Sirsa, July 19
Balwant Ram, a farm labourer from Nejadela Kalan village, provides fodder to his buffalos on the roadside on Barnala Road as 20 members of his and his two brothers’ families sit on cots under the trees.

These families, like many others from the flood-hit Nejadela and Farwai Kalan have been putting up in the open.

Several other families have taken shelter in the nearby Satluj Public School whose owners have opened the building for flood victims.

“Most of our children came from Nejadela village. We have allowed people from that village to stay in the basement of our building till the situation turns to normal,” said an attendant in the school. Relief camps have been running in almost all villages affected by floods.

Floods have brought miseries for people living in the vicinity of the Ghaggar basin and over 50,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Floods have literally converted several villages of Sirsa into islands. The only approach to these villages is through boats. Relief material is being taken to these villages by motorboats.

“We have appointed nodal officers for each of the 50 flood-hit villages, who have been overseeing relief operations in camps set up at the village level. Besides, volunteers of NGOs and followers of Dera Sacha Sauda have been doing a yeoman service in providing succor to the victims,” said deputy commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan.

The fury of floods has been particularly severe on the stretch of the Ghaggar between Musahibwala on the Punjab border to Nejadela Kalan near the town and along the stretch downstream the Ottu Weir in Rania and Ellenabad blocks.

The stretch between Kharekan village near Sirsa and Ottu Weir near Rania has been almost free from floods.

Panigar, Burj Karamgarh, Musahibwala, Nejadela and Farwai villages that fall on the Barnala Road, were the first to be affected by floods due to a breach in the Ghaggar near Jhanda village in Punjab on the border of the two states.

Private bandhs made by farmers on their lands along the Ghaggar made the situation worse by increasing the rage of the river and village after village started becoming victims of the deluge.

Three big breaches on the Ghaggar downstream of Ottu near Firozabad worsened the situation in Rania Block where over 12 villages have been inundated.

Ambala, July 19
The Haryana government would suitably compensate the deceased families whose members had died in the recent floods in the district. The Central government has been urged to release a special package for the flood-hit people in the district.

This was stated by Haryana Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal, who was here to review the situation of flood-hit areas. She convened a meeting of health officers and directed all programme officers, child development project officers and district education officers to pay special attention towards mid-day meal being served in anganwari centres and for schoolgoing children in the flood-hit areas. Besides, she also directed teachers to maintain their stations.

After visiting the area, the Minister told that out of the total 470 villages, 135 villages of Ambala district had been affected with the flood fury and out of these, 42 villages were the most affected. She further said 500 cusecs of water had been discharged from Narwana Branch for drinking purpose and power supply had been restored in most of the villages of the district. She said medical camps with the help of Army personnel have been organised at 21 places and apart from this, 3,000 medicine packets had also been distributed in flood-hit areas.

Bhukkal said all district education officers had been directed to ensure the presence of teachers in schools so that they could render their services in the need of adversity. She said DP Lochan had been made in charge of the State Level Monitoring Committee and respective deputy chief medical officers have been made liaison officers to coordinate with the district administration.

She pointed out that fodder for animals was being supplied in the flood-affected areas from nearby villages. The Public Health and Engineering Department had been also directed to ensure potable water to the affected people. The government had also established 19 veterinary camps in Ambala district for providing succour to the needy livestock, she added.

Bhukkal told that the Health Department had made special arrangements to provide immediate relief in the areas prone to vector-borne diseases. Special medical teams had been constituted and fogging was also being done in villages. She said control rooms had been set up and the department was also keeping a strict vigil. She also urged the people to cooperate with the government.

Ambala, July 19
Sameer Pal Srow, deputy commissioner, Ambala, has said the Patiala DC has assured to work jointly to tackle the flood problem that has been looming large over parts of both states since last week.

In this connection, a meeting of both deputy commissioners would be held soon, official sources said.

Dr Jaswant Singh, ADC, Patiala, along with other officials of the Patiala administration inspected the Haryana border areas at Pachisdhara rivulets which were breached at two places due to which water was diverted into the SYL canal that too started flowing above the danger mark.

