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State tops with 798 nirmal grams
Sirsa, October 16 Sirsa has emerged as the district with highest number of villages in the country selected for the Nirmal Gram Puruskar to be conferred on them by President Pratibha Patil at a function to be held in Hisar tomorrow. PRIs from nine states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh will get the award. Haryana, incidentally, tops the table with 798 of its village panchayats getting the puruskar this year followed by Gujarat with 733 villages and Uttar Pradesh with 723 villages. Shimoga (Karnataka) with 147 nirmal grams comes second in the country after Sirsa. Back home, Kurukshetra (107) comes second in Haryana followed by Fatehabad at the third place with 93 villages selected for the puruskar. Hisar (52), Mohindergarh (45), Jhajjar (39), Bhiwani (36), Yamunanagar (36), Jind (34), Rewari (31), Panipat (18), Karnal (11), Kaithal (7), Ambala (7), Panchkula (3), Gurgaon (2), Rohtak (2) and Sonipat (1) are the other districts of Haryana with the number of nirmal grams given against their names. In fact, all 333 villages of the district had been declared open defecation free (ODF) after a 90-day long campaign launched under the total sanitation campaign from October 2, 2007. All 333 villages had applied for the status of nirmal gram, but after verification by agencies appointed by the Government of India, 270 have been found fit for the prize. The rest of 53 villages have again applied to the Ministry of Rural Development for verification of their villages at the earliest. The villages selected for the puruskar will get cash prizes rangingfrom Rs 2 lakh to Rs 4 lakh depending on the population of the village. "It all happened due to the total commitment and proper training of the officials involved with the project as well as spirited efforts of 400-odd motivators involved with the 'Jai Swachhata Samiti', an NGO through which the TSC was executed," said a jubilant Yudhvir Singh Khayalia, additional deputy commissioner, Sirsa, and chief executive officer of the
TSC. "Credit goes to hundreds of schoolchildren, womenfolk and volunteers of the village-level committees, who persuaded their fellow villagers against open defecation by persuasive means," he added. Monika Gupta and Sanjay Gupta, a couple looking after the affairs of the Jai Swachhata Samiti, say it looked almost impossible initially, when Khayalia used to say in his speeches that one day the President of India will honour our
panchayats. But, now it is like a dream come true for 270 sarpanchs of the district, they say.
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State police on its toes
Hisar, October 16 Police contingents have been rushed here from several districts to provide a foolproof security cover for the President. A number of senior police officers from neighbouring districts have been camping here since Monday to oversee the arrangements. A bomb disposal squad has reached here from Delhi to meet any kind of eventuality. Members of the squad have combed Mahavir Stadium where the President is scheduled to give away awards to sarpanches of villages that have been declared open defecation free under the Nirmal Gram scheme. Policemen have been posted on round-the-clock duty at all crossings on the route of the President. Since Monday, vehicles plying on the route after dark are being checked thoroughly. Leaving nothing to chance, the local police has been asked to verify the antecedents of all mediapersons, officials and others who will be seated in close proximity to the dais from which the President will give away the awards. Policemen, officials and others who will be on duty at the function venue also have to undergo verification exercise. They will be issued special passes and will have to wear these in addition to their departmental identity cards. The antecedents of all sarpanches coming here from nine states have been verified too. A strict vigil is being maintained on the premises where they would be lodged Thursday onwards. Haryana Agricultural University remained closed today in view of the President's visit. The university will also remain closed on Friday. This has been done as a number of officials and participants in the function have been lodged in university campus. The university offices will function on the second Saturdays of November and December to compensate for these holidays. President Patil will first present the Standard to the 46 Armoured regiment in the local cantonment. Since the cantonment is highly secured in itself, most security concerns are over the civil function in Mahavir Stadium despite the fact that only officials and participants will be present there. This function is not open to the general public.
