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Free vocational education for poor Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia and his wife Shanti Pahadia give away a tricycle to a differently abled girl on World Red Cross Day at Sirsa on Saturday. Photo: Amit Soni
... Apprised of varsity problems
Insurance firm directed to pay relief
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Mirchpur Incident
Extortion by Cops
Samalkha foundries struggle
for survival
Farmers complain of Bt cotton seed shortage
Post offices to run new pension scheme
Dera
Chief’s Bail
Deer found injured
One Rank, One Pension
Applications invited for remote-sensing course
Husband booked for rape
Chickens perish in hailstorm
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Free vocational education for poor
Sirsa, May 8 Governor Jagannath Pahadia launched the project, the “Youth Energy Management Programme”, at a state-level function on World Red Cross in the local CMK National Postgraduate College today. The European Union, the British Council, the Confederation of Indian Industries and the City and Guilds have jointly sponsored the project that envisages providing free vocational education to poor youth, leading to their employability. “Under this project, 5,500 young people from marginal families in the district will be trained in such a manner that they acquire technical skills as well as become sound in spoken English, so that they are able to get employment,” said Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa. “The European Union will do the funding, the British Council will provide training in spoken English, the City and Guilds will provide vocational education of international standards, while the Confederation of Indian Industries will provide employment to the youth, who will get international benchmark certification after the completion of their training,” Khyalia added. Addressing people and those associated with the Red Cross coming from all 21 districts of Haryana, the Governor exhorted them to associate with the Red Cross Society so that the benefit of philanthropic and humanitarian activities of the society could be provided to all needy persons. Enumerating the activities of the Red Cross Society in the state, Pahadia said in each school and college of the state, junior and youth Red Cross groups had been set up. Blood donation camps were also organised regularly to save precious lives, he added. The Governor also inaugurated a blood donation camp on this occasion and gave 60 tricycles and 10 wheelchairs to physically challenged persons. He also inaugurated an exhibition organised by various branches of the Red Cross Society. Pahadia released a booklet based on the life of the founder of the Red Cross Society, Sir Jean Henry Dunant, and a CD prepared on first aid. He also honoured representatives of institutions which made remarkable contribution in humanitarian activities, especially in the field of blood donation. Col IS Gehlot of the CII, Malyaj Varmani of the British Council and Chris Gale of the City and Guilds spoke and gave details of the project. Governor’s wife Shanti Pahadia, Vice-Chairman of the Haryana branch of Indian Red Cross Society JL Chaudhary and ADC Pankaj Chaudhary were present.
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... Apprised of varsity problems
Sirsa: Some prominent residents of the town on Saturday met Governor Jagannath Pahadia under the banner of Nagarik Parishad to draw his attention towards the problems ailing Chaudhary Devi Lal University here.
Members of the parishad gave a memorandum to the Governor in the local CMK National Post-Graduate College where he had come to preside over a function to mark World Red Cross Day. “The post of Vice-Chancellor has been lying vacant in the university since January this year. Also, there is no full-time registrar or controller of examinations, said the memorandum, demanding immediate appointments to these key posts. The members said the university had been facing a financial crunch ever since its inception; thereby, affecting its development. “When the university was established in 2003, there was a proposal to transfer 348 acres of land to it. But, only 245 acres have been transferred so far,” the memorandum said. The parishad has also drawn the attention of the Governor towards “serious irregularities that hinder the university becoming an institution of excellence”.
