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Incentives for reporting pregnancies in 1st trimester
Checking Foeticide
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8-yr-old to get Rs 6,44,000 compensation
ASHA workers to take part in nationwide strike on Feb 28
GORAKHPUR NUCLEAR PLANT
Hospital gets hi-tech machines
Panel on backward classes assures transparency
School holds annual function
Now, youth prefer beer to hard drinks
Junior National Horse Riding C’ship
Depute govt doctors to oversee vaccination drives, officials told
Private schools resent quota for poor students
All govt offices connected online in Jhajjar
MC submits report to DC on unauthorised basements
MC to launch drive to check monkey menace
NDRI honours VK Taneja
Pollution by manufacturing units a nuisance for residents
College girls to be checked for anaemia
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Incentives for reporting pregnancies in 1st trimester
Chandigarh, February 16 These incentives will be offered at the primary health centre level and are aimed at encouraging antenatal registration to ensure better health for the mother as also to track pregnancy, especially the high-risk ones, through the three trimesters. Under a proposal prepared by the department, a draw of lots would be held for all the women reporting their pregnancies in the first trimester. The woman whose name is drawn, will be gifted an item of personal use. The scheme will be introduced in four districts of Mewat, Palwal, Jhajjar, Bhiwani. These districts have been chosen because they are among the poorest-faring districts when it comes to institutional deliveries which stand at 76 per cent. “We have thought of giving away cash incentives, though we are more inclined to gifting them items of personal use which can be anything from a suit, a makeup kit and a shawl. The idea is to encourage them to come forward and report their pregnancies, especially since the percentage of women coming forward to report this in the first trimester is much lower as compared to the second and thirds trimesters,” Navraj Sandhu, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health, said. In Haryana, the MMR is as high as 153 deaths for every 1 lakh live births which comes to about 800 deaths in a year. While doctors maintain that low haemoglobin levels in women is the main culprit in the high-risk pregnancies which result in complication at the time of childbirth, other factors like blood pressure and poor weight gain also lead to complicating pregnancies. Reporting a pregnancy in the first trimester is bound to ensure better health for the woman as also build them up for the pregnancy and, consequently, lower the MMR. According to a district-level household survey available with the department, presently, only about 55 per cent women report their pregnancies to the ANMs and ASHA workers in villages and there is a reason for this. The ANMs getting incentives for ensuring the health of mother and child in villages maintain that not many women come forward to report their pregnancies in the first trimester for the simple reason that some of them go in for sex-determination tests. “Once a pregnancy is reported, the woman will become a suspect if she decides to abort it and will have to reply to our queries. To avoid getting into trouble with these workers, the women don’t usually report their pregnancy and there is no way the ANMs can find out unless the information comes from the mother or a family member,” the doctors said. The department is hopeful that if the women can be encouraged to report pregnancies in the first trimester, not only can their health be taken care of with additional supplements but also the sex ratio can be improved further.
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Checking Foeticide
Fatehabad, February 16 The authorities will maintain a register, where data relating to pregnant women will be written so that health workers can follow such cases till childbirth. This was decided at a meeting of the task force set up to stop the declining sex ratio. Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik, who presided over the meeting, told the health authorities to register every case of pregnancy in the district and get information on such cases till childbirth. Civil Surgeon Suraj Bhan Kamboj, who also attended the meeting, said medical officers had been told to visit subsidiary health centres at least once a week for this purpose. The DC asked the Civil
Surgeon to visit the sub-centres at least once a month and send his report to the SDM concerned. The DC also announced that whenever a case of sex determination or female foeticide was detected in the district, a criminal case would be registered against the parents and the doctor guilty of facilitating the crime. Kaushik said it was important to create awareness among people on this issue and for this the cooperation of panchayat members and village sarpanches could be helpful. “It is important to change the mindset of society. If a mother decides that she will not allow her daughter to be aborted, no force on earth can pressurise her to do so,” Kaushik maintained. Fatehabad has a sex ratio of 903 females per 1000 males, but the child sex ratio (0 to 6 years) is even worse at 845 girls per 1000 boys, which means that incidents of female foeticide have increased in the district in the past 10 years. Baljit Singh and HC Bhatia, SDMs of Fatehabad and Ratia, respectively, Shalini Chetal, City Magistrate, Fatehabad, Jagdish Chander, DSP, Dr Poonam Raman, Project Officer, Integrated Child Development Scheme, and some social workers attended the meeting.
