Hisar, March 26
The slowdown is likely to cast its long shadow on campaigning for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls with most businessmen and industrialists who finance the candidates tightening their purse strings.

The evidence of a campaign slowdown is already there for all to see as most of the likely contestants are refraining from campaigning in their constituencies until they launch their campaigns officially after filing their nominations.

In Haryana, generally the campaign kicks off right after the election time table is announced. Most serious contenders begin touring their constituencies immediately after the polls are announced as the expenses they incur on touring before they file their papers are not counted towards the official expenses on campaigning.

However, barring a few almost all other ticket seekers are planning to delay their campaigns until the last moment in a bid to save money because of a sharp fall in donations from business and industry circles.

A sitting MP confided on condition of anonymity that his donors had told him that they would effect a 25 per cent to 40 per cent cut in their contribution towards the election fund as they were already reeling under the impact of the slowdown. He said he understood their difficulties as most businesses were no longer as profitable as in the past.

Another hopeful said he would wait till his ticket was confirmed to begin the campaign as his budget was limited due to falling contributions. He said it was no use wasting money on touring the constituency extensively until the party nomination came in, especially as funds were scarce.

A local industrialist said he regularly funded many candidates in the past but his sons had told him to cut the contributions by half this time because of the slowdown.

“ My sons are right. There is already a liquidity crunch. We need the cash to keep our businesses running. Besides, how can I not effect a cut in election funding when I am imposing a similar cut on employee bonuses”, he added.

The campaign slowdown has dampened the spirits of small businessmen who made good money during the campaigning. A local taxi owner said none of his vehicles had been booked as yet for campaigning. Even the rates were likely to be low compared to the past, he said.

The flow of liquor is also expected to be curtailed. Wholesalers expect the demand to be less than half of what they used to sell in the previous elections. “The sales will pick up once the campaign gets going, but the overall sales will be much lower”, a local liquor trader said.

However, the voters are happy. “The economic slowdown has done what the Election Commission could not do. It’s good. We will see a saner and no frills campaign”, a lawyer commented.

Chandigarh, March 26
After announcing its candidates for three Lok Sabha constituencies of Gurgaon, Rohtak and Faridabad, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) of Kuldeep Bishnoi is now following “wait-and-pounce” tactics.

The party is waiting for the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) to announce their candidates before it announces its remaining nominees. The reason? The HJC would like to take into account various caste combinations in particular constituencies once the candidates of the other parties are in place.

For example, party sources say, if the Congress fields a representative of “B” category of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) from the Ambala reserved constituency, the HJC may field an “A” category SC from there. Or if the Congress and the INLD field representatives of “A” category of the SCs from the Sirsa reserved constituency, the HJC may like to opt for “B” category SC as its nominee.

Similarly, if both Congress and INLD put up Jat candidates from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat, the HJC may go for an Ahir as its representative. After the Jats, the Ahirs are the largest community in the newly created constituency after the last delimitation.

The HJC may like to go for a Punjabi candidate in Karnal if the Congress repeats its sitting MP Arvind Sharma or opts some other Brahmin candidate. The BJP had already named ID Swami, a Brahmin, from there. Another reason for the HJC not announcing its nominee from Karnal might be its expectation that if Arvind is denied ticket by the Congress, he might join hands with Bishnoi.

The sources say the party leadership is also waiting for surfacing of rebels in the Congress after the national party announces its nominees. Some of these rebels may like to join hands with the HJC. Bishnoi also would not mind giving ticket to some of the Congress rebels from those constituencies where he might not have “suitable” contestants.

One thing is certain that from Hisar, either former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal or Bishnoi himself would contest on behalf of the HJC and no one else.

How far the HJC would be successful in its strategy, only time will tell.

Gurgaon, March 26
New equations are emerging fast as the decision on the Congress nominees for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections nears finalisation. The ticket aspirants are leaving no stone unturned to manipulate the party high command’s decision in their favour.

