 |
|
HVP
decries Advani’s remarks Sushma
fails to turn up at BJP rally No ‘feel-good’ for women: Renuka Hooda
disputes govt achievements Probe
ordered into Bangladeshi girl’s rape |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Farmers oppose shifting of research centre
Panchayat
flays protest against Swami Private
schools oppose new guidelines Need to
develop dairy sector, say experts Bandh
against rising crime Over
100 villages declared crime free Students
exhorted to inculcate leadership qualities
|
|
HVP decries Advani’s remarks Hisar, March 4 Talking to newsmen here today, Mr Kanwal Singh, a former minister and chairman of the Parliamentary Board of the HVP, criticised Mr Advani for making such a statement. He said regional parties were playing an important role in the national politics for the past many years. Even the BJP had ruled the country for five years only with the support of regional parties, and these could not be ignored, he added. Mr Kanwal Singh said the BJP and the Congress had lost the moral right to seek votes in Haryana as these had ditched people of the state on the SYL canal issue. He held both parties responsible for delaying the construction of SYL canal. He said though in January 2002 the Supreme Court had ordered the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre to ensure the completion of the SYL canal but it had failed to do anything in this connection. Mr Kanwal Singh said, according to a report published recently, India was placed second in the list of the most corrupt countries in Asia and the Congress and the BJP were responsible for it. He alleged that the Chautala government had misused official machinery to organise a rally at Jhajhar on March 2 to mark the completion of its four years in the office. The Block Development Officers (BDOs) forced sarpanches and panches all over the state to participate in the rally, but even after these malpractices the rally was a poor show, he added. |
|
|
Sushma fails to turn up
at BJP rally Kaithal, March 4 Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Chief Minister, Himachal Pradesh, said the image of India has attained new heights after Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee took over as Prime Minister of the country. Mr Dhumal said it was a matter of proud that India under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee took independent decisions on International matters. Our leader never buckled under foreign pressure, specially the big power USA, during Kargil War and it even refused to send its troops to Iraq keeping in view the country’s interest. Mr Dhumal held the Congress responsible for prevailing ills in our political system. The Union Minister of State, Mr I.D. Swami, said Mr Vajpayee had a new vision for the progress of the country. He said the Congress only exploited the sentiments of the poor and downtrodden and did not do any thing constructive for the welfare of the people during its long tenure. He said all development works being carried on by the present Haryana government were funded by the Centre. Another Union Minister of State, Mr Sangh Priya Gautam, said the base of the Congress was shrinking and that of the BJP was increasing as the people of the country had enough of the Congress rule and now they wanted to give a chance to the BJP. Mr Ganeshi Lal, party’s state unit president, appealed to the people to vote for the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Mr Ranjit Singh a former MP, son of late former Prime Minister Devi Lal, who had recently joined the BJP, said the INLD would not be able to win even a single parliamentary seat in the poll. Mr Amarnath Bhagat, senior BJP leader, presided over the meeting. Mr Kanwar Pal Gujjar, MLA, Sat Narain Lather, a former MLA, Mr Ram Partap Malhan, Convener, State Kisan Cell, also addressed the meeting. A large number of members of the Shiv Sena, led by Mr Raj Kumar Saini, President Kurukshetra Block, and some local advocates announced their decision to join the BJP. |
|
|
No ‘feel-good’ for women: Renuka Karnal, March 4 She presented a ‘charge sheet’ against the NDA government for betraying the women on 33 per cent reservation bill, escalation of crime against women, increase in female foeticide cases, falling standards of women health and criminal injustice of women under the NDA rule. She said the crime against women had increased manifold during the NDA rule. Quoting the figures of the National Crimes Record Bureau (NCRB), she said a rape occurs every 30 minutes, sexual harassment every 42 minutes and a woman is murdered every 93 minutes in the country. Lashing out at the ‘feel-good’ campaign of the BJP, she said there was no point of ‘rejoice’ for the women of the nation considering their apathetic condition in all walks of life. She said a majority of the women in the country were suffering from malnutrition, anemia and lack of healthcare. Highlighting the rise in communal violence, she said it has created fear psychosis amongst women who tend to become more captive to religious laws and fundamental dictates. The president of the Haryana Pradesh Mahila Congress, Ms Sumita Singh, who was also present at the press conference said overall condition of women in Haryana was also pathetic. Both the NDA government at the Centre and INLD government in the state had ignored the basic rights of women. |
|
