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Will Congress break 29-yr jinx in Ratia?
...but punters bet on party this time
INLD, BJP charge Congress with misusing official machinery
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INLD backs Mayawati decision to split UP
Job Quota
1.4 lakh cases pending in Haryana courts
School boards’ conference begins
Water supply, sewerage projects for Gurgaon
Power supply in Gurgaon, Panipat
11 DHBVN officials suspended
PGIMS in a fix as girl yet to be identified
Paddy MSP low, says BJP
Tribune Impact
Bima Yojna
CSD facility for cops
Five booked for dowry death
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Will Congress break 29-yr jinx in Ratia?
Ratia (Fatehabad), November 23 The INLD, on the other hand, is making a determined effort to bring back to its fold the seat fallen vacant due to the death of its MLA Gian Chand Odh. The Ratia seat went to Peer Chand of the Janata Party in 1977, when riding on the party wave, he defeated Sheopal Singh of the Congress by over 2,900 votes. Peer Chand polled 36.80 per cent votes against 27.89 per cent polled by the Congress candidate. In 1982, Neki Ram of the Congress defeated Atma Singh Gill of the Lok Dal by a slander margin of 196 votes. Incidentally, that was the only occasion in Ratia’s history, when a Congressman won this seat. Devi Lal’s wave helped Atma Singh Gill win the Ratia seat in 1987, when the Lok Dal candidate defeated Peer Chand of the Congress by a huge margin of over 19,000 votes. Peer Chand contested the 1991 election on the Haryana Vikas Party ticket and defeated the BJP’s Ram Swaroop Rama to win this seat by nearly 1,300 votes. In a multi-cornered contest, Peer Chand managed to win the seat though he polled merely 20.77 per cent votes. Rama, who lost to Peer Chand in 1991, became the Haryana Vikas Party’s candidate in 1996 and won the seat by defeating Atma Singh Gill of the Samata Party, an earlier incarnation of the INLD by over 10,000 votes. The INLD fielded Jarnail Singh in 2000, and he won the Ratia seat by defeating Independent Mahavir Parshad by a huge margin of over 22,000 votes. The INLD changed its candidate in 2005 and fielded Gian Chand Odh, who went on to become an MLA by defeating Atma Singh Gill’s son, Gurdeep Singh Gill, of the Congress by over 10,000 votes. Odh won this seat again in 2009 by defeating Jarnail Singh of the Congress by over 3,300 votes. However, his untimely death in September this year necessitated this byelection. The old foes are again in the field and the outcome of the byelection will provide answer to many questions. Whether the Congress is able to break its 29-year-old jinx or the BJP nominee is able to wrest the seat twice represented by his father or the INLD manages to win the seat vacated by Gian Chand Odh for his widow Sarfi Bai, will be known once the votes are counted on December 4. |
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...but punters bet on party this time
Chandigarh, November 23 The seat has been, by and large, a stronghold of the INLD, which won it even in 2005, when the party’s overall tally was only nine in the 90-member House . In Haryana, people tend to believe punters more than even renowned psephologists. There is a reason. The predictions made by punters in Haryana have often hit the bull’s eye in the past. The recent example is the Hisar Lok Sabha byelection. As per the bets taken by punters, Jai Prakash of the Congress was far behind his two main rivals. Though Jai Prakash or his party never agreed with the punters, the results proved the latter to be right. According to sources in the trade, the punters have their own methodology to gauge the mood of the voters. They not only scan news reports, both in the print as well as the electronic media, religiously. They send their own footmen in the constituency concerned to make their own assessment about the way the voters would swing. In Ratia, the punters have given an edge to Jarnail Singh of the Congress over the INLD nominee. BJP candidate Mahavir Parshad lagging behind. However, in Adampur, they are not taking any bets for Renuka Bishnoi of the HJC, meaning they are taking her victory for granted. Encouraged by the “satta” market trends, the Congress has pulled all stops to intensify its campaign in Ratia. Not only Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh is planning to spend a few days in the constituency, various ministers like Randeep Singh Surjewala, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and Rao Narinder Singh have campaigned for the party nominee. Additional Solicitor-General of India Mohan Jain, who belongs to Ratia, has been camping in the town for the past couple of days. It may be a coincidence but wherever he goes, whether in the bar room or the Ratia market, the people assure Congress men accompanying him of their support to Jarnail Singh. No one can always be right. If experienced psephologists can go wrong, the punters too can do so. |
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INLD, BJP charge Congress with misusing official machinery
