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Farmers to get tubewell connections in 3 months Stray cattle damage
crops Farm tourism: hotel owners cross
fingers Bloopers galore on UGC
website BJP keen on contesting all LS
seats |
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BKU moves closer to
Congress Meeting
to stop extravagance in marriages held
Sangh presents memo to
Governor New academic session
in schools from April 1 Law college at Charkhi Dadri soon NSS camp concludes Convict, wife commits suicide
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Farmers to get tubewell connections in 3 months Hatt (Jind), January 5 He also interacted with farmers in 29 other villages of Safidon sub-division and heard their problems. He said the government was committed to providing all facilities to the farmers to improve their farm output. He announced that connections would be released to all those farmers who had applied for tubewell connections within three months, otherwise, adequate interest would be paid to them if their files remained pending. He said the INLD Government had released 32,400 new tubewell connections to the farmers till now and the power generation capacity had also been increased to 802 MW. Besides, in order to strengthen the power distribution system 23,000 new transformers had been installed and work was in progress to set-up 74 power stations and upgradation of 55 existing power sub-stations. Mr Chautala also inaugurated the Siwana Mal Distributory constructed at a cost of Rs 2.60 crore near Sarfabad village. With the construction of this distributory, about 6,325 acres of agriculture land belonging to 10 villages would get additional irrigation facilities. He also inaugurated water works constructed at a cost of Rs 48 lakh at Ludana village. The Chief Minister further disclosed that Rs 165 crore had been reserved to tackle the problem of floods and waterlogging in four districts — Jind, Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad. The process of the acquisition of land for the project had already been initiated, he added. Earlier, Mr Chautala started his two-day visit to the villages of Safidon sub-division from Anchra Kalan villages. He directed the authorities of the irrigation department to set the level of water outlet right on Butana Branch so that the farmers could get their share of water for irrigation. On the demand of the farmers of Sarfabad village, the Chief Minister announced that the area would be attached with Gohana sugar mill from the next crushing season. In Hari Nagar village he announced the sanction of Rs 57 lakh for the construction of separate water works in the village. |
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Stray cattle damage
crops Ambala, January 5 The incident took place last week. One fine morning the villagers woke up to find a large number of cattle roaming in their village. It was not known who had let loose the cattle in Badhauli village. The cattle caused damage to the crops and ate up feed kept for the cattle maintained by the villagers. The cows, which had been set free in the village, were stray. After the incident, a panchayat meeting was called. The panchayat warned of stern action against the person guilty of leaving a large number of cattle in their village. They advised the villagers against using force against the cows. The villagers pointed out that similar incident had taken place in the past. They said the cows which stop yielding milk were set free by their owners. “These poor cows are dumped in neighbouring areas so that it becomes the responsibility of the other village to look after them,” a villager said. A villager said that the happening at Badhauli village is not a stray incident. “We are conscious of the fact that cows are set free after they stop giving milk. Such incidents have taken place at different villages, including
Nagla, Harioli, Tandwal, Samalkha, Kesari and Bihta,” he said. He observed that a few years back, the stray cows had caused tension between Harioli and Tandwal villages. “Both the villages are located on the Markanda river bank. People would let loose the cows on the river bed in the night and the cows would enter either of the villages. This led to tension between the two villages,” he said. The villager stated that the stray cows are let off in the night time in areas where there is greenery and water. “It is common to find stray cows having been let off on the river beds,” he stated. Mr Janak Singh Rana of the Haryana Vikas Party suggested that social organisations should come forward and help the villages facing this issue. He opined that only through dedicated effort will it be possible to look after the large number of stray cattles which are roaming freely in different villages. |
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Farm tourism: hotel owners cross
