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Babus don’t listen to govt: MP
Probe Madhuban sex scandal: Chautala
Micro Spasms - III
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Sampat: Power distribution mustn’t go into pvt hands
Inside Babudom
Arrange funds for development, MLA urged
Mother’s feed must in first hour of birth: Experts
‘Working women must uplift other women’
Ensure plots to poor
by March, officers told
Give Congress a chance, Hooda tells Jharkhand voters
Experts dwell on power conservation
INTUC for peaceful resolution of disputes
Lok adalat settles 90 cases
Agarwal Samaj to contest municipal poll
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Babus don’t listen to govt: MP
Gurgaon, December 13 To a query whether officers complied with his directions, the MP quipped that they did not even listen to the Haryana government. Asked about the notices served on certain Congress leaders for allegedly opposing party candidates during the recent Assembly elections, Rao Inderjeet maintained that the matter smacked of partiality as no such notices were issued when many Congress leaders conspired against party nominees in the Lok Sabha elections. “Moreover, the notices should have been issued by the AICC,” said the MP, who was a minister of state in the previous Union Cabinet, but has been dropped this time. Regarding the recent membership drive in the Youth Congress, the MP pointed out that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had started this new trend to bring a positive change in the party, which, somehow, lacked in the “bigger Congress”. The MP said the Haryana government had decided to regularise all colonies of Gurgaon recommended by the Gurgaon Municipal Commissioner. The case for the regularisation of 31 of the 71 unapproved colonies of the city had already been sent to the state government, he added. Talking about his priorities, the Congress leader said he would try to expedite the process for laying of the Rewari-Mewat-Palwal-Khurja rail line which would serve as a significant link between the Eastern and Western Railways. The former minister disclosed that he had had already discussed the matter with members of the technical committee and would soon meet Union Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee. Rao Inderjeet Singh further stated that efforts would be made to get a sum of Rs 200 crore released for land acquisition for the defence university which was sanctioned when he was Union Minister of State for Defence during his last tenure as MP. He said the second Sainik School of the state had started functioning in Pali-Gothara village of Rewari district, though in a rented accommodation for the time being. The state government had sanctioned an amount of Rs 25 crore for the purpose, the MP said, adding that he would make efforts to get this amount released. |
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Probe Madhuban sex scandal: Chautala
Kurukshetra December 13 Chautala said a delegation comprising INLD MLAs would call upon Haryana Governor Jagan Nath Pahadia shortly and demand a CBI probe into the matter. This had been decided at today’s meeting attended by MLAs and district presidents of the INLD. Criticising Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for keeping mum on the Madhuban sex scandal, Chautala said the matter had shamed Haryana and a probe was necessary to protect the morale of women police employees. An INLD state executive meeting had been been convened at Chandigarh on December 22 to chalk out the further line of action, said Chautala. He claimed that the cancellation of membership of five Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) MLAs who had joined the Congress was inevitable as this had been done in violation of the Constitution. He described the appointment of nine Chief Parliamentary Secretaries by the Hooda government as illegal. Chautala called upon the party MLAs and district presidents to strengthen the party. He said a membership campaign would be launched on January 1, 2010. Besides promoting certain office-bearers, hard working and dedicated workers would be assigned important responsibilities and identity cards issued to all party workers, he said. He said he was sure of a victory in the Ellenabad byelection as the party image had improved since the assembly elections, he claimed. Expressing concern at the state economy, law and order situation and inflation, the meeting demanded immediate payment of 60 per cent arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission in one go to the Haryana employees. State president Ashok Arora, chief general secretary and MLA Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, former state president Sher Singh Badshami, MP Tarlochan Singh and former MLA Nishan Singh also spoke . Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary and MLA Ram Pal Majra and former Deputy Speaker Gopi Chand Gahlot were among those present. He was replying to a question while addressing a press conference at Rai PWD Rest House today. He said the so-called merger of these legislators with the Congress was illegal and they were certain to be disqualified. He also hinted that the government was unlikely to complete its term. He criticised the Chief Minister for his “indifferent and partial” attitude in launching development projects and giving government jobs. Asked about his party roll in the Ellenabad assembly
