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CM fixes time frame for projects
Oppn in disarray, Cong steps up political campaign
Growers demand share in sugar mill’s profit
Survey sees improved mother-child health
‘Shakespeare treated man-woman relationship holistically’
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Nigam offers CFL bulbs at half rate
Freak shot at marriage function kills lensman
Undertrial dies of heart attack
INLD ex-minister dead
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CM fixes time frame for projects
Rohtak, January 16 Deputy Commissioner R.S. Doon said here today that it had been decided to develop Sir Chhotu Ram Museum at Sampla into a tourist spot. The Chief Secretary would convene a meeting in which the Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries of PWD (B&R), Town and Country Planning, Tourism, Archaeology Departments, the Chief Administrator, HUDA, and the Chief Architect would participate to finalise the plan. The foundation stone of the proposed sports complex-cum-academy here would be laid in first week of May and the project would be completed in two years. All the formalities, including finalisation of the layout plan and tenders would be completed in a timebound manner. Mr Doon said about 100 acres adjoining Sector 6 had been earmarked for this academy. The proposed academy would also house a science park. The foundation stone of the new jail complex would be laid in April. The new complex would come up near Sunaria village and the police lines would also be shifted to a site near the proposed jail complex. All the formalities for this would be completed within two months. He said the procedural formalities for widening of National Highway-10 from Kharawar village to University Chowk, near the JLN Canal, would be completed by March-end. This stretch of road would be six-laned by the year-end. This project would be completed by December this year. The work on the bridge would start in May and would be completed in one year. After the completion, this road would serve as a bypass for vehicles going to Jhajjar and motorists would not have to pass through the congested areas of the town. The work on another overbridge on the Rohtak-Panipat rail line would be taken up by April this year and completed in one year. An industrial model township would be set up at Kheri Sadh village. For this, 878 acres would be acquired. |
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Oppn in disarray, Cong steps up political campaign
Rohtak, January 16 Keeping them company in the state are disgruntled Congressmen belonging to the Bhajan Lal faction and a group of politicians from the erstwhile Haryana Vikas Party who did not join jump onto the Congress bandwagon at the time of merger and also stayed away from Om Parkash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal. The only political outfit that has shown willingness to take the Congress government by the horns is the INLD which had staged a series of highly publicised protest marches in district towns recently. However, the INLD cadre is still confused since the party’s campaign lacks sting in the absence of issues with which to corner the
ruling party. The cacophony over power shortage and alleged lack of development activities is not cutting much ice, at least not for now. INLD’s partner in power during most of Chautala’s regime - the Bharatiya Janata Party - is struggling to find its feet after its drubbing in the last Assembly poll. Despite crowning a new chief for its Haryana unit recently, the BJP is finding it impossible to gain political ground leading to frustration among its cadres. The insipid leadership and the big brother attitude of the Central party leadership over the past few years have rendered the Haryana unit paralysed. The years in power at the Centre have not improved the Haryana unit’s fortunes mainly because the senior leaders preferred to keep it an appendage of the INLD. This suited Chautala who ensured complete decimation of the party’s political standing to his own advantage. Resultantly, the BJP finds itself in the
dump today. The Congressmen opposed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda have been waiting endlessly for their mentor former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal to enter the ring and don the gloves. But so far, the former Chief Minister and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi have only been publicising the bout, but not fixing a date for the fight. The warmth generated by Bhajan Lal’s “storm in a tea cup tours” in the recent months is beginning to cool, their supporters say. The erstwhile HVP faction that did not join the INLD because of ideological reasons and preferred to wait rather than jump onto the Congress bandwagon at the time of their party’s merger with the Congress are feeling out of tune with the times. Neither here nor there aptly describes their current plight. Under these circumstances, the Congress continues to bask in glory. The power and other issues which could have taken much of the sheen off the party’s public face have also not been exploited by the Opposition or ginger groups within the Congress itself to discredit the Hooda administration. Sensing the lack of Opposition fire power, the Congress has stepped up its political campaign with the Chief Minister and party working president addressing political rallies all over the state. How long will the Opposition allow this to happen is a million-dollar question. |
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Growers demand share in sugar mill’s profit
Chandigarh, January 16 The mill has to pay over Rs 30 crore, excluding interest, to the cane growers for 2002-03. Though an agreement for making the payment to the growers was reached between the mill and the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, last year, its implementation has been held up because the then Chautala government had not fixed the state advisory price of the cane for that year. The agreement envisaged that the mill would clear the arrears and the growers would not demand interest for the delayed period. The interest component, according to one estimate, is about Rs 20 crore. The growers have now raised a demand that the mill should share its profit with them as per the Bhargav formula. The secretary of the Haryana Congress, Mr Satpal Kaushik, has written to the Chief Minister that Opposition parties are trying to politicise the issue which is neither in the interest of the farmers nor the mill. This, he says, will also harm the interests of the Congress. Mr Kaushik says under the Bhargav formula, a sugar mill has to share its profit equally with the cane growers. During 2004-05, the Yamunanagar mill earned a profit of about Rs 25 crore, half of which should go to the growers. But the mill is silent on the issue. He says on one hand, under the garb of its writ petition pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the mill has been withholding crores of rupees of the farmers, while on the other it is denying them a share in the profits as per the Bhargav formula. Mr Kaushik has urged the Chief Minister to intervene and protect the interests of the farmers.
