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Higher retirement age of VCs triggers row
The government has only partially implemented the HRD notification by raising the retirement age of VCs and denying the same to university and college teachers
Hisar, April 29
State government’s decision to raise retirement age of vice-chancellors to 68 years but retain the age of superannuation of university and college teachers at 60 years violates a notification of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry under which it is mandatory for states implementing new pay scales to raise the retirement age of teachers to 65 years.

Teachers too want to serve longer
Karnal, April 29
Close on the heels of state government’s decision of raising the retirement age of VCs and pro-VCs, teachers’ associations of six major state universities have authorised Prof Nafe Singh, KUTA president, to take up the issue of similar benefit for university teachers.

HJC in trouble from its own ranks
Chandigarh, April 29
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), the youngest political party in the state, has been facing trouble, not from outsiders but from its own men. First, five of its six MLAs deserted the HJC almost immediately after the Assembly elections and joined the Congress, leaving lone MLA Kuldeep Sharma, who is also the party founder and president.


EARLIER EDITIONS



They honour women on mother's death anniversary
Kurukshetra, April 29
Death anniversaries in our country, as elsewhere also, are usually observed by organising religious functions or by performing charity in memory of the departed soul. But the Singla family of this holy town remembers their mother Asharfi Devi on her death anniversary by celebrating the day as "Nari Samman Divas".
Hockey players of Shahabad being honoured by the Singla family in Kurukshetra
Hockey players of Shahabad being honoured by the Singla family in Kurukshetra. Tribune photo

Rs 10 cr to modernise power system
Yamunanagar, April 29
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has decided to spend Rs 10 crore to streamline and modernise the distribution system of 35 residential colonies and 82 villages of the district.

Panchayats elected unanimously to get incentives
Chandigarh, April 29
With a view to promoting brotherhood and a harmonious atmosphere in the villages, the state government has launched a scheme for promoting unanimous election of gram panchayats. A sum of Rs 3 lakh will be given to panchayats elected unanimously as an incentive. This amount will be spent on the development of the village.

GVM college students excel in MSc exam
Sonepat, April 29
Students of the local GVM Girls College created one sort of record by claiming not only first nine positions, but also bagging 13 out of 15 merit positions in MSc (previous) mathematics examination of MD University, Rohtak, result of which declared recently.


A group of students with principal of GVM Girls College Jyoti Juneja and teachers. Photo by the writer
A group of students with principal of GVM Girls College Jyoti Juneja and teachers

School board to form pool of experts
Bhiwani, April 29
The Haryana Board of School Education has decided to make a pool of experts for assistance in the revision of the curricula, recommendation of books, setting up of question banks, evaluation, students’ counselling and inspection of polytechnics.

Sonepat varsity starts more courses
Sonepat, April 29
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, has increased the number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses to 10 and 17, respectively.

Students practise lead climbing and jumaring on an artificial climbing wall at Sainik School, Kunjpura (Karnal)
Students practise lead climbing and jumaring on an artificial climbing wall at Sainik School, Kunjpura (Karnal). Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar 

Reorient engg courses: Experts
Karnal, April 29
Urgent need to reorient the curriculum of engineering and technology courses to cater to the needs of the fast-changing industrial scenario was stressed at the national-level workshop on “Paradigm shift in engineering and technology: Need of the industry and institute interaction” organised by the Apex Institute of Management and Technology, Indri, 30 km from here.

Quality education govt’s priority: CM
Panchkula, April 29
The state government is committed to providing quality education to students and a number of premier institutions are being set up for this purpose. This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing a one-day conference and a north zonal meeting of the All-India Kshatriya Federation here recently.

Forest Dept begins demarcation of land
Kalka, April 29
Implementing the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Department of Forest has started the demarcation of Section 4 and 5 areas in all the districts of the state.

Looking for mature, challenging roles, says Raveena
Ambala, April 29
“Now, I am 35 years old and I don’t think I will do immature acts any more,” said national award winning actress Raveena Tandon on her visit to the city recently. She said she had been signing movies selectively and choosing serious and mature roles.

Workshop on HIV/AIDS held
Fatehabad, April 29
A workshop was organised to create awareness on HIV/AIDS in the local Manohar Memorial College of Education recently. Teachers and students from more than 12 colleges of the area participated in it.


