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Karnal shoe industry gasps for breath
Karnal, November 24 A large number of traditional shoemakers have either left the trade or are being forced to work as skilled workers with big houses, exposing the claims of the government to open self-employment avenues. There are about 500 shoemaking units in Karnal that are carrying forward the century-old leather craft and providing employment to about 5,000 families. But this cottage industry has now become economically unsustainable. About 300 units have been closed down and the remaining units have become a victim of government apathy. The clusters of units are located on the Nansi Road, Sadar Bazaar, Novelty Road and Vakilpura. Karnal, once known for best manually stitched leather shoes, is today known as "Liberty city" and the glamour of synthetic shoes and brand names and the condition of the traditional shoemakers (cobblers) has become so pitiable that their women are working as domestic help for meagre wages of Rs 30 to 40 per day. The entry of Liberty Shoes did not affect the cobblers initially as they were being given work by the company but, gradually, it started opening its own units and local artisans started feeling the heat. But the worst came in 2000 with virtual flooding of markets with the Chinese raw material and multinational companies like Nike and Adidas, Reebock and Woodland also played spoilsport to marginal extent. Owner of a small unit Vijay Kumar said about 10,000 pairs were manufactured every day but the profits were going to wholesalers and dealers and the artisans were not even able to meet the cost. A pair of shoe cost between Rs 70 and 300 while dealers sold the same for Rs 130 to Rs 700, he added. The shoemakers rued lack of the wholesale market of raw material and marketing facilities for fetching remunerative prices and questioned the wisdom of the government to set up a footwear zone in Bahadurgarh instead of Karnal. Dwarka Prasad, owner of one such unit, said the situation had become alarming as there was no wholesale market for the purchase of raw material and sale of finished products and there was total dependence on Kanpur, Agra, Delhi and other places in Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, further adding to costs. The cost of labour had also gone up substantially and the tiny units were under tremendous pressure of "high cost of production and low returns". "There is no support from the government at all and several memorandums submitted to the government have fallen on deaf ears. Even the Khadi and Village Industry Baord is not advancing loans to small shoe making units and the industrial plots are denied to us and kept reserved for big Industrialists", said Ashok Kumar, who had to sell his unit as he became bankrupt in 2000 and is working as an employee in the same unit. Another desperate shoemaker who was worried about the future of the traditional vocation said their children were least interested in continuing with the family trade. “With poor hygienic conditions, our children have become prone to various diseases and the incidence of asthma and TB is on the rise”, he added. The government must set up a footwear zone in Karnal and provide all the basic facilities like availability of raw material, marketing of finished goods, financial assistance and technical support to give a boost to the dying industry, said president, Karnal Shoe Traders Association, Praveen Malhotra.
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Parents’ agonising wait for money
Karnal, November 24 His father, Pradeep Khurana, is a man of limited means and earns about Rs 5000 per month while the treatment is estimated to cost between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. Janu’s life hangs on blood transfusion every fortnight and the family has to go to the New Delhi Municipal Corporation for cheaper blood transfusion.In fact, blood transfusion is only a temporary treatment to prolong his life and he needs bone marrow transplant for durable relief. Pradeep got in touch with Christian Medical College, Vellore, for the treatment of his son last year and the doctor concerned, Dr Auro Viswabandya, fixed the operation for March, 2009. The day is fast approaching, but the family has not been able to arrange the money and waiting for some miracle to happen. The human leukocyte antigen (bone marrow) of his five- year- old brother Sanyam has matched with him, but the money is waiting between him and his life. Dr Auro Viswabandya said that bone marrow transplant was a must for Janu and the sooner it was done, the better it would be for the patient. Pradeep has been making frantic appeals for help and his efforts have yielded some results. After a story was carried by The Tribune in June this year, the Haryana Governor gave him Rs 3 lakh, the Prime Minister released Rs 2 Lakh from his relief fund, various NGOs and individuals contributed Rs 3 lakh and the Haryana Chief Minister gave Rs 30,000 to help Janu’s father. The local Vasudeva Charitable trust also contributed Rs 1.5 lakh, but inspite of this, Khurana needs at least Rs 5 lakh more for the treatment of his son. The cost of the treatment ranges between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 20 lakh, depending upon the age, weight and condition of the patient. In case of serious complications, the cost can go up to Rs 20 lakh. Khurana says that money is also required for going to Vellore and staying there for several days and unless the money is arranged, all his efforts to save the life of his son will be rendered futile. Khurana has appealed to people to send donations directly in favour of "The treasurer, Christian Medical College, Vellore",giving the patient’s name and CMC hospital no 255126-D.