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8-yr-old to get Rs 6,44,000 compensation
Bhiwani, February 16 Bhagat Singh of Talu village of Bhiwani district had died when his tractor turned turtle on the Bhiwani-Jind road near Dhanana village in December 2006. The deceased was working as a driver with a farmer. Bhagat Singh had ‘separated’ from his wife Kanta, who had been living at Birhi Kalan village. Therefore, his daughter Sonika is authorised to get the compensation from the insurance company. A case was filed on behalf of the minor girl against the tractor owner and the insurance company under the Employee Compensation Act. The case continued for five years and the court of Commissioner Yadav asked the insurance company to pay Rs 4,30,320 as compensation and Rs 2,41,992 as interest within two months to Sonika.
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ASHA workers to take part in nationwide strike on Feb 28
Karnal, February 16 ASHA workers, under the banner of the ASHA Workers Sangh, held rallies at the block headquarters on the call of the Haryana Sarva Karamchari Sangh and resolved to participate in the state-level rally at Faridabad on February 19 in full strength. ASHA workers, engaged in various functions to improve primary and supplementary health services, have been demanding the regularisation of their services, hike in emoluments and payment of extra amount of Rs 150 for each night delivery in the health centres. The demands also include that deliveries should be conducted in all PHCs and monthly meetings should be held at all PHCs to solve the problems of ASHA Roshani Devi, state president of ASHA workers, and Suresh Kumari, district president, said they had already submitted a memorandum to the government and the district health authorities regarding their demands, but no action had been taken so far. They said ASHA workers were playing a crucial role in improving the health services in the state, but their demands were being ignored by the government.
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GORAKHPUR NUCLEAR PLANT
Fatehabad, February 16 The notification issued on behalf of the Collector-cum- Land Acquisition Officer has also asked the farmers to submit their objections, if any, to the measurements of the land made under Section 8 of the Act. The authorities will record the statements of the stakeholders of the land under Section 10 of the Act. The award for the land, which is announced as per the provisions of Section 11 of the Act, is also likely to come on February 24 paving the way for payment of compensation to the farmers. Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik said the award would be announced if the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) deposited the compensation money with the authorities before February 24. While a section of the farmers continue to oppose the acquisition per se, the others had rejected the compensation terming it grossly insufficient. The authorities met again under the new Commissioner Suprabha Dahiya on Friday at Hisar, where the authorities hiked their offer to Rs 34 lakh per acre for all categories of land. The price includes Rs 20 lakh per acre as compensation, 30 per cent solatium, 12 per cent per annum interest on this amount from the date of notification and 20 per cent of the core price as no-litigation bonus. The NPCIL, however, is yet to give its concurrence to this price, as its officials, who attended the meeting, were not themselves competent to take the decision. Meanwhile, chief parliamentary secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera plans to take a group of Gorakhpur farmers, who are ready to part with their land, to Chandigarh for a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Gillakhera said the farmers’ meeting with Hooda would be organised before February 24.
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Hospital gets hi-tech machines
Sonepat, February 16 These much-needed facilities were inaugurated by the Director of the institute, Dr RC Siwach. Talking to mediapersons, Dr Siwach said there was no ultrasound facility in government hospitals in the Gohana area so far. The facility of three top-model ultrasound colour machines would be of great help to the poor and the needy coming for treatment to the hospital, he added. He said the ICU in the hospital was one of the most modern units in northern India.
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Panel on backward classes assures transparency
Karnal, February 16 Commission members, who were here for hearing complaints and appeals of people, assured that a complete transparency would be maintained while preparing the report and all decisions would be taken on merit and facts and no injustice would be done to any section or caste. The Commission members led by Jaipal Bishnoi listened to the complaints and appeals of people and received 27 petitions, out of which 11 were from Rohtak, nine from Karnal, seven from Sonepat, four from Yamunanagar and only one from Panipat. Bishnoi said the Commission had so far received 234 applications from various communities, including Jats, Jat Sikhs, Bishnoi, Rajput, Rode, Punjabis, Brahmin, Gaur Brahmin, Bhargav, Kushwaha and Dalal etc, for inclusion in the OBC list. All these castes are demanding the OBC status, reservation in jobs and also want that 27 per cent quota for the OBC in jobs should remain intact while some representations have pleaded that the sole criteria for inclusion in the OBC list should be social and educational backwardness as enshrined in the Constitution, he added. Referring to the work completed so far by the Commission, Bishnoi said the Commission had already covered Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Hisar, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Jind, Jhajjar, Mewat, Palwal, Riwari, Mahendragarh, Faridabad and Gurgaon districts.
