Kaithal, May 20
Parents of Taranjeet, a local youth, who is among 17 persons presently lodged in Sharjah jail facing death sentence in the UAE, met unfamiliar visitors on Monday.

The visitors, who had come from Dubai, brought good news for the family living under stress for the past few months.

The family got some relief when the visitors told them that their son was well and efforts were on to save him. A large number of residents of Jagdish Pura village, 4-km from here, rushed to Taranjeet’s house when informed about the arrival of the Aggarwal couple.

Sudesh Aggarwal, president of Indian Punjabi Society, Sharjah, and his wife Neelam told Taranjeet’s family that their society has also come forward to help the 17 Indians presently lodged in Sharjah Jail on the charge of murdering a Pakistani national.

The society has intensified its efforts to save them. Out of those jailed, 16 were from Punjab and one from Haryana. Though the Indian government had engaged senior lawyers to fight the case the society had also started its efforts to help the convicts through all means, including a possible compromise with family of the murdered Pakistani national.

Aggarwal’s assured the family that they would do everything possible through their society to save the Indian youth, including Taranjeet. They asked the family members not to lose heart as the whole country was supporting them.

Aggarwal said advocates and representatives of various organisations had met the jailed youth several times. He said they had already called on 11 affected families in Punjab and one in Haryana and they would talk to the rest of five families.

Aggarwal said it had come to his notice that the jailed boys were from very poor families and many of them had sent their wards to Dubai by raising loans.

Hisar, May 20
The demand for amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to ban intra-gotra marriages is gaining ground. Though initially the demand was raised by khap panchayats, the proponents of the amendment now cut across caste and party lines.

The need to amend the Act is the subject of hot and animated discussions in rural as well as urban fora.

Interestingly, the amendment is being viewed not only as a tool to discourage youths from marrying within their gotras but also as the most effective way to curb kangaroo courts.

The legal fraternity has jumped on to the bandwagon. Kalam Singh Sehrawat, President of the Hisar District Bar Association, has launched a campaign to mobilise the legal fraternity in favour of the amendment. He plans to host a seminar on the issue involving legal luminaries.

Sehrawat says intra-gotra marriages should not be allowed as these tend to tear the social fabric apart. “There is sound reasoning behind the opposition to such marriages. A gotra is a clan and members of a gotra are direct descendants of same ancestors. Our culture does not provide social sanction to such marriages”, he says.

He says the talk of individual freedom notwithstanding the rural diaspora is not yet emancipated enough to accept such marriages.

A former head of a khap panchayat agrees with Sehrawat though for different reasons. He says: “You can never wish the khaps away. Even if banned, these will remain a part of rural lifestyle in Haryana. These marriages only provide them with a tool to assert themselves. If these marriages are banned, the khaps will lose their clout. With no controversial agenda, their activities will be limited to social reconstruction”.

A senior Congress leader says even though the educated elite, including the judges, talk of the right of an individual to marry a person of his or her choice, they will oppose such a marriage if the problem arises in their families. Therein lie our double standards. The overwhelming support to the demand for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act stems from the fact that individuals cutting across caste lines see the issue knocking at their own doors.

“The amendment makes sense under the present circumstances. As and when the social mores change to accept such marriages, the legal provision can always be done away with. But, at present, the issue needs to be debated seriously to prevent social upheavals”, he says.

That explains why political parties too have come out openly in favour of the amendment. The INLD has supported it and it is bound to make it a serious election issue when the time comes.

The Congressmen are in two minds. The official party line so far appears to be to oppose the demand. However, most of them know in their hearts that it will cost them dearly in the next assembly poll as such an approach will be contrary to general public opinion - right or wrong.

Panipat, May 20
The district administration has launched an extensive drive to get city roads free from illegal encroachments that have eaten into the road space across this industrial city, making it difficult for the locals to commute.

The authorities have already carried out anti-encroachment drives on the Jatal road and Asandh road. A special drive of the Panipat Municipal Corporation removed signboards and other articles placed in front of shops by a number of shopkeepers. The authorities have also issued a warning to encroachers in the city to fall in line or face strict action.

The drive was launched after following directives issued by deputy commission Vijay Singh Dahiya, who also hold the charge of MC Commissioner.

The special team confiscated articles and hoardings put up illegally outside the shops. The shopkeepers would now have to pay fines to get their articles back.

Pratap Singh, executive officer of the MC, said there would be no let up in the drive and the team would ensure that the city remained encroachment-free.

Encroachments in the city have been rampant, which have led to unending traffic woes across the city. Naresh Kumar, a local resident says the roads had virtually become every commuter's nightmare and the anti-encroachment drive has provided locals the much-needed relief.

