Ambala, February 26
Every day six persons die on railway tracks in the state and the number is only increasing. This year alone, 125 persons have so far lost their lives on railway tracks. As many as 10,566 persons have died in the past eight years.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) is facing difficulty in the identification of those who have died. With the bodies of those who die on the tracks mutilate beyond recognition, it is a daunting task for the GRP to first collect the pieces of the body and then piece together the mystery of his death and identity.

With little facilities, the GRP is left groping with makeshift arrangements. On an average, a GRP employee handles 800 bodies in the span of a 30-year career, states SP (Railways) Bharti Arora.

She has now started a campaign called “Pehchaan” to help identify the unclaimed bodies since 2002. As many as 3,380 bodies have yet to be identified since 2002.

Initiatives to identify them have taken officials to as far as Bihar, but without much success. “It was the first such initiative as most of the labour class comes from there. We could identify a few,” Bharti said.

The lack of proper dead house with an AC facility, dedicated doctors and basic facilities of collecting the bodies and delayed information about the accident are affecting the process of identification.

“We have written to the DRMs to tell the drivers to inform us at the time of the accident. We have even decided to reward them Rs 500 for early information,” she informed.

“The next step of collecting the bodies is also being streamlined. Proper stretchers have been provided for and we have also written to the director health many times to provide us with AC dead houses. At present, we have to keep the bodies in makeshift places”.

An ambulance is also in the pipeline to transport the bodies. At present, the GRP uses rickshaws, the SP added.

But strangely enough, despite attempts to make the process smooth, nothing much is being done to stop deaths on railway tracks.

On an average, more than 1,200 persons die every year. Last year, the number of dead was 1,750, the highest since 2002. Senior officials attribute this rising number of incidents to the careless attitude of policy makers and also of those who chose the railway tracks as their grave.

Hisar, February 26
Even though the Lok Sabha elections are approaching, opposition parties in Haryana are hard pressed to find issues to corner the Congress government.

The Om Parkash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal, which is also the main opposition party in the state, saw Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda take the wind out of its sails by announcing sops for 12 different categories last week. The sops announced by Hooda took the party by surprise. All along the INLD had been promising to give similar sops if it returned to power in 2010 Assembly polls.

Left with no issue to browbeat the Congress, the Chautala camp is now projecting Hooda as anti-Dalit by describing the government move to eulogise his father, late Ranbir Singh Hooda, a member of the Constituent Assembly who died recently, as a bid to belittle the contribution of late Baba Saheb Ambedkar towards framing of the Constitution.

Chautala has described the government plans to build a memorial to Hooda’s father near Rohtak as politically motivated and a drain on the state exchequer. He recently stated that government funds should not be used for building a memorial.

While it remains to be seen how successful will Chautala’s move to target Hooda as anti-Dalit be eventually, it has not gone down well with Jats in Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat districts, who perceive the elder Hooda as a respectable leader.

The Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) suffers from the same predicament. Many of the sops announced by the government last week were on the political agenda of the Bishnois who now feel robbed of their ideas.

No wonder, both the Chautala and Bishnoi camps were quick to comment that the Congress government had announced these sops under pressure from their respective political campaigns.

The Bharatiya Janata Party which is once again in the company of Chautala after a bitter divorce before the 2005 Assembly polls has no important issue on hand. It is, therefore, harping on problems like inflation and terrorism which howsoever important nationally do not make much of a difference at the state level.

Other parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party likewise do not have a Haryana-specific agenda as yet. Neither does it have a significant presence in the state though it could make a difference if it allied with a state-level political outfit.

Though all parties have been harping on corruption as an issue, the Hooda government has not found itself embroiled in any corruption-related scandal as yet. Every political opponent of Hooda has been raising the bogey of pay offs in issuing change of land use permissions, none of them have publicly offered specific case or evidence.

Under the circumstances, the opposition parties are hoping that the anti-incumbency factor may turn the tables in their favour in the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections due in early 2010.

Kalka, February 26
Despite tall claims by the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation (HICA) that the Civil Aviation Club, Pinjore, would be developed as a hub for adventurous activities like gliding, parasailing and power flying, the club remains in bad shape.

The club which used to provide commercial pilot training, besides being a centre of attraction for tourists, is now deserted as all activities have been stopped.

Official sources say the post of chief flying instructor has been vacant for the past two years and since then there has been no activity.

The sources say the club had started gliding in 1980 and power flying in 1983. Before 2004, with three pilots and one chief engineer, the club had been imparting commercial pilot training for which it charged Rs 2-3 lakh from students of Haryana domicile and Rs 7-8 lakh from outside students for 250-hour training.