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B.Ed admissions
Jhajjar, November 24 The colleges are not leaving any stone unturned in this last combat of filling the seats. Besides giving advertisements in newspapers, the managements of these colleges are also reaching out to aspirants personally either by telephone calls or visiting them in their houses. Talking to The Tribune, an aspirant, who did not appear in the entrance test for the B.Ed course, said he was surprised to see a staff member of a self-financing college of the city visiting his house to inform him about the court decision regarding admissions and convince him to take admission in his institution at a lower fee as compared to other institutions. This aspirant had contacted the college at that time when admissions were being made only on the basis of the entrance examination. Sources said some colleges had even offered incentives to their staff members for fetching admissions. As per the court order, affiliated colleges would be free to fill the vacant seats by admitting suitable and eligible candidates to the B.Ed course. The admissions would be made only on the basis of merit of the qualifying examination and the colleges have to conclude the admission process and submit a list of new admissions to the university concerned latest by December 5. However, the university concerned and the NCTE can initiate proceedings for the withdrawal of recognition in the event of the violation of the court orders. Due to the declining number of aspirants and mushrooming of B.Ed colleges, a significant number of seats had been lying vacant in several self-financing colleges. The situation was worse for those colleges that are located in the remote areas and devoid of conveyance facilities. Due to this, the association of self-financing educational colleges had moved a petition in the court seeking permission to fill vacant seats.
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State notifies underground pipelines Act
Chandigarh, November 24 As per the Act, whenever the state government feels that it is necessary to lay an underground pipeline to carry water or gas from one locality to another, the right of users in any land under which such pipeline is to be laid will be acquired by publishing a notification in the official gazette. Any person interested in the land may within 21 days from the date of the notification object to the laying of the underground pipeline. Every objection shall be made to the competent authority in writing and the authority shall give the objector an opportunity of being heard either in person or by a legal practitioner and may, after hearing all such objections and after making further inquiry, if any, as it deems necessary, either allow or reject the objections. Every order passed by the authority shall be final. If no objections have been made to the competent authority within the specified period or where the competent authority has passed the final order, the authority shall declare, by notification in the gazette, that the right of use in the land for laying underground pipelines may be acquired. Whoever willfully removes, displaces, damages or destroys any underground pipeline laid, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment not less than one year, but not exceeding three year. He shall also be liable to pay fine.