byelection, he said the Congress would not win this seat. “Abhey Chautala is the right candidate for the Ellenabad seat,” he added.Former MP Dharampal Singh Malik and other HJC leaders were present at Bishnoi’s press
conference. |
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Micro Spasms - III
Jagadhri, December 13 Aluminium prices began rising since late 2006. After reaching a high of over $3,200 per tonne in July last year, the price of the metal fell to $1,251 per tonne in February. But May onwards, prices have been on the upswing and are now hovering around $2,100 per tonne. This price volatility meant that the industry here saw a sharp fall in demand every time the prices shot up. Incidentally, when the metal price fell, the industry did not have sufficient inventory to cater to the demand. Also, a lot of labour employed here had been sacked after production was brought down, who had shifted back to their home towns in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, when the industry had brought down its production. By the time the production was brought back to its original level, the aluminium prices had again started rising, leading to a fall in demand. “Never ever has the industry here witnessed such high volatility in the prices of aluminium. “Even the prices of other metals like brass are showing high volatility, ever since future trading has been allowed in the metal. Backed by a fall in demand for brass utensils, almost 300-odd brass utensil manufacturing units have become sick,” rues RK Saluja, president of the Jagadhri Metal Manufacturing and Suppliers Association. Located along the border with the neighbouring tax-exempt state of Himachal Pradesh, the metal industry here is also seeing a flight to the hill state to avail of tax benefits, and thus see a surge in its profits. “With power supply being a major constraint for the industry here, most units are setting up manufacturing facilities in the hill state,” says Arkinder Pal Singh Bhatti, president of the Jagadhri Stainless Steel Re-rollers Association. Manufacturers here rue that the state government has failed to help the industry and is not interested in curtailing its flight to Himachal Pradesh. “There is no evident support from the government to either initiate a cluster development programme, upgrading the course curriculum in ITIs to make it suitable to the needs of our industry, or upgrading the Quality Marketing Centre here. Even if these things can be taken care of, the industry here will be in a much better position,” says Des Raj Goel president, Brass Sheet Association.
— Concluded |
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Sampat: Power distribution mustn’t go into pvt hands
Chandigarh, December 13 The first salvo has been fired by former Power Minister in the INLD government Sampat Singh, who is now a Congress MLA. Reacting strongly to the Haryana government’s decision in this regard, Sampat Singh today urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to initiate a public debate on the issue before taking the final decision. He said before privatising the education, health, power, transportation and agriculture sectors, views of experts of these fields should be taken into consideration lest the move might backlash. So far, only the distribution companies had forwarded their views. It would be better if the policy was implemented after a public debate. Sampat Singh said to run these departments smoothly, the vacant posts should be filled. The number of employees was decreasing, resulting in a reduction in efficiency. The power corporations had 49,000 employees and now their number was only 23,000. Similarly, the number of employees in the roadways had been reduced from 53,000 to 26,000 and in education the number had decreased from 1,25,000 to 73,000. Appealing to the Chief Minister to stop the process of granting franchisee of power distribution in Gurgaon and Panipat, Sampat Singh said such experiments had miserably failed in Bhiwandi and Nagpur in Maharashtra, and Kanpur and Agra in UP. For two years the private companies earned a lot and later fled, leaving the work in the lurch. He said it was a violation of Sections 12 and 262 of the Electricity Act, 2003, which clearly stated that power distribution franchisees must involve the local people and power distribution corporation might allot such petty work as preparation of electricity bill, collection of amount and installing power meters to local people. The arguments in favour of power distribution to private agency such as stopping of power theft, increasing efficiency, qualitative power distribution and recovery of balanced amount were baseless. he two power distribution corporations in Haryana had more than 35 per cent losses in expansion, distribution and transmission. As per the Union Government’s prescription, Gurgaon and Panipat had less than 15 per cent losses and bill recovery varied from 97 per cent to 119 per cent. Hence, there was no justification in handing over the power distribution to private parties. He said he was not against privatisation as it was the need of hour. The construction of roads and bridges by private companies had led to qualitative and speedy services to the people. But in a democracy, social services must remain with the government. |
