Chandigarh, April 5
The latest census figures for Haryana has shocked sociologists. The figures, released by the Director of Census Operations, Neerja Sekhar, here today show that there is no connect between literacy and gender bias.

The districts with low literacy rate have a higher sex ratio. Mewat, considered to be the most backward area in the state, has the lowest literacy rate of 56.1 per cent but the best sex ratio of 906 women per 1000 men. Even the child sex ratio (0-6 year age group) is the highest in Mewat. It stands at 903.

Similarly, Fatehabad, which comes second on the bottom with a literacy rate of 69.1 per cent, has the sex ratio of 903, which is 50 points higher than that of Gurgaon, which has the highest literacy rate of 84.4 per cent. Even Palwal, which ranks third from the bottom in literacy with a rate of 70.3 per cent, scores over Gurgaon in sex ratio by 26 points.

When it comes to child sex ratio, the so-called illiterate districts score over the so-called literate ones. While Mewat, the least literate district, has a child sex ratio of 903, this ratio in Gurgaon is 826.

It is surprising that Rewari, which has a sex ratio of 898, that is 21 points higher than the state average of 877, lags behind in child sex ratio. Against the state average of 830, in Rewari the child sex ratio is just 784.

Jhajjar, the worst district in the country with a child sex ratio of just 774, has a general sex ratio higher than that in Gurgaon. While Jhajjar has a sex ratio of 898, Gurgaon has 853. Even Mahendragarh, the second worst district in the county for its child sex ratio, has a general sex ratio (894) higher than that of Gurgaon.

Sekhar said Haryana had recorded a decadal population growth of 19.90 per cent during 2001-2011 as compared to 28.43 per cent in the previous decade of 1991-2001. The state’s total population now stood at over 2.53 crore. The number of men had increased from 1,13,63,953 in 2001 to 1,35,05,130 in 2011. Similarly, the number of women had shot up from 97,80,611 to 1,18,47,951 in 2011.

She said the sex ratio in the state had increased by 16 points from 861 in 2001 to 877 now. This was the highest sex ratio in Haryana since 1901. The sex ratio in the age group of 0 to six years had been recorded as 830 as compared to 819 in 2001, thus making a net gain of 11 points.

Barring Mewat, all other 20 districts of Haryana had a child sex ratio below 880. . Kurukshetra had reported the highest improvement in the child sex ratio with an increase from 771 in 2001 to 817 in 2011 followed by Sirsa where it improved from 817 in 2001 to 852 in 2011.

The state’s literacy rate had increased from 67.91 in 2001 to 76.64 in 2011 with the percentage of literate males increasing from 78.49 to 85.38 per cent and that of females from 55.73 to 66.77. The maximum female literacy had been recorded in Gurgaon district, which was 77.64 per cent and the lowest in Mewat district, which stood at 37.58 per cent in 2011. The share of Haryana’s population in country’s total population had increased from 2.06 per cent in 2001 to 2.09 per cent in 2011, Sekhar added.

Sirsa, April 5
A state of commotion prevailed in Chaudhary Devi Lal University today as the teachers remained on strike against the beating up of an Assistant Professor and a section of students held a demonstration against the framing of some “innocent” students in the case.

The university authorities locked the old gate of the university, which opens on the court side, while the students, mostly affiliated to the Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), locked the new gate which opens on the bypass road in protest against the university action.

Several teachers, including women, had to walk long distances by parking their vehicles outside the university gate and a senior woman Professor had an exchange of hot words with a senior functionary of the university over this issue.

The Professor later walked out of a meeting of chairpersons called by Vice-Chancellor KC Bhardwaj in protest.

Similarly, some teachers residing in the university campus got held up inside the university as the movement of vehicles was not allowed from any side.

INSO activists alleged that some “innocent” students had been named by the teachers in the case of beating up of Ishwar Malik, Assistant Professor of the Physical Education Department of the university.

“We also want that the assailants of Malik should be brought to book, but at the same time innocent persons should not be framed,” said Yogesh Sharma, district president of INSO.

The INSO activists also demanded a criminal case and disciplinary action against a senior officer of the university, who, they alleged, made caste-based remarks against a Dalit student and beat him up.

