Rewari, March 25
Ex-servicemen from various parts of Haryana and Rajasthan participated in a rally held under the auspices of the Kumaon Regiment on the Pitamah Kanh Singh college campus, at Kanina, 35 km from here, today.

The rally was organised with the co-ordination of the Rezangla Sahuriya Samiti, here. Lt Gen Satyavir Singh Yadav, Colonel Commandant of Kumaon and Naga regiments, was the chief guest.

Sixty five war widows of heroes and martyrs of Kumaon Regiment were honoured on the occasion.

Describing his visit to Kanina as a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Badrinath, Lt Gen Yadav said the Kanina region was land of heroes and martyrs of the Indian Army.

Paying respect to the mothers, who gave birth to valiant sons, as well as the war widows, whose husbands had made the supreme sacrifice for the sake of the motherland, he said it was deplorable that in spite of all this, things were far from satisfactory here. He exhorted the ex-servicemen and others to forge unity, provide good education to their children, eschew dependence on politicians and others and give respect to women if they wanted the area to develop and prosper.

Earlier Director General Resettlement, Ministry of Defence, Maj General Harwant Krishan said though rehabilitation of retired defence personnel, whose number touched 60,000, a year was a Herculean task, yet the government was making efforts to find jobs or employment for them in the private sector.

Making a mention of the recent re-employment of several thousand ex-servicemen as meter-readers and BPL (Below Poverty Line) surveyors by the Haryana government, he praised the state government for such measures to rehabilitate ex-servicemen.

He also said the directorate was in touch with employers for speedy re-employment of JCOs and jawans at the time of their retirement.

Prior to this Gen Yadav laid the foundation stone of the Rezangla Girls hostel on the college campus.

Mementos were also presented to Gen Yadav, Maj Gen Harwant Krishan, Col Arjun Singh Budania, Director, Helpline, South-West Command Jaipur, Col Udai Jawa, Commanding Officer of 18 Kumaon and other dignitaries.

Rohtak, March 25
A campaign against female foeticide, increasing public awareness on effects of skewed sex ratio and women empowerment emerged as thrust areas for action plan at a one-day seminar on Declining Sex-Ratio: Problems and Challenges organised at Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here today under the aegis of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS).

Chief guest Dr Syeda Hameed, member, Planning Commission, called for a change in men’s mindset saying patriarchal attitudes must go. Dr Hameed said youth and students must be used for women empowerment. She called upon women to organise themselves and raise voice for their welfare.

Presiding over the seminar Ms Asha Hooda, vice-president, Haryana State Child Welfare Council, administered oath to the participants to oppose female foeticide. Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University Dr R.S. Dhankar said mere legislation would not help. He called for educating masses on this important issue. Significance of women’s role to society must be highlighted. He said studies had proved women were better managers.

Dr S.B. Dahiya, Institute of Development Studies, and convener of the seminar suggested free education for girl students till the highest level, free health care facilities, introduction of gender studies in school curriculum and multi-pronged socio-cultural administrative approach for resolving the issue.

Director, PGIMS, Rohtak Dr S.S. Sangwan, said dowry and social security problems were aggravating the scenario. He called for stringent punishment for doctors indulging in female foeticide.

Karnal, March 25
Congress MLA and supporter of Bhajan Lal Dharam Pal Malik today charged the state government with conspiring to arrest the former Chief Minister.

Speaking at civic reception held in honour of Bhajan Lal and his MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi at Samalakha this afternoon, Malik alleged the Hooda led government was planning to indict Bhajan on flimsy grounds.

Meanwhile, suspended Congress Member of Parliament Kuldeep Bishnoi once again targeted party Chief Sonia Gandhi for ignoring issues of public interest. He blamed the party chief for indulging in vote bank politics.

Bishnoi said biased approach of Sonia could be gauged from the fact that she preferred to visit the “disturbed areas” in the non-Congress ruled states only. Giving examples of Haryana, he said the party chief preferred to skip Panipat where 68 innocent persons were killed in a terrorist attack.

Similarly, he added the UPA chairperson avoided visiting Gohana, Gurgaon and other places.

