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Gen-Y all set to take over state politics
Rohtak, October 18 The major responsibility recently given to Rahul Gandhi in the central Congress organisation has enlivened the party’s youth brigade in the state, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s MP son Deepender; veteran Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala’s scion and state minister Randeep Surjewala; late Bansi Lal’s granddaughter and Surender and Kiran Chaudhary’s heiress Shruti; and late Om Prakash Jindal and Savitri Jindal’s political successor and sitting Congress MP Naveen Jindal. Union minister of state Selja also has a strong presence in the eyes of the party’s central leadership and stands a fair chance of being given a responsible position in the event of need. On the other hand, the state’s major opposition party INLD’s “yuvraj” Ajay Chautala, who has inherited the political legacy of the late Chaudhary Devi Lal and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, has emerged as a seasoned politician and administrator. He has a tough task of rebuilding his party’s image in people’s mind, apart from coming out clean from the ongoing CBI probe into amassing of huge assets. Another former Chief Minister and “third Lal” Bhajan Lal’s rebel MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi is also making all-out efforts to constitute a political outfit which can come up as a third option before the state electors apart from the Congress and the INLD. Deepender has the obvious advantage of being the Chief Minister’s son and sitting MP from his home constituency. Nonetheless, he has a lot to learn as the next electoral battle he faces is definitely not going to be as smooth a cakewalk as his debut contest. Then comes Randeep, who has joined Hooda’s Cabinet after a stint with the All-India Youth Congress. He has defeated former Chief Minister and INLD commander Om Prakash Chautala, which is his major claim to fame. By virtue of this, he is said to have an eye on the Chief Minister’s post. However, he will have to tread cautiously in view of having faced serious allegations pertaining to his tenure in the Youth Congress. Apart from being a sportsperson and an efficient business manager, Naveen Jindal has developed the image of being an affable and forward-looking statesman. Still, he is not in a comfortable situation at present. Shruti, on her part, has made a sound beginning in politics and has been organising a series of public meetings and mass contact programmes of late. She can win over the support of Bansi Lal’s followers, but she also has a long way to go to create a niche for herself in the state politics. Interestingly, while Kuldeep is even being projected as the next Chief Minister by his overenthusiastic supporters, the loyal Congressmen cannot afford to be so vocal about this hidden ambition of theirs; and have to chant “high command” and “party leadership” in their public and media statements. All in all, the stage is all set for the entrance of generation next on the state’s political stage and how they refabricate their parties’ ideologies and policies to give these a fresh look and youthful touch would be interesting to note.
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Private colleges make a killing
Hisar, October 18 Inquiries reveal that about 60 such colleges have come up in various districts this year. Most of these are admitting only girls as they are allowed to appear in the university examinations as private candidates. These cater mainly to those who fail to get admission in affiliated colleges. The modus operandi of these purely private businesses is the same. All of them constitute a board of directors headed by retired bureaucrats. The other members of the boards are the promoters. In many cases, the chairpersons also have a share in the business. One such college functioning here has a former lieutenant governor as its chairman. The college is currently functioning from a rented building. The building earlier housed a hospital. All classrooms and offices are air-conditioned although the entire façade of the building had to be covered by huge hoardings for the purpose. Special attention is paid to security aspects since any lapse of this count could bring a bad name to the colleges. All students and staff members are issued smartcards to check unauthorised entries. Visitors are discouraged as they have to record their identities in special registers. Guards are deployed at all entry points. But this is where the hi-tech infrastructure ends. There are virtually no libraries although these colleges are running even postgraduate courses. A few textbooks and dictionaries are kept in locked cupboards in the name of libraries. The faculty generally is recruited on part-time basis. Retired teachers are preferred whenever available although most of the faculty is inexperienced, young and poorly compensated. No wonder, the attrition rate here surpasses even the BPO and IT industry. In the absence of playgrounds, sports activities are not possible. Likewise, extra and co-curricular activities are nonexistent because there is neither infrastructure nor manpower. These colleges openly claim in their advertisements and prospectus that their institution is “likely to be affiliated to” the university concerned. One local college has been publicising that it is “likely to be affiliated to Kurukshetra University” although universities do not give any assurances of this nature. One of the promoters of such a college said on condition of anonymity that though his institution lacked infrastructure at present, he planned to put it in place in the near future. “I have land. I will fund the building gradually from the profits I make by temporarily functioning from a rented building. Besides, before
investing Students and parents though seem to be happy. “I take a different view of this. If my daughter had gone to an affiliated college, she still would need tuitions. So for me the college is just one of the tuition centre. That serves my purpose”, said a mother of one of the students. She is all praise for the security set up which no affiliated college has in place anywhere. Students air similar views saying no teacher in an affiliated college would give written notes that they get in private unaffiliated colleges. That is what they need most. So, say welcome to hi-tech teaching shops!
