Ambala, June 27
With the arrival of monsoon, the fear of flood has started gripping the people of Ambala City and Ambala Cantt as water level has already started rising in the Markanda, Tangri and Ghaggar. The memories of damage and misery caused by floods last year is still fresh in the minds of residents of the twin cities.

The district administration has started taking up precautionary measures. Deputy commissioner Samir Pal Saro recently summoned a meeting of the departments concerned to make arrangements to deal with flood-lkie situations. Around 24 huge pumps have been installed in the low-level areas of the city so that in case of flood, water could be flushed out at the earliest.

The municipal corporation has allotted the work to clean major drains to private contractors. A few pumps have also been installed on the municipal park lake to make it empty before the arrival of monsoon. This lake absorbs huge quantity of rainwater and can save several areas of the city from waterlogging. The administration has also opened a flood control centre to keep a watch on flood situation round the clock.

The administration has taken up the flood situation in the Naggal area seriously where every year paddy crop in vast area gets destroyed following breaches in SYL canal. As many as 12 automatic gates have been constructed on Narwana branch and SYL canal during the last two years to check excess floodwater. The construction of a siphon has also been started which would provide a huge relief to the residents of around 24 villages.

There are many natural water channels through which the surplus rainwater of the twin cities flow out easily, but encroachments on those channels has disrupted the natural flow. The administration is now identifying such encroachments and will be removed them soon. 

She maintained that the present government was striving to create a better academic environment in all government schools. Further, the rationalisation of the teachers was also being done on the basis of number of students so that students could get proper attention.

“The unique initiative of starting additional classes of science streams in summer camps being organised during summer vacation in government schools has borne fruitful results,” said Bhukkal, adding that the Education Department would continue its efforts to implement such qualitative improvements in the field of education.

Besides, the mid-day meal scheme, too, was being implemented in the government schools with improvements. The government would soon launch a scheme for ensuring education for the children of nomadic tribes too, she added.

The Technical Education Department had released the examination schedule for those students of polytechnics who had missed out on the same, the minister informed and added that these exams would be held from June 29 to July 4.

Karnal, June 27
Conscious of the fact that in spite of low yield, the indigenous breed of milch cattle is equally beneficial than high yielding exotic varieties, scientists at the National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR) are doing intensive research to preserve the indigenous breed, which is on the verge of extinction.

The number of cattle of indigenous breed is decreasing gradually if not extinct. The fact that A-2 allele of beta casein gene in Indian cows, responsible for producing better quality milk, is more in indigenous cows and buffaloes as compared to exotic breeds is a reason to worry, Dr BK Joshi, director, NBAGR, Karnal, said.

“Till date, the NBAGR has documented 150 breeds out of which 135 have been registered; and preserved 80,000 genes as it has been found that the status of A-2 allele gene in Indian milch cattle like Red Sindhi, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Rathi and Gir is 100 per cent as compared to 60 per cent in foreign breeds”, he disclosed.

In its effort to conserve indigenous breeds, the NBAGR chalked out a strategy for increasing the number of Krishna Valley breed of cows as the number of this breed had been decreasing very fast and only a few hundred such animals were left. The NBAGR picked up some selected bulls of this breed and provided semen to artificial insemination canters, increasing the number of this breed of cows in the native tract. A similar model has also been suggested for other breeds which are declining in numbers, Dr Joshi said.

Attributing the decline to factors like increasing urbanisation, intensive and mechanised agriculture, Dr Joshi said as per the observations of the experts “around 33 per cent of world’s livestock and poultry breeds are at a risk of becoming extinct and the rate of extinction is on the rise and there is a greater need to conserve the Indian breeds of cows and buffaloes as they have many important features in their germplasm”.

The centre has so far collected/recorded 135 Indian breeds of livestock of which 34 are cattle, 12 buffalo, 21 goat, 39 sheep, 8 camel, 6 horse, 3 pig and 15 chicken breeds and 87 breeds have been documented.

Dr Joshi said the scientists had also scanned the status of allele in two most popular foreign breeds in India-Holstein Friesian and Jersy and surprisingly, the status of A2 allele was only 60 per cent while that of A-1 allele, which is contrasting to A-2, was found more in foreign breed cows. 

Rewari, June 27
The Distance Education Department of Guru Jambheshwar Science and Technology University, Hisar, will hold examinations for its various courses from June 28 to July 19.