Patiala DC Deepinder Singh has assured the Haryana government that breaches in the SYL canal falling in Patiala district are being plugged, the work on which would be completed soon.

Srow said, “We will continue with our relief operation and facilitate the visits of medical teams to the flooded villages till fresh instructions from the higher authorities are received”.

Panipat, July 19
In contradiction to the tall claims being made by the government and Reliance Infrastructure regarding the performance of the Rajiv Gandhi Super Thermal Plant at Khedar near Hisar, the All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has used the RTI Act to expose the under-performance of the plant.

Producing RTI documents here, chairman of the federation Padamjit Singh said the single unit at the Khedar power plant operated at 610 MW capacity for only three seconds and at 600 MW capacity for eight minutes and 25 seconds on April 1. He said on April 20, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, while inaugurating the synchronisation of unit No. 2, had told a gathering of engineers that unit-1 of the project had been commissioned on full load earlier that month and that commercial operations would be started by the middle of May.

Padamjit Singh said even Reliance Infrastructure had claimed in a press note that the 600 MW unit at Khedar had achieved more than full load capacity in the shortest possible time. However, the information received under the RTI defied these claims.

He said the claims of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) authorities that the unit achieved full load were incorrect as the unit could not cross 518 MW on April 1 as per the telemetered data. He said according to the fact and figures, the unit could go up to only 460 MW on March 31 as it tripped at 10.45 pm the same day. He said the RTI documents revealed that the unit could not achieve 600 MW after April 1.

He said it was re-started only on June 11 and the summary of MW readings of this unit showed that the unit had not operated beyond 440 MW till date.

Meanwhile, the Haryana Power Engineers Association has expressed serious doubts over the quality of the equipment installed at the Khedar thermal power plant due to which it had not been able to generate power to its full capacity.

A senior engineer said on condition of anonymity that the bearings of the turbine of unit-1 had been damaged just four months after it was commissioned though its life was over 20 years.

He said state engineers had not been associated with the day-to-day working of the plant and this could lead to a serious setback to the plant in the future

Kurukshetra, July 19
With discipline as an article of faith due to Army background and vision of an astute strategist, Lt. Gen Dr DDS Sandhu, vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, feels that privatisation was the need of the hour, but a strong regulatory mechanism must be put in place to check the commercialisation of higher education. In an interview with The Tribune, Sandhu expressed views on a wide range of issues and touched debatable subjects like education scenario, challenges in areas of research, mushrooming of private institutions which san basic infrastructure and faculty, problems of teachers, diminishing role of statutory bodies, education for poor and bringing qualitative changes in education. Following are the excerpts:

Q. How do you see the future education scenario in the country with unbridled commercialisation and privatisation of education?

A. The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher education is just 12 per cent in India against 50 per cent in developed nations. The Planning Commission has decided to increase it to 30 per cent by 2020 and privatisation is inevitable in achieving the target.

Q. The Union government has released guidelines for deemed universities. Don’t you think there is a dire need for regulators with sufficient powers in the education sector to rein in erring institutions?

A. A regulatory body is a must to ensure quality education and to check that teaching shops did not come in the name of institutions.

Q. Small state like Himachal Pradesh has already allowed 18 private universities and many more are in the pipeline. Do you think there is a need for so many universities in the private sector?

A. Privatisation is the need of the hour, but I observed that the things are perhaps moving too fast. The pace of change should be such that the system can absorb it.

I firmly believe that so many universities should not be opened as it will lead to staff crunch and the quality of education will be compromised. We should concentrate on quality education and ensure that institutions of higher education have good and well-qualified faculty and a balance should be maintained between universities and the number of students.

Q. With nearly 35 per cent families living below poverty line and another 30 per cent on the borderline, don’t you think that a mandatory provision should be made for reservation of at least 50 per cent seats for poor. What will happen to poor students if higher education becomes the exclusive domain of the private sector?

A. The government is thinking in that direction and has asked the private universities to provide some relief to the poor students by launching scholarship schemes. Cheap education loans by banks are also helping to some extent.

Q: The government is shirking its responsibility by privatising education and not increasing the budgetary allocations? Do you think there is a need to substantially increase the budget for education?

