Chandigarh, June 8
The Haryana Education Department has come up with a proposal for providing holistic education in madrasas. These madrasas, located in Mewat, are now being persuaded to include regular school education in their curricula, besides the regular religious education.

Sources in the Education Department informed TNS that the proposal was being finalised under the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Officials of the SSA are already talking to the managements and clergy of these 104-odd madrasas in Mewat district so that a secular curriculum can be devised for the students in these madrasas. This proposal, if implemented, would go a long way in removing the educational backwardness of the area.

Talking to TNS, a senior official of the Education Department said they had already offered to give free books to all students studying in the madrasas. “We have also offered to give an honorarium to the teachers who are specially hired for imparting secular education to children. The idea is to make these madrasas our collaborators in imparting education,” he said.

Interestingly, earlier, too, an attempt was made to impart regular education through the madrasas, besides religious education, and around 30 madrasas were roped in for this purpose. “But a survey done by the Education Department to check the efficacy of the madrasas imparting regular education found that the practice had never been started, though the madrasas continued to get government aid. The practice was then discontinued. But now it is being reintroduced under the SSA , with strict vigilance norms to ensure its success,” said an official.

The idea of providing regular education through madrasas cropped up after Education Department officials observed that the number of children being sent to madrasas was phenomenal, while very few children were being sent to government schools. A majority of the population in Mewat is of Meo Muslims, who are mostly socially backward and prefer imparting only religious education. Girls, too, are sent only to the madrasas --- a reason why a majority of the children remain deprived of normal education.

Education Department officials said the initial response from the managements of the madrasas had been quite encouraging. “If demanded, we will also try to source regular course books till Class V in the Arabic language to ensure acceptability among students,” said the official.

Sirsa, June 8
The Haryana State Fee Committee has reduced the annual fee by Rs 2, 500 in respect of all polytechnics whose fee had been fixed in excess of Rs 20,000 per year.

The Tribune had published a report “Professional colleges, polytechnics hike fees” in these columns on Saturday in which it was stated that most of the professional colleges and polytechnics had increased their fees this year after getting permission from the State Fee Committee.

While giving this information today, an official spokesman said there was a different fee structure for different polytechnics; however, the maximum fee (tuition and development) was not more than Rs 30,000 per annum.

The spokesman said the students seeking admission in 2009-10 to all courses were advised to see the payable fee on the website www.techeduhry.nic.in .

He said only the semester fee or dues would be chargeable from the students.

He said the committee had also decided that in respect of 2nd year students of engineering colleges or polytechnics who had taken admission during 2008-09, the increase in fee would be limited to 50 per cent only.

Giving an example, the spokesman said an institution whose provisional fee was Rs 20, 000 but the final fee was Rs 25, 000, the chargeable fee would be Rs 22,500 for such students.

He said many institutes were compelling the students to deposit annual fees for the next academic session failing which fines were imposed and roll numbers were not issued.

He said only semester fee or dues would be chargeable from the students. Ample time would be given to them to deposit the semester fee or dues without any penalty till one day prior to the start of new semester.

Karnal, June 8
Haryana BSP president Varinder Maratha today blamed the party general secretary and in charge of northern states, Man Singh Manhera, for the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. He said his “dictatorial” style of functioning had cost the party heavily. Maratha, who himself lost from the Karnal parliamentary constituency, said the party workers were “unhappy and annoyed” with Manhera due to his repugnant style of functioning and unethical acts that lacked moral conviction.

He also questioned the rationale behind calling of workers’ meeting by Manhera on June 6, just few hours before the polling and detaining them for nearly two hours till midnight, leaving the field open for Congress workers.

The party lost because of his uninspiring leadership and he must share the blame for defeat in Karnal, Kurukshetra and Ambala constituencies where the party was strongly placed and its candidates could upset Congress applecart, he observed.

Maratha said the state party leaders have sought a meeting with party supremo Mayawati and a high-level delegation would soon meet her to apprise her of the real situation.

Dismissing the charges, Manhera said it was because of his efforts and motivation that the BSP got 16 per cent votes. Maratha was not able to digest his defeat and was accusing others to hide his failures, he alleged.

Manhera said he addressed the workers in around 16 assembly constituencies and motivated them to work hard for the party and properly manage the booths on the polling day and the meeting of workers at Karnal was also guided by the same spirit.

Anticipating early Assembly elections in the state, Manehra said all efforts would be made to strengthen the party and consequently the decision to announce the Chief Ministerial candidate on June 16 might be deferred for sometime. Maratha had polled 2,28,352 (28.16 per cent) votes from the Karnal parliamentary constituency. He lost by only 76,346 votes and relegated the INLD-BJP candidate ID Swami to the third position. The outburst of Maratha was a prelude to a war of attrition between the defeated party leaders.

Chandigarh, June 8
The Haryana Government today promoted seven IAS officers to the rank of Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary. Consequent upon their promotion, they will continue with their present assignments. The government also gave additional charge to eight other IAS officers with immediate effect.

Those who have been promoted are Navraj Sandhu, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment and Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes; Roshan Lal, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Agriculture; S.S. Dhillon, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Housing; Hardeep Kumar, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Member Secretary, Third State Finance Commission; S.S. Prasad, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Science and Technology; R.P. Chander, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Archaeology and Museums; and Sunil Kumar Gulati, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Printing and Stationery.

The Government posted S.K. Monga, Director and Special Secretary, Development and Panchayats, as Director, Rural Development, in addition to his present assignment against a vacant post.

Dheera Khandelwal, Managing Director, Haryana Financial Corporation, has been given additional charge of Director, Supplies and Disposal, during the leave period of Shashi Bala Gulati.