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Inside Babudom
Sarat Nanda, whose subject for doctorate was “US Disengagement in Vietnam 1968-76”, joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1972 on a UGC fellowship. Among his contemporaries at JNU were Parkash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Sanjay Baru, Soumitra Choudhary, Mihir Shah, Abhijit Sen, Amitav Kundu, Sunit Chopra, Menaka Gandhi and Medhavi Kirti. Interestingly, some among them tied to enter the civil services but in vain. Nevertheless, now most of them hold key positions in the Union Government, including the Planning Commission and the PMO. Sarat Nanda, who belongs to Orissa, was the first student from the newly built JNU campus in Delhi to clear the written UPSC examination in 1973. Interestingly, the CPM-supported SFI, a strong organisation in JNU at that time, did everything to discourage him from joining the civil service which it saw as the “establishment order”. He, however, formed a free thinkers’ group to oppose the SFI on the campus. The JNU now is the main feeding source for the civil services in the country. His forte has been academics. It is, perhaps, the reason that his daughter did her doctorate in genetics from
Cambridge University and is working as Commissioning Editor, Imperial College Press, London. His son is a graduate from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Kellogg School of Business in the US. He is now working in New York. His wife is a 1974-batch IAS officer in Haryana. Nanda, who is member-secretary, State Planning Board, Haryana, has held several important positions in the Finance, Animal Husbandry, and Dairy development, Fisheries, Science and Technology besides the Planning Department. He also had tenures as Director Local Government as well as Sports besides working as private secretary to the Union Health Minister. His doctorate deals with the phenomenon of war, negotiations and achievement of peace that has been repeated many times and may continue to do so in years to come. Nanda has devoted one chapter of his thesis to war crimes, compensation and litigations that are continuing in the US. While touching modern Vietnam, he says it still holds unique opportunities for investment and better bilateral ties with India. His research encompassed Sino-Soviet, Sino-US and US-USSR relations because it is mostly on super power policy towards Southeast Asian nations, especially Vietnam. His knowledge can be best utilised now when India is trying to rebuild its ties with Russia after the signing of a nuclear treaty. |
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Arrange funds for development, MLA urged
Faridabad, December 13 The RWAs voiced their view vide the Confederation of Residents Welfare Associations (Faridbad). The confederation claims to have affiliation of more than 60 RWAs. The confederation had organised a meeting of the representatives of the RWAs and the Congress MLA. President of the confederation Capt TD Jatwani (retd) said the MCF was running into losses. He further said although the new commissioner of the MCF, Mehtab Singh Sehrwat, had assured that there would be no let-up in development works even if there was a shortage of funds, it would be hard for the civic body to redeem its words in the present scenario. The confederation told the Congress MLA that he must take up the issue with the government. It said the government had been collecting huge funds as imposts in the name of Local Area Development Tax from cities like Faridabad and Gurgaon. Besides, Faridabad contributed immensely in the name of sales tax, excise and some other taxes. It alleged that the government had imposed the Local Area Development Tax after withdrawing the Chungi Tax. The tax was imposed for the development of the areas concerned. He said the government owed a responsibility to provide the civic body with requisite grants to meet its debts and carry on with the development works. The RWAs alleged that huge funds collected in the name of the Local Area Development Tax in Faridabad for development of the city was being diverted by the governments in Haryana for development of other areas of the state. |
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Tourism Dept all set for C’wealth Games: Selja