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Ditto for B.Ed colleges
Rohtak, October 18 Officials at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), which has conducted the entire B.Ed admission procedure from entrance test to counselling, are flooded with complaints against such colleges. The affected students and their parents are making rounds of the university as well as district authorities and the Education Department, but to no avail. The dean, Colleges Development Council at MDU, has warned the colleges against charging any excess fee or capitation fee from students and directed them to immediately return the excess amount if charged already. He has clarified that each student is required to deposit Rs 5,000 in cash with the university at the time of admission. The
remaining fee (Rs 33,500 in case of self-financing education colleges and Rs 5,000 in case of government and government-aided education colleges) is to be deposited with the college where the candidate is admitted within three working days. However, many colleges are still fleecing students by charging exorbitant amounts in the name of building fund, capitation fee or other such heads. Many a time, even a receipt is not issued for the fee charged from the students, which points towards large-scale irregularities. As many B.Ed colleges are run by politicians or their staunch supporters, concrete action is not taken against them. Even the connivance of government and other officials concerned in the nexus cannot be ruled out.
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Festive
Season
Faridabad, October 18 The sad part of the story is that the traders do brisk business right under the nose of the authorities. It has started showing greater ascendancy since August, which marks the beginning of the festival season. According to an estimate, there are about 70 small units manufacturing spurious spices. The production is a fly-by-night operation, and generally takes place at remote places, especially in houses and jhuggis, as one simply needs a grinder and other petty logistics. The trade makes a lot of business sense to its manufacturers. In the market, spices, sold under established brand names are in the range starting over Rs 200 per kg. But none of the dubious spices cross Rs 70 per kg. The operators have set up well-planned marketing channels, too. Reports have it that the spices are not only supplied to hotel and restaurant units, dhabas etc in the cities and towns, the tentacles of the supply network have also penetrated the villages. The consumption of these spices can cause damage to various body organs. The diseases that one is afflicted with by their consumption include cancer the ones that affect liver. A huge chunk of the urban and semi-urban population is accounted by labour class. This class of population prefers to have cheap spices. However, this does not mean that the affluent section is immune from such health hazards. They have it in plenty in swanky restaurants.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, October 18 Earlier, The Tribune had reported that the accountant-general of Haryana had made a query to the state chief secretary on the marital status of the person facing the accusation. The AG's office moved after receiving a barrage of unsigned letters sent "on behalf of Haryana IAS officers", plus a complaint from a member of the faculty of a university in which the woman is employed as a teacher. The then chief secretary was satisfied after she gave an affidavit denying the allegations of remarriage. The matter ended there. However, anonymous letters, written in English, have continued to pour in the chief secretary's office, AG's office and in various newspaper offices reiterating the allegation. The All India Services Rules do not permit a woman to draw her husband's pension in case of her remarriage. The pension is the main issue and not her "remarriage", which is what the anonymous sender of the complaints repeatedly asserts. The AG's office was also sent an original card printed on the occasion of first anniversary celebration of the alleged second marriage of the widow. A letter sent by the unnamed complainant to this paper's Chandigarh office also gave her mobile number. An inquiry, says the letter, will have exposed the woman. The then chief secretary should have ordered an inquiry instead of merely accepting a statement from her, alleges the letter. It is, however, certain that had the same allegations been made against an ordinary employee's widow, it would not have been so easy for her to get a verdict in her favour. Being the widow of an IAS officer was of obvious help to this woman in question. After all, persons authorised to mark an inquiry on the subject are her late husband's colleagues. She is, thus, among friends.
