Sirsa, June 28
A young couple lynched and hanged in Bhiwani, marriage of a couple annulled by a panchayat in Hisar, a young couple found hanging at Tohana in Fatehabad and a youth murdered for marrying out of his religion in Hisar.

All these incidents took place in less than seven days in Haryana, a state having earned notoriety for its kangaroo courts named khap panchayats, their medieval diktats and killing of young boys and girls in the name of family honour.

Incidents like this have shocked the people across the country and forced them to brood as to what is wrong with Haryana and its people.

Have marriages outside caste always been considered a criminal act, inviting extra legal punishments from the society and love marriages considered taboo in the Jat heartland in Haryana?

The answer is that while a majority of the rural populace is guided by old medieval practices, there are others who bring a ray of hope in this dark societal picture of the state.

Dr Jagmati Sangwan, director of Women Studies Centre in Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, feels that lack of any social movement in Haryana has been the reason behind the state being so backward at the social level.

“Ordinary people of the state are caught in contradiction between two sets of values - blind consumerism of neo-liberal dispensation and outdated feudal values represented by khap panchayats. The first one is no replacement for the second, and indeed, pseudo-modernism only strengthens the forces of revivalism. The alternative to both types of distortions lies in the spread of healthy and progressive values that can be unleashed through only a new social reform movement,” said Dr Jagmati, who also heads the All-India Democratic Women Association in the state.

Fighting for feminist issues for the past three decades, Dr Jagmati has taken on khap panchayats on several occasions, including barging into one such panchayats, where the entry of women is considered a taboo.

Dr Mahabir Jaglan, an associate professor in Kurukshetra University, feels that we are living in a society where countless people have their feet grounded in 21st century, but heads embedded in medieval ages.

The people practicing such gruesome acts are belligerently intoxicated by the patriarchal ethos whereby women and youths are not to be yielded even an inch with regards to personal freedom and choice.

“It is true that in most of the cases, decisions of murdering young lovers are taken by their relatives. The recent activism of khap panchayats seems to have obliquely contributed in flaring the fire of such barbaric acts spreading across the region,” adds Dr Jaglan, who comes from the Jat heartland of the state and had married a girl of his choice and that too, out of his community more than 20 years ago.

He says butchering siblings and daughters in cold blood is no act of bravery. In fact, it is a cowardice act of highest degree as the people committing such a heinous crime are not capable of fighting the demon seated inside.

They surrender their conscience to sham proud and honour derived from the outdated traditions of barbaric medieval world, he adds.

The Kurukshetra University don is also highly critical of the role played by political parties in such cases, particularly their implicit support to khaps.

“The knee-jerk reaction of most parties in the wake of recent honour killings is the formulation of stringent law on the subject. It is a welcome step. However, why political legitimacy is being provided to the social purity agenda of khap panchayats. Undoubtedly, there is an organic link between the sense of social purity fallaciously stimulated by these organisations and the spurt of honour killings experienced in the region,” concludes Dr Jaglan.

The state has earned notoriety for its kangaroo courts named khap panchayats, their medieval diktats and killing of young boys and girls in the name of family honour

We are living in a society where countless people have their feet grounded in 21st century, but heads embedded in medieval ages

Kaithal, June 28
Sapna Saini as a child used to watch planes flying in the sky which looked very small from the ground. She had a desire to see the ground from the sky so that she could know how small things on the earth look from above. Her desire was fulfilled when she got selected in the Indian Air force (IAF) in 2008.

Born in Sajuma village of the district in August 1986, Sapna, daughter of Master Warrant Officer Randhir Singh, had her primary education from Kendriya Vidyalva, Halwara, where her father was posted in the IAF. She completed high school education from Vadora and did class XII from KV, Ambala Cantt. Sapna completed her B.Sc from SD College, Ambala, in 2006 and joined MCA course, but during this period she cleared the Pilot Aptitude Battery Test (PABT) and after clearing the SSB interview, joined the IAF as flight cadet. After completing her training courses, she joined as pilot in the IAF.

Now, a flying officer, Sapna recently visited her hometown. She attracted the attention of the media. Sapna gave credit to her parents for her success. She said her parents always motivated her to have bigger targets in life. Sapna, number two among siblings in her family of three sisters and a brother, in her message said parents should not consider the birth of girls as a burden on family and rather provide them the best education to make them self-reliant. She urged parents not to indulge in foeticide and accept girls as a gift of God. She said when she got selected in the IAF, there were jubilations in her family and she too was overwhelmed.

