Hisar, August 19
Haryana and central government agencies are selling insecticides in loose packs in utter violation of the Insecticides Rules, 1971, which make it mandatory for manufacturers and sellers to sell or transport pesticides in prescribed packs.

It has been found that the Haryana Seed Development Corporation and the National Seed Corporation have been using fungicides while packing seeds of various crops. Thus the farmers have no assurance on the quality of the fungicide used by these agencies. These agencies are controlled by the State Department of Agriculture which is entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring implementation of the Insecticides Rules framed in 1971 by the Centre.

Rule 16 reads: No person shall stock or exhibit for sale or distribute (or cause to be transported) any insecticide unless it is packed and labelled in accordance with the provisions of these rules.

Further Rule 17.1 states “Every package containing the insecticides shall be of a type approved by the Registration Committee”.

Rule 17.2 adds: “Before putting any insecticide into the primary package, every batch thereof shall be analysed as per the relevant specifications of the manufacture thereof, in accordance with the approved methods of analysis and the result of such an analysis shall be recorded in the register maintained for the purpose. If any insecticide is put in the package it shall be presumed that it is fit and ready for sale, distribution or use for which it is intended, not with standing the fact that any further steps are still required to be taken to make it marketable.

A progressive farmer Mahesh Kumar said no selling agency is permitted to tamper with the registered packaging of any insecticide, pesticide or fungicide as the case might be. Besides, this opened the doors for adulteration and corruption for the government agencies.

He said since the farmer who purchased these seeds had no way to determine the quality of the fungicide used, he would be wary of using these seeds. Seeds, he said, were a costly input and the farmer could not take risks as the whole crop would be dependant on it.

Seeking an immediate ban on the sale of such seed packets he demanded prosecution of the managements of these corporations for blatantly violating the Insecticides Rules.

He said this practice of the government agencies was encouraging insecticides dealers to sell these products in loose packing which could affect crops on a large scale in Haryana.

Hisar, August 19
A sprightly 16-year-old girl, Pooja Dhanda, has brought laurels to the town by winning a silver medal at the Youth Olympics under way in Singapore.

A strict vegetarian, Pooja is the daughter of a tractor driver Ajmer Dhanda who works for the Animal Husbandry Department of the Haryana Government.

Ajmer Dhanda says she was earlier a judoka who won a gold medal at the Asian Judo meet in Yemen in 2008 and before that a bronze in the 2007 edition of the same event in Hyderabad.

She took to wrestling only last year at the instance of fellow champion wrestler Geetika Jakhar. Her first medal in competitive wrestling was a bronze she won at the Asian Cadet Wrestling Meet held in Pune. Later, she participated in the Asian Wrestling meet at Tashkent in the 60 kg category.

In July this year she bagged silver at the Asian Cadet Wrestling Meet in Thailand.

Her father said she practised the sport for three hours each every morning and evening. He said she had been a very disciplined girl right from her childhood. Pooja was good at studies and secured over 85 per cent marks in her 10th and Class XII examinations. Ajmer said she opted for the arts stream in order to devote more time to sporting activity.

“ I want her to win a medal at the London Olympics. The silver at Singapore will provide her the incentive for the Olympics”, he said.

Pooja is expected to be return on August 27.

Kaithal, August 19
Transport Minister Om Parkash Jain has directed the administration to get a case registered against Gurmit Singh, sarpanch of Sultania in the district, who though ineligible continued to get old-age pension for the past about eight years.

Bhajan Singh, a resident of Sultania, had complained to the deputy commissioner in November 2009 that the then sarpanch Gurmit Singh according to school records and birth certificate was of 56 years but he had been drawing pension for the past eight years.

The social welfare officer replied that the beneficiary despite notice had failed to deposit the pension amount received by him fraudulently. Following this, the minister directed to get a case registered against Gurmit Singh.

The minister while disposing of a complaint at the district grievances committee meeting here recently, also directed bank officials not to cause unnecessary hardships to loan-seekers under the poverty elevation programme of the government.