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Mobile towers haunt Ambala residents
Ambala, October 16 During the past three years as many as three towers have fallen down due to storms in which buildings close to them got badly damaged. Although nothing has been proved in this regard, people are of the view that radiation from these towers adversely affects the health of nearby residents. A few towers have been set up on single-storey buildings but most of the towers are installed on multistoried buildings, which are more dangerous. Some of the towers have been installed in such narrow streets that no rescue operation can be conducted in case of any incident. According to the building bylaws, huge towers cannot be installed on residential buildings. One should get NOC from the municipal council whether the building could bear the load of the towers. Strangely, none of the mobile company has ever applied for the NOC. Owners charge handsome amount from mobile companies for allowing them to install towers atop their buildings without caring for the safety of its occupants. Two such towers have been installed on buildings on the main roads of the city. Neither the owners nor the mobile companies follow any precautionary measure. Some of the residents have been preparing to serve legal notices to the mobile companies and the owners. They have demanded that a survey should be conducted in this regard and the towers that are dangerous should be removed immediately and NOC for its installation should be made mandatory. When contacted, chairman of municipal council Harish Sashan said he would go through the legality of the issue and if any violation of the building rules were found he would direct the municipal officers to take appropriate action into it. He said he had not received any complaint.
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Chicks bring cheer in Mewat
Mewat, October 16 In almost 23 villages of the district, a brood of chicks gifted by the Mewat Development Agency (MDA), has entire families chuckling with delight. Neem Khera villager Parveen can't hide her excitement as she leads you to her extended family, covered, shaded and protected. Ever since the 20 chicks came into her life, their well-being has become top priority. Her husband, children and neighbours don't miss any opportunity to peek into the babies' pen. "I am so excited with their arrival. A couple of months from now, they will become a source of income in our house. We were making do with doing petty jobs around the village or my husband worked as a labourer whenever he got a job," she says. In Marora village, the chicks have charmed 45-year-old Rehman, who has made two separate enclosures for the fowls. During the day, we keep them in the top-open enclosure and they are packed into a pen with mesh doors at night to save them from the cats," he explains. His wife cleans the hen house and his son chases the chicks all day in the compound. "We will be able to sell cocks when they are nice and fat, in about three months time. The hens will give us eggs to augment Similarly, Taat Khori villager Kishan Chand can’t believe the chicks have come his way. “Since I have no regular source of income, I can hardly wait for these chicks to grow up and provide for me and my family. They are just like our babies and we attend to them first thing in the morning,” he explains. Under a novel income-generation initiative for poor families of Mewat, the MDA, on a suggestion from Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai, has already distributed 16,000-odd chicks in the villages while there are 20,000 more which will be distributed to needy villagers in near future. Being personally supervised by chief executive officer of the MDA Attar Singh Ahlawat, the programme not only has the agenda of providing poor families a consistent flow of income but is also high on women empowerment. A number of chicks have been given in the name of the lady of the house in many villages. Field worker Rajmal Khan who has distributed these chicks says, “We first held a meeting in the village, asked the sarpanches for names of poor families, trained these families for hen-keeping and gave them the chicks. Now, we visit these villages every week to see if everything is on track and thankfully, all is well.” Education has gone beyond a one-time meeting with the MDA distributing pamphlets to villagers about maintaining the birds. While the chicks have brought cheers to the poor in the villages, women gifted the chicks, too, have reason to smile. The MDA certainly is killing two birds with one
stone!
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Technology must to improve farm yield: Expert
Fatehabad, October 16 The seminar was organised under the aegis of the Agriculture Technologies Management Authority (ATMA). The deputy commissioner said the ATMA launched recently by the government had proved to be a boon for the farmers. He said the basic objective of the ATMA was to make agriculture more and more technology-oriented and to increase the production through better management. He said the farmers were now using more seeds, fertilisers and pesticides for getting better crops. “Though these steps have increased production but at the same time they have affected the fertility of the soil,” he said. Expressing concern over the effect of pesticides and other chemicals used in agriculture on our environment, Ahlawat said every vegetable today was laced with pesticides. He said with the fall in landholdings, there was an urgent need to incorporate technologies in the field of agriculture. “Animal Husbandry, pisciculture and horticulture were some other fields where farmers can divert to earn additional income,” he said. R.C. Poonia, deputy director, agriculture, Fatehabad, said diversification was an answer to the decline in the income from agriculture. He said the farmers must acquaint themselves with the common infestations associated with their crops and added that indiscriminate spray of pesticides was not in the interest of the farmers. Sultan Singh, a cotton expert, said Fatehabad had remained at the top in the state in the matter of cotton production due to excellent crops produced by local farmers. Munish Nagpal, SDM, Ratia said the government had started several schemes for the benefit of the farmers and they should get benefit of these schemes. Satish Jain, city magistrate, was also present. Agriculture expert Anil Mehta and experts of the animal husbandry, pisciculture and horticulture also addressed the farmers.
