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State may find it tough to mobilise resources
Land Acquisition
Village bus stops to have solar lights
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Arbitration clause can’t limit consumer courts’ jurisdiction
Appointment of Building Inspectors
HSLSA renews efforts to reach out to poor
Unions slam minister for ignoring their demands
NFL to go in for costlier gas imports
Water conservation project for basmati launched
Early CST compensation demanded from Centre
Identify villages with complaints of power theft, officers told
Three, four-star hotels out of highly polluting ‘red category’
Women cops take charge of Faridabad roads
Probe sought into NHAI construction
Political awareness among women stressed
Fatboy Slim drives crowd crazy
Indian Fashion Council formed
Eight MBA students get placements
Six clear civil services exam
Kurukshetra varsity holds lecture on role of IAF
Workshop held on embedded systems
Students get diplomas at convocation
Haryana Sahitya Academy to honour 14 litterateurs
Lecture on telecom revolution
Bilaspur institute celebrates annual day
Yamuna Group holds annual function
70 get artificial limbs at Red Cross camp
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State may find it tough to mobilise resources
Chandigarh, May 7 The plan outlay approved by the Planning Commission includes Rs 14,500 crore for the state budget, Rs 2,035 crore for the local bodies and Rs 9,950 crore for the state PSEs. But considering the fact that the accumulated losses incurred by the PSUs in Haryana are over Rs 5,000 crore, it may be quite an uphill task for the state government to ensure that these PSUs generate Rs 9,950 crore. However, officials in the state Finance Department say that they are entirely banking on HSIIDC, HUDA, besides Haryana Power Generation Corporation and Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam for getting this revenue. “Together, these PSEs will be generating Rs 9,000 crore. While the power generation and distribution company alone will have an investment capital of Rs 5,000 crore, HSIIDC and HUDA will contribute Rs 4,000 crore. The remaining Rs 950 crore will be generated by the other PSEs in the state,” said the official. Besides the fact that most of the 21 PSEs in the state are running in losses, the outstanding debt by these enterprises, too, has soared over the years. The debt of these PSEs has soared to over Rs 17,000 crore, and most of them have not even declared dividends. All PSEs are required to pay a minimum return of 4 per cent on the paid-up share capital contributed by the government. The biggest loss-making enterprises in the state are the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, besides the Haryana Roadways Engineering Corporation, Haryana State Roads and Bridges Development Corporation.
ANNUAL PLAN
Most of the public sector enterprises in the state are running in losses. The debt of these PSEs has soared to over Rs 17,000 crore, and most of them have not even declared dividends.
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After SC rap, BJP wants White Paper, probe by HC judge
Pradeep Sharma/TNS
Chandigarh, May 7 Terming the land acquisition a clear case of “land grabbing” by the state government on behalf of big realtors, Rattan Lal Kataria, BJP state spokesperson, alleged here recently that repeated adverse comments by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the apex court against the state’s “lop-sided” land acquisition policy had brought the policy under a scanner and only a judicial probe could nail the “ultimate” beneficiaries. It was ironic that while UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had patted Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on the back for the state’s land acquisition policy, the courts had repeatedly rapped the state government for its various acts of omission and commission concerning land acquisition, Kataria alleged. Referring to the recent Supreme Court judgement staying land acquisition for the Haryana Urban Development Authority’s Pinjore-Kalka Urban Complex, Kataria said a major portion of the 809 acres, acquired at throwaway prices from farmers, was released to big builders for the launch of mega housing projects.Gian Chand Gupta, state BJP treasurer, said the state government diverted Rs 166 crore, meant for the construction of Kaushalya Dam, for the construction and widening of a link road for better transportation to the residents of Sector 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the urban complex, in whose vicinity several big builders, including DLF and Ireo, had launched their luxury housing projects.
