Hisar, April 8
Social scientists and government planners in Haryana will soon have a skewed sex-ratio problem of another kind on their hands - girls outnumbering boys.

If it sounds unbelievable, have a look at the figures. In Bhiwani district the male-female ratio in the 2001 census in the 0 to 6 age group was 841 girls for every 1000 boys. However, two years on, in many villages the balance has tilted in favour of girls.

In a recent survey conducted by the district administration, it was found out that Balali village in Dadri subdivision has a whopping 1484 girls against 1000 boys. Likewise, Gudana has 1064, Mehrana 1035, Shishwala 1061, Tiwala 1017, Dudhwa 1294, Adampur 1207, Kaliana 1005 and Chhapaar had 1008 girls against 1000 boys.

The survey, which was conducted in 25 villages, surprised everyone when it was found that most of these villages had more girls than boys. The other villages with more girls than boys were: Narsinghwas - 1003, Akhtyarpura 1020, Khaparwas 1110, Chandawas 1045, Golagarh ancestral village of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal 1011, Bhangarh 1102, Lalhana 1167 and Sumrakhera 1040.

Even in urban areas the picture has changed drastically. In the January 2007 survey in many parts of Bhiwani town it was found that Rajanpana area had 1012 girls for 1000 boys followed by Loharh Bazar with 1044 and Taiwanpana with 1035 girls. The survey was conducted through Aanganwadi workers.

The Health Department conducted a survey of its own in December 2006 covering areas under various community and primary health centres. The sex-ratio in villages covered by the Sui PHC which stood at 958 girls for 1000 boys in 2005 had risen to 1038 girls in one year.

In Hisar district, the overall male-female ratio which stood at 871 women for 1000 males in the 2001 census has shown a 7 per cent rise in the number of girls, taking the figure to 901 girls at present. Deepti Umashankar and Mahendra Kumar, deputy commissioners of Hisar and Bhiwani districts, respectively, attribute the increase in the male-female ratio to concerted efforts by the state government to eliminate the menace of female foeticide. Besides the stringent implementation of various laws governing foeticide and sex determination, the awareness campaigns have played a more important role in giving girls an opportunity to live.

Mahendra Kumar said the Red Cross Society was made the nodal agency for conducting the Beti Bachao Campaign in all villages and towns of the district. Inquiries from other districts also show that the sex-ratio is improving rapidly.

Fatehabad, April 8
The police today solved the case of looting of gold jewellery worth Rs 40 lakh after attack on a Tohana-based jeweller by arresting four persons, including a police constable, in this connection.

The police has recovered the gold jewellery from the accused, besides the motorcycle and knife used in the crime.

Sukhwinder (27), son of Bhim Sen, president of the Tohana Jewellers Association, had lodged an FIR stating that three motorcycle-borne miscreants had accosted him at Jain Gali near Aggarsen chowk on April 4 and snatched his bag containing 4 kg of gold items after throwing chili powder in his eyes.

When he resisted the attempt of the miscreants, they attacked him with knives, inflicting injuries on his head and face.

SP Saurabh Singh said the police today nabbed Rakesh, Pawan and Sushil for the crime and it also arrested Ramesh, a police constable, for providing them shelter.

Kurukshetra, April 8
After the recovery of certain of official documents from the boys’ hostel at Kurukshetra University on Thursday, the university authorities seem to hush-up the matter as the name of a leader of the non-teaching employees’ union of the university has also cropped in the case.

A team of KU officials raided Narhari boys’ hostel on Thursday afternoon. The team had reportedly recovered about 30 documents and certificates from the room but now the officials are not ready to disclose the same.

Sources said a number of blank detailed marks cards (DMCs) and SC certificates were among the recovered documents. The blank SC certificates bore the stamp impression of an SDM.

Though the university has constituted a committee to investigate the recovery, no formal complaint had been forwarded to the police.

The inquiries revealed that the KU authorities were informed about the certain unpleasant activities being played from the room no. 3 of Narhari hostel. Acting upon the information, lock of the room was broken and several documents related to the university were found.

