Chandigarh, June 21
The vesting of wide-ranging powers in the National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) in the draft Higher Education and Research Bill, 2010, circulated by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, has raised heckles in the Haryana Education Department.

The NCHER would have academic, non-academic, accreditation, advisory, regulatory, monitoring and funding powers. It would also develop norms and mechanisms for financial evaluation of higher education and research.

Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal feels that with such a high degree of concentration of power, there is a danger of the new organisation becoming a powerful controlling body, if not an authoritarian one. Also, the NCHER might get overburdened with responsibilities, affecting its efficiency adversely.

She is of the view that it may be necessary to have specialised organisations for development of specialised branches of education. The advantages of having a single body are not clear while the possible disadvantages and losses are clear, she says.

Haryana also wants that the power to give permission for opening new colleges should rest with the state universities.

The state wants that some remedial steps should be taken for full utilisation of existing educational institutions. The capacity of such institutions can be expanded quickly and at a much less cost as compared to the opening of new institutions, particularly in view of the prevailing acute shortage of well-qualified and experienced faculty.

Haryana also wants a reconsideration of the provision concerning “core fellows”. The draft Bill says the term of a core fellow will be for life. This, Bhukkal says, would ultimately generate vested interests and hamper progress. She also points out that in the draft Bill, the number of core fellows and their appointing authority has not been elaborated. For co-opting fellows also, the state would depend on the mercy of core fellows to finalise their nominations.

The state’s reservations were expressed by Bhukkal at the 57th meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) held in Delhi recently.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Haryana government has reserved one seat in each discipline in every technical institution for Kashmiri migrants and Haryana government senior secondary school toppers (HGST).

Stating this here recently, a spokesman for the Haryana State Counselling Society (HSCS) said the seat for Kashmiri migrants was supernumerary that was over and above the sanctioned intake, whereas a seat for the HGST was within the sanctioned intake.

The admission under the Kashmiri migrant category would be made on the basis of merit in the qualifying examination subject to fulfilling the eligibility criteria. For admission against these seats, the Kashmiri migrants were required to submit the attested copy of the migration certificate duly signed by the competent authority or relief commissioner and attested copy of marks sheet of qualifying examination, he added.

The spokesman said online payment of counselling fee of Rs 500 would be non-refundable and submission of application form for BE or BTech course could be made up to June 25, for BE or BTech (lateral entry) up to August 3, for B Pharmacy up to June 21, for B Pharmacy (lateral entry) up to August 3, for MBA up to July 16, for MCA up to July 9 and for BHM&CT up to June 28.

The online registration for counselling could be made for BE or BTech course from July 6 to 14, for BE or BTech (lateral entry) from August 9 to 10, for B Pharmacy from June 28 to July 11, for B Pharmacy (lateral entry) from August 9 to 10, for MBA from July 26 to 28, for MCA from July 19 to 21 and for BHM and CT from July 3 to 5, he added.

Ambala, June 21
PKR Jain Public School, Ambala City, honoured the students achieving meritorious positions in the matric and senior secondary examinations. The parents of these students were also honoured for the achievements of their wards.

Principal Jyotsna Sachdeva said a school was known for education delivered to its students. A good teacher and a good student were the true recognition of a school. She asked the students to pay due regards to their parents and teachers.

Rattan Chand Jain, chairman of the management committee, said honouring the students that the parents could play an important role in building their children’s future. The students credited the teachers for their achievements.

Rewari, June 21
On a directive from Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the UHBVN and the DHBVN have enforced a schedule of eight-hour power daily to tubewells for the kharif crops from June 19 throughout the state.

Simultaneously, a minimum of 12-hour electricity supply is also being provided to domestic consumers.

HPCC spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi said the eight-hour power supply schedule comprised an uninterrupted seven-hour supply to tubewells in the farm sector and a one-hour daily supply to run water supply projects in the rural areas of the state.

Earlier, during the kharif season an assured power supply benefited paddy growers only whereas producers of bajra, jowar and guar in south Haryana received power supply only when it was surplus with the authorities.

For the first time paddy growers and bajra growers of south Haryana would be on a par in the matter of eight-hour power supply schedule.