Hooda disputes govt achievements Chandigarh, March 4 Addressing a press conference here, the Congress leader reeled out various statistics to substantiate his charge. Contrary to Mr Chautala's claim, the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated. The number of crimes increased from 33081 in 1995 to 38782 in 2000 and 40169 in 2002. The government's claim of giving the highest price for sugarcane was false. As much as 60 per cent of the sugarcane produced in the state was purchased by private mills at Rs 83 per quintal only. Though cooperative sugar mills were offering a better price, these were no more bearing the cost of transportation of the cane. Payments to farmers were also delayed for which no interest was paid. Criticising the introduction of VAT, Mr Hooda said the sale of basmati in the state had suffered as a result Basmati was sold in the state at Rs 200 lower than that in Punjab. The loss to Haryana farmers due to this factor was to the tune of Rs 1,800 crore. Ridiculing the government's claim on construction of canals and drains, Mr Hooda said while 19 per cent of the annual budget was allocated to flood control and irrigation in 1999-2000, it was reduced to 11.72 per cent in 2003-04. The total number of industrial power connections in 1997-98 was 14,000 more than that in 2003-04. The increase in the number of tubewells during this period was 14,000 and not 36,000 as was being falsely claimed by Mr Chautala, the Congress leader said. While 662709 persons were employed in the organised sector in 1995-96, the figure went down to 655086 in 2002-03. Moreover, 50,000 employees were retrenched from boards and corporations. About the government claim of completing 44,000 development works in the past four years, Mr Hooda said these were all routine works. The “Sarkar Aapke Dwar” programme of the Chief Minister — through which these works were being executed — had been devised by Mr Chautala to get political mileage, Mr Hooda said. While Mr Chautala could claim credit for having a small Council of Ministers, the 11 ministers had been using 44 cars, which was an instance of wasteful expenditure, the Congress leader said. |
|
Hooda sees plot behind dowry case Chandigarh, March 4 About his arrest by the Panchkula Police yesterday in connection with the case, Mr Hooda claimed it was a mere formality. Mr Hooda also read out portions of the order of the Sessions Judge, Ambala, who heard his application for anticipatory bail. While granting bail to Mr Hooda, the Session Judge, Ambala, said the parliamentary elections were round the corner and there was a possibility that the timing of lodging the FIR had been chosen to tarnish the Congress leader’s political image. Subsequently, the High Court, which was approached by Ms Geeta Grewal for the cancellation of bail granted to Mr Hooda, observed that the petitioner wanted to see the respondents 1 to 3 (Mr Hooda, wife and his sister-in-law) in police custody. Ms Grewal’s petition was dismissed by the court. Asked about Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani’s reported appeal at a public meeting in Palwal yesterday to shun unattached regional parties and vote for either the BJP or Congress-led alliance, Mr Hooda said Mr Advani had spoken his heart out at the meeting. He said the alliance between the BJP and the INLD in Haryana was not based on any common issue. Mr Advani’s speech had exposed the fact that the BJP had entered into an alliance with the INLD only to grab power at the Centre. Mr Hooda claimed the Congress, unlike the BJP, believed in an issue-based alliance. |
|
Probe ordered into Bangladeshi girl’s rape Panipat, March 4 The commission took cognisance of the case acting on a complaint filed by the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an NGO, through its city convener, Mr P.P. Kapoor, with the Chairman of the NHRC. Confirming the order, a commission official in New Delhi told The Tribune on the phone that the SP, Panipat, had been ordered to file a reply in the case by March 18. The girl, at present, has been given shelter by a labourer Farooq, who works in a handloom factory. Farooq, who hails from West Bengal, told The Tribune that the girl did not know either Hindi or English. She could only understand Bangla language. That’s why he had asked her to stay with his family. Giving details, Farooq said the girl had eloped with her boyfriend from Bangladesh. When she was roaming about with him in New Delhi, her boyfriend was beaten by a group of youths. The latter escaped from there and the girl was allegedly raped by the youths. Farooq said later she boarded a bus to Panipat. Finding her alone and not conversant with the regional language, she was again raped in the city. Alleging that the police had protected the suspects who had raped the girl in the city, the convener of the NGO, Mr Kapoor, said despite the fact that the girl had to undergo so much trauma, the police had done nothing to arrest the suspects in the case. Moreover, the police had arrested the girl under Section 108 of the CrPC. Later she was sent to the Nari Niketan at Karnal by the SDM. Mr Kapoor said it was only after the efforts of some Bangladeshi labourers in the city that she had been released on bail. He added that he had also sent a complaint to the National Women’s Commission seeking its help in the matter. |
Farmers oppose shifting of research centre
