Hisar, July 6
The increasing number of speed breakers on highways in Haryana has become a major nuisance for motorists. Instead of preventing over-speeding, these illegal structures raised by villagers themselves are a major cause of accidents, especially at night.

Over the years, the number of speed breakers has gone up steadily. For instance, the Hisar-Delhi section of the National Highway No. 10 now has a record 72 speed breakers and numerous rumble strips on the 165-km stretch. The average journey time on this section of the highway has increased by 45 minutes.

Most of these structures are unlit and sans reflectors. There are no warning signboards also in most cases. At times, white strips are painted on speed breakers but these last only a few days.

Speed breakers first came up in villages in Meham subdivision of Rohtak district way back in the nineties. With the increase in road traffic, speeding vehicles passing through these villages often hit children and farm animals. The villagers responded by erecting steep speed breakers at the entry and exit points.

Soon, the villagers found that they could force long route buses to slow down while negotiating these structures giving them an opportunity to board the buses which generally did not halt there. The menace spread as the government allowed students to travel by buses and villagers built more such structures to force the buses to halt.

The trend caught the fancy of villagers in other districts resulting in the mushrooming of speed breakers on the national and state highways. The villagers resisted all efforts by the highway authorities to remove these structures and local legislators backed them.

The national highway authorities put up signboards at accident-prone spots warning motorists about speed breakers ahead. The villagers, however, took this as a tacit approval of the government to these structures, hence more speed breakers.

In the recent years, the mushrooming of educational institutions along the state and national highways has also led to an increase in the number of speed breakers which can now be found on both sides of their campuses.

A senior official of the National Highway Authority of India admitted that no speed breakers were allowed on the national highways. He said the authorities removed these structures from time to time but villagers created law and order problems making their task difficult. He admitted that politicians, too, were against removing these structures under public pressure.

Sirsa, July 6
Villagers getting irrigation water from the Southern Ghaggar Canal (SGC) are sore with the local irrigation department authorities over their alleged lackadaisical attitude in finding a permanent solution to the problem of frequent breaches in the canal.

The canal, villagers allege, has been causing a lot of problems to the villagers as its banks breach, whenever water starts flowing in it.

“The SGC gets water for seven days in a month. But, within a day or two of the time, when water starts flowing in the canal, breaches on its banks render it useless causing a lot of inconvenience to the local farmers,” said Gurjeet Singh Mann, who has been spearheading a movement of the farmers against the irrigation authorities in the regard.

Mann said since March 2009, no month had passed when the canal had not breached at the time of supply of water.

A meeting of the Lok Panchayat, a registered body of the farmers, was held recently at Shri Jeewan Nagar village to raise the issue of repeated breaching of the SGC with the irrigation authorities.

The Lok Panchayat met CL Ganda, superintending engineer of the Irrigation Department, for the urgent repair of the canal.

The villagers also demanded the de-silting of the Northern Ghaggar Canal (NGC) and ensuring its water to reach its tail end.

The NGC and the SGC are offshoots of the Chaudhary Devi Lal weir at Ottu village.

The demand for early start of construction work of 33KV power substations at Kirpal Patti, Budhimaari, Mastan Garh, Haripura and Bani villages and 132KV power substation at Dudhianwali village was also raised during the meeting.

The prominent who were present at the meeting were Jaswant Singh Josh, president, Lok Panchayat, Swarn Singh Virk, Jarnail Singh Brar, Sardul Singh Kotli, Bali Singh Goraya, Jhinder Singh, Buta Singh Bhudimaari and Charanjit Singh Chanana.

The villagers alleged that the brick-lined canal had breached at more than four places soon after the water was released in the last week of June after improper and hasty repairs taken to plug the previous breaches.

They alleged that the breaches were depriving the farmers of irrigation water and also putting additional burden on groundwater and electricity.

Ganda said the banks of the canal had all clay soil that developed cracks during the time it remained dry. He said the authorities had filled the breaches and for future, they would try to have some permanent solution by mixing sandy soil in the clay soil of the banks.

Gurgaon, July 6
Even as towering structures and population of the millennium city, Gurgaon, hit the sky, its underground water level has been heading downwards for the past several years.

Thanks to the rapid expansion of the city, the need of water has increased manifold forcing people to dig bore wells. This, in turn, leads to groundwater depletion.

According to estimates of the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA), Gurgaon’s water table has been declining at a rate of about two metres every year since 2006. At this rate, the city may dry up its water sources by 2017.

Alarmed at the fast depleting groundwater level, the district authorities had banned the digging up of bore wells in the city in 2001.

However, the guidelines permitted digging up of bore wells for personal use. Taking advantage of this, the guidelines were misinterpreted and the purpose defeated.

On June 24, the district administration finally imposed a ban on the drilling of new bore wells in the city.

