Jhajjar, September 17
“This time, I had dreamt of earning a considerable amount from my produce for fulfilling household demands. For this, I had taken 11 acres on contract for one season at the rate of Rs 15,000 per acre in the village. I, along with my two sons, had toiled hard in sowing paddy, arhar, jwaar and bajra crops therein. But, the incessant downpour for the past couple of days has shattered my dream by damaging entire standing crops as the fields were flooded,” said Ved Manter, a farmer of Majra village in Jhajjar district, whose standing crops in 13 acres have been destroyed by the rain.

“We are a worried lot as we don’t know how the loss would be covered. We are three male members in the family and all are dependent on agriculture,” said the old farmer, maintaining that how they would earn their livelihood now.

There are hundreds of similar farmers in Jhajjar district who have reached on the verge of devastation following the damage to their crops.

Now, there are still many questions bothering the affected farmers. How will they pay-off their existing loans? Will they be able to get financial help to recover from the crisis? Will they get a loan to sow the next crop of wheat?

A visit to various villages in the district revealed that the rain had not only damaged thousands of acres of crops across the district, but also collapsed dozens of houses of farmers in several villages here.

Dubaldhan, Majra, Wazir Pur, Aachhej, Pahadipur, Malikpur, Safipur, Dhaud, Dujana, Khatiwass, Chhudani, Dabauda and Kasaar are the badly affected villages where the rainwater submerged maximum area of agricultural land and caused a huge loss to the farmers by spoiling standing crops to a large extent.

“The rain destroyed our paddy, arhar and bajra crops,” laments Jage Ram, a farmer from Majra village, who suffered more than 75 per cent crop damage.

“There was 100 per cent damage. The future looks bleak as I will not be able to repay the loan I took this time. I will not be able to get further loan for the wheat season,” said Krishan of Wazirpur village.

Joginder Singh, a farmer of Aachhej village, was upset as his paddy crop in 10 acres was flattened. He said he had sown a variety of paddy for better earning, but the rain damaged his entire crop.

“If the stagnant water is not drained out within couple of days, it will pose a threat to the next crop of wheat as well,” he maintained.

He alleged that the district administration had so far failed to remove the accumulated water from the village. Even a significant number of houses in the village were still inundated.

Kuldeep Singh, a farmer of the same village, said all farmers had lost their crops in the rain and now they had no other option but to wait for compensation from the government.

“The farmers will have to strive hard for survival if the government fails to give compensation,” he added.

Ramphal and Subhash, farmers of Pahadipur village, said their paddy, bajra and arhar crops were flourishing in the fields when the heavy rain damaged them. While the exact loss to the crop could not be known yet, they said a major portion of their crop was spoiled.

Besides, farmers of Chhudani, Dabauda and Kasaar villages have also been suffering from the same problem. They have approached the district administration for draining out the water from their fields. They also demanded compensation for their flattened crops.

Meanwhile, DC Nitin Yadav said he had supervised the situation in the affected villages and assured the villagers to extend all possible help.

He also urged the villagers to cooperate the officials in draining out the rainwater and claimed that accumulated water would be removed from the villages soon.

Gurgaon, September 17
The massive voter registration-cum-roll rectification exercise launched by the district election authorities recently notwithstanding, Mission Gurgaon Development (MGD), an organisation of local residents, has alleged that the drive was not up to the mark.

MGD, which was earlier named the Gurgaon United Residents' Movement (GURM), has written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, pointing out the alleged irregularities in this regard.

The letter maintains that the Election Commission had specifically directed all states undergoing summary revision of electoral rolls to put the draft rolls (which are being published) on their websites.

"However, despite repeated reminders from our side, neither the draft rolls nor the final ones have been put on the Haryana Chief Electoral Officers' website more than 10 days after the date fixed for their publication," it states.

The letter claims that despite another specific direction of the Election Commission, e-registration (online registration of voters) was not yet enabled on the website of the CEO, Haryana.

"The website provides only the STD codes of helpline numbers and the EROs do not respond to phone calls from unfamiliar numbers," it says, adding that no call centre facility had been set up to address the large number of complaints and queries, as envisaged in the EC instructions.

