Chandigarh, April 7
The state government has taken a major decision to give further boost to agro-forestry in the state. It has removed restrictions on cutting trees of certain species so that farmers can grow them on their fields and cut them as per their convenience.

Earlier, the growers had to seek permission from the Forest Department to cut trees of these species even if they stood on their land and had been grown by them. Seeking permission was a tedious and time-consuming process.

Forest Minister Ajay Singh Yadav says the farmers would now be able to cut without permission some common agro-forestry tree species like ailanthus (ulloo neem), bakain, amrood (guava), bamboo and tut (mulberry). Earlier, eucalyptus (safeda) and poplar species were free from these restrictions.

These tree species have now been taken out of the purview of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900. Now the farmers of the Shivalik foothills and the Aravallis need not apply to forest offices for cutting these trees standing in their fields.

The restrictions were removed vide a notification of March 29, 2011. The orders have become effective with immediate effect.

The restriction was notified in 1980. The farmers in these areas had to take permission from the Forest Department for felling trees. The state government had exempted eucalyptus and poplar, common trees of agro-forestry, from such restrictions in 1997. It gave relief to the farmers of northern and central Haryana.

Ailanthus (ullu neem) is an important agro-forestry species of southern and western Haryana as it can grow in sandy soils and rain-deficient areas. It is used for making plywood and panel wood. The lifting of restriction on the cutting of ailanthus is a good incentive to farmers to plant trees in rain- deficient southern and western Haryana.

Yadav said this decision would encourage farmers to plant more trees to improve their economy and also to increase tree cover in the state.

Chandigarh, April 7
The Haryana Power Distribution Corporations saved over `1217.95 crore during 2010-11 by purchasing power judiciously from all sources.

According to Arun Kumar, Managing Director, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), the purchase cost of power for the Haryana power utilities has reduced from `3.25 per unit last year to `2.89 per unit. The utilities purchased about 3,35,585 lakh units of electricity at a cost of `10,913.08 crore during 2009-10 whereas 34,5324.25 lakh units of electricity was purchased at a cost of `9,976.48 crore during 2010-11. Thus, the utilities purchased 9738.48 lakh more units of electricity last year by incurring less expenditure.

The utilities made the maximum banking arrangements under which 11,427 lakh units of electricity was procured from Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh last year as compared to 8,560 lakh units during 2009-10.

Arun Kumar says the utilities purchased bare minimum power from short-term sources to meet the requirement as these sources charged higher rates. Just 12,652 lakh units were procured through short-term sources in 2010-11 as compared to 29,565 lakh units during 2009-10. He said the Haryana Power Purchase Centre had already made the banking and return banking arrangements for the coming summer and the paddy season so that adequate power at cheaper rates could be supplied to the consumers.

Gurgaon, April 7
In order to check the instances of fraud in property sale/purchase and bank loans etc, affidavits in all five tehsils of the district will now bear photos of the persons who get these made. The facility was inaugurated by deputy commissioner PC Meena, here, yesterday.

The DC handed over photo-printed affidavits to Jatin Rao and Suresh Kumar at the local tehsil office. With this, the facility has begun in all five tehsils of the district, namely Gurgaon, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar, Sohna and Manesar.

After inaugurating the facility, Meena said a counter had been set up in each tehsil office for this purpose and if required, the number of counters could be increased. He said now, if a person needed affidavit attested from a first-class magistrate, he would have to be present at the tehsil office concerned for being photographed. He said a nominal fee of Rs 10 per affidavit had been fixed for the purpose as per the guidelines of the state government.

Meena said now, no person would be able to get affidavit of another person, which would help check cases of fraud in sale/purchase of land and taking loans from banks. He said under the new facility, the record of the persons getting affidavits would be maintained at the tehsil office.

The DC said the district administration aimed at computerising and web-enabling the citizen-centric services to ensure transparency and fair dealing. “The next step in this direction will be to put jamabandis and mutations of land online,” he said, adding that for this, the land records were being computerised.

The DC hoped that by the end of this month, jamabandis of some villages would be made online. When this task was completed, any person residing in a foreign country would be able to check the status of his/her property in Gurgaon through the Internet.

Rohtak, April 7
The government has not only been harping on false claims and figures regarding its achievements on the socio-demographic front but also has failed to do anything concrete to check the population growth and the declining sex ratio in the state. This stands proved by the provisionally released figures by the Census Commissioner of India recently.

