Chandigarh, December 5
Thousands of students aspiring for admission to management courses, including MBA, in government and private education institutions in Haryana will not have to appear in multiple examinations from the 2013-14 session.

With the Haryana government deciding to adopt the online Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) for admission to management courses approved by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the government and the private institutions will use scores awarded to the students for allotment of seat in the registered management institutes, sources said here today.

The decision has been taken to comply with directions of the AICTE and is aimed at making the admission process transparent and hassle-free for both the students and the institutions.

“The decision will go a long way in addressing the issue of physical, mental and financial stress being imposed on the students through a number of entrance examinations conducted by the institutions for admission to management programmes of AICTE-approved institutions,” Haryana Technical Education Minister Mahendra Pratap Singh told The Tribune.

Against the backdrop of several Supreme Court judgements, the AICTE had conducted the CMAT for the first time in India across 61 cities from February 20 to 28 last year. Of the 61 locations, three cities --Ambala, Hisar and Gurgaon -- besides Chandigarh and New Delhi were in Haryana.

Manmohan Garg, chairman of Chandigarh-based education group Gurukul Vidyapeeth, said the CMAT scores would help over four lakh students get admissions in AICTE-approved institutes and university departments across the country.

Gurgaon, December 5
Noted Bollywood innovators Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman came together to launch their highly awaited social-media platform - Qyuki Digital Media - through video-conferencing here today.

Qyuki aims to engage Indian youths emotionally and offer them a platform for creative self-discovery, identity and showcase new media premier content.

Qyuki co-founder Shekhar Kapur said: “At Qyuki, we are creating a world of opportunity, where it doesn’t matter where you come from, but what matters is your creativity and the meaning one can derive from it. It’s a world where people can learn from established domain experts, showcase their creativity and connect with like-minded people. Ultimately they have the potential to become the brands of the future. This is a hub where I will create compelling content experiences such as Warlord and Animalocity.”

Qyuki co-founder AR Rahman said: “Qyuki will help you creatively explore yourself, open the window for creativity that exists in all corners of India and is a first step to trigger the imagination of Indian minds. Qyuki would be active and focussed in driving creative expression of all art forms. The platform will emerge as a strong medium that will enable Indian youth to follow their creative instinct.”

“Ubiquitous online and mobile access combined with the adoption of social networks has transformed our social engagement. According to the latest study conducted by the US Census Bureau, there are now more than 2.2 billion people worldwide connected online. Currently, India has around 61 million active online users,” said Qyuki CEO Poonacha Machaiah.

Sonepat, December 5
Two children -- Mundan (5) and Munia (3) -- died and two others -- Rani (9) and Sonia (7) -- of a family from Bihar were in a serious condition after consuming some poisonous eatables, reportedly “Namkeen”, in their jhuggi here on the Bahalgarh road last evening.

Rani and Sonia were taken to the Civil Hospital for treatment and lodged in Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. Dr Poonam Dahiya, who is attending on them, said their condition was serious because of vomiting and loose motions but they appeared to be recovering.

The family took the eatable reportedly consumed by them to the hospital and it was sealed and handed
over to the police for investigation.

After a postmortem examination, the bodies of Mundan and Munia were handed over to their father Ganesh, resident of Rikholi village in Sitamadhi district of Bihar.

On getting information, deputy superintendent of police Rakam Singh reached the hospital and the police recorded the statement of Rani and Ganesh. Rani stated that she had picked up a packet of the eatable from a place where the shopkeepers dump their garbage.

She offered it to the other children and they had also eaten it.

Chandigarh, December 5
Haryana policemen will have to pull up their socks even while performing routine functions as the Haryana police has started cracking the whip for dereliction of duty and enforcing accountability in the police force. In its bid to refurbish its battered image, the Haryana police has wielded the stick against Jangsher and Surender Kumar, station house officer and munshi, respectively, of the Sadar police station, Ambala cantonment, for “mishandling” a theft case. They have been suspended with immediate effect for taking the “case of theft in their jurisdiction lightly, not investigating it properly and also not registering an FIR on time”.

Police sources said the decision to suspend the two police officials was part of the efforts of the top brass, particularly director-general of police SN Vashisht, to instill confidence among the public about the functioning of the police and improve police-public relations so that people could approaching the police without hesitation. It has been made clear to the SHOs that FIRs should be registered in all crime cases in a reasonable time frame so that proper investigation could be done in all cases,” the sources added. It has been decided that every complaint against the police personnel would be expediously investigated. In the current case, the complaint was investigated by the additional director-general of police (law and order) who recommended against action against the SHO and munshi after a thorough probe. SN Vashisht, while listing his priorities recently, said providing proactive, responsive, swift and decisive police administration topped his list of priorities. 