Ambala, December 13 She said the games were expected to lift the Indian tourism industry in a big way. Talking to mediapersons here today, she said it would be the biggest sports event to be held in the country ever. She said tourist places of India would certainly attract a large number of foreign tourists next year. Besides Delhi, the tourists would be accommodated in NCR areas and it would benefit Haryana a lot. She said taxi drivers of Delhi would be given special training to deal with foreigners. She said the toll tax from foreign tourists would be collected only once so that they did not face any harassment while crossing through different barriers on national and state highways. She said the union and state governments had been making efforts to contain swine flu. When asked whether her own constituency - Ambala - would get some special incentives from her department, she said she had been planning special tourism package for Haryana and Ambala would be benefitted the most. Earlier addressing a meeting of district officers, which was convened to assess the progress of various development projects sponsored by the union government, she directed the officers to ensure that the benefit of the schemes should reach genuine beneficiaries. Deputy Commissioner Samir Pal Saro briefed her about the progress in various central schemes. Additional Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria and Congress leaders - Kiran Bala Jain, Madan Aggarwal, Amarjit Kaur Sodhi and Himmat Singh - were also present in the meeting. |
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Mother’s feed must in first hour of birth: Experts
Gurgaon, December 13 A two-day meeting organised at Paras Hospital here by the IYCF and nutrition groups of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics concluded today. The meeting, sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), was attended by nearly 30 experts from different parts of the country. The meeting concluded with some recommendations for the government and the medical fraternity. Addressing the participants, the IYCF group president, Dr Panna Chaudhary, maintained that if newborns were given their mother’s milk within one hour of birth, 22 per cent infant deaths could be prevented. “There are a lot of misconceptions about breastfeeding in our country,” Dr Chaudhary said, asserting that the child should be breastfeeded for at least two years, including exclusive breastfeeding for six months. “Up to six months, not even water is allowed and proper complementary foods should be given only after six months,” he said and added that feeding milk to the child through bottle was not recommended as in breastfeeding, the child had to actively suck as well as swallow the milk, while in bottle-feeding, he/she just has to swallow the milk, reducing an essential natural activity. He further pointed out that the chances of infection in case of bottle-feeding can also not be ruled out. The convener of the meeting and founder secretary of the IYCF, Dr Satish, observed that infant mortality was quite high in the country due to lack of awareness. “The infant mortality rate in India is 50 to 60 infants per 1,000 live births. In Haryana, which claims to be a front-ranking state in terms of health services, the infant mortality rate is 59 per 1,000 live births,” he said, adding that exclusive breastfeeding was only 35 per cent, which was quite low. Dr Satish further maintained that still nobody cared to tell gynaecologists or nurses that they should impress upon the mothers to breastfeed the infant within one hour of birth. Rather, the vital importance of breastfeeding should be highlighted through media advertisements, he added. Dr Vishesh Kumar from the WHO opined that not only paediatricians, but also other doctors should be educated about the birth rights of the children. “Proper and adequate breastfeeding is the birthright of every child. The complementary food given after six months should be homemade with thick texture.” Dr BS Yadav said there were Acts and rules banning “baby foods”, but these rules were poorly implemented. He pointed out that the Infant Milk Substitute Act prohibited recommending of any substitute of mother’s milk by any doctor at the time of birth and if anyone does so, he or she can be penalised for this. |
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‘Working women must uplift other women’
Sonepat, December 13 At least 300 women employees from different banks participated. Chief guest Amarjit Kaur, national secretary, AITUC, said globalisation and privatisation was not only against the interests of farmers and labourers, but also adversely affected the social and economic life of women. She pointed out that despite repeated demand, governments at the Centre had failed to enact a legislation for 33 per cent reservation of seats in Parliament and state assemblies. Women as workers faced discrimination in working hours, wages and other benefits, she alleged. Senior vice-president of All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), NK Gaur, claimed that though reputed banks in America and England had been knocked down by recession, Indian banks, being in the public sector, had survived the world economic crisis. Joint secretary of AIBEA and convener of the All-India women cell, Lalita Joshi, convener of the Delhi cell Anoop Mathur, of the Punjab cell Praveen Mudgil and general secretary of the Haryana Bank Employees Federation NP Munjhal also spoke. |