Sharma alleged that an officer of the university had been terrorising contractors of the shopping complex of the university in the past and had been demanding eatables from them without making any payment in lieu of continuation of their contract.

Dr Manoj Siwach, Registrar of the university, said the decision to lock the old gate was taken because some outsiders had been creating trouble on the university campus.

He said there was provision of a new gate, but the INSO activists had shut that.

Siwach said a three-member committee comprising Prof Praveen Agamakar, chairperson of the Physics Department, Dr Ashok Makkar, Assistant Professor of the Law Department, and Ram Narain, an officer in the non-teaching department, had been constituted to look into the allegations against the officer.

Meanwhile, the teachers continued their dharna against the “police inaction” in the case of attack on Malik.

Fatehabad, April 5
In a new development, farmers associated with the Parmanoo Sanyantra Lagao Samiti of Gorakhpur village today backed out of their initial commitment and have put forward a new set of demands before the authorities.

The farmers, who had already given written undertakings to the authorities that they were willing to give their land in case the government paid them Rs 50 lakh per acre as compensation, a job for each family and some other small conditions, today hiked their demand to Rs 1 crore per acre.

At a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya, the farmers demanded that besides giving them Rs 1 crore per acre as compensation, the government should pay Rs 42,000 per annum as royalty.

They also demanded the freedom to purchase land in any corner of the country, remission of stamp duty on the purchase of land by them and a government job for one member from each of the displaced families.

“We have informed the authorities that we too will sit on dharna in case the government tried to acquire our land without meeting any of these preconditions,” said Sumit Siwach, convener of the Samiti after meeting with the DC.

DC Vijay Singh Dahiya, however, claimed that though some of the members had placed a new set of demands, they were mostly willing to give their land.

He said he had assured them that the government would compensate them suitably, as the rehabilitation policy of the Haryana Government was the best in the country.

Meanwhile, the farmers agitating against the proposed nuclear plant in their village today contested the claims of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) engineers on the safety and the “willingness” of the farmers to part with their land for the project.

Reacting to the NPCIL engineers’ visit to Gorakhpur yesterday, the Gorakhpur farmers, whose dharna outside the mini-secretariat entered its 234th day today, claimed that not a single farmer was willing to give his land.

Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti agitating against the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project, alleged that the NPCIL engineers had tried to befool the people by holding meetings with farmers, whose land was not part of the acquisition process initiated by the government.

Chandigarh, April 5
Just about a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Haryana Deputy Speaker to decide MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi’s plea in accordance with his own stand on expeditious disposal of the defection matter, a Division Bench today reiterated the observations.

A battery of lawyers representing the Speaker, and the five MLAs, headed by Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium, on the previous date of hearing, had told the Bench on instructions received from the Deputy Speaker that every endeavour would be made to dispose of the disqualification petition as expeditiously as possible.

Taking note of the assertion, the Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had asserted: “The present incumbent in the office of the Speaker may proceed to decide the disqualification petition in the terms of the statement made before the court”.

Fixing April 19 as the next date of hearing in the case, Chief Justice Gogoi and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia this afternoon reiterated the observation made in the previous order.

The offer for expeditious disposal first found its echo during the hearing before the Single Judge. It was not only discussed at length, but also accepted by Additional Solicitor-General of India Mohan Jain, who was then appearing for the Speaker. But the offer was not accepted by the MLAs.

As the case came up before the Division Bench, Bishnoi’s counsel-cum-former MP Satya Pal Jain claimed that the appeal had become infructuous as the then Speaker was now a Cabinet Minister and the present incumbent was not in favour of going to court.

Jain added that the disqualification petition before the Speaker was pending for 15 months now and a decision would not be taken till a direction was issued by the Bench. A Single Judge of the High Court had initially fixed a four-month deadline for the Speaker to decide Bishnoi’s plea against “defection” by five members from his Haryana Janhit Congress. After an appeal was filed, the Division Bench stayed the operation of the orders.

Gurgaon, April 5
A local court today remanded Raghuraj Puri, father of Shivraj Puri, the alleged mastermind behind the Rs 400-crore Citibank fraud, in police custody for two days. Another accused in the case, Rajendra Chand, has also been remanded in police custody for two days.