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Low agricultural yield
Kaithal, October 18 Dr J.C. Katyal, vice-chancellor, HAU, Hisar, was the chief guest. Dr Katyal called upon farmers to participate in such events, which informed them about the latest inventions, besides providing them a platform to discuss their problems with scientists. He asked the farmers to sow wheat at a right time after proper seed treatment to get maximum yield. He said new varieties of wheat could increase production, reducing dependence on imports to meet domestic needs. Dr Katyal advised the farmers to make balanced use of fertilisers and also use vermi compost to maintain soil health. He also advised them to sow wheat through zero tillage machines, an economical method which gave good crop by reducing weeds. Dr R.K. Malik, director extension education, HAU, said pesticides should be used in rotation so that the weeds do not adopt resistance to a particular product. He also advised the farmers to make judicious use of underground water, which had become a great cause of concern these days. Dr B.S. Chillar, director (research), said about 200 varieties of different crops had been developed by the HAU and most of them were related to wheat, maize, peas, moong and barseem. He said such varieties gave maximum yield at low cost and were also disease-resistant. Kushal Pal Sirohi, president, Progressive Farmers Club, Kaithal, said farmers should adopt farming as a profession and should get maximum production at minimum cost. Meanwhile, a number of agro-based companies had set up their stalls during the fair. Some latest agricultural implements were also displayed. A buzz session for the farmers was also organised. Dr R.K. Bakshi, Dr V.P. Singh, Dr R.S. Sheokand, Dr R.C. Verma, Dr Labh Singh, Captain Chamel Singh, sarpanch of the Kaul village, and a large number of farmers took part.
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Brass industry battles govt apathy
Rewari, October 18 Not long ago, about 500 families of the Thathera community were solely engaged in making brass utensils here, but owing to the rapidly increasing occupational adversity and financial severity, the workforce has dwindled down to just 200 families, said Birbal Verma, district president, Thathera Kamgar Sangh. According to the veterans of the industry, their ancestors migrated to Rewari about 500 years ago during the heyday of princely states. During the first half of the 19th century, the predecessors of Rao Tula Ram, hero of the first war of independence of 1857, provided them land at Rewari where they started manufacturing guns and canons for martial contingents. Besides, some others were employed by the then Maharaja of Jaipur for minting coins. Their descendants here are known as "taksali privars" (minting families) even today. However, when the British came, the canon-making and coin-minting work ceased to operate. Consequently, they started making brass utensils. The business rose to great heights in the following decades. Not long ago, about 500 families of the Thathera community were engaged in making brass utensils, which included tokni, parat, kettle, pan, plate, cup, mug, bucket and hubble-bubble. These utensils were in great demand in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and several other states. In the absence of availability of direct marketing facilities, the manufacturers had to remain contented with their labour charges while wholesalers and retailers pocketed the bulk of the profits. The traditional brassware industry of the town underwent a significant change about four decades ago when several of the Thathera families started manufacturing handicrafts like hanging lamps, table lamps, vases, candle stands, trays, chandeliers, swords, and statues of brass. These showpieces were in great demand in India as well as abroad. They were also supplied to Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, from where they were exported to foreign countries. However, the number of families engaged in manufacturing handicrafts has also dwindled to a negligible lot. The assiduous makers of these brass utensils and handicrafts brought glory to Rewari, which came to be known as the metal city of Haryana. Interestingly, HUDA, too, had established a brass market here to perpetuate the glamour and glory of the city. Ironically, this brass market does not possess even a single brassware unit till date.
