Chandigarh, March 10
With 2013 declared as the year of industrial development and employment in Haryana, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) may well be on the threshold of better business.

With the government, keen on the Centre's cluster development project, planing 15 common facility centres in the state, it is in a win-win situation because it will not only promote and protect small units but also multiply employment opportunities for local youth.

"We realise that our strength lies in promoting the cluster culture. If we provide some assistance to them, manufacturing units will be back on their feet and do good business. We, in turn, will be able to address the challenge of growing unemployment. Our assessment is that most of these units are faltering because of lack of improvisation, adoption of latest technology and inability to aggressively market products. That is where we intend to step in," explains Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Spread all over the state as clusters, these manufacturing units are plagued by lack of aggressive marketing, growing competition from low-cost Chinese products, labour uncertainties and outdated technology. Their ebbing contribution has adversely hit employment opportunities.

If Ambala's microscope and laboratory equipment hub has lost its sheen, Yamunanagar with its untensils' cluster, Panipat known for its fabric and upholstery cluster, Kaithal's rice mill cluster, Gurgaon's cluster of low-cost clothing manufacturers, Rohtak's precision tools cluster and many more are gradually falling out.

However, the government's decision to set up 15 clusters with common facility centres (CFCs) in the public-private partnership mode has come as a breath of fresh air for sagging units, burdened with problems beset by lower returns, as also opened up channels of employment for youth.

While the Centre has accorded approval for setting up CFCs at three clusters at Bahadurgarh, Panipat and Karnal, four more are expected to be approved before the month-end.

Entrepreneurs of the Karnal cluster have formed the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as a private limited company. Headed by Vinay Taneja, the SPV is trying to fast-track the operations to lift the fast-sagging cluster. The sites for setting up the clusters have been identified and the study reports prepared for eight of them and submitted to the Centre for approval.

Sirsa, March 10
Amidst repeated incidents of eve-teasing in Sirsa town, parents of three schoolgirls have approached the city police station with their complaints.

The police has booked a youth, Mohit, and some others under Sections 354 (outraging the modesty of women), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (act done in furtherance of common intention). The FIR was lodged yesterday. However, the police has not arrested anyone in the connection yet.

Despite much hue and cry on the issue of safety of women throughout the country after Delhi rape incident, there has been no end to eve-teasing in Sirsa.

Girls going to schools and colleges are targeted the most by eve-teasers, who perpetrate their nefarious acts with impunity in the absence of any police check.

After the incident, the police had announced several steps for safety of women, including deployment of PCR vans near schools and colleges. However, the announcements seem to have remained on the papers only as harassment of girls continues unabated, alleged parents.

SSP Raj Shri Singh could not be contacted. 

Hisar, March 10
Amid deterioration in health of two out of the six agitators sitting on a fast unto death since Thursday, activists of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) will hold a public meeting tomorrow at Mayyar to announce their future course of action.

Ram Bhagat Malik, a spokesperson of the organisation for Haryana, said Yashpal Malik, national president of the AIJASS, would address the rally.

Doctors from the General Hospital, Hisar, examined two agitators, Kitab Singh (66) and Prem Singh (62), as their health deteriorated due to fasting today. “The two agitators were feeling weakness and complained of giddiness and vertigo,” said Malik. Kitab Singh and Prem Singh are among five elderly villagers between the age of 62 and 76, who have been sitting on the fast at the dharna site in Mayyar village.

Besides these, Lakshmi Devi Sangwan (36) has also been sitting on the fast. Malik said the activists had started their dharna at nine different places in the country for implementation of quota for Jats in the Central Government posts. Besides Mayyar, the dharna has also been started at Jantar Mantar (Delhi), Kafurpur in Amroha district of UP, Khategaon in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh, Rasulpur village on Bharatpur - Mathura railway line, Nagal in Saharanpur district of UP, Mansurpur in Muzzaffarnagar of UP, Bhorai in Agra district of UP and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

The AIJASS had started their dharna at Mayyar from March 6, the first death anniversary of Sandeep Karwasra, who died in police firing last year.

On the next day on March 7, six agitators, including a woman, sat on a fast unto death in support of their demands. Villagers from the adjoining areas are visiting the dharna site, where they play cards and enjoy puffs of hookah throughout the day.