MGD has urged the CEC to sanction a fresh door-to-door re-registration campaign and postpone the poll till this work is completed.

"This process may take three to six months; and the elections in Gurgaon may be held thereafter to ensure that the right to vote is held sacrosanct and not given a go-by once again as is being done in Gurgaon for the past 10 to 15 years," it points out.

Interestingly, after the district election authorities carried out the revision of voter lists, the number of voters in all four Assembly segments of the district rose to 7,64365, 1,52,486 more than those registered at the time of the recent Lok Sabha elections.

A spokesman for the district administration said the aforesaid details were up to September 3, 2009, the day on which the final publication of the voters list was done. "Applications are still being received from the voters who were left out due to one reason or the other," the spokesman said, adding that September 15 was the last date for receiving Form-6 meant for registering new voters who were 18 years on January 1, 2009. The names of new voters found eligible would be added in the supplementary voters list after proper verification, he maintained.

Gurgaon, September 17
The millennium city will be hosting the inaugural Videocon India Youth Icon Awards on September 25. The awards are hosted by the Wizcraft International and Samay News network.

The nominees are: Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif; Abhinav Bindra, Vijender Singh, Saina Nehwal, MS Dhoni, Ritwik Bhattacharya, Pankaj Advani; Alok Kejriwal, Neeraj Roy, Anupam Mittal, Sachin Bhatia, Rohit Sharma; Chetan Bhagat, Namita Devidayal, Arzan Khambatta, Shafi Quraishy, Vikram Bawa, Tarun Khiwal; Entrepreneurship, Ajay Bijli, Alok Kejriwal, Raaja Kanwar, Neeraj Roy, Sanjay Nayak; Media - Rajdeep Sardesai, Harinder Baweja, Barkha Dutt, Udayan Mukherjee, Tarun Tejpal, Sanjay Gupta; Vikram Akula, Ambalal Panchal Hiralal, Mamta Ranka, Shehnaaz, Chandrakant Uttekar, Rahul Bose, Arbind Singh; and Politics - Sachin Pilot, Agatha Sangma, Priya Dutt, Omar Abdullah, Milind Deora.

The winners will be chosen through online voting. The decision of the audit firm, Ernst & Young, shall be final in the regard.

Yamunanagar, September 17
The district administration requires proper planning to deal with the flood-like situation that surfaces every year during the monsoon due to over flow of the Yamuna and also three seasonal rivulets - Chetang, Som and Markanda - passing through the district. Overflowing Yamuna coupled with incessant rains for four days caused much damage in the villages situated along the river.

A permanent solution to the problem needs to be found immediately as over hundred of villages situated in the low-lying areas face threat of devastation every year. Villagers feel much of the damage could have been prevented if the authorities had constructed concrete wall along the Yamuna and seasonal rivulets at sensitive points.

Boats should also be provided at proper places, besides proper construction of roads and drainage system. At many places, roads were much below the fields as a result they got submerged in the water due to over flow of the river and many villages were virtually disconnected.

A visit to different villages revealed that besides damage to crops, houses and roads, the power failure had caused much problems to the villagers as over 50 villages were inundated in the district.

A portion of the NH 73-A was also submerged in water. Residents of Sadhaura and Bilaspur tried their best to close the breach of Chetang rivulet. Increased water level of the Yamuna wrecked havoc on Chhachhroli, Jatlan and Khijrabad. Other affected areas include Mustafabad, Bilaspur, Sadhuara and Jagadhri. “All our efforts to prevent the inflow of water into fields and houses from Chetang went in vein. We have suffered much damages,” said Jagdeep and Roshni of Mandari and Kaganwala villages, respectively.

Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Aggarwal said the maximum water level of the Yamuna last week and also in the same period last year was 4.25 lakh cusec. However, damages were much less this time as they had constructed a check dam with a 1,500-foot concrete wall in the Chhachhroli in Yamuna that had prevented its water from entering into many villages. Moreover, they had deputed all the officials to provide help in the affected areas.

Kaithal, September 17
Hindi needs to be promoted in the national interest as it is a medium of communication for a large population in the country. A common perception that Hindi had a clash with other regional languages does not hold true.

