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Lesser road mishaps in 2008
Chandigarh, January 5 According to AIG, traffic and highway, Rajpal Singh, 2008 saw 460 less accidents as compared to 2007, with the consequential decrease in the number of those who lost their lives in road accidents by 29 and those who were injured by 801. The AIG said here today that last year 4,730 drivers were challaned for driving while under the influence of liquor against 1,386 drunken drivers challaned in 2007. Similarly, over 35,000 drivers were challaned for violating speed limits last year. They were intercepted with the help of 14 high-speed interceptor vehicles at the disposal of the traffic police in the state. The traffic police would also organise film shows on road safety. He said during the ongoing 20th road safety week, the traffic police was organising painting competitions, declamation contests and road safety slogans competitions in various educational institutions. Besides, free eye check-up, blood pressure check-up and blood sugar check-up camps were being held for drivers. He said in the foggy season, the drivers should drive slowly along the white line on the left of the road. Four National Highways and several state highways pass through the state. On an average about 2,000 persons die and about 2,700 persons get injured every year in road accidents. Rajpal said in case of an emergency on the National Highways, help was available at telephone numbers 1033, 1073 and 99910-66666.
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Testing times ahead for political parties
Hisar, January 5 This will be the first time the state will go to the polls after the recent delimitation of the constituencies. For the politicos and their parties, this means an added element of unpredictability because the exercise has changed the composition of several constituencies. Caste calculations and political permutations and combinations will go awry in many constituencies. Several constituencies have been abolished forcing those deprived of their pocket boroughs to shift to other nearby constituencies. This is bound to trigger inter-party as well as intra-party turf wars amongst ticket seekers. Already politicians have begun shifting from their parties to others, which in their view suited them better in the changed scenario. Thus far this has been limited to the second- rung leaders of various parties but they are nevertheless hoping to win nominations and thereafter elections. Several upcoming youth leaders have shifted loyalties to the INLD in the past week or so. The Congress has responded by bringing back such defectors’ main supporters to its fold. These defections are certain to be more commonplace in the weeks to come. Although the Congress government under Bhupinder Singh Hooda does not seem to have the incumbency factor against it, all major political parties are expecting that the voters may be voting differently in the Lok Sabha and the next year’s Assembly polls. The reason being that the recent Assembly polls in six states, including Delhi, brought out surprising results where good governance was preferred negating any anti-incumbency factors. This has left the ruling Congress, INLD and BJP leaders baffled, as all these parties had been hoping that the Lok Sabha polls this year would be a referendum on the Hooda government. Their think tanks are now busy reshaping strategies to accommodate recent polling trends. In Haryana’s political parlance, the “election year” has already begun as the Assembly polls are due early next year. These “election years” usually witness hectic political activity round the coming year. The state will be witness to numerous rallies and political dramas. In the rural areas, the agenda for morning and evening meetings of villagers at the chaupals has already shifted exclusively to politics and coming elections. The groups of villagers basking in the sun can be seen animatedly discussing emerging political trends. Nothing makes the rural voter in the state happier than an “election year” and the New Year holds lots of promises for them.
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Condemned fire engines need replacement
Ambala, January 5 Ambala City is the most sensitive place in the district as it has around 800 wholesale cloth shops, a number of godowns of firecrackers and foam mattress, malls and big shopping centres. Besides it, three of the petroleum companies have their regional depots at Ambala Cantt close to railway tracks where lakhs of litres of diesel, petrol and other highly inflammable petroleum liquid is stored. Two corps of the Army and one of the biggest air bases of the Indian Air Force are also located here. The employees of civil fire brigade have to depend on the fire engines of the Air Force and the Army in case of a
big fire. The Ambala fire brigade does not have the facility of foam crash engines which is required in the fire incidents of petroleum goods. The Air Force has a foam crash engine, but it cannot be made available for the civilians every time. Generally, it is seen that the fire engines from the neighbouring districts are summoned to deal with even medium fires. Hydraulic platform, an important rescue measure for multistoreyed buildings, is not available in the district. Recently, a fire-fighting team had to face great difficulty at Ambala Cantt to control the flames in a three-storeyed building. The fire service stations in both cities are run by the respective municipal councils, which do not have sufficient funds to purchase new engines. The municipal councils can purchase only if the state government provides sufficient funds. The acute shortage of fire-fighting staff also adversely affects the efficiency of the operations. Except a few, most of the staff of the fire stations are on a contract basis and are getting hardly Rs 3,000. One of the employees of the Ambala fire station said that they had not been provided the latest rescue operation equipments.