Rajiv Arora, Managing Director, HSIIDC, and Managing Director, Haryana Tanneries, Jind, has been given additional charge of Director and Special Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Mines and Geology, Managing Director, HSMITC, Managing Director, Haryana State Small Industries and Export Corporation and of Haryana Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation, Director, Environment and Member Secretary,Haryana State Pollution Control Board, during the leave period of Arun Kumar. Rajeev Sharma, Special Secretary, Haryana Land Use Board and Commissioner, Rohtak Division, has been given additional charge of Commissioner, Gurgaon Division, during the training period of D.P.S. Nagal.

Anil Malik, Director and Special Secretary, Agriculture, has been given additional charge of Managing Director, Haryana Land Reclamation Development Corporation, during the training period of Pushap Raj Singh.

Deepti Umashankar, Administrator, HUDA, Gurgaon, has been given additional charge of Special Secretary, Urban Local Bodies Department, and Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon.

Panipat, June 8
A committee of 32 villages that was formed to ensure justice to 26-year-old Sushil, who was done to death on April 15 at Nara village, has alleged that the local police is not willing to arrest the remaining four accused in the case. It said though the police was given information about the whereabouts of one of the accused, it failed to arrest him.

The villagers stated that recently one of the prime accused in the said case, Soran Singh, visited the village and they informed the IG Rohtak range about him. They said the IG ordered the local police to immediately raid the village and place the accused under arrest. However, the police team that reached the village left without arresting him on the pretext that he had already fled.

The committee members said in case the accused were not arrested soon, they might move the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking legal justice.

Sushil was allegedly kidnapped from his house on April 15. Later, his body was found outside a petrol pump in Matlauda village on the same night.

The villagers had alleged that he had been killed by nine persons. Five out of nine, including Sumer, Sunehra, Jasbir, Pratap and Durjan Singh, have already been arrested. The other accused - Surinder Singh, Rajinder Singh, Soran Singh, Naveen and Ramesh - are yet to be arrested.

Sirsa, June 8
Diksha Sharma (14), a resident of Sirsa, who cleared auditions for the SaReGaMaPa Little Champs to participate in the competition at Mumbai, wants to go for sex change after she turns 18.

Diksha was among 55 children, who were given training at Suresh Wadekar’s music institute in Mumbai, but she was eliminated from the competition and could not make it to the final 12 participants.

She feels that her gender is the greatest obstacle in the way of her success and plans to go for sex change operations as soon as turns 18. Even, her parents support her plan and say she has all mannerisms of boys and never behaved like a girl.

“Even, when the judge, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, in the SaReGaMaPa Little Champs asked me what I will do if I win the reality show, I replied I will use the money for surgery for the change of sex,” says Diksha, a student of class XI.

She said under the changed format of the SaReGaMaPa Little Champs, Abhijeet was to train boys and Alka Yagnik was to train girls for the challenge “Jeetega yeh sangeet ka world, boys ya girls”.

He was surprised to see Diksha’s name in the list given to him and asked if the name has been wrongly spelt here.

“I am a girl, sir”, Diksha told Abhijeet, who then asked her what she was doing there and why she didn’t go to Alka Yagnik.

“My body is of a girl but I am boy from my heart and soon I will become a boy. Everything is possible in medical science today sir,” is what Diksha told Abhijeet on the sets of the reality show.

“She told Abhijeet that she will become Daksh after the change of sex and even now people call her Dikshant in Sirsa,” informs her mother Savita Sharma, who runs a beauty parlour in her house.

Diksha’s father Krishan Sharma is a pharmacist in a dispensary and draws a meager salary of Rs 3,000 per month.

“She is the youngest of my three daughters and we have brought up her as a son. We don’t mind if she decides to go in for a sex change after attaining majority,” Savita said.

But Rajni Khurana, alias Rajnish Khurana, a 28-year-old girl from Sirsa, who is in the process of becoming boy from a girl and has already gone through three out of four surgical operations, has a word of advice for Diksha and her parents.

“Don’t ever think of sex change as it will lead you nowhere,” she wants to tell Diksha.

“Diksha is too young to understand but her parents must see reason and instead of encouraging her endeavour, they should provide her counseling from a good psychologist,” Rajni maintained.

Ambala, June 8
Special Judge of the CBI court, Haryana, AS Narang dismissed the regular bail application of the then DSP of Rohtak, Dheerj Setia, and Inspector Pawan Kumar, who have been charged under Sections 306, 506 and 120-B of the IPC in the Sarita suicide case.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted interim bail to both the accused till today and they were directed to seek regular bail from the district courts in Ambala.

When the judge pronounced the bail dismissal order, the accused were present in the court. After some time, Setia walked out of the court. A senior officer of the CBI caught hold of him and took him back inside the courtroom. On being asked whether he was making an attempt to escape from the court, Setia denied the allegations.

During the argument on the regular bail application in the last hearing, defence counsel Anil Kaushik pleaded that the high court had already granted interim bail to his client. Moreover, he was present in the court during each and every hearing.

Opposing the bail application, CBI counsel HPS Verma alleged that the DSP had tempered with some documents to protect the police officials involved in the Sarita suicide case. He said Setia had a very lenient attitude in the case.

The CBI had filed a second chargesheet in the Sarita suicide case against DSP Setia, Inspector Pawan Kumar, constable Ramphal and two others on March 31. The CBI had accused these police officials of inaction in the case.

The CBI in its initial chargesheet has charged two police officials - Balraj and Silak Ram - under Section 376 of the IPC. They are in judicial custody these days.

A woman from Rohtak, Sarita, had allegedly committed suicide in front of the police headquarters in Panchkula on June 9, 2008, when she did not get justice from the Rohtak police. She had alleged that two police officials of the CIA staff, Rohtak, had raped her.