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| Monday, September 18, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Goldsmiths turn into blacksmiths Ruchika case: women bodies plan dharna Suspended officer moves SC panel Judicial complex inaugurated Recruitment on merit: Chautala KU centre may be opened soon Primary education for all by 2005 Expelled families to be resettled |
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Pension funds misappropriated Class IV staff’s plea to Devi Lal Sena men burn Pak flag Non-official members
of wildlife board
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Goldsmiths
turn into blacksmiths HISAR, Sept 17 — Glitter has gone out of the
lives of goldsmiths with cash rich businessmen belonging to other
castes setting up flashy jewellery stores all over the country
following the repeal of the Gold Control Act a decade ago. The
unexpected turn in the events has forced many goldsmiths to take to
other professions including blacksmithy. Interestingly, the Gold Control Act had been repealed after a 27-year-long countrywide agitation by goldsmiths. Forced by circumstances, the goldsmiths now want the Act enforced again. Trade sources say that immediately after the Act was repealed in 1990, businessmen belonging to other castes who had large amounts of cash at their disposal began setting up jewellery stores since no licence was required for the same anymore. These stores were miniature versions of similar stores in the USA and other countries. They sold readymade jewellery in air-conditioned comfort. Most of their sales were in cash ensuring handsome margins. The wide choice of designs further added to their popularity. As against this, shops of traditional goldsmiths, engaged in the profession for several generations, did not match the glitz of new jewellery stores. Besides, the Gold Control Act had dealt a severe blow to their finances during the 27 years that it was in existence. Unlike the new stores, they did not have readymade jewellery. They had to depend upon brass and iron samples to help their customers select the designs. It took them at least a week to create and deliver the ornaments. The craze for diamond jewellery, which was limited to only top bracket business families till recently, began to percolate down to upper middle class families around the time the Act was repealed. The traditional goldsmiths shops again were no match to the flashy stores. Their customers slowly crossed over to the large jewellery stores. The sources said the margin in diamonds jewellery was 30 to 40 per cent although the investment in the business too was huge. The new craze firmed up the hold of large stores over gold and diamond jewellery trade. Mr Gurdip Singh Chadha, Secretary of the district unit of the Akhil Bhartiya Swarnkaar Sangh, said the younger generation of traditional goldsmiths had taken to other professions. Many of them, he said, had become blacksmiths making cheap iron implements and artificial jewellery made of iron alloys and semi precious stones. To add to their problems, no bank is offering goldsmiths loans to help them to give a facelift to their shops. Bankers say that the goldsmiths did not have assets, which they could offer as a guarantee for repayment of loans. Government institutions do not have any provision for offering loans to goldsmiths. Mr Chhotu Ram, President of the Sangh, said the banks were, nevertheless, wooing large jewellery stores since most of these were doing good business. However, all this was happening at the cost of the traditional goldsmiths. He said these stores did not patronise local goldsmiths. They usually hired craftsmen from other states fearing that if they patronised local goldsmiths; their customers would go back to them. He wants the Gold Control Act enforced again so that the government can impose a limit on the investment in such stores and the amount of gold they can store. The Act came into being in 1963 following the Indo-China war. It initially ruled that ornaments could only be prepared from 14-carat gold. The goldsmiths were barred from possessing more than 35 grams of gold per customer. Later, the traditional 22 carat jewellery was allowed and the limit was raised to 100 gms in 1973. Every goldsmith had to obtain a licence to ply this trade. However, goldsmiths continued their protest against the Act and ultimately it was repealed in 1990 which has only created more problems for them than it has solved. |
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Ruchika
case: women bodies plan dharna CHANDIGARH, Sept 16 — The CBI’s delay
in filing charge sheet against the Haryana DGP, Mr S.P.S. Rathore in
the Ruchika molestation case has alarmed the women organisations. The
Punjab Istri Sabha yesterday faxed an appeal to the Director of the
CBI in Delhi urging him to expedite the investigation into the case. “The
accused in this case is present DGP, Haryana, who boasts that he can
influence the case through his clout. In the meantime, he is leaving
no stone unturned to harass the complainants as well as the witnesses.
