Kurukshetra, April 15
The country’s second National Institute of Design (NID) will be set up at Kurukshetra and consultations have already been held for the same, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said.

Addressing the centenary function of Gurukul here, he said this would be the second such institute after Ahmedabad where education in the field of design and research would be imparted.

Hooda said the state government had been making consistent efforts to develop Haryana as an educational hub of international level and 16 new universities had been opened in the past seven years, raising the total number of universities to 23.

He said a Central University has been set up at Mahendragarh, Women University at Khanpur in Sonepat, National Defence University at Gurgaon, Indian Institute of Management at Garnawathi, Veterinary University at Hisar and a Sainik School has been set up at Rewari.

The state has 80 government colleges at present of which two are educational colleges, 61 are co-education colleges and 17 women’s colleges. Besides, there are 96 non-government aided colleges in the state.

Stressing the need to study English, Hooda asserted that “Sanskrit is our culture but we should not lag behind in the knowledge of English”. The state government was giving due importance to Sanskrit and Haryana was placed at the top in the country in this regard, he added.

Earlier, only students with Hindi as an elective subject in matriculation were eligible for jobs but the state government had also included Sanskrit and now students with Hindi or Sanskrit in matriculation as elective subjects were eligible for jobs.

He also underlined the need for character building and said that this aspect should not be diluted while adopting changes to suit modern needs.

Hooda announced a grant of Rs 11 lakh each to Gurukul Kurukshetra and the local DAV School, Kurukshetra, which has celebrated its silver jubilee. Rajya Sabha member Dr Ramparkash, Lokayukta Justice (retd) Pritam Pal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sultan Singh Jadaula and former MP Kailasho Saini were prominent among those present at functions. 

Sirsa, April 15
To meet the shortage of radiologists in district hospitals, the Haryana Government is providing special training in radiology to 46 doctors drawn from all over the state.

Doctors - two from each district - will function as radiologists and conduct tests like CT scan and ultrasound in the General Hospitals.

Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Gopal Kanda stated this after inaugurating the pulse polio campaign in the district today.

Radiology being a premium branch of medicine, there is an acute shortage of specialists in this branch in Haryana and costly machines like CT scan and ultrasound are lying useless in most hospitals.

The branch being quite lucrative in the private sector, the chances of radiologists joining government jobs in the near future are also bleak.

“Till full-time radiologists are appointed by the government, doctors trained in radiology will perform all tests,” Kanda said.

The minister said the government would soon fill all vacant posts of doctor and paramedical staff in various hospitals of Haryana.

He exhorted doctors and paramedics to take the pulse polio campaign seriously, as it affected the whole humanity.

The Deputy Civil Surgeon, GS Somani, said during the pulse polio drive, 1,92,944 children in the age group of 0 to 5 would be given polio drops.

He said the authorities had set up 701 booths in the district and over 2,700 officials had been working to make the drive a success.

Somani said the health authorities had identified nearly 200 high-risk areas,where the department would focus more this time. 

Panipat, April 15
RTI activist PP Kapoor has decided to move a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition against the appointment of bureaucrats as info panel members.

The state government had recently appointed Urvashi Gulati as chairman of the state information commission. Kapoor said according to the provisions of the RTI Act, intellectuals, academicians, retired judges, army men, journalists and activists could be appointed as info panel members.

But in the case of the state information commission, the government was violating these rules blatantly.

As of today, seven out of 10 posts of info panel members were lying vacant. He said Urvashi Gulati had succeeded Naresh Gulati, who happens to be her husband and held the post of the chief state information commissioner.

He said bureaucrats hindered the flow of information for which the commission had been constituted in the first place.

A three-member panel, including the Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Education Minister appoints SIC members.

Kapoor said the PIL would not only challenge the political appointments but would also seek legal directions to the state government to fill the posts that have been lying vacant in the info panel. 

Panipat, April 15
Residents’ wait for the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), which was to connect the city with the national capital reducing the travel time to less than 45 minutes, is likely to get longer as the proposal to construct the hi-speed corridors has hit roadblocks.