— TNS |
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Insurance firm directed to pay relief
Jhajjar, May 8 The forum, headed by Amar Nath Manocha, delivered its verdict on a complaint filed by Sanjay Sachdeva, a resident of Bahadurgarh. In his complaint, Sanjay had stated that he took a health insurance policy from the company on December 18, 2008, and paid the premiums of the policy regularly from his HDFC Bank account without any default. On April 15, 2009, Sanjay got himself admitted to Maharaja Aggarsain Hospital, New Delhi, complaining chest pain and spent Rs 17,878 on the treatment. As per the insurance policy, he was entitled to an insurance cover of Rs 15,818 but the amount was not paid by the company, pleading that Sanjay had been suffering from hypertension for the last six months before his admission to the hospital, said the complaint. In its reply, the company submitted that the complainant was not entitled for any insurance cover as he had concealed his true state of health at the time of taking the policy whereas he had been suffering from diabetes and hypertension for the last six months. Hence, the company was not liable to pay the amount insured under the policy. Thereafter, the complainant had placed a medical certificate issued by Dr Subhash Gupta, Consultant Cardiologist of Maharaja Aggarsain Hospital, New Delhi, wherein it was clarified that Sanjay had not any history of hypertension and was admitted with a complaint of chest pain. After hearing the arguments and going through the documentary proofs produced by both the parties, the forum directed Bajaj Allianz Insurance Company Limited to pay a compensation along with litigation expenses to the complainant. |
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Shame for state, says Paswan
Tribune News Service
Hisar, May 8 Addressing violence-hit Dalits at Mirchpur village near here, he said the clash had brought shame to Haryana and successive governments had failed to curb violence against Dalits over the years. He demanded that all cases of atrocities on Dalits be heard by a special court outside Haryana. These included the incidents in Dulina, Jhajjar, Gohana, Meham and Mirchpur. Paswan supported the victims’ demand for resettlement outside Mirchpur village as they felt insecure in the village. He said the victims were satisfied with the compensation and other steps taken by the government to assuage the feelings of the Mirchpur victims. The former Union minister said he had already met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and discussed the Mirchpur incident in detail. He planned to meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda after May 20. Paswan added that the Deputy Commissioner had informed him that the administration had recommended establishment of a special court to hear the Mirchpur case.
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Police to redraw probe strategy
Manish Sirhindi Tribune News Service
Panipat, May 8 Till date, the district police was relying on lie-detector tests to collect evidence against the accused, after its interrogators had failed to extract much information from the accused cops. Eight members of the special police team, including an ASP, which was earlier referred to as the Special Task Force (STF), were arrested by the district police about two months back, after one of them was caught on a CCTV camera footage trying to extort money from a local jeweller on March 10. They had earlier extorted Rs 6 lakh from a stock broker of Panipat, the same day. Though seven cops were placed under arrest on March 15, their chief ASP Ashok Sheoran was arrested the very next day. The eight cops were sent in police custody twice by the court to enable the interrogators extract vital information from them, but the police had failed to make any headway in the case. So far no recoveries have been made in the case, other then confiscation of official weapons and vehicles of the accused cops. Sources privy to the investigations had stated that the accused cops with their know-how of the working of the police had successfully managed to baffle their interrogators, who had not been able to collect any evidence against them. Following this, the district police had decided to get lie-detector tests conducted on the cops. However, with the SC ruling coming in, the police would have to redraw its strategy, said a senior police officer. Maintaining anonymity, he said a local court had granted permission to the police to get lie-detector tests conducted on the cops and as of now four had already undergone this test at State Forensic laboratory (SFL), Madhuban, Karnal. He said the department would now be looking into the legalities involved in getting the tests conducted and an appropriate decision would be taken soon on how to proceed with further investigations. The eight cops were arrested following registration of case against them under Sections 395, 397 and 398 (pertaining to dacoity) and Section 120-B (conspiracy) and the some sections of the Arms Act, but lack of evidence could help the accused escape punishment in the court of law, sources said.