Ratia (Fatehabad), November 23 INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala and state BJP president Krishan Pal Gurjar today levelled identical allegations in separate press conferences held here today. “The Congress has started giving all kinds of allurements to people, including release of electric poles for power connections to tubewells, pucca streets and promises of jobs to garner support for its candidate,” alleged Chautala at Babanpur village in Ratia. Chautala said such tactics would not help as the INLD was going to win the Ratia seat by a bigger margin this time. The INLD has also sent a complaint to the Election Commission in this connection, the party’s office secretary Nachhatar Singh Malhan said. However, BJP media in charge Rajiv Jain said the the party had not approached the EC in this regard. In its complaint to the EC, the INLD has named Savitri Devi, an anganwadi worker from Jallopur (Ratia) village and Jagwanti Devi, an anganwadi workers’ leader and a resident of Rohtak, who have been working as campaign managers for the ruling party. Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana, however, rubbished these allegations, saying that the INLD and the BJP were making these allegations out of frustration. “They have read the writing on the wall that the Congress is winning the Ratia seat by a comfortable margin and hence they are making these frivolous allegations,” Mullana said reacting to the allegations. Meanwhile, with the polling day drawing closer, the INLD has thrown in its full strength at Ratia with Chautala and his sons, Ajay Singh and Abhey Singh, campaigning for party nominee Sarfi Bai in Ratia today. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will address three meetings in Ratia town tomorrow and campaign in over 12 villages on Friday. |
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INLD backs Mayawati decision to split UP
Ratia, November 23 He said this had been proved by the development achieved by states like Haryana, Chhatisgarh and Uttrakhand after they were carved out from their parent states. He said people of UP would benefit a lot after the state was split into four states. Chautala’s INLD contested the 2002 assembly poll in UP on the issue of a separate western UP state. The INLD had contested over 100 seats but it could not win any seat.
— TNS |
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Job Quota
Chandigarh, November 23 “Dissatisified with the attitude of the Central and the state governments towards our genuine and long-pending demand of job quota for the community , we have decided to re-launch the pro-quota stir,” All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti chief Yashpal Malik told The Tribune over the phone from Ghaziabad today. “The Centre and the state government have gone back on their promise of OBC quota for Jats. After the issuance of public notice by the Backward Classes Commission, there has been no progress on the grant of OBC status for central and state governments jobs to members of the Jat community, he said, asserting that they had no option but to resume their agitation. To chalk out the future course of action, the samiti would hold a rally at Sampla(Rohtak), the birthplace of legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram on his 131st birth anniversary, on November 24. Besides the samiti, other Jat organisations and representatives of the khaps would attend the rally to put up a united front for espousing the cause of the community. However, Malik said that a massive rally would be held at Mathura on December 1 to chalk out the future strategy. In fact, the Mathura rally would also mark the culmination of the “Jat Sankalp Yatra”, which started from Amritsar on March 26 and travelled through nearly 200 districts in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal , Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Delhi, UP, Uttarakand, MP and Gujarat. In March, the Jat protesters had disrupted train services for almost three weeks in Haryana, giving sleepless nights to Jat-dominated Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government.The agitation was suspended on March 25 following talks with Hooda, who had promised to set up a Backward Classes Commission. |
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1.4 lakh cases pending in Haryana courts
Chandigarh, November 23 While the backlog of cases at the start of 2010 was pegged at 1,73,344, different courts in the state were able to dispose of 32,606 cases during last year, according to a latest report of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA). The report “Crime in India-2010” by the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB) under the MHA put the pendency rate at 81 per cent with Haryana accounting for 1.9 per cent of the total criminal cases. The reason for the pendency of large number of cases is not far to seek. “With an upsurge in crime in the state in the recent past, the pendency is natural outcome. With the shortage of judicial officers in different district and other courts acute in the state, the judiciary has its limitation of disposing of the cases expediously,” says Arvind Thakur, chairperson of the Chandigarh-based Global Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, the state had an average conviction rate of about 32 per cent, with highest conviction rate reported in case of murder(46.8 per cent), while the lowest conviction rate (24.5 per cent) was reported in case of kidnapping and abduction. In case of rape, the conviction rate was slightly better at 24.8 per cent. As far as attempt to murder and culpable homicide not amounting to murder