Land acquisitions under scanner
Acquisition in 809-acre Pinjore-Kalka urban complex stayed by SC Allotment of land to filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s 20-acre film city also under scanner Reliance’s 1,383-acre SEZ in Gurgaon on its way out six years after the Hooda government allotted land Farmers up in arms against land acquisition in several districts, including Ambala, Fatehabad, Rohtak, Faridabad and Palwal
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Village bus stops to have solar lights
Gurgaon, May 7 Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena, DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora and officials of other related departments participated. Ways and means to ease traffic bottlenecks which caused traffic jams in the city were discussed at the meeting. The Deputy Commissioner directed the officers to install signboards wherever necessary and remove the speed breakers constructed in contravention to rules. Meena disclosed a plan to install solar lights near the bus stops on all major and connecting roads. The block development and panchayat officers (BDPOs) concerned were instructed to get solar lights installed near bus stands in villages. A proposal to put electricity wires underground in Gurgaon was also discussed. Gurgaon DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora asserted that special attention be given while passing commercial vehicles. She maintained that the potholes on the
It was also decided to increase the number of days for passing the vehicles from three to five days a week. At another meeting, the Deputy Commissioner reviewed the action-taken reports on the restrictions imposed on construction activities in the 900-m radius of the ammunition depot. He ordered the registration of FIRs against those found involved in construction activities in the prohibited area. The Supreme Court had banned construction in the 900-m radius of the ammunition depot. Meena directed the DTP (Enforcement) and officials concerned of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) to lodge FIRs even against the building material supplier(s), the person(s) providing transportation facility and the person(s) who take up construction activity in the restricted area as they also promote illegal construction. If any tractor-trailer or other vehicle is found taking construction material to the restricted zone, it should be impounded and an FIR lodged against the owner as well as driver of the vehicle. He directed Power Utilities officials to not release any new electricity connection in the restricted zone and if the person involved in illegal construction gets power supply from the neighbourhood, it should be disconnected and the electricity meter of such provider be also confiscated.
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Arbitration clause can’t limit consumer courts’ jurisdiction
Chandigarh, May 7 BM Bedi, judicial member of the commission, in his judgement, rejected the plea of Ashok Leyland Finance Limited, Hisar, saying that “the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, are in addition to and not in derogation of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1986. Therefore, the remedy available to the complainant under the Act is absolute and cannot be taken away under the provisions of the Arbitration & Conciliation Act”. The company had filed a revision petition before the commission contending that its customer Madan Lal, a resident of Bhiwani district, had entered into a loan agreement with the company. This agreement contained a clause for reference of dispute to arbitrator under Section 8 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1986, and therefore he could not maintain a complaint in this regard before the Consumer Forum, the company argued. Meanwhile, Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Consumer Courts Bar Association, claimed that the commission had rightly re-affirmed the law laid down by the Supreme Court in “Fair Air Engineers versus N.K. Modi”case. “The reason is that the Act intends to relieve the consumers of the cumbersome arbitration proceedings or civil action unless the forums on their own, based on the peculiar facts and circumstances of a particular case, come to the conclusion that the appropriate forum for adjudication of the disputes would be anything other other than consumer courts”, explained Chandgothia.
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Appointment of Building Inspectors Tribune News Service
Panipat, May 7 Information collected using the RTI Act revealed that last year the SULBD had planned to appoint 75 building inspectors for civic bodies across the state. In the advertisement, the department had sought three-year diploma holders in civil or mechanical streams for the post. The selection process was conducted by the State Staff Selection Commission (SSSC), which, after preparing the merit list, submitted it to the department. However, in the meantime, the state government came up with clear-cut notification on September 24 last year (a copy of which is available with The Tribune) in which it was stated that only civil diploma holders could be appointed as building inspectors. However, despite the notification in September, the department went on to appoint diploma holders in mechanical and even in the stream of production engineering to the post of building inspectors in November and December. The matter came to the fore when RTI activist PP Kapoor filed an RTI query with the SULBD, which initially showed reluctance in providing the information. But after Kapoor moved a petition before the State Information Commission, it issued a notice to the department to provide him with the required information before April 30. The partial information provided to Kapoor revealed the details of only 20 out of 75 building inspectors appointed by the department. It came to light that 18 of these building inspectors held three-year diploma in mechanical, while two held diploma in production engineering. Kapoor said though the details of other 55 building inspectors were still being withheld by the department, it was clear from the merit list prepared by the SSSC that barring a few, all other appointed building inspectors held diplomas in streams other than civil engineering. He contended how a diploma holder in mechanical or production engineering could know anything about buildings. Kapoor said he would take up the matter with the state Lokayukta seeking action against the erring officials.
