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Electoral battle begins
Rajputs seek ticket from parties
BSP worker tries to slap Manhera
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KU teachers resign from addl assignments
Strike enters sixth day
Functioning of Food Laboratory
Inspector gets life term for rape
School principals on leave
Minor girl saved from being married off
‘Stripping’ Incident
Award function put off
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Electoral battle begins
Chandigarh, August 31
The ruling Congress will be pitted against the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), the BJP and the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC)-BSP alliance, not to count innumerable Independents, many of whom would be Congress rebels, who would fail to get the party ticket, and smaller parties like the CPM, the CPI and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
The split in the opposition votes are likely to benefit the Congress. Since the elections will be held on the basis of the new delimitation of the constituencies, the past behaviour of particular constituencies might not be a correct indicator of how the voters of a particular constituency would behave this time. Under the circumstances, the results of the last Lok Sabha elections, which were the first elections after the delimitation, would be a more appropriate reference point for the pollsters. In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress led in 58 Assembly segments. The INLD and the BJP, which contested the elections in an alliance, won in seven Assembly segments each. The newly formed HJC was ahead of its rivals in nine segments, while the BSP led in eight segments. It was this trend that prompted the Congress to go for early elections to the state Assembly, the term of which was otherwise to expire in March next. The opposition parties argue that the issues in the Assembly elections will be different from that in the Lok Sabha elections. Hence, the results will also vary. The Congress, on the other hand, points to what had happened in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and the subsequent 2005 Assembly elections. The results of the 2005 elections were virtually the replica of the 2004 elections, with the then ruling INLD having failed to improve its tally one year later. The Congress leaders claim that 2009 will be no exception. Meanwhile, the INLD, the BJP and the HJC have welcomed the election announcements and have said in separate statements that this was an opportunity for the people of Haryana to get rid of the Congress misrule. |
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Rajputs seek ticket from parties
Rewari, August 31 Naresh Chauhan, convener of the political affairs committee of the HRPS, said the strength of Rajput voters in the Gharaunda, Kalayat, Pirthala, Ateli, Mahendragarh, Badli, Ballabhgarh, Faridabad, Assandh, Radaur, Sohna, Tosham, Naraingarh, Charkhi Dadri and Safidon constituencies could easily be instrumental in the victory of Rajput contestants from these seats. He said Rajput leaders had already approached parties for the allocation of their party ticket to them in the above segments. |
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BSP worker tries to slap Manhera
Hisar, August 31 In the midst of the proceedings, a visibly upset BSP worker from Uchana stepped on the dais and lunged at Manhera shouting “Yeh jo Manhera aapke beech mein baitha hai, yeh shaitaan aadmi hai, isne Lok Sabha chunav mein…..”. He waved his left hand in a bid to slap Manhera, but missed him narrowly. BSP workers immediately overpowered him and took him out of the Panchayat Bhawan building. In the meanwhile, a group of BSP workers from Uchana stoned the Ford Endeavour belonging to Manhera which was parked outside. The windscreen was smashed by the stones. The police initially detained four persons, including a woman, but released them after BSP leaders refused to get a case registered against them. They were identified as Raj Bala, Rattan Singh, Ram Mehar and Ramesh. The BSP workers were angered over the allotment of the Uchana Assembly seat to the HJC as part of their poll accord. Later, Manhera denied he was slapped. He said no HJC and BSP worker was involved in the incident. He said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was upset over the HJC-BSP poll pact and those involved in the incident were Congressmen. |
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KU teachers resign from addl assignments
Kurukshetra, August 31 The protesting teachers were peeved that the government was avoiding the issuance of a “comprehensive notification” to adequately address the demands of the teachers and the partial notifications issued by it had further confounded the confusion. All Deans, Directors, Chairpersons, Chief Wardens, Chief Security Officer, NSS Coordinator and other teachers holding additional assignments and duties tendered their resignations today to express their anger and dismay, Prof NS Kaushal, president of the Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA), said. He said an urgent meeting of teachers’ leaders of all universities in Haryana, including Agriculture University, would be held at the KUTA office here this evening to chalk out the future course of action which could be more radical than the protest actions like mass casual leave and three-day strike in case the government did not relent and gave the teachers their due. Alleging that the bureaucracy was bent upon humiliating the teachers by denying them their due, Kaushal said it was highly regrettable that the revised UGC pay scales were not being implemented in accordance with December 31, 2008, notification issued by the Union HRD Ministry in spite of explicit directions given by the Chief Minister. He further said the KUTA general house had unanimously resolved to take extra classes by teachers to compensate students’ loss. |
