Thursday, October 29, 1998
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REGIONAL BRIEFS | Thursday, October 29, 1998 |
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Haddis cry for social justice THERE is a caste, Haddi, in Himachal Pradesh whose members have living a miserable life for the past many centuries. Haddis are looked down upon with contempt and are even treated as untouchables by other castes. They have a sizeable population in Kangra, Nagrota, Hatwas, Pathiar, Baijnath and Kulu. Haddis, unlike other castes and communities, never had the tradition of following any fixed profession or trade. They have been mostly running errands for others. At one time, a good number of them worked as Niaras, the job of buying ash from goldsmith and extracting gold from it. They no longer do this work as it has ceased to be lucrative. They even reared donkeys as a means of transport but with the emergence of better modes of transport, they had to give up this profession also. Nowadays some of them earn their livelihood by collecting plastic and other recycleable wastes and selling it. Their community has not been enlisted in any Scheduled Caste or backward class list. The present generation of Haddis blames elders for this, as when surveys for identification of Scheduled Castes and other backward classes were being carried out, some of their elders bragged that their ancestors were followers of Maharana Pratap. However, they are still treated as pariahs who are not allowed entry by high castes into their homes. The Haddis want their community to be included in the Scheduled Caste list. Centre that helps war widows After the 1971 Indo-Pak war, the condition of war widows and their dependents was pathetic. The Haryana Government directed the Rajya Sainik Board to start a welfare scheme which could help war widows and their dependents for self-employment and securing jobs in public and private undertakings. Accordingly a war widow home, which came to be known as Sainik Parivar Bhavan, was started at Chhachhrauli in Yamunanagar district on 13.5 acre plot leased out from the Horticulture Department. Here war widows and their dependents were imparted training in handloom, hosiery, knitting, tailoring and cut-glass making, besides Hindi and English stenography. Boarding and lodging is being provided to all trainees at this centre. The board has constructed two women's hostels on the premises of Sainik Parivar Bhavan for trainees, in which 64 of them can be accommodated. According to Mrs P. Sharma, administrative officer of the Bhavan, there are 96 trainees at this centre. On completion of the training they are helped by the Rajya Sainik Board in getting jobs in various boards and corporations of the state government as well as in other states. The Rajya Sainik Board also provides financial help to the trainees from various financial institutions and nationalised banks and helps them in self-employment ventures. The Sainik Parivar Bhavan established seven vocational training centres at Panchkula, Jhajjar, Jind, Dadri, Hisar, Rewari and Rohtak from 1986 to 1992. Training in computers is also provided to girls at the Panchkula centre. From 1989 to 1990 and from 1994-96, 1838 trainees completed their training in different trades and various courses through these vocational training centres. In addition, a 45-day career guidance course was conducted by the Bhavan at the Sainik School Kunjpura (Karnal) during the summer vacation. Here, the dependents of ex-servicemen, serving armed forces personnel were given coaching and guidance for group B & C posts as well as NDA entrance examination. The capacity of this course is 100 boys per year. The Bhavan is financed by the Haryana Defence and Security Relief Fund which, in turn, gets Haryana Government grants. Grants up to Rs 45 lakh have been provided by the Finance Department for the year 1996-97 as against a requirement of Rs 75.33 lakh. The remaining requirement of Rs 30.33 lakh has been taken from the DSR Fund. The Bhavan is run by management committee comprising members appointed by the Chief Minister, who is the chief patron. Endoscopic surgeon honoured Dr Sandeep S. Sidhu, a lecturer in the Gastroenterology division the Department of Medicine at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana has the distinction of completing a fellowship in advanced endoscopic surgery at an internationally renowned centre in Germany. Dr Sidhu was awarded a German Government-sponsored Daad scholarship, which enabled him to complete a fellowship from June 30 to August 31. He worked in The Advanced Endoscopic Surgery Department at the University Hospital, Hamburg, under the guidance of Prof N.Soehendra. He underwent extensive training in the state-of-art technology such as argon beamer, argon plasma coagulation for endoscopic non-invasive haemostasis of G.I bleeding, pallative treatment of gastrointestinal tumours, endoscopic untrasonography in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal tumours and complicated pancreatic diseases. Dr Sidhu also visited the Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, to participate in the "Live digestive endoscopy" meeting of the European Postgraduate Gastro-surgical School. Before returning to India he participated in the 11th World Congress of Gastroenterology at Vienna and presented a paper. Dr Sidhu has already won the Asia-Pacific Young Investigator Award in gastroenterology at Yokohama, Japan. Contributed
by Atul Kumbhkarni, Ashwani Dutta and TNS. |
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