When asked to narrate her experiences as a pilot, Sapna said flying an aircraft was a wonderful experience but quoting service limitations she politely refused to give details of aircraft she flew, but said she flew different types of aircraft and helicopters. When questioned why she chose this challenging career despite being a girl, she said she wanted to do some thing extraordinary in life.

When asked how she would feel and act in case a war broke out, Sapna said she would gladly perform the duty assigned to her and would be proud to serve her motherland as a brave officer. The young IAF officer was also honoured by the district administration at a function. Deputy commissioner Amneet P Kumar presented her a memento and a shawl and urged other girls to get inspiration from her.

Fatehabad, June 28
With the fast changing social scenario, policing is also experiencing vital changes. The induction of young and educated personnel at the non-gazzetted officer (NGO) level has also resulted in a more people-friendly policing.

Arjun Dhundhara, a young station house officer (SHO) of city police station here, has started community policing in the area under his jurisdiction.

“It is the brainchild of AK Dhull, IG, Hisar Range, who wants police stations to adopt modern and people-friendly attitude,” says Arjun.

He says SP Jagwant Singh Lamba is also very particular about cordiality in the policing matters. The whole town and its surroundings that fall under the jurisdiction of the city police station have been divided into eight beats, he says, adding that the beats have been carved out by dividing the area geographically on the basis of the density of population.

Each beat has been given under the charge of an NGO of the rank of sub-inspector level or the senior most assistant sub-inspector.

Community police committees (CPC) have been set up in each of the eight beats by including municipal councillors, former councillors and other prominent persons of the area.

Meetings of the CPCs are held at regular intervals and also when there is some criminal activity in the beat.

“Ever since the committees have been set up, most of the petty crimes like non-cognisable offences are resolved through mutual negotiation. This saves the police from wasting its time in trivial matters and also spares people from unnecessary litigations,” the SHO says.

The police officers, who address meetings of the beat level committees, also inform people about their human rights.

Arjun says by coming close to people, policing has become easier as common people are ready cooperate with the police, provided they have faith in its working.

The city police station at Fatehabad has recently qualified to be awarded ISO certification in the matter of policing.

Chandigarh, June 28
The high-powered plot allotment committee, constituted to sanction projects having a capital investment of Rs 30 crore and above, has cleared allotment of industrial plots to 25 units in various industrial estates developed by the Haryana Industrial and Investment Corporation (HSIIDC).

Rajeev Arora, MD, HSIIDC, said here that the projects involving an investment of Rs 3,500 crore and would provide direct employment to more than 8,000 persons. In all, about 100 acres had been allotted for various projects in the industrial estates of Gurgaon (Sector 34-35); IT Park, Panchkula; Growth Centre, Bawal, Bahadurgarh; IMT Manesar; IMT Rohtak; Rai and Kundli.

Arora said the projects which had been sanctioned plots encompassed such diverse fields as food processing; IT; a number of manufacturing industries.

Jaquar, market leader in bath fittings, has been allotted a 14-acre plot in IMT, Manesar, for manufacturing tiles and lighting products at an investment of Rs 239.47 crore.

Among the other companies allotted land are Jain Solar Energy ( 17 acre in the Growth Centre, Bawal), for an export-oriented unit of solar photovoltaic cells at an investment of Rs1,943.33 crore, Replika Press (plot in the Industrial Estate of Kundli for setting up a book printing project at a capital cost of Rs.154.37 crore. Kansan News gets a plot in the IT Park, Panchkula. Nippon Paint India has been allotted a 20-acre plot in the Growth Centre, Bawal for manufacturing paints at a capital cost of Rs 162.35 crore. EDOC Vision Infotech gets a 5-acre plot in IMT, Manesar, for setting up an IT and IT-enabled services projects with an investment of Rs 134 crore.

A number of companies have been allotted plots for setting up food processing units. These include Devyani International in Industrial Estate,, Gurgaon (Sector 34-35), for a food processing unit worth Rs 44.62 crore. The Rs 3,000-crore company operates a chain of eateries like Pizza Hut, Costa Coffee etc. Shakti Bhog Foods will set up an atta fibre-enriched ready-to-eat processed food unit at a cost of Rs 37 crore in the Rai Industrial Estate. Roshan Frozen will set up an integrated cold chain facility for Rs.32.43 crore in the Industrial Estate of Kundli.