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HSLSA renews efforts to reach out to poor
Sirsa, May 7 Though the HSLSA has been in existence for the past over one-and-a-half decade, the recent appointments of special cadre of judges as secretaries of the legal service authorities (LSA) at district level has given it new wings. The HSLSA has recently appointed nine chief judicial magistrates as secretaries of the LSA at the district level, each having the charge of two or three districts of the state. “In a democracy, judiciary is considered the custodian of the Constitution and protector of rights of the citizens. However, due to vast inequalities in society, the poor and the underprivileged are generally deprived of their rights, as they fail to get access to justice due to the lack of resources and other handicaps. The HSLSA aims at reaching out to the poor and weaker sections of society by providing free legal aid to them, so that they are not deprived of their rights due to poverty or ignorance,” said Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) and secretary LSA for Sirsa and Fatehabad districts. “For this, we have empanelled lawyers at the district as well as at the sub-division level, who are paid by the government for appearing in courts for those entitled to free legal aid and we have paralegal volunteers at the village level, who help us in making people aware of the schemes initiated by the HSLSA,” he added. Ever since he has joined, Gupta has been addressing people from various sections of society to make them aware of the law. He visited district jails at Sirsa and Hisar to inform inmates that they were entitled to the services of a counsel and no court fee could be charged from them. The CJM has been visiting schools, industrial sectors, old-age homes and shelter homes to make children, labourers and inmates aware of their rights. “Besides reaching out to the underprivileged sections, the HSLSA has also been making endeavours to make justice cheaper and speedier through lok adalats, which are now being held daily in the courts,” said Gupta.
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Unions slam minister for ignoring their demands
Faridabad, May 7 The Joint Trade Union Council, an umbrella body of all the trade unions and workers associations here, said its charter of demands submitted to the Labour Minister was ignored by him. The resolution urged the minister to invite leaders of the council for talks on their demands soon, failing which it would launch an agitation against him.— TNS
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NFL to go in for costlier gas imports
Panipat, May 7 According to highly placed sources, no gas has been allocated to NFL from domestic sources of gas due to which the company is left with no other option but to import gas from other countries. The sources said the Union Ministry of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers had sought an allocation of 10.78 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) of gas in 2012-13 and 12.88 mscmd in 2013-14 from the union oil minister. But the modalities to sanction this amount of gas could not be completed due to the paucity of gas sources within the country. NFL required this gas for three non-gas plants at Panipat, Bhatinda and Nangal which are being converted into gas-based units by the end of this year. In February 2009, GAIL (India) Ltd had signed a MoU with NFL to supply gas to the three units. Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOC), too, was approached by the fertiliser maker for supplying gas to the Panipat unit. As per an official data, the country produces 21-22 million tonnes (mt) of urea, compared to a domestic demand for 28-29 mt. By 2016-17, this demand could touch 34 mt, according to the Fertiliser Ministry’s estimates, and this would require up to 22 mscmd of additional gas. Meanwhile, it was in January 2010 that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs of the Union Government had approved three feedstock changeover projects of NFL for its plants at Panipat, Nangal and Bathinda. Under the project, the Panipat and other two plants of NFL were to be converted from fuel-based units to gas-based plants which would have helped the fertiliser maker save Rs 40 crore per unit per month, in the form of reduction fuel expenses. However, hit by the shortage of gas, NFL savings by converting the units to gas-base are likely to be affected.