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School holds annual function
Fatehabad, February 16 Usha Taneja, principal of the school, said the theme of the function was “Bond with parents”. Children performed catwalk with their parents and presented a variety of culture items during the programme, including a fancy dress competition. In the ‘Bond with Parents’ competition, Sakshyam and Priyam was declared first, Bhavya and Simran second and Jahnvi and Yukti were declared third.
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Now, youth prefer beer to hard drinks
Karnal, February 16 Consumption of beer with low alcoholic content has been increasing, pushing up the demand of malt used for manufacturing beer. Senior scientist at the Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR) Dr RP Sharma said barley was sown on 80 lakh hectare of land and its annual production was 1.54 million tonnes and increasing the area under barley had become imperative to meet the fast-growing demand of beer manufacturing companies for malt. In case it was not done, the country might have to import malt from abroad, he added. Besides being a soft drink with light intoxication, beer was being suggested for the cure of kidney stone and as such there was also need to improve the quality and yield of malt produced from barley, maize and jwar, he added. The DWR is organising a winter school to educate the farmers about the hybrid varieties of barley, maize and jwar, capable of yielding higher quantity of malt.
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Junior National Horse Riding C’ship
Rewari, February 16 At the concluding function, Army Chief Gen VK Singh distributed prizes among the achievers. Yuvraj also represented the school at a NCC camp as a cadet of the 1 RV Squadron, Delhi. Nearly 13,000 NCC cadets from various states of the country participated in this camp. He also bagged a silver medal in the Veteran Dressage competition and two bronze medals - one each in Veteran Show Jumping Top Score Competition as well as DGRVS Trophy Show Jumping Competition. He also acted as a commander of the NCC Horse Riding Contingent at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi. Felicitating Yuvraj for bringing laurels to the school and the region with his spectacular achievements, Amit Yadav, director, and Jagriti Sharma, principal of the school, said he was the pride of the school.
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Depute govt doctors to oversee vaccination drives, officials told
Panipat, February 16 The orders, which forbid any NGOs from holding any vaccination camps in the state, categorically mentioned that the medical superintendent should be assigned the task to supervise vaccination drives in order to ensure that there was no repeat of Shehmalpur incident in future. The director-general health also warned the district health authorities of a stern action in case any lapses of similar kind were reported from anywhere in the state. It was during a vaccination camp organised by a Kanpur-based NGO, Jan Samaj Chetna, that more than 300 villagers had been vaccinated against hepatitis B, out of which 40 reportedly fell ill after the second dose of the vaccination was given to them. A team of senior drug controller or the Karnal zone has already conducted a survey of the village and an enquiry was still on to fix the responsibility as to how the incident occurred. The department had also summoned the representatives of the NGO and asked them to produce documents related to the purchase of the vaccination to rule out the possibility of the use of spurious vaccination.
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Private schools resent quota for poor students
Rewari, February 16 They were protesting against the enforcement of 25 per cent quota for meritorious students belonging to economically weaker sections under Rule 134-A of the Haryana Education Rules, 2003. Directors of the private schools held a demonstration at the district secretariat here. Describing the imposition of Rule 134-A as something disastrous for the survival of private schools, Satbir Singh Yadav, president of the Rewari District Private Schools Welfare Association, said as a sequel to implementation of Rule 134-A, they would have to charge enhanced fees from the remaining 75 students of the general category to compensate the hefty financial losses. He asserted that it would be an unjustified economic burden on the parents of the general category students. Seeking clarification with regard to provision of free education to 25 per cent girl students of BPL families under the RTE Act, Yadav pleaded for exemption of self-aided private schools from the enforcement of Rule 134-A. They also presented a memorandum to city magistrate Ranjit Kaur and urged the district administration to forward it to the Chief Minister, State Education Minister and Financial Commissioner-cum- Principal Secretary, Education.