Dr Mamta Chaudhary (left) and Dr Anamika Bishnoi inaugurate a workshop on HIV/AIDS at Manohar Memorial College of Education in Fatehabad. Photo: Amit Soni
Dr Mamta Chaudhary (left) and Dr Anamika Bishnoi inaugurate a workshop on HIV/AIDS at Manohar Memorial College of Education in Fatehabad


A cyclist rests on the banks of Brahmasarovar on a hot afternoon in Kurukshetra
A cyclist rests on the banks of Brahmasarovar on a hot afternoon in Kurukshetra. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

NAAC team visits law institute
Gurgaon, April 29
A two-member team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) visited the Institute of Law and Management Studies (ILMS) of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here recently.

Health director’s orders violated
Kalka, April 29
Despite the directives issued by the director general (Health Services) Haryana, the financial commissioner and the principal secretary (Health Department) Haryana, specialist doctors in community health centre (CHC), Kalka, are posted as casualty medical officers, a clear violation to the directives by the hospital administration.

Woman foils bid to snatch purse, honoured
Gurgaon, April 29
Teena Sethi (30), who works as a sales manager at Hotel Vista Park here, showed exemplary courage as she not only foiled a bid by two youths to snatch her purse, but also got the duo nabbed.



Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal honours Teena Sethi. Tribune photo

Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal honours Teena Sethi

Letter
Cabinet expansion an uphill task for CM
The much-awaited expansion of the six-month-old Hooda Cabinet is yet to sail through. If reports emanating in the media are of any indication, it is going to be a Herculean task for Hooda to appease every dissatisfied section in the party by induction of just four new faces in his Council of Ministers.





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Higher retirement age of VCs triggers row
The government has only partially implemented the HRD notification by raising the retirement age of VCs and denying the same to university and college teachers
Raman Mohan
Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 29
State government’s decision to raise retirement age of vice-chancellors to 68 years but retain the age of superannuation of university and college teachers at 60 years violates a notification of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry under which it is mandatory for states implementing new pay scales to raise the retirement age of teachers to 65 years.

The notification no. 1-32/2006-U.II/U.I (I) issued by the HRD Ministry on December 31, 2008, stated that in order to meet the situation arising out of shortage of teachers in universities and other teaching institutions, the age of superannuation for teachers has already been enhanced to 65 years. It added that this was necessary to retain teachers in service for a longer period and to attract eligible persons to careers in teaching.

It pointed out that as a step in this direction, the Centre had already enhanced the superannuation age of VCs of central universities to 70 years.

The notification went on to add that subject to availability of posts and fitness, teachers shall also be re-employed on contractual employment beyond the age of 65 years up to the age of 70.

However, the government has only partially implemented the notification by raising the retirement age for VCs and denying the same to university and college teachers. It is obvious that this has been done to favour an individual while denying the benefit to thousands of teachers who are legally entitled to it.

The notification clearly stated that payment of central assistance for implementing new scales was subject to the condition that the states would not modify any of the conditions, regulations and guidelines issued by the Centre and the UGC. This makes it mandatory for the states to raise the age of superannuation of teachers to 65 years and even beyond up to the age of 70 for contractual engagements.

The Centre and several states, including Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, have already raised the age to 65 years. The Rajasthan government is also likely to do so shortly. However, the Haryana government continues to violate the notification.

Besides, Haryana is also not paying its university and college teachers most of the allowances as detailed in this notification, which stated in no uncertain terms that “allowances such as LTC, special compensatory allowances, childrens’ education allowance, transport allowance, HRA, deputation allowance, TA, DA, area-based special compensatory allowance etc as applicable to teachers and library and physical education cadres shall be on a par with those accepted by the Central government employees on recommendations of the Central Pay Commission and shall be applicable from September 1, 2008”.

Despite this, the Haryana government is not paying most of these allowances to university and college teachers. Besides, the rules for paying HRA to teachers of government and private-aided colleges are also different to the detriment of the latter.

Universities and colleges in Haryana are facing an acute shortage of teachers as recruitments have been barred for several years now. Most colleges are forced to employ teachers on a contract basis on salaries ranging from Rs 5,000 to 10,000 a month. This has led to a steep fall in academic standards.