Thanks to the lurking probability of last-minute changes, some candidates who were confident of getting the ticket for the Lok Sabha have become apprehensive of the central leadership’s final decision.

As per the latest indications, the seats of Sonepat, Gurgaon, Karnal and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh have become hotbed of fast-changing political equations. Lobbying for the coveted ticket has reached its peak with quite a few ticket seekers and their supporters staying in the national capital.

The Congress leaders opposing the candidature of certain ticket aspirants are also making all-out efforts to convince the party leadership of their viewpoint.

State Irrigation Minister Ajay Yadav is learnt to have reiterated his claim to the Gurgaon seat, which was almost certain to go to Union minister and sitting Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh.

The Congress MLAs representing certain assembly segments, falling under the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency were recently called to Delhi by Prithviraj Chavan, who looks after party’s affairs in the state.

These leaders are trying their best to get Rao Inderjit shifted to the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seat, an equation that also suits the opponents of Shruti and Kiran Chaudhary.

Much to the chagrin of state Finance Minister Birender Singh, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is said to be keen to field his close confidant Venod Sharma from the Sonepat seat, which is being considered a safe bet for the Congress.

To balance the caste factor, especially in view of the INLD fielding Ashok Arora from Kurukshetra, the Congress leadership is believed to be looking for some Punjabi candidate. In this context, the name of Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah’s brother, popularly known as Bulle Shah, is being heard prominently. If the Congress leaders opposing the candidature of Karnal MP Arvind Sharma succeed in keeping him away from the poll fray, Shah may be declared Congress nominee from Karnal.

Union minister Selja may also decide to opt for Sirsa rather than Ambala, which she represents at present in view of the changed situations and equations.

All in all, it would be interesting to note who will emerge successful in the fierce pre-poll contest, as in politics no possibility can be denied.

Gurgaon, March 26
A city-based NGO, Bharti Foundation, has been selected as one of the finalists of India NGO Awards 2008. The finale of the national award will be held in Delhi on March 30.

Vijay Chadda, CEO, Bharti Foundation, said, “It is an honour for our NGO to be part of the award for our Satya Bharti School programme. This initiative is the flagship programme of the foundation. It aims at providing free quality education to underprivileged children in the remotest corners of rural India. Overcoming challenges like those of poor infrastructure, low learning levels of students and inaccessibility, we aim to set up scalable and replicable models of holistic education.”

“Our goal is to transform our students into educated, well-groomed and self-employable citizens with a deep sense of commitment to society,” he affirmed and added, “Nominated for this award reiterates the huge responsibility that we carry. We promise that we will continue to deliver the commitment that we have made to the children and the community to the best of our ability and in perpetuity. I thank the jury and Resource Alliance and the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation who have considered us worthy of this honour.”

The registration for the award began on September 17, 2008 and closed on October 4, 2008.

The award aims at promoting financial and organisational sustainability of civil society and strengthening community support for their work. To recognise and reward the work of NGOs in their respective fields, the Resource Alliance launched the first of its innovative awards programs in 2004, in the Asia Pacific region. Since then there have been two regional award competitions held in the Asia Pacific region, and a new national-level NGO award launched in the country in 2006.

Simon Collings, CEO, Resource Alliance, mentioned, “These awards are an opportunity to celebrate the work of the civil society sector in India. We had a very high standard of entries and stiff competition last year and have some great and incompatible entries this year as well”.

“The basic purpose for these awards is to identify successful resource mobilisation practices and strengthen them, to promote cross-regional learning through sharing practical ideas which can be replicated or adapted, to raise the visibility of local resource mobilisation initiatives,” he retreated.

With record 167 entries received from small, medium and large NGOs across all regions of the country, the assessors have selected 15 regional finalists for the award from four regions - north, south, east and west. They were invited to the final to be held in Delhi, where one winner will be announced in each category. The three national winners in each category will receive a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 4,00,000 each. The prize money will be used on winners’ discretion.