This was stated by Vijay Saihgal a former editor of Dainik Tribune while speaking as chief guest at a “Hindi Day” function organised by the Department of Hindi of RKSD Postgraduate College here on September 14.

He said before and after Independence Hindi helped in maintaining national integrity because this language had played a significant role in bridging the gap among the people of various regions in the country.

He said English had no doubt attained the status of an international language but it could never diminish the status of Hindi.

He called upon youth to shun the fears that they could not get good jobs due to lack of expertise in speaking and writing English but advised them to learn Hindi as it had opened many avenues of employment and respectable jobs in various fields in the recent past.

Prof AL Madan, a renowned Hindi writer and Principal, Jat College, Kaithal, who was the guest of honour, said Hindi was a language of heart and one could express his thoughts with freedom through this language.

Earlier, Principal SK Garg welcomed the chief guest and other invitees. Introducing the chief guest, Dr BB Sharma detailed his contribution to Hindi language. Dr Manjula Gupta, Head of Hindi Department, presented a vote of thanks.

Later, Saihgal inaugurated an exhibition of Hindi books and magazines at Jat College here in which hundreds of books of various authors were displayed. Principal A.L. Madan and members of the faculty were present.

Faridabad, September 17
With the countdown for the Assembly elections in the state has already begun, the parties in Faridabad are facing desertion by their leaders.

The latest in the series of desertion of leaders is from the BSP. What is worse, the leaders perched at higher echelons of the BSP have been accused of serious allegations by those quitting the deserters, which is bound to impinge on the party's prospects at one time or the other.

Chetan Sharma, a former cricketer, who had joined the BSP about a year before the last parliamentary elections, was given the ticket to contest from the Faridabad Lok Sabha seat. He quitted the BSP, along with two of his colleagues, and joined the BJP. Mahender Bhadana, a Congress leader and councillor of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation, also announced to join the BJP along with Sharma.

The BSP cadre alleges that Sharma, along with his core team of leaders, who had joined the party before the parliamentary elections, had tried to act smart with people of Faridabad for which they were rejected by populace in the election. The BSP cadre describes their decision of quitting the party as good riddance. They alleged that the misdeeds of Sharma and his core team of leaders during the time of electioneering for the Lok Sabha would be exposed at an appropriate time.

However, Sharma, while joining the BJP, said he quitted the BSP on account of corrupt practices of the secretary-general of the party, Mansingh Manhera, who is also in charge of the affairs in the state.

Sharma alleged that Manhera sold BSP's ticket for the impending Assembly elections. He also alleged that Manhera was colluding with the ruling Congress in the state.

Before the jolt to the BSP, the Haryana Janhit Congress(HJC)(BL) suffered a major setback in Faridabad when its district president (rural) Tek Chand Sharma quitted the party to join the BSP. Tek Chand cited the reason of political immaturity on the part of the party president, Kuldip Bishnoi, for quitting the party. He alleged that Bishnoi was opportunistic, and added that he marginalised his father and former Chief Minister of Haryana Bhajan Lal which contributed in making the HJC(BL) a sinking ship.

The broad indications are that there would be yet more desertions in almost all parties. The BJP has made no bones about its strategy of even considering the names of leaders who came from outside for giving party ticket in the state. Although the HJC(BL) has not gone on record, its leaders say their party is adopting the policy of wait and watch in the state.

The HJC(BL) is hoping that a number of leaders of the Congress who would be denied party ticket would join it. Sources in the HJC(BL) say a newcomer to the party would also get ticket for the Assembly elections.

Sirsa, September 17
The Indian National Lok Dal is making all-out efforts to come out of the state of stupor, where a defeat in the last general elections and desertion by several senior leaders of the party had landed it.

Even though the Congress seems to be in a position of strength with INLD suffering setbacks in the last three elections - 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections and 2005 Assembly elections - Chautala appears to be not taking the things lying down in these Assembly elections.

Party supremo Om Parkash Chautala is campaigning aggressively to take the party out of a shambles.

Relentless campaigning, media blitzkrieg and a plethora of promises, are the methods on which the party is depending to improve its lost ground in the October 13 Assembly elections in Haryana.