The case of Gurgaon is not an isolated one, as owing to the ever-increasing population pressure and growing needs, the level of underground water has been going down in various parts of Haryana as well as other states.

According to field experts, rainwater harvesting (RWH) seems to be the only plausible solution to the critical problems of water scarcity and groundwater depletion.

“Due to the lack of awareness, huge quantity of rainwater goes waste while the residents continue to grapple with acute water scarcity,” says Shailender Malhotra, an architect.

He maintains that by harvesting the rainwater that otherwise goes waste can be stored and used later. “Besides, it can also be used for recharging the groundwater,” he adds.

However, even though the government authorities admit the gravity of the issue and claim to be taking “effective” steps about it, their actions leave much to be desired.

Nonetheless, there seems to be a silver lining. Sensing their social responsibility, quite a few corporate houses and NGOs have undertaken water-management programmes like the RWH as a part of their corporate social responsibility.

Chandigarh, July 6
The Higher Education Department, Haryana, has issued admission guidelines for the academic session 2009-10.

A spokesman of the department said the admission to three-year-degree course (TDC-I) (all faculties) would be made purely on a merit basis and marks obtained in the qualifying examination by the students would be the sole criterion for admission.

He said compartment candidates would be entertained on the last day of the admission subject to the availability of seats and failed candidates in TDC-I were not allowed admission to TDC-I. These students might pursue higher education through distance education programmes/correspondence courses being offered by the state universities, IGNOU and a large number of other universities in the country.

He said the students might be allowed to change a subject(s) within 15 days of the start of regular classes, but not later than July 31. The principals had been advised to work out teaching workload by August 4. This should be worked out after taking into account the actual number of students enrolled in a subject/stream after accounting for all cases of subject(s) change.

It would be the responsibility of the concerned principal to ensure the correctness of the teaching workload assessment and the guidelines regarding the admissions issued by the directorate from time to time, along with the norms of the university, should be strictly followed.

The spokesman said the state government had decided to fix the minimum number of seats for MA I at 40 students per subject and in case of music (I & V), 15-30 students. It had also been decided that PG classes in any subject might not be started unless there was sufficient teaching staff having PhD in the relevant subject posted in the college.

He said the reservation policy of the government regarding admissions should be strictly followed.

Kaithal, July 6
Mohinder Kumar, commissioner, Ambala division, exhorted the district administration to ensure expeditious implementation of poverty alleviation and social welfare schemes so that the benefit could percolate to the targeted people.

He was speaking as chief guest at a function organised by the department of panchayats which was attended by sarpanches of the Kaithal, Guhla and Siwan blocks here recently.

The commissioner distributed cheques to 28 beneficiaries under the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshni Yojna and the Rajeev Gandhi Bima Yojna. Referring to the state government’s scheme to allot 100 yards plots to poor people, he said this task should be accomplished in all 222 panchayats where land was available.

He asked panchayat representatives to ensure that the NREG scheme introduced for the economic uplift of people in the rural areas was implemented effectively. He appreciated the efforts of the administration for carrying out de-addiction campaign in various parts of the district through the Bal Kalyan Parishad and said addiction was a social evil and it had adversely affected the society as a whole. He asked the panchayat representatives to play a constructive role to eradicate prevalent social evils.

He also advised not to resort to jams and road blockades on frivolous issues. He said such agitations could not solve any problem and rather aggravated the situation and caused inconvenience to the people.

Deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar said out of 222 villages, 100 yards plots had been allotted in 159 villages and in 77 villages physical possession had been given to beneficiaries by executing registration deeds in their favour. The surgery package scheme had also been introduced in the district from July 1.

Fatehabad, July 6
The district authorities have decided to develop parks in villages in line with those developed in towns and cities, where villagers will be able to do walking and jogging, besides doing yoga and exercise.

Initially, the authorities have selected some villages of the district for the purpose and the first such park is now being developed in Jandwala Sottar village.

The authorities under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are taking up this and many more developmental projects.

The scheme has been providing guaranteed employment for 100 days in a year to the rural households. A majority of projects under the scheme included digging of ponds in the villages.

In many cases, new ponds have been dug up in the villages, where they were not needed at all.

But, due to a rider attached with the scheme, whereby the authorities have to spend 60 per cent of the total cost of the project on labour component alone, a very few options are left with the authorities as most of the projects demand a major share of the component on material component.

The authorities in the district have now introduced some innovative projects, whereby works of public utility are being taken up without compromising the condition of spending 60 per cent share of the project on labour component.

The authorities have tied up with some other departments, too, for taking up labour components of the projects of those departments under the NREGS.