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Qawwals enthral Sirsa audience
Sirsa, October 16 Group Captain G.S. Bedi, station commander of the Indian Air Force station here, inaugurated the event. Director-general of JCD Vidyapeeth Kuldeep Singh Dhindsa, local philanthropist R.S. Sangwan and a number of prominent persons of the town were present. Chishti started the programme with old classical qawwalis and then shifted to the modern ones in the genre. The qawwali “Chhap Tilak Sab Chhini, Mo Se Naina Mila Ke” was the best applauded.
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Bahadurgarh set to get a facelift
Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), October 16 Under this plan, multi-coloured welcome gates would be erected on the main roads and connecting roads to the town would be widened and beautified. Besides, a community centre and a park in every sector of the town would be ensured. Commissioner of Rohtak range S.P. Gupta said, “Since Bahadurgarh comes under the national capital region (NCR), special plan has been chalked out to develop it on the pattern of Gurgaon and Faridabad so that it could get its own recognition.” said Gupta, who asked the executive engineers to expedite the work of widening the NH-10.
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Mini Zoo’s aging baboon finds companion
Chandigarh, October 16 The 16-year-old ageing baboon (named Baboon) has now found a new companion in Kavitha. This “nubiile young thing” (NYT) has been specially brought to Haryana from Srichamarajendra Zoological Garden, Mysore. Though the one year and four months old mammal has been kept in a separate cage, she will be united with the male baboon after another year and a half – after she attains maturity. Officials in the zoo informed that the former mate of the male baboon had died almost two years ago. “The male baboon had been lonely since then. The zoo staff could feel his loneliness as he would not eat properly at times and had also given up being mischievous. Very often, he would not even react when visitors came near his enclosure. Since baboon is a major attraction in the zoo after the tiger, we wanted to find him a companion, besides encouraging procreation,” said Rampal, in charge of the zoo. It was thus that the forest department approached the central zoo authority, requesting that a female baboon be sent to Pipli. After Kavitha was identified as a companion for the male baboon, it was decided to bring her here, in exchange for a red jungle fowl and chinkara – who were sent to the Mysore zoo. Zoo officials said they initially kept Kavitha in isolation for two weeks so that she could gain strength and recover from the long and ardous journey from Mysore to Pipli. “We have now kept her in an enclosure, adjacent to the Baboon’s enclosure. The idea is to acquaint the duo and make them friends. Their mating will be allowed only after one year and six months,” said
Rampal.
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To end social evils, NGO treads religious path
Karnal, October 16 “Religion is the most powerful tool to mould the mind of the masses in India where people are superstitious by nature and blindly follow whatever is preached by “godmen”. Feeling the pulse of the people, we also decided to use the medium of religion for social cause,” says Pritpal Singh Pannu, chairman of the organisation. Thousands of devotees assemble voluntarily at a single venue during religious congregations and if the message to eradicate social evils is blend into religious discourses in a subtle manner, it can do wonders, he adds. The organisation has chosen the occasion of tercentenary celebration of “Gurta Gaddi Divas” of Guru Granth Sahib to spread message of social reformation in a unique way by producing a light and sound drama on the teachings of Sikh Gurus. The drama will be produced with the cooperation of the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC), Amritsar, and other religious and business institutions and the audition for selection of artists would begin from October 14. Giving details about the project, Pannu who is also producer and writer of script of the drama, “Marg Suhela”, said Guru Granth Sahib considered as universal as it contained holy preaching of Hindu, Muslims as well as saints of the so-called lower castes. “Solution to all most all social problems of the present era are available in Guru Granth Sahib and NIFAA would create awareness in general masses about these solutions with the help of light and sound drama. Preaching on social issues like communalism, disrespect to elderly people by their children, drug addiction, female foeticide, dowry, cast system etc, NIFAA would also use documentary on screen as well as live presentation on stage to spread its message. It also plans to record the message of prominent personalities of all religions about universal brotherhood and Guru Granth Sahib’s role in world peace, communal harmony. These personalities include jathedars of all five Takhats, Swami Ramdev, archbishop of Christians, Moulana Wahidudin and Swami Agnivesh. The first show would be staged from October 30 to November 3 at Sachkhand Sri Hazoor Sahib, Nanded (Maharashtra), where about 4 to 5 million people are expected on the occasion of the tercentenary celebration. Later, the show would be staged in other parts of the country and abroad.