Gurgaon, December 5
A local residents’ body has urged the municipal authorities to take over the builder-licenced colonies from private colonisers in the larger interest of residents of the city.

A delegation of the Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC) met Anju Choudhary, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Gurgaon, and apprised her of the ground realities.

Pointing out that former Gurgaon Municipal Commissioner Sudhir Rajpal had already written to the Director-General of Urban Local Bodies (Haryana) in this regard, the delegates requested her to get the matter expedited.

The delegation maintained that apart from benefiting residents of such colonies, the takeover would also generate a sizeable income for the municipal corporation.

“Unlike the builders and colonisers who pocket the income, the MCG can use it for the benefit and welfare of the residents,” they asserted.

The delegation also handed over a list of internal as well as external development work lying pending in various builder-licenced colonies and requested her to take steps for their completion.

Chandigarh, December 5
Rapping a school management on its knuckles for its insistence on paying a lecturer just Rs 800 a month and then blaming the government for not sharing the financial burden, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 20,000.

Dismissing the appeal filed by Managing Committee of Arya Senior Secondary School, Narwana, Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain also held the payment of less than the minimum wages was also violation of the lecturer’s fundamental right.

Taking up the appeal against Jai Gopal and other respondents, the Bench asserted counsel for the appellant kept on stressing the school was not in a position to pay the salary. The government, which was to contribute 75 per cent of the amount due, was refusing to do the needful.

“This dispute is entirely between the school and the government and if the action of the government in not contributing 75 per cent of the amount is conceived as wrong, remedy of the school lies elsewhere”.

“This salary is much lower than the minimum wages given even to a Class-IV employee. Nobody can be paid less than minimum salary…. This is clearly in violation of the fundamental right of the respondent, as enshrined under Article 23 of the Constitution of India read with Article 39 (d) thereof,” the Bench ruled.

Gopal’s counsel Puneet Bali and Monika Thakur had earlier contented the respondent had joined the school in 1987 and was given lecturer grade of Rs 6,500-10,500 with effect from October 1, 2006. For some reasons, the managing committee was suspended and an administrator was appointed. He issued a show-cause notice to the respondent. But, without passing any formal orders, his salary was reduced to Rs 800 per month.

Taking note of the fact that his salary was reduced to mere Rs 800, the Single Judge observed that nobody could survive on such paltry sum. Staying the administrator’s orders, the Single Judge on March 22, 2011, directed the restoration of his salary.

The order was challenged by the school by filing the appeal.

Fatehabad, December 5
To save black bucks from stray dogs and poachers, the authorities in Fatehabad have decided to set up a sanctuary for them at Gorakhpur village in this district with the help of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

The black buck sanctuary will be set up on 500 acres of land out of the 1,500-odd acres acquired by the NPCIL for its Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project coming up in Fatehabad.

Maneka Gandhi, a BJP MP from Aonla, who called up Fatehabad Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik two days back to express her concern at the killing of black bucks in the district, will also lend the support of her NGO, People for Animals, to the project.

Under environment rules, the NPCIL has to develop a green belt on at least one-third of the land acquired for its nuclear power project at Gorakhpur.

Following the increasing incidents of stray dogs hounding black bucks in the area and a demand to protect the animals by the Bishnoi community, the authorities had been contemplating this project under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of the NPCIL for some time.

However, the authorities were undecided whether to set up this sanctuary in the green belt of the GAPP or on a separate piece of land.

Kaushik, who called a meeting of the Wildlife Protection department officials to draw a strategy today, said a plan had been made to sterilise wild dogs in the area and setting up a black buck sanctuary on the GAPP land.

“Maneka Gandhi has assured me to provide expertise for the purpose of sterilisation of dogs and also for setting up the sanctuary,” Kaushik said.

Official sources say that 26 villages of Fatehabad together have a population of nearly 500 black bucks and in the past one year, more than a dozen incidents of attack on them by stray dogs have been reported.

Chandigarh, December 5
The Haryana Government has given additional charge to 19 IAS officers and also issued transfer and posting orders of one IAS officer with immediate effect. PK Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Labour and Employment Department, has been given additional charge as Additional Chief Secretary, Environment Department.