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Ensure plots to poor
by March, officers told
Chandigarh, December 13 Rao, who was reviewing implementation of the scheme to allot residential plots free of cost to the poor in Rohtak today, also directed to get these registered and encroachments, if any, be removed. He directed that basic amenities be provided on a priority basis in those villages which had been declared “model villages.” He also reviewed works being undertaken under the Nirmal Gram Puraskar Yojana, implementation of schemes for construction of Mahila Chaupals and repair of chaupals for Scheduled Castes. Earlier, he visited the sites of various development works in Rohtak to see for himself the pace of work and quality of material being used. |
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Give Congress a chance, Hooda tells Jharkhand voters
Ranchi, December 13 "I have learnt that roads are laid in only 25 to 30 per cent of the total area in rural areas. All of Haryana has electricity and roads," Hooda said at a press conference here. Hooda, here to campaign for Congress-JVM(P) candidates for the fifth and final phase of polling scheduled for December 18, said it was the Congress government which could develop basic infrastructure in states. “Haryana cannot match Jharkhand on mineral resources,” he said. "The Congress has not got an opportunity to govern the state. I appeal to the people to give a chance to the Congress and see development projects put on the fast track.”
— PTI |
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Experts dwell on power conservation
Sirsa, December 13 In his keynote address at a seminar on the energy conservation fair organised by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, Sharma said besides this, energy audit was important for the conservation and optimum use of electricity and it was mandatory for large industries. However, small consumers in domestic and commercial sectors should also adopt energy audit for smaller bill and lesser consumption. Speaking on the occasion, JS Kundu, Additional Sessions Judge, Sirsa, said there was a huge potential of conservation of electricity used in the agriculture sector by using star-rated energy-efficient motors and pump sets. RK Sodha, MR Sachdeva and JK Jain, all Deputy General Managers in the DHBVN, delved upon the finer points to be taken care of during use of energy. Experts participating in the seminar said domestic-sector lighting, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and cooling formed the bulk of electricity use. Suresh Mehta, president of the District Bar Association, and DP Dhull, Chief Communication Officer of the DHBVN, also spoke on the occasion. |
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INTUC for peaceful resolution of disputes
Rewari, December 13 Emphasising the need for resolving disputes between workers and the management in a peaceful and balanced way, Amit Swami wanted the INTUC leadership to play a significant role in such matters. He pleaded for the establishment of more industrial units in the Rewari region which could be instrumental in providing employment to the jobless youth. State INTUC chief Raj Kumar Tyagi and its working president SK Yadav said INTUC always endeavoured for the peaceful resolution of disputes while fully safeguarding the interests of the workers. It was also announced that elections to the state executive committee of INTUC would be held in January, either at Gurgaon or Yamunanagar.
— OC |
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Lok adalat settles 90 cases
Yamunanagar, December 13 As many as 300 cases were taken up of which 90 were settled with mutual consent while Rs 1.45 lakh was realised as fine in other cases by the lok adalat comprising the District and Sessions Judge, the DC and MC officials. “This was the first step to help litigants get speedy justice and also to reduce the pendency of cases in the district. Now, the lok adalat will be a regular feature in the district. This was the first lok adalat to dispose of cases of municipal councils,” said District and Sessions Judge Bharat Bhushan Parsoon. He said with the administration’s help they had decided to organise lok adalats for every department. Next Sunday all courts would take up cases of various departments at a special lok adalat. “We will allot one department to each court and cases will be solved with mutual consent,” he added. |
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Agarwal Samaj to contest municipal poll
Rewari, December 13 Later, addressing a press conference here, Buwaniwala said while an enrolment drive to enlist members of the AVS was already in progress, activists of the AVS were also being enlisted at a nominal membership fee of Rs 100. Emphasising on the participation of the youth to boost the activities of the samaj, he said a youth wing of the AVS had also been made with Navneet Goyal from Panipat as its state convener.
— OC |
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Gurgaon, December 13
Chandigarh, December 13