In another case, the complainant Dharam Pal of Ahoon village in Dhand subtehsil had pointed out that in January 2010, he was sanctioned a bank loan of Rs 1 lakh on September 30, 2009, by the District Industries Centre, Kaithal. But the then manager of Central Bank, Pundri, allegedly took Rs 1,000.

Later, after completing his mandatory training, when the complainant asked the official on January 14, 2001, to disburse the loan amount, the said official and Sube Singh, a clerk, allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 to expedite the disbursal. Finally, the loan was disbursed on March 16, 2003. The minister asked SDM Hawa Singh to conduct an inquiry and submit report in the next meeting.

Jaswant Singh of Ambedkar Nagar complained about irregularities in the disbursal of financial assistance under “Kanya Daan” scheme. Some residents of Lander Peerjada village complained of non-functional of cooperative society buses for the past four months on the route connecting their village. The minister ordered an inquiry and issued directions that if private operators failed to operate buses on this route, their permit would be cancelled and Haryana Roadways buses would ply on this route.

Scores of other complainants put up their grievances before the minister.

Sirsa, August 19
The district authorities here will soon interact with panchayats via emails and Internet. “With a view to bringing transparency in various schemes and development works being implemented in the rural areas of Sirsa, all villages will go online,” said deputy commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan.

For this purpose, computers with Internet facility would be made available in all villages under the backward area grant fund (BRGF) scheme.

Sirsa is among 250 districts of the country that receive Central funds under the BRGF.

“Under this scheme, 70 computers are being made available to different panchayats. In each block, 10 panchayats will be provided computers equipped with all facilities,” the DC added.

He said 10 panchayats under Nathusari Chopta block - Ali Mohammad, Kagdana, Shahpuriya, Jasaniya, Takkanwali, Shakarmandori, Tejiyakhera, Rampura Dhillo, Rupavaas and Rajpura Sahni - had already been provided computers.

Rajini Kaanthan said the panchayats would be sending their day-to-day report of development works carried out in their respective areas to the administration through e-mail.

In this way, the higher officials would have a close watch on the works carried out in the villages and also enable them to inspect the quality of work, he added.

“I am excited. With the Internet facility, communication with the district authorities will become quick,” said Babu Ram, a young sarpanch of Ali Mohammad village.

However, several others are skeptical about the scheme and said the scheme would meet the same fate as the provision of computers in village schools.

“With the kind of power supply available in villages and lack of computer savvy teachers, computers have been gathering dust in village schools for years now. The present scheme will also meet the same fate and the computers will be seen lying packed in boxes with panchayats,” maintained Hari Om, a villager.

Rajini Kaantha further informed that under this scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Service Centres would be set up in all villages and at the block level and the administration had already got funds sanctioned for the purpose.

At these centres, villagers would be able to know about schemes of the state government and apply for them.

He said Rs 25 lakh would be spent on setting up of Rajiv Gandhi Service Centres at the block level and Rs 10 lakh at the village level. Recruitment of required staff would also be made for these centres. Besides computer operator, employment assistant of NREGA would also work at such centres.

The DC said a contract had been made with professors of Department of Public Administration in Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, for imparting training to members of panchayats under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Scheme and BRGF scheme.

Faridabad, August 19
HS Rana, a retired IAS officer, appointed recently as chairperson of the State Police Complaint Authority, was felicitated by residents of Faridabad.

Addressing the gathering, Rana said the authority would work as a bridge between the police and public.

Dwelling on the issue, he said the authority had the mandate to look into complaints against police personnel either suo motu or lodged by aggrieved parties provided they were given with affidavits. It would also entertain complaints forwarded by the commission relating to protecting rights of citizens or forwarded to it by the DGP, Haryana.

Hisar, August 19
Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) conferred the Best Teacher Award on 21 outstanding teachers for the years 2002 to 2007. Dr RPS Tyagi, former Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, gave away the awards.

He lauded the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for directing the agricultural universities to honour their best teachers. He called upon teachers to produce students competent enough to secure their future and also act as image builders for their alma mater.