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Water conservation project for basmati launched
Kurukshetra, May 7 While addressing farmers, Bastiaan Mohrmann, Head, Water Programme, IFC, said: “Rapid decline in the water table of Haryana fields has become a point of concern for us. The only way to solve this problem is water conservation. Since, basmati crop is mainly grown in Haryana, so water conservation for basmati becomes of paramount importance,” he said. Rashmi Thakrar, Director Tilda Riceland Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon, said the main objective of this project was to save irrigational water consumption by creating a chain of Agri Technology Service Providers (ATSP) which will disseminate various agricultural technologies standardised for basmati by FOSTER - the Agri Research Wing of Tilda Riceland Pvt Ltd among their fellow villagers. ATSPs would not only distribute agriculture implements among villagers, but also raise money out of them for their livelihood, he said. As a first step of this project, direct seeder and laser leveler were provided to two ATSPs namely Vijender Singh, Barani village, Karnal district, and Jitender Singh, Jirbari village, Kurukshetra district, respectively. These ATSPs would run these implements on a hire basis, he added. Dr Surinder Tamak, Agriculture Development, Haryana Agriculture Department, asked the farmers not to burn stubble. He suggested the farmers to follow new techniques for saving water and raising crop production. Dr BR Kamboj, Hub Manager, International Rice Research Institute, Delhi, and Dr Samar Singh, Professor, Agronomy, Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, explained various techniques of saving irrigational water. Dr Anurag Tewari, Manager, Pre-Harvest, Tilda Riceland Pvt Ltd, Raj Ganguli, Water Specialist, IFC, and Sanjeev, Officer, Elcome Technologies, Gurgaon, also spoke on the occasion.
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Early CST compensation demanded from Centre
Fatehabad, May 7 While leaders of some states like West Bengal have toughened their stand, Congress leaders in Haryana have also raised the demand. After Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Chaudhary demanding Rs 3,000 crore as Haryana’s share, the Congress MLA from Nalwa Sampat Singh joined chorus today by citing justification behind the demand. Sampat Singh was the Haryana finance minister when the NDA government proposed financial reforms that included uniform floor rates of taxes in all states of the country. The reforms included introduction of uniform Value Added Tax (VAT) to replace sales tax and all other kind of taxes and phasing out of the CST. Most states reduced CST from 4 per cent to 3 per cent in 2007-08 and to 2 per cent in 2008-09 and the Centre duly paid compensation for the financial losses suffered by them, said Sampat Singh. However, the problem started when the Centre started calculating the concessions offered by the states to certain units as CST recovered, while the states wanted compensation on that too. In this holdup between the Centre and states, the financial reforms suffered seriously and no state reduced CST after 2009, which should have been phased out by 2010. With this, the next step of reforms, which was introduction of goods and services tax
(GST) in place of all other taxes, has also been delayed. “In its budget for 2011-12, Haryana had made a provision that Rs 1300 crore will come from the Centre as compensation for the CST loss. The Centre gave an installment of Rs 759 crore but a sum of Rs 541 crore is still unpaid,” Sampat Singh maintained, while speaking to mediapersons here recently. He said if the non-budget amount is also included, it comes out to Rs 3,000
crore. Sampat Singh also demanded greater expenditure liberty to states in the centrally sponsored schemes like
MNREGA, NHRM and some others and said this would enable the state governments to spend money according to area specific needs.
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Identify villages with complaints of power theft, officers told
Chandigarh, May 7 Capt Yadav was presiding over the monthly review meeting of Power Utilities convened to deal with electricity complaints here recently. He instructed the officers to register recovery cases on such persons who had a pendency of electricity bills over Rs 50,000. He also asked to develop a mechanism for recovery from the defaulters. He said strict action would be taken against those who did not pay their electricity dues. Apart from direction to replace iron poles and worn-out obsolete wires, he also directed for speedy removal of overhead lines from hospitals, schools, etc. This work should be completed by August this year, he added. Taking serious note on faulty meters, the Power Minister asked the officers to ensure immediate replacement of such meters so that electricity consumers did not have to suffer. He also reviewed the status of electricity open darbars and directed for explanations of erring officers for their negligence in holding open darbars. Senior officers should conduct field visits regularly so as to ensure holding of open darbars to hear the grievances of the people and reports should be submitted to him without any delay. Captain Yadav also sought progress reports of electricity police stations across the state and directed the concerned to submit details about FIR registered in such police stations and action taken there on. He asked the officers to make sufficient electricity arrangements for the summer season as electricity demand increases during this period. As many as 14 complaints of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, nine of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and three of vigilance were reviewed in the meeting. Chief Parliamentary Secretary Vinod Bhayana, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Power, Ajit Mohan Sharan, and senior officers of Haryana Power Utilities were also present in the meeting.