Sources said the Highways Minister had objected to the proposal to build the corridor on the median of the NH-1 or the green belt along the road as it could create hurdles in the construction of flyovers and underpasses in future. The sources said there were problems in the acquisition of land along the NH-1 for the project. With the ministry turning down the proposal to use the median on the road to construct the corridor, the RRTS might not become a reality till a suitable solution was found to the problem, the sources added.

A high-level team of technical experts, which had inspected the Delhi-Panipat stretch had given its approval for the construction of the corridor, the work on which was expected to start early next year and was to be completed by 2016. The link was expected to provide fast and reliable connectivity to local residents who commute between Delhi and Panipat on a daily basis.

It was learnt that the Delhi Government had also objected to the RRTS entering the city and instead proposed that the system be limited to the outskirts of the city. According to the original plans, the Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat corridor was to end near Kashmere Gate. The Delhi Government stated that the RRTS would not only lead to chaos but would also add to congestion, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the latest developments have not gone down well with local residents, who were expecting the RRTS to solve many problems. Manu Bhardwaj, a local trader who frequently visits the national capital, said other than facilitating fast movement, the RRTS could have boosted the local economy as reaching Delhi could have become easier for the city residents.

Pratik Mishra, another trader, said they were dismayed by the unexpected delay in the project.

Chandigarh, April 15
Having achieved substantial success in promoting summer moong as an alternative to summer paddy or “saathi” last year, Haryana is now targeting to double the area under this crop this year.

The state Agriculture Department has set a target to increase the area under summer moong from 50,000 hectares to one lakh hectares this year. On its own, the Agriculture Department is planning to sow summer moong as a demonstration for farmers on 14,000 hectares, spread across Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Sonepat, Kaithal and Fatehabad. Here, the department will also be demonstrating integrated nutrient and integrated pest management, so that farmers can start adopting to summer moong as an alternative to saathi.

Saathi or summer paddy has a very high water requirement. It is transplanted in the fields in April and harvested by June end, which means that farmers can get a third source of income (in between the wheat and paddy cycle). This is the reason that most farmers in Haryana had started cultivating this short duration crop. But since there is almost no rain during this period, and evapo-transpiration rates are high, the cultivation of summer paddy leads to exploitation of ground water and depletes both the water table and soil nutrients.

“Over the past three years, we have been launching awareness among farmers about the harmful effects of growing ‘saathi’. Last year, Haryana managed to achieve 100 per cent success in preventing cultivation of “saathi” by farmers. Instead the department has managed to give farmers an alternative source of income in the form of summer moong. But the adoption to grow summer moong has been slow. With summer moong getting a good price in the market, pure economics, too, is making this crop attractive to farmers. The crop generally sells at Rs 200-Rs 300 per quintal higher than its MSP of Rs 3,500 per quintal. The fact that summer moong fixes nitrogen in the soil, it helps in increasing soil fertility, and thus preparing the soil for the next paddy crop, too, goes in its favour,” said B S Duggal, additional director, Agriculture, Haryana.

He added that in order to make adoption to summer moong attractive, the state Agriculture Department is also providing 50 per cent subsidy on the seeds of the drop. “As against a price of Rs 8,000 per quintal, we are supplying the seeds to farmers at Rs 4,000 per quintal. Since the yield is good (average of four quintals per acre), the farmers can make a good profit on this crop,” said Duggal. 

Sirsa, April 15
The INLD MLA from Ellenabad, Abhey Singh Chautala, today said that the MSP of Rs 1,285 for wheat was too little and alleged that the farmers would not even be able to recover their input costs with this price.

Speaking to mediapersons here today, Abhey Singh said as of today, farmers had to spend Rs 1,500 per quintal on producing wheat and going by this, the INLD, in a recent meeting of its state executive, had sought MSP of Rs 2,000 per quintal.