was concerned the conviction rate was 32.4 per cent and 29.4, respectively. In case of dacoity, the conviction rate was 38.3 per cent. In 2010, with 80,895 cases registered under the IPC provisions and special and local laws(SLL), Haryana had the dubious distinction of being the 12th most-criminal state in India. Shockingly, Haryana is way ahead of its neighbours, Punjab (54,986), Himachal Pradesh (16,809) and Delhi (55,959) in the number of registered cases. In other words, Haryana accounted for three murders and an equal number of kidnappings besides two rapes and robberies and one dowry death daily. In the rate of violent crime, Haryana with a figure of 27 is way ahead of its neighbours-Punjab(15%) and Himachal Pradesh (20%). The national rate of violent crime is also lower at 20 % Haryana reported 1005 cases of murder, 720 cases of rape, 963 cases of kidnapping and abduction, 734 cases of robbery, 284 dowry deaths and 147 cases of dacoity-which was far ahead of its neighbouring state of Punjab-last year. All this added up to the piling of workload before the judiciary.With staff strength remaining stagnant and the number of cases rising, the backlog was bound to increase, a senior judicial official said requesting anonymity. |
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School boards’ conference begins
Gurgaon, November 23 A three-day conference, which focuses on the topic "Operational Issues in Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation" is being jointly organised by the COBSE and the Board of School Education, Haryana. Addressing the participants, Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said restructuring a traditional school evaluation system with focus on the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) was must for all-round development of children. The CCE lays stress on physical, intellectual, social and other aspects of children's growth and for this, the children, their parents, teachers, school administration and examination bodies have to play their roles. "We have established a laboratory school at Bhiwani, which is based on the principle that children can learn best through real life activities.” Various collaborative and co-operative-learning projects are being undertaken at the school extensively, so that children develop a sense of social responsibility and take collective decisions," she said, adding that the evaluation of their education is done on the basis of their participation in projects, understanding and behaviour towards others. Vineet Joshi, COBSE president and CBSE chairman, said under the CCE, children from different backgrounds were placed on the same pedestal while carrying out evaluation and thus, the CCE becomes a great social equaliser. Surina Rajan, Haryana Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary (Education) and Chairperson of the Board of School Education, pointed out that the CCE regime was initiated in the state in 2006-07. "Under the new system, evaluation of students is not based merely on educational achievements, but on various aspects of the personality of the child, which is a comprehensive approach," she opined. An international expert in evaluation and chief advisor of COBSE, Prof RH Dave, observed that the purpose of the CCE was to develop a national culture, which should not only benefit the individual, but the whole society. |
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Denial of old-age pension
Kaithal, Novemebr 23 The protesters, which included a large number of women, blocked traffic near the Municipal Council Office at Kaithal, on the Pundri-Dhand Road in Pharal and on the-Kaithal Kurukshetra Road in Pabnawa. The protesters in Kaithal called off their agitation after three hours when Tehsildar Rajbir Dhiman and Kaithal City SHO Raj Kumar assured them that their grievances would be redressed within two days. In Pharal and Pabnawa also, protesters dispersed when representatives of the district administration assured them that their problems would be solved within four days. |
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Water supply, sewerage projects for Gurgaon
Chandigarh November 23 While two projects had been approved for augmentation of drinking water supply schemes in Farrukh Nagar and Pataudi towns, one project had been approved for improvement of sewerage in Farrukh Nagar. At present, each resident of Farrukh Nagar got 78 litres of drinking water daily. After the implementation of the augmentation project, the supply would go up to 135 litres per capita per day (lpcd). The project would benefit 21,000 residents of Farrukh Nagar and five adjoining villages of Saidpur, Moharnrnadpur Khantavas, Dhanawah, Chand Nagar Ki Dhani. The Pataudi project would benefit not only this town but also Haily Mandi and seven adjoining
villages of Jund Sarai, Sabra Bakipur, John, Jamalpur, Janaula, Sampka, Rampura. The third Rs 12-crore project would provide sewerage in Farrukh Nagar town, which at present has no such facility. The project provides for the construction of the main pumping station and a sewage treatment plant with a daily capacity of three million litres. Besides, 18.85 km-long sewer lines would also be laid. The first phase of the project would benefit 15,000 persons. |
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Power supply in
Gurgaon, Panipat