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A library in each village, Raghubir’s mission
Sonepat, October 16 Working on these lines for the past many years, Raghubir Singh has so far raised and donated three libraries in villages, including one in his native village Nahri. The other two libraries are at Nangal and Kheri Manajat in Sonepat district. “It is the need of the hour to promote the habit of reading among the youths in the villages so that they become acquainted with social values and teachings of literary personalities like Rabinder Nath Tagore, Bankim Chander Chatopadhaya and ideologies and contributions of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Subhash Chander Bose and others,” he says. In his opinion, the rural areas have remained neglected so far as the opening of libraries was concerned and for the want of these facilities, the rural youth did not have access to the literature that could play an important role in shaping their thinking and ideology. “Without inculcating the culture of reading of the healthy literature, views and opinions of great leaders, revolutionaries and social reformers, it is impossible to raise the mental horizon of the youth and strengthen their will power for noble cause.” “What to speak of the gram panchayats, even most of the village schools do not have the facility of a library. The knowledge of the teachings and selfless contributions of the national heroes help in character building that is key to nation building, social uplifting and success of the youths,” he remarked while talking to Haryana Plus in his small library at his residence here. This library is also being well equipped with the final aim to shifting it in one of the villages. Raghubir Singh has constituted a society named Mission Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh to work in close coordination with other
organisations.
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Courses for Muslim students
Chandigarh, October 16 The minimum qualification for the computer education course is 10+2 and for the beautician course matriculation. The annual income of the parents of the candidates applying for the course should not exceed Rs 1 lakh. The application should reach the chief executive officer, Wakf Board, 50, Sardar Patel Marg, Ambala Cantt by October 30. The board has also invited applications from private medical practitioners for empanelment. This is done for providing basic health facilities to the needy and the poor at the district, tehsil and block levels, particularly in Mewat, Palwal, Faridabad, Panipat and
Yamunanagar.
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Movies This Week
Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Kishan Kumar;
Director: Satish Kaushik Music: Himesh Reshammiya; Cast: Himesh Reshammiya, Urmila Matondkar, Shweta Kumar (introducing), Danny Denzongpa ‘Karzzzz’ a remake of 1980 Subhash Ghai’s hit film ‘Karz’ will be released today at Everest-Rewari, Suraj-Panchkula, Inder Palace-Karnal, Sheela-Rohtak, Nigar-Ambala Cantt, PVR-MGF, PVR Ambience, Adlabs, DT City Centre, DT Mega Mall, PVR Sahara, SRS (All Gurgaon), PVR Crown, SRS Sector 12, SRS Pristine, INOX, Cinemax, SRS Shubham, Movie Time City Mall, Movie Time Manthan (All Faridabad), Fun-Ambala City, Fun-Panipat, Sun City-Hisar. Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang
Producer: Elecom Fiesta Entertainment; Directors: R.D. Mallik, Shantanu Pal ‘Cheenti Cheenti Bang Bang’ animated movie which features voices of Ashish Vidyarthi, Mahesh Manjrekar Asrani, Anjan Srivastava and others will be released today at PVR-Gurgaon, PVR Ambience-Gurgaon, PVR Sahara-Gurgaon, PVR Corwn Plaza-Faridabad. Shoot on Sight
Producer: Arun Govil Production; Director: Jagmohan Mundra Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Gulshan Grover, Brian Cox, Laila Rouass Thriller ‘Shoot on Sight’, based on the July 7, 2005 bombings in London will be released today at PVR MGF, PVR Ambience, Adlabs (All Gurgaon), SRS Cinemas, SRS Pristine, INOX, PVR Crown Plaza (All Faridabad), Minerva Complex-Ambala Cantt.
— Dharam Pal
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