Chandigarh, September 8
Ram Niwas, a marginal farmer and vegetable grower from Pathrari village in Ambala district, can barely make both ends meet in the wake of low prices of his horticulture produce. While he struggles to eke out a living due to unremunerative prices of his produce which he grows by the sweat of his brow, the intermediaries, including commission agents, make handsome profits in the process of shifting his vegetables from ‘farm to fork’.

For a long time, the intermediaries have had a field day from the farm-to-fork stage at the cost of farmers. This is set to change with the Haryana Government stepping in to weed out intermediaries and ensure remunerative prices of the agriculture and horticulture produce with the passage of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment), Bill, 2012, in the recent session of the Haryana Assembly. The Bill is part of the reforms initiated by the Central Government with a view to increasing the accessibility of the farmers to the national and international markets for better prices of their horticulture produce.

According to Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh, better deal for the farmers would be ensured through the establishment of collection centres to facilitate direct purchase of horticulture produce from farmers and provision of processing facilities, including grading, packing and storage in these centres. “Setting up of the marketing yards in the pubic-private partnership mode and the establishment of markets of national importance and terminal markets are the other provision of Bills to ensure farmers’ well-being,” he says.

“With information technology making the world a small place, the Bill seeks to facilitate e-trading with a view to improving farmers’ access to national and international markets with the ultimate aim of enhancing remunerative prices,” Roshan Lal, Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary(Agriculture), told The Tribune here today.

To increase the accessibility of the farmers to the national and international markets and provide remunerative prices of their produce, the Union Agriculture Ministry had earlier circulated a Model State Agriculture Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2003. The Act had several suggestions for adoption by the states in their respective Acts. After deliberations, the Haryana Government has sought to adopt some of the reforms in the recent amendment to the Act which will now be known as the Haryana Agricultural Produce Markets Act,1961.

Chandigarh, September 8
The Haryana Government has finally spared a thought for the backward sub-mountainous Shivalik Region of the state comprising Panchkula, Ambala and Yamunanagar districts with the sanction of Rs 94 crore for a groundwater recharge project.

Besides recharging of groundwater, the project would go a long way in increasing the availability of water in the area. The project would provide employment and raise the standard of living in the area, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Currently, the use of deep tubewells in the area has resulted in a large-scale exploitation of the groundwater. The average annual rainfall in Shivalik foothills is nearly 1,200 mm yet most of the rainwater flows away, causing floods in lower areas, says Hooda.

In fact, the move is seen in political circles as wooing of the Shivalik Region, represented in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister for Culture, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Selja, by the Chief Minister.

For years, there have been allegations of “step-motherly” treatment with the Shivalik Region on the development front by the Haryana Government apparently against the backdrop of the area being represented by Selja, an anti-Hooda camp leader. In fact, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier this year put the Haryana Government on notice on a PIL filed by advocate Vijay Bansal, president of the Shivalik Vikas Manch on the lack of development in the region.

Stung by the high court notice and media criticism, the Haryana Government had re-constituted the Shivalik Development Board headed by Chief Minister and called a meeting of its governing body on August 30 after a gap over three years. At the meeting it was claimed that the Haryana Government had spent about Rs 2,800 crore on various development works in the region so far, a claim which is disputed by a cross-section of people.

Panipat, September 8
Protesting against the alleged forcible conversion of Hindu girls into Islam in Pakistan, Human Rights activist and Panipat-based advocate Momin Malik today sat on a dharna outside the mini-secretariat here along with other members.

Malik urged the External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan to take up the matter with his Pakistani counterpart, Heena Rabbani Khar, and highlight the plight of the Hindus.

Urging Krishna to include this sensitive issue of conversion of Hindu girls in the agenda for bilateral talks, Malik, who himself belongs to the Muslim community said, “We welcome anybody who voluntarily opts to adopt Islam as his religion but protest forcible conversions.”

He said the media had reported instances of forcible conversion of Hindu girls into Islam and the matter should be thoroughly investigated. “We have written to the Indian Government and the External Affairs Ministry about the same and hoping for some diplomatic initiative from the Indian Government,” he added.

Jhajjar, September 8
The Sadar police has registered a case of fraud against Bahadurgarh Municipal Council (MC) vice-president Dharambir Verma for illegally receiving Rs 3.21 lakh land acquisition reward.

Verma has been booked on the recommendation of the local General Manager of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

Sources said Shanti Devi, a widow and resident of Aasauda Todran village in the district, had lodged a complaint with the district authorities that her land was acquired by the state government for the KMP highway project in April 2006.

The government had later announced Rs 3.21 lakh as reward in lieu of her acquired land but the amount was illegally received by Dharambir Verma after misguiding the government officials in this regard, she stated in her complaint.

