Hisar, August 13
In the 80s, Jagmati Sangwan was a terror for the opposition in volleyball courts. Nearly three decades later, she is handling the fight for social justice to women with equal zeal be it khap diktats or women’s rights.

Despite coming from a Jat family, Jagmati has never shirked from standing up against khap panchayats. The moment a khap issues a diktat on any social issue which works against society, especially rural women, she is the first to raise her voice.

Born in Butana village of Sonipat district, Jagmati was included in her school’s volleyball team because of her height. Her stout build and an equally robust mind helped her excel in the game. Over the years she rose to be a member of the Indian women’s volleyball team from 1980 to 1982 during which period the team won a bronze at the Asian Games.

In 1984, her performance on the volleyball courts won her the Bhim Award.

She later joined the now defunct College of Sports at Haryana Agricultural University from where she obtained a degree in physical education. She is currently working with Maharshi Dayanand University at Rohtak.

Jagmati’s interest in women’s issues prompted her to study sociology. She did her MSc, MPhil and then PhD in rural sociology. She considers herself lucky that she married Inderjit Singh, a fiery student leader with staunch leftist leanings. He is currently the state secretary of the Haryana Unit of the CPM.

Jagmati considers khap panchayats as out of place in a modern society. “It is unfortunate that such institutions do not even allow women to participate in their proceedings. Being an all-male affair, women cannot expect justice from kangaroo courts,” she says.

She believes that the indifference of the government encourages khaps. “They never act in time. In most cases, the administration acts only under pressure from the high court, but by then the damage has been done,” she says.

Jagmati, who is president of the Haryana Unit of the All-India Democratic Women’s Association, says the association has set up a platform of citizens to take cognisance of the khap menace. The khaps try to hinder functioning of the elected panches by ensuring that they worked on the terms of the economically and politically dominant caste groups in the villages.

She laments that khaps never take up issues like crisis in the agriculture sector or other woes of the farming community.

Despite all hurdles, Jagmati and her group are determined to carry out their campaign. “We have succeeded in exposing the double standards of the khaps. We will continue till our mission succeeds,” she adds.

Gurgaon, August 13
Even as the common man in the state continues to reel under the burden of sharp rise in the prices of essential commodities and acute shortage of water and electricity, the opposition parties have failed miserably to nail the government over these grave issues.

The affected residents throughout the state have been blocking vehicular traffic in their respective areas and staging demonstrations to register their protest, but to no avail.

Neither have the government functionaries taken effective steps to redress residents’ grievances nor have the opposition parties been able to corner the government or build up a mass movement on these issues of general concern.

It is surprising to note that with poor monsoon having dashed the hopes of the farmers and the Haryana government reportedly reluctant to get the state declared drought-hit, even the INLD, which claims to champion the cause of the farmers, has also not been able to put up a substantial struggle in this regard.

It seems that the leaders of all opposition parties in the state, including the INLD, BJP, HJC and BSP, are too busy in keeping their outfits intact and managing the organisational affairs to focus on residents’ problems.

Perhaps the recent “political migration” of opposition party members to the ruling Congress has also taken its toll on their capability.

Another significant factor is that till recently only senior leaders had been migrating to the Congress, but now, even district, block and village-level workers of the opposition parties, mainly the INLD and the HJC, have started drifting towards the 
Congress.

According to political observers, this trend is likely to pose serious organisational problems to the party leaderships as these grass-roots workers constitute the backbone of the political parties.

Hence, with the opposition parties in a state of disarray, the residents do not know whom to pin hopes on.

On the other hand, the Congress leadership is finding it difficult to accommodate the immigrant opposition leaders, most of whom have migrated with the hopes of getting party ticket in the approaching Assembly elections. Add to it the long list of the party’s own ticket-seekers to get a whole picture of the state of affairs.

All in all, with the ruling as well as the opposition parties neck deep in their own mess, there seems to be no respite in sight for the ubiquitous common man, who, ironically, tops the election agenda of all parties.

Ambala, August 13
An overbridge of Ambala City close to Aggarsain Chowk constructed around three decades ago can lead to a serious mishap as minor cracks have appeared in it. The overbridge is located on the Ambala-Hisar road and the NHA is liable for its maintenance.

Railings of the overbridge are broken. Pedestrians and two-wheeler drivers generally use the footpath of the overbridge, along with the railing. Pedestrians can accidentally fall on the rail track as the railing is splintered. Electric poles of the bridge are also damaged and there is no arrangement of streetlights on the bridge. It seems that the department concerned has not repaired it for years.

The overbridge is too narrow to bear the load of hundreds of heavy vehicles going to Hisar, Sirsa and Bhiwani. The local traffic also crosses the overbridge. Everyday, the traffic remains blocked here. The locals have been demanding its expansion to four lanes, but in vain.

Around four years ago, the Railways had decided to construct a subway on the Ambala-Rajpura rail section close to the overbridge to divert the local traffic to this side. The state government had deposited Rs 1.70 crore with the Ambala Railway division but due to one or the other reason the construction could not be started.

Now, the Railways has decided to construct another overbridge on this track instead of a subway for light vehicles which would cost around Rs 3.5 crore. The construction work will start only when the remaining balance is deposited with the Railways authorities by the state. It will take at least another two years to complete the work.