A. The universities should become self-sustainable and move towards real autonomy. Stress should be on self-financing schemes and some courses like BA in history and Hindi for which there are few takers, could be supported by the state.

Q. Education is getting globalised. Are you collaborating with universities and research institutes abroad?

A. We have signed an MoU with a Canadian university for MBA. We are keen on collaborating with universities from the West as the medium there is English. We have students from countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal and we look forward to more foreign students becoming part of the university.

Q. Kurukshetra University has been ranked 29th among 502 universities surveyed recently by India Today. How do you see the performance of the university?

A. I am happy, but not satisfied, as I strongly feel that the university has the potential to become the best in the world. I repeat not only in India but world. We have everything, 48 departments, good faculty, traditional and holy environment.

Q. Haryana has low sex ratio. What steps KU is taking to promote education for girls?

A. Keeping in mind the sex ratio in the state, KU has taken initiative to promote education among girls and no tuition fee is being charged from girls for BA. We are proud to say that we have 13 hostels for girls, the highest in any university in India.

Q. What academic and administrative changes you deem necessary to further improve the rating of the university?

A. Automation and e-governance are the key to efficiency and improvement and we have taken concrete steps in this direction. E-governance of the university will be completed by the year-end. The campus has been made completely wifi, the trial run is going on and the facility will be formally inaugurated next week.

The computerisation of the examination system is another step that will smoothen the conduct of examinations and declaration of results. With more faculty being recruited on the permanent basis, stress would be laid on research work.

Q. The university has already introduced semester system in postgraduate classes and is introducing it in undergraduate classes from this session. What advantage do you find in semester system?

A. Semester examinations are important to raise the quality of education and have a lot of advantages. The students study throughout the year and have a better understanding and knowledge of the course content. Otherwise, college students especially in arts study for just 20 days prior to exams. KU has also introduced internal assessment system to ensure that students study throughout the year

Ambala, July 19
As many as 217 students were given job letters at the mega job fest, organised by the ICL Group of Colleges at its campus in Sauntli here recently.

To mark another feather of success in its cap, the ICL Group of Colleges in its fest offered jobs to the aspirants of Haryana in which Sushank Anand, Superintendent of Police, Ambala, was the chief guest.

Speaking on the occasion, Anand lauded the efforts of the ICL Group of Colleges for organising such job fair to help the students of the state. He admired the efforts of the ICL Group for giving quality education and ensuring their placements in companies of repute.

This fest and placement drive was coupled with international seminar and “Mission Dil Se” to make the youngsters industry ready by grooming and polishing their talents to highlight transformation of rural, semi-urban and urban talent into excellent entrepreneurs and human beings, besides awareness campaign for counselling for professional courses, professional grooming, career guidance, soft skills sets improvement and interview clearing techniques to prepare them for the corporate world.

The sources said this was the first time in the history of the ICL Group that such a mega job fest was organised in the campus in which companies of international repute participated.

The companies that participated in the fest include Vodafone, HCL, ITC, Piramal Health Care, Dominos Pizza, Asian Paints, Ruchira Papers, Vin Industries, Chopra Industries, Konark Group and others.

These companies offered profiles of different categories like finance, consulting, marketing, technical support, content writing and others to the students.

NP Sharma, director, ICL Group of Colleges, said about 55 per cent of students at the ICL were from Haryana and hence this fest was an initiative to pay back to society which has given so much to the institute.

“Our aim is not just to provide education, but also help the students of the region by offering them jobs,” he added.

As a corporate social responsibility, Sanjeev Chadha, chief mentor, ICL Group of Companies, has embarked upon a mission, which he has aptly named as “Mission Dil Se” with two primary objectives of conducting personality development and professional grooming sessions with the youngsters of the state through internationally acclaimed professional trainers, and secondly to encourage students for being entrepreneurs and realising their dreams.

This is a unique experience for the people of the region and they throng in big number to the venues of such exciting events. This will not only help youngsters to channelise their energy in a proper direction, but also help them in achieving their goals with a focused approach, he added.