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Teachers too want to serve longer
Bhanu P. Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 29
Close on the heels of state government’s decision of raising the retirement age of VCs and pro-VCs, teachers’ associations of six major state universities have authorised Prof Nafe Singh, KUTA president, to take up the issue of similar benefit for university teachers.

The presidents of teachers’ associations of Kurukshetra University, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak; Guru Jagdembeshwar University, Hisar; Chowdhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa; BPS Mahila University, Khanpur Kalan; and Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, discussed the latest development and unanimously resolved to take the struggle to its logical end.

Prof Nafa Singh said by raising the retirement of VCs and pro-VCs, the government had sent a right signal. He hoped that the demand of teachers for enhancing their retirement age to 65 years would also be accepted.

“It is strange that the government is following two sets of rules by raising the retirement age of teachers of Health University, Rohtak, to 65 years whereas the teachers of other universities are struggling,” he added.

He said several central and state universities had already implemented the UGC recommendation to raise the age to 65 years but Haryana and some other states were dithering on the issue.

Prof Nafe Singh pointed out that there had been no recruitment of teachers in universities for nearly 10 years and as a result, the serving teachers were either on the verge of retirement or very young which was not in the interest of students as well as institutions.

The institutions of higher education should have a mixed blend of teachers of different age groups to have continuity and sharing of experience, especially in the area of research and co-curricular activities, he stressed.

Further, the university teachers were entering service as lecturers after the age of 30 get an opportunity to work for a maximum period of 30 years while in civil services, officers had service span of 35 to 40 years.

He said an emergency meeting of all associations would be convened soon to decide a comprehensive plan of action for getting various pending issues, including anomalies in the implementation of revised pay scales and retirement age, accepted at the earliest.

Pointing out that the government had appointed a committee consisting of the three VCs - Dr DDS Sandhu, Dr RP Hooda and Dr Pankaj Mittal - to look into the pending issues of the teachers of higher education in the context of implementation of recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, Prof Nafe Singh regretted that not a single meeting of the committee had been held in past four months.

This delay has caused resentment among the teaching community and in case, the government did not act and redressed the grievances of the teachers, they might be forced to revive the agitation which was suspended in September 2009 on the assurance of the government, he cautioned.

Bijendra Ahlawat adds from Rohtak

Somvir Singh Rathi, president of the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA), has asked the state government to raise the retirement age of university teachers from 60 to 65 years.

Rathi said university teachers also deserved the benefit of higher retirement age. He said the teachers would be forced to launch a stir if the government adopted a lopsided attitude in this regard.

Another senior teacher of the university alleged that the decision to raise the retirement age of VCs could be politically motivated and aimed at benefitting a few, but claimed that this might put the government in a trouble.

While there has been a silent protest over the consideration of reviewing the retirement age of VCs, university teachers are also expecting such a decision for teaching faculty as well, claimed Rathi.

Though the issue has been simmering for the past several months in view of fresh guidelines issued by the UGC, the move of the state government to revise the retirement of the VCs will give a fresh impetus to such a demand and this might put the government in a fix as accepting the demand could affect the career and employment of thousands of teachers across the state, claims a university teacher.

He said now the government would not be able to justify the delay or avoiding to raise the retirement age of university and college teachers. Stating that this could have more implications than expected as employees of other departments could also join the bandwagon for seeking revision in their retirement age, he said.

Earlier, the government had rejected the demand to revise the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 years by saying that it could lead to more unemployment and denial of chances of employment to the younger generation.

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HJC in trouble from its own ranks
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 29
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), the youngest political party in the state, has been facing trouble, not from outsiders but from its own men. First, five of its six MLAs deserted the HJC almost immediately after the Assembly elections and joined the Congress, leaving lone MLA Kuldeep Sharma, who is also the party founder and president.

When the Congress failed to muster a majority of its own in the Assembly elections, the HJC with six MLAs suddenly found itself at the centrestage of Haryana politics. The Congress was short of majority by six MLAs. Though Bhupinder Singh Hooda again became the Chief Minister with the support of seven Independents, the Congress knew that a government formed with the help of Independents could not be considered stable.

Hooda passed the confidence test in the Assembly comfortably when the HJC members absented themselves from the House after they were administered the oath.