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From job seeker to career builder
But there are others who take hardships in their stride and shape their destiny with hard work and dedication. Kavita Mehta, a girl with 100 per cent handicap on both her lower limbs, is among the latter types. She has not only been able to make herself self-dependent but has been shaping the careers of many other deaf, dumb and physically handicapped children. Kavita was born on August 20, 1972, but she developed symptoms of polio in the childhood and both her legs were rendered lifeless. Despite the incapacitation, she did not give up and continued her studies. She completed her graduation and master's degree in political science and bachelor of education from Kurukshetra University. But, after completing her education she was faced with harsh reality that differently abled persons like her were not welcome to the jobs. She tried for the post of social studies teacher, for which she is eligible, several times in the government as well as the private sector, but no one came forward to offer her a job. Then she thought that she would have to do something that could provide her self-employment. She started getting computer education and finally completed her M.Sc in software from Kurukshetra University in 2007-08. In the meantime, she has been running her own "Adhaar Computers Career Point" from her residence and has so far provided coaching to as many as 500 students of various computers courses. She has also been providing special computers training to deaf and dumb students and has the satisfaction of seeing some of her students getting jobs too. "Harvinder, a deaf and dumb student, trained by me has been working as a data-entry operator in Ganganagar; Archana, a differently abled girl works in an office; Dharminder, another differently abled youth has been working as data entry operator in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan; and Neha has been working in the local Disha Institute for Special Children,” Kavita says, adding that there are several others who are employed in the private sector. She regrets that while the government makes tall claims of providing help to the differently abled persons, it does nothing to provide jobs to those who are eligible.
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INLD dissolves state unit of youth wing
Chandigarh, January 5 Stating this here today, president of the state Yuva INLD Surinder Singh Dahiya said the decision had been taken by the high command to make the youth wing more effective and to give greater representation to the youth in the organisational set- up of the party. Along with this, the high command had decided to bring certain changes in the organisational structure of the youth wing. Now, along with the state and district units, constituency-level units would also be set up instead of block-level units. Dahiya said after the delimitation, several Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies had undergone big geographical changes. Following these changes, several blocks had lost contact with their corresponding Assembly constituencies. Therefore, the party had decided to constitute constituency-level units instead of the block-level units. Claiming that the INLD had always given special status to the youth in the organisational set-up of the party, Dahiya said now the youth of 35 years would be given responsible positions in the party. Criticising the Hooda government, Dahiya said its wrong policies were pushing the youth into crime. He alleged that government jobs were being sold and MPs and MLAs had been given quotas in recruitment to government jobs.
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Kalpana Chawla Planetarium attracts hundreds
Kurukshetra, January 5 Be it students, teachers, entrepreneurs, non-resident Indians (NRIs), pilgrims coming to this holy town, VIPs and villagers, there is a new must-see for everyone - a planetarium set up by the state government in the memory of Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to go on a space voyage. Since it was inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on July 24, 2007, the planetarium has attracted nearly 1,75,000 visitors - almost 350 visitors a day. The planetarium, located on the Kurukshetra-Pehowa road, is open on all days except Monday and students, accompanied by teachers in groups, are allowed free entry. Chawla, who was born in Karnal, 40 km from here, and studied at Tagore Public School there, became the first woman of Indian origin to go into space on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) re-useable spacecraft, Columbia, in 1997. The space scientist, who did her engineering degree in aeronautical engineering from Chandigarh's Punjab Engineering College (PEC), was chosen by NASA for her second space mission in January 2003. It was during the return journey, once again in spacecraft Columbia, that the flight disintegrated while re-entering the earth's atmosphere Feb 1, 2003. All seven astronauts on the flight perished in the disaster. “The planetarium is quite popular with visitors. For most of them, who otherwise mostly come here for pilgrimage, this is a new kind of an experience," said an official of the Kurukshetra Development Board. The planetarium has a 12-metre dome with seating for 120 persons. It is equipped with state-of-the-art digital and opto-mechanical projectors that give an amazing view and show various constellations, stars and planets of the night sky. Using these projectors, visitors can view the sky of future and past nights and can see the arrangements of stars and other cosmic objects at that time. The main attractions of the planetarium are its shows, astro-park and science exhibits. Two shows are currently on: the 30-minute "Kalpana ka Swapan - Sitaron ki Duniya" and "Oasis in Space", about the solar system, its formation and characteristics of different planets. A range of scientific exhibits measuring time, body-weight on different planets, world time and zodiac signs, zodiac quiz and seasons on earth have specially been developed to demonstrate the principles of astronomy. "The planetarium experience is amazing. I had heard and read about space and the stars, but this was the first and closest experience of that world," Vishesh Mathur, a student from Ambala, said. — IANS
