Hisar, June 15
Several leading politicians from this district have become virtually “homeless” after their constituencies were disbanded in the delimitation process.

The seniormost among them is INLD’s Sampat Singh who had been representing the erstwhile Bhattu Kalan constituency intermittently since the eighties.The sitting Congress MLA, Kulbeer Beniwal, too, is without a constituency now.

Former Finance Minister Sampat Singh made an attempt to enter the Lok Sabha from the Hisar constituency, but lost narrowly by 7,000 votes. Although the number of votes he got in the Lok Sabha elections has established him as a strong candidate in the next polls, yet he is without an Assembly constituency from where he could contest.

Beniwal, too, will find it hard to find a new constituency. He had won the Bhattu Kalan seat in 2005 defeating Sampat Singh. This was his maiden victory. His career has encountered a roadblock now that Bhattu Kalan has been disbanded.

Likewise, Chhattarpal Singh, a former minister, who represents the Ghirai assembly segment, is looking for a new constituency. Ghirai has been disbanded. His plans to shift to the Barwala assembly constituency have been resisted strongly by former MP from Hisar Jai Parkash and his brother Randhir Singh. The latter won the Barwala seat on the Congress ticket in 2005.

Chhattarpal Singh has limited options. He will find it hard to convince the Congress leadership to shift him to Barwala as Randhir Singh is the sitting legislator. If that does not happen, he has no other constituency from where he can contest and hope to win.

Former MP Jai Parkash lost the recent Lok Sabha polls from Hisar by a big margin. He, too, will like to contest the coming Assembly polls. If he so desires, he can either ask the Congress to nominate him instead of his brother or he has to find a seat in Jind district, which will not be easy.

Ranjit Singh, a younger brother of Om Parkash Chautala, contested the byelection from the Adampur assembly segment against Bhajan Lal last year. He, too, is on the lookout for a safe seat in Hisar or his home district - Sirsa. Adampur is a pocket borough of Bhajan Lal clan and Ranjit Singh does not appear too keen to try his luck from there again. He is eyeing Nalwa in Hisar district and a couple of constituencies in Sirsa.

Besides Sampat Singh, Puran Singh Dabra of the INLD is also “homeless” as his seat, Ghirai, has been disbanded. He had won the Ghirai seat in the 2000 Assembly polls.

Kaithal, June 15
Big cracks have developed in more than 12 residential and business premises in the Old Subji Mandi, Kaithal, which had lately been named Chandni Chowk.

The affected persons are worried due to this development, as there seemed to be no visible cause for the cracks in their buildings. The housekeepers and shopkeepers feel that if the authorities do not take immediate steps, they will not only have to bear huge losses but also their lives will be in danger.

Some of the persons have shifted to alternative sites, while the others having no option continue to live or operate their businesses from the buildings.

Parvesh Bansal, a resident of the area, said the cracks started developing in floors and walls of some buildings about two months ago. Some housekeepers, including Suresh Mittal, Chander Gupt Goel, Tilak Raj, Ashok Kumar, Krishan Verma, Om Parkash Saini, Manjo Kurana and others, said initially they thought the problem was restricted to their own building, but when the cracks started developing in one building after the other, they realised the gravity of the situation. They later came to know that the cracks had developed due to seepage in the water supply pipelines laid decades ago by the public health department or the seepage in the municipal council drains, which were not cleaned regularly and remained filled with water and silt.

During the past weeks, the affected persons knocked at the doors of the municipal council authorities, but they allegedly got a cold response. Later, they made a representation to deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar, who asked KK Verma, XEN, public health, to examine the problem and take appropriate action to mitigate the sufferings of the affected .

Verma said he had constituted a committee to look into the matter immediately. He added that the committee, after the preliminary assessment of the situation, had reported that cracks could have developed due to various reasons.

He said some persons had not properly sealed their unused water connections, while others had sewage tanks in their houses, which were connected with sewer lines later. The possibility of the seepage from the municipal drains and water supply pipelines also could not be ruled out, he added.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Department has started digging up some portion of the road to ascertain whether there was any leakage in water supply pipelines. On the other hand, the affected persons have demanded compensation from the government.

Singra (Karnal), June 15
Silage-feeding in dairy animals could help sustained milk production, especially during the summer when adequate supply of green fodder is not available, says Dr Dalip Gosain, head of the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).

Demonstrating the method of “Silage making” by using the maize crop before a group of farmers at farms of Arvinder Singh and Sukhvinder Singh in Singra village, he said the yield and production had increased manifold by adopting silage to feed the animals.

