Chandigarh, February 21
Forward castes, including Brahmins, Banias and Punjabis, are seeking want the Other Backward Classes (OBC) status in the “Jat-dominated” Haryana.

These are among the 12 castes, incluiding Bishnois, Rajputs, Jats, Tyagis, Jat Sikhs and Khatris, which have representated to the Haryana Backward Classes Commission, headed by Justice KC Gupta, for inclusion in the list of OBCs. In all, the commission, which concluded its hearings at various district headquarters recently, has received at least 234 representations from various groups, organisations and individuals, sources said here today.

The sources said the forward castes had based their OBC quota claims on the fact that their share in government jobs had been declining over the years in the Jat-dominated government set-up in the state. Since these forward castes were not the ruling class in Haryana, they are at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the ruling caste regarding government jobs.

The Chandigarh-based Centre for Researh in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) will hold a survey for the commission to determine the eligibility of various castes for inclusion into the OBC list.The final recommendations of the commission would be based on the CRRID survey report, besides representations and independent hearings held by the commission at various cities in the state, the source added.

Last year, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had sent a memorandum of Jats demanding reservation in government jobs to the Prime Minister with “favourable recommendation”, a move which apparently had not gone well with other castes for obvious reasons.

Later, in an apparent damage-control exercise in the wake of the violent Jat agitation, particularly in Jind and Hisar districts, Hooda announced the reconstitution of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission to examine the claims and counter-claims of various castes for inclusion into the OBC category. While Justice Gupta was appointed as chairman, Jai Singh Bishnoi and Som Dutt were appointed as members.

Karnal, February 21
Horticulture and dairy sector must grow at 8 per cent for achieving 4 per cent agriculture growth during the 12th Plan, renowned agriculture scientist and father of Green Revolution, Dr MS Swaminathan said here today.

Pointing out that about 60 per cent of agricultural land was rain-fed while only 40 per cent land had assured irrigation, he said rain water harvesting in such areas was imperative to increase agriculture production and crop varieties requiring less water have to be developed.

“There is no shortage of water in states like Bihar, West Bengal and Assam but average yield is low and breaking the yield barriers is imperative for achieving higher agriculture production for food security as higher yield would mean perpetual increase in production,” he said.

Exhorting the farmers to go in for integrated farming and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, he said it was essential in India as agriculture depended mainly on “monsoons and markets”.

Referring to the dairy sector, he said in order to achieve target of 200 million tonne milk production by 2030, synergy between technology, public policy and farmers’ enthusiasm was necessary besides providing multiple livelihood opportunities to the farmers to retain them in the rural areas.

“We have recommended 50 per cent plus cost of production as remuneration to the farmers to sustain farm economy”, Swaminathan, who also headed the National Commission for Farmers said.

Hoping that the National Food Security Bill, providing for seven kg of wheat, rice and millets to 75 per cent of needy rural population as well as 50 per cent of urban population per month free of cost or at nominal prices would be passed in the Budget session of Parliament, he said increased food production was necessary for food security.

Swaminathan said while talking about food security, we only talk about the human population and forget that we have a higher population of animals (more than one billion), our oldest companions and unfortunately 60-70 per cent of our animals are suffering from malnutrition.

As many as 130 students were conferred with degrees in 13 disciplines at the 10th convocation of the National Dairy Research Institute (deemed university) here on Tuesday. Twenty students were conferred with the BTech (Dairy Technology) degree, 105 students were conferred with the Master’s degree in 13 disciplines and 25 students were conferred with the doctoral degree (PhD) in various disciplines. Dr AK Srivastava, Director and Vice-Chancellor, highlighted the research and academic achievements of the NDRI.

Chandigarh, February 21
Rohtak Member of Parliament Deepender Singh Hooda has said that he has received Rs 6.50 crore in this term of Lok Sabha under the MPLADS, out of which Rs 5.46 crore has already been utilised by the implementing agencies.

This totals to more than 84 per cent of the received funds. Also, against the total entitled amount of Rs 9 crore, he has already recommended 286 works costing Rs 12.16 crore (out of which 182 recommendations amounting to Rs 6.61 crore have already been sanctioned by the authorities concerned against the funds of Rs 6.50 crore), meaning thereby he has already recommended works worth more than 100 per cent of the entitled MPLAD amount.