Bishnoi had taken away his MLAs to a safe place so that he could bargain with the Congress hard. Before Hooda was sworn in for the second term, he had convinced the high command that there was no need to accept any condition of Bishnoi for supporting the Congress government in the state. Even after Hooda successfully faced the trust motion in the House, Bishnoi again tried to bargain with the high command. It is no secret that Bishnoi’s father, Bhajan Lal, former Chief Minister of Haryana, still has many friends and sympathisers in the AICC, who would love to see the old man and his MLA son back in the party. These friends also wanted Hooda’s bête noire to come back to the Congress fold.

However, Hooda convinced the high command that Bishnoi should be asked to merge his party with the Congress “unconditionally” so that he could not hold the ruling party to ransom later on. Bishnoi was not agreeable to this. But he was finding it difficult to curb the ambitions of his MLAs, who wanted to join hands at the earliest so that they too could enjoy the fruits of power. This ambition made Hooda’s job easier. The HJC MLAs deserted their leader and “merged” their party with the Congress.

Just before the Ellenabad Assembly byelection in January, a main HJC leader, Rakesh Kamboj, who had sacrificed his Assembly membership from Indri to form the HJC in 2008, quit the party to join the INLD.

Now the HJC leadership indirectly admitted that all was not well within its ranks when it issued show-cause notices to 52 senior party leaders asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them for not participating in the party’s programmes and activities.

Among those whom the notices have been issued are former Minister Jai Prakash Gupta, Jitender Singh Khurdban, Punit Masta, Paramjit Gulati, Pradip Chauhan, Sucha Singh Baknaur, K.L. Pahwa, Minakshi Sehgal, Rupesh Kaushik, Ashok Malik, Sher Singh Sadhaura and Darshan Lal Bajigar.

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They honour women on mother's death anniversary
Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, April 29
Death anniversaries in our country, as elsewhere also, are usually observed by organising religious functions or by performing charity in memory of the departed soul. But the Singla family of this holy town remembers their mother Asharfi Devi on her death anniversary by celebrating the day as "Nari Samman Divas".

Jai Bhagwan Singla, the eldest of the three brothers, says their mother, who died three years ago, had told them in her lifetime that since they were residents of the "Land of the Mahabharata", where Lord Krishna had told Arjuna that the soul (Atma) never died, they should not mourn her death.

Therefore, the family decided to "celebrate" her death anniversary by acknowledging the contribution of women in various fields of life, including fields like inter-family relations. For the past two years, the Singlas, who run rice business amidst the food bowl of the country, have been honouring women and girls for their achievements.

On April 14, many such pioneers of women power were publicly recognised at a function presided over by Ritu Aggarwal, wife of Pankaj Aggarwal, IAS, who is DC, Kurukshetra.

The first to be honoured was women hockey players of Shahabad, led by their captain Surinder Kaur, and their coach Baldev Singh, who has brought the Indian women hockey on the international map.

Baby Ishani was given "Radhika Puruskar", an award set up to make people realise that a girl child represents Radha, spiritual consort of Lord Krishna, and hence her protection is their foremost duty. The "Achievement Awards" were given to Madhuri Gupta, who stood first in the district in class X, and Sonia of Pehowa for her singing.

The "Annukarina Awards" went to Sushma Jain and Sunita Jain of Chandigarh; Sunita Sharma of Kurukshetra (posthumous); Prem Singhal of Ladwa; Minakshi Singla (Kurukshetra) and Sangita of Kurukshetra. "Annukarnia" means whom you would like to follow.

Former Haryana chief secretary Meenakshi Anand Chaudhry, senior judicial officer Neelima Shangla, Renu Khungar, Shakuntala Devi, Punita Nehru, Urmila Singla, Seema Vij, Sharmila Purohit, Dr Anju, Dr Sarla Madkan, Maya Devi, and Dr Shalini Sharma were also honoured for their contribution to various fields of life.

Besides, Rs 6,100 per annum pension was given to five destitute widows. Jai Bhagwan Singla said his family would give such pension to 11 widows every year.

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Rs 10 cr to modernise power system
Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, April 29
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has decided to spend Rs 10 crore to streamline and modernise the distribution system of 35 residential colonies and 82 villages of the district.