Sukhvinder Singh attended a training programme on scientific dairy farming at the KVK in 2003 and at that time he had only 10 cows with a yield of 110 litre per day. Over a period of time, Sukhvinder Singh modernised his dairy farm and was now having a herd of 110 cross- breed cows with an average milk production of 750 litre per day of the 46 milch cattle , he added.

Arvinder Singh said that feeding such a large herd round-the- year had been found economical.

The KVK team demonstrated silage- making at the farm and Dr Satyapal, technical officer, said the green fodder like maize, jowar, oat and bajra when available in abundance could be converted into silage by farmers by chopping them and keeping in anaerobic condition for 70 days.

Explaining the importance of silage- feeding under scarcity conditions, Mohar Singh, technical officer, said for economic feeding and sustained milk production, particularly at commercial dairy farms, it was essential for the dairy farmers to adopt silage-making for feeding their large herd.

Kurukshetra, June 15
An exhibition on “RIVERS - THE LIFELINE” was inaugurated by Dr SK Chakravarti, professor, Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Kurukshetra, at the Kurukshetra and Panorama Science Centre (KPSC) here .

Dr Chakravarti remarked that the exhibition would help the students get information regarding scientific and geographical knowledge about the rivers of India and the world.

He said the exhibition touched every facet of our relation with the rivers i.e. from ceremonial aspects to ecological points and from historical aspects to interlinking river projects.

Dr Chakravarti said the rivers were our lifeline. In India, they played an important role in our lives for water, food, transportation, etc.

Dr Raj Mehrotra, project coordinator, KPSC, informed that the exhibition had a number of salient features in the form of quizs, cross-matching panels and many more which described each and every topic related to the rivers i.e. their origin, distribution, cultural, geographical, ecological and scientific usefulness, the bone of contention regarding rivers, whether to build dams or not.

Dr Mehrotra said the exhibition also stressed the need to take an informed and judicious approach in managing the rivers.

Kurukshetra, June 15
The Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology (IMCMT) of Kurukshetra University has announced its admission schedule.

Admission to 11 media-related courses would be held through entrance tests to be held in the third week of July. The last date for the receipt of the application forms is July 10, and the application forms can be obtained from the university or it can be downloaded from the university website.

The institute’s chairman BK Kuthiala said, “The entrance test for the four postgraduate courses, comprising MSc (electronic media), MSc (mass communication), MSc (music, media and electronics) and MA (mass communication) will be held on July 16. First three courses are under the self-financing scheme and the last one is a budgeted course.

For three undergraduate courses, the entrance test will be held on July 15. Besides the bachelor in mass communication course, the job-oriented courses are BSc/MSc (graphics, animation and gaming) and BSc-MSc (multimedia).

These two are integrated courses, leading to post-graduation, giving an option to the student to break the studies after graduation and return for post-graduation after a few years of experience in the profession.

The two integrated courses are unique in the university system and not only provide opportunities for placements with heavy pay packets but also enable the students to launch their own business and give employment to others. Any student with 50 per cent marks in the Class XII examinations in any stream is eligible to apply for these courses.

The one-year postgraduate diploma in graphics and animation, which was launched in 2007, trains young girls and boys in the art and craft computer graphics and 2D and 3D animation. The entrance test for admission in
this course will be held on July 17.

Admission to the four-year BTech (printing, graphics and packaging) will be held by the Haryana State Counseling Society, Panchkula, on the basis of scores obtained in AIEEE.

The admission schedule for MPhil in journalism and mass communication will be announced separately by the university whereas for admission to the PhD programme in journalism and mass communication the entrance test is held in March every year.

The result of the entrance tests will be declared on July 22 and will be available on the university website.

For any information, students have been advised to send their questions on imcmtkuk@gmail.com. Besides, information can also be obtained from the helplines established by the university by personally visiting or on telephone numbers: 01744-238321, 238322, 238323.

Karnal, June 15
The Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) has urged the Centre to raise the income tax (IT) exemption limit from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and bring down the tax rate in the highest slab to 30 per cent.

In its “suggestion paper” submitted to the Union Finance Minister, the HCCI pleaded that the income tax rates should be remodelled and made more moderate and indirect taxes should be rationalised to sustain industry and give a boost to production and declining exports.

The paper suggested that there should be only three slabs of income tax and the tax rate should be 10 per cent in the first slab of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, 20 per cent for income in Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh slab and 30 per cent for the income above Rs 10 lakh.

Further, the exemption limit for senior citizens and women should be Rs 4 lakh, and the interest rates of bank deposits and post offices should be brought on a par with PF interest rates and there should be no deduction of tax at source (TDS) from the senior citizens.

The cash payment limit for business promotion payments should be raised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000, and deduction under Section 80 of the HHC should be restored and scrutiny assessment for marginal assesses having income up to Rs 4 lakh should be completely abolished, it added.

