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Haryana to bring
92,000 hectares under pulses, oilseeds
Haryana breaks liquor monopoly
5,500 show up for check-up
MLA faces workers’ wrath over corruption
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Hooda opens park in Jindal’s memory
Casteism still prevalent in society: Punia
Job schemes to be implemented
3 held for planning dacoity
Rajiv Gandhi College to come up in Jind
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Haryana to bring
92,000 hectares under
Chandigarh, April 2 Officials in the Agriculture Department said that a target for bringing 79,000 hectares area under pulses and 12, 500 hectares under oilseeds, has been set in this kharif season. This is the first time, ever since Haryana was carved out of Punjab, that such a large cultivable area is being brought under pulses and oilseeds. So far, the highest ever area covered under kharif pulses was 78,000 hectares, in 1967-68. With the farmers in Haryana, especially in northern parts of the state, resorting to a wheat - paddy rotation, water table in the state has been depleting rapidly. This rotation is also adversely affecting the soil health, by depleting the nutrients in the soil. “It
is as part of the diversification plan that an ambitious Rs 9.54 crore
Integrated Scheme of Oilseed, Pulses, Oilpalm and Maize has been
prepared and sent to the Government of India for final approval,”
informed Director, Agriculture, Mr R K Khullar. He said even during
the rabi season, the department had set an all-time high target of
bringing 10.85 lakh hectares area under oilseeds and pulses (2. 20 lakh
hectares under pulses, and 8. 35 lakh hectares under oilseeds). “This
will be one third of the total cultivated area ( 30- 32 lakh hectares)
to be brought under pulses and oilseeds this year,” he added. In order to achieve this target, the Agriculture Department proposes to produce and distribute quality seeds. “The
department will provide certified seeds of these crops to the farmers
and a subsidy of Rs 800 per quintal will be given. Besides, emphasis
will be laid on use of bio fertilizers and 70,000 bags of rhizobium and
PSB will be distributed on a 50 per cent subsidy. In order to increase
efficiency of irrigation water, use of sprinkler sets will be encouraged
and a subsidy of 33- 50 per cent will be given on the purchase of these
sets,” said Mr Khullar. |
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Haryana breaks liquor monopoly
Chandigarh, April 2 The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who also looks after the Department of Excise and Taxation, directed the officers to break this monopoly and frame a policy which should give an equal opportunity to local people to get a foothold in the liquor trade. The department, with the approval of the Cabinet, decided to allot liquor vends through a draw of lots instead of auctioning them as in the past. Eversince the cartel had established its monopoly in the state, the local liquor contractors had been virtually reduced to the status of minions. It had not been an easy job for the Excise Department to break the monopoly of the cartel. The firmly entrenched cartel, which made huge profits in the past few years, was confident that if it succeeded in thwarting the efforts of the department to break its monopoly, the government would have to revert back to the old system of auction, at which it could easly outbid the local contractors. Following a massive misinformation campaign launched by the cartel, a large number of country liquor vends had no takers. Sources in the trade say the cartel had succeeded in convincing the small contractors that it will be able to force the government to change the policy. The department had to invite applications thrice for the allotment of vends. Even after the third round of allotments, about 25 per cent vends remained unallotted. Since the department is allowed under the rules to enter into “private contracts” for allotment of vends, the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Mr H.S. Rana, who is an old hand in the excise matters (before his elevation to the IAS, he was the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner), conducted the negotiations. To ensure the allotment of all vends, some percentage of country liquor quota was converted into that of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), the consumption of which is increasing in the state. At some vends, where the sale was expected to be low, the quota and the licence fee was proportionately reduced. At the end of the day, the state not only earned about Rs 100 crore more than the previous year, but also succeeded in breaking the monopoly of the cartel. Of course, this is slightly less than the target fixed for this year. But the authorities were mentally prepared for this. The sources say when Uttar Pradesh adopted the system of allotment in 2000, it lost about Rs 300 crore in the first year. But it continued with the system and its revenue has now shown a phenomenal increase. It was due to this policy of Uttar Pradesh that many of its big guns in the liquor trade made a beeline for Punjab and Haryana. Similarly, Rajasthan, which adopted the system of allotment in 2004, lost about Rs 200 crore in the first year. Punjab, which has also adopted this system this year, has just managed to keep its revenue intact. Considering the experience of these states, Haryana has done well by getting about Rs 100 crore additional revenue in the first year of its new policy. The sources say if the state continues with the policy, it will ultimately gain enormously.
