Chandigarh, November 13
The area under sugarcane cultivation in Haryana is declining steadily. This is worrying sugar mills.

Till two years ago, the area under cane cultivation was around 1.5 lakh hectares, which came down last year to about 90,000 hectares. This year it has been further reduced to about 75,000 hectares.

The main reason behind the declining interest of growers in cultivating sugarcane is that the paddy-wheat rotation has become more profitable for them than cane cultivation. Worried at the phenomenon, private sugar mills have come out with various schemes to “motivate” growers to take to cane cultivation in a big way. One of the largest sugar mills in Asia, Saraswati Sugar Mill, Yamunanagar, gave Rs 1,000 per acre as “planting subsidy” to cane growers in its area this year. Said the mills chief operating officer, SK Sachdeva, the mill distributed about Rs 5 crore to the growers as subsidy this year.

Now the mill has decided to give Rs 25 per quintal of cane as “cane development incentive”. This will be in addition to the state advisory price of Rs 185, Rs 180 and Rs 175 per quintal for various varieties of cane. Sachdeva said the mill would start crushing from November 21.Onkar Chand Anand, vice-chairman, Naraingarh Sugar Mill, has also declared that the mill will not let the growers of its area down and will pay them on a par with growers in other areas.

The central government has fixed the “fair remunerative price (FRP)” at Rs 129.84 per quintal for cane. This price is for 9.5 per cent sugar recovery. For every 0.1 per cent additional sugar recovery, the price will go up by Rs 1.37.

The Union Government has also notified that if the states fix the cane price higher than the FRP, the difference will have to be paid to the growers by the state governments themselves. This concession will be available to private mills also.

Sirsa, November 13
More than 50 followers of Dera Sacha Sauda have come forward to marry sex workers on a call given by its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The dera has also initiated steps to ameliorate the plight of transgenders and eunuchs and a team of followers has been sent to Kanpur to participate in a national-level convention to discuss the possible role of the dera in bringing them into the mainstream.

“In the past three days, over 50 persons have announced their resolve to marry sex workers, 15 of them today itself, following Guruji’s call to the devotees to counter the evil of prostitution,” said Aditya Insan, a dera spokesperson.

The call was made at a congregation at Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh on November 9, he said.

Addressing a gathering here today, the dera chief appealed to young men to come forward to end the menace of prostitution.

“Poor women and girls trapped into a life of slavery have no opportunity to escape and they need good Samaritans to come forward for their rehabilitation,” he said.

The dera would provide free schooling to children of sex workers. The plight of the eunuchs was pathetic too and the dera would provide them vocational training and employment opportunities to bring them to the mainstream, he said.

Dera Sacha Sauda has already begun a campaign called Shahi Betian Basera that caters to adoption of the girlchild.

Ambala, November 13
District and Sessions Judge BM Bedi has awarded death sentence to two persons found guilty of raping and murdering a minor girl hailing from Naraingarh, here today. The accused, Inderjeet and Naresh Shah, belong to village Sashola.

According to the prosecution, on January 20 this year the accused took Pooja (8), a resident of village Nalvi close to Naraingarh, on pretext of providing her 'parshad' of 'Gugga Mari'. The accused were known to the victim's family, which was why the girl's mother did not hesitate in sending her. However, when Pooja did not turn up by evening her mother Pinky informed her husband Ramodar Yadav.

Later, the couple went out in search of her and on the way one of the villagers informed them that the duo had taken their daughter to a tubewell located in the nearby fields. When they reached the place, they found Inderjeet and Naresh Shah trying to strangulate the girl. The duo fled as soon as they saw the girl's parents, who later took her to the civil hospital where she was declared brought-dead.

Later, the postmortem revealed that that Pooja was also gang-raped.

They prosecution produced 14 witnesses in support of the case.

Meanwhile, the judge observed in the order: "The accused being close to the family took the innocent child on the pretext of providing 'parshad' to her, but committed the barbaric act of gang-rape and murder. This is a case where the accused have misused their intimacy with the family of the complainant. The offense was so barbaric that convicts do not deserve any leniency on the point of the quantum of sentence."

The judge further observed: "The socioeconomic status, religion, race, caste or creed of the accused or the victim are irrelevant considerations in the sentencing policy and further held that to show mercy in the case of such a heinous crime would be a travesty of justice and the plea for leniency is wholly misplaced."

Chandigarh, November 13
The first meeting of the Haryana cabinet after the assembly elections today approved the Haryana Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase and Supply) Amendment Rules, 2009. Briefing mediapersons, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the rules had been amended to protect the interest of farmers.

