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Demand for relaxing ban on rice export
Paddy, cotton arrivals tardy
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Bar Council may de-recognise university law dept
3 new awards for women
No bias in development works, says CM
Haryanvi TV serial on Kargil martyr’s family
Assistant engineers
seek better wages
Over 10 booked for rioting
CCTV cameras at bus stands, rly stations
Pension plan
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Demand for relaxing ban on rice export
Karnal, October 17 There is a huge demand for non-basmati rice in several countries due to decreased production in Pakistan, China and some other countries. The countries are turning to Vietnam and Thailand for imports as Indian exporters were not permitted to export non-basmati rice, says Vijay Setia, president, All-India Rice Exporters Association. “There is a possibility of the Union Government allowing export of about 5 lakh tonnes of non-basmati rice due to the burgeoning buffer stock,” he said. Setia recently made a presentation at the World Rice Commerce Conference in Singapore. Faced with an acute shortage of quality storage facilities and with bulk procurement of non-basmati rice continuing, the government must allow export of superior quality non-basmati rice and also make levy share of 75 per cent “optional” to save rice from rotting and prices crashing, he told TNS on the phone. “It is the most opportune time to relax ban on the export of non-basmati rice to earn foreign exchange, stabilise rice prices and ensure higher returns to growers”, he observed. The export of basmati rise was expected to cross 3 million tonnes this year as the area under basmati had increased by about 25 per cent. A bumper crop was expected because of the good monsoon this year. “Why should the government procure paddy when the buffer stocks have grown four times and reached saturation. The millers are reluctant to buy paddy and there are sufficient stocks for supply of food- grain to the poor under the PDS,” he observed. Setia expressed concern over reports that the government was considering allowing export of PAU 201 and cautioned that export of any sub-standard variety of basmati would damage the reputation of India as a major basmati exporter. He suggested that the same should be sold through open auction within the country. According to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), the export of the premium aromatic rice increased by a hefty 44 per cent from 1.6 million tonnes in 2008-09 to 2.3 million tonnes in 2009-10 and in value terms, exports crossed Rs 12,000 crore last fiscal as against Rs 9,476 crore in 2008-09. Industry sources say the country exported 9.04 lakh tonne basmati between April-July while the contracted amount of exports till August was more than 1.15 million tonnes. The exports during 2010-11 are expected to touch 3 million tonnes. “Our main markets are Gulf countries with rice exports to Iran and Saudi Arabia constituting close to 60 per cent of the total exports. Till date there is no cause for concern on basmati rice exports,” says Asit Tripathy, chairman, Apeda. “This year the basmati acreage has been good as there have been no reports of any major disease to the standing crop and markets in Europe, the US and the Middle East remain the key regions for exploring exports,” said Ashwani Arora, joint managing director of LT foods, a leading exporter of basmati with a turnover of Rs 1,400
crore. |
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Paddy, cotton arrivals tardy
Sirsa, October 17 Owing to the untimely rains that lashed the entire region from September 17 to September 21, farmers appear to have suffered much more damage to their crops than they were anticipating at that time.“After the rains, I thought the loss to my cotton crop may not exceed 10 to 15 per cent. Now, when the picking of the crop has started, the per acre yield has come down to six quintals against last year’s yield of 10 to 11 quintals per acre,” said Gurdial Mehta, who had grown Bt cotton on his 30 acres at Panjuana village on the Dabwali road. Ravi Punia, Joint Director (Cotton), Agriculture Department, Haryana, however, maintained that the total loss to the crop due to the late rains might not exceed 15 per cent. “The loss is more pronounced in areas which are irrigated by canals as the rains inflicted more damage there. While relatively arid areas like Ellenabad, Dabwali and Nathusari Chopta have suffered lesser damage,” Punia claimed. He said certain varieties of the Bt cotton had suffered more damage and the department was making a list of such varieties. Punia said permission to such varieties might not be granted next year. Meanwhile, paddy farmers have been experiencing a lot of problems in the Sirsa grain market as private millers are not offering remunerative rates while government agencies are not coming to their rescue. Karam Sing from Mallenkan alleged that millers were offering Rs 930 per quintal for his parmal paddy, while the government rate was Rs 1,030. Gulab Rai, another farmer from Bajekan village, alleged that he had brought his crops to the mandi three days ago, but these were yet to be purchased. He alleged the authorities were hand in glove with millers and they had to sell their produce at cheaper rates. |