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5,500 show up for check-up
Jhajjar, April 2 The first day of the camp covered the Beri and Jhajjar Assembly segments of Rohtak parliamentary constituency. The remaining Assembly segments of the district will be covered tomorrow and the day after. Thereafter, similar camps will be organised in
Sonepat and Rohtak districts. The exercise is aimed at providing the population of the constituency an opportunity to get a thorough health check-up and treatment, if necessary, free of cost. The MP has roped in the services of seven speciality hospitals for the camp to enable people to avail themselves of the services of best doctors. These hospitals include among others Escorts Heart Centre, Delhi, Jaipur Golden Hospital, Delhi, Sunflag Hospital, Faridabad, and the PGIMS, Rohtak. The Bhagwan Mahavir Viklaang Sewa Samiti, known for its Jaipur Foot, a prosthetic device, is providing the contraptions free of cost to the needy. Doctors from these hospitals examined the patients, conducted diagnostic tests and prescribed medicines, which were provided free. All patients were issued health cards for free follow-up treatment in the hospitals concerned. Hearing aids and spectacles were also given to the needy. Mr Hooda told The Tribune that when he quit his career in the USA to contest the Lok Sabha poll, he had decided that he would not restrict himself to politics. “Public service is essential for every responsible member of society. It is the only way one can repay one’s debts to society”, he said adding that once the health camps were over he would hold educational camps to provide career counselling to students. He said the camps would remain apolitical and above party and political considerations. “I am happy to see that many of my known opponents from several villages came to the camp. This makes such camps worthwhile”, he added. Earlier, inaugurating the camp Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Raghbir Singh Kadian said it would help make people health conscious, especially the elderly who tended to ignore minor problems that later led to complications. He said the innovative idea would force other politicians to make social service a part of their politics. |
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MLA faces workers’ wrath over corruption
Jhajjar, April 2 According to sources, the MLA Mr Rajender Singh Joon had called a meeting of the workers to mobilise them for the proposed public meeting of the Prime Minister in Panipat on April 5. However, many senior party workers, including Mr Rajiv Tehlan, Mr Ishwar Chhillar, Mr Jitender Rathi, who is also local civic body member, raised the issue of corruption and crime in the presence of about 300 party activists, in the Chhotu Ram Dharamshala. They alleged that many government offices had become the den of corrupt officials who openly demanded bribe to do their work. In fact, many lawyers had also complained to the Assembly Speaker, Mr Raghubir Singh Kadian, about the corruption in the
tehsil office. The Naib Tehsildar, against whom the complaint was lodged, was transferred yesterday. Another issue of concern for the Congress workers was the frequent incidents of crime in the town. The workers alleged that the criminals have murdered a party worker and a businessman in the past month but the police had failed to make any breakthrough in these cases. The MLA, however, assured that the party workers would not be ignored but appeared non-committal on the issues of corruption and crime. |
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Hooda opens park in Jindal’s memory
Kurukshetra, April 2 The park had been named after former state Power Minister and steel tycoon, late O.P. Jindal. The Haryana Minister of State for Urban Development, Mrs Savitri Jindal, who is the widow of late O. P. Jindal, was also present. A statue of O.P. Jindal was also unveiled by the Chief Minister. He also flagged off four mobile vans, which would provide free medical aid to the poor residing in rural areas. The money for the park was given by son of O. P. Jindal, MP Naveen Jindal out of his personal funds. Earlier, Mr Hooda inaugurated ‘Sadashiv Sanskarit Bhawan’ constructed with help of Swami Ganeshanandgiri, at a cost of Rs 50 lakhs at the premises of Shri Krishna Dham, here. He also announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for Sanskarit Mahavidalaya being run at the premises of Shri Krishna Dham here. The Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Working President, Dr Ram Prakash, the Haryana Education Minister, Mr Phool Chand Mulana and the local MLA, Mr Ramesh Gupta, also addressed the gathering. Mr Naveen Jindal, MP, Ghirai MLA, Prof Chatarpal Singh, Karnal MLA, Ms Sumita Singh, Ambala MLA, Mr D.K Bansal, Haryana Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Mr Sanjay Kothari, Ambala Division Commissioner, Dr Mahavir Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Mr T.K. Sharma and the SP, Mr Sanjay Kumar, were also present. Mr Hooda also visited the nearby Bhadrakali
mandir. |
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Casteism still prevalent in society: Punia
Sonepat, April 2 Talking to mediapersons here, Dr Punia remarked that most of the social welfare-oriented schemes had not yielded the desired results and demanded that the Deputy Commissioners concerned should be held responsible for the failure of such schemes. Answering to a question, Dr Punia said, “I have not retired from politics and such rumours are baseless.” He was of the opinion that despite the economic prosperity and progress in education in Haryana, casteism continued to
prevail in the society. Later he addressed a public meeting at Ravidas Mandir and
said even after 58 years of Independence, one-third of the population of the country
was living below the poverty line. The meeting was organised by the “Janhit Seva Mandal”. |
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Jind, April 2 Addressing a civic reception hosted in his honour by MLA, Julana, I.G. Sher Singh at Julana, near here, he said long-term measures were being taken to check the problems of shortage of power and unemployment. Power generation projects were being set up to generate 5000 MW of additional power to abridge gap between demand and supply of power. Schemes were being implemented to check unemployment. A large number of employment opportunities would be generated in next few years, he said, adding that quality of education was being improved in view of the changing scenario so that the youth of the state excel in this era of competitiveness. — PTI
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3 held for planning dacoity
Ambala, April 2 Mr Deswal said the police received a tip-off that three youths were planning to commit a dacoity and were at a tenement on the Ghel Road. A raiding party led by Inspector Puran Chand reached the place and nabbed them. Two country-made pistols, two live cartridges, one rod and a motorcycle were recovered from their possession. Mr Deswal said the possibility of the involvement of these three persons in other cases was being investigated. |
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Rajiv Gandhi College to come up in Jind
Jind, April 2 Speaking after the “bhoomi pujan” for the college building, Mr Dwivedi, party in charge for Haryana, said the youth of the state had ample potential to excel. Referring to the issue of decline in sex ratio in Haryana, he said the trend had been reversed as a result of effective steps taken by the state government. The college would provide quality education at low costs from the next academic session, Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh said.
— PTI |
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