Besides, the UHBVN and the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) have jointly made a comprehensive plan to further strengthen the distribution and transmission system of the district with a budget of over Rs 100 crore.

The high-voltage distribution system (HVDS) will be created and the existing lines will be replaced by laying aerial bunched cable-based system to minimise damage to distribution transformers and reduce interruptions. The system will also be helpful in minimising accidents. A 220KV substation is being set up at Rampur Kamboyan village. Two transformers of 100 MVA each would be installed in the substation to cater the need of paddy growing areas and solve the low-voltage problem of the Ghaar area, an official of the UHBVN said here recently.

Under the plan, new 66 KV substations will be set up at Ram Nagar and Jamalpur, 33 KV substations at Rampur Hadian, Malikpur Bangar, Chouli, Tharpur, Thimo and Ledi. The existing 33KV substation at Bhudkalan will be upgraded to 66-KV level. Similarly, the capacity of 66-KV substations at Gobindpuri, Gulab Nagar, Chhachhrauli, Bilaspur, Chandpur and Yamunanagar will be augmented by installing additional or higher capacity transformer(s).

Referring to the power supply to agricultural tubewells, he said the UHBVN had completed the segregation of domestic and tubewell feeders. As many as 84 new feeders had been created to ensure reliable power supply to agricultural tubewells at a cost of Rs 67.37 crore. Electricity consumers of 850 villages had been benefited by the scheme.

In order to minimise overloading and bring down the damage rate of distribution transformers, it has been targeted to install 2,000 new distribution transformers in urban and rural areas for which an action plan has been prepared in view of the annual load growth of over 12 per cent.

Under a special project, over 2.50 lakh CFLs had been distributed free of cost in the district. As many as 6,415 new connections had been released to the people living below poverty line under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna with an investment of Rs 10.78 crore, the official added.

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Panchayats elected unanimously to get incentives
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 29
With a view to promoting brotherhood and a harmonious atmosphere in the villages, the state government has launched a scheme for promoting unanimous election of gram panchayats. A sum of Rs 3 lakh will be given to panchayats elected unanimously as an incentive. This amount will be spent on the development of the village.

This announcement was made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here recently. He said the unanimous election of a panchayat would not only help build an atmosphere of social harmony and integration in villages, but would also help reduce litigation, besides saving the election expenses.

The Chief Minister said a panchayat having a population up to 1,500 and where the panches and the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would be given Rs 1 lakh. Panchayats where only the panches were elected unanimously would get Rs 75,000. Similarly, panchayats where only the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would be given Rs 50,000.

He said panchayats having a population between 1,500 to 4,000 and where the panches and the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would get Rs 2 lakh. Panchayats where only the panches would be elected unanimously would get Rs 1.5 lakh. Similarly, panchayats where only the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would be given Rs 1 lakh.

The Chief Minister said panchayats having a population of 4,000 and above and where the panches and the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would get Rs 3 lakh. Panchayats where only the panches would be elected unanimously would get Rs 2.5 lakh. Similarly, panchayats where only the sarpanch would be elected unanimously would be given Rs 1.5 lakh.

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GVM college students excel in MSc exam
BS Malik

Sonepat, April 29
Students of the local GVM Girls College created one sort of record by claiming not only first nine positions, but also bagging 13 out of 15 merit positions in MSc (previous) mathematics examination of MD University, Rohtak, result of which declared recently.

According to Dr Jyoti Juneja, principal of the college, Priyanka Sangal got the first position in the university by securing 408 out of 500 marks. Sonu Sangu with 396 marks got the second position, whereas Geeta and Garima with 394 marks each jointly remained at the third position.

Dr Juneja said Indu Bala with 382 marks, Kavita Malik with 379 marks, Jyotsna with 378 marks, Anita Ramuka with 375 marks, Tanuja with 373 marks and Seema with 367 marks were placed at fourth to ninth positions, respectively.

Other merit students included Usha (359) at the 11th position, Maushmi (355) at the 12th position, Deepti (351) at the 14th position and Monika (350) remained at the 15th position, the principal added.

Lauding the achievements of the students, Dr OP Pruthi, chairman, GVM management Committee, said it was primarily the efforts of the students and college teachers under the guidance of the principal.

