Junagadh News – About Girnar Mountain Parvat

Mount Girnar(Junagadh - Saurastra) to go Wi-Fi soon.

The pilgrim's progress on Gujarat's tallest mountain is set to be Wi-Fi-enabled. So, the next time you climb mount Girnar, you may carry your laptop to keep a tab on work as well.

"It's not viable to lay a cable network on the mountain. So we plan to install Wi-Fi system around the walking track on the mountain," said district collector Ashwani Kumar. While he refused to reveal the project cost, Kumar said the administration was in talks with a few companies and final decision will be taken soon'.

Over 25 lakh tourists throng about 30 temples, including famous Ambaji Mandir and Jain Derasar, dotting the seven peaks of the 1100-metre tall mountain.

The decision to make the mountain Wi-Fi enabled was taken to webcast the 25th Girnar Mount Climbing Competition which is slated for next month.

"We wanted to take the event to a wider audience through webcast. Though we decided to install Wi-Fi for webcasting the competition, we will continue the use the technology even after the competition," he said.

An average of 1,000 contestants participate in the event. This time around about 1,800 participants will join the event.

"Girnar Climbing Competition started in 1971 and continued up to 1979. Again efforts were made to rejuvenate the competition in 1991 by State Bank of Saurashtra.

But the event has been regularly organized since 1996 in both men and women category after the state government took over," said Devashi Ambalia, project director of the event.

Junagadh News - Girnar Mountaineering Competition 2010

A total of 1,795 entries have been received from 16 districts across the state for the State-Level Girnar Mountaineering Competition to be held on January 4 next year.

It is to be followed by the national-level Girnar Mountaineering Competition on February 1.

The competition, which is organized every year by the state’s Youth, Sports and Cultural department, has support of the Junagadh(Saurastra) district administration, which is now pooling in its resources to remove the last-minute glitches, if any.

Out of a total 1,795 entries received so far, majority have come in from Junagadh (1,365), followed by Rajkot (161), Jamnagar (81), Amreli (67), Porbandar (28), Gandhinagar (24), Kutch (16), Surendranagar and Dahod (14 each), Valsad (9), Sabarkantha (6), Panchmahals (5), Bhavnagar (2), and one entry each from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Kheda districts.

Dev Kumar Aambaliya, coordinator of the competition and deputy mamalatdar with the state Revenue department, said: “Out of the total entries received so far, 1,448 are under the men’s category, and the remaining 347 in the women’s category.”

He also said that a record of 55.33 minutes had been established in the men’s group in last year’s competition, which involved a total of 4,862 steps.

The women’s group on the other hand had set a record of 35.15 minutes last year in which they had to take a total of 2,200 steps.

“We are trying for a live telecast and have also conducted a survey in this regard. The competition is mainly aimed at providing thrill and adventure to the youth along with giving them a national-level exposure,” he added.

Aambaliya further said that the Girnar Mount Climbing Competition is unique in its own way with no such competition being organised anywhere else across the country.

Bahauddin College Junagadh City News 2011

If society has hardly lauded the work of, there is one book with inspiring anecdotes like these that salutes their role in bringing about social change.

In a painstaking effort, Shikshan na Sitara,' brings out the greatness of teachers and restores our respect for them.

A lecturer in a college in Dwarka, Ishwar Parmar, has written about 65 outstanding teachers. The book charts their relation with students and commitment to education.

There are awe-inspiring stories, like that of Bhupat Parmar, who as a kid, travelled in trains, singing bhajans for a living. It was during one such journey that a lady asked him if he wanted to study and gave him her address.

Bhupat met her a year later and the experience changed his life. She ensured he got proper education. And he is a lecturer in a government college today. The unknown lady turned out to be Pratima Bhatt, a professor in Bahauddin College in Junagadh(Saurastra).

"These teachers are true stars. For them, the focus always remained their students. This is aimed at inspiring others," says Ishwar Parmar. At 67, Parmar is planning a sequel. "I will profile 40 more teachers in this book," he says.

When Trambakbhai Mankodi did not like the system in the government school he taught in, he quit. But, the teacher in him fought on. He began teaching children in his village Khambhalia for free.He also set up a big library and made education his mission.

Purshottam Mavlankar, considered Gujarat's Harold Laski, always insisted that students should stand up and greet whenever a teacher walked into a class.But once, when he was travelling in a bus and a student offered him his seat, he did not accept. "I am not your principal here," he said. "I am a co-passenger."

Junagadh News - Gujarat women volley ball team wins gold

The Gujarat women volley ball team has won gold medal in all India School Level Volley Ball competition.The event was held at Jhansi in UP and 23 teams had participated.

The girls from Sarakhadi-Junagadh and Charada-Gandhinagar played well. While remarkable performance of Varsha Vala, Geeta Vala and Asmita helped the team win gold medal.

The 54th All India school level competition was organized by the School Games Federation of India from 11 to 15 December.