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‘Sarkari naukris’ back in favour
Known for their knack of keeping their ears close to the ground, Haryanvis have been quick to react to the recession by putting ample safeguards in place lest they lose their savings. According to leading bankers in Haryana, public sector banks have registered a rise of 25 per cent in their deposits. Most of these deposits have been shifted from private banks which had over the years stolen a march over nationalised banks in the retail banking sector because of better facilities. However, after the fall of the US financial market giant Lehman Brothers, rumours of a leading private bank going bust gained currency and Haryanvis withdrew their deposits and deposited them in public sector banks or post offices. A manager of a leading private bank here said on condition of anonymity that though there was no truth in the rumours, they found it hard to convince customers in Haryana not to shift their deposits. But the consumers chose safety of their money over remarkably better services. Similarly, the craze for a “sarkari naukri” is also back with renewed vigour. A senior Haryana minister said because of better job opportunities offered by the private sector, educated Haryanvi youth had over the years begun to prefer big companies. This had given ruling party politicians a big relief as they remained under pressure from their supporters for help in finding a government job. However, he said the relief proved short-lived. Now that many Haryanvis had received pink slips in the wake of recession, the “sarkari naukris” were again in great demand. He said he had cut the number of visits to his constituency because of the renewed pressure from supporters. The number of fresh graduates who flocked to coaching institutes to prepare for various competitive examinations for management courses has fallen sharply. Instead of management courses, traditional courses like engineering and even M.A. in several subjects are finding favour with the students as these offer a better chance of bagging a government job. The public sector insurance company, LIC, is also back in demand. Most investors had shifted to private insurance companies which offered higher returns on their policies. But as these were equity-linked, the losses to investors were huge. LIC’s policies are, therefore, in great demand. An LIC agent said business had picked up during the past three months. A school teacher whose two sons are facing tough times in their private sector jobs said he would ensure that his third son found a government job.
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Forest dept to promote self-help groups
Panipat, November 27 Aimed at lifting the economic status of poor women in the villages, the department has formed 47 self-help groups that are engaged in producing spices, wheat flour, stitching, making of jute bags and dairy farming. Under the scheme, the department forms rural forest societies comprising women and provides the groups with
the capital to start new enterprises. The women engaged in the scheme are able to generate employment for themselves and thus become capable of supporting their families. District forest officer Vasvi Tyagi stated that the scheme was proving to be a boon for the rural women. Jute bags made by these self-help groups were recently put on display during the Pinjore heritage festival where these were acclaimed by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and tourism minister Kiran Chaudhary. Recently, a delegation of foreign tourists from Japan also visited some of the self-help groups and appreciated the efforts being put in by the womenfolk, Tyagi said. She said the department was providing these self-help groups with all logistic support to promote their business. At present, the scheme had been implemented in Shimla Gujran, Jorasi Khas, Wazirpur Titana, Babel, Nagla and Chandoli villages. Efforts were being made to form more such groups in other villages. President of the Shimla Gujran village scheme Snehlata and secretary Punam stated that the government had provided the much-needed assistance to them to promote their business.
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Traffic chaos on NH-10
Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), November 27 According to the decision, which was taken at a meeting held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner Nitin Yadav, the anti-encroachment drive would be initiated soon and concluded within a couple of days. But before it, the administration has given a chance to shopkeepers and vendors for removing encroachments on their own. A specified space in front of the shops on both sides of the road would be earmarked for parking vehicles in order to ease congestion. Penalty would be imposed on those persons whose vehicles were found parked outside this zone. It may be mentioned that shopkeepers had encroached upon the National Highway causing frequent traffic jams. Despite repeated complaints lodged by residents, the local municipal council failed to take steps for removing the encroachments. And whenever the MC launched an anti-encroachment drive, it proved a merely eyewash. Due to this, many shopkeepers have covered 3-4 ft portion of the road making the movement of vehicles difficult. The situation is aggravated by scores of vendors who keep moving up and down on this road. This leads to
a Pawan Jain, a resident of the town, is of the view that if the administration removed the encroachments by taking stern action against those using the road for business purposes, there would be no necessity for the elevated road since the road, sans encroachments, would be wide enough to take care of any volume of traffic. Removing encroachments will surely provide respite to the public, he added.