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School board to form pool of experts
Shiv Sharma

Bhiwani, April 29
The Haryana Board of School Education has decided to make a pool of experts for assistance in the revision of the curricula, recommendation of books, setting up of question banks, evaluation, students’ counselling and inspection of polytechnics.

A spokesman for the board said here recently that counsellors, working and retired professors, assistant professors and senior faculty from engineering institutions and polytechnics of repute in the public and private sectors with an experience of 15 years either in teaching or in the industry would form the pool of experts. He said the board had invited applications for the pool of experts by May 15. The applicant would have to apply with a detailed resume in the office of the Joint Secretary, Haryana State Board of Technical Education, and the same could also be sent through email at jshsbte@gmail.com.

He said the board was also in the process of selecting quality books for polytechnic students as it was offering diploma courses in 46 trades in 156 polytechnics.

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Sonepat varsity starts more courses
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, April 29
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, has increased the number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses to 10 and 17, respectively. These include week-end courses such as masters in hospital administration, B.tech degree courses in five branches of engineering - including plastic engineering and technology materials science and nano technology and health care engineering.

According to Vice-Chancellor of the university HS Chahal, some career-oriented programmes in geographic information systems, tapping renewable and non-conventional energy sources, besides PG diploma courses in power generation, transmission and distribution, infrastructure development, urban planning and highway safety had been started in the university.

"The university is also offering a part-time course in French language. This three-month evening course, has been a great hit with both faculty and students," he said and informed that to add to the holistic development of the students, yoga classes were also being run on a regular basis.

Apart from these initiatives, Chahal said, a counselling cell had also been set up in the university. Each student of the university is under the mentorship of a counsellor who gives him guidance and help.

The counsellors on their part keep track of the activities of the students allotted to them. The main function of the counsellor is act as a link among the university authorities, the students and parents. They play an advisory role and keep all academic and non academic information about the students.

Mr Chahal also informed that development in the area of sports were also happening and a 400-metre track, new basketball, volleyball and tennis courts and a new cricket field were ready. "Besides these, a new tennis academy is nearing completion," he added.

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Reorient engg courses: Experts
Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 29
Urgent need to reorient the curriculum of engineering and technology courses to cater to the needs of the fast-changing industrial scenario was stressed at the national-level workshop on “Paradigm shift in engineering and technology: Need of the industry and institute interaction” organised by the Apex Institute of Management and Technology, Indri, 30 km from here.

Eminent engineers and technologists from reputed institutions unanimously agreed that the engineering and technology curriculum should be based on the needs of the global markets to ensure that students did not lose the competitive edge.

Regular interaction between industry and institutions was imperative to meet this objective, experts said.

Dr MN Bandhopadhaya, director, National Institute of Technology, while inaugurating the workshop, presented a broad spectrum of the present industrial scenario. Dr KC Tyagi, director of the institute, threw light on the relevance and importance of the workshop and explained the urgency of addressing the issues pertaining to curriculum of engineering courses.

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Quality education govt’s priority: CM

Panchkula, April 29
The state government is committed to providing quality education to students and a number of premier institutions are being set up for this purpose. This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing a one-day conference and a north zonal meeting of the All-India Kshatriya Federation here recently. He also announced Rs 11 lakh on the occasion.

He said Rajiv Gandhi Education City was being set up in the state that would open new vistas in the field of education. He stated that now the students would not have to go abroad for getting qualitative education as in these institutes they would be provided education on Oxford University pattern. Hooda said 25 per cent seats would be reserved for students belonging to the state in the RGEC, out of which, 10 per cent would be given full fee concession. He said another 10 per cent would get 50 per cent, while the remaining five per cent would get 25 per cent concession. — TNS

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Forest Dept begins demarcation of land
Our Correspondent

Kalka, April 29
Implementing the directions issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Department of Forest has started the demarcation of Section 4 and 5 areas in all the districts of the state. Informing this, advocate Ravi Sharma said a Pinjore-based advocate had served a legal notice to the Department of Forest on March 25, 2010, in connection with the violation of directives of the high court regarding Section 4 and 5, following which the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests had sent a letter to the advocate.