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Three, four-star hotels out of highly polluting ‘red category’
Karnal, May 7 The decision was taken following a meeting of a seven-member deputation of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, Haryana, led by the president of the association, Manbeer Chaudhary. It apprised Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the latest notification issued by the departments concerned and their damaging effect on the hospitality industry. The Chief Minister contacted the Finance Secretary and the Chairman of the Pollution Control Board and issued the necessary instructions and directed that three and four star hotels be deleted from the “red category”. Hotels with more than 10 rooms, which were included in “orange category” (medium polluting industry) would also be taken out from the list, said Manbeer Chaudhary. The restaurants and hotels with up to 25 rooms would ensure that grease traps for grease interceptor (GI) maintenance for removing the entire volume (liquids and solids) from the GI and properly disposing of the material are in place and there was proper disposal of solid and liquid waste, Chaudhary added. The Chief Minister also accepted the demand of the association to restore the status quo in respect of renewal of bar licence for L-4, L-5 that provides for the renewal of a licence after five years instead of two years under the revised policy.
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Women cops take charge of Faridabad roads
Faridabad, May 7 As many as 35 women constables weredeployed on traffic control duty in the city at intersections on the National Highway and the city roads. They are amongst the 86 newly-recruited women constables provided to Faridabad police. They joined the force here a few days ago. According to residents, it was a welcome change to see women police personnel for the first time controlling traffic in the city. Faridabad Police Commissioner Shatrujit Singh Kapur said a total of 50 women constables will eventually be inducted in the traffic police cell. They would be from the bunch of 175 new women recruits provided to the Faridabad police, he added. According to him, other recruits would join the force here after completion of their course at the Police Training Centre, Madhuvan. With the traffic police getting beefed up on account of arrival of the new recruits, the authorities are all set to deploy personnel for night duties also for traffic management. Only the male personnel, however, would be deployed for nigh shifts. There are about 200 male police personnel in the traffic wing.
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Probe sought into NHAI construction
Kalka, May 7 Advocate VK Bansal, president of the Shiwalik Vikas Manch, alleged that through Himalayan Express Way Company, the NHAI constructed a toll plaza, including other offices on NH-22 (now NH-5) near Chandimandir on forestland without taking prior permission and without acquiring land. It is a clear violation of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Forest Preservation Act, 1980, he said. The company has also violated the 1952, New Punjab Capital Periphery Act, he added. Bansal further alleged that as Chandimandir was a cantonment area, the toll plaza would badly affect the Army activities so the toll plaza should be shifted to some other place near Parwanoo. It has also been sought in the memorandum that daily commuters to Panchkula should be exempted from the toll tax. The company has also carried out illegal mining of crores of rupees on the Mallah road from Pinjore to Parwanoo, he alleged. A high-level probe has been sought against the NHAI in the memorandum, added Bansal.