Nuh (Mewat), June 21
A Gurgaon-based NGO, the Institute for Rural Research and Development (IRRAD), in collaboration with the state Department of Agriculture, has launched a drive to prepare soil profile and fertility maps to assess the status of soil fertility in the Mewat area.

The institute functionaries maintain that it would help in identifying the range of exiting soil types in the district and deficiencies of various macro and micronutrients in the soil.

Apart from classifying the land in the entire district on the basis of the status of soil texture and nutrients, the exercise also aims at developing a strategy/model for integrated soil-health management.

Pawan Kumar, programme leader (income enhancement) at IRRAD, maintains that the soil fertility maps of Mewat would be helpful in developing a strategy for soil-health improvement in the district.

“The identification of severely affected pockets will be useful in drawing the attention of the authorities concerned towards the soil health of the region,” he points out, adding that the soil maps would also serve as reference database that could be used by government agencies such as the agriculture/horticulture department, NGOs, researchers and extension workers.

The IRRAD is facilitating the collection of soil samples with location coordinates (longitude and latitude) of the sampling sites using the GPS technology. The exercise is expected to be completed in June-July. After getting the soil samples analysed, the state Agriculture Department will issue soil health card to the farmers.

Approximately 1,500 samples will be collected from 430-odd villages of Mewat district, collecting one sample from every sq km.

Jind, June 21
Some social activists have launched a unique hands-on training-cum-awareness programme for rural women in various aspects of farming and related activities. The training will also focus on proper guidance for the management of various types of pests and farmer-friendly tips.

Sponsored by the Agriculture Department, the camp and the interaction programme will be held every Tuesday at Nidana village in this district, said Dr. Surender Dalal, coordinator of the programme. Named as ‘ Khet Pathshala, the drive is perhaps the first to have been started for women, who are an important player in the farm sector.

The first pathshala held on Tuesday last attracted 30 women from the village. The participants, divided into five groups, were told about various types of pests present in the fields, especially insects found during this season.

This weekly programme would also have experts from various sectors so that farming could be made more natural and free from chemical pesticides, besides ensuring that it becomes a profitable venture. 

Faridabad, June 21
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s participation in sports activities is proving infectious, especially for the youth. Besides, a good number of senior Congress leaders in the state also appeared to have motivated and reports suggest that they have dusted up their tracksuits and shorts to indulge in calisthenics and improve their health by including morning exercises in their daily chores.

Vishal Chaudhary, a final year law student and a resident of Jharsa village in Gurgaon district, says he is impressed by the fact that a senior politician like Hooda is involved in sports activities, especially in lawn tennis. According to him, he turned to gym and aerobic exercises on a regular basis when he learnt from newspapers and public discourse on Chief Minister’s sports activities.

Bunny Chibbar, who was recently elected as president of Ward 15 in Faridabad in the recent election of youth wing of the state Congress, and Prem Singh, secretary of Youth wing of the Faridabad District Congress Committee (DCC), say young leaders in their party take inspiration from the sporting activities of Hooda. The fact that Hooda has emerged from the ranks of the Indian Youth Congress cadre is another factor attracting the younger brigade in the party towards him.

The Chief Minister, who will turn 63 in September, as a matter of routine gets to the lawn tennis court by about seven in the morning. Even when he is on a tour, the authorities there or his party men arrange for a makeshift tennis court for him. Team partners and opposition teams are created from among local party leaders. Lively and eager officers as well as commoners at the court also pass muster on the occasion to give company to the Chief Minister to play lawn tennis.

Recently, he not only inaugurated the 2010-Tennis Tournament of Brassey Avenue Club in the national capital but also played in the tournament and his team emerged winner. A total of 18 teams took part in the tournament. Each team was a doubles team with one player above the age of 50 years and the other below 50.

On the occasion, Hooda was reported to have stated that he was very happy to be with players. He further said whenever he was in Delhi and Chandigarh he played tennis, but enjoyed playing it more in Delhi. Mostly senior central government officers are members of Brassey Avenue Club.

When asked about his sports activities recently, Hooda said for him sports educated a person on every nuance and aspect of life. It imbues one on the culture of tolerance, equanimity during ups and downs of life, teamwork and coordination and sincere hard work and love for ones opponents, fair play and discipline. According to him, it was both the mind and body that made up a composite and balanced personality.

