Chandigarh, August 31
After giving “enough time” to Haryana government to ponder over their demands, forest officers in the state are again on the warpath because of the “discrimination” against them in the fixation of their pay scales under the Sixth Pay Commission.

Members of the Forest Rangers Association maintained that they had parity in pay scales with the police from top to bottom barring the two ranks of range officer and assistant conservator of forests(ACF), which was done away with in the pay commission recommendations by the state government.

While Indian Forest Service officers have been given salaries on a par with the IPS and the guard (forests), the lowest rank in the forest department, has been given a salary corresponding to a constable, the middle order has been left out.

“The three ranks of deputy ranger, ranger and ACF have been ignored. Our academic qualifications are more than those of the cops at a similar level and range officers and ACFs even undergo a two-year training capsule.

The ACFs have been placed at the level of an inspector though they should be getting a salary equivalent to that of a DSP.

The deputy ranger and ranger are further down in the bracket, but should have been on a par with a sub-inspector and inspector, respectively.

The allowances, too, are uniform down the ranks,” the president of the forest rangers association, Paramjit Sangwan, said.

The range officers add that the matter was taken up by forest minister Kiran Choudhry and the Chief Secretary had assured redressal of their grievances earlier this year and even urged the employees to give the government some time and postpone agitations they were planning. However, the employees claim that there has been little progress.

Further, the 17 promotions at the level of range officers made three months ago, too, are awaiting implementation.

“It’s only a question of giving 120 employees a grade pay according to our demand which the government is sitting over. While the Chief Minister is keen, the bureaucracy is in no mood to address our demands. Further, there is stagnation of nearly 27 years in the category of range officers. The government recently promoted a few but the decision is awaiting implementation. There is no seriousness on the part of the DFOs and conservators about sending the annual confidential reports of range officers,” Sangwan said, adding that the association was planning to resort to agitations and sit-in dharnas against the indifference attitude of the authorities to their demands.

Dharana (Jhajjar), August 31
After over three weeks of sorting out the gotra row over a “forbidden” marriage here, the Gehlout family, whose member Ravinder Gehlout married a girl of Kadyan gotra in April, is still living in a state of trauma and trepidation.

The shock is visible on the faces of the family members who, on being asked, merely state that they had never thought that they would have to face the fury of people of their own community members due to the marriage of their kin.

Risal Gehlout, head of the family, feels no hesitation in remarking that he has not committed any crime by marrying his grandson Ravinder with Shilpa Kadyan, hence there is no question of considering themselves as violators of social norms for which they have been punished by the Khap Panchayat.

Talking about the controversial marriage, he informs that president of the Kadyan Barha Khap had been apprised of the family decision of marrying Ravinder with a girl of Kadyan gotra well in time, but he did not oppose the decision at that time. Thus, they could not be held guilty in any manner, he adds.

“Now, we have no other option but to honour the verdict of the Sarva Khap Panchayat for living in the village and maintaining social relations with other villagers as well,” says Risal Gehlout, adding that the effect of the episode will remain on their mindset throughout their lives.

“However, we are still living under ‘social boycott’ as a majority of villagers are yet not maintaining any relation with us. They do not even wish to speak to us,” says Risal Gehlout, hoping that the situation would turn usual after some time.

Eighty-year-old Chander Devi, grandmother of Ravinder, says they are still frightened and under pressure from the villagers who continue to taunt them whenever any family member venture out of the house.

“Since a few villagers are constantly threatening us of dire consequences, apprehensions of any untoward incident have gripped us to a large extent. We don’t ask any question from any villager regarding the row, despite that villagers don’t hesitate to make derogatory remarks against us,” she maintains.

Holding the Gehlout family guilty of the violation of social norms, which reportedly don’t permit marriages between people of Gehlout and Kadyan gotra, the Kadyan Barha Khap panchayat had ordered the Gehlout family either to annul the marriage or leave the village by disposing of their property.

Succumbing to the dictum, though once the family had left their native village for a week, it returned to the village after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government to provide security cover to them and ensure their safety.

