Chandigarh, September 29
Against the backdrop of the gangrape of a 16-year-old Dalit girl at Dabra in Hisar district allegedly by persons belonging to the upper caste, the functioning of the beleaguered Hooda government is set to come under the scanner of the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC).

Getting tough with state government’s alleged failure to check the increasing crime against Dalits, the NCSC has decided to conduct a ‘state review’ of the government’s role vis-à-vis the plight of the Dalits in the state.

“The ‘state review’ will cover atrocities against Dalits, including a heinous crime like rape of Dalit women, and the government’s failure to implement various social justice schemes,” NCSC vice-chairperson Raj Kumar Verka told The Tribune on phone today.

Verka, who toured Hisar and Jind districts for an on-the-spot assessment of the two cases of gangrape involving Dalit women recently, alleged that there seemed to be a “deliberate attempt” and “deep-rooted conspiracy” to terrorise the Dalit community in the state. “The commission has already written to the Haryana Chief Minister to put in place sufficient measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” Verka asserted.

Verka regretted that the Hooda government was yet to take a call on the constitution of the Haryana state scheduled caste commission as recommended by the NCSC. It could go a long way in redressing the grievances and instilling a sense of confidence among the Dalit community, he said. When asked about the NCSC’s recommendation for a state-level Dalit body, Hooda, at a press conference here yesterday, had expressed ignorance over the issue.

Even as a series of gangrapes, including those involving Dalit women, has sparked public outrage all over the country, PL Punia, NCSC chairperson and Congress MP, had locked horns with the Congress government in Haryana. “Anti-Dalit atrocities have been taking place on a large scale in Haryana. Haryana tops the list of crimes per lakh of population,” Punia is reported to have said.

Chandigarh, September 29
After one perfunctory visit to Dabra to meet the gangrape victim, quiet had descended on the Haryana Women’s Commission till this morning. But by the evening, it seemed to have woken up from its slumber and looked into the other gangrapes of Jind, Bhiwani and Gohana and found its voice.

Though the commission made one initial visit to Dabra to meet the rape victim, the members were mum and elusive as one gangrape after another was reported last week.

While the National Commission for Women made a noise and the National Commission of Scheduled Castes stepped in and castigated the Haryana government, the “home-grown” Haryana Women’s Commission was conspicuous by its absence and nowhere to be found.

Speaking to TNS this morning, the chairperson of the commission, Sushila Sharma, said that “gangrapes are a heinous crime against women and that there is a need to change this growing mindset” but failed to explain where the commission was “hiding” in view of the number of cases being reported every other day in Haryana.

“We went to Dabra in Hisar and met the victim. Our role is limited to talking to the victim and recommending financial help. The state government, before we could make any suggestions, announced financial aid and a job to the victim’s brother,” she said.

Adding that the commission had prepared a report on the Dabra incident, Sharma shared that the district administration and the state government did whatever was needed.

“However, the delay in action and arrests happened because the victim had delayed the filing of the complaint which gave time to the culprits to abscond,” she said.

On being asked why the other cases had “escaped” notice of the commission and the members had not even bothered to visit the victims in the three other cases, Sharma said that they were “planning” a trip.

“In Jind, we were immediately in touch with the district administration. We sent some locals to look into the incident,” she claimed but was unable to specify which “locals” represented the commission. She said Gohana had only come to their notice this morning as also a case in Bhiwani had caught their attention.

A 15-year-old girl of Bhiwani had allegedly been taken by two boys to Jaipur where she was raped by them. She lodged a complaint in this regard on her return home yesterday.

“We will shortly plan our visit there and meet the victims,” she said.

However, by afternoon, realising that their absence and silence was being noticed and the fact that the Haryana Women’s Commission was being seen as “missing”, Sharma immediately left for Jind while the vice-vhairperson, Chandra Prabha, was “dispatched” to Gohana.

By the evening, both of them had met the victims and will file a report in the matter.

Kaithal, September 29
The posters and hoardings put up in various parts of Kaithal for tomorrow’s “Jan Samarthan Rally” to be addressed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had given a miss to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s photograph.

The hoardings carry photos of Sonia Gandhi, Hooda, HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, MP Naveen Jindal, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Randeep Singh Surjewala and late OP Jindal. Some local congressmen said it was really shocking that the Prime Minister’s photograph was not on hoardings. Surprisingly, no leader or party functionary took note of this lapse and made efforts to rectify this mistake. DCC president and former minister Tejinder Pal Singh Mann said it was a mistake and it was purely unintentional. All congressmen held Dr Singh in high esteem.

Mahendergarh, Sept 29
Residents of Jant and Pali villages demanding the government fulfil its promise on reservation to local residents in jobs and admissions at Central University coming up on their land, today got the construction work on the university campus stopped.

The villagers have been staging a dharna in protest against the breach of trust by the government for the past two months, but to no avail.

However, within hours of their getting the construction work halted, a local MLA called up the villagers and invited them for talks with the Chief Minister tomorrow.

Earlier in the day, the villagers organised a panchayat to deliberate on their future course of action. The panchayat, held under the president-ship of a former Pali sarpanch, Capt (retd) Laxman Singh, constituted a 10-member committee to take a final decision in this regard.

The panchayat and the committee decided to stop the construction work on the university campus coming up on the panchayat land.

Following this, the villagers led by former sarpanches Malkhan Singh, Prakash Chand, Prem Singh, Dhansi Ram and other panchayat members and prominent residents of the villages, went to the university campus and asked the construction workers employed there to stop work.