The INLD leader alleged that the UPA government at the Centre and the Congress government in Haryana had no concern for farmers.

Abhey Singh alleged that all sections of society were fed up with the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in the state and were waiting for an opportunity to get rid of it.

He said while on the one hand, farmers were not getting a remunerative price for their crop, on the other hand their land was being snatched through Land Acquisition Act to please some big capitalists.

Terming Hooda as Ghoshna Mantri (Announcement Minister), Abhey Singh alleged that the Rs 220-crore package announced for the Rania Assembly segment of Sirsa in a recent Congress rally was merely a farce.“So far, the state government has not acted upon most of the announcements made by Hooda during his Sirsa rally organised last year,” he alleged.

Abhey Singh repeated his party’s allegation that Sirsa was getting step-motherly treatment at the hands of the Hooda government.

He alleged that the condition of roads in Sirsa particularly those connecting Rania and his Assembly constituency Ellenabad with Sirsa was pathetic. Later, he addressed INLD workers and exhorted them to work for making the organisation strong.

Former MLA Bhagi Ram, district president of the party Padam Jain, district president of the women wing Krishna Fogat, former chairman of the Subordinate Services Selection Board Amir Chawla and former president of the District Consumer Forum Pradeep Mehta were present on the occasion. 

Karnal, April 15
Karnal today accorded a warm welcome to Olympics qualifier boxer Sumit Sangwan, a resident of a small village, Shekhpira Suhana, in the suburbs of the city on his arrival after Sumit qualified for the London Olympics to be held in August this year.

Hundreds of Sumit’s fans, including his mother, grandmother and family members, along with residents were lined up on the GT Road. They garlanded him profusely. Sweets were distributed and his family members prayed that he wins a medal for the nation.

Qualifying for Olympics was nothing less than a dream come true for Sumit as he is the first sportsperson from Karnal to achieve this feet. Sumit, who belongs to a family of agriculturists, credited his coach and family members for his success and said that without their support and blessings, this would not have been possible.

Sumit’s senior, Surinder Chauhan, who also gave him coaching during initial years, said it was the result of 12 years of hard work and practice put in by Sumit, but his skills were horned after he became a member of the Indian team. Sumit defeated pugilists of Korea, Jordan and Kazhakistan to qualify for the Olympics. 

Panchkula, April 15
The condition of Haryana Chief Parliamentary Secretary and three-time MLA Ram Krishan Fauji, who was found unconscious under mysterious circumstances at his official residence in Sector 12- A yesterday, was stated to be stable today.

Sources at the PGI said that Fauji, who had been kept in the ICU, was improving and was conscious. The ventilators were removed after the doctors reviewed his condition this afternoon, the sources added.

However, the police has not been able to record his statement till the filing of this report. Aman Kumar, SHO, Sector 14 police station, said they were yet to record the statement of Fauji, who was undergoing treatment at the PGI.

Deputy Commissioner Maneesh Chaudhary said they had come to know from a TV channel report that Fauji was improving and conscious, but the doctors had not declared Fauji fit to give any statement to the police. Unless doctors at the PGI declare him fit, the police cannot record his statement, he added.

State Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited Fauji early this morning followed by other VIPs from Haryana.

Fauji had been brought to the General Hospital, Panchkula, following an attack of epilepsy, but the doctors there had referred him to the PGI as they could not control the fits.

However, doctors at the PGI attending on him had found traces of pesticide poison in his body.

Fauji was found unconscious in his washroom by his security personnel in the wee hours yesterday.

Representing the Bawani Khera Assembly segment, Fauji was scheduled to attend a function on BR Ambedkar’s birth anniversary in his constituency yesterday. 

Jhajjar, April 15
Under its ongoing policy of promoting computer education at school level, the state government has recently not only made computes with all accessories available in 2,662 government schools across the state but also initiated process of recruiting a large number of computer teachers of school cadre.

Education, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal stated this after listening to public grievances at her local residence here today. She said it had become imperative to impart computer education to the school-going children in view of rising employment opportunities in the private sector in this modern era of the information technology (IT).