Alleging this the state committee of the CPM expressed concern over the issue and called upon the state government to take tough measures to improve the performance in this connection.

State CPM secretary Inderjit claimed that the figures painted a dismal picture of Haryana on this front despite the fact that huge funds were being spent on various schemes. That the state had the lowest sex ratio (830 females per 1000 males) among all states was shameful when seen in the context of very loud development claims made the government, he said. It was shocking and disheartening to see Jhajjar and Mahendergarh , which had the child sex ratio of 774 and 778, respectively, lie at the bottom in the country. These two districts, the CPM leader claimed, were among the best performing districts in 2001. Moreover, Jhajjar district had been even awarded the state award in 2009 for improving the sex ratio. Another shocker was that the population of the state had grown at the rate of 20 per cent, which was higher than the all India average of 17.64 per cent and that in the neighbouring states of Punjab and HP.

He said the menace of sex detection tests was still rampant even in the areas that were less affected by it during the earlier decade. Criticizing the political leadership and the successive governments in the state for grossly neglecting incidence of under-nutrition among female children and prevalence of a high female infant mortality rate, he said studies had shown that poverty and under-nutrition were very closely associated and had even worsened in Haryana over the years.

Stating that the social-demographic data of Census 2011 clearly exposed the hollowness of the government schemes and claims that the state had become number one in the country in development. The CPM leader asked the state government to refrain from empty slogans and take effective measures to ensure work at the ground level rather than indulge in self-glorification for pseudo development.

Gurgaon, April 7
The provisional data of Census-2011 for Gurgaon district shows a growth of 73.93 per cent in its population during the past 10 years.

As per the provisional data, the population of the district is 15,14,085. Of this, the number of males is 8,17,274, while the number of females is 6,96,811.

Releasing the provisional data of Census-2011, Gurgaon deputy commissioner PC Meena, who is also the principal Census officer for the district, said the total literacy rate of the district was 84.44 per cent. The literacy rate of males was 90.27 per cent, while that of females was 77.64 per cent.

Meena said the sex ratio of the district came out to be 853 females per 1,000 males. The density of population in the district was 1,241 persons per sq km.

The DC said these were the provisional figures which were the outcome of the Census operations in 2011. The detailed data of the district would be available after the data obtained was completely compiled, he added.

Hisar, April 7
Dr KS Khokhar, Haryana Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, has called upon scientists to put in more efforts to meet the future food and fibre needs of the country's growing population.

He was addressing the inaugural session of the annual group meeting of cotton scientists working on the all-India coordinated research project (AICRP) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The meeting has been convened to review the research achievements accomplished during the previous year and chalk out a work plan to further boost the cotton production in the country.

He said it was estimated earlier that by 2025 India's population would grow to 1.3 billion and the country would require nearly 260 million tonnes(MT) of foodgrains, 130 MT of milk, 150 MT of vegetables, 100 MT of fruits, 10 MT each of meat and fish, 12 MT of edible oil and 52.5 million bales of cotton. But these estimates had gone haywire after the 2011 Census, which revealed that the population of India had touched the 1.21 billion mark and it was increasing at the rate of about 1.7 per cent per annum.

He said this rate of growth of population would need agricultural scientists and policy planners to rethink strategies so that "we are able to produce more food per unit area from shrinking land holdings without harming natural resources and environment".

Dr Khokhar expressed concern over low productivity of cotton in India. "India is first in area under cotton (11 million hectares), second in production (33.50 million bales) after China but quite low in productivity with 518 kg lint per hectare against the global average of 785 kg.

He said the scientists should address the emerging problems and other concerns that were invariably associated with the introduction of modern technology and changing climatic conditions to sustain this growth in yield.

Dr N. Gopalkrishan, Assistant Director-General (Commerical Crops), ICAR, in his presidential remarks urged scientists to address the emerging problems and other concerns so as to sustain the growth in cotton yield.

He pointed out that abiotic and biotic factors were still posing threat to cotton production. He expressed concern over the high prices of Bt cottonseed in the country. He said the public sector institutions now possessed very good genetic material and they should come out with Bt cotton varieties to break monopoly of the private sector.