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Samalkha foundries struggle
for survival
Samalkha (Panipat), May 8 The toka industry here grew from a single unit in the late 1940s to a cluster of over 80 units, which got engaged in casting of machinery parts, motor casings, pumps parts and various other agricultural implements with annual turnovers that ran into
crores. This industry dominated the trade in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya
Pradesh. Interestingly, it was a family from Goraya in Punjab that had introduced this region to the toka industry by setting up a single unit along the NH-1 in 1949. They brought along trained workers and technical know-how and in the due course of time registered huge profits and subsequent growth. This encouraged many others to set up their own toka industries here. After 1968, many toka industries introduced green sand casting. The cluster started production of chaff-cutting machine and many products, including cane crushers, valve for pumps and pulleys for electric motors, hand pump fittings and submersible pump bodies. The union government played a vital role in the growth of this industry by supplying subsidised raw materials on quota basis. However, in 1991 with the start of the new era of globalisation and the union government changing its quota policy, the industry started facing economic problems. With the government subsidies withdrawn and limited number of skilled
labours, the local industries saw an unprecedented fall in production which directly affected the profits. Following this, the number of units came down to a mere 22 (from 80) in the past five years. Besides, the setting up of toka industries in the adjoining states of Punjab and Rajasthan also hit the local units
hard. Prakash Bansal, president of the Samalkha Foundry Association, said the local industry that was known for quality products that were priced competitively, failed to keep up with the rising input costs. Also, unavailability of skilled workers affected many units in a big way. Many units, which survived on permits and quotas of raw materials, vanished from the scene and the number of units came down to
22. Bansal said the local industry was in dire need of measures that could pull out the strained economies of these units, failing which, more units could shut operations in times to come. |
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Farmers complain of Bt cotton seed shortage
Sirsa, May 8 “I have paid Rs 1,400 per pack for the seeds, while its written price is Rs 925 per pack,” alleged Advocate LD Mehta, a senior lawyer of the district courts. Farmers have held protests several times on this issue in the past some days as, they allege, Bt cotton seed is becoming a scarce commodity at a time, when they need it the most. Meanwhile the Haryana Agriculture Department has denied any shortage of seeds and attributed the problem to the increased liking for certain varieties of the Bt cotton among local farmers. Ravi S Punia, Joint Director, Agriculture (cotton), who has his office in Sirsa, claimed today that the department has approved 117 varieties of the Bt cotton seed manufactured by as many as 26 companies for the farmers. However, the farmers, he maintained after running after only a few varieties like 6,488 and 6,588 manufactured by Shriram Bioseeds and 134-1 variety manufactured by Rasi Seeds leading to the problem of gap between demand and supply. “There are 117 varieties approved in Haryana and 619 approved all over the country and all are equally good,” claimed Punia and maintained that the scarcity, if any, is artificial. He said that the department had been taking action against the hoarders and ensuring that the seeds were sold to the farmers at their actual price. He appealed to farmers to bring to his notice if any dealer was founding selling the seeds in black market. Punia advised farmers to use 150 kg single super phosphate or 50 kg DAP fertiliser per acre of crop by drilling it in the fields at the time of sowing of seeds. He also advised to use 50 kg urea fertiliser each by broadcasting it at the time of sowing, square formation stage and flowering stage of their crops for better yield of cotton.
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Post offices to run new pension scheme
Ambala, May 8 Indu Gupta, Chief Postmaster General, said here recently that subscribers in the age group 18 to 55 years could contribute to the scheme till the age of 60. They could invest in various schemes of different pension investments by the PFRDA out of which 60 per cent of the total amount could be withdrawn at the age of 60 and the balance 40 per cent would be paid through monthly pension by the PFRDA. She further said two types of accounts - Tier-I and Tier-II - might be opened under the scheme and the subscriber could contribute saving for building a retirement corpus in Tier-I account in which the money cannot be withdrawn, whereas the Tier-II would be a voluntary saving account in which one could withdraw their savings from the account as per their requirement. She said the minimum amount of contribution in this account was Rs 500 and minimum four contributions were necessary with minimum amount of Rs 6,000 each every year, she added. |
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Hearing adjourned till tomorrow
Our Correspondent
Ambala, May 8 The CBI had filed an application in December 2008 in this court in which it requested the court to cancel the bail of the dera chief. The prosecution pleaded that the dera chief had been threatening the witnesses. CBI counsel HPS Verma said the dera chief was an influential person and he could pressurise the witnesses if his bail was not cancelled. The prosecution also argued on the dera sadhvis’ molestation case, in which the dera chief is a lone accused. Defence counsel SK Garg said the dera chief had been granted regular bail by this court and the demand for the cancellation of the bail was not genuine. He said it was not right that the dera chief was pressurising the witnesses. The arguments of the prosecution were not completed today. The court adjourned the hearing on the application for May 10.