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Flexing muscles in Delhi Assembly elections
Gurgaon, November 27 The ongoing canvassing for elections to the Delhi Assembly has given a chance to smalltime local leaders of Haryana to rub shoulders with senior functionaries of their respective political outfits. A number of these leaders from the district and other parts of the state have been visiting different constituencies of Delhi to seek votes for their party nominees (and impress their party bosses). Along with the presence of their senior leaders like Sonia Gandhi, L.K. Advani, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mayawati and Om Prakash Chautala, the lure of "fruitful" outings also attracts the local workers to join the election campaign. Given the abundance of money power in the NCR, the leaders are providing all facilities like luxury vehicles, comfortable stay arrangements and other goodies to take the party cadres to Delhi for showing their strength. The poll frenzy is on with the Congress and the BJP engaged in an aggressive verbal duel on FM radio and other sections of the media. The BJP has even launched its own radio station in Delhi during the run-up to the elections. "The party leadership has assigned specific responsibilities of members from different parts of Haryana to campaign in Delhi," reveals Kamal Yadav, president of the district unit of the BJP youth wing. Similar is the situation in the Haryana Congress, with especially the youth brigade cheerfully hopping on to the poll bandwagon. "We are in Delhi with our team, canvassing for our party candidates," informs Sunder Singh, president of the district wing of the Youth Congress. The scene is a bit different in the INLD camp, as the party has not fielded any candidate from Delhi. "Still, the party leaders are campaigning for the BJP nominees in their personal pockets of influence," says Dharambir Dagar, president of the Sohna unit of the INLD. According to political observers, the electoral performance, especially of the BJP and the BSP, in the Delhi Assembly is expected to have a bearing on their prospects in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in
Haryana.
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‘Green building’ to house rural institute in Gurgaon
Gurgaon, November 27 The “green building”, which is slated to be inaugurated by the Haryana Governor A.R.Kidwai on December 2, has a solar power generation unit, a water-harvesting mechanism to reuse rainwater and use it for groundwater recharge and is built in accordance with the zero-waste concept. Constructed according to the platinum rating of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards set by the US Green Building Council, the IRRAD building is among the very few in the country conforming to such standards and specifications. "The underlying idea behind housing IRRAD in a green building is to put forward a working model of an environment-friendly and sustainable building which can serve as an example for the other organisations," says Jay Sehgal, executive director, IRRAD. Architect Ashok Lall, who has designed the building, asserts that the project has a number of path-breaking firsts. "This is the first institutional building in Gurgaon that is designed to minimise carbon dioxide emissions, thanks to the natural material used. For instance, wood has been used in place of aluminum for doors and windows and the use of burnt brick is minimised. No imported stones have been used," he maintains. An interesting feature of the building is that it derives beauty from waste. The entrance lobby, boardroom and the central atrium use waste plywood wooden planks, broken tiles and glass to demonstrate how waste can be converted into a beautiful resource. The 35 KW solar photovoltaic installation on the roof meets 100 per cent of the building's basic electricity needs, including computers, lighting, fans, and mechanical ventilation directly from solar energy. The loose earth that came out from the basement has been used as compressed stabilised earth block in the masonry of the building, and in making its landscape garden slopes. As regards the institute, IRRAD envisions being a knowledge institute aimed at spreading knowledge, scale up operations of the organisation and serve as a learning platform for villagers, students and other organizations in the areas of capacity building and rural research and development. |
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Vocational training for poor students
Faridabad, November 27 Although the institute became functional last year, it has imparted job orientation training to about 400 students of the district. The institute runs 10 courses of duration ranging from three months to one year. Eligibility for diploma in Apparel Manufacturing Technology (AMT) is class XII. Some of the other courses include, diploma in fashion sampling/coordinator, production supervision and quality control, garment construction course, embroidery and surface ornamentation, apparel merchandising and machine mechanic course. According to the principal of the institute, Kavita Kadian, placements of the students passing out of the institute had been encouraging. However, the volume of the placements had taken a beating in the last few months on account of the global economic recession. There had been about 50 apparel export houses in the town and in normal conditions there was always demand for skilled personnel. Students passing out of the institute had found placements in the top most ranking export houses like Shalu, SPL, etc. According to Kadian, the ATDC had been set up in Faridabad keeping in view the growing demands of the apparel industry here. The idea for the ATDC had two objectives. First is to uplift weaker section of the society by providing them training in the field of garment manufacturing technology and second is to provide skilled manpower to the industry in order to improve the quality of product as per the international parameters. According to her, the hinterland had still been caught up in the traditional and conservative mould where male dominance theories were in vogue. The females still do not think of leaving homes for jobs. A striking feature of the institute was that it allows sponsored candidates to take the courses at subsidised fee structure. For example, the ATDC here had trained 60 students sponsored by the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) and about 15 by the Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (AADI) and 20 by the Haryana Backward Classes Financial Development Corporation (HBCFDC). It has been expected that the institute would soon become a bigger place for training activities once it shifts to its new campus, which would be set up in Faridabad. Presently, the institute functions at panchayat bhawan.
