Hisar, April 30
Weather threatens to play spoilsport in the May 7 Lok Sabha elections in Haryana. With temperatures already hovering around 45 degrees celsius in Hisar, Bhiwani and Sirsa and between 41 to 44 degrees in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala and Karnal, parties are worried about the prospects of a low turnout.

As per forecasts available on Indian and international weather websites for the next 10 days, the average daytime temperatures in various districts of the state on May 7 are expected to vary between 40 to 43 degrees on the polling day. Though this means an average drop of three degrees compared to now, these will still be high enough to deter the voters.

According to available data, Hisar will be the hottest place in the state on the polling day with the temperature going up to 43 degrees. Gurgaon is expected to be slightly less hot on the day and the average daytime temperature in the district will be around 40 degrees. Ambala, Karnal and Faridabad are expected to record 41 degrees. Bhiwani and Sirsa are expected to touch 42 degrees.

However, slightly lower daytime temperatures on the day are unlikely to bring much relief. The Met Department said hot winds would lash the state during the coming days with speeds averaging 6 to 7 km an hour on May 7.

In addition, the chances of precipitation between now and the polling day are almost nil thus ruling out any temporary relief from heatwave conditions.

Temperatures these days are two to three degrees above normal. Besides, heatwave conditions have set in about a fortnight earlier than usual this year making life harder, especially in the desert areas of Hisar, Sirsa and Bhiwani districts.

Candidates for the LS polls have instructed their party workers to conduct door-to-door campaigns requesting voters to cast their votes before noon on the day. In the urban areas, where voters are considered to be more sensitive to weather conditions, the parties have asked the workers to ensure that brisk polling is recorded in the first three hours of the polling.

Poll managers expect a lull in polling between noon and 3 pm on the day. That is why they are keen on brisk early polling to be followed by another brisk round in the last two hours of the polling.

However, other than appealing to voters to cast votes in the early hours, parties can do little to make this strategy work as no vehicles are allowed to ferry voters to the polling booths. Voters have to walk an average distance of 1 to 2 km to exercise their franchise.

Nevertheless, in the urban areas candidates plan to deploy the teams of young workers to approach voters repeatedly in the early hours on the day to ensure a higher turnout.

Kandela (Jind), April 30
The Congress is a divided house and so is the Bharatiya Kisan Union(BKU) unit of Haryana-at least in this village where the sound of shots fired by the police at protesting farmers, leaving six dead, still rings loud in the minds of villagers.

The subsequent police harassment, picking up of farmers from houses, fields and hospitals, and slapping of false cases against them, is a wound that still hasn’t healed. The compensation given to the aggrieved families by the Haryana government has, however, provided some relief to the villagers.

Despite this, Ramphal, the man who led the farmers’ agitation in May 2002, wants to keep all political parties at an arm’s leangth. Also, he does not subscribe to the support extended by the BKU to the Congress .

“We are a farmers’ body and we must stick to that. What is the need to have political leanings. We are not for any party and not against any party. To express our neutrality, we have prepared a charter that we give out to all candidates and political parties who approach us. We have given this to polticians all over the state and expect them to work towards meeting our demands if they come to power,” Ramphal says.

The charter mentions that the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission should be accepted, farmers should be given complete loan waiver and should be given interest free loans.

“We want free medicare for the farmers on the lines of facilities given to employees, reservation in higher education, technical education and inclusion of farmers’ bodies in sugar mills,” he explains.

The Ramphal-led BKU has demanded that the farmers should be given some extra money to maintain land around their holdings and carry out afforestation, modification of the Dowry Act and representation to the Sarv Khap panchayats for making justice delivery more effective and affordable in case of love marriages. The last demand is that the farmers and labourers should be saved from the the impact of the WTO.

“We give this to all candidates and only seek their response. We are nobody to impose our decisions on fellow farmers and that is the only reason we don’t advocate supporting any party,” he said. 

Gurgaon, April 30
With the polling day approaching, parties and candidates are working hard to woo voters.

Be it the BJP-INLD candidate for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat, Sudha Yadav, Congress candidate Rao Inderjeet Singh, Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC-BL) candidate and former minister Rao Narbir Singh or BSP candidate Zakir Hussain, all are touring various parts of the district, especially the villages.