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Political awareness among women stressed
Rewari, May 7 While Kavita
Jain, MLA, Sonepat, was the chief guest, Sushila Sarraf, state president of the Mahila AVS, presided over its proceedings. AVS chief Ashok Buwaniwala was also present on the occasion. Felicitating the community for organising the sammelan, Jain said women’s advancement in politics and other spheres of life was a sine qua non for a well-balanced and progressive society. She called for a radical transformation of such imbalance for the empowerment of women vis-à-vis rapid evolution of a progressive
society. Sushila Sarraf said their present campaign for creating political awareness among women would be intensified in times to come. Buwaniwala called upon women to actively participate in politics to strengthen society. Distinguished pugilist Sunita
Garag, noted writer Dr Indu Gupta, Faridabad, software technocrat Anita Tayal,
Panipat, social activist Poonam Garg, Sanpla, and Deepti Mangla, Faridabad, were honoured with the Shakti Samman Award. As many as 40 other elected women representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions and various municipal councils of the state were also honoured on the occasion.
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Fatboy Slim drives crowd crazy
Gurgaon, May 7 DJs Nikhil Chinappa and Arjun Waghale kick-started the evening with their hit numbers and warmed up the eager crowds as they waited for Cook. The 48-year-old Fatboy Slim was remarkably punctual and greeted the gathering with a “Namaste” before he started his performance well on time. The event was organised by 6th Dimension Entertainment owned by Nikhil Chinappa, Elements Inc., Submerge and 3rd Rock Entertainment.
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Indian Fashion Council formed
Gurgaon, May 7 “Many promising designers have the spark in them, but cannot achieve the sort of success they deserve due to the lack of a sound support base. It will be our endeavour at the IFC to mentor such talent,” said IFC chairman Kapil Agarwal, who is also the managing director of AMR Infrastructures Ltd, a diversified group with business interests in real estate, jewellery and artifacts, education, textiles, security systems, hospitality, power projects, entertainment and media. “The IFC shall conceptualise new trends and coordinate with manufacturers and retailers for the development of required fabrics and prints, besides promoting Indian fashion wear in domestic as well as international markets,” he said. At the launch party, Sanna Chandna showcased her 007 Bond collection with red and black gowns for women. This was followed by some soul-stirring numbers by Akhil Sachdev of the Sufi band, Nasha, and salsa dance sequences by Ashley Lobo’s The Danceworx. Kitty Koo, vice-president, New York Film Academy, who is here to establish her academy’s Indian campus in Greater Noida in association with AMR Infrastructures, was the guest of honour. DJs Barkha Kaul and Annie Benn enthralled the audience with foot-tapping music.
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Eight MBA students get placements
Ambala, May 7 The process started with a pre-placement talk by officials of the company. Finally, eight students were selected during the drive. The students would start their career as assistant manager with package of Rs 4.50 lakh. Officials of the company expressed satisfaction over the performance of the students. Rajiv Bansal, finance secretary of E-Max Group, expressed gratitude to the company officials and wished a bright future to the students.
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Six clear civil services exam
Sonepat, May 7 Nitika Pawar, originally a resident of Tharu village in the district, has got the 18th rank in the 2011 examination list. After obtaining the BTech degree, she opted for civil services and got this rank in her first attempt. Surbhi Malik, originally a resident of Bidhal village, daughter of senior IAS officer of Haryana cadre Yudhvir Singh Malik and granddaughter of renowned educationist Hoshiar Singh Malik, secured 51st rank in 2011 examination list. After achieving 2nd rank in the second list of 2010 examination, 23-year-old Deepak of Nizampur Majra village in the district secured the 103rd rank in the first list of civil services examination (2011). After graduating in civil engineering from IIT-Roorkee, he appeared in the 2010 and 2011 civil services examination. “It was my dream to become an IAS officer since my childhood,” he said. Vijya Dhul, a resident of Rasoi village and son of a retired Subedar Major, got 221st rank in his third attempt. Vineet, who got 19th rank in the second list of the Civil Services Main Examination (2010), said “Meditation is of great assistance in keeping a concentrated state of mind which is necessary for good preparation of examination and in every other field of life”. Rajnish Khokhar of remote Shamri village and son of a Roadways conductor secured the 84th rank in the list of 2010.