“We have tied up with the command area development authority (CADA) for the repair and remodelling of ponds in 50 villages of the district. Under the projects, 50 ponds having dimensions of 300 feet by 400 feet with depth of 10 feet each would be remodelled in such a manner that these ponds would be divided into two ponds for dirty and clean water for animals and humans, respectively, with a 10 feet wide partition wall,” said Ashok Kumar Meena, additional deputy commissioner, Fatehabad.

Under the Mahatama Gandhi Basti Yojna, where the state government has been providing 100 yards plots to the poorest of the poor, the authorities have taken up the task of leveling the lands earmarked for the purpose in the villages.

“To ensure that the expenditure on the material components does not exceeds the prescribed limit of 40 per cent, the authorities have decided to do fencing of parks developed under the NREGS with plants and trees instead of boundary walls,” Meena clarified.

He said in all 2,18,298 people have been benefitted from the scheme, who were being paid wages through their bank accounts.

Meena said soon biometric cards of the beneficiaries would be made after which payments would be provided to the labourers at their doorsteps by the representatives of the bankers.

Sonepat, July 6
The state spokesman for the BJP, Rajiv Jain has urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to postpone the scheme of replacing ration cards with smart cards up to 2010 as a survey is due to be conducted in 2010 for issuing new ration cards.

Jain said the state government had announced to issue smart cards to all ration card holders. The present ration cards were issued in 2005, and 2009 was the last year of the five-year period of Form D-1 which were filled in 2005. These forms were not in good condition and it would be practically impossible to record the details of families for preparing smart cards, he added.

Moreover, Jain pointed out, there would be a lot of changes in the families’ compositions as a number of families might have been divided or expanded. It was not advisable to prepare smart cards under such circumstances, he added.

Jain had also referred to the problems that might be faced by the depot holders after the issuing of smart cards. Under the smart card scheme, a depot holder had to install a card reader machine which would cost him around Rs 50,000.

He demanded that on the pattern of Tamil Nadu and Tripura, the depot holders should be given a distribution allowance of Rs 10,000 so that they could sustain their living and the public distribution system was kept free from corruption.

Reacting to the government plan to give cash subsidy in place of commodity to the BPL card holders, Jain said it would create several problems for the families. With the supply of rationed commodity, every family could easily meet its ration requirement, but cash could be spent for other purposes and the families could be deprived of food. He urged Hooda to continue with the supply of ration to the BPL families even after issuing of the smart cards.

Rohtak, July 6
Under the guidance of the Rohtak sugar mill, mixed farming, along with sugarcane, has turned out to be a boon for the farmers in the region. The farmers have not only yielded good results through the production of various vegetables with sugarcane, but also received a handsome dividend by selling vegetables in the market during the session. Besides their sugarcane crop is also standing in the fields.

Interestingly, extra income through mixed farming is also motivating other farmers to adopt the modern technique of agriculture to make the optimum use of their land.

According to official information, an area of 2,400 acres of sugarcane has been developed for mixed farming of onion, ladyfinger, tomato, methi, chilly and melon during the current year.

The new technique has paid good dividends to the farmers. Wazir Singh, a resident of Dujana village, has earned Rs 50,000 per acre by the sale of tomato, while Balraj Singh of Matanhel village has got Rs 20,000 per acre by the sale of ladyfinger.

Likewise, Rajbir Singh of Kutana village has also earned a significant profit through mixed farming of ladyfinger, cucumber and chilly. Besides, the amount already earned on account of the sale, these farmers have a good crop of sugarcane for which they would have good accrual during the crushing season as well.

Naresh Narwal, managing director of the Rohtak sugar mill, informed that a cane development plan based on mixed-farming pattern with modern techniques had been chalked out in order to motivate the farmers for adopting mixed farming, besides lending a hand to them in mixed cropping, along with sugarcane. The plan had proved successful as the farmers got a significant dividend from their first mixed crop, he added.

“The rising procurement price of wheat and paddy has disillusioned the farmers for planting sugarcane as the total area under sugarcane has decreased from 1,40,000 hectares to 94,000 hectares in 2008-09 in the state. The decrease is likely to be 80,000 hectares during the current year,” Narwal informed, maintaining that due to less income, that, too, after a year of farming, the farmers started giving preference to paddy and wheat instead of sugarcane.

That was the reason, which forced the mill authorities to chalk out the plan to enhance the production of sugarcane, besides motivating the farmers for getting extra income through mixed farming with sugarcane, he added.

Gurgaon, July 6
“Slumdog Millionaire” might not have turned its small stars millionaire, but it has definitely made them famous. This is not the first case in the film industry that a celebrity has been produced from Mumbai slums. The best example is Jai Kishen Kakubai Shroff, alias Jackie Shroff, also known as Jaggu dada, who was once a resident of a tenement in South Mumbai.