Sudha Yadav recently visited Chakarpur village, Housing Board, Maruti Vihar, Sikandarpur, Ganga Vihar, Om Nagar, Gandhi Nagar colony, Feroz Nagar Colony, Lakshmi Vihar, Rajender Park, Surat Nagar, Ashok Nagar and many other localities to meet the voters.

She said the Congress claimed to be a party of farmers and labourers, but these sections were facing a difficult situation in Congress rule. She said if elected, she would take up the issues with the government.

Rao Inderjeet Singh,too, is on a door-to-door campaign. He, along with his supporters, is visiting villages. He claimed that he had many young supporters and he would win the election.

Singh also requested the people that if they were not satisfied with the performance of sarpanches of their villages, block members or councilors, they should come forward to vote.

Noted local leader and former Haryana Minister Rao Narbir Singh, who is contesting from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency as the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC-BL) nominee, is making all-out efforts to tilt the poll balance in his favour.

Like his competitors Rao Inderjit Singh (Congress) and Zakir Hussain (BSP), Narbir also has a substantial political background. He comes from the family of prominent leaders like Rao Mohar Singh and Rao Mahabir Singh, both of whom have had a substantial influence in the area. It is this legacy, which Narbir is banking on.

In his public meetings, Narbir maintains that unlike other candidates in the fray, he has been among the people of the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency since the past two years.

As regional issues dominate the poll scene in the constituency, the HJC (BL) nominee has also been focusing on the alleged discriminatory attitude of the Congress government towards the special and specific requirements of the areas falling under the constituency.

Though Narbir’s main pocket of influence is the Ahirwal belt, he claims to have got the support of the Meos, Punjabis and other communities as well.

He also makes it a point to recall the importance accorded to the region by former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal while seeking votes in the area, which he proudly calls his own.

Zakir Hussain, who has been fielded by BSP president Mayawati to cash in on the new caste equation in the newly carved Gurgaon parliamentary constituency, is harping on the “asymmetrical and unjust” development of the Gurgaon-Mewat belt in his campaign.

In his public meetings, Hussain has been accusing the Congress regime in the state for giving stepmotherly treatment to the Mewat region.

“The successive governments have been ignoring the Mewat area, which remains backward till date,” he said while addressing a series of public meetings in various parts of the constituency.

Hussain maintains that the entire Gurgaon-Mewat belt has rather been a victim of haphazard development, which has taken a heavy toll on its basic infrastructure and resources.

Hussain’s family members, including his wife Naseema Begum, have also been holding poll meetings to garner support for him.

Hussain belongs to a prominent political family of the Mewat area. By virtue of this legacy, he enjoys a considerable support, especially among the Meo community, which forms a sizeable chunk of the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency electorate.

Sisai (Hisar), April 30
Had Dale Carnegie been alive today, he could rightly have claimed royalty from Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for deploying every technique he described in his famous book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” to seek votes for his party nominees in Haryana.

And, all evidence would have certainly gone in favour of Carnegie. Hooda, clad in spotless white, is a veritable sugar candy. Ever since his road shows aboard a modern incarnation of a rath began, a near authentic smile has replaced his trademark furrow in the brow.

Toiling in dusty desert expanses of the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency in 47° C plus temperatures, he remains cool. One wonders whether the rath’s air-conditioned climes are doing the trick or is it Carnegie’s intellectual property at work!

The rath is appropriately christened - Vinamarta, Vikas, Vijay Rath. If any budding journo had to compile the speeches he delivers from atop this vehicle, he would have no problem in titling it after the rath: Humility, development and victory for that is exactly what he purports to personify in his roadside spectacles.

As a motley crowd of villagers greets the rath at Sisai Chowk, a beaming Hooda emerges at the top of the rath. Wihout a warning, he surprises villagers with a piece of history. “The last time I was here in 1984, canvassing for Birender Singh (now the sulking Finance Minister in his Cabinet) your elders informed me my late father Ranbir Hooda brought the canal water to your village. Am I right?” he asks.