Chandigarh, July 19
Teachers of government-aided private colleges in Haryana feel that they are being discriminated against by the government vis-a-vis government college teachers.

The state gives 95 per cent grant to these colleges and their service conditions are almost on a par with those of their colleagues in government colleges.

However, this is all in theory only. The first problem faced by the private college teachers is the delay in payment of their salary. Though the salary for them comes from government funds, due to certain accountancy problems, the salary is paid to them almost three months after the due date. The government sends funds at an interval of three months. So far the teachers have not received their salary for June.

Recently, a delegation of the Haryana College Teachers Association, the representative organisation of the government-aided private college teachers, led by its president UV Singh and general secretary Rajbir Prashar, met the Secretary, Education, SS Prasad, and apprised him of their plight because of the delay in payment of salary. The officer agreed that when the government had to pay their salary, these should be paid every month regularly instead of at an interval of three months. He promised to take corrective measures.

The private college teachers have not yet been paid the arrears of the revised pay scales. Their counterparts in government colleges have already received the arrears. They say though the government had sent the necessary money to the colleges, yet the arrears have not been paid to them. They blame a particular person in the Education Department for the delay in clearing the bills for payment.

The teachers also rue the fact that the government is not starting the process to fill vacancies in private colleges. UV Singh said of the 68 private colleges, 26 had been working without regular principals. Many colleges had advertised posts several months ago, but the government had not started the selection process. Without government nominees, the college managing committees cannot select candidates.

If no action is taken within six months, the posts will have to be readvertised, putting the fund-starved colleges to further financial loss.

UV Singh said the teachers were thankful to the government for starting a pension scheme for them. But the bureaucracy was yet to revise the pension of those teachers who retired after the revision of pay scales.

Prashar alleged that such issues were kept pending in the Finance Department for no apparent reason. He also alleged that the provident fund of teachers recruited in the government-aided colleges in recent years was not being deducted. He said there were anomalies in the service conditions of women teachers and employees of such colleges. Miscarriage/abortion leave was admissible in government colleges and universities but these were being denied of in the aided colleges. Even the “child care leave” had not yet been implemented in these colleges.

The association has urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to intervene to resolve these issues.

Hisar, July 19
The appointment of Dr Rajendra Singh Paroda as Chairman of the Haryana Farmers' Commission holds much promise for farming in Haryana.

Paroda is India's known farm scientist internationally in the same league as the legendary Dr M. S. Sawminathan. An old Haryana hand, he served at Haryana Agricultural University here for six years from 1979 to 1985.

He was Professor and Head, Department of Plant Breeding and later Additional Director of Research at Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (1979-1985). During 1977 to 1979 he was the Head of Plant Science Division, Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur.

Hailing from Saradhana village near Ajmer in Rajasthan, 68-year-old Paroda is a former Director-General and Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education. Under him the ICAR prepared the Vision-2020 document, which clearly defined the priorities and programmes to meet the future challenges to Indian agriculture.

An accomplished plant breeder and geneticist, Paroda, had earlier served a Deputy Director-General, ICAR (Crop Sciences). In this role, he revamped the crop science programmes with major thrust on seed production and hybrid research which revolutionsed foodgrains production in the country. He has held senior assignments with the United Nations for several years.

He was conferred Padma Bhushan in 1998. During his long career he won several awards, including the prestigious Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award and the Norman Borlaug Award. He was conferred honoris causa the degree of D. Sc by Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.

Under the present provisions of the Act, the issuing authority can issue a licence if the police fails to file its report within 60 days. The proposed amendment will make it compulsory for the police to file its verification report within 60 days without which the issuing authority will not issue a licence.

However, there is still no provision in the Act to assess an applicant for psychiatric and psychological weaknesses, which may make him unfit to hold an arms licence. Had there been such a provision, Ankur would never have secured a licence and Sanjiv and his wife would have been alive.

Taruna Gera, a clinical psychologist, says: “Not every individual has the mental ability to control anger and emotion. A short-tempered person has the tendency to lose rationality very quickly. Such a person even if he has no criminal record, is totally unfit to keep a firearm”.