Stating that the ‘amount recommended’ (compared to entitled) and ‘unspent balance’ are the two variables used to judge any MP’s performance, the ‘percentage utilised over released’ reflects the state administration performance in executing on the MPLAD work for that particular MP. This variable was put in on the request of many hon’ble members so that MPs can track how fast the administrations are executing on their recommendations.

Meanwhile, though the figures carried by The Tribune reflected the “utilisation” by the Haryana MPs as per the official website of the MPLADS funds and the data available with the Rural Development Department, Haryana, the site has since then been updated.

The utilisation of some other MPs, too, has “improved” since the site was updated subsequently. Bhiwani-Mahendergarh MP Shruti Choudhry and Faridabad MP Avtar Singh Badhana, have a percentage utilisation of 94.15 per cent and 71.38 per cent, respectively, Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar’s percentage has gone up from 36.31 per cent to 44.15 per cent. Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal’s utilisation percentage has climbed up from 48.44 to 53.67 per cent.

Karnal, February 21
The KG student Pankaj’s alleged trauma death case took a curious turn today with parents of the deceased reaching a compromise with Rajkul Senior Secondary School authorities and withdrawing the complaint.

The father of the six-year-old boy, Jaivir, had accused the school authorities and a teacher of traumatising the child, leading to his death but he reportedly reached a compromise with the school authorities following intervention of the panchayat and consequently the complaint was withdrawn.

The Deputy Commissioner, Neelam P Kasani, also said that no complaint was made to her.

The post-mortem examination of the child had been conducted and he had been cremated after observing all legal formalities but the cause of death was still uncertain, said a villager.

Pankaj’s uncle, Mahipal Singh, and his grandmother, Atari, said Pankaj was locked in the bathroom and he fell sick due to the trauma. They said action should be taken against the erring persons.

The Vice-President of the school, Sandeep, said that Pankaj was ailing for quite sometime and died due to a disease and not due to trauma as alleged.

In a turn of events, Mahipal Singh said no compromise had been reached so far as the panchayat would resolve the matter by Friday and they were going to the police station to file a fresh complaint. 

Hisar, February 21
The talks initiated by the Haryana Government today with the leaders of the Jat community spearheading the three day-old sit-in protest at Ramayan village near here have failed. Senior minister Randeep Singh Surjewala rushed here by air from Chandigarh just before the extended deadline set by the protesters was due to expire at 5 pm.

The Jat leaders were rushed to the airport for talks with Surjewala. However, most of the Jat leaders left the airport after more than two hours saying the talks had failed and they would decide their next strategy tonight.

Surjewala, however, said the talks were “inconclusive”. This he said was an ongoing process and would continue.

The protesters have been staging a dharna at Ramayan village near here since Sunday. They have been squatting on both sides of the railway tracks since then. They want the government to withdraw cases registered against 150 persons in connection with the violence that marred a pro-reservation rally at Mayyar village near here last year.

Rail traffic remained suspended for the second day today as the protesters continued to squat on both sides of the rail track at Ramayan village. However, bus services remained unaffected as the protesters did not block the highways. Trains coming from Delhi terminated at Bhiwani and those from Rajasthan terminated at Hisar.

The district administration had stationed police and Rapid Action Force personnel at a school outside Hansi town near here so that these could be deployed immediately. Two companies of RAF had arrived here last night for deployment in case of a breakdown of law and order. Vehicles with water cannons and fire engines were also kept parked at this school.

The number of protesters this time is very low. At any stage since Sunday last, the number did not cross even 500. Last year, thousands of Jats had camped here for over three weeks.

The main reason for this is the disassociation of the Hawa Singh Sangwan group from the current stir. Sangwan had announced last week that he would wait for the elections in Uttar Pradesh to end and for the Haryana Backward Classes Commission to submit its report.

According to sources, the talks failed because the Jat leaders wanted Surjewala to specify a date by which the government would give reservation to Jats in government jobs. However, the minister reportedly said the government would send the report of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission to the Centre with its recommendations.

Jat leader Ram Bhagat Malik said the 21-member committee would meet tomorrow to decide the next strategy. Till then, he said, they would not block rail or road traffic. 