One day after the incident, vice-chancellor Dr R.P. Hooda had flown to Mumbai for a week. Registrar Dr V.K. Aggarwal showed his ignorance over the whole matter while the controller of examination (CoE) Dr Hukam Singh said a committee was investigating the matter. 

Hisar, April 8
Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Raghbir Singh Kadian today assured graduates of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) that he would help resolve the problem of unemployment among agricultural professionals.

Addressing a gathering at the 4th HAU alumni convention here, he said he would seek a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda next week and discuss ways for providing employment opportunities to agricultural professionals. Kadian, who is himself a former student of HAU, was honoured on the occasion.

HAU Alumni Association chief Mahavir Singh Dahiya demanded immediate lifting of the ban on appointments in HAU saying it was unfortunate that when agriculture in the country was at crossroads, a premier university like HAU was not allowed to hire more teachers and research staff.

Vice-chancellor J.C. Katyal said agricultural professionals in the country faced the challenge of increasing food productions from the present 205 million tonnes to 290 million tonnes in 2020. 

Rohtak, April 8
The first alumni meeting of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) was organised amidst sentimental reunions and nostalgic reminiscences here today. In an emotionally charged atmosphere, the MDU alumni resolved to work together for the progress and betterment of their alma mater.

The university authorities also honoured several former students who have some noticeable achievement to their credit. The MDU vice-chancellor, Prof R.S.Dhankar, presented the award of excellence to university alumnus Justice Suryakant Sharma of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Suryakant Sharma, who was a guest of honour on the occasion, called upon the alumni to work jointly for the development of the university to which they belonged. He also urged them to contribute their mite in the eradication of social evils.

The director, Alumni, Prof Ravinder Vinayek, delivered the welcome address and threw light at the background of the meet. Prof Narender Garg presented an audio-visual presentation on the progress made by the university.

A number of MDU alumni,including Dr Suprapha Dahiya, Rajesh Nair, Group Captain Suresh Kumar and Ruchi Gupta, recollected their association with the university. Dr Shalini Singh conducted the programme, while Dr Asha Kadyan proposed the vote of thanks.

An alumni directory of MDU, as well as a book titled, "Management Processes and Organisational Behaviour," penned by university alumnus Dr Karampal, were released on the occasion. A cultural programme was also organised.

Nearly 350 old students attended the alumni meet.

Fatehabad, April 8
No law can serve the purpose for which it has been legislated unless the people were aware of its various provisions and the rights accorded to them under that law.

This was stated in a seminar on the Right to Information (RTI) Act organised by the Sampooran Kranti Manch, Haryana, in the local Vidya Bharti School.

Rajiv Godara, a lawyer practising in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh and general secretary of the manch, set the ball rolling by giving details of some important provisions of the RTI and the endeavours being made by various social organisations to make people aware in this regard.

He said that though the RTI had come in to force in 2005, it had not been able to show the results it could have due to lack of awareness among people.

He rued the fact that the Haryana government had prescribed much higher fees than that prescribed by the Central government for those seeking information under the RTI.

Prof Subhash Sharma, director, Manohar Memorial Group of Educational Institutions, said the RTI was one of the best things to have happened in India. If implemented in its true spirit, the RTI could prove a boon .

Chandigarh, April 8
In a bid to curb corruption in the state, the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has planned a special drive to target various departments dealing with the public. During the initial phase of the drive, the bureau has nabbed officials of the revenue and other departments.

Giving details, an official of the vigilance department said Lachhman Dass, patwari of Samaspur in Bhiwani district and Chamel Singh of Indri in Karnal district were caught while taking bribes of Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000, respectively. They had taken this money to alter revenue records illegally.

In another case, the bureau claimed to have caught red handed the District Development Officer, Yamunanagar, Ghanshyam, while accepting Rs 3,000 from Ved Parkash of Yamunanagar for issuing to him a verification report pertaining to an expired loanee.

Satish Kumar, a draftsman with Power Utilities at Karnal, was also caught red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 from Jagdish Kumar of village Amargarh for submitting his file for installation of transformer.

The spokesman said cases had been registered against all the accused under Section 7/13 of Prevention of Corruption Act.