In the letter, it has been interpreted that all section 4 and 5 notifications under the Punjab Land Preservation Act,1900, have been uploaded on the website of the Department of Forest. Demarcation of Section 4 and 5 areas have already been completed in Palwal, Mahendergarh, Rewari, Faridabad, Mewat, Karnal, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Bhiwani districts. The letter also interpreted that because of time constraints of revenue officials, demarcation in Gurgaon, Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar districts could not be completed. Out of 3,5179.57 acres of section 4 and 5 in the above said four districts more than 1,8640 acres have been demarcated. The survey and demarcation work of rest of the land would soon be completed.

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Looking for mature, challenging roles, says Raveena
Attar Singh
Tribune News service

Raveena Tandon Ambala, April 29
“Now, I am 35 years old and I don’t think I will do immature acts any more,” said national award winning actress Raveena Tandon on her visit to the city recently. She said she had been signing movies selectively and choosing serious and mature roles.

Raveena, who was in Ambala Cantt to inaugurate VLCC beauty treatment centre recently, said, “There were times when I used to do purely commercial films, but now I like doing unconventional, serious and message-based cinema”.

Raveena, who is married to film distributor Anil Thadani and is a mother of two, added that her film “The Laboratory” was nearing completion. “It is a bilingual movie being made in Bengali and Hindi by a Calcutta-based production company and directed by Raja Sen, who has won several national awards. It is based on a book written by Rabindra Nath Tagore. My other forthcoming film is shot in Rajasthan which is a very strong and female-oriented film,” she added.

Raveena has always been associated with various charitable programmes. The actress is currently associated with a sponsorship programme to provide quality education to poor children. When asked about her favourite actress, she says, “I see not only a reflection but a part of me in Kareena,” she added.

Vandana Luthra, founder and mentor of VLCC group, said, “VLCC has been constantly striving to launch new and innovative solutions for consumers. Ambala is a significant market for us and we aim to provide many more innovative treatments for its residents”.

She said, “Through new offerings, we will ensure breakthrough in the skin care industry. The group has a pan-India presence with outlets in about 225 locations in 90 cities. VLCC also has 14 centres abroad, comprising 10 centres in UAE, two in Oman and one each in Bahrain and Nepal”.

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Workshop on HIV/AIDS held
Tribune News Service

Fatehabad, April 29
A workshop was organised to create awareness on HIV/AIDS in the local Manohar Memorial College of Education recently. Teachers and students from more than 12 colleges of the area participated in it.

Experts from the field of health and NGOs working in the field of HIV/AIDS explained in detail the reasons for the spread of this disease and measures to be taken to prevent it.

Dr Anamika Bishnoi, medical officer from the local general hospital, was the key speaker. She said unsafe physical relations, transfusion of infected blood, directly or using infected syringes, and needles are the primary causes through which HIV virus can enter in human body. Besides these, a child can inherit the disease by birth from HIV-infected parents. “Remember A (abstinence), B (being faithful to partner) and C (use of condom) in the matter of physical relations if you have to save yourself from the deadly disease,” Dr Anamika said.

Ramesh Chander, a counsellor in the Integrated Counselling and Training Centre on HIV/AIDS in the district, and Naveen Kumar, a counsellor with an NGO, “Women’s Organisation for Motivation and Emancipation”, also provided tips to the participants on the causes of infection and prognosis involved with it.

“Over 3.34 crore cases of HIV have been estimated in the world so far, out of which, 25 to 27 lakh are in the country alone. The estimated cases of HIV in Haryana are 40,000 and in Fatehabad district alone, 147 cases have been detected since 2005,” said Ramesh, telling about the gravity of the situation.

Mamta Chaudhary, principal of the college, said students and teachers from 15 colleges participated in the workshop. A documentary on HIV/AIDS and its prevention was also shown to the participants. Dr Anamika also released a publication of the college on this subject. She exhorted the participants to spread the message that there was a little one could do after the infection and the best way was to take precautions.

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NAAC team visits law institute
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, April 29
A two-member team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) visited the Institute of Law and Management Studies (ILMS) of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here recently.

The NAAC team comprised Prof V Vijay Kumar and Dr Sujata P Shanbag and was accompanied by Dr AS Verma from the Department of Law, MDU. The team also visited the MDU campus at Rohtak and the university’s regional centre at Rewari.