Dr Tyagi, who worked as dean and director of research at the university for several years, said it had made a tremendous contribution towards ushering in the Green Revolution in the country. This could not have been achieved without the dedication of teachers and researchers.

Dean of Postgraduate Studies O. P, Toky said the awards were delayed due to paucity of funds.

Dr Toky said that five teachers were selected every year from among the faculty of all constituent colleges of the university for the award. He added that the backlog of awards would be cleared shortly.

The award winners included Harbir Singh, S. P. Singh, S. S. Sindhu, B. S. Chhillar, Sandeep Gera, Dharam Singh Chopra, Saroj Jit Singh, M. K. Rana, Ajit Singh, Pushpa Kharb, S. Kaushik , R. K. Nanwal, R.S. Pannu, Ashok Kumar, Rajvir Singh, S. Jood, K.S. Suhag, D.P. Nandal, D.P. Sharma, S. Uppal and Shanti Balda.

Sonepat, August 19
Concerns were expressed over the declining sex ratio during a seminar organised jointly by the women cell and the NCC unit of Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College under the aegis of the District Free Legal Authority of the Punjab and Haryana High Court here recently.

Advocate Sudesh Panghal represented the Legal Aid Committee. The seminar was presided by Dr Jyoti Juneja, college principal, and attended by students and teachers of the college and representatives of various women organisations.

Panghal said female foeticide was a blot on society in this modern age and it had given birth to many social evils. Though the government had enacted laws to tackle the menace, these were not so effective because of the non-cooperative attitude of women, she pointed out.

“It is the need of the hour to check the menace and women have to come forward voluntarily to curb foeticide,” she said, adding that it required awareness among women about the existing laws and free legal aid available to them.

Panghal lamented that Haryana was among the progressive and forward-looking states, but foeticide had been going on unabated. There was not a single district in the state where girls had exceeded boys in sex ratio and foeticide was the only reason for unbalanced sex ratio, she remarked.

Exhorting students to take oath for creating awareness among women against foeticide, Dr Juneja said foeticide was a matter of shame in this period when girls had proved themselves better than boys in many fields”.

She was of the opinion that equality in sex ratio would automatically streamline social and domestic life of people and would pave the way for creating a better and healthy environment in society.

Kurukshetra, August 19
In response to the call given by the All-India Senior Citizens Council and the North Zone Senior Citizen Federation, the Kurukshetra Senior Citizens Forum observed August 16 as a Protest Day.

The members of the forum, who assembled at the Day Care Centre, HUDA, Sector 13, here, wore black badges and observed silence for a while. The apathy of the government towards the problems faced by senior citizens in regard to social and financial security as well as security against danger to life and property in the wee hours of their lives was also highlighted during the protest.

Later, the members proceeded to the Mini Secretariat and presented a memorandum (addressing the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister) to the Deputy Commissioner. Copies of the same had also been sent to the Speaker, Haryana Vidhan Sabha, and MPs Dr Ram Parkash and Naveen Jindal.

Meanwhile, Jagjit Singh Virk, president of the forum, said the movement to ensure the welfare and dignity of life for senior citizens would continue and their problems would be continuously pursued with the government vigorously.

In the memorandum, it has been demanded that the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme be implemented and responsible and transparent machinery should monitor its timely disbursement. The pension should be linked to the price index.

Cashless treatment to all senior citizens in government and aided hospitals should be ensured and a separate ministry for the welfare of senior citizens may be formed to implement the national policy for them immediately.

There should be separate budgetary provision in the Central and state budgets for implementing programmes and schemes for senior citizens. The Central government should float special security bonds/accounts to ensure higher rate of interest to senior citizens and it should be linked to the consumer price index.

The memorandum also included 50 per cent concession in state roadways buses, railways and airways, increased income tax concession, insurance cover to older persons irrespective of age, setting up of more day care centres at block, tehsil and district headquarters with the assistance of states, sanctioning/disbursing pensions and other dues to retiring officials on the day he/she retires, issuing directives to ensure prioritised care and attention to senior citizens in government offices, banks, hospitals, local authorities and housing board authorities.