“The state government is making all efforts to provide basic computer education in schools so that students become familiar with the operation of IT equipments,” said the minister, adding that some vital amendments had been made in the teacher recruitment policy to strengthen the education system in the state.

Bhukkal informed that taking another significant decision, the state government was going to provide school uniform free of cost to all students of government schools up to class VIII from the new academic session. Earlier, free uniform was used to be given only to those students who either belong to the Schedule Caste or come under Below Poverty Line, she added.

The minister said the government was serious towards implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in the state so that students having poor financial background could also get admission free of cost in private schools as per the Act.

“A meeting of Education Ministers of all states will soon be held in New Delhi to contemplate over efficient execution of the RTE Act across the nation. Union Human Resources Minister Kapil Sibbal will chair the meeting and I on behalf of Haryana will express my valuable views over provisions of the RTE Act,” said Bhukkal, adding that the meeting would indeed turn out to be vital in the direction of implementing the RTE Act throughout the country.

Kaithal, April 15
Shamsher Singh Surjewala, president of the All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress, has demanded a compensation of Rs 5,000 per acre for farmers whose wheat crop has been damaged because of untimely rains in certain parts of the country.

He said the government should always be responsive to the demands of farmers and do its best to mitigate their sufferings as the economy of this country is agri-based. The veteran Congress leader also lamented that stocks of several farmers lying in the mandis had been damaged. He urged the government to address this issue and take remedial steps. He also demanded the implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report regarding the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of different commodities.

Surjewala said the committee had recommended the MSP for a commodity equivalent to 50 per cent more than the input cost. Surjewala, who is also a former minister of Haryana, appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure that no ban was imposed on the export of any agricultural products. "Such bans bring the price of the concern produce down in the domestic market because of which farmers suffer a lot",he added.

In response to a question, he said a number of residents of this area had approached him and had expressed their indignation at the steep hike in collectorate charges for registration of land in this district announced by the administration recently. He said Haryana Minister for PWD and Industries Randeep Singh Surjewala, who represents Kaithal, would hold a meeting with the officers concerned tomorrow and see if the hike could be rolled back partially or fully. The collectorate charges have been raised by 80 per cent to 300 per cent from April 1.

Sirsa, April 15
While the world remembers Dr BR Ambedkar as a messiah of the Dalits and for his contribution to the framing of India’s Constitution, MM Goel, a Professor of Economics in Kurukshetra University, said Ambedkar’s role as an economist had not drawn the nation’s attention it deserved.

Here to deliver an extension lecture in JCD Vidyapeeth on the occasion of the 121st birth anniversary of Dr BR Ambedkar on Saturday, Goel said people should know him as a professional economist more than as a champion of the Scheduled Castes as one of the authors of the Constitution of India.

“Ambedkar deserves to be known to the world as an outstanding economist. The unique aspect of his scientific mind, evident in various memoranda and statements that he submitted to the government from time to time, is indicative of the fact that he had mastered the subject of economics to a great extent. He did his D.Sc from London School of Economics,” Goel said.

He said to reduce panic and fear of a global financial crisis in any economy of the world, it would be relevant to adopt the canons of public expenditure advocated by Ambedkar.

He said the remarkable thing about Ambedkar’s canons of public expenditure was that they were ism-neutral. One can follow a policy of a large or small public sector and yet the principles behind these canons were applicable.

A policy of the government when executed may be faithful but may not be wise. While sagacity, prudence and common sense are the signs of a wise government, it should also possess experience and knowledge of economics that can be practically applied in specific areas. 

Hisar, April 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced to rename the scheme for construction and repair of houses of members belonging to the Scheduled Caste, Vimukt Jaties and Tapriwas as the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Makan Yojna.