The HCCI further suggested that the “turnover” limit for exemption from excise duty for small-scale sector/manufacturers should be increased from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 3 crore for the small-scale industry sector, which contributed 45 per cent towards the industrial growth, employment and exports.

The rate of excise duty, which stands at 8 per cent at present, should be rationalised so that the small-scale sector may get full benefit of Modvat availed on the raw material purchased for manufacturing.

Referring to the exports that have come down by 30 per cent due to the “lack of incentives and global meltdown”, the HCCI suggested that a special hearing to the Export Associations should be immediately arranged by the Union Finance Minister to frame a proper incentive-based policy to promote exports and meet the target.

Finally, the HCCI urged the government to provide social securities to the members of the business community in case of any mishap, accident, natural disaster or attack by anti-social elements and criminals while carrying on their business activities.

Amit Gupta, state secretary, SP Gupta, former state president, Roop Chahnana, vice-president, JR Kalra, chairman, district Chapter, and Vijay Setia, president, All-India Rice Exporters Association, hoped that their suggestions would be considered.

Yamunanagar, June 15
At a time when most of the youth are looking for lucrative jobs with high salary packages, there are some who are doing selfless service for the welfare of society.

Members of a local NGO, “Jagriti”, are working for the uplift of villagers with the help of NABARD.

The NGO has been providing training to poor women and girls at Bhagwangarh village for recycling and reuse of old and waste clothes to make bags, table mats, cushion covers, coin pouches, pencil cases, folders, water bottle bags, toilet bags, etc.

The programme, titled SUDHA, is not only limited to new product design development and training, but also aims at providing complete market linkage for the products. Under the programme, recycled fabric woven by handloom weavers of the village is used to develop products and accessories designed by a graduate of the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad.

“This way, we aim to develop an alternative income-generating activity for poor handloom weavers who otherwise sell their produce at throwaway prices to the local traders and fellow villagers, besides promoting the concept of recycling and reuse of waste clothes. Though, the concept of making durries and coarse bed covers from old clothes is not new for the rural society, yet the idea of making day-to-day usable products and accessories is a novel idea of bringing rural and urban societies together,” Rajeshwari Chatterjee, secretary, Jagriti, said.

“The programme, which aims at enhancing skills of handloom weavers in design development, is being run here with the support of Sanjay Chona, AGM-DD, NABARD. This is a part of the NABARD’s village development programme (VDP),” she added.

Janak Rana, president of the NGO, said the NGO apart from providing training to the weavers for producing new products, was also exploring various avenues of selling the end- products like direct sales, targeted exhibitions, as well as exports with the help of networking with like-minded NGOs abroad. He added that schools like DPS, Chandigarh, had shown keen interest in supporting such a noble cause.

Bijoya Mukherji, an NID Ahmedabad graduate, who hails from Delhi, said this was her second experience in the rural areas. Earlier, she had worked for about a year in Jharkhand for the empowerment of rural women in the similar project.

“The people associated with the NGO belong to different domain, but we all have one cause for the empowerment of rural villagers,” said Shaibal Chatterjee, project manager, SUDHA.

Sirsa, June 15
Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal (JCD) Vidyapeeth, a conglomerate of technical and professional education colleges, has started several new courses from the coming academic session.

The Vidyapeeth has already begun its admission process for the academic session 2009-10 and this year, and students can take admission to several new courses like civil engineering, M Pharma, M Tech and masters in physiotherapy (MPT) from this year.

“In the JCD College of Engineering, we are adding civil engineering at the B Tech level. We have also started M Tech course from this year,” said director general of the Vidyapeeth Kuldeep Singh Dhindsa.

The JCD College of Pharmacy has started M Pharma course in pharmaceutical chemistry while the JCD College of physiotherapy has started an MPT course.

Chandigarh, June 15
Deepender Singh Hooda, MP from Rohtak, has demanded a Rs 5,000-crore special package for the National Capital Region (NCR) for the Commonwealth Games.In a statement issued here Hooda said Rs 10,000 crore had been allotted to Delhi, which, he regretted, would further widen the gap between the development of the national capital and that of the NCR. Advocating the need for “inclusive development”, he said the NCR area of Haryana should be included in the development of Delhi.

Hooda said the “one-size-fits-all” approach of the Planning Commission was flawed. On determining below-the-poverty line (BPL) people, poverty could never be assessed in absolute terms; it should always be calculated in real terms. “The BPL needs to be defined on a state-by-state basis, measuring the cost of living in that particular state”, he said.

Meanwhile, Hooda has also demanded that the interest rate on loans to farmers should be reduced from 7 per cent to 4 per cent. He has also advocated the need to reward those farmers who repaid their loan on time in terms of relief in interest.