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LS elections
Hisar, November 24 The BSP’s nominee for the Hisar Lok Sabha poll, Ram Dayal Goyal, failed to attract even 200 persons to his first election- related show organised here recently. Likewise, in Faridabad, too, the party’s prospective candidate Chetan Sharma has been holding workers’ meetings, but the response there too is nothing to write home about. Reports from other districts, too, indicate that despite hectic activity by the party’s state leaders, the public response has been anything but encouraging. While unlike the BJP grassroots workers who are openly voicing their Opposition to a tie-up with the INLD, the BSP workers are expressing their views on the party’s refusal to go with Kuldeep Bishnoi’s new political outfit in private. They say the party cannot hope to benefit from its social engineering theory unless it allies with the HJC. BSP state leaders say barring a few pockets like Karnal, the party does not have an independent identity strong enough for it to win a few Lok Sabha seats in the state. However, if it ties up with a regional party like the HJC, it stands a good chance of opening its account in the state. They cite several reasons for this. Firstly, the HJC’s share of non-Jat vote bank, which mainly comprises the Punjabi migrants who settled in Haryana after Partition, can greatly compliment the BSP’s votebank of the Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. If the party joins hands with the HJC, together this vote share can pose a serious threat to the Congress on the one hand and the INLD-BJP combine on the other hand. The BSP, they say, does not have an organised cadre in the state as yet. As against this, the HJC has succeeded in establishing units at all important places. A tie-up between the BSP and the HJC can, therefore, provide the BSP an army of political workers for the crucial Lok Sabha poll. It is not that the BSP alone stands to benefit from this tie-up.The HJC’s main votebank comprises Punjabis who have been traditionally backing the BJP till a few years ago. In case the HJC ties up with the BSP, this votebank will be translated into votes for the combine. Otherwise, it can shift to the Congress or the INLD-BJP combine. In addition, there are thousands of BJP supporters who are opposed to the tie-up with the INLD. They can vote for the HJC-BSP combine to ensure that Chautala’s party loses as many seats as possible. But whether they will vote for the HJC or the BSP if the two parties contest the poll separately is not certain. BSP leaders say they are still trying to convince Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to agree to a tie-up with the HJC. However, knowing Mayawati’s nature they are not sure if she will heed their advice.
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HJC to hold rally on first anniversary
Chandigarh,November 24 The HJC was formally launched on December 2 at a rally held in Rohtak last year. At that time, Bishnoi and his father former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal were still in the Congress. The participation of Bhajan Lal and two other
MLAs, Dharam Pal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj, in the Rohtak rally became the ground for their disqualification as members of the Haryana Assembly. This led to byelections in three Assembly constituencies of the state, in which the HJC could retain only one seat, while the other two were won by the Congress. Sources in the party say the Bhiwani rally, named as “Vishwas rally”, will, in fact, mark the commencement of the campaign of the
HJC(BL) for the next Lok Sabha elections in the state. After this rally, the party is planning to organise such rallies in every parliamentary constituency. According to HJC spokesman Satpal
Kaushik, it will only be a parliamentary constituency-level rally, but all office-bearers of the party will participate in it. Since Bishnoi was the sitting MP from Bhiwani before he was disqualified from the Lok Sabha under the anti-defection law, the rally at Bhiwani assumes importance. The possibility of his contesting again from this constituency cannot be ruled out, though the demographic character of the constituency has undergone a sea change after the delimitation exercise. It is expected that Bishnoi may announce the name of his party’s candidate for the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency on December 2 in view of his earlier announcement that the candidates would be announced at such rallies when held in respective constituencies. Former
MLAs, Rao Narinder Singh and Shashi Parmar, are believed to be among the frontrunners for the HJC ticket from
Bhiwani. The HJC has already declared Rao Narbir Singh, former minister, as its candidate from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency. However, the sources say there is a thinking in the party that it should not announce its candidates before the other parties have opened their cards. In the highly caste-ridden politics of
Haryana, political parties have to strike a balance between various castes in the state so that the parties can secure the support of as many communities as possible. The parties have to also consider various caste permutations and combinations in particular constituencies, keeping in view the caste affiliations of the candidates announced by rival parties. Therefore, the HJC seems to have decided not to declare its candidates at present for strategic reasons.
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Cong leaders focus on CM’s image
Faridabad, November 24 According to poll observers, the way these leaders are going overboard in the favour of the Chief Minister is just part of the culture of the party. Political pundits are also of the view that as per past practice in any state where the Congress is in power, party workers swear by the Chief Minister and his personality looms over the entire
organisation. In Haryana, for instance, after the government increased the support price of sugar cane, the Farmers Progressive Front, headed by local Congress leader and leader of farmer wing of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee
(HPCC), Satbir Daggar, briefed the media going gaga over the state government and the Chief Minister. Several other Congress leaders, including spokesperson for the state Congress Khazan Singh and president of the Palwal unit of the party Harinder Pal Singh, also lauded the Chief Minister as the most popular leader of the farming community. These leaders and well-known members of farming community here have also gone in an overdrive citing several measures that the government has taken to improve the lot of farmers in the
state. Daggar stated that the high percentage increase in the support price of sugar should not be seen in isolation. The government had fixed high flat rate of agriculture land acquired by government agencies in the state, particularly in the national capital region (NCR), which had motivated the Centre to waive off farmers’ loan to the tune of Rs 70,000
crore, he claimed. The government had included paddy variety Pusa 1121 in the category of basmati, besides waiving off power dues of farmers to tune of Rs 1,600
crore, he added. He asserted that all these measures taken by the government would come in handy for the Congress in the coming parliamentary elections in the state.