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Ambala city roads in bad shape
Ambala, November 27 The roads, including the wholesale Cloth Market Road, the Railway Road, the Sarafa Road, the Hospital Road, the Shukalkund Road, the Sabji Mandi Road and the local bus stand road, are full of potholes and ditches. If these are not repaired immediately, it would lead to traffic jams and accidents. All the main internal roads and even the narrow streets are made up of concrete. Not even a single road in the city is made of tarcoal. A former MLA of the city, Sumer Chand Bhatt, had introduced the concrete roads. Later, the municipal council decided to construct all roads on the same pattern. During the rainy season, the potholes get filled with water. The cloth market and a few other market associations have made several complaints,but the council has not taken note of these. The matter has also been reported to MLA Venod Sharma. Recently, the municipal council sent a proposal of Rs 3 crore to the urban development department for the repair of the roads. The local MLA has assured that he will clear the proposal. The executive officer of the council said as soon as the office got the grant, the repair of the roads would start. He said all the roads needed re-carpeting. More than 12 covers of the manholes in the city had been in miserable condition. Former MLA Jasbir Malor and senior BJP leader Sandeep Sachdeva said the municipal council had failed to provide even the basic amenities to the residents of the city.
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Disability no hurdle for this champion
Rohtak, November 27 He has become a national level figure in the field of swimming after he clinched a silver medal in the recently concluded 9th National Paralympic Swimming Championship held in Karnal. This was the second time that Dr Balhara has bagged a medal at the national level. He had won two bronze medals in two separate events of swimming championship held in Pune last year. Dr Balhara, who teaches psychology at local Government College for Women, started swimming as a hobby, but he said since he had mastered this art several years back, he was eager to show his talent at the state and national levels.
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Build character, minister tells students
Sirsa, November 27 Mange Ram Gupta, state minister for education and transport, was the chief guest while Jagdish Nehra, a former state minister, presided over. R.S. Sangwan, patron, and Parveen Baghla, president of the Sirsa Education Society that manages the college, were also present. Students presented a myriad of cultural activities, including songs and dances. Addressing the gathering, Gupta emphasised the significance of character and discipline among students. He said special emphasis was being laid on the education of girls in the state and it was due to this that girls had been outshining boys in all fields. "Women have been excelling in all fields like medicine, computers, army, air force, aviation and administration, thus becoming economically strong and independent, which is a positive sign,” the minister said. Gupta also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the college. Earlier, principal Vijaya Tomar welcomed the minister and informed him about the achievements of the college.
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Plea to Rahul on college, varsity elections
Kalka, November 27 The letter also says that after 1995,no elections to students’ organisations have been conducted in the state which is a democratic right of the students.The neighboring states like Himachal Pradesh , Chandigarh and Delhi have been annually holding such elections.
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Give priority to qualified faculty, KU told
Kurukshetra, November 27 The meeting served as a forum for sharing ideas between university officials and NAAC team members. Deans, chairpersons, directors, and senior functionaries of the university and all members of the NAAC team attended the meeting. Vice-chancellor R.P. Bajpai, in his presentation, sketched an overview of the growth registered by the university in the past five years. He listed a number of innovative courses introduced recently and the infrastructure raised to run them successfully. He also highlighted various efforts made to strengthen the financial position of the university. P.S. Zacharia, chairman of the NAAC team, presented excerpts from the report before finally submitting it to the vice-chancellor. The report detailed the strong points of the university, its gray areas and suggestions about new directions the university should chart out to sustain its growth momentum. Delineating the details along the seven-point NAAC criterion, Prof Zacharia lauded the strides made by the university in academics, research production and infrastructure set-up. He, however, suggested that some weak departments should harness their potential to keep pace with the strong departments. He also pointed out that consultancy was a weak area which the university needed to gear up by organising more extension activities so as to better able to discharge its social responsibility. “Though the phenomenal growth of infrastructure and the large intake of students being taken care of well, the recruitment of qualified teaching faculty and supporting staff should be given priority, Prof Zacharia suggested. He also underscored the importance of improving knowledge delivery mechanisms by adopting more innovative teaching methods. The chairman also emphasised on the need to take to e-governance and e-learning in a big way. Innovation, he argued, had no boundaries and the university needed to give it a priority in order to stay relevant in the fast growing and changing world. Though the university’s growth graph over the past five years was commendable, the suggestions of the NAAC team would lend momentum to its growth trajectory in the times to come, he concluded.