Meanwhile, Hawa Singh Sangwan, leader of the other faction of the AIJASS, said there was no use of holding agitation in Haryana now, as the state government had already granted them quota in government jobs. Addressing mediapersons at Bhiwani today, Sangwan said his samiti would hold a rally in Delhi on March 18 to demand quota for jobs in the Central Government departments.

Jhajjar, March 10
The process of recruiting over 14,000 lecturers at the school level and 9,600 JBT teachers will be completed prior to the commencement of the new academic session. Thereafter, there will be no shortage of teachers in the government schools.

Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal stated this while interacting with mediapersons after a 'Felicitation Function' at Jondhi village here on Saturday. The function was organised to honour women players who grabbed positions in various national and state games.

She stated that Haryana had become a leading state in the country to implement the Right to Education Act. "Students are being provided with quality education and better infrastructure. Also, to further improve the standard of education, the state government is taking suggestions of the representatives concerned after their visits to schools," said the minister.

In reply to a question, Bhukkal said the state had covered all Government Senior Secondary Schools and high schools in the state with at least one computer lab having a minimum of 10 computers.

"Some of the schools have two or more computer labs. Five schools have been provided with 88 terminals in all, making them Smart Schools. Besides, the government has started Free Computer Education Programme to provide free computer education to students of Classes VI to XII. Two computer faculties have been provided in 1,269 Government Senior Secondary Schools," said the minister.

The minister maintained that the government had also started another 100 per cent state-funded programme, namely Comprehensive Computer Education Programme, under which 213 Government Senior Secondary Schools had been covered and provided computer labs with appropriate internet connectivity, power back-up and an ICT assistant. These schemes were being implemented through private partners.

Bhukkal maintained that the state government had started a helpline number 1091 for safety of women and for speedy action in crime against women 21 fast-track courts had been set up in the state and Protection Officers had also been appointed. Besides, the state government was also ensuring welfare of women through Ladli, Ladli Samajik Suraksha Yojna, Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Vivah Shagun Yojana and Priyadarshini Awas Yojana, she added.

"The state government is serious to uphold the dignity of girls and women and ensure their safety. The involvement of common man is also necessary in this endeavour of the state government. We should fight against all such social evils," she added.

Sonepat, March 10
On the demand of residents of Jajal village in Sonepat district and to avoid armed clashes between the farmers of the village and Nawada village in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh over harvesting of the crop on the disputed areas in the Yamuna belt, the Sonepat police has set up a temporary police post near village Jajal.

A delegation of Jajal villagers led by sarpanch Seema Devi met SP Arun Singh and said 116 acres of the village land in the Yamuna belt had been illegally occupied by the farmers of Nawada. As per the revenue records and Dixit award, the land belonged to the farmers of Jajal.

The villagers alleged that at the time of harvesting of wheat crop in these fields, the farmers of Nawada village had indulged in armed clashes and the farmers were injured number of times in the past. They demanded police protection during harvesting of the crop.

Police spokesman Ramesh Dalal confirmed that police personnel from the Rai police station had been deployed at Jajal village to ensure peaceful harvesting of the crop.

Sonepat SDM Jag Niwas said after harvesting of the wheat crop, efforts would be made to update the revenue records of both the villages to end the dispute and to decide the ownership of the disputed land.

Because of the change in Yamuna’s course, if the land of farmers of Jajal had gone towards Uttar Pradesh, the Baghpat administration would provide security to the farmers of Jajal for harvesting as well as sowing of the crops and to maintain the ownership of the land. And if the farmers of Nawada village faced similar situation, the Sonepat administration would provide them security, he added. 

Rohtak, March 10
“World’s first drug eluting Bio-absorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS) stent has won accolades from cardiologists worldwide as an invention that could offer revolutionary management of the heart treatment.”

Claiming this, Dr Rakesh K Jaswal, director, cardiology of a leading private hospital, said here today, “With BVS, launched under various brand names, the patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) could now have broad and better treatment options, reduced need of long-term medicines and extremely reduced risk of stent-induced side effects.”

He said while the CAD develops when the arteries that supply blood to the heart become narrowed or blocked by a build-up of fatty deposits called plaque. As a result, it gets harder for the arteries to supply blood to the heart. The prevalence of the CAD is on the rise and can be attributed to the growing ageing population and risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, obesity and hypertension. There is a continuous need for better treatment options and expansion of access to therapies among under-served populations, he said adding that bio-absorbable stent was designed to open blocked coronary arteries and restore blood flow to the heart.