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Rural education
Mewat, October 18 The government had formed VECs with a view to ensure active participation and involvement of local community in the educational process. In addition, they were also expected to take up the task of management and improve the functioning of the schools. As per the guidelines, a committee should comprise of not more than 15 members with representations from parents, panchayats, cooperatives, SC/STs, minorities and local development functionaries to look into the overall management of educational programmes at the village level. The sarpanch of the village would act as chairman of the committee, which would meet once in a month. While talking to The Tribune, Mubarik
Hussan, a member of Segal Foundation, an NGO working in Santwari village for the past one year, said the committee here was formed nine years back, but failed to hold even a single meeting. He said when the committee was formed besides teachers no inhabitant of the village was aware about its functioning and duties. He said as most of the members of the committee were illiterate they hardly took any interest to motivate and impress upon the villagers to educate their children for better future.
Hussan said the main concept behind the formation of the committees was to reduce the dropouts in village schools and improve its management. But in this case, most of the members were themselves dropouts from the body, he added. The role of VECs has been predominantly in areas related to accessibility and participation of children, particularly girls. As per the government directive, it is mandatory to have 50 per cent of the representation of women in these committees. However, the actual role of women is still limited in the functioning of the
VECs. But as the NGO enlightened the members about their duties, regular meetings of the committee are being held for the past six months. When this correspondent visited various villages in Mewat district and interacted with the members of the
VEC, it was found that most of the members were not even aware about the VEC formation and its responsibility. One of the women members disclosed that she became member of this body as it met once in six month where they were served fruits and snacks. She stated that she was not aware about her responsibility about the development of the village school. When Nuh deputy commissioner C.R. Rana was contacted, he told that the administration was trying to make the members aware about their duties and responsibilities so that the dropout rate and functioning in the rural schools improved.
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Where legacy of IAF pioneer lives on
Santokh Majra (Kaithal), October 18 The name of Squadron Leader (retd) Clement Martin Chauhan of Padri Khera figures among the first Indian Air Force (IAF) officers from the area. He had been one of the first flight engineers of the nation, who flew the first Prime Minister of the country. Born on July 6, 1919, Chauhan joined the IAF after getting education and training from Karnal and Delhi. He had been one of the few who dreamt to be a part of the force even before the country became independent. He soon joined the league of air force personnel. He was a member of the squad, which had brought the fleet of newly acquired planes for the IAF. In 1952, he was part of the crew of air force plane, “Dakota-DC-3”, which flew to Leh Ladakh to facilitate the visit of Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Lal Nehru. It is learnt that as soon as the aircraft landed there, Chauhan took up a stone and requested the Prime Minister and other VIP’s to give their autographs. The stone, bearing the autographs, is still lying at Chauhan’s house at Santokh Majra. Chauhan was awarded Vishist Sewa Medal and Burma Star for his services in the force and for his role in the wars of 1962 and 1965. He decided to settle in this village after retirement in late seventies and lived there till his death on July 4, 2000. His daughter and granddaughter migrated to Dubai, but his son is still residing here. The village, 45 km from Jind in Kaithal district, was founded by Christian missionaries in 1898. They had settled several families here, mainly Rajputs, which migrated from various parts of the country. The families have kept their surname as Chauhan even after converting to Christianity. The village has an old Church, which was built in 1942, and prayers are regularly held here. Mainly the Christian community dominates the village, but some Hindu families, too, have settled here. Majority of the Hindu families belong to the backward category and have been engaged in agricultural-related work.
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Move to turn park into mall draws criticism
Panipat, October 18 Proposal of the MC to develop a shopping plaza at the existing Haali Park area has invited criticism from different quarters, including the local residents for acting as "a commercial institution". Spread over 24 acres of prime land in the heart of Model Town, the park was named after the famous Urdu poet, Khwaja Altaaf Hussein Haali (1837-1914). He is believed to have had impressed Mirza Ghalib by his shaayri. But now the local civic body has a "concrete" plan to generate revenue out of the green belts. The park in question is the largest green patch in the township with hundreds of full-grown trees and other vegetation. But several local residents flay the municipality for changing its focus to become a commercial agency than to serve the public. The residents appeal the local authorities to spare the precious green belts. "The state authorities are commercially exploiting the township at the cost of health of the local population. Due to its proximity to New Delhi, Panipat has witnessed rapid industrialisation that led to higher pollution levels," admit the officials. Big units like thermal power plant, IOCL refinery, NFL, and scores of cement plants have already settled around the township, but hardly any attention was paid to increase the green cover to lower the pollution level, says Ramesh Satija, a resident of Model Town. The residents say that the park was once a beautiful place. "There was a lake at Haali Park with plenty of boats and the place remained a hot spot among localities till a few years ago when it was well looked after," recalls a senior government official. But due to the apathetic attitude of the local authorities, the lake dried up and the park was turned into a garbage dump yard.