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Deer found injured
Jhajjar, May 8 A villager informed the local wildlife office in the morning that a deer was straying near the thermal plant in an injured condition. A team of wildlife officials rushed to the spot and caught the deer. The officials found blood oozing out from the legs of the deer. They immediately took it to the local wildlife office and gave medical treatment. “The injury marks suggest that the deer might have been attacked by stray dogs in the night when it came out from the forest. The injured deer is recuperating at the local wildlife hospital,” said Jagdish Chander, district wildlife officer. |
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Veterans brief parliamentary panel
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 8 Antony had stated in Parliament a few days ago that granting of one rank, one pension (OROP) was not possible due to financial, legal and administrative reasons. Veterans have been demanding the same pension to all those who retired at a particular rank after putting in the same length of service. At present there is wide variance in the pension of similarly placed armed forces personnel who retired at different times. In many instances the pension of senior officers who retired years before is even less that their juniors who retired recently. Veterans have claimed that while the financial burden is too inconsequential for implementing the OROP, legal reasons have been adequately redressed by the Supreme Court and high courts through a number of judgments. As for as the administrative reasons are concerned, this is due to the mental block of the bureaucracy and its antagonistic attitude towards the defence forces, they added.
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Applications invited for remote-sensing course
Chandigarh, May 8 He said the applicant should have completed or pursuing master’s degree in either of the subjects of environmental science, earth science, bio-sciences, geography, geology, geophysics, agricultural sciences, computer sciences, physical sciences or equivalent. The course would be conducted form June 14, 2010 to July 23, 2010. He said the total number of seats was 50 and selection would be based purely on merit of the marks obtained in BA, BSc or BTech. Five per cent extra marks would be given to a candidate who had completed MA or MSc degree in the relevant field. A minimum of 10 seats would be allotted to each discipline. The first list of the selected candidates would be uploaded on the website on May 26, 2010. The second list would be displayed on June 1, 2010. |
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Husband booked for rape
Jind, May 8 In her complaint, the complainant, a resident of Dalamwala village, has alleged that she was raped at her in-laws house. She told the police that she was married to one Satyanarayan of Baroda village but her married life had been going through a rough phase. As a result, she had moved to her parental village a few months ago. She claimed that when she had visited her in-laws house on April 4, she along with her husband was locked in a room by her mother- and brother-in-law. She alleged that Satyanarayan forced himself upon her. When she raised an alarm the accused threatened her of dire consequences. The police has registered a case under various Sections, including Section 376 of the IPC, against Satyanarayan, his mother and brother in this regard.
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Chickens perish in hailstorm
Rewari, May 8 The vegetable crops were also damaged in many villages. Besides, the hailstorm caused immense damage in Zenabad, Dahina, Siha, Balwari, Nimoth and various other villages of the Bawal block. The affected poultry farm-keepers said owing to the severe hailstorm tin sheds of their farms collapsed, crushing the chickens to death. Vegetable growers also bemoaned that the hailstorm had completely destroyed their crops. Aggrieved poultry farm-owners as well as the vegetable producers met Deputy Commissioner A Sriniwas here today and sought adequate financial assistance for the huge damage and destruction caused by the hefty hailstorm. On a directive of the DC, tehsildar Tarsem Lal Sharma, along with the patwaris, visited the hail-hit villages today and made an assessment of the damage. |
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Sirsa has become one of the two districts in the country where a programme for vocational education of the youth belonging to poor and marginal families has been started.
