Big win at 12th National Taekwondo Championship
The 12th National Taekwondo Championship being organised by the Uttarakhand Sports Taekwondo Association concluded on December 21 at Maharana Pratap Sports College. The Uttarakhand team won the overall trophy by winning a total of 17 gold, 15 silver and 23 bronze medals. The Madhya Pradesh team bagged the runners-up trophy by winning a total of 13 gold, 9 silver and 3 bronze medals. The medals were presented by the chairman of Uttarakhand Sports Taekwondo Association Dr S Farooq and acting president (UKSTA) Raunak Jain, among others.
Gay couple to get police protection
The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state police to provide protection to a gay couple from Udham Singh Nagar district. Legal experts say this might be the first such case in the history of Uttarakhand when two men have approached the court citing threat to their lives because they are in love with each other. Vikas Anand, counsel for the couple told TNIE, “The court has directed the police to provide the required protection to the couple. They are apprehensive about how their families will react. This is probably the first such case in legal history of Uttarakhand till date.” The application was filed on December 15 while the HC bench issued directions to the police on December 16. The men have not married yet, told their counsel.
Biodiversity gallery opens in Nainital district
Uttarakhand’s first biodiversity gallery was inaugurated on December 17 at Haldwani in Nainital district. Established with Japanese funding, the gallery showcases lesser known aspects of the rich biodiversity of the hill state. Sanjiv Chaturvedi, chief conservator of forests (Research), said only a few species out of the rich biodiversity of the state are currently known in the public domain and the gallery is an attempt to plug that gap. The main feature of the biodiversity gallery is depiction of 101 icons of state’s biodiversity showing threat status and information about their habitat and ecological role.
IIT-R, CRRI to promote quality workforce
Indian Institute of Technology-Roorkee has signed an MoU with the CSIR-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), New Delhi to form a nucleus for promoting excellent quality manpower in the fields of engineering, technology and science with special emphasis on road and transportation sector. The MoU emphasises collaboration between the two institutes for enhancing the availability of highly qualified manpower in the sector within the country. “Sharing of expertise and resources is a key feature of this mutually beneficial partnership,” said Ajit K Chaturvedi, director of the IIT-Roorkee.
Vineet Upadhyay
Our correspondent in Dehradun
vineet.upadhyay@newindianexpress.com