Bishnoi also charged the high command with pressurising him into not raising the SEZ issue in parliament. He also named several Congress leaders involved in the, what he termed as a ``Rs 64,000 crore SEZ scam’’.

Bhajan Lal today hinted at forming a party in next three months and stated a rally would be held in Rohtak, home district of Chief Minister B. S.Hooda.

Hisar, March 25
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has exhorted farm scientists to develop crop varieties in accordance with the changing climatic conditions. He assured them that the state government will ensure adequate funds for this.

The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering comprising farmers and farm scientists at the annual "kisan mela" on the premises of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here today.

Expressing satisfaction at the wheat production in the state, Hooda pointed out that the low yield of sugarcane was a cause of concern. HAU Vice-Chancellor Dr J.C.Katyal observed that water conservation was a must to boost agricultural production in the state.

Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a farmers' hostel to be built at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. He also visited an exhibition of farm technology organised by the university authorities.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chattha, Chairman of the Agricultural Marketing Board, Shadi Lal Batra, and local Congress MP, Jai Prakash, were also present. — TNS

Chandigarh, March 25
The banks in Haryana have been unable to wean away farmers indebted to the informal sector (money lenders and arhtiyas). Considering the high levels of indebtedness in the state (over 53 per cent farmer households are under debt with an average outstanding loan of Rs 26,007), the agriculture department has now been asked to send details to the banks, regarding rural indebtedness to informal sector.

This decision was arrived at, during the state level bankers committee meeting for Haryana, held yesterday. The issue for low performance in financing to farmers indebted to informal sector was taken up at length, to suggest measures to improve the same.
It was revealed that till February 2007, as many as 2717 farmers in Haryana had been roped in by various banks and granted loans against their debts from money lenders. Advances worth Rs 19.37 crore have been released to these farmers during this period.

The recent NSSO Survey (59th Round) on indebtedness amongst farmers had revealed that indebtedness in Haryana is much higher at 53 per cent, than the national average of 48.6 per cent indebted rural households. Though majority (68 per cent) of farmer households approach institutional sources for their credit needs, 26 per cent of farmers still approach rural money lenders. It is thus that the banks had been asked to extend credit to farmers against their debts to the informal sectors.

During the meeting, it was revealed that a sub - committee of bankers constituted recently to study the reasons for low performance in financing to farmers, found that farmers do not disclose the particulars of such debts, so banks are unable to help them out. Even in case of granting finance to farmers against such debts indirectly by making this a part of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC), the amount of debt from informal sector is not being reported separately.

The sub committee also observed that credit from the informal sector is being used for consumption purposes. This was also revealed in the NSSO survey, which said that 35 per cent of debt amount is spent as consumption expenditure, conspicuous consumptions like marriage and other social ceremonies. It was also found that some of the KCC holders were themselves lending money to other farmers, by availing institutional credit through these cards.

Karnal, March 25
Going against the Haryana police's slogan, “suraksha, sewa, sehyog'' (safety, service, help), two Karnal police officials, including an ASI, have been found guilty of showing their “inhuman face'' to an injured fellow constable by denying him timely medical aid.

The guilty officials on duty left the injured traffic constable, Sanjeev Kumar, on road to die on Thursday night. After reaching the spot the two refused to take their unconscious colleague to a hospital citing that their official vehicle did not have enough fuel.

SP Sibash Kaviraj did not respond to the frequent calls made on his mobile and residence.

Though the condition of the injured cop is stated to be stable the incident questions the working of the district police which is responsible for providing medical aid to the accident victims on the GT Road.

Talking to The Tribune, DSP S.S. Bhoria, inquiry officer, confirmed the incident. He said strict departmental action would be initiated against the guilty.

He confirmed that ASI Prem Singh and constable Ramesh Kumar, both posted at Madhuban police station on the GT Road, were suspended last night.

On the intervening night of March 22/23, Sanjeev Kumar, a traffic constable was posted at Meerut Chowk on NH-1. On hearing about the ill health of his wife, he took a lift in a truck to reach his house at Gharaunda.