Harinder Pal Singh said the focus of the present government was to improve the lot of the farmers and weaker sections of society.
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Sirsa declared first ‘nirmal’ block
Sirsa, November 24 Additional deputy commissioner, Sirsa, Yudhbir Singh Khayalia, was presented the Nirmal Gram Puraskar by Lok Sabha Speaker Som Nath Chatterjee at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, recently. Sirsa, it may be recalled, had emerged as the district with the highest number of villages, 54, in the country selected for the Puruskar. Of the 333 villages, 270 have been granted the status of Nirmal Gram. Haryana’s financial commissioner and principal secretary, development and the panchayat department, Haryana, Urvashi Gulati, while making a presentation on “Total Sanitation Campaign in the state” during the four-day third ‘South Asian Conference on Sanitation’ at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi, said a silent revolution had taken place in Haryana through the total sanitation campaign. The theme of the conference was “Sanitation for Dignity and Health”. The conference had a special significance as 2008 had been declared as International Year of Sanitation by the United Nations. About 1,200 delegates from eight SAARC countries, delegations from observer countries, various national and international experts, representatives from UN agencies and various bilateral developmental cooperation agencies, NGOs, civil society, state governments, R&D institutions and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) participated in the conference. Listing achievements of the sanitation programme, Gulati said out of the projected outlay of Rs 175 crore, the state government had spent Rs 98 crore on achieving 100 per cent school toilets, more than 86 per cent anganwari toilets, 72.29 per cent women sanitary complexes and 70.50 per cent individual household latrines. As many as 60 villages in nine districts were awarded with the Nirmal Gram Puraskar in 2006-07 and 798 villages of 18 districts in 2007-08, she added. Gulati said rural sanitation had raised from 28.66 per cent in 2001 to 70.56 per cent in 2008. The key strategy had been community mobilisation, awareness generation and emphasis on capacity building. Involvement of community secured through IEC and inter-active inter personal communication had led to scaling up of the campaign and increase in Puraskar panchayats. She said the total sanitation campaign was launched initially in two districts of Haryana, namely Karnal and Yamunanagar, in the year 2000-2001. Bhiwani and Gurgaon were included in the year 2001-2002, three more districts were added in the year 2002-03 and 12 districts were covered in the year 2003-04. Mewat district, which was carved out of Gurgaon, and Faridabad districts also sanctioned projects under the total sanitation campaign during the year 2006. She said by the year 2006, 20 districts of Haryana had already been covered. Stating that the Haryana government endeavoured to make the state “nirmal” by the year 2012, Gulati said for sustainable sanitation, system structures were being created and strengthened to transfer ownership of the programme to communities and
PRIs.