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Expert stresses on quality for growth
Yamunanagar, November 27 This was stated by Prof P.C Tewari of NIT, Kurukshetra, while addressing a seminar on total quality management at the Ganpati Institute of Technology and Management in Bilaspur here recently. He said India was no exception to it. The current state of Indian economy had made it necessary for the government to allow multinational companies, which would force Indian companies to compete at the international level, he added. “Total quality management is a concept of control of quality which has evolved over the past few years and has originated form Japan. Now, it is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. With the ever-increasing demand for improvement in product quality, the only way of meeting the challenge is to preserve what we have, and at the same time, develop what we must have,” he said. Prof Tewari said, “The evolution of this concept started with the realisation of the fact that inspection alone cannot build quality into a product unless quality has been designed and manufactured into it. Therefore, quality awareness must start with the conception of the product and continue during the various stages of its development and manufacture, even during its usage, so as to provide a feedback from the users, which is most essential for continuous quality improvement.”
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Bus stand at Kharkhoda
Sonepat, November 27 The construction of a bus stand had been the long-standing demand of around 100 villages of Sonepat and Rohtak as well as around 12 villages of southern Delhi, located on the Delhi-Sonepat border, just 15 km from here. As Kharkhoda is located on Sonepat-Rohtak highway and is just 18 km from Sonepat, 38 km from Rohtak, 22 km from Sampla, 26 km from Bahadurgarh and 15 km from the Delhi border, it is a central place for reaching different destinations. Moreover,vehicles carrying heavy goods have also started using the Sonepat- Kharkhoda- Sampla- Jhajjar- Rewari route to reach the Delhi- Jaipur national highway from the GT road in the state to avoid Delhi’s traffic congestion. The people of the area had been facing hardship for want of the bus stand, as there was no particular place for boarding the vehicles or for parking of the roadways buses at night. Without the provision of a bus stand, people used to face adverse weather conditions while waiting for buses. However, the situation has changed with the opening up of the new 3-bays bus stand, says general manager of the Sonepat roadways depot Kuldeep Singh Ahlawat. "About 46 roadways buses are plying on 124 routes, six buses of private cooperative societies make 48 trips, one bus of DTC makes six trips and one bus of CTU operates on two routes from Kharkhoda now," he said. Besides, providing services for the local routes in the villages, bus services to Delhi, Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Gohana and Bahadurgarh have been made available. "This bus stand will cater to around 106 adjoining villages and around 10,000 passengers will make use of this bus stand daily," he added. Land measuring 25 kanals and 4 marlas was acquired at a cost of Rs 27.95 lakh for the construction of the bus stand and it has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1.10 crore. All basic amenities like separate toilets for ladies and gents, waiting area, drinking water, lighting, fans, shops and a parking place has been provided.
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DHBVN to segregate rural load
Hisar, November 27 Aggarwal said he had asked the officers to complete the project of segregating rural domestic and agriculture load on a war-footing. He said, though the execution of the project has gained momentum lately but more thrust was required to be given to complete it earlier than scheduled. He revealed that the DHBVN had already commissioned 225 of the newly erected feeders of 11 KV level for the segregation. The nigam would erect 544 new 11 KV feeders to segregate rural domestic and agriculture load in its area comprising Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat and Faridabad. The number of existing feeders with mixed load stands at 879. He said the completion of the project would enable the nigam to give rural domestic consumers and agricultural consumers quality power supply during the fixed hours on the lines of urban mode supply. With the creation of this system, there would be three phased power supply for whole of the scheduled period and as such there would be no shortage of supply for drinking water purposes and for other activities. The MD also addressed a meeting of senior officers in this regard. Director (OP) M.L. Goyal, director (projects) D.S. Yadav, all chief general managers (OP) and general managers (OP) of the nigam attended the meeting. Aggarwal gave specific and time bound targets to the officers for completing the work early. DHBVN would install meters on all the distribution transformers with the latest communication facility. In the first instance, DT meters would be installed on the feeders showing higher line losses.