The examinations of the morning session will be held from 10 am to 1 pm, while the duration of the evening session will be from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

According to Dr. ML Ranga, vice-chancellor of GJU, as many as 49 examination centres had been set up in 35 cities namely Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Rohtak, Panipat, Panchkula, Tohana, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Delhi, Amritsar, Patiala, Barnala, Bikaner, Sri Ganga Nagar, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Sikar, Kanpur, Aligarh, Haridwar, Shimla, Jammu, Rewa, Datiya and Hyderabad to facilitate the appearance of candidates from various states.

Prof. RS Jaglan, registrar of the university, said the examinations would be held for candidates appearing in PGDCA/MCA (three-year) - first semester (reappear), PGDCA/MCA (three-year) - second semester (main/reappear), M.Sc (CS)/MCA (three-year) - third semester (reappear), M.Sc (CS)/MCA (three-year) - fourth semester (main/reappear), MCA - fifth semester (reappear), MBA - first and third semester (reappear), MBA - second and fourth semester (main/reappear), M.Sc (math) - second semester (main/reappear), M.Sc (math) - fourth semester (main) and all annual courses (main/reappear).

RK Yadav, examination controller of the university, said while elaborate arrangements had been made for the smooth conduct of the examinations, the date sheet for the same was also available on the university website- www.gjust.ac.in.

Sonepat, June 27
A 10-day yoga and character-building training camp for girls, jointly organised by the Sarvdeshik Arya Yuvti Parishad, Shiv Sewa Samiti, Ramjash Shiksha Samiti and Delhi Vidyapeeth, concluded at Delhi Vidyapeeth here recently. As many as 92 girls from the town and nearby villages participated.

Addressing the participants on the closing day, Swamy Aryavesh, president of the Sarvdeshik Arya Yuvak Parishad, said personality development and character building of girls were beneficial for society and the nation. “Character is like a mirror which never tells a lie,” he said.

He recalled that Maharishi Dayanand was the staunch supporter of women education and it was the result of his mission that women were scaling heights in different fields nowadays.

He also exhorted the girls to take initiative in creating awareness among women against foeticide.

The occasion was marked by the presentation of yoga asana, pranayama, judo karate, dumb-bell exercises, etc, and distribution of training certificates among the participants.

Mukesh Goyal, Veer Singh, Yash Pal Arya, Ved Pal Ahlawat, Roshni Devi, Braham Singh Rohilla, Asha Bhandari, Azad Bangar, Vijay Patheria, Jai Bhagwan Sharma and Kamlesh were also present on the occasion.

The yoga training was imparted by Yash Pal Arya who is known for his voluntary services for organising yoga classes in the district jail, observation homes, educational institutions and on many other occasions.

Yamunanagar, June 27
The District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum in his orders allows the complaint and directs the respondent to replace three parts of the computer and to make it in working condition free of cost.

Narender Kumar, a resident of Roop Nagar Colony, Jagadhri, on May 10, 2007, in his complaint stated that he had purchased a computer for Rs 22,000 from Pandit Computers, Jagadhri, by paying Rs 20,000 in advance and Rs 2,000 at the time when the respondent would supply the scanner.

Accordingly on February 13, 2007, the respondent supplied the computer and asked the complainant that he was going to take the scanner, but till today it had not been supplied.

He further stated that after 15 minutes from the installation, the computer stopped working and he complained to the respondent who, after examining the equipment, told that its motherboard was damaged. The respondent took the CPU for replacement, but the same had not been replaced till date. The respondent supplied him an old CPU, which is also not working properly.

Since then the complainant is running from pillar to post to get his CPU replaced. It amounts to deficiency in service on part of the respondent and prayed for directing the respondent to supply the CPU as per the configuration along with the new UPS and scanner printer or to refund Rs 20,000 along with interest at the rate of 18 per cent per annum from the date of purchase till its realisation and also to pay Rs 70,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment as well as Rs 5,500 as the cost of proceedings.

Upon notice by the forum, the counsel for Pandit Computers appeared and filed statement by taking some preliminary objections and admitted on merits that he had supplied P4 computer to the complainant as per the detail given in the delivery challan of February 13, 2007. The computer was duly installed at the residence of the complainant and he was satisfied with its performance. It is wrong and denied that the equipment stopped working after 15 minutes of installation as no complaint was made to the respondent at anytime till the filing of the complaint. There is no deficiency in service on part of the respondent and he prayed for the dismissal of the complaint with special costs.