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Rs 350 cr to be spent on power augmentation in Sirsa
Hisar, November 24 A spokesman of the DHBVN said here today that under this the two Nigams planned to set up 15 new substations, including 400 kv substation at Nuianwali, 220 kv substation at Chormar, 132 kv substations at Khairkan, Mainakhera, Dudianwali and Khurangawali and 33 kv substations at Ahmadpur Road, Sirsa, Mirjapur, Panihari, Kuttabad Bansudhar, Mastangarh Dholpalia, Haripura, Khokhar and Pipli. The total number of substations in the district would increase from the present 42 to 57. Besides this, the capacity of seven substations of 33 KV would be augmented. These included 33 kv substations at Bhuratwala, Panjuwana, Rori, Sirsa (Industrial Area), Ellenabad, Bahudeen and Farwain. Nine substations of 33 kv had already been commissioned at Shahidanwali, Dhani Kahan Singh, Risalia Khera, Khuian Malkana, Mohmadpuria, Jodha, Badagudha, Kagdana and Jamal. He said the DHBVN planned to add about 2797 new electricity distribution transformers in the existing dense distribution network in the district out of which 685 distribution transformers would be set up by March next year. In addition, the DHBVN planned to augment capacity of 275 transformers by replacing existing old transformers with new transformers of higher capacity. During last over three years, the Nigam had added 7771 new transformers in the network and augmented capacity of 275 existing transformers. Under a plan to renovate and strengthen power distribution system, the DHBVN would also erect additional 565 kms of distribution lines. Work on erection of 1670 kilometres of new lines had already been completed during last over three years. It planned to rehabilitate 72 feeders of 11 kv level by dividing each feeder into two or three feeders of proper load and length. The spokesman said that to ensure regular power supply at improved voltage, the DHBVN would segregate domestic and agriculture load in rural area in the district. Under this plan, 111 feeders of 11kv level would be constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crore. Over 75 per cent work of this prestigious project has already been completed. The Nigam is creating high voltage distribution system
(HVDS) or aerial bunched cable based distribution systems in all villages and urban localities in the district to ensure safe and qualitative power supply.
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Kalka diesel shed gets another locomotive
Kalka, November 24 Informing this, R.K . Saxena , ADRM , Ambala division, said the shed was provided with a locomotive two months ago. The addition of one more engine would ensure smooth running of trains on the section,besides increasing their frequency. Official sources revealed that four locomotives were being made by the Barel Workshop, Mumbai. While two had already been given to the Kalka shed, the other two were expected here by the end of December. The new engines being manufactured by Commins Company had the latest design with double cabins on both sides and were equipped with both air breaks and pressure breaks.The double turbo system was a special feature. The total cost of one locomotive was about Rs 2.2 crore. For the past few years, the Kalka railway authorities had been sending proposals to the Northern Railways authorities, asking them for 10 locomotives to replace the obsolete ones. At present, there are 14 locomotives running on the Kalka –Shimla track . It is pertinent to mention here that during the peak season ,these locomotives usually develop snags, resulting in a great inconvenience to the passengers and tourists.
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Environment society to meet Hooda
Yamunanagar, November 24 The society took the decision here after finding that the high court had earlier passed an order acting on its PIL on September 11, 2006, directing the municipal councils or corporations to ensure that the trees planted within their respective areas were given protection and also looked after. However, neither the municipal councils and the corporations nor the forest department took the matter of the protection of the trees seriously, alleged the society. While talking about need of the implementation of the Act, the president of the society, S.L Saini, an environmentalist, and also a teacher, said without the implementation of the tree protection Act “we can not save the environment. The only way is that the state government should take it seriously and implement the law.Otherwise, we would approach the high court to ensure the trees’ protection”, he added. “The society, known for its essence of convincing the people not to cut the trees and motivating them for tree plantation, was set up by me 14 years ago. Since then, I have managed to set up a team of 10,000 volunteers all over the state for the tree plantation. Besides it, we have planted thousands of trees mostly in the district, Ambala and Panchkula voluntarily. Besides,every day it has been supplying various plants to the people on demand and after seeking an assurance that they would take care of these for at least five years”, Saini further said. Giving details, he said the idea of launching the campaign to protect the environment came during his one-year stay in Iraq in 1989 when he was teaching at Alanbar as part of a cultural exchange programme. He observed that despite less water availability in Iraq, the authorities there had maintained lakes and also developed beautiful garden around these. “I came back to India and it took me four years of field work to find out what to do to save the environment. In 1994, I started the NGO ”, he added. “My only dream is that the state government should implement tree protection Act. Now to develop a sense of care and belongingness among the children, we have launched a campaign of tree plantation on the birthdays. Now, efforts have started yielding results and we have been getting calls from people for the tree plantation in the name of their children. Besides,even people calling us on some special occasions when their family members come from other places and they want to plant the trees in their names,” he said.
