HARYANA

CHANDIGARH
Justice Garg is environment authority chief: The former Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Justice A.S. Garg, has been appointed the president of the appellate authority set up under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The authority has been constituted by Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai. A notification to this effect has been issued by P.K. Gupta, Haryana financial commissioner-cum-principal secretary, environment department. 

FATEHABAD
Lawyers seek stipend: The district unit of the All-India Lawyers’ Union (AILU) have demanded a stipend of Rs 5,000 per month for junior advocates, appointment of honorary judges from amongst advocates for disposal of heavy pendency of litigations, curb on corruption in judiciary and construction of lawyers’ chambers at the government cost. A meeting of the district unit of the AILU was held here on Saturday under Chandi Ram, state president of the union. It was decided to send a delegation of 15 lawyers from the district courts to a state-level convention of the AILU to be held in Rohtak on December 14. Election to the district body of the AILU was also held in which Om Parkash Mehta was unanimously elected president of the union. 

GURGAON
Inspector’s Gypsy stolen: A Gypsy belonging to a Delhi crime branch inspector was stolen from Sector 23 here. Roshan and Manoj, along with one of their accomplices, allegedly stole the Gypsy of Ramesh Chander, inspector, Delhi crime branch, on December 4. They took the vehicle from outside his house and then allegedly stole an Esteem. Sources said the inspector was on duty, but had come home to see his ailing wife. He parked his Gypsy outside his house in Sector 23 from where the thieves took it away. The two were arrested by the police in Khadki Dhola on Friday. 

Half marathon: As many as 1,000 persons participated in the half marathon organised by Reebok at the leisure valley here on Sunday. People from all age group took part in the half marathon. Rahul, who organised the event, said India was one of the unhealthy countries on the planet. “This is one of the reasons that I left the job in the corporate sector and started promoting running events as it keeps one healthy,” he added. “The motto of my company, Running and Living Infotainment, is to make people aware of fitness. We organise this walk on the first Sunday of every month,” he said. The participants had to cover an area of 5 and 10 km, respectively, according to the age group. 

Annual function: “The parents should imbibe morality and good manners in their children instead of criticising them,” said Asha Hooda, wife of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while presiding over the annual function of Shallom Hills International School here on Saturday. She said parents of her age usually criticise their children for their bad behaviour, lack of moralities and manners but they fail to understand that who made them like that. She also paid tributes to martyrs and victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. 

KAITHAL
2 POs held: The district police has arrested two proclaimed offenders who had burgled a church in Santokhmajra village here in 1999. The accused were arrested by the police, but they did not appear in the court after obtaining bail. SP Sultan Singh said the police had arrested Sanjay and Joginder of Rajound and Soma of Santokhmajra in connection with the theft. All three were produced in a court. However, Soma and Joginder went underground after obtaining bail from the court, following which they were declared proclaimed offenders in October 2007. 

KURUKSHETRA
Lok adalat: As many as 435 pending cases, including nine motor vehicle cases, were settled with mutual consent at the lok adalat organised by the District Legal Services Authority at the judicial complex here on Saturday. The lok adalat was presided over by District and Sessions Judge R.C. Bansal. Secretary of the authority-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate N.K. Singhal said it was decided in the lok adalat that a compensation of Rs 13.77 lakh would be given away to the victims of motor vehicle accident cases. Singhal said a mega lok adalat, “Samadhan-2008”, would be organised on the premises of judicial complex here on December 20. 

REWARI
55 donate blood: As many as 55 persons donated blood at a camp held under the joint auspices of Sant Nirankari Mandal and the District Red Cross Society in Nirankari Satsang Bhawan here on Sunday. The irrigation and PWD minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who inaugurated the camp, said blood donation was a meritorious deed. 

YAMUNANAGAR
Petro prices: The Haryana Janhit Congress on Sunday hit out at the Centre for making little reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel. They said the government should have taken steps to cut the petroleum prices in proportion with the decline in crude oil prices in the international market. Spokesman for the party Satpal Kaushik said the price of petrol should have been reduced to Rs 30 and diesel Rs 20. Five years ago, the price of crude oil was the same as now and then the price of diesel was Rs 20 and petrol Rs 30. If the government failed to reduce the petro price according to the decline, they would launch a mass agitation against the government, he added. 