Rajan Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary, Excise and Taxation Department, has been additional charge of Printing and Stationery Department during the period of election duty of RR Fuliya. Navraj Sandhu, Principal Secretary, Health Department, has been given additional charge of the Medical Education and Research Department .

SS Dhillon, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning and Urban Estates Departments, has been given additional charge of the Housing Department.

SS Prasad, Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, has been given additional charge of the Science and Technology Department. Ram Niwas, Principal Secretary, Development and Panchayats Department, has been given additional charge of Urban Local Bodies . Dhanpat Singh, Principal Secretary, Technical Education Department, has been given additional charge of the Industrial Training Department.

Vineet Garg, Special Secretary, Personnel, Training, Vigilance and Parliamentary Affairs Departments, Director General, Training and Science and Technology and Inquiry Officer, Vigilance Department has been given the additional charge of the Rajya Sainik Board .

Arun Kumar Gupta, Director-General and Special Secretary, Secondary Education Department, has been given additional charge of the Archives, Archaeology and Museums Departments. Ashok Kumar Yadav, MD, HAFED, has been given additional charge as MD, Haryana Agro Industries Corporation.

SK Goyal, Special Secretary, Irrigation Department and Administrator, Command Area Development Authority has been given additional charge of the Public Health Engineering Department. Goyal will also look after the Cooperation Department and the Haryana State Minor Irrigation Tubewell Corporation. Chander Parkash, Commissioner, Gurgaon Division, Gurgaon, has been given the additional charge as Commissioner, Rohtak Division and Administrator, HUDA, Rohtak .

Rajbir Singh, Special Secretary, General Administration Department, has been given additional charge of the Food and Supplies Department and Managing Director, CONFED. Ramesh Krishan, Joint Secretary, Home-I Department, has been given the additional charge the Public Works (Building and Roads) Department against a vacant post. Brijendra Singh, MD, Haryana Warehousing Corporation, has been given additional charge of Technical Education.

Rajeev Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Finance Department, has been given additional charge as Secretary, State Human Rights Commission. Chandra.Vidya Dhar, Joint Secretary, Technical Education, has been given additional charge of the Industrial Training Department. T L Satyaprakash, Joint Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Mines and Geology Departments, has been given additional charge as Chief Executive Officer, Haryana Khadi and Village Industries Board.

A. Sreenivas, awaiting orders of posting, has been posted as Director and Joint Secretary, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department; MD, Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation and MD, Haryana Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections Kalyan Nigam; andJoint Secretary, Employment Department. 

Gurgaon, December 5
A physically challenged girl was burnt to death at Rajendra Place here today when she was watching TV.

Sanjana (10) was lying on a bed when there was a short circuit in the TV set and her bed caught fire.

The girl apparently failed to get up.

At the time of the incident, her mother was on the roof of her house.

She was immediately rushed to a hospital where she was declared brought dead. 

Sirsa, December 5
The police has booked the sarpanch and panchayat secretary of Sant Nagar village in Sirsa for allegedly deliberately causing disappearance of the records of MNREGA funds spent in the village.

The case under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC has been registered on the complaint of the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Ellenabad.

Earlier, the BDPO had complained to the Deputy Commissioner alleging that the sarpanch Karam Singh and panchayat secretary Bali Singh had caused the disappearance of the record to evade action against them for “misappropriation” of MNREGA funds.

Incidentally, sarpanch Karam Singh was earlier booked by the police for irregularities in the distribution of pension in May last year.

When contacted, Karam Singh claimed that the case had been registered at the instance of his political detractors. He maintained that the alleged irregularities in the MNREGA funds were of the year 2007-08, while he had taken over as sarpanch in 2011.

He said the earlier case of pension against him was also registered on the behest of his detractors and claimed that he had been acquitted in that case.

Chandigarh, December 5
The state government has empanelled 12 banks for disbursement of pension through the e-pension system.

An official spokesman said here today that these banks are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Syndicate Bank, IDBI Bank, Union Bank of India, State Bank of Patiala, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Bank of India.

He said the bank account would be a savings account operated singly by the account holder.

He said such account should not be a joint account with either or survivor.

However, a joint account could be opened by the pensioner with his or her spouse in whose favour an authorisation for family pension exists in the pension payment order (PPO). A joint account would not be available in the case of family pension.