The month-long deadlock was resolved on August 9 when the Sarva Khap Panchayat pronounced the order of permanent “exile” for the couple, Ravinder and Shilpa, from the village and granting permission to other members of the family, barring Ravindr’s father Rohtash, for living in the village.

Hisar, August 31
The dissolution of the state Assembly marks the coming of age of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as a politician. As such, the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections hold a special significance for Hooda that it will provide him an opportunity to establish himself as a leader in the same league as the biggies like the late Devi Lal and Bansi Lal.

Hooda, a shaky beginner, began his innings as Chief Minister as a cautious novice having never been even a minister before being sworn in as Chief Minister.

His critics promptly dubbed him as an inexperienced administrator and aired doubts about his ability to last a full term. Still others questioned his hold over bureaucracy.

However, the events over the past four-and-a-half-year proved otherwise. He not only managed to run the government effectively, but also splintered the Opposition parties and did not allow any of his Cabinet colleagues to raise a banner of revolt.

Nevertheless, despite the stupendous victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the upcoming Assembly polls will be the real test for Hooda.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and the 2005 Assembly polls, the Congress victory rested on the foundations of a strong anti-incumbency factor.

Public sentiments were so much against the then Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and his Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), that his staunch supporters who campaigned for his party, could not convince even their family members to cast their votes in favour of the INLD.

The subsequent by-elections to the Assembly were partly due to the fact that the Congress was the ruling party and partly to the Hooda’s unassuming personality and his efforts to please all sections of society.

His government’s performance was the biggest factor in the recent Lok Sabha polls. But, even here his critics tend to give at least a fraction of the credit to the fact that issues are different in a parliamentary poll and that a weakening NDA helped Hooda lead the Congress to victory. This is not entirely true.

It is in this background that the upcoming polls will truly be a referendum on Hooda as a Chief Minister, a leader and a politician.

A victory in these elections will establish him as a leader in the same league as the late Devi Lal and Bansi Lal and one who can lead his party to victory on his shoulders alone. Stakes are high for Hooda.

But his confidence stems from a splintered Opposition, no anti-incumbency factor, his personal popularity and of course the popularity of his government.

Chandigarh, August 31
Caught in a classic case of red-tapism, hundreds of Haryana government pensioners, who retired from service between January 1, 2006 and September 30, 2006, will get a lesser amount of pension each month with the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations.

These pensioners will not be able to get the full benefits of the revised pension because the government will not take into consideration the average of 10 months’ salary in their case for fixation of pension, as is being done for pensioners retiring before or after this nine-month period.

The reason- pay commission recommendations are to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2006, and anything before this will not be taken into consideration.

A retired executive engineer, Sarwinder Singh, said the state government had decided that for all employees retiring from service after January 1, 2008, the pension is now being fixed on the basis of the last pay drawn.

“For employees who retired between January - September 2006, the pension was fixed on the basis of an average of the emoluments drawn during the last 10 months of service. Those who retired before January 2006 have been granted fitment allowance at 40 per cent as compared to other pensioners who have been granted pension on the basis of last pay drawn. This has created a lot of anomaly and led to discontentment amongst pensioners,” he said.

Mohan Lal Goel, who retired as Subdivisional Engineer (SDE) from the Public Health Department in May 2006, said that because of this anomaly, his pension had been reduced from Rs 14670 per month to RS 14510 per month.

These pensioners said that a similar situation had arisen earlier ,too, when the fifth pay panel recommendations were implemented.

However, the then government had given a 40 per cent weightage to those retiring between January 1996 and September 1996.

These pensioners were now demanding similar benefits as being granted to other state government pensioners, by fixing the pension on the basis of the last pay drawn by them while in service.

Fatehabad, August 31
Uma Chaudhary, a final-year student of the Masters of Journalism and Mass Communication in Chaudhary Devi Lal University, feels a special thrill when she says “Good Morning Sirsa” sitting on the hot seat of the Community Radio Station set up recently in her department.

She had not thought in the wildest of her dreams till a few months back that she would be independently presenting two programmes on a daily basis on an FM radio.