Karnal, April 8
Unregulated trials of genetically modified tests on the conventional crops in the country have worried the All-India Rice Exporters’Association, which has urged the authorities to bring a legislation to control such tests in fields.

The newly elected president of the association, Vijay Setia, says the rice export industry fear a big loss due to the free-for-all tests of crops on the Indian soil.

He informs that the “contaminated” genetically modified varieties developed by US companies have been banned in Europe and such a situation could also emerge in India if a timely action was not taken.

He stresses that a law should be formulated to ensure that any test for genetically modified crops is done strictly only in the green houses. The exporters’ body fears contaminations of the conventional crops after getting pollinated from the genetically modified that are will under testing conditions.

He clarifies that the association supports the scientific advancements in different fields but demands that such testing centers should be scientifically guarded and must be run with the total support of the community.

Hisar, April 8
Haryana Vidhan Sabha speaker Raghbir Singh Kadian today assured graduates of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) that he would help resolve the problem of unemployment among agricultural professionals.

Addressing a gathering at the 4th HAU alumni convention here, he said he would seek a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda next week and discuss ways for providing employment opportunities to agricultural professionals. Kadian, who is himself a former student of HAU, was honoured on the occasion.

HAU Alumni Association chief Mahavir Singh Dahiya demanded immediate lifting of the ban on appointments in HAU saying it was unfortunate that when agriculture in the country was at crossroads, a premier university like HAU was not allowed to hire more teachers and research staff.

Vice-chancellor J.C. Katyal said agricultural professionals in the country faced the challenge of increasing food productions from the present 205 million tonnes to 290 million tonnes in 2020. 

Kaithal, April 8
The Haryana Government during its nearly two-year rule had taken a number of decisions to provide relief to farmers, traders, employees and others. There was an improvement in the law and order which has created a favourable climate for setting up a big industry in the state.

This was stated by Bajrang Dass Garg, chairman, Confed, Haryana, who addressed a gathering of the local business community at Milan Palace here today. Garg,who remained president of the Haryana Beopar Mandal prior to his appointed as chairman, said the government had rationalised sales tax on about 100 items.

If it was found that sales tax was higher on certain items as compared to the neighbouring states, the state government would look into the matter. Garg said people had full freedom to express their views on any matter and there was no victimisation of political opponents.

Garg took to task all those who were criticising the setting up of SEZs in the state. He said SEZs were important for economic development of the country as more industries created more employment opportunities.

Besides this,the government would earn handsome revenue by way of taxes not only this, wherever big industries were set up a number of anciliarry units came up thus paving the way for boosting construction activity in the area leading to over all prosperity of the people.

Garg said the government had also chosen 58 villages to be developed as model villages so that even rural people could get all basic amenities like those towns.

Yamunanagar, April 8
As part of a nationwide evaluation of the low-cost sanitation scheme, started in the mid-1990s by the Union Government, a team of Agriculture Finance Corporation Limited on Friday carried out the evaluation of toilets constructed here.

Low-cost toilets were to be constructed under the scheme for poor people so that dry latrines could be replaced. The Union Government has targeted to replace all dry latrines in the country with modern toilets and do away with the process of scavenging by the end of 2007.

Sources said none of the government agencies, including the Planning Commission, had any data on the number of dry latrines in the country. The evaluation teams would be submitting reports to the ministry of urban development.

The visiting team, headed by project officer Dr Veena Khanduri, found irregularities in the construction of such toilets in Bhatia Nagar Colony where 29 toilets were constructed. The locals complained to the officials that the contractor had taken Rs 1,500 each from them for the toilets. As per the scheme, the government was to provide 45 per cent subsidy on the construction cost to the beneficiary, who was to get 50 per cent loan for the same.

The beneficiary had to pay only 5 per cent of the cost from his pocket. In the state, the Haryana Slum and Cleanliness Board was made the nodal agency for the construction of the toilets.

The toilets were to come up on a survey report of the respective local bodies. Dr Khanduri, talking to The Tribune over telephone, said with rapid colonisation there was a need for proper sewage system. She said various aspects of the scheme were being studied and a report would be submitted to the ministry of urban development.