Dr KR. Kranthi, Director, Central Institute for Cotton Research, said factors like labour and input cost, low availability of good quality seed needed attention of the scientists.

Dr AJ Sheikh, Director, Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, said the needs for yarn were changing and apart from quantity the scientists should also focus on quality of cotton yarn.

Dr RP Narwal, Director of Research, HAU, said cotton was one of the most important cash crops of Haryana. He said the university had so far developed six varieties and one hybrid of desi cotton and 10 varieties and three hybrids of American cotton, which had contributed a great deal in increasing its productivity in the state.

Hisar, April 7
Online payment of bills is catching the fancy of power consumers. The number of electricity consumers using the facility of online payment of bills has increased from about 1200 in August, 2010, when the facility was introduced, to 4300 during March last.

The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam(DHBVN) has received Rs 7.64 crore through 21750 online transactions during the past seven months in the 18 operation subdivisions in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Hisar where the facility of online payment of electricity bills is provided.

A spokesman of DHBVN said here that this facility was made available through DHBVN’s website www.dhbvn.com to about six lakh consumers of 18 urban operation subdivisions. Electricity consumers in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Hisar need not stand in queues or go to offices of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam for payment of electricity bills. They can pay their bills at any time from home through Internet.

For making online payment, a consumer will have to go at DHBVN’s website www.dhbvn.com and click on the link “online payment”. The website will ask for a unique ID code of the consumer called “K number”, which is mentioned on the bill of each consumer. After filling in the K number, details of the consumer’s account will be displayed. The consumer can login and choose the service number and mode of payment (credit card, debit card, Internet banking).

Depending upon the choice of the bank, the website redirects them to that bank’s website for completing the transaction (debiting from the consumer’s account and crediting into the DHBVN’s account). However, the bank’s site will ask for user ID and password. On logging in, the amount to be paid has to be filled. The consumer can press the button “pay”. A message will appear indicating that the “hot payment is successful”. Online receipt will be generated and print of the receipt can also be taken.

The payment can be made through Internet banking, credit and debit cards issued by 27 banks. These are: Axis Bank, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Deutsche Bank, Development Credit Bank, Dhan Lakshmi Bank, Federal Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Indus Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank Corporate, Punjab National Bank Retail, Shamrao Vithal Co-op Bank Ltd., South Indian Bank Ltd. State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of India, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, Vijaya Bank and YES Bank.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, April 7
Sirsa and Fatehabad are almost at the bottom of the ladder so far as literacy rate of its people is concerned.

According to the Census - 2011, Provisional Population Totals released by the Directorate of Census Operations, Haryana, Fatehabad district ranks 20th among the 21 districts with literacy figures of 69.13 per cent.

Only Mewat with a literacy rate of 56.13 per cent is below Fatehabad.

Sirsa with literacy rate of 70.35 percent ranks 18th in the table and is above Mewat, Fatehabad and Palwal on the list.

Though placed almost at the bottom, the two districts have performed fairly well in improving their literacy rates in the past 10 years.

With gain in percentage points of 11.15 and 9.8, respectively, Fatehabad and Sirsa have performed well in improving their literacy rates from 57.98 and 60.55, respectively, in 2001.

Similarly, in the matter of gap in the male and female literacy, Fatehabad and Sirsa are better than many districts - the two districts are placed almost in the middle of the table in this regard.

Sirsa having male literacy of 78.64 per cent and female literacy of 61.16 per cent with a gap of 17.48 percent is ranked 10th best in the table.

On the other hand, Fatehabad having male literacy of 78.10 per cent, female literacy of 59.29 per cent with a gap of 18.81 per cent is ranked 14th.

Panchkula with the male-female literacy gap of 11.18 per cent is placed on the top of the table while Mewat with the gap of 35.40 ranks last.

Incidentally, Sirsa has fared better than the state average gap of 18.61 per cent while Fatehabad has performed worse than the average state figures.

The gender gap in literacy in Haryana has decreased by 4 percentage points from 22.76 percentage points in 2001 to 18.61 percentage points in 2011.

Female literacy, it appears, has been causality in the two districts in the last 10 years.

While Sirsa slipped from 7th place in 2001 to 10th position in 2011 in the matter of gap between male and female literacy, Fatehabad too has slipped from 11th spot in 2001 to 14th in 2011.