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum president Dina Nath Arora and members, after hearing both the parties and going through the pleadings, found that Narender Kumar had purchased a computer on February 13, 2007, and the complaint was filed on May 10, 2007. During the pendency of the complaint, a local commissioner was appointed who reported that the configuration of the computer did not match with the bill and there was no manufacturing defect.

The hard disk is defected and the UPS is also not working properly. All defects are removable. The scanner printer is not available at the complainant’s site, but mother board, DDR Ram and hard disk must be changed by the respondent when the computer stopped working. It amounts to deficiency in service on part of the respondent. The forum allowed the complaint by directing the respondent to replace the above said three parts of the computer to make it in working condition free of cost or to refund the cost of the computer and to pay Rs 1,100 as the cost of proceedings.

Gurgaon, June 27
The Income Tax Department is flooded with grievances of people who complain that they have not been given full credit for tax deducted at source (TDS) in the processing of returns, thereby resulting in issuance of refunds for a lesser amount.

In a bid to dispel the misconceptions in this regard, additional commissioner of income tax DS Kalyan said in most such cases, the taxpayers or assessees had to suffer due to lapse on part of their employers or other tax deductors.

“The main reasons leading to the lapse include wrong or non-quoting of PAN, non-payment of TDS to the government and non-filing of TDS returns by the deductor,” Kalyan maintained.

He said in order to redress this grievance, the department had enabled the taxpayers to see their tax credits online well before the due date for the filing of return. Thus, now, in case of missing or unmatched entries, the taxpayers can approach the deductor to rectify the mistake(s) for claiming full tax credit.

To view tax credits online, one has to go in for online registration of PAN at www.tin-nsdl.com and subsequent verification of identity and authorisation by TIN-facilitation centres, the list of which is also available online.

Kalyan asserted that by making use of this facility at a nominal fee of Rs 17 (inclusive of service tax), the taxpayers could get the full credit for TDS and their rightful refund expeditiously.

He said with a view to helping the senior citizens file their IT returns and redressing their tax and refund-related grievances, a special help desk had been set up from June 20 to 24 as part of senior citizens week. Volunteers from the ICAI also assisted the IT staff in helping the senior citizens.

Former chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes Ravi Kant and former IT chief commissioners N Mishra and Hardayal Singh, who visited the camp, lauded the effort.

Kalyan disclosed that another such camps would soon be organised for the benefit of women and differently-abled taxpayers.

Sirsa, June 27
The District Planning Committee (DPC) has approved the Annual Action Plan of Rs 23.97 crore for Sirsa for the year 2011-12 under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF).

Sirsa is among two districts of Haryana which are included for the Central grant under the BRGF scheme - the other district being Mohindergarh, where its DPC has approved the Annual Action Plan of Rs 20.34 crore.

“Out of the total approved amount of Rs 23.97 crore, Rs 1 crore had been approved for laying underground pipeline and Rs 24 lakh on installing sprinkle irrigation system on panchayat land. A sum of Rs 1.96 crore had been approved on building water courses on the community land,” said Deputy Commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia. All these works would be taken up in convergence with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, he said.

Khyalia said a sum of Rs 1.5 crore had been approved for the completion of veterinary polyclinics. A sum of Rs 3.96 crore had been approved for the extension of transport facility for girl students, Rs 1 crore for the upgradation of 50 existing Rajiv Seva Kendras and Rs 1 crore for providing hostel facility for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes.

The district authorities also plan to spend Rs 1 crore for the upgradation of 50 existing anganwaris. A driving training school for women would be run by the District Child Welfare Council Office, Sirsa, at a cost of Rs 18.50 lakh. Similarly, skill development courses would be run by Government Polytechnic College for Women, Sirsa, at a cost of Rs 47.72 lakh.

Under the plan, drug de-addiction centre would be set up at a cost of Rs 54 lakh, solar street lights would be installed in the rural areas and water harvesting and water retaining wells in government schools at a cost of Rs 2.11 crore, machines for manufacturing sanitary napkins would be purchased at Rs 1 crore, gym facilities for women at Rs 1 crore and drinking water facilities would be provided at Rs 2.5 crore, said Khyalia.

Community centres would be constructed, fire brigade vehicles would be purchased, infrastructure would be upgraded and the extension of city bus services would be carried out at a cost of Rs 4.25 crore, he added.

Rewari, June 27
Power, Forest and Environment Minister Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav visited Rewari on June 25. Notably, this was his first visit to his home constituency after he was divested of his two significant portfolios of finance and irrigation and simultaneously endowed with the Ministry of Power by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in a major reshuffle on June 14.