Now, she presents “Good Morning Sirsa”, a programme comprising thought of the day, astrological forecast and spiritual songs, from 10 am to 11 am, and “Meethi Yaadein”, a programme of old classical hits, from 3 pm to 4 pm.

“The new experience has given me a lot of self-confidence,” Uma said, adding,
“It has also honed my writing skills as I have to write scripts for all my programmes
on my own”.

“I feel thrilled when I get feedback from people on my programmes. Songs in ‘Meethi Yaadein’ are played on the choice of listeners and I receive a number of calls on a daily basis,” she adds.

Shreyashi Chhatarpati, another student of the final year, who presents “Satrangi Peeng”, a programme on common problems confronting society along with their solutions, says the Community Radio has come as a blessing in disguise for students. “We are enjoying as we are learning the skills of radio jockeying,” she adds.

Virender Singh Chauhan, chairperson of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department, who himself presents “Hello Sirsa”, a phone-in programme in which persons from various fields interact with listeners through the radio, says the radio has given a new platform to his students where they can showcase their talent.

“We had stopped listening radios but ever since the first FM radio has been started in the university, we have taken out our radios from cupboard,” said Satish Kumar, a resident of the local Barnala Road.

He regretted that a majority of the farmers did not replace seed in cereal crops whereas in oilseeds and pulses, the seed replacement ratio was still negligible. The Vice-Chancellor said there was no dearth of investment in agriculture.

The need of the hour was the formation and implementation of the small farmer's resource-based project through which small and marginal farmers could be trained in better agriculture practices.

Ambala, August 31
The Municipal Park lake in Ambala City, which is spread over 10 acres, will be converted into a herbal park soon. The municipal council will begin its filling work after the rainy season. The MC has also planned to develop it as a picnic spot.

The lake, which could not be cleaned for the past several decades, has become a breading ground for mosquitoes.

Localities of the adjoining areas have been releasing their sewage into it due to which the water of the lake has become so polluted that nobody dares to go near it. Last year, boating was started at the lake, but it proved a damp squib.

In the past, the lake served as a natural reservoir of rainwater as there was no proper drainage system in the city. However, the lake was rendered useless after the sewerage was laid to drain out rainwater into the Ghaggar.

In the revenue records, it is a low-line area and thus, unfit for any construction. Despite this, a few structures have come up illegally with no action taken against the encroachers.

Local MLA Venod Sharma has taken up the matter with the administration. He assured the municipal council that he would arrange grant from the state government for its filling and beautification.

The municipal park is located in the middle of the city. The proposed herbal park will provide a leisure centre for city residents.

Meanwhile, Ambala City is becoming a city of herbal parks. During the past four years, six herbal parks have been developed in the city and its surrounding areas.

A piece of land which was lying abandoned for the past several years close to Officer's Colony has now taken the shape of a herbal park.

Similarly, a piece of land under the Army’s control has been developed as an attractive herbal park by the forest department.

Ambala, August 31
Congress leaders are vying with each other for seeking ticket from the Ambala Cantt constituency. After delimitation, the neighbouring constituency of Naggal has been scrapped and its areas have been merged with other constituencies in the district.

The bigger share in terms of number of villages has gone to Ambala City while a few have come to Ambala Cantt, but in terms of number of votes, share is almost equal.

DK Bansal, sitting MLA from Ambala Cantt, and Nirmal Singh, sitting MLA from the now abolished constituency Naggal, are staking claim for ticket from Ambala Cantt. The fight among the two is now in the open.

While Bansal has started touring the constituency, Nirmal Singh and his workers are busy projecting him as the chosen one.

Bansal is a first time MLA, but Nirmal Singh has contested elections seven times and won four times.

Bansal is confident of his getting the party ticket on the grounds that he is already the sitting MLA and his work speaks for himself.

He even suggests that Nirmal Singh should contest from Ambala City as that is where most of his abolished constituency Naggal’s areas have been merged.