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A tribute to Sir Shadi Lal
Rewari, November 27 While erstwhile Punjab has produced many eminent jurists over the last century, only a few attained the stature of the late Sir Shadi Lal, the first Indian to become a permanent Chief Justice of any high court in the country. Although it has been 63 years since his death, this distinguished judge is still remembered for his scholarship and the concise clarity of judgments. He left a number of reforms in the legal system, but an even greater contribution was his impact on a whole generation of young lawyers. At a time, when Indians laboured under the burden of second-class citizenship, Sir Shadi Lal served as a model of achievement even under the daunting circumstances of colonial rule. Sir Shadi Lal was born on May 12, 1874, in a prosperous Aggarwal family of Rewari. His father, Lala Ram Prasad, died when he was four-year- old. He was then adopted by his uncle, Lala Ramji Das. The mansion known as “Chhaju Ram walon ki haveli”, where he spent his childhood, still stands in the town’s Mohalla Swamiwara. He was an outstanding student and received one scholarship after the other throughout his academic career. He meritoriously passed his matriculation examination in 1890 from Rewari and then did his intermediate course from Forman Christian College, Lahore. In 1894, he graduated from Government College, Lahore, and stood first in the province. The following year he did M.A. in Physics from the same institution. He passed with high distinction and was awarded the government of India scholarship for higher studies in England. At this time, he switched from science to law. He joined Oxford University’s Balliol College where he distinguished himself by topping in the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) examination. The BCL was Oxford’s highest law degree and Shadi Lal was the first Punjabi to acquire it. He returned to India and enrolled himself as an advocate of the Punjab chief court. From the very beginning of his career, he became a much sought after barrister. Only a few other lawyers could match his deep analytical powers, thorough preparation and convincing presentation of cases. A critic in his article in The Tribune while it was being published from Lahore compared him with Sir John Simon, a great English lawyer of those days. He was also actively involved in legal education. In 1900, he was appointed as reader in the law college at Lahore and the following year he became principal of the college. In 1904, he was inducted into the Punjab University syndicate. In 1909, Shadi Lal while defeating Sir Mohammad Sahfi and Sir Fazl-i-Hussain in a close contest was elected to the legislative council of Punjab from the university
constituency. In the council, he worked tirelessly to push through several important Bills. Due to his efforts, the civil and criminal powers of judicial officers were separated. In 1911, when the Punjab Municipal Bill was on the anvil, he single-handedly fought for the grant of local self-government. He advocated the appointment of district judges in place of divisional judges. His most outstanding achievement was getting the Punjab chief court raised to the status of a high court. The British government conceded this demand in 1919. Shadi Lal, at that time a Rai Bahadur, was elevated to the Bench in 1913. When the chief court was converted into a high court, its first Chief Justice was Sir Henry Rattigan, who died in December 1919. In May 1920, Shadi Lal became the second Chief Justice. He was knighted the next year. He made full use of his position as Chief Justice to introduce many reforms so much so that his 15 years in office went down in Punjab legal history as an “era of reforms”. He made the possession of a law degree essential for candidates seeking admission to the state’s judiciary. He instituted the yearly inspection of all subordinate courts by high court judges. While insisting on prompt disposal of civil cases in the subordinate courts, he evinced an abiding concern for the elimination of bribery, corruption and communalism from the judiciary. He himself had a reputation for scrupulous fairness and strict emphasis on merit in making appointments, promotions and transfers. The period from 1920 to 1930 was of great political awakening and turmoil. A number of highly sensitive cases came to the Lahore High Court at this time. Although, Sir Shadi Lal could not express his sympathies openly, he discreetly and astutely saw to it that none of the political cases went to “hard” or anti-Indian judges. He retired as Chief Justice in May 1934, and was immediately appointed a member of the judicial committee of the Privy Council in England that was then the highest court of appeal for Indian high courts. In 1938, he resigned from the judicial committee owing to poor health and returned to India and settled down in New Delhi. He started chamber practice in Delhi and did a few cases for princes. This, too, he had to discontinue because of his failing health. This great legal luminary died in March 1945, at the age of 71, but he continues to be remembered for his services to the judiciary.
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Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye!
Producer: Ronnie Screwala Special attraction: Movie has Paresh Rawal’s triple-role, Abhay Deol and Neetu Chandra’s performances and “Khosla Ka Ghosla” fame Dibakar Banerjee's direction. Sorry Bhai Producer:
Vashu Bhagani Special Attraction: An all-new way to present a romantic comedy with fantastic performances from lead stars plus Onir's direction. —
Dharam Pal
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Hisar, November 27
