi my best.”

Speaking to TOI, Kapil Sood, the school’s principal, said, “A dietician and a doctor will be attending to the students from time to time. Also, two teachers and two class four staff will have a duty every night to keep a check on anything that the students might need. We’re supporting the students in every way possible.” Authorities added that going directly to Guinness was an expensive affair, which is why they chose to go via India Book of Records, which can further refer it.

Poorti Garg, one of the two adjudicators from India Book of Records, said, “We will keep a close eye on the students and ensure that no rules are broken. If they succeed in their attempt, they will break the already existing world record of 60 hour non-stop painting marathon created by team Roland Paulmaters and group from France.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / by Ishita Bhatia / TNN / February 14th, 2017

Rare, bloodless removal of tumour at RML Hospital

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Lucknow :

In a rare feat, surgical oncologists at Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences saved life of a 40-year-old woman with extremely complicated gall bladder tumour. Gall bladder cancers account for 25-30% cancer burden in north India, and this case was rare the tumor had penetrated to adjoining organs including liver, stomach and pancreas.

Dr Akash Agarwal, chief of the Hepato Biliary Cancer Clinic who headed the procedure said, “Surgery was performed after ultra sound confirmed tumour in gall bladder of 40-year-old Kusum, a native of Faizabad.” The case was complicated because multiple organs were affected. “As we reached the gall bladder, we found the tumour had penetrated all the adjoining organs which raised difficulty for us and increased the risk,” said Dr Agarwal.

He added that the procedure had to be stopped for a while to apprise family about the complication and to take their consent. Thus, the surgery that would have otherwise taken three hours was completed successfully in seven hours. “The patient is now stable and has been discharged,” he said.

Institute director Dr Deepak Malviya said “Not a drop of blood was wasted in the process.” Stones are one of the main causes of gall bladder cancer.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News> Civic News / TNN / February 13th, 2017

Poona Horse regiment celebrates 200th anniversary

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Meerut :

The bicentenary celebrations of Poona Horse regiment were celebrated with full zeal on Sunday. A Poona Horse stamp of Rs 5 was released along with a regimental history book. While the tank mounted parade took place, sky diving event had to be cancelled due to the venue’s close proximity to the railway line.

Major S. Praveen, media coordinator, said, “The bicentenary celebrations of the Poona Horse regiment started from February 10 and ended on February 13. Sunday was marked with a tank mounted parade – which is done to mark historic occasions and have been performed only four times in the past. There were 32 tanks in parade, which moved in a synchronized manner.”

The regiment has a composition of Rajputs, Jats and Sikhs, and being martial clans they are very religious. Therefore, the functions are very important for Poona Horsemen as it is believed that they don’t fight just by their training, grit or determination, but they take god as the witness of their deeds and decide their fate.

Lt Gen Ajai Singh, ex colonel of the regiment released the Poona Horse stamp for Rs 5 and the regimental history book, with a few more chapters added with relevance to recent times, was unveiled as well.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / by Ishita Bhatia / TNN / February 13th, 2017

Devotees start arriving for Ravidas Jayanti

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Varanasi :

There are no bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal among the visitors to commemorate the 640th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas falling on Friday.

Modi and Kejriwal arrived in the city in February last year to pay obeisance to preacher-philosopher Sant Ravidas at the temple in Seer Gowardhan area here. They also accepted the ‘prasad’ prepared at its community kitchen.

“This year, we are witnessing increased turnout of devotees from across the country as well as abroad. The devotees have been pouring in from different parts of states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while foreign devotees from UK, US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, New Zealand, Greece have also been thronging the temple premises,” general secretary of Sri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan Public Charitable (SGRJAPC) Trust Satpaul Virdi said.

Against the 50 tents installed last year, the count has been increased to 75 to cater to large number of devotees, Virdi said, adding that even the main pandal had to be shifted 2-3 kilometres ahead. The district administration had also tightened the security arrangements.

The entire Seer Gowardhan village was abuzz with festivity as people, including men and women, had started congregating at the temple on Thursday. Small makeshift stalls and shops selling variety of articles like toys, artificial ornaments, books, pictures and posters of Sant Ravidas attracted people as well as kids.

