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Birender's proposed rally raises political temperature
Falling prices of guar worry farmers
Varsity holds workshop on Food
Security Ordinance |
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Seminar highlights importance of breastfeeding
11th World Geographic C’ship
Development
of Kotla lake in Mewat
I-Day: SPs told to launch campaign to keep an eye on foreign nationals
Retiree’s six-year-old wait for pension
VC warns students against ragging
95% grant for aided schools sought
20 students get placement
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Birender's proposed rally raises political temperature
Sirsa, August 8 While Birender Singh has been announcing UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's participation in his rally, the Chief Minister's camp, according to sources, is lobbying hard to cancel her visit to Jind. Interestingly, in any democracy, political temperatures run high when parties in opposition take on the government on issues concerning people. However, in Haryana, where top leadership of the biggest political party in opposition is in jail, the onus of putting the state politics on the boil has been taken by the Congress leaders themselves. Facing a volley of allegations from Birender Singh, who has been travelling the entire length and breadth of Haryana and from Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh and two MLAs - Naresh Selwal and Rajpal Bhukhri - all Union Minister Kumari Selja supporters, the biggest shocker for Hooda came when Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah tendered his resignation citing neglect of his area. While Ishwar Singh, Selwal and Bhukhri were known supporters of Hooda's bête noire
Selja, Balbir Pal Shah owed allegiance to the Chief Minister, though from the beginning of Hooda's present term, he was not very happy over his neglect and
Panipat (Rural) MLA Om Prakash Jain's inclusion in the Cabinet. By winning over Shah, Hooda camp has won the first battle and sources said that efforts were now being made to thwart Sonia Gandhi's visit to Birender Singh's political rally. In a damage-control exercise, some MLAs owning allegiance to Hooda issued a joint statement refuting allegations of regional bias against the government and presented a list of
development works done in districts other than Hooda's own. In the run up to his August 20 rally, Birender Singh has been targeting Hooda government and at the same time projecting himself as the future Chief Minister, though in an indirect manner. Initially, his attacks on the Haryana Government were indirect, but now, he has chosen to take on Hooda directly and has been levelling a volley of allegations against the Hooda government, raising political temperatures in the process. Birender Singh's invectives have also provided Hooda camp an opportunity to tell the party high command that any leverage to him would not be in the best interest of the party at this stage. Hooda camp, according to sources, is trying to impress on the Congress leadership at the Centre that Sonia Gandhi's participation in the Jind rally organised by Birender Singh will fan dissidence activities in the party. Since, Sonia Gandhi is to inaugurate the Food Security Bill being launched by the Haryana Government on August 20, coinciding with Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary, those close to the Chief Minister are confident that the UPA Chairperson could finally cancel her visit to Jind. While Birender Singh is likely to use his own relations as well as the influence of senior party leaders from the anti- Hooda camp to ensure Sonia Gandhi's visit, political observers are watching with interest whether the UPA Chairperson visits Jind or cancels her visit in view of the Hooda camp's apprehensions of the visit fueling dissensions.
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Falling prices of guar worry farmers
Sirsa, August 8 Owing to an unprecedented hike in prices of guar that hit Rs 33,000 per quintal last year, many farmers in Sirsa, Fatehabad and semi-arid areas of other districts like Hisar and Bhiwani have opted for guar crop this year. The area under cultivation of guar has increased by nearly 40,000 hectares (one lakh acres) in Haryana this year, according to RK Solanki, Additional Director (Statistics), Agriculture Department, Haryana. In contrast, the area under cultivation of cotton has decreased by almost one lakh hectare from 5.95 lakh hectares to 5.03 lakh hectares -- paddy taking the rest of the cotton land's share. The prices of guar have been falling consistently this year -- from Rs 9,700 per quintal in May 2013, the prices have plummeted to Rs 5,100 presently. Market trends have been speculating a further down slide in prices, which could hit a low of Rs 4,200 per quintal by October -- the time when the crop is expected to reach markets. "The falling prices are worrying us, as we had grown guar crop in the hope of remunerative prices. If the down slide continues like this, we will have to suffer losses," said a farmer, Jagpal, in the Ellenabad grain market. Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti, however, is hopeful of prices of guar picking up again before the crop hits grain markets. "May be it is our wishful thinking, but we believe that speculations on gold and gaur have never gone correct," he added. Mann maintained that even a price of Rs 5,000 quintal would be a remunerative price. He maintained that guar would prove to be a better crop than cotton if the farmers could get Rs 5,000 per quintal, because unlike cotton, there was no expenditure on pesticides and there were no hassles involved in its harvesting. It is also beneficial for the next wheat crop, as guar being a leguminous crop has nitrogen-fixing qualities and hence increases the fertility of the soil, Mann said.