It is noteworthy that in a bid to regain his lost portfolios, Capt. Yadav made a sojourn in Delhi after June 14. However, when his 35-minute-long confabulations with BK Hari Prasad, AICC general secretary and in charge of the party affairs in Haryana, in Delhi on June 22 failed to yield the desired result, Capt. Yadav eventually assumed the charge of his newly assigned Ministry of Power.

Meanwhile, at a samaroh held in the PWD Rest House here on June 25, Capt. Yadav distributed cheques to the tune of Rs 33.75 lakh among the beneficiaries.

The comprehensive amount included financial assistance of 2 lakh for an auditorium in KLP College here, Rs 2 lakh for a generator in Mianwali Panchayat Ghar, Rs 2 lakh for the construction of Ambedkar Bhawan at the nearby Kakodia village, Rs 2 lakh for a Koli Dharamshala here, Rs 2 lakh for duel desks in Government Boys Senior Secondary School here, Rs 2.50 lakh for a public library in Sector 3 here, Rs 2.50 lakh for the local Saini Sabha, Rs 2 lakh for Guru Ravidas Sabha, Qutubpur, Rs 2 lakh to the Thathera Samaj and Rs 1.25 lakh for the development of Dhanak Temple Complex here.

All these grants were announced by Capt. Yadav, when he was the Finance Minister, out of his discretionary fund in the recent past. Besides, the Power Minister listened to the grievances of citizens and directed the officials for their expeditious redressal as well.

Karnal, June 27
Agricultural scientists at the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, have developed an “irri-informatics database” of the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) using authentic sources maps and remotely sensed data obtained by the modern geospatial technologies - satellite remote sensing, GPS survey, PRA and GIS.

“This database is useful for the identification of low productivity areas like saline soil, alkali soil, waterlogged and poorly irrigated area. The scientists are engaged in evolving the best management practices for enhancing electricity in various scenarios of canal water supplies,” said Dr DK Sharma, director, CSSRI.

The database covers canal network, elevation contours, soils, land use and land cover, crops and cropping pattern, groundwater quality, soil salinity, and water logging, rainfall, rail and road networks, geology, socioeconomic data and canal water users’ information.

Dr Sharma said land and water productivity in mid and tail reaches of the Western Yamuna Canal command of Haryana had remained low due to inadequate, uneven and uncertain canal water supply and inefficient on-farm water management practices and cautioned that the productivity could further degrade if the issues like poor maintenance of canal network, ongoing secondary soil salinisation and waterlogging, limited investment potential of farmers and depleting groundwater level were not addressed.

A team of scientists at the CSSRI is working to assess and monitor productivity seasonally and the project was being implemented in Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and Jind districts.

So far, 94 farmers and other stakeholders from the project area have been educated about these problems and their possible solution under uncertain canal water supply, ongoing soil salinisaiton and waterlogging.

In addition, 20 project partners and staff were also trained to include the advanced skills on performance evaluation of canal irrigation projects using remote sensing and GIS. Aqua crop model was also calibrated for sixteen treatment combinations of water and nutrient supplies for the maize and wheat crops. Besides, the Clim Gen and CROPWAT models were also used to estimate the future crop water requirement (CWR) for sustainable yield.

Kurukshetra, June 27
A five-day training workshop for Haryana information and public relations officers (PROs), organised by the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology (IMC&MT) of Kurukshetra University, concluded here recently.

Addressing the participants at the valedictory function, Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor Lt.Gen (retd) Dr DDS Sandhu congratulated the institute for conducting the workshop successfully. He said PR had become strategic for professional communication and new media tools like Facebook, Twitter had become increasingly important in image-driven society. The institute was the largest in the country and was a pioneer in media education, including PR, he added.

Sharing his vision with Dr Sandhu, Prof Rajbir Singh, director of the institute, said: “The institute intends to become a premier media research and training centre. More such workshops will be organised shortly and proposals from various departments of the state government are under consideration”.

Charanjeet Singh, director, Core PR, Chandigarh, and vice-president of the Public Relations Society of India, said: “PR is more of a management activity which begins with oneself. It is a noble profession and requires communication sensibilities and expressive abilities”.

Roma, coordinator of the course, said the workshop got an excellent feedback from the participants and proved to be quite fruitful for both the new entrants and the seniors.

Kuldeep Saini, deputy director, Field, Department of IPR&CA, said: “Such programmes are helpful in honing the skills of working professionals”.