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All govt offices connected online in Jhajjar
Jhajjar, February 16 The system at the district headquarters is the brainchild of Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ajit Balaji Joshi who launched the latest IT service from his office at the Mini-Secretariat recently by interacting with other administrative officers on development issues through video conferencing. The district officers will now not only be able to coordinate and talk to the other officers over the progress of the works by sitting in their offices through video conferencing but also their valuable time could be saved which goes waste in coming and going to the Mini-Secretariat for attending meetings. Joshi, while interacting with mediapersons after launching the facility, said the video-conferencing service aimed at benefiting the common man by accelerating the pace of disposing of public dealing and it was possible only when the officers concerned would be connected online to each other for sorting out public issues. “Significantly, we have succeeded in launching the service with a nominal cost as it is based on the broadband facilities which are already being availed by all government offices in Jhajjar. All the offices have been associated with the server of the National Information Centre (NIC) for carrying out video conferencing without any hurdle for a long time,” said the Deputy Commissioner, adding that at present, many government head offices were connected to their district headquarters but it was the first time when offices at the district-level had been connected to each other. Joshi said the service would turn out to be supportive in enhancing the work efficiency of the administrative officers. Moreover, they would also be aware of the present status of all the works being done in their department concerned, he added. He said 50 offices, including Additional Deputy Commissioner, Sub-Divisional Magistrates of Jhajjar, Bahadudrgarh and Beri, City Magistrate, DRO, DDPO, executive engineer of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, Jhajjar, Public Heatlh, PWD & BR, Power, Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board and District Town Planning, had been connected with the video-conferencing system in the first phase and the remaining ones would also be associated with the same soon.
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MC submits report to DC on unauthorised basements
Karnal, February 16 The report has pointed out more than 100 buildings where basements had been constructed to create additional space without getting the permission of the corporation and the approval of the Town and Planning Department. The report will be considered by the DC and the necessary action would follow. It is not clear yet whether orders will be issued to close the basements or these will be regularised on the payment of a heavy compounding fee. The construction of unauthorised basements has been a routine practice. For the first time the corporation has launched a drive to detect illegal basements and checked about 200 buildings for violations of building and municipal laws.
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MC to launch drive to check monkey menace
Ambala, February 16 According to information, the SDM has received many complaints regarding damage to dish antennas fitted on the roofs of houses caused by around half a dozen monkeys. A few cases of monkey bite have also been reported to the SDM’s office. SDM Mukesh Ahuja directed the corporation’s secretary to carry out a drive to catch monkeys in Ambala city and Ambala cantonment after consultations with the Wild Life Department. The Wild Life Department in Ambala does not have adequate number of cages and nets for the purpose. It is learnt that the corporation will get in touch with contractors at Meerut who have the necessary equipment and cages to capture monkeys and other wild animals. The contractors charge Rs 50 for capturing one monkey. It is also their responsibility to leave the captured monkeys in forests. According to a wild life official, the captured monkeys are either left in the Kalesar forest in Yamunanagar district or the Morni hills close to Panchkula.
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NDRI honours VK Taneja
Karnal, February 16 The award has been instituted to pay tributes to the legendary director, Dr KK Iya, who is fondly remembered for laying the foundation of the NDRI, Karnal, in 1955. Receiving the award, Dr Taneja said the country was going to be a major player in contributing to the national food needs in respect of animal-based foods like milk, meat and eggs and their products as the livestock sector was entering a revolutionary phase in Asia. The sector was growing at an average annual growth rate of 4 per cent for milk and 6 per cent for eggs and the requirements by 2020 would be 176 million tonnes of milk, 4.3 million tonnes of eggs and 7.4 million tonnes for total meat, which could be met only by using sustainable production systems, he said. Suggesting that appropriate prices of milk and other livestock products could increase the total output from the livestock sector, Dr Taneja said even at present, the growth rate in value of output from livestock was 3.9 per cent which was higher than 1.38 per cent growth of agriculture in 2009-2010. Quoting the example of Punjab, he said the diversification in the livestock sector was the best alternative to the declining economics of the wheat-rice system and to maintain the water table and soil health. The economic analysis of livestock compared to the wheat-paddy system suggests that returns over variable costs with five milk buffaloes and five crossbred cows were Rs 84,000 and Rs 52,000 per year, respectively, against an income of Rs 38,000 per acre from wheat-paddy and Rs 47,000 per acre from the wheat-paddy-potato system, while the income from carp culture per acre was around Rs 71, 000. These data clearly suggested that diversification to dairy and fishery from the wheat-rice system not only gave more money but also improved the soil fertility and saved valuable water resources, he added. Dr Taneja said poor reproductive efficiency was the other major concern that needed to be addressed on a priority basis, using modern tools of embryo biotechnology and sexed semen. He said value addition, ensuring quality and strengthening marketing network would further improve livestock economics. Emphasising the need for more veterinary universities with responsibilities of veterinary, dairy and fishery education and strengthening the existing universities, he said it was imperative for imparting quality education to meet the requirement of field veterinarians which was 67,000 against an availability of 34,500. Similarly, for teaching and research, the availability was 3,000 against the requirement of 7,500 and situation was no different in the dairy sector, he said.