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Roads cry for attention
Yamunanagar, November 24 Besides the locals demanding the carpeting of the roads, various parties ,too, have started raising the issue of the poor conditions.The worst roads include the Jagadari- Paonta Sahib stretch, the Jagadari- Bilaspur road, the Maharaja Agarsen Chowk to Khijrawad stretch,internal roads in Chhachhroli and Dadupur. The roads have also become accident- prone. At many places on the Jagadhri-Paonta Sahib highway, the road has been washed away.Thousands of commutes face a lot of inconvenience as many other roads are full of potholes. The national highway has been witnessing a heavy flow of traffic. Besides daily commuters, it is used by heavy vehicles,including trucks, which carry sand and earth from mining sites. and other goods. The internal roads in Chhachhroli and the roads linking it to Khijrabad and Dadu also have potholes. It takes one-and- a- half hour to cover the 25- km stretch from Aggarsen Chowk to Jagadari.The carpeting and maintenance of these roads has not been done for a number of years. Former BJP MLA Kanwarpal along with party workers submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner on November 19, highlighting the poor conditions of the roads.Besides, the district president of Haryana Janhit Congress Satpal Kaushik, too, has raised the issue of the bad shape of the roads and demanded their maintenance and carpeting on a priority basis.
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Research foundation to locate Brahmavart state
Rewari, November 24 Bhargava further said while delving deep into ancient Hindu scriptures and making frequent study tours to the Dhosi region, near Narnaul, they felt convinced that the region around the Dhosi hill, which was an abode of the celebrated Chayvan Rishi, the son of the legendary Bhrigu Rishi, in times of yore virtually constituted the Brahmavart state where pre-historic Vedic culture and civilisation flourished more than 8,500 years ago during Satyug or the ice age. Thus goaded by urgency, they recently constituted the BRF with the sole objective of exploring and identifying the actual Brahmavart state as it existed during Satyug, he added. While the mantle of chairmanship of the BRF fell on retired college principal L.N. Sharma , Swami Sharnananda, who is a Vedic scholar of the state, gave his concurrence to assume the patronage of the foundation. The ancient state has been described as “dev bhoomi”, the land created by the Gods themselves. It has also been delineated as an abode of Manu, Bhrigu and Chayvan as well as the fountainhead of the Vedas, the Manu Smriti and the Upanishads. Regarding the exact location of the state, Bhargava said couplet 17 in chapter 2 of the Manu Smriti mentioned that Brahmavart was situated on a spacious piece of land between the sacred Saraswati and Drsihadwati rivers. While the Saraswati, which flowed from the Himalayas to the Rann of Kutch during the Vedic period more than 8,500 years ago formed the western boundary of the state, its northern boundary was constituted by the Drishadwati. Similarly, an ancient work of Hindu religion, Shatpath Brahmana, described that the Drishadwati originated from the legendary Pushkar Lake, the holy vessel of Lord Brahma, flowed from Pushkar towards north and entered the plains near the present day Rajasthan-Haryana border. It then took a turn towards the west while meeting the Saraswati, which came from the north. This region of the confluence of the two great rivers formed the Brahmavart state, which was of paramount significance for the Hindus. Giving further details, Bhargava said couplet 19 in chapter 2 of the Manu Smriti clearly stated that during the Vedic Period, Kuru Pradesh, Matsya Desh, Panchal and Shoorsenak regions were the neighbouring states, which palpably implied that Brahmavart was never part of Kuru Pradesh. Bhargava deplored that a misplaced depiction of the ancient state by certain modern researchers in the middle of the old Kuru Pradesh, in the vicinity of the present day Kurukshetra region, was doing a tremendous harm to the efforts being made to explore and develop remains of the Vedic Period culture and civilisation as well as the Hindu heritage sites of the age. Asserting that Hindu temples and important religious set-ups were persistently destroyed by Mughal invaders, he said the Britishers, too, took away manuscripts from important Hindu sites during their occupation of India which led to the deprivation of authentic records as well as destabilisation of the Hindu religious institutions. Bhargava went on to say that in 1871, the then British historian, Sir Alexander Cunnigham, who lacked proficiency in mastery over Sanskrit literature, made an erroneous alignment of the Drishadwati river while identifying it with the Rakshi river, which passed through the middle of Kuru Pradesh and not its south , which happened to be the present- day border between south Haryana and the northern region of Rajasthan. He deplored that such an inaccurate depiction of the Drishadwati led to specious inferences on the basis of which the Brahmavart state was now being shown in the middle of the old Kuru Pradesh by modern researchers. He asserted that it was from the that the Vedic people migrated to remote places in the Indian subcontinent as well as Central Asia after the Saraswati dried up while the Drishadwati changed its course, taking with them the culture as well as the Sanskrit language to those places. He said it was essential that the state and the central governments should take concrete steps to settle the controversy as well as explore and develop the ancient Hindu heritage sites in the real Brahmavart state in south Haryana and the adjoining Rajasthan areas, which were the fountainhead of the Vedic Civilisation and the birthplace of the Sanatan Hindu religion.