As many as 30 newly recruited and promoted PR officers across Haryana participated in the workshop held at the Faculty Lounge of the university.

Earlier, Shiv Raman Gaur, Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Haryana, and Director, Department of Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs (IPR&CA), inaugurated the workshop on June 24.

Kaithal, June 27
During a surprise visit to different areas in the town recently, deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar took stock of the existing arrangements for draining out rainwater and management of waste.

She expressed concern over the prevailing poor sanitary conditions in and around the new sabzi mandi, illegal parking on roads in the Kabutar Chowk area and choked nullahs at some places.

She directed officials of the departments concerned accompanying her to take effective steps to improve the situation so that people did not feel any inconvenience due to laxity on part of officials and other employees.

She also asked commission agents and fruit dealers in the mandi to desist from using chemicals, artificial ripening agents and harmful colours which had an adverse effect on the human health.

She warned that the administration would take strict action against such persons who play havoc with the lives of the people to earn quick monetary gains.

She directed Satish Gautam, inspector, traffic, to take stern action against those who had parked their vehicles on the Kabutar Chowk-Sabzi Mandi Road and those who had illegally occupied the road.

She directed the public health officials to launch de-silting operation for choked drains by using JCB machines and construct checkpoints to stop the flow of polythene and other solid waste in drains at the disposal points.

She also directed the EO, Municipal Council, to get the nullah cleaned flowing through the Khurana Road-Nanakpuri-Hind cinema area.

Sirsa, June 27
Paddy is a water-guzzling crop that accounts for a major share of irrigation water available with farmers. The crop also consumes a lot of power as farmers have to run their tubewells overtime to meet their requirement during the paddy transplantation season.

Aimed at obtaining better paddy production by the optimum utilisation of water, the Agriculture Department is encouraging the use of paddy transplanting machines for the transplantation of the crop in Haryana this year. “The department is providing these machines to farmers in eight paddy producing districts of Haryana with a subsidy of Rs 75,000 each,” said Jagdeep Brar, deputy director, Agriculture, Sirsa. He said in addition to these machines, the department was also providing various other inputs worth Rs 2,600 per acre to those farmers who were making use of this new technology.

He said inputs such as pesticides worth Rs 20.80 lakh would be provided to farmers in the district where this technology had been introduced.

Giving details, he said 50 demonstration plants for sowing of paddy with this technique would be set up in Sirsa district, 150 in Kaithal, 100 in Karnal, 100 in Kurukshetra and 50 each in Panipat, Sonepat, Jind and Fatehabad.

The use of these machines would result in 70 per cent saving in water, which in turn would further lead to reduction of weeds. He informed that the transplantation of paddy had begun in Sirsa from June 15 and there was a target for sowing different varieties of paddy over an area of 60,000 hectares in the district.

Brar said till now, the farmers had planted paddy over an area of more than 15,000 hectares and in the rest, the work was in progress. Besides, the area under cotton has increased by 21,000 hectares this year in the district, he added.

Ambala, June 27
Born and brought up in Ambala Cantt, Dr Vinti Davar won Er SN Mishra Gold Medal for her research paper, titled “Association of Resource Persons Aid in Need”, published in a journal in April, 2011. The award was presented to her at a seminar on environment, held recently at Kurukshetra University.

In academics, Dr Davar has passed BSc home science from SD College, Ambala Cantt, and did her MSc in foods and nutrition from Panjab University, Chandigarh, where she was adjudged best all round student. Earlier, she had won BD Munjal Gold Medal instituted by Hero Group for three consecutive years and was also honoured with Uma Devi Oswal Scholarship for higher studies.

She joined DAV College for Girls, Yamunanagar, as lecturer in home science in August 1978. She was also selected for UNDP project for teaching assignment in Ethiopia for two years. There also she organised exhibitions of handicrafts and contributed actively in rural development while teaching in Awassa College of Agriculture, Awassa, from 1996-98.

Later, Dr Vinti joined the Department of Home Science, Kurukshetra University, in 2003. She took over as chairperson of the department in November 2010. Of late, the department has adopted a nearby village, Mirza Pur and a slum brick-kiln. The nutritional status of children, women, adolescent girls and boys, adults, senior citizens is being assessed and awareness is being spread. Dr Vinti is also associated with an NGO, Chetanaa, which is running a school to educated children of slum dewellers.

Dr Vinti gives the credit of her success to Dr Abdul Kalam Azad, former President of India, who is her inspiration, besides her father late GC Juneja and her family.