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Strike enters sixth day
Hisar, August 31 Teachers of the Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology and Haryana Agricultural University here also remained on strike. A senior teachers’ leader said besides the two universities of Hisar, teachers of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Kurukshetra University, Chaudhry Devi Lal University, Sirsa, and the Din Bandhu Chottu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, also remained on strike. Rajesh Lohchab, president of the GJUTA, said the bureaucrats had been ignoring the directions of the Chief Minister to implement the recommendations in toto. He said this indicated a complete lack of effective political control over the state bureaucracy. He urged the Chief Minister to exercise his authority and get his orders implemented at the earliest. Pointing out omissions in the notification issued by the state government, he said the basic pay of senior professors had been fixed at Rs 37,400 in place of Rs 48,000 and of professors at Rs 37,400 in place of Rs 43,000. This had been done to ensure that bureaucrats drew higher salary than professors. He said the new notification ensured that university professors would draw Rs 4,720 less than the bureaucrats after four years. The cut-off date of December 31, 2008, for selection grade readers and lecturers would result in demotion of those associate professors who were promoted to selection grade after January 1, 2006. As against this the UGC had categorically said such teachers would become associate professors in pay band 4 as and when they completed three years service in that grade. Similarly, there was no mention of increments for improving qualifications, which again was a violation of the UGC guidelines. The government was also mum on increasing the retirement age of university teachers from 60 to 65 years, Lohchab added. JHAJJAR: Remaining firm on its demand of implementation of notification of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding revised pay scales of college and university teachers, the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers’ Association (MDUTA) has decided to carry on its ongoing indefinite strike, including suspension of teaching, administrative work and meeting of the academic council/other bodies, till their demand are met. This decision was taken at the association’s general body meeting chaired by its president, Dr Vazir Nehra, in Rohtak today. “The MDUTA is still hopeful that the government will revise its previous orders in line with the MHRD/UGC recommendations,” said Nehra, adding that the next general body meeting of the MDUTA has been convened on September 2 to review the situation. |
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Functioning of Food Laboratory
Chandigarh, August 31 The directions are aimed at cutting down the delay in testing of samples and came during the hearing of an anticipatory bail plea by a businessman, accused of selling adulterated ghee. As the petition came up for hearing before Justice Rajesh Bindal, public analyst Ashok Khullar appeared in person to tell what additional equipment was required to be installed due to the workload. For the purpose, an additional space was required in the Chandigarh branch. He added that more equipment would enable the staff to carryout simultaneous test. Also present in the court, Haryana Director Health Services Dr OP Mittal, on the other hand, said difficulties projected before the court were never brought to their notice. In case of requirement, steps to improve the infrastructure would be taken. Taking on record the assertions, Justice Bindal directed Khullar to point out improvements required in the laboratory, in terms of equipment or manpower, so the same could be provided to improve the infrastructure for avoiding delay in the process of sample testing. The matter will now come up for further hearing, along with the bail plea, on September 15. The petitioner, Naresh Kumar of Narwana, seeking pre-arrest bail in an FIR registered on July 11 under Sections 420, 272, and 273 of the IPC, had earlier denied the allegations of selling adulterated ghee. The report in the matter was awaited. The initiative to see an improvement in sample testing facilities is the second of its kind to be taken by Justice Bindal in the recent past. Already, the sample testing time in criminal cases at the state chemical laboratory in Punjab is all set to be reduced from two months to just three weeks, with the state undertaking to almost double the staff.
