Fatehabad, November 13
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) yesterday demanded dismissal of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government at the centre and derecognition of the Congress by the election commission. The INLD made these demands by passing resolutions at a meeting in the local Jat Dharamshala. The meeting was presided over by the state president of the party, Mr Ashok Arora.

The INLD had organised the meeting to mobilise support for its November 24 rally at Garhi Sampla in Rohtak on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sir Chhotu Ram. Besides Mr Arora, former Haryana minister Sampat Singh, Dr Sushil Indora, MLA, and Mr Gian Chand Odh, MLA, were present at the meeting.

Mr Arora and Mr Sampat Singh said that after the publication of the Volker report, the Congress had been badly exposed. He said that Mr Natwar Singh in particular and the Congress in general had made the nation hang its head in shame. They said that the Congress did not have any right to stay in power.

Criticising the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana, the INLD president alleged that development activities had come to a standstill ever since Mr Hooda came to power.

The INLD leaders said the Congress would lose in the coming elections as it had failed to deliver. They exhorted the workers to be prepared for the elections.

Mr Arora asked workers to reach Garhi Sampla, the native village of Sir Chhotu Ram on November 24 as the party had decided to celebrate the birth anniversary of the kisan leader in a big way. Mr Sampat Singh criticized the Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, for claiming to be the true successor of Sir Chhotu Ram. He said Mr Birender Singh did not do anything to carry forward the policies of the great kisan leader.

Karnal, November 13
Over 28 million cases are pending in various courts in the country. Such a huge number of pending cases may mainly be attributed to an acute shortage of judges as over one-sixth of the total sanctioned posts of judges are lying vacant in different courts.

According to the data provided in a booklet, “People’s initiatives for justice”, published and released yesterday by the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA), as many as 2,86,03,829 cases were pending in various courts as on June 30 last year.

According to the data, as many as 2,53,50,370 cases were pending in various subordinate courts till June 30 last year.

Similarly, 32,24,144 and 29,315 cases were pending in high courts and the Supreme Court, respectively, till June 30.

The number of pending cases keeps on accumulating as over one million cases add to the list every year on an average because 1,55,26,700 new cases are instituted in different courts, whereas only 1,43,92,900 are disposed of every year, according to the data.

According to the data, only 1,32,29,000 cases are disposed of in different subordinate courts, whereas on an average 1,42,43,500 cases are instituted every year.

Similarly, the average disposal of cases is just 11,23,500 in various high courts against an average institution of 12,41,000 cases every year. In the same way, only 40,400 cases are disposed of in the apex court as compared to an average institution of 42,200 cases annually.

The huge pendency of cases may mainly be attributed to an acute shortage of judges in various courts. There are only 13 sanctioned posts of judge in our country against one million persons, whereas there are 100 judges against the same number of persons in several developed countries, including the USA.

Surprisingly, even all the approved posts of judge are not filled and as much as 17.20 per cent of the total sanctioned posts of judge were lying vacant till last year, according to the data.

According to figures quoted by the then Chief Justice of India, Mr R.C. Lahoti, on Law Day last year, 2,300 posts of judge were lying vacant against a total of 13,949 approved posts in various courts, the booklet stated.

Chandigarh, November 13
More and more organisations are coming forward to hail the decision of the Haryana Government to increase the price of early varieties of sugarcane by Rs 18 per quintal. Earlier, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) had welcomed the decision.

In a statement issued here today, the president of the Haryana Prantiya Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, Mr Roshan Lal Arya, said first by waiving off the electricity dues of the farmers and now by announcing the record increase in the cane price, Mr Hooda had proved that he was a real well-wisher of the farmers.

Mr Arya said now Mr Hooda should take steps necessary to get the cane growers their dues from the sugar mills at the earliest.

The secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Satpal Kaushik, said it was for the first time in the history of the state that the price of sugarcane had been increased by Rs 18 per quintal in one go. This would help farmers to recover the cost of production as well as to make profit.

The General Secretary of the Haryana Youth Congress, Mr Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, also welcomed the increase.

Karnal, November 13
In a shocking incident, Balkar Singh of Popra village falling under Asandh police station, allegedly strangulated his handicapped uncle Ranbhir Singh to death on Friday night. The cause of his murder is said be an old enmity and an attempt to grab his land.

According to the FIR lodged on the statement of the brother of the deceased Sube Singh, Balkar Singh threw his body at Jhimbri Khera village after strangulated him to death.

The accused had also made an attempt to kill him by firing some rounds some years ago, Ranbhir Singh escaped at that time. Balkar Singh was released some time back after completing his sentence in this attempt to murder case.

