Hisar, March 9
Former state finance minister Sampat Singh has said the much-hyped loan waiver for farmers announced by the centre will leave 98 per cent of farmers’ bank loan liability intact.

Talking to The Tribune here today, he said according to official records, the waiver would at best reduce the liability of a mere 2 per cent of farmers.

Citing the example of Haryana, he said as on March 31 last year, bank loans to farmers in the state totalled Rs 12,144 crore. Out of this, the loans to small and marginal farmers (whom the waiver would benefit) and landless labourers accounted for Rs 4,475 crore on the cutoff date.

The centre had announced that the “overdue amount” from March 31 to December 31 last year would be waived off under the scheme. As such, the total “overdue amount” of farmers in Haryana stood at Rs 1,062 crore on September 30, 2007.

Even this figure, he said would further go down drastically because between March and December last year, thousands of farmers paid their dues after selling their rabi and kharif crops. Besides, most of the overdue amount of interest had been wiped off when the Chief Minister had announced an interest waiver last year for farmers who repaid the principal. Since the waiver did not apply to landless labourers, their overdue would have to be deducted from this amount.

Eventually, even if it was presumed that the entire overdue amount, including principal and interest were waived, Haryana farmers would benefit only by about Rs 250 crore against the total loan amount of Rs 12,144 crore. This meant that only two per cent of the loans would be waived.

Since the pattern of loaning was the same throughout the country, it could be safely assumed that the entire peasantry in the country would get a waiver of two per cent on their loans. With 98 per cent of their debt from banks remaining intact, it was futile to hope that the farming community would get any relief, he added.

The former minister said in 1990, Devi Lal had waived farmers' loans to the extent of Rs 10,000 per farmer, first in Haryana and then the entire nation. That waiver covered every farmer who had any loan from any institutional source, including cooperative banks, board and corporations.

He said on March 13, 1992, the then minister of state for finance Dalbir Singh had stated in Parliament in reply to a question from Dharampal Singh Malik that the total burden on the centre for the 1990 waiver was Rs 7,714 crore. Besides, he had stated that the burden of cooperative banks was to be shared by the centre and the states on 50:50 basis, the centre would bear an additional burden of Rs 4,400 crore.

This meant the total value of the Devi Lal loan waiver came to 16,514 crore taking into account Rs 4,400 as contribution of the states for cooperative banks, he said, adding that going by the rupee devaluation and interest rates since 1990, the present value of the waiver would be Rs 1,32,000 crore.

He said the Narasimha Rao government had made budgetary provisions for the waiver after 1990. However, this time the Congress had failed to do so which indicated that it was only hoodwinking the farmers. He said he expected the Lok Sabha elections would be held before the June-end deadline for implementing the waiver because after that date the reality of the waiver would have dawned on the farmers.

Sampat Singh said Devi Lal waived loans immediately after the elections, which showed he did not do it to gain political support. However, the UPA waiver had come as a prelude to the Lok Sabha elections signifying its political overtones.

He said the only way to solve the problems of Indian agriculture was to implement the recommendations of the M. S. Swaminathan report.

Sirsa, March 9
Gone are the days when farmers had to frequent the office of patwari and grease his palm for getting copies of revenue records relating to their land.

“Farad” and “jamabandi”, the two official documents regarding the ownership and possession of landholdings, will now be delivered on the doorstep on a phone call.

Deputy commissioner V. Umashankar will inaugurate the new facility at Mandi Dabwali in Sirsa district on March 12, where it is being started as a pilot project. Later, the facility will be started in other tehsils of the district.

The revenue department has been in news for rampant corruption and this is manifested from the fact that patwaris outnumber any other cadre of employees having been nabbed red handed accepting bribes during the recent times. The facility will ensure transparency, besides saving farmers from exploitation.

The new scheme ensures that the farmers do not have to remain at the mercy of the patwaris and once a call is made at telephone number 01668-229035, it will become the duty of the kanoongo and halqa patwari to ensure that computerised copies of these documents reached farmer’s house within 72 hours of his request.

The nominal fees for issuing copies of the documents will be collected from the farmers while delivering the documents and that too against a valid receipt.

Besides this, the farmers will have to pay Rs 100 for the home delivery of the documents.

Those not interested in the service can get the computerised copies of these documents from the office of tehsildar on any working day.

Hisar, March 9
The two-day kisan mela of Haryana Agricultural University concluded here today. About 20,000 farmers attended the mela. These farmers were advised to maintain soil fertility for raising crop production apart from conserving water and other natural resources by using efficient farming techniques.