Rewari, August 13
With her appointment as a member of the US President Barack Obama’s Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, Anju Bhargava, president of the Asian Indian Women in America (AIWA) and a management consultant in New Jersey, has brought laurels to Rewari, the native town of her mother Sarla Bhargava.

She is the first ever Hindu to be nominated to the council of advisers on faith matters by any US President.

It is a council of advisers on issues relating to the office of Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, including social service provision, community development, social change and relevant public policy issues.

The council will form taskforces in order to study in depth key topics and make recommendations to the President, White House staff and other members of the government. The council membership is a one-year term.

Although Anju was born and brought up in Chennai, she has deep-rooted association with Rewari. The Rewari chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) will organise a function on August 16 here to felicitate Anju.Anju is a graduate of Stella Maris College, Madras University. She has done MBA from Rutgers University, US.

Anju (42) began her career over two decades ago as a banker and has held senior level positions in corporate America, focusing on business transformation, organisational development and risk management.

Her internationally cited research of NatWest US Bank’s Loan Loss Experience (Enterprise Risk Management) was published by RMA Journal (2001 in US and 2003 in Brazil) and received recognition from the office of the Comptroller of Currency.

Currently, she is working with Rutgers Business School as a fellow of the department of accounting, business ethics and information systems. She has held senior positions in Bear Stearns, BB&T Bank, IBM Global Services, Fleet/NatWest Bank and Chase Manhattan bank. She had also developed an executive education programme, “Chakravyuhu” or labyrinth, a programme for mentoring women to make a “step change” in their career in the corporate world.

Anju is also the principal director of Global Synergy Associates, an international management consultant firm. As the president of the Asian Indian Women in America (AIWA), she has worked extensively in areas such as employment, career development, cultural acculturation, integration, health, education and general welfare to develop a vibrant community.

Anju was the only Indian-American to serve in the Community Builder Fellowship, President Clinton’s White House Initiative (1998-2000).

For the past 20 years, she has been a Hindu representative for Livingstone’s Interfaith Clergy Association and a member of the Collective Hindu Initiative. She has conducted and participated extensively in interfaith dialogues at the local, state, national and international levels.

Anju is also the first Hindu woman priest in New Jersey. She volunteers at St Barnabas Pastoral Care Department and Livingstone’s Interfaith Clergy Association.

She says, “Performing religious ceremonies took 25 years of preparation. Most people go from ritual to philosophy. I have gone from philosophy to ritual”.

“Most people do not understand Hinduism or the ritual process. I have a computer presentation to explain the context, the meaning of the symbols and rituals. It is not just a traditional recitation. I want people to have more understanding of the Vedantic Hindu tradition and the richness of rituals.

“I strongly feel we need to bridge the gap between philosophy and rituals. Only then will the rituals be meaningful and not just something we are doing because someone is telling us to do them and in a language we don’t understand”.

Gurgaon, August 13
The Haryana state council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a training programme on the importance of water management for the industry here recently.

Ravi Chandra, superintending engineer (public health) Rewari circle, was the chief guest-cum-main speaker on the occasion.

Addressing the participants, he said in the present scenario, it was imperative that the industry must adopt an integrated water resources management approach to remain competitive, ensure sustained availability of water and follow the WHO standardisation of water.

PK Tripathi, convener, infrastructure and environment panel of the CII Haryana state council, urged the industry to adopt integrated water resource management for ensuring the sustainability of the finite and fragile water resource.

Tripathi noted that the industry was the second major consumer of water next only to agriculture. “About 40 billion cubic metres of water is currently consumed by industry annually,” he said, adding that with the increasing economic activity, the industrial water consumption was estimated to double in the next two decades.

C Sripati from CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad, highlighted various measures that can be incorporated at domestic and industrial level for ensuring the effective management of water. He shared several case studies where industries have drastically reduced the consumption of water without compromising on their output.

Sirsa, August 13
Panipat’s Abhimanyu bagged the first position in the 1,500-metres under-19 freestyle swimming in the 44th State-Level School Sports held here recently. Sanjay and Manish from Jind won the second and third positions, respectively.

In the 200-m butterfly segment, Vishal from Rai emerged victor, while Sanjay from Jind and Ravi from Rai got the second and third positions, respectively.

50-m freestyle title went to Arun of Rai. Yogesh (Rai) and Pawan (Sirsa) came second and third, respectively.

Rai’s Mandeep won the 100-m backstroke title during the sports, while Manish (Jind) and Vikas (Rai) got the next two positions.

In the under-17 freestyle 800-m swimming title, local lad Sumit bagged the first position.

Abhijat from Rai and Gaurav from Sonipat got the second and third positions, respectively.

In the 200-m butterfly segment, Sirsa’s Virender got the first position, while Sidharth (Rai) and Sooraj (Faridabad) got the second and third positions, respectively.

In the girls’ section in the 50-m under-19 freestyle event, Bharti from Rai won the first position, while Sanjana (Gurgaon) got second and Asmi (Rohtak) got the third position.

In the 200-m butterfly event, Shweta and Bharti from Rai won the first two positions, respectively, while in the 100-m backstroke-swimming event, Varsha and Manju got the first two positions, respectively, and Sunaina from Hisar got the third position.

In the 800-m freestyle girls’ event, Monika and Manju from Rai got the first two positions, respectively, while Gurgaon’s Sonali got the third position.