After Justice Bindal took cognisance, the Punjab Secretary, Health, informed the court that the state was taking steps to increase the working strength at the Kharar chemical
lab
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Inspector gets life term for rape
Karnal, August 31 The rape case was registered against Jai Singh on a complaint of the victim, who had a love marriage with a resident of Dachar village against the wishes of her parents and had approached the high court for providing security to her so that she could meet her family members in the presence of the police. The victim, hailing from Indri village, alleged that when she came to the police station to meet her parents on June 25 last year, Inspector Jai Singh allegedly reaped her. On her complaint, the then SP, AS Chawla, and the DSP had reached the spot and got a rape case registered against the accused. He was immediately arrested and placed under suspension. The DNA test conducted by the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, and the medical examination report also confirmed rape. The prosecution produced 19 witnesses in the court and the Judge sentenced him to life imprisonment and also ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 20,000. |
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School principals on leave
Kaithal, August 31 They held a procession here and later, led by their district president SS Sirohi, submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda through the Deputy Commissioner. In the memorandum, they have pointed out that school principals have been granted a pay scale of Rs 10,000-13,900 along with a grade pay of Rs 6,000 where as their counterparts at the Centre have been granted a pre-revised scale of Rs 12,000- 16,500 along with a grade pay of Rs 7,600 . This has caused widespread resentment among their ranks. They have urged the Chief Minister to fulfil his assurance given to their deputation in 2008 and grant them the revised scales. |
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Minor girl saved from being married off
Sirsa, August 31 However, a villager made an anonymous call to Sadhna Mittal, protection officer under the Domestic Violence Act, who also works as child marriage prohibition officer in the district. Accompanied by Gurdial Singh, SHO of the Sadar police station, Sirsa, and a police party, Mittal went to both the villages on Sunday and told the parents of both the bride as well as the bridegroom to postpone marriage till the girl attained the age of majority or face penal action. “The parents of both the boy and the girl have given an undertaking that they will not solemnise the marriage till Meera reaches the marriageable age,” Mittal said talking to The Tribune. She said seven minor girls have so far been saved from marriage at a tender age ever since she joined the duty as the child marriage prohibition officer. Information, in most of the cases, has come from anonymous callers, she added. Besides, she has received as many as 145 complaints in the past 10 months. Forty-seven out of 145 have been disposed of by mutual compromise between the parties. |
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‘Stripping’ Incident
Faridabad, August 31 Meanwhile, the police has arrested the computer teacher, Neetu, of the school, who had been accused of stripping a class III student. She was produced before a court, which sent her to 14 days of judicial custody. Two students of the school, one of class III and the other of class VI, were allegedly stripped by their teachers in the classrooms on August 28 for allegedly not depositing the increased tuition fees. The police had registered two cases. The police is yet to arrest the teacher accused of stripping a class VI student. While both the accused have been booked under Section 354 of the IPC, one of the accused related to class III incident has also been booked under Section 31 of the SC/ST Act as the victim is a Dalit. Significantly, the mother of class III student is also the treasurer of the School’s Parents-Teachers Association. As per her complaint, on the basis of which the case was registered, Neetu had told her that she had done the criminal act at the behest of the principal of the School, Shashi Malik. According to her, the school management was angry as she was firm on depositing the fees as per the directive of the Education Commissioner-cum-Director General, Haryana School Education. She had visited the school on August 25 to pay the dues. The school rejected her stand and was adamant that it would go by the increased fees structure and not follow the directive of the Director-General. To press for action against the principal and the management authorities, hundreds of parents had yesterday met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at his camp office in Rohtak. The agitated parents later visited the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi for justice. Her staff advised the parents to meet the functionaries concerned of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC). The parents today left for Delhi to meet the Congress functionaries. The manch has given a call to stage demonstrations by the parents at all district headquarters on September 2 to press for action against the principal and the authorities of the school management. According to the functionaries of the manch, as per the July 6 directive of the Education Commissioner-cum-Director-General, Haryana School Education, the schools in the state would have to meet the extra expenditure on account of implementation of increase in the salaries of the teachers from their “reserve fund” head. In case the financial condition of a school was not favourable, it could affect only 10-20 per cent hike in the tuition fees of 2008 to meet the extra expenditure. However, there is a provision that a school, which has submitted the mandatory income-expenditure status in form V1 to the government, can avail the opportunity to increase the tuition fees. The manch has alleged that almost all private schools are not following the norms and had illegally increased the fees by about 40 per cent and the Education Department and other officers do not seem to be serious in implementing the directive of the Director-General.
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A Bahujan Samaj Party worker tried to slap party general secretary Man Singh Manhera here today.
Manhera was attending a joint meeting of workers of his party