Sonepat, August 19
It is after a number of years that farmers in the district have opted for green fodder and cash crops while giving preference over the traditional paddy crop during the current Kharif season.

According to deputy commissioner Ajit Joshi, because of timely rains though the area of 1,22,250 hectares in the district has been brought under Kharif crop cultivation so far against the Agriculture Department target of 1,21,000 hectares, the area under paddy cultivation was up to 75,800 hectares against the target of 85,000 hectares.

As the animal husbandry was one of the main occupations of the people of the area and the prices of dry and green fodder had increased to a record level before harvesting of wheat crop this year, the farmers had brought almost double the Jowar cultivation to meet the growing demand of green fodder, the DC said and added that 23,180 hectares of area was under Jowar sowing against the target of 12,000 hectares.

Similarly, he said the area under sugarcane cultivation this season had also witnessed an increase of around 100 per cent in comparison to the last year’s sowing in 4,800 hectares and more than 50 per cent of the target of 6,000 hectares of the Agriculture Department.

Welcoming the trend as a step towards the diversification of crops and conservation of water resources, Joshi, who is also the chairman of the Sonepat Cooperative Sugar Mill, hoped that the mill would run for more than four months during this year’s crushing season against the last season’s crushing period of 61 days only.

Jhajjar, August 19
Considered to be the future of the nation, schoolgoing children in a large numbers have been suffering from anaemia notwithstanding all measures being taken by the state government under various health check-up schemes to keep them healthy.

Out of 9.65 lakh schoolgoing children tested for anaemia, 6.2 lakhs in Haryana have been found to be anaemic due to iron and folic acid deficiency. This revelation has been made in a report of the first phase of the Indira Bal Swasthya Yojna (IBSY) that launched as an offshoot of the National Rural Health Mission by the government in January 2010.

According to official reports, health check-up of about 10.95 lakh children studying in 9,099 out of the 9,246 government primary schools in the state was carried out under the first phase of the IBSY in which over 60 per cent children have been found suffering from low haemoglobin level. After getting this astonishing finding, the children have been given iron and folic acid tablets to raise their hemoglobin under the Yojna.

Haryana Health and Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said besides anaemia, various diseases like night blindness, refractive disorder, dental problems and disabilities were also being attended to through suitable follow-up action and treatment under the IBSY so that the diseases could be cured at the early stage.

She claimed that more than 20 lakh out of the 45-lakh plus children studying in government and private schools and going to anganwaris in the state were undergoing compulsive health check-up and the third and the last phase of the IBSY would bring all children in the 0-18 age group under its ambit.

“The all-pervasive health care plan offers a comprehensive programme to identify, treat and refer all children having disease, disability and deficiency. While children in government primary schools (6-12 years) have been covered under phase 1; those in anganwaris (0-6 years) are being covered under phase 2; and the third phase launched recently will cover children in both 11-plus age group, as well as in 6-12 age group in private schools,” the Minister said.

Bhukkal maintained that all communicable diseases like respiratory infection, diarrhoea, fever and non-communicable diseases like heart diseases, cancer, etc, were being covered under the scheme. Four types of disabilities, visual, hearing, speech, mental and physical with focus on anaemia, malnutrition and vitamin-A deficiency, were also included in the cover. Under phase 2 launched in June 2010, 9,15,808 children in 15,911 anganwaris out of the 17,692 anganwaris in the state had so far been screened, the Minister said.

“The state government plans to bring all children in 0-18 age group under the cover of the IBSY and we hope to complete the third phase in two months,” added Bhukkal.

Jhajjar, August 19
Focus of the Indian National Congress (INC), which has been making every effort to gain power in Uttar Pradesh, will be on new faces, especially young ones, at the time of allotting party tickets for the UP Assembly poll slated to be held in 2012.

The party high command has hinted about this poll strategy in its guidelines that have been issued to those Haryana-based 10 leaders of the party, who have recently been appointed as party observers for the UP elections. The observers will visit various constituencies of UP for assessing the ground reality about the position of the Congress.