Sirsa, March 4 The farmers who are annoyed with the decision have pointed out the importance of this research station in this area saying that it caters to the needs of the entire North India right from Jammu and Kashmir to Uttar Pradesh in its agricultural operation. The CICR, Nagpur, established two regional stations — one for South India at Coimbatore (TN) and another for North India at Sirsa in 1958. The station here caters to the needs of cotton farmers in an area of about 15 lakh hectare to improve the productivity and quality of cotton grown in the region. Since its inception on 56 acres of land, agriculture scientists have developed the land to carry out different kinds of agriculture research by spending crores of rupees provided by the Central Government. The regional center here has developed many new technologies, including that of hybrid seeds, integrated pest management (IPM), integrated nutrient management (INM) and insecticide resistance management (IRM). The centre has also contributed a kit to identify duplicacy in Bt cotton seeds and has also developed and disseminated nuclear polyhedrosis virus (NPV) technology to control the American bollworm. Farmers from Begu village, Arniawali, Randhawa, Ludhesar, Nejea, etc. have written in their representation about the importance of this research institution in which the government of India has invested crores of rupees. Farmers of these villages said they failed to understand why a government pretending to be farmer-friendly was keen on shifting such a prestigious research institute from the area which was started after a lot of efforts about 45 years ago. They said Ch Devi Lal University already had about 220 acres of land, which could be further expanded on the adjoining about 80 acres of land of Haryana Agriculture University’s local Krishi Vigyan Kendra farm. The kendra had become a white elephant and the state government had already given 100 acres of land near Sirsa for shifting the kendra. |
|
Panchayat flays protest against Swami Bhaini Khurd (Karnal), March 4 A meeting of the panchayat was called here this morning to discuss the issue. The Union Minister came to this village as part of his election campaign but faced the anger of the villagers. He is likely to re-contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Karnal constituency. Yashveer, sarpanch of the village, told TNS that the meeting was called to maintain “fraternity” among the different groups of people so as to avoid any political clash. He expressed his concern over yesterday’s incident in which a few people raised slogans against Mr Swami and the NDA government. On the other hand, Mr Mahendra Singh Arya, a spokesperson for the Ekta Shakti, denied in a written statement that their party workers were involved in the incident. The sarpanch said he called representatives of all political parties and groups of the village and appealed them to maintain peace. A resolution was also passed at the meeting that the villagers would not indulge themselves in such irresponsible activities. However, BJP leaders said a few activists belonging to a particular political party created the problem. Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) has also come out heavily on the BJP by saying that yesterday’s incident was the result of a common feeling among the farming community towards the government. Mr Sewa Singh Arya, general secretary of the BKU, said the NDA government had done nothing to improve the finances of the farming community. |
|
Private schools oppose new guidelines Fatehabad, March 4 Representatives of all unions of the private schools from Haryana held a meeting here today and decided to close the schools on March 8. Mr Udai Singh Sharma, Mr Vijay Nirmohi, Mr Om Parkash Bishnoi, Mr Chetan Parkash Baweja, Mr Sushil Bansal, Mr Shailen Bhaskar, Mr Harish Jhamb, Mr Harmit Singh, Mr Vinod Kakar, Mr J.P. Heyer, Mr Satish Bishnoi, Mr Krishan Awasthi and Mr R.S. Machra, all members of the coordination committee of different unions of the private schools, addressed mediapersons here today. The members rued that the guidelines sought to be introduced by the government with regard to private schools in the state were harsh and would result in the closure of a large number of schools. They termed the guidelines as impractical, faulty and lack foresight. They said the requirements under the new
guidelines for running a private school were difficult to comply with. They said the move would render education too costly and the poor would find it hard to get quality education in the state. The government move would also render thousands of people jobless, they added. The members claimed that the private schools in Haryana had contributed a lot in providing quality education to students at low costs. They claimed results of various board examinations confirmed that students from private schools had been securing more merit positions than the students of government schools. They alleged that Haryana was the only state in the country to have introduced such harsh rules for private schools. The managements of private schools would now have to invest crores of rupees to open a school. Further all schools in the state would have to be shifted outside towns and cities. The members of the coordination committee said managements and teachers of all privately managed schools would assemble in Bhiwani on March 8 and organise a rally. They said the managements had decided that class VIII examination of the board would be held as per schedule on March 8, but all other schools where the examination centres had not been made by the education board would remain closed on that day. |
|
|