The club stopped joy rides 2002, which were the main attraction for tourists, besides being a source of income for the club. And after February 2008, adventurous sports like paragliding and parasailing were also stopped, which were the special attraction for school boys and girls since long, as the department of sports and youth welfare had been imparting training of adventurous activities to students.

HICA took over three aviation clubs of the state i.e. Karnal, Hisar and Pinjore, in 1999. The sources allege biased attitude of HICA so far as the Pinjore club is concerned.

At present, the club has one glider and one aircraft, as five other aircraft (three Pushpak, one Swati and one Piper Chironi) with old techniques are lying idle. Karnal and Hisar clubs, however, have three modern aircraft.

The Pinjore club has 16 staff members, including two gliding instructors and one engineer, who are getting salary according to the fourth pay commission with no accommodation facility. The sources say since its commencement in 1980, the club has been receiving the same amount of grant.

Kurukshetra, February 26
The reservation for all political and public offices should be on the economic basis and not on the basis of caste.

A resolution to this effect was unanimously passed in a two-day Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha (ABKM), national executive meeting held under the chairmanship of its national president and the former Union Minister, Raja Digvrjay Singh Wankaner, and concluded at the premises of Maharana Pratap Bhawan here recently.

Stating this, the ABKM national vice-president and Haryana state president, Mohinder Singh Tanwar said the ABKM also resolved to start a nationwide moment in consultation with other concerned castes and persons while a memorandum to this effect would be submitted to the President of India through the head office of the commissioner in all the states.

Tanwar said in another unanimously passed resolution, it was decided that women hostels would be constructed at the district level in every state while a national level rally would be organised at the premises of the Red Fort in Delhi in near future.

Former MP (UP) Swami Sureshanand, national working president (Delhi) PS Rana, president (Bihar) Thakur Devender Singh, president (MP) Vijay Singh Parihar, president (Punjab) Thakur Rajbir Singh, president (UP) Dinesh Singh, general-secretary (Maharashtra) Prem Pal Pundeer, president (Andhra Pradesh) JP Singh, president (Jharkhand) Thakur Birender Singh and president (Rajasthan) Dulha Singh also participated in the meeting.

Sirsa, February 26
The district library will soon have new books. The authorities have decided to increase the volume of books to inspire the youth of the area with the lives of great personalities and instill the spirit of patriotism into them.

Deputy commissioner SK Goyal said efforts would be made to attract the interest of youth towards books and inculcate reading habits in them.

Similarly, books on career building and other important topics would also be purchased at a cost of Rs 30,000 for the Yuvak Sahitya Sadan Library. The books would be purchased as per the liking of the readers.

Goyal said a district-level programme was organised for giving impetus to education by honouring meritorious students, who were given books valued over Rs 40,000.

Students securing first position in the district in classes X and XII of the Central Board of School Education and the Haryana Board of School Education were given books worth Rs 1,000 each.

Students securing second position in the district were given books worth Rs 750 each and the students securing third and fourth position were given books worth Rs 625 and Rs 500, respectively.

Kurukshetra, February 26
Expressing resentment over the pay scales given to headmasters of high schools in the state, president of the Haryana Government High School Headmasters and BEOs Association Mohinder Singh Chauhan has demanded pay scale of pay bands-3 and grade pay of Rs 6,600 as per the Sixth Pay Commission.

Chauhan demanded that the same scale, which was given to their counterparts (vice-principals) in the centre, should be given to them because the issue of pay scales to various teaching administrative posts of the school education department was not about money but about status in the hierarchy and superiority.

Chauhan claimed that the post of headmaster could not be gained overnight as it required 25-30 years of service. Headmasters had to discharge multiple duties i.e. supervisory, instructional and administrative, while school lecturers and masters had been assigned only teaching duty.

Besides, in the hierarchy of the school education department, a headmaster always remained higher than school lecturer and master.

Moreover, both headmaster and vice-principal had always enjoyed superiority in status and pay scales over other teaching personnel and in all Indian schools one got this post near superannuation, he added.

District president of the association Virender Walia said this post had remained a key post in the education department, but while fixing pay scales, the government had kept a negligible difference between officers and their subordinates.

Rohtak, February 26
The resentment over the implementation of the sixth pay panel report for the government staff in the state still continues. The association of the public prosecutors has now raised its concern over the alleged pay disparity and the discrimination meted out to them.

The organisation known as the “Haryana Attorney Welfare Association” (HAWA) in its memorandum to the Chief Minister has claimed that the post of the Assistant District Attorney (ADA) deserved the basic pay scale of Rs 8,500-13,500, as it had been in the category, that included the posts like the medical officer, veterinary surgeon, subdivisional engineer, ETO, tehsildar and DSP of the Haryana police.