All entries were divided into three categories based on their annual budgets - small with an annual budget of under Rs 50 lakh, medium with an annual budget between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 5 crore and large with an annual budget of over Rs 5 crore.

Out of the 167 nominees, 52 were shortlisted. The process of shortlisting has been carried out by regional assessors in each region, which included a site visit to the organisations for “due diligence” where the assessors saw the actual project site and assessed the work being carried out, met with the beneficiaries, the chief functionary, board members and the staff members. The jury members and board members verified the details shared by them.

The jury members include Kajol Menon, executive director, Childline India Foundation, Raj Chengappa, managing editor, India Today, Rati Forbes, director, Forbes Marshall, Ronald Angerer, country representative, Plan International, and Vijay Mahajan, founder Basix India.

Hisar, March 26
The district election officer has declared 81 villages in the district as hypersensitive from polling angle.

The Narnaund Assembly segment of the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency has 20 such villages which is the highest in the district. The Adampur constituency has 15 followed by Hansi (11), Uklana (10), Nalwa (9), and Barwala and Hisar (8 each). In addition, there are 79 sensitive villages in these seven Assembly segments.

The DEO has also declared 269 polling stations as hypersensitive. Again, the highest number of such polling stations, 74, is in the Narnaund Assembly segment. The Adampur Assembly segment, represented by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, has 47 such polling stations.

The break up for such polling stations in other constituencies are: Uklana (34), Hansi (37), Barwala (41), and Hisar and Nalwa (18 each).

The sensitivity level of villages and polling stations is determined on the basis of the threat perception of disruption in polling due to violence. As such, the deployment of security forces is determined on whether a village or a polling station falls in the normal, sensitive or hypersensitive category.

Besides, election officials keep a constant watch on these places during campaigning and polling to rule out violence or disruption of poll process.

The threat perception itself is based on the basis of history of these places during the past elections.

Sirsa, March 26
The Rana Engineering Club, Chandigarh, won the Kingzy Twenty-20 cricket tournament organised by Cloud 9 marketing company in the Shah Satnamji Cricket Academy Stadium by defeating the Haryana Cricket Association in a low scoring final recently.

The Rana Engineering Club openers Sarul Anwar and Vipin Chauhan needed only five overs to surpass the small total of 78 runs scored by the Haryana Cricket Association.

Put to bat first by the rivals after the REC captain won the toss, the HCA’s innings collapsed like a pack of cards despite the presence of international player like T-20 World Cup hero Joginder Sharma.

The entire HCA team was bundled out for 78 runs in 14.2 overs, thanks to the brilliant bowling by the REC’s bowlers Ricky Singh (4 for 8 in 4 over) and Gaurav Gambhir (3 for 18 in 2.2 over). Ricky Singh’s spell earned him man of the match award.

Following an easy total, the REC openers Sarul Anwar and Vipin Chauhan hit the ball at will. Chauhan scored 44 runs of 14 balls and his innings comprised of three sixes and six fours.

Anwar also did not lag behind and hit three sixes and three fours for his 34 runs scored of 16 deliveries.

The REC openers took the score to 81 runs in just five overs, entitling the team to prize money of Rs 1 lakh. The runners up HCA team took away cash prize of Rs 75,000.

Vice president of the State Olympic Association Ashok Mehta gave away the prizes in presence of the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Earlier, the REC reached the finals from the Group A by defeating Shah Satnamji Cricket Academy, Hari Singh Club, Ghaziabad and Indian Air Force, Delhi in the tournament held on the league basis.

From the Group B the HCA team reached the final after defeating MK Club, Delhi, JJ Sports, Chandigarh and Rajasthan Colts.

Producer: Ravi Chopra
Director: Deepa Mehta
Music: Michael Dana
Cast: Preity Zinta and Vansh Bhardwaj

Critically acclaimed at the Chicago Film Festival, “Videsh” made in Hindi as well as Punjabi will see a release today at OHM- Sirsa, Sun City- Hisar, Mineeva- Ambala Cantt and PVR- Gurgaon.