In the guidelines, the observers have clearly been directed that they must try to pick as many new faces and women candidates as possible without any biasness, but the priority should be given to those who have been loyal to the party. Besides, the observers have also been asked to prepare a panel of three names of winnable candidates in order of priority.

One of the observers, while talking to the Tribune, confirmed that they had been guided to identify those young men and women workers in various Assembly segments of Uttar Pradesh, who could win the poll battle in case they allotted to party tickets.

“To fight the next UP poll battle with new faces is the choice of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. Therefore, the party has decided to discover the new faces well in time so that they could be asked to toil hard in their respective Assembly segments by kicking off public contact programme much before the poll,” said the observer, adding that the party is in no mood to leave any stone unturned for giving its best performance in the poll as it knows the significance of the UP elections, whose outcomes put a considerable effect on the central politics as well.

He also stated that there was no other best option left for the party but to promote new faces in the UP politics as the majority of old faces either have lost their faith among the common man or have been rejected by voters.

The observer informed that all 10 observers had been directed to visit as many as 40 Assembly constituencies of various districts in Uttar Pradesh for studying various aspects related to the poll.

“During the visit, the observers will not only interact with Congress workers on different political issues but also receive their suggestions regarding prospective candidates. Besides, they will also chat with common people of the constituencies to get feedback in connection with the perspective candidates,” said the leader, adding that the observer would also call a joint meeting of the party workers in each segment to motivate them for doing work with dedication to strengthen the party at grass-roots level.

Moreover, the observers would also make all efforts to associate those influential persons with the Congress, who are still not a member of any political party but can join the Congress on inspiration. On completion of the visit, the observers will have to prepare a detailed report of their findings, which to be submitted to the Congress high command by March 1, 2011, he added.

Rohtak, August 19
A special team of cops deputed by the IG (Rohtak range) nabbed 18 persons from various spots in the city on a charge ofselling liquor illegally on a dry day. The police seized about 526 bottles of liquor and beer from their possession.

Mr V. Kamaraj, IG, Rohtak range, told The Tribune that the arrested persons were Chander Singh of Ajaib village, Hans Raj of Janata Colony, Mahesh of Gijhi village, Devi Lal Chaurasia of UP, Dharmender of Sunderpur, Rohtash (Titoli) Naurang of Adampur Mandi, Manoj (Jauli), PremPrakash, Sunil Munda, Ashish of Premnagar, Prem Singh, Shanker and Deepak.

A case under section 188 of the IPC and section 61- 1-14 of the Excise Act had been registerd against the accused. He said similar raids would continue to check illegal and anti-social activities.

Yamunanagar, August 19
In order to ensure the regular flow of aid from the Central and state governments, deputy commissioner Ashok Sangwan has directed officials to complete development works and spend the amount granted under various schemes within a stipulated time or face action.

While reviewing the development works of 2008-09 and 2009-10 and works to be done during 2010-11 at a meeting with district officials here, the DC said the district would get another Rs 15 crore from the state government for various projects provided the officials spend the already granted amount in time.

In order to ensure transparency, the DC directed the officials to submit photographs of development projects from time to time.

“The Central and state governments have been providing funds for the development of roads, houses for poor under various schemes and for generating employment opportunities. If any official fails to spend the allotted amount in time and causes delay in the works, he will have to face strict action,” he said.

Sirsa, August 19
Dr Raj Kumar Salar, a reader in biotechnology department of Chaudhary Devi Lal University has recently returned after completing his post-doctoral fellowship in Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

Dr Salar was the only scientist from Haryana to have been selected for the eight-month fellowship that concluded in July.

“The enhancement of anti-oxidant action of corn by using solid state fermentation” was the project on which Dr Salar worked under the guidance of Prof Milan Certik in Slovak.

“As a result of my study under Dr Certik, it was reported for the first time that Rhodotornula glutinis, a species of yeast, contained phenolic acids, which are generally reported in the plant world,” Dr Salar said.

“Phenolic acids scavenge free radicals produced in the body that cause aging. Phenolic acids are present in the corn, but in a bounded form. However, these are released upon fermentation,” he explained.