From the gender gap in literacy of 20.12 percentage points in 2001, Sirsa was able to decrease the gap to 17.48 percentage points.

Similarly, Fatehabad was able to reduce its gender gap in literacy from 21.69 per cent in 2001 to 18.81 per cent in 2011, according to the census figures.

However, since some other districts performed better in the matter of female literacy, the two districts slipped lower down the ladder in the matter of gender gap in literacy in the last 10 years.

Kaithal, April 7
As per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, evening courts have started functioning in the local judicial complex here.

District and Sessions Judge RS Baswana said cases under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1958, would be decided in the evening courts.

Baswana said these courts would function from 5 to 7 pm on working days in all months except May, June and July when courts would function from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm.

He said judicial officers would work on a quarterly basis. Rajesh Garg, CJM, would preside over the court from April 1 to June 30, 2011; Reetu YK Behal, ACJM, from July 1 to September 30; Rajan Walia, JMIC, from October 1 to December 31; Amit Garg, JMIC, from January 1, 2012 to March 31; and Parshant Rana, JMIC, from April 1 to June 30, 2012.

Ambala, April 7
A seminar on “Computer Network Security and Ethical Hacking” was recently organised at Galaxy Global Group of Institutions, Dinarpur, near here

Ankit Fadia, a renowned computer security guru and cyber terrorism expert, presided over. All three seminar halls were packed to capacity and the talk was telecast in all halls through CCTV cameras.

Ankit spoke on how important cyber security was in the face of challenges from criminals. He said, “Both our personal and professional worlds are extremely dependent on the cyber world, which in turn is dependent on networked information and communication technologies. But, with growing dependency, new threats to network and information security have emerged and there is ever-growing vulnerability to cyber crime”.

He said “This is also true for India where the number of Internet users is growing rapidly and where information and communication technology are of crucial importance for its economy. Thus, efforts to spread awareness on cyber security is the need of the hour,” he added.

The programme followed an interactive session. The students and staff members shot inquisitive enquiries which were satisfactorily answered. The programme was held with the cooperation of Reliance Communications.

Bhattu Kalan (Fatehabad), April 7
After the Right to Education(RTE) Act coming into force in Haryana, getting education has become a legally enforceable right of every child, said ADC Ashok Kumar Meena while speaking at the annual function of MDAV Public School, Bhattu Kalan, recently.

Meena said schools could no longer deny admission to any student. Any kind of entrance test was also banned under the RTE Act.

Meena said the government was laying emphasis on providing quality education to children.

He praised MDAV Public School for providing good environment to their students in a rural area like Bhattu Kalan.

Tanu Bhatia, principal, said the school always strived to provide its children with facilities available in big cities and towns.

Children performed a myriad of cultural activities on this occasion.

The ADC gave away prizes and certificates to children on their elevation to next classes.

The children donning black gowns looked like "little graduates" during the entire ceremonies.

Ambala, April 7
Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala City, recently celebrated the Women Empowerment Day. Neeru Mehta, principal, Dev Samaj College, Ambala City, and Renu Dhawan, a social activist, were the guests of the occasion.

Dr Vivek Kohli, principal of the college, welcomed the guests. He addressed the students by saying that it was noteworthy that Women Study Centre of the college kept organising various competitions related to women issues throughout the year.

“India today is witnessing paradigm change in its growth and development and women are contributing equally in this process. Women are the foundation of our society and they can be empowered only through education, which is the best means to remove ignorance prevailing in our rural areas”.

Dr Neelam Luthra, in charge, Women Study Centre, said the main objective of organising such activities was to bring changes in the mindset of male-dominated society.

She raised various social issues like female foeticide, dowry etc. and said the provisions of various resources and constitutional rights were not enough for women empowerment.

Neeru Mehta said both men and women were equally important in the social setup and gender equality was the responsibility of both. Renu Dhawan also shared her views by saying that women empowerment should be taken in positive direction with the help of yoga as “it teaches us love, sympathy and affection and to utilise our legal rights in right direction”.

Various competitions based on women-related themes like power point presentation, poetic recitation, mehandi competition, traditional dress and salad decoration were organised. Prizes and certificates were given to the winners.

Rewari, April 7
A cavalier team of the Haryana police, led by SI Leela Ram, bagged silver medal by securing second position in the Horse Riding Javelin Throw Contest of the 29th All-India Police Horse Riding Championship held under the auspices of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at their Basic Training Centre in Panchkula district, recently.