The labourers halted the work while the contractor informed the university authorities of the development.

Within hours, senior officials of the Central University as well as district administration reached the campus. The construction work remained suspended till the time of filing this report.

In the afternoon, local MLA and CPS Rao Dan Singh called up Ranbir Singh, president of the Aarakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, Pali-Jant, under the aegis of which the villagers have been protesting. The MLA invited the protesting villagers to meet the Chief Minister tomorrow.

The panchayats of Jant and Pali villages gave nearly 500 acres of their land on a 99-year lease for the Central University at a token rate of Re 1 per acre per year under government pressure and on the promise of getting preference in jobs/admissions at the university.

However, after the university commenced its functioning from a borrowed building at Narnaul and the villagers approached the university authorities, they were shown the door, stating that there was no provision for reservation on the basis of domicile in the university Act.

The residents of Jant, Pali as well as several neighbouring villages have been staging a dharna in front of the university gate for the past two months, but their demand for reservation in jobs and admissions at the university has been falling on deaf ears.

The villagers were first accused of politicising the issue and later asked to furnish documentary evidence of reservation promises made by top government functionaries. Eventually, they were told that the matter of providing reservation at the university fell under the jurisdiction of the union government and not the state regime.

However, when the protesting villagers decided to adopt an aggressive stance and got the construction work on university campus stopped, they were invited for talks with the Chief Minister.

Sirsa, September 29
A schoolchild was crushed under a truck near Shiv Chowk of Sirsa town today.

Sahil, a student of class VIII of a local school, had gone to his father’s shop after appearing in an examination in his school, when his Scooty slipped while he was taking a turn.

A truck coming from behind crushed the child and sped away.

Sahil died on the spot.

Some passersby chased the truck and caught its driver near Sangwan Chowk.

The truck belongs to an LPG dealer.

Eyewitnesses alleged that they could not find any policeman on duty on the Shiv Chowk, Jagdev Singh Chowk, Sangwan Chowk or Lal Batti Chowk,

People alleged that despite a ban on their entry, heavy vehicles have been plying in the main markets of Sirsa town unchecked.

With equal impunity, minor children can be seen riding motor cycles, Scooties and other two-wheelers in the town without any driving licences.

Sirsa, September 29
Currently occupying second position in the world in wheat production, India is fast catching up with the world leader China. The country has the potential of achieving number one position soon.

Farmers in India are already into the recommended practices, but they need to switch to rust-free and disease resistant varieties of the crop, if the country is to take that coveted position.

Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Sirsa, who was the lone farmer to represent India in the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative-2012 Technical Workshop in Beijing recently, said though India was next only to China in total production of wheat, it was much behind countries like the UK and the US in average yield per hectare. China produced 115 million tonnes (MT) of wheat in 2010 against 81 MT by India.

However, while India’s production increased to 87.3 MT in 2012, China has been witnessing almost stagnation in the past some years and its production could increase by 2 million tonnes only.

When it comes to average yield per hectare, it is merely 2.53 MT per hectare in India against USA 6.98 MT, UK 6.95 MT and China 5.52 MT.

Even Pakistan has slightly better yield per hectare than India. “It is very much within our reach to achieve higher yield. In Sirsa, my fellow progressive farmers and I have been getting average yield of 6.40 MT per hectare. The average yield of the country falls because of the large areas under plough of the wheat where the crop is very poor due to various factors,” said Mann.

He said during a session for farmers, he suggested that for India the farmers needed heat and drought-resistant varieties and the varieties, which were lesser prone to rusts, diseases and lodging.

A prolonged winter means a better crop, as the grains get more time for growth before ripening in hot conditions.

Mann also suggested that there was a great need to upgrade and update farm extension workers of central and state institutes and state universities, so that they provided accurate and latest information to the farmers.

Mann said an informative programme like ‘Krishi Darshan’ on Doordarshan has not many takers in the times of the DTH TV. The government should instead tie up with some popular private channels to propagate these messages through programmes like ‘Satyamev Jayate’, which became hit among masses.

Chandigarh, September 29
With a view to providing legal aid to men free of cost, the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA) has increased the limit of annual income from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh so that more poor people could avail themselves of the benefit provided by the authority.

Chandigarh, September 29
The Haryana Government is gearing up for the procurement of paddy and bajra from October 1.

Food and Supply Minister Mahender Partap Singh said the Haryana Government and procurement agencies had made elaborate arrangements to procure paddy and bajra on the minimum support price (MSP). He stated that 184 mandis and purchase centres for procurement of paddy and 53 mandis for procurement of bajra had been made operational and allotted to the procuring agencies- the Food and Supplies Department, HAFED, the Haryana Warehousing Corporation, the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation, CONFED and the Food Corporation of India.

He said to ensure timely payment to farmers, financial arrangement of Rs 3,110 crore for paddy and Rs 109 crore for bajra had been made.

Panipat, September 29
The death of a constable at the Assandh Road Naka Police Chowki in Panipat today has baffled the police. The constable’s body with bullet injuries was found in the Police Chowki, but it was yet to be ascertained that whether he committed suicide or died due to an accidental fire from a revolver.

Praveen of Piplikhera village in Sonepat was posted here for the past eight months and sources said the constable shot himself at a temple with the revolver.

Kurukshetra, September 29
The 10-day Ganesh Utsav came to an end today with the immersion of Lord Ganesha idols across the city.

At Brahmsarovar, the idols of Lord Ganesha were immersed in the holy pond after performing rituals and Ganesh vandana.