fingers Karnal, January 5 To promote farm tourism, the Tourism Department of the state will promote package tours to farmhouses located near Delhi. Facilities like board, lodging and cuisine would be provided to the owners of tourist farmhouses. Chief Minister of Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala who also holds the charge of the Tourism Department recently told The Tribune. “People living in metros and other big cities are almost fed-up with hectic city life. Their children do not know about the culture of the country. We will work to promote rural culture among city dwellers, particularly for the new generation”. He said that people could bring their families in summer and winter vacations for practical knowledge of village life. The new generation of executives working in multinational companies could come out of their busy schedule of working hours for few days to get respite, he added. The governments had conducted a survey of farmhouses near Delhi and identified at least 10 farmhouses in Sonepat, Gurgaon and Faridabad districts that could give educational experience of village life and culture to the tourists. Owners of farmhouses would act as hosts and have to take the tourists around villages, introduce them to agriculture operations, exposure to community life, local folk songs, dances, art and craft, festive occasions like marriages, festivals, village games like wrestling, guli-danda and kite flying, bullock rides, and tractor ride etc. They would ensure local cuisine and make available local costumes for tourists. The state government has requested the Union Government to provide more funds to promote farm tourism for jobs at village-level and encourage artisans to sell their products at lucrative prices. Colonel Manbeer Choudhary (retd), President of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI) said that the farm tourism could succeed only in Faridabad and Gurgaon districts where big farmhouses exist. It’s not feasible for a new investor to go in for this concept because of the high price of land ranging between Rs 75 lakh to Rs one crore per acre in areas surrounding Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad. |
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Bloopers galore on UGC
website Rohtak, January 5 Moreover, the website has got the names of all four vice-chancellors wrong. If the UGC were to be believed, Dr M.L. Ranga, who quit as Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University about four years ago to join politics, is still occupying the post. Dr Ranga is currently a minister in the Om Prakash Chautala Cabinet. According to the website, Mr Dharamvir still holds the post of Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar, whereas the present incumbent is Mr Vishnu Bhagwan. Likewise, in the case of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, the website mentions Lieut-Gen O.P. Kaushik (retd) as its VC whereas the present Vice-Chancellor is Maj-Gen B. S. Suhag (retd), who has already completed a three-year-term and has been given an extension. The website mentions Mr Vijay Kumar as the Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhry Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, whereas the current incumbent is Mr M.K. Miglani. The website, which has obviously not been updated for at least four years, has the names of the registrars and important phone numbers of these universities wrong too. In the list of universities of other states, the website names Dr M.M. Puri as VC of Panjab University, Chandigarh, whereas Dr K.N. Pathak is the current VC. |
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BJP keen on contesting all LS
seats Panipat, January 5 During the two-day meeting of the core committee which ended here today, a majority of members criticised the style of functioning of the government and expressed their desire to withdraw support to the INLD government, and voted to contest all parliamentary seats in Haryana. Giving details, party sources said taking into consideration the recent victory of the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pardesh and Rajasthan, members of the committee opined that it was appropriate time to break from the Chautala government. Earlier the state unit of the BJP had approached the high command, expressing its desire to withdraw support to the Chautala government but the high command had rejected the demand. The members of the core committee will express their views against Mr Chautala in the forthcoming meeting of the national working committee of the BJP, the sources added. It is believed that the mistrust between the INLD and the BJP state unit deepened after the police beat some BJP party workers last year in Faridabad. But this is the first time when senior leaders of the party openly criticised the state government and decided to organised mass rallies against it. The president of the state unit of the BJP, Prof Ganeshi Lal, said that the core committee had decided to oraganise mass rallies against the Haryana Government to highlight its “anti-farmer”, “corruption” and “wrong education policies” in rural and urban areas. He added that the high command would take the decision regarding support to the INLD. |
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BKU moves closer to