According to a spokesperson of the association, all these posts have been getting Rs 2,000-3,500 since 1st May 1990. But he claimed that the latest pay revision has discriminated against the public prosecutors, who have been left behind with no ground of justification.

It is stated that while all other equivalent categories have been placed in the pay scale of Rs 8,000- 13,500, the ADA has been given the scale of Rs 6,500-10,500 that is just equal to the pay of a JBT teacher.

According to secretary of the HAWA Sajjan Kumar Khanagwal, the public prosecutors, including the ADAs, DDAs and the district attorneys, have been heavily overburdened with work.

They have been important arm of government legal machinery, but their interests in the matter of revision of remuneration has been overlooked and ignored. This has caused a heavy resentment among the members.

He said the association held a meeting here recently and resolved to take up the matter with the higher authorities for the redressal of the grievance.

He said the members of the body have decided to start protests and take to legal course of action if their grievances were not addressed soon, as it had been highly discriminatory and unfavourable treatment to them.

In another development, the superintendents of the state government departments have also asked removal of the alleged anomalies in their new pay scales.

They have also submitted a representation to the state government in this regard.

Kaithal, February 26
The Congress party launched its election campaign for the coming Lok Sabha polls when campaign committee chairman and senior Congress leader Vinod Sharma addressed series of party workers meetings in the district recently.

Sharma, accompanied by Congress leaders and MLAs, addressed three such meetings at Guhla, Kaithal and Kalayat.

Addressing party workers, Vinod said the Congress would fight the Lok Sabha polls on the issue of development and good governance. He said the country had seen unparalleled development during the last five years of the Congress rule at Centre. The able leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had helped the country in facing the unprecedented recession.

He said our country had attained very respectable position in the international community due to able leadership. The government took some historic decisions like waiver of farm loans to the tune of Rs 70,000 crore.

Rewari, February 26
The inordinate delay in the clearance of long-pending claims of freight subsidy by the state Directorate of Industries has been causing hardship to exporters in Haryana.

The Freight Subsidy Scheme, which was introduced by the state government to facilitate exporters to defray the cost of transport from the place of manufacture to the port of export to enhance their competitiveness with exporters of states having proximity to sea ports, remained in force in Haryana for the period 2005-06, 2006-07 and the first six months of 2007-08.

DK Jain, vice-president of the Rewari Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), told The Tribune here that as per the scheme, claims for freight subsidy, after they were duly appraised by the General Manager of the respective District Industries Centre, were submitted by various exporters of the state to the office of the Director of Industries, Haryana, Chandigarh.

He said over 200 such claims for freight subsidy to the tune of Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore had been pending for payment for a pretty long time to the dismay of the exporters.

He said while cases of 2005-06 and 2006-07 were pending for payment, the claims for 2007-08 had not even been verified as yet by the authorities concerned.

Taking about the importance of freight subsidy for exporters of the state, who were now facing a tough situation in competing with the exporters of states lying nearer to sea ports of Mumbai, Kandla and Chennai, he said owing to the non-clearance of long-pending claims of freight subsidy, the very purpose of providing effectual stimulus to the exporters of the state had been defeated.

Besides, the discontinuance of the scheme too was proving detrimental to the export growth in the state under such circumstances.

He urged the state government to expeditiously clear all pending claims and release freight subsidy as well as reintroduce the Freight Subsidy Scheme.

Gurgaon, February 26
In order to plan a strategy to combat the adverse effects of the global economic meltdown faced by the export sector, the Haryana state council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a workshop on “Simple ways to reduce transaction cost in imports and exports at CII conference hall here recently.

The deputy secretary-general, Apparel Export Promotion Council, Vijay Mathur, pointed out that though India’s economy was not export-oriented like China, but still we have faced more than 5 million job cuts in the apparel sector alone. Citing the report of a survey conducted by the Asian Development Bank, which reveals that 44 countries in and around Asia have been deeply affected by the slowdown. Mathur maintained that the companies should use their resources judiciously in these trying times.

Head (global business), Advance Surfactants, Firoze Zia Hussian made a presentation on “Achieving double-digit growth rate despite the recession”. He briefed the participants on different leadership strategies, including monopod, duopod, tripod and quadripod, and added that tripod was the best leadership strategy relevant in the present era.

Speaking on the factors inviting transaction costs in imports and exports, the deputy director-general, Federation of Indian Export Organisation, Ashok Kumar, gave a reference from the EXIM bank 2004 survey, where percentage of transaction cost came down remarkably.