“Only a few villages have been added to Ambala Cantt. I find it odd that he is keen on contesting from here. I got the Congress back to power in Ambala Cantt after 15 years. Also in the parliamentary elections, Ambala Cantt gave the maximum lead of around 13,000 votes to Selja. I am confident that the party high command will keep this in mind and I will contest from here again”.

Nirmal Singh in his defence states that he is a resident of Ambala Cantt, so it is but natural that he would contest from here.

Also, he adds that while the number of villages here are less, the number of votes are more amounting to around 60,000 votes.

“The polling percentage in Naggal used to be very high. It was in the range of 75 per cent and above, but in Ambala Cantt, it is less. I am confident I will get the ticket and win.”

Party sources are, however, divided on the issue. While some say Nirmal Singh is senior and he should get the ticket, others do not agree.

Rewari, August 31
Morning Glory Public Society (MGPS), Rewari, a registered voluntary organisation, has been running the Targeted Intervention Female Sex Workers’ Project for the welfare of female sex workers (FSWs) of the Rewari region for the past 11 months.

The project of three-year duration is being run with the financial assistance provided by the Haryana AIDS Control Society, Panchkula.

With concerted efforts made by its outreach workers and other members of the staff, the society has now effectually reached out to 810 FSWs against an allocated target of 500 FSWs.

Highlighting the aims and objectives of the project, Saloni Singla, founder president of the MGPS and director of the project, said reduction in prevalence of HIV as well as promotion of the use of safe sex devices among the FSWs were their priorities.

Saloni said the society was making sincere efforts to check that FSWs were not treated as “outcasts” by society at large.

Stating that most of FSWs were in the age group of 18-30, she said these included married women, widows, divorcees and women of economically weaker sections of society. Simultaneously, many of them had become mainstay for their families.

Furnishing details of the work done by them in the past 11 months, Saloni said the organisation had employed a 15-member staff which includes a project manager, two outreach lady workers, eight peer educators, one lady counsellor, one lady doctor and one lab technician for the purpose.

While the society has been running a sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic to provide free of cost medical services to the 810 FSWs, the society has also set up a Drop-in-Centre (DIC) to cater to their recreational requirements.

She further said out of 500 cases of FSWs, which were referred to the Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre in the civil hospital, as many as nine cases were detected HIV positive who, she said, were getting special attention consistently.

Simultaneously, blood samples of 250 out of 810 FSWs were also dispatched to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, New Delhi, for sentinel surveillance.

She informed besides celebrating festivals with the FSWs, they had been organising weekly camps to create awareness among women and adult girls as well as holding weekly group discussions with the FSWs to address their problems.

Besides, they had been holding monthly advocacy meetings with lawyers, police personnel, teachers, officials, traders, chemists and others to seek their suggestions to make the project more conducive to the FSWs.

She said the MGPS, which was established in 1993-94, had grown into a mature organisation in the past 15 years.

Emphasising the urgency of launching more such projects for the welfare of the FSWs, she expressed concern at the rising number of HIV positive cases which now stood at 25 lakh in India, nearly 42,000 in Haryana and 2,200 in Rewari.

Karnal, August 31
Kunjpura Sainik School has earned a distinction by winning the Karnal city finals of Limca Book of Records Quiz 2009, qualifying for competing with 74 other schools in the semi-finals.

As many as 312 students from 56 schools, including six schools in Karnal city, participated in the city-level competition.

Delhi Public School, Panipat, and Gateway International School emerged as first and second runners-up, respectively. Kendriya Vidyalaya School, Delhi Public School, Sonepat, St Theresa’s Convent Senior Secondary School also participated in the city competition.

Enthused by the tremendous response and unexpected success of Limca Book of Records Quiz 2008, sponsors decided to organise the event on large scale this year to continue voyage to promote knowledge and awareness amongst young minds.

The multi-city initiative has been launched in partnership with “Know & Grow with Derek” and involves participation of young geniuses from class VIII to XII.

As part of the initiative, series of quiz competitions is being organised in 3,000
schools in 75 cities across the country, divided into four zones - north, south,
east and west.