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Kurukshetra varsity holds lecture on role of IAF
Kurukshetra, May 7 This was stated by Lt-Gen (retd) Dr DDS Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, while presiding over a lecture on “Role of Indian Air Force in the country’s defence” delivered by Air Marshal SP Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, at the University Faculty Lounge here recently. “There is a need to consolidate our deterrence power to keep ourselves ready for any eventuality of war. The major interests in today’s world are driven by economy. We need to invest more money and time at the level of policy making and defence strategy management,” he added. The Air Marshal said, “The Air Force plays a major role in ensuring the sovereignty of the country”. He added that the power of the Air Force all over the world had increased during the past few years both in the times of war, peace operations and emerging situations. He talked about the strength of the Air Force, its future plans and vision. He also gave a detailed account of the history of the Air Force after the Independence of the country. Replying to a question by a student, he said the country was investing a lot of money in near future to acquire the latest fighter planes, cargo planes, transport planes, helicopters and other strategic defence equipment. The lecture was organised by the Department of Political Science of Kurukshetra University and its chairman Prof RS Yadav gave a brief account of the vision of the Department of Defence Studies at university.
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Workshop held on embedded systems
Kurukshetra, May 7 It was inaugurated by Dr PJ George, director-principal of the institute. Talking to mediapersons, Rakesh Garg, head of the ECE Department, KITM, said during the workshop lectures were organised to provide knowledge about embedded systems and design band item. The students were told that embedded system was the root of designing electronic products and it was a combination of hardware and software, he added. Garg said such workshops motivated the students to take up live projects, design and implementation. Certificates were given away by the director-principal of the institute to the participating students. Organiser of the workshop assistant professor Praveen Kumar, workshop trainers Mahender and Suraj were also present on the occasion.
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Students get diplomas at convocation
Chandigarh, May 7 Chief guest Naresh
Kaushal, Editor, Dainik Tribune, while giving away diplomas to the students, lauded the efforts of the kendra in upholding the tradition of classical arts and imparting quality education and training to over 2.60 lakh students spread all over the country and abroad. Dr Nivedita Singh, professor, Department of Music, Punjabi University,
Patiala, urged the students to put the knowledge and skills acquired by them under the
guru-shishya parampara for the propagation and promotion of Indian art and culture. The convocation began with a brief introduction of Pracheen Kala Kendra and its multifarious activities in the realm of classical arts and a welcome address by secretary Sajal
Koser. Shobha Koser, registrar of the Kendra, proposed the vote of thanks. Later,
Amritsar-based Jaspreet Singh, topper in Bhaskar examination, presented compositions in vilambit and drut khayal in raga Shudha Sarang followed by sitar recital by Manmeet Kaur from
Patiala. Veer Preet Kaur and Manmohan Preet Singh gave a befitting finale to the convocation with their tabla jugalbandi set to teen
taal.
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Haryana Sahitya Academy to honour 14 litterateurs
Chandigarh, May 7 Minister of State for Labour and Employment-cum-Senior Vice-Chairman of the academy Shiv Charan Lal Sharma said the litterateurs would be honoured under the Sahityakar Samman
Yojna. Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Executive Vice-Chairman of the academy KK Khandelwal said from this year, a lifetime achievement award, Aajeevan Sahitya Sadhna
Samman, had been started with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh. He said the award money of the Haryana Sahitya Ratan Samman and the Mahakavi Surdas Samman had been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh and from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5
lakh, respectively. Similarly, separate awards for women litterateurs, Shreshtha Mahila Rachnakar
Samman, Om Prakash Aditya-Alhad Bikaneri Hasya Samman and Jan Kavi Mehar Singh Samman were started from last year having a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each. As many as 102 litterateurs had been awarded under the Sahityakar Samman Yojna so far. Those who have been selected for the awards this year are Ram Kumar Atray of Kurukshetra for the Babu Balmukund Gupt
Samman; Kewal Krishan Pathak of Jind for the Lala Deshbandhu Gupt Samman; Savitri Vashisth of Sonipat for the Pt. Lakhmi Chand
Samman; late Raghubir Singh Mathana of Kurukshetra for the Jan Kavi Mehar Singh
Samman; Punyamchand Manav of Bengaluru for the Haryana Gaurav Samman; Manik Verma of Bhopal for the Aditya-Alhad Hasya
Samman; Sudha Jain of Panchkula for the Shresth Mahila Rachnakar Samman. These awards carry a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh each. Those who have been selected for the Vishesh Sahitya Sevi Samman are Lal Chand Gupt of
Kurukshetra, Lakshman Singh of Rohtak, Manmohan Sapra of Sirsa, Shamim Sharma of
Hisar, Dinesh Raghuvanshi of Faridabad, Sandeep Joshi of Chandigarh and OP Kadiyan of
Hisar. This award carries a cash prize of Rs 51,000 each.