Need to develop dairy sector, say experts Karnal, March 4 The committee, under the chairmanship of Dr J.B. Choudhary, former Vice-Chancellor of Agriculture University, Pantnagar, held a series of meetings during the three days with various heads of the departments of the NDRI, which is also a deemed university. Interacting with the scientists of the NDRI today, Dr M.L. Madan said in the coming years, the dairy sector would play a major role in improving the national economy. He asked the scientists to redefine research priorities with the changing global scenario in the dairy sector. He said the NDRI being a premier research institute needed to develop dairy production and processing technologies, which had direct application in various agro climatic zones of the country. He invited suggestions from the scientists for restructuring the research priorities keeping in view the emerging global scenario. Dr Nagendra Sharma, Director, NDRI, said new research priorities needed to be taken up with the latest scientific techniques linking them to raise economic gains of the farming community and gross domestic product of the nation. “It can be better done by stressing upon the research on milk processing for exports”, he added. Giving more details of the meeting, Dr N. Balaraman, Joint Director (Research), NDRI, told TNS that the three-day meeting of the PAC monitored and evaluated the research work done at this institute. The committee also reviewed the infrastructural facilities available at the institute and the level of job satisfaction of the scientists, he said. He said the committee stressed upon the scientists to find out demanding thrust areas to further widen the scope of research in animal bio-technology, bio-processing, bio-informatics, genomic research, embryo bio-technology and bio-engineering. “There is a need to focus especially on bio-engineering on a large scale so as to conserve the deteriorating environmental conditions that were posing threats to the very existence of human beings”, the committee suggested. Dr K. Pardhan, Dr I.V. Subha Rao and Dr Mruthyunjaya, eminent dairy scientists, were the other committee members. |
|
Bandh against rising crime Rohtak, March 4 All shops and other commercial establishments remained closed. However, government offices, banks and insurance companies’ offices were open. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the town. Traders and shopkeepers staged angry demonstrations at several points in the main markets demanding immediate check on criminals in the area. The demonstrators were addressed, among others, by Mr Laxmi Chand Gupta, president of the mandal. He pointed out that three shopkeepers had been murdered in the town during the past fortnight alone. The latest in the series was the murder of Gagan, a sweet-seller, on Tuesday night. He was shot dead in the busy Kacha Beri Road market. The bandh call was backed by several other organisations of traders and shopkeepers. Their leaders criticised the district administration for its failure to nab the culprits and check a spurt in crime. Later, addressing newspersons, Mr Gupta sought the transfer of the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police. |
|
Over 100 villages
declared crime free Kurukshetra, March 4 Stating this here yesterday, the district police chief, Mr Yogender Nehra, said that under Thanesar (city), two villages, under Thanesar Sadar, nine villages, under Shahabad, 21 villages, under Ladwa, 14 villages, under Babain, 17 villages, under Pehowa, 15 villages, under Model Thana Kurukshetra University, 10 villages, under Ismailabad, nine villages and under Jhansa, five villages had been declared as crime free villages. |
|
Students exhorted
to inculcate leadership qualities Kurukshetra, March 4 Prof S.N. Mahendra, Director, National Institute of Technology, was the chief guest. Prof V.K. Aggarwal, University Dean, Academic Affairs, presided over the function. Prof Mahendra exhorted students to inculcate leadership qualities like determination, integrity and maturity. He focussed on the role of education as a means of transformation and betterment in personality. Earlier, the Principal of the college, Mrs Chand Dutta, presented the annual report. The chief guest gave away prizes to 300 students who had brought laurels to the college by their outstanding performances in various fields. The function concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr C.D.S. Kaushal, convener of the function. |
|
KU BEd exam
from April 12 Kurukshetra, March 4 Dr Chaturvedi said this time all undergraduate class examinations of Kurukshetra University would be held in one session, i.e. evening session from 2 pm to 5 pm. The datesheets along with roll numbers were being sent separately. |
|
High Court Chandigarh, March 4 In his petition the MLA had earlier claimed that the case was directed to be registered by Haryana's then Chief Secretary through the then Deputy Commissioner after receiving a letter from the Election Commission of India. Going into the background of the case, the petitioner had submitted that he had initially defeated former Chief Minister Bansi Lal in Tosham. Acting on a petition challenging his election, the High Court had held on June 2, 1989, that the same was void before setting it aside. Even the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. The case was, subsequently, registered after receiving a communication from the Election Commission of India.
TNS |
|
Anil Kumar Chandigarh, March 4 |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