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Agencies have ‘failed to enforce’ seismic safe design code
Kurukshetra, January 5 Structural engineers and architects in the private sector do not have sufficient knowledge regarding seismic
safe design. These views were expressed by Dr MN Bandyopadhyay, director, National Institute of Technology (NIT), during the valedictory programme on Earthquake Risk Management, which
concluded here. He emphasised the need for putting in place an appropriate techno-legal regime. Industry-institutional arrangements need to be made urgently for training these engineers and architects so that the constructions taken up by these agencies are seismically safe. Engineers from the private sector are also to be trained so that the housing stock coming up in the private sector is complied with the BIS standards. There is an urgent need for moving towards a certification system whereby civil engineers can practise only after they have undergone a course in seismically safe construction in earthquake risk management, Dr HK Sharma, coordinator of the programme, said. Highlighting the significance, he said natural disasters like earthquakes had increased in frequency the world over. India and the neighbouring regions had experienced many seismic disasters over the years. The Jammu and Kashmir and the Bhuj earthquakes had once again exposed the lack of preparedness in rescue and rehabilitation operations, poor quality construction methods and lack of legislative regulations for earthquake-resistant construction. The national progress achieved through planned economic development had been jeopardised due to frequent recurrences of these disasters in the recent past. The government had enacted the Disaster Management Act, which provides for establishing a strong institutional mechanism at the national, state, district and local levels apart from laying down a disaster management framework in the country. The Central government, according to the organisers, has taken a number of initiatives to strengthen the disaster management system in the country and in this process the NIT, Kurukshetra, has been designated as the State Resource Institute for imparting training to engineers and architects of various PSUs, government, semi-government and private organisations of the state under the National Programme for Capacity Building of Engineers in Earthquake Risk
Management. As many as 35 engineers from various state government departments attended the training which was taken up on the initiative of the national disaster management division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Dr Baldev Setia, chairman of programme, added.
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Cops distribute blankets among poor
Sirsa, January 5 Ajay Sharma, station house officer (SHO) of the city police station, was instrumental in organising the events. When people were busy partying in hotels and resorts on the night intervening 2008 and 2009, Sharma was spotted distributing blankets among the poor sleeping on railway platforms and the bus stand. Sharma set out for the railway station on December 31 with 125 blankets and by the time the New Year arrived he had already distributed all blankets amongst beggars and other poor on the railway station, bus stand, Arorwansh chowk and other important areas. Later,the police organised a meeting of senior citizens of the town on the evening of the first day of the New Year, which was addressed among others by SP Subhash Yadav. Prominent citizens of the town were present. Yadav in his address said society that respected its elders always remained on the path of progress. He said that the senior citizens were mature persons, who had seen the world and hence played an important role in minimising
the crimes. The SP praised the SHO for providing good policing to the people.
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Social service with a difference
Sonepat, January 5 The trust, looked after by its founder president TC Alakh, is well known in the district for its good work, which include development of many children parks, a community hall, a free reading room and library. The trust also runs a hearse van and a free dispensary for poor. Because of Alakh’s efforts, Sonepat can boast of refrigerated drinking water supply dispensed through huge water coolers at the local bus terminus and other parts of the city. The water cooler cost the organisation about Rs 3 lakh and a recurring expenditure of about Rs 5,000 per month during the summer season. During summer months, the trust takes special care to augment the cold water supply by providing ice at the water tanks used by thousands of people to quench their thirst at these tanks. “The need for such cold water tanks is paramount within the town itself at various places and the trust has plans to construct three more water tanks at the crowded sites in the district,” said Alakh. The trust has also developed a cremation ground at a cost of Rs 4 lakh to meet the urgent need for one area of the town. Manav Sewa free dispensary, opened in double storey residential area of the poor section of the society, cater to the OPD needs of the residents free of cost. Talking to The Tribune, Alakh, who is also the honorary general secretary of the National Association for Blind and the national vice-president of the Youth Hostels Association of India, New Delhi, said though the bilk of the trust’s activities are concentrated in the district for the present, he might also undertake small but vital social projects in Delhi
also.