Chautala these days is using his oratory not only for enthusing his party workers, who were a demoralised lot after the Parliamentary election loss and development thereafter, but he is also trying to target almost all sections of the society to convey his party’s message.

While addressing public meetings, Chautala targets traders by reminding them that he took several steps for finishing “Inspector Raj” (interference of inspectors in business) from the state and took several other steps like increasing commission of commission agents and introducing self-assessment of sales tax for traders having a business up to Rs 5 crore.

He also assures them to abolish Form-38, a document needed while transporting any commodity from outside the state or selling any commodity out of it, which the trading community allege is one of the biggest sources of breeding corruption in sales tax department.

Similarly, to arouse the sentiments of Dalits and Jats, Chautala has been using the name of Dr BR Ambedkar and Chhotu Ram with an allegation that the present Bhupinder Singh Hooda government has been trying to undermine the importance of these leaders by giving credit of preparing Constitution of India and bringing Bhakra Canal, respectively, to Haryana to Hooda’s father Ranbir Singh Hooda.

The INLD is harping heavily on the promises made by the party in its election manifesto and hopes these would sail it through in the polls.

To ensure that the message of these announcements reach each and every voter, the party has launched a vigorous media campaign through newspapers, radio, TV, Internet and SMSs.

The party, according to sources, has also planned to reach out to each and every household in the state through a letter written by the former Chief Minister, which would contain an appeal by Chautala. It would be soon distributed in the state in a printed form.

His sons Ajay Singh and Abhay Singh and state party president Ashok Arora have been assigned charge of five to six districts each so that the party could reach out to each and every voter during the elections.

Facing, perhaps the toughest political battle for the party, the party Supremo Om Parkash Chautala has decided to put in all resources at his disposal in the coming elections, but it will be seen only after the results are announced as to how the people of Haryana, who have rejected his party in the last three elections, respond this time.

Hisar, September 17
Delimitation has changed the geographical as well as political complexion of the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency.

Before delimitation it comprised Hisar town, Narnaund, Barwala and Gihrai assembly constituencies from Hisar district and Jind, Narwana, Kalayat, Rajaundh and Uchana Kalan from Jind district.

But four of the five assembly segments of Jind district have been taken out of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat leaving just one ---- Uchana Kalan.

In their places Adampur, Nalwa, Uklana, Hansi and Bawani Khera assembly constituencies have been added to the Hisar parliamentary constituency. Among these, Uklana and Nalwa are new assembly constituencies created after delimitation. The Adampur and Hansi assembly segments were earlier part of the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat.

The Ghirai assembly constituency of Hisar district has been disbanded after the delimitation. Its constituent villages have been shifted to neighbouring assembly segments.

Delimitation has affected the cultural character of Hisar. The inclusion of Adampur, Nalwa and Bawani Khera constituencies has given Hisar a typically Bagri character. Residents of Hisar and its surrounding areas are known as Bagris who speak the Bagri dialect and enjoy a lifestyle more akin to the neighbouring Rajasthan areas.

Jind, Narwana, Kalayat and Rajaundh assembly segments, which were earlier part of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, fall in the Bangar area where the dialect and lifestyle are different from those in the Bagri areas.

In the earlier elections, since the constituency had five assembly segments from Jind district, candidates from that area enjoyed a clear electoral advantage. This is no longer the case. Under the new dispensation, the constituency has seven assembly segments from Hisar district itself, which affords candidates from this district a definite advantage.

The caste and community equations have also changed. For instance, the Barwala assembly segment was a predominantly Jat-dominated constituency. Post delimitation, non-Jat voters outnumber all others. The newly created Uklana assembly segment is now reserved for members of Scheduled Castes.

In Hisar town, several areas, including posh residential sectors like Sector 15 have been transferred to the newly created Nalwa assembly segment, making it a mix of urban and rural voters whose priorities was entirely different.

The coming assembly poll will reveal the ground realities of delimitation exercise. Thus far the only political indicators are the results of the May, 2009, Lok Sabha poll. However, the assembly poll is a different ballgame altogether. Thus till the results of the coming poll are out, the extent of political impact will continue to be a mystery.