Chandigarh, December 5
Responding to a demand for financial assistance, chambers and lawyers’ club for the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced a grant of Rs 50 lakh.

He was in the High Court on an invitation by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association.

After presenting a memorandum, association president Kulbir Singh Dhaliwal pressed for financial assistance and other facilities.

Taking note of the request, the Chief Minister also promised to extend every possible help for other projects to be initiated for the betterment of lawyers.

Welcoming Hooda, honorary secretary Ranjivan Singh described him as a “respected statesman and real son of the soil”. 

Sirsa, December 5
Senior superintendent of police Rajshree Singh today suspended ASI Ram Niwas, in charge of the Kirti Nagar police post of Sirsa town, for opening barricades erected on the Shah Satnam Singh road without permission from his superiors.

After the dera row and consequent clamping of curfew on Sirsa on November 24, the police had sealed the road by erecting barricades to stop the movement of traffic on the road leading to Dera Sacha Sauda Since then, all traffic going towards the dera had been taking the route of streets of the Kirti Nagar locality. Residents of Kirti Nagar had been complaining of heavy traffic in their narrow streets since then. Drivers of vehicle passing thorough that route too had been complaining of traffic jams in the streets of Kirti Nagar, leading to delays.

However, the authorities considered the barricade crucial as all traffic coming from Dera Sacha Sauda entered the town from that point. — TNS

Kurukshetra, December 5
City's young brigade is hooked to top brands like never before. Be it apparels, footwears or perfumes, top branded stuff is what children want these days.

"Wearing branded stuff is cool and classy. You'll not find me in anything other than wearing Levis and Carlton London apparels," says 17-year-old Divyansh, a die-hard Levis fan. Just like Divyansh, his 18-year-old sister, Vidushi, too, is hooked to brands. "My watch has to be a Swatch and Channel is my fragrance," said the brand-conscious girl.

In their pursuit for brands, children refuse to settle for anything less than their favourite ones. Besides, they reject their parents' orders and guide them on what's in and what's not. "My 12-year-old daughter is extremely choosy about what she wears. She has her favourite brands for almost everything right from her jeans, tops, shoes, watches, sunglasses and even bathroom slippers," said Monika Sharma, mother of two children.

"Though I prefer to get my skirts, coats and shoes from London where my grandmother lives, I don't mind shopping for other things from branded stores in the city," says 16-year-old Rupal. "Last week, my dad got me a beautiful pink and white watch. And though I liked it, I am not wearing it to school as it's a kiddies stuff; not any well-known brand," says Niharika Singh, a Class VIII student. When asked if her dad was hurt when she refused to wear it, the girl is quick to reply, "I don't think so. He understands it as it's about my image among my friends."

The brand fixation of the GeNext is not limited to them alone. Brands are what they like to gift to their buddies too. "Who likes desi gifts anyway? I would hate it if my friends gift me a local-made handbag or perfume or jewellery. And if I like to get brands as gifts, why should I not gift them to my friends?" said Akanksha (14).

Sirsa, December 5
Over 5 lakh candidates appearing in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), an all-India entrance test for admission to undergraduate engineering programmes, will have to miss the opportunity of appearing in National Defence Academy (NDA) examination this time.

Both the CBSE, which is to hold JEE (main) - 2013, and the UPSC, which conducts NDA examination, have announced the same date for the test - April 7, 2013. “By holding the two tests on the same day, our children have been deprived of appearing in one of the two examinations,” said Sahib Godara, whose son will be appearing in JEE next year. — TNS

Chandigarh, December 5
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has accorded in-principle approval for setting up of a dedicated health system corporation to streamline procurement of drugs and medical equipment in the government hospitals.

A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting of the Health Department here yesterday. Hooda was apprised that at present 102 medicines were procured from central public sector undertakings. Whereas, other medicines were procured from state rate contract, Director General of Supplies and Disposals rate contract or Employees State Insurance Corporation rate contract--whichever was lower. — TNS

Chandigarh, December 5
The Armed Forces Flag Day will be observed on December 7 throughout the state to commemorate the bravery and supreme sacrifices made by our soldiers to protect the honour of our motherland.

An official spokesman said the Flag Day was an occasion to express gratitude to the armed forces personnel who were engaged in the onerous task of national defence. On this occasion, token and car flags would be distributed among various government departments and general public in return for voluntary donations to the Flag Day fund. No monetary amount for the individual token flag and car sticker was proposed. — TNS