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Bahadurgarh karate players win laurels
Bahadurgarh, January 5 The championship was organised between the age groups of 7 years and 16 years and players from several states like Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan apart from Haryana took part in the event. Following their overall performance in the championship, especially in the lower age groups, Bahadurgarh team was declared the best. According to information, local lad Sunil Rathi grabbed the first position while Ishu Rathi got the second place in the senior age group, whereas in the junior age group, Rinku Ranga of Rajasthan and Rajan achieved the first and second position, respectively, on the basis of their performances. Former MLA and president of the Haryana Athletic Sangh Nafe Singh Rathi gave away the prizes to the winning players at the closing ceremony and called upon the players to work hard with devotion to achieve their goal. Participation is much important than winning the game, so players should take part in championships with enthusiasm without thinking about the result, he maintained. The three-day championship was inaugurated by the local Congress MLA, Rajender Joon, who described the sports policy of the state government at the inaugural function.
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Polish dancer takes fancy to Bharatnatyam
Gurgaon, January 5 She feels that this dance has given new horizons to her as it has helped her in improving the postures of her hand. And it is only due to this dance that she got interested in Borok, a traditional dance of Poland. Agnil along with award winner Sanjeev Bhattacharya was in the town to perform Indo-polish dance recently. She says, "Dance is my life and with this I can easily express myself”. She is also expert in Spanish dance, Flomenko dance, Tango of Argentina, and Mexican dance. Agnil says, "I try to learn all forms of dance as it gives me satisfaction and will carry on learning till the time I can. It is very helpful in taking out
suppression”. She tells, “I learnt Bharatnatyam for three years in Poland and later studied it deeply for one year in Chennai”. Agnil affirms, “I love dance a lot as besides relieving tension it brings various cultures together”. She is also a chorographer by profession and has choreographed for historical movies, operas, belle and various musical shows. Agnil was a bit tensed before her first performance in the country as she says, "I was tensed for the first time as I was not aware of the culture here and use to think that people are going to accept it or not but now I am ok with it and love performing here. People here have very good approach towards culture and art. I am getting a very good response and ooking forward towards my
forthcoming performances in coming days,” Agnil asserts.
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Journeying ahead by leaps and bounds
Panipat, January 5 The state government had passed a legislative notification making it the first university for women in the state and North India. The university started its first session in August 2007 with the department of law, English, and foreign languages, MSM Institute of Ayurveda, BPS Institute of Polytechnic, BPS College of Education and BPS Memorial Girls College with Anuradha Gupta as its vice-chancellor. Bhagat Phool Singh, a martyr and “satyagrahi”, had established a Kanya Gurukul (school for girls) in Khanpur Kalan village in 1936. Owing to the social strata of the times, only three students had joined the institution then. Adamant to make his endeavour a success, he persisted with his school and his ideas in the midst of severe oppression and objection from the orthodox community. The hostility created among a section of the society due to his different attitude finally lead to his killing on August 14, 1942. His Gurukul and his ideals were kept alive by his daughter Behan Subhasini Devi who went on to start several professional institutes and colleges in the Gurukul itself. She was awarded the Padamshri by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The entire educational institutes of the Gurukul were governed by a mahasabha till recently when it was converted into an all women university. The university's first academic session was a success and the students for the first time gave their examinations under BPS rather than Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The construction of building complex spread over 108 acres also started in full swing to house various new departments and schools before the second session of the university. In May 2008, Dr Pankaj Mittal, joint secretary, UGC, joined as the first regular vice-chancellor of the university. Under her, the construction work gained momentum and new departments, including department of management studies, social work, engineering and sciences, and an English medium campus school, were set up. The university also got its logo and mission statement that clearly reflects its aspirations and dreams. The mission statement and motto read "Empowering Women With Education". The university added yet another feather to its cap when it became the quickest to get recognition under Section 12(B) of the UGC Act 1956, making it eligible for receiving financial grants, schemes and projects from the UGC and the central government. The university has also been actively holding seminars, workshops and special educational training camps for educationists