“However, in view of the global slowdown, there is a need to reduce the transaction costs further,” he asserted. In his presentation on “Choosing the right transportation and logistics solutions”, senior lead consultant, Transcare Logistics India, Jaffrey Thomas explained the different constituents of logistics and their respective contribution in reducing transaction cost in exports. Bal Mukund from the export credit guarantee corporation explained the various insurance cover schemes offered by the corporation and the steps that have to be taken by the companies to tackle that. Session chairman Rajeev Sabharwal thanked the speakers.

Faridabad, February 26
Contrary to the general perception, the industries here are unaffected by the worldwide economic recession.

The Faridabad Industry Association (FIA) expressed the view that the industries here have been robust and the government must take measures to give further boost to it, as the city has great potential for further industrialisation.

President of FIA SK Jain along with the office-bearers of his organisation said the reason for the industries remaining unaffected by the global recession has been that the sensitive sectors like the real estate and textile have virtually no presence here.

The FIA suggested that the government should help in setting up of a mother unit plant in Faridabad, as large numbers of auto-manufacturing units have been operating from here. It cited the case of the Maruti Udyog plant in Gurgaon that proved to be the single largest factor in giving a push to the industrialisation here.

According to it, power front was the most ticklish issue for the industry in Faridabad.

The rate of power tariff for the industry in the state has been the highest in north India.

It took the opportunity to urge the state government not to increase the ratio of tariff for the industry sector to subsidise the supply to the agriculture sector.

The apprehension of the industry is that the government may increase the tariff as part of its political economy to keep the agriculture sector in good humour, especially during the election year.

Fatehabad, February 26
The prize distribution function of the local Manohar Memorial Post Graduate College for the academic sessions 2006-07 and 2008-09 was organised in the college recently. 350 students of the college received prizes for their academic excellence and role in co-curricular activities.

Finance Minister, Haryana, Birender Singh announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh to the college from his discretionary funds and also gave a cash prize of Rs 5,100 to a former student of the college and now, a noted singer of the state, Rajnish Sharma.

The minister also honoured college lecturers Seema Sharma, Meenakshi Kohli, Robin Anand and Ram Gopal for completing their PhD degrees while in service of the college during the last three sessions. The roll of honour was conferred on Simran, while college colours were given to Girish, Dipesh, Vijender, Sarika and Rupesh.

Speaking on this occasion, Birender Singh emphasised the need of girl education in today’s world and said the girls were not only rubbing shoulders with men in every walk of life but are also surpassing them.

Principal Kaushik read out the report of the college. President Dev Raj Batra, vice president Vinod Batra and secretary of the Manohar Memorial Education Society Vinod Mehta, principal DK Kaushik and director of the college Subhash Sharma were also present on the occasion.

Rohtak, February 26
The move of the police to legalise its age-old mukhbir (informer) system to check crime seems not to be free from certain gaping loopholes. It could result in a major headache for the authorities on the law and order front if the scheme is launched without taking into consideration the fallouts in case of improper implementation.

The police administration has sought applications from residents for formal appointment as warden. The department has announced to issue an identity card to such persons and has declared to give cash rewards and commendation certificate for excellent work. But this proposal has attracted caution and criticism from experts and observers, who feel that it could boomerang if no measures were ensured to plug the loopholes.

Social activist and mediaperson Pawan Bansal said the government should take into consideration all pros and cons of the scheme as the appointment of wrong persons could damage the already tainted image of the department.

The move is apparently aimed at curtailing crime and police officials claim that it is in the interest of the department and society due to public participation.

According to TS Tomar, a retired teacher, an informer could not be identified or made public as in that case such a person may not be able to work properly. He said there was every chance of the misuse of the authority or the police card issued to the informers and this could lead to more trouble in containing crime.

He said there was also the chance of political interference and pressure in the matter of appointment of wardens.

A retired Haryana Police Service official, Maan Singh Sehrawat, welcomed the move, but expressed apprehensions in its implementation. “The concept of mukhbir or informer is very old, but instead of helping the police as a whole, these persons developed intimacy with individual officials and become source of a particular official”. He stated that usually these informers started taking undue advantage of their proximity with the police and used to blackmail general public.

“The police must ensure that these persons don't start behaving as brokers between cops and parties”.

According to SP Alok Mittal, these wardens would be appointed in every locality and area in the district for better coordination between the police and public. “Besides keeping an eye on unscrupulous elements, we will also seek the help of these wardens for holding social, cultural, religious functions and even streamlining the traffic.”