Hawkers selling items like eatables, clothing, home utensils etc occupy government land along all important roads in the city which often results in traffic jams.

Rahul Srivastva, another resident, says most of the roads in the town are wide enough and after the encroachments were removed completely, the traffic problems would come down.

Karnal, May 20
Unaware of the adverse fallout of sharply falling water table in Karnal region for years, farmers have now started paying heed to the advice of the Agriculture Department not to sow and transplant “Agathi Sathi”, a variety of paddy, before June 15.

Due to acute water shortage and fall in water table, the government had been imposing a ban on sowing or transplantation of paddy before June 15, but its directions were flouted with impunity. But this time, there is a discernible change and farmers are voluntarily not sowing “Sathi” to conserve water with only two cases of violation reported so far.

During the past few years, the cultivation of “Sathi”, a water absorbing variety, had resulted in the sharp decline in groundwater level which fell from 6-8 ft to 17-18 ft and as a consequence Karnal was declared a “dark zone”.

“This year, the initiative taken by the Agriculture Department and the administration helped in bringing about change in the mindset of farmers and they have realised that any further decline in the water table would be ruinous and the entire region would face acute water shortage,” said Wazir Singh, subdivisional agriculture officer, Karnal.

The situation became alarming when farmers installed submersible pumps for indiscriminate extraction of groundwater and the “rice bowl” turned into “dark zone”, but the stringent action taken by the administration this year by destroying the crops in 500 to 600 acres proved a deterrent and the farmers also started cooperating, he observed.

The consumption of power had also come down as farmers did not use energy driven handpumps and tubewells. Dr SK Gupta of CSSRI also confirmed that the water level which was at six feet in 1974 has gone down to 15-18 ft today and there was a decrease of 20 to 100 cm every year.

Jhajjar, May 20
Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, is all set to tighten noose around the colleges which have been running the BEd/DEd/MEd courses without fulfilling the eligibility criteria.

Many colleges have been succeeding in getting the inspection report cleared with some minor discrepancy through managing the inspection committees or university officials.

To ensure that the colleges concerned fulfilled conditions laid out for them to run the above said courses, university authorities have constituted two separate screening committees under the chairmanship of senior professors.

These committees will not only check the authenticity of the inspection reports, but also give its recommendations on them for further consideration by the university authorities.

A communiqué in this regard has recently been shot off by the dean of the colleges development council of the university to all six members of the committees.

The first committee will be led by Prof Rajbir Singh Hooda, director Student Welfare (DSW), while Professors Hemant Lata Sharma and Amar Singh will be the other members. The second committee will be chaired by senior law professor Dr Krishan Pal Singh Mahalwar, whereas Professors Indira Dhull and Radhey Sham will be the other members of it.

According to sources, the committees have been formed following the complaints received by the university authorities alleging that a significant numbers of BEd/ DEd/ MEd colleges have been running their courses without proper infrastructure and qualified staff.

Besides this, the colleges are deliberately not making any effort to fulfil the required conditions for running the course as they know how to manage the inspection committee that comes to the college for periodical checks, the complaints say.

Interestingly, the inspection committee has to fill a performa and give details of infrastructure and staff made available by the colleges for the courses. Many colleges have been running courses unabatedly without fulfilling the basic conditions.

Vice-Chancellor of the university Dr RP Hooda said the main motive behind the constitution of the committees was to verify the inspection report of each college related to BEd/DEd/MEd course in the light of the provision given in the quantified inspection performa.

“Inspection of the college concerned will be get done again, if the screening committees find any fault in the inspection report of any college during the verification process,” said the VC, adding the committees would also make its recommendations to the authorities after verifying the inspection report thoroughly.

Jhajjar, May 20
The state government should carry out drives to make gram panchayats aware of their role in strengthening local health system as a majority of panchayat representatives do not know their powers for managing health providers. Significantly, they even do not have ample knowledge about the health services being provided at the village level.

This is the gist of a research study, recently conducted by Dr SS Chahar, director, Centre of Haryana Studies, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, on “Role of Panchayti Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the maintenance of grassroots health system”.

The study had been carried out in Bhiwani district, which was selected on the basis of indices, like education, literacy rate, number of sub-centres, PHCs, CHCs and availability of doctors per lakh population as per given in the Human Development Report, 2003. Moreover, Bhiwani was considered to be an ideal district from the health point of view as well, said Chahar.

He stated that six gram panchayats, two block samitis and one zila parishad of the district were selected for the study.

As many as 136 elected representatives, including 60 members from gram panchayats, 48 from panchayat samitis and 28 from zila parishads were chosen in order to know their views about the roles of PRIs in the maintenance of grassroots health system in the state, Chahar said.