HIMACHAL PRADESH

NAHAN
Revenue camp: A revenue camp was organised in the Deothi Majhgaon Panchayat under the Rajgarh subdivision here on Saturday. It was organised to redress the revenue-related complaints of villagers and 78 complaints were resolved by a team of revenue officers headed by Rajgarh SDM Rajesh Mari. An amount of Rs 1.12 lakh was also distributed. 

SHIMLA
Motorcycle rally: Yogesh Lakhani won the Shimla Motorcycle Challenge rally organised by Team Avalanche on Saturday. Lakhani took 10.36 sec for covering a distance of 8.02 km. He was adjudged overall winner, while Rajan and Rupender Singh bagged the second and third positions, respectively, in the class II category. In Himachal category, Avinash Awasthy, Chirag Thakur and Sunil Chauhan bagged the top three positions. In class IV, Sanjay Kumar, Amritanshu and Sandeep Singh won the top three positions. 

Body donation: With the registration of the ‘Deh Dan Samiti’ at the Indira Gandi Medical College (IGMC), people keen to donate their body or organs after death can now approach the Anatomy Department. IGMC principal S. Kashyap said the Deh Dan Samiti was got registered under the HP Societies Registration Act, 2006, on November 31. “The objective is to motivate people to pledge to donate their bodies after death for educational and scientific purposes,” he added. 

Two killed: Two persons were killed when a Tata Sumo (HP37A-1832) fell into the Sutlej river near Mangat village near Rampur under Broh police station on Sunday. The vehicle was on way from Sumej to Rampur. The deceased have been identified as Tej Ram of Sakrori village in Sunni and Rajneesh of Sikka Serivillage. 

Elected: The following have been elected office-bearers of the Indian Institute of Architects, Himachal Pradesh centre: chairman - R.K. Dogra; vice-chairman - K.S. Chauhan; joint secretaries - B.R. Rahi and Vidur Mehta; treasurer - Arun Bhanwara. The executive members included Naresh Verma, Kusum Aggarwal, L.M. Mastana, Sarojini Sharma, Raj Sharma, Ajay Sharma, Sanjeev, Sushil Sharma, Amit Sood and Naresh Gupta. 

Conference: Four-day Global Potato Conference will be organised by the Indian Potato Association at the Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) here from December 9. Over 500 scientists from 25 nations will attend the conference. They will deliberate on issues pertaining to cultivation of potato. Over 100 organisations will put up their stalls at an exhibition to be organised on the occasion. 

DEHRADUN

Undertrial injured in scuffle: Adesh, an undertrial who is accused of carrying an unlicensed firearm, was rushed to Doon Hospital after he was attacked by three other undertrials on Friday. The incident occurred when Adesh and other three - identified as Sonu alias Sandeep, Rajinder and Shanu alias Soni - were brought to the district courts for hearing. Adesh had a scuffle with Sonu, Rajinder and Shanu. The trio attacked Adesh with a blade. He sustained several cuts to his neck. 

Murder accused held: The Badkot police station cops in Uttarkashi district have nabbed Yashpal Singh, Kamal Singh and Pradeep on charges of murdering Kishen. Besides the murder weapon, the police have also recovered an unlicensed .12 bore gun from possession of Kamal Singh. Kishen was missing since September 23, 2008. The police said Kishen was not able to clear some dues of the main accused Kamal Singh, who along with others later murdered him. A case under section 201/302 of IPC has been registered. 

Regional potpourri

Cheaper, faster intravenous infusion technique

Dr Vijay Parkash Goyal, a Sirsa- based physician has invented a technique to make intravenous procedures cheaper, precise and fast.

The technique is an improvement on more than 100 -year technique, which is expensive and cumbersome.

The old technique requires presence of two to three persons while giving an intravenous infusion, while only one doctor or paramedical staff is sufficient to inject intravenous solution to a patient.

Dr Goyal was invited to attend the fourth Inventors of India Workshop in the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad from November 28 to November 30, where 60 inventors and innovators from the country participated.

Prof Eric Von Hippel, the US- based author of book “Democratising Innovations” inaugurated the workshop.

Brainchild of former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, these workshops aim at creating a knowledge and innovation network (KIN) in the country so that journey of innovations to products and products to the market could be smooth.

Named “Vijay - Tushar technique (Tushar son of Dr V.P. Goyal and has helped his father invent the technique) of intravenous infusion and vein-puncture”, the innovation seeks to convert the three-tier steps of intravenous infusion into one step where the doctor can simply order a vein puncture bag in stead of present practice of asking for an intravenous set, a canula, adhesive tape, a tourniquet to find prominent vein and a spirit swab.