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Lecture on telecom revolution
Ambala, May 7 He dwelt on the history of telecom evolution right from telegraph lines to the present era of mobiles. He traced the development and growth of the telecom industry, starting from manual exchanges to semi-automatic, automatic, pagers, digital exchanges to the optical fibre technology.
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Bilaspur institute celebrates annual day
Yamunanagar, May 7 Chief guest SS Phulia, ADC, Ambala, and guest of honour Prof NP
Mehta, former director, NIT, Kurukshetra, and presently Pro-Vice-Chancellor, MMU, lighted the ceremonial lamp, which was followed by “Ganesh
Vandana”. Various cultural events, including solo dance, group dance, solo songs, skit, choreography, tabla
vadan, were organised on the occasion. MK Sehgal, chairman, appreciated the efforts of the students. He said the students who could not participate in this talent hunt and other activities should come up next time and participate enthusiastically. ML Sharma, Ravi
Bhushan, RS Wadhawan, Sube Singh Panjeta, Raj Kumar Rana and Kalyan Singh were honoured by the management for their achievements and social contributions, while Pardeep Sharma, Hitu
Kalra, Swaranjli, Nikita Sharma, Pradeep Rajput, Ajay Sidana, SS Rana, Amit Chopra, Gagan
Bajaj, Sanjeev Bansal, Naman Sehgal, Balak Ram, Kuljeet Singh, Shaukat Ali and 30 others staff members were honored for their excellent performance during 2011-12. Prof NP Mehta released the college magazine “Unnanti” and the college news letter “Siddhi” on this occasion.
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Yamuna Group holds annual function
Yamunanagar, May 7 SK
Sachdeva, chief operating office, Saraswati Sugar Mills Ltd, Yamunanagar, was the chief guest, while Sushil Kumar Gupta, president, Gupta Metal Industry, was the guest of
honour. On the second day, Lt-Gen DDS Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, was the chief guest, while Ravi
Jaidka, executive director, ISGEC, Yamunanagar, was the guest of honour. Chaudhary Rajender Singh, chairman of Yamuna Group, Inderpal Singh, vice-chairman, and Satpal Singh, secretary, welcomed the chief guest.
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70 get artificial limbs at Red Cross camp
Rewari, May 7 CG Rajinikaanthan, Deputy Commissioner-cum-chairman of the DRS, inaugurated the camp and also distributed artificial limbs to 70 physically challenged persons on the occasion. In his keynote address, he said disabled persons should not be treated in a discriminatory manner and exhorted everyone to come forward and do their best to bring physically challenged persons to the mainstream of society. While directing secretary of the DRS to observe total transparency in the ongoing construction work of shops at the Red Cross Bhawan Complex as well as its other allied activities, he said a state-level function would be held on the occasion of World Red Cross Day on May 8 at Faridabad where Governor Jagannath Phadia would be the chief guest.
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The Farmers Advisory Cell (FACE), an agriculture extension wing of Tilda Riceland Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon, in collaboration with World Bank’s member International Finance Corporation (IFC) launched the Basmati Water Conservation Project in Jirbari village, 13 km from here, recently.
The concept of war changed a decade ago and today it has almost become impossible to hold someone’s territory by using force.
A two-day workshop on embedded systems was organised by Shock Valley, a students’ activity club of the Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) Department, Kurukshetra Institute of Technology and Management (KITM), here recently.