He said a study of the progress and advancement of the countries in the world revealed that there was a strong culture of sports in the nation concerned.

Panipat, June 21
In order to check any spread of diseases during the ensuing rainy season, the Health Department has launched a special drive in the district.

Deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said the drive would aim at curbing bacterial and other diseases by initiating all preventive measures for which the health authorities had been asked to make elaborate plans and also to generate awareness amongst the masses.

He said fever of various types and other water-borne diseases, along with malaria and dengue, were quite common during rainy seasons and it was the moral duty of the authorities concerned to take appropriate steps that were in the best interest of the general populace.

Dahiya said during the drive, the department would ensure that proper information about the spread of several diseases and their preventions were provided to common man through a rigorous campaign.

In case, there was of a spread of any disease, the department would take proper measures so that it could be curtailed.

He stated that department officials had been asked to keep all arrangements ready. He said people would be asked not to allow accumulation of rainwater in the vicinities of their houses and to make sure that pits in their surroundings were covered with mud to prevent collection of water in them.

He said the administration would closely monitor the drive to make certain that there were no letups.

Faridabad, June 21
The newly elected mayor of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad, Ashok Arora, has set out the civic body’s priorities, which include providing ample water to residents. Arora said his foremost priority would be to provide ample potable water to the people and in this regard, the MC would install more tubewells. When pointed out about the financial crunch the civic body was facing, he said that the MC would try to tap all resources at its disposal.

“It will set its focus in collecting taxes due from the people. House tax will also be a good source of income for the civic body,” he added. Arora said he had asked the newly elected councillors to impress upon people of their area to pay their dues. He said cleaning up the city, well-maintained parks, ample street lightings were other key areas where the MCF would be focusing. According to him, the state government was also keen on giving boost to the development process in Faridabad.

The MCF would try to take benefit from this, he added. He asserted that he had support of all elected councillors and also of MLAs and ministers from Faridabad. Hence, it would not be difficult to undertake development works by the MCF, he added.

Sirsa, June 21
Drinking water woes of Sirsa residents have attracted the attention of MP Ashok Tanwar, who says he will utilise major part of his MPLAD funds for providing drinking water facilities to the residents.

Tanwar was on-air on Hello Sirsa programme of the community radio station of Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, here recently.

Responding to residents’ queries, Tanwar said a pilot project to hone spoken English skills of schoolgoing kids had been prepared for residents of the district, under which initially nine schools would be provided professional spoken English training facility.

For the purpose, nine schools had already been identified and the project would be launched soon, he said, adding that a financial assistance of over Rs 22 lakh would be provided for the project from the MPLAD fund.

He said he would try his best to help the CDLU to grow into a centre of academic excellence.

He stated that efforts must be made to bring more and more academicians of repute on the staff of the university and more professional and technical courses should be introduced.

Responding to a demand by several radio listeners that the power of the CDLU Radio’s transmitter should be enhanced to increase its coverage area, the MP assured that he would take up the matter with Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni.

He also asked station director and Mass Communication Department’s head Virender Singh Chauhan to move papers in this regard, adding that he would provide financial assistance for the purpose provided the requisite permission was granted by the Centre.

The MP said he would interact with people of the community radio station at least once in a month from the platform of Hello Sirsa.

Later, he met CDLU Vice-Chancellor ML Ranga and discussed various issues related to the development and expansion of the university.

He assured the Vice-Chancellor that he would take up the matter of central grants with authorities concerned so that various projects, including the proposed Ambedkar hostel and a working women hostel could get an early clearance. 

Rewari, June 21
Following Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s recent reassertion regarding his pursuit for a separate high court for Haryana through his much-sought bifurcation of the existing Punjab and Haryana High Court into two separate high courts for Punjab and Haryana, respectively, Naresh Chauhan, a senior advocate of the Rewari region and convener of the “nyay aapke dwar abhiyan” (campaign for justice at your doorstep) has sent a communication to the Chief Minister urging him to comprehend the ground reality and act accordingly in the interest of people.