Congress Chandigarh, January 5 The BKU will indirectly acknowledge its new-found friendship with the Congress tomorrow when a family member of Mr Ghasi Ram Nain, President of the Haryana unit of the BKU, will participate in a function at which members of the Banain Khap will honour the President of the All-India Youth Congress, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, in Dhanauda village in Jind district. Mr Nain cannot attend the function because the court has put a restriction on his participation in political activities. Mr Nain was arrested while agitating to demand the payment of sugarcane dues by a mill in Ambala district. Among the charges against him was sedition. After the lower courts had turned down his bail plea, Mr Surjewala helped him fight legal battle in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court. It was the apex court which ultimately granted him bail. The BKU’s relations with the INLD turned bitter when the former launched an agitation in Jind district to demand the waiving off of power dues and the police opened fire on the agitating farmers. About 10 persons were killed in the police action. If the BKU supports the Congress even in Jind district, it will be a loss to the INLD because the BKU represents the peasantry, which is the main constituency of the ruling party. |
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Meeting
to stop extravagance in marriages held Jind, January 5 Representatives of Daran khap, Pai khap, Thua khap, Barah khap, Mator khap, Data khap, Sangwan khap, Bhanwala khap, Banian khap, Punia khap of Rajasthan and Batisi and Gathwal Malik khap of Uttar Pradesh participated in the mahapanchayat. Mr Nafe Singh, president of Banian khap, presided over the mahapanchayat. It was decided at the meeting that a marriage party would not consist of more than 11 members, costly gifts would not be exchanged and lavish spending would be avoided. It was also decided that village-level committees would be constituted for publicising and implementing the decisions of the mahapanchayat. The mahapanchayat further decided that a fine of Rs 3,100 would be imposed for violating the decisions to the mahapanchayat. |
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Ambala — birthplace of scientific instruments in India AMBALA is considered to be the birthplace of scientific instruments industry of India. At the dawn of the previous century, the manufacture of scientific instruments began in Ambala cantonment. The initial efforts by a group of individuals led to the establishment of manufacturing units in Ambala and today, buyers come from other states and abroad to procure scientific instruments from here. Dr N.C. Jain, senior vice-president of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “Over 100 years ago, the scientific instrument industry started at Ambala. By now, over 1,000 cottage, small and medium-scale industries are working here”. Earlier, educational institutions in India used to buy their requirement of scientific instruments, chemicals, glassware and microscopes from the UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Germany and France. “There was a problem of receiving goods in time and this would hamper the schedule of students,” he said. He said in the beginning, some science teachers or those connected with science started the units. “They too initially imported science instruments and supplied them to the educational institutions. Later, they began the manufacture of scientific instruments which were of low cost and for which no high technology was involved,” he said. “A noteworthy feature of the history of the scientific instrument industry is that when the suppliers were taking up manufacturing, there was no infrastructure or technical know-how. Despite this, they carried on with their efforts,” he said. Gradually, several scientific instruments bagan to be made here. The instruments included spring balances, callipers, meter rules, expansion instruments, vacuum pumps, hydrostatics, thermometers, weights, pulleys and crucible tongs. “In 1946, a unit run by the late Gian Chand Jain manufactured a spectrometer, which was used in science laboratories of higher educational institutions. The instrument, like the Geissler vacuum tube, was only manufactured in Japan but began to be manufactured here by Mr Desh Raj Tuteja,” he said. The then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Ambala in 1952. He took a ride on a battery-operated scooter made by Jagan Nath Sharma who manufactured scientific instruments. Some stalwarts of scientific instrument units of Ambala are Hargo Lal, Nand Lal, Desh Raj, Tuteja, Gian Chand Jain, Pandit Jagan Nath Sharma, Rampal Sharma, Prithi Raj, Madan Lal, Sardari Lal, Sada Ram, Banarsi Dass Dhiman, Lachhi Ram, Vasudev Aggarwal, N.K. Jain, K.K. Verma, Nand Kishore, Ved Prakash, Panna Lal and Laxmi Sagar. |
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Sangh presents memo to
Governor Chandigarh, December 5 Talking to the TNS, Mr Jagjit Singh Saini, General Secretary of the Sangh, said they also told the Raj Bhavan that a writ charging the Haryana Chief Secretary and the Director of the Social Empowerment and Justice Department of contempt of court would be filed, in case recruitment of visually handicapped persons was not started in three days. The Chief Secretary and the Director would
be mentioned by names in the writ for not abiding by a 1998 court order. Around 70 volunteers of the Sangh today participated in a march to the Raj Bhavan to hand over the memorandum to the Governor. The agitators were stopped by the police
well ahead of the Raj Bhavan and finally five people were allowed to meet the Governor’s ADC and give the memorandum to him. Mr Saini, Mr Surinder Singh Lamba, President of the