Gurgaon, February 21
The third state-level philatelic exhibition - ‘Parindey-2012’ - began here today. The exhibition is being organised by the Postal Department at the exhibition hall of Apparel House in Sector 44 here and will continue till February 23.

The Chief Election Commissioner, Dr SY Quraishi, inaugurated the exhibition, while the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner, PC Meena, was the guest of honour.

More than 400 children from 15 schools are participating in the exhibition. Rare stamps issued in India as well as other countries are on display. Many reputed philatelists are participating with their prize-winning exhibits.

School students and others from Haryana are showcasing their rare collection of stamps in the competition category. Tradition, culture, leisure, nature and art are the heritage of philately and as such are reflected in the approximately 200 displays and thousands of stamps.

A unique feature of the event is ‘My Stamp’, where the participants can get their own pictures printed as stamp. This ‘My Stamp’ concept has been launched for the first time in Gurgaon.

Elaborating on the concept, Meenakshi Yadav, Director of Postal Services (Gurgaon division), said: “My Stamp is an innovative facility, which is being made available for the first time in Gurgaon. Through this one can get his own photograph printed with a picture chosen from various templates and use it as an official stamp.”

‘My Stamp’ can be used for postal charges on mail items which will cost Rs 300 for a set of 12 stamps.

The Postal Department also released a stamp on the diamond jubilee of the Election Commission. An avid stamp-collector himself, Dr Quraishi also released a special cover featuring the Sultanpur bird sanctuary.

Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena pointed out that philately - the collection and study of stamps - was regarded as the “king of hobbies” worldwide.

“In fact, postage stamps are the windows of a nation through which people overseas can view its history, heritage, art and architecture, flora and fauna, great personalities, scientific and technological achievements and so on,” he observed.

The Chief Post Master General (Haryana circle), Indu Gupta, welcomed the guests, while the Director of Postal Services (Ambala division) Manisha proposed the vote of thanks.

The exhibition has a Philately Souvenir Counter where Philately-commemorative items and other useful items like mugs, bed-sheets, purses etc printed with Indian stamps are available for sale. Similarly, an MPCM Counter has been put up to demonstrate the functioning of a postal counter. Various postal services like PLI policies, speed post, registration, e-MO etc are available at this counter. The exhibition will also have workshop on philately which will guide the students on the art of stamp collecting.

During the HARPEX ‘Parindey-2012’, school students are also slated to participate in ‘Design a Stamp’ contest. The subjects of contest are Beauties of Nature for Class V, Magic of the Night for Classes VI to VIII and Culture and Tradition of India for Classes IX to XII. Quiz and letter-writing contests are also being organised.

Chandigarh, February 21
The Budget session of the Haryana Assembly, scheduled to open on February 23, may be a 19-day affair, according to the tentative programme prepared by the state government. If all goes as planned, the session would be the longest at least in the recent memory.

It is another matter that the House would meet on 12 days and it would observe holidays on seven days.

The session would open with the Constitutional obligation of the Governor’s address. The House would discuss the Governor’s address on February 24, 27, 28 and 29. March 1 would be the day of non-official business. The debate on the Governor’s address would resume on March 2. The same day the House would also vote on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the members.

The Budget would be presented on March 5. The members would discuss the Budget estimates on March 6, 7 and 9, when the Finance Minister would also reply to the debate and request the members to pass his Budget.

The House would reassemble on March 12 after a break of two days. It would adjourn sine die the same day after conducting the legislative business, the details of which are not yet known.

The Opposition would like to embarrass the government on several issues like law and order, damage to cops by frost, the Jat agitation for reservation and the special economic zones (SEZ).

Fiery leader of the BJP Legislature Party Anil Vij has already given a notice for bringing a call attention motion on the SEZs, particularly the government’s move to take back the land given by it to the Reliance in Gurgaon for setting up an SEZ.

The verbal attacks by the Opposition are not likely to cause any fizz in government circles. The ruling party enjoys a comfortable majority in the House of 90. 

Panipat, February 21
The identification of 14 victims of the Samjhauta Express, who lay buried unidentified in various graves at Mehrana village in the district, has become all the more difficult as the railway reservation chart having names of passengers who were on board the train on the day the blasts occurred, has gone missing. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of the Northern Railways, New Delhi, who maintains all the relevant records, said the reservation chart was no longer available, which could have been used in identifying the victims of the blasts.