“The stent consisted of a bio-degradable polymer backbone composed of PLLA (poly-L-lactic acid) with a PDLLA (poly-D, L-lactide) bio-absorbable polymer coating and it worked in three phases. First, it was placed in the artery to open and support the vessel while a drug was released to treat the diseased area and limit the regrowth of tissue, which could narrow the vessel and reduce blood flow. Next, a thin layer of tissue and healthy cells covers it as the vessel wall regains strength and returns to a more natural state. Lastly, once the vessel no longer needs support, the scaffold would begin to dissolve naturally, ultimately breaking down to carbon dioxide and water. This would make it possible for the vessel to return to a more natural state,” pointed out Dr Jaswal. “The clinical outcomes have indicated that such a stent performs similar to best-in-class drug-eluting stents across measures such as major adverse cardiac events and target lesion revascularisation with the added benefit of disappearing over time,” he said.

However, there could be several complications with drug-eluting stents such as late-stent thrombosis, need for long-term anti-platelet therapy and incompatibility with imaging modalities. These unmet needs have been addressed with the development of bio-absorbable stents, such as ‘absorb’. 

Jhajjar, March 10
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said he did not think that pugilist Vijender Singh had any link with recovery of over 26-kg drugs worth Rs 130 crore. Nevertheless, if anything comes out in the investigation then law would take its own course.

Hooda stated this while replying to a question during an interaction with mediapersons at local residence of Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal here today.

Earlier, addressing a gathering at an annual function of Gurukul Mahavidhalya here, the Chief Minister stressed on the need for providing such an education while maintaining our culture and civilisation, which would make the future of new generation more bright. While describing Sanskrit as the mother of Indian languages, he said it was our moral duty to promote it.

“The Gurukuls symbolise modern and ancient education system, therefore, while providing job-oriented education one should not confine to only one subject. The Gurukuls should take steps to provide job-oriented education,” he added.

The CM said the education and health facilities were important for development of every society. Giving example of Bhagat Phool Singh Women University, Khanpur Kalan, Hooda said initially this Gurukul was started by Bhagat Phool Singh with three daughters, but had developed as the only women university in north India where more than 7,000 women were getting education up to PhD.

Hooda said the Rewari-Jhajjar-Rothak railway line had become functional and three more railway lines had been approved in the budget. 

Faridabad, March 10
Electoral allies Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and BJP today asserted that they would ensure equitable growth of the state, should they come to power.

HJC president Kuldip Bishnoi and former chief of state BJP Krishanpal Gujjar while addressing a public meeting here charged the government of concentrating growth in selected regions of the state.

Bishnoi rubbished the Congress government's claims of having pumped in development projects in Faridabad. According to him, the state government, headed by his father Bhajan Lal during 1991-96, had accorded importance to the district. Industrialisation was at its peak during the period, he added.

He asserted that should the HJC-BJP come to power, the coalition government would pass a law to ensure equitable growth and development of Haryana. He said: “The present government's claim of development of Faridabad is hollow.”

Bishnoi alleged that local MP and MLAs of the district were silent on state's discrimination of Faridabad. He further said the ruling Congress has failed on all fronts and has gone back on its electoral promises made to the people.

The public meeting was organised by the HJC, but BJP leaders took part in it because the two parties are electoral allies.

Krishanpal Gujjar said law and order has deteriorated during the Congress rule in Haryana. He said the HJC-BJP alliance was firm and it would be voted to power in the next Assembly election. Bishnoi would be the Chief Minister of the coalition government, he added.

Rewari, March 10
The Khol police of the district has arrested Phool Singh in connection with the suicide of his 58-year-old wife, who was a rape victim. Singh was today produced before the Duty Magistrate here who remanded him in judicial custody.

Singh’s wife, who was allegedly raped by his elder brother Sajjan Singh at Kanwali village on January 25, ended her life by consuming some poisonous substance in the village yesterday.

It is alleged that the victim had expressed her willingness to make a statement before the court which could secure the release of accused Sajjan, who was presently behind the bars. However, Singh wanted her to remain firm on her previous statement that she was raped by Sajjan on January 25.

It is pointed out that she could not bear such situation which led her to take the extreme step. Singh was booked for abetment to her suicide. — OC