Hisar, February 12
All private hospitals and nursing homes remained closed today as doctors went on a strike in protest against the arrest of a local doctor on a charge of doctoring a medico-legal report to show grievous injury to a person involved in a fight.

The doctors gathered at Krantimaan Park here this morning under the aegis of the Hisar branch of the Indian Medical Association.

The doctors said the district police had registered cases on similar charges against many doctors without proper investigations.

They said under an apex court ruling, the police was required to appoint a panel of experts to determine whether a complaint against a doctor had any basis.

The doctors decided to continue their strike indefinitely till the release of the doctor arrested by the police yesterday. They will close outpatient departments and shift the indoor patients to the local General Hospital.

They demanded that in the future no arrest should be made till the expert panel gave its opinion and the doctor should be interrogated at the hospital concerned and not in a police station.

Chandigarh, February 12
After subjecting schoolteachers to tests, the state Education Department has initiated a “learning outcome test” to evaluate the standard of education in government schools.

In the first experiment of its kind, the teaching standards were evaluated on the basis of the performance of children in surprise tests conducted in a school in Barwala (Panchkula). Sources maintain that teachers of various subjects and different classes were asked to reach the department’s DIET centre in Sector 2, Panchkula, from where they were to be taken to an unknown destination.

With only the top brass of the department in the knowhow of things, these teachers were given no indication of their agenda for the day. At the DIET centre, they were asked to switch off their mobiles and board a bus which took them to Government Senior Secondary School, Barwala.

The sources said on arriving at the school these teachers were asked to frame a questionnaire to test the learning skills of the children. Each teacher prepared a paper comprising five questions each and the students were given 30 minutes to complete the test.

Later, these test papers were evaluated by the “imported” teachers while the staff of the school was kept away from the entire exercise. The sources maintained that while 80 per cent children, from Class I to XII, failed in the surprise test, hardly 5 to 10 per cent students managed to get more than 50 per cent marks in the test, which was essentially objective. “The idea of keeping the regular staff of the school out of the exercise was to evaluate their teaching skills. The mission was kept a surprise because we wanted a true picture of how much the children were really grasping in their classes,” the Director, Secondary Education, Vijender Singh, said, adding that such surprise tests would now become a regular feature to gauge the standard of education in government schools.

However, the teaching community has not taken too kindly to the exercise. The president of the Teachers Association, Kitab Singh Mor, said the department was unjustified in herding teachers to “unknown destinations”. “The teachers are rebuked and insulted during these visits. This is not justified. The department is forcing us to unite against this move.,” Mor said.

Rohtak, February 12
The state government has said all farmers owning land up to 2 acres or more will be eligible for a government job in case 75 per cent of the their land is acquired.

Kin of such farmers will also be given preference while imparting training in various skills, besides the compensation and annual royalty in lieu of the land acquisition.

The farmers, whose land is acquired, will also get full rebate in the stamp duty and registration fee for purchasing land of an equivalent value elsewhere in the state, besides the allotment of a residential plot in a HUDA sector.

Stating this, a spokesperson for the government said here today that these facilities were provided in the new land acquisition policy that had come into force on September 7, 2010.

He said industrial training would be given to those persons who had no agricultural land and were dependent on farming, but were rendered jobless due to the land acquisition by any of the government agency.

The district authorities had been directed to implement the orders of the state government to allow full rebate in the stamp duty and registration fee on the land purchased by farmers elsewhere.

However, the rebate would not be more than the cost of the land acquired. This would be applicable on all transactions after September 7 last, claimed the district authorities.

As per the revised policy, the state government has announced to pay Rs 25 lakh per acre instead of Rs 16 lakh earlier in the villages, which had been included in the developed (controlled) zones. An additional incentive ranging from 5 to 7 lakh would also be given to the beneficiaries in case they accept the award without any litigation. The land acquisition rate in undeveloped areas would be Rs 20 lakh per acre, claimed the officials.

Following protests by farmers, the government has announced a compensation of Rs 45 lakh per acre in Kheri Sadh and Kharawar, Rs 30 lakh in Baliyana and Rs 50 lakh each in Garhi Sampla and Sampla villages.

Fatehabad, February 12
A man who fell on the ground while walking on a road kept struggling for life for over an hour on the national highway in the heart of the town.

Repeated telephonic calls made on 102 by shopkeepers and passersby to call an ambulance from the local general hospital failed to evoke any response for over an hour.

People stopped, watched him gasping for life and left for their destinations.

Some did call the ambulance service and also informed the police about the incident.

Hans Raj, a Congress worker, who has his shop near Ambedkar Chowk where the incident occurred, said he called the ambulance service from his mobile phone, but to no avail.

Finally, two cops arrived there and looked for a vehicle to shift the man.

By the time they could arrange a four-wheeler, it was too late.

The police shifted him to the general hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The cause of death is yet to be ascertained.

The victim was later identified as Ram Dayal, a resident of Dhabi Khurd.

Ironically, the Haryana government had started the “Haryana Swasthya Vahan Sewa” with much fanfare in November 2009.

The government had purchased 319 new ambulances and distributed these among all the 21 districts for providing the ambulance service to the people.

While launching the service, the government had said 100 more ambulances would be added soon.

Under the scheme, the hospital authorities are supposed to provide the ambulance service free of cost in case of accidents, deliveries and for people living below the poverty line (BPL).

Dr Naresh Goyal, Senior Medical Officer and in charge of the general hospital, said the patient had died when he was brought to the hospital.

On the failure of the hospital authorities to send an ambulance on receiving a call, Dr Goyal maintained that they had only one ambulance and that was already on duty.

Karnal, February 12
Identifying climate change, shrinking landholdings and soil degradation as major constraints in meeting the challenge of providing foodgrains to the ever-increasing population, the Director-General, IRRI, Philippines, Dr Robert S Zeigler, and the Director-General of the CIMMYT, Mexico, Dr Thomas Lumpkin, have emphasised the need for intensive and effective research for increasing the foodgrain production and improving the condition of farmers.

They added that the IRRI and the CIMMYT in consultation with the NARS (National Archives Record Services), India, were carrying out research to improve the factor productivity, breeding of rice, wheat and maize varieties and improved agronomic practices.

Appreciating the work done by the IRRI-CSISA (Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia), Dr Zeigler and Dr Thomas, who visited the CSISA, Haryana, during the past two days to overview agriculture activities and interacted with public-private partners, jointly working for improving the livelihood of farmers, hoped that the programmes launched under the IRRI-CIMMYT would yield desired results.

At Taraori village, Dr RK Gupta (South Asia coordinator, CIMMYT) shared his experiences with farmers and discussed various problems being faced by the farmers in adopting new technology.

Dr BR Kamboj (CSISA hub coordinator) explained that they demonstrate conservation agriculture (CA)-based technologies to farmers on various sites across the hub focusing on water conservation, labour saving and time management and exposing farmers to long-term CA trials.

Dr ML Jat, scientist, CIMMYT, New Delhi, explained about the earlier trials conducted on direct seeding of rice and other resource conservation technologies.

Krishan Singh had a heated argument with his son Sudhir Singh, following which Sudhir under a fit of rage attacked his father. — OC