The information came in reply to a questionnaire put up by Indian lawyer Monin Malik, who had taken up the cases of the blasts’ victims in various courts and the Railways Tribunal. In the reply, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, the Northern Railways stated that “information regarding the bona fide passengers of the Samjhauta Express could not be provided as it was not available.”

Earlier, blood samples of the family members of Mohammad Ikran Khan, who along with 10 family members had died in the blasts, had also gone missing from a Hyderabad laboratory, where those samples had been sent for DNA tests. Due to this, all the members of the family could not been identified till date.

Malik said as the DNA tests had so far failed to establish the identity of 14 passengers of the Samjhauta Express, he had decided to go through the reservation chart which could have been used in the court of law to establish the identity of the victims. He said it was surprising to note that the reservation chart of the Samjhauta Express had gone missing.

He said now he would take the legal course to establish the identity of the victims, for which he would even file a petition in the high court. Malik said he had also written to the Union Ministry of External Affairs and the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi for initiating a diplomatic dialogue with the Union government of India so that the deceased could be identified.

Chandigarh, February 21
While opposition parties are keeping mum, there are protests from within the ruling party over the alleged soft handling by the government of those Jat reservation activists who have blocked the rail track near Hisar.

In a statement issued here today, former spokesman of the Haryana Congress Ved Prakash Vidrohi said the blockade of the rail track was an open challenge to the law and order situation in the state by a particular caste. He expressed his surprise over the “inability” of the state government to tackle the situation according to law, adding that the government instead was taking the side of the agitators.

He said the Backward Classes Commission was examining the demand of the Jats for inclusion in the backward classes. The community had placed its case before the commission. The other communities opposing the demand of the Jats had also pleaded their case before the commission.

Now it was for the commission to decide on this matter. He regretted that the Jats were trying to intimidate the commission. Vidrohi said it was not understandable why the police was giving a free hand to the agitators to hold their agitation in whatever unjustified way they wanted. Urging the Chief Minister to deal with the situation with a firm hand, he said the Congress had already paid for the lapse of the administration by losing its security deposit in the Hisar Lok Sabha by-election. 

Jhajjar, February 21
Activists of the INLD led by its district president Satpal Pahalwan today held a demonstration and submitted a memorandum, addressed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to the City Magistrate, demanding appropriate compensation to the farmers whose standing crops have been damaged due to frost.

The protesters said the state government was not serious towards the plight of farmers. That is why the INLD activists had to take to the streets to get them justice.

Earlier, the protesters gathered at the party office here in the morning and started their protest demonstration in the form of a procession after discussing the government’s attitude towards the frost-hit farmers’ demands wherein they were demanding appropriate compensation for bailing them out of the crisis.

The protesters, shouting slogans against the state government, reached the mini-secretariate through all the main markets and roads of the city. Addressing the protesters at the secretariate, Satpal Pahalwan said following the “anti-farmer” policies of the government, farmers across the state were on the verge of ruin.

Former minister Kanta Devi, Mahabir Gulia, former MLA Nafe Singh Rathi, Karambeer Rathi were among those who spoke on the occasion. Later, they submitted a memorandum of their demands to City Magistrate Pradeep Kumar.

Fatehabad, February 21
After a break of three days due to the pulse polio drive, Health Department teams will resume their survey for the detection of people infected with hepatitis C in Ratia from tomorrow.

Survey teams working under the guidance of medical experts from the PGIMS, Rohtak, had found 1,064 people infected with the disease during the six days of their drive, before they gave a three-break to their activities from February 19.

“We have already covered 32 villages and Ratia town and the survey for the remaining 35 villages will begin from Wednesday,” said Dr Ramesh Verma, an Associate Professor of Community Medicine in the PGIMS.

He said the survey work was expected to be over by Saturday.

Once the teams were done with the survey, the samples of all positive cases and 10 per cent of those testing negative for hepatitis C, selected on random basis, would be sent to the PGIMS for ELISA tests.

The treatment would begin only after the ELISA tests confirm the infections.

Dr Verma said depending on the genotype of hepatitis C affecting the people, the treatment would last 24 to 48 weeks.