This veteran actor had worked hard to reach this stage, although he had never thought of becoming an actor. It was the destiny which brought the stardom to a boy working with a travel agency. A career of almost 25 years has seen him scaling the heights of popularity, but he remained down to earth that whosoever meets him falls in love with him.

He was in the city recently, along with Sohail Khan, Rakesh Sharma, Naheed Cyrusi and Daboo Malik to promote their upcoming film "Kissan". They also felicitated Manju Verma, the winner of “Great India Wedding Carnival” organised by Gitanjali Lifestyle.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, Jackie shared his life’s experiences. "One day, I was waiting at a bus stop when I bumped into a guy who was working with an advertising agency. He asked me to try my luck in modelling which proved a turning point in my life," he said and added, "I had never thought that one conversation would change my life forever. It was a massive transition”.

"I was told that the company would click my pictures and give good clothes to wear and also pay me for that. What else a boy living in a ‘chawl’ would have expected?”

After one week, I became a model and there was no looking back since then, he said. "Though I was earning well and people had started recognising me, I had to wait for a big break which came with the movie ‘Hero’ in 1980s,” Jackie said.

"In between the struggling days, Dev Anand saw me and signed for a small role in ‘Swami Dada’. I accepted it keeping in mind that someone might notice me and yes, Subash Ghai did notice me and signed me for ‘Hero’ and I became a real hero”.

“Before entering the industry, I had completed SSC and just not wanted to waste the money of my parents to study further and chosen to become a ‘hippie’ enjoying his life at beaches and helping others”.

About “Kissan”, he said it was a family drama, which taught how one could live in a joint family. “I am playing the role of a farmer who faces lots of difficulties while feeding his two children and wife. The film has a mix of comedy, romance and family drama,” he revealed.

Jackie is also associated with several NGOs and loves working for street children, senior citizen, visually impaired, sex workers, leprosy patients and aids awareness.

Meanwhile, Sohail Khan, director and producer of “Kissan”, said the film was based on Punjabi background and had been shot entirely in Punjab. He affirmed that the film would appeal to the audience and they would definitely enjoy it.

Rewari, July 6
The Pavitra Foundation of Prof Anirudh Yadav, which was launched here in February 2008, has been educating people about exploitation in the name of astrology, fortune-telling, palmistry and motivating them against female foeticide, alcoholism, dowry, neglect of elders and the disregard of values.

Prof Yadav (70) retired in March 1997, after 34 years’ service as a lecturer of military science in several Haryana colleges. He has been a witness to the exploitation of people, particularly women, by astrologers and fortune-tellers in the Rewari-Gurgaon region. Besides, the declining sex ratio, harassment of women by their in-laws, misery of families affected by alcoholism, plight of the elderly and cases of rape and molestation impelled him to do something for society.

Hence, soon after his retirement in 1997, he joined the Haryana unit of the Sampoorn Kranti Manch, a voluntary organisation, and became its district general secretary here.

The organisation provided him ample opportunities to participate in seminars and meetings in colleges, senior secondary schools, villages and towns of the region where he got a chance to express his views regarding exploitation in the name of fortune-telling, occultism and other such things.

Evincing keen interest in Yadav’s day-to-day activities, his wife, Pavitra, impressed upon him to put all these views in black and white for the benefit of the younger generation. Consequently, a 44-page booklet, “Hamare Andh Vishvas Avam Kurutian-Aik Vishleshan” (our irrational beliefs and social evils - an analysis), was produced in February 2008.

A few months before the publication of the booklet, Prof Yadav’s wife died in September 2007. He then set up the Pavitra Foundation in her memory.

Prof Yadav has delivered lectures in many senior secondary schools, colleges and other public places in Rewari, Sangwari, Kapriwas, Zenabad, Dahina, Kanwali, Nahar, Daroli, Behror (Rajasthan) and other towns and villages during the past several months. He has been distributing his booklets free of cost among students.

The foundation, however, has not confined its activities to the distribution of booklets alone. Prof Yadav recently embarked upon another campaign against alcoholism that has already assumed alarming proportions in most parts of the country.Prof Yadav said the campaign was launched owing to the ever-increasing number of liquor addicts that now ranged between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in the rural areas of the state.

Prof Yadav’s views on social issues received further recognition when comprehensive reviews of his booklet were published in Hindi journals, “Vedic Sarvdeshik Patrika” (New Delhi) and “Swadesh Charcha” (Bhojpur, UP). Besides, another monthly Hindi magazine “Yadav Kuldeepika” (Delhi) has been publishing the contents of the booklet in its issues for the past several months.

Prof Yadav said he had been receiving letters from prominent persons all over the country, appreciating the purposefulness of his mission, with many assuring him of their support to work for the mission in their respective areas.He said 16,000 copies of the first edition of the booklet had already been distributed.

Elated at the success of the mission, the foundation now plans to bring out the second edition of the booklet.