The Chief Minister’s reaffirmation of his resolve came in as an informal rejoinder to the former Union Law Minister and now Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj’s recent elucidation wherein he stated that Haryana’s demand for a separate high court at Chandigarh was a political ploy and could never become a reality.

With due deference to the Chief Minister’s commitment for the creation of a separate high court for Haryana at Chandigarh, Chauhan humbly pointed out that while the existence of Section 29 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, in its present form impaired the feasibility of bifurcation of the existing Punjab and Haryana High Court, the continuance of Chandigarh as a Union Territory was overtly and covertly detrimental to such a proposition as well.

He further stated that it was something agonising that while the government of Haryana, which persistently stood deprived of a capital of its own, had been functioning from UT Chandigarh whose proprietary rights had been ironically eluding both Haryana and Punjab.

Simultaneously, drawing the Chief Minister’s attention to the predicament of lakhs of poor people residing in the far-flung areas of Haryana, Chauhan pointed out that the existing Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh vis-à-vis the pursuit of justice had always been beyond the reach of these hapless people owing to Chandigarh’s remoteness and non-availability of cheap and convenient means of transport.

He asked if it was not the consequential responsibility of the state government to bring the high court’s services within easy and inexpensive reach of these poor people. Chauhan further asked the Chief Minister that instead of frittering away precious time and energy on the creation of a separate high court for Haryana at Chandigarh, which, according to HR Bhardwaj could never become a reality, if it was not desirable as well as vitally important, to go in for the establishment of a Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court somewhere in Haryana, for which a provision exists in Section 36 (2) of the Punjab Reorganisation Act.

Chandigarh, June 21
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has reviewed the levy on peak load exemption charges for power during peak load hours. It has been decided that if the consumption of a consumer during peak load hours in a month exceeds the permitted limit, the entire consumption during peak load hours shall be charged at Rs 4 per unit extra over and above the normal tariff.

A spokesman said here recently that the nigam would not treat it as violation of power regulatory measures and electricity supply of the consumer would not be disconnected.

Meanwhile, considering the demand of shifting of load from rural to urban feeders by a large number of industrial and non-domestic consumers, the UHBVN has framed a policy for allowing shifting to such applicants. The permission will be granted to those existing consumers whose premises were located in the area contiguous to the urban areas. The applicant will be required to bear the entire cost of shifting.

The consumer will have no right for the shifting of connection from rural to urban mode if the system conditions do not permit for that. Each case will be considered on merit. The permission of shifting will be granted to those applicants only who had made payment of their electricity bills and dues. The new connections will be released from the nearest feeder of the appropriate category and in no case the load will be unnecessarily extended from urban to rural zones.

The intermixing of power supply of urban and rural areas will not be allowed as that might lead to accidents and create operation and maintenance problem for the staff.

Karnal, June 21
Leaving politics behind, the Haryana unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has put environment preservation on the top of agenda and pledged to make the state green and pollution free and revive the rivers.

Chaudhary Ved Prakash, president of the state NCP, vowed to get same reverence for the Yamuna as sacred river like the Ganga and make efforts to find out the "disappeared Saraswati".

Telling about the party's plan at the inauguration of the week-long celebrations to mark the foundation day of the NCP, Chaudhary said another "sangam", confluence of the Yamuna and the lost Saraswati, would be created at some place close to Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar.

Chaudhary strongly supported the demand for the amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to annul same Gotra marriages and stated that it was an integral part of our rich cultural heritage and traditions being practiced for centuries, which needed to be safeguarded. Moreover, same Gotra marriages lead to biological and physiological degeneration of offsprings, he asserted.

Stressing the need to adopt a pro-active approach to eradicate social evils like foeticide, child marriages and dowry deaths, Chaudhary asked the party members to take a pledge to root out such evils from the society.

Ambala, June 21
The Haryana government has recently increased annual turnover criteria of pharma manufacturing units from Rs 3 crore to Rs 35 crore to put an end to the supply of substandard medicines by weeding out unscrupulous manufacturers from bidding for government supply.

Vinod Gupta, president, Haryana Chapter of the SPIC, laments that instead of taking decisive action under the Drug Act/relevant sections of the IPC against the erring manufacturers and their cohorts in the government machinery, the government raised the annual turnover criteria to Rs 35 crore, thereby rendering the entire small and medium-scale pharma enterprises ineligible for government supply.