Kaithal, June 28
The state government has decided to construct a gymkhana club in Kaithal. This was disclosed by Haryana Minister for PWD and Public Health Randeep Singh Surjewala at a press conference here recently.

Surjewala said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had sanctioned the project and the club building would be constructed on 3.5 acres at a cost of Rs 4.19 crore in Sector 21 of HUDA.

Giving further details of the project, Surjewala said ground floor of the building would house a reception, a kitty room, a bar room, a TV lounge, a kitchen and a dining room. A billiards room and a card room would be the attractions of the first floor, he said. The club would have a lawn spread over 43,000 square feet and an area of 3,630 square metres would be earmarked for parking, he announced.

A swimming pool would be added to the club in the next phase of construction. Building and lawns of the club would be rented out for marriages and other social functions. The club would be built on the pattern of the existing gymkhana clubs in Delhi, Panchkula, Gurgaon and Karnal.

Earlier, the minister heard grievances of the public at Kisan Bhawan. Some residents of Khurana village complained that they were facing acute power shortage because of a fault in transformer. The minister directed the officials to rectify the transformer and ensure regular supply of electricity.

Ram Kumar, a resident of Kasan village, complained that he had already married off his daughter, but the Social Welfare Department had not released the money under the government's Shagun Yojna. Surjewala directed the concerned officers to redress his grievance without any further delay.

Jhajjar, June 28
The state government has decided to set up a government engineering college here to provide quality education to students of this area. The college would be established at least in an area of 12 acres in the premises of Government Poly-technique here.

Haryana Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal stated this while hearing public grievances at the local PWD Rest House.

She said the Department of Technical Education was planning to develop this engineering college as a centre of excellence in the area of civil and environmental engineering and related fields as per the vision of the state government.

Jhajjar would be developed as a hub of technical education after the setting up of the AIIMS-II at Bhadsa village and the engineering college, the minister maintained.

Bhukkal said the government had approved Rs 10 crore for the new building of the polytechnique college here and the foundation stone would be laid soon. 

Rewari, June 28
The examinations of various courses being run by the Directorate of Distance Education of Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU) of Science and Technology, Hisar, will be held at 58 examination centres set up in 38 cities across the country from June 30 to July 21, said Dr ML Ranga, Vice-Chancellor .

The centres would be located at Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Mahendergarh, Narnaul, Panchkula, Panipat, Rewari, Rohtak, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Yamunanagar, Tohana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Amritsar, Barnala, Dabwali, Patiala, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Sikar, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Aligarh, Haridwar, Shimla, Jammu, Rewa, Datia, Rajamundri and Hyderabad.

Prof RS Jaglan, Registrar-cum-controller of examinations of GJU, said that the candidates would appear in examinations for PGDCA/MCA ( three year)-first semester( Re-appear), PGDCA/ MCA ( three year)- second semester (main and re-appear), M. Sc. (CS)/MCA (three year)- fourth semester(main and re-appear), MCA- fifth semester (re-appear), MBA- first and third semester (re-appear), MBA- second and fourth semesters ( main and re-appear), M. Sc (Maths)- second semester ( main) and all annual courses- main as well as re-appear. 

Sonepat, June 28
Repeating last year’s performance, B.Com (II) students of the local Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College bagged 13 of the 15 top positions of MDU, Rohtak, this year, according to principal Jyoti Juneja. Besides topper Veena, the other position holders included Neelam (second), Manisha (third) followed by Monika Kapoor, Neetu Madaan and Shivani (both fifth), Annu, Karuna Kuchhal, Meenu, Karishma Chhabra, Jyoti Rashi Chauhan, Sonia Mittal and Varsha in the order of merit.

Dr Juneja said four B.Sc (Part-11) students --- Jyoti Paliwal, Poonam, Ankita Goyal and Priyanka--had got the first, sixth, ninth and 12th positions, respectively, in the MDU this year. 

Karnal, June 28
The rival factions of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (HSGPC) led by Jagdish Singh Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalvi, who had demanded extension of the last date for enrolment of voters for SGPC poll to August 15 and lowering the voting age to 18 years are in quandary as the Election Commissioner for poll Harcharan Singh Phool Brar was non-committal on their demand.

“We have no option but to participate in the poll as staying away from the elections would mean complete isolation and losing the right to demand a separate SGPC for Haryana”, Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of one faction, said.