Taking note of the complaint, the district authorities handed over the matter for investigation to the district revenue office and the HSIIDC which later submitted the inquiry report to the authorities wherein Verma was held guilty of committing fraud.

“A case has been registered against Verma and he will be arrested soon,” said Vijay Dahiya, SHO of the Bahadurgarh Sadar Police.

Gurgaon, September 8
The July 18 mayhem at Maruti Suzuki India has made country’s top B-schools, including the IIMs, to review their curriculum for human resource management and labour relations.

Waking up to the failure of the existing study modules to equip HR students with skills to deal with labour unrest ailing a majority of states, the B-schools have decided to include mayhem as compulsory case study in management programmes.

While the IIM-Ranchi has announced a full-time course on industrial relations in addition to its existing human resource management course, IIM-Ahmedabad is also planning to revive a similar programme in October with the Manesar case study being included in both.

“Almost all IIMs have decided to make this an integral part of the management education. What happened in Haryana was an outcome of labour unrest and it is a common phenomenon in many states. HR personnel can play a pivotal role in aggravating or pacifying the situation and thus they need to be properly trained. By having this case study we will be able to make our students ready to deal with any such situation,” said a senior official from IIM, Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, Maruti has been flooded with requests from over 200 MBA schools in the state, which have followed suit and are requesting Manesar site visits and interaction with the HR personnel injured in the violence. “Every other day, some HR management school calls for permission to visit the Manesar facility and allow interaction with top officials,” said an official from Maruti, Gurgaon. 

Rewari, September 8
The mortal remains of veteran freedom fighter Rao Bansi Ram (92) were consigned to the flames with state honour at his native Bas Doodha village, 25 km from here, last evening.

Since he had no son, his two daughters -- Mukesh Yadav and Krishna Yadav-- performed the last rites as per his wishes.

While Naib Tehsildar Sanjeev Kumar placed a wreath on the pyre on behalf of the district administration, a police contingent gave salute to the deceased by firing several rounds in the air.

Ram, who was a soldier in the Indian National Army of Netaji Subhash Chander Bose, fought for the country’s freedom and courted imprisonment as well. He is survived by his wife, two married daughters and their children.

Karnal, September 8
A local court has issued summons against Jagdeep Singh, husband of local Congress MLA Sumita Singh, and two others in a theft case of Rs 2 crore and asked them to appear in the court on October 17.

“There are grounds to proceed under Sections 380 and 506 of the IPC for theft in the dwelling house and criminal intimidation against Jagdeep Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Narender as they have committed theft of stock and office record,” the judicial magistrate (First Class) said.

The judge said there was no direct evidence of the presence of participation of the MLA. The feud among partners of Poshak Agrivet, a poultry feed unit, started on September 26, 2010, with Shivaji Zombaue, MD, said Rajinder Gupta, director of Poshak Agrovet, came to the unit along with 50 others and took away money from the safe. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 8
Ram Niwas, a marginal farmer and vegetable grower from Pathrari village in Ambala district, can barely make both ends meet in the wake of low prices of his horticulture produce. While he struggles to eke out a living due to unremunerative prices of his produce which he grows by the sweat of his brow, the intermediaries, including commission agents, make handsome profits in the process of shifting his vegetables from ‘farm to fork’.

For a long time, the intermediaries have had a field day from the farm-to-fork stage at the cost of farmers. This is set to change with the Haryana Government stepping in to weed out intermediaries and ensure remunerative prices of the agriculture and horticulture produce with the passage of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment), Bill, 2012, in the recent session of the Haryana Assembly. The Bill is part of the reforms initiated by the Central Government with a view to increasing the accessibility of the farmers to the national and international markets for better prices of their horticulture produce.

According to Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh, better deal for the farmers would be ensured through the establishment of collection centres to facilitate direct purchase of horticulture produce from farmers and provision of processing facilities, including grading, packing and storage in these centres. “Setting up of the marketing yards in the pubic-private partnership mode and the establishment of markets of national importance and terminal markets are the other provision of Bills to ensure farmers’ well-being,” he says.

“With information technology making the world a small place, the Bill seeks to facilitate e-trading with a view to improving farmers’ access to national and international markets with the ultimate aim of enhancing remunerative prices,” Roshan Lal, Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary(Agriculture), told The Tribune here today.

To increase the accessibility of the farmers to the national and international markets and provide remunerative prices of their produce, the Union Agriculture Ministry had earlier circulated a Model State Agriculture Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2003. The Act had several suggestions for adoption by the states in their respective Acts. After deliberations, the Haryana Government has sought to adopt some of the reforms in the recent amendment to the Act which will now be known as the Haryana Agricultural Produce Markets Act,1961.