He said as various representations to the state government proved futile, the Haryana chapter of the SPIC took up the matter with the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemical & Fertilisers, Government of India. The ministry has taken up the matter with the state government. Sadly, the state government continues to sit on an advisory sent to the Chief Secretary on March 31, 2010, and a reminder on April 23, 2010.

Gupta informed that Ashok Kumar, secretary, DoP, wrote to the Chief Secretary, Haryana, on March 31 that unwarranted increase should be withdrawn. He has reminded the state government that 40 per cent of pharma production in the small scale sector goes to large houses/MNCs as job work. As such, their quality potential should not be doubted.

He further stated that such a policy would hamper the future of units in the proposed pharma park at Rohtak. This park is being planned by the HSIDC in collaboration with the DoP. Going further, he stated that an all-out effort should be made to help the SME pharma sector in the country due to its huge potential of increasing industrial and economic prosperity as well as being a source of employment across a wide range of skill sets.

The president appealed to Bhupinder Singh Hooda to follow the example of the CMs of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand who guard the interests of pharma units which have come there after MRP-based excise regime came into being in 2005. Seventy per cent of all pharma production in the country at present is done in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Sirsa, June 21
Sharda, a deaf and dumb woman from Meerpur village in this district, could neither read nor write when the Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA) took a decision to adopt this village for literacy two months ago.

Now, she can write her name, read the names of fruits and vegetables from the book supplied to her and describe that in her own special manner.

Meera, another woman of the village, could not make out the destination of buses parked in the bus stand from their route boards, but now she can confidently board in the right bus.

Kamlesh used to give her thumb impression, when there was any need, but she proudly put her signature when she went to polling booth to cast her vote last week.

Efforts of the local chapter of the AFWWA led by Ashima Sabharwal, wife of Group Captain Anil Sabharwal, Station Commander of Air Force Station, Sirsa, have started bearing fruits and as many as 40 rural women, besides some children, have been taking their literacy lessons from AFWWA members at a village commonplace.

“Our members have been making an endeavour to train the village womenfolk about the ways to prepare and manage their family budget in accordance to their family incomes, besides providing them lessons on letters and figures,” said Ashima.

She, along with several other members of her organisation, has been coming out of the confines of their air-conditioned houses to be among rural women in this scorching heat.

“We try to make women aware of their health problems and provide solution to their queries on various common issues,” she added.

AFWWA members make women aware of social issues like female foeticide, dowry problem and child marriages and the impact these issues have on society. They also tell them how women could improve the situation by standing against these evils.

Women were also advised to ensure good education for their girl children. Ashima said the results so far have been satisfactory, but much more was needed to be done to ameliorate the lives of women. Besides Ashima, other members of the AFWWA, Amanpreet, Satya, Sunita, Maya Singh, Renu, Parveen Gaur, Sangeeta Nath and Ritu Nayak have been putting up their labour in improving the lot of rural women.

Jind, June 21
About Rs 2.2 crore has been disbursed as financial aid among 1756 girls for marriage under the Indira Gandhi Vivah Shagun Yojna during the past financial period in the district.

Among the beneficiaries include 864 girls from the Scheduled Caste(SC) category,, 407 from the Backward class(BC), 178 widows of the SC, 106 widows from the BC, 126 girls and 75 widows from the general category.

Implemented by the Social Welfare Department, the government has allowed an Rs 31,000 as ‘shagun’ for the daughters of widows of all categories) at the time of their marriage. The girls hailing from the BC section have been made eligible to receive Rs 11,000 as ‘ shagun’ at the time of marriage.

At least five couples were given a special incentive of Rs 50,000 each for going in for inter-caste marriages.

Besides, the government provides financial help to the SC and BC families for construction and repair of their houses, said Deputy Commissioner Abhay Singh. About Rs 2.8 crore was disbursed among about 676 beneficiaries during the past financial year.

While Rs 50,000 was given for a new house, the eligible families could get an aid of Rs 10,000 each for repair of their houses under the scheme.

The state government provides an incentive of about Rs 50,000 in a year to those village panchayats that do exceptionally well in development works related to the welfare of SC and Backward classes.