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Panipat roads turn death traps
Panipat, October 17 A visit to the area revealed that the roads have been reduced to strteches of mud. A channel dug along the road, probably for construction of a drain to flush out rainwater, has been left unattended. Residents feel the channel could prove fatal for commuters. Upset at the reluctance shown by the authorities to re-carpet the roads, the residents have decided to boycott the next assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections to register their protest. Naresh Yadav, a resident, said even though citizens paid several taxes to the government, they remained bereft of basic facilities. These roads do not have streetlights making it even more difficult for the commuters to use these after sunset. Raman Verma, another resident, said in the past 15 years several politicians had visited their locality and promised to put these roads back to shape, but had done nothing in this regard. He said the roads were not only risky, but also showed the indifference of the government towards the needs of the
people. |
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Bar Council may de-recognise university law dept
Sirsa, October 17 The provisional recognition given to the department for a period of three years ended in the academic session 2008-2009. The BCI refused to issue permanent recognition to the department after several shortcomings were found in the inspection held in October 2009. The BCI is the statutory body, which lays down standards of legal education and recognises universities, whose degrees in law shall be the qualification for enrolment as an
advocate. Of late, the BCI’s Legal Education Committee had shown strict adherence to rules with regards to the recognition of institutes imparting legal education. It had even gone to the extent of refusing recognition to some well-known institutes after finding shortcomings. It had exhibited strict stance where the institutes had been found lacking in infrastructure and faculty. The Law Department of the university has been running a three-year and a five-year bachelors’ course in law as well as masters degree in law, though the recognition from the BCI is required for undergraduate course only. However, the inspection team of the BCI found several shortcomings in the department. According to its norms, the department should have an independent block of building and an independent library, besides a legal aid clinic, a seminar hall and separate common rooms for boys and girls. While giving a provisional recognition to the university in 2005, the BCI had asked the authorities to fulfil the conditions by the time the renewal was due. However, the university failed to comply with any condition when the inspection was held in October last year. For continuing the courses, the university required to invite the inspection team again to show them that the shortcomings found by them had been removed. But things had not improved much since then. The BCI requires 10
permanent faculty members, besides the chairperson, but the CDLU does not even comply with the minimum UGC requirement of one professor, two associate professors and four assistant professors to run a department. The department shares the second floor on the Tagore Bhawan with other departments and does not have its own library as required under the norms. Vice-Chancellor KC Bhardwaj said the department was in the process of fulfilling all requirements according to the BCI norms. Dr BP Singh, chairperson of the Law Department, said though the department does not had a separate library at present, all kind of books expected in a good law college were available in the university. |
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3 new awards for women
Chandigarh, October 17 Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said here today that the proposal for the new awards had been cleared by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The three awards would be the Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award, the Kalpana Chawla Shaurya Award and the Behan Shanno Devi Panchyati Raj Award. The Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award would carry Rs 1 lakh while the Kalpana Chawla Shaurya Award and the Behan Shanno Devi Panchyati Raj Award would carry Rs 51,000 each. Yadav said the Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award would be given to women who did selfless service to society and were a role model for others as a result of their exemplary work in the rehabilitation of women and children, especially in difficult circumstances, and promoting self-help groups and taking initiatives for women empowerment. The Kalpana Chawla Shaurya Award, named after famous astronaut Kalpana Chawla of Karnal, would be given to women who show exemplary courage while risking their lives. The award would give due recognition to the women who had performed acts of bravery and done meritorious services to society, he added. The Behan Shanno Devi Panchyati Raj Award, named after the first woman Speaker of Haryana, would be given to women panchayat leaders who did outstanding work in the field of women empowerment and in areas of female literacy, health, nutrition, universalisation of education and environmental protection. |