The quiz is being organised in three stages: interschool level, semi-finals and national finals from April to December 2009.

In the semifinal round, city winners from each of the 75 participating cities would compete for the national final and top 10 teams with a minimum of two teams from each out of four zones would be selected for the national finals to be hosted by renowned quizmaster Derek O’Brien.

Karnal, August 31
With a phenomenal expansion in the field of education with a large number of schools coming up in all parts of Haryana, the state education department is facing the twin challenges of providing adequate staff and infrastructure in educational institutions and bringing qualitative improvement in the education sector.

A large number of vacancies vacant in the schools, the teaching and non-teaching staff stagnating due to delay in promotions, lack of initiative on part of the teachers to develop the institutions and insensitivity of the staff were some problems common to most of the schools in the state.

There had been little effort in the past to tackle these problems in the larger interests of both teachers and students, but now the Commissioner and Director- General, School Education, Ashok Yadav has taken the initiative to understand the roots of the problem and offer solutions.

Yadav, touring different parts of the state to interact with teachers and staff at the ground level, has already identified the areas which need immediate attention.

The shortage of staff being one of the major problems, Yadav has suggested that the process of filling the vacancies caused by retirements or other reasons should start at least three months in advance and a proper balance should be maintained between the “offtake and the intake”.

Similarly, the staff should get promotions on time and the employees should shun insensitive attitude towards serving and retired employees, he stressed.

Yadav said that all the eligible employees due for promotion would be promoted within three months, but they must join at their place of new posting within the stipulated period failing which the promotion would stand cancelled.

Observing that there was lack of initiative on the part of heads of institutions, Yadav pointed out that the spark to inspire was a must for teachers and exhorted the staff to work dedicatedly for the betterment of the institutions and make optimal use of available infrastructure and build the institutions.

He regretted that in several institutions, the computers supplied by the government had not been put to use, safe drinking water was not being supplied to students and in some schools the laboratory equipment and furniture had not even been opened.

It was a sorry state of affairs and accountability must be fixed for taking stern action against those responsible for such lapses, he categorically stated.

Another issue that surprised Yadav was that while the government was willing to dole out grants to the schools, no school in the district had shown any interest to avail the grants.

It amounts to casting aspersions on ability of the principals and teachers who were not able to anticipate their future requirements, Yadav said, regretting that in spite of reminders some of the schools had not furnished the utilisation certificate (UC) of the grants issued to them during the previous year.

Expressing grave concern over callous approach of staff at the district level in dealing with cases of employees, especially the pensioners, Yadav asked the staff to “shun their insensitive attitude and always keep in mind that every employee has to retire one day”.

Yadav was particularly harsh on the principals and the clerical staff in the district office for irregularities, delays and discrepancies in fixation of salaries and wrong calculation of arrears and cited a number of cases in which the aggrieved parties had gone to the High Court against the wrong fixation of salaries.

He warned the erring staff of strict action and directed them to rectify the wrongs done by them and ensure that no injustice was done to any staff member.

A dress designed by a student of the INIFD that would be showcased in the forthcoming Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai.

Gurgaon, August 31
The city-based International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD) has a reason to celebrate. It has been selected as the official knowledge partner of Lakme Fashion Week, India's biggest fashion event, for next four seasons starting this September. Lakme Fashion Week will be held in Mumbai from September 18 to September 22.

The INIFD started its journey in 1995 with one centre and opened 180 centres all over in the past 14 years.

“The INIFD has been striving hard to take fashion education to the masses by opening centres even in small towns,” said Deepika Hallan, manager of the institute.

The institute has a technical collaboration with Istituto Di Moda Burgo-Imb Milan (Italy) and Annamalai University.

“This opportunity will provide a platform to our students to showcase their creations to buyers from across the world,” she maintained.

Lakme Fashion Week in collaboration with the INIFD will be organising an exclusive workshop every season one month prior to the event to enhance skills of different sections involved in promoting fashion in the country.

This year, an exclusive workshop for media is being organised where mediapersons from other countries involved in covering fashion will share their experiences with their Indian counterparts.