Trust chairman Sant Niranjan Dasji Maharaj, who along with other devotees and saints reach on Wednesday evening, inaugurated the fully automatic chapati making machine donated by Phagwara-based Sri Guru Ravidas Charitable Trust, in collaboration with a trust based in Vienna, Austria. According to a volunteer Gyani Meher Singh, the machine can produce over 2,000 chappatis per hour.

Later in the evening, the statue of Guru Ravidas was garlanded at Ravidas Park situated on the banks of Ganga. On Friday morning, the religious flag will be unfurled by Maharaj.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Varanasi News / TNN / February 10th, 2017

UP pips Maha, is now top producer of sugar

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Lucknow :

At a time when cane-growers in western UP, hit by demonetisation, missed the rabi season and were considering to quit farming, the fact that the state has surged past even Maharashtra to become the country’s top sugar producer might restore their confidence.

Maharashtra, which was so far the largest sugar producer, is struggling with around 40 lakh tonne from the earlier 110 lakh tonne a year because the water table sank alarmingly leading to drought like conditions. Majority of the sugar mills are shut and distressed and indebted cane-growers are reportedly facing near starvation.

The highest ever production estimation was revealed by a state delegation at a high-level meeting called by the Centre in Delhi two days ago to assess sugar production in the country. UP’s figures of around 80 lakh tonne surprised the Centre and representatives of other cane growing states as with this the state is all set to record the highest ever sugar production.

Talking to ToI, secretary general of UP Sugar Mills Association, Deepak Guptara said that the farmers deserve special mention for introducing varietal changes in the crop and researchers for the new high yielding crops, while the state government played a key role in implementation of the plans and programmes which resulted in another feather to UP’s cap. He, however, added that the climatic changes in Maharashtra were also a factor in sharp decline in sugar production in that state.

With the highest sugar production in UP this year, to be declared officially by March end, the sugar industry is all set for a revolution as cane and related activities are to get a boost and its benefits are to be harvested by the farmers, mainly nearly 35 lakh sugarcane growers.

The record production of sugar will not only stabilise the price of the product in the market, but would also result in timely payments to cane-growers, even as sugar mills would profit from selling more. In the previous cane year, the state had produced 68.55 lakh tonne. Guptara shared, “We are selling the sugar substantially in sugar deficient states this time.”

The record production in sugar is linked to increase of sugar recovery in sugarcane from around 9 per cent till last year to more than 10 per cent this year. It also got a push with growth in productivity from 59 tonne per hectare to 67 tonne per hectare. Moreover, the government has been able to overcome the barrier of transfer of hybrid and high quality seeds of sugar from lab to land.

The government is confident that a record sugar production will not only invite more investment in sugar mills’ expansion and modernization programmes, but also restore the faith of cane-growers in cane cultivation.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / by Subhash Mishra / TNN / February 10th, 2017

50 lakhs take holy dip on Maghi Purnima in Sangam

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With the Maghi Purnima snan, majority of kalpwasis started leaving the mela campus with unforgettable memories (TOI photo)

Sangam (Allahabad):

Amid tight security arrangements and pleasant weather conditions, around 50 lakh devotees, saints and Kalpwasi, on Friday, took a holy dip in the Sangam – the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati – on the occasion of Maghi Purnima, virtually the last bathing day of the ongoing Magh Mela.

The Maghi Purnima snan also marked the culmination of Magh month as well as month-long kalpwas. Around 50,000 kalpwasis, performing the rituals and seeking salvation on the banks of Ganga for the past one month, started leaving on the banks of Ganga after completing all rituals.

SSP, Allahabad, Shalabh Mathur told TOI, ” No untoward incident was reported, and the snan passed off peacefully.

Meanwhile, Magh Mela officer, Ashish Mishra told TOI ” with devotees and pilgrims arrived from all directions, there was heavy rush of devotees at all 17 ghats since wee hours and majority of them started returning due to badhra period.

He, however, said a strict vigil was being maintained in and around mela campus with senior police officials regulating the crowd at both entry and exit points.

With the Maghi Purnima snan, majority of kalpwasis started leaving the mela campus with unforgettable memories. The kalpwasis had also completed all the rituals before leaving the ganga banks. The strength of devotees returning had swelled manifold on exit routes.

Mela police officials claimed “devotees hailing from rural backgrounds started to congregate on the banks since Thursday night. Devotees threw themselves into the waist-deep water, forcing the Jal police personnel to intervene and stop them from going into deep water.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Allahabad News / by Kapil Dixit, TNN / February 10th, 2017