Dehradun Diary: Celebration of Armed Forces Veterans Day

Rajnath Singh honours ex-servicemen
The seventh Armed Forces Veterans Day was celebrated at nine places across the country with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presiding over the main function in Dehradun on Saturday. This was in the honour of the selfless duty provided by the ex-servicemen. Addressing a huge rally of veterans, the Minister Singh expressed gratitude to the soldiers who have protected the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country. The Defence Minister made a special mention of the freedom fighters such as Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali, who supported the freedom fighters hailing from Uttarakhand.

Govt should insure houses: SDC ideates
In the wake of the Joshimath tragedy, Anoop Nautiyal, founder of Social Development for Communities in Dehradun has come up with a unique idea in the wake of the ongoing disaster in the region. Nautiyal said if a company makes a project, the government should make it mandatory to insure houses in the affected areas. During the Joshimath protest against the Tapovan project, NTPC had assured that it would insure all households but that did not happen. If this was the case, the government could have saved huge expenditure from the government treasury this time.

Cheating in job exam may invite life term
In order to prevent cheating in the state’s recruitment examinations, the government is going to make a strict law under which the provision of life imprisonment is being formulated. Chief Secretary Dr S S Sandhu said that under this new law, both cheating and those who help cheat will be considered equally guilty. They will not be able to sit in exams for the next 10 years. In addition to this, it has also been provided that the money that is earned by copying will also be vested in the state government.

Narendra sethi
Our correspondent in Uttarakhand
narendrasethi@ newindianexpress.com