The elderly nod in approval. Taking a cue he continues: “If my father did so much for your village will his dutiful son not like to do even better for you?” Equipped with nothing better, the stunned villagers react with a collective sigh of agreement.

The vinamarata and personal equation part done, he begins his discourse on what the Congress has done for the farmers and what he is doing for Haryana. “Number One Haryana. This is not my slogan any more. It is a reality now”, he says and in no time he marches on to the victory part.

“Make sure Congress nominee Jai Parkash wins. Vote for him. Ask friends and relatives to vote for the Congress and make sure you too ride the wave of development sweeping Haryana”, Hooda concludes.

The vinamarta comes in handy again. As the rath begins to move, he slides the glass pane and shakes hands with villagers making sure he exchanges pleasantries with the elderly.

He is obviously briefed properly. At every stop he manages to find something that helps him relate to the villagers and that too with a telling effect. By the end of the day he would have covered 52 villages of the constituency.

And he leaves behind not just the dust raised by the rath, but the legacy of Dale Carnegie as well.

Rohtak, April 30
A research project titled, “Lok Sabha General Elections 2009: A Behavioural Study of Political Attitudes and Opinion in Haryana in Perspective of Political Communication”, has been awarded to a teacher of the department of journalism of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here.

Dr Harish Kumar, head of the department, who has been awarded the project, said the study would address the crucial questions of “who votes for whom?” and “why do people vote the way they do?” The study would provide an in-depth analysis of political behaviour and voting patterns by using a number of demographic variables such as caste, community and economic class. Such an analysis would help provide empirical evidence on the social basis of voting in the state, he added.

“The study will also present an analysis of the patterns of political affiliation in Haryana and focus on popular perceptions about different parties and assess the way people perceive the performance of the state government”.

This study, he said, would help in knowing the changing scenario of political as well as socio-economic situations in the state.

“It will also help in understanding the role and characteristics of contemporary media which plays a major role during the elections. With changes in the mass media and other modes of communication, the study proposes to analyse various sources of political communication, and their impact on the functioning of democracy in the state. The study will also attempt to identify sections of voters who are politically more active compared to their passive counterparts; their mode of participation; and the impact political participation has on public opinion. The impact of the party leadership at the national and local levels on political behaviour will also be explored in detail”.

About the methodology and research instruments of this project, he said the study would be primarily quantitative and based on the survey method in tune with the Michigan Model of Election Studies.

A three-day field investigators’ training workshop will be organised in MDU in the first week of May in this regard. After the workshop, about 40 students will go for field work in the state from May 8 to May 12 after the elections.

Rohtak, April 30
The election time has its advantages and disadvantages. While the development works and new projects get halted due to the enforcement of the code of conduct, people try to attract the attention of the vote-seekers towards their demands.

Keeping this in mind, university and college teachers of the state have joined hands to press the government to accept their demand for the revision of pay scales, which they claim is long overdue.

The Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (HFUCTO) staged a dharna here recently to protest against the non-implementation of the notification of the HRD ministry on revised pay scales for university and college teachers. It is claimed that all state teachers’ associations took part in the protest. The vice-chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University met the teachers and addressed the gathering. A memorandum was also handed over to the vice-chancellor to be submitted to the Chief Minister.

In the memorandum, the government has been asked to implement the MHRD notification dated 31-12-2008/UGC pay scales for the university and college teachers. It said the association had failed to comprehend the delay despite assurances given by the government and claimed that some states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra had already notified the revised pay scales.

It stated that Delhi University and Jamia Milia Islamia had already implemented the pay revision. It said the notification in its Clause 10 had been categorical about the early implementation as it was mentioned in the clause that for the implementation of the revised pay scales, the UGC norms or regulations, which were yet to be received, should not be taken as an excuse for the delay. “We feel that the state government is not making a correct reading of the MHRD notification,” the memorandum said.

It said HFUCTO reiterated its demand for the uniform, simultaneous and complete implementation of the notification in all colleges and universities of the state without any further delay.

HFUCTO had also held a meeting on the Kurukshetra University campus, here, recently, and expressed its resentment over the delay. The teachers announced that in case the implementation of the revised pay scales was delayed further, HFUCTO as an umbrella organisation would be left with no alternative but to continue with its programme of protest in various forms.