For the genotypes 1, 4, 5 and 6, patients needed treatment for 48 weeks while for genotypes 2 and 3, the duration of treatment was 24 weeks.

The cost of treatment for patients needing 48 weeks of medication was between Rs 4 and Rs 5 lakh per patient.

Dr Verma said besides the treatment, the people should take preventive measures, which include use of fresh needles for injections, use of fresh blades at barber shops and use of sterilised instruments by dentists. 

Panchkula, February 21
In the infamous Sarita rape and suicide case, special CBI Judge AK Tyagi today dismissed the bail application of a former Haryana Police official Silak Ram.

Silak Ram had sought regular bail on the ground that he was behind bars for the past three years. He had pleaded that as the trial of the case would take more time, the court should grant him bail.

The CBI counsel, HPS Verma, however, had submitted before the court that there was sufficient evidence against Silak Ram and bail to the accused would hamper the prosecution’s case. Besides, spending long time behind bars was not sufficient to get bail, Verma had submitted.

Sarita had committed suicide on June 9, 2008, in front of the office of the DGP, Haryana, here. Sarita took the extreme step after the Rohtak police had refused to register a rape case against the two policemen.

Constable Balraj and Silak Ram allegedly raped Sarita at the CIA police station, Rohtak, on April 10, 2008, when she had gone there to try and get her husband Subhash released. Both the policemen had called Sarita to a police station in Rohtak on April 10, 2008, on the plea of signing some papers. The matter was handed over to the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Rohtak, February 21
The Vigilance Department has arrested two employees of the state government on graft charges in the past 24 hours. These include a lineman of the electricity department in Sonepat district and a patwari in Karnal district. The accused have been caught red-handed by a team of officials deputed by the SP, Rohtak division. Sources said a lineman, identified as Balwan Singh posted in the Murthal subdivision, had allegedly demanded Rs 6,000 from Amarjit Singh of Devru village for replacing the electricity meter at his premises.

A team comprising Naib Tehsildar of Sonepat and Inspector Sushil Kumar of the Vigilance office here laid a trap after the complaint and caught the lineman red-handed while accepting bribe from the complainant at the latter’s house today. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered.

In another case, the Vigilance officials arrested Mahender Singh, a patwari of the Revenue Department, at Nawal block of Karnal. He was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,500 from Suresh Kumar of Chaura Khalsa village of Karnal district. According to the complaint, the bribe was demanded by the accused for conducting girdawari of his land in the village. The arrest was made at Mini Secretariat at Karnal city.

Meanwhile, the SP Vigilance here has asked the residents to cooperate in the drive against corruption. He said anyone could bring complaints of corruption and the demand of bribe made by any official at the toll-free number 18001802022 and the mobile phone number 9050910570.

Gurgaon, February 21
A middle-aged person lost control over a van he was driving and hit a car before running over two schoolchildren here today. One of the victims, Preeti Negi, succumbed to her injuries while the other, Gaurav, was undergoing treatment till the time of filing this report. The person driving the car has been arrested.

The incident took place near Jeevan Jyoti School in Sector 4 of Gurgaon this morning. It was around 7.20 am and some students were walking towards the school. All of a sudden, Sanjeev Bakshi, who was driving a Maruti van, lost control over the vehicle and hit an Alto car parked there. After hitting the car, the van ran over Preeti and Gaurav, who were walking towards the school on the footpath.

Some passers-by rushed the children to a hospital, but Preeti’s life could not be saved. Some other onlookers caught hold of Sanjeev and handed him over to the police.

Sanjeev, 42, is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir and works at a local hotel. He also owned two vehicles which he operated as cabs. At the time of the mishap, he was supposedly going to his driver’s place.

A case of negligent driving and unintentional murder has been lodged against Sanjeev.

Sirsa, February 21
The police today booked three persons for kidnapping and rape after a married woman alleged that she was gang- raped and kept under illegal confinement for more than a month at Ellenabad.

The victim, a resident of Dhani Maujuwali near Ellenabad, is married in Taranagar of Rajasthan. She alleged in her complaint to the police that she had come to see her parents with her son when three youths met her at Ellenabad bus stand and lured her to some unknown place. She alleged that the three raped her repeatedly and kept her in their illegal custody for over a month.