The other members of the Haryanavi team were ASIs Narsingh, Ram Bhagat and Rameshwar Das.

As many as 12 police cavalier teams from Delhi, Haryana, UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, the Assam Rifles and the ITBP participated in the competition. At its concluding function, Haryana DGP Ranjiv Dalal, who was the chief guest on the occasion, distributed prizes to the winners.

It is noteworthy that Leela Ram, a resident of Lukhi village of the Kosli subdivision of Rewari district, who joined the Haryana police in 1991, also won a silver medal in the Horse Riding Javelin Throw Contest of the National Games held at Ranchi in February, 2011. Besides, he had also won laurels in several other national competitions in the past one decade.

Kurukshetra, April 7
As many as eighty missing children were reunited with their parents during the three-day Chaitra Chaudas Fair which concluded at Pehowa, 25 km from here, recently.

The Information Centre, run by the Haryana Public Relations Department and established by the Mela Administration on the premises of Bal Bhawan at Pehowa, had contributed its maximum services for the union of missing children with their parents.

Lucky, a four-year-old girl and a resident of Gumthala Garhu in the district, was lost in the mela. Her parents searched her for four hours, but all in vain. However, a shopkeeper in Pehowa found her weeping alone and took her to the Information Centre from where announcements were made in this regard and ultimately she was restored to her parents within 10 minutes.

Another five-year-old Khushpreet Kaur of Pehowa and a minor Sapna, a resident of Siana village in this district, were reunited with their parents with the help of the announcements made from the centre repeatedly. According to an official statement, 12,000 copies of a folder containing instructions for pilgrims visiting Pehowa Mela, Haryana Samwaad, Krishi Samwaad and Haryana Review were distributed free of cost with the aim of propagating the state government’s welfare schemes among the masses.

Reviewing the facilities provided to the pilgrims by the government, Arun Johar, joint director, (Feedback), Information and Public Relations Department, Haryana, took a round of the mela area on the concluding day of the fair, interacted with pilgrims and gathered feedback which would be forwarded to the higher authorities.

Sirsa, April 7
Accidents while working on threshers during the wheat harvesting season are quite common in this part of the country.

Several farmers in the area have adopted combine harvesters, which not only harvest the crops faster but also involves relatively lesser risks for the users. However, still a large majority of farmers, particularly those with smaller landholdings, have been using traditional threshers to separate wheat from stubble.

The Agriculture Department has started an awareness campaign amongst farmers and farm labourers to adopt safety measures while harvesting their crops with threshers.

Addressing farmers, BS Sheokand, convener, Krishi Gyan Kendra, said maximum accidents occurred while working on threshers due to the negligence of workers. He said a little negligence during work could make a person physically challenged or even result in his death. However, simple precautions could prevent many accidents, he added.

“Before starting the thresher machine, it should be ensured that it has been placed on an even ground so that there is minimum vibration while on work”.

Sheokand said before running the thresher on power, one should rotate it with hands first to ensure that there was no unusual sound. The unusual vibration in the machine could be minimised by fixing its legs on the ground or by placing some weight on it.

He said that the exit of stubble should be kept in the direction towards which the wind was blowing and the thresher should be run on rotations per minute (RPM) for which it was prescribed.

Sheokand said those working on threshers must bear in mind that no kind of intoxication should be done while working on these machines. He said these small precautions could keep the accidents away. He also appealed to the farmers that they should not burn their stubble on the fields.

Kurukshetra, April 7
The seismological observatory of Geophysics Department at Kurukshetra University recorded the western Nepal earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter Scale, which occurred on the Nepal-India boarder on April 4 at 5:02:32 PM (IST).

Prof SS Teotia, Chairman, Department of Geophysics, said the Himalayan frontal arc was one of the seismically active regions of the world and earthquakes were the greatest threat to the Himalayas.

The siesmological observatory at KU has the capability to record earthquakes anywhere in the world with a magnitude greater than 7 on the Richter Scale.

The Japan Fukushima earthquake, which occurred on March 11 and its six aftershocks, was also recorded by the KU seismological observatory. The KU faculty was also studying the seismic hazard of the National Capital Region, said Teotia.