The police got the remand of the accused after the public prosecutor maintained that the custody was required as the police needed to get more information and documents from them.

It was through the brokerage firms - Norman Martin Brokers and Metcam Holdings - run by the two accused, that the money allegedly misappropriated by Shivraj Puri was diverted into the stock market.

Raghuraj Puri had earlier applied for anticipatory bail, but his plea was quashed by the court.

Shivraj Puri, a Relationship Manager at Citibank’s Gurgaon branch, is at present in judicial custody for duping high net-worth clients of the bank to the tune of Rs 400 crore.

Sanjay Gupta and Gaurav Jain of Hero Corporate Services are also in judicial custody for their alleged involvement in the fraud.

Karnal, April 5
Eleven persons, including two women, were seriously injured in a clash between two groups in Gitalpur village in Nilokheri area today.

A dispute over an alley joining the approach road to the village temple led to the clash in which sharp-edged weapons and lathis were used.

Additional police force was deployed in the area since yesterday in view of the simmering tension.

Members of both the groups gathered today for resolving the issue. While negotiations were underway, some of them got agitated and members of one group attacked the other with sharp-edged weapons.

All the injured persons were admitted to the government hospital. Police personnel have been deployed in strength in the village to maintain peace.

The injured have been identified as Karam Singh, Praveen, Suresh Pal, former sarpanch Shamsher Singh, Sanjeev, Rajpal, Suresh Kumar, Manjeet, Bathiri and Maango.

Yamunanagar, April 5
Cholera has broken out in pockets of Yamunanagar district. Sources in private hospitals say the number of cholera patients could well be 100 or more.

Dr Vijay Mohan Atreja, Deputy Civil Surgeon and Malaria Officer, Yamunanagar, said yesterday that 26 cases had been detected in three villages of the Khijrabad belt, namely Pipli Majra, Bahadurpur and Bambepur.

A water tank in a school in Khijrabad was found to be full of mosquito larvae.

It had been cleaned and fogging of the school premises undertaken. Dr Atreja said teams comprising medical officers, lab technicians, health inspectors, health workers and ANMs would go village to village in seven districts - Yamunanagar, Karnal, Hisar, Sirsa, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Fatehabad - to help detect malaria cases.

Meanwhile, the Health Department has issued an appeal to the public to ensure that there is no stagnant water.

In Yamunanagar district, a task force of 650 volunteers has been constituted. Each volunteer is to survey 200 houses in rural areas and 500 houses in urban areas.Already, 33 malaria cases have been detected and treated at government dispensaries.

Jind, April 5
The district seems to be heading for a bumper rabi crop this season, thanks to the favourable climatic conditions and an increase in the overall average yield.

The district authorities held a meeting today to discuss measures required to be taken for procurement of the crop in various mandis. The total yield is likely to surpass the last year’s figure of 11.20 lakh metric tonnes.

While the harvesting of the mustard crop is nearly complete, that of the wheat crop is to begin by April 10. Said Rajvir, a farmer from the nearby Intelkalan village: “The climatic conditions this year were better than the previous years and a good monsoon last year has helped the farmers immensely.”

The yield was likely to go up by almost 10 to 20 per cent this season, claimed Dr Rohtash Singh, Deputy Director, Agriculture. He said the average yield of wheat which was around 4,256 kg per acre last year was expected to be about 4,800 kg this year, a rise of 13 per cent. The yield of mustard was likely to be 2,500 kg per acre against 2,323 kg last year and that of gram around 600 kg against 513 kg last season.

The harvesting of crops was likely to be over by the third week of the month in most areas.

Rohtak, April 5
The police has registered a case of blackmail and rape at gunpoint against four youths of nearby Bahu Akbarpur village in the district.

According to a complaint lodged by the kin of the 15-year-old girl, she was kidnapped by Amit, Satyawan, Mashoo and Sandeep while on her way to school and raped. She was told that they had taken her pictures which would be put on the internet if she dared to complain about the matter to her parents or the police.

Thus blackmailed for over a year, the girl decided to put an end to her torment by reporting the matter to her parents, who lodged a complaint with the police yesterday. The police registered a case under Sections 376, 365, 292,293, 506 and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the accused after the medical examination of the victim.