Sangh, Mr Tulsi Ram and Mr Phool Chand Yadav, respectively, President and General
Secretary of All-India Blind Employees Association were among those who went to the Raj Bhavan for giving the
memorandum. |
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New academic session
in schools from April 1 Sonepat, January 5 While giving this information here today a spokesman of the education department said the data of over 60,000 employees and teachers would be computerised by March 31, 2004. This would help in speedy disposal of cases of teachers and other employees. The education department had also started a campaign to fill vacant posts in the Secondary Education Department by promotion, he added. He said an enrolment drive would also be launched in the coming months since as per the findings of a house-to-house survey, nine per cent of the children in the age group of six to 14 years were still not going to schools. An innovative programme for the education of girls and children belonging to the Scheduled Castes being planned and a sum of Rs 4.75 crore had been earmarked for the purpose during the current session. Outlining the steps to be taken by department for the improvement of edcuation level in the state, the spokesman said the National Programme for Education of Girls at elementary level would be implemented in 38 identified educationally backward blocks of 10 districts a plan worth Rs 2.42 crore had been submitted to the Centre in this regards for approval. Under the scheme one school in a group of eight to 10 schools was being identified to serve a cluster model school. |
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Law college at Charkhi Dadri soon Bhiwani, January 5 The programme was organised by the Zila Upbhokta Kalyan Sangh, Soni Jan Kalyan Trust and Rail Upbhokta Samiti. Chief guest and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Hisar, Mr Subhash Goyal said people should be aware of both their rights and duties. Member of Northern Railway Advisory Committee Pritam Agarwal said efforts were on to extend Hisar-Ludhiana trains to Bhiwani besides running the Massouri Express from here. The sangh felicitated Mr Ram Krishan Gupta, former MP, Mr K.K. Varshney in the absence of Additional Deputy Commissioner R.P. Gupta, Ms Urmila Singla, Principal, Adarsh College, Bhiwani, and Mr S.N. Mehta, Principal, Vaish Senior Secondary School, Bhiwani, on the occassion. |
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NSS camp concludes Ambala, January 5 Mr C.P. Goyal, SE, Irrigation and Drainage, was the chief guest while XEN S.C. Chabra and Mr D.R. Chabra were the guest of honour. SD College Principal, Dr Desh Bandhu, stressed upon the importance of NSS and encouraged the volunteers to carry on the good work. The organisations which helped the NSS volunteers in their project for strengthening Tangri river bank include the Lions Club Ambala Host, the Rotary Club Ambala, the Innerwheel Club Ambala and the Brahmin Samaj Kalyan Parishad, Ambala. |
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Convict, wife commits suicide Hisar, January 5 Hans Raj went to a field along with his wife Saroj and committed suicide by consuming insecticide tablets their, the police said. Hans Raj took the step a day before the end of his parole period. The bodies of Hans Raj and his wife were handed over to their relatives after a post-mortem. —
PTI |
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Missing boy’s body found Ambala, January 5 Pritpal had been missing since last evening. His body was first noticed by some morning walkers in the park early this morning. The body was handed over to relatives of the deceased by the police after a post-mortem examination. In a separate incident, the body of a resident of Binjalpur village was found hanging from a tree this morning. Vijay Sharma, son of the deceased, Som Nath, alleged in a complaint lodged with the police that two residents of the village had forced his father to commit suicide. The police has registered a case against two persons under Section 306 of the IPC. Vijay alleged that Som Nath had been falsely accused of stealing a trailer by Vikram Singh. |
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Cyclist run over by
train Panipat, January 5 The incident took place at about 2.45 p.m. when Jai Ram was crossing the railway line. He was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The railways authorities had, meanwhile, deployed about 400 Railway police force keeping in mind the President’s itinerary. They were, however, not aware that the President had reached Chandigarh by helicopter. |
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Gang of thieves
busted, three held Ambala, January 5 The police said the gang committed a robbery at Shri Nath Jewellers in the city on September 13 last year. |
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Cash looted from gas agency Kurukshetra, January 5 The robbers came in a green Maruti car and parked it about 100 yards from the gas agency. They snatched the amount from a woman employee of the agency after putting a pistol on her head and escaped. A motor cyclist, who tried to chase the robbers, was fired upon, leaving him injured. —
PTI |
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