She said most spur-of-the-moment shootings could be avoided if firearms licences were issued after a psychiatric or psychological assessment of the applicant. “The tension-ridden lifestyles these days are all the more reason for the government to tighten the rules for firearms licences”, she said. 

Chandigarh, July 19
The 4000-acre Industrial Model Township (IMT), Rohtak, is all set to become operational.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), which claims to have spruced up the IMT with the state-of-the-art infrastructure, has decided to invite applications for industrial plots of various sizes in two phases. Plots in phase 1 will be offered this month.

The Rohtak IMT, being developed in three phases, will have all the trappings of a self-contained and canopy township, offering facilities for industrial, residential, commercial, institutional and transport complexes.

According to Rajeev Arora, MD, HSIIDC, 87 plots ranging from one acre to 13 acre, would be offered to entrepreneurs in phase 1. Out of the total 96 plots, nine have already been allotted.

Plots had already been allotted to leading companies like Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (700 acres); Asian Paints (130 acres); Hi-tech Plast (10 acres); Blow Packaging Ltd (3 acres); SHV Energy Ltd (5 acres); and FDDI (17 acres).

These and other projects for which plots have already been allotted in phase 1 would involve an investment of more than Rs 2,200 crore. While Asian Paints, Hi-tech Plastics and Blow Packaging are already in production, others are coming up fast, Arora added.

Later in Phase II, the HSIIDC plans to offer 48 plots of sizes ranging from one acre to five acres. About 1,900 acres of land has been acquired and work on the development of phase II will begin soon.

Rewari, July 19
The Delhi Division of the Indian Railways is all set to establish a heritage rail museum in the historic loco shed of Rewari, which had been lying redundant after the recent replacement of the steam locomotives by diesel engines.

This shed of the Indian Railways, which was initiated by the then Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar on August 14, 2002, had been lying in doldrums for the past several years.

However, the Delhi Division, with the cooperation of its Heritage Division, recently devised an action plan to convert it into a heritage museum for national as well as foreign tourists.

According to Vikas Arya, senior divisional mechanical engineer, Delhi Division, a sum of Rs 10 crore will be spent in two phases on the implementation of the above project.

The first phase of the project, which would entail an expenditure of Rs 3 crore, would be accomplished before the commencement of Commonwealth Games.

The museum, which contains 10 steam engines - five each of the metre gauge and the broad gauge - would display the signal system, rail coaches and other allied appliances of the yesteryears.

The Rewari chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), which has all along been taking a keen interest for the development of the museum, recently sent a communication to Manu Goel, director, Heritage Division Railway Board, New Delhi, seeking insertion of certain displays, exhibits and other allied activities to make it a vibrant hub for tourists as well as students community.

However, with the participation of the Rohtak AIR station’s people, Rewari chapter of INTACH recently organised a one-hour road show at the museum site here, in which historical aspects and other details of the museum were relayed live through interviews with INTACH members.

While seeking a comprehensive display of the 150-year-old glorious history of the Indian Railways through models of old and modern engines, coaches and other allied equipments, Sudhir Bhargava, convener of the Rewari Chapter of INTACH, urged Goel that informative audio/video films of the short duration should be shown to visitors and a toy train should also be installed there for schoolchildren.

Besides according due recognition to the first metre gauge line of the country, a set of commemorative postage stamps of “Chook-Chook Engines” should also be issued, Bhargava suggested.

Gurgaon, July 19
Gurgaon-based mining engineer-turned-author KB Trehan’s book “Illusions of Love” was released here recently. The writer said the book revolved around the life of a beautiful woman struggling to strike a balance between the head and the heart.

“The book is like a fight from the start to the finish. Some people keep brooding over their fall while others make a brave effort to stage a comeback. It is the latter who emerge victorious,” he observed. “Illusions of Love” is Trehan’s second book. The first one, “Dancing on the Notes of Life”, was published in 2008. The evening also unfolded KB’s journey from a coal miner to an author. As Charushilla Narula, an upcoming literary consultant and also the master of ceremonies for the evening, put it, “Emerging from the dark mines, Trehan resolves to show us the light at the end of the tunnel. His books make interesting reading, are highly absorbing and a great motivation to live life happily”.