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Varsity holds workshop on Food Security Ordinance
Sonepat, August 8 Inaugurating the workshop, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Pankaj Mittal, said, “Food security is the right of poor people in a democracy and it has become the need of the hour to ensure that the poor people get the benefit of this right.” The gram panchayats were the nodal agencies to ensure that this pro-poor programme was implemented successfully in their villages, she added. Dr Mittal said that that with the consent of the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the university would work as a coordinator between the government and the gram panchayats for effective implementation of this welfare programme. She also explained different provisions of the ordinance to them and invited their suggestions which, she said, would be forwarded to the state government. Dr Mittal urged the elected representatives of the gram panchayats to shoulder this responsibility in an earnest way to help the poor and needy persons of society in the villages. She assured them that the university would provide every help in implementation of the programme. The university Registrar, Prof Asha Kadian, renowned sociologist, RR Singh, and Prof David P Moxley, who is visiting professor in the university and BDPO Jitender Kumar also gave their opinions on how to implement the programme in the best possible way. Discussions in the workshop centred around problems like preparation of the list of beneficiaries, collection and storage of the foodgrains, role of ration depot holders and verification of the distribution etc.
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Seminar highlights importance of breastfeeding
Kurukshetra, August 8 Chief guest Dr Shiv Kumar apprised the audience about the growth of infants and the importance of breastfeeding. Dr Jagmal talked about the techniques of breastfeeding, common diseases and their remedies. He said instead of “janam ghuti”, honey and water, mother’s milk should be the baby’s first feed. Dr Vinti Davar spoke about the nutritional value of the breast milk and its benefits. She said infants who were breastfed showed better immunity to diabetes, heart diseases and high blood pressure. “It also controls incidence of breast cancer in the later life,” she added. Dr Tarvinder Jeet Kaur thanked all the guests, students and faculty members for their presence.
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11th World Geographic C’ship
Fatehabad, August 8 The competition is held once in two years under the National Geographic Society, a non-profit organisation inspiring people across the world to care about the planet since 1888. The society it is also running a television channel - National Geographic Channel from the US. The Indian team, making their first-ever appearance in the final round, were represented by Capt Apratim Tathagat Singh (14) from Lucknow, Jayant Abhir (14) from Hisar and Utkarsh Gupta (15) from New Delhi. Haryana’s Jayant has made the nation proud by winning for the country a position in the championship. Jayant, a son of Jyoti Abhir, an Associate Professor in Psychology, and JK Abhir, a Haryana Civil Services (HCS) officer, at present posted at Bhiwani, was the part of the three-member Indian team that won the third position in the championship held on July 31, 2013. Beating teams from 17 countries, the US took top honours at the event held at the Russian Geographical Society headquarters in St Petersburg. Canada came in second, narrowly beating India in a closely contested tiebreaker. The US team had three students of Indian origin. The team was represented by Capt Gopi Ramanathan (15) from Sartell, Minnesota, Asha Jain (13) from Minocqua, Wisconsin, and Neelam Sandhu (14) from Bedford, New Hampshire. The US, Canada and India qualified for the final round after obtaining the highest combined scores in a preliminary activity, which included a scavenger hunt-style tour and a written team
test. The 14 other teams competing were from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Indonesia and Mongolia participated for the first time in the event this year. The first contest, held in London in 1993, was won by the US, which defeated teams from the UK
and Russia. The society reaches over 450 million persons worldwide each month through National Geographic and other magazines, National Geographic Channel, television documentaries, music, radio, films, books, DVDs, maps, exhibitions, live events, school publishing programmes, interactive media and merchandise.
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Development
of Kotla lake in Mewat Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service
Gurgaon, August 8 It was in May this year that the state government approved and notified its plans to develop Kotla lake in Mewat, Ootu in Kurukshtera and Bibi Pur in Kaithal as natural water reservoirs. The plan aimed at spending around Rs 122 crore to transform this natural water lake in the district’s life line for solving drinking and irrigation water-scarcity issues. Ironically while Kotla has so far not got a single penny, around 46 crores have already been spent on Ootu project and around 20 crores on Bibipur lake. The residents who had sought the details of this expenditure through the RTI Act have blamed the government for ignoring them due to political reasons. “The Kotla lake has long been an election promise for us. The lake if developed with not only be a boon for our rain-fed agriculture but will also solve similar issues in nearby Gurgaon and areas of Rajasthan.” The current government had, a few months back, raised our hopes by getting a go ahead from the Water Commission. The story, however, took the usual turn. While we are still waiting for money to trickle in and the project to start, the work is on in full swing at Kurukshtera and Kaithal. We are being ignored because we are a virtually "barren" district politically. They have political interests and aspirations and are out to appease the representatives of these areas, whereas our people continue to be ignored,” said Noordin Noor, president of the Zila Parishad, Mewat.