According to the information, Ranbhir Singh was the youngest of three brothers. After distribution of their ancestral property, each of them got three acres as their share. Darya Singh and Sube Singh are the other brothers of Ranbhir Singh.

As Ranbhir did not marry because he was handicapped since his birth, Darya Singh’s son Balkar Singh had set his eyes on his share of three acres.

While the FIR was lodged under Section 302 of IPC, the accused Balkar Singh is still at large.

Chandigarh, November 13
Children's Day this year, promises to be a special one for students studying in government schools of Haryana. The Hooda government has decided to gift libraries to all 2,780 secondary and senior secondary schools of the state on Chacha Nehru's birth anniversary.

To be called Nehru Pustakalayas after the first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the idea is to introduce children to inspirational books which could turn their lives around, provide moral education, teach them to dream big and cultivate reading habit among them.

Unlike a well-defined policy laid down for purchase of books and stocking of libraries in the colleges of Haryana, at present it's an apology for a library that exists in most schools. Devoid of infrastructure and with hardly any books to their credit, these libraries, wherever they exist, are at the mercy of the staff.

However, with this latest decision of the government, each school will be stocked with 200 new books initially for which a budget of Rs 2.78 crore has been sanctioned. With 220 working days in an academic year, every student will get at least one new book a day through this plan.

Also, a committee comprising an academician, library specialist, child psychologist and educationist, has been constituted to make recommendations regarding purchase of books.

These would primarily pertain to the mental development of the children, health and environment issues, gender empowerment, de-addiction, Indian heritage and self-development.

The committee has specially been instructed to keep in mind that the books recommended by them should "make for interesting reading, be informative and be of the standards that the children would understand without being unnecessarily expensive".

"Class teachers should take on the responsibility of circulating books to students. We will also take feedback of the students to know their interests," says Director-General, School Education, Mr K.K. Khandelwal.

Panchkula, November 13
All government high and senior secondary schools in Panchkula will introduce the School AIDS Education Programme for children from next month. With this, Panchkula takes the lead over the neighbouring Chandigarh and Mohali, in launching a programme on AIDS awareness in government schools.

Under the School AIDS Education programme, a joint initiative of the Haryana AIDS Control Society and Education Department, Haryana, hundreds of students from Classes IX to XII, in all government as well as private schools will be educated on adolescence and HIV/AIDS awareness. The students will be imparted knowledge on sex education by their teachers, who are appointed as school nodal officers in this programme.

This academic year, students of Classes IX and XI will be imparted knowledge on sex education and AIDS, because students of Classes X and XII are busy preparing with board examinations. From the next academic year, students of all classes from IX to XII will be covered under the School AIDS Education Programme.

At present, the district education and health authorities are busy training the school nodal officers on various aspects of the course curricula, designed for the purpose. As many as 150 teachers — science masters and lecturers and principals — are being trained for the purpose. "The first batch of 50 school nodal officers finished with the training today, and training for the remaining two batches will finish by the end of November," informed Dr Lalit Virmani, District Health Officer, Panchkula. 

Fatehabad, November 13
The state-level convention of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) ended here today.

Delivering the valedictory address, Mr Tapas Sinha, general secretary of the DYFI, said that the UPA government had been dilly-dallying the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). He said the government had so far not taken steps to rein in private universities. He alleged that the private universities had been charging heavy fees making education out of the reach of the common man. He also alleged that the employment guarantee bill had also not been passed in its totality.

The elections to the state committee of the federation were also held in which Mr Prem Chand and Mr Dinesh Siwatch were elected president and secretary, respectively. A 22-member committee was also set up on this occasion.

Earlier, Mr Yusuf Tarigami, a CPM MLA from Jammu and Kashmir, inaugurated the two-day convention yesterday. Mr K. N. Balgopal, national president of the DYFI, Mr Tapas Sinha, Mr Harpal Singh, a former CPM MLA, Mr Krishan Swaroop, state president of the Haryana Kisan Sabha, and Mrs Raj Kumari, state president of the All-India Democratic Women Association (AIDWA), were present.

Mr Tarigami said the people of Jammu and Kashmir had always stood with India. He said that the people of the J&K participated in India’s struggle for freedom in a big way and when fundamentalist forces started their game at the time of partition, the people of J&K saved Kashmir.

Karnal, November 13
Baljit Singh of Nissing allegedly killed his married brother Charanjit Singh this morning.

According to information, the deceased was a drunkard and the accused was not happy with this habit. They kept on quarreling over the issue.

Charanjit Singh went to his brother Baljit’s house at around 5.30 am today and demanded some money from him. At this, Baljit reportedly lost his temper and attacked him with a lathi which proved fatal for him.

An FIR under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered at the Nissing police station in this regard on the statement of his another brother Dalip Singh.