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No bias in development works, says CM
Hisar, October 17 He said the Hansi-Butana Link Canal project was aimed at ensuring that irrigation and drinking water was shared equitably among all districts. The lack of a canal had allowed some districts to be favoured in the allocation of irrigation water under non-Congress
governments. Hooda said the new sports policy of his government had helped encourage sportspersons to do well at the international level. He said the government would honour sportspersons who had performed well. Later, the Chief Minister presided over a function organised by the Ramlila Committee at old Government College Grounds. He said the Dasehra celebrations this year had been brightened further by the medal haul by the state’s athletes in the Commonwealth Games. |
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Haryanvi TV serial on Kargil martyr’s family
Rohtak, October 17 Swami, who has been in the field of film and serial production for several years, has announced that the production of the serial, named “Yudhveer”, will start in one and a half months and will be ready for telecast in January next. He said the serial had been named after martyr Yudhveer from Dhimana village of Jind district. He is survived by
his wife, a minor son and parents. Claiming that one of the aims of the serial was to promote film and TV production in the state, he said all actors in the serial would be from the state. Swami, who will also be directing the serial, has earlier worked in several such ventures, including “Adhuri Jindagi” and “Dastak”, which were aired on Doordarshan. He has produced and directed 12 serials in the past three decades. The writer of the serial will be Jagbir Rathi, employed with Maharshi Dayanand University. He claimed that it would be based on a book penned by him earlier. He said he was moved by the “pathetic” conditions and social circumstances faced by the parents of Yudhveer after his death. Meanwhile, cultural and film artistes of the state have appealed to the state government to set up a state-level cultural and art centre in Rohtak. |
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Assistant engineers
seek better wages
Panipat, October 17 President of the Haryana Power Engineers Association RS Dahiya said the achievement was made possible by assistant engineers, who were the lowest paid in country. He said as per the recommendations of the pay commission, assistant engineers in the power utilities in other states were getting higher pay scales, but in Haryana they were ignored completely. The assistant engineers are given a pay scale of Rs 9,300- 34,500 with initial salary of
Rs 12,090 and grade pay of Rs 5,400. He said even state government assistant engineers were paid better. In Punjab Powercom, assistant engineer’s starting salary was Rs 16,680 with grade pay of Rs 5,900, Dahiya said. In UP, the starting pay of assistant engineers in the power utility was Rs 17,740 with grade pay of Rs 5,400. |
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Over 10 booked for rioting
Sirsa, October 17 The police said cases under Sections 148, 149, 323, 324 and 506 of the IPC and various sections of the Arms Act have been registered against Kala, Charanjit and Budh Ram of Aboobshahr village, Swaran of Gidharkhera village and eight to 10 others. The police said the accused went to the roadside eatery, where they had an altercation with owner Om Parkash. Later, when the injured were admitted to the general hospital, some supporters of the accused reached there and clashed again. |
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CCTV cameras at bus stands, rly stations
Rohtak, October 17 Security will be tightened and strict measures taken to check movements and activities of anti-social elements in the state. This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda after he disposed of complaints related to law and order at the local canal rest house here yesterday. Hooda said while there had been a drastic improvement in the law and order situation in the state after his government came to power in 2005, he stated that he had directed the police to ensure a safe and secure environment in the state and not to spare any criminal. The banks and other major commercial organisations had already installed such systems at their places in the state. The Chief Minister said measures were being taken to check the problem of corruption and to ensure legal action against corrupt officials and employees. A toll free number - 1800-180-2022 - had been set up by the state Vigilance Bureau and the headquarters of the state police. |
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Pension plan
Jhajjar, October 17 Minister Geeta Bhukkal said yesterday that 1,94,394 new beneficiaries would get the lump sum amount of five months’ pension from April to August, as the state has made a provision of Rs 817 crore for disbursement of old age
allowance. — OC |
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