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I-Day: SPs told to launch campaign to keep an eye on foreign nationals
Jhajjar, August 8 A communiqué in this regard has recently been shot off to all the SPs from the IGP office wherein they have also been asked to keep a close tab on those who have been arrested in connection with any sort of terrorist attack in the past. Anil Rao, the IGP, said the exercise aimed at preventing any untoward incident in all the four districts during Independence Day celebrations. The SPs had been directed to submit their report within a couple of days about their preparation of security arrangements for review. "Under the campaign, the SPs will install nakas at various border points of their districts to carry out checking of vehicles to curb smuggling of illegal weapons, explosives and liquor besides arresting people of criminal background," said the IGP, adding that officials of Inspector rank would be deputed at these naakas to execute the operation in an efficient manner. The SPs had also been told to chalk out a special plan to deal with any emergency situation during the Independence celebrations and also to include the services of nearby hospitals, ambulances and fire brigades in the plan after getting all needed information about them. A copy of this plan should be dispatched to Station House Officers (SHOs) of all police stations/ posts so that they could act accordingly at the time of a critical situation, he added. "Police personnel in civil dress will be deputed at railway stations, bus stands, religious places, hospitals and other crowded places so as to keep surveillance on the activities happening there. They will immediately inform the Police Control Room (PCR) on finding anything suspected there," said Rao, adding that separate teams would be formed to check hotels, guest houses, dharamshalas and other places to stay so as to ensure that nobody having a criminal record was staying there. The IGP maintained that a special team of police station would also carry out stock checking of weapon sellers of their area concerned and would dispatch the report in this regard to their SPs concerned.
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Retiree’s six-year-old wait for pension
Chandigarh, August 8 Depite the fact that Sharma has approached the Prinicipal Secretary and the Director-General of School Education, no relief seems to be in sight for the senior citizen. “My repeated pleas to the senior officials have fallen on deaf years denying me my legitimate dues making life difficult for me,” she rued. Sharma retired from service on September 30,2007 as the Headmistress, Government High School, Malikpur(Kurukeshtra). As a charge sheet was pending against her, she was allowed provisional pension only. However, an order of the Prinicipal Secretary(School Education) Surina Rajan, while disposing of the charge sheet against her, said her suspension period from Novermber 4, 2006, to June 14, 2007, should be “treated as duty period for all intents and purposes.” Inspite of the Principal Secretary’s order, the Education Department has failed to release her pensionary benefits, including pay for the suspension period, full pension since October 1, 200, gratuity and leave encashment. Now irked at the department’s attitude, she was mulling moving the Haryana Human Rights Commission for the redressal of her grievances.
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VC warns students against ragging
Sonepat, August 8 The Vice-Chancellor was addressing participants of an orientation programme organised by the university administration for the new students in the seminar hall of the university today. “There are a lot of expectations from them by their parents, teachers and it is their first and foremost duty to come up to their expectations,” he added. The Vice-Chancellor was of the opinion that knowledge was a great power particularly for a student and it paved the way for success in life. The best source for gaining knowledge at the first step is the teacher whose contribution should be acknowledged by the students with regards and dignity, he said. The Vice-Chancellor , however, cautioned the students not to indulge in any kind of ragging activities on the universit premises."Ragging is an evil and the university authorities will not tolerate it,” he said and added that it vitiated the academic atmosphere in the university. The university’s Registrar, RK Arora, asked the students to work hard to achieve their targets and fulfil the aspirations of their parents.
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95% grant for aided schools sought
Yamunanagar, August 8 He said either the government make these schools de-aided by taking over sanctioned staff in government schools as done by the Rajasthan Government or by giving 95 per cent grant to them.
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20 students get placement
Kurukshetra, August 8 “The students have been selected in various International companies like Arabian Oil Co., Riyadh, State Oil International Energy Com., USA, World Bank Hydro Power Project, US, Shell Petroleum Development Co., Nigeria as Environmental Officers, Environmental Engineers and Energy Managers,” said Chaudhary. — OC
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Chennai Express Directed by: Rohit Shetty Director Rohit Shetty sure knows how to make entertaining films and Shah Rukh Khan’s home production in association with the UTV Motion Pictures, Chennai Express, promises to be just that. The 100-crore club director, Rohit Shetty, brings back Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone together. The film is about a man’s journey from Mumbai to Rameshwaram and the events that take place during the journey. Others in the supporting roles are Satyaraj, Niktin Dheer, Manorama, Priyamani, Kamini Kaushal and Lekh Tandon. This breezy action-packed romantic comedy has action, flying cars and outdoor locations. This is for the first time that Shetty has joined hands with SRK for a film. Watch it at theatres in Haryana. — Dharam Pal
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Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh's proposed August 20 rally at Jind, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's announcement to launch Food Security Bill in Haryana on the same day, subsequent utterances of pro- and anti-Hooda camp leaders and "resignation" by Panipat MLA Balbir Paul Shah have heightened political temperature in Haryana.