As per the scheme, a grant of Rs 50,000 is provided to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Tapriwas for the construction of pucca houses and Rs 10,000 for repair purpose. Hooda was addressing a public meeting at Hisar, organised by Bhim Rao Ambedkar Sabha and Sant Shrimoni Shri Guru Ravidas Sabha, Hisar. Hooda said Baba Saheb had made a great contribution to the freedom struggle of the country and the making of the Indian Constitution.

The state government was providing Rs 31,000 for marriage of all girls belonging to the SC and 1,27,673 eligible families had been benefited and Rs 178 crore had so far been disbursed, said the Chief Minister. Hooda said 3,69,700 families had been given plots of 100 square yard each free of cost. — PTI

Jind, April 15
The ongoing annual examinations of the Open School being conducted by the authorities of the state education board are marked by rampant use of unfair means by candidates. Though several cases have been registered in these exams, the menace of cheating continues to thrive.

Reports from majority of the exam centres in the city and the district have revealed that students and candidates appearing in these exams had an easy access to supporting material besides examinees allowed to sit in groups so that they could easily solve the paper with the help of others.

This modus operandi stands exposed in some of the photographs clicked by mediapersons on Friday, when there was a social science exam. The Open School exams were underway for classes X and XII of the Haryana State Education Board and the exams commenced recently.

Sources said more than 30 cases had been booked in the district so far. Many of those booked had been cases of impersonation as 18 youths (outsiders) had been caught while taking exams in place of original candidates at some of the centres.

A spokesperson of the board at Jind said he had no knowledge of the total cases booked under unfair means so far, but revealed that several had been booked in connection with cheating. The phone numbers of the control room of the school education also remained unattended when an attempt was made to confirm the total cases booked in the district and the state in the ongoing exams.

Meanwhile, the police has arrested a youth for assaulting and intimidating an invigilator Dr Naresh after he did not allow him to cheat in during a exam here recently. 

New Delhi, April 15
Haryana should undertake desilting of village ponds to rejuvenate these waterbodies, besides taking steps to ensure that encroachment of rural waterbodies' land is identified and restored, according to experts.

This was recommended by a User Interaction Workshop on Change Detection Study of Surface Waterbodies in Southern Haryana held here recently, which was presided by PK Das, Haryana's Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Science and Technology Department.

Das informed the workshop that the Change Detection Study of Surface Water Bodies in six districts of Southern Haryana, Mahendergarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat, Faridabad and Palwal, was undertaken using space technology, which also revealed loss of 1193.52 hectares of area under waterbodies since the formation of the state.

In Gurgaon and Faridabad regions, many waterbodies have become extinct because of urbanisation while in other regions waterbodies are being used for village waste water storage, which has made them highly polluted and sedimented, the study said.

The workshop recommended that these traditional surface waterbodies should be renovated and village waste water should be treated before putting it into these waterbodies, besides suggesting separating waste water and usable water by partitioning of ponds. It was also felt that MNREGA scheme be used to revive these surface waterbodies by desilting, putting water from an artificial source and plantation.

The workshop also suggested building of check dams in the hilly areas and also develop the system of gully plugging. The workshop also felt that a detailed study about the Badkhal, Damdama and Sultanpur lakes should be done for water recharging of these lakes, so as to develop them as attractive tourist spots. —PTI

Rohtak, April 15
A controversy has arisen at Garhi Sampla village over a tour of villagers to South Korea later this month. South Korea had adopted this village about four months ago. Residents of the village have opposed the selections made by the authorities concerned alleging irregularities in the process adopted for the purpose.

In a memorandum submitted to the district authorities, eight of the 11 members of the village panchayat have alleged that none of the applicants interviewed by the BDPO had been selected while those having political links had been included in the team for the visit to South Korea.

“While the criteria for selection announced on February 4 and 5 stated that only graduates with knowledge of English language could apply, none of the selected candidates meet these qualifications ’’ claimed Satpal Khokar, an animal sciences professional based here.

The villagers met the Rohtak MP this morning, who assured them that action would be taken in this connection, said Sandeep Kumar, an applicant. The Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak, claimed that the selections had been made properly.