The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

	Paying Price For Parting! Splitsville costs go up in Bathinda Anil Jerath Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 17 The divorce rate in Bathinda is going up and so is the cost of break-ups. An increasing number of couples in the city is opting for peaceful out-of-court settlements. For that, they donot mind shelling out money—at times as high as Rs 25 lakh. Advocate R.K. Goyal says: “People are getting smarter. Many couples have their deals worked out before they enter court, seeking divorce by mutual consent. Divorce has become a big business and compromise doesn’t come without a cost, which is naturally huge.” The average cost of compromise is somewhere between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh but in some cases, it has gone up Rs 25 lakh, says another advocate on the condition of anonymity. “So well-prepared and focused are both the parties that even the best efforts of the judges and the advocates to reunite them, fall flat,” says Goyal. Parveen Gupta, a Sangrur-based advocate who has handled more than 600 divorce cases, agrees with the statement. “Earlier, divorce cases were rare but now one or two cases come every week,” he says. “With the rise in the number of divorce cases, there has been an increase in settlement money,” says Gupta. “The judicial process is lengthy and people think it is better to negotiate rather than go through the grind. A way out can be that some maintenance should be given to the women till the case is pending in the court,” suggests Pavittar Singh, a member of the Coordination Committee, Family Counselling Centre, Bathinda. In many instances, one party files a dowry complaint against the other to mount pressure. “Only 10 per cent of such complaints are genuine. The rest are filed to generate pressure for a better bargain. Once the deal is struck, the complaint is withdrawn,” says Ajay Sharma, in-charge, Women and Child Welfare Unit. In 2006, 1,247, dowry harassment complaints were filed. Actually, only 123 cases were registered.
	Rote learning ruins creativity of kids Do not make them parrots: Educationists Puneet Pal Singh Gill Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 17 Educationists across the globe have never been in favour of adopting learning by rote as a tool for teaching kids because they firmly believe that such process not only hinders the children’s creativity but also hampers the overall development of their personality. But teachers seemingly are in dilemma as to what should be chosen as a teaching aid perhaps in the absence of alternatives. However, some even alleged that teachers encourage such practice just make their job easier. Anyway their dilemma could be best reflected in the following examples. Example: This is what a parent had to say: “There is a lesson on family in Environmental Science in Class II. In the notes given to my son by his teacher, a father’s job was mentioned as ‘to fix nails on walls’. Ditto for the grandfather.” “When I asked my son to describe the work I do, he refused. The teacher, he said, has asked him to go by the textbook. Another stereotyped answer in the notebook was, ‘My mother cooks for the family and takes care of us when we are sick’. My wife is working but my son refused to buy it fearing a hostile response from the teacher,” a parent, who did not want himself to be identified said. Example: The mother of another child says: “I have a nuclear family. But the teacher told my daughter to write that she stays with her grandparents. I told my daughter that since we live in a nuclear family, she should write accordingly. “When she did, the teacher deducted her marks in the exam. When I pointed this out to the teacher, she said if all the students began giving different answers, it would become difficult for her to check the examination copies.” Example: The mother of an only child says: “There was a question in my child’s textbook on the number of members in his family. My son wrote father, mother and a sister. When I asked why he mentioned a sister when he has none, he said the teacher asked him to learn the notes word-by-word or the marks would be cut.” Arun Jee, principal, Delhi Public School, Bathinda, said, “Such rote learning can affect the overall development of a child. This is not the right way to teach a child as the students would get discouraged and will become just parrots.” Meanwhile, Dr I.J.S. Jaswal, professor and head of department of Human Resourec Development, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, said, “Some teachers are only hindering the growth of personality of the children by not allowing them to adopt an independent way of thinking. The children should not be asked to follow the books blindly. Instead, they should be allowed to think and express what they feel. This is a wrong practice.”
	Rahul as PM move invites GSP ire Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 17 The General Samaj Party (GSP) has condemned the efforts made by senior Congress leaders of projecting Rahul Gandhi for the post of prime minister in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Founder and president of the party, Suresh Goyal, told TNS over the phone that first mooting the idea and then terming it as “sycophancy” was typical of Congress culture. While pointing a finger at SAD(B), SAD(A) and the BJP, he rued that political ideologies were a thing of the past and that parties were now banking on the personal stature of their leaders to garner votes. It is important to mention here that the GSP was formed on April 6, 2003 and is based in Bathinda. It contested five seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and six seats in the 2006 Assembly elections. It is gearing up to fight the next municipal corporation elections in Bathinda due to be held in June this year.