He questioned wisdom of the UPA government not to lower the voting age for the SGPC poll from 21 years to 18, saying that it was strange that the voting age for the Lok Sabha, assembly and panchayat poll had been lowered to 18 years but the Sikh youth in the age group of 18 to 21 years were being denied their democratic right to elect the SGPC members.

“The HSGPC has already filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana high Court on the issue of lowering the voting age and the case would come up for hearing on September 9”, he told The Tribune.

Didar Singh Nalvi, president of the rival faction of the HSGPC, also maintained that participating in the SGPC poll was imperative for remaining in contention and pressing the demand for a separate SGPC.

Demanding scrapping of the Gurdwara Act of 1925, Nalvi said that the Act had become obsolete and there was no logic in holding the SGPC poll as per the old Act after the formation of a separate state of Haryana in November,1966.

He also reiterated the demand for providing photo I-cards to the voters for the SGPC polls and extending the last date of enrolment by one month from July 15 to August 15.

Jhinda and Nalvi also expressed concern over failure of the Election Commission to supply a sufficient number of forms for enrolment of voters and said that with a Sikh population of 19 lakh, Haryana had at least 10 lakh eligible voters but only 4 lakh forms had been supplied and said that at least 6 lakh more forms should be made available.

The leaders of both factions said that the demand for a separate HSGPC would be raised more forcefully after the SGPC poll and besides building pressure on the Government, legal options to get the demand accepted would also be explored.

Karnal, June 28
It was nothing less than a long cherished dream realised for Gurjap, a roller hockey player from Karnal, who scripted history by setting a new world record in defending the goalpost for 21 hours as his team, Shivganga Roller Skating Academy, played in the rink for 30 hours.

The team broke the previous record of 25 hours and 20 minutes, which was in the name of Inline Hockey team of England and Gurjap and his team are all set to make an entry into the Limca Book of Records, who’s official Smita Thomas was present at the event held in Belgaum.

First year BA student at Dayal Singh College, 19-year-old Gurjap was obsessed with a desire to excel in sports and make the country proud and he did it.

Rolling on skates in the rink for the past 17 years had paid off and his father Gurpal Singh, his role model and a roller skater, was equally elated by the feat of his son. Sports is in the blood of Gurjap who also loves swimming, badminton and lawn tennis, but he also helps his father in his business during free time.

Gurjap describes his 21-hour tryst with goalpost as unforgettable and recalls how two teams of 16 skaters each, blue and yellow, non-stop action which started on Tuesday (June 15) at 2.25 pm amid monsoon showers and the moment of glory came in a dramatic manner when nine-year-old skater from the city, Aniket Chindak, pushed the puck into the rival team's goal at 3.39 pm on Wednesday (June 16), thereby breaking the record of 25 hours 14 minutes and 3 seconds established by Townsville Inline Hockey (Queensland, Australia) in this category.

Later, the players continued to be at the rink and played till 8.30 pm and set a new world record of playing for 30 hours non-stop.

The entire event was witnessed by MS Tyagi, director, Sports Authority of India, and also videographed for sending it to the Limca Book of Records, World Records Academy and the Guinness Book of World Records. Saurab Duggal was adjudged best scorer, Amit Ahuja and Mohit Yadav as best defenders, Gurjap Singh the best goalkeeper and Aniket Chindak was adjudged best youngest player. 

Rewari, June 28
A Haryanvi athlete Jitender Dhillon won a gold medal in the 90-kg category in the 7th South Asian Bodybuilding Championship held at Kathmandu in Nepal recently.

Besides, a gold medal each was also bagged by two other Indian athletes, Bobby Singh (Assam) in the 75-kg category and Javed Ali Khan (Railways) in the 95-kg group, of the championship.

The team championship was picked up by athletes from Afghanistan whose overall performance was adjudged the best. This information was given to mediapersons here by Amit Swami, general secretary of the South Asian Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation (SABBF) as well as general secretary of the Indian Bodybuilding Federation.

Athletes from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan participated in the championship.

At Kathmandu, Amit Swami also had the pleasure of meeting Ram Baran Yadav, President of Nepal, whom he briefed about the activities of the SABBF. Evincing the keen interest in bodybuilding sports, the President wanted the federation to organise some international bodybuilding championship in Nepal in the coming times for an exuberant promotion of the sports among Nepali youths.