Gurgaon, September 17
It was raining heavily last week but this could not have dampened the spirit of youngsters, who had gathered here to participate in the reality dance talent show ‘Dance Premiere League’ to be telecast by Sony channel. While many participants had dreams of making it big in the showbiz, many wanted to meet their favourite stars Salman Khan, Arshad Warsi and Shiamak Davar as they were here to select a team of eight dancers from the north.

Though Salman reached the venue quite late and preferred to stay back in the vanity van for a few hours, his fans kept on waiting for him despite heavy rains. There was no stopping the crazy fans when he came out. On the other hand, Shiamak and Arshad met their fans and many of theirs fans got themselves clicked with them. TV actors Ejaz Khan and Sara Khan were there for anchoring for the show.

While interacting with his fans after the show Salman said, “I love dance but want to see each of you dancing in your unique style and do not want anyone imitating me.”

Arshad Warsi stated he was happy being the part of a reality show and is enjoying the status of judge. About the city, he said, “I love Gurgaon for its calmness and peace far from the maddening crowd of Delhi as it is getting too congested and losing its charm now.”

Regarding the budding talent he affirmed that success and failure are part of life and one should not loose heart. “One should put his best effort,” Arshad said. He will be seen in Vishal Bhardwaj’s film ‘Ishqiya’, which is slated to be released in October.

Shiamak said, “The show is about regional pride and my aim is to encourage the contestants,” and added, “I want them to be original. My job will be to help them understand different dance forms,” he said, adding, “I am a hard taskmaster but this time I am bit on the softer side.”

Sara said she was currently enjoying the status of ‘bahu’ in the serial ‘Bidaai’ as it was her dream role. But she is originally different from the character. “I am very naughty and wild and can not remain in saree always, shorts is what I like the most,” saying this she left for the shoot.

Ambala, September 17
The state of roads in Ambala City and Ambala Cantonment have deteriorated after the recent spate of rains. Though the roads were in a depleted condition even before the rains, many more potholes have sprung up, much to the inconvenience of residents and commuters.

The bad state of roads, combined with the problem of garbage, has already become an issue for the opposition parties to raise, especially in Ambala Cantonment where the residents have been complaining of the bad state of roads for quite a long.

Due to the elections, a spate of road-recarpeting projects were given the green signal. A few were even recarpeted but the main roads on which the common man travel everyday are yet to be touched. The biggest example is the road leading from Indira Chownk to Rai Market. A travel on the stretch of more than 150 metres will make you feel as if a road never existed there. Interestingly, this is one of the main roads leading to a few prominent branded showrooms. The road from this chowk leading to Staff Road also has a huge pothole which makes anyone travelling on a two-wheeler hold onto his life.

The Army had closed down the Mall Road to civilian traffic around a year ago citing security reasons. Staff Road is now the alternate route taken by everybody wanting to enter cantonment and also to proceed further to villages and Naraingarh. But still no efforts have been made to repair this road.

Despite the district administration introducing traffic lights at Indira Chowk and making dividers on the roads, no attempts have been made by the authorities concerned to repair these roads.

Efforts had been made to improve the condition of garbage strewn in the open by building a garbage plant at Patwi. However, no difference is seen on ground.

Kalka, September 17
Atul Sharma, a renowned music director of the north region, was awarded with the ‘SL Foundation Award’ in Pinjore recently. He was here to attend a cultural programme, ‘An Evening of Sufiana Kalam’, by ‘Kumar Bandhus’ organised in the Forest Auditorium by SL Foundation, a social and cultural organisation.

The award was conferred on him by Bal Kishan Bansal, a social activist of Panchkula, Vijay Bansal and Ramesh Chander of the SL Foundation, for his distinguished contribution in the field of music for more than two decades. Notably, Sharma has given playback music for more than five thousand music albums (in which noted singers of Punjab like Gurdas Maan, Hans Raj Hans and many others, including Bindrakhia, had rendered songs) and in dozens of films and documentary films.

Atul, who hails from Kalka, did his graduation from Government College, Kalka and post-graduation in music from Punjab University, Chandigarh. He also worked as lecturer in the same university for more than a decade. He said although he had received many awards in India and in abroad, receiving this award at his home town gave him an extraordinary pleasure.