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Underprivileged kids showcase talent at fest
Gurgaon, November 24 The festival showcased the theatrical and other talents of the beneficiaries of various projects of Literacy India before an audience comprising representatives of the corporate world, the organisation's donor base and theatre lovers. The festival, which included a series of dance performances, streetplays, an animated film and a drama, was appreciated by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Deepti Umashankar and other dignitaries from different walks of life. The children held the massive audience spellbound with their impressive performance. "Literacy India under its project "Shiksharth " has been using the Theatre in Education concept to educate children through various art forms such as painting, pottery, theatre, photography, dance etc. We believe theatre is an important expression of the talent of our children and these cultural modes help them find ways of creative expression, which are normally not part of the everyday education process. It also brings them together with the mainstream society using an art form as the dialogue," says Capt Indraani Singh, founder and secretary of Literacy India. Sansani-fame Shrivardhan Trivedi, who is a pass-out of the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD), has been grooming the children of Literacy India Vidyapeeth at Bajghera village in the district. This programme has also received support from Dell India and Teleperformance. Literacy India, which started its journey in 1996 with a vision to develop a platform for the underprivileged children to achieve a variety of skills in performing arts, science, technology and vocation, giving the children basic human values, dignity of labour, self-belief and dreams, has won many accolades. Their vocational training project "Karigai" has found a mention in the Limca Book of Records. Literacy India has touched the lives of nearly 10,000 beneficiaries through various programmes across seven villages in and around
Gurgaon.
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Villagers reward
outstanding sportspersons
Sonepat, November 24 Recently, this was seen when the sportspersons from the district, who bagged medals in different events in the recently concluded Haryana Sports Festival at Rai in Sonepat, were given a warm welcome and even cash incentives by the residents of their villages. As Sonepat bagged the first position in the four-day Haryana Games-2008, the medallists from the district were given a warm reception by the residents of their villages. Wrestler Hitesh and lawn tennis silver medallist Victoria were taken to their native Mahmoodpur village in an open jeep from Gohana. The gold medal winner Hitesh was given a cash award of Rs 41,000 and Victoria was awarded with Rs 21,000. Gumar village resident Anju, who bagged three gold medals, and her sister, Ashwani, who won a gold in relay in these games, were given a warm reception and cash awards by the villagers at a function. The sports lovers of 14 villages honoured boxer Sandeep Rathi of Rajpur village, who won the gold medal in these games, by organising a reception in the village. He was assured of all help from the villagers to fulfil his ambition of bringing gold in the national and international events. Interestingly, Sandeep was had been preparing himself for wrestling since his childhood,but, after the death of his international boxer brother, Pankaj, he switched over to boxing. Satinder
Dhankhar, who won the gold medal in Greco Roman wrestling in the 74 kg category in the games, was given a cash award of Rs 51,000, when he won the silver medal in the seventh Asia Wrestling Championship held in Uzbekistan from July 24 to 27.
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