It was resolved to hold a protest on May 2 on the Guru Jambheshwar University campus in Hisar. The teachers also decided to hold a dharna on May 12 in front the office of the commissioner, higher education, Panchkula. The teachers also threatened to boycott the PG examinations to be conducted in various universities and colleges.

Sirsa, April 30
Media professionals and academicians working in media educational institutions have resolved to work together for bringing necessary changes in the curriculum and teaching techniques to bring changes in the way media education in being imparted in India.

This constituted a part of the resolution adopted at the end of a two-day conclave, MediaCon 09 organised in the department of journalism and mass communication, Chaudhary Devi Lal University (CDLU), Sirsa, recently.

Speaking as a chief guest on the valedictory session of the national conference dedicated to the “state of media education in India”, former vice-chancellor of Makhan Lal Chaturvedi University of Journalism and Communication Radhey Shyam Sharma said the media scenario was fast changing and the curriculum must be upgraded to inculcate these changes into it.

He said until and unless the courses were fine tuned as per needs of the media industry, those graduating from the Media Departments were least likely to be absorbed immediately after passing out.

He congratulated the host department for introducing several innovative things in day-to-day teaching of journalism and called upon other departments of the region to emulate these experiments.

Presenting report of the two-day national event, Virender Singh Chauhan, chairperson of the department, said media experts working in academics and industry, who converged on CDLU campus, were unanimous that immediate changes in curriculum were required to suit the requirements of the industry and for making the course more job-oriented.

He informed the participants that detailed proceeding of the conference would be published soon.

Media consultant and social activist Vikram Dutt said the process of introspection that has been initiated at MediaCon 09 must continue if we wanted to bring real changes in the existing system of media education prevailing in the country.

He said the CDLU Department of Journalism was doing some path-breaking experiments that would soon bear fruits.

Bandna Pandey of the Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology said “India” was taking much space in our media today but the “real Bharat” was missing.

She emphasised the need to have more coverage of villages and common people.

Prof. CP Singh of Manav Rachna International University said journalism education was in fact a part of media education but we must not forget that the area of media education was much wider. Educationist RS Sangwan called upon the host department to work for producing good English journalists.

Prof. Ashutosh Mishra of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, also addressed the conference.

Earlier, Naresh Kaushal, Editor of Dainik Tribune, inaugurated the conference on its first day and laid emphasis on journalism focused on common people in the country.

RK Sehgal, registrar of the university, presided over the inaugural session.

Gurgaon, April 30
The Bal Urja Rakshak Mission (BURM), an innovative school outreach programme of the Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA), has started with the first awareness programme in this regard being organised at Delhi Public School (DPS) in Sector 45 here.

The programme aims at training students of class VIII and IX to act as environment and energy conscious youth.

The programme is being implemented by the district administration in collaboration with the Management Development Institute (MDI) under the guidance of the HAREDA.

Addressing the students, Gurgaon ADC Praveen Kumar exhorted them to conserve energy not only to reduce electricity bills at their home and school, but also to lighten the houses of underprivileged and prevent the wastage of power.

Kumar also asked the students to work for the environment and energy conservation and to make the earth a better place to live.

Under the programme, activities would be organised throughout the year with the help of the Bal Urja Rakshaks (students trained in energy conservation) and teachers from respective schools. They would be sensitised and motivated to spread the message of energy conservation, renewable energy and other issues of universal concern.

BS Yadav, additional director, HAREDA, asserted that this project would help the students update their knowledge in the areas of energy, climate change and global warming.

Earlier, Aditi Misra, principal of the host school, welcomed the participants and guests. Nearly 600 students from DAV Public School, Sector 14, CCA, Sector 4, Shri Ram Senior Secondary School, DLF, Phase IV, Amity International School, Sector 46, and DPS, Sector 45, participated in the event.

Prof Atmanand, dean, School of Energy Management, MDI, PK Nautiyal, senior manager, HAREDA, and KS Sandhu, project officer, HAREDA, were also present.

Ambala, April 30
The Madhav Netra Jiyoti Society, an NGO, has been offering vision to children who have lost their eyesight in their childhood. During the last three years, the society transplanted 62 corneas to various children free of cost.