The amendment would enable the government to fix a uniform price for cane after taking into account factors like cost of production, returns to the grower, general trend of prices of agricultural commodities and the price of sugar and byproducts. He said the cooperative sugar mills would give a bonus of Rs 25 per quintal cane to growers. The government would constitute a farmers’ commission within three months to suggest measures to increase the income of farmers.

Hooda said the amount granted to girls of poor families at their marriages under Priyadarshini Indira Gandhi Vivah Shagun Scheme would be raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 31,000 from November 19, the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister.

The cabinet decided to double the amount of war jagirs from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per annum. The decision would benefit 818 recipients to the tune of Rs 81.80 lakh per annum.

The Cabinet has exempted the Cooperative Transport Societies from payment of interest on outstanding amount of passenger tax, provided the arrears have been paid within a month with effect from April 13, 2008 or from January 16, 2009 or within a month following the date of proposed notification, as may be opted by the society.

It approved the proposal of the Rania civic body to give its land measuring 1210 square yards to Shri Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidhalaya for construction of a museum and a services centre.

The land would be given at a rate of Rs 500 per square yard along with development charges of Rs 80 per square yard on a 99-years lease.

Gurgaon, November 13
In a bid to providing security to residents, the Gurgaon police in association with Jiobindass Global Pvt Ltd has launched a novel way to provide citizen alerts via short message services (SMSes) on a regular basis. These alerts will provide useful information about happenings and developments, including traffic congestion, security alerts and public information alerts, on a day-to-day basis to ease their life. This was disclosed by Commissioner of Police SS Deswal here today.

He said with this facility they would be able to ensure easy and better quality of life for citizens. “Constant communication is also the right way of improving the public perception of the police force. It is a catalyst for promoting peace and harmony in our society,” Deswal explained.

“One needs to register themselves at www.jiobindaas.com/ggnalerts or www.gurgaonpolice.net and just after the registration they will start receiving messages about traffic jams, what all routes should be avoided, security alerts, crime and public information alerts,” he said, adding that the police had all data of people working at public places like malls, banks, markets, cinema halls and securities and they had sent the informatory messages to them according to the need of time.

It all started a month ago when the local police launched immediate communication of any crime reported in police control room. “The move brought in a huge difference in terms of time and accuracy of information,” Deswal said. “As and when crime occurs in the city details are instantly posted on all mobile phones, including all police nakas, police riders, SHOs and all police officials right till the commissioner of police via SMS. The time lag between the occurrence of crime and the information reaching the officials or police post has substantially reduced,” he said.

CEO of Jiobindaas Global Pvt Ltd Rahul Soni said this was just a beginning and added that the move would definitely prove to be a boon for citizens.

New Delhi, November 13
A Class IV student of Gurgaon will have his doodle featured on Google on November 14. This is the first time that a ‘made in India’ doodle will be featured on the popular search engine.

Beating a good 4,000 other competitors, Puru Pratap Singh’s doodle is based on the theme ‘My India - Full of Life’.

A Google doodle is a creative Google logo that appears on some special days, to commemorate scientific and artistic achievements, historic or seasonal events and other occasions.

Encapsulating India’s rich diversity in terms of different religions here, highlighting the latest scientific feats and also showcasing Mahatma Gandhi, Singh’s winning entry is a riot of colour laden with aesthetics and deep seated meaning — exactly what Google doodles are all about.

Explaining his doodle, Singh said, “India has a blend traditions and religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism and Islam. It has developed a lot in the past few years. The discovery of water on the moon by the Indian scientists is a proof.”

“The Indian culture is as vibrant as the colours of the peacock. Kashmir, the crown of India, is as serene as the peace bird and as pure as the lotus. We are also trying to fulfill Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of educating each and every Indian child,” he added.

In August this year, Google India decided to unleash the creativity of thousands of children in India with a doodling competition called Doodle4Google.

Open to students from Class I to X, the contest was judged by a panel of judges that comprised renowned cartoonist N. Ponnappa, artist Raghava K.K. and the faculty of National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

For over a decade, Google has been designing doodles for its homepage and Dennis Hwang — the master doodler — has been driving this innovation.

Besides having his doodle featured on the Google homepage all day on Children’s Day, Singh has also been awarded a laptop computer, a t-shirt with his doodle and Rs 1,00,000 technology grant for his school. — IANS

Rewari, November 13
The construction works on Sainik School at Gothra Tappa Khori village, near Rewari, have been lying in the doldrums for the past about 15 months.

Not a brick has been laid at the above site where a foundation stone of the school was laid with much fanfare on August 29, 2008, by the then Defence Minister, AK Antony, who occupies the same ministerial berth in the present union government as well.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the then Union Minister of State for Defence Production, Rao Inderjit Singh, were also present on the occasion.