As per recommendations of the Planning Commission, though the role of PRIs was very crucial in taking health services at the grass root level, but the study revealed that more than 87.49 per cent representatives of the gram panchayats were not aware of their powers, said the director.

He said the involvement of the PRIs was rare in health system as more than 90 per cent respondents of the study told that neither panchayats had any specific health programmes of their own nor it made any effort to bring their problems regarding health issues to the notice of government officials.

During the study, more than 87 per cent respondents opined that the panchayats were lacking funds, technical knowledge, cooperation from health staff and community participation. This was the reason that the PRIs were not doing what was expected of them, said Chahar.

He said the main objective of the study was to examine the roles, responsibility and powers of the PRIs in the healthcare systems, besides going through the ground reality of health schemes being provided by the state.

Faridabad, May 20
CBI raids on filling stations in Faridabad district in quick succession in the past about seven days has caused anxiety among owners of other stations.

The first two raids were conducted on the filling stations of Sanjeev Saluja, son of Vasudev Saluja, a senior Congress leader of Haryana. Incidentally, Sanjeev is the president of the District Faridabad Petrol Pump Association.

The raid evinced keen interest in the political and business circles because of the family’s known business and political connections. Salujas run petrol pumps of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

Following this, CBI teams swooped on three filling stations in Ballabgarh. The three filling stations were of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and BPCL.

The pattern of the CBI visits and investigations were similar. They checked the entire infrastructure, including weight and measurement machines, underground oil tanks, records, documents etc. They stopped the operations at the pumps while the team collected samples.

There are more than 40 filling stations in this district. Voicing concerns of the owners, Sanjeev Saluja said the move of the CBI teams to stop the sale of petrol and diesel during the time they collected samples was wrong. “It damages the reputation of the filling station even though they come out clean after verification of the samples”.

According to him, the association of petrol pumps here have taken up the issue with its national body, which has already taken up the issue with the Ministry of Petroleum.

Besides raids, the point of discussions here is the reason behind the CBI move. The only saving grace for the owners in Faridabd is that the CBI has conducted raids on filling stations in various parts of the country in the past about 10 days.

It is said that the Petroleum Ministry has received reports of nexus between officers of oil companies and owners of filling stations. Also, some filling stations do not abide by norms and guidelines. There are also complaints of a good number of fillings stations selling adulterated petrol and diesel.

A source said differential VAT rate was also encouraging interstate smuggling of petrol and diesel. For example, VAT on petrol and diesel in Haryana was about 7 per cent less in comparison to Delhi. Hence, it becomes a profitable business for unscrupulous elements to smuggle petrol and diesel from Haryana to Delhi, perhaps in collusion with owners of filling stations and officials of oil companies. Reports are that the CBI was zeroing in on these possibilities during their visits to the pumps.

Sonepat, May 20
The Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, and Advance Technology, Chandigarh, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to impart training to the students of this university and neighbouring technical institutes.

University registrar RK Arora and chief mentor of Advance Technology BK Sharma signed the pact on May 12.

University Vice-Chancellor HS Chahal said technology was witnessing unprecedented levels of growth, regardless of size and sector due to research and development in industries, universities and other institutes.

"The pace of technology advancement is nearly the same in India but it has been felt that there is a wide gap between these as far as research and development are concerned," he said, adding that sincere efforts were required to bridge this gap.

Chahal said this was only possible if some hands-on-training was provided to the students. "This pact will provide summer training to the students from this year but shall be extended to bigger canvas further," he added.

The Advance Technology will provide the latest equipment and training and DCRUST will provide faculty and accommodation on the campus.

The Advance technology would later assist in syllabi revision of various courses in collaboration with the university. The agreement was initially done for three years but might be extended.

Sirsa, May 20
"Modern day journalism requires a lot of practical and technical training and journalism education cannot be limited to bookish knowledge. Those graduating from institutions focusing on theoretical knowledge before joining the profession are compelled to learn several things afresh in the field".

Tejinder Singh, a senior journalist and chairperson of the Newsmakers Committee of National Press Club, Washington, opined this while interacting with CDLU radio director Virender Singh Chauhan in a telephonic interview from the US. The interview was broadcast as part of CDLU radio's "Hello Sirsa" programme.

Tejinder Singh, a former editor-in-chief of New Europe and a former special correspondent of the All-India Radio, has worked in several countries as a journalist and is presently working for AHN Media Corp (US) and also for Headlines Today and Aaj Tak.

Tejinder Singh, who dropped out of the IIT, Kharagpur, to become a journalist, said his then dean, Prof MN Farooqi, who later rose to become vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, had ridiculed his decision to leave the IIT by saying that he would be forced to sell peanuts.