The society has enrolled hundreds of citizens who have given an undertaking for the donation of their eyes after death. The society has also issued a commitment certificate to them in which the donors have owned up that the NGO could get their cornea removed after death.

The society has installed hoardings in the city in which it requested the people to fill the pledge form for donating their eyes after death. The NGO has also organised a number of seminars and meetings in educational institutions to ensure the involvement of youth in the campaign.

Recently, the husbands of two of the women have donated the corneas of their wives after their death. Madhu, wife of Ashok Kumar, was suffering from cancer. Before her death, she asked her husband to donate her eyes to an eye bank so that even after death, her eyes could see the world. Her husband fulfilled her wish and donated her corneas to the society after her death.

In another case, Krishna Verma, retired head mistress, has also donated her eyes after death. She had enrolled her name with the society before death. When she expired recently, her husband immediately informed the society so that her commitment could be carried out.

A student of B.Tech, Aseem Swami, died in a road accident last month. When the members of the NGO approached his father for the donation of cornea, he accepted the suggestion.

A few months ago, the society has transplanted cornea to two brothers of Patiala, Yadvender and Ashwinder, who have to drop their studies, as their eyesight had become so weak that they could not even read or write. The society transplanted two corneas to them and now they have started their studies.

Om Prakash Sharma, convener of the society, said they had donated eyesight to 60 persons so far. Initially, they faced great problem to persuade the people of the city but now they have understood its importance.

Chandigarh, April 30
Working president of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (ad hoc) Didar Singh Nalvi has demanded the resignation of SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar from his post on moral grounds.

In a statement issued here, Nalvi said Makkar had made an unfortunate” statement that no Sikh should become the President or the Prime Minister of the country because by being on such posts he would not be able to serve the community.

Nalvi said Makkar should explain whether the post of Punjab Chief Minister was included in those posts, which should not be occupied by the Sikhs. Nalvi said a Prime Minister belonged to the entire country and he was answerable to the entire nation and not one community, whereas the president of the SGPC was responsible for the service and welfare of the Sikhs.

Nalvi, who is the brain behind the movement for a separate gurdwara management committee for Haryana, said Makkar should first explain what he had done for the Sikhs as president of the SGPC before calling the other Sikhs not to occupy constitutional posts. He said Makkar had not done any service to Haryana Sikhs by indulging in their “religious, social and economic loot”.

Nalvi said it was strange that Makkar wanted to see LK Advani as Prime Minister, who had admitted in his autobiography that he had motivated Indira Gandhi for an attack on Akal Takht rather than Manmohan Singh.

He said every community wanted that its representatives should occupy the highest posts, but unfortunately Makkar was an exception who did not want his fellow community members on august posts.

Israna (Panipat), April 30
Fourteen years ago when Chief Minister Bhajan Lal had inaugurated the local bus stand here, it had brought cheers to the local residents. But it was not for long that this bus stand stayed in use. The well constructed building is now turning into ruins.

Located on the Panipat-Gohana highway, it was inaugurated on December 18, 1995. However, buses never stop here, instead these halt on highway, a short distance ahead of the bus stand. This not only creates traffic problems on the road, but also causes inconvenience for the local residents.

The Tribune revealed that huge funds must have been spent on this bus stand when it was constructed. It has a well-constructed building with all facilities like ticket counters, toilets, drinking water and a spacious area for arrival and departure of buses. A concrete floor had also been laid here to facilitate the movement of buses. It had an electricity connection, which now stands suspended.

Sanjay, who runs a generator repair shop opposite the bus stand, said before the bus stand was built, the buses used to stop on the highway. But even after it was inaugurated, it was perhaps for only two days that buses halted here. Bus drivers stopped using it and instead resumed with the practice of halting the buses on the highway.

Ravinder, a government employee, said they approached the authorities several times, but all their pleas failed to move them. It was in the violation of the rules that despite a proper bus stand buses stop on the highway causing inconvenience not only to the local residents, but also to the commuters.

Ram Singh, another resident, said the authorities should take effective measures to ensure that the bus stand was put to its proper use. He contended that if buses were not supposed to stop here, then why so much of public money was spent on constructing the bus stand.