Farmers purchased certified seeds of various kharif crops worth Rs 17.25 lakh from the seed sales counter established by the university in collaboration with various government seed agencies, including the Haryana Seed Development Corporation, the National Seed Corporation, Central Seed Farm and KRIBHCO.

The agro-industrial exhibition was a major attraction for the farmers. According to Dr R.K. Malik, director of extension education, farmers were taken on guided visits to the research farm of the university. They were shown bumper crops and given demonstrations of the technology applied by university experts in raising these crops.

He said the farmers availed of the soil and water samples testing facility and purchased farm literature brought out by the university. 

Chandigarh, March 9
Waste management in Haryana seems to be nobody’s baby. In the absence of the assessment of the updated quantity of waste being generated in the state, there is no strategy in place to prevent or to reduce its generation.

Only 24 per cent of the hazardous waste generation units, 40 per cent of biomedical waste facilities and none of the 106 municipal waste operators had obtained authorisation from the Haryana Pollution Control Board.

A large quantity of hazardous waste was being piled up in pits while biomedical waste was not being segregated, stored and disposed of by health institutions as per rules.

Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on waste management in the state points out to all this and many more anomalies. The report points out that even though the board was functioning since 1974, no internal or external evaluation study of the activities relating to waste management was ever conducted.

The audit findings state that the board spent Rs 47.11 crore on various activities such as water and air pollution control and waste management against a receipt of Rs 91.76 crore during 2002-07.

However, of the total expenditure, 66 per cent was spent on establishment and office expenses, 3 per cent on items such as computers, vehicles and furniture, 27 per cent on the construction of building, loans and advances, and a meager 4 per cent on waste management.

Similarly, the environment department spent 66 per cent on salaries, 28 per cent on installation of common effluent treatment plant, 3 per cent on environment education and 3 per cent on waste management. The report maintains, “The board and the department spent negligible funds on waste management”.

Giving glaring instances of “waste mismanagement”, it is mentioned that solid waste of Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon, was disposed of on the bank of a nallah, waste from the industrial estate in Barwala, Kundli and Manesar as also sewage of Hisar was being disposed of at unauthorised places while treated effluent of Panipat was being discharged in Nohra drain causing water and air pollution.

Going on to “expose” the little work being done by the department, the report states that modernisation projects of municipal solid waste management have been hanging fire for the want of funds. These projects were started in 16 towns and left incomplete after spending Rs 20.98 crore on account of the lack of funds.

Rohtak, March 9
Medical services and patient care at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here continued to be affected for the third day today as a result of the resident doctors’ strike.

The situation is likely to worsen as the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) has decided to extend the strike by another 24 hours.

Senior faculty members, including the PGIMS director, Prof S.S. Sangwan, and the heads of different departments, were seen personally attending to the emergency cases in the casualty wing.

The protesting doctors have decided to intensify their agitation and plan to go on a fast from tomorrow.

A general body meeting of the RDA has been called tomorrow to chalk out the further course of action.

Meanwhile, representatives of the protesting medicos today appeared before the committee probing the allegations of irregularities in the MD/MS/MDS/PG diploma entrance examination conducted by Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) on February 24.

On the other hand, the PGIMS authorities have decided to adopt a strict stance regarding the ongoing agitation. In the given circumstanc

es, the situation seems to be volatile with the possibility of a showdown between the protesters and the authorities concerned looming large.

Faridabad, March 9
The ruling Congress in Haryana is gearing up to tailor its strategy for the next elections in the state in light of rearrangement of constituencies in the new delimitation.

Working president of the Haryana Congress Kuldeep Sharma, who is believed to have made a strong pitch in the party for early positioning and manoeuvres by the organisation for capitalisation and consolidation, has already set discussions afoot in the party forums.

The issue is said to have discussed at high forums of the Haryana unit of the party, including the level of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

A section of Congress leaders are of the strong view that the new arrangement will not affect the base of the party in terms of electoral battles. The only issue for them is to reorganise things for better consolidation.

They are credited with the view that with the decent image of the Chief Minister and a good number of pro-public policies of the Haryana government, they have enough “carrying capacity” to see the party through in the next parliamentary battle.

They are also enthused about the budgetary proposals of the UPA government, like waiving loans of small farmers and increase in the income tax exemption limit.

Senior leaders of the Congress are of the strong view that the party will stand to gain if it revises its strategies, as a number of constituencies, both parliamentary and assembly segments, have undergone metamorphosis in terms of demography.