The Vijay — Tushar technique of IV infusion has been developed in such a way that along with the IV set it has the required accessories.

“The object of the innovation is to perform the process of intravenous infusion and vein function single handed and without loss of time. Since the intravenous infusions are given in times of emergency, delay of a fraction of a second can sometimes lead to loss of human life,” says Dr Goyal.

Dr Goyal has applied to get his innovation patented and published in the government of India’s Patent and Intellectual Property journal recently.

The IIM, Ahmedabad has accepted Dr Goyal’s innovation for further processing by the Techno Entrepreneur Promotion Programme of the Government of India.

‘TB now is curable’

Abohar-born Vijay Khariwal was one of the three Indian experts invited to participate in a seminar on bone TB by the King Edward Medical University in Lahore in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Medical Tuberculosis Research Centre (PMRC) is conducting research on the management of tuberculosis. Its objective includes “Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis” and “Eradication of Tuberculosis” in Pakistan. The university provides funds for research itself . Almost all departments in Mayo Hospital, attached to the university, conduct studies at different levels. However, Pakistan lags behind in research for want of funds and to some extent due to the present culture which discourages independent and critical thinking. Other experts from India were Anand Joshi of Indore and B. K. Juneja of Delhi. They also shared their experience while attending a conference organised by the Pakistan Orthopaedics Association in Karachi, capital of Sindh province.

Khariwal had earlier served in Kuwait (Saudi Arabia) for 10 years and gained expertise before joining the Indian Spinal Injury Centre at New Delhi. He had initially served at the Edward Ganj Charitable Hospital in Malout, 30 km from his home town Abohar till 1997.

He said 20 lakh TB patients had been identified in India which is 30 per cent of the total number of patients globally.

He claimed tuberculosis was curable. Anti-tuberculosis medicines are available in the market and are not expensive particularly the primary treatment. Duration of treatment schedule depends upon the location of infection. In bone TB it may vary from six months to one year. For bone tuberculosis, the diagnosis depends on X-ray. Once the clinician suspects TB, the aspirate from the joint is sent for microbiological investigation for identification of the causative agent - mycobacterium tuberculosis. The patients with tuberculosis have raised ESR. Bone TB is not contagious. TB, per se, is treated at home these days. The practice of isolating the patient has been discontinued. TB as such may affect any organ of the body; however, involvement of heart is extremely rare.

Spreading scientific temper

Rajan Bhardwaj, a science teacher, of government senior secondary school, Bhatra Kalan in Nawanshahr district, has been attending national and state -level workshops organised by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Vighyan Prasar ( Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India), Centre for Science & Environment, Punjab State Council for Science & Technology, Department of Education, on AIDS, Environment and themes meant for creating awareness among students as well as motivating them for adopting scientific attitude but has also been striving hard to disseminate the knowledge gained at the workshops at the cutting edge level. For implementation, he has constituted science clubs in the schools he has served so far and in the locality he where he lives. Bhardwaj has constituted - Galaxy Science Club at Govt. Senior Secondary School for Boys, Rahon, Sir C.V. Raman Science Club at Govt. Senior Secondary School, Bharta Kalan and Rainbow Science Club, Rishi Mohalla, Nawanshahr to mobilise the school children to create awareness among the masses on AIDS, environment, pollution, preservation of wetlands, population explosion, solid waste management, biodiversity conservation, climatic changes, adulteration in food items etc.

Bhardwaj has got the science clubs affiliated with VIPNET ( the network of Indian Science Clubs), started by Vighyan Prasar, an autonomous organisation of the Department of Science and Technology, government of India, to exchange ideas, innovative activities and projects with other clubs and like- minded bodies across the country. Besides, he is also a life member of the Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai and the World Wildlife Fund, India.

Bhardwaj has been organising awareness rallies, seminars, educational tours etc to inculcate scientific attitude among rural students. Recently, he took schoolchildren , under the aegis of Sir C.V. Raman Science Club on an educational tour to Jalandhar, when the Red Ribbon Express, arrived there, to create AIDS awareness.

Bhardwaj was honoured by director-general, school education, Krishan Kumar recently.

Contributed by Sushil Manav, Raj Sadosh, and Parmod Bharti