Taking a serious note of such lapse on the part of the authorities concerned, the Dakshini Haryana Vikas Lok Manch (DHVLM), a voluntary organisation of the Ahirwal region, has sent a communication to Defence Minister AK Antony seeking expeditious accomplishment of the construction works on the school in the interest of educational uplift of children of the region.

The copies of communication have also been forwarded to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Asserting that the absence of the school building had been causing hardships to the students as well as the staff, Prof Ranbir Singh Yadav, general secretary of the DHVLM, ruefully asked if the then hurriedly held foundation stone laying ceremony of the Sainik School was merely a ploy to boost the electoral fortunes of the Congress in Ahirwal region in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

Bahadurgarh, November 13
Barring a couple of minor incidents, polling to the Bahadurgarh Municipal Council passed off peacefully today, with a 78 per cent turnout. Electronic Voting Machines were used for the first time for the MC poll, which saw as many as 169 candidates, including 104 men and 65 women, contesting for 31 wards.

Nirmla Devi from ward-1, Jai Bhagwan from ward-2, Dinesh Nagar from ward-3, Rajpal Sharma from ward-4, Ravi Khatri from ward-5, Harvinder from ward-6, Rajesh from ward-7, Birmati from ward-8, Mahipal from ward-9, Harimohan Dhakra from ward-10, Yovraj from ward-11, Laxmi Devi from ward-12, Wazir Singh Rathi from ward-13, Jasbir Saini from ward-14, Lalita Devi from ward-15, Seema Rathi from ward-6, Sarla Devi from ward-17, Karamveer Rathi from ward-18, Rajkumar Gupta from ward-19, Dharmvir Verma from ward-20, Ritu Khatri from ward-21, Rajender Singh from ward-22, Sheela Devi from ward-23, Dharmender Vats from ward-24, Krishan Kumar from ward-25, Naresh Kaushik from ward-26, Kuldeep Chikkara from ward-27, Sheela from ward-28, Jitender Rathi from ward-29, Neena Rathi from ward-30 and Bala Devi from ward-31, emerged victorious.

Bhondsi, November 13
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Dharambir Singh addressed a gathering of villagers here on the first day of his three-day visit to the constituency. He said Sohna would see a new era of development and would no longer face neglect.

He toured 13 villages, including Bhondsi, Mahendwara, Ghamdoj, Garhi Wazidpur, Dhunela Berka, Alipur, Hariahera, Raisina, Sirhol-ki-Dhani, Mohhammadpur, Sohna Dhani, Sampki Nangli and Maruti Kunj today. Dharambir suggested that the ashram of the late Chandra Shekhar could be developed as a tourist resort and the ownership could remain with the gram panchayat. The CPS announced a modern panchayat ghar in place of the old one. He inaugurated a computer lab at a government school.

On the complaint of villagers in Ghamdoj, Dharambir directed the tehsildar to get an area under illegal occupation of a builder vacated and get an FIR registered against him. He promised that Dr Ambedkar Bhawan in Ghamdoj village would be modernised.

He was joined by former minister Rao Narbir Singh at Garhi Wajidpur.

Karnal, November 13
As many as 48 children of Government Primary School Chundipur in Karnal district, who were taken ill after consuming jatropha seeds yesterday, are still in Karnal Civil Hospital.

At least 85 children were admitted to the hospital’s trauma centre after they complained of stomachache and nausea after eating the seeds. Thirtyseven of them were discharged today.

Health Minister Geeta Bhukal visited the hospital last night and directed the doctors to give them the best medical treatment. She also directed Civil Surgeon Naresh Saini to carry out medical examination of the remaining children of the school.

Bhukkal said the trauma centre in the hospital would be provided modern medical equipment to render better services to patients.

Rewari, November 13
Irate villagers blocked rail traffic on the Rewari-Narnaul track at Rajpura village, 10 km from here, today. The action was taken in protest against the accidental death of a villager Rattan Singh Yadav (65).

The villagers demanded installation of a manned crossing on the rail track at Rajpura village, employment in the Railways for a member of the family of the deceased and ex-gratia financial assistance for his dependants.

Rattan Singh was killed when a passenger train collided with a tempo in which he was travelling at the unmanned crossing at Rajpura village last evening. The train was going from Narnaul to Rewari. Owing to the blockade, rail traffic on the route remained disrupted for about four hours. It was only after lifted after the intervention of INLD MLA Rameshwar Dayal (Bawal) and senior officials. Dayal also talked to the DC, TL Satyaprakash, over the phone who assured that the matter regarding installation of a manned crossing at Rajpura village would be taken up with senior railway officials soon.