	Villagers stand by accused Family enmity alleged Stage sit-in for 2nd consecutive day; 12-yr-old rape complainant missing for 8 days now Prabhjit Singh Tribune News Service Lakhewali (Muktsar), April 17 The villagers of Lakhewali held a sit-in for the second consecutive day here today, challenging the registration of a rape case against a village youth, terming it as fake. Significantly, the girl, who had reportedly lodged the complaint against the accused, Gurpreet Singh, on Friday last, never turned up at home after the youth’s arrest, while the protesters claimed “enmity” between the two families that led to the registration of this rape case which, they alleged, is fake. “This is purely a case of enmity between two families, as the two men convicted in a murder case, had trapped the nephew of the man they had killed nearly five years back,” said local Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Guruditta Singh, who is leading the protest in the village. There have been allegations that the 12-year-old complainant girl has been allegedly picked up by village natives Baldev Singh and Jagdev Singh, the two convicted in the murder of Gurpreet’s uncle, five years back. When this correspondent contacted one of the murder convict, Baldev Singh, on phone, he agreed that the girl and her brother were with him. The complainant girl’s brother Vijay Singh also spoke on the same phone, however, claiming that they hadn’t gone missing but were out of the village for some days for some personal reasons. However, he contradicted the village police post SHO Kabal Singh’s assertion that the complaint in the rape case was written “in a village street and not at the police post or the residence of the victim girl.” According to the girl’s brother, he and his sister had gone to the police post where they collectively filed the complaint against Gurpreet Singh. When Baldev Singh was asked the reason for accompanying the brother-sister duo, he maintained that he was moving with them as a fellow sympathiser. But when asked whether he and the brother-sister duo could meet this correspondent for clarifications, Baldev Singh said he was on way to Bathinda with them as he cut down the phone and switched it off. Muktsar Sadar police station SHO R.P. Singh, who is handling the case, told the TNS that the matter was under investigation as the medical report of the ‘victim’ girl would arrive in 10-12 days. He said that the swap sample of the complainant girl was taken and sent to the laboratory on April 12. “ This is a genuine rape case,” he added. It was on February 22, 2007, that Baldev Singh, his brother Jagdev Singh, and his two sons were convicted in the case for the murder of Mohinder Singh, the uncle of Gurpreet, who has now been made an accused in the said rape case. Gurpreet has been the key witness in the murder case in which his uncle Mohinder Singh was killed on December 15, 2003. Another angle in the entire gambit, is is believed, is that Gurpreet and the complainant girl had been on friendly terms and reportedly met each other often.
	Bus operators write open letter to CM, list woes Our Correspondent Mansa, April 17 The Small-scale Bus Operators’ Association, Punjab, has written an open letter to the chief minister of the state and narrated the problems faced by its members. The copies of the letter have also been sent to other authorities concerned. Informing about the contents of the letter, the state president of the Assocation, Jatinder Kumar Agra, said, “The problems of small-scale bus operators were not being considered seriously in the new transport policy. When the special road tax was imposed during the Congress regime, the rate of diesel was Rs 7 per litre and the frequency of buses was more than what it is now. But with the passage of time, the rate of diesel and other maintenance and operational expenses have increased.” The operators demanded that the pending cases of small-scale bus operators in various districts should be disposed of under the Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1924, with the amendment of 2004. They added that the permits of these buses should be renewed after hearing the cases. According to the new policy announced by the state government, the ordinary buses had been given a tax relief of 50 days for repair and maintenance. They were also required to pay tax at the rate of Rs 2.25 per km. On the other hand, AC buses have been given a relief of 75 days and the tax is liable at Re1 per km. Similarly, special AC buses are taxed at 50 paise per km and exempted from payment of tax for 180 days. They demanded equitable imposition of tax. Besides, they also raised other problems like shortage of staff in DTO and RTA offices. The Association also demanded that the allotment of routes and frequency of buses on the said routes should be fair so that influential persons and big transporters did not get undue advantage.
	Report’s diagnosis: Hospitals terminally ill Rajay Deep Tribune News Service Bathinda, April 17 Health institutions in the district are in a poor state. But despite the need for attention, nothing much has been done so far. If one goes to the Bhagta civil hospital at night, one will find the doors closed for patients. However, the doors of Nathana hospital always remain open though it is another issue that the only visitors there are the stray dogs. The hospital of Rampura is also not in a good condition with the lavatory there stinking badly. The tour notes filled by the Civil Surgeon (CS) are sufficient indication of this state of affairs. On one of his tours to the Bhagta civil hospital, the CS has mentioned that he visited there at 10 pm, when no light was on and to get the door opened, he had to wait for at least 10 minutes. After visiting the operation theatre, he found the surgical material and the class IV employees missing. When the CS visited the Nathana civil hospital on January 22, 2008, he found no patients but dogs moving inside freely. At the Rampura civil hospital, he found the toilets stinking and no proper system of waste management. Ironically, there was an oxygen cylinder but no tool to open it. After going through the details of the tour notes procured under the RTI Act, when the TNS team inquired about the present status of these hospitals, the report was in the negative. Sources said nothing has improved as the officers just warned the employees and took no serious action. As per the reports, the CS is supposed to visit every primary health centre and hospital twice a month. But the rule has never been complied with. It may be mentioned that the Civil Hospital, Bathinda, is also not in a good shape as every day some complaint is filed by the visitors. The long queue at the registration window is also an irritant for the patients and their attendants. Civil Surgeon, Maninderjeet Singh, could not be contacted as he was out of the country. On his part, acting civil surgeon Kastoori Lal said, “I am not exactly aware about the actual status, but I can assure that we will put in our best efforts to meet the standard.”