On the way, the occupants of the truck had an altercation with him and beat him up.

He became unconscious after he was thrown from the truck near the township.

Sources said after gaining consciousness, Sanjeev contacted his colleagues at Meerut Chowk and narrated the incident. They rang up Madhuban police station for help.

But after finding the injured, who was crying for help, the ASI and the constable refused to help him. They left him unattended on the highway.

The sources said Sanjeev remained lying on the road for about two hours before being shifted to a private nursing home in Karnal.

Karnal, March 25
The three-day training programme on the rural dairy Entrepreneurship development organised by the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) and Ayurvet, New Delhi, concluded here at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the NDRI.

Joint Director (Research), NDRI Dr S.L.Goswami, addressed 40 participants from the Jind, Yamunanagar, Panchkula, Hisar, Karnal and Panipat districts. He said though India ranked first in milk production in the world yet there was potential to increase milk production which could increase income and employment through improved dairying.

He emphasized better breed of dairy animals could increase milk production and was dependent on scientific feeding for which dairy farmers need be educated.

Managing Director Ayurvet Dr M. J.Saxena said under the public private partnership it was a beginning. He said their company would train a dairy entrepreneurs of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh at the KVK of the NDRI.

Fatehabad, March 25
In a late night swoop, a police party led by DSP Samunder Singh found five police personnel replacing 800 kg of poppy husk they had recovered yesterday, with wooden husk at the Gurunanak Pura police post.

They were replacing the contraband with a view to selling it to a drug trafficker, Karnail Singh, who has also been nabbed by the police.

The police has arrested a head constable and Karnail Singh, while the other four policemen have escaped.

The police has booked the accused for the criminal breach of trust by a public servant, cheating and under various provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

A police party of the Gurunanak Pura police post, it may be recalled, had arrested two Punjab residents with 800 kg of poppy husk on Saturday.

The contraband, packed in 20 gunny bags, was being carried in a truck.

The contraband, being the case property, was lying in the custody of sub inspector Satbir Singh, in charge of the police post and ASI Balwinder Singh, who had nabbed the drug traffickers and recovered the poppy husk.

Satbir Singh, according to sources, conspired with some of his subordinates to sell off the poppy husk for an easy buck and replace it with wooden husk. As the SP Saurabh Singh was away on leave for two days, the cops thought it safe to execute their plan last night.

But the plan somehow got leaked and someone passed the information to IG, Hisar, range Y P Singhal.

The IG asked DSP Samunder Singh to raid the police post and by the time the DSP had completed his raid, the IG himself reached there.

Satbir Singh, Balwinder Singh, head constable Dalip Singh and constable Amar Singh escaped giving the raiding party the slip, while head constable Buta Singh and drug trafficker Karnail Singh, who had come to purchase the contraband from the police, were nabbed on the spot.

The police has registered an FIR under Sections 409, 420 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 15,61 and 85 of the NDPS Act against the accused.

Chandigarh, March 25
An old man of Kohand village under Gharaunda police station of Karnal district has sought permission from the Prime Minister to commit suicide, if a fair investigation into the death of his son, Amit, is not possible.

Amit was a ninth class student when his body was found near a track in November, 2005.

The old man,Pritam Singh,suspects that an unnatural offence was committed on his son before he was murdered and his body thrown on the track. He alleges that the police did not investigate the case properly, though a blood-stained knife was also recovered from the scene of the crime.

In letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj, the Chief Justice of India and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Pritam Singh has urged them to order a CBI inquiry into the death of his son. He does not trust the local police whom he accuses of being under the influence of a ruling party MLA, who, he says, is related to certain suspects in the case.

He says if the CBI inquiry is not ordered, he would immolate himself outside Rashtrapati Bhavan so that "the media also writes a few lines about injustice to my family."

Pritam Singh alleges that a resident of his village called his son from his house and took him away on a motor cycle(the registration number of which has been mentioned in his letters). He alleges Amit was sodomised by certain residents and later murdered. His body was allegedly taken in a tractor-trailer and thrown on the track, which is about 1 km from the village.