As a footnote from the point of view of the Congress, Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, and who has floated a new political party, is a sitting MP from Bhiwani. Adampur is considered to be the family’s stronghold and it fell in Hisar, the home district of Bhajan Lal.

The former Chief Minister and his family had been influencing outcome of polls in Bhiwani parliamentary elections due to virtually one side-voting pattern in Adamapur assembly segment.

The new dispensation has made the established leaders cutting across party lines in the assembly and parliamentary segments a bit marginalised in some cases and redundant in others due to change in caste, sub-caste and community equations.

Chandigarh, March 9
Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi yesterday came down heavily on the Hooda government for “misleading” the people of the state on the issue of the SYL canal.

In a statement issued here, Bishnoi said the government had not given details in the Governor’s Address to the Vidhan Sabha how it would ensure the completion of the canal, though it reaffirmed its commitment to get the due share in the river waters. He said the SYL canal was remembered by ruling parties in the state only at the time of elections.

Criticising Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, the MP from Bhiwani said when Hooda took over the reins of the state, the Congress was ruling in Punjab as well as at the centre. But Hooda did not try to resolve the contentious issue of the canal. Now, when the Lok Sabha elections were round the corner, Hooda was trying to befool the people by raising the issue again. Earlier, he said, Chautala, too, was befooling the people, particularly when his friend Parkash Singh Badal was in power in Punjab.

Claiming that the canal would be completed when he would become the Chief Minister, Bishnoi said the construction of the canal was undertaken only when his father, Bhajan Lal, headed the state.

Kurukshetra, March 9
Asha Hooda, wife of Haryana Chief Minister and vice-president of the Haryana Child Welfare Council, has called upon women to contribute to the development of society by using their rights and taking a pledge to eradicate the evil of female foeticide.

She was speaking as a chief guest at a function, “Save girl child”, organised here yesterday.

She said a woman had to be educated to be aware and conscious of her rights hence women education was imperative.

The announcement of the Haryana government to observe this year as “education year” would undoubtedly give a boost to women education in the state.

Expressing her concern on the heinous practice of female foeticide, she said it was pathetic and sad that the birth of girl child was not celebrated 
in society.

Citing the example of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, she said the history was full of women who had made their parents and country proud. Women had also played a pivotal role in the building of the nation. She said the contribution of a housewife should not be under-rated as they also contribute and play a part in the development of society.

Appreciating the decision of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in gram panchayats and zila parishads, she said this had made the women more aware of their rights.

Dr Ram Prakash, a Rajya Sabha member, also expressed concern over the declining female sex ratio. He said the steps taken by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in this direction had started yielding positive results.

A short play on female foeticide was presented by the artistes of North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala. An exhibition was also put up by the health department.

Besides several senior officers, MLA, Thanesar, Ramesh Gupta, deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal were also present on the occasion.

Kaithal, March 9
Two hundred engineering graduates were awarded degrees at the convocation function held at the Haryana College of Technology and Management (HCTM) here today.

The vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Dr R.P. Bajpai, was the chief guest and Ranjan Aggarwal, chairman, presided over the function.

The principal of the college, Dr D.P. Gupta, in his report highlighted the college achievements in sports, cultural and academic fields and gave details of the facilities made available to students.

Bajpai exhorted students to work hard and apprise themselves of the latest developments taking place in various fields.

Complimenting the HCTM management for providing best infrastructure and facilities to students, he suggested that latest courses should be introduced so that students could get maximum knowledge and achieve excellence in academic sphere.

Sonepat, March 9
The body of Jai Bhagwan of Palra village, who along with his tractor-trolley had been missing since March 5, was found buried under sand in the fields acquired by Greenwood Construction Company between Jat Joshi and Ahmadpur villages today.

A farmer noticed the body and reported the matter to the company authorities and the police.

However, due to some uncertainty over the location of the site of the incident between the Rai police and the Sadar police, the body was lifted after around six hours for taking it to the Civil Hospital for postmortem examination.

A patwari’s services were taken to earmark the site and finally it was found that the location was in the jurisdiction of the Rai police station.

A case under various sections of the IPC has been registered on the complaint of victim’s brother Kaptan Singh.

According to the complaint, Jai Bhagwan used to go to the sand mines of Bakhtawarpur village, but he did not return on March 5. The tractor-trolley also went missing.

He alleged that he had approached the police post at Garh Mirakpur and the Murthal police station for lodging a complaint about his missing brother; but the complaint was not entertained on one pretext or the other.