Hooda said the loans of the farmers should be converted into cooperative bank loans so that the farmers could be freed from the clutches of private moneylenders.

Chandigarh, June 15
In less than a year since it took wings, Apparel Design and Tailoring Production Centre at Rozka Meo in Mewat district has got its first big orders. Training and employing poor and destitute women of this backward area, the centre has received production orders for uniform from the MCD, New Delhi, and the Khadi Board, Jharkhand.

This comes as a big news for the 50-odd women who have been financially empowered by the Mewat Development Agency (MDA), which organised a training capsule for them in collaboration with the SEUNE Cottonlife, Gurgaon, at the centre in Kherla.

A part of the Apparel Training and Design hub has been set-up in the Mewat area. Rozka Meo and Kherla in Nuh are the two centres started as a part of the employment-generation programmes in Mewat.

In 1980, the state government, with a commitment to deliver social and economic justice to the backward and underprivileged sections of the society, constituted the Mewat Development Board.

Simultaneously, in 1980, the MDA was constituted to implement the schemes of the board in the Mewat area. Since its inception, a number of schemes have been implemented for the welfare of the people of Mewat.

The CEO of the agency, Attar Singh Ahlawat, an IPS officer, who began the initiative of imparting job-oriented skills and employment-generation programmes, said, “We are exploring the possibilities of getting more orders for these women employed at the centres and are tapping all possibilities.”

“The success of these two centres has prompted us to open more such training institutes where women can gain skills and use them to become financially independent,” he added.

Inaugurated by Governor Dr AR Kidwai, these centres have become virtually a second home for the women who spend their spare time stitching clothes on order.

Currently, the women at the production centre, Rozka Meo, are busy making 11,000 uniform from the MCD, New Delhi. The chairman of the Khadi Board, Jharkhand, has also given orders to make available khadi items to their six centres situated in the different parts of India, including Delhi.

Keeping in view the success of the programme, the MDA now plans to expand the programme to other parts of the Mewat area where women are already under training for stitching.

At the Nai Nangla training centre, 60 trainees (women) are getting training in tailoring with the support of the Kanwar Rasuli Khan Trust, Nai Nangla, and at the Ghagas, 30 women are getting training with the support of the SM Sehgal Foundation. At Khanpur Ghati and Malab, the programme is being implemented independently through the SEUNE, Gurgaon. After the successful completion of the programme, these women will be provided employment.

Karnal, June 15
“About 20,000 Haryana government pensioners in Karnal district will be forced to go on a relay fast if the government fails to direct banks to grant pension as per the Sixth Pay Commission scales and ensure that the pensioners are paid 40 per cent of the arrears immediately.”

“There is resentment among the pensioners due to ‘non-cooperative’ attitude of the banks entrusted with the responsibility of disbursing the pension and neither the revised pension nor 40 per cent of the arrears have been paid to them,” HP Babbar, a spokesman for the Haryana Pensioners Welfare Association, said.

He said the Haryana government had issued a notification regarding payment of revised pension, 40 per cent arrears and release of 22 per cent ADA on the revised pension about two months ago but the banks were not implementing the orders, causing great harassment to the pensioners.

The Treasury and various banks such as the State Bank of India, the Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and the Central Bank of India from where the pensioners drew their monthly pension were adopting delaying tactics, Babbar alleged.

Babbar demanded that PPOs (Pension Payment Orders) should not be transferred to the banks because the banks in question were not making entries of pension and details which left the pensioners at the mercy of the banks. Pleading for restoration of payment of pension to government treasuries, he said the present system was not working and on several occasions, pensioners were neglected by bank officials due to pressure of work.

Pensioners have been running from pillar to post for getting their arrears of pension since January 2006 till date but to no avail and it was for the government to effectively intervene, he added.

The pensioners were also sore as their office in the old collectorate complex was demolished and the promise of the district administration to provide accommodation in the new complex had not been implemented.

Fatehabad, June 15
The authorities have initiated a tedious process of verification of all firearm licences in the district and have also begun the task of preparing a computerised database of all firearm licence-holders.

With over 9,400-licenced firearm-holders, Fatehabad is among the districts with the highest number of arms in the state.

However, the record of these licences is still manual and in many cases, where the licences are old, the record is badly mutilated.

Deputy commissioner CG Rajnikaanthan has taken the initiative to complete the database of the record and in the process verify all licences issued during the past many years.

A special software is being developed for the purpose by the national informatics centre.

According to sources, all arms licences were issued by the subdivisional magistrates in the state before 1992-93, when the power was shifted to the deputy commissioners.

However, the power of renewal remained with the subdivisional magistrates.