Panipat, November 23 The sources said on the basis of the proposal, the franchisee could initially be introduced in any one of the four areas of Gurgaon city, Gurgaon and Sohna, Gurgaon and Dharuhera and complete Gurgaon circle. Later, the same process would be adopted for Panipat also. However, the Haryana Power Engineers Association, which had been opposing the move right after it was conceived by the government, lamented that it was beyond comprehension as to why distribution of power of prime industrial and commercial areas of state was being handed over to private franchisees even as both Panipat and Gurgaon circles had registered low losses and high collections. |
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11 DHBVN officials suspended
Faridabad, November 23 A DHBVN spokesperson said Mohammed Shayin, Managing Director, DHBVN, had constituted a committee to look
into contractor’s complaint alleging “unscrupulous activities” by the officials. The committee submitted its report yesterday. “Its conclusion was that there was a nexus between the officials and contractors, which resulted in quoting of rates in pool
(a group of contractors) causing a loss to the nigam, misappropriation of material drawn from stores, wrong measurements, wrong certification and undue orders to release the withheld
payments,” the spokesperson added. The MD concluded from the committee’s report that the contractor who made the complaint was also involved in the “criminal nexus” with the officials and caused the loss to the power utility. Action would be initiated against him as well. |
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PGIMS in a fix as girl yet to be identified
Rohtak, November 23 The girl had been readmitted after dislocation of her feeding tube said Dr Ashok Chauhan, Medical Superintendent of the PGIMS. He said the victim had got a head injury that had led to such a precarious condition and her inability to speak or recognise things or people. She had been admitted into the hospital after an accident by some youths who perhaps did not provide any details about the girl and the accident to the police. The PGIMS authorities have to keep her admitted till she recuperates and is able to reveal something about her family, said a doctor. |
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Paddy MSP low, says BJP
Ambala, November 23 Paddy growers were panicky as they were compelled to go in for distress sale of their produce to refund loans taken from banks as well as private financiers. Farmers said the cost of production of paddy had increased to Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre whereas they were not getting more than Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 per acre this year.
— TNS |
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Tribune Impact
Panipat, November 23 The SDM had observed that docked dogs were also being used for performances in violation of the norms. The board said as per the SDM’s recommendations in his report, the circus should ‘cease using the hippo and docked dogs for any circus shows.’ The board has also initiated the process for rehabilitation of the animal for which notice has been also issued to the circus owners. |
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Bima Yojna
Chandigarh, November 23 Ashok Khemka, Director-General, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, said all Deputy Commissioners and the District Social Welfare Officers (DSWOs) had been directed to comply strictly with these orders. He said the bank drafts for claims under the scheme must be dispatched by a registered post to the rightful claimant on the same date on which these were issued by the bank. He said it had also been ordered that all pending drafts lying in the office of the DSWO concerned should be dispatched through the registered post. If delay in dispatch of the bank draft by the registered post exceeded one working day, in that case the DSWO concerned would be liable for disciplinary action. Khemka said since the compensation under the scheme arose out of death or disability owing to accidents or unnatural events, any delay in the payment of compensation was cruelty to the affected family.
— TNS |
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CSD facility for cops
Panipat, November 23 The main canteen, which has been brought up on the Police Lines compound would have inventory that would cover a wide range of commodities ranging from shoe laces to other domestic items. The IG said it had been planned to open similar canteens in
Sonepat, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Panipat districts soon. He said special assistance from the paramilitary forces had been taken to open the canteen for the policemen in the district.
— TNS |
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Five booked for dowry death
Naraingarh (Ambala), November 23 Sardool Singh, Kulwinder’s father, lodged a police complaint that his daughter was being tortured for more dowry. Even as Rs 1 lakh was given in cash about a month ago, her in-laws were demanding a car, the victim’s father complained. Sardool Singh said he got information yesterday that Kulvinder had consumed poison and was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh,
by doctors at Naraingarh when her condition deteriorated, but she died on the way. |
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