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Pollution by manufacturing units a nuisance for residents
Faridabad, February 16 The residents are miffed at the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards their complaints against these units. They said the manufacturing units had illegally accessed the sewerage and water pipelines laid down by HUDA in Sector 2. About, 20 factory units operate from the area, comprising of electroplating units and rubber-manufacturing plants. Hariom Saini, president of the Resident Welfare Association of Sector 2, said the residents had lodged complaints with HUDA, the Pollution Control Board and the Faridabad Municipal Corporation several times, but to no avail. He said his family members had started keeping ill on account of sound and air pollution in the area. He said: “His son, studying in class VII, complains of dizziness. He is often distracted by noises emanating from the units during study hours”. Vishnu, a resident of the area, said: “The only option left with me is to quit the place”. Most of the residents said they had built their houses in the area anticipating a better environment, but their hopes had been shattered. Electroplating units operate in the residential areas in violation of rules. The rulebook categorises them as highly pollutant. Hence, the government has created special zone for them. The residents further said: “The units also use outdated generator sets which cause noise pollution”. SS Rawat, Regional Officer, Ballabagarh, Haryana State Pollution Control Board, said he would look into the matter. Amneet P. Kumar, administrator, HUDA, said she would look into the allegations of the units illegally accessing sewerage and water pipelines of the department.
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College girls to be checked for anaemia
Sirsa, February 16 The drive, “Anaemia Control Programme”, would be launched initially in three government colleges of Sirsa district at Dabwali, Ellenabad and Sirsa town, said Dr Viresh Bhushan, deputy civil surgeon, Sirsa. Later, the health authorities would cover other colleges of the district, too. “Under the programme, the health officials will conduct haemoglobin estimation of 1,960 girls in Sirsa, 100 in Ellenabad and 232 in Dabwali,” he added. Those found anaemic will be given tablets containing 60 milligrams of ferrous sulphate and 400 micrograms of folic acid per day for a period of three months. Dr Bhushan said in the similar manner, adolescent girls studying in class VI to class XII in schools would be covered in the next phase and those found anaemic would be given tablets containing 100 milligrams of elemental iron and 500 microgram of folic acid on alternate days for a period of three months.
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Movie This Week
Directed by: Gautham Menon
“Ek Deewana Tha”, a romantic film, revolves around Prateik and British model-turned-actor Ami Jackson. Prateik plays a mechanical engineer who aspires to become a filmmaker and ends up falling in love with his tenant’s daughter. Directed by Gautham Menon, the maker of “Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein”, “Ek Deewana Tha” is the remake of Tamil film “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya”. AR Rahman has composed the melodious score for this film, which will hit the screens today at Fame Shalimar — Panchkula, BMG — Rewari, Glitz — Kurukshetra, Movie Time, Harsha — Karnal, PVR MGF, PVR Ambience, PVR Sahara, SRS Omaxe, DTCC, DTMM — Gurgaon, Satyam — Rohtak, INOX, Paras, PVR Crown Plaza, SRS CC, SRS Pristine, SRS Eldeco — Faridabad, Fun, Cinemax —
Panipat. — Dharam Pal
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Sonepat, February 16
Fatehabad, February 16
Rewari, February 16
Jhajjar, February 16
Karnal, February 16