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CITIZEN FIRST
Although it has been 15 years since the provisions of the Family Courts Act, 1984, were brought into force in Haryana (November 1992), the government has failed to establish even a single family court in the state for the reasons best known to it. It is to be mentioned here that unlike a normal civil court, a family court is a forum to promote conciliation and secure speedy settlements of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs. These matters are taken up and resolved in an atmosphere of reconciliation and understanding with the aid and advice of counsellors and without the participation of advocates. Haryana is one of the few states which has no such court although neighbouring Punjab has a couple of such courts.
As per the provisions of Section 3 of the Act it is obligatory to set up a family court in a city or town with a population of one million and for other areas it is merely discretionary. This anomaly needs to be removed if the constitution of family courts in every part of country is to be ensured. This would also ease the burden on civil courts to a considerable extent. Hemant Kumar,
Ambala City Panchkula lags behind Every Chief Minister of state in the past has professed that Panchkula would be made the Paris of Haryana. All said but not done. The town is facing a blackout kind of situation for the past four months. The streetlights on the main roads dividing Sectors 12A, 14, 15 and Industrial Area Phase I and II are non-functional for the past more than four months. Repeated complaints generated only false promises. Even a personal visit to the executive officer failed to yield any result. Besides posing a serious traffic hazard, dark streets and roads encourage thefts and anti-social activities. It seems nothing is happening in terms of development in the town. K.C. Jain,
Panchkula Readers, write in
Make Haryana Plus your very own forum and do yourselves and your neighbours a good turn. Here is an opportunity to highlight civic and other public issues, and air your grievances about government negligence and ineffectiveness and the apathy of the officialdom. Send in write-ups, not exceeding 200 words, to Haryana Plus,
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Sow wheat by mid-Nov, says dept
Chandigarh, October 18 According to a spokesman for the department, the timely sowing of crop results in ensuring a bumper crop. The use of zero-tilage machine in the area of wheat-paddy rotation will further improve the prospects of higher yield. The sowing of wheat should not be carried out by sprayer or spray technique, he added.
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Citizen’s Grievance
Poor after-sales service I had made a complaint to the regional office as well as to the head office of Blue Star in Chennai about the non-provision of service by their local dealer. As the dealer failed to provide the service after the AC developed some defect. But their service controlling centre at Chandigarh and the Chennai head office have not bothered to respond even though one month has elapsed. This clearly shows that the company is least interested in extending after sale service to its
clients. H.L. Huria, Panipat
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VIP functions
Kurukshetra, October 18 Directions have been issued to officers, including sub-divisional magistrates of Thanesar and Pehowa, district education officer, district primary education officer, district sports and youth welfare officer, district development and panchayat officer, Kurukshetra Development Board and all block development and panchayat officers. Aggarwal observed that at the functions organised by some departments and organisations, the schoolchildren were made to stand in queues for a long time to welcome VIPs, which was not justified. Meanwhile, the decision has been widely welcomed and appreciated by all sections of the society in general and schoolchildren and their parents in
particular.
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‘Open darbars’ by admn
Kurukshetra, October 18 Stating this here, city magistrate Hema Sharma said one such ‘open
darbar’ would be organised on the premises of sub-divisional magistrate Pehowa’s office, 25 km from here, on October 19. The next ‘open
darbar’ would be organised at grain market, Babain, and on the premises of PWD Rest House, Ladwa on October 23.
— OC
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