But at no stage in his life he had regretted for his decision. Rather, he claims that his success in life was enough to demonstrate that to achieve name and fame and heights in life, one need not run after engineering or other similar career options. Responding to a question posed by Chauhan, Tejinder Singh said the financial status of working journalists was almost similar all over the world.

About the immature and irresponsible manner in which Indian media and especially some news channels worked during the Mumbai terror attacks, he expressed anguish and pain. He said media in the US behaved in an entirely different way in issues related to national security. He said what some Indian news channels did while covering the Mumbai attacks was sensationalism and not journalism at all. He wondered why the Indian government did not jam their frequencies at that time.

Tejinder Singh said real journalism was investigative journalism. Reporting spot events and routine things could be done equally well even by a new entrant. Going beyond what was visible over the surface was investigative journalism, he said, claiming that quality investigative journalism was still being practiced in European countries. Asked to comment about the state of investigative journalism in India, he said the scene in India was not much encouraging.

He said in India, almost all media houses had some agenda and you could feel that things got a spin in a certain way to serve the agenda of these organisations. This downtrend was probably an outcome of the cutthroat competition, he added.

Kaithal, May 20
The local police nabbed a convict undergoing life imprisonment for a murder, who was out on parole and did not return on scheduled time as he wanted to eliminate his wife and her alleged paramour.

The police nabbed him before he could execute his murder plan. The accused, Hukmi (35), had gone missing after his four-week parole came to an end on May 1. During interrogation, he told the police that he had doubt over the character of his wife and wanted to eliminate her and her paramour which was why he did not return to the jail.

SSP Sandeep Khirwar said Hukmi, a resident of Sherdha village, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court and was undergoing lodged in Karnal Jail. He along with his father and brother had murdered his uncle in 1995 over some land dispute. He came out of jail on four-week parole on April 2.

When he did not turn up on May 1, Joginder Singh, deputy superintendent, Karnal Jail, informed the Kaithal police. A police party, headed by SI Kashmir Singh, raided a hideout of the convict and arrested him.

Khirwar said in another case, the CIA branch of the district police arrested a thief and recovered two motorcycles stolen by him from Delhi. The accused has been identified as Pardeep, a resident of Khanoda in Pundri sub-tehsil of Kaithal district. He was coming to Kaithal on a motorcycle without number plate, which was found to have been stolen from Delhi.

Rewari, May 20
The Government Employees Welfare Organisation (GEWO), a Delhi-based NGO, recently launched an awareness campaign with a view to educating children of poor families at Jatusana village in the district.

"We construct houses for government employees, and hence the name. The money earned through this is spent on the GEWO Shiksha Jyoti Pariyojna under which we adopt/set up primary schools in the areas where these are needed," says Sonam Singh, organiser of the project.

Schools adopted by GEWO are functioning in the areas of Palam Colony, Rajapuri and Mohan Garden in Delhi, she maintains, adding that children studying at these schools come from families of blue-collared employees, including vegetable-vendors, rickshaw-pullers and other similar workers.

"Apart from educating the children and spreading healthcare awareness in their families, we also provide vocational training to the underprivileged women," says Sonam Singh, adding that their NGO also provides books and toys etc to the children.

Their next target, she says, is to expand their base towards Gurgaon and focus on the education of girls.

Rewari, May 20
The lackadaisical approach of the state as well as the Higher Education Department towards government college teachers long-standing demands came in for sharp criticism at a meeting of the state executive committee of the Haryana Government College Teachers’ Association (HGCTA), held under the chairmanship of its state president Rajender Kumar at Rohtak recently.

The members said in spite of the Chief Minister’s announcement made at a Teachers’ Day function held at Chandigarh in September 2008, the conferment of class-I status on government college teachers had been lying in abeyance, much to the chagrin of the HGCTA.

Similarly, owing to flawed implementation of the rural area policy of the state government, numerous college teachers had been suffering from deprivation of senior scale as well as selection grade, they lamented.

The members also rued that the inordinate delay in the notification of recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission in accordance with the MHRD notification, non-provision of uniform transfer policy and appointment of college teachers on election duty had been causing considerable inconveniences to them.

Stating that the HGCTA had already written an open letter to all MLAs, MPs and other officers concerned, seeking their support for the speedy implementation of their above demands, HGCTA president Rajender Kumar announced that they would launch an agitation in case the government still persisted in its dilly-dallying approach.

He has more than 120 publications in international / national journals and conferences. He is recipient of 'the George Ooman Memorial Prize' for 1991-92 and a research award titled "The Certificate of Merit - 2000" for the paper entitled ESMD- 'An Expert System for Medical Diagnosis' from the Institution of Engineers, India. As Dean of the science faculty, his emphasis will be on providing quality education to the students.