The basic requirement should have been to first arrest him and put him
under suspension in the interest of free and fair investigation”,
the appeal, signed by Ms Oshima Rikhi, president of the Istri Sabha,
stated. “Everyone is eagerly awaiting justice....there is
apperehension among people that Rathore is getting the case delayed by
applying dirty tactics as he wants to continue as the DGP by hook or
by crook. Ruchika is no more. In the interest of justice and to give
peace to the soul of the victim and to prevent repetition of such
cases, we request you to finalise the case on top priority basis”,
the appeal added. The Supreme Court, it may be recalled, in its
order dated December 14 has asked the CBI to submit its report “preferably
within six months” time. Since then eight months have passed without
the CBI coming out with its findings. It is understood that
procrastination by the CBI has led the women organisations, who were
not directly involved in the case in its earlier stages, to take up
the matter. Apart from the Punjab Istri Sabha, the Chandigarh Istri
Sabha, Chetna, also a Chandigarh-based organisation, as well as some
women activists have offered to support the cause, sources here said. A
dharna is also being planned in front of the CBI’s office in Delhi
by the women organisations. At least two influential Delhi-based women
organisations have reportedly assured active support in case of sit in
demonstration. Ruchika Girhotra, a 15-year-old school girl was allegedly molested by Mr S.P.S. Rathore in 1990 when he was an IGP and also the president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association (HLTA). Ruchika, who was a member of the HLTA, was allegedly called by Mr Rathore to his office where he allegedly tried to molest her. The incident created a furore following which Mr R.R. Singh, who was the DGP at that time, was asked to conduct an enquiry. Mr
R.R. Singh’s report stated that charge made against Mr Rathore was
“based on true facts”. It said, “I am of the considered view
that whatever Ruchika, a small girl of 15 years, has stated about her
molestation by Shri Mr S.P.S. Rathore is based on true facts and I am
of the opinion that a cognisable offence is made out. I would,
therefore, recommend that a case under appropriate sections of the IPC
be got registered on the statement of Miss Ruchika and investigated”.
The report also accused Mr Rathore of organising a demonstration in
his favour for which he paid the participants. Despite this adverse
report no criminal case was filed against Mr Rathore who was in fact
given a clean chit by the Haryana Government after some flimsy
administrative proceedings. |
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Suspended
officer moves SC panel CHANDIGARH, Sept 17 — A suspended IAS
officer of Haryana, Mr Anil Kumar, has moved the National Scheduled
Castes Commission against his suspension, alleging that the state
government is victimising him because of his being a Dalit. According
to informed sources, the commission has sought the comments of the
Haryana Government on Mr Anil Kumar’s complaint. The Chief
Secretary, Mr Vishnu Bhagwan, a few days ago met the Chairman of the
commission, Mr Dalip Singh Bhuria, and told him the government’s
side of the story. It is learnt that while Mr Anil Kumar, who remained the Deputy Commissioner of Rohtak and Sonepat districts during the Bansi Lal regime, alleged in his petition that the action had been taken against him by the state government because he was a Dalit, Mr Vishhu Bhagwan described the allegations as baseless. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan told the commission that the government would have taken similar action against any other officer under the given circumstances as had been taken against the complainant. Mr Anil Kumar, who belongs to the 1988 batch, was suspended after the state Vigilance Bureau registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act on December 31 last against him and certain other persons, including a former minister, Seth Siri Krishan Dass, who is a close associate of the former Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal. Mr Vishnu Bhagwan is believed to have apprised the commission of the details of the investigations conducted by the Vigilance Bureau in the case so far. The allegation against Mr Anil Kumar and the former minister primarily pertains to the alleged misuse of flood relief funds. Mr
Anil Kumar’s application for anticipatory bail was turned down by
various courts. When the Chautala government was formed in July, 1999, Mr Anil Kumar was the Deputy Commissioner of Sonepat. After the Lok Sabha elections, he was shifted to the insignificant post of Vice-Principal of the Revenue Training Institute, Ambala. During the February, 1998, Lok Sabha elections, Mr Anil Kumar was the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer of Rohtak, from where the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, who is the father of Mr Chautala, contested on the INLD ticket. Mr
Devi Lal lost the elections by only 383 votes. At that time Mr
Chautala had blamed the district administration for his father’s
defeat. |
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Judicial
complex inaugurated YAMUNANAGAR, Sept 17 — While the
Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today assured the
judiciary of all assistance of the state government, a Judge of the
Punjab and Haryana High Court, Mr Justice R.S. Mongia, urged the
lawyers “not to close the doors of justice by going on strike” to
redress their grievances. The Chief Minister, who was presiding over a function to inaugurate the newly constructed Rs 3 crore judicial complex announced that similar judicial complexes would be constructed at all district headquarters. He said, he was pained to know that the judicial officers had approached the court to get official phones installed at their residences. He said as his government was committed to redress the grievances of the people without delay, the government sanctioned this facility for the judicial officers. Mr