of the state. It has hostel facility for 1,400 students and the second phase of construction would see more hostels with all modern facilities. In addition, the university has constructed faculty houses and staff quarters for its teaching and administrative staff. The university is all set to start a medical college and hospital, a nursing college and an engineering college in the near future. The process has already been initiated with the acquisition of 300 acres where the construction would begin soon. An auditorium and an indoor sports complex among several other buildings are also being brought up. The university would also adorn a state-of-the-art campus with wi-fi connectivity in the entire area. A glimpse of the things to come is evident from the state-of-the-art language labs established on the campus to provide training in communicative English to the learners. The six labs are the first ones of their kind to be established in the region. The labs are dedicated to the students of the university who are given training free of cost thrice a week. These labs make use of the latest technological aids. “The university is committed to provide modern and up to date education to women. However, the traditional ethos and customs that have defined India over the ages would not be deserted and forgotten in this wave of modernism,” said Dr Mittal. She said the university was giving equal importance to value education that involved training in Vedic mantras and moral education to the learners. The university has the institute of ayurveda that treats patients and trains doctors in the ancient system of Indian medicine. Keeping in view the rural background of the area, the institute provides treatment at nominal costs and also maintains a 110-bed hospital within the premises. Dr Mittal said the university was committed to serve the cause of women by aiming at emancipating women and enabling them to attain visibility in the social strata. “The university also aims at creating a generation of leaders capable of taking over the reins of the state, society and the country in the future,” she added.
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Forgotten hero of 1857 gets his due
Rewari, January 5 His statue was unveiled by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here recently. Rao Gopal Dev, the neglected hero of 1857, was born in 1829 in Rewari.At the age of 26, when his father died, he got the “ jagir” of 41 villages in 1855.Subsequently, he continued to be the chieftain of the above territory of the Rewari domain till his “jagir” was confiscated by the British in 1859. He spearheaded the revolt against British imperialism in the Rewari domain in 1857. As a commander of the Indian forces, he fought the historic battle against the British at
Nasibpur, near Narnaul, on November 16, 1857. British historians Kay and Malleson wrote: “It was a gallant conflict. Never did the enemy fight better .There was neither shirking nor lurching. Never was there a charge more gallant and certainly never were the British cavalry met so fully or in so full a swing by the rebel horse. Though the enemy fought with courage of despair, they exposed their lives with a resolution which forbade the thought of yielding”. Thus, the historic battle of Nasibpur, in which the British eventually came out victorious, marked the end of the crucial period of their struggle in the Delhi Division and northern Rajasthan and the restoration of the British supremacy in the entire region. Following the decisive victory of the British, Rao Gopal Dev escaped incognito to the then Bikaner state in Rajasthan. He stayed with his relatives in Udairamsar village for four years. Ultimately, he died there in obscurity in 1862. It is a measure of his supremacy as a great Indian revolutionary of 1857 that soon after Queen Victoria’s proclamation, which was issued on November 1, 1858, to grant unconditional pardon, amnesty and oblivion of all offences against the British government, to all except those who directly or indirectly took part in the murder of British subjects, several offers of surrender were made to Rao Gopal Dev through his friends by William Ford, the then deputy commissioner of Gurgaon, but the Rao , like a true patriot and freedom fighter, spurned all such offers and never submitted his petition of pardon to the then Governor- General of the British government Some time ago, Rao Bijender Singh, convener of the Ahirwal Andolan, along with his cousins,Ashok Rao and Sunil Rao, all descendants of Rao Gopal Dev, took up the cudgels against the deplorable neglect of the great hero of 1857. Expressing his gratitude to the Chief Minister and others, Rao Bijender Singh said the honouring of Rao Gopal Dev would be instrumental in providing inspiration to the youth.
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UGC grant for Fatehabad college
Fatehabad, January 5 The college principal, DK Kaushik, informed mediapersons that a sum of Rs 48 lakh out of this grant would be used for the construction of two more floors in the girls hostel and also for providing better facilities in the hostel. Two new courses would be started in the college by spending the rest of Rs 14 lakh. “There will be two add-on courses, one on theatre and television and the other on office management, and any student doing regular studies in the college will be able to opt for these courses,” Kaushik informed.
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Sirsa, January 5