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Survey sees improved mother-child health
Chandigarh, January 16 Infant mortality and maternal mortality are further likely to drop with the state Health Department implementing a scheme to provide financial help to pregnant women, ensuring an institutional delivery. Disclosing this to Chief Medical Officers of the state at a meeting today, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Health) Urvashi Gulati said the health indicators in Haryana had shown a marked improvement as revealed by the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2006 as compared to the 1999 survey. Based on the Janani Suraksha Yojana under the National Rural Health Mission, pregnant women living below the poverty line are now entitled to a grant of Rs 700 if they opt for an institutional delivery and Rs 500 in the case of a delivery assisted by a midwife at home. As per the 2006 survey, institutional deliveries have increased to 39 per cent from 22 per cent and the use of ante-natal services has shot up to 89 per cent from 58, Ms Gulati said. The Haryana Government has been promoting both government and private institutional deliveries by spreading the word about the grant under the health mission. The scheme is aimed at providing health services to women during and after delivery and arranging transportation, if required, for their deliveries so to take them to some other health institute in an emergency situation. However, to be eligible for the grant under the scheme, the pregnant woman would have to be registered from the initial stage of the pregnancy. And from time to time during regular checkups, the woman would be advised according to her condition by the medical officer at the government health centre. Ms Gulati said that basic health indicators had shown improvement, but there was need to strengthen public institutions for health delivery, especially under the rural healthcare system. According to a report of the United Nations Development Programme, infant mortality in Haryana dropped from 71 (per 1,000 live births) to 68 in 1997 and went further down to 61 as per the 1999 health survey. The 2006 health survey has now put the figure at 42 for Haryana. The India Human Development Goals puts the monitorable targets for the 10th Plan and beyond in terms of reduction of the infant mortality rate to 45 per 1,000 live births by 2007 and to 28 by 2012. Again, it aims at a reduction of the maternal mortality ratio to 2 per 1,000 live births by 2007 and to 1 by 2012. |
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‘Shakespeare treated man-woman relationship holistically’
Kurukshetra, January 16 Prof Hopkins is a scholar of Shakespeare. Her books and research articles on Shakespeare have evoked critical responses from scholars around the world. Speaking on the treatment of marriage in Shakespeare, Prof Hopkins, in the inaugural session gave an analytical account of the theme of marriage in Shakespeare’s plays. She proved the thesis that marriage in Shakespeare was not treated as transaction but powerful means of building community and family bonds. ‘Although in plays like All is Well that Ends Well’ there is much evidence of strife and paranoia produced by religious schism in society, the play offers imagining of reconciliation rather than of strife. Shakespeare seems to suggest that all is well that ends well, as long as there is a marriage to make it so, and to bring cohesion to the community as a whole. Prof Mala Shri Lal, Prof of English and Joint Director, South Campus, University of Delhi, in her presidential remarks, eulogised the all too comprehensive art of Shakespeare and its influence in the history of English literature. She brought to the fore the knowledge that Rabindernath Tagore, great Indian poet, was also influenced by Shakespeare. “Tagore even wrote a poem in Bengali as tribute to Shakespeare’s genius, though its translation is not as effective as the original Bengali version”, she added. In the second session, chaired by Prof Hopkins, a Shakespeare scholar of India, Prof R.W. Desai presented a paper title “Negation of Marriage in Romeo and Juliet”. Differing with Prof Hopkins’ assertion that Shakespeare was predominantly in favour of love marriage as against arranged marriage in his plays, Prof Desai was categorical that in Romeo and Juliet there was a lot of feud and destruction in love marriage leading to suicide by the lovers. However, Prof Desai showed his concurrence