Justice Mongia described the judicial complexes as the “temples of
justice” and hoped that the people would get qualitative justice. He
urged the lawyers to get their grievances redressed by sitting across
the table and desist from strike. Referring to the charter of demands submitted to him by the president of the District Bar Association, he said their demands would be considered on priority. |
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Recruitment
on merit: Chautala YAMUNANAGAR, Sept 17 — The Chief
Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, today said that having completed 90
per cent of the work under the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), his
government was now striving to give a clean administration, free from
corruption, and red tape. The Chief Minister was speaking after inaugurating a Rs 9.16 crore sewage treatment plant of 25 MLD capacity here. He said the recruitment of constables was being made on the basis of merit. He said stern action would be taken against those found indulging in corrupt practices. He said the recently announced education policy of aimed at making education job-oriented adding that the information technology policy coupled with the education policy would open employment opportunities for the youth. He said his government had initiated a programme under which the grievances of the people were being redressed at their doorstep. He said his government had implemented a number of welfare projects for the socio-economic uplift of all sections of society. He criticised the previous government for introducing prohibition as it resulted in raising the crime rate. He pointed out that things had come to such a pass that 10,500 persons were accommodated in jails against the capacity of 3,500. He said as a result of the new industrial policy various projects involving an investment of Rs 3,800 crore were being set up at the industrial model township in Manesar. Mr Chautala expressed gratitude to the Japan Bank of International Cooperation for the support extended by it in the implementation of the YAP. Mr Kotaro Tanaka, a representative of the bank, expressed satisfaction over the manner in which Haryana had been utilising the Japanese assistance. The Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Public Health, Mr K.C. Sharma, said Haryana had emerged as a leading state in the implementation of the Yamuna Action Plan. He said about Rs 200 crore had already been spent on various projects. He said out of 11 sewage treatment plants to be constructed under the YAP, nine had been completed. The remaining two plants would be commissioned soon at Karnal and Yamunanagar. He said Rs 22.28 crore had been spent in Yamunanagar under the plan upto August. Later, the Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of central cooperative bank to be constructed at the cost of Rs 50 lakh. |
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KU
centre may be opened soon SIRSA: The Kurukshetra University Regional Centre here is likely to be inaugurated in mid-September by the Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala. Forty seats for the MCA course, 70 for law and 55 for MA (public administration) have been allotted to this centre for this academic session. The teaching-cum-administrative block was constructed long ago at a cost of about Rs 1 crore, but has so far remained unused. Land measuring 100 acres was donated by the Phoolkan village panchayat, about 10 km from the district headquarters for the centre in 1994 when the then Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, announced the decision to open it at a public meeting here. He had also promised to get work on it completed before that on the Regional Centre at Hisar, which developed into Guru Jambheshwar University. With the change of government, residents of this area hoped the centre would be opened soon. Mr Chautala, during his public contact programme, also gave an assurance to this effect. Recently, a high-level team of officials had visited the site. This was followed by a visit by the Vice-Chancellor himself. Although no date has been fixed so far for the inauguration of the centre, it is hoped that it will take place in the middle of September and classes will be shifted after the autumn break. The Haryana Government has sanctioned Rs 1.5 crore for the centre. A sum of Rs 50 lakh has also been approved by the UGC out of which Rs 37.5 lakh has already been received. According to information, the courses allotted to the centre have not evoked the desired response from students. For the MA (public administration) course not a single application for admission had been received by August-end and there were still some seats vacant in the law course. The authorities are now seriously thinking of introducing CP Ed in lieu of MA (public administration). |
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Primary education for all by 2005 JIND, Sept 17 — Mr Prem Prashant, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Education Department, Haryana, said yesterday that under the new education policy, primary education would be provided to all children in the state in the age group of 6-14 during the next five years. He said at present 90 per cent children in the state were getting education in primary schools. He was speaking at a function organised by the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) at the local Government College. Mr Prashant said in order to bring improvement in education, maintenance of primary and middle schools in rural areas had been entrusted to zila parishads and panchayat samitis. Gram shiksha samitis were being constituted in each village and these had been authorised to spend Rs. 1.25 lakh on the development of schools. He said any grant given by the government to schools would be spent