Sonepat, August 31
The Youth Hostel Association of India (YHAI) organised a National Motorbike Expedition of 120 bikers from New Delhi to Leh-Ladakh via Manali and Rohtang Pass to celebrate the centenary celebrations of the Youth Hostelling International and 60th Anniversary of the YHAI.

The expedition was flagged off by former Union Minister, Dr Karan Singh, recently and it was accorded warm welcome by the state unit of the YHAI at Swaran Prasth School after its entry in Sonepat district.

Talking to The Tribune, TC Alakh, national vice-president and chairman of the state unit of the YHAI, said the expedition would reach and take part in Ladakh Festival.

From Leh, the bikers would go to the highest motorable pass, Khardungla (18,000 ft), before they proceed to Srinagar via Kargil and Drass. The expedition would come back to Delhi via Jammu and Ludhiana on September 8, he added.

Alakh informed that the expedition had been provided accommodation in tents, guest houses, high-calorie food, petrol and oil, a fully-equipped medical team and ambulances, oxygen cylinders, escorting jeeps and other backup vehicles, medical group insurance, technical assistance for minor repairs, etc., required at the high- altitude areas.

As per Alakh, the expedition would be the only one of its kind in India as 120 motorbikes had never travelled together to Khardungla.

The association shall try for entry in the Guinness Book of World Records and the Limca Book of Records.

Panipat, August 31
Aimed at uplifting the living standards of unemployed persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the state Fisheries Department has embarked upon an ambitious plan to provide financial assistance to the needy so that they can set up their own income sources.

According to deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya, who is also the president of the Fish Farm Development Agency, the department had been allocated Rs 1 crore during the current fiscal year with which more than 1,260 beneficiaries would be offered financial help.

He said under the proposed plan, only those belonging to the SC and ST categories would be given financial assistance.

The beneficiaries would be given money to undertake various fishing activities, including digging of water ponds, fish feed, rearing coloured fish, revamp of existing fish ponds and construction of new ponds on land taken on lease.

Dahiya said the state government was keen on promoting fisheries and to enable the downtrodden sections of society to earn their livelihood by engaging in the business.

Ishwar Singh, a senior official of the department, said the department had asked eligible persons to file applications with the district administration.

A committee would be constituted which would scrutinise the applications and on the basis of its recommendations, the department would extend the benefits of the scheme to deserving candidates.

Selected candidates would be given a special 10-day training by the department that would facilitate them in carrying out fishing practices. During the training period, the selected candidates would be given a stipend of Rs 200 a day.

He stated that under the scheme,in the villages which had more than 50 per cent population belonging to the SC and ST categories, the department would use the panchayat land to dig fishponds. All expenditure on digging of such ponds would be borne by the department.

Ishwar said under the scheme, the candidates would be able to get money to buy fishing nets, lease amount for getting ponds on contract, fish seeds, subsidies on fish feed and other similar benefits.

He expressed that the scheme would prove to be a boon in generating source of income for those who do not have other means to earn a livelihood.

Panchkula, August 31
Being conferred the newly instituted top literary award of Haryana Punjabi Gaurav Puruskar with a citation and a cash prize of Rs 1.25 lakh is another accolade for the octogenarian educationist, author and orator, principal Joginder Singh of Shahabad.

The literary activist was earlier honoured with the Bhai Santokh Singh Award carrying Rs 1 lakh by the Haryana Punjabi Sahitya Akademi.

The award will be presented to him by Education Minister Mange Ram Gupta on September 2, 2009.

Born in 1929 at Gujrawala (Pakistan), he migrated to Amritsar and later to Shahabad after Partition and faced many hardships for livelihood.

His literary treatises, though small, are regarded as gems of creative excellence laced with emotions and didactic wisdom.

Be it the book “Adhi-vaat da saath” (Punjabi), “Teer-o-Nashter” (Urdu), “Manobal-Atam-vishvas Attey Jitt” and a script on female foeticide, they all had won appreciation from the readers and connoisseurs of literature.