“The department has invited applications from aspiring wardens who could be senior citizens, social activists, working men/women, traders, professionals, students etc. The police would issue an identity card to the person on the appointment and his/her name would be kept secret if the person wishes so”.

Inspector General of Police, Rohtak range, V Kamraja, however, stated that he would prefer to give the nomenclature “friends of police” to them. The issue of implementation of the scheme would be discussed in detail. This concept will definitely increase the efficiency of the police and help in checking crime, he claimed.

Sirsa, February 26
Dr Nagendra, vice-chancellor of Swami Vivekanand Yoga Anusandhan Sansthan, Bangalore, a deemed university, has said people should make yoga a way of life to remain healthy.

Dr Nagendra was here to deliver a talk on the “self management of excessive tension” at the local Rashoba College of Education.

He said yoga was not only a process by which diseases and disorders were rectified but also a way to move from normal health to positive health and then to perfect health.

“Yoga is usually considered to be only preventive but researches have shown that it has worked in healing chronic ailments. Yoga is a supplement to the modern medical science drugs and helps in tapering off the drugs,” Dr Nagendra maintained.

He said very simple yoga practices were used for curing chronic diseases.

Kumud Bansal, president of Shobha Devi Ramanand Bansal Foundation, which runs the Rashoba College of Education, informed that Dr Nagendra had written and co-authored about 35 books on yoga and nearly 40 research papers in engineering and 60 in yoga.

“He joined Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, as an honorary director of training in 1975. He spent almost 10 years in developing yoga and yoga therapy programs for the modern youth,” Bansal added.

Ambala, February 26
The Oscar award to “Smile Pinki”, a documentary film on the life of a “hotkatani” (tom lip) girl of an Indian village, has refreshed the memory of a social initiative in which around 24 cleft-lipped poor children of Haryana got their smile back.

The children were operated upon free of cost due to the initiative of an IPS officer, Rajbir Deswal, during his stay in Ambala as the Superintendent of Police a few years ago. Deswal is now posted as DIG (CID) in Panchkula.

Deswal and his wife had taken up the social project. He had informed all nursing homes of the district and other residents while releasing a poster containing the photographs of a few cleft-lipped children to contact him for free surgery of such children. He had also directed his subordinates to inform him if they find any cleft-lipped child whose family was unable to go for plastic surgery due to poor financial condition.

In the first phase, around six such children got their smiles back after being operated. Ambala police officials took the children to the Christian Medical Centre (CMC) in Ludhiana where the poor children were operated upon. Deswal arranged the finance needed for this social campaign. The campaign continued till Deswal was in Ambala.

Vice-president of Indian Medical Association DS Jaspal and local advocate Ajay Jain, who are also associated with such social projects, said the producer and director of “Smile Pinki”, Megan Mylan, had showed the pain of cleft-lipped children on screen, but people like Deswal had practically experienced it.

Hisar, February 26
A two-day All-India Agricultural Universities Librarians Workshop held at Haryana Agricultural University here reviewed the work initiated at agricultural universities for digitisation of libraries and digital preservation and conservation of all Indian agricultural doctoral dissertations.

Work on the digitisation of libraries and doctoral dissertations is in progress at this university under the Krishi Prabha Project allotted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research under its World Bank-funded National Agricultural Innovation Project.

In his inaugural address, Vice-Chancellor J.C. Katyal said in the current age of information technology as also the prevailing Right to Information(RTI) Act, knowledge management had come up as a new concept. He said that knowledge management was not confined to any specific sector, but it applied to all kinds of academic, professional and other organisations.

To make digitisation more relevant, useful and timely, agricultural universities must take responsibility for the university management system as a whole. To help the information seekers get desired information in real time, Katyal suggested that digitised information should be accurate, sustainable and secured against hackers.

He said once the digitisation work was completed, the duplication of researches and violation of quality would be completely rooted out.

In his presidential address, Dr N.T. Yaduraju said India had come up as a super power in information technology globally but application of knowledge in discharge of routine or even occasional work locally had been left untouched so far. The Krish Prabha Project would go a long way in strengthening and upgrading the State Agricultural Universities Information System, he added.

Yaduraju said that under its Central Data Centre, all 270 agricultural institutes of India had been provided internet connectivity. Likewise, E-courses like B. Sc in home science, agriculture and fisheries were being developed to standardise and upgrade teaching. He appreciated the digitisation work in progress at Nehru Library of the HAU.

On this occasion, Katyal released a copy of the Indian Journal of Agricultural Library and Information Services. Earlier, HAU librarian Prem Singh gave a presentation on the changes at Nehru Library under the ongoing work on digitisation.