through the samitis. Mr Prashant said in order to bring students of rural areas on a par with students of cities, the government had introduced English from Class I. For this purpose, 18,000 JBT teachers had been trained. Mr Prashant distributed artificial limbs, appliances and helping aids among handicapped children. He said the DPEP had identified 16,000 handicapped children in the state and they would be given artificial limbs and helping aids according to requirement. Addressing a meeting of the teaching staff, Mr Prashant said the Education Department had prepared a memorandum on the pay scales of college and university teachers that had been submitted to the Haryana Cabinet for approval. He said the memorandum contained all recommendations of the UGC, barring the clause regarding different categories of principals. Mr Prashant said the government has granted permission to private colleges and universities to start various vocational courses on a self-financing basis. This scheme would be extended to government colleges in the near future, he added. |
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Expelled families to be resettled HISAR, Sept 17 — The warring factions of Mirchpur village have reached a compromise with the intervention of Mr Surender Barwala, MP, and the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Rastogi. A meeting in this regard was convened at Kumhar Dharamshala here last evening. On August 28, some influential persons of the village had expelled 20 families belonging to a particular caste from the village They had alleged these families had encroached upon the panchayat land while the expelled families claimed that they owned the land since 1947. The families had also complained to the Narnaund police that about 200 villagers had attacked them and damaged their houses. After this, these families had settled down in a local dharamshala. The affected families met the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, here on Friday after which the district officials organised the meeting. In the meeting, Mr Barwala appealed to the villagers to return their land and allow the families to resettle in the village. But it had no effect. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Rastogi then asked the villagers to allow the families to resettle in the village otherwise he would be forced to take strict action. After this both factions reached a compromise. |
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Pension funds misappropriated KURUKSHETRA, Sept 17 — The new District Social Welfare Officer here, Mrs Usha Jain has found that in the area of Municipal Committee, Thanesar, pensions for the elderly, widows and disabled persons were allegedly being disbursed among at least 600 bogus persons and thus a sum of Rs 60,000 a month approximately was being misappropriated for the past nine years. According to reliable sources, although, this fact was detected and pointed out by the Accounts Officer in his audit report, yet no action was taken in this connection. Strangely enough instead of appreciating the officer for detecting the scandal, the said officer has been placed under suspension on the ground that a woman, Paalo Devi of Majri Kalan village, under Ismailabad tehsil in the district, did not receive her widow pension. |
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Class IV staff’s plea to Devi Lal SONEPAT, Sept 17 — The Haryana Rajkiya Chaturth Shreni (Class IV) Karamchari Sangh today urged the former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Devi Lal, to ask the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, to take steps to improve the working condition of 70,000 Class IV employees working in various government departments. In a memorandum to Mr Devi Lal, a copy of which was released to the Press here, the sangh pointed out that a large number of Class IV employees who were promoted as clerks had been denied annual increments as they could not qualify the typing test envisaged under the rules. It also pointed out that several employees had also not been given extra increments even after the completion of 10 to 20 years of service. They had also not been sanctioned a standard grade which was allowed to other employees. It also demanded the scrapping of the condition of passing a typing test for the post of clerk. It also criticised the state government for calling the employees to the state headquarters for taking the test instead of at the district headquarters. |
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Sena men burn Pak flag FARIDABAD, Sept 17 — Shiv Sena activists burnt the Pakistani flag at Surajkund here, today. They were protesting against the participation of a Pakistani woman, reportedly an office-bearer of the International Lions Club, which organised its function at a hotel in Surajkund. Shiv Sena activists had also opposed the proposed programme to welcome Ms Neelofar Bakhtiar, Director, International Lions Club, by wearing green sarees and singing of national song of Pakistan. However, the district authorities got this welcome programme cancelled and it was held in simple manner amidst tight police security. |
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Non-official
members of wildlife board CHANDIGARH, Sept 17 — The Haryana Government has nominated the following as the non-official members of the State Wild Life Advisory Board. They are Mr Balwant Singh, MLA, Sadhaura; Mr Ranbir Singh Mandola, MLA, Badhra; Dr K.C. Kajal of Bhiwani; Dr Anil Aggarwal of Yamunanagar; Dr Mohinder Singh Shah of Kaithal; Dr O.P. Gupta of Gohana; Mr S.K. Dua of Taoru, Gurgaon district; Mr Randhir Singh of Panchkula; Master Ajmer Singh of Sabri village in Yamunanagar district; Mr Wazir Singh of Kharkhara village in Rohtak district; Mr Mukhtiar Singh Nai of Mundhal village in Bhiwani district and Mr Inderjit Singh, a former sarpanch of Nahari village. |
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