with Prof Hopkins’ argument that passionate and physical adolescent love has been presented by Shakespeare as transient by nature. Both Shakespearean scholars were unanimous in conclusion that Shakespeare creates delicate balance between an endorsement of love marriage as against its rejection in favour of arranged marriage. In the second session, noted Indian poet in English, Keki N. Daruwalla, recited a couple of his poems, marked by a variety of themes, tone, and meter. It was clear from his poems like ‘Don’t Expect’, and ‘Snow in Ranikhet’, ‘We the Kaurvas’, and ‘Two Statues’ that his poetry had covered a long way both in form and theme evoking multi-layered contradictory realities of Indian life through historical and mythical landscapes. In the third session, chaired by Prof Desai, former Kurukshetra University Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Dr Sarup Singh Chair at Kurukshetra University, Prof Bhim Dahiya, in his paper ‘Diversity of Marriages Postulated in The Tempest’, said Shakespeare presented more liberal attitude towards women and marriage, which he likened to modern and feministic attitude. However, Shakespeare treated a variety of marriage relationships in his plays. If there are happy marriages in As You Like It and Twelfth Night, there are disharmonious and tragic marriages as in The Tempest. This holistic treatment of complexities of man-woman relationship actually reflects Shakespeare’s understanding of the complex human nature and society. Prof Anand Prakash of Delhi University also spoke. Prof K.K. Kathuria of Department of English, Kurukshetra University, anchored the inaugural session while Prof S.K. Sharma, Chairman, Department of English of the University proposed a vote of thanks.
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Nigam offers CFL bulbs at half rate
Hisar, January 16 As part of its energy-conservation promotion initiatives, the Dakshin Haryana Bijali Vitran
Nigam(DHBVN) has joined hands with a private manufacturer to provide CFL bulbs to its consumers at low rates from the DHBVN's customer care centres. Under the scheme, the customers will be offered CFL bulbs at half the market price. Thus, they will get 11 watt, 15 watt and 20-watt CFL bulbs at the rate of Rs 67.50, Rs 75 and Rs 100 per piece, respectively. A low-watt tube would be offered for Rs 32 per piece. The manufacturers will establish their retail outlets at the customer care centres of the DHBVN at Hisar, Sirsa, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Narnaul and Bhiwani. The DHBVN has entered into an MoU with Indo-Asian, one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of CFL bulbs in the country. |
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Freak shot at marriage function kills lensman
Hisar, January 16 Sonu had gone to photograph a marriage function of Vinod Kumar, a son of Ram Singh of the Urban Estate-II locality, along with his assistant, Shankar. The "baraat" went to Sector 13 where the marriage ceremony took place last night. After the function was over, the marriage party returned to the groom's house with the bride. While the bride and the groom were being received at the latter's place, a shot was fired. The bullet hit Sunil in the chest. He was rushed to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injury. |
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Undertrial dies of heart attack
Rewari, January 16 It is reported that when he was being brought from the Narnaul jail to appear in the court here, he complained of chest pain following which he was given first aid in the hospital at Ateli, near Narnaul. He was referred to the Civil Hospital, Rewari. However he died some time after his admission in
the hospital. |
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Catching owls to pocket a few lakhs
Yamunanagar, January 16 As per reports people from districts of Himachal Pardesh, Uttar Pardesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana had left their homes to catch the nocturnal bird. Owing to the rumour three villagers (Gulsher, Shfakat and Shehjad, all natives of Saharanpur) of Shadipur here had caught an owl a couple of days ago. Two more persons succeeded in catching an owl. Interestingly, none of the owl catchers know the whereabouts of the scientist. This evening two persons were spotted moving in the jungles near Mandewala here. When forest officials tried to approach them, they fled.
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