Dr Devinder Raheja, director of the institute, said the NAAC team, which had come to assess the functioning of the ILMS, was given a presentation on the academic programmes, extra-curricular activities and achievements of the institute.

The institute, which was established under the self-financing scheme, offers multidisciplinary and integrated courses, including BA, LLB, MBA (international business), MBA (general) and MBA (executive) week-end study programme.

The NAAC team evinced a keen interest in the extra-curricular activities like moot courts, legal aid awareness camps, industrial trips and workshops being organised for ILMS students.

The team members also interacted with faculty members, students and staff members. They inspected the library and construction work going on at the ILMS.

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Health director’s orders violated
Our Correspondent

Kalka, April 29
Despite the directives issued by the director general (Health Services) Haryana, the financial commissioner and the principal secretary (Health Department) Haryana, specialist doctors in community health centre (CHC), Kalka, are posted as casualty medical officers, a clear violation to the directives by the hospital administration.

According to official sources, the financial commissioner and the principal secretary had issued a letter to all civil surgeons, PMOs and medical superintendents of the state on May 19, 2009, regarding the optimum utilisation of specialist medical officers (SMO). The letter also stated that it had come to notice that PG and diploma-holder MOs are being put on postmortem, casualty and miscellaneous duties routinely and are not given adequate opportunity in their respective specialities. The letter also directed the SMOs to ensure that specialists should not be given postmortem or other miscellaneous duties routinely.

The sources further said on September 29, 2009, the director of the state General Health Services issued a letter in this regard. On January 28, 2010, a reminder was also given to the civil hospital, Kalka, which stated that it had been noticed that there are still lacunae in the instructions being followed.

However, in Kalka CHC, specialist doctors were regularly posted as casualty medical officers by the hospital administration and were also deputed on special duties at sub-centres in outreach camps and on VIP duties, the sources added.

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Woman foils bid to snatch purse, honoured
Tribune News Service

Gurgaon, April 29
Teena Sethi (30), who works as a sales manager at Hotel Vista Park here, showed exemplary courage as she not only foiled a bid by two youths to snatch her purse, but also got the duo nabbed.

Teena was going to her home from her workplace when the incident took place. It was evening time and she was on her scooty. Suddenly, two youths riding a motorcycle tried to snatch her purse.

She resisted the attempt, following which the motorcyclists hit her scooty and she fell down. One of the youths took out a knife and tried to snatch her purse, but she caught hold of him and raised an alarm. Some passers-by rushed to her rescue and nabbed the miscreants, who were later handed over to the police. An FIR under Sections 393, 397 and 307 of the IPC has been registered against the duo.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal later honoured Teena Sethi for her act of bravery. She was presented a cash reward of Rs 5,000 and a commendation letter.

The commissioner said Sethi’s brave move was a source of motivation for all residents.

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Letter

Cabinet expansion an uphill task for CM

The much-awaited expansion of the six-month-old Hooda Cabinet is yet to sail through. If reports emanating in the media are of any indication, it is going to be a Herculean task for Hooda to appease every dissatisfied section in the party by induction of just four new faces in his Council of Ministers.

The list of aspirants is too large to accommodate. While on one hand, the party’s women legislators are ruing over their dismal presence in the first round, their male counterparts are also asking for their due share. Earlier also, many fresh faces missed the cup of power owing to the inclusion of senior leaders in the Cabinet. The CM must be cursing the constitutional provisions that restrict maximum strength of the ministry in the state to 14. If it were not so, once again there would have been “no limit” and “please all” exercises as witnessed during the 90s under Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal. Though it is the CM’s prerogative whom to induct in his team, the fact is that only those would be able to get an elite chair in the state secretariat, who would have the blessings of the party’s high command. Undoubtedly, Hooda is playing his second innings of power on a much sticky wicket, notwithstanding the absence of his bête-noire.

During his previous tenure, too, Hooda appointed only a handful of chairpersons of the state boards and corporations. Hope this time these posts would be used to pacify those who can’t be inducted in the Cabinet owing to compulsions of the party to retain independents and others to remain in power. One thing is clear, whether it was 2005, when the Congress swept with more than two-third of the majority or else this time, when it just managed to form the government, woes of Hooda are not going to die down.

HEMANT KUMAR
Ambala City

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