PK Lahiri, chairman of the executive board of the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, who was the guest of honour on the occasion, said, “We live in testing times of war and unrest. A book on love and its multitudes is what the people need to read in this era”.

Sonepat, July 19
A 14-member squad of youths led by Omesh Chaudhary has been sent in Sonepat district by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, to assess the living condition of women in families and girl students in the schools of the villages in the district.

After the completion of the survey, they would submit a report to the Ministry for further necessary actions.

The youths are members of the “New Opportunities for Women”, an NGO working for the empowerment of women. The NGO had so far worked on girls’ education, literacy, health and various other fields in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. More than 50 survey reports had been submitted by the members of the organisation after 2003.

The team members met Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr SS Dalal recently to apprise him about the purpose of their tour sponsored by the Ministry and had detailed discussions about the socio-economic conditions and facilities provided by the government and administration in villages, schools, etc.

Dr Dalal hoped that this survey would help the government in giving “Nirmal Gram Puruskar” to the eligible villages.

According to the programme details, the squad will form seven teams with two youths in each team and every team will visit seven villages daily. In villages, the teams will prepare reports about the availability of toilets in the schools, anganwari and community centres as well as in private accommodations.

The team will survey how many people use toilet facilities, number and percentage of girl students in schools and other institutions and their social status in families.

Sonepat, July 19
As a precautionary measure against situations such as flood and water logging, deputy commissioner Ajit Joshi has directed senior officers of the administration to carry out inspection of all drains and submit the reports about their conditions.

According to the orders, Sonepat SDM Jag Niwas has been asked to inspect drain no 6 passing through Jahri, Sonepat, Bandepur, Ahmedpur, Kabirpur, Jagdishpur and Rathdhana villages and submit reports about the desilting condition of diversion drain no. 8.

Sonepat tehsildar Braham Prakash has been asked to give his inspection report about the link drains of Bhadi, Rolad, Machhri and Jaji villages.

Similarly, naib tehsildar Sushil Kumar would submit his inspection report about the condition of West Juan drain passing through Juan, Mohana, Machhri, Salarpur Majra, Mahipur, Ridhau, Mozamnagar and Farmana and East Juan drain crossing in the areas of about 12 villages, including Karewari, Badwasni, Mehlana, Nasirpur, Jagdishpur, etc.

Gannaur SDM Ashwani Kumar Sharma, tehsildar, Gannaur, and BDPO, Gannaur, have also been asked to carry out the inspection of Tewari drain, Naraina drain and Sardhana Link drain, respectively, before submitting their inspection reports.

Joshi informed that there were some low-lying areas in the district with chronic water logging problem and the administration would ensure that proper dewatering arrangements were in place before the emergence of any such situation.

Jhajjar, July 19
Blaming the Congress party for playing a vote bank politics since independence in the name of populist schemes for the uplift of weaker sections, like mid-day meals, BPL cards, stipend to SC students etc, the Schedule Caste (A) Block United Struggle Committee has demanded a white paper by the state government.

The demand is on reserved posts for SCs, which was filled up from 1966 to 1994 and 1994 to 2006, i.e. the period of classification of their reservation into A and B blocks and thereafter, its abolition to till date.

In a press release issued here, President of the committee Dr Vijay Kayat, alleged that after abolition of the classification by the state government, a large numbers of unemployed youths of the 42 most backward Dalit Castes, like Dhanak, Valmiki, Khatik, Sansi, Sirkiband, Bajigar, Spela, Doom, etc, had been deprived of their rights.

He said the Supreme Court had recently granted a special leave petition filed by the committee, demanding restoration of the notification of 1994, which was issued and implemented by the then Bhajan Lal government on the findings and suggestions of the Justice Gurnam Singh Commission for equitable distribution of seats among both blocks.

However, the same was undone by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on July 6, 2006 on the basis of SC’s decision in the case of EV Chennaiya vs State of Andhra Pradesh, he added. He also urged the state government to pass a bill in favour of